Just seen the sky news piece on Padraig. He took it on the chin with 'some dignity' . He knew it moved and could have said..... For me that is the end. He chose to say nothing at the time as he believed he had no issue to answer for. The playing partners said nothing either. For me if it were a club medal the whole situation ends there , why should a pro tour event be different?
Otherwise can you imagine football refs going back 2 hours later to an offside goal that the officials missed? golf is 99.99% honest - leave it to the players and keep the armchair fan out of it.
The tour action to disqualify is correct. PH was at fault in not talking with his partners.
Long live the noble game..
Saturday, 22 January 2011
Friday, 21 January 2011
The best 6 supplements for fast recovery
Fast recovery is key when you need to get back into the gym or start another intense session. It sounds simple enough doesn’t it? Mix some protein and simple carbs after your workouts and you’ll see greater gains. But there’s more to it than that -- there’s a whole lot more you could be doing to maximise your hard fought gains. Here are the six best post workout supplements and why you need them.
1. Whey Protein
At the top of your recovery list should be a high quality milk protein that contains all the amino acids the body requires for muscle protein synthesis.
Protein shakes rich in Whey provide protein which can be used fastest. Multipower’s Whey Protein Iso Complex shuttles amino acids into the bloodstream to hit your muscles quickly thus speeding up muscle recovery.
Take 20-30g immediately after training to promote muscle tissue repair and growth.
2. Casein (Milk Protein)
Casein protein is another milk protein which helps to boost recovery after workouts. Casein is a slow digesting protein because it forms a gel in the gut which results in the amino acids being released steadily into the bloodstream. Research shows that this type of protein, available in products such as Multipower’s Formula 80 Evolution which boosts protein synthesis and has an effect in suppressing protein breakdown. This effect also means that when dieting it will help keep you feeling fuller for longer.
So try taking a whey/casein blend protein shake after workouts to help maximise recovery and muscle growth.
3. Branched Chain Amino Acids
BCAAs are leucine, isoleucine and valine -- the most important aminos for repairing and building muscle tissue. BCAAs make up approximately one third of muscle protein.
BCAAs provide a wide range of benefits including increasing energy and blunting cortisol (a catabolic hormone). Intense exercise causes a rise in cortisol which can inhibit testosterone and lead to muscle protein breakdown. Research shows that supplementing with BCAAs during training and after workouts is effective in reducing catabolism. Take 5-10g of BCAAs immediately after training with your post workout protein shake.
4. Creatine
Creatine is made from three amino acids -- arginine, glycine and methionine. The kidneys and pancreas produce them naturally and the liver combines them to make creatine. But the body only produces about 1g-1.5g -- no where near enough to support the muscle building efforts of a bodybuilder.
Creatine is crucial because it has a direct impact on increasing muscle mass, strength and power. It has been shown to increase muscle endurance in strength athletes. So if you can lift 1 or 2 more reps per session the overall benefit is increased. It can trigger protein synthesis and minimise protein breakdown because it creates an osmotic gradient whereby water is pulled into muscle cells -- a signal for anabolism. Creatine has also been found to increase levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 in muscles which is critical for stimulating growth. Take 3g of creatine daily.
5. Glutamine
This amino acid is important for the immune system regulation and muscle function. During intense training muscle glutamine levels drop sharply. Supplementing with glutamine stimulates immune function, decreases inflammation and protects muscle cells from the damage caused by hard training. It also aids muscle growth by increasing levels of leucine in muscle fibres, helping suppress the production and circulation of cortisol and maintaining cell volume and hydration. By pushing water into muscle cells, glutamine helps to speed up recovery and encourage muscle growth. Take 5-10g of glutamine daily.
6. Alpha-Lipoic Acid
This antioxidant is made by the body and found in every cell, where it helps turn glucose into energy. ALA mimics the effects of insulin, boosting the uptake of amino acids and creatine into muscle cells post workout thus speeding up recovery. Take 300-500 mg daily with protein, creatine and a high-glycaemic carbohydrate.
Hit a weight loss plateu? Here's what to do....
Faced with the task of dieting down for competition – or simply to get cut – you can often hit a wall where your weight hits a sticking point. What can you do?
You might be tempted to try a quick-fix diet, but it won’t work. Drastically cutting calories everyday is bad for fat loss because a constant, never-changing low carbohydrate intake allows the body’s metabolism to adapt readily.
Essentially your body goes into starvation mode, hanging on to every single calorie. This means your body will ultimately burn fewer calories and less body-fat. The body produces leptin, a hormone responsible for slowing down your metabolic rate, which makes losing fat harder in the long run. If that wasn’t enough, cutting calories like this is unsustainable.
Ramping up cardio exercises may not always do the trick either – so think about varying your calorie intake on a daily basis instead.
