muscle gain – Never Give Up PT

Butterfly On A Wheel

The extremities that I see when it comes to the lengths that one will go to look a certain way never surprises me. Training myself in ‘back street’ gyms for years and then Personal Training others in a very busy commercial gym just outside of Leeds City Centre, anabolic steroids were always a part of the culture. Needle bins were often provided in the changing rooms, the selling of steroids were openly discussed and, even those who tried to be discrete, it was pretty obvious who used them. After all, if someone looks unnatural, they probably are.

The latest drug on the market, which is illegally sold in some bodybuilding supplement shops according to a recent report, is called Sarms. The tub states that it is ‘not for human consumption’ and is for ‘test purposes only’. However, the results from using such a product seems to be a hit with those wanting to gain extra muscle mass synthetically.

Last week a 30 year old bodybuilder influencer famous on social media died of an aneurysm. Although the connection between steroid use and the aneurysm has not been confirmed, it is possible that the negative effects of steroids such as aortic dissection, hypertension and atherosclerosis could have played a part.

I’ve always thought of the poem by Alexander Pope called Epistle To Dr Arbuthnot when I think of what one is willing to put their body through in order to feel stimulated by aesthetics, fame, money or competition. ‘Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?’

Surrounded by friends in the back street gyms, I saw first hand what they would do to be regarded as the strongest or the most ‘ripped’. And it had the desired effect. They had lots of attention in the bars and clubs as they bulged from their t-shirts. I should say that I dipped my toe in the world of steroids briefly only for guilt and a lack of cash to pay for it soon made me see sense. And so I remained the book end as my friends and I hit the town.

I feel that I got rewarded in later life. I am confident in a t-shirt and a pair of jeans (I have always admitted that I like to keep an aesthetically pleasing standard for my age) and I’m happy and healthy.

I just hope that my gym friends from 20 years ago can say the same.

Overcoming A Training Plateau: Introducing The Mechanical Deload

I’m currently around 6 weeks away from beginning a new program. One which will see me add weight to the bar for shorter reps. Oh, and I’ll be eating in a slight calorie surplus again. Yesssss!

I’ve been keeping the reps high and the weights at around 50% of my 1 rep max since the ending of March which is a good time to be in a slight caloric deficit. This ensures that I look trim in my summer clothes without feeling heavy or bulky.

However, as winter kicks in I want some extra fat to keep me warm and, let’s face it, there’s no need to be going outside in shorts and a T in the UK winter so this is my usual ‘bulk’ season. It’s where I work on my strength and conditioning, put on a bit more size but expect that size to hit my belly too!

But this is still a few weeks away and, to be honest, repping out the low weights has become a little tedious. My body isn’t feeling the challenge and my mind is thinking about my pesto pasta for dinner during lat raises. I sense a plateau.

There are a number of ways to beat a plateau. The worst one is to quit your program and go straight into your next one or, even worse, quitting training altogether! And I have seen plateaus have this effect before. A trainee can become disillusioned by their progress stalling. They become bored. They give up.

Yet switching a program because of a plateau is also a form of giving up. To get the results you want, the process must be followed and completed. This will test your muscle, your mind and your attitude towards your goals. It’s character building. It’s satisfying. It works, as long as you know how.

Enter the mechanical deload.

There are several variations to a mechanical deload, but my current method to beat my plateau is to complete a triset (3 exercises in one set) or a quadraset (4 exercises in one set) which use the same muscle groups for each exercise. Here’s a step by step guide…

1. Choose a muscle group you would like to train.

2. Choose three exercises that use the same muscle group but which have varying levels of difficulty.

3. Choose a moderate weight for each exercise.

4. Begin with the most difficult exercise and rep for 12-15. Then go straight into the easier exercise for 12-15 and finish on the easiest for 12-15.

5. Then reflect on how you thought it would be fairly straightforward but seeing as you’re shaking like a shitting dog and have another 4 sets to go, you know this will break your plateau!

