Blog Entries

England Netball do Masterchef: (and they're allowed to eat carbohydrates)

Martin

In Bath yesterday with England

Netball doing a food shop and cooking session. Went very well, a few tips that came out of it...

How to pick a good fresh pineapple - pick it up and smell the bottom of it, if it smells sweet its ready tobe eaten.

When buying on a budget - the cheap option is often the same as the more expensive branded versi [...]

New study: Eat less meat to lose weight? Are they mad!!??

Martin

Out (food) shopping yesterday my eye was caught by a news headline:

EAT LESS MEAT TO LOSE WEIGHT

Now as you can imagine I was a little disturbed... especially as this made front page news. I thought it was just some delusional Health Editor at the Daily Express, but then I find it on BBC News, theNHS website and a muppet at the Daily Mail who entitled his article "Sorry Dr Atkins, eating LESS meat is the way to lose weight, results of five-year study show." Ah y [...]

A great way to flavour your protein and fat meals!

Martin

With only a slight adjustment of the fat portion in your meal you could add so much flavour, try this.

60g of white wine vinegar, 20g Extra virgin olive oil, 20g of Tescos organic wholegrain mustard (black pepper to taste).

56kcals, 0.4g Protein, 0.7g Carbs, 5.4g Fat for a 25g serving which is plenty!

NB: The reason I mention the Tescos mustard in particular is becauseits one of the very few mustards to not add extra crap!

Eat cholestrol to lower cholestrol production! I knew that when I was 13!

Martin

Doing a big tidy up of my office and I find notes that I made back in November 1999 whilst studying biology I wrote "If there is an increase in the absorbed cholesterol in the intestine, it decreases the activity of enzymes synthesising cholesterol from co-enzyme A". Little did I know that years later I'd be telling people the very same thing. Unless you have a predisposition tohigh cholesterol, dietary cholesterol has very little affect on your blood readings. For the very r [...]

The Mac-Nutrition Online Community is now LIVE!

Martin

The Mac-Nutrition Online Community is now LIVE! You can join here!

The forum has been made in the view to becoming a community for individuals to ask questionsand share ideas on a range of nutrition and or training topics. Join completely FREE today.

The idea of the forum is that it will start to answer questions itself i.e. there are only so many questions that can be asked. I've perso [...]

Colostrum increase IGF-1

Martin

Mero et al., (2002). IGF-I, IgA, and IgG responses to bovine colostrum supplementation during training. J Appl Physiol. 93 (2), 732-9.

This study examined the effect of bovine colostrum (Dynamic colostrum) supplementation on blood and saliva variables (study 1) and the absorption of orally administered human recombinant insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I (rhIGF-I) labeledwith 123I (123I-rhIGF-I) (study 2). In study 1, adult male and female athletes were randomly assigned in a double-bl [...]

A lovely new study on eating lots of protein...

Martin

Conducted down at the well respected lab of Dr. Tipton at Birmingham University this new study again gives an insight into the importance of protein for athletes. Unfortunately, it does not give us any information on the difference between 1.8g of protein /kg BW vs 2.3g/kg BW however it at least confirms quite conclusively what 'we' already knew.

Mettler et al., (2010). Increased protein intake reduces lean body mass loss during weight loss in athletes. Med Sci Sports Exer [...]

Water is Anabolic...

Martin

You may ask what has water or hydration got to do with anabolism (the synthesis of new muscle in this instance)? I have been reminded recently of the importance of maintaining hydration levels to ensure the anabolic milieu of the body is optimal.

Even moderate dehydration of 2.5% of body mass can reduce the testosterone output in response to resistance training by over 10% (Judelsonet al.,2008).

So next time you catch yourself thinking 'water bottles are fo [...]

Hannah Waterman speaks again on 'The Right Stuff'

Martin

Hannah speaks again of her journey to losing 5 dress sizes.

Leucine - my favourite amino acid!

Martin

Mero, A. (1999). Leucine supplementation and intensive training. Sports Med. 27 (6), 347-58.

