Foody Sciencey Training Things

This is a blog of foody, sciencey training things I find interesting with the occasional competition related post sprinkled in for good measure. Feel free to follow, like, share and get in touch :)

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Today’s video - 6 weeks after the last post, 10kg heavier. My back is much sturdier and the glute’s seem to be firing better, taking more of the lift. The bar is almost perfectly straight too so I’m quite happy with how this is progressing.

[foodyscienceytrainingthings]

Haven't posted much about training at all recently but here's something I'm pretty pleased with. Since January I've been working on improving and strengthening my posture, heavily centred around my back and piriformis/glute/posterior chain activation and position. This is a video of the first week of a 12 week program on my dynamic day (fast reps, light(er) weights and an emphasis on form). Notice that the bar travels fairly straight but my back noticeably braces the lift and my glutes do very little. The next post will show the video from today - 6 weeks on.

[foodyscienceytrainingthings]

Keto post work out. Veal, olive oil, broccoli, garlic, goats cheese. #ketogenic #fatloss #ketotic #health #notweightloss #ketones #fats #proteins

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Lovely Saturday morning breakfast - streaky bacon, eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms cooked off in coconut oil. This actually gives a nice mix of saturated/mono/poly unsaturated fats, a good dose of vitamins and minerals, protein and electrolytes (critical when ketogenic). Who says ketogenic diets can't be tasty and healthy? #fatloss #ketotic #ketogenic #bacon #eggs #breakfast #health

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70g's of carbs down and this little lot goes some way to making up the rest of today's 800g carb refeed! #ketotic #refeed #carbs #glut4 #leptin #thyroid #fatloss #thatsatonofcarbs #howthehellamigoingtoeatallthis #carbfrenzy

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Egg's and Kale for breakfast! Not the prettiest but certainly healthy with a high nutrient density. The eggs are free range and cooked in coconut oil and the kale was lightly steamed. Along with the plethora of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients on offer here, having a low carb breakfast (if you eat breakfast at all) can have highly positive effects on your metabolic flexibility - your ability to use and switch between appropriate fuel sources - throughout the rest of the day. Which can have positive benefits for sports performance and/or fat loss, if that's your goal. #health #fitness #sportsperformance #fatloss #eggs #kale #keto #breakfast #metabolicflexibility

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Awesome Post work out meal. 200g Grass fed mince beef, 100gbasmati rice, 100g mixed veg and 385g baked potatoes. Everything a growing boy (or girl) needs 😋. #postworkout #carbs #proteins #grassfed #glut4 #insulin #glycogenreplenishment

[foodyscienceytrainingthings]

Here's a common comparison and a great example of quality. Spot the difference..... One of these was farm bought, free range. The others from a supermarket, caged. I much prefer the former! #eggs #freerange #betacarotene #health #yummy #lunch #nutrition #animalwelfare

[foodyscienceytrainingthings]

Here we go. I'll be making more of an effort to post more nutrition based stuff on social media. I'm terrible at anything other than Facebook so let's see how this goes...... First off, as I'm getting myself back into things after a very stress filled few months, here's what I'm doing to help refresh my system and recharge the batteries. I don't take a broad spectrum multivitamin year round but I do target them based upon my current lifestyle and situation. Vitamin D3 - general health and mental well being. A year round staple. Vitamin B12 - added 1st during stressful periods to help maintain the nervous system and mental well being. Decaf coffee substituted instead of full caff. Last thing I need is my adrenals being taxed even more than they already are 😏Chamomile tea - added 2nd to aid in relaxing and unwinding after hard days, improves sleep quality. Magnesium/ZMA. - added 3rd again to relax and unwind. Omega 3 - added 4th. I eat oily fish 3-5 times a week but bumping it up a bit during stressful times. There's evidence it help reduce adrenal output, again aiding in recovery. Rhodiola rosea - finally, this little gem was added. Taken for 3 weeks at a time, it's an adaptogenic Herb that helps the body deal with stress and fatigue. This is all quite a bit to take in one go for me, but it's more therapeutic than anything else. After 1 month I'll stop most of it (will keep the D3 for sure) which combined with a solid diet behaviour like good time management, making time to unwind, reducing my workload and not going bonkers in the gym will get right back to a relaxed, refreshed and non-fatigued state! #health #anti-fatigue #stressmanagement #decaf #omega3 #D3 #B12 #chamomile #relaxed

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167.5kg Deadlift @ 55kg body weight. Hitting 3x body weight in training and extremely happy with this. It's the 11th set so I'll forgive myself the slight hitch. Aiming for 172.5+ in competition this year.

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You know when you look at something you’ve got to do and you think to yourself “OH FUCK!!” This was my evening. 165kg deadlift at 53.8kg BW… Just a shade over 3 times body weight and within 5kg of my absolute max. Dead chuffed I managed to pick it up! :D

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160kg deadlift at 53.6kg. A 3x body weight lift. Went up faster than I expected - roll on May's competition time :)

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Training Goals for 2015

@56kg body weight raw. Bench 90kg Squat 115kg Deadlift 180kg Strict military press 60kg

[foodyscienceytrainingthings]

Here’s an interesting one…. Eating “clean” is really quite subjective with no clear definition.

Eating for health and sports performance (could be applied to a lot of things in life) is all about CONTEXT.

Do’s.

1. Not necessary - dependant on preferred eating style and goal.

2. Again, not an absolute. See point 1. Also dependant on muscle mass and exercise level.

3. Not necessarily. See point 1.

4. Yup.

5. Yup.

6. Sounds ridiculous to me. Adds stress and burdens your day. Just eat when you can. Not on a set times schedule.

7. Yes for the majority.

8. Define ‘proper’. See point 1.

Don’ts

1. Can still be included. Ideally around exercise. Can be goal dependant.

2. Define ‘chemically charged’. What a lot of people perceive as lab chemicals are naturally occurring and listed under their chemical names or given an E. Number.

3. Define ‘preservatives’. (See point 2).

4. Define ‘artificial’. Sugars are not inherently evil. (See point 1&2)

5. Agree and disagree. If chock full of true chemicals (see point 2) Then yes. If it’s just been prepared “processed” then why not. Nothing wrong with kettle chips for example.

6. Artificial trans fats yes. Work to eliminate them. Saturated fat should still be eaten.

7. Yes and no. Consumed all day long every day maybe not so good. Should really be mindful of amounts consumed. Again depending on diet and goal.

8. Yup.

9. All I’m gonna say is ‘balance and moderation . ’.Again with the goal dependant.

10. Define “supersized” meals. If you are intermittent fasting or the “hour of power”post workout for example then the meals could be huge and rightfully so!

[foodyscienceytrainingthings]

If you're looking for a coach or nutrition and training website particularly for physique sports or powerlifting this is an awesome coaching and nutrition service from John Meadows. Constantly learning so much from this guy!

[foodyscienceytrainingthings]

Daily Diet

I've debated with myself for quite some time over whether I should write this post. I'm not really sure how many people really want to see or care about the food I eat but the subject of food and diet pops up a lot - usually initiated by other people - and it's pretty clear that folks get/have the wrong impression about what I put in my pie hole, leading to a lot of misunderstanding, confusion and me repeating and explaining the same stuff over and over again.

What is also becoming apparent ( and in many ways is the most important reason for this post) is that this misunderstanding of MY diet leads people to make assumptions on the diets I would write for others, which would certainly negatively affect my client base as I move towards doing nutrition as a business. 

So this post is really intended to help everybody understand what I do, what I know and clear up any misinterpretations/misunderstandings. This is a typical example - qualities and food sources vary quite a bit depending on what I'm doing but this should give you the general gist. Here goes...

Goal:

Strength Gain.

Over arching principles:

Nutrient timing, metabolic flexibility. 

Breakfast 

Scrambled eggs with mushrooms/veg

or 

Protein shake with berries, almond butter and coconut oil. 

Black coffee or green tea regardless.

Lunch 

Steak and Kale cooked in coconut oil or grass fed butter*

or 

Salmon and Avocado with olives/nuts. 

Pre workout 

 Protein shake with coconut oil. 

or

Protein shake, sprouted grain bread and Almond butter or Jam.

Peri workout

Water and/or protein and/or amino acids.

Post workout

Hydrolysed Protein, 3-4 banana's or beetroot juice or other fruit. Maybe some jelly babies or haribo or other sweet...

Chicken stir fry with rice, noodles and veg or jacket potato with Tuna and beans. or Pizza or Fajitas or a meal in a restaurant or.... you get the idea - as long as its a complete meal, whatever takes my fancy, in what ever amount it takes to feel full. 

Large bowl of oats (usually x 3) with Fage or yogurt and fruit, often with maple syrup. Or popcorn, or frozen yogurt, or cookies, or flapjacks.... again- you get the idea. 

*On non workout days, I skip the pre/peri workout nutrition and have just the solid food options. Mostly I keep carbs in every day, but keep them to the evening or late afternoon. 

I don't really have any set macro's or calories when eating like this but I do loosely track them from time to time for a ball park figure - for a day or 2 every few months I'll track it just to see what's what - amounts and macro's tend to vary as I said but calories are usually in the region of around 3000kcals.

Things I do keep as a constant are: 

Protein at every meal - muscle repair/maintainence, immune support and also helps with blood sugar control. 

3-500g+ veg every day (for the fibre and nutrients) 

No monosodium glutamate (I hold A LOT of water and it may/may not be a neurotoxin) 

No/low milk fat (I'm allergic to it.)

I also like to keep carbs to a minimum in the AM period, but there are exceptions (like very heavy training in the morning or having gone several days carb free) 

If I'm looking to tightened or add some mass I'll track the calories more closely, set a limit and specific macro's and I start following a more specific plan with goals and targets. Haven't been doing it like that for while and have no plans to start any time soon as I'm pretty happy coasting where I am right now. 

There you have it folks! Nothing special, fancy or too far out there just plenty of protein, fat and carbs everything a growing boy (or girl) needs....As always, feel free to shoot over any questions, comments or advice. 

Until next time...

[foodyscienceytrainingthings]

So this happened yesterday evening. Caught me by surprise. 155kg x3 at 54.5kg body weight. 91% max. Officially the strongest I've ever been! Still need to work on taking the slack out of the bar.