Today I incorporated a chest mechanical deload into a full body workout. Here’s what I did…

Barbell bench press 50% 1rm, 10 reps

Dumbbell bench press 50% 1rm, 10 reps

Smith press 45° bench 50% 1rm, 10 reps

Press up, 10 reps

And because a push workout is great for working the triceps I also added kickbacks, 10 reps, 5 sets in total.

Now, we know that DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness) doesn’t necessarily mean muscle gain or a superior workout, but my pecs and triceps are satisfyingly throbbing. Something that I haven’t experienced for around ten days. My plateau, due to experiencing a new kind of stress but remaining within my set task of high reps at moderate weight, seems to have disappeared. I can now utilise this routine for my back, shoulders, legs and arms for the remainder of my program.

A tweak in your program can help you overcome a plateau. Maybe that tweak is a mechanical deload for yourself when you need it.

Fitness Auditing And Why We Need It

You have this cool programme that you developed/got off YouTube/received from a trainer about 6 months ago and it was fantastic.

It excited you, gave you a new purpose in the gym and got you some kick ass results. For the first time in a long time, you had a new belief in reaching your goals.

It was amazing. WAS.

But now, 6 months on, it all feels like a slog. The thought of going to the gym isn’t exciting you any more like it did. The results are slow if any at all and you’ve started to feel the injury niggles from repeating the same old exercises. Day in… Day out.

>sigh< “here we go again” you say as you enter the gym doors.

You start to blame yourself. Are you tired? Is your mind just not in the game anymore? Is it just an age thing? Are you eating right?

The odd day off creeps in where you would usually have gotten to the gym. A few mates are having a pint after work. It’s tempting. The gym bag gets thrown back into the boot of the car. Or the early morning start where you once jumped out of bed to get a workout in before work has gone. Now the snooze button seems like a better option.

If any of this sounds familiar then the chances are is that your programme has run its course. I’d estimate that it’s probably a good four months out of date.

Not only does a progressive programme last over months and in some cases years, but keeping a check on the finer details like rest periods, weights, reps and sets becomes essential to a trainees goals.

If you have a workout plan that you repeat every week without a direction beyond that plan then it will become stagnant. You become demoralised and you give up. Or you become demoralised and injury gives you little option but to give up.

Internet workouts perplex me. They appeal to people because they are free. I’ve been there. The free option was like finding a cheat sheet. A short cut that didn’t cost a penny. And the guy posting it was jacked. ‘That’ll be me soon,” I thought.

Programming isn’t a one size fits all. And if you are lucky enough to find something that works to begin with, then eventually, without auditing, you will be forever treading water. It will become a tired workout. You’ll become tired.

Assessing your progress every 6-8 weeks should be as much a part of your training as perfecting your squat or your bench. Knowing how and when to tweak your workouts is a skill. I only acquired this skill when I was studying for my PT qualifications. Since then I’ve written thousands of programmes.

If only I’d have known how to audit my fitness 20 years ago when I was at my physical prime. In truth, I didn’t have a clue back then.

I don’t blame myself or anyone else for not auditing and following a progressive programme. There’s so much confusing information out there and, as I say, it’s a skill. A skill that I learnt and became qualified in.

Why wouldn’t you try out free workouts online? After all, I wouldn’t trust most PT’s in mainstream gyms anyway. I honestly can’t tell if they’re giving the gym member an induction or a training session, such is the lack of passion in their approach.

But very good PT’s do exist. Ones who are fully self employed are generally 100% committed and knowledgeable to their clients. They have to be. If they fail then nobody will pay them. If they don’t get paid they don’t have a job. I literally go to sleep at night thinking about programmes or tomorrow’s sessions. I have to. I’m the one who will help my clients audit their workouts. I need to know every tweak for over 20 programmes at any one time.

