Month: April 2017

The Outside View

“Olympic lifting is very technical and to be good requires a lot of practice,” says powerlifter Tom Hamilton (see p68). “If you get bored easily, it isn’t for you. The benefits are clear though – it builds strong, powerful physiques, requires a good level of flexibility, gives you clear targets to work on and can be fun.”

Olympic weightlifting

It’s a sport in itself, but you don’t need a singlet or gold-medal aspirations to benefit from increased power, mobility and speed

What is it?

Training and competing in the two Olympic lifts: the snatch (where the bar goes from the floor to overhead in one move) and the clean and jerk (where you “clean” the bar to your shoulders, then push-press it overhead and drop underneath it). Competitive lifters get three attempts at each to post a combined total for both.

What’s it best for?

“Although I compete, I first learned the lifts for developing power for other sports,” says strength and conditioning coach Alex Adams. “It’s essentially jumping with weights, so it improves not only strength but speed and rate of force development.”

What are its limitations?

It’s not exactly entry-level. “To do the full lifts safely requires very good mobility, flexibility and balance,” says Adams. “This shouldn’t put people off – practising the positions is a great way to improve knee and hip flexibility.” But forget the cardio until you’re experienced. “Fatigue reduces rep quality, so Oly lifts aren’t great for metabolic work until you’ve learned your technical limits.”

Instant expertise

Learn the hook grip

Tuck your thumb under your first two fingers. It hurts but it works. “It secures the bar much better and leads to higher loads lifted in the long term,” says Adams. “Anyone who lifts should use it.” It’ll also help you improve your deadlift.

Know your power hangs

“The terminology is fairly simple: power variations are lifts caught in a half squat or higher,” says Adams. “Cleans and snatches can be done from the ‘hang’, meaning that you don’t start from the floor – but you could start anywhere from knee to mid-thigh, depending on what you’re working on.”

Don’t say “squat clean”

“That’s a CrossFit thing,” says Adams. “In reality, every full squat or clean should be caught at full squat depth – otherwise it’s an indication that you could be lifting more.”

You’ve made it when…

You can clean and jerk your own bodyweight. “That’s my initial benchmark, but you’re doing well if you can then progress to snatching bodyweight,” says Adams. Want to compete? Standards are high: to qualify for a English national competition you’d need to total 239kg as an 85kg lifter.

Build power

“Most sessions will begin with snatch or a snatch variant,” says Adams. “It takes the most speed to execute so it comes when you’re freshest. I usually do both lifts on the same day but vary the exact exercise to limit the crossover and fatigue. Most sessions will have a heavy squat or pull but rarely both. Assistance work like pressing, rowing and back and abs comes last.”

1 Snatch pullSets 5 Reps 2

It’s easier than the full snatch, but still a great power generator. Set up with the bar on the floor and your hands fairly wide. Drive up, and bump the bar off your hips as you shrug it slightly upwards. Drop, reset and go again.

2 High hang clean Sets 4 Reps 2

Start with the bar in your hands, with a shoulder-width grip. Bend your knees slightly, then do a small jump as you explosively bring the bar to your shoulders.

3 Front squatSets 4 Reps 3

Take the bar out of a rack with it resting across the front of your shoulders, supporting it slightly with your fingertips. Squat down with your weight on your heels, and drive back up.

4 Bent-over rowSets 3 Reps 8

Bend forward at the hips, and pull the barbell to your sternum. Pause, then lower.

5 Hanging leg raiseSets 3 Reps 10

Hang from a bar with your legs straight. Bring them until they’re at 90° from your torso, pause and lower.

CrossFit

Functional movements, ultra-high intensity… and injuries? Not if you do it right

What is it?

A fitness company, exercise style and competitive sport, incorporating elements from high-intensity interval training, Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics, calisthenics and strongman. Strict CrossFitters might follow the crossfit.com “mainsite” workouts of the day (also known as WODs), following a three-days-on, one-day-off format, but most CrossFit gyms will run their own programming, incorporating strength and skill work.

What’s it good for?

“Developing an all-round base of fitness that includes metabolic conditioning and strength and skill and mobility,” says CrossFit London coach Andrew Stemler. “I think there’s a lot of truth in the idea that we fail at the edges of our competence – so the further we can push those edges out the better. If two runners who have done the same endurance regime line up on the starting line, the one who can do snatches or handstands or pull-ups seems to have an edge over the one who can’t.”

What are its limitations?

“As a fitness regime – if you do it twice a week for fun – it can suffer from a lack of specialism,” says Stemler. “If you’re practising snatches, handstands, pull-ups, rowing, running and deadlifting, the gains won’t be as great in any one area than if you specialise – but, of course, if you specialise, you neglect another area.”

Instant expertise

Know your WODs

The best-known workouts are named after girls – Elizabeth, Diane and Cindy are some of the best-known – or deceased soldiers, known as “The Hero Workouts”. The latter are usually vicious, and a solid time on Murph – 100 pull-ups, 200 press-ups and 300 squats, bookended by one-mile runs – is essential.

