Let's talk about training effectively.

My clients follow different versions of the same movement based program. There are certain movements that we want to cover, but the choice of exercise can vary depending on what equipment is available, or the client's confidence & ability level.

The way I've designed the program and the way I have set it up to be so versatile and customisable is a bit unique. But at the same time, it is just one example of how a competent and knowledgeable training might design an effective program.

There are probably unlimited options for designing an effective resistance training program, but for the most part they'll all have certain movements in common. Specifically we're talking about heavy ass compound lifts, and a suitable balance to recruit and exhaust all of the major muscle groups.

In addition to those, I like to include what I describe as "precision" movements that might target a more specific, smaller muscle, or which might be like an extra coat of polish after we've done the more utilitarian type stuff like grunting neanderthals.

Sometimes there are other movements that we might incorporate for very specific reason, for example to recruit and activate a very specific supporting muscle that doesn't seem to be doing it's job effectively while performing those major compound movements. These exercises aren't really going to make much of a difference to your body composition, but a trainer with a good eye and a good understanding of movement and anatomy will utilise them for the purpose of better preparing you for safe & effective execution of the important stuff that really does make a difference.

Now... click through pinterest for a while and have a look at some of these "cellulite banishing butt and thigh workouts" posted up, for example. What you'll find is a lot of very elegant and dignified looking calisthenic type exercises, precise movements that may target a specific muscle. You'll feel a burn while performing them, possibly some Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness the next day... but does this mean it is an effective training program consisting of suitable exercises to delivered the desired result? 

Nope.

You'll feel a burn because you're recruiting a small muscle in isolation, in a way that it is not used to being activated. This is something that a good trainer might proscribe to address an imbalance they perceive in your movement patterns, for example. Addressing that imbalance will allow you to perform the compound movements that will really change the shape of your body more safely and more effectively... but only performing these exercises while omitting the "big" stuff that really makes a difference will be mostly inconsequential.

If you want to change the shape of your body, you need to target the muscles that make up the greater part of it. Not just the smaller ones that are actually hidden deep within your anatomy.

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Two new weight loss articles published

A couple of articles you may have missed, posted on medium.

The first one is Dispelling The Weight Loss Myths, and it's just like the name suggests. There are no "fat burning" foods, there are no "foods you must never eat", you don't have to eat the way we might imagine primitive humanoid species might have at the dawn of time, or any of that nonsense.

That sort of talk sure does sell a lot of diet books, and gets you a lot of likes on facebook... but it's a lot like the saying goes, "the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it".

The truth is... you need to eat an amount that's appropriate. There are different diets you can try, but if they work it still comes down to having gained weight due to eating an excessive amount, and now losing weight by eating a less or non excessive amount. For continued results though, you really need to be consuming "the appropriate" amount, most of the time.

As far as I'm concerned, there's no point in hoping to fluke this by limiting your choices of foods, and especially if that means forcing yourself to eat stuff you don't particularly care for.

The new article posted this evening is called Why You Get Fat And What You Should Do About It. There's a book of a similar name, which is actually a load of garbage based on a flawed and misrepresented understanding of the science. What it really comes down to is appropriate intake, versus inappropriate intake.

As I describe in the article, if you are of a particular inactive lifestyle... you're almost certain to be eating in excess of your requirements. If you're in the habit of snacking on high calorie treats without really thinking about what you're doing, you're likely to be massively in excess. A more active person will have greater calorific requirements, and more room in the plan for some indulgence.

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Rant du jour

I posted a rant on facebook earlier, due to being suitably offended after a text from some random offering to "mentor me to success" in my business.

Now, I happen to be around some of the best people in the business in real life as you know, not to mention networking (as a peer, I might add... not some hanger on) with some of the world's most highly regarded experts via social media. So, I have mentors both official and unofficial, and I'm still trying to learn a thing or two where I can and apply it to what I do. Both for my own financial wellbeing and for the good of mankind.

So, I was curious as just what this "business opportunity" might be and who had had the audacity to feel they could waltz into my life uninvited and start telling me how to do things. Perhaps not terribly surprisingly, it turned out to be a herbalife rep. My understanding of the business model is "start doing group fitness for free, and make your money selling meal replacement shakes" and so on.

Does that really sound like something I would do? Come on.

Anyway I was asked why I had such a problem with MLM and this was my reply. Stuff disappears into the void before long on facebook and I thought this was too good to waste.

I have a problem with about 95% of any aspect of this business. The public come to us because we're supposedly trained, educated experts on the subject... but for the most part all we do is latch on to what ever urban myths are circulating in an attempt to "give the people what they want". Detoxs, elimination diets, low carb, no sugar... all sorts of stuff that is based on misinterpretation of science at best, and deliberate deception at worst. And people in the business only further spread this misinformation rather than address and correct it as per their education and in accordance with their scope of practice.

That's bad enough but then you get the herbalife and other reps who with no formal qualification are told they're now a "wellness coach" and can give people nutrition, exercise and general health advice. It is SO irresponsible to enable such activity in non qualfied,non educated, non experienced people who've only recently taken an interest in the subject and now believe they are experts.

So you have people with no real understanding, recklessly giving nutritional advice that borders on the pro-orthorexic,while also selling shakes that are about 50% added sugar. How does that make sense when you're pushing a "no junk food challenge" for example as I see in the herbalife tags on facebook right now? It doesn't.

Bad nutrition and weight loss advice FUCKS people up, and while I've managed to carve out a career cleaning up the mess made by people who have no justification to be advising anyone on anything, I'd much prefer not to have to in the first place.

