Monday 25 February 2013

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas

Take a gamble on how bad your workout destroys you with the completely unpredictable 'deck of cards workout!'

In order to progress, workouts should constantly be challenging and sometimes even unpredictable. Your body is a clever machine and will adapt to a stimulus faster than Charlie Sheen can say "winning" after doing 3 consecutive lines of coke. Try the deck of cards workout once in a while to really shock the system....



This is the protocol applied to a fat loss/metabolic circuit workout, but it could also apply to a strength or hypertrophy workout too. First off, pick 4 exercises and assign them to a suit. For example:

Spades - battle rope drills
Clubs - kettlebell swing
Hearts - mountain climbers
Diamonds - medicine ball slam

Pick a card at random and add a zero onto the end of the number you get, that's how many seconds you'll perform that exercise for. 
For example if I picked a 4 of diamonds that would equate to 40 seconds of medicine ball slams. Rest 60 secs then pick another card at random. It's worth noting I use an ace as 30 seconds and a jack, queen and king as 60 seconds. I also like to put 2 jokers in the pack as well. A joker means 20 seconds on each exercise, no rest in between! Can you see how unpredictable these workouts could get?!

Have fun.....

Monday 11 February 2013

Don't fear fat

If you eat fat your going to get fat right?...wrong! 

In fact in some cases it can be quite the opposite, eating fat could make you thinner.

I think it's mainly down to media hype that this misconception of eating fat is bad and makes you fat has come about. Unfortunately it has become such an accepted fact amongst the general public. This should not be confused, fat will not make you fat, in fact you need good quality (aka smart) fats in your diet in order to build muscle and burn body fat. It also plays a number of important roles within the body including energy expenditure, vitamin storage and the production of optimal testosterone levels. 

With that said, some fats should be avoided at all costs. Hydrogenated and trans fats found in crisps, cakes, sweets and biscuits etc. should be eliminated from your diet as these are bad for you and will kill your muscle building/fat loss efforts. Fats that are encouraged to be eaten are monounsaturated fats and omega 3's. These are found in foods such as almonds, salmon, avocado and olive oil. It's worth noting fat contains 9kcal per gram, making them an excellent addition to your diet if your aiming to gain some size and get some extra calories in your body. Eating omega 3's with your meals provides beneficial effects that regulate your blood sugar levels - perfect for fat loss!


Remember - don't eliminate fat, just be smart over the types your eating.