Science Of Steroids

Interesting documentary. Not promoting there use, but its interesting stuff to know.

Why Do You Train?

ON Platinum Hydro Builder Review

     The Platinum Hydro Builder from Optimum Nutrition is an all in one shake designed to support your recovery and growth. Much like other all in one shakes, this supplemennt contains a wide range of nutrients, all of which are required to help your body grow. I picked up this sample at the BodyPower Expo as part of a great bundle. A tub of Platinum Hydro Builder usually costs about £35 per 20 serving tub. Remember this is a premium product from a premium brand.
     Nutritionally, the shake gives a very good balance of all the important ingredients, while keeping calories low. Each serving (52g) is only 186kcal, with fat at 2g and carbohydrates nice and low at 5.8g. 35 grams of protein is included, of which 13.5 grams are essential aminos, so you get a good amount of protein going in, though not as much as some conventional whey protein supplements. 5 grams of creatine monohydrate are also included, helping improve your recovery of ATP when lifting.
     The flavour of this powder is also pretty good. I have the chocolate flavour, which is always the safest option in my opinion. While not as smooth and chocolaty as the standard whey and casein powders, it is still a nice drink at the end of your workout. 

ON Amino Energy Review

     Optimum Nutritions Essential Amino Enery is a supplement to deliver essential amino acids, increase nitric oxide production, improve muscle recovery and improve energy levels and focus. I am able to review a few areas of this supplement, mainly the effects felt during a training session and how affected my energy levels and recovery.

     Firstly, the flavour I have is fruit punch. While not important with regard to the physical effects of the supplement, the flavour is the first thing you notice about any supplements you have. The fruit flavour Amino Energy is very sweet and quite enjoyable to drink. It does not become too sickly if you are sipping on it, a big plus compared to some other supplements out there. It sits very well in your stomach too, meaning you don't feel it sloshing around as you being your training.

     I took my first does of this supplement before a back session, so had quite an intense workout to get through. I did notice a difference in how I was recovering and able to push myself during the session, taking less time to recover and being able to complete more reps of each exercise than normal. The energy in this supplement comes from caffine and beta-Alanine, so a tingling feeling is to be expected when taking it, as well as raised heart rate and more sweating. As far as I can tell there is no B12 included.

     The dosing recommended before a training session is 4-6 scoops. However, at £30 a tub (which is only half full too), having 6 scoops would cause you to run out very quickly. I only had 2 scoops (1 serving) and definitly felt the influence of it.

     Overall, this supplement does what it says in terms of energy boosting and focus improvement during a workout. The amino delivery and improved recovery between sessions is something you will have to decide on yourselves after extended use. If you can afford to buy it, go for it, but if not, keep it for those days where you need a bit of an extra boost.

     As always, please share this if you liked it, it really helps me out and doesn't take much. Thanks!

Relevant Links: Grenade .50 Calibre Review

Expo Review

       Right, where to start. Biggest fitness show in Europe and I got to be there for 2 days. I made sure that I experienced as much as I could in the time that I was there. Friday the 17th, otherwise known as the trade day, kicked of as expected. Promoters included suppliers of supplements, foods and training kit attended meaning there was a bit of everything to suite everyone. The 18th was the first day of two open to the public, so was absolutely manic, maybe a bit too busy for some as stalls did become a bit crowded at times.
       Supplement companies present included all the major brands (like Met-RX, USN, NRG, Optimum Nutrition) and many new start-ups offering alternatives to the mainstream giants. Some provided weird and wackey new supplements or flavours, others provided different blends of your favourite supplements. Some of my favourites were the seed based shake supplied by one manufacturer (the name escapes me, sorry!) providing a very good blend of protein while adding in all the natural fats and vitamins obtained by nuts and seeds.
        Another was the crazy new creation by Phd, a superfood blend designed to supercharge your body. Trust me, this is a case of something looking disgusting, but tasting amazing. The green, slimy looking sample is offered to those who wish to try, and those who do are refresh by the fantastic blend of flavours, with a hint of whichever primary flavour your sample had. You can almost feel the cleansing properties of this supplement as it hits your stomach. Well worth a look.
         I managed to catch some of a talk by Rehan Jalali, a well renown nutritionist. He delivered an interesting talk on the benefits of supplements, correct eating and the advantages of having specialist examination of blood samples to investigate the best composition of nutrients to feed your body.
         A strong presence of the show this year was the inclusion of bulk food providers. Many butchers were present offering bulk purchase options from their online stores with home deliver. Some were offering frozen deliver, others offered fresh products to the door. All suppliers offered amazing quality and ranges of meats at incredible prices, far below your local supermarkets. There were even less common options available, like chicken sausages, bison burgers and alligator steaks. I have to say, the burgers sold at some of the stores tasted amazing. I had an ostrich burger myself, shame its not available at all stores!
       While your exploring the vast exhibition hall, your surrounded by celebs and sponsored athletes. Seeing all of these idols is a big inspiration, as they are even more impressive in the flesh than in the photos. I managed to have a word with a big favourite of mine, Steve Cook. Its always good when your idols are as awesome in person as they are in Youtube videos etc.
       Overall I would say that the Expo was an improvement on last years show. It has definitely grown, though the organisers may have been a tad optimistic in the sales of ticket which too the shine out of the Saturday for me, mainly because of the need to shuffle and weave through crowds for the entire day. However the turnout from the industry was incredible, the presence of so many big names and athletes bought the standard of the show up, creating an environment that left many I spoke to inspired and with a hungry desire to go home and train harder than ever. If you can get there for the last day, go, it'll be worth it!
  

