I’ve been designing and teaching wellness programmes to corporate clients for 10 years. There’s a lot of planning at my end and commitment needed at the other. The rewards are worth it. The cost of this level of service is £50 per appointment.
If you think you are ready to try a premium service in personal training with more depth and understanding please contact me to book a consultation.
This is the time of year when you are likely to be going for it with full determination at the gym… this is GOOD NEWS if you are progressing the way you want to. Unfortunately for a lot of people they are finding it hard to keep off the fat they’ve lost in the first few months of the year. EVEN WORSE – some people are putting it all back on again or have ended up with more than they started with.
Here are two very brief reasons why people find it difficult to maintain fat loss… the first is that most gym goers do the same exercise programme week after week without changing anything. It doesn’t take long for the body to adapt to the same exercise demands. For beginners it can take as little as 4 to 6 weeks to become more efficient at doing the same exercise programme – meaning that from a fat loss perspective it will give you less in return.
Secondly, people are doing the WRONG EXERCISES to lose fat. The majority of your exercises should be to build muscle and not to break it down! Cardio and long duration workouts will break your muscle down and make it harder for you to keep the fat off. Muscle preservation plays a big role in your metabolic rate. Love them or hate them – the majority of your routine needs to be resistance type exercises.
For those that are sceptical about choosing resistance training over cardio to burn fat… it’s not what you do it’s the way that you do it – that gets results!
Help improve the wellbeing of someone you care about today! Vouchers are available for the value of any amount of sessions. Email info@proactivestudio.co.uk or call 01226 293949 or 07761 790 151 for full details.
What can you do to make your time at the gym more effective? Below is a brief outline of some of the things you can implement straightaway.
Perform exercises that will cover all planes of movement. Get off the machines and start to use free weights and other tools. We live in a three-dimensional world so its beneficial to exercise in one too.
Your body needs to work through a full range of motion. Lifting more weight than you can handle and only moving the resistance through a partial range won’t produce the results you want. It could also make you more susceptible to injuries.
All movements should be controlled. If you are moving through sets too quickly by doing quick repetitions you are robbing yourself of time under tension and cutting down on the intensity of the workout. This can also lead to injuries and poor results.
During each movement you should activate the parts of the body you are targeting. Moving a weight from A to B isn’t enough, to get the most from an exercise and see improvements it is important to learn which muscles are responsible for the movement and activate them by tensing them as you move.
Are you finding it difficult to lose weight and stick to a healthy eating plan? Do you find yourself ordering takeaways every evening or popping something quick in the microwave or oven?
Part of the problem with sticking to a healthy diet is the convenience and the thought of having to be a slave in the kitchen. A few simple steps are all it takes to get organised and to make food preparation less of a chore.
The first step is to make sure everything is tidy and has a place in your kitchen. This will make your life easier and save time. To start with just prepare meals that are easy for YOU and don’t interfere with your life too much. Choose natural ingredients and keep cooking methods simple. For example you could grill fish and fry chopped vegetables.
To save time you could cook big meals and freeze leftovers to be used for a weeknight after work. Hanging a shopping list on your kitchen wall and filling it in as you use up your supplies will remind you what you need to buy when you go shopping. This can also save you money by preventing you from compulsive buying.
The important message is to get into the habit of making your own meals and not rely on processed meals and fast food. It is the only way to know what you are truly eating and be in control of the quality of the food you eat.
Is your exercise philosophy all about MORE IS BETTER? Do you train until you can’t physically do any more and feel like you must squeeze every ounce of energy that’s left in you before you can stop? Or don’t you leave the gym until you have exceeded a lengthy duration of time or reached a magic number?
Is your diet philosophy all about LESS IS MORE? Do you cut calories in the hope of achieving results or do you relentlessly follow the latest dieting trends?
If you fall into the above categories chances are you are frustrated because you haven’t got the results you deserve. You see, there are two main factors that determine your results – these are related to diet and stress. If there are problems with your diet it will washout what you are doing in the gym. If you are continuously stressed in any way of form it will prevent you from losing weight and body fat, you will also find it impossible to put on calorie burning lean muscle.
Certain foods and eating habits can increase fat storing hormones. Most people go about their daily lives with increased stress hormones. You don’t need to be emotionally stressed to be in a stressed state, lacking adequate sleep or doing too much exercise can also keep these fat storing hormones sky-high and prevent you from achieving results with your diet and exercise regime.
