​So if you’re reading this you probably are new to the gym or are thinking about starting to go.  Well the gym doesn’t have to be all that scary, it is a place where individuals who have shared interests all pursuing different goals but are doing so in a shared environment.  Weather its losing body fat, going down a dress size/jean size, building muscle, gaining strength or just improving your overall fitness you are all trying to better yourselves within a small community.  I to once was a novice who didn’t know what they were doing and making rookie mistakes.  For that reason I have created a list of top ten tips for new gym goers.  So lets get started…
 
Tip 1. Figure out a goal – This one is probably the reason you want to start the gym weather it is to lose weight, gain muscle, gain strength or run the next marathon that’s approaching.  You need to decide what your goal is and work towards it.  As you don’t want to go to the gym not knowing what to do and waste valuable time with unproductive sessions.  Figure out a goal and progress towards it.
 
Tip 2.  Get a program – Ask the personal trainer/gym instructor who works at your gym to help you design a program that best suits you for your goals.  Structure is key to success.
 
Tips 3. Research – When you receive the program they will usually demonstrate each exercise once, but if you’re like me I need to be shown more than once.  If you’re in a busy gym the fitness instructor probably won’t get a chance to go around with you every session so that is why you need to do your own self research on proper form for each exercise.  Then keep practicing with lighter weights until you feel comfortable with each exercise to progress with the weight load and volume.  Practicing is the key to perfection.
 
Tip 4.  Macronutrients – Research and learn about macronutrients, the different types of macronutrients there are and the calorie values for each one.  Then it’s just a matter of getting your maintenance calories and match your goal with the calorie intake you are going to take. To figure out about calories I have done several blog post and YouTube videos previously links will be included at the end of the post.  Food is the key to happiness.
 
Tip 5. Be aware of the supplement industry – The supplement industry in a whole is there to make money and they don’t really care about anything else.  They will flog any supplement and market it as the SUPER SECRET ULTIMATE way to shed fat, well my friend that’s just bull****.  There is too much supplements out there to list the ones to avoid but in my experience and the ones I recommend taking to my clients are the following: Multi-Vitamin, Fish Oil, Vitamin D (if you live in a dull country) and Creatine.  They have all proven by studies that they are worth the investment due to notable results.  Studies for each one will be linked at the end of the blog.  Also supplement companies that I found to be the most trust worthy and value for money would be MyProtein and Bulk Powders.  Both are very good!  Don’t fall for scams, be aware of the misleading supplement industry.
 
Tip 6. Be Respectful of the Gym – Don’t be a d*** put back your weights, be respectful to other members and staff, don’t hog the equipment and don’t make weird sex noises.
 
Tip 7. Wear correct footwear – From my experience footwear is everything, if you don’t have correct footwear it could lead to problems throughout your whole body in the future.  Before I get into what is the correct footwear and why lets all agree to never ever wear them weird toe gym shoes ( http://www.chicagonow.com/katalin-fitness-health-driven/files/2012/01/five-finger-shoe.jpg ) agreed? Okay let’s continue… Flat converse are only to be used for deadlifts or variations of deadlifts; Olympic Weightlifting Shoes should be worn for Squats/Leg Press as it provides better ankle mobility;  trainers to be worn for general use.
 
Tip 8. Don’t bring food with you to the gym – Put your protein shake down and stop chugging it the minute you finished your last set, it doesn’t make a difference and all you do is look a bit weird to say the least!  Oh and please don’t bring your chicken and rice tub-aware with you, that’s just extra baggage!  The latest science have shown that you can adequately repair and grow muscle if you have enough protein in your diet throughout the day, it doesn’t matter when you eat it.  All that matters is if you have enough protein in your diet to adequately repair and grow muscle according to your individual body!  As well as your energy stores being able to replenish itself effectively within a couple of hours after training. So in conclusion the only way you need food in the gym is if you’re doing a 2 hour HIIT session, yes bring some sugary carb source with you other than that don’t bring food with you.  Think about the big picture, once you are hitting your macronutrient goals on a day to day basis the timing of the meals doesn’t overly matter! Relevant links in bio.
 
Tip 9. Be patient - Changing your body is like watching paint dry if you do it correctly!  Doing things the quick way, not only can affect your current health but it could develop gut and metabolism issues later down the line!  There is no quick way to improve your health, slow and steady wins the race!
 
