In fact you may NOT have noticed the changes themselves, but noticed how much faster results are coming for both members of Storm Force Fitness and of the Guernsey Fitness Camp.

So what’s the secret?

As usual there is no secret.

We’ve not found that magic ingredient to ADD to the repertoire of workouts.

There’s no new piece of kit that magically transforms people.

What we’ve been focussing on at Storm Force is not adding to things but CUTTING THINGS OUT.

Focussing not just on improving what we do, but realizing what we DON’T need to do.

There are hundreds of thousands of examples of successful people who say and do the same thing.

Don’t do the things that just eat up your time when you could get someone else to do it allowing you time to focus on what….

…you’re passionate about

…you’re talented at

…changes your life/business/body the most

I’ll admit I always think I can do things the best and find it hard to hand stuff over.

But I committed to finding people better at organising things, better with computer systems and better at relating to certain types of people than me.

I now have a great team around me all keen to improve other peoples’ lives as well as their own.

Russ Smith, Lou Dunn, Clive Bateman, Aivis Kelgaris, Andy Rigden and Anna Rivers – I SALUTE YOU!

Now I’ve had more time to focus on what I’m good at – designing programs and writing so that even more people can benefit.

WHAT ABOUT MY BODY THOUGH JON?

So what does all this mean for fat loss?

Well rather than trying to make fat loss more complicated than it is, try cutting out the following.

It requires no extras but will bring a wealth of physical and mental benefits!

Here are 8 things to boost your fat loss results by chopping out the pointless crap in your life:

1) Cut out people.

Not all of them just the ones who drain your energy, take up your time with mindless conversations about utter drivel and spend more time trying to derail your fitness plan than doing anything else with their life.

Note: 99% of TV programs can be classed as these people. Mindless shit that gets you nowhere.

2) Cut out food.

No don’t starve yourself by cutting out food completely!

Calorie restriction beyond 3-4 days will lead to a REDUCTION in your metabolism and LESS fat being lost.

Rather than trying to micromanage and count calories or points, eat a clean diet 6 days a week then fast for 24 hours at one point.

This makes for an easy day of not worrying about food prep, improves your digestive system and aids with calorie reduction with no effort required.

Why put in more effort than you need – that’s just stupid.

3) Cut out 80% of the stuff you do in the gym.

Seriously. Most of it is doing nothing for you except eating in to family and friends’ time.

Unless you are already superlean and have a good level of visible muscle cut out:

- Bicep curls

- Tricep pushdowns

- Exercises on machines

- Aerobics classes

- Checking your iPhone

- Talking to the person next to you about what they’re doing

- 500 sit ups

In fact most of those you don’t need EVER unless you’re a bodybuilder.

Do more squats, deadlifts, bodyweight work such as push ups, chin ups and jumping and press heavy weights over your head. That stuff alone, done well, will transform your body.

4) Cut out long circuits

20 minutes of a well-designed circuit may well be all you need today.

Rather than seeing how many exercises you can do in a row, put three non-competing exercises together and give them everything.

If I have taken my heart rate to 90% of its maximum and maintained it at around 70% during a session I will burn a LOT of calories without having to destroy my joints pounding pavements everyday.

I can do this whilst building stamina, pain tolerance and a great body and it doesn’t require 60-90 minutes.

Some of my personal conditioning sessions involve no more than a total of 18-20 minutes work time with recovery breaks. Yet my heart rate averages that I would on a 60 minute run and maxes at about 90%.

So my heart is still being trained to cope with high levels of stress.

Each round should last 2-4 minutes.

Example which ANYONE can do…

Run 200m, 15 BW squats or Goblet squat, 15 push ups. Do 4-6 rounds resting 60-90 seconds inbetween.

Then do 5 rounds of boxing on a bag or pads – then go home.

You can do all of the above in 30 minutes including warm up.

There are many variations to this depending on fitness and skill level.

5) Cut out your addiction to shiny new kit.

There are some wicked training tools out there.

Don’t design your training around kit.

Get the kit that helps make training better once you know what you’re trying to do.

If it makes sprinting or moving your body weight more challenging when you reach a certain level, get it.

If it makes lifting stuff to your shoulders over your head harder or more varied, get it.

If it makes you move faster or makes you more powerful, get it.

If a ‘tool’ promises to shed body fat on its own CUT IT OUT YOUR LIFE.

IF IT ADDS A CHALLENGE TO NATURAL LOOKING MOVEMENTS, GET IT.

6) Cut out processed sugar, gluten, dairy, caffeine, drinks containing more than zero calories and as much non-organic stuff as you can afford.

Cut out carbs when you don’t need them.

This is generally directly after exercise unless you are trying to gain size. Even then, prioritize more fats rather than more carbs.

7) Cut out stuff that doesn’t make you happier!

More money is cool if you have a use for it which raises your happiness like travelling to new places.

More people in your life is cool only if they make you a better person, look after you or make you laugh.

Bigger guns are great if it helps you attract a girl you actually want to be with.

If it just impresses the other boys and you’re still single because you spend your Friday night in front of the mirror watching that vein in your shoulder grow as you do more curls on a Friday night have a word with yourself.

Cut out choice.

Take decisions which cut choice out of your life.

If you have a choice you’ll always take it.

Make bold moves which mean you HAVE to succeed.

Don’t leave an escape hatch.

Risk some money.

Commit to a goal even if it scares the crap out of your right now.

Tell the world what you’re doing – then you have more friendly pressure to succeed and people to right you when you drift.

Take a chance.

See what happens….!

Now What?

I didn’t believe this stuff at first as it seemed that complicated was best.

So we trialled it on a few people with the Turbo Transformation program.

We cut out:

- Any advice beyond ‘eat this, lift that, do this much cardio’.

- Half the shopping list

- Choice of when to do stuff

- Start date

- Cheat meals

- Choice of who to listen to!

- Feeling alone – you have an entire support team!

- Deeply engrained beliefs about food

It pulls together EVERYTHING you just read but you don’t have to work out how to do it – we’ve done that for you.

Remember…if you don’t like reading hundreds of nutrition books and journals and trialling training programs for 10 years, don’t bother.

WE’VE DONE IT FOR YOU SO YOU CUT IT OUT (Advised – it’s quite boring at times)

Basically the idea was to experiment and see what happened when we REMOVED THE STRESS OF THOUGHT AND DECISION from peoples’ lives.

People who have ‘tried everything’.

The results were ridiculous and just keep rolling in and it has shocked me.

Thank you to the Guinea Pigs who signed up not knowing they were part of an evil experiment on mind control….!

I watched people battle at times but they COULDN’T FAIL because of all the support and because they had a clean road map to follow.

A map where there are no cross-roads.

You either get great results or you have to decide to jump off the train early which is a very hard decision to make when it’s moving so fast!

I would LOVE to have the chance to show you what this kind of mentality does for you.

I know you may not believe it can work for you even having seen everyone’s results.

That’s cool for now.

Remember just CUT OUT and suspend your current beliefs.

The Turbo program goes well beyond any diet you’ve tried because your entire mindset will change.

The next challenge starts on Monday 13th February – I’d love to see you there.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE TURBO TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGE

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After Russ Roberts revealed he had lost 16lbs after the FIRST WEEK of the 3rd round of the Turbo Transformation, I got thinking.

Why is it that some people are willing to pay £600 per year (some a bit less, many much more) to a gym even though for the last 12 months they got NO WHERE.

Don’t get me wrong, if you know what you’re doing and have the right gym, it can be life-changing.

But the harsh reality is most gym members don’t get the results they want. In fact when I worked in the biggest gym in Nottingham we were told as many as 80% of gym members don’t get the results they want.

