Friday, July 31, 2015
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Full-body sandbag workout
Barbells are great if you’re trying to heft the biggest weight possible, but if you’re in it for real-world strength, there’s a better option. Because of the way its centre of gravity shifts, a sandbag tests your stabilising muscles from all angles, giving you a tougher full-body test than a nice, friendly bar. If you want to make your own, use builders’ sand duct-taped inside plastic bags in a canvas sack – or you can buy one from Escape Fitness. Do this circuit three times, twice a week, to get gains from your grains.
Clean and Press
8 Reps
Start with the bag on the ground, then drive up through your heels and lift the bag quickly, flipping it over to catch it at chest height. Pause, then push the bag overhead.
Upright row
8 Reps
Grip the bag by the central handle – or, for a real test of grip strength, by the fabric. Pull upwards, bringing your elbows up to the sides. To safeguard your shoulder joints, don’t jolt. Lower the bag under control.
Zercher Lunge
10 Reps each side
A favourite with wrestlers. Grip the bag underneath with your hands clasped together, then lunge forward, alternating legs. You’ll test your core, legs and biceps.
Floor Press
10 Reps
Lie on the floor with the bag on your chest, and your triceps resting against the ground – this protects your shoulders more than traditional bench pressing. Push the bag overhead, pause, and then lower under control.
Windmill
6 Reps each side
Hold the bag overhead in one hand, and then bend at the hips, sliding your other hand down one leg.
Get-up
3 Reps each side
Expert level. Lie on the floor, holding the bag overhead by a handle, then get up on one side, keeping your weight on the opposite forearm. Bag too heavy? Hold it on your shoulder, not in your hand.
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Tuesday, July 28, 2015
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Saturday, July 25, 2015
FitBrit 2015: How to do the moves
600m run
- Start behind the treadmill and on the call of go jump on and press quick start
- Input the speed you want to run at and raise the incline to 1%
30 KB swings (24kg for men/16kg for women)
- Hold the kettlebell between your legs with both hands
- Using your hips and glutes swing the kettlebell so it raises to eye height
20 Box over jumps (red height for men/blue for women)
- Start on one side of the box and jump on top of it (however you want)
- Land on the box and jump off so you land on the far side. This is one rep
- Step up and over will also be allowed but both feet must touch the floor on both sides
10 ViPR tilts (20reps for men/12reps for women)
Pick up the ViPR from one end and move it laterally across the front of your body to place it down on the opposite side.
1.5km bike (Lv 12 for men/10 for women)
- Set the bike to the desired level and go for it
10 medicine ball press-ups (for men)/ press-ups (for women)
- Place one hand on a medicine ball and perform a press-up
- At the top of the press-up swap hands and repeat (is that one rep?)
- Your chest must reach in line with the medicine ball
20 goblet squats (24kg for men/16kg for women)
- Hold a kettlebell at chest height with both hands (the weight must be facing upwards)
- Keeping the kettlebell on your chest perform a full-depth squat (hips below knees)
30 sandbell rainbow slams (9 for men/5.5 for women)
- Hold a sandbell in both hands to one side of your body
- Raise the sandbell up over your head and slam it into the floor on other side of your body
400m row (130-140 drag factor)
Set the resistance up before you start and then strap your feet in and go.
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FitBrit 2015: Are you ready?
Fancy yourself as the fittest person in the country? Sorry, trick question: even if you don’t think you’ve got a shot at the title, signing up for this year’s FitBrit challenge comes in the ‘highly recommended’ section of Things To Do This Month.
First, the challenge itself has had an overhaul – cardio’s still a factor, but a redesigned circuit means your strength, power and co-ordination will be pushed to the limit in an all-round test that’s the toughest FitBrit yet. Second, you’ve got a better chance than ever to compete on a level playing field: all-new Amateur and Masters categories cater to non-professionals and over-35s, while if you’re more of a specialist, the four-way Team category means you can create a super-squad of strong men (or women) and cardio monsters.
But that’s not all. This year’s final will present an all-new challenge, so even if you aren’t top of the leaderboard, all-round fitness will increase your chance of glory more than slavishly practising the event. There’s never been a better chance to taste victory – and with prizes on offer, now’s the time to sign up.
Still don’t think you’ll win? Fair enough – then just remember that, in the words of Ernest Hemingway, ‘There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility is being superior to your former self.’ He’d probably do well on the rower… maybe less so on the kettlebell swings. Get to it.
Not a Fitness First member? That's not a problem - get your free 5-day pass here.
Still got some questions? Check out the FitBrit 2015 FAQ
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Brain Doping
Struggling to better your 5K time? If using electricity to stimulate your brain sounds like an easier solution than another set of hill intervals, it could be time to try transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). This is done in what you might call the old- fashioned way – by attaching electrodes to your temples.
