Who hates cardio? Sample workouts inside!

I do. Out of all of the forms of exercise, cardiovascular training has to be my least favourite. It makes minutes feel like hours and repeating the same movement over and over for 30-60 minutes is extremely tedious. Give me a few sets of heavy deadlifts or squats over a 5 mile run or 10 mile cycle any day of the week.

Yet I still force myself into a few cardio sessions per week to supplement my training. Why? The answer is simple:. I.LOVE.FOOD. Unfortunately, this love for food means that I have to increase my training to achieve a satisfactory calorie deficit for weight loss. Weightlifting will always be my preferred form of training, after all - more muscle mass means that more calories are needed to maintain. However, its pretty inevitable that after a while of dieting, your weight loss will begin to plateau and maybe grind to a halt. At that point, you have a few options:

1. Decrease calories further. However maybe you've already done that, and you don't think its a good idea to drop any more.
2. Reverse diet/take a diet break - Just like it says on the tin, this either involves gradually increasing your calories over time until you're back at maintenance levels, or just taking a few weeks away from your diet. Obviously this would still involve trying to eat right and gauging how many calories you're eating a day. This option generally isn't a favourite for people unless they're already pretty lean.
3. ADD CARDIO - If you're already weight training (which in my opinion, you should be) then its probably not a good idea to keep piling on the volume as this could lead to injury. However adding cardio as a different form of burning calories will be lower impact and can be added comfortably to a weightlifting routine.

So now we've covered the 'why' of adding cardio to your routine (apart from the fact that some people love it), lets explore the 'how'. That might sound like an obvious thing to cover, but when most people think of cardio they think of endless running or rowing, countless hours on the exercise bike or cross trainer. It doesn't have to be like that.

To quote healthstatus.com:

"Cardio exercise is any exercise that raises your heart rate"

That can be achieved in a number of ways. A lot of pro bodybuilders will opt for LISS (Low intensity steady state) cardio when prepping for competitions as they believe it prevents muscle breakdown and is more suited to their goals. However you'll find that people like crossfitters will wholeheartedly embrace a HIIT (High intensity interval training) style approach.

Whether you want to opt for HIIT or LISS is up to you. Would you rather spend an hour on a treadmill or bike at a slow but steady pace, or spend 20 minutes on the same piece of equipment at varying speeds and intensities? I used the treadmill and bike as an example here, but there are countless ways in which you can perform HIIT or LISS cardio. Personally I'll opt for a HIIT approach 90% of the time, and add an LISS workout in very occasionally, because that's what works for me. I'll also try to keep traditional forms of cardio to a minimum, and I'm always looking for new ways to mix up what would otherwise be mind numbingly tedious workouts.

So as promised, here are a few of my favourite cardio workouts!

Workout 1 - High intensity

400m Run

Barbell thrusters (40kg RX) x 15 Reps

Burpees x 10

Pull ups x 5

5 rounds

The aim for this one is to have as little rest as possible!

Workout 2 - Tabata (High intensity)

4 minutes - 10 seconds off, 20 seconds on (Perform each exercise for 4 mins before moving on)

Double unders

Burpees

Kettlebell swings

Jump Squats

Press ups

Workout 3 - Metabolic conditioning

Run 400m

50 pull ups

Run 400m

50 push ups

Run 400m

50 sit ups

Run 400m

50 squats

Try and keep a decent pace, but don't go all out at the beginning and gas yourself out!

Workout 4 - High intensity

2K row (as fast as possible)

Workout 5 - High intensity

21-15-9 Reps

Burpees

Kettlebell Swing (24kg RX)

This should take 5 minutes or less if performed at the right pace, and will catch you by surprise!

Workout 6 - High Intensity

10 Power snatches

10 OH Squats

10 Deficit push ups

100m sprint

5 rounds

Workout 7- High intensity

10 burpees

10 box jumps

10 kettlebell swings

200m run

5 rounds

Workout 8 - Steady state

Skipping - 10 minutes

Spinning - 10 minutes

Rowing - 10 minutes

So there you have it, a few of my favourite cardio workouts, or as I like to refer to them - the lesser evils. Try them out and tweet me/hit me up on Instagram to let me know how you get on! 

  

Stop Taking Pictures of Your Damn Smoothies

Just stop it. Stop pretending you are actually ‘Totally loving this new kale, wheatgrass and Syrian refugee tears smoothie!’ You’re not. You hate it and you hate yourself. You hate everyone else who’s posting this stuff too. It tastes like arse. It looks like a 70 year old vegan named Cyril threw up in a glass and farted on it for good measure.
Stop taking pictures of yourself at the gym and stop the candid shots of your Sunday morning runs as well. This is painful. You don’t live in California no matter how much you wish you did.
I don’t know how you’ve all done this but you’ve managed to take the noble and pure pursuit of health and fitness and turn it into your own personal vanity kick. It’s become an echo chamber of people with poor self esteem looking for self approval from people they hate or don’t care about. The only reason your doing this is because it’s currently popular with the social media generation and will get likes. The worst part is that whenever you see other people sharing these photos, even though you ‘like’ them the only thing going through your head is how much of a tool you think they are. Everyone who sees your photos is thinking the exact same thing as you do when you see their photos.
But deep down you know this. You know how everyone, even people involved in this, hate it. You know that social media is a festering pit of vanity, narcissism, petty jealousy and low cunning. It’s a clique of American High School girls from all those rubbish films and shows who all hate each other and are in a never ending competition with one and other. You are part of that clique. You are actively participating. But you ignore it. You pretend you’re not a hypocrite. You tell yourself that you really are in this for the health and fitness benefits and it’s everyone else who is being shallow. Of course it’s all a lie, because every time you share a picture and it doesn’t get the requisite number of likes a pit opens in your stomach and you feel like it was all for nothing. And then you see that your friend, who you hate as well, called Olivia shared a picture of her organic, free range, vintage Herbalife InstaFitShake and got 37 likes on it. You look at the picture. How was it different to mine? Maybe it was the caption? Maybe it was the filter? What time did she upload it? Is that a rustic oak table that glass is on? Maybe she’s just prettier than me. You base your next picture around the one she did in the hope your likes will go up.
See as much as you won’t admit it this all has nothing to do with you suddenly developing a deep interest in your own health and fitness. Frankly if it was you’d be going about the whole thing completely different. This is a modern fad and one that’s very popular. It’s the one the ‘in’ people are doing and you always wanted to be one of them. You’re in your 20’s now and you still have the mentality of a high schooler. This has less to do with you wanting to feel better and more to do with you wanting to look better.
You see it’s completely empty. If this was only about fitness why would you post the whole thing onto facebook and instagram? Why did you feel the need to let everyone know you had poached eggs and avocado for breakfast? You people think you invented avocados. The avocado will be outlive all of us.
The fact is if you wanted to just be healthy and fit you wouldn’t try and take any shortcuts. These supplements, detox pills and 4 week fitness plans? 95% malarkey designed to take your money. You know it too, just like you know those pop up ads telling you that you can make $2437 a day is bull. You know you can’t trick the body into good health. You know the only real long term solution is a balanced, healthy diet and frequent exercise. But this isn’t about genuine results. It’s about looking the part. It’s about your self esteem, which has already been hollowed out by your unhealthy obsession with social media. And now of course you’re trying to claw it all back from the very same thing.
This is the biggest irony, because this behaviour isn’t healthy at all. Your pursuit of health of the body has led to a deterioration of the health of the mind and the health of your own self perception. Your building the new foundations for your self esteem on quick sand and as the weight piles on you will inevitably only sink deeper.
By all means, try and become healthier and fitter, but please – for the love of god – stop posting pictures of your damn smoothies.