The Bottom Line

Any new workout usually works for a time. They often work muscle groups that haven’t been worked before and muscle soreness feels intense but satisfying. But the body adapts and with it so must your programme. How you adapt it is what will keep getting you the results.

Resistance Machines

My usual gym routine is from Monday to Friday. The weekends are generally for family time and relaxing away from formal exercise. It works for me. There’s no set rule that works regarding a training plan. Perhaps my ideal plan would be having two rest days that aren’t together but personal circumstances have to be accounted for.

What training a full five days in a row allows me to do is have a definitive day in which I can begin a wind down in the intensity of my workouts. I can’t hammer my body every single day with heavy compounds. Indeed, I believe in my 420 reps workout that I have developed for others so much so that I am doing it myself. This means that once Thursday’s session is over I have completed over 1500 reps. By Friday, my body is telling me that I need a little assistance from machines!

And this is exactly what the resistance machines are perfect for. They provide much more relief for the body and it isn’t just the physical aspect that needs the respite. Neuromuscular Innovation, or more commonly known as the mind-muscle connection, takes its toll on the brain. The thought process of connecting with your target muscle in a bench press scenario is much greater than on a press machine.

Foot positioning, core engagement, time under tension, breathing and the contraction are all crucial components of a bench press. Sure, there’s still the necessary check list to go through on a machine but in no way is it as thorough. Therefore, instead of risking injury with sloppy end of the week technique, I still get to workout without breaking myself.

It does concern me, however, how overused these machines get. I get the impression that lots of gym goers use them because they haven’t been shown how to squat, deadlift, bench press or barbell row. Their inductions usually include a brisk talk through these machines, so why would they use anything else?!

When I did gym inductions I went through deadlift form as a priority. It is a free weight compounds that requires the whole body to move and work together as one. I can analyse the hip extensors and knee flexors of the participant and get an understanding of overall strength and fitness levels. Without it, I would struggle to know what machine or what type of exercises a new gym member should be doing. So I am perplexed as to how the gym staff know. Introducing them to an ab crunch machine is way way off of where most new gym members need to be.

And don’t get me started on an ab crunch machine. An over reliance on a resistance machine can cause injury, but an ab machine can be particularly dangerous. The deep abdominal muscles, together with the back muscles support and protects the spine. I cringe as I see yet another gym member rocking wildly like a wound up toy trying to work their abs. Back pain is the biggest reason for staff sickness in the UK and until we begin to train our lower backs correctly this statistic won’t change.

The Final Word

Resistance machines are a great way to supplement your workouts. A heavy session on the bench or in the dumbbell section takes a lot out of us physically and on the nervous system. Rounding off a session on the machines or cables can be a perfect finish. But we can’t rely on them to reach our goals, be it injury rehabilitation, weight control, muscle gain or movement. If you are completely new to the gym then I would recommend starting in the free weights area with a trainer who knows what they’re doing.

That you for reading this article. If you have any questions on this or any of my practices then do get in touch!

Shay PT.

Smoothie Does It!

Like with most kids (and many adults) they can be fussy around certain foods. Textures, tastes and smells can put a kid right off. If only a banana looked like a chicken dipper!

My youngest has started to check his food to the extend of him looking at a slice of melon like Gil Grissom analysing a crime scene.

Finlay examines the black bits on the watermelon

And I must admit, there are foods that I wouldn’t be too fond of eating if they were put on a plate for me. Medjool dates are a prime example. But if I prepare them with lots of other fruit and vegetables into a smoothie then I can enjoy them.

I have found this with my kids, especially if they prepare their own smoothies and experiment with different ingredients then there is a much greater chance of them getting the nutrients and vitamins that they need without the fuss.

This morning they prepared a banana, strawberry, orange juice and spinach smoothie. They hate bananas and spinach and my youngest doesn’t like strawberries, but they enjoyed the process of creating their own smoothie and were pleased with what they had come up with. They felt empowered.

