Posted on

Tuesday, November 29th

The tragic loss of Gary Speed has had everyone scratching their head and numb with shock.

Whatever happened, nothing will really make up for his family’s loss and football’s loss in general.

People have started to speculate on the reasons for it all but the simple fact is that nobody knows for sure.

Depression has been one train of thought, the other he was being blackmailed by the newspapers to all sorts of wild rumours and accusations.

Depression is a very common problem in society and is often known as the silent killer. There was a german goalkeeper dead a couple of years ago after experiencing clinical depression, yet nobody knew. They call it “the curse of the strong” because you have to be mentally strong to hide it from everyone when you think about it!!!

Depression can start as something small and build up to something that literally takes over your life.

What can you do? The first thing i think is to consult your doctor to put you in touch with a professional in the field, you are not going mad, you shouldnt be ashamed, its just a fact of life with many, many people and needs help as soon as possible.

Exercise can be a great help for the individuals i have dealt with who have experienced these issues.

Exercise will automatically raise your spirits by releasing endorphins (a feel good hormone) in your body. If done every or most days, exercise will have a hugely positive effect in battles with every disease and ailments. Depression is a hugely complex problem that is multi-layered, and im not pretending to be an expert.

But, i do know that eating well and healthy, avoiding alcohol (a depressant) and working out in fresh air have long been proven to have very powerful effect against depression.

Its always better to do something about it than ignore any problem, whatever your situation, these three things will work for you no matter where you are right now!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 28th November

With more and more individuals getting diabetes, and other related diseases, isn’t it time we all paid more attention to the sugary foods that we consume every day, both knowingly and not.

By this i mean that there are many foods out there who seem healthy, but are in fact, mostly full of sugar.

Cereals are usually the biggest offenders.

When you were growing up, i was taught to think that muesli’s such as Alpen were the healthiest around. After all it contained nuts, oatmeal, dried fruit etc, surely it HAD to be good for us?

Back then the amount of sugar that was thrown on top of all these ingredients didnt seem to matter. It seemed okay to pile on different types of sugar in order to sweeten the product. These days you can have the no added sugar varieties and you can really taste the difference in these. These muesli’s STILL seem to taste more sugary than the likes of plain old fashioned porridge and weetabix, because they are exactly that-PLAIN all goodness foods that only contain what they say they contain, and nothing added.

The same can be said about shredded wheat, the more plain the breakfast, the better its going to be for you full stop!

The big problem becomes when you become USED to these higher sugar breakfasts, and more importantly your taste buds become used to sugary foods, meaning the thought and especially taste of plain foods becomes alm0st intolerable.

If your taste buds become used to sugary food and you cant do without them, then you are likely putting yourself in danger and if done for an extended period of time, will most likely up your chances of bringing on diabetes. Then you will be told by your doctor that you MUST get used to more plain, more natural foods to get good health back, and simply manage diabetes  and all its dangers.

The time is now to eat well and protect your body from all the dangers of foods loaded with refined sugars.

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 10th November

To follow on as promised from yesterday, its time to talk about what happens after the first 4-6 weeks.

The first month or so is seen as your perfect opportunity to get used to the various exercises, get used to weight training in general, and get your ligaments and tends to a much greater force than normal, and this DOES take time.

Okay, assuming you get through this period with no problem and you have mastered proper technique, its time to move on to newer more challenging exercises.

Rugby is a tough game, but if you train in the right way, you can make the game a whole lot easier and set yourself up for future success and hopefully avoid injury to a better degree.

So the first week after week 6, assuming you are doing 3 sets per exercise, I would change your programme to the following.

Bench press-still in there as a great power movement

Chins-this is a new one for you, it’s the one where there a bar usually hanging high on the wall or even better from the ceiling. You usually have to jump up on a bench to get to it if you’re not that tall, and all you do is hang on it, and then pull yourself up.

This is a tremendously hard exercise so I would start off doing half movements if you find the full movement too hard. Persevere and you will get better, it may well take 6 months to get to 10 full reps.

Next is one arm dumbbell rowing, look for a demonstration of this on a google search again and is a great back builder, which will be of enormous help if you are mauling in rugby or simply fighting for the ball. Do 3 sets of 8 with a dumbbell that tests you-great exercise!

Then on to legs with squats or leg press. Two great choices there, do which ever suits. I would also put in a leg extension and its important not to lock out on this exercise, and will develop the muscles above the knee very well.

