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 💪

Well firstly it’s a myth that anyone ‘needs’ breakfast.
But we were always told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day?
If you questioned why. You were probably told because your metabolism starts when you eat breakfast. If you have breakfast, your metabolism starts earlier. And probably that you burn more calories if you eat breakfast or ‘you’ll lose weight’ eating breakfast. Well according to Betts et al 2014 [1] Daily Breakfast consumption has no effect on resting metabolism. For those of you who hate breakfast or those of you who like to fast, there is hope :D Does that mean don’t eat breakfast? Absolutely not. I’m a regular breakfast eater. I could not go without it. But I deal with clients daily who ‘Don’t have time’ or ‘can’t stomach it’ so I won’t force them to consume it. The answer really is do you want breakfast, if no, don’t eat it, if yes, enjoy 😊
 
 You may have also been told the more meals you have in a day equates to burning more calories and boosts your metabolism more.
This is also a myth. The thermic effect of food is the same if you have 6 meals or 2 meals. Sometimes having small frequent meals can actually prove a hindrance as you may overconsume on calories. Dashti et al. 2017 [2]. Your metabolism or metabolic rate is highly influenced by your overall calorie consumption, your food choices, your NEAT and your purposeful exercise. It is overall daily calorie intake that is what matters, not necessarily how you distribute it. Unless in certain circumstances like athletic performance or muscle retention, where it may be important.
 
So finally, it really comes down to personal preference. Do what suits you and your lifestyle. Remember, when it comes to metabolic rate, overall calories are important. What is not important is meal timing or meal frequency. 😊
 

1.  The causal role of breakfast in energy balance and health: a randomized controlled trial in lean adults. Betts et al.

Am J Clin Nutr. 2014
 

1. Recommending Small, Frequent Meals in the Clinical Care of Adults: A Review of the Evidence and Important Considerations. Dashti et al

Nutr Clin Pract 2017 
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I can only assume you know how it feels to not be ‘arsed’ with training, but you go anyway. I think it is important to go training when this state as it is impossible to be totally motivated every single day and every training day. This is just not realistic, but I will also assume you have had these days where you go in with an attitude to just get it done and go through the motions and as a result, you have a terrible session. Whether this is due to a lack of energy, a poor attitude toward training or viewing training as a chore, you’re completely off on that day. We are always hearing about how powerful the mind is and how it influences out performance. I  100% believe this to be true, look at the best athletes in the world, not even them but look at top inter county players, their attitude, their posture, confidence, constructive self-criticism and positive mindset. This seems to be a common denominator amongst athletes and performers around the world, that isn’t by accident.
 
A paper named the ‘Expectancy effects and strength training: do steroids make a difference?’ written by Maganairs in 2000 and looked at how expectancy can effect strength training. They distributed placebos to 11 power lifters explaining that they were anabolic steroids. The power lifters saw great advancements in their programs, until halfway through, they informed 5 athletes that it was actually a placebo and their performance largely dissipated resulting in poor lifts (not even hitting PR’s they set before the program). The other 6 athletes all hit new PR’s, this showed first hand that expectancy played an effect, both ways. Another paper way back in 1972 by Gideon Ariel called ‘Anabolic steroids: the psychological effects of placebos’. 15 male lifters were put on a strength program and those who date the best gains in bench press, shoulder press and military press would be chosen to go on a 4 week steroid program. 6 guys, who gained an average of 11kg between the three lifts, were chosen to on a 4 week free and legal steroid program. After just 4 weeks of a placebo pill, they gained an average of 45kg between the three lifts.
 
It is fair enough to say that the mind has a large role to play in our performance, our daily performance has a direct effect on our progression and our results. So my top tops would be, to pick a form of resistance training/strength training that you enjoy and will not total dread and even more importantly, learn to appreciate you have the health to walk into a gym and be active, understanding that people would give anything to have the option and health to take part in exercise. You are lucky enough to exercise, so take advantage and enjoy it. This will have a great impact on your performance, and therefore your results.
Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re probably right!

Kevin

​Building muscle can take some time; we all know that is the case. But, maintaining muscle is much easier than building it. Why is this? We all know how much hard work it takes to get in shape, get aerobically fit, build muscle, gain strength or even reach any fitness goal. Once again, I am using GAA as the direct example simply because I can relate. Every team in the country gears up to peak at championship, months before championship begins; players are being put through such gruelling grunt work on the pitch, getting faster, learning to sustain pace, improving their aerobic capacity, raising their lactate threshold and improving the overall economy of their lunge and legs. Not to mention, the strength gains you must make in the gym on top of this, lifting heavy, lifting explosively and improving our body composition. This can all take months to build to this point before championship begins, but as soon as we reach that peak (usually two/three weeks before the first game), why is it so easy to hold that pace, hold that fitness and keep that strength even though we have taken the foot off the pedal and we are just training at a maintenance level now? This will be the discussion.
 
