Munich Personal Trainer

Chasing the pain

2010-09-21T04:58:00.000-07:00

When it comes to chronic injuries a good rule is 'dont chase the pain'. Had a client today who again highlighted this point coming in with knee pain. Turned out that one of her glutes was not doing its job (was very weak compared to its partner) and creating a big hip imbalance causing her to favour one leg more and th...at knee to undergo more stress than it wanted to. The real culprit though was the hip flexor which when gets too tight switches off the butt - and then the hamstrings and lower back muscles (making up the rear chain muscles) need to pick up the load (got chronic tight hamies? - might be from your hip flexors). For those interested check out the work of Thomas Myers - below is an article explaining this topic and the body's connectedness further http://www.facebook.com/3Dpersonaltraining

Outdoor Training in Munich

2010-09-20T00:31:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day in Munich! Looking forward to getting outdoors and training clients in the English Garden today. Kettlebells and my TRX are two of the best tools when it comes to outdoor training.

Here's a quick sample workout:

Warm up - 5 minutes light jogging

Dynamic Stretching - 4x Sun salutations

Main Circuit:

1. Pull ups with TRX

2. Single leg squats with TRX

3. Push ups

4. Walking lunges (farmers walk) with kettlebells

Rest 2 mins and repeat
Interval Training

10 round of 20 Swings with 1 minute rest between each round

Stretch those problem areas - statically or using contract/relax - foam roll if available too.
Enjoy!

5 Sensational Flat Stomach Secrets...

2010-06-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

1. Chill out! Stress of any kind - emotional, physical, nutritional or mental - results in high stress hormone (cortisol) levels. Cortisol stores fat around your middle, ruining any chances of seeing a toned tummy anytime soon. The remedy: aim to be asleep by 10:30pm, and make sure you get some regular quiet time – yoga and meditation are both great, the herb Rhodiola Rosea can also help

2. Keep exercise regular, short, and hard. Long duration exercise isn’t just ineffective, it also releases more stress hormones into your blood. Keep your workouts short, high intensity, and resistance exercise based

3. To crunch or not to crunch? You’ve probably already got a six pack, it’s just hiding. Pumping 100 sit ups out every day is only going to give you bad posture and back pain later in life, but won’t burn fat around your middle. Leave them out, or see our FREE Sexy Stomach Workout on how to incorporate them properly

4. Great Abs Are Made In The Kitchen: Hidden intolerances and yeast (candida) overgrowth can cause abdominal inflammation and bloating. Following our 21 Day Elimination Diet, killing the sugar and starchy carbs, taking prebiotics, a high strength probiotic, and some kyolic garlic extract, can all work wonders

5.Get our FREE Sexy Stomach Workout now!

Here's to your new, lovely lookin' flat stomach!

Spartan Workout

2010-01-10T11:26:00.000-08:00

Want to test your level of conditioning? I was recently sent this Spartan inspired workout from a fellow trainer that I have slightly modified. Note - not for beginners:

To be completed as quick as possible with an aim to do it under 20 minutes.

25 Pullups
50 Deadlifts (50% bodyweight)
50 Pushups
50 Box jumps
50 Floor swipes
50 Cleans (50% bodyweight)
25 Overhead Presses (50% bodyweight)

Good luck - let me know how you go?

Look, Feel and Perform Better: The 21 Day Elimination Diet

2009-12-29T04:48:00.000-08:00

Christmas has passed - how did you fare? Gained some weight? Feel a bit bloated? Low energy? Then perhaps it is time (after New Years) to have a clean out. Check out our 3D Personal Training article on our solultion to the post Xmas, New Years period. Enjoy!

A time comes in everybody’s life when we feel the need to give our body and mind a proper treat - a break away from the toxic and intolerance triggering foods which line much of our supermarket shelves. A proper treat which gives us a new feeling energy and vitality, a better body, and improved performance.

If you’ve ever promised yourself you’d do the right thing ‘sometime’ in the future, and now is that time, read on…

Why should you be on this diet?

If you want to lose (or gain) weight, change your body shape, feel full of energy and vitality again, or find that you fall ill more often than others, have a specific health complaint or just feel like you’re not firing on all cylinders – this diet is for you.

The 3D Personal Training elimination diet is different to other diets – even other elimination diets you might have seen or tried.

That’s because it’s built on an incredible foundation: over 10 years of nutrition and health research, over 10 years of practical testing on ourselves, and once confirmed as beneficial, with our clients.

During those 10 years we’ve assessed a lot of dietary programmes, ranging from those you see written by ‘experts’ to those featured on tv chat shows, to some less popular regimes that didn’t have the gimmicks needed to make the news.

Yes, we admit we spent far too much time in the health section of our local bookstore on sunny afternoons. We’re also very guilty of spending too much time in public libraries searching for hard to find and out of print textbooks, manuscripts, magazines, newspaper articles and scientific journals.

At home we ignored calls from our friends so that we could study website after website and the latest clinical study data, and we admit we have built our own extensive private library of health, fitness and nutrition books. Whichever way it’s been sliced, diced, cooked or sprouted, we’ve been there.

The literature we read has come from medical doctors, naturopaths, osteopaths, nutritionists, nutritional therapists, endocrinologists, oncologists, herbalists, immunologists, consultant cardiologists, biochemists, gastroenterologists, specialists in Chinese medicine, more than one Nobel Prize winner and some of the finest lifestyle and sports coaches in the world today.

You name it, we’ve read it and tested it.

And boy did we test: high protein-low fat, low protein-high carb, low carb-high fat, high protein-high fat, high carb-high fat, calorie counting, green food only diets, anti-fungal, liquid only, food weighing, food combining, vegetarian, vegan, high fibre, raw food only, macrobiotic, celebrity and pretty much every other variety in between.

Every one of them made AMAZING! claims, backed up by fantastic testimonials and some extremely plausible scientific rationale.

But how effective were they? Many of them got short term results, some didn’t do your long term health any favours, and most resulted in a weight gain rebound shortly after finishing.

It’s easy to see that if you went on a ‘raw fresh green pea’ diet and ate nothing but raw fresh green peas for 3 weeks, it’d have some effect, weight loss for one! If you were counting calories peas would be right near the top of your list! I’d also be putting fewer toxins into my body and that would probably feel good too.

But a few weeks would be about it. Then, no matter how determined I was to shed that extra pound or two, my body would start losing the plot. And that’s just dangerous as well as ineffective long term.

Of course, I’d drop weight like you’ve never seen before, but the rebound would be horrible. And several of your internal organs would be pretty unhappy with you too.

Some people take the needle-in-a-haystack approach, trying every diet going in the hope that they’ll find one that really works. But again, this hit and miss approach rarely yields long term results, and can lead to years of frustration and yo-yo dieting.

All this dieting will probably leave you with a firm belief that the problem ultimately lies somewhere within you – lack of willpower, bad genes – you know how it works.

Most diets out there are clearly designed as quick fix band aids to what are often long term health or weight issues with underlying causes. They’re not designed to provide a response to these issues, but will give you very short term results followed by an inevitable rebound. So why do them?

The next time you’re looking for a dietary program, you should try one that really does work, not just for weight loss or muscle gain, but for energy, vitality, and general outstanding health across the board. And you stand a good chance of saying goodbye to a lot of long standing or chronic health issues too.

