Watch your bloody language – Our internal dialogue dictates our physical results.

The internal and external dialogue you use when training or competing or getting ready to do either will ultimately have a direct impact on the physical response you get.

It will determine whether you are able to throw the shot, push the weight, move the way you want to or produce the power when you need it the most.

Thinking that the words you use don’t have any bearing at all on the physical output and all the signals that are sent to your body is frankly naive or you are in the “it’s the way I have always done it” camp in which case you probably wouldn’t even be ready this article.

Think about this for a moment. Have you ever been at a family or social gathering and there are small children lurking around so you are desperately trying to remember “NOT to swear in front of the children”? And what happens next? That’s right, you swear like a trooper on heat at a knitting circle.

This is only one small area where the language you use determines the results you get and it is a vast and complicated subject so I’m focusing only on one small area of this right now. As a therapist and also lecturer in neuro linguistics, the language element of what we use with clients is vast and is a therapeutic tool and can, in one fell swoop, complete demolish someone’s old belief system they had or give a perspective and understanding they never considered before. We change behaviour purely using linguistic techniques, so if we are able to do that only by using specific wording in a particular format and questioning techniques, then what do you think happens to your body and the commands given through the language you use internally when you are trying to achieve the best you have ever done?

All I’m going to discuss is the “negatives” in your language for the moment. So if you try really really hard right now to NOT think of a blue tree – what happens?? That’s right – a blue tree pops onto your head. Put this in a training or competing context. Say, “don’t lose control of the bar” or “don’t get caught with a jab” or don’t get stuck on the 5 rep like you did last time”.

Lets take the “DON’T lose control of the bar”. In focusing on the fact that you are worried about losing control of the bar, you then home in on that very thing happening making it “lose control of the bar”. By doing that then the signals and impulses from the brain produce a message to start losing control of the bar, like you have before, and therefore you actually start to do that very thing or at best, just feel unstable because you are looking for it.

In focusing on the DON’T – you are then creating a self-fulfilling prophecy and the brain is exceedingly obedient. You have to “watch your language” and also be careful what you wish for because whatever your attention is turned to is what all those electrical signals will produce.

The brain is an incredible mechanism which thousands and thousands of receptors and impulses which will leap into action with whatever you turn your direct attention to. Your internal dialogue is no exception and so you have to be extremely careful what parts on the brain you are engaging when you focus on something.

Someone who suffers with anxiety will have real fear of certain situations and so will focus very hard on “NOT having anxiety” at a certain time. They search for it, waiting for that familiar feeling to appear and in doing so actually set the signals in motion to start then entire chain reaction happening.

This is where we must be very precise in what we want. How we want to feel. The results that we want.

The internal and external dialogue has to “clean”. As in without the tarnish of the negative in there. So the “don’t lose control of the bar” will be “keep the bar steady and controlled” or if you want it to feel a certain way “progressive and strong”.

A footballer I worked with in Premier League had come back after a knee injury where he had been tackled badly. His fear was the same thing happening again and he described the feeling he got of someone literally putting the brakes on him when he realised he was going to be tackled and there were two thoughts going through his mind. One was “DON’T get injured” and the other was “DON’T lose the ball”. So needless to say, the body went into motion and made sure he didn’t get injured by slowing to a snail’s pace pretty much giving the ball away AND losing the ball.

A simple change in his internal dialogue was all he needed and he decided the outcome he wanted and the phrase he was going to use instead was “it’s my fucking ball”! So, watching him on the TV at his next game, someone came in to tackle him and my client steamrollered all over him and scored. A very proud moment knowing he was thinking “it’s my fucking ball”!

So, when you are faced with something you are worried about, challenged with or had trouble with something before, first of all decide on the outcome you want. Then decided how you want it to be or feel and run that repeatedly over in your head so that you

1) cause a pattern interrupt on the old thought process

2) Redirect your attention to what you DO want

3) engage a different part of the brain and signalling to create the outcome you want.

Such a simple technique with a myriad of things happening behind the scenes in your brain and physical output. Something else you could try is to have a conversation with any negative in there, No “don’ts” “wouldn’t” “shouldn’t” “cant” “wont” etc in there and see how difficult it is to actually have a conversation without any of those in there? It’s extremely hard to do which also emphasises how common those negatives are in our language and how many negative instructions we are sending to ourselves and others all the time.

So – watch your fecking language and be careful what you wish for!

“I’m just going to do this competition as a run through before the major one in May” I heard myself saying and certainly on a number of levels I believed it.

The one thing I was about to experience, as I do with every competition and pretty much 100% of my sport and competing performance clients experience – was the “perception of pressure”.

As we come close to competition or anything we believe is a personal challenge we start to become more aware of areas we hadn’t taken conscious notice of before but they start to come into our thoughts as we progress nearer to the crunch time.

We also may be running an embedded behavior or routine which at some point in our lives we believed motivated us or got us results we were not sure we could achieve. It then becomes a primary response in reaction to recognised situations like thinking about a competition coming up.

So, tomorrow I leave for Wales. There is a small competition I was supposed to be refereeing at but decided that I would bench as it would be a good run through for the major competition I have in May. Up until last week that was all it was…………………….I was just going to bench the weight I was training on in my cycle up to the mammoth bloody task I had set myself in the May Expo.

So suddenly I’m thinking about “what if I don’t do as well as I wanted” and “I don’t want people to see me fail because I have benched World Records and the 12 biggest ever bench across all weight categories for a woman” etc etc.

As soon as I started the whole thought process I knew what I was doing – and the reality is that that your perception of “pressure” which you react, mould and base your decisions around are not in fact real.

The one thing I work with so many clients on is the perception of pressure and we have to rationalise the entire list of external forces we BELIEVE are pressing down on us.

First of all – no one puts pressure on us, they actually cant. We are the ones that to create that feeling of pressure and turn it into something tangible so we recognise it. Again this is all down to association and US creating that feeling and all the meanings we add to it that no one else can do for us.

So when you start thinking about letting people down, not wanting to perform badly in front of people, losing respect of followers or fans, that you have to win or perform otherwise you wont be seen as the contender you once were – its all an internal world which you have created, it isn’t real.

The world you see through your own eyes and the meanings you put onto other peoples behavior is all terribly good telepathy – but doesn’t actually tell us the reality of what other people think and the most amazing thing is that we dont in fact ask.

All those eyes you think are watching you – half it. And of the 50% percent that is left – ask yourself, if you were in their position, what would they be thinking about you? Would they be judging you? Probably not, they will probably want to see you do well and all they ask of you is to give 100%. Not giving 100% is when you do let people down.

And for the people who are “waiting for you to fail” – what percentage of those people have actually achieved anything and don’t have any self esteem issues? That would be a very large hairy Zero.

So as I sit here now, remembering all the conversations, late night and early mornings, warm up areas and changing rooms I have sat in with clients having this conversation, now its time to apply it, once again, to me.

And I sit here knowing that I haven’t organised my kit yet and need to check my competing bench shirts, chalk etc for the 27th time and go through the list one last time all I think of when I see in my mind the competition on Saturday is an auditorium of friends who have seen my competing career rise over many years, who remember the divorces, the heartache, the moments of total despair and who were there for me, wanting me to do well and in a way almost more of a family than my own has been in some ways. And the pressure is gone.

So when I hit the “publish” button and this links into all the various places back to my Ironpsyche site, not only is this an article for you and how our brains work with our perception of reality – it is also some of me as well.

www.ironpsyche.com

Visualisation – not just a pretty picture

Now, for many of you visualisation is something that F1 drivers and tree hugging hessian clad muesli eaters use but it is something that goes so far beyond the “idea” of visualisation and directly hits your physiology it is jaw dropping.

There are numerous people who talk about and give advice on visualisation techniques but without understanding the neurological feedback that happens when you create the visual image in your mind and frequently leave out the most important part of that – which is the movement.

It has been around for many years but only recently has research understood why it works and therefore the vital components required to make it really work and oddly enough the key came from brain imaging of people who had a physical dysphasia – a limb or digit that had started to refuse to work due to loss of communication in particular areas of the brain.

For us, we use it in our sport to help recreate what we want to do, be it a tackle, a lift, a strike or any of the movements that are core to us at that time.

So, our attention and what we focus on sparks areas of the brain to react and connections are formed along all the paths that create the movement (output) that we want. What normally happens is that we do that movement over and over again until all the signals are embedded and we find that we do it automatically without thinking about it and there we create an automated embedded response so we don’t have to think about it, we just do it. An example would be driving.

Now – interestingly, we can form those same connections (as long as the basic work has been done) to add some vital elements like power, flow, a specific manoeuvre etc. using our visual part of the brain where we play what we want to happen in our head and the neural connections can be activated and inlaid as well. It’s all part of the attention factor and how we make physical movements happen.

To make visualisation techniques really work for you, there has be an order it happens in. First you have to construct the sequence and the image in your mind. It has to be realistic and based on something you already do. So, for instance if you want that squat you have been trying so hard to get for ages, run the movie of actually doing it, through your own eyes  as though it is happening you right now. This then activates a recognition system and a couple of other parts of the brain to start firing signals to the physical areas needed to complete the movement.

The next step and the VITAL one is to actually do the movement. Of course this is always fraught with the possibility of looking like a prize pratt, but would you rather look like a pratt for a moment with your eyes shut with a big squat or just carry on with an average one?

From running the physical movement along with the visual rehearsal, it allows the brain to marry up the two centres responsible for the physical and visual sections and create new connections so that the pathways are now laid. So, when you come to do it for real, it is almost as though you have done it before and everything fires as though have.

Most of my clients use this technique now from boxing to bodybuilding to powerlifting and with momentous success. For me, I have been using it for years and imprinting what you want to do before you go ahead and do it can give you insights into the real potential you have – if you just use your head.

Following a year out due to shoulder surgery James was determined to be back stronger than where he left off In his stellar 2009 season which had earned him a top 10 ranking in Britain and the Quad Racing Associations young gun award.
A training trip to the USA saw James fitness training up in New Jersey before heading south to the warmer state of north Carolina where testing and bike training began. Having not ridden for 10 months getting back up to speed took a few days. He then headed down to Georgia to Aonia Pass to test himself against the best in America and raced the first round of the US Nationals where he rode flawlessly to win the 16-24 age class. He commented after ‘having not ridden for so long its hard to judge where you will really be and I think a bit of doubt can easily enter your mind. But the past few weeks, since I knew I was going to be doing this race, I kept seeing myself on the top step of the podium and held the belief that I’d already won. So to take my first win on my first race on American soil feels awesome. My heart was racing at 100mph but when you are on the bike you’re doing movements that you cannot replicate in the gym which is why bike time is so important.’

On returning to Europe following a few weeks more training James was off to Holland for the opening round of the UEM European Quadcross championships where he’d be up against the best from the continent. It was a deep sand track that got extremely rough and most of practise and the first Moto really was getting the bike correctly setup. A tumble in the first Moto left James with a disappointing 23rd. Following work done in the interval a mid pack start for the 2nd Moto saw a determined Behan move up the pack to a respectable 12th place.
‘This has been a tough weekend, definitely not what I was aiming for but I’m pleased with how I rode to salvage good points in the second Moto. The deep sand here is nothing like the sand back home and I think the event was dominated by the Dutch and Belgian sand specialists but this is the only deep sand circuit in the series.’

The 30 minute +2 lap Moto’s really were a bit of a shock, with the previous British championship races only being 20mins + 2 and 12minute sprints in America. More work was needed leading up to round to at Castelnau de Levis circuit in the south of France. A hot weekend greeted the riders and James had a less than ideal start to the weekend. Stalling the bike on the first turn to avoid a crashed rider he had to set off dead last. Showing excellent pace james quickly scythed through most of the field up to 11th position after 75% race distance before settling for 14th at the flag.


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For years, bodybuilding, weight training and sports of many kinds have been my life but bodybuilding is my absolute passion, my future and the reason why I live my life the way I do.  This was until taking ‘a year out’ to do some different things found me on a path enjoying something that many of the UK’s finest troops would come to benefit from.  Let me explain.

I’ve been a natural competitive bodybuilding champion and continue to further my bodybuilding dreams and goals but one thing I decided to do this year was take some time out from the competitive stage to do a few different things so that when I return to the competitive stage (soon!) I will feel that brand new hunger for it again.  I wanted to take this year to give back to others, concentrate on work both paid and charity, try some new things and give my body a much needed rest from the intensity of competition life.  So, in the last year, I’ve done a half marathon for charity, volunteered for Crisis helping the homeless over the Christmas holiday period including giving up my Christmas Day to help the homeless, experimented with my weight training, developed and invested in new skills for my personal training clients and taken on a multitude of clients from all walks of life and one thing I decided to give a go at, for myself was, yep, boxing!

Initially, I decided to do it as a means of developing a new cardio skill and tackle a sport I’d always wanted to try.  In my profession of personal training, it’s always good to learn new skills and expand the horizons to experience all kinds of sports.  Little did I imagine that one day when I was doing pad and body work with my trainer that someone in the gym I train and work in called Lee Brown (www.leebrownevents.com) who is the founder and promoter of many white collar charity boxing events would ask me to take part in one of his charity events.  Who, me???!!! I thought why not?!  I LOVE boxing training, sure, but stepping in the ring is a whole different thing.  There’s a lot on the line (mostly my cheekbones and brain cells) but if I trained right, I knew I could do it.  I didn’t think twice and agreed to the challenge and put everything I could into getting ready for my first ever boxing fight.

Just before the fight commenced – ‘Anita The Beater’ (aka:  The Glamour with the Hammer!)
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Get Your Hormones In Check – The Natural Way

By Ru Anderson BSc HONS

This will hopefully serve you as a ‘go to’ guide to help you achieve an improved hormone profile and realise why it is essential to do so when pursing your physique goals.

The article is not going to be loaded with scientific words or long quotes from research papers; it’s confusing for most and not my style. Instead, it is based on tried and tested methods; call it ‘street science’, collected by myself, clients and from speaking to those in the know.

Why worry about your hormones?

A few years ago I would never have put so much thought or effort into what my hormones were doing. My goal has always been to build muscle since a young age, and I always had the notion that because I was young and healthy my hormones would be optimal for doing so. This was true to some extent, they have never been sub par, but as everyone knows to increase their protein and calories for more muscle mass, I now believe a balanced hormone profile should be considered just as important.

What hormones are we talking about exactly?

The two hormones I believe to be the most important when wanting to build muscle and lose fat is insulin and testosterone.

Insulin is the anabolic hormone in the body. It is a potent inducer of amino acid uptake and protein synthesis. All dietary carbohydrates are broken down into glucose in the small intestines, which is then absorbed by the blood stream. This will either be used as an immediate energy source or it will be stored – as directed by insulin.

Testosterone is present in everybody and is a steroid hormone from the androgen group. In humans, testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females. It has a whole host of functions including increasing muscle mass and strength, maintaining bone strength and ensuring the sexual organs are in working order. Testosterone can fall below normal levels and is typical during the aging process.

Powerful stuff, so is playing with your hormones still natural?

None of the following information/methods/foods or supplements are going to take your hormone levels above what is considered in the medical world as ‘unnaturally high’. I am a natural bodybuilder and wish to stay that way, so my methods and techniques only use foods or natural substances we already receive through our diets and lifestyles.

Let’s talk Testosterone…

As we already know it is a very powerful hormone and one of the best ways to ensure higher levels of test is via an improved diet. The main testosterone boosting macro nutrient is fat. Most people are not eating anywhere near enough fats in their diet and it is stopping them from building muscle and losing body fat.

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Exercises after a C-Section getting  fit after pregnancy.
A C-section is a major operation that requires an extensive incision along your abdomen.

As a result, your stomach muscles are cut completely through and stitched back together again.

Such extensive damage takes a while to heal!

However, many new mums don’t realise that they can exercise their abs right up to and immediatley after their C-section.

First off, check with your doctor and midwife as there may have been complications that require some extra recuperation time. However, assuming everything went well, you can get started straight away with strengthening your abdominal muscles.

Abdominal Exercise After a C-Section – The First Few Weeks…

Assuming you did as advised, you’ll have been doing pelvic floor exercises all the way through your pregnancy.

In particular Kegel Crunches, Kegal exercises can help prevent and control urinary incontinence and other pelvic floor problems which can happen after birth or after a c-section: These are easy to do.

Contract your pelvic floor (not your abs or rectal muscles) muscles

Hold for 3-5 seconds

Slowly release, relax and repeat

Work up to 20 repetitions

Try and do a set of 20, 3-4 times a day

As your strength increases, try and hold each contraction for a count of 10

Check with your doctor, but these shouldn’t cause your healing abdominal muscles or stitches a problem. You can also do isometric ab contractions. Simply contract your abs gently – stop if it hurts – and hold for as long as you can.

Abdominal Exercise After a C-Section – Four to Six Weeks After Birth…

Once your stitches have healed and your doctor has given you the all clear, you can start on some isotonic abdominal exercises, like crunches. Remember, your abdominal muscles have been through a significant trauma and will be weaker than before your pregnancy.

Not only have they expanded and been stretched by carrying your baby, they’ve also been cut through during delivery.

As such, start gently.

Essentially, there are two main exercises for your abs – crunches and reverse curls.

These are really all you need to start with.

The former emphasise the upper portion of your rectus abdominus (the slab of muscle that stretches from sternum to pelvis, commonly known as your “six-pack”).

The latter works the lower portion and is vital for strengthening and flattening the little pot that many women are left with after giving birth.

#1. Crunches

Lie on your back, bend your knees and rest your feet on the floor

Place one hand on each ear – not behind your head – with your elbows pointing towards your feet

Breathe in, contract your abs, exhale and slowly lift your head off the floor, curling your chest towards your knees so your shoulders just leave the floor

Hold for a second or two and lower your shoulders and head back to the floor

Repeat 8-10 times

As you get stronger, try two then three sets of 8-10 reps, with a 30 second rest in between.

#2. Reverse Curls

Again, lie on your back, this time with your thighs pointed straight up and your lower legs parallel to the floor

Place one hand on each ear with your elbows pointing outwards

Breathe in then exhale as you tilt your pelvis towards your chest, lifting your bottom off the floor

Hold for a second or two, then gradually relax and return your bottom to the floor

Repeat 8-10 times

Again, as you get stronger, try two then three sets of 8-10 reps, with a 30 second rest in between.

Three sets of both exercises should take you no more than 5-6 minutes.

Do each exercise every other day to start with and then daily as you get stronger.

Don’t forget though, that whilst abdominal exercise after a C-section will strengthen your abs, you need to build in some aerobic exercise to burn fat and resistance training to build muscle.

Both of which will help you to raise your metabolic rate so you burn more calories and lose your excess weight.

Combine that with a healthy eating plan and both you and baby will be in great shape!

Forget dieting for the first six months after giving birth. But when you’re ready and if you still have some weight to lose, you may want to start a healthy eating plan.

Abdominal exercise after a C-section will help you to flatten your stomach over the course of a few months — just get started as soon as it’s safe to do so, do it most days and stick with it!

Your diet and training are the key aspects to increasing muscle mass and reaching your goal, below you will find an example plan for both training and diet that will give you guidance on how you should start to structure your lifestyle if you wish to change or maintain your physique.

Mass Gaining Plan;

DIET

Breakfast 7am :  Animal Pack
Large Bowl Porridge oats with honey/Jam and udo’s oil
Glass fresh Orange juice
Three scoops Vyomax Deluxe protein with Semi Skimmed milk

Mid-Morning 9.30:  Aminos
Multi Grain Chicken Breast Sandwich
Two scoops Vyomax meal replacement with Skimmed milk

Dinner 12.30:  

Red Meat (steak/Lean Mince Balls) with rice / pasta / potatoes
Yoghurt
Mixed Berries Fruit salad(Anti Oxidents)

Pre Training 3pm: Aminos
Large handful cashews/Peanuts
All in one formula

Training 4:30pm

Vyomax Maxi Force Shot

Post Training 7pm: Animal Pack
Vyomax recovery Shake
Vyogain Bar

Post training Meal 8pm:
Oily Fish Approx 300g (Salmon/Mackerel) with rice / pasta / potatoes and vegetables

Pre Bed 10.30pm: Aminos
3 scoops Vyomax deluxe protein blended with large bowl Porridge oats and udo’s oil

TRAINING PLAN

Training consists of a 4 sessions over 10 days program to give more recovery time.

Session 1

Box Squats + Hack Machine Squats

Hamstring Curls + Stiff leg deadlift

Donkey Calf raises

Session 2

Flat Bench Press + Incline Dumbbells

Weighted Dips + Triceps pushdown

Weighted Abdominal curls

Session 3

Mid – Shin Deadlifts + Good Mornings

Bent over row + Pull downs

Olympic bar curls + Hammer curls

Donkey Calf raises

Session 4

Flat bench Board presses

Dumbbell military press

Side lateral dumbbells

Rear lateral dumbbells

Weighted Abdominal curls

Your body is a very complex machine and as such it needs to be fuelled properly in order for it to work to it’s maximum potential. The nutrients essential for health and development can be divided into Macronutrients which are Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats and Micronutrients which are Vitamins, Minerals and trace elements. Carbohydrates make up around 50% of your total daily energy intake, Protein 15 – 30% and Fats 15 – 20%.

Carbohydrates affect energy and performance according to when they are eaten and what category they fall into. They are divided into two types – Complex, also known as Starches which supply a steady release of energy into the bloodstream and are mostly found in vegetables, wholegrain bread, brown rice and pasta and Simple Carbohydrates, also known as sugars which are released into the bloodstream quickly thus supplying a faster release of energy and which are mainly found in refined foods, pastries, soft drinks and cakes.

The body converts carbohydrates into glucose which then provides your body with the energy it needs. If too much glucose is taken in by the body then it converts to glycogen which is stored in the liver and the muscles until it is needed. If too much glycogen is taken in then it will be stored as fat.

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Vyomax is now one of the leading retailers of sports supplements, body building and vitamin supplement programmes throughout the UK, offering a wide and varied choice of performing enhancing products and supplements, SK Sports are in this position simply due to the drive, determination and eagerness of one man with a business acumen and astuteness to match.

Samir Kiami may be a name that you may have already come across before the development of Vyomax. Mr Kiami is a former body builder and competitor who carved out a respected reputation for himself within the sports and strength training world. When Mr. Kiami left school, instead of opting to go into further education he decided to jump straight into the real world with both feet, starting a job as a sales assistant at Weider in Manchester, due to his overall attitude and hunger to succeed he quickly climbed up the corporate ladder and became the manager of the establishment.

Even though he had found himself in a position of authority and good stature it was still always his dream to run and own his own sports nutrition business, so leaving behind a great job with great prospects, he left the company to fulfiull his ambition and began selling belts to local gyms out the back of his van, this then progressed to buying and selling products and accessories under his brand name of SK Sports, with the success he achieved from this he was able to start up from his own warehouse, and the rest as they say is history. He very quickly outgrew his small warehouse and is now the proud owner of his own empire where he has three warehouses in the shopping capital of the Northwest, the Trafford Park, Manchester.