‘We wanted to understand if it was the brain or the body that limited physical performance, or a combination of both,’ says Dr Holden McRae, professor of sports medicine at Pepperdine University in California, who recently led a team of scientists for a Red Bull study called Project Endurance. ‘We found that it’s the brain that’s the limiter.’
According to McRae this isn’t surprising. ‘We are homeostatic organisms, which means we seek a condition of balance or calm in our internal environment. Our brains are not going to allow us to get to a stage where we can cause damage to our systems by doing too much exercise.’
Of course, any athlete’s first question about their brain limiter is, ‘How do I turn it off?’ That’s where tDCS comes in. ‘The next step was to see if we could stimulate or increase the activity in the brain regions responsible for activating the leg muscles while cycling,’ says McRae. ‘We’re resetting your brain’s “software” to allow for a better output. It’s like having a 5MB/s download speed but being able to increase it to 15MB/s.’
Results vary. ‘The responses are individual – some people respond well, others not at all,’ says McRae. ‘We had athletes ride a 4km time trial after a series of fatiguing exercises. If we stimulated them before the fatiguing exercises, the average times were improved.’The effects only last around 90 minutes and there aren’t yet any studies on the long-term effects that this kind of electrical stimulation might have. Verdict: risky.
Is it allowed?
The good news is that if you do have the cojones to zap yourself for more speed, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) isn’t going to tell you off for it. Not yet, anyway. ‘The debate about whether or not it’s a form of cheating hasn’t really happened yet,’ says Nick Wojek, head of science and medicine at UK Anti-Doping, the British arm of Wada. ‘It may not even end up being an anti-doping decision because no chemicals are involved, but it could be banned by the governing bodies of individual sports where the benefits are considered unfair.’
Do it yourself
Run faster… via boredom
Mental fatigue impedes physical performance, according to a study by exercise physiology specialist Samuele Marcora, published in 2009 – but the good news is, you can use this exact effect to compete better. Here’s McRae’s three-step plan.
Train bored
First, train after doing a boring mental task. ‘The perception of what you’re doing is “Wow, this is really difficult”,’ says McRae. Do this a few times.
Rest your brain
‘Make sure you’re mentally rested before a big competition or PB attempt,’ says McRae. Use the Breathe2Relax app to calm yourself down.
Smash your PB
With less mental fatigue, you should go significantly faster. ‘That’s more practical for an athlete than electrocuting themselves,’ says McRae.
Ketones
Got £2,000 to spend on an energy drink? The pro peloton does and, according to researcher David Holdsworth, part of the Oxford University team working on ketone drink Delta-G, some cyclists are already using it to win ‘significant international events’. The drink, created by a team led by Oxford biochemistry professor Kieran Clarke, contains ketones that are also naturally produced in the body, which uses them as a fuel source. ‘They’re just like glucose or fat and they have calories,’ says Clarke. ‘You make them when you either go on a high-fat, low-carb diet or don’t eat at all for a while.’
What Delta-G isn’t is one of the ‘raspberry ketone’ drinks you see in health food shops. ‘They’re a different form of ketone that’s not normally produced or metabolised in the body,’ says Clarke. ‘It just goes straight though you without having any effect.’
Clarke’s drink isn’t yet available to the public – it can only be produced in a lab and as a result costs around £2,000 a litre to make. However, that price will come down dramatically when Delta-G goes into full production, which Clarke estimates will be within a year. Even with the cheaper price, Clarke still sees it as something for elite athletes, saying that weekend competitors probably wouldn’t notice a difference in performance.
If ketones are present in the body anyway, why does this drink exist? In fact, while your body does produce ketones naturally, it does so fairly slowly. ‘If you’re producing ketones naturally it would take several days to build up levels,’ says Clarke. ‘It depends on what you’re eating.’ Delta-G gives you an immediate ketone kick that provides you with an alternative fuel source to burn while training.
The drink has been tested on endurance athletes and while the results haven’t been published yet, Clarke says that they’re promising and the drink has been clearly shown to improve endurance. ‘It’s only endurance athletes who would ever see any improvements – sprinters wouldn’t,’ says Clarke.
Is it allowed?
Although the drink isn’t yet available, Wada already has a view on it. ‘It’s not considered prohibited. We know it’s used as fuel, as a different way of generating energy rather than using glucose and fatty acids,’ says Wojek. ‘It’s definitely OK at the moment; we class ketones as an ingredient in special dietary foods. I’d say that an athlete who’s considering this drink should take the same caution associated with any supplement use.’ Since they’re a naturally occurring substance, testing for it might also be tricky.
Do it yourself
The ketogenic diet will help you boost your energy reserves
While you wait for Delta-G to become available in Sainsbury’s, you can get a similar effect with a ketogenic diet. This is high in fat and low enough in carbohydrates (around 20-50g a day) to cause a metabolic state called ketosis, where most of the body’s energy comes from ketone bodies in the blood, rather than glycolysis, which is where blood glucose provides the energy. Here’s a day’s menu to start you off.
