Strength Training Into Old Age

Most people as they get older tend to do less, exercise-wise. “I’m not as young as I used to be”, “I’m not that fit any more”, and “It gets harder as you get older”…

The usual excuses arise, but the only quote that really comes into play here is “Use it or lose it”.

The less you move, the less you’ll be able to move. Your body adapts to the stresses imposed on it – basically meaning you can do the things you’re used to doing. When you stop doing something, your body will get weaker, tighter, stiffer etc.

Used to be able to do the splits? You didn’t wake up one day suddenly unable to do them… You stopped doing them, so your body adapted.

Used to be strong? You stopped using that strength and gradually your body realised it didn’t need it anymore, so it went.

Along with good nutrition, the most important thing you can do as you get older is stay strong; otherwise you’ll be the person who needs help getting out of a chair, struggles with stairs, or can’t open a bottle of water! It stands to reason: If you’re beginning to struggle climbing the stairs – practice climbing the stairs!

If you’re young, start and/or keep up your strength training, or you’ll regret it later on.

If you’ve already noticed an “age-related” (or really, lack-of-use-related) decline in strength or mobility, do something about it NOW. It’s never too late. Be sensible, but do something.

Yoga would be a great way to deal with mobility issues and you can start at any level/ability and work from there.

For strength (easily as important as any other aspect), the same applies. Can’t get in and out of a chair? Start with that! Gradually increase the difficulty of what you’re doing making the movements more complex, and gradually adding weight. Building your strength will not only keep you active and mobile, it’ll also keep you stable (less likely to fall), and make your bones stronger (less likely to break if you do fall).

People tend to think strength training is just for the young and fit, but it’s not; it’s for everyone – and if you don’t want to get stronger, you seriously need to re-think things. There’s no downside to being stronger!

You don’t have to lift huge weights (although as heavy as you can with good technique is a good way to go); even if you lift a light weight for 10 reps, if you increase that to 11 reps, you’ve increased strength. Then try 12, or 13… you see the pattern. If you can, increase the weight and start again! 

Never stop.

If you’re not working to get stronger, you’re getting weaker. How far will you let it go?

If you need more help, visit www.DartfordBootcamps.com for information on Personal Training, Nutrition Coaching, and Bootcamp classes.

Elimination Diets

Food sensitivities are more common than you might think; and they can cause acne, allergies, migraines and more.

Elimination diets are a great and simple way to find out if you need to adjust your regular menu.

The idea of an elimination diet is to remove certain foods from your diet for a given period (3-4 weeks), and then re-introduce them in a controlled manner, one at a time, to see if you have any adverse reactions to them.

As a basic guide (and it really doesn’t need to be more complicated than this), here is what to do if you suspect you may have a food sensitivity, or have a chronic condition that you can’t figure out the cause of.

Cut out the following foods for 3-4 weeks (completely!):

Citrus fruits; 

Tomatoes; 

white potatoes; 

eggplant; 

wheat/corn/barley/oats (and all other gluten-containing products); 

Legumes (all beans/tofu/soy/peas/lentils); 

all nuts and seeds; 

Beef; 

Chicken; 

Pork; 

Eggs; 

Bacon; 

all processed meats; 

Milk; Cheese; Cream; Yoghurt; Butter; Margarine and other spreads; 

mayonnaise; 

Alcohol; 

Caffeine; 

Chocolate; 

Ketchup; 

Mustard; 

Sugar;

Honey; 

Syrup; 

and anything else you suspect may pose a problem for you, or anything you eat on a regular basis (you can actually develop a sensitivity if you overeat something) .

I know this is a big, scary list! But focus on what you CAN have, and remember it’s only for a short time, and the benefits will be well worth it if you find something that’s been causing you grief for years.

What you CAN eat:

Almost all fresh fruit; 

Almost all fresh, raw, steamed, sautéed or roasted vegetables; 

Rice; 

Fish; 

Turkey; 

Lamb; 

Wild game; 

Unsweetened rice or coconut milk; 

Olive Oil; Coconut oil; Flaxseed oil; 

Fresh water; Herbal teas; 

Sea salt; Fresh pepper; Fresh herbs and spices.

Follow this strictly for 3 weeks and monitor your symptoms/how you feel.

In week 4, introduce a single food/food group for ONE DAY ONLY, then monitor your symptoms for 2 days. Continue this process with different foods and food groups until you figure out what is causing you issues. The fewer foods you re-introduce at one time, the more accurately you’ll be able to pinpoint the problem, but it will take longer.

Pay attention to your mood, concentration, gut/bowels, joints, skin, insomnia, headaches, sinuses, and energy levels.

This is not a restrictive diet (calorie-wise) – do NOT use it as a weight loss tool, but be aware that by eliminating foods you are sensitive to you will allow your body to detoxify more efficiently, and weight loss may occur.

Give this a try and see how you get on.

If you need more help, visit www.DartfordBootcamps.comwww.DartfordBootcamps.com for information on Personal Training, Nutrition Coaching, and Bootcamp classes.

Cheat Meals

Anyone dieting has probably heard of or used a “cheat meal” or even a “cheat day”!

So is this good or bad?

My personal opinion – don’t do it! Certainly not every week.

For most people trying to lose weight, it’s really NOT just a case of calories in vs. calories out (i.e. eat less, move more); it’s a case of an inefficient hormonal profile.

If you’re lean, and weight loss isn’t a goal, chances are you’re able to handle a “cheat meal” without any negative effects because you have an efficient system (balanced hormones, efficient digestive system, good carb tolerance, good insulin sensitivity etc.). In this case, ‘calories in vs. calories out’ is far more likely to work – because you have an efficient system.

But if you’re overweight, chances are high that your hormones have, over time, become imbalanced. Insulin resistance is likely an issue, reducing carb tolerance; and digestion may be compromised. And it will take time to rebalance them, through both diet and exercise.