In short, this is a diet we designed for real humans with goals and problems that need a real response.

So what is an elimination diet?

Right about now you’re probably thinking that a diet that delivers so many real results must be ridiculously complicated.

But sometimes the best things in life are just so simple.

An elimination diet isn’t complicated, in fact the reason they’ve remained relatively undiscovered is because they lack marketable ‘gadgets’ or newsworthy controversy, or a new flashy ‘concept’.

Sadly, you’d think that results alone would make front page news, but since there’s no money to be made out of something so simple, nobody seems very much interested. Plain old boring results just don’t seem to sell magazines, newspapers, books or dvd’s these days.

There’s really not that much for people to make a big fuss over. This diet just works quietly, simply, and delivers unbelievable results by sticking to just two really simple rules:

1. We eliminate everything we’ve found your body doesn’t recognise as food – substances that are toxic, irritating, or steal your energy and vitality. These are highlighted in red throughout the plan

2. We ensure that only whole, nutrient rich, unprocessed and unrefined foods that work with your body by supporting it on every level, are eaten

That’s it! No silly calorie counting, weighing, or any of the other ridiculous things those other diets ask you to do.

It’s not rocket science but it’s so far removed from most people’s daily dietary intake that the results of following such a simple set of principles can be incredible.

Why the 3D Personal Training 21 Day Elimination Diet is so good

There are elimination diets and elimination diets.

If you take a moment or two to look at some other, very popular elimination diets out there you’ll see a lot of things on their list that we, and some of the leading authorities on nutrition, don’t count as food; for instance regular soy (tofu, beancurd).

You see, we’ve really done our homework. We’ve been busy searching and researching to find the latest and most up to date results, as well as looking at the common allergies and intolerances we see when testing our own clients.

Not only that, we made it easy for you to use, too.

And while we’re giving it away FREE, we wouldn’t want you thinking we gave our elimination diet any less then 100%. We’re just not the type of people to do anything half-heartedly.

This is how it works:

For the first 14 days (phase I) you eat what’s on the list – this eliminates everything most people’s bodies will have a problem with, and you might be shocked at what made our list – for instance we decided to dump lots of toxins and heavy metals in our rivers and seas and so many types of fish, which are notorious for accumulating them, are out.

Plenty of other things are in though – and most of what we include can be found in your average store or supermarket.

During the final 7 days (phase 2) you re-introduce certain types of food to gauge whether your body says yes or no to that food – basically whether it’s food to your body or not. If not, well you know what to do.

Simple, isn’t it?

Tough love…

Another thing that high profile diets seem to love telling us is that there’s just no pain involved in following them, they’re so easy that, wow(!) - not only will you get results and look AMAZING(!) forever but you’ll feel great and have fun(!) during the whole process, and you can have cheat days, chocolate days and so on – you’ve seen them too.

The trouble is it’s not true. You know the truth – it’s just that most of the time you’d rather not admit it because life’s easier that way.

We want to be brutally honest with you: with our elimination diet there is only one option and that is to commit to it 100%. There are no excuses, no half measures, no cheat days, no bits of chocolate here or something else there. The effort and commitment you put in will be rewarded.

If this isn’t you, and you don’t really want results but just want something to make you feel you’ve tried (again), stop reading now.

Really - we’d prefer if you found another diet to follow. There are plenty out there, and you can always come back when you really want to do something that works no matter how tough. We’re not judging you, but that’s the way it is with our diet.

We just don’t want to set you up for failure by pretending this is for everyone.

To get real results at anything you need to try hard, be honest with yourself, be committed, and be organised.

You know it’s true, so do we.

What you can expect

Another truth of our times is that you’re probably addicted to one or more foods (like sugar or caffeine or additives) and are also carrying around with you a toxic load, as well as a bunch of parasites and fungi.

That’s why eating even small amounts of banned foods will interfere with your body’s natural healing process, and why this has to be a 100% in or out thing.

Instead of dealing with whatever processed, additive laden food you normally throw at it, your body is going to have some freedom – and it’s going to use that freedom to get rid of some toxins. When that process kicks in, you’re going to know about it. The first few days, especially, can be quite hard.

That can make you feel pretty bad. On top of that all of your addictions, parasites and fungi are going to start screaming: I WANT SOME SUGAR-CAFFEINE-ADDITIVE-E-NUMBERS-AND GOD FORBID NICOTINE!!!!!!!!!

So you can expect to feel bad, tired, and have mood swings, fluctuating energy levels, and feel more stressed than usual.

The good news is that your body is going to be getting some great foods to help it out, and that for most people this period only lasts a few days. But you need to be mentally ready to handle it. Did we talk about commitment already?!

On the flip side, if you’re overweight you’re likely to lose lots of fat (and water, which when under stress your body stores to protect it from deadly inflammation. It just looks and feels like fat so we call it false fat).

Speaking of inflammation, our diet can also reduce it in your tissues, as it’s often caused by eating foods you’re intolerant to, or which are toxic and inhibit cellular respiration and repair. This is one of the major causes of disease today, which is worth bearing in mind if you find the diet tough – it can be tough for a reason.

We’ve also witnessed ourselves how people on this diet get shiny hair, better skin and nail condition, a reduction in bags under the eyes, and an all round boost in energy and vitality, not to mention a reduction in the severity of other health issues – all from our simple diet.

Forewarned is forearmed – be ready, be prepared

A little bit of preparation goes a long way – clearing your life of bad food and bad habits before you start will make things easier. Just take a look at our elimination diet, and if a food is not on the list or in red, get rid of it. Put it away out of temptation’s way or even better go for a truly new start and throw it in the bin.

Then, surround yourself with everything you need to ensure you’re ready to start on the first day on the diet.

That includes the right foods, but also emotional support from partners, friends and family – if they don’t know what you’re doing they’ll unknowingly tempt you into spoiling the great work you’ve undertaken.

We also don’t want you to set yourself up to fail by pulling this diet out and jumping in with both feet unprepared. Without preparation you’re more likely to fail, and that would be a shame, not only because you won’t get results, but also because you’ll start to believe that it’s your fault, that you just have bad genes, or no willpower, or that you’ve have never stuck with anything, or that it’s too hard for me, and all the other things we think about ourselves. Your self esteem will be worse for it, so don’t allow yourself to be put in that position.

A little bit of preparation can stop all that.

Your health, YOUR responsibility

Even if you asked us nicely, and even if we really wanted to, we can’t do this for you.

If you’re not sure you have the motivation to do the right thing, you might like to think there are other people you can go to who will take responsibility – who have to take responsibility - for your health when the going gets tough. Let’s talk about them for a second:

Your family, friends and partners have their own problems, hang ups and stresses, and are probably too busy hiding from them or dealing with them to take real care of you and your health. If you find your partner puts out food that you’re not convinced is too good for you, take control. They’re probably just tired and stressed like everyone else.

And they’re probably not the best person to know what’s right for you. That person is you and you alone.

Doctors, although undoubtedly well trained and with the best of intentions, are trained to diagnose, refer you to a specialist, and/or give you pharmaceutical products which may or may not be the best solution for you. This type of treatment takes care of short term symptoms but does not seek to remedy underlying causes, and leaves sometimes serious side effects.

