1. Not all Carbs are created equal - something we highly regard... natural and unprocessed should be your go-to if you are just starting out on a healthy eating lifestyle plan. If you are already quite a way into your journey or just want to enjoy different foods as part of a healthy lifestyle then introducing some processed foods into your diet is not the end of the world and should be enjoyed as part of a balanced lifestyle.

2. What you eat with anything can change its properties, making a healthy food unhealthy... they give an example of a sweet potato pie - in the Uk things like cottage pie for example - white potatoes and mince not inherently a bad meal - add some cheese and condiments and you start to slide in the wrong direction - ways to make this better would be things like diced lamb or diced beef instead of minced beef.

3. Your ability to tolerate carbs is highly important - there are simple ways to test this or at least have a good indication as to whether you struggle with this or not.  Carbohydrate tolerance and sensitivity can also be influenced by exercise.

4. Food sensitivities - some people struggle with potatoes - if you don't both potatoes can be great for the digestive tract

5. Follow a diet rich in lots of different unprocessed foods, aim to have lots of colours from veggies, fruits, starches and grains such as potatoes, quinoa, rice etc

To sum up, Carbohydrates are generally easier to eat and fill ourselves up on - after all they do make us feel better due to the endorphin/dopamine release - practice eating until only 80% full and aim to pack your plate more with veggies and protein and let the carbs be the smaller percentage on your plate. 

Try reducing your overall carbohydrates in your diet, or percentage of each meal to see what effect that has with regards energy, body composition, mood etc... Remember sometimes the first week or so can be an initial adjustment period... Try for 28 days and see how you feel.

If you need any help with dietary advice or implementation, drop us an email info@alchemistlife.co.uk

Do you feel the success of the session is based on how exhausted you are?

Or

Are you prone to getting lots of bugs or frequently ill?

If this sounds like you, maybe your training plan is too difficult, not progressive or not in the right progression for you at this current moment.  

Obviously if you are someone that competes in a sport that is almost entirely anaerobic (this is based on your level of energy output and heart rate, usually really high for shorter periods of time) - Sports like sprinting, shot-put, rugby, Crossfit etc are all examples of anaerobic sports - 

Your sport may demand that you have some, if not a higher demand for "Black Hole" training than normal, thats totally fine and also follows the SAID principle - Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. 

However if you are just a regular gym goer then maybe you need to re-evaluate your goals. If you are just after Fat Loss for example, it doesn’t have to be that hard every session.

To give you an example even most elite athletes follow an undulated program, meaning that not every session is to the same intensity or duration and each session is setup in a way to complement the next.

I compete in triathlon, this is a sport highly susceptible to black hole training - but again pro’s in this sport tend to do roughly 80% of their training under an 8 out of 10 in terms of difficulty (10 being extremely hard).

So if professional athletes alternate difficulty in each session and get amazing results do you think that this would work for you to get amazing results… be it body composition, fitness, strength etc...

Absolutely…

So how do you begin to implement this into your training?  Follow the same principle vary each session and structure your training week to complement what you have just done in the previous session or will be doing in the next session:

Intensity - i.e don’t do every session with an extremely heavy load, you don’t have to lift the heaviest weight in the gym every set to get results.

Duration - If you are doing HIT training - shorter durations work much better for these type sessions

Frequency - Its great to train at least 50% of the week, I believe 4 days are a good number to be active as you are over that 50% marker… However that doesn’t mean you need to be in the gym smashing yourself - can you come to the gym twice per week and the other 2 days get out for a long walk in nature to help recover and push more blood through the muscles?

Recovery - this is extremely important and like I said above a long recovery walk can be really beneficial to help loosen sore muscles and also really positive for the mind.

To sum up; 

For some people you need more stress and the SAID principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands) really applies i.e. if you have quite a lengthy training age or training experience - more stress at the right time may need to be applied but it stills follows the same logic adhere to sound training principles as mentioned above to get the most bang for your buck.

For everyone else can you shift your mindset to long term training or just simply being active… 

what keep you motivated to stay on track?  

Is it building on your plan as you progress each month by starting with smaller more achievable targets and once you start to generate momentum look to increase the difficulty of each session or add more sessions in on a weekly basis?

If you need any help with getting started or have hit a bit of a plateau with your training get in touch now at

info@alchemistlife.co.uk