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!

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!

WATER

Continuously I see and find that people just aren’t drinking enough water, everyone has some idea of how important water is yet feel the meagre amount of 1L a day or a few cups of tea will fill your quota well you’re sorely mistaken.

We don’t need to make a huge rant about this so I’m going to lay the “Rock Bottom” on this and slam it down in bullet points.

LIFE

Going GCSE on you’re A#S here, body is 80% water, it’s the principal of all life here on earth! If you’re not hydrated you’re not going to function as well as you could, which leads on to point TWO

FAT LOSS

This is the one I don’t get the most! As mentioned in a previous post nearly everyone’s goal is some sort of fat loss yet you hardly drink water! Why is it needed so much!? The principal action of oxidising (breaking down) fat and being able to utilise it is through “hydrolysis”…… HYDRO yes water, so if you’re dehydrated this is done at a reduced efficiency.

FATIGUE

How often do you feel tired, fatigued, with headaches and other little ailments?! Potential is that you’re dehydrated, you will be surprised how quickly some of these things are solved by more water.

CAFFEINE

I’m not going be like some fools out there and say the “caffeine dehydrates you” as it doesn’t! BUT it is a diuretic

Diuretic – “Causes increased passing of urine.”

So you will go to the toilet more often thus expelling more water and dehydrating yourself, ensure that water is replaced each time

TRANSPORTER

Water is essential for proper digestion, nutrient absorption and chemical reactions, as well as food to be metabolised and transported by the bloodstream. No less important is the ability of water to transport waste material out of our bodies.

COOLING SYSTEM

Obviously when you train you sweat! This caries from person to person as you could be a “sweaty betty” but going to the gym with no water or one of those tiny 200ml bottles I’ve seen is enough to make me laugh! HAHAHA………. But seriously you should be consuming around 500ml per 30mins of exercise, though this does depend how intense it is!

HOW MUCH

A good marker of how much water you should be having per day is 0.024 x BW/kg = Water in L

Remember to add your activity and how much you’re sweating to this too!

From Will, that guy who is also a Reservoir of water

Todays soundtrack – Luca Stricagnoli – Last of the Mohicans

The fundamentals! Let’s be honest there is a lot of misinformation out in that big’ol world and in the last 50 years or so we’ve been told that each macro nutrient (carbs, fat and protein) is bad for us!!!

Where does it end!? Where does the truth begin!?

Today I think it’s important to outline why we have each of these nutrients so you better understand saying “Oh I eat low fat” or “low carb” without any knowledge of what they actually do and taking that trusty evidence from the Daily Mail to back it up……… Because papers always tell the truth, right?

Protein:

This one is pretty standard and most people do try to get more in their diet, but what does it really do?

• Helps build and repair cells, hair, skin, muscle, blood and cartilage 
• Used to make enzymes and hormones
• It’s satiating – makes you feel fuller
• High thermogenic effect – the amount of calories cost to digest protein is considerably higher than that of carbohydrate or fat
• Muscle Sparing – helps prevent muscle loss

98% of the people that go to the gym their goal will be fat loss, in a calorie deficit it’s imperative to ensure protein intake is adequate most of all in relation to that last point to ensure you’re not losing any of that hard earned muscle while dropping weight, otherwise you might end up up looking like salad fingers….

And that’s not pretty ^

What do I recommend I would say a good starting point is around 1.8g/kg bodyweight, though this is an average and things like the size of your deficit, how active you are, type of training are all things that need to be taken into consideration if you’re not sure drop me a message on my contact page HERE

Oh and protein shakes won’t suddenly make you “hench” overnight.

Fat:

Easily misunderstood fat isn’t out there with a baseball bat waiting to force feed you into a chubbier, larger version of yourself, he’s your friend! Among its jobs are;

• Stored energy,
• Insulate us and protect our vital organs.
• They act as messengers
• Helping proteins do their jobs.
• Help control growth, immune function, reproduction and other aspects of basic metabolism.

The most important things here is the huge influence fat has over your immune system, libido, growth, metabolism….. suddenly eating “low fat” all the time seems a bit odd right! It is important to understand that fat doesn’t make you fat, over consumption of calories and reduction of activity is what makes you gain fat.

“It’s physiologically impossible to gain fat if you’re consuming less calories than it costs to run your body”

Fat does have the highest calorie cost per gram with it being 9 Kcals/per gram so by no means should you suddenly start chowing down on 200g of nuts a day, but going “full on” low fat usually isn’t the right choice.