So ask yourself who has the ability to look after your health most effectively:

Answer A: someone who has the most deeply held personal interest in seeing you get the most out every day, living a long, healthful life, who has full control over your lifestyle every second of your day and who can spend many hours researching answers to their questions (in case you didn’t get it, this is you), or

Answer B: a doctor who has only a professional interest in your well-being, who has a very limited amount of time to see you, and only a limited range of tools at their disposal

You have much more time and much more reason to take care of your health than your doctor does. Your doctor is the most effective person to see in certain circumstances, but it’s a little unfair to sit around eating the wrong foods, doing little or no exercise for years, and then go expecting your doctor to sort it all out. In the time available they can usually help to manage your decline, but not much more. If you want real answers, and real, positive health, you’re going to have to do it yourself.

The government can rarely make their minds up about anything, never mind being capable of taking care of your personal, individual health needs (and when they do get round to making their minds up they tend to be at least five years behind the latest research).

The media are only really interested in selling newspapers, magazines and ad space, and will print or screen whatever does the job – even if it contradicts what they printed yesterday.

The easiest part of all…

Get your very own copy of the 3D Personal Training Elimination Diet now.

To supercharge your elimination diet experience and for a more in depth program covering all aspects of nutrition and exercise, including the elimination diet, check out our 21 Day Roadmap to Health.

Yours in Health

ADHD: Are Drugs & Pyschotherapy The Only Choices?

2009-12-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

Change of pace from the last few posts but here is a sample of an article we wrote several months back that recieved a lot of interest and feedback.

ADHD: Are Drugs & Pyschotherapy The Only Choices?
“There is no evidence that dietary supplements such as fatty acids (omega 3 or omega 6) or cutting out foods containing artificial colouring and other additives can help children with ADHD.” (1)
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) – 24 September 2008

When I showed this paragraph to a friend of mine whose son has been diagnosed with ADHD, her exact words were: ‘But it’s not true’ - in her experience cutting out certain foods has made a difference to her son.

So what’s going on?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a controversial topic, with opinion running all the way from ‘it’s just bad parenting’, to general medical opinion viewing it as a defined disorder which can be treated through pharmaceutical intervention (drugs) or psychotherapy. Some even think that ADHD as a condition has been concocted by psychiatrists in the USA who needed a defined medical condition in order to bill insurance companies for their time.

Whichever side of the fence you sit on, there is no doubt that growing numbers of our children are behaving in a manner that parents, and society at large, find difficult to understand.

Whether you blame bad parenting or believe ADHD is a medical condition, record numbers of our children are being drugged, socially stigmatised and psychoanalysed – and it’s a growing trend.

Is there an alternative view?

There’s a question that needs to be asked: why the big rush on the part of schools and organised medicine to drug our kids and make them feel socially abnormal? Has society become lazy in seeking answers to the ADHD question? Or do large, powerful and conservative health organisations dominate (with the best intentions or otherwise) the ADHD conversation and research?

Persistent hyperactive and inattentive behaviour could be caused by a huge range of factors, from dopamine receptor problems to bad parenting to iron deficiency to toxic metal interference to nervous system malfunction - there could be 10 or 100 causes or contributing factors to hyperactive and inattentive behaviour in children.

Any of these multiple factors may be at play in any given child at any one time.

So with heavyweight institutions rolling out the red carpet for pharmaceutical products and psychotherapy the world over, what are the alternative, or at least complimentary approaches, that you don’t see covered in the news?

Alternative approaches to ADHD

There is a body of emerging research and anecdotal evidence which suggests methods considered ‘alternative’ or ‘complimentary’ by the standards of established medical practice might well be worth exploring if your child is persistently inattentive or hyperactive.

For the most part, these are centred around what we eat day to day and how imbalances in our foods might lead to fatty acid, toxic metal, essential mineral and cellular energy imbalances:

High mercury levels

The mercury in amalgam tooth fillings and vaccines, not to mention from our polluted seas in the form of the fish we eat, could affect the nervous system in some children sensitive to mercury. Certainly there is some evidence to suggest that even slightly increased levels of mercury could be related to ADHD behaviours.

A 2006 study, predominantly in 7 year old boys, showed that children with mercury blood levels slightly higher than average had a much stronger chance of having ADHD than children without. The study concludes:

“High blood mercury level was associated with ADHD”(2)

Low iron levels

Iron levels in children with ADHD have been shown to be lower than those without ADHD. The severity of symptoms has also been linked to the amount of iron found in children - the lower the iron level, the more severe the symptoms of ADHD.(3)

A clinical study published in 2008 looked at the effect of iron supplementation in children with low iron levels who had been diagnosed with ADHD. Each child was given 80mg of ferrous sulphate per day or placebo (dummy therapy) for 12 weeks.

The results showed significant improvements in ADHD behaviours in the children taking the 80mg of iron, while those taking the placebo showed no improvement.

Although we don’t know yet why iron is beneficial in treating ADHD, we do know it plays an important role in dopamine activity (a brain chemical), which in turn has been suggested as an important factor in ADHD.(4)

Iron can also protect us from the toxic affects of lead,(5) so where there’s a low level of iron in our bodies, our nervous system might be more exposed to its toxic effects,(6,7) and this could be a significant factor in triggering ADHD behaviour.

Since excess levels of iron can damage our bodies, it is important that iron levels be measured prior to supplementation.

High levels of lead

Central nervous system exposure to lead can affect dopamine release in our brains and the ability of our dopamine receptors to detect this important hormone. This effect has been put forward as a factor that contributes to ADHD.(8,9,10)

The effectiveness of our blood-brain barrier (part of our central nervous system which restricts the passage of various chemicals into our brain tissue) is also essential when it comes to how effective our brains are. Lead may disrupt and damage the structure of this barrier while iron protects it.(5,11)

High copper levels with low sulphur

This particular imbalance has been noted as one of the most common causes of ADHD behaviour, with symptoms including a ‘foggy’ mind, poor memory and lack of concentration. Foods high in copper include cocoa and chocolate products, coffee, tea, soy, liver, nuts, seeds, shellfish and wheat germ.(12)

Calcium and magnesium deficiencies

Deficiencies in both of these essential minerals have been put forward as another leading cause of ADHD behaviour.(12,13) If a person is extremely ticklish, craves chocolate and/or milk, is unable to disregard unimportant stimuli, has muscle cramps and trouble relaxing or going to sleep, any of these can suggest low magnesium and calcium.(14)

Hair Mineral Analysis
One way of measuring the levels of all the metals and minerals mentioned above is through Hair Mineral Analysis (HMA – in the interests of transparency we should note that 3D Personal Training offers HMA services). The advantage of HMA is that it offers a measure of many minerals and metals, and the significant imbalances between them in one single hair test. It’s also relatively cheap and non-invasive compared to blood sampling. Properly taken samples offer a good reflection of metabolic activity over a sustained period of time and allows for appropriate supplementation to be tailored to the needs of the individual.

The levels of lead in hair has previously been used in scientific research which found ADHD to be related to lead,(15) and some paediatricians have found hair to be more helpful than blood samples when looking at mineral deficiencies. Still, as with most tests it is not perfect and although at 3D Personal Training we think it’s a very useful tool, it does have certain draw backs (being hair, for instance, it’s somewhat open to external environmental contamination).