Stash from the Expo

Loads of good deals on at BodyPower Expo. Here's all the stuff I managed to pick up or decided to buy.

Optimum Nutrition - Great stack deal from these guys, got a bag of Gold Standard Whey Protein, Gold Standard Casein, Platinum Hydro Builder and Amino Energy for £50!! Even go a free t-shirt and some Pre samples thrown in.

Universal - Shock Therapy samples, looking forward to tying these pre workouts at some point

PeptoPro - propeptide supplier, this stuff is meant to reduce the catabolic affect of training on the muscle. Big claim, time to put it to the test.

Back from the Expo

I have just returned from the BodyPower Expo in Birmingham. I was there for 2 days, so have lots to talk about, bear with me while I write it all. Should be able to post again later tonight.

Can't wait till the weekend. Friday at the expo going to all the seminars and talks they put on, Saturday the contest at on the main stage and both days all the promoters and stalls to see. To top it all off, Friday night we will be heading to Temple Gym, one of the top gyms in the country, to smash out a session. Might even get to see some of the pros in there!

Beating Sugar Cravings

One of the biggest parts of getting healthier and in better shape is your diet. Everyone knows that it is important, but not many people manage to keep to what they know is the perfect diet for them. I don't use the word 'diet' in what some of you may consider the normal term here. Your diet is the nutrition that you are feeding your body, not as most people know it, which is as the term used to describe restricting your nutritional intake in an attempt to lose weight.

Regardless of the diet that you choose to adopt, you will invariably experience a period of strong craving for something that is no longer present in your nutritional intake. This craving is usually for sugar. It something that is now included in every day life, yet is not essential for your every day eating. When you eat something that has very high sugar levels, you get a big burst of energy from it, which feels good right? The reason for this is that sugar is near enough instant energy for your body. When it gets into your stomach it doesn't need to be digested so it can be absorbed straight into the blood stream and carried off to all the muscles and cells. A spike in your blood sugar levels happens, causing your body to release insulin to help process this sugar and return your blood sugar levels to a more normal amount. However, insulin cuts the blood sugar levels excessively, leaving you with the 'crash' experienced after having lots of sugar. Most see having more sugar  as the only way of getting past this crash, starting a vicious cycle of highs and lows fueled by an excessive sugar intake. All this time, the insulin levels in your blood are higher than usual, preventing the burning of fats (one of the properties of insulin).

To beat the sugar craving and break out of the cycle you need to be very strict with yourself. Treat it as addiction, you can either go cold turkey (stopping all intake of sugar straight away) or you can gradually decrease your intake until you no longer desire the sugar. Gradually reducing the intake does not mean you have to eat sugar every day. What I recommend is cutting out sugars and finding a very sweet tasting replacement food to have when you feel the craving for sugar. This replacement food can be something like a yogurt, jelly or fruit juice. These all contain a small amount of sugar but taste very sweet, satisfying your taste buds and your bodies call for a sugar hit. Limit yourself to one portion of the replacement food each day for a week, then drop the replacement food all together. You will be surprised when you don't crave the sugar anymore! Beware though, relapsing is very easy....

