The Pre-Workout Meal:

The nearest short-term influential factor to your training session will be what you eat before the session. We know that an intense strength training session will induce glycogen depletion in muscles andpart of the recovery period later is to replenish these stores. So, it makes sense to ensure adequate carboydrate consumption prior to training so that there is less dependence on post workout carbohydrate consumption to maintain glucose levels for recovery. Bearing these levels in mind, it is best to eat 1-2 hours before your session depending on how you digest food. A good meal would be something like 20-40g brown rice and a grilled 1/4 chicken breast. Supplement with a small serving of Glutamine: most Whey protein drinks have Glutamine in them.

Research shows that sports drink consumption during your training session doesn’t improve performance, but what it does do is maintain muscular glycogen levels. So if pre workout meals are too hard for you to add then this is the 2nd best option for you. CONSUME NO FATS IN THE 2 HOURS LEADING UP TO YOUR SESSION.

During your training sessions:

During your intense strength training, your body increases Adrenaline and Noradrenaline levels. Between these 2 catabolic hormones, they break down glycogen (stored carbohydrates) and fats by increasing your heart rate. Another catabolic hormone which you may have heard of called Cortisol is also released, but as well as breaking down fat, this hormone also breaks down proteins (muscle tissue) by stopping the body using glucose for energy. Cortisol is a stress hormone andyour body can deal with this rise in level as long as the recovery process is good. The problem occurs when you train for too long. We’ve seen it a thousand times in the gym – those people in there for 2-3 hours thinking the longer they train the better it is. Well all they do is shift the balance between Adrenaline, Noradrenaline and Cortisol to a higher proportional value of Cortisol. It is after all a stress hormone, and exercise is still stress for the body, albeit physical. The solution is to keep your sessions intense but short, achieve your objective and leave. So you may question your routine’s effectiveness if you’re doing an hour of strength training followed by another 30 plus minutes of cardio because you think it burns fat. Research would suggest you cut the cardio especially if it’s at a leisurely pace on the crosstrainer, and ramp up the intensity of your strength training.

Why should you increase intensity? During exercise, your body also produces anabolic hormones Testosterone, Growth Hormone and IGF-1. Between these hormones, they increase muscle size, strength, red blood cell count, decrease body fat and much more…basically, all the good things! These hormones respond almost immediately to intensity, but more so to the type of movement causing the intensity. For example, a heavy set of Bicep Curls which is an isolation exercise utilising a very small muscle in a simple movement pattern will not result in as high an increase in anabolism as a heavy set of Deadliftsor Squats, which are compound movements utilising the major, minor and peripheral physiological structures as well as neural factors such as increased motor neuron recruitment, increased Nervous activity, and if you’re new to it then brand new Neurological pathways.

Testosterone is released from 2 places: Adrenal Glands (men and women) and Testes (men only). So pay attention ladies: you don’t have nearly enough natural levels to gain muscle mass as do men so there is no need to worry that intense strength training will give you huge bodybuilder-like muscles. What you will get, however, are all the other hormonal benefits which induce fat loss such as a positive anabolic to catabolic ratio. This means you will get that toned, low body fat look.

During training, aim to increase anabolic hormone levels with the correct intensity to help improve your body composition. Avoid long duration activities unless there is a specific need for them.

Post-Workout Meal:

Literature suggests a simple carbohydrate (something sugary) and high protein post workout meal to start the recovery process. After training, a mixture of factors results in your body’s increased ability to absorb essential nutrients so it makes sense to consume this meal as soon as possible. Consuming simple carbohydrates will help bring your blood glucose levels back up, which drop dramatically during training.

Now here’s where I might confuse you a bit. You cannot eat any carbohydrates at least until 2 hours after your training session….What you can have, however, is your Whey Protein shake straight away after training, while you’re stretching or cooling down. Why do I suggest this? After having talked to alot of people who exercise regularly and intensely, it is clear that most these people are training too frequently for too long with inadequate recovery. These people lift the same weight day in, day out and their results are not reflecting their time and effort in the gym. It is easier to induce a state of catabolism (breaking down muscle and increasing fat tissue) than anabolism, as over training is very easy to do. Also, some research shows a majority of gym users are in an over trained state. In this case, your catabolic hormone (bad) to anabolic hormone (good) ratio is high, making it impossible to improve your body composition. Furthermore, if you try training in this state, you can forget trying to improve your strength; you’ll probably get more out of complaining to your collegues that you’re getting no results for 45 minutes, then go home!

