Green Tea

Green tea is always been raved about in the fitness world and I myself do enjoy a cup when my  friend Irene pops in! But why is it so funking good? Well hold your horses and I will get to that!

Green tea contains loads of antioxidants, the compounds that seek out cancer causing free radicals and give them a karate chop round the chops!

It also has caffeine, not as much as coffee so if you can't quite handle the buzz green tea might be a good alternative, it also has an amino acid that when combined with the caffeine can help your brain function and lower feelings of anxiety!

There are a few different takes on whether or not green tea boosts your metabolic rate but seen as it is an ingredient in every weight loss aid I have come across I am going to be a sheep and go with the flock on this one! Caffeine certainly boosts your metabolism and the other benefits of drinking green tea add tot he apply so stick the kettle on and have yourself a cup!

Green tea lowers the risk of the most common cancers in both men and women!
Male green tea drinkers lower their risk of prostate cancer by 48% and the lasses lowered their chance of breast cancer by 22%! If you don't want a finger having a root around up your bum get drinking lads!

Green tea may be able to protect our brains from the 2 most common neural degenerative  diseases suffered by humans, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

Green tea can improve your dental health and help with your stink breath.


Green tea reduces the risk of the dying from the 2 biggest killers in the world, heart disease and strokes by reducing your cholesterol.

To get the most out your green tea don't use milk because it can lower the amount of antioxdients that your lovely green has. If you can get your hands on some try some white tea which is sweeter than green tea and has even more antioxidents!

I struggle to find the time to sit and enjoy green so I have also bought the extract, I am not convinced if it's better than drinking the tea because the extract could be any of the antioxdients that green tea contains.

If you are interested in getting some I buy mine from myprotein.com and it's £4.99 for 120 pills, perfect if you don't have much time or if you don't like the taste of the drink.

Fuel Liquid Breakfast

Another product from Fuel!

Fuel Liquid Breakfast is available in Caffe Latte, Strawberry, Chocolate, Vanilla and Caramel  and I bought the Caffe Latte one from my local Asda for £1.48, detecting a theme here?

The eye motif again works well this product and gives a stark contrast to the Weetabix on the go breakfast drink that was on the same shelf in the supermarket.

 I will do using the weetabix on the go drink as a nutritional comparison.

Fuel is lighter on calories and fibre than weetabix's offering but almost 3 times as much protein which should help keep you fuller for longer and help you build those gains!

I really enjoyed the taste of Fuel Liquid breakfast, it was just like drinking a milkshake!

 I am not suggesting you should swap solid food for a liquid diet but with our 24 hour lives, families, work and all our other commitments I understand that the time it takes to make and eat breakfast is easy to give up in favour of extra time in bed, better to have something in the morning rather than nothing as so many of my friends do!

Fuel Protein Porridge

I bought the golden syrup and the forest fruits flavours of the protein porridges offered by Fuel for 50p each at my local Asda, what can I say? I'm a sucker for a bargain!

There are 6 flavours in the range, including the 2 that I am reviewing, Fuel also do Honey, Nut and Raisin, Apple and Cinnamon and Chocolate.

With it's masculine design and the intense glare from the eye on the packaging it is certainly hard to ignore amongst all of the cartoon characters and creatures in the breakfast aisle.

I enjoyed the taste of both the flavours and didn't find them overly strong, I found the forest fruits flavour to be the sweeter of the two.

Only after writing this review did I look at the nutritional information and did find that the forest fruits does have 0.2g more sugar.

The consistency of the porridge was good and to my personal liking, however I didn't let the water boil for the second porridge which made the porridge thinner, still nice and and completely down to my impatience and not a comment on the product!

On the to the protein content!

60g of Quaker oats with 200ml of semi skimmed milk and 1tsp of sugar contains 14g of protein where as Fuel protein porridge only contains 11.5g in a 60g pot.


Fuel does win out on the calories though at 221kcal a pot compared to the Quaker with milk which has 338kcal, however it also has half the amount of fibre!

I would say Fuel really wins out on convenience, add some boiling water and slap the lid on for 3 minutes while you bust out some morning squats rather than tending to porridge cooked on the hob or in the microwave, perfect to have on the fly or in your travel lodge room!

I forgot to try making Fuel with milk and seeing how that turned out but I                                                                                      will do an update when I do.

Turkey.

I love turkey, not just at Christmas but all year round!

The white meat of a turkey is almost all protein! Perfect if you are trying to slim down or make gains! 

It's a good source of  iron, zinc, potassium and phosphorus, vitamin B6 and niacin.
Turkey also contains  tryptophan, which is used to help your body produce serotonin, the happy hormone and  Melatonin, the sleep hormone but not in a high enough quantity to drastically improve your mood or lull you to sweet slumber so ignore that little myth!

Just be aware that delicious skin is where all the fat is, at least with a bird that size you can make loads of meals if not you could just settle for turkey sandwichs!

How often should I change my workout?

One of the most amazing things about our bodies is it's ability to adapt to what we put it through, whether that is making  stronger or to compensate for an injury your body will do it's best to cope and keep on going!

It takes about 4-6 weeks for your body to adapt to a workout so you should ideally have a look at your program and see what changes you can make, it could be something as increasing the reps or weight or something a bit more creative like adding super sets, drop sets or negative training to your routine.

If you have no idea how long you have been doing your workout for it is probably safe to say you need to tweak your exercises, especially if you have stopped getting any results from your work outs.

Other reasons for changing your workout could be that your goals have changed, for instance you could of been looking to bulk up and put on size and are now looking to get ripped for the summer!

