Could you skip this one?

Do you remember effortlessly skipping as a child? How about giving it a go again? What a great way to raise that heart rate up, help with fat loss and help tone that mid section while you are there! Skipping is great as part of a warm up or used as a whole body workout in itself. An inexpensive tool to purchase that is easily portable too!

Try this quick skipping workout below that you could even squeeze in before breakfast!

1. Set the timer on your phone for 5 minutes. Keeping your elbows by your sides and using your wrists to propel the rope (try not to use your shoulders) do 30 simple skips.

2. Take a 30 second (active) break by gently marching on the spot.

3. Repeat the skipping and rest periods until the 5 minutes are up and there you have a great mini workout!

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How to make your dream body a reality

Many people use this time of year to make New Years resolutions and dream about changing their bodies for the better.  Is this one of your resolutions this new year?

Picturing in your mind what you would like to acheive is fantastic but here are a few ways that can help you actually get there.

How committed are you to change? 

Your dream body will not be made overnight so understanding that you will need to commit to make exercise a part of your daily life and improving your diet so you consistently eat well are key to success. This is ultimately what we must strive for.

What do you need to focus on to get there?

Choosing an exercise programme designed for your individual body and personal goals in conjunction with a healthy diet will definitely improve your fitness, body shape and confidence not to mention enhance your mood and stamina. This is where a personal trainer can be invaluable and help you take away the guess work of what to do and when and motivate you to achieve your best.   

If you’re truly serious about your fitness goals make a commitment to yourself to do what it takes to make that happen. Keeping a diary of your exercise, increasing your daily vegetable intake and water consumption can have a big impact.

Remind yourself why you want to make the change

Do you want to be able to keep up with your small children in the park without getting out of breath, wear that size 10 bikini, be confident to stand up and present your work to a room full of people, sleep better? 

These are all achievable with the help of regular exercise and a healthy diet. Get excited about your goals and the final results, but make no mistake, if you don’t consistently exercise and support your training with a healthy diet, those results will never exist outside of your imagination and you’ll never find out how amazing it feels to have achieved them.

Always remind yourself of your goals and just go for it!

Great exercises to try on a swiss ball

Yes we have all seen them lurking in the corners of the gym or even have one collecting dust behind the sofa! We are talking about swiss balls. (Also known as a balance ball, body ball, fitness ball, gym ball, stability ball, therapy ball or yoga ball). So many workouts can be enhanced with a Swiss ball.

The ball can help improve posture, increase flexibility and tremendously increase core strength including those deep abdominal muscles.

The key thing about a Swiss ball is that it’s unstable. When you sit on one, your core works overtime just to keep you upright. (Try using a ball instead of a chair and notice how you constantly activate your core muscles).

Over the next couple of weeks we will give you some great exercises to try out.

Swiss Ball Ab Rollout (Target those deep abdominal muscles)

1. Kneeling upright on a matt, place a Swiss Ball in front of you.
2. Place your hands in a fist on the ball.
3. Contract your abs and keep your core tight and controlled while rolling the ball out in front of you, until you come out to a half plank. (make sure your back does not sink down too low).
4. Hold for 2 seconds and make sure your elbows are kept below your shoulders. Then roll the ball back until your are full upright again on your knees with the ball in front of you again. Perform 10 times.

Next week we will show you another great exercise using just a swiss ball.  Be sure not to miss this and future blogs by signing up to our FREE newsletter.  (See homepage for details).

Simple at home Fitness Tests, part 2

Simple at home Fitness Tests continued……

Last week we tested you on your aerobic strength. This week is all about your core strength. This test involves holding the plank position.

Core fitness – Plank

Hold the position. (Please see photo). Try to imagine a nice straight line parallel with the floor, from your head to your toes. If at any time you feel the exercise in your lower back then stop the test immediately. Please note your posture and / or lower back will go before you physically have to stop the hold. Do not push through this point.

Record the time held in the plank position.

Results from tests:

Time Held

• Level 1 = Less than 30 seconds
• Level 2 = 31 – 60 seconds
• Level 3 = 61 – 120 second
• Level 4 = 120 seconds +

How did you score:

• Level 1 = Weak area
• Level 2 = Average
• Level 3 = Good
• Level 4 = Excellent!

Next week we test your resistance strength ………….

Lyndsey Slaughter - Red Hot Personal Training

How to get back on track - Part two

Small changes in habits can lead to a permanent lasting change. Think about how you can incorporate more movement and opportunities to increase/maintain muscle mass into your daily life. We have touched on this subject before but its such an important one. As we age its important to retain as much muscle mass as we can. We lose muscle at a rate of 1% a year after the age of 40!!  Try these two ideas below:

1. Walking the dogs or vacuuming the house today?  Add in some walking lunges when no one is looking! Lunges are a great multiple muscle exercise targeting not only those leg muscles but also stretching your hip flexor muscles, activating your core muscles and improving balance!

2. Why not put some music on and just dance!  Dancing helps improve aerobic fitness, improves muscle tone and strength and also has many mental benefits as well including enhancing mood. Click on the link below.  

DOWNLOAD SONG http://bit.ly/1nbKLB4 Flashdance What a Feeling Irene Cara © 1983 Unidisc Music Group Become a Fan On Facebook CLICK http://bit.ly/aybWug Follow on Twitter! http://twitter.com/UnidiscMusic Jennifer Beals Irene Cara is best known as a singer of movie themes, though she worked as an actress since childhood.

We love this, its a classic, just turn it up, dance and see how you feel afterwards! 

Please feel free to ‘like’ and or ‘share’ on facebook.

