Introduction to Sports Nutrition workshop - Saturday 6th September

This one full day workshop will introduce you to the science of sports nutrition used in order to promote exercise and sports performance. You will learn how to use diet and nutritional strategies to optimise performance and look at ways to enhance your/clients sporting goals.

Having studied Sports Nutrition at degree level I have worked with many different athletes of varying levels and capabilities, using sound scientific research I have always delivered for my clients. From working with professional boxers needing to drop weight fast through to professional footballers coming back from injury. What I have learned over the last decade since I started studying nutrition is that the level of misunderstanding across the board around key sports nutrition strategies is huge, with physios, S&C coaches, and sports coaches in general being influenced by their own surroundings. This has led to many conflicting practices, with the athlete being the one losing out.

This one day workshop will give you the tools to assess athletes and make recommendations where you see fit. I have brought together all of my experience of achieving results and my own learning and research techniques to put together a course which not only gives you a great underpinning knowledge or sports nutrition but also acts as a spring board to constantly improve your knowledge. Had this course been available to me when I started out on my journey of studying nutrition my learning experience would have been much quicker.

My aim is to empower you with real world, usable skills and knowledge that you can instantly implement in to your own diet or that of your clients. An understanding of the basic principles of nutrition is required, however this is not a barrier to entry, you will be supplied with your own reading list for before the event.

The one day workshop will include, presentations, discussions, case studies and post course reading with 1-2-1 feedback.

The workshop will take place over a full day (9am-6pm) and all food will be included, this will be held at Nourish in Sheffield.

The workshop programme has been constructed and reviewed by leading nutritionists and dietitians. By the end you'll be confident to understand sports nutrition's key principles and how to apply them.

The course content includes:

• Basic Nutrition - The importance of being healthy first

• Hydration - 
• Factors influencing fluid needs
• Calculating fluid needs
• Achieving optimal hydration

• Macronutrients - 
• Carbohydrates 
• Debunking CHO myths
• Why CHO is important in sports nutrition
• Requirements for different settings/disciplines
• Carb loading, depletion, cycling and timing 
• Protein 
• Understanding the role of protein in the diet
• Sport specific requirements
• protein turnover
• optimising recovery and timing
• Fat 
• Understanding the types
• The role of fat in athletes diet and health
• High fat diets - recent research
• Nutrient timing and the importance in sport

• Assessing the needs of an athlete
• Looking at the methods used to assess the needs of an athlete
• What data is required
• Physiological assessment 
• Interview and questionnaire protocols 

• Nutritional strategies - what, when and how to use them (Myth debunking)
• Competition prep and optimising recovery

• Supplements - what, when and how to use them

• Meal planning - case studies and discussions, putting it in to practice 

Once completed you'll know how to get better results with yourself or clients, apply and implement the scientific knowledge you've gained in to real world settings instantly, improve your professional development skill set and set yourself up to understand the growing field of sports nutrition and it's importance.

This workshop is aimed at:
PT's
Sports coaches
Osteopaths
Chiropractors
Physio's
Nutritionists 
Any therapist who works with clients who exercise - from casual gym users to elite athletess 

This will be an intense day of learning, with breaks for food. You will be expected and encouraged to discuss your own views and beliefs around nutrition. There will be limited places available in order to keep the interaction levels of high quality. Questions will be encouraged.

You will also be given a list of recommended reading as well as a blog, social media and journals list to keep your knowledge updated. Please note the workshop will be recorded, if you wish to not be in the recording then please state so at the time of booking. 

Dates:

Saturday 6th September (early bird book by 9th August)

Future dates TBC

Cost 

Early Bird booking (4 weeks before date) is £80 (£10 donated to Archer Project Sheffield)

Standard booking £100 (£10 donated to Archer Project Sheffield)

Webinar booking

This option will be available later in the year. Once you have attended one of the workshop dates you will be given access to one of the following dates streamed webinar 

To book your place simply email me david@totalbodydevelopment.co.uk

Payment
50% non-refundable deposit will be require upon booking with the remainder to paid on the day.

If you have an interest in sports nutrition and want to accelerate your learning and your clients results, then this course is for you. Do not wait to book on until the last minute, strictly limited numbers.

Updated client packages - July 2014

Having now worked with many clients of all levels, i have of late found myself taking on clients in need of a quick fix, results within a matter of weeks or client enquiries with unrealistic goals. This i believe has sprung up from the countless dehydrated, carb depleted fast turnaround photo's which social media seems to be full of. 

In the past year i've been so busy with Nourish that my client work has had taken a back seat, in that time i've worked with many of clients to get great results, of which i'm very proud. The one's i really enjoyed working with were the one's i worked closer with to achieve their goals. Some have been the type of clients who want to show their photo's off, others it's been about changing their life for the better. I've also worked with a handful of clients i'd consider to have 'slipped through the net' and by that i mean if i'd have been solely doing client work i would have not taken them on, i have chosen to learn from these clients too though. The one's who make excuses for not sticking to a diet, for prioritising their unhealthy habits over making real change, the one's who thought payment alone equalled results. In essence the one's who wanted it but didn't want to do what it takes to really change. Those are the people i'm moving away from working with.

All of this has lead me to assessing how i view client work, my working day is long and my main goal is Nourish, my healthy fast food restaurant. But i will always enjoy working closely with clients and so i have decided that i will limit the number of clients i work with at any one time, i'll be more selective and each client i work with must have an understanding of what it will take to achieve their goals. The important bit is they must have a real goal. I do consider myself to be above the usual PT, i have achieved a lot more than the average trainer or even nutritionist, i put that down to the fact i work hard to constantly improve and i'm a believer in the science, not the fiction of nutrition. I do not want to become another guy that just sells 6 pack packages and makes this a numbers game. It's not and never has been about turning out programmes for as many people as possible. I'll leave that to the cookie cutter/copy & paste trainers.