If you are bored then change your routine, if you are bored you won't want to workout so you need to take a fresh look at what you are doing and of course if you have some sort of life style change such a fast or an injury.

To be honest, listen to your body.You may find yourself changing your workout slightly every week because you are getting stronger and need to increase the your weight every week, particularly if you are new to exercise. Do not be afraid to ask a gym instructor or personal trainer to write you a program. Gym instructors shouldn't charge but a personal trainer might, but it should be a better standard, this will vary from gym to gym, my advise would be if a gym instructor is charging you for anything ask the gyms management if that is the company policy or if you are being swindled.

How many reps should I do?

The amount of reps that you do are decided by your goals, looking for strength go heavy and low reps, for endurance do lighter for longer!

1-5 reps is range you want to be for strength and power, now strength does not necessarily mean muscle size although you can gain some size this rep range is more to do with increase your neural pathways to help your muscles react and contract quicker.

6-7 reps is the range you want for a happy middle between an increase in muscle size and strength, heavy enough to improve your pathways and long enough to tire out your muscles just that little bit extra!

8-12 reps is all about hypertrophy, muscle size! The weight will be heavy enough to tire out your muscles but not so heavy that your technique will be destroyed along with your spine and ego! Just because someone has huge muscles does not necessarily mean they have masses of strength, so you might be surprised by their one rep maxes!

13 or more reps is the endurance range, you may get some muscles size, especially if you are new to the lifting weights and i would always say start with muscular endurance training when you are first starting out, not only is it safer but it will help your body learn to get rid of lactic acid that builds up during exercise.

Anatomy 101

I am sure you have heard and even read on my blog lots of words describing body parts and possibly not really knowing where on your body they actually are! But have no fear Bone idol fitness is here to explain some of the more common anatomical parts you might come across!

Glutes are the muscles that make up your bum! Short for gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and the gluteus minimus. 

Quads are the 4 muscles that make the front part of your thigh. Short for quadriceps, which gets it's name for being made up of 4 muscles, the 3 vastus brothers the vastus  medialis, vatus intermedius and vastus  lateralis and with uncle rectus formoris to complete the set you won't be able to think of a quad bike the same again!

Hamstrings, the back of your thigh and is made up of 3 muscles semitendinosus, semimembranosus and biceps femoris. 2 sound like dinosaurs and the other is great to trick muscle morons with by promising to train biceps with them then busting out the ultimate leg session!

 Bicep is the front part of your upper arm, also know as the gun show!

Tricep, the back of your upper arm, you might also know it as a bingo wing! Although generally neglected in favour of it's brother the bicep  the tricep makes up most of your upper arm! If you want to get more notably bigger arms give these the respect they deserve!

Pecs, short for Pectorals and refer to your chest and the pectoral majors

Traps short for trapezius and is the huge muscle on your back running all the way from your neck down most of the way down your spine in a kite like shape and is generally separated into the upper,mid and lower traps.

Lats, short for latisimis dorsi and are a pair of muscles that run down both sides of your back, it's name itself means "broadest muscle of the back"


The core mainly refers to your rectus abdominus, your abs and your lower back, erector spinae.
Your core also includes your pelvic floor, diaphram and the internal and external obliques, the muscles used in twisting,

This is by no means all the muscles in the body but I hope it goes some way to helping you understand the anatomical terms you may come across.

Compound exercises

A compound exercise is an exercise where you preform an a movement that uses 2 or more joints like a squat which uses your hips and knees  as opposed to isolation exercises which focus on one joint movement.

Irene doing her first bb squat

Being an ectomorph, tall and fast metabolic rate, I only do compound exercises but everyone should be dong them! With the more muscles the bigger the weight you can lift and the more your lift the bigger the gains due to your body releasing more growth hormone! So forget the curls as the back bone of your workout, you will get better results and a more muscularly balanced body , If you really can't help but curl one out stick them at the end of your workouts to cause your muscle to fatigue even more!

Squats, a favourite of all those big booty celebrities you love so much and with it hitting your core, back, quads, hamstrings and glutes it's easy to see why! Do your squats at the start of your workout to take advantage of the testosterone boost they give you.

Dead lifts, the king of all exercises! You should be instructed on how to dead lift quickly so you can learn to safely pick up weights without straining your lower back. Dead lifts will also help you with every other exercise you do by helping to stabilise your upper body ensure you will lift even more!
Properly preformed dead lifts will work your quads, glutes, hamstrings, back and core and with the weight being in front of you rather than on your back like during a barbell squat or over your face like during a bench press, can go heavier without the aid of a spotter.
Many people hurt their backs dead lifting with poor technique,like any exercise if you are unsure ask a member of staff at your gym to help and avoid listening to that wannabe PT who gives advise to anyone who will listen whether he was asked or not! If you are finding your grip is failing when dead lifting then check out my get a grip post on ways to help improve your grip and start dead lifting the same weight as a ford focus.
With the dead lift working more muscles than any other single move exercise it really is the king!

Pull ups, even without adding weight these are one of the hardest exercises as you are pulling your entire body weight plus gravity and if you have long arms like me then it's even harder! Pull ups will work your back, biceps, core and your lats, which tend to be described as wings on your back. Your choice of grip will effect how much work each muscles does with an under hand grip using your biceps more and a wide over hand grip making those lats really work hard!

Bench press, bet you're glad to see this on here with it being a firm favourite with the brutes that do all chest and arms and neglect the rest of their body! The bench press uses your chest, triceps and shoulders and if you dig your heels in your lats will also help you press even heavier weight! The bench press is potentially easier than a press up, if you think about how much you weigh and what you can bench do they match up?

