Do Low Carb Diets Actually Work?

I often get asked about what I personally eat or don’t eat to stay lean. This may surprise you but I do not restrict my diet in any way. I love food and I eat a lot of it.

I don’t even like the word ‘diet’ because of it’s associated with weight loss, which is not everyone’s goal. While society has got us believing that skinny is best, in the fitness world strength and health is best and happiness is key!

Related: Why you should keep eating gluten

For anyone who’s been to my Instagram page you can see that I eat everything including lots of carbs, plenty of fish, veg, fruit, poultry and even the occasional burger! I don’t pretend to have the perfect diet because I don’t. But it works for me and every individual is different.

gluten-blog-bread

Carbs have such a bad rep these days for being the main cause of weight gain, but remember that any food can be fattening if eaten in unnecessarily large quantities.

So ‘Do low carb diets work?

To answer the question simply, yes they do work. It will deplete your body of energy, reducing your intake of fibre and cut out vital nutrients that help your body to function. A low carb diet could certainly help you lose weight but it is by no means the healthiest way to do it.

Much to popular debate carbohydrates play an important role in a healthy body. They are the body’s main source of energy,  they contain loads of vitamins and minerals which help your body and mind to function and they even help to promote serotonin, the feel good brain chemical!

The big secret is…you gotta burn it to earn it! Be it ‘Low-carb’ or ‘low-fat’ if you are consuming more calories than you are burning you will gain weight. My advice is to find a balance that works for you. Keep variety in your meals and your workouts and stop hating on carbs!

 

ChelseaSiegel

Chelsea – London Personal Trainer, follow me on Instagram: @Chelsea_Siegel

Functional strength training – without the gym

What is your max deadlift/bench/squat/bicep curl….??

As a trainer and sportsman I’m often expected to meet these questions with responses of mammoth figures. Seriously, my max bicep curl?? Um I don’t know… how much does my cup of coffee weigh in the morning?

My max deadlift could completely vary from around 150-180kg, squat 120-160kg and my bench from 85-100kg all dependant on circumstances. What variation of the lift I use, my mood, daily food intake, hours of sleep and sometimes even what music I listen to.

The truth is I really don’t know and to be honest I don’t care much either.

strength-blog-dead

How often in a day are you expected to push hundreds of kilos away from your chest or pick up an unnecessarily heavy weight from the floor and put it down repeatedly? I bet this happens very few times in a day, year or even a lifetime.

Now I’m not saying that conventional strength training and weight lifting isn’t beneficial at all and by no means am I saying that sportsmen should leave this out of their programming. I just want to talk about what we at TruBe believe true functional strength is.

While training with good form (neutral spine, perfect joint alignment etc) is highly important when grooving basic movement patterns, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that our bodies still have the ability to perform exercises outside of these perfect movements. They can extend, flex and rotate at many joints in many different planes and positions.

Related Post: Get your rugby body without the gym

In daily life your joints will be required to leave their ‘neutral’ positions many times and also during sporting situations whilst taking in large amounts of force. This is why it is not only important to train your neutral positions but to also get comfortable performing multidirectional exercises to help you to improve your strength, power, stability and therefore overall athleticism and functional ability.

You’d be kicking yourself if you picked up an injury in a position that your body should be able to deal with, but you didn’t train it because deadlifting is much more fun and your buddies said ‘do you even lift’ when you tried to include it in your bro workout. Seriously, leave your ego way behind when it comes to training. You will find you excel much more this way.

Try this quick functional legs workout using only your bodyweight:

10 reps on each exercise on each leg, take a 1 min rest then repeat 2 more times.

Side Lunges

strength-blog-SL  

Split Squat

strength-blog-SS 

Raised Single Leg Squats

Strength-blog-SLS

 

Let us know how your legs are feeling after this circuit.

Ben Howard

 

Ben Howard – London Personal Trainer

Book a session with me by downloading the app.

 

 

Introducing Personal Trainer Chelsea

Meet Chelsea, one of our top female personal trainers. She specialises in endurance bodyweight training.

What is your favourite exercise and why?
My favourite exercise is a ‘power thruster’ (press up to squat) as it works everything. And I love the name!

Why did you become a personal trainer?
I became a PT because I wanted to work in an industry that I’m passionate about and reflected my own lifestyle. I love seeing my clients progress in strength and confidence – it’s the best feeling.

Do you stretch and why?
Coming from a dance background I stretch all the time to prevent injuries. I always take the time to warm up and cool down properly. I’m also an enthusiastic yogi and use self practice to improve my flexibility.

chelsea-blog-2

What nutritional principles do you follow?
When it comes to my nutrition, I don’t have restrictions. I eat ‘healthily’ most of the time because I love how the feeling when I fuel my body with nutritious food. When I want to eat something ‘naughty’ I don’t guilt trip myself. I’m all about promoting balance and happiness.

What is your training speciality?
I feel a person’s true strength shows in how they are able to carry their own weight and their determination to keep going when the mind wants to give up. I try to develop both of these characteristics in all of my clients.

chelsea-blog-3

What is your biggest client success story?
I have a client who dropped from 18st to 10st by herself. She came to me to help her maintain this weight as well as building muscle definition. She had become obsessed about her food and no longer enjoyed eating. What makes her my greatest success is that I was able to fulfil her needs. She built muscle and achieved well defined abs. However she went beyond her aesthetic goals, growing in confidence, building a better relationship with food and overall become a much happier person.

