Personal Trainer Northampton Blog

Since I have taken on more web work, I find myself spending a lot more time sat down and feel very inactive.  If you find yourself in a similar situation each day, you will appreciate the importance of keeping active.  Whether it merely be a 5 minute break to go and stretch your legs, up to a run in the evening when you get home.  It makes you feel so much better and shakes of that lethargic feeling that can grow throughout the day. When you exercise, your body releases hormones that make you feel happier and more alert.

Make sure that you keep active, no matter how much or little you can do.

I talk a lot on here aobut weight lifting techniques and body building, largely because it is my main passion.  Saying this however, the cardiovascualr side of training should in no way be overlooked.  Bodybuilders certainly don’t.  It is a great way to burn body fat and also help to tone muscle groups.  Great examples are running and swimming.  Swimming is advantageous to the extent that it is very easy on the joints, due to the ‘weightless’ feeling of the water.  This greatly reduces the risk of injury and is a great aerobic activity.  However, not everyone can swim, myself included.  Running is a great alternative for a good aerobic workout.  I love nothing better than to run in the countryside, in the fresh air.  But, mentioned above, this can cause impact injuries on the joints.  Running on a treadmill can get around this problem.  At the moment, the reebok irun treadmill is a great buy.  It is cheap, an important factor in these difficult economic times and great for training at home.

Swimming is great for those of all ages.  If you don’t feel confident running, go for a jog or simply for a walk.  The important thing is to get up and get active.  Trust me, you will feel better for it.

I personally love weight lifting and training but even so, sometimes your routines can get stale.  You can find yourself not looking forward to training or almost just going through the motions.  This shouldn’t be the case! You should enjoy what you are doing, whatever it is.  In addition, if you are looking to gain muscle mass, a stale routine probably also means that you aren’t getting the gains you want.  Your body is very clever and can get accustomed to routines that never change.  To get muscle growth again, you have to shock it out of this routine.  Try a heavier weight and do less sets.  Or have a session of pyramid lifting.  This techniques is where you start at a low weight with an exercise and gradually go up in weight each set, until you reach a maximum.  Then, go back down again.  I am talking maybe just 5 or 10 kg difference each time.  It may sound simple, but by the end you are are lifting a normally light weight and it feels anything but!

Another good technique is negative reps.  Get your traiing partner/spotter to help you lift one way when you are tired and you control the opposite movement.  For example, if you reach your limit on bench press, have him/her lift the weight and you slowly control the downward motion.  Although not a complete repetition, you are still pushing your muscles furhter than you would have done.

Please always be safe when using such techniques as lifting when you’re muscles are fatigued is very different. ALWAYS have a spotter with you.

Well yet again I have lost a month. I don’t know how exactly!

During that time though I have well and truly been thrown into making a go of things for myself.  The whey protein king website is now my full time project and I am pleased to say it is going very well.  There is still much more work to do though however.

I have a goal to once again get some more fitness related posts back on to Personal Trainer Northampton.  I won’t ever neglect it altogehter for this is where I started everything.  From my first post, I know am in charge of or helping with about 7 websites.  I love the experience and the learning curve and I will get back to my fitness roots on here so do please keep reading.

Best wishes

David

Wow.  It has been a long time since I have posted here, too long.  I don’t know where the time has gone.  Since I last wrote, I have taken up the Whey Protein site full time.  My goal is to develop it further and eventually make it a full time income.  For many years I have had many thoughts, goals and achievements I have wanted and never done anything about them.  I decided it was time to stop dreaming about them and time to go out there and fight for what I really want out of life.

I had a very bad time last year, health wise in particular and I am determined to turn it around into something positive.

It is great to be back.

The world of Protein supplements can be very confusing, with many brands and types to buy.  To assist you, please check out these whey protein reviews.  They will break down some of the need to know facts about whey and what some of the best buys around are.

