A phytochemical is any biologically active compound found in plants.

Why are phytochemicals important?

They may be an important key in the good health puzzle. It's not all about vitamins and minerals.

Here is a piece of scientific literature published in the Americal Journal of Clinical Nutrition if your interested:
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/78/3/517S.short

I'm off to eat some beans...

If you have a chronic health condition then you are undoubtedly concerned about how you can manage your condition. But if you don't currently have a chronic health condition but you do pay taxes then you might also have cause for concern.

Chronic diseases are among the leading causes of death and disability in Australia. Health economists generally agree that the prevalence of these conditions is likely to rise in the future and as a result this will begin to cause significant pressure on the health care system as services struggle to cope with the increase in demand for services. Ultimately, it will be the tax payer that bears the burden.

With this in mind, the Federal Government has developed the 8 National health priority areas. In doing so a range of initiatives has and will continue to be developed to combat the rising prevalence. The chronic disease covered include:
- Arthritis
- Asthma
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular disease
- Diabetes
- Injury
- Mental health
- Obesity

The problem seems so overwhelming that one might ask what a personal trainer might do to help. The answer is a lot. It turns out that studies have shown overwhelmingly that consistent exercise improves the outcomes of all 8 National health priority areas. So be part of the solution and get your clients moving.

Fatigue can be defined as extreme tiredness resulting from mental or physical exertion or illness. In exercise training terms, fatigue determines your ability to sustain repeated efforts of a single movement. 

A distinction should be made between central and peripheral fatigue with the former being thought of as a mental fatigue and the latter a fatigue of the neuromuscular junction. 

Endurance is defined as the ability of the body to resist fatigue. To improve endurance requires you to challenge both central and peripheral nervous systems. Think of a marathon runner and a weight lifter - both achieving fatigue in training but at completely opposite ends of the training systems spectrum. This week, try altering your training intensities and see if you can notice the difference between central and peripheral fatigue.

We have all heard the old training adage "No pain, no gain."  But before you reach for the black leather lets pause for a moment and consider the validity of the statement.

Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. On a more technical level it involves the stimulation of nociceptors or "pain nerves" most commonly by thermal (e.g. touching boiling water), mechanical (e.g. treading on a nail) and/or chemical (putting chilli in the eyes) stimuli.


In the context of exercise training, the pain that one experiences 0-72 hours following  training is commonly referred to as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) and is typically the result of inflammatory mediators interacting with nociceptors. The question is whether you need an inflammatory response to gain a physical improvement?


Sports science and personal trainer sydney CBD says no. 


Perhaps a more appropriate adage to adopt would be "no effort, no gain." With this approach an individual would mark them self on whether or not they consciously push themselves rather than whether or not they wake up the following morning with musculoskeletal soreness. Thus the important distinction between the pain of effort as opposed to the pain of injury can be made, with the former being a prerequisite for adaptation and ultimately training success.


For more information please email me at info@anthonybloomfield.com.au

Last week a Personal Training client came into the gym complaining that their wee had looked a strange colour when they went to the bathroom. Now ordinarily the subject of urine and personal training don't mix but on reflection I thought it prudent to have a brief discussion about changes in urine colour and potential causes.

Proteinuria is the presence of protein in the urine. Typically the urine does not contain protein and therefore the presence of protein in the urine generally means that damage to the kidney has occurred either to the filtration barrier or to the kidney tubules. The urine will have a foamy appearance, though a foamy appearance is not always due to proteinuria. 

Haematuria is the presence of red blood cells in the urine and can have a variety of causes. It typically presents as red urine, though it must be pointed out that urine can turn red due to foods such as beetroot and certain drugs.

Whilst it is true that vigorous exercise can cause transient proteinuria and haematuria without any underlying pathology, experiencing multiple episodes of red or foamy urine is an indication to go and see your local doctor.

Tis better to be safe than sorry...

Personal training Sydney CBD

As a personal trainer in the Sydney CBD, a primary concern amongst clients that I am often asked about is “how do I maintain a healthy physique for the long term."  There are short term goals and long term goals and in this post I would like to address the topic of age-related sarcopenia (otherwise known as age-related muscle loss) which would fall into the ‘long term’ goal category.