First of all, we need to understand why building and maintaining is so different. As I mentioned before, have you ever seen someone in fantastic shape, and upon talking to them, they mention they only train 3 times a week at the moment. How is this possible? Is it due to magnificent genetics, or did the person just fail to mention they trained 6 times a week for 4-5 years before that? It sounds simple, but building muscle is not all sunshine and rainbows, it takes work, consistency in the gym and adherence outside the gym. Building muscle (A.K.A hypertrophy) is a huge part of why everyone trains, to get toned, to look good, to be stronger and most people who train for performance will always have a goal of being aesthetic at some point as we are all human. You cannot create more muscle cells, but you can increase the size of the ones you have, just like you cannot decrease the amount of fat cells, but you can decrease the size of them (side note, you can eliminate fat cells with surgery). Muscle is usually built in certain areas through specific movements, if you want to increase muscle in your chest? Easy, pick a chest dominant movement, overload (increase volume as time goes on) on that movement/muscle each week and frequently train it (minimum twice a week).Think whenever you are building muscle in an area, specificity, overload and frequency are king.
 
Once you get to the level you want to be at, it is a lot easier to maintain this muscle, you can stop overloading and stick to your 8-12 reps or else you can drop frequency from 2-3 days a week to 1-2 days a week and still maintain, why is this? Muscle is very resistant to atrophy, so much that research shows you can maintain muscle size with training breaks up to 2-3 weeks (Hwang P.S, 2017, Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation). But, if you are lowering intensity for this long or on holidays and plan to have no training, nutrition will be more important. If you can at all, fit in a session at some point during the week and you’re as good as gold. You do not need to train every day when you are away, but 1-2 sessions every week at this point is enough to even overload and improve. The reason muscle looks smaller when you’re not training is down to muscle glycogen being lost, and this happens quickly during a training break which is completely normal. Since muscle glycogen is glucose that is physically stored in your muscles, any decrease in muscle glycogen stores affects the size of your muscles. But, this is only temporary, once you are back training (even after 3 weeks off), your muscle glycogen stores fill up again. 1-2 hard training sessions can bring you back to ‘pre-break physique’.
 
As we get older and more experienced training-wise, the term ‘less is more’ comes into effect. Once we have years of training behind us, it will not take much to hold that shape, strength and fitness levels. But, less is more at this point, with age comes a lot more responsibility, workload, commitments and all of these things are stresses. As you are more experienced, get the job done with the least amount of tools.  
 
Secondly, we must understand fatigue, fitness and deloading. As we go through a phase or a training block, two variables begin to raise, fitness and fatigue. Fitness is subjective as to what the goal is, for some it may be defined as strength and others it may be endurance, for athletes it could very well be a combination. Fatigue can be described in the short run and in the long run as the inability to sustain a given power output or speed. An example of short run fatigue would be slowing down in a run as you cannot sustain a certain speed. Fatigue in the long run is more along the lines of overtraining/burnout. Today’s discussion is more about the physiological side of things. When you begin a phase/training block and you are fresh, fatigue is not a problem. Your overall fitness begins to rise at a steady pace. As you get into the program/season, fatigue begins to increase as steady pace also, if you keep overloading your fitness trainings, fatigue will eventually grow at a faster rate that your fitness. Once fatigue surpasses your fitness levels, you could be in trouble and your fitness, recovery and performance will take a hit. We all know it is impossible to constantly improve week in week out at everything so a deload will help this by resetting the clock.
 
Deloading is a brilliant way of avoiding fatigue. As you train for weeks at a consistent rate where you are constantly overloading, by simply cutting volume for a week or a few days here or there, you are able to maintain fitness and manage fatigue. The goal is always to keep that fatigue at bay, while maintaining your fitness levels. It is important to understand that maintenance is not difficult and you can maintain muscle with a 50% volume cut (in running or lifting).

Kevin Farrell

Metabolic conditioning is a very effective way of getting stronger and fitter at the same time.
When I say fitter, I mean increasing aerobic capacity and the cardiovascular system. It is not as simple as pairing two exercises together and going hard through it until you burn out or slow
down. metabolic conditioning takes time into account and, whether that is sticking to a time or beating a
time with given repetitions. It is important to understand how the body gets energy when
programming these types of workouts. The work to rest ratio can be determined by the goal
of the workout.