I mentioned in my previous post e new eating plan.  It is largely protein based, balanced out with the right amount of carbohydrates, as you need to with a high protein diet.  Yesterday consisted of:

Breakfast – 1x scoop of whey protein , 1x banana, 1x bowl of rice krispies

Mid morning – 2 x Casein Protein

Lunch - Turkey in 4 slices of wholemeal bread

Mid Afternoon – 1 x Bowl of Porridge

Evening – Salmon Steak, New Potatoes, Asparagus, Broccoli, orange juice

Night time – Casein Protein, Sunflower seeds

Yesterday I reached quite a proud moment in training.  I achieved deadlift with a weight of 130kg, which is the most ever.  This ties in with a better meal plan that I am taking, in an attempt to add good muscle mass alongside my training.  I feel my diet has suffered and maybe not bought the best from my training as a result.  I will document successes and failures of course along the way.  If any of oyu have undertaken a new or different regime this year, or in fact starting from scratch, I would love to hear from you.  Yesterdays back workout consisted of:

3x 6 reps of Deadlift

Set 1 = 90kg

Set2 = 110kg

Set = 130kg

Wasn’t easy though!

Followed by one arm dumbbell lifts and barbell pull overs, an exercise for the lats.  I had never tried before but found it very successful.  It is performed by lying on a bench, arms out above your head ( longways) with elbows bent and then bring the arms up and over, down toward the chest.  This should result in the back muscles being worked.  If you use a heavy weight, please have a spotter or training partner there with you.

I read a very interesting article today.  The statistics provided said that in the UK, 3.6 million new gym meberships are taken out in the first 2 weeks of January.  That is a staggering amount.  However, studies show that 500,000 people never  go the the gym having paid for it, costing a combined £250 million pounds per year.  So, why do we pay this money and then never go?  Would we walk outside every month and throw £50 down the drain?  Of course not.  So why do we do it in this fashion?

We start of with the best intentions.  A new year, a new start.  Maybe go for a couple of sessions but then what happens?  One night maybe you feel tired.  You make dinner plans.  Something comes up.  “But I will work twice as hard next time!” you tell yourself.  But you miss another session.  And another.  Until it gets to the point you think, “well I’ve missed this many, what is the point of carrying on?”

I believe, and this is just personal opinion, that sometimes we can look at the goal of losing weight, being more fit or whatever it may be, we look at it as too much of a complete picture.  Let me exlpain.  Say you want to lose twenty pounds.  You think right I must lose twenty pounds.  But do you ever think how?  Try breaking your goal down.  As much as possible.  Try thinking  “I am going to lose x amount pounds by firstly going to the gym this Tuesday.  HEre I will perform…(and put in your exercise plan for that day.)  This is still still contributing to you r overall goal, but once you have been on that Tuesday, you can cross it off. You have achieved something toward your goal and this will make you feel better and successful.  Do this for everytime you visit the gym, or everytime you eat a healthier meal or everytime you lose a bit of weight.  Everytime you say this and complete this smaller action, you get that feeling of reaching a goal.  It isn’t your ultimate goal but it certainly is contributing toward it.

If you just say “ I want to lose x amount of pounds” then the only success you will feel is when you achieve this.  But, this will take time and along the way you can feel discouraged, put off and frustrated because you haven’t achieved it yet.  That is when I believe we start to miss our gym sessions, prioritise other things around the gym or exercise and eventually just stop going.  The more successes you can have, the more likely you are to stick with yourself and reach that goal.   If you have any thoughts on this, positive or negative, I would love to hear from you.  Please feel free to leave a comment.

Keep positive and keep working hard.  It will be worth it.

Mariusz Pudzianowski was crowned Worlds Strongest Man for a record breaking fifth time in a nail biting clmax to the 2008 competition.  Mariusz trailed USAs Derek Pondstone by one point going into the final event, the infamous Atlas Stones.  The top two were neck and neck on the fourth stone and dramatically on the fifth, Poundstone looked to have clinched the title.  But, unfortunately for the Police Officer from Conneticut, his fifth stone clipped the edge of the mount and slipped down.  Pudzianowski seized the chance to lift the fith, beating Poundstone in the event and in the overall standings.  Much credit must be given to Poundstone though, who pushed Pudzianowski all the way to the end.  A fantastic effort for a man who does all his training around a full time job as a Police officer.  Brilliant stuff.

Other hi-lights from the final must include the plane-pull.  This year it was carried out amazingly using a 45 tonne Hercules Military aircraft. Ultimately tohugh, credit must go to Pudzianowski.  Behind for all the competition, he never gave up and he proved what fighting to the very end can reward you with.  This win takes him past Magnus Ver Magnussun’s previous record four titles and into Strongman History.

Third Place was USA’s Dave ostlund.