With all these exercises ensure you complete a warm up focusing on the joints you are going to be using in the exercise, these are by no means all the compound exercises out there but they are the big 4 in my eyes and I am looking to do a future post on more compound exercises so be sure to look out for that!

Big Red Apparel Shorts.

I bought a pair of blue shorts from Big Red Apparel for  £13.99 and couldn't be happier with the quality!

I have used to them to run and swim in and are great for both and will be perfect for tough mudder, they feel practically weightless and offered no annoying resistance when preforming squats,running or swimming plus they have pockets and pockets are always useful.

 I am however going to look to see if I can get them altered  to have a zipper so nothing can fall out of them whilst I am running.

The shorts are a little tight around the genital area but that may because I am genetically gifted in that department!

I really like the length of the shorts mainly because they make my legs look more hench!

Delivery was a bit iffy as I got an email saying that they would come Tues - Thurs but no big deal really as the shorts fit through my letter box.

They survived both Tough and Primal Stampede with no staining or damage, sadly the same couldn't be said for my trainers.

I highly recommend these shorts to anyone who does any leg exercises,running or just to show off the gains on your legs or anyone who isn't quite brave enough for speedos when swimming.

Which cardio should I do?

Honestly? Do what  meets your fitness goals and what you enjoy!
 Different types of cardiovascular exercise burn calories at different rates and work different muscles and you should bear that in mind if you are short on time.

Walking, jogging, running and sprinting you can do this on a treadmill or throw on my finest lycra running shorts and head outside!
Walking isn't going to burn anywhere as many calories as sprinting but if all you can manage is walking then start with that and work your way up.
Running helps strengthen your bones, make sure you get good supportive trainers though and try not to do too much too soon to avoid the dreaded shin splints!
If you managed to run at 7mph for an hour you could burn off 500kcal in an hour which will add that runner high!

Cycling, the saddle takes most of your weight so good for your joints but not good for your bones as bearing weight helps strengthen your bones. The calories burnt are very dependent on how much you push yourself, if you are just going for the slow and steady approach you will  burn about 350ckals if you cycle at 14mph for 1 hour.

Swimming, like cycling it's low impact so you joints will be happy, particularly if you are carrying a lot of weight just remember the biggest creatures on the planet love to swim! The calories burnt depend on the stroke you choose breast stroke being the least demanding 585kcals an hour where as the mighty butterfly will burn over 700kcal in the same amount of time!

Cross trainer, that thing in the gym with foot pads and handles that move back and forth? The only thing I use a cross trainer for is my warm up because it mobilises a lot of joints to help prepare my body for a real workout! Cross trainers are low impact and if you give it some effort you can burn 455kcal an hour.

Rower, check with a member of your gyms team before using one of these bad boys! Far too many people use the rower and look outrageous! If you go all out on a rower you can burn over 800kcal an hour, if you can last that long!


Please do not take the figures I have given as gospel, every ones metabolic rate, weight and height are different, it tends to be the heavier you are the more calories you burn because you have to do more work moving those curves compared to some skinny cow moving her boney bum! If training out doors you should bear in mind traffic and terrain like hills or changes in the surface you are training on as these will also change the calories burnt for example running up hill is going to burn more calories than running along a road constantly having to wait at traffic lights.

Types of cardio training.

There are different types of training depending on your goals,the most basic being resistance training and cardiovascular training, but these can be broken down further into different types of training depending on your goals or fitness level.

LSD, no not the mind altering drug, Long Slow Distance training is where you do cardio over a long period of time, this type of training gets a bad rap but it has it's place and will make your body be able to turn more of the calories you eat into fuel rather than fat and good for clearing your mind and reducing stress. Other than reports of LSD being bad for your joints I personally find it to be boring, more so on in a gym than outside but still I feel you have to be extremely disciplined and determined in equal measure to stick out this kind of training.

Interval training, a bit like LSD but more intense. You will decide on a precise time interval and  on  incline,speed or both. A typical interval could be run at speed 12 for a minute then jog at speed 6 for a minute etc etc if you push yourself you can burn a high level of calories, particularly from High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT for short. Your body will enter a state of EPOCH, which I touched upon in my
Spin away Fat post so check it out!

Fartlek Training, first of all let's get the fact that it looks like fartlick out of our systems either through high school style snickering or a symbolic fart of your own! Fartlek training comes from the Swedish for speed play and that's basically what you do, change the speed and incline to what what ever you want, when ever you want. This training is the most like training outside because you don't know if you going to have to stop for traffic, climb a hill or use your incredible speed to foil a bank robbery!

Tabata Training, a type of HIIT training that I call 4 minutes of hell! Go all out for 20 seconds rest for the 10 seconds and repeat for 8 rounds totalling 4 minutes in total, doesn't sound so bad does it? Well give it a go and get back to me! I do my tabata training on Curved treadmills from Woodway which doesn't use a motor and is solely powered by me running so I can safely increase my speed and dramatically reduce it and vice versa, the rower is another good option as are big compound bar bell exercises like dead lifts. This is my preferred type of cardio training.

Circuit training, this is a mix of cardio and resistance exercises and can be done in a variety of different ways,there is bound to be a circuit class of some sort at your gym so book yourself on!

Plyometric Training, this type of training is lots of jumping around to build both power and speed, great for if your play sport and a nice change of pace compared to other types of cardio and extremely hard work!

Why keep a food diary?

Or food journal if you want to be all macho about it!