If you put in all that effort to follow a diet for a few days, and then have a cheat meal (read: blowout) it WILL, almost certainly, undo all your hard work and send you right back to the start hormonally. You may lose some weight initially, but you’re setting yourself up for failure. The weight loss will soon stop and your hormones are still out of balance (possibly even more so).

It’s like giving an alcoholic a drink a week. Will they have one and stop? Or go overboard and have more than a few?!

If you’re following a healthy diet, you can use a “re-feed” day, but you still need to follow the same rules. There’s never a good reason to have junk food. On your re-feed days (maybe once every 4-6 weeks depending on the individual) it should be with good, clean, real foods. It means you can eat more of the good stuff for a day, not binge on crap and expect it not to have an effect.

Your aim here isn’t to eliminate all the things you enjoy forever, but to eliminate them temporarily until you get to the point that you CAN indulge occasionally without any negative effects. When you’re in this position, there’s no need to feel guilty about the odd night out. You won’t gain a stone on a one-week holiday (that took you 6 months to lose!).

When your system works efficiently, you can enjoy the foods you want, when you want them (within reason). But until then, you need to rebuild your system, and that means spending some time being good, cutting out the foods/drinks you know you shouldn’t be consuming, and following a good training plan.

As you get leaner, you’ll be able to introduce more of the foods you love, but until then – fight on!

If you want help, visit www.DartfordBootcamps.com for information on Personal Training, Nutrition coaching or Bootcamp Fitness classes.

And follow us on Facebook and Twitter (do it now……) for extra tips, advice and motivation.

Mark Broadbent

The Paleo Diet – What’s it all about?

Gaining more and more popularity these days is the Paleo Diet (also referred to as the caveman diet, the primal diet, or paleo 2.0); and for good reason.

Although everyone’s different, and what works for one person may not work for another (I’m sure you can think of an example of someone who’s had success with a diet that just didn’t work for you), this diet pre-dates all of the modern “diets” that tell you to cut back on fat, increase your carbs, decrease your carbs, increase protein, increase fat etc etc.

The Paleo diet looks back at how we’ve evolved. What were we eating for the hundreds of thousands of years that we were evolving into who we are today?

Through common sense, studies of other primate diets, study of fossils, anthropological accounts of modern-day hunter-gatherers, and examination of our own biochemistry, this diet whittles it down to the only options we would have had available to eat during our evolution.

The Paleo diet cuts out any foods that wouldn’t have been available to us – anything processed, grains, dairy, refined sugars, and foods only made available to us through agriculture.

Instead, it focuses on the ONLY foods that would have been available – fresh meat, seafood, seasonal fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Now although we are all different, common sense tells us that eating the way we’ve evolved to eat will be optimal for our health, all of us. Put simply, you’d have a hard time getting fat if you stuck to just those foods that were available to us 10,000 years ago.

So the Paleo diet focuses on real foods, and avoids any and all “modern” foods that have only been around since the introduction of agriculture and modern processing techniques.

The emphasis is on lean meats, and fresh vegetables; along with some fruit, nuts and seeds (which would have been available during certain seasons).

By eating the way we were designed to eat, your body will function optimally. Feed it the right fuel and you’ll have more energy, think more clearly, lose weight if you’re overweight, gain weight if you’re underweight. Everything works as it’s supposed to.

Not only will eating this way strengthen your immune system, but cutting out the toxins and stresses of modern foods will also make you less susceptible to illness; meaning you won’t get sick as often, and if you do, it won’t be nearly as bad because your body can deal with it efficiently.

There’s a reason this diet is gaining momentum, and it’s because it makes sense. Anyone following the dietary recommendations laid out in this plan will see great results, not just in terms of weight, but body composition and shape, health, energy levels, resistance to disease, and general well-being.

I strongly advise anyone with an interest in improving their health to take a serious look at the Paleo diet and give it a try. You won’t regret it.

Bear in mind that since we are all different, once you’ve got the basic principles down, it might be worth tweaking the meal proportions and timings to suit your individual needs (this is where the protein/carb/fat ratios come into play). But to begin with, focus on eliminating all non-paleo foods, and eating only the foods that were available to us since the beginning.

Basically there is no one, perfect diet that will suit everybody, but it’s my belief that there are still underlying principles that are true for everyone, and the paleo diet covers these principles perfectly. Cut out the crap, and eat real food.

Nutritional Supplements

As I read more and more about diet and nutrition, my beliefs change slightly.

Occasionally, I'll change my mind completely about something (like whey protein supplements - which I used to use, but now don't). But more often, I'll just learn about something new that I'd not learnt much about before, or just give a particular supplement more or less credit than I had previously.

Having read a lot more nutrition books recently, I've come to what is currently my ideal supplement program. These are the supplements I take, and recommend everyone should look into taking.

If you think supplements are too expensive then I urge you to re-evaluate your priorities. If drinking 5 cups of coffee a day, or smoking cigarettes, or buying cakes/sweets/biscuits/alcohol etc is higher in your list of priorities than your health, then I probably can't do much to help you.

But if you think that spending some of your hard-earned money on something that will certainly improve your health is worth it, then read on...

My daily supplements:

Alkaline Water - There are too many benefits to mention. Suffice to say that our bodies can only be healthy in a slightly alkaline state, and our food choices, pollution, stress and other habits cause our bodies to become acidic - turning it into a breeding ground for disease. I drink all my water from an ioniser, which alkalises the water. But for a cheaper option (the ionisers start from about £600), Alkalising Salts are a must!

Omega-3's - These really are "essential" fats, and just about every cell in your body needs them to function properly. DON'T skip these!

Chlorella, Spirulina and Wheatgrass - These are all Algae and they contain chlorophyll, which is a blood builder. They also contain all 8 essential amino acids (the ones you can ONLY get from diet) as well as about 10 other amino acids. They contain vitamins, anti-oxidants, iron, RNA and GLA. And they help eliminate heavy metals, pesticieds, herbicides, and PCB's.

