John Lark

So the New Year has bought with it promises of dramatic change and Spartan-like dedication to the task in hand – your health and fitness levels.

To make this easy I want to make this as simple as possible.

Here is a list of what I believe to be the best steps you can take this year to improve your health and fitness levels.

Take one action item from this list. Do it. Do it hard for a week or however long it takes you embed.

So without further a due.

Write down your goal. You are far more likely to achieve it.

Match your behaviours to your goals. If your goal is to run a marathon this year then you need to get running. Likewise the same goal wont be met if you are constantly in the behaviour pattern of sitting on your arse every day. Equally if you want to lose weight then pick five behaviours that you know will help you lose weight and do them every day.

Find your ‘why’. Why are you doing this? This has to be strong.

Focus on improving your health rather than shrinking your waistline. With health comes fat loss. With health comes abundant energy and balanced moods. With health comes performance in life, sport and work. Living should be fun and easy not a chore.

Keep a grateful journal. Each day spend 2-3 minutes and wrote down what you are grateful for. Turn off the news and do this. You will sleep better and wake up looking forward to the day rather than thinking about the next ‘drama’ that you have to tackle.

Improve your sleep by investing in blackout blinds. Your hormones and immune system will thank you for giving them a good night’s sleep. If you struggle to nod off hop into an Epsom Salts bath. They work brilliantly.

Eat raw foods with every meal. Stick a salad or lightly cooked vegetable soup next to your meal and eat it first.

Drink more good FILTERED water. The best thing you can do for you and your family’s health is to use reverse osmosis or water ionisers. 3-4 litres every day.

Replace your paraben-laden cosmetics with organic versions. Likewise stop spraying aluminium next to your armpits. These are carcinogenic and the health shop have excellent replacements that are in most cases cheaper. No brainer.

Get your mercury fillings removed and then follow up with a good nutritional chelation protocol (like the one we can offer). This is another no brainer. Mercury is poisoning you 24-7. If your dentist says that this is not worth doing then thank him for his/ her opinion and find another one. He/she does not have your health at heart.

Stick to exercise at first (if you are new to this) that you will enjoy and keep at. Sweating and using oxygen is at the heart of most beginners to exercise Nutritional and lifestyle changes will make the biggest difference so just get sweating and moving!

Use an Infra red sauna. These are great for your health. Sweat removes toxins and again makes strides to build your health.

Want power is more powerful than will power.

Learn how to weight train.

Eat les animal and diary protein. It is making you sick and tired.

Eat more fruits and vegetables. Simple. Effective. Cheap.

Buy a vegetarian cookbook and learn how to ‘dress up’ these once boring and tasteless items.

Start supplementing your diet with Sodium Bicarbonate, Lugol’s Iodine, Magnesium and Vitamin D. These are power houses and will not fail to improve everyone’s health. A year’s supply of all of these items will set you back about 100 quid. What a bargain. In fact – let’s start an experiment. Use them and see how many visits to the Doctor you need this year. Let me know in December.

I hate ‘detox’. It is far more complicated than that. Our bodies are well adjusted to deal with it. However, it needs help. Especially in this day and age. We have not quire evolved to deal with the environment that burdens us day in day out.

Do you think our caveman ancestors worried about what skin care product to use?

There is plenty here to get you going. Health comes from in to out. Stress, poor nutrition, toxic overload and lack of exercise will all be reflected on the outside. You are your own canvas.

It is the classic scenario that eludes so many people. They hit the gym hard yet they find it hard to shift the love handles.

Days drag into weeks, weeks into months, months into years and still the dreaded tyre just wont shift. The rest of the body may (or may not be) taking shape nicely. So what is going on and more importantly how can we fix it?

Your love handle levels are a direct correlation to your glucose or sugar tolerance. His work over the past 27 years has found direct correlation between the levels of fat on your back and side and your insulin management.

In simple terms when we eat sugar, take for instance a piece of cake, our body responds by releasing insulin to shuttle that sugar to the muscle cells for use. That is when we are insulin sensitive.

However, our consumption of grain, pastas, starches and simple sugars grossly outweigh our ability to tolerate the level of sugar in our diet. Do we need to consume the amount of sugar we consume on a day-to-day basis to ‘keep our energy levels up’? – NO!

We have become insulin resistant whereby the sugar is shuttled to the fat cells instead.

Genetically we have evolved 0.01%  in 40,000 years. Our consumption of grain is alien in the grand scheme of things in our evolutionary diet. We are fighting against our genetic code instead of working worth it.

To stick to what you should be eating try this simple lifestyle adjustment:

“If it does not run around in a field, swim, fly or is not green, do not eat it”.

