Enjoy Exercise Responsibly This NEW YEAR!

Over the years life has certainly got physically easier, an obvious example is shopping. My grandparent’s generation were used to shopping on the high street going in to many different shops to get their groceries.  My parent’s generation had it easier by doing their shopping all under one roof in a supermarket and nowadays it seems many of my generation feel personally affronted if they have to actually go to the shops, opting to do it all online instead.

WHY ARE YOU BANGING ON ABOUT SHOPPING I HEAR YOU CRY?

Well the point I am getting at is that over the years we have become increasingly used to absolving ourselves of many of our basic responsibilities, instead opting to get others to do stuff for us, and getting someone else to do our shopping is just the tip of the iceberg! Heck, remember back to doing your homework in your school days. I’m sure like me you’d have spent many an hour in the library, nowadays you don’t even have to do that, all you have to do is look on your phone and all of the answers are there in seconds – no hassle, no fuss, no effort!

YOU ONLY TRAIN FOR 1 HOUR PER DAY, WHAT YOU GONNA DO WITH THE OTHER 23?

Now in the New Year in your quest to lose weight I’m sure many of you will begin a new exercise regime, for some of you this will involve joining a gym, for others it may involve using the services of personal trainer. Whatever method you choose do not absolve yourself of your responsibilities. Training (whether in a gym or with a personal trainer) will only take up one hour of the day, you’re still responsible for how much you eat and how much activity you do in the other 23 hours!

During my career, luckily, I’ve only had a few clients who’ve struggled to lose fat, but the one thing they had in common was that they absolved themselves of their responsibilities. During our sessions together they would train hard and have lots of fun but away from the training they would never stick to the physical activity and calorie-reducing nutrition targets we had agreed together.

SHERLOCK HOLMES!

 

They’d often come to me bemoaning the fact that that had done loads of physical activity and really reduced the amount of food they had eaten yet had still not lost any weight.  It didn’t take Sherlock Holmes to work out that they weren’t being entirely truthful! After all if you use more calories than you consume, you will, overtime lose fat as the body starts to use its fat stores as energy.  In short these clients of mine were massively over estimating how many calories they burnt each day and massively underestimating how many calories they consumed, which incidentally is a common theme among individuals who struggle to lose weight.

IF THIS WEREN’T THE CASE NO-ONE WOULD EVER DIE OF STARVATION!

Now please bear in mind here that weight-loss is not linear. If you’re definitely in a calorie deficit (you are using more calories than you are consuming) you will definitely start to lose weight, now you might not lose weight at the same rate each week but over time you will definitely lose weight, there are no two ways about it.  Heck if this didn’t happen (and please don’t think I’m being flippant about the subject) no one would ever die of hunger and starvation.

LOSE FAT, NOT MUSCLE

 

Lastly when it comes to weight loss what you should actually try to do is lose fat and maintain your muscle mass. How you do this is to reduce your calories appropriately whilst maintaining a relatively high protein intake and combine this with resistance training.

If you would like more detailed advice about how to set your appropriate calorie intake or help with designing a balanced resistance training please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

Good luck with your training!

 

Matt

www.mlrpt.co.uk   www.twitter.com/mlrpt   www.facebook.com/mlrpt   www.youtuce.com/mlrpt

 

 

 

WHY ARE SOME SPORTS COACHES LIKE TEENAGE BOYS ON A FIRST DATE?

I was listening to the radio this morning and they were discussing the reported bust up between a fitness coach and a premier league footballer Andros Townsend row, the assistant presenter (an ex-international sportsman) recalled a time when he was forced to do a weight training session (despite his protestations) just days before a match because if not he would have been dropped for the forthcoming game. The said ex-international went on to bemoan the fact that some fitness coaches do stuff just to justify their very existence.

 

And this got me thinking…

How many other people involved in sport (coaches, sports scientists, personal trainers, strength and conditioning coaches etc.) do and say ‘stuff’ just to justify their very existence?

Unfortunately, in my experience quite a few!

Sport is big business, generating lots of money. Unsurprisingly with all this money sloshing around other supporting industries have grown up alongside and of course many of these influences have been beneficial. Improvements in nutrition and physical conditioning are testament to this.

PARALYSIS BY ANALYSIS

Sport is of course a very competitive environment and squeezing out every last drop performance potential is important. But is this systematic, scientific approach to improving performance causing some of the performers to suffer from what I term paralysis by analysis.