Food additives

A 2007 study involving ‘normal’ children (not showing ADHD symptoms) commissioned by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA), and published in the respected medical journal The Lancet, found:

“Artificial colours or a sodium benzoate preservative (or both) in the diet result in increased hyperactivity in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the general population.”(16)

That’s sounds like ADHD behaviour to us. And it begs the question: if these additives have this effect on children without ADHD, what on earth might they do to kids who do have a tendency for ADHD behaviour?

For clarification, the study tested preservative E211 (sodium benzoate) and food dyes E102 (tartrazine), E104 (quinoline yellow), E110 (sunset yellow), E122 (carmoisone), E124 (ponceau 4R) and E129 (allura red). These were just the additives the study tested. There are many, many more that were not.

In addition, the FSA noted:

“…if a child shows signs of hyperactivity or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) then eliminating the colours used in the Southampton study from their diet might have some beneficial effects.”

We think that’s an understatement.

Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s) – Omega’s 3 & 6

It’s well documented that children with ADHD show lower levels of EFA’s than those without. This may be due to low dietary intake, poor breakdown of these fats into forms our bodies can use, or that some people burn fats faster, and therefore need more than others. Tell tale signs of a deficiency are excessive thirst, dry skin and hair, brittle nails and frequent urination.

It’s the ratio between omega 3 and 6 fats that matters though, and many children with ADHD have been shown to have a ratio a long way from the 2:1 ideal. In fact, many people today have ratios more like 1:15 or 1:30. The impact of this imbalance on mental health stretches way beyond ADHD.

This ratio imbalance must be addressed for EFA supplementation to be successful, and most of the studies which have looked at fatty acids have neglected this point. Only two have done so, one of which did not sufficiently address this imbalance (a decrease of 33.04 to 15.19 over four months),(17) and another which although encouraging was not large enough and did not contain a placebo or control group.(18)

This last study concludes that greater doses of omega 3 are needed to redress the imbalance to under 1:3 in order to show significant behavioural improvements. It’s a step in the right direction at least and suggests that omega 3 supplementation is the way forward.

Omega 3 oils are found in flax seeds (best ground fresh and eaten right away), walnuts and their oil, and fish oils. The blockbuster omega 3 oil is Antarctic Neptune Krill Oil, but Udo’s Choice Ultimate Oil Blend is also high quality. To read the rest of the article please follow the link:

http://www.3dpts.com/articles/ADHD_drugs_choices.html

Bodyweight exercises

2009-12-18T07:39:00.000-08:00

The truth is most people do not need any equipment to start with and most people waste their time in the gym on machines performing isolated and dyfunctional exercise.

Training at home can be a real advantage especially in regards to saving time but before you go out and buy expenisve machines, kettlebells, free weights etc I recommend having a strong body first. Its called relative strength. Here are a list of exercises I recommend you do before moving onto anything foreign:
1. squat - ideally atleast 100 deep squats (if pain free) correctly, check out my previous article on the importance of the squat.
2. Full pushups - Multiples
3. Plank position for more than 1 minute
4 Find a rail or tree or go to the kids playground and perform at least 1 full pull up
The progressions would then be:
1. Pistol (single leg squat)
2. Single hand pushup or muliples
3. Plank position for over 2 minutes - plus alternatives of 1 foot high, 1 hand high
4. Multiple pull ups to the king - 1 hand pull up. Also another tweak is wrapping a bar with a towel to make it thicker.

Here is a great book just released by an ex prisioner - who made mastering body weight exercises his thing behind bars. http://www.dragondoor.com/b41.html
Here is some inspiration from the 'Evil' Russian Pawel on bodyweight exercises http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef5O8AWnTTg
And then Steve Cotter taking the pistol squat to new heights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL_n0ITXxSw

Enjoy.

The Squat: King Of All Exercises - Part 2

2009-12-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

In Part 1 we took a holistic look at the importance of squatting in everyday life and some of the reasons why we, and some of the best strength and conditioning coaches around, think the squat is the ‘King of All Exercises’.

Today we’ll look at practical considerations when squatting as part of your workout - what makes a good squat, squatting technique, common muscular restrictions, and progressions if you’re currently unable to perform a full squat.

So why is the full squat such a great exercise?

At 3D Personal Training we use the full squat for weight loss, total body toning, strength training, conditioning, increasing athletic and sporting performance, increasing joint stability, and injury reduction amongst others. It’s not just an exercise for the big guys down at the gym but something everyone can enjoy whether you choose to use weights at all or throw 80kg on each side of the bar.

The reason it’s so effective is that it works pretty much every muscle in your body – and at upper end of the load and/or intensity scale it’ll even work the small muscles in your face. (1)

When pretty much every muscle in your body is getting a workout, a tremendous number of calories are burned. Squatting also adds active tissue – muscle - all over your body, and as we know adding active tissue is essential to weight loss because muscle has a high energy requirement even when not working. That muscle also aids in joint stability and injury reduction, sporting performance, and overall body tone. Not bad for a single exercise!

In short, it’s fantastic for anyone who wants to lose weight, tone up, improve their performance, is time limited or just look and feel their best.

What makes a good full squat?

The first and foremost consideration is avoiding the risk of injury through proper technique, and we can achieve that by setting ourselves up correctly, descending into the squat and ascending from the squat with good form. In figures 1 – 4 below we show good squat technique:

To check out the rest of this article please follow the link http://www.3dpts.com/articles/squat_part_2.html

The Squat: King Of All Exercises - Part 1

2009-12-13T11:11:00.000-08:00

‘If you ain’t got squat you ain’t got squat’ say's Gary Gray a leading Physical Therapist and considered the father of modern day thoughts on function.

‘First and foremost when it comes to squatting, if you can’t, you must!’ say's Paul Chek one of the leaders in Personal Training education
That’s pretty big talk, so why do we think the squat is the single most beneficial exercise known to humankind, and why do so many of the world’s elite personal trainers and strength trainers call the squat the ‘King of All Exercises’?

Function for life

The squat is one of the most fundamental human movement patterns. When we start training our bodies to function correctly for sporting excellence, rehabilitation from injury, for freedom of movement, injury prevention and wellbeing in day to day life, the squat is where we should start.

When we think about the squat, we generally think of the big guys down at the gym, or watching weightlifters at the Olympics. They have a bar over the back of their shoulders with lots of weights on it, bend their knees, flex their hips and ankles, ending in a position where the heels of their feet are almost touching their glutes.

The fact is though that we use squats every day – lifting, walking up and down the stairs, getting into and out of your car, sitting, standing up from being seated or lying, dancing, jumping, cycling, skiing, golfing and running all involve a partial squatting movement.

As you can see, if you can’t squat properly and with adequate strength, you’re in big trouble because at worst you won’t be able to perform this essential movement at all, and at best you’ll risk injury.
At the thin end of the wedge you’ll have to ask your other muscles and joints to compensate for that lack of proper squat movement, creating imbalances throughout your body and eventually leading to a minor or major injury.

So what is a squat?

A squat can be one or two legged. You’re performing a partial squat anytime you bend a knee (knee flexion), anytime you bend your upper body forwards (hip flexion), and anytime the angle between your foot and the front of your lower leg decreases (foot dorsiflexion). Generally you’ll do all three to some extent at the same time.

A squat can be performed with your body parts moving backwards or forwards (sagittal plane), to the side (frontal plane), or while twisting (transverse plane) – and it often involves all three!

