When we examine the playing calendar of team sports such as soccer or rugby union, there is a relatively short preparation period compared to the long competitive period.  Recall that the original periodisation models were all built around the reverse of this; i.e.. having a long preparation period before a competitive period.  These models were conceived in the former Soviet and Eastern block countries for application in Olympic sports such as Track & Field, Weightlifting and even swimming.

In the case of an extended playing season for the football, rugby or racket player the limited pre-season requires attention to several components and as such a mixed model approach tends to be used where several components are trained simultaneously.

This blog looks at how APA use a hybrid model for team sports and racket sports that have short preparation phases and extended competitive seasons.  The model we propose is a hybrid of a linear and undulating periodisation model.

Linear Periodisation

A linear periodisation model follows a gradual shift from high volume and low intensity to high intensity and low volume.  An example in strength would be:

Week 1-4: 3 x 8RM

Week 5-8: 4 x 6RM

Week 9-12: 5 x 4RM

For young or inexperienced athletes a linear periodisation approach to strength and stamina is used during preparation periods.  With our advanced athletes we don’t follow a Linear Periodisation model; it’s a concurrent training model.  This is more commonly known as an undulating model.

Undulating Periodisation

An undulating model as proposed by Charles Poliquin uses weekly variations in load.  It is quite common as an in-season model which fluctuates between 1-2 weeks of hypertrophy and 1-2 weeks of maximal strength/power.  It allows the CNS to recover during periods where there is already high neural stimulus from a busy competition schedule.

I believe Dan Baker uses this form of week to week variation in strength sets and reps schemes to maintain strength and muscle mass using a form of weekly undulations in strength. (Undulating wave 12/8/10/6).  In this example the weeks of 12 and 10 would represent hypertrophy weeks and the weeks of 8 and 6 would represent strength.

A daily undulating model as proposed by Rhea et al (2002) is a variation of the undulating model.  The key difference between these two is that alterations of training volume and intensity are made on a daily basis as opposed to a weekly basis.

It is this daily undulating model that is more reflective of what we do at APA.  But the key difference is rather than having a different regime for each day, we blend them in EVERY session.

So Rhea et al (2002) would do the following within a week:

Session 1: 3 x 8RM

Session 2 4 x 6RM

Session 3: 5 x 4RM

At APA we take this approach a stage further and would combine all three within the same session:

First part: 5 x 4RM

Middle part: 4 x 6RM

End part: 3 x 8RM

Preparation Phase:

Strength and Stamina: More Linear over time

During the main preparation phase there is a gradual shift of emphasis towards a build up of intensity and reduction in volume in both strength and stamina.  To do this we just increase the bias towards one of the higher intensity/lower volume strength or stamina prescriptions using simple strategies such as doing 2 exercises for maximal strength in a strength phase rather than 1 when we are in a anatomical phase.  Or for stamina, substituting one of the high intensity aerobic interval sessions with a anaerobic repeated sprint protocol.

Also just in simple terms, the overall density of a session will be less as we start to ramp up the intensity meaning we will do less volume of work per session.  So I tend to reduce volume of strength and stamina work over the course of the preparation phase to allow me to build up the intensity towards the Anaerobic maximal strength and repeated sprints.

For example, during Strength sessions the total kilograms of weight lifting may drop from over 10,000 kg total in a session to only 4,000 kg in a high intensity low volume session.  In a stamina session, we might progress as follows:

• Progression 1: High-Intensity Aerobic/Anaerobic session (120-140% MAS)- typically   5-12 x 6 x (15-40m run @ 80-90% effort: 15-20m jog recovery).  This equates to 30-72 runs with a volume of 450m-2880m.

• Progression 2: High-Intensity Anaerobic session (200% MAS)- typically 3-5 x 4 x (5-25m run @ 100% effort: 5-25m walk).  This equates to 12-20 runs with a volume of 60m to 500m.

By the way, the workouts above are well suited to team sports players such as rugby and football players who cover distances anywhere from 3 to 10 km per game.  In Tennis, research reveals that among the top men, David Ferrer, who is known for his speed and agility, covers the most distance. Through three rounds of the 2015 Australian Open, Ferrer had run approximately 10,000 meters (6.2 miles).