Now do not get me wrong I am big fan of science in sport, heck I’m a sports science graduate myself and many of you will be aware that I am a huge fan of research led training. (In fact I despair at how social media posts of people performing crazy training stunts seemingly trump scientific research when it comes to informing the general public of the sensible way to train). But is this rigid scientific approach to sport having unintended consequences?

 

HAPPY ENGLAND CRICKETERS  

Recently I’ve heard ex-England cricketers praise the new management team for their decreased reliance on men with clip-boards analysing every tiny detail of the players’ performance and preparation, and how this has increased the general mood and happiness amongst the players.

This got me thinking of my own experiences with talented young sports people.

 

On numerous occasions I’ve had youngsters come to me feeling worried and anxious about the feedback given by a coach or sports scientists. Desperate to act on this feedback the youngster then sets about completely dismantling his/her training programme (which has helped them become the success they are) to work on a tiny flaw in their technique which in all honesty has very little effect in their performance in the first place!

LIKE A TEENAGE BOY ON A FIRST DATE

I don’t necessarily blame the coach or sports scientist for this, often they will only see a given youngster once in a blue moon and just like a teenage boy on his first date feels under enormous pressure to fill the inevitable moments of silence with idle chit chat, sometimes the sports scientist or coach feeling under pressure to improve performance can find something, anything to critique so that they can justify their position and wages.

 

 

 

I’m certain these people offer their advice in good faith and do so with the best of intentions but sometimes they need to give a little thought to the repercussions of their advice. If they find a flaw, which if corrected will improve performance, most certainly inform the youngster. But if it’s a tiny flaw that will have little or no effect, rather than burdening the youngster with worry, perhaps its better left unsaid and instead allow the youngster to focus on the fundamentals their training!

For much more detailed training advice please do not hesitate to BOOK A FREE TRIAL SESSION or pop along to one of my exercise classes, held every Saturday morning 9.00am at Baddow Rec, Chelmsford.

Many thanks for reading,

Matt

matt@mlrpt.co.uk                                                 www.mlrpt.co.uk                                        07939316401

  

THE 3 BIG SPEED TRAINING MISTAKES

Let me start off by saying I have been developing the speed of young athletes for many years now and during that time have been privileged enough to work with some very talented and committed individuals from the academy sides of many premier league football clubs.

The three most common mistakes I have witnessed during this time are highlighted below (in no particular order). To be honest I have a whole load more I coulda, woulda, shoulda included but I wanted to keep the article quite light hearted and not too technical. With that in mind please enjoy and if you have any further queries please do hesitate to get in touch.

 

1.  NOT ALLOWING ENOUGH RECOVERY TIME BETWEEN ACTIVITIES.
All too often I see coaches asking their athletes to perform repetition after repetition of sprints safe in the knowledge that practice makes perfect. The sad truth is performing lots of repeated sprints will not improve speed at all as the body needs time to recover between runs. If the body does not have adequate recovery time waste products begin to accumulate and the session soon descends into a conditioning session as opposed to a speed session. As a rough guide (and I do stress this a rough guide) I work on a work: rest ratio of 1:5 or 1:6. So if a particular drill takes 5 seconds to complete, the athlete will then have a rest of at least 30 seconds or so (if not longer) before performing again.

 

2. THE OVERUSE OR OVER EMPHASISE ON SPEED LADDERS.
Now do not get me wrong I do use speed ladders regularly and they have proved very successful particularly at improving running technique and also at cutting down on ground contact time (the length of time each foot is in contact with the ground for). But my biggest bugbear comes when I see coaches spending too much focusing on drills which bear more relevance to the river dance than any sporting movement.  Not only that, if the ladders are too long they can actual distort natural stride length. Have a look next time you see someone using a speed ladder,  by time they are nearing the end of it having built up plenty of momentum they actually end up cutting the stride length so that in fits within the spaces of the ladder and looks like they are stuttering as opposed to anything akin to running. To combat these issues I keep most of my ladder drills pretty basic and do not get caught up in getting my athletes to perform fancy drills. I also use a range of different length ladders with many being just 4, 5 or 6 rungs in length.

