Connor Stanbridge – ‘educated me dramatically through the process and always have time to answer my questions’

Connor, what were your goals when signing up with me?

I wanted to increase my weight slowly, because I wanted to add mainly lean muscle without the fat. I also wanted to increase my weights in the gym mainly focusing on my compound movements.

What reservations if any did you have before we started working together?

I was concerned about adding too much fat, and being told what to do and never why.

How was I able to help you with your reservations?

You helped me by increasing my weight and the I calories consumed, without adding fat. Plus I dramatically increased the weight used on the compound lifts. Finally, one major part is you have educated me along the way massively.

In point form, can you list your achievements training with me thus far?

• Gained lean muscle mass
• Increased strength
• Furthered my education
• Improved my confidence
• Made me love training, no longer seeing it as a chore

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I would just like to say it has been a pleasure being coached by you and I am really looking forward to many more months to come. You have seriously helped me along the way with increasing my weight and lifts, and not only are you a great coach you are a really down to earth guy and become a great friend. One massive point for me although I have got a hell of a lot to learn, you have educated me dramatically through the process and always have time to answer my questions, which I admire and respect a lot. Once again thank you and looking forward to many more months.

I have really enjoyed coaching Connor, he is always looking to learn and understand the process behind his training and nutrition. This is something I really admire in my clients and encourage. He is currently doing a Personal Training course and in future has the goal of stepping on stage as a Mens Physique Competitor.

Interested in online coaching? You can check out what I have to offer here.

Focus on the Process to get the Goal

Are you goal or process orientated? 

You may be wondering, what in heck is he on about? Process orientated…goal orientated…what are these concepts? So I guess it would be best to clarify what I mean by each:

Goal Orientated– you focus on the end product, this might be a certain body weight, an amount to be lifted or even a promotion. This is your key driver, it gets you out of bed each day.

Process Orientated– instead of looking at the end product you hope for, you focus on what needs to be done to get there. If you want to hit a certain bodyweight, you make sure to eat and exercise each day in a way that would take you there. If you want a promotion by the end of the year, each day you nail your work and go the extra mile. You look at what needs to be done to get you to your goal, this is your focus each day.

As you can see there is one KEY DIFFERENCE; one focusses on the END PRODUCT and the other on what NEEDS TO BE DONE TO GET THERE.

So what’s wrong about looking at the end goal all the time? I mean it’s good to set goals and have them drive us throughout life? Well yes, setting goals is brilliant, and they need to be there to give us purpose and direction. However, the problem with thinking about the end product all the time is that you want it now. Or if something goes a bit skew whiff one day you get very frustrated.

Take Bob, he wants to get to 165lbs for a natural bodybuilding competition. Now Bob has given himself 20 weeks to get there, which should be plenty of time as he is only weighing in at 185lbs. So Bob knows that if on average he loses a pound per week he will hit his goal. Bob isn’t an idiot and knows that at first he can expect weight to come off faster and it will gradually slow.

Each day Bob wakes up and weighs himself, always with the focus on the end weight. So he is setting himself up for disappointment every single day, because he is not yet at his goal weight. Imagine a situation where he is 10 weeks out, and his weight stalls, he loses nothing for a week, or even gains a pound. Bob being Bob is thinking that he will not hit his goal weight at this rate, he gets very anxious and decides to add cardio and drop his calorie intake.

Bob then loses a lot of weight the next week, and once the 20 weeks are up he is actually 5lbs lighter than his goal.

Now take Fred, he is going for the same show, so he also needs to get down to 165lbs. Like Bob, he is a smart guy, he knows how to get there. However, unlike Bob, Fred focusses on these processes, he looks at what macros and exercise needs to be done each day, and is satisfied each day as he gets this done. Fred’s weight also stalls one week, however, being process orientated Fred knows he has done everything right and cannot do anything more. So he sticks to his guns, and when the 20 weeks finish, he manages to also reach his goal, but is 5lbs heavier than Bob.

