Quick tips for training shoulders

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James Layton Fitness

Quick tip for training shoulders.

Specifically the lateral raise.

Another point that came up at the Brad Schoenfeld event was a key training tip for the lateral raise.

This is an exercise I see performed incorrectly more than any other.

Firstly, I will state how people perform this exercise incorrectly before moving on to the correct way to perform the exercise.

Most people tend to bring their arms up straight, meaning their arms are perpendicular to their bodys.
If you quickly do this with your arm while simultaneously feeling the shoulder joint, you can tell it is actually the anterior deltoid (front deltoid) performing all of the work. This is obviously not our goal, as our purpose for the exercise is to stimulate the medial deltoid.

Secondly, people tend to keep their elbows locked out instead of a slight hinge. Naturally this causes people to lean back, placing the front deltoid directly under gravity even further.

Finally, most people keep their thumb higher than their little finger throughout the movement, meaning even more tension placed on the front deltoid.

Correct form- Firstly, I would recommend a very slight forward tilt, this immediately puts the medial deltoid directly under gravity. Secondly, you should have a very slight bend at the elbow joint. From this position, keeping your wrists in a fixed position, lead the movement from the elbows, bringing the elbows approximately to shoulder height, with your hands in front of you. Finally, your smallest finger shoulder be higher than your thumb at the top of the movement.

Imagine you have two cups of water in each hand and you are trying to pour the water out at the top of each repetition. At the top of the movement, by tilting the cups so that your smallest finger is higher than your thumb.

Obviously, water would be pouring out of the cups. This is a good mental cue to bear in mind.

The picture below is Alberto Nunez; in my opinion performing perfect form, I appreciate he is using plates rather than dumbbells, but the same form applies to both.

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20 takeaway points from the Brad Schoenfeld UK Seminar

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***My Top 20 takeaway points from the Brad Schoenfeld UK Seminar***


I was fortunate enough to go to the Brad Schoenfeld UK Seminar on Saturday, it was a Fantastic day and I learnt a lot. 
I would like to say a big thank you to Luke Johnson for organising the event. 

Here are some of my top “takeaway” points from the day. 


1- Squats don’t fully activate the hamstrings, neither does the stiff legged deadlift. The hamstring curl machine still has its place within any program.


2- “It depends.” My good friend Luke Johnson wrote an excellent piece yesterday regarding this point. I will quote an extract from the article.

“As Brad stated on numerous occasions when asked a question in the fitness field the answer 99.9% of the time always starts with ‘It Depends’
There is no one size that fits all, N = 1 is great for that person, the science reports the mean with a large variation between subjects.”

3- Some higher rep work does have its place, in moderation.


4- A program designed to properly maximise hypertrophy should take advantage of free weights, machines and cables. Don’t just reply on one tool, the positives of one are often the negatives of the other. Use all of them.


5- Calories do count….end if story!




6- Acute (short term) rises in cortisol is a normal response to training. Therefore, this will not impede recovery and growth.


7- Training programs designed to maximise certain natural hormones are based on zero science, or common sense. 


8- An individual who has used anabolic steroids in the past may still make better gains than a drug free natural, this is due to better Satellite signalling.


9- Lagging body parts can be improved by placing more volume/frequency to these body parts.


10- A lot of the studies regarding weight training tend to be performed on sedentary individuals with small sample sizes, performing training programs not relevant to the real world. This obviously has a number of limitations.


11- Concurrent training can be a big issue for those seeking to maximise hypertrophy. Excessive cardio up regulates AMPk (catabolic signalling) and down regulates mTOR (anabolic signalling). Be cautious with excessive cardio, especially excessive running if your goals are hypertrophy.


12- As a general rule: Males and females should train in a very similar way in the context of hypertrophy.


13- Anabolic steroid users can withstand greater volumes and frequency of training.


14- How much volume an individual can tolerate is a very individual thing.


15- A de-load should be either scheduled in at some time point or an auto regulation approach to de-loads should be used. Bottom line…. Use de-loads.


16- Hitting muscle groups multiple times per week is superior for hypertrophy.



17- The anabolic window of opportunity is much wider than people realise. Hitting daily calorie and macro nutrient targets is still top priority in the hierarchy of importance.


18- An insulin spike is not needed post workout, with the caveat a pre exercise meal has been consumed containing at least protein relatively close to the training bout.


19- The type of carbohydrate and timing is less important if your next training session is at least 24+ hours away, glycogen re-synthesis will take care of itself, with the caveat you meet your daily carbohydrate targets. If you are training twice per day within an 8 hour window, type and timing of carbohydrates become much more important.


