Blips...

Setbacks....

No matter how much we want a fitness goal, there are times when life just gets in the way.  It may be that you were doing great for a few weeks and then something happened and you have not gone back to it – and it seems to be slipping away.  It  can be a recovery from injury, or maybe you have had a cold, been on holiday or faced a busy time in work where the normal routine of doing exercise has been disturbed – and how hard it can be getting back into the swing of things again.

Life can fill up any void and the time to fit in classes/exercise has been filled with something else.  Even feeling lazy and having a “can’t be bothered” attitude gets in the way.  Here is how to get your time back.

• Set yourself a date that is a few days away to restart your exercise
• Set a reminder on your phone to ring 24 hours before the date
• Tell as many people as you can that you are going to do your class/run/walk - post on social media, write it on your calendar.
• Pack your kit ready and put it in your car or office where you can see it leading up to your date with exercise.
• On the day do not think about it – don’t think about your “mood” or how you “feel” - listening to these can give you “reasons” to delay.  As Nike says – Just do it.
• Aim for a reward for when you complete your first come back session – you choose!

It doesn’t matter if you have had a lapse, relapse or even a collapse. Just get back to it – you know you will feel better once you do – and it will get rid of that nagging guilty feeling at the back of your mind.  Me? I need to find my running trainers again...and wishing that the weather would stop being so cold and windy....

Core Stability - Getting a Flat Stomach for ever

It is a consistent goal and major target area for most people it to get a flat stomach.  We often see photos of people doing sit-ups as an advert for great stomachs – and in all fairness, that position does showcase the definition!!  However,  core stability takes a little bit more than just doing crunchies. 

There are 5 main muscles that fire together to make the “core”.  Much like an apple core, they sit in the centre of your body and “control internal strength. 

These muscles are, the diaphragm – separating the lungs from the abdominal contents, these muscles contract to help you breathe out by pulling the edges of your ribs closer together and slightly downwards. These form the top part of the cylinder that makes the core strong.  The bottom part is then the muscles of the pelvic floor and we hope that these contract inwards and upwards as the core fires (or not as the case may be and so you may fart when you cough or wee when you sneeze!). 

The main muscle around the body is the deep abdominals, connected around the ribs and hips, insert onto each of the lumbar spines (lower back) and insert into the central part of the stomach muscle in the middle of the body. These work with the internal obliques (which attach to the bottom part of the ribs and front of hip) to compress abdomen on the out breath and pull the ribs closer to the back (giving you a FLAT stomach). 

Finally a muscle called Multifidus which sits in the grove of the spine holding one vertebrae to the next and “stiffening” the spine when the core fires (protects back). These are the main muscles of the core although your trapz (upper back), Lats and gluteals all work to a lesser extent – those of you who come to my pilates session know I am always banging on about these and about how the core is more than just your stomach.......

The core muscles work as a team and each muscle works with the others to provide strength and stability at the centre. This helps all kinds of sport and exercise and should be trained in the following way.

In the first instance all core training should be done on a still and stable base. If you deep abdominals don’t fire initially, you will use what is known as the “global” muscles surrounding the trunk – hence why we can have some fit athletes with a “weak” core. 

Still Stable Exercises – Held sit up – so lift you head off the floor and basically look down at your stomach, plank (on knees first then straight legs), side plank – see the abs post about how to do these or the video, “swimming” (Pilates) where you are on all four and lift opposite arm and leg – the abs should pull away from your t-shirt – lift a little to begin with and then work on extending away from the body. Squat and hold 10 sec, in all of the holding exercises, keep breathing, don’t hold breath. Once you can maintain these positions for about 40 seconds, then move on to the next stage.

Moving Core Stability – in plank position initially lift and hold an arm or leg off the floor. Hold for about 6 seconds and then change. Side plank – lift and lower hips or lift arm overhead and back to hips. Sit-ups – lift legs off floor and then move whilst maintaining a still back and hips (any wiggle means you are not being effective so go back to still position). Initially these can be with bent legs and then move on to straighter legs once you can maintain a flat stomach and still back (no arch). Squats - use dumbbells in front or side – single leg squat, lunges, kettle bell swing, squat and stand on one leg, add overhead press (arms in line with ears chin tucked in).

The main give away that the core is not firing is that the back arches - hence ribs lift (no firing of deep abs and obliques). If this happens you must stop. A) It is no good for your back B) complete waste of time as you are not teaching the core to fire. I see little point in training in the wrong position.

 These can be done everyday and should be done a minimum of 3 times a week – and you can do as little as 5 minutes.....brill

Size Matters - Portions

If you are finding it challenging to think about buying new food or changing your eating habits then try this small change to help your lose the extra body fat. 

When on a diet and lifestyle change, there is often the emphasis on changing what we eat.  This is of course, necessary if you are following a diet that is high in fat and sugar, but you may find that your overall eating is pretty sound and yet shifting the pounds to get to the shape and size you want to be is still not happening. 

As Personal Trainer I used to listen to what people ate, or see a food diary. Often there were healthy choices and I was sometimes flummoxed by why weight loss was not working....until we looked a portion size.  In a society where food is plentiful and upsizing meals is seen as a positive treat, overeating can be a main cause for weight gain (or lack of weight loss) no matter how healthy you eat.

To understand what your portion size should be, then an easy way is to look at your hands. 

