Opposite Side Training

What does Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, and Sergio Garcia all have in common? Yes, they are all golfers on the PGA Tour in the top 100, but they are also ambidextrous. By that I mean, in regards to, Tiger, Jordan and Sergio they are all left handed but play golf right handed. Phil Mickelson on the other hand is right handed but plays golf left handed. This isn’t a rarity in golf either: Mike Weir, Johnny Miller, Greg Norman, Curtis Strange, Nick Price, David Graham, Byron Nelson, Bob Charles, Mac O Grady, and Ben Hogan also play(ed) golf on the opposite side.

So what are the benefits of this?

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Don't Be Afraid Of The Circus

According to legend, Mithridates IV, King of Pontus in Asia Minor 135-63 BC – known as Rome’s most successful enemy, got himself some protection against poisoning by ingesting sub-lethal doses of toxic material in progressively large quantities. This immunity got him into trouble later as he attempted to take his own life by poisoning, but failed having fortified himself against the drugs of others.

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To HIIT or not to HIIT

My parents are steady drinkers they drink most days, it’s their generation, they have a six pm drink, Mum- vodka, Dad-whisky, wine with the evening meal, and sometimes a nightcap.
My generation think that’s weird & pointless, often abstaining from alcohol until a day in the week when they go… out out. It can be any day really, but often a Thursday and Saturday where they will drink everything their stomachs and wallets allow them to - lager, wine, spirits, shots…..the works, and they will not stop until they pass out, are asked to leave, or the body rejects it all through the mouth.

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Part 2: Swallow This - Flavourings & Colouring

The one thing that should be crystal clear is that the process of mass food production and industrial manufacturing causes grievous bodily harm to natural ingredients, flavours, aromas and textures – mainly by the process of extreme heating, sterilisation, deodorising, pasteurisation etc, involved in the process, that actually turns the food off and rancid.

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The Importance of Sleep

We’ve all heard before that sleep is important and we need about 8 hours of it a night, but we don’t really take any notice of it. Most of the time going to bed is often an inconvenience that we delay because it’s getting in the way of things, like on a night out with mates, or if you got home late from work and want to go to the gym, have some food, and chill out watching TV before getting into bed. The only time we think about sleep is when we are setting the alarm clock to get up in the morning, and thinking how much of a lie in we may get on a weekend. So this blog’s aim may be futile, but it’s an attempt to highlight the importance of sleep and to try to get everyone striving for more of it.

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Lactic Acid Explained

What most people think they know about lactic acid is actually a myth, misnomer, and is basically wrong. We blame it for the burning muscle sensation during intense exercise and for the muscle soreness (DOMS) the next day, but in reality there is no ‘lactic acid’, there is lactate and metabolic acidosis. The reason for the confusion was that back in the 1920’s scientists found high levels of lactate and high levels of hydrogen ions (reason for acidosis) present in the muscles during high intensity exercise and fatigue, and believed them both to be the reason – hence the name Lactic Acid. This went unchallenged for about 80 years, and in that time, the myth had become deeply imbedded into coaches, trainers and most fitness literature.

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Part 1: Swallow This - Oil

This is part 1 in a blog series looking at one of my favourite books ‘Swallow This’ by Joanna Blythman. I’m a massive fan of her work, as an award-winning food investigative journalist, having read three of her seven books and most of her articles for the guardian. Joanna is one of my respected and go to sources for info especially on the subject of industrial food processing.

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The Myth of Women & Weight Training

These days, if you peek into any CrossFit box (gym), it’s not unusual to find an almost 50/50 split between the sexes. However, if you go into any standard gym chain the weights section is still a heavily male dominated area. There’s a few reasons for this, but the consistent offender is to do with the myth surrounding weight training and women, and as one female client put it “ not wanting to turn into a man…. with muscles”.

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Exercise & The Brain

Exercising has many benefits that we are used to hearing about in the media, like lowering the risk of many cancers, decreasing our chances of CHD (coronary heart disease) and stroke, halving our risk of type 2 diabetes, and many more including decreasing the onset of dementia, depression, and stress. And although I agree with all those statements, the articles in the media never really give us a proper insight / scientific description as to why exercise is good for us.

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