Reverse Dieting.... How to Reverse Diet Correctly

So this is term that I keep seeing thrown about at the moment by trainers and athletes on social media. It might leave you wondering what actually is reverse dieting or why would you want to do a reverse diet? Let me summarise this for you and hopefully make it sound simple enough for you to give it a go.

The main reason you may of heard the term reverse diet being used quite a bit at the moment is partly to do that a lot of people will have entered the so called bulking season, having finished cutting for various competitions or now that British summer time has officially ended its time to add some muscle mass and weight to replace that chiseled physique in the hope of building a bigger frame for next summer.  Surely you just need to eat more and increase your carbohydrate intake right? Wrong! Reverse dieting is crucial to help you with the transition from your cutting phase into bulking season by changing your diet in a controlled and effective manner to increase calorific intake whilst preventing unwanted weight gain that will be the result if you don’t have a planned and structured reverse dieting system in place.

What tends to be the case during this transition is that people think that now they want to add extra weight in the off season its just the case of increasing your daily calorie intake to match this goal. Once you have worked out that magic number of how many calories you need to grow and to add some serious gains using various macro calculators that can be found online it is then just a case of hitting that number immediately. Wrong Again! Of course for any nutrition plan to be successful you will need to determine you’re your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE, which can be done online. Once you have this figure it gives you have a target of how many calories you can consume from your macros without causing any additional and unwanted fat gain. During this phase you will of course concentrate on increasing your carbohydrate intake to assist with building muscle mass and bulking. It is recommended that sufficient amounts to divide your macros up can be anywhere from 1 – 1.5g of Protein per pound of bodyweight. For fat it is recommended either 0.3 - 0.4g per pound of bodyweight and then whatever remains is made up from Carbs. Although it is not uncommon for people to increase their protein intake beyond these figures.

So lets say for example in my cutting phase I was consuming around 2000 calories per day to keep me in a deficit to lower my body fat percentage. After this phase and during the off season I then work out that I can consume around 2800 calories daily without adding any unwanted fat but still gain some muscle mass. I would set about reaching this target gradually over a period of weeks rather than just ramping up my numbers. I may increase my calories by 100 – 150 each week until I had hit the magic number of 2800. This would ensure I prevented adding excess weight and completely wasted my gains Id made from working seriously hard during a long and tiring cut and restrictive diet. Once you reach your new TDEE you will need to weigh yourself on a regular basis, as your weight increase will determine your calorie intake meaning you may need to do regular adjustments.

So why do so many people get this wrong? To start with when you have been in a calorie deficit for so long on a cut you feel extremely low on energy and the thought that you are now able to eat more food sounds amazing so its common that people get a little bit too carried away and consume far too much. When you are in a calorie deficit your metabolic rate (the speed at which you burn calories) slows right down so naturally you are unable to burn all these extra calories quickly enough and this is what causes fat gain. Once you change your training program to match your bulking goals your metabolic rate will begin to increase due to the fact your are lifting heavier weights increasing muscle mass.  By applying this principle along with slowly increasing your calorie intake to reach your goal you will perform a successful reverse diet and will only thank yourself later. So in hindsight yes a reverse diet is about increasing your calories but in a structured and controlled way that prevents unwanted fat gain. Get this right and your bulking season will become your best yet!

Also don’t forget some important benefits a successful reverse diet will bring : -

1.     More Energy

2.     You Can Eat More

3.     Enjoy Your Workouts Feeling Fuelled to Perform

4.     Forget about that Dieting Mindset

5.     Flexible Dieting (Coming soon in my next blog posts)

Hopefully this helps you to understand the term reverse dieting a little bit more and help you get it right. Any questions or help you need planning your reverse diet or cutting phase drop me a message and I can help you structure your personalized plan.

EJP

How To Keep up the Cardio Through Bulking Season

This is a question I get asked a lot and quite frankly it was a question that I always used to ask myself at this time of year in the past. Could I really afford to stop my cardio altogether in order to slap on as much muscle mass as possible through the off-season or so called “bulking season”?  But more importantly Can you?

Il give my opinion on this often talked about debate using my own personal experience and knowledge I have gained through research I have looked at over the years. So you are probably thinking that its time to ditch the cardio altogether right?  Surely you wont grow if you continue to do those interval runs or treadmill sessions? Think again!

Don’t fall into a big trap that I did over the years and fail to get your bulking season right. Because you will have more work to do when you start your cut. Lets face it during a bulk you are going to put on a little bit of added body fat, which isn’t a bad thing as long as you can accept this is just something you are going to have to get along with. But by making sure you maintain a lean bulk by eating a good source of foods you will minimize the added body fat you put on around the mid-section and this means that when you come to cut it wont take long to reveal those Abs and display a chiseled six-pack. So where does the cardio aspect come in?

