How to do the Plank:

Those of you who come to my Pilates classes will tell you how fussy I am about this exercise – because when it is done correctly, it is awesome and will noticeably flatten your abs in a very short space of time.

The plank engages all of the Core Muscles (see previous posts) as well as having some good toning effect on the shoulders and Tricep muscles.

Lie on the floor face down and slide your elbows close to your chest with both of your hands placed under your chin.

Keep your knees slightly wider than your hips and tuck your toes underneath.

Press downwards through the elbows and lift up onto knees – even if you can do a full plank, it is worthwhile going through to this stage first as it will help engage the deep abdominals and decrease the initial hard engagement of the legs.

Pull your abs away from your t-shirt, tuck your tailbone in and lift the pubic bone towards the ribs. Flatten the ribs and tighten through the shoulder blades, bringing them closer together.

Lengthen the neck and pull your chin in – keep looking down but you can sort of “peep” forwards as if you are looking over the top of your sunglasses – it helps to keep the upper back engaged.

Actively brace or hold the abdominals in and breathe slowly through your mouth.

When straightening the legs, lift the knees off the floor gently and keep pressing the heels away from you. Stay on the balls of your feet.  The thighs will be engaged but not the glutes.

 6 seconds will sometimes be enough (!) you will feel the abs engaging – they may even tremble, but it is important that you grit your teeth a little and not give in on the first bit of perceived hard work.  

A standard time to hold the plank is an awesome 3 minutes 40 seconds...but it will take some time to build up to this.

You can do the plank every day, and even more than once a day. It does feel hard, but it will get easier J

Bootilicious to the Max

Bootylicious To the Max - Gluteus Maximus that is – along with Gluteus Medius and Minimus make up the muscles of your butt. Like all muscles in the body they don’t work in isolation but they are the prime movers in the major action of the body. So if you are looking for ways to tone your butt, increase your running speed or the weight that you lift or even increase your metabolic potential – then read on.

Squats are usually the best way to work the glutes. They are suitable for all fitness levels with some modifications. Squatting not only works the butt, but also the hamstrings and spine and will help improve your posture, strengthen your back and abs (core) as well as giving you a great backside J

The position of the squat depends on your fitness, any injuries etc. But here are the basics.

Like in everything else I tell you – get the bones lined up correctly first. So, stand in front of a full length mirror and check it out. There are 2 positions that you can use for the squat. 

1. Narrow Stance  where the knee cap is in line with your hip bone (ASIS)   - this is the bony part of your hip that sticks out in the front of your body. The knee cap is also in line with the second toe. 

2. Wide stance (can be known as the sumo position) – the knees are placed twice as wide as the hip bones.  You can either have your feet parallel or turned out to 30deg – there is little evidence that either position creates better force, so this is your choice.

Once you have your preferred position the lowering of the squat now is determined by you fitness – but dropping any amount of the way down will have good training effect on the muscle, so don’t worry if you can only go a short distance down. Get used to the range that you have and then try to increase it. Please don't force downwards until you have sufficient core strength to hold the back in a strong position for when you get back up to standing.  A few weeks of squatting will help!

You can do a half squat (hips to knees) or full squat (hips lower than knees or even thighs and calves touch) but the half squat is considered to be the safer option for knees and a must for anyone with knee problems.

You will need to take care of your back by keeping it in neutral position (i.e. the same position when you are standing) and at a 45deg angle.  This can be modified if you are taller.  Imagine that you have sunglasses on and peep over the top of them to get your head in the right position.

Open chest, heels pressed down and your knees stay in the same place and don’t move forward. Press from the floor (imagine you are pushing the floor down) and stand UP – don’t stop half way through – your hips should end up back under your shoulders.

You can squat with your own body weight (often known as an “air squat”) - arms out in front to help you with balance or add some dumbbells in your hands. You can do a back squat with the weight on your shoulders or a deadlift (sumo stance here is considered more mechanically efficient) where the weight is picked up from the floor.