I believe it’s actually higher than this because a lot of people don’t actually know what they want because they don’t know what’s possible.

Now that you know you can lose 16lbs in 7 days (some fat, some reduction of bloating – both are important), your view of possible has changed.

If you go to the gym for weight loss and in 12 months you’ve paid £600 and got nowhere, how are you going to feel?

Pretty shitty and upset with your service provider I hope.

That’s perhaps the difference. Whereas at Storm Force Fitness we base our progress and growth on results, gyms don’t sell you that. They sell you some half-arsed dream of a great body coupled with the latest greatest shiny kit.

So my challenge for you is to answer the following 7 questions – like a Fitness Lifestyle MOT.

Unless you can answer ‘Yes!’ to all 7, you are currently wasting time and money in getting fit, looking and feeling great and being happy!

You could do much better, much faster!

1) Are the 5 people you spend most time with better, stronger, fitter, healthier or leaner than you? (You can also apply this to making more money).

If not, you won’t achieve any of the above to the level you want.

Don’t get me wrong friends who just make you laugh are CRITICAL but when it comes to transforming your body and lifestyle, you need to have at least 5 people in your life who can pull you up to their level!

2) If you put £600 into an investment fund for a year and saw no return and no promise of ANYTHING changing in the next 12 months, would you have the balls to say to the fund manager, “This is poor, I’m pulling out”?

If you answered ‘Yes!” then why don’t you do it at the gym!?

3) Do all your beliefs about fat loss, muscle building etc come from people with REAL LIFE proof from people in the same situation as yourself, or are your beliefs shaped by photo-shopped models who have 5 hours per day to train and a large personal training budget?

Maybe the truth is you listen to people just because they talk lots – everyone knows THAT guy at the gym….

4) Do you know the rest of the story behind the success of those people you look up to? Do you know what they REALLY do day-to-day or have you been given a small, insignificant part of the story and been led to believe plugging in that ‘easy win’ into your life will change everything because that’s all there is to it?

I could tell you that Russ (the one who has lost 16lbs in 7 days) plays rugby every weekend.

Does this mean playing rugby once per week makes you lose 16lbs?

Judging by most amateur rugby teams, clearly not.

But this is how ‘fitness magazines’ work – they tell you part of the story, one angle of a study or a bit about what really happened then sell you stuff off the back of it which on its own, is useless.

5) Do you have at least draft plans for the next 6 and 12 months?

If not, you’re drifting and will be washed away wherever someone else’s tide wants to take you. This is also known as fad diets, giving in to drunken Saturday nights, choosing TV over the gym, chopping 10 minutes off your workout because your friend is a bit tired and numerous other self-sabotaging behaviours.

If you want to find people riding someone else’s highly lucrative tide, go into any Zumba class. Most of these people are just riding the current bandwagon until someone thinks of something else.

6) Do you laugh in the face of moderation?

The Turbo Transformation has proved that people who have been ‘kind of trying’ for AGES but not really seen much change can get amazing results in just 21 days because we don’t give them any chance of part doing things!

Moderate effort – mediocre results at best!

The Turbo gives you the EXACT blueprint to get clear results in a short time. ‘Kind of’ doing it would be a waste of time.

If you believe in moderation, you’ll never get far.

7) Can you admit to being wrong?

I struggled with this for a while. Then I had something of an epiphany and realised that actually the more your bank of knowledge increases, the more you realise you don’t know.

Most people think they know how to lose body fat on their own because the fat journalist has written 3 ‘informed’ articles on subjects they’ve never actually tried and tested.

When you can admit that you’ve been getting it wrong because you’re STILL overweight, unfit and most importantly, unhappy, you will start to see new paths which have GUARANTEED results.

So if you can change your approach and life to be able to answer all 7 of the questions above with a resounding ‘Yes!’ you’ll have unlocked the prime MENTAL keys to losing body fat fast.

If you want us to give you the physical keys for less than most people spend on coffee and cake in a month, join the Turbo Transformation 4.0 starting Monday 13th February.

Spaces are limited because of the coaching involved so get in fast.

Seriously, do you believe in moderation?

This is what Rich D did in 21 days on the Turbo Transformation:

CLICK HERE —–> JOIN THE TURBO TRANSFORMATION

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There always tends to be an over-reaction in the short-term when something is discovered and an under-reaction in the long-term.

In other words, those who are just into fitness for entertainment and something to do, tend to get excited by anything new, shiny and different.

These people rarely get anywhere because of their ‘Fitness ADD’ because they never stick with anything long enough to make their body adapt and improve.

They over-react in the short-term and think EVERYTHING needs to involve their shiny new toy or training method.

Think BOSU’s and anything wobbly.

Think kettlebells.

Think power plates.

In the long-term however, because new shiny stuff comes along, these methods get dismissed completely and the person loses out on any benefits offered.

I believe the same thing has happened to heart rate training.

I have recently embarked on a journey into Muay Thai training and am now carefully monitoring my conditioning, body composition looking to optimize:

-       Power to body weight ratio

-       Body composition

-       Recovery potential

-       Anaerobic and aerobic conditioning

The more improvements in these I see, combined with improving technical ability, the better I will perform in Muay Thai fights.

Now we could be here all day discussing the ins and outs of cardiovascular training but I want to cover the main arguments for and against using your heart rate as a training tool. Something which I made the mistake of ‘under-rating’ until studying with world-renowned fight conditioning expert, Martin Rooney.

The aim of the article is to consider the science but also take a common sense approach and point out what I think is pretty obvious but often ignored!

YOU NEED TO GET IN THE ‘FAT BURNING’ ZONE

The argument goes that at a certain percentage of your predetermined maximum heart rate you switch from utilizing fat as an energy source to burning glucose from your muscle stores which get there from the digestion of sugars in your diet.

Going above this percentage means you are no longer burning fat, therefore you should stay in a heart rate zone of somewhere between 70-80% of your maximum heart rate.

This is often referred to as the aerobic zone. Because oxygen is required in the process that breaks down and uses fat for fuel, the argument says you should stay in that ‘work rate’ zone in which your body is able to process the oxygen and keep fat burning going.

Going any harder means your body can’t get enough oxygen in and switches to the ‘anaerobic’ system (without oxygen).

Therefore, if we use heart rate training to stay in the right zone we will burn more fat.

Unfortunately it is not that simple.

First, when we train in the anaerobic zone and increase lactic acid production in our muscles, we deny the body of oxygen for periods of time (which can be very stressful!).

Between these intense bursts or ‘intervals’ our heart rate settles somewhat and is still in the ‘fat burning’ zone. However, this is largely irrelevant compared to what happens AFTER and BETWEEN sessions when the body is forced to increased the metabolic processes going on in your body in order to recover and restore your body to the state it was before complete with adaptation – the very point of ‘training’.

This is known as Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC).

It’s necessary to focus on how we can maximize your metabolic rate and fat burning BETWEEN sessions more than DURING them.

To do this, we require hard training sessions and extra lean muscle.

If working too hard didn’t help burn fat we would have to ask the question, “Why are sprinters and people engaged in interval-based sport not fat?”

These people have much better bodies in general than stick-thin, gaunt looking marathon runners who spend most of their time in the ‘fat burning’ zone.

This is not to say that I don’t believe in aerobic exercise or ‘cardio’

Everyone needs a good dose of oxygen and to work their heart and stay healthy, especially in these days of spending most of the day in buildings, but there is a lot of misunderstanding around ‘cardio’.

The whole heart rate zone thing led to the dawn of ‘jogging’.

However, as you will know if you do a circuit such as pushing or pulling a sled, carrying some heavy objects and sprinting up some stairs, you will know that there are many ways to work your heart muscle without mindlessly ambling along trying desperately to not go over 75% for fear of not burning fat.