How to Make Exercise Part of your Life......

To truly live a healthy long life, incorporating healthy food and daily exercise into your life is essential.  Try these 3 tips below to help you achieve just that.

1. Focus on how good you will feel after working out both physically and mentally.  View exercise as a positive, restorative activity and your brain will see it as a reward rather than a chore.

2. A workout does not have to be traditional such as an hour at the gym.  Just keep your body moving. A brisk 20 minute run or walk outside, a few fast lengths at the pool, even vigorous gardening all count.  Just do what you enjoy and put some effort into it. Research studies into the Japanese art of Shinrin-yoku, or 'forest bathing' suggest that exercising outdoors in a wood or forest can reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol by 12.4 per cent more than an urban walk . This may be due to the chemicals (phytoncides) released by trees and plants.

3. Need some help and motivation?  Hire a Personal Trainer (PT)!  A good PT will listen to your fitness and nutritional goals and be able to design a unique training programme that will work around your lifestyle and barriers.  If you need motivation, the encouragement of your PT will be invaluable, offering continual support and advice along the way.

could you skip this one?

Do you remember effortlessly skipping as a child? How about giving it a go again? What a great way to raise that heart rate up, help with fat loss and help tone that mid section while you are there! Skipping is great as part of a warm up or used as a whole body workout in itself. An inexpensive tool to purchase that is easily portable too!

Try this quick skipping workout below that you could even squeeze in before breakfast!

1. Keeping your elbows by your sides and using your wrists to propel the rope (try not to use your shoulders) do 20 simple skips with feet together and 2 little jumps in between each swing.

2. Take a 30 second (active) break by gently marching on the spot.

3. Next do as step number 1 but do not include the 2 little jumps in between each swing.  Count 20 skips.

4. Repeat these steps 2 more times and there you have a great mini workout!

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Get to the Bottom of it!

If you read my last blog regarding sitting (if not please scroll down a have a read) many of us are guilty of sitting for too long.  One consequence of this is that our glute muscles (bottom) suffer as a consequence. (Hip flexors tighten up and become overactive, which in turn deactivates the glutes). 

Who doesn't want a strong, toned bottom!  Here at Red Hot Personal Training (RHPT) we thought it would be nice to include an exercise that is a fantastic and an easy way to help all you ladies who want to hone and tone that derierr. Many of you would have come across a 'Glute bridge exercise' before but this little (no equipment required) exercise is a gem and is truly underated.

Heres how to do it: Perform 2 sets of 10 reps with a 30 second rest in between (i.e. two lots of 10)

1. Start by lying on your back with your knees bent and heels on the ground.  
2. From this position lift your hips off the ground until a nice straight line is achieved, running from your knees to your chest (or slightly lower if more comfortable).  
3. Once at the top hold the position for a count of five seconds and gently lower to the starting position and then repeat.

Remember its important to squeeze your glutes to lift your hips off the ground and not use your heels, these simply act as a support. Why not give it a go right now!

Try this exercise everyday for a week and see if you can notice a difference?  Let us know how you get on.

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Are you sitting comfortably?

Did you know that sitting down for too many hours every day can seriously impact your health? I wonder how many of you have just stood up!

Sitting facts:

• Research estimates that if you cut back on the time spent sitting down to under 3 hours a day in total, it could add two years to your life expectancy.
• An analysis of 18 studies found that people who sat for the longest periods of time were twice as likely to have or develop Type 2 Diabetes or heart disease, compared to those that sat the least.

Although a daily workout is absolutely essential for your health offering many physical and mental benefits, its equally important what you do in-between and if that is mainly sitting down in an office, at home or travelling try these suggestions below.

Here are some tips to get you moving:

1. Aim to not sit down for more than 15 minutes at a time without standing up or taking a quick walking break.
2.  Try standing up when you talk on the phone or use your computer/ipad etc.
3. Try and cut down on your TV time each day and incorporate regular standing breaks into your viewing time. (Go and make a cup of tea for example).
4. Simple body stretches performed after sitting down will help your circulation.
5. Do small bouts of exercise throughout the day. Every hour or two, take the opportunity to do some squats, standing lunges, high knees, toe touches, or push-ups against the wall. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy, complicated, or long. Just a few minutes will do!

Click on this link to read further information on the subject www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32082387

Core Training for balanced development

Core is key....

What is your core?

When you hear the words core training what comes to mind?  Endless crunches that seem to produce no results?

A great number of people believe that your core muscles consist of only your abdominal muscles which is just not true.  Muscles of the core region include the abdominals and the hip and spinal musculature.  In fact when you strength train your core you aim to target all the muscle groups that stabalise the spine and pelvis.

A strong core can help you with your functional fitness (those crucial ab and back muscles you call upon every time you turn, bend and lift) and also from an aesthetic perspective (sculpting and tightening that mid section!). 

Suffer from lower back pain?  

In some instances, weak or poorly controlled core muscles can be associated with lower back pain.  Correctly strength training the core muscles will result in them being stronger and more correctly balanced with less uneven strain being placed on the spine. 

Core Workouts

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A great core workout may want to include planks and side plank exercises to encourage a neutral spine position with a natural curve in the back.  Other excellent core exercises include the glute bridge that can help stabilise the pelvis. 

Using a swiss ball to perform core exercises on can be a great tool to really target those inner hard to reach core muscles whilst also adding an element of fun to the routine. Progression can then be made onto a push up lateral row that engages all the core musculature at once resulting in a thorough core workout.

If you have any questions or want advice on how to do any of these exercises, please get in touch. My email address is lyndsey@redhotpersonaltraining.com. 

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