This is why from now on the only rule i will have with clients is we get the job done. It's not about programmes at arms length, i do that with my elite clients who don't get paid if they don't perform so have to stick to my nutritional plans, it's about working with more real people who really need to change.

My whole ethos and outlook has changed. If you want to get ripped for a holiday hit google, have some discipline and stop whining. If however you want to be the fittest you've ever been, get out of a rut, feel the best you can, enter a race or competition you never thought you could even enter or you simply want to live a much better life and want my help on that journey then that's what i want to do more of.

The only package available from now in will the guaranteed results package. Minimum packages will be £2000 for 6 months.

David

Metabolism, wild claims and more misunderstandings from the Nutrition world

A really hot topic for a while within the health and fitness industry has been metabolism; damage, improving it or just repairing it. i have spent a lot of time researching this from reading dated research to discussing it with the lead researchers in the field. Now all of a sudden there's fitness professionals popping up saying they can repair your metabolism and making claims of losing weight on very high calorie diets. The simple fact is to lose weight you need to burn more than you consume and your metabolism is never far off what most of the scientific formula's predict anyway, maybe up to 6% maximum, only more in very very few and strange cases in my experience, it will always return to very close normal range too in the majority of people. If you want to eat loads and still lose weight then you need to train very hard and for long periods of time, to burn the calories off. The people who can do this are professional athletes. Using fitness competitors to prove metabolic damage or recovery is flawed too, getting that lean is unhealthy in the first place and requires a period of almost starvation in the week leading up to comps. Of course there will be a rebound, from eating barely anything and dehydrating. Don't buy in to the scaremongering, there's still no secret metabolic repair team out there. It's still about calories and quality of food.

Fasted Cardio - Applying a little bit of logic to the debate

Firstly there needs to be some context, this is only really useful for fat loss. Note the word 'useful' NOT 'optimal'. HIIT, strength training, circuits and such like have all been proven to be more effective for fat loss over fasted low intensity cardio. However this doesn't mean fasted cardio has no place in a training programme. If fat loss is your goal, then one session, one meal and even one day or even one week is not what's important, it's consistency. That consistency being to burn more calories than you consume over a period of time to reach your goal look or weight.

There are 3 steps involved in losing fat:
1) Mobilisation - getting stored fat out from the fat cells, mainly under control of insulin and catecholamines
2) Transport - of the free fatty acid within the blood stream (free as mobilised from the fat cell)
3) Oxidation - which relates to the burning of the fatty acids in skeletal muscle, liver and heart.

Now this where a bit of understanding of the human body really helps, those leaner folks trying to get leaner do have more of a problem with the mobilisation stage, because there's less of it, those with more fat it stands to reason will mobilse fat far easier, because they have more. However for those considered very overweight oxidisation is impaired. Those in between really have neither of these problems.

So for those people very lean trying to get leaner fasted cardio is probably needed, this is due to the fact that long and very intense training sessions are not manageable due to the low calorie diets they need to follow. for those in the middle, well for them it doesn't really matter, they just need to be consistent, one things for sure though, fasted cardio can be useful and does have it's place, it's also not really that detrimental you'll not lose muscle if you have plenty of fat to lose.

It's all about balance and finding what works for the individual. Some of my clients never do fasted cardio, some do. What they all have in common though is that their programme works around their needs and what they are able to do. Not everyone can smash out 5 AM weights sessions a week with 5 PM HIIT sessions either.

So does fasted cardio have it's place, yes & no. In some instances it is perfectly acceptable.

One session, meal or day is not what counts, it's the whole approach and execution of a consistent plan to achieve your goals.

What changed since leaving University?

Before i started studying nutrition at university i was of the opinion that my views and opinions from what i had learned would not be validated without the credibility of a degree behind me, the only part of me that still believes that is my ego when i look to question others beliefs or agenda, although i try not to let that influence me these days. Upon leaving university i'd had numerous successes with clients, however i'd felt that because i was 'unqualified' then i didnt really have a place putting my name to the clients i had worked with. What i did think though, was that i had finally become a Nutritionist, the fact i'd been practicising nutrition for nearly 4 years didnt really mean much to me, the 3 letters after my name did though. Oddly.

The harsh reality though, is upon leaving university, my education really excelled. What univeristy really gave me was the analytic mindset to break something down and evaluate it based on sound scientific reasoning, or logic as some may call it. I have always read a lot, books, journals, blogs, forums, basically whatever i thought i could learn from. I quickly developed my own bullshit-o-meter, which allowed me to skim over articles, journals or press pieces with an agenda and file them under 'worthless' this to me was a real learning curve, i'd come out from under the structured learning of university and was in at the deep end, defending my own views (often against myself), evaluating new methods and research for the benefit of using with my own clients and progressing professionally to stay ahead of the game.

So after leaving university and entering the world of practicing nutrition, of which i'd decided against the conventional routes of either sports teams/programmes or NHS, here's what really changed:


1) My attitude to those without a degree in Nutrition

I'd basically become brainwashed in to thinking that without a degree in nutrition or dietetics then your opinion was actually worth less than someone with a degree. This soon changed and to be honest the 2 people i most admire for their nutrition knowledge, neither have a degree in the field, one is my mentor and amazes me every time we talk with what he knows, strangely i still go back and check/validate what he says though, the other is someone who's personal journey was similar to my own and who's thirst for good health helped inspire me to go in to nutrition. With all of the information available through social media, these days it is much easier to gain an understanding of nutrition, saying that it is also much easier to become brainwashed in to thinking only one method works. A good understanding of science is the most important tool you can have when starting to study nutrition.


