CrossFit’s Dirty Little Secret

I love training hard and pushing myself.  I encourage all my clients to work towards their limit and aim to outperform their last workout, even slightly in some way.  This is called progressive overload, and what enables us to change our bodies and our performance gradually over time.  You simply cannot cruise along at a relaxed pace whilst having a chat and expect to wake up looking like a cover model in a few weeks.  

I'm also a fan of high intensity metabolic, whole-body circuits with variable speeds of exercise.  I have slowly and safely elevated my performance over years of incremental steps to be able to push myself as hard as I do and still be pain-free the next day.  This is called being conditioned.  CrossFit has grabbed onto some of these elements but also created a culture around it of extreme competitiveness that pushes participants often well beyond their current limits.  I've heard from those who have done CrossFit that technique is often overlooked in the effort to do more reps in a given amount of time and my concern as a trainer is that if you are doing a deadlift or a power clean incorrectly, that's unsettling, but now do as many of those as you can in a minute, now that's just frightening. 

I have to admire the dedication and effort CrossFitters put into their training.  I love dedication like that.  I'm also a fan what what it can do for the physique if done correctly and safely.  Like I said, I'm not against training hard, and gradually increasing intensity over time using progressive overload techniques, but I've met enough parochial ex-CrossFit people who left because of injury to know that no matter what your sport or discipline, always listen to your body.  Don't ignore pain or symptoms that scream at you that something isn't right.  Never ignore the critical importance of technique, timing and posture during exercise and if in doubt talk to another professional for advice if you don't like the advice you're getting.

Intense debate rages on globally between die-hard, one-eyed CrossFitters who love the sport with religious-like fervour and those outside the sport that look on with cautious concern.  

If you're still on the fence, please check out this eye-opening article.

Josh

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By Eric Robertson Professor of Physical Therapy @Regis University, @PTThinkTank founder. Speaker, Researcher. Technology in Healthcare and Education, conversationalist

September 22, 2013

Photo Courtesy Greg Westfall

Everyone has an uncle they’d rather you not meet.

Please allow me to introduce you to Uncle Rhabdo, CrossFit’s unofficial and disturbing mascot. Uncle Rhabdo is a cartoon commonly referenced in CrossFit literature and representative of a troubling trend among CrossFitters.

He’s a clown. Literally.

The “Uncle Rhabdo” cartoon depicts an exhausted, yet well-muscled clown, connected to a dialysis machine standing next to some workout equipment. Concernedly, his kidney has fallen out and lies on the floor underneath him, along with some portion of his bowel. He’s left a pool of blood on the floor below him, but it’s not clear if this is from the disembowelment, the kidney’s arterial supply, or the collection of fasciotomies he appears to have endured. Uncle Rhabdo, of course, has Rhabdomyolysis.

Rhabdomyolysis, apart from being a subtly pleasant and melodic sounding word, is an uncool, serious and potentially fatal condition resulting from the catastrophic breakdown of muscle cells. We’ll get more into the specifics in just a bit, but first let’s begin with a story.

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A Tale of Rhabdomyolysis

One day, a very fit, young, physical therapist colleague of mine went to CrossFit. She had been many times before. On this warm Texas evening, she performed a partner workout, where each would trade off performing sets of 10 for each exercise. The workout consisted of pushups. Lots of them. Copious amounts of overhead press were also included.

She performed hundreds of repetitions of each. She was a champ!

“I didn’t want to not match my partner. Normally I may have rested a little, but the partner workout kept me going.”

 

Most people who experience exertional rhabdomyolysis are very fit. This is not a case of out-of-shape newbies doing too much.

Both of these activities heavily involve the triceps muscles and so she wasn’t surprised to have her beautiful, sculpted arms feel like poorly set bowls of JELL-O® on the way home from CrossFit. Perhaps it was the heat. Maybe it was the sheer number of exercises she did. Her muscles were in crisis. She iced and hydrated when she got home, like a good little exerciser, but the damage was already done.

