Breaking Athletes

Whilst I was working for Northland, I had the pleasure of sitting down and having a conversation between myself, Tim Hurst (the Northland head S&C) and Mark Drury, who is the Head S&C for Canterbury Crusaders.

Tim and Mark are good friends, they used to work together at the Crusaders so Mark was basically up in Whangarei to have a bit of a catch up, and also to check up on one of his players, Jone Macilai.

Whilst Mark was about, we started just generally chatting shop about S&C whilst I was getting our GPS done for the day, and one part of the conversation that really stands out in my mind is something he said about S&C coaches in recent years:
- Are we too concerned with keeping people injury free?
- And does this fear of breaking players limit our ability to enhance their performance?

Mark has been in the game for a while, and, working at one of the most successful rugby teams in recent history, works with some of the best athletes that New Zealand has to offer. So when he spoke about this, I pretty much just stopped what I was doing and got involved in the conversation without distraction.

So his point was basically that not too long ago, the head coaches at professional rugby teams didn't necessarily have a great understand of S&C. They would sort of know that we can get the players to perform better than before, and that we could bring people back from injury etc but didn't necessarily have the greatest depth of knowledge of the whole subject.

He said back then he had almost a free reign and could do what he wanted with the players, to achieve the desired results. Injury prevention was a key factor, as were the more highly acclaimed physical attributes of strength, speed, power and conditioning. But as long as he was achieving his goals of having some of the best athletes in the Country, and some of the best rugby players ever to walk the face of this Earth, he was able to keep the majority healthy, and bring back guys from injury to pitch-ready - then his job was done. The head coach would be satisfied, leave him to it and see him in the next meeting.

But nowadays head coaches have a deeper understanding of what we can, and are trying to achieve. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes this still leads to a coach who will just leave you to do your business as long as he has a squad for match-day, but oftentimes this now means that coaches have an almost farfetched view of what they want from the physical development side.

Mark said he was sat in a pre-season meeting, where it came up that the head coach wanted there to be zero players out of action due to hamstring injury. He said "I know that we can work to prevent hamstring injuries so this year I expect no players to miss games due to this" ... (note: it probably wasn't those exact words but to that effect)

Now if I was sat in a meeting and this came up, I think I'd be a little stunned and confused. Anyway, Mark went on to fight his case and sort of explain how that is a little bit of an exaggerated target etc etc.

With this now being said it leads back to our original point - coaches are wiser to our ways, our goals, and effectively they are still in charge of what we try to achieve. After all, we are building up their players to play the type of game that they want them to play. If they want lighter but faster players, we can do that. If they want big, battering ram 2007 Springboks type game-plan, we can do that too (hopefully not).
But now they want to have no injuries. "Ok guys, so yeah this year I want my whole 36-man squad to be available for every single game of the season ... Go get it!"

If this is the case, where even after pleading your case to whoever else happens to be sat in that room the outcome is still the same, where does it leave us?
Cautious is probably the word I'd use. And this is what Mark explained also. He said that coaches now have such a high importance on keeping players healthy, that they wince at the sign of them doing anything particularly taxing. Heavy squats and max effort sprints give these guys the goosebumps at the thought of what could go wrong.

So does this then effect how we program? And how that program get's delivered to the athletes? Are we being too cautious? Does being cautious stop us from truly pushing these athletes to become more physically capable than they were before?

Before the coaches got involved we could push the boundaries a little - if we break one of our 7 back row players by trying to get them to the next level, it's probably ok in the long run because we've got 6 more to cover those 3 spots. Then during the re-hab process we can try to build that player up to higher than they were before, in the hope of stopping it from happening again.

Now we may be limited by coaches, which means that yes we can still make progress with players, but have to do so in a much different environment by looking at a longer-term approach. The fear of having a player inactive due to injury, seems to be out-weighing our desire to push the limits and see what these athletes are capable of.

Another interesting side note - freak incidents are still going to happen. So you could do all the pre-hab you want, but at some point it's pretty likely that someone might blow their knee-out, or get a concussion or whatever else. Sure we can minimise the likelihood for soft tissue injury, but freak accidents happen.

Make of this what you will, I just found that it was a very interesting conversation about how our profession is changing, and will continue to change. You never know, maybe at some point it will have gone full circle, but we'll have to wait and see.

