REVIEW: Vegan Kefir

By Pete Ryan

I found this in a local Holland and Barrett. Rhythm is a vegan kefir drink.  Kefir is made by fermenting using a yeast/bacteria blend that live in a symbiotic relationship.  If you have followed my blogposts for any length of time you have seen that I am a fan of fermented products.  Humans are fermentation based lifeforms in many ways.  The bacteria that are part of us are constantly fermenting and fermentation is a natural state for humans to exist in. Obviously sometimes things get 'out of whack' unwanted types of bacteria and yeast invade our bodies and upset our natural balance.  One of the goals of ingesting fermented products is to aid the body in reaching ideal levels of health and vigour. You have choices of foods like unpasteurised sauerkraut, natto, plant-based live yoghurts and several others, you can also take probiotic pills, but ideally a combination based upon your health and needs will determine the best option at that time.
So, on with this review each little bottle has about 15 billion friendly bacterial friends for you to meet.  Obviously these are live you do not heat your kefir.  I simply drank the contents.  Both were pretty good.  The plain one tasted like coconut, it was quite nice, the coconut, mango and passion fruit was very fruity and had an especially nice flavour I enjoyed a lot. I think out of the two bottles I preferred the fruit one, however sometimes I don't feel that 'fruity' and having the plain option is good for times like that.
The main differences between the two nutritionally is that the pure coconut has a hint more fat and the fruity one has more carbs, so buy the one that fits your goals he best
Nutritionally (per 100g - each bottle is 126g):

Plain coconut kefir
Fat 2g
Carbs 2.8g
Protein 0.8g

Coconut, mango and passionfruit
Fat 1.3g
Carbs 8.8g
Protein 0.8g

I will certainly be buying them again and if you are looking to introduce a natural source of probiotic into your life then consider adding these to your diet.

You can get more details about these products from https://www.rhythmhealth.co.uk/

Go to Gorilla Gym for all your online training and nutrition needs

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Creative Nature - Sublime Seed bar

These bars contain cold-pressed seeds & hemp protein. I picked up a couple at the London Vegfest to try out.
The nutritional details per bar are:
170Kcal
6.5g protein
16.7g carbs (11.2 is sugar)
9.7g of fat (1.4g saturates)

There is also some fibre & some sodium in there.

This bar may not fit everyone's macro-nutrient profile, especially bodybuilders at certain times of the season, but for most other athletes it is a reasonable fit as part of a snack (or a whole snack for a smaller athlete).  If you are looking for a 'sweet treat' then this isn't the bar for you. If you enjoy a more savoury, nutty taste, then I think you will like this bar a lot. Personally I prefer a less sweet bar, so it worked well for me.  Also, I found it more satiating than the 170Kcal suggests, so it might actually work in a diet situation as I'm guessing the fat & fibre keep it in the stomach longer than that small amount of calories would normally stay there & so it keeps you from getting hungry too quickly, it does this this without making you feel 'full' in a bloaty, slow way, so it could be useful to eat one (or two if you are a larger, or hungrier, athlete).
The bar had a quite moist, dense feel to it that made you think you were eating something fairly substantial, I think the mouth texture may have helped with feeling of satiation.
Generally I'd recommend the bar if you like a nutty tasting bar that isn't too sweet. One may be a little small for the bigger athlete as a stand alone snack, but as part of a snack it is easy to carry & great in an emergency.
You can find out more about creative nature here they have several other flavours of bar available & I will be giving them a go when I get the chance.
I do recommend you give them a try though.

REVIEW: American Weightlifting DVD

I just got this disc through the post yesterday.  It's the new video by Greg Everett looking at weightlifting in the US today.  If you are into weightlifting, you will know that the US is not a great weightlifting nation, but it does dominate the media in terms of reporting weightlifting.  It is the names of the Americans that most us actually know in the English speaking world.  This DVD is more of a retrospective look at the sport than I expected, it had mostly the older guys in the sport & not so much the newer people, which was fine as it helps give us some idea of where these newer people actually came from & the possibly the reasons why the US is going through something of a revival in weightlifting at the moment.  One of the best things I noticed about the DVD was the use of females of all weight classes.  It seems in society today that it is ok for the strongest guys to be bigger guys, but for some reason woman are supposed to lift big & yet be totally skinny?  Well, I do have news for you, to lift the biggest weight you are going to be big!  You will have a belly, you will not be lean, you need what could be called "functional fat".  To be honest I'm not sure the science is totally understood, but it is a fact that mass moves mass & you will never be the strongest, most powerful person without some fat.  If you are in a lighter weight class, then yes you can do well as a super lean lifting athlete, but as a super-heavy you will carry some fat to be the best whether you are male or female.  So, it was great showing that a female carrying more fat is a true athlete & to be honest my max was almost certainly her warm-up weight.

It's great to see someone other than a super-thin female lifter represented in a movie

This wasn't a movie for you if you have no interest in weightlifting.  It is not a 'how to' guide, it is simply a look at weightlifting in the US today, where it came from & where it is going in the future.  It showed youngsters lifting, a few teams lifting, if you looked it showed that if you wanted to try the sport then you should be prepared to fail as often (or more often) than you succeed, that you will be stuck at a weight for weeks, maybe months at a time & that you will never master the sport.  It is probably one of the least rewarding sports in terms of monetary or results as a lot of the time it will cost you money to do, it will take you years to actually get reasonable & then once you get beyond that every Kg will be a battle.  On the up side, every Kg you add is like a real victory, every contest you meet up with great people & there is something very unique in the lifts that cannot be found by doing curls or dumbbell kickbacks (not that I have problem with either of those exercises, but trust me when I say it is not the same as throwing a weight over your head & catching it).  For those who try it, you will either like it or you won't; for those that do like it, then this DVD is for you, for those who don't then maybe 'pumping iron' or the Ed Coan powerlifting DVD might be a better choice depending on the sort of lifting you enjoy?  I enjoyed it a lot, so hopefully some of you will as well.

REVIEW: Curry & cobnuts

This is a mixed bag of stuff today.  First off Curry!
Panjaban curry

I found these curry sauces at the London Vegfest.  The Naga was the hottest (I believe), but I also bought several milder versions to test out.  I never normally like bought curry sauces as much as those made from scratch, but these were actually pretty good.  They may not be perfect for some people on a very low calorie cutting phase, but at the moment I'm jumping up a weight class, so getting enough calories is my main issue.  If you are on an average calorie intake these will be an good choice if you want to knock out a curry at speed.  I tried four of the flavours & everyone I tried was pretty good (obviously it depends a couple are quite hot, so be aware of the hotness before buying).  I'd give them a thumbs up :-).
You can find out more about these curries by clicking here

Cobnuts

I'm not sure if you can even get these in other countries, but in the UK, for a few weeks in Autumn, you can find the elusive cobnut.  Cobnuts are a type of hazelnut.  They are grown in Kent as far as I know & that may be the only place for all I know?
These do not taste like hazelnuts.  They have a shell you can bite open (assuming your teeth are reasonable).  My method is to peel off the outside leafy cover, crunch the shell open with my teeth & then tuck into fresh cobnut! As you only get a few weeks to enjoy them, it's a brief fab treat as you have 12 months before you can get them again.
Here we go a brief cobnut background (thanks Mr Google!!!) seems there are only about 700 acres of cobnuts in the whole of the UK! I'm guessing calorie-wise they are about the same as other hazelnuts?
I think they are a super cool nut, so I thought you'd be interested.

Now all we need is for someone to invent a cobnut curry :-)

REVIEW: Vegvit, vitashine tablets

Recently I have been trying out the new vegvit & the new vitamin D3 tablets from vitashine. Before we look at each of these separately I would like to point out that neither vitamin D, nor a multi will give you a "I took this & gained 20 pounds" or "I took this & it made the me a beast when I worked out".  A basic multi is kind of like an insurance, you should be eating everything you need to get all the nutrients, but just in case a multi will cover any you might inadvertently miss out. This is especially true for those who are dieting down as lower calories means less chances to get everything you need.  The same is true with vitamin D, you may not be getting enough, but for different reasons we'll look at below, but first let's look at vegvit.