Shane Lees

https://shanelees94.wordpress.com  

Finding Information in the Fitness Industry

The fitness industry is a large and at many times, confusing place. Finding information on the industry is actually pretty easy, but finding well researched, well backed and reputable information can be a very tricky task. So many people are quick to buy into wonder supplements, diet schemes, and other fads. This is because they're simply being told what they want to hear, and what they wish would be true. The reality of the matter is that none of it is actually true. People will buy in to these 'wonder' schemes and supplements, give it their all for a few weeks, see no results and then give up. Alternatively, they'll try the aforementioned schemes and supplements, throw themselves into a huge caloric deficit, see results up to a point and then give up because they think that they're done. Once they do that, the weight piles back on and they're back to square one, or even worse.

The sad truth is that there's a lot of bad information in the industry, mostly created to make money for people. However, there are a lot of amazing sources of information out there, you just have to know where to look.

How do I find these sources?

I'll be honest - a lot of it is down to trial and error. You'll find some people who you believe to be reputable but somewhere along the line you'll realise that what they're saying doesn't work for you. However it just takes one really reputable source for you to get the ball rolling. Once you find them then they will point you to other great sources. Before you know it, you'll be surrounding yourself with people that are aligned with yourself, and that help you to reach your goals.

I went down the route of social media. I checked out trends and really looked in to the people that were being recommended - the majority of which were personal trainers, and had been reviewed by clients. I also looked at people that had been recommended by brands/companies that sponsored them. Now I'm definitely not saying that just because someone has been recommended and sponsored by a brand you should immediately listen to everything that they say without question. Some professionals will recommend that you eat a completely 'clean' diet (make of that what you will). Some will recommend that you control portions, some will recommend flexible dieting. If they have had proven success with their methods and rave reviews, then there would be no reason for you to question it. However reputation and knowledge are only half the battle when it comes to obtaining the right information for you. 

Once you've found a collection of sources that are tried, tested and trusted then its time to find the right source for you to focus on. This part isn't a question of who has the most qualifications or the biggest success rate. This is simply a question of who seems the best aligned with your views, who's style you most relate to. Who has the most personable and engaging approach in your opinion. At the end of the day, you could follow the advice of someone with multiple PHDs, hundreds of success stories and a killer physique. However, if their approach doesn't appeal to you, or you don't find them to be engaging or easy to relate to then it just won't motivate you and you probably won't see the success that their clients do. 

I'll use myself as an example to explain a little better. I'm not the kind of person that finds it easy to cut out my favourite foods, to eat huge amounts of chicken, broccoli, brown rice, mackerel etc, or to eat plain and frankly boring meals. I tried following the advice of a lot of fit pros and self proclaimed 'experts'. I threw myself into 'clean eating', restricted the foods that I loved, lost a little weight, became miserable and put it back on again. I went through various periods of eating whatever I wanted as long as the fit pros proclaimed it as 'healthy food'. This didn't work for me. I had no motivation and I wasn't making great progress. 

I decided to look elsewhere and when browsing Instagram, I came across Nick Cheadle. For anyone not familiar with him, there's a link to his page at the bottom. Nick is in phenomenal shape, has great reviews from clients and best of all - he's an advocate of flexible dieting. His approach to dieting involves an open approach - no need to restrict certain foods as long as they're eaten in the right quantities to satisfy your individual needs. This was the perfect approach for me and after some trial and error, I found it to be the optimum approach  - not only in terms of reaching my goals, but in terms of the best plan for my personality and preferences. 

Through Nick I've found some great sources regarding both information and motivation and I'll drop a few names at the end. They may not necessarily work for you - but you never know until you take a look at their pages and understand their approaches. Find the sources that are reputable and that work for you as an individual - that's the key to success. 

If you've got any questions about this piece, or you're interested in writing for Muscle & Macros, then contact me through the social media links below.

  

Nick Cheadle - http://nickcheadlefitness.com/

Mike Samuels - www.healthylivingheavylifting.com

Diet Schemes Series #2 - Herbalife

Herbalife - What's it all about?

Let's start with the basics. Herbalife markets itself as "Scientifically designed with your success in mind." It then goes on to state:

Herbalife's innovative products have been developed by scientists and nutritionists with your personal wellness goals in mind. And while Herbalife's nature-inspired formulas are designed to put a lifetime of well-being within reach, the promise of the business opportunity also makes your financial success a rewarding possibility!

So what does this tell us?

In essence we're being told that not only can the products produced by Herbalife make a difference to someone's health and well-being, they also offer the opportunity for people to join as a business venture and be financially successful. Who wouldn't want all of that? 

The Products

Herbalife offer a large range of products to contribute to a healthier you. From a quick glance, they offer the following verticals - 

• Weight management
• Energy & Fitness
• Targeted nutrition
• Personal care

In the interest of being thorough, I'll go through all of these categories individually. 