On the other end of the spectrum, top-ranked Novak Djokovic had covered less than half that distance, somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 meters through three rounds.

I usually plan for tennis players to typically cover at least 700m per set of Tennis.

For more information on the differences between sports check out this article HERE

Speed: More Reverse Linear over time

Speed on the other hand will increase in volume while maintaining intensity at 100%, with the exception of the first few weeks where you might start at 80-90% tempo runs.  This means that we will build from 10m sprints up to 40m sprints, and increase the total distance of the speed sessions. (reverse linear periodisation).

This, of course, is a general guide. Look at it in terms of progressing in distance. As far as volume, these are estimates. Some athletes are workhorses; others are not. There is no magic formula for determining the perfect volume for a speed workout or workout period, and there are many other variables to consider in prescribing speed sessions. It should vary by athlete based on training age, experience, skill, etc.

M: 8-10 x10m hills
Th: 8-10 x 15m hills

Once athletes have begun to improve:

M: 8-10 x 20m hills
Th: 8-10 x 20-30m acceleration development on flat surface

Once proficiency is shown:

M: 8-10 x 30m
Th: 4x30m, 3-4 x 40m

Once athletes have developed consistency in their acceleration development:

M: 10 x 30m
Th: 6-8 x fly 15′s with a 20m buildup

Choices from here vary by sport. Non-track coaches will likely stick with a format along these lines. Remember, you don’t always have to move up in distance; you can do repeat 10′s, 20′s, etc. Make it specific to your sport. In fact, you should move around in volume, distance, and intensity so that athletes do not adapt and become stagnant in their training.

If athletes aren’t going to maintain an all-out sprint for more than 15-20m, spend the bulk of time on various components of acceleration development, speed endurance, and some VMax work:

Monday: (Acceleration work) 5x10m, 5x20m, 5x30m (full recovery)

Thursday: (SE) 2 sets of 6x25m with 1 min rest between reps, 5 min between sets

Do a VMax workout every 3 or 4 workouts.

Pre-competition Phase:

Stamina: More Reverse Linear over time

During the pre-competition period, the strength and speed will be maintained (high intensity but low volume) but we will have increase in volume in stamina as we look to endure the  anaerobic qualities of speed, strength and power.  Of course this won’t be the first time that the athlete has been exposed to speed, strength or even power endurance, but until now it would not have been the focus.

It would have perhaps been a maximum of one of the main conditioning workouts for stamina such as a speed endurance repeated sprint endurance session.  Perhaps we would have some some strength and power endurance as part of a finisher in our strength workout.  However, it would not have been the main focus.

But come pre-competition, I like to make power endurance the main focus and usually assign up to 3 workouts a week to this form of conditioning.  Below is an example using barbell resistance training.

Power Endurance Development:

3 x (20-sec work, with 20-sec rest between sets), and 1-minute between exercises

High Pull from Thigh

Power clean

Squat to Overhead Press

Squats x 20 reps in 20-sec, with 1-minute between sets

Plank Combo – Left, Right & Front

Skydiver (Prone AW – Scap Retractions)

Competition:

There are a couple of approaches which could work here:

1.  A weekly undulating model– as proposed by Charles Poliquin which uses weekly variations in load.  It is quite common as an in-season model which fluctuates between 1-2 weeks of hypertrophy and 1-2 weeks of maximal strength/power.  It allows the CNS to recover during periods where there is already high neural stimulus from a busy competition schedule.

2.  A daily undulating model– which uses variations in the same week.  This is something we use quite a lot with Tennis players where we will plug in a session which combines Strength and Power a couple of times a week.  Or you can have one session which focuses on a strength and one which focuses on power.

The key with in-season programming is to have your ‘benchmark’ levels of performance that you can hold your athlete or team accountable to.  As long as they stay within an agreed percentage of peak performance you can be satisfied the in-season programme is working.

Depending on what the athlete needs you can assign a certain number of workouts per month that need to be completed in a given component of fitness and leave it to the athlete to manage when they get them done.