Try to serve each portion of food based on the size of your palm – however, I would suggest that you  can eat unlimited amounts of veg, I repeat, UNLIMITED. Pile it on. However, the other stuff needs a bit of control. Here is a rough guide.

One portion of carbs – 1 slice of bread, 1 sm baked potato, 3 tablespoons cooked pasta, or 2 sm boiled potatoes, half a scone, 2 table spoons cereal or 2 tablespoons cooked rice.  You should have 8-10 portions in one day. Try it! Use a tablespoon and see the changes.

One portion protein – 2 eggs, 4 tablespoons pulses (lentils, beans, chickpeas), piece of fish the size of a cheque or a piece of meat about the size of a deck of cards. 2-3 portions a day unless you are doing a lot of endurance running or heavy weight training where you can double this.

Fat – should be limited to a teaspoon at a time please

Use a smaller plate otherwise it can look a bit depressing. 

Use small knife and fork. Eat slowly. Chew your food. Put your knife and fork down between mouthfuls and drink a sip of water. Drink water before you eat. Don’t eat when watching telly. Enjoy your food. If you are still hungry eat more veg.... It will take a few days for your stomach to get used to not being so distended, so fill the gaps with apples, iced water or hot tea until it has shrunk a bit.  You can also plan your day to eat 6 times instead of 3 as long as each meal is no bigger than a normal sized cereal bowl.  Enjoy J

The Magic of Stretching

Some people love stretching  - other hate it so much they avoid it like the plague..but personal preferences aside, here is why stretching is a hugely important part of your workout and how to do it. So humour me, just read on?

The body works on a system of levers and pulleys to move around.  As one muscle contracts the opposing muscle has to relax and “give” little for this to happen.  If the opposing muscle is tight, then it affects the contractibility of the working muscle – i.e. it does not work to its full potential. For example, if you have a tight lower back, I bet your stomach sticks out – no matter how many sit-ups – and this is because the stomach muscle is always in a state of “giving in” to the opposing muscle which is in a state of contraction.

If there is any argument for the validity of stretching, then this is it. You will not be able to get the gains you want – regardless of your nutrition, rest or training – unless you are able to move freely on both sides of the body by having muscles that are flexible. E.g. your quads won’t be as efficient if you have tight hamstrings, your chest muscles won’t develop if your upper back is tight, your glutes (bum muscles) will look flat if your hip flexors are tight – get the picture?  (For those of you who want more info, try Googling “Sherrington’s Law of Reciprocal Inhibition) And this does not even cover the more aesthetically pleasing posture - or more importantly, a pain free body.

Now, most people I know find stretching “boring” – staying and holding a position feels all wrong for a fit and active person. Luckily, there are many ways to get a good stretch and keep you engaged in the process. First, most stretches are uncomfortable and the reason for this is that we have to get to the “stretch threshold”- this can be thought of as the “elastic barrier” of the muscle. So to stretch effectively, take the muscle to the elastic barrier  - i.e., when it starts to feel tight – hold and count to 10 or 15 whilst maintaining breathing at a normal rate, then extend the range to the next elastic barrier and repeat. Try to do this 3 times. A muscle responds better to a stretch stimulus 3-5 time rather than once.  Yoga and Pilates are excellent ways of improving flexibility as they use all over body movements for good gains.

Some muscles are more likely to get tight that others and these are – the hamstrings, calves, Rectus Femoris (one of the quad muscles that runs down the front of the thigh), TFL (tight band down the side of the leg) Piriformis (in the middle of your buttock) Erector Spinae (lower back predominantly) Upper Trapezius (neck and shoulder area) Lavator Scapulae (top of shoulder blade to neck) SCM (neck - skull to collarbone). These need to be stretched daily to keep your body in prime condition.

Always stretch after your workout as well as maybe one day where you spend a long time going over each one and feeling where you are tight. 

Take Time...

There is much in the news about "Mindfullness" - it has been shown to improve well-being, quality of life, happiness and even productivity.  If it all sounds a bit new age to you, don't panic. There is no hocus pocus, simply having the time to draw breath and value what is there.

Here are some mindful tips to those trying to make lifestyle changes to improve health and well-being :)  Please feel free to add comments if you have any tips yourself. 

The first moment I want you to focus on is the natural pause when we are eating. When we are hungry, we will eat until we feel that there is enough food to sustain us, and then we will stop momentarily – maybe to have a drink, or simply to put down our knife and fork.  These pauses are a response to when we are getting full –they are not to be ignored – no matter how small. A starving person will continue to eat even if you are trying to have a conversation with them. If you pause in your meal – take your time. Put both your knife and fork down (not just your knife when having a sip of water).  Notice how full you are feeling. Ask yourself, “do I feel full?” or “am I still hungry?” Try to lengthen the time that you remain in the pause section. The longer the pause, the less you will eat. It is also helpful to think about the food itself. Enjoy the taste and the flavours. Try not to gulp it down. Chew properly so that you get the first enzyme break down to work properly.It takes about 20 minutes to feel full after eating – and you know that this is true when you get a full bloated stomach after eating too much about 15 mins after a meal!  Being mindful of what quantities we are eating is good for us. Try it for a week and see what happens.

