Well done!!

My last post is my chance to say very well done to all of you. You put everything into the course and I hope you got alot out of it. You all saw the numbers dropping in both the body weight and body fat columns. Please keep up the hard work and limit the damage that we all know can be caused over the Christmas holidays. Anthony

Eating out!!!

Tonight we will be discussing eating out and how not to ruin a good week of training and nutrition plan. I will be bringing in a few menus to look over but if you have a menu of your favourite destination then please bring it along.

Eat to sleep.

http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/9_foods_to_help_you_sleep So following on from our discussion regarding sleep here is a website that lists foods that help you sleep. If your struggling to get your 8 hours then give a few of these a go and let me know how you get on. 4 days until final weigh in, lets keep up the good work. Anthony

Relax, Do not get stressed

http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/cortisol.htm Above is a link to an informative web based post explaing the pros and cons of cortisol. It is known as the stress hormone as it is released during periods of stress. The obvious side effect is the increase is fat receptors around the abdominal area but cortisol is also heavily involved in blood sugar control. Enjoy the post and I will look forward to seeing you in a few hours. Anthony

The Truth, does muscle weigh more than fat?

Q:Does muscle really weigh more than fat? Muscle does not weigh more than fat, any more than lead weighs more than feathers. A pound is a pound is a pound. Where the misunderstanding often comes in is that muscle is much more dense than fat, so that, by volume, it seems to weigh more. That is, a pound of muscle occupies less space than a pound of fat. In addition, because a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat, even at rest, by increasing your lean muscle tissue mass, you're helping your body burn more calories. But back to the question. If you only have a small amount of weight to lose, then you may feel like the weight training is not helping you move down on the scale. In fact, the number may even go up, but you will look thinner. This is due to an increase in lean body mass (muscle, bone, blood volume) and a decrease in body fat. In other words, even if the scale doesn't change much, you will probably see a difference in how your clothes fit. On the other hand, if you have a lot of weight to lose, you will also experience an increase in lean body mass and loss of body fat. But the results on the scale will probably be more dramatic. Nice session last night and well done to those who then took part in the santa challenge. I will see you all on Friday at 7pm. Anthony

Apparently Clare was not joking!!

So here it is some fact behind the crazy notion of chilli for breakfast. Thank you Clare. http://foodhospital.channel4.com/The-Truth-About/pixie-investigates/dr-pixie-investigates-series-2/food-hero-chilli/ Anthony

Did someone order Iodine?

So onto week 3. We all had a very successful weigh in on Friday evening which should motivate you all to puch on and get some fantastic results when we finish in 12 days. Tonight we are looking at how we can improve the efficiency of our metabolism to help us lose weight. There are three key elements we need to add into our diet to assist this. Iodine, selenium and magnesium are needed in this process. Selenium and magnesium we will discuss further this evening when I see you but below I have added a table that list sources of Iodine to help you. I use a supplement called sea kelp that contains a high level of Iodine, it also has a side effect of thicker hair growth which I am in desperate need of. Food Approximate Percent RDV* Micrograms (mcg) per serving Seaweed, whole or sheet, 1 g 16 to 2,984 11% to 1,989% Cod, baked, 3 ounces 99 66% Yogurt, plain, low-fat, 1 cup 75 50% Iodized salt,1.5 g (approx. 1/4 teaspoon)71 47% Fish sticks, 3 ounces 54 36% Shrimp, 3 ounces 35 23% Egg, 1 large 24 16% Tuna, canned in oil, drained,3 ounces17 11% Prunes, dried, 5 prunes 13 9% Lima beans, mature, boiled, 1/2 cup 8 5% Apple juice, 1 cup 7 5% Green peas, frozen, boiled, 1/2 cup 3 2% Banana, 1 medium 3 2% I hope you all enjoyed your cheat meal and I look forward to seeing you all this evening. Anthony

Water!! Whats that all about?

