IT WORKED FOR ROCKY BUT WILL IT WORK FOR YOU?

Rocky Balboa proved, when beating 7 bells of s*** out of Ivan Drago in Rocky IV that you don’t need fancy machines and technology tracking your every move to become a supreme physical specimen.

But nowadays with nearly everybody wearing a fitness tracker on their wrist, it seems that more of us are intent on following Drago’s technology-driven approach rather than Balboa’s old school approach!

This reliance on technology didn’t work out too well for Drago but will it work for you? 

Fitness trackers (fitbits etc) can be a good way of highlighting an individual’s levels of inactivity and subsequently encouraging them to become more active. Which is great.

But the problem is, fitness trackers are not perfect...

For starters, they are much like much like US Army – inaccurate!

A study looking into the accuracy of seven different wearable activity trackers found that not one of them accurately measured calories burned! The best was off by 27%, the worst by a staggering 93%. (However, the same study did show that the trackers were much more accurate at measuring heart rate). It’s not just the wearable devices that are inaccurate though. Those flash looking cardio machines you see in gyms don’t do a very good job of tracking calories either!

Secondly, they might not be that good at helping you lose weight!

One study found that, people wearing fitness trackers lost less weight than those that didn’t wear them. The two-year study, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh, involved 500 overweight volunteers engaging in a structured exercise regime whilst following a diet found that the group wearing trackers lost 8lb (3.6kg), but the ones who didn't lost 13lb (5.9kg)!

Another problem, is lost motivation

Some of my very own clients have suffered from negative emotions because have failed to reach the calorie, steps, or sleep targets set by their fitness trackers. But it’s not just me saying this, Andrew Lane, professor of sport psychology at the University of Wolverhampton corroborates with this too. In an interview with the BBC he questioned whether such negative thoughts ultimately lead to demotivation "What if we start consistently not reaching goals set for us by them (the fitness trackers)? Ultimately it would lead to us feeling demotivated - the opposite effect they are supposed to have." This is something I have personally witnessed with my own clients. It’s as if the pressure to meet the targets takes the enjoyment away from exercising and some therefore give up on exercising all together!

In conclusion…
Before you dismiss me as a luddite, trying to resist the progress of technology, please rest assured that I’m most certainly not. It’s just that I’m more like a seesaw with a fat kid at either end – balanced. Balanced in my views that is, and I’m well aware that nothing in the fitness industry is 100% perfect (regular readers will know this). Fitness trackers have their pros but they certainly have their cons too and they are certainly not a panacea for solving our nations obesity crisis (which some people think they are). They will suit some people and work well for them, for others they won’t be quite so effective! 

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WALK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD AND YOU'LL GET RUN OVER!

The man responsible for spearheading the establishment of our much-loved NHS, the legendary Anuerin ‘Nye’ Bevan famously said “We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run down.” Now, this hard-nosed approach was obviously required to bring about one of the UK’s greatest ever achievements, but is this same approach required in the fitness industry? I think not!

Being an almost obsessed purveyor of all things fitness, I ‘sign-up’ to an infinite number of websites so that I can stay abreast of all the latest goings-on within the industry. Granted, most of the info is downright rubbish and about as useful as Joey Essex on your quiz team but in amongst the heaps of crap there are the few odd gems of scientifically-backed info out there (anyway, I digress).

THE GROUP EXERCISE BRIGADE…

Recently, I received an email from a company who exclusively specialise in group fitness training. As you might expect, and quite rightly, they highlighted the numerous well documented benefits of group training, which, of course there are many. However, they then went on to decry the benefits of highly individualised assessment and training programmes, not personal training in general but just those trainers and training programmes which perhaps have an over-idealistic view of human movement. To paraphrase, they felt that spending inordinate amounts of precious time on achieving 100% perfect biomechanics, and addressing tiny muscle imbalances was daft when most time-poor people would be better served doing more strenuous exercise to stave off the threat of serious cardiovascular disease.

