My journey from Fast food, vanity and the step machine to free range meats, performance training and kettlebells

PART 1

I would like to share with you how I have evolved from burning a 1000 calories on the step machine, vanity and a hot wings and chips post workout meal to free range and organic eating, getting faster and kettlebell training.

I have been training for a long time now, I started taking my training very seriously from the age of 13 in fact. However, I didn't have the same approach to my diet. AT ALL!

I was a typical kid, fast food, fizzy drinks, chocolate and ice cream were all part of my daily menu but I guess as a teenager you don't know any better.

I was like clock work with my routine (slightly OCD actually), I had a structured split body weight training program which i done after school 4 days a week. I would also follow every workout with 10 hot wings, chips and a can of coke from the chicken shop opposite the gym for my bus journey home.

CAN YOU BELIEVE I USED THE STEP MACHINE?!

I then decided I wanted to be ripped and thought it would be an amazing idea to burn 1000 calories on the step machine after every weights session. Yep, I know what your thinking, I must have been in the gym for ages. You would be right, 2.5hrs to be precise. But it was my routine and no one was gonna make me do any different. Coz I knew best right!

I kept this going somehow until I was 16 but I was now at a stage where I wanted something completely different and knew my current routine just wouldn't cut it. I wanted to get big, really big.

I have never been someone who has to watch what they eat, I have always been naturally lean and never had a problem when it came to training and playing rugby etc, but I did my research and knew that my training was never going to build me up and my diet was more likely to send me to an early grave than make me look like Arnold.

It was time to cut out the crap and get a new training regime. Yes I may have only been 16 but I took my training very seriously, you could say I had built a reputation at college as being "hench" and I can't lie, I liked it :-) and it was a reputation wanted to keep.

NOW I WAS OUT OF CONTROL.

I took things to the extreme. Over night I cut out all junk food, 6 days a week. Every Friday was my cheat day to eat whatever I wanted. As you can imagine, I went to town. My post workout meal on a Friday was 4 piece of chicken, chips, battered sausage and a can of coke......amazing. I was happy with my results but I wanted more, soon I told myself "surely if I cut out my cheat day I will get even better results".

This was when I developed an unhealthy relationship with the gym and my diet. Looking good, training hard and feeling good had taken over my life. I could not skip a workout for anything or anyone and I literally cut out all the s**t from my diet. Between rugby and the gym I was now training everyday, hard out too.

HOW DID I KEEP IT UP?

I didnt.

I managed to mantain this for under a year. My body simply said no. I had no energy, my training was going downhill. I was training too hard, eating too little and not recovering at all.

THIS IS WHERE THE MAGIC HAPPENED.

I was 18, full of testosterone and I wanted something different. Not a bigger chest, not bulging arms nor did I crave an 8 pack. I wanted to be.........BETTER.

Gone were the vanity workouts, I wanted to be stronger, quicker and run rings around my opponents on the rugby pitch.

In came TRAINING FOR PERFORMANCE. No longer was I looking to get a pumped chest, I wanted to lift heavy weights, I wanted to knock seconds off my 100m sprint time and I loved it. I had a focus I never had before. It felt amazing. I reduced my training to 3 times a week and would be done and dusted in under an hour. I was loving my training and it started to show on the pitch, and the best bit - I gained a massive amount of muscle in essence without even trying.

Bosh

Home-made Sugar Face Scrub

**To all the men who are about to ignore this post, you have to know Keris made this scrub for Matt last weekend and he couldn't stop raving about how nice his skin felt. There's nothing wrong with a man who takes care of his skin so... read it** :)

One of the advantages of using simple home-made products is I know exactly what it's in it, no weird ingredients that I can't pronounce or would have to Google.

I've slowly become more conscious of what I put into and onto my body, especially in the last year.

Last year, Keris attended an eye opening course, made some changes to her diet (more organic food less processed rubbish), hair/skin products (funny thing is I knew a lot about this already but had so much more to learn) and just generally more aware of everything she ate, used, etc. Lucky for me, I'd already adopted some of the new habits she formed a while back so I was happy to acquire even more knowledge <-- Thanks Keris!