So for now - where do you want to be? Pushing those limits to create the best athletes that you can, or limiting the potential for progress by the over-bearing threat of injury? Maybe the head coach will make that choice for you.

Thanks for reading,

Rob Nitman.
BSc (Hons). ASCC.

Creating your own "Movement Menu"

If you are a regular gym user, whether for the purpose of strength, aesthetics, or sports performance, you no doubt at some point get confused with all the do’s and don’ts, and the variety of different styles of training you can use, fancy new tools and whatever else may pop up in the media.

A lot of this can get simplified by taking programming out of your own hands by employing a coach, or by following a program written out in your favourite magazine or website.

But for those of you who enjoy being in charge of your own training, it is important to know two things:

1 – What your goal is

2 – How best to achieve that goal

Knowing your goal is hugely important to anyone who trains. Whether you want to deadlift 350kg, complete a 90 minute game of football without your lungs feeling like they’re going to explode, want to lose excess body fat to look better in a bikini, or simply try to stay healthy for longer, keeping that goal firmly in your sights is key.

Knowing how to get there is the tricky part. A lot of people know the destination, but there will often be forks in the road along the way where you don’t know whether to go left or right.

The majority of my work is done with strength athletes and sports people, and whether I work with them in a team setting, one-to-one, or through online coaching, my principles stay the same.

I’m a big believer in keeping things simple, doing the basics to a very high standard, and then building from there. If you don’t have a solid base of foundations, then you’ll never be able to build a high peak.

And from those principles I think it is important for athletes to always complete a comprehensive total body program that incorporates various different movements, to develop complete strength and power, whilst limiting the risk for injury.

So, without further ado, here is my personal Movement Menu:

-       Jumps – Box Jumps, Broad Jumps etc

-       Leg Push Movement – Squat, Front Squat, Leg Press etc.

-       Leg Pull Movement – Deadlift, Sled/Prowler Pull etc

-       Hinge Movement – RDL, Good Mornings, Kettlebell Swings etc

-       Upper Body Vertical Push – Overhead Press, Push Press, Jerk etc

-       Upper Body Horizontal Push – Bench Press, Floor Press etc

-       Upper Body Vertical Pull – Chins, Pull Ups, Lat Pulldowns etc

-       Upper Body Horizontal Pull – Bent Over Row, Seated Row, DB Rows etc

-       Stabilisation – Plank, Rollouts, Dragon Flags etc

-       Rotational – Russian Twist, Med Ball Rotational Throws, Pallof Press etc

-       Carries – Farmers Walks, Yoke, Overhead Walks etc

-       Uni-Lateral – Lunges, Bulgarian Split Squats, One Arm Presses & Pulls

Now obviously it is going to be pretty tough to fit all of these into a single session, and this isn’t my point. I try to include an exercise from each category into a weekly, or fortnightly program for my athletes. This can help to develop a better-rounded athlete, with strength front to back, and head to toe.

I haven’t included any direct speed, conditioning, or pre-hab/injury prevention work, as I think these come in separately in the whole program. I am purely talking weight room with this menu.

To decide what should be on your menu, have a look at your sport. Do a bit of a “needs analysis” to see if any of these things could be taken out, or if anything else needs to be added in.

From this needs analysis you can then decide how best to target the other areas such as speed; what distance is most important for you sport, or conditioning; work/rest ratios and intensities for your sport.

If you’re not training for sports performance, then break it down by what you want to achieve. If you’re body building, make sure you are adequately training each muscle group to develop total symmetry. If you are after fat loss, your menu may not be for movements, but will likely include resistance training, cardiovascular training, and nutrition as 3 of the biggest components to success.

Piecing this altogether will make for a very substantial, and complete program, allowing development of the entire body, and, if you’ve completed the needs analysis well, it will be specific to your sport and you will reap the benefits.

So go ahead, create your own menu and build a recipe for success.

Rob Nitman.

BSc. ASCC.

nitmanperformance@gmail.com

www.nitmanperformance.co.uk

www.createabetterversionofyou.co.uk/robnitmancoaching

Twitter - @nitman89        |        Instagram - @rob_nitman        |       Facebook - facebook.com/NitmanPerformance

Creating a Winning Habit & Understanding The Sub-Maximal

I recently posted on The Bending Barbell page about creating a winning atmosphere, and how both winning and losing are habits.

If you haven't seen it:
1 - Go like the "The Bending Barbell" Facebook page (and "Nitman Performance Training" while you're at it)
2 - here it is ...

