TheFitDog on fitness video shoots

*This is a blog post from Frankie the office dog*

Hey guys! It’s been ages since I blogged but I know you’re all interested in what I get up to (can’t blame you) so I thought I’d put paw to keypad and tell you about yesterday.

Most of my working days are pretty boring really, sleeping in my bed whilst Nic types, or sleeping in my bed whilst Nic is at meetings, or helping Nic think by whining or chomping loudly on a chew. But some days I really have to step up to the plate and basically be Nic’s assistant.

(^^^ my thinking face)

Yesterday we drove to East Grinstead to help out on a DVD and photoshoot for Muscle & Fitness magazine. It was really cool and I thought you should all know what happens on one of these days.

Remember the time I went to The Training Lab gym, met WBFF World Champ Shaun Stafford and was sick on the floor ? That was for a photoshoot and magazine article (inexplicably, the magazine didn’t want me in the photos – I am still waiting for the Editor to get back to me with exact answers on that).

It was the same yesterday, I wasn’t so much required to be in the DVD but, like Nic, I was a very important part of the behind-the-scenes activity.

Nic’s jobs:
- to sit down
- to write stuff down
- to talk to people and ask them things
- to remember all the funny things that were said and write them down for later
- to think a lot

Well now take a look at my list of jobs and I think you’ll start to see that I’m just as important:
- to lie down
- to get patted by people and try to lick them
- to watch all the funny things happening
- to think a lot (whilst sleeping)
- to guard the gym door so nobody came in during filming
- to guard the camera equipment
- to not get in the way
- to be a team mascot so all the people being filmed were chilled out and happy

Um… HELLO… how can a day like that happen without me? I haven’t asked Muscle & Fitness what my fee for the day is but I’m sure they’ll let me know in due course. Probably they will add it on to my fee for the other time when I was so helpful with the photoshoot.

Every time I do one of these jobs I make lots of cool new friends. Me and Andy McKenzie, who owns and runs The Training Lab gym, are basically best friends now. Especially since I wasn’t sick on his floor this time!

But also yesterday I met a man called Nick “Headhunter” Chapman, who was really big and sort of scary but secretly I think he’s not that scary at all, it’s just his job (he is an MMA fighter, which means Mixed Martial Arts). I caught him smiling at me when he walked past and he said “hellooooo there!” which really wasn’t very scary. But shhh don’t tell anyone, in case any of his MMA opponents are reading.

I also met a nice man called Mike who is very clever and invented a thing called a Unikurve (which is the fitness equipment we were making the DVD about). He showed me photos of his own dog and even gave Nic some advice on my bald patch (too embarrassing to blog about), thank you Mike.

Finally I met a cool dude called Wayne who gave me lot of cuddles, here is a picture of us (sorry I am a bit blurry, I was very excited). Wayne used to be in a TV show called Gladiators where his character was called Doom, but personally I think that’s silly because he wasn’t Doomy or Gloomy at all. And I know just how annoying it can be when strangers only refer to you by your stage-name (I am so famous all around the town for my dog-coat modelling, sometimes I just want to free myself from the shackles of fame and cry out “but my name is Frankie!”) So I was very respectful to him and didn’t call him Doom once, just Wayne, which is his proper name.

Anyway that’s enough chit-chat for today. I will be back soon with a more fitness-themed post, probably on the topic of powerwalking and why it is my cardio of choice.

I hope you enjoyed this unique insight into what it is like to be a dog working in the fitness industry.

Until next time, bye!

TheFitDog on fitness video shoots is a post from the Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Updated for 2013: my favourite fitness and nutrition podcasts

It’s been a while (… years!) since I blogged about the podcasts I listen to, and it’s definitely time for an update. Not only because I listen to a lot more of them now, but because my list of favourites has changed. Some fantastic new podcasts have come on the scene, I’ve discovered others, and some on my original list are no more.

Podcasts are a great way to “get your learn on” and are a brilliant way of turning long car drives, commutes or dog walks into productive time. Of course, sometimes it’s nice to head out for a walk without earphones on at all, to really be in the moment, but if you walk a hell of a lot (as I do), you’ll often want to listen to something. So why not make that something informative, inspirational or a little bit challenging?

