My thoughts on diets, calories, sunburn and fat

I get asked it A LOT... so let me write you a 2 minute article on my nutrition and training beliefs....  This is only A SHORT ARTICLE. If you want to debate it, comment below.... and I would love to expand on the reasoning and anecdotes.

1.  I fundamentally believe that we should be eating (and exercising) the way that nomads ate thousands of years ago.

2.  This includes a notable lack of calorie counting, treadmills, protein powders and unnecessary prescription drugs.

3.  You get more benefit from 20 minutes ballistic and sprint drills (done properly) than a 3 hour run or bike ride.

4.  Marathons and triathlons put incredible and unsustainable stress on your vital organs and limbs.  Most endurance athletes die before 60 (or have a stroke or heart attack) and look 100 at age 40.

5.  We DON'T HAVE TO EAT 3-5 meals a day....

6.  Sugar and grains make you fat.

7.  Fat is good - macadamia oils, fish oils, avocado, full fat dairy, the gooey fat on the bottom of a roast chicken, butter - NOT MARGARINE.  The more the better.  It's the quality of the mouthful, not the calorie....

8.  Need more good gut bacteria to stave off flu? cancer? thrush?  Eat and play in the dirt and stop taking antibiotics every time you get a sniffle...

9.  Take your shoes off and sprint on the grass and sand.

10.  If your back or knees hurt it's because you have a strength deficiency. (Everyone has Scoliosis... don't use it as an excuse.)

11. If you have been eating sh!t for over a decade it will take more than 6 weeks to look and feel good again... stop hoping for a quick fix.

12.  One day people will be suing meal replacement companies because they have bowel cancer and a colostomy bag.... oh yes, and they are fat again.

13.  Take your shoes off when you do weighted squats.
14.  Caveman Grok didn't do ab work - he did chin ups and had better obliques than a fitness instructor.

15.  Have you ever seen a really cut, fit Les Mills instructor (that didn't do Cross Fit or Sweat Depot on the side?)?

16.  Get the f^@% out of florescent lights!  It's why you can't sleep and you haven't ovulated properly in 7 years!

17.  You CAN go out in the sun for short periods without sunscreen and without getting burnt... better still, train for short periods in the sun and you won't have to pay $40 for vitamin D tablets and a sore case of depression. Oh yeah.. it helps burn fat too....

18.  Good fats BURN fat....

19.  Rice cakes have less nutritional value than cardboard.  At least cardboard has a bit of bacteria and cockroach poo on it...

20.  mmmm this is going to be controversial... thyroid disease can be a terrible condition, yes... but did you see one poor sole walk out of those insidious WWII concentration camps fat? And I am sure there were more than a few of those poor, poor people that had hormone and thyroid conditions. Fat DOES NOT MATERIALIZE BY ITSELF....

Age 26 - soft, weak, sick, training 8 hours a week and consuming expensive protein powders & creatine to try and be competitive

11 years and one baby on.  I squat and chin the same as the dudes, train only 4 hours a week, eat less and need less sleep.

Want to read more about living grain and sugar free?  Try Mark's Daily Apple.com

Want to rev it up me?  plllllleeeeaaaasssse comment and get my juices flowing!

1 hour of exercise is better than 20 minutes - RIGHT? wrong!

Twenty minutes of interval training TRIPLES fat loss in HALF the time.

Don't believe me? Let me explain...

We are always being told that diet and exercise is the key to keeping our weight under control. But does that mean we have to spend hours in the gym? Current research on the benefits of short, hard sprints incorporated in interval training support what I have been saying for years. Work faster and harder for shorter bursts and reap the physical and mental benefits. Not only does it have TRIPLE the benefits (fat loss and cardiovascular fitness), but it is supported by evidence that training for more than 60 minutes a day WILL ACTUALLY SHORTEN YOUR LIFESPAN.

EXERCISING FOR HOURS ON END ISN'T THE ANSWER -

Endurance exercise places unnecessary load on the body's joints and internal organs. It is also time intensive and cannot be done safely without the proper nutrition, rest and hydration. Did you know that Australia's endurance athletes actually have a shorter life span than a sedentary adult. Sometimes up to 20 years shorter.

We are busy people right? What's the most common excuse for not exercising? "I don't have time." Well, that excuse is officially redundant.

Professor Steve Boutcher from the University of New South Wales has headed studies to find out what's the least amount of exercise you can do to reduce the greatest amount of fat. His findings are based on 20 minutes of interval bike training, three times a week. Which is great for busy lifestyles - right?

Trials were done on two different groups of people. One doing a 40 minute cycle class and the other doing the 20 minute interval training cycle class. The later group lost the most amount of weight (almost three times) and also improved their aerobic fitness faster.

Why does interval training burn off more fat?

"It significantly elevates a hormone called catecholamines and these are important messengers to tell the cells to burn fat," says Professor Boutcher. Catecholamines are produced in the adrenal gland - the hormones which circulate through the body. When you sprint, the catecholamines stimulate the beta receptors in fat cells, the fat cells release free fatty acids to be used by other cells and this strips away fat to be burnt up by the body's energy conversion process.

The study worked with 8 second sprints of cycling flat out and then slow pedal for 12 seconds. Conducted over 20 minutes, three times a week even beginner exercisers will see muscle toning and fat loss benefits within weeks.

" If you do it (sprint) longer than 30 seconds it's too painful (for the beginner). Normal people won't stick to it and would deplete energy stores too quickly to last the 20 minutes."

What does that mean for you? A 30 minute Sweat Depot rapid class could have 3 times the results than a normal class. Plus, we cleverly incorporate strength training in the workout to make you leaner and stronger.

There are two important messages here:

1. Stop over training

or

2. Stop making excuses why you aren't training at least three times a week.

p.s.: ramp up your metabolism even FURTHER by attending a 6am class. Then you will DEFINITELY get your workout out of the way for the day.

Exercise WILL save your life. And another side effect of fitness is a hot body too...

WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR??????