Brother Gym goes International.

Tuesday July 26^th 2011 – Brother Gym lands in Dubai! Cue excitement, sunnies, factor 2000 and a sweatband.

Having grown tired of Britain’s rather lackluster attempt at a Summer Season, yet again, I decided to hop aboard my own private jet – which looked oddly like a KLM Airbus – and take a jaunt over to Dubai. I wonder how all those other people got on my aircraft? Hmmm, baffling.

It had been a strange month already, with my beautiful fashionista sister (check out her fabulous fashion blog here) getting married in typically understated style in Marrakech. Ahem. Actually, scratch that – understated it was not. Having three wedding ceremonies in a week, two of which are in a foreign country, is not quite normal. But fabulous it was. In preparation I had spent 3 months getting into tip-top shape.

Or so I thought. It turns out that looking like a mini-hulk as opposed to a lithe Clark Kent is not exactly the ‘in thing’ at the moment. Plus, it meant I needed assistance to get my Indian ceremonial garb over my head… and a lot of acrobatic maneuvering to get it back off again too! Cool…

Things took a turn for the good though; in wonderfully unpredictable fashion. Basking in the adoration of after-speech glory (raised my own eyebrow at that too), I was rather stunned to see myself being approached by the most beautiful lady at the party. It turns out she was after my father, but noticing the busy night he was having – you know, at his daughter’s wedding – I took the dutiful step of intercepting this lovely ladies’ path. Two hours of excited conversation later, and the rest, as they say, is history.

It turns out, though, that Lady X is not a fan of the muscle-on-top-of-muscle look. So I’ve taken the rather drastic step of leaning back down to my natural size and shape. This is not as easy as it sounds…. If you go from pounding the iron like a beast to laying back and waiting for the muscle to disappear you are likely to end up looking more like the Michelin man than you did before. And so after racking my brain a little I decided to do two things….

1.    Lower the weight, up the reps… and start using my whole body to perform ‘functional’ movement patterns. That’s rather a misnomer… after all you don’t exactly see many people performing multi-planar lunges and plyometric jumping kettle bell movements in the middle of the mall. But there you go, I now look like a monkey on acid in the gym rather than a gorilla on ‘roids. (For the record, I’ve never been anything but natural). ‘Check your ego at the door, right…’.

2.    And I’ve gone Roman too… having  heard the buzz about the Warrior Diet for some time, I decided, against all my professional instincts, to give it a go. And boy does it do something… I lost 12lbs in 2 weeks and looked leaner than ever. It just shouldn’t work. This ‘diet’ goes rather against the scientific eating approach that I have been so used to.

The Warrior Diet 101.

The warrior diet follows an under eat/overeat process. This means grazing on small portions of fruit, nuts, perhaps a boiled egg or some tuna during the day. This supposedly allows the body time to stabilize hormone levels and ‘detox’. I wouldn’t exactly buy into that… but that’s the ‘scientific’ advice given. At around 7 in the evening, though, it becomes a foodies dream. One is supposed to prepare a feast - raw salad first, steamed veggies second, protein third and some carbs if you are not yet quite keeling over. Just to give you an idea, my protein element has been as large as a full chicken and a half… or around 30 oz of steak. And that large salmon sitting in front of me… that’s just for afters.

I must say, you do feel fantastic at this point. Your body feels like it’s guzzling down on this fuel like a supercar being driven by, well, let’s say Jeremy Clarkson, ie pedal to the metal, screeching, drifting…the Daily Mail sentiments are optional however.

Success so far, and after a week back on my standard diet, I am going to launch into another warrior week… I’ll keep you updated. I would suggest you go ahead and check out the Warrior Diet site to learn loads more about how you can make a quick and drastic change.

My next post will be on how to optimize your workouts in a gym so under-equipped it looks like the fitness section of the Argos catalogue…

Reasons to Train with Brother Gym - No. 3... Expertise

With the advent of the internet we've all become 'experts' in pretty much anything we'd like to be. It's quie useful actually, I mean who doesn't want to be an expert in something... but this can throw up a few problems.

If you make a search for how to lose weight or gain muscle you'll come up with a million different pages and a million different ways of doing it. It can get quite confusing, and in the end pretty counterproductive. You end up going to the gym not knowing whether to run slow and for a long time or quickly in an interval pattern. You don't know whether to lift heavy weights a few times or light weights over and over again. Do you train every day? How much rest do you need? How many reps is enough to achieve what you want? How DO you get bigger arms, a flatter stomach and washboard abs?

All these things require a complex combination of different methods in order to achieve them... that's where Brother Gym comes in. We've made this our expertise, this is our raison d'etre after all.


We'll remove your doubts, straighten out all the complexities and remove all the frustration, doubt and wasted energy you might feel when going it alone.

Come and try us out...

Brother Gym

Reasons to Train with Brother Gym... No.2 - Results

I don't know about you but I don't particularly liking sticking at a thing if it isn't really doing anything for me. Results are key...

Take Jason Statham, for example.

Everything he does is results driven - he was an Olympic diver after all. He has trainers who propel him forward, workout after workout - writing down his lifts, using those figures to make sure he doesn't go back on himself. This takes planning! Someone telling him what to do and when to do it.

