I am not that great on my quantities, but I think they're about right... this salad fits in well with our "NO"vember diet guidelines and is yummy too!
quarter of a cabbage
1 small red onion
1 red capsicum
1 double breast chicken poached and shredded (or just buy a bbq chicken, tear the skin off and do it that way)
1 bunch coriander
1 bunch mint
Shred everything as finely as you can and mix it all up in a big bowl
Dressing: 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup fish sauce, juice of 3 limes, 2 small red chillis minced up finely - shake it up and toss the salad really well
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Sunday, 14 August 2011
Best and Worst Exercises
Prompted by our good friend "Trainer Kate" in NYC with her comments on what she considers the best and worst exercises I couldn't help but think about my own "best" and "worst" exercises for you.
So firstly I have to say any exercise that you don't do properly, is not really working for you hard enough. Have you ever seen those guys in the gym clutching heavy ass dumbells but not moving them very far? That's what I'm talking about. If you are squatting but you aren't really getting your bum down very far or you're benching but even though the weight might be heavy but it's only making half way down to your chest then maybe you should consider dropping the weight back a bit and working on getting the full range of motion. Full range exercise movements help strengthen the prime-mover, or agonist muscles, such as the quadriceps in a squat. Lifting in the full range of motion is also advantageous for stretching the antagonist muscles, like the hamstrings in a squat. Training in the full range of motion enhances both muscle strength and joint flexibility.
So back to the best and the worst. My personal favourite and exercise I will always do, is the deadlift. Here is its description in wikipedia, 'The deadlift is a compound movement that works grip strength with the erector spinae, gluteus maximus, adductor magnus, hamstrings and quadriceps serving as the primary muscles. The remaining muscles are involved in stability control. It is, in a sense, the purest test of strength because it is one of the few lifts of dead weight (weight lying on the ground).'
And you know why I really like it? Here is the list of muscles involved:
Torso
Rectus abdominis, aponeurosis, external oblique muscle
Back
Iliocostalis, Intertransversarii laterales lumborum, Latissimus dorsi, Levator scapulae, Longissimus, Quadratus lumborum, Rhomboideus major, Serratus posterior superior, Serratus posterior inferior, Splenius cervicis, Teres Major, Trapezius muscle
Legs
Quadriceps, Rectus femoris, Vastus lateralis, Vastus intermedius, Vastus medialis
Hamstrings
Biceps femoris muscle, long head, Biceps femoris muscle, short head, Semitendinosus, Semimembranosus
Hips
Gluteal muscles, Gluteus maximus, Gluteus minimus
Piriformis
Superior gemellus
Forearms
Flexor digitorum profundus
HEAPS! There you go - why wouldn't you do it? NOT ONLY does it work HEAPS of muscles so you are getting value for your time spent exercising, it doesn't require huge amounts of flexibility and balance so pretty much everyone can do it (my one and a half year old boy has awesome deadlifting technique - naturally). And better yet it is useful for actions that we perform in daily life. Picking shit up off the ground is something we do all the time. It's great to be strong in this lift, it's helpful.
And you know the exercise that I REALLY DON'T LIKE? The shoulder shrug. Why would you do that? Seriously. Have you seen guys doing it? It's the one where they are clutching a heavy dumbell in each hand and squeezing their shoulders up towards their ears as if they wish they looked like a rugby player whose neck has disappeared somewhere along the line. Do you know what the shoulder shrug does? It develops the upper trapezius muscle. One muscle, and it doesn't help you move anything anywhere - it just makes the top of your shoulder a bit puffy...
So firstly I have to say any exercise that you don't do properly, is not really working for you hard enough. Have you ever seen those guys in the gym clutching heavy ass dumbells but not moving them very far? That's what I'm talking about. If you are squatting but you aren't really getting your bum down very far or you're benching but even though the weight might be heavy but it's only making half way down to your chest then maybe you should consider dropping the weight back a bit and working on getting the full range of motion. Full range exercise movements help strengthen the prime-mover, or agonist muscles, such as the quadriceps in a squat. Lifting in the full range of motion is also advantageous for stretching the antagonist muscles, like the hamstrings in a squat. Training in the full range of motion enhances both muscle strength and joint flexibility.
So back to the best and the worst. My personal favourite and exercise I will always do, is the deadlift. Here is its description in wikipedia, 'The deadlift is a compound movement that works grip strength with the erector spinae, gluteus maximus, adductor magnus, hamstrings and quadriceps serving as the primary muscles. The remaining muscles are involved in stability control. It is, in a sense, the purest test of strength because it is one of the few lifts of dead weight (weight lying on the ground).'
