Faultless Fitness

Want To Make Money From Your Health And Fitness Blogs?

2013-06-26T14:25:00.003+01:00

Hi There,
It has been a very very very long time since I have used this blog. That is because this blog has got all grown up and matured into this. The reason I am back here is I obviously know how powerful a blog can be and I think you guys should earn from your blogs.

For this reason I have started an Affiliate scheme with Faultless. If you go to this link and sign up then you gain access to all of the text links and banner ads for our site. If you then use your account to link these text links into your articles or include our banner image on your blog then every time someone goes through that links and buys from us you will receive a massive %10 of the value of that sale!

Even if they dont buy straight away and come back within a month you get the commission. Even if they go away and then come back through someone else's link you get the commission. As you can see we have built this to be as fair as possible.

As a fellow blogger and having based my roots here I would love for the blogging community to help me get the new site up and running and to help you earn money for your blogs!

Thanks guys,

Stephen Nash

MD CEO

Want to be a Cover Model?

2012-07-10T22:59:00.000+01:00

After a long period of inactivity we have reactivated this site for a simple announcement. In order to make sure you guys know about the new site being developed and to give some lucky people a chance to feature in the new sites home page logo!

Were looking for 3 lucky guys and girls to provide shots of their upper bodies! The chosen six will have their images taken and turned into templates to become turned into red (for males) or blue (females) Faultless Fitness cartoons that will feature in our main logo.

To take part in this all you have to do is log into our facebook page, like it, and then post your photo and tag yourself in it. Follow the link below to get started!

OH! and just so you know the new site will be launched in August/September. More details will be announced nearer the time as well as details about products and services. There is a huge recruitment drive on for marketers so if your interested please speak to us through the usual channels!

Pain Training!

2012-06-18T20:17:00.000+01:00

Here is an article sent to me by Kru Garry Jones of Chaos Hereford Muay Thai. In it Garry tries to dispel the myths about training in the hope of not feeling pain. Enjoy!

Some students arrive at Muay Thai carrying the misconception that pain will be eradicated by techniques gifted through their Kru’s (teachers) teachings. I wish to dispel that myth.

In Muay Thai we do not eradicate pain. If you cannot feel pain you put yourself in serious danger. It is an evolutionary function that is there to serve you best. Rather the job is to “train the brain” to accept higher levels of pain. Convince the brain the body does not need to shut down to preserve itself. Train it to believe that it can function completely despite the neurotransmitter information.

In our modern day everyone wants instant success. Black belts in a year, lose or gain big weight in a month and instant wealth. Dream on. Like most things in life the reality is it all takes time and a lot of effort. What you might call a ‘gestation’ period.

By example:
We know how devastating a Muay Thai leg kick correctly delivered can be. How do you “learn” to accept this level of pain?

The answer is progressive levels of exposure repeated again and again.

However, massive kicks from an experienced fighter on a first week of training is a sure fire deterrent to training there again. This smacks of the bully type of club we have all been at sometime in our exposure to martial arts.

I tell all my students to leave their egos outside of the club, most do but some, well, we have to part ways. The point is respect each other. Each Persons progression will be different. Feed back to each other the level of kick you can take. That means after ten you may be asking them to back off or maybe a little harder as you develop.

If you want success in pain management the journey is long and hard work. Gradually increased levels of power kicks will get you there eventually. Train with a partner who will respect what gradual means over a period of weeks, not days. Say if it hurts too much. Damage will put you further back down the road. Train inside and outside of the leg.

There are methods also used to supplement the process such as balms, ice baths, massage, meditation and ways to absorb the impact. A qualified instructor will be able to help (That’s an important note. As the popularity of Muay Thai increases check your instructor is actually a member of a recognised body and has certification to prove they can teach and have insurance. We aren’t playing around here!).

So do the doing and learn how to help the process with other techniques. The bottom line is it involves hard work and dedication. That is where the difference happens; most won’t bother.
Embrace the pain. Each pain is a lesson in itself. There is an old French saying which is “Pain is the Art entering the apprentice”.

For those technically minded:
Widely accepted in science is the “Gate Control Theory” devised by Patrick Wall and Ronald Melzack. Concisely it theorises that your nerves receive a signal of pain; the spinal cord decides if it wants to send that further into the Thalamus of the brain.

The “gatekeeper”, if it allows it through, then decides how serious this is. Further research has proved that how you feel about the situation has a big effect on the outcome. So if we smile when we are hit and use time and exposure to condition we train the brain, in effect, not the body. If we can “train the brain” that it is all fine, then the pain experienced will be less. Same signal to the brain. Different outcome.

That pain can be perceptive has been validated by us all at times. Our ability to ‘forget’ pain when preoccupied. Such an example would be sex with a hangover! You forget everything about pain until its over. BANG! The pain is back.

Next time we’ll discuss stress in the body and how that relates to the pain experience.

Kru Garry Jones
Chaos Hereford Muay Thai.

Equipment Review: Sandee Childrens Gloves

2012-06-15T15:46:00.000+01:00

Sandee developed these gloves in an attempt to fill a gap in the market and improve child safety and I must say I think it is a great idea. Up until now most gyms buy standard size adult gloves and the kids just have to make do. Thinking about this I have realised how dangerous it is.

A child is much less likely to wrap their hands properly or punch with a softer power input until their technique is safe and more importantly the hand is never going to stay secure inside the glove on impact with a pad or bag. Their hand will slide forward and their thumb will jerk back, because little hands will slide to the end of the glove while their thumb stays held back by the thumb pocket, explaining why children have a common frequency of thumb injuries.

These pint size gloves may have stopped all of this though! The size means their hands are snug inside and wont shift about, the padding and support will work due to the fact their hands fit properly and overall there is less chance of hurting themselves from imperfect technique because the safety equipment is there.

However, I had a slight problem testing these as I have hands the size of shovels. Due to this I had to outsource the testing to Kru Garry Jone's pint size nephew and here are the results! Fortunately we have translated the nephews thoughts into adult for you with a bit of help from Garry! Slightly different format to the usual approach but none the less a very thorough review.

The gloves are of a very good quality material, something you get to expect from Sandee, and granted the child's punch had less impact on the bag or pads but the child’s energy saw him hitting numerous times to compensate.

The padding for the knuckles seems to be more than adequate. Again something expected from a superior brand.

It was sad not to see a supportive band of leather between the main body of the glove and the thumb as, children being prone to thumb injuries, this could have raised the safety score.

Generally the Velcro is the first thing to fail on Sandee gloves. In years gone by my own replacement gloves were due to Velcro failure rather than glove wear. This is probably due to the fact that the glove components are far superior quality to the standard Velcro technology.

The stitching quality was very impressive. Not likely to fall apart from abuse. Although this is hard to measure on a new set not exposed to time; but, first accounts seem promising.

Wrist support is the usual high standard. There are a number of innovative things happening on the market now. Again this is something worth Sandee bearing in mind for the future. Particularly with the wrists of children, as they are keen to hit hard without being technically competent to do so at times.

Kru Garry Jones
Chaos Hereford Muay Thai.

Marks from ten:
Impact 8
Stitching   9
Safety 7
Wrist support 6
Aesthetics   8
Durability   8 ( Long term assessment needed.)

Faultless Fitness is Expanding!!!

2012-05-27T16:45:00.003+01:00

In our first two months Faultless Fitness has gone from strength to strength. We affiliated with Fightshop.com and, through our relationship with them, this has brought the site into a brilliant position.

With the number of regular readers and subscribers expanding weekly to new levels we feel it is only fair we also increase the amount of articles and information we provide to you. For this reason We are opening the door to new authors.

We are looking for people who have an evidenced knowledge of health and fitness, Muay Thai, Mixed Martial Arts and Boxing to join the team. The types of articles we are looking for are advisory articles for health, fitness and nutrition, news articles for our selected sports and also exercise examples.

We are also keen to get a female perspective onto the site so if don't be scared to get in touch girls.

Should you want to know more please contact us on our email address or our facebook page.

The Team

faultfitness@gmail.com

Facebook

Bisping's Secret weapon!

2012-05-22T14:31:00.001+01:00

Anyone who is going to watch Bisping training over the next few weeks may notice something different. A certain secret weapon that Sandee and Fightshop.com have given him to give him the edge in his training; The hand made, curved Sandee Kick Pads!

The curved pads were designed as a joint effort between Sandee Thailand and Fightshop.com. The design was also under the watchful eye of Michael Bisping's Thai Boxing Coach, who is also Fightshop.com's Sales Director, Darren Morris.

The pads were developed because normal Thai Pads for fighters as big as Michael "The Count" Bisping require extra reinforcement. Currently, Bisping is the only owner of the Curved Sandee Thai Pads in the world as he has the first hand made prototype.

Darren Morris commented: "From a Trainers' point of view, after holding pads for 7 x 5 minute rounds, the pads allow the Trainer to continue training other students without having gained sore arms from the first. The thicker curved pad reduces impact on the arms significantly."

Michael Bisping added; "The pads are like nothing I have used before and I have trained since I was 7 years old. The power I can put into each kick is tremendous without the worry of injuring the trainer. These pads are awesome".