Exercise for a Healthier Mind

In today's society it is very easy to get bogged down in everyday life. Work, home commitments and other tasks can begin to take over. Having down time for you mind is very important to achieve good health (remember, health is physical and mental). There are lots of ways to relax your mind, yoga, going for a walk, taking part in a sport etc. Here at Efficient Training the preferred method of relaxation is exercise. These are some reasons why exercise can be such a good way to relax your mind.

• You can switch your mind off to the outside world. When you enter the gym or start your workout, try to forget about everything else going on in your life. You are there to focus and do one thing - train. Making your mind focus on one activity like this can help you relax and forget stressful things that are bothering you. The time away gives you a chance to recover.
• A break from working an bring new light to a problem. If you have spend all day thinking about a problem or task that needs doing, but your not sure how to solve it, chances are you have been going round in circles in your head for a while. Getting a good bit of exercise done allows your mind to reset itself and start fresh. When you return to look at the problem, new ideas will come to you that had otherwise been ignored
• Emotional relief. Everyone has days when they are irritated by things around them, sometimes for a good reason, others simply because you woke up on the wrong side of bed. Use your emotion to fuel your training. Anger and frustration can be bought out by lifting weight, spurring you to greater intensity. The relief you feel once the emotion has been taken out on the weight or exercise can feel incredibly liberating. Remember, you can hurt the weights, so throw them around and give them everything you have.
• Removal from the rush. Life is so rushed these days. You need to hit this deadline and that deadline, or make it to that appointment or you'll get in trouble. Exercise is done in your time, to your plan. You are the boss of your your training session an the only person to answer to is you. Having the time out where no one else is watching your every step or measuring your performance allows you to perform at your best. If you truly want to do something, you should be doing it to the best of your ability without others having to constantly push you. Hopefully, exercise and fitness is something you want to do, so the time while your doing it should allow you to relax, while still working hard.
• Brain off, body on. After you have been training for a little while, the process of performing exercises becomes second nature. You don't have to consciously think about how your technique is, because you have been doing it long enough for the muscle to know what its doing without much conscious instruction. You can choose to focus on other things, like the contraction of muscles or the rhythm of your breathing. Listening to your body operating and understanding the responses to certain actions is almost a form of meditation.

Hopefully each of these points has helped put your training sessions in a different light. Its not just about making your body stronger and fitter, it also about keeping your mind healthy. 

Thanks for reading. If you have any questions or comments please leave a reply below.

Joint Client Sessions

Today I took a joint session for two of my clients. I have had sessions for both before as individuals, but this was the first joint session. Both clients know each other, so they were very happy to have the session together (saved them money!). What was different about this session was very interesting?

Having two people in a fitness session changes the dynamic of the session. You have two personalities taking part in the same session and they interact with each other. The benefit that I wanted to get from having a joint session was to force the two clients to push each other harder. I did this by forcing them to work together. One would be performing a uncomfortable 'stress' exercise (like the plank or wall squat) while the other had to complete a set task (20 shoulder press) before the other could stop swap over. While this does not sound like a taxing workout to begin with, as the sets progress the stress exercise begins to become very uncomfortable. The client in the stress position becomes very aware of the amount of time that the exercise is taking to complete, while the person completing the task is trying to finish the exercise as quickly as possible to try and relieve the others pain. The two personalities start to clash, as both believe the other can work harder. This anger becomes fuel for higher levels of effort, creating a cycle until both clients are working much harder than thought possible.

While the spiralling of anger at each other not working hard enough and being responsible for each others pain is good, it needs to be controlled to make sure it doesn't get out of hand. Stopping the exercise at the right time helps strengthen the bond between the two people, knowing they have battled through the same workout and have reached the other side. If left to continue too long, resentment can build, and may not dissipate once the exercise is over. Matching exercises where the clients are forced to work hard for the sake of the other with exercises that make them work together to achieve a goal creates a very good atmosphere and helps remove any feeling of resentment. I try to make myself the target of any negative feelings, as the trainer I am not there to be liked all the time, and if the best results can be gained via making my clients dislike me for a short period of time, so be it.
However feelings are during the sessions, I make sure that at the end, everyone is still friend and smiling, after all we train to feel good about ourselves and feel happier, not to get wound up.