MAXIMUM HEART RATES

The other problem with using ‘zones’ is that:

1)   I have seen people who can get near their supposed maximum heart rate but stay there for much longer than others without blowing up as most do after 2-3 minutes of being around 90% of their max.

2)   Conversely depending on your fitness levels, you may blow up much earlier at a lower percentage of your maximum no matter how hard you try to force yourself. This may be because your muscles are sufficiently strong or conditioned to cope with even being at 70% of your maximum heart rate.

For me, this is where zones can be a good rough guide for a beginner but the benefits and help it provides don’t really outweigh the possible inaccuracies.

That said, a very well-trained athlete who really knows their body might find it beneficial and useful for holding them back when, as most athletes do, you just want to ‘go for it’ because you feel good one day!

Too many of these sessions can leave you overtrained, so the heart rate zones may be of benefit there.

HEART RATE MONITORS ALSO HELP YOU COUNT CALORIES

Again this is a bit misleading.

It might work in a carefully controlled scientific experiment, but there are so many things affecting your metabolic rate and calorie burning that it can be more damaging than it is useful.

This includes hormone imbalances, digestive issues, energy conversion, thyroid function, stress levels.

Also, it’s based on weight and height calculations. Like BMI, how does this differentiate between the 110kg mountain of muscle with a metabolic rate through the roof, and the sluggish, hormonally challenged obese lady of the same weight?

MONITORING RECOVERY

At this point, you’re probably thinking I am actually a heart rate training opponent.

Actually I have developed a love for it as part of my Muay Thai training for measuring recovery.

When in competition with all the added stress and adrenaline, the more you can stay out of the higher heart rate zones the better, helping you avoid those moments when your body forces you to stop because it can’t handle the stress.

Being able to slow everything down faster to a level at which you function aerobically rather than anaerobically is very useful and will enable you to perform a greater number of intense bouts of activity.

Think about a boxer who has a 1 minute rest between 3 minutes of stressful fighting.

During that minute, if he can slow his heart rate down to a level at which he can process oxygen and remove carbon dioxide and lactate build up from his body, he is in a better position to step out for the next round.

This is where I have been using heart rate monitoring to measure my recovery improvements.

Twice per week I complete 3-4 rounds of a fast-paced 2.5-3 minute conditioning circuit in which my heart rate reaches 80-85% of my ‘Max HR’ with 1 minute recovery in between.

The % (as discussed above) is not what I’m interested in but consider the last three weeks times and heart rates at the end of the recovery period.

The circuit is exactly the same each week.

WEEK 1

Time to complete circuit:          3.12 – 3.29 – 3.37

Heart rate at 55 seconds rest   145 – 142 – 146

WEEK 2

Time to complete circuit:          2.48 – 2.57 – 2.54

Heart rate at 55 seconds rest   142 – 140 – 145

WEEK 3

Time to complete circuit:          2.25 – 2.33 – 2.41

Heart rate at 55 seconds rest   136 – 134 – 139

My heart rate has been consistent at the end of each round indicating that it’s not just the fact that the work time is reduced which enables my body to reach a lower heart rate within the minute.

This gives me valuable data on my recovery ability between intense rounds.

It also highlights another argument about training variables.

Most people will say you MUST increase weight or reps or reduce rest time each week in order to ensure ‘progressive overload’ and adaptation.

Whilst I agree almost completely, this gives us another variable to track even though the circuits remained exactly the same.

I believe this has particular use for people with indications of heart dysfunction.

Now we can see if a person’s heart is better able to cope with stress and recover faster.

After a tough flight of stairs for a beginner, this could be the difference between life and death as most heart attacks occur after short periods of abnormal stress.

For some people this is a sudden massive trauma but for very unfit, obese people it can be something as simple as a quick push to reach the bus in time.

For this reason I don’t believe heart rate training can be completely ignored.

WHY NOT USE RATE OF PERCEIVED EXERTION INSTEAD?

Another argument goes that you can use a scale of perceived exertion.

So if I am at 9/10 I am pretty much at my limit and about to collapse – I might be able to do another 20 seconds!!

This also has value but if I ask a beginner where they are on the scale after a hard 3 minutes they are likely to tell me 8 or 9 when in reality they just aren’t use to it and with a gun to their head they could on for another few minutes.

In this case asking a person to rate themselves is not going to help us accurately record their recovery potential and how well their heart function is improving.

Also the week before the results you see above, I was badly jet-lagged.

In training my heart rate was down at 130 at the end of the rest breaks.

However, the times were slower because I just couldn’t get going and everything felt difficult.

I felt just as tired after 50 seconds recovery (if not more so) than when my heart rate was at 145 in the subsequent weeks.

On the face of things, I was recovering better in Week 1 because my heart rate was slower.

However, in reality it was because I couldn’t force my body and heart to work any harder because I was jet-lagged!

If I had tracked my heart rate DURING the bouts as well, it would have been even clearer that there was a problem.

My rate of perceived exertion would have been 8 or 9 because I really did struggle to make myself strain but it just wouldn’t happen.

So I think rate of perceived exertion is useful in certain circumstances but when someone is stressed out, jet-lagged etc, it can again be a little misleading.

Which brings up back full circle to where we started.

Don’t dismiss anything out of hand but don’t get obsessed with it either!

So long as you keep an eye on different training variables and monitor them, you can keep track of how well you’re progressing.

Some people argue “I know when I’m working hard” but if I put them in a more competitive situation they would improve their performance.

Don’t assume you’re working as hard as you think just because there’s some sweat!

The body and mind are more complex than you think so it’s important to look at the effects of different stimuli, different stress levels and different measurements RELEVANT TO THE TRAINING OBJECTIVE.

If you are in it for muscle growth and nothing else, I wouldn’t bother measuring your heart rate.

In the same way as if you want to improve your conditioning and recovery ability, I wouldn’t bother measuring your biceps!

Keep your eye on the RIGHT ball and don’t get be too polar in your thinking about fitness training.

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As you may have noticed, I am getting deeper and deeper into how the mind works and what it takes to be different.

What is required to not become part of the rat race which serves no-one in long-run yet is such an enticing prospect for 99% of people?

How does this way of thinking affect your health, fitness and lifestyle?

All of that will unfold over the coming months and years and there is SOOOO much I and you need to learn about it if we’re going to discover what it takes to be happy and achieve all the things we want.

Recently my journey brought me to study on Tribal Leadership. The objective for me is to discover how to lead those who have been magnetised towards Storm Force Fitness.

We are already at a stage where I alone cannot physically teach all of those who want training.

I have also realised that actually they don’t want training at all. They think they do but actually the river runs much deeper.

So I’ve been searching for teaching to help me build the ‘tribe’ that is the GFC and Storm Force as a whole.

I’ve just finished a great book ‘Tribal Leadership’ which, when summarised, is the perfect place to start for all of us – finding out where we are now as a base for knowing what the next stage is!

Essentially, the authors suggest there are five stages people either stay at or progress through in life and they really do hit home.

I personally can strongly identify with times in my life when I have been at Stages 2-5. I don’t think I’ve ever dropped into Stage 1 fortunately but I’m sure there have been moments when I haven’t been far off.

So the beginning for this Life Of Free Thinking is for you to identify where you sit right now.

From there, we will look at what needs to be done to move up the levels.

You will also start to see the thought process behind what is going to happen at Storm Force Fitness in the coming months and years.

Stage 1

This is the stage at which a person feels alone, outcast and alienated and if asked will tell you something along the lines of ‘Life is s**t’.

There is no doubt in their mind that all time spent on this planet is a time of misery and unhappiness.

