GB Sports Coaches Network Blog

This product is a quality approved sports nutrition supplement sold at http://www.gbnutrition.co.uk

Product Reviewed by: Personal Trainer, Boxer and GB Nutrition Owner Sam Smith. Ask Sam about his product or about your supplementation requirements or dietary programme at sales@gbnutrition.co.uk

REVIEW:

‘’Intense Concentration’’I was only taking Fubar at half dose, (1 pill before a workout) and I still felt some very prominent effects especially on my concentration. Once I’d finished my session, the effects continued, feeling like I had a ‘heightened sense of things’. This didn’t wear off until a few hours after the session. Fubar is a potent pre workout supplement that can compete with jack3d and razor-8. Don’t let the ‘natural’ appearance and ingredients put you off. You’ll get the pump you need. Overall, taking into account the great price and effects of the product, it gets RATED: 7.5/10.

Remember you can purchase this top product from http://www.gbnutrition.co.uk

This product is a quality approved sports nutrition supplement sold at http://www.gbnutrition.co.uk

Product Reviewed by: Personal Trainer, Boxer and GB Nutrition Owner Sam Smith. Ask Sam about his product or about your supplementation requirements or dietary programme at sales@gbnutrition.co.uk

REVIEW:

‘’Focus, Drive and a Massive Energy Pump.’’Blast Powder really gives you that extra edge in the gym. Unlike many other pre-workout products, it actually kicks in at the right time and lasts your whole session. It did leave me feeling a little bit ‘on edge’ at first however I quickly got used to this and used it too my advantage in the gym.

The only slight downside in my opinion is the taste, however it’s not that bad that you can’t take it, just not the best tasting product on the market. Over all an excellent pre-workout supplement that is very reasonably priced and does exactly what is says on the tin.

RATING: 8/10

Remember you can purchase this top product from http://www.gbnutrition.co.uk

This product is a quality approved sports nutrition supplement sold at http://www.gbnutrition.co.uk

Product Reviewed by: Personal Trainer, Boxer and GB Nutrition Owner Sam Smith. Ask Sam about his product or about your supplementation requirements or dietary programme at sales@gbnutrition.co.uk

REVIEW:

‘’The Best Tasting Powder Product I’ve Had.’’Quickmass tastes great and mixes very well. It can become a little thick when using more than two scoops, and can be prone to clumping, however 1-2 scoops with around 12 ounces of water seems be the perfect amount for a serving. It seems quickmass might well be the gold standard in mass gainers for effects as well. With limited bloating and other side effects it really gets the job done; and I know I’m not the only person who thinks this.

The only possible downside I can see people having with this product is the price. If you take the product as recommended on the tub it will only last 18 days, and at such a high price this can be a negative aspect. That aside, Quickmass is a great tasting mass gainer that has some of the best base ingredients I’ve come across.

RATING: 9/10

Remember, you can view details of this product and purchase from http://www.gbnutrition.co.uk

Your Diet for Your Goals

As many already know; if you have a goal in health or fitness, whether it is to lose fat, gain mass or simply get fitter, increasing the amount that you train alone will not result in success. To truly reach your goals, you need to get your nutrition right as well. This article will focus on losing body fat and ‘toning up’, and the dietary alterations you may need to make. Notice this is all focused on you, the individual. Although there are some ‘rules’ to nutrition that can be applied to a population, it is ultimately different for every individual. That is, your diet needs to be made specific to your metabolism, likes, dislikes and preferences. 

Daily Calorie Needs

So, you’re going to change your diet to help you reach your goals, where do you start? The first thing you need to do is work out how many calories you need to take in. Then you can work out exactly how many calories need to come from each macronutrient group (Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat). This gives you a platform to work from and base everything else to do with your nutrition from. It is easier than you think.

