Fat Burners and Pre-Workouts!

Hey guys, so a few people have inboxed me asking to talk about these lately so here it is:

Pre-Workouts (PW) :

         Pre-workouts for those of you who are unaware are supplements that you take before a workout to help you during your workout.  They have varieties of strengths and lots of differences among brands.  There are two many types and I will touch on those two briefly and any other product specific questions can be emailed to me.

Nitric-oxide (NO)- Many pre-workouts (PW) contain the substance NO.  What NO does specifically is called vasodilation and is the expanding of your blood vessels width.  NO is used by our bodies naturally to help regulate blood pressure, and when used as a supplement acts locally right on the blood vessel and causes an increase in blood flow and nutrient uptake.  This affect not only helps when trying to get the most supplies to your muscles, but also gives you a bulkier version of yourself for a short time until the NO works it's way out of your system.  NO is in a lot of the top products on the market as a lot of people like the rush of energy and how you feel on them.  That being said, a lot of PW have various degrees of strengths.  Some products play around with the dosages on their ingredients and therefore some products will affect some people differently.   My main problem with these types of PW's is that if you are like me, the change in blood flow leaves me feeling dizzy and light headed.  Although this only happens to a few people, make sure that you talk to any of the employees at Dartmouth/Halifax Popeye's for more recommendations on individual use.  I believe right now their fan favorite is a product named GAT, and I have heard fairly good feedback on it.  The others on the market that are normally looked at are NO Explode, Shotgun, and Superpump.  I personally like the product Swollen, made by a company in B.C. as I find it keeps my dizzy spells down.  The normal recommendation is to have it on an empty stomach, however this will increase it's affects and therefore increase your chances at symptoms like dizziness and nausea.  

Stimulants-  The second main type of PW's are energy based, and will tie us in nicely with fat burners.  These types of PW's usually try and combine a number of stimulants such as caffeine and taurine.  I know there use to be limitations in Canada on the amount of caffeine and taurine that can be in a product and so ingredients may vary between Canada and the USA. Stimulants often will give you the energy needed for your workout, and the additional workout benefits will be explained further in the next section.  Additionally, creatine is often combined with stimulant PW's.  Creatine if you remember from my previous post, is an energy system component that will help with workout intensity, recovery time, as well as give you a bulkier look.  Reminder, the size that comes from creatine is often due to the biproduct of water left to store in the muscle after the creatine is used.  Creatine can be a quick gain but also can be a quick loss when you are done supplementing.  Lastly, like any stimulant, if you work out late at night, these types of products may have to be avoided unless you prefer late night insomnia followed by endless hours of late night infomercials and Seinfeld reruns.

         When looking at these PW's be extremely cautious in how you approach them.  Various people have various results using them, and you should always take baby steps into starting a new product.  For any more questions on these you know the email, or ask the guys at Popeye's.  Their staff is full of great advice, their product knowledge of supplements is both regulated and in depth. (I am not just pumping their company's tires, I strongly believe and have seen the product knowledge they are required to know)  


Fat Burners

          Fat burners are a topic I am constantly asked about by both males and females.  They for me are a topic I like to go into depth with, and I have some fairly biased opinions on some products and the heath concerns they possess.  The major two I will talk about will be stimulants and thermogenics.

