Angry exercise

As a trainer but more than that, someone who has loved exercise and fitness for a long time, I've seen interesting things in gyms and certain trends that kind of summarise the types of mindsets that people approach exercise with. I'm going to cover a number of them in coming blogs but the first one and sometimes the most entertaining: Angry exercisers.

We all know that doing exercise can be a great way to relieve stress, release tension and just have a bit of a blow out. If you've been in a gym then the chances are you may have seen these types of people.

They're the people that seem to have a permanent grimace, stare into mirrors without emotion, make loud noises when dropping weights and just inject fear into other gym users. It's probably worth me mentioning that it's important not to get these confused with people that properly train with olympic lifting or power lifting. There is a need in this type of training to drop weights fast due to the training mechanics of how they're conditioning the body.

Well, if the description above rings a resonance, it may be nice to know that they're doing themselves no favours strutting their stuff in anger. Levels of cortisol in the body are higher when angry and this restricts growth, metabolism and most internal function which means muscle development is slower, weight loss is slower and it'll take them twice as long doing angry exercise than it would doing calmer and relatively happier exercise.

If the above description feels like a personal statement of your gym visits and you would like to benefit from gym visits or exercise then I'd recommend calming yourself before going? Listen to some calming but inspiring music and maybe include some deep breathing exercises into your warm up.

Having the ability to use a little mental grit within exercise is obviously useful but this should be controlled determination and not the angry teenager gene. Being able to switch it on and then off is a useful skill.

I'm stuck for time but I'll add to this - my next blog will look more at the types of people that just turn up but seem not to actually do very much.

A healthy state of mind

I spoke at an event on Friday about pointers on fitness. Whilst some people agreed, I think others were a little suprised when my first and most important pointer was and is self perception.

Some may have been hoping for some little known or magical exercises to rid stomach fat (which on a generic scale don't exist - you can't spot reduce) but more important than the specifics of exercise is your self perception and your motivation. The reason being really simple, my experience tells me that being fit and healthy doesn't necessarily mean that you'll know you are and be happy. The key is to love yourself and what you are before you start, that way, you'll respect, listen to, treat your body properly and benefit so much more.

Living in a world of false ideals where glossy magazines and TV are suffocated with air brushed, overly tanned and often superficial celebrities, it's understandable to know that many people in modern society have low self esteem, poor confidence and don't like what they see in the mirror.

It's absolutely scandalous that fake idols and images can have such a huge impact on so many. As the marketing industry knows, as a people, we rely heavily on what we see. But actually, many of the decisions we make are based upon feelings. So answer this question, how do you feel when you look at those sorts of images? If the answer is not so great, then don't put those sorts of images infront of yourself.

Knowing that we make informed decisions better when we feel good it may be worth answering a few more questions:

What kind of foods make me feel good?

What kinds of activities make me feel good?

Being around who do I feel better with?

I heard a nice metaphor 'you should treat your body like you would an expensive car', give it good fuel, regular servicing, take it for a spin and generally avoid it becoming a rusty bucket.

Hope you've enjoyed my thoughts, why not leave me a comment?



- Posted whilst adventurising using BlogPress from my iPhone

Can too much fruit be bad?

Although I only do limited personal training these days, I always offer to provide nutritional guidance if people want it. Some people are quite happy with what they eat and feel they know what the difference between healthy and not healthy food is. I don't doubt this for a second with most although I recently met someone that got me thinking.

We live in a society that promotes this 5 a day message on fruit and veg. Whilst the fundamentals of this are good direction, it's important to know a few things. A few months back I met someone who swore blind that they ate a super healthy and balanced diet. They never touched package food, it was only fresh, organic, regular and seemingly the kind of diet that have most of us feeling a little bit guilty and possibly inspired.

The problem was that the person in question had quite a history of tooth decay, receding gums and numerous fillings. Looking at the food diary, it was absolutely packed with fruit. In fact, most days had at least 6-7 pieces of fruit which is pretty high and eaten on their own.

On large, fruit is good but the thing to remember is that it is essentially sugar (fructose). Whilst sugar is important and vital towards cellular and brain function, excessive amounts can be extremely bad and can lead to an increased storage of fat. The best way to think of fruit is good sugar when in moderation, not to mention it's provision of fibre and other micro-nutrients.

Here are some simple tips that can help with fruit intake:

1. Make sure that your fruit mix is predominantly fruit from your home country. Your system is better designed to break down and get the most out of native fruit.
2. Drink water or eat a non-sugar based food after eating fruit to flush residue sugar from attempting to assinate your teeth
3. Try where possible to get your fruit from good source. The nutrients in the fruit are only as good as the soil it was grown on. Empty Harvest (Jenson & Anderson 1990) is an excellent book on this. Fruit in supermarkets can be upto 9 months old by the time you pick it off the shelf. Freezing and waxing are common ways to store and maintain longevity of the fruit post picking.
4. Vary the fruit you eat. Your digestive system adapts to what you challenge it and eating the same fruit will reduce the value you get from it.
5. Eat fruit seasonally, again supermarkets can distort and confuse what is ripe at what time of year. There are loads of online resources to help you with this. http://www.eattheseasons.co.uk/ is an easy one that is kept updated with current and seasonal foods.