First get a value for your basal metabolic rate (BMR). This is the amount of calories you need to consume to maintain your body state if you were completely inactive. Also known as you base or maintenance level. There are various formulas and methods that can be used to estimate this value, however it is probably easiest to find this information using an online calculator, of which there are many. You then multiply this value based on how active you are, (this value varies from x1.2 for a sedentary individual up to x2.0 for an extremely active individual) this gives you a maintenance value for total daily requirement, that is the amount you need to eat to stay the weight you are. The value normally equals to roughly 35kcal/kg/day for the average, moderately active person. Using myself as an example: A moderately active male weighing 80kg.

BMR using online calculator = 1840kcal

Activity Level (x1.5): 1840×1.5 = 2800kcal per day (roughly)

You might be thinking this is quite a high value, so how accurate is it? Well, this is a rough figure and most people with overestimate their activity level and end up eating too much. So if you can, use a daily calorie calculator online, this will give you a more accurate value.

Readjust for Your Goals: Now you have a value for your daily calorie intake, you need to readjust for your goals. This is a very important step. You will need to decrease or increase your intake based on your goals. As this article is focused on nutrition for fat loss, we are going to decrease this value to lose mass. This will be calculated on a % of your maintenance level (this is preferred to a generic amount such as 500kcal/day as this will have different effects on people of different sizes, who need more/fewer calories per day). Generally you subtract between 10-20% from your maintenance total. It is good to start with a smaller reduction rather than a larger one so go with a 10% reduction to start with.

So continuing with the above example:

Total Daily Intake for Fat Loss: Maintenance Level – 10%

Therefore: 2800×0.9 = 2520kcal/day

Macronutrient Needs

Now that you have a value for your daily calorie intake specific to your needs, you can work out how many calories need to come from which food types. For this we will be calculating our macronutrient needs. This will be split into three macronutrient groups, that I’m sure you will have heard of, Protein, Fats and Carbohydrates. A few simple facts that will help you estimate these values: 1g of Protein = 4kcal, 1g of Carbohydrate = 4kcal and 1g of Fat = 9kcal.

There is some controversy regarding a lot of these values, again it is advised to source this information from either an online calculator or speak to a nutrition advisor. You can always speak to Sam @GBNutrition and he’ll be happy to help you get this information right.

Protein: The general guidelines for protein intake are as follows:

If you know your body fat/lean mass then your minimum requirement is 1g per pound of lean bodyweight (1kg = 2.2lbs), and this value is then adjusted depending on your specific needs. This value will increase the more lean muscle you have and visa versa.  Typically, most people find a higher protein intake better for satiety and blood sugar control.

So for my continuing example:

Body weight in pounds: 80×2.2 = 176lbs (body fat – 11%)

Lean weight in lbs: 176×0.89 = 156lbs

Minimum Protein requirement = 156g per day (=624kcal)

Fats: Your body needs fats for a plethora of reasons including healthy organs, systems and a healthy mind. Further to this, any training will benefit from a fat buffer in your diet, which acts to control free radical damage and inflammation. The generally guidelines for an average person states that minimum fat requirement in grams is equal to 1g per kg of bodyweight (0.5g per lbs total body weight).

For my example:

Fat Intake in Grams: 80g (720kcal)

Carbohydrates: The final macronutrient group and arguably the most important are carbohydrates. Your requirements are calculated by working out the left over calories from protein and fats. So your carbohydrate calories = your total calorie needs – (protein calories + fat calories). You can then divide this value by 4 to give you the amount of carbohydrate in grams you need to consume per day.

My example:

Carbohydrate Calories: 2520 – (624+720) = 1176kcal

Carbohydrate Grams: 1176/4 = 294g

So to summarise: Per day I need to consume 2510kcal, of which 624kcal needs to come from protein (156g), 720kcal needs to come from fats (80g) and 1166kcal needs to come from Carbohydrate (291.5 g).

Remember the values for protein and fats were based on minimum requirements and are likely to be increased due to the fact that we are trying to lose weight. A more realistic set of figures would be:

Total: 2510kcal Protein: 170g (680kcal) Fats: 95g (855kcal) Carbohydrate: 243g (975kcal). Protein intake has increased to deal with muscle damage and repair from the training I will be doing. Fat intake has increased to aid as a fat buffer and to help with hunger pangs amongst other processes in your body.

