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Tuesday, 30th April

The debate about which way is best to exercise, and this time which ENVIRONMENT is best?

There is a year long study going on that is testing people’s responses to exercise both inside and outside.

Many if most people now exercise indoors due to the fact that most gyms involve inside training. This is the traditional way to do things, and most people feel really comfortable in this environment.

That situation all changes when you visit and train in our gym just off burry port railway station.

We still have a lot going on inside the gym, in fact it is the total opposite to most gyms, in fact we concentrate purely on results and things that are going to get you there, with a bit of fun and massive variety in the number of options available.

What i do encourage though is to workout OUTSIDE to. Anyone who passes the gym will have seen a lot of running, speed and agility work, parachutes, harness pulling, tyres, just about everything going on in an OUTSIDE ENVIRONMENT!!!

This i find satisfies everyone and gives everyone the best of both worlds, the maximum amount of variety in their workouts and the greatest chance of success.

So the debate on training outside or inside is not a debate for me! Its BOTH so give yourself every opportunity not only to get great results, but enjoy it more too!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 29th April

Catherine asks me to post about the “insanity” workouts that are heavily advertised on satellite tv, and what did i think of them?

Here’s my thoughts based on what i have heard off others doing it, and what i have seen in the advertisements.

The people i know that have been through it are based into two camps i find.

Camp one is the minority in terms of numbers, but they say that it works well for them, but they are usually extremely fit people to begin with and usually involved heavily in sports. They do say though that they only do it 3 times a week maximum, because doing the 6 times a week schedule as recommended would “kill them”.

Camp two i find have tried it, enjoyed parts of it, but a large percentage of it they either cannot do, or have got injured attempting some of the movements. They find the schedule impossble at times to keep up with, and are often too sore the next day to keep up with the next workouts.

Both camps found that it remained part of their workout programme for a small amount of time, and the dvd’s were now hidden away in he cupboard, once they got back to conventional exercising.

My own opinion? First of all, i see a lot of jumping (plyometric) type of exercises which can destroy your joints and lead to injury, always a bad idea. I only recommend jumping exercises for teenagers mostly, and thats when they are involved in sports. They can create all sorts of problems for the average person.

Most professional trainers will introduce an exercise programme to you GENTLY, and this means gradually buildng you up. Insanity looks too much like a “get into it full steam ahead” type of workout that doesn’t care what type of shape you are in before you start it. Some of the exercises seem downright dangerous to me, but there are parts of it that are good in principle.

I would have a thorough checkup medically before you consider starting it, and i cannot imagine anyone really doing it long term due to the associated risks.

Of course they say people have great results on it, but this is due to the skills of the marketing people of the company proting insanity! These types of products have paid actors, who usually get out of shape deliberately (they take a photo at this stage), then start eating really well, don’t drink alcohol, get a tan suddenly and train like they have never trained before for 3-4 months!! Then they take the “after” photograph!

This goes on all the time so i wouldn’t trust the so called results section at all!!!

Anyway, its a free country so anyone can attempt this, but now you have my thoughts to allow you to make an informed decision!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday, 26th April

Finally friday is here, and friday is always the day when many people start thinking about the weekend, and a great workout, sorry make that ANY kind of workout goes firmly on the back burner.

This is down to the state of mind rather than what your body is actually capable of.

If you are one of those who traditionally misses a friday workout, then you could be missing out on serious gains over the long term.

I find that friday is great for a one off type of workout for a variety of reasons.

First of all, if i typically schedule some people on a monday and thursday all over whole body weights programme, then tuesday and friday would work well as a core orientated session, with some outside speed an agility work thrown in too. Anyone who has done this type of session with me will know we have an extreme amount of variety involved in these type of sessions, they tend to be fun but still hard work and results giving.

So let’s say today is friday which it is, and you have one of these different fun sessions scheduled, then this should give you every reason to show up for your friday session every single time.

I think that’s a big reason for many people in gyms not showing up for their friday session and starting the weekend early, they are not being given entertaining sessions so they get bored, and have absolutely no incentive to complete their week of training. Indifference to training is criminal but usually the fault lies with the person giving out the fitness programme in the first place, and NOT with the customer who is paying their hard earned money to get into great shape AND has a right to be entertained in a fun way in terms of exercise presentation.

Have a great weekend!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 25th April

If you have bought some kind of health and fitness magazine lately, you may have been confused by what they have to say. This may be because the last one you bought may have said something quite different.

The one before that would have changed its message before that, and this is even before you get to reading the more “serious magazines”!

The lack of clarity and simplicity in the health and fitness message promoted in the media is not only confusing, but sometimes downright dangerous.

For example, presenter jeremy vine had a heart problem the other day and promptly blamed advice in the media for trying out the go all out approach on a rowing machine. He said he saw some advice that short all out efforts were better than conventional workouts.

I thought someone in his position would have sought professional advice.

Anyone without prior experience of exercise should NEVER, EVER go straight into an all out exercise programme.

You should always build up your activity and workouts SLOWLY AND GRADUALLY, under proper supervision. Never do too much, never try to copy programmes you see in magazines or papers without proper assessment of you capabilties.

Exercise can and will be extremely good for you. The british heart association and the british stroke society immediately responded to jeremy vine saying that exercise is good for you and reduces the chances of heart related disease by 50% at least, and what mr vine did was against the recommendations they give for exercise, and what most exercise professionals give out every day.

This is a great example of why you should always get proper advice on exercise AND build up gradually and never rush things.

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 24th April

Visualising your progress and the way you want to perform and look has long been a habit of the most successful individuals.

For example, you hear of many sportspeople who will visualise or imagine how their game the next day is going to go.

They visualise themselves scoring goals, scoring tries, winning races etc.

Studies have shown that these techniques can be very successful, and helps you focus far greater on the performance to come.

You can do the same with your workouts. Try relaxing and going through your mind how your workouts going to go. From the exact moves you’re going to perform through to how much weight you’re going to lift, how you’re going to feel when you complete what you want, and how much effort it’s going to require.

If you are going to get into amazing shape, imagine what it takes to get there. If you really think of what it’s going to be like, then you would imagine how important it is to live a healthier lifestyle, eat better foods, drink more water, not drink so much alcohol and generally be far more choosy in your nutritional habits. You know that it takes a bigger effort to drop body fat and look very healthy, rather than feel and look overweight.

Visualising is one thing, but doing is another so let’s get down to it today and make it happen!

A succession of things needs to happen to look and feel your best, and you can start them now instead of imagining it. There’s a very good chance that you will soon look like exactly who you want to be if you live as healthy a lifestyle as possible, it can and WILL happen if you make the change right now, and be consistent with this change until you reach your big goal!

Twitt