Breakfast
Poached egg with spinach Poach an egg in gently simmering water, adding a splash of vinegar to the pan to keep the egg intact, and wilt spinach in a pan for two minutes. Serve the egg on a bed of spinach, topped with melted cheese.
Lunch
Spicy chicken wings Make a spice rub with ground ginger, ground coriander, black pepper, allspice, garlic powder and cayenne or your preferred spices. Rub on chicken wings and leave for 30 minutes. Then grill until cooked through and serve with lettuce.
Dinner
Tuna with steamed veg Fry a tuna steak – it only needs a couple of minutes on each side in a hot pan. Boil a saucepan of water and steam some green veg – broccoli, asparagus and mange tout are good options – to serve with the tuna.
Gene Doping
If the idea of meddling with genes conjures up images of mad scientists creating perfect athletes in secret underground labs, rein your imagination in – a little. Of the three methods here, gene doping is the most experimental and controversial. In fact there are disputes about whether or not it’s even feasible.
Gene doping stems from legitimate gene therapy trials, where scientists introduce a corrected version of a gene to replace a defective one. It can potentially be used to treat conditions such as haemophilia. When this type of treatment is appropriated (or misappropriated) to boost athletic performance, for example altering the growth-influencing insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), it becomes doping.
A study published in Clinical Biochemistry found that while gene therapy trials have overall had disappointing results the potential presents a strong lure for athletes. The study also pointed out that a number of gene doping studies on animals have seen positive results, which suggest gene doping may be just around the corner.
However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t big issues that need to be overcome before it becomes a reality. As well as the negative trial results, there’s also a serious risk of your body reacting badly to gene therapy and identifying modified genes as dangerous foreign substances that need to be destroyed. Because gene therapy is designed to merge the new genes into your body, it can trigger a fatal auto-immune reaction. This happened in 1999 to 19-year-old Jesse Gilsinger, who was undergoing gene therapy to combat a rare genetic liver condition.
In spite of the dangers, one of the biggest elements of gene doping’s allure is that there currently isn’t a specific test that will flag it up. Why risk using a traditional EPO blood doping method that can show a spike in your system when you can reprogramme your body to produce it naturally?
Is it allowed?
It might be firmly in the realms of sci-fi for now, but Wada is clear: gene doping is illegal. ‘It’s classed as a prohibited method and it’s banned at all times,’ says Wojek. While there’s no direct test for gene doping, it is possible to test for the indirect effects. ‘We monitor blood variables, but testing directly is one of the big challenges for the scientific community to resolve,’ explains Wojek. ‘We’re not aware of any cases related to gene doping but we wouldn’t be surprised if someone was already trying to use these techniques, especially with the developments going on in the medical field.’
Do it yourself
Er, well, don’t, but you can take various legitimate stepsto maximise your body’s performance EPO stimulates red blood cell production and this, in turn, increases your capacity for oxygen transport, which has been shown to improve your ability to perform endurance exercises. But it’s not the only way to get the effect.
BUY ECH
Evidence that echinacea can prevent colds is shaky, but a 2012 study published in the Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research found that consuming echinacea increased EPO levels and exercise endurance.
GO FISH
High in omega 3 fatty acids, fish oil has been claimed to help with all manner of conditions, one of which is promoting optimum kidney health, which is vital in the production of EPO. Dose yourself with 1,200mg a day.
GET HIGH
Sprint training at high altitude tricks the EPO naturally present in your body into producing more red blood cells. Don’t have a mountain nearby? Gyms such as the Altitude Centre will let you mimic the effects
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Speed
My first event was a Tough Guy race in 2010,’ says 25-year-old Jon Albon. His motive wasn’t to become a champion. ‘It just sounded like a bit of fun because it wasn’t a standard running race – you needed to jump over and crawl under stuff. I saw it as a test of how tough I was. I started quite a way back, but I managed to make up a few places in that first race.’
It was clear, though, that just being a good runner wasn't enough. ‘I did very well in the running,’ says the Norway-based Englishman. ‘But I got really cold and slowed down by the obstacles.’ Albon finished 76th. His next race was the far less competitive Wolf Run, which he won fairly easily, going on to win several more races. When he started out, he says, ‘you could just run and win. But the sport has become a lot more competitive since then.’ He knew he needed to up his game if he wanted to stay out in front.
Albon was happy with his speed – which he kept up with running and cycling – but knew his grip strength was letting him down. ‘I added bouldering sessions to my training,’ he says. ‘Going climbing made a massive difference to my races. People think you need strength to get over the obstacles, but it’s the strength in your fingers that will go first.’
