It’s exciting stuff when you can read about awesome foods that can help you perform better and become more epic! Tart cherry juice- notably the Montmorency variety has had a growing number of studies devoted to it and I’m going to tell you how!

But how can it really help us!? Well it’s been shown to be most effective in two main areas; Recovery and Sleep. Tart cherry juice is high in polyphenols, in particular flavonoids and anthocyanins, which have high anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and are high in melatonin.

Recovery –It’s been found that taking tart cherry juice will actually improve muscle force production and reduce muscle soreness post exercise compared with not taking it.

How to take for Recovery – Take 30ml concentrate mixed with water within 30mins after exercise.

Get inventive and take it with you post workout shake blending it with some frozen bananas and berries and some whey protein to ultimately boost your recovery!

Sleep – Due to the high amount of melatonin found in tart cherry juice it’s easy to see why it aids sleep as melatonin is critical to the cycles of deep sleep and studies have found that there were significant increases in time in bed, total sleep time and sleep efficiency with cherry juice supplementation.

How to take for improved sleep – Take 30ml concentrate with 250ml water 30mins before sleep

Where do I get it from? Healthspan Elite are the official suppliers of Team Sky, with batch tested products and their cherry juice concentrate is just what it says on the tin, 100% cherries.

Where it really shines! – Personally I think these cherries really shine when you’re doing a sportive or event that takes place over multiple days or after a really intense training session and recovery for the next day is paramount!

If you’re doing a multi-day event, I would recommend taking 30ml x2 a day for 4 days’ pre-event and on each of the race days following would be the most beneficial.

I wouldn’t take it just normally though as it may blunt mitochondrial adaption which is the foundation of improving your aerobic capacity

Knowing what foods are great and how to make them taste absolutely epic is so important in helping you improve and get stronger and faster.

Salmon is one of the most AWESOME foods out there that is really going to help make a difference in your diet. There is a lot you probably already know about salmon like how it’s high in protein which has a profound influence on being able to stimulate the creation of new muscle fibres. It also aids recovery, prevents the loss of lean tissue and helps you feel fuller for longer so you’re not reaching out for a few cheeky biscuits while at the office!

But there is more too about salmon, for example it is high in omega-3 essential fatty acids. Now omega 3’s gets shouted out quite a lot for being “good for you” but what exactly are they good for and how are they going to help you?

You have the things we already know like, reducing cardiovascular disease, improving insulin sensitivity (great news for type II diabetics) and improving cognitive (brain) development-oh and they’re anti-inflammatory.

But what is even more relevant to us is that recent studies have shown that having Omega-3s with adequate amino acid intake increases muscle protein synthesis or the creation of new muscle! Which is great news to help aid you in recovery and building lean tissue. Try to have it at least 3 a week.

Here is an EPIC recipe you need to try to help get that salmon in your diet and wow your friends at dinner;

Sweet Soy Sauce Salmon

Ingredients;

• Salmon
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic
• 1tsp grated fresh ginger
• Small handful fresh coriander
• 1 ½ tbsp honey
• Pinch of salt & pepper

CHOP finely coriander and garlic

COMBINE all ingredients in a bowl

DUNK salmon fillets in

FRY skin side down on a medium heat for around 4 mins

FLIP and fry top for about 3mins or till fully cooked

BASTE with remaining sauce as you cook

SERVE

Ahh dark chocolate! Luxuriously tasty and surprisingly good for you! And believe it or not, it is!

There are two great effects that you can make use of to help you with your performance or recovery!

Dark chocolate is high in Flavanols which has been shown to increase the amount of available nitric oxide in the body.

What does this mean?

Increases in nitric oxide can help reduce oxygen demands on the body. Research shows that cyclists consuming 40g dark chocolate a day for 14 days used less oxygen when cycling at a moderate pace and also covered more distance in a two-minute flat-out time trial! EPIC news!

If you have a race or event coming up this may be worth considering, plus who doesn’t enjoy a cheeky bit of chocolate!

What else is Dark chocolate great for?

Dark chocolate is also high in anti-oxidants, which are a great anti-inflammatory tool to help aid in recovery! Perfect to have after a race or event and especially if it’s one that’s over a few days.

It is probably not best to eat it after normal training though as taking lots of anti-oxidants (including things like vitamin C) can reduce the adaptions you gain from that session.

