A bad back, not chicken legs!
By Drew Price | November 18, 2008
TRAINING LEGS WITH A BAD BACK:
Many people suffer from bad backs but what do you do it you want to train legs and have a problem squatting and deadlifting?
Well obviously the first thing to do is find out what the problem is and take measures to imporve the situation, this usually means a trip to either the doctor or (sports) physio. After that then follow their advice.
However there are things you can do to take the strain off the back whilst training AND increase the training effect on the legs. Depending upon the nature of the problem, single leg movements may well be a good choice.
UNILATERAL MOVEMENTS = THE SMART CHOICE
By working one leg at a time you train the body as it naturally functions (remember walking and running are movements on one foot) you increase instability as well as also greatly reducing the load you need to carry.
Pistols
These are great: no external loading of the spine and very very tough. Remember it you do a pistol with you bodyweight this is like putting you bodyweight on your back and doing a normal squat – in fact it is more like bodyweight plus 20% as one foot is less stable
Two options here you can either pistol squat in a doorway using it for stability, to it wil no hands or also use a weight:
Free pistol
(from www.urbanfreeflow.com)
Doorway pistol
(from www.powerathletesmag.com)
Weighted pistol
(again, from www.urbanfreeflow.com)
One leg squat:
this is similar to the pistol but with the leg you;re not using bent at the knee so at the bottom of the movement you have your knee/shin on the floor
Unilateral deadlifts:
These are copies of the deadlift movement on one leg If you can use a weight as well then all the better, you can do both stiff leg or traditional, just make sure you keep your hips nice and stable
Other more common exercises include
Lunges:
ofthen these are overlooked but done nice and steadily don;t requite much in the way of weight compared to squats and the like.
Split squats:
These are like lunges but with the back food on a platform or bench and very tough, remember if you can’t use a weeight go for depth and reps
WEIGHTS & LOADING
With the above you can use a little weight if it is tolerated, you can also wear a ruck sack with the load on the (tight!) waist strap and the shoulder straps loose.
In case where there have been disc issues holding the weight up above the head can keep the back in a more advantageous position but again CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR OR PHYSIO BEFORE TYRING ANY OF THESE.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Bump: Daniel Craig’s Casino Royale body, diet & training article
By Drew Price | November 14, 2008
With the arrival of the new Bond film Quantum of Solace, I thought I might take the chance to bump the blog I posted on Craig’s training for the Bond film which includes both the workout Daniel Craig did for Casino Royale with his trainer Simon Waterson, the training he was reported to have done (and why this may not be the whole truth) and the physical training and ‘real’ James Bond 007 might do (SWAT, Spec Ops etc).
As well as including hardcore conditioning workouts and training for a more muscular body it also include the Bond Diet as well.
Find the blog HERE
Or go directly to the article HERE at James Bond Lifestyle.
Topics: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
GOOD foods and BAD foods
By Drew Price | August 20, 2008
Many ‘nutritionists’ bang on and on about ‘good’ foods and ‘bad’ food. In my opinion they’re just plain wrong to do this.
The reason is simple: how can any food be good or bad when you don’t know how much of this is being eaten? Is one greasy burger eaten in a fast food place going to effect my health or fitness a year later? No clearly not.
By demonising certain foods you take the focus off the really important factor:
WHOLE DIET.
Yes a good whole diet won’t contain that many ‘bad’ foods but on the flip side you can put together a very poor diet that is based on exclusively ‘good’ foods, yes even (*shudder*) ’superfoods’.
It bares repeating:
There are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods just good or bad diets
Diets can be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depending upon if they’re suitable or unsuitable for your health and fitness levels, your goals and finally your lifestyle.
Topics: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
The Omnivores 100: strange foods from around the world
By Drew Price | August 20, 2008
The Omnivores 100 is a blog doing the rounds at the moment. It goes like this: below is a list of 100 foods from around thew world: ‘good’ foods, ‘bad’ foods, weird and wonderful foods. You copy and paste them into your blog and mark down the ones you have eaten (bold) and ones you wouldn’t consider eating (crossed through) and blog it.
