Hall Training Systems has rebranded to Hall Personal Training, and today unveiled its new logo, tagline and website to support its evolution over the last year.

The underlying ethos of the brand remains the same: we are still committed to providing the very best service to our clients, going above and beyond other personal trainers in Oxford. We are still committed to achieving results through science, but we blend the most up to date health and fitness theory with our years of industry experience, ensuring the best approach for each client as an individual. Finally, we still take a ‘systemised’ approach. Now this doesn’t mean cookie cutter programmes or nutrition – that is completely against what we stand for! For each individual we do everything from scratch, based on your individual goals, exercise history and the time available. But it means we have tools and systems that we know work, and processes we can employ to make sure our results are among the best in the industry, let alone in Oxford.

So, why the rebrand?

Well, when it was founded, Hall Training Systems was the brainchild of our founder, Chris. He loves practical application and science and information, and treating clients as individuals – and the old brand reflected that. But since then, the company has grown, and we now work with an amazing, hand-picked team of personal trainers across Oxford. When we got together to decide what makes us us and sets us apart, our truly personal approach for each individual client shone through. So we wanted to put the personal back into personal training, and back into our brand. We’ve kept the good of the old Hall Training, and made it better.

Now for the strapline…

“Results through science” has been replaced with “Stronger. Healthier. Happier.” Results through science is what we focus on as professionals, but it’s not why our clients come to us. We spoke to our awesome community and asked them to summarise why they wanted a personal trainer in the first place, and most importantly, what we’ve helped them achieve. Being stronger, healthier and happier people was the unanimous feedback we received, and what we, as a team, want our clients to feel when they work with us. From the comments that came back to us, it looks like we’re getting it right!
Finally, you’ll notice we have a shiny new website! We owe our thanks to the fantastic team at Rare Form New Media in Oxford for their help with this. We wanted something that reflected our vision for our clients, our ethos as a team (friendly and approachable, down to earth, but damn good at our jobs), and the fact that we work with people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. Hopefully you agree that this is what we now have. We hope you enjoy exploring it!

Another month, another deluge of health and fitness research. Our level three trainer, Tobi, has looked at five things we’ve learned in April so you can incorporate them into your training programme straight away! From stretching for endurance athletes, to protein supplements for recovery, he’s got it covered.

1. Stretching may not be important for endurance runners
You’re probably reading this and thinking “surely it is?”. Well a study by Baxter et al (2016), looked into the short and long term effects of stretching on running. Acute stretching of more than 45 seconds is known to cause a reduction of force production, which impacts running economy (tool tip: the body’s ability to convert energy via metabolism into kinetic energy). They also concluded that stretching has no impact on reducing delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS) which is the soreness that you may get up to 72 hours after exercising.

This study was limited as it was a narrative of the authors’ opinions, so I’ll leave it up to you to decide if it helps or not. At Hall Personal Training we always recommend dynamic stretching and movement before exercising.

2. Stretching before a strength training programme decreases the total volume that can be performed
A second stretching study looked at the effects of stretching vs. not stretching before a session using the legs. During a 10-week training programme, in weeks one to five it was noticed that the leg which didn’t perform the strength was able to handle more repetitions (17.8%) and a higher total training volume (20.9%), than the one that did. Similar results were seen during weeks six to ten. In the same study, strength gains weren’t massively different between the groups (12.7-12.9%).

The take home from this is that if you’re looking to improve strength and volume, stretching may not be the way to go. Instead, try performing warm up sets of an exercise.

3. Inhaling ammonia does not increase your deadlift 1RM
As the title suggests, this is just not the case (sorry for those you who do this!). Virgil et al (2017) used 10 males and 10 females with over two years of strength training experience, and assigned them to either an ammonia smelling group or a control group (smelling water). 1RM deadlift for both sexes did not increase when smelling either the ammonia or the water. Knowing this, it may be time to put away the smelling salts.

4. The structure of the forefoot bone may determine your sprinting performance
Tanaka et al (2017) measured the forefeet of 38 sprinters, who were separated into trained and untrained groups. The study concluded that structure of the forefoot bones is a determinant of sprinting performance; the first and second toes of sprinters are longer than non-sprinters, and the length of the forefoot bone of the 2^nd toe is linked with faster 100m times. Other factors may play a role in sprint performance but this is useful information to determine if you’re going to be a fast runner.

5. Protein supplementation may not enhance recovery for concurrent training
Protein supplementation during concurrent training (resistance and endurance training) showed no signs of reducing exercise induced muscle damage (EIMD). One study looked into this by giving subjects two supplements per day as soon as EIMD occurred. Subjects were given either 20g whey protein hydrolysate, an isocaloric carbohydrate, or a low-calorie placebo supplement in 500ml of liquid. The results did not affect any of the markers. However, the subjects were well trained cyclists. The study may yield different results for other populations.

But recovery isn’t the only reason we take protein – it’s the fundamental element of a healthy diet, and is crucial for body composition. For more information I advise you to download our handy protein booklet.