As physical therapists, we’re finely tuned detection machines looking for normal versus abnormal response to exercise and activity. “Is this supposed to hurt?” is a question we respond to hundreds of times in a week. Sometimes the answer to this question is yes and we encourage the individual to press on, and other times it’s a signal to initiate some rest and recovery. This signal detection is one of the things that’s deeply embedded into physical therapists. We can’t help it. And so when my friend awoke the next morning, her abnormal response alarms were blaring. She couldn’t bend her elbows! She couldn’t even reach her mouth to brush her teeth.

Still entrenched in the CrossFit culture of deplete, endure, repeat, she quieted the alarms and stoically pressed on to go to work. It didn’t take long to realize she not only couldn’t bend her arms, they also had no strength. She wasn’t able to treat her patients. By that evening, her slender arms had continued to swell into plump hotdogs of ache and regret, and she was starting to come to the realization that the morning’s danger alarms were legitimate.

Unbelievably, it took another 24 hours for her professional sense to break through the grip of the CrossFit culture, and seek medical attention. She was diagnosed with acute rhabdomyolysis, and ended up in the hospital for over a week. While in the emergency department they tested her creatinine kinase (CPK) levels. Normal is about 100. Her CPK levels were more than 45,000, a number that indicated damage to the kidneys.

While in the hospital, she called to cancel her CrossFit membership. As is standard when something is cancelled, the CrossFit coach asked the reason for her decision. She replied, “I’m in the hospital.” The instructor quickly asked, “Is it rhabdo?”

And here we have arrived at CrossFit’s dirty little secret. The coach was unusually familiar with what is normally a very rarely seen disorder. It’s so rare that one study reported the overall annual incidence of rhabdomyolysis to be 0.06%. That represents single digits of cases out of hundreds of thousands of patients. How, I wondered, is it possible that the layperson exercise instructor is on a first-name basis with a serious, yet rare medical condition? Is this a thing with CrossFit? It turns out it is.

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Rhabdomyolysis: As Told By CrossFit?

 

A quick search of the Interwebs reveals copious amounts of information about rhabdo purveyed by none other than CrossFit trainers. Scouring the scientific literature in mainstream medical journals, however, reveals a only a few peer-reviewed papers. The science confirms that exertional rhabdomyolysis, as this form is sometimes referred to, is uncommon and normally reserved for the elite military trainee, ultra-endurance monsters, and for victims of the occasional psychotic football coach. Rhabdomyolysis isn’t a common condition, yet it’s so commonly encountered in CrossFit that they have a cartoon about it,nonchalantly casting humor on something that should never happen.

So what is rhabdomyolysis exactly? Under extreme conditions your muscles cells explode. They die. They leach protein out into the blood stream, including one form called myoglobin. Ever stalwart, your kidneys take up the job of clearing these dangerous proteins from the blood. Why? It’s just what they do. Unfortunately, myoglobin proteins aren’t designed to be in the blood in the first place and they can easily overload the kidney. This can produce injury or death to all or part of the kidney in a short amount of time, and is potentially lethal. Locally, the muscles are left damaged and dying. Swelling ensues and weakness occurs as pressure builds around the remaining muscle cells. Your body’s systems that normally can assist with this local muscle damage are now offline trying to help you not die. If you get to this stage, you’re in serious trouble.

In some cases, acute compartment syndrome ensues, which is an emergency condition that can result in loss of a limb unless your connective tissue is slashed open to release the swelling , a procedure called a fasciotomy. None of this is something that people should be handling in such a cavalier manner.

So what gives? As early as 2005, the New York Times documented rhabdomyolysis associated with the culture of CrossFit in a piece entitled, “Getting Fit, Even If It Kills You.” The article included this gem of a quote:

“Yet six months later Mr. Anderson, a former Army Ranger, was back in the gym, performing the very exercises that nearly killed him. “I see pushing my body to the point where the muscles destroy themselves as a huge benefit of CrossFit,” he said.”

What does CrossFit’s founder, Greg Glassman think of this?

“It can kill you,” he said. “I’ve always been completely honest about that.”

Fast forward to 2013 and this culture has changed little, perhaps even accelerated. As fellow Medium writer, Jason Kessler pointed out in “Why I Quit CrossFit,” the elitist, push yourself to the limit culture of the discipline has increased in light of commercial interests taking hold. Regarding culture, Jason points out,

“If you ask a CrossFit coach, the injuries were all my fault. In a culture that drives you to go as hard and fast as possible, it’s difficult not to get caught up in the hype. You’re supposed to push yourself to the limit, but when you hit the limit and pay the price, you’re the idiot who went too far.”