They believe that for EVERYONE life is just one long, drawn out experience of despair!

Example: Gang lands. People in this mindset huddle together – not in meaningful groups, but in gangs hell-bent on taking out their frustrations on others. They may appear as a group but at any time would be happy to act against others in the group.

Stage 2

I believe most people you will come across live in Stage 2 or at least drop into it regularly.

These people are similar to Stage 1 except that they perceive that everyone around them in fact has a good life and that they are just permanently dealt a bad hand by the gods.

“My life sucks”

These people don’t have or at least don’t PERCEIVE themselves to have many meaningful relationships. If they do perceive some meaningful relationships, they tend to forget these and focus on all the negative stuff they can possibly find in their lives so they can have a good moan at anyone willing to put up with their whining!

Such people will often use phrases like…

“You’re so lucky” (to people who work hard – this really p*sses me off by the way!)

“It’s always so….”

“Why is always cold/raining etc (when it’s rained twice in a month!)”

“I never win anything”

You will often find people like this are drawn to each other to compare ‘war wounds’, complain about life, gossip nastily about others, and…

POST NEGATIVE STUFF ALL THE TIME ON FACEBOOK!

Stage 3

This stage is the point at which happiness starts to poke it’s head up, teasing you that actually there is some fun to be had out of life!

These people have lots of relationships and connections but they are largely ‘me and you’ relationships. Two people playing table tennis with information and dialogue.

I cycled across the USA in 2010 and the roads in Kansas would be Stage 3 if they were people. They get you from A to B in a straight line. Sometimes 100 miles in a straight line with no other connections to be seen!

Stage 3 is seen characterised by the idea that “I am great” and attempts to not just keep up with the Jones’s but to be better than them.

Everything is an attempt to be better than the other Stage 3 people.

This is EVERYWHERE, particularly in professional environments where lawyers, investment managers, doctors and prima donna sports stars spend their lives comparing their personal achievements to everyone else.

Imagine four young, well qualified investment managers on the golf course on a Saturday morning joking about who’s fund has experienced the most growth over the last quarter.

“Well yours may have grown by 7.5% but mine has outperformed the industry average by 5% consistently for 12 months in a row so beat that!”

This is Stage 3 bullshit. It’s all about me.

Now until around 12 months ago, that’s exactly where I was.

“I’m a great personal trainer, I’ve got these results, I’m going to build some fitness camps where it’s all about me”

I felt like a cowboy at times, riding across the wide open plains of…Guernsey…putting out individual fires one at a time and having to jump between people when they needed me.

Then I realised…

a) I was being an arrogant tw*t.

b) There is only so much time in a week so if I was to keep increasing my personal wealth and help more people, I had to keep working more and more, eventually resenting the very job I had come to love.

c) There are other people out there who can help me grow personally thus helping me help more people and extend the reach I have to many, many more people. Helping someone in a give and take relationship is great, but again it has its limits.

d) Mini-tribes were beginning to form between people who I had a relationship with at the camps.

The best example of this being the guys who pulled together from the Guernsey Fitness Camp to form a group to climb Kilimanjaro.

Helping someone in a give and take relationship is great, but again it has its limits.

I realised that other people could strengthen that relationship and make it much more productive for all involved if I enabled a network of relationships to be plugged into the same hub.

And hence the birth of the ever growing Storm Force Fitness tribe.

A Stage 3 approach to life is severely limited and whilst it can make you very successful, you will always have this sense that something is missing.

Stage 4

I took time out to look very closely at what values I wanted the SFF tribe to be based on and guided by.

The next stage was to go and find others who shared these values both to become members of the Guernsey Fitness Camp and to help me lead the tribe!

Enter Russ, Lou, Clive, Aivis and Anna to the team!

Apart from Lou, all of the staff were first members of the camp (or still are!) so I knew they shared the values of the company. Lou was recommended to me by Russ who understood what we needed to grow as a team so I was happy to go with his recommendations – and I have been delighted at the results!

Decisions become much easier for you at Stage 4 because you’re guided by a set of values or  principles. When you don’t know what to do, you can just look at your list of values, and the answer usually becomes clear very quickly.

People often ask how I get so much done.

The answer lies in the Stage 4 attitude of leveraging my team and deciding what to do based on whether it fits with the core values we have as a team. Complex decisions then become a matter of yes or no!

You’ll know if you’re in Stage 4 because your life is more of a spiders web of a network rather than lots of 121 relationships and you have a sense of being part of a TEAM that you refer to as great – rather than simply thinking all the time about how well YOU are doing.

You have pride in being part of big tribes and mini-tribes all over the place such as….

- The Guernsey Fitness Camp

- Your cycling group that goes out on Sunday morning come rain or shine

- Your religion

If you can’t see many relationships in your life that involve 3 or more people, then you’re not a firm Stage 4 yet.

People in Stage 4 also look at how they can connect others and will find themselves often saying things like “You should speak to my friend xxxxx, you’d work/play well together!”

You’ll also find yourself sniffing out challenges set by other people and saying “Yeah I’m up for that!”

Stage 5

I spend periods of time here, but not enough as I’d like, and I don’t feel nearly enough of the SFF tribe do yet which is what we’re working on!

Realistically, it’s hard to be in Stage 5 all the time, but the journeys that take you there should become more and more frequent!

At Stage 5, you’ll find yourself saying, “Life’s awesome” on a daily basis.

To be at Stage 5 you need to get involved in life-changing, history-making projects which get you so focussed that you almost forget everything else that’s going on.

Note though that this differs from short, intense bursts of pleasure which distract you from everything else in your life that you hate.

Hedonistic people often mistake these bursts for happiness and it’s not very sustainable and won’t make much difference to your life in the long-run.

In fact one day, these people often suddenly stop and go “What the hell have I been doing?!”

So Stage 5 should always be the aim, just don’t expect it to be a permanent hang-out!

It’s the Stage at which you feel part of something much, much bigger than getting paid, feeling successful or even serving customers!

Stage 5 is where you start dedicating your life to a cause.

Where Are You?

So the question is where are you right now?

You may find you are firmly rooted in one stage but more likely you bounce between different stages.

We’ll look at what to do about it soon and how you can move up a stage.

For now, if you find yourself swinging between say Stage 2 and 3, identify whether there are situations or people who drag you back to Stage 2 making you think “I hate my life”.

Your boss can do this.

Your negative friends can do this.

Spending less time with these people can VERY quickly make you happy and take you to Stage 3 which is a great place to be.

But Stage 4 and Stage 5 are MUCH more rewarding!

Stay tuned….

————-> Read The Book – Tribal Leadership

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Before reading this article, please understand that this is not a personal attack on anyone, more a venting of frustration after an offer of help to to the island. I don’t wish to try to bring down any one or group of individuals more to show Joe Public how closed-minded and stuck in the past public health services can be.

Please note that the responses were not personally from Mr Cooke who I am sure (and have been told) is a very respectable professional, but from one of his staff.

If you live in Guernsey, you may have heard that like many governmental departments in recent times, the Health and Social Services Department in the island have been struggling recently in reaction to increasingly common budget cuts.

Now please do not reply about what you believe is right or wrong about Guernsey’s budget cuts, the fact is HSSD has been told to make changes whether they, you or I like it or not.

I also appreciate there is more to HSSD than just health and fitness but this is the corner I have chosen to fight in my life, so in my perceived wisdom I thought it  would be the ideal solution for HSSD to link up with Storm Force Fitness in some capacity in order to…

…reduce the pressure on the HSSD from poor-health related diseases

…get our methods which clearly work, out to a larger audience in the island

…educate the Guernsey public in order to address the causes rather than the effects as is typical with modern health care and medicine.