References:
1. Baxter, C., Mc Naughton, L. R., Sparks, A., Norton, L., & Bentley, D. (2016). Impact of stretching on the performance and injury risk of long-distance runners. Research in Sports Medicine, 1-13.

2. Junior, R. M., Berton, R., de Souza, T. M. F., Chacon-Mikahil, M. P. T., & Cavaglieri, C. R. (2017). Effect of the flexibility training performed immediately before resistance training on muscle hypertrophy, maximum strength and flexibility. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 1-8

3. Vigil, J. N., Sabatini, P. L., Hill, L. C., Swain, D. P., & Branch, J. D. (2017). Ammonia inhalation does not increase dead lift one-repetition maximum in college-aged male and female weightlifters. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research

4. Tanaka, T., Suga, T., Ohtsuka, M., Misaki, J., Miyake, Y., Kudo, S., & Isaka, T. (2017). Relationship between the length of the forefoot bones and performance in male sprinters. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sport

5. Eddens, L., Browne, S., Stevenson, E. J., Sanderson, B., van Someren, K., & Howatson, G. (2017). The efficacy of protein supplementation during recovery from muscledamaging concurrent exercise. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, (ja).

1. Community can help you improve your fitness results
Now hold on to the edge of your seats, because this study is super interesting.

A research team out in Southwest USA have taken note of the surge in the semi-private fitness training model, and have come out with a really neat study examining its potential benefits over conventional 1-2-1 sessions.

Participating members were split up into groups of 5, and while they did warm up together, they each ran through an individualised programme as part of the session.

Interestingly, the results that fed back through an online survey suggested that self-exercise motivation, exercise efficacy and self-reported health and wellbeing all rose; each of which feed into the core fundamentals of self-determination theory (which is awesome).

The best bit? All study participants came from varying age ranges, had differing physical capabilities and were mismatched in the length they had been training.

So, should you share a personal trainer or seek our a community like our private group? It certainly wouldn’t be a bad idea…Did I hear someone say “Hall Training bootcamp?”
2. Your training should change with your age
Looks like all those bajillion different articles across the internet on ‘training for your age’ may be of some relevance after all.

A recent study examining the impact of a 12-week concurrent high intensity interval strength and endurance programme in healthy older adults, yielding some surprising results. The group that partook in the more rigorous, higher intensity exercise saw greater improvements in body composition, muscle strength, mobility and balance.

But isn’t that expected?

The interesting thing is, this was despite a reduction in overall training volume to the low-moderate group!

Take home note? If you’re worried that your life number may be impacting your ability to train hard, you’re mistaken. Try out some shorter, more intense sessions and your body might just thank you for it!
3. Want a more stable squat? Take a breath.
Looking to maximise your squatting stability? Do your body a favour, and leave the bosu ball alone.

Rather, focus on rhythmic bracing and breathing. Far cheaper, far more effective, far less likely that you’ll lose balance and faceplant the floor. All good things.

A recent study examining the efficiency of Pilates-based breathing and squatting identified increased muscular activity in the rectus, bicep femoris (hamstring) and tibialis anterior (lower leg) when squatting was performed in conjunction with Pilates-based breathing; increasing stability during the movement.

Want to get more stable in your squat? Try Pilates.
4. Oxygenated Water, Fad or Fab?
If you’re anything like me, when oxygenated water hit the shelves, you were sceptical at the very least. I’ve been around the block enough times to roll my eyes when the next super-duper, colourfully marketed, tea detox is thrust my way!

So, Oxygenated water? What even….

Turns out, the guys down at JISSN (journal of the international society of sports nutrition) thought the same when they published a recent study examining the ingestion of oxygenated water in long distance runners.
Incredibly, whilst running performance nor lactate kinetics saw any improvement, lactate clearing was enhanced post-exercising, leading to a reduced recovery period.

More research certainly needs to be looked at in this rather new area, but if you’re a long distance runner, get a little bit sore after training and are looking to optimize your post-training recovery protocol; it might be worth chugging a bottle of the ol’ water air.

5. Fancy foot, everyday foot, barefoot; what shoe should we wear while running? 
Running is one of the most popular sports out there. There’s no two ways about it. It has an incredibly low barrier to entry, and at the basic level requires no learnt skill acquisition/training.

It’s no surprise then, that a whole market has emerged around the key instrument in every runner’s arsenal – the foot.

In depth analysis of running gait. Adjustments to over-pronation. Specialist prescribed shoe soles.

The amount of fancy specifications for one singular body part is really quite remarkable. So much so that there’s even been a movement backwards away from hi-tech equipment and back to how mother nature intended it. Barefoot running.

But which is optimal when it comes to running economy?

A recent study down in Tennessee sought to compare the differences in step frequency and running economy between normal shoes, running shoes and no shoes.

Looks like we’ll finally get our answer….

Yet, rather underwhelmingly, the study showed no significant differences in running economy between either of the footwear conditions, although step frequency did increase ever so slightly for the barefoot running group.

So, what type of footwear is best for running?

Unsurprisingly, whichever you feel most comfortable and confident in.

….and whichever look the best, of course!

