Eat First, Supplement Later - II

In the last post, we had looked at the importance of eating correctly and building a good nutrition base with whole foods first and then going into supplementation. Eating them first should be a priority unless you want to be made of this:

Now lets get into supplements. Supplements are just that - supplements! They are your insurance policy in your nutrition and diet so that any deficiencies are covered. Not all supplements are equal. Which supplements and how much depends on the lifestyle of the person. Of course there are other factors, like environment, health, etc that determine which supplements, what kind and how much.

Almost always the food we are eating, even if they are whole foods, are deficient in the adequate amount of required nutrients to our bodies - especially with multi vitamins and minerals. This is because of environmental causes, pesticides, insecticides, genetically modified foods, the way food is grown today, etc. Some things  like some amino acids (building blocks of  protein) Vitamin D3 just cant be made by the body. These have to be supplemented. The most common form of supplements is a multi vitamin-mineral.

Supplementation is not necessarily medicine and in most cases if you look closely most of the medicines prescribed by doctors are mostly chemically synthesized versions of amino acids, fatty acids or vitamins and minerals. This is not to say they are not good. They have their place as their is a time and place for that. If supplements dont fall under the medical prescription, the other kind of supplementation will definitely help you to avoid doctors visits.

There are two groups of people now. Some want supplements and some will have nothing to do with them. In these are further extremes. From the ones who support supplements the extremists will forego normal food and ask for 'the millionth gram/ of XYZ in x quantity so that it will support their hypothalmus to produce enough hormones too...... ' you get my drift. The other side just flat out refuses healthy supplements, and they have poor nutrition and dietary understanding and habits.

Supplements picked up from a nutraceutical base rather than a pharmaceutical base are much more purer and effective.

For the average person, at any given point in todays world, we are deficient in some level of adequate macro or micronutrients. Most issues with skin, hair, fat loss, weight gain are as a result of inadequate nutrients. The answer is supplementation after you have eaten first.

There are common forms of supplements for macronutrients as well. Common forms include protein, fish oil, fiber. It is important to know what supplements you are taking. A common mistake is when someone decides to suddenly go all 'health and fitness' they want the latest tub of protein powder and omega 3 fish oil. That in itself is not wrong but here are the two biggest mistakes I have seen.

1) They usually want to supplement without eating an adequate amount of whole foods first

2) They usually go with a heavily marketed protein powder which has nothing but chemicals.

Educate yourself on what supplements you want to take. Check the quality and do your research.

As far as protein supplements are concerned they need to be checked. For vegetarians I definitely recommend a protein supplement as plants dnt have all the necessary protein nutrients required.

Here are some supplements that work for nearly anyone and everyone. Before you delve into these please remember these are my suggestions and not to be taken as medical advice or replace it. Check with a doctor who is sensible and who you trust first.

1) Vitamin C
2) Vitamin D3
3) Vitamin E
4) Vitamin B especially B12
5) Omega 3 - fish oil

Supplements will help you and in light of todays lifestyle, environments, and food production methods, its turning more into a necessity for every day. If you have been given supplements to take or suggested to take  you must know in detail why you are taking them. Remember, however its always eat first, supplement later!!

Eat first, Supplement Later - I

'Could you suggest a protein powder for me?'

This is a question that came from a client who was on a Nutrition Coaching program with me after two months of starting off. Prior to that she had asked me about supplements and I told her to stay away from them for a while - at least until she got her diet dialed in and her nutrition on track.

Unfortunately, its a question that comes from far too many people who's basic nutrition is not correct. On the other hand we have a bunch of people who think supplements are a waste of time or not necessary. I'll be dealing with how to use supplementation in another post. For a quick primer on supplementation read it here

The first thing you need to know about your nutrition is remember the 6 components of food. In case you have forgotten what they are:

1) Proteins
2) Fats
3) Carbohydrates
4) Vitamins
5) Minerals
6) Water

Protein - Protein is necessary to build structure and enhance growth of the body.

Fat -  Although a structure builder, fat is also a good energy provider. However fats play a very very important role in hormones functioning properly. The correct fats are not harmful. As a matter of fact along with good protein fats can give you healthy glowing skin, hair and nails.

Carbohydrates -  Carbohydrates are the body's preferred source of energy and is important to transport protein across the body as well.

Vitamins and Minerals - Vegetables and fruits (in that order) provide your micronutrients. Vegetables are one of the most powerful food groups you can have. Eat as much of them as you can throughout the day. Fruits having a higher sugar content can be eaten more sparingly.

Water - Water intake is absolutely necessary to keep the body hydrated and healthy It helps also in keeping the body systems cool rather than producing excessive heat. Water makes up approximately 70% of the body.

