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

What drives you??

So the other day I got thinking about what drives people to succeed. It was a beautiful 30 degree day in Melbourne and I was at the local pool with my girlfriend and her family. Enjoying the sun for a few hours and we remembered that today was leg day!
Needless to say neither of us could be bothered leaving the pool on such a good day, and head to the hot gym and complete a grueling leg session.
However because we both have that drive to succeed and get things done, we left the pool and hit the gym.

As much as it sucked leaving the pool, the feeling after we left the gym was far greater...we knew that we had just done something that most people wouldn't even think of, and that we are going to be stronger tomorrow than when we woke up today!

For me it's quite simple nowadays, I know that these small sacrifices made each day are what will transform to success and greatness in my life.
It wasn't always like this though, back when I was new to all of this I would skip the gym on a nice day or when something better came up and just make up the session the following day.
Over time you learn that these skipped sessions eventually add up and are costing you! and the sooner you realize this the better.

Yeah some of you might think that I am over reacting to missing a single gym session, however I'm not just talking about one session. I'm talking about every time you are out doing something or a better offer comes up. It might not be every week that this happens, but over time you are robbing yourself of achieving the body of your dreams.
Adding to that, you're training regime should really be planned out so you know which days you are in the gym, training which muscle groups and which days are rest days for each week. When you do this, you are less inclined to miss a session because it will ruin the rest of your weeks schedule
Of course this all really depends on your commitment levels, if you're happy to just go to the gym whenever you feel like it and get average results, that is ok....it's still better than someone who doesn't go at all!

However if you are someone who is striving for greatness, it's these small decisions made each day, whether to turn up or not if it's a good day, you've got somewhere else you'd rather be, you're tired, you're not feeling the best and so on. By turning up on these days you are doing something most people don't do, and you're getting a jump on your competition.

Success is just about small decisions consistently made on a daily basis!

So guys let me know what drives you for success as I'm really interested to know.

Also I made a short video about this topic the other day after that leg session, check out my YouTube channel and be sure to subscribe :) 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxjAs04nuDW1I58jwlQaGhA

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And as I'm about to post this, it's an ever better day in Melbourne today. 37 degrees and today is REST day....BEACH HERE I COME!!!

Talk soon guys!

Why I love to train my body and push my limits...

Hey Guys,

So today I just want to write up on why I love weight training and pushing my body to it's limits.

It really isn't just about looking good at the beach or any superficial reason like that (although that is always a good bonus!).

Training your body and being serious about it, takes a lot of discipline, focus and patience, but by going through this it provides you with discipline, focus and patience in all aspects of your life, not just in the gym.

To successfully train your body into achieving great results, you must first train your mind to be mentally strong to push you through those days where you don't feel like hitting the gym, or those days at the gym where you're really struggling and want to just go home, even those last reps on each set where the pain is excruciating and all you want to do is drop the weights.
Pushing through on those days, and those last few reps, is what transforms you from average to great.

Anybody can go to the gym when they feel like it, and lift some weights until the pain starts then put it down.
It takes true determination and desire for success to actually turn up when you're tired or you don't feel too good. To push through those last reps when the muscle is burning so bad, but you know that this is where the growth comes from.
This is not for the weak minded.
This is hard, and that's why I love it..I mean if it was easy, the whole world would be walking around with amazing physiques right?

When you're in the gym, and you have giving it your all for the entire session, you get a release of endorphins that give you such a natural high, it would rival any chemical drug out there, and this natural high is as addictive as anything, and all you have to do to get it, is sweat for it.
You get this endorphins rush from a thing called 'the pump' (where your muscles are so inflated with blood and nutrients that you look pumped up) and if you've never experienced it, you don't know what you are missing...you've got to experience it!

Waking up the next morning after a killer gym session with DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is one of my favorite feelings. Yeah sure it can hurt sometimes, but it's not a bad pain, more of a satisfaction pain, because you know your body is about to grow and get stronger than it was yesterday.

Pushing beyond your comfort zone is the only way you grow in life, whether it's physically in the gym, mentally, emotionally etc. It is the corner stone of growth.

Yeah sometimes you may push your limits and fail...but if you never push yourself to your limits you will never know how far in life you can go...

Hip Flexors and why we should all be stretching them

Talking from experience here, I am telling you of the importance of stretching out your hip flexors on a regular basis.

Sitting down all day leaves the hips in the flexed state, which in turn will overtime lead to a shortened/tight hip flexor. Because as we know when a muscle is flexed or contracted it is shortening. Take the bicep muscle for example. When the elbow flexes the bicep muscle contracts and shortens, in turn bringing the forearm up closer to the shoulder.

The job of the hip flexor muscles is to flex the hip joint, which brings the leg up. Every step you take when walking is activating the hip flexors. When you are seated the leg is up, therefore the hip is in flexion.

A lot of people these days have jobs that require them to sit for long periods of the day, soon as they finish work they get into their car to drive home, which again puts them in the exact same position, and then the vast majority of the population will go home and sit on the couch and watch tv all night, again putting those hip flexors in that shortened state.

With these muscles in a shortened state for such long periods of time each day unless they are stretched out, muscle imbalances are going to eventually occur, leading to poor posture, injuries and/ or lower back pain.

Tight hip flexors will lead the glutes and hamstrings to become stretched and weak, and not used efficiently in functional movement. This then requires the quadriceps to take over the workload and do most of the work in basic movements like walking, standing, sitting etc. This will also then lead to tight quadriceps muscles.

Over time with the hip flexors and quadriceps being tight, and having weak glutes and hamstrings will cause the pelvis to tilt forward, creating an anterior pelvic tilt.

An anterior pelvic tilt is where the rear of the iliac crest (pelvis) sits noticeable higher than the front. Making it look like its sloping downwards, if looking from side on.

If this is left unattended it will lead to lower back pain in individuals due to the back extensors becoming so tight, and also creating lordosis in the lower spine, which is where the spine becomes over-arched.

Although this issue is much more common in sedentary people who do no physical activity, it can still affect people who are regularly active.

If you do have tight hip flexors you will notice it majorly affecting your squat performance as hip mobility is key for glute activation of the squat. With tight hip flexors it is highly likely that the deeper your squat goes, the further forward you will be leaning putting additional stress on the lower back. The more you lean forward during a squat motion the more it takes the work away from the glutes and slams the quads with having to do the majority of the work.

If you have noticed you may have this issue the good news is that its muscular related and fairly easy to correct, with some basic stretching exercises of the tight muscles, and strengthening exercises of the tight/weak muscles to bring that even balance back.

The muscles that are going to be tight and require stretching and foam rolling are the hip flexors, mainly the psoas, quadriceps and the back extensors.

The muscles that will require some strengthening will be the glutes, hamstrings and the abdominal muscles.

If you would like more information on this issues, or techniques in correcting these muscle imbalances shoot me an email at: dan@danwhitehandfitness.com