 

3. FOCUSING ON LEAD LEG QUICKNESS.
I often hear coaches telling their athletes to get their feet down quick, which seems to make perfect sense. After all we want to be moving fast; and it is a cue I use myself from time to time if I see an athlete spending too much time ‘in the air’. However it can make some athletes 'wheel spin', in that their feet are 'turning over' really quickly but they are not actually moving any real distance. To counter act this I ask my athletes to lift the knee of their lead leg just a little higher (whilst leaning forward)  so that the stance leg or back leg reaches triple extension (a straight leg) or at least somewhere closer to it.

Oh, I know I did say 3 but I thought I'd slip in a fourth, and perhaps its the biggest mistake of all...

4. EXPECTING YOUNG ATHLETES TO BECOME SUPERSTAR ATHLETES.
From time to time some coaches expect their athletes to become Olympic and world champions. Heck for that to happen they'd probably have to be on drugs. (Note that I included the word probably in the previous sentence just to ward off any possible legal action from the ever-decreasing number of current or former Olympic and world championships who have not, either failed a drug test or been implicated in a drug scandal). But seriously though expecting massive improvements in speed is a recipe for disaster. Yes speed training, if done correctly will boost performance but it won't make a slow athlete a world beater, yes it will make them faster, a lot faster but it won't make them the next Ussain Bolt!


Thanks for reading,

Matt.

TRENDY HIPSTERS AND THE FITNESS INDUSTRY

So what exactly does the fitness industry and trendy hipsters have in common?

The answer is simple - a seemingly insatiable apetite for all things new...

Hipsters love to be at the cutting edge of fashion and music, wearing the coolest of clothes and listening to the newest music. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard a hipster say something along the lines of ‘Oh I used to love that song before it became too popular’ (as a slight aside, why on earth your liking of something is dependent upon the number of other people who do or don’t is beyond me).  Or you hear them say ‘Oh that song is so old, I was listening to that three months ago’ (as if somehow a song is like a perishable product diminishing in quality over time!

And if you think about it, the fitness industry is the same...
There are no end of new products being launched, all claiming to revolutionise the way we exercise. Allied to this are the countless number of individuals claiming to be exercise and nutrition ‘guru’s’ each with the newest, secret formula to make you fit and healthy provided you follow their unique training programme (oh and pay a lot of money for the privilege of course).

And Just like the trendy hipster, who, in his quest to be newer and cooler than his friends puts on the latest, trendiest clothes always fails to ask himself one simple, one vital, one all important question:  does he actually good? The fitness industry (especially the consumer) does exactly the same in not asking the one simple, one vital, one all important question: do these fitness products actually work?

And when I mean work, I mean actually look for independent research which verifies the claims being made. Don’t be fooled by celebrity endorsements, hell they’d say anything for a couple of quid, look at Peter Andre, are you telling me he shops at Iceland! And don’t be fooled by clever looking scientific studies highlighted on products either, delve a little deeper and you’ll likely find the study was funded by the people who actually make the product in the first place!

If you are new to exercise, don’t get caught up in trying to find the perfect plan for you, most of the time spent procrastinating is wasted time. Keep things simple, try to do some form of cardiovascular exercise, running, cycling swimming etc. whichever is the most enjoyable or of course the most bearable! And combine this with some resistance training using heavyish weights.

For much more detailed advice please do not hesitate to get in touch.

If you enjoyed this article, please check out these articles too:

ALTERNATIVE FACTS OF THE FITNESS INDUSTRY

10 EASY STEPS TO BECOMING A CLEAN EATING GURU

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!

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SLEEP YOURSELF THIN

Well, sort of! It is not so much that the more you sleep, the more weight you lose. It is more a case of if you are not getting enough sleep, you are more likely to put weight on.

Think about it, if you've had a really late night and the following day you're extremely tired at work, you're more likely to reach for a fizzy drink and a bar of chocolate for that much needed quick burst of energy rather than opt for some water and a piece of fruit. Come the evening you're so 'cream-crackered' you don't do any exercise, and because you're energy levels are lower than a sausage dogs belly, you reach for something highly processed to eat rather than preparing yourself a decent meal.

So exactly how does this lack of sleep affect our ability to lose weight?

Researchers are not exactly sure, but much of the science points to a lack of sleep affecting some of the body’s hormones, in particular leptin and ghrelin which are responsible for controlling our appetites. Ghrelin is the ‘go’ hormone which tells us when to eat. When we do not get enough sleep we produce more of it. Leptin, on the other hand is the ‘stop’ hormone that signals for us to stop eating. When we do not get enough sleep our bodies produce less of it.