Do the penguin

If you can’t do a double-under – the skipping trick where you twirl the rope twice per jump – you’ll get nowhere in CrossFit competition. Master it fast with the penguin hop: jump in the air, slap your hands to your thighs twice before you land, and repeat at speed. You’ll get calf work and co-ordination.

Talk EMOMs

Newbies do the mainsite WODs, but all the cool CrossFitters use “every minute on the minute” (EMOM) training to pack in work without compromising form. Pick two or three moves, set a clock going, and do your reps at the top of the minute. The quicker you move, the more you get to recover. Try it with front squats and dips.

You’ve made it when…

The “kipping” pull-up and the ring muscle-up are the first things to master: both take skill and co-ordination. “After that, the aim is to do a classic WOD such as Fran – 21, 15 and nine reps each of pull-ups and thrusters (a front squat into a press) with 42kg – in a reasonable time,” says Stemler. Aim for under ten minutes.

Get go-anywhere conditioning

The WOD Kalsu, named after ex-NFL player Bob Kalsu, who died in the Vietnam war, is CrossFit’s most deceptively brutal workout. Hardcore CrossFitters do it with a 60kg barbell, but you should start light. Start with five burpees and continue (for the rest of the minute) doing thrusters. On the next minute start over again with five burpees and keep going until you’ve done, yes, 100 thrusters. Rest, and cry.

1 Burpee

Drop into a press-up position and let your chest hit the floor, then hop back to your feet, jump and clap your hands over your head.

2 Thruster

Holding dumbbells at your shoulders, squat and then stand up, using the momentum to help drive the dumbbells overhead.

The Outside View

All that intensity doesn’t come without issues. “The problem I have with CrossFit’s gymnastic elements is that the sole focus seems to be on the volume of repetition with little regard for control, body alignment or required strength,” says calisthenics specialist Darren Onyejekwe (see p64). “Kipping pull-ups and muscle-ups, handstand walking with massively extended spines and wall-assisted handstand press-ups where the legs are thrown up into the air to generate momentum to make the movement easier… Once you combine these movements with fatigue and a competitive environment it’s a recipe for disaster.” The lesson? Build up to them properly.

The Outside View

“I’ve got a huge amount of time for calisthenics,” says physique coach Jonny Jacobs (see p66). “If you need proof of how calisthenics can change your body composition for the better, just look at male gymnasts. These guys are solid muscle from head to toe, mobile and flexible with low body fat.”

Calisthenics

Build functional strength with no kit – in the gym or in the great outdoors

What is it?

Technically, it’s almost any form of bodyweight training – but recently it’s come to mean the ultra-modern “sport” of urban calisthenics or street workout, consisting of moves done on pull-up bars or playground equipment, focusing on advanced variations that include bar spins and muscle-ups.

What’s it good for?

“Calisthenics is a great training method to build lean muscle mass, gain strength and master control of your own body,” says Darren Onyejekwe, a calisthenics specialist otherwise known as Bodyweight D. The last part is one of the most important: by learning to build tension throughout your body, you’ll be in better control when it’s time to lift. And, of course, it’s great Instagram-fodder.

What are its limitations?

“If you’re trying to pack on loads of muscle mass, calisthenics isn’t the most efficient option,” says Onyejekwe. “Combined with a sensible diet, it’ll create a lean, defined body, like a gymnast’s.” Without added weight, you’ll also have to think creatively to train your legs. Pistol squats are an option, but they take mobility and balance.

Instant expertise

Know your scapula

“Your shoulder blades can sit in four positions: protraction, retraction, elevation and depression,” says Onyejekwe. “Even people who can do the advanced skills often don’t have a clue which position they’re using.” The scapula pull-up will help with retraction and depression: hang from a bar, and keep your elbows straight back as you pull your shoulder blades together, aiming to get your shoulders away from your ears.

Unleash L

Make the L-sit your new favourite abs move. “This static position should be one of the first skills you learn,” says Onyejekwe. “But most people will need to work on their core strength and hip flexors.” If you can’t do the full thing – hands on the floor, legs out – start between two chairs, holding your thighs horizontal with knees bent. Do 60 seconds of this in as few sets as possible, twice a week.

Fly the flag

The human flag is the side-on move you’ve seen in endless Instagram pictures. “It’s a ‘semi-opposed’ skill, meaning that it requires you to push with one arm and pull with the other,” says Onyejekwe.

You’ve made it when…

“Calisthenics is all about the quality of movement over the quantity,” says Onyejekwe. “A lot of people are attracted to it by the highlight-reel moves, but I’d say make sure you can perform clean, full-range reps of press-ups, dips, pull ups, squats and hanging knee raises. I respect anyone who’s striving for clean movements and is in full control throughout the entire range of movement.”

Build bodyweight strength

“This workout is focused on strength, so the reps are kept low and there’s a decent amount of rest between sets,” says Onyejekwe. “Focus on quality movement.” Do it twice a week, supersetting the moves marked A and B, resting for as long as you need to get through the reps.

