Who loves a trail adventure?

Are you getting bored of your same old tried and tested running route that involves pounding the pavements near your home?  Yes its convenient and you can get a good fast running time but wouldn’t it be nice to leave that GPS watch at home sometimes and just run for the fun of it on a trail run?

My regular blog readers will know how much I love training in the great outdoors and my clients benefit from this type of training too. I love the variables such as uneven paths, logs to jump over and trees to duck under.

Running off road in varying terrain combined with numerous obstacles will work those little stabilizing muscles such as those in the foot and ankle to get an amazing workout and will help to supercharge your fitness too. You can’t strengthen what you don’t work, and the monotonous, one direction movement of road running can leave those stabilizing muscles and ligaments underworked.

Why not leave your headphones at home and enjoy the peace and quiet out on a trail run. Just being in nature surrounded by trees, birds and the running water of a stream is just a perfect relaxing antidote to todays hectic world.  

Appreciate the break from the stress and commotion of everyday life, and even of the crowds and traffic that can accompany road running.  Leave social media, emails etc behind and just go off-grid for a while!

Trail running is typically harder than road running. Due to the varying terrain, inclines, and curves in the trail, your average pace per mile/km will most likely be slower than your pace on paved road.  Just don’t stress about your pace.  In fact, if you can bear to part with it, leave your GPS watch at home and find your natural running rhythm.

Trails are a constant adventure that can truly awaken your senses. There is most likely a trail run you could do from your front door.  Look out for local bridlepaths/footpaths or why not give the trails below a try or take it a step further and try a trail race (such good fun)  See below for details.

Try the following trails in East/West Sussex:

Southdowns Way (Try accessing from Jack and Jill windmills at Clayton). https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/leisure-recreation-and-community/walking-horse-riding-and-cycling/south-downs-way/#scroll-link

Downslink https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/media/2203/downs_link_6_stage_route_2010.pdf

For great trail races try:

http://www.maverick-race.com

The Joy of Pilates

Increased flexibility, incredible core strength, enhanced endurance and great for creating a long and lean body too! Who doesn't strive for these?

Don't underestimate the benefits of practicing pilates as there are many and often more than meets the eye including stress reduction, injury prevention and rehabilitation and better mind and body connection.

If you have ever attended a large Pilates class and been stuck at the back wondering if you are doing the exercises correctly and struggled to locate your 'core' or even know what it truly is or how it works in conjunction with the exercises and everyday life, then trying a small group (2-6 people) or one-to-one sessions with a Pilates instructor could be just right for you.

To truly gain the benefits of Pilates really going back to the very principles at the heart of this amazing art is essential and from there progress can be made to identify and address weaknesses and build more challenging exercises into the sessions when you are ready. 

What we love about Pilates is that it is such an inclusive form of exercise whatever your age, fitness or experience , there is always a range of exercises and adaptions that are possible. 

Set some 'me time' aside and explore the joy of Pilates. 

Red Hot Personal Training and Pilates offers tailored one-to-one or small group Pilates sessions carried out in your own home, work or local park to help you realise the true Joy of Pilates.

Want a strong core?

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.

Side plank

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

A great core workout may incorporate 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.

Summer fitness with the kids!

Due to the positive feedback we received from our 'get fit with the kids at the park' video clip last summer, we thought that we would share it again this summer holiday so if you have not seen it before or want to see it again just click on the video below and why not be inspired to 'get fit with your kids'! 

2016 Highlights

As we approach the mid point in 2016, we thought we would give you a run down of our top 5 most popular blogs this year in case you have missed them. 

1) Simple at home Fitness Tests, part 1

Our series of four blogs just after the new year, gave you 4 simple fitness tests that covered  aerobic, core, resistance and flexibility that you could try yourself at home.

These were some of our most popular and discussed blogs as you fed back what score you had achieved and how you were going to try and beat it next time. 

If you haven't done these tests then I would recommend giving them ago and if you have see if you have improved.

2) 10 Minute High Intensity (HIIT) workout Video

This video showed you how to have quick but highly effective workout in just 10 minutes. We promise that we will be doing more videos in the second half of 2016.

3) Forget crunches for a flat stomach and try these for fab abs

I raised the point in this blog that endless crunches will most probably not give you a flat stomach!

This blog gave you an example of the importance of rotational exercises that focus on the deep core muscles (namely the Transverse Abdominus and the Obliques) are the secret here ladies.

If you missed this blog first time around I would recommend giving it a try.

If you need any advice on technique or which weights you should be using let us know and we can help you. 

4) Eat the rainbow!

This blog discussed the importance of eating foods which are a 'rainbow of colours' every day. 

Research shows that the vast array of healthy phytochemicals found in fruit and vegetables of various colours offer many astounding health benefits.

A 'rainbow of colours' is trying to pick at least one daily serving of fruit and vegetables from each of the four colour groups – red, orange/ yellow, green, and purple/blue.

Thank you for the feedback on the photo, certainly one of my better ones!

5) Take it outside

This blog written in April talked about my experiences of running Red Hot Personal Training and finding the time to work out myself. 

Based on the comments I received back many of you were inspired by this and headed out to your local park to stretch those legs and some of you also tried out the exercises which was great news.