Everyone should be concerned about this topic because it will affect us all at some point in our lives. The widely accepted view is that throughout our youth we develop and grow muscle mass and strength until the age of 30. After this time it all starts to go down hill and we begin to lose muscle mass at a rate of 0.5% - 1% per year thereafter.  

Age-related sarcopenia is concerning because our ability to maintain independence and fully participate in our lives is inextricably linked to our amount of usable muscle tissue.  Sarcopenia has even been linked to early mortality.

Exercise has been shown, in animal models, to drastically affect the onset and severity of sarcopenia.  Although it is not unavoidable altogether, performing training specific to prevent the loss of muscle mass is a must for everyone, especially those over the age of 30.  

Furthermore, taking a brief look at the general public in the Sydney CBD, many people under the age of 30 should also be looking to increase their levels of lean, usable muscle mass.  Peak bone density is inversely related to risk of developing osteoporosis in older age. Therefore the stronger, or more dense you can get your bones by performing weights exercises whilst you are in your 20’s and 30’s, the less likely you are to develop osteoporosis when you are older. Regular exercise is something we all need, it is as important as a good diet and enough sleep. It is an absolute necessity to add exercise to our regular routines to perform at our best and ensure we can actually enjoy our lives as we age through our 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and beyond.

We all need to make time to exercise and ensure that we stay healthy as we age. And we are all in the same boat - so get rowing!

The latest craze sweeping Personal Trainers in the Sydney CBD surrounds the Paleo Diet written by Dr. Loren Cordain. It seems logical enough - many diseases of modern man were not present in ancient times and many of the foods we now eat were not present in ancient times, therefore if we go back to an ancient or 'Paleo' diet we might just eradicate some of our diseases in the process, not to mention lose some weight.

Indeed, you will not find too many nutritionists or Personal Trainers in Sydney encouraging you to eat less veges or eat more processed foods. But what does concern me a new trend of advice promoting meat and nuts multiple times per day, including breakfast.

It is not merely a practical issue surrounding a meat and nut breakfast that makes me uneasy, although many people who work in the Sydney CBD might well struggle to prepare a meal of this nature before they rush off to work. I am more concerned about the numerous studies linking meat, and in particular red meat consumption to various health diseases.

A recent study which followed almost 40,000 people showed that one daily serving of unprocessed red meat (about the size of a deck of cards) was associated with a 13 percent increased risk of mortality, and one daily serving of processed red meat (one hot dog or two slices of bacon) was associated with a 20 percent increased risk.


Now before a personal trainer Sydney CBD emails me a conspiracy laden explanation about why meat didn't really cause the increased mortality rates I would like everyone to take a deep breath and examine some more evidence.


A recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that people who started eating more red meat than usual—about 3.5 servings more per week—had a 50% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes within the next four years. 


Still chewing on your T-bone?


Well, men who ate more than two red meat servings daily had a 28% higher stroke risk than those who ate about one-third of a serving each day. It should be noted that substituting red meat for chicken or fish reduced this stroke risk significantly. 


In the interest of a balanced discussion let me point out that red meat is an amazing source of protein, iron, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, selenium, and B vitamins (especially B1, B3, B6, and B12). For this reason I would never advise someone to stop red meat consumption - moderation is the key.

I have to admit I have been exhausted. 

The rigours of Medical School and the beginning of the personal training busy season resulted in the candle being burnt at both ends. As a result I hadn't been able to find the time nor the energy to exercise much at all lately. 

During the week, one of my clients started telling me about how they had been unable to get to the gym in the last week. They cited work and family as the primary cause and he was lamenting a missed opportunity to consolidate recent weight loss results. 

I was about to launch into a discussion about discipline and an analysis of his decision making over the last week when I was suddenly struck with a horrible sense of hypocrisy. 

Had I shown discipline with my own training?

The truth was no.

Immediately after the session with my client I phoned my colleague Benjamin Weale and booked in a personal training session with him. I needed a kickstart. I needed to build some momentum. Experience and knowledge can't override the fact that sometimes life takes over. Training with Ben has been great and I love that old feeling you get after a solid workout. 

If you find yourself out of your exercise routine let me give you some advice from my own personal experience - find someone who can get you back on track before it's too late.