DEAN COULSON

Home

Conditioning, Mental Strength

Out of the Weight Room

There s nothing like hard labour to mix up your training and give a completely different slant on things.

Last weekend I helped my father in law at his new house. When I say new, I mean it is a newish purchase but is in need of some work. Built in the 1800’s it is in need of some serious renovation, to the point that he not only removed the stone floors but kept digging until there were 5 foot deep holes in each room! God knows why, I am sure there was absolutely no need to create so much work, but he did and is now filling them back in with hardcore aggregate.

I would say around at least 80 tonnes of it to be exact! he had another 21 tonne drop last weekend and I went to help him out, bearing in mind we were using 2 shovels and 2 wheel barrows between us to cart this stuff into the house and dumping it inside.

Here’s when the training comes in, good old fashioned manual labour, it ticks so many boxes, strength, stamina, endurance etc it really is a great all round strength and conditioning exercise.

Breaking it down you have so many similar movements in the gym that are simulated in doing this.

Shovelling, hits all the upper body and incorporates rotational strength for your core. I kept swapping hands so that I could hit each side.

Lifting barrow is like a rack pull. More than enough to hit the quads, back, traps and arms.

wheeling it for distance is like a farmers walk. I know the barrow has wheels but it is still weight over distance and awkward terrain repetitively and seriously eats into your grip strength.

Dumping the load in the barrow goes in as an all over body explosive lift to tip the barrow up, well in my case to flip it, just to add to the fun!

Put all that together at a good pace over the course of the day makes for a damn hard but rewarding session!

It is definitely a man thing, just good old hard honest graft. Even my son was there getting into the thick of it and he is only 5!

Next time someone needs you to pick up a shovel, I would recommend it, beats a gym any day of the week!

– Dean Coulson

Nutrition

MILK – Myths and Truths

The controversy surrounding milk has been around for a long time. Many people have the belief that it’s vital in pregnancy, for growing children, for keeping your bones healthy and a great source of protein for training. Billions are spent a year on dairy products, however two thirds of the world’s population, including some of the healthiest nations, don’t eat dairy products.

What’s the truth about milk?

Milk is purely designed to fill the gap between birth and a baby developing a mature digestive process and that is it. It is full of complex hormones not found in other food. It does not make sense to keep drinking it into adolescence or adulthood. No other mammals drink milk after the initial breast-feeding.

At the turn of the century, the industrial revolution had taken people away from a peasant diet and introduced malnutrition on a major scale. The promotion of milk and also meat was primarily the result of the discovery of the value of protein. The working classes had become smaller and weaker – not good army material. The discovery of protein and its role in human growth led to the promotion of meat, eggs and dairy produce which are now available on an unprecedented scale.

The other issue that I would like to draw your attention to is that modern day milk is pasteurised and homogenised, effectively denaturing milk and creating a processed equivalent. Pasteurisation destroys the essential enzymes in the milk and hemogenisation separates the fat in the milk using high powered microjets that breaks up the fat articles so they cannot reform.

Clear Evidence

There is clear evidence that consumption of dairy products is linked to increased risk of cancer – especially breast, prostate and colorectal cancers – cardiovascular disease and numerous digestive disorders from Crohn’s to constipation and colic in babies.

Milk allergy or intolerance is very common among children and adults. Sometimes this is the result of lactose intolerance since many adults lose the ability to digest lactose, milk sugar. The symptoms are bloating, abdominal pain, wind and diarrhoea, which subside on giving lactase, the enzyme that breaks down lactose. Probably equally common is an allergy or intolerance to dairy produce. For reasons not yet completely understood, most common symptoms are blocked nose and excessive mucus production, respiratory problems such as asthma, and gastro-intestinal problems. Such intolerance’s are more likely to occur in people who consume dairy products regularly.

Milked to death?

Today’s intensive dairy farming methods mean that cows are both pregnant and being milked at the same time for most of each year. With selective breeding of cows and high protein feeds that are used, it has increased the average daily yield of a cow from 9 litres to 22 litres – that’s 39 pints a day from just one animal! While a cow is designed, like humans, to produce milk for the first few months after a nine month pregnancy, This results in today’s dairy cows only living for about five years, compared to 20 or 30 years natural life expectancy!