Weight management

The first thing that struck me after hitting this page was their main video for their 'meal replacement products'. It proclaims that "Substituting two daily meals of an energy restricted diet with a meal replacement like F1 helps weight loss". So basically they're saying that being in a calorie deficit helps weight loss - in this respect they're bang on the money. For anyone that's read my Flexible Dieting article, you'll know that weight loss is a numbers game - you simply have to burn more calories than you consume. With this in mind, where would the benefit be from substituting two meals for shakes or energy bars if you're already in a calorie deficit? I'd argue that an actual meal (as long as it has good micro and macro nutrient content in) would be much better in terms of satiety than a 500ml shake or 60g meal replacement bar. If you're already in a calorie deficit then what does it matter? However, some people may feel like they're being more 'hardcore' and that they'll get to their goals quicker by replacing meals with shakes. It's a fairly narrow minded way to look at things, but each to their own. 

As for the products themselves, its hard to find a macronutrient profile for them. I took a look at the F1 shake and found a few things out. 

• They contain 18g of soy protein per 220kcal serving - First of all, there's an ongoing debate as to the effectiveness of soy protein within a diet. If you trawl through the internet, you can find various articles arguing for and against soy protein. Interestingly, this article suggests that Whey Protein is more effective for fat loss than soy protein - http://jn.nutrition.org/content/141/8/1489.short. - The debate is still ongoing but personally I've always preferred whey. Now, on to the nutrient content. 18g of protein contributes to the 220 overall calories for an F1 shake, which means that protein accounts for 72 calories out of 220 - leaving 148 to be allocated to fat and carbohydrates. Unfortunately this isn't specified by Herbalife, which causes me concern.
• Proclaimed as a 'Healthy alternative' to a high calorie meal - interesting choice of words here, Herbalife. How would it compare against a low calorie meal? 
• Quote - "Underpinned by science: Clinical studies show that daily use of meal replacement shakes as part of a calorie restricted diet is proven effective for managing weight, along with moderate exercise." - Clinical studies have also shown that calorie restricted diets are effective for managing weight, without the need for meal replacement shakes. Note that they don't reference these studies. 
• Quote: " helps you to control your calorie intake whilst also providing essential vitamins and minerals, with carbohydrate and protein" How does it help to control a calorie intake? I'd argue that vitamins and minerals, along with carbs and protein could be just as readily accessed through eating the right foods and supplementing with a good multivitamin.

So basically their flagship weight management shake is a 220kcal soy protein shake without a macronutrient profile but with the promise of 18g of protein and "vitamins and minerals".

How does it compare to other products?

Simple - it doesn't. Let's take a look at the protein powder that I use from JBC Nutrition for example. In a 226kcal serving it provides 48g of protein (hydrolysed, whey), 2.8g of fat and 10.6g of carbs (8g of which are dietary fibre). Herbalife's F1 shake practically pales in comparison. Surely if you were to want to substitute one of your meals for a shake, then you'd pick JBC Iso Whey over Herbalife F1 due to far superior macronutrient profile. It also contains a good amount of BCAAs which F1 doesn't even make reference to.

                             

Energy & Fitness

This range consists of three products - 

• Liftoff Lime - Quoted as "a caffeinated low calorie, effervescent energy drink. Caffeine helps to increase alertness and improve concentration." - Essentially that's a berocca (or cheaper equivalent) with caffeine. Also great for hangovers.
• H30 Pro - "a carbohydrate-electrolyte drink, designed to be taken before, during or after exercise." - After looking through the ingredients and the purpose, it basically translates as Lucozade sport. 
• N.R.G tablets -"NRG tablets contain caffeine from guarana to help support alertness and helps reduce the feeling of mental fatigue." - Essentially its pro plus with guarana, or a low cal energy drink. 

To me, this is a very lacklustre attempt at being 'innovative' as Herbalife claim to be. The products are very basic, which in one way is good - they use tried and tested ingredients such as carbohydrates, caffeine and guarana to draw energy from. There's a reason that they're so widely used in the fitness industry today. So although they aren't innovative products, I have to tip my hat to Herbalife on this one for keeping things simple and going with what works. However, I'd also like to note that they're lacking a stronger product from the range, something more along the lines of a pre workout like Ignite from Icon Nutrition or Gold Standard from Optimum Nutrition. Shame that none contain creatine or beta alanine.

Targeted Nutrition

This range essentially contains a lot of multivitamin supplements, and a couple of fibre supplements. The products are all pretty similar and I'd argue that there are probably cheaper options in terms of multivitamins and some of the micronutrients offered such as ones contained in their Roseguard supplement are probably a touch of overkill. All in all, a pretty basic range, just packaged cleverly. 

Personal Care

I'm going to brush over this as they're mostly beauty products, but from a glance they look rather the same as any other beauty product name. 

The Conclusion

Herbalife is now bringing a lot of products to the market, and despite a clearly effective marketing campaign style, their products don't really bring a lot to the table. The company itself promotes a calorie restriction and meal replacement shakes as a lifestyle. As I said earlier in the article, there's no need for both of these. A calorie deficit will always result in weight loss, there's no need to make yourself miserable by replacing the food that you can fit into your deficit with shakes and bars. To find out more about a way of eating the foods you love whilst losing weight, click here. As for the products themselves, they're pretty poor in comparison to what's already available on the market (see reference to Herbalife F1 vs JBC Iso Whey) and the quality of the ingredients is questionable. Its also a cause for concern when the full ingredient list isn't readily available on the website. You'll find that most (if not all) supplement companies will have a full ingredient list to accompany each product. Firstly it establishes trust through full disclosure, and ensures that you're not buying a product containing ingredients that you might be allergic to. Herbalife don't even discuss whether there are any allergens in their products or disclose allergen information. In my opinion, this is another cause for concern  - what do they have to hide? They claim to have products containing amazing nutrients, but fail to mention what these nutrients might be - so do we just take their word for it?

