Fit Coach Jonno

This page has been quiet for months, but only because I'm publishing content over at Merchant City Personal Training (MCPT) instead these days. Mythbusting Mondays is still going strong over there, along with: Tasty Tuesdays - a weekly series featuring the best nutrition tips, inspiration, and ideas; and Wednesday Wisdom - knowledge and advice from the best and most successful individuals in health and fitness. I'll be shutting down this page in the next week or two, so head over to the MCPT page if you want to keep up to date with our great content, as well as the latest personal training updates and offers.

Lifting Weights Isn't Dangerous... Watching any "Gym Fail" video, it would seem that the gym is a perilous place, fraught with danger, but even before the internet brought this nouvelle-slapstick to the mainstream, lifting weights was considered dangerous by a fearful and sceptical public. In reality, weight training is extremely saf…

Hello everyone.

Mythbusting Mondays for this week is live, but not quite as you know it! Fit Coach Jonno is part of an exciting new venture as Merchant City Personal Training. This week's article is live on our brand new site, so check out the link. You can also support us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

I'll continue to post updates here for a while, but it would be great if you could like the new page and get sharing. Happy reading!

http://www.merchantcitypt.co.uk/blog/2015/4/13/mm-1-the-mythbusting-mindset

MM #1 The Mythbusting Mindset It's good to know the most common health and fitness myths that are out there, and understand not only why they're false, but also why they persist. While future episodes will go on to discuss the most prevalent myths so you can arm yourself with such knowledge, today I thought it would be useful to…

Some big changes are happening for FitCoach Jonno, so in lieu of the usual Mythbusting Monday's, how many myths in this video have you already had busted by Jonno?

https://youtu.be/uW1bumDeDEk

Fitness Myths You Probably Believe Work It... Post to Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1dqsCwA Like BuzzFeedVideo on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1ilcE7k Post to Twitter: http://bit.ly/1dqsD3q Music: Lo...

Mythbusting Mondays #25

Put that sports drink down.

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Sports drinks is a broad term that may cover a wide variety of beverages, but today we are interested in those that mainly contain carbohydrates and electrolytes, and are designed to replace the energy, fluid and salt lost during exercise.

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Such sports drinks have a wide array of compositions but the common ingredients are carbohydrates (sugar), electrolytes (salt) and water. They market themselves as an essential workout aide, helping you to exercise for longer, and replace vital salt and fluids that are lost when you sweat. Because, you know, sweating is BAD.

It's true that a carbohydrate source can help you to exercise for longer, but this only becomes apparent after around 90 minutes of continuous exercise. It is also true that a solution containing carbohydrates and electrolytes is more hydrating than water alone - the mechanism of water uptake in the gut is enhanced by their presence. But what application does this have for the average exerciser?

Firstly, those who are exercising to lose weight should avoid sports drinks with carbohydrates, or any other calories for that matter. If the exercise itself is supposed to use energy, then why would you replace that energy as you exercise, or immediately afterwards? You want the energy used during exercise to come from the fat stores in your body, so that those fat stores are gradually diminished. Chugging sports drinks while you exercise is like trying to empty your bathtub while the water is still running. Sure, it might empty eventually but wouldn't it be quicker to empty it without running the taps as you do so?

Secondly, for those of you who have fallen for the marketing that tells you to sports drinks are necessary for rehydration otherwise you might, I dunno, fall over and die? Chances are you're in the gym for an hour, maybe half/two-thirds of that time is spent actually doing meaningful work. The space is air conditioned and your workout has you breathing hard for a while, but not so much that you couldn't hold a conversation. In these circumstances you'll be fine for an hour without drinking anything. Sure, it might help to take some water in with you, because it feels nice having something cold to drink while you're working hard, and helps get rid of that horrible cottonmouth feeling. But don't waste your money on something that was 'engineered in a lab to make you work harder'. People in need of hydrating beverages are either going to be toughing out endurance events for hours and hours, or working out in extreme heat, where fluid loss is way above normal levels.