Until you get your insulin and stress levels under control and manage your lifestyle better you will never get the results you want. There are other factors that differ from individual to individual but these are the biggies. The good news is you can use practical methods to tweak your diet and non-invasive strategies to reduce stress. And they are FREE!
So YES, there is an EASIER WAY to REDUCE BODY FAT and LOSE WEIGHT. You can start by following an exercise programme that is tailored to what your lifestyle can handle. For a lot of people who find it difficult to get results this normally means spending a lot less time in the gym and spending more time doing the things that aren’t as strenuous. Probably the opposite of what most people think they need to achieve their body goals.
Then comes the diet and lifestyle check. I give my clients Nutrition and Lifestyle questionnaires to uncover where they are going wrong so I can design the right protocol for their goal.
If you are interested in a Nutrition and Lifestyle Assessment please contact me for more info.
Do you play a lot of sports or always do the same kind of repetitive exercise every time you do any? If you do, chances are you may have developed a muscle imbalance and have areas of your body that feel tight when you stretch. This isn’t good news as it can lead to injuries and pain.
I’m currently involved in rehabilitating a footballer from a knee injury and designing protocols to bring his body back into balance after years of putting his body through the same regime. Years of doing the same repetitive movements leads to some areas of the body becoming very strong and the rest staying where it is. When the gap is wide enough the risk of an injury increases. Muscular imbalances change the posture of an individual and forces the body to compensate during movement leading to wear and tear.
In less than two weeks my client feels stronger and more flexible than he ever has. The need for surgery has now completely diminished. All this by just doing carefully selected exercises and stretches.
I’m almost as bad at reading dieting books as I am at dieting itself.
Dieting books often contain masses of nutritional theory, information on the psychology of dieting, the importance of exercise and so on, with several hundred pages to wade through before you can even start to think about changing the way you eat.
Not this book. It is a succinct, straightforward guide that you can put into practice pretty much straight away.
There is, of course, some key nutritional information, but it is set out clearly, mainly as a list of foods you should or shouldn’t be eating, which is easy to come back and consult any time.
The rest of the book is set out to step-by-step, with some useful tips on portion sizes, how to use your smartphone to keep a diet diary, and the idea of taking photos of each meal together with notes on how much you enjoyed the meal, how hungry you felt a few hours later etc., so that you can keep track and adapt your diet as you go along.
The whole concept is highly practical and, contrary to many diets, easy to implement even if you have a very busy lifestyle. If you’re anything like me you are always playing with your phone, so why not use it keep track of what you eat and how much you weigh too?
I’ve already been following the 5:2 diet for a couple of months, and using apps such as Runkeeper, so this approach will really fit in with what I’m already doing. I’ll definitely be taking on a few of Anthony Chapman’s tips and hopefully lose a few extra kilos!
All in all, this is a clear, concise diet guide and a good, informative read.
Clair
Everything in life needs balance. Your exercise regime is no exception to this rule. Intense workouts need to be followed by deep rest to help refill your energy levels otherwise you will find it difficult to progress.
During time between exercise sessions it is important to feed your body the right diet and get plenty of quality sleep. It is also important to listen to your body and act on the responses from each workout. Some days you may need to stretch more, other days you may have more stress and need to find ways to relax more.
Sticking to these rules will prevent you from burning out and help you stay injury free. It will also catapult you towards your goal quicker than the majority of other people who go to the gym.
You may think you’re training hard enough, but are you really pushing yourself? If you’re lifting weights you can do dozens of repetitions with and without any sign of breathlessness, you’re not training hard enough.
It’s no good doing loads of repetitions if you want to stimulate your muscles and tone up, doing more doesn’t mean better results when it comes to changing your body shape.
Your goal throughout your workout should be progression. Your workout should never be easy if you want outstanding results. If you want to stay the same, keep doing the same workout over and over.
A good rule to follow in between sets is to rest only long enough to catch your breath, which will give your body the ability to cancel the oxygen deficit that builds up during each set. Once you have caught your breath, it’s time to go on.
Your goal should be to get into the gym, get the job done and get out. Do not mistake training hard with training for a long time.
It’s not the amount of time you spend in the gym that counts, it’s the quantity and quality of the work you put in. Keep the intensity high and the results will follow.
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