Thursday 28 January 2010

Introducing Maxitone!


Some of you eagle-eyed readers may have noticed me mentioning Maxitone, as well as Maximuscle, some of you may even have seen the ads on TV or received a catalogue...

Well, I just thought I'd talk briefly about what I know of Maxitone so far.

During the Maximuscle Body of 2009 photoshoot, myself and the other girls were privy to some information concerning an exciting new addition to the Maximuscle family - Maxitone.

So, what is Maxitone?

Maxitone is a standalone product, separate from the Maximuscle range, though of course under the same umbrella.

So, I guess you might have some questions along the lines of - why has Maximuscle felt the need to do this? Why not stick with the Maximuscle Promax Diet line? They're already popular, taste good and work well!

To be honest I was a bit unsure about the name... the word 'tone', and indeed expression 'get more toned' seems to cause controversy wherever it's used.

When a woman says "I want to get toned up", she really means:

"I want to lose body fat and look better".

When a man says "I want to get toned up", he really means:

"I want to get bigger, better-defined muscles"

neither is technically correct as a) you can't 'tone' your body and b) you can't 'tone' your muscles... muscles either do one of two things - get bigger/stronger, or get smaller/weaker.

People get really uppity about the ostensive 'misuse' of this word, but maybe we should all lighten up ;-)

'Tone' appears to be one of these words that takes on more than one definition... like the words 'bad', 'sick', 'gay', 'wicked', 'mint' etc - you know the word 'girl' used to once mean a young person of either sex?! The meaning of words change over time, any Etymologist will tell you this - one thing we're all agreed on though is that when a woman says she wants to get more toned we *know* that she just wants to shape up, so perhaps we should all remember that and appreciate that this word is recognised everywhere to mean just that :-)

Anyway, now we've dealt with the name, why again do we need a separate product, and indeed brand name to Maximuscle?

Well, I guess the obvious answer is that the very word 'muscle' in 'Maximuscle' is enough to put most women off the products altogether.

Like the word 'tone', 'muscle' is also misunderstood by women trying to lose weight. They assume that the minute you pick up a pair of dumbbells you are going to turn into some muscle-bound freak, or just a square blob!

In fact, muscle is more metabolically active tissue than fat, the more you build, the more calories your body burns when you're not even moving about, how awesome is that?!

It is true that if you are overweight because your diet is rubbish, and you embark on a programme, for a long time, which consisted of a lot of heavy weight lifting, and do nothing to address your eating, it is entirely possible to build muscles *underneath* your fat (in effect adding another layer to your size), which will make you appear larger (albeit a firmer kind of 'large' ;-) ).

I see plenty of guys in the gym who can lift a hell of a lot, very impressive, but who have little to no definition (or what they'd consider 'tone' ;-) ) because they have such a large amount of fat covering their hard-earned muscles!

I realise that I am not exempt from the above observation, I know I have 'wicked' definition *somewhere* under there ;-)

It also really does annoy me when women come out with "I started exercising and I thought I'd lose weight straight away but instead I put on weight... but that's because I've obviously put on muscle and muscle weighs more than fat right?"

WRONG! A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat, it's like the old tonne of bricks vs tonne of feathers riddle... what usually happens is that when a lot of people start exercising they either a) get hungry and eat more or b) think that as they've exercised they can therefore eat what they like, or, and this is killer... they drink 'energy' drinks while doing minimal exercise.

If your goal is to lose body fat, unless you're going out on a run where you'll be on your feet for over an hour, or are heading off on a 3 hour cycle ride which takes in a few hills, you really don't want to be taking on extra carbohydrates in the form of sugar, seriously - just drink water! What happens is that your body uses these drinks for fuel, instead of tapping into your body fat reserves - PLUS, any carbs that are not required for energy, i.e. if you're not working hard enough that your body actually needs the extra fuel, you will just store it... as, yup, you guessed it - FAT - bummer!!

You also don't need to be drinking these drinks *after* you've finished light exercising, that's not to say that you need *no* carbohydrate, but what you should be focusing on getting down you after exercising - especially intensely where you've put stress on your muscles - is protein.

This is where Maxitone comes in. 1 serving of Sculptress contains a huge 32g of protein, that's pretty good huh?

Alternatively, if you wanted to create a decent post-workout drink which incorporates good healthy carbohydrates as well as a decent amount of muscle-repairing protein, you can try blending some low fat greek yogurt with fruit and a scoop of Definity (only 120 Cals but over 24g of protein!) to form a yummy recovery smoothie - perfect! :-)

To summarise, I guess I've really come round to the thought of the Maxitone standalone product because

1) if I start using it at least I may get less funny looks/odd questions from colleagues about my protein supplements, using words like 'steroids' and 'mighty-muscle' and 'arnie'!