THE MOVEMENT SPECIALISTS…

A day or so later I received an email from one of these aforementioned movement specialists, which as you can probably imagine stressed the importance of the testing and retesting of biomechanics and the need for highly individualised training programmes, heck they were so persuasive in their arguments that they almost got me believing that I’d been using the wrong technique to pick my nose all these years!  

These two approaches are almost diametrically opposed to each other. They are on completely different sides of the road, and neither dares walk in the middle of that road, not even for a second. When, on-balance, a mixture of the two approaches is probably best. Yes, there is certainly a need for assessment of biomechanics and the need for ‘proper’ technique but we certainly shouldn’t get too overly idealistic about it. We are all different after all and the correct technique and biomechanics for one does not necessarily look the same as for another!

UNFORTUNATELY…

Unfortunately, this example is just the tip of a rather large iceberg. The fitness industry is littered with people who are desperate to remain on one side of the road and dare not walk in the middle. It’s as if the leaders or ‘gurus’ of certain training programmes or dietary regimes actively seek to divide us and if truth be told, many of their followers seem to enjoy this division because it somehow induces a siege mentality amongst them, and a misguided moral superiority over other people who dare follow a different diet or exercise plan. It allows the HIIT evangelists to decry anyone who dares go for a long run. Functional movement specialists can snigger at anyone for doing a bench press and the No-carb crew can treat with utter contempt anyone munching on a sandwich.   

IN CONCLUSION…

As with most things in life, when there are two opposing arguments the answer generally lies somewhere in the middle. Be very wary of anyone in the fitness who is a vehement supporter of one particular exercise programme whilst remaining completely blind to the benefits of others. And remember, the irony is that the only common ground that many of these gurus have with each other is an overwhelming desire to flog you their products! 

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INSOMINA LEFT ME MORE CONFUSED ABOUT FITNESS DVD’S!

Recently I went on a break for a few days with my family. We had an absolutely cracking time  except when it came to sleeping, because I’m about as comfortable in someone else’s bed as Theresa May in a workingmen’s club! This inevitably led to several sleepless nights, which in turn meant watching the TV into the wee small hours of the morning.

As I sat there channel hopping (with the same regularity of a smuggler trying to avoid the tax on their booze and fags) I was left dismayed at the number of different fitness training DVD’s available to the Great British public.

You know the ones I’m on banging on about, the ones produced in an infomercial style.  You’ve got the high intensity works-outs which guarantee ‘AMAZING RESULTS’. You’ve got the low intensity work-outs which guarantee ‘AMAZING RESULTS’. Then you’ve got the dance-inspired work-outs which once again guarantee ‘AMAZING RESULTS’, heck you’ve even got Pilates and Yoga fusion workouts. Without labouring the point, there’s an almost infinite number of different fitness trainers out there all flogging DVD’s which offer different exercise regimes, yet all guarantee the exact same amazing results!

And the plot thickens a little deeper once you realise that most, if not all, of these infomercial-style fitness DVD’s are produced by the same company! Just a cursory look at their website and you can see that the claims made by some of these instructors completely contradict each other. Whilst one, exceptionally fine looking physical specimen of a trainer claims that high intensity interval training is the way to get a svelte, chiselled muscular body, another equally as impressive trainer claims that low intensity training is the way to get an impressive-looking physique.

So, with all these DVD’s all offering different exercise routines, it begs the question: which type of exercise is best?

The answer is simple, yet the time, effort and research which I have invested in getting to this conclusion has been far from easy. The answer is: the exercise routine which you can stick to. That’s right it’s as simple as that. For your average person, doing something is much better than nothing. So, find the exercise or activity which is right for you, which you enjoy doing, and which fits in with your lifestyle and do it, and then keep doing it.

Just as the consistency of your dough is the key to making good cakes, consistency in your training is key to a happier and healthier you! Oh, and if you really want to put some icing on those cakes try to include in some weight training to your exercise regime too.

In conclusion…

Don’t be confused with all the hype which surrounds some exercise DVD’s or certain exercise routines, almost any type of exercise is beneficial to your health and fitness provided you do it consistently.

