Red Hot Personal Training's Christmas Gift Guide

Busy getting ready for the christmas celebrations? With Christmas just around the corner we thought it would be a good idea to share our favourite ideas for healthy Christmas presents.

1. You know how we have said how important a good nights sleep is (see blog dated Oct 27) so with that in mind how about a new supportive fluffy pillow that you can just sink into. To really go all out, why not get a silk pillowcase too. Silk not only feels luxurious but has wonderful properties that can help keep your hair shiny and tangle free and your skin smooth, bonus!

2. A wonderful piece of kit to have at home is a foam roller. Benefits of using it before exercise include increasing blood flow to muscles and range of motion and using it after exercise helps aid recovery and relaxation.

3. Lavender, Frankincense and Rosemary essential oils are a wonderful gift to give, as they help to enhance blood circulation, calm nervous tension and are also anti-inflammatory, so they are excellent after a tough workout. Use them in your bath, in an infuser, mixed with a carrier oil and use on your body or just add a few drops of lavender oil onto your pillow for restful sleep. Be sure to use the best oils as you can find to really benefit from them.

4. Have you tried Bamboo workout clothing? Clothing made from bamboo is wonderful at keeping you dry as bamboo is sweat wicking and comfortable during tough workouts, is a great option for allergy prone skin, is antibacterial and feels so soft against your skin. Bamboo is also a great choice for the environment too as it is biodegradable and only needs rain water to grow. We especially love Bamboo trainer socks.

5. Resistance bands are so simple and easy to use, take up little space and can be used to target multiple muscle groups. We love to incorporate these bands into our clients exercise plans and show them many ways to use them in a daily workout routine for strength, muscle and flexibility gains. The favourite type of band among our clients at present is the ‘Band of doom”(named by Red Hot Personal Training clients as you can really feel it working!!). It’s a strong, thick loop band that can be used as a precursor to many exercising as it activates the hips when placed around the thighs and used for squats, side steps etc. It can also very effectively target the glute muscles, thus strengthening and helping to turn back on those all important posterior chain muscles. As an added bonus its amazing for achieving a peachy derrière!

P.S How about a gift of Personal Training vouchers? Red Hot Personal Training has received a great deal of requests for gift vouchers to give as a present this Christmas. A 'one off session' voucher can be purchased for £45 or a package of 10 sessions for £400 making a saving of £50 per session! Please see the 'Prices' tab of our website for more details.

(Red Hot Personal Training, Pilates and Pre and Post-Natal)

Make 2018 the year to get fit and toned, here's how!

A new client came to Red Hot Personal Training in search of ways to improve upon her body shape and in particular muscular definition and asked why she had not seen her body change at all despite going to the gym 3 times a week and running on the treadmill for 30 minutes?  Now there are many answers to this question that would effect her results including diet, stress levels, hormones, sleep pattern etc however, our next question was very important. Do you incorporate the free weights, suspension equipment, medicine balls etc available or ever do bodyweight exercises? No she replied I just want to burn calories as quick as I can and go home as I really don't like running!

After explaining the benefits of incorporating all these other options into her exercise routine we set clear goals for her to reach that would utilise a variety of exercises equipment and also the addition of body weight exercises that would challenge her and force her body to adapt and change for the better.  

The take home message we really want to get across is please don't stick to the same exercises routine for every session.  Give the treadmill a break for a bit and explore other options. Mix it up and your body will always be kept guessing. Add in those bodyweight exercises including planks, pull-up, press-ups, squats, lunges etc and see your body increase in strength and muscle tone.