Meal Frequency/Timing

Once you have calculated your total calorie and macronutrient needs, you are in a position to decide when you are going to eat them. Like most areas of physiology that relate to fat loss and weight maintenance, there is much debate as to when is best to consume you calories. It is however generally recognised as good for your metabolism if you spread your meals out over the day. Usually eating 4-6 meals and aiming to eat every 3 hours is ideal (there is some research relating to intermittent fasting that counters this argument, however I shall cover this in a further article). This will act to increase your metabolism and decrease hunger pangs.

One demon that is incredibly hard to deal with when you are trying to lose body fat is the feeling of being hungry. The best way to deal with these feelings is to never have them in the first place. If you keep your protein and fat intake reasonably high, and spread you meals out to every 3 hours, this will suppress the feelings of hunger and allow you to eat comfortably throughout the day. The main thing is that you get the correct amount of calories from the correct macronutrients in your 24hour period. If you get this right, everything else will come easy.

Timing your food intake around your daily activity can also be an issue. A multitude of scientific studies has been carried focusing on nutrient timing and there has been conclusive evidence as to when is best to consume which macronutrients. However, this information is not very applicable to real world situations, so, here are some guidelines as to when’s best to eat.

First of all, eat when you are hungry. You can snack. If you wanted you calorie intake throughout the day could be split up into 20 smaller meals. I am a big believer in the fact that everybody is different and that you should decide when you want to eat, as long as you are not eating over and above your daily needs.

It is a good idea to eat post workout. This will ensure you replace any sugars and salt you may have lost whilst training. It is also a time when many people feel hungry. It’s also advised to get a source of protein in post-workout if you’ve been doing intense weight lifting. This can be in the form of a sports supplement and for more information on these, visit us @GBNutrition.co.uk.

Don’t be fooled into not eating carbohydrates after a certain hour. If you have heard somebody say ‘you can’t eat carbs after 5pm’ then be assured this is rubbish. You can eat carbs whenever you want as long as you don’t eat over and above the amount you need in any one-day.

Finally, don’t have a nervous breakdown if you happen to eat over your daily amount on the odd day. Or if you know you’ve eaten too many fats and not enough protein. Putting this stress on yourself is not healthy. If you do it, just make sure you don’t the next day. You’re not suddenly going to put on 10 pounds because you got your daily calorie intake wrong for one day.

Counting Your Calories

Counting calories is a way of tracking how much you’ve eaten to ensure your eating appropriately for your needs. Calorie counting is not necessary each day so don’t become obsessed with reading every food label you ever come across. The best way is to count your calories for one day and eat roughly the same each day. If you know there has been a drastic change in your diet from this day then you can count again.

The golden rule of calorie counting is not to neglect. Tracking your calorie intake will be as accurate as you make it. If you neglect some foods, or leave some out it isn’t going to work. So yes, the sugar in your coffee does count, honey you put on your shredded wheat does count and so on…

When you look at calorie counting you are looking for TOTAL CALORIES (kcal), and the grams of Protein, Fats and Carbohydrate. This is how you will keep track of, and make sure you are getting the correct amount of calories from each macronutrient group.

Again there are numerous online sources that can help you with this process. In my opinion, http://nutritiondata.self.com/ is the best source. It also has a tool for working out your BMR and your daily needs.

If you’d rather consult somebody in the know… speak to Sam@GBNutrition.

Adjust to Your Feedback

The reason you work out all these calculations, read all these nutrition labels and spend time mapping out when you are going to eat what is so you can get feedback, and then adjust accordingly. After you’ve been on your new diet for 2 weeks, you will be able to assess how you are doing. Have you lost weight? Have you lost fat? Do you feel healthy? Have you lost an inch? All these questions can be answered.