20- Brad seemed a thoroughly nice guy and I’m sure along with everyone else at the event, enjoyed the day immensely. One thing I found interesting; despite Brad’s huge number of work commitments as a Professor as well as being in charge of many upcoming new studies, he still manages to read 50 research journal articles per week. 

There seems to be a correlation between the top individuals in the industry and their eagerness to constantly lean more and improve. This volume of reading is a common theme with other top practitioners I am fortunate to know personally. This is a habit I am constantly trying to improve upon.

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Top 5 ways to break through a fat loss plateau.

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Top 5 ways to break through a fat loss plateau.


A fat loss plateau is normal, your body’s goal is survival. Thus, homeostasis is it’s priority, essentially trying to keep you where you are.


1- Decrease caloric intake. It’s important to note, the starting point of any fat loss phase should be to consume as many calories as possible, whilst still losing fat. This will then allow better performance in the gym i.e greater poundage’s being used with weights. Thus, this allows better muscle retention.

The drop in calories should be as small as possible to start losing fat again, re-measure, then adjust caloric intake based on response.



2- Increase energy expenditure, i.e. increase training output. Once the foundation of a progressive resistance program is in place. Increasing energy expenditure through cardio can be a useful tool to break through a fat loss plateau.

I have discussed whether LISS or HIIT is better here http://www.jameslaytonfitness.co.uk/?p=403 , essentially it really depends on the context which format you use or, a combination of both.



3- Diet break- Lyle McDonald talks about this in his book “Flexible Dieting”, If I am honest, I am yet to really apply this concept with myself and my clients. The concept is sound, yet I think you need to decide whether to deploy this method on an individual basis. Some may see this as an opportunity to binge, this method would be useful depending on the client. Essentially, trying to determine whether they will abuse this or not.



4- Re-feeds. An extremely useful tool, especially for those who are very lean. I tend not to use this method with individuals with a considerable amount of fat to lose, a linear approach is much more superior. However, the further an individual heads into a diet this method can be very usual for a variety of reasons.


Firstly, as an individual gets leaner a hormone called leptin drops coupled with a decrease in metabolic rate. Short term overfeeding, predominantly in the form of carbohydrates can raise leptin levels along with your metabolic rate. Thus, returning to dieting calories again, this will usually mean more fat loss. The frequency and size of these re-feeds completely depends on the severity and duration of the energy deficit.



5- Reverse diet. This method is very useful for those who have been dieting on extremely low calories. Basically, those individuals with no where to go, there training volume is already high and calories are at an all time low. A reverse diet is essentially, raising calories slowly at a rate disproportionate to weight gain. Layne Norton calls this “metabolic capacity”, however, listening to Alan Aragon last year at the Alan Aragon UK Conference; it is more of an increase in NEAT (Non exercise activity thermogenesis).

As you reverse diet, the goal is to essentially bring your metabolic rate to a point, where you can then go into a energy deficit to try and lose fat again. This method basically means you put on hold your goals for fat loss, temporarily.

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Kraft Macaroni warning

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What’s considered the most respected newspaper in the world today published the Kraft warning label that a Food Babe reader found in the UK on an imported US box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. I want to thank the NY Times for investigating and broadcasting this label to the world and millions of Americans in their newspaper and online for everyone to see. This is a huge victory in food awareness!



Given all the media coverage since March, it is now becoming blatantly apparent that there are serious concerns with the ingredients in Kraft Mac & Cheese. Everyone who reads the NY Times today will see the 2 warnings:
Warning #1:

This Product May Cause Adverse Effects On Activity And Attention In Children (This warning label is required because The US version of Kraft Mac & Cheese has artificial food dyes yellow #5 and yellow #6 which are proven to be linked to hyperactivity in children.)


Warning #2:

GMO Declaration: Made from genetically modified wheat. (May contain GMO) (This warning label is required because the US version of Kraft Mac & Cheese contains GMOs.)


Kraft is backpedaling

There was quite a bit of speculation about this label last week. Many people on the internet questioned if it was real and where it came from. According to the report in the NY Times we can now conclude the following:
We know that Kraft does not label, distribute or export the US version of Mac & Cheese officially. (To echo my quote in The NY Times, I find it extremely bizarre that Kraft had no knowledge of their products being sold and widely available in one of the largest retailers in the world (Tesco) and are trying to pass this off as a black market supply.)
Kraft has confirmed they do not use GMO wheat. (However, no one to my knowledge has tested the product to verify this 100%, which is important considering the contamination of GMO wheat in Oregon. Kraft customer service confirmed use of other GMOs in their products.
Given all the public statements that Kraft has made to the media about this label so far – they have not attempted to refute one important fact – Their product “May Cause Adverse Effects On Activity And Attention In Children.” This is truth they can’t deny.
Tesco who sells the US version of Kraft Mac & Cheese in their “World Foods” section confirmed the label is placed on by the distributor – Innovative Bites.