This is the exact letter sent to Mr Cooke, head of the HSSD

***********

5 December 2012
“Dear Mr Cooke,

I am writing to you in the capacity of Head Coach at Storm Force Fitness.

I hope you have heard of our growing reputation for changing a lot of lives in the island through our training and nutrition services.

At present we have 200 members on our Guernsey Fitness Camp, a steadily growing personal training base and coach the Guernsey Rugby, Cricket and Squash teams.

Given the results we are achieving now both in the short and long terms, it is clear we have developed our exercise and nutrition plans to a stage where we can significantly decrease the pressure on Guernsey’s health services.

Our testimonials detailing fast and lasting fat loss as well as improved energy, health and vitality are so numerous now we are compiling a ‘story book’ to help encourage others who are in desperate need of help.

I must admit to being in the dark as to how the HSSD views links with private companies but I have reached a point where I feel it morally wrong for us to not offer our services in a wider capacity to the island’s public, having seen the effects it is having on so many people already.

We are currently planning a free nutrition seminar for early 2012 and I would like to discuss the potential for setting up a more regular, structured education program in conjunction with the HSSD.

Obviously we are happy to do all the ground work on this, we just require some input from HSSD as to what you feel is lacking, required or hard to fulfil without support from the private sector at this time in Guernsey.

We truly hope you will take this opportunity to become part of the growing Storm Force Fitness movement in Guernsey and we’re happy to answer any questions.

I can be contacted on ***** ****** or jon@stormforcefitness.com and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Le Tocq (Head Coach)”

*******************

You will notice that no remuneration is requested in my letter as I am open to community projects running alongside private initiatives.

The response?

Below are the important extracts from the return letter received.

*******************

“We are unable to promote any particular company when talking about physical activity or weight management – there are so many fitness instructors that we are unable to promote one business over another.”

“However, if clients ask if we could recommend any weight management companies we do direct them to those that adhere to the NICE (National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) clinical guideline 43, see attached extract. Therefore this may be something you would like to consider when promoting your programmes.”

“With reference to your nutrition seminar, if the content was based on the Eat Well plate model, we might be able to help with the supply of appropriate resources. Perhaps you could contact me at the above address to discuss further”

*******************

So we looked up the mythical Eat Well plate….

So rather than write an essay here’s my beef with the reply in short:

- Anyone who has even taken a few minutes to research milk should know by now the detrimental effects it can have on blood sugar, the likelihood of contaminants from the animals food supply, the negative effects of pasteurisation and the more obvious problems of nearly EVERYBODY being lactose intolerant in some form. Some with severe reactions, others with less obvious symptoms such as temporary increase mucous production. Every single fitness coach I know that gets great results for both fat loss AND health, recommends eradicating or massively restricting dairy intake bar perhaps some raw goat’s cheese or milk.

- A third of your plate apparently should be filled with starchy carbs such as rice and potatoes. Why does some overweight, sedentary person who lies down in bed, gets up to reach the car which they sit in to drive to work where they sit down all day before reversing the process, need a constant stream of carbohydrates into their body. Carbs are the easiest source of fuel to burn for energy, so such a diet prioritises carbohydrate as the option of choice leaving fat cells untouched. Isolating one source, we now know that potatoes have a high glycemic load, in other words, potentially making blood sugar problems even worse.

You will also see a nice white bagel in the photo and corn flakes.

When native americans moved to a diet based mainly on corn they experienced increased rates of….

• Anemia
• Dental cavities
• Osteoarthritis
• Bone infections and other bone problems

Good for you then….?

- They want me to do a presentation saying that it’s okay to have foods such as cake and coke at every meal? Are these guys for real?

- You see NO mention of healthy fats such as olive oil, coconut oil or fish oil (other than indirectly getting a little if you choose to eat fish as part of your minute protein intake) These are indisputably critical to human life from strengthening the immune system to building cell structure and ensuring basic brain function. Oh and they are also a critical piece of the fat loss jigsaw.

- YOU HONESTLY WHAT TO GIVE ME ADVICE / SUPPLY RESOURCES WHEN YOUR METHODS PLACE A BOWL OF BAKED BEANS IN THE SAME CATEGORY AS EGGS, FISH AND MEAT?

- You said in one sentence that you don’t recommend individual companies. You then said straight after that you DO, if they follow this bullshit on the Eat Well plate.

- Storm Force Fitness has an established and rapidly growing reputation in Guernsey and have offered you a helping hand in reaching OUR local community. Instead you have chosen to firmly route your principles in those of the NHS which has proven itself incapable of managing or changing the UK’s health requirements.

- Based on that plate, I could have a meal made up of a white bread bagel with cheese, some tinned sweetcorn, baked beans and a can of coke.

Any authority recommending this should be shot in the head, never mind encouraged to speak to those of us who have actually figured out what works.

What About The Extract Mentioned?

There are some valid points in the extract enclosed with the letter regarding addressing both diet and activity, including behaviour-change techniques and ongoing support.

However, the first two points are:

1) Endorse such programmes only if they meet ‘best-practice’ standards by helping people decide on a realistic healthy weight target weight (usually to lose 5-10% of their weight)

2) Endorse such programmes only if they meet ‘best-practice’ standards by aiming for a maximum weekly weight loss of 0.5-1.0kg.

First, where the hell does 5-10% come from?

I helped a lady go from 20 stone 10 to around 10 stone 9. Her health issues such as IBD cleared up, her energy soared and she went on to cycle from London to Paris. Had she only lost 10% she would have still weight 18 stone.

There are many, many women and men out there like this so she is not a rare exception in modern times.

Second what is realistic? Most people are so down-beat on themselves that realism to them is a dreary, depressing world in which the gods shit on them every day and deal them a bad hand every time they step out of the door. Their view of reality is based on false impressions of life because they have been misled and likely surrounded by other fat, negative, sick people.

In reality, there is NO reality – just what you create.

Finally this maximum weekly weight loss of 1-2lbs (0.5-10kg approximately), has long been shown to be utter rubbish.

Again I can provide mountains of testimonials from people who have done much more than this and felt more energetic, happier and reduced or eliminated diseases within their bodies.

So why are we restricting Joe Public to a slow, mediocre journey to health and fitness.

I agree that there are many stupid crash diets out there which deliver a fast weight loss initially followed by a return to old weight after the diet causes and inevitable binge in conjunction with a slower metabolic rate after hitting a mild form of starvation.

However, careful management of nutrition can deliver safe and lasting fat loss much faster.

What Now?

Clearly entire books could be written on all the topics above but I am simply trying to illustrate at this point the battles that are faced by Joe Public and the kind of archaic thinking which is guiding YOUR health care.

I don’t question the moral principles or intentions of those in charge, just the knowledge and research that has been done IN THE REAL WORLD, and the willingness to listen to fresh ideas which clearly work and are doing so right under your noses – by Storm Force Fitness and other fitness companies as well.

In my humble opinion when people are getting sicker, fatter and suffering more mental health problems strangely in conjunction with changes to modern nutrition practices, it is time to at least give these companies a chance ESPECIALLY when they are offering it as part of community education program for free.

I have no intention of changing my methods to anything like the Eat Well plate and unfortunately will have to continue with organically growing our reach into the Guernsey community one person at a time without the help from the powers that be who could help us to help many more people, much faster.

Funnily enough this is one of the core values of Storm Force Fitness “Seeking and sharing of knowledge”.

If only more public and private enterprises thought like this, we could make change happen much faster before it’s too late for another generation.

I don’t claim to know everything, in fact I am aware of glaring holes in my knowledge which need filling.

My point is that this is already a desperate situation and if the health authorities are unwilling to even listen, the future looks bleak for the masses in Guernsey.