"Success is a habit. And so is losing.

So why would you want to engrain losing as a habit in your training? It's something that confuses me personally - because when it comes down to it, whether you compete on a field or a platform, you want to win. And if not win then at least be successful in terms of your performance. 

With strength sports it is all down to your performance on competition day. It doesn't matter what you do in the gym if you compete - it only matters on the 1 day that you put all that hard work into practice. 

Chad Wesley Smith always preaches about "training is for building, not testing". Meaning that the time you spend preparing for a meet is used to BUILD your lifts to be better than they were before.
This way when you get out on the platform you can break PRs. The test is on the platform.

For strength a failed lift won't make you stronger. You want your body to be engrained to succeed every single time you hit a lift.

In terms of hypertrophy it can be a little different, as to stimulate muscle growth you need to break down the muscle fibres. BUT there are other ways - drop sets, rest pause etc. Which still allow you to practice succeeding. 

I'm going to go a bit more into depth on this in a blog post, I'll post the link in the comments once it's online, but for now here's the take home message:
Make your lifts count.
And more importantly -
Make Your Lifts.

Coach Rob Nitman - TBB Team"

I just want to expand about what I spoke of in this piece.

As I stated, winning is a habit. Losing is too. So how can we re-inforce a good habit of winning, and how can we break a bad habit of losing?

Well to re-inforce winning I believe you have to practice it all times. In team sports - play competitive games regularly to keep your players intent on winning at all costs. If you are a strength athlete and you compete on a platform (powerlifting, strongman, weightlifting etc) then during your training cycle you should (in my opinion) only allow yourself to complete successful lifts. Don't fail. Ever. It is not something you want your body to become accustomed to. The only time that failing is relatively understood is when you're attempting max effort lifts which should be left til competition day.

If you are losing in team sports - then again I believe that by making smaller parts of the everyday routine competitive re-instates the natural instincts of humans. As humans we are designed to be competitive, to want to win. Many moons ago we used to have to fight for our food - us against an animal. The winner stays alive and gets to eat. Simple. 

We had to fight to eat, to have shelter, to stay alive. This is in our blood. I don't care who you are - you are competitive. I used to have friends who claimed they don't care if they won or lost at sport, but then as soon as they got home they were furious if they lost to their friend in Cyber-Space at Call of Duty. It's the same damn thing. We all want to win at what we love, or what we're good at. The smart people want to be the smartest, the athletes want to be better than their opponents, Apple want to come up with the next big thing before Microsoft. It's all winning.

I got side tracked sorry.

Create a competitive atmosphere in smaller areas. In team sports - play games with a "it pays to be a winner" type attitude. Every successful team I ever played in or coached we spent a lot of time training in a competitive atmosphere. Win everyday. 

Now on the never failing thing, in strength sports especially, there is a type of programming a lot of people use to help this. It's called sub-maximal programming. Essentially instead of basing all your percentages or work sets of 100%, your true 1RM for example, you use, for example, 90% as the top limit instead. This way you are never truly going to your absolute max. 

This can be good for a few reasons:

1 - it helps engrain technique with weights you can hit

2 - it creates an environment for repetitive success

3 - it's safer, especially in the long-term

I work with a professional rugby team at the moment, and when I do programming I base it all off 90%. It means the players stay fresher, they never fail lifts, and it minimises the opportunity for injury.

I also do online coaching, and throughout all the various different programs I may use with any given client (dependent on the person) they are ALL based off 90%. For the same reason - training is for building. It may not make you hit a PR in 3 weeks time, but in 13 weeks, 23 weeks, or longer - you'll be using your old max for warm ups. 

Also by using sub-maximal it allows you more room to play around with the variables of programming; frequency, intensity, and volume. 

--

That's pretty much all I wanted to say (I think) so I'll leave it at that. 

A bit of a mixed bag this article, but still I think I covered some pretty good topics really, and two that inter-link of the world of sport.

Thanks for reading, check back for more soon.

Rob Nitman.

BSc. ASCC.

rob.n@northlandrugby.co.nz      |     nitmanperformance@gmail.com

www.nitmanperformance.co.uk

www.createabetterversionofyou.co.uk/robnitmancoaching

Twitter - @nitman89        |        Instagram - @rob_nitman        |       Facebook - facebook.com/NitmanPerformance

Are you in control?