I've also seen a lot regarding the Herbalife 24 range. Most have probably seen or heard of this. Unfortunately it seems to have fooled a lot of people through their main endorsement. This range is endorsed by Cristiano Ronaldo, and as he's one of the best footballers in the world, anything that he endorses must be amazing - right? WRONG. Endorsements mean nothing - all they mean is that the individual in question is getting paid a lot to be seen with the brand. For example - David Beckham was the face of Pepsi - does that mean that you should go out and buy/consume gallons of it? No, not unless you have an unnatural love for it.

Would I recommend Herbalife to anyone? Definitely not. They do offer some good products such as their energy & fitness range, but the truth is that you could quite easily find cheaper (and just as effective) alternatives in a variety of brands. If you want to lose weight then just stay in a calorie deficit (see more about that here), and if you feel that you'd like to replace a meal with a shake or bar, then take a look around the market for a good quality product (E.g JBC Iso Whey) rather than buying in to a multi level marketing scheme with below par products. 

On a final note - This article hasn't been designed to upset or offend anyone - its simply my own opinion coupled with factual research. If you'd like to get in touch with me to discuss more, or you're interested in writing for Muscle & Macros, follow the links below.

  

Thanks for reading

Alex

Falling in love with Fitness

As both a player and fan of rugby, the last few weeks have been an exceedingly exciting period for me, thanks to the World Cup. Living in Cardiff has let me experience the tournament up close and personal, due to both the Millennium Stadium, which has hosted several games, and the fan zone, located in Cardiff Arms Park next door, where games are broadcast live on large movie screens.

                                

Not only is this world cup, as is every other, a fantastic advert for the sport in so-called first-tier nations, it is, for the first time, a real showcase of the second tier teams. Japan's impressive and surprising win against South Africa helped set the tone for a fantastic tournament for many teams that had been written off before the World Cup even began. Georgia recorded a surprise win against Tonga, and their captain, Mamuka Gorgodze, was named man of the match against the All Blacks, the second time he received the award this tournament. Argentina, a team that fairly recently became a first tier nation has reached the quarter finals, defeating Ireland last week in Cardiff


Sadly, all has not been positive, and this year’s World Cup has seen its fair share of controversy. Discrepancies in ban severity between first and second tier teams has been highlighted as a concern, as have the comments, and involvement, of ex-players, particularly in their criticisms of the England coaching set up, and early exit from the Cup. Despite this, and despite my own team, Wales, being knocked out by South Africa, I have remained in high spirits and have now switched my full allegiance to my country of birth. My second team, like that of most people, is the mighty All Blacks, current world champions, and, if the crushing defeat of France is anything to go by, world champions for the next four years as well.

Having been born and raised in New Zealand, you might be forgiven for thinking that my sports career has consisted of nothing but Rugby. Strangely though, I never played for my school or a club until I moved to the UK when I was thirteen. Up until then my sport had been Field Hockey, which I was very good at. But, by fourteen, in a country that expected me to be a rugby player based on my accent, I had switched to my current love of the oval ball, and I’ve not looked back since. Thus, While my primary sport has changed drastically, my basic love of athletics and hatred of distance running has remained constant: at school and at rugby I regularly come in last for anything over 1500 metres, yet in year 10 I won both the high jump and shot put on the same sports day, and placed within the top five in multiple other events.

                                    

Then, at some point between year 10 and 11 I sustained a major back injury that put me out of rugby for a year and has hampered my training ever since. A basic lack of core strength was possibly a cause of the injury and has certainly been enhanced because of it. While I am once more active and fit, my core and back remains a weakness: one I am, however, determined to defeat.

These days, my training consists of a combination of Rugby training (and sometimes fitness) sessions run by my club, coupled with personal gym work. The gym component of my fitness comprises of both weightlifting (which began as body building and now resembles power lifting) and body weight exercises- press ups, pull ups and box jumps, sometimes supplemented by a weighted vest. My fitness goals are currently to bulk and increase my max lifts, get visible abs, hit a 50inch box jump and seriously consider competing at a powerlifting meet.

Nat 

Interested in hearing more from Nat? Find him on social media:

It's time for a change!

Muscle & Macros is branching out!

After a bit of deliberation and a lot of planning, I've decided to open Muscle and Macros up a little bit. I've got a brand new writer joining me and we'll be looking at more topics than just standard health and fitness. However, I started this blog to document my weight loss journey and to document my experiences in the world of health and fitness so that will remain as the main topic for the blog - but hey, where's the harm in shaking things up a little bit? You can still expect more of the same kind of posts as before - stay tuned for my Herbalife article (that'll be dropping very soon) and the rest in the Weight Loss Schemes series. 

The newest addition to Muscle & Macros

Readers, I'd like to introduce you to Mr Nat Corbett. I've known Nat for a couple of years now, and until recently he was a colleague of mine. Similarly to me when I started the blog, Nat is currently studying for a Bachelors degree (History). He's really passionate about health, fitness and sport in general (especially rugby, but he'll tell you all about that). Due to this, he'll be writing about all things Rugby and fitness related, and I'm grateful to him for participating in the blog. His first post is going live tonight, and I have no doubt that you'll all enjoy it! 

As I mentioned in the beginning, I'm expanding this blog and opening it up to a wider variety of topics. If you've got something health and fitness/sport related, or even a completely random topic that you'd love to write about, then get in touch with me using the social media links below or drop a comment below this post and let's get you online! 

Alex

  

Diet Schemes Series #1 - Juice Plus

Hey everyone, I posted on social media not so long ago to inform you all that I'd be doing a series of pieces to take a closer look at the diet schemes that are present in the health and fitness industry today. Tonight's post is going to get up close and personal with Juice Plus.

What is Juice Plus?

On the official Juice Plus website, it describes itself as

"whole food based nutrition, including juice powder concentrates from 30 different fruits, vegetables and grains. Juice Plus+ helps bridge the gap between what you should eat and what you do eat every day. Not a multivitamin, medicine, treatment or cure for any disease, Juice Plus+ is made from quality ingredients carefully monitored from farm to capsule to provide natural nutrients your body needs to be at its best.

So what does that tell us? 

In all honesty, not a lot. It tells us that essentially all that the products contain are naturally occurring ingredients. Luckily, they have an 'Ingredients' page, which tells us that the ingredients are:

NUTRIENTS FROM FRUITS AND VEGETABLES - Under this title they explain that the products aren't a medicine, or a substitute for fruit and veg, and that they offer a wider variety of naturally occurring vitamins along with antioxidants and phytonutrients than 'traditional' vitamin supplements.