Stimulants-  This section will tie in with many of the PW's that were mentioned above.  Basically how the stimulant works in this case is to raise your overall metabolic rate, your heart rate, and increase the amount of calories your body is burning.  They work well at keeping your body constantly using energy by breaking down the bodies storages.  I have some issues with these but compared to the thermos I am a little more comfortable with stimulants.  Stimulants can often times lead to elevated heart rates so be careful when combining cardio and stimulants for this reason.  Another issue with stimulants is addiction and adaption.  Many people can get addicted to stimulants easily.  An easy example is the empire that was built on coffee and caffeine (the number 1 most abused drug in the world!)  Like coffee, if you use stimulants too much your tolerance and need for the "drug" will only become worse if they are not properly cycled.  Stimulants also can affect your metabolism if you are on them for a prolonged time.  Your metabolism can adapt to the drug and therefore slows down when you are not taking it.  This will in affect, transfer your baseline metabolic scores down, and translate into new standard metabolic rates and hinder your progress towards your goals.
          The most ideal two stimulants in my mind are on two different ends of the spectrum and I like both because it can be easy, or scientific.  The first one and the easy one is simply coffee.  By drinking coffee before a workout you actually speed up your metabolism  both as a stimulant and as a thermogenic.  If you've noticed your bodies temperature increases (explained in thermos below) as well as acts as a stimulant for your workout.  Some of the biggest and strongest guys I've met over the years still swear by it and still use a classic Tim Horton's coffee as their PW every day.  The other is a lot more in-depth and it is called ECA.  ECA stands for three compounds.  Ephedrine, Caffeine, and Asprin.  The ephedrine is an exceptional stimulant and highly affective.  It is however banned by some governing bodies such as the IOC, and Canada Games so be careful.  If you have ever heard about how advil cold and sinus is banned during these competitions it is because it contains ephederine.  Ephedrine is not illegal and can be purchased easily at many stores.  When stacked with caffeine, you don't elevate the affects of the ephedrine but rather you prolong it's affects. For example, if ephedrines strength on your body is an 8/10 for 2 hours, taking it with caffeine will make it an 8/10 for 4 hours (these are arbitrary numbers that hold no value but for explanation purposes).  The asprin (this is low dose childrens aspirin) is used as a blood thinner which also aids in it's effectiveness.  I have experimented with ephedrine before and have had awesome results.  I replaced the aspirin (never liked the thought of it) with white willow bark on the recommendation by Adam Patterson at Popeye's.  It will act like asprin but is a lot easier on your body, which makes it a huge plus and also my recommendation for this stack.  Like the others, be careful about addiction and dependancey on ephedrine and cycle it properly.  Lastly some people will find their appetite is suppressed as well as their heart rate could be elevated.  So make sure you monitor both with your heart rate max is usually around 220 beats per minute - age.  Mine would therefore be (24 years old) 220-24 = 196 beats per minute.

Thermogenics-  Thermogenics (thermos for short) act similar to stimulants and often in conjunction with them.  Basically what they aim to do is to bring up the bodies temperature.  The body acts like a furnace, and unlike how our furnaces run on oil, our bodies run on nutrients.  By increasing the temperature of the body you raise the temperature of the furnace, which as you guessed it, means it needs more fuel.  Therefore the higher your body's temperature is, the more calories your body will burn and the higher your metabolism will be.  Thermos are in my mind a little dangerous and can often lead to troubles in the gym.  I have helped too many girls up at the gym after they have collapsed on thermos and think they should be dealt with cautiously.  One common thermo is Hydroxycut and I in no way recommend the use as I have only seen poor results and health issues with those who have used it.


When dealing with any fat burners, make sure you do plenty of research and take baby steps.  Make sure you ask your questions when purchasing any products especially fat burners and stimulants.  They can be affective but need to be done properly.  I prefer people using a high protein low carb diet, however any further questions you may have feel free to ask and I will try to give you a neutral response.

And remember! You didn't put the lbs on over night, you won't take them off over night either! Be patient, work hard, and avoid dangerous shortcuts even if they seem tempting!  Be safe with these, and do your research!

Ryan Trueman BSc
Ryan.Trueman@dal.ca
    

How to enjoy your Halloween candy and alcohol!