Hope you have found this article useful.  Remember,

• If you’re not subscribed yet, click here to get free email updates, so we can stay in touch.
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As you may have read in previous posts I am really interested in how I can make my coaching as effective as possible so that I can help my athletes improve as fast as possible.

I recently had the privilege to sit on an advisory panel at a University that was considering the addition of a new Strength & Conditioning (S&C) undergraduate degree to their programme.  It was a rare opportunity to give feedback on the content of a degree programme before the modules had been finalised.

For me some of the areas that I suggested the next breed of S&C coaches needed to be learning about in an S&C degree were:

• Pedagogy
• Sports Biomechanics
• Entrepreneurship

Today I would like to finish my series of Blogs on Teaching methods by talking about Pedagogy.

Pedagogy- the study of being a teacher

The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction.  It can also refer to a teaching method.

I have wrote previously about some of the principles of teaching.  You can read the blogs HERE , HERE and HERE.

At the heart of the matter is the principle that learners will acquire new skills faster when they are engaged in their learning. The task that you set needs to be challenging in some way, otherwise they won’t be engaged.  On the sports field you need to promote competition, or decision making, or both.  In a classroom environment you need to promote interaction and discussion.

Fishy Proverbs 

In the gym we can be focusing on maximal speed, force or accuracy and it’s important to be clear on which one you are focusing on.  The key point is that you do need to be focused and engaged.

Performing skills even in the weights room needs to be mindful 

I personally have to challenge myself to not make myself integral to the learning process by wanting to control and guide it so that the task is always broken down into skills that the learner can ‘easily’ grasp.  I find myself wanting to break the Olympic lifts down to the simplest skill, for example.  Sometimes you need to allow the learner to discover the solution for themselves by setting them an outcome without giving the solution.  Before you start teaching evaluate their performance and see how close they can get to the real thing before you break it down.  Don’t give them all the answers, let them learn for themselves.

I know that as long as the athlete has a front squat and a good Romanian Deadlift I can be pretty confident that they will get close to the full Hang clean without me needing to say too much, or wanting to go back to a jump shrug straight away.  I actually get much more engagement when I give them a greater challenge (the full skill with a bit more weight- as long as it is safe) than if I give them a broomstick and a simple skill!

So what more is there to know about teaching?

Well having listened to Nick Winkleman present on this, clearly quite a lot.

Please find below an extract from my previous blog on his presentation, you can read the full review of the UKSCA Conference HERE.

Nick Winkelman

Director of Education (EXOS performance)

Overview:

The Art of Coaching Meets the Science of Motor Learning

• Value of ‘Constraint based’ model of training – manipulate BODY, TASK and ENVIRONMENT to optimise development over time

• This was a whistle-stop tour of coaching science, stopping off at Dynamic Systems Theory (environment), constraint based learning (instruction) and internal and external cuing (feedback).

Let’s deal with these variables one at a time:

ENVIRONMENT- Dynamic Systems Theory

Dynamical systems theorists recognise that within the infinite number of motor patterns possible the brain cannot remember each individual one. To make the motor programming less complex the body ‘encourages the development of functionally preferred coordination or “attractor” states to support goal-directed actions.’ (Glazier et al., 2003).

Within each attractor region (the “neighbourhood” of an attractor) system dynamics are highly ordered and stable, leading to consistent movement patterns for specific tasks. Variation between multiple attractor regions, however, permits flexible and adaptive motor system behaviour, encouraging free exploration of performance contexts by each individual. The paradoxical relationship between stability and variability explains why skilled athletes are capable of both persistence and change in motor output during sport performance. Indeed, variability in movement behaviour permits performers to explore task and environmental constraints in order to acquire stable motor solutions over time and enhance motor learning.

What does that mean for coaching?

I think of a great learning experience as being like a game of pinball.  You are constantly trying to work to get the ball in the hole (the attractor state) but the variation that comes from moving in and out of the hole is what creates adaptability.

