Alwyn Cosgrove Training and Jedi Nutrition Tips

This week I sent out the 1st TT certification newsletter, and did another interview with Alwyn Cosgrove for next month’s newsletter. I have two tips from him later in the call…

Voting is wrapping up and soon we’ll announce our contest winners…and good news, the 11th contest starts May 1st.

Click here to listen to the call…

Let’s get started with…

Monday- April 18th

Transformation Tip of the Week – “Real regrets only come from not doing your best. All else is out of your control. You’re measured by results only. Do more than is expected of you. Life’s easy when you live it the hard way…and hard if you try to live it the easy way.’ – Kekich Credo #4

Focus on replacing your bad habits and thought patterns, one-by-one, over time, with good habits and thought patterns. One step at a time, done over time, leads to powerful changes in your life.

Training Tips

We’re going to cover a bunch of info that I gave to a Women’s Health reporter on how to avoid injury in the weight room:

1) Common Mistakes

– Rounding the low back (in almost everything, including picking up dumbbells from the floor)
– Not being strong enough for the exercise (i.e. overweight women doing lunges)
– Overuse injuries (doing the same type of training too often or training too much)
– Overusing muscle groups and underusing other muscle groups (too many pushups, not enough rows)
– Lack of focus

These are all ways people could get injured. But who knows, maybe they just drop dumbbells on their toes too often.

2) Injury prevention

a) Get a professionally designed program…don’t just make something up yourself

b) Focus on quality, not quantity…1 good focused set is better and safer than 3 sets done while talking to your friend and watching tv at the same time

c) Work at your appropriate strength/skill/co-ordination level…again, the example of the overweight woman doing lunges and almost falling over is one I see all the time…

My recommendation of “a” above also comes with the catch-22 of not getting an incompetent professional to design your program…

Bottom line- We have a real issue here, of course, that weight training injuries are on the rise…just as injuries from yoga are on the rise because of:

a) more people doing it
b) People doing too much too soon

My general recommendations are:

1) For the first 4-8 weeks, do 1 set instead of 3.
2) Use bodyweight exercises as much as possible
3) Spend the money and get a really good trainer for a session…and hope that just because the trainer costs money that they aren’t one of those trainers who know nothing but charge a lot because they beat their clients into the ground to convince them they are good.

I know these aren’t the magic answers you had hoped for, but as you know, trying to generalize across millions of people is tough…and not something I like to do, especially when it comes to injuries.

The risks of creating your own program are the same as doing your own taxes. You might mess up. You might get away with the mess up with no consequences. Or you might screw yourself real good.

To hire a good trainer, ask around. Get referrals from a lot of people. Look online for reviews of trainers. There will still be a problem that you’ll get referred to someone that people like because of their energy, not their skills, but the more people you ask, the better your chance of someone competent.

If possible, get someone with additional certifications. Not just one. There is no “one” certification that guarantees competence, just like passing the bar doesn’t guarantee competence as a lawyer.

Bonus tip: As soon as you notice a nagging injury, get ART (Active Release Techniques) from a certified therapist. One of the best ways to keep muscle tissue healthy.

Tuesday – Get 30 minutes of fun activity – now grab a Green Tea and do this week’s research review.

Reference: AM J Clin Nutr. Effects of omega-3 supplementation in combination with diet and exercise on weight loss and body composition

The Cooper Institute tested whether supplemental omega-3 fatty acids in conjunction with diet and exercise augment weight loss over a 6-month period.

128 overweight individuals were given:

a)    5 omega-3 [3.0 g eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) plus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) at a 5:1 ratio (EPA:DHA)] b)    placebo capsules

Supplements were given daily in conjunction with lifestyle modification.

Results: Eighty-one individuals completed the 24-wk study, and the dropout rate was 27%.

Subjects in both groups lost an average of >5% of their body weight.

No significant differences in weight loss were observed between the two groups. In addition, no significant differences in the other factors assessed were observed.

Conclusion: Omega-3 fatty acids were not effective as an adjunct for weight loss in this otherwise healthy, overweight population.

Wednesday Workout Tip

In Alwyn Cosgrove’s interview, he recommended doing a 20-1 countdown ladder with exercises like burpees, and kettlebell swings. You can learn more about his own workouts here.

Trainer Thursday – Do 30 minutes of fun activity…

Alwyn also found that with his clients, they wouldn’t do interval training on their own. So he replaced interval training with with metabolic resistance cardio – high rep, low soreness, low impact exercises – and participation increased. He does this at his facility with kettlebells, ropes, sleds, etc. But the key is to focus on the amount of movement, not the intensity. You don’t want the clients to be sore from these EXTRA workouts. So reduce the weight used and number of reps done close to failure.

For other clients that don’t do ANY weight training workouts, he uses higher intensity in those types of conditioning classes to get both a strength AND metabolic effect. But when just replacing intervals, keep the resistance intensity lower so that soreness is minimized.

Facebook Friday

I’m doing a lot of QnA sessions over on Facebook at www.TurbulenceTrainingFanpage.com

Question: What is the difference in a romanian deadlift and a regular deadlift? Straight legs vs slightly bent?

Answer: RDL has a slight bend in the knees at all times, but there is no additional bending of the knees. In a regular deadlift, there is more bend in the knees, and the knees bend – kind of like a squat – throughout the movement. You should be able to find videos on youtube, but it would also be great to have someone show u in person

Question: Craig could you give us a few things you see women doing in the gym that really messes up their results?

Answer: The biggest mess-ups are truly nutrition-based. For example, if you do a long cardio workout and “justify” extra treats because you think you burned a lot of calories, then you are in trouble. You will not get anywhere. In fact, one research study shows that doing cardio can cause people to eat more calories than normal, and they may even GAIN weight. So eating too much and depending too much on cardio are the KILLER mistakes.

Great question…please ask yours on the Turbulence Training Facebook page.

Social Support Saturday -30 minutes of fun activity…

“First thing to do every morning is read or listen to something positive. Your mind is like a garden – whatever you plant grows. Plant good stuff.” – Alwyn Cosgrove Two-time Stage IV Cancer survivor

Instant 117% (or so) increase in happiness tip: Stop comparing yourself to others.

Focus on what you CAN do instead of worrying about what you can’t.

Sunday – Plan, Shop & Prepare – 30 minutes activity and plan, shop, & prepare

Switch Nutrition – Make healthy foods available. Putting produce on the most visible level of your fridge increases consumption. Putting out fruit in bowls in highly trafficked areas increases consumption. Use signs to remind your kids to eat them. It is simple, but it works.

Switch Nutrition – Don’t focus on creating resistance (i.e. by telling people what they can NOT do and what they must deny themselves), instead focus on making it easier to make the right choices. The key is to alter the environment so it encourages less bad eating.

“We rebel when forced to do things against our will,” says Brian Wansink. “Offer your kids a choice between carrots or celery instead of just forcing carrots.”

Placing broccoli at the front of the cafeteria line increases consumption by 10-15%. Placing fresh fruit at the end of the line by the cash register (instead of cookies), increases consumption by 70%. Re-naming zucchini as “fresh spring zucchini” increases consumption by 25%. Asking kids, “Do you want a salad?” increases salad consumption by up to 33%.

Make the right food choices visible and hide the bad food and make it harder to access. That will change your – and your kids – eating behaviors. Reduce the size of your cereal bowl to decrease consumption.

Next week!
•    Training Tips – My New Workout
•    Research Review – Internet Weight Loss
•    Nutrition – New “Eat Your Carbs at Night” Research? Shocking study…