So whats the difference? Both Bob and Fred were able to get to their goal, but Bob actually overshot and lost more weight than he needed and aimed for. In this situation it meant that he actually lost lean muscle mass by making drastic changes to his diet and exercise. He therefore placed lower than Fred, who being process focussed, didn’t lose his head, and therefore kept a higher amount of lean mass.

This is just one example of how being too focussed on the end product can worsen the outcome. Life is not linear, we get peaks and troughs of good luck and bad luck. However, if you focus on what you are doing to get to your goal, rather than goal in question, you will be in a better place to consistently do what needs to be done. You won’t get disheartened along the way, and do something non-productive.

Be process orientated, not goal orientated, you’ll be surprised how much more you enjoy the each day and probably hit your goal sooner!

Having a coach really helps keep you focussed on the processes, they give you your training and nutrition, all you need to do is do it. Therefore, it directs your focus on the process, they can keep the goal in mind. Like the sound of that? Check out my success stories and if you think my coaching might suit you check out my services.

#REVIVESTRONGER

Your Daily Coffee Is Killing You!

Coffee is a Killer

Truth or Fiction?

OK so I very much doubt your coffee is killing you, but some people are this extreme is their views. They seem to think that coffee is the devil because it contains caffeine, which is a drug and should be avoided. Now I love coffee, consume it daily and also get caffeine from other sources from energy drinks to chocolate. I am going to look at what science says to make my opinion on whether caffeine is good or bad, because I know my coffee isn’t killing people, that we can be sure of. I will note that a toxic dose of caffeine is between 20-40mg/kg bodyweight, so I at 75kg would need to consume 1500-3000mg of caffeine, which would be 10-20 average coffees.

What is Caffeine?

Taken straight from Examine.com ‘Caffeine is a stimulatory anti-sleep compound extracted from coffee beans’. It is most commonly consumed in the form of tea and coffee, and is the worlds most popular drug. It has been heavily researched and is deemed safe, but like anything else this is assuming moderation.

Coffee in general has between 40-180mg per 150ml and tea 24ml-50mg per 150ml. Once consumed it can have an immediate effect, however peak values in the blood take 15-120 minutes and most commonly seen is 30 – 45 minutes. The impact of caffeine can last quite a while, as its half-life can be up to 4.5 hours but has been seen to be as low as 2.5 hours.

What are the Benefits?

Funny enough even the idea of caffeine intake can improve our mood, which suggests it has a potential placebo effect. I know personally if I smell a fresh coffee I automatically feel more awake, if only they could produce a decaf coffee that tastes like the real deal.

It has been shown that caffeine can help to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s, and can help in therapy against it. Furthermore, caffeine has shown to increase metabolic rate and fat loss, however be warned habitual intake can make us desensitised to this.

Caffeine is widely known as an ergogenic aid, which means it has sports performance benefits. It appears muscle cells have an increased power output, also it has been seen to improve endurance performance by decreasing fatigue.

One study looked at caffeine and it’s impact on the number of calories we burn and fat mobilisation. It saw that a daily intake of say 6 strong cups of coffee led to an extra 100kcal expenditure. Wahey, that’s pretty nice right?! Well not only that but caffeine has also been shown to increase fat mobilisation and oxidation.

What are the Downsides?

So apparently coffee should be avoided because of the insulin response it creates, and insulin is the fat storing devil right? Well no, it may have been seen to impair glucose tolerance in the short term, but in the long term, which is what matters, it has actually been found to lower people’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Suggesting coffee does not raise insulin for long periods of time or make us insulin insensitive.

You may have heard that we can get addicted to caffeine, currently however there is insufficient evidence to suggest you can get addicted to caffeine, yet this may change as it does interact with our reward systems such as acute dopamine release, but this gets blunted with chronic use.

Not really a downside, but more something that I personally get frustrated by is getting caffeine tolerant. To date the mechanism by which we become tolerant to caffeine is unknown, but with chronic use we do begin to lose some of the effects of caffeine. It does seem possible to actually consume caffeine routinely without developing a tolerance, only anecdotally but going for 3-5 days should be enough time so not to become tolerant.

Conclusions

So as you can see coffee and principally caffeine has been investigated thoroughly, but some things are still a little inconclusive, but that’s to be expected as science is tentative and ever evolving.

