What a fantastic year we’ve had. I have been so lucky to work with so many inspiring people. As with most people on a healthy journey, you’ve had your ups and downs, highs and lows, struggles and times of effortless wellbeing.
I am so proud of all you have achieved and honoured to have played a small part in it.
So as this year ends, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year filled with love, laughter and many more successes.
Claire xx
Every day I see so many of my clients giving it their all in our training sessions. We see blood, sweat and tears. Well I’ve not seen blood yet but I have seen a few raw looking knuckles.
However, despite their efforts, they are not getting the results it would appear they deserve.
Why is that?
Of course there are many reasons but one of the main reasons is that they simply cannot get their nutrition right.
I’m not talking here about eating disorders or not having their mind in the right place, I’m talking only about choosing the right foods.
There are so many diet plans out there and most of us have tried most of them.
My suggestion, don’t waste your time and/or money.
The best way in my opinion is to eat a healthy balanced diet of mostly fresh foods.
For further information you can’t beat Matt O’Neill’s Metabolic Jumpstart.
Matt and his team will provide you with a Metabolically matched diet plan especially for you.
It’s simple to follow and the results are amazing.
The findings of a Danish study have reinforced the view that it is the intensity of exercise, rather than the duration, which has the greatest effect on heart health, and overall health.
After studying the technique and habits of cyclists in Copenhagen, researchers came to the conclusion that men who cycled with fast intensity lived for 5.3 years longer than slow cyclers. Medium intensity cyclers lived for 2.9 years longer than their slow pedalling counterparts. Fast female cyclers appeared to be buying themselves an extra 3.9 years, and mid-intensity riders and extra 2.2 years.
Commenting on the study, Professor Schnor said that the results suggest that the focus of daily activity should be on vigorous exercise, based on the individual’s perception of intensity; ‘Our group has already published similar results for all-cause mortality in relation to walking.’
Source: European Society of Cardiology
Image: dan
My little practical tip for running up big hills.
Look down, focus on your feet, if one is moving in front of the other on a frequent basis. You are running up that hill.
Don’t focus on how far you have to go. Focus on how well you are doing.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
ps I promise the post came before the image, I couldn’t find an image of feet running up a hill so…..
photo by gainesmary28
Living a life of health, fitness and wellbeing is not always going to be easy. There are without doubt going to be challenges along the way.
Most of those challenges will not be to do with your physical limitations but with the mental ones. Your mind will be your biggest problem.
Imagine a running class of interval sprints and then interval jogging and sprints then a long hilly run, then sprints then another long hilly run.
Not an easy run and at times it was really challenging for me, but I kept telling myself I could do it….. Then, someone who I perceive to be a stronger, fitter, better runner than me stopped to walk.
Once I saw that I gave myself permission to walk too. I justified this by telling myself that if it is too hard for her, and she has to walk then of course I should walk.
However, I went on thinking and concluded that,
1 How do I know what is going on with her, she might have a stitch or pulled a muscle in her leg. Does that mean I have to stop?
2 Regardless of anyone else, I should be running for me and listening only to my body – not my mind!
Run your own race!
Weight loss (or more accurately ‘fat loss’) is one of the main reasons that people contract the services of a personal trainer.
Recent research has found that improved body image can actually expedite fat loss in those undertaking diet and exercise programs.
Researchers from the Technical University of Lisbon in Portugal and Bangor University in the UK enlisted overweight and obese women to take part in a 12-month weight loss program. The women were divided into two groups; one group was placed on a ‘behavioural intervention’ program consisting of 30 sessions in which exercise, improving body image, emotional eating and overcoming psychological barriers to weight loss were discussed. The second, control group, was provided with general health and nutrition information.
The behavioural intervention group reported improved perception of body image and lessened concern over body shape and size. The study subjects in this group were also better able to regulate their eating, and lost significantly more weight than those in the control group, losing an average 7 per cent of their original weight, compared with 2 per cent in the control group.
