Blog Tag: exercise

When do you choose to exercise?

Shoulder pain can be a really big problem and very frustrating when it comes to exercise.

You might not realise it, but like many injuries when they happen you suddenly notice how much you use that area.

Summer is my favourite season; I don’t know about you. But I’m embracing the winter, after the last year – the hats, woolly jumpers, and of course my birthday. But I’m not looking forward to the cold - the rain - and the dark mornings.

Have you been as engrossed in the Olympics as me this week?

I love watching them; it’s a great chance to see so many sports that aren’t normally in the spotlight. My favourites so far have been the BMX, Skateboarding and of course Tom Daley Diving. I can’t believe Beth Shriever had to crowdfund her own journey to the Olympics and all that hard work and determination paid off when she won Gold.

What is it?

The Turkish Get Up is an amazing whole body exercise. It challenges every muscle in your body and gets you thinking about how your body moves during the exercise.

This time last year me and one of my clients Cheryl, were in full training mode for the Obstacle Race World Championships, that were being held at Nuclear Races. 

It seems like a lifetime ago now, especially as this years races have been cancelled. 

Any level of runner should be looking to incorporate cross training into their weekly sessions.

With the current government guidelines and only exercising from your front door this might mean the routes your run have changed or the distances your doing have altered to take into account  the current climate.

I'm going to go through what IT band syndrome is, you might know it as your iliotibial band, it can be shortened to IT band, ITB syndrome, ITBS. It’s a common over use injury that leads to a thickening of the connective tissue that runs from your hip to your knee. And as that thickens, that causes the tightness, tensions and inflammation within that area, which then leads to the pain in your knee. Your IT band helps to stabilize your knee joint, it stops that rotational movement happening. When it gets weakened, that's when it becomes painful.

We're going to look a little bit today about what is runner's knee. Commonly, this is when you're getting pain at the front of your knee when you're running.

Orthotics are inserts you put in your shoes and they’re designed to support your foot. They can change the way your foot performs, specifically looking at the degree of pronation. There are a variety of orthotics on the market ranging from custom made to the generic off the shelf type.

I'm going to go over why you might want a personal trainer and what's involved in a personal training session, in case you've ever wondered.

I have a challenge for you this week - how many medicine ball slams can you do in 1 minute?

Read on to learn the best technique and to get an idea of the number of repetitions to aim for.

As many of you know my Auntie and Uncle were running the London Marathon this year for Children with Cancer UK. They had set themselves a mammoth challenge of raising £8k for them, this was smashed on the day the total had already exceeded £11k which is amazing.

They had put in all the training and hard work building up to The London Marathon and sometimes the plan going a little off track as everyday life, work and families often decided to throw a spanner in the works but come to think of it, whose plan ever goes 100% successfully.  

It has been a long process and many of you have been involved with the development of the studio, from the early ideas in a note book to the realisation during the summer that I could get my own premises in West Bridgford for a Personal Training Studio.

Now we've up up and running for over a month and the feedback I've had has been amazing.

This is a great question and one that loads of clients ask. 

Its like the holy grail of training, everybody wants to know how long you can Plank for. 

What Is Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)?

In simple terms, it’s when we feel stiffness and pain in our bodies after training and it often occurs 24-72 hours after exercise, especially if the exercise was strenuous.

How's your training gone this week, I can't believe we're 3 months into the year and race season is nearly upon us.

Last week you'll have seen me post on my Facebook page about the success Glenn has had on our group training and how he is managing his osteoarthritis and using training to his advantage. If you haven't already seen his story go and check it out.

As today is pancake day and tomorrow is valentines day and you all know I love a good challenge so here it is for you.

Have you ever wanted to improve your upper body strength?

This week I'm going to share with you how to increase your pace when you're running.

First off this week is a MASSIVE congratulations to everybody who took part in the Robin Hood Half and Marathon at the weekend. Seeing all of the pictures and hearing all about it is so inspirational and great to see so many people support and cheer along the course.

Do you ever get nervous or embarrassed at the start of a race?