Do as many reps as you can with good technique – the more weight you have will reduce the amount of reps.  Don’t forget a strong out breath when using heavy weights to engage core and reduce internal pressure.  For more info come to Bodyfit or book a session with a Personal Trainer at the gym – but at the end of the day, the human body was meant to squat.

Finally, as an extra motivation, a recent study showed that sitting on your butt squashed the fat cells and encouraged more to grow in the awkward spaces (think of crumpled paper) – so get off your ass and into the gym!!

Core Workout - Gym or Home

Please find below  a core workout that you can do when you are pushed for time.  The workout is split into Gym and Home – although the main thrust of any core workout is balance and therefore this is heavily based on body weight, gravity and free weights.  You can do the workout below in order, or you can mix and match this with your upper body workout to fit in with the time that you have in the gym.  This workout is slightly shorter – but that is because it is more intense.  Please do not sacrifice technique at any time – if you are losing shape, take some time out and begin again. Always have good posture. Be injury free.

Gym - usually the gym will have a range of equipment to challenge the core, but don’t be worried if they don’t have these – simply add some of the home workout exercises to your session.

Crossover Cable – chop. Have the handle at a high level. Stand side on to the machine in a wide stance. Hold the handle with your right hand above head height if possible with palm towards ceiling. Pull the cable across your body towards your left knee, rotating as you go so that you end up looking towards the floor. It will help to bend your right knee inwards and turn hips slightly. Return to the starting position slowly and under control – however a deep out breath and little shout will help as you pull the cable across your body. Repeat 10 times and then change sides.

Lunge – use dumbbells that are heavy enough to feel slight stress in your body but not so heavy that you are unable to hold them at shoulder height.  Start with feet hip distance apart and step forward with your right leg to a larger than normal walking pace – lift both arms out in front to shoulder height with palms facing towards each other. As you lower the back knee towards the floor swing the straight arms across the body until the hands are in line with the left shoulder. Breathe out. Step back and repeat on the other side until you can do no more – if you have got up to 50 for goodness sakes increase your weight!

Plank – run.  On elbows and knees/straight legs. Chin tucked in. Lift knee off the floor and bring to the side of the body. Repeat with other leg in rhythmical fashion until technique wavers. Repeat this 3 times with a stretch back in between.

Rows.  Remaining in plank position but with straight arms and holding dumbbells in your hands. Row the dumbbell off the floor to shoulder height. Repeat as many times as possible without losing form.

Squat and Press/kick back – In squat position (See previous post) with dumbbells you can swing forwards – so heavier than your normal arm weight. Squat down and swing hands downwards (and slightly under) and between legs.  Use the power of the legs and hips to stand up and allow the weight to swing up to shoulder or head height (do not force this). For added core work then as you come up stand on one leg. You should aim for about 20-30 reps.

Overhead Pull – knee on floor with feet towards the cable machine. Narrow grip on handle above head, with narrow elbow like a Tricep press. Curl forwards pulling the cable with you and over head towards chest. Return slowly with good control. Breathe out as you come down and make sure you have good posture when you finish.

Oblique Twist – sit on bum with knees bent and feet flat on floor. Hold dumbbells in both hands. Twist to side and touch dumbbell to the floor – you may lean back a bit. To make harder do this with one leg off the floor – or both legs for a killer abs session.

Fold up – lie flat on back in star shape. Breathe out hard and roll up into a ball then return to star shape with control. To make harder, roll up into ball shape but balance in a sitting position with feet off the floor.

Home Workout

100s – Pilates exercise. Lie on back. Lift feet to knee height, keep knees over hips. Lift head and shoulder off floor – hold if cramping. Tap floor with hands 100 times....or less! Breathe throughout this exercise.

Moving Plank – on side. Elbow bent, ribs lifted and then on knee or straight leg. Lift other leg off the floor in line with hip and straighten other arm overhead, palm towards floor and arm in line with ear. Bring elbow and knee together 15 times then hold in extended position for 15 seconds. Do the next exercise and then repeat on the other side.