For fitness, I would like an anti-pause please! It is the pause when you are thinking about running/exercising/going for a walk and you consider all the options such as, it is cold, raining, the fires one, my fav programme is on the box....blah blah blah. Push them to one side and just get on with it. You will feel better for doing the exercise and happier that you not only did it, but you managed to do it in the face of some, possibly, “better” alternatives.Take a moment during your class, or run, gym workout and pause to have a look around. See the other people in the area, look at the scenery.  Listen to your heart beat, feel the muscles working. Focus.  Own it.

Finally, have a thought about you. How you are getting on with the changes. Feel proud of what you have achieved. Tell other people how well they are doing.  Be kind to others. Enjoy life. None of us know what is in the future, so enjoy the now x

Should you weight train?

If I ruled the world, I would make it compulsory for everyone to have to lift weights......

Our society today makes our lives “easier” to do and many of us no longer have to do any kind of hard physical work to keep the body healthy. The rise of gyms shows that there is a great thirst for lifting weights, and rightly so. Even without the aesthetic qualities of a work out, those of you who do train will tell you how good it feelsJ.  So, if you want to know more about the benefits and ways to train, then read on....

Weight training increases muscle strength and power by increasing the amount of protein stored within the muscle. Think of you muscle like a big kit bag with only a few items in it – it loses shape and flops around. Now think about packing more items into you kit bag so that it is tightly packed and firm. Think about hitting someone with you half empty bag and then the force of the full bag – now think about the ability to swing that bag faster – the combination of weight and speed leads to POWER.

There are many different training schemes to be had and I will discuss this further in other posts. However, this is a basic outline. If you have not trained before, then you need to spend about a few weeks conditioning the muscle and increasing tensile strength in the ligaments and tendons around the joints. To do this, you need to work predominately in the endurance phase where you lift weights for more than 15 repetitions. There is a formula for how heavy this should be, but unfortunately, this involves doing your maximum lift which is not ideal for beginners!  This weight is known as your “1RM” - with RM standing for “Repetition Maximum” – it is important to understand the concept of the RM, as it does mean to work to your “maximum”. IE – if you chose to do 15 it should be pretty tough to do 16 and impossible to do 20 of that weight.

An endurance range is 15 – 25. This targets specifically the endurance fibres of the body and encourages them to grow more blood vessels and increase the mitochondria (energy production) within the cell. By doing this, you will feel “fitter” and less tired.  The endurance fibres need to work in a steady rhythmic fashion and so you will try to lift and lower the weights at the same steady pace.

The middle range is 8 – 15 reps and this is where we predominantly see the most muscle growth.  The weight is sufficiently heavy to cause changes in the muscle and enough reps to cause growth – this can be more protein cells within the fibres and/or more fibres within the muscle. The muscle itself is responsive to training and fantastic gains can be seen regardless of age or gender with increases of anything between 25 – 100% in a 3 month period. Be aware though that size and bulk is hard to achieve for women as we do not have enough testosterone....

The biggest gains in strength (without bulk) is in the 1-8 RM. This is mainly now due to a neural response. The neural response is hugely important in weight training – this is a nerve response that triggers the muscle fibres to contract. The nerve has to fire to cause the muscle to contract. This happens all day when we are moving etc. However, when we regularly strength train it is like gathering all your friends and family together to help you move house – a huge coordinated effort increasing the amount of muscle you contract in one go and the amount of fibres within your muscle resulting in increased force J  When the neural response is activated, you have all* your nerves firing at the same time - everyone should aim to work in this range at some point in their work out.  We will discuss the neural response in more depth later.

Finally, as with most training systems, repetition, repetition. So, chose the number of reps you are doing and then repeat for about 3 sets. You will need 30 seconds to a minute between each set. For example: newcomers – 15RM x 3 sets with 45 sec recovery and 4 body areas. Been training a month – 10RM x 3 sets with 30 sec recovery. More adv. Pyramids – 15Rm, 10RM, 8RM – 2 sets. Leading on to 12RM, 8RM, 6RM. Adv training, 6RM, 4RM, 2RM. Or even 4RM x 3 sets. Remember the section on Periodisation? Well, you could think about doing this. Week 1 – all weights 15RM X 3sets on week one, 12 on week 2, 8 on week 3 and finally 4 on week 4 – trust me this is a fabulous way to get good gains J

There is of course PILES more things to talk about, but please think about going to the gym. It has so many fantastic benefits that it is worth the effort.

PS - 1RM = 100%, 20RM = 50%, So your 15RM should be 62.5% of your maximum and 10RM is 75%. Use these percentages to work out your weights. There are plenty of charts of the web for you to look at.

Water - Vital for life

No matter what type of diet you look at, a consistent message is to increase your daily water intake.  With the current trend for “cleansing” or taking supplements it is a sobering thought to consider that your body can live for quite some time without other nutrients, but we would die fairly quickly without water. 

Water makes up both intra cellular and extra cellular fluid for body functions. It helps regulate our temperature, it moves essential food stuffs and nutrients into our body, acts as a buffer against lactic acid for when we train hard and maintains blood pressure for normal heart and lung function.  We tend to get most of our water from external sources - about 60% from fluid and 30% from food. The remaining 10% is known as “metabolic water” which is produced when we increase our metabolic rate – and higher metabolic rates produce more water (have a look at some earlier posts for more details) as it is a by-product for energy production.