Set the ‘Challenge’ and the outcome you want.  Then sit back and let the body self organise.  This is known as Discovery Learning.  We are not saying don’t coach. Clearly the athlete may search endlessly for a proper movement solution (and never get the ball in the hole).  Athletes may learn poor movements and adopt bad habits. Instead, the coach or trainer can guide the athlete by providing purposeful intent, ideas about where to focus attention, and clues to key perceptual cues.  If it was easy to play pinball people would get bored soon.

INSTRUCTION (TASK)- Constraint based Approach

I have wrote about this in great detail in a previous post.  You can read the full blog HERE.  Discovery learning is about learners solving for themselves how and what movements to make given the SITUATIONAL CONSTRAINTS imposed upon them. We will discover below that the constraints are key aspects of the task we can control to influence the performance of the task. This becomes especially important when we are dealing with more advanced learners whose skilled are more developed.

I always say, your job is not to make them look good! 

Beginners will bring their own inherent variability to the party because they are learning to coordinate their body. Advanced athletes will bring less variability and so will need to be challenged further by imposing situational constraints on the Task. These can include changes in position of the body, change in equipment used and also the need to make decisions.  The best test is whether the athlete can execute the skill under the constraint of an actual sports performance (open skill environment).

Remember: errors must become unstable for efficiency to emerge

Introduce uncertainty in skills- it leads to learning

Introduce variability in skills- it gives the body system a chance to experience the pattern you want it to discover

FEEDBACK (BODY)- Internal and External Cuing

First things first a very belated Happy New Year to Everyone!  I hope you are all set for a fantastic 2015!

New Year’s Resolutions

I am going to resist the temptation to talk about goal setting and the statistics that show that 80% of people fail to stick to the resolutions they set for themselves (and by themselves) beyond the 31st January (Research quoted in the on-line blog mindfulyourownbusiness.com).   The link is HERE if you do want to read the full article.

It’s tough at the Top

Today I would like to talk about Sport Specialisation.  While January might mark a traditional time in the year to set new goals which may or may not be realistic I am surrounded by families that are putting a lot on the line to realise some pretty big goals of their own- becoming a professional athlete.

In the main sport that I work in of Tennis, it’s really tough to break through the lower levels of the professional tour as there is simply a limited pot of prize money for the top men and women to compete for.  The Challenger and ITF circuits (which are the second and third tiers of the game) pay out much less than the ATP tour.  It’s not until you are well inside the Top 100 and can consistently get into the Main Draw of the Grand Slam ATP Tour events that you can really start to earn a living.  But at the same time once you do, it’s a really good living!

So coaches and parents are always looking to get ahead of the competition and give their players/children the best chance of making it. Now there are two schools of thought here.  One is to specialise early in the sport you aspire to ‘make it’ as a pro in; the other is to diversify and play a range of sports until you are in your teens.

To summarise the current literature I am including a great review my colleague at British Tennis sent me on the topic.

Early sports specialisation defies logic! by Arran Peck

A recent article in The Huffington Post, an American news aggregator, highlighted the growing trend of young athletes specialising in a single sport at increasingly younger ages. The author posited that if the goal of the parent or coach is to develop the stand-out adolescent player, then early specialisation is intuitive & can be successful. If however the goal is to maximise the child’s athletic talents, then both academic & anecdotal evidence suggests that multi-sports participation & late specialisation increases the likelihood of success.

A recent study in the Journal of Sports Sciences found that young athletes who competed in 3 sports at ages 11-15 were significantly more likely to compete at an elite National level in their preferred sport than their single sport peers. In a second paper from the same journal, young males who competed in multiple sports were found to have better gross motor coordination, greater muscular strength, explosive speed & were physically fitter than those specialising early. Dr Martin Toms, Senior Lecturer in Sports Coaching & Performance Sociology from the University of Birmingham quoted recently “if your child was only offered one subject at school, you would worry about their academic development & the missed opportunity to learn new skills – so why is early specialisation in sport perceived as appropriate or acceptable?’