2) Peer reviewed research holds all of the answers

Well it does but it's not always the best way to practice if you're always being lead by this. The fact is without research our beliefs will never be qualified or fully understood, however it really is a chicken and egg situation when it comes to research. We need forward thinkers who will test theories out before research and we also need researchers to test them to prove whether they are valid theories or not. In all honesty they both need each other. One thing i will say though is that if you only ever practice nutrition based on the available research then you'll usually be 2-3 years behind whats really going on in the world of nutrition. You only have to look at how long it has taken the WHO (world health organisation) to heed the warnings about cutting sugar to see how long you can be waiting for the official line to changed (10 years). Our job should always be to assess methods and make the safest but most effective decisions possible for our clients. This applies very much to myself, i've used methods which would be shunned by many to have bodybuilders place on stage or fighters drop more weight than they should, but i have always fully understood the methods and never would i do something i deem unsafe. A clients health is always the most important thing. I was also taught at University that there is no such thing as a good or bad food, just good or bad diets, i now think this was one of the worst things i have ever been taught, it's nearly as bad as being taught a calorie is just a calorie. They're not.

3) My view of 'the bigger picture'

The health of the nation is and probably never will be that important again to those that make decisions, it will be always come second to money, and unfortunately ill health is a profitable business. I used to believe that we lived in a country which cared about it's people and their health, that we had the best health service in the world and we as a nation were progressing. Now, i believe the opposite of all of those things. Our government don't care about our health, if they did then companies which aggressively peddle foods that are harmful to our health would be fined or at least taxed more to pay for the burden they add to our broken NHS, which is only a matter of time away from becoming fully privatised and less effective at looking after our dying nation. Nutrition aside, the gap between the wealthy (healthy) and the poor (nutritionally) is widening, the rich get richer at the expense of the poor, and to me this is not progress at all. We're in a downward spiral of ill health, through obesity and diabetes (type 2), both illnesses which could be eradicated completely, if we did enough about it. But we won't because too many companies have a vested interest in keeping our nation unhealthy.

4) I learned to give a shit

Probably the most important thing for me on a personal level, people that knew me when i was at university and a few years ago probably had few nice things to say about me, i'm the first to admit i wasn't a very good person, in fact i'm probably still not in some people's eye's, i cared only for what i chose to care about and that was, what i felt directly affected me. What i have also learnt is that caring about money, gadgets, possessions and status makes you feel quite poor. Now i care and want to make a difference through Nourish, i never want to go to sleep and every person we help makes me realise just how important it is to care.

It's always good to finish a blog with a Ghandi quote too....

2013 - A real honest reflection part 1

At the end of each year i write up what went well, what i would have done differently and what my plans for the next 12 months are.

Looking back on 2013 i dont think i could have ever have predicted what happened, the up's and down's and the steep learning curves i had to overcome. Overall though i look back on the year as being one where i accomplished nearly every challenge i took and exceeded even my own expectations. So here's a recap of my year...


January -

I was supposed to be in India and Thailand over Christmas and New Year, however, my New Years Eve of 2012 was spent in Fuerteventura working with Kell Brook in the lead up to his rescheduled World Title fight for 23rd February against Devon Alexander, i was in bed by 10pm as was the rest of the team, due to 6am training sessions. So 1st of January i was up at 4.45am to prepare and make breakfast for Kell and other members of the team, sort out the days supplements and ensure Kell was ready for an early morning gruelling pad work session with Dominic Ingle and a few of the other Ingle gym fighters. Giving up nearly all of my Christmas and choosing to spend my New Year like this was just part of doing the job i loved. One mistake i did make was not taking any new clients on through the New Year rush, i put all my eggs in one basket so to speak and this cost me over the course of the year in terms of lack of client work and variety, something i absolutely love.

January 4th saw Sky Sports arrive to film part of their promotion show 24/7, a feature of this was an interview i did discussing the dietary requirements needed for an elite level boxer as well my role within the team. Here's a photo taken from the filming, a cheeky plug for S1 Supplements in there!

Looking back, January was a tense month but the mood was improving and everything was falling in to place. As a team we were working well together and the results were beginning to show.Working with people such as Dominic Ingle, Dave Hembrough, Ian Grant and Alan Ruddock makes you realise just how elite a level we are operating at, this was a team that in my opinion could make good fighters in to great fighters, it was a privilege to be involved with such a team and i owe many thanks to them all for helping with my own professional development. Mid January we flew back to the UK for 2 weeks before heading back out to Fuerteventura. The set up out there was one of the best i've been involved with in terms of training camps. Unfortunately i have been involved in some terrible camps. Big shout out to Adam Bailey, who simply couldn't do enough for us while out there, a real unsung hero of the team too.


February -

The beginning of February was very exciting, with Kell Brook we'd hit a very good run of consistency with his training, skill work and his diet. The result was Kell weighing 11st 1lb three weeks before his fight date, a weight he nor any of his team thought possible. The below photo shows him in peak condition, post training, hydrated and on a high carb day. I'll admit, at this point the £20k i had riding on him winning was pretty much being spent! We all knew he was good, we all knew he was destined to be a world champion but this moment it all felt like just a formality.