Our bodies hold a great deal of water (60% for males and 50 – 55% females). Weight loss programmes often target these water stores to produce fantastic results on the scales in the first few weeks to “demonstrate” how effective their programme is.  We also might see great weight loss through “teas” and supplements which have high levels of diruetics in them to reduce water load. Think about it like this, an average body weight of 70Kg will have a weight of ~45Kg of water in a male and 35kg in a female.   A 10% reduction in water held in the cells, will then show a loss of around 3.5kg (about 7lbs) on the scales – sometimes in one week. Other diets advocate reducing carbs and the reason for this is that carbohydrates demand that 2.6g of water is stored for every gram of carbo  This is fantastic news of course, if you are training, as eating carbs will not only give you great energy stores, but also have sufficient intra cellular stores of water to maximise performance. However, a “diet” that restricts carbs is simply a loss of water from the cells due to a reduction in carb storage ie not fat loss. 

So, are you ready to feel more energised, have a flatter belly, help with weight loss, have better skin, hair, better sleep and feel more mentally alert?  Here are some easy steps to follow.  First, you need to get used to looking at your pee to know if you are dehydrated. Don’t stress too much about the colour, simply work on the premise that if can see your pee, you need to hydrate. The chart below will give you some indication of hydration – please be aware that some supplements or too much beetroot might produce some strange colours

Here are the basics:-

All drinks count towards hydration, as even with a diuretic affect of tea/coffee/alcohol there is still water (around 80%) in these.

If you don’t like the taste of water, drink anything (other than alcohol) – even milk is 85% water.

Aim to spend the week hydrating not just on the day. Eat clean and drink regularly throughout the day. 

Carry water with you and have a bottle on your desk – although I find I drink more if I have it in a glass as the act of unscrewing the top is sometimes a barrier, whereas I can sip the water without thinking if it is in a cup.

Drink thorough the day. Have at least a cup of water before exercising (I tend not to drink at all when I am teaching as I don’t have time, but this is not a problem if you are well hydrated beforehand and drink afterwards. I hate the feeling of water sloshing around me when I am jumping about). I tend to glug it down 2 hours beforehand rather than sip...

Aim for around 5ml of fluid per kg of bodyweight at least 4 hours before exercise. Then about 100ml just before you start.

Aim for around 150ml every 15 mins if you are sweating loads in class – or drink it all at the end!

Cold water takes longer to be absorbed, so drink room temp water if you can.

Cold water takes longer to be absorbed as the body will need to “warm it up” by increasing metabolism – so iced water for those on weight loss programmes.

Food with high fibre will hold water in the body for longer, esp. in the large intestine when most water absorption takes place e.g.  soup, fruit, salad etc

Weigh yourself before and after exercise and aim to drink 1.5lt of fluid for every 1kg of weight loss.

Wear a black t-shirt when you exercise and then let it dry – if it has a lot of white powder on it then you may need to increase your electrolytes as you may be a “salty sweater”

Unless you are exercising over an hour, you probably won’t need a sports drink – but if you do aim for an isotonic one.

The brain will stimulate the kidneys to slow down if it senses that your cells are short of water. You will feel groggy, heavy legged and uncoordinated – please drink more water if this happens to you!

We need to replace water before anything else after exercise.  Being thirsty is not enough as it does not match of level of hydration – and so we need to drink more than we think.

Being fully hydrated lets you train for longer and optimises our cardiovascular function.  Be careful however, not to over hydrate – which can lead to hyponatermia (low levels of sodium in the plasma)

Water, the key to sound nutrition, health and fitness.  It is both free and readily available.  You will “cleanse” your body, “detox” your system (please bear in mind that there is no evidence that we can detox our bodies – but more water into the system will help digestion).  Its importance in maintaining life is second only to oxygen.  Go get yourself some now..................

Chronic Lower Back Pain - 1

Although I mainly teach fitness classes, one of the sessions that I do is aimed in particular at those suffering from Chronic Lower Back Pain.  The class has a range from desk workers (staff and students) with general back pain, fit runners, ex-gymnasts, older people with “stiff backs”, hip/shoulder/knee replacements alongside those with more serious back issues that have been referred to this class by the hospital physio's and local GP's. This class has been running for 15 years now and its continued success demonstrates the value in strengthening your back - being brave enough to do it and wise enough to understand that by exercising we can at least reduce pain, improve mobility and change quality of life.  Here are some of the things that we do in the session.  

The back itself works like a kinetic chain – or if you want, that old song where one part of your body is connected to another. It is therefore important that we treat the back as a whole because I bet if you have lower back pain, you have tight neck muscles...

Poor posture is often blamed for a bad back. But posture is reliant on the muscles of the body to hold it in position – otherwise it is just a stack of bones. So if we work the muscles around the torso correctly, we can improve back pain, alleviate long term damage, restore quality of life through lessening pain and improving mobility.

Working with backs is slightly different to training other muscles in your body. This is mainly due to the fact that we want to work smaller muscles that support the position of one vertebra to the next, as well as working on “movement patterning” which looks at the nerve response of the muscle.  