References:
1. Wayment, Heidi A. Ph.D.; McDonald, Rachel BS. (March 2017). Sharing a Personal Trainer: Personal and Social Benefits of Individualized Small Group Training. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.

2. García-Pinillos, Felipe; Laredo-Aguilera, José A; Muñoz-Jiménez, Marcos; Latorre-Román, Pedro A.. (March 2017). Effects of 12-week concurrent high-intensity interval strength and endurance training programme on physical performance in healthy older people. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.

3. Barbosa, Alexandre C.; Martins, Fábio M.; Silva, Angélica F.; Coelho, Ana C.; Intelangelo, Leonardo; Vieira, Edgar R.. (March 2017). Activity of Lower Limb Muscles During Squat with and Without Abdominal Drawing-In and Pilates Breathing. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.

4. Flemin, N., Vaughan, J., Feeback M.. (March 2017). Ingestion of oxygenated water enhances lactate clearance kinetics in trained runners. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

5. Cochrum, Robbie G.; Connors, Ryan T.; Coons, John M.; Fuller, Dana K.; Morgan, Don W.; Caputo, Jennifer L.. (March 2017). Comparison of Running Economy Values While Wearing No Shoes, Minimal Shoes, and Normal Running Shoes. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 31 (3), 595-601.

Alright, so as I’m sure you will have heard, sleep is damn important and most of us don’t get enough of it. At Hall Personal Training, we like to promote a healthy life all round, we’re not just about lifting heavy weights in the gym. So, I would like to give you all a few bits of information on why sleep is so important, and a few tips to try and improve our sleep in the 24-hour world we live in. As a personal trainer, I couldn’t let this opportunity go without looking at how it will impact performance in the gym either!

Why do we need sleep?
We need sleep for a number of different reasons. A key one is the release of hormones and chemicals that maintain homoeostasis (equilibrium of the body). It allows us to rest and recover our body as well as our mind. Our bodies function in patterns known as “circadian rhythms” (behavioural, physiological and biochemical rhythms) and the circadian rhythm for sleep is controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (an area of the brain just behind the optic chasm also known as the “master clock”).

If we don’t get enough sleep, we are at risk of:

• Memory and cognitive impairments
• Decreased performance and alertness
• High Blood Pressure
• Heart attacks
• Heart failure
• Stroke
• Obesity
• Psychiatric problems, including depression and mood disorders
• Attention Deficit Disorder
• Mental impairment
• Fetal and childhood growth retardation
• Poor quality of life

These are just a few of the problems, and issues will vary depending on the type of sleep deprivation, whether it is partial sleep deprivation, long term deprivation or short term deprivation. For example, it has been shown in numerous studies that partial sleep deprivation will have a much greater effect on mood than on cognitive or motor functions.

Will a lack of sleep make me put on weight?
A lack of sleep can also lead to weight gain or difficulty in losing weight. One reason for this is that a lack of sleep can lead to a reduction in Leptin (a hormone that makes us feel full) and an increase in Ghrelin (a hormone that makes us feel hungry) thus leading a person to eat more during the day. As well as this chemical stuff, we should also be aware of the psychological side effects that may lead to weight gain. We know that a lack of sleep can lead to increased stress levels, which can often lead to eating more as a coping mechanism. Also, most of us will be much less likely to drag ourselves to the gym when we’re feeling sleepy.

Can lack of sleep affect me gaining muscle?
Not getting enough sleep can also affect those of us who are looking to put on a bit of muscle mass. This is because sleep is when we get most of our muscle repair and it is also when we increase our production of Growth Hormone (GH). An insufficient amount of sleep will also lead to an increase in cortisol and a reduction in testosterone – all bad things if you’re looking to increase your lean muscle mass!
So how much sleep is enough sleep?
The right amount of sleep will vary from person to person, however, if you can get somewhere between 7-9 hours as an adult you won’t go far wrong.

Any tips on improving sleep?
The best tip for the majority of bad sleepers would be to take a break from electronic screens before bed. These screens produce blue light which our brains interpret in the same way as daylight. This prevents the release of melatonin, a hormone which helps send us to sleep. I’d also suggest that you should try and be in as strict a routine as possible with regards to bedtime and the time you get up. Like I said before, our bodies like rhythms and patterns. You’ll find the newer version of the iphone will have a ‘bedtime’ mode that when enabled will place an orange tint to the screen filtering out blue light.
Something we highly recommend to our clients is the desktop plug-in  – f.lux. It’s free to download and will filter out the blue screen light that emits from your laptop or computer; ideal for students and night owls.

References:
“Effects of sleep deprivation on performance: a meta-analysis.” Pilcher JJ, Huffcutt AI. (1996)
“Short Sleep Duration Is Associated with Reduced Leptin, Elevated Ghrelin, and Increased Body Mass Index” Shahrad Taheri, Ling Lin,Diane Austin, Terry Young, and  Emmanuel Mignot
“Growth hormone and cortisol secretion in relation to sleep and wakefulness.” J R Davidson, H Moldofsky, and  F A Lue

At Hall Personal training, we ensure we stay on top of the latest research in the health, fitness, strength and conditioning journals. That way we know we are providing the best possible advice to our clients, combining theoretical knowledge with our years of practical experience.
This month, our junior trainer George has scoured the research from February to see what’s new in the fitness industry and to provide us with some top tips you can introduce right away in your training.