Calorie counting is one the best ways to reduce the calories from the food you eat!

Remember you need to create a deficit of 500kcals a day to lose a pound a week and if you have no idea how many chocolate coated, caramel centred bags of deliciousness you have guzzled in a day then this could prove to be at least a little bit tricky!

I highly recommend downloading My fitness pal onto your phone for free. Click here to read my review!

You can record all of your meals, recipes, water and the exercise you do everyday, all day since I am sure you are glued to your phone and are quite possibly reading this post right now on your i phone.

All you do is input some data and the app gives you a calorie allowance for the day and every time you log your meals it will deduct from this,if you input the exercise you have done it will let you have more calories, so if your target for the day was 1200kcal and you had 900kcal for breakfast you better get those trainers on to earn your treats!

You can compare how well you are doing with previous days and with friends who also have the app,it has loads of foods and drinks programmed into it including loads of restaurants and major supermarket own brands to make logging food easier and faster,the more you log the easier it is until you come across a new food and have to search for it.

Feel free to try keeping a paper version but it is far more tedious!

I have used this app myself and if nothing else made be more aware of how calorific certain foods are.
Give it a whirl, all you have to lose is fat!

Gym Jargon Buster!

Have you ever found yourself sat there stretching, with your ear phones in to give the impression that you are not eavesdropping on other gym goers conversations? No me neither....

Amongst the idle chit chat about who's got chlamydia or who's boobs are real or not you might come across words that make their conversations sound like they are coded,which is annoying because you are desperate to know whether or not Shannon has discovered her husbands affair with her brother without the moments of confusion trying to decipher their gossip loaded conversation! So with out further ado here are a list of terms and a little explanation!

Rep, short for repetition, the completion of a given exercise
Set, Sets are sets of reps e.g 2 sets 3 reps 2 minutes rest so that means I am doing 3 reps,resting for 2 minutes then doing another 3 reps.

1 rep max, the most weight you can only lift once before having a rest and trying again!

Gains,when you gain muscle size or strength ,bitches love gains!

Anabolic, where your body makes gains!
Catabolic, where your body steals your gains!
Atrophy is when you get lazy and your body goes from fit to shit!

Concentric, generally the lifting part of an exercise,the muscle shortens.
Eccentric,generally the lowering part of an exercise,the muscle lengthens, is 10% stronger than the concentric part of the exercise and causes more damage to your muscles so lower the weight carefully!
Isometric, where you contract your muscles without the muscles changing length like when doing a plank,this type of muscle action can cause a fast raise in blood pressure so get yourself checked out!

DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness this where you can't walk straight after leg day!
Supercompensation, the time after a tough workout where your body recovers and gains strength.
Over training, when you don't have enough rest,keep training and get injured.
Muscle failure, when you can no longer finish one more rep of an exercise.

Smith machine, a machine with a barbell attached to a frame that can be moved up and down to more safely squat or lift heavy loads.
Squat rack,a bit like the smith machine but the barbell is free so you have to use more muscles to stabilise the weight when you lift.You will most likely find muscle morons doing bicep curls here.
Spotter, someone who helps you safely complete each rep.

Dumbbell, weights that are easy to hold in one hand.
Barbell, a metal bar that you can add weight plates to.
EZ-bar, a zigzag version of a barbell.
Kettlebell, looks like a metal hand bag.

Split program, where you split the days of the week into different body parts and train that particular muscle group on that day.
Chest day, the day you train chest,let's face it every day is probably chest day in your gym!
Leg day, the day you decide to skip the gym so you don't have to train legs.

If there are any terms you have come across and you would like explaining then please feel free to post below in the comments and I will see what I can do!

Rockstar energy water

I came across Rockstar energy water blueberry pomegranate and acai flavour in my local Asda and immediately felt I must have it in my life and more to the point down my gullet and for 89p I wasn't going to let trying this product  me pass up!

I like the colour of the can,I am drawn to blue anyway and I felt the design goes well with "natural" vibe Rockstar are going for.

If you enjoy the taste of redbull:blue edition you will most likely enjoy this,which would make sense since the main flavour in both is blueberry! It's just a shame that with the natural feel Rockstar are going for they could of somehow managed to get some real fruit squeezed into this 350ml can since they managed to get a few vitamins and 120mg of caffeine sloshed in.

Calorie wise it's a winner compared to regular Rockstar with half the calories and energy water is only slightly carbonated so easier on your teeth.

All in all as energy drinks go it isn't half bad and anyone who sees you drinking your energy water will immediately presume you are on some sort exotic detox!

Caffeine Pro

Caffeine Pro are caffeine pills, I bought from MyProtein.com at  £4.29 for 100 pills, with 
each pill packing a  punch of 200mg which is like downing two and half cans of red bull without the tooth decay or the calories!

I found Caffeine pro to be easy to use, take a leaf out of my ex's book and just swallow it!
   I my workouts improved, I ran faster and lifted heavier.
I took one in the morning and increased my energy for the entire day with still enough opmh to hit the town on the night!

 The only downsides I have found are the caffeine withdrawal, headaches, irritability and a bit of trouble getting to sleep but that could be down to my own caffeine sensitivity and the increased toilet breaks which you is due to caffeine being a diuretic, at least I have the energy to run there!

I have to admit I love red bull, not just it's caffeine buzz but the smell, taste, convenience and even the design of the cans. I mean a ring bull instead of ring pull is genius in my eyes however Caffeine Pro clobbers my go to vodka mixer in calories, dental bills and cost.