Brother Gym can do this for you. We'll make sure your programs are interesting, varied and most importantly - they'll be geared so you that you never take a step back!

We won't make you star in Death Race though...

Brother Gym
www.brothergym.com

Reasons to Train with Brother Gym - No. 1... Specificity

We all train in some way or another; whether we walk to the bus stop, run on a sunday morning, patrol the supermarket aisles or endeavour to train under a rigorous regime - we train. In some way or another we are training to function in our lives. If you need to get to the bus, then walking there every day adapts your body to that particular function. If you want to run a marathon, you need to systematically train your body for that function.

Should you want to lose weight it seems there is no immediate training to function paradigm. That makes it a little harder. There are answers though. You just have to consider the function that is being played by all the things you put into your body and all of the ways in which you expend that energy. If you put nothing into your body, then it can serve no function - so that isn't the answer. If you want to reach your leanest weight - 'your' leanest, not someone elses - then you have to take a close look at your habits and see what function they serve. Too often, through an abundance of choices in the gym, it becomes easy for someone to train a little randomly - to just do a bit of this and that in the hope that all that energy expenditure will add up to one tidy little package. But if you aren't seeing results, perhaps you've worked out that this is not working for you...

It's our job to take a look at your lifestyle, your habits and your potential and give you the correct, and specific, way of achieving your potential.

Be specific with us and we can give you specifically what you want. It's as easy as 1,2,3...

Brother Gym
www.brothergym.com

Well, hello brothergym.com - our home is finally built! (just a bit of decorating to do)

Dear followers and all soon-to-be followers,

We are now live at brothergym.com! In the spirit of motivation we are kicking off with some brilliant special offers!! As follows:

3 months - 30% off
6 months - 40% off
12 months - 50% off

Your fitness and health does not have to cause your bank account to collapse in a shocked heap after all.

(PLEASE NOTE: at the moment the site is only accepting payments if you go directly through paypal so at the payment page please check the paypal box)

Go to the site and have a look... Check out the exercise section to see some free previews of how we do it!

As a fledgling start up we aren't perfect... You may notice a few little bugs and even spelling mistakes. Dont't fret though, we are proactive and very open to suggestions so please give us some feedback.

You can email james@brothergym.com if you have any questions or if you would like us to discuss a topic in a blog or article!

Welcome to the family!

Brother Gym

Keen for Quinoa?

The term "superfood" gets bandied about a lot these days. Call me cynical, but its appearance tends to be rather arbitrary and to the benefit of someone's pocket. I mean, there is no scale of "superfoodiness" to direct our analysis or even a set of guidelines to guide our hand... I do agree that not all foods are created equal, but as long as you eat a good variety of fresh, well sourced produce, you aren't going to be missing out on your super-5 a day... I'd like to help you add one more great food to the table - Quinoa (Keen-Waah)...

Sacred Quinoa

Something to tell the un-Quinitiated: Quinoa is an ancient grain-like seed, first cultivated in the Andes around 5000 years ago!  Sacred to many civilisations, the Incans called it the 'mother grain'.

Quinoa facts:

• Quinoa is a rarity amongst vegetables in that it contains all 8 essential amino acids - which is pretty useful if you are vegetarian. Thus, great to mix with legumes, which can be lacking in certain essentials. 
• Quinoa is also 12-18% protein, depending on the variety and around 6% fat - which is good for satiating your hunger. 
• It is also gluten free, so perfect for those who cannot tolerate it and this also means it doesn't bloat you like other grains can.

A few great quinoa dishes...

• Try mixing some cooked quinoa with lime zest, chili, chopped coriander and a little grated cheese and topping some succulent cod loins before grilling or baking. This gives the cod a crispy and vibrant flavour and can simulate fish and chips - without the nasty trans-fats! (Serve with a few baked sweet potato wedges and some fresh minted peas for a full 'fish supper'.
• You can make a great lunch salad by mixing quinoa with avocado, tomatoes, onion, olives, basil, alfalfa sprouts, leaves of your choice and either chicken or tuna. Make an olive oil, mustard and lemon dressing to keep it moist and full of flavour.
• If you are vegetarian, you can replace rice with quinoa in any number of dishes, or add it to stir fries and salads for the extra protein. You could also coat tofu in roasted (dry in a pan) quinoa before cooking, perhaps mixing this with sesame seeds. 
• Dry-roast quinoa in a pan - it should 'pop' - and add it to home made muesli to use as a morning cereal.

I hope you find a place for quinoa in your kitchen... it's a great, healthy food that can add a wonderful, healthy variety to all sorts of dishes.

6 Great Tips to Avoid the Christmas Bulge

It’s Christmas time, mistletoe and wine… beer, puddings, sloth, potatoes, late nights, dark nights, cold days, cakes, pies and at least one day where you may consume up to 8000 calories!

Yes, my merry chums, you may consume 8000 calories on Christmas day! Wow, that is roughly 4 days worth of energy all balled into one large meal and an undoubted string of sweet, salty or chocolaty goodies, not to mention an ample barrel of several different drinks.

I think it may be time to temper our gluttonous ways and opt for an equally delicious, warm and lovely way to celebrate Xmas…

So, here are some tips you can follow to avoid feeling like a stuffed game bird by midnight on the 25^th…

• Try and do a great workout on the 23^rd. If you can do a workout using the legs and some hard interval running, you’ll have your metabolism primed to top gear in order to burn many calories over the following 3 days.