I have a smoothie at least once a day. A zesty citrus ensemble on a morning and usually a banana, milk and protein powder later in the afternoon. I find that smoothies can…

* Stops the hunger pangs and feeling snacky.

*Wake me up on a morning.

* Fit into my calorie and macro goals and I am getting the fibre into my body that I wouldn’t get if I were eating a meal.

Although I would never consider them a meal replacement, I do put ingredients into a smoothie that I would not make into a meal. I know that I wouldn’t eat the recommended daily fruit and veg that I need if I had to prepare it as part of a meal. I enjoy cooking, but sometimes life doesn’t allow us the time to spend on making the perfect balanced meal. This is why the convenience of a smoothie maker works for me and my family.

One of my biggest concerns is for my kids to be getting good nutritious food into them each day. It’s a constant battle. And when I know what they have as school dinners the need to feed them proper food at home is even more important. I’m not looking for clean eating and banning foods for me or my kids, but a balanced approach is a sensible one. And so far it’s working!

Gym Fitness Classes

Gym Classes are an excellent way to introduce yourself to formal exercises, meet new people with similar goals and to plan your fitness routine for consistency. From Stretch classes, Zumba, Spin and Boxercise the mainstream gym have covered it all. And being a Fitness Instructor myself I can see the fantastic benefits of booking onto a regular gym class….but it should come with a warning.

Here are my gripes on classes…

* Gyms that I am aware of are regularly putting on virtual classes. This seems to limit the cost of paying for a live instructor and can run throughout the day. I find this counterproductive from a gym going by the feedback that I receive as many gym members want live instructors and some have moved to other gyms to find them. A trained fitness instructor can manage the pace and intensity of the class and adapt workouts each week to fit the needs of their participants.

* I see more injuries occur in fitness classes than I do in the gym. An instructor cannot check the form of 30 class members. The classic exercises for poor form are deadlifts, bent over rows and kettlebell swings. In fact kettlebell classes are an injury waiting to happen. When you need to teach hip hinges, breathing and core control to a room full of people who see their half hour class as a way to ‘blast their abs’ or ‘fat burn’ it becomes an impossible task.

* When you think about the titles that they are given, such as those above (abs blast and fat burn are real life class titles) it is very misleading. An abs class once a week won’t get anybody a six pack. An abs class won’t do a great deal for stabilising core muscles. A fat burn class usually consists of fast paced reps that use exercises that require slow, controlled movement to focus on target muscles and avoid injury. Getting these movements right and incorporating them in a fitness programme is essential for all types of fitness goals, but repping out as many deadlifts as you can in 60 seconds won’t. Yes it burns calories, but put your back out and you won’t be burning those calories again until you’ve recovered from your injury.

* Classes can be demoralising for lots of people. They feel inferior compared to those around them. Yet many class goers have been going to the same class for years and might know what to do. If they know the instructor then they will probably know what equipment is used and what exercise is next. They probably even know that the class starts with Rock DJ and finishes on a club version of Castle On The Hill. But new people might feel out of their depth. Which leads me onto my recommendation…

Oh do tell Shay!!

Well, for anyone going to a new gym and are a little apprehensive or have never been to one before I would suggest hiring a good PT (a good one! Not a Poundland special) and learning how to move correctly. Of course I would say that, I’m a PT right?! Yeah but Brian who is reading this at his home in Penikuik won’t be hiring me 1-1 so it’s of no great advantage to me. It is, however, sound advice.

5 sets of ten deadlifts will be far more important to a gym goers goals than a class when they first start out on their journey. When to breath, how to engage the core, foot placement, hip hinge, strength and stamina building, morale boosting and goal setting are all of things that will be learnt fairly early on in regular PT sessions. None of which are taught with any great depth (if at all) by Mr Motivator at the front of the class whooping and jumping like a Duracell Bunny on speed.

The Journey should begin on the gym floor, not collapsing on a class floor.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my blogs then check out some of the other stuff too. See you soon!

