Is this supplement for me?

If you have ever been to a supplement tasting booth or seen a supplement shop lately you will have noticed mountains of options, from pre workouts to intra, protein powders and BCAA's.

Do you need them all?  Probably not.

Ok. So here are my tips for the "non bodybuilding" fitness goers in regards to supplements.
🔸preworkouts - if you exercise after work, or feel lethargic while working out, a pre might be a good idea. They can create focus and have you running longer or pushing yourself that bit further past failure, rather than reaching failure. Try and get free samples from your local supplement shop before investing your hard earned coin into a full tub. Many people react differently to the chemicals in these pre's so some might flop, while others might just make you itch.
🔹intra workouts - yeah nah, unless you are looking to marathon run or spend 2-3 hours at the gym (like a bodybuilder might) why u need dis? 40mins to an hour of workout does not require anything special throughout besides some good quality H2o. Don't waste your money on an intra unless you get it for FREE.
🔸Protein powders - do you hate steak? Do you hate chicken? Do you hate fish?  If you said yes to all of these questions and you are not a bodybuilder, then maybe you should get a protein powder. This is a supplement after all. It is designed to supplement elements that are missing from your diet. Include chicken, steak, fish, etc. with your normal meals... and you shoukd be sorted.
🔹BCAA's - these are great...but not 100%needed for a non bodybuilder. Again these are supplements of Branch Chain Amino Acids, which, you guessed it! Apear in your foods on a regular basis. However extra supplementation can be good to give your body the tools to repair quicker and more efficiently. This means less soreness over the dreaded DOM dayz.
🔸Fat Burners - this might cause controversy... DO NOT BUY!!! these all have chemicals toting fat burning properties that mobilize fat or magic fat away... all have been tested... and all have failed to produce conclusive results. All you will get is instructions to pop a pill or two, three times a day on an empty stomach. This leads to a funny feeling in the gut and no fat lost.

As for those going for a body building supplementation plan... that's a whole nother story!

What are you waiting for?

So maybe your gym is shut for the holiday break, or maybe with all of the commitments that this time of year brings, you are busy traveling.

Also this time of year brings over eating,  food comas and a level of loathing and lethargy that can have you saying,  "I'll start again next week..."

But what are you waiting for?  Turn that christmas overload of foods energy into gainz and a kick arse ends to 2014!!!

My top tip is to engage in gym time asap! The sooner you get back on the horse the better you'll feel and the less the numbers will be reflected in the dreaded scales!

Tip number two...  don't use the scales!  If you can help it,  wait for the end of your first week of fitness to jump on the scales. If you really have to,  don't be shocked or burdened by the numbers. If you have increased in weight,  it won't be long till its off again. Remember the kilos are not the main defining factor of your health or fitness.

Tip number three,  start your routine with something big!  Get stuck into a big leg session to really start kick off the fat burning process.

But whatever you do,  just get back onto it!!!

Shoulders maketh...

I believe there is a saying that shoulders maketh the man. It's even suggested that it's one of the top things that a female look for in a prospective partner. All that aside, I don't think it quite works the other way around. But who am I kidding, some guys have profound tastes. 

Either sex that you be, respect the shoulders!

Shoulders is a very broad statement though. It refers to any top section of the arm, this includes some chest, tris, biceps and some of the back muscles. But what most people are simply referring to is the deltoid group when speaking of shoulders. 

So why respect the shoulders (deltoids)? Well because they are so interconnected with all the other previously mentioned muscles, damage the shoulders, say goodbye to chest day, arms day and upper back day!!!

When it comes to training them you also have to be mindful of the front, middle and rear deltoid regions because not all shoulder excercises and other muscles that incorporate a bit of the deltoid with them hit all three sections evenly. 

The chest, bicep and tricep workouts that everybody loves, have a tendency to put strain on the front deltoid thus giving you more front facing mass to your shoulder. This can be detremental to the look of your body, causing pulled forwad shoulders and no width. So be mindful on shoulders training day to even out the playing field a bit if you do a lot of chest and arms work during the rest of the week. Hit the lateral raises more for width and ensure that you carry out rear deltoid raises (bent over or on a bench for support) to ensure an all over shoulder look that won't have you looking like Quasimodo. 

Gyms, gyms everywhere!

As I have been recently finding, the fitness industry as a whole seems to be everywhere. News programs are reporting on it, supplement stores are hundreds to choose from and every second gym rat is becoming a fitness model or competitor. The other thing that seems to be on the rise is gyms AND more importantly 24hr gyms. 

Driving through big cities it's not uncommon to see even three 24hr gyms side by side. In my own town area we have gyms AND training centres to please and appease all tastes. What kind of gym is going to suit you best and is it worth the dough to join?

Doing some research and even dropping in for a one time use of a gym is most advisable for those looking for the right gym. But if you aren't 100% sure if the gym you have chosen is right, before you sign your paperwork for membership, find out what it will take to bail out our leave the gym contract. 