In the short term we see some benefits to sports performance and mood, but also decreased glucose tolerance and a slight rise in blood pressure. Yet long term studies show that overall coffee is beneficial, decreasing the risk of diabetes, parkinsons and increasing calorie burn and fat mobilisation. If we take this together we can see that overall coffee is only going to help in fat loss, our results, and health, because of the short term benefits and the fact over time the negatives are not seen.

However, like everything coffee and caffeine should be consumed in moderation, as we can become reliant on it and potentially addicted. I would also note that the benefits of coffee in particular are only apparent if the person isn’t adding a load of sugar, cream or even god forbid butter to their coffee. So continue to drink coffee, but don’t have too much if you still want to experience a kick!

‘Honey Monster Puffs’ The New Health Food?

‘Honey Monster Puffs’

The new ‘health’ food?

So Sugar Puffs are re-branding themselves to Honey Monster Puffs because sales have been driven down by the sugar scare that is currently rife. Not only that but they are changing the recipe of our beloved sugar puffs to contain 20% more honey and less added sugar.

So they will now contain 8.6g sugar per 30g serving, from the original 9.3g. Big whoop. Critics rightly pointed out that once broken down by the body, honey will do the same thing as the added sugar would have. Furthermore, there are worse offenders out there such as Coco Pops and Frosties which contain 11g of sugar per portion. Thus, we can clearly see the change is a marketing ploy, removing sugar from their brand name and assigning a ‘health halo’ by adding that the product contains honey, which is seen as natural and therefore good for you. This frustrates the hell out of me, and highlights how ignorant the consumer is and why education is still the only way to help people make wiser choices.

Education , Education, Education

People need to understand that when it comes to their diet what makes it healthy vs. unhealthy are not individual food choices, but the overall macronutrient and micronutrient contents of their entire diet. However, because the majority of the population do not understand this, they get mis-guided by companies, the news and word of mouth.

Governing Bodies are clueless
Companies are now required to put nutritional traffic lights on their products, assigning different colours to a choice of dietary aspects of the food. Typically calories, sugar, fat, saturated fat and salt.

I have a two big problems with this. One the colours are referring to a guideline daily amount, this is a generic and completely unindividualised figure. Just think, a athlete needs a load more calories and therefore fat than an office worker who is sedentary.

Second, they are focussing on some of the wrong things. I am fine with the calories and overall fat being put there, but sugar, saturated fat and salt? The governing bodies are focussing on the wrong things, they would be better off providing a macronutrient breakdown of the product i.e. fat, protein and carbohydrates.

Sugar at the end of the day is the final form of any carb, and we are not really helping by pin pointing just sugar. Why saturated fat is on there I really don’t know, as no one is sure how much we should really be getting, what we do know is we need a balance of each type of fat and that saturated fat is essential for healthy hormone function. Finally salt, this has been highlighted and vilified by the nutrition press recently, and in my view wrongly. It’s been known for over 20 years that people with high blood pressure who don’t want to lower their salt intake can consume more potassium-containing foods. It is the balance between the two minerals that matters. So if they do have salt on their, surely the potassium content should also be provided?

Confused Consumers

I feel bad for calling the general population ignorant, because I don’t think it is largely their fault. As shown above the government are focussing on the wrong things, and do not provide adequate education. So consumers only have the news, media and branding to base their choices off. And there is the problem, the news often tout complete bull, governing bodies focus on the wrong things and companies are concerned about their bottom line, not our health.

People need to educate themselves, but they need to use legit resources and question everything. This is good daily practice that can be used throughout life. Be open minded but skeptical, base your opinion on facts and if something sounds fishy, question it.

MyFitnessPal is screwing you over

How could it be screwing you over?

I love myfitnesspal, if you have me as a friend on it you know I have a streak of over 600 days (to add me snhall1990). That literally means I have logged into and tracked foods for 600+ days. That consistency with my macronutrient intake is what has gotten me results, along with following a solid exercise regime. However, there are ways in which using myfitnesspal could be your downfall, and I want to touch on these today.

