Rapid fat loss – a case study

July 3, 2010June 29, 2010 by Chris Hines

I have helped a lot of people lose weight, and I usually suggest that slow and steady weight loss such as 1-2lb’s a week is sustainable weight loss, however there are some people that are just too impatient or who want dramatic results in order to get in shape for a wedding or to look good on holiday. These people may be the ones who would go on a juice fast, crash diet for 2 weeks, or try the master cleanse (the maple syrup diet). These diets may work whilst you are on them, but I do not believe they are a healthy or sustainable ways to lose weight.

Most of the time as soon as you stop the diet you put the weight back on with a little more to boot. This happens because these diets really screw up your hormones and metabolism. When you go in to a state of famine (dieting) your body reacts by up regulating your lipogenic (fat storing) enzymes, your thyroid slows down reducing your metabolism, and you start to produce more stress hormones. Your detoxification also slows down as your liver needs a whole host of vitamins, minerals and amino acids (the breakdown products of protein) to clean your body and eliminate toxins through the bowel and bladder.

Our Mission

June 29, 2010June 26, 2010 by Chris Hines

Thanks for the kind comments about our blog and website, they are much appreciated. At PeakXV Fitness our mission is to provide you with, and be the number 1 rescource on the web for, the very best information on weight loss, nutrition, exercise and supplements. We want to help you reach your health and fitness goals, be it to drop a few pounds or a few stone, lose inches off your tummy and hips, pack on some muscle, make the best decisions about what supplements to take or to improve your energy levels. If you want to improve your health and fitness Peak XV Fitness are the people to help you.

We have some great resources already on our site for you, don’t forget to download the free report opposite. This has some great information on nutrition, supplements, CV training, weight training and how to motivate yourself to kick start your weight loss. By downloading the free report you’ll also receive our newsletter that comes out every 2 weeks. This has some great tips on health and fitness and a healthy recipe you can try. You can also follow us on on Facebook where we post topical information as well as nutrition and training tips on a daily basis.

Preparing Mark Schwarzer for the World Cup part 3

March 9, 2012June 21, 2010 by Chris Hines

The next 11 weeks consisted of progressively increasing the strength in key muscle groups such as the VMO, hamstrings and rotator cuff, correcting muscle imbalance and working to improve strength in key lifts such as the squat and incline press. A key concept that I employed was to periodise the upper body work with thick grip implements. A goalie needs to be strong with an open hand such as making saves, catching or throwing and rarely needs to be strong with a closed fist apart from punching. Therefore we used an array of 3-inch fat EZ bars, 3-inch fat Olympic bars and devices called Fat Gripz to be put on dumbbells and cable handles.

This dramatically increased the demand of the exercise and increased upper body strength. Here is an example 2-week upper body / lower body programme:

Training Mark Schwarzer part 2

July 8, 2011June 15, 2010 by Chris Hines

The common misconceptions are that players should not lift weights for the fear of becoming too big which makes them slow or that they should not train too close to games because the muscle soreness will impair their performance on the pitch. Neither of these are true, however after the first few sessions the initial muscle soreness decreased and Mark could see that training four times a week did not impair his performance. To improve Mark’s body composition I employed a couple of Charles Poliquin’s favourite routines, the first 3 week phase consisted of a routine called 6, 12, 25’s. This is a brutal programme that creates serious lactate build up in the working muscles and gets you shredded. The theory is that the more lactate that is produced, the more the blood pH drops causing the body to produce growth hormone. The liver then turns the growth hormone in to IGF-1, which preferentially burns stored body fat as a fuel. Here is a sample day:

Preparing Mark Schwarzer for the 2010 World Cup

February 2, 2018June 8, 2010 by Chris Hines

Steve training Mark on the 3 inch fat Olympic bar bench press

Working with elite athletes is a passion of mine and when the opportunity to help Mark Schwarzer prepare for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa came up, I jumped at the chance. Little did I know how inspiring he would be for me; what a driven, top professional he is and how hard he would work in the gym. Although I had been advising Mark on nutrition and supplements for about 18 months, we started working together more seriously in January 2010.