So every year at this time, I am always amazed at the amount of people who don't enjoy halloween candy!  This is the one time of year where no one looks down at you if you eat a pillow case full of delicious candy, so we need to take advantage of that!  When we talk about candy here I am going to separate it into two categories, simple sugar candies such as suckers, fuzzy peaches, pop, etc any of those sweet tastes.  The other category we can call miscellaneous, and this would be stuff like chips and chocolate bars.  These are all things you can actually fit into your diet, and still maintain a healthy body, as well as see results.  I know it sounds crazy but it all comes down to timing, so here it is:

Simple Sugar Candies

Simple sugar candies.  You can refer back to my carbs post, but I will try to sum it up quickly here.  Simple sugars are bad because they spike your insulin levels and this opens up the doorways for nutrients to store as fat.  The big loop hole in this situation is that insulin also opens the doors for proteins and carbs to be stored in the muscle.  This means that if you have a workout, or even after you've played pick up hockey, your muscles crave protein and nutrients to repair the damage you've done during your workout.  Muscles have storages for these carbs and proteins and after a workout they are empty and you will need to replenish these and bring to, the nutrients needed to repair and build muscle(protein).  So by timing your candy craving, and having it within 30-60 minutes after your workout, you actually promote more muscle building than if you didn't eat this candy!  Pretend in the picture below that the pathways are a toll booth.  To get across the bridge insulin has to be there to open the gate, and it's charge (assuming you don't have a diabetic macpass) is carbs (simple sugar candy).  Now if you were to pay the toll without working out, you would pay the toll and take the bridge to tubby town(red bridge), and store your nutrients as fat.  However, if you do this after a workout, you take a different bridge, and that is straight to tanked town and your muscles are ready to grow (green bridge) !  Long story short, eat your simple candy carbs after a workout and they are healthy for you, any other time (99% of the time) they are unhealthy for you. A great video explaining insulins response to sugar is posted here (note it does not include a description of proteins going to the muscle post workout, just how the response and system works) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYH1deu7-4E

Miscellaneous -Chocolate Bars, Chips, Etc.

Now, after eating all your simple sugar candies, we are left with those tasty chocolate bars and those endless bags of chips, on a side note, is it just me or are the number of chips in each bag going down every year? What's up with that!  Let's refocus, I unfortunately can't tell you that these things are particularly healthy to have post workout.  There is a lot of formal debate on the uptake of fat post workout so for those purposes we will stay away from it.   However, my overall stance is a little bit post workout won't hurt you (NOT INCLUDING TRANS FATS EVER).  However for the purposes of what research shows we will say you can't.  So when the hell are you suppose to eat all that stuff? One easy answer; on cheat day.  Yes guys, use your chocolate and chips as a goal.  Eating healthy for 6 days by eating very low amounts of simple sugars (with the exception of post workout) you have earned yourself a cheat day.  This isn't a cheat day in the sense you get to be unhealthy for 1 day and do damage to your body, it is a cheat day in the sense that being unhealthy for the day is actually healthy for you.  This spike in insulin and response, keeps your metabolism from slowing down, and maintains a homeostasis for your body.  By staying low simple carbs too long, you will slow down your bodies metabolism, as well as increase your response to it.  Think of it like this, if I don't eat simple carbs for a week and have them, my body's response will be very similar to a response I would normally have, If I don't eat carbs for a month, and then eat a simple carb, my body's insulin response will be through the roof.  So make sure you cheat! (assuming you earned it)  So eat up and enjoy!

Alcohol on Halloween

When it comes to alcohol on halloween thats a little tougher.  Most hard liquor drinks will be loaded with carbs and calories primarily in the mix of the drink.  Rule of thumb, if it tastes sweet, it is, and it's bad.  You can plan this for your cheat day (because we all love martini monday every now and then) or you could also focus on drinks like vodka waters to avoid these sugary mixes.  On a side note here though, alcohol can increase estrogen production in males, so try not to be an alcoholic.

When looking at beer the unfortunate thing is finding one with few carbs as carbs in beer are very bad for you.  My personal recommendation is look at the light beers, around 100cals.  Some of the best that I enjoy are micro brewed Molson M or my favorite Michelob Ultras (Ultras only have 2.6g of carbs!)