The first three are referred to as macronutrients. These are responsible for building structures of the body and providing energy. Vitamins and minerals are known as micronutrients. They are responsible for efficient working of certain processes and activities in the body. These are taken in much smaller quantities than the others but are absolutely vital for being healthy.

Getting the right foods that provide these nutrients and in required proper proportions for yourself will ensure your main nutritional bases are covered. So if you are not first covering the right quantities of the main groups don't even start on supplementation. If regular eating is not done first supplementation has no use or can even have some terrible consequences. Build a healthy relationship with food. Do not abuse it. You have to let food work for you and not let it control you. In all this remember its important to enjoy your food.

Eat well, eat responsibly and you will find your health and strength changing for the better. After the basics have been set we can move into supplementation which will be written about in a following post.

4 Points for a Unfriendly Fitness Schedule

After all these years of training, I have realised there are training principles we have to abide by which must be followed to bring successful results to my clients.

Sometimes life does get in the way and we cant have a perfect schedule of training and diet. So here are things I have found that have worked with me and my clients.

1) Mini Training sessions:- If the 30 minutes or one hour program does not suit you then find a training pattern that does. I found that 'mini' trainings throughout the day work well. What does this mean? Do shorter, stimulating exercises throughout the day. This undoubtedly will lead to more work meaning more muscles to work and more energy expenditure.

2) Diet Strategies: I usually am not one to go with a 'eat this, dont eat this' approach. However what I do suggest and strongly advocate is finding the right diet strategy. Sometimes we have to re-evaluate our diets to suit our lifestyle. For example, if a client has a job where they are more actively involved, they would need more energy. If there are clients who have a more mentally activity and less physical movement, I definitely wouldnt recommend eating excessive calorie dense foods.

3) Exercise Selection: If we are with mini training sessions, the right exercises are vital. It does not make sense to say 'Walk for 5 minutes up and down the corridor' when you have 20 kgs to lose in a hurry. That might get a blood circulation going but its not going to be enough to crank up enough energy to challenge the body and muscle of any kind. We need exercises that

• Will challenge your entire body in about 10 - 15 reps.
• Thats doable in about 5-7 minutes.
• Thats safe movement and will limit fatigue.

4) Use events of the day: Find things in your daily routine and use those to your advantage. Taking a common example of walking - it is often suggested that if you can walk somewhere walk. Like take the stairs instead of the elevator. However if its for a distance, think about keeping a smaller backpack with you that you can load up with some heavier weight. If you strap that on and walk you now have an additional weight and your simple walk suddenly became more intense.

Of course these points are so simple we don't really think it will help until we actually do them. So here is my recommendation - Start. After this deal with the details as they present themselves.

This is based on High Frequency Training but also taking into consideration the lifestyle of a client. If the client is working heavily at a desk job, works nights and also has family commitments, I know they are going to struggle sticking to a 30 minute training plan.

I have practiced this myself and found they work. I have also tried them on my clients and they have been having good results. These points can crash nearly any reason that you have for not being able to have an exercise plan and a diet strategy going for you. 

PIlates - My take!!

I finally got my certification in Teachers training for Pilates to which I am really happy about and thankful about.

Pilates has quite a mixed response in the fitness industry. One group swears by its benefits while the other shoots it down. If there is one thing I have learnt in my life its go back to the source, where things began or by the person who created it. 

So what is my take away about Pilates since I have always been involved with lifting weights and strength training?

An important point to remember is Joseph Pilates himself referred to this practice as 'Controlology' which had been practiced for years before Pilates as a training system ever came up.

1) Pilates is not a sissy fad - In the fitness industry people want the latest fad to shed weight quick and look good. Unfortunately Pilates is just made and marketed that way like most other things in the fitness world. It was around for quite a while.

2) Pilates is good for strengthening you from the inside out - Pilates helps you reach to activate vital core muscles that you probably didn't even know you had. Yet its these muscles that are the powerhouse of the musculoskeletal system.

3) Mind Muscle connection - Pilates requires a lot of mind muscle connection with also being able to hear instruction at the same time. You are working vital muscles which you cant see but are very important for your musculoskeletal system.

4) Pilates is a form of strength training- There is a lot of isometric contraction in Pilates. Isometric contractions are known and researched to cause upto 50% more strength in the body. As a matter of fact some of the strongest and best physiques came out of isometric training. 2 names that immediately comes up are 'The Mighty Atom' and Charles Atlas.