A great and tasty way to incorporate dark chocolate into your diet would be to make these EPIC truffles -a recipe I’ve created just for you:

Ingredients;

• 75g – 70% or higher dark chocolate
• 100g Yoghurt – Full fat or low fat
• 35g whey (flavoured or unflavoured)
• Coating of your choice – Cocoa, desiccated coconut, ground flaxseed etc.

*I recommend Green & Blacks chocolate and Fage Total yogurt*

MELT Chocolate

MIX all ingredients together

LEAVE to set in the fridge

TAKE out and shape into balls

ROLL in coating

DONE

If made into 10 cheesecake truffles (per truffle)

• 67kcal
• 1g Carb
• 5g Protein
• 2g Fat

*used full fat yogurt here

Coffee- that early morning pre-ride java! Coffee is obviously and most notably full of caffeine, one of the most proven performance enhancing aids that is easily bought and consumed

It’s been shown to increase performance in endurance, peak power output, time to exhaustion by up to 7%, it’s muscle glycogen (stored carbohydrate) sparing AND caffeine post training when taken together with carbohydrate further improves the speed at which you replenish those emptied stores, which can be hugely important when training twice a day or if doing an event over several days

How much?

To really feel like you’re flying taking at least 3-6mg per kg bodyweight is recommended with no additional performance enhancement effects over 6mg

When to take it?

Taking your caffeine hit 60 minutes’ prior will ensure optimal absorption but 15-30 minutes has been shown to be just as effective – ultimately think when you want it kicking in – is it from the get go or a little way in?

Taking an additional intake mid-way has been noted to improve subsequent performance If you’re doing a prolonged ride.

Myth Bust – Caffeine doesn’t increase dehydration, though it is a diuretic and the frequency of going to the toilet should be noted, several studies have failed to show any change in sweat rate, total water loss, or negative change in fluid balance that would adversely affect performance, even under conditions of heat stress.

Buying out?

A typical espresso contains 75-80mg of caffeine

Americano –

Small – 2 espresso shots

Medium – 3 espresso shots

Large – 4 espresso shots

For a great pre-ride all in one try this;

Morning Mocha Smoothie

• 1 large frozen banana ~126g
• 40g whey
• 300ml Coffee
• 15g peanut butter
• 1 tbsp cocoa

BLEND

ENJOY

Not up for a coffee? Caffeine tablets and even chewing gum are available now! Having tried both I can say “I’m a fan”- I’m not always in the mood to have a big drink so these work perfectly!

Will Girling – Head nutritionist at ONE Pro Cycling and www.willgirling.com

You might have heard talk that beetroot enhances performance but maybe what isn’t talked about as much is exactly how much you need to eat and how often you ought to eat it to make a difference. Is it “a beet a day helps the pedals fly?”

Not exactly… to really get the most out of beetroot you would find it hard to get the required amount of nitrate needed to get those boosts you’re searching for just by eating normal portions even on a regular basis.

What is nitrate though and how does it help us?

Nitrate consumption helps to reduce the oxygen cost of submaximal exercise so in turn helps to increase time to trial speed and time to exhaustion. Nitrate consumption has seen around a 2.8% improvement in time to completion which can be the difference between first and second.

How much do you need?

800ml of standard beetroot juice would be needed to get the performance enhancing effects which is quite a considerable amount to neck!

Luckily Beetroot concentrate is now available and sold in 70ml shots. You only need to take 140ml to achieve the desired outcome, though this does depend on other factors.

When to take it?

This ultimately depends how well trained an individual you are. If you’re highly trained and compete a lot then I would recommend doing a loading phase of 4 days with 2 x 140ml a day (4 shots total)

Or if you’re not as highly trained taking on board 140ml (2 shots) 2.5 hrs pre event should suffice. This is mainly because there seems to be a suggestion that trained individuals require more nitrate to see a benefit.

Some new studies also suggest that having beetroot post can help recovery too.

Emma Stevenson PhD says “We have conducted a series of recent studies looking at the role of beetroot juice in facilitating recovery following intense exercise. The studies have shown that consuming beetroot juice for three days after a hard bout of exercise can enhance recovery. Participants have reported reduced muscle soreness and in many cases, a faster recovery in muscle power”

Really useful to know if you’re doing a race/event lasting several days and when recovery is key!

Milk? It could be what you’re missing

What’s in it that’s so good? Milk is quickly becoming really popular in the training world as a “superfood” because it contains all the essential things you need to help you recover; full of protein, carbohydrate and (depending on which one you get) fat too.