Practice Falling Over And You’ll Be The Best Faller Overer Ever

We’ve all heard of the phrase ‘Practice makes perfect’ right?

Well as much as I agree with the sentiment, I’m going to explain to you what it actually means to me. Because it comes with a caveat.

I believe that you can practice something really badly. You could be perfectly bad at it I suppose, but I don’t think that is the purpose of the phrase ‘Practice makes perfect’.

I’ll use the bench press as an example. Repeating the bench press incorrectly each day will undoubtedly cause injury. Shoulder injuries around the rotator cuff, which are muscles and tendons that surround the shoulder joint, are very common due to poor technique.

I have seen some very impressive weight being pushed in the gym but with horrendous form! Form doesn’t just allow us to actually train the muscle that we are supposed to be training, but it helps us avoid injury.

Practicing correct form AND doing the right things specific to your goals is important. My son wants to practice a rainbow flick in the garden for an hour each day because he has seen Neymar do it. I go through this technique with him for a certain length of time because he enjoys it and then I encourage him to move onto his practical skills. Pass and move, target practice, ball shielding and tackling are all part of the game that he will need to do withing a match. There has to be a sensible mix of the fun stuff and the stuff that gets the job done!

Awards for playing football, not for rainbow flicks

It’s like the row of dudes training their nightclub muscles in front of the gym mirror every day. A pumped up bicep made up of sarcoplasm (blood and water) bulging from their T-Shirt looks good and probably makes them feel great. Fine. But over working the bicep instead of training all of the muscle groups equally will not provide an overall athletic, healthy and practical body. The older they get, this will become apparent. Age can be unkind and pumped up biceps won’t hide the years of neglect in other areas.

And as for my son, unless he becomes Neymar or goes into the circus he will probably never need to perform a rainbow flick for any great purpose (even Neymar gets booked for doing it).

I always say to my trainees ‘practice, practice, practice’. It’s not always popular when I prescribe yet another 5 sets of squats for them to perform but it is necessary. I know that they have good form and I also know that, through progressive overload, they will continue to get better and stronger.

I fear that the regular gym goer won’t ask a PT or gym staff about good form anymore. Either there’s no point in asking because they don’t really know (watch them train themselves, I wouldn’t ask some of them how to lift something heavy above my head) or it is perceived that a PT will try to sell you their services. Often this is true, they’re at work after all. But if you find a dedicated fitness professional they will happily discuss gym form with you. It should be their passion. So ask one who you see regularly and doesn’t seem pushy with their sales. Who knows, if they impress you and you feel that you can progress with them as your coach then you might choose to have them as your PT.

So don’t continue doing something wrong. It’s not impressive getting a PB if it means you put your back out. Start practicing doing it right and make progress injury free.

Father’s Day

Father’s Day and the whole of the weekend was a nutritional disaster. Well, actually it wasn’t. I bloody loved my low value nutritional feast! What’s disastrous about that? But here’s why I allowed such a diet and why I can look back at a great weekend guilt free…

On Saturday (the day before Father’s Day) I met up with my dad with my family and his friends in a beer garden at Cayton Bay. Firstly I was happy to drive. A few hours drinking in the sun doesn’t appeal to me like it did once upon a time. I have kids, I have an online business that can require my attention at any time and I’m a tight Yorkshireman. Pints were £1.50 the last time I had any interest in drinking all day in a pub beer garden. So me not drinking didn’t have anything to do with my diet which requires me to be in a calorie deficit. I made up with it with the BBQ that the pub had provided.

On the Sunday we travelled to see my in laws. Graham’s famous paella was on offer plus burgers and chips. It was on offer so, of course, I ate it. Over the two days here’s what I had to eat in total…

* 6 scrambled eggs with two slices of tiger bread

* 4 cheese burgers

* 1 wild boar hot dog

* beef curry and fried rice takeaway

* 4 portions of chips

* Seafood salad

* 1 family sized bar of chocolate

* half box of Pringles

My protein is actually quite high from the weekend, but so are my calories! And I don’t care.