All that said, enjoy your Halloween and I invite you to eat all your Halloween candy just like I will!

Ryan Trueman BSc
Ryan.Trueman@dal.ca      

Is Obesity Irreversible? Study at U of M explains!

Here is an awesome study by the University of Michigan that a good friend Brian Cho just sent to me guys.  This is a big eye opener for the future and could explain a lot of the difficulties adults have losing weight.  Make the change guys or it could be too late or at least a lot harder down the road!  Don't make obesity your bodies norm!

http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/201210/obesity-irreversible-timing-everything-when-it-comes-weight

Know Your Products Inside and Out! (That includes your Doctor)

So as I am sitting here, starting another article titled "quick tips for women"  I started taking a couple new vitamins I have been researching for awhile.  I added niacin to my vitamin stack with the recommendation of many doctors and physicians online.  Niacin (also known as B3) has been proven to help in DNA regeneration, the use of sugars as energy, as well as enhancing moods.  It is even proven to treat depression (came across it on an awesome documentary called Food Matters).  Niacin is also a common compound in foods and are found in a variety of nuts.  While this may seem as little importance to you, it has brought me to talk about a huge concept that needs to be addressed on this blog.  This is a blog, I am not a doctor nor am I saying I am.  I do however do a lot of research into the ideas I bring up, and especially on anything I put in my body.  Tonight I learned a valuable lesson that being some people are not the majority, sometimes you are the 1% that doesn't deal well with some compounds or in some cases you are sensitive to these compounds.  Niacin for me is one of these.  I used a very small dosage, smaller than most (to treat depression 11,000mg were taken, on average people take 1000mg, I took 500mg)  and immediately felt a huge influx of heat.  My skin turned bright red like a bad sun burn and my skin began to feel as though I had one.  To those who have ever used tingler in a tanning bed it is that feeling x2 and it was head to toe.  Now I did my homework, I did my research and I did more than many should and would but I made a mistake.  I forgot that sometimes you are that 1%.  For any of you looking at my advice, and or looking at the various supplements and vitamins I post, you should still ALWAYS consult your doctor to ensure that you will be healthy on it.  I am currently still bright red (getting better) but have not only put myself into this hilarious red lobster suit, I have also ruined my workout for the night and cost myself a workout.  Now for me that is fine, thats replaceable  but for some people you may not always be so lucky.  What if you react to these at work?  You would be in a much rougher situation and thats what leads me to my final statements, and this will be a repeat of what I have said above.  Always do your homework, always talk to a physician, always ease your way into new supplements and always assume you may be the 1%.  I know this is the niacin because I have researched it and knew what my potential side affects may be.  Know your products and know the outcomes that may arise from such.  Don't become a lobster!
Stay healthy!

 

First Testimonial for the Blog!

Hey guys, 
          For this morning I am going to present to you my first testimonial for my blog.  This is by an awesome hardworking client of mine who is not only educated, she is a beauty model.  She is doing it all while going to university and can help show you guys that there is always time in the day!  

"When Ryan asked me to write something for his new blog, I was super excited. My name is Kay, I suppose some would call me a bikini model, although I try not to use that term myself. I DO compete international and have been a TropicBeauty 2012 Finalist as well as Swimwear USA International Finalist 2012. I've known Ryan for a number of years and have been on competing clubs during our Canoe Kayak days, but when I entered into this new world of bikini modelling, I was lost. It was no longer about long training days and eating enough to sustain my energy, now it was about looking good and feeling great, since we all know how you feel comes across so much on stage. 
Ryan was fantastic, not just because he was there to offer advice, it was because it was advice meant for ME. He tailored the perfect program for me and even went as far as to rewrite me a new one last minute while he was abroad. He made sure I knew why I was doing something if I asked and was really supportive. To this day I still use his program right before a competition in order to get the physique I'm looking for. Because of it I never get bored with my workouts and even across the country (since I live in BC) he's still there to help me with new ideas. 
I have a new competition in Cancun next month, you can bet I've been using his program for the past month." - Kay

Thanks Kay!