1) Using their calorie calculators

Myfitnesspal has it’s own inbuilt calorie calculator, which is great, it gives you an idea of how many calories you need to maintain your weight. Key in that sentence is idea, these calculators are just estimates, you cannot guarantee these to be right, and I have seen them really mess people around, being out by 100s of calories. Say it was out by 200 calories a day, you were eating this much to sustain your weight, a 200kcal surplus each day is 1400 calories by the end of the week. After a month that’s an extra 5600kcal for the month, which is 67200kcals extra for the year, which could lead to over 15lbs of unwanted fat gain.

I am certainly not against calorie calculators, but they must be used with caution. If you do use them, then make sure to keep an eye on your scale weight, and how you are looking, then adjust from there.

2) Applying a macronutrient Ratio to your diet
I HATE ratios, people asking whether a 40/40/20 split is superior to a 60/20/20 split etc. The problem is that these are extremely unspecific and not individualised. Everyone has a given amount of protein that they can successfully utilise, a general rule of thumb is 1g per lb. Next up is fat, it’s great, full of nutrients and makes food taste awesome, but again past our EFAs and getting a good mix of them all there is an upper limit of how much we want. Carbohydrates have the biggest individual variability, because they are our bodies ideal energy source, and therefore the amount we need is dictated by our personal energy expenditure.

Lets take a 40/40/20 split of carbs, protein and fat and apply that to two people weighing 180lbs, one who needs 2000 calories and another who needs 3000 calories. The 2000 calorie individual will consume 200g of protein and carbohydrates with 44g for fat. The other would get 300g of protein and carbs with 67g for fat. Now you can see both are getting too much protein, and for the person consuming 3000 calories it is getting really excessive. Blanket ratios are not specific at all, and are by all means useless and a waste of time. Every macronutrient serves it’s own purpose and each person requires different amounts of each.

3) Silly sugar recommendations
If you have a decent intake of fruit you will notice that you go over your sugar recommendations every single day. There is nothing wrong with sugar, especially that which is naturally occurring in foods, such as in fruit. I hate to think that people reduce their fruit intake because they feel they need to get below a recommendation made by myfitnesspal. If anything they could have an added sugar recommendation, but even then I think it’s best ignored.

4) Incorrect food entries
This is really frustrating, because on myfitnesspal anyone can enter the data for foods. So you could end up with the wrong numbers through human error. Furthermore, sometimes when you scan an item the numbers fed back are off. If you are not careful this could really mess with your totals by the end of the day. I have had it where someone didn’t bother entering the protein on items, and then over-consuming on protein to hit my totals. Doing this rarely is fine, but if it is done with any consistency it could really throw you and if you are in contest prep it could be really important to be as accurate as possible.

These are just some of the things to be aware of when using myfitnesspal. Nothing is perfect and myfitnesspal is actually a really really great thing. So don’t delete the app and ruin your streak, but be aware of the above, because it could be ruining your progress.

Not sure where to start with your macronutrients? Need someone to take away the guess work to allow you to start using myfitnesspal and eating a diet you love and getting results you want? Be sure to check out my online coaching services, you can see a few of my clients who have had terrific results here.

Why diet plans SUCK

Meal 1 – 50g Oats, 300ml Skimmed Milk…

I hate diet plans, they are restrictive, boring, ineffective and problematic long term. Yet people love them, I get emails from people asking for ‘Diet Plans’ that outline specific times and foods to eat. I understand, it makes life simple and easy, you just look at what’s on the menu and eat it up and get the results you wanted…well simple and easy might be right but results? Maybe initially but in the long term a ‘Diet Plan’ is planning for failure. Here’s why…So your nutrition coach gives you your diet plan, it lists out Meals 1 through 6, giving you the exact foods, weights and timings to eat everyday. Brilliant, you go out to the supermarket, pick up all your grub and you’re set on your path to the body you want. Right? I mean all you have to do is follow this plan, day by day, week by week, eating specific foods, at specific times and you will be onto a winner. Chicken, Oats, Broccoli every single day, at 1pm…

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with any of the foods named above, heck they’re great and could be incorporated into your diet. But everyday, the same foods? Don’t you think you might get bored? Might a social event pop up that requires you to eat something off the menu? Maybe your busy at work at a time you’re meant to eat? Now we are starting to see the beginning of just a few of the problems with meal plans.