Swimming – on hands and knees, slowly extend opposite arm and leg away from body keeping bas held away from stomach. Take arm and leg slightly away from body, return to centre and then bring opposite hand and knee to touch under body. Return to start position and repeat 6 times. Stretch in-between and repeat on the other side. See Core Workout 1

Squat, press, lunge – squat and press arms down and back, as you stand, lift both arms above head and one knee off the floor. Step forward with the lifted knee into a lunge position brining arms in line with shoulders and then pull back. Now push arms forward and up over your head whilst lifting knee back to balance. Place foot back down into wide squat and sit back with arms down.  Repeat on other leg. 20 – 30 times. Will take practice...!

Jumps – have a line (can be imaginary) or object you can safely jump over on floor. Skip over line/object 10 times with arms shoulder height, and 10 times arms overhead. Jump to make it harder. You can repeat more than 10 times if you wish, or for an awesome workout, do this between each of the exercises.... x

Running sit-up – Don’t worry if you are out of breath from the previous exercise – just get cracking. Do sit up with op elbow to knee, moving shoulder across rather than pulling on head. Cycle the legs, with the opp leg moving away from the body. To make harder, do this from lying position where you lift up and across to opposite knee or ankle.

Press Crawl – in press up position of your choice – knee, thighs or straight legs, Press up and move in a crawling fashion across the floor. Move to the other side of the room. Do the next exercise and then crawl back. Repeat for 4 times.

Hip Circles – in sitting position, place arms wide behind you and lift knees off the floor – move hands to comfy position and keep chest open. Lift both legs towards ceiling and keep pressed together. Draw a circle with the feet, starting small and working towards a full circle with feet sweeping the floor as you get stronger. Repeat 4 times and change direction.  Then crawl back and repeat.

For those of you who know me well, I don’t believe in doing a workout that stays within your comfort zone...however, I really believe it should be done well, so if you are losing form then gather your thoughts and begin again. Take your time to go to learn the moves and don’t compromise your back.  Enjoy J xx

The “best” exercise to help lose weight?

Here are some reasons as to why exercise works and why it will help you lose weight.

When you start to exercise, your body makes immediate changes that help improve your health and fitness. Repeating these changes on a consistent basis means that exercise becomes easier and the gains become greater.

You need to do a mixture of “cardio” (ie, walking, running, cycling – things that make you sweaty and a bit out of breath) and “resistance” (ie lifting weights, including your own body weight)

Cardio - Current guidelines for health are30 mins per day in blocks of 5 mins, with one block being 15 mins – but to get gains in fitness (and health) then you need to get up to that 20min as a minimum, get breathless and repeat the process for 3-5 sessions per week.

The benefit of this type of exercise is hugely important to fitness, with significant gains seen in the strength of the heart muscle, increased transportation of blood and oxygen through increased building of blood vessels, increased energy production through greater and more numerous cells called “mitochondria” that mean more work feels “easier”. It has great protective capabilities for the heart – not only by greater strength and resilience but also in the way that endurance work mops up “bad” cholesterol, keeps arteries “clean”, regulates insulin and helps with breathing problems.  These are all important considerations and it is easy to see why we should include some kind of cardio work into our daily routine. The key to successful cardio response is to be able to sustain a consistent pattern of training for about 20 mins.