If your results are positive then keep on the same track, your obviously doing it right. If you not happy with the results then this information is just as valuable. You know you need to change something. So if you haven’t lost weight in those two weeks then readjust and reduce your calorie intake further to ensure you will in future weeks. You will be in a much better position knowing exactly how much you ate, what you ate and when you ate it, when assessing these results as you can pinpoint exactly what you think caused the lack of results and subsequently what to change. Don’t underestimate the importance of feedback. There’s not a professional athlete, cover model or health guru that doesn’t use it.

In Summary

• If your goal is to lose fat then you need to address the issue of nutrition. This is absolutely essential.
• Always work out you daily calorie intake (based on your BMR x Activity Level), and then work out how much of each macronutrient group you require.
• Try to space out your meals over the day (aim for at least 4). This way you will keep your metabolism busy and suppress the feelings of hunger.
• Eat when you are hungry and don’t listen the ‘no carbs after 5’ preachers.
• Count your calories and assess your feedback.

If you have a question specific to your own personal needs, that this series doesn’t cover, then please don’t hesitate to get in contact.

Sam @GBNutrition

w: www.gbnutrition.co.uk

e: sales@gbnutrition.co.uk

t: www.twitter.com/GB_Nutrition

I was reading through the latest issue of the sportEX Dynamics Journal and came across a fantastic article highlighting how what I do as a profession is not only being accepted in elite sport, but also why it is sort after and sometimes prefered on occasions.  As the article says, there is not one area of the sports medicine team that works best solely on its own, it is a multidisciplined approach.  I wanted to share it with you as it will give you an excellent introduction of how you could take advantage of this form of therapy.

Soft Tissue Therapy is used at the elite level but if you are serious about your own performance, skill improvement and injury resilience, it is one area of your training programme you should seriously consider implementing.

This issue gives positive feedback from all aspects of the team including:

• Senior Coaches
• Senior Physios
• Sports Doctors
• Head of Sports Science and Sports Medicine
• Olympic, Word and European medalists

I have kindly been given permission by sportEX to share this article with you, normally it would only be available to a paying subscription.  Take this opportunity to read it for free and see how the elite get the edge from this ancient form of treatment therapy.  Then think about what it could do for you!

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paula Clayton is a senior soft tissue therapist. She has worked for the English Institute of Sport and UKA since 2003, travels extensively with UKA to senior camps and competitions, and is now in her third Olympic cycle. Before that, she worked in English Premiership football for 4 years. As well as running a busy private practice, established in 1994, with her husband Rick, Paula is studying for an MSc in sports injuries.

For the full article please click on the link below (please note you will need to input an email address gain full access as this is usually only available to a paid subscription)

How Do Soft Tissue Therapists Fit Into The Elite Sports Medicine Team – And Why Are They There At All?

[sportEX dynamics 2011;30(October):22-26]

Many thanks to the team at sportEX for permission in showing you this article:  (http://www.sportex.net/ – please view and look to join this fantastic publication)

Many thanks and enjoy….James

The concept of altitude training is not a new one in the sports world, however the principles have changed. Research has recently shown that it is much more beneficial to ’sleep’ at altitude and train at sea level, as training at altitude reduces your exercise capacity due to the ‘thinner air’ meaning there is less oxygen available for your body to utilise. Whereas ’sleeping’ at altitude provides a double-edged sword, as the altitude will improve your oxygen efficiency and circulation, vastly improving your day to day training. Here at Justbreathe we specify in intermittent hypoxia, so what is it? 

Thanks Chris from Just Breathe UK for this first look into altitude training.

Want to see more from Chris and his team?

Get commenting! OR visit the Just Breathe website here:

http://www.just-breathe.com

Up to now I’ve only covered the reasons why dieting fails so many people looking to lose body fat. It’s now time to discuss the ways in which you can lose body fat safely and effectively and keep it that way!