How does that benefit us? With its combo attack of all the major nutrients we need, recent studies show an amazing array of benefits; such as increasing muscle growth and recovery, reducing those muscle aches you get the next day after a hard ride, aiding in rehydration and helping to restore carbohydrate stores enabling you to get out again sooner and still train hard.

Choosing a flavoured milk option with the added sugar will further speed up recovery, making it perfect after a beasting on the wattbike, a particularly hilly route or if you’re training again within 8Hrs.

What I find so great about milk is that post training it’s been found to rehydrate you more efficiently than water, so not only are you speeding your recovery up but hydrating more effectively too!

How much should we be consuming/how often? I would recommend having between 250ml-500ml post training to get the most out of all those benefits mentioned, though it’s always important to take into consideration your total daily intake and the intensity of the ride.

It’s worth noting that whole milk will obviously contain a lot more calories and that although these will be predominantly from fat, which isn’t a bad thing in this context, it could slow down digestion which is important if you really need to recover quickly.

How can we incorporate it into our diet? A great way to incorporate this into your diet is by making this awesome post workout shake, full of protein, carbs and micro-nutrients. You can’t go wrong!

Ingredients;

300ml skimmed milk (can be flavoured… Ooo chocolate milk!)

25g Whey

1 frozen banana

Handful frozen berries

My Journey

I don’t often write about myself on here but I thought it was time to let you know a bit more about me.

As you can see I was a pretty fat kid and with those photos being taken when I was 14 and weighed in at nearly 15 stone at the time. I was obese for my age, I got bullied a lot too as you can imagine, and those things at that age stick with you.

As many of you may have seen on my Facebook  I was recently travelling around Japan! And what an awesome country it was, but with all travelling and holidays sometimes you don’t have the facilities or means to be able to get to a gym yet training is still important!

Now I’m not going to say don’t enjoy your holiday but I feel it’s important to keep activity levels high, and still train your body for health and any goal you’re chasing! I think this is more important if  your trip is sitting by the pool kind of trip as we all love to eat and you can get to eat more without worrying if you train still.. WINNNNNNNNN!!

What I’ve done is just create a really simple program they’re all body weight exercises that require no gym! Now some moves may be a little advanced and if that’s the case regress them and make them easier i.e squat jump to just squat, pull ups to invert rows or negative pull ups.

3 workouts a week should be ample but if you want to do another add an extra sprint session or a long run if that’s what you like and if you’re stuck for ideas drop me a message on here or on my Facebook and get in touch always happy to help!

Best training for fat loss!?

I’m going to start off and tell you there is no best training for fat loss. These gimmick headlines you see on magazines, other figures of the fitness industry exclaiming “My routine will burn fat the fastest” I smell bullsh*t!

Why is this?

Well looking at recent studies, checking various methods of training and levels of fat oxidation (fat burnt) over a 24hr period, and have matched calorie intake and expenditure between the trials they found that the amount of fat oxidised over this period was exactly the same!

What this means is that not one given type of exercise in acute testing will “burn more fat” than another

This could be really confusing now knowing this but hold up it is easier than you think.

Deciding what kind of training works best for your fat loss goal ultimately comes down to how you want to look and what you want to be able to do!

I think it’s important that this is understood as if you want to lose fat yet hate running, but for some odd reason you think jumping on a treadmill and running for an hour is what you should do, then that probably sounds like the worst thing ever! And you will probably drop off the band waggon.

If you want to lose fat but also be a great runner, then run!

If you want to lose fat but look jacked, like some front cover model, hit the weights, sculpt that body!

There are differences between the type of training you do though and knowing these might help you decide on what to do these are talking purely about fat loss though and only looking at it from a fat loss perspective i.e in a calorie deficit;

Strength training –

• Increases strength/ power
• Muscle retention in calorie deficit
• Potential increase in injury risk due to low calorie intake
• Calorie output variable depending on intensity usually lower than hypertrophy
• I would also mention that if your goal is strength and during a true strength program that should be your true focus not fat loss.