If I wanted to get the same amount of caffeine from red bull as I would from one of these pills I have to spend almost the cost of an entire bottle of Caffeine pro.

Like any caffeine products you should use them with care and don't take them if you are sensitive to caffeine,have heart problems,are a child or are pregnant.

Some side effects of too much caffeine are restlessness, anxiety. dizziness,upset stomach, irritability, insomnia, fast heartbeat, tremors and because caffeine is a diuretic you will go to the toilet more often! 

Wheyhey! Protein Ice cream.

After hearing about Wheyhey protein ice cream on twitter I decided that it was my duty to go forth and search some out,seen as the weather is getting warmer and I will undeniably succumb to a tub or two of Ben and Jerry's at some point!

With 210kcals in 100ml of Ben and Jerry's cookie dough ice cream and 160kcals in their Greek Frozen Yogurt Strawberry Shortcake compared to 118kcals for the same amount of Wheyhey  you are already onto a winner! Add that Wheyhey lives up to it's name and has 5 times as much protein as poor old Ben and Jezzza!

Like most foods that are better for us Wheyhey is the more expensive choice of the two but only by £1,if you are going to treat yourself you may as well splash out a little bit more for a product that is better for your body,goals,conscious and waistline!

I bought one of the smaller tubs to sample for £2.50 and it came with a spoon so I could get stuck into it straight away,taste wise I would compare it more to frozen yogurt rather than ice cream and although I liked the taste it didn't blow me away,this might be due to be destroying my sense of taste with high sugar treats and desserts.

I bought my Wheyhey from Predator nutrition in Leeds but if you are not lucky enough to live here then you can order Wheyhey on line at www.musclefood.com I have only tried the strawberry flavour but wheyhey is also available in vanilla,chocolate and banoffee! So be a trend setter and give it a try for yourself!

My motivation:Tough Mudder

I decided at the end of May 2014 to do my first tough mudder giving me 3 months to train before the big day! Not having a lot of body confidence I took a picture of myself to look back on and let me know I was on the right track.I was not happy with what I saw!

So I began training but made no difference to my diet or do any major cardio other than the odd dip in the pool, basically I wanted to see how far my genetics would take me with strength training alone ,call it stupid or arrogant to use a big endurance event like a tough mudder to test what my mother and father gave me of you like but that was my thinking at the time!      

So the morning of tough mudder came and I was feeling excited and ready to take this mother down! 

The buzz at the event that day was enough to make anyone want to strap on their trainers and take the challenge, which I whole heartily recommend to anyone to do!

The first mile I needed the toilet because I hadn't given my body chance to get used to me drinking a lot of water and the nearest rest stop with a portaloo was a long way in the distance!

The second mile I developed a stitch that wouldn't leave me for the next 6 miles and to make matters even more bleak the lad that came along with me ditched me right after accidentally kicking mud into my eyes!

Even though I was alone, wet,muddy and smelly I could not of wished for a better group of strangers to of been around, they were supportive, encouraging and more than happy to give a helping hand! Just over 3 hours later I crossed the finish line ready to sign up to my next event!

 Once I have had a day to recover and about a week to wash all of that fine Cheshire mud out of all of my crevices I looked through the photos from the day and I couldn't in my eyes see any change in my physique,I felt awful. Even though I didn't train "properly" for the tough mudder I thought that I would be sure to look breathtaking and the reality of the                               situation did not match what was in my head.

I decided to take another topless picture to compare with the one I took before my training started and I was surprised to see that I had actually made a real difference to my body!

 I marked it as under construction and now filled with renewed determination I decided to give myself the winter before I changed up diet and forced myself into doing cardio training.

I hope this post goes to show that you can have the knowledge of how to change your body but if you are living in denial about how you look, lack the motivation  or confidence to get started then you will sadly remain the same!

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How to beat muscle sorenes!

Did you go all out on your leg session and now you have found yourself phoning the fire brigade because you can't get off of the toilet unassisted then are  most likely suffering from DOMS!

What are DOMS? You whisper as you drag yourself across the floor.

DOMS stands for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness,the soreness you feel around 24 hours after exercise which is caused by the damage you do to your muscles when you exercise and your bodies efforts in repairing and adapting to the torturous workout you put it through!

There are a few ways in which you can make this more bearable the first being what you eat!
Certain foods have an natural anti inflammatory affect such as sweet potato,broccoli, black cherries and fish containing omega 3 such as salmon,spices like ginger and turmeric and even olive oil!
Remember to try and get some protein in your trap after a workout to kick start the recovery process!

Blending fruits helps your body digest it faster and gets those all important vitamins to where they are needed the most! Pineapple will also help you digest protein faster, not quite so effective in a pina colada!

Massage will increase your blood flow and help you recover faster by increasing the transport of nutrients and the removal of waste products.If you can't afford to splash out on Andre's magic hands then the next best thing is to foam roll,you may of seen some brightly coloured,giant tampon looking things tucked away in the corner of your gym, you will use this to find and roll those knots out of your muscles!

foam rolling my hamstrings

A good nights rest. Your body does most of it's repair and growth when we are sleeping!

Hot and cold,no not the hit single by international songstress Katy Perry! Cold after exercise is great for reducing inflammation before it properly sets in where as heating muscles that are sore will relax your them and increase blood flow.

Compression gear,really tight clothing tee shirts,shorts,tights etc etc works by increasing your blood flow and the fancy ones even come with pads that can heat or cool your poor,weary muscles.

I personally hunt for DOMS,they give me the feeling that I have had a really great,intense,workout and the harder you push yourself the harder it is get to get DOMS once your body has adapted to your workout!

