Diet and nutrition

Myself and Nutrition Guru Matt Lovell  (who has his own site, with tips, recipes and supplements at  www.sportsnutritionvlog.com  ) have put together another little video on a perfect snack, or meal accompaniment. Its quick, healthy and packed with everything you need.

Here is a video on a simple Protein Shake to make in the mornings or post training. You can add or take away any of the ingredients as required.  www.sportsnutritionvlog.com     Other Recipes you might like. Peanut Powerhouse Whey Protein 2 scoops (works best with Chocolate) 1 large tablespoon of Peanut butter 1 small handful of Almonds 1 large tablespoon of Cottage cheese. - You can add some BCAA's etc. if you want. Water or Skimmed Milk till you are happy consistency. Berry Builder. 2 scoops Whey Protein (strawberry recommended) 1 handful of blueberries 1 handful of Strawberries and Raspberries  1 large banana Milk or Water till you are happy with consistency. All in one Breakfast 2 scoops of whey 1 tablespoon of peanut butter 1 handful of oats or muesli 1 whole egg Raw 1 handful of berries 1 handful of mixed nuts (almonds, walnuts) 1 small glass of fruit juice Skimmed Milk or water till you are happy with consistency Green Tea Taster - little fat burning element 2...

If you are trying to build some size in say preseason or just because you want to get lean and ripped. Then split body weight workouts with high reps, could be what you are looking for. This means essentially every day of the week is a different body part, so you are really hitting all the areas for maximum growth. These are different body part, Hypertrophy sessions with a higher rep range 6-12 and 3-5 sets. If you look at the sessions I have put on my blog already, they are often combination sessions, with things like legs and upper body, or strength and power. I don’t ever really need to do split workouts, because size is not really an issue at the moment. If I was to stop playing or get an injury and needed to bulk up they are what I would go back to. If you are a keen trainer who wants the bodybuilding frame, then crack on. Again if you are unfamiliar with weights then please get some advice or convert stuff to just body weight, with good technique. IF you are a keen trainer then m...

There are a lot of myths written about weight loss, people make all sorts of excuses to avoid knuckling down and shedding that unwanted padding. There are always short cuts, or promised short cuts that fail to deliver. Things aren't that complicated. Sort your diet out, plan a head, do some cardio and lift some weights. Its simple things like, not buying junk food. If it’s in the house you are going to eat it, even if it’s just for the “kids”. If you burn more calories than you take in, then you are going to loose weight. Those of you who diet every 5 mins and don't do the work are kidding yourselves. Often the weight falls off, and than bang you put it back on again. You need to condition your body and metabolism. Everything works in tandem, eat well, train well, weight isn't an issue. There are of course caveats to this, if you are old, injured or have medical problems. However the fact remains the same, you can always eat well and do some sort of modified training. Even ...

It doesn’t really matter what your training goals are, you can’t avoid having to do some cardio work. A lot of what I try to do as a rugby player is specific to my sport, but as I have mentioned already on this blog, its always good to change things up now and then, trying different sports and getting different kinds of work outs. This is a conditioning session that covers most of the areas you need to play rugby. If you look at rugby match it is very stop start, with sprinting, jogging, contact, all coming in different amounts, and at different times. As backrow forward you are constantly involved whether, that’s in attack or defense. You may only have a short burst of activity for say 30 seconds to a 3mins, but that could mean you sprint twice, make 2 tackles, get to your feet, carry the ball, chase a kick, before there is a turnover over, infringement etc. which stops play. You then need to recover quickly and go again. You can remove the down and ups if you have any injury worries ...

If you enjoy training, but get a little bored of hitting the pavement or bike for your fitness needs. Then I would recommend the following as a change up.   Crossfit is growing in popularity across the world; there is nothing quite like the tiredness and physical gains you get from the full body hammering this sport gives you. Apart from covering most of the key Olympic lifts, its great for full body fitness, toning, weight loss and strength development. Its also a lot of fun, some of the sessions will only take you 4 minutes, but its 4 minutes of flat out work, which leaves you in a pile. There are competitions and team events around the country if you want to take it more seriously. If you are playing sport or keen for something to get you into shape during preseason, then this kind of work out is great as its dynamic and a lot more applicable than running on a treadmill or doing bench press. I have included a video of one of the sessions I did with Richard Tidmarsh. Crossf...

The other day I put up a few key pillars of Nutrition from Matt Lovell ( www.SportsNutritionVlog.com ) . These should really help you to get started on your road to getting more out of your diet Following on from this Nutrition commandments Matt has gone into more detail about some of the key factors and important areas that need to be addressed in your own personal nutrition.  The focus is on some key elements like Protein, Carbohydrate and post training. Hydration must be your foremost priority. Each meal should consist of a portion of protein, complex carbohydrate (CHO) and vegetables. An effective strategy for fat loss has been revealed to be one of reducing fat in the diet by substituting it with protein. CHO should still be the major source of energy and, and consuming this with green vegetables, high in cellulose, has been shown to allow this energy to be released slowly, maintaining constant blood-sugar. This will mean your energy levels don’t fluctuate too much. Water ...

IMPORTANT. The reasons behind my writing of this blog and updating it Often, are A my passion for training, and B. my desire to share some knowledge and gauge the interest out there on training and nutrition. I have selected a few different sessions that I am doing currently or have done, they are stand-alone sessions to be selected as and when you feel like it. I haven’t put a structure, or a lot of context to my sessions as there is a very mixed audience looking at them, and you all have different needs. I will always explain what the session is based on and what targets are being met. As interest grows I will start putting a lot simpler sessions up and more context behind why I am suggesting these specific sessions.  For example I may have done certain fitness sessions, because I have a slight injury and cant do other things. It is extremely important that you remember I have been training and lifting for over 10 years, and its part of my Job. A lot of the existing sessions on t...

If you have very little time, and want to get a good beach weight pump on, then try this. Great for lunch breaks and post work training Sessions. The idea is one push, one pull, bicep, triceps and abs. Bench press – 3 sets of 10 reps Followed straight away by 10 clap press ups . 1 min rest. Bench pull or seated row – 3 sets of 10 reps Followed by Reverse dumbbell flies – use a light weight and make sure you target the small muscles. 1 min rest. Chin ups – 3 sets of 10 reps using Body Weight. Changing your grip each set. Followed by Z bar bicep curls – 3 sets of 10 1 min rest Triceps push down – 3 sets of 10 reps. Use either the rope grip or an angled bar Followed by skull crushers .(see pics) - 3sets of 10 1 min rest Abs – seated medicine ball twists 10 each side Straight into bent knee crunches . 20 of these. front and side planks - 30 seconds on each. Do the abs twice through