In another psychotic example of how the overwhelming culture of CrossFit can diminish professional common sense, one gynecologist was quoted dishing this nonsense:

“Ladies, in my professional opinion, it is okay to pee during double unders.”

No, peeing during a workout is not alright. Ever.

To underline the point, MoveForwardPT.com, the official consumer information website of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), hosted an online radio show specifically responding to CrossFit’s irresponsible glorification of stress induced urinary incontinence.

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The Impact of Rhabdomyolysis

Sometimes rhabdomyolysis gets better with treatment. Sometimes it lingers. Sometimes your kidneys are never the same again. One message board commenter remarked,

“ I seem to “flare” after any resistance training. I came into this by over training- I was in phenomenal shape. I have gained weight. I get swollen and puffy. I feel as though the quality of my muscle tissue decreases on a daily basis- more so than the lack of weight training- seems to be disintegration.”

 

The effects of rhabdomyolysis can persist beyond the initial crisis phase.

My friend experienced a similar, though thankfully less severe long term effect. It’s been several months and her triceps strength is not back to normal. Her sculpted arms are gone, replaced by semi-swollen giggly tissue. Once a muscle tears, damaged, fatty scar tissue replaces the injured muscle tissue. The result is a permanently damaged muscle, and a decreased ability to strength train. The irony of pushups causing flabby arms underscores the age-old mantra: There really is too much of a good thing.

Crossfitters, largely unaware of the rhabdo risk, will continue to charge ahead, pressured and happily coerced into exercising to depletion and exhaustion. My prediction: in a few years, the peer-reviewed scientific literature will be ripe with articles about CrossFit and Rhabdomyolysis. Health providers will be there to scoop up the pieces, but who is there to protect those people unknowingly at risk?

Exercise is just about the best thing you can do for your body, but in the case of Crossfit, we’re left to ponder the question, is this workout worth the risk? Can the culture adapt to one that embraces safe training principles? Do coaches truly have the ability to detect what a proper training load is for their athletes? Only time will tell, but the future of CrossFit may depend on it.

13 Hip Mobility Exercises to Ease Lower Back Pain

Greg Brookes • July 1, 2013 •

The Hip joint consists of a ball and socket where the top of the thigh meets the pelvis. To be more specific it’s where the femur bone sinks into the Acetabulum socket.

The hips have a huge job to do offering stability for the upper torso and also providing locomotion. The hips sacrifice mobility for stability unlike the shoulder joint.

Movement is vital for the health of the hips because the act of movement helps: regenerate fresh cartilage, suck the nourishing synovial fluid through the joint and maintain good end ranges of movement.

Ironically it is the lack of movement of the hip joint following disease or injury that leads to their demise. With a limited blood supply to the joint it is the act of movement that produces a pumping effect bringing fresh blood in and flushing it away.

In order to maintain a healthy hip joint the joint needs to be exercised to its full range in all directions. Walking is an excellent exercise to pump nutrients into the hip joints but its limited range is not enough.

If hip joint movements are limited to only activities like walking and sitting then the hip capsules range begins to reduce. As hip movement gets limited the body begins to compensate in order to maintain optimal performance. The first area that usually gets affected is the lower back. In short, if the hips can’t produce the desired movements then the lower back will.

Although the lower back (lumbar spine) is designed for slight movement it is not designed to produce compensations for the hips and this is where the problems begin.

So for healthy hips keep moving but also work the joint through its full range to save your lower back. Here are a collection of effective hip mobility movements for you to practice:

# 1 – Forward Leg Swings

This is a really simple movement that you can practice virtually anywhere. Stand on one leg, hold onto something if you need help with your balance, and then swing the leg backwards and forwards. It is the backwards swing that is the most important as this range of movement is the first to go. Avoid arching your back as you swing the leg backwards and try to keep as straight a leg as possible. If you stand on a small step, box or platform you will find it even easier to swing your leg through without touching the floor.