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The best strategy for most of us is to sip a cold water when you're thirsty or need a little boost to keep your workout on track.

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Thanks for reading another instalment of Mythbusting Mondays :) If you would like FitCoach Jonno to be your personal trainer then get in touch via email at [email protected]. You can also follow what Jonno is up to @ fitcoachjonno on Twitter and Instagram.

Mythbusting Mondays #24

You won't accelerate weight loss by sweating more.

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Bikram yoga. Saunas. Running in a sweat suit. These are all techniques people use to try and accelerate weight loss over-and-above their usual exercise. The idea is that the weight lost in sweat will add up to greater weight lost over the course of a training programme. But is this the case?

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Unfortunately not. Anything that produces large quantities of sweat will result in acute weight loss, however this loss is simply water and minerals, which will be regained immediately upon consumption of food and fluids.

There is an illusion that sweating is correlated with the calories burned during a workout, but that isn't necessarily the case. Sweating is one of the body's cooling mechanisms, so increasing body temperature through exercise is one way that might induce more of it, and higher-intensity exercise will increase body temperature more. However body temperature can also be raised by exercising in the heat, or inhibiting sweat evaporation (by trapping it inside a sauna-suit, or increasing the humidity of a room). As such, an increased amount of sweat doesn't always mean a harder workout, it could just mean your environment has changed.

Losing a lot of sweat will result in an acute loss of WEIGHT, but this will not lead to a long term loss of FAT, and that distinction is key. That sweat isn't your fat oozing out of your pores, nor is it a by-product of fat-burning metabolism. It's simply your body trying to cool down.

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Thanks for reading another instalment of Mythbusting Mondays :) If you would like FitCoach Jonno to be your personal trainer then get in touch via email at [email protected]. You can also follow what Jonno is up to @ fitcoachjonno on Twitter and Instagram.

Mythbusting Mondays #23

There's no such thing as "Muscle Confusion".

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"Muscle Confusion" is the idea that you can accelerate your training progress by constantly changing exercises and routines so that your body never 'gets used to' your training, therefore never reaching a fitness plateau. While your muscles do need to be challenged to get fitter, endlessly changing your workouts isn't the way to do it.

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If you never ever exercise, then you won't ever get any fitter. It's also true that you don't really get any fitter if you exercise, but only do the exact same workout every single time.

Your body responds to the stimuli it receives. If you sit out naked in the glaring sun for hours after a winter spent wrapped-up and indoors, then your skin will burn. If, however you spend a few minutes in the sun on the first day, then a few more the next, and gradually increase the time you spend exposing your skin to the sun's rays, then chances are you'll build up a nice, even tan.

Exercise works much the same way. If you go too hard too soon, then you'll be left feeling tired, sore, and no further forward than where you started. The best road to progress is by consistently challenging your body with an increasing stimulus. You can increase your training...
..intensity (add some weight to your lifts, or some speed to your runs)
..volume (do more reps or sets, or add some distance to your run/ride/swim)
..frequency (do five workouts every week instead of three)

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By consistently increasing your training stimulus, your body will steadily adapt and improve. But the key to this progress is consistency. It's possible to change things too frequently to see any progress made, which is the real issue with "muscle confusion"-type training. Imagine trying to learn how to speak French by studying French one day, German the next, Italian the following day, Spanish the day after that... You'd never learn to speak any language! That's what it would be like to change exercises every single time you work out.

So, yes, while your fitness will be stagnant if your body is never exposed to anything new, it is better to utilise consistent practice, and vary the stimulus to see continual progress.

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Thanks for reading another instalment of Mythbusting Mondays :) If you would like FitCoach Jonno to be your personal trainer then get in touch via email at [email protected]. You can also follow what Jonno is up to @ fitcoachjonno on Twitter and Instagram.

Mythbusting Mondays #22

Drinking your fruit and veg is not the same as eating it.