Vegvit

Vegvit is the new multi from the makers of vitashine & opti3 vitamin D3 & DHA/EPA pills.  This is their first go at a multi so I was interested to see what they could come up with.
My first look is quite encouraging, they have pretty much everything in it you'd want, they do not mega-dose (more is not always better) & they have a nice mix of less common things added as well (like superfood extracts etc).  Also a lot of the minerals are in the form of chelates & so are absorbed more easily than other commonly used (cheaper) ingredients.
I did find a couple of interesting points that I have asked for clarification about.  The first is that in the ingredients it says "Vitamin A (as beta-carotene & vit A conc)".  I have not heard of a vegan vitamin A (Retinol) being available?  This could be just a brand name for a proprietary carotenoid blend or similar, but I have asked about it.  I liked the inclusion of the plant extracts, that is unusual in a multi pill & I thought it was a nice touch.
The only thing you may consider 'missing' from this pill is the inclusion of a vitamin K2.  There is vitamin K1.  I know that the need has not been 100% proven, but I personally believe that it is a useful addition to the diet (either through supplements or through the inclusion of fermented foods).  It would have been perfect if it had included that (I don't think there is a multi that includes it, so it is not exactly lacking in that department, it would have been nice though) - for more on K2 check out this blogpost.
So, I'd say the pill gets 99 out of 100 as it doesn't mega-dose & has a nice mixture of vitamins, mineral & natural plant extracts.

Vitashine 1,000 & 2,500IU tablets

I'm guessing that many of you have tried out the 5,000IU vitashine capsules or the spray.  They have now expanded the range to include a 1,000IU & 2,500IU solid tablet.  Unlike a multi, you do not generally get vitamin D in plant foods (unless they are fortified).
The ideal is to get vitamin D from the sun, unfortunately, many of us work indoors & only have limited times of during the year when it is possible to synthesis vitamin D.  I have seen studies that have shown that as many as 50% or more of the population of western societies may have sub-optimal vitamin D levels!  How does that affect you?  Well, if you are a strength athlete then vitamin D can also be classed as a hormone & levels have been shown to affect strength, so if you are chronically low, then your strength may be being held back by low levels.  Also bone & teeth strength are linked to vitamin D, so adapting to a new load could be slowed if the bones are not adjusting to increased loads as quickly as they should (bones & ligaments are the slowest to adapt to changes, so they could possibly hold you back at times).  There are dozens of ways that vitamin D may affect training from immune function to strength output (in some studies), so if you are serious about strength you will make sure your vitamin D is at an adequate level.
Other factors you might like is that the tablets taste like sweets!  They are very tasty, so I would rate them for that.  If you have a sweet tooth, it could even help take off that edge?  I'm not really a 'sweet' person in general, so I'm guessing, but I thought it was worth mentioning.  The good thing is that you now have loads of options.  You can go for the spray, the 1,000IU pill, the 2,500IU pill or the 5,000IU capsule, so you have a load of choices.  Personally I will probably stick to the 5,000IU during the winter, so my levels stay high, but during the summer I may drop down to the 1,000IU or 2,500IU (depending on how the summer is going).  A lot will depend on where you live, how much you can get outside & your skin colour when deciding which might be the best vitamin D for you.  The darker your skin, the less time you spend in the sun & the further north (or south in the southern hemisphere) you are will mean the more you ought to consider taking.  So, there isn't an easy answer about intake.  If you have any concerns you can get tested for vitamin D as it is a fairly common test available now, for more on vitamin D take a look at this post on the subject.  I rate vitamin D as pretty vital for anyone not getting out into the sun on a very regular basis (& for those in the far north or south even that does not increase levels), so I consider this a absolutely vital supplement for me!

Where to buy
You can get vegvit pills here
You can get vitashine vegan vitamin D3 here
As a side note they do also make a DHA/EPA pill that you can get here

REVIEW: Veganicity Digestive aids

Many of us into training eat...I mean eat a LOT!  If you are bulking or trying to hold onto a weight above what would be normal sometimes cramming down chow can be harder than training.  One downside of this eating style can be digestive issues.  Not major, but sometimes eating for mass can cause a little bloating or discomfort.  This is down to cramming in so much, so often.  I know some will argue just eat less, but if you are trying to grow beyond what nature intended then eating to extreme is the only option.  Other people may not eat so much, but have issues with digestion.  Both of these people may benefit from digest enzymes & probiotics.

With all this in mind I was looking into digestive enzymes & probiotics by veganicity (a vegan supplement maker).  For full disclosure I did get the three products above for free to try (one of each) ...but I have since reordered as I found them pretty useful.  I'll cover them all below.

Digest-ase digestive enzyme

This product supplies enzymes that aid the breakdown of the macronutrients.  So, in simple terms these ingredients aid carbs breaking down into glucose, proteins breaking down into amino acids & breaking fats into small enough globules to be assimilated.  One thing that will be useless to any vegan in this product is the inclusion of lactase, the enzyme that helps break down lactose (milk sugar), but that is standard for all digestive enzymes (basically baby enzymes you had to digest your mothers milk).  That is the one thing I found 'negative' about this product from a vegan point of view (obviously the product itself is completely vegan!).  Unlike many digestive enzymes this one contains some probiotics as well as the usual enzymes, it also tastes fantastic.  I wouldn't be lying if I said this is possibly the best tasting supplement pill I've ever tasted!  If you like peppermint, then you will love this product, it tastes awesome (to me, bear in mind that your taste-buds may be different to mine).  It did also seem to make digestion easier when going for that 'gut buster' meal (obviously placebo might have had an effect, if you believe something will make things better, then things can appear better, I can only say that for me things seemed better taking them when I eat heavily).  So, yes, I am adding these to my diet.  If I'm gaining then I need to eat a lot, so would want to use them & if I was dieting I would want to get the maximum nutrition from the diet & so again it would make sense to include them (also these are like little treats they taste so good!).

Next up we have Megadophilus & Multi Probiotic both are probiotics,

I have written about these together as they are both related products Megadophilus is acidophilus & Multi Probiotic is a group of different probiotics.  Personally I am going to use Multi Probiotic as you get a selection of different friendly bacteria.  Here is a weird fact, there are actually more bacteria cells in you than human cells.  That's right, if you were being classified by an alien, would you be classed as a being inhabited by bacteria or a bacteria colony with a slight mammal involvement - infact it is commonly believed that there are 10 times as many bacteria cells than human cells within & on the surface of the average person (see wiki for some details), so you can see bacteria are pretty important to the human condition, in fact without your bacteria allies you would soon die!
The main issue with taking any bacteria supplement is a lot die going through the acid environment of the stomach.  There are a few ways to get around this.  One way is to include a glucose containing food in the diet as glucose seems to increase bacteria survivability in stomach transit (see here for study), so you could eat a meal (which usually has some glucose in it), or even add glucose if you prefer.  Bear in mind that it is possible that ALL bacteria survive the transit of the stomach better, so as well as friendly, you could get less friendly bacteria making it across this defensive barrier.  There is another option.  Most of the bacteria in the gut lives in the large intestine, so theoretically you can approach the adding of probiotics from the 'other end', so to speak. I have used this method when I have had very bad digestive issues in the past & it does seem to work...but there is no proof that I have so far found that shows that adding probiotics from the 'rear end' actually allows the bacteria to escape the anus.  My method has been to use those disposable gloves, puncture a capsule with a pin many times, then using coconut oil as a lube use the finger to slip it up there after you have defecated (so it has many hours to breed & spread).  As I said I have tried this out, but as far as I know there is no science to back it up, you may just be wasting a pill, but it does seem to work at firming up stools when that is an issue & generally getting you back to normal, regularity.  The main advantage I can see to the acidophilus is that is seems better suited to stomach survival being more acid resistant than some of the other strains & so more may survive.  You may want to consider taking a probiotic if you have recently ended a course of antibiotics (as these kill a lot of your gut bacteria & leave you open to attack from yeast or other unfriendly bacteria), if you suffer from yeast infections as bacteria is the natural enemy of yeast, if you have any mild occasional tummy issues (any serious or ongoing stomach issues go & see a health care specialist).  As I said my choice would be the Multi Probiotic.  Keep these in the refrigerator as they are a live bacteria.