Late last year, I went to the States to spend Christmas with my Sister and the first thing I noticed when she picked me up from the airport was how much her skin was GLOWING! My Sister has had on and off skin problems for years and she has tried so many skin products and treatments, not have been successful long term. Last year she started doing some research and followed some blogs of ladies who took care of their skin with natural, homemade products. Her skin has totally transformed, it's amazing!

Funny thing was I'd heard of these methods and had actually tried one of them but didn't keep it up for reasons I can't recall now. Some of them are:

• Using oil to clean the face - yes, oil! This is another blog post in itself
• Oil as a moisturiser... yep, you read right OIL.
• Using a homemade scrub to exfoliate <--- Reason for this post.
• Fuller's Earth Powder mask (this is an Indian earth powder) to deeply cleanse the skin

Once I got back from my Xmas break, I went out and bought grapeseed oil to use as my face moisturiser and some fuller's earth powder from an indian store and decided to try it out and I haven't looked back :)

I'm loving the results! I know I didn't start out with spots but I have always had dry skin so no matter what soap/wash I use for my face, it always feels super dry after washing. Now sometimes I forget to moisturise until a couple of hours after! For me, that's HUGE!

• My face cleansing oil is a mix of Castor Oil and Sweet Almond Oil (I'll blog about this next week)
• Moisturiser - Grapeseed Oil

The first time I used this scrub, I couldn't stop stroking my cheeks, lol! My skin was baby soft... seriously!

I aim to use this once a week.

5 tablespoons of Brown sugar with 7-8 tablespoons of EVOO Oil and store in a glass jar.

• I apply to my dry face and *gently* massage in circular motions... I do this for a few minutes and rinse with lukewarm water.
• Then I soak a face towel in hot water and place it on my face for about a minute - during this time, the excess oils are being removed.
• I rinse the face towel and repeat a couple more times.
• Then I do a quick *cold rinse* to close my pores.
• Dry my face and apply my moisturiser (grapeseed oil).

There'll be more posts on natural and/or home-made skin and hair care from me :)

My Trial with Systemic Enzymes

What are they and why will they help me?

Check out this link for all you need to know about systemic enzymes, Dr Wong is awesome

After listening to Mike Mahler's lecture on hormone optimisation, where he spent a fair bit of time on the anti inflammatory benefits of systemic enzymes, I decided to give them a try. I started taking them on Saturday. In the morning and post workout. Both of which were on an empty stomach (believe it or not).

If you took the time to read the above link, you will know that our bodies have high levels of inflammation post workout. This is an optimal time to pop some systemic enzymes, ideally without food as you want to reap the anti inflammatory benefits to their fullest rather than them dealing with digestion.

So how do I feel? Well it is early days yet however I feel confident in the results to come going by the research I have done so far.

I will keep you all posted with my progress.

MAKE SURE YOU READ THE LINK.

Burger Recipe

Plan ahead, cook in bulk and you’re good to go.

Here is a quick recipe for some homemade pork and apple burgers that I made earlier this week. It's quick, simple, nutritious but most importantly tastes awesome.

Like I said I cook in bulk to save time and be organised for the week but you can halve the following as you wish. Remember I like my food :-)

4 packs free range organic pork mince
2 eggs
4 organic red onions
4 organic apples
Fresh coriander leaves to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Mixed herbs to taste
2 heaped tea spoons of chilli powder (change according to preference, but I like a bit of bang)
2 organic garlic cloves

- First cube the onions and the apples.

- Finely chop the garlic cloves and coriander leaves.

- Place the onions, apples, chopped garlic, seasoning and spices, pork and the eggs into a food processor to mix it all together.

- Once mixed to your liking, simply remove the mix and make into burgers in whichever shape or size you like. Place them on a grill tray and heat under a pre heated grill for 30-40 minutes depending on the size. Make sure you turn them over half way through.

I had to do the above in 2 lots as I only have a little blender so feel free to do the same.

I had these for dinner last night and breakfast this morning and I still have a load left for lunches throughout the week. They were off the hook :-)

I always advice cooking in bulk (resisting the urge to not eat the whole lot requires discipline though) as you will love how easy it is and how much time you have on your hands because of it.

Give it a go, play around with the ingredients and let me know what you think. I'm going to try pork and apricot next time. Will keep you posted.

I had it with steamed broccoli, home-made coleslaw... note the danger mouse slippers ;)

Eat, well, train smart and sleep lots,

Matt

It's Friday!!!

Hi everyone,

Just a quick one to say well done to every single one of you who has attended a class this week... they've all been intense but you've been amazing to teach all week :)

Hope to see you at either of the classes tomorrow - perfect way to kick start your weekend ;)

Enjoy your weekend and see you soon :)

We'll leave you with this video:

The best workout for...........??!!

"What's the best workout for gaining muscle?" "What's the best workout for losing body fat?" "What exercises are good for getting rid of my bingo wings?"

I get asked these questions all the time, and I al

ways get a look of surprise but mostly confusion when my response is "What's your diet like?"

I could give you a fantastic workout to build up your chest and arms, an interval protocol for fat burning and a great tricep plan to rid you of your wobbly arms.......HOWEVER!

This is all well and good but let me tell you - all this is wasted if your diet is full of saturated fat, alcohol, sweets and tons of processed food.
Now I'm not going to waffle on about eating plans but one bit of advice I will give you is this - Assess your diet before embarking on a so called "miracle workout". You can train as hard as you like but believe me you will soon grow bored and frustrated when the results don't go quite the way you liked.

Remember, you are what you eat. Your diet is responsible for:

• How much energy you have
• How effectively you train
• How quick you recover
• How well you sleep
• Your mood.

These are just to name a few and they are pretty important if you ask me.

So, for a week - write down everything you eat, log times of meals, energy levels, how much sleep you got and an idea of how long you are taking to recover from workouts. This is the best way of highlighting problem areas that sometimes require the smallest of change for maximum results.

Eat well, train smart and sleep peacefully.

Matt Whitmore

My journey towards lifting 2 x 24kg kettlebells and the 'Strength and Power Meet.

Firstly, I am referring to 2 x 24kg kettlebells in one hand......ARRGGGGGGHH (See videos in this blog post: http://fitterlondon.blogspot.com/2011/03/mike-mahler-kettlebell-workshop.html)

This is something I never tried before until I attended Mike Mahler's kettlebell workshop last week. It's an addictive exercise once you get the hang of it, I managed a 20kg and 16kg on the day but have set my sights higher at the 24's :-)

My next focus is that of the 2011 strengh and power meet regionals (imagine a strongman competition but for normal sized folk). I plan to attend the Wales regionals, granted it's miles away from me here in London but I have never been before and it also gives me an excuse to go and see my pal Andy Mckenzie who is heading up the event. No doubt he has some crazy ideas in mind.

The best thing about the above is that I now have a solid focus and direction with my training. With my recent absence from playing rugby i feel that is something my training has lacked.

So my advice, find something to work towards, something that excites and disciplines you. This has certainly done the trick for me and can't wait for the journey to start. I will keep you posted with my progress.

Much love,

Matt

Mike Mahler Kettlebell Workshop - Edinburgh

Just got back from an awesome weekend up in Scotland training with some amazing people from all around the UK and of course Mike Mahler.

As always, I went along to this workshop the same way I do any other, with an open mind ready to learn some new tricks, perfect techniques and to feel inspired and this course did just that.

Was great to train with like minded people looking to learn, test their limits and share knowledge with each other.

As a fitness professional I am always looking for ways to add, improve and perfect my knowledge and skills. I feel truly inspired coming back to London, not only because I have picked up some fresh ideas but because I met a bunch of passionate, friendly and disciplined people (until we got to the Indian restaurant that is).

My point here is to stress the importance of learning. As my pal Andy McKenzie says, "to be an eternal student". Never think you know enough, because you don't. Keep reading, work with like minded people, share ideas and make things happen.

Big thank you to all those I met this weekend and hope I see you all again soon.

Matt Whitmore