Tag Archives: fitness tips

The ultimate marathon survival guide

If you’re planning on going for gold in this year’s marathon, your normal training regime will need a complete overhaul.

Preparing your body for the huge physical strain will take time and expertise. Luckily, we’ve rounded up top tips from the best experts around to give you the boost you need to cross the finish line like a pro.

Justin Way, Personal Trainer and Fitness Expert at Pure Gym (www.puregym.com) has three top tips for marathon success.

  1. Stretching is a great way of keeping mobile and injury free during your marathon training regime. Even if you’re not a regular exerciser a weekly stretch can help you relax and promote healthy blood flow which is quite invigorating. When you stretch make sure you stretch your major muscles, think of where you may feel tightness…..the back of your legs, your lower back, any stretch around your hips is good as there are a lot of muscles cross these joints. Generally, holding a stretch for 15-20 seconds would be enough to relax the muscle, if you hold it for around 30 seconds then this would help improve flexibility.
  2. Tracking your progress is so important, it allows you to set staggered short term objectives to help you towards your ultimate goal. What you record depends really on what you do and what you want to achieve, but logging things like how long you ran for, how far you rode and how many repetitions you completed is important if you want to beat your personal best come marathon time!
  3. A warm down towards the end of a workout is extremely beneficial. The length of the warm down really depends on how intense your workout was. As a general rule, the harder the workout the longer the warm down.

If you want to make the most of your training regime, you’ll need to make sure you’re staying adequately hydrated. These 3 top tips for healthy hydration from the Natural Hydration Council should ensure you’re always kept topped up.

  1. For most light intensity types of exercise including swimming, golf and walking, and for any physical activity lasting less than 45 minutes water will rehydrate you adequately
  2. Sip water in small amounts during and after exercise. For example, sip 150-300 ml roughly every 20 minutes during exercise5, and then drink 250-500 ml fluid5 once you have finished exercising.
  3. Replenish fluids regularly especially when sweat rates are high and/or exercising in warm environments.
  4. If you’re serious about your fitness, you may need a little extra boost to take you from weekend runner to Olympic hopeful.

Hurdler and Olympic hopeful Ruben Tabares explains: “I have discovered the power of nutrient-rich whole foods and take Sun Chlorella ‘A’ because it is an extremely effective nutritional tool to provide the body with a unique fuel for achieving optimum physical performance. By incorporating Sun Chlorella ‘A’ into the diet, amongst other health benefits I also get a powerful ‘dual-action’ effect – an instant energy boost prior to physical activity as well as a repair and anti-inflammatory benefit after training.”

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Biggest workout mistakes

Spending hours in the gym but not achieving your goals? You could be making some very simple yet common workout mistakes.

Fitness expert at The Chelsea Club, Neil Johnson, is here to give us the lowdown. The ‘face of FAME’, Neil is a personal trainer to the stars and has a history of working with Take That, East 17 and Boyzone.

#1: Sit Ups = Six Pack

Not quite! In fact too much concentration on the abs and no focus on other areas of your body could lead your stomach to expand and a pot belly rearing its ugly head! Sit ups combined with an overall weight loss programme, a balanced diet and regular exercise will help with this.

#2: Under Eating

All too often I see people trying to lose weight by starving themselves. Yet this doesn’t actually help you lose weight, instead it leaves you with muscle loss, a slower metabolism and less energy. By having a diet which consists of eating foods in moderation but exercising regularly at the same time – this is how you will lose weight.

#3: Ignoring Weights

Do you spend all your gym time doing cardio? Chopping and changing between the treadmill and the cross-trainer? People, particularly women, tend to gravitate toward cardio exercises and avoid weights like the plague. There’s a myth that weight training will bulk you up. This simply won’t happen unless you go too extreme. In fact lifting weights will tone and firm up your muscles, something that cardio actually cannot do. Maintaining regular weight training will increase your body’s ability to burn fat around the clock.

#4: Repeating Workouts

Going to the gym 2/3 times a week and doing the same routine each time will work to begin with. You may see some pounds drop straight off and your body getting firmer but this needs to be maintained. The way to do this is to keep pushing yourself, keep adding to your workout. Whether that means increasing the weights you are using or adding quarter of an hour onto your cardio training every couple of weeks, you need to be always progressing.