Last bit on probiotics is I have heard of an ongoing study focussing on taking probiotics & cancer reduction - this study will take many years as people are being asked to take probiotics daily (orally), so the results won't be known for many years yet, but that will be interesting if there is a link between gut bacteria & cancer.

Final points

I think that the digestive enzymes are going to become a regular in my diet.  I won't go crazy & carry them about with me (unless I'm on some crazy bulk type eating pattern), but when I'm indoors these are going to become a regular.  The probiotics I didn't notice such an obvious effect (unless I get stomach issues then I have used them in the past with noticeable effect).  I don't think they will become a staple quite as much as the digestive enzymes, but they will be fairly frequent visitors.  I'll stick with the Multi Probiotic mostly I think.  The digest-ase has some probiotics in, so going for a while just using those probably won't lose you anything.  If I had something like IBS or similar I'd certainly consider hitting both the digestive enzymes & probiotics very hard (I'd also go & see a nutritional advisor see about getting some allergy testing done, also some stress management etc), it might be the first stage in a recovery plan.
Anyway, obviously veganicity are a vegan company, so if you can support them do. They also come along to many of the big vegan events around the UK & are great guys so check them out & give them your money if your after guaranteed vegan supplements.

You can check out Veganicity here

Affiliates, referrals & integrity

WARNING: this is a rant post alert, it is an opinion piece about the state of the web-based side of our industry.  You have been warned :-)

This is a personal post.  I am not 'having a pop' at anyone else, but I have been asked a few times about the products & stuff that are put up as adverts & reviews on the various VBB sites.  I have a personal view about affiliate programs, this is not 'the right' answer, it is an opinion.  I believe referrals should be earned, not bought. I do not use affiliate links, I have endorsed products that have sent affiliate links, but I try to always remove the affiliate link.  Every product mentioned on here & on the other VBB sites are actually used by me &/or VBB members, or the product is created by a vegan athlete, bodybuilder or similar so might be of interest.
All the adverts on all the sites are again not done for cash, they are products members support.  We make no cash for adverts.
To honour full disclosure there are two 'kind of' exceptions to this rule.  The first is that on occasion a company will send out a product to test for free.  We're happy to try it out, but we always state we will only give honest reviews, if we don't like it we'll not put up stuff we don't feel about a product.  The second way is we do put up adverts for companies that sponsor our events.  This sponsorship is not in cash, but in the products they make & the companies we approach are chosen because members have used their products & find them useful, all of their product goes to people entering our contests, not to people within VBB.
So, the point is every product we review on this blog & on every site we run is actually a genuine referral, in the old school way, we get nothing for putting up something about a product & they have certainly been used, read or watched before reviews are written.  We do not use affiliate links & we do not make profit from adverts.  All the stuff written about reflect our honest thoughts, as we gain literally nothing by lying!
One thing that annoys me on websites, is you read a bit that sounds interesting, you are then told "To read more click here..." & it's an affiliate link to buy a product.  Often this is not made explicit at the start of the article, blog post etc.  We will NEVER do that!  I do not believe you need to do that, it is irritating to me & I tend to think, these people do not care about the product, they are just doing the affiliate thing & making cash - so probably the product is worthless.  It is sad when you are forced to these cynical conclusions, but I have bought too many of these affiliate-type products, they often turn out being a waste of cash, they are basically a blogpost, that has been expanded with puffery into a book, or a youtube clip expanded into a video.
The thing to look for in a review is that when they reach the part with the link see if there is a bit at the end (usually with the word 'hop' in there somewhere amongst the jumble of letters & numbers), this is an affiliate link, sometimes affiliates can get over 50% of the sale cost of a book!  Think about that, an affiliate can be getting more from the sale of that book than the author, just for putting a link on their website!  How good can that book REALLY be?  I tell you that sucks!   I want to see referrals done the old-fashioned way - you looked at a product, it was good, so you recommend it.  That's how we do it here, why not elsewhere?
So, I do thank everyone who has written (even the odd one's who have written suggesting we might be cashing in putting up these reviews...sorry guys, we aren't making a penny on those reviews, all read, watched or taken & then written about for nothing).  You may not agree with our reviews & we're fine about that, we are like you; students in the art of training & nutrition.  Like you we are learning & sharing what we've learnt, so it may not apply the same to you, if so let us know in the comments section of the article you have found an issue with, that way we can all learn a bit more & grow together towards being better coaches, trainers, lifters or athletes.
Sorry about the rant...but one too many emails asking the same thing...now I can refer them here...Yes, I do endorse this post 100% I recommend you read it :-) hee hee.

REVIEW: Nuique DHA/EPA pills

The brand new algae-based DHA/EPA pill on the market is from Nuique.  But before I get into that lets talk about DHA/EPA in general terms.  DHA & EPA are the oils that gained fame through fish oil products.  You can actually create DHA & EPA yourself from oils found in walnuts, flax seed (linseed), hemp seeds or chia seeds.  I suspect a lot of you are taking at least one of these regularly so why do you need a DHA/EPA pill at all if you can make it yourself?
For those in training (whether for health, competition, muscle gain or fat-loss) it is a matter of getting 'optimal' amounts.  Everything from gut health, stress, enzyme limitations & even activity levels can affect the transition of the omega 3 fatty acid ALA into DHA or EPA.  These fats are actually vital to health & for anyone in training you could think of these fats as great for repair & creation of cells, for maximising hormones & they are also used by the brain for nerve repair & synapse function.
Assuming you eat something like walnuts, flax seeds or hemp you probably won't become deficient in DHA/EPA, but you may not reach optimal levels, so you may be training your butt off, resting enough, cutting down on stress, but still not getting all the gains you are after.  Having enough DHA/EPA also seems to affect fat storage this is because when you are short the body switches up fat storage to try & grab every ounce of omega-3 fatty acids it can find & any other fat is just stored away as a by-product of that process, so if fat-loss is a goal you could be short changing yourself by not taking DHA/EPA pill.
So, with that in mind I prefer everyone I train to be taking DHA/EPA whatever their goal is, unless they a specific issue like excessive bleeding or similar as DHA/EPA can thin the blood, so consult your doctor before starting this supplement if that is the case.
Now you have some idea why you may want to take a DHA/EPA pill, but why take an algae-based pill as there are so many fish-based ones out there?  Well, first of all there is the obvious ethical issue.  Fish are animals, so avoiding killing them for a pill is always a good idea!  Secondly fish actually get the DHA/EPA from algae in the first place, but whereas algae are at the bottom of the food chain, krill & fish are both much higher up that chain & so toxins can build up in fats the higher up the food chain it goes, so whereas DHA/EPA from algae is ultra pure & free from virtually all contamination, you cannot guarantee the same sort of purity in any of the krill or fish based oils out there, so getting an algae-based oil makes total sense whatever dietary choice you make.  Finally you have to remember that DHA/EPA makes up only some parts of krill or fish oil which also contains saturated fats & other non-vital fats in their make-up & so some of the product is just extra fat in your diet.
There are several brands of algae-based DHA/EPA on the market right now, so let's look at the differences.  Most of the pills have around the same amount of DHA & EPA in them, but a couple of advantages with the Nuique brand are:
1/  They contain nothing but DHA & EPA - no other oils are added to bulk the product, so you get zero unnecessary added fat in your diet, you only get the Essential Fatty Acids you are after with nothing added, nothing taken away.  Some of the other brands have things like added omega-6 fatty acids, which are an essential fatty also, but everyone easily gets enough of them already.