Weights on the other hand, despite making you breathless, work in an entirely different manner.  Weight training is hugely important for bone strength, joint stability and posture, as well as its more pleasing aesthetic aspects of tone and shape. Weights can be split into both strength and endurance, with both elements significant for health and fitness.  By increasing the force and pressure on the muscles and bones, the body adapts and grows stronger. You can work an endurance based programme by including repeated lifting of one type of action for at least 15 times (reps) – this should feel within your comfort zone up until the last few repetitions where you should struggle to push with the same amount of ease and comfort. Please don’t be fooled into thinking that 15 reps is some kind of magic number – ideally, keep going until you can’t move the weight.  Strength and endurance gains occur most frequently within a range repetition of 8-15. At this point you will get significant changes to muscle mass and will see the most amount of muscle growth – more pronounced in males due to the effect of testosterone.  Lifting in the lower ranges of 2-7 reps is for those who have been training for some time and have good joint stability. This range of lifting gives excellent responses in what is known as the “neural drive” where the nervous system is primed to contract faster and with greater force – you will get fantastic strength gains here but without the bulking of the middle range – so a must for both sexes.  The benefits of weight training are tremendous. Not only do you protect your body, but it makes all tasks from housework to sports feel much easier. It will make you run faster, jumps higher, turn quicker and feel GOOD!!!  Recovery from weights is always fat burning, and this can be sustained for up to 2 hours after training leading to substantial weight loss.

The cons for both exercises are thus – in cardio you do not get the gains in improved posture, bone density, core stability and power that weight training gives you. In weights, you do not get the protective measures for your heart that is vital to sustained happy and healthy life. So basically, you need to do BOTH. You can bias your workout towards the elements that you like, but as a minimum, one weights or one long cardio session per week. xxx

Food Suggestions and Workout Ideas - Purple

In line with other posts of ways to eat a healthy diet and a twist on how to plan your meals for the day – here is purple. Enjoy!

Breakfast – Pancakes made with protein flour if poss. (use bread flour if you can’t source) and for those of you who want more protein, you can even make it with your protein shake and have a chocolate or strawberry flavoured one – top with blueberries – either cold with some Greek yogurt or heat with a small amount of maple syrup until the berries pop (about 2 mins).  Or blackberries, pumpkin seeds with Greek yogurt, or two soft boiled eggs with some purple asparagus to dip in.

Mid Morning Snack – Acai and Greek yogurt (use blueberries if you can’t get these) – top with toasted sunflower seeds. Or a handful or raisin and Brazil nuts or two figs with a handful of almonds

Lunch – Steamed purple sprouting broccoli with salmon, or salad with some crunchy red cabbage, beetroot and feta cheese, or vegetarian chilli with brown rice

Mid Afternoon snack  - Wholemeal Pitta bread stuffed with tuna (tinned with water drained) add some red onion and red vinegar, or a handful of black seedless grapes and nuts  or 2 slices of soreen bread

Evening Meal – Roasted Aubergines with a box of cheery tomatoes, rosemary and mint, add some feta cheese and brown basmati rice Or, oven baked spicy red cabbage (layer, red cabbage, red onion and apples with cumin seed and some chilli, add a tablespoon of red vinegar a small amount of butter, s plash of water, cover with foil and oven bake) with chicken breast and greens Or puy (or green) lentils roasted with rosemary and served with healthy sausages and greens 0 http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3026/purple-sprouting-broccoli-with-parmesan-and-herbed

Or this lovely recipe from Jamie - http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fish-recipes/pan-roasted-salmon-with-purple-sprouting-broccoli-and-anchovy-rosemary-sauce/

Late evening snack – shredded wheat with skimmed milk and black grapes or porridge with a spoonful of blackcurrant jam

Drinks – any purple smoothy! Blackcurrant or liquorice tea

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fruit-recipes/super-smoothies/#WsOGCYvWuJgfMO0W.97

Exercise – yep, get a purple face day. So interval training here we go:

Outdoors – walk for 5 mins then pick a hill.  Run 10 steps, walk 10. Repeat 4 times.  Run 20 steps walk 10 repeat 4 times, finally run 30 steps walk 10. Repeat 4 times – if where you live is flat, then do this carrying a weight anywhere between 20 – 40% of your bodyweight, so think about carrying a breeze block a small child (! Could be fun) or weights. 

Indoor circuit – timer set for 30 second intervals:

Plank and Burpees

Sit-ups and jumping squats

Lunges and press ups

3 sets

Making Changes...