Tip 10. Don’t be afraid – If you do have any questions don’t be afraid to seek help at the end of the day everybody was in your position when they started.  However I recommend to seek help from a professional and not the biggest guy in the weight room!  The fitness community is a small community of like-minded people who are all attempting to better their lives through exercise!  Help one another, become friends and the community will grow!  If you ever have any questions you can always DM me on any social media or email me at dominicphelanfitness@outlook.com
 
Hope you enjoyed this blog post, as always like the post, share it with your friends and if you would like me to cover any topic email me at: dominicphelanfitness@outlook.com or if you have an online coaching query email me at: info@dpfitness.ie. Thank you for checking in see you all in next weeks post!
 
Relevant Links –
Calculate Your Maintenance Calories:
Blog: https://www.facebook.com/FitDP/posts/435085476822400
YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N06CSp8I4UM
Multi-Vitamin Review: https://examine.com/nutrition/do-i-need-a-multivitamin/
Fish Oils Review: https://examine.com/supplements/fish-oil/
Vitamin D Review: https://examine.com/supplements/vitamin-d/
Creatine Review: https://examine.com/supplements/creatine/
MyProtein Supplement Company: https://www.myprotein.com/home.dept
Bulkpoweders Supplement Company: https://www.bulkpowders.co.uk/
Nutrient Timing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6wkDDnSKV0 (from 8:40-end)
 

​Weighing yourself is regularly looked on as a dreaded task, more often than not you always get upset or disappointed with your weight.  This shouldn’t be the case as if you are correctly in a Caloric Deficit (see previous blog posts) then your weight should be going down at a gradual pace.  However a lot of factors can cause an individual daily weigh in to be higher or lower than expected.  These factors could be the following:

• How late you ate your last meal
• Fluctuation in water intake
• Not going to the toilet properly
• Sodium intake fluctuation causing water retention
• The time of day you weigh yourself

These are only a few factors but there are many more.  So my recommendation to clients is when tracking their weight I ask them to do the following:

1. Wake up
2. Go toilet
3. Don’t drink any fluids
4. Weight yourself in underwear
5. Write down weight
6. Don’t pay attention the weight just write it down
7. Go about your day

 
Then when the end of the week comes…add up all seven weights and divide by seven to work out the average weight of that week.  Then compare your current week’s average with the previous weeks and if your weight is dropping by the expected amount then good on you keep going.  However once it stops well, that’s another topic for another day.
 
The reason for this recommendation is because weight loss is best tracked over a week as your individual daily weights will usually fluctuate.  Weight loss is usually looked upon as a linear progression in which theoretically you should lose weight uniformly throughout the dieting phase (see graph attached).  However in actual fact it is represented more like the scattered dots in the graph showing that the weights are fluctuating up and down.  This graph is my weight loss throughout my previous cut. It clearly shows how drastic individual daily weights change.
 
So in conclusion, if you’re dieting don’t be afraid of the scales…weigh yourself everyday…write it down…continue about your day…focus on the weekly progress, not daily!
Stay tuned for next week’s blog post which will be next Friday @ 9pm.  If you have any questions shoot me an email at: info@dpfitness.ie
 

​

Let us be honest, if you’re reading this you probably have never tracked your Macro-Nutrient Intake (Macros) before or have done it maybe once or twice.  I can speak from experience and say that knowing what you put into your body is the key to progression.  But when does tracking become too much of a burden and you start to focus too much time on it?
Well that is where a method that I like to use comes in handy.  This method has five choices of which depending on your goal you would adhere to.  They are as following…
 

1. Good – Hit your calories with a +/- range of 100 Calories.

 

1. Very Good – Hit your Calories with a +/- range of 100 calories and hit your Protein goal with a +/- range of 5 grams.

 

1. Better – Hit your Calories goal with a +/- range of 100 calories, hit your Protein and Carbohydrate goal with a +/- range of 10 grams and hit your Fat goal by a +/- range of 5 grams.

 

1. Excellent – Hit your Calories goal with a +/- range of 50 calories, hit your Protein and Carbohydrate goal with a +/- range of 10 grams and hit your Fat goal by a +/- range of 5 grams.