• It is common to drink more during the run up to Christmas – both in terms of alcohol and soft drinks. So, for those office parties, set yourself a limit of drinks to minimize the damage – perhaps 3-4. Try to avoid soft, sugary drinks by going for water, or adding juices to water for a less sugary option.

• Be clever with your choice of Christmas meat – white Turkey meat will have the least fat and calories of them all, with Pork and Goose coming up top in those steaks.

• To avoid feeling like a beached whale following your feast, try eating fewer starchy vegetables like potatos and adding more fibrous counterparts such as peas, sprouts and parsnips. And when it does come to the potatoes – chop them into larger chunks and they will absorb less fat!

• Down to dessert – why not try serving your Christmas pudding with yoghurt instead of cream, brandy cream or ice cream? Perhaps even add fruit such as apples to add some vitamins.

• And last but not least… try and be active! Perhaps perform some body weight squats, press ups and lunges when you wake up – 3x12 each, to boost your metabolism. And why not go for a walk after lunch – 45 minutes brisk walking in the cold is bound to leave you full of energy and not slumped comatose on the sofa!

So there you have it, 6 great tips to avoid piling on the pounds in the Christmas season! If you can follow a few you will come out on the other side of the festive season looking as fit as ever!

A couple of ways to keep your Liver in tip-top shape this party season!

It's all well and good looking great on the outside.... and if you are honest, that'll probably be the main reason you go down to the gym or pile your plate high with veggies, fruits and salads. And a noble cause it is too, with loads of fabulous benefits! Some people, though, are always going on about how it is important to look at what is on the inside as well. I'm not going to talk about depth of personality, kindness or any of that stuff... I'm going to talk about your liver.

I mean who wants to sport a refreshing lemony yellow colour in their later years? So here are two things you can do to try and avoid looking like a lily-livered, yellow-bellied whatsit...

1. Take your milkthistle...

Ahh, isn't that pretty...

Studies have shown that regularly taking milkthistle can reduce your chances of liver disease by 18%... well that's not bad. I think we should all give it a go.

2. Peanut Butter..

Yup, those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches you used to eat were actually doing you good.. who new? Although, I say ditch the jelly and put a good teaspoon on your oat cake for a great morning snack. Apparently, the effects of liver damage can be greatly reduced by eating the stuff, due to the high levels of antioxidant vitamin E.
See it\s not all rabbit food after all...

This is the one to go for!

Enjoy staying healthy this Xmas...

Exciting Offer from Brother Gym!

Good afternoon folks!

So Brother Gym is here to bring you some very exciting news regarding the future of your fitness!

Brother Gym is part of a revolution in the fitness industry - bringing you virtual personal training at a price that certainly won't bust your gut. The site has been in development for over a year, and now it is almost time to bring the revolution to you!

So, in the spirit of the festive season Brother Gym would like to offer a few gifts.

The site will be undergoing a certain amount of testing in its first few months to ensure that the service is of a high quality, so here is my offer to you....

If you send a message to Brother Gym or James Holding on Facebook with your name before the end of November, you will receive the first two months of personal training absolutely free!! You will be signed up for a 6 month contract, where you don't pay for the first 2 months and receive 20% off for the following 4! Added to this, your sign-up fee of £5 will be waived!!

This will save you a whopping £47 off your 6 month subscription, which will cost you only £48 in total! This means you are saving 50%!!

Simply send your message, including your e-mail address, before the end of this month and you will be put on the list to receive your offer. I will then keep all those involved up to date as to when they can start receiving their new Brother Gym programs, access to recipes and great fitness and nutrition articles!!

What do you get:

• Full workout programs to cover each month, with each client receiving new, progressed workouts each month!
• Access to e-mail support with your personal trainer to ask any questions that will help you succeed.
• The ability to track your progress on your own member's area!
• Access to all articles and recipes that are available to help you keep motivated and abreast of breakthroughs in the fitness world!

So, don't hesitate - now is the time to act fast to get you fit, healthy and looking great!

Happy Festive Season!

Sneaky Peak... you lucky people. 1 video + a little home workout!

Hello Brother Gym followers!


Apologies for my short absence.. work on the site is going full steam ahead, and I am uploading videos, writing exercise descriptions, creating programs and generally getting quite a large enterprise ready to release itself from the womb. Nice.

So today, I thought I would give y'all another video, which now has the Brother Gym logo on it. These videos will be a part of each and every program. When you sign up to the site, you will fill in a details but not to onerous questionnaire and I will write you all the programs you need to achieve the goals you have expressed. As part of this you will receive videos teaching you how to do the particular exercise in your program!

Today, the Body Weight Squat. This is quite a simple exercise, but one that will become the cornerstone of your workouts as it uses the largest muscles in your body, hence burning the most calories, increasing your metabolism the most and generally making you look awesome!

So video:

You can now include this exercise in the following home circuit routine!