# 2 – Side Leg Swings

Very similar to the Forward leg swings only this time your swing the leg across the body in front of you. Try to maintain a forward pointing toe position as you swing left and right. So lead with the heel as you swing across the body. Again you can hold onto something for balance but it is a great challenge to try without. If you get the hands moving in the opposite direction it will help. You will also notice that the ankle on the floor also gets mobilized during each leg swing.

 

# 3 – Circular Swings

The final one of the leg swing section and this movement takes the joint through a full 360 degrees. Again standing on one leg rotate the other leg around in circles by the side of your static leg. You can start with small circles and then build up to larger and larger circles. If you can perform this exercise without hold on to anything you will also develop stabilizing strength in your standing hip. Try 60 seconds of circles without putting your foot down and you will see what I mean.

 

# 4 – Yoga Squats

Probably one of my favourite mobility exercises because it not only helps mobilize the hips but also most of the other joints too! Start off with hands above your head and drop down into a deep squat, keeping your weight on your heels. If you find it hard to get down nice and deep then turn your feet out slightly and widen your legs. Once down place your hands down and straighten your legs. Next sit back down into the deep squat and stand again. Start performing 10 Yoga Squats every morning and it will change your life!

 

# 5 – High Step

This movement not only opens the hips of the one leg but also encourages hip extension with the other. Remember hip extension is the first range to go so it’s a great movement to practice. Start facing a chair or high step. Place one foot up onto the chair and carefully kneel down on the floor with the other leg. Next push your hips forwards and crown of your head upwards. Squeeze the buttock of the leg kneeling on the floor. Try not to arch your back, the movement must come from the hips not the lower back.

 

# 6 – Deep Lunge

Wow this movement will certainly give your hips a new lease of life. Starting from a Push Up position take one foot and place it to the outside of your hand. Next breathe out and sink your hips to the floor. Hold for 5 seconds and return to the starting position. Repeat on the other side. The more flexible your hips become the further forward you can place your foot.

 

# 7 – Cossack

Not just a great dance move but also an excellent hip mobility exercise. Start with your feet double shoulder width apart with your toes pointing outwards. Hold onto a chair, table or stability ball in front of you if necessary. Next drop into a deep lunge on the one side keeping your heels on the floor and keeping the one leg straight. Hold at the bottom for a few seconds and then repeat on the other side.

 

# 8 – The Frog

Taking a stretch from the ballet world ‘The Frog’ will really help to open up those hips but it is an aggressive stretch so be careful. Start on your hands and knees making sure you have a mat or soft surface beneath you. Next slowly spread your knees apart keeping your feet together. Take your time, the more mobile your hips the deeper you will be able to drop into the movement. Certainly not recommended for the beginner but a great stretch for when you are ready.

# 9 – Baby Pose

One of my favourite hip mobility exercises for beginners and very simple to perform. Lie on your back with your feet in the air. Next reach up and grab the outside of the feet. Gently pull one knee towards the armpit followed by the other. You can work on rhythmical patterns here alternating legs or pulling both at the same time. As your mobility improves sink your knees deeper and deeper into your armpits.

 

# 10 – Pigeon Lunge

A slightly more advanced exercise that will help open up a tough hip capsule. Start in the Push Up position and then take one leg across and underneath your body. Lay the leg flat so your knee is pointing forwards and underneath your chest. Next slowly lower yourself onto the knee and support yourself on your forearms. Take deep breaths and let your hips sink down towards the floor. For an even more intense stretch reach out your arms in front of you and lay forwards.

 

# 11 – Dynamic Hip and Thoracic Spine

This is an all encompassing movement that not only opens up your hips but also strengthens the core and opens up the often locked up Thoracic Spine. Follow the same movement as the Deep Lunge but once the foot has been placed next to the hand take the arm closest to the instep of the forward leg and place the forearm on the floor. Next take the same arm and reach up and rotate the chest, opening the upper back. Hold for a few seconds and the repeat. 5 on each side is a good start.

 

# 12 – Figure Four

The Piriformis muscle can literally be a pain in the arse. This movement not only helps to stretch the Piriformis muscle but also the very strong Gluteal muscles that effect the positioning of the femur in its socket. Start by lying down on your back with your knees bent and both feet touching a wall. Next cross one leg over so the ankle rests just above the knee. Apply gentle pressure to the knee to feel the stretch in your buttock. The more your legs are bent and you’re closer to the wall the stronger the stretch.

