So we all know the importance of the pre-workout meal. Well, maybe I'm jumping the gun. I should say that I hope we all know the importance of the pre-workout meal.And I should qualify the position I'm coming from on this topic. This is based upon training for performance and athletic excellence. The reason I make the distinction is that there is a growing movement and popularity for intermittent fasting when it comes to weight loss and body composition changes. I'm not referring to this type of goal.When it comes to pre-workout nutrition for a performance goal wer're looking to hydrate and top up the body's supply of glycogen. Glycogen is the body's stored form of carbohydrate which can be found in the muscle and liver. If we have some carbs before training this can help 'spare' muscle glycogen or minimize the depletion of this energy source.And while carbs are our best source to accomplish this we want to make sure to keep the pre-workout levels of fats and protein a little lower. This may seem contrary to what you'll see many 'meat heads' doing as they suck on a protein shake while warming up on the treadmill. Don't follow this lead. Too much protein slows gastric emptying and impairs performance.But while we hear all the time how important it is to eat before training, how important is it really? How much does it impact your performance? Can one meal really make a difference?Consider the following session I had with a client this week. This client wears a heart rate monitor while training and of course we are monitoring loads, recovery times and outputs on energy system work. And for this particular workout the client had not had a pre-workout meal.Here's what happened.When we got to some of the conditioning sets...

I'm sure most of you have taken a plane before. And you've probably paid for that flight.Sometimes you time it right and book during a seat sale. And other times you need to get somewhere and end up paying more than you'd like. And definitely more than what others are paying for the same flight.Back when I was in grad school my brother was working off-shore off India. He became sick and I ended getting on a plane to help him back home to Canada.Since the amount of time from we when learned he was sick to the time time it was decided I would go get him no more than a few days passed.So I showed up at the airport and bought my ticket on the spot to leave on the next available flight. This is not the way to travel on a budget.Even though I was sitting beside someone travelling the exact same route as me we experienced vastly different financial 'pain' to make that trip. Even though the result was the same our investment in that trip was totally different.And this is very similar to the experiences many people have when they work out in the gym.Some people plan ahead and have a purpose in mind and get tremendous results from their efforts in the gym.Others do not plan anything out and are not sure of their purpose. These people get minimal, slow results from training.Below are 5 keys that account for achieving great or marginal results.Reason #1 Some Get Better Results - PlanIt's really hard to make effective use of your time in the gym when you don't have a very clear idea of what you're going to do that day in the gym.What exercises are you doing? How many sets? How many reps? What loads will you...

Hi there: Last weekend we met for our weekly stairs workout. Everything was as per usual leading up to the workout. Rest was good. Motivation to train was good. I had hydrated well before the workout and had breakfast before training. As we showed up for the workout we began with a general warm-up consisting of an easy jog around the soccer fields. From there we went into our dynamic warm-up, some skip drills and then a short jog over to the stairs. After a few leg swings and some ankle mobilizations we then proceeded to walk up the first flight of stairs. By the top of the stairs everything was feeling loose, warmed up and ready to go.But I wasn't feeling too hot. I wasn't sure why but thought the feeling would pass.So we proceeded on with the workout. And I was having difficulty getting my legs going. You know the feeling I'm talking about? Even though you've gone through a thorough warm-up your body still feels sluggish.Well that's how I felt. Add to that my heart rate was at or above the normal level for this type of workout. Then I realized what I had done wrong. The day before I had made an omelet. And whenever I cook I like to make extra on purpose. This saves me time then next time I go looking for something to eat.So when I woke that Saturday morning all I could think about was the left over omelet calling to me from my bed. 3 eggs, a good dose of shredded cheddar, more than enough bacon with some peppers. After getting ready I was in the kitchen warming up these left-overs and looking forward to my pre-workout meal this omelet would make.Bad idea.I should have known better. When we load the...