5) Pilates is probably one of the best programs for Rehab - Please read that again carefully. I didnt say it was the best. I said it was probably one of the best. How do I know this? I heard about it. Joe Pilates was a sickly child with quite a few illnesses at 4 years old. 10 years later at 14  he was modelling for anatomy charts. After three days of 8-10 hours of training as a healthy and fit trainer I was feeling much better around my joints and certain muscle groups and 12 hours from finishing that trainng session I put a client of mine on Pilates immediately. This client was in for rehab and training with me for four months and her comment was

Wow. My movement is so much better and there is less pain!!'

That session was a session of strength training and 30 minutes only!

Oh and of course Joe Pilates rehabbed an entire section of WWII soldiers using his principles.

6) Pilates CAN be a stand alone but might not necessarily be the complete training that you need - Pilates might cover only one part of your fitness needs. Joseph Pilates himself was involved with a host of other training methodologies.

7) Since Pilates is essentially principles it can blend in and be applied to a lot more other disciplines essentially.

Pilates was quite an interesting learning for me. I definitely recommend at least 4 sessions to learn the principles. The principles are definitely something I will incorporate in all trainings of mine and that I teach.

Got any questions? Comments? I would like to hear your views.

  

Intangible but Powerful Fitness Goal keys

After a year and a half of struggling with maintaining my fitness levels and weight I have learnt a lot more as I continued to train clients.

I am just fresh out of my 2nd transformation and the results this time have been much more rapid than my previous one. I wanted to share with all of you some overlooked keys but most important keys to weight loss, losing fat and building muscle and strength.

1) Mindset and focus: You have probably heard it time and time again - set a goal when you want weight loss.
This locks in your focus. The goal set can also be to gain muscle and strength. However an important factor to look for when you are setting a goal is to be realistic and set a timeline.

2) Be honest: Take a long hard look at yourself and be honest. Tell the truth to yourself. 'I am fat and it's not healthy. I need to lose weight.'  It takes guts to stand in front of a mirror and tell yourself that. Many times we are scared to admit it aloud. Stop running. Embrace it. Locate yourself and only then can you move forward.

3) Responsible:- Responsibility is important. To lose weight you need a simple but effective plan. You have to find one which you know you can stick with for that particular period of time in both nutrition, exercise and rest. You already know you can't lose weight eating whatever you want or when 'cheat day' is every 48 hours. If it's your diet, take some time to find out what is an effective plan that you can stay consistent with till you lose weight. Don't just keep putting in everything into your mouth. If it's exercise, don't just jump into P90, Insanity, Zumba or the latest in thing -  find the one that's right for you. If you need to, get a trainer to design a program for you.

'Eat responsibly, Train Responsibly and Rest Responsibly'

4) Consistency - Once you find an appropriate plan of action to lose weight start it and stay consistent and committed to it. It is not in the 3 days of doing it but in the full journey. In my case in the 2nd transformation, my weight showed no changes in the first two weeks. However in the 3rd week it showed a weight loss of 4kgs! (no thats not a typo). By the time I entered the beginning of the 5th week I was down by 7kgs!  However, if  I had given up within the first two weeks I would have not seen anything except a fatter version of me or at the worst the same old fat version of me.

5) Stay calm: It's important to remember not to stress out on a weight loss plan (or anytime for that matter). Excessive stress will result in cortisol being released and make you gain weight. When I was in transformation I got more rest, went and had more fun, enjoyed more quiet time and introspection than the previous months. I not only got to know myself better but reached my goal in record time. 

    Don't stress out over the fact that you have to lose weight either. Yes you acknowledge it and embrace the fact that you need to lose weight but things will start getting better when you relax. This really happened with a client of mine over the last 3 months. She could not lose weight in 2 months and was always stressing out over it. So I had to keep telling her to relax. Then about a month ago she told me she lost 3kgs. Nothing changed in her diet pattern. Her exercise regime was far from effective  since she was just starting strength training, but she just took things calmly and she lost weigh almost immediately. (you can read my article on de-stress here.)

These are keys that will help you in your weight loss journey. These are hardly talked about or emphasized but they are just as important as nutrition, exercise and rest when it comes to losing weight. 

Transformation 2015

Looking at myself in past months, I realised I had put on a lot of weight and I needed to drop fat off my body fast. (Yes even we trainers and fitness enthusiasts are human and we don’t always get it right). I had done a body transformation once before. I needed another - quickly

The Status

Wt: 82 kgs. Waist size 34

Apart from these photos and stats, the problem was much worse.

• I could not focus on a plan or a program to help me in diet or nutrition
• The diet plans I was designing for me was not working well.
• My mental toughness was much lower than before.
• I was not able to stay consistent
• My pullups were at 0.

It wasn’t a body transformation only that I needed it was a fitness lifestyle transformation

My ‘WHY am I doing this?’