The first thing is to do is to completely eradicate the notion of a diet from your thinking. From now on you don’t go on a diet, your diet has to be consistently healthy for your lifetime. It becomes a lifestyle change that sticks with you. This may seem like a daunting task, but I assure you once you get over the initial adaptation it will just as hard to stop eating healthy, as it is to start now. Your body will adapt to the change you put on it and not only that, you will start to feel better; I guarantee you will want to keep eating healthy. To do this you need to change the way you think, the power of your own suggestion is one that has full control over your actions. The more you think about eating healthy and the benefits that come with, the more your subconscious will see it as the norm. This will form a habit, and once you’ve reached this stage it will be very hard to go back. I will cover exactly what a healthy balanced diet consists of in my next series of articles. However having a healthy diet is only one variable that factors into losing body fat. It is important and acts as a solid platform to launch your fat loss mission from.

If you want to lose body fat, think lean! Lean mass burns more body fat at rest when compared with fat mass. Simply put, the more lean mass you have the more calories you burn. There is some debate as to exactly how many more calories are burnt from lean mass but the underlying fact is that a higher percentage of lean mass is directly correlated with a higher basal metabolic rate (calories you burn at rest).  Increasing your muscle mass will involve some strength training but don’t worry you can design your program so that you don’t necessarily have to increase your size/shape. It will simply have the effect of changing that doughy region of your physique to a more toned region. If your goal is to increase muscle mass then this is possible too, however it is not always easy to do this at the same time as losing fat mass. Again I will cover this in a future article.

Never drop below a minimum calorie deficit! As I have discussed in previous articles, dropping your calorie intake too low will cause your body to elicit a starvation response, an event that is counterintuitive if you want to lose body fat; remember you want to keep your muscle not burn it for energy. So set yourself a minimum calorie deficit and never drop below it. This can be worked out roughly as 22% below you maintenance level calorie intake. A very rough equation is to multiply your body weight in kg by 25 then subtract 22%. Keeping your calorie intake above this level will ensure your don’t experience a starvation response. You do however need to ensure you exhibit a calorie deficit to some extent. This is a basic rule of physiology. To lose mass you need to expend more than you intake. I recommend that you reduce your calorie intake by no more than 15% below maintenance for the first two weeks. However there is another way you can create a calorie deficit. Burn more calories from exercise than you consume from food.

Exercise to create a calorie deficit! If you can always chose to eat more and do more. These two things will not counteract each other. Exercising will not only burn calories, it will give you added physiological benefits and will never cause your body to go into starvation mode. Your body will only demonstrate a starvation response if you fail to consume enough calories, never if you burn off too many through exercise. If you exercise and eat more you get the double effect of increasing your metabolism by increasing lean muscle mass and by increasing the amount you consume. It turns your body into a fat burning furnace. So this is not an invitation to exercise and reduce your caloric consumption. If you burn the calories by exercising you should eat more; and still lose body fat. Different modes of exercise will have differing effects on your body’s caloric expenditure, however they will all leads to the same goal.

Increase your meal frequency! During hyper-energetic periods, (when you are burning a lot calories via exercise), increasing your meal frequency will act to preserve lean body mass. Not only this, increased meal frequency will have a positive effect on various blood markers of health; LDL Cholesterol, Total Cholesterol and Insulin to name but a few. Finally, increasing your meal frequency will help to decrease hunger pangs and improve your appetite control. Now before you think that I’m suggesting you eat 6 big meals a day, I’m not. What I mean by increasing your meal frequency is spreading your total calorie intake over a greater number of meals. Instead of eating 3 big meals a day, eat 5-6 but reduce the calorie intake per meal, this way you will still be eating the same amount of calories per day. Ideally you should be looking to eat every 3 hours. This will prevent you being in a negative calorie balance for any extended period of time and will keep your metabolism burning as high as possible. Think of it as ‘stoking the fire’, the fuel being body fat!

So hopefully you now know how to attack your body fat goals and make sure you don’t get sucked into the dieting culture that has swallowed so many wanting to lose fat. The key idea to take from this is to make sure you don’t stay in a negative calorie balance and force your body into a starvation response. Keep a healthy balanced diet that never drops below your maximum calorie deficit and use exercise to metabolise the fat!