1 L-sit hold

Sets 3 Time 20-30sec Rest 1-3min

Do it on bars, or the edge of a sofa/chair. If you can’t manage the full version, tuck your legs.

2A Pull-up

Sets 5 Reps 5

Aim to pull your elbows behind you, and touch your collarbone to the bar on each rep.

2B Dip

Sets
5 Reps5
Rest 1-3min

Lower until your upper arms are parallel to the floor, pause, and push back up.

3A Press-up

Sets 5 Reps 10

Keep your hands under your shoulders, tuck your elbows to your sides, and touch your chest to the floor on each rep.

3B Inverted row

Sets
5 Reps 10 Rest1-3min

Lie under a bar/Smith machine with your feet flat and body straight. Pull up until your chest touches the bar, pause and lower.

4 Hollow body hold

Sets 5
Time 60sec Rest 1-2min

Lie on the floor, then bring your hands above your head, arms straight, and feet off the floor. Hold it.

5 Superman hold

Sets 5
Time 60sec Rest 1-2min From the hollow hold, roll onto your front and do the reverse, Man of Steel-style. It’ll build near-bulletproof abs.

6A Bodyweight squatSets 5 Reps 20

With your feet shoulder-width apart, squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor, pause, and stand up.

6B Half bridge

Sets
5 Reps 12 Rest1-2min

Lie on the floor with your feet close to your glutes. Drive your hips up in the air, pause and lower.

Physique training

Just want to look good? No problem – but “chest and triceps Monday” is so three decades ago, bro

What is it?

Assuming you aren’t planning to step onstage and bust out a double-biceps spread, physique training is simply training with aesthetics, not performance, at the forefront of your mind. It uses drop sets, forced reps and other techniques to cause maximum muscular damage in the pursuit of gains. You can also use it in tandem with other training to hit your weak spots and bust through plateaus.

What’s it best for?

“In essence training to improve body composition is about increasing lean muscle while reducing body fat,” says coach (and PhD in male body image) Jonny Jacobs. “For optimal results, combine strength training with anaerobic conditioning.”

What are its limitations?

Training to failure – or for tempo – isn’t always transferable to sporting disciplines, so if you’re looking for success on the five-a-side pitch or for a 5K PB, you’d be better of focusing elsewhere.

Instant expertise

Know your hypertrophy

There are two kinds: sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar. In sarcoplasmic, the volume of muscle cell fluid sarcoplasm increases – making your muscles bigger, but not necessarily stronger. Myofibrils, on the other hand, are what contract and generate power, and increasing their density will help you do it better. To build the latter, make your lifts explosive.

Invest in RMR

“Your resting metabolic rate dictates how much energy you’ll burn when you’re not in the gym,” says Jacobs. “Build more lean muscle, and it’ll improve.” Translation: by lifting weights, you’ll transform your body into a 24-hour fat-furnace.

Get on HIIT

“It wasn’t invented by Instagrammers,” Jacobs says of the increasingly popular interval training method. “It’s what we used to call a finisher.” What most people are missing is the high intensity part. For best results, use it twice a week at most – and leave it all on the floor.

You’ve made it when…

You see your body fat percentage start to drop. As a general rule, you’ll be able to see the outline of your abs at 10-12%; less means shredded. “Single-digit body fat is incredibly impressive and for most people takes a lot of dedication,” says Jacobs. “Very few people can maintain it, and it’s more about food than what you’re lifting.”

Put on size

“Three sets of eight to 12 reps is old-school for a reason – it works,” says Jacobs. “For any physique programme, aim to do large compound lifts first, then add in accessory exercises such as biceps curls, lateral raises or triceps push-downs. To improve body composition keep rest periods to around 60 seconds.” Here’s a classic chest-builder.

1 Bench pressSets 4 Reps 12

Keep the reps to a 4010 tempo: lower for four seconds, and press up for one.

2 Incline dumbbell press

Sets 3 Reps 10

This time, you’re going to hit a 3111 tempo. Pause at the bottom and top of the move, giving your pecs a chance to stretch.

3A Incline dip

Sets 3 Reps 10

Lean forward as you perform the dip – it’ll target your chest more.

3B Dumbbell flyeSets 3 Reps 10

Do this move with slightly bent arms, and pause at the bottom of each rep to feel the stretch across your chest.

The Outside View

“Bodybuilding can be great fun, but old-school training like having an ‘arms only’ day where you do a ton of volume just doesn’t make sense to me and isn’t necessary,” says powerlifter Tom Hamilton (see p68). “My view is that there should be an element of powerlifting within your training programme whereby you have some objective progress, monitoring lifts instead of just basing your opinion on if your training is working by what you see in the mirror – which is very subjective.”

Photography Glen Burrows Model Tom Eastham

The Outside View

It’s a pretty niche sport – and rife with infighting – but fun. “Powerlifting seems fairly misunderstood but can be a great entry into weight training generally,” says Olympic lifting coach Alex Adams (see p60). “As long as powerlifting programmes have enough variety they don’t do you any harm. Problems arise when you become too specialist and only do the competitive lifts.”