In short, more ghrelin plus less leptin makes it harder to control your appetite which almost certainly leads to weight gain. And some studies have shown that sleep-deprived individuals can chomp through an extra 600 extra calories per day!

Incidentally. the good people over at Harvard School of Public Health have also reported that weight gain due to lack of sleep could also possibly be caused by a number of other factors too, such as:

Giving people more time to eat. It seems glaringly obvious but the more time spent awake gives you more opportunity to eat.

Prompting people to choose less healthy diets. One study found that those who are sleep deprived are more likely to eat out, have irregular meal patterns and snack more.

Decreasing physical activity. Some studies have shown that sleep deprived people spend more time watching TV and less time being physically active than people who get enough sleep.

Lowering body temperature. Sleep deprived people tend to see a drop in their body temperatures which could possibly lead to decreased energy expenditure.

So how much sleep should we be getting?

Most experts agree that on average we need about seven and a half hours of quality sleep per night. If you are not getting enough there is plenty of information out there on how you can improve your sleep habits; and I urge you give the advice on the NHS website a whirl first, but if you are still really struggling the lovely people at examine.com have compiled a list of supplements which may help too.

If you are getting enough sleep already, please be aware that an extra two hours sleep per night will not make you lose half a stone, but if you are a four or five hour per night sleeper and you start sleeping for seven to eight hours, you may well start seeing the weight dropping off!

In conclusion…

Despite there being many weird and wonderful diets out there and the seemingly endless number of food supplement companies producing pills which will make you slim, sensible diet and sensible exercise regimes are proven methods of achieving weight loss. It therefore seems sensible to conclude that these regimes would be more difficult to adhere to if you are not getting enough sleep.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

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

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WHY I HATE CELEBRITY FITNESS DVDs

There is little doubt that we live in a celebrity obsessed world, the popularity of the ‘characters’ from reality TV shows is testament to this.  As is the huge numbers of people who follow them on social media and are seemingly more intent on watching them live their lives rather than live their own!

 

In line with this growing celebrity obsession has been the rise of the celebrity fitness DVD.

Now please do not get me wrong I am not against these DVDs per se. In many ways I am quite positive towards them. After all, they provide people with an exercise routine that can be performed at home with very little equipment, thus breaking down some of the barriers which prevent people from exercising (expensive gym membership and expensive equipment). So in that sense they are great. They are also short in length which fits in with most people’s lifestyles and often expertly taught by excellent personal trainers.

So, all good there then.

He's normally so positive, what’s he complaining about I hear you say.

Well…my major complaint concerns the way in which they are marketed, especially the DVD covers. I appreciate they have to be eye catching but more often than not they are damn right deceitful.

Many show a ‘before’ and ‘after’ shot of a particular celebrity with the ‘before’ shot being taken of the unsuspecting celebrity in an unflattering pose, normally wearing a bikini whilst relaxing on their summer holidays. And surprise, surprise the ‘after’ shot is taken in a professional studio, using the best lighting with the celebrity adopting the most flattering pose possible, and hey presto giving the impression of the most incredible fat loss imaginable.

And another thing... 

Another bugbear of mine is the intonation that the celebrities have solely followed the exercise programmes on the DVD to help them achieve their new svelte-like body. To the trained eye it is glaringly obvious that they have obviously undergone some form of additional training for a sustained period, almost certainly performed under the supervision of a knowledgeable personal trainer!

Oh, and another thing... 

And finally my last complaint is the misinformed views of the viewer. I often hear people say ‘oh celebrity X has the most a-maz-ing body, just look at her on the front of the DVD'. Now I have already spoken about the magic of the camera and how, given the right lighting and the correct pose (and dare I mention airbrushing?) can all combine to give the impression of the most dramatic body transformation!

But what must also be made clear is that the celebrities are not (to coin a phrase used in boxing) ‘walking around’ at that weight all year round as people often think.

Much like a boxer preparing to lose weight for an upcoming bout, so does the celebrity in preparation for filming the DVD; and I am sure with the pressure they are under to look ‘good’ some these weight loss methods will be extreme and unsustainable (unlike the nutrition advice given on the DVD itself!)

And once again, much like a boxer puts on weight after a fight, you can bet your bottom dollar so does the celebrity once filming has finished!

So what’s my point?