After discussing water last night I think the one thing that was clear was the fact theres alot more to discuss and I dont imagine for a second my blog will answer all your questions. I found a fellow blogger deep within the internet who discusses water not only comparing bottle to tap water byut also having a moral stand point when discussing worlwide availability and the over inflated prices of bottle water. Please have a read and hopefully it will inspire you to do further reading into water both tap and bottled. In the short term my advise is to drink plenty of water daily to help your digestive system but also not to drink 30 minutes before and after eating as this will limit the digestion of vitamins and minerals. Pleasure as always to blog to you and I look forward to seeing you on Friday at 7am. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2008/jun/25/whatsinyourtapwater

Hungry Wednesday

Really looking forward to tonights session but only after I get some food in me. I made the schoolboy mistake of having my breakfast at 5 am and then not bringing enough food for the day. I refuse to break the diet though so just heading out to Tescos to find something I can have. Tonight will be a tough session and I hope you felt the increase in intensity on Monday. Our strength circuit has got longer and the cardio will only ever get harder. I hope you are over the achey muscles now and can find the motivation from somewhere to look forward to working yourself hard. I look forward to seeing you later. Anthony

Porridge.

Good morning. fantastic effort last night. I look forward to Wednesday as I hope you do also. Last night we discussed blood sugar control and its importance when losing weight. I hope you are all enjoying the article I gave you. Please research some of the foods you are consuming as to what their GL is. Below I have put two links regarding porridge. The first is from a blogger Sophie Roberts who is a dietician. She discusses the GI of poridge and the differences between porridge oats and instant porridge. The second link is regarding the gluten content. Spelt porridge is an option we discussed that contains less gluten that regular porridge. http://www.mostlyeating.com/revealed-why-you-are-not-a-freak-of-nature-if-porridge-doesnt-fill-you-up http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Do_oats_have_gluten Please enjoy the blogs and see you on Wednesday. Anthony

The always tough first weekend!!

So one week down and the first weekend over. Weekends are when we all struggle, we socialise more at the weekend and social events are normally food and drink lead. This is the only weekend on the course where we do not have a cheat meal and the reason for that is the importance on being 100% clean for the first two weeks of the course. I hope you all made good choices and feel energised for the week ahead and our mid course weigh in on Friday. After plenty of discussion about my Sunday morning rosti I actually did not cook up that culinary treat. Instead I had smoked salmon and poached eggs (which I attempted to make using a vortex, It did not go well) which was delightful. This morning I was back on the yoghurt and cranberries with a chicken soup for lunch. I look forward to seeing you all later for another tough session with the intensity increased from last week. Regards Anthony

Interval training, you know you want to!!

Interval training is a commonly used term around gyms but what does it actually mean. To give its exact definition interval training is a type of discontinuous physical training that involves a series of low- to high-intensity exercise workouts interspersed with rest or relief periods. The high-intensity periods are typically at or close to anaerobic (Without the use of oxygen) exercise, while the recovery periods may involve either complete rest or activity of lower intensity. You can see the similarities with this definition and the structure of our training on Team Dynamix. Both the resistance and cardio sections have periods of high intensity to periods of complete rest. Of course there are a number of ways to set up interval training within the gym itself, below I will put some very basic interval training programmes that you can put together to make a longer more intense workout. Remember the reason behind interval training for weight loss is to burn off our stored muscle glycogen as quickly as possible so we can start burning body fat. Low intensity training will only take longer to achieve the same and slow down the rate at which you will see your results. Session 1 TRX legs. 20 minutes This session involves the high intensity periods followed by full periods of rest. As the legs start to fatigue the rest starts to feel shorter. TRX Squats 30 secs Rest 30 secs TRX Single leg squats Rest 30 secs TRX Single leg squats Rest 30 secs TRX Double leg jump squat Rest 30 secs TRX Single leg jump squat Rest 30 secs TRX Single leg jump squat Repeat 4 times Session 2 Stepper 15 minutes (level dependant on fitness levels) The stepper is an under used machine in my opinion. Its challenging so it gives you more control of peaking your heart rate and achieving those high intensity periods. This session is referred to as a stepped interval as it goes through 3 stages of progression and at no point do you recover fully. 30 seconds level 5 30 seconds level 10 30 seconds level 15 repeat 10 times Session 3 TRX and Kettle Bells 22 minutes 30 seconds TRX Jump squats 45 secs Kettle bell clean and press 45 secs Rest 45 secs TRX lateral jump squats 45 secs Kettle bell clean and press 45 secs Rest 45 secs TRX Split jumps 45 secs Kettle bell push press 45 secs Rest 45 secs TRX Crossover jumps 45 secs Kettle bell push press 45 secs Rest 45 secs Repeat once more The session has the full recovery period but it combines both lower body and upper body exercise which will make your heart work harder due to it having to pump blood from one end of the body to the other. Try these sessions out soon on your rest days and let me know how you get on. Anthony

Smorgasbord anyone!