The Western World doesn’t actually have a problem losing weight, yes there is an obesity epidemic but we are actually great at shedding that weight. The problem we have is keeping it off, as studies show more often than not, people put the pounds back on, and more. So why can’t we keep that weight off? Well it’s because our diets do not allow for sustainability. We get bored, a social event comes up, and we give that diet up and go back to our usual habits. The typical yoyo dieter you know the ones.

That’s why diet plans SUCK, they are not sustainable. Further to that they are actually unhealthy. They encourage binge eating, being unsocial, putting certain foods on a pedestal and encourage a limited diet that can lead to micronutrient deficiencies. You also gain no knowledge or education about foods, what they contain and the impact they have on your body. All you know is that the ones on the menu get you results, at least in the short term.

So what’s the solution? We need a diet that is sustainable we know that much, and to be sustainable it needs to allow for social occasions, cravings and a varied food choice. That sounds like a kinda, flexible diet, one that gives you control over your food, so eating becomes a lifestyle, not a chore. But, how do we keep this churning out results? Surely I am not saying we can eat out, and any foods we want and still lose fat? Ah and that is where the education comes in, you need to be aware of the macronutrients the foods you are consuming are giving you, how many of those each food provides and how much you need as an individual. Man, that sounds like a lot of work? Well with a little graft at the start, tracking your macro nutrition on a mobile app such as myfitnesspal and eventually it’ll become a habit, one you can sustain for long enough to see results.

By tracking your macronutrition intake for a period of time, you get an understanding about what foods contain and how much you need. This can then allow you in future to flex, and so you can eat out, you can eye ball foods instead of weighing them every time. You have the power over food, you know you how much you can eat.

I have written two articles on this topic, that I think are really great for getting started with a sustainable, liveable and enjoyable diet. Part 1 can be accessed HERE and Part 2 (practical application) HERE. Further to that, I provide online coaching and have got tremendous results with my clients using this flexible dieting approach, their results can be found HERE.

Lyle Mcdonald: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com

Powerbuilding

Powerlifting meets Bodybuilding, my new venture

So my natural bodybuilding contest season is over, my two shows are done and I can proudly say I got shredded and placed in both shows. Goal achieved, and I can be happy that it was a job well done. I didn’t enter because I thought I’d win, or had anything to prove, I decided to compete to experience a journey like no other, and use the lessons it provided to better enable me to coach my clients. However, I do not now want to compete for a good 3 years or so, because muscle building is slow and contest prep is very hard. Apart from building my business, spending time with family and friends and enjoying life you might wonder what my training goals are. I am firmly in love with bodybuilding, however I love lifting heavy things, and think powerlifting is pretty damn cool, so why not combine the two?

Defining Powerbuilding 
Powerbuilding can be defined as a set of principles applied to one’s training with the aim of producing muscle growth, through increasing strength in movements tested in powerlifting.

That means the bench press, back squat and deadlift, and is something I actually have been doing for years, but never really focussed heavily upon. It is all about focussing on getting strong in these movements, and that produces growth. Using the lessons learnt from the best powerlifters and bodybuilders, to get our desired result; a strong and muscular body.

Principles of Powerbuilding
As said it is about using the best techniques and approaches from bodybuilding and powerlifting and combing them to get a desired result. I will now go into these.

Progressive Overload– without this you will not improve in any desired aspect. It is the backbone of any successful strength or muscle building programme. Essentially, if you are not pushing more total volume, you are not going to get bigger or stronger. By volume I mean your weight x your reps, so you either need to be adding more to pounds to the bar or doing more reps.

Periodisation– simply put this is the method of varying training modules including but not limited to total volume, intensity and frequency. There are almost infinite ways to periodise a programme, but current evidence is showing that an undulating method is superior to linear. This means you do not have long focussed blocks focussing on either strength, hypertrophy or power. But you focus on all three in a much shorter time period, allowing you to progress on all of them.