Here’s my current list of go-to podcasts (I download them all via iTunes – you’ll be able to find them by searching). If you give them a try, come back and tell me what you thought.

Access Bodybuilding
Access Bodybuilding is a behind the scenes look at the bodybuilding industry, covering events, news, competitors, gossip, industry developments and all sorts. It’s American, and doesn’t only look at the natural side of the industry (in fact I’d say mostly not – but only because that reflects the size and balance of the industry as a whole). It’s funny, interesting, irreverant and a good “magazine” style show to listen to.

Ben Coomber Radio
Ben’s a mate of mine but that’s not why I listen to Ben Coomber Radio. Well, it is why I started listening, to be fair. But it’s not why I’m still an avid fan. I love this show because it’s funny, in-depth, very interesting, well-researched and extremely informative (and English! Most S&C/nutrition/fitness podcasts are American which is fine but means a lot of the references, resources and recommendations are lost on me). I always learn at least one new thing and am inspired to try something new with my own nutrition, or go away and research something in greater depth. Presented by Ben, who is a very well-respected performance nutritionist, and sometimes co-hosted by Anna of Proteinpow.com, the show usually has a guest: in the past he’s had Phil Learney, Joseph Lightfoot and James Monk. Ben usually breaks this short-ish (30-45 minutes) show into news and views, then an interview or listener Q&A.

Heavy Muscle Radio
Heavy Muscle Radio is another podcast from RX Muscle. It’s funny. I know that the presenter, Dave Palumbo, isn’t to everyone’s taste but personally I find him and his commentary hilarious. It’s another magazine type show, looking at news and events from the world of bodybuilding (but mostly the USA), it has interviews and show reports and all sorts of chit chat. The shows can get pretty long but you can pick and choose the bits you want to listen to.

Muscle Girls Inc
I love MGI! Presented by two bikini Pro competitors, it’s like getting your FBB mates together for a god old gossip and giggle. The first half of the show is usually a bit silly and often has me in fits of laughter (it’s meant to be about bodybuilding but often goes off-piste to discuss food and boys and stuff) and the second half is always an interview with a female competitor. I love the interviews; it’s so interesting to hear from competitors across bikini, figure, fitness, physique and bodybuilding classes and there’s often some meaty stuff discussed, like metabolic damage, disordered eating, relationships, etc, as well as all the stuff about prep and competing as you’d expect. I really look forward to MGI every week.

Natty Talk Radio
Natty Talk Radio is one of very few podcasts I’ve found which talk only about the natural/tested side of the sport and that in itself is enough reason for me to listen. This show interviews natural bodybuilders, has Q&A discussions about hot topics and draws on plenty of scientific research to back up the anecdotal evidence and chat, which makes for good listening.

Robb Wolf’s The Paleo Solution
I’m not Paleo but find the research and ideas behind the Paleo way of life very interesting. Robb Wolf is one of the leading names in the Paleo game and he’s a great presenter. His radio show The Paleo Solution is packed full of information and a great listen for anyone interested in the natural, healing aspects of nutrition, or in eating for performance and strength and physique sports. It’s been going for years and I’m currently working my way backwards through the early years.

Your Physique Radio
Your Physique Radio is great because it’s presented by two Irish guys (although one lives in the States now) so it feels a little closer to home. They discuss bodybuilding shows, competitors, news and industry developments, review products and gyms, and have some great guests. My only bugbear is that it’s not updated more regularly – in fact I think it might have ground to a halt? Still, there’s a good back catalogue of shows so, if you’ve not come across it already, you can spend a few hours working your way through the shows they’ve already done!

I also still listen to The Fit Cast podcast, The Strength Coach podcast and TED talks as mentioned in my previous blog post about podcasts

Which podcasts do you recommend? Have you ever been on a podcast – or do you have your own?

