Adherence, a term you all hear when you click on any fitness page, blog or post. Whether it is learning a new language, sticking to a diet, becoming a better runner or even learning to knit, consistency is number one and nobody will deny that.

I am going to touch on something that is a bleak reality, fitness is simple and getting results is simple (not easy, but simple). Let's say I have two people 'Person A' and 'Person B'.  

Person A is given a wonderful program, including everything s/he needs and wants, by simple following this program 4 days a week, they are going to see huge results in their performance. Person B is given a program we found online, that program is just a bunch of random exercises thrown together, 3 days a week, and doesn't have any thought put into it.

Person A is inconsistent, follows this plan half the time, some weeks, they do 4 sessions, other weeks they perform 2/3 sessions and don't really put in the effort. Person B jumps in and hits 3 days every week, puts in the effort to this so called 'bad program' and they get great results. Consistency is number one.

In essence the message is simple, a bad program followed with consistency is better than a great program followed here and there. Luckily at Fullbody Workhouse we have great programming and accountability to make sure you're consistent, week in, week out. 

Over and out,
Kevin .

A huge misconception nowadays is that fruit, and more so, the sugar within fruit is bad for you. People believe added sugars are bad (once again, everything needs context) and for some reason they brand fruit in the same category  due to the fact fruit contains fructose, a natural sugar. 

Fructose is only harmful in larger amounts, but it is almost impossible to over consume fructose by just eating fruit. Whereas processed sugar is a lot easier to over consume, seeing as the majority of it comes in hyper palatable food that tastes so damn good

Being honest, I have never heard of anyone who needs to lose weight, look at their whole diet and think to themselves "Maybe I should lay off the apples". If you're going to cut out food to lose weight/fat, don't put fruit and high calorific food in the same boat.

Fruit is in fact complete, meaning it contains vitamins, nutrients and fibre. Yes, it does contain sugar, but sugar is not bad for you, too much sugar is(just like everything in life). Fruit, for the most part is quite low on calories as a snack, helps regulate blood glucose levels, lowers cholesterol (LDL), promotes regular digestion and excretes waste.

People have began to avoid fruit as they think the fructose will be stored as fat, and let me tell you this, the only way that is happening is if you are consuming more calories than you expend on a daily basis. Fruit is not making you fat, too many calories are. Take an honest look at your diet and stop looking for a simple cop out, maybe keep the fruit and drop the 3 bagels at lunch down to 2 bagels.

Kevin

Tracking weight can be frustrating, one day you're up, one day you're down, you seem to fluctuate a lot. But how about trying this, weigh in 3 times a day and you will see fluctuations all over the board. That shows how changeable weight can be over the course for a day, never mind a full week. 

Take life into account, some days you eat more, some days you can eat less, some days you retain more water and other days you feel great. Water retention of random weigh ins don't tell the full story when it comes to just tracking weight. 

Although we love to focus on performance, photos and how we feel as an indicator of progress, If you want to be extremely accurate and losing excess body weight will improve your lifestyle, track your weight every morning (After you use bathroom and before you eat preferably). leave a diary down by your side with a pen and each morning, write the date, the day and your exact weight. On Sunday, get the average of week 1. Then after 4 weeks, get the average of month 1. compare week to week and month to month, rather than random days that don;t take some variables into account.

You will notice the trend is a lot more clear when tracking like this, whether that is your weight moving up, down or stagnating. What gets measured, gets managed. 

Kevin

This is why patience is number one when it comes to any weight/fat loss. Consistency and patience are two things that people need to succeed, everyone knows it, but not everyone owns it.

Weight loss and fat loss can be differentiated. Weight loss includes any loss on the scales, be it muscle, fat or even water deprivation. The scales will show this. Whereas fat loss can be much more subtle and sometimes, the scale doesn't show. 

The fat cell holds fat tissue, as this cell begins to lose some tissue, the cell is often replaced with water. Why is this? many reasons but here are 3
1) Homeostasis- The bodies attempt to be consistent and stable. It's used to a certain weight, so replacing the fat cell  with some water is normal.
2) Stress- This is a huge reason for water retention within  a fat cell.
3) Menstrual cycle- This often results in water retention within the fat cell.   