Oh, and the slight irony which I see with this whole fitness DVD industry is that nearly all the trainers have clearly been doing some form of serious weight training (which, of course is a good thing) to get the impressive physiques that they have. But often, the inference, is that it’s the DVD routine that has given them that body, not the endless hours spent pumping weights in the gym!

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TRIGGER EXERCISES TO SHOOT DOWN POOR MOTIVATION!

I’d love to sit here and say to you that I train 6 days per week without fail, but I can’t. I’d love to claim that I’ve never had more than a week off from training, but I can’t. The truth is, at times, I, probably just like you struggle to exercise.

A lot of the time I’m like your average toilet tissue – on a roll. And by that, I mean my training is consistent, my eating is pretty good and my sleeping patterns decent. But sometimes, well, life just gets in the way and I fall off the exercise wagon, so to speak. Whether it’s family commitments, work commitments or whatever, sometimes I just simply cannot find the time or (whisper it quietly) the motivation to exercise. Now, this may come as a surprise to many of you that a person making his living out of the fitness industry should admit to struggling with motivation, but it’s the truth (unlike most of the perfect lives you see portrayed on social media).

Unfortunately for me and for many others, this downturn in exercise almost certainly goes hand-in-hand with an upturn in eating rubbish too. It’s as if training keeps my nutrition in check!

So, what do I do when my levels of motivation are lower than the compassion in Katie Hopkins heart? I make like your average American trying to resolve a relatively minor dispute and reach for my trigger. But not the trigger of a gun, no, the trigger that will get me off my backside and back on the exercise super highway!

For me, this is a nice long, slow, easy paced run (that’s probably another surprise to many of you, that as a personal trainer, my go to exercise isn’t HIIT!). For others, your trigger exercise may be lifting weights or doing some yoga. It might be a Pilates class or may be even taking part in competitive sports. Regardless of whatever it is, the most important thing is to find YOUR trigger activity – the exercise that will get you back on track again!.

It doesn’t even have to be something you would normally do in your regular training. Believe me I rarely go for long steady runs when I'm ‘bang on’ with my training, but for whatever reason once I’ve had a little time away from exercise I know that an easy run will kick-start my training and set me up for future sessions!  

In conclusion…

Motivation isn’t permanent like parent’s love. It’s more like a holiday romance – fleeting and uncertain. You must enjoy the highs whilst finding ways of dealing with the lows. And for me finding YOUR trigger activity is one good way of combatting the lows when it comes to motivation and exercise!

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CRUZ BECKHAM’S ROWING ROW!

Meanwhile (as the rest of the world seemingly goes to hell in a handcart) in celeb-world, the Beckham’s received a fair bit of criticism following their 12-year-old son, Cruz posting a video of himself working-out on a rowing machine. This whole storm in a tea-cup left me with 3 main questions:

1. Does every Beckham have an hereditary gene giving them an insatiable appetite for self-promotion?     
2. Why on earth have three hundred thousand people (myself included) wasted 30 seconds of their life watching a kid do nothing more than row at a fair intensity on a rowing machine?
3. Why did some people on social media, wrongfully condemn the Beckham’s for allowing their son to perform some form of semi-serious exercise?   
   

Now, question 1 can probably only truly be answered by doctors; the answer to question 2 is probably that more of us need to ‘get a life’; and as for question 3, I’m going to set about answering that now…

I’m sure any right-minded person would agree that all children should be doing some sort of exercise or activity, whether it be kicking a ball about with friends, playing kiss-chase, climbing trees or whatever; and indeed, the experts corroborate with this too. A quick glance at the NHS activity guidelines pretty much tells us so. They recommend that every child between 5-18 do an hour’s activity each day.

So why have the Beckham’s come in for such grief?