Leg curls are an underrated exercise too. Anyone who has ever pulled their hamstring will wish they would have done this one. A great hamstring developer and important to keep the balance of leg training so everything get worked.

You can add calf raises to the list too, another neglected exercise for the calf of course.

Upright rows is a great mass builder for your shoulders, and will add some serious strength. Shoulder presses can be good especially seated in your younger years, but as you get into your 30’s, try to avoid them as lots of people run into overhead movements with their shoulders as time marches on, so I would pick upright rows.

Bench dips or arm dips are great for triceps as discussed yesterday but I would move on to parallel bars dips from now on. This is much harder exercise than arm dips and when done with a wider grip, will also work your chest, shoulders, arms and back indirectly. Dips is one you ought to get used to and fast, its one of my key exercises but like chins, will take you a while to get used to depending on your current bodyweight.

Then to finish you have dumbbell curls, you arms can still take some work by this stage and strong arms are vital for all sorts of reasons in rugby, and in life in general.

So these are examples of very good weight training exercises after week 6 and these will form the foundation of your training for the next few months.

They will constantly challenge you and push you on to new levels of development and progress.

Please email me on fitness@kerimckibbin.co.uk for further info. Keep it simple and don’t over-complicate.

Even more tomorrow!!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 9th November

A popular request i get a lot of the time is from 14 year old rugby players who want to “bulk up” for rugby.

First of all, 14 is a great age and the recommended earliest age for exercise.

Exercise in terms of weight training is not to be done at 100% flat out capacity with maximum intensity, weight training should be moderate at this age because your bones are still growing. You should start off light under supervision and add weight when the previous weight becomes really easy.

If you’re at a gym, a good programme to start off would be;

one set of everything first week, monday wednesday and friday

two sets of everything second week, same days

three sets of everything in the third week

8 repetitions per exercise and use a weight that tests you over the last couple of reps, but doesnt strain you too much, this is important to follow, NO STRAINING!!!

The exercises

Bench press

squat or leg press

upright rows

one arm dumbbell rowing

arm dips on bench

curls with dumbbells

Plank-aim for 10 seconds working up to 60 seconds over the next few weeks

Most people try to over-complicate things, and of course theres a million other exercises you can pluck out of any magazine, but for best results i would stick to those exercises over the first 4-6 weeks.

Take around one minute in between each set, you’re not there to sit around talking all day!

The first is all about conditioning your body to weight training, it can take a while and some pick it up quicker than others, and after all, you will have plenty of years ahead of you training, so theres no huge pressure to get it right in week one for example!!!

The other temptation is to want to copy others in the gym and want to put too much weight on, this is a big error and two things will happen, you will either get injured or get fed up with not being able to lift as much weight as others!!! This is a long term game and not a flash in the pan type of programme!!!

This is the first basic lesson on how to start off, if you start off properly you will be successful, if you don’t, its highly unlikely you will keep it up even in 3 months!!

More tomorrow!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 27th October

Hows your week of portion control and food selection going this week?

  1. Has it been plenty of fruit and vegetables, white meats, oily fish, good carbs, healthy nut selections and whole grains in relation to your supermarket shop?

2 or has it been no fruit and vegetables, white meats and fish but heavily coated with batter and butter, has it been white flour products, and have there been plenty of treats thrown in, even boxes of sweets thrown in?

3 and how is your alcohol intake? Are you thoroughly taking advantage of the mega deals on alcohol in the supermarket or do you drink just once a week and when you do, the volume is quite light?

These three points will provide big clues in the way you look and feel.

Whether your clothes are fitting a little better this week, or are they getting a little tighter again? Your food selections have the answer!

Have you plenty of energy and you have already put 3-4 workouts in already this week?

Or have you wrote off another week and have consigned yourself to just “treading water” for the next 8 weeks. One thing’s for sure, if you do try to somehow tread water, you are definitely destined to put on weight before Christmas, no matter HOW many baggy jumpers and black clothes you wear!!!!

So to avoid all of this happening, try making the right choices NOW you will probably do anyway in January, and avoid all the pain you were going to have then!!!

Nobody I know wants to feel sluggish and horrible now and up to Christmas should be a time of celebration and fun, being in your best shape and having compliments, and not of wearing baggy dark jumpers to hide all the abuse you have given your body all year in food and exercise terms, and everyone asking you “have you put on weight”!!!

Lets get it together!

Twitt