The pads will be coming to fightshop.com in July and will be available to all customers. Hopefully we'll have a review on here to wet your appetite further soon!

Steve

A Light in A Dark Place

2012-05-22T10:55:00.000+01:00

Face to face with my adversary at the interclub.

The reason I have decided to write this article is in response to a couple of news articles recently calling for the banning of combat sports. I decided to give our readers an insight into my history with regards to how combat sports have influenced my life.

This article is not written to brag about myself or any fights I have been in, so if this is what you were hoping to read about, you may be disappointed. In fact, what you will read about in this article is the times in my life where I was nearly brought to my knees and was loosing hope in myself and my future.

Enjoy the article.

My secondary school life wasn't the best experience in the world. I spent the first few years on the recieving end of some quite persistant bullying. I had a small group of friends at the time but I felt alienated anyway. The school I went to was divided into two sub-cultures; one side called the others "chavs" and in return they were called "yetis". Basically, chavs were the group who participated in athleticism, wore track suits and listened to "popular" music, while "yetis" wore their hair long and took part in more musical endeavours, usually grunge metal and punk rock, and originated mainly from the richer families. An attribute that both shared was that they both felt victimised by the other group and thus was born a self righteousness that kept the circle going.

I belonged in none of these groups and here in lay the problem. I associated with both groups and as such they saw me as being on the other side. So I got stick from everybody; the athletic group would bully me physically, while the articulate upper class group would resort to more psychological means. Neither of which were very pleasant.

What this meant is I didn't spend much time in school, I became socially withdrawn and in truth I became a bit of a nob! I became cocky and arrogant to hide what was really going on inside, which was, I was actually quite damaged by it all. True to form teachers had their hands tied behind their backs by the government and what needed to be done, to sort the problem out, couldn't be. I was lost, lonely and depressed.

This carried on until a friend at the time persuaded me to start boxing. So on the quiet I started sessions with him. Now he was a super heavy weight and I weighed in at around 83kg at the age of 15. Basically, I was short and fat.

Six months in I was 75kg and 16. I had been sparring with heavyweights for most of the time I was training so I was pretty confident and one day in school they pushed me too far and to cut a long story short I nearly got suspended for the fight that ensued. Needless to say the bullying pretty much stopped.

I continued to train on and off for a few years but as I started to enjoy my new found friendships and social life I drifted away from the sport. Despite the cliché, in my mind boxing is the only thing that provided me with an escape from the downward spiral of pain and frustration I was trapped in.

The darkest stage in my life occurred recently. For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a soldier. I ate, slept and breathed it when I was training for entry into the Royal Marines. It was the single most important thing I had ever achieved when I passed selection and as far as I was concerned I would now spend the rest of my life as a soldier.

However, as usually happens, life decided to throw a curve ball at this point. Life decided to give me something that I had never had; someone, outside of the family, that cared about me. I met a girl and long and short of it I fell in love. Now up until this point when people asked me whether I was worried about getting killed in the forces my attitude was I couldn't give a toss. I had nothing other than family to leave and they could look after each other. However, now I had someone who had told me they wanted to spend the rest of their life with me and that changed everything. So not long into basic training I realised that soldiering and relationships wouldn't work together and I wasn't prepared to lose the relationship I had.

At the time, when I was in, it was an easy decision; Partner or Royal Marines. Being the type of person I am and having the feelings I had it was an easy decision; I left. This Had more severe consequences than I could ever imagine but if I was in that position again, even knowing what I now know, I would do the same again.

As a result of being wrenched from my dream, by a decision I made, I was lost. I had nothing to strive for. The first few months of the honeymoon period were great but when I moved to a job, in a new city, to be with her I couldn't cope. Doing a mediocre job, stuck in an office, dealing with stupid and petty problems got on top of me. Every morning I'd have the same dream; I was back at the exact moment when I made the decision to quit the Marines except this time I stayed. For about 30 minutes, in my dream, I would believe I had actually gone back in time and changed the decision and was happy again. Then I would wake up and realise it was a dream. Each time was harder and harder and a lot of strain was put on the relationship. I changed into a self loathing, world hating, unhappy person who just wanted to hide away.

Inevitably this led to the start of the demise of my relationship. The fact my partner had become part of the emergency services also hurt. I had given up my dream to be with her yet she had a job similar to the one I dreamed about as a result. It didn't seem fair and I started to resent her for it. The resent grew and she would rather spend time with friends than me. Looking back I can understand why she would. I was a nightmare. I was down, feeling resentful, emasculated and hurting about the lack of interest being showed. We spent time apart which led to suspicion, which led to paranoia. Then the inevitable happened and someone else entered her life, as a friend, that made her happy. She spent most of the time texting him or with him and the sense of jealousy and betrayal got added to the pot.

We spent some more time apart and I had my first taste of Muay Thai. My best friend and I went to The Tower to watch one of their competition nights. I cant remember it because it was also my partners birthday and I spent most of the night trying to text her to wish her a happy birthday and to find out how to get to her party after I was finished at The Tower. After hours of trying to get in touch, I asked one final time "do you want me to come to the party or not?". Finally a reply came through and despite the fact I had been made to wait I was excited to finally be able to go and see her only to read the text. It read "Best Not". That was the exact moment I knew it was over. The person I had left my dream job for, to spend the rest of my life with, didn't want me to come to their party because the friend, whose relationship with my partner made me insecure, was there and she'd rather his company than mine.

We separated and I moved back into the family home. I'd lost everything at this point. All I had was our puppy Genna and a car. I felt once again like I was alone but this time there was one major difference. I was alone and hurt and hollow. As time progressed all that filled that hollowness was emotions and they weren't pleasant ones; pain, anguish, suffering, hatred, anger. I never want to feel like that again.

At this point I was being dragged kicking and screaming down to the Muay Thai gym twice a week by my best friend. I spent the night in a zombie like state just doing what I was told. However, I started realising that the pad work and phys was alleviating the emotions I felt. Every punch and every kick made it a little bit easier. So, I went about absolutely thrashing myself at the sessions. At the end of each session the endorphin rush was like a drug. After so much pain and anguish this sudden rush of endorphins would put me into a euphoric state; I would literally just get home and trip as if I was on drugs.

Even though my life continued to fall down around my ears I continued with my sessions of Muay Thai. Learning more and more, pushing myself further and further. It was the only thing that kept me going. I just looked forward to the next session where I could release the anger and frustration and betrayal I felt.

Then the end really did come. I lost the house and everything with it went into storage. I was back at square one with no purpose and now no relationship either. Once again I found myself lost and everything I had set out to achieve had crumbled before my eyes but then something interesting happened.

I was at Muay Thai one evening, and in my usual vegetable like state, whacking pads when someone mentioned an interclub. I had never heard the term before. I was quickly brought up to date and was informed that it was a chance to spar with people from other clubs around the country. It can be quite competitive but no winners are declared it's just a chance to test out your skills. My mind went into overdrive. I was no where near good enough as it stood but now I had an aim. Something to drive toward that would give me a purpose. The person then also went on to say that these interclubs were the first steps into entering into real fights, the C-class fights, that I had seen in The Tower the night my relationship ended. I now had a goal.

I came out of my vegetable state and it felt like I had opened my eyes for the first time. Around me were people who cared about me and liked me. Some how zombie/vegetable Steve had made a few friends at the gym and so, when I came out of my shell a bit, I found myself in a new circle of friends and they were some of the best people you could ever hope to meet. Each one had something to teach me and I was hungry for knowledge. They welcomed me into the group with open arms and the club is pretty much one big family with the Kru at the head of it.

At this time something else happened. Because Muay thai had brought me out of my shell I started speaking to other people outside of the club. I made more friends and met more people and due to the fact I was training again I lost a lot of puppy fat I'd been putting on. A few months later, I was talking to a female friend I had made, and she expressed an interest in Muay Thai and whether I would like to meet up for a coffee to tell her about it. Indirectly Muay Thai was the cause for me finding myself in the brilliant new relationship I find myself in. Looking back I am not so sure, judging on the fact that her Muay Thai knowledge was somewhat limited, that she was that keen on Muay Thai!

I trained hard and learnt as much as I could and, just recently, I got my shot at an interclub. 16 of us went down and took part. We all helped each other through it; warmed each other up, settled each others nerves, cornered for each other. I found that, because of Muay Thai, I had gone from having no one to suddenly being in a room full of people that not only looked after me but also liked me and just as importantly I liked them and looked after them.

The pressure I put on myself for this interclub was immense. I trained 6 days a week to make sure I was fit enough for it and I trained a further 3 times a week to make sure I was at a sufficient skill level. The pressure was on for a few reasons. Firstly, I didn't want to let my Kru down; He had put in alot of man hours training me and I didn't want to gather him a bad reputation by being a bag of shit in the ring. Secondly, my friends and family were watching and I wanted to show them I wasn't a failure. The most important reason though was this; I needed to prove to myself I was worth something. I had gone from being a Royal Marine Recruit to rock bottom and I wanted to show myself that I had faced adversity and come out on top. By participating in the interclub and doing myself proud I would prove I was worth the air I was breathing.

