Stop using weight & what the scales say as the be all and end all of your training. This picture is a perfect example both girls weigh 60kg but their body fat %’s and shape and tone are totally different. Bottom line muscle weighs more than fat, the scale might go up, your body fat % will go down.. Test body fat not weight or take measurements..

Elevation Performance tests bodyfat % and takes clients skinfolds as part of Metabolic Analytics Assessment – to give our clients personalised training, nutrition and supplementation strategies for faster and maintainable results.

-Anthony

What do I mean by fluffy training? Lying on (or actually anything on) Powerplate is a waste of time in my opinion. I can only think of one practical purpose for these machines and it has zero to do with training. Powerplates are right up there with body blades in terms of a total waste of time, money and energy. Some other examples of fluffy training include Sandbell training, triceps kickbacks with little pink dumbbells, Glute kickbacks on a smith machine or cable.Some trainers don’t even make it to the fluffy exercises because they spend the entire session performing mobilisers.

What where the clients goals again?

The way I see things is that mobilisations are important to enable a client to improve range of motion and effectiveness of (proper) exercises. I have all of my clients perform mobilisation and activation exercises before we train, but we do not spend the entire session on them! My clients want to lose body fat or gain muscle mass ASAP so we need to actually f@#ken train.

If any of the above sounds like a session your trainer has put you through, you should ask for your money back.

I had a interesting conversation yesterday, a friend of mine who is a bit older told me he has been training hard (or at least his definition of hard) and was drinking what he described as a protein shake about twice a day. Nothing weird so for until he later went on to tell me that when his doctor completed his blood work and the results came back and he was actually pre-diabetic.

Now I am not sure what brand of so called protein he was using but he was also mixing it with skim milk – which for if you don’t know is just normal milk with some fat taken out leaving it with a higher sugar content.

As far as the protein well you must check the label and you want to find the brand with the highest protein content per 100g ideally around 85% plus. Cheaper brands and weight gain powders are usually around 50 – 75% protein with the rest being sugar all you are actually getting is a slightly higher protein milkshake which is not ideal if you are trying to drop bodyfat and increase lean muscle mass.

My advice is maybe avoid the protein shake all together use BCAA’s. If you must have a shake ensure that you can tolerate dairy then go for a WPI or WPC with at least 85% protein and mix it with water, coconut water.

I also recommend getting your doctor to run some blood tests, but I will go into that in more detail another time.

Food can be a very topical debate there is so many conflicting opinions about what we should and shouldn’t be eating and no food has divided opinions in recent times more than wheat.

Did you know that 2 slices of whole wheat bread spike your blood sugar more than 2 table spoons of sugar?

Wheat is a staple food for most people, for crying out loud it is referenced in the bible – with Jesus breaking bread with his disciples. Wheat or flour has changed a lot over the last 2 and bit thousand years but have humans changed enough in that time to be able to digest it?

The book answers all of these questions and more – we can look and isolate many factors in why people today are fatter and sicker than every before and we are told that we should eat 7 – 12 serves of healthy whole grains a day – but as you read this book you will discover that this is one of the worst things you can be eating.

Is the answer going gluten free? yes, but not by replacing wheat products with their gluten free counterparts. There is a whole chapter discussing how gluten free foods, while they are gluten and wheat free they still spike blood sugars into dangerous territory as well as increase cholesterol, reduce bone density cause inflammation and a whole host of other negative effects.

The book is easy to read, thought provoking and well researched – I had heard a lot the points raised in the book before but now I have the studies and literature to back up those points.

Put down your toast, ditch your cereal, say arrivederci to your pasta and pizza if you want to banish your Wheat Belly.

I rate this book 4.5 out of 5.

Enjoy – ps your kids should watch this too.

-Anthony

Here is a video with some of the most commonly asked questions, in his workshops and seminars. I hope you take the time to watch it and believe me you will learn heaps.

-Anthony

10 Biomarkers of Aging (that you control)

1. Muscle mass

2. Strength

3. BMI body mass index

4. Body fat %

5. Aerobic capacity

6. Blood sugar tolerance

7. Cholesterol

8. Blood Pressure

9. Bone density

10. Temperature regulation

Says a lot I believe – we need to learn to let go – learn and move on!

Too many people hold do stew over things when things don’t seem to go right – negativity is extremely dangerous and it saps your energy and will.

Anthony

I have flicked through this book several times and thought it be about time I actually take the time to read it. After working in the fitness industry for 10 years now I have read and seen a hell of a lot of information and people making bold statements that their way is the only way to train – I know I have my own methods and theories but I always say that no two clients are a like and that a personalised program is what will give my clients the best results.

Back to0 the book – Reading through the first few chapters I got an understanding of the what the authors where all about and where they got their inspiration from for writing this book.  I really enjoyed the fact that the authors had the same frustrations as me – seeing people in gyms who have been following the same program for years and haven’t really gotten any results from it for however many years minus four weeks (if you missed my subtle point: you need to constantly update your program every 3 to 4 weeks). On the other side of the coin Crossfit style workouts where you change the routine daily never allow you to adapt and improve (unfortunately you just get better at Crossfit). Sorry getting slightly side tracked.

The Rules are pretty simple:

1. The best muscle-building exercises are the ones that use your muscles the way they’re designed to work. (my definition of Functional)

2. Exercises that use lots of muscles in coordinated action are better than those that force muscles to work in isolation. (ditto)

3. To build size, you must build strength. (strength is the key)

The list goes on but the next chapter gets into the nut and bolts the big six. The main movements or key exercises that are going to give you the results and body you want. Squat, Deadlift (bend), Lunge, Push, Pull and Twist. Sound familiar? Paul Chek uses the same six exercises as what he calls Primal Patterns the premise being that to survive in prehistoric times you needed to be able to perform these 6 movements plus one more Gait (running and walking). Thank goodness the authors do acknowledge Paul and also Richard A. Schmidt whose work this all originated from.

Reading on I was all pumped up and wanted to get straight into the program – hell I wanted a new routine for tomorrow morning – but the next few chapters seemed to ramble on the content was and is important don’t get me wrong but I just want to know what am I going to do tomorrow : ) I have read and seen first hand that too much cardio makes you fat (slow long runs etc) I know the functional importance of the big 6 and I am familiar with the mobilisation principles – but to other readers I am sure that they will learn a lot.

When I eventually got to the programs I pretty much already knew what the authors where going to present – the programs are well structured and have a nice periodisation plan to them. Have they re-written the programs I will give to my clients for the new 6 months? No – but I did get a few really good programming ideas that I will definitely look at implementing.

The other rules I quite liked

NEW RULE #5 • The goal of each workout is to set a record.

NEW RULE #7 • Don’t “do the machines.”

NEW RULE #18 • You don’t need to do endurance exercise to burn fat.

Overall I recommend this book to anyone who has been stuck on a plateau for a while or has given away training due to a lack of results – there is a good years worth of training programs in the book which will ensure that your training will at least be moving in the right direction.

I give this book 3.75 Stars.

- Anthony

You are what you eat – you need to exercise – and you need to sleep.

Enjoy the video and email me if you wish to find out more about Metabolic Typing or wish to be tested – it is actually really easy.