Vitamin D - This is essential to health. It boosts your immune system and helps maintain proper levels of calcium in the blood. And due to our lack of sunny weather in this country - even more important to supplement! Lack of vitamin D has also been linked to depression and other mental illnesses.

Mega Greens - This is a powdered drink that contains 34 different vegetables that'll give you just about every vitamin and mineral going. I never miss this one out!

Super-Supplemental - This is a good quality multi-vitamin. Another important addition to daily nutrition thanks to the lack of nutrients in our food nowdays. But be careful with these - as with all supplements, you get what you pay for. So pay the extra, it's cheaper than buying ones that don't work.

Vitamin C - Another essential vitamins for health that we can only get through diet. I use the dissolvable tablets first thing in the morning - an easy way to get your first 1/2 litre of water in in the morning.

Colloidal Silver - Natural anti-biotic (with NO side effects), fights disease and helps fight bacteria and viruses.



There are a few others that I don't take every day, but try to get in at least 2-3 times per week:

Hemp seeds - These are SUPER-superfoods. Probably the most under-appreciated food in the world! I really should have this one every day. You should too!

Coconut Oil - This breaks down less than any other oil when heated, contains lots of good fats (yes, some fats are good!), and promotes fat-burning and brain function. Use this in place of all other oils.

Royal Jelly - Another superfood that promotes healthy brain function, as well as being a very rich source of vitamin B5 and acetylcholine.


So that's my list of supplements that I never go without.
I'm sure as time goes on and I learn more I'll add more to the list, or find ways to get extra nutrients into my foods (like sprouting alfalfa and other seeds).

If you want to know where to get them, leave a comment below, or contact me through my website.

But you can get many of them (super-supplemental, spirulina, vitamin C, vitamin D, colloidal silver, Omega-3's) from here: www.TopQualitySupplements.com


This may seem like a lot of supplements, but I feel they're all necessary to promote great health and prevent illness and disease.

Remember, prevention is the best cure!

Recommended Books

Thought I'd try something new this time round...

I'm still not too comfortable on camera so bear with me!



If you want to get copies of the books I've put the links here.









(Turns out this one's no longer available, but if you're lucky you'll be able to pick up a used copy)






Enjoy :-)

The NEGATIVE Force Multiplier!

I was having a conversation with someone yesterday, and we were talking about the things that people do without realising the consequences.

And it struck me that when I wrote the "Force Multiplier" post, I missed out something very important. I realised, that many people don't realise what they're doing.

You see, the idea of the Force Multiplier post was to encourage you do do as many little (or big) things as possible towards being healthier. And that the combined effect of all of these little things would add up to have a large effect on your health.

A multi-vitamin taken every day, along with a healthier breakfast, and a fish oil supplement, and 1 less pint of lager, and an extra cup or two of water etc all add up to make you healthier. None of them huge in and of itself, but when combined with the others are quite powerful. The more you do, the more powerful the total effect.

What I failed to mention was that the opposite is also true.

You see, drinking one or two cups of coffee per day won't kill you (although it will have a negative effect), eating a couple of biscuits a day won't kill you (though again....), having a glass of wine, a pack of crisps, a cigarette.....

Though these are all bad for us, and will have a negative effect on our bodies, alone they aren't a major concern (arguably).

But add these together, and you've got a BIG problem.

A couple of cups of tea/coffee, AND a cigarette, AND a couple of biscuits, AND a pack of crisps, AND a glass of wine... Do you see where I'm going with this?

All of these "little things", that "won't kill us" add up. They all add together and compound to have a huge impact on our health.

Again, the more you do, the greater the total effect.

One day of bad eating and no exercise won't make you fat, but stack a lot of those days together and you've got yourself an extra couple of inches round your waist!

Sometimes we don't need to go to extremes and "eat like rabbits" to improve our health, it's just a case of reducing the negatives that are holding us back.

If you smoke - cut back; if you drink a lot of tea/coffee/fizzy drinks - replace some of those with water; if you eat a lot of biscuits - have a few less.

Little by little you can cut back or cut out completely these little things that add up.

This is probably the first step you should take towards better health. Gradually replace the bad habits (junk food, caffeine, cigarettes, lack of exercise etc...) with good habits (drinking water, exercising, eating a raw salad every day...), and step by step you'll gain control over your health, your weight, and your energy levels.

Your challenge for the next week is to cut back on at least one of your bad habits, and introduce or increase one of your good habits.

Maybe cut out one thing (Chocolate? Crisps? Biscuits?) and drink an extra 2 glasses of water per day...? You choose. But do something.

If that goes well, gradually cut out more of the bad, and introduce more of the good. Your health will steadily improve.

Crunches Cause Back Pain

I remember back at school we often did “fitness tests”. Even studying Sports Science at uni we went through these so-called fitness tests, and again on my Personal Training course.

The bleep test
Sit and Reach test (for flexibility)
The sit-up test etc.

These are all tests that have been used for years – but how effective are they?

The bleep test works. It’s a great way to test your general fitness level, and the key is in re-testing, NOT in the level you reach when you do it. (There are other considerations to bear in mind, but if all things remain unchanged, the re-test will show fairly accurately any gains or losses in fitness levels).

Sit and reach is pretty useless. It doesn’t show where your flexibility/inflexibility is coming from, since it is a whole body test.

And as for the sit-up/crunch test, that’s the reason for this post.

The rectus abdominus (the “abs” or 6-pack muscle) is a superficial muscle. Meaning, while it looks very nice, it doesn’t do much to support your body functionally. It won’t go far in helping with your stability, strength, or anything else... it will however help give you awful posture and back pain if overtrained.

Due to the attachments of the muscle in the body, if you do 100’s of sit-ups/crunches, it will pull your chest downwards towards your stomach, rounding your back and producing awful, and unattractive, postural distortions. As well as rounded shoulders and tight hip flexors (which are a problem many people face these days anyway, without these awful exercises reinforcing the posture!).

