Work it out...

Time to mix things up on here, I have been meaning to put up a workout post. Today's workout is an all over body HIIT circuit. Don't be afraid to give it 100% of all your efforts. 

So let's kick it off with the warm up.

5- 10 mins of a level 10 resistance cross trainer or upright bike. 

Just a bit of a sweat going on there.

First of all let's start with. 

Leg Press

100kg or whatever you are comfortable to push for 10reps and 3 sets with minimal rest. 

Your set motion is a three second descent with a pause of around a second or half a second just to get the right tension, and to finish the movement an explosive finish pushing the weight up, up, up!! 

Complete all three sets, BOOM!

Time to go back to the Bike or Cross Trainer.

5 mins on a lovely level of 10 resistance. 

100% effort is needed for this to work. 

Clean and Press with a Dumbbell.

You will be needing a weight your are comfortable to lift off the floor and twist to shoulder height and press up above your head with a single arm. For beginners I usually go for 10kg or 8kg. 

Start with a simple deadlift move, when you reach hip height flick your wrist to bring it to shoulder height with your wrist parallel to your shoulder, then press the weight up above your head and tense the shoulder. Same motion applies to going back down to start again. 

10 reps each arm, 3 sets for each arm. 

Time to go back to the Bike or Cross Trainer.

5 mins on a lovely level of 10 resistance. 

100% effort is needed for this still. 

Walking Lunges. 

Either with plates or a barbell. Preferably something "heavyish" that will take some of the balance aspect of this move and make it a little harder. 10kg plates either side or a 20kg Barbell. 

Start by taking a large step and leaving your back foot on the floor, bend your front knee without allowing it to travel over the toes, allow your back leg to bend with the motion dropping that knee and allowing that back foot to curl and move onto the toes. If using the Barbell keep it above your head at a wide grip. If you are using plates then keep them at your side with you arms slightly bent at the elbow to take away the pressure and weight. 

10 reps alternating leg on each Lunge, 3 sets. 

Time to go back to the Bike or Cross Trainer.

5 mins on a lovely level of 10 resistance. 

100% effort, GO ON!!!

Shoulder Press on a Cable Machine.
Grab yourself a cable machine (both sides), set either side to chest height and get yourself a straight bar. Connect it at either side and place the pin at 6kg or there abouts.
Step behind the bar so you are in the middle of the machine, take a good static stance and push the bar out in front of you with a wide or neutral hand grip (whatever you're comfortable with). Once the bar is out in front of you raise it above your head then lower to chin height with a bend at the elbow and allow the shoulders to follow and raise again, that's one rep!
3 sets of 10 reps, or on the last set to failure.

Time to go back to the Bike or Cross Trainer.

5 mins on a lovely level of 10 resistance. 

100% effort, the last part.
For the last minute two 20 second sprints with 10 second rests each.
Good Luck!

All I can say is good luck. I have done this many a time when I only have a short amount of time and running low on ideas for myself.

Let me know how you all get on with is one...

Cheers then, see ya.
Beth xoxo

Future Aspirations...

Recently I've had an influx of friends and members of the community asking me how I became a PT, where I got my qualifications, how I pick up clients, how I market myself and approaching difficult subjects with clients. In this post today I'm going to address how I became a PT and different ways to market your own branding and ways to further your career. 

It's a hard nut to crack.

Believe me when I say this, you won't get far if you're not passionate about it, you have to be able to make it your life at the start. The hours are long, the pay is awful, client retention can be a very hard point in the first few weeks/months. Your expectations will be to go straight into working and have 10 clients by the end of the week... ERM no that doesn't happen, hard graft, painful hours, taking to as many people as humanly possible and getting the right prices with the right target market. Look at it this way, in my first few months I was working over 70 hours a week and really pushing forward with talking to members and putting my services out there. To get someone, anyone to talk to you about their goals you have to build up a rapport, you can't just go straight into asking them what they want to achieve. I know it sounds stupid as thats what you want to know but you have to stick with the basics of just finding a common ground with them and building from there. 