It was at this point I set myself the goal of, at some point in the match, my opponent was going to get sat on his arse. To clarify I was going to leg throw or counter a kick with a catch in order for him to fall to the deck. I would never have knocked him out with a punch or a kick or tried to debilitate the guy. An interclub is a time for testing skill on each other not to test raw power.

The day of the interclub was a weird one. It brought back memories of the forces as the motto for the day was "hurry up and wait"! We rushed there for the weigh in at 11 and then nothing was said for an hour. Then the fights just seemed to come constantly. I spent the day helping warm people up and settle pre-fight nerves. The reason I asked to do this though for the kru wasn't because I'm a busy body but more because if I'm helping someone else then I cant think about my own nerves. Before I knew it my fight came.

I came to the ring and the place was full of noise I put my gloves to my face quickly asking permission to enter the ring, my Kru pulled the ropes down and then I stepped into the ring. I knew people were talking still but, for me at least, everything went quiet all I could see was the guy in the other corner and his corner man. In this case his corner man was Damien Trainor, (see his blog here. A very honest and honourable Champion) a world champion in the sport who I have the utmost respect for and I must say it was an honour and a buzz to fight against one of his guys and in front of him, and then the bell rang and we began...

The fight was about as good as I could hope for being my first. I achieved what I set out to do and with more practice and learning, from my amazing team, coupled with a steady stream of interclubs, I have set my sights on C-class. Maybe in the not too distant future I'll get a shot.

Both fighters awarded with participation
trophies at the end of the 3rd round.

What I hope I have achieved with this article is to show you that each time my life has fallen apart I have been saved by combat sports. The interclub is no big deal to anyone else but stepping out of that ring with a trophy and seeing my Kru beaming, was the moment I proved to myself I was worth something again. I may not ever reach my aspiration of a c-class fight but the journey, so far, has made me a stronger and better person.

My point being is that if Muay Thai and boxing can help me in this way then it can also help others in similar positions. This is why I believe phasing out combat sports and not openly promoting them, allowing people to have their challenge by fire, would be highly detrimental. Some people like myself need that challenge, that prehistoric competition, of combat.

Steve

Hate Yourself? Love your workouts! No. 1

2012-05-20T18:38:00.001+01:00

Milk and Squats (GOMAD)

Hate yourself workouts Number 1!

Over the next few weeks I plan to highlight a few of the harder, more brutal workouts I’ve come across that are brilliant for those times where the internal masochist inside us all wants to come out and play and your looking for some real bang for your buck!

This week I want to start with an old favourite the GOMAD program or as it’s more affectionately known as “the milk and squats program”.

GOMAD

GOMAD stands for Gallon Of Milk A Day and refers to the 1 us gallon (4 litres) of whole milk you will be consuming daily for 4-6 weeks. That’s every day not just training days!

Milk and squats is a program for the trainee looking for serious weight gain in a short time frame, average results tend to come out at around 25lbs in a month so it’s not in the realms of fiction to suggest it may be more effective than steroids for newbie first timers!

The way this all works is that gallon of milk is not your only calorie intake; you drink that WITH your regular diet (Breakfast, snacks, lunch, pre-workout, post-workout, dinner, pre-bed) and as such add roughly 2400 calories into your diet. This is perfect for small eaters or “hard gainers” who struggle to eat any more than they do but could probably stand to have a few liquid calories added into their diet.

It’s important to use whole milk because otherwise you can’t guarantee the same number of calories and you won’t have the same balance of fats and proteins.

Squats

The second half (and the real killer) to the program is the workout that goes with it.
Milk and squats in essence is a power lifting/ bulking program and it aims not only to pile slabs of muscle onto you but make you a hell of a lot stronger as well!

To start with you need to know your 5 Rep Max (5RM) for the back squat (go on, I can wait, this is important). The idea is to take roughly 2.5 kilos off of your 5RM for every workout you are going to do whilst on the program so as an example lets say you 5RM is 180Kg and you are going to train 3 times a week for 6 weeks so to find your starting weight
180Kg – ( (3 times a week x 6 weeks) x 2.5Kg ) = starting weight
180Kg - 45kg = 135kg

With this starting weight we can start the actual workout.

On session 1 load the bar up to your starting weight (135Kg in our example) and do 1 set of 20 reps without racking the bar, you can pause and rest at the top but the weight must be on your back non-stop. And that’s it! Simple, right? No?

Each session from there you need to add 2.5 kilos to the weight you are using until session 18 you are using your former 5RM for 20 reps.

A quick word of warning - The first few reps are going to feel pretty easy, damn the first 10 might but I can promise you by the 10th rep of your 3rd session your going to feel like you’re about to shit a kidney! For this reason it’s really important you stick to proper technique, if you don’t know how to back squat properly then learn! Pay a P.T, scour youtube, watch and ask other gym rats. It doesn’t matter how you learn just do it!

Finally if you have to stop mid set cut it off there and use the same weight next session, don’t try to pick it up where you left off your CNS will more than likely be burnt out and its unlikely you are getting another rep out safely.

Extras

Ok so maybe that’s not it entirely for the workout. Most people are going to want and need a few supplement exercises if only for active recovery. These should be reasonably light sets and the set/rep numbers can be adjusted if they seem too hard

You’ll probably want about 5 compound exercises working all the major muscle groups e.g

2 x 10 bench press
3x10 pull overs
1x15 deadlifts
2x10 push press
1x15 bent over row

As I said before, the sets are for active recovery so the weight should be challenging but not crazy, you should aim for a weight you know you can do all the reps with.

Wrap up

After milk and squats you are probably going to want to. So a cutting diet for a few weeks before, because of the increase in body fat percentage that comes with the program, wouldn't be a bad idea. Don’t let this put you off doing it again. It’s a lot easier to bulk then cut than try to put on lots of lean weight and no fat, all you will do is drive yourself crazy going in circles with no real results.

And with that I leave you with my parting words:
Eat big and squat heavy

Anton Sieluzycki

Circuit Training and some Nostalgia

2012-05-20T15:19:00.001+01:00

This guy gets it!

I gained my interest in fitness during my time as a Traceur (Parkour practitioner). However, when you’re a 16 year old guy getting into your first real physical discipline of interest you make a few school boy errors; Training mistakes and neglecting my diet being some of them. It happens….or it did to me.
Soon into it you want to see improvements past that which just technical practise can bring you. You start to realise if you were more physically capable and fitter, and then combining this with your technique, must lead to further development. What a genius plan it was too! I started doing circuit training to improve my “fitness” as I saw it then, so that my more capable body would achieve greater feats in my Parkour.

So with this my second love of fitness was born; Circuit Training and I was obsessed. There was a point in my life where I would do 3 circuits a day. One for lower body, one for upper body and one for Parkour technical skills. I never gained a pound of muscle (as I was clueless as far as diet was concerned) but damn I was smashing some personal bests out. Most weeks I would find an improvement in my chosen discipline. A jump that I couldn’t make before, a vault that had previously eluded me and the confidence to try a different method or technique. Constant development.

Due to injury I no longer practise Parkour as I once did. I hope that maybe someday I will be back up on the walls and rails, as it ultimately shaped who I would become. It’s physicality led me towards a path of fitness, it’s spirituality led me to an open mind and it’s community led me to realise an inner confidence that I struggled with earlier in life.

I now have a career in the fitness industry (also big shout out to my gym buddy Nath for dragging me kicking and screaming to my first indoor gym session!), I have plenty of confidence in my abilities and I know that development and improvement in all aspects of my life are a couple of metaphorical circuits away.

PK4Life.

Nostalgia done. Now for some serious sh*t!

The focus here, boys and girls, is circuits. Circuits are a wonderfully adaptable form of fitness training. The basic idea is that you have a set of exercises (sometimes spread over “stations”) which are to be performed in a particular order to a certain time constraint or repetition scheme with set rest periods between exercises and/ or circuits.

Simple yet effective.

Many famous movie workouts that appear with the newest blockbusters are essentially circuits. The 300 workout is a “set rep” circuit. In which you are to complete exercises to a particular rep scheme in a particular order.

Circuits don’t have to be so gruelling or rigid though. Many trainers will design circuits specifically to help their clients/ athletes improve their performance in a particular sport. So what works as a circuit for a basketball player would not be as effective for a football player and the same visa versa.

If circuits have a weakness it would be in overall strength development. The normal structure of circuits is designed to push both the repertory and muscular systems so maximal strength and power is not generally a focus. This isn’t to say it couldn’t be with a very well designed circuit but it most certainly would be more difficult.

All round fitness is the name of the game and what a game it is! I always liked my circuits to be more than a challenge. I liked it to be Hell or as close to it as I could get and one particular circuit always stood out to me as the badass.

I followed a book by Robin Eggar and Dieter Loraine “The Royal Marines Circuit Training: The All-Round Commando Fitness Programme” and in this book they had the final test circuit which they aptly named “The Beast”. It still holds a special place in my heart and I wish to share it with ya’ll today. So here it is. I hope it’s enjoyed.