A class member wrote that she was frustrated with the lack of weight loss despite increases in exercise and being “good” from Monday-Thursday.  She asked for tips and advice and here it goes to her and to anyone else in the same boat.

• Your metabolic rate increases when you exercise and when you eat.  You need to boost your metabolic rate by increasing your daily activity and eating food that require a lot of energy to break down (sorry, not eat more).

• Start your day with some exercise (ideally 20 mins.) Think about walking to work/school, going for a swim, a spin class etc.  Walking is fine if you don’t want to get hot and sweaty J .  You can eat before this.

• Eat on a regular basis. Breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack, evening meal and something just before bedtime.

• Your food should be low GI and as “clean” as possible – this means fresh veg (organic if you can), lean protein such as chicken, fish, avocados, nuts etc, wholemeal/brown rice, pasta, bread etc

• Your portion size should be small – about the size of a cereal bowl or the palm of your hand.

• Eat slowly, enjoy your food. Chew it well! Prepare your food the day before so you are no stuck with the lack of choice - I am fed up with being surrounded by so much crap food.

• Exercise again in the evening – a class, gym, swim or walk/jog/run. I would suggest an hour. And I really recommend 6 days a week (!) if you can.  Once a week is good, but not enough. Find a friend to go with you –it helps to keep motivated when you are feeling time pressured. Remember the 30 – 60 minutes to spend doing this can be easily frittered away surfing the net...just do it!

• Drink lots – water, green or fruit tea, not milky lattes or fizzy pop....

• Curb your sugar – sugar in your bloodstream stops fat burning. No cakes, biscuits, sweets, energy drinks for 6 days a week. You are allowed one “dirty” day where you can eat what you like.

• Tell as many people as you can what you are doing. Weigh every Monday morning and take a photo in your underwear (matching or not!!) every Friday morning. Trust me, the fear of doing both of those keeps me motivated.

Feel free to discuss and ask questions on this page.

Stretch - Hamstrings

Hamstrings – notoriously tight from athletes to beginners, the hamstrings are a challenging muscle to keep flexible. But perseverance with this will not only improve performance but will ease the pain.  Here is info about the muscle and the best way to stretch it.

The hamstrings run down the back of the thigh from the pelvis to the shin bone. It crossed both the hip and knee joint and has different sets of origin and insertion points.  Made up of three muscles (semitendinosus, semimembranosus and bicep Femoris) that work together to bend the knee and extend the hip.

In order to stretch this muscle properly you have to work around both the knee and hip joint.  There is high tension in this muscle (needs to be, to create power) but to gain a little bit more “give” you have to encourage the muscle to move in a functional manner.  This means that your stretching should mimic the movement patterns that you tend to do in your activity (running, cycling, football etc) as well as concentrating on the different insertion points and position of the pelvis in relation to your leg. This does sound complex, but basically, don't be too still and stiff when stretching your hammies.

Starting points

Like all good postural work, aligning the bone structure before working the muscle and firing the nervous system, gives you better results and movement patterning.  Take your time to watch your posture and be aware of your body - once you are familiar with this, it will bring you big dividends as you will then naturally move into the correct position for maximum benefit.  Here are some basic tips to help you.

For the pelvis to be in the best position, you will need to get the hips/pelvis in an “open” position.  Roll the pelvis down, without bending the knees.  Tail bone down and have the sensation that the "cup" of the pelvis is holding your abdominal contents in place (and not "spilling out").

• Think about rotating the pelvis over the hip joint - lifting the tail bone up at the back and brining your lower abs towards you thighs, without over curving your back – you really want to feel this in the seat of your pants. The attachment is on the “ischium” – so think – “itchy bum” and you should get where you want to lift!!