1. Should You Use A Weight Vest For Sprinting?
Sprinting is a key component to most team sports so knocking that split second off a 100m sprint time is a key goal for many athletes. Lately, the trend for using weight vests for sprinting (and every other exercise) has skyrocketed. A recent study conducted on improving sprint speed concluded that using a weighted vest during training for added resistance v.s. good old fashioned sprinting produced no noticeable difference in sprint times.

Rather than focusing on adding weight up-top, it would make sense to build stronger and more explosive quads, glutes and hamstrings (prime sprint movers). This would significantly increase sprint times. After all, Force = Mass x Acceleration. Save your money and put in a little more sweat in the gym building immense legs.

2. Increase Performance Using External Cues
Coaching cues are essential for performance and output during training. The two main cues we focus on are external (outside the body) & internal (focusing on the body).

Recent research has indicated a slight advantage in using external cues for increased force output and athletic performance. Even though the advantage is minor, external cues were shown to be better for both force output and performance, therefore we can only conclude that so far, external cues are the title holder! However, both of these were only performed on two exercises so how this would carry over into other exercises is yet to be confirmed.

It would be interesting to try different internal and external cues because not all cues are created equal – some have far better carryover for performance and output than others. Essentially, it all depends how you perform the movement – I could give the best cues in the world but if you’re unable to connect with them, they’re useless!

3. Which Grip Should You Choose For Pullups?
With so many choices in the pull-up library, it can be hard to know which one is the best for strengthening and growing the back. A recent study completed on muscle activation during four pull-up variations showed that the only major ‘pulling’ muscle that demonstrated much difference between variations was the middle trapezius (the meaty bit you put the bar on when you squat) and this was only between a neutral and pronated grip, the latter being superior. Essentially, all other muscles displayed no significant difference between variations in this study.

Now…
As I learnt from my visit to world famous Bodybuilder – Ben Pakulski’s – Mi40 Gym in Florida, understanding that how you think about performing the movement (where you place your focus) goes a long way to determining the outcome of muscle activation. Following on from above, I believe this is why we always get such a variance across numerous studies when looking at EMG results, and no definitive answer. Different cues for the variations would provide different EMG outcomes. I’m not saying that EMG studies are useless by any means, but rather that  they should be used as a piece of the puzzle to expand your thought process rather than define it.

4. Increase Reps & Total Workout Volume During Your Rest
Adopting a quick 30-40s antagonistic muscle static stretch during your rest periods may prove to be beneficial to increasing reps performed and subsequent total workout volume. After all, volume is one of the greatest precursors of hypertrophy – this is something you should pay serious attention to! Additionally, during the study, muscle activation was higher during the static stretching workouts compared to the non-stretching and PNF workouts. Win-Win!

The long-term effects of static stretching between sets is still yet to be confirmed.

Luckily, static stretching proved to be better than PNF stretching – somehow partner assisted PNF stretching between sets seems a little difficult to replicate workout-to-workout.
So, instead of scrolling Instagram and Facebook during your rest period, make use of your time and get stretching.

5. Lower The Bar Quicker for Increased Explosiveness
Training with shorter eccentric contractions (when a muscle lengthens under load) seems to provide increased power output as it relates to vertical jump height. Thirty men were divided into three  groups that tested varying lengths of eccentric contraction – 2s, 4s & 6s. The group that performed 2s eccentric contractions managed to increase their vertical jump the most – 3cm compared to 1 cm in the other two groups over four weeks of training.

Interestingly, the group that performed the 2s eccentric movements increased their squat 1RM the least – 11kg as opposed to 17kg & 14kg in the 4s & 6s groups respectively.
It would be great to get some further up-to date research on eccentric contraction lengths as it pertains to strength increases across a variety of movements, to see whether 4s is optimal with 6s being too long.
Currently, it looks like shorter eccentrics are better for increased power and explosiveness, possibly taking advantage of the muscle’s natural stretch reflex.

Choosing your tempo will vary considerably between individuals as this will be largely determined by your goals, in this case, power v.s. strength.

References:
1. Effects of Sprint Training With and Without Weighted training with weighted vests and unresisted sprint running training on changes in jumping, sprinting, and Vest on Speed and Repeated Sprint Ability in Male Soccer Players. Rey, E., Padrón-Cabo, A., & Fernández-Penedo, D. (2016). The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.
2. The Effects of Either a Mirror, Internal or External Focus Instructions on Single and Multi-Joint Tasks. Halperin, I., Hughes, S., Panchuk, D., Abbiss, C., & Chapman, D. W. (2016). PloS one, 11(11), e0166799.
3. Electromyographic Analysis Of Muscle Activation During Pull-Up Variations. Dickie, J. A., Faulkner, J. A., Barnes, M. J., & Lark, S. D. (2016). Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology.
4. Strength performance parameters and muscle activation adopting two antagonist stretching methods before and between sets Paz, G., Maia, M.,Whinchester, J., & Miranda, H. (2016). Science & Sports, 31(6), e173-e180
5. The Effects of Eccentric Contraction Duration on Muscle Strength, Power Production, Vertical Jump, and Soreness. Mike JN1, Cole N, Herrera C, VanDusseldorp T, Kravitz L, Kerksick CM.

