Workout Of The Week - 21's

This weeks workout is an adaptation of a crossfit session. Now anyone who knows me will be aware that I do have the odd swipe at crossfit, however, I do like some of the session formats.  I regularly use this session as an assessment to get to know the fitness levels of new clients across a range of movements and muscle groups - Pull, Push, Abs, Legs and Cardio.  The session is to be completed as quickly as possible and the time recorded.  The session can be repeated at regular intervals as a rough guage of improvements.

The session involves 7 rounds of 4 different exercises with a 200m row at the end of each round.  The reps to be completed for each round reduce by 3 each time - 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3.  The exercises are - 

21 Pull Ups (Horizontal Pull Ups if required)

21 Press Ups

21Crunch

21 Squat

200m Row

18 Pull Ups

18 Press Ups

18 Crunch

18 Squat

200m Row

etc

Should I Try Personal Training? - A Clients Account

Below is a blog written by one of my clients about her first experiences of Personal Training.

I've always been a bit scared of personal training. I don’t like being told what to do, or the idea of someone watching my every move. But with a heavy workload and busy family life, I really needed to build up the strength and fitness to keep on top of life. I'd been going to the gym in the hope of reducing stress and boosting my energy levels, but it wasn't having much effect.

So in February, I decided to overcome my doubts and give personal training a go. I booked three sessions with Chris Bamber at CB Conditioning.

After just one session I looked more toned. After two sessions, I had to increase my calorie intake to stop myself from losing weight

Chris has a BSc in Applied Sports Science and has worked with professional athletes including Salford Reds, MCFC and Lancashire County Cricket Club, so it's fair to say he understands how to get results.

I was a little worried that he'd be so used to working with the pros, he wouldn't know how to motivate an average gym-goer like myself. But he assured me he enjoys helping people of all fitness levels, including those who haven't exercised in decades.

His sessions are held at the Core studio, which is located under the arches on Deansgate, close to Atlas Bar. Light, spacious, and airy, I felt more at home here than in a busy gym. Chris asked me about my fitness goals and lifestyle, and then we got started.

Session one focused on four key exercises: pull-ups, press-ups, crunches and squats. Under Chris's encouragement, I did 21 reps of each, then 18 reps of each, then 15 and so on until I was on three reps – with a 200 metre row between each set.

If it sounds like hard work, that's because it was. But it was also fun and exhilarating. Having your own one-on-one trainer makes you work more, and Chris's coaching ensured I was doing the exercises properly rather than just going through the motions.

Session two took place a week later. This time, it was tabata training. This involves 20 seconds of intense exercise followed by ten seconds of rest, repeated eight times. Exercises included pull-ups, rowing, burpees, spin bike and reverse crunch, plus some boxing at the end of the session. Again, I left feeling energised rather than exhausted, despite the fast pace.

The final session focused on strength. With Chris's help I lifted of up to 12kg – well above what I thought I was capable of. The sense of achievement, and the variety of lifts we tried made the session really enjoyable. Before this, I'd found weight training a chore as I didn't know the right techniques or how to mix it up.

I definitely enjoyed the training but what about the results? After just one session I looked more toned. After two sessions, I had to increase my calorie intake to stop myself from losing weight. After three, I was a convert. I've booked three more sessions, and intend to continue training with Chris long-term.

Marathon Training Tips

Top Tips for Marathon training –

• Strength Training – most of a marathon runners’ training will obviously involve endless hours pounding the streets, however, spending some time in the gym will definitely lead to improvements in your running and recovery times.  Historically running coaches have dismissed resistance training, claiming extra weight and bulk is bad for a runner, however, more are now in agreement that resistance training leads to a greater power output per stride and quicker recovery times between runs.  Just ensure that your time in the gym is scheduled around your shorter distance days.  It is also important to remember not to neglect upper body resistance training as a strong upper body leads to a strong running arm movement.

• Electrolyte Drinks – most people are aware that to perform at your best your body must be well hydrated, in fact performance can decrease by up to 20%.  What many people aren’t aware of, however, is a condition called Hyponatremia.  Hyponatremia is a condition caused by drinking excessive plain water during an endurance event, which leads to a low concentration of sodium in the blood, causing a massive decrease in performance.  To avoid this ensure you regularly consume electrolytes with your water whilst running.

• Nutrition – carb loading is a practice commonly used by endurance athletes and when done properly can lead to massive performance improvements.  It is important, however, to note that the protocol will be slightly different for each individual and event type.  If you are planning on carb loading for a big event always practice a few times before hand for smaller training runs or build up events, in order to discover the ideal timescale for adequate depletion and loading.  Just as important as the nutrition before a race or training session is the nutrition immediately following.  Your bodies recovery rate is quickest during the two hours straight after exercise, meaning this is the best time to get important nutrients into it.  The recommended levels are 1g of carbohydrates per kg body mass for the two hours post exercise. It has also been shown that combining protein with carbohydrates leads to optimal recovery.  Look for your recovery drinks to contain 20-40g of protein and 60-120g of carbohydrates.