Metabolism is how we break down food for energy. It can be broke into three sections,
Phosphagen, Glycolytic and Aerobic. Phosphagen, also known as the creatine phosphate
system, is the most powerful and fastest way to get energy. This is used in explosive
movements and short duration bursts no more than 10 seconds long. An example is a short
sprint, Olympic lift or a max jump. This system is so quick and powerful that it may even
take 3-5 minutes to recover. When training this system, recovery time is very important and
full recovery is the goal. Glycolytic can provide energy for up to 4/5 minutes. It is primarily
used in short but intense duration including 400-800m sprints and weightlifting. This can
take 3 minutes to recover fully. Finally, the aerobic system includes long lasting duration
and can recover in a matter of seconds. Now it is important to note that no sole pathway works once at a time, there is a lot of interplay but certain work to rest ratios used in metabolic conditioning can prioritise one energy system. You can still build all systems to a certain point, but you may have to prioritise one
depending on your goals.

Metabolic conditioning can be used to maximise the efficiency of one energy system, which
can be directly translated to a particular sport or even just for personal goals. From the
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, a study in 1992 named ‘’Effect of resistance
training on excess post-exercises oxygen consumption’’ showed us that this high intensity
training leads to a higher resting metabolism for hours after. Metabolic conditioning very interesting because it values and prioritises rest time, which is often ignored. 

Here is a general look at how you can prioritise each system (I mean general when I say it).
Work to rest ratios (W:R)
Endurance (4:1) Work 4 minutes, rest for maximum 1 minute.
Intermediate system (1:2) Work for 20 seconds, rest for 40 seconds.
Explosive/Power (1:10) Work 10 seconds rest 2 minutes.

Kevin

​Are Macro and Micro Nutrients important for Athletes??? YES!!!!
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Let's delve into what we need each nutrient for and requirement levels.
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Protein
Every cell in your body needs protein. Protein is absolutely essential for athletes due to the amount of training they are doing. Protein turnover is very high so demands for protein are also very high. We need it for recovery and muscle repair. It is also very important in times of injury. I recommend 2g per Kg of Bodyweight.
Sources include: Meat, Fish, Eggs, Beans, Legumes. Eat protein at every meal.
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Carbohydrates
Carbohydrate is the preferred fuel for GAA. It gives us energy in the form of glucose or stored glycogen. There are 2 types of carbohydrates:Complex carbohydrates and simple sugars. Complex carbohydrates are the ones we want most of in our diet. They not only provide fuel but also fibre which is essential for gut health. I recommend about 3g per Kg Bodyweight. This can increase days of games/trainings or day before to almost 6g per Kg Bodyweight. Sources include: Rice, Oats, Fruit, Potatoes, Sweet Potato.
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Fats
Fats are often neglected and are a very important part of an athletes diet. Fats reduce inflammation (caused by exercise or injury), they are part of our cell membranes and they transport vitamins A, D, É & K. I recommend about 1-1.5g per Kg BW. This can increase or decrease based on carbohydrate consumption. Sources include: Avocado, nuts, seeds, dark chocolate, oily fish
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Micronutrients
These are often overlooked. Although they are required in small quantities, lack of consumption can lead to serious deficiencies. Not only is immune function lowered increasing risk of catching colds and illnesses which can increase absenteeism from training. Cognitive function can be impaired (not ideal on a pitch). Micronutrient deficiencies in some cases can cause fatigue like a lack of Iron or B Group Vitamins. Water would also be considered a micronutrient
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It is important to look at the big picture. It's not just macros that are important to athletes. We need micronutrients for our overall recovery and health
 

As we all know, movement is controlled by the brain. Muscular contraction is a signal sent from the
brain just like any other movement. The brain is signalling the muscles to contract. But the
body does adapt and learn to neuromuscular movements (which mean some movements may
become a habit and the Mind muscle connection might be lacking). I will explain 3 ways of improving this connection and then explain what strength really means with this connection.

First of all, I think the best test to know if you have this connection is quite simple to be
honest. Can you concentrate on a muscle and activate it. For example, can you tense and
contract your bicep, triceps, chest, lats, hamstrings, quads, calves etc... If you can do this and
control the muscles contractions, you have this mind muscle connection.

Secondly, know what muscle you are working and make sure that muscle is doing the work.
A lot of the time, especially with pulling/back exercises, people are not getting the most out
of their workouts. Your arms should be seen as levers/handles and the back should be the
muscle pulling. How can you fix this? It is easier than you think, 'retract your scapula'. This is not as technical as it sounds. Retracting your scapula means squeeze your shoulder blades together and try touch them off each other. This is a simple technique used to get proper connection to the back muscles. With the seated row or single arm row, I hear a lot of people saying that their arms are feeling it for most of these exercises, which means the arms the predominant muscles working, when really they should be secondary muscles assisting the lift. 