0.6 – 1g fat/kg body weight would be a recommendation – lower for sedentary or endurance higher for strength power sports

It’s also at this point I would like to mention the fact that protein and fat both have “essential” fatty acids and amino acids, these are things that your body cannot produce and needs to get them from external sources unlike carbohydrates. not sure drop me a message on my contact page HERE

Carbohydrates;

Ahh the one everyone has probably been waiting for, currently the most victimized nutrient currently but that is no reason to!

• Main source of energy
• Needed to help grow muscle and aid in recovery
• Used in brain function
• Regulate the amount of sugar circulating in your blood so that all your cells get the energy they need.
• Provide nutrients for the friendly bacteria in your intestinal tract that help digest food.
• Assist in your body’s absorption of calcium.

All important factors, yes they need to be manipulated in your diet for your goals if fat loss you need to eat less, in muscle gain or performance sports you need to eat more. But they should never be cut out completely unless you have certain medical issues.

Only being 4 Kcals/per gram means they’re not as calorific as fat either.

Train hard and eat carbs it’s simple, it’s an energy source, go to the gym or whatever sport your do hit that session hard and enjoy your pasta, chocolate milk, rice knowing it’s fueling recovery, muscle growth.

How much you should have per day would depend on activity level and how many calories you need to consume.

To get an idea after you’ve worked out how much fat and protein you need the remainder of your calories would be made up from carbs but not sure drop me a message on my contact page HERE

*Another side rant* it should be understood that when carbohydrate is stored as glycogen it also takes water with it so when you have a day high in carbs and you weigh yourself the next day yes you weight will be higher but it’s not going to all be fat most of it will be water retention

What it comes down to is eating a variety

From Will, that guy who eats all the macro nutrients

Today’s track – Metallica – Fade to black 

Detoxing! Around this time of year more and more people embark on to their new year “detox” trying to rid the body of all the supposedly toxins they gathered up over Christmas.

I have so many issues with this train of thought, but *deep breaths* let’s take it step by step and really understand what’s going on here and get some solid knowledge on this odd practice.

What do people mean by detoxing?

“Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver.”

The bold makes it painfully obvious, but this is a process carried out by the liver and it does this on a daily basis. It takes up toxic substances and converts them into harmless substances or aids in making sure they’re expelled from the body. SOOO if your liver wasn’t able to do this then you would have some SERIOUS medical conditions or you would be dead…….. and I doubt your aloe vera drinks will help you with that.

Essentially all these “detox” products are a scam! Don’t be a slave to propaganda!

Why people do them?

It tends to be after a heavy weekend of drinking, period of time high in food (generally bad quality/junk food) or when people just feel fat. But surely the best detox for these problems would be

• Drink less
• Eat less rubbish
• Be more active

This is the bit that really gets me and that’s what are people actually doing for their “detox”!! Usually it consists of spending a bunch of money you could of saved, on a juicer, aloe vera products, books, pills, herbal remedies of some sort etc…. the list goes on and on and onnnnnnnn. And advocates you don’t eat anything apart from fruit and vegetables.

This causes a drastic drop in calorie intake, with no protein you will probably lose lean tissue (muscle) over your detox period, fat will be near enough zero (which is responsible for hormone function, essential for growth development and cell functions among others). And you will most definitely be hungry and probably feel pretty sh*t and you won’t be fighting off any Orcs like Frodo and Sam and second breakfasts!

Yes you will lose weight! BUT so would you eating one milky way a day! Which are essentially how many calories you’re having, and guess what after that diet all that weights going back on as your normal habits haven’t changed!

What do I suggest for all these struggles?!

• Yes eat loads more veggies.. they’re awesome!
• Implement a structured and thought out calorie deficit program
• Exercise and be more active – gym, running, climbing, sport, do something!
• Drink less alcohol if that’s your issue
• Drink enough water!
• Spend the money you would have spent on some silly juicer towards something you really want!

From Will, that guy who eats his veggies and doesn’t think aloe vera will save him!

Sound track today – Ludovico Einaudi – Divenire

I thought not only giving you an insight into the food I create which is found HERE but to also give you more of a peek into what I do training wise and why I do it.

I find a lot that people go into the gym go with no basis of plan towards what they’re wanting and have just a generalised goal like;

“I want to lose weight” which is like saying “I want a car, a car that goes from A to B” but has no thought at all towards how long it takes to get there, how quickly it will achieve and what the journey will be like.

It’s important to train smart & train hard having one without the other will yield sub par results if any results at all.

My program here is focussed on work capacity what that means exactly is; “Work capacity” is a program to condition your body to handle a higher volume of work at a higher intensity level that you will experience in your strength phase of training

“Doing this before a strength program is ideal especially as it will reduce risk of injury”

Within the program I’ve incorporated more bench as mine is relatively weak compared to my overhead and getting it stronger will imrpove the other, increased my training on my lower and upper back as getting a lift or not can be greatly determined by it and finally I wanted to do a lot more hamstring and glute work as my last program was very squat focussed so I wanted to bring proportional size and strength back.

