The Ultimate Guide to Carb Cycling

The Ultimate Guide to Carb Cycling

Fitness Capital of the World!

FITNESS CAPITAL OF THE WORLD? I have recently returned from a trip to the West coast of the USA which was, to say the least, enlightening! It was my fifth time to visit Los Angeles so I had become familiar with the ‘different’ culture. The health & fitness scene over there at present is huge & has grown dramatically since my last visit. Having had the privilege of working in London as a sports nutritionist & writer for many years, I had already built up a respectable list of contacts of people to meet whilst there. I was surprised, however, to find how small the fitness network is in Hollywood. Everyone seems to be connected to, or knows someone else in the business. For example, whilst having lunch in San Diego with fitness professional ‘Jamo Nezzar’, we were joined by a French fitness model called Julien Greaux. I have since learned that he is the trainer to Jean Claude Van Damme’s daughter. At the same lunch, we were joined by a group of fitness models from US magazine “Muscle & Fitness”. A series of meetings, spin classes, & chance encounters led me to begin talking to a beautiful woman & her husband from Arizona. They had both just competed in a fitness show & were in phenomenal shape. I discovered that they were in the US Army & were strict vegetarians. My interest was sparked & I saw the potential for an interview. I’m pleased to say that their inspiring story has been featured globally in numerous publications. I would encourage anyone searching for motivation to read their inspiring life journey: http://www.jamcoretraining.com/content/who-francesca-hartman Los Angeles is a vast area & the people there are so diverse. It seems that no one living in LA is actually ‘from’ LA! I would estimate that at least 70% of the community are health & fitness enthusiasts or part of the industry. Venice beach & Gold’s Gym are the exact way I had imagined them with athletes in fantastic condition. To me, it’s an inspiring place & I think that Londoner’s could learn so much from the lifestyle. Yes, the climate does play a part in this, so too does vanity! Speaking personally, I would highly recommend anyone who is serious about fitness, to at least pay a visit to the City of Angels. The experience would be both inspirational & eye opening. You would discover why it’s known as ‘the fitness capital of the world’, & who knows, it may even lead to opportunities you may never have imagined!

Body type Training

DO YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR BODY TYPE? It may affect your training style... There 3 main body types – more specifically known as ‘somatotypes’ – these are ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs. These are also commonly know as ‘thin’, ‘athletic’ and ‘fat’! William Sheldon, the originator of the body type classification theory, believed that each body type had its own distinct physiological and psychological traits. Many of the top endurance athletes are ectomorphs and their slim build means they will find it hard to put on muscle, even if they wanted to. If you have a similar build you too will find it difficult. In order to stand a decent chance of gaining muscle, you should reduce your endurance activity significantly. It may be a good idea, if you have been a regular endurance athlete for 6 months or more, to reduce the cycle/run/swim time to a minimum and go through a 2 month muscle building phase. If you have an athletic body type then the chances are you will be able to maintain your muscle mass pretty well, even when endurance training. ‘Mesomorphs’ bodies will respond quickly to virtually all types of training and will be less affected by the interference effect. Endomorphs will be carrying a lot of muscle and potentially fat and will be more able to maintain size when endurance training. To put it simply, they have more to lose! However, running will place more strain on their joints and this could lead to injury. Mileage should be built up gradually. Once the weight is off, endomorphs have potentially the best opportunity to look big and strong as they run.