Why I think the Beckham’s have come in for particular criticism, is because of the nature of what their son was doing. If he’d posted a clip of himself having a running race with his friends everything would have been hunky-dory, but some people seem to think that children training in a gym or using gym equipment is inherently more risky or dangerous than other less formal exercise. But are these people right? Let’s see what do the experts say:

According to the world-renowned and more importantly well-respected American College of Sports Medicine, aerobic-type training such as rowing (as Cruz was doing) is not only perfectly acceptable, but should also be vigorously encouraged.

They don’t stop there though, they go even further by saying that strength training (lifting weights), which is often demonised when talking about training children, provided it is done sensibly and under supervision is also a sensible form of exercise for children too; and indeed, our very own NHS also agrees with this sentiment.

Aerobic and strength training

So, there you have it people, leading authorities in the world of health and fitness not only recommend aerobic training, but they are now recommending that children do some form strength training too, given that many of the tales you hear about its negative effects on the growing body have largely been debunked by the science!

But none of this is too revolutionary, if you think about it children have been informally strength training since time immemorial. Whether it be pulling up their entire body weight whilst climbing trees, or carrying the whole weight of another human being whilst playing piggy-backs; or even the more mundane task of carrying a heavy school bag laden with books and PE kit, children have forever inadvertently been strengthening their bodies!

In conclusion…

Exercise is good for children. Traditional aerobic type activities such as running, jumping, swimming, skipping are very beneficial to children and relatively inexpensive. However, if you have the inclination and the equipment don’t be put off from allowing your children to some strength training too. Provided it’s done sensibly it’s a great form of exercise!

And as for those ‘quick to type, slow to think’ type o’ people on social media, perhaps they should check out the facts and seek the advice of experts before giving their opinions. But then again if we can’t expect this from the President of the United States, who can we expect it from? 

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THE GORDON BROWN APPROACH TO WEIGHT LOSS

In recent months the agenda of the big three political parties has turned to how they are going to reduce the 'deficit'. In complete contrast to this, this article is all about how to PRODUCE a deficit…a calorie deficit that is, which is vital if your aim is to lose body fat.

Think of it as the Gordon Brown approach to weight loss. In the sense that he was responsible for creating the financial deficit which we find ourselves in.

This view, of course is largely dependent on your political persuasion. Those to the right will likely agree, those to the left will cite a global banking crisis as the cause of the deficit. For the sake of argument (and If I am being honest to give me a more attention catching headline) I am going to say that Gordon Brown was responsible for the deficit.

Doubtless there are some of you reading this that have read diet books which tell you that calories are not important, that you can lose weight without reducing the amount of calories you consume. Sorry to be the harbinger of bad news but this is simply not true. Granted there are many diets out there which do not blatantly ask you focus on calorie counting, but instead ask you to eat more or less of a certain type of food or ask you to not eat certain foods at certain times of the day, but these are  tricks. They are the David Blaine’s of the diet world.

In a roundabout way all of these diets lead you to consume less calories, hence the weight loss. This ‘tricking’ is not necessarily a bad thing especially when you think how hard it can be psychologically to lose weight. All I am saying is, essentially to lose fat you must use more calories than you consume and there are various ways we can do this.

CREATING THE DEFICIT

We know a fundamental part of any fat loss diet is creating a calorie deficit - we must use more calories than we consume. This can be done in three ways:

1.       You consume fewer calories (you eat less).

2.       You use more calories (you move and exercise more).

3.       You consume fewer calories (by eating less) and use more calories (by doing more physical work).

The most effective option being the 3^rd, as combing exercise along with a diet means you will not lose as much lean tissue as you would if you were to just solely diet alone. This will leave your body feeling and looking 'tighter'.

HOW TO CONSUME FEWER CALORIES

So how do we go about consuming fewer calories? Firstly you do not have to necessarily count every calorie you consume. You can if you like but you do not have to. Simply being mindful of your old eating habits and then altering them appropriately is often suffice to create a calorie deficit.

Below are some of the more popular, least intrusive and easy to follow methods which have worked with my clients. (Please be aware that the list is by no means exhaustive. There are a lot more scientific and accurate methods which I use with some clients to create a more accurate bespoke calorie deficit. For more information on this please drop me an email matt@mlrpt.co.uk).