Updated for 2013: my favourite fitness and nutrition podcasts is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

TheFitDog on fitness photoshoots

*This is a blog post from Frankie the office dog*

Hey guys! Sorry it’s been ages since I wrote a blog post. Nic’s been hogging the blog with all that Olympics stuff. Anyway, I’ve kicked her off the laptop tonight (she says sorry, no Olympics-inspired blog post today) cos I’ve had a WELL exciting day and I think you all need to hear about it right now!

Have you ever been a fitness model in a fitness photoshoot? Nor had I – until today! Nic and I drove down to somewhere called The Training Lab which is a really mega-cool gym in East Grinstead because a magazine called Muscle and Fitness had asked her to write an article and be in the photos for it, too. (I have never read Muscle and Fitness but I don’t read much as a general rule).

Nic and a man called Shaun Stafford (who is an actual fitness model) had to do a workout and another man called Andy McKenzie (who is a coach) had to tell them what to do and then another man called Simon Howard (who is a photographer) had to take photos of them. It was a bit confusing for me, meeting so many new people, but I got it in the end. Andy was the one shouting at Nic and Shaun, Shaun was the one with loads of muscles and no top on, and Simon was the one who kept putting a camera in front of his face (I think perhaps he was a bit shy, I’m not sure).

We got there and I warmed up for the proper photos by posing outside The Training Lab

Then I lay down in my bed in the physio room and Nic tied my lead to a kettlebell so I couldn’t go off exploring by myself.

Then Nic and Shaun did lots of cool stuff like jumping over hurdles and putting chains around their necks – I really wish I could have joined in, especially the jumping (which I love) but Nic said no I had to sit in my bed

At one point I could hear everyone shouting and yelling at Nic and I got really angry so I pulled the kettlebell and wandered into the gym. I was so mad I was ready to bite them (even though I’ve never bitten anyone before but, you know, don’t push me!) But Nic laughed and said “it’s OK, go to your bed”. Apparently the shouting and yelling was to do with Nic squatting a bar with chains on?

What I learned today is that everyone has a role on a photoshoot. For example, today:

- me: artistic director. Basically what I did was sat on my bed and transmitted my excellent ideas for photos into Simon’s brain and then he did them. He was pretty good! My job was the most important, obviously, although many people might say you wouldn’t know it. That’s because I am a true professional and don’t like to make a song and dance about my high skill level.
- Simon: the photographer. This is a really important role in any photoshoot otherwise you have no photos and then the magazine gets really cross.
- Nic and Shaun: the models. Nic said I must point out that she isn’t really a model, she just pretended to be one for the day. Shaun however is a real one, it’s his actual job and he even won a big competition and got his Pro Card! And you could totally tell – he was way better than Nic. Plus I really like his hair.
- Andy: the coach. You don’t have to have one of these on a photoshoot but if it is a sport or fitness photoshoot then it’s a good idea, because the coach can tell the athletes what to do and make sure they are doing everything right and not hurting themselves. He was a really nice man too and even said I can come back again.

There was only one strange thing about the whole shoot – Simon only took one photo of me? I can only assume that the photo he took was so perfect that he didn’t need to spend ages asking me to do the pose over and over again. That is what you get for being a top model like me. I did offer Shaun some tips but he said he was OK thank you.

Luckily Nic made sure she took some on her little camera so here they are (these aren’t Simon’s, I expect they’ll be a bit better)

Everyone said I was really good today, for example let me tell you a few things they said:
- Hasn’t he been good?
- How cute
- Good boy
- What a lovely dog
- Aw he is cute
- Hello there fella
- Hello fatty (????)
- Very good

Again I can only stress that professional and experienced models like myself can expect compliments like these on shoots. Those of you who are new to the industry might have to work a little harder until someone calls you Good Dog or Fatty.

One last observation from today – being a fitness model is exhausting! I am really tired now and very thirsty. And on that note I am going to go to bed – I haven’t had any naps today and my brain is very sore from all the thinking.

It was lovely to meet Shaun Stafford, Simon Howard and Andy McKenzie and I really enjoyed visiting The Training Lab. If you’re nearby, you should totally go! Oh and you should wish my new best mate Shaun loads of luck in his upcoming competition which is the WBFF Worlds in Toronto (which is in Canada, which is abroad). I reckon he’ll win for sure but as I said to him today, if he’d like any last-minute tips from me on how to be really brown or how to have shiny hair, or how to get really muscley by sprinting after a football, I will be happy to oblige.