Obviously, as well as looking awful, this poor posture can cause all sorts of problems, predominantly in the shoulders, neck and back. Joints out of alignment will cause pain, stiffen up/lose mobility, and cause muscle imbalances which can lead to injury.

With back pain being as common as it now is, and all the hype about “core” training, more and more people are turning to these exercises in order to work their core. As well as the belief that thousands of sit-ups will help lose the belly (which obviously we know it won’t).

Well it’s not working. As I said earlier – the rectus abdominus is a superficial muscle, meaning it doesn’t work to stabilise and support the spine. In fact, it works to flex the spine. That means it’s actually going to make things WORSE, by exacerbating the problem. Plus, all the time you spend working your abs, you’re NOT spending doing the exercises that WILL help!

In order to reduce back pain, and pain in any other areas, you need to work on balancing the muscles across your body and re-aligning the joints.

If you want to work your “core”, you need to focus on exercises that will strengthen the deeper muscles of your trunk, such as the Transverse Abdominus and Obliques.

Planks, side planks, and side raises are good exercises for this, but sticking to large, full-body movements will make sure you’re activating your core in a functional way, instead of isolating the movements.

In short, you don’t need to specifically work on your core. If you’re using good exercise selection, your core will be working the whole time. (And as for losing the belly, it’s these large movements that are going to burn the calories, not small, isolated movements like crunches or bicep curls.)

Crunches will lead to imbalances, poor posture, back pain, and potential injury. You might have a nice looking 6-pack, but it won’t look good on a hunch-back who looks like they’re in pain!

For more ideas on exercises you can do that will work your “core” without causing back problems and muscle imbalance, check out my youtube channel www.youtube.com/markonefitness

Mark

Is That All You Drink?

For the last 2 or 3 years I've been answering the question "What the hell is that you're drinking?!"

(and at every Bootcamp for about the last year too).

It seems drinking a green coloured drink gets peoples' attention (despite the fact most of you drink brown drinks all day long, or orange, or yellow, or purple...)

Well the answer they usually get is "Chlorophyll", although recently it can change - most of the time now it's "Chlorophyll with Alkalising Salts" or my "Green Drink - Mega Greens".

It may look like "pond water", or "dirty dish water" to people, but it's good for you, and helps me make sure I get not only the required amount of water each day, but also many of the essential vitamins and minerals that are missing from most diets.

A typical day for me would start with a pint (about 1/2 litre) of water with vitamin C - I use the tablets that dissolve in the water - makes it far easier to drink a pint of water first thing in the morning (before I even get out of bed), and covers my daily vitamin C requirement.

Then, after breakfast I'll have another pint with my Mega Greens in it. This contains a whole variety of vitamins and minerals (it even smells like the health food shop!).

This brings my tally up to around 1 litre of water already, and I've already covered most of my RDA for most vitamins and minerals.

Next, I ALWAYS carry a bottle of water around with me (one of the easiest ways to make sure you're drinking enough each day).

I have 2 bottles that I use, one glass, and one BPA-free plastic (I'll explain this in the next post). Both are 750ml so they cover the next 1.5 litres per day.

I'll fill one with filtered water and add Liquid Chlorophyll and Alkalising Salts. This helps to alkalise my body, neutralising any acids from bad food choices (yes, I do make them too), exercise, stress, pollution etc.

And the other with filtered water, and squeeze either half a lemon or lime into it. This has two purposes - 1. it adds some flavour to the water (3litres of water a day can get quite bland and boring!), and 2. although lemon and lime are acidic, they have an alkalisin effect on the body when consumed.

I'll sip on these two throughout the day (though usually the first one will go during my workout).

If by the evening I haven't finished both bottles, I finish them. But usually they're long gone, so any extra I just add some Chlorophyll to taste and fantastic - I'm getting some extra hydration.

I also quite like the odd cup of Peppermint Tea after dinner... And the occasional cup of Green Tea.

So that should answer both the questions "What is that you're drinking?" and "Is that all you drink?"

To read about the benefits of drinking Chlorophyll, read my previous post 12 Reasons to Try Chlorophyll

You can get Liquid Chlorophyll here

Alkalising Salts here (these are the ones I use)

Mega-Greens here

I hope this helps!

Mark

Are you working hard enough?

One of the biggest problems I see when it comes to people not getting the results they want is quite simply that they're not working hard enough.

Setting up a Direct Debit or Standing Order for a gym membership won't make you slim.

Sitting on the stationary bike, reading a book or watching TV - won't make you slim.

The majority of people, even the ones that DO use their gym memberships, don't get the results they want and end up saying something along the lines of "It just doesn't seem to work for me - I'm different".

Well the main problem is, you're probably not working hard enough. You might think that you are, but if you're not getting any results, you're probably not.

Here's a really simple way to increase your workout intensity - to start with, just do your normal workout, but complete it in 1/3 less time than it normally takes.

So if you're normally in the gym for 1 hour, aim to get the entire workout done in 40 minutes or less. Although you won't be doing any more, you'll be upping the intensity and working harder.

Obviously this won't work if your workout consists of "20 minutes on the bike, 15 minutes on the treadmill etc. etc." (which is NOT the best use of your time anyway and is likely the reason you're not getting any results!), but if it does, you should increase the speed or resistance/level you work at by 1/3, and cut 1/3 of the time off.

Just increasing the intensity like this will kick start your weight loss again. And once the workout becomes less challenging - up the weights or reps, increase the speeds and inclines, and decrease the rest.

As a bonus here, I'm going to suggest a great beginner level workout for fat loss, AND fitness.

Give this a try next time you're in the gym (ask an instructor if you're unsure of any of the exercises): -

Quick mobility warm-up (squats, lunges, rotations, side-bends, forward bend + overhead reaches...), maybe 5 mins on the X-Trainer at a low level to get you slightly out of breath.