Some gyms are better suited to certain workout goals, so entering with a plan of how you want to workout will help you keep an eye out for what the gym has to help you achieve your goals. Don't chose a flash gym with loads of cardio equipment and no free weights if you plan to focus on resistance training. Look at the group fitness timetable if this will be more your thing to see if it will suit your own work and life schedule. Check the opening hours to ensure that this also suits your chosen workout time. 

Is it worth the money? If you are starting to get into your fitness and jogging round the block isn't cutting it any more, gym is an answer, but it can be a dollar investment that might end up costing you if you don't use it or choose poorly. Now most gyms have done the hard work for you, to stay competitive in your area they will all have a very similar price for membership as the rest of the town. But a gym with little equipment might be worth driving past to get to another gym if the other gym will suit your needs better. Don't let the fact that a gym is open 24hr sway your decision to pay more, I've belonged to two gyms that where not 24hr and I've learnt to build my training days around this. If you are game, ask the front desk attendant of you can try the gym for a free session, most gyms don't have a problem giving you a free trial session to test the waters, they will probably give you the membership cost spiel at the same time.  

Lastly, what about niche gyms? I'm talking crossfit, boxing, boot camp styles of gyms... These might be a better option to break away from the normal gym type routine, but might not be as permanent a choice for some. These gyms have very target specific equipment and goals. If you don't plan to be a boxer, boxing training might not be for you, but if you don't try... You might never know!

One things for sure, there are many choices and options for those looking for a place to call home (for fitness) so no excuses!!!

Fitness App review - BAU5

Ok, I’m always up for testing new things in the realm of fitness.

Since I was coming off day to day training in the lead up to a bit of a holiday, I decided to scroll through the iTunes App store to see what was new.

Though it reaches back to May this year (2014) I found BAU5, a personal training application that promised 3 workout days a week to get you into shape.

Is this going to kill the personal trainer game? Nope, some people just don’t have the drive to do it themselves and cheating the electronic system might seem too easy to do if you don’t want to be honest with yourself. You cannot cheat a personal trainer. That said, if you are willing and determined, this app could be the ticket for YOU.

Let’s start with a few gripes first.

1.       It is really weird having these REST day intervals. I’m more of a listen to my body type rest dayer. But…it has opened me up to being able to relax a little more on the start of my holiday. Once I’m overseas, I will have to stop almost altogether as I won’t be taking my phone. I did utilize one of the rest days to tackle one of my other passions in the fitness, a RPM class. Being able to see what my next workout was going to be I could see that legs were not on the board after rest day, so I was able to put a RPM class in the rest day just to get back into the cardio.

2.       If you have a really busy gym… Forget about this app. The way the app has you jumping from one machine to another and giving you a short period of time to set up and even throwing supersets that have you going straight from one machine to another, you will not want to be waiting for the machine to become free for your set.

3.        That leads me to the next problem, this app can only be used in a gym environment, and

you had better have a pretty well equip gym to use it.

Now for some positives.

1.       If you treat the app as a trainer and minimize the change over times from machine to machine, you will get an intense all over workout. Some of the routines are top balanced and others are lower body balanced. But in the end expect some work all over the body.

2.       The app uses visuals to really show you how your machine could or should be set up to achieve the weight that they are setting up for you.

3.       You get rest days. SO GO HARD! No need to worry about burning out and conserving some energy for the rest of the week, some people lack about for shoulders day so that they can go harder for arms day. Nope none of that here. I would liken this type of workout to that of Jason Statham’s, “…get serious, do 40 hard minutes, not an hour and a half of nonsense.”

So some other cool things that I can tell you about this app. The app gauges you on an exercise first up. So if the exercise is new and you haven't done the test before…be prepared to fail, but give it all you got. If you think you can get just one more rep out of the weight that they are testing you with, DO IT. You won’t achieve your goals if you just sit back and call it quits early. If the whole set of exercises are new, then give yourself around an hour and a half to complete it all. You might end up doing 15 sets on one exercise before failing and this can extend your workout significantly if you end up doing this with all the exercises.

Once the trails are done, the app will sometimes string together a super set of 2 to 3 movements. This took me by surprise originally. But they give you a heads up as to what the next exercise weight will require so that you can either set up before or move on knowing what weights you are going to have to stack on.

Other than that, the app is pretty self explanatory in its use. Though it would help to have a quick help section to explain what the heck the Flame logo is on the capstone set (and also, I’ve kinda figured it myself, but what is the capstone set?) You do have the ability to view an exercise from a YouTube link that is accessible within the app itself if you don't have a good level of know how on the exercise they are setting you up with (be warned though the guy they use talks...a lot.).

I will defiantly keep tracking with this app for a little while longer once I return from my holiday and see what kind of results I can get from it. Hopefully by then a few more updates might have been made to the app.

If any of my readers give this app a try, please let me know how you go.

Motivating music

Always chasing good remixes. Here's one for the end of the week, ad it to your gym playlist NOW!!

Motivating music

Always chasing good remixes. Here's one for the end of the week, ad it to your gym playlist NOW!!