Goodnight!

TheFitDog on fitness photoshoots is a post from the Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

TheFitDog on training partners

TheFitDog on… training partners

Hi guys! It’s been a while since I last blogged but I am a dog of action so I thought, time to put claws to the keyboard and give you a few more words of wisdom out of my massive square head.

I’m really glad so many of you enjoyed my blog post on the important topic of BALLS. I was a little worried that you might not share my passion but it seems that many of you realise the serious nature of balls. Do you know, I even got a piece of fan mail! Well it was an email but it still counts. Here is a snippet from it:

“I love Office Dog’s blogs – I had to nip out of my office as I was giggling so hard at the blog on balls!”

I am thinking of printing it out and framing it above my bed.

Anyhow, this rainy weather is not much good for ball games (too much skidding) and it’s not much good for sitting outside in the sun, either. So I thought I’d write you a blog post on the topic of training partners.

Recently I met a fine lady by the name of PEPPER. She is brown and stripey like myself so I knew we would hit it off. Now, it can be tricky finding the right training partner, sometimes they are too slow, sometimes they are too quick, sometimes they prefer to use different equipment (balls vs sticks for example) and sometimes their bum smells bad. (Usually bad is good but sometimes bad is just bad!) Pepper and I really hit it off, which might be because we are a similar breed (probably; the jury’s still out on my parentage) or might be because we have similar humans (Pepper’s owners are both into bodybuilding, too).

Here are a few pictures of us enjoying a great workout. This is what we did:

- warm up of walking
- pre-exhaust of jumping in and out of a stinking river
- main session of long sprints
- some stick work
- cool down (walk) and stretching
- PWO meal of water

Do you have a training partner? This is what I look for in a good training partner (like Pepper) and I think you should probably take my advice on this (like most things):

- Are they a similar breed? I mean, are you both big and muscley, or both thin and fast? Just take a look at their breed and build, you will get a fair idea of whether or not you want the same things out of your training session
- Does it make you feel good to be around them? I am pretty positive about things, on the whole. I don’t want a training partner who’s always going on about their sore paw, or their mange. Make sure your temperaments are about the same (but recognise that everyone has bad days)
- Are they likely to turn vicious and bite you? Best avoid these types (unless that’s your thing, of course!)
- Are they hygienically acceptable? I don’t mind a bit of mud and spit but I like to keep myself quite clean. Again, this is your call. For instance, my friend HARVEY is great but gosh he smells. (Sorry Harvey if you are reading this, but you do!) I think he maybe needs a bath. Or his glands seeing to.
- Have they got decent kit and are they willing to share? It’s all very well getting a training partner and thinking “wow, ace ball collection!” but what if they’re all sniffy and precious about the balls? No fun!
- Are they willing to train as hard (or not) as you and as frequently? You don’t want to get attached to them and then find out they only want to train once a month or something boring like that!

I hope this little checklist helps you out so you can find a training partner who can help you meet your goals.

I’m off to eat a fish oil capsule! Nic’s been adding them to my food and, once I worked out how to eat the damn things, I have to say they’re very good. Kind of… fishy! Bye!

TheFitDog on training partners is a post from the Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

20 minute cardio

This morning’s cardio session was just 20 minutes long (well, 30 if you count five minutes warm up and five minutes walking on the treadmill after). Want to try it? Here’s how it went down:

What you need
One staircase (sturdy) with area at the top
One kettlebell, two dumbbells (or two kettlebells of the same weight)
A bleepy stop watch (or a friend with a watch)

What you do
60-seconds: running up and down the stairs (careful – mind you if I can do this and not fall on my face then I’m sure you can too)
60-seconds: exercise (see below)

Do this pairing five times (all the exercises), then have a 60-second rest. Then go again.

a) kettlebell swings
b) squats (I did goblet squats)
c) press ups
d) walking lunges (with the two DBs or two KBs)
e) burpees (HATE)

Total work time: 20 minutes.