A full squat in the classic sense is the one we’ve described above, where your feet are flat on the floor, the tops of your thighs touch your abdomen and your hamstrings rest against the back of your lower legs (calves).
You can see that squatting is fundamental to functional human movement.
Squatting and evolution

Before we had sofa’s at home, chairs at the office and seats in cars, we had the ground. We lived most of our lives there, eating, preparing food and cooking when we discovered how to make fire, harvesting food, working, socialising and going to the toilet (more on that later). Most of our tools and belongings lived on the ground too, so we spent most of our time there. The squat was essential to survival.

Anyone who has spent any time in Asia will see that the squat is alive and well in those countries of the world. In Western countries though, where we spend a great deal of time sitting, we hardly, if ever, squat anymore – it’s a great irony that in the modern West we now consider it an exercise.

That’s pretty bad, because it means an ill health epidemic: fatigue, poor digestion and elimination and the diseases that accompany it, obesity, spinal and postural imbalances among many others.

Squatting for weight loss & total body conditioning

We firmly believe that the full squat is the best single exercise you can perform to achieve weight loss and total body conditioning. Even when using just your own body weight or light to moderate weights, almost all of the muscles in your body will be activated.

As highly regarded health and fitness practitioner Paul Chek says:

‘Many respectable strength and conditioning experts feel that if they had to choose only one exercise to condition an athlete, the squat would provide the greatest overall benefit.
This is because the squat is a free body movement that requires use of every muscle in the body. Given enough load and/or intensity even small muscles in the face will contract.’
When pretty much every muscle in your body is getting a workout, a tremendous number of calories are burned. It also adds active tissue – muscle - all over your body, and as we know adding active tissue is essential to weight loss because muscle has a high energy requirement even when not working.

In short, it’s a fantastic exercise for anyone who wants to lose weight, tone up or just look and feel their best, it’s great for improved athletic and sporting performance, and as we’ll see it’s also amazing for overall health.
So why is the squat so good for digestion & elimination?

In Asian countries (at least outside of tourist hotels) you’ll rarely find a western style toilet. Instead you’ll find a toilet that is flat to the ground, with two foot spaces either side of a hole. Mostly these are made of porcelain but I’ve also seen many other variations (a single wooden plank over a huge pit being used by a whole village (not together) being the most interesting – you get a core stability and balance workout at the same time as great bowel function!).

The full squat compresses your lower abdomen with the right thigh pushing faeces uphill along the ascending colon and into the transverse colon, while your left thigh compresses the descending colon, eventually moving everything into your rectum.(1)

A full squat powerfully facilitates evacuation of the colon, helping to prevent constipation and toxic build-up in the bowels. This in turn also helps digestion and absorption of nutrients – when your intestinal system is backed up your stomach has to hold on to its contents longer than usual, meaning poor digestion as well as reflux and heartburn.(1)
The longer faeces are kept in your colon, the more they putrefy, creating a cess pool inside you. Of course there are a range of other measures needed for healthy bowel movements, such as a good intake of fibre and maintaining your good bacteria, but the squat is another weapon in the fight against foul faeces.

Squatting also helps to pump blood, and gives a good massage not only to your intestines but also to a number of other organs. It stimulates the movement of essential bodily fluids, helps nutrient absorption and facilitates removal of waste products and toxic substances in your body.

Squatting, overall health, relaxation and energy gain

The benefits of squatting go far beyond weight loss, conditioning, digestion and elimination. It’s also great for overall health, vitality, energy and spinal health.

The legendary Chi Gung master Mantak Chia writes:

‘One of the most wonderful Tan Tien Chi Kung exercises undoubtedly is squatting.

More than any other posture, squatting opens the lower lumbar vertebrae and thereby prevents hernia. It also activates the latent motor force of the pelvis, opens the groin, flexes the hip joints, induces downward pressure and release of waste, gases and toxins, and reactivates the colon. By gravity pull it provokes, it stirs the earth Chi current to move and bounce upward to the perineum, awakening the spinal fluids in the sacrum, and opening and elongating the spine. This action rebalances the vertebrae and eases the Chi current upward to the crown.

Additionally, the squatting posture massages the lungs and heart. The lower Tan Tien helps the heart by facilitating the Chi and blood flow.

Of particular importance is the role of squatting in lengthening the psoas, the muscles in the groin area that rotate the hip joint and flex the spine.
By relaxing the psoas, unity between the lower and upper parts of the body is promoted. A flexible psoas makes it possible for the Chi to flow freely upward, connecting the lower lumbar with the lower part of the groin.’(2)

Breathing squats can be used to relax your mind and build energy throughout your body, especially for those who have high stress lifestyles. Your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS – also known as the digestive or anabolic nervous system) regulates the ‘rest and relax’ activities of your body, in contrast to the ‘fight or flight’ response that the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) regulates.(1)

If you lead a high pressure lifestyle or just need to chill out, breathing squats are for you. They will help the PNS to calm your mind, re-balance your hormones and build positive energy throughout your body.

To perform a breathing squat, exhale fully on your way down, pausing briefly before inhaling on the way up into a standing position. Let your arms rest either by your sides or on your knees, your hands finishing close to your feet.

Just don’t try to make the movement too rigorous – remember, it’s a relaxation technique! Feel your breath move into and out of your body, counting the breaths.

We recommend doing as many as you can throughout the day when you have a quiet moment – try 30 to 100 per day if you can. You’ll soon feel calmer, more energised, flexible and less stressed.

Squatting is for everyone

Squatting is not only essential to human function, great for your digestion and elimination, and easy to perform anytime anywhere, it’s also an exercise that everyone can do and that is beneficial to everyone, whether you’re a full time homemaker, desk bound office worker, casual football player or Olympic athlete.

You’ll prime your body for everyday life, avoid injury, eliminate waste, relax your mind and body, develop muscle, say goodbye to muscular and skeletal imbalances and start to move more freely.

The squat really is the ‘King of All Exercises’ - as our favourite physical therapist Gary Gray says: ‘If you ain’t got squat you ain’t got squat’.

In Part 2 we’ll look at practical considerations when squatting as part of your workout - what makes a good squat, squatting technique, common muscular restrictions, and progressions if you’re currently unable to perform a full squat – all illustrated with photo’s so you can see for yourself how to integrate the squat into your workout and into your life.

Today's workout - high volume

2009-12-09T11:07:00.000-08:00

For the last month I have been focussing on developing strength through more nervous system action so low volume ánd long rests between sets, with the deadlift being one of my main exercises.

This week I am reintroducing more high volume with shorter rests to develop strenght through muscle action. Tonight my workout consisted of:

Wide grip Chinups 70 reps in 10 mins
Unstable pushups using the Omgym (similar to gymnastic rings) 70 in 10 mins
Followed by my 'wheel of death' :) as I call it which is just a wheel on a rod that you extend out holding a plank style position
Finishing with 10 mins of skipping and then 3 sun salutations. 40 mins in total

Post workout shake:

Hemp protein
Half a banana
Full teaspoon of coconut fat melted
Handfull of soaked almonds
Pinch of cinnamon
A glass of water

All blended up - beautiful!