Frequency- in this case we are talking about how often muscle groups are trained. It is becoming widely known that as natural athletes our protein synthesis post workout is up-regulated for 48 hours post workout. Therefore, it makes sense to train each muscle group every 48 hours or so, rather than once a week like the old school bodybuilders. So with Powerbuilding you will train muscle groups a minimum of twice per week, that means using either upper/lower, push/pull/lower or full body type splits. Higher frequency of exposure to good training stimuli means more potential opportunities for growth!

Calorie Surplus– we wanna grow muscles right? we want to get stronger don’t we? that requires energy. If we are not in a calorie surplus we are either less than our bodies need to sustain itself or just enough. How then are we meant to build more muscle? Simple enough, we can’t. So key to a successful Powerbuilding method is consuming enough food, but not too much, remember we still care about aesthetics, we’re bodybuilders too. Plus we know muscle takes a long time to come by. Therefore, look to gain around 0.5-3lbs a month, depending on your training age, less the longer you have been training.

So now you know what my training aims are this ‘offseason’ to get big and strong :D. Hopefully entering my first powerlifting competition next year in the under 82.5kg weight category. Not set myself a overall total kg’s lifted target yet, but I will be. Anyone want to join me in powerbuilding? bodybuilding or powerlifting? Be sure to check out my online coaching, in which I provide weekly guidance on nutrition and training, bespoke and personalised.

Porn Obsessed

Food Porn duhhh…

The following was written 1 week out from the UKDFBA in 2014…

Sorry if you expected something a little more perverse than this, but I have to confess I am addicted to food porn. Or better I am obsessed with food in general, if you asked me what I was thinking about or doing it would be food, hence this newsletter being on the subject!

So why am I so food focussed right now? Well you might have guessed it, it’s because I am dieting. As you transition to lower and lower calories every item of food you put in your mouth gets a higher value put onto it. Not only do you need to be more concerned about it’s quality, you get concerned about how it tastes, how fulfilling it is, because you know if you make a bad choice you will feel it later. Just have a look at my instagram if you don’t believe me.

Pretty #foodgasmic wouldn’t you say? In a recent paper by Eric Helms, Alan Aragon and Peter Fitschen they look into the psychological impacts of long term dieting, specifically for contest prep. Did you know it’s been found almost half male drug free competitive bodybuilders binge post competition. One third reported anxiety, short tempers or anger when preparing for competition and more than 80% suffered with a preoccupation with food. People who know me might be thinking…that explains a lot..haha well hopefully not. Although I have survived one post competition binge I definitely have a preoccupation with food. The physical effects of semi-starvation is much like the signs and symptoms seen with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. As you can see, my food porn obsession isn’t so out of the ordinary.

This is why I wanted to make this post, because I am aware of the dangers of getting extremely lean. And being aware is part of the solution of straying from the potential consequences. As open and frequent communication about these topics can really help. Further to this, I have a coach, he is amazing and there for me when I am concerned. Personally, I recommend everyone looking to get into contest level shape get a coach, particularly if it is your first contest. This is why I also think it is essential that your coach has competed themselves, because it is impossible to relate if they haven’t. The mental and psychological side to contest prep is what separates it from just fat loss, and trust me when I say it is a major part that can make or break a successful prep.

I am now 1 week out from the UK Drug Free Bodybuilding Association (UKDFBA). So hopefully my obsession will start dying down and I can get back to a having a healthy relationship with food. I certainly intend to enjoy a ‘free meal’ post contest, but I am not going to binge. My fantastic girlfriend has actually booked us in for a meal at Duck and Waffle in London, its got some posh nosh and I intend to enjoy the hell out of it.Thanks to everyone for the continued support throughout my contest prep. It has been an experience I will remember forever and it has made me grow stronger as a person. If anyone is interested in competing and have questions, please contact me as I would be happy to help, and together we can Revive Stronger.

Delicious Homemade Macro Friendly Pizza

People come and go, but pizza, pizza is for life. There is no better feeling than eating a slice of warm freshly cooked pizza, this can only be improved by the knowledge you made that pizza. You grafted in the kitchen, rolled the dough, laid on the toppings and furthermore, you know what went into your pizza.

