Posted on

Sunday, 23rd March

A lot of the workouts I design are so productive because everyone CAN DO THEM.

I never ask anyone to do an exercise or a programme I do not think they can do.

Everyone knows now that in our gym, the females and the males train through the same movements and they train hard, there is absolutely NO “you are a woman so you had better use the treadmill and bike only, and the rower now and again, and maybe a couple of light weights if you are lucky!”.

THIS IS THE ULTIMATE INSULT and shows a complete lack of knowledge by whoever is telling you that! Tucked away in the corner is not an option for anyone who trains with us.

In every area of life now, women are doing things few thought they could handle a generation ago due to blinkered insulting thinking by the establishment. Everyone knows we train hard with weighs and against resistance and we are proud to do the best for our members.

When you go to work, your job description now applies to everyone, a generation ago that used to apply to only men.

As a woman in today’s society, you have much more responsibilities now than a generation ago. Juggling life, work and family now is harder than a generation ago when you wouldn’t have had so many pressures going back then during every single day.

So WHY should you be in an exercise programme that assumes you are not so mentally strong and less capable than the average man in the gym environment?!!! We are not back in the 1950’s!!!

Most of our girls are better than the men, anyone can see that?!!!

Whatever limitations you think you had, they are about to go out the window. Women are not “supposed to do ONLY this and that”, that statement is rubbish and has no scientific or practical foundation.

We treat everyone equally no matter what and put no limits on the results you can get, so start looking to get a lot more out of your programme from the exercises that REALLY work and start working to your potential!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday, 21st March

A lot of people get carried away with working just arms in the exercise sessions. People think that if they just work arms in one session, then that’s going to give them incredible arms.

Most people don’t realise that you work biceps and triceps in most things you do anyway.

The purpose and reason for your biceps in movements terms is to bend your elbows while you help your upper back muscles in any kind of pulling motion.

Anyone who has done weights will know that you can pull from overhead, if you are in a climbing motion, or if it is in front of you, as in kind of a rowing motion.

The reason for your triceps is to straighten your elbow whilst helping your chest and shoulder muscles in a pushing motion.

You can push overhead, such as putting something like a box on a shelf, or you can push out from your chest such as pushing a car which needs jumpstarting again.

If you think about what your muscles are really for, you will be far more likely to benefit from motions and exercises that are going to really benefit you in everyday life.

Its not often that you do a bicep curl in everyday life, or a tricep pushdown come to think of it?

This is not to say that these exercises are useless, in fact they are very beneficial.

Just realise that in most exercises, you work a number of exercises in one go, and this is why whole body workouts in one workout are very demanding, but will get a whole lot more done for you as regards increasing strength and burning body fat, and giving you everyday strength you can use in real life.

A lot of the new stuff in the gym helps you become far more functional ready for all of life’s movements that you do regularly, and the ones that surprise you.

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 19th March

Soft drinks and fruit juices

Calorie containing drinks are one of the biggest contributors to climbing obesity rates in the Western world. In fact, some people have created entire diets based upon one single principle – excluding soft drinks. But it’s not just pop that’s the problem.

The majority of fruit based drinks are loaded with sugar. It’s wise to avoid soft drinks altogether and stick to water, tea, coffee.

If you really enjoy orange juice for example, just have one glass in the morning with your breakfast, or better still eat a whole orange instead for the added fibre and vitamin C.

Eat to train,

Nicola.

Twitt
Posted on

Sunday, 16th March

Since we have become the opposite of gyms who just encourage their members to spend just endless hours on the treadmill and bike, it’s always vital to tell you why.

The variety in the gym has never been greater, and there is a strong reason for doing every one of these new and old exercises.

Every exercise has an energy cost.

Walking slowly has a relatively low energy cost, whilst doing sprints full tilt up hills has a very high energy cost.

Flipping tyres has a high energy cost, whilst pedaling at low intensity on a spin bike will have a low energy cost.

It stands to reason that if you doing a number of high energy cost exercises in your workouts, you are going to get much better results than most people who go through the motions at most other places.

This is not to say that you have to do every single toughest exercise there is, in every workout! That is wrong and often dangerous and counter productive.

Thinking about your exercise programme though is vital, and to constantly question yourself if you are really getting the best out of your training each time is a very healthy place to be.

There is a chart on the whiteboard showing what methods and equipment you are using, and how your results are developing.

Chances are that if you are employing all the things available to you in the gym right now over the course of a week, and using them on different days and getting better on them by the week, then over time your results are going to go through the roof-this is afact.

You may be tired to start with getting used to new movements, but the overall result will mean you become a much better athlete!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 12th March

Methods of training can vary but one overall aim should never change-you should always aim to get progressively better.

This is a true measure of success and it’s not age dependent.

We have people in their 70’s and 80’s who want each year to add to their quality of life, through their exercise and nutritional programme and make it happen through steady progression in everything they do.

This state of mind encourages success.

I have met people who have been 35 years of age, and ready to give up on their bodies and want to somehow coast it to retirement! I kid you not!

This state of mind develops I think because they see so many other people doing it.

Changing your life for the better is not always easy, and many people’s experience of exercise is just walking into a gym and staying on a bike or treadmill at low intensity for 30 minutes or so. This is not going to be successful in really turning your body around and making you much stronger, much more flexible and more balanced.

Any exercise is great but surely we are capable of achieving more with your variety in exercise. The sad thing is most gyms put a load of machines in a room and expect you to figure out the rest? This is totally unacceptable in my view and you are paying a lot of money to have a guess on what you should be doing.

Not only is this unlikely to give you a good result, but it’s plain dangerous.

Before starting any exercise programme, make sure you have a solid plan that’s going to take you where you want to go. Also, make sure that plan is constantly updated to suit your progress as you go along.

Everyone develops at different rates, so your plan will change quickly along the way to suit your new found abilities.

Twitt