Third on the list of improving mind muscle connection is by using the appropriate weight with the appropriate technique. This means no ego lifting (ego lifting is just packing on as much weight as you can
and using any old form to throw the weight up or move the weight). It is important that you are in control of the exercise as you lift the weight, but just as importantly, as you lower the weight. You should avoid swinging or using momentum to lift a weight (especially if you have difficulty feeling that muscle connection).

Fat gets a bad rep. Sure it is 9Kcal per gram but it is an essential part of a balanced fat. Fats provide us with energy, makes up our cell membranes as well as our brain and nervous system. Fats are necessary to transport vitamins A,D,E and K and make and balance certain hormones. Fat can be found in 2 forms:
Saturated – mainly found in animal products like meat, dairy, eggs, coconut
Unsaturated – found in marine sources like fish oils, as well as nuts, seeds and vegetable oils
 
For years saturated fat was thought to be associated with higher risk of Cardiovascular Disease and so it was deemed as ‘unhealthy’ or ‘bad for you’. The problem with saturated fat was not the actual fat itself but rather the increased consumption of processed food or the large quantities of saturated fat products. Saturated fat helps increase the cholesterol production in the body which is an essential part of metabolism and in the production of steroid hormones. So saturated fat should feature in our diet, just maybe don’t latter every meal in butter.
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Unsaturated fats are made up of mono and polyunsaturated fats.  These contain our omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acids open our airways and blood vessels. They reduce our blood lipids and cholesterol and lower inflammation and pain. Omega 6 fatty acids do the opposite. Both are needed in the body, without both we wouldn’t heal or recover from exercise. The problem with Western diets is that we don’t have the proper ratios. We are at about 10:1 where we should be at 2:1 (omega 6/omega 3).
 
Low fat diets were a fad a few years ago. While people reduced calories, they increased their intake of processed foods. Diets lacked fats and fat soluble vitamins so instead of being healthier people were losing weight but were not healthier.
 
Fats are an essential part of any healthy diet. Be aware that they are very calorie dense so be sure not to overconsume and don’t opt for processed versions. Enjoy them as part of a balanced lifestyle. 

Sometimes it is great to go balls to the wall, but that doesn’t mean it’s optimal or better than
leaving reps in reserve. Training smart is a lot better than training hard, in the long run. We
all know people who perform drop sets, pyramid sets or other forms of fatiguing sets. People
argue that going to failure in your sets will mean you are creating more tension and activating
all of the motor units. This hypothetically would mean more hypertrophy (muscle building).
But, weight training amongst other training methods, is a long run game. A lot of studies,
including one from the Discipline of Exercise and Sports Science in Australia (2016) and the
Centre for Human and Applied Physiology in Australia (2016) both show that stopping a few
reps shy of failure results in similar increases muscle size and strength as failure training.
Working with weights as high as 80% of your 1RM will activate all of our motor units
(which is the main argument for going to failure).
 
If your goal is to maximise muscle and strength, going to failure won’t be the best idea for
you. There is a difference between going to failure every set and planning your sets. Let’s
assume we have 2 athletes who are training with the same weight. Athlete A trains to failure
for the three sets, and Athlete B plans there sets at 8 reps per set (even if they could manage
9/10). So Athlete A does the first set and gets 10 reps (going to failure), they then head into
the second set, slightly fatigued an get 7 reps, and on the last set they get 5 reps (again, under
fatigue). 10+7+5 is a total of 22 reps. Whereas, athlete B is more calculated and performs 3
sets of 8 reps, which totals 24 reps. So although training to failure may be attractive and feel
great, it is not as beneficial if you want to track training and progress over time. The fact
athlete B has not hit that fatigued state, the rest of their session shouldn’t be affected by the
first exercise, unlike Athlete A.
 
One of the hardest things about training to failure is the tracking aspect. Linear progression is
hard to achieve if you’re sets and reps are changing each week due to fatigue. It is hard to
progress under fatigue, because one week on your 1st set you may get 6 reps, and another you
may get 4 depending on multiple stresses. Leaving some reps in reserve is more manageable on any given day. It is so important to understand that what gets measured gets managed. Training is training.
Competition is competition. If you are training to perform, you must train, which means not
going all out. It is important to fix technique, work on weaknesses and build toward a
performance/competition as we all know, you cannot be peaked all year around, and if you
try to, your performance will suffer and never truly peak.
 