And you know why I really like it? Here is the list of muscles involved:
Torso
Rectus abdominis, aponeurosis, external oblique muscle
Back
Iliocostalis, Intertransversarii laterales lumborum, Latissimus dorsi, Levator scapulae, Longissimus, Quadratus lumborum, Rhomboideus major, Serratus posterior superior, Serratus posterior inferior, Splenius cervicis, Teres Major, Trapezius muscle
Legs
Quadriceps, Rectus femoris, Vastus lateralis, Vastus intermedius, Vastus medialis
Hamstrings
Biceps femoris muscle, long head, Biceps femoris muscle, short head, Semitendinosus, Semimembranosus
Hips
Gluteal muscles, Gluteus maximus, Gluteus minimus
Piriformis
Superior gemellus
Forearms
Flexor digitorum profundus
HEAPS! There you go - why wouldn't you do it? NOT ONLY does it work HEAPS of muscles so you are getting value for your time spent exercising, it doesn't require huge amounts of flexibility and balance so pretty much everyone can do it (my one and a half year old boy has awesome deadlifting technique - naturally). And better yet it is useful for actions that we perform in daily life. Picking shit up off the ground is something we do all the time. It's great to be strong in this lift, it's helpful.
And you know the exercise that I REALLY DON'T LIKE? The shoulder shrug. Why would you do that? Seriously. Have you seen guys doing it? It's the one where they are clutching a heavy dumbell in each hand and squeezing their shoulders up towards their ears as if they wish they looked like a rugby player whose neck has disappeared somewhere along the line. Do you know what the shoulder shrug does? It develops the upper trapezius muscle. One muscle, and it doesn't help you move anything anywhere - it just makes the top of your shoulder a bit puffy...
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Is it really better to train in the morning?
Training in the morning. For some it is the only way to get enough exercise in their day, for some it's when they have the most energy and for some it sounds less fun than a 14-hour long haul international flight with a screaming 1year old. (My new "10" on a scale of shithouse things to do) Is it something you should be doing?
Is it healthier to train in the morning? There seems to be two main claims to support the assertion that training in the morning is healthier, if you have heard another one let me know so I can do some research.
1: That you burn more fat in the mornings, this is known as fasted or semi-fasted training.
This seems like a slam dunk for morning training doesn't it? Burning fat is the purpose most people are at the gym, so anything that does that effectively has to be good right? Unfortunately it isn't that simple. Your body is an incredibly effective machine for converting food into sugar for energy and fat for storage, personally I wish my body was much worse at it. This means that although yes, you will burn more fat as a percentage of your total calorie expenditure in the morning your body will simply resupply your sugar stores and store any excess calories as soon as you eat. 300 calories is 300 calories irrespective of when you ate them and if you did 200 calories worth of exercise and ate 300 calories worth of food you are in a 100 calorie surplus regardless of the timing of either of those events.
2: That you burn more calories throughout the day because of training in the morning.
The theory is that because you got up and moved around so early in the day your metabolism will be all fired up and you will burn more calories throughout the day. This makes a lot of sense, the more alert and active you are the more calories you will burn and your base metabolic rate, the energy you burn just living, accounts for about 75% of your total calorie expenditure so getting your metabolism up and racing away as early as possible is a great way of maximising your energy use throughout the day. This is a big plus for training in the morning, however you can get your metabolic rate up early by eating a good breakfast. It wont achieve as much but it will help.
Reasons to sleep in.There are a couple of good reasons to avoid early morning training sessions and at least one shitty one. In no particular order.
1: Higher Cortisol levels. Your body releases a whole cocktail of chemicals into your system while you sleep and some of them take awhile to get cleaned out once you are up and moving. Cortisol in particular is elevated in the morning and prolonged exposure to cortisol has a raft of negative effects, immune system suppression and increased abdominal fat deposits for example. This is a mostly a problem for people with high stress jobs and "stress heads", who will have plenty of cortisol released through the day so no need to start off by elevating it.
2: Increased risk of injury. You know that sluggish morning feeling? Well it applies on the neurological level as well, you are, more or less, a little uncoordinated in the mornings. your reaction time is worse, your flexability is less and your recovery systems are slower, all of which mean you are slightly more likely to injure yourslef if you are training hard. This isn't normally a problem because...
3: It is harder to train hard. Less blood sugar, metabolsim sluggish and half asleep, is it any wonder you are a little weaker and slower?