By now you know I love pizza, I also love flexible dieting, and the two in combination make my day. Flexible dieting is about having the knowledge that no diet is perfect, but you can make daily food choices that progress you towards your goals, in the knowledge that these food choices can be driven by preference. One caveat being is that you must get sufficient micro and macro nutrition, otherwise you can pretty much eat as you like. For the vast majority of people a 80/20 rules applies and works, so 80% of the time you are eating wholesome, nutrient dense foods and then 20% of your diet can be as you like.

Where does pizza fit? Well just like any food, it meets my macro and micro nutrient needs. Homemade pizza is a cut above takeout, because you are choosing the ingredients, and if you follow my recipe it fits within that 80%. So you can continue to lose weight, gain muscle, build power, develop endurance whatever your goals may be, and eat pizza. Enough with the babble, here is what you have been waiting for…

Delicious, homemade, macro friendly Pizza

I am going to provide you the ingredients and method for the basic, but oh so delicious Margherita Pizza. This aint no tiny pizza, this is the real deal, 10inch, thin crust, cheesy pizza. You can make it smaller, you can make it bigger (I have) but this pizza is your billy bob, your essential, it gets the job done, bloody well.

What you need:

The Base:

•  ’00’ Grade Flour – 125g
• Yeast- 2g
• Salt- 1tspn
• 70g warm water

The Sauce:

• Tinned tomatoes- 150g
• Italian Seasonings

The Topping:

• Mozzarella – 40g

Macros: 28g Protein, 93g Carbohydrates, 13g Fat – 595 calories

Those are some sexy macros right? Hell yes they are, and it makes me love this pizza even more. Also check those ingredients, there is what 7 there, and of those 7 there are only 5 ‘real’ make or break ones, how good is that? It is darn good right. Plus how many of those would you consider crap? or junk? I hope none, because none are. On top of this, the method, it couldn’t be simpler. Trust me you will get why I make this almost everyday in no time.

How to make it:

Step 1

• Combine all the ingredients of the base.
• Do not knead this, combine and leave to sit for 1 hour.

Step 2

• Blend your tomatoes and Italian seasonings.
• Set your oven to the highest temperature it will go.

Step 3

• Flour your work surface and roll out your dough, this is the only slightly difficult bit.
• There are many methods for this, find what suits you best, personally I round the dough, then working from the inside out with my thumbs I flatten out the dough and rotate as I do, leaving a crust. Then flip and continue on the other side. From here I pick up the dough and holding the crust I rotate the dough like a steering wheel, letting it stretch out.
• Keep pressing/stretching out your dough till at desired size/thickness.

Step 4

• Place your rolled out dough onto your pizza stone or plate.
• Chuck on all your sauce and toppings.
• Cook in the oven for 4-6 minutes, depending on how well cooked you like it.

You got yourself some cracking pizza, with brilliant macros and that I can see fit within anyones diet. Sounds too good to be true? It isn’t, just try it, you will love it, and keep making it and become a pizza addict like me.

You love the sound of all this but do not know how many calories or macronutrients you need? Want to enjoy pizza like the above in the knowledge that you can still lose fat, gain muscle, stay lean and get strong but do not know where to start? Whether in contest prep for natural bodybuilding, physique, bikini or building towards a powerlifting meet or championship, we can all eat pizza and progress. All my clients eat to preference, I think everyone should, but not everyone knows how. Want to eat better and enjoy everything that goes in your mouth? You may want to look into getting a coach who can help you out. You can check out my services here.

My First Natural Bodybuilding Show

Highlights, thoughts and feelings

First off I apologise for the lack of a newsletter last week, those of you who follow me on the social media know I competed in my First Natural Bodybuilding show. This was through the NPA and was the South East Championships. As I said it was my first show, I actually never planned to do it but I am so glad I did, because I learnt LOADS!