 

1. Boss of Macros – Hit your Calories Protein, Carbohydrate and Fat goals spot on.

 
 
The reason I tend to use this method is because in my opinion it is much easier to follow and depending how strict you want to be depends which level you want to aim for. 

A-C: is perfect for the everyday dieter who is trying to lose a few kilograms & also the off season competitive bodybuilder who has been use to tracking macros to a tee for the last 16+ weeks.

D: is what I recommend a competitive bodybuilder or a powerlifter who is trying to drop weight so they can enter into a lower weight class.  This can also be used for the everyday dieter if they are under time constraints but only in certain circumstances would I recommend aiming for this.

E: is very hard to achieve but it what I tell my clients to aim for everyday until life happens and you can’t eat a meal that you have prepared yourself and tailored it to your macronutrient needs. But instead you have to eat out at a restaurant and roughly estimate what macros are in the meal.  Resulting that they have to lower their sights to a tier that is lower down the scale (A-D).
 
Is this method perfect, some people are probably going to disagree with me and say “They always should hit every macro down to tee”…and what I say to them is this method works and causes a less stress approach and provides an easier way to sustain a diet. 
Dieting should be easy, not a nightmare…you are supposed to better your life not add more stress!
 
Thank you very much for checking in, I apologise about no posts last week as I was away and didn’t get a chance to post a blog post.  Check back tomorrow for another post.
 
If you have any questions shoot me an email at: info@dpfitness.ie

When you’re walking down the supermarket aisle, you get to the item you’re looking for and there is three options; standard version, organic version & a gluten free version…what one do you choose?
Well that depends on your dietary needs.  If you have no special dietary needs you would either choose the standard or organic version, while if you have special dietary needs that prevent you to consume wheat/gluten then you would go for the gluten free option. 

Simple right? 

Not so much…people now of days think once they see ‘gluten free’ it’s automatically healthier and better for you.  Yes it is but only to the people that have a special dietary needs that prevent them from consuming wheat/gluten.  To everybody else the only effects they will get from choosing the ‘gluten free’ option would be that they feel less bloated as gluten itself has a tendency to bloat, as well as a whole in their wallets as they are more expensive than the standard alternatives.
This blog post isn’t about gluten but this is the most prominent example as it’s on everything.  For example I was walking down the supermarket and seen some Olive Oil with a big sticker saying, ‘GLUTEN FREE’ and I literally just laughed…how on god’s earth can Olive Oil have gluten in it in the first place?  This is just a marketing strategy to attract the unaware person to the ‘Gluten Free’ Option which is was €2.50 dearer than the standard version.  Ridiculous.
I personally think this ‘Gluten Free’ craze has its positives and negatives.

Positives:

• People are being more aware of what they put into their body.
• For people who have an Intolerance or Allergies the food range has increased, as the demand for the Intolerance/Allergy Friendly alternative increased.

​
Negatives:

• In terms of health, people who have been excluding a sugar like Gluten or Lactose when not needed, then they quite possibly have deficiencies due to restriction of certain food.
• The producers are slapping on ‘Free From’ stickers onto product that shouldn’t have such that Allergen in it in the first place, this is causing people to pay higher prices for essentially the same product.

 
My option-
As person who is restricted to eating non wheat/gluten, animal milks and lots of other foods due to a condition known as IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) I find the whole craze has benefited people with special dietary needs as there is more of an option for them in regards to food range.  However I suggest if you’re going to consume the ‘Free From’ range. Then get checked out either by a Registered Detrition or a Doctor to find out if they have an Intolerance/Allergy or have a condition restricting them from eating certain foods (E.G Diabetic or IBS). 
 
Stay tuned for next week’s blog post.  If you have any questions shoot me an email at: info@dpfitness.ie

 
I would like to welcome you to the blog post, today’s topic is Diet Sodas vs Full Sugar Soda which one is worse for you.
There is two sides of this good old debate, you’re completely against all sodas or completely for diet soda drinks…but for this I am going to briefly explain both under certain topics and then give my OWN OPINION. So sit back, relax and enjoy.
 