For the vast majority of people, a body fat transformation will have fat loss as it’s key goal, so Georgey’s transformation was designed to be a combination of reducing energy intake through diet, alongside regular and progressive training; which not only contributed to increasing the energy deficit, but also served to retain essential muscle mass. We began with a workout schedule not too dissimilar to that which Georgey was used to; three full body resistance sessions per week. This allowed her to start to introduce ‘a little’ cardio (in order to assist the energy deficit further) and to adjust to her ‘transformation diet’ (read: less wine and popcorn) without being overwhelmed from the get-go.

As the programme progressed, we gradually increased the amount of work Georgey was doing to make sure we were continually giving her body a reason to adapt. We began this progression by adding an additional resistance training session to each week, spreading the work out over four days instead of three, and making each individual session more manageable. This is essential when you’ve got fewer incoming chocolate buttons to fuel longer workouts. We still trained the full body every session, but to help manage recovery, each day had either a lower body or an upper body emphasis. We then worked up to adding more exercises, sets and reps to each session.

In addition to this, we included ‘easier’ weeks to help manage fatigue, allow for recovery, and to give Georgey time to refocus and get ready for the next few weeks of hard training.

As the journey continued, the training was getting tougher, recovering between sessions was getting tougher, the frequency of ‘my legs hurt’ days had increased and the multiple social engagements of the festive season was making scheduling a little trickier. We needed a little more flexibility. So, we continued with four days of resistance training but moved to training the upper body and lower body separately. This afforded more flexibility to schedule sessions back to back without them interfering with each other. It also meant there were fewer days where Georgey had to face squats and lunges; a good thing for sore legs and a good thing psychologically. As well as maintaining the resistance training sessions, Georgey had been increasing the frequency and intensity of her cardio sessions, getting in up to four hours per week towards the end of the process.

On the subject of squats and lunges, Georgey’s programme was built around compound movements that emphasised full range of motion through multiple joints, like squats, lunges, glute bridges, pushups and rows. These types of movement not only provide the opportunity to apply the most overload to the body to build muscle, as a bonus, they also happen to burn far more calories than isolation exercises. On top of that they’re efficient, hitting more muscle groups at once, making each workout quicker to complete (and that’s no bad thing when your energy levels have taken a hit from eating less food).

Throughout, we kept a close eye on how Georgey was getting on both psychologically and physically. That way we could make adjustments when needed and keep everything moving in the right direction. Aside from taking regular measurements of how her body was changing, we kept a record of all her training sessions so that we could see whether she was at least maintaining, or in her case increasing (go Georgey!), her repetition strength (the number of reps she could do with a certain weight). This was a pretty good indication Georgey was holding onto muscle despite being in an energy deficit.

In conclusion, effective programming and nutrition guidance is they key to a successful body transformation. You need to keep an eye on the intensity and volume of sessions, as well as making sure that no muscle mass is being lost. When planning a transformation like this you need to have a solid overview of what you’ll be doing for the twelve weeks before you start. This helps you keep the end goal in mind, but also know where you’re headed. Georgey found it really helpful to write down all of her workouts for example, and then cross them off one by one so she could see her progress.

I know we would say this, but to achieve the best results, expert guidance is essential. So for one sales plug: hire us, we are all awesome and invaluable, and if you put in the effort, we’ll get you the results.

At Hall Personal training, we ensure we stay on top of the latest research in the health, fitness, strength and conditioning journals. That way we know we are providing the best possible advice to our clients, combining theoretical knowledge with our years of practical experience.

Our junior trainer Tobi has scoured the research for January to see what’s new in the fitness industry and provide some top tips you can introduce into your training straight away!

1. Heavy loads are better than moderate loads for increasing strength.
A recent study study compared the effects of heavy loads (2-4RM) versus moderate loads (8-12RM). Heavy load training led to an increase of 30% in 1RM back squat and 14.5% in 1RM bench press, whereas 16.7% and 10.5% respectively were noticed in the moderate load group.

Although the study was unable to find the exact mechanism that led to the strength gains in the heavy load group, this is still valuable information and is definitely worth considering if you’re looking to increase your strength.
2. Looking to increase your 100m sprint time? Try Blood Flow Restriction training.
Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) training is when you use lighter loads in the region of 20-30% of 1RM, and restrict blood flow using an item such as a resistance band, a technique commonly used during hypertrophy training.