The Beast

You will need

Exercise Cue Cards
Stopwatch
Plenty of Space

Set-up
So you will have 2 stations. These 2 stations should be marked for your convenience and should be 10 seconds jogging distance apart. One Station will be where you perform exercise numbers 1-3-5-7-9-11 and the other station will be where you perform exercises 2-4-6-8-10-12. You may want to leave cue cards with the exercises at each station to remind you or alternatively get a friendly volunteer to scream them at you.

How to do it
Start by performing exercise one at station one for the set number of repetitions then run to station two and perform exercise two for the required repetitions then you run back to station one and perform exercise three and so on.

The Plan

Do not stop!
Target Time is 12minutes 30 seconds
Complete the Circuit 3 times through

Reps per circuit are as follows:
Circuit 1 = 12 reps per exercise
Circuit 2 = 10 reps per exercise
Circuit 3 = 12 reps per exercise

The Exercises

Press Ups
Half Sit-Ups
Tuck Jumps
Clap Press Ups
Sit Ups with a Twist
Squat Thrusts
Wide Press Ups
Stomach Crunches
Burpees
Close Press Ups
Dorsal Raises
Star jumps (not jumping jacks!)

A Final Note
It’s about persistence. First time round just finish this bit*h and you should be laughing. Getting it down to 12:30 is an achievement and a half so work at it.

Hope you’re all loving this stuff guys. Share it with your friends.
They’ll thank you for it……I think!

Aaron Moody

Show Insomnia Who The Alpha is!

2012-05-15T16:33:00.003+01:00

Sleep
Courtesy of whyamiunhealthy.com

In my last article on sleep I highlighted the issues surrounding sleep deprivation and how bad those symptoms are for your body (Sleep The New Shake?). Much of the feedback I received was that, now I had highlighted how important it was, I should now help those readers, and authors, with insomnia find ways to enter into it.

With this I set about researching into how to trigger sleep. I surfed the internet and read books to try and find some useful information but couldn't find anything I was happy to share with you. Then I stumbled upon some work by a clinical psychologist named Donald A. Cadogan and an article called "A Time to Sleep". The knowledge gained from his article coupled with my own experiences have allowed me to write the following article.

Sleep Hygiene

Firstly, don't be a stinky sleeper! (see what I did there?) No this doesn't mean take a shower before bed, although this could be a good way to relax, but what you should do is set strict sleeping times. i.e. 2300hrs to 0530hrs. At first this wont be particularly pleasant as your body will be used to random time slots. However, after a few times of forcing yourself up at 0530hrs (or whatever time you choose), you will be so tired by the time you reach your chosen sleep time, sleep will be induced naturally.

Secondly, it is very important to enforce the getting up time whether you are falling out of your eye sockets due to lack of sleep or not. Forcing your body to do this will eventually bring it into line with your sleeping plan and you will benefit from this.

The Secret

The key to falling asleep is as simple as this... entering the alpha stage. No this isn't some sort of science fiction film, normal people do this every night without realising it. The alpha stage is stage 1 of the sleep stages. It is the phase that represents the shift between being awake and asleep. Entering this phase is the key to falling asleep.

So how do we get into this phase? Below are some methods the Dr, mentioned above, has recommended and also a few of the ones I have come across myself:

Thought Termination
Fantasy Switch
Passive Meditation
Tensing yourself to Sleep

I'll now go on to explain the basic principles of each one.

Thought Termination

A lot of the time people cannot sleep due to the fact they cannot shut down from the days events. In other words worrisome thoughts invade their mind and they are too stressed to sleep. In these cases thought termination can help.

Every time a thought pops into your head, that is a negative one, think "NO". Rinse and repeat. What this does is disregard the negative thought and stop you panicking. This allows you to relax and enter stage 1 sleep.

Fantasy Switch

This is actually quite an interesting concept. Think of a time when you've been really relaxed, all your muscle ache is gone, all your stresses aren't present. Remember everything that happened while you were in this relaxed memory and relive it. Oh wait your already asleep...

The way this works is by getting the body to remember how it felt while it was relaxed by reliving the events which made it relaxed. Before you know it you'll be asleep in no time.

Passive Meditation

This is where you repeat a syllable or noise over and over again. You've seen it in the cartoons when they're meditating and start floating by saying "ommmm". Focus on your mantra and repeat it inside, or outside, of your head, concentrate on only this. When another thought pops into your head acknowledge it but also put it aside.

By concentrating on this mantra you actually relax and drift into the alpha stage. This is where most meditations take place. The person meditating usually comes out of the alpha stag when finished. However, you will drift on into deeper stages of sleep.

Tensing Yourself to Sleep

I was reminded of this by a fellow author recently. Strangely enough, although we trained in different areas when we were younger, we had both been told it by instructors of martial arts. Starting from the bottom of your body, you consciously contract the muscles/muscle groups for 10 seconds as hard as you can and then release them. Do this for every muscle all the way up your body.

This always makes me feel so relaxed I drift off but if your still struggling after this then try using one of the above.

Final Thoughts

Remember, if your in bed and relaxed but your resting, don't get up! As mentioned earlier, it is likely you have fallen asleep even if you don't realise.

Hopefully this will help a few of you out and you'll see some benefit from the article. Feel free to share your own techniques with the team and our readers.

Steve

Peterson Tests Positive for Synthetic Testosterone

2012-05-14T13:47:00.002+01:00

HBO Match Poster

Late last year, in a match that shocked the boxing world, Amir Kahn lost his WBA and IBF welterweight titles to Lamont Peterson. The decision went to points, despite Kahn knocking Peterson down twice, and Kahn lost due to having 2 points deducted for pushing.

In interviews with the guardian, after his fight, Kahn displayed high morale with an "I will be back attitude". Before the dust had settled he had pretty much secured the rematch. The referee's conduct is being investigated and the disputes with the judges score cards are also being looked into.

After his defeat Kahn rebuilt himself psychologically and physically. Determined to regain his belts. With his eyes on Pacqiaou and Mayweather prior to loosing his titles, and was now behind on his 3 year retirement schedule, he was determined to get back on track.

The stage was set for a brilliant rematch.

However, before the rematch could take place news came to light that would throw the whole spectacle into disrepute. A drug test in March carried out by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) brought to light that Peterson was guilty of taking synthetic testosterone tablets.

Peterson With Kahns Old Title
Courtesy of Express & Star

Kahn immediately took the issue to twitter explaining the match was off due to the scandal. He was looking for someone else to fight on June 30th. Kahn has also started proceedings to have the decision, from his first fight with Peterson, overturned and having his titles returned to him.

The news is the second event, in the boxing world, to shock the boxing community in the last 2 weeks following the Haye v Chisora scandal. Hopefully there will be some news that brings the sport back into a good light in the near future to keep the "educated" blood hounds at bay calling for the sport to be banned.

However, considering the sudden surge of illegal substances being found in athletes this year should new measures be brought in to discourage athletes from participating in taking them? If normal people are caught taking illegal substances they face jail time and criminal punishment. Should, perhaps, athletes caught cheating through scientific evidence perhaps face the same?

Please feel free to share your thoughts with the team, on our shiny new Facebook page, Twitter or even comment on here.

Steve

Faultless Fitness Just Got A Facebook!

2012-05-14T13:04:00.000+01:00

Just thought we better announce that Faultless Fitness has moved into the social network scene. We now have a, get this, Facebook page & Twitter page! Please click the links below to go to our pages and follow us:

Cheers,

The Team

The Cold Hard Truth

2012-05-13T23:04:00.002+01:00

Here is an article from one of our newer writers!

We all want to see kick ass improvements in the gym, whether it’s benching 180kg, getting single digit body fat levels or destroying the 40 yard sprint in under 4.5 seconds…..but how many of us are willing to put in the work?.....and how many are doing it?

In my experience everyone says they’re willing to but few are and even fewer are
actually doing it. So here are some cold hard truths from a guy who has heard all the bitching,
whining and excuses that will hopefully give you a kick up the ass to go out and get
what you want!

Diet is a Game Changer

You cannot out train a bad diet! There I said it….. it may not be glamorous it may not be fun but eating right is the key to ANY fitness goal!

You want a six pack then you need to give up the deep fried pizza and daily gallon of coke.

You want to gain 4 stone of lean muscle then you need to stop eating like an anorexic.

What ever your goal is what, when and how much you eat is imperative, whether that means you need to do your research or go to a professional it doesn’t matter but it’s time to grow up and eat like an adult.

You Need to Train Below the Navel

Andy Bolton Sweats Testosterone!

How many guys have you seen in the gym puffing out their chests next to the bench press and doing curls in the squat rack? How many of these guys have a great athletic look all over?...none? yeah that’s what I thought. They swarm every gym across every country, they’re the Friday night muscle club they need a kick in the backside!

Just like diet, leg training, is an often overlooked, under valued necessity in any goal. Training the biggest muscles in the body using big compound lifts such as the squat
and deadlift not only looks badass but has a shed load of great physiological reasons
going for it too! These include massive boosts in testosterone production and growth
hormone secretion following your workout and also they should help balance out
the massive muscle imbalances most of us harbour due to sedentary modern lifestyle!

