Category: Nutrition & Sports Supplement Advice

Do not forget about proteins…
Do not forget about proteins…
Many female clients realising importance of lifting weights as a way to achieve,, fit, toned body’’ goal. I mentioned it before-doing cardio exercises will help you with losing kilograms but will not sculpture your body, only weight bearing exercises will do it.
When I am analysing food dairy of my clients, it is quite obvious that they focusing on calories and fat intake. However, quite commonly, they do not deliver enough proteins to support they weight training.Proteins are made of varying combinations of amino acids-the building blocks of muscle fibres. (We micro damage muscle fibres during training and when we recovering and deliver enough proteins we rebuild them, making them stronger, bigger, etc.)
There are 20 different amino acids, 9 of which are considered essential, because your body is unable to synthetize them (they have to be delivered from your diet).Women require arbour 1g of protein per each kilogram of bodyweight, but if they train (depending what kind of training you do and intensity) they should increase it to 1.5-2g protein per each kilogram of your weight.
Eating meals with balance of carbohydrates and protein throughout the day will support your exercise regime but you should definitively have some protein before workout (about 30min-1h) and some recovery meal up to 30min.-1h after.
Recovery meal should be combination of carbs (mainly) and protein to speed up rebuilding of muscle fibres. After 1h of vigorous training, you should have meal based on:
1g of carbs per kg of body weight
0.3g of protein per kg of body weight
Lets do maths-if you weight 65kg,your recovery meal should deliver 65g of carbs and 19.5g of protein, which in total gives you around 340kcal(with some fats ,total will give you 380kcal).
Do not overdo it…
These days you see men drinking protein shakes and quite often you may ask –do they need it? In many cases, they body weight is relatively low and they train with moderate intensity-so the answer is-they don’t need extra protein, if they have balanced diet.
Don’t deliver more protein than you need. There can be a few negative aspects, if you deliver too much:
-proteins which are not use for rebuilding muscle are transformed into fat and stored around body
-you can put extra pressure on your liver and kidney
-high protein loads result in higher calcium absorption in your intestines, ultimately resulting in calcium being washed away from your bones-increasing risk of osteoporosis.
It is good idea to give some fitness/nutrition professional to analyse your diet, to get the best results from your training and minimalize risks.
Just make sure, that they know what they talking about. Alternatively, you can do it yourself-there is many apps analysing it for you. Most popular-MyFitnessPal.
Good luck, train hard without excuses.
January 26, 2016
It does not take much to eat healthy…
I have been always persuading/educating my clients to have a healthy, balanced diet along with planned/dedicated training program to achieve desired goals. I always say-one can’t exist without other. Otherwise, all hard work at the training will be wasted.
Many people will find excuses-most common –I don’t have time to cook,it is too expensive to eat fresh and healthy.
I made above dish yesterday, it costs about 4£ per head (I haven’t charged my wife) and it takes about 20 min. to cook (ask worker at the shop to clean fish for you-it will save you time and mess).
I have used whole fatty fish (you can use mackerel, trout, sea bass-they are cheaper or any fish that you fancy), which is rich in good fats, protein and minerals. If you want to cut calories, please use cod or haddock. Use seasonal vegetables to save money and try to use different colours of veg to deliver variety of vitamins or minerals. If you want to add some calories, use products which contain, good, complex, slow relise carbs-beans, sweet potatoes, cuscuses.
I have cooked fish in owen and fast stir-fried veg with minimum amount of olive oil(you don’t need much, what I usually do, I put some olive oil on the pan and then slightly dry it up using kitchen towel).Try not to overcook your veg and fish to keep as many nutrition’s as possible.
To save time, you can make a few portions of meal and keep them in fridge (up to few days) or freezer (up to 1-2 months, depending of products use) and use when you wish.
Like you see, it does not take much to eat healthy-just a bit of good will and determination.
September 6, 2015
Sports Supplements for Women
The sport supplements market is a huge business, which has been growing, year on year. It has largely focused on men in the past. We very often see image of boys drinking shakes during or after training at the gym. However, the industry is increasingly targeting women. I think one of the main reasons for this is: you girls have been changing your approach to training, many of you are not afraid to lift weights, do HIIT training and you are very determined to get results. (In my experience as a PT, you are quite often more focused and determined than the guys.)
One of most common goals for women is losing body fat. In the market there are many products which can help you to do so.
Fat burners
Products called “fat burners” are quite often packed up with many chemicals, which names or roles are very difficult to understand for most of people. They usually working by elevating your heart rate or/and body temperature, which many of you can find unpleasant. You can have big problems with sleeping, especial if you take them and train in the evening. On positive side they usually work quite well and give you a very good kick before training.
If you’re just starting to use sports supplements, then you probably want to start with natural fat burners – L-carnitine, CLA and Green Tea tablets. They all, except for green tea, occur naturally in our body.
CLA-conjugated linoleic acids
These are fatty acids, which help you to burn fat.
L-carnitine
Helps in the metabolism of long chain fatty acids in the energy cycle. It is synthesised in the liver, brain and kidneys from essential amino acids-Lysine and L-methionine.
Green tea
Is a powerful antioxidant and can reduce risk of cardiovascular disease and high cholesterol and helps to burn fat as well.
The dosage of all of them is 1000-2000mg a day. They bringing a good results but don’t make miracles – you must still have a good diet and exercise.

Whey protein can work in a few ways
Proteins are harder to digest and you will feel fuller for longer, so whey protein makes the perfect snack between meals. To digest them you will be using energy as well, not much, but sine.
Remember that to speed up your metabolism, ideally you will have 5 small meals /snack a day, as well as exercise regularly.
Nutrition books advise that women need 1g of protein per kg of body weight per day. However times change: more and more girls are not afraid to do intense plyometric-weight lifting training as they see results in the form of a toned body and increased fitness. (Unfortunately, a lot of girls still believe the myth that if you lift any weights then you will build up big muscles, that’s nonsense, but still widely believed.)
Whey protein shakes are very handy for this type of exercise; helping with faster recovery and transformation into stronger toned muscles.
Protein shakes can be great remedy for quite common excuse, “I haven’t have time to eat’’. You shouldn’t replace your meals with shakes but, like I said, they are a perfect snack and take only a few seconds to mix.

Protein/recovery bars
Many of you do more than one class in the row and quite often you can feel drained during the second class. If this happens, maybe you should try protein / recovery bars. Always look at the nutrition on the label – you are looking for high protein, low fat and good proportion of slow realised carbs and sugars. These bars will keep you going and you will be able to give 100%.
You could argue this stuff is expensive; my answer is to shop around. You can find very good deals on the internet. Personally, I use two websites: www.discountsupplements.co.uk and www.myprotein.co.uk. You can choose easy way and go to nearest Holland &Barrett but you will pay over the odds.

Remember-never look at flashy, marketing stickers on the front, the important information is on the back in nutrition section. Compare them!
Stay fit.
Artur
March 6, 2014