When performing 6 sets of 100m sprints at 60-70%, sprint times were reduced by 0.38-0.24s. This was compared to a normal programme without the use of BFR. Although times decreased, the difference was less than the difference observed in the BFR group. So next time you decide to increase sprint times, slap on a resistance band, restrict that blood flow and get sprinting.
3. If you’re a footballer and have ever had an ankle injury, then this tip is for you
I’m a footballer and I’ve had many ankle injuries that just kept coming back. I couldn’t quite figure out why, but a study is now suggesting that hip extension strength could be the cause. Over a three-season period they collected data which suggests that low hip extension strength increased the incidence of injury. They concluded that footballers were not able to rely on their hip strength during running, jumping or agility type movements. It’s not known whether increasing hip strength would reduce the incidence of injury but I myself have been working on my glutes the last few months and have noticed that I no longer get any pain in my ankles. Exercises such as glute bridges or hip thrusters should do the trick.
4.Try the 3/7 protocol for building strength
It’s widely known that long rest periods have been used for developing strength and shorter rest periods have been used to develop hypertrophy. The 3/7 approach adopts an incremental approach in the number of repetitions per set (5 sets in total) with 15 seconds of rest between sets. A new study found that the 3/7 protocol led to greater gains in strength (29.8%) compared to a standard set of 4×6, with a rest time of two and a half minutes (21.8%).
5. Males are more likely to suffer from groin pain compared to women
The groin is the inner part of our thighs, which is made up of a group of muscles known as the adductors. The adductor group consist of the adductor longus (most commonly injured muscle), adductor magnus, adductor brevis, gracilis and the tiny pectineus. In females, the rectus abdominals (or abs) inserts onto the pubic bone where as in males it inserts into the gracilis (one of the adductor muscles).
Women have wider hips than men (90 vs. 65 degrees ) that can affect the line of pull of the adductor muscles.

Sports that require a sudden change of direction e.g. football, rugby, tennis and badminton to name a few, tend to see a lot more groin injuries in men. Adductor training can help prevent this from happening and the work ratio of adductor to abductor work should be greater than 80% in favor of the adductors.

Exercises that strengthen your adductors include, Romanian deadlifts, wide stance squats, lateral lunges or the traditional adductor machine.

References:
1.Differential Effects of Heavy Versus Moderate Loads on Measures of Strength and Hypertrophy in Resistance-Trained Men. Schoenfeld, B. J., Contreras, B., Vigotsky, A. D., & Peterson, M. (2016). Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 15(4), 715.
2. Low Intensity Sprint Training With Blood Flow Restriction Improves 100M Dash, by Behringer, M., Behlau, D., Montag, J., McCourt, M. & Mester, J. (2016). The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research
3. Hip Strength As An Intrinsic Risk Factor For Lateral Ankle Sprains In Youth Soccer Players: A 3-Season Prospective Study. De Ridder, R., Witvrouw, E., Dolphens, M., Roosen, P., & Van Ginckel, A. (2017). American Journal Of Sports Medicine.
4. Effect Of A Strength Training Method Characterized By An Incremental Number Of Repetitions Across Sets And A Very Short Rest Interval. Laurent, C., Penzer, F., Letroye, B., Carpentier, A., Baudry, S., & Duchateau, J. (2016). Science & Sports.
5. Anatomical and morphological characteristics may explain why groin pain is more common in male than female athletes. Schache, A. G., Woodley, S. J., Schilders, E., Orchard, J. W., & Crossley, K. M. (2016). British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The final week of my diet was actually the easiest. I had really got into an eating pattern that worked for me and that I could stick to. The odd craving for certain foods (nachos) was there, but I could work through it knowing that I was so close to the end.

An unexpected feeling however was the sudden lack in motivation. I found myself unwilling to go and do some cardio at lunchtime on the Thursday because I knew it wouldn’t make a visual difference for my photoshoot. Likewise, I reckoned I could get away with eating a few biscuits without it making a difference either. I skipped the biscuits and did the cardio but it definitely felt like the hard work was over, and the main challenge was just to make it to the weekend. I hadn’t been expecting that.

The day of the photoshoot was one of the scariest ever. I was so nervous I just wanted to stay in bed and avoid the situation all together! But when I got there I had an amazing time. I don’t usually wear any make-up – a quick lick of mascara and I’m out the door, so I felt like a Princess when I was all dolled up. I hardly recognised myself! Looking a bit like a satsuma due to my excessive spray tan probably didn’t help on that front…

Having one person (the photographer) focus completely on me was unnerving to begin with, and I felt really self-conscious, but eventually I managed to relax into it a bit and we managed to get some photos that I am really proud of. The definition in my abs was better in the shameless selfies I took in the mirror in the morning, but the overall change from Week 0 to Week 12 is evident and I look like a totally different version of me.

I have been trying to think of a few lessons I’ve learned during this process in case they are helpful for anyone else. And in summary, I think these are the most important:

1. Be ready – if it’s not the right time for you to take on something like this, then don’t. You will probably end up messing it up and then feeling even worse. Yes to a certain extent, you just have to pick a date and stick to it, but it’d be better to pick a time when your calendar is clear of any major upheavals or huge social events, and a time when you’re not likely to be hugely stressed by anything else.