2 days after the above photo was taken we were notified that Devon Alexander had pulled out of the 23rd February fight due to a bicep injury. The whole team was distraught but we concentrated on keeping Kell motivated and awaited the rescheduled fight date. I'll be honest, being so close to a bunch of guys and working so close with Kell, this was one of the hardest moments of my professional career thus far, i truly felt for Kell, having watched him train so hard and having to stick to a diet for so long it was hard to see his dream slip away from him in such a fashion. However, i was back in my home working at S1 Supplements, advising the customers on their diet and training and enjoying being sat behind the till again. I also had time to go on a date and meet a woman (on valentines day!!) and fall in love, but that's not training or nutrition related so we'll leave that one there! During my time away i had also tweaked and perfected my accelerated fat loss programme, a few more tweaks on test subjects and i would be ready to roll it out, it was tough though, more details in the link 2 week accelerated fat loss programme

February also saw our offer go in for Nourish, 8 months hard work developing the business plan and we were now at a point of making an offer on our preferred location.


March -

The new fight was scheduled for 19th of May and having had a few weeks off we were now back in training, during the first part of March i had met with Lee Freeman and had decided to work with him. It takes a lot for me to work with someone on a 1-2-1 basis, they have to be committed and 100% trust me. I want results and i'm not the kind of trainer who will tell you everything is going well when it's not, 4 sessions in and i told Lee if he was late once more then he would be sacked, luckily he took it on board and was never late again, fortunately so as the journey we embarked upon was a highlight of 2013. Below is a photo of Lee the first day he turned up for training.

At the end of March while away on a stag do in a very cold Dusseldorf (don't go for a stag do, it's very average) i was notified that Kell had sustained an injury to his foot. On my return to the UK it had been decided to seek out a professional opinion.


April -

By the middle of the month and despite conditioning work in the pool, on the bike and rower the team met with a specialist who confirmed that Kell had suffered a broken metatarsal and he advised him not to fight. Those that chose not to believe he was genuinely injured, i wish they could have witnessed the atmosphere at the hospital when we were notified. Once again all our own feelings were nothing compared to what Kell was going through. I'll never believe anything but a win would have been the outcome for Kell and i was sure he would come back and prove anyone who doubted him wrong.

Nourish was starting to pick up steam too, we realised by the end of April that it was getting very real, negotiating rent on the premises was getting very intense and i knew a deal was there to be done


May - 

As we came in to May my own work picked back up, i'd turned down 2 big consultancy contracts early in the year due to my commitment to working with Kell 24/7, everything seemed strange, going back to my real life. I'd worked out that from October i'd spent only 35% of the time in my own bed! I was still missing client work, that being working with many clients as i really buzz off working with new clients and achieving results with them. By now Nourish was really gathering pace too, the dream i'd had of making a difference and taking on the big fast food boys was starting to become a reality, one which i wasnt sure i was the right man to lead! I also took a holiday at the end of May, for the first time in a long time i really switched off and detached from work, it felt great, for about 5 minutes!


June - 

The month of June seemed to fly by, i was focussed on working with Kell in the lead up to the Carson Jones fight and although my online coaching work was going, i really was starting to miss working with a variety of clients. At this time i'd only worked with 7 people all year, usually it would be 15+. June also saw meeting with various potential stakeholders for Nourish, a trip to London for research as well as working in S1 Supplements, overall a good month!


July - 

Training with Lee had really picked up, he was moving much better around the bar and his strength was rocketing, his progress was great to watch, the more he made the hungrier he got for it. Lee was also undertaking my mentor programme, his aim was to learn the why's of the diet and programme. Details of my mentor and coaching programme can be found here 12 month coaching and mentoring programme

Mid July also saw Kell Brook take on Carson Jones in a rematch of their closely fought match up the year before. A lot was said about Kell's fighting weight being set at 10st 12lb, however the people who questioned this really dont understand the modern day aspects of the sport. Kell was coming back from a serious foot injury, to push him on his fitness drills to make weight would have meant risking damaging the recently healed bone. As it was Kell dropped from 13st to 10st 11lb weigh in day weight in only 5.5 weeks, he also went on to obliterate Carson Jones in 8 one sided rounds. Proof if needed what a difference the whole team had made in a short space of time.

Kell Brook weighing in at 10st 11lb, dropping from 13st 1lb in 5.5 weeks

The end of July also saw the completion of the solicitors work for Nourish. The keys were imminent!

That concludes part one, as you can see a lot of time was taken up working with only a few clients, the latter part of 2013 was all about making a difference to many more people on a much bigger scale!

As always if you have any questions or would like any advice then please email me  Email link

Thanks for reading!

David

Are supplements really worth it (27th July 2012)

Are Supplements really worth it?

If you don’t want to read this article in it’s entirety then the most important take home message is this: no amount of supplements will make up for a poor diet. They are not magic potions but products that you should use to enhance or complete your diet and training.

The real question should however be “are your expectations realistic” most people’s are not and they expect wonder results because either the supplement companies promise them or they’re looking for a quick fix. Addressing every supplement on the market and detailing it’s real world value would take too long, maybe a full issue so here we’ll simply look at the reasons to take supplements in general and what you should be doing before taking the leap and investing your money in products to ensure you are getting value for money.

It often amazes me how young men new to the gym think that adding a protein powder to their diet immediately qualifies them as a ‘real gym’ goer, it’s almost as if the two are synonymous and the rest of the diet can remain the same.

Before we go any further I should clarify that when I speak about supplements I am not solely talking about protein powders, Creatine, pre workout formula’s etc but the health and wellbeing side too including vitamins, minerals and digestive supplements which are all too often ignored by young men, other than popping the daily multi-vitamin.

A word of warning, the supplement industry is awash with spurious claims and marketing hyperbole, sifting through it can be very intimidating and lets be really honest if we could take a supplement and look like a cover model with minimal effort in the gym and kitchen, then most of us probably would as it would give us more time to show off the easily attained physique rather than busting our b***s making sure every aspect was near perfect. It is this that vulnerability the supplement companies hone in on, they are masters at appealing to the ‘quick fix’ character trait we have within us.

