How to improve your running
03 Jun 2012 Leave a Comment
in Blogs from other people, Exercise and Fitness Tags: Charles Poliquin, diet, Eating, High-protein diet, Muscle, Physical exercise, strength training
In case you haven’t noticed I think Charles Poliquin is pretty amazing; he talks a great deal of sense. his blogs are always informative and packed full of research and as soon as I can get on one of his courses the better!
Anyway, rather than make this post in praise of him; its probably better that I let him speak for himself Charles Poliquin.
A really long article but if running is important to you, stick with it – it may just improve your time, technique, stamina etc.
Have a happy Sunday!
x
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Can 4-minute workout trim and tone me up?
02 Jun 2012 Leave a Comment
in Blogs from other people, Exercise and Fitness Tags: Counting Calories, Daily Express, exercise, Physical exercise, Tabata, weight loss
I found this article the other day (Express) which taps into some of the HIT stuff that seems to have gained popularity all of a sudden 
and whilst I could moralise on how irritating the Daily Express is, that’s not the point of this post!
Dont you just wish reporters would do their homework before stating “…..xx have come up with….”? Isnt what they “have come up with” basically just Tabata? Lazing reporting is far too often the norm in the UK and I dont suppose I expected anything less than covering sloppy facts from the likes of the Express or the Mail – after all 
why let facts get in the way of a good story?!
It gets worse – surely doing any high intensity exercise SIX times a week combined with healthy eating is going to lead to weight loss – it really isn’t exclusive to this “amazing new” plan! And, as is usual, the article is a “lets push a quick fix idea” and make people think they 
(a) don’t really need to work hard (have you actually tried Tabata? Its brutal!) and (b) don’t need to think too much about nutrition; typical comment is “The only catch is that it has to be combined with a healthy eating plan”. What do you expect? Pizza and beer, four minutes of exercise and the weight will fall off?
Oh I do wish there was were some sensible, balanced fitness, health, diet and nutrition reporting in this country!
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Obese People Are Not Lazy!
01 Jun 2012 Leave a Comment
in Blogs from other people, Exercise and Fitness, Information Tags: Clients, fitness, obese, overweight, Personal Training, personaltrainer, Physical exercise, training, weight loss
I came across this yesterday and I love her take on things Obese People Are Not Lazy. In particular, I love this paragraph SOOO much and I agree with the sentiment 100%
“…Trainers, competitors, fitness enthusiasts–YOU have the know-how. Don’t hoard it! Give it away! And it may not be as simple as giving someone a diet to follow. You might have to actually ASK THEM how they feel, what struggles they are having, and take responsibility for their results. My mentor Alwyn Cosgrove talks about this often – he puts it on the backs of the trainers to get their clients results. It’s convenient to simply say that our client is noncompliant and doesn’t want it badly enough – it easily takes the onus off us. But, why do we get to be off the hook? They are paying US to help them be more compliant and learn to want it. So let’s take on the challenge….”
As trainers, so often the view is that it must be the client’s fault, they must be cheating, they lack commitment or focus, they don’t want it enough and speaking as both a trainer AND a client “…They are paying US to help them be more compliant and learn to want it…” is exactly right. As a PT client, when everything is going well its great but when I am having a bad week and failing at everything I need someone to understand why, to ask me how I really feel, to want to help, to give me a nudge back on track and be there until I am. Demanding? Absolutely, but I am investing my time, my money and my trust why wouldn’t I expect 100% service?
In my opinion the best thing a PT can do to help his or her clients is to be a client themselves at some point in their career – there is nothing like being the other side of the fence to make sure you empathise with your clients, you appreciate why they think that some exercises are undignified or that they look silly, you understand why trainers need to get explanations and instructions right and you understand about motivation. There is something about changing the power dynamics that really changes the way you relate to clients – from my own experience as a client I make sure that when I train other people I always ask them how they are, find out what is going in their lives, understand their stresses and try to offer some advice.
But back to the original concept of this post! One of the key things we should all do whether we are trainers, clients, gym members, 
friends, colleagues, partners, neighbours whatever is to stop passing judgement on everyone we meet based on how they look, whether they are overweight, fat, thin, old, young, it doesn’t matter. None of us can know how or what their lives are like until, as the old saying goes, we walk a mile in their shoes so, lets all try and being a little less judgemental and a lot more supportive!
Get Fit for Summer – Week 1
30 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Diet and Nutrition, Exercise and Fitness Tags: Creating Chaos, fitness, General fitness training, Get Fit for Summer, Health, Physical exercise, Physical fitness
Hey there everyone and Happy Wednesday!
I know its almost here but the reality is its NEVER too late to get in shape! Why not join our Get Fit for Summer challenge – follow the link for the first video workout and make sure you read The Rules! before you start.
Lets make 2012 a healthy, happy summer to remember!
What do you think? Would love to see your progress…..
Stay healthy!
Fingers crossed……!