Since our genetic code has not changed since Caveman times it seems logical to eat like one. That certainly did not mean popping to the tree and picking a biscuit off it or leaving the cave to pop on the fire 10 breaded chicken goujons.

We ate wild meats, green vegetables and rarely (maybe once a year according to expert Loren Cordain) we would stumble across a bee-hive and gorge ourselves on the honey.

The easy way to locate this type of food will be found on the fringes of your supermarket and at your local butcher’s.

Upping your intake of protein including the more nutrient dense plant based proteins  at each meal will aid in managing your insulin levels better with small more frequent feedings of protein and healthy fats such as Fish Oil, Avocado, Macademia, Walnut Oil.

It is a far cry from the ‘low fat’ offerings that are found in the aisles these days. Please – do not be fooled.

“But they are all high in fat” cry the ‘low fat gurus’

“Really?” I reply

The calorie is a calorie is far too simplistic in this case. Certain low-fat staples such as Skimmed Milk are low in fat. However, they are insulinogenic meaning they will still spike the insulin to store the sugar in fat cells.

In addition they are acid forming foods forcing our body to buffer this acidity by removing it from our blood and vital organs and straight to our fat tissues – out of harm’s way.

The classic breakfast cereals with skimmed milk are out and best found in the bottom of a garbage bin.

Increasing your fibre intake will also aid in blunting the dreaded insulin response alongside improving your colon health by protecting the mucosa.  A grain-free fibre rich in Cranberry Seed Extract, Hydrobind Carrot Fibre and Probiotics will suffice with an optimum amount of 30g per day over divided amounts.

And finally – get off the fat to get the fat off. You have to move and move with intensity. Put away the spandex and get lifting weights with the aim of building muscle.

Ladies you will NOT look like a bodybuilder. In fact the more muscle you have the more calories you will burn through the day as 1lb of muscle burns 50 kcal. It also aids with insulin management.

So simple steps equals long term progress. A skilled exercise physiologist should be able to tell you why you are holding your body fat around your love handles and more importantly tell you how you can reduce them.

John Lark is a Personal Trainer and Nutritional Consultant. Download your ‘5 Top Tips for Fat Loss’ at www.spherefitnessstudio.com. He can be reached at 01-5052131.

Probably THE most overlooked aspect of any fitness programme.

Yes – hard work is needed. But if it is not coupled with this you may be in trouble

A comprehensive, step-by-step PERSONALISED entrance ticket to my inner circle

Click here now

Seems like the ideal quick fix if you are looking to shed a few pounds, doesn’t it?

Well all may not be as it seems…

As a personal trainer I hear the most creative of excuses. It seems that even at this time of year that despite the wave of enthusiasm in the New Year, excuses are still being made to avoid the dreaded ‘E’ word. Even embracing a bit of change is like dragging a car.

Here are some problems and my solutions to them.

Problem “I don’t have enough time.”
Solution – You do. You just don’t know how to manage your time. You have the same time as every one else.

The same 24 hours that Bill Gates, Barack Obama and Warren Buffet have. You just don’t set exercise or eating healthy as near the top of your priority.

Stop, take check at your ‘time vampires’ (watching TV, nattering hours on the phone, reading trash mags) and be ruthless. Get rid of them. Make exercise and preparing healthy meals important and see the benefits.

Problem – “I have to look after other people”

Solution – try looking after your self FIRST. I call this ‘hurried mum syndrome.’ Looking after a house, three kids and in most cases a husband is a lot tougher when you are carrying around excess fat. Get rid of the fat and suddenly managing ANYTHING becomes a lot easier.

Problem – “Eating Healthy all the time is boring”

Solution – you just need to reframe what you consider as boring. This is a challenge as ‘cravings’ normally overwhelm your rational thinking. Instead of viewing a salad or vegetables ‘boring’ think ‘boundless energy, vitality, health, strength and well-being’. And who says you have to eat healthy ‘all the time’? We call for a 90 per cent compliance on our nutrition programme. This leaves 10 per cent for those foods that you consider a ‘treat’. It doesn’t have to be about denial and sacrifice.

“But I will have to give up chocolate and ice-cream”

Solution – Really? And live like a monk or an obsessive? Work these foods into your plan. The only thing you will have to give up is the notion that you can sit on your backside and think the pounds will melt off and that you can eat everything in the cupboard and dream yourself skinny. That is just delusional.

Problem – “I can’t afford the gym”

Solution – Exercise at home, in the park or head outside. Get a good workout DVD and have some fun with it. Alternatively lower all your stress hormones by heading outside for a brisk walk. A cheap set of Dumbbells will last you a lifetime.

