Should my Clients be Eating Carbs?

It's no surprise that people constantly ask questions about carbohydrate based foods, even qualified professionals who have studied nutrition are sometimes unsure about carbs.

This week's blog is going to focus on simple advice on carbs for clients wanting fat loss. Of course, any client of mine will be exercising so we need to make sure we give sensible advice to fuel exercise & not just try and starve our clients by cutting out every food that contains calories.

OK so first a disclaimer: I'm not a nutritionist and Personal Trainers should not be giving detailed dietary plans to clients. Send them to a dietician or nutritionist for that sort of support - I just want to help you give some common sense advice to clients, nothing more & nothing less.

Energy for Exercise: Before we jump into talking about foods, a quick lesson about how muscles primarily burn carbs for energy during exercise... When you eat carbs, it gets taken into the blood as glucose and then stored in the muscles as "muscle glycogen". Muscle glycogen is an essential fuel for exercise, whether the exercise is aerobic or anaerobic.
Your body can convert proteins to glycogen, but because your body relies on protein to rebuild muscle tissue after a workout you might then run short of what you need to rebuild the body. Converting protein to glycogen also stresses the kidneys because they have to work harder to eliminate some nasty by-products from the process.
So... It makes sense to eat at least some carbs (we can argue about how much another day) to keep glycogen stored in the muscles and fuel our workouts.

Good carbs, bad carbs... Evil carbs... I'm going to provide a list of carbs that I would personally recommend all clients avoid, as well as a list of carbs that I would strongly recommend to clients.
Essentially, anything that has been highly processed is on the banned list. I'll explain what this means and give you plenty of examples because I think this causes confusion sometimes - which foods are the processed ones?

Processed carbs will make you fat: Here is a pic of your typical grain. Once it gets mulched up by a big machine it loses most of it's bran & is turned into a fluffy breakfast cereal like 'Puffed Wheat' it has about 2g of fibre in one bowl. In an unprocessed breakfast cereal like 'Wheat Bran' we get over 26g of fibre -12 times more!
So why is Puffed Wheat evil? Well there are many reasons - firstly, fibre in has been proven to reduce the risk of digestive diseases and improve digestive health. Secondly, the unprocessed Wheat Bran actually requires you to chew. Chewing makes the meal take longer, slows down your eating and allows your body to recognise when it feels full sooner rather than just gulp down too much gluggy crap. So, you end up eating less. Thirdly (and probably most importantly) the highly processed Puffed Wheat gets digested & absorbed way faster than the unprocessed bran. It floods your blood with a massive glucose spike, which leads to a big glucose crash and you will be starving hungry within an hour or so. The glucose spike also causes a massive insulin spike & this increases your risk of type 2 diabetes but that's a topic for another blog.

Unprocessed carbs are pure joy for fat loss: In my previous blog I provided a link to a research paper citing 101 scientific studies indicating that eating whole grains helps prevent a whole range of potential diseases & ill health. It's pretty clear that Puffed Wheat doesn't contain a whole grain and this is where it gets difficult for clients to identify healthy carbs - it says "wheat" on the packet right? And the TV advertisement tells me I will be transformed into an Iron Man so I reckon it's gotta be good... Right?

Yeah, right. There are only two ways you can identify a good carb - well actually three because I'll link you to my own list of good carbs and evil carbs that you can use but it's not going to cover every food at the local supermarket so you will have to either:

1. Learn to read food labels and look for (primarily) fibre content. Compare labels and brands to learn which breads or cereals are lower, and which are higher. If it's higher in fibre it usually contains more whole grains - unless of course it's that fibre enriched white bread (avoid!).
2. Simply eyeball the foods. In breakfast cereals or breads, if it is whole grain you will see the grains. One example is Muesli - check out the whole grains in the bag! Of course you still need to read the label because some Muesli's are high in fat, so for calorie control you will want to choose a brand with less fat.

But what if I eat too many unprocessed carbs??? Let me be clear - overeating is bad for fat loss no matter what the food. However, if you eliminate processed carbs & adopt an "unprocessed only" approach, it is difficult to overeat.
This is because of the chewing factor (already mentioned), and also the fact that unprocessed carbs are usually very low on the GI (Wheat Bran is 30) compared to processed versions (Puffed Wheat is 80). Unprocessed foods take much longer (I'm talking hours) to digest so you aren't going to be hungry for quite some time after eating.
Healthy eating guidelines suggest at least three serves per day, so that's what I'm going to recommend. Just remember to choose good carbs, not no carbs.