The Game Plan

1. Shave body hair and apply tan, to best show off muscle detail.
2. Eat/drink enough to achieve fullness but so not to ‘spill over’ and look less defined, and maintain this look.
3. Ensure to come under the upper cut off limit for the lightweight novices weigh in.
4. Pose to best demonstrate symmetry, size and definition to the judges.

The above is the basic elements to what I was trying to achieve on the day, essentially to best represent my physique to the judges and meet their criteria. However, being my first show, not everything went to plan, so let me take you through the reality.

The Reality

1. So I had been shaving my body hair for the past month. I thought that was fine. However, for some reason I didn’t consider my underarm or forearm hair. This counted against me and the judges picked up on it. Lesson learnt, get rid of ALL body hair (facial hair is OK). Second, my tan, this was a bit less certain, the night before my girlfriend kindly applied a layer of pro tan. The next day you’re advised to shower it off, I did so and it looked very weak. So we did another layer, this was an error as the showering off process is very important to its proper application. Back stage we had the finisher by pro tan, and were applying this, it wasn’t going on so well due to adding the extra layer of tan in the morning. But we felt we had gotten a dark enough tan, and from some pictures you’d think we did. However, we were wrong, I looked washed out on stage. The lights were VERY bright. The judges commented that it looked like I didn’t have a tan, and looked washed out. Again, counting against me. They stated that I may well have placed higher if I had amended the above two points. Yes I am very disappointed in myself, but I will not make these errors again!
2. My coach had provided some guideline macros and meal timings to eat. These were quite wide and he said it would really depend on how I was responding on the day. But I have been dieting for over 30 weeks, tracking my macros with precision. So I definitely have a pre-occupation with hitting numbers and so was too focussed on tracking then I was on the impact on my body. This led me to not achieve a pump or fill out, I was flat and didn’t look my best. 
3. This one was hit. Weighed in after my breakfast well below the cut off and then just sipped on water till the final weigh in. It was at 11am, so obviously you had to be careful about how much you consumed beforehand. However, I expected digital scales, but they had old fashioned ones, and so I question the degree of accuracy.
4. I have been practicing my posing each week for months. However, not spending much time on it and when into the final months you’re pretty exhausted all the time. So my willingness to practice was very low, plus I personally don’t have any good areas in my home to pose. So looking back, I would practice more early on, and then make it a habit to pose every single week, and film it. However, my posing on the day was OK, but I didn’t angle myself to the judges. This was key error on my part, and you will notice it in the videos (youtube link below), it makes a massive difference. Also I held my legs too close on some poses, purposefully done, but looking back, it was an error, making the sought for X frame hard to come by.

So there you have it, I messed up a little. However, learnt a great deal and the mistakes made are pretty easy to fix and work on. It wasn’t like I was told I was top heavy, or wasn’t lean enough. So it was a very positive experience. My main show is now in 2 weeks time, below is what I am going to do to improve upon my performance and do myself justice :).

Actions

1. In comes Veet, to rid the under arm and forearm hair! And to get a perfect tan I have booked a professional tan on the day, it was expensive, but I think worth the investment. I will not get these two things wrong!
2. Stop being such an obsessive tracker. I do not need to be precise with macros on the day, I just need to eat carbs and fats to achieve the look I desire. Pizza post weigh in and plenty of food, that is not tracked, only tracked by how I am looking.
3. So for this show the cut off is even lower, so since my first show I am continuing to lose weight. I have been consistently under 75kg for the past few weeks, but of course weigh in is not first thing, so I need some leeway.
4. Continue to practice my posing up until the show and be sure to angle myself towards the judges during the competition.

Overall the show was an AMAZING experience. People there to show off their hard work and share their journeys with one another. Some had lost huge amounts of weight to be there, and that in itself is commendable. I won’t lie, it was stressful, and I am a stressful person, so that didn’t help.

For my next show I am going to almost sit back, relax and just do my best, no point stressing because overall it is just about getting on the stage and enjoying myself. For me the journey getting here has been the reward, trophies or placings are nice, but mean little in reality. I have learnt SO much getting to such low bodyfat levels, and will use this not only to help others but it has given me confidence that I can achieve anything.

I vlogged the whole thing, to check it out visit HERE.