The key with supplements is to start off keeping it simple, once your diet has been addressed look at areas which need attention, times when a supplement might be easier than a meal or you need to balance out the macronutrient profile of the meal, if you need to increase your EFA’s through supplementation because you’re struggling to get them in, if the foods you are eating are nutritionally adequate or whether you want to use a multi-vitamin to cover your bases or if the increase in food you are eating means you want to use a digestive enzyme such as acidophilus. The same logic should be applied to sports supplements; is recovery from training becoming harder therefore utilising a recovery product would benefit you, are you wanting to get more reps from your sets and thinking Creatine or beta alanine can help with this and even to the more extreme side of the market of fat burners and what place they have, for some they become reliant on them while others utilise them to help them get in to the mindset of dieting, curbing appetite and cravings and supplying a ‘lift’ when calories are low.

You see many supplements and their use can be justified but what really matters is if you feel they are worth adding to your diet. Question and reason everything you think about using, think of the bigger picture of how it fits in to your diet and lifestyle and whether you are doing enough to get the most from it and if you stick to viewing supplements like that you will never feel ripped off or short changed. Approach them with caution and question the claims made and you cant go wrong.

4 week online fat loss programme

Going on what is commonly accepted as a diet is a hugely flawed concept, largely because it involves extreme restriction from your normal or current routine. Examples of unsuccessful dieting can be seen throughout modern day society, bodybuilders being one extreme who diet for months only to 'rebound' after a show through to the club 18-30 crowd who diet for their summer holiday only to undo all the hard work and revert back to pre holiday appearance upon return to blighty.

Henry Ford famously said "if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got" wise words and i like to think this applies to nutrition, and health too. If you always eat junk and don't exercise you'll always be unhealthy, similarly, if you always crash diet and revert back to inconsistent eating then you will never look or feel great all year round.

To look good is only one piece of the puzzle. As humans our aim should be to have more energy, sleep better and feel healthy on the inside as well as look it on the outside. Back to Henry Ford, if you do not like what you see in the mirror, struggle with energy or sleep and find exercise a struggle then what you are doing is not working for you and you need to change it.

A quick fix diet will not result in long term success, this is because it is so far removed from what we currently do that we will ultimately give in and revert back to our comfort way of living, away from the intense hard graft.

This is why my 4 week fat loss and healthy lifestyle transition programme is set up to not only blast fat in stages but also change your current habits to one's that are both achievable and results producing. Results are no good if they only last a few weeks of the year, if anything the yo-yo dieting can be detrimental to you, not just physically but psychologically too as it will manifest a feeling of failure, which in turn makes each effort harder.

My 2 week accelerated fat loss programme has now become very successful and popular, the results for some are lasting but it's very much geared towards looking good for a short period of time, this is why i developed the protocol to include a further 2 weeks which can be tailored to ease in to the diet and then at the back end set up good dietary habits which can be taken forward to push on with a healthier lifestyle.

The diet you receive will be tailored to you and worked around your schedule, as with all new healthy lifestyle programmes there is sacrifice and you will have to be mentally strong at times, nobody ever looked or felt great from eating junk, the 2 weeks fat loss phases are tough but rewarding and all my previous experience and expertise has gone in to refining this part of the programme.

As with all my programmes and due to my other work there are limited spaces available and i will be selective as to who i choose to work with on this programme, i am after all in the results business and failure is not an option!

The cost is £149 and from payment being received you will be given your full programme via email within 7 working days.

You will receive full support from me throughout the programme and report to me daily on your progress.

If you are wanting to shift some post christmas weight gain and push on to a healthier lifestyle, which you can stick to then this programme will suit you. However it is very much in your hands, i only supply the programme and it is up to you to implement, if you feel you may need more support then please check out my online or 1-2-1 programmes.

To register your interest on this programme then please email me by clicking the link Email address

I look forward to hearing from you

David

2014 programmes and course

I am often asked how much i charge. For me this is a hard question to answer as i always prefer to tailor my programmes to the individual, which means the time spent working with each client is always different.

However, there is an obvious need for potential clients to see what kind of services i offer. Below i have highlighted the work i prefer to take on and the cost of such programmes.

4 week fat loss and lifestyle programme - £149
This 4 week programme involves a detox period followed by my 2 week accelerated fat loss programme and finishes with a 1 week transitional diet to lead you on to a healthier eating lifestyle out of your diet. This is a great way to kick start any healthy lifestyle change or diet. This course is offered all year round. More details can be found here: 4 week fat loss and healthy lifestyle programme

2 week accelerated fat loss programme - £99 
For more details see here:
This programme is not for the faint hearted, the drop out rate is 35%, however, should you stick it out you'll rapidly lose weight, gain control of your appetite and cravings. This programme is ran twice a year, early june is limited to 25 people and late November is limited to 20 people. More details here: 2 week accelerated fat loss programme

12 month online coaching and mentor programme 
Each year i take on a few clients who i work with solely online, coaching throughout the year. This programme includes full training, nutritional and supplement support. Weekly updates via Skype, phone and email are included. The programme is aimed at those who want a full lifestyle change but without the 1-2-1 training element. It is most suited to those who want to make real progression with my my full support. Please see here for more details: 12 month online coaching and mentor programme

Monthly online coaching programme - £150 per month (minimum 3 months)
Similar to my online coaching and mentor programme but without the education and mentorship aspect. I work with you very closely to achieve results through non-fad like nutrition and training. You'll be accountable to me weekly and report in regularly on your progress. This is intense but it yields results time and time again. By the end not only will you have achieved the results you want but you'll understand your body better and have the tools to keep improving.