Oooohhhh pricey.

It's REALLY expensive, you either have to have thousands upon thousands of pounds to spend on a single unit to turn into a gym or you have to have money to rent space from an existing gym. To even rent  space you have to reach a certain quota of sessions per week to even break even with the rent your are paying weekly/monthly. Sometimes you could have a quiet week where your clients are cancelling or away or something has simply happened to them that puts a halt on their training. 

Time to go to market. 

To market yourself to the right clientele is really hard and believe me I'm still working at it. If you push yourself to change bodies into that of bodybuilders or CrossFit you will also lose many opportunities to change someones life around, if you can get a range of clientele that you can use different techniques to help them achieve their goals, it also shows you are diverse and have good amount of knowledge. 

Back to school.

You have to always be willing to learn new things and test them on yourself. Whether it's another course to help develop you or it's a day watching YouTube channels learning new techniques, all it has to be is something that furthers your knowledge on a subject. All be it useful. I'm currently studying to become a registered Nutritionist to help further myself and my clients. I also do a lot of research into new training techniques and other areas of fitness to help stop sessions getting stale and boring.  

Life in the fast lane. 

Everyone wants the easy and fast option, you will find that if results aren't happening fast enough for a client they will speak to you. With this you have to approach it subtly, ask them a few questions like how's your motivation to come in without you there guiding them, how's their diet looking, etc... If this happens maybe try a few other techniques with them and change up their routine as change is good, it might be that little bit of umph they need to get their body away from that plateau. 

Talking is good.

Get your clients to tell you what they like in their training, also get them to give you advice on how they prefer the mood of their session: whether they want to be motivated by you standing static and shouting, or being bubbly and vibrant with their training. Maybe even go into a studio and blast some music out to help motivate them. Talking is great in your session, you will also become an agony aunt and get to here all sorts of stories and problems (believe me all the juicy gossip comes my way). Sorry client confidentiality I can't tell you any of the good ones, but here have a normal one.... NOT!!  By talking during your session you can also build up rapport and use that to your advantage, (Testimonials and all sorts.), it will also help you gauge your clients needs during the session, heavier weights, faster pace, slower pace, more rest, etc... 

Good luck in whatever you decide to do, and thanks again for reading. Any other questions feel free to ask. 

Cheers then, see ya. 

Beth xoxo

Protein and what it's used for really...

What is protein? What protein shakes should I have? Do I need protein? Why do I need protein? There are so many types to choose from, what do I need? 

All these questions I hear on a daily basis.... So don't be surprised if I come across blunt or uninterested when I answer these questions. As I have previously stated in other posts I personally do not believe in Protein shakes and the likes but I do believe in what they aid. I will not say to a client not to take protein shakes but I will guide them on the right ones to use for their training. What I would do with a client to assess their needs for protein supplements in the first instance this will mean a full breakdown on their macro nutrient intake during their diet over 5 days. Or if they are on one of my plans they will have the right amount of protein in their diet (as some choose to control their own diet plans).

Let's start at the basics, What is protein? 

Protein is one of those essential nutrients that we need in our bodies to help them function properly, duh!!! It's main use is to build muscle tissues and help to structure our DNA cells and help produce antibodies to fight infections and diseases. We hold around 40-45% of our whole protein stores as muscle in our bodies, makes sense right? No! Well put it this way you see all those muscled guys in the gym, pumping iron with their huge biceps and chests and extremely toned torsos (getting a bit hot and flustered here), anyway they need the protein to help repair those muscles that get damaged in there process of "getting bigger". You see with people such as body builders, rugby players, weight lifters and the rest, they are all trying to put on size with certain exercises. So when you see them lifting that big, heavy weight for only 5-8 reps you think of the strain on those muscles, it causes ickle tiny tears in the muscles fibres that need to be repaired, this is when our friend Mr Protein comes along and is used to help repair and regrow new muscles cells to build up those fibres to make them bigger and stronger (hypertrophy). So the lesson is if you don't have enough protein those muscles do not get the right help to repair themselves otherwise the break down and process other areas of protein to use to build up those muscles, and we don't want to take it from anywhere else we want it to stay where it is!! So now you know a bit more about protein and what it does, now to hit the hard facts... (They're not that hard, honest)