And while Albon’s foot speed was good, he realised that the style of running in obstacle races is different to the steady pace found in 10Ks or marathons. ‘Orienteering is a similar type of running,’ says Albon. ‘The stop-start nature of having to run through woods and slowing to look at your map lends itself to obstacle racing.’
The change in preparation paid off. Albon won every single obstacle course race he entered in 2014, becoming OCR World Champion and Spartan World Champion in the process. This year? More of the same. Time to get even tougher.
Lessons Learned
Don’t worry about weights
You can get all the strength you need from bodyweight exercises. During training runs for Tough Mudders, do ten burpees every 2km to prepare for the stop-start nature of the race.
Take on Calisthenics for more bodyweight training
Record your training
Download social training app Strava to monitor your sessions. It’ll let you share your running and cycling routes online as well as see other people’s so you can see how you measure up by comparison.
Go running
Don’t just focus on the obstacles. Go hill running – a 2010 study in Medicine And Science In Sports And Exercise found that runners who varied their pace on different gradients had a more consistent level of oxygen consumption, allowing them to keep going for longer.
Read about Anthony Johnson's change
Size
Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson’s reason for competing in the 77kg welterweight division was simple: ‘I felt I could be the dominant fighter – I was bigger, stronger and faster than the rest,’ he says.
For a while, this worked. He’d dwarf his opponents in the Octagon, and became known for his hard-hitting fighting style. However, against an opponent who could neutralise his power, Johnson’s oxygen-hungry frame would often start to wilt late on in fights. There was another problem: the amount of water Johnson would have to sweat out before the fight meant he started to fail to make weight. ‘Sometimes my body wanted to work with me and sometimes it just didn’t,’ he admits.
After missing weight a third time Johnson was cut from the UFC, leaving him to work his way back up through smaller promotions. Johnson knew he had to change something. ‘I didn’t want to disappoint anybody any more so I decided to go up in weight. The first time I fought at light heavyweight I made weight [93kg] fairly easily.’
Johnson wasted no time in his light heavyweight debut. ‘I beat the guy less than a minute into the second round, but it should have been stopped in the first,’ the Georgia-born fighter says. ‘When I got that feeling after the victory, I thought, “OK, I need to stay here”.’
A big part of the switch up in division was food. ‘At welterweight I had a strict diet and couldn’t really enjoy the finer things,’ says Johnson. ‘At light heavyweight my diet hasn’t really changed – I just get to eat more of it. I typically start my day with egg whites, maybe some bacon, oatmeal and fruit. For lunch I have pasta, and then at 3pm I eat some more fruit or yogurt. Dinner is at 6pm where I eat another small meal like chicken with vegetables. It’s just about the right portion sizes and not pigging out.’
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Now that Johnson didn’t have to worry about making weight, the overall quality of his training went up. ‘’My skill level went up tremendously,’ he says. ‘I spent so much more time on the mat than on the treadmill [trying to keep my weight down]. I always knew I had the talent – I just wasn’t dedicating the time I needed to the sport. It’s helped my confidence go up a lot.’
After a string of wins outside the UFC, he was invited back and has been on a tear ever since, most recently making short work of top-ranked Alexander Gustafsson to earn himself a shot at Jon Jones’s title in May. ‘I just feel very different now. I’m more cheerful and happier,’ says the 31-year-old Johnson. ‘I’m smiling all the time. Life is beautiful compared with what it was at welterweight.’
Lessons Learned
Confidence in your ability is key
It’s arguably more important than physical strength. A University of Wales study showed that as self-confidence increased, athletes perceived their anxiety to be more helpful to their performance.
Think fat loss, not weight loss
Your body fat percentage is a better indicator of health than the number on the scales. No callipers to hand? Take well-lit top-off reference photos before a new training plan so you can accurately assess results.
Get these healthy meal plan services for fat loss
Treat yourself
Scheduling cheat meals can help optimise your body’s hormone levels to avoid it entering a ‘starvation’ mode and holding on to calories. Your rule: plan two a week and throw away any remaining nasties afterwards.
Read about Will Kane's change
Strength
‘Before I got into CrossFit I’d tried lots of sports, from football and rugby to mixed martial arts and athletics,’ says Multipower athlete Will Kane. ‘But this is definitely the most competitive sport I’ve been involved in.
The 27-year-old only began CrossFit when a friend said he should try out this ‘circuit-training session’. He was soon training regularly at CrossFit Cheltenham, and started competing in, and then winning, local events. ‘From there I started doing national ones and that was it,’ says Kane. ‘I’ve competed in Italy, Poland, Germany and France. In the UK, I won Battle of the Beasts and missed out on winning the Athlete Games by just a few points.’
However, Kane’s results were masking his deficiencies. ‘I always finished strongly in the workouts that required my heart rate to go higher,’ says Kane. ‘Whereas in the strength events I’d be placing, like, 27th.’ He realised he needed to improve his strength if he wanted to progress.