So which ones have you eaten?
I’d consider eating any of the ones below but in bold are ones I have actually tried:
(run cursor over the names for some definition or examples)
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake
83/100. Do I get a prize?
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Essential fatty acid supplements – your choices explained
By Drew Price | July 29, 2008
Essential fatty acid (EFA) supplements are becoming more popular with interest about more weird and wonderful supplements like krill oil growing. EFA supplements are sometime necessary for basic health due to the way that our food is produced and the types of diets we choose. Today we get far too much omega 6 and far too little omega 3 (O3) in our diets. This is bad for a number f reasons but it mainly boils down to the fact that they are used by the body to make ecosinoids which play a major roll in controlling inflammation in the body. O6 fats end up as pro inflammatory messengers and O3 as anti inflammatory messengers.
Quite simply the more raw material the more the messenger produced and the louder the message. Inflammation in the body is useful but extended periods of inflammation is more often than not deleterious to health and is implicated in cardiovascular disease, diabetes etc etc.
By ‘balancing’ the intake of these fats (reducing the 6:3 ratio) you can really help ‘balance’ the inflammatory reaction, but what are your dietary and supplemental choices here?
Animal sources:
Fish oils:
Fish oils are great sources of O3 fats especially the long cain fatyy acids our bodies use. Vegetable sources have to be processed by the body – in fish oils the hard work has been done for you.
Upsides: good source of EPA and DHA (which veg sources don;t have)
Possible downsides: people with seafood (fish) allergies should not take them.
Doses commonly seen 1000mg to 9000mg (but sometimes as high as 300000mg/20-30g per day)
(NB: Cod liver oil is different! This should not be taken in these quantities!)
Krill oil:
Krill oil is one of the newer oils on the market and is rapidly growing in popularity, it contains O3 in a form that is readily absorbed and stable but it also contains an antioxidant (AO) molecule called Astaxanthin which mops up free radicals, however more research needs to be done to better understand how this works in the body (high AO levels from supplements may interfer with internal AO status!).
Doses commonly seem are 500mg to 1000mg per day
Upsides: Good fats readily absorbed, great AO profile
Possible downsides: we don’t know too much about how this high AO profile effect the body.
Plant sources:
Flax oils
Flax is a great vegetable source of O3 fats and no easily available in the shops in both bottled oil forms and capsules for easy transport.
Flax powder and seeds (cracked)
a good source of both EFA’s as well as lignans (go to the wikipedia page for more info) and fibres. Of course it is the whole seed so the fat content is lower but it is useful
Upsides: good source of ligands and fibre, can be added to foods easily
Possible downsides: some people may not react well to fibre content, fats need conversion in the body which some people have problems doing effectivly.
Doeses: one half to two tablespoons a day
Walnut oil
This oil is a relatively good source of the O3 fats we’re after but comes further down the list due to it’s lower content and ss you can from this example the distinctions between food and supplement can become blurred .
Other foods that will help correct EFA balance
You can help correct the balance of fats in your body by eating thinks containing a 6:3 ratio of lower that about 5-6:1, this includes a lot of foods and especially… grass fed beer and bison (and similar game), salmon, trout, herring, walnuts, lima beans, kelp and green vegetables, seed oils of the kiwi, cranberry, chia and camelina.
The supplements above help satify a need in a convinient and effective manner but if you’re pregnant, breastfeeding or have bleeding issues or are on blood thinning medications you should consult your doctor before taking them. Please be aware as well many of these foods and supplements above can cuase problems for those with food hypersensitivities.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
The REAL meaning of intensity
By Drew Price | July 15, 2008
Language is useful only when we agree upon the meaning of the words we are exchanging. ‘Intensity’ seems to be a a word steeped in confusion as far as it’s meaning in the physical training context goes.