2/ The second point relates to the first.  Due to the pills being only filled with DHA & EPA, with nothing else, they are also the smallest & easiest pills to swallow in this class that I have seen, so if you have any issues swallowing pills, then this could be vital to you.  I must admit I did a test of biting one open & it did kind of taste of the sea, that is about the best description I can give.  It was not horrible by any means, so if you really cannot swallow any pill then you can always pop it & either squeeze it into your mouth, add to a shake or similar.

Taking DHA/EPA could help achy joints, could help brain function, could help the immune system & could  help cells repair or replace as necessary.  Any one of these reasons should be enough for a person to consider adding this supplement to their list of regularly taken.  Adding a couple of pills costs pennies & could save a person so much that it hardly seems worth considering 'not' doing it!  So, if you are looking for a pill that contains only DHA & EPA & doesn't contain any fillers or other products you may not want, then this should product should definitely be one on your list to check out.
For more details check out http://www.nuique.com/ & at the time of writing they are offering a 3 for the price of 2 offer, so it really is dirt cheap to try out!

REVIEW: How to give a shit about your health (book)

As far as I know Karina Inkster is new to the field of health writing, at least I've never come across her before.  The book title might be a bit off-putting to some of you, but remember having names like "Skinny bitch" didn't do that book much harm, so if the name isn't to your taste, just ignore it & get into the what the book is all about.
The book is 100% plant based dietary information & is obviously written by someone who eats & trains, so they know our goals & understand the best ways to achieve them.  It is more of a 'getting started' book, but even for those of us who have been into it for a while it's still nice to read someone else's take on what needs to be done.  She advocates basic vegan wholefoods, nothing too weird or wonderful, covers basic foods you'll need to get you started, ways to avoid falling for sugary drinks cravings, covers the essential fatty acids issue, even includes recipes & of course basic training.  The only issue I found missing was I don't remember reading about the importance of B12 (which should, in my view be added to every athletes diet whether they are meat eaters, veggies or vegan). 
One other fact is the book is cheap.  Karina obviously wanted the book 'out there', so priced it in a way that means, you can easily buy one for yourself & a couple of friends who may be interested in moving towards a healthier lifestyle (that can either be a vegan in need of some health tips, a non-vegan in need of diet &/or health advice).
I would recommend this as a good starter pack if you want to move towards a healthier lifestyle.  I would actually say this is a much more sound program than say the 'Skinny bitch' approach, this program will actually get you heading towards optimal health.
To get the book click here & to check out more about Karina go to here site here (just a hint she also does personal training & nutritional advice if you need it).
As usual I get nothing for reviewing this, I just read the book & liked it & hopefully you will too!

REVIEW: Reflex Nutrition's Vegan Protein

I got a tub of this new protein powder just the other day.  I went with the strawberry flavour as I am quite fond of the old red berry.  It's unusual to have a product called something like "Vegan Protein" rather than "mega-pump 10,000" or similar, which made for a nice change & for once you do not have to ask if it is suitable for vegans :-)

So, let's look at what's in it first, you can read a full list here.  It is basically a souped up pea protein that is lightly coloured (natural colouring), sweetened with stevia & has added stuff like probiotic, digestive enzymes etc.  It is 18.5g of protein per serving with a 1% carbs & 1.5% fats.  I think adding the digest enzymes & probiotic is a really good idea as large amounts of protein hitting the stomach without all those little micronutrients sometimes does need a little help getting into you (especially if you have several shakes a day, getting bad gas can be a bitch!).

Obviously with protein you don't get anything like a caffeine rush or similar "Wow! this is working man!" type of effect, so we'll get onto to taste.  As I said I have only tried out the strawberry, but that is pretty awesome!  It might be the best tasting protein out there (certainly top two or 3!).  If you have been put off by taste before then I'd suggest you give this one a go.  I actually played about a bit & found adding a banana or two & mixing with soya milk gave you a pretty good milkshake!  I'm guessing you could play about & make desserts with this product as well, maybe making a mousse-like effect or other treats that can be made using a flavoured protein powder (that's a challenge to all you cooks out there-let's have some recipes).
Other good points about Reflex Nutrition is that it uses green technology to produce their products, so less energy is wasted & it uses only renewable energy!

I give a big thumbs up to this new protein & I will be getting the other flavours over time, if you've tried them post below!

Between the 8- 13 July 2012 we will be running a contest to win your own tub of this fab new protein, so pop over to the facebook group here & check out the contest!
If you don't win, no worries simply pop over to here & check out the different flavours.  I can 100% recommend the Strawberry & hopefully the others will be just as good!

REVIEW: Matt Vincent Training lab (book)

This was a book I got simply out of interest.  I am not into highland games, nor do I have any plans to train for or work with anyone interested in highland games.  I have never even been to a highland games event before.  Saying all that this is an interesting read.  It is not a long read (I was done in an evening), it does give you an idea of what you would have to do if you have compete over a long season, how to peak & also mentions the point that you cannot 'peak' for a whole season, you have to pick the time to excel during that season (a point missed in many, many publications).  I found it a useful guide for any strength athlete with a longer session & it could be used as such (you simply swap out the throwing with the skill work of your choice).  The concepts were pretty sound & as it's an ebook you could have it in moments if you think this might be of interest to you.
I'm not sure how many vegan highland games athletes there are in the world (if you are one I would love to hear from you!), but if you are then get this book, if you are interested in different styles of strength training then get this book.
It uses a form of block periodisation system with strength, speed/power & volume sections.  It also covers CV work, recovery, even what to take to highland games 'event' ('meet' or whatever you call a collection on competing highland games athletes?)
Final points, this book does have a few swear words in it (but if you've read any modern powerlifting stuff you know what to expect), just ignore that & find the useful nuggets.
You can get the book from here as usual we gain nothing from this review, just thought you'd find it useful.

REVIEW: Sportique range of bodycare products

Every now & again you come across a product you never even knew existed before.  Long time readers will know that we have been fans of v-pure a DHA/EPA pill made from algae (NOT from fish - in fact the fish eat this algae to get the oil in the first place).  Anyway, a company called nuique have taken over distributing v-pure & this company also do the sportique range of body care products.
Anyway, to cut a long story short I looked about on their site & found that they had some 'weird stuff', stuff I'd never heard of like 'Warming up cream', so I thought to myself "What the hell is warming up cream & why would I need it?  I warm up- hell before I workout these days I foam roll, stretch, then do activation/mobility before I even touch a weight!"  So, as I had some contact with the people producing v-pure I decided to see what the whole deal was?
It turns out that nuique make a whole range of creams & oils that are suitable for vegans & all barre one is suitable for drug-tested athletes (the 'Get Going – Warming Up Cream' contains geranium which can give a false positive in a drugs test- thanks to Pat from the BDFPA for pointing that one out).  So, I got a few different products to try out & I will go through all the one's I have tried.  I will have to get a non-drug tested athlete to test out the 'Get Going – Warming Up Cream' as I can't test that one myself.  Although I haven't got a review of that product yet, I have been able to review several of the products that I thought would be directly related to anyone interested in training or exercise of any sort.