Done, and done.

Needless to say, because you’re not working for very long, you need to work very hard. Max effort on the runs up the stairs, gently does it (active recovery) on the way down, max effort on all the exercises. Yes, even the burpees, sorry. You can, of course, change the exercises to suit your ability, your needs and your sport. Enjoy!

20 minute cardio is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Guest post over on Girl on the River

Hi all, happy Friday: we made it! *wipes brow*

This is very quick post to let you know that I have an interview/guest post over on Girl On The River’s blog: go and take a look. As a bonus, you get to see a bee-yoo-tiful picture of my “muscley fat” Channel swimmer’s back (with a pretty sensational swimming tan!)

GOTR has been doing a fascinating blog series about whether it’s possible to get leaner and stronger at the same time. She’s a journo, like me, so her posts are full of interviews and great Q&As with really interesting people (I don’t mean me! I mean people like Paul Mattick, double World Rowing Champion!)

I hope you like her blog – have a look around – she’s a rower and tackles some interesting issues, tells some funny stories and gives a good glimpse into the crazy world of rowing.

You can follow Girl On The River on Twitter here and Facebook here.

Thanks for the opportunity, GOTR!

Guest post over on Girl on the River is a post from the Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

TheFitDog on ball games

In his most recent blog post, Frankie the office dog promised a future post on the topic of balls. He is a dog of his word, so here is that post.

Hi again guys! I said I’d blog about BALLS and that’s what I’m going to do!

BALLS are really important. Most humans don’t give them enough thought. Unless you a footballer, cricketer or golfer I bet you haven’t even played with a ball in ages! More fool you. Balls are really important. If you ask me (or any dog), it’s no coincidence that the world itself is shaped like a ball.

Think about that for a second.

I am here to tell you all about balls and to inspire you to maybe run after a ball or two this week. So I thought you would probably love it if I went through my BALL collection with you and told you a bit about how I got the ball, what I use it for and why I’d recommend it. Let’s go!

1) Oldest ball

This is the first ball I ever found. What a day that was! Good times. It’s leather based and a bit tatty but that’s probably why someone threw it away. I don’t care. It’s like an old friend. Every once in a while I will dig this one out and have a play, but only if it’s a fine day with no mud underfoot. Plus it doesn’t kick very well. This ball is special!

2) Patchy ball

This was the second ball I found over the park. Are you getting a theme here? Again, it’s a fine leather ball, no real reason to get rid of it, but sadly some people discard their balls once they get a bit old. This one is great for chewing.

3) White ball

Now we are on to the actual workout type balls. This is what you’d call a workhorse kind of a ball, an every day ball which you can rely on to kick really well. It’s more a plastic vinyl type material. It skids really well on dew and snow. When Mark kicks it, it goes miles! When Nic kicks it, it doesn’t go so far. Sometimes it doesn’t go anywhere. Nic isn’t very good at kicking. My favourite thing to do with this ball is to wait til it bounces then jump up and catch it mid-air!

4) Blue ball

This is the third ball I found. Can you believe there are so many unwanted balls out there been discarded by their owners? Blue ball used to be my everyday ball but it’s a bit deflated now. But it’s great to have a blue ball because sometimes I fancy a change of colours.

5) Rugby ball

This ball is stupid. When it bounces, it goes off in another direction?! Mark says this is the whole point. I find it very frustrating and I feel sorry for rugby players. They must spend their whole time wondering what the hell is going on! I don’t really like playing with this ball, but Mark does, so sometimes we have a quick kickabout. Plus it’s actually Mark’s ball anyway and he doesn’t like me to chew it. Are you a rugby player? Does the weird ball annoy you?