Quite a philosophical title I know, and a relatively philosophical topic, but I stay true to my point.

Are you in control?

Let us discuss.

In life, you cannot control everything to the finest detail. There'll always be something that comes up to put a halt to things - whether it be a colleague at work, stress at home, or those lovely London Underground workers forcing everyone to use their road bikes (and wear horrible lycra).

But let's be honest, I'm not here to talk about life control right now. Maybe one day, but today I want to talk about what I know, and, more importantly, what I can influence.

In sport, there are external factors that you cannot control (or at least not fully) such as:

- The weather conditions

- The knowledge and performance of sports officials (referees, judges etc)

- The ability of your opposition

- The tactics being employed by your coaching team (potentially but not in all cases)

- The performance of your team mates (in team sports)

Now, before I get started on any those topics and get majorly side-tracked, I want to move on to my main point of this article.

I once watched a video of an elite level athlete, I believe it was a UFC fighter, preparing for the biggest event of their career. It was a fantastic, in-depth look into their preparation covering the physical training, nutrition, technical practises, and down-time during the lead up to this occasion.

Honestly I can't remember which fighter it was, but one quote stood out from this short video series:

"I do everything I can to have control of the things that I can control. And being in the best physical condition is something I have 100% control over. Being the strongest, fastest and fittest version of me, is all in my hands."

That's probably not it word for word, but it was along those lines. 

You can't control what kind of shape your opponent will be in, you can't control the weather, you can't control their tactics, you don't know whether the referee is going to be good or bad on the day.

So why spend your time worrying over it?

Your time can, and should, be best spent preparing for those things that you CAN control!

Your physical performance is 100% in your hands. Only you control what food goes in your mouth, how much water you drink, and how hard you work in preparation. 

You could have the best damn physical preparation program written on the face of this Earth. All of the greatest strength coaches in the World could come together and give you the ultimate physical plan - but if you don't execute, or you go through it half-arsed, then it's all a waste.

Before I go on a rant about people who blame others for their own poor performance, I'll finish this off.

Take control. 

Be the best that you can be. 

If you don't have the knowledge, speak to someone who does. 

Put in the work, prepare as best you can, and leave the day with a smile knowing you gave it your best. 

Thanks for reading,

Rob Nitman.
BSc. ASCC.

nitmanperformance@gmail.com

www.nitmanperformance.co.uk

www.createabetterversionofyou.co.uk/robnitmancoaching

Twitter - @nitman89  |  Instagram - @rob_nitman  |  Facebook - facebook.com/NitmanPerformance

Working out when you’re away

So many of you will be aware that I am currently off on my travels, at the moment of writing this I’m sat in a 10-bed dormitory in Wanaka, New Zealand, after just getting back from a bike ride.

This bike ride was my first real “exercise” for almost two weeks. In the week leading up to going away I had a migraine for 4 days and could barely stand without wanting to throw up let alone train, and now I’m a bit here there and everywhere.

So currently I’m trying my best to make do with what I have.

I imagine this is a very similar situation for a lot of you, you’ll go away on holiday and either not want to work out because, after all, it is a holiday, or if you do want to you may be under pressure from a loved one to not spend time with your beloved iron (the manly kind … not those that make shirts look pretty) but spend it with them instead.

Both of these are completely valid reasons to skip working out whilst you are aware, but beware … If you are anything like me you will begin to miss working out, and also being to lose those precious gains we all seek.

So what can we do about it? Well I for one tried to plan ahead a little bit and came up with a quick and easy Plan B.  What is this plan b? It is a little piece of rubber called a resistance band. The smallest of the 3 I own cost me about £5, the largest, which I use for mobility, around £10 I think, and I also have one that sits somewhere in the middle.

With these resistance bands I can do all sorts. I can use them for mobility, especially the stronger ones, and the smaller are ideal for isolation exercises around the body. They’re cheap, lightweight, and take up next to no room in luggage.

Apart from these little life savers, I do bodyweight work as and when I can (i.e. without looking like a right prick in front of the other 9 people in my dorm … including my girlfriend). Press ups, squats, lunges, Bulgarians, pulls/rows. Whatever you are able to do around the space you may have available to you, make the most of it and get moving about.