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Fruit juices and smoothies are marketed as nutrient-packed drinks that contribute to your "5-a-day" fruit and vegetable intake. Are they just as good, or even better, than whole fruits and vegetables, or would you simply be better-off eating your fruit and veg?

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Firstly, it's important to consider how your drink is produced. Fruit and vegetable juices are often obtained by squeezing the juices from the fruit or veg, and then discarding the skin and the pulp. By throwing this away, the juice lacks a large number of nutrients found only in the skin, and loses the fibre content that would have been provided by the skin and pulp.

What you are left with is a concentrated source of sugar (fruits are generally high in sugars; natural sugars, but sugars nonetheless) that lacks supportive nutrients and digestive fibre. Your juice therefore has a higher Calorie and sugar-density, and lower nutrient-density than the whole fruit, meaning that there are less nutrients per-gram and more sugar and Calories per-gram:
120 Calories in whole apples contains around 24g sugar
120 Calories in apple juice contains around 30g sugar

In this way it becomes easy to consume a large number of sugary Calories without any significant nutrition. But just how much sugar is in your fruit juice? Comparing a can of Pepsi with a bottle of Tropicana (both owned by PepsiCo) provides some interesting results:
Pepsi contains 43 Calories, and 10.6g sugar per 100ml
Tropicana (original) contains 48 Calories and 10.0g sugar per 100ml

Surprised?

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But what about smoothies? Aren't they better because you are blending the whole food, skin, pulp, and-all? Not really, as it happens.

Smoothies do tend to retain more fibre because the skin and pulp is included in the blending process, but they are still concentrated sugar-bombs, especially the store-bought variety. Again we can have a cute comparison of a can Coca-Cola and a bottle of (Coca-Cola owned) Innocent Smoothie:
Coca-cola contains 42 Calories, and 10.6g sugar per 100ml
Innocent Smoothie (strawberries and bananas) contains 55 Calories and 10.4g sugar per 100ml

See a pattern here?

Smoothies made freshly at home or in a juice bar may not be as Calorie/sugar dense IF you include a high proportion of vegetables (especially leafy greens), which have a much lower Calorie/sugar density than fruits. Fibre, protein and fats can easily be added to your smoothie in the form of dairy, protein powders, or flaxseed to make a more nutritious and filling drink. However other common smoothie ingredients such as flavoured yoghurts, ice-cream or honey can quickly increase your smoothie's Calories/sugar content.

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The best thing is to proceed with caution and be mindful in what you are eating. Smoothies and especially fruit juices can provide an unexpectedly high hit of Calories, which is drank down all too quickly. Smoothies may help to increase a person's daily fruit and vegetable intake while retaining some amount of fibre, but they don't leave you feeling very full.

Whenever both options are available, always go for the whole food!

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Thanks for reading another instalment of Mythbusting Mondays :) If you would like FitCoach Jonno to be your personal trainer then get in touch via email at [email protected]. You can also follow what Jonno is up to @ fitcoachjonno on Twitter and Instagram.

Before and after pictures are a common marketing technique used to promote health and fitness products. By creating the illusion that the subject has made a remarkable physical transformation and implying that their results have mainly been due to the product in question, they hope to increase sales.

But how long did it take to achieve the results pictured below? A mere two hours.

And what miracle intervention did these individuals undergo? "Spray-tanning, 15 minutes of light exercise, improved posture and the introduction of more subtle lighting."

Don't be fooled by before-and-after adverts!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-31638187?ocid=socialflow_twitter

The art of before-and-after pictures Before-and-after adverts feature in thousands of magazines. But how reliable are they?

Mythbusting Mondays #21

There's no such thing as a Superfood

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A 'superfood' is supposed to be a food that has an unusually high density of nutrients and is therefore thought to have remarkable health benefits. However, similar to 'detox' the term 'superfood' has no reliable definition. Catherin Collins, chief dietician at St George's Hospital in London, says, "the term 'superfoods' is at best meaningless and at worst harmful".

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Let's start with meaningless.