Warming up cream

This was the first one I tested.  I have used chilli style creams before, but never really thought of them as a pre-workout product.  In the past I have used them to aid muscle soreness & recovery.  This cream does all that.  In fact if you want to REALLY heat an area I accidentally discovered the benefit of applying warming up cream to yourself then going to bed on an electric blanket - talk about warming!  By the next day my muscle soreness was totally gone, but it was a weird feeling as it felt pretty hot!  One thing I found about this is that it is a slow building heat.  As I said I've used other chilli based warming products before & this one acts more slowly than some I've tried before, so do not make the mistake of my partner & slap on another layer or two, it will work, just not as fast as you expect.  Now let's talk about what it is named  after warming-up, I'd never thought to use anything like this as part of my warm-up.  So, anyway, during this recent cold weather I've been slapping it on & then starting my warm-up & by the time I'm ready to hit the weights I can feel the very first hints of warming on the joints.  For me I used it where it was needed so if I was doing a lower body session, the knees got some & the hips, if I was really going to hammer the upper body, then it would be applied to elbows, shoulders & if necessary wrists got a rub of the cream. Using it as a pre-work out warm-up cream I didn't use it on pecs, or much of the upper back (I did use it on the lower back-especially before a squat or deadlift session).  I actually found it pretty good - this could all be in my head, but the muscles & especially the joints feeling warm, made the workout really go well.  I wasn't on my first set thinking, "Hell, that joint still doesn't feel ready", the blood was there!  I have only used this in colder weather so far.  I will give it a go as temperatures go up, but I'm betting that it works a lot better in the colder weather as a pre-workout muscles & especially joint warmer.
This product does have another use.  I found it useful for muscle soreness, DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness - also called PEMS by some people), tired achy muscles & some forms of joint issues (I'm thinking the more arthritic type of joint pain); some over-use injuries are actually better served by another of their products in my view the 'Cooling cream'.

Cooling cream

This is about the opposite of the 'warming up cream".  It does what it says on the packet really.  It cools an area down.  If you suffer from overuse issues, sprains etc, the quick application of a cooling product can help.  If you use ice, for some areas applying this after your ice treatment can improve the effect I've found.  My partner also used it on some localised swelling when she wore stupid shoes, it worked wonders with the swelling vanishing really quickly (obviously I can't guarantee it will work on every type of swelling & any cuts should be avoided as should any personal or delicate places - that goes for the warming-up cream as well).  I use this less often than the warming up cream myself, but if you suffer from overuse issues, or related issues then this could become your good friend!  Also as the temperature goes up I might actually find myself using this a bit more after training on those tired out muscles, but we'll have to wait for some warm weather to test that one out!

Foot gel

This is supposed to be anti-fungal & anti-bacterial, but as I am fungus-free & my feet do not smell too bad (which implies not too many stinky bacteria), but sometimes I am on my feet for some time & so having a foot cream is ace.  It is supposed to be 'calming of the nerves', I can't vouch for that, but I can say that especially if you have someone to apply this cream for you, it is an ace way to renew those tired old feet.  I actually found that it works two ways. 1/ It relaxes tired feet, but 2/ If you come home after a long day, but need to go out in the evening, it can actually energise those feet & let you go out for an evening so you can dance, walk or generally have a good time on newly refreshed feet.

Warming up oil

I must confess I haven't used this one pre-workout even though it's a warming-up oil.  One of my hats is I'm a massage therapist & I have used it to massage a few people.  The oil has a nice texture & you will need to use less than you expect when you massage (either yourself or others). It is a warming oil, so it can be used on the joints of arthritic clients & the warming effect & increased blood supply can be very beneficial.  It can also be used by athletes to aid recovery as increased site specific blood flow does appear to aid recovery (that's personal, anecdotal evidence I haven't actually researched that, it just seems to be the case).  Also for really tired people this will really knock them out if you give them a softer massage.  They will often fall asleep on the couch or make it home & really sleep soundly with the benefit of the massage & the warming oil.  I wouldn't use this & gentle massage if you've had a long day & plan to go out, but if you have specific arthritic or muscular pain areas, then rubbing some on before you go out could help relieve the pain enough to enjoy the evening (just remember to wash your hands well as there is few things worse than rubbing chilli into your eyes or if male using the bathroom & getting chilli where you REALLY don't want it!)

There were some things that looked really good, but have bee products in, so they are ok for vegetarians but not us vegans.  They are all obvious as they have stuff like beeswax in them, so a quick read will tell you if they are ok for you to use.  I have got some 'Get Going – Warming Up Cream', but the review on that will have to wait until I can find a non-drug tested athlete to give it a go.  But those are the products I've tried so far - I'm guessing it is going to be similar to the warming-up cream?  There are a whole load of things in the sportique range from aftershave balm to deodorant so it is certainly worth checking out if you are after any body care products, as I said a few aren't vegan, so check the ingredient (& if you would like the look of a product, but it isn't vegan then let them know, if they get enough communication they may well be able to reformulate if the demand is there?).  The stuff I have tried though I definitely like & I have found with the warming up cream a new way to improve my warm up especially on colder days & the cooling product seems ace for swelling, sprains & overuse issues where cooling down is the best approach.

For the full sportique range of body care check them out here

REVIEW: Mike Boyle Functional Strength Coach 4

I've been quite ill this last week, the one good thing about that is that it has given me a chance to check out this 6 DVD set.  For those who don't know who Mike Boyle is, he is one of the best known coaches in the business.  In the past he has managed to use really unique marketing approaches to sell product (for Functional Strength Coach 3 he managed to hype sales to the maximum with the whole "Death of the squat" idea he pushed with that DVD set), the question is, would this set be as controversial?  The simple answer is no, it isn't.  There are some advances from the last series, but this DVD set did not have the same hype-frenzy we saw around FSC 3.  If you haven't seen Boyle before, this is a good one to get.  If you are after FSC1-3, you might want to go to ebay, or check it out second hand as the sets are all pretty expensive.  You get quite a bit, in this set you get 6 discs, with about 10 hours of lecture & hands on, but the older sets I suspect can be had on ebay for a lot less if you are shopping for those.
OK how do I sum up 10 hours in a few sentences?  I can highlight a few points that grabbed me, this isn't a comprehensive review, I can't cover all the facts.  Boyle covers a lot about training, his thoughts about putting hands on, dealing with pain etc.  Those have been pretty consistent throughout the FSC series, new stuff are an inclusion of kettlebells which I agreed with, I too have been doing that for a year or so now, for pretty much the same reasons as he says.  He also talks about the FMS he also argues the longevity aspect, not the immediate injury aspect of the screen rather like I did in this post.  Also he uses the idea of foam rolling, STRETCHING, then warm-up, then workout.  This is an idea I believe he first put forward in FSC 3 & I have started to test out recently.  The idea of stretching cold to get increased usable ROM makes some sense, but I'll have to see how this pans out for a longer time before I can say for sure if I notice any difference or benefit.  He does cover stretches for those without tables (a point many complained about in FSC 3, but not a problem for me as I'm a massage therapist so tables aren't an issue :-), warm-up, exercise choice & program design in some detail.  I don't agree that zero ab flexion is the answer as Boyle does (for more on why see my post here), but evidence is there if you wish to take that route.  I am also a user of progressions in my training, both in resistance & exercise performance, so I like some of Boyle's work in that area as he comes up some interesting variations.
So, having said all that who is this product for?  Coaches should view it, those who do their own programming should view it, those who want to learn about how to design programs get something that will work pretty well.  Who should NOT get it?  Those who want a cookie cutter routine will be disappointed, those who want to be told exactly what to do should avoid this product.  To make the most of this product you need to have a desire to do a little work, know a little anatomy, plan a little bit, if you don't want that, then this product is a waste of money, you'd be better off picking any cookie cutter routine you find for free off of the internet & just follow along with that.
I like the way Mike is fine about changing his mind (you won't find many coaches willing to do that once they market a product they seem stuck to that formula forever), but he also doesn't do the opposite which is throw everything out with a new DVD product, he stays the same on many things but throws out what he believes needs to be removed.  I don't agree with all his choices, but I do like that he has reasons for his choices & does put together a decent product for the person willing to think a little bit about program design & exercise choice.
To get a copy of FSC 4 pop over to Perform Better