So let's break this paragraph down a little. They explain that all of the vitamins contained inside are naturally occurring and that you can't get them in a 'traditional' vitamin supplements. Firstly, if the ingredients are naturally occurring then what are the benefits of getting them from Juice plus products? The only benefit that I can see is that they're available in 'instant' form, rather than having to go out and buy/cook/eat the foods that contain them. Personally, if I'm offered the chance to get my nutrients from real, satiating food - you can be damn sure that I will. Some people may find that they feel 'healthier' or that they're a step ahead of everyone else because they're getting it in pill or powder form. Sorry guys, I don't think that's the case. Let's also take a look at the final point - they mention 'traditional' vitamin supplements. What does this mean? Does it mean older, less varied multivits? Or just the cheap, basic multivitamins on the market? Unfortunately I couldn't seem to find a full list of the vitamins that Juice Plus provides, but I'd argue that such products as Centrum and Opti-Men probably contain the same vitamins and minerals as Juice Plus products. The difference being that you don't have to cut out a meal to get these vitamins.

POWERFUL ANTIOXIDANTS RIGHT FROM THE SOURCE - Juice Plus actually calls on an academic article to provide the definition for 'antioxidants' (because everyone loves an officially cited study to back up their products). Here's what they say - "According to the National Cancer Institute, antioxidants are “substances that may protect cells from the damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals. Examples of antioxidants include beta-carotene, lycopene, vitamins C and E and other substances. Many of these antioxidant substances come from fruits and vegetables". Now, I'm pretty cynical when it comes to writing, so this sentence actually hit a nerve. Firstly they explain that their products contain powerful antioxidants. Then they back this up with a sentence saying that antioxidants MAY protect from free radicals. Free radicals have been indicated as possible contributors to cancerous cells. So by saying that Juice Plus uses antioxidants - are they indirectly stating that their products protect against cancer? That's for you to decide, like I said, I'm just cynical. FYI - Their sentence taken from the National cancer institute is also paraphrased - to read the actual statement, you can find it here - http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/diet/antioxidants-fact-sheet.

 Again, antioxidants are naturally occurring - so why not get them through food rather than buying various supplements to do so? The only place that its going to make a difference is your bank balance.

After I'd finished looking through the Juice Plus website, I decided that I needed to find some real customer reviews. Impartial and honest reviews. I managed to find a post on Facebook which detailed an actual conversation with a Juice Plus rep. The rep promises to provide Juice Plus shakes which can not only help with weight loss, but muscle building too. Now I'm no expert, but if that was possible, wouldn't the Mr Olympia contest be a hell of a lot easier to win? Anyway I digress, they state that the shakes should be taken for 16 weeks - two a day for 8 weeks, and then one a day for the last 8. This 16 week plan would be accompanied by a workout and diet plan (I'm guessing this would just be your standard cookie cutter plan) and would cost £130 in total. They then explicitly state that the products contain nutrients from fruit and veg to 'boost weight loss' and that coupling an exercise plan with their shakes will help them to build muscle. The potential client then enquires about the possibility of using the products with type-2 diabetes (for his father). To which the answer is "Definitely, the plan is perfect for type 2". The potential client then comes up with a bit of research of his own.

1. The products contain 23g of sugar from 4/5 different sources - 2 shakes would equal 46g of sugar daily. Sounds like a recipe for loss of life for a type-2 sufferer, not weight.

2. The protein inside contains a poor amino acid profile

3. It contains a variety of oils

He follows with this quote - "Fact is, people will lose weight due to a massive calorie deficit, the weight they lose will be largely water at first due to the lack of carbohydrates in the diet (carbs hold water) then a rapid catabolic state where the body will break down lean muscle tissue as it cannot produce protein. This will result in a slowing of the metabolism, a knock on effect of which will be the body releasing stress hormones to help promote fat storage (body reacts as if going into a famine). Females will reduce estrogen to promote fat stores around reproductive organs. When people go back to eating normally they will gain more weight due to metabolic damage."

Now that's someone else's words, not mine. He produces no scientific evidence to support this, although he does raise an interesting point. The Juice plus range promotes a very low calorie diet and diets with too much of a caloric deficit have been shown to have a detrimental effect on the human body. Here's an interesting article on that - http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ars.2010.3253

After seeing this frankly brutal destruction of a clearly clueless Juice Plus rep, I decided to look closer to home and had an enlightening conversation with a friend of mine who currently uses the products. We talked about which ones she uses (powders) and her thoughts on the range, plus how its working for her. She was under no illusions, she immediately stated that they're not wonder products and essentially they're meal replacement multivitamins. She had tried a variety of other ways of dieting and hadn't found them to be suited to her. She also told me that Juice Plus wasn't her idea of a long term solution, but it was working as a springboard into a healthier lifestyle. She's made some good progress, slimming down and dropping some weight, and feels great for it. However she's not really put this down to the products, its more attributed to the structure that the products bring and she's finding it easy to stick to. That's pretty hard to dispute.

The Conclusion

Juice plus ambiguously markets its products and could be seen to allude to them as a prevention tool for cancer. It markets products full of ingredients that could easily be incorporated into a well rounded diet and promotes an extremely low calorie diet (whether directly or indirectly) which has scientifically been proven to have adverse affects on human physiology and psychology (see article above). It also contains some questionable ingredients such as a high sugar content (due to fructose) and a poor source of protein (making for some protein heavy feces). There is also some concern to be raised around the credibility of some of the reps, who are clearly uneducated and freely make decisions that only a qualified professional should be able to make. However, the scheme has been shown to provide a structure to one's lifestyle - and anyone that has dieted successfully will know that the real key to achieving your goals is consistency. For this point, I can't really knock them.

My honest opinion?

Juice Plus is an extremely expensive way of getting basic nutrients (which could easily be provided by a good multivitamin). It promotes extreme calorie deficits which, when increased, will cause the user to gain weight quickly as their body tries to hang on to all of the calories that it has been missing. It could lead to yo-yo dieting and harm a person physically and psychologically in the long term. It clearly provides support for all of its users but why pay hundreds of pounds for a support structure that you could build yourself? There are hundreds of groups out there who support each other freely because that's what good natured human beings do. I'm lucky enough to be a part of Healthy Living, Heavy Lifting's free weight loss group on Facebook, and its home to some of the most supportive, well rounded and intelligent people that I've ever met. The best part about it? I receive great support, get to give great support and its all done for free. Don't waste your money on a company that gives you naturally occurring ingredients, employs reps without a clue and gives you support that you could get for free.