I have had many a conversation with people who know a thing or two about training but seem to be confused about weight training and intensity, some have even dissolved into near arguments with people telling me I am making it up myself!
Intensity in the context of weight training can be most simply defined as the % of the highest weight you can lift for one repetition. This is the scientific application of the word ‘intensity’. The dictionary definition ceases to apply when yo walk in to the gym or training facility.
What intensity is NOT is:
- How hard session is - this is intensity, volume, exercise density and a load of other things
- How daunting a session may be
- How fast your heart is beating
- How much you’re sweating
- How heavy you’re breathing
They might be correlated with the intensity but they are not intensity. Don’t believe me? Here’s some quotes….
“HIT wasn’t that high intensity. Intensity’s defined as the relative amount of your 1 rep max at which you’re working.” Charles Poliquin
“High-intensity strength exercises (in the 70-100% range [of 1 rep max]) are better than low intensity strength exercises (in the 40-70% range [of one rep max]) while dieting.” Cristian Thibaudeau
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Diet for weightloss
By Drew Price | July 8, 2008
There are diets for this and diets for that but one thing connects many of them - fat loss. How do you identify a good weight loss diet and what are rules of ANY good weight management program?
The rules of the good weightloss diet.
The diet will…
- Ensure sufficient water, macro, micro and phytonutrients for health as well as sufficient fibre
- Safeguard lean mass (organs, muscle etc) whilst supporting fat mass loss
- Allow sufficient ‘energy’ to exercise well and function from day to day
- Take account of the users health levels and lifestyle
- Ensure lasting results through good health, behavior change (if necessary) and solid long term diet.
There are lots of diets on the market but you must be sure that the one you choose complies to the above if it is going to support healthy long term weight management.
Choose carefully.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
The CrossFit Games 2008
By Drew Price | July 7, 2008
The results of the 2nd annual CrossFit games are in and can be found here
All the competitors in an event of this type deserve some kind of recognition given the difficulty of the event – it’s literally blood sweat and tears stuff, if you’re not familiar with this type of training have a look at the homepage crossfit.com . This event now in it’s second year has grown – a lot - as the popularity of the training philosophy as a whole grows but it is not with out it’s detractors and fare share of controversy.
CrossFit utilizes real functional movements, high intensity, high exercise density and almost infinite combinations of exercises in a supportive group setting and is an incredibly effective way to increase your fitness. The daily exercise prescription is available at the homepage and even if training alone results can be compared and questions of comments left at the daily comments section. Added to this support is the CrossFit Journal and the constant flow of info meaning that the result philosophy is truly ‘open source’.
However despite the support the CrossFit package is also one that has to be treated with caution, many people especially those with low general fitness levels and a lot of those with office jobs just have no business doing a lot of what CrossFit asks you to do. Yes, workouts are ’scalable’ and there is some info on starting out but this is in contract with the ‘do or die’ mentality of the hardcore following.
As always you have to think about the cost benefit ratio of a course of action. Following CrossFit may well benefit you hugely BUT starting out wrongly may well cause big problems so if you;re thinking about getting started then read THIS.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Batched Training: Get more from less…. Part II
By Drew Price | June 16, 2008
In the first
part of this blog on Batched Workouts we went over why you might want to try these time saving intensity increasing sessions, the reasons were as follows:
Decreased traveling time
Decreased traveling expense (and stress and pollution!)