Main Workout

A1) Squat + Press x10 (with a pair of light dumbbells, 3-5Kg's)

A2) Push-Ups x10 (either elevated, or off your knees if you can't do full push-ups)

Alternate between A1 and A2 with no more than 30seconds rest for 5 rounds

B1) 1-Arm Cable Row/Pull* x15 per arm Use a weight that's challenging for 15 reps

B2) 1-Arm Cable Press/Push* x 12 per arm Same weight should be fine

*(these video's were filmed using resistance bands, but are exactly the same for a cable machine)

Alternate between B1 and B2 with no rest for 3 rounds

Bench Step-Ups x15 per leg Repeat for 3 rounds with no rest

This should give your training... and your results, the boost they need.

Enjoy!

And leave a comment below to let me know how you got on or if you have any questions :-)

A great "food trick" to control calories and over-eating

A great way to control your appetite, and aid in weight loss, is to eat a handful of nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts etc) about 20 minutes before each meal. (Seeds would also be a great compliment to go with the raw nuts.)

Ideally eat them raw as it reduces the oxidation of polyunsaturated fats.

You need to do this about 20 minutes BEFORE your meal to give your brain time to recognize the nutrition and reduce your appetite.

This works because the healthy fats (yes, healthy fats), fibre, protein, and micronutrients in nuts help to satisfy a lot of the nutritional needs of your body, thus reducing your body's "eat" signal, since it recognises that it already has a lot of the nutrients it requires.

Doing this will also increase your intake of healthy, nutrient-rich calories, multiple times per day, not only reducing your food cravings and over-eating, but increasing the percentage of your calorie intake from healthy snacks as opposed to other, less healthy options.

This will help in decreasing body fat.

You might also want to try drinking a glass of water (filtered of course - not tap) with the nuts, 15-20 minutes before meals, since the body can sometimes mis-read thirst as hunger. So drinking a glass of water before meals can also help to reduce appetite and prevent you from over-eating, or eating when you're actually just thirsty.

Give it a try - you might be pleasantly surprised! :)

Mark's Ten Top Tips for Healthy Living

“It’s not what you do occasionally that has the biggest impact on your life, it’s what you do consistently, day in, day out.”

So with that in mind, here are my top ten tips to leading a healthier lifestyle.

1. Drink only filtered or bottled water, and drink it from a BPA-free plastic bottle, or from a stainless steel or glass bottle. The plastic bottles that most people use leach plastic into your drink, and if you can taste plastic – you’re drinking plastic! This, and the amount of crap that’s in tap water (see video below) might not kill you – after all, it hasn’t up til now – but it WILL have an adverse effect on your health, and you may have problems that you haven’t even thought could be down to the water you’re drinking.

If you drink this EVERY day, the effects of it will build up over time and could cause all sorts of problems.

2. Drink at least 1 litre of water per 50lbs body weight. For most people this is 2-3litres. Carry a large bottle around with you and make sure you drink from it regularly to meet your quota!

*Quick tip*
If you’re not used to adequately hydrating yourself, you may find yourself rushing to the toilet every ten minutes when you start. Add a pinch of sea salt to your water. Just a pinch (if you can taste it you’ve added too much. And no, table salt won’t do!). This will help with electrolyte balance and you won’t be rushing to the loo quite so often.

3. Choose the HEALTHIER option. You don’t have to eat like a rabbit to be slim and healthy. Just make sure that when you’re choosing your meals, you choose the healthier option. It’s not rocket science, but if you consistently choose the healthier option, you’re saving yourself from a LOT of extra, unnecessary carbs/fat/toxins.

4. Take nutritional supplements. This isn’t a replacement for food, and doesn’t mean you can stop eating your greens, it’s just an extra boost to your diet that will help keep you healthy. A good quality multi-vitamin, fish oil/Omega-3, and a green drink will go a LONG way to keeping you fighting fit. But don’t be cheap - you get what you pay for with supplements so get the most expensive one you can afford – this is your health we’re talking about after all!

5. Get enough sleep. Sounds simple, but all sorts of chemical and hormonal processes go on while you sleep that are essential for balancing out your body and everything that’s gone on during the day. Make sure you get enough quality sleep. Go to bed earlier, and get up at the same time every morning (even at weekends if possible) – this will help to get your body clock into a rhythm and will help your sleep patterns no end. Also, make sure you sleep in a dark room, NO light whatsoever – that little standby light on your telly – cover it! Got an alarm clock that lights up or flashes – change it! And, this is very important, don’t take your phone to bed with you! – the electro-magnetic signals and radiation given off by your phone disrupt your sleep pattern, AND, subconsciously, leaving your phone on tells your mind that you’re expecting a call/text and your mind won’t fully rest.
If you use your phone as an alarm, BUY AN ALARM CLOCK! (Or most phones now will allow you to turn them off, and the alarm will still go off).

6. Exercise daily. This doesn’t have to be a 10 mile run, or a 2 hour workout in the gym. It all adds up. Even if you only have 15 minutes spare, use it effectively. It might not seem worth it, but if you’re doing it EVERY day, it’ll soon add up and make a BIG difference to your health and fitness.

If you are short on time and want some intense 15-minute workouts that’ll boost your metabolism and leave you burning calories all day, you can check out my book Fab In 15 Minutes – it’s got 20 workouts, all 15-20 minutes long, that you can do at home with little or no equipment.

Check it out here: www.FabIn15Minutes.com

7. Get some sun! Not only will the fresh air do you the world of good – getting away from the false, air-conditioned environment many of us work in – but sunlight is essential for health.

Get at least an hour or so of sunlight every day. And if you really can’t (but seriously – can you really not go outside for your lunch break? (and NOT for a cigarette!)), then take a good vitamin D supplement. This would also be a good idea in the winter months when the sun isn’t so forthcoming!
Sunbed’s DO NOT count and have been proven time and again to be bad for you. AVOID THEM! Get some real sunlight.