If you are a runner, you have possibly trained almost all the muscles you need to achieve speed, power, and endurance while running. However, do you know that your butt also plays a very important role in your movement? Yes, it's not only there for aesthetic purposes! Before we talk about the function of the glutes, it is only prudent to know their basic structure.

This is often a hot topic in the OCR world and like anything there are pros and cons for everything.

What Are Shin Splints And How Can You Treat It?

Do you get lower back pain when you exercise?

Lower back pain is a common condition among both professional athletes and amateurs. It has been said that about 80 percent of adults have experienced back pain at some point in their lives. Many of these injuries come from overtraining, poor posture, inadequate conditioning or a combination of these. Most back pains are quick to heal though persistent strain can lead to more long-term conditions.

Have you ever struggled to fit in training with work or trying to justify going to the gym and training along with other expenses.

Strength Training Basics

Strength training, in a nutshell, is the use of resistance to build strength. This is done through muscular contraction which also builds anaerobic endurance and the size of skeletal muscles.

What Is Hypertrophy Training?

Hypertrophy training, also referred to as Hypertrophy-Specific Training (HST) is a method of strength training designed to induce the fastest rate of muscle growth (hypertrophy) without the use of anabolic steroids or reducing the efficacy of your muscles over an extended time period. Believe it or not, methods of inducing hypertrophy were discovered and tested in a laboratory. Principles obtained from the tests were then organized into a weight training routine aimed at inducing hypertrophy.

You see this type of clothing all the time in the gym and at races.

How many of you have tried the TRX Plank challenge? If you've kept an eye on our Facebook Page you'll have noticed the guys working with me have been up to the challenge this week. Topping the leaderboard at the moment is Trudi with a massive 1min32sec, she's that determined to beat her own score she is going to be joining us on the 6 Week Blast Programme.

As most of you know at the weekend I held another Pull Up workshop.

From the moment launched the new date it was fully booked that morning!

These ladies were quick to act and they were amazing.

We are now a couple of weeks into 2017 and I’m sure many of you have set New Year’s resolutions and are on track with them. It is great to look at client’s updates on Facebook of their workouts and comparing the miles they are racking up on their Fitbits and various other trackers. You are all smashing your virtual runs.

This week I have a challenge for you.

I love the fact we are finally getting some sunny days to get out and about, it makes my mornings so much easier to get up, does anybody else find that?

Although the 4 weather systems I experienced on Saturday made me question is summer nearly here. We went to Sherwood Pines for a walk, plus gives me a chances to look at the people on GoApe and the Segways.

I'm sure you will have all heard about your 'core' by now and how important it is to keep it strong in everyday life and the vital role in plays within exercise.

The thing to remember your core isn't just about your abs and having a six pack.

I the winter months when it is cold outside all you want to do is wrap up warm and stay inside, especially if get achy joints.

For his latest film Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds completed intense training with his Personal Training Bobby Storm, even if he has commented it is only a fraction of what Hugh Jackman has to do for Wolverine.

Reynolds transformed his body for his role in Blade Trinity, piling on the muscle and reducing his body fat percentage, this background meant he knew the hard work he would have to put in to create the character Deadpool. He focused a lot on functional fitness, using equipment like the TRX, BOSU bands to work his core muscles. This was incorporated with kickboxing to add in the martial arts and strengthening and stretching with yoga.

At the moment I am trying out new experiences and different ways to exercise. I have always been into adventure and although I love playing football and team sports, I like doing things that will challenge myself. I think this is why I like surfing and skiing.

There are lots of different options for you to choose from and the market is currently flooded with lots of choices for you enticing you to buy their drinks to give you lots of energy, stop you aching and build muscle. I am going to help you decide if you need any of them when you exercise, for this blog I am going to focus on recovery drinks and protein shakes.

Well depending on your goal both, but the link between the numbers 70:30 or 80:20, and the ratio is important.

As the cold weather is setting in, what to wear in the winter months for training can be a difficult decision.

Its only 5 weeks until Christmas, for many of you that can mean your competitive games are well under way and you are looking forward to seeing the mid season stats, but it can also mean that the weather is affecting your training and games and you are lacking consistency in your fitness.