So, check out my list of evil carbs which should be on the "avoid" list for anyone wanting fat loss, plus a bunch of replacement foods that you could recommend to clients. There are lots of carbs (good and evil) that are not on my list, you will need to make your own mind up about them.

Download the full list here

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Debunking the Paleo Diet - fact versus fiction

The Paleo Diet is one of the more recent diet approaches to take hold in the fitness industry... This diet is based on the notion that we should essentially be eating like cave-men and that this will somehow transform us into lean & mean hunter-gatherers that are immune from lifestyle diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. There doesn't appear to be any scientific proof or any long term studies to prove it, but it certainly sounds like a good story... Right?

For me personally, this is just another hard-sell from some diet gurus wanting me (and you) to buy their book. Why not the cabbage soup, liver-cleansing, vegetarian, vegan, south beach, Mediterranean, Dukan, detox, or Jenny Craig diet? Or if you prefer take your pick from this list - the diet game is a multi-billion dollar business with plenty of overweight people looking for a magic solution. You only have to find a million suckers worldwide to buy your book on the internet, and even if you are only making $5 per book... I'll let you do the maths.

The Paleo diet is being marketed hard to young fitness professionals and it's time to take a closer look at the science behind it. The fitness industry has a rich history of diets, supplements and fad equipment claiming to be the "best ever" or "cutting edge". It's important to be very critical of these things - you wouldn't rush out and buy the latest ab-swing promising a rock hard six-pack in three minutes would you? So why swallow the latest diet hype without first questioning it and considering alternatives?

I will link you to some scientific research as well as eating guidelines from a range of reliable sources which will debunk certain aspects of the Paleo diet, especially the "grains are unhealthy" message promoted by Paleo authors. I would also like to take a closer look at a couple of the leading Paleo authors - Mark Sisson and Dr Lauren Cordain. Who are these people and should we be taking their dietary advice?

A history lesson: The Paleolithic era (the stone age) spanned 2.6 million years and ended about 12,000 years ago. There was plenty of human evolution over that period and although some archaeological digs have revealed hard evidence of what Paleo man was eating up to 40,000 years ago, very little is known about the 2.6 million years that came before. Expert anthropologists can not agree on the true contents of the Paleolithic diet... We simply don't know exactly what they ate, or how much they ate. This is the first thing that bothers me about the Paleo Diet - it's cleverly branded and it's a nice story but if anthropologists don't know what Paleo man actually ate how can Mark Sisson & Lauren Cordain write books about it? Neither of these guys are qualified anthropologists by the way and neither of them hold qualifications in nutrition either but that's another story.

What the Paleo diet books don't tell you: Because the leading Paleo authors are not anthropologists and they don't like the facts to get in the way of a good story... They kinda forgot to tell us that Paleolithic man actually ate grains! In fact Paleo man had also developed the tools to grind grain, possibly to produce flour and than bake dough in a hearth (old school oven) - this was the beginning of bread-making and has been dated back about 30,000 years. Paleo man also ate legumes which again are banned in the Paleo diet. Each of these links proves that the modern "Paleo Diet" actually bans foods that were commonly eaten in Paleolithic times... Is anyone else out there feeling confused?

OK so now let's discuss grains... As my previous link shows, Paleo authors are telling us to avoid grains, despite current scientific evidence showing that whole grains play an important role in reducing the risk of diseases such as coronary heart disease (CHD), diabetes, cancer and assist in weight management and gastrointestinal health. I could link you to literally thousands of research based articles on this topic but let's start with this one - published in 2011 it is a review of numerous studies and cites 101 studies that prove the importance of grains in preventing disease. You could also visit a short version of this one showing that grains reduce CHD or this one showing that grains reduce type 2 diabetes. If your clients could eat a food that is proven to prevent numerous diseases, why would you ever tell them to avoid that food? I call it crazy, Mark Sisson calls it the 'Paleo Blueprint'.

Not only has science proven the health benefits of grains, but pretty much every elite athletic organisation also promotes eating grains for improved performance. Organisations like the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and the NCAA are telling athletes to eat more whole grains. Organisations like the diabetes council and the Digestive Health Association are saying the same thing... All these highly reputable organisations are telling us to eat more whole grains - why would we take advice from Lauren Cordain and Mark Sisson when it goes against the best advice from such highly regarded sources? 