Firstly, let’s distinguish the main difference between both.
Regular Sodas – Drinks that are carbonated, high in sugars, high in calories & flavourings.
Diet Sodas – Drinks that are carbonated, low in sugars, low in calories, high in artificial sweeteners & flavourings.
 
The effect on body weight-
Regular Sodas – On average a can of Coca Cola contains 140 calories & 36g of Carbohydrate; all of which comes from sugar.  Drinking an average of one can a day has the potential to add an extra 14.6lbs to your bodyweight per year…while consuming just over 13kg of sugar from that single can of Coca Cola a day! [1].
 
Diet Sodas – A can of Diet Coca Cola contains 1 calorie, even though it is believed to be calorie free…companies can market any product as ‘calorie free’ once the product falls below 5 calories per serving.  That is why most ‘calorie free’ products on the market actually do have a very small amount of calories.  So in conclusion drinking one can a day will have an effect on your body a 100g effect on your weight to precise…but is that worth thinking about?  Nope absolutely not because that is such a minute change in weight it’s not worth being concerned over!
 
The effects on your health-
Regular Sodas – When a regular soda that is high in sugar is ingested our body…

• Within 20 minutes your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst…this tricks your liver into converting all sugars into fat.
• 40 minutes pass and the caffeine kicks in, your pupils become dilated, blood pressure rises and the liver begins to dump even more sugar into your bloodstream.
• In one single can of regular soda you can find 9+ teaspoons of sugar. Remember that can of Coca Cola from earlier well that has 36g or 9 teaspoons of sugar in it and according to the American Heart Association [2] that a recommended daily limit for both male and females is:
  • MALES:                        36 grams / 9 teaspoons
  • FEMALES:                    25 grams / 6 teaspoons.

So even a female having one can of Coca Cola you are getting 144% of your Recommended Daily Limit. That’s only if you consume one soda a day, not two or three….
 
Diet Sodas – When you consume a diet soda you don’t get the same response as consuming a regular soda. However you are indeed getting the following response:

• Sugar Cravings are met by non-caloric sweetener.
• There is no Insulin response due to Aspartame or other controversial artificial sweeteners not being able to cause said insulin spike [3].
• The Caramel Colouring that is present in most cola based products can cause discolour of the teeth (same response as Regular Soda).
• Only negative health effect of diet soda would be the poor dental health if consumed [4].

 
My Own Opinion-
In closing I am going to say that neither diet soda or regular soda is beneficial to your health, it’s a matter of which one is worse for you.  In my opinion one can of diet soda a day will not negatively effect your health but it will aid to reduce sugar cravings.  In my opinion choosing diet soda over regular soda will in itself have a knock on effect; if you drank one can of regular soda a day and switched it to one diet soda a day that the potential 14.6lbs weight gain that can come from that one can of regular soda a day will become non-existent and you will not have that potential of weight gain from liquid calories.
 
Refencees-
[1]        140cals(per can of Coca Cola) x 365 days of the year = 51100cals.
            51100 / 3500cals(1lbs of fat) = 14.6lbs or 6.63kg per year.
[2]  http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/HealthyEating/Nutrition/Sugar-101_UCM_306024_Article.jsp#.WXJL4YjyvIUA43
[3]        https://examine.com/nutrition/do-artificial-sweeteners-spike-insulin/
[4]        https://examine.com/topics/diet-soda/

​You’re probably looking at this post hoping to find some magical supplement that can get you ‘Beach Ready’…I am sorry that is not the case.  There is no magical pill or diet that will ‘shed body fat’. 
However there is a way to lose body fat and get beach ready; and that is called being in a CALORIE DEFICT.  Now what does that mean…well basically when it comes to calories you can be in three different states at any time of your fitness journey.

• Maintenance Calories:  having an equal balance of calories in versus calories out, taking in (eating) the same amount of calories on a daily basis as you are expending (burning).  RESULT: Your weight will stay the same and not change.

 

• Calorie Deficit:  having a higher calories out than calories in, taking in (eating) less calories than you are expending (burning) on a daily basis.  RESULT: Your weight will drop.  Depending on the size of the deficit will depend on the weight loss.

 

• Calorie Surplus:  having a higher calories in than calories out, taking in (eating) more calories than you are expending (burning) on a daily basis.  RESULT: Your weight will increase.  Depending on the size of the surplus will depend on the weight gain.