How to Follow;

• Down the left side you see the order in which you perform the exercises “A1” would be followed by a “A2” or “B1”.
• If it’s “A2” it would mean they’re supersetted and you can go the left side and see that A1 is performed and with no rest A2 is done, only then do you rest for the specified time.
• “Cycle” one cycle of the program is 3 weeks.
• After 3 weeks all the main lifts %’s are increased by 5% so week 1’s squat would go from 85% & 70% to 90% & 75%
• Warm Up – This is my one I use and it caries depending on the session make sure to focus on your weaknesses and niggles
• Notes provide focus points
• Sets, Reps and Rest are outlined as usual

Here’s the free download to my program;

 Work Capacity Block FREE Download

Little video of me doing my supersetted deadlift from this week

This program would ideally be done for 9 weeks meaning you would get 3 cycles of it before moving on to a new program, I also included conditioning on my rest days to keep speed, agility and fitness but that’s another blog post, if you would like to see what I do for conditioning why not like share and comment and I will show you.

From Will, the guy who trains to beat himself

Get PRIMAL, Be Happy!

When reaching the level where you want to compete, performing well becomes that much more important and knowing what supplements on the market truly work and will improve that performance is hard to come by!!

There are actually very few proven sports supplements that ACTUALLY make a difference, yet it remains one of the biggest money makers in the fitness industry! So what you really need is;

A List of supplements that actually work!

This is a 2 part blog on Recovery and Performance so you can bring your A game all the time!!

First up PERFORMANCE;

Protein;

This doesn’t have to be whey protein or isolate, casein it can just be meat, though meat isn’t a supplement it should be the main ingredient in all diets especially those who want to lose weight, grow muscle or perform better

• Vital in Performance & recovery
• Needs to be high in L-Leucine (most anabolic amino acid)
• Protein intake every 4 hours to maximise muscle protein synthesis
• Available everywhere
• Also available in Protein powder form, great when in a rush

Creatine;

The most tested sports supplement on the market… It works, here’s why

• Intake from diet is roughly 1g/d and body synthesizes 1g/d. Need about 5g per day to saturate the muscles over time.
• Improves muscle hydration
• Increases strength over the 1-5 rep range
• Aids in ATP re-synthesizeation
• Only go for high quality Creatine in the form of “Creapure” tm.
• Reasonably cheap

Beta – Alanine;

New..ish great product that helsp prevent lactic acid build up in the muscles, so you cna push that bit harder for longer.

• Increases performance by 2.5% in exercise between 60-240secs
• Reduces time to reach fatigue by hydrogen ion buffering
• Inexpensive
• Best incorporated in endurance sports
• 1.5g x 4 a day for 6 weeks – then 1.5g x 2 a day ongoing

Caffeine;

• Between 4-6mg per kg is considered optimal for performance benefits. >9mg per kg does not lead to an increase in effects
• Increase power output in weightlifters and cyclists as well as a wide variety of other sports
• Do not use for prolonged periods of time due to increased dependency and reduced effectiveness.
• Best used during peak weeks or pre competitions
• Very cheap

So there you have it!! A list of what works and what could be helping you reach your new PB. Though I want to add nothing really does beat training hard, eating well and sleeping like a hibernating bear!

There are other potential supplements like beetroot juice, tart cherry juice, why not drop a message and ask a question if you’re not sure though.

From Will,

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Is what you can find yourself saying when you can’t sleep or continuous waking in the night.

BUT you’re not alone! Problems sleeping is a really common thing and I have lots and lots of people ask me about it, why do they have it and how can they can change it?

Having trouble sleeping, whether it’s drifting off or broken sleep can be really frustrating and upsetting, so I thought I should create a list to help you through these horrid times!

Here is the list of quick easy things you can do that can help;

• Avoid blue lights an 1-2 hours prior to sleep! Blue lights are things like electrical devices (computers, phones, TVs) if you use them late at night due to shift work or other reasons install justgetflux.com on you device.

WHY? Blue lights on whilst asleep with prevent disruption with blue light prevent REM sleep, ever randomly woken up with the TV on? Yep that’s all due to it being on and causing cortisol (stress hormone) to keep increasing till you wake up)

• Avoid low GI/complex carbohydrates late at night which can disrupt the entry of deep sleep and production of growth hormone aiding in recovery

• Getting your environment just right for sleep sounds simple but making sure background noise, heat and lighting won’t disrupt or prevent deep sleep is important.