1-2-1 training and nutrition coaching - £400 per month
This is my most extensive programme for which i work with only 3-4 clients at any one time. I will personally train you 2-3 times a week, write all of your nutrition and supplement plans and supply all training programmes too. If you have seen my transformation programmes you will know what can be achieved with me as your coach.

Group nutritionist - price to be discussed
As part of my current work with various professional sports teams i also work with groups. This can range from family nutritional programmes through to sports teams. For more information contact me directly.

Corporate Health & Well being programme - price dependant on company and project size
Having delivered health and wellbeing programmes throughout the UK to many different multi national and local companies i have devised my own Total Body Development corporate health programme. This includes staff nutritional seminars on health in the work place, as well as managing stress and productivity using nutrition. Each programme is devised specifically for the company in question, no one size fits all.

Elite athlete nutritional programme - 12 week programme - price available on request
This programme is for elite athletes only and is my most extensive programme. I will work with your coaches to plan your nutritional programme, assess your performance, meet with coaches weekly to set performance targets. This programme is for those under extreme pressure, at the top of their game where every 0.01% counts.

12 month online coaching and mentor programme - 2014

If 2013 showed me anything, it's that i simply do not have the time to do all the work i'd like to do. Total Body Development has over the years been held back simply by how much time i can commit and how much other work i have on. Launching S1 Supplements and then Nourish have meant that the amount of client time and work i can do had to be limited. 

My intention has always been to expand, pass on my knowledge and experience and build a team of people i trust to carry through the message of what Total Body Development is. Big ideas right?!

My greatest success with clients has always come through spending more time with them, as you would expect, however i have always noticed my best clients are one's that want to learn the why's of what we are doing, to understand the nutrition and training principles and learn why their body reacts certain ways.

My track record is proven and my list of previous clients is vast, now i want to grow with the right team around me and i want to build a core of people who i can trust to work with my clients and represent Total Body Development. My client list speaks for itself, world champions in 4 different sports, consultancy work with some of the UK's top businesses, numerous cover models as well as many average joe and jane's turned in to anything but average!

This is why in 2014 i am launching my own mentorship and coaching programme with the sole intention of growing a team who can go on to represent Total Body Development.

The programme will include the following:

• Full Human Nutrition education programme with monthly modules to complete
• Full advanced nutrition programme with assessment
• Sports and Performance Nutrition education programme
• Exposure to all the clients i work with
• Monthly group meeting in Sheffield or via Skype 
• Access to my private online coaching programme
• Quarterly seminars with leading coaches 
• Full coaching for your own goals by me and my team
• Full guidance through the ISSN CISSN programme
• Weekly/fortnightly phone calls with myself to ensure you are working towards your goals

So as well as learning from me through a structured programme you will also be coached to develop for your own training goals. By the end of the course those successful and driven will be chosen to become part of team Total Body Development and carry the flag for what Total Body Development is all about. Work hard enough and show enough mettle and you'll be working WITH me and have access to all my past work and future clients.

Your success will be down to you, i can only supply the tools, it is up to you to use them and get the best out the course and my time. Those that apply themselves will improve their skill set, increase their knowledge and above all else increase their income.

This programme is aimed at those wanting push on to the next level with their learning and career development. ideally you will already be level 2 and 3 qualified and be practising as a personal trainer or at least have the intention to be level 3 qualified very quickly. If you are not currently studying or qualified then i will provide you with details and contacts for these qualifications at a discounted price. If you are wanting a full lifestyle change and the prospect of learning why's of what you need to do then this programme is for you.

The cost of the course is 11 monthly payments of £150 with an initial payment of £250 up front. The course starts in February 2014 and i will be taking a limited number of people on. 

The closest thing i have to this has been my work with Lee Freeman who has transformed his physique under my guidance and now has plans to use the knowledge he has learned under me to also help others achieve their goals. Through my mentorship he has been able to understand his body and the training and nutrition principles needed to live a better, healthier life. In 2014 Lee will undertake his ISSN accreditation as well as competing in fitness and physique competitions, when he came to me in January 2013 for advice on training again after major surgery on his neck he wasn't able to lift any weights at the time. His squat in March was 12kg dumbell for goblet squats, now he comfortably squats well over 100kg for sets of 12 and has a physique many people could only wish for. He is the perfect example of what happens when you mix determination with top level knowledge and experience. 

If this course interests you then feel free to email me so we can discuss this further, then click the link to email me TBD email

I look forward to hearing from you!

David

2 week accelerated fat loss programme

Having worked with many people to help them lose weight, at times i have been required to produce programmes which drop weight very quickly for competitions, fights or even modelling shoots.

This has enabled me to perfect a weight loss method which focusses on getting results fast.

With any weight loss programme there is sacrifice, you cannot eat big macs daily and expect to lose weight. This programme however is extreme and that is why it is to only be used for a couple of weeks, after which point you will resort back to a healthy balanced diet.

The diet resembles that which i use for clients who have to make weight or get ready for a photo shoot. It focusses on high nutrient, workout recovery methods which enable you to train hard and recover for the next training session.

Your diet will be specific to you and written based on your routine, weight and body composition. It will be hard work and is not for the faint hearted, BUT it's only 2 weeks. You can use to look good at an event, squeeze in to a dress or to kick start your new diet.

You will also be provided with a full 2 week training programme free of charge to go along with the diet.

As well as this you will get full support from me, with emails every day. You'll also report in to me updating me on your progress each day.