Finally, what to do if your fat loss plateaus! This can be a very common part of trying to lose body fat. Your initial fat loss will be great but it will begin to slow as you body adapts to the changes your putting upon it, it’s an effect of homeostasis (one of the wonders of the human body). If this happens, do not start to reduce your calories further.  As you should know by now, this will only see to put your body into starvation mode. Instead, eat more. As odd as this might sound it will work. Going through a period of increased calorific intake will spike your metabolism and re-ignite the fat burning fire (be sure to only increase your calorie intake for no more than a 24 hour period). This method is known as ‘zig-zagging’ and is very affective at overcoming plateaus.

As always, if you have a question specific to your own personal needs, that this series doesn’t cover, then please contact us here at GBNutrition.co.uk

Until next time…

Sam @GBNutrition

Sample Training Programme

As a personal trainer I often get asked “what are the best exercises that I should be doing to get fit and lose weight”. My response to this is often “how long is a piece of string”. There are almost infinite exercises and combinations of exercises that you can do to improve your fitness and to burn calories. The key however is to focus on exercises (and combinations of exercises) that work the whole body and elevate your heart rate.

From my experience training clients and researching training techniques, I have developed a system that helps clients to improve their fitness, lose body fat (if that is your goal) and gain lean muscle (alongside an appropriate nutritional programme). I base my programmes on alternating between upper and lower body exercises in a well-designed circuit. The benefit of alternating between upper body and lower body exercises is that while the upper body muscles (arms, shoulders, core, chest) are working the lower body muscles (legs and glutes) are resting and vice versa. This therefore allows you to continue exercising the upper body whilst the lower body is fatigued and resting and vice versa. The crucial part however is that regardless of which body part is working (upper or lower) the heart is still having to work to pump blood and oxygen around the body, thus giving you a fantastic Cardiovascular workout, burning calories and increasing your metabolic rate.

So for instance, you may do 40 seconds of lunging, which works your lower body muscles (and core) and your heart as it has to pump blood and oxygen around your body in particular to your lower body. Then without resting you may do 30 seconds of shoulder presses, so whilst your leg muscles are resting your upper body muscles (and core) are now working. Crucially, your heart still has to pump blood and oxygen around your body in particular to your upper body. Then without rest you may do 40 seconds of squats, so whilst your upper body muscles are resting your lower body muscles (and core) are now working. Crucially, you guessed it, your heart has to continue pumping blood and oxygen around your body in particular to your lower body. You then go back to an upper body exercise and so on.

This type of training is also great because it is very time efficient as it will give you a fantastic whole body workout in a relatively short space of time, which is vital as we all live busy lives, and it also helps to prevent boredom setting in.

Below is a sample training programme that uses the principle I have discussed above of alternating between upper and lower body exercises and to keep your heart rate elevated. As you will notice, the duration that you perform each exercise increases each week by 5 seconds and the rest period at the end of each circuit reduces by 5 seconds. This is to ensure that you continue to progress and challenge yourself.

You will notice that for the final exercise of each circuit I have included a whole body cardiovascular exercise of Burpees, Jumping Jacks and Skipping to ensure you get a fantastic Cardiovascular workout.

In addition, the lower body exercises work for 10 seconds longer than the upper body exercises due to being larger muscle groups.

Ensure that you warm up correctly at the start before doing the circuit and cool down correctly at the end.

SAMPLE PLAN 

If you do the circuit 2-4 times per week you will soon start to notice a difference. You can progress the programme further if you need to by increasing the time of each exercise and/or decreasing the rest period at the end of the circuit. Likewise, should the circuit be too challenging to begin with, then you can decrease the time of each exercise and/or increase the rest period.

It is crucial to follow an appropriate nutritional strategy alongside your training if you want to achieve your goals. Alongside the above training programme, utilise the following nutrition strategies to help you achieve your goals and objectives:

1.) Eat four to six meals every day to increase your metabolic rate. Aim to eat every 2-3 hours.

2.) Eat a source of lean protein at every meal e.g. chicken, fish, whey protein.

3.) Eat vegetables as much as possible as they are not calorie dense and contain a lot of vital vitamins/minerals.