Awfully sorry if this post has offended everyone, but its my honest opinion. I'm not trying to offend everyone, and if Juice Plus works for you then that's great - personally I'm a much bigger fan of being able to make sustainable progress whilst eating Ben & Jerrys, but that's just me. If you want to hear more about that, then feel free to hit me up on social media:

Bodybuilding V Crossfit

This is a post that I've been sat on for a long time, not knowing which side to take (if any)/worrying about anyone that I might offend with it. However I think that its time to share it - if it offends you and you don't agree with it, that's cool, not everyone will. Just my point of view on things.

I see a lot of bad-mouthing from both crossfitters and bodybuilders, proclaiming that their way of exercising is the best and sometimes the only way to exercise. There's always arguments over who is the more functional and flexible, who is the strongest, fittest, fastest etc. You can find various parody videos, and a lot of trolling between the two sides all over the internet. This post is just going to take a look at both sides, and then I'll give you my opinion on the two.

Bodybuilding

At a basic level, bodybuilding is the use of resistance exercises to develop muscle. It can be both a pastime or applied to a competitive level, both amateur and professional. Regardless of the purpose, you'll find many a serious bodybuilder in the gym 5/6 times a week. Commonly, these guys will isolate areas of muscle and work them all once a week. There will also be elements of cardio thrown in there for those dieting. A typical week for this approach could be:

• Monday - Chest
• Tuesday - Back
• Wednesday - Arms
• Thursday - Shoulders
• Friday - Legs

There will more than likely be one or two abdominal sessions thrown into the mix on certain days, or the individual could just choose to incorporate a sixth session that would incorporate abs, cardio and maybe some isolation training for minor muscles. I say that this approach is common, but there are various approaches to bodybuilding such as a push/pull split, SMOLOV, and DUP. For anyone who currently applies a 5/6 day split to their training, and is bored and interested in these approaches, they'll be explained in another post. There also seems to be a stigma attached to bodybuilding, that any bodybuilders with especially large muscle mass are on steroids. This can be attributed to the fact that many competitive bodybuilders over the years have been found to be steroid users. Unfortunately, many people stereotype bodybuilders as steroid taking idiots - which couldn't be further from the truth in my opinion. 

Crossfit

Compared to bodybuilding, Crossfit is a particularly recent phenomenon. It was developed by Greg Glassman and Lauren Jenai back in 2000. It combines factors found in gymnastics, weightlifting, bodybuilding, strongman, plyometrics and calisthenics to produce a very different kind of workout. The structure for a typical session is usually as follows - 

1. Strength element - This usually involves performing a major lift such as back squat, clean, snatch, press, deadlift, or variants thereof. Rep and set ranges can vary at different stages of strength cycles. 
2. WOD (Workout of the day). - This can involve anything. Usually its a high intensity series of exercises combining various elements designed to burn as many calories as possible for conditioning. 

Some crossfit workouts are relatively easy, some take 5-10 minutes and leave you lying flat on your back wondering what just happened, others are a 30-60 minute slog that take determination and willpower to complete. Unfortunately, many of the stereotypes for crossfit include the fact that many crossfitters choose reps over form. Basically it means that the exercises performed are quick and not done properly, which can cause injury. There have been a few instances in which crossfitters have sustained serious injuries from weightlifting and they have been widely publicised. 

My Opinion

Having had much experience with both bodybuilding and crossfit, I can honestly say that I don't believe that either of them are better than each other. I believe that they both have great merits and that all of the negativity that you hear from either side is to be taken with a pinch of salt. Crossfit promotes 'functional fitness' and chastises bodybuilding for not being as functional. However if you break down most of the movements used in either sport, they are largely the same. There are some differing movements but they're few and far between and I guarantee that you could find at least one bodybuilder that uses them. With regard to the functionality and mobility arguments, these can both be addressed with a good daily stretching and mobility routine - which is something that can be incorporated into either approach. 

With regard to the argument that crossfit is dangerous and that the lifts are sloppy and out of control - this is true if the athletes are left unsupervised and aren't taught how to do them properly, it can also be down to the athlete being too lazy to complete the lift properly due to the intensity of the workout. I trained at Crossfit Aberystwyth (an official affiliate gym) for around a year and the notion of crossfit being dangerous was quashed in my time there. The coaches watched everyone closely to ensure that firstly the lifts were being performed properly, secondly that the weight was right for the individual and their rep ranges, and lastly that the repetitions weren't rushed or sloppy. Their job is to progress you and to ensure your safety at all times, in many ways it is a lot safer than bodybuilding on your own, where you don't have anyone to watch your form or call you out when you're being unsafe. Yes injuries have happened in the sport of crossfit, but bodybuilding has its fair share of injuries too - they are both dangerous if not done properly. 

As for my approach, I try to combine what I deem to be the best elements of crossfit and bodybuilding. I currently follow a DUP style approach (more on that soon), and add in isolation work as in bodybuilding, but I'll also set aside workouts for olympic lifting and high intensity varied routines. This approach works for me and I've found that it compliments my goals well - I'm getting leaner, and gaining strength and definition due to it. As for the argument that one is better than the other for making progress and getting in to a better shape - they both depend on how much you put into them and what your personal ideas of a 'better shape' are. For example - take a typical Mr Olympia physique e.g. Phil Heath's physique. The man is a mountain, his muscles are well developed and symmetrical - the key points of being a successful Olympia candidate. Then let's look at Rich Froning Jr. - This man has been at the pinnacle of Crossfit for a while, he is fit, fast, agile, strong and has unbelievable stamina. He may not be as symmetrical or have as much muscle as Phil Heath, but his physique allows him to compete at the highest level of his sport - exactly the same as Phil. In a nutshell, how do you compare two sports when they're geared towards completely differing end products? If you have no preference towards your own end product, where is the harm in combining the two, as long as its done safely? 