Visit Storm Force Fitness for more information on our services in Guernsey.

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I believe (and hope as it’s what I’ve been trying to build every day for the last 18 months!) that this is down to three things.

1) Results – you get what you pay for.

2) Community – being surrounded by people who don’t spend their lives bitching and moaning about how they’ve been dealt a worse hand by life than everyone else.

3) Coaching – anyone can build a room and put fitness equipment (aka ‘the gym’). Having people who can deliver the right messages in the right manner to different people is the key.

If you disagree with this let me know!

Now by ‘pay for’ unfortunately, this does not just involve the financial cost of your membership.

In fact, the hardest price to pay is NOT the price.

For most people it’s not even getting their ass into the camp sessions day-after-day and investing their time.

I have found over and over again, that the hardest price to pay, and the one a disappointing proportion are willing to pay, is that of commitment and dedication to eating healthily.

A comment was made recently (and not for the first time) that the nutrition plan is too rigid – could we have an easier one?

Like many things in the health and fitness game, I confess to not understanding why it is any different to other things in life.

Consider whether you would do the following:

1) Ask your car valeter to clean your whole car but please don’t clean the wheels.

2) Ask your doctor to examine you but not worry about the blood test – you’re not bothered about that and happy to take the risk of staying sick

3) If you work for a professional firm, ask your boss if you can miss out some of the exams because you don’t actually want to be the best you can.

4) Allow your children to miss certain classes at school because they find them difficult.

Why would you want us to NOT give you the best we have?

And yet I see many people approaching their health and fitness this way.

To ask for a less rigid plan which (and I quote from a few people) “Doesn’t allow you to have a life” is in my humble opinion due to past experiences and mental programming clouding your vision.

How about this…

My Life

I just got back from 10 days in San Diego where I got to train twice a day with a top Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing) instructor, sit on the beach at the end of December, get a little tan, top up my Vitamin D levels and hang out with people who have become very good friends AND go to Disneyland!

All whilst my business continued to run well under the guidance of my amazing team thousands of miles away.

During that time I stuck 90-95% to the nutrition plan, still had some drinks on New Years Eve, had some ‘less than optimal meals’ occasionally and even had what I believe is called a Churro at Disneyland.

If you don’t believe the above is ‘having a life’ I’m not quite sure what you want out of your years!

You may not want to learn kickboxing but the point is having the freedom to do what you like is NOT restricted by eating healthily!

Being Alive or Living

I returned from California to be taken straight to hospital to see my Gran who we believe has just a few days, maybe a week or so left to live.

The last few weeks have been spent being kept alive with chemicals and medication and it’s a horrible thing to see.

Whilst she has ‘had a good innings’ I cannot help but think that most people are either taken too early or suffer through the last years of their ‘life’ due to damage done earlier in life before the ill effects of ‘less rigid’ nutrition cannot be seen.

This is now happening earlier and earlier in modern life and I have made it my mission and consequently that of my business and my team to stop that happening to you.

This begs the question, is their a difference between being alive and living?

All these sweets and treats you want now DON’T make you happy or your life any better.

You might think you are happy when you get to eat them, but consider this.

Most of the times in modern life when we think we are happy, we are actually just relieved and temporarily removing ourselves from pain and discomfort.

- Happiness on holiday is just a temporary relief from a shit job.

- Happiness at the weekend? Same thing for most people

- Happiness at finishing exams? It’s just relief that it’s over.

- Happiness at finishing a marathon? You’re not happy that you now can’t walk and feel like you’ve been raped by Donkey Kong – you’re relieved that the race is done!

You can tell if you’re truly happy quite easily by looking at the journeys you been on recently and the one you are on now in business, your career, relationships, sport etc.

How many athletes do you see getting depressed and falling off the wagon once they win a world championship or Olympic medal and subsequently retire?

The journey is where the happiness lies, not the result or in a particular moment.

This is why lottery winners soon return to their default level of happiness (either happy or depressed) and some people with severe injuries/disabilities appear to be happier than those with able bodies and lots of opportunities.

So what’s this got to do with nutrition?

I am committed to giving you the best I have.

The best knowledge of training and nutrition in order to create the best EXPERIENCE and the best JOURNEYS.

Being leaner and looking better, in itself, is pointless!

The journeys you can have afterwards with that new health and energy is what you REALLY pay for whether you know it or not.

- You could now do a 10k race for the first time ever and raise money for charity.

- You could embark on a journey of attracting better looking members of the opposite sex and doing what you like with them!

- You could have better experiences as you raise your child or grandchild now you can move better and don’t get asthmatic after trying to go down a kid’s slide.

The point is that ignoring the short-term food temptations which you think make you happy, enables you to start on a very different journey which delivers a much more-fulfilling life whatever YOU want that to be.

Quite honestly, I don’t care WHAT makes you happy in the same way few of you care about stepping in a Muay Thai ring to fight another man!

I just care about myself and my team enabling you to find out what it is.

Does having permission to shovel a cake in your face, REALLY mean you now have a life?!

For us to help you find what makes you happy, we need to give you the physical capabilities and energy to try new things and go on different journeys until you find the right one for
you.

To do this, you need to eat clean, natural food 90-95% of your life (some people can genetically get away with a little more!)

This is not up for discussion – it has been proven over and over again in the GFC and across the world in many VERY different environments.

The other part of the argument…

I used to try to tell people what was right or wrong.

I now realise that there is no right or wrong, good or bad just personal opinions relative to what you have been brought up to believe.

Had your parents never fed you chemically-infused, man-made crap passed off as food, you wouldn’t even need to think about any of this.

It would be as easy as breathing oxygen – habitual.

Unfortunately, relative to what you are used to, eating healthily may at first seem restrictive.
It’s not, you just need to make the changes until you have changed your base level of relativity!

I have never smoked a cigarette or cannabis or any other drug (honestly not one!)

So it never even occurs to me to do it now – I am not mentally programmed to react to situations in life with drugs.

Unfortunately none of us (including me) can say the same for food.

We need to make a conscious effort to change our reactions to life’s situations through food.

Think of your conscious and subconscious brain as a man riding an elephant.

The man might think he is in control of the elephant but realistically, if something causes that elephant to be alarmed or startled, there is NOTHING the man can do.

Your desires to eat crap food occur when something makes the elephant react.

Deal with the situations and the elephant will keep plodding on unpeturbed!

What now?

Keep a note of when you get a desire for crap food.

You will soon see what it is that startles the elephant.

Remove or greatly reduce the impact of these occurrences and the nutrition plan will no longer appear rigid but actually appear as a great mechanism for serving the the things in life which really make you happy.

It will boil down to spending less time with certain negative people, controlling your perceptions of how serious situations REALLY are and spending more time, money and effort on people and experiences which give you a long-term sense of wellbeing and happiness.

Also next time you eat something not on the recommended list, ask yourself how much better your life is an hour afterwards.

That will change your mindset on its own!

Remember 95% compliance is enough.

Enjoy your cheat meal….!

So stop hunting down those ‘amazing moments’.

If you look back at your life I GUARANTEE the best and worst things that have happened, you never saw coming and couldn’t have planned for.

In that case, stop worrying about it and focus on giving yourself the chance to enjoy lots of different journeys with a healthy, energetic, lean, strong body and a brain that works free of chemicals and toxins!

ROCK ON!

Jon

PS If you aren’t part of the GFC and want to learn about our ’secret sauce’ for great results, check out The Fit Formula seminar coming very soon!

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The slopes are building a nice layer for the guys and girls harbouring dreams of finally nailing that Black Run.