Great article on keeping the brain happy!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/johnmem.htm

Carbs are the JUNK that's in your TRUNK

This guys is one of the biggest principles people need to understand, this is understanding carbohydrates (carbs).

This will be extremely watered down and there are countless exceptions but this is the basics behind carbs.  Carbs are the main reason there may be some extra junk in your trunk.  One of the biggest misconceptions about diet is that fat is what makes us fat, not carbs.  The problem here is that fat can be broken down into two big categories (although can be greatly more separated this is just general), trans fats and good fats.  Trans fats because of their man made molecular shape are tough for the body to use and store themselves easily.  Good fats are required and need to be consumed to transport and absorb many essential vitamins.  So here is the thing, if fats are primarily good for you what makes us fat?   It is carbs and primarily the simplest sweetest tasting ones.

When carbs enter the blood stream they cause a spike in something called insulin.  Insulin's activity solely depicts what happens with the food in our blood stream, think of it as Insulin is the gate keeper.   When simple sugars are ingested, insulin spikes and your gates become open and there is an influx of calories going towards being stored as fat. These would be the gates that go towards the junk in your trunk or the love handles on your hips.  However when you eat fat, these gates do not open. This is why simple carbs like white breads and sugars make us fat.

Are Carbs or Simple Sugars ever GOOD for us?
In some cases the answer to this question is YES.
This is what you can do with this insulin response.  The awesome thing about these gateways to fat storages is that they are also gateways to muscles and organs.  By using simple sugars (this could be a bag of fuzzy peaches) with your protein, you increase the amount of protein that goes to the muscle and increases your protein uptake!  This is a really good concept to use immediately following a workout, as your muscles are in need of protein and by eating simple sugars with protein it will increase the overall amount of protein going to your hard worked muscles.

Carbs can also be really good for you once a week!  If you carb cut(simple carb cut) 6 days a week you can have an entire day where you eat whatever you want and it is healthy for you and your metabolism.  I literally had 5 chocolate bars, a bag of chips, 3 double cheeseburgers and 2 apple pies from Mcdonalds on my last cheat day and I'm around 8.5% BF all year round.  You don't have to eat leaves to be healthy! Just eat smart by manipulating your carbs!

Ryan Trueman
Ryan.Trueman@dal.ca

Great books and movies I recommend!

Hey guys,

Here is some links and literature I always recommend!

Books to Read!

Here is my two favorite books.  One is based off of the evidence of diet and the real science behind eating healthy, and the other is a total lifestyle make over.  Everything from heathy tips for in the gym to optimal eating.  These are :


The Four Hour Body- Tim Ferris
                    and
Why We Get Fat -Gary Taubes

Recently they were on amazon for $25 both together shipped to your door.  Tons of awesome information and easily presented!

The Four Hour Chef- Tim Ferris - Nutrition, meal preparation

Wheat Belly - Nutrition

Body By Science - Anatomy and physiology

The Complete Human Body- Anatomy and physiology

Movies to watch!

Food Matters - Documentary on nutrition

Hungry For Change - Nutrition

Bigger Stronger Faster- a neutral look into steroid use

Pumping Iron- Mr Olympia documentary (Arnold vs The Hulk)

10 Tips to putting on muscle

This was one blog that was previously on facebook, please excuse the lack of professionalism..

So guys I am getting a lot of inboxes and feel free to keep them coming (may take a few days to answer as I am busy with work and also easily distracted by starting dexter) and realized that a lot of my statuses are how to lose weight and not how to gain muscle, so here is a few of my favorite not normally known tips to putting on some bulk in through the winter months. My top 10 tips:

1) WORK YOUR LEGS. Legs are a beast that need to be fed. Your lower body is your biggest cross sectional area of muscle for a reason. By working your legs you increase your body's own natural HGH (human growth hormone) and will help you put on big gains all over. Without working legs you will plateau rather quickly (when staying natural) and will hold back your upper body gains.