These “positional sense” muscles sense movement away from the body, speed of travel and point of gravity within our body – and adjust the spinal muscles to hold the back in position. Those who have had bad backs will know that it might only be a small movement or direction that then causes the pain –  this is because the positional sense muscles don’t function properly once you have had any kind of back "trauma"  - and even sitting still for hours on end can even cause sufficient trauma.  A "spasm"  is created when the positional sense muscles are not firing correctly, and therefore all the surrounding muscles contract to support the spine. This causes endless problems of its own – the pain created by the compressed muscles is bad enough, but the compacted space reduces the blood flow and oxygen level in the muscle causing it to work anaerobic ally  - i.e. like going for the burn 24/7. Lactic acid builds and causes the muscle to “burn” in pain. Remaining Lactic crystallises and that is the nice crunchiness you can sometimes feel in the muscle when you are having a massage....

Effective back work needs to concentrate on slow, controlled and sustained movement away from the body that will cause these positional sense muscles and the core to fire correctly. It also has to include stretching to release over contracted muscles and help ease the build up and recovery from lactic acid. We need to include some  "movement patterning" to remind the muscles how and when to contract in sequence. This means that when you get up from a chair bend down to do your laces up or even sneeze – the movement is easy and pain free. Mainly though it has to contain bravery and confidence – because working the back will cause the muscle to feel the contractions the same as doing squats and can often cause DOMS much like other exercises. The feeling of pain from working and strengthening is much like the pain of spasm. This pain is often felt in the lower back as many of the muscles we work will attach onto the lumbar vertebrae – which is why they strengthen the back.

I am often reluctant to give out exercise sheets for back exercises for that very reason. In order to strengthen the back, we have to work the back muscles – and poor alignment of the body or poor technique can sometimes make it worse. However, I am going to give you 3 things to do to help your back. Please be calm when you are doing these and focus of the feeling within your body as it responds to exercise.

Mirror Mirror on the wall.............. Understanding your posture requires you to take a good look at how you feel against how you look – so stand in front of a full length mirror and take a look. Feet – are they straight? Do they turn out (tight hips)? Knees – do they swing back? Do you keep some slight tension in the thighs to hold the legs in position (this is correct)? Hips – are they stacked under the shoulder, does the hip bone point forward and the front of the hip joint is flat (this is correct). Have you got a nice long space between the ribs and the hips? Chin should be tucked in. Long neck with ear lobes sitting over the shoulders.  Have a look from the side and the back (use a small mirror to see the long mirror). Are you shoulders equal height?  Remember all those “off centre” positions will follow you when you are lying down or sitting in a chair – so use some cushions to help get your back into position.

TVA – Deepest abdominal. Lie on back, feet hip distance apart and knees bent. You should be able to touch finger tips under your lower back. Chin tucked in. Breathe in and as you breathe out lift on foot about 2cm off the floor and maintain abdominal contraction. Hold 6-10seconds and repeat.

Swimming – on all fours without locking elbows. Hold abs away from your t-shirt, lift one knee and foot off the floor about 2cm without leaning on supporting leg. Place down. Lift on hand 2cm off floor without leaning. Place down. Now lift opposite knee and hand off the floor and try to remain in balance for 10 seconds. Place down and repeat – sit back and stretch if back is starting to cramp up.

You don't need to be in sports kit to do these exercises and the can be re-done up to 3 times a day - however, please wait until you have been up and active for about an hour before doing these - your back is vulnerable first thing in the morning.

Keep at it...never give in

Are you motivated?

It has been in the news this week that being "motivated" is the most overused term on job applications.  Is motivation therefore a learned skill or an inherent characteristic that puts you ahead of the pack?

As we come to the end of January, the initial drive to get down the gym and embrace the "new year new you" wanes...or maybe you are still looking for it?  The good news is that "being motivated" to do something begins with harnessing your mind. Something you can start right now without even getting your trainers on.

You will be glad to hear that there are many well researched theories based on human motivation, personal development and wellness. As a Personal Trainer, I was always fascinated by people who would pay for my undivided attention, have nutrition advice and training programmes  - yet still not do what needed to be done to get to where they wanted to be.  It drove me to taking some modules at University on the psychology of sport and exercise, in order to understand that having the knowledge is not enough. You need to have the drive, determination and focus.  I ended up doing a whole degree in Sport Science and a dissertation based around a theory of motivation. The good news is, there is an easy way to get motivated - and you will feel good about yourself if you can master this :)

The Self-Determination theory focuses on the types of motivation rather than the amount of motivation - and how the type of motivation will predict your exercise and resulting well-being (Google, Deci and Ryan for those of you wanting to read up more).  The basic principles state that in order to remain intrinsically motivated (from within you) - each person needs:

1. Autonomy - being in charge of your own life

2. Competence  - being able to do the thing that you want to do – from running, running a certain pace, being able to deadlift, being coordinated etc)

3. Relatedness – which is how you feel about doing that type of exercise (are you a Zumba person or do you like the gym etc).

Did you know that exercise is really important to how you feel about yourself?  It highlights what is known as your “physical self-worth, self-perception and well being”. Self-worth is all  how you feel about yourself, your beliefs and your emotions that you show to the world  - whilst “wellbeing “ is about feeling happy and being in a good mood about things. It can just boil down to simply having a good time – maybe a fun night out but often it is about the deeper feeling you have about yourself such as do you think that you are reaching your potential or making the most of your life? Even if you are not motivated to do it for weight gain/loss or fitness, this should be worth considering.