Infections

This tremendous strain increases the risk of infections causing mastitis in cows. These infections mean there is a large amount of pus cells in milk. There is an official maximum of 400,000 cells per millilitre, which means that a litre of milk containing 400 million pus cells can be sold legally for human consumption. That’s equivalent to two million pus cells in one teaspoon.

In the USA, cows are given Bovine Somatotrophin (BST), a growth hormone to further increase milk yields and therefore profits. It is illegal to import BST enhanced dairy products from the US into Britain, but dairy products from the USA can enter the UK via other EU countries, then imported into the UK. If you do drink milk, my advice would be to limit the quantity of it and where you can only buy organic milk products.

Not Recommended for Babies

Possibly most damaging belief is that it can be substituted for breast milk. Cow’s milk is designed for calves, and is very different from human milk in a number of respects, including its protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron and essential fatty acid content.

Feeding of human babies on cow’s milk is now known to increase the likelihood of developing a cow’s milk allergy. Common symptoms of such an allergy include diarrhoea, vomiting, persistent colic, eczema, urticaria, catarrh, bronchitis, asthma and sleeplessness. Cow’s milk should not be given to infants under four months in any circumstances.

Not a good source of minerals

Although milk is a good source of calcium, it is not a very good source of other minerals. Manganese, magnesium, chromium and selenium are all found in higher levels in fruit and vegetables. Most important is magnesium, which works alongside calcium. The ideal calcium to magnesium ratio is 2:1 – ie you need twice as much calcium as magnesium. Milk’s ratio is 10:1, while cheese is 28:1. As a result of relying on dairy products for calcium is likely to lead to magnesium deficiency and imbalance. Seeds, nuts and crunchy vegetables like kale, cabbage, carrots and cauliflower give us both these minerals and others, more in line with our needs. Milk is, after all, designed for young calves – not adult humans.

This current evidence and given the present state of intensive farming methods, milk should not be relied on as a staple food if you really want to pursue optimum nutrition. It is possible to have a healthy diet without including dairy produce and it will also almost certainly going to decrease your risk of the common killer diseases. You can substitute organic coconut milk, almond milk or rice milk. You could buy raw organic milk which has not been homogenised or pasteurised if you feel no ill effects mentioned above and keep consumption to a minimum.

Pushing Mental Boundaries

How often do you really go for something? I mean really go balls out to achieve your goals?

How far do you go and do you keep going until you achieve it?

What are you trying to achieve? Maybe it’s further education or a promotion at work, losing that fat that has accumulated over the years, keeping up with your kids or getting a personal best at the gym. Everyone has a motivation for what they want to achieve, what is yours?

Comfort zones

To get anywhere in this life you have to want to go beyond your comfort zone, way beyond in fact so that it feels so damn uncomfortable. Too many people in this world plod along mindlessly, too afraid to do anything about their dreams. A lot of the time they listen too much to what other people say, and in doing so keeping themselves back because these people don’t have the bollocks to try it themselves and instead keep others down to their level. People fear change and if they see someone else doing it their natural response is to try and hold them back so they won’t be left behind.

Well don’t let anybody do this!! No matter who it is! Move forward and get uncomfortable and when this is achieved you are going to have to do it again and again, constantly being in an “uncomfortable state” if you like. This is how we grow, to push our boundaries in our lives so that we can enrich them.

What holds us back?

Fear, Doubt, apprehension – that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of our stomach, the anxiety that makes us feel sick and makes us doubt what we are doing sometimes before you even start. That little voice inside our heads, your subconscious that keeps us back is the voice echoing what you have done all your life, it only does what you have trained it to do, so start educating it!

What you have to remember is that fear is just an emotion, it does not hold substance. It can be overridden.

Do it anyway!

Do what you want to do regardless of how you feel and you can achieve great things. You will eventually become desensitised to its affects.

That is until the next thing you want to do and then the cycle repeats. However, the more you tackle these feelings the more used to it you will be and you will be better equipped in the future to deal with them.

Realise your Potential!

Too many people are stopped in their tracks by fear and never realise their dreams. What I am saying here is realise your potential and go for it. DO NOT let anything hold you back, believe in yourself, keep pushing your boundaries and you will get to where you want to be.

