A while ago we received an email request to review a book that dealt with the topic of raw food diets. After completing that review we were once again contacted by a different author to review their book on the same topic.

Reading through this book you instantly are hit with the realisation that the author knows what she is talking about. Sometimes when you read a book it can seem disjointed and appear as if it were written with some half-hearted research done in the background, but this book is different. From the get go Ms. Matus clearly demonstrates her understanding and knowledge on raw food nutrition.

Not only does this book contain a wealth of information on how to follow a raw diet but it also includes many recipes to get you started on your journey.

Towards the end of the book there are is a chapter that details how to cope with living a raw lifestyle in the real world, this could be invaluable to people who are struggling to cope with the demands of their diets while at work or other social gatherings.

Although I am not a vegan or raw food advocate myself I found this book to be highly informative, opening my eyes to a subject that I had only ever heard about in the media.

I would recommend this book to people who are looking to transition from a carniverous diet to a raw food diet as it covers all the basics while also helping to blunt any fears you may have about your new lifestyle.

-Kayleigh

Technorati Tags: Mizpah+Matus, raw, diet, health, vegan

So it’s been a while. Since my last update I have changed quite a few things about the way I train and what I am training for.  I have decided that I am going to sideline the olympic lifting for now and concentrate on an up-coming amateur strongman competition.

The reasoning for the strongman coming about is fairly straightforward. One of the co-founders of WSM(Worlds Strongest Man) Dr Douglas Edmunds turned up at the gym and was looking for a team to compete in a new event he was putting together.

Me and a couple of the guys from the gym decided to give it a go and went to try some of the kit up at Dr Edmunds house the following Sunday. According to him the events were going to be two-man log press(120kg-130kg log), Atlas Stones(80-120kg), farmers walks(85kg each arm) and a barrel carry.

Most of the events would be relatively easy the hard part being stamina but the Atlas Stones were a bit of an issue. Due to their size and position you need to be in to actually lift them off the floor. Once they are off the floor and you manage to get them onto your lap they are easy enough but it is the initial lift that is the make or break portion.

So with all this in mind I have moved away from olympic lifting for now and am going to run a modified Westside program to try to bolster my strength in the short time I have left until the competition. The program basically runs in 4 days with a max effort upper, dynamic upper, max effort lower, and dynamic effort lower style. All max effort days will take a single lift to 3-5 RM range with a subsequent supplemental lift done in a 5×5 style. Dynamic effort days will be high rep, low weight days focused more on building stamina than anything else.

So keep checking back to see how my training goes and also to see some videos of my lifting and the competition.

-Andrew

Technorati Tags: strongman, weight+lifting, strength, strong, atlas+stone, stone, farmer+walk, weight

Well it appears as if I haven’t updated this in a while so I thought it was about time. In my last post I went on about the milestones that I have achieved and how I managed to get there, so in this one it seems only fair that I dwell on the set backs that I have recently encountered and what impacts they will have on my training.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been having problems with my knees, the right in particular. I have been lucky enough to have been selected to receive athlete support through the Scottish Institute of Sport which could not have come at a better time. For my first few sessions I have been getting physiotherapy on my knees in the hopes of alleviating the pain in my knees.

Last week I added to my knee problems when I messed up the first pull stage of a power snatch and smashed the bar into the underside of my knee, again the right taking the brunt of the impact. Within minutes my knee had swelled up and I was having problems walking properly. Luckily for me the swelling and pain went down after a good nights sleep but I decided to skip lower workouts for a week to let the majority of the damage heal.

So it looks as if this update isn’t as big or informative as my previous ones but I hope that’s a good thing as a long post on set backs wouldn’t be good, would it?

My plan of action for the coming months is to put a proper program into action which incorporates power snatches, snatch balance (drop snatch), front squat, back squat, and jerks with a day for stretching and mobility for good measure. In addition to this I will be attending regular physiotherapy sessions to try to unlock my left ankle which will stop the overloading of my right knee.

Keep checking back for more updates.

-Andrew
Technorati Tags: journey, snatch, weightlifting, olympic, lifting, gym, fitness, exercise

So since the last journey update I have been hammering my weaknesses to try to improve the main lifts, the snatch and the clean & jerk.

Lately I have been doing a lot of front squats, jerks, presses, power snatches and drop snatches to try to both build technique but also improve my confidence under the bar.

Previously I had a max OHP (Overhead Press) of 70kg with no leg drive so when it came time to start attempting to jerk with heavy weight I was a little bit skeptical of getting anything over 70kg. On a day where I was actually feeling really good during my jerk session I decided to push it and see what I could get up to. I started off with just bar work to warm my shoulders before moving on in 10kg increments. As I got closer to 70kg things were feeling great and the bar was accelerating overhead perfectly. 70kg came and went without so much as a blip on the radar. My biggest worry when jerking the bar overhead is that I can’t generate enough power in the hip drive and therefore try to push the bar overhead which would put my shoulders under a tremendous amount of stress.

As the weight got heavier I decided that I needed side spots to lower the bar down onto my shoulders from the top position but also to catch the bar in-case I failed the lift. At this point I was up at 100kg which is by far the heaviest I have ever pushed over my head. Andy told me to dip a little further before exploding at the hips to get more drive which in turn would lead to a better overall jerk. So after a few deep breaths I did as I was told and to my surprise was able to jerk 100kg with relatively little effort. I decided at this point to not push on and go for anymore since I had been at it for over an hour and was starting to tire.