Most people see cardio as the go to lose weight and yes it can be looked at this way. But imagine if you skipped it all together. The idea of a lean bulk is that you minimize body fat increase as much as possible so throwing 2 – 3 cardio sessions in a week is going to support this a great deal and it is NOT going to affect your goals of putting on weight at all so don’t be scared. Here’s why:

When you include cardio in your training you improve the efficiency of your cardiovascular system, which is essential to help you maintain intensity when you train and increase work output. During the bulking season you are going to be lifting much heavier weights so you need as much muscular endurance as possible to help you reach the end of the workout and fight muscle fatigue. The last thing you want is to not be able to push out those final reps right?

On top of this it will limit the amount of body fat you put on and help you stay as lean as possible through the bulk as mentioned above. Of course you will cut down on the amount of cardio sessions you include in your training and I’d also suggest positioning these on different days to when you lift! Aiming for about 2 – 3 cardio sessions a week is sufficient. But what type of cardio should you do?

Typically I always suggest and select High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) purely for the fact It is much more explosive and therefore it requires and recruits more fast twitch muscle fibers, which will improve strength more than Low Intensity Steady State Cardio (LISS). This will also benefit your bulking as you will be more explosive and continue to recruit more muscles fibers for those big lifts. On top of this the sessions can be done in 20 minutes. So all you need to schedule in is 2 – 3 20 minute HIIT sessions per week and your on to a winner! I have designed some great HIIT workouts that can help you plan this with ease and they can be used time and time again to get you proven results. Check them out by clicking here.

I know that this year I am set for my best bulk yet and can’t wait to see the results over the coming months. Take on board this advice and you will be too. But don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need added support such as with your diet or training program to go along with you bulk (The last thing you want to do is be eating too little or too much!).

EJP

Multivitamins & Omega-3 – Two Ignored Supplements?

With all the talk these days being about which protein you are taking or which protein supplement your friends are using. It is common in most nutrition plans I see or talk to people about that the majority of the time people forget the basics and the simple essentials that help our bodies to function optimally alongside an exercise or training program.

I’m talking about Multivitamins and Omega-3 Supplements. Why are these important? Read below to find out.

Lets Start with Multivitamins. When you are exercising or training on a regular basis your body requires a load more vitamins than usual to make sure it can complete all its daily tasks on top of the added demands from living a more active lifestyle as essential minerals are lost and used up by the body in intense workouts. The vital nutrients needed by the body help to improve such basic things like increase energy and metabolic pathway regulation that ensures the metabolic reactions that happen in our body are efficient. This includes how your body utilizes the protein you may take after training.  The last thing you want is to let all your hard work go to waste by ignoring such a simple protocol of taking a Multi-Vitamin.

Don’t be one of those people that think you have planned your diet to perfection so you have nothing to worry about. The mistake here is that you spend all your time concentrating on hitting your macros (Carbs, Fats, Proteins) that you completely overlook the micronutrients that come from other sources. My conclusion on this is that the Multi-Vitamin should be the foundation of your supplement program and without them the other supplements you are taking will not be anywhere near as effective. Hopefully this has convinced you to look into this if you hadn’t already?

Moving on to Omega-3 and why this is another supplement that should be in your stack. First things first Omega-3 is one of the essential fatty acids (EFA’s) that the body is unable to produce itself so needs to outsource it from food and supplementation. Omega-3 and other EFA’s are crucial for repairing cell damage within the body, which is an ongoing process when exercising regularly. One of the main functions of Omega-3 in our diets is to improve joint health. Yep that’s right our joints are constantly under stress when we are exercising at high intensity and the last thing you want is for them to not be up to the task. Studies also show that sufficient amount of omega-3 helps us to increase muscle mass as well as increase fat loss around the abdominal region. Sure you can eat a ton of fish such as salmon but how likely is that going to be on a daily basis. You can save yourself a lot of money too by investing in a high quality Omega-3 supplement. With this in mind, building muscle or losing weight are both one of two goals that most of us will be looking to achieve and Omega-3 supplementation can be your best friend in helping you achieve them.

Hopefully this has got you thinking. It’s time to get these supplements into your diet and nutrition plan. Don’t ignore the science and let your body work at it’s optimal level

If you need some support on which ones are the best to select and where you can get them from then drop me a message or leave a comment below. Personally I use Opti-Men from Optimum Nutrition for my Multi-Vit and Reflex Nutrition for my Omega-3.

EJP

Autumn Has Arrived...