• White noise, ocean or forest sounds etc. Have been proven to help block other thoughts and distractions and create an easier path to sleep

• The temperature of the room should be cool, this usually means open windows or specific lightweight bed-clothes and minimal clothing to ensure airflow

• Black out curtains mean that when summer comes and that sun is rising at 4-5am you won’t be getting up way before you’ve fully rested.

The Suns light naturally causes the body to wake up which is why in summer you find yourself getting up earlier than usual.

• Taking ZMA an hour prior to sleep enables the CNS to be depressed and allows you to enter REM sleep quicker

• Tulsi tea with its cortisol reducing effects with aid in deep sleep entry.

• Magnesium baths once per week can be very relaxing in the evening and are ideal at the end of a very stressful week to improve relaxation

Do them one by one and see which one works best for you!

If it’s still not working why not drop me an email or a facebook message and I will take some time to chat with you about what might help you.

From Will, the guy who  sleeps like Snorlax

Get PRIMAL, Be Happy!

Self-affirmation

Noun

1. the act or an instance of affirming; state of being affirmed.

2.the assertion that somethingexistsoristrue.

3.something that is affirmed: a statement or proposition that is declared to be true.

4.confirmation or ratification of the truth or validity of a prior judgement, decision, etc.

I wanted to open this post with the description of what I want to talk about today, “Self-affirmation” the process of confirming to yourself that what is said is declared to be true.

Sometimes it’s easy to find yourself being lost and not know your direction in what you want to do, achieve, be and this can be so stressful can leave you feeling confused and even possibly upset. So I checked out this cool book I was recommended “How to have a big life” – Rupert Mckerron.

“Like a genie, your subconscious will deliver whatever it is asked regardless of the consequences.” – Rupert McKerron

So I started reading this book and even after a few days of doing what it suggested I suddenly started to find my feet again, and began walking on the path I had originally set out on! And this made me wonder how many people are actually out there, aimlessly living life day by day, lost and not sure what to do, not by choice possibly, but just because they don’t know how to create direction, and all they’re needing is to be guided towards that “Yellow brick road” and to find themselves again!

I thought I would love to help all of you guys with this too! This website is after all about living a happier, more primal life, about sharing with you the things I do, and have found through my process of adventure and self discovery!

So let’s start with the first step I’ve taken and you can take it too! As the beginning suggest this is all about Self-affirmation!

Affirmation is the movement of thoughts from negative town (Unhappy thoughts, ideas, harsh experiences) to positive city! (Happy thoughts, ideas, fun experiences). It’s the re-programming of your mind – sub-conscious to be more accurate – to change negatives into positives.

You see if you constantly tell yourself “I’m fat!”, “I’m a failure” your sub-conscious will recognise this and will do it’s damnedest to make it a reality!

So what if we swap it around and instead of “I’m fat!” you started saying “I’m SEXY!” Ha! And instead of “I’m a failure” you say “I’m SUCCESSFUL!!” and slowly you will override those old beliefs with new positives ones, not only that you will start to believe these statements, and they will start becoming a reality!

You need to challenge those negative beliefs and start to stem the flow of negative thoughts and words that seek to validate them. Affirmations are more than just repeating words. It is a whole process of becoming aware of your thoughts and words in everyday life, choosing to think and project happy positive thoughts. The more you can consciously inject the spirit of you affirmations into your daily thoughts and words, the quicker they will work for you.

It’s about 2 weeks ago now I started doing mine, and each morning and I practically shout them to world, they make me smile and instantly happier, I then chant them in the car on the way to work, repeating them to myself, ingraining them into my sub-conscious,and BOOM! It’s working, my attitude, my training, my work, even the way I view things is changing! And suddenly more doors are opening and my yellow brick road is brighter than ever, so I’m sure I won’t be losing my way any time soon!

“Is this the right path?”

So this obviously begs the question “How can I do this!?”

Start by taking some time to think about areas in your life you would like to improve and how you might want your life to be. Take your time though, you want them to be powerful, and the things you want most!
Now look at each item on the list and write out a few positive statements for each. They must be positive and in the present tense, focus on what you do want!

Some examples could be;

• I am Happy
• I am successful
• I am confident
• I am strong
• I am committed to my goals

Make sure the phrase doesn’t have any negatives in it otherwise your sub-conscious won’t hear it! For example if you said “I’m not stupid!” your sub-conscious would only hear “I’m stupid!” Your instructions must be CLEAR!!!

Make sure you don’t whisper them too shout them out really tell yourself that you’re AMAZING! and you will begin to believe!

From Will, the guy who tells himself how awesome he is every morning in the car to work!

Get PRIMAL, Be Happy!