Hone and tone your bottom with this exercise!

Who wants to try one of the best exercises for great glutes (bottom) and build athletic speed and power whilst you are there! Red Hot Personal Training just loves this move for the great results it gets with clients. We featured this exercise in a previous blog last year and positive feedback was received from readers who gave it a try!

A step up from the 'Glute Bridge' exercise. This move adds an additional core challenge and increased range of motion. 

1. Sit on a stability/swiss ball. Slowly walk feet out until head and shoulders are resting on the ball, positioning feet hip-width apart under knees and place hands onto your hips.

2. Lower hips toward the floor, (try not to let your knees travel forwards) stopping a few inches above the ground. Pause, then engage abs and press up through the glutes and down into the heels to lift hips up in line with knees. Try no to hyperextend (don't lift up to high) Pause for 2 seconds squeezing your glute muscles (bottom).

3. Lower hips to start position. Try 3 sets of 10 reps.

(Remember to perform the exercise carefully and listen to your body, really focus on using your glute muscles to do the work). 

If you would like the help of a personal trainer please contact Red Hot Personal Training.

Increase your energy and vitality today

Clients of Red Hot Personal Training often ask what are the things that they should focus on to increase their energy and vitality. The list below is by no means exhaustive but it’s a great starting point.  Remember unless you make the change nothing will change. 

Reduce your sugar intake.  Watch the sugar content of your food.  Keep a food diary and see how much sugar you actually consume throughout the day, it may just surprise you! Sugar can play havoc with your energy as you spike your insulin levels (that initial sugar hit soon followed by the slump) leave you feeling lethargic and can also lead to overeating. Learn to read labels for sugar content. Remember to look for "of which sugars" on food labels. (4kg = 1 teaspoon of sugar).  Aim to consume no more than 6 teaspoon of sugar daily. Especially limit fruit juice and fizzy drinks and also avoid drinks that look healthy but are secretly sky high in sugar.  Some so called "green smoothies/juices" have as much sugar as soft drinks. CHECK THE LABELS YOU MAY BE SURPRISED. Click on this link to read a blog we wrote last year about the sugar content in childrens packed lunches. https://www.redhotpersonaltraining.com/health-fitness-blog/2015/8/19/packed-lunch-ideas-for-kids-and-adults-alike?rq=sugar.

Make sure you take a brisk walk outside for at least 15 minutes a day.  A wood, forrest or green leafy park is best but a walk around your street will still count! Take time to appreciate the nature around you and focus on breathing deeply and calmly. This is great for boosting your circulation, working your muscles, fat loss, better sleep and a great mood booster too!

Top up your vitamin D levels with 20 minutes of sensible sun exposure to your arms and legs each day (not in the midday full sun).

Avoid blue light late at night.  Lots of interesting science is emerging on this topic and we think this is going to be a very important subject. This means turning off your mobile phones and tablets at least 1 hour before bed. 

Fill up on a rainbow of colors each day.  Fill your plates with a variety of vegetables as this allows us to gain a huge variety of vitamins and minerals that may be lacking in a bland “beige” coloured diet. Click on this link to read more on this subject. 

https://www.redhotpersonaltraining.com/health-fitness-blog/2016/4/18/eat-the-rainbow?rq=rain

What is the best diet & exercise for your body type? (Part Two)

Want to know how to eat and workout for the best results for your body type?  In our last blog we identified the 3 distinct somatotype body types:  Please read Part 1 first if you have not already done so.

Once you have worked out your body type, use the information below to help fine tune your nutrition and exercise plans to get the most success with your goals whether they consist of weight loss, increased muscle or body sculpting.

ECTOMORPHS

Nutrition

SOURCE:RODALE WELLNESS

• Stay hydrated with plenty of fresh plain water
• Eat natural unprocessed foods
• Avoid drastically cutting carbs (eat enough vegetable carbs)
• Eat adequate calories to facilitate lean muscle growth (Don't use the excuse of having a faster metabolism to eat junk food as this does nothing to grow muscle)
• Eat plenty of broccoli, cauliflower, avocado, chicken, turkey, oats, brown rice, coconut oil or ghee, nuts, seeds and nut butter. 