How to sneak in a workout!

No time to work out? No worries!

There is a lot of empty time in the day that you could use smashing out a quick workout and the best bit is you don't need to sign up to a gym or even a hire a handsome , witty and hilarious personal trainer such as myself.

 Provided that you how to do basic body weight exercises or have a some brightly coloured, dust covered dumbbells you ordered from Amazon when you last decided to commit to gaining a body that will make passers by lose control of their sex organs!

"Ain't nobody got time for that", I hear you implore!

Ask yourself this question, when you last boiled the kettle what did you do while you waited?

 Did you give it your trade mark death stare in the hopes it would boil quicker?
That's what I used to do before I realised I could start busting out squats while I wait for my green tea and it doesn't stop there, the time left on your microwave equals time to drop and give me 20 press ups, adverts on the TV or before a Youtube video means time to lunge!

Hopefully you will form a habit so when you  binge watch your latest fad show you can carve buns of steel at the same time.

Drink yourself slimmer!

 No I am not on about some miracle shake made from the slime from a recently discovered sea slug, I am talking drinks that are cheap and easy to get your hands on,sound good so far?

Water, it doesn't need to be some fancy bottled water from Megan Fox's toilet, tap water will do fine!

A some of the time when we feel hungry we are actually just thirsty but because we do get some water from what we eat and the  that we are greedy means your body will say you must eat that pie!
A easy tip is to try drinking some water before sinking your teeth into a slice of cake and see if you you were really hungry or just wanting to feed your face and if you really were hungry you will not eat as much and reduce calories that way, just watch out for the vultures around you going after your left overs!

Your body loves water and needs it to preform at it's best.This includes your bodies ability to digest fat.
Your liver plays a massive role in our digestion of practically everything that goes into our bodies from food to even pollution.Now if you are dehydrated then your liver being the caring bastard that it is will help out your kidneys instead of sorting that awful fat from getting stored on your belly!

Water will also boost your metabolism,drinking 5 glasses of water a day could mean you lose 5 pounds of fat a year and if there you are swapping high calorie drinks for a cool refreshing glass zero calorie of water you could be seeing the pounds melt off in a matter of weeks!

Black coffee it's calorie free and it's caffeine content with both boost your energy levels, boost your metabolism and that big,strong mug of magic also encourages your body to increase an enzyme that helps your body digest fat! Beware though if you are if you are sensitive to caffeine, have trouble with your heart or are pregnant then proceed with caution! Luckily I got myself a test and I can confidently say I am not with child!

Green or white tea are both packed full of antioxidants that will help your body fight free radicals,cancer causing cells, and will also boost your metabolic rate 4-5 cups a day could help you burn an extra 70 calories a day! Green tea also contains caffeine but not as much as coffee!

Combating Cortisol,the stress hormone!

Cortisol that builds up when training and has reduces your bodies ability to synthesise protein and helps your body to be better able to use protein as energy when your glycogen levels are low,like during exercise. 

Our bodies simply don't understand we need that protein to improve our gains! 


How do I stop this gains stealing menace I hear you plead?

 The answer is eat something!

 High GI foods consumed with lean protein straight after training will reduce your cortisol level! 

 High GI carbs make your insulin spike ,which helps restore muscle glycogen!
If we have plenty of glycogen then nasty old cortisol has no need to steal our precious protein!

 If you can't handle or don't have time to grab some grub you can always make sure you are packing a protein shake which is a good mix of carbs and protein!  

How to make a simple protein smoothie!

Get a banana,some strawberry whey protein powder and some milk!

Peel the banana or get your mum too,I know the little devils can be quite tricky.Next take a scoop of strawberry protein powder and 250ml or so of milk and add all 3 ingredients to a blender.
Blend it all together and once you are happy with the consistency pour into a glass or straight down you gullet like the primal beast you really are!

Depending on what your fitness goals are should affect your choice in ingredients for example I use semi skimmed milk instead of full fat milk as I am trying to get ripped for summer and I can't deal with skimmed milk!

I get my protein from www.myprotein.com and they do a huge range of flavours and a diet whey range.
I have never had a problem using their products and everything I have ordered has come much faster than I have expected and they regularly have discounts and special offers so if you haven't checked them out have a browse! It doesn't cost a penny to have a crafty peek!

Just so you know this post isn't sponsored by myprotein I am just typing about where I get my supplements from.

Enjoy you smoothie!

Quinoa

Quinoa  is a grain that is packed full of nutrients and a must have on your shopping list if you are a budding vegan or vegetarian body builder!

Quinoa is a complete protein, which means it contains all the proteins that you body can't produce on it's on,    vegetarians and vegens take heed!

Quinoa contains manganese, magnesium, folate, phosphorus, copper, zinc, potassium , vitamins B1, 2, 3 6, a bit of calcium, vitamin E and omega 3 thrown in for good measure!

It may have anti inflammatory, anti depression, anti cancer and anti viral properties.

Has a good amount of fibre and low GI and gluten free!

And because of the fibre and protein quinoa has it will not only speed up your metabolic rate but will also keep you fuller for longer so you won't make a beast of your self at the buffet after work!

What are you waiting for? 

Go out and try quinoa for yourself and if you like that check out my recipe for quinoa porridge!

Get over your hangover!

Here are some tips to try and make that hangover a little less murderous!

Don't drink on an empty stomach, eat something solid like a plate of pasta if you don't fancy food than a glass of full fat milk will  slow the bodies absorption of alcohol.