• Warm Up - walk up and down the street, stairs or around the home at a brisk pace for 3-4 minutes. Then move all the joints in your body (ankles, knees, hips shoulders, elbows) in some sort of movement... ie ankle raises, arm swings, leg swings etc.
• Perform 3 rounds of the following
• 10 body weight squats
• 10 half or full press ups, depending on your current strength levels
• 10 crunches
• 30 second plank
• 10 tricep dips - using a chair. To make it easier, keep your knees close in, or harder by having your legs out straight.
• If you want to supercharge your workout, then go out onto the street and do 1 minute walk, 1 minute jog, 30 seconds fast run... and keep alternating for 20 minutes.
• Stretches. Stretch all your muscles. (you can follow a guide on youtube, such as here: Stretches )

This is a great home workout for the times you cannot make it to the gym... or if you are away in a hotel somewhere on holiday. You will feel more toned and honed and have risen your metabolism sky high!!

Keep on workin'

Gettin' yourself to the gym!

G'day folks... I hope you are enjoying the beautiful rays of sun streaming through the windows this morning! So, it's all well and good talking about the benefits of exercise, how to do it and the nutrition necessary to fulfill for your dreams. But, there is one topic that is often left to one side - the issue of getting to the gym, being in top shape to have a great workout and maintaining focus and energy for 45-90 minutes! So, here are some ways of maximizing your potential in the gym - warning, you may see massive and significant gains in success...

• We all have good intentions throughout the day - oh yeah, I'll be going to the gym! But then the bell rings for clocking out time and the excuses start to kick in... I don't have the energy, my back/neck is sore, there's always tomorrow etc... Days and weeks can pass in this game of cat and gym mouse, until you notice a little softness in the bum/tum area and manage to make it as a last resort against the impending demoralisation of putting on some weight. It's a pretty simple issue though - motivation. Yes, I harp on about the M word quite a lot... but it is a key element in increasing your chances at success in the gym. When you set your goals, you need to have an iron will and a realistic method. My tip for this would be to maintain that realistic stance.... if you want to lose 1-2lb's per week, then less than 3 sessions a week ain't gonna cut it. So if you want to do this, then plan your sessions in advance and don't allow anything to get in your way. When it gets to 1730, be prepared... here's how:

Don't let clocking out time knock you out!

• Fuel - if you're gonna take your body for a spin then fuel is the vital issue here. So I recommend that you consume one of the following at any time between 90 minutes and 3 hours before the gym:

• Apple
• Oats
• Yoghurt
• Nuts
• Grapes
• Oranges
• 1 slice wholewheat toast with peanut butter
• 1/2 sweet potato
• 1/4 cup brown rice
• Beetroot
• If you don't have the time to think about this too far in advance then I recommend that 20-30 minutes prior to a workout you eat a banana or raisins and either a cup of green tea or a strong coffee to get in the zone.

You see, the issue is that by late in the afternoon, most people are either too stressed or lacking in energy levels to focus on the gym. Giving your body a source of slow releasing carbohydrates can help to level the hormones that cause stress, thus freeing your mind to think about other things. Some caffeine taken before the gym has been shown to massively increase focus, energy and power and thus giving you a better workout!

So help rid yourself of excuses to not workout by fuelling yourself properly and getting in the zone before a workout.... last tip, find some music that fills you with energy, focus and passion and you'll be pumping the weights for a lot longer...

G'day

Post-Weekend Rejuvenation

Well, it's that day that comes after the weekend... dare I say its name? I think we'll just celebrate the fact that it is more than half over! You may have woken up today feeling a little like this:

A little broken, tired, groggy, lethargic and a bit hazy about what you did over the last couple of days... The weekend is after all the time to let your hair down and you probably spent most of it drinking things like this

Delboy's Drinks Cabinet!

More than things like this...

If you did, then now is the time to help your body recoup from some of your excesses!

This is what I would do on the day 'whose name we shall not mention' to get my mojo back...

1. Run it off... if you aren't feeling your best today then the key is to sweat it off. Spend your day hydrating with a large glass of water every hour, some vegetables and fruit... then head down to the gym and get yourself on the treadmill... forget interval training today - your performance levels may be a little low. Instead, it is time to keep going for a long time whilst listening to some great music. A good 7/8 km run at a steady pace, with perhaps a little faster running near the end will help get your body ticking at its best again. Follow this with some crunches, body weight squats and press ups to boost your metabolism.
2. Be electric... Friday and Saturday night may have left you dehydrated and now your run will have used up a load of electrolytes, so fill your stores with a great smoothie or vegetable juice. If making at home, i recommend a juice of orange, carrot, ginger, apple and beetroot. Otherwise any of Innocent's great choices will help do the trick. Top this off by drinking a cup of green tea each morning to help cleanse your body and rev up your metabolic rate!
3. Keep it green... Your liver has taken a little pasting, and although the idea of 'detox' has been exploited to the max, there is something to be said for going green on a Monday in particular. My recommendation would be a piece of baked organic salmon, a new potato (with a squeeze of lime for great contrasting flavours) and a lightly oiled stir fry of cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, chili, red peppers, onion, garlic and courgette... this will be nourishing and boost your liver's performance as well as your energy!

Find this tasty Salmon dish with Okra, here.

So there we have it, 3 ways to get yourself back in tip top shape to face the week after a great weekend!