Decreased time spent warming up
Increased training density (the amount of work in a short time)
Freeing up whole days where no evening is used up or no kit needs to be carried
Allowing longer for recovery periods
Fits between sports activity more easily
Decreased duration needed for steady state cardio
Toady we’ll look a little bit closer at the format and the types of workout
More on the format or Batched workouts
The format for the Batch Workouts are a variation on the following theme
Warm-up (including mobility work)
- Weights One: compound lifts (push pull legs)
- Metabolic conditioning
- Weights Two: Isolation or machines (depending upon needs)
- Steady state cardiovascualr work (dependent upon needs)
- Warm-down (including strength and prehab)
The different movements and drills must be in that order for you to be able to perform them well. The warm-up is obvious but there’s no stretching there just mobilisation drills. Static stretching can impact upon your ability to lift heavy, switching the muscle off. Next the intense heavy compound weights come before the metabolic conditioning for obvious reasons – you will be too fatigued after. However you will notice there’s another weights session. This is the isolation and/or machine only session and for those looking for muscle gains in certain groups one common example is arms or shoulders. They are placed after the met. con. session as if they were before they would compromise your ability to do the compound exercises involved in the different met con drills. Sure you want be able to go as hard on them but the ‘pre fatigue’ of the drills will mean the muscle will be smoked afterwards.
The warm-down is where stretching and prehab movements can be incorporated.
A batched workout example
- Warm-up (including mobility work)
- Weights One: Deadlift, bodybuilder style bench, barbell row 5×5
- Metabolic conditioning: for time superset dumbbell thrusters & pull-ups 20, 15, 10, 5 reps
- Weights Two: Lateral raises, bicpes preacher curles
- Steady state cardiovascular work: 15 minutes bike
- Warm-down: Light stretching etc
Different sessions for different goals
Different people have different goals and needs, below is an examples of how you may change similar sessions to incorporate different goals
Physique: hypertrophy (muscle gain) and conditioning
- Warm-up (including mobility work)
- Weights One 5×5: Deadlift, bodybuilder style bench, barbell row
- Metabolic conditioning: dumbbell thrusters, pull-ups 20, 15, 10, 5
- Weights Two: a1 rear lateral raises, a2 incline flye. b1 bicpes preacher curls a2 Close grip bench
- Steady state cardiovascular work: 0 minutes
- Warm-down
Physique: fat loss and muscle maintainance
- Warm-up (including mobility work)
- Weights One 5×5: Deadlift, bodybuilder style bench, barbell row
- Metabolic conditioning: dumbbell thrusters, pull-ups 20, 15, 10, 5
- Weights Two: a1 rear lateral raises, a2 bicpes preacher curls
- Steady state cardiovascular work: 15 minutes
- Warm-down
Athelete
- Warm-up (including mobility work)
- Weights One 5×5: Olympic lift, split squats, unilateral heavy upperbody work
- Metabolic conditioning: sled pushing
- Weights Two: twisting movements like cable chest press and rows
- Steady state cardiovascular work: 15 minutes (in required)
- Warm-down
(this would of course be one of two or three session the other having plyometric drils etc)
If you’re detained or a novice then these types of training sessions are either 1) not for you or 2) going to have to be altered so allow you to get the best out of them, you may even wish to leave out the metabolic conditioning al together:
Beginners
- Warm-up
- Weights: squat, dumbbell bench press, dumbbell row, external rotations
- Difficult but steady state cardiovascular work: 20 mins rowing machine and bike
- Warm-down
Nutrition to support this batching
We all know that what you eat can have a great effect on how you perform in the gym, with the slightly long sessions of a batched workout you have to turn your attention to fueling and recovery. There’s a couple of ways to do this (in my preferred order)
- A shake containing higher GI carbs and protein just before during and afterwards.
- A shake containing lower glycmeic index carbs 15 mins before and then another straight afterwards
- A meal of solid protein and low GI carbs 2 hours before then sipping a recovery drink towards the end of the session.
This would sit on top of your normal healthy diet based on lots of fibrous veg, lean meats and fish with nuts, seeds, fruit, whole grains as required.
Topics: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Batched Diet hacks
By Drew Price | June 13, 2008
Get more good, interesting, tasty foods in your life, support good health and great body and cut the mess and stress.