Leucine, isoleucine and valine, the branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), make up about one-third of muscle protein. Of these, leucine has been the most thoroughly investigated because its oxidation rate is higher than that of isoleucine or valine. Leucine also stimulates protein synthesisin muscle and is closely associated with the release of gluconeogenic precursors, such as alanine, from muscle. [...]

One of Martin's clients, Hannah Waterman, speaks on GMTV

Martin

Hannah Waterman speaks to Loraine on GMTV about her jouney to dropping five dress sizes under Martin's guidance on diet and exercise.

Nutritional goals for muscle gain

Martin

I have been reminded recently of common misconceptions that surround muscle gain. A number of my athletes are currently entering a prepatory period where muscle gain is key. Training volumes are higher and intensities somewhat lower. Muscle gain potential can all be ruined by poor dietary practice. Many are told "increase your protein intake in this phase as you will need more protein to build muscle."

However, in truth this is not the whole picture. As long as you hav [...]

Vitamin D - The research continues!

Martin

Some research looking the the effect of skin colour on the ability of the body to synthesize Vitamin D through sun exposure. The conclusions drawn were profound, estimating that current reccommendations for Vitamin D intake where up to 8 times too low.

This study found that even individuals getting ~90 minutes of sun expsoure per day, with ~35% of their body surface area exposedneeded 1300IU Vitamin D supplemented daily... Just to get levels out of the deficient range!

[...]

Hannah Watermans DVD is released

Martin

Since losing almost 3 stone under Martin's guidance, Hannah Waterman has released a fitness DVD with the diet and exercise program she undertook. The DVD features a short interview with Martin.

Fructose kills....

Martin

A fantastically interesting study looking at the difference between drinking glucose sweetened and fructose sweetened drinks. Fructose is commonly known as the 'healthy sugar' however, the results of this study show something slightly different.

Stanhope K. L. et al. (2009). Consuming fructose-sweetened, not glucose-sweetened, beverages increases visceral adiposity and lipids and decreases insulin sensitivity in overweight/obese humans. J Clin Invest.119 (5), 13 [...]

Yet another study showing if it isn't broke don't try to fix it!

Martin

Creatine Monohydrate, the most studied supplement in the world. Literally thousands of studies have been conducted on it and time and time again it shows it has positive effects on a number of performance markers. However, the supplement industry is still trying to improve it?! Claiming it has inadequate bioavailability, or the rediculous claim that 'holding water' is a negative side effect of Creatine Monohydrate supplementation.

Fortunately studies like the one below show it cannot [...]

An interesting read on Weight training in children and fatloss

Martin

McGuigan et al, (2009). Eight weeks of resistance training can significantly alter body composition in children who are overweight or obese. J Strength Cond Res 23(1): 80-85

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an 8-week resistance training program on children who were overweight or obese.

Forty-eight children (n = 26 girls and 22 boys; mean age = 9.7 years) participated in an 8-week undulating periodized resistance training program for 3 d·wk-1. [...]

Don't have your protein shake before you train?

Martin

A study at Birmingham by Dr Kevin Tipton, one of the leading researchers in protein metabolism, has shown us the need for being specific with the application of research. Earlier research had shown that ingestion of free amino acids and carbohydrates before exercise was more beneficial than ingestion after exercise. This caused a sudden change in tactics from a number of individuals who started consumingtheir protein shakes before training instead of after... Unfortunately, extrapolating results [...]

Ground breaking research?

Martin

A brand new training study using Beta Alanine and what a suprise... it works! Essentially what this journal has done is compared a placebo group to a group supplemented with Beta Alanine. Both groups completed the same training programme but improvements seen in the Beta Alanine group. Significant improvements were seen in the Beta Alanine group for VO2peak, time to exhaustion, total work done and lean body mass. I've copied in the abstract below for those of you who are inter [...]

Vitamin D, the 'Sunshine Vitamin' may stop you getting colds...

Martin

This study looked at the relationship between levels of Vitamin D in the blood and incidence of respiratory tract infections... or more commonly known as 'cold' symptoms. There seemed to be an association between higher levels of Vitamin D and lower incidence of cold symptoms.

It is interesting to note that a huge number of people in this study were actually 'deficient' in Vitamin D! There is much controversy over the optimal or even appropriate level of Vitam [...]