What will this feel like?
You will definitely feel leaner, even when retaining water, but the scales may not show it, and even though you've already lost the fat, the scales may not change for a few weeks. Some people find this stressing, but this is why we come back to the first points; Patience and consistency. 

The scales will move eventually. Give it time :)

​Kevin

Food Prep 🍽️
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Fail to prepare, prepare to fail ☢️☢️☢️
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We all have the same 24 hours in the day. Yes, it's very easy to be 'too busy' to prepare and cook food. A takeaway or a deli are very appealing after a long day of work. But it comes down to habit. If you form a habit, this becomes a lot easier.
If you keep putting it on the back burner it becomes harder. 🙄
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My top tips to Food Prep:
- Do a weekly food shop - Having good foods in the house make it easier. If you have no food in your fridge it's much easier to pick up convenience crap. Do a full shop at the start of the week and you're off to a great start The above ingredients are the basis of my food shop every week
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- Pick a day. Take an hour and get prepping. I do a Sunday evening. I put a batch of chicken, fish and turkey burgers in the oven to last me 3 days. While they are cooking, I boil broccoli and make up a salad. I chop up my fruit and portion out my Greek yogurt. I put my overnight oats in the fridge for the next day. It take me and hour to get the bulk of my food ready for 3 days. I use microwaveable rice to save time too. I save money because I rarely eat out and make all my own lunches. I do the same on a Wednesday evening. Tupperware is your new best friend. .
- Find food you like and stick with it. It's actually very simple. People overcomplicate it. It's unnecessary.
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- If you do have to eat out or buy lunch there are LOADS of healthy options. Stop saying there's none. Go to Aldi, buy a bag of spinach, hot smoked salmon and a pot of cous cous (portion out). That's 2 lunches. Stop using excuses
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- Get into a routine. I am in such a routine now that even when I go off course like have a few drinks at the weekend, I am back to Tupperware on Monday. Its ALL ABOUT HABITS
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Let me know some of your food prep ideas 🤔 Mine are pretty monotonous. It's really just about forming a habit and sticking to it

​Amanda

Before answering this, it is important to break down our Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Our TDEE can be divided into 4 sections:
1- Exercise Activity accounts for up to 5% of total expenditure
2- Thermic Effect of Food accounts for up to 10% of total expenditure
3- Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenisis (NEAT) accounts for up to 15% of total expenditure
4- Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) accounts for up to 70% of total expenditure

Let's compare 1 + 2.
Exercise activity is anything planned or scheduled that you fit into your time-frame. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenisis (NEAT) is more spontaneous exercise that you did not necessarily plan, for example, climbing the stairs instead of the elevator at work or sweeping up the kitchen and cleaning the windows etc. It is activity that is not based around exercise.

There are 168 hours in the week, if you train 3 days a week, you more than likely train 3 of those hours. Lets say you sleep 7 hours a night on top of that, this bring the total hours down to 116 hours where you can capitalise on NEAT. By taking the more active approach, such as standing on the bus, walking to work, cycling to friends house, walking the dog, taking the stairs, dancing around the kitchen etc. There is a big difference between ordering food from your phone and getting up and actively cooking, on top of eating better quality foods, you will be increasing your NEAT.

So don't just view training as a calorie burning tool, it doesn't burn half as much as your daily activity can 

Kevin

What is iron and why is it important?
Iron is an essential mineral needed by the body. Its primary function is to transport oxygen in the haemoglobin of red blood cells so the cells can produce energy. It also helps to remove carbon dioxide.
 
How much iron do you need and where do we get it?
Infants and toddlers need more iron than adults because their bodies are still growing. Women need more iron than men due to menstruation. Women require about 18mg/day while men need just 8mg/day. Iron is found in foods like: Shellfish, Liver, Red Meat, Spinach, Kale and Fortified Cereals. Haem Iron is the iron we get from animal sources and is most easily absorbed in the body. Non haem iron comes from plant sources and is not as easily absorbed so may require supplementation in vegetarians and vegans. Vitamin C is also essential for Iron absorption. It’s found in many fruits like Blackcurrants, strawberries, kiwis and oranges. Adding orange juice or fruit to an iron rich meal can help absorption.
 