Steady state cardio is not all that!

Lets have a quick show of hands...

Who would prefer to look like Dwayne Chambers and Darren Campbell on the left there or like the Kenyan marathon runner on the right?

The Sprinter's Body

The Marathon Runners Body!

Take Your Pick!

Ok the votes are in 100% for the sprinters….so why the hell are there so many of
you on treadmills for hours at a time and so many people out running for mile upon
mile in every town and city around the world?

Cue hard hitting bullet points!

Steady state cardio encourages the body to burn muscle not fat to make it lighter and as such more efficient leaving you with the dreaded skinny fat look
The more long distance cardio you do the more you have to do to keep burning the same no’ of calories due to increased efficiency
The second you stop jogging you stop burning calories. However, after explosive strength work such as squats or sprints you can burn calories at the same rate for up to 72 hours (keep that in mind in 3 days when you’re eating breakfast)
Fewer sports require extreme cardio-vascular endurance than explosive power so sprinting is a lot more sport specific
Runners trots…..need I say more? Google it!

Lets wrap it up!

These are just a few points to be made and trust me there are many, many more.
If you want great results you have to put in great work!

To quote Dave Tate who is a man much more badass than me
“if it’s an exercise your Granma could do, its not worth doing!”

Thoughts on Function

2012-05-13T19:51:00.004+01:00


Looks cool though!

It’s a buzz phrase that I have been hearing a lot since I started working in a gym. Functional Training.
You have probably heard it around your gym a lot or maybe read it in a Fitness Magazine.
Functional Training.
You know what I’ve noticed it seems to amount to…
F*ck All Training!

Now I’m not slamming the notion of training for function as the would be ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as dry humping a ViPR while doing sideways lunges and telling me it’s a “functional core exercise.”
I think that it’s become a really popular marketing tool for gyms and PT’s alike. “Functional Training Area” or “Functional Training Specialist” and I most certainly am not saying that you shouldn’t try to appeal to a larger market but there is a point where you have to apply some logic.

Now the idea behind functional training is that you train for a function. Whether it be simply improving your day to day life with basic flexibility and mobility or training for a specific sport but I feel that this point is missed by many people I see taking part in functional training. I see guys trying to “bulk” prancing around on one foot with a medicine ball balanced on their nose.
“Alright, gents” I’ll say “improving balance and kinaesthetic awareness are we?”
“No” they reply “Just trying to get bigger.” My response is calm and measured.
“Really? Well that seems to be <transcript missing> calorie intake and expenditure <transcript missing> DUMBASS!”
An important side note. If training for gains, don’t do unnecessary activity. It defeats the point.
Carrying on.
Functional Training classes seem to be popular these days as well. People of all different shapes and sizes with completely different goals gather together and do exactly the same thing as per the instructors commands…… You’re all getting this now, aren’t you?

All training is functional. It serves a purpose and a function. If you want to get the best results from your training you NEED a functional training programme with functional exercises. A programme with exercises that are catered to your wants and goals. If I want bigger biceps and a gargantuan set of traps. I’ll curl and shrug till my arms drop off. If I want to have a better ROM in my lower back, I’ll stretch and train my core and leg muscles.
Apply some thought here boys and girls. don’t be sucked into the functional farce. It’s your training, take control and make it benefit you.

Thanks for the rant,

Aaron Moody

Kit Review - Bad Boy Pro Series MMA Shin Guard

2012-05-13T09:54:00.001+01:00

For those of you who are looking into buying shin guards at the moment; I just bought these tasty little shin guards from our friends over at fightshop.com. Here's the review...

About The Brand

When asked, by our friends over at fightshop.com, how Bad Boy would describe themselves, they replied with; "Bad Boy provides martial arts athletes with the most innovative, high quality, performance products designed to benefit the athlete in both training and competition. We support the dedicated athlete in the pursuit of his passion and the full realisation of his abilities. We support the sport of MMA and the lifestyle associated with MMA so that the world can appreciate the skill, intelligence, desire and dedication demonstrated by these world-class athletes".

After reading this, I must say, I was expecting a lot. It would take a pretty good product to match this company's description. However, as one of the original MMA brands there certainly is a lot of experience, in Bad boy, to call upon.

The company is renowned for trying out new technology and pushing the limits of the MMA equipment and clothing world. Whether it be for new safety technology or whether it be for new clothing designs, Bad Boy aren't happy sitting still within the comfortable boundaries of the market.

Product Description

As far as good ideas go, Bad Boy, has crammed these shin guards full of them. Starting from the top down there is a tri-Velcro fastening system at the top of the leg sleeve. This makes securing the guard tightly under the knee very easy. The elastic strap fastens to the first piece of Velcro, creating a tight fit, and then a third piece of Velcro fastens to the top of the strap, stopping it from pinging off should your calf flex.

Another good point to these pads is the fact that, rather than elastic straps to keep the guard fastened to the shin, there is a neoprene leg sleeve. The neoprene has highly elastic properties so it hugs your shin really tight making it very comfortable to wear. Other designs like the strap have been known to shift about a little bit but this hasn't been much of a problem for me while wearing these.

The unique selling point to these shin guards is the gel pocket that runs up the ridge line of the shin. It is apparently new technology that is supposed to protect your shin while also allowing some force to be pushed into your opponents body.

Our Opinion

Image courtesy of fightshop.com

I was actually incredibly impressed with these guards. I currently have a bruised shin and so I thought I'd have to be very careful while training in and reviewing these shin guards. However, not only could I train at 110% effort, I could also block kicks with my injured leg as the force was distributed across the shin; as opposed to focused on one area.

The gel, despite me thinking it may have been a bit of a gimmick, actually worked really well. On the offensive movements the gel allowed the force of the kick to be applied but on top of this focused into the target area. On the defensive it absorbed and spread the impact throughout the shin reducing the damage received from a kick.

One thing I was disappointed with was that the stitching is a bit weak in places. It fair to say I have hobbit feet and, due to these size 11 paddles, putting these pads on proved a bit of a challenge. First time I put them on some stitching gave at the bottom of the sleeve. However, I did expect this, after some previous experience with ripping stuff due to my massive duck feet, and so it is easily fixable. For those of you with a similar problem a double stitch at the top and the bottom of the sleeve opening prevents this from happening and also stops further splitting.

Another place to reinforce is definitely the elastic band on the foot. This band is the one which you will be spinning on and so will take a lot of punishment. The stitching on these guards on the band has already loosened a little but I would suggest to anyone who buys any guards to reinforce the weak points whether they look like they're going to break or not.

All in all I'm very happy with them despite the stitching and would certainly recommend them. they're comfortable and more importantly they do the job they're designed to do. Any questions please feel free to email the team @ faultfitness@gmail.com.

Steve

The Haye/Chisora Nightmare!

2012-05-11T16:22:00.001+01:00

Haye v Chisora
Picture Courtesy of the Mirror

Like many people my age, I spent my childhood years watching the Rocky films, re-watching the "Rumble in the Jungle", and hearing stories of boxers starting from nothing and building themselves into a champ. Boxing was a noble sport, one for champions, who gave everything they had to accomplish their goal. Some might even say that they were the knights of modern day; champions of combat and magnets for the princesses (we all know the ladies love a fighter)!

In my teenage years, boxing saved me from slipping into a cycle of bad behaviour and self destruction; i was anti-social, withdrawn and a pain in the arse in general. Boxing gave me something to focus on, a way of bettering myself and earning a bit of self respect while also improving my confidence and overall my personality. The sport has done so much for so many people and yet we find the sport's name today being dragged through the mud.

With hunting being banned (although I agree with this decision myself) the "educated" have sought out another blood sport to ban. So far their protests to ban boxing have gone ignored. However, this last week has seen two massive blows dealt to the sport in the form of Haye v Chisora and Kahn v Peterson (Seperate Article). The prior has already given authors at the telegraph a new angle in calling out to ban the sport and, with more certain to jump on the band wagon, this leaves the future of the sport in a very grey position.

Video courtesy of BritishBoxers.co.uk youtube channel

The problem occurred in Berlin. Haye rocked up into the press conference between Chisora and Klitschko and interrupted the proceedings. Haye, despite being in retirement, was moaning about the fact he couldn't get a fight with Vitali. However, Haye then moved on to insulting and provoking Chisora who, already suffering the emasculation induced by a loss in boxing, decided he wasn't going to stand for Haye's abuse. He left the podium to confront Haye, who seems to have then glassed him prior to entering into a scuffle. If this wasn't bad enough, up[on being separated Chisora then publicly announces in front of the press he is "Going to physically shoot David Haye"! This amazing spectacle, on why the British should be role models for our internal dispute resolution, took place in front of the world press... Brilliant!