#5: Skipping Stretching

Stretching is so important both before and after a workout but is the most common mistake. Stretching is important to be done properly and not rushed as it increases our flexibility, helps with a better posture and also decreases muscle injury.

#6: Playing Favourites

Playing favourites in your training can lead to problems. Many of us have a body part we prefer to workout on or a particular exercise we like doing more than others. However, favouring these can leave you unbalanced with poor posture. When you workout you need to work out the whole body.

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Olympic weightlifter hopeful Sunny Brar shares her fitness tips

Keep your body healthy and happy with five top fitness tips from York Fitness athlete Sunny Brar

Sunny Brar, Central England Weightlifting Champion and ranked number two in Britain, shares her five personal top tips on how to stay fit, healthy and motivated.

Keep hydrated

Try and drink at least two litres of water a day! I try to drink at least four litres because of the amount that I train. The times which I haven’t done so, I have noticed the negative impact it has had on my performance. However, filling up a 2L bottle helps me to achieve this every day as there are no excuses but to drink it as it is there.

Get your body ready

It is really important to stretch before and after training as flexibility is really important if you want to get the most out of the workout.

Be prepared

If possible, try and prepare your meals ahead of time so you have good, healthy food to hand when you need it. I prepare my meals the day before so I don’t find myself wasting time in the supermarket or eating the wrong thing because I am starving or rushed and I always have something to hand so my body is fuelled and ready for the next training session.

Show some respect

Always respect the weights you lift! Start your warm up by lifting lighter weights but always remember that your warm up lifts are just as important as your work-out weight lifts, because if you can’t get the technique right on the lighter lifts you’re going to struggle with the heavier ones!

Get the right kit

Make sure that you have the right kit for your workout, particularly footwear. Trainers may work well for general cardio workouts but for weightlifting you need more support. I have got a pair of shoes specifically designed for weightlifting. They are custom made in the ‘Superman’ colours and besides from loving the look of them, the heel gives me more support and therefore stability in the squat position.

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It’s not all about weight loss

With the New Year comes a national obsession with trying to get rid of those ‘extra pounds’, we all put on over the Festive Perios, as quickly as possible. It sees thousands of us signing up to gyms, weight loss groups and websites and sales of supplements, promising instant weight loss, soar. In the rush to drop weight however many of us forget that it’s not all about losing weight and let the rest of our health slide.
A new ‘healthy lifestyle’  website hopes to counter this trend by offering a member’s site with a difference…
MyVitality.com ‘can’ certainly help you lose weight, but it is so much more than that and is a must for those whose New Year’s resolution isn’t just to drop a few pounds, but to give their general health and wellbeing a boost.
MyVitality is effectively a nutritionist, life coach, beauty therapist and chef all in one. When you sign up to the site you fill in a health questionnaire that asks about your lifestyle and symptoms. It follows this up by asking what your health aims are over the coming months; it’s ok if you just want to lose weight, but what about wanting to get a better night’s sleep, clearing up your skin, beating that bloated belly or having more energy when you come home from work?
Deigned by health experts, the system then creates a 24 page profile created specifically for you. This is no common profile shared by hundreds of people, because the experts behind the site understand that someone who wants to lose fat, but also has issues with energy is going to need a totally different diet plan to someone who wants to get fitter for sport, but struggles with stress.
The profile that is created tells you what your nutritional priorities should be, which foods to eat and what supplements could help you achieve your goals. Alongside these dieting tips the site also helps with ‘lifestyle actions’, whether that’s getting more sleep, deep breathing exercises or getting a better sleeping regime.
Alongside this the site also has a huge resource database to help you achieve your goals and suggests recipes that can help, provides information on herbs, spices, supplements and herbal teas, has a ‘daily action log’ and a ‘hunger scale’ to print off, and even sends you emails to steer you in the right direction.
“There are a huge number of sites out there designed to help with weight loss, numerous other sites to give advice on specific health conditions, and yet more to help with food intolerances. What we wanted to create was something that pulled all of these together and took all the hard work and time out of spending hours sifting through conflicting books and websites to try and find advice and help you need. We believe we’ve done just that with MyVitality,” says Drew Fobbester, director of MyVitality.
To get a full My Vitality assessment and profile report costs just £19.95. You then have the option to become a member of the site for £3.95 a month, which allows you to change your health goals as you progress throughout the year.
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Ministry of Sound’s Stephanie Fitzpatrick’s fitness tips

The Ministry of Sound, Pump it Up guys give us a great work out with their DVDs. I know, I’ve attempted them.