2. Get your head straight – This transformation ruled my life for twelve weeks, and at times it was really difficult mentally. You need to be prepared to put the gym and your nutrition first for the period you choose to work over, and I mean really put it first. That means getting up at 5:30 to defrost your freezing car and go to the gym session you really don’t want to go to, when every muscle in your body aches and you are beyond exhausted, only to miss lunch with your friends to do cardio on your lunchbreak, and then probably head back to the gym again that evening. It definitely means avoiding or adapting the majority of social occasions. If you’re not ready for that level of commitment, then this is definitely not for you.

3. Get a support network ready – I could not have done this without the amazing Hall Personal Training team, and I really mean that! Knowing that the team, especially Michael, would be there when I turned up in the morning forced me out of bed. After all, he had to defrost his car to make it in for me too! They were there to answer any questions, cheer me on when I made good progress, and constantly help me improve my training technique. Without them I am quite sure I’d have caved after the breakdown in Week 5. Make sure everyone in your life is ready to come second and eat around your weird eating habits, and make sure they are ready to offer the support you’ll need on the way. You cannot do this on your own. Chris needs a shout out for picking me up from my heap on the floor on several occasions and encouraging me to carry on – the patience!

4. Don’t do too much too soon – This is especially true when it comes to your nutrition. Make sure somebody who knows what they are doing writes you a guide, and make sure it’s adapted every two weeks depending on your progress. I could not have survived all twelve weeks on the crazy calorie deficit I was in at the end, but because I was guided through the process I didn’t have to. Instead I made small, steady cuts every two weeks, and this made my diet feel normal and manageable towards the end. Don’t burn out with your training either. De-load weeks are the best, even if they throw you out of your routine a bit.

5. Take pride in the results you’re seeing – Don’t be miserable about every cake you are missing out on, or for me, every glass of wine and bowl of nachos. Instead, look at the changes you can see and be excited about the end result. Staying positive about the process and trying to see the best in it even at the worst times is essential. If I managed to convince myself I like staring out of the window doing endless cardio with achy feet, you can too.

6. Don’t do exercises that crush your soul – You will work out what they are for you, and that may seem like an exaggeration, but at the very end reverse lunches and Bulgarian Split Squats bought me to tears, broke my spirit and ruined the rest of my session. It’s not worth it. Find a substitute and make sure you’re enjoying your training. Michael, if you’re reading this and give me another split squat, we won’t be friends for much longer. It’s going to take me at least six months to recover mentally.

We are just waiting for the final photos to come back now, but I can share my final results. Over the period I lost 3.2 kg (not very much), but that meant putting on 2.5kg of muscle and dropping 6.4kg of fat. I lost just shy of 10% body fat, and had one breakdown. I think I did several million squats, several thousand deadlifts and had just one major breakdown. I lost count of the minor ones, but I can’t remember them. That’s the main thing – it passes, you forget the bad and are left feeling 1000% better.

So, what’s next? Well, I should really write you a Week 13-14 blog post, detailing my excessive post-diet food consumption (whoops), and then probably one the week after about how I (hopefully) manage to start reverse dieting rather than inhaling everything I see – wish me luck. But what’s next for me is carrying on with this journey. I wanted to achieve more than I did, and I am going to keep going. Just because the twelve weeks is over doesn’t mean my fitness journey is, but whatever your goals are, I wish you all the best on your own journey.

Michael will also being writing a blog post about how he structured my training, and Chris will write one about how he looked after my nutrition, so there are some more technical takeaways on their way.

I am more than happy to answer any questions if anyone has any, just drop me a line: Georgey 

Until next time,

It’s Blue Monday, believed to be ‘the most depressing day of the year’. Christmas is over, many people are regretting the extra chocolate they munched over the festive period, feeling bad about the diet they haven’t stuck to, and it’s still dark and cold, and a long time until the summer. Even with Oxford’s glorious sunsets, things can look pretty bleak.

Obviously there’s a huge difference between feeling a bit down because it’s January and suffering from clinical depression, which will affect sufferers at any time of year, not just because the Christmas break is over – that’s a distinction that is often lost when Blue Monday is discussed. However, there is an entire body of research showing how exercise can help to reduce the symptoms of depression, whether it’s a fleeting dip in mood or a more sustained medical condition. Nobody will claim it’s the silver bullet, but it’s difficult to argue with the fact that for many people, it can be a real help.

Depression is estimated to affect 2.6 in 100 people (1), which means that in Oxford there are nearly four thousand people suffering from the condition, as well as those who will suffer from low periods not classified as depression.

Often, depression is treated with anti-depressant drugs, or with talking therapies including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or mindfulness. As well as reams of medical research looking at the benefits of these traditional therapies for depression, there is a lot of effort that has gone into looking at whether exercise can be a beneficial treatment. Even exercise alone is widely believed to be better than receiving no treatment (2).

But why does exercise have this effect? Well, there are several reasons:

1. It releases beneficial chemicals in your brain
It’s common knowledge that when you exercise, endorphins are released leading to a phenomenon known as ‘Runner’s High’. This is the same chemical that is released when you laugh. Endorphins also act as a sedative and a pain blocker, further emphasising their benefit.

