Tabata Training: 4 minutes in hell

Hate cardio? Want to hate it even more?

Welcome to the wonderful world of tabata training, a type of High Intensity Interval Training that last only a mere 4 minutes but will give you the results you are yearning for much more effectively then you mincing about on the treadmill for an hour at a time.

Tabata training hails from Japan, discovered and named after, well you probably guess Dr Tabata!

Dr Tabata did a study on 2 groups of participants, one group doing moderate intensity exercise vs the second group who did high intensity training and the results spoke for themselves.

The first group showed an improvement in there aerobic performance, which benefits your cardio vascular system,  but nothing in their anaerobic, which benefits your muscles as you work without taking in enough oxygen to break down your lactic acid etc

The second group improved in both, with an impressive 28% in their anaerobic performance and a greater increase in aerobic performance than the first group. 

The fun doesn't stop there, you fat burning is going to be vastly increased  and your body will enter EPOC or Excess Post - Exercise Oxygen Consumption where your body goes wild trying to return you back to how you were before you decided to abuse yourself with some Tabata training.

This means calories expenditure, repairing muscles and replenishing energy doesn't just happen, calories are needed to sort your life out, with some cases doubling your metabolic rate and potentially lasting up 36 hours this is nothing to be sniffed at.

The average tabata training burns about 13.5 kcals a minute so with my quick maths that would be 54kcals from each 4 minute session.

 This might sound tiny but when you burn about 300 kcals in an hour on a treadmill and you are going to get greater results from 4 minutes of Tabata training overall while also boosting your testosterone much more and helping to build muscle rather than losing it 

Hopefully I have sold you on Tabata training now but I should probably actually tell you how to do it!

You go all out for 20 seconds and rest for the 10 seconds, rinse and repeat 8 times which should add up to 4 minutes in total including your rest periods.

You should also include a good warm up of all the muscles that you be using and a cool down.

I recommend going for exercise that hit a lot of muscles to maximise work like squats, press ups, mountain climbers, kettlebell training and my favourite, the rowing machine! 

Due to the intensity it is not recommended to attempt this on a treadmill as you would have to get off and on it as a high speed which as funny as it is to see someone shoot off a treadmill it is dangerous and should be avoided.

You will probably start off thinking that this is easy but by the end you will agree that Tabata training is 4 minutes of pure hell and if you don't then you are not working hard enough!

Body Power Expo 2016

I have been wanting to hit the Body Power Expo in Birmingham for a few years now and finally bit the bullet and made the 200 round trip journey and it didn't disappoint!

A ticket costs you around £30 for a standard day pass but you need to factor in travel, £12 for parking and the food there is quite expensive although you shop around to find something to meet your budget and dietary requirements.

The Body Power Expo is the biggest in Europe and attracts fitness professions and body builders from all over the world so don't worry about having to acquire a taste for the very regal sounding Brummie accent.

You can meet big names in the fitness industry like Steve Cook and even reality TV stars like Rogan O'Connor who is a body builder in his own right, and they were more than happy to have pictures taken.

 I was a bit too shy though so I didn't get any, but I will next time! 

I did find the Expo quite over whelming, not only am I seeing people who are my "fitspiration" in the flesh and seeing that they are genuinely nice people but also the sheer size of the event, the amount of things to look at, try and the amount of people there.

Customer service varied greatly from company to company with the guys at Quest Nutrition, Muscle Mousse and the many vegan and ethical retailers that were there, which I will revisit in the future.

I am not going to name and shame the companies that didn't really shine for me, it's a 3 day expo and I went on the Sunday so I will cut them some slack but when Rogan is out partying the night before and is still such a funking delight you can all sink some pre work out samples and rock this mother!

There are samples everywhere and surprisingly there were loads that were gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian and vegan so you are bound to be able to give something ago.

There are also competitions everywhere and a lot of companies give out free merchandise, hats, tee shirts, pre workout and protein. Maxi gave me a 2.5kg bag of whey protein to get my chops on!

My favourite purchase has to be my Jazz Apples, they are the crunchiest and most delicious apples I have ever tasted.

Body Power also hold there own physique competition and I managed to catch some of the ladies strutting their stuff, it was interesting to see to say the least.

Cap and Tee Shirt haul.

Being on my last day of going gluten free I was worried about what I would be able to eat, luckily I came to Heck, they said they stocked gluten free bread but they had sold out, disaster!

To make up for it they gave me more meat for my salad which I wasn't going to argue with.

There are loads of talks from experts, interviews with fitness models and athletes from across the globe, strength competitions, fights and demonstrations.

There is so much going on it's impossible to describe the magnitude of the experience.

To say the least I will be back again, hopefully in better condition so I don't feel so morbidly obese next to all of the super ripped guys and girls.

If you get the chance to go then take it, you won't regret it.

Music and Exercise

Music is amazing, it can effect your mood, focus and even restore memories.

It has a massive effect on the brain and has been used to help people suffering from Alzhimer's disease.

Music also effects our cardiovascular system affecting blood pressure, heart rate and stress levels.

In the fitness realm pretty much any endurance athlete will tell you that  music with help you go faster, for longer.

Music reduces your perceived effort and pain, if you don't feel the pain as much then you can push past where you would normally stop.

 Of course you need to pick the right music,Enya or David Gray are not going to quite cut it I'm afraid.

Faster music works the best, just think of all the songs that come on the radio that give you an energy boost and suddenly you want to get drunk and go dancing!

If you are not currently listening to any music then maybe you should re think buying that I pod, if music can help make plants grow or cows produce more milk then imagine what it can do for your performance!

If you are a runner be warned, be careful when listening to music when running near traffic.
If you lose concentration or don't hear a car coming you are more likely to be hit.

The other danger is if might unwittingly start belting out Ke$ha while on the treadmill!

Testosterone

How much do you know about testosterone? 

Well when it comes to building muscle it really separates the men from the boys!

Ladies do have testosterone but most of the time it is no where near the levels of a man.

 If you can block out the memory of all the giggles and red faces, then you will know that testosterone is the main hormone that goes wild in a young boys life to make bring about manhood but it doesn't just pack up and leave you after your consumption of Klinex has suddenly shot up!

Testosterone effects your sex drive, low levels will make you less amorous  and the reverse is true for when levels are higher, this is why after a good workout where your testosterone  has been nicely boosted you want to go all caveman on bae!

Testosterone increases bone density, lower levels in later life ( say that 3 times fast!) will affect your bone density, we are talking 65 plus if you are lucky!

Testosterone helps your body metabolise fat, lower levels will encourage fat to be stored in the abdominal area of your body, sorry ladies!

Testosterone increases growth hormone in your body, which makes sense due to the changes it helps make in your body during puberty, this also means it will help you increase muscle size to get hench as funk!

Testosterone also gets your bone marrow making more red blood cells, more of this red little doughnuts in your system the better your body will be at transporting oxygen round your body and delivering nutrients.

Your testosterone levels also impact your brain from mood swings, aggression to depression!

Please don't read this post and think that all your problems can be solved by getting some gear from that dodgy guy in the gym, high testosterone levels come with a range of problems from acne, developing breast tissue, testicles shutting down and problems with reproduction.

If you are worried about you testosterone levels then see your doctor, they should be able to check them with a blood test.

Check out my post on natural way to boost your testosterone

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!