The Blog Begins - Friday 24/04/2020

In our heads this post marks the beginning of an award-winning blog, people will be flocking across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, even Tinder, to come and read our fantastical musings about fitness. In reality my Mum will probably be the only person who reads this, and she’ll think it’s shit as well, but at least she won’t say so (probably will).

We’ll try to post a few things each Friday which are at least slightly enticing to the average person interested in fitness, and hopefully, if we're lucky, you’ll see the link to the blog again on Facebook in a few months and ‘like’ it, obviously you won’t actually read it.

One set for strength?

This was genuinely exciting to read and confirms a long held suspicion, you can be a bit of a lazy bastard and still gain strength.

The study titled, ‘The Minimum Effective Training Dose Required to Increase 1RM (One rep max) Strength in Resistance-Trained Men’ examined a plethora of other studies and came to the conclusion that ‘Performing a single set of 6-12 repetitions with loads ranging from approximately 70-85% 1RM (one rep max) 2-3 times per week with high intensity of effort (reaching volitional or momentary failure) for 8-12 weeks can produce suboptimal, yet significant increases in SQ (Squat) and BP (Bench Press) 1RM strength in resistance-trained men.’

This is really useful from a training standpoint as clients here (or anyone else) who are short on time can have confidence they'll continue to progress from a strength standpoint. They should remember though, that those 2-3 sets over the week won't burn through a pack of Oreos.

TLDR (Too long, didn't read): Performing a single set of 6-12 reps with 70-85% of your 1 rep max to near failure, 2-3 times per week, can increase strength.

Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31797219/

Cocoa Crazy

As someone who absolutely loves chocolate I was extremely excited when I first saw this headline and pictured myself losing fat eating my fourth Bounty (Trio) of the day, then I realised it just meant five gams of regular cocoa powder 🙄 boring, but still…

A ten week study has shown that ‘Cocoa intake significantly reduced body fat percentage, specifically in the trunk, visceral area and lower limbs.’

The visceral fat reduction is, for me at least, the most interesting occurrence as this would show a direct impact on the participants overall health. Visceral fat is the fat that surrounds your organs and is linked to metabolic disturbances and an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

A good point to note is that the cocoa powder used isn’t the Cadbury’s one from Tesco (unfortunately). Flavanol rich cocoa powders (such as Aduna) with no added sugar should do the trick.

TLDR: A 10 week study showed a group who stuck to their regular diets but consumed 5 grams of cocoa powder (about a tea spoon) per day improved their body composition (less body fat).

Source: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/FO/D0FO00246A#!divAbstract

And that's it, I was going to write more but if I keep it short you might not be bored yet and also I can save what I was going to put for next week and not have to look for more stuff.

Have a great week!

Joe