In Summary: I'm not a fan of diets overall. I'm a fan of trainers and clients using realistic healthy eating guidelines and making sensible choices about their food every day. You don't need to pay someone else for a nutritional silver bullet - you just need to educate yourself and use a large dose of common sense when it comes to nutrition.
All the information you need to educate yourself and your clients is available free on the web, but you sometimes have to be prepared to go beyond a simple Google search to find it. 
Nutrition is a minefield and I'm sure there are many people out there who disagree with my views, but remember these aren't simply my views - visit the links and do some reading for yourself before you make up your mind.

If you enjoy my Blog, please follow my Facebook page I use it purely to distribute meaningful information and I'll never try to sell you anything or spam you with crud.

Get toned & ripped - Breakfast nutrition

How do you turn the body into a fat-burning machine? Start with exercise, sure - but if you are feeding the machine a bunch of crappy foods high in fats or just too many calories, you will never get ripped because the energy balance is all wrong.

As a PT, you should be spending lots of time talking to clients about eating habits, ask them to keep food diaries for a few days at a time to get an accurate idea of what they are consuming. Lots of people skip breakfast - leaving their metabolism stuck in the mud all morning. Others eat cereals filled with sugar or toast with big chunks of butter on top... Ouch.

Changing client eating habits is incredibly challenging - it takes more than talk. You need to support clients with any strategy that might help kick them along. Try taking pics of foods with a mobile phone & SMS them to clients - gently suggest they pick it up next time they are shopping.

So... what does a fat-burning machine eat for breakfast? We want something with carbs for energy, we want fibre for intestinal health, and we want something slow to digest - it needs to be low GI so it gives slow release energy and the client is not going to feel full for a few hours.

I highly recommend you simply eyeball some breakfast cereals and pick one with unprocessed whole grains. Many "whole grain" cereals are processed into flakes or shapes - pick a cereal which actually has the original grain in it's unprocessed form. Lots of muesli brands have whole grains but beware you need to read the label of your muesli and avoid the brands that are high in fat.

OK... Once you've picked your whole grain cereal, walk to the health food aisle and buy a packet of psyllium husk. This is an ultra-high fibre supplement with wide ranging health (and fat-loss) benefits, if you've never heard of it check out this link and start reading. Adding fibre to your breakfast "bulks up" the meal (you tend to eat less calories) and it also slows down digestion, which leaves you feeling fuller for longer after you eat.

It will take some hunting around to find a whole grain breakfast cereal that has everything you want, tastes OK and is also affordable. My experience tells me that many of them taste like cardboard and some can be very expensive so you will need to experiment yourself with different products and you can then give advice to clients based on your own experience & with confidence.

Once you've chosen your cereal, you can add a table spoon of psyllium husk to the mix. Beware psyllium can have a laxative effect so perhaps start with a small amount & gradually increase as your body gets used to this massive fibre dose at breakfast. Psyllium as linked to all sorts of health benefits so it's well worth a try, stick with it for a few weeks and see how it makes you feel.

Keep your Clients Working out During the Holidays

With Christmas around the corner, a number of Personal Training clients will take a break from their regular training as they perhaps go on a vacation or just choose to have some down time at home with family & friends.

For the PT, this spells a potential double disaster. Firstly the unavoidable excesses of eating and drinking over this period can often derail some excellent work in the gym and put the brakes on our successful body fat loss.

Secondly - and more importantly in terms of your business - a large percentage of clients who take an extended break simply don't come back, and that means you are losing a paying client and will have to again pound the streets for new revenue. Christmas and Easter tend to be the worst times for putting a dent in your business.

So, get proactive with your clients and talk to them about how you can support them during the festive season. Invest some time now to find out what your client needs to help keep them on track and (more importantly) remain focussed on their goals so that the holiday does not result in them deleting you from the contacts list in their mobile phone!!

Most clients are very similar and will have needs centring around food & drink, or exercise. A few things that you could produce in order to support your clients and keep them thinking about PT during the holidays are:

• List foods & drinks to avoid over Christmas - keep it simple, clients can stick it on the fridge.
• A few strategies to avoid over-indulging. E.g. drink more water, low carb beers etc.
• A simple exercise plan that clients can perform at home in minimal time without equipment.

Today I'm uploading an example of a simple exercise program I produced for a client. It's simple, quick, requires no equipment and could be done in a lounge, hotel room or outdoors by the pool. There are no excuses for not doing exercise when someone puts it down on paper like this, you could even consider asking your clients to keep a diary of what they do over the holiday so you can yell & scream at them when they return. Oh the joy.