 

# 13 – Step Overs

A nice easy movement to practice but one that is often performed badly. From a standing position take the knee out to the side and lift the foot. Next rotate forwards and place the foot down in front of you. Repeat on the other side. You should actively be moving forwards looking like you are stepping over something. Try to lift the foot as high as possible but don’t compensate with the lower back. Stand tall and focus on movement solely coming from the hips.

 

Important Note

As with all exercises please start off slowly and progress gradually. Being able to breathe calmly and deeply is a good sign that you can handle the movement. Practice these movements little and often for maximum results!

Celebrating Achievement - Mick

I was looking back at my client videos and all the great progress that's been made by all these awesome people.  Then it occurred to me that you could be forgiven for thinking that other than Wes, I only train women.  Truth is my book of clients is a pretty even spread between the genders.  So time to re-introduce some balance to the ledger.

Meet Mick.  Mick is a fit, strong, young guy who I've been working with for some years now.  I love training him because he pushes hard with little need for 'whip-cracking' from me and has achieved some fantastic things as far as his fitness, strength and physique are concerned.

Check out this video I put together of Mick in action so you can get to know him a little, and be inspired by his efforts.

Enjoy.

Overcoming Setbacks

by Josh Ciechanowowski

Guess what?  Sometimes when we push ourselves to our limits and beyond, things don't always go according to plan and we can get hurt.  Despite all our care and effort, stuff still happens.  On those rare occasions when my clients get hurt, I want them to take care, focus on recovery and get back to what they love ASAP.  So I say things like, "Don't let it get you down", or "Hey, you'll get back on track soon.  Don't stress out." etc.  Easy to say right?  So when I got punched hard in the ribs last week by a very good boxer during a sparring session I had to remember my own words, and suck it up. 

My opponent laid a clever trap for me.  He attacked me one side, and when I moved to defend that side, he seized on a brief opening on the other side.  Only, he went harder than he should have and I went down in pain.  After that, even the slightest movements were excruciating.  Even simple tasks like lying down in bed, rolling over, putting my shoes and socks on, getting in and out of the car, were agony.  It's been one week and my patience has been seriously tested. My training has been going so well of late.  I've been really motivated, pushing hard, having fun and making great progress.  Now what was that stuff I'd tell my clients?  Bah!!!  Eat, humble, pie son!  For a couple of days I just iced and rested.  Then when I wasn't afraid to cough or sneeze anymore, I decided to try some movements in the gym.  After carefully experimenting, I found some movements and positions that didn't hurt that much.  The ones that did, I simply didn't do them.  I was reminded of something in my nature that is always looking for ways around obstacles. 

After knee reconstructive surgery some years ago, I was stuck on a couch for weeks and got depressed.  Then I realised there were a whole bunch of exercises I could do that didn't require me to use my knee.  After rupturing my lowest disc, I found some small things that I could do despite the pain, to make my core stronger and help me through the setback.  I've used this skill to help many clients with various injuries or ailments work around them to get fitter, stronger, lighter and eventually beyond what they thought could have been possible.

This experience has reminded me how through any adversity, the human spirit and a deeply rooted desire to not give up can help do amazing things.  No matter how bad things are for me or you, there's always someone in a MUCH worse situation, who has not used it as an excuse and has achieved astounding things.  So if you have a healthy body and you choose to abuse it with bad food, self destructing habits and infrequent exercise, it can feel like a huge waste of a gift to me.  Easy to take for granted until that gift is taken away.  Just remember that we emerged from nature to move, eat natural, organic, wholefoods and drink water.  If you've lost your way and miss feeling amazing every day, like you once used to, then try to add some of those elements back into your routine and watch great things start to happen. 

I often say that the human body evolved to move and will reward you in countless ways when you do it often.  Sure you'll get the obvious benefits like lose weight, gain muscle, improve fitness, stronger heart and lungs, reduced risk of disease, lower blood pressure, clearer skin, more energy, stronger bones, reduced aches and pains etc, etc, but you'll also gain a host of less obvious benefit that will greatly improve the quality of your life, like better sleep, improved mood, greater self-understanding, new friends, stress reduction, better self-esteem, better sex!  What else do you want?! 