6) Orange ball

There is a great story behind this ball! I was on a normal everyday walk with Nic when I saw a garden full of old balls. I was transfixed and I just stopped in my tracks and stared, wagging my tail. Seeing all those balls just made me feel so happy inside! Then a lady came out of the house and Nic thought maybe she’d be cross so she explained that I love balls and was just having a look. The lady said “well my kids leave them all over the garden and I think your dog would appreciate them more anyway” and gave me one of the balls! It’s a brilliant ball because it’s a totally different size to all my other balls, and it’s bright orange, and it was a gift. The greatest gift of all, you might say! Anyway on a related note, that whole walk is a great example of why you should always be optimistic in life. On paper, it was going to be a boring weekday evening walk in the dark. In reality it turned out to be a walk where I got given an orange ball by a stranger! Stay positive guys and remember that sometimes the most ordinary things turn out to be the most amazing!

7) Golf ball

This isn’t really a ball I play with but it’s a fun one to add to my collection. Nic found it once whilst we were walking. The funniest thing about it is that the golf course it comes from is like five miles away! That person must be a really good golfer! Please note this ball is no good for bouncing or chewing. It is OK to push around the carpet and chase for a bit.

8) Comic Relief ball

This ball is a blast from the past. When I first came to live here, Mark and Nic used to bounce it at me because it makes these freaky laughing sounds. I went a bit mad to be honest with you and Mark and Nic took it off me. But they only put it on top of my crate: I might have been a puppy but I wasn’t born yesterday! I found it again straight away. It now lives in a drawer in the kitchen. I might ask for it this evening and have a laugh.

Gosh I didn’t know I had so many balls! It’s ironic, really, because I don’t have any *you know what* balls. This man who is called a vet stole them from me whilst I was having a nap at his place. I’ve asked around locally and it seems this man has done this a lot to many, many dogs (and even some cats). No-one has intervened and to this day he is still carrying on with this practice. What a greedy man! How many balls do you need? I mean, I know I’ve just listed eight but he must have loads more than that now. And what does he do with them? They’re no good for chasing!

Bye, guys! Have fun doing a kickabout or ball-chasing session this week! Just make sure you drink tons of water after.

EDIT 08/03/12 Since writing this post, we have discovered another “white ball” and also a tennis ball in Frankie’s collection

TheFitDog on ball games is a post from the Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

29 reasons to lift weights (audience participation post)

Happy Feb 29th! In honour of this extra added bonus day of the year, I thought I’d come up with 29 reasons to lift weights.

It’s a bit of audience participation: you get to fill the leap-year inspired bonus spot with the top reason of your own.

Lifting weights…

1. Builds lean mass, which is healthy, metabolically active, and looks good.
2. Will make you look better than if you don’t lift weights.
3. Helps build a stable, injury-free structure (so you’ll be able to get up out of a chair in old age without going “oof”)
4. Makes you feel awesome (at the time, afterwards, or both!)
5. Turns you into a bona-fide badass.
6. Can transform your physique, whether you feel you’re overweight, carrying too much fat, too skinny or not shapely enough for your liking.
7. Teaches you new things (not something we encounter often as adults)
8. Helps you reach sport and fitness goals, whether that’s to compete in bodybuilding or get better at endurance or team sports.
9. Helps you learn about how your own body works and what its limits are (or aren’t!)
10. Might surprise you: you’re capable of a lot, you know!
11. Is sociable: there are a lot of local folk down at the gym and they’re there most days. They’re nice!
12. Enables you set goals… then smash them to bits.
13. Cranks up your metabolism so you can enjoy more of the food you like.
14. Gives you an excuse to buy new gym kit, clothing and gadgets.
15. Improves your posture.
16. Gives you a pert round booteh, smaller waist, perkier “pecs”.
17. Boosts testosterone, giving you more energy and focus.
18. Helps you sleep better.
19. Gives you an incredible sense of achievement.
20. Builds and enforces mental toughness which you can carry over into other areas of your life.
21. Proves to you just how strong you are – not just in the gym.
22. Helps with body composition (in other words, gives you a helping hand in the battle against excess body fat)
23. Improves self-esteem (you just lifted *how much*? Look at you!)
24. Shakes up your training routine.
25. Has been proven to help offset diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis.
26. Makes your clothes fit better (as well as making you look better without them on).
27. Gives you a great conversation starter (“This is Sarah, she likes making her own jam, and this is Amanda, she likes deadlifting her own bodyweight…”)
28. Gives you a quick-blast option for raising the heart rate, burning calories and blasting body fat, even when time is tight.