Eliminate Fear

Remember, the key is in handling this emotion, if you are not careful it can devour you, completely paralysing you by its effects. YOU MUSTN’T LET IT DO THIS. The sick feeling, the shaking, the dry mouth, the tunnel vision, it is all the affect of adrenaline, the fight or flight syndrome, built to protect us for 1000’s of years, but in modern society it can be a completely misplaced ideal.

Remember it is only adrenaline, a reaction to a stimulus, a by product of feeling anxious or stressed. Don’t let it control you, understand it and you can be it’s master to harness it for your own gains.

Fear is the friend of exceptional people, get used to it and utilise it!

to your health and strength

Dean

Conditioning, Martial Arts, Power, Speed, Strength

Heavy Bag Conditioning

Ever used a heavy bag or punch bag for conditioning? Unless you have a martial arts or boxing background I doubt many people would have. However you don’t need to be a fighter to use one, they are an excellent conditioning tool and a great alternative should you wish to add another dimension to your conditioning arsenal.

For Everyone

As long as you have access to a heavy bag, then this tool really is for anyone. I get people saying to me that they cannot punch. How else to learn but to do it? you are not trying to be a boxer here and for a lot of conditioning drills, two straight punches are my favoured techniques for simplicity. don’t forget you bag gloves!

Keep it interesting

I never get bored using a heavy bag, I can play around with one for ages. There are endless ways to keep this activity interesting. You can keep the training session light and fluid or you can dig in and go for big power shots. You can mix it up, drill for speed or power. You can even add other exercises into the mix such as skipping or burpees or squats in between rounds. One thing is for sure, if it is used right this training tool will wipe you out.

Plan your session

If you are going to do a conditioning session on a heavy bag then decide before you start what your goal is. Is it muscle endurance? speed? power?

Work it in rounds and decide how many you are going to do, how long each round is going to be and what you are going to do in each round. A perfect tool for timing your session is a gymboss interval timer. I recommend you get one for all your conditioning work so you don’t have to worry about watching a clock or counting rounds.

Many people think of Three minute rounds when you think of boxing, but it doesn’t have to be on a heavy bag. It would be practically impossible to go all out for 3 minutes, even 2 minutes. If you ever watch boxers in a ring, there is a lot of inactivity interspersed with short periods of activity, even elite boxers cannot sustain long bursts of exertion, your body cannot sustain energy release that quickly for long periods.

Push through Fatigue

This type of exercise is anaerobic, the body relies on energy stored in your muscles (ATP) as this can be broken down the fastest. This however is short lived as there is only a finite amount stored there. This type of energy is designed for short bursts, Ideal for this type of exercise. Training in this way can teach you how to push through fatigue, get your body used to the discomfort so that over time you will be able to go for longer periods and reap the rewards.

I always recommend a thorough warm up of the muscles and joints before commencing this as they will take a lot of stick. As I said before, this doesn’t have to be fancy if you are new to it, stick to straight punching, always keep your hands up (which places extra stress on the shoulders) and elbows down before and after executing a punch.

Here are some examples for you:

Example 1

Round 1 – nice and easy warm up round.

Round 2 – Hands at a faster pace

Round 3 – heavy power shots

Round 4 – Hands at a faster pace

Round 5 – Heavy power shots

Round 6 – all out, mix it up fast and powerful shots.

Each round lasts 1 minute with 30 seconds of rest in between. Don’t pace the round, give it everything!

Example 2

light fast
power shots
speed drill

Use the above as a template. Pick a number of rounds, for example 12 and do the exercise in rounds of three

Example 3

One Minute on the bag, followed by one minute skipping rope. Go straight from one exercise to the other without stopping. This really hits the shoulders, upper back and arms and builds good muscle stamina. This doesn’t have to be skipping rope, it could be squats, push ups, pull ups, burpees etc, use your imagination!

Example 4

For those of you that understand the different punching techniques, you can use the following on a bag to keep it interesting. Aim for 12 rounds of 1 minute, each round with a different combo.