A Little Something for the Weekend

The weekend, two days devoted to the Lord, one where you clean and prepare yourself so as not to insult his gloriousness with even a speck of dust upon your prostrating body and the other where you sit in silence, listening to old men talk of old things.... or at least that was the intended purpose of the weekend. I think it is rather culturally appropriate that a fair few would now rather devote their weekend to bars, babes and beds as apposed to bibles, bishops and mass brainwashing.
If you are preparing to worship at the hedonist's altar this weekend, whether you be dandy or quaintrelle, I've got something to enhance your own, let's say, respective attributes...

For the modern dandy;

Figure.

Friday is no time for building muscle. The chances are you are not going to have the most nutritious night of the week and if this is the case then a severe workout is not going to lead to much gain as you are unlikely to refuel appropriately. I recommend a pumping muscular endurance workout, which will leave you fitter and pumped... filling your muscles with blood and oxygen for that hard, toned look...

Weekend Workout

Warm up well, nothing worse than an injury on Friday night... 7 minutes cardio plus calf raises, side lunges, knee raises, hip rolls, torso twists, arm swings, spotty dogs...

1. Body weight squat, burpee (super set, 3x12)
2. Forward lunges, tuck jumps (super set, 3x12)
3. Chin ups, press ups (super set, 5x 12 - as many chins as poss if not 12)
4. Tricep dips, bicep curls (super set, 5x12)
5. 4 x 2 minute fast runs (eg 14kph @ 1.5 % incline)
6. Narrow bench, shoulder press, leg raises (tri-set, 3x12)
7. Cable flye, seated row, tricep extension (tri-set 4x12)
8. 4 x 30 second as fast as poss (eg 16.5kph @ 3% incline)

This should leave you pumped and toned for a night out in a short sleeved t-shirt...

For the female dandies:

female dandies

I imagine there is nothing better for a woman than to go out on a Friday night feeling glowing, slender and confident, so this is the workout interpretation of that feeling...

1. 12 mins treadmill (walk 2mins, then run for 10 - alternate 1 minute fast with 1 minute medium pace)
2. Leg raises - 4x12
3. Bridge - 4x12
4. Stomach crunch, on or off swiss ball - 5x12
5. 12 mins elliptical (as fast as you can for 12 minutes, take a 30 seconder slower breather in middle if necessary)
6. Bicep curls, single arm rows(super set, 4x12)

Single Arm Row - great for toning the back

7. Tricep extensions, lunges (super set, 4x12)
8. Treadmill, 12-20 minutes depending on time (this time alternate 1 minute intervals, hill walk>jog>fast run)

There you have it, a great workout to make you glow and feel tight in all the right places...

Enjoy your Friday, and drink responsibly...

Start your weight loss journey today!

I'm gonna guarantee you today that the number one reason people start exercising is to lose weight! I'd bet my savings on it. I'd also guarantee you that the number one reason people stop exercising is because they have not seen the weight loss that they would like to have seen... this is a simple and easily altered state of affairs. Brother Gym believes that everyone deserves to be happy, and if part of that happiness comes from the confidence of a decent body and great health then we want to bring it to the masses...  Soon you will be able to sign up to the Brother Gym website, which is going to give each individual a bespoke training program for a very affordable fee so that you can make the most of the precious time you spend at the gym or at the park. Today, I'm going to give you a little guide to kick off your weight loss journey.

Everyone can make a massive change, starting now!

• This is your journey.... do not rely on this change to make you a happy person. Losing weight is a fabulous way to change your life - you will become fitter, more energetic and feel more confident. But, do not become obsessed or expect this to be therapy. Losing weight - the result and the journey - can help you sort out things in your life, but if you are happy the way you are then there is no need to be extreme. Your appearance is no judgment on who you are, so stay fit and healthy but don't feel the pressure to be lean and skinny!
• Find out where you are... you can't start a journey without knowing your own position. If Brother Gym is going to be your sat nav in this journey, we need to know where you are and where you want to go. So, my first tip is to weigh yourself today and set yourself a goal. See here to read up on the best way to set your goals.
• Be affirmative... nothing gets moving without a little energy and determination. Be decisive, know what you want and go out there and get it. If you are going to use a gym, go and join it today; if you are going to change your eating patterns, then detox your kitchen cupboards today! Every day before you start this journey only gives you more distance to go.
• Find out what you like... it is all well and good for Brother Gym to prescribe 30 minutes on the treadmill 4x per week, but if you know that there is no hope in hell of you doing this, for whatever reasons, then you will get nowhere. Everyone gets to places in different ways. If you like skipping up the road for fun, then tell us when you join up. We'll prescribe skipping through the park 3x per week - it's all doing the same thing in the end, burning calories and making you fitter and leaner.
• Don't be too hard on yourself... ok, so your diet may have been pretty awful for the first 25 years of your life, but we can all change at any given moment. Your past does not cement your future into a certain pattern. And, once you start this new lifestyle, don't beat yourself up if you give into a binge with the ice cream tub. Everyone needs a cheat meal now and again and beating yourself up only causes stress that will release fat loving stress hormones. Be confident in yourself, accept your human fallibility and keep moving forward knowing that you can jump all the hurdles in your path.
• Always remind yourself of your destination... if you forget where you wanted to go when you started on this journey, you will end up getting lost. Find a way to chart your journey and keep in mind what you have left to do. 

Brother Gym welcomes you all...

Brother Gym to the rescue... 3 steps to ease your day!

