You’re not overweight, so you must be healthy, right?

You’re not overweight, so you must be healthy, right?

While it is ideal to be within your “healthy” weight range, this doesn’t always guarantee perfect health.

It is a common misconception that the only people who are unhealthy are those who are overweight or underweight.

And while yes, it is true that being overweight or underweight can lead to serious health concerns, these are not the only 2 categories that can be subjected to health concerns.

People who are in the “healthy” range on the scales are often very unhealthy without even knowing it.

So what does this come down to?

Fat.

I bet you’re saying, but I don’t look fat, so how could I possibly have any fat affecting my health?

Something that many people don’t know is that there are 2 types of fat that get stored in our bodies.

Subcutaneous fat and Visceral fat.

Subcutaneous fat is the common fat that we all know, which makes us overweight. This type of fat is stored between the skin and muscle tissue, making it noticeable when someone is carrying excess amounts of this fat as it jiggles, has dimples and caused cellulite.

Of course, this type of fat should be kept within reasonable levels to avoid health concerns. However, of the 2 fats types this is the more desirable physiologically, even though it is unsightly for those who are concerned about their appearance. 

The real danger is a type of fat that comes from eating a highly processed, refined diet and a lack of physical exercise.

Visceral fat is found deeper within the body under your abdominal muscles and surrounding vital organs such as the liver, kidneys, pancreas and intestines.

This visceral fat can cause inflammation around these vital organs and can lead to major health concerns including:

·       Heart Disease

·       Type 2 Diabetes

·       High Blood Pressure

·       Stroke

·       High Cholesterol

·       Coronary Heart Disease

·       Certain Cancers

·       Metabolic Syndrome

·       And many more

So, what causes visceral fat?

Genetics do play a small role in the amount of visceral fat someone carries, although, the primary factor here is poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

Foods high in trans-fat would probably be the largest contributor to this, so things like, fried fast foods, burgers, hot dogs, bakery items (pies, sausage rolls etc.), potato chips, packaged foods, margarines.

Excessive amounts of fructose, so items such as, soft drinks, energy drinks, table sugar, high fructose corn syrup. One exception to this is natural fruit which does contain high levels of fructose, but due to the high fibre and other nutrients found in fruit it diminishes the absorption of fructose.

Another contributing factor to visceral fat accumulation is your level of physical activity.

If you are consuming large amounts of calories every day and are doing little to no physical activity, it is highly likely that you are going to have high levels of visceral fat. If this is the case I would recommend getting it checked out.

So now that you know what visceral fat is, and what causes it, how do you go about reducing the amount you are carrying?

The method is basically the same as reducing subcutaneous fat. Reduce your daily calories (although not to extreme levels), and more importantly make wiser nutrition choices.

Consume plenty of fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean proteins.

Keep any processed foods to an absolute minimum.

Along with improving your diet, regular exercise will also help reduce levels of visceral fat, incorporate both cardio and resistance training into your workouts.

Reducing stress levels and getting plenty of sleep each night are important factors also, as high levels of stress and lack of sleep increase cortisol in the body which can directly induce weight gain.

Hopefully this information will be useful to you and help you make healthier choices.

If you feel you need some help with training or nutrition, please get in contact with me, as I have a range of online training packages available as well as a Black Book of Nutrition that I have written.

You can find me at:

Web: https://www.danwhitehandfitness.com

Email: danwhitehandfitness@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danwhitehandfitness

Instagram: @danwhitehand_fitness

Tempo Training

What is Tempo Training?

Tempo is also known as time under tension, and it is a very important aspect of weight training and far too often an aspect that is ignored in place of lifting as much weight as possible…often to impress others.

When lifting weights, the movement should always be done in a smooth and controlled manner without the use of momentum. This is vitally important in the results that you will see with your physique.

So, what exactly is tempo training?

Tempo is completing each rep in a controlled manner to a set time counted in your head, rather than just completing the rep as quickly as possible.

There are 4 numbers that make up the tempo of an exercise.

An example is 3:0:1:0

The first number is always the eccentric phase of a lift, which would be lowering the bar to your chest in a bench press.

Count 3 seconds in your head to lower the bar down. The second number is if there is a pause at the bottom, which in this case it is 0.

The third number is the concentric phase, which is pressing the bar from the chest back to top position, so in this case it’s a 1 second concentric phase.

The fourth number is if there is a pause at the top of the lift before beginning the next rep.

Another example is 4:1:2:1

Here we are doing a 4 second eccentric phase, pausing at the bottom for 1 second, followed by a 2 second concentric phase and pausing at the top for 1 second before beginning the next rep.

As you can see by this example 1 rep will take you 8 seconds which over the course of the set is going to let to enormous time under tension for the working muscles.

If you can complete 8 repetitions at 8 seconds each, that will take your working set to over a minute!

If you are looking to increase your lean muscle mass it is important to put most emphasis on the eccentric phase of each exercise, as this has been shown to increase the microscopic tears in muscle fibres, which is required for muscles to grow bigger and stronger.

Because these sets are going to be so long in duration, you are going to need to select a lighter weight than you would normally do, which can be ego deflating, but trust me it’s muscle inflating.

But when I say a lighter weight it still needs to feel as though you couldn’t possibly do another rep by the end of your set.

This style of training should be part of a weight training program; however, it is important not to let your body adapt to what you are doing. This means varying the tempo ratios, or even switching up between more traditional strength training and hypertrophy training.

So, next time you’re looking to change up your training plan give this a go, and enjoy some of the great benefits listed below!

• Improved development of connective tissue
• Improved body awareness and control
• Improved motor control of the lifts
• Improved stability
• Spice up your training
• Increase in lean muscle mass
• Decrease in body fat

If you’re in need of some help with your training or nutrition, get in touch with me at:

danwhitehandfitness@gmail.com

https://www.danwhitehandfitness.com/contact-us.html

or on the socials

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