The long term athletic development guidelines produced & disseminated by the LTA encourages multi-sport participation until late adolescence to minimise the risk of social isolation, over-dependence, burnout & injury – while as a practitioner you may not be able to limit the total volume of tennis time your young players are exposed to, you should include (within your programme) or facilitate (external to your programme) a mixture of fundamental movement & general athletic skills and resist the temptation (and pressure) to reinforce specific sports skills at the earliest ages.

McCaw Method

For those of you who follow my Facebook page (please remember to like it!!) you may also want to check out McCaw Method. Alistair McCaw is a big fan of young athletes playing a range of sports until their early teens and supports his view with research into Olympic Sport athletes.

But what about the 10’000 hours?

How does this fit with 10,000 hours? (as that’s 3hrs/day from 8 to 18 years old to achieve pro status).  You can’t hope to get 3 hours done a day in a sport if you’re still playing 3 sports???

Or you could look at it as 10 years to break inside Top 100 from 14 to 24 years- as most players will not break the Top 100 until this age now. 

Are all the sports additive to the hours behind the expertise needed?  Can the ‘hours’ simply include any purposeful activity that is related to sport that will contribute towards expertise.  So for example, if I spent the whole day at an elite Tennis Academy for 9 hours my day could include:

• 3 hours in the class room
• 2 hours Tennis
• 1 hour Basketball
• 2 hours Strength & Conditioning
• 1 hour Mental Skills

Would only the two hours Tennis count towards my 10,000 Hours?  My view is that any deliberate and purposeful activity that is related to the dream goal of becoming a professional sportsman or woman is counted.  So all of the above in my book would count.  The trick is to know how much Tennis each individual needs to be able to achieve a basic level of competence so they can compete in the sport and get a bit of success. But you have to get the balance because although we all enjoy competition, I have previously talked about the presure that can quickly be created when you over emphasise the importance of winning!

At Gosling Tennis Academy, for example, APA are involved in talks with the Coaching and Sports Medicine staff to discuss (and refine) the optimum amount of Tennis that each full-time Academy player will play at any given time.  This will usually range from zero to four hours of Tennis per day.

Gary Lyons commented on this: The importance of desire to want it

“The desire to want to put those 10,000+ hours in is the fundamental “talent” in the first place. Again it’s what separates out those destined for amateur vs. professional status. You can’t make someone do 10,000+ hours, they have to be born (and yes nurtured by good coaches) with a burning pit of desire in their stomachs to succeed, to strive where others fall by the wayside. And then hope they have the right genetics and natural ability to complement their inherent drive. The stark reality is that 99.9% of junior tennis athletes will fall to the wayside given there are only around 1,000 pro tennis players globally coming out of 100,000s kids in advanced tennis programmes. Pro tennis needs rapid re-evaluation at Futures and Challengers to widen the base so more have the opportunity of becoming pro, and then being able to break even once they get there given only the top 200 are doing so presently.”

What’s my position on this?

Well firstly, I do buy into the concept of children having some natural ‘talent’ towards a given task.  Want proof? Check out these random clips of children doing what they do best.

Dancing

Martial Arts

Weight lifting

Note: there is also a lot of aspects where children model the behaviours of adults that I think can be potentially dangerous.

For example, I don’t agree with Deadlift meets done in this way.  I think some times the sports performance arena that the adults ‘perform in’ needs to be modified so the children can ‘play’ in it.  I would be emphasising (and rewarding) technique with young children over load lifted.

However, my point is that I think there are children who are just born with a DNA make up that makes them seem to:

a) have the potential to do something better than a lot of kids from the very beginning

b) learn something new at a faster rate

But I also believe in the importance of being in an environment that fully supports the enrichment of that talent. Parents are the biggest influencers as well as coaches. I dare say all those young children in the clips above have been copying parents and coaches from a young age.   A good book to read is the Gold Mine Effect.  It talks about how talent hot beds thrive in completely differently culturally influenced environments.  You have the Jamaican sprinter, Ethiopian endurance runners, Russian tennis players, Korean Golfers etc and each culture has a slightly different environment which inspires success after success.