Powerlifting

Getting strong in the Big Three lifts isn’t just for huge guys – weight category competitions mean anyone can impress

What is it?

Technically, it actually means competing in the Big Three lifts (bench, deadlift and squat) – it isn’t considered good form to call yourself a powerlifter if you just train in them. The sport comes in “raw” (just T-shirt and shorts) and “equipped” varieties, the latter allowing knee and elbow wrapping, alongside spring-loaded suits that provide a hefty degree of assistance.

What is it best for?

Raw strength. “While it can have some carryover to building muscle, powerlifting’s main focus is one-rep strength in the big three,” says powerlifter and coach Tom Hamilton. That means lots of low-rep training, watching your figure (it’s a weight-categoryobsessed sport) – and, of course, focusing on the finer technical points of the big lifts.

What are its limitations?

“Its strength may also be its weakness,” says Hamilton. “A heavy focus on maximal strength and particular lifts during a programme may cause overuse injuries – and, of course, there’s the danger of neglecting qualities like conditioning or mobility.”

Instant expertise

Go sumo

Most comps allow either regular or sumo-style deadlifting – you should experiment with both. For the latter, keep your feet double shoulder-width apart and your hands inside your knees – it’s an ideal option for a tall man.

Mention Westside

Westside Barbell, founded by Louis Simmons, turns out the strongest lifters ever, thanks to an ultra-competitive atmosphere and Simmons’s combining of speed-lifting “dynamic” days with all-out max effort sessions. Also worth noting: they rarely do the Big Three outside competition, building strength with endless variations like the box squat and close-grip bench press.

Know your programmes

At some point, somebody’s going to ask you what you’re “running”. Lifter and coach Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 is the safe option, but for extra points mention the Cube (a popular new method based on Simmons’s ideas), Coan-Phillipi (a deadlift programme used by the man regarded as the best lifter ever, Ed Coan) or Smolov (four times a week squat plan – for maniacs only).

You’ve made it when…

It’s not as simple as dividing your total by your bodyweight: limb length, muscle size and overall stress make a difference – put your numbers into wilkscalculator.com for a readout powerlifters will respect. “To be a competitive high-level powerlifter you’d need to aim for a Wilks of 400-plus,” says Hamilton. “If you have no desire to compete but enjoy the three powerlifts, a 300-plus Wilks would make you one of the stronger guys in your gym.”

Get triple-threat strength

“One way to train is a daily undulating periodisation, or DUP, approach,” says Hamilton. “This means you use a variety of reps and sets throughout the week for the same movement, allowing you to spread the volume over the course of the week.” So you might go heavy on one day, do light reps for speed on another, and have a moderate high-rep day on the third. Here’s a typical workout.

1 Squat

Sets 4 Reps 3

“Do your first set off your rate of perceived exertion, or RPE,” says Hamilton. “They should feel like a 9, or very, very hard – but how heavy that is will vary from week to week. Do your other sets at 85% of your max.”

2 Bench press

Sets 3 Reps 6

Do these at 75% of your max. In powerlifting, it’s all about the set-up: keep your grip wide enough that your forearms are vertical under the bar, and press into the floor with your feet to help the lift.

3 Pull-up

Sets 3 Reps 6

These should be hard but doable. Add a weight vest if you need to.

4 Dip

Sets 3 Reps 10

Add a weight belt, a dumbbell between your ankle or – if your gym’s really cool – chains around your neck.

There’s a reason you don’t take five aspirin for a headache: two will get the job done, and more might trigger unwanted side effects. That’s the concept of the Minimum Effective Dose applied to medicine, but it also works with training – if your aim is to lose fat, add lean muscle or simply get healthier, training until your testosterone levels drop and your cortisol cranks up can actually be counter-productive. Sure, if you’re planning to run the Marathon des Sables or ride the Tour de France then you’ll need more hours on the road or in the saddle, but the game’s the same: do the minimum you need to get the results you want, and not more. So how do you identify your MED? That’s where the team of expertsMF
has assembled come in. Read on to find out just want you need to do in the five categories below.

NUTRITION

Why upping your protein intake won’t automatically help you to add more muscle mass

SUPPS

Which supplements will give you the biggest bang for your sports nutrition buck?

TRAINING

Good news: spending hours at the gym isn’t necessary and may even be unhelpful

MOBILITY

Discover the five-minute mobility fix you can do at home that can help you stay injury-free

SLEEP

Quality not quantity is key when it comes to kip and our expert advice will help you sleep soundly

Eating essentials

Forget calorie counting and nutrient timing – the biggest results come from the most basic changes

GO UNPROCESSED

“There’s a lot more to health than just your macronutrients – protein, carbs and fat,” says Brian St Pierre, director of performance nutrition at Precision Nutrition. “You depend on appropriate amounts of vitamins and minerals to live, and especially to thrive. Technically, you don’t need phytonutrients from vegetables, fruits, wholegrains, nuts and legumes, but they do wonders for your health, recovery and overall vitality.” As a basic rule, aim for six to eight fist-sized portions of veg daily – but if you’re not even getting close, bear in mind that a UCL study found that anything above one portion a day reduces the risk of cancer and heart disease. The more the better, but some is enough.

GET ENOUGH PROTEIN

According to research published in the Journal Of The American Medical Association, the bare minimum you need to avoid losing muscle is 0.36g per kilo of bodyweight – but to build, you’ll need more. Forget grams, and think hands.

“For most men, we recommend six to eight palm-sized portions of protein-rich foods a day,” says St Pierre. “That’s items like poultry, beef, pork, fish, eggs, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt and protein powders. A mix of lean sources and less lean – think eggs, pork chops, steak – is sensible. That provides all the protein you need to build muscle, lose fat, improve recovery, and keep your immune system strong.”

FIND YOUR VITAMIN BALANCE

Not all vitamins are created equal. The fat-soluble kind (A, D, E and K) can be stored in your liver and fatty tissues, and that means you don’t need them all every day. However, their water-soluble brethren (C, the B vitamins and folic acid) will come out in your urine if you’ve got more than you need. Our suggestion? Get both kinds daily by rethinking your breakfast: chop up half a bell pepper, fry it in coconut oil, then toss in two eggs and scramble the lot.

…AND DO IT MOST OF THE TIME

“How consistently you should stick to this, and particularly how much of your intake should be from minimally processed whole foods, depends on your goals,” says St Pierre. “To be reasonably fit, healthy and lean I’d recommend shooting for around 80% of the time. Want to get really lean? Shoot for 90% or more. If you’re OK with being a little softer, and have more flexibility, 70% should do it.”

The stripped-down supplement stash

Don’t be the guy inhaling a handful of pills before breakfast. Sports nutritionist Aaron Deere selects the supplements you absolutely need to take – anything else is a bonus

PROBIOTICS: 1-10 BILLION CFU

Not familiar with CFU? It stands for ‘colony forming units’ – and that isn’t as much as it sounds. “If I had to choose one supplement to take, this would be it,” says Deere. “Probiotics are bacteria that live in our gastrointestinal tracts, helping us metabolise food, strengthening our immune systems and helping in the synthesis of some vitamins. The most recent research into probiotics has also linked them with influence on mood and cognitive function. There’s no government-recommended daily dose of probiotics, but research suggests aiming for one billion to ten billion live bacteria cultures.” Tablets can easily give you this, as can a daily serving of Greek yogurt or kefir.

EPA/DHA: 500MG

Let’s face it: you aren’t eating enough fish. “These omega 3 fatty acids have strong anti-inflammatory properties which can help neutralise the damage caused by training. Fish is the only real source of EPA and DHA in the diet – vegetarian sources of omega 3 are poorly converted to EPA and DHA,” Deere says. “The Scientific Advisory Council on Nutrition currently recommends two servings of oily fish a week to obtain the necessary amount of them, but only approximately 10% of the UK population currently manage that.” Take capsules or oil daily, aiming for 500mg.

VITAMIN D: 800IU

Just because the sun is shining doesn’t mean you’re getting enough. “Here in the UK, due to the angle of the sun’s UVB rays, we are only able to synthesise vitamin D from the sun from approximately April to October, leaving us unable to get enough vitamin D for more than half the year,” says Deere. “And even in the summer, the angle of the sun plays a key role – the general guide is that if your shadow is taller than you, your body won’t be making vitamin D. So in the UK, supplementing is the best option. Current recommendations are 400IU per day, but it’s a topic under review, with new research indicating that in the UK we may in fact need twice this amount, especially in the winter months.”

Train on time

Think short and hard or long and ultra-easy – your days of treadmill slogging are over

GO FOR THE TRIPLE

“For normal men, three gym sessions a week is likely to be enough – and will probably be more effective in the long run, as it’s more sustainable, more enjoyable, more flexible, and allows you to participate in other activities,” says St Pierre. “For most people, 45-60 minutes is enough. Foam roll for five minutes, warm up for five minutes, lift for 30-40 minutes, and finish with conditioning work – HIIT, rowing, loaded carries, sled pushes or kettlebell circuits – for five to 15 minutes.”

SET A MINIMUM EXECUTION

“Ever walk in the gym and get fed up and leave?” asks S&C coach Joseph Lightfoot, founder of Results Inc. “It happens to us all, but deciding on a minimum level of execution means you can salvage that day and make something of it. If you’re really pushed for time, pick one exercise and do it to the best of your ability.”

…AND A TIME LIMIT

“At Results Inc we find that when people are short on time their workouts can actually be better, even though they’re shorter,” says Lightfoot. “The easiest time to cut out is the dead time. You can waste more time than you think doing nothing. If you’re tight for time, be smart with your supersets: pair walking lunges with chin-ups, rear foot elevated split squats with landmine presses, or farmer’s walks with press-ups.”

STAY ACTIVE

Low-intensity activity is your secret weapon: it’ll burn a bit of extra fat with minimal stress on your body, keeping cortisol and overtraining in check. “Try and remain active on most days of the week – take the dog for walks, play with your kids, do a yoga session with your partner,” says St Pierre. “You can’t and shouldn’t go ‘beast mode’ all the time, especially once you’re over 35. A nice mix of intensities produces the best overall results.”

Minimalist mobility

No time for the foam roller? Do your mobility work between other exercises. Coach Joseph Lightfoot has the prescription

After pull-ups…the Spider-Man reach

Take a big lunge forward to stretch your hips. Plant both hands inside your lead foot, then twist towards the ceiling and reach up with one arm. On the next step, switch to the other side.

After press-ups… the wall slide

Stand with your back against a wall with your hands up, elbows and forearms against the brickwork. Slide your arms up, then down, maintaining contact with the wall without arching your back.

After squats… the “no money” drill Stand up straight with your arms out in front of you, palms up. Then rotate your arms out to your sides – the “no money” gesture – to stretch your pecs and strengthen your external rotators.

Don’t lose any sleep

It’s crucial for recovery and energy, but lots of us don’t get enough. Here’s how to optimise your shut-eye

Burning the candle at both ends? You probably know someone who claims to get by on five hours a night – or you’ve heard that Margaret Thatcher ran the country on four. Here’s the truth: the Iron Lady might have been part of what scientists call the “sleep elite”, but your office show-off’s probably just chronically slumber-deprived. According to a 2009 research project, roughly 1-3% of the population have a gene variation that lets them sleep much less than ordinary people, while keeping their metabolism (and pain tolerance) high. If you barely sleep even when the opportunity’s there, that could be you –but if you struggle by with caffeine and weekend lie-ins, you’re out of luck. Here’s the fix.

REFRAME IT

“Change starts with your perception,” says Shawn Stevenson, author of Sleep Smarter. “Instead of seeing sleep an obstacle to work around, look at it as an indulgence.” Instead of mindlessly clicking around on Netflix for an extra half-hour, treat yourself to an early night.

GET MORE SUN

It keeps your circadian rhythms online, which means your body releases serotonin at the right time to aid sleep. Aim to cash in on your way to work. “The body clock is most responsive between 6am and 8.30am,” says Stevenson. Your optical receptors trigger the hormones you need, so there’s no need to go shirtless.

EAT YOUR GREENS

According to a study from the Human Nutrition Research Center in North Dakota, a diet high in magnesium and low in aluminium is associated with deep, uninterrupted sleep. Go for green leafy vegetables, pumpkin seeds and brazil nuts.

TURN OFF THE CUES

If you don’t want to get off your screens before bed, switch your phone to airplane mode. “Automatic notifications trigger the release of dopamine, the ‘seeking’ hormone, which is tied to being alert and awake,” says Stevenson. “So every ‘Like’ and Tweet is keeping you up, seeking more validation.”

You’ve heard of the Sirt Diet one way or another, even if you don’t recognise the name. In news reports, it’s presented as the plan that lets you eat chocolate and drink red wine, drop kilos in days, look like a supermodel and feel like a superhero. On Instagram, it’s the thing UFC featherweight champ Conor McGregor does – the Irishman took a selfie while reading up on it (caption: “I’m eating like a king these days”) a few days before the first of his two big 2016 fights against Nate Diaz and scooped an above-average 116,000 likes. To Cosmo readers it’s what Jodie Kidd and Adele do – and, of course, to naysayers it’s just the latest fad, another calorie-restriction-and-juice scam that’s making promises it can’t possibly keep.

But the fact is, there’s a lot more scientific clout behind Sirt than the typical drop-fat-fast plan. It’s based on a class of compounds that have been discovered only in the past decade, and experimental evidence suggests that they’re far more important than previously thought. And if the people behind it are right, we need to adjust our focus when we’re thinking about what to eat. So what’s the truth? What’s the evidence? And what’s the science behind it all?

First, the science. Sirtuins – from which Sirt gets its name – are a group of Silent Information Regulator (SIR) proteins that ramp up our metabolism, increase muscle efficiency, switch on fat-burning processes, reduce inflammation and repair damage in cells. In summary, sirtuins make us fitter, leaner and healthier (there’s also evidence that they might help combat serious diseases such as Alzheimer’s and diabetes – more on that later).

Mild forms of stress – including exercise and calorie restriction – trigger the body’s production of sirtuins, but it’s recently been discovered that chemical compounds known as sirtuin activators, found naturally in fruit and vegetables, can do the same thing. Certain foods – Sirtfoods, as they’ve been dubbed by diet creators Aidan Goggins and Glen Matten – are especially high in these sirtuin activators and so, the theory goes, if you eat a diet mostly composed of these foods you’ll lose fat and improve your health.

To test this idea, Goggins and Matten created the Sirt Diet, the seven-day eating plan that’s caused all the fuss. It’s simple enough: during the first three days, daily calorie intake is limited to 1,000 and consists of three green juices, plus a Sirtfood-rich meal. On days four to seven, calorie intake is increased to 1,500 and consists of two juices and two meals. After that all-out first week, the recommendation is to eat a balanced diet rich in Sirtfoods, along with more green juices. On the face of it, this sounds awful: even most fasting diets allow more calories. But is it?

“I didn’t feel hard done by at all,” says Rannoch Donald, a trainer and coach who tried the diet. “The juice is key: it’s like rocket fuel. After the initial week, following the diet was plain sailing, and after three weeks I was 5kg lighter. But, crucially, I also felt the best I have in a couple of years. I lost body fat, I was sleeping better, I had no gut issues, I was feeling energised… I was teaching and training half a dozen classes a week with fantastic recovery, even from the most gruelling Brazilian jiu jitsu session.”

To test the diet on a wider scale, Goggins and Matten recruited 37 members of KX Gym in London, 15 of whom were overweight. All had been doing a moderate amount of exercise; none increased it and some even began doing less. And the results in just one week, even considering the calorie restriction, were astounding: the test subjects lost an average of 3kg of fat but put on around 0.8kg of muscle. With a standard diet that cut calories by the same amount in a week, you’d expect to lose a maximum of 1kg.

Why are there no Sirt supps?

The diet’s
creators reveal why no-oneelse is cashing in on the Sirt craze – yet

It’s the obvious question: if sirtuins are so game-changing, why aren’t pharmaceutical and supplement companies scrambling to distill them into pill form? Short answer: because the mechanism by which they operate still isn’t fully understood, meaning that supps won’t necessarily be as well absorbed by the body as the natural forms. Goggins and Matten point to the example of resveratrol. “In supplement form it’s poorly absorbed by the body, but in its natural food matrix of red wine, its bioavailability (how much the body can use) is at least sixfold higher. We believe it’s better to consume a wide range of these nutrients in the form of natural wholefoods, where they co-exist alongside the hundreds of other natural bioactive plant chemicals which act synergistically to boost our health.” In other words: eat better, rather than just popping a pill.

Fast and furious?

Of course, this is the aspect of the Sirt Diet that has critics howling. Most point to the fact that, at least in the initial stages, the plan focuses on calorie restriction and that, according to previous experience, weight loss over 1kg a week is unhealthy or unsustainable. It’s a valid concern: in most calorie-restriction diets, early weight loss tends to come from calorie depletion and reduced water-bloating, and – as recent research on contestants in TV’s The Biggest Loser shows – simply rationing yourself every day can slow your metabolism to a near-permanent crawl, as well as messing with your body’s levels of “hunger hormone” ghrelin, making you permanently hungry.

But, Goggins and Matten counter, this isn’t what Sirt does. Yes, the diet mimics some aspects of fasting, and in the first seven days of the full diet Sirtfoods appear to turbocharge the effects of calorie restriction. But it’s a bit more complicated than just starving yourself for short-term changes.

So how does it work? Well, firstly, it’s vital to understand the “stress” part of the equation. “Everyone needs some amount of stress in their lives,” says Goggins. “Every time we train we create a stress on the body, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. There’s a temptation to always train harder, to try harder, but that carries a risk of building up chronic stress, which carries the risk of burnout and a weakened immune system.” The flipside: by exposing your body to low-grade sources of stress, you’ll increase your body’s ability to cope.

“Plant stress responses are actually more sophisticated than our own,” explains Goggins. “Think about it: if we are hungry and thirsty we can go in search of food and drink; too hot – we find shade; under attack – we can flee. In contrast, plants are stationary and must endure all the extremes of these physiological stresses and threats. In consequence, over the past billion years they have developed a highly sophisticated stress-response system that humbles [humans’] by producing a vast collection of natural plant chemicals – called polyphenols – that allow them to successfully adapt to their environment and survive. When we consume these plants, we also consume these polyphenol nutrients, which activate our own innate stress-response pathways. We’re talking here about exactly the same pathways that fasting and exercise switch on – the sirtuins.”

Polyphenols, according to Goggins, are the one thing the typical American diet has enough of, and when stripped of them the much-lauded Mediterranean diet loses almost all its effectiveness. Via Sirtfoods, polyphenols have a host of weight-management effects, including encouraging white adipose tissue (traditionally the bad stuff ) to mimic brown adipose tissue (the “good” fat that helps to generate body heat). They also help fullness issues, by improving your body’s sensitivity to the satiety hormone leptin.

“These natural plant compounds are now referred to as ‘calorie restriction mimetics’ due to their ability to turn on the same positive changes in our cells as would be seen during fasting, such as fat burning,” says Goggins. “The implications are game-changing. When we’re provided with more advanced signalling compounds than we produce ourselves, the outcomes are superior to anything we can achieve alone.”

The real health foods

There’s also more to Sirt than body composition. Outside Goggins and Matten’s tests, more scientifically controlled trials on single Sirtfoods have shown promising results. In October 2015, for instance, researchers at Columbia University in New York found that drinking water with a gram of cocoa – especially rich in the sirtuin activator epicatechin – dissolved in it led to improved memory in 19 middleaged subjects. In November the same year, researchers at Monash University in Melbourne reported that when patients in the early stages of type 2 diabetes added a gram of turmeric a day to their diets, it improved their working memory.

For diabetics, there’s some evidence that sirtuin activation increases the amount of insulin that can be secreted and helps it work more effectively. In the skeleton, sirtuins promote the production and survival of osteoblasts, a type of cell responsible for building new bone.

The next big thing for Sirt, when more research is performed, will be in its relationship to leucine, the main muscle-builder among the branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). Leucine is a key regulator of protein synthesis and activates a protein known as mTOR (although you don’t need to worry about that to understand the next bit). “Leucine is a double-edged sword,” explains Goggins. “It’s an accelerator for muscle growth, but if you don’t have the internal machinery to deal with it, the engine explodes.” In theory, having a more Sirtfoodheavy diet could increase the amount of protein your body can successfully assimilate, consigning the old “20-30g a sitting” recommendation firmly to the past.

Of course, all of this needs more research. Thirty-seven people in one gym isn’t much of a sample size, and other studies on the effects of sirtuins have been done on animals or human cells – neither guaranteed to accurately reflect what goes on inside the body. But for all the criticism of the diet’s more radical claims, it’s hard to see what you stand to lose by following some version of the Sirt Diet. Even if you put aside the calorie-restricted version of the plan and jump straight to “maintenance” mode, you’d be eating a huge variety of the foods identified as key in the so-called Blue Zones, areas of the world like Sardinia and Okinawa where people live longer, healthier lives.

“I don’t like the word diet, but this is diet as in lifestyle as opposed to some quick-fix intervention,” says Donald. “It’s essentially about eating well. And despite the appearance of green juice drinks, the overall philosophy is about the inclusion of healthy whole natural ingredients rather than the deification of ‘superfoods’.” Or, to put it another way: you’re unlikely to get less healthy by getting more kale, berries, walnuts and red wine into your diet. Even if you aren’t a supermodel or a UFC fighter.

Sirtfood essentials

These are the highest-rated 20 foods for a Sirtfood-rich diet. Here’s how to incorporate them into your daily meals

Bird’s eye chilli

Also sold as Thai chillies, they’re more potent than regular chilis, and also more packed with nutrients. Use them to set off sweet or sour recipes.

Buckwheat

Technically a pseudo-grain: it’s actually a fruit seed related to rhubarb. Also available in noodle form (as soba), but make sure you’re getting the wheat-free version.

Capers

In case you’re wondering, they’re pickled flower buds. Sprinkle them over salad or roasted cauliflower.

Celery

The hearts and leaves are the most nutritious part, so don’t throw them away if you’re blending up a shake.

Cocoa

The flavonol-rich kind improves blood pressure, blood sugar control and cholesterol. Look for a high percentage of cacao.

Coffee

Drink it black – there’s some evidence that milk can reduce the absorption of sirtuinactivating nutrients.

Extra virgin olive oil

The extra virgin type has more Sirt benefits, and a more satisfying, peppery taste.

Green tea or matcha

Add a slice of lemon to increase absorption of sirtuin-producing nutrients. Matcha is even better, but go Japanese, not Chinese, to avoid potential lead contamination.

Kale

Includes huge amounts of sirtuin-activating nutrients quercetin and kaempferol. Massage it with olive oil and lemon juice to serve it as a salad.

Lovage

It’s a herb. Grow your own on a windowsill, and throw it into stir-fries.

Medjool dates

They’re a hefty 66% sugar, but – in moderation – don’t raise blood sugar levels, and have actually been linked to lowered rates of diabetes and heart disease.

Parsley

More than just a garnish – it’s high in apigenin. Throw it into a smoothie or juice for the full benefit.

Chicory

Red is best, but yellow works fine. Throw it in a salad.

Red onion

The red variety’s better for you, and sweet enough to eat raw. Chop it and add to a salad, or eat it with a burger.

Red wine

You’ve heard of resveratrol: the good news is, it’s heat stable, so you can get benefits from cooking with it (as well as glugging it straight). Pinot noir has the highest content.

Rocket

One of the least interfered-with salad greens available. Drizzle it with olive oil.

Soy

Soybeans and miso are high in sirtuin activators. Include it in stir-fries.

Strawberries

Though they’re sweet, they only contain 1tsp of sugar per 100g – and research suggests they improve your body’s ability to handle sugary carbs.

Turmeric

Evidence suggests the curcumin in it has anti-cancer properities. It’s difficult for the body to assimilate alone, but cooking it in liquid and adding fat and black pepper increases absorption.

Walnuts

High in fat and calories, but well established in reducing metabolic disease. Smash them up with parsley for sirt-flavoured pesto.