Good morning and welcome to day 3 of Team Dynamix. You will probably have a few achey muscles today and will be looking forward to our foam rolling tonight. After our little discussion regarding quinoi and its effect on blood sugar I thought I would research a little further. I found some work by Anne Tourney who writes for the livestrong charity foundation, she discusses how its the qulaity of the carbohydrate thats important and states quinoi has a Glycemic Load of 13 which is considerably less than breads, pastas, potatoes and rice and due to it being high in fibre and protein offers you a lot more. I have attached the link to the article for you to enjoy. http://www.livestrong.com/article/258598-quinoa-the-glycemic-index/ Well when choosing my dinner choices last night I thought I would be inspired by my Swedish sister in law and make myself a Smorgasbord. This included chicken, salmon, peppers, cucumbers, houmous and my favourite mackarel. And to round it all off I had some watermelon. Earlier in the day I had my usual yoghurt cranberries and pumpkin seeds and for lunch I had a rather delightful butternut squash soup. I hope you are feeling a little inspired in the kitchen, if not I am willing to share my rosti resipe. Have a great day and see you at 7.30pm this evening. Anthony

No rosti today!!

Good morning all. Thank you all for last night, The effort you put in gives me a real positive feeling about the course. We have a good group and as long as we implement those food prnciples we will all get some great results. Our first cheat meal will feel along time away but stay strong and be clean for these first two weeks and give yourself the best opportunity. Yesterdays menu. Breakfast - Yoghurt with dried cranberries and pumpkin seads. Lunch - Chicken and Mushroom soup Dinner - 2 Roasted chicken thighs (skinned) and a mixed bean salad. I look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday with the delight of foam rolling on achey muscles. Anthony

New course 19/11/2012

Welcome to everyone for joining the new course of Team Dynamix. Over the next 4 weeks I will look to test you physically but also to help you learn about nutrition and accelerate your results. Please follow my blog as i look to take you deaper into the facts. Anthony

Progressing Nicely!

One week done guys, 3 more to go!! We started to progress on Monday's session, increasing the interval times on strength and also cardio and the extra 10 or 15 seconds can prove a big challenge for most of you. Progression is a major part of the course as we are looking to improve your performance, work time and fitness levels. The progression will continue all the way up to the last session of our time together, with new exercises thrown in so we can keep the exercises and sessions fun and enjoyable. We discussed Balancing Blood Sugar Levels on Monday's class and how this single subject can help you to understand the science and affects that different food types have on our blood sugar levels and how this can lead to fat storage. See the link at the bottom of this blog for more details. This link will help you understand the subject a little more and you can start to apply these principles into your daily routine. See you all on Wednesday http://www.gotosee.co.uk/healtharticles/2010/03/balancing-blood-sugar-nutritionist-wandsworth/

Coconut Oil Benefits

Hello again guys, well done again for completing Wednesdays session. Those 10's at the end are hard work but you all kept moving and running so good effort - keep it up. Fridays session will be a Q&A oppotunity for you, so get thinking of any queries you may have about the exercise, nutrition or any other aspect of the course. As you know by now we are are encouraging you to change your dietry habits and one of the big componants of this is to introduce Coconut Oil into your daily eating routine. I have found a great little article regarding how fantastic Copconut oil is. It will give a great insight into the benefits of this truly amazing food stuff, please find attached a link at the bottom of this blog. I will see you all on Friday guys and girls. Steve http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html

Session 1 Complete!