Stephanie Fitzpatrick, is a veteran to the group, having featured in four of the Pump It Up DVDs and here are her top fitness tips to help you get in shape in the New Year.

 1. I find it really beneficial to have a fitness aim. Be it a 10k charity race or getting fit for a summer holiday. It keeps me motivated and focused throughout the year.

2. I split my training into summer and winter. I train outside for half the year. Running jogging , skipping rope, using benches for lunges , squats , planks. You name it I use it. This helps me stay creative and get some really important fresh air. In winter I train in the gym. My muscles (and my mood) don’t respond very well to freezing cold and rain. So I look forward to swimming inside,trying out all the new classes and so on.

3. When I’m running (outside or on the treadmill) I find it helpful to aim to run for a certain amount of tracks on my iPod rather than watching the clock. This keeps my interests and my energy up. Time also seems to go quicker.

4. On that horrid day when i just want to go to bed and exercise is the last thing in the world I want to do. I make myself go to the gym. I make sure I have my most uplifting workout soundtrack at the ready and i start off my workout doing my favourite exercises.  I make myself focus on the fact that I found the motivation to get myself there . It’s not about having the bet training session ever . In fact even if I go home after 20 minutes . I still made the effort. And i really really try to find the positive in that. You can’t be super women everyday !

5. When I’m having a bad patch in my training and the motivation has just disappeared I sign up for something new. I find a class I’ve never done. for instance kick boxing was my last motivation boast. The time before that it was military boot camp. Even one session with your local gym personal training will gain great effect. Showing you some new and interesting ways to exercise .

6. Stretching. This one is the most important. Even if you have gone weeks or months without exercise. Stretching helps de-fuss your muscle build up. It lengthens you. It releases the build up of nasty toxins in your body. It helps push oxygen around your body , which will always make you feel better. It also breakdowns all the physical and emotional tension you have stored up. Find just 5 minutes and take lost of deep breaths.

7. I don’t diet. Full stop. If I want to get in shape I eat more. I look at how I’m feeling and I find the correct food group to help that and make sure I get more of it in my diet ( b6/ magnesium /what ever i may be lacking in and so on). I eat more fruit and veg. I eat fresh healthy proteins and complex carbohydrates. I exercise more, upping the cardio. I find the body fascinating and how it works amazes me. It’s not all about dress sizes and skinny jeans. You eat well to feed your brain, your emotions, your bones and so on. You only get one of these crazy little machines . You have to look after it!

8. I love chocolate. No glossy magazine, popster or super model is going to make me feel bad about being in love with dark chocolate ginger. If you’re eating healthy and exercising as part of your everyday lifestyle then what’s a little dark chocolate or the occasional mint chocolate aero betweens friends ?

9. Water. We’ve heard it so many times it’s beyond boring! But water is so good for our bodies. What works for me is to have a full two litre bottle with me as I leave the house. I make myself carry around that bottle to meetings, castings, rehearsal, shopping everywhere until it’s gone. This can be annoying, but it also makes me very aware and in-tune with how much I should be hydrating everyday .
10. The correct fitness gear. I’m lucky to have worked alongside some of the worlds most professional sports brands. And I’ve learnt that the science behind the correct training shoe is essential. Its not about fashion or £££ . It’s about protecting your joints . In years to come your knees will thank you for it. Plus being on the treadmill pulling up your bra and pulling down your top isnt the most comfortable feeling. So I always look at comfort and support first off .I feel far more confident and focused when I get these things right.

10. My job is different every day. And I travel a lot. This can make it hard to plan exercise . I’ve found popping a fitness DVD, like Pump It Up, in my suitcase helps. I know that whatever time zone , however crazy my schedule is I can always pop the DVD in my laptop at my hotel room . Even if I just do a warm up and cool down I’ll still feel much better. Every little helps !

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