4.) Eat Healthy essential fats with each meal e.g. fish, almonds, peanut butter.

5.) Drink lots of water to keep hydrated and boost your metabolism.

Aim to get into good nutritional habits by experimenting with your food choices and combinations and be prepared. For instance, get into the habit of making your days meals and snack for the day ahead every evening and put them into tupperware boxes for ease of access. Being prepared is crucial because it will minimize your chances of getting hungry and then snacking on the wrong foods and you know exactly what you are fueling yourself with.

Should you require any help, advice or information please do not hesitate to contact me. I would be delighted to discuss with you the tried and tested methods and lifestyle changes that I have developed. Please remember that the above is only a sample programme and the exercises you can use are almost infinite.

“Together, we’ll achieve your goals”

Matt Swierzynski

E: matt@mattswaz.co.uk

W: www.mattswaz.co.uk

“Lose sight of your own game and you leave your fate in your opponent’s hands.”

I remember a snooker player from my youth by the name of Cliff Thorburn. Not just because he was one of the few overseas players, or that he was pretty good, even if not the best, but because of his nickname. “The Grinder”. None of the flash of a Jimmy White or the brilliance of a Steve Davis but renowned for his ability to wear down his opposition. The only reason for this nostalgia is because the name aptly describes a current sportsman I have grown to respect. Rafael Nadal.

He is the current world no.2 and going through something of a rebuilding phase following injury and the insurgence of other players. You don’t have the effortless natural ability of a Roger Federer or a Novak Djokovic but what you get from Nadal is “the grind”. Nothing too flash, nothing particularly artistic about his game at all by comparison.

Grinders don’t wow with their natural ability, they wow with their steady state, or should I say solid state. These characters are often part of the backbone in team sports, e.g. Tony Adams, Patrick Viera, because they are reliable, keep it simple and are mentally tough in a crisis.

In individual sports, however, they are, sometimes, like Nadal, misunderstood. This is how they win a lot of games, by appearing to be nothing special. Opponents mistake this lack of natural talent as a weakness and are lulled into a false sense of security. By the time this miscalculation becomes clear, the gravity of the situation kicks in and regaining their emotional centre is like an uphill battle. A battle further exacerbated by the Grinder’s steady-state mode on their relentless march to victory.

Not only is the match lost but the damage can even be lasting in an emotional capacity. Miscalculations like that can be as embarrassing as if they have been stripped naked in public. This, I believe, is why Federer and, until this year, Djokovic, came unstuck against Nadal. These guys have more natural ability and yet Nadal has managed to beat them consistently. Not only beating them but getting under their skin, making them doubt their own abilties.

I believe the Thorburns and Nadals of this world are as good as they are, because they are not “naturals” and, more importantly, they know it so seek to compensate with hard work. Industry not natural ability is what grinders are built on.

It’s this industry which means they do not take what they do for granted.  In many ways, they compete like they are the underdog. This, I believe, explains why Nadal has been so dominant in recent years and even world no. 1 for more than a year. When the Federers were winning grand slams on skill, Nadal was learning how to win by never giving up. His dominance of the modern game has been one of evolution. He has gone from being a clay-court-grind-em-down-type specialist to an all-surface-killer-instinct-type player.

So how do you beat Rafael? I dont believe you beat Rafa by looking for cracks. You beat him by being better than he is. In other words focusing more on your own game rather than his game. Ask Novak Djokovic if you want proof. This is a guy who, up until this season, took regular whoopings from Rafael.

The question marks were not about Novak’s skill, he was widely regarded more naturally-gifted than Rafa, but about his temperament. And, up until this year, he was perceived to be too fragile to be the man. Now, however, he has an impressive 61-2 record in 2011.

However, this Indian summer he’s been on this year might just be the real deal in so much as the signs of his assension to world no.1 have been there for a while. He has been working the fringes, picking up the leftovers of whatever Rafa and Roger left behind such as the Australian Open 2008/2011. But more importantly, building a better, stronger Novak, to go with his natural ability in the process.