Sometimes, blogs like these can make you think, or you may meet someone and think “I want to be like that”. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy and that voice inside our head – instead of saying “come on go to the gym, you will enjoy it” says things like “you are too fat to go to the gym” “people will laugh at your” “you are not fit enough to run that race” “you’re too slow” and all kinds of negative cr*p can affect our mood and motivation. We are always open to persuasion (chocolate can talk you know!!!) – so be tempted by exercise and not that cake/sweet/drink. Talk to other people when you are struggling. Get help and advice from those around you. Shut up that silly whiny negative voice in your head and fill it with positive comments. Praise yourself for trying, for doing well and for being good to yourself. Don’t underestimate how much this can help you J

Whatever the “intention” for your exercise is will have an effect on your energy and behaviour towards your workout.  Try to use the three things I mentioned

1. AUTONOMY – chose something YOU like. I would suggest trying new things out to find out what it is you really like.  However, if you don’t like it then you won’t stick at it.
2. COMPETANCE – work with someone who is already good at the thing you want to do. Find a buddy. Get some coaching from a professional
3. RELATEDNESS – does this type of exercise fit in to your life style? Do you like the other people who work out in the same way/environment etc.  It has to be within a social setting you like, enjoy and want to spend time in. Become the person you want to be.

By being in control of your exercises and mixing with people who can help you or who motivate you then you are more likely to stick at it – and if you like setting goals then do that too for that extra motivation.

Use positive words and associate your workout with having a good time.  My study group had to exercise 3 times a week, for 15 mins and do something they liked....no reps determined, no heart rate goals to reach for, just to have fun. They all lost weight. They all improved their fitness. But most importantly, they all felt better about themselves.  You have much to gain, so get going xx

Sugar Loading - GI anyone?

GI – Glycemic Index – I am in no doubt that you have seen this phrase in the media, so today we look at what GI is, and how it can help you keep your energy stores up.

GI stands for “Glycemic Index” and this is a scale or measuring system that scientists have devised to measure the amount of sugar within different food stuffs and how quickly that sugar gets into your blood stream.  The GI scale is set against one unit of Glucose – or sugar – which is equivalent to one piece of sliced white bread. So a GI of 100 means that you food stuff enters your blood stream at the same rate as 1gm of white sugar – that is quickly!!  1g of sugar has 4 calories, and 1g fat has 9 calories.

 So some food stuffs have what is known as a high GI which means that they have an index or “rating” of 70 or above. A Medium GI would be 56-69 and a Low GI of less than 55.  There are of course variations – for example a ripe banana would have a higher GI than an unripe one. A potato can have a high GI by the way it is cooked or how long it has been out of the ground.  French bread made with the type of flour that they use in France has a lower GI than some of the “French Bread” we can buy here...etc

You also then need to look at the “wrapping” of the food – brown bread with the wholemeal still in it will have a lower GI than white bread.  Brown Rice over white rice etc – but also what you cook the food with. So if you have protein or fat in your meal, then it slows down the absorption of sugar. Eating pudding after a meal is better for you than eating it as a snack.

When we eat food, it tends to have two pathways – store in fat cells, or use as energy.  As humans we tend to use the first pathway (i.e. fat storage) and it seems that high GI foods tend to do just that with Low GI foods following the second pathway...infact, it can be seen that high GI foods also tend to stimulate fat storage and increase insulin levels...increased insulin levels stops the use of fat as a source of energy by inhibiting the enzymes that use fat when you are exercising.

In case you have not cottoned on to the benefits of low GI or why that sugar snack “doesn’t matter” then don’t forget that there is significant evidence that a diet that is rich in low GI food has a positive effect on health and reduces the risk of conditions such as diabetes, coronary heart disease or macular degeneration as well as being linked to the ability to maintain a healthy weight.

At the end of the day, try to eat as much of your food from a low GI source.  It will help release the blood glucose into your system more slowly, which is much better if you are trying to lose weight and much better for your overall health – mainly due to the insulin response that a high GI gives.  We will look at the Insulin Response on a later post.  You will find it easier to control your weight if you eat more low GI food –  your cholesterol levels will be better, you will feel less hungry between meals, it will provide you with fab energy levels so that you can train hard as well.  The internet, as always, has plenty of information on what food to eat, recipes etc and we will look at Glycemic Load (GL) and Insulin Load later (IL).

In the meantime, eat well, eat clean, do exercise and get plenty of sleep J

"Functional" Exercise

Surely all exercise is “functional”? 

A point to be considered for sure, but here today we have a look at what is “functional” and how to build these kind of exercises into your workout to maximise benefits.

A human body is designed to move. We have a complex system of levers that allow the body to change direction, lift, lower, go forwards, backwards and to remain balanced. A functional exercise looks at how the body moves in totality - a leg press is not a “functional exercise” but a squat is - because as humans will very rarely sit down and push something, but we will squat down to pick up a heavy object. 

A functional exercise therefore looks at the stabilisation of the muscles throughout the range of movement and not just the action (in this case) of extending the leg.  That is not to say there is no value in doing basic exercises – if you are new to exercise or have an injury, then they are a must. But ultimately, we should try to mimic complete body movement rather than liner ones.

 We know that muscles work in opposing pairs, but we should also be aware that muscles tend to work in groups called “slings” - as the Dem Bones song goes...”your leg bone’s connected to your knee bone” etc

The sling systems have four basic categories - anterior, posterior, longitudinal and lateral.  