‘When I started CrossFit, I would hit random metabolic conditioning workouts whenever I could, multiple times a day,’ says Kane. ‘It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I was hitting them at 100% every time. Now I only go all out once or twice a week and I take my recovery much more seriously. The rest of the time I’m lifting weights, focusing on my snatch and clean and jerk.’The results are impressive. ‘In the past year I’ve put 15 to 20 kilos on all my main lifts,’ says Kane. ‘A year ago I’d have said I’d needed steroids to achieve that!’
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And although Kane says he’s done less conditioning work, his scores in endurance-heavy workouts have actually gone up. ‘As I’ve got stronger I don’t have to work as hard to move the barbell now,’ he says. ‘Knowing that my strength is now on par with my endurance is a huge boost to my confidence.’
Lessons Learned
Keep it simple
Pick a few key lifts and hit them hard. A study published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition And Metabolism found that complex arrangements of exercises had far less impact on results within a programme than keeping the intensity high.
Take your recovery seriously
It’s as important as the workouts. A study published in the International Journal Of Sports Physiology And Performance in 2010 found that a recovery of 48 hours between heavy bench press sessions optimised strength development.
All improvements are important
Even if you’re only making small improvements you’re still getting better. Buy some micro weight plates – they’re not often found in gyms, but they’re useful for adding small increases to your lifts.
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Train like a strongman
Strongmen don’t top many ‘body types you’d love to have’ lists. Zydrunas ‘Big Z’ Savickas wouldn’t look out of place playing professional darts, for instance, and even Hafthór Björnsson (AKA the Mountain from Game Of Thrones) looks like he probably gets out of breath climbing the stairs. So, even if strongman-style kit such as sleds and tyres is becoming more popular and accessible at gyms around the UK – my local Fitness First included – is it really worth doing?
‘You don’t need to have the physique or strength of a strongman to get the benefits of training like one,’ says coach Luke Chamberlain, as I arrive for my first ‘modified’ strongman session. ‘Appearances can be deceptive. Professional strongmen eat up to 10,000 calories a day to add mass and counterbalance the enormous weights they lift, but if you take diet out of the equation, a lot of the more unusual events they do can be replicated in a gym and modified to help achieve huge improvements in physique and athletic performance.’ Good news.
Flipping out
After some mobility-based warm-up drills, Chamberlain rolls out an 80kg gym-specific ‘tyre’ – complete with handles. ‘You’re going to flip the tyre down the length of this track, then deadlift it by the handles and carry it back,’ he says, which seems reasonable enough. ‘You’ll do that continuously for one minute, rest for a minute, and repeat four times,’ he adds with a smile. Ouch.
Flipping the tyre turns out to be easier than carrying it, but that’s not saying much, and within 30 seconds I’m sweating and breathing hard. The combination of full-body strength, power and endurance required to pick up the tyre and repeatedly carry it the length of the track is exhausting. By the end I have no choice but to ditch the tyre and collapse on the floor in a heap.
Next is the sled. Elite strongmen can pull trucks weighing up to 40 tonnes, which makes the 80kg on the sled seem puny. But it’s more than my bodyweight, and after a few lengths of the track my legs are seizing up while the harness bites into my shoulders.
After five brutal one-minute rounds – punctuated with one-minute rest periods – I finish with five rounds of clean and pressing with a ViPR, which, Chamberlain explains, replicates the strongman-style log press. It’s a welcome break from forcing myself up and down the track, but I soon start to struggle, and it’s a huge relief when the session ends.
The power of one
‘A one-to-one work-to-rest ratio is crucial for maximising the fat-burning, muscle-building powers of strongman exercises,’ explains Chamberlain when my shaking and dizziness has subsided. ‘Working for a minute at maximum capacity produces large amounts of lactic acid, especially with big compound exercises like these. The body responds by releasing extra growth hormone and testosterone, which helps you build lean muscle.’
The exercises also have a huge fat-burning metabolic effect. ‘So much so that they cause an “afterburn” where you burn calories for hours after a workout,’ he says. ‘These two factors make MST ideal if you’re trying to achieve a lean, muscular physique – you’ll see far better results than you would a typical body-part split workout.’
Strong to the finish
The sessions don’t get any easier over the weeks, but I’m impressed with the visible changes in my physique, supported by a 1kg increase in muscle mass and a drop in body fat of four percentage points. What’s more, the workouts become increasingly fun as I get used to the mental challenge. As a bonus, I even set a couple of lifting PBs in the gym in moves where I’d been stuck on plateaus. It might not be pulling trucks, but it’s a start. Thanks to Fitness First Bishopsgate. Contact Luke Chamberlain on Twitter @impulsefitness_
Walk this way
No access to strongman kit? These three exercises use regular equipment and are ideally suited to the ‘five rounds, one minute on, one minute off’ format
Overhead barbell carry
Builds your… SHOULDERS AND CORE
Walk holding a barbell overhead with arms locked out and core braced.