NOTE: Because this is only for one minute, it should be all out, no slacking or resting in the minute, keep your work rate up. Give yourself no more than 30 seconds between rounds, challenge yourself to have minimal rest!

jab/Cross
hooks, 2 body, 2 head
jab, cross, hook, cross
hook, hook (same hand), cross
jab/cross, jab/Cross
rapid 16 straight punches is fours
Double Jab/Cross
2 hooks body, 2 straight to the head
Jab/Cross/Hook
2 hooks to the body
Jab/cross. Jab/Hook
All out, anything goes!

Please feel free to add to this post with your comments and ideas. I want this to be a good flow of information for everyone to voice opinion or follow.

to your strength and health

Dean

Nutrition

Ten Cold Busting Tips for a Cold Winter

With the threat of coughs and colds that circulate over winter, it is vital that you boost your immune system to give yourself a fighting chance to stay healthy.

Nature cleverly provides us with an abundance of nutrient packed fruits and vegetables, so I hope that you have gorged yourself on strawberries or enjoyed lots of raw fruit and vegetables in smoothies or salads as your body will thank you for it when it needs extra supplies of vitamin C and antioxidants to fight off infection.

There are plenty of things that you can do NOW to help improve your immune system this winter.

Here are my Top 10 Tips for your immune system:

1. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and the sprout are packed with antioxidants and phytonutrients. Preserve as much goodness as possible by serving them lightly steamed.

2. Citrus fruits are rich in vitamin C and beta carotene, both of which are immune boosters. In fact try to have

five or more servings of fresh fruit and vegetables each day, aiming for different colours to get a good range of phytonutrients; use purple cabbage instead of white, use mixed peppers rather than just red or yellow, or serve sweet potato mash instead of standard white potatoes. Choose fresh, organic produce as it has more of the vitamins and antioxidants that our bodies need, as well as less of the pesticides and chemicals that further tax a struggling immune system.

3. Eat plenty of eggs, quinoa, nuts, onions and garlic. These foods all contain cysteine, an amino acid that directly affects the immune system. Cysteine is converted by the body into glutathione; an antioxidant that protects us from toxins (from food, air and water). Glutathione performs vital functions for your immune system: it helps immune cells to make the chemicals they need to kill invaders amongst other things. High cysteine levels are associated with health, longevity and a reduced risk of cancer.

4. Include lots of garlic, onions, ginger and turmeric in your cooking. These ingredients not only add flavour but are all anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-viral. Which is worse – onion breath or a red, running nose!

5. Keep your fluid intake up. If three litres of water a day seems unappealing, try soothing herbal teas like peppermint or lemon and ginger (either fresh root ginger slices and lemon juice or a teabag to save time; available from supermarkets).

6. Top up your dietary intake of key nutrients that help maintain a healthy immune system with a high-potency multivitamin supplement.

7. As well as a multivitamin I like to take extra vitamin C through the winter. The amount needed by the body increases dramatically when it is under attack by bugs or viruses. Zinc also plays a vital role in maintaining your immune power along with potent herbal antioxidants Bilberry and Cat’s Claw Bark. Also take extra Vitamin D. The “sunshine vitamin” is in short supply during the winter as our body creates it from sun light via the skin. This can have a big impact on our mood and vitamin D deficiency is a major factor in S.A.D.

8. Splash out on shiitake mushrooms. They are rich in a special polysaccharide called lentinan which boosts immune function.

9. Glutamine can boost your immune system, an amino acid that is needed for immune cells to multiply and mature and stay fighting fit. During infections and traumas, such as surgery or burns, glutamine gets used up at a rapid rate. Supplementing it is best as it is quickly destroyed by cooking. It can be bought as a tasteless powder, and a heaped teaspoon (5g) a day can make a difference to the immune system.

10. Echinacea and Black Elderberry have also proven very effective. Echinacea is a well known winter remedy, and is best taken either as capsules of the powdered herb (2000mg a day) or as drops of a concentrated extract (usually 20 drops three times a day). Elderberries not only contain the high levels of antioxidants found in all berries, but they have also been proven to have immune protecting properties. Echinacea and Black Elderberry is a useful herbal immune supplement to have at hand that combines these two potent substances.

Look after yourselves and keep Strong and healthy!

Dean Coulson

Page 1 of 8

First

Last