Dr Teixeira from Technical University of Lisbon, who led the research, said, “Body image problems are very common amongst overweight and obese people, often leading to comfort eating and more rigid eating patterns, and are obstacles to losing weight. Our results showed a strong correlation between improvements in body image, especially in reducing anxiety about other peoples’ opinions, and positive changes in eating behaviour. From this we believe that learning to relate to your body in healthier ways is an important aspect of maintaining weight loss and should be addressed in every weight control program.’
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
Dairy Australia is calling on all Australians to ‘wake up their bones with breakfast’ during National Healthy Bones Week this August, by hosting their own dairy rich breakfast — be it a school yard snack, a yummy mummy brunch or an office morning tearoom treat.
The annual event, now in its 17th year, will this year focus on the importance of a calcium-rich breakfast for bone health. This follows a new Australian study which showed participants who skipped breakfast were less likely to meet the dietary recommendations for dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yogurt, which are the major contributors of calcium to the diet.
Do you get enough calcium in your diet? Head to the website for more tips on how. www.healthybones.com.au
Today, I was going to write about nutrition but as we are having such a wet week and by all accounts an even wetter weekend in Sydney, I thought I might post a quick but effective 30 minute indoor circuit you can do with limited equipment and space.
After the warm up you are going to perform each exercise for 45 seconds with a 15 second break in between, it should give you just enough time to change position if needed.
5 minute warm up
1 squats
2 push-ups
3 star jumps
4 lunges
5 hover/plank
7 tricep dips
10 burpees
Repeat 1 to 10
Don’t forget to do your stretches.
Please note that these exercises have not been designed for you personally and care should be taken when performing them. If you are in any doubt – do not do them.
Image by Joccay
This will come as a complete surprise to some and to other’s, well they’ll roll their eyes and turn up their lip in a way that only those that are the most judgmental can and say, “As if, who does she think she is?”
As trainers working in the fitness industry we are often put on the pedestal of perfection. We are seen by those “not in the know” to be health and fitness freaks. People think that
So like I said, I’m not perfect, and I never will be and just for the record, neither are you nor will you be.
Now there may be trainers out there who do behave like the above but I don’t think there are many. There are however, many who try to maintain and perpetuate this perception. I don’t think that this is healthy or helpful.
I am very lucky to have some very special trainers in my circle of friends. We support each other in many ways, but the one that is most valuable to me is that we are open and honest and real.
We are real, we are like you.
Perhaps the only difference is that we are not in denial. We know that we need to eat well and move on a regular basis to enable us to live a long and healthy life and for the most part we do.
So your training is coming along nicely. You’ve got the hang of getting into your workout gear and getting to your session. What now?
How about setting a goal to train for a fun run or triathlon?
Here are a few that are coming up in Sydney in the next few months. A few of us have already signed up for the Triathlon Pink. Who’s going to join us?
City 2 Surf – 14 August 2011
The City 2 Surf is a 14km run starting in Sydney’s CBD and finishing at Bondi Beach.
Go to the website for more information.
Triathlon pink
This is an all female triathlon series. There are several events around Australia. The first one kicks off in Sydney on 8 October 2011.
This is a fun triathlon and with 3 distances, it’s a great place to try your first triathlon.
Go to the website for more information.
There is no fun run pink this year. The fun runs are being staged after the triathlon pink at each event.
The Bay Run – 7 August 2011
The event is a 7 km fun run (or walk) around the beautiful Iron Cove, making it a great warm up race for other fun runs like the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival.
You can find more information here.
Sydney Running Festival – 18 September 2011
Bridge Run – 9km
Family Fun Run – 4km
Half Marathon – 21km
Marathon – 42km
To register or to find out more information, head to the website.
The Sri Chinmoy Sydney Races – 31 July 2011
At Prospect Creek. Three events 24km, 12km & 6km.
More info can be found at the website.
And for those who are a bit more adventurous have a look at what MaxAdventure has this year.