The morning after the first session can be an eye opener!! Suddenly you are feeling muscles that you didn't know even existed and sitting down becomes a slow motion event! But don't worry guys this is all perfectly normal. I hope you all enjoyed last nights session and found it challenging yet enjoyable. I must say that I loved your work ethic during the session, you all worked hard and kept going which is exactly what I look for people to do. I was also impressed by your listening skills and also the ability to pick up technique and instructions - well done all of you. As we progress through the sessions you will be learning more and start to understand the science, methods and technique we are using in Team Dynamix. This knowledge will be key to your success so remember that I am always available via this blog, email and phone to answer anything you may be thinking about. In Wednesday's session you will be learning the science behind the workouts and why we structure them like we do. You will also learn why you are feeling like you are and why, believe it or not, this is a good thing!!! We will also be taking a group photo on Wednesday guys and girls, so bring those smiling faces with you :) I will see you all on Wednesday @ 7:30 Steve

Last Blog

   My last blog is a thank you to the few of you that followed it. As a thank you I would like to offer the first person to email me on anthonypricept@hotmail.co.uk a free personal training session which won't involve an accumulator I promise. Its has been a great month and I look forward to the next 8 weeks on the maintenance course.

  Good night.

       Anthony Price

A snowy Thursday

     I hope you have enjoyed the subject of cortisol, this evening I am giving you a night off the research. I was inspired by the possibilities of Fairhaven foods and particularly the quinoa pasta (thank you Jennifer). I have attached their website below for you all to enjoy.
     We discussed briefly on Tuesday what to do next. I would like to run a Team Dynamix maintenance course starting on Tuesday 21st February at 7pm for 8 weeks. I hope you can all make it and we can build on what has already been achieved.
  2 Days until the accumulator!

http://fairhaven.co.uk/

    Anthony

Day 22 (3 days until the accumulator)

     Just before I start to plan our final act on Team Dynamix continuation I will discuss the dangers of stress and weight gain. We all live stressful lives but understanding the dangers of this might make us think twice about letting ourselves get to this chronic stress state. The article below highlights a number of negatives but the one I would like to make you most aware of is increased likelihood of gaining weight particularly in the abdominal area due to cortisol. Chronic stress releases a sustained  amount of the hormone cortisol which switches on four times the amount of fat receptors in the abdominal area. Please have a read of the article and if you have any questions regarding the topic then contact me.

http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/weightgain.htm

  Until Saturday take care.

   Anthony

Day 20

    I write this evenings blog in sadness as this is our last week on the course. We have two sessions to go and one topic which is cortisol. The article I have attached below looks into not only the negative effects which I to often focus on but also the positive effects of cortisol.
      As the course finishes I know some of you have talked about continuing which I am more than happy to do. We can discuss this further tomorrow night if not Saturday.
     Try and achieve as much as you can in this last week and then reset your goals until Easter.

http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/cortisol.htm

Anthony

Day 17

    Good evening, you will be glad to hear I am still sat at work planning tomorrows session. I want to maintain the level of intensity from Tuesday so expect fireworks tomorrow. I bring you no further information on Leptin this evening as I will be covering the topic in the morning.
      The gym has some new toys that I suggest  you try out, Ben recently completed a club bell course and is keen to show you what he learnt, David experienced the joy this morning and lived to tell the story.
     Until tomorrow good night, eat well and sleep well and lets see what tomorrow brings.

  Anthony

Day 16

    I start tonight's blog with a challenge, our gym challenge this month is how quick can you climb Big Ben. With your new improved fitness you should put it to the test. Come up to the gym and give it a go. If it helps I will do it with you.
      Last nights webinar was a good introduction to Leptin, tonight I would like to discuss the reasons behind leptin imbalance. The two major reasons are through a low calorie diet and our leptin receptors switching off. If we partake in a low calorie diet and I mean an extremely low calorie diet like some of the fad diets around our bodies will release a large amount of leptin. This will tell the body to overeat to restore the leptin balance. You must of felt the battle to lose weight through low calorie diets when it is extremely difficult both mentally and physically. This will amount to yo-yo dieting as the body fights to restore a leptin balance.
     The other major reason I mentioned is through the leptin receptors turning off in the hypothamalus. This is a major problem in obese people. Imagine being in a room with a strong smell, over time the smell becomes less and less. The smell has not disappeared but you become less aware of that smell. This is how leptin works, if you are heavily overweight and your leptin receptors are not functioning you will over eat and struggle to lose weight.
         Listen to your body, it will tell you when you are full and have taken on enough energy and it will also tell you when you need to take up more energy ie eat, so work with your body it is trying to help you. For me this is almost an essay so I will leave you to enjoy your evenings.