Wake up early, dozy brain, get ready for work, still bleary eyed, run down to the kitchen and chuck a load of cereal and some milk in a bowl - chug. Rush through the day, take some sugar, tea, coffee now and again. Feel rubbish by lunch, buy the wrong thing. Slump in the afternoon...rush hour, exhaustion, few drinks out or a night on the sofa. Ready meal. Bed. Repeat.

His day started to blur all into one.

Step 1 - Making your Sleep Worthy

The key to a restful day is a restful nights sleep. In order to get a good nights sleep you need to go to sleep in a relaxed state. This means minimising your alcohol content, lowering your intake of sugar near bedtime and creating a dark, quiet environment. Getting to sleep before midnight is the key. Your body and mind need time to calm down and reset them selves over a 6 to 8 hour period. Do this and you will wake up fresh and ready for the next day.

Step 2 - Preparing the breakfast of Kings.

The importance of breakfast lies in starting the engines of your body. Your body relies on a constant source of energy in order to do its job, but it certainly doesn't do this properly when you don't give it something to work with. Calories actually put your body in a position to burn calories, as they get your muscles working and keep your cells buzzing.
Breakfast cereals are not exactly ideal for this. They are often processed to the point of losing much fiber and the natural part of the cereal product that your body would recognize as healthy. Instead they are sugar laden and much of what goes in your body is unusable. I recommend one of the following - eggs and wholemeal toast, yoghurt and muesli or at the least fruit and nuts. To ease your day, you can boil a couple of eggs the nights before, make your yoghurt-muesli mix the night before or chop some fruits and nuts and place them in the fridge ready to eat. Make sure you have 5 minutes to sit and eat in a relaxed state and you will have twice the energy to take into those pesky morning meetings.

Step 3 - Keep those calories coming

What's the best way to lose weight? Why, of course, it is to reduce those calories below the levels that you expend... and how do we do this? Well, we just stop eating and then eat what we want at random, sporadic times of the day. The cycle of guilt and famine... hmmm, NO! Would you ever start a fire and then only feed it at random, sparse intervals and expect it to keep going strong?

A few things happen when you decide to not eat for 8 hours in the hope of losing weight... your muscles start to eat themselves after around 3 hours with no new calories, your metabolism slows right down due to both a lack of calories and a perceived lack of calories to come - ie, survival mode. Your body will at this point horde the calories you have taken in and store them as fat, but also go into fight or flight mode. At this point, your body goes into stress, creating an adrenaline rush and releasing sugar from the liver and muscles. When it realises that you are not hunting food in the bush but sitting at a warm desk instead, it stores the sugar as fat.

Keep the flames of metabolism burning at all times!

So, don't starve your bodies by not eating from morning til night. Indeed, even the gap between breakfast and lunch and dinner is too long. Split your daily intake into 5 or 6 little segments and you will be laughing all the way to leanness. Snack on healthy, high protein, highly nutritious food and your body will keep burning calories all day long.

If you can start to implement these 3 simple and effective steps then you will quickly see a massive change in your energy levels, fat content and levels of fitness overall...

Tomorrow I will give you 3 more points to ease your day! Stay tuned...

Laugh your way fit!

I'm a grown man. I'm a quite big grown man. I'm a quite big grown man, sitting behind a laptop in a quiet literary cafe in Tufnell Park laughing my head off. At nothing.

As experiments go, it borders on the unscientific. But I had two hypotheses in mind - 1) That laughing in public, out loud and with no apparent reason for doing so will cause people to give me a wide berth. Yes, I can confirm that that will happen!
2) That by laughing I will feel relaxed, happy and positive.

Well, why have I reached this hypothesis?

Laughing has been shown to reduce muscle tension, increase the amount of oxygen in the blood, exercise the heart and produce happy chemicals in the brain called endorphins. As an added extra it also burns a small amount of calories - but, many small baby steps can take you a long way.

Laugh like a gurgling baby!

So, is this going to help you to reach your health and physical goals? Well, I'd say so. The result of my laughing madman routine at the cafe has left me feeling quite giddy, open to new thoughts, ready to be charming to others and so positive that I think it may add 30 minutes onto my workout today. On top of that, I know that it is lowering levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which are known to increase your chances of becoming fat! So I can laugh my way thinner too... in fact I have noticed that many comedians, especially the laughing, manic ones can be in pretty good shape.

Admittedly, it is unlikely that this is the look you are after, the spaniel on steroids appearance is a little unnerving.

Laughing is a small but pleasurable thing that you can throw into your day... watch some Monty Python, go to a stand up gig, read some Tom Sharpe or just enjoy being around friends. It will make your day easier and be beneficial to your health and the look of your body!

I say, just laugh... whatever it is you are doing right now, just laugh. Plus, a deep belly laugh is going to work your abs at the same time. Result!
Beware of the link below. I saw this show in Edinburgh this year, had me laughing like a chimp at a food fight but it was possibly the most offensive show to some... it will make you laugh though!

Supplement Secrets! No.1 Protein Powder

Supplementation is perhaps the most controversial topic in the world of fitness and health. I mean, in 2010 in the Western World, what could we possibly need to supplement our already over zealous diets?

