Personal training and nutrition in Cheltenham

Wednesday 6 January 2016

What to do for Weight Managment

Today I wanted to give some of the main information that can help you.

Most of us understand that we are eating some of the wrong things and not being as active as we should, but that doesn't help much; neither does signing up to a gym if you are not sure what to do.
There are lots of machines and weights but why?

The weights are there to activate your muscles they need to be stimulated, pushing and pulling weight does this; as well this training uses energy long after your half hour session long into the night and the next day as the muscles are repairing themselves.  

Let's keep it simple, to lose some weight, and by that we mean 'fat', fat is a great energy source that can feed our muscles. So focus on the big muscle groups that need more fuel.
 For example.
Lower body, Legs and gluts - do: Squats, Lunges, hip raises, box jumps

We need to get our heart and lungs back in shape then we need to do some, skipping, swimming, riding, dancing, rowing and running, with the exception of swimming the rest are going to be using the lower body too, so more fat used for energy.

Upper body, swimming is a perfect way to train, chest, back, shoulders.
Some at home activities - dips between two chairs works the back of the arms, and part of the chest.
Push ups for chest can be hard, but try mini half ones and build up.

Core - is not just sit ups and crunches. Try: Plank, Med ball rows, wood cutter chops, Swiss ball plank name spell. Think of your core and 4 parts, sides, lower groin, mind section and upper.

Start then to think about our bodies, in Upper, Core, Lower, + heart and lungs. Use this to plan your week in the gym.  If your gym has a pool, swim once or twice, if you like classes do a Body pump  and Spin lots of lower body and cardio! use the floor area to to do core every day! Rotate your days so if you did a spin class on Monday, swim or do core and upper body Tuesday. If your muscles are aching two days after do some light jogging or static bike this will get the blood flowing but not too much as your muscles are still recovering.

Try for half an hour minimum two hours max cardio, bike, run, swim take five minutes to warm up and cool down, use the cross trainers to warm up as they are low impact but get you started.
Be smart, use the big muscles first as you get stronger you can look at other areas to train.

To re-cap we are using the weights or weight machines to active our muscles - this can burn fat as energy. (no enrgy gells or glucose drinks please, we want you body to look for fat as fuel)
We are doing cardio also for the big muscle groups but mostly for our heart and lungs - this also burns energy.

Now we have to be careful if we want to burn excess fat we shouldn't be adding it with our food.

Lets take a look at what we should be eating. We need to stay away from hidden sugar, be careful look at the labels, where it says carbohydrates, of which sugars! go for less is best. 0.3g - 4.4g
lots of low fat products make up the flavour with sugar, some up to 50g per 100g

Reduce animal proteins, meat, fish, eggs, cheese, milk - keep to half a palm full or less, your body need less than you think. Animal products also have higher saturated fats and add to our cholesterol.

Increase the Veg to improve fibre and vitamins and fill your plate with colour (anti-oxidants - anti- ageing). Good fats from avocados and un-salted nuts plus extra virgin olive oil ( cold pressed oils only) add it to anything from toast to soups. These vegetable fats will help give you good energy and help you feel full.

Lastly decrease your starchy carbs: bread, cereal, rice, potatoes, same as sugar - too much causes fat storing response as insulin levels rise.

Re - cap: Adjusting your food and plate size.
Less animal products, less starchy carbs. More veg, more nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil.
As you start to eat less meats you will notice more subtle flavours in vegetables and your enjoyment of food increases. I don't count calories or measure quantities. Use your hands to tell you. Two fists is the approximate amount for your stomach. The bigger the person the bigger their fists, therefore more food. 

This is NOT a diet, you have to change the way you look at food, not just as a routine or something to stop you feeling hungry. Its the thing that gives your body the nutrients that it needs not the things it doesn't. We have to manage our bodies, with enough activity to make all your main muscles work well and the food we put in supplies them with energy plus the vitamins and minerals to stay healthy.

I hope that helps you plan you week in the gym and in the kitchen.

Look fwd to your comments.

CAS 

Sunday 3 January 2016

January Endurace Life and Nutrition.

Make this year the time to train your weaknesses. If I have a motto it is 'every year I want to be fitter'.

Now that is a hard challenge, to improve fitness as you get older! As we get older 40+ we have a tendency to lose muscle mas and gain fat. So this is not just about hitting the gym or running more.

I have holistic look at how we should be doing this. We might not be able to do a 'personal best' every year. We may have to start looking at some of the tight muscles that are due to years of endurance training. So a sidewards step. Getting a monthly sports massage to work on the tight gluts and lower back muscles. With this type of attitude we are improving every year, our knowledge improves, so we are happy to take recovery time seriously.

Part of the bigger picture is what we are eating, NUTRITION is more important than calories. Plus portion control for the less demanding days. When a product says 'low fat' or zero calories you can be sure that the nutritional content is also very low. The balance of nutrient dense foods that give us micro&macro nutrients is more valuable for your health. For more information on ratios carbs/fats/proteins please contact me for a consultation.

Make ourselves stronger, faster and fitter also means changing our routine giving our body new actions that activate nerves in dormant muscle fibres. On these colder days we can make use of shorter more intense training that will also help older athletes maintain their muscle mas.

Please book a consultation and get complete details on any of these topic for you and your training plan.

Best regards
Caspar