·         USE A SMALLER PLATE. You do not have to change the types of food you are eating, merely because the plate is smaller, the portions are smaller hence fewer calories.

·         EAT WHEN HUNGRY, NOT STARVING. STOP WHEN FULL, NOT STUFFED. Once again you do not have to change what you are eating just stop eating before you are stuffed – do not be afraid to leave food on your plate.

·         EAT PROTEIN WITH EVERY MEAL. This will involve changing your food choices slightly but it will be worth it. Every time you eat try to include some lean protein in your meal. Protein leaves you feeling fuller for longer meaning less chance of hunger and cravings later in the day.

HOW TO USE MORE CALORIES

Granted, this is stating the obvious but one the easiest ways to burn more calories is to exercise and for my clients this involves training with me where I am able to motivate them; however alongside this I ask them to perform their own independent exercise. Below I am going to share with you some of the methods I have used with my clients to increase their physical activity levels when we are not training together.

·         GET A PEDOMETER. Get yourself a pedometer and record how far you normally walk each day for one week. In the second week try to increase the number steps you done in the previous week by 10%. Continue you this week by week until you get to 8000 – 10000 steps per day.

·         LAY DOWN THE ANCHOR. Get yourself an anchor point which will trigger you to do some physical activity/exercise. For example you may enjoy watching Coronation Street, in this scenario your anchor could be the commercial break. When the adverts start that will be your trigger to do 5 squats. Start small and get bigger, begin with 5 squats and build to 10, 15 until eventually your squatting for the entirety of the whole commercial break. As time goes on try to build in as many anchor points as you can in different parts of your life. For example every time you walk up your stairs at home perform 20 step ups! Sorry if you live in a bungalow!

·         ENTER THE LONDON MARATHON, THE MALDON MUD RUN OR WHATEVER. Well it does not have to be a marathon but enter yourself into some sort of exercise event, that way it will give your training some focus and hopefully motivate you to exercise.

DEALING WITH THE DEFICIT

We know that eating less and doing more creates a calorie deficit and much like the biggest issue facing any Chancellor of the Exchequer of the present or future…how are we going to deal with this deficit?

Ask anyone in society paying the bedroom tax and they will tell you dealing with the deficit is tough. And in many ways dealing with your own calorie deficit is going to be tough too!

At some point on your diet you will be hungry, for some people these feelings will very frequent for others less so, but at some point you will definitely feel hungry. After all a fat loss diet does involve consuming fewer calories than you are using!

THE CARROT OR CHOCOLATE TEST

It is at these times you have to decide whether you are hungry or just craving. One method I use for dealing with this is what I call the ‘Carrot or Chocolate Test’. When you are feeling hungry ask yourself this, could you eat a carrot? (Feel free to substitute the imaginary a carrot with any other vegetable of your choice) If you could eat the carrot you are obviously hungry and not craving, feel free to eat something making a sensible food choice. If you feel you could eat the chocolate but not the carrot you are more than likely just craving. You must do your best to deal with this craving by distracting your thoughts from it. These feelings can last around twenty minutes and ways getting rid of these cravings include reading, going for walk, brushing your teeth and a more novel way is to perhaps tap your forehead. Recently I read a research article on this which said it had some success and who knows it may work for you!

If you really cannot get rid of the cravings and absolutely have to succumb to them, do so but do it sensibly. If it’s a Mars bar your craving have a fun size bar not a normal size bar! But most importantly of all once you have treated yourself to the fun size Mars bar please, please, please do not think all is lost and jack in your diet completely. Once you ‘fall of the horse’ you must get back on straight away and as Marvin Gaye so succinctly put it, you must ‘keep on keeping on’.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this article. For a more individualised approach to fat loss please do not hesitate to get in touch.

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MATT, I’M LEAVING YOU!

Unfortunately, these words were all too familiar to me as youngster when I was playing the dating game; and luckily these words were not uttered to me by my good lady wife. But, unfortunately these words did come from a client of mine.