REVIEW: Stuart McGill Ultimate Back DVDs

This is actually a review of both the:

The Ultimate Back : Enhancing Performance

& The Ultimate Back : Assessment and Therapeutic Exercise

Stuart McGill is one of those guys with a huge brain (you can see it pulsating with energy I'm sure you can!).  At the moment he is probably if not the top, then fairly close to the top guy looking into backs  & back health for athletes & strength people.
The first DVD gives corrective ideas for people with bad backs, the second is how to achieve maximum performance if you have a history of back problems.  This is not easy stuff to dive into.  I suggest you get his books & DVD if you really want to understand where he is coming from.  The DVDs are not professionally shot, a lot of the times it looks like Stuart himself or colleagues do a lot of the filming, there is tripod creek in the first DVD & some of the angles mean at points he is hidden behind things...but all that being said the info is very useful if you have a bad back.  He does expect some knowledge of anatomy & terms used, so if this is new to you, buy the books (see below) & use google to  find out what he's talking about.  Personally I found the second DVD more useful to me than the first.  The first wasn't bad & had some interesting bits, but I found more use from the second.  For best results I'd suggest watching both & reading his books "Low back disorders" & "Ultimate back fitness & performance" both available here.
I found a couple of useful things to add into my warm-up, noted some instabilities I had, so hopefully I'll have a stronger lower back & more stable core if I include these movements?  That being said I do have some concerns with the ideas of McGill.  I'm sure the guy is much more intelligent & knows a whole lot more about backs than me, but I had no issues with my lower back until I followed McGill's advice & dropped all flexion abdominal movements (so crunches, sit-ups & similar) - so, after a couple of flare-ups I reintroduced flexion, but I am sticking to quality over quantity & a lot of my work is actually resisting movement in the core, so ab-roller (you've got to love that roller!), planks, side planks, suitcase lifts & carries, waiter walk, one leg deadlift & squatting & as I said 'some' flexion of the abs.  Stuart McGill got his ideas from testing pigs spines, he got a spine from a dead pig & put it in a machine that bent & bent the spine like repeated crunches.  To me that seems a bit of an odd way to test a theory as the spine is dead, so is has no synovial  fluid & no chance to recover & rebuild as a normal spine would, even without the ethical considerations it wouldn't be my testing of choice, I am not the only one to think this (see abstract here), I think the answer is probably somewhere in the middle, don't do 3,000 crunches every day, but doing some may help & probably won't hurt you...but the choice has to be your own, read McGill & make up your own mind.
If you don't like technical stuff, then this may not be for you, but if you like to see options on how to correct stuff for you & you clients then this might be of interest.
Oh yes a final note, the first DVD starts a lot like a physical therapists lecture, you might almost turn it off thinking this isn't of any use to me, but some useful stuff does come out during the lectures & practicals, stuff you can really use.  If you are somewhere where personal trainers can't lay hands on their clients, then this will be hard to do some of the stuff as McGill is very hands on.  I'm a massage therapist so I can touch people as needed & I suggest any personal trainers get some experience doing something hands on as it really does make a world of difference if you can touch someone to correct stuff.
So, these DVDs will suit personal trainers, those with back issues who know a little anatomy & are willing to learn.  I enjoyed the set (this is not my first view of the product, I will go back to it a few times just to review & see what else I can find as it's very useful to me).  I think many of you will find these very useful  & maybe correct some issues they have on the way!

To get hold of these DVDs click here

Final note:  This is a warning!  A lot of people start viewing corrective work & slowly the 'corrective stuff' takes over the workout.  A workout should always involve some heavy lifting under most circumstances.  Do not go the way of some trainers who extensively use pink dumbbells during their training sessions.  Unless you have a current issue, stick corrections into warm-ups, cool downs, between sets or other parts of the day, most of your training should be heavy.  That doesn't mean you can't do some core stability work using a heavy one leg deadlift for example, corrections can get heavy too if you choose carefully!  Just don't go the way of the 'corrective guy' as that way leads to being really weak & about as functional as a grandmother with arthritis!  If you're on a stability ball juggling oranges, pressing pink dumbbells or other annoying movements, you are avoiding doing the work you need to be doing, get off the ball & lift some poundage!  Don't let corrections rule your workout!  Warning over....

REVIEW: Secrets of the Hip and Knee - Gray Cook, Brett Jones

This will get a few people in a tizzy I know.  The whole 'does the FMS work at all?' argument that has sprung up.  So, let's cover that first.  The FMS (functional movement screen) is at its heart a series of 7 movements using bodyweight & a few tools like a height adjustable hurdle, a measuring rod & a board.  I won't go on to describe every movement involved, but if you are interested pop over to the Functional movement website & check it out (& buy the book called movement if you want a real close look at it).  So, let's cut to the chase.  Looking at the research it does not look like the FMS does a good job of predicting short term injury, if you want references I've got quite a few & the consensus seems to be that for short term injury prediction this isn't an accurate tool, it is very bad at picking up on previous injury (the single biggest indicator of injury is previous injury, if it can't spot that, then it's in trouble when it comes to short term injury prediction).  So, the FMS is worthless right?  Well, no, I don't think so.  A huge factor of the FMS is finding asymmetry & correcting these as much as possible & creating a minimum acceptable movement pattern.  For some things this will be useless or even counter productive, so asymmetrical sports like throwing, fighting etc may actually suffer from symmetry!  But symmetrical sports like swimming, running etc or your average gym-rat may not gain short term injury prevention, but may gain longevity in an activity if they remain more symmetrical & keep decent range of motion.  My personal view is the FMS does a fair job of that, well part of it, I have seen people who can breeze a lot of the FMS tests, but load them & suddenly their squat looks REALLY ugly, so assessing under load is as vital as unloaded to get a full picture as well as previous injury history & many other bits before you can really understand a persons needs.
I haven't referenced the above as I just wanted to give a brief snippet of the arguments raging right now, if you want a piece specifically about the whole FMS debate post below & I'll do a fully referenced blog on that as it would take some time to take you through the whole thing covering all the issues.
So back to the DVD.  Whether you accept the FMS or not this video has some useful exercises you could incorporate into your training & shows you how many knee & lower back issues can be traced back to the hip (the ankle being another major cause of issues elsewhere too), so although the DVD says it's about knees & hips, it actually focusses on the hip as the major player in the whole knee problem arena.  As long time readers will know I have had a few back issues in the past & a couple of the things mentioned on this DVD showed I was definitely lacking in some core stability (especially when loaded across the body - so for example loading the right arm while on the left leg), I cannot hold this stable when moving - for some reason I've never thought to load up like this before, so for example a one leg deadlift with the left arm picking up the weight, while the right leg stays down on the ground & I look like I'm tightrope walking (all wibble-wobble), so that's got to get included.  I do regularly foam roll & as a massage therapist I obviously agree with soft tissue work (nothing beats hands-on, but a roller can get done everyday, so use both!), so I'll be doing the one leg deadlift & I'll be including a split squat progression that isn't exactly the way these guys suggested it, it was something I coincidently had planned for this cycle anyway, but watching this I'm going to load only the opposite shoulder with a kettlebell (you can use a dumbbell just as easily).  So, remember when the weight bearing leg is the right, hold the kettlebell or dumbbell in the left hand at the shoulder, like you are about to press it). My progression ideas for this are as follows:

Stage 1/ Static split squat
Stage 2/ Rear foot elevated split squat
Stage 3/ Forward, backward, lateral lunging

Each stage will be worked until total stability is achieved.  These are not going to be my 'strength moves' as such, I still have to keep my big 3 lifts going the right way (barbell back squat, Barbell deadlift & bench), so I'm keeping them in & working these in around that - that probably wouldn't be to the authors of these DVDs liking as they believe in dropping exercises & focussing in on issues, fixing them & then reintroducing other exercises, but for now I'm trying it this way, if that fails to correct things then I'll think about dropping the big movements, but for now they are staying - as they say, we learn best by doing, so I'm doing this, I may learn it won't work this way..or I may learn that in some situations it does, either way I'll learn another lesson.  By now you probably know I don't always just follow what people say, I tend to tweak & see if I prefer another path, sometimes I've really gone wrong, but on others I've found new ways of doing things that I've included into my bag of tricks.
So DVD, worth the cost or not?  I'd say yes.  If you are new the whole corrective idea it is a good place to start.  If you've had bad knees, hips or lower back in the past (this includes runners, not just lifters), then I'd say yes get it.  Please don't follow the whole 'corrective exercise' thing right down the rabbit hole (Alison in wonderland reference), please do not end up on tip toe balanced on a bosu ball, juggling oranges while pressing a pink dumbbell.  Most dysfunction is fixed by lifting heavy & getting a decent mix of strength, power & muscular endurance, going unilateral where necessary & finding the issues, the whole squatting on a stability ball is just a short cut to an injury in my view.  If you want instability, add chains, add weights from the bar hanging from bands.  These add instability without the injury risk.  If you are not spending at least some of most sessions going heavy (heavy for you that is) then you are doing something very, very wrong.  So, yes do any correctives you need, but do not fall into the 'corrective trap' or you'll waste years doing all sorts of nonsense when you should have been gaining strength! ...ok rant over.

If you want to get hold of the DVD pop over to dragondoor

REVIEW: lift, run, bang ebook

Now there is a title you'll either love or hate!  These two books are based on the blog of the same name ( click here to check that out).  A friend of mine had the books & so I thought I'd check them out as they are both quite short.  I won't give away the whole program here, but the ideas are pretty basic (translated: that means I like them!), you get two books, one for mass building, one for strength peaking, you also get excel sheets to plug-in your own numbers & use the system.  The whole system is built upon eating a lot & lifting pretty heavy most of the time.  I liked the 80% : +10%: -10% rule.  It's so easy to add into your training & yet I'd never thought of it, that is a change to my 2012 log book right there! (80% of your workout should be 'ok', 10% great, 10% will be crappy.  Simply writing it down in your log will allow you to see how you are going, if you have too many -10% then you are doing something wrong, if you are hitting a load of 80% &/or +10% then you're heading the right way...how simple is that!).  That one rule was worth the read in itself & there is plenty more in there for someone who wants to improve their lifts.  The good thing is neither book is over 40 pages!  Read the mass one first (it's a little over 30 pages), then read the strength one (26 pages).  Read them in that order as some stuff is covered in the mass but not in the strength, so it makes more sense that way.  You can read & digest these in an hour or so, then go straight to it if you want.  I liked the simple style & common-sense approach to lifting.  The dietary advice is pretty much useless to the vegan, veggie or even meat reducing athlete, but you can get some ideas of the amounts needed to eat to grow larger & yes sometimes the younger guys & gals need to slip in some junk to add mass (but outside of the very youthful, 'bag of bones' junk food should be a very rare treat).  There is a little swearing in the book, if that worries NEVER hang around with powerlifters or similar types as aggression tends to 'loosen the tongue' when you lift flat out max weights.
As a final note there was plenty about lifting, a very little about running & nothing about banging in the book, so if you expected anything else you are out of luck (also all the pictures are of big, sweaty guys, not the heaving bosomed young ladies, so again tough luck).
The whole thing costs $15 USD so if you like the powerlifting/powerbuilding style of training then this could be of use to you.  I can probably guarantee you have heard 90% of what is being said before, but if this book actually gets you DOING IT, then it's $15 well spent!

To get hold of lift, run, bang click here

REVIEW: Barology 101

Barology 101 is the first in what is likely to be a series of DVDs that covers the activity commonly called 'extreme callisthenics'.  The activity itself uses bodyweight (this doesn't prohibit the use of weights outside of the time you devote to the activity).  Basically you have a bar, or bars & throw yourself around like a cross between a gymnast, a trapeze artist, a tumbler & a hand balancer.  It is VERY high intensity stuff.  If I remember correctly the word 'callisthenics' is derived from the ancient Greek words 'beauty' & 'strength', so callisthenics would have roughly translated to mean 'beautiful strength' (my guess I'm not sure if that's fact?).

In this 2 DVD set you are introduced to the movements commonly used in the sport.  It is not an instructional DVD as such.  They do show progressions, but you are not taken through the activity.  The DVD set is more of a demonstration film, showing you what can be achieved & showing you the progressions, but you don't get training advice & pointers.  For a visual learner this would probably be enough, but if you are a trainee who likes to be talked through their training, then this one on it's own will not be enough.

The 2 DVDs cover a lot, from memory I can remember progressions for:
push-up
pull-up
dip
handstand
row
isometrics
core
ab wheel
some flag progressions
squats
deadlift
lunge
calves
step-up
obviously muscle-ups
even some equipoise thrown in

...& there were plenty more I probably have forgotten about.

One small niggle I did have was that although each progression was clearly stated, they didn't name each exercise & as someone not experienced in the extreme callisthenics field I had no idea what to call some of the movements?  Even a numbering system would mean you could say "Let's try muscle-up variation number 2" so you could have some idea what you should be calling something.  I'm guessing detailed instructional DVDs are to come in future instalments, at least I hope so as some of the movements look tricky for a novice & I'd certainly be interested in seeing some detailed instructions on how some of this is done as I've not seen any other product attempt to bring this sort of training to the general public.

A final point is it does seem that a lot of vegans gravitate towards bodyweight exercise, so if you're going in that direction it will certainly be worth you seeing just how far you can take it, this certainly isn't the callisthenics your mother did watching that VHS video in the living room!

Would I recommend this set?  If you are interested or intend to try out extreme callisthenics then yes I think it might help you avoid some pitfalls you might stumble into without some advice being available.  I think with some spoken instruction this would have made the ideal starter kit for the novice 'barologist', as it is it offers many insights that will help you design progressions, but not give you all the details you need for every exercise.  As more instalments come out hopefully they will cover these shortfalls.

One of the guys involved in this project Dan Attanasio (aka Kalosthenos on the internet) is a vegan & you can find out more about him here
 