I did this because I could not be irresponsible to My God, myself, my family. I was heading for serious trouble and I knew it. I also missed the ability to live strong and healthy, eat responsibly and enjoy my food. The thought of not being able to do things with my family and play with my daughter was just too painful. Also the truth that I looked an absolute mess was horrible.

Setting the Goal

I had been toying with this idea for 4 months. I set my body transformation goal for December 15th, 2015. That is almost always  when the season’s goodies start coming in. I had thought of two dates before this but never made it. Now I was in the last week of October and that’s when I aimed hard for December.

The Transformation Plan

This main plan was The Aggressive Fat Loss Bible

The strength training program was Beginners Bodyweight Bodybuilding.

The plan was a unique one which promised results in a month. I am usually skeptical of such quick transformation plans, however it was from the trainer that helped me breakthrough before and I trust his work.

Action

I started with my body and fitness transformation on 26/10/2015. Though simple, it wasn’t always easy. I was heading straight into winter so some days were really really cold accompanied by extremely heavy rains. Work was erratic. I didn’t always have what I needed to maintain my nutrition. As for staying with training, I did not always feel like doing it. I was sometimes too tired. Also with a toddler at home, the timings and plans didn’t go as planned. What I had planned to finish before 5p.m, sometimes started only at 8:30 p.m.

Oh yes, this time I kept my mouth shut about the transformation. Only my wife knew about it.

Results

One month later I checked my stats again. Here are my results.

WT: 75 kgs. Waist Size 32

However I had more than a body transformation.

• I was stronger, healthier, faster.
• The shape I was looking for had finally started to breakthrough.
• I got my mental toughness edge back.
• I now could stay consistent and discipline and I knew it - I picked a program and followed it.
• I learnt a lot about my body, bodyweight training, mentality and coaching cues.

My transformation wasn’t easy. However, it was doable. My previous transformation took 9 months. This took only one. It led to a new body composition, strength, skill, knowledge and wisdom. The experience of achieving something like this is amazing. Do a fitness body transformation -  it will transform your life.

If you need help with a lifestyle transformation please don't hesitate to contact me.

Worry- The Silent Killer

I am back again onto blogging! Our year had quite a start and challenging events upto now. It just seems that everything hit us all at one go... good times and tough times.

Training has been going well. It just so happened that most of the ones who came up told me one thing -

'I am mentally stressed'

The number of health issues coming up from here was frightening

1) High Blood Pressure

2) Hormonal Imbalance

3) Gastric trouble

4) Depression

5) Fat gain and obesity

6) Fatigue

The list went on and on. 

So since I had committed to prioritise Rehab as a trainer I thought I would work with these people as well. 

Then I got the worst call of all......

'Gideon, come home quick! Dad met with an accident and he is in the hospital!'

I had just seen him 2 hours earlier.

The cause of the accident for my dad was a blackout caused by High BP. You have to understand something about my dad. He is my coach. He is tough and built like a tank. At 73 years old he deadlifts about 180 kgs and Squats about 130 kgs. 

He was alone riding a scooter and then suddenly had a blackout. After the analysis they found many micro bleeds in the head. The doctors who attended to him said one thing. He worried too much and that increased his BP and caused micro bleeds and as a result a blackout. 

I just saw a professional strength athlete being knocked down by a thing called worry. 

People please hear me..... Worry is a killer. Its a silent killer. And also most of the time its about things that dont happen.

You have to learn how to control your thoughts and avoid worry. Old time strongmen and athletes knew one thing about strength.....they could not let strength robbers come in and one of them was worry.

They enjoyed life and also regularly practiced meditation to focus their mind and control their thoughts. They knew life in the real world was tough. There were real problems. They however trained their minds and bodies to be strong. 

Jesus Christ himself lived his life and said...'Dont worry about things.' For someone who set a global example I would think he would know what he was talking about.

How do you stop worrying? There are quite a few things you can do.

1) Meditate - Take time to think of good things and how to solve problems. Focus on controlling your thoughts.

2) Do not Procrastinate - If there are things you can do right away, do it!

3) Enjoy life - There are good times in life. Enjoy it with your family and friends.

4) Laugh -  Laugh out. Laughing keeps your heart cheerful and light. 

5) Exercise - Exercise is a good way to deal with stress both mental and physical.

6) Eat Well- Eat good healthy food at the right times. More often than not if you are  (really) hungry then emotions because of chemical reactions in the body cloud your judgment.

Dad is much better now and well on his way to recovering. My clients are doing much better and are getting mentally clearer. 

To all my readers and followers I leave you with this.........

I am sure you know a lot of people who need this post. Please share it with them.