Centurion Blog

Diary of cranky man! Day 1

Recently I have has been doing a lot of research into the benefits of having an occasional NO carb week as a kind of detox for the body.

As a serious trainer I would say that my typical diet is very carb heavy and that I may have become to over reliant in carbohydrate consumption in everyday life.

This is where my personal challenge came in.... After debating it for a while I decided that when I had a week living in a hotel for work (I tutor people for a personal training course) I would eliminate all carbohydrates from my diet for seven days!

This is my account of what happened over the next seven days. I warn you some parts might be shocking and even frightening as I turn into a porridge loving person into a cranky even downright rude human being stripped of even the smallest snickers or bowl of pasta... for that I am sorry...

 

Day 1

It all began on Monday the 2^nd of January, I had decided that as I was living away for a week I could live carb free without the temptation of such cupboard goodies such as chocolate, oats and pasta that I had become so accustomed too!

 

On day 1 I consumed the following foods;

0900hrs - 3 whole eggs scrambled, black coffee

1200hrs – 2 whole eggs scambled, 2 rashers of lean bacons

1400hrs – 2 packs of chicken breast approximately 300g

1700hrs – Sausage and burger whilst travelling

2100hrs – 4 chicken thighs, 2 black coffees

2300hrs – 2 pints of skimmed milk

 

I found that throughout the day I wasn’t as hungry as normal and that I was handling the carb cravings quite well. I felt that my mental faculties were still on point and I even managed to write a few articles and advise a few mentoring clients without sounding like a zombie!

However... when it got to about 2200hrs after a long day of travelling and carrying my huge bag around my thought processes were beginning to suffer and I was starting to talk like a zombie! I felt tired but I think that could be attributed to travelling to Birmingham on the train rather than the lack of carbs.

Overall I felt really, really good and don’t really miss carbs as much as I thought I would.

Please check back tomorrow to see if I am still coping and if anyone has been killed by a cranky man (me!).

 

Josh Mullin – Master Trainer

 

Welcome to the Centurion Training blog. Our blogs used to consist of our monthly newsletter however we have decided to post fitness information and tips on a daily basis to enhance your fitness knowledge, anyway on with the show!


Reason Number 1...

Long, slow duration cardiovascular exercise elevates cortisol levels within your body. (Cortisol is a hormone released in response to stress. It's primary functions are to increase blood sugar, suppress the immune system and decreases bone formation) Elevated cortisol levels in the body means more fat will be stored around the abdomen and an ever increasing waistline!

Reason Number 2...

Excessive steady state cardio will increase the time spent by your body in a state of catabolism (muscle breakdown for fuel) so hours of steady state cardio will ultimately lead to a decrease in muscle mass which in turn will decrease your metabolic rate!

Reason Number 3...

Steady state cardio on a general level will make you more susceptible to injuries, any movement performed repetitively in the same position will cause excessive wear and tear on the joints and supporting structures. This is especially true for beginners in the gym who are misinformed about their cardiovascular training methods or have poor technique (one example is watching people on treadmills with poor gait).

Reason Number 4...

Long duration cardiovascular exercise can be extremely time consuming for minimal results. Unless you are training for a specific event such as a marathon then you are better off performing short interval workouts such as the ones listed below. Shorter workouts at a higher intensity will help you lose fat faster and improve cardiovascular conditioning in a shorter time than steady state cardio.


Sample Interval Workout

Perform your intervals on four cardiovascular machines using the Tabata training protocol (20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest for a total of 8 rounds). Rest two minutes then move onto the next machine.

You can choose any four exercises that you enjoy and that allow you to train hard over the four minute Tabata rounds.

Ensure you make a note of all the exercise details such as incline, resistance etc so you can track your progress throughout your training regime. Here are my suggestions;

Incline treadmill (either walk, jog or sprint)
Rowing machine
X-Trainer
Spin bike (standing climb position)

Sample Bodyweight Interval Circuit

Press ups
Squats
Inverted rows
Lunges
Pike press ups
Step Ups
Wide grip pull ups

Perform each exercise for thirty seconds and between each exercise listed above perform one bodyweight cardiovascular exercise for thirty seconds. I suggest choosing one of the following;

Burpees
Star jumps
Mountain climbers
Shuttle runs/Suicide Drills (either 30 seconds of shuttle runs or one complete suicide drill)

This only equates to 7 minutes per circuit! Perform the entire circuit 3-4 times and then curse me under your breath!



I hope this post has inspired you to start being fitter, keep your current level of conditioning or just to try something new!
Thank you for reading and feel free to leave a comment!

Today I started a new circuit training style workout which will be performed 3 days a week and each workout forms the basis of a challenge.

In all 3 workouts the challenge is beating your previous times and anyone else who enters times too!

The workout is as follows;

Perform 10 press ups (chest to floor!)
                10 inverted rows
                10 parallel bar dips
                10 neutral grip chin ups (all the way down and up until your chin goes over the bar!)

Perform all exercises in that order as fast as you can with breaks if necessary. Your timer should start just before you drop down for your first press up and your timer should stop as soon as you finish your chin ups.

After round one rest for 2 minutes and then repeat twice more!

The final part of the challenge is a 1000m sprint on the rower, record your workout from start to finish on video and post to the comment section below.

Have fun and give it everything!

Josh.