Tuesday night Workout

2009-12-08T08:25:00.000-08:00

Just finished a workout consisting of the following exercises:

Single leg deadlifts with Kettlebell
Pistol squats
Turkish getups
Overhead press with Kettelbell

Then followed by some interval training for 10 minutes (45 secs on 15 secs off) with my flow in. http://www.flowin.com/index.php Using a wall climber technique.

Now time for a brown rice protein shake :)

The USDA's Food Pyramid

2009-12-05T12:26:00.000-08:00

Why are so many people currently overweight and suffering from chronic preventable diseases?
Well it doesnt help having such a bad example of how to eat from the Govt. The introduction of the food pyramid has to take a lot of the blame for people thinking fat is bad and we cant live without grains. Finally a pyramid based on science not politics. Check it out - http://www.3dpts.com/food_pyramid.html

Success Through Synergy

2009-12-03T12:47:00.000-08:00

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”

In the field of health and fitness, there are many effective techniques to help us achieve our optimal weight, appearance and fitness level. When used in isolation however, many of these techniques provide only short term results and often produce a yo-yo effect (think fad diets). We’d like to show you how your goals can be effectively achieved through a synergistic approach.

Synergy can be described as “the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.”
At 3D Personal Training we firmly believe (and our experience proves) that success in achieving your health and fitness goals depends on a synergy of 3 dimension: the right mental approach, functional physical training, and supportive nutrition and lifestyle.

Here’s why…

Mental approach

Effective goal-setting is where the road to success begins. It’s essential to understand where you are now in terms of your personal goals, and where you want to be in order to obtain clarity and purpose, and to be able to visualize your ultimate goal. Your goals need to come alive, so we encourage you to take the time to complete the following exercise and write the answers down in order to realize them:

Be bold – What is your ULTIMATE health/fitness dream?
Be honest – WHY do you want to achieve this, what will this outcome mean for you and allow you to DO?

Be connected – What will you SEE, HEAR and FEEL when you have it?

Be courageous – WHEN will you achieve it?
Be realistic – What are you WILLING to give up in order to get what you desire?

Be creative – How can you ENJOY the process while doing what is necessary to achieve your goals?

The secret to achieving a positive mental approach lies in how often you can be connected and aligned to these thoughts and feelings.
Physical training

In our experience there are three aspects of physical training that when addressed will bring success in achieving goals:

The need for muscle:

Muscle is one of your very best friends if you want to lose body fat, because it’s an active tissue that directly increases your rate of metabolism. Unfortunately, around the age of 30, our muscles begin to shrink, so it is imperative to regularly maintain or build them. When it comes to training, avoid fixed resistance machines as they allow no freedom for the muscles, literally boring them senseless with the same movement pattern and decreasing neuromuscular awareness at the same time. That’s a bad deal for your body. Choose free-weights or cables instead and try incorporating Swiss Balls (aka Physio Balls) to increase the neuromuscular demands. Additionally, think training “movements” not “muscles”; pushing, pulling, squatting, lunging, bending and twisting are the basic movements of day-to-day life and we should try to mirror these during exercise.

Cardio in moderation:

It’s important not to overdo the cardiovascular exercise (e.g. cross-trainer or jogging), as this can lead to a decrease in muscle mass which reduces your ability to burn fat. We’re by no means suggesting that cardio exercise is bad. It’s essential for transporting nutrients to the cells via the bloodstream. When fat is released from storage centers (adipose cells) it travels through the bloodstream to be “burned”. However if there is a decrease in muscle mass, the body’s ability to burn fat is also decreased. As such, we recommend short-duration, high-intensity cardio to limit the possibility of losing muscle.

Flexibility:
Not only do our muscles shrink with age, but gravity, sedentary lifestyles and poor posture begins to take its toll as well! Bad posture can lead to injuries and regular bouts of associated pain. The details can be a little complex, but suffice to say there are muscles in your body that naturally become short and tight and others that get long and weak by nature. We need to stretch the shorter, tighter muscles and strengthen the longer, weaker muscles. For example when someone has a posture that resembles the Pink Panther – protruding head and rounded shoulders – the chest is one muscle that needs a good stretch. It’s important to only stretch what is tight though, as stretching the long and weak muscles will lead to further imbalances.

Supportive nutrition and lifestyle
What you eat and drink daily and the amount of rest you’re getting are absolutely vital if you want results, not only in terms of weight loss but also for optimal health. Here are three things you need to get right:

Eat to boost your metabolism
Largely, this means minimising your intake of simple sugars and refined carbohydrates, and eating frequent meals (no greater than four hours between each one) consisting of quality proteins (preferably from free range, chemical and hormone free animals), fibrous carbohydrates (above ground vegetables) starchy carbohydrates (sweet potatoes, brown rice), and good fats and oils (seeds, nuts, fish and olive oil). When it comes to the specific ratios of each macronutrient (especially the amount of starchy carbohydrates), it’s a case of listening to your body after each meal in order to account for bio-individuality and stress levels. We recommend using a food diary (like the one you get with our FREE 21 Day Elimination Diet http://www.3d-personaltraining.com/elimination_diet.html ) and recording after each meal (or at the end of the day) what you ate, including proportions and the respective reactions, e.g. satisfied, not satisfied, bloated, hungry, mentally-focused etc.

Drink plenty of water

The body is made up of around 75% water. Water is crucial when it comes to health because it plays a role in transporting nutrients, digestion, elimination of waste products, and detoxification – and those are the tip of the iceberg. Beware though, a “dry mouth” is not a safe indicator of thirst; it is actually a sign that the body is well into dehydration. How much water should we drink each day? That depends on several factors, including your weight and how active you are. To get an approximate amount in litres, try this formula: your weight in kg x 0.033 = the amount in litres per day you need to drink.

Get sufficient sleep
Sleep is another factor that has huge implications for your body. We consider sleep a major tipping point, and there have been many times when we’ve seen clients who are addressing the above points, but only achieve significant results by getting to bed earlier and sleeping a little longer.

Finally we’d would like to share the story of one our clients to illustrate the value of applying synergy in your life.

Fathima came to me because she wanted to change the way she looked before returning home after moving to London to study. She had previously tried all the usual diets and had also tried personal trainers who took her through workouts. But she achieved no lasting results with these individual approaches. So our first task was to realign Fathima’s mind-set with success through our goal setting exercise. The next step was giving her the framework to achieve success by teaching her about synergy. Here’s an extract of an email she sent us (used with kind permission).

“FIRST OF ALL, I MUST TELL U that I have been absolutely showered with compliments ever since I got off the plane here! I’ve had people come up to me and ask me what I’ve been ”taking”!!! It’s crazy, and quite a few people weren’t able to recognize me at all…I’ve also tried on my old clothes…and well…I’ve had to take in at least 5 inches on some of my shirts (which has been VERY satisfying indeed!!). The weirdest thing is that most people don’t believe me when I say it’s all down to a healthy diet, exercise and decent sleeping hours!!”

Is it time to get some synergy in your life?

2009-12-02T03:02:00.000-08:00

The Art of Mastery

“All man’s well-being depends upon two things: one is the right choice of aim, of the end to which actions should tend, the other lies in the finding of the actions that lead to that end” – Aristotle

The right mental approach is a major factor in long term health and fitness success, particularly when it comes to commitment and following through on tasks. The right choice of aim and finding the actions that help to achieve are the two vital ingredients to mastery, both of yourself and your goals.

