Biggest secrets to weight loss!

Ok so the title is a little misleading, but I had to get your attention somehow! Throughout the year I see posts from various people claiming to have the 'secret to weight loss', mostly through ridiculously overpriced, underwhelming supplements and fad diets. However with the masses making their new years resolutions to get fitter, leaner, and healthier,  the health gurus come out in force. Not only do we see a rise in self proclaimed fitness and weight loss experts, most multi level marketing schemes also decide to rear their ugly heads.

Want to lose weight, AND make money? 

Those ^^^ are the kind of questions that you see posted freely around various forms of social media, usually coupled with a ridiculous amount of emojis and exclamation marks. You know, just to really prove their point. I'd say 75% of people have the common sense to stay away from these kinds of posts. However there are always some pour souls that are sucked in by the false promises because they're either desperate and kidding themselves, or just unaware of how dieting works. 

There are plenty of fancy sounding supplements out there, most are complete with their own catchy slogan and promise of success. Pills, powders, diets, detoxes, you name it, its out there. Which leads me to this question..

When did dieting get so complicated?

I'll tell you when - right around the time that people realised that they could make money by exploiting the lack of widespread public knowledge of nutritional science. They realised that they could slap fancy labels on what is effectively a placebo, and people would buy it out of desperation. The fitness industry has become saturated with over-complicated diets, workouts and supplements. 

So how do we separate the right information from the lies? Tune in to my next post where I'll be revealing the three pillars of dieting success.

Until next time...

Alex

#TeamJBC

  

Now a JBC Ambassador!

Anyone that manages to catch any of my social media posts might have noticed that I've recently been taken on as a brand ambassador for JBC Nutrition. If you didn't know before, you do now! This means that I'll be representing the brand and promoting their products. It also means the following:

10% Off ALL JBC Nutrition Products (Excl. 3 for 2)

Use the code JBCALEX04 at checkout to claim discount

I'm really excited to have the chance to work with JBC because they're a brand that I've used religiously for a while, and therefore a brand that I actually believe in. All of the products that they stock are extremely high quality and lacking the price tag that you see from their competitors. I'd encourage everyone to give JBC Nutrition a try for their next supplement order. With 10% discount on already low prices, what do you have to lose? 

If you're anything like me then you probably hear the name of a supplement company that you've never heard of before, and you're a little hesitant. The majority of people already have their own trusted supplement company and are always reluctant to try something new. For that reason I welcome any questions whatsoever about the brand, and will of course answer any questions on the supplements with complete honesty. After all, it's no good lying, and trying to sell poor quality supplements to people for three reasons: 

1. Poor customer satisfaction and therefore poor feedback and reviews
2. No repeat business
3. No recommendations to others

If you're wary of coming directly to me for honest feedback on JBC products, then not to worry. I'll be doing a series of posts on here reviewing their key products, starting with my personal favourite - JBC Iso Whey protein powder. 

If you'd like to contact me regarding this post, or just in general, then you can find me on social media using the buttons below. 

  

Until next time...

Alex

#TeamJBC

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 

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