(clock design M&Co. 5 O’Clock, Tibor and Maria Kalman)
Practically speaking, which is what this blog is all about, ‘diet’ is only a small part of the nutrition picture, it is also the lifestyle you lead, the types of cooking you like to do or find easy. These are all things that have a huge influence on what goes into your mouth.
When we looked at Batched Training we discussed the methods you would use to switch up your training focusing more on the things that work and saving yourself a LOT of time in the process. Here we’ll try and cover a few ideas that may work for diet and nutrition meaning less time stress and mess but rather a better more interesting diet, better health and a better body.
Batching for those who don’t know is the process of saving up similar tasks and doing them together to save all the time you spend in preparation. If you’re not convinced I have put more examples in the Batched Training entry. With exercise this would be getting to the gym, getting changed, showering, warming up etc. When talking about diet and nutrition you would think about things such as chopping vegetables, cooking, washing up of filling the machine and so on.
Below are some examples of Batching hacks I use in clinic.
Batch one: Food list and food shopping
Put together a lists of foods that you will go through in the week, put in a ‘core’ of good foods; lean meats, veg, pulses, grains, quality dairy etc. This is make things a lot easier, healthier and save you money. You can even go so far as putting together a menu for the week and buying just those foods.
If you’re leading a busy hectic life you need to do one thing first off: buy at least some of your food on-line.
We would all like to be able to shop locally, buying fresh ingredients on the day and you can when you have time but you have to safeguard your diet, this means buying good choices every week including
- Lean meats (pref organic with lots of game etc)
- Lots of fibrous vegetables
- Nuts & seeds
- Tins of pulses, tomatoes etc
- Frozen vegetables as a back up
With on-line shopping not only do you not have to travel there and back (remember your time is money) and by using the proforma shopping lists from you account to make it an almost one click experience, even more time saved. By using tools like MySpupermarket you can even save money filling your basket and comparing the supermarkets.
So time and money saved.
Batch two: Food preparation
I am a big fan of chopped frozen veg for busy people. If it’s a choice between that and not eating veg then go for it. When your shopping arrives you can take 10 mins to dice up a load of veg and meat , divide into usable portions and freeze for use later in the week. Seems stupid but this will save LOTS of time.
Batch three: Cook up a load of meals all at once
Did you know you can cook more than one meal at once. Obvious I know, but you’d be surprised the amount of people that haven’t though about this. Dedicate 90 mins somewhere in the week to cooking up a load of stews, stir fry soups etc and store them in the fridge and freezer to eat through the week.
You can also use the double dinner trick as well; just cook twice as much as you need and take to work the next day (if office politics allows!), it’s simple, obvious buy most people forget about this. Of course it works better for some dished than others – scrambled eggs would not be a good choice here!
This also works for portion of protein like chicken breasts, salmon etc. Cook them all at once and store for use in other dishes.
The ‘Pret Audit’: batching your lunch fact finding and decisions
Go to the 3 nearest sandwich shops to work, select 4 dishes that comply to your needs for example; maybe you’re carrying a little too much weight and need to cut down on carbs and/or fats and need to up the protein? Write down the choices (that is very important) and keep this list in your desk draw.
When at work with no food from home look at the list make your selection (a 1st and 2snd choice from the same place) then leave to buy it.
Batch five: Supplements
In an earlier blog I discussed the types of Supplements people may use in the context of a busy but healthy lifestyle. Many people use these proteins, vitamins, fish oils, herbs etc but most have trouble remembering to take them every day. By dividing them down into packs using small ziplock bags containing all the pills and capsules for each day you can just grab and go in the morning confident in the knowledge that all you need is there.
This also works for protein powders as well though by simply having a tub at work in the desk draw and one at home there’s little need for this.
The above hacks swing between really obvious, a bit geeky and simply really boring but they do work. I encourage you to give them all a god for just 2 weeks (the second week is where the magic really kicks in) and see how much time this frees up leaving you to enjoy life and not be tied to the cooker
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »