Blog

Muscle Growth Blog

(for my Weight Loss Blog click the link)

Friday 20th August 2010

Here's a great way to stimulate muscle growth in your legs: what I call power running. Health warning: always warm up first for 10 minutes with a gentle jog. Then find a quiet stretch of open space, ideally grass, ideally without other people around to get in your way, and no trees too near. Wanstead Flats in East London is perfect for this, as it's much quieter than most other London parks and the spaces are wide open and stretch almost as far as the eye can see.

Another health warning - make sure your leg muscles are flexible before you attempt power running. This means you should be able to lie face down, and do a quad stretch so that your heel touches your bum easily. For calves, you should be able to do a standing calf stretch with back foot at least 2 feet behind front foot, and bend front knee without back heel leaving the floor. And for your hamstrings, you should be able to sit with one leg straight, one leg tucked in, reach forward and touch your toe easily (on each side). If you're not able to do this yet, get flexible first before you try this power running. The last thing you need is a pulled leg muscle from attempting power running with tight calves/hamstrings/quads.

There are two types of power running: sprinting, and hill running.

For sprints (after your 10 minute warm-up), set your stopwatch, and sprint for one minute. Then rest and walk around for one minute to get your breath back. Then sprint for one minute, then rest again for one minute. Do this unti you've done 10 sprints. Then jog gently for 5 minutes, and finally (and crucially) do a 10 minute stretching session for calves, hamstrings, quads, and glutes. Regents Park has some clear running space near the bandstand, where cricket is sometimes played. And Hyde Park has some big open spaces for sprints too. I recommend sprinting on grass rather than hard paths, as it's kinder on your joints.

The other type of power running is hill running.  As usual, do a gentle 10 minute jog to warm up. Then start at the bottom of a hill, and run to the top. No need to go fast, and it's probably better for your achilles tendons (back of your ankles) if you don't go too fast. Health warning - don't run back downhill (it can put excessive strain on your patella tendons round the kneecap) - just walk down and breathe deep for 2 minutes to ready yourself for the next uphill run. You'll be amazed how tough this is, so run up slowly in your first few sessions. Depending on the size of the hill, do 5 to 10 uphill runs. Then do a gentle jog for 5 minutes to cool down, followed by 10 minutes of leg stretches. Parliament Hill Fields has some hilly bits that are ideal for hill runs.

These two power runs will stimulate new muscle growth in your legs, and expose them to something different from squats and leg presses in the gym.

Saturday 10th July 2010

Here's some common mistakes in the gym and how you can avoid them:

Too Heavy: What this really means is, you're using a weight that's too heavy for you to lift with good safe technique. Check your technique in the mirror, or get a personal trainer to coach you. If you can't do the exercise without compromising your form, use a lighter weight.

Too Light: This is the other extreme! I've seen guys in the gym doing bicep curls with weights that are so light a child could lift them. And it's obvious that the weight is too light, because they're doing lots of repetitions without any sign of the slightest effort. Make sure you use a weight that is challenging enough to stimulate muscle growth. If it's still easy after 10 reps, go heavier.

Too Fast: Everyone's seen the crazy guy in the gym performing reps at lightening speed. That's really bad form. It puts strain on the joints, and fails to engage the muscles properly. It's often accompanied by the 'too light' or 'too heavy' errors above. Count to three on the way up, pause for one second, and count to three on the way down. That's a better tempo.

Too Vague & Random: (often accompanied by 'too light') Make sure you have a plan when you begin your workout. Otherwise you'll be dithering around vaguely doing a big of this and a bit of that, often with lots of rest and chit-chat inbetween. Decide if you're going to do chest/shoulders/triceps, or back/shoulders/biceps, or legs/abs, (or any other logical combination) or even a whole body workout. Just make sure you have an effective plan and execute it purposefully.

And allocate appropriate time for each muscle group too. Have you seen the guy who does a whole hour on just his biceps? Or the guy who hogs the bench press for ages? Or the guy who flits from one exercise to another without any sense of purpose, and takes very long rest periods between? (while he sends a text, chats on his mobile, chats to his gym buddy, stares into space) Make sure you have a well-balanced and purposeful approach to each workout.

As a personal trainer in London I see a lot of crazy workouts in the gym. What amazes me is that the fitness instructors in the gym see what's happening and often say nothing. I keep my mouth shut, unless someone asks me for help of course.

Tuesday 8th June 2010

Are you eating plenty of veg? Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you only need to eat lots of veg if you're trying to lose weight. Veggies are a crucial part of any muscle-building nutrition plan, as they contain the minerals and vitamins that are needed in the growth and repair of muscle.

If you're not already eating lots of broccoli, make sure you include this veg in your diet - it's one of the most nutrient-dense vegetables around. Among other benefits, broccoli is high in iron, which is good for the blood, as it helps the blood transport oxygen to your muscles. But don't just stick to a few vegetables, eat as wide a variety of different veggies as possible. In addition to broccoli, the best vegetables for muscle growth are the dark green leafy ones, and plenty of them.

Wednesday 26th May 2010

One of my personal training clients asked me how best to bulk up. He's got a busy job, always on the go, never seems to have time to sit down to a proper meal, let alone cook one.

My advice was to focus on healthy but reasonably high-calorie foods that are quick to prepare and eat:

1. avocados - you can make a healthy avocado snack in 2 mins. Just pop 2 slices wholemeal bread in the toaster, and mash up one ripe avocado. Spread the avocado on the toast, and add pepper/tabasco to add a kick if you wish. Avocados are high in calories, and the fat is monounsaturated fat, one of the good fats. No more than one every other day though.

2. porridge - this is a quick and easy breakfast to make - I use Quaker Oats - one coffee mug of oats mixed with a pint of skimmed milk, and eat with one banana chopped in, and a squirt of runny honey (the darker the better, for more nutrients).

3. protein shakes - I use Maximuscle Progain, 2 scoops in a pint of skimmed milk, for a quick snack after a workout.

4. nuts - almonds, walnuts and brazils are the best for healthy weight-gain. A handful of nuts a day will give a boost of protein.

5. Chicken and bulgar wheat salads - just stir-fry diced chicken breasts, cook up some bulgar wheat, run cold water through the cooked bulgar, put the chicken pieces and bulgar in a bowl. Then add some baby sweetcorn, rocket, chopped raw mushrooms, and you've got a quick and healthy salad. Full of protein, complex carbs, and the veg gives you fibre and vitamins/minerals. Easy!

Wednesday 28th April 2010

Beware of catabolism. This is the metabolic state you don't want to be in, where muscle is being broken down to the extent that you lose muscle. Catabolism is caused by excessive overtraining without giving your body a chance to recover. Catabolism can also result from the complete opposite, no exercise at all, hence the muscle wasting suffered by bed-bound people (or sofa/TV bound people!).

It is also caused by too much stress, too little sleep, too little protein in your diet, not eating protein regularly enough, or not eating enough carbohydrates. The opposite of catabolism is anabolism, or 'anabolic state' which represents the ideal conditions for muscle growth. Make sure you stay in an anabolic state.

Monday 19th April 2010

People ask me if it's possible to build muscle and burn fat at the same time. The answer is yes! Muscle is metabolically active, and the more muscle you have, the more fat your burn 24 hours a day. Think of muscle like a fat-burning furnace.

A related question is from skinny people who want to bulk up, and want to know how gain healthy muscular weight without piling on loads of fat around the stomach. If you're underweight, then there's no harm increasing your 'good fats' (oily fish, almonds, brazil nuts, walnuts, avocados) as part of a weight-gain diet, as long as you're exercising intensively at the same time.

The best way to bulk up is to eat more frequently (5-6 times a day) and ensure you're getting plenty of complex carbs (porridge oats, sweet potato, wholemeal bread in moderation, bulgar wheat, brown rice), and of course protein with every meal/snack. And don't forget your 3 portions of fruit and 3-5 portions of veg per day.

Monitor your body-fat levels on a regular basis to make sure your body fat does not exceed 18% for men and 28% for women. And if it's above this, get it down within the healthy range of body fat percentage (12-18% for men, 22-28% for women). If you're gaining weight around the middle, just reduce your fat intake and up the intensity of your workouts.

Wednesday 31st March 2010

Do you ever get lower back pain when you train heavy with weights? Make sure you sort out the lower back pain before any more heavy weight training. You're probably in need of postural improvement, and training with heavy weights when you have poor posture will only make the problem worse. Focus on core strength, and also glute strength, and go see a physiotherapist who will assess your posture and prescribe a series of corrective exercises and stretches. Also make sure your exercise technique is perfect on exercises like squats, to ensure you don't injure yourself in future.

Friday 19th March 2010

If you want to build muscle fast, make sure you make the multi-joint compound movements the cornerstone of your workouts. That means bench press, squats, barbell bentover rows, deadlift, and seated dumbbell shoulder press. And make sure your eating is sufficient to pack on the muscle.

Thursday 4th Febuary 2010

Lots of people fall into the trap of just exercising their favourite body part. There was a guy in a gym I used to use, Cannons (which has now been taken over by Nuffield Health), who always trained his biceps, and nothing else. Everyone has favourite exercises and particular muscles they want to grow, but at what cost?

The danger of focusing too much on one body part is that you'll end up with an unbalanced body, with all the posture problems this entails, back pain, the joint problems from over-use, and the unnatural look that results. Everyone has seen the muscle guys in the gym who wear long jogging pants, and in the changing rooms you see that their legs are skinny in comparison to their upper body. I knew a personal trainer in a gym in central London who was guilty of this. It's much more healthy to develop a well-balanced physique.

So take a good look in the mirror and see how balanced your physique is. In addition, get a friend to evaluate you. And make sure you're giving attention to all your body parts, not just one muscle group. Your joints will thank you for it, and you'll get a far more varied and interesting workout as a result.

Tuesday 15th December 2009

If you're not seeing the muscle growth you want - it's time to review just how effectively you're training.

Try the 'muscle soreness' test. Are your muscles sore the next day (and/or the day after that?). If not, you've not trained hard enough. And it's not just about how heavy the weights are, it's how effective your movements are.

Here's 3 ways to trigger more stimulation of the muscle fibres you're trying to target:

1. Slow negatives: slow the movement right down on the return phase of the movement, and really feel the muscles activating.

2. Supersets: do 2 sets of different exercises without a rest in between. For instance, a chest press and a lat pulldown. Ineffective workouts are often the result of too much rest between sets.

3. 5 rep sets: Try a set of going 10% heavier than usual just for 5 reps, and ensure you maintain good form. I had a personal trainer in north London who got me to do this, and I can tell you from personal experience that it creates great soreness afterwards! Make sure the muscle group you target is used to the particular exercise before you apply this technique. You want to be able to get out of bed the next day. I over-did it a bit on a calf-raise once, and couldn't fully straighten my legs the next day, so I was walking round like a monkey for a few hours.

Thursday 19th November 2009

I got lots of feedback about my blog post below, one from a personal trainer in London who wholeheartedly agreed with me that people are so fixated on endless cardio, it's actually doing them harm.

Today, here's some tips to kick-start your muscle growth, if you're having a hard time gaining muscle or bulking up:

1. Eat 6 times a day, medium sized healthy portions.

2. Don't train the same muscle group 2 days in a row. Allow the sore muscles to recover first. And if your muscles aren't sore after a muscle-growth workout, you're either not lifitng heavy enough, or you're using the wrong technique (or both!).

3. Get plenty of sleep. 8 hours a night is ideal. And make sure you're asleep by midnight.

Sunday 18th October 2009

Is it possible to do too much cardio? I remember a friend who had to give up treadmill and eliptical training at the gym because her joints had worn out. The short answer is yes, it's possible to do too much cardio, and thousands of people do, at the expense of their joints, and other aspects of fitness.

I recommend 20-30 mins cardio, three times a week. And vary it - don't just run on the treadmill all the time. The danger of just one form of cardio is that you'll get over-use injuries. So do some treadmill running (at different speeds and inclines, ie - interval training!), do some rowing, some eliptical (forwards and backwards), run outdoors (preferrably on grass to cushion your joints), and go swimming. The greater variety the better.

And don't just do cardio. There's not a personal trainer in London who would say do only cardio. If you're looking to burn excess body fat, cardio is not the most effective way. The value of cardio is to strengthen your heart and lungs, not to burn fat. The most effective fat burner is resistance training with weights to build muscle, because muscle burns fat 24 hours a day, by raising your resting metabolic rate.

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Remember those beach holidays when you played bat and ball by the water's edge? There's a group in London that champions the sport of Brazilian beach tennis, also known as Frescobol. That's what you were playing!

Check out their YouTube channel Tennis0Boundaries - it's packed with fun videos of Frescobol in action, together with updates on events in the East Croydon/Thornton Heath area. If you want to look cool on the beach next summer (or this winter if you head off to the southern hemisphere) then check out their upcoming events and practice sessions.

Tuesday 22nd September 2009

Last Sunday I went with a friend on the official Olympic tour. The coach drove through the 500 acre Olympic Park, so we were within touching distance of the main stadium, the Aquatics Centre, the international media centre, and the many other features of the site.

The main stadium is like a vast bowl scooped out of the earth. 800,000 tonnes of soil were excavated to create the sunken bowl. There will be a lower tier of 25,000 permanent seats, and a further 55,000 temporary seats in the upper tier. The stadium construction is ahead of schedule.

One of the most visually stunning elements of the site is the Aquatics Centre, with its wave-like roof design. The roof has been constructed first, and the centre is being built from the top down. It's an architectual highlight, and is set to become an iconic image of the 2012 Olympics, second only to the main stadium itself.

The Olympic Village, right next to the Olympic Park, will accommodate 17,000 athletes and officials during the games. The legacy will be 3,000 new affordable homes. I'm delighted to be a personal trainer in East London right at the time when London will be hosting the 2012 Olympics. The Olympic buzz will give sports and fitness a huge boost in this area.

To book yourself onto a free tour of the Olympic Park, just ring 0300 2012 001.

Sunday 6th September 2009

The US Open tennis is well underway, and one regular visitor to the Fitness4London site emailed me details of a fantastic website that gives you video footage of all matches - it's www.tennis-channel.tv - check it out now.

To access matches, on the left hand menu click US Open Archive, and then all the matches will appear in the right hand menu. To put the right hand menu in the background when you're watching a match, move the mouse pointer inside the video screen. I prefer not to enlarge to full video screen, as it reduces the quality.

Also worth watching the daily show that automatically pops up when you go to the site, US Open Tonight, which reviews that day's play.

Thursday 3rd September 2009

In my eternal quest to be the best personal trainer in London, I want to supply you with plenty of valuable information to bring you closer to your goals.

Today's nugget is a fantastic website created by motivational guru Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The website is www.stephencovey.com and I strongly recommend you join - it's free - and you'll see for yourself what a useful resource it is to clarify and pursue your goals.

Monday 31st August 2009

Here's a great recession-busting meal I've just prepared and gobbled down. Tasty, healthy, quick to prepare, and costs hardly anything.

Baked Beans (Branstons - the low sugar/salt variety - from Sainsburys and all good supermarkets) on 2 wholemeal toast, but with a twist:

Fry a finely chopped onion in a tablespoon of olive oil, then add finely chopped mushrooms, sweetcorn, and garlic. Stir around on high heat for 2 mins until the onions are soft and brown. If you like it hot, add some chilli powder. Then add the beans, stir for a few minutes, and pour the mixture on 2 slices wholemeal toast.

Simples!

Thursday 27th August 2009

Just re-read one of my favourite nutrition books, Power Eating, by Susan Kleiner, one of USA's leading authorities on nutrition for strength. It goes into detail about protein, carbohydrates, fat. And lots of valuable info on how to burn off excess body-fat. I recommend it! Every personal trainer in London should be armed with this book.

Thursday 20th August 2009

Forgot to mention yesterday I did an evening workout at home, no time to get to the gym.

Was very tempting just to sit back and watch Dragons Den and forget the workout, but I  brought my mat and dumbbells into the lounge and exercised as I watched Dragons Den. Even if you don't have a mat and dumbbells at home, just use a folded-up bath towel, and do a range of bodyweight exercises. Pressups are fantastic for upper body strength, and there's a whole range of core exercises you can do with absolutely no equipment.

So there are no excuses not to exercise! You don't have to miss your favourite TV show, just exercise in front of the TV. If you didn't make it to the gym, do a home workout. Most of my Fitness4London personal training in London is done in the client's lounge. Focus on your goals and the excuses not to exercise will melt away.

Wednesday 19th August 2009

Fantastic hot day today, nice dry heat too, and welcome breeze. Had 3 maximuscle shakers in my bag, one with maximuscle progain, one with iced water, one with half water half orange juice. Kept me hydrated through the day. One of the best fitness tips is to drink water regularly, more on hot days.

Had a hardback A4 size lined notebook on me for scribbling ideas when I'm on the tube or waiting for clients. Wrote down some goals for the Fitness4London site. I want some automated fitness calculators that people can self-test, such as BMI (body mass index), and waist/hip ratio. Would also be great to get more feedback from visitors to the site, so a discussion forum is certainly one for the near future. Perhaps a directory of personal trainers in London too.

Fitness4London is growing fast, and it's great to get ideas from people for additional features. One request was for an 'Ask the Expert' page where people email me their questions and I post answers on the site. Watch this space.

Thursday 13th August 2009

As a personal trainer in London who uses the tube every day, I find August is the best month to get around the city fast. August is so much quieter what with half of London abroad on holiday. With several of my clients away, August is a great opportunity to contact former clients and give them a few summer workouts outdoors. We run round the park, do some cardio-boxing, step-ups on a park bench, the possibilities are endless. Time to make the most of the weather while it lasts!