To get hold of barology 101 Click here

REVIEW: I will be Iron by Budd Jeffries

First off a disclaimer.  I have had issues with bud Jeffries in the past, to be honest he ripped me off when I sent off for stuff (I wasn't the only one view click here for full details of that), anyway with that disclaimer out of the way here's the write-up.
Bud wrote this book about how he lost about 120 pounds by doing kettlebell swings.
I must admit the book didn't grab me.  The first point was that Bud did a load of different things.  Yes, he did swings, but he also changed his diet, did 1,000 rep sledgehammer work, did 1,000 rep bodyweight stuff , 1,000 rep punching etc., so which worked?  Did anything work alone, in combination, if so what & was anything unnecessary?  We just don't know?
His idea is to work up to things like 1 hour of continuous swings, doing 1,000 swings without a break etc.
Bud seemed surprised he gained endurance & put it down to swings.  My first option would be that he lost 120 pounds of fat, if that didn't increase endurance then nothing will!  What impressed me a lot more was the fact that he lost so much & yet kept most of his strength, now that is pretty good going as most guys lose their strength as they lose weight, so that is a good result.
I got the impression that Bud was one of those freaks of nature & so found that doing 'stuff' made him strong & he developed amazing endurance.  Unfortunately he is what's known as an 'outlier' or outside the normal, so the 'stuff' that works for him probably won't for most of us, in my view.  He seems to be born strong, he mentions himself  that he comes from a family of exceptionally strong, robust people.  My experience would point to most people being unable to do many of the routines he supplies without a very long time building up basic strength & endurance first.
I consider the routines like this.  You could spend an hour doing swings & get some benefits, maybe very good benefits, or you could spend an hour doing a fully rounded training routine.  Which would give the best results in terms of muscle make-up, balance between muscles & physical performance?  I can't see how any one movement could compete with a fully rounded routine unless you were specifically training to do endurance swinging?
Towards the end he gives a few variations adding in other tools, a few that stuck out are:
Tire flip (or biceps remover as I'd like it renamed) let's be honest tire flipping is a fairly high technique movement, most people deadlift it up & then heave it over (you actually push forward with your torso & then use the knee to help turn it over), even guys who train with tires a lot (strongmen) know that tires done badly for even a rep can cause biceps tears & yet Bud wants you to do high reps repeatedly until exhaustion, a good way to destroy your biceps in my view.
Another odd choice is very high rep punch bag work for fighters, I prefer purposeful training.  It's like the martial arts instructors that have you doing 1,000 kicks.  You ingrain how to do a sloppy kick a 1,000 times! I prefer to learn with skill, quality practice makes perfect, reps do not matter & for a fighter learning to punch sloppily can be the quickest way to meeting the canvas in my view.  You don't need to do hours punching & punching endlessly, a round lasts a couple of minutes then you rest, then you go again, slogging away for ages won't improve that, it will just stop you learning the perfect punching form & THAT will end your match a lot more quickly than you can imagine. I'd prefer a fighter getting a few minutes of picture perfect punches, then rest, then repeat for the allotted rounds (+ 20%, so if you fought a 10 round match, you train for a 12 round encounter OR do ten rounds with 20% longer each round, do not do both at once, this leaves you enough in the tank to overpower a fading opponent), Quality trumps quantity every time in this case.  One good punch can finish a match whereas 500 sloppy punches will be brushed off.

OK those are the bad things I found with this book.  The good things are; I do like swinging, it does seem to aid the recovery & also has a good effect on the lower back of some lifters (see this abstract here for a look at loading mechanics & possible back benefits).  Bud is quite motivational & a really, REALLY strong guy who can encourage great performances from people.  He does lay out a lot of options for you to play with, just do what you are able.
One of the best bits of the book in my view was actually the end where you had a lot of different kettlebell users of different knowledge levels giving their views on swings.  There was a LOT of info tucked into those last few pages that (for me at least) was a lot more usable.  You had one guy talking about how he fit swings in to help his deadlift, another guy about how he used swings recovering from knee surgery, it was a gem of an ending in my view.  I would suggest someone buying the book got their moneys worth in those pages, & a lot more immediately useful to you unless you are already a swing machine.

Anyway having just finished the book that was my initial thoughts about it.  If you want to check out the full details click here & get swinging :-)

REVIEW: Easy Strength seminar by Dan John & Pavel

This was a L-O-N-G view.  It was 14 DVDs!  If you've viewed Dan Johns DVD set Intervention, then you will have seen some of the Dan John stuff before, that's not necessarily a bad thing as I think he uses quite a basic, understandable approach, but if you are thinking about getting one or the other this covers a lot of the same ground & includes Pavel as well.  I liked the theoretical stuff, & just about all the training hints they have are going to be useful to someone.  It's a shame they didn't have an 'average' trainee to use as most of the people doing the lifts were pretty good (not your typical people turning up in the gym), but you can only show what you can show, but bare in mind that you yourself or your clients if you are in the business will not be so proficient at the lifts & will need a lot more coaching & time to get things right.  I did have my doubts about one aspect of the DVD set & that was the 'Even easier strength' section.  This was picking 5 lifts, done at a very low percentage of your maximum (say half what you could normally lift) & doing 3x3, 5,3,2, 5x2 or 10x1 (reps first then sets, so 10x1 is 10 reps/1 set) up to 5 times a week for 40 days.  They didn't seem to cover 'accommodation' into the example.  Accommodation is where you actually become more efficient at doing a movement, so you can lose muscular size & absolute strength by doing the same weight over & over.  As an example think of the guy at the gym you saw doing the same weight 12 months ago as today, often you'll see they look worse than they did 12 months ago when they first started doing that weight, this is because the body has adapted to that weight & actually working LESS to move it than when they first did it.  I don't really follow how NOT progressing could be better?  It is progression that leads to positive adaptation that lead to greater strength &/or size.  Maybe for an in-season athlete it may kind of keep them ticking over, but I can't see where the claimed big strength increases would come from?  Maybe I just don't know the science enough, but all of my training career the basic idea of progressive overload has been the cornerstone of my training routines.  I couldn't follow their arguments, they didn't make sense to me.  That was my one gripe with this DVD set.  It was only one piece of a really big DVD set, so I can't complain as most of it was pretty interesting.

This set is a lot of cash, so you might not be interested in getting it unless you are an athlete or train athletes or really like Dan John &/or Pavel, but for an athlete who isn't into lifting sports (so not a powerlifter or O-lifter) this will give you some idea how to structure your training for best results.

For full details about the DVD click here

REVIEW: Gym boss interval timer

This is a nifty little device I got a couple of weeks ago now. It isn't perfect, but as a decent, basic interval timer it does the job.

Ok, let's get the bad stuff out of the way. First off it is not that intuitive to use, I've had it several weeks & I still need to read the instructions to set it up (hee hee that might just be me though!), second point is you can only set one work time & one rest time - so you can have up to 99 intervals, but each of those must have the same work times & rest times, for example you could do 2 minutes work & 1 minute rest, but every set will have the same 2 minutes work & one minute rest, so you can't have, say different times for each work or rest set, if you wanted to do for example a 90 second front plank, then a 45 second side plank with one minute rest each time you'd be out of luck.

Those are the bad points, but the good points are that you can set it up to beep & if necessary vibrate (useful for louder gyms or headphone wearers), most often you won't even need different timings, so one rest & one work time is usually ok, you can get handy arm or wrist straps (you can also attach it directly to your clothes if you prefer), once you've set it up it is easy to actually start & stop, you can do up to 99 work sets, for stuff like planks, kettlebells etc it is really great for keeping you honest about time & allows incremental increases in duration, or you can do various forms of density training as you feel the need. In use I found it to be a pretty useful tool when doing timed stuff, the beep is loud enough to hear over music (or if you have ear buds in adding the vibration can help). I've tended to use it mainly for planking work & for timed kettlebell stuff, but I'm sure as time goes on I'll find other uses for it. If you are into any sort of density training it would certainly help with that. It could also just add a little variety into your training if you've not worked in timed intervals before, whether using bodyweight, barbell, or other training tool.

So far I've found it a very useful tool that I'd recommend. It may not be useful to a powerlifter so much, or probably a few other selected sports, but for the average gym goer, or someone looking for a change, or someone presently doing stuff under time, but using a clock on the wall, this is a vastly superior way of doing it in my view as you don't have to compromise your position to check your timing.

Final points are that I have only had this a couple of weeks, it seems to be working fine, but it's obviously not 100% proven durability yet (I need to to knock it about a bit more), oh yea it does have a stopwatch, but I've not used that yet so I'm not sure how well that works (I suspect it will do the job, but I rarely time things like that so I may not be using that for long while, if at all). Oh yea & be warned it comes in several colours including pink for all you guys who don't to be seen with a pink timer, so check what colour you are getting before you buy (mine is black just like in the picture).

Amazon is probably the easiest place to get hold of it, just go to their site & do a search for 'gymboss' & loads will come up, I found buying the wrist band & arm band added a couple of pounds sterling to the cost, but it was a free shipping item, so it was worth buying them all at once for me (although I've found I've not really needed either of the bands it is nice to know I've got them if I do need them.