There are occasions in the year that we need to give ourselves a break. I’m dedicated to my goals but, because I’m dedicated, I don’t allow my goals to become a chain around my neck. I make sure that I don’t resent my goals or the process. I’m not an athlete. Yes, I’m a Personal Trainer but I’m also a regular person that wants to enjoy family holidays, Christmas, anniversaries and family gatherings. I’m not a footballer going to bed early on Christmas night because of the early kick off on Boxing Day. Pay me a Premier League wage and I’ll do it!

But I am mentally prepared for what these ‘breaks’ within my goals will require. It means that today, the day after my indulgence, I have to become disciplined again. By the end of the week any added calories from the weekend will be balanced out with structure and commitment. I can still enjoy these moments with my family and bring my nutrition, macros and calories back in line without anxiety.

I chose to binge and over indulge at the weekend. I now choose to track calories and my nutrition. I choose to train hard this week and at least make use of all the energy that I put into my body! It is all my choice. Not once did I feel out of control.

I work with some people who are trying to find that balance. One high calorie and low nutrition day can create their eating habits to spiral. One day leads to another. And another. They become frustrated and angry with themselves and they feel like giving in.

But I need to tell them and anyone who will listen that they don’t have to! One, two bad days. Jeez even a week of poor choices doesn’t ruin their hard work. What they do with their next week might and the week after that perhaps. Because that is where habits begin to form. But a few days? No. Not if they remain in control.

We can choose the high calorie and low nutrition foods if we know that we won’t be anxious about it. Enjoy it and move on. But it’s the moving on that is the vital component. We need to move on from poor food choices.

I felt great this morning. I had a lovely weekend celebrating Father’s Day. I ate what I wanted with no regrets and I was ready to focus once again. In many ways I think I needed that weekend. I needed to break the monotony of my structure. As much as I enjoy my structure, I like burgers and Chinese takeaway too!

And Here’s The Icing On The Cake…

The saying “You can’t outrun a bad diet” is true. Because eventually your poor choices will catch up with you and running will become harder anyway. But if you have structure with your meals and in your workouts then you can outrun a poor day, weekend or holiday. And then the only reason it would be poor is if you didn’t enjoy it and you became anxious about the calorie density of each choice. It would only be poor if you allowed yourself to form negative habits around food.

I enjoy food. All food. But I remain in control and look forward to another occasion where I can over indulge again. But until then, I choose to be in control of my diet and enjoy the process and its results.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. See you soon!

Becoming Process Focussed, Not Outcome Focussed

I want to share with you the difference between a Process Focussed attitude and an Outcome Focussed attitude. Because when you can give yourself a little tap on the shoulder and remind yourself of the process then the outcome will eventually happen. I promise.

It All Needs A Process

I am so, so good at this in the gym with myself and my clients. I focus entirely on the process. That is my job. It’s what I am trained and disciplined in. But outside of the gym I have goals that I want now…right this second! And in frustration of not being able to get them right now means that the process gets crumpled up and torn like a handy pocket road map that has been stomped on during my tantrums. Had I kept a level head, the road map would still be intact and it would be easier to follow. The tap on the shoulder from myself, a professional, a partner or a friend can work wonders in working out the process for anything. A career move, a life skill, family life and health and fitness goals. It all needs a process.

Sometimes we just see a 10k run, a dress size, a one rep max or a weight loss target. The finer details of how we are getting there is the real key.

In football, the skill isn’t knowing that you need to score more goals than the opposition, it is how you’re going to do it. You can give any sporting example of this and it remains the same. The process needs to be the focus. The outcome harbours great rewards, but without the process you won’t get there.