Weight plate Zercher carry
Builds your… ARMS
Hold a weight plate at chest height in the crooks of your elbows, keeping your shoulder blades pulled back.
Dumbbell farmer’s walk
Builds your… LEGS AND FOREARMS
Walk with a heavy dumbbell in each hand with palms facing.
For more strength building exercises, try this sled sprint workout
Power Up Your Muscle-Up!
Muscle-building Moules Marinière recipe
Belgian cuisine can be a bit hit-and-miss if you’re trying to add lean muscle. Carbonnade? Fantastic. Chips with mayonnaise? Not so much. But one dish of Belgian origin you should most definitely add to your bulk-building eating regime is moules marinière. In addition to offering high levels of muscle-building protein, these crustaceans are also rich in bone-strengthening manganese and sleep-improving selenium.
The MF-enhanced recipe below – provided by Michelin-starred chef Adam Gray – also swaps the traditional cream for vitamin B12-rich natural yogurt to give you an extra energy boost. Adam Gray is executive chef at Skylon in London.
Try this seafood soup with mussels
Prep time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 10 minutes
Calories: 751
Protein: 65g
Fat: 27g
Carbs: 43g
Ingredients (serves 1)
1.5kg mussels in shells, cleaned and beards removed / 1 bay leaf / 100ml dry white wine / 4 shallots, peeled and sliced / 20g unsalted butter / 2tbsp natural yogurt / 25g curly parsley, roughly chopped
To make
Wash the mussels in a pot under cold running water. If any of the mussels float, discard them. Press the shells of any open mussels together with your fingers and if they don’t close, discard them.
Heat the butter in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the shallots and bay leaf and soften for one minute.
Add the mussels and wine cover the pan tightly with a lid and cook for four to five minutes until the mussels have all opened. Stir in the yogurt and parsley and serve.
Expert upgrades
Add these extra ingredients to your moules for bonus health benefits
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Garlic provides sulphuric compounds that reduce inflammation, says performance nutritionist Nick Morgan awordonnutrition.com
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An introduction to calisthenics training
If your local park has dip bars, chances are you’ve seen ripped guys performing acrobatic feats on them. It looks impressive but there’s nothing complicated about it. This is calisthenics and as a principle it’s very simple: it’s bodyweight training – anything from the basic press-up to the advanced front lever. It’s what gymnasts use to build strength across their whole body, helping them execute isometric holds and dynamic routines.
Body art
The word comes from the ancient Greek word kállos, meaning beauty, and sthénos, meaning strength. As well as giving you the strength, power, flexibility and cardiovascular fitness of gymnasts (not to mention the lean, muscular physique), it will help you use your body with grace and control.
But don’t expect to jump straight into an iron cross on rings. It might take a hundred hours of training to be able to manage a ten-second hold. I developed the strength for advanced moves by first going to my local gym and doing press-ups, dips and pull-ups every day. Use grip variations, negative reps and static holds and you’ll build the foundations to perform amazing feats of strength.
In its modern form, calisthenics is often known as street workout and it’s about more than just fitness. Social events known as bar jams are held indoors and out, where you can enter pull-up or muscle-up competitions as well as freestyle contests. There are bespoke classes in parks and gyms and even world championships organised by the World Street Workout & Calisthenics Federation. Competition is fierce – only one will get to the final.
Raise the bar
The best thing about calisthenics is you can do it anywhere. Invest in some parallettes – you won’t regret it. And for inspiration, search for Hannibal for King on YouTube.
Tye Sets runs calisthenics classes in Battersea Park and Pure Gym in London. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube
Worth your weight
Add these calisthenic moves to your training for full-body strength gains
Hollow hold pull-up
Difficulty: Beginner
Benefit: Lats, abs, glutes, hamstrings, quads and grip
From a pull-up position, raise your legs together and contract your core to form a dish shape. Maintain this position and do a pull-up. Go for three sets of three slow reps.
Birdie dip
Difficulty: Intermediate
Benefit: Triceps, chest, core and grip
With your body above the bar, lean forwards so your chest is above your hands. Use your core and grip to keep your balance, and bend your arms to perform dips. Go for three sets of ten.
Dragon flag leg flutter
Difficulty: Advanced
Benefit: Abs, lower back and glutes
Raise your body so that it’s vertical, supported by your upper back. Then lower your legs to 45°. Brace your core and flutter your legs for ten reps each side for three sets.