2. It is associated with improved self-worth and body image
One of the great things about exercise, whether weight training or cardio, is how quickly you can see progress. If you’re new to exercise then running 5k may be a struggle, or you may find it difficult to lift weights with good form. After even a few weeks of consistent effort jogging 5k will be notably easier, and you will find that the weights you are using will have become heavier. This is immensely satisfying, and can help to improve feelings of self-worth but also body image, when the associated physical benefits of training start to kick in.

3. It can be sociable
When you’re feeling low, getting out of bed to go to the gym may be the last thing you feel like doing. But if you’ve signed up for a class or arranged to meet a friend, or even a personal trainer then the sense of accountability should increase, making it easier to take that all important first step out of the door.

4. You’re in control
By choosing to exercise you are choosing to make a positive step for your mental health. Having a sense of power over your recovery can banish those feelings of helplessness and being trapped that often creep in.

5. It’s sustainable
Once exercise becomes habitual, it stops being an effort to get to the gym or go for that run – in the most part anyway! Everybody will have bad days when they don’t feel like training, but ensuring that you take the next opportunity to go, or just soldiering through, will ensure that exercise becomes a sustainable part of your daily or weekly routine, so you consistently feel the benefits.

So what next? You may have been reading this blog post thinking, ‘great, exercise may help me feel better, but where do I start?’

There are so many options here and it’s crucial you find something you enjoy. If the thought of running on a treadmill for thirty minutes fills you with dread, then it’s unlikely you’ll enjoy it, or stick to it.

Why not see what exercise classes there are in your local gym, or see if there’s a local running club? If you’re intimidated by the more intense classes then give something like Zumba a go and ease yourself into it. Find a friend who could do with some extra accountability and agree to meet them at the gym at a certain time. If you want to take your exercise regime more seriously, why not look into semi-private or even 1-on-1 personal training to escalate your results, and increase that all-important incentive to turn up to your sessions?

There are a million and one different ways to exercise. Once you’ve taken that first step, it should get easier. Give several things a go, find one you like and set moderate and achievable goals. If for you that means exercising once per week then great – start there and build up. The key is taking a step in the right direction.

References:
1. http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/statistics-and-facts-about-mental-health/how-common-are-mental-health-problems/
2. http://www.epocrates.com/dacc/1310/ExerciseForDepressionCochrane1310.pdf 

So, I have one week of this diet and training plan left. I should really be done by now but I had a week off over Christmas so have tacked an extra week on the end. Half of me is really relieved it’s about to be over, the other half of me has got used to living like this. I am used to being hungry, I quite like going to the gym on my lunchbreak as it breaks up the day, I don’t mind getting up to train in the mornings as I’ve been doing that for three years anyway.

Once next week is over, I won’t be able to spring straight back to what I was eating and how I was training before this. I will have to ‘reverse diet’, and gradually cut out the cardio and increase my calories. This basically translates to carrying on as usual but with a tiny bit more freedom. I think that will be a nice balance between the lifestyle I have now adapted to and the lifestyle I had before I started.

Christmas wasn’t too much of a disaster. I managed to keep my training up to about 80% of what is usual/what was planned, but my eating wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped it would be. In all I think my training offset the damage but I didn’t make any progress, which is definitely not the worst case scenario. This is all down to my personality type. I am probably a bit too black and white for this kind of process. This is helpful when it comes to sticking to the diet, but I’m either ‘on’ with diet-mode or ‘off’, and Christmas was definitely off. I couldn’t get back into the swing of things until I came back to work this Tuesday.

So now it’s the final push. I am doing four weights sessions per week and at least three hours of cardio, and introducing some interval training. As well as that, Chris and I try to get out for a long walk every weekend, so physically I am quite drained. Mentally I’m feeling better than I have been for ages, and am quite tempted to say that this process, which started out feeling ridiculously tough, is actually okay once you’ve adapted to it. It’s just that the adaptation phase wasn’t very fun.

One thing I’ve learned is that twelve weeks is too long to run this kind of programme for and stay 100% committed to it. It’s a quarter of the year and in that time you’re bound to have social events. I’ve had my birthday, Christmas, four Christmas parties, an anniversary, New Year’s Eve, etc. to contend with. For most of these events I managed to be really sensible, but planning a transformation over Christmas wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had. My advice to anyone wanting to do something similar would be to gradually and sustainably diet down to a point at which their ideal weight/body fat percentage is in reach, and then absolutely blitz it for six to eight weeks. That’s a length of time you can plan around and stay committed for. If you try to diet for any longer then unless you’re a superhero or fitness model, or have a really specific purpose (i.e. stage competition) then you’d be wise to accept and expect a tiny bit of flexibility. Staying 100% motivated for quarter of the year is tough.

Going into next week I am feeling really positive. I know I won’t reach the goal I had set out to, but I have learned more about my body now, and know that once I get to a lower body fat percentage the rate of fat loss drops dramatically. I wasn’t realistic about that to begin with, and so am instead concentrating on the progress that I’ve made. We will be shaking up my training which I am looking forward to a lot – I can’t stand to do another deadlift – and just generally trying to take every opportunity available for exercise and good diet during the final push. So close now.

Until next week,