2) I do quite like the packaging, although the red and black from Maximuscle is dramatic and pretty cool, my favourite colour is purple and there seems to be a decent amount of that about, including the shaker which, apart from being shorter and less obtrusive (therefore more discreet!), is also pretty damn cute ;-)

3) Most important to me though is that I think us women DESERVE our own product! The world of sports nutrition is such a hugely male-dominated world. So should we have to 'share' our products with men who might have entirely different fitness goals and whose bodies are very different to our own - we are worth so much much more than just being an 'afterthought' in a previously male-oriented company.

I think it's great that Maximuscle have recognised that there are women who take their training and nutrition as seriously as men and don't want to be fobbed off with lower grade sports products. Maximuscle invests a lot of time and money into researching what goes into their products and the proof of this is evident in a) the results achieved by people taking the products and b) the caliber of people who do - have you seen the sportsmen and women who are happy to put their name to the brand?!

Ultimately that makes a difference right? You can't say it doesn't. Sportsmen and women or 'sports personalities' tend to have greater weight than regular celebrities when it comes to people who take their training and nutrition seriously.

For example, in 2004 when I first became interested in Triathlon I decided that wearing glasses and/or contact lenses was probably not what I wanted to do when transitioning from water to bike to running... So I looked around at my options and decided that I wanted to correct my eyesight permanently - I only became shortsighted at around the age of 12 so I really had time to become used to not needing corrective means to see and I missed having the peripheral vision that is denied to you when you wear glasses (unless you get a pair of wrap-arounds!).

So I decided to shop around for places that offered corrective laser surgery. Obviously by this point there was a plethora of choices out there and it was hard to know who to go with.

Then I saw an advert with Sir Steve Redgrave, Olympic Gold Medalist rower and he said he'd his eyesight corrected by Ultralase.

Bingo! Respected sporty person inspires hopeful fellow sporty person to have her vision totally restored and in 2004, a wonderful man called Mr Vinod Gupta made that possible.

The ONLY regret I have about the whole procedure is not having had it done sooner, it totally transformed my life. Races like Tough Guy just would not have happened for me as I'd have worried about either glasses breaking or contact lenses getting infected or losing one in the mud!!

Anyway, have gone off on a bit of a tangent there, my 'summary' ran on a bit too long, sorry but you know what I'm like!!

In short (I promise!) it appears that women's nutritional needs are finally being taken seriously in this country and addressed in their own right. It's about time too, I don't wear men's underwear and I don't eat man-sized food portions so why should I consume energy and recovery products designed solely with men in mind?

I think that a female-specific brand like Maxitone will provide women with perfectly balanced high-quality products and I can't wait to try them all out and report back to you with my verdict!

Oh, and one last thing...

I have my own page on the site!



Check me out ;-) http://www.maxitone.com/tarastevens.html


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I wrote all the above yesterday but didn't get a chance to post as had to head out to the Official Maxitone Launch Party which was taking place in London last night.

I had a really rather fun time, especially as an old friend I'd not seen for absolutely years was there so that was a nice surprise :-)

I will update you all about how the evening went and try and post some pics too so keep checking back for more news...!

Off out tonight to a 'Hollywood' themed night with lots of glitz and glamour, apparently there's going to be a red carpet and paparazzi, plus casino tables, free drinks and food too - can't wait for that either, have my camera for that so expect a double update soon!

Hope you're all well and healthy

TJx

2 comments:

  1. I've already started using the sculptress shakes, I also prefer the taste and packaging to the promax diet I used to use, and I totally agree about the cute shaker! I've also found that the tub size is more handy as it has a seven day supply so you can plan better. I really like the vanilla flavour best, yum! x

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  2. oh I can't wait to try the shakes! We had a few samples at the launch party but they were mixed with fruit so it was hard to gauge how they'll taste when just mixed with water (like I have at work - at home I mix with everything, fruit, yogurt, peanut butter etc!!)

    the definity crisp bars are pretty lush though, will have to alternate between the choccy promax crisp and the fruity definity crisp, they're such yummy little sin-free snacks!!

    glad you like the vanilla, will have to try that flavour then as I have vanilla promax diet but it's a bit too sweet to have on its own so I either mix with another flavour or use in protein shakes, banana's my fave :-)

    xx

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