Having recently started my online shop has made me think about supplements and who uses then and for what.

Traditionally supplements have only been used by bodybuilders and professional sportspeople who were looking to increase their gains and get an edge over the competition but recently more and more "normal" people are starting to turn to some form of dietary supplement.

Whatever the goal, whatever the reason, everybody could benefit from adding supplements to their training. Protein increases lean muscle mass, aids recovery and helps weight loss, fat burning products will help both males and females shift excess weight and energy products will assist people to perform for longer when exercising and playing.

Having worked in gyms for many years I have often come across people who are desperate to lose weight, tone up, get bigger or improve sporting performance, and they will invariably put in many hours of work and loads of effort in the pursuit of this, but more often than not neglect to take into account what they are putting into their bodies. Like a car, how can we expect our bodies to perform at the peak of their potential if we are filling them full of rubbish fuel?

Life makes it hard to always eat properly and that is another reason why supplements can benefit us. They enable us to get the right amount of nutrients into our bodies, quickly with very little fuss. Many times you just grab a shake and straight away you have all the protein and amino acids that you need. Meal replacement shakes are ideal for people who are on the go and products containing caffeine can give us a little kick start when we are starting to flag.

So why not contact me for a chat about how supplements could aid you in your quest for ideal body!
 

Its that time of year again!

January is upon us and the majority of the country are watching what they eat, going on diet's increasing the amount of activity they do or joining a gym.

But do you know how many of these health related new years resolutions actually get followed through for more than 6 months?................. 13%!!!

That means that   over 85%   of us that make a resolution or promise to lose weight, or get in shape or tone up don't succeed. So why is that?

We join nice, well equipped gym's buy the latest diet book's get given this years celebrity fitness DVD's as presents but we still don't succeed. But again the question is why doesn't it work?

Well the answer is.................................. Motivation! We lose motivation very, very quickly and if there is no one there to tell you what to do, or to nag you to do it then more often than not we lose interest and enthusiasm and give up.

So what is the answer?

A trainer is someone that will motivate, encourage, educate and drive you towards your goals. They will praise you when you have done well, pick you up when your low and give you a kick up the backside when you slip!

And that is why hiring a trainer is the only surefire way to success. A good trainer will get you where you want to be.

And that is why all of my clients now sign a trainer agreement when they start training with me. It's my promise to   them that   i will do everything that i can to make sure that they achieve what they want to and don't fail.

Contact me and make the difference to your life, achieve your goals and get the body you dream of. Guaranteed!    

As the recession bites harder and harder, people are giving up their costly gym memberships and replacing it with alternative forms of exercise. The favorite of which is jogging or running outdoors.

Unfortunately for a lot of people a resolution to start running on a regular basis often falls by the wayside after a short period of time due to a few common reasons:

• Injury due to trying to do too much, too soon.
• Inability to run for an extended period of time.
• Boredom.
• Lack of motivation.

Most of these can be solved by having a pre-planned and well thought out running program aimed at building the foundations of fitness, strength, and confidence. If you just go out and run, unless you are a natural runner with a sound basis of fitness, you will struggle. Running as with any exercise works best when there is structure and a plan involved.

The best way to build your fitness and strength to become a better more confident runner is interval training, this enables you to cover more ground then you would be able to if you just ran without breaks, an example of a good starting plan is:

• Monday = 1 minute run followed by 2 minute rest (repeat this up to 10 times)
• Tuesday = Rest Day
• Wednesday = 1 minute run followed by 2 minute rest (repeat this up to 10 times)
• Thursday = Rest Day
• Friday = Rest Day
• Saturday = 2 minute run followed by by a 2 minute rest Repeat this up to 10 times)
• Sunday = Rest Day

This enables you to build your fitness and build the amount of time you can run for, as the weeks go by you can just keep the rest periods in there but increase the amount of time you run for. After about 6 weeks you should try a challenge run, the challenge is for you to test yourself and should not be targeted, just run for as long as you can. Make a note of your time and try to beat it at the next 6 week challenge run.

After your second set of 6 weeks, you should be in a position to start a different form of training.

If you need any help then just ask me, remember this is just a basic program and a good personal trainer will get you to your goals much, much faster!

GOOD LUCK

If you were to take a cross section of the public and asked them what it is they are unhappy with about themselves the vast majority would probably say - WEIGHT!

As a nation we are verging on becoming obsessed with weight loss and our body shape. It is estimated that the diet industry is worth over $80 billion (US) a year, and this is expected to keep growing as we head   through the next 10 years.

But why are we so obsessed with losing weight? Well a number of things can make someone want lose weight, a glimpse in a mirror, seeing yourself in a shop window, trying a piece of clothing that you want but just wont fit!

It can   bring out   an array of emotions in people, from annoyance to hurt,   from disappointment to disgust with yourself. We as people are very tough on ourselves when it comes to our weight. But the silly thing is that controlling our weight can be fairly straightforward, it can be as simple as eating right and making sure we get 30 minutes of exercise 5 times per week. there are 168 hours in a week, and all you need to devote to exercise is 2 and a half! That is not a lot when you think about it. How many of you can honestly say that you do not have 2 or so hours to devote to exercise every week?

