Virtual Fitness Trainer » Fitness Articles

5 Simple Steps To A Fitness New Year Recovery Plan

Admin — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:00:19 +0000

Are you feeling “bluh”?

Did you over-do-it over the festive season with loads of snacks, high fat foods and extra calories from those party cocktails?

Then you may like to read through the following steps to help you get back on track!

Step 1

Drink lots of water!

With the overindulgence of food and alcohol comes dehydration, stomach pains and feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck!

By drinking around 8 glasses of water per day not only does this help cleanse your system, but it can also help improve your skin. So you can look and feel refreshed!

Step 2

Take some time out for YOU to wind down and recuperate!

It might be a bubble bath, a good book, going somewhere with a group of friends, with your family, walking your dog (something that doesn’t include wiping yourself out and partying) And something positive that makes you feel good about yourself and your general well being. Go over your New Years Resolutions in your head and then write them down. Feel good about the decisions and the changes you are wanting to make for the year ahead.

Step 3

Get yourself onto a kick butt training program and make the time to plan your new workout and eating plan.

Even in the past with my own online clients, when starting a new fitness schedule, I advised them to plan their way into their workouts and programs. Why? Because starting a new weight training and cardio workout, along with a healthy eating plan, all in one week, for some folk, can be very overwhelming if they don’t have a schedule to follow. They want and need something that’s set out in front of them, so they know what they’re doing and are confident heading into it – and understand how to go about it.

Setting yourself up to succeed with your new resolution goals is a heck of a lot more fun, encouraging and motivating plus the results will come much sooner if you’re organised and on track with your program.

Step 4

Make sure you consume fresh veggies, fruit, salads, lean protein etc during your New Years recovery. Continuing with the gorging of fast food and junk, even though the festive season is over, will only deter you from getting rid of that “bluh” feeling. Your body needs good nutrition to get it back on track so you can start working on your New Years health and fitness goals.

Step 5

Reduce your caffeine, soft drink and alcohol intake. Once again this is where drinking water comes back into play. It’s so easy when you are thirsty to just glug down a coffee or soft drink. But do you honestly believe that these types of beverages are really quenching your thirst? C’mon give your body a break! I bet if you’re body could talk it wouldn’t be asking for a alcohol filled cocktail to help hydrate it.

If you really just don’t like drinking water, but don’t mind drinking fresh juice, then add a small amount of juice to your water. That way you’re reducing the calorie intake, by diluting the juice, and increasing your water intake.

The above NEW YEARS Recovery Plan is about re-freshing your mind and your body along with giving it a great head start for the year ahead!

Happy training folks,

Yours in fun, health and fitness

Persons who are of good health, suspect of their health or are aware of any conditions, physical deficiencies or diseases should always consult a physician before undertaking any eating or exercise program. Mandy Gibbons, Virtual Fitness Trainer, www.virtualfitnesstrainer.com.au and www.virtualfitnesstrainer.com disclaims any liability or loss in connection with the above program or advice given in this article.

Surviving A Low Fat Christmas: Christmas Healthy Eating Tips

Admin — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:03:18 +0000

Not sure how you are going to make it through the festive season without losing the plot with your low fat Christmas eating plan?

Or…

Did you decide over the previous months to start whipping yourself into shape and now you’re driving yourself crazy with trepidation about ensuring you comply with a low calorie Christmas?

Or…

Are you concerned that all the persistence and hard hours of training may all go down the drain if you don’t follow your current fitness eating plan regime.

Whatever your concerns it seems to be keeping you up at night wondering “what is the right thing to do by my program” and how will my “fight against gaining body fat” suffer while at the mercy of everything from family gatherings to office parties.

Believe me, the more you worry the worse off you’ll be. If you’re “umming and arrgghhing” as to what you should do then read through the following steps to help you survive the Christmas calorie blues.

1. DON’T DEPRIVE YOURSELF OF YOUR FAVOURITE FOODS!

Do you sit there at Christmas with a miserable face watching everyone eating cheesy, creamy snacks or other foods that are causing you to drool on the floor?

Do you ruin your own Christmas, and everyone else’s, due to you being grumpy and taking your frustration out on everyone else because all you have on your plate is a steamed sweet potato and some veggies whilst the rest of your friends and family are eating the most bountiful banquet you have ever laid eyes on?

Does this sound like you? Then my advice to you is GET OVER IT!!

Christmas is only here once per year. So if you’ve been consuming a regular healthy low fat eating program for the past 12 months then don’t stress because consuming some of your old favorites – within reason of course – won’t ruin a years worth of training.