Plus, it's a pyramid scheme and as described in the article I linked below, they're exploiting their own people with these promises of huge amounts of money falling into their lap with no effort required, when the reality is more like the opposite.

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Usual chain of events upon setting Custom Flexible Dieting Guidelines for a new client.

Here's how it usually plays out.

1. I crunch the numbers and set introductory intake targets, to set a benchmark.

Generally speaking, the total calorie range in these introductory targets will be the lowest I'd ever consider appropriate for this client. The targets for dietary fats, protein, and carbohydrates are in a "this much is adequate, closer to this amount is probably more ideal if you don't find it too difficult" format.

More often than not, the total calorie target is still quite significantly higher than the client has been attempting to limit to in the past.

2. The client is a little overwhelmed by all these numbers.

This is normal, and usually I'll tell them something like "you don't have to nail it right away, just do your best and we'll try to hit a little closer to the mark more consistently in the weeks ahead. We have forever to get it right".

3. The client finds it so easy to hit their targets, they imagine they must be doing it wrong.

We're so used to the idea that it's really hard to lose weight, and that getting your diet right is complicated and difficult, it often seems to create some cognitive dissonance when a new client finds it so easy to hit the targets I've given them.

Often the client is convinced they will not succeed despite hitting their intake targets quite accurately, due to including some "not clean" choices here and there. On investigation of their food logs, I usually find they are actually still a little short on total intake, and I advise they should have actually taken a second serving of whatever "bad" choice of food they were concerned about.

4. Perhaps just as often though, the client reports in that they are exceeding their fat target, and falling a little short of their protein target.

Regarding the fats, remember we're talking about a minimum target, the least I would consider adequate. Therefore, exceeding it is exactly what should be happening. It would actually be quite unlikely to fall short of minimum adequate fats, other than in very deliberate and restrictive circumstances.

As to the protein? Just do your best for now.

5. Upon weighing in, the client has lost weight. Or at least failed to gain weight despite eating a lot more.

If the client has lost weight, we'll stay with the targets we have until we have reason to move them. If not, we will increase until we reach a level of total intake most suitable for results from training.

In some cases the client has not actually lost weight, but there is an observable improvement in body composition. Aka "leaning out". This is due to more appropriate fueling, and the body having resources available to adapt favourably to training.

6. Client reports being incredibly hungry, despite now eating perhaps 50 or 100% more than previously, and still seeing better results.

We increase minimum targets accordingly, and in some cases I set no upper limit on intake. In other words "no less than this amount, but listen to your body and if it tells you it wants more, you better give it some".

Eating more but not gaining weight, or eating more and actually losing weight, and feeling more hungry than ever is a sure sign that your body is taking up all of the fuel and resources that you are providing, and putting them all to good use in recovering and adapting favourably to training, just the way you want it to.

The conventional wisdom that you will lose more weight by eating less and less and less is baffling to me. To see any results from training, you must provide adequate fuel and resources for the body to utilise. The closer to "ideal" levels, the more pronounced and consistent the results, but "adequate" will still get you there. Most of the way at least.

7. The client reports a few bad days, failing to adhere to their targets.

This happens because people have lives outside of training. Careers, social obligations, birthday parties, or maybe they just really felt like pizza one night.

I'm never remotely concerned when this happens. Almost without exception, they still report in with good progress at the end of the week.

8. The client quickly unlearns any ideas about not being cut out for success in weight management, any hang ups about enjoying different choices of foods, and becomes more confident and enthusiastic about training and consistently hitting closer to ideal intake.

Boom. Goes. The. Dynamite.

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Stop thinking "Weight Loss Diet", start thinking "Sports Nutrition"

I wrote this up and posted it elsewhere the other day, but then I realised it was more suited to this blog with more of my better pieces of writing, where people will hopefully be able to find it.

For anyone out there who is in the habit going to the gym, the track, whereever else to train or exercise for any or all of the following reasons:

• to lose weight
• to be healthy and active
• to change your body condition
• to improve performance and perhaps to compete in sport

You had better be thinking in terms of SPORTS NUTRITION more so than “being on a diet”. If you’re thinking something like “oh that’s for after i’ve lost the fat” or “that’s for people who are better at sport than I am” you’re in for a frustrating and unpleasant time.

If you’re participating in training & exercise to produce any result, you need the appropriate nutrition plan to enable said result. “Dieting” aint gonna do it.

Here’s what the evidence suggests on appropriate sports nutrition.

• get enough total cals.
• get enough protein.
• get enough dietary fats.
• your five + serves of fruit and vegetables will go some of the way towards meeting your carbohydrate requirements.
• you are likely to need a lot more than you’ll get from fruit and veg though, and it doesn’t really matter where you get the rest from.
• get enough fiber.
• meal timing and frequency doesn’t seem to make much difference so go with what suits you.
• "clean" foods verses "other" foods doesn’t make any difference so go with what suits you.
• anything else i’ve forgotten or omitted? (probably) doesn’t make any difference either so go with what suits you.

it’s weird how “sports nutrition” is actually easier than a “weight loss diet”, right?

Weight loss diets seem have so many rules, and if you don't get everything just right, it all comes crashing down like a house of cards. Only these foods, never those ones. Eat only at these times and never after this time... those aren't even the craziest of the ideas out there, not by a long shot.

In sports nutrition though, the move increasingly is towards more flexible approaches based on providing adequate resources, from whatever sources and on whatever schedule suits the individual. All of that other stuff is really of no consequence.

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