Newspapers and blogs love the idea of a superfood. The idea that a single food can profoundly benefit one's health really captures the imagination of journalists and consumers. The problem with dietary reporting, though, is that headlines are often inaccurate, unhelpful, or contradictory; often there are reports of the same food being healthy one month, and harmful the next! That's before you even consider the mercurial nature of dietary science.

Researching the effects of a single food on our health is notoriously difficult. Human diets are so complex that it is naive to try to disentangle the effects of any single food from whatever else you are eating. Taking this even further, superfoods are often labelled thus because the item in question is purportedly packed full of one particular nutrient. The problem with this approach according to Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, is that "it takes the nutrient out of the context of food, the food out of the context of diet, and the diet out of the context of lifestyle".

The EU prevents the use of the term 'superfood' on packaging unless there is substantial evidence in support of the claim, but claims made in the media have no such restrictions. As such we are faced with outlandish headlines that claim certain foods can:
“add five years to your life”
“help keep teeth healthy”
“protect your eyes”
"make women less likely to gain weight”
“undo diabetes damage”
“stop breast cancer spreading”
“protect the lungs”
"protect against heart disease"
"cut the risk of prostate cancer"
"cut the risk of heart attack and stroke”
or even "save your life”.

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Still wondering how the term 'superfood' might be harmful?

Apart from producing headlines such as the above, which are downright misleading, labelling some foods as 'superfoods' results in a skewed way of thinking about how we eat. Consider this list of commonly cited 'superfoods':
Acai berries
Kale
Seaweed
Pomegranates
Wheatgrass
Chia seeds
Goji berries
Manuka Honey
Spirulina
Quinoa

What do they have in common? They are all fairly exotic, rare, and unusual; not typically seen in a modern Western diet. Undoubtedly these foods will have many beneficial nutrients but they are also especially marketable. Attach some extraordinary claims to these 'unique' foods, and suddenly you have a vastly inflated price. Denoting some foods as superfoods gives the impression that other more everyday foods are somehow inferior or deficient. Broccoli, soy, fish, oats, blueberries, ginger, garlic and tea are all highly nutritious, and have at times been called superfoods, but they aren't as sexy. Aren't as marketable. Aren't as expensive!

So don't blow your food budget on a small packet of exotic berries with a premium price-tag. They won't be a silver bullet to good health if the rest of what your diet and lifestyle is poor. You are always better off sticking to the fundamentals; eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, limit your intake of sugar, processed foods and calories, and maintain high levels of physical activity.

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Thanks for reading another instalment of Mythbusting Mondays :) If you would like FitCoach Jonno to be your personal trainer then get in touch via email at [email protected]. You can also follow what Jonno is up to Jonathan Loch on Twitter and Instagram.

Mythbusting Mondays #20

There's no such thing as a Detox

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A 'detox' is an intervention that attempts to remove 'toxins' - supposedly harmful substances that allegedly cause adverse effects if allowed to accumulate - from the body. The problem is that no-one can actually tell you how a detox is supposed to work, or what these toxins actually are.

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Aside from the legitimate clinical definitions of detoxification - referring to treatment of alcohol addiction, drug addiction, or poisoning - no one will be able to tell you what detoxing is. Admittedly, some might try to explain that it is the cleansing/flushing-out/removal of harmful toxins/noxious-substances/chemicals, but when further questioned, they won't be able to tell you what these apparently harmful substances actually are. Still others may confidently give you a memorised rhetoric full of similarly meaningless words, but cross-referenced with other similar claims, there isn't a consistent explanation.

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Despite a lack of definition for either the term 'detox' itself or the 'toxins' it is supposed to eliminate, detox diets, supplements, cosmetics, and devices continue to sell. If you are ever tempted by any of these, remember this:

The human body is extremely capable of removing harmful or unnecessary substances from itself via the liver, kidneys, colon and lymphatic system. Furthermore, these processes can't be 'stimulated', 'enhanced', or 'accelerated' except by medical intervention.

