Almond Milk vs Dairy Milk

Almond milk can be used to substitute dairy milk in your diet to reduce your calorie intake and increase the amount of vitamins and minerals you are getting. Almond milk has significantly less calories and carbs in it than dairy milk, while still retaining the same texture and consistency. The milk still contains the essential fats you would expect from milk and has a reasonable protein content. Calcium content is on of the major perks of dairy milk, and almond milk provides an equal amount, while including high quantities of vitamin E, manganese, selenium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, iron, fibre and phosphorous.

Being so rich in vitamins means that almond milk is a very good antioxidant, keeping your body healthy and flushing out the toxins. The low calorie content means that you can have this instead of dairy milk with oat or a protein shake as part of your cutting diet while still keeping your calorie and carb intake down.

BodyPower Expo

The BodyPower Expo is only a few weeks away now. Held at the NEC Birmingham, it is the largest fitness event in the UK, and one of the largest in Europe. Most of the industry turns up to show off new products, supplements and training techniques. Many of your favourite fitness celebrities will be there giving talks, seminars and even guest posing. Efficient Training will be there for the Friday and Saturday, brining you as much coverage as possible from the event and collecting as many samples as possible for reviews!

Alternative Training Technique

Interesting set of equipment, but still looks very functional. Remember to visit Greg Plitts site to find out more.

Make it Count

Good Background for your PC

Happy St Georges Day!!!

It's St Georges day in the UK today. If you don't know the story, have a search for it. Make sure you feel patriotic today!!!

22 Things Happy People Do Differently

Being healthy and fit is not just about the body, but also the mind as well. This video is done by a big inspiration for many people, Steve Cook and covers a new way happy people are different to others each day . Watch this series!!!

Protein has Arrived

Thanks to the team at Discount Supplements for getting my protein to me nice and quick!

Good Infographic on Dieting

Video Series to Check Out

Please check out this Youtube series. Its done by Steve Cook, very established fitness model and is absolutely brilliant. Here's the first episode for you.

Dealing with DOMS

DOMS, or delayed onset of muscle soreness. We have all had to deal with this at some point, some of us  more than others. DOMS is the after effect of training a muscle. It is most prominent after doing some kind of intensive training, like weight lifting or sprinting.

Your experience of DOMS can vary from a light ache in the muscle to incapacitating agony when you try to use the muscle. Here are a few tips to get over the aching and promote recovery.

• Make sure your getting all the necessary nutrients for the muscle to recover. If your diet is poor then the chance are that you will suffer for longer. Get the right kind of nutrients via a healthy diet or supplements.
• Stretch after the session. This only works for some people and wont get rid of the DOMS completely, but should help.
• Try hot and/or cold showers or baths. heating and cooling the body can increase the flow of blood to the muscles and so increase the amount of nutrients reaching them. This helps with the recover process because more nutrients means quicker recovery.
• Train again, but lightly! Going training again is another way to increase the blood flow to the muscle, which as I said above has many benefits to help recovery.
• Foam rolling. Very uncomfortable process, but  can help improve the flexibility of the muscle and relieve any tension. Can help reduce DOMS, but is usually very uncomfortable.

Hope this advice helps. Now you can reduce the amount of time you spend feeling crippled after your gym sessions!

Update on the Effects of Grenade

Been taking Grenade for 2 weeks now, still no side affects to report. I get a noticeable burst of energy from the caffeine now, really perking up after the second dose of the day. My fat levels are definitely dropping, but not by masses yet. Two more weeks to go. 

CNP Cheap

Following my review of CNP Pro Recover I have found a UK site where it is on sale for the next day. 49% off!!! Go to http://www.discount-supplements.co.uk/sports-supplements-carbohydrate-drinks-recovery-cnp-professional-pro-recover-5-04kg to buy yours!

Pushing Really Hard

Things To Remember When Squatting

Squats have a reputation with the unenlightened (people who don't squat!!) as being bad for your body. Usual complaints are "they're bad for your knees" "they hurt your shoulders" blah blah bla.....

If you squat properly and regularly, your fitness and strength with jump forward in leaps an bounds. The movement of squatting is something your body is designed to do, even looking from just a mechanical perspective. All the joints bend in the right direction! Keep in mind these few pointers and you will come to no harm while squatting.

• Warm Up- exercising any of your muscles without warming up is a recipe for disaster. Do a short stint on the treadmill first, then STRETCH! Most people miss out this vital part of warming up, its considered boring and pointless. When you have 200kg on your back, you want your muscle to working in perfect order.
• Bend your knees, not your back- many new squatters have a habit of bending at their hips to try and get the weight lower. Ideally, you want to keep your back as static as possible. The power needs to come from your legs.
• Page 3- a good example of how to hold yourself when squatting can be taken from page 3 of the Sun newspaper. Chest out, bum out, head up. Try to look about 15-20 degrees above parallel. This will bring your head and shoulders up and help keep your chest forward and subsequently your back straight. Bum out means think about pushing your butt backwards, not bending your knees. If you think about this you are more likely to keep your back position strong.
• Bar placement- find a place to rest the bar on your back that is comfortable. To begin with you may find that on top of your shoulders/traps is best, but after a while I would recommend resting the bar a bit lower, just below the tops of your traps and on the very tops of your triceps. This improves your back position and really helps out when the weight starts to go up
• Get angry- you legs are strong, they can take a lot, get pushing!

Hopefully these few tips will help improve your squatting and help you become even more of a beast than you already are!!

Taking Grenade- 1 week done

So I've been taking Grenade for one week now. Not too much to say about it. There are none of the side affects that you can find horror stories about on the internet forums. I have not experienced the excessive sweating that some report, nor the energy boost before a workout. My body fat % is down from 16.5% to 15.3%, without changing my diet at all and keeping my training regime going. Bit early to be expecting any physical changes, so not worried about that yet.