Sweatbox Fitness, London
Sweatbox has developed a functional fitness facility offering a 20m frame built over a soft padded floor, and runs regular calisthenics classes to help you master your bodyweight on the floor and in the air. sbfitness.uk.com
The Commando Temple, London
This indoor adventure mecca in south-east London features a calisthenics-inspired obstacle course rig complete with rings, monkey bars and an adjacent climbing wall to further work your grip and core strength. bestronger.co.uk
Spartanfam, London
Spartanfam’s trainers host calisthenics competitions and races in London’s East End, turning the urban cityscape into your outdoor gym, as well as running weekly athletics and gymnastics classes in north London. spartanfam.com
The Compound, Northamptonshire
With an indoor centre in Corby and an outdoor one in Kettering, these street workout parks offer facilities and coaching for all abilities. Each centre has a bespoke rig with pull-up, dip, handstand, planche, dragon and human flag stations. thecompound.co.uk
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Is this the future of food?
Transdermal supplementation
What is it?
A new breed of supplement sprays that you apply directly to your skin. In theory this allows them to be absorbed directly into your bloodstream, bypassing the digestive system – which slows down the absorption of traditional oral supplements – to make them faster-acting and more reliable.
Does it work?
‘Research from Manchester Met University found that caffeine took effect ten times quicker when taken transdermally compared to orally,’ says performance nutritionist Ben Coomber, ‘so it’s certainly faster-acting. What’s more, it required only a tenth of the dosage to have the same effect.’ However, the barrier to entry – quite literally – is the size of our pores, which restricts which supplements can be absorbed transdermally. ‘The research suggests that nutrients such as caffeine, taurine, zinc and magnesium can be effectively absorbed transdermally, but plenty of others – including most types of protein – can’t, and will still need to be taken orally,’ says Coomber.
Where do I get some?
UK-based company Transdermal Technology currently offers two transdermal sprays: a pre-workout performance-booster containing caffeine, taurine and guarana and a post-workout recovery spray consisting of zinc, magnesium and niacin. Each spray costs £18 and contains 40 doses, which typically reach peak concentration in your bloodstream in 15 minutes, compared with 60 minutes for an oral supp.
Lab meat
What is it?
You’ve probably heard of this one, but it’s going to be massive: scientists have been working on creating artificial, laboratory-manufactured meat replacement products. These consist of a variety of plant materials, including amaranth and pea protein, which have been broken down and reassembled into ‘meat’ patties. The resulting products have the taste and texture of actual meat and offer the additional benefit of optimum leanness. It couldn’t come at a better time, following a 2013 UN report highlighting ‘unsustainable’ levels of meat consumption in Western countries.
Does it work?
‘Under a microscope, it’s biologically the same as real meat,’ says sports scientist and performance nutritionist Laurent Bannock. ‘The only major difference is that it contains lower quantities of certain key amino acids, which are needed for muscle growth.’ So while it does offer a very lean alternative to regular meat, with less impact on the environment and zero cruelty to animals, lab meat does require some additional supplementation. ‘If and when it becomes widely available and affordable, if muscle growth and athletic performance are important to you, I’d recommend supplementing lab meat with leucine to boost your amino acid intake,’ says Bannock.
Where can I get some?
There are no companies offering lab meat in the UK yet, but that’s likely to change in the near future. Current market leaders include Beyond Meat, an American company that offers plant-based meat products including realistic-looking ‘beef’ burgers and ‘chicken’ strips, and German company Like Meat, whose product range includes Bratwurst-style sausages and doner kebab ‘meat’.
Nutrigenomics
What is it?
The process of optimising your diet to suit your DNA. The theory is that by examining your genetic profile, it’s possible to highlight any potentially problematic genes you carry – for example the PPARA gene, which affects the regulation of body fat. You can then adjust your diet accordingly to work around or counteract these genetic limitations to enhance body composition and athletic performance. This isn’t new, but it’s becoming more accessible to the average gym-goer.
Does it work?
It’s a young and shallow field of research and has provoked much debate in the scientific community. But a University of Toronto study from 2014 found that ‘individuals may benefit from adhering to different dietary guidelines than others, depending on their genotype’. In theory, it should help remove the trial and error part of experimenting with different diets to find out what works best for you. One note of caution is that scientists are still identifying the roles certain genes play. But if you want to get ahead of the curve, there’s no need to wait. ‘The sequence of our genes stays the same throughout our lives,’ says leading dietician Nanci Guest. ‘So a genetic assessment done now will be just as valid in years to come, and you’ll be able to refine your diet even further as more information becomes available about the specific genes you carry.’
Where can I get some?
DNA Fit offers self-test swab kits, which you use at home and then send back for assessment. The company then provides you with analysis and feedback, including tailored diets and training plans based on a selection of genes that relate to weight loss (such as GDF5 and FABP2) and athletic performance (including ACTN3 and IL-6). Prices range from £99 to £249.
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Can supergreen supplements replace your five a day?