Problem – “I don’t have a way of getting to the gym and besides I have to take Little Jonny to Scouts”

Solution – See above and stop making overly-creative excuses.

Problem – “I am injured”

Solution – That’s ok. Injuries are what I call andinconvenience’ not an ‘injustice’ . Exercise professionals will be able to work around your injury enabling you to still work towards your goals despite your set-back.

Problem – “I don’t feel like it today”

Solution – when IS a good time? Just start! Just do something that will make a difference. The Japanese have a philosophy called Kaizen. It seems to be the buzzword at the moment. But it means gradual and incremental improvements. Each day make a positive step towards your health and fitness.

Start immediately by doing something. It could be just heading out for a walk, deciding that you will have ‘breakfast in the morning and this is what I will have’, lifting some weights for 15-20 minutes.

My point is this if you are writing to do lists all the time – stop. Stop thinking about it and just do it. Paralysis by analysis.

Problem – “It’s boring.”

Solution – Yep, so is waiting in the Doctor’s office because you are too sick to do anything.   We are designed to move and eat healthy nutritious foods. As they say – prevention is better than a cure. Besides, exercise can be fun. Dance classes, group activity and meeting with friends for a good brisk walk can be fun.

So can making a healthy feast for your family and seeing your four-year chomp down a plate of veggies. Victory in the battle!

Next week more excuse busting! In the meantime, place your creative energy into making solutions not conjuring up elaborate excuses

Visit John Lark’s website at www.john-lark.com and download your free report on the ‘7 Most Effective Ways of Burning Fat’ including a free sample workout and meal plan.

For more information on personal training in dublin click here

There was a time when breakfast used to be the time when most of the family were together.
Papa Smurf popped off to work after reading the paper, Mamma Smurf cooked up the eggs and cereals, whilst the kids lamented over their day at school.

Fast-forward 50 years.

Most people are on their way to work before the sun rises. Kids are hurried off one arm in jumper with the other grabbing a bit of toast. Mum in the meantime is grabbing a bit of lippy and providing a gentle but firm kick up the backside to get out of the door.

Yet we all know and rightly so – breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Skipping it altogether will tee you up nicely for fat gain. Particularly around the mid-rift. Through years of looking at eating habits and body fat distribution patterns I can firmly say that whose who skip breakfast consistently end up looking like a pear.

In same light using a cereal box as your method of starting the day has also had a large part to play in keeping people erring towards the muffin top shape.

Most of us are familiar with the food pyramid?

Well try the reverse food pyramid in the sense that make your breakfast the largest meal of the day and taper off your calorific intake as the day progresses.

Assuming that we all know that 5-6 ‘feedings’ are better than 3 ‘fill-your-boots- type’ meals then your calorific intake at each meal would look like this if you were shooting for 1500 kcal a day:

Breakfast – 400 kcal, Meal 2 – 200 kcal, Meal 3 – 300 kcal Meal 4 – 200 kcal Meal 5 – 200 Meal 6 – 200 kcal

Better blood sugar management, leaner physique, no hunger, better moods, more food to eat (!!) and so on. What is there not to like about this?

You see instead of perpetuating a cycle of sugar cravings by leaving gaps between meals (longer than 2-3 hours) we are actually feeding our bodies regularly.

So what’s the big deal with breakfast?

What you eat first in the day will determine your hormonal and energy levels. Try this practical experiment. For the next five days try meat, salad and nuts breakfast.  Think of it as having dinner for breakfast.

See how your energy levels are for the rest of day. Then go back to your cereal based breakfast and compare.

I will guarantee more energy and certainly less sugar cravings. It is unsurprising that your dopamine levels will increase providing you with extra ‘get-up-and-go’ to face the day.

Some other options for breakfast can be leftover dinner, homemade patties with a side salad or chicken breast with salsa or Guacamole.

Typical comments I have received in the past are ‘I felt like gagging’ and ‘where am I going to find the time?’

All I can say to this is – ‘try it, you won’t be disappointed’

So what then do you have for dinner? Try something light like a salad with cold meats or a Vegetable Omelette.

In fact Eggs are quick and easy to knock up alongside the fact that they are rich in choline, a nutrient geared towards optimal brain health. Not a bad food to have on your side if you are in the middle of a feeding frenzy at the zoo.

Most of my female clients have settled into the swing of cooking up their breakfast whilst knocking up dinners.

For the males this is a bit tougher. For most of them, reading the instructions on a Pot Noodle is as far as it goes.

Although one athlete I used to room with at college was caught emptying the contents of one a pot noodle into a saucepan before transferring it back into the pot to eat.

This is the same guy who assembled a flat pack bed downstairs.