4: You need your sleep. It is hard to prioritise sleeping, you probably stay up later than you should already but sleep is way down your list of priorites so you will wake up earlier without getting to bed any sooner. Seriously, take it from someone with a small child, sleep deprevation is awful.
5: Your trainer is still half asleep. Ok, its not a great reason but just as it is harder to train at 100% in the morning it is also harder to be a trainer at 100% in the morning. If you feel like you need a lot of help and motivation you will potentially get a little more help from the trainers and the others in your group by training a little later in the day. Or you could bring me a coffee. Skim milk flat white, no sugar. Thanks.
So that kind of wraps up up the physological aspects of training early but as we know the body is only half the battle. Check back in a few days and we can have a look at some of the social and physchological aspects of training early
Mac
Is it healthier to train in the morning? There seems to be two main claims to support the assertion that training in the morning is healthier, if you have heard another one let me know so I can do some research.
1: That you burn more fat in the mornings, this is known as fasted or semi-fasted training.
This seems like a slam dunk for morning training doesn't it? Burning fat is the purpose most people are at the gym, so anything that does that effectively has to be good right? Unfortunately it isn't that simple. Your body is an incredibly effective machine for converting food into sugar for energy and fat for storage, personally I wish my body was much worse at it. This means that although yes, you will burn more fat as a percentage of your total calorie expenditure in the morning your body will simply resupply your sugar stores and store any excess calories as soon as you eat. 300 calories is 300 calories irrespective of when you ate them and if you did 200 calories worth of exercise and ate 300 calories worth of food you are in a 100 calorie surplus regardless of the timing of either of those events.
2: That you burn more calories throughout the day because of training in the morning.
The theory is that because you got up and moved around so early in the day your metabolism will be all fired up and you will burn more calories throughout the day. This makes a lot of sense, the more alert and active you are the more calories you will burn and your base metabolic rate, the energy you burn just living, accounts for about 75% of your total calorie expenditure so getting your metabolism up and racing away as early as possible is a great way of maximising your energy use throughout the day. This is a big plus for training in the morning, however you can get your metabolic rate up early by eating a good breakfast. It wont achieve as much but it will help.
Reasons to sleep in.There are a couple of good reasons to avoid early morning training sessions and at least one shitty one. In no particular order.
1: Higher Cortisol levels. Your body releases a whole cocktail of chemicals into your system while you sleep and some of them take awhile to get cleaned out once you are up and moving. Cortisol in particular is elevated in the morning and prolonged exposure to cortisol has a raft of negative effects, immune system suppression and increased abdominal fat deposits for example. This is a mostly a problem for people with high stress jobs and "stress heads", who will have plenty of cortisol released through the day so no need to start off by elevating it.
2: Increased risk of injury. You know that sluggish morning feeling? Well it applies on the neurological level as well, you are, more or less, a little uncoordinated in the mornings. your reaction time is worse, your flexability is less and your recovery systems are slower, all of which mean you are slightly more likely to injure yourslef if you are training hard. This isn't normally a problem because...
3: It is harder to train hard. Less blood sugar, metabolsim sluggish and half asleep, is it any wonder you are a little weaker and slower?
4: You need your sleep. It is hard to prioritise sleeping, you probably stay up later than you should already but sleep is way down your list of priorites so you will wake up earlier without getting to bed any sooner. Seriously, take it from someone with a small child, sleep deprevation is awful.
5: Your trainer is still half asleep. Ok, its not a great reason but just as it is harder to train at 100% in the morning it is also harder to be a trainer at 100% in the morning. If you feel like you need a lot of help and motivation you will potentially get a little more help from the trainers and the others in your group by training a little later in the day. Or you could bring me a coffee. Skim milk flat white, no sugar. Thanks.
So that kind of wraps up up the physological aspects of training early but as we know the body is only half the battle. Check back in a few days and we can have a look at some of the social and physchological aspects of training early
Mac
Monday, 23 May 2011
The thing about dieting...
The thing about dieting is it would actually be better if you didn't have to do it. I would recommend, if at all possible, not to get fat in the first place. If I hadn't eaten my way through two American states I wouldn't have found myself three kilos heavier! I did thoroughly enjoy sampling new culinary delights (especially peanut butter inspired sweets) but you can enjoy yourself and then some and it's always the then some that gets you into trouble.