Weight Loss...
As a matter of fact you DON'T need to take protein shakes to help you lose weight. In fact if you're not doing the right amount of exercise to compensate the fact that you are putting in more protein it can, if not used for repair and growth, be stored in the muscles as fat and cause unnecessary weight gain. The only reason you should be taking protein shakes if if you are tapping into your protein stores as a secondary source of energy or as stated before breaking muscle fibres for hypertrophy. But my most probable findings are that you are getting enough protein to cover your deficits in your diet if you are eating correctly. If you are only just sitting on the treadmill for 30-40 mins and not doing any weights then I suggest please do not take any protein supplements.

Muscle tone and conditioning... 
This again is a tricky one, so you've dropped that weight and now you want to tone up and condition your muscles. You're hitting the weights area at least 3 times a week, lifting heavy enough weights and feeling a tad bit sore the next day. You are also hitting those protein stores hard by using them as a secondary source of energy and also to help repair and grow your muscles. You are finding that your diet isn't giving you sufficient amounts of protein to help you get past that point of feeling flabby and looking taught and toned. I do suggest that you take the a supplement of either Diet Whey Isolate Protein shake, this is so that it provides you with that extra bit of protein needed to boost those muscles and not allow you to gain any other weight. Do however look at the nutrient content of those shakes as you need to be aiming for one with around 20-30 grams of protein per shake but with a calorie content of around 80-110 kcals per shake, so as to not provide the body with an unnecessary high calorie count. You can also aid this by increasing your protein intake within your diet by about double of what you are taking in now.

Muscle gain and "Bulking"...
 For those of you trying to build muscle and bulk up a little (girls you can do this whilst staying feminine), you need to be hitting the heavier and more compound movements for less reps. Like those big boys. This is to create those tears to cause HYPERTROPHY. For this kind of training i would suggest a Whey Protein supplement that is quite high in calorie content to help replace those lost calories during training. Another way to help your protein intake would be to increase your dietary intake by up to 3 times (but stick to the healthy stuff). Please don't "Bulk" on those chunks of chocolate I can tell you're shoving in your mouth right now!

Any further questions it's always best to ask me.... Or any other bits of info I may have missed (pretty sure I have) let me know.

Cheers then, see ya...
Beth xoxo

Resolutions are all well and good but...

With the new year well underway, everyone and his wife are on about their New Years Resolutions. What are your's? Let me guess... 

Roughly 92% of the general public will vow that they are to get fitter and increase their health by joining a gym or getting a personal trainer. Although in the long run they will most probably stick to this for the next few months and then come up with excuses and not stick to it. Why? Because it's one of those things everyone says at the start of the year when they are feeling fat after drinking extortionate amount of alcohol and eating lots of food that is considered bad for you. It's only words for now, until they walk through those gym doors and put in the effort then they won't see the results. Out of the 92% only roughly 53% will have achieved over 2 months of solid exercise in comparison to those that have been once and said they can't do it anymore by plaguing it with excuses. 

How are you going to change your habits? Are going to go all out and go on a silly diet or are you going to just start slowly and start eating healthily? 

Well I would much rather take the latter of the two. Those silly diets can be quick and simple but they don't last long afterwards as they are so unsustainable in comparison to just eating properly and healthily! 

Your resolutions should really be to become healthier in a sustainable and controlled manor, instead of just doing some crazy fad diet like only eating Rice and Beans (Jungle diet) or turning vegetarian because it seems the best idea!
So go on get yourself down the gym!!

Cheers then, see ya
Beth xoxo