Everyone agrees: five a day is barely enough. In Denmark, the recommended dose of fruit and veg is six, in France it’s ten, in Japan it’s a staggering (though smaller-portioned) 17 – and yet here you are, struggling to manage a portion of broccoli and an apple. So if one supplement could offer you all the nutrients you need, you should go for it – right?
Super hero
Enter supergreens. These are essentially nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables, dried, processed, filtered and refined into a mixable powder that’s easy to consume. Typically, they contain well-researched vegetables such as spirulina, wheatgrass, spinach, kale and broccoli. Recently, though, more exotic additions have included acerola berries and matcha green tea.
The key effect supergreens have is on your immune system, which is weakened when exposed to periods of heavy, hard training. Studies at the University of Queensland, for instance, found that intensive exercise altered a number of immune factors including white blood cells, which help to protect the body against micro-organisms causing disease. Supergreens will support this, as well as providing other micronutrients needed by the body – not just vitamins and minerals, but enzymes, phytonutrients and more.
Fresh start
Research has not shown any specific nutrient window for supergreens. Many people swear by taking them in the morning, which is fine, though evidence suggests any benefit of a morning dose is psychological. It’s also fine to take them daily – you don’t have to cycle their usage (take them for a while, then take a break), as some experts say you should with, say, creatine. Supergreens can and should be a regular fixture in your diet.
But can they ever replace vegetables altogether? Short answer: no. Research and experience shows that we should eat our nutrients as nature packaged them. For instance, a study published in the American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition found that having fruit in liquid form can dramatically change how your body processes it. But we all know it’s hard to consume enough fruit and veg to get all the micronutrients we need – not to mention expensive – so why ignore something that would help?
Ultimately, it’s about having a measured approach to your consumption of both. In other words, it’s worth supplementing with supergreens – but you still have to eat your broccoli. For more visit theproteinworks.com
Get more Green
Broccoli
High in antioxidants and vitamins, and guards against cancer and heart disease according to a US study. Part-fry it in butter, then throw in a splash of water and cover the pan to steam it the rest of the way.
Make broccoli better with these recipes
Kale
Rich in lutein, which fights age-related disease, and vitamin E, which protects against pro-inflammatory molecules called cytokines. Sprinkle with lemon juice and bake it for kale ‘crisps’.
Use kale with a healthy spatchcock chicken recipe
Sweet potato
Technically not green, but high in vitamin C, which can stop the release of a cytokine called inter-leukine IL 6. Chop into wedges, sprinkle with paprika and olive oil, and roast for 20 minutes.
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Does the anabolic diet work?
The Diet
The anabolic diet is a carb-cycling diet that’s aimed primarily at bodybuilders and strength and power athletes. It involves cycling between periods of low and high carbohydrate intake with the aim of generating optimum conditions for building muscle and burning body fat.
The Claim
The diet’s creator and author of The Anabolic Solution, Dr Mauro di Pasquale, says that by cycling your intake of fat, protein and carbs, you’ll boost your body’s levels of anabolic hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone, while increasing its use of stored fat as energy. This means you can use the diet to bulk up by building lean muscle or to reduce body fat while maintaining existing muscle mass, depending on how much food you eat. It aims to be a safe and natural way of eating building muscle instead of using drugs.
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The Method
The diet begins with a low-carb phase that lasts between six and 12 days, during which your body adapts to using fat as its primary fuel source. It takes your body about 4 weeks to adapt to the diet. This means you keep your limited supplies of muscle glycogen in reserve for when you really need them – during training. After the low-carb phase the diet proper begins, and this involves ‘cycling’ five to six low-carb, high-fat, high-protein days each week with one or two days of eating mostly carbs.
The Reality
The initial low-carb adaptation phase – where you’re purposely running down your stored carb supply – is very tough physically, and my concentration and energy levels really suffered. But once my body had switched to using fat as its primary food source, I felt great and full of energy.
My food choices during the week were fairly meat-heavy, and I was free to eat fatty foods such as cheese and butter, so I never felt too restricted or hungry. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that Di Pasquale condoned a degree of drinking and partying during the ‘high-carb’ weekend days – most booze and junk food is carbohydrate-heavy, after all – which made it a lot easier to maintain a decent social life and helped me to stay strict and motivated during the week.
The Result
The amount of weight I was lifting in training didn’t increase spectacularly over the month, but it didn’t drop during the low-carb days either. However, I did notice a dip in cardio performance during the week as my body ran out of glycogen.
I saw small but significant improvements in body composition, gaining half a kilogram of muscle and dropping a kilogram of body fat. My cholesterol profile improved too – all while eating cheese, bacon and pancakes!
The Verdict
Vegetarians and people who do a lot of cardio training or team sports will struggle on the low-carb days, but if you’re primarily focused on weightlifting or bodybuilding and you’re happy eating plenty of meat and fish, this diet could produce excellent results – provided you can deal with the initial adaptation phase.