Just keep the following Christmas eating tips in mind during the festive season so you can enjoy this quality time with your friends and family. And, hey, even if you did gain a pound at least you know that everyone isn’t complaining about your grouchy attitude saying: “what the heck was up what’s his/her name’s butt at Christmas dinner?”.

2. “I AM TOO FULL TO MOVE” – STOMACH PAINS

Hey, I am the first to admit that I don’t mind having a few extra spoonfuls when it comes to a Christmas banquet. It’s when you know you have had enough and you just keep on eating because it’s in front of you – you need to realise where to draw the line.

You are sitting there full to the brink swallowing hard to prevent yourself throwing up the beautiful meal you just consumed. You’re exhausted, numb and can’t even find the energy to talk because of the severe stomach pains from over eating. Now what’s the point in that? The dishes build up in the kitchen because everyone’s so lethargic that they can’t bare to help with the cleaning up.

What was that? I can nearly hear you giggling to yourself! Of course this sounds familiar to most folk because that’s what many folk do.

DON’T OVER EAT!

You can still eat but just divide your servings up having more smaller regular sized meals throughout the day rather than gorging yourself in one or two meals.

3. PLANNING FOR YOUR DOWNFALLS for the Christmas office party.

Other than there being copious amounts of alcohol with mixes and crazy cocktails that are jam packed full of calories.. the snacks that are often served at office or work Christmas bashes are more than likely not designed for the person who wants to lose body fat.

What’s worse, is you absolutely know that no matter what – you are not going to be able to say “NO” to any foods that are dripping in fat or loaded with sugar. So what do you do?

Eat before you attend your Christmas office party. Have a meal, even a small quick meal, that contains a decent amount of lean protein and low GI carbs that will fill you up before you get there. Don’t forget to keep up with plenty of water to help keep you hyrated and help give you that feeling of being full.

Not only will all of this assist with the alcohol factor but will also help prevent you from behaving like a starving, ravenous maniac trying to chew off the hand of the person serving you the cheesy, deep fried snacks.

4. COOKING A LOW CALORIE CHRISTMAS TASTY MEAL

As you know the shops are full of healthier products and ingredients, RIGHT?

Of course! You just have to choose to purchase them.

So what’s stopping you from cooking using these products in your Festive Banquet? Nothing!

Use low fat cooking spray, lean proteins, fresh fruits and veggies the list goes on. Aim for foods and ingredients lower in GI. Your meal doesn’t have to be boring – you’re just reducing the fat, salt and sugar content more while not compromising on the flavor. Between that and the small servings, it will make a difference.

5. DEALING WITH THE WELL MEANING FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER WHO FORCE FEEDS YOU!

Do you have a friend or family member who makes you feel rude if you don’t eat everything that’s put in front of you?

I know you know what I am talking about.
The good ol’ “go on one more.. it won’t hurt you”
“have another ladle full and put some meat on you, you are all skin and bones”
“I have been slaving in the kitchen for the past two days and I won’t stop badgering you until you eat three more”

What ever you do DON’T SAY “I AM TRYING TO WATCH MY WEIGHT” – because you will be hassled for the rest of the meal, or the whole day for that matter.

Come up with some other excuse. Think of something before you go so don’t you end up saying “get off my back” or offending them. Let’s face it there’s nothing wrong with straight up saying “you’re full”. If you’re full – that’s it – if you don’t want to eat anymore – don’t.

Believe me there’s nothing worse than hearing someone moan their heads off for weeks after Christmas blaming the wicked relative who force fed them fatty and sugary foods which has led them to putting on 5 kilos! C’mon you could’ve said “no” if you wanted to.

6. YOUR EXERCISE PROGRAM OVER CHRISTMAS.

If you’re able to include some physical activity / exercise in your day to help burn off the extra calories AND you don’t want to appear rude you could use the following tips and crazy excuse:

a. “How about I give you all some time out from the children and I will take them for a walk to the park”

WARNING: Believe me if you’re game enough to look after a group of kids on Christmas day, hyped up on junk food and confectionery – then good luck to you. But I can virtually guarantee that you will lose calories and maybe your sanity too.

b. If you have time, walk or perform a quick cardio session first thing in the morning. You probably won’t feel like it later in the day so nip it in the bud first thing.

c. If you want to perform some resistance exercise keep it simple such as push-ups, tricep dips, squats and crunches. Perform a set of each directly after each other. Repeat two – three times over like a mini circuit.

But just remember not to exercise directly after your meal. Let your food settle first.

MOST IMPORTANTLY!!

ENJOY YOURSELF!