So what are we saying here? You can base your game off another man’s perceived weaknesses and get caught up in their maelstrom. Or you can use those weaknesses as information with which to work your own game, strengths/weaknesses alike. Lose sight of your own game and you leave your fate in your opponent’s hands.

3DFitLife

Check out 3DFitLife’s page and make contact with them today here:

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Yo-yo dieting, a phrase coined by obesity experts, refers to a period where weight-loss occurs due to an extreme reduction to calories and a subsequent period when the weight is put back on. Yo-yo dieting is a massive problem, not only does it give the false impression that the diet is going to work initially but it also leads to physiological changes that actually cause an increase in body fat.

In short, the reasons for yo-yo dieting are due to an initial calorie restriction that is too extreme.  As previously mentioned, any extreme calorie restriction will results in weight-loss (not fat-loss), almost everyone loses weight initially, but it never takes long for the body to catch up and start preserving its energy. This initial weight-loss is often deemed to be an extremely positive result for the dieter but this is not the case. Over time however the problems associated with such an extreme calorie restriction materialise and make it almost impossible to continue. Ultimately, the dieter will revert to their old eating habits and be in a worse position, both physiologically and mentally, than when they started.

The Psychological Affects: As covered above, after the initial weight loss period the dieter reaches a plateau stage where it becomes increasingly more difficult to lose weight. This lack of results, together with the inevitable gnawing of hunger pangs and cravings is what causes people to give up: very often out of sheer frustration. Once off their diet, the weight starts to pile back on, only now they have less lean muscle than before and a slower metabolism. So the dieter is now feeling a) frustrated that they have quit b) upset that they have not only failed to lose weight but that the weight is now starting to pile on again and c) less motivated to lose weight again.  Such an emotional state will often lead to the dieter eating more (for comfort in many cases) and eventually end up repeating this cycle, each time increasing the negative effects of the yo-yo dieting.

The Physiological Affects: As previously mentioned, when you eat less your body will burn less, i.e. your metabolism will slow down. This means that the same calorific intake that used to be affective at maintaining weight will now cause a calorie surplus and actually cause you to put on weight. With each repeated bout of dieting your metabolism becomes less and less efficient until the point is reached where eating less food will actually cause weight-gain. A great book that describes the process of actually gaining fat when you diet, ‘Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle’ uses a case study to explain exactly how bad this can be. I have chosen one of my clients as a case study (before he came to me) and explained what can happen below.

The dieter was male, weighed 89kg and had 20% body fat. His goal was to lose 6kg. A pre-examination revealed that 17.8kg of his total mass was body fat and 71.2kg of his total mass was lean.

He started his diet (like most) with and extreme initial calorie deficit and began to lose weight. It didn’t take him long to lose the weight and by week 5 he was weighed 82.4kg. So he succeeded…? It would seem that by weight loss alone he was successful (and if this was his goal then he had been), however upon reexamination it was clear that he was not successful. He now weighed 82.4kg and had 18% body fat. Therefore he had lost a total of 6.6kgs and now had 14.8kg of body fat and 67.6kg of lean mass. This means that 61% off his weight loss came from lean muscle mass. This drop in lean mass had decreased his metabolism and he was now burning fewer calories per day.

Once the diet was over, and the client was happy with his weight-loss and returned to normal eating again. As a result of his now slower metabolism, the number of calories that used to be efficient at maintaining his weight now caused him to gain weight. A few weeks after the end of the diet he was back to his original weight of 89kg, however he now had 23% body fat and 77% lean mass. He was back to the start but with more fat, less muscle and a slower metabolism. This made it increasingly harder to lose body fat each time the dietary pattern ‘recycled’ itself, and the curse of yo-yo dieting was upon him.

So yo-yo dieting is not just losing the weight and putting it back on, it carries with it severe negative psychological and physiological effects.

Don’t worry though, there are ways to burn body fat and keep it that way. My next article will cover some of these methods in more detail.

If you have a question specific to your own personal needs, that this series doesn’t cover, then please contact us here at GBNutrition.co.uk

Sam @GBNutrition