Frustrations Of The Outcome Focus

So I’m not getting on my high horse here and telling you that I do everything perfectly and you need to step up. You might be able to help me find my process in other aspects of life with your skills. But I’m here to talk about fitness goals. And I’ve been prompted to give it a mention because the gym is full of outcome focussed people. They press, lift, run and jump without any attention to their process. They just want the results. And this can lead to frustration and in many cases injury.

And when you figure out a process for one thing, other parts of your life can begin to take shape too. Have you ever experienced getting a promotion in your career and found that your relationships in your private life improved? You have followed a process and met deadlines, hit targets, gave your colleagues morale boosts or took them under your wing and you got rewarded in your promotion. This made you feel good in other aspects of your life too.

It’s the same in your fitness goals. Once you begin a process in your fitness goals then you begin to focus on your day to day tasks that make up the little wins. And it’s not just about doing this in a gym. Imagine going for a walk with a friend or a partner away from the daily grind. Here you can discuss your ambitions, your feelings or put the world to rights. You feel great and you’ve managed a few thousand steps as well. Make this a regular exercise and you have started the process for your mental and physical health.

Becoming process focussed takes away the big issue that seems, at times, unobtainable…the outcome. To grow muscle you can’t just lift heavy stuff a lot. To lose weight healthily you can’t just eat less. To get a job promotion you can’t just turn up to an interview. To make a relationship work you can’t just add them as a Facebook friend. You need to work hard at a process that works to get the things that you want.

Small Victories Are Important

Focussing on the outcome will keep us bitter and when we have no way of getting there we give up. In my Coaching App it’s exactly what I do for hundreds of people. I’m the tap on the shoulder that reminds them of the process and enables people to reach their goals without even realising. That’s because they have enjoyed a journey that took them way beyond the anxieties of ‘ needing to lose a couple of stone’. They did that, but also found that they were in control of their life much more than when they had no direction. It became a foundation for their success. Focus and celebrate the small victories. It’s those that become the big ones.

Thank you for reading my article. If you need further advice on where to begin with your fitness process then do get in touch. I might be able to help.

Take Your Protein Pills And Put Your Gym Kit On

I’m not sure that had David Bowie brought out a song about taking protein and going to the gym, it would have catapulted his career to the great heights that it did. An astronaut traveling into space might have been a bit catchier. And who am I to argue with the Goblin King?!

I do, however, feel that I have the better insight into navigating us through this wretched Labyrinth of the fitness world. I’ll stick to that instead of trying to write a chart topping song.

The Research

What we currently know is that an active adult consuming 2000 calories per day will need 10% – 35% of their calories to be protein, or 50-175 grams. If you are training most days I would aim at the high end of that guide.

The Reason

Protein could be the defining difference between hitting your goals or them being forever eluding you. For weight/fat loss, protein adds satiety which keeps you full for longer. For muscle gain, it provides the amino acids to repair and rebuild.

The Good Protein Sources

Protein needs to be of good quality. I often joke as I’m eating pizza that is has protein in it. But I know that the processed cheese that lathers the top of my very tasty treat is not the quality my body needs. Instead I need to choose…

* lean meat- beef, lamb, veil and pork

* poultry- chicken, turkey

* seafood- fish, crab, prawns, mussels

* Eggs

* dairy- milk, Greek yoghurt, cottage cheese

* nuts and seeds- almonds, walnuts, cashew, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds

* Legumes and beans- lentils, chickpeas, tofu

* Protein drinks and bars

Every mealtime is an opportunity to get good nutrition and protein into your body. A poor nutritional meal is an opportunity missed. Most of the above can be sourced relatively cheap and can be added as a snack or incorporated into most nutritious meals.

I have often said that in my previous articles that I’m not reinventing the wheel when it comes to Personal Training. The majority of us don’t need meal planners written out for them. It is just common sense armed with the research available to me, but it means that we must get the basics right, and if we do, the journey won’t feel like you’re lost in a labyrinth. Instead you’ll be dancing in the street.