Top - Emporio Armani     Jeans - Philipp Plein     Shoes - H By Hudson      Belt - Louis Vuitton

It's time for us all to accept that Summer is over and we are already into the Fall of 2015. This doesn't mean all bad things though. There are always some amazing styles for both men and women for us to add to our wardrobes during this season. Not to mention the various fashion shows you can attend in the run up to christmas. For October the weather has been quite pleasant. Living in London and finally finding my feet after nearly 2 years here I love to get out at the weekends and last weekend was no different. I spent Sunday taking a canal walk around little venice in the Warwick Avenue /  Maida Vale area close to where I live. It gave me a chance to feel grateful for everything I have and how lucky I am to be surrounded by so many places of interest. I stopped to get some photos while out and about in an outfit that made me feel confident, stylish and bold. Check out the pictures above with my combinations of how I put it together. When you dress well I always think you are more likely to attract the right kind of attention, which is important for someone that seeks to  inspire others. So a few tips I have for selecting the right dress codes through this fall are:- 

1. Keep it subtle - Sometimes keeping your dress code slick and smart is the best way and less can sometimes mean more! Lets be honest vibrant colours are best kept in the summer. Autumn and Winter is about toning it down a notch whilst maintaining style.

2. Get your knitwear out - One of the Fall / Winter essentials definitely involves knitwear. Ive heard this year its going to be all about the monochrome style knits, which are less attention grabbing but still get you noticed.

3. Be You - Most importantly don't try to fit in with everyone else. Wear what feels comfortable to you and gives you a confident boost. Don't be scared to try different combinations to see what works and what doesn't.

I will be updating some of my styles throughout the fall so be sure to check back.

EJP

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Top 5 Reasons to Hire a Personal Trainer...

Ever had a Personal Trainer? Ever considered one? Or maybe you are one of those people that don’t think you need it… Well you could be wrong!

There are many reasons for hiring a PT and I’m going to shed some light on why I believe it’s an excellent choice.  Yes I may be a PT myself but this puts me in a prime position to give you the low-down on why it might take your training to the next level.

So here are my Top 5 reasons: -

1.     Motivation – This might be the most obvious one. There’s nothing worse than having to drag yourself to the gym or your place to workout with no desire whatsoever. This is most likely because your training program is boring! A good PT will ensure each session has an element of fun and is always challenging and progressive to keep you on your toes. This doesn’t mean that you need a PT for every session, When you hire a PT they will put a complete plan in place for the rest of your week’s workouts to ensure you stay motivated to train and give you ideas for your Independent session. Get your Motivation right and the results will follow.

2.    Form – No matter how experienced you are there is bound to be one exercise where you could improve your form.  Good form and technique are the foundations to getting the most from your workout. They should take priority over anything else when you start to lift! A great reason to have a PT when you are a beginner to ensure that you form is correct right from the beginning as its always difficult to kick bad habits once you have developed them. But this is why sometimes its useful for more experienced trainers to hire a PT every so often to help pinpoint any areas for improvement.

3.    Prevent you from Hitting a Plateau – A common problem when people train and exercise on their own is not knowing when to change their current training program, which may have been awesome to begin with and got you great results but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a game changer forever. In my opinion and experience anything more than 6-8 weeks on the same program is enough to see you hit a plateau and leave you feeling frustrated why the results aren’t coming anymore. A PT will keep challenging you and will change your program up at the right times to make sure you are making gains all year round. It’s all in their hands; all you have to do is turn up!

4.    Improve your own knowledge – Knowledge is power and in this field knowing why you are performing a specific exercise can go a long way to helping you understand the benefits or training in the correct and safest way possible. A PT will not only show you how to perform an exercise correctly they will tell you why its important and what adaptations it is likely to make. This for me is paramount to make sure my clients develop their own knowledge and feel completely satisfied that what they are being told to do is going to be beneficial for them.

5.    You Don’t want to work out in a gym – It’s true that some people don’t like training in the gym or simply don’t have the time. When your at home it’s even harder to motivate yourself and get off the sofa. Setting your own home workouts can be more challenging than you think. Are you really working at the right tempo and intensity? Probably not. Most PT’s will operate a Home visit service so you don’t even need to step out your own door. They will also have the ability to devise a home workout that will get you just as good results and most likely better than your friend who spends the whole evening at the local gym. Talk about convenience!

Are you considering a PT now? Hopefully this gives you some ideas why no matter what level you are at it is useful to hire a PT at least once in a while. There are of course lots more reasons why a PT is a great choice but these are my top 5. Remember elite athletes aren’t where they are because of themselves. They work continuously under the guidance and instruction of coaches and others around them. The same goes here.. If you want to be better a PT will help.

I offer many Personal Training and Online Coaching services to clients around the world. There may just be something for you! Take a look at my website below and if your serious about improving your training or understanding, I’m here to help!

www.ejpfitness.co.uk