There limited places available (only 20) and the cost is £99. Every time i have ran this programme it gets snapped up very quickly.

To sign up for this programme simply email me david@totalbodydevelopment.co.uk

F**k the diet and pass me the chocolate - breaking the sugar crave cycle

I started this blog post 7 times all opening with piss poor justifications for eating such a poor diet and barely training of late, all i was doing was hiding behind excuses for what is really just a piss poor attitude and lack of motivation, well it's actually more that i have just been really busy and my focus has been elsewhere, i am far from lazy. Although at the moment i cannot be bothered to train and no way do i have the motivation to prepare all of my meals for the next day or even week. The thought of writing myself a diet out to stick to, well that would take time away from doing what i really love doing at the moment, working on my businesses and that's just not going to happen.

Luckily for me though, i at least have the knowledge to pick the 'better' option when i am on the go, i'm not easily fooled by poor labelling on foods so i can, when i feel like it go for the healthier option and even get close to my daily macronutrient requirements (i rarely do though).

On top of being so busy i have been away for a couple of weekends, where i have used the excuse of being away as a reason for over indulging. So as you can see there has been accumulation of poor dietary habits creeping in and in truth now taking over. Diet starts Monday though, right?! No, definitely not. That's not how you undo a poor diet and lack of exercise.

Everyone has triggers and it's understanding those that leads to addressing them in the right way to make realistic and attainable changes which will not easily be undone. While i cant (dont have the time to) identify every trigger and offer up ways around them all i have put a list of ways you can start to take back control of your cravings and move towards eating and feeling better.

My approach to nutrition with clients is always two-fold, firstly i look for quick wins and secondly once i have identified these i look at how they can be used without damaging the long terms goals. So currently i am stuck in a rut of eating on the go with some very strong sugar/carb cravings (lets not forget the power of sugar addiction which i am feeling the full force of currently). To simply start a new diet full of healthy foods and hit the gym is a recipe for failure, it then becomes a viscous cycle of failed attempts as life gets in the way and feeling bad at my failures. It is at this point that many people develop strong connections with food and begin comfort eating, seeking comfort in the foods they want to move away from (shit this is starting to get deep now)

I simply cannot go on as i am though, accepting it is poor is not enough, it needs to change as i am noticing my energy levels are suffering, my sleep is more disrupted and my digestive system feels like it's taking a hammering with all the junk. Basically i am currently on a roller coaster of insulin spikes and i'm starting to feel run down, at a time when i need to be efficient and working at full capacity.

So how do you break the cycle of eating crap and not training? Well firstly you accept what's realistic and what is not. As stated simply jumping in to a completely different diet as well an intense training programme will result in you not getting the results you want.

What's needed is progressive changes, one's that you can make without feeling like you are depriving yourself, one's that don't make you feel like you're on a diet. My issues are centred around carbs and specifically sugar (Double Deckers mmmmm). Now this blog post is not all about the science, however it's important to realise it's not just about mind over matter but about biochemistry too (i wont go there just yet, thats an article for another day). This is why i dont believe in going cold turkey when it comes to dropping sugar, it can just be way too drastic for most people.

Here are the changes i recommend to kick the sugar cravings and get back to a healthier diet:

* eat more fruit - according to many (self proclaimed) expert 'nutritionalists' eating fruit is bad. It's not. end of. In fact the sugar from fruit is a very good replacement for sugary snacks, eating fruit also adds fibre to your diet so you'll be giving your digestive system a bit of a kick in the right direction too. Plus you'll be getting a big hit of micronutrients too, sugar in it's simplest form actually strips away nutrients in the body. Opt for sweeter fruits such as apples, bananas, mango and pineapple, these all do the trick for me.

* de-stress and make/take time to relax - how is this related to sugar and cravings you may ask, well it's pretty simple. When you're on the go all the time and you become hungry your body signals for quick energy, the quickest being... yes sugar and simple carbs. By de-stressing and taking time out to relax you take control of energy output and the mindset reliance on 'quick fix' foods. The same also applies to energy drinks too, these really are the devil.

* Become a hunter - seek out protein and make a point of looking for protein heavy meals. These will help fill you up for longer and change your mindset from carb conscious to protein hunter. Animal sources of protein are also preferential as the fats within these help feed the brain energy too. This is important to keep you focussed as when the brain becomes tired it craves quick energy in the form of glucose.

* Feed the brain - as stated in the last point when the brains gets tired it craves glucose, by feeding it a constnat supply of brain food greens, avocados, fish, eggs, nut butters etc you're stopping the drained neurotransmitters in the brain from screaming out for sugar. Point of note - sugar actually drains the brain of important mood dictating chemicals, this is the viscous cycle effect; you crave it, eat it, it drains your brain, your crave, eat it... rinse repeat

* carry snacks - these dont need preparation so there's no excuse really. bags of nuts, fruits, even boiled eggs can all be carried around easy enough. They're filling and healthy and when you get a sugar craving a handful of berries and nuts will definitely knock the craving out.

* dont drink your calories - this means dropping the soda and i would go as far as advising to avoid diet varieties too as these simply trick the body and brain in to thinking you're still giving it sugar. crushed berries in water is my preferred choice, it's like a real vitamin water that doesnt cost a ridiculous amount.

* which leads me nicely on to my last point, drink more water - when we're dehydrated the hunger/thirst signalling can some times become confused, when you're actually thirsty your body can be sending out the signal that you're hungry. So put a stop to this and aim for 30ml of water per kg of bodyweight per day, add another 500ml for each gym session you do a day.

As you can see these are all quick wins with longer term benefits. You'll eat more protein, more fruit, better fats, be more hydrated and have more time to relax. All of which lead to you feeling and performing better.