It may not be enough to get you more progress and make you stronger, but it won’t send you rocketing backwards like doing sweet FA would. I mean look at prisoners – even though Hollywood portray them even larger than they really are, a lot of prisoners are in good shape. And besides the obvious steroid trade through the guy to know on the inside, the only other route is simply to do. And in a 5x5 box you’re fairly limited.

Now – I am also going to go a little outside of my comfort zone here … I’m going to compliment CrossFit.

I know, I know. I feel dirty just saying that, but they’ve definitely had a positive impact on the amount of facilities available with bars, and weights. You can count on them always having some barbells, and some weights of some kind – although if they are those super huge “make me look strong when I’m weak” rubber bumpers then you monsters out there may struggle to get anything over 200kg on the bar.

But even if you can’t lift heavy, who cares? Get outside of your comfort zone and hit some reps, hell go crazy and do some really high rep sets! Stimulate those muscles in a way they’re not normally used to.

So yeah anyway back to my point – CrossFit boxes are like McDonalds or Starbucks, they’re EVERYWHERE! If you go to a legitimate city then you’re pretty likely to find a Box somewhere near there to work out.

So go on that magical thing called the Internet, have a search on your favourite search engine, and if you find something nearby just send them a friendly email and see if you’re able to stop by and steal all their plates for 90 minutes.

I think that’s about all I wanted to say on this, so go buy yourself a resistance band, and hit up a Google search (shameless sponsor plug … I wish), then enjoy getting some kind of exercise whilst you’re off on vacation that involves keeping your pants on.

Cheers,

Rob Nitman. BSc. ASCC.

http://www.createabetterversionofyou.co.uk/robnitmancoaching/

www.nitmanperformance.co.uk
nitmanperformance@gmail.com
Twitter – @nitman89          |         Instagram – @rob_nitman

New YouTube page up and running

Hi guys,

Just a quick one today - I've started up a new YouTube page.
On here I am planning to start with short "thought of the day" videos, and progressively build it up and include demonstrations and program design information as well.

So go and check it out;
At this moment in time there are only 2 posts on there but I am planning to add more frequently.

So here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYSYh-AiO0LwO9tE6jEJcuw

Go have a look and hit subscribe.

Rob Nitman. BSc. ASCC.
http://www.createabetterversionofyou.co.uk/robnitmancoachi…/
www.nitmanperformance.co.uk
nitmanperformance@gmail.com
Twitter – @nitman89
Instagram – @rob_nitman

Recovery - sleep and nutrition

Recovery Part 5 – Sleep and Nutrition

So here we are, part 5 and the final segment of the Recovery Series. Having already covered Ice Baths, Massage, Compression Clothing, and Active recovery, we are now left with two of the most important aspects of performance and recovery – Sleep and Nutrition.

Let’s get down to it.

To begin I’m going to talk about hydration. It’s often spoken about how important it is to stay well hydrated, yet people will often let this be the first thing to slip when they start to focus on other things. It often seems to drift into the back of their mind as soon as they have something else to think about.

Well hydration is damn important. So drink some water people! It can help aid you in fat loss, keeps performance high both mentally and physically¹, and when recovering it is essential to replace the fluids you lose when sweating – so try to make sure you get a good amount of water in as soon as you can. I know that after a good game of club rugby on a Saturday all you want to do is sink a pint of Irish black gold, and believe me that would be my first thought too, but before you get yours hands on that beautiful well deserved pint get some water in.

(Alcohol in general is obviously not good for performance, or for recovery, but I’m just being realistic here – especially now that “Dry January” is over.)

Nutritionally speaking the best way to explain it is through a very cliché quote;

“You wouldn’t put diesel in a petrol car”.

And it’s true, when practicing a sport or exercising, your body is the car. And for that engine of yours to work at its best it needs to be adequately fuelled.

Now there is a huge amount of information about nutrition out there on the Internet, and within that there is contrasting advice and endless different diets. Honestly, it’s a bit of a pain in the arse. Wouldn’t it just be amazing if there were one way that fits everyone? In my opinion it would. But that isn’t the case, and there is a reason. Different people react differently. For instance some people have food intolerances, some react better to carbohydrates, some better to fats, some can work well eating the majority of their carbs late at night, others would get fatter by doing the same thing.

So it can take a bit of time to find out what works for you. Trial and error, and not just trialing for something for one day and saying it doesn’t work. You have to try it, allow time for adaptation to occur, and then make a decision based upon results. This goes for weight gain, maintenance, and loss.