And 29….what’s your reason for lifting weights? Let me know in the comments!

29 reasons to lift weights (audience participation post) is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

TheFitDog on diet

I regularly get Tweets, Facebook requests and direct messages asking for more blog posts from my dog. Yes, really. The thing about Frankie is, he’s not that great at typing. He has lots of ideas, but then he forgets them. And if there’s food around, forget it (forget what?!) But we can not deny the repeated requests of such a strong fanbase.

Here are his posts thus far:
Advice for a happy life
Offers to answer your training questions
Then answers your fitness questions

And here is the latest blog post from my dog.

Hi guys! Today I thought I’d focus on DIET. Diet means food! And food is brilliant.

I wanted to talk about FOOD for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I haven’t been doing much training, just cardio really: long walks and then HIIT chasing after my football (blog post to come on my collection of balls, how I came about them all and how I select a ball depending on what I want to achieve out of my session).

Secondly, Nic recently posted the picture below on her Facebook wall, and I know most of you are probably thinking “wow, how did he get that ripped and muscular? What is his diet?” So I am going to talk you through what I eat, what I like to eat, what I wish I could eat and maybe even some of my favourite products.

By the way, for all you bodybuilders out there who wish you could do such a great rear-lat spread, here’s my top tip. It will never fail you. Just turn around and imagine there’s a CAT in the GARDEN! Honestly, it will make you so puffed up and enraged your lats will flare like mad and you will look massive. Top tip right there, guys!

Obviously I mostly eat actual dog food, but that’s by far the most boring part of my diet, so that’s all I’m going to say about that. As well as dog food, I eat:

- vegetables, mainly cruciferous.
I love the crunch!
Favourites: cauliflower (only the outside leaves), brocolli (only the stalks), cabbage (red or white), brussels sprouts (bit tricky to get a purchase on, can fall out of the mouth and roll around), cucumber. Once, I stole availed myself of a whole entire cauliflower, but I only ate the leaves. Another time I stole caught (as it was falling off the kitchen surface) a red cabbage. I ate the whole thing! Then I was sick a bit on the carpet (which is cream coloured).

- meat! Sometimes I am lucky enough to get odds and ends of whatever Nic is cooking. Here is me taking a look at what she’s got out of the freezer for the week, just so I know what might be coming my way.

When Nic makes something in the slow-cooker, I get to eat my dinner out of the slow-cooker bowl once it’s empty! This is probably my favourite meal of the week.

Nic gets her meat from various places but, in my expert opinion (I am a dog, after all), the best ones are:
- Athleat (I even made it onto their website! OMG! Look – can you spot me?) Nic says put “nicolamillichip” in at checkout you’’ll get 10% off your order. My favourite product is their grass-fed mince, Nic’s is their chicken breast.

Westin Gourmet – I love their sausages (Nic loves their chicken and turkey) and on the topic of sausages, if you go to here, you’ll get free sausages on your order! Whooo-ha!

Nic also cooks quite a lot of “exotic” meat as her treats, I just asked her where she gets it from and she said Osgrow and Kezie. She also gets her fish from Regal Fish Supplies, but I can’t give a personal recommendation on these items as I have never once been allowed to sample any

- Coconut oil.
I just can’t get enough of this. Here are a few pictures of me with an empty tub, and even a video. I just wanted to show you all how much I love it. Nic gives me about a tsp of the oil (it’s solid) on her hand every morning and I go crazy when I see the tub. I think it gives my ears a nice shine; what do you think? Shiny ears are very important. Nic got this tub from myprotein but you can get it other places, too.

Here’s a video of me and an empty tub

- Water!
The only thing I drink is water and I honestly believe it is a big factor in my all-round awesomeness. I’ve tried tea; don’t like it. I don’t fancy coffee and I’ve never been tempted by booze. One thing I would say – from experience – don’t fall asleep of an evening and then wake up really thirsty so you end up drinking a ton of water just before bed. You’ll only need to bark to be let out for a wee in the night!