Fitness training

• Focus on gaining strength
• Dont overtrain - dont overdo aerobic activities if your goal is to increase muscle and tone
• Ectomorphs tend to excel at cardio and avoid or do minimal weight/resistance training.  
• To increase muscle mass, increase strength and sculpt an ectomorph type body use heavy weights and body weight exercises
• Train 3 times a week to allow lots of recovery days to give muscles a chance to repair and grow.

MESOMORPH

Nutrition

• Stay hydrated with plenty of fresh plain water
• Eat natural unprocessed foods
• Watch overall food consumption as Mesomorphs tend to overeat as they feel its relatively easy to loose weight
• Include lots of healthy fats such as avocados, butter, olives, oily fish etc

Fitness training

• Try sprint training (build up to this if new to running) as its great for fat loss and muscle building
• Train 3 times a week to allow lots of recovery days to give muscles a chance to repair and grow
• Target multiple muscle groups each training session
• Pilates is great for mesomorph body types

ENDOMORPHS

Nutrition

• Stay hydrated with plenty of fresh plain water
• Eat natural unprocessed foods
• Watch carbohydrate consumption (especially later in the day) (try to get your carbs from vegetables as opposed to processed carbs such as bread, crackers, biscuits etc)
• No food within 3 hours of bedtime
• Fill up on protein at each meal and include loads of vegetables/salad
• Eliminate sweets and reduce alcohol
• Snacks if eaten should be smaller than the size of your palm
• Have a high protein and fibre breakfast such as an omelette of eggs, spinach, red peppers and spring onion

Fitness training

• Your goal should focus on burning fat whilst increasing muscle to gain a lean and toned body
• Train at a high intensity with little rest between sets to burn stored body fat
• Avoid long periods of sitting, exercise for 30 minutes a day (7 times a week) with two of those sessions using heavy weights/body weight exercises and one session being a HIIT session

With the above guidance you can take your nutrition and exercise to the next level and may see results faster and better then ever before.

If you are interested in knowing more about your body type and how we can help you achieve the best results please get in contact.

The building blocks to a better body.........

There is definitely something to take away from the 'Three Little Pigs' children's fairy tale and its not just for children. Children's stories are often written in a way to teach them valuable lessons with characters making mistakes thus helping children to translate them into real life situations.

In the story, the first little piggy was a little bit lazy and grabbed at the first thing he could to build his house. Unfortunately straw isn’t great raw materials for building a house and so the wolf ate him. This is like the person who grabs at the first sugary treat before stopping to think or eats processed foods at every single meal. Yes it gets the job done and you fill you stomach but in the long run the lack of nutrients will keep you constantly craving food and the body will just keep sending you hunger signals.  This little piggy did not put the time and effort into building his house much like those that don't take the time for exercise.  Even those of us who are extremely busy can learn to incorporate exercise into our daily lives so there really is no excuse.

The second little piggy built his house out of wood and yes it was stronger than the straw house, but the wolf still managed to blow the house down and eat the pig, it just took a little more effort on the wolfs part. The second little pig is like the person who still eats processed junk food BUT is “exercising” so its ok?? To some this might sound ok as the exercise will 'burn off' the junk that they are eating. If only it was as simple as that.  

The body constantly needs nutrients to build and repair and get stronger and the fuel that you supply it with and the exercise that you give it will ultimately make up 'You'. If you keep putting the junk and poor quality foods into your body and deny it of all the nutrients it needs and deny it of exercise, it simply WONT be able rebuild you a better body.  Simply put, you cannot out exercise a bad diet, or expect to do well on a good diet with no daily exercise, the two truly go hand in hand.

So that leaves us with the third little piggy who was the one who took his time, put the effort in and sourced the best materials and built himself a house of bricks and eventually outsmarted the big bad wolf. He kept it simple and built a house that would last for years.