Firstly, I would like to point out that any "star" in the public eye should be a role model for the youth of today. They should not use this coverage to teach them that the way to deal with conflict is simply to resort to "gobbing off" in front of people and, ultimately, to use violence should this not work. Haye should not have done what he did. He provoked a fellow boxer, assaulted him and then made off. Chisora, despite being provoked, should not have approached Haye, should not have entered into a fray with Haye and on top of that he should definitely not have brought Britain's gang culture into, one, the public eye and, two, boxing as a sport.

For a sport that boasts about how it takes young people off the streets having Chisora promote the culture from the top is a shocking blow. Boxing is a sport, sports have rules, and if broken there are punishments. Chisora was punished by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) by having his licence revoked. Haye, however, has no British Boxing licence to have removed and has seemingly remained untouched.

In Supersport.coms interview with Klitschko, after the incident, the boxer revealed the following:

Vitali Klitschko Slapped by Chisora
Photo Courtesy of the Daily Mail

"I saw it all from the stage, I thought I was in some kind of film," said Klitschko. "Sooner or later in life a man gets his just punishment.

"You can't behave like that as an athlete or as a normal person. It was lower than low. I thought it was a play act and just for show, but then I realised that it wasn't.

This grants merit to my argument that athletes and, supposed, stars should not behave like thugs. It gives the wrong message to the youth culture of today. How can one country have it so right and us so wrong?

What is even worse than the original spectacle, is the way in which both boxers have, not only, shown lack of remorse but also seem to have gained from this. Haye is back in the public eye and in a high profile fight with a Chisora, under a foreign licence I might add, while Chisora has been offered a rematch with Klitschko (although Klitschko has stated this is only so he can KO Chisora for his rudeness).

The problem lies in the fact that the BBBofC has stated that Chisora is banned from fighting with a British boxing licence. In other words he cannot fight in the UK, or anywhere else for that matter, due to his actions in Germany. However, he has got round this by getting a licence from Luxembourg. This is a massive blow to the BBBofC as it is there to regulate boxing in the UK. The way in which their punishment has been, so easily, side stepped has shown that they are completely incapable of doing this. This makes the future of this board and the sport very uncertain.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment on this article. We'd love to hear what you think and would enjoy the opportunity for reasonable debate. If you'd like to email the team about the article then please find our contact details on the "About The Site" page.

Steve

Sleep The New Shake?

2012-05-07T09:23:00.000+01:00

Uh Oh!

We have all born witness to the partner waking up after a night of us snoring and watched as they have been a nightmare the entire day. When asked why they are trying to re-enact the rising of the biblical beast, they state they are tired. This of course is a perfectly acceptable excuse, as we all associate these traits of behaviour with tiredness, but what if sleep deprivation had more affects on our body than met the eyes.

For those of us who train, we understand that recovery is the key to getting fitter, more muscular and just improving out right. We spend lots of money on new supplements, diet, remedial activities and anything else that will improve our recovery, however, I doubt many of us have actually thought about something as simple as improving our sleep.

When a person becomes sleep deprived they exhibit many emotional and psychological signs. These can include:

Inattentiveness
Impaired Judgement
Fragmented Thought Processes
Slurred Speech
Clumsiness
Forgetful
Unable to Vocalise Ideas

This may seem bad enough but more effects take place, that we can't see, inside the body. One of these is the release of cortisol into the blood stream.

Cortisol

Cortisol is a hormone naturally produced by the body. It is normally released in response to stress. In small doses it can be beneficial, for example, in response to the flight or fight scenario, together with noradrenaline and other hormones, it can make you faster, stronger, and even boost your immune system. However, when a build up of cortisol occurs it has some quite worrying effects on your body's recovery.

The bad Guy... Cortisol

Firstly, cortisol actually impairs the body's ability to regenerate. On top of this it actively helps to break down muscle and bone. To spell this out to you it not only stops your muscles repairing but also starts helping to break them down. If this wasn't bad enough, cortisol, also slows down your bodies metabolism and digestion. Just in case you don't already dislike this hormone enough as it is, something else is also increased by the presence of cortisol in your body... weight gain! Yes that's right! Cortisol also increases the body's ability to store fat around your tummy.

Another ability of this super villain hormone, cortisol, is that it also hinders sleep. The one process that actually helps fight back cortisol, being sleep, is not easy to achieve with this hormone in your system.

So, sleep can stop cortisol from building up and help get rid of it once it has built up. Great news! Other ways in which to lower cortisol is meditation, regular exercise and guided imagery. Good stuff!

Something else you'll be happy to know is not only can sleep help fight the fight against cortisol but it also has more direct benefits. There is a hormone released while you sleep called Melatonin nicknamed by many as "the hormone of darkness".

The Hormone of Darkness...

Melatonin is a hormone involved in a few processes in the human body, from fertility to antioxidant. We are focussing on the antioxidant aspect of the hormone. While you sleep melatonin increases and the has some remarkable affects on the body. The hormone reduces triglycerides in the blood (fatty acids), it increases HDL (a good cholesterol) and reduces LDL (a bad cholesterol). As you can see the hormone is not one to be scoffed at. The fact it inhibits the storage of lipids means that it has been used in health care as a weight control device. Luckily if you sort out your sleep pattern you get it for free!

How to achieve optimum sleep...

Good Luck!

This is a somewhat debated topic, as is anything that is mildly helpful in the fitness industry, and getting a straight answer is almost unachievable. Some experts state you should aim for between 6 and 12 hours.

There is also a rumour that it is the sleep you get before 12 that is the most beneficial (I myself am highly sceptical on this considering time is a man made dynamic so how your body, that has evolved over millions of years, has suddenly started to read the 24 hour clock and also adhere to british summer time is beyond me!). My advice would be to aim for around 8 hours and to get into a sleeping pattern and stick to it. I know I feel really good if I get to sleep at 11 and wake up at 7 but different times will work for different people.

It would be interesting to hear about our readers ideas on this so please feel free to email us on our new address faultfitness@gmail.com and you may even feature on the site.

Hopefully, this article has promoted the idea that sleep is actually as important to your training as protein shakes and other such remedial and recovery methods. This will be the first of a few sleep related articles, as it is a huge topic and it was too large to condense into one, so... To be continued...

Hope this helps,

Steve

Faultless Fitness Just Got Interactive!

2012-05-06T22:48:00.000+01:00

Here at Faultless Fitness we pride ourselves on writing relevant and informative articles that help you achieve your goals. We try to give you exactly what you need with regards to information on kit and training and because of this we would like to hear your thoughts. If you need info on training or on kit your intending to buy then you can now interact directly with the team.

Our new email account has been set up so you can send your queries to us and we will release either an article or reply directly to you. So, if you want to suggest an article or ask a question, here is our new address:

faultfitness@gmail.com

Hopefully we'll hear from you soon,

The Team

The Right Frame of Mind

2012-05-05T22:16:00.000+01:00


The Greatest because he believed it.

The Right Frame of Mind.

A lot can be said for a positive attitude. It can take you anywhere you want to be in life and the same is true in where it can take you in the gym. Thousands of books have been written on how to change your life by altering your approach, changing the way you look at life. Embracing it and being proactive as opposed to reactive and hiding from challenges is the way to have a happy and successful life and I believe it is the way to have happy and successful training.

Lazy Thinking
Many gym users are reluctant at best and this shows in their results. The “6pm crowd” who waddle into the gym after work because they have read and heard that they should be in there to keep them healthy or that they have some distorted belief that attending the gym 3 times a week means that they can excuse a piss poor diet and lifestyle. (Take note that these are usually the ones you hear saying “I’m not losing any weight”) Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking them for trying…..okay, I am, because this is not trying! If these people really wanted to make an impact on themselves in a physical way, whether it be aesthetic or functional, then they need to seriously alter their attitude towards training. Yes it is “hard work” in a sense but as the saying goes if something is easy to obtain then it isn’t really worth having. This statement applies to us all not just the 6 pm crowd. Some of us who have been training for years fall into a negative mindset from time to time, cheat on the diet for 2 weeks or take it easy in the workouts and we do something far worse to justify it to ourselves.
“Well I train hard most the time so it doesn’t matter”
If it “doesn’t matter” then why are you there? Why do you do it in the first place? In this life we are all very limited on time and we should attend to the things that we believe do matter! We will not be reborn, neither shall we have another chance. Even if there is an afterlife it is not justification for not applying yourself in this one. This is what can only be described as the half assed mind set. I regularly hear people claim they do not want to be mega fit but surely this is adverse to evolutionary needs. The strongest survive. It should be engrained in our DNA that we should be striving to reach our physical peak. Look at the Special Olympics, how can so many be pleased with mediocrity when those who are (allegedly) disadvantaged are doing such remarkable things?