It's designed as a beginner program, and could easily be beefed up to include more exercises, or maybe even add a group of core exercises to the program. Use your imagination.

You can see the full program at this link.  Check it out & tell me what you think.

Click here to see full program

How to Sell PT - Value vs Cost

With lots of budding PT's graduating from out Certificate 4 in Fitness course right now, it's a good time to talk about selling yourself as a PT and in particular justifying a higher hourly rate. As a PT you are going to spend time planning & preparing for workouts, travelling to the session, lost time in between bookings... It all adds up and for every hr you spend training a client you will probably spend about 30 minutes on this "other" stuff so your rate needs to high (as opposed to low) if you are ever going to make it in this game.

So... The typical client is thinking (or maybe even asking) why not just join the gym rather than pay you $40 for a half hour session?

Answer: I'll lay this out in sections so we can work through the logic of our value proposition:

Part 1 - True value per session - The average gym membership is around $650 per annum. Most people (in fact around 70%) join a gym and will use it regularly only for a few weeks - how many sessions are they actually getting for their $650?

Part 2 - Cost versus actual benefit & personal attention - What sort of results did you get last time you forked out $650 to your local gym and what sort of personal attention did you get? If you pay me $650 up front I'll apply a 20% discount and give you 20 half-hour sessions. Train with me twice a week for 10 weeks and you will see more results than one full year training in the gym.

Part 3 - No contracts - Your gym will lock you into some sort of contract where you will continue to pay even if you are not using the gym and not getting results. Train with me and I'll commit 100% to getting you in shape. If you're not happy at any time with what we are achieving, walk away and I'll even refund any remaining sessions (because I'm confident that I can get you there).

Part 4 - Highlight services that the gym just can't offer - When was the last time your gym instructor took an interest in your nutrition? How often do they push you as hard as you need to be pushed? How often are they updating your program? Taking your measurements? Offer you personalised motivation?

Part 5 - Back it up with other awesome stuff - Visit my blog, join my community and get support on my Facebook page, receive SMS prompts to train when you are not with me, access my great nutritional tips which I will email you... Use technology to value add for clients and suddenly the $650 up front is getting much more than a few training sessions.

Risk assessment for outdoor PT

Today I'm uploading a template that you can use to do a risk assessment for an outdoor training session. I'm uploading it in Word so you can edit it and save an electronic copy of your own locations and make it relevant to the activities you run.

This form is going to be very important if a client has in accident and/or suffers an injury during an outdoor training session. Your PT liability insurance policy is unlikely to cover you for any damages or claims if you haven't done at least a basic risk assessment. This shows that you are fulfilling a basic requirement of your duty of care to the client by anticipating potential risks.

The first page is a simple checklist - I've tried to build in as many possible risks that I could think of, but you may need to add any items I've missed. The second page is your risk management plan - I have completed a few examples to show you what it should look like.

Visit this link to view & download the form. It could prevent you from significant financial loss and/or being put out of business.

Click here to see the full template in Word

If you enjoy my Blog, please follow my Facebook page I use it purely to distribute meaningful information and I'll never try to sell you anything or spam you with crud.

PT for beginner clients

Today I'm uploading a program that I designed for Personal Training a beginner client. Peter is 47 yrs old, he was unfit and out of shape when we began (about 5 weeks back) but he did have a history of competitive rowing and high levels of fitness in his youth. Please note, due to his exercise history I'm not treating Peter as a complete beginner and some exercises (e.g. box jumps) are not suitable for clients with zero training age.

Pete was suffering from a range of issues when we began, he felt that he needed to lose 10Kg. He also suffered some bursitis in his shoulder, and had poor posture (rounded shoulders). Pete was having regular physio for these issues and I worked with him to make sure I was doing things that were going to complement the physio work and not make any of his issues worse.

I'm having the "big" re-appraisal with Pete this week, we've been training just over a month and I believe this is long enough to make measurable changes against his key measurements. We had a weigh-in after two weeks and he had lost 3Kg which I thought was a fantastic result.

I decided to split Pete's program (two days), because I wanted to work on a variety of things with him and I also wanted to avoid DOMS interfering with his subsequent workouts too much when he first began. I'll probably progress Pete to a three-day split soon.

I've saved Pete's program on Google Docs so you can see it via this link so check it out.

Click here to see the full program