The case is still not solved. THERE IS STILL A MAJOR QUESTION UNANSWERED. No one has been able to get in touch with distributor Innovative Bites (including me) to find out why they used the words “made with genetically modified wheat” on the label.


Lynne Galia, the spokeswoman I met at Kraft headquarters when I delivered thousands of signatures, has still not responded to me directly. She will not answer my emails or my phone calls. She will gladly talk to the NY Times and other news agencies, but not to me or the other 290,000 people I represent who signed a petition asking Kraft to remove artificial food dyes. I find it bizarre that Kraft wouldn’t genuinely want to answer basic questions about their product – especially after I posted this concerning information that could have health implications to millions of people and children.How can we continue to trust a company like Kraft that is more concerned about making greedy business decisions to keep their market share and paying their executives millions of more dollars year after year, while neglecting enormous public outcry regarding their flagship product?

How can we continue to trust a company that continues to not take responsibility for their product containing petroleum based dyes and GMOs? How can we continue to trust an American company that reformulates their products without harmful ingredients to our friends overseas but not to us?

How can we continue to trust a company that ignores 290,000 people and is scared to have a basic civilized conversation?
Petition
I want to leave you with a clarification note I received from Flo (who is definitely a hero for finding this label!) She would like to share her unedited thoughts about Kraft Mac & Cheese here:

“I’ve been eating Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for a long time now and have grown to enjoy the product, much like many others I’m sure. However with these recent discoveries of the yellow dyes and their effects as well as the GM wheat and GMOs, I’ve become very concerned. I have continued to eat Kraft macaroni and cheese in moderation knowing the effects it may have, however I’m certainly considering stopping if the ingredients aren’t changed. I’m worried about the long term effects it may have and really hope that Kraft can find a way to alter the ingredients, making them safer and healthier, without it having an effect on the taste of the product. Mainly, I’m concerned that children around the world may be eating this without knowing the effects it could have. Also, I would like to thank the New York Times for publishing the photo and not dismissing it as fake.”~ Flo Wrightson Cross

Brazil against Monsanto

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In Brazil, farmer-led court actions are piling up against Monsanto for collecting royalties on RR1 soybeans regarded as illegal and for conditioning the sale of new GM seed Intacta RR2 to the signing of a contract seen as abusive, according to an article for Valor Online (Brazil). Lawyers for the farmers and representative bodies estimate the value of the claims against Monsanto at 1.9 billion Brazilian real (about USD 1 billion). Processes have not been completed, but preliminary estimates say the claims may affect the company’s profits.

According to Orlando Julius Caesar, lawyer for the Sinop Rural Union, a settlement reached in a previous lawsuit against Monsanto has resulted in many farmers refusing to buy Monsanto’s seed. “Monsanto is trying to create market rules that do not exist for any other product,” he said.

Article in Portuguese from the Brazilian press: www.isebvmf.com.br/index.php

In October 2013 Judge Alex Nunes Figueiredo, of the Specialized Court for Civil Actions of Mato Grosso/Cuiaba, blocked Monsanto’s attempt to make Brazilian farmers sign restrictive agreements before they can gain access to the company’s new GM seed, RR2 Intacta soybeans.

The background to this story is that last year the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled that Monsanto had collected royalties from farmers illegally for its RR1 soybeans and that the company must refund the farmers.

Monsanto then reached a deal with Famato and other farmers’ unions. The deal was that farmers who wanted to plant RR2 Intacta soybeans would sign an agreement with Monsanto at point of purchase, waiving their rights to a refund of the illegally collected royalties.

Any farmer who signed the agreement would also be signing away other important rights. He would grant Monsanto the right to enter and inspect his property at any time. The farmer would be left completely vulnerable to ANY decisions the company might make, including royalty fee increases or having part of his harvest confiscated – and he would agree not to sue Monsanto at any time. At the same time, the company does not guarantee a yield increase from RR2 Intacta.

The farmer would also agree to “the declaration of principles that recognise the intellectual property rights on agricultural technologies”. This contravenes Brazilian seed law, which protects farmers’ rights to save seed and to use or sell the products of their own cultivation. In short, the agreement put Monsanto’s interests above Brazilian law and deprived farmers of their rights.

In the latest ruling on 11 October, Judge Figueiredo blocked Monsanto’s demands that farmers sign the agreement as a condition to buy RR2. The judge said that Monsanto is unfairly taking advantage of its favorable position in the market as the only technology provider of Intacta RR2, in forcing farmers to “to comply with clauses that are burdensome, if not illegal” as a condition of purchasing the product. In addition, the judge said that Monsanto’s agreement may contravene Brazilian consumer law.