Well, it is true, we do live in the land of plenty - a society defined by an overabundance of everything that man can possibly produce. But in this buffet of indulgence do we really know what is good for us and what we should be eating in order to achieve the fitness goals we have? That is debatable, but of course the supplement companies would have you believe that they have a bunch of stone tables decreeing what is and what isn't part of a healthy diet.

I have trawled nutrition journals, read the nutrition info on countless tubs of protein powder and ingested copious amounts of muscle building, vein popping, fat trimming supplements over the years. So I have some experience, and now I am going to narrow it down for you... I am going to condense the experience I have gained over the last several years into a few body changing supplements.

Let me get one issue out of the way first.... 'Brother Gym, if I take these supplements am I suddenly going to grow huge buffalo style muscles, have veins popping out of my skull and lose 20% of my I.Q?' Err, no. Or 'Brother Gym, I'm a young lady and I don't want to become really muscular, butch or show any veins'. Well, you won't.

I'll explain a little... let's take protein supplements for example. Your body requires protein to synthesize muscles and hormones. It is an essential part of our diet. The key question is, how much should you eat? If you exercise a decent amount, then I would say 1.2 grams of protein for every kg of body weight. If you exercise 3-5 times a week, then 1.5 g/kg of body weight. If you exercise once or twice a day, then 2g/kg body weight. So if you way 75kg and train 5 times per week you will need about 113 grams of protein per day - roughly 4-5 chicken breasts, 5 tins of tuna etc... essentially, quite a lot to fit into your diet, and then there is the cost of all that food! Once you think about it, protein supplementation makes quite a lot of sense - it is a convenient way of reaching your daily needs and cheap in relative terms. So, that is supplement secret number 1 - take advantage of protein supplements in order to simplify your busy life.
So, which protein supplement?

In my experience the best is:

CNP Pro-Peptide is a top quality protein supplement, considered to be the best in the business. It costs roughly £45 for a tub that has about 40-60 servings.....so it can last about two months. Less than £1/day.... well, that's pretty good value for money. I suggest 1 1/2 scoops twice a day, once as a mid morning snack and once in the mid afternoon.
Within a week or two of taking this supplement you will notice that your muscles are fuller, harder and stronger. You will make quicker strength gains as your muscles are being properly fed and repaired on a daily basis.
And ladies, as a side note. The chances of any of you becoming butch, overly muscly and muscle bound are slim to none. The body uses testosterone to become big and muscly, something you are quite fortunately lacking in on the levels to achieve this. Protein supplementation will just help to maintain your strength and create a tone, lean physique!

Tomorrow: What supplement I should use when I have just worked out?

Hope this has been helpful.

Ps. Most bodybuilding supplements are a lot of..... rubbish. I do not work for CNP, or have any connection with them. This advice comes from only my experience as a trainer, personal trainer and nutritional therapy student. Do not stop eating properly or rely on these products. 9 times out of 10, real healthy food will work better for you. This is a convenient supplement for the busy and those dedicated to making a sustainable difference to their body.

Brother Gym

Vitamin Water - water of Life or water of Sabotage?

On the stand today we have a colourful, tasty, sweet bottle of Vitamin Water:

Don't they look Sweet!

People have been chugging back bottles of the oh so innocent looking neon tinged drink for a couple of years now, secure in the knowledge that they are doing something good for their health. I have also been a victim, drinking the odd one, especially after a workout.
There are two things to consider here... are the purported health benefits of Vitamin Water actually true and what are the down sides to drinking it?

1. Well, first of all... you can ditch any of the drinks that have vitamins A, D, E or K in them unless you are going to treat them like wine and drink them with a meal. These vitamins need to be taken in with dietary foods to be absorbed otherwise they have no effect. Ok, so that still leaves you with the B and C vitamins - all well and good, until you consider the fact that as a westerner you are unlikely to have a deficiency of either of these or any other vitamin for that matter. So, Vitamin Water, I accuse you of trumping up the charges of vitamin deficiency!
2. Oh Vitamin Water, from what a great height must you now fall.... what is the number one enemy to a good diet?... Sugar! Now the great thing about real water is that it has many upsides and absolutely no downsides when drunk in appropriate quantities. Vitamin Water on the other hand now seems to have almost no upside and many downsides! Check out the label and look at the sugar content... The 'power-c' dragonfruit version in front of me has 27 grams of sugar in it. 2 Heaping Tablespoonfuls of the Stuff!! And the cunning boys of coca-cola, who are ultimately the makers of this soft-drink in disguise, will tell you it is largely fructose... Wrong again! The fructose in this drink comes from a corn syrup that has been enriched with fructose.... that's like enriching nuclear waste with vitamin C to make it healthy!

Verdict - add fresh fruit or vegetable juice to get the same effect as this monstrous lie of a drink purports to have! Unfortunately, Vitamin Water, I sentence you to a lifetime in the Coca-Cola isle in the supermarket....

Alternative - coconut water.... Coconut water is the new California-craze that is sweeping east! You can buy VitaCoco from Planet Organic.

Say no to tooth decay!

I hope this has been helpful!

Brother Gym

Weep with Joy!

If there is one thing that makes staying healthy the hardest, it is the continual abstinence from the foods we love. Well, today I change all that for you! What will I give to you today to make you weep... oh yes, Cheese Burgers. Now we all know the internet loves cheezburgers. But I am gonna give you the real thing!