What is mastery?

Mastery is a state of being.

“Consistency not perfection” is the catchphrase of our friend Paul Stephen Lubicz. Consistency is the mark of the master – it’s a state not a product. The minute you get locked into believing there is a perfect way to doing anything you become less open to other possibilities. Self growth stops and the self critical part of your mind can become a self defeating monster. Because those impossible ‘fixed’ ideals you’re holding onto can’t be met and the only thing that sets you up for is negative self image. Don’t get us wrong though, consistently doing an average job will bring average results, it’s only through the approach of excellence can true mastery be attained.

The fundamentals of Mastery

Recently I read an exceptional book by George Leonard called ‘Mastery’. In it Leonard emphasizes the point of living in the current moment, and even accepting and enjoying the plateau we all experience from time to time.

So how do you best move towards mastery? To put it simply, you practice diligently, but you practice primarily for the sake of the practice itself. Rather than being frustrated while on the plateau, you learn to appreciate and enjoy it just as much as you do the upward surges:
“Practice, the path of mastery, exists only in the present. You can see it, hear it, smell it, feel it. To love the plateau is to love the eternal now, to enjoy the inevitable spurts of progress and the fruits of accomplishment, then serenely to accept the new plateau that waits just beyond them. To love the plateau is to love what is most essential and enduring in your life.”

The 5 keys to fulfillment…

Leonard describes 5 master keys to long-term success and fulfillment, as:
1. Instruction – Find a master teacher
2. Practice – Masters love to practice, it’s their passion
3. Surrender – Surrendering to your teacher and to the demands of your discipline
4. Intentionality – Create the vision in colour
5. The Edge – Push the envelope

Dabbler, Obsessive, Hacker, Master

Which one are you?

The Dabbler: Approaches each new sport, relationship, career with enormous enthusiasm. They love the ritual of getting started, new equipment. But they only seek instant gratification and when they reach that plateau they quit and look for the next bed to jump in.

The Obsessive: Makes the journey painful. Results are the only thing that counts. When they reach the plateau the obsessive bangs, fights and does whatever it takes to knock through it.

The Hacker: Stays on the plateau indefinitely. Does enough to get by and stays in the comfort zone.
The Master: Simply anticipates the plateau, which leads to power. They don’t fight it, stress about it or quit. They practice dedication and practice diligently, for the sake of the practice itself. When climbing the mountain be aware of the peak ahead, but don’t keep looking at it. Keep your eyes on the road, and when you reach the top just keep going…

“Do not think that this is all there is. More and more wonderful teachings exist – the sword is unfathomable” – Master Swordsman Yamaoka Tesshu

New exercise guidelines

2007-08-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

In 1995 the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published national guidelines on Physical Activity and Public Health that led to our current 30 minutes a day of gentle exercise guidelines.
This month has seen these guidelines revised, in line with more up to date research.

In this article we take a look at the new guidelines and assess where they leave the general population today.

The old guidelines seemed to give most people a false sense of what is necessary to achieve and maintain fitness and overall health. They were also extremely vague, with Mr, Miss & Mrs Average being left to work out and implement vital health and fitness issues such as ‘how much exercise is optimal for me?’ and ‘what intensity should I exercise at?’ on their own.

Not only did the previous guidelines give a false comfort level but they also failed to provide sufficient information to allow that level to be implemented in any effective way.

So we ended up with this result: sadly less than half (49.1%) of U.S. adults met the CDC/ACSM physical activity recommendation with 23.7% of adults reporting no leisure-time activity at all. (1) Saying: “do something for 30 minutes a day” was a step in the right direction, a shift towards more specifics was badly needed.

Although it took a monumental 12 years to address this fundamental issue, new guidelines were released in August 2007 to international media coverage.

Let’s look at the updated recommendations in more detail before we assess where they leave us. They suggest (1):

Moderate intensity aerobic physical activity (briskly walking) for a minimum of 30 min (authors note: is there a maximum?) on five days each week or vigorous intensity aerobic physical activity (jogging) for a minimum of 20 min on three days each week.
Combinations of moderate and vigorous intensity activity can be performed to meet this recommendation. For example, a person can meet the recommendation by walking briskly for 30 min twice during the week and then jogging for 20 min on two other days.
In addition, every adult should perform activities that maintain or increase muscular strength and endurance a minimum of two days each week. This means activities - such as weight lifting - that use the major muscles of the body. You should do eight to ten exercises on two different days at least one day apart.
Persons who wish to further improve their personal fitness, reduce their risk for chronic diseases and disabilities or prevent unhealthy weight gain may benefit by exceeding the minimum recommended amounts of physical activity (Authors note: by how much?)

It cannot be understated that this is a real step in the right direction and is to be applauded, but one does find oneself asking the question: How far do the new guidelines really take us towards a healthier society and where could they be strengthened to allow a deeper understanding of what is required to make us fitter and healthier human beings?

As a health and fitness professional working day to day on the ground I’d like to take a moment to outline three major improvements that I think are easy to communicate and easy to implement:

1. The recent guidelines state that aerobic activity for 30 mins (gentle) or 20 mins (vigorous) should be minimums – does that mean ‘more is better?’ and if so how far should we go in using aerobic exercise?

The issue is that excessive aerobic activity can lead to a decrease in muscle mass due to muscle potentially being used as a fuel, and from the production of catabolic hormones that break the active tissue down.

I am by no means suggesting that aerobic/cardio activity is bad. Indeed it is vital, as it allows nutrients to be transported to the cells via the bloodstream. When fat is released from storage centers (adipose cells) it travels through the bloodstream to be ‘burned’ and this is facilitated by cardio activity, but a decrease in muscle mass due to excesses in this form of exercise leads to a decrease in the body’s ability to burn fat.

Hence the most beneficial method of performing your cardiovascular component of exercise is through interval training methods, focusing on shorter periods (10-20 minutes) at med/high intensities with breaks in between. It is to be noted that what medium/high intensity means is relative to each person’s baseline level of fitness. In addition I would recommend performing aerobic/cardiovascular sessions no longer than 40 minutes in duration to avoid muscle mass loss and the associated issues mentioned above.

Through providing clearer and more specific guidelines optimum and more effective levels of exercise are possible without lessening the general population’s ability to implement the exercise regime.

2. Effective resistance training is the key to any program aimed at achieving weight loss, so its inclusion in the new guidelines is a major plus.

Focusing on resistance training will lead to fitter, leaner and stronger bodies as when we reach around age 30 our muscles begin to shrink, leading to a metabolic rate decrease and therefore a decreased ability to burn fat. (2) The guidelines however, do not take into account the need to change the variables in such resistance training.

The suggestion that, “a resistance (weight) should be used that results in substantial fatigue after 8-12 repetitions of each exercise” is severely limiting. I often see people in the gym still doing their ‘3 sets of 10’ with no additional results after one month’s training. It’s easy to get to ‘first base’ doing things this way, but getting any further results is unlikely.

In addition many would suggest that recommending weight training is an unrealistic edition and ‘not for the majority’. I believe this is where more education on the benefits (like increased fat-loss and strength) needs to be highlighted.