Try reducing your carbohydrate intake by 50 – 75% for two consecutive days. By reducing carbohydrates you are lowering your overall calorie intake which can help trigger fat burning. And when you are on a low calorie day the body will draw upon glycogen reserves – as your glycogen levels drop, fat burning increases.
Lower glycogen stores are associated with greater levels of glucagon and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL). Glucagon is a noted fat burning hormone that encourages the use of fat as a primary source of energy in the body. HSL acts to help fat exit the fat cells, so it can be burned for fuel. As glycogen drops, HSL increases the amount of fat released from your fat cells, while glucagon rises to boost the burning of this freed-up fat.
By sticking to two low carbohydrate days every seven, you are also helping to burn fat on the days you are back to normal. That’s because when you go back to eating a moderate amount of carbohydrates the hormonal changes that you have prompted remain, keeping the fat burning process going.
Glucagon and HSL levels do not drop suddenly with a return to higher carbohydrate intake. They remain moderately elevated which means your body will continue to lean down even though you are eating more carbohydrates.
For optimum results while you’re working for ripped muscle definition take Multipower’s whey protein Iso complex -- the ultimate catalyst for that low fat muscular body. It will supply you with readily available protein, delivered to muscles directly after training and it eliminates non-essential carbohydrates. Whey Protein Iso complex is rich in the essential amino acids required during the training recovery phase. The need for amino acids rises massively after training to combat the degeneration effect (catabolic phase). If you want to add to your intake try super amino protein shots
Visit www.multipoweruk.comhttp://www.multipoweruk.com/ for more information.
Are You Fit for football?
Whatever your level of play, 90 minutes is a long time to remain on top of your game so being football fit is crucial if you want to make it through extra time. Amateur football players can be between 15-30% less fit compared to the pros, but fitter amateur teams can establish a winning advantage over their opponents, even if they are not the most technically adept or skilful team. Here are some tips for making sure you are football fit.
Pre-season
Before the season kicks off you should train three to four times a week. Two to three of these sessions will probably be with your team. On other training days you should workout on your own or with your mates. If you were a pro or are really serious about pre-season then seven weeks is the optimum time you’d need to be ready for the season. The emphasis in the pro game is on developing fitness that will last from August to May. This is because once the season starts it’s very difficult to increase fitness further due to playing demands. Paradoxically, in the amateur game it may actually be easier to develop fitness across the season - your involvement in the game is going to be much less intense, so matches and training could actually boost fitness. Another aim of pre-season is to lay down a foundation of fitness that will reduce your chances of sustaining soft tissue and joint injuries.
Football pre-season key training points
Emphasise mobility work in your warm ups and warm downs and in your own time. Muscles and tendons can shorten if they are not worked on and utilised dynamically for a period of time. Both passive and active dynamic stretches should be used. A passive stretch involves gently easing into a stretch and holding it for a period of time (usually 15-20 seconds) - the lunge or seated hamstring stretch are typical and very useful football stretches. Dynamic stretches involve moving a body part with controlled speed into varying positions - leg swings and simulated ball kicks are examples. With these stretches it is important to build up speed and range of movement gradually. Stretches should be performed after you have warmed up with 5-10 minutes of jogging.
Work on your turning, stopping and acceleration
These types of movement are crucial for all players – you’ll complete hundreds in a game – but after a lay-off your muscle strength and coordination may be less than optimal. Perform drills, such as backwards and sideway running and turns at gradually increasing speed in workouts across pre-season. Doing floor-ladder work and other speed and agility drills, over low hurdle and in and out of cones, will be also be highly valuable.
Developing endurance
Football is an intermittent stop start (anaerobic) activity. Your training should emphasise this type of fitness. Developing a sound base of running fitness is key to pre-season. In the first few weeks go for 15-30 minute runs at a comfortable pace, but intersperse these with some faster pace periods of 10-30 second duration. Then begin to emphasise more stop start type interval anaerobic training as the season approaches and
throughout.
Strength work
If you have a good base of weight training strength you’ll get the greatest football power returns from using heavy weights with low reps - and also alternating plyometric (jumping) exercises with weights exercises. The paired exercises should work the same muscle groups. These ‘power combination’ workouts will hit your fast twitch speed and power producing muscle fibres.
When you lift a heavy weight you must be in the ‘zone’ and fired up. Try to get everything you can into each lift to move the weight as quickly as possible (whilst adhering to good form). Sports scientists have found that this type of weight training will increase the ability to sprint, stop, turn and jump – much better than higher rep and lighter load weight/circuit workouts. Rest is crucial for these sessions – take 3-4 minute between sets and if you feel that you are slowing down with a set, pause and then go again.