Negative Thinking
Ah, self deprecation. Now this is where a lot of us will fall. Self confidence and positive self image. How many times have you looked in the mirror and actually congratulated yourself? I ask this because I know that my answer is never. I only see problems and weak points and quickly shrug off my strong points with a very certain “it could be better.” No doubt it could but if we refuse to acknowledge the hard work and good progress that we make on ourselves then what is the point? This does not just apply to our body image but our physical ability as well. I know that I can do things that no other person who is a regular attendee of my gym can do. It is a fact. My rather unusual training methods allow me to do these things. Yet all I can see around me is people lifting bigger weights than me or with more impressive physiques. Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t always strive to improve yourself or acknowledge that others have worked hard and have qualities you wished you possessed but you should also be able to compliment yourself on a job well done. Admire the hard work you put it before graciously realising that it can be improved

The Right Frame of Mind
Guys. I have started to realise something recently. This realisation has transformed by dedication to my diet and work in the last 2 weeks. I’m pretty sure that as I come to grips with it that other aspects of my life will become much clearer. You need to believe in yourself. You need to apply yourself. Something I heard recently helped this click into place even more. I will share it with you at the end (I do not know who said it.) Tomorrow take a new attitude out of your front door. Take it to work. Take it to the gym. Take it to your grave. Look deep inside yourself and ask your heart what it wants and don’t leave until it gives you an answer. When you have that answer, then you have your goal. Once you have your goal you can start to work your ass off to achieve it. Whether it’s a one arm chin up, getting your own gym or getting the girl of your dreams. You are capable. Look at what man has already achieved. If you do not have a plan then all you have is an excuse. If you do not have time then make time. If you do not have a dream then you are as good as dead.

Train hard guys. Inside and out

Aaron Moody

""Greatness is not some esoteric quality that only a few of us have...it really just boils down to this concept of "productivity"

Kit Review - Sandee "Three Tone" Glove (16oz)

2012-05-02T19:12:00.001+01:00

So it's time to treat yourself a new pair of gloves? Well here is a quick review on a set I purchased recently....

The Sandee Logo...

About the brand

If you've got an interest or participate in combat sports I'm confident in saying that you would of used Sandee equipment or, at least, recognise the name. Sandee is a well established name within the Muay Thai and mixed martial arts (MMA) community and all of their equipment is handmade in Bangkok, Thailand.

Sandee's main ethos is functionality over fashion. There's no point in looking good if it can't do the job. This is something that the company aim to achieve in every product they release.

Sandee "Three Tone" 16oz Glove available at £54.96 @ Fightshop.com

Product Description

Despite the fact Sandee primarily focus on function and not fashion, the first thing you notice about the glove is the striking "three tone" colour scheme. The 16oz glove boasts a compact design, with many key features:

Palm air vent
Reinforced thumb support
Foam Lower metacarpal support
Padded & Sturdy Wrist support

Our Opinion
Firstly, this is a really good looking glove. For a company that boasts a motto of "functionality over fashion" they really have excelled themselves. From the outset the glove feels immaculately made and gives you the sense that you have bought a high quality product. Another high point is that the stitching is tidy and tight.

Sandee have shown their knowledge once again, by featuring both a reinforced thumb and a lower metacarpal support in the form of some reinforced foam. The thumb is connected to the glove preventing it being yanked back and sprained if your punch lands badly. The lower metacarpal support is a brilliant idea allowing a little bit of protection when deflecting shots and for when you want to drop the odd hammer fist. Something we were very happy with was the wrist support and strap. The wrist support has a leather binding and, on top of that, Sandee has also braced the support with foam. This creates a very snug fit and also minimises the compression on your wrists from punching making this gloves wrist support much more than adequate.

A small air vent features in the palm of the glove allowing your hand to breathe while inside and also slowing down the build up of that "used glove" smell.

Our Conclusion
After using the glove a number of times, both on the mitts and with sparring partners we are very impressed with the product as a whole. The support given, along with the compact design ensures a satisfying and enjoyable experience, well worth the money!

Muay Thai: Shin Hardening Techniques

2012-05-01T15:48:00.001+01:00

Not What Were Aiming For...

As a new entrant into the Muay Thai world I have very quickly found out that getting whacked in the shins hurts... Very much! In my local gym, it tends to be that, when someone experiences their first shin clash, the veterans of the group reminisce on their shin clash experiences. They talk primarily about the pain, the limping and the banter that was dished out for being reduced to swear words (none of which is very helpful when your in agony at the time) but then, after the laughs have been handed out, some tips and tricks sneak out on how to toughen your shins up.

After my eyes had uncrossed, shortly after my first clash of shins, I was intrigued by this "hardening of your shins" talk. So I did a bit of research to see if I could benefit by adding this to my training.

Firstly, I need to make perfectly clear that I am displaying methods practised by people. I am neither endorsing or recommending any. If, after reading this, you walk outside and try and kick down a fully grown walnut tree in a bid to harden your shins then, after you get out of hospital, don't blame me. If however, you recorded the attempt, and would like to post it to the site so that the video can go viral, let me know. Now that this, the serious bit is done, lets move back into the article...

To find good shin-strengthening methods we also need to understand what process makes the shins harder so we can induce this process. To explain this I will inevitably delve, once again, into the world of biology. If you can do your best to stay awake, then it could provide you with a bit of knowledge that could help win or lose your next fight, in the ring of course, before you've even entered into it.

Everyone, I'm sure, is aware that the shiny and new muscles you've developed are built up by damaging the muscle fibres. Once damaged they repair and , in the process, become stronger and higher in density. Bones tend to work in the same way. When they get damaged calcium is secreted from the blood which, in turn, repairs the bone making it higher in density and harder. However, this can also make them more brittle due to the fact calcium in the bones has the same physical properties as marble.

So, following this principle in order to make our shins harder we need to damage them. However, before you go outside and sledge hammer your shins, there is a measure of damage that needs to be observed. First of all the term applied here is conditioning. It means "preparing for". This doesn't mean to prepare your shins for battle you snap them in half. It means repetitive light conditioning to build them up. We also need to take into account the nerves on your shins, at first, are highly sensitive. These will also need to be conditioned so that they retreat further into the bone.

Now I intend to show you some traditional ways in which to do this.

Heavy Bag Training
This is the easiest and best way to start breaking in your shins.The best way to become proficient at something is to do it repetitively. So with this technique you can train your kicks while also conditioning your shins, best demonstrated by Kru Yod below (although the party trick at the end isn't necessary).

Shin Rolling
This is a highly controversial method of the western Muay Thai world. The argument isn't over whether it works but rather on why it works. Some believe that by rolling the shins you make them denser while also killing off the nerve clusters on your shin. Others believe it just kills the nerve clusters. After having a shin clash a few weeks ago I developed a brittle egg on my shin. My Kru rolled my shins to break up the calcium deposit and deaden the nerves. A couple of days on and my shin is 100 times better and minus an extra kneecap half way down the shin.

For whatever reason, shin rolling works so, I'm going to explain how you do it.

Get a baseball bat or metal pole (basically anything that's hard and round) and two friends. While one friend pins you down by your shoulders, get the other friend to put his weight on the rod and role it down your shins. The number of friends required can be reduced as, after your first session, it will never hurt like that again.

Kicking Down Banana Trees
In Thailand it is common practice for fighters to condition their shins by taking a walk outside of the gym and felling a rubber banana tree. Seeming as most of our reader base is from the UK, Canada and the USA I have a feeling that banana tree's may be in short supply. However, our friend Baukaw here, is going to show us how its done Thai style. Just so you know, this isn't the type of conditioning you would start off on but it would be unfair to not include it.

Hopefully, this will have given you a few ideas on how to go about conditioning. Feel free to comment for further explanation or to share your new ideas.

Steve

Baby, Can I Have A Massage...?

2012-04-27T15:24:00.001+01:00

Sometimes You Just Need A Better Excuse...

If you are male, in a loving and happy relationship, then the answer to this question is probably "I know what your after, NO!". However, since you've started reading this particular online magazine, you'll have taken on-board the outstanding advice in both my co-authors and my own articles, and started smashing the phys. Due to this new action you'll have noticed that the day after the phys you'll be aching and what I'm about to tell you will help you in two ways. Firstly, you'll reduce or avoid the aching, known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), and secondly, you'll gain a plausible excuse for getting that elusive massage!

DOMS is basically pain or discomfort in the muscles that comes on as a result of doing exercise. This usually occurs from 12 hours onwards. Sometimes, after a big session, I'm fine for up to 36 hours and then get it. This is what we call "second day DOMS". It's a killer. Most of the time I just struggle on with my day and ache. However, I have found a way to get rid of this pest!

Sports massage, according to enotes.com, is "a form of bodywork geared toward participants in athletics. It is used to help prevent injuries, to prepare the body for athletic activity and maintain it in optimal condition, and to help athletes recover from workouts and injuries. Sports massage has three basic forms: pre-event massage, post-event massage, and maintenance massage". What this means in English is the sports massage is a massage that compresses your muscles pushing all the waste products out of the muscle, either through the lymph system or through the blood stream, making room for lovely, nice, clean, oxygenated blood to come in.

What this means, in my experience, is that the muscle recovers faster due to the materials needed for recovery becoming more prevalent. The massage also squeezes out "the pump" which is where the muscles swell with blood; This may look good but decreases blood flow and increases recovery time. Sports massage also warms the muscles up again thus making you a bit more supple; in real terms you'll stop walking like John Wayne and back to your normal gait.

You Can Live In Hope!