Try and stick to clearer drinks like gin or white wine avoid drinks like whisky and red wine.

DO NOT MIX DRINKS!!!

For every alcoholic drink you have, drink a non-fizzy non alcoholic drink as the carbon dioxide in the "fiz" speeds up alcohol absorption. Basically ask for tap water it's free and zero calories!

 Once your drunk stop drinking! Our body takes about an hour to break down one unit of alcohol, so when that guy you only know as "Scooby" trys to force awful cola cube shots onto you when you can't even remember whether or not you pulled up your knickers back up after that monster piss then you need to muster all your will power to say no or risk waking up in the back of his mystery machine!

Walk a bit as the fresh air will sober you up and help you the next day!

Be a man! Women tend to get drunk quicker and stay drunk for longer.

Finally drink a couple of glasses of water before bed!

What do I need to get a six pack?

Well for a 6 pack of beer you will need a valid form of id and the cash to buy it!

Rippling abs will be a little harder to get!

Everyone has abs,you might just not be able to see,or even feel them in all their glory because of all that hard work you have put in over the years to worshipping your belly with treats and cakes!
.

To get you abs to reveal themselves you need to reduce your body fat to below 10% and although ab exercises are important to strengthen your core they are not massive calorie burners.

To do this you need to create  a calorie deficit of 500kcal a day to lose a pound of fat a week, Google what a pound of fat actually looks like and  it's probably bigger then you thought!

To start with keep a food diary or download a food diary app,I found My Fitness pal easy to use, to give you an idea of how many calories you are consuming a day and which foods you can exchange for lower calorie alternatives.

Stress also causes you to store belly fat so if you are doing everything right but that last nugget of fat won't go then you may need to look at unwinding with a glass of water and some Dido, if you can't see your feet then you can't blame your excessive chunk all on stress! It is more likely too many Terry's chocolate oranges and not enough real ones!

In the gym do your resistance work before your cardio, do this for 2 main reasons

The first reason is that it's safer to do weight bearing exercises when you are not tried,you are more likely to hurt yourself lifting a barbell that weights the same amount of as your grandmother above your head than running on a treadmill or on a cross trainer.

The second reason is that during your weight training your body will use it's glycogen for energy so when you come to your cardio you will force your body into using that unsightly bingo wing flab as fuel!.

The best cardio to do for fat burning is HIIT .

HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training.This basically means bursts of speed followed by a little rest followed by another burst of speed.

If the most you can do is walk then there's no need to fall into to a sulk, you can walk for a bit then have a rest until you build yourself up to be able to jog and walk as your rest period and build that up until you are able to run away from your former flabby self!

With weight training make sure you are doing more than isolation exercises like bicep curls,yes I know the bitches get damp at the thought of a front row seat to your gun show but you need to be including big,compound exercises as well!


I am sure you are familiar with the ye old bench press but sadly you need to stop making excuses about why you can't train your back or legs,suck it up and get squatting and dead lifting!

You have more muscles in your lower body than your upper body and the more muscles used the more calories and the more muscles mass you have the more calories your body burns when it's at rest.
Every pound of muscle your body has burns around 6 calories a day, which may not sound a lot but like the mantra for Tesco "every little helps"!

Rate your press up power!

Press ups to impress! 

The press up,in my opinion is the second manliest body weight exercise,after a pull up, you can do to test of upper body strength!

 Working your pecs,anterior and posterior,triceps,lats,abs,rhomboids,rotator cuffs and even your quads so it is a great,challenging fitness test!

It's a simple test although you may need someone to ensure you are bringing yourself low enough for it to count using their fist under either your chin or chest,if you,like me are a billy no mates you can find a shoe or something fist sized to use as marker.

If you are a lady with a pervy friend who insists in marking your press ups with your supple breasts then give him a swift karate chop! 

The other perk of being a social butterfly is your legion of friends can also keep track of how many you have accomplished,since the complex task of counting may be beyond you while you try not to eat the dirt!

So the aim is to do as many press ups as you can until you are unable to do any more without rest,now to give you an idea of where you stand fitness wise!

Lower than 10 Needs improvement.

10-20 Average,but who wants to be just average when you be be so much more?

 20-30 Good! Keep going!

30-40 Excellent! I feel sorry for your tee shirts seams!

 40 and above and you are most likely a Super Saiyan!

Compete a with your friends to see who can do the most,remember competition is a great motivator so the first mission is to find which of your friends has the biggest hands!

Why Warm Up?

Skipping a warm up is a big mistake,not only from a preventing an injury stand point but also a performance one!

A good warm up loosens the synovail fluid in between your joints,you have to to stop your bones grinding on bones which as you an probably imagine would not be pleasant!

This fluid is a bit like egg yolk and when warming up it increases the lubrication of your joints and improves your flexibility,just think when you get out of bed in the early afternoon and feel like a corpse until you have moved around a little and then are ready to bitch slap the day!

A good warm up will prepare your cardiovascular system ready for that workout you picked out of one of those men's health magazines you have stashed away gathering dust.
The warm up will get your blood pumping faster,getting oxygen to your muscles faster which will improve your bodies ability to deal with lactic acid build up!

Nerve messages will also increase when you are warmed up to enhance your already cat like reflexes reducing the chance of getting injured.

You should focus your warm up on the joints you are going to use,there is little point warm up your shoulders if all you are going to be busting put some body weight lunges.

Your warm up should last about 10 minutes with the aim of increasing your body temperature a couple of degrees so if you start to sweat a bit and feel warm then your warm up has succeeded!

