 16th April saw our first Club Competition here at the Barbell Club. It was a resounding success, and I genuinely couldn’t be happier with how it went. The quality of the lifting, the running of the day and even the overload of spectators made it all a brilliant day. The Club Competitions are largely a grassroots affair, allowing for beginner and novice powerlifters to get into the sport in an easy, low pressure environment where they don’t need things like a singlet, approved belt or approved wraps etc. With that in mind, the majority of lifters were first timers and we didn’t see many failed lifts, and there were zero bombs too. The majority of volunteers were also doing their roles for the first time too, and they learned very quickly. This was mainly down to how helpful people like Mark Henkelis, the North West’s tech extraordinaire, and Sheina, our very own Referee, were with the lifters and volunteers alike. Mark brought a whole bunch of equipment in order for us to run this competition as much like a sanctioned one as possible, and then spent the day managing the platform for us all - where, again, he was a massive help with our first time spotters and loaders. Sheina has reffed at many competitions now but she balanced being fair with being helpful and approachable to new lifters. So any red lights were accompanied by a thorough explanation of what was wrong and what needs to be worked on. All of this means that the spotters, loaders and lifters are now in a better place to go forward and compete at future competitions too. Our supporters, Red Bull, also supplied us with many, many cans of Red Bull across a variety of flavours. Meaning that everyone involved in the event from lifters, to volunteers to spectators were able to get a free drink of Red Bull. If you’re wanting to buy photos from the day, then please check out this link on James's website.  So, what’s next? Firstly, we have the Supertotal Push/Pull on it’s way. This is on the 7th May, which isn’t far away now, and it will include the events of the Clean and the Bench Press. The winner, for male and female, will be decided by a combination of Sinclair points on the Clean and Wilks points on the Bench Press. This competition will be the first time we’ve included Olympic Lifting in an event at this gym too, so we’re really excited to see how that works. We are accepting entrants to this until this Friday, 28th April, so if you do want to give it a go - use this link.  After that, we enquired about hosting another Club Competition in the Summer but it was suggested that we just do a Sanctioned one instead. So, we are hosting the August Barbell Fest on 27th August this year. This will be an IPF sanctioned event, meaning that you can qualify for next year’s British and English events (including the Juniors, Open and University options). We are looking at getting sponsors for this event too so that we can include things like (hopefully) cash prizes and such. You can find out more information on the event here. If you’re interested in sponsoring the event you can check out this form too.  We are also planning to re-launch our Beginner Classes in both Powerlifting and Olympic Weightlifting throughout May. If you, or anyone you know, are interested then please get in touch and we will give you more information!
You can email us here - coaching@dannyleeonline.co.uk
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 The latest article from James Kennedy for you here. It's all about Fat Burning supplements - should you buy them and are they worth it? Fat burners and weight loss pills are nutritional supplements which *claim* to increase fat metabolism and energy expenditure, speeding up fat loss and allowing people to lose weight quicker. They are popular supplements, with over $2 billion spent annually in the US alone on fat burners and weight loss supplements (1). In strength (powerlifting and weightlifting) and physique (bodybuilding) sports, fat burners are commonly used to help athletes manage weight loss and reach lower weight classes whilst maintaining as much lean body mass and muscle as possible. Sounds great right? Well, let’s go back to 2011. The Manchester City football player, Kolo Toure, was suspended for six months after failing a drug test which he blamed on taking his wife’s weight loss pills which contained a banned substance unbeknownst to him or his wife (2). Does this still occur? What’s actually in a fat burner? Do they work or are they just a way of supplement companies getting even more of your money? To find out, I decided to break down every listed ingredient in the fat burner which appeared at the top of the Google search results. I then searched the internet and the scientific literature for the supplement’s ingredients, finding what the ingredient is claimed to do, what the evidence supports and whether the ingredient would be effective in the supplement.  The ingredients of the first fat burner that popped up on Google. These are the listed ingredients for the fat burner that turned up on Google - the ingredient list is pretty typical for a pre-workout. The website advises you to take three tablets spaced evenly throughout the day, which will provide you with ‘an impressive array of 9 potently dosed ingredients’ which will wake you up, keep you alert and keep blood sugar levels normal all whilst boosting metabolism, burning fat and reducing appetite. Let’s evaluate these claims… Citrus Aurantium The first listed ingredient is Citrus Aurantium, which is more commonly known as bitter orange. Bitter orange contains p-synephrine, a molecule similar to the banned stimulant ephedrine, which has been researched and marketed as a product which can increase your metabolic rate and alertness, whilst reducing appetite, anxiety, blood pressure and heart rate (3,4). However, the scientific literature has found no to negligible impact of supplementing bitter orange on these outcomes - though it may have a small positive impact on digestion and blood circulation (4). Overall, bitter orange has not been shown to be an effective stimulant, with its popularity in supplements primarily due to the similarity between p-synephrine and the banned, highly effective stimulant, ephedrine. Whilst p-synephrine is legal in World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA ) sanctioned competitions, it was added to their watch list in 2019 to monitor its misuse in sports as a fat-loss supplement (5). Overall, Bitter Orange isn’t an effective fat burner or stimulant Green Tea Extract The second listed ingredient in this product is Green Tea Extract. Green tea extract should contain green tea catechins, a group of four molecules with a range of health benefits (6), with the most potent being EGCG (7). Green tea or green tea extract does have benefits as a ‘fat-burner’; it is effective in reducing body fat (8) and increasing fat oxidation - the percentage of calories from burning fatty acids (9). However, these effects are small and unreliable, with caffeine sensitivity being key to getting these benefits. Importantly, these benefits can all be achieved by just drinking green tea.  