Use celebrity fitness DVD’s as a tool to motivate you to exercise in the comfort of your own home, they are great for this, but do not be surprised if your ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos are not so impressive!

Thanks for reading.

Matt

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

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IF YOU HAVEN'T GOT SOMETHING WORTHWHILE TO SAY DON'T SAY ANYHING AT ALL

Sorry that I have not blogged for a while, I’ve a mild form of writers block! The reason being I haven’t had anything new or worthwhile saying when it came to the latest developments in the fitness industry. 

 

Similar to what your parents used to tell you ‘if you haven’t got something nice to say, don’t say anything at all’. I have followed this advice but switched the ‘nice’ to ‘worthwhile’. Unfortunately this same advice is not followed by many of the journalist who contribute to fitness magazines.

It seems every month there is a new and exciting training regime which is guaranteed to boost your physique within weeks. If you have the time or inclination, do a quick google search of fitness magazine front covers. You will soon see there are endless headlines guaranteeing you bigger biceps or a 6-pack within weeks and logic tells us they can’t all be right!

 

Simply speaking, these magazines have a vested interest in hyping up a particular training regime, after all if they didn’t they’d have nothing to put in their magazine and therefore no one would buy it. So in effect their livelihoods depend on creating a buzz around these training programmes.

And these articles are not falling on deaf ears! I have lost count of the number clients that have come to me asking my opinion on such programmes which have seen a Hollywood A-lister go from skinny to beef cake within weeks ready for their latest role in an action movie. My reply is always the same: there are numerous ways to reach the same destination and just because that said celebrity went through a supposedly gruesome training regime he may well have got their anyway with a more conservative, less fancy regime.  (Oh and the use of performance enhancing drugs may well have helped him too).

What I am trying to get at is don’t always believe what you read in the magazines, remember these magazines have a financial interest in hyping different training regimes. Choose a regime that works for you and stick with it. After all by the time you keep flitting from one regime to another you will likely find that you would have benefitted from sticking with the first one and just tweaking it slightly rather than constantly changing. After all consistency is often the key when it comes to exercise improvement!

For sound, balanced fitness advice please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Thanks for reading.

Matt.

www.mlrpt.co.uk            

matt@mlrpt.co.uk

07939 316 401

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Dieting is like riding a bike – you have to expect to fall off every now and again!

If you started your New Year diet and exercise regime with all of the enthusiasm of a 4 year old boy in a soft play centre the chances in recent weeks you have struggled to keep up with this new lifestyle of yours and reverted back to the old you!

 

So why do so many diets fail?

Trying to remain on a diet is like learning to ride a bike – You’ve got to expect to fall off from time to time! And unfortunately the more extreme the diet or exercise regime for that matter, the more often you fall of.

 

So if you have been following some sort of fad or extreme diet since the New Year and fallen off too many times that you have given up, now is the time to get back on that bike and a begin a more sensible diet.

For many people diets which prohibit particular food groups or require you to semi-starve yourself for X amount of days per week are just too hard to follow for any real length of time. They either restrict your food choices so much that you are constantly craving that forbidden food or they leave you feeling too hungry too often.

So rather than trying to cycle the equivalent of the tour de France with an extreme diet and training regime just make a few changes that will make it less likely that you fall of that diet bike again.

For example, the single most important factor when it comes to weight loss is calorie restriction. This does not have to be done by following a fancy diet, it can simply be done cutting down on your portion sizes through serving your food on a smaller plate!

If you’ve been following an extreme high intensity interval training DVD and found it so hard that you have injured yourself or been left so exhausted that you simply cannot bring yourself to continue with it any more, remember it does not have to be this way. People often ask me what is the best form of exercise and invariably by common response is ‘it depends’. At this point I could baffle you with various pieces scientific research to support various training methods but I am not. The ‘it depends’ simply refers to it depends on what the individual enjoys doing. Find something you enjoy doing which gets your heart rate up and make a commitment to keep doing as often as you can.

In short…

Diet and exercise should not be like a form of extreme religion which guides your whole life. It should be viewed as something that compliments you but does not define you! So choose a diet and method of exercise which can fit in with your lifestyle with the minimum of fuss this way you are more likely to stick to it for the long haul not just a few weeks of the year when you are feeling highly motivated.

Thanks for reading.

For any training advice please feel free to drop me an email matt@mlrpt.co.uk

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