So the first major milestone for me is successfully jerking 100kg overhead and effectively eliminating my fear of getting under the bar. The other major milestone I achieved was when I front squatted 120kg for sets of 1-2; the reason this is a milestone is that I have had issues with my squatting in the past due to shoulder issues but also due to back and flexibility issues so being able to front squat 120kg is a huge achievement.

All of this has been made possible by dedication, perseverance and top quality trainers like Andy Tsang and Chris Davidson. Without Varsity Gym I would still be at a commercial gym plugging away at bodybuilding routines and more than likely one set away from serious injury.

If you are in the Glasgow area this Saturday, the 21st, then head on down to Varsity Gym’s new location just next to Lidl on Duke Street. Saturday will be the gyms official open day and if you sign up on the day you will get a full months membership FREE!!! If you decide not to sign up on the day but do eventually join then between February 1st and March 1st membership will be £20 (£50/month thereafter). This really is an amazing deal as how many gyms do you know that hand out a full months membership for free?

-Andrew

Technorati Tags: squat, clean, clean+and+jerk, snatch, power+snatch, fitness, exercise

We’ve all been there, you tell yourself that you will stick to your diet and stay on track during the holidays but as soon as they roll around you just can’t seem to contain yourself. Don’t worry about it, you’re human after all.

I told myself that I was going to steer clear of sweets, candy, chocolate, deserts and all the things I had eliminated from the majority of my diet over the years but as the clock hit 15:00 on Friday 23rd of December (my last working day) everything seemed to fall apart. Some people may put it down to lack of will-power while others will put it down to a momentary lapse in concentration, me well I’ll put it down to just living.

Seasons Greetings

After a year of maintaining a fairly strict diet there is no reason I can’t slacken the reigns for a week and relax a bit. I have seen plenty of first hand evidence that these “off-periods” are more beneficial than trying to resist all temptation and embracing the Scrooge mentality.

With all that said many people come out the other end of the holiday season feeling worse for wear with a few extra pounds about them, not the good kind either. What we will look at here is getting back to basics and transitioning back into a healthy eating lifestyle.

If you have been active over the holiday period and kept up your gym attendance then you’re off to a good start, if you haven’t then now is the time to start again. Don’t jump back in at the deep end and burn yourself out within a week. Start slowly and build back up to your previous training intensity. I took a week off from the gym because they were moving facilities and I was unable to train, I started back yesterday with a power snatch session and I am feeling the effects today where as before I would feel fine the next day. It will take a little time but your body will re-adjust to the stresses and strains of your gym sessions but you will feel all the better for it.

Transitioning back into a healthy eating lifestyle will probably be the hardest thing of all. If, like me, you took a little detour off your diet and started to plow through pretty much anything you could get your hands on then the transition will be a little harder. You will have given your body a taste for things that you have been restricting, like sugar and excessive amounts of carbs (if on a low carb diet that is), and now it has taken a liking to them again.

The best way to get back on track with your diet is start counting calories again. If you have never counted calories before then it is probably about time you started. It may seem tedious but it can progress your weight loss faster than anything else out there. People tend to think they aren’t eating a lot until they count up their daily calorie balance and find that they are eating more than they should be to lose weight. Counting calories allows you to easily and instantly adjust your daily totals since you will have a number in mind to hit each day (approximately).

What you absolutely SHOULDN’T do when you decide it’s time to start a new diet is jump onto one of the popular fad diets, that means things like Atkins or any of these so-called Detox diets. They aren’t needed or necessary and you can end up hurting yourself rather than helping yourself. Losing weight isn’t a complicated procedure but some people really like to over complicate things or throw weird and wonderful “advancements” out there that actually do nothing for you at all. Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of popular diets out there that do work and work well but the majority of the so-called “detox” diets are just ridiculous. Some of them even claim to help you lost 21 lbs in 21 days, now to me that is just outright unhealthy. Most of the detox diets have you going on nothing but liquids for a short span before reintroducing solids. The issue is while on liquids you are generally on very low calories and then when you start to reintroduce solids you find it harder to control your eating since you are unaware of how any calories are in what you eat and how many you require as well, hence why counting calories is a much easier and more effective way of losing weight.

To work out your daily calorie requirements you can use any number of online calculators. In the past I have used this calculator to get a very rough idea of how much I should be eating. The number you are given should be used as a rough guide as the most accurate way of learning how many calories you require daily is to have medical tests done.

After you have your daily requirements then it really is as simple as looking at the back of the packets of food you will be eating as these days the nutritional information is printed in plain sight. Be careful when working with pasta, rice and any other dry ingredients as usually the nutritional values will be given as dry values and cooked values so make sure you calculate the correct totals.

The final thing I would recommend is to stop stressing. So you put on a few pounds over the holidays, so what? You can easily work it back off with some dedication and a little perseverance. The more you stress the harder you will try to inevitably you will push yourself to hard to quickly and end up back where you started, such is the life of yo-yo dieters. Although progress is slow this isn’t a race it’s more of an ultra-marathon so pacing yourself is vital!

As always if you have any questions or comments then drop them in below this post.

-Andrew

Cake Image: Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Feature Image: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Technorati Tags: detox, weight+loss, diet, fitness, health, calorie, calorie+counting, stress, weight, fat, fat+loss, gym