How do I know if I’m deficient in Iron?
Common symptoms of Iron deficiency anaemia include: Fatigue, Paleness, Difficulty exercising, or have a fast heartbeat. It is important to never self diagnose. Too much iron is toxic and should not be taken unless recommended by a medical professional.
 
Female athletes are at risk of iron deficiency anaemia due to menstruation and high exercise output. Make sure if you are showing any of the symptoms to get it checked out by a doctor and never self diagnose. 

You’ve heard people say it’s important. That you need 8-10 hours per night. That without it you can’t function. But is there any real evidence to support everyone’s advice.
HELL YES!!!!
1. Performance:
We’ve all heard, ‘Performance will suffer’. Recent studies have suggested that poor sleep is related to slower reaction times, compromised physical performance, increased risk of illness and injury, lower mood and decreased ability to learn and remember new skills. Poor sleep has been reported in elite athletes in numerous sports such as swimming, rugby, cricket, ice hockey and track and field. This is thought to be related to training times, competition stress/anxiety, muscle soreness, caffeine use, technology and travel. We found almost half (47.8 per cent) of GAA players monitored in a current study were poor sleepers, and those who were poor sleepers had significantly lower general health, increased stress and lower mood. 
Recent studies have found that: In a study of sleep interventions on athletes, sleep extension proved most beneficial to athletes. (1) Bonnar et al 2018. Another study claimed that increased sleep time improved sustained contraction time to exhaustions (2) Arnal et al. Meanwhile,  Inadequate sleep impairs maximal muscle strength in compound movements when performed without specific interventions designed to increase motivation. (3) Knowles et al

2. Weight management
Short sleep duration and other aspects of poor sleep habits are growing in prevalence in modern society in both children and adults. A growing literature has established that short sleep duration and other dimensions of poor sleep are associated with obesity and appear to predict obesity risk and rate of weight gain longitudinally. Small experimental studies suggest poor sleep may impact dietary intake particularly hedonic eating. (4)  Ogilvie et al

3. General Health 
A recent study showed that insufficient sleep and sleep disorders are highly prevalent and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Primary outcomes of insufficient sleep and/or sleep disorders are weight gain and obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, accidents and injuries, stress, pain, neurocognitive dysfunction, psychiatric symptoms, and mortality.
 (5)Grandner et al 2018
So get your Zzzs……..



1. Sleep interventions designed to improve athletic performance and recovery; a systematic review of current approaches
2. Sleep Extension before Sleep Loss: Effects on Performance and Neuromuscular Function.
3. Inadequate sleep and muscle strength: Implications for resistance training.
4. The Epidemiology of Sleep and Obesity
5. Sleep, Health, and Society

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People still seem to be afraid to talk about this topic 🙈 It's such a natural thing which all us ladies have to deal with so I'm so glad someone asked me to talk on this topic 😊
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Let's be honest none of us WANT to do it, especially if you are crippled with period pains 😩 And there's a lot of non sense out there telling us we 'shouldn't' do this that and the other 🤔 So what is the truth?
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Well firstly like with most things I talk about it is very individual dependent. If you have a low iron count or anaemia, this time of month is very difficult to exercise. You are an exception to the norm. But for most of us there's no need to cut out exercise. Sometimes we MAY just need to cut down especially if you have a heavy flow and are losing a lot of blood 😔
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Why should we exercise during our period?
✔️ Decreases PMS symptoms
✔️ Endorphins - our feel good factor
✔️ Reduces period pains
✔️ Enhances your mood 😊
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What type of exercise should we do?
-As I said before, most of the time we can just keep up with our normal exercise routine but yoga and pilates can be quite beneficial.
- Did you know that during your period you're stronger? So low rep strength training can be benificial 💪