Your liver contains enzymes that convert potentially harmful substances into more innocuous ones, which are then dissolved and removed in urine.

Your gut protects the body from many harmful bacteria, while the colon ejects unwanted solid matter from the body.

Your kidneys sieve out essential chemicals for absorption, while unwanted chemicals are naturally excreted in urine.

Your lymphatic system continually operates to remove bacteria and viruses your tissues and blood.

Your skin is a remarkably effective barrier which few chemicals can pe*****te. So not only are you naturally protected from most non-ingested chemicals, but any detox products that are applied to the skin won't have any effect on your internal organs.

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Consider the big picture.

The body is great at removing harmful substances; it does this every day, without us even realising. Any genuinely harmful substances don't even get a chance to build up in our tissues. The only time it needs help is when severely overwhelmed such as in a drug overdose, or alcohol poisoning. If there really were toxic substances that built up in the body, which could only be removed by 'detoxing', then we would all probably already be dead.

The idea that a week-long detox is going to reverse a year of unhealthy living is wishful thinking. People would be better off eating nutritious food, staying hydrated, and sleeping well on a daily basis.

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Thanks for reading another instalment of Mythbusting Mondays. Jonno's recent offer to split the cost of training with a partner is still available, visit http://buff.ly/1vsugX2 to find out more.

Mythbusting Mondays #19

Lifting weights is not dangerous. In fact, it's one of the safest forms of physical activity.

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Watching any "Gym Fail" video, it would seem that the gym is a perilous place, fraught with danger, but even before the internet brought this nouvelle-slapstick to the mainstream, lifting weights was considered dangerous by a fearful and sceptical public.

In reality, weight training is extremely safe, for a number of reasons.

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1) The gym is a controlled environment.
You choose exactly which exercises to perform, the weight you use, the number of sets and reps, the speed at which you lift, and how much rest you take in between lifts. In team sports it's much harder to control to distance you cover, changes in direction, the speed you move at, or how many ball-touches you get. That's before you even consider accidental collisions/trips/bad tackles.

2) The dose of exercise can be extremely precise.
No exercise will ever be too heavy, because everything can be calibrated to challenge, but not overwhelm, any level of ability. Can't squat an Olympic barbell (20kg) right away? No problem, we have 15kg and 10kg bars. Can't do those? No worries, we have even lighter kettlebells and dumbells that you can do goblet squats with. Can't do those either? No big deal, we can start you off doing light leg presses. Once we find a weight you can manage, then we can progress as slowly and slightly as we need to; weight plates can be as light as 125g! Training can be fine-tuned much more than people realise.

3) Technique is a harsh mistress.
First you must learn the movements with light weights. If the weight is too heavy, you won't be able to perform the movement at-all, or your body will give you immediate feedback that what you're about to attempt probably isn't the best idea. This keeps most trainees humble and prevents people from being too hasty. Consider running on the other hand. We know many people run with poor technique because it is estimated that anywhere between 37-56% of runners get injured in any given year. If your technique is poor, then you won't necessarily notice in a single step, or within a few hundred metres, but compound a bad stride-pattern with many miles of running every week, then your injury is likely to happen long before you realise that you run like an ass.

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As it turns out, data comparing different sports confirms the safety of weight training. Studies of injuries usually report injury incidence per 1000 hours of exposure, in other words for 1000 hours of participation in a given sport and its training, how many injuries are likely to occur?

Studies of UK sports reveals injury rates of:
Football - 62
Rugby - 19.2
Basketball - 10.3
Cross country - 3.7
Athletics - 2.6
Tennis - 0.7
Weight training - 0.035
Weightlifting (the sport) - 0.017
per 1000 participation hours.

In other words, weight training has an injury rate of 1 in 85,733 hours. Should we think twice about having our kids play so much football?

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Thanks for reading another installment of Mythbusting Mondays. If you are interested in reading more, or would like to find out about FitCoach Jonno's recent Valentine's Day offer, then head over to http://buff.ly/1vQ4CMo for more information :)

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