2) Keep in mind your vitamin D and cholesterol intakes. Both of these compounds are involved with your hormonal levels. Cholesterol is looked at very poorly and portrayed as a bad guy by society. The real story is, that in the right time periods and eating the right types you can make yourself healthier. Like fat (which is number 3) it shouldn't always be avoided and if anything looked towards at times. Most cholesterol and vitamin d activity is done while you sleep. If you have cholesterol (like egg yolks) before bed and you supplement it with vitamin d you will end up with higher test levels. How? Vitamin d and cholesterol are precursors (watered down definition) for each other and also for testosterone. If your cholesterol levels are high enough, it will want to convert itself back into vitamin d, however, if you have a surplus of vitamin d from supplementation or from food products, your cholesterol will turn itself into testosterone and actually boost your test levels

3) Eat good fat! Fat is good for you, it can translate into metabolism increases as well as the transport of essential nutrients and vitamins that are not soluble in water. They need fat to transport them or you will not absorb all the nutrients you need.

4) Lift properly, slowly, and focus on the muscles being worked. Unless you are in a power phase, all lifts should focus on moving the weight slowly both up and down ( for some exercises this is tough so I focus on 8 seconds down and explode up). The ideal can be somewhere around 5 seconds up and 5 seconds down. Use weight that is right, and use it perfectly. The more you lift DOES NOT mean the more muscle you will put on. You need to focus on exhausting the muscle correctly for hypertrophy (muscle size gains ). Remember, strength and size are two different things, and you need to lift appropriately for them.

5) For most exercises look for around 8-12 reps. This is usually the hypertrophy zones and do have some arguments, but will be a healthy range if you are lifting properly.

6) Supplementation and diet. Remember guys, you can't build a house without bricks, or drive a car without gas. You need to fuel your body with the appropriate fuel. You can do this with food or supplements, I like to use glutamine during my workouts for recovery and I always recommend this. For supplement questions just ask me, or talk to the knowledgeable boys at popeyes like manager Adam Patterson.

7) DON'T OVER TRAIN! I see this so much, especially with those people who want results quicker. You need to recover before you can lift again. If anything is done before the muscle is ready, you start to take away from the previous workouts. Over training can be as simple as doing certain muscle groups too much or doing too many exercises and sets while at the gym. Being there for 3 hours doesn't make you any bigger, in most cases (excluding body builders) it actually hinders progress. Two muscle groups that can be excluded here are core (abs) and calves. They are both stabilizers and therefore recover quickly. They can be worked everyday (if you aren't still hurting from the workout before) and you shouldn't hurt much progress. Use as a rule of thumb around 48 hours between all other muscle groups.

8) Diet. So much can be said on this so feel free to inbox, the biggest ones I harp on will be mentioned here. Simple carbs are bad. They equal fat and should be avoided all the time EXCEPT within 30 minutes after a workout and on cheat day. This includes sugars, white breads, and milk. Eating improperly also can lead to your body to using your muscles as fuel aka eating them. If you find yourself hungry on low carbs make sure you eat lots of protein and slowly stop eating bad carbs, as withdraws can really suck (I had headaches and felt like I was going to collapse 24/7 my first time, make sure you don't go cold turkey like I have)

9) Stay committed and push yourself. Muscle is tough to gain, and takes time. You have to stay focused and determined. Just like all you athletes out there, gains are primarily made when you want to quit. Push out that extra rep or push it that little bit more during cardio. Make it happen