Anyway, I hope that answers some of your questions about how I manage to be so muscly and shiny. If there’s anything else you’d like to know, feel free to drop Nic a line and she will pass the message on to me. My next blog post will be about BALLS!

TheFitDog on diet is a post from the Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Treadmill training to try

I used to turn my nose up at the treadmill, preferring to head off on road or trail to pound out mile after mile of same-pace stuff, with the odd track session or set of hill reps thrown in. Sport-specific, innit: I used to take part in running races and triathlons, and I needed to train that way.

These days, I do very little cardio, and the cardio I do needs to be short and sharp, stripping away body fat but preserving precious muscle (yep, it’s a good trick if you can do it). These days, I’m on first name terms with the treadmill (Chris), cross-trainer (Lesley) and rowing machine (Simon).

It dawned on me this morning, as I slid home from the gym on icy pavements (I’m still doing cardio during deload week), that even my triathlete and running pals might be getting familiar with a treadmill in this weather. And, why not. Sure, treadmill running isn’t as picturesque as a few glorious miles across hill and dale (unless the person on the treddie in front of yours possesses a particularly pleasing derriere…) but it does the job. And, actually, for the endurance folk amongst you, a short sharp treadmill session could deliver measurable benefits which are quite different to your longer, slower outdoor runs. So this post is for you, too!

I don’t (currently) do anything longer than 30 minutes of cardio in one go, and I prefer to do 20 minutes of “work” with a warm up and down. But the work does need to be work! Got 30 minutes? Then here are three treadmill sessions to try today (not all in one day, obvs). They’re my current “favourites”:

11/11/11
I’ve written about this before. This was given to me by a PT called Ben Lauder-Dykes. It’s a true delight. Really, just try it. And if you think it’s too easy, well that’s great, because you can also do 12/12/12 or whatever you like. You’re only limited by the % to which your treadmill will incline.

How to do it:
- get on the treadmill, warm up (walk/jog) for 4 mins
- set the treadmill to 11kph, 11% incline
- start running and run for 15 seconds
- jump to the side of the treadmill (so you’re straddling the belt) and rest for 15 seconds
- keep doing this 15s on/15s off for 11 minutes (if it all gets a bit much, just remember you’re looking for “15:00″ on the display)
- hit that speed button and decrease it slowly for 5 minutes til you’re walking to cool down
There. 20 minutes out of your day=boosted metabolism, fat burning, speed work, incline training, glutey-bootay greatness

Hill intervals
I did this today. How to do it:
- walk/jog for 5 minutes on an incline of 0.5% (only because completely flat feels weird)
- run at a sustainable pace (read the full session to guess at what this might be for you) for 2 minutes
- increase incline to 2% for 2 minutes
- down to 0.5% for 2 minutes
- increase incline to 4% for 2 minutes
- down to 0.5% for 2 minutes
- increase incline to 6% for 2 minutes
- down to 0.5% for 2 minutes
- increase incline to 8% for 2 minutes
- down to 0.5% for 2 minutes
- increase incline to 10% for 2 minutes
- hit that decline button, bring the incline down, and start to bring the speed down too so you jog/walk for a 5 minute cool down
There. 30 minutes of deceptive, increasingly heart-pounding work which will leave your metabolism ramped up for hours and do you much more good than just running at the same pace and the same incline for 30 minutes.

Flat intervals
How to do it:
- 5 mins warm up until you’re running at a sustainable pace (somewhere between 5 mile and 10K race pace I’d say)
- alternate 1 minute at this pace with 1 minute recovery (jog not walk) pace. Try not to bring the speed down too much, simply because then part of your next minute’s effort will be spent getting the treadmill back up to speed
- do 20 minutes of 1 min on/1 min off
- decrease the speed for a 5 minute jog/walk cool down

Do one session per week (or, if you dare, do all of these in one week) and tell me how you feel and how it’s affected your body recomposition and/or fitness goals. Don’t underestimate them, though. I’m always hugely hungry and very tired for a day or so after doing one of these sessions; a sure sign that they work the body hard.

Treadmill training to try is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.