The next step after implementing those quick wins is to make sure i have no sugary sweet temptations in the house, so i best get eating the ben & jerry's phish food, double deckers, fruit & nut and 2l bottle of pepsi need to be smashed before i can progress....

Oh and before the internet guru's moan on about 'practising what you preach' there's more to life than telling everyone how amazingly disciplined you are, nobody actually believes you or even cares and it doesnt make you any better at your job!

Dieting through a training camp – Part 1

Dieting through a training camp – Part 1

Most amateur and professional boxers will have some time off between fights and once a date is agreed for their next fight they will increase their training and start their diet to make weight (heavyweights obviously excluded from this), this is the period they refer to as their training camp.

What I’m going to discuss here are some key diet and supplementation points to consider for the fighter who has to make weight, the what’s and what not’s to stress over, I’ll even brush on the dreaded but now almost essential dehydration process. Hopefully you’ll pick up some key points, which you can apply to your own training and nutrition plans. My experience comes from the boxers and MMA fighters I have worked with and all of my work is backed by science, something that should not be ignored in exchange for fad diets or self-proclaimed guru’s new methods. If the scientifically backed methods don’t work for you then it’s not the science, its’ most definitely you. Crash diets suck big time, don’t get in the viscous cycle of that being your only option to make weight. Oh and don’t bitch and moan about having to diet, if you hate it that much fight at your natural weight.

As a performance athlete making weight you really must do all you can to protect your metabolism, there’s no doubt as bodyweight and fat stores drop the so will your metabolic rate, however you need to protect it and make sure it is not magnified. This is your key tool to making weight the easy way. Crash dieting and bingeing after a fight are a sure fire way to metabolic damage, now the science is not vast on this area (check out the seminal Minnesota Semi-Starvation Study for good info on metabolic rate decreases) my experience with athletes is that every time you binge and add fat it becomes harder to shift that fat each fight, compounded by alcohol and age. I’ve worked with many fighters who through a combination of steady state cv, low calories and then bingeing after a fight just find it harder each time to make weight and the calories have to go lower for longer. Soon enough you’re left with nowhere to go and end up living on barely any food and using stimulants to get through training sessions, that is not a good place for increasing performance coming in to a fight. what’s really happening in this situation is your testosterone levels, nervous system output and thyroid drop through the floor and yet cortisol levels sky rocket, this is a bad environment for performance, recovery and fat loss, albeit somewhat inevitable when you do this, limiting it is key.

I have seen fighters eating sub 500kcals for 2 full weeks prior to the weigh in, this is a crucial time and using stimulants to carry you through training brings about the other real issue of adrenal fatigue. So at all costs protect your metabolism, to do this you need to be sensible and here are the techniques I use with clients who have suffered with this:

·      If you have a lot of weight to drop then drop it at the start of training camp, don’t leave it until 4 weeks out where you have to starve yourself

·      Don’t binge after a fight if you’ve starved yourself, your body is not a position to handle a huge influx of calories from sugar and processed foods you will have been craving

·      Increase your carb intake after fights slowly 25g increments per week

·      Don’t stop training after a fight, you may want a break but you cant eat all you want and not train, you’ll just get fat quickly, so just keep in your s&c sessions and your hiit conditioning work if you wish to cut back

·      Start your dieting early, get the bulk of the weight off quickly and then slowly eat and train your way in to your weight

·      Keep protein high. Protein has been shown to help increase metabolic rate.

·      Don’t steady state cardio as your calorie burner – not only will those long runs damage your knees and joints but too much of such activity has been shown to slow metabolic rate, I hear of current world champions going for a steady run to burn off the calories every night. We’ve all seen the overweight guys walking for an hour on the treadmill in the gym, saying he’s burnt 1000kcals off at a steady pace barely breaking a sweat, the fact is he’s not and he’s still overweight

·      Finally don’t worry, permanently screwing your metabolism up is pretty much impossible, what’s important is making the changes to make things easier so you can concentrate on your performance rather than constantly worrying about making weight, stress is not good for your metabolism either.

You’ll notice that I advise to strip weight quickly at the beginning of a training camp, the reason for this is two-fold: firstly it will leave you to concentrate on what should be the most important factor which is your performance as the fight gets closer, secondly, dragging a heavy body around the treadmill is hard work, you need to increase your power: weight, this is basically the speed at which you can move with keeping your heart rate in the 90%+ zone, the higher the speed the better, after all speed is a key performance component for fighter. If you’re trundling round the treadmill at 14kph at over 90% hr you need to increase this and you will see a marked improvement in your performance in the ring, which is ultimately what you want.

The single best way to do this at the beginning of a camp is a ketogenic diet. This is a far from ideal style of dieting for performance athletes, although recent research out of Italy showed performance not to be affected on a 1 month ketogenic diet it is in my experience not optimal long term for an athlete. Although carbohydrates are not actually an essential macronutrient they are essential for fuelling and recovering from gruelling twice a day workouts, however a ketogenic diet alongside a steady increase in training intensity will drop the weight off you quickly, most of which will be water/glycogen to start with but there will be some fat loss too, this method allows you to bring carbohydrates back in around training to fuel and recover from workouts quickly as well as being closer to your fighting or pre dehydration weight. 3-4 weeks should be the longest timeframe to use a ketogenic diet, if you’re doing longer than this then you’ll notice your performance either dropping or plateauing. You may also start to feel like you are overtraining as by this time your training intensity should be peaking. This is the exact tactic I have used many time with fighters, the fact they’re eased back in to training allows for this type of harsh diet.

To be continued, hopefully/obviously...