Tag: bodybuilding

5 Pillars of Nutrition

I despair about the training supplement industry, it isn’t necessarily that I think it is overtly evil or malicious, but I do feel that it is shallow and does take advantage of usually younger people trying to live up to their sporting idols and the ever increasing pressures of augmented social media profiles, it is as an industry worth billions on both sides of the Atlantic and it show no sign of stopping.

So I set out below my top five foodstuffs to help achieve fitness goals without spending fortunes on supplements, remember to use supplements for convenience not as a replacement for real food.

1 Water

A bit of an obvious one this one but, it is so often overlooked, people tend to drink a lot more water in the gym or during a hot summers day but not so much at other times, the fact is that the body is very good at drawing water out of the food we eat to keep us hydrated but it is still recommended to drink around 2 litres a day, the human body is approx 60% water so it makes sense to top it up, adequate hydration supports mental cognition, metabolism, and if you click the title link you will see how it has been linked to actually increasing calorie expenditure, drinking good clean water is absolutely essential not only for any fitness regimen but for life itself.

2 Protein

And I don’t mean the latest Protein Powder from the local supplement shop, although protein powders can be a good source of protein if you are running late or if you are struggling to take in six meals a day they should not be relied on, too often I see people with shakers in the morning and at lunch time, clearly substituting real food with a protein shake, these are normally laden with sugar or worse Aspartame to sweeten them and depending on the manufacturer (not always the price) can use low quality dairy protein that is no better than drinking a large quantity of milk, but of course the milk would be a lot cheaper, recommendations for strength athletes is around 1.4 to 1.8 grams per Kg of bodyweight and 1.2 to 1.4 grams per Kg of bodyweight for endurance athletes.

3 Carbohydrate

The recommended intake for Carbohydrate is roughly 45 to 65 percent of you daily calorie intake, that seems like a very ambiguous statement if you ask me and I also know that Carbohydrate is probably one of the most misunderstood forms of nutrition second only to the last pillar FAT, so there are low Carb diets and no Carb diets, low Carb would drop you down to the 25 to 45 percent range and then as you move lower you would start to work your way toward Keto type diets, and you would start to trigger Ketosis at a Carb intake of around 20 grams a day, the trick with Carbs is to select them based on what you are doing, there is no point taking in a large amount of complex Carbohydrate just before going for a run or too the gym, similarly loading up on simple Carbs just before sitting down for 8 hrs at work is also counter intuitive, one thing that is certain is that we need to take great care over the quantity of Carbohydrate as it is easy to over consume without realising it, especially as sugar is often added to fast foods or pre-packaged foods to make them more appealing.

4 Fibre

Fibre is essentially broken down into two types Soluble and Insoluble otherwise known as roughage, soluble fibre can be digested by the body and assists with lowering cholesterol and constipation, examples of soluble fibre are beans, bananas, and oats, whereas roughage cannot be digested and assists with bowel health and has been linked to reducing the risk of bowel cancer, this type of fibre can be found in wholegrains, cereals and of course bran, our recommended fibre intake increases with age from around 15 grams a day for 2 to 5 year olds up to adulthood at around 30 grams a day, also foods higher in fibre tend to help keep hunger at bay for longer meaning that you may end up snacking less and ultimately reducing calorie intake over the course of a day.

5 Fat

As stated above I believe fat is one of the most misunderstood of all the components of nutrition, until recent years it has also been the first thing that was cut out whenever anybody went on a “Diet” but as time has gone on we have started to learn more about fat and how it works in the body, consumption of the right fat is not only desirable but essential, the first type is Saturated fat, this is really pretty much all bad, it leads to an increase in LDL cholesterol which is linked to heart disease and strokes and most health organisations agree that if it cannot be avoided it should be limited to at most 30 grams per day for men and 25 grams for women, children’s levels should be lower, Unsaturated and Monounstaturated fats are responsible for an increase of HDL Cholesterol and lowering of the amount of LDL in our bloodstreams and lowering the risk of heart disease, these are much more preferable, but not simply a free for all and is recommended that in a typical diet they should be restricted to between 40 to 77 grams based on a percentage of calorific intake at around 20 percent, Omega-3 and 6 cannot be produced by the body and have been linked to a wide range of benefits to the body, everything from eye health, cancer risk reduction to helping prevent vascular diseases, and it is recommended that we take these fats in in the form of fish such as Mackerel, Salmon or Trout, or to use a supplement like cod liver oil, the last on the list is Trans-fats these are found in convenience foods, margarine and it is added to food to increase it’s shelf life, this Should be avoided at all costs it literally increases LDL and reduces HDL and as such no research I did managed to find an organisation that would put a “safe” or “recommended” level of intake on this, it is not avoidable completely in everyday life but make sure you read through the macros and avoid it where possible as well as partially hydrogenated fats, it is also worth considering that fat provides 9 calories per gram as opposed to Carbs or Protein at 4 calories per gram.

When used with thought and planned out correctly the above is all you need to build muscle, or reduce fat or both, bodybuilders are often revered for their ability to increase muscle mass while still reducing bodyfat levels and regardless of any chemical assistance this is largely due to the fact that the top bodybuilders study nutrition requirement and balance their diet accordingly, it is simple mathematics and with a little bit of time spent adding stuff up and thinking through what we take in we can all achieve great changes.

Main Photo by Clem Onojeghuo from Pexels

Bodybuilder Photo by Sabel Blanco from Pexels

Fat Burner V’s Bio Hacking

A healthy cynicism is required today as more and more people vy for your time and your Dollar, this is no more evident anywhere than in my two chosen points of focus currently,

Both the weightloss industry, or fitness industry as it also known and the financial freedom industry are absolutely overrun with what would have been referred to as “snake oil salesmen” back in the wild west.