We know that peak levels of Testosterone occur during an intense training session so you can immediately affect this favourably the next time you’re in the gym. Growth Hormone is a little trickier. Peak levels of GH occur about an hour into deep sleep. In fact GH is released in pulses throughout the day around 6-12 times. These 2 things combined would suggest GH levels have more long term influences; rest, recovery, sleep, nutrition, hormonal balance etc. If you are deficient in an anabolic hormone, it’s most likely this one. So we want to increase GH production to attain a positive hormonal balance to improve your strength and muscle. So if you follow recommended guidelines for carb based post workout meal, your body will release Insulin as a response to this. Although Insulin is classed as an anabolic hormone, it’s levels increase and decrease in opposition to GH. So an increased production of Insulin could lead to less GH being secreted. Depending on the environment, post workout GH secretion can be a significant time so it makes sense to try and optimise it. Combine this with at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night and GH levels could increase significantly higher within a couple of weeks.

Training:

There are many training protocols to choose from, it all depends on personal preference. Personally, I favour full body programs consisting of basic compound exercises. My clients rarely perform body part splits, we use full body workouts and the rep ranges vary according to goal, age, experience etc. The basic consensus is the intensity should promote progression not overtraining. There should always be an improvement in performance over time. Check your rep ranges aswell; if you are looking for muscular size but tend to lift explosively, you may want to lookat reducing rep tempo to 2 seconds up, 2 seconds down with a 1 second pause. Bodybuilders have the most amount of muscle of all athletes andthey predominantly train with around 70% of their max weight under control. If you want brute strength and don’t have an astheticgoal then you can justify the 1-5 rep range with closer to your 1 rep max weight to promote neuro-muscular facilitation. You should make the effort to include exercises like Deadlifts, Squats, Bench Presses and Chin Ups to address balance between anterior and posterior chains. Functional exercises like Elevated Lunges, Power Cleans and Overhead Squats are advanced movements but can be broken down and simplified for beginners. Learning these movements will result in far better adaptations than running on the treadmill in a monotonous fashion (which incidently leads your body to switch off it’s posterior chain muscles as they don’t get used!). Have a look at the improvements my clients in my Boxing classes have made and then look at the people in the gyms on the crosstrainers spending hours getting nowhere. Specific training programs will be looked at in a seperate post.

Nutrition:

Research shows that a diet which is moderate in Protein and Fat is better at generating increases in anabolic hormones, especially Testosterone. A little fact for you, all steroid hormones are made from Cholesterol, which is present in fats in the diet so a low fat diet can obstruct peak production. Forget the myth that high protein, low carbs and low fats get you lean. Research shows body composition will improve in bodybuilders (who are well trained and may be on anabolic steroids) on a low calorie diet, but anabolic hormones decrease significantly suggesting low calorie diets are a short term measure. So you may lose body fat on such a diet, but low Testosterone levels mean should you keep it up long term, then eventually catabolic to anabolic ratio will increase resulting in increased body fat and loss of muscle tissue.

It may be worth your while checking for food intolerances as literature suggests consuming foods that you are intolerant to can increase catabolic hormones. Nutrtionists can check this for you.

For those really into strength training, supplementing with ZMA has shown to increase production of steroid hormones. Zinc is one of the minerals the body needs to convert the different hormones from Cholesterol to Testosterone, IGF-1 and GH. You can eat white meats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, nuts, etc to get Zinc via food. The Magnesium in ZMA supplements help you sleep, so very important especially for those who tend to train in the evenings

In summary, spend at least 2 weeks aiming to increase GH production before going back to your muscle building plan. With higher levels of GH, you will add muscle, lose fat andgain strength quicker. Those of you who are confident with full body programs, just make sure you select 4 compound lifts per session, perform 2 ascending sets below failure and 1-2 working sets to failure on the final rep. If you’re used to doing 3 or more sets per exercise you’ll have taught your muscles to work over the span of multiple sets. You need to ramp up the intensity on this plan because you’ll only have 1-2 sets to get the work in. It’s all about being to the point. You can use advanced protocols such as strip sets, pyramids or forced reps but remember not to risk overtraining, so plan these carefully.

If you would like the training plan you can email me and I’ll send it to you.

 To Increase GH Production:

• Consume Glutamine 60-90mins before training.
• Eat no fats in the 2 hours leading up to your session.
• Aim to keep glucose levels stable by consuming complex carbs in your pre workout meal, or next best thing sip on a sports drink during training.
• Eat no carbs at least until 2 hours after training.
• Do have a Whey Protein supplement straight after training.
• Minimise Insulin production during 2 important GH producing times; post workout and during sleep. This means no late night eating and your last carb based meal needs to be at least 4-6 hours before bed.
• Supplement with ZMA before bedtime to promote sleep and anabolism.
• For 2 weeks, switch from a split routine to a full body workout 3 times per week to maximise steroid hormone production and force high surges of GH.
• Increase fats in your diet, especially from nuts, fish, seeds, etc. It’s ok to marginally increase saturated fat consumption as it contains Cholesterol, but be careful especially if you’re watching your body fat!

Good luck, as always keep the emails and texts coming!