The posterior sling (see picture) is the lats, the glutes, but also what is known as the thorocolumbar facia which is a huge piece of connective tissue around the lumbar spine - place your hands on your lower back and you will feel a flat area – not muscle but a strong piece of elastic tissue that pings force from your legs through to your arms via your back and stabilizes the sacro-iliac joint. Interesting isn’t it?!  So movements such as squats and swings with dumbbells, or kettlebells movements are better for overall fitness than squats with just your body weight. Think about lunges and a moving weight from one side to another (see core exercise post).

The Anterior slings have the inner thigh and the oblique muscles working together. These are brilliant for all you runners out there – the work across the front of the body and pelvis helping you to stabilise when you change direction, speed up or slow down. So instead of just the leg press, think about single leg deadlift – and put the weight in the opposite hand, or one arm kettlebells swings, or moving the lunges in different directions (i.e., don’t always just step forward). Or stand on one leg with a band under the front foot and hold with both hands – balance and then rotate to the side keeping the arms and hands in line with the middle of the chest. Side planks with moving hips J

The Longitudinal slings include the glutes again, but this time the long spinal muscles as well and down into the hamstrings. Think about pushing objects away and how the body stabilises. Think walking lunges with weights, sledge drag or pull. Lie on your back with your legs on stability ball (put it against a wall if you want) lift your hips off the floor and then lift one leg up (you will feel this working!!) keep chest open and palms towards ceiling. Or try a dynamic move by jumping off a step into a squat position and then jump forwards again, landing in squat position.  

Lateral Slings - this is for all you Step peeps! Yes, every step you do is a fab functional exercise in core stability, utilising the lateral slings which are the glutes and abductors on one side, working across to the QL muscle to stabilise the pelvis – the QL runs from the lumbar spine to the pelvis in a diagonal movement.  Train these and banish your bad back (but you have to be careful and go slowly, not do a whole step class!!). Think about plank and moving the legs in to the chest or shoulder, or try on all fours lifting the opposite arm and leg for an easier version. Squat and stand onto one leg, or even one leg deadlift as well as step or simply walking up stairs or hills.

In essence, try to think of complex movements that work across the body – involving arms and legs in the action, balance (one leg) and moving forwards or to the side. Incorporate these into your daily routine and see how quickly your body gets fitter! Don’t forget to look at the Basic Core post as a starting point well as the Core Workout one and the ab video for other ideas and suggestions. Enjoy J

Basic Core Exercise

If you are a newcomer to exercise, have chronic lower back pain or trying to recover your stomach muscles after having a baby, then it is worthwhile learning how to “fire” your core muscles to create a girdle of strength that supports your back and flattens your stomach.

These are basic guidelines for Core Stability.  Each exercise should be performed in order and you should not move on to the next exercise until you are happy that you can achieve what is listed. The reason for this is that as the core “fires”, it stabilises the spine.  If you try to do more difficult exercises without this initial stability you can compromise your back – never a good idea.  Take your time and repeat as often as you wish. You don’t need to be in sports kit to do this.

1.       Stabilise:

a.       Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, hip distance apart.

b.      Slide you hands under your lower back in between the space of the last rib and the start of your pelvis. Get the fingertips to touch

c.       Take a deep breath in and as you breathe out, tighten the stomach muscles – think about contracting towards the centre of the stomach

d.      There should feel like a pressure from the contracted muscles on the fingers – but the pelvis must not rotate.

e.      Hold for 6 seconds and repeat

2.       Adding weight

a.       Once you can maintain good contraction of the deep abdominals from the exercise above, you then make the muscle work harder by lifting the foot about 1cm off the floor.

b.      Keep chin tucked in and abdominals flat as possible

c.       Hold 6 seconds and repeat with other leg

3.       Adding movement

a.       Once the above exercise has been mastered, slowly slide the leg away from you until the calf muscle touches the floor – foot flexed.

b.      Draw back in slowly and breathe out at the same time

c.       Repeat 4-6 times keeping core contracted

4.       Adding more weight

a.       From exercise 2, to make this harder, please lift the other foot off the floor – knee height (you should be able to see your foot)

b.      Still only slide one leg away as before and keep the opposite leg still

5.       Adding more movement

a.       Once you can master exercise 4 then start with both feet off the floor at knee height

b.      Slide or tap the feet along the floor – R, L, R, L

c.       Repeat for 6-30 seconds and repeat each set 3 times with rest and stretch in between.

Post Baby Body - update

Whilst the media may show us pictures of celebs with bodies that seem to ping back into shape after giving birth, the reality is that returning your body to pre-pregnancy state is a bit of a challenge, although not insurmountable - some manage fine but others will carry the remains of a post pregnancy body many years after the "baby" has left home...

Today we will look at some of the changes that occur when we have a baby and how best to address these after the birth. As a mother of 4 I can also speak from experience here!

The body is designed to have a baby. The female pelvis is a different shape to allow us to hold the weight of the growing baby safely inside the body. Our stomach muscles are shaped and adapted to stretch to accommodate a growing belly and to come back together after having a baby. 

