» The Den Blog

1. Women will become overly muscular if they lift weights
Women cannot get big and bulky for one very good reason…their bodies don’t produce enough testosterone to build the large bulky muscles you’re likely to see in bodybuilding ads. Testosterone is a key ingredient to putting on muscle mass, and the only way women can achieve this type of big bulky look is by taking steroids and hormone injections. This is why you see bulky female body builders. Read More

Wow I cant believe how fast the time is flying, its 10 weeks out today and my results are in, I dropped 2.5 ml this past week and my weight stayed the same which is awesome.  I unfortunately didn’t drop any off my legs or lower back but my coach says more than likely due to hormones from the breast-feeding as my body will hold onto these areas until the hormones have regulated again.  Read More

So many people have the wrong idea when it comes to cardio in terms of fat loss. I am constantly hearing from hundreds of clients the same thing over again "I run 5 x per week and I cant lose weight" or my favourite ha ha "I do 3 spin classes and 3 zumba classes per week and I still cant lose weight".  Now lets get one thing straight, you do not have to complete HIT (high intense training) cardio to lose body fat, you will certainly have a high level of fitness but you are able to get this in a much more effective way whilst losing body fat and gaining or maintaining lean muscle. Read More

Studies have proven conclusively that food supplements and herbal products are the safest bodily inputs with the risk of death of using them being less than 1 in 10 million, about as likely as being killed by lightning, according to a report from the Alliance for Natural Health International. Read More

Health and nutritional supplements are more popular than ever these days. This is partly due to expansion in the industry and the increased competitiveness in the marketplace. Gone are the days where advertising, clever promotions and celebrity endorsements make a product. These days, if a product doesn’t deliver in the gym it doesn’t remain on the shelves for very long. Read More

I know this is so cliché talking about supplements in my first blog for The Supplement Den, but something amazing happened this week! I have been taking Con-Cret for the last month, one scoop a day. I add it to my vanilla protein shake pre workout. The Con-Cret is pineapple favoured and when mixed in the shake tastes DIVINE. Anyway, the other day while reading the label I noticed it says 2 scoops for an intense workout..... Planning to have an intense training session that morning, I added the 2 scoops instead of the usual one I had been taking. During my workout I not only felt strong but I started busting out pushups like never before! I felt like a machine! Man style ones too, not the girly type ones, I usually fail after a handful of Men’s. Nope not this time! The only thing I did differently that day was the double dose, no change in diet or training plan. So that must have been it. I am now a fan of creatine.  Enough said!

Something terrible happened this week. I am 12 weeks out from comp prep and what should land in my cupboard, but NUTELLA. That stuff is evil.  Why did I even buy it? I never buy it....for the kids? Subconsciously knowing I would find myself spreading it thickly on a slice of bread and licking the knife clean? I know Mum said never lick knives because it’s dangerous...But I will tell you what’s dangerous- Nutella in my cupboard! So on that day I succumbed to the Nutella and it didn’t stop there. Straight after I rummaged through the kids treats and finished off some cheezels and a muesli bar. No, it wasn’t a cheat day. I had ‘cheated’ earlier in the week. I am usually very, very good on my diet.  ‘The Boss’ Ash, my comp prep trainer is going to read this and be shocked!  So why did I do this? After sitting down, thinking about what I had done, feeling very sorry for myself and considering going for a run (which I did not do, the boss says no running aloud at this point) I finally worked out what had gone wrong that day. I had not prepped. It was that simple. I was busy with the kids, skipped a meal (because I hadn’t prepped) and then pigged out on junk in a mad. Moral of this story is cook/plan your meals in advance so they are there waiting for you, waiting to nourish your body with goodness. And the other lesson I learned is not to buy any ‘temptation’ items such as Nutella. Even if it’s on special at Woolies or my kids nag me for it. Instead, it will be “here children have some natural peanut butter instead!”  Read More

So after much thought I have decided to hit the stage again in September at the INBA Queensland titles after the birth of my third child in May 2011. My last comp was the INBA Natural Olympia in 2009 here on the Gold Coast in which i placed 3rd. My initial plan was to completely cease breast-feeding (which I hopefully will have in 2 weeks) then work really hard at getting my muscle mass back to where it was pre baby then build more mass before leaning down for the INBA Brisbane and ANB Asia Pacific’s in 2013, this has slightly changed however due to my lack of patience ha ha, and my burning desire to be part of our awesome Xtreme team who will all be competing in the Qld titles.

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Not many people in Australia know the name Sakio Bika; this is unfortunate and a sign of the pitiful media attention given to boxing here in Australia. Sakio Bika is an incredible Australian athlete that is currently ranked number fourth in the super middleweight pound for pound world ratings by Ring Magazine.   Read More