So if you have no setbacks, what's your excuse.  Go make a better life for yourself so you can be better, and also be a better resource for those around you that you care about.  If you have setbacks, then be tenacious.  Do all the right things to get back on track and try to find other things you can do to work around the setback, and you'll get your mo-jo back faster and in greater volume than before.

Ten foods most nutritionists won't eat

September 18, 2013

 

Susie Burrell

Some foods, like doughnuts and lollies, won't surprise you. But others on this list, compiled by nutritionist Susie Burrell, might.

 

Banana bread and margarine are two no-nos. Photo: Quentin Jones

As a human being, when we are told not to do something, our instinct can be to do exactly that. Indeed, this can be the case with food restriction but when you are a trained nutritionist there are some foods that you know offer so little nutritionally that you would rather not eat at all than get your energy from these particular options. Some of these may seem obvious while some may surprise you as they commonly masquerade as "healthy" options.

White bread

While it may claim to be as good as wholemeal or wholegrain breads with extra fibre and nutrients added, it is still not as good nutritionally as wholegrain bread. In fact, in the eyes of a nutritionist, pure white bread sends blood glucose levels skyrocketing in a similar way to confectionery or soft drinks. Yes, it is true that sourdough is a better option but it does not change the fact that for those who can tolerate it, grain bread is best.

 

 

The average doughnut will set you back at least 400 calories and 20 grams of total fat. Photo: Marina Oliphant

Soft drink

This one needs no explanation, perhaps ranking the worst of all when it comes to nutrition cost benefit analysis. With nine teaspoons of sugar per can, and as liquid sugars are among the worst we can consume, you do not need a nutrition degree to know that soft drink is bad news.

Banana bread

 

Cheese-flavoured snacks, such as beloved Cheezels, can be pretty nasty. Photo: Jessica Shapiro

If you consider that the average muffin or slice of banana bread contains more than 60 grams of total carbohydrate (the equivalent of four slices of bread), 20-30 grams of fat and at least four teaspoons of sugar, it is safe to say that there is nothing healthy about banana bread except the bananas, and it should really just be called banana cake.

Cheese-flavoured snacks

While you can find plain potato chips cooked in sunflower oil, cheese-flavoured snacks can be pretty nasty – packed with fat, flavours, colours and even MSG, the ingredient list itself explains why it is difficult to stop eating once you start but also why a plain potato chip cooked in sunflower oil is many times better than any extruded cheese snack.

 

 

Lollies are basically pure sugar. Photo: Cathryn Tremain

Lollies

It does not matter if they are "natural" or "fruit" flavoured, lollies are basically pure sugar. Five to six individual lollies contain as much as three to six teaspoons of sugar. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a sweet treat occasionally but who can stop at just five or six. If you are looking for a sweet hit, a few squares of dark chocolate is a much better option nutritionally.

 Chocolate nut spread

Popular in Europe, chocolate nut spreads are frequently present on Italian dessert menus but here we are encouraged to spread them on toast instead of jam or peanut butter. With the first few ingredients listed as sugar and vegetable oil, chocolate spread contains a lot more bad fat than it does good fat from nuts.

Fruit bars

There is a massive difference between a piece of fresh fruit, with all the nutrients and fibre it contains, and the compressed mix of fruit, sugar, gums and flavours that make up a fruit stick or strap. Not only are processed fruit snacks a nightmare for the teeth, they are also far more concentrated in energy than fruit itself. Eat your fruit the way nature intended it, not from a packet.

Doughnuts

One of the relatively few foods that still contains a significant dose of trans fats, the type of fat that has been directly linked to heart disease, doughnuts are one of the worst baked goods nutritionally. Topped with high sugar icing and loads of fat, the average doughnut will set you back at least 400 calories and 20 grams of total fat, 10 of which are saturated.