The most important thing is to enjoy what you do

In a recent interview Roger Federer, winner of 17 Grand Slam Titles in Tennis (in case you have been living on another planet), talks about the role of parents.  He says how important is it to get the balance between being supportive and also making them feel the pressure that it is important they always give their best.  See the full article HERE.

I (Daz Drake) personally believe in the following:

The 10’000 hour rule is an average, not the norm.

Some people who are more ‘talented’ will get to expert or elite level sooner and/or will need less hours to get there.  For those people truly capable of being elite they will almost certainly be able to play multiple sports up until 14 and still make it in 1 sport when they are older.

The question I often ask myself is, is it because they played 2 or 3 different sports that they were then more able to succeed in 1 sport? Or is it simply that they are such supreme competitors (with exceptional athleticism and sport skills) that they could have got to the top regardless of what they did??

I personally feel that playing other sports is important for a variety of reasons.  I do believe that playing other sports can accelerate certain athletic skills to a higher level that perhaps another sport cannot.  For example, while Tennis is outstanding for developing multi-directional movement (agility), it won’t develop running technique anywhere near as good as going to your local track & field club.  It won’t develop foot eye coordination, like football would do, or ability to work as a team like in rugby.

I do believe that the wider and deeper someone’s movement vocabulary is the more easy it will be for the child to acquire the more specific advanced skills of a sport later down the track.

Most importantly to me, I know that muscle pattern overload/over use is extremely likely if you keep hammering away at the same movement patterns inherent in one sport, over and over again.  So even if I did believe that the key to getting great in one sport is to just play one sport (which I don’t), I would enforce that the athlete plays a few other sports, simply to work the muscles a little differently, and give the overworked ones a rest!

Talent Identification- Does it work?

Most businesses spend 2% of their time recruiting and 75% of their time managing their recruiting mistakes!  In sport we also have situations where we recruit our ‘crop of current top talent’ and invest money in them, when there may be other kids out there with more potential that we never saw because their current performance was not as high.

I could risk upsetting a lot of people here so I will simply ask you to watch a great illustrated talk by the author of the GoldMine Effect on Talent ID.  I agree with his views on the difference between Current Performance and Future Potential.  How to you find potential in something that looks ordinary AT THE MOMENT is the secret!!  That is why I really enjoy working with my partners at Gosling Tennis Academy because they always focus on helping their players realise their own potential and try their absolute best to make it possible for everyone to try and do that by removing as many barriers as they can.

1.  What you see is not always what you get!!!

2.  Never overrate certificates and underrate character

I hope you found this article useful and I’d love to hear your thoughts:

Remember:

• If you’re not subscribed yet, click here to get free email updates, so we can stay in touch.
• Share this post using the buttons on the top and bottom of the post. As one of this blog’s first readers, I’m not just hoping you’ll tell your friends about it. I’m counting on it.
• Leave a comment, telling me where you’re struggling and how I can help

Want to stay Lean over Christmas??

As you may know this time of year is when APA are busy helping some of our Professional Tennis players prepare in their pre-season.

But equally it’s also a time where even athletes have a lot of temptations as we approach the festive period with lots of family gatherings and parties.   So it’s important they keep on top of their nutrition.   If you are an athlete in training over the Christmas period, or are a normal person just looking to watch what you eat over Christmas then this post is for you.

Be Strategic with your Starches:

I’ve previously talked about the APA principles of nutrition HERE known as the 6 Pillars of Nutrition which are based on the work of Dr. Mike Rousell.

A big part of having success in maintaining lean mass is related to your strategic use of starches and so paying close attention to how much, what type and when you have carbohydrates will be key this Christmas.

So how much Carbohydrate does the Government recommend?

These guidelines are based on Recommended Daily Allowances for a typical Adult male, advised to consume 2000 calories per day.

 In caloric terms 270g of Carbohydrate equates to 1080 calories, or over 50% of your energy needs

Fat: 70 grams = 630 calories 
Protein: 50 grams = 200 calories 
Carbohydrates: 270 grams = 1080 calories
Fibre: 24 grams = 48 calories

Total: 1,958 calories 

For an athletic population on a Training Day the RDA might look a little different:

It has previously been recommended to consume around 5g/kilogram of body mass of Carbohydrates during periods of high volume training.

Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) for average athletic male adult (80kg male) 3000 kcal

Fat: 70 grams = 630 calories 
Protein: 160 grams = 640 calories 
Carbohydrates: 400 grams = 1600 calories
Fibre: 24 grams = 48 calories

Total: 2,918 calories

What do the Experts say?

These days experts are discouraging such large intakes of carbohydrates for athletic populations, with a bit more emphasis on a more balanced intake of protein and carbohydrates.  Athletes might have up to 300g protein and 300g carbohydrate per day.

Dr. Mike Rousell has recommended to have around 60-80g (up to 100g in large athletes) per Starch meal on training days. These meals will take place at breakfast, during workout shake, and in two meals following the workout.  So you’re looking at recommendations of about 240g-400g on training days depending on size of athlete.

On non-training days he advises a starch meal at breakfast (60-80g) and five further non starch meals at all other times (20g) so around 180g per day on non-training days.

He also advises around 50g of protein per meal, eaten at each of the 6 meals in the day.

But don’t just count calories!!!!

If you use Apps like My Fitness Pal to count how many calories you eat but you don’t pay attention to what type or when you eat them you’re missing a big piece of the puzzle.  For a great blog on why ‘A Calorie is Not A Calorie’ click the link.  This blog talks about calorie counting but also when to have Carbohydrates.

What type of Carbohydrates are best?

There are two main types of Carbohydrates:

1. Whole grains (starches): also know as ‘complex carbohydrates:’

Include foods such as porridge oats, wheat based cereals, rice, pasta and potatoes and can be consumed when the demand for energy from the body is high.  They release their energy more slowly.

Whole grain

-A whole grain is a cereal grain that contains the germ, endosperm, and bran, in contrast to refined grains, which retain only the endosperm.(Wikipedia).  

Vegetables– are also a form of complex carbohydrates but can be eaten in abundance because they contain only around 26 calories/100g so should be eaten at lunch and dinner!

2. Simple carbohydrates: 

–Simple carbohydrates are sugars. All simple carbohydrates are made of just one or two sugar molecules. They are the quickest source of energy, as they are very rapidly digested.  Think sports drinks, confectionery, cereal bars, and fruit.

Fruit– is technically a simple carbohydrate — but it also contains fibre, vitamins and antioxidants. The fibre in fruit helps slow the digestion of carbs, which is why your blood sugar doesn’t spike as much after eating fibre-filled fruit like it does when you gulp down a fizzy drink or a chocolate bar.

As you will see below you can eat all of the different types of carbohydrates but it’s about eating them at the right time!

When should you eat Carbohydrates?

Most experts now agree that nutrient timing places a big role in weight management.  It is generally agreed that the best time to eat carbohydrates is:

1.  Breakfast- complex (60-80g)  

2.  Snacks- simple (fruit)  

3.  Workout-simple (50g workout shake)  

4.  Post-workout Meal-simple (within 30 minutes) and complex (60-80g within 2 hours)  

Training days:

So on training days you will have complex carbohydrates at breakfast and in one or two meals following your workout.

Non-training days:

On non-training days you just have complex carbohydrates for breakfast!!

The rest of the day can be fruit for a snack and vegetables at lunch and dinner!!

The key take away message is to make sure you are strict with your intake of complex carbohydrates and simple sugars on non-training days!!!!!  It really is the key to stay lean over Christmas.  If you want to pig out a bit more on Carbohydrates then make sure you do some training before your Christmas dinner.

Want to lose body fat???

If you want to see how I did this when I lost 9% body fat check out the 3 month  Fat loss training programme HERE,  HERE and HERE

A big part of my own success in stripping body fat was related to my strategic use of starches.  This is a more extreme version of carbohydrate manipulation but the principles are the same.  The only difference here was I made a decision to remove complex carbohydrates completely on training days for the first two weeks.  This is not advised for athletes who need to complete high training volumes and high intensity exercise.    But it can be applied at specific times when fat loss reduction is required.

Good luck with your eating over Christmas!