     Anthony

Day 15

  Good morning, fantastic session last night, it was shorter due to the perfect storm of traffic problems but the quality was the highest I have seen so well done, really looking forward to Saturday now. Make sure you are building in rest days especially with sessions of the intensity last night.
     I have been looking for a webinar that clearly explains the dangers of having a leptin imbalance and I believe I have found it. Extremes of eating will have an effect on your leptin balance and make weight loss and dieting very challenging. Please watch the webinar and tomorrow I will attempt to explain the reasons behind leptin imbalance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLXuCUq4qSQ&feature=related

  Anthony

Day 14

    At the start of week 3 we discuss one of our most important hormones, Leptin. Leptin is a 16kDa protein hormone that plays a key role in regulating energy intake and energy expenditure including appetite and metabolism.
   Leptin was discovered in 1994 by Jeffrey M Friedman and colleagues at the Rockefeller University through the study of mice. Human leptin is a protein of 167 amino acids. It is manufactured primarily in the adipocytes of the white adipose tissue, and the level of circulating leptin is directly proportional to the total amount of fat in the body.
   As this week goes on and we look deeper into its importance we will find how certain crash diets or obesity can interfere with our leptin hormone and cause problems.
   I look forward to seeing you this evening for some burning lungs, it is cardio time!

  Anthony

Day 12

   Good morning, apologies for not blogging over the weekend. Our discussion moves onto leptin this week but before that I wanted to post that article I promised which should be of interest to particularly the men on the course. Enjoy the read and I will be back on here later with and introduction to leptin.


http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/soys-negative-effects

   Anthony

Day 10

   Good afternoon to all bloggers. Friday is the calm before the storm as Saturday creeps ever nearer. The end of tomorows sessions will mark the half way point of this course so I hope you are all starting to feel the benefit. A few of you have discussed with me their gym training to compliment the two sessions a week we are doing, for the rest of you please book in for a review and maximise your results.
     I have tried to send you plenty of soy based information this week and tomorow we will cover the topic briefly. I have attached an article listing and describing soy products that are all fermented and recommended to eat. I have not tried them all myself so your feedback when consumed would be much appreciated.
    This evening I will be eating a large piece of sea bass that my cat Mercutio has been eyeing up for a few days. Have a great evening and as ever I look forward to seeing you tomorow morning.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/332120-what-foods-contain-fermented-soy-beans/

  Anthony

Day 10

   The soy debate is a complex one, our focus should not only be on consuming fermented soy but also consuming non genetically modified soy. There are positives and negatives to genetically modified foods, the positives in the main are higher crop yields and their economical benefit. Their negatives are its unknown risk to human health and its ability to trigger allergies in humans. I have attached an article that goes into more detail about both the positives and negatives.
     Two days until session 4, a few of you will be absent but for the rest of us it is resistance time!

http://www.geneticallymodifiedfoods.co.uk/fact-sheet-pros-vs-cons.html

  See you all soon

  Anthony

Day 9

     Good afternoon, after feeling tired yesterday I made sure I got my 8 hours sleep and this morning I felt fantastic. My omelette for lunch was as usual a little bit of heaven coming out of the Odyssey kitchen and with a chicken stir fry awaiting me at home this evening  I have Wednesday sorted. In terms of training I missed Monday and Tuesday due to my trip up north to discover the "accumulator" which probably did not help my feeling of tiredness yesterday but with a good spinning session under my belt today I feel ready for tonight's boot camp at 7pm.
      I hope you found yesterdays article useful, it was a reasonably general article regarding soy. Lets look deeper into the fermented v non fermented  discussion. The article I have attached looks directly into the positives and negatives of the fermented and non fermented soy options.

http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/afrikan-wholistic-health/659-soy-products-fermented-vs-unfermented.html

      Health and happiness, people. See you Saturday.