 

Anyway, they're just my thoughts on the two. If you liked this post please feel free to share it with people and feedback is always welcome. You can post a comment below or find me on social media -

Follow @Wrighty__

Thanks for reading!

Alex

Flexible Dieting: My Experience

Hey everyone,

First of all, I'm going to apologise again for my lack of posts - I shouldn't be letting this blog slip so much after having such great feedback. Although I don't have a great amount of time on my hands due to a busy work life and the series of books that I'm currently writing about my weight loss journey. The books will come in four parts: 

• My Journey, an overview
• Experiences with nutrition
• Training types
• Motivation 

Throughout the four books, I'll be sharing my experiences with regard to dieting. For those of you not in the know, three years ago I was over 21 stone and frankly its a wonder that it didn't really affect my health. After three years of hard training and trial and error, I have managed to reduce my weight significantly, dropping right down to 79kg before gaining more muscle and jumping to 90kg. This was by no means an easy feat and it took a lot of research. I experienced set backs along the way, but through some great sources I got the information and motivation that I needed to get myself back on track. 

Left (May 2012) - 135/140kg - Right (August 2015) - 87.5kg

What is Flexible Dieting?

Flexible dieting, or IIFYM as it is widely known, isn't a new concept. It has been present for a long time, but unfortunately in the past was discredited by most of the fitness industry; cast aside in favour of 'Bro-Science'. However, when you strip the concept down to the real definition, it isn't very different from the dieting protocols that various icons in the health and fitness industry have followed. 

On a base level, the concept of flexible dieting involves calculating an individual's daily calorie and macronutrient (protein, fat, carbohydrate) requirements through a series of calculations specific to the individual. The individual can then use a calorie counting app (MyFitnessPal seems to be the most preferred, it is definitely my app of choice) to keep track of the foods that they are consuming and the caloric properties of those foods. The individual is then free to consume any foods that they want, provided that they satisfy their calorie and macronutrient goals for the day. There are other targets that the person would be required to fulfil, but like I said - at base level this is the premise. I'll go in to these other requirements in a future post, so watch this space. 

How has Flexible Dieting helped me to get closer to my weight loss goal?

I discovered the concept of flexible dieting a while ago through various posts from Nick Cheadle Fitness, however at this point I was still of the mindset that chicken and broccoli was the best meal to 'torch fat'. Due to this, I ignored all of the great information that Nick was throwing out there and continued to eat the same boring, tasteless and frankly depressing food every day. After a while, I hit a plateau with regard to progress and gave up on 'clean eating'. After a few months of not watching my nutrition and causing detriment to my progress, I decided that it was time to seek help from someone who knew what they were doing - enter JV Fitness & Nutrition. Jason was really easy to approach and he took everything into account when designing a nutrition plan for me - the result was a detailed and well calculated approach to my nutrition. Through the plan he showed me that I didn't have to eat the same foods every day, and that there were ways to manipulate my diet such as carb cycling (stay tuned for this in a later post) to allow little treats on a weekly basis whilst still making progress. 

The plan that Jason detailed for me was only designed to last for around 4-6 weeks, however I was determined to diet for 12 weeks for the run-up to Christmas 2014 so I stretched that time limit to the maximum. In that 12 weeks I managed to get down to 79kg and retained the majority of my muscle mass. However after being in a calorie deficit for so long, I over-indulged at Christmas and set myself back a little. Once upon a time, this would have killed me - however at that point I was already in the mindset that setbacks don't matter in the big picture, as long as you keep pushing forward. After binging for so long and struggling to get back on to the diet that Jason gave me due to motivation and the chaotic nature of my life thanks to work and training; I decided to give flexible dieting a try, At that point I had nothing to lose and possibly everything to gain. I went about this by throwing myself into the mindset that flexible dieting was all about eating what I wanted and that |I could miss things out here and there on MyFitnessPal and that it was a rough guide. As a result, I put on weight and became demotivated. This made me to go back and try 'clean eating' again - which unsurprisingly made me miserable and made me binge after restricting myself so much. It was around this point that I'd seen a collaboration article between Nick Cheadle and Mike Samuels of Healthy Living, Heavy Lifting. Mike was another advocate of flexible dieting and after being recommended by Nick, I had to check his website out. After delving further into Nick and Mike's sites, I realised that the reason that flexible dieting hadn't worked for me previously was because I'd completely misunderstood the concept. Luckily there were masses of articles and resources available on their websites and social media channels for me to re-educate myself with. I also bought a copy of Mike's e-book series - The Foolproof No-fail Guide to Flexible Fat loss. Its no exaggeration when I say that these books completely changed my outlook and my approach to nutrition and I eagerly applied this new approach to my lifestyle. 

To cut an already long story a little shorter - Flexible dieting has allowed me to eat the foods that I love whilst still making progress, I never feel the need to binge as I'm always eating the foods that I want to eat (in moderation), I even manage to fit such things as an entire tub of ice cream, or even a large bar of chocolate into my weekly intake (Stay tuned for my next blog post to learn about how I do that). For these reasons alone, I'd argue that flexible dieting is the most sustainable approach that you can take to your nutrition. It caters for all goals and personally I would be very happy with using the protocols that I have learned from Nick and Mike for the rest of my life, could you say the same about your diet? If not, why not drop a comment at the bottom of this article and we can chat. 

That's all for now, I hope you've enjoyed reading this. Watch this space for more new content! If you want to check out any of the sources that I've named in this article then I've put a few links in there for you. Or you can check the guys out on social media - 

Nick Cheadle Fitness

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nickcheadlefitness

Instagram - @NickCheadleFitness

Healthy Living, Heavy Lifting

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HealthyLivingHeavyLifting

Instagram - @MikeHealthyLiving

JV Fitness & Nutrition

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JV-Fitness-Nutrition

Instagram - JV_Fitnutrition

Thanks for reading! 

Alex

Follow me on social media - 

Instagram - @Wrighty__

Twitter - @Wrighty__

Back in Business

Nutrition - What I've learned

Hey guys,

For those of you that are familiar with this blog and my previous posts: Welcome back. To those who are visiting this place for the first time: Hello! Its been a long time since I've posted anything and I've decided to change things up a little, some of you may notice that even the name has changed. If you read back on some of my earlier posts, you'll see that I zoned in on certain subjects and offered my opinion on them. Things are going to operate a little differently now, I'm just going to use this as a platform to share my experiences and hopefully the tips and tricks that I share will be useful to you guys in some way. So without further ado, lets get in to the post.

