A training split is basically what you train or what type of training you do on any given day of the week.  For instance if you train your legs on Monday, back on Wednesday and chest on Friday, that would be an example of a training split.  In the never-ending quest to enhance our training results, athletes, fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders have experimented with a number of different training splits – some good, others terrible.  Here are some of my favorite splits I use for athletic training, fat loss and rehabilitation that you are more than welcome to take or adapt for your own purposes.  Read This Article

Before you read this, make sure you understand that getting stronger by lifting weights will not mean you are going to get too big or you will lose speed.  This blog post here and this article here explains why this is not the case (with references) and why lifting weights will actually make you quicker!  We should also understand the dynamics of running.  There are basically three parts to running: the stance phase (which is the amount of time you spend on the ground with each foot strike), the stride length and the stride rate (or frequency).  To run faster, you have to either a) decrease the stance phase, b) increase the stride length or c) increase the stride frequency.  This applies to every distance from a 100m sprint to a ultramarathon.  The first group of muscles we are going to talk about in regards to their importance to running and why they need to be as string as possible are the hamstrings and in particular when they flex the knee.

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Fat has to be the most debated part of food.  Most people are so scared of fat in their diet due to guidelines like the food pyramid.  Definitely no personal training or exercise physiology client of ours on the Gold Coast or Brisbane really understand the role of fat in our diet when they first come to see us.  So to clear things up and finally figure out fat here is the cheat notes.
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The main method of fat loss we use here in our Gold Coast personal training and athletic performance facility is nutritional consultations that use a software that identifies individual's “BioSignature”.  The "BioSignature" is a method of determining how to lose fat in most rapid fashion by assessing where you hormonally store fat.  Once you have that figured out, you then combat those hormones with natural diet, lifestyle and supplement changes.  This all means you lose fat faster and a greater proportion off your trouble areas.  Pretty cool right?  Read This Article

Another thing I got up to on a recent trip to the Unites States (where I brushed up on my Active Release Techniques in San Diego) was to go and hang out with my buddy Joe Dowdell in New York before travelling up with him and a few of his trainers to the 2011 Eleiko Strength Summit.  Joe owns Peak Performance, which is New York’s top personal training gym and he has everyone from Wall St bankers to NBA/MMA athletes to movie stars to Google’s CEO training there.  For instance, while he and I trained one day, Hillary Swank and Ethan Hawke were both getting trained by personal trainers.  And if you are wondering, yes they all have to do the prowler and sled no matter who they are! His gym has all manner of gym equipment (no gimmicks though) and he and I share a really similar philosophy to training: make sure your training contains the exercises that will give you the most value for time invested.  Read This Article

In mid April, I headed down to the Australian Fitness Expo which is held every year in Sydney.  The Australian Fitness Expo is basically a show of the best fitness related businesses have to offer and it is a massive event with all shapes and sizes attending (see some of the pics below).  At the fitness expo, the average punter gets to hang out with elite bodybuilders, fitness models, strength athletes and professional sportspeople who all get brought down by their respective sponsors.  Highlights for myself was exchanging grip training tips with America's Stringest Man Derek Poundstone and talking nutrition with bodybuilding legend and 6 time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates (pictured to the left).  Also because it is dominated by supplement companies, you cannot help but walk out with two or three showbags loaded with protein samples, tee shirts and magazines.  In fact, don't tell anyone this but I almost made myself sick from eating too many protein (cookie, bar, shake) samples on the first day.  Read This Article

At the end of last year, I do not know how I managed to fit it in but I did a fortnight of work with the Australian Institute of Sport's female kayak squad.  The head strength & conditioning coach Glen "Worko" Workman is a great guy who also incidentally used to be my strength & conditioning coach when I played footy at Seagulls.  So we got on really well (as you can see from the pic below) and I learned a heap during the two weeks.  Here are the top 5 things I took out of it that:  Read This Article

One of the most important group of concepts to understand for both personal trainers and trainees trying to lose body fat is how the body actually loses body fat from exercise.  This is because it is not just a case of calories in/calories out and training longer.  Which is what most people trying to lose body fat have learned by now.  When the body wants to get rid of excess fat stores, there are basically three hormonal and metabolic mechanisms that really stand out: 1) improving insulin sensitivity, 2) increasing Growth Hormone (GH) output and 3) increasing metabolic rate by disrupting homeostasis.  Now do not worry it is not as complicated as it seems - just watch the video below and you’ll see what I mean…  Read This Article

If I am going to cook something, I am a big fan of making it as quick and easy as possible.  Call me lazy but this is actually probably one of the most overlooked factors in getting fit and losing weight. For those in the fitness and nutrition industry, we have a rule of thumb that the more meals an individual prepares, the greater their fat loss will be.  So we want to make sure that they have fast efficient recipes that taste great.  So when one of my colleagues over in the U.K. (check out Mark Cole's www.m10fitness.co.uk) sent me some of his food preparation secrets and recipes that he uses with his clients, I thought I would share one of his best recipes with you.  Read This Article

Another video for you.  This time I am chatting about what you really need to worry about with dieting and losing body fat.  Now there are three main factors we use: 1) what you eat, 2) when you eat and 3 ) how much you eat.  These factors are also listed in order of importance to your fat loss success.  So that means what you eat is more important than when you eat and when you eat is more important than how much you eat.    Read This Article