So next time your looking for an early night and you ask the Mrs for a massage you can now whip out these facts and get the sympathy vote, hopefully, gaining your massage. What I cant promise is that you'll get anything more...

Steve

Faultless Just Got Fightshop.com!

2012-04-26T11:11:00.004+01:00

After only 10 days of the site going active Faultless Fitness has achieved a great deal. We've had over 1900 hits, got subscribers and regular readers and now, thanks to all the support and interest from you, our readers, we've affiliated with one of the internet's biggest combat sport equipment and nutrition retailers; fightshop.com!

Fightshop.com is currently Europe's biggest leaders in supplying combat equipment & clothing. They stock equipment for MMA, Muay Thai, Boxing, Kick Boxing, Strength, Conditioning & Clothing. The company also has a world licence for distributing Sandee Muay Thai Equipment, one of, if not the best and most renowned, makes in the sport.

Stepping It Up A Notch With Fightshop.com

So, What are they like?

I actually purchased some new equipment from fightshop.com 3 days before our affiliation came through. The process was one of the easiest and slickest internet purchases I've ever been through. If you have any experience buying kit for Muay Thai you'll know it is usually an absolute nightmare. There's lots of sole traders buzzing about from Thailand and even the UK. The sites I've visited in the last week were often very bland and the English was broken and fragmented. The thought crossed my mind, on more than one site, that, if I was to part with my cash, would I actually see any items from it? Answer was probably not; the evidence of this is how many of these sites are shut down on a regular basis.

I ordered the kit on a Friday and received it on the following Tuesday. In my experience being told 3-5 working days usually means I'll be waiting a week + if there's a weekend in the way. The fact that the delivery was actually exactly when it was stated was highly surprising.

Bisping Training In His New Kit

Now, going on the previous paragraphs, you wont be surprised to know that the kit appeared in perfect condition and the new glove smell when opened was well worth fighting with the secure packaging it came in for 5 minutes due to not having any scissors!

What does this "affiliation" mean for us now then?

Good question! By affiliating ourselves in partnership with fightshop.com, being one of the largest retailers of its kind, it means we will be able to provide you with reviews of the top of the range kit and clothing they supply. Thus you will no longer need to suffer buying kit that isn't up to standard or buy products that dont exist.

Anything else?

Well its funny you should mention this! This news has actually accelerated more plans we had for the site. We've now set up our own MMA and Muay Thai columns. These will feature the relevant news, training techniques and advice for the fights.

Hopefully this news is as exciting for you, our readers, as it is for us!

Steve

Eat like a caveman - the Paleo diet.

2012-04-26T02:47:00.000+01:00

Of note: I am a firm believer in not watering down; if you are a conditioning coach, don’t sell yourself off as anything other. If you label food, say exactly what it is, if you name a product paleolithic...

Diet has become a bad word.

The word diet has became sinanimous with podgy Joe at the end of a Christmas binge, “I’ve got to loose that stone I’ve put on, I need to go on a diet”. If you had any idea how many times I’ve heard that line in the last 11 years you’d be shocked. The word/term or phrase if you like, “diet” has become the word assumed to be merely the means to the end in terms of weight loss.

Diet my friends, is what you eat. Nothing more and nothing less. You can quote me on this too; "your diet is what you put in your mouth."

The above paragraphs are what brought around a great interest to me when I learned during my time in the states of the Paleo, or caveman diet. “Eat like a caveman” “eat primal”, just two of the many things I read about this “diet.” This way of eating is apparently revolutionary.

The concept is simple; eat real food, all of the time. If it is refined in anyway by man don’t eat it!
Pretty simple huh? Not exactly, the problem is so much of our food today is, in some way not primal. Due to pesticide, growth hormone, what ever the hell they feel like feeding animals and plants there is a whole lot of (excuse my French) shite getting pumped into the food we consume.
Swaying away from my slightly hippy look on our food, the paleo diet in its full glory requires organic foot, 100% of the time. Or lets face it, it just isn’t primal because gave man ugg wouldn’t have had the science to pull out a 3 foot tomato.

That aside I decided to give you my take on it. The whole cross fit, ass slapping yeah dude “cult” is hitting the high street. And that is awesome for two reasons, people are wising up to training (even though it has looked them smack bang in their eyes for 50 years) and the second this word “diet” due to the jock mentality of the #fail, people are beginning to wise up that diet is a little bit important.
No shit, it is the fundamental corner stone to anything we do. Period.
Now Paleo.. primal..caveman. Brilliant! Finally people looking at real food, away from refined carbs, ready meals and microwaves yada yada yada. You know the score right, drink coke, eat pizza and get fat. Train as much as you like and in one day you will get fat.

So this diet came out because it's working for cross fitters, they look ripped, where’s the cons then? There are a few. But there are way more upsides. I’ll give you a run down and end with a simple, proper primal day and a conclusion.
Pro

You eat food. You aren’t spending your time drinking and popping your food out of a packet. You get to eat steak, chicken, Oxon, pigeon, a rat if you want to! Fruits, veg and water. All great stuff!!!

Con
No refined grains or anything refined really.
Paleo takes the simplicity out of every day life. You can’t grab a sandwich, go for pizza, and have a chow mien.
Is has to be simple catchable or pickable food.

Pro

You keep a stable energy level. The fact that you only consume meats, veg and fruits means that digestion is slow and blood sugar levels remain stable throughout the day.
Having a stable blood sugar is key to maintaining a happy mind, and makes you less likely to start needing “boosts” and reaching for the chocolate, having mood swings and highs and lows.

Con

Here’s the extremist in me, if you want to eat like a caveman; it 100% must be organic.
Organic food is expensive, fact.
So the price on your wallet has to be weighed out with the cost of your health, only you can decide which is more important.

Pro

This ties in majorly with the last pro. Due to the fact there are no refined bits and bobs, namely carbohydrate you have some thing called satiation. In simple terms this means that your body doesn’t get whacked out like other “diets” may.
Due to the fact the body will get it's nutrients from the good food you eat, your body should feed off excess body fat, decreasing your desire for food in-between meals.

Pro

Weight loss, With fewer refined carbs to rely on (as above states) your body will burn excess bodyfat as your energy source, therefore producing a fat reduction. As Dr M D Pasquuale states.

Conclusion

As you can see, the paleo diet is simple and effective. It works.
You eat real food all the time, you have energy and if you want, will lose weight.
Here’s the thing though, it will cost you, you do have to be carefull what you consume and here is my biggest gripe:
Lots of paleo “products” namely books and web pages; allow for chocolate, protein bars and a really wide rang of additional sales to their company.
My advice, it will help. It really will, just don’t buy into their crap. Want to eat like a caveman, strip it down as intended, cavemen wouldn’t drink milk, they wouldn’t eat chocolate and the definitely wouldn’t eat protein bars.
If you are going to try it, give it a go and don’t treat it like a diet. Think of it as, "it's just what I do." And you will succeed.
As a side note always remember depending what you are doing your food consumption will change. You are individual and so is your dietary requirement.

Quick "one day" paleo

Breakfast

2 eggs, slice of bacon.

Snack

Apple table spoon tuna.

Lunch

Salmon, mixed leaf lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion and squeezed lemon .

Snack

Mixed nuts, orange.

Dinner

Pumpkin spaghetti, ground beef, tomato sauce, garlic and onion.

Snack

Kiwi and rest of nuts from earlier.

Article written by Darren Thompson

DIY protien anyone?

2012-04-26T01:07:00.002+01:00

Brendan here with a quick introduction to the post, a friend of the team likes to get creative when it comes to his protien shakes, so I thought it would be rude not to share it with you all, enjoy......

If your someone that works out and takes fitness and nutrition seriously try making your own protein shakes to kick start your training and send you flying towards your goals for summer of 2012

Despite thousands of protein shakes being available there are plenty of ways to make your own, which can be much more economical and healthier. By making your own shakes at home you will be able to control the amount of calories you ingest more effectively and not to mention save yourself a large amount of money.

There are quite a few different types of protein available that you can add to your home made protein shakes.

• Hemp protein powder,
• Soy protein,
• Pea powder,
• Whey protein
• Rice powder

Whey Protein Powder is Dairy so ensure to be careful that you don’t include something that you do not allow yourself to usually eat or drink, obviously there are alternatives such as soya protein and pea powder.

The most healthy and nutritional protein shakes contain natural produce that are made with as little processing as possible and provide the highest amounts of vitamins, nutrients, minerals and not to mention protein.

To make your own shake grab the blender and add..

1. 1/2 a cup of low fat milk,
2. 1 cup of non- low fat plain Greek yoghurt,
3. 1 small (preferably frozen) banana,
4. 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen raspberries blueberries or strawberries,
5. 1 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
6. 1 x 25-40-g scoop of UN-FLAVOURED whey protein powder into a blender with a handful of crushed ice (One of our favourites is available at MyProtein for under £20)

Blend all the ingredients, and pour the shake into a tall glass.

Next Step - Enjoy!

(The above shake will not keep long so ensure to drink ASAP)

I will be back next week with more recipies and tips to help get the kitchen messy!
Written by GCM