Failing not putting on weight in the first place (and that's probably the case if you're reading this) if you find yourself in a situation where you do need to diet, then the other thing about dieting is, you actually have to do it! You actually have to say no to delightful cookies that people offer you or glasses of Spanish wine. It's not really that fun. And if you take too many days off then the diet just seems to go on forever. Trust me, I have been doing a thirty-day diet and writing it on facebook. I think I started on around March 30th, it's now May 24th. So by the time I'm actually finished my 30 days of dieting it will have taken me pretty much two months instead of one. FOREVER.
On the other hand...it's actually made it a lot more bearable doing it this way and I will be fine to continue once my thirty days are up until I reach my goal weight. You can expect to lose about half a kilo a week on a diet. Give or take, depending on how big you are and how much you've got to lose. That's basically what I've done but it's taken eight weeks instead of four because I have been giving myself too many diet holidays! So you need to find a balance between keeping motivated to stick to your eating plan whilst retaining sanity and some kind of a social life.
One more thing about dieting - the scales lie! I mean it. Don't believe them. As a female in particular I can easily go up and down a kilo or two without doing anything different. For this diet, I have hardly lost any weight according to the scales but I've lost 6 cm off my waist according to the measuring tape! (Am I proud of it - hell yeah). So you need to do some measurements or pull out an old pair of jeans you want to get back into and follow your progress that way. If you constantly look at the scales you might just get disappointed and then want to give up. You can still check them sometimes but try to make it once a week at most.
The other things about dieting I noticed on my thirty days was... if I was too extreme on what I cut out then I was also too extreme on my days off and tended to binge on things that I wouldn't normally eat, so I think being reasonable about what you are going to avoid works best. The last thing is, eat breakfast. Eat a good breakfast. I noticed that on the days that I ate a proper breakfast (not toast) I was much more successful throughout the rest of the day.
The thing about dieting is, it is actually worth developing a healthy relationship with food and learning to enjoy food that is fresh and full of nutrients. And if you keep aiming for that then your body will thank you!
Failing not putting on weight in the first place (and that's probably the case if you're reading this) if you find yourself in a situation where you do need to diet, then the other thing about dieting is, you actually have to do it! You actually have to say no to delightful cookies that people offer you or glasses of Spanish wine. It's not really that fun. And if you take too many days off then the diet just seems to go on forever. Trust me, I have been doing a thirty-day diet and writing it on facebook. I think I started on around March 30th, it's now May 24th. So by the time I'm actually finished my 30 days of dieting it will have taken me pretty much two months instead of one. FOREVER.
On the other hand...it's actually made it a lot more bearable doing it this way and I will be fine to continue once my thirty days are up until I reach my goal weight. You can expect to lose about half a kilo a week on a diet. Give or take, depending on how big you are and how much you've got to lose. That's basically what I've done but it's taken eight weeks instead of four because I have been giving myself too many diet holidays! So you need to find a balance between keeping motivated to stick to your eating plan whilst retaining sanity and some kind of a social life.
One more thing about dieting - the scales lie! I mean it. Don't believe them. As a female in particular I can easily go up and down a kilo or two without doing anything different. For this diet, I have hardly lost any weight according to the scales but I've lost 6 cm off my waist according to the measuring tape! (Am I proud of it - hell yeah). So you need to do some measurements or pull out an old pair of jeans you want to get back into and follow your progress that way. If you constantly look at the scales you might just get disappointed and then want to give up. You can still check them sometimes but try to make it once a week at most.
The other things about dieting I noticed on my thirty days was... if I was too extreme on what I cut out then I was also too extreme on my days off and tended to binge on things that I wouldn't normally eat, so I think being reasonable about what you are going to avoid works best. The last thing is, eat breakfast. Eat a good breakfast. I noticed that on the days that I ate a proper breakfast (not toast) I was much more successful throughout the rest of the day.
The thing about dieting is, it is actually worth developing a healthy relationship with food and learning to enjoy food that is fresh and full of nutrients. And if you keep aiming for that then your body will thank you!
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Crunchy & Spicy Tuna Salad
If you think you can't handle another tuna salad - try this one.
Ingredients:
2 celery sticks
1/4 red capsicum
1 spring onion
1/2 dozen snow peas
185g tin tuna
Dressing:
1 dessert spoon soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1/2 a small red chilli, minced
1 tsp sesame oil
thumbnail's worth of ginger, minced
a few coriander or mint leaves if you have them, minced
Slice all the vegetables thinly, crumble the tuna and then mix everything together with the dressing really thoroughly.