But don't rest on your laurels too longer! You need to get on with your main workout within a few minutes of completing your warm other wise your hard work will be for nothing!


So if you are hitting the gym or attempting a new page in the karma sutraa make sure you warm up!

Benefits of training outdoors!

To get me outside and increase my cardio training I have started going to the Killer Armley Steps in Leeds.

Sadly you can't see all 161 steps here and believe me they really do deserve the title Killer!

I highly recommend them to anyone in the area even if you can only manage to trot up them,just try not to throw up!

The benefits of training outside include higher levels of exercise endorphins,the hormones your body produces to lessen pain and give you a sense of euphoria just think of them as your bodies version of morphine!

You might not realise it but fresh air is good for you! It can help you feel more alert,lessen  anxiety,lower resting heart beat plus it's free! What a bobby dazzler!

Soak up vitamin D,no not what you give your girlfriend...

Vitamin D helps your body to absorb calcium, which strengthens your bones and sustains energy production,not to mention that the sunshine vitamin increases your testosterone levels!

The more skin exposed to the sun the bigger the boost,just be careful you don't burn to a crisp and keep your worm in it's hole! 

On the flip side of training when the sun is out,training when it's cold outdoors forces your body to work harder to stay warm therefore uses up more calories to ditch that extra chin you sported at Christmas dinner!

Spin away fat!

It is possible to burn over 800kcal in an hour of spinning,it just depends on how hard you are willing to push yourself! 

Push yourself hard enough and you can extend the EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption).

This is  your  body trying to return it's self back to it's resting state, basically before you subjected yourself to that torturous spin session!

To do this your body needs to use calories and it will use fat stores to do this!
 A 60 minute spin could keep those calories burning for, potentially, 48 hours later

As my old spin instructor Helen once told me,"You can go hard or you can go home"!

Get a Grip!

Wanting to deadlift the weight of a small elephant but your grip strength is letting you down? 

Well have no fear Bone idol fitness is here!

A good and cheap way to improve your grip and work your forearms is to use a weight clip,those annoying things you put onto barbells to stop the weight plates from slipping off.

At the end of your work out squeeze a clip in your hand as hard as you can and hold it for two seconds and then do your over hand or be a complete renegade and do both hands at once!
Cheaper than that £3.99 grip strengthener you had your eye on.

 You can use a foam wrap to put on your bar to make it thicker and therefore make your grip work harder, wear gloves or rub your hands with chalk, plus you princesses can try and avoid unsightly calluses

You could also hang from a pull bar for as long as you can ,keep track of how long you last and try to beat your record next time! 

Another way to improve your grip strength is to do Farmers Walks with really heavy dumb bells and get a leg work out to boot!

Don't worry I won't tell your mates you worked your legs, you were only working on your grip to boost your bench!

Just be careful when you are in full roid rage mode and decide to choke slam the chump who dares to knock over your protein shake because your now vice like grip will surely crush their wind pipe as if it was a paper cup.

How to do your first press up

Do a full press up!

Those words strike fear into the hearts of many.

Are you content with your lady press ups, on your knees looking like you are kissing the floor?

 We can transform you so you are demanding to know how you have to fire out rather than claiming period pains are stopping you from giving them a go, like I have tried in the past to no avail!

Let's work on building up your strength with negative/isometric training so next time someone challenges you to bust out a full press up you can give yourself a round of applause when you go one step further with 10 clap press ups.

Firstly get into a full press up position, palms flat and under your shoulders, toes pointed into the ground and brace your core!

The wider you place your hands the easier the press up becomes because you are reducing the distance between you and the ground.

To brace your core imagine you are going to be punched in the gut and squeeze your bum cheeks together like daddies about to give you a spanking.

Now lower yourself down but instead of pushing yourself straight back up, drop your knees so you are into the knee press up position and then press up and repeat.

This works because you can lower more weight than you can pick up and the strength you gain will be passed over into the press phase of the exercise so before long you will be able to do your first full press up.

Don't give up, you can do it!

Beer Belly?

5 pints of beer is equal to  1000kcals, all you need is 500kcal a day to gain a pound of fat a week.

 If you fancy a drink but want to stay trim then try vodka, you can go even further by adding ice to your drinks and decrease your calories even further!

 5 vodka and sodas comes out at less than half at 480kcals.

So now you can be the life and soul of the party while maintaining your abs of steel!

Got kids? Get fit!

Children love to get outside and get active so what's stopping you?

Why pay money for a gym or a personal trainer when you have your very own at home! 

With pester power and some open mindedness on your part you can burn calories, have fun and get closer as a family while you are at it!

Kids love to be active and run about so take a leaf out their book and don't shy away from a kick about on a weekend or going a walk in the country also young children make excellent replacements for dumbbells and they love to be carried and lifted, I bet this will be the first time your dumbbell has ever given you a hug!

As exhausting as raising a child is they also  keep you fit and healthy,helping you make better meal choices simply because you want to do right by them and not fill them up with sugar that will send them into a level of hyperactivity that will send your brain into melt down.

My progress Jan-Mar 2015

I have been making it my mission to get defined abs this year ready for August when I do my second tough mudder,so without further ado here is my progress picture from the first 12 weeks of the year!

To get me to to this I kept a food diary for 2 weeks using the myfitnesspal app and cleaned up my diet,increased my water intake and never worked out more than 3 times a week.

I only do full body workouts that are constructed of big compound movements finishing each session with a core workout, 4 minutes of tabata training,foam rolling and occasionally a swim.

With the less body fat you have the harder it is to shift so please wish me luck for the next 12 weeks!