I’d been training this guy for just over a year and he’d made impressive improvements. Really impressive (see how I’m repeating a word from the end of the previous sentence in a very Trump-esque manner? Heck it worked for him it might work for me). This guy had lost considerable amounts of body fat, gained lots of strength and looked significantly more muscular. He’d also improved his cardiovascular fitness and flexibility to boot.

He decided it was time to leave because his progressed had slowed. Not stopped or even stagnated just merely slowed. He was insistent that his progress should continue unabated at the same rate as when he first began training. 

I tried in vain to explain to him that this was not possible but he was having none of it. So just like your average Angelina Jolie marriage we went our separate ways!

Now, if you’ll allow me a moment of indulgence, I’d like to share with you what I attempted to explain to him before we split.

NEWBIE GAINS...
When you begin a training for the first time, you make phenomenal improvements. Every session you lift heavier and heavier weights. You feel like Superman. Enthused with your progress you get the old calculator out and work out that if you continue along this path you’ll be on world’s strongest man come Christmas.

In preparation, you go out and buy a load of ‘Gold’s Gym’ vests, and even consider shaving your hair and getting a couple of tattoos. You’re cruising along in the fast lane of the hypertrophy highway packing on the muscle quicker than a Jamaican sprinter fails a drugs test, and then what happens?

Suddenly your progress slows and continues to slow. Soon your desires to be a strong man are quashed until eventually you settle on the more realistic and attainable goal of being the most muscular guy in the office!

OH, WHAT’S OCCURING… (as ‘Nessa would say)
You’ve been experiencing newbie gains, which are more pronounced if you truly are, as the Yanks would say, a rookie. (Sometimes, experienced weight lifters can get a similar, but not as conspicuous  an effect if they switch to a new training regime. This is known as ‘novelty effect’).

Whether you’re riding the larger ‘newbie gains’ wave or the slightly less impressive ‘novelty effect’ wave, one thing is for sure: no one can tell you, with certainty, how long it’ll last. Some people will continue improving at great rates for months on end, for others it may be just weeks.

One thing, however, is for certain, your progress will slow with time as you approach your genetic ceiling!

GENETIC CEILING...
You’re genetic ceiling is the point at which genetically you can’t make any further improvements. The closer you get to this, the slower your progress is. Think of it as being on one of those inflatable bungee run thingamajigs. At the start, as you begin running you make great progress but as you get closer to the end your progress slows considerably or even comes to a halt as the resistance on the bungee cord increases!

Take elite, Olympic weight lifters for example who are hovering around their genetic ceiling. Year on year, some of them would be ecstatic with a 1-2% improvement in performance as this could well lead to winning gold. For us mere mortals, nowhere near our genetic ceilings, investing a years’ worth of training to improve by 1-2% would seem very futile!

TAKE HOME MESSAGE…

In this unpredictable life we lead, we can seek solace from a few certainties. One is death, everyone will die (excluding ‘the immortal Hulk Hogan’ of course). Another is that your drunken uncle will make a tit of himself at your next family wedding.  And the final one is that when training for any length of time, your rate of progress will slow. If it didn’t there’d be loads of people strolling around looking ridiculously more muscular than your average steroid abuser already does!

It’s just one of those things we must accept. It’s a bit like watching Good Morning Britain. Most of us only tune-in to get a glimpse of the rather attractive Susannah Reid or the dashingly handsome Ben Sheppard, or even the other lady who was crap on ‘Strictly’, but we must accept that in the process we’ll probably have to put up with getting a glimpse of Piers Morgan too, it’s just one of those things!

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TO BOOK YOUR FREE TRIAL PERSONAL TRAINING SESSION, OR TO BOOK A PLACE AT MY BOOT CAMP CLASS, PLEASE DON’T HESITATE TO GET IN TOUCH.

 matt@mlrpt.co.uk                 www.mlrpt.co.uk                          07939316401 www.twitter.com/mlrpt      www.facebook.com/mlrpt        www.twitter.com/mlrpt

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