• Breathing out hard and contracting your abs really helps as it lifts the spine into the right position to move forwards.
• At this point, the muscle will start to resist the movement.  It will feel like a muscular contraction, and you will have to work with your body to get the best out of the stretch - this means, understanding that stretching is on a scale of "exquisite pain", breathe at the point when the "stretch reflex" kicks in (and automatic contraction of the muscle to prevent tearing) 
• To to encourage the stretch reflex to relax and allow the muscle to lengthen, you will need to move in and out of the stretch slowly, repeating the movement at least three times and holding in the stretched position for around 6 – 10 seconds. 
• However,  I do find though that it works well to move into position, breathe in, breathe out, move out of position, then repeat, then on the 3rd time, stay in the position longer and on each out breath "wriggle" a little bit until the hamstring relaxes.
• You can do this type of stretch  in a standing position if you are beginning to exercise – on a run, at the start of your gym session etc. Place one leg slightly in front of the other, bend the supporting leg and lift the tail bone, breathe out and lower your stomach to your leg.  Although this does feel kind of nice, and I certainly want to do this after a bit of running, there is not much evidence to show that stretching does much good before exercise. However, if you enjoy, then please, go for it...

• It is better to stretch at the end of your session, and it can be easier to do this in a seated position – either on your back or seated

• To get a good stretch when lying down, you will need to extend your leg to the ceiling and hold with both hands – try to keep the leg straight and hold the ankle or use a bungy cord or towel under your foot - keeping the leg straight is best and it is ok to lift your head and shoulders off the floor at this point if it is more comfortable – you should be focused on the hamstring.  Use the strength of the arms to “encourage “the leg to fold towards the body - always aiming for the thigh to come closer to the lower abs. Again repeated stretching works well.
• It can help to point and flex the ankle joint (try not to point toes or you may get cramp) as this irritates and thus fires a relax mechanism to the siatic nerve.  Once you have slowly repeated the movement, you should find the leg increases range and you will be able to lower towards your body more.
• Another trick to use, is to tighten the front of the leg (quad) and press with force the whole leg into you hands/towel, Press and hold for a second and repeat 3 times - again, you should see a relaxing of the hamstrings and instant improvement of your range.  Always stay in the improved range for around 5-10 seconds to get the body used to it.

• Whilst still/static stretching is great for beginners and those with injury, if you are fully fit and doing a lot of sport or exercise then use a more dynamic way to stretch by holding for about 3 seconds and then swapping legs – extend the opposite leg away from your for a great supporting stretch on the hip flexor, and try to do about 10 of these in succession.  This is taken from the Pilates exercise - Single Leg Stretch - and is super successful in getting good range of movement, and increasing resilience in the muscle.  You need to use the strength of the arms to encourage movement towards the body, whilst at the same time, encouraging the quad to fire and straighten the legs throughout the stretch.  Aim to lift your upper body off the floor and aim for the forehead to the knee caps.

• The seated position is great, but needs some attention in its execution (please note a no-no for lower back pain peeps).  So sit with both legs extended away from you. Flex your feet (pull toes towards your body) and press tail bone back. Extend both arms above the head with some degree of tension to engage the lower back. Breathe out hard, draw belly button to spine and extend forward to hold feet. If you are struggling to do this, it is ok to bend your knees. Use your arms to pull the body closer to the thighs – the “closed chain” of having pressure under the feet and tension in the arms will help you stretch further.  Relax and repeat. On the third repeat, have an “open chain” stretch where you do not hold the feet, but work hard to get the legs straight. Press forwards as much as you can, relax, and then “wiggle” your body closer – keep pushing the hips back.

• Ideally, you should aim to stretch every day. Don’t be fooled by the urban myth that being flexible makes you weak (there is a basis to this, but being tight in the muscle will make you weaker...!). If the opposing muscle is tight, then the agonist (the one doing the work) will be compromised. So tight hamstrings won’t let you lift enough on your squats and slow you down running...

PS to be “hamstrung” is an actual phrase taken from an old method of torture, where the hamstring tendons (feel them behind your knee) were cut to stop a person from being able to walk....always look after your hamstrings, they are important xx