The first day is a BLAST with everyone feeling fresh, shaking off the rusty technique that’s accumulated over summer until dusk when they can sit back and chill with a nice cold pint or something warmer to ease the chills.

Day 2 then begins with a sensation similar to putting your quads in a vice then massaging them with a sledgehammer.

Ah yes.

You forget to do any targeted strength training AGAIN and figured that doing some running and cycling over summer would build the legs up.

Day 2 is consequently a struggle just to stay up and you’ve had enough by lunch.

Day 3 might be even worse as the 48 hour Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness kicks in.

So if running and cycling hasn’t helped and all those machine-based leg extensions and leg presses in the gym didn’t work, what can you do?

Here’s a quick guide to the seven key areas you need to focus on:

Strength Training

Unfortunately, the development of the commercial gym world has misled people to believe that sitting on machines moving pads in straight lines against resistance is actually productive. Whilst they may help bodybuilders gain that extra size and definition, they are useless for those needing to apply strength and power in sport. In our case, skiing.

They are far too one-dimensional. What is really needed is a focus on dynamic exercises taking your legs and hips through three-dimensional movements under varying speeds and tension.

Skiing is not an activity where the load is constant and easily controlled.

If you don’t train to generate power in a variety of directions and angles and in the same patterns of movement that skiing requires, you won’t see much benefit.

Key exercises to include:

Squats. Not descending 5 inches and thinking you’re doing squats. Proper, deep squats – also great for mobility! (see video below)

Deadlifts (see video below)

Lunges (different variations in different directions) (see video below)

These exercises can be difficult to learn properly and you should get professional help to learn how to do them safely and effectively.

There are also many tweaks to the exercises which demand different things of your muscles and nervous system so much, much more is possible beyond what you may see in a typical gym program.

Power Training

Power is essentially ‘the ability to exert maximum muscular contraction instantly in an explosive burst of movement’.

Much like performing jumps on the slopes!

Again this needs to be trained in a variety of ways including both bodyweight ‘plyometrics’ and weight-training, in particular Olympic Lifting (as you see in the Olympics…obviously!) Again this requires a high level of skill and needs to be learned and built up over time.

See the video below for more examples.

Without power training you cannot develop power endurance, so you will struggle to maintain high levels of performance all day on the slopes and certainly not for 7-14 days in a row!

Mobility

Mobile ankles and hips are a key element of most sports and general health.

Skiing is unique in that your ankles are firmly locked in one position by your boots.

This increases the need for more mobile hips otherwise you can find yourself suffering from lower back pain as dysfunction lower down and forces exerted on your legs get transferred into a focal point – usually the lower back.

It is therefore essential to be performing specific stretches and mobility work to keep your hips loose.

And no, holding that hamstring stretch for 30 seconds WON’T make any difference!

Core Stability

Everyone has heard of it.

Everyone knows they need it.

No-one really knows what it is or how to do it.

So they just do lots of sit-ups and wonder why their back hurts!

Your core involves many muscles including your TVA (like an in-built weight-lifting belt), your diaphragm, your pelvic floor, your abs, some deeper spine-stabilisers and your gluteus (your butt).

Great training programs teach you how to activate these muscles first, then take them into increasingly more complex and challenging exercises.

It should be obvious that if you struggle to activate your core and hold basic positions like a plank for 30-60s when you are purposefully concentrating, you are not going to activate your core muscles in pressured, fast-changing conditions like skiing down a mountain!

Or dancing on the bar in the ski chalet….

So make sure you understand the core as a solid unit and find out how to progressively develop more dynamic variations similar to that experienced when skiing.

Hip Stability

Skiing requires excellent levels of endurance to perform and enjoy it the most.

When you tire and movement quality suffers you waste a lot of energy to actions you really could do with out!

Without hip stability, your upper body has a poor connection to your legs and as a result you cannot perform at your best. Even if you have strong legs, you can be skiing with the brakes on because of poor hip stability.

Lots of single leg work and three-dimensional exercises are required to fully develop these strengths in your skiing tool box – another reason to get off the machines and start challenging your body.

Resistance band exercises are a great way to do this in combination with traditional single leg-exercises.

******************************

The video below draws together a lot of this and shows you a small sample of the exercises we are currently using with personal training clients looking to greatly improve their skiing performance.

All have specific benefits on a person’s attributes on the slopes!

Ski DVD promo video from Jon Le Tocq on Vimeo.

CLICK HERE to find out more about our 2 or 3 session per week ‘On The Piste’ training programs.

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“Higher Testosterone May Equal Lower Heart Risks.”

The interesting thing at the end of the article is that the researcher immediately turns to whether a pill may help in the future, “What’s needed”, she added, “is evidence from clinical trials that actually test whether testosterone replacement in older men cuts the risk of heart disease and stroke.”

We’re so caught up in the “fix” we forget about how to prevent it in the first place! I’m pretty sure what’s needed is that earlier in life we treat our bodies right, work to maintain our lean mass and keep body fat levels low – something that can be accomplished without a pill.

Higher Testosterone May Equal Lower Heart Risks

(Reuters) Elderly men with naturally higher levels of testosterone may be less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke than those men with lower levels of the hormone, according to a study.

Findings published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology showed that of 2,400 Swedish men in their 70s and 80s, those with the highest testosterone levels were less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke over the next several years than men with the lowest levels.

But the results do not prove that testosterone itself deserves the credit, and it’s too soon to recommend testosterone replacement to try to lower heart risks.

“What we can say is that elderly men with high testosterone levels are relatively protected against cardiovascular events, and therefore lower testosterone is a marker for increased cardiovascular risk,” said Asa Tivesten, at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Goteborg, Sweden, who led the study.

It’s known that any serious health condition can lower testosterone levels, as can obesity. But in the study, the researchers accounted for a number of health factors — including the men’s weight, blood pressure and any diagnoses of diabetes, heart disease or stroke at the outset.

Of 604 men in the bottom quarter for levels of the “male” hormone at the study’s start, 21 percent had a heart attack, severe chest pain or stroke over roughly five years.

That compared with roughly 16 percent of the 606 men who started out with the highest testosterone levels.

Even accounting for health factors, men in the highest-testosterone group still showed a 30 percent lower risk of heart disease or stroke compared with the other three-quarters of the study group.

But that doesn’t rule out the possibility that something other than testosterone may be at work, said JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who was not involved in the study.

“Low testosterone may be a marker of other health conditions that put men at higher risk of cardiovascular disease,” she said.

Potential reasons for why higher natural testosterone levels may be good for the heart include the fact that higher testosterone generally means less body fat and more lean muscle.

What’s needed, she added, is evidence from clinical trials that actually test whether testosterone replacement in older men cuts the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Those trials are ongoing and so far, she noted, the results are mixed on whether testosterone replacement improves “intermediate” outcomes like cholesterol or blood sugar levels.

No one yet knows if it affects the ultimate outcomes of cardiovascular disease and lifespan.

“There are many unanswered questions, and I don’t think this means that men should be trying to boost their testosterone with testosterone replacement therapy,” she said.

The experience with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in women offers a cautionary tale.

Before 2002, many women used HRT in the hopes of warding off heart disease and osteoporosis. Then a large U.S. clinical trial found that women given pills containing estrogen and progesterone actually had higher risks of blood clots, heart attack, stroke and breast cancer than women given placebo pills.

Now HRT is largely used only for treating severe hot flashes — and then, only at the lowest dose and for the shortest time possible.

“So there are concerns about the risks in men,” Manson said.

Among those are the potential for testosterone to contribute to blood clots, liver damage or prostate cancer.

“This is a study of endogenous (natural) hormone production. It does not provide information about what is happening when hormones are given as a therapy,” Tiveston said.