Delicious, desirable.... but wholesome?

Why? Well the humble but delicious hamburger has its downsides.... high fat content, red meat - not great for your digestive system, dough..... but on the other hand, it can contain tomato, lettuce, onion and pickle - all of which have healthy properties. And now, due to new research I can advise you to cook up a mouthwatering, savory, gooey, beefy tower of deliciousness. It has been found that both meat and cheese contain Menaquinone, a type of vitamin K that has been shown to improve your body's prevention of tumour development and reduce the risk of cancer mortality by 28% - according to The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

So, how do you make a delicious but healthy cheeseburger...

For the burger -

400g best quality steak mince
1 egg white
1/4 cup soft breadcrumbs
1/4 tspn salt
1/4 tspn pepper
1/4 tspn cumin
1/4 tspn chili powder

For the rest -

Cheese - your choice. Cheddar, swiss cheeses and blue cheeses work well.
4 wholewheat rolls
Tomato, slices
Red onion, sliced
Gherkin, sliced

Method:
Mix together the burger ingredients in a bowl.
Shape into 1/4 inch patties.
Wrap each in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Then place on a griddle pan at medium hot and turn occasionally for 10-12 minutes until no longer pink inside.

Serves 4. (Or freeze the remaining burgers until next time)

Serve with:

Simple but effective!

That would be a spinach and pepper salad. It is best to keep it simple and quite plain with the burger as that is the meaty star of the show!

Even healthier alternatives -

Turkey burger/Ostrich burger - head on down to the butcher and ask for some turkey mince, or if like me you live pretty close to somewhere like Borough Market (London) then pick yourself up an ostrich burger.... both are leaner, healthier alternatives to beef and honestly, just as tasty!

Tuna burger - for you fish/non-meat eaters you can try a tuna burger. You have two options here. You can either just stick a delicious, marinated and seared tuna steak between two pieces of bread or you can actually make a burger from yellowfin tuna.

Tuna burger - every bit as delicious as its meaty counterpart.

You can get a great recipe from Gordon Ramsay here.

Fine Print - it's great that the scientists have found a healthy reason to include meat and cheese into our diets. Thank you scientists. However, we must remember that red meat and burgers should be eaten no more than once or twice a week if you are looking to lose weight.

Parting words.... enjoy your burger with a single glass of full bodied red wine for added antioxidants, or even better a glass of vegetable juice!

Time to hit it hard!

Good afternoon folks. Morning broke, the tube strikes infuriated and I'm sure it is one of those days where you would like to do nothing more than go straight for the sofa and a glass of something fermented, brewed or distilled. Of course, if you take a 5 km run to the sofa and drink some water before sipping a glass of wine I have no objection.

On the other hand, there is a certain satisfaction and an obvious reward to be had from steeling your mind and making your way to the gym or out for some exercise... even if just for 30 minutes of intense training.
So ask yourself what it is you want. I'm not going to patronise you by asking silly questions, instead here is a pretty good reason to go to the gym even when your day has been hard, long and laborious...

You could live longer... Now, if that carrot ain't big enough for ya I think I've lost you. Exercise works all of the systems of the body - cardiopulmonary, skeletal, muscular, nervous and all in between. Have you found that your car tends to have trouble starting when it has been left sitting for a while... well, I'll let you consider that analogy. Our ancestors didn't do too much sitting around. From Stone Age through to Victorian they were a bunch of hard as nails workers who thought very little of using their backsides as cushions. Now I'm not saying we should all be down a pit, up a tree or scavenging for berries all day, but the least we can do is give 30 to 60 minutes a day over to doing what our bodies were built for. 

The Hunter-Gatherer lifestyle had certain advantages

So how could we emulate a hunter-gatherer style workout in the gym?

Well here's my tip for a great workout on the days you don't have the energy to fully blast one body part!

Warm Up - 12 minutes on the CV machine of your choice. Start slow and slowly build up to high intensity for the last 2 minutes.

Stretch your muscles dynamically by emulating the movements you are going to use in the workout!

1. Squat and Curl... hold an appropriate dumbbell in each hand. As you come up from the squat, bicep curl the weights. 3x12
2. Lunge and Reach... take a light medicine ball in both hands. As you lunge forward and drop the hips reach forward and down with the ball. Then push off the front leg with power and back to the start position.
3. 3 x 2 minutes running on the treadmill... keep the speed high enough that the one minute break between bursts is necessary.
4. One legged curl and press. Standing on one leg, hold a dumbbell in the opposite hand. Curl the weight and shoulder press it above your head whilst bracing your abdominal muscles. 3x10 per side.
5. Press Up>Burpee>Curl and Press. Place 2 dumbbells on the floor, assume a press up position with your hands on the dumbbell handles. Press up, then power off the ground by using a squat thrust and jumping off both feet, being careful to maintain balance. When landed, perform a bicep curl and shoulder press with both hands simultaneously. 3x8
6. 3 x 2 minute bursts on the treadmill again.
7. The plank. To emulate a hunter waiting in the brush, assume a press up position but lean on your elbows rather than hands. Hold for 1 minute. Repeat once more.
8. Static stretch all body parts.

So, a short and sweet workout for today. This can be grueling if the intensity is maintained so give it a go!

Over and out.