10) Leave your ego at the door. This can be in my mind the biggest problem and issue with most people. You don't go to the gym for other people to see you, you don't go for prom, you are there to make yourself better and to do that you have to do what YOU are capable of doing, and focus on YOU. Too many people want to lift what their friend lifts, or lift more because that cute girl is there, newsflash, 99% of girls don't know what your lifting, don't know if it's good or not, nor do they care. Lift properly for you, lift lighter weights if you have to. I went from lifting 120lbs dumbbells for 5 on incline to using 90s and doing it right. My strength increased and my size increased. I could lift my old weights for more reps, and I am adding size using lighter weights. That is a major road block for people. You change you, and every time you do a bad rep, you are going to be just a little bit worse off the next day when you wake up, and that cute girl and your buddies are outside the gym, they will see your results when your clothes fit better. Heavy improper weight is not only dangerous for your health and puts you backwards by sustaining injuries, but it will also yield worse results as you are most likely lifting in the wrong rep range.

Hope that helps guys and remember everyone is different, what works for some may not work for everyone so ask questions and monitor yourself, physiologically this is what needs to happen, and I hope it helps many of you out. And remember girls, you have 1/10th the testosterone as us, you can lift this way too to build muscles like glutes and rhomboids, and you won't become massive men I promise. On that note, I am in no way proof reading this so any typos or sentence structure is gonna be stuck that way haha, cheers guys!

Welcome to My Blog!

   Hey guys,

So here it is, after many requests, I am going to start a blog.  First off here is who I am,

        My name is Ryan Trueman and I was born on the east coast of Canada.  I was born (surprisingly to most) a very fat kid with extremely bad asthma.  My asthma was so severe I spent most of my holidays in the hospital until around age 4.  I was not a huge fan of spending all my time in the hospital and laying low so I ran around and was active anyway, yada yada yada, I have it under control kind of.  Anyhow, I grew up playing a variety of sports with my main focuses being in Canoe Kayak, Hockey, Soccer and Badminton.

           I have since coached in 3/4 of these sports and ended up with a variety of national level paddlers, elite level hockey players and countless championship high school teams. I completed my undergrad at Dalhousie University in Halifax Nova Scotia, where I gained my BSc in Kinesiology.  During this time I was the head coach at Abenaki Aquatic Club (An awesome staff with me and great kids) where we hosted the most impressive showing at nationals since 1993.  I then made a move to MicMac Aquatic Club where I was the assistant coach under a very impressive program that has made huge changes in improvement and now houses some of the most impressive young paddling talent in the country (credit to plenty more than me, just a team I am proud I was a part of).  Additionally to working at these clubs, I became a personal trainer at a government run family complex in my local town.  It is here I realized and developed my love for personal training.  I really enjoyed training not just for the job and making money, but I was able to use my knowledge and countless hours studying sources to not only train others but to train myself and friends. Since graduating from Dalhousie and obtaining my Kinesiology degree, I have continued to train, coach and work as a kinesiologist for a physio clinic.

      After reading through countless books and talking to people I trust about their views and concepts, I have pieced together some interesting concepts and tricks that aid with being healthy and staying in shape.  I normally would upload these to facebook to try and share with everyone the science and physiology behind the weight room and how to optimize your time away from the gym but since I started doing this, many people have asked me to start a blog. I shrugged it off and for a while and just assumed those telling me to start a blog appreciated what I was posting on facebook etc. but would not really care to read about it all the time.

    All I can say is this will be a post of me simply speaking my mind and showing ideas about life. It will be informal and often times raw as I will try and blog how I would tell you in person.  If there is any questions or concepts you want more information on do not hesitate to ask or message me further.  My email will be posted at the end of each blog for you to contact me.  Hope these can help some people out.  And remember, some people may not like what I have to say because often times the concept of "health" and the science behind it has many different views and arguments   I am simply trying to help by speaking my concepts and taking everything I have learned and am still learning and applying it to real life situations like the importance of our bodies and our health. I am not always going to point everything out for every argument, so if you disagree do not get all bent out of shape.  So there it is.  Lets try this out.

Ryan Trueman, BSc

Ryan.Trueman@dal.ca