Hypertrophy training –

• Sculpts physique
• Muscle retention in calorie deficit
• High volume and decent calorie output when intensity is increased.
• Can be short in time sub 1 hour

Circuit training –

• Short and intense (30mins max)
• Muscle retention
• Increases an-aerobic capacity
• Medium to high level calorie expenditure

High intensity interval training – HIIT (Sprints or above 90% VO2 max) –

• Increases speed and power
• Muscle retention
• Short and intense (30mins max)
• High calorie output

Low intensity steady state – LISS (walking or below 60% VO2 max) –

• No muscle retention
• Higher level of fat oxidation due to low VO2 max
• Can be time consuming usually between 30-120mins
• Boring unless outside

Moderate steady state (Running, cycling or similar between 65% – 85% VO2 max) –

• High calorie output
• Increased mitochondrial efficiency (increased ability to run)
• Not too much muscle retention just lower limbs
• Tends to last 30mins minimum

But one thing they all have in common? Using exercise to help create a calorie deficit.

If it’s left you confused drop me a message and let’s chat!

From Will, that guy who sometimes talks science, not just food

Today’s soundtrack – Xavier Rudd – Follow the Sun

Principles of Fat loss

FAT LOSS! Around 99% of the people hitting the gym or exercising are in it to drop some fat, loosen their belts, jump without jiggle, and run Baywatch style without looking like a shar pei!

The principle is simple- it mainly just comes down to eating right and being more active which should be straightforward if you’re a normal healthy person.

So why is it so hard?!

Well I strongly believe it’s because there is such a high level of misinformation out there! With newspapers and 100s of books suggesting 5:2 diet or “no sugar diet” or paleo, Cambridge, dukan, rubbish after rubbish, all suggesting new magical ways to eat that pretty much all involve buying various forms of their products food, gadget, book related, or in the 5:2 diets case tells you just not to eat two times a week which will obviously work…. BECAUSE YOU DON’T EAT TWO TIMES A WEEK!!!

But ultimately all these diets follow the same principle – Calorie deficit

This leads on to my next point regarding the fact that none of them tackle the real issue of just understanding basic principles of how you should go about things, so I’m going to put down some tips and some things you could potentially incorporate into your lifestyle to see some changes.

1. Understand where you are – pretty basic but by knowing what weight, measurement, body fat % you are you can then get an idea where you need to be and know if you’re progressing.

2. Hydrate – Principle of fat loss is hydrolysis – a reaction that requires water- if you’re not hydrated you won’t use as much fat, and that’s just the beginning of its awesomeness, skin, energy levels, cognitive function so much is controlled by water, so drink up (some recommendations at the bottom)

3. Eat a rainbow – Eat loads of vegetables and some fruit, creating a rainbow of colours to ensure you have great fibre content and high levels of micro nutrients. Your plate and your stomach will feel a lot fuller than just if you just ate some iceberg lettuce.

4. Eat protein, fat and carbs – each meal should contain all of these macro nutrients, with protein metabolising and satiating, low GI carbs providing energy and keeping blood sugar level steady. All this whilst still allowing fat oxidation and fat keeping hormones and nervous system working to name just a few. Nothing in extreme- always things in moderation. Read THIS for more

5. Start working out – When just starting out just be more active get out doing something, a sport, walking, gym or even energetic housework! It’s only when you start to struggle to lose more fat you might have to think more about this but the main thing is to do something you enjoy! The number of people I talk to that tell me they’re running to burn fat but hate running so it’s not enjoyable so after a while they will stop.

6. Do it steadily – Don’t just drop your calories down to 500 a day eating an apple and a chicken breast a day or juicing (which is a load of crap by the way, read THIS for more). If you drop to 500 Kcals a day and start smashing the gym 5 times a week you will lose weight yes, but what happens when you stop losing? Do you start going 7 days a week; doing two sessions a day, eating 200 Kcals a day? NO do it bit by bit don’t even reduce calories to start with just start exercising that in itself will cause a deficit and help you drop fat.

7. Take a food diary – If you start to struggle just keep doing what you’re doing for another 5 days write it all down see what you’re having, maybe you will notice some things you could cut out, or add more veg in, do you still have protein at every meal, are you having some carbs and fat still.

8. If things still aren’t working – It’s more effort but weigh all your food and input it into a calorie tracker, see how much you’re actually eating, if you’re already training 3 times a week maybe train 1 more day, if you can’t drop your calories by 100 see if your weight drops.

My recommendations – A few tips that I feel really help in this area;

Protein – 2g per kg/bw

Fat – 1g per kg/ bw

Carbs – make up the rest of your calories

Do HIT training and resistance (weights) training

Drink around 2L water a day depending on bodyweight and activity levels

HERE is a free Results Tracker to help you on your way!

Also feel free to drop me a question happy to help!