8. Take time for yourself. This may sound strange, but stress is one of the biggest causes of disease. A body without stress won’t get sick. If you can take any amount of time out to just relax, take your mind off things and appreciate all that you have, then you’ll be on your way to relieving stress.

Meditation, yoga, tai chi, breathing exercises are all good. Or you could just take 30 minutes out to sit and relax, go for a walk, listen to some relaxing music... ANYTHING that relaxes you.
This is so powerful, yet consistently overlooked by 99% of people. Whether you believe it or not, give it a go for a week or two and see what happens... I dare you.

9. Cut back on watching TV. Not only will the extra time you have enable you to exercise, enjoy more time with family and friends, prepare healthier meals and a million other things, but it will also save you from mind-numbing TV shows which really don’t do you any favours or stimulate your brain.

Select the main programmes that you really can’t miss, and scrap the rest. You could read a book instead!

10. Laugh! You’ve heard the saying that laughter is the best medicine. Well it really is! Laughing has many effects on the body including stress relief, improving immune function, strengthening core muscles and your diaphragm...

To see more of the effects laughter has on our bodies, take a look here:
http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/laughter.htm

And a bonus number 11 - Take your shoes off. There are so many benefits to walking barefoot. Our feet have evolved without shoes! I’m not saying take a stroll down the high street barefoot, but when you’re at home, in the garden, in the park, or anywhere that’s safe to take your shoes off.

Not only will this strengthen your feet, ankles, knees, hips and back, but it could also help alleviate knee, hip and back problems.

I personally do ALL of my training barefoot, inside or outside (when the gym don’t moan at me), and if I do wear shoes, I wear the thinnest, least supportive ones I can find (such as Vibram FiveFingers, or some cheap water shoes – very thin, flexible soles, no support or cushioning etc.)

To read more on going barefoot, you can read an article I wrote a couple of years ago (called Barefoot Is Best) here:
http://www.markonefitness.co.uk/downloads




If you can do all of these things I assure you you’ll feel ten times better than you do now (unless you’re already doing them, in which case I congratulate you!).


To your Health!


Mark

What's in Your Drinking Water?

Many prominent scientists are alarmed by the content of some drinking water and actively seek to change the processes involved. The practice of making water safe to drink actually involves adding large amounts of extremely poisonous chemicals to it. Key scientists are now providing evidence that long-term ingestion of small amounts of chemicals like these could be the cause of some major health problems.

Here is a list of just a few of the chemicals routinely added to our water supply:

Liquified chlorine
Fluorosilicic acid
Aluminium sulphate
Calcium hydroxide
Sodium silicofluoride

Even if the water leaves the source in a relatively clean state, don't forget that your water travels through pipes, which may have been underground since Victorian times. It is almost impossible for the water not to become contaminated by something undesirable.



Contaminants in Tap Water

Tap water is treated with a large number of chemicals in order to kill bacteria and other microorganisms. In addition, it may contain other undesirable contaminants like toxic metal salts, hormones and pesticides, or it may become contaminated by chemicals or microbes within pipes (e.g. lead, bacteria, protozoa).

Typical Tap Water Content:

Chlorine
Fluorine compounds
Trihalomethanes (THMs)
Salts of:
- arsenic
- radium
- aluminium
- copper
- lead
- mercury
- cadmium
- barium
Hormones
Nitrates
Pesticides



Testing Your Own Water

You can assess the quality of your water by testing for Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) with a TDS meter which reads the TDS instantly and gives a read-out in parts per million (ppm) TDS. Generally, water with a TDS of 500 ppm or more is regarded as unfit for consumption. Most tap water ranges from 150 to 420 ppm TDS. A Reverse Osmosis system typically produces water with a TDS of 90 - 95% of the incoming water.



Fluoride in water

Another very important health hazard is fluoride, which is added by some water authorities in the UK, and is also present in many toothpastes and mouthwashes. Around 10% of the UK’s water supply is fluoridated, despite a huge and ever-growing body of evidence that the science behind this mass medication programme is questionable to say the least.

Fluoridation of water is banned in all other European countries. (see the Flouride Action Network - Statements from European Health Authorities).


For still more information on the dangers of fluoride, visit these links:

Thirty fluoride links from Dr Mercola’s site (USA)
Fluoride Action Network (USA)
Finally, you may wish to review the Scientific Facts on the Biological Effects of Fluorides.



Mark

Exercise Video's

Hey,

Just a really quick post today to let you know (if you don't already) about the exercise video's I've posted on YouTube.


Check out my channel http://www.youtube.com/markonefitness

There's a few exercises you can try, some you'll have seen before, some you might not.

Be sure to subscribe to the channel so you can see when I post new video's.

Also, if you haven't got your Gymboss Interval Timer yet, I highly recommend them. Best thing I ever bought with regards to training!

Get yours here



Mark

Need some inspiration?

Hi,

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. But this should be a good one to get back into things again.

I recently (today in fact) had an e-mail from someone asking his mailing list for inspirational video's that he can show his students, which reminded me of a few that I've seen that really get you thinking.

Take a look, if none of these inspire you, then I don't know what will...










I hope you can draw some inspiration from these, especially this time of year when people tend to fall off the wagon with regards to their new years resolutions.

Stick with it. You can't win the game if you don't play. So if your goal is weight loss, better fitness, or ANYTHING - you need to do something about it!


Mark

Achieving your goals in the new year

It's that time of year again when we all start thinking about New Years resoltuions and what we want to achieve next year.

So I thought it'd be fitting to use this blog post to help you with what could be the most important thing you do all year!

Achieving your goals can be very difficult, with all kinds of obstacles to overcome, but the key to success is simple. Perseverance.