 
Depending on what your goal at that particular time would depend on what state you will be in.  You can only be in one at any given time…you can’t be borderline bulking/maintaining. 
So for this example we want to lose weight.  What we need to do is:

• Figure out maintenance calories (see old blog post).
• Figure out your time frame.
• Figure out how much you want to lose.
• Studies have shown that 1lbs of fat = 3500cals, so if your weekly weight loss goal is 1lbs than you have to be in a 3500 weekly calorie deficit to achieve that.
• So if your maintenance calories is 2000 calories your weekly maintenance calories would be (7(amount of day in a week) x 2000 = 14000 calories)…now to lose that 1 lbs a week we need to subtract (14000 calories – 3500(weekly calorie deficit) = 10500 calories)
• So from this we get our calories which we are expect cause 1lb of weight loss a week.
• So now to allocate your daily calorie intakes. You can just have the same calories every day (7 / 10500 = 1500 calories) …or…
• My recommendation for this would be to do it in regards to your lifestyle, if you eat out at the weekend with your partner or friends you want to save some extra calories for them days…no biggie my friend, it’s called flexible dieting for a reason.
• You could distribute your calories over 6 low days (1300cals) and one high day (2700cals) now that will give you the freedom to have a nice relatively satisfying meal.

 
BOOM you’re now dieting while enjoying some socialising, this is great isn’t it?
Stay tuned for next week’s blog post.  If you have any questions shoot me an email at: info@dpfitness.ie

We all get them cravings when we are on diet, cravings for sweet things, savoury things or just hungry in general. Well here is three tricks that I use when I am dieting to fight off those cravings.

1. Water. Our bodies are amazing machines, they can walk, run, jump, memories a whole course, throw weights around & even break bricks with our hands (Some people). However, one thing our body can’t do is distinguish if we’re hungry or thirsty. Our bodies send a signal to our brains saying oh we are hungry let’s go eat, however it also sends the same signal to say oh we are thirsty let’s have a glass of water. The mix up between both signals is beyond our control & our bodies. So therefor I recommend you having a glass of water if you feel that hungry feeling brewing in your stomach.
2. Decaf coffee. Coffee is an appetite suppressant so drinking a cup of coffee should suppress your hunger for a little while longer. But wait if I drink 5 cups of coffee a day won’t that be too much caffeine taken in for the day. Yes, it will be so there for I usually have one coffee in the morning and one after lunch/pre-workout. All the rest of the coffees I have throughout the day will be decaf, they have the same appetite suppressing effect but without the caffeine buzz.  
3. Treats. You must treat yourself, you only have one life and you must enjoy the small things. I personally allow myself one treat a day. By treats I mean something small not a whole dairy milk bar or packet of Tayto salt and vinegar (yes, I am a salt & vinegar man). When you’re tracking your macros (aka) calories you will learn how to manipulate it towards yourself. For example, just say you and your friend have a plan to go out for a slice of pizza or coffee and you know you’re going to get a bar of chocolate with it. Track that slice of pizza or bar of chocolate into your overall calories for the day and if that means one less spud or no rice with your dinner then so be it you must make sacrifices in order to make progress. You will just have to make up your mind and say is that slice of pizza worth it.

​Reading a nutrition label is important to know how to do as all the information on the macronutrients are there. Here is an example of a food label.

1. It’s important that you work your way down. Starting with the serving size, which in this case is 55grams.
2. Then from there you want to read what’s in each serving. Starting with the Calories Per Serving (230 cals).
3. Then you look at the first value and it has 8grams of Fat per serving.
4. Saturated Fat is 1gram which is fine as Saturated Fats aren’t bad for us.
5. Trans Fats is 0grams which is brilliant because this is the ‘bad fat’ which is man-made fats.
6. Cholesterol & Sodium are non-important in this circumstance.
7. Total Carbohydrates is at 37grams, with Dietary Fibre at 4grams & Sugars at 1gram.
8. Protein is at 3grams which is low but this food could be classed as a high carb food.
9. Calculate to make sure the information is correct.