There are so many diets and eating systems in the marketplace, all of these function by way of a form of control. Controlling how much you eat, controlling how much fluid you take on board, controlling calories in, controlling fat levels. People do get a variety of results from these diets, mostly due to the strict control measures but as with all strict dietary changes, the artificial nature of these make them in most cases, unsustainable.

Instead just make a simple lifestyle change to get guaranteed results, burn more calories than you take in on a daily basis and you will lose weight. SIMPLE!

How many of you are currently or have at some time in the past spent loads of money on a gym membership that you never used or have used but have not achieved what you set out to achieve.

Gyms and health clubs all try to to convince you that you can only get the results that you want by going to the gym and that working out at home is ineffective (I should know because i have worked for a few of them!), but this is not the case. You can reach your health and fitness goals by being inventive and thinking outside of the box when it comes it your training.

You don't need fancy equipment and a posh gym to get where you want to go, you can use very simple and cheap things that you have in your home, or alternatively you can buy some very good pieces of kit such as dumbbells and resistance bands from most high street retailers.

The key being successful is one thing....................................... Knowledge!

If you have the right person behind you, motivating, informing you and guiding you can achieve success through your own hard work. And that is where a personal trainer comes in.

The general consensus is that a personal trainer is something that only rich people or celebrities can afford, this is just not true!

A personal trainer will train you and motivate you during the session, then they will leave you with the knowledge that you need to keep your progress going during the time   that passes until they see you for your next session. They should give program's information and guidance   so that you have the ability to work as hard as you would if your trainer were by your side!

If your training on your own, at home it is important to keep yourself interested and motivated, this should stop you from dropping out of your fitness training. The best way to do this is to keep changing what your doing to make it more interesting your trainer should make sure you have enough to keep you interested.

If you want to find out how a personal trainer can give you the body you want, guaranteed then contact me via phone, email or on my facebook page (lb health and fitness).

Football, Rugby, Netball, whatever sport you play the coming few months may well signal the start of a new season. Every weekend millions of us put on our kit and go out to play our chosen sport, and although all of these sports rely on physical effort and performance, there are a suprising number of people who do not work on their fitness and strength outside of the normal club run training sessions.

But what element of fitness is the   most important? What wins matches? Apart from the obvious skill levels, what sets a professional player aside from an amatuer?

The answer.......... PACE!

Speed, quickness, pace call it what you will but   the abilty to get from standing to full pace quickly   is the single most important piece of weaponary that you can have. Imagine being able to be first to the ball every time, or to have the abilty to just run past opponents at will.

As far as your training goes, match fitness and stamina comes from the hard work that is done during matches and in early pre-season training but to get quicker you have to specifically train for it. In most sports the first 10/20/30 metres is vital, it is the difference between getting the ball and having to chase the person with the ball.

So how can we train ourselves to be quicker?

Well as with all things, if you want to improve at a certain activity, you have to specifically do that activity, so to improve your pace over 30 metres your training sessions you not involve you running anymore than 30 metres!

To improve your speed try this session as an example:

Measure out a flat piece of space that is approximately 30 metres in length, and put markers at 20 metres and 10 metres and the start, this is your sprinting area.

Your session should be as follows:

10 x 30metre sprints with a 45 second rest in between each sprint

8 x 20metre sprints with a 45 second rest in between each sprint

5   x 10metre sprints with a 45 second rest in between each sprint

Rest should be active (meaning keep walking around rather than sitting or standing), and have a 3 minute active rest in between each set of sprints.

Do this once a week and watch your speed, and your performance increase. Good Luck and let me know how you get on.

Anyone who has tried to lose weight at any time in their lives will have come across the dreaded calorie!!! It seems to be the focal point for anyone who is watching what they eat and more often than not when i walk around the supermarket i will see a variety of people stood there examining the back of a food packet looking at the nutrional information.

But do we actually understand what calories really are and what they do for us?

(Boffin alert!) The actual scientific definition of a calorie is the approximate   amount of energy that is needed for the body to heat 1 gram of water by 1 degree!!! (Phew)

What it means in normal terms is calories power every day body functions and without them we would cease to be able to function. They are to us what fuel is to a car and there is a minimum amount per day that we need to function. It is called the Basal Metabolic Rate, (BMR), and it is the amount of energy that the human body needs to run all its most vital systems.

When we eat we take on board calories from our food these are then used by the body to power all of the vital systems such as respiration and then the body converts what is left over to be used as energy for movement and activity. But invariably in todays high calorie/ low activity society we take on more calories than we need and the body being amazing at storing and conserving keeps hold of these excess calories and converts them to its chosen storage substance.......... FAT!!!!!

So whats the secret to stopping this from happening I here you ask? It really is as simple as use more calories than you take on board by watching what you eat and exercising more, because when you have used all of the calories that you have taken on and still put demands on your body your body chooses its next sources of energy, one of which is your stored fat.

And that is the simplest way to lose weight

Less calories in   + more activity = more weight lost..................... SIMPLE.