So can you see how important your nutrition is to your brain health?

Start your day with a power breakfast, not some dehydrated excuses of fruit with an empty cereal. Prepare your food the night before whilst you cook your dinner. At worst have left-overs. Your brain, waist line and energy levels will thank you with open arms.

John Lark is a personal trainer and fat loss specialist combining nutrition, training and supplementation for tailored results. Download his free report at www.john-lark.com or call 01-5052131 for more information.

Spot reduction is a myth right? You can’t possibly shift that troublesome spot of cellulite off your thigh or kick the bingo-wings into touch – can you?  Well, yes you can and the answer lies, according to Olympic Strength Coach and founder of the ‘Biosignature‘ System, Charles Poliquin in your hormones.

Your body fat doesn’t just lay down fat in a random fashion to seemingly spite you. There is a pattern that has been unearthed by functional medicine experts and endocrinologists that determines where you possess your body fat is a reflection of your hormonal activity.

The science behind this has been around for years. Take for instance our belly. When we are stressed we release a hormone called cortisol. This is our fight or flight response hormone or a low-grade adrenaline that used to help us get the hell away from lions and other man-eating predators.

The only thing now is that we don’t have any of those around, unless you include the gaggle of women spilling out of our night clubs.

Our bodies are in essence still primal. Our genetic coding has changed 0.01% in 40,000 years. Not much in the grand scheme of things. But yet we still continue to produce cortisol at a rate which we find it hard to live with.

Do we still run away from lions? No.

What has happened, and this has been unearthed by scientists, is that the higher your cortisol levels, the higher your belly fat readings making you more prone to the nasties such as Syndrome X and dislipidemia.

Men can also take note that incidences of male breast cancer and Gynecomastia (‘moobs’) is on the rise.

High levels chest and arm fat can be correlated to your levels of aromatisation or how male or female you are.

Men are not designed to have breasts. Common symptoms include crying at Little House on the Prairie and shopping for bras.

This is not normal and what is increasingly more worrying is that functional medicine experts are in agreement that for males this elevates your risk of prostate cancer

What about your love handles? Your love handles and fat that you carry on your back are reflective of your insulin management.

Genetically a carbohydrate or sugar tolerant individual will carry little fat on their back. However, your love handles may carry a sufficient amount of fat. This is a classic case.

Skipping meals and or consuming too much carbohydrate will elevate your circulating insulin levels making you insulin resistant rather than insulin sensitive. So, as you consume sugar instead of being shuttled to the muscles for energy, you push it into your fat cells.

Bad news. This coupled with a high level of back fat and abdominal fat will significantly increase your risk of dislipidemia and other nasty scourges on society such as cancer.

Fat around the legs is also indicative of your estrogens (the female hormones) and growth hormone activity. High levels on the calf and knee point to recurring sleep issues. Why are men carrying fat on their legs? The answer lies in too much circulating estrogens.

Did you know, for instance, that red wine and dark chocolate are excellent for clearing excess estrogens? 1-2 glasses a day of red wine and 3oz of 70% Coco Organic Chocolate, once or twice a week are excellent for this. The reason being is the high levels of Resveratrol – a nutrient that inhibits the action of estrogens at the cell receptor sites and inhibits aromatising enzymes.

Bad news is – more is not better.

The bottom line is this – it is not your fault. A combination of lifestyle, exercise and supplementation protocols can be used to combat each site resulting in a leaner and more importantly healthier individual.

So each bit of fat on your body tells us a story. It makes sense. Why do individuals carry fat all on their legs and not up the top? What about the individual who just cant shift the fat off the hips.

Spot reduction a myth? Not anymore. Here is a glass of red to a healthier and leaner new you.

John Lark M.A. is a Fat Loss Specialist and Personal Trainer in Dublin Learn more about his methods at www.spherefitnessstudio.com and download your ‘5 Top Tips for Fat Loss’.

I thought that might grab your attention. The truth is that there is NO secret to what personal trainers use in within their personal training methods.

The truth is that the application of these methods will differ from individual to individual and this is the key to success in any fat loss programme.

We also believe in training with intensity, constancy of purpose and a clear vision of where you want to be. We are not interested in tyre kickers or persons afraid of placing an honest effort into the programme.

Our personal training system follows the following route:

1) Start Line

It is important that any personal training system has a results based approach. It sickens me to see personal trainers ‘wing it’ with their clients seemingly guessing what they should be doing – all under the pretense of making it ‘fun’ and enjoyable. Our enjoyment comes from seeing results and progression. For this to happen our personal trainers will record body composition, visual changes and structural balance. If a complete profile is required we look to taking bloods for a comprehensive look at the body’s systems.