Source: sustainablepulse.com
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bodybynaturesupplements Are all lambs reared organically?

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Are all lambs reared organically?

In the case of lamb, people sometimes say “..but surely, all lambs are naturally reared anyway, so what’s so special about organic ?”. Whilst lamb production is less intensive than say pig or poultry production, there are nevertheless some aspects of conventional lamb production which are not allowed on organic farms.



lamb & ewe at Graig Farm For example, in order to control external parasites, sheep must he dipped in an insecticide. It is now being realised that the most common conventional dips contain potentially dangerous chemicals (organo-phosphorus compounds), which have never been allowed to be used under organic regulations. If organic farmers have parasite problems in their sheep, they must use other chemicals which are safer, but unfortunately more expensive, than the organo-phosphates.

Internal parasitic worms are another headache for any sheep farmer. The conventional doctrine for control is to routinely dose the animals with drugs. The organic approach is to say that prevention is better than cure, and that proper rotation of pastures should enable the farmer to avoid re-infection of his sheep flock.

The consequence of the organic method of farming is often a drastic reduction of the number of sheep per acre, which together with more expensive external parasite control, means that to remain profitable, the organic farmer must receive a premium price for his lamb.



“At lambing time, the shepherd had to be with his flock all the time. This meant that he could not attend church on Sunday. So that this would be known on Judgement Day, he would be buried in his smock with a piece of wool between his fingers.”

Body by nature fitness tips via James Layton Fitness

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We find that James has some of the best advice and we publish these articles as often as we can. Please read here or go direct to his website or face book page.

James Layton Fitness

When can gaining muscle and losing fat simultaneously be achieved to any significant degree?


The question you should really be asking is whether or not you should try and achieve both goals together. The answer is no. You should focus on achieving one goal at a time. Yes, there are certain circumstances where this can happen; there are actually three main ones that come to the top of my mind.



The first one is when an individual is using drugs, androgen's e.g. testosterone taken endogenously. However, I am not an expert in this field. I also presume the majority of you reading this are is drug free. If you’re not, I am not going to judge you. You may likely gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously. The degree of the re-composition depends on a lot of factors, including the type of drug/drugs used and the dose of the drug/drugs used.



The second example is very overweight individuals. This appears to be a default response of losing fat and building muscle when they first start weight training; this won’t be any significant muscle gain I will have you know.



The final example is a trained individual who then stops training, then starts training again, will usually experience some sort of body re-composition to some degree. I have experienced this myself when I broke my ankle, I couldn’t train for 3 months. But when I returned I seemed to gain the muscle I previously had at a much quicker rate, as well as losing body fat simultaneously for a short period of time.



Unless you fall into any of the above categories, then no, it is unlikely you will build muscle and lose fat at the same time to any significant degree. Thus, you should focus on one goal at a time.

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Nutrient timing by James Layton Fitness

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James Layton Fitness

Alan Aragon discussing the misinterpretation of research regarding “nutrient timing”.


“Much of the existing sports nutrition research is done on endurance athletes. So a certain degree of extrapolation and assumption must be done by those attempting to apply the data to different activities.



Hierarchy of importance:


When speaking nutrition for improving body composition or athletic performance, it’s crucial to realise there’s an underlying hierarchy of importance. At the top of the hierarchy of effects is total amount of macronutrients by the end of the day. Below that- and I mean distantly below that- is the precise timing of those nutrients.


With very few exceptions (I.e. the intermittent fasting crowd), athletes and active individuals eat multiple times per day is spent in a postprandial (fed) rather than a post-absorption (fasted) state.
The vast majority of nutrient timing studies have been done on overnight-fasted subjects, which obviously limits the applicability of the studies’ conclusions.



Pre-exercise (and/or during-exercise) nutrient intake often has a lingering carry-over effect into the post- exercise period. Throughout the day, there’s a constant overlap of meal absorption. For this reason, nutrient timing is not a strategy that’s only effective if done with chronometer- like precision”. –Alan Aragon


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Great story to start 2014 Tissue warning

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*Tissue warning* 


As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. 
Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers. 



At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise. Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around.." His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle." His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken." Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class." 


By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper That he got from a grocery bag Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume.. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to." After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. 




Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets.." A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling* her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life. Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life. Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD. 

The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for* believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference." Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you." Warm someone's heart today. . . pass this along. Just try to make a difference in someone's life today? tomorrow? Just "do it". Random acts of kindness, I think they call it?