So since the last time I posted, I've been putting in the work and trying to get the best results from my regime with regards to both nutrition and training. I'm going to go through both of these areas in separate posts, and hopefully there's some information that you guys can take away with you.

This first post is going to focus on nutrition, because in my opinion it is the first factor that you need to consider if you're looking to alter your body composition; whether that be gaining weight or losing weight. I want to be clear with this, a lot of the knowledge and views that I have regarding nutrition come from a variety of sources. I'm going to make these guys clear before I continue, because they definitely deserve a lot of credit and I everyone can benefit from what they have to say on a day to day basis. So, in no particular order, here's the list -

• Nick Cheadle (Of Nick Cheadle fitness) - Here's his site - Nick Cheadle Fitness
• Jason Vaughan (Of JV Fitness) - Here's his site - JV Fitness
• Mike Samuels (Of Healthy Living, Healthy Lifting) - Healthy Living, Healthy Lifting
• Bec Chambers  - Here's her Instagram account

Now that the right people have been included, let's get stuck in to the details. Anyone that knows me will know that for the last 3 years, I've been trying to lose fat and to build a body that I'm more comfortable with. To do this I've had to completely change my approach to nutrition, and its been a long and difficult road to get to where I am today. 

I started out in my efforts by believing that Carbohydrates and fat were the enemy, and that it was important to eat mostly protein each day. I found myself living off chicken and broccoli, and then binging regularly because my diet sucked. After this I moved on to a stage where I started to eat anything that I considered healthy (chicken, tuna, oats, rice, pasta, fruit etc.) and in theory I was on the right track. However, I had no comprehension of how to measure these foods, and convinced myself that it was good practice to just eat these foods in whatever quantities that I pleased and that the result would be fat loss. This continued for a long time, although after a while I decided to significantly reduce the amount that I was eating/increase my training and it began to work. I'd eat the exact same meals every day of the week, and a lot of the time I'd be going hungry. I convinced myself that I was doing the right thing because I was starting to see changes in my body. 

This continued for a while, until my weight stopped decreasing and I hit a plateau. So it was of course time for me to explore the world of 'wonder supplements' 'super foods and smoothies' and general quick fixes. First of all I went for what I now see as the lazy option and tried fat burning tablets, its important for me at this point to tell you all that I also began to eat less whilst taking this supplement. Due to my extra caloric deficit I began to lose weight; but due to the fat burners I had less of an appetite, and extra energy due to the high caffeine content that usually comes with those kinds of supplements. Basically, over the course of two years, my diet had no structure and I relied on fat burners and cutting out carbohydrates. So I'd like to move on to how I tackled this.

I started out by getting in touch with Jason Vaughan (see the link to his site above), and he tailored a nutrition plan for me that completely revolutionised the way I approached eating. I ditched the fat burners and the fads, and set out on the nutrition plan that he created. I can't emphasise enough how much this plan helped me, and how much it helped me to change my body composition. I combined it with a good training plan (which I'll go in to in my next post) and the weight just dropped off me. I later found out that I was eating between 2500 and 3000 calories a day, and the best part was that Jason made sure that I had different choices of meals every day. So if you're interested in hiring a coach, then I'd fully recommend Jason.

This continued until one day I had the fortune to stumble upon Nick Cheadle's Instagram page (which you should all definitely check out). Nick's approach to nutrition centres around IIFYM (If it fits your macros), also known as flexible dieting. The basic premise behind this approach is that as long as the food that you consume in a day fits inside your daily allowance of calories, protein, fat and carbohydrates (I'll refer to them from now on as macros/macronutrients), you will progress towards your goal. It goes without saying that everyone's intake levels will differ due to a multitude of factors, including their goals (weight loss/gain etc). So in essence, you can eat whatever foods you want (in moderation) as long as it fits inside your daily macros then you'll progress. 

However, you can't just rely on a generic set of numbers for your Macronutrients, your numbers will depend on a variety of factors, which brings me on to my next point. There are many sources out there that will help you to work out your macros, but I've found that the most effective are Nick Cheadle, and Mike Samuels (see link to his site above). Nick operates a free blog on his website which contains a multitude of posts about training and nutrition, including a post about how to work out your macros. Mike has a very reasonably priced (and great value for money) ebook  - Flexible Fat Loss - In this book he shows you exactly how to work out your macros and explains a lot about nutrition and the things to remember when dieting. Both Nick and Mike also outline the general rules for flexible dieting such as sufficient water and fibre intakes to suit your goals. 

I've been properly flexible dieting for around a month now, and I'm noticing some real changes in my body. Basically I'm losing weight and retaining muscle, whilst still enjoying my favourite foods in moderation (like Ben and Jerrys ice cream). The key driving force behind flexible dieting is sustainability, which is a message that you'll see consistently from Nick Cheadle, Mike Samuels and Bec Chambers. Ladies, If you're looking for motivation I'd definitely recommend Bec, her philosophy towards training and nutrition is an extremely positive and intelligent one, and I guarantee that you will all be able to relate to the issues that she discusses on her page. 

So to wrap up, after trying a multitude of different fad diets, supplements, and low calorie diets; I found flexible dieting. It has allowed me to completely take control of my nutrition and enjoy the foods that I love whilst working towards my goals (though I do still hold some hope to be part of Team NCF one day). I'd recommend visiting the sites that I've mentioned to all of you, even if you're not currently interested in being able to eat ice cream and donuts and still lose weight because you've adopted a sustainable and happy relationship with food. After all, knowledge is power.

If you've made it to this point in the blog without me boring you, then thank you very much for reading this and for visiting the page. Please feel free to explore some of the older posts, I'm sure some will generate some laughs, and I apologise for any bro science that has slipped in there. You can also keep up with me in the following places - 

Instagram 

Twitter

Email

Failing that, leave a comment in the box below and I'll get back to you. Any feedback is always appreciated. 

Make sure you catch my next post on my experiences with training routines and how to build your own effective workouts.

Until next time,

Alex