Diet and Nutrition
Eating the right food in the right quantities is crucial whatever your level of football. Carbohydrates such as pasta will provide you with long term energy -- and you can use healthy sports nutrition bars like the Multipower protein & energy bar to provide you with enough calories to fuel your training. Sports energy drinks like Multipower Energy charge will help you maintain and top up energy levels during matches and training. Sports energy drinks are also ideal for reducing dehydration. A loss of 2-3% in body weight through dehydration can seriously reduce your performance. It pays to remain topped up. As a rule of thumb 1 litre of liquid weighs the same as 1kg. So you could work out your own ‘personal sweat weight’. Weigh yourself in your football kit before and after training and matches. If you have lost 2kg then you have lost 2 litres of liquid -- you can then make sure you drink that much during training or matches. Don’t wait until you feel thirsty before you start drinking -- by then you are already dehydrated. Start your hydration strategy before you turn up for training or a match. Multipower’s Iso Drink mix is an ideal sports energy drink -- designed to combat dehydration. It is an isotonic drink mix with a special carbohydrate matrix, L-Carnitine, minerals and BCAAs (branched chain amino acids). This special carb matrix gives optimum hydration and energy supply.
To support your weight training programme make sure you consume plenty of high quality protein to support muscle growth and strength. You should get plenty of protein from your diet if you include lots of steak, lean chicken and fish. Body weight training can increase your body’s protein needs in which case supplement your diet with whey protein powders and protein shakes. Multipower’s Fit Protein is an ideal protein shake as it is low in fat but provides 53g total milk protein -- 80% milk protein (casein) for time-released supply and 20% whey protein for fast protein supply.
Incorporating sports supplements into your regular diet can also help with post match and training recovery. Taking a great all round protein shake such as Multipower’s X-PLODE can help your body repair and build muscle after exercise. The protein and carbohydrates are digested quickly for faster recovery providing optimum nutritional support.
Start Triathlon Training
Pounding the streets two or three times a week is good start to triathlon training but you need to plan your training more carefully if you want to reap better rewards.
Planning may sound easy until you try juggling work, home and social life round all three triathlon disciplines. The beauty of the running discipline is that you can do it anytime, anywhere -- so plan cycling and swimming first around quiet times at the pool or with a club, then slot your runs in where you can.
Plan at least one session in your schedule where you run immediately after a bike ride -- this doesn't count as a run session or a bike session, it is a seperate entity. Start simple with a 40 minute ride at close to race pace with a 10 minute run immediately afterwards. You could do this in the gym or with a turbo trainer. As you get nearer the race, set up a mini transition area at home with an imaginary dismount line so you can practice running with your bike and struggling into your shoes.
If you've been a runner, you might be used to running four or five times a week. But this is not possible while you are training for a triathlon. Running too much will leave you fatigued and prone to injury. You need a minimum of two run sessions a week. If you are training for middle distance or shorter, make them quality sessions. Third and fourth session can be for endurance only.
If your race is an Ironman distance race and you’re not a marathon runner, you will need to put in the hours. If you have time it's worth running a marathon a few months before. This will teach your body how to cope with running for long periods of time. Find a run programme that builds up to a marathon on three or four days running a week and just maintain your swim and bike training.
Fuelling your training properly is key to making all this preparation count. Sports nutrition, where you match nutrition to specific needs, will become your best friend during a triathlon. The sooner you start using sports nutrition and sports supplements the better. Running is the most energy-demanding of the three triathlon disciplines and one which makes digesting food difficult. Sports energy products are designed to make it easy for your body to digest and cope with extra calories for energy and protein for muscle building and recovery. Multipower Energy Charge is ideal to take during training as it has a special carb matrix designed to supply energy while providing optimum hydration.
In any run session lasting longer than an hour, aim for 30g carbohydrates per half-hour of exercise. This could be in the form of an energy drink, or a gel. Multipower’s Multi Carbo Boost is a concentrated energy gel, high in carbs and BCAAs. It contains caffeine to heighten alertness and can be used throughout exercise in a convenient re-sealable pack.
Even if you have taken up triathlon to lose weight don't cut back on these calories -- they will enable you to train harder and that will shift pounds faster than any diet. Don't forget that post exercise recovery is also important. Sports nutrition products containing high quality protein will help muscles to recover properly and enable you to maximise performance
If you have never done any sport, start gently with two 30 minute sessions of each discipline per week and include walk breaks at first. If you are a swimmer or cyclist but new to running, you will need a gentle introduction for four to six weeks before attempting fast runs. If you are a runner but new to triathlon, introduce at least two sessions each of cycling and swimming (keep sessions short and easy for the first month) and cut your running down to three or four sessions per week. Plan your running in four week blocks. Build up your training time in weeks one to three with the last week easy.
Don’t under estimate the importance of recovery either. After intensive exercise the body needs rest, re hydration and glycogen replacement. X-PLODE recovery shake drink provides many of the nutrients needed to do this including Vitargo one of the fastest digesting Carbs around.. It is available in an easy to mix drink format and is ideally taken post workout.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)