Hopefully the above pointers are useful. Don't let it put you off. Fruit is excellent, brimming with goodness and a great snack that can replace chocolate or other fraudulant foods.

20 minute work out

Didn't have much time on Friday and inspired by jenny's birthday work out, I decided to make the most of my time with a quick blast session.

In actual fact, it takes just over 26 minutes but working time is 20 minutes. It is a total 20 session with 20 exercises over 20 minutes with 20 seconds rest in between.

Equipment needed:

Yourself
A kettlebell (I used a 32 but use whatever weight you're comfortable using for the exercises)
A box step or bench
A pull up bar

1. Deadlift
2. Off set press ups
3. Reverse lunges (unloaded)
4. Pull ups
5. Kettlebell swings
6. Hand walk out
7. Lateral clubbell swings
8. Alternate kettlebell push press
9. Loaded squats (crush grip)
10. Alternate lateral hip drops from side plank position
11. Alternate kettlebell cleans
12. Astride box jumps
13. Pull ups
14. Alternate single leg squats (unloaded)
15. Press ups
16. Reverse lunges (unloaded)
17. Kettlebell swings
18. Plank
19. Alternate kettlebell windmills
20. 1 Pull up / 1 press up

Give it a go and let us know how you get on

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Birthday workout - don't try this at home

It's Jen's birthday today - a grand 29 years of age and if the old lady in the cafe is right, she doesn't look a day over 40...I mean 20.

Well, Jen - over to you:

Well – it’s my birthday, so as a little treat I thought I’d try a brand new workout!



Equipment used:


16kg kettlebell


A 29 year old birthday girl






OK – so seeing as I’m 29 today, I decided to choose 29 exercise, and do them all 29 times!!


29 exercises, 29 reps of each


So here’s what I chose:-


• KB double arm swings

• Single arm KB swings

• Single arm alternating KB swings

• Cleans

• Snatches

• Long cycle

• Windmill

• Double arm military press

• Stepping lunges right

• Stepping lunges left

• Close arm press ups

• Burpees

• Squats

• Hand step ups

• Split rows (with KB)

• Up dog/down dog

• Mountain climber

• Rotational hip drops

• Single leg rotate and reach

• Leg lift with back reach

• Hip raises

• KB Figure 8 to hold

• Halo

• Round the world

• Static lunge right

• Static lunge left

• Jumping squats

• Stalk stance

• Wide arm press ups



And there you have it – only for the mad and mental to try!!

Is power training for everyone

Currently, inline with our seasonal training calendar, we are currently focussing on power and conditioning and it got me thinking "is power training something for everyone?"

In my experience, I think the notion of power training has had a bad rap and be seen as something only relevant for seasoned athletes or those guys that lift ridiculously heavy weights above their heads. Well firstly, let's define power - In general terms, it is "the ability to act with force" and relative to exercise "undecelerated movement" which means that there has to be a release of energy. The best examples of this are jumping and throwing where gravity is the force that slows the energy or returns it back to ground.

Power training doesn't have to be involving weights: running, intervals, plyometrics, functional exercise, kettlebells and drills can all be ways of conditioning the body in an explosive and power driven fashion.

I would argue that power training is something that everyone can benefit hugely from and there are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, I should make quite clear that this should be done specific to the individual, their experience and ability level.

Reason 1 - The only way to truly measure the physical maximum potential of the body is to see how quick it can move, how much force it can create or how high it can jump. Besides, last one into the sea smells.

Reason 2 - As much as it isn't my own motivation, for many, being healthy is measured by looking and feeling good. Fast twitch muscle fibers, which are used in the above types of exercise are glycolytic meaning that they break down sugar for energy. Sugar is one of the biggest contributors to fat storage and so if you want to burn the pounds and look and feel great, then injecting this type of training into your weekly regime will help hugely. Be wary though, doing it all the time will go the opposite way as your body needs at least 48 hours to recover from this type of training. Overtraining will put huge stress on the entire body system and overtime result in injury and fatigue.

Reason 3 - It is fantastic for general function of the body, posture and performance. We may not all want to be athletes but knowing that when your body functions properly, you're better placed to avoid injury, burn more calories and benefit more from pretty much everything including digestion, metabolism and day to day tasks, good function becomes pretty relevant for us all. Function in terms of movement is simply the way that you do it. Asking two people to pick up a ball from ground level will probably create two entirely different patterns. Training your body to operate through safe and effective pathways makes a huge difference in engaging the right muscles at the right time.

Power isn't something to fear but to be excited about!

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