This Weeks Top Tip

A recent study suggests by drinking four cups of an inexpensive, readily available green tea may help strip excess body weight. The study found that green tea as capsules or tea significantly reduced 2.5kgs of body weight over 8 weeks.

Source: Hursel R, Viechtbauer W, Westerterp-Plantenga MS. The effects of green tea on weight loss and weight maintenance: a meta-analysis. Int J Obes (Lond). 2009 Sep;33(9):956-61.

Top Tip For Tricep Training

The tricep muscle is comprised of three different heads - the long, lateral and medial head. It's impossible to purely isolated a single head of the tricep, however by the orientation of the upper arm in relation to gravity and to the body, you can affect the percentage of recruitment of each head.

For Example:

From Incline to Perpendicular - the further away your arms are from your navel, the greater the recruitment of the long head of the triceps.
E.g Seated French Presses, Overhead Tricep Extension w/rope.

Flat - Exercises in a flat position tend to recruit more the lateral and long head of the triceps.
E.g Close Grip Bench Press, Lying EZ Bar Tricep Extensions

Decline - The closer your arms are to your torso the greater the contribution of the medial head of the triceps at the top position. At the bottom position the lateral head does most of the work.
E.g Decline Close Grip Bench Press, Decline EZ Bar Tricep Extension.

You may also want to consider hand position. As a general rule, pronating the grip (palms down) increases recruitment of the the lateral head and a supine grip (palms up) increases recruitment of the medial head.

Knowing this information will hopefully add value to your workouts and place new size and strength onto your triceps!

This Weeks Top Tip

Women who reported high use of household cleaning products had a two-fold risk of developing breast cancer according to a scientific questionnaire and poll

Source: Self-reported chemicals exposure, beliefs about disease causation, and risk of breast cancer in the Cape Cod Breast Cancer and Environment Study: a case-control study

This Weeks Top Tip

Test subjects who had the lowest levels of blood serum vitamin D had significantly increased risk for developing Parkinson's disease. Those that had high levels of the vitamin demonstrated protection against the disease.

Source: Serum Vitamin D and the Risk of Parkinson Disease, Paul Knekt, DPH; Annamari Kilkkinen, PhD; Harri Rissanen, MSc; Jukka Marniemi, PhD; Katri Sääksjärvi, MSc; Markku Heliövaara, PhD Arch Neurol. 2010;67(7):808-811. doi:10.1001/archneurol.2010.120

This Weeks Top Tip

By taking a good quality multi-vitamin each day will help with fat loss and lipid panel improvement in obese women

 Source: Effects of multivitamin and mineral supplementation on adiposity, energy expenditure and lipid profiles in obese Chinese women, International Journal of Obesity (2010) 34, 1070–1077; doi:10.1038/ijo.2010.14; published online 9 February 2010

When working with clients, whatever the goal I will always recommend a good multi-vitamin to take each day. However not all multi-vitamins are created equal and some can even compromise you health instead of improving it. The products I normally recommend are from the UK's top health care professionals, Nutri.

Multigenics w/iron and Multigenics w/out iron

Please note: males should take a muti-vitamin product without iron and females with iron

You can purchase these two products through Nutri by calling: 0800 212 742 and Quote ID no. 3054468

This Weeks Top Tip

Training twice a day is the fastest way to improve your physique, whether it be for fat loss, muscle growth or strength

If you're lucky enough to have the time available for twice a day training I would definitely recommend it.

To avoid over training and total 'burn out' you need to allow at least a 4-6 hour window between your AM and PM sessions as well as keeping on top your nutrition and supplementation.

I would also recommend taking a 'deload week' every 3rd week whereby you only train once per day for that week to help improve recovery and avoid over training.

PICP Level 3 Day 6

The higher your blood levels of vitamin B the less likely you'll be bitten by mosquitoes

Vitamin B2 and B6 helps to repel mosquitoes.

You'll also find the higher your level of toxicity the more you'll attract mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes love to feed off heavily toxic people

PICP Level 3 Day 5

80% of a muscles recovery occurs within the first 10 minutes after training

It's vital that you consume your post workout shake within this 10 minute time window for optimal recovery

PICP Level 3 Day 4

A well design rotator cuff workout can increase punching power by at least 10% over 3 weeks

The rotator cuff muscles of the shoulder are often over looked in most people's training program. However they contribute to a lot of upper strength gains and help maintain shoulder health.

Add some external work into your program now!

PICP Level 3 Day 3

The overhead squat is the number one exercise that will determine possible lower body injuries

The overhead squat assessment can predict whether someone is likely to suffer from ankle and/or knee injuries as well as hamstring tears and/or lower back pain