Menopause is a natural phase in a woman’s life, but it often comes with unwanted changes, particularly when it comes to weight. One of the most common concerns is the accumulation of stubborn tummy fat. Hormonal changes during menopause can make it more challenging to maintain a healthy weight, but with the right approach, you can effectively shift that unwanted fat. In this post, we’ll explore the impact of hormonal changes during menopause and suggest exercises that can help you reclaim your body.
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.
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.
You’ll only ever make improvements in your training if you strategically progress it at points during your programming.
We can all be guilty of only doing exercises we like doing, especially when planning our own training or finding generic exercises on YouTube which anybody can do.
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 sure lots of you have seen my pictures from racing at Spartan Midlands this weekend at Marston Lodge. I took on the Sprint race on Sunday morning. It was a tough course, and I seem to have blanked out the pain and the amount of hills there were in it from last year!
My legs aren't feeling too bad which is surprising however upper body is very achy today, and it got me thinking about how many of the obstacles relied on upper body strength.
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.
Have you ever thought that you need to change your training and always put it off?
You either feel you haven’t got the time or you’re happy to keep going as you are?
I know the feeling, to keep going in the usual routine can feel comfortable and you know what is coming.
However sometimes something happens that forces you to have to make a change. Whether that’s the feeling of burning out with work or at home, or the little niggle that you’ve been putting off that you think will ‘go away’ on its own becomes a more persistent injury. This then forces you to re-evaluate what you need to do.
Now that winter has set in, its a great time to start thinking about the New Year and the races that you have planned.
This week I've already booked in two events in May (Aztec Escape) and July (Spartan) after really enjoying them this year. I've got a few more lined up so I'm aiming to do one each month as soon as the weather gets nicer.
With an packed race schedule its important to think about the goals you're wanting to work towards over the year.
I'm now properly back at work after taking time off to welcome the latest addition to the family. Wilf joined us on 2nd November and Laura, Monty and Wilf are all doing well.
We're all learning the skills needed to juggle a new born baby and a non stop toddler.
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.
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.
Ever felt like you've been hit by a train after a race?
I took part in Mud7 at the weekend, what an amazing event and boy does my body know about it. I eyed up this race last year and had it on my radar as a goal to complete this year.
Plantar Fasciitis, also known as jogger's heel is a disorder that results in pain at the bottom of the foot and heel. It derives its names from the plantar fascia, which is the flat band of tissue (ligament) connecting your heel to your toes. When strained, this ligament becomes irritated, swollen and weak, resulting in sharp pain that is experienced in the onset of exercise, or movement after a prolonged rest period.
Here's How To Avoid Cramps When Running And Exercising
If you have seen a runner stop dead in their tracks, taken completely by surprise by a jolt of pain, chances are that the cause is a muscle cramp. A cramp occurs when a muscle suddenly contracts violently and remains balled up in a tight knot that is very painful. The contraction is so strong that you will most likely feel sore at that point the next day. It happens to runners, swimmers, and cyclists mostly and most endurance athletes have experienced a cramp at least once during training.
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.
I have a challenge for you. I'm going to be getting my clients to take up the challenge too. Are you up for it?
This month I want to see how long you can hold a wall squat for. It's a super simple exercise to do as the only equipment you need is a flat piece of wall or a door.
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.
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.
When I think about endurance training, what immediately pops into my mind is an elastic band. Imagine a child playing with a colourful elastic band, stretching it then releasing it several times. If you have a child, you know that this can happen for hours at a time and if the elastic band is one of good quality, it will not break.
How was your weekend, how many of you were at Tough Guy?
The pictures and videos look good, hearing about people getting stuck in the car park at the end not so good.
One of my clients Cheryl, has been taking part in the 6 Week Blast Programme was there at the weekend, I'm looking forward to seeing her tonight in the session and hearing all about it as well as her showing off her medal to everybody.
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.
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.
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.
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.
![[VIDEO] Increase Your Upper Body Strength With These 2 Exercises](/images/library/blog/video-increase-your-upper-body-strength-with-these-2-exercises.jpg)