It is also at this stage that your personal trainer sets your goals and then more importantly matches behaviours to take you to those goals.

2) Flexibility

Our personal training system is based on a corrective approach to the body. Tight muscles are located and a specific and tailored personal stretching programme is implemented. Our personal training clients often feel an immediate difference in their flexibility with the techniques we use.

3) Anabolic Activity

Our focus here at Sphere Personal Training is to focus on exercise that will stimulate, invigorate, bring balance and create an environment for development, growth and strength. Most of our clients who come to us for personal training come to us through frustration at lack of results. Normally they are cardio junkies, pounding the roads every day.

The problem with this is that it is stressful to the body, often too stressful. Hormonal imbalances are created, metabolism is floored and energy levels hit rock bottom. We aim to flip this on its head and include more anabolic activity such as strength training and interval training. Overall these methods work out as more invigorating, and results-producing. Clients see progression every time they set foot in the gym.

4) Diet and Nutrition

Our personal training system is geared towards correcting behaviours and making nutrition practical. It is like the Torvill without the Dean. Our Sphere Nutrition System follows a progressive and long term approach. 3 distinct phases take you through and with the help of your personal trainer, Sphere will drive these towards your goals. Our long term nutritional approach can be found here.

5) Sleep

No sleep, no recovery. And that goes for recovering from the high octane day you may have been through at home or at the office. We offer a 10 point coaching list for you to work your way through to normalise your sleep patterns.

6) Stress

Managing your stress is no easy task and following steps 1-5 with your personal trainer is a HUGE step forward. Taking and relinquishing control of your body is equally as important. Again , our personal trainers follow a 10 step methodology to help you manage your stress levels.

7) Digestion

Imagine a system of your body that is so sensitive that problems there can be directly expressed in pain in your lower back and give you that poochy belly look. Correcting digestion is largely achieved through supplementation recommendations. However, our personal trainers can coach you in specific habits that willunderpin your digestive efforts.

Our system is constantly evolving. Our duty of care is to provide you with a service that is supported by science and applied with professionalism and a duty of care to the client.

John Lark M.A. CSCS is a personal trainer and owner of Sphere Fitness. He can be contacted at 01-5052131.

Choosing the right personal trainer can be a daunting task.

How do you know that your investment will be put to the most effective use and that the care of your well-being and nurturing of your goals is met with equal enthusiasm and a relentless pursuit?

Here are my top tips for choosing a personal trainer:

1) Check for relevant personal training qualifications coupled with experience in what you are looking to acheive.

So he has worked with football teams, is an Olympic level strength coach but can he deliver his results to you as a housewife with three screaming kids who just wants to ‘tone up’. There is no reasons why that level of expertise wouldn’t be able to deliver. They often have the experience and ‘know-how’ and in the trenches personal training experience to help you. But check first. As if they have worked with anyone similar to your goals.

2) Ensure that they carry the most up-to-date qualifications out there
Not only does this allow you to see that they are committed to bringing nothing but the best in terms of personal training qualifications, but it is a sign of their professionalism and pursuit of excellence.

3) Do they walk the walk?
Look at your personal trainer? Do they look as of they have been out drinking the night before and feasting on bagels and cream cheese? Your personal trainer should be a shining example of what you hope to acheive. Anything less and you may find it harder to achieve your personal training goals than you think.

4) Try them out
Most successful personal training companies or personal trainers will allow you to sample thier services with no obligation. Ask if they can offer you a guarantee with their services or some form of trial period. If their methods or level of training doesn’t work out then you haven’t lost anything. At the Sphere Fitness Studio we offer a complimentary lifestyle assessment to see of you are ready for the level of personal training we deliver. Our emphasis is on results through hard work and dedication rather than cotton woolling.

Call The Sphere Fitness Studio to arrange your complimentary personal training assessment now

John Lark M.A, CSCS is owner of The Sphere Fitness Studio a personal training company located in Maynooth with personal training in Dubin also available. He can be contacted at 01-5052131

If there was one thing that kept me motivated without me really knowing was the little dog-eared piece note book that contains all my training information in from years a passed.

Have I made mistakes as a personal trainer with my training? Yes. Loads. But they are documented. Like training with a cold. Training through the pain barrier despite my shoulder telling me it wasn’t a good idea. Like not lifting heavy enough and relying on ‘functional movements’ and ‘blood  pressusre cuffs’ to tell me that I wasn’t contracting muscles that contract anyway.

The bottom line is that if you are serious bout making progress quit the guess work and allow one personal trainer to tell you what his secret is – a training diary.

John Lark is a personal trainer in dublin. Check out his website at www.john-lark.com