08 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in My Training Updates Tags: Anxiety, Physical exercise, rest, stress, studying
Today is the last day in my manic studying, work, training marathon and to say my stress levels are through the roof is most definitely an understatment!
I intend doing absolutely nothing tomorrow and have booked a massage for Tuesday so the plan is to get today out of the way, try and relax a bit, rest my very tired body and attempt to recover a bit before hitting the training again next week. Whilst the last month has been difficult (maybe that’s a bit of an underestimation) I have to say I have learnt so much about myself, my response to stress and about my body’s response to continual demands.
I know I can cope pretty well with stress as long as I can focus and I get some clear ‘head space’ I seem to be able to juggle and cope with most stuff but its been weird seeing my body react – I feel fine but every day something new hurts. Nothing major, just a little ache, or a sore muscle or a heaviness that wont go away – it really has reinforced for me the importance of proper rest if you are pushing your body either through training or just through continual stress.
So, this is a short and sweet post so I can get back to the stress – for those of you training, rushing around or just finding life stressful remember to try and take some time out and rest a little – it really will pay dividends both mentally and physically.
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Is Zumba the best or worst thing to happen to fitness?
01 Apr 2012 11 Comments
in Information, My Training Updates Tags: aerobics, dance class, exercise, fitness, Fitness professional, Level 2, Personal Training, Physical exercise, Zumba
Zumba – hmm, well the one thing we will all agree on is that is its absolutely EVERYWHERE! On every infomercial or shopping channel, being supported by celebs, in every gym, fitness centre and even, for goodness sake, in every local village hall!
But whilst I cannot fault the marketing, spin, promotional material etc that has made it ubiquitous (well for now at least!) is there any real fitness based foundation behind the scene? Does it deliver anything special for the millions of people who go to classes each week?
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Play as exercise or exercise as play?
14 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Exercise and Fitness, Information Tags: exercise, Exuberant Animal, fitness, fun, gym, Physical exercise, strength training, weight training
I was recently introduced to the book The Exuberant Animal by Frank Forencich and whilst initially I wasn’t sure now I completely love it and would recommend it to everyone who wants to change their life and their world.
The concept is simple and straight forward and like most pieces of good advice you recognise instantly where it is coming from; that movement, exercise, physicality should be above all else, fun and should reflect not the constraints of the gym (cardio machines, resistance machines etc) but the actions and functions our bodies were designed to do.
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Healthy eating, information overload and confusion!
12 Mar 2012 3 Comments
in Diet and Nutrition Tags: Biggest Loser, dieting, Eating, Health, healthy eating, Obesity, Physical exercise, protein, weight loss
I’ve been thinking more and more lately about healthy eating, diets and weight loss, the information overload we are all exposed to and the 
continual exploitation by the media of people’s worries, fears and insecurities.
Watching a late night repeat of a Biggest Loser winner who had put most of his weight back on and has now lost it again reminded me of all the things I dislike so intensely about that programme and others in a similar vein (the USA version of Obese a Year to Save my Life being another), namely that anyone can lose weight in a severely restricted, controlled environment – in fact it would be hard NOT to lose weight when you have to completely suspend your real life and your decisions about food and exercise are completely taken away from you. The hard part is always losing weight or maintaining the loss whilst living a normal life, making everyday family decisions over food and dealing with normal life stress.
My complaint has always been that programmes like this and magazines publishing some z-list celebrity weight loss story only ever tell half a story and an airbrushed, edited, highly selective story at that. They simply don’t provide people with the real knowledge to make healthy choices and healthy decisions. So, what happens? People expect to lose weight overnight and are disappointed and demoralised when they don’t and those that do, often lose the weight on a restrictive diet and are surprised that it all goes back on again when they resort to their old eating habits.
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You made me cry….
18 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in My Training Updates Tags: Jeremy Clarkson, Kettlebell, Physical exercise, Push Up, Squat, Upright row
This week has been a really tough training week, incredibly intense, emotional and hopefully worthwhile.
Having changed my training days last week my first training day was Monday, which just felt kind of weird, I mean, I never train on a Monday, it completely threw my week out! Anyway, Monday night was my first night doing the metabolic stuff on my own and I hated it. Its one thing to push yourself to the gasping-for-air-cant-do-anymore-stage and quite another to keep yourself at the same level for the whole programme; by half way I was struggling to even lift the weights above my head and as for push-ups, well they were a complete disaster. Felt as if I had gone back several months and could barely even lower myself an inch! Finished the programme somewhat grudgingly and headed off home.
Metabolic training – why it hurts so good!
01 Feb 2012 2 Comments
in My Training Updates Tags: Bodypump, fitness, metabolic training, Physical exercise, weight training, women's weight training
Today is my PT session with Kieran and as I couldn’t finish on Saturday cos of my injury I am really looking forward to tonight.
But it made me wonder why am I looking forward to it and what is it about metabolic training that I love to hate?