Rice snacks

It doesn't matter if rice has been made into a snack bar, cake, puff or crisp, rice is a dense source of high glycaemic index carbohydrate, which means that blood glucose levels rapidly increase after it is consumed, along with the hormone insulin, which promotes fat storage in the body. Rice snacks are also low in protein and other key nutrients. They simply offer "empty calories" along with a rapid rise in blood glucose levels rather than long lasting energy. Better snack options when it comes to blood glucose control include corn- or rye-based cakes and crackers.

Margarine

Spreads are a controversial food topic among nutrition professionals as the recommended switch from butter to margarine originally came from evidence that plant-based oils were better for the heart than animal-based fat. While this is true, nutritionists will generally recommend foods that are as natural as possible and when it comes to margarine it is an added fat that we do not "need" in our diet. In general, we get plenty of good fat from avocados, nuts, good quality oils, seeds and fish already. If you do choose to use a spread, at least look for a reduced fat variety.

Susie Burrell is a nutritionist and author.

6 Tips To Lose Body Fat Fast

If you want to lose body fat and burn more calories you need to get the most out of every workout.

Here are 6 gym based fat loss tips from expert trainer Paul Haslam to help you increase weight loss, lose body fat and accelerate your results in the gym.

1. Use compound movements

 

Compound movements are those that involve several muscle groups and more than one joint. Examples are squats, leg press, lat pull downs and bench press.
These exercises activate more muscle mass which means you can burn more energy and lose body fat. Compound exercises also result in greater muscle gains which lead to elevated BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). BMR calculates the amount of calories your body burns even when at rest.

2. Stand rather than sit

 

Standing means that more muscles are working and more energy and fat is being burnt. You’ll be strengthening your core as well as the dozens of muscles that make up your hips, pelvis, lower back, and abs.

3. Use supersets

 

Supersets are an efficient way to get more work done in less time. Basically, you do two exercises back-to-back, with no rest in between. Less rest and more work per unit of time = more energy and calories burnt per unit of time.

4. Add explosive exercises

 

Explosive exercises like jump squats and clap push ups are one of most effective ways to torch calories and lose body fat as there is a high level of energy burnt per unit of time, much more than conventional lifting speeds.  Explosive training teaches your muscles to contract faster, so you can jump higher, push harder and burn more fat.

5. Circuit training

 

Circuit training with minimal rest in between exercises helps to burn more energy per session. Even though the intensity (in weight lifted) is usually reduced, combining weights and cardio into one challenging session maximizes caloric expenditure while also increasing your metabolic rate.

6. Include combination Movements

 

Combination movements involve one exercise combined with a second exercise and are another effective way to work multiple muscles in less time. More muscles involved = more energy burn. Examples are Clean and Press, Dumbbell Bench and Dumbbell Row, Front Squat and Bent Row.

How to get rid of muffin tops!!

From Womens Health & Fitness Australia

Excess fat on your shoulder blades and top of the hips is caused by your body’s inability to effectively break down complex carbs and sugars

MUFFIN TOP & BRA STRAP BULGE

They aren’t called muffin tops for nothing. Usually the culprit is neo carbs or man-made carbs and the client needs to focus on Paleo carbs. That’s a big NO to bread but a great tick for berries. If your body’s insulin function isn’t efficient, a minute on your lips really can turn into a lifetime on your hips.

HOW TO FIX

DIET: This area responds quickly to changes in diet. Insulin is the easiest hormone to control because it responds almost instantly to anything you eat. Eating a high protein, low carbohydrate diet that includes regular meals with additional fibre will help by stabilising your blood sugar levels. The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that a low GI diet helps to reduce insulin and triglycerides as well as aid weight loss.

SUPPLEMENTS

Help insulin sensitivity with magnesium, the herb fenugreek, corosolic acid, gymnema and alpha lipoic acid. A review from Thames Valley University also found cinnamon improves insulin function and lowers blood sugar.

EXERCISE: 

Contrary to popular belief, cardio is not optimal; however, two sessions per week of HIIT (high intensity interval training) is superior; increase your insulin sensitivity while reducing your love handles! Lactic acid weight training is a great idea, too: use moderate repetition ranges (8–12) with short rest intervals (30–45 secs) for 45 minutes, four times a week.

And make sure you don't use increased levels of exercise as an excuse to indulge in desserts or sugary energy bars!