But first, you need to know what you're aiming for, and I think one of the simplest ways to succeed is using a method I learned from success coach, Brian Tracy.

And rather than me re-tell it, here's the man himself:




If you do this, and stick to it, I promise it'll have more impact than all of your previous attempts. Do this regularly and you'll be achieving all of your goals faster than you thought possible.

Good luck!


Mark

Interval Timer

I thought for the blog today I'd take the opportunity to recommend one of the best training aids I've ever bought.

If you do any sort of training, an Interval Timer is priceless.

You can train without looking at the clock to time your rest periods, you don't have to worry about the timer during a set or run. There are no distractions so you can just get on with your set until the time's up.

I personally prefer using this method to counting reps - where poeple tend to stop at 10 (or a pre-designated number) even if they can do more.

This way, you keep going until the timer stops, so you can work harder, meaning better results!

It's as good as having someone next to you telling you when to go and stop.

The best Interval Timer I've come across is from Gymboss - it's cheap, easy to use, and can do whatever you want, with intervals from 1 second to 99minutes and 59seconds.

You can set it to run through once, to keep going until you stop it, or to stop after a set number of rounds (1-99).

Either set it to a single time to repeat, or have two times programmed in - for example you can set it to time 60 seconds for your work period, and then a 30 second rest before it starts again.


I use this for my own training ALL the time, with every Personal Training client I have, AND in all of my Bootcamp classes.


The timer's only $20 and ships quickly (you can get them on e-bay, but for the sake of saving £1 you're better off going to their official site here - much more reliable).

And you can also get them in 3 different colours now - Silver, Slate, or Hot Pink (nice!)


Click the link below and get your timer now - it'll be the best purchase you've ever made for your fitness training!

How does exercise/diet help you lose weight?

So many people seem to be trying to lose weight without really understanding what it is they need to do for that to happen.

People go on diets – How does eating less help?

Sounds like a stupid question doesn’t it?

How about – How does exercise help?

Pretty stupid too... Or is it?

Without knowing how each of these things affects your body in a way that helps you to lose weight, you’re just “doing what everybody else is doing” without understanding why you’re all doing it.

It might have worked for your friend, you may know people who lost weight with a weight management group, but you don’t know what else they did while they were doing that; and how many of those people went on to re-gain that “lost” weight?

Everyone is different, but there is one simple truth that is true for EVERYONE – To lose weight you need to [consistently] burn off more calories than you consume. This means changing your lifestyle, not “going on a diet” which will ultimately end, meaning you start your journey of weight gain all over again.

Without understanding this one simple fact, you go into your diet with no idea of what you are doing or how it will work other than “It worked for________ (fill in the blank)”.

And for those of you who believe that you can do this properly without either exercise or diet (i.e. just do one of them), you’re fighting a losing battle.

What IS a calorie?

Contrary to popular belief a calorie isn’t just a way of seeing how good or bad for you a food is.
Calories ARE NOT bad!

A calorie is simply a measure of energy.

Therefore if we eat 2000 units of energy and only use 1500 units of energy, we store the extra 500 units (yep, as fat).

So, the recommended daily calorie intake for the average female is around 2000 calories (a VERY rough guide that should not be taken as gospel – for a more accurate measure of your daily amount you can use the Harris-Benedict Formula at the bottom of this article).

So, to lose weight you need to be consuming LESS calories than you’re burning. Simple.

But wait!

You can’t simply cut back on your eating and not exercise because your body is programmed to survive – 1000‘s of years ago, people didn’t know when their next meal would be, so we’ve evolved to survive as long as possible without food by holding onto our richest source of energy – fat.

If you cut back on your eating too much, your body will HOLD ON TO FAT, so instead of burning fat stores, it will burn muscle tissue, because muscle tissue needs energy, and your body wants to get rid of anything that’s burning energy.

So while reducing your calorie intake may cause you to lose weight, it will be from muscle tissue NOT fat tissue.

Enter... Exercise

By exercising, you are maintaining, or even building muscle tissue. This is important for a number of reasons.

Firstly, as I mentioned above, muscles need energy to function. Meaning the more you work a muscle, the more energy it needs/burns. So the more muscles you are working, the harder you’re working them, and the more often you work them – the more calories you will burn.

Secondly, the more muscle mass you have to maintain, the more calories you will be burning throughout the day just to maintain that muscle. These calories (if you are burning more than you are eating) will come from fat stores.

So in short, the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn both during exercise AND throughout the day.

Starting to see why exercise is so important?

Without taking this too much further (you can download my Free report on weight loss from my website), I’ll leave you with a simple calculation that should show why it is important that you use both exercise AND a slight reduction in calories (only slight, or you’ll end up holding on to fat remember) to lose weight/bodyfat.

3500 calories = 0.45kg (just under 1lb) -- so to lose 1lb, you need to burn off 3500 calories MORE than you consume.

Spread this across the week and that means a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day.

Remember if you reduce your calorie intake too much you hold fat, so you need to create this deficit using diet AND exercise.

Reduce your calorie intake by 250kcal per day, AND increase your exercise/activity by 250 calories per day, and you’ve got your 500 calorie deficit. Meaning a steady, healthy weight loss of 1lb per week.

More importantly, by maintaining or building muscle, you won’t gain the weight back again when you “finish” your diet.

If 1lb a week isn’t good enough for you, then you will need to increase the amount of work your muscles are doing (not long runs/bike rides in the gym – work your muscles), but NEVER reduce your calorie intake by more than 500 calories below your recommended amount!

The harder you work, the more you’ll lose.

My book, Fab In 15 Minutes is a collection of 15 minute workouts that burn up to 250 calories each – this is a great way to reach your target quickly and effectively without ever having to set foot in a gym. Visit http://www.fabin15minutes.com/ for these weight loss workouts. If you could consistently lose 1lb a week working just 15 minutes a day would you do it?