The knock on effect is important to mention. If you go to failure one day, your training the
next day may suffer due to muscle damage more and lack of recovery. A study in the
European Journal of Applied Physiology in 2017 found that if you are training submaximally
and not going to failure, you can recover quicker for your next session as you have managed
the volume and loads. As a result, you can perform better in your next training session and
there is a knock on effect to all subsequent trainings. If you are getting yourself into a
fatigued state during your first set, it means you will be performing the other exercises in
your session under a fatigued state. So before we even look at recovery for the next day of
training, you may be harming the rest of your training. From the 2017 study we saw 10 men
assessed and those who trained to failure in the study had slowed down their ability to
recovery up to 48 hours after training.
 
Is failure training ever useful? Yes, as long as it is limited and controlled. For example, isolation movements
at the end of a session, it may be find to go to max in your bicep curls as these smaller muscle
groups recover quicker and won’t affect your other lifts as much (unless you perform them at
the beginning of a session). On the other hand, limited can mean every now and then just to
mix it up, it may be okay to go to failure, but make sure you have someone with you. Going
to failure with weights is dangerous, uncalculated and the cons outweigh the pros. If you are
trying to get fit for your sport, going to failure the odd time far away from the season or when
you have gaps in the season may be mentally beneficial to build a tolerance to pain and get
comfortable being uncomfortable, mentally it is good, physically it is good (when limited) and
allows us to find out our limitations and how we react when under extreme stress.

Eat the Rainbow
 
What does it mean?
Colour is nature’s way of letting us understand how nutritious foods are. Foods with rich colours like spinach, blueberries, beetroot, wild rice (the list goes on) are full of nutritious components and antioxidants. Not only do these foods contain lots of vitamins and minerals associated with a healthy immune system and optimal gut functioning they are also jam packed full of phytonutrients.
 
RED Coloured Food
Red fruit and vegetables like tomatoes often contain a natural plant pigment called Lycopene. It is a powerful antioxidant which can help reduce cancer risk and keep our heart healthy.
 
Blue or Purple Coloured Food
Anthocyanin is what gives fruit and vegetables this colour. This pigment also has antioxidant properties that protect our cells from damage.
 
Orange or Yellow Coloured Food
Beta Carotene gives fruit and vegetables this orange or yellow colour. Beta Carotene is a precursor for vitamin A. Vitamin A is essential for vision, and healthy mucus membranes.
 
Green Coloured Food
Green coloured fruit and vegetables contain a whole host of phytochemicals. Foods like spinach and broccoli are also a good source of folate.
 
Brown/White Coloured Food
Phytochemicals like allicin (found in garlic) are known for their antiviral and antibacterial properties.
Potatoes and bananas are a great source of potassium.
 
Next time you’re eating a meal, make a conscious decision to add more colour. With all the talk about macronutrients, it’s very important not to forget your micronutrients 😊

Want to get better at something? Do more of the ‘something’. That is frequency explained in its most simple form. If you were going to run a marathon, it is obvious you would run more than once a week, the same goes for any muscle/skill you are wanting to improve. If you want a bigger chest, you would train that body part more than once a week, if you wanted stronger glutes, you would train your glutes more often.
 
Do more of the specific exercise to aid your goal. If your goal is to get a one rep max lift in the bench at 80kg, but you keep failing at 80kg every time you try; it may be as simple as benching more often.
Most people have one assigned day for a body part/movement. If you are benching once a
week and on an 8-week program, after 8 weeks you have only benched 8 times. By adding in
the bench press to another day in your program, you will double the volume.
 
There is a law of diminishing returns on this as we build muscle when we rest and recover, so it is important to not take it to any extremes, just as a marathon runner wouldn’t run every day, it is important not to bash yourself every day. Larger muscles may take 2-3 days to fully recover. Thee include your chest, back, glutes and hamstrings. Where as the smaller muscle groups such as rear delts, biceps, triceps, calves etc may only take 1-2 days to recover.
 
My suggestion would be once you hit a plateau on a lift you wish to increase, then introduce that lift into a second day, once you have utilised that, I would usually say 3 days is the magic number, you can get a lot of work in 3 days and on top of that, you can recover between days too in a typical 7 day week. If you are training a movement or muscle 2-3 times a week, make sure you have variance, in both the lifts and rep ranges. An example would be including 3 different chest exercises in your program
Day 1 benching 4 sets x 5 reps
Day 2 dumbbell flies 3 sets x 10 reps
Day 3 could be incline dumbbell press of 2 sets x 15 reps.  
 
To conclude, keep things simple and logical, and do more of the ‘something’.