Ingredients:
2 celery sticks
1/4 red capsicum
1 spring onion
1/2 dozen snow peas
185g tin tuna
Dressing:
1 dessert spoon soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1/2 a small red chilli, minced
1 tsp sesame oil
thumbnail's worth of ginger, minced
a few coriander or mint leaves if you have them, minced
Slice all the vegetables thinly, crumble the tuna and then mix everything together with the dressing really thoroughly.
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Mac's five tips for sticking to a successful diet
1. Pick a diet...
Type "diet" into google and you will get 290,000,000 results. It is estimated that one in four Australians are on a diet at any one time. There is a mind boggling number of options out there and they swing in and out of fashion so it can be difficult to know which is best for you. I can't tell you which one is best but I can let you in on a secret, they all work. Well, excluding the ones that are bat-shit insane, cabbage soup diet, the lemon detox diet I am looking at you here, almsot all diets will work, so pick the one that suits you best. The trick is to pick one, buy the book, do some research, ask some questions and then stick with it. You can't do Atkins in the morning, a low-carb lunch and then weight watchers for dinner.
2. ... and stick to it.
An awesome study found that the single defining characteristic of ALL succsesful diets, the one thing that every single one of the successful test subjects had in common was that they stuck to the diet. Their macro nutrient profiles all differed, the amount of excercise, supplement use, how often they had cheat days, none of this was as important as simply keeping to the plan. By the way, the four diets in that study are the four that I would recommend, they pretty much cover the spectrum of sensible eating options. (Atkins, Zone, Ornish and "traditional". For the traditional I would go with the C.S.I.R.O version).
3. Know what's happening
Screw your weight. Seriously, you don't actually care about what you weigh. Try this thought experiment, would you rather look like you lost 10 kilos but not have your weight shift? Or look like you gained 10 kilograms but you actually lost it? Right, so size is much more important than actual weight, but weight is really easy to measure so we tend to focus on that. I am guilty of this as well, talking about gaining weight or losing it when what we are actually aiming for is to change shape. So less focus on weight, more focus on shape. Get me or one of the crew to take your measurements, boobs, bum, belly and bicep and then redo them at four week intervals - sometimes the difference will amaze you because the scales reported no change but your stomach is six centimetres smaller. Of course the easiest way to check this sort of stuff is sticking a pair of jeans on, denim doesn't lie.
4. Get your boy scout on
Be prepared! And be aware that the more dramatic the change to your regular eating habits are the more prepration will help. If you can plan your meals ahead by a few days you can make sure you have all the neccasary ingredients to hand which makes take-out pizza easier to avoid. If you work crazy hours or just can't control when or where lunch is going to happen, bring it with you from home. Stick a protein shake or a handful of almonds in your handbag or backpack so you have a healthy option if you need a snack. I get nervous if I dont know when my next meal is coming and tend towards overeating on the off chance my next snack will be a while so for me a little pre-preperation goes a long way. Spending a little more time on making food you will be happy to eat makes this whole diet thing much much easier to stick with.
5. Realistic goals, sensible rewards
Don't go down a nutritional path with ridgid preset goals. You are better off trying your best for six to eight weeks and then assessing what has hapened and setting your goals from there. Someone who has never lifted weights wouldn't be able to set a realistic goal for improving the bench press, they don't know how strong they are or how their bodies will react to training. Dieting is the same way, you dont know how how easy the weight falls off or how well you can stick to it. Don't set yourself up for disapointment by setting unrealistic goals.. The other side of that coin is rewarding yourself when you have done well. Not with food. Not with food. Not with food. Seriously, the number of times I have had clients say "I was good all week so I had a choclate cake, three pizzas and a coke." Don't do that. If you really really want to eat something then maybe you should, in moderation. But DON'T reward yourself with sugary snacks, it is so easy to set up an unhealthy relationship to food anyway, no need for the extra reinforcement.
See you in the Gym!
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
A Little Weight-loss Tip
Now I know that Mac is brewing up a storm of information for you about male and female diets and is probably going to hit hard with some home truths but I wanted to share one little thing that is really important about eating, while I am still in with a chance: SIT DOWN TO EAT
Don't eat on the run
Don't eat at your desk
Don't eat while you're walking
Don't eat while you're driving
Don't eat at the kitchen bench
Don't eat in the supermarket
Don't eat in front of the TV or the computer
If you just sit down to eat - preferably at a table - you will enjoy your food more and you will feel fuller because of it.
That's my little tip anyway, try it!
Lynsey
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