Every now and again strip things back to basics and then build them back up again.....
Training naked…
When I say training naked I’m talking about three things. The first is to train in minimum clothing, this can help with self awareness – you can see muscles workings, which bits are getting leaner and which bits you need to work on. E.g. lagging body parts. Arnold was amongst the first to mention this in his early works and he cut all his track suits half mast to reveal his calves (which needed work). You could cut off a few sweatshirts to reveal your muffin top (if you have one) This also has the advantage of making you look a little bit like Jane Fonda. You might want to reserve this for home workouts at first :)
Times my clients often drift the wrong way is during periods when they look at themselves less in the mirror, wear T-shirts and heavy clothing more – normally winter time also, in 4-6 weeks things can smooth out a little more than you might like cause you are not taking care of the basic principle of self awareness. I’ve written about this in the Amino Man DNA document which you can download here.
The second version of training naked is training without devices. I wear and encourage the use of various trackers to monitor steps and other biometrics. These are really good – some of the like fitbit or biostrap also look at heart rate and something called heart rate variability (HRV).
HRV can indicate the need to rest so this can help adjust training load. Sometimes if you leave these at home it feels weird. However getting used to training without these is a good idea from time to time. Imagine running through the snow in the woods – almost naked, no devices just you the woods, the air… sometimes people refer to this as grounding. Walking barefoot is another way to do this, running barefoot can work for some people but you have to be careful of injury. Training your feet to handle stress bare foot can also help prevent injury to the foot and ankle, you have to be careful and build up the stress over time as with all things training related.
The third way to train naked is minus supplementation. I used holidays and other periods of time to come off all supplementation. This is hard as most supplements provide energy and exercise supporting factors – the ones I make do anyhow. So the first few days you can expect lower energy in workouts, this normally picks back up after a week to ten days. Then after a couple of weeks off you can pack those pre-workout metabolic aminos back in the picture and push forwards to new PB’s….
Cycling supplementation is important. I recommend a 5 on 2 off approach for general year round supplementation with 2 week blocks off twice a year. You can phase in different types of supplements if you want to read through the range and swap up anything you are using in the Amino Man range have a wizz through the range here. There’s also some great easy to follow advice on reducing inflammation with foods and supplements. If you like the look and want to try something new use brochure20 for 20% off.
Some new things in the pipeline coming soon are the Amino Man Foundations Range…. These include what I used to call 'The Basics' A multi vitamin, fish oils, vitamin D (in winter) green tea, greens, spices, coconut oil and other medicinal teas. These are bread and butter supporting supplements and culinary items which bring loads of benefit to your health and well being. Also foundational performance support from things like creatine, beta alanine these will be in the Amino Man Foundations of Performance range.
Some ways I vary supplementation for clients are swapping the Metabolic Amino Complex (MAC) for the Special Power Loader. Using cycles of Fish oils plus curcumin then pure curcumin plus Metabolic optimizer. Double loading the focus formula minus MAC and also stacking Focus Formula Plus MAC…. Spices and so on I’m always using year round in cooking.
Adaptogens can be cycled in pairs or switching types also. I’ll write about that more soon.
For CNS fatigue using the adaptacat, Amber Aminos and R5’s are usually the best option.
If you are prone to illness the immune power medicinal mushroom and berry extract combination helps kill things off quickly and can help prevent illness developing if you nip it in the bud.
If you have questions on your training and supplementation email them to me. I’ll be answering these myself to help you get the most out of your training, food and supplementation. matt@aminoman.com
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