In a previous post I discussed the stomach muscles and we are first going to look at the Rectus Abdominals (see pic) that "splits" to allow the belly to grow. On the picture you will see the "Linea Alba" which splits, the Rectus Abdominis are the muscles either side (the "six pack") – sometimes this does not go back together and women can be left with a gap in the centre of the body which then makes it difficult to get a completely flat stomach. To test if this has happened to you, lie on your back with your knees bent. Place your fingers together, and pointing downwards onto your belly button (imagine you are going push your hand through your body) then slowly lift your head and shoulders off the floor as if you were going to do a sit up.  If there is a gap – you will feel it (!). Notice how big the gap is and how much tension there is around the edge of the muscle that will be pinching your fingers.  If you have a gap it is important that you train your lower abdominals first and avoid doing any sit-ups as this can prolong the return of the stomach muscles coming back together. Please remember that this split in the muscle is normal and it will improve over time. Factors such as genetics, how fit you were in pregnancy, how much weight you put on etc will all have an effect on this.

The other thing that happens during pregnancy is the effect hormonal effect on the ligaments. We are grateful of course for "relaxin" to easy the passage of our baby through the pelvic canal, but unfortunately, the hormone will also loosen other joints and you may experience pain in the lower back, of front of pelvis, spreading feet or even wobbly elbows. It takes about 6 months for the effects of relaxin to wear off, but there can still be an after effect where joints are more lax for a long period of time after having a baby. It is therefore important that we strengthen the muscles around the joint (usually back and pelvis) to stabilise the core and ease discomfort.

Despite the effects of these and other issues, it is possible to get that Jelly Belly back in place – you may not have the washboard stomach of your teenage years, but the gentle rounding is a badge of honour worth having. Here are some exercises you can do after having a baby.

Early Weeks – although you will probably feel way too tired to think of doing any exercise it is well worth working the pelvic floor. The Pelvic Floor muscles work with the deeper abdominals – so when one contracts, so does the other – when we sneeze, cough or laugh and the belly contracts, the pelvic floor also contracts to prevent any leakage – and you will be able to tell the condition of the pelvic muscles if this is not working effectively. Crossing your legs helps...  To work the pelvic floor, you need to lift upwards and inwards – think like sucking on a straw. In fact, sucking your mouth at the same time really helps.  You should be able to hold the contraction for about 5 seconds – anything less than that means you need to repeat these as often as you can. If the pelvic floor muscles are weak, then you will be mentally thinking and wanting to do or hold the contraction but won’t get any sensation or the sensation is difficult to maintain for the whole 5 seconds. You can start these at about day 3 if you have the energy! If you are really finding it difficult to work your floor one easy way is to clench your bum! The pelvic floor muscles run alongside your bum and a bit of a butt clench can help start the process of rebuilding. Please note that a C-Section will be different.

Weeks 6-12 – at this point, we hope that you have had your check up and all the internal organs that were pushed about are now back in their proper place. You can now treat your body as that of a beginner to exercise, although be aware that the ligaments are still in a fairly relaxed state so be sensible.  I would recommend the exercises that I have listed on the back care section – and these are safe enough to do at about 1 month after having a baby, esp. if you had an active pregnancy.  Now we need to concentrate on getting the deeper muscles to function, so in addition to the Back Care Exercises, think about adding in cardio work to get rid of any excess fat stores that happen during pregnancy. Walking is great for this but needs to be at a sufficient pace to get you slightly breathless and a bit hot. Running is an option here if you were a runner beforehand – but good fitting and sturdy trainers are a must, as well as a good bra and a supportive sports top.  Pilates is often suggested to help regain strength and I do think that this is a great option for many – however, be aware that you need your pelvic floor to be working correctly (see above) before you go as trying to hold positions such as the plank is not only difficult (the core does not fire properly) but can make it worse by causing a downward force onto the muscle. If you are patient, one way around this is to modify the plank in the following way. Go onto your elbow and knees – make sure your knees are wider than your hips and toes tucked under. Lift hips off the floor for 6 seconds only and lower gently. Repeat this. This will mean a repeated short held plank rather than a continuous one. The better choice would be the swimming exercise where you hold your abs away from your t-shirt. Details of these are in the Basic Core section

Weeks 12+ - you are now hopefully on the way to full recovery of fitness, or may just be at the starting point.  Keep in mind that the muscle is alive and responsive, so any kind of abdominal contraction and core stability work is good even if you can make it to class. If you do go to a class and there are sit ups included then you will need to do these with one hand on the middle of your belly. Keep a downward pressure from the belly button to the spine and use your hand to keep in place and not to bulge out. Have a look at the Functional Exercise section.

C-Section – a 12-week recovery is recommended to enable the deep muscles to heal properly.  When you go back, start with the beginning of the recommendations as I have suggested above. I had a C-section and you can get your stomach back into shape with some careful but persistent exercising.  I also had a hysterectomy in my fifties and managed to go back to Pilates at 4 weeks post op (with the blessing of my surgeon) as my stomach was in good "condition " and trained beforehand. Basically you need a bit of common sense.

 I do believe that exercise really helps to improve muscular tone and any movement to increase blood flow through the area will help with healing. So totally avoidance and then going into class might not be the best idea. So start with simply trying to hold your belly in (as if doing up tight trousers) or squeeze and lift the pelvic floor. Or going onto hands and knees and lifting your belly up and away from the floor. Or lying on your side and try to hold your belly towards your back. Keep trying. Keep thinking about your muscles working as well to starts to encourage the nerve response to improve. 

I realise that I have only skimmed the surface here, so please feel free to post your questions and good luck with your recovery J x