• Footwear – having the correct footwear for running is a must if you are looking to improve and remain injury free.  The technology and expense involved in trainer design is staggering, with each brand having their own unique selling point as to why you should choose them. But how do you choose?  The best answer is that you don’t.  Most decent running shops will now offer a free gait analysis before you purchase running shoes, which will tell them which level of support and cushioning will work best with your own specific Gait.  You may pay a little more for your trainers than popping into your local sports shop, but it will definitely be worth it in the long run (excuse the pun!!!).

Why does everyone hate leg day?

No matter who you are, or what you are training for there is one universal truth - EVERYONE HATES LEG DAY! But why?

Ouch

The easiest and possibly most obvious answer is that oh my good god it hurts!!  There is no pain quite like getting out of the car, or getting off the toilet for the couple of days following a leg session. The pain you feel after a leg session is known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS for short.  This is the term used to describe the pain felt after exercising, which if you have trained you will know tends to not be noticeable at first, but gets progressively more painful for the next 24-72 hours.  There is no real definitive answer as to why we get DOMS and what is the best way to avoid/alleviate them.  There are many proposed cures - massage, going for a run, protein shakes - which may slightly reduce the pain, however i'm afraid the best way to deal with DOMS is to man up and get on with it!  Anyway back to the matter at hand, leg DOMS.  Why are your legs always more sore than your upper body after a session?  Truth be told (and by truth I mean in my opinion) there is no real reason that legs should be more sore than any other part of the body after training, and in fact for some strange individuals this is not the case.  One thing you do have to remember, however, is that for the 72 hours after a big arm session do you walk everywhere on your hands?  If not give it a try and then tell me you don't suffer from upper body DOMS.  In my humble opinion the main reason we believe our legs hurt more than anything else after training is that in everyday life we lunge, squat and step up on a very regular basis, the same exercises that caused the pain in the first place!!

Vanity

This is an image you will never see in any gym!  Why? Well other than the fact he is only in his underwear he looks ridiculous (pretty sure it is photoshopped but you get my point).  The following pic, however, you will see in every gym across the world, just maybe with more clothes on.

The reason for this is plain and simple, if you are not a professional athlete you train in order to make yourself look better - vanity.  There are those of you reading this that will say you are training for health reasons, which is a good and very valid reason to train, and not in order to look good.  I can guarantee, however, that as you start to loose body fat you will look at yourself in a mirror and think to yourself "Damn I look good" or "just a few more kg's and I can fit into that sexy red dress again".  If you ask a man who is lifting weights what his aims are it will 99.9999999% of the time be to 'bulk up' and to better fill a t-shirt, and this is due to the publics perception of someone who is 'built'.  If you see someone on a night out with what can only be described as a spray on t-shirt with bulging shoulders and biceps, peoples first thoughts are along the lines of - he's a bit of a unit - or - he definitely lifts.  Whereas if someone with Chris Hoy sized legs has crammed them into some similarly tight jeans and cannot bend over through fear of tearing is ridiculed for looking ridiculous.  Exactly the same scenarios when looked at objectively, totally different in reality.

Peer Pressure

In order to do a leg session, everyone has to want to do it! If anyone shows even the slightest doubt about squatting, it is not happening.  Anyone who has a training partner, or trains in a group will be well aware of this phenomenon.  It pretty much follows the well known phrase 'all or nothing', either you all want to do it, or you aren't doing it.  As we have already discussed, however, no one likes doing a leg session, so the chances of finding more than one person on any one specific day who want to train legs is about as likely as West Brom winning the prem (nothing against West Brom specifically but you can see where I am going with this).

To conclude you shouldn't neglect training your legs.  Your legs are massive muscle groups in need of some serious training.  Even if, and we know you do, you hate training legs the benefits far outweigh the pain.  The core activation during exercises such as a squat and a lunge is massive, and in many cases far outweighs the activation during core specific exercises.  Numerous studies have shown that training legs actually causes the body to release more human growth hormone (HGH) than upper body sessions, leading to bigger increases in strength and size.  And finally if you are after burning more calories nothing kickstarts your metabolism quite like a leg session!

So, the long and short of it is we know you don't want to train your legs, I don't want to train my legs, no one wants to train their legs but we have to suck it up, get on with it, and avoid visiting the toilet for a couple of days after!!

More more info get in touch or check out www.cbconditioning.com

Fitness Myth 2 - 3 sets of 10 reps if the optimal for muscle gains

As far as I can gather this idea of 3 sets of 10 goes back to the 40’s when it was published by Mr Thomas Delorme in the archives of physical medicine.  He found that 3 sets of 10 was as effective at building muscle as 10 sets of 10 (which we now refer to as GVT (German Volume Training)).  Since then, however there have been quite literally 1000’s of other articles claiming that there are other combinations of sets and reps that are more effective than 3 sets of 10, so why has it stuck for so long?  NOT A CLUE!!  I cannot find any plausible reason as to why this theory has been so etched into the psyche of people in the fitness industry, so I’m gonna give you my own reason.  People who train aren’t always the brightest (I’m including myself in that so don’t get offended) and with all the available blood rushing to the muscles being worked and away from the brain counting to more than 10 is sometimes a stretch.  As for the 3 sets it’s simple – 2 is really easy, and after 3 it starts to get boring so you need to move on.