And it is not difficult to see why as the fitness and weightloss industry is worth and estimated $18 Billion in the US and $5 Billion in the UK (which I personally struggle with because most UK gyms are, shall we say, lacking a little) and that kind of money attracts a lot of people just looking to turn a quick buck.

It isn’t necessarily just the odd cynical individual either big companies and businesses are doing the same thing, most Fat burners on the market today contain the same ingredients in greater or lesser amounts and there are food producers as well as dedicated supplement producers that will, for a price provide you with a white label, protein powder, or fat burner or vitamin supplement as well as all the other plethora of products available to buy.

But, should you use these products? and indeed should I ever advocate them? well the latter is easy to answer, I will never advocate anything that I have not tried and found to be of benefit, and of course the former is what this site / blog is all about.

In my experience there has been a few Fat Burners over the years that have felt like they are working, but this is because (and solely because) of the stimulant effect we assume that because we are warm it is thermogenisis and because we are feeling a bit frantic and like we cannot sit still that we have lots of energy and that this is coming from fat, but sadly this is more likely to be coming from the high dosage of caffeine than anything else.

You are much better off leaving the fat burners on the shelf in my opinion, or at the very least understand why a certain one should or should not work, in the book I read recently there was a parallel drawn between a VCR manual and life, the point being that anybody can buy a VCR and play videos, maybe record the odd thing or two, but only somebody who has read the manual and has digested it thoroughly can record a series at will, or have the TV turning over to the right channel when you switch the thing on, your VCR becomes much more powerful, and when you move onto DVD or Digital Recorders you are able to adapt almost immediately because you understand the nature of the thing.

Bio Hacking gives you the opportunity to do this, to look deep into your body and it’s chemistry, start to put on muscle at will and lose fat when you desire it rather than sitting wishing, and through that knowledge of how things work you can and will start picking supplements that you require.

Take the time to get to know yourself before blindly handing over money to somebody offering you the world in a minute, social media has given us all the impression that success and change is achievable overnight and people have pushed this message in order to turn a profit, it is rubbish, but you learn how the system works, any system and once you know it inside and out you can make it sing and dance to your tune.

Just to indicate that this was not merely a rant for the sake of a post, I did try taking a fat burner from one of the big supplement companies, one that manages to get it’s name in front of millions of people everyday, and after following the directions for 4 weeks exactly as directed with no deviation the results looked like this.

Fat BurnerIntermittent Fasting
Week 1 -0 -4
Week 2 -4 -3
Week 3 -1 -4
Week 4 -0Not yet weighed

It is important to know that my eating did not change other then to fast of course between the two and there was not a significant increase in exercise, simply a greater understanding of what to do in order to make my body respond how I wanted it too.

43 and leg Day

Well Leg day was a success I am happy to report, of course how much of that can be attributed to Coconut Oil before the workout is debatable, I did however feel much more focused, I kid you not, I did not feel tired despite being up and about since 5:00am and I lifted more today than I have yet, now I do have some experience with starting over at the gym, since I quit training when I was 20 I have had more comebacks than Status Quo, and each one has ultimately been cast aside because I didn’t progress fast enough, also being 7 stone heavier didn’t help!

So was it the Coconut Oil or was it the Karate Kid Soundtrack that was my music of choice today, well everybody likes being told that they are the best around but I don’t think that was just it, I genuinely trained better than before and the science is there to back it up, you see among other things, MCT’s are converted by the liver and passed into the bloodstream as either available energy, or ketones, that’s it, the chances of them being stored as fat are virtually zero, I do harbour a nagging doubt though and this has been brought on by the wonder of the internet and it’s main party piece.

Contradictory information, if you search for Coconut Oil you will find yourself reading about a miracle substance that fixes all ill’s and makes your body burn fat for fun, and a substance that causes weight gain and is counter intuitive to trying to lose fat.

The problem with this is that in a lot of cases it prevents us from trying things, because we are too worried about the consequences, I feel it right now and you will have felt it too, in fact I got so screwed up over the whole thing that I had to stop and just have a think, the benefit of the internet is we can pick our teachers, we have the opportunity to interview and evaluate at our leisure who we are going to allow to educate us, there is no shortage of candidates and majority of the information is free, so look on YouTube watch the people on there, here’s an example, if there is a woman or a man and they have a Yoga channel, watch it if you can here the tendons creaking and they seem as flexible as the British Government over Brexit then walk away, if however they can fold themselves up like a pretzel they are probably worth listening to, same for most things in life you wouldn’t take driving lessons from somebody that has never driven, even if they have read all the books in the world on driving, so pick your tutors, if you want be a bodybuilder pick a bodybuilder the biggest and strongest one you can find, you want to improve your memory ? someone like Jim Kwik who can memorise 20 random objects shouted out from an audience, and when it comes to intermittent fasting and bio hacking to get low bodyfat levels you pick someone who not only seems to know the science but is also in the best damn shape you can find.

So I will gather as much evidence as possible and present it all on a page dedicated to MCT and it’s benefits but I will be using it from now on as a pre-workout and as the first foodstuff after fasting.

I even suggest that you purchase some either using the link below if you fancy dropping me a couple of cents or nip along to a store and buy some, I have it on majority authority that you should select only cold press Coconut Oil and the amount I used was a teaspoon (level) when I woke up before my walk and the same 15 minutes before the gym.

Sevenhills Wholefoods 500ml Organic Extra Virgin Raw Coconut Oil (Cold-Pressed) for Cooking, Baking, Skin moisturiser & Hair Conditioner