To truly build yourself the best, strongest and most robust body (to keep that wolf at bay) does it not make sense to give it the best raw materials (nutrition) possible and the movement (exercise) that it needs and craves?

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!

Hone and tone your bottom with this supercharged exercise!

Who wants to try one of the best exercises for great glutes (bottom) and build athletic speed and power whilst you are there! Red Hot Personal Training just loves this move for the great results it gets with clients.

A step up from the 'Glute Bridge' exercise. This move adds an additional core challenge and increased range of motion. 

1. Sit on a stability/swiss ball. Slowly walk feet out until head and shoulders are resting on the ball, positioning feet hip-width apart under knees and place hands onto your hips.

2. Lower hips toward the floor, (try not to let your knees travel forwards) stopping a few inches above the ground. Pause, then engage abs and press up through the glutes and down into the heels to lift hips up in line with knees. Try no to hyperextend (don't lift up to high) Pause for 2 seconds squeezing your glute muscles (bottom).

3. Lower hips to start position. Try 3 sets of 10 reps.

(Remember to perform the exercise carefully and listen to your body, really focus on using your glute muscles to do the work). 

Journey to Becoming a Runner

A little nervous and anticipating what was to come, Debbie lined up against almost 400 others at the start line of Horshams 5k ParkRun.  Not once had she imagined herself running this distance.

Just six weeks ago Debbie started training with Red Hot Personal Training (RHPT) with the aim of becoming fitter and to achieve inch loss.  At first we focused on incorporating strength training and small bursts of running to increase her aerobic capacity, burn fat and increase muscle tone.  Her positive enthusiasm and the way that she embraced the training, nutrition and lifestyle changes given by RHPT have not only seen her loose weight (fat loss/inch loss) but also the ability of achieving so much more than she thought possible.

"Just one minute, that is all you need to run for" is what Debbie became familiar hearing on our training sessions.  That quickly increased to three minute bursts after just a few weeks with Debbie starting to notice her improvements.

It is so important to set yourself training goals and we thought that a 5K ParkRun would be perfect for Debbie as she was really enjoying running and showed excellent improvement as the weeks progressed.

The minutes ticked by during the first Kilometre of the 5k ParkRun and Debbie showed little signs of slowing.  We paced the run so she would not start too fast and then burn out and we tackled the slight inclines of the terrain using mental methods allowing her to drive upwards with ease.

As a Personal Trainer, I am always delighted and in awe when my clients achieve a personal goal, like the nurturing of a baby bird that learns how to use its wings and fly for the first time.

Crossing the finish line Debbie asked if we had achieved it in under 45-50 minutes (a goal time we had set) "Oh yes I said, you have smashed it and did it in 38 minutes and 40 seconds!"

Well done Debbie, I am so proud of you! 

If you were inspired by Debbie and would like to try a ParkRun just visit http://www.parkrun.org.uk and if you need any help with the training please get in touch with us here at RHPT. 

Do you know the benefits of drinking water?

Click on the video to watch a short video highlighting many of the benefits of drinking water.  Drink up everyone!

Brought to you by Red Hot Personal Training, Sussex.

How 'Blue Space' can benefit you

We have often talked about the benefits of being outside for a healthy mind and body and achieving the balance between high intensity and lower impact exercise.  On those essential recovery days that your body requires to rest and repair from more intense activities, why not benefit from so called 'blue space'.

Much like the benefits of being amongst 'green space', 'blue space' (including seas, rivers, lakes and larger ponds) is said to have a great impact on our health and wellbeing.  

Anyone who has taken a long walk (or even sat and read a book) along the seafront or around a beautiful lake knows that calming and de-stressing effect it can have on you and a more relaxed body and mind will be better prepared to endure those more strenuous exercise sessions that really push you to your limits!

Try it and make a mental note of how you feel afterwards!

If you feel someone you know could benefit from this advice don't forget to hit the 'share' button. 

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. 

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