(Total Carbs x 4) + (Total Protein x 4) + (Total Fats x 9) = Total Calories (230cals)
(37 x 4) + (3 x 4) + (8 x 9) = 232cals (230cals)
 
As you can see they tend to round it to the closest whole number. Now in all honesty 2 extra calories won’t cause to much notable damage but just be aware of this.
Pick up different food and read their nutritional label to see how accurate they are. Be conscious of what you put into your body.

What is Macros?
Macros or Macronutrients consist of 3 main categories. (1) Carbohydrates, (2) Protein, (3) Fats. These all have an energy value which is measured in calories. Carbohydrates or Carbs has 4 calories per 1 gram, Protein also has 4 calories per 1 gram. While Fats have 9 calories per 1 gram.
Our body needs an X amount of calories to function even before we get out of bed, this is even before getting up to make yourself a coffee. Then throughout the day our body burns off calories by doing physical activity, be it walking to the car, walking up the stairs, putting your spoon full of oats to your mouth. Any movement of your body burns off calories.
How do you figure out your macros, the most accurate way I find is by doing the following method.
GET READY FOR MATHS!!
Step 1:
Males:
                66 + (6.3 x body weight in lbs) + (12.9 x height in inchs) – (6.8 x age) = BMR
Females:
                655 + (4.3 x body weight in lbs) + (4.7 x height in inchs) – (4.7 x age) = BMR
Step 2:
Multiply your calculated BMR x a value from that best describes your activity level.
Office Job, inactive = 1.2
1-2 exercise = 1.3
3-5 days exercise = 1.4
6-7 days of exercise = 1.6
7+ training season a week and an active job = 1.7
BMR x Activity Level = Total Calories
Step 3:
Multiply 1.1 to your Total Calories and you get your Maintenance Calories.
 
Here is an example of my Maintenance Calories. 
Weight in lbs = 189.2lbs ; Height in inchs = 68” ; Age = 21.
66 + (6.3 x body weight in lbs) + (12.9 x height in inchs) – (6.8 x age) = BMR
Feeding information into the equation above.
                66 + (6.3 x 189.2) + (12.9 x 68) – (6.8 x 21) = 1992.36
I train 6 times a week with an active job(fitness instructor).
                BMR x Activity Level = Total Calories.
                1992.36 x 1.6 = 3187.776
Multiply your total calories by 1.1.
                Total Calories x 1.1 = Maintenance Calories.
                3187.776 x 1.1 = 3506 Calories.
 
Now this is an estimate so give it two weeks, weighing yourself in the morning after you went to the toilet, record it. If your weight on average each week stays the same then you have your baseline. From there you can increase or decrease calories depending on your goal. However if your weight doesn’t stay the same, if it goes up then you lower your maintenance by 100 calories and repeat the two weeks, or if your weight goes down then you increase the calories by 100 and repeat the two weeks.

I want to lose weight, but how?
Losing weight can be done by a simple way which is getting your diet on track, yes this is the slow way of doing it but if you allow time you will keep the weight off. As the longer the road is the more aware you become of how difficult the journey was, so you will think twice about having that extra piece of chocolate.
 
First thing is first,
(1) Make out a list of all the foods you like, from there you take out all the unhealthy foods such as ice cream or chocolate. You put them into a category called “Treats”, these are to be ate once a week. Then you start to make substitutes:

• vanilla ice cream = vanilla greek yogurt,
• chocolate = chocolate flavoured protein bar
• hazelnut latte from costa = black coffee with sugar free hazelnut syrup
• Can of fizzy drink = can of diet fizzy drink
• Pork Sausage = Turkey Sausages

You make the right food choices to make the diet sustainable.
(2) Never have treats lying around the house only buy them when its treat day.
(3) Plan out your meals, do a big shopping once a week, getting all your veg, fruits, carb sources, protein sources & fat sources.
(4) Don’t eat the same thing every day as you lose interest and want to cheat, keep your meals interesting but simple. Don’t just eat salads or rice & chicken.
(5) If you are feeling hungry and your next meal isn’t for a few hours, have a decaf coffee as it will supress the hunger while not giving you the caffeine buzz.
(6) Always be willing to change a recipe. If the cheese in your dish doesn’t fit into your macronutrients, then go for a low fat substitute, if that doesn’t fit then just don’t use cheese. Simple.
The weight loss journey is slow but stick at it and you will see results, slow and steady wins the race.