Now I’ve told you that this is a myth what do I recommend?  Well that isn’t an easy questions to answer.  As a general and very basic rule of thumb you should be looking at 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps if you are looking to build size.  I say this is a basic rule but this depends on how many different exercises you are doing, are you super setting, have the smaller muscles been used doing the compound lifts and so on.  All I will say is mix it up a little bit.  Your body is inherently lazy!  If you always do the same number of reps it will find the easiest way of completing it, and your gains will quickly diminish.

CBConditioning.com

Fitness Myth 1 - Women shouldn't lift weights because they will get big and bulky

If you have ever trained yourself, or I’m sorry to say been to see a personal trainer (because we aren’t immune to believing the myths) then you will have probably heard things like -

• this number of sets and reps is the perfect amount for building muscle
• if you eat 15 chickens a day you will only put on lean muscle
• ab exercsies are the best thing for getting a killer six pack

Where did these myths originate, however, and is there any truth in them??  I’ve done a bit of digging around and added a few little bits of my own knowledge to hopefully mythbust some of the better known training myths.

Myth 1 - Women shouldn't lift weights because they will get big and bulky

After speaking to women in the gym and during training there is a real hesitancy from them to lift weights, not even heavy weights, just weights in general.  The number one reason is – I don’t want big muscular arms, or I don’t want my boobs to shrink.  I’m sorry ladies but these are both massively removed from the truth.  Women only look muscular when they are either a)on steroids or b) have a body fat percentage of about 4!  Women have to much oestrogen in their system to allow muscle bulk.  In order for muscular size to build large amounts of testosterone need to be present, which women (unless on steroids) do not have.  You can take Jodie Marsh as a perfect example of this.  When she was on stage for her body building competition it seemed as though her muscles were enormous and bulging, yet after a few weeks of eating normally and getting back to a healthy body fat percentage you couldn’t even tell.  

As for chest focussed weights making boobs shrink then I suppose in some ways it is true.  But only in as much as lifting burns calories, burns fat and as I’m sure you are aware boobs are fat.  What trainers need to be telling women is that chest weights will help to counteract the effects of gravity later in life!!

For more info and for more of my opinions check out CBConditioning.com

Altitude Training - Is it worth a try?

Benefits of Altitude Exposure

Exposure to high altitude, or reduced levels of oxygen can lead to massive improvements in an athletes capacity to exercise.  During periods of reduced oxygen breathing the body is forced to acclimatise to the oxygen available at the time.  This acclimatisation leads to the delivery of oxygen to the muscles to be improved.  As during exercise the muscles require oxygen to function, this increase in delivery leads to an increase in performance.

Whilst breathing reduced levels of oxygen the body naturally produces a hormone called erythropoetin (EPO), which stimulates the production of red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the muscles. This increase in red blood cells allows more oxygen to be carried in the blood, allowing more to be delivered to the muscles when required.  During acclimatisation there are also a number of other physiological changes which occur and have a positive affect on performance - an increase in the number of small blood vessels, an increase in buffering capacity (ability to manage the build up of waste acid) and changes in the microscopic structure and function of the muscles themselves.

Different methods of altitude training have been categorised into three specific formats

Live High – Train High

Maximum exposure to altitude. Evidence of a positive effect at sea level is controversial, and there is less support for this method amongst experts.

Live Low – Train High

The idea behind this regime is that the athlete is exercising in a low oxygen environment, whilst resting in a normal oxygen environment. There have been some interesting findings suggesting that this technique might work, but there are no good studies showing that the technique makes any difference to the ultimate competitive performance of the athlete at sea-level. Additionally, training intensity is reduced so some athletes may find that they actually lose fitness using this regime.

Live High – Train Low

The theory behind this regime is that the body will acclimatise to altitude by living there, whilst training intensity can be maintained by training at (or near) sea level. Hence, the beneficial effects of altitude exposure are harnessed whilst some of the negative ones are avoided. With this technique, improvements in sea-level performance have been shown in athletes of all abilities.

The system available to use at Core Conditioning mimics living at altitude, whilst still allowing you to train at sea level.

As well as the aforementioned training benefits, altitude training/oxygen therapy has been shown to have numerous other health benefits, including - 

• improved sleep
• improvements with breathing
• decrease in symptoms of asthma, arthritis, depression and diabetes
• improved complexion
• increased weight-loss

To conclude the research points to the live high train low method being of most benefits to athletes of all abilities.  These benefits, however, are not limited to athletes as the general population will also see massive improvements to their own health and wellbeing.