Just 0.02p per serving in Aldi! You may assume that the green tea extract would be more concentrated, with a higher proportion of catechins, especially EGCG, which would increase the efficacy of the supplement. You would be wrong. A typical green tea extract is about 50% EGCG, corresponding to 50mg of EGCG per tablet in this supplement. Depending on the species of tea and brew time, a single cup of green tea can contain 100-200mg of catechins and 50-100mg of EGCG (10). Furthermore, the fat-burning properties of green tea extracts are dose-dependent, with significant effects only shown at doses of 400mg+ of EGCG per day. The fat burner we are investigating today most likely provides you with 150mg of EGCG per day, or about the equivalent of 2-4 cups of green tea, and significantly below the dosage required to have significant effects on fat loss or fat oxidation. Caffeine Caffeine is an effective stimulant, found naturally in tea and coffee. Whilst caffeine is a stimulant and nootropic, it has also been found to improve physical strength (11) and endurance (12). Furthermore, habitual caffeine use is linked to a reduction in the risk of a range of diseases - including Alzheimer's and cirrhosis. At high total daily doses, however, caffeine can interfere with sleep patterns - often leading to the caffeine spiral, whereby you have too much caffeine, can’t sleep, then use more caffeine the next day to increase alertness and so on. Habitual (i.e. daily) caffeine consumption leads to a ‘hard tolerance’, where more caffeine won’t overcome the tolerance, however, the sleep interference side-effect/benefit appears to be independent of an individual's caffeine tolerance. Within this fat burner supplement, caffeine is appropriately dosed. A 100mg per tablet of caffeine is broadly equivalent to the caffeine content of a cup of filter coffee or two cups of tea. Overall, the caffeine in this fat burner is probably effective - it’s a proven stimulant and performance enhancer and it’s dosed effectively. However, if you’re drinking 2-3 cups of coffee and/or tea a day, the additional benefit of the caffeine within this supplement is probably negligible. The Aminos The next two ingredients in the fat burner are L-Tyrosine and L-Theanine, both amino acids. L-Tyrosine is an amino acid used as a precursor for dopamine and norepinephrine, two catecholamines depleted in stressful situations. Supplementing with L-Tyrosine can help restore catecholamines levels in the brain, reducing stress-induced reductions in mental performance (13,14). Typically, people take 500mg - 2000mg of L-Tyrosine before an acute stress event (a workout or game), to improve mental performance during exercise. When studied, doses to achieve anti-stress effects found a range of 100-150mg/kg taken around an hour before exercise (13). Our fat burner supplement offers a relatively paltry 200mg spread across three doses taken throughout the day - severely limiting the improved cognition effects of taking L-Tyrosine. L-Theanine is a non-protein amino acid, found in tea. L-Theanine makes you feel relaxed without making you drowsy. When taken with caffeine, it may help enhance the cognitive effects of caffeine by offsetting the anxiety associated with caffeine consumption (15). It is present in tea, with 50mg per cup on average, and is typically dosed at around 100-200mg as a supplement. The fat burner supplement contains 150mg, spread into three doses, or about the equivalent of three cups of tea per day. Kola Nut Extract We now move on to the Kola Nut Extract. This supplement is relatively understudied, however, is commonly used in West Africa where it originates as a stimulant. Broadly, the reported health benefits of consuming the Kola nut or Kola nut extract align with caffeine consumption (16, 17). Whilst it is a popular ingredient of fat-burning supplements it has not been studied in this role and its efficacy is unknown. Chromium Chromium is an essential mineral consumed in the diet, typically found in grain and plays a role in insulin regulation. Chromium supplementation however had no reliable impact on insulin for people with normal or elevated chromium levels (18). Interestingly, there is some evidence that Chromium can help with managing food cravings whilst in a calorie deficit. Specifically, a single study found that supplementing with 1000mcg of Chromium led to a greater reduction in food intake vs a placebo group (19). This result was significant but needs further study to understand if this effect is replicable and why Chromium supplementation has this effect. The Spices The final ingredients within the fat burner are the spices - Cayenne Pepper and BioPerine. BioPerine is a black pepper extract and cayenne pepper is a type of chilli pepper, which will be in this supplement for its capsaicin content. Capsaicin is the molecule which makes foods spicy and causes the associated side effects. Why is this in a fat burner? Well, capsaicin is trumpeted as a substance which helps with weight or fat loss by boosting your metabolism, helping burn body fat and improve metabolic health. However, when studied, Capsaicin has been found to have ‘minimal potency’ in impacting fat loss or improving metabolic health (20). The presence of BioPerine - black pepper extract - will be due to its ability to increase the bio-availability of other substances, particularly spices, by inhibiting enzymes which attack other molecules. Bio-availability is basically how well a substance can be absorbed by the body; piperine is highly effective in increasing the bio-availability of other compounds consumed within a supplement (21,22). Conclusions So what’s in a fat burner? Mainly substances you can get in tea and coffee, which have a minimal impact on fat loss and metabolic health and are underdosed. If you want to lose weight and improve body composition, find a good coach (link) and eat in a sustained calorie deficit whilst following a well-structured training plan (link). Don’t waste your money on magic pills and shortcuts: supplement companies are just trying to scam you out of your hard-earned money and waste your time. Don’t let them. Don't forget, if you want to get these Blog Posts earlier and directly to your inbox, you can join the mailing list.  We also have our 1 Week Trial on offer for free throughout all of April.
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