That being said – there is some basic information that can be very transferrable, and that should be put into place when trying to improve recovery.

First off – you need to eat! Even if you were lay in bed doing absolutely nothing but breathing and thinking all day your body would still burn calories. This is called your basal metabolic rate. The amount of calories you would burn doing the absolute minimum. So if you’re not eating, you will gradually lose weight and your everyday bodily functions will start to suffer if not properly fuelled.

What foods do we need? Well the obvious answer first up is to look at your macronutrients – Carbohydrates, Protein and Fats.

When you consume carbohydrates, the body can break it down into glycogen, which then is utilised for energy production (I’m putting it simply – its much more complicated than that in real life, but for that stuff go read a text book).

Protein is made up of amino acids, these are the building blocks for muscle repair. So to make sure you maintain muscle or build muscle, you need to get protein in from somewhere such as meats, eggs or supplements.

Fats – oh here we go! So fats get a lot of stick in the press. Low fat this, low fat that. That’s great, well done, but the body needs fat. Simple. Fat can also be used as fuel for the body, as well as insulation. Different fats that we get through food can also be used to help keep our joints healthy, and keep our brain functioning.

So how much of each should you be eating? Unfortunately it all depends on you. Protein should be a mainstay. If you are a sports person, or if you train regularly, you will need more than the average person as your muscles are being used on a regular basis. Carbohydrates can fluctuate, for me personally I feel like crap if I eat loads of carbohydrates, but equally if I eat a low amount I feel rubbish too. So I rotate them so I eat more on hard training days to fuel my workouts and replenish afterwards, but less on off days as I don’t need that fuel. I then rotate fat consumption to balance my carb intake.

If you feel like you are always tired, or you’re losing weight or strength, you probably need to eat more. If you’re gaining weight, but are having no performance improvements and just getting fat, you probably need to eat less. But finding something that works for you takes time. My advice would be find a balance, try it for 6-8 weeks, then change if necessary.  Eat more carbohydrates when you’re training hard, plenty of protein every single day no matter whether you’re training hard or resting, and get fats in through good sources such as nuts and fish.

One last thing on nutrition – eat your vegetables! ^{(Nutrition references 2-5)}

The final section of this article is my personal favourite, and the most important. Sleep. Everyone needs to sleep. It is absolutely fundamental to performance, and to general health. Lack of sleep not only leads to tiredness (obviously), but it can screw up your hormone balance, which will lead to performance changes.

There are plenty of people who aren’t getting where they want to be in sport or business, and they will give an extra 2 hours a day training or working in the office at the expense of sleep, and this will then just pile on top itself to manifest into something bad. If they had an extra hour or two each day, their concentration throughout the day would actually increase, and likely their productivity.

For those of you wanting sporting gains, our muscles repair when they are resting. And we get a boost of naturally occurring growth hormone when we sleep. Combine those two statements and you should realise that you need sleep.

So there we go. A little bit longer than my usual articles, but we have covered a lot in this one. I’ve put a few references together at the bottom, including a couple of podcast episodes which are fantastic for understanding the importance of sleep, so have a flick through them if you want.

As I mentioned at the start, this was the final part of the Recovery Series. I hope you have enjoyed reading them, and please share them around as much as you can. It would be great if these could reach more people, as a lot of athletes don’t understand the importance of recovery to their performance.

Next week we will be looking into something new, so I’ll leave you hanging on to find out.

Thanks again for reading, and feel free to get in contact.

Rob Nitman. BSc. ASCC.

www.nitmanperformancetraining.com
nitmanperformance@gmail.com
Twitter – @nitman89
Instagram – @rob_nitman

References:

1.     Gibson-Moore, H. (2014) Hydration and Health. Nutrition Bulletin, 39 (1).

2.     Dr. Israetel, M. (2014). The Renaissance Diet. E-Book.

3.     Bean, A. (2013). The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London UK. 7^th Edition.

4.     American College of Sports Medicine. (2009). Nutrition and Athletic Performance. Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, 49 (3).

5.     McLaren, D. (2008). Protein, Carbohydrates and Muscle Recovery. The Journal of the UK Strength & Conditioning Association, 10.

6.     Barbell Shrugged. 158 - The 1 Thing That Will Make You Better at Everything. 07 January 2015.

7.     Barbell Shrugged. 113 - 1 Quick Way To Naturally Increase Testosterone: Sleep. 16 April 2014.