What is your current fitness goal?
My current fitness obstacle is this years Royal Parks Half Marathon. This is my first one and I’ve been training hard, combining long runs with strength training has taken its toll on my joints!
If you’re looking for a great all round bodyweight training session to help  lose weight, tone muscle, improve general fitness and endurance,  book a session today! To book with Chelsea download the app and you can find her as one of our featured trainers.

Meet Personal Trainer Adam H

As a semi professional football player, Adam is highly experienced in endurance, speed and agility training. These fundamental fitness attributes are hugely beneficial to anyone trying to lose body fat, tone muscle and improve general fitness levels. Check out his Q&A below.

What is your biggest client success story?
A client that comes to mind was a lady who came to me for a gym induction in July last year. During the induction we had a good chat about her reasons for wanting to exercise, in which she explained that she was beginning to feel very self conscious and uncomfortable when out with friends. It got to the point where she began to make excuses so she didn’t have to go out. Before we started training she weighed 12st 12lbs, had no eating routine, did very little exercise and lived an extremely unhealthy lifestyle.

We started with the basics bodyweight exercises and short interval training. We soon then began to incorporate a lot more weight into our HIIT sessions and finished each session off with a good few rounds of tabata (high intensity interval training). In just over 7 months and not without a few bumps in the road just over 3st, now weighing 9st 8lb. During this time I saw her self confidence massively improve to the point where she even wore a bikini on holiday for the first time this summer. Even though she is happy with her transformation and now has a balanced healthy lifestyle I still see her once a week to put her through her paces!

What do you enjoy about being a part of the TruBe Team?
Being part of the first on demand fitness service is one of the most exciting and enjoyable things for me. Working alongside a strong team really drives you on and brings out the best in you as a trainer which has your clients reaping the benefits and getting their desired results.

adam blog 2

What was your last health and fitness obstacle and how did you overcome it?
I’ve have been fairly fortunate as I haven’t really suffered any serious injuries as of yet. My only really health obstacle is attempting to put on weight or bulk up. I have a very high metabolism, coupled with all of my own training this is a real challenge. I have increased my meals and calorie intake daily and I’m slowly going in the right direction. I just try to remind myself that it’s a marathon not a sprint.

Your favourite piece of TruBe equipment?
For me your body is the best bit of equipment and I believe that everyone should be able to push and pull their own bodyweight. In keeping with that I love to use the suspension trainer it is the best piece of kit to utilizing your own bodyweight.

How do you treat yourself?
I treat myself by doing the things I enjoy as much as I can. Football is a big part of my life, playing at semi-professional level from the age of 16. I play matches twice a week, train once a week and squeeze gym workouts in between clients. When the rare occasion to have a lie in occurs I make the most of it with a good breakfast and a brew.

Adam blog 3

I do like to let loose every so often on a saturday night after games with a couple of beers….. yes just a couple I promise! 😉

What is your favourite instagram account to follow?
As strange as this may sound to some I’m very new to Instagram as I feel a lot of people’s time is wasted constantly looking down at their phones and the world just passes them by. Having said that my favourite instagram to follow would be @FreshFitnessFood.

What is your favourite motivational quote?
The one I use  during sessions is,  “It’s your workout and you will get out of it what you put in”

What is the best piece of advice you have received from a mentor?
Find what’s right for you by doing what you believe in and train yourself in the same way. Take bits of everything you learn and mould it into your own as you are your own brand and the rest will take care of itself.

To book a session with Adam, download the app and find him as one of our featured trainers.

Get the Rugby body without the gym

Rugby is one of the most physically demanding sports in the world. Strength, speed, agility and power are just some of the key attributes possessed by those elite athletes playing in the London Rugby World Cup.

You’d be hard pressed to find a player with a physique that most men wouldn’t dream of having. It is true that off the field, rugby players go through some of the most gruelling strength and conditioning training but fear not you too could be well on your way to looking like Sonny-Bill Williams and it doesn’t necessarily require a gym! All you need is a suspension trainer, a GripR/Dumbbell, a speed ladder and most importantly your own bodyweight.

Follow the workout below for your on demand rugby body;

1A – Deep squat hold pulse – 3x45seconds
1B – GripR overhead walking lunge – 3×8/side 

rugby body blog

Rest: 1 min

2A – Suspension trainer split row – 4×12
2B – Ladder press up crawling – 4×4/side 9 (Crawl forwards and side to side, do 1 push up with every step)

rugby body 2

Rest: 1 min

3A – Wide squat jumps – 3×10
3B – Suspension trainer press – 3×10

Rugby Body 3

Rest: 1 min

Follow this routine 2-3 times per week and combine with good nutrition and HIIT cardio to get the rugby physique that you seek.

To book a strength session with me, download the TruBe app.

For more information on fitness and nutrition follow me on Instagram @benhowardPT

Ben – TruBe Strength and Conditioning specialist