I recently read one expert called David Haslam, chair of the U.K. National Obesity Forum, commenting that: "If you suggested everyone here should do weight-training twice a week they wouldn't do it. They don't have the time or money for the gym, it would be an unrealistic guideline. I'd rather see healthy habits built into daily life - gyms aren't a sustainable habit." (3)

This is a very limited perspective from which to view the possibilities of effective resistance training. Resistance training does not need a gym membership, just a little creativity will do and it can be easily and cheaply done at home with:

· Uncomplicated body weight exercises like pushups, squats, lunges, chin ups that require no equipment and little space.
· Simple inexpensive equipment like: bands, tubing, medicine balls, stability balls, dumbells, with perhaps a small investment in one of the many home training books, dvd’s, or online programs out there.

To achieve consistent changes in strength and body composition programs must be changed regularly every 2-4 weeks, including the number of repetitions, sets, exercises, rest periods and intensity, and made progressive (i.e. harder each session).

This kind of guidance would be a major addition to the recent guidelines.

3. There is no mention of flexibility training which simply must be mentioned under any exercise guidelines.

We are currently experiencing an epidemic of pain and overuse injuries such as Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI’s). According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), RSI’s are the nation’s most common and costly occupational health problem, affecting hundreds of thousands of American workers, and costing more than $20 billion a year in workers compensation. They account for 14% of physician visits and 19% of hospital stays. (4)

Through effective stretching this could be reduced and the general health of the nation would be improved too!

The new exercise guidelines are a definite improvement on those released in 1995 but in much the same way that grains are still being used as the basis of the food pyramid at a time of growing public awareness that grains may be a barrier to health. The recommendation that emphasizes longer duration cardiovascular exercise over resistance training is a flaw that will keep people back from achieving permanent weight loss.

The fact is that despite the recent guidelines the bar is still too low and ill defined to bring real benefit to the general population.

References

(1) Physical Activity and Public Health: Updated Recommendation for Adults from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: Volume 39(8)August 2007pp 1423-1434 http://www.acsm-msse.org/pt/re/msse/fulltext.00005768-20070800000027.htm;jsessionid=GMwPjzCJtwyTZyJLmx1ndlQMP1pK6TLBjdVKqqPnM1Z2LGTvg14S!-362743511!181195628!8091!-1

(2) 3dpts.com: Strong beginnings – success through synergy. Craig Burton http://www.3dpts.com/ArchiveArticles/BodyArticle/2005-10-Bodyarticle.htm

(3) The Guardian: The era of gentle exercise is over. Its official: you've got to work up a sweat. Polly Curtis, health correspondent, Friday August 17, 2007 http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,,2150618,00.html

(4) RSI Therapy.com: RSI Stastics. http://www.rsi-therapy.com/statistics.htm

Secrets to weight loss

2007-06-27T01:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I read a great article from Dr. Mercola called:

Finally Science Confirms the Secret Key to Weight Loss. http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Finally-Science-Confirms-the-Secret-Key-to-Weight-Loss-19046.aspx

I want to expand on this article. Basically researchers in Boston compared A low–glycemic load (40% carbohydrate and 35% fat) vs low-fat (55% carbohydrate and 20% fat) diet. They found that reducing the glycemic load may be especially important to achieving weight loss among individuals with high insulin secretion. They also stated that regardless of insulin secretion, a low–glycemic load diet has beneficial effects on high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations but not on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration. You can check out this study by following the link:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/297/19/2092

The researchers did state that the results of clinical trials involving diet in the treatment of obesity have been inconsistent, possibly due to inherent physiological differences among study participants, which makes sense considering our biochemical individuality or different diet needs.

But I believe the value of this research is in the importance of those overweight to be aware of their insulin levels (your GP can test it) and reducing them through a diet consisting of less sugar and processed carbohydrates empahasising lean meat, fibrous carbohydrates (above ground vegetables), low GI starches (brown rice, sweet potatoes), and good fats and oils (fish oils, coconut, olive).

To find out more about effective weight loss check out these articles:

Oh no not another diet: http://www.3dpts.com/ArchiveArticles/BodyArticle/2006-07-Bodyarticle.htm

Strong beginnings success through synergy: http://www.3dpts.com/ArchiveArticles/BodyArticle/2005-10-Bodyarticle.htm

Metabolic typing: http://www.3dpts.com/ArchiveArticles/MindArticle/2005-06-Mindarticle.htm

The food pyramid - has the government got it wrong when it comes to healthy eating. http://www.3dpts.com/ArchiveArticles/MindArticle/2005-11-Mindarticle.htm

Best wishes

Craig Burton

2007-05-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

This month Peak Performance Newsletter (go to www.3dpts.com/newsletter) featured a new video about the importance of hydration, especially in the office as many of us spend most of our time there.

In the video I talked about one of the most dangerous products when it comes to maintaining optimal hydration - soft drinks.

I outlined some nasty ingredients that are causing our body's an array of problems including :
1. Sugar
2. Artificial sweetners (if you thought the 'diet' variety was better)
3. Caffeine
4. Phosphoric Acid

Sugar is commonly known that it leads to an array of problems including obesity and diabetes.
Artificial sweetners like aspartame are among other things neuro-toxins. There are over 92 different health side effects associated with aspartame consumption including brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes, emotional disorders and epilepsy/seizures
Overconsumption of caffeine has also a strong negative effect on the nervous system espcially the adrenal glands. High caffeine use is associated with high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, elevated blood cholesterol levels, vitamin and mineral depletion that potentially leads to disease.
Phosphoric Acid may interfere with the body's ability to use calcium, which can lead to osteoporosis or softening of the teeth and bones. Phosphoric acid also neutralizes the hydrochloric acid in your stomach, which can interfere with digestion, making it difficult to utilize nutrients.

As I said in the video not only do these chemicals cause direct problems they also lead to dyhdration which seriously affects the body's ability to function. The answer is simple however for many boring - consume water! Alternatively try herbal tea.

To find out more here are some related articles on soft drinks and additives:

Soft drinks - the drink of champions? -http://www.3dpts.com/ArchiveArticles/MindArticle/2005-07-Mindarticle.htm

Food Additives
http://www.3dpts.com/ArchiveArticles/MindArticle/2007-03-MindArticle.htm

Aspartame
http://www.3dpts.com/ArchiveArticles/MindArticle/2006-08-Mindarticle.htm

Your 3d Coach

Craig

Welcome to my first blog!

2007-04-15T06:48:00.000-07:00

Hi and thanks for visiting my new blog.

Technology is amazing! Forming a website, contacting and communicating with people from all around the world is so easy now days. Check out these tools for faster, cheaper and better communication:

I use voipstunt.com to speak free to my Mum's landline in Australia, or via peterzahlt.de
Most of you have heard of skype, but do you know you can use it to have a business number in most countries, so that people call to your computer or landline
Even this blogger.com - instant website! Pretty cool to speak your mind and communicate with people
You can even make a video and have it sent out all over the web with youtube.com

I know this may seem a stretch from health and fitness, but it's not really. Because communication with friends and family is such a vital ingredient to health, and the easier and more accesible it is the better in my opinion. But again it comes down to moderation (like a lot of things in life) and not overindulging, as to not become completely dependent on the internet or our mobiles, just appreciating it. I remember seeing the Dalai Lama in Melbourne talk on technology. I thought he might talk about its perils, but instead he loved it - even raved about his new watch! Seeing this "enlightened" monk get excited about his new watch was pretty funny.

Yours in health

Craig