All about that Bass- A guide to Glute training

I consider Glute (bum)training an essential body part to merit a significant degree of attention in your training for 2 reasons;

1)The Gluteus Maximus is the largest individual muscle in your body, for me that implies it should be a strong muscle.

2)A trained Bum looks awesome.

The Gluteals are a big muscle but what do they do?  Firstly they extend the hip, that is they bring the upper leg back and in line (and beyond) with the spine. They also perform 'External rotation of the Hip', simply put-turn the leg out at the hip.

Looking at the Gluteals as part of the bigger picture, the Glutes play a huge role in human function-or they should at least.

From experience I have seen many people with Glutes that function poorly with regards to people not being able to activate, contract and make them work.  As a result of the modern world where many of us spend time sat at desks, in the car, in front of the TV has seen people's Glutes becoming less utilised from an early age.

This is a real shame as the results I see is people losing good posture as well as the growing inability of people to perform basic human functions such as a squat or deadlift.

Don't worry all is not lost, the Glutes can be recovered and can be built stronger and better.  You can enjoy the benefits of improved posture, improved fitness performance that being squats or running and of course a good looking butt that doesn't droop down to the back of your knees.

Start by warming up on a Step Machine to get the Glutes warm and working followed by one of these workouts;

Workout A

A1:Deep Sumo Squat 4 x 6  4-0-1-0

superset with

A2:Stiff Leg Deadlifts 4 x 12. 3-1-2-1

Workout B

A:Hip Thrusters 4 x 8  4-0-X-0

B1:Cable Kickback 3 x 12  3-1-3-1

Superset with 

B2:Hip Thrust Lunge 3 x 8  2-1-X-1

Perform each of these 2 Glute workouts once per workout.

See the exercises here;

Train Hard,

Darren.

What can we learn from our kids/The musings of a Father

I am fortunate enough to be working part time right now, and I have been part time for nearly 4 years previous to that.  The reason for this is not laziness but to twice have the opportunity to be a dad to my daughters.

Having that time with them both and the chance to observe their behaviour and daily schedules reminds me of the lessons I as a trainer share with my clients and hope they act on.

Here's a couple;

Sleep 

Man, I dislike Friday mornings.  The thought of getting up early, getting the girls up, dressed, fed and out the door is the thing I dislike most about my week.  Jeez they are grumpy, cranky and mega irritable by the time Friday comes around.  To be fair by Friday, my short fuse is even shorter which certainly does help.

At Christmas my wife and I attended my daughters school Nativity. All the parents were sat down and the kids all came out 1 class at a time and I was shocked..  Every-and I mean every kid that stood in front of us had big dark bags under there eyes, holy hell these kids are aged just 4-11!  They looked like they had come off a run of night shifts, what the fuck!

I imagine these kids are getting plenty of sleep, I know my 2 get a minimum 10hrs each night yet wake up tired.  How much sleep do you get? Are you getting the recommended 8Hours, and what quality is that?  How can you expect to function anywhere near your optimal if your not getting this most basic and fundamental acts of our subconscious functions.

Eating

My kids can eat, it is at the same time both impressive yet horrifying how much they can put away at a single sitting. Provide them the opportunity to graze between meals and they can keep that going up to meal time.

Interestingly it is the foods they pick. My kids love fruit to the point at which we have to stop them eating too much, otherwise nasty nappies-parents you know what I'm talking about right?

A study was done(which I'm afraid I cannot reference as I just don't know), in this study a table was set with an array of foods, all the major food groups with good and bad foods. Kids were left in the room and helped themselves to whatever they wanted.  By the end of the day the kids had eaten a balanced diet of sufficient calories with no outside encouragement.  Where did we as grown adults lose this ability, or, did we have it and gain the ability of greed?

Running

Watching kids run is an interesting one. Have you noticed kids don't jog or pace themselves, they are either walking or running, and when running they go full pelt nothing else.  My personal belief and practice is to do sprints as a form of fat loss over endurance running or jogging and watching kids reinforces that for me.

Squatting

As a trainer the movement of Squatting is a great tool to use as an exercise for people wanting to lose fat/gain muscle/be stronger.  Often I see people struggling to do this most fundamental of movements.  It is an ability we have always had as a species, envisage cavemen huddled squatted down round a fire.

Watch kids squat to pick things up, textbook form each and every time, straight spine, head forward, feet flat and they don't groan on the way back up!

These are simple fundamental things that we encourage/allow our kids to do, why would we stop those things? Where did we lose them and what can we do to get them back?

Please I implore you to ensure your kids keep these behaviours into their adulthood otherwise our kids health and Well being is being diminished from an early age.

Be healthy, set the example and take a nap.

What I'm eating June 2014

What I'm Eating June 2014

I am often asked what I eat, at all times I am in one sort eating strategy or another.

Currently the thing that is working for me is 'Carb Back Loading' a protocol developed by Dr John Keifer.   The principle of CBL is to eat Proteins and fats before training, ideally training is 5-7PM.

After training now is the opportunity to eat Protein with Carbohydrates which will be utilised to replenish energy stores in the muscle with reduced likelihood of going to fat stores.

There is still lots of people questioning the science behind the strategy (plus Haters gotta Hate, and give themselves a feeling of superiority)but in a nutshell here it goes:

Firstly, research suggests that in the morning after sleep, the body is in a state of sourcing fuel primarily from your fat stores.  The intake of carbohydrates will blunt the fat burning and the body will utilise stored carbohydrates as they are a more readily available fuel source.

Naturally most of us will want to remain in a higher fat burning state so prolonging the intake of carbs will be a good thing.

Secondly, because there is likely hood you will still have a large portion of your daily calories available for after training, you can enjoy some more dietary freedoms.  Dr John Keifer initially was saying you could enjoy a couple of doughnuts the first hour after training.

Go careful here, some people got a bit over zealous and were looking to polish off a box of Krispy Kreme after every workout, not good!  Dr Keifer did edit the book as so many people were taking the piss, plus the health implications were being overlooked(a common feature of many diets-that's another blog).

The key reason for me using CBL at this time is it really nicely fits into my lifestyle.  Work through the day, train,spend the evening eating that's a good fit for me.

What I think is going to be the more interesting part for people is what am I eating when I'm in the no carb phase if the day.  When I talk to people about keeping carbs out of there first 2-3 meals they freak at the though of no carbs.

Really, is no carbs that scary! No your just that frickin lazy you can't be bothered to figure out some different meals high in fat and contain low calorie foods.  And let's be honest some people cannot be bothered to discipline themselves and go without for a few hours because any form of hardship is a lifelong crisis. And relax Darren...rant over.

Anyway some of the meals I eat;

Steak with spinach, kale, spring greens followed by Avocado
Lots of protein, lots of greens so tons of nutrients and low calorie and some healthy fats in the avocado.  This is a great meal as it can leave you feeling full for hours and fuel you for longer.

Chicken Salad
Fairly straight forward, I will often drop some nuts or seeds into this to add those healthy fats in.

Double Cream, Frozen berries & Chocolate Protein Powder.
This is very much a treat, it does have berries which contain carbs but very few so negligible and of course I favour chocolate protein

This is very little of what I do, but it really is easy to eat carb free meals that can be filling to eat and sustain the body well.

For further ideas look at some of the Paleo books/Apps that will have some carb free recipes within them.