This is one time of the year when you should be able to let your hair down and really enjoy the holiday season. Just do the best you can with your eating but don’t come down on yourself if you eat a few extra treats. Just get back on track the next day. A low fat Christmas is possible, just try not to make it unrealistic so you can take pleasure in spending time with your family and friends.

Have a great Christmas and best wishes for the New Year!
Take care
Kind regards
Yours in fun, health and fitness
© Mandy Gibbons
Virtual Fitness Trainer

Tips To Combat Your Healthy Diet Plan Blues

Admin — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:55:30 +0000

Now that you’ve discovered where your healthy diet plan needs to be improved what can you do about it… read previous post: How to Beat Your Healthy Eating Plan Rut.

3. a. Obviously to start with you need to make sure your healthy eating plan suits your workout. Without this you are just wasting precious time. Hire the services of a nutritionist who is experienced with providing eating plans for your particular training goals. If you have a trainer pay the extra dollars and ask them to write you out an eating program (if their qualified to do so) that suits your training goals and requirements. If you’re going the whole training thing alone and have no idea what you are doing then stop fooling around and get yourself into a program created by a professional.

b. Now you have your healthy diet tips on hand, do your homework on what type of meals you enjoy and how you can alter them to make them suit your meal portion requirements such as protein, carbs, fat etc.

c. IMPORTANT! Now this next part is VITAL. Get creative. Spend 1 hour, once every three months, that’s all, browsing the net for some recipes that you could incorporate into your own plan.

Examples:

Chicken – you’re thinking “boring”! Why not try some Indian, Thai, Mexican, Italian or other recipes that offer exciting flavours.

Rice – you immediately think boiled and plain. Why not create low GI risotto, or add spices and low calorie condiments.

Veggies and Salad – steamed C’mon, surely you’re not that short of ideas! Get on the net and look around, you will be gob smacked at the amount of recipes available.

Egg Whites – poached… Just because you’re not using the whole egg doesn’t mean an egg white can’t be used for fun recipes. Many of the recipes that you can use whole eggs for can also be created using egg whites. And these days you can purchase egg whites in cartons and large buckets. So that you don’t have to worry about separating the yolks from the whites.

Yogurt – tub on it’s own Yogurt can be added to your cereal, in plain powdered protein shakes with low fat milk and pancakes that you’ve made with your egg whites.

4. Keep note of the recipes you’ve found on the net. Bookmark, print the recipes or save them to a handy place on your computer.

5. Using these recipes and new ideas, create a plan of what you are going to eat for the next week or so. This way you won’t have to think about it later or end up eating junk because you’ve arrived home just before dinner with no idea of what you are going to eat or prepare.

6. Do up your food / shopping list using the ingredients from the above meal plans. This will ensure you can create enjoyable meals because you will have all of the correct ingredients on hand.

7. Have a back up plan for a tasty meal or snack. This can be frozen leftovers from a previous meal that you’ve made, or purchase a couple of frozen lower calorie healthy meals that you can whip out for those days when you just aren’t organised.

Protein shakes, Meal Replacement powders and bars, as long as they suit your eating plan goals, are handy for ensuring you are consuming regular meals and / or to assist with meal supplementation. But remember they should not overtake your whole eating plan. You need real food – real nutritious meals are essential.

8. Healthy Diet Plan “blues” check! Once every 2-3 months, go through your eating plan to see if it requires altering. It may just be small changes, but it’s worth your while keeping tabs on it to ensure you’re keeping on track.

Remember, you can still eat healthy and enjoy your food. Don’t just put up with food because you have too. Only YOU can make your eating program enjoyable… and by taking the time to get involved YOU CAN LOVE YOUR FOOD!

Happy healthy eating folks,

Yours in fun, health and fitness

How to Beat Your Healthy Eating Plan Rut!

Admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:02:26 +0000

Are you sick and tired of eating the same old food day in and day out from your healthy eating plan?

Are you at the point where the thought of eating one more high protein low carb diet meal of grilled chicken and broccoli makes you want to puke?

Or maybe you’ve lost your appetite altogether because your exercise plan and diet makes you feel like you’re connected to a ball and chain dragging your body to home, work, training and bed.

So what can YOU do about it? LOTS!

If you’re in the above situation then you will value and put into action the following healthy diet tips to get your eating program back on track.

1. First off, you need to admit that you’re experiencing a FOOD RUT!

“D-uh” – I hear you say!

Don’t laugh because the above symptoms can be caused from stress at work, colds, or other conditions so it’s easy just to pass it off as something that will “come good eventually”.

2. Then you need to figure out what part of your healthy eating diet plan needs work.

a. Are you eating enough or too much? It’s easy when you are training to lose body fat to think that eating a lot less is best! Well this isn’t entirