Music and Cardio

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In order to achieve the most out of your cardio workouts, whether it is a run in the park or a simple circuit at home, you should create a personalised playlist of songs that will motivate you not to stop short and to go that extra mile.

Listening to upbeat/face paced music during your cardio sessions is a great tool for keeping you focused on the task at hand, and you will find that whilst listening/concentrating on hearing the music, you become oblivious to your heavy breathing and how tired you are so you can train harder and longer.

Tips on picking your Playlist:
– for the main cardio phase, choose songs that are fast paced and have an upbeat tempo
-music preference is completely personal, so whether it is rock/pop/rap/electro music, choose the songs that bring a smile to your own face
-use a reliable mp3/iPod player, this makes it easier to download or create playlists
-be adventurous, try working out to music you normally wouldn’t put on, for instance if you love dance music, try switching that over to rock, you will be surprised(with the right songs) how focused you get on the music and not how tired you are
-during warm-up/cool-down, slow paced melodic music is great to slow down the pace of exercise and thus decrease your heart-rate after a hard cardiovascular session

As I have mentioned, music preference is entirely personal and you should try creating your own playlist, but if you are not musically minded and do not have access to a music library, I have included some sample playlists that you may use during your workout

Dance Playlist:
Note: Track 1= warm up, Track 10= cool down
1: Tim Berg – Bromance
2: Prodigy – No Good
3: Deadmau5 – One Trick Pony Feat. Sofi
4: Swedish House Mafia – From Miami To Ibiza
5: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll (A-Trax Remix)
6: David Guetta – Missing You Feat. Novel
7: Prodigy – Breath
8: Steve Angello + Laid Back Luke – Show Me Love (Club Mix)
9: Punkrok – So Good
10: Reflekt – Need To Feel Loved Feat Decline Bass

Caveman Log – Week 2

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As some of you know, I have started the  caveman diet myself. While it doesnt perfectly fit the amount of activity I do, I felt the need to practice what I preach. You’d need to try something yourself before you could morally give advice (Im a good lad that way).  So heres how thing s have unfolded so far.

Is alll goood!!! Undoubtedly I do have the edge when it comes to dieting over clients, as not only have I been doing diets and watching my intake for years now, but I almost live in a state of motivation due to my work; If you work in a gym you’re less likely to fall off the caveman wagon! I have stuck to eating strictly what the diet entails, I havent been feeling any major cravings bar the first few days while coming down from a high carb diet. At this stage I felt slightly weak, with a cloudy groggy feeling in my head that no amount of water could shift, but I was aware this was a part of the process so I just grinned and beared it.

I’ve kept to organic fruit, veg and meat/poultry/fish sourced from both Lidl and Dunnes. All the smaller items that are harder to find organic, like nuts and seeds, I have gotten from the Oraganic Supermarket in Blackrock. It has a great range of organic products, but no matter where you go you are limited on the caveman, there are only so many things you can eat.

I’ve still been training with the same intensity (i havent dropped any lifting weight) and am even gaining strenght and vascularity (muscle size, definition and veins). I am just keeping protein high, and timing my carbs around my training sessions, or breakfast on non training days.

Heres what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast:  Protein shake (25gms protein TMU), banana, 3 eggs scrambled in olive oil (2 yolks)

Lunch: chicken stir-fry left over from night before (chicken, mixed spice, onions, cabbage, peppers, tomatoes, spinach, avocadoe)

Before training:  Chicken breast (150gms) apple.

After training: Protein shake (40gms protein TMU), banana, mandarin

Dinner: Beef stir-fry with basil, oregano, lots onion, tomatoe, spinach, brocolli

Late snack: carrot and protein shake (40gms protein TMU)

The diets doing exactly what it says on the tin. I dont want to say what weight I lost as I have been putting on muscle and dont want to confuse the situation. But I will say this, in 7 days I went from 11% bodyfat to 10% bodyfat. At this rate, I’d say the diet could get me down to 7/8% bodyfat… not bad for 6 weeks!!!!

I’ll check back in again soon…… :)