  Anthony

Day 8

   Day 8, one week down and already back to our cardio based Tuesday evenings. With a quarter of the course gone I hope you are all feeling better, if you are not feeling the benefit then please bring in your diary that I know you all fill out each evening and we can go through it.
   This week we move onto soy, I have attached an article that i believe explains the positives and negatives very well. Ultimately we should focus on whether our soy is genetically modified as well as it being fermented. Please read through the article , there will be plenty of information to follow including a webinar from Dr Mercola.

http://www.naturalnews.com/022630.html
   See you all this evening.

   Anthony

Day 7

  Apologies for being so quiet over the weekend, the internet was down at work. It has been good to see some of you in the gym over the weekend. I spent today in Harrogate with the Creator of Team Dynamix seeing the finished product and also new programmes that have been created such as sports conditioning and regeneration. I will introduce you all to the accumulator in the near future!
        I have attached an article that goes into gluten intolerance in much more detail and if you have no plans before Easter it also lists many symptoms of an intolerance.
 http://gluten-intolerance-symptoms.com/

       I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow, take plenty of energy on board this evening.


   Anthony

Day 4

 
    Big night of eating well and hydrating for us all, planned a really tough session for you all and I will be gracing the rugby field once again. Just finished my roast chicken with vegetables and had a protein packed omelette for lunch so feeling good.
   Tomorrow we will be looking briefly at wheat and gluten with a bundle load of information to follow. Just a brief post from me this evening as my nephew is currently being born (finally) and I am heading down to Lister.
     Get a good breakfast inside you tomorrow and I will see you all at 10.30am.

  Anthony

Day 3 So far so good!

  Good evening, I hope it is all going well for you. If it is any consolation my legs are also aching and i only joined in the warm up so I feel your pain. Being back on the Team Dynamix nutrition plan has been enjoyable and really empowering, cutting the wheat out once again has instantly made me feel more energetic and I have already lost 1kg. As much as I put this down to reintroducing myself to the Team Dynamix elimination list I have also trained hard this week with tough weight sessions, spinning and also a Team Dynamix session with a number of Odyssey staff.
      Every time I eliminate wheat from my diet I really feel the benefit and I wonder why I let it creep in from time to time. Of course I know the answer and its due to it being to readily available and over used in a moder diet. My number 1 piece of advise is to be as prepared as possible, if your left making a choice for lunch from a service station or a local sandwich shop then inevitably it will be a poor choice.
       I am training at Odyssey from 10.45 am tomorrow, if anyone would like to join me you would be more than welcome. Until tomorrow good night.

  Anthony

Team Dynamix Continuation Day 2

    There was some magic happening in the Odyssey kitchen this lunchtime as my omelette was a touch of heaven (simple pleasures). It was just what I needed after this mornings spin session.
       Lets switch our attention to wheat and gluten, Dr Mercola who I have used before when researching topics such as soy has written a book called "No grain diet", this went on to be an American best seller and linked obesity to a modern diet being to over reliant on grains. Here I attach a link to a clip of Dr Mercola discussing the truth about whole wheat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgPZyzomBUI

And here is a link to his book on amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/No-grain-Diet-Joseph-Mercola/dp/0340832355/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326887960&sr=1-2

I hope the legs are not feeling to heavy today. If they are the best thing you can do is get down to Odyssey get some blood flowing through them and relax in the steam room.
      If any of you are twitter users then please follow me on @anthonypricept

  Anthony

Team Dynamix Continuation Day 1

  Good evening everyone and heres my first post. Tonights session was fantastic and I look forward to the remaining 7 sessions. Our education topic is wheat and gluten on Saturday so I will send you some journals and articles throughout the week.
        I hope you have all had a highly nutritious meal, of course I enjoyed a quinoa (what else) salad with courgette and red onion. I dressed it with olive oil and a little balsamic. It tasted fantastic and kept the energy levels high as I sit down for the first time today.
     Tomorow I will be taking a spinning class which will also double up as my cardio workout, 3 big hill climbs and a sprint finish will have the desired effect. If any of you can manage a gym session tomorow then I look forward to seeing you there.
  Until tomorows post goodnight, sleep well.

    Anthony