Magnesium is an essential dietary mineral that can be lacking in the western diet, and one that is depleted through exercise. In fact, most people would be at risk of magnesium deficiency due to the nature of our agricultural practices and modern diets.

Consequences

According to this study, some of the major consequences of magnesium deficiency include hypertension, atherosclerosis and calcifications, cardiac arrhythmias and coronary artery disease. Some clinical signs of magnesium deficiency, of which there are many, include anxiety, depression, migraines and photosensitivity.

Benefits

Magnesium is one of my core supplements. I take it twice daily in the morning and at night before bed. I found on commencing supplementation with magnesium, that I had a reduced stress response to intense exercise. Specifically, I was able to prevent the onset of headaches post exercise. In fact, when I feel a headache coming on now, I take magnesium rather than pain medication.

I have also found that magnesium supplementation has helped to reduce anxiety, as has supplementation with a vitamin B complex, including L-Methylfolate, and the adaptogen Ashwagandha.

The use of low level stressors can also help reduce anxiety. This is the concept of hormesis, where what doesn’t harm you too much makes you stronger. Some further stressors that I employ in appropriate doses include exercise, cold showers, infrared and near infrared light therapy, intermittent fasting and coffee, among other things.

Conclusion

Considering the long-term negative impacts of magnesium deficiency on cardiovascular health, and how it can improve your daily wellbeing, magnesium is one mineral you should be getting plenty of on a daily basis. Magnesium rich foods include spinach, dark chocolate and almonds, all of which I consume in significant quantities. If you’re not eating sufficient quantities in your diet, then consider supplementation.

Lick your plate. It may be a very bad look, and to maintain some dignity, I would probably avoid doing it when eating out. However, if you don't lick your plate, and obviously this will depend on what you're eating, you could be missing out on additional nutrition and energy. I am a plate licker from way back. For example, last night my family had a greek style dinner at home. Lamb, salad with olive oil, hummus, tzatziki etc. So, having finished my meal, I had all the good left over fats from the lamb, olive oil and hummus on my plate, with a bit of residual baby spinach floating around. Now, I could have been civilised and rinsed all that fatty goodness down the sink. But no, always thinking of the marginal gains, I licked that plate clean and my brain and body got the rewards.

The difference between the words ‘eat and train’, and ‘diet and exercise’ is important. This was an idea given to me by Coach Sommer of GymnasticBodies through Tim Ferris. Words are important. The words ‘diet and exercise’ have a superficial connotation. Particularly diet, which for many people is a short term weight loss strategy which can have negative impacts on training performance and goals. Healthy eating, on the other hand, should be a lifelong habit with lifelong benefits.

This post is a turning point for this blog. No longer will I be focussing my writing on how to best gain strength and lose weight in a gym context, although this will still feature. Instead, I will discuss what steps I have been taking to become a much healthier, smarter, stronger and mobile person.

I am celebrating the big 4-0 in January 2018. Less than two months away as I write this. It is perhaps this approaching milestone that has driven me in recent months to look more deeply into strategies to not only slow the aging process, but to optimize my body and brain, and in some cases wind back the clock on brain and body function.

I will discuss what is working for me as I go. I’m very happy to be the guinea pig on a variety of methods and technologies that improve health and wellbeing. But in saying that, I am no frontier explorer. The strategies that I have used, and aim to use in future, have been tested by many before me and are backed by science.

At a high level, I will discuss the following:

Eat

Good eating habits are the foundation on which all other human progress is built. You can’t become significantly healthier, smarter or stronger unless you’ve really dialled in your nutrition.

Train

Once you have your nutrition dialled in, what training strategies can be used to achieve optimal results? For me, that is increased strength, power and hypertrophy; and increased flexibility and mobility to improve joint health and longevity.

Change

In addition to implementing successful eating and training strategies, what other strategies can be used to change your life by significantly improving health and wellbeing? An example could be the use of red and near-infrared light therapy to increase energy levels and reduce inflammation, among other things. This is something I do.

These are the three pillars that I am currently focussed on, and which I will write about in future posts. I appreciate you taking the time to read them. Hopefully, there will be some useful tips that will change your life. That’s the aim and the reward.

Can strength training and high intensity interval training enhance performance in endurance sports? If you want to be competitive in an endurance based sport, then obviously training for endurance is very important, whether that is on the bike; on the rower; or in your running shoes. In addition to gaining improvements in movement efficiency, some other benefits of endurance training include:

improved oxygen efficiency;an increased resting metabolism; anda stronger heart.

However, further improvements in performance can be gained by increasing strength and power through resistance training; and by increasing your lactate threshold and VO2max through high intensity interval training.

Strength Training

Take two endurance athletes, one that can squat their own bodyweight, and one that can squat one and a half times their own bodyweight. Who do you think will be the strongest competitor, everything else being equal? Athletes who are stronger, or have higher relative strength levels, should perform better than a weaker opponent. This is particularly the case for athletes who require power up inclines, or who require a powerful kick in a sprint finish.

As I’ve discussed elsewhere, power is a function of speed and strength. If you increase strength, you increase power. Another co-benefit of resistance training is fat loss, which further enhances relative strength gains. As most endurance sports primarily require strong hip extension (cycling, rowing, running and jumping), then a strength training program that focuses on the posterior chain, or the large muscle groups around the hips, can be highly beneficial in improving performance.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

I’m an endurance athlete, what can I possibly gain from doing high intensity interval training? Believe it or not, HIIT can improve your VO2max or aerobic capacity. That is, your maximum rate of oxygen consumption, or your body’s capacity to utilise oxygen. VO2max is the best way of measuring an athlete’s aerobic or cardiovascular fitness.

Tabata conducted a study in 1996 that compared the impact of moderate intensity endurance training versus HIIT on the anaerobic and aerobic systems. The study results showed that HIIT using Tabata’s protocol five days a week for 6 weeks, produced an improvement in VO2max of 7mL(kg.min) and a 28% improvement in anaerobic capacity. That is significant on both counts.

Other potential benefits of HIIT are:

increased resting metabolism, leading to fat loss;gains in strength; andgains in speed.

Happy training!

by Mark Payne

LightSpeed Training

Personal Training Richmond

In addition to the gym based strength training methods outlined in our article here, your cycling training program can be enhanced by bike-based strength and speed work based on the training methods of elite sprint cyclists.

One such method is to perform sprint work at 100% intensity over 200-500 metres using progressively larger gearing. Working over different distances involves different energy systems and strength types. For example, a short 200 metre sprint mainly involves the ATP-CP energy system, or alactic anaerobic energy system, whereas a longer 500 metre sprint would involve some lactate metabolism. Due to the higher levels of fatigue induced by lactate training, longer rest periods are required.

An example 500 metre interval training workout would look like this:

Warm-up – Low intensity, 5km

Rest – 10 minutes

500m sprint - 92 inch gear

Rest – 10 minutes

500m sprint – 96 inch gear

Rest – 10 minutes

500m sprint – 100 inch gear

Rest – 10 minutes

500m sprint – 104 inch gear

Rest – 10 minutes

500m sprint – 92 inch gear

The 10 minute rest period may seem excessive, however you will see its necessary when you’re on the track. It ensures that each effort can be performed at close to maximal intensity (ie fast!), which is critical for speed development.

by Mark Payne

LightSpeed Training

Personal Training Richmond

Compound Movement – A compound movement or exercise, is a movement that involves more than one joint and muscle group. Compound exercises increase the intensity and effectiveness of a strength training program.

Compound movements are discussed in more detail here.

Compound Set - The compound set is similar to the superset, where two exercises are performed one after the other without a rest between sets. However, a compound set involves the pairing of exercises involving synergistic muscle groups. This was also one of the bodybuilding principals of Joe Weider.

Concentric Contraction – This term refers to a type of muscle contraction where the muscle shortens under tension. A bicep curl is a good example of this, where you can see the bicep muscles physically shortening while you lift the load.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – This refers to a more intense form of interval training, where exercise is more intense, and rest periods are less intense. High intensity interval training has been shown to improve the resting metabolic rate and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) of participants, while also burning fat more effectively than aerobic exercise.

A more detailed description of HIIT can be found here.

Interval Training – The term interval training refers to a method of training which involves short periods of repeated, moderate to intense exercise followed by rest. The benefits of interval training compared to continuous-intensity, or steady state training include increases in cardiovascular fitness, power, speed and enhancements to lactate threshold. Interval training can also result in fat loss.

Lean Muscle Mass – This term refers to the percentage of muscle mass someone has compared to other mass measures, including fat. An increase in lean muscle mass refers to an increase in mass through muscle development alone. However, this may happen concurrently with fat loss.

Personal Training – The term personal training describes physical activity that is overseen by a professional personal trainer. The job of the personal trainer is to prescribe specific exercises based on the goals of the client; instruct clients on safe and appropriate movement patterns; and to monitor and provide feedback on client progress.

A more detailed description on personal training can be found .

Progressive Overload – The principal of progressive overload refers to the introduction of increasingly larger loads or intensities with an aim of forcing the body to adapt. To improve in any physical activity, including strength, speed or lean muscle mass gains, progressive overload is critical.

Repetitions – In the context of resistance training, a repetition refers to a training variable involving the completion of one movement, usually involving an eccentric and concentric contraction. Squatting down and then returning to a standing position would be considered one repetition.

Strength Training – This term refers to a method of resistance exercise where strength gains are the main goal. However, co-benefits may include increases in lean muscle mass; speed and power; anaerobic capacity; bone density; and fat loss, among other things.

Superset - A superset involves alternating two or more exercises with no rest between sets. A superset can also refer to the practice of pairing two exercises involving antagonist muscle groups. For example, the chest and upper back. This was one of the bodybuilding principals of Joe Weider.

The humble push-up is a great body weight exercise that develops the chest, anterior shoulders, arms and core. It’s an exercise that be done anywhere, anytime and with no requirement for equipment. It’s for this reason that the push-up is one of my favourite exercises. If the truth be told, I haven’t completed a bench press in around 10 years.

The bench press is a fantastic exercise for developing strength and lean muscle mass, due to the ability to progress to heavy loads. For me, I don’t see any need to develop that kind of strength, particularly now that my focus is cycling performance. However, some athletes, including rugby players and throwers, can certainly benefit from a strong upper body push. The bench press, therefore, has a very important place in the pantheon of primary strength exercises and is hence a key component of many strength training programs.

The push-up is very versatile and can develop strength, power and lean muscle mass in the muscle groups outlined above. Additionally, it is a good exercise for upper back health as it gets the scapulae moving while engaging the spine’s stabilisers. There are countless variations of the push-up, certainly too many to list here, but different outcomes can be achieved through leg elevation; hand elevation; clapping and crawling patterns.

I keep it very simple and seek to achieve as many push-up’s as possible in three sets, with short rests between sets. This is arbitrary, but a good target is 120 push-ups. For me, this gives me good gains in lean muscle mass, strength and conditioning. I would therefore recommend adding the push-up to your personal training program.

by Mark Payne

LightSpeed Training

Personal Training Richmond

So, your training partner is making better progress in the gym than you are? Why is it so, and what can you do about it?

Your relative lack of progress could be due to a number of factors. Firstly, it should be said that fitness training is pointless if you’re not getting the right nutrition. Whether you are seeking to put on lean muscle mass, get lean, gain strength or gain speed, eating the right foods and in the right volumes/ratios is critical to the achievement of your fitness goals.

If you’re eating a good diet and getting enough rest, then there may be some variations you can make to your exercise regime to start making progress again. This can be done in many different ways by tinkering with training variables. As each of us responds to the demands of training differently, it can be beneficial to experiment with these variables to find the most appropriate training process to meet your goals.

The most common training variables are repetitions, sets, intensity, volume, tempo and rest. Exercise selection, and the order in which you complete exercises, is also important in how your body responds to training.

Going back to the question of how you can make better progress with your training partner, assuming you want to keep the exercise selection and order the same as your partner, it may be worthwhile doing the following:

For an increase in strength, try decreasing the number of repetitions (or individual movements completed) while increasing the intensity (or weight/load) and the number of sets completed. You could also benefit from an increase in tempo, which is achieved through an increase in lifting speed. Increasing the explosiveness of your movements is an excellent way of increasing strength.

For an increase in lean muscle mass, try increasing your time under load by increasing the volume, or number of repetitions performed in a set. It is important here to ensure that the load is reasonably heavy to maximise hypertrophy. Too many repetitions require a lighter load, which reduces lean muscle mass gains.

For a lean physique, aim to keep your heart rate high with shorter rest periods between sets and exercises. Performing supersets or compound sets is a good way to achieve this. Explosive training and high intensity interval training are also important tools for weight loss.

In addition to the above, there are many other techniques that can be used in the gym to achieve your personal training goals. Finding the right combination of variables and techniques to suit your body and training goals is a matter of experimentation. Don’t be afraid to try new things. It certainly makes the training process more enjoyable and rewarding.

by Mark Payne

LightSpeed Training

Personal Training Richmond