To work out your recommended daily calorie intake use the Harris-Benedict formula below:

Men: 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age)

Example- For a 170cm tall man aged 35 and weighing 90kg:
66 + (13.7 x 90) + (5 x 170) – (6.8 x 35)
= 66 + 1233 + 850 – 238 = 1911 calories


Women:655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 – age)

Example- For a 165cm tall woman aged 35 and weighing 75kg:
655 + (9.6 x 75) + (1.8 x 165) – (4.7 x 35)
= 655 + 720 + 297 – 164.5 = 1507 calories


Once you have this number (your BMR), multiply it by the following depending on your activity levels, to get your daily calorie guideline.

Sedentary BMR x 1.2 little or no exercise, desk job
Lightly Active BMR x 1.375 light exercise/sports 1-3 days per week
Mod. Active BMR x 1.55 moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days per week
Very Active BMR x 1.725 hard exercise/sports 6-7 days per week
Extra Active BMR x 1.9 hard daily exercise/sports AND physical job

So if we take the female example above with a lightly active lifestyle, your daily calorie guideline would be 1507 x 1.375 = 2072 calories per day


Please note, if you are “over-weight”, this calculation will slightly overestimate your caloric needs.


Now you (hopefully) have more of an idea of what it is you’re doing, check out the FREE weight loss report at http://www.markonefitness.co.uk/, and the workout book at http://www.fabin15minutes.com/.

Supplements - supplement :-)

As a quick follow-up to the previous post, I'd like to mention the ONLY supplements that I recommend to my clients and that I use myself (which can be found here).

These products are manufactured to the highest standards and use the finest organic and naturally sourced ingredients (this even includes the skin and hair care products).

By using only natural ingredients, and not resorting to cheap, synthetic ones, you are guaranteed to get much better results from taking them.

This does mean they are slightly more expensive, but as I said before, nothing's more expensive than buying something that doesn't work!

And as valued subscribers to my mailing list, you can get 20% off when you place your order by using the code NLSubs20

You can also take the free Lifestyle Analysis Questionnaire to determine which of your body systems are stronger, which are weaker, and which products are best suited to support those weaker systems.

Many of my clients have reported great results from these products so please try the Lifestyle Analysis and take a look at your recommended products.


If you decide to order, remember to enter your discount voucher code and your order will be shipped right to your door. Click the link below to be taken to the site's homepage:

High Quality Supplements

If this link doesn't work, just copy and paste the following into your browser:
http://www.naturessunshine.eu/uk/markonefitness/index.asp



Feel free to send this link on to friends and family so they too can take the Lifestyle Analysis.

Supplements

A lot of people nowadays seem to think that to lose weight, build muscle, or rid themselves of aches and pains, supplements are the answer.

Spending a small fortune on multi-vitamins, joint supplements, protein powders, energy drinks, fish oils, and even steroids for the really desperate (and lazy), you have to wonder if they’re working or not.

Most of the food now available to us is lacking in vitamins and minerals due to the over-farming of the fields, meaning that the soil doesn’t get the chance to replace it’s depleted nutrients – and since you are what you eat (this applies to plants too) – there will be no nutrients in the soil for the plants to absorb, which in turn means no nutrients in the plants for us to absorb.

This isn’t just limited to our plants either; our meat is also mass farmed meaning the suppliers are constantly looking for cheaper ways to provide MORE meat with less effort and expense. So they turn to factory farms where animals are packed together as closely as possible, not able to move and probably never even seeing daylight.

Obviously this causes the animals to get sick, and the only way to keep them alive long enough to make it to slaughter is to pump them full of antibiotics and other drugs to make them grow quicker. Their food is also lacking in any sort of nutrition – again, no nutrients in the animals food means no nutrients in the meat when we eat it.

Check out the video below to get an idea of how our foods are being produced. This is the tamer version that I thought everyone could watch. If you’re a bit braver, head to my links page at http://www.markonefitness.co.uk and check out the video “Meet your meat”.



Eating antibiotics in our food every day means we grow a resistance to antibiotics (ever had a course that didn’t work...?). This also breeds new strains of germs that are resistant to antibiotic treatments.

So what can you do about it?

The best thing you can possibly do for your health (along with exercise) is to eat healthy, nutrient rich foods; which means buying fresh fruit and veg from local producers – if you get it from your supermarket then the chances are it’s been treated with chemical preservatives and has been in cold storage for anywhere up to 6 months before it reaches the shelves.

Organic foods are not a fad for the rich; they are a necessity for everyone who wants to be healthier. How much cheaper is it really to buy non-organic food when you have to spend a small fortune on supplements to make up for its shortfalls?

However, I understand that it DOES cost more to eat everything organic, and in the current economic climate cost is an issue. So my advice is this:

Eat as much organic as possible – particularly meats as these can actually cause you harm with some of the chemicals they contain.

Get your fruit and vegetables seasonally from local farms (look around for farmers’ markets, there are more around than you think) – or alternatively, grow your own, you’ll taste the difference!

And as a lot of your food will still be lacking in nutrition, yes, I do recommend that you consider taking a good quality supplement to ensure you are meeting your daily requirements for essential nutrients.

So what supplements should you take?

Personally, I recommend taking as few as possible. Many of the supplements available are, again, unfortunately made as cheaply as possible (these companies are businesses after all), so remember: If it’s cheap to buy, it’s cheap to make. And if it’s cheap to make, it has cheap ingredients.

All this being said, I would recommend taking a good multi-vitamin, an omega-3 supplement, and (if you struggle to eat breakfast or to get protein in every meal) a protein supplement.

The price ranges for these vary dramatically, so get the best that you can afford. Nothing’s more expensive than buying something that doesn’t work, so avoid going for the cheapest stuff available – it won’t save you anything in the long run.

If you’d like to know where to get top quality organic, natural supplements, contact me through my website www.markonefitness.co.uk and I’ll be happy to give you some good companies that sell high-quality products.