SOURCE:bit.ly/oDvZxv

(Reporting from New York by Amy Norton at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies

Storm Force Fitness can help men (and women) of any age get fit and stay fit! “Like” us on Facebook to get started with our free introductory videos, and sign up for our mailing list to get the latest news and special deals!

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The reviews for improved running stride and less impact? Mixed. Read on…

Are Barefoot Shoes Really Better?
By Tara Parker-Pope

Barefoot running may be trendy, but for scores of runners who train on urban streets or rocky trails, running without foot cover isn’t an option. As a result, many runners have switched to minimalist sports shoes that add a thin layer of protection without detracting from the feeling of running barefoot.

But do minimalist running shoes really reduce wear and tear on a runner’s body?

The American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit group that reports on fitness, recently sponsored a small study to learn more about the popular footwear. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, asked 16 women, all healthy recreational joggers ages 19 to 25, to spend two weeks getting used to running in the Vibram FiveFingers, a snug, glovelike shoe that weighs less than five ounces. The women were advised to use the shoes, the best-selling brand of barefoot sports shoes, three times a week for up to 20 minutes a day.

The women then returned to the lab, where researchers analyzed their form, foot-strike patterns and the force at which they hit the ground under three different running conditions — with regular running shoes, barefoot and while wearing the Vibram FiveFingers.

The researchers found that half of the women who switched to barefoot running or minimalist sports shoes failed to adjust their form, resulting in more wear and tear on their bodies, not less.

The study showed that when the women were wearing traditional running shoes, they all used a rear-foot strike, meaning they landed predominantly on their heels. But when the women switched to barefoot running or the Vibram FiveFingers, only half of them adjusted their form, as recommended, to a forefoot strike pattern, which entails landing mainly on the ball of the foot. The other half of the women kept the same form whether running barefoot, in Vibrams or in their cushy running shoes — landing first on their heels as they propelled themselves along.

Women who used the correct form experienced lower-impact forces on the foot while running barefoot or in Vibrams. But among the women who didn’t change their form and continued to land on their heels, the impact forces created by barefoot and Vibram running were nearly twice as high as in regular athletic shoes.

“People who run, they’ve run in shoes for so long, landing on their heels, that some of them are going to continue to do that,” said John P. Porcari, professor of exercise and sports science. “When you land on your feet, the force gets transmitted up the kinetic chain — to feet, to ankles, to knees, to hips, to back. That’s why runners can have injuries from their toenails to their belly button.”

Cedric Bryant, the chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise, said the study shows how important it is for new barefoot and Vibram runners to pay attention to form and slowly transition out of traditional shoes.

“Take the slow and steady approach,” he said. “Rather than going out and trying to run your typical distances at your typical speeds, give yourself ample time to adapt and adjust to this new style.”

The council recommends that runners who want to switch to barefoot or minimalist shoes begin with brisk walking. Once they start running, new barefoot and Vibram runners need to shorten their stride and focus on landing on the forefoot as opposed to the heel. Someone who has been running four or five times a week should try the minimalist shoes for only a portion of one of their runs until they adjust to the change, Dr. Bryant said.

“The key thing our study seems to suggest is that it’s really important you take some time to really adjust your running form or running style,” said Dr. Bryant.

In addition, the study found that all the runners bent less at the knee while running barefoot or in Vibrams, a change in form associated with fewer injuries. However, compared with barefoot runners, shod runners and those in Vibrams showed more pronation, which is the natural side-to-side movement of the foot during running. Excessive pronation is associated with more injuries.

While the research shows that runners who are able to change their form may benefit from going barefoot or wearing Vibrams, longtime runners who are doing fine may think twice about making the switch.

“If you’re not injured, I wouldn’t change anything,” said Dr. Porcari. “If you’re constantly getting injured, you may want to try these things. Maybe, biomechanically, shoes just aren’t for you.”

Have you tried the Vibram FiveFingers? Running or otherwise? What did you find? How about in the gym? Let us know with a comment here or on Facebook!

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SNI Interviews Our Resident HMB Expert, Jacob Wilson PhD

SNI: Below are listed 5 supplements; tell us in 100 words if you think it is worth taking, why, and at what dose.

Dr. Wilson:

1. HMB

HMB works by speeding repair of damaged muscle, increasing fat loss and preventing muscle loss during extreme dieting, aerobic exercise, and aging. HMB consistently works in non-athletes because it’s easy to damage their muscles. Studies in athletes using HIGH INTENSITY / HIGH VOLUME training show increases in muscle size and strength. Studies in athletes with inadequate training programs don’t work for obvious reasons. So if you are untrained use it. If you are an athlete and your training program is legitimate and periodized, then I recommend it. For muscle mass, take at least 3 grams. For fat loss, WE DON’T KNOW the ideal dose, but 3-6 grams does work.

2. EAAs

The EAAs determine overall “protein quality.” In fact, research shows that the EAAs alone stimulate as much protein synthesis (muscle building) as a whole protein. Diets low in EAAs result in lower gains in muscle mass and strength than diets high in EAAs. Supplementing with EAAs may be beneficial. One study by Paddon-Jones et al. found supplementing with an EAA supplement in between meals drastically increased protein synthesis throughout a day. I’d recommend 10-15 grams per serving. Foods highest in EAAs are meat, egg, and dairy products. Selection of these food choices will result in greater gains.

3. Leucine

Leucine is the king of amino acids. In fact of the EAAs, leucine seems to be the actual TRIGGER for protein synthesis. My brother, Gabriel Wilson, and colleague, Layne Norton, have shown that choosing foods higher in leucine results in greater muscle mass. Two to three grams of leucine maximize protein synthesis. Meats contain about 8 % leucine, eggs about 9 %, and dairy about 10-12%. Athletes can base protein consumed each meal on its leucine content. For example whey (11 % leucine) and chicken (7.5 % leucine) would require about 18-26 and 27-35 grams, respectively, to maximize protein synthesis.

4. Glutamine

Glutamine is the most abundant free amino acid in our body. Individuals who train ALL OUT (not those who bring cell phones to the gym and never squat) may benefit from it. Glutamine has been shown to decrease the incidence of reported infections and protects white blood cells (our immune cells) following exhaustive exercise. Additionally glutamine has been shown to increase muscle carbohydrate stores. Twenty-five grams a day during intense training cycles or when low carb dieting may be efficacious. I’d also recommend reading Dr. Jose Antonio’s recent article entitled “Glutamine’s a Friend of Mine.”

5. Taurine

The finding that taurine levels decrease during exercise has led sports nutrition scientists to study the amino acid. Taurine may protect muscle against exercise induced DNA damage and protein breakdown. Moreover Dr. Zhang et al. found that 7 days of taurine supplementation increased V02max and prolonged time to exhaustion while cycling. While Jay Hoffman found a taurine containing supplement-increased resistance training performance, it is unclear what its effects are alone. However, we do know that taurine increases force of isolated muscle fibers. Although the optimal dose is unknown, 6 grams a day has been effective.

SNI: Bonus question: If you could have superhero powers, what powers would you want and why?

Dr. Wilson: Ha ha! I have always wanted wolverine’s regenerative powers. Why? It’s simple, it would mean that I could easily train 20 times a day, and make gains each workout!Dr. Jacob Wilson, Ph.D. is a researcher and assistant professor in the department of health sciences and human performance at the University of Tampa, Tampa Fl. Jacob has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers, abstracts, and book chapters on sports nutrition, supplementation, and resistance training in athletic and clinical situations. His research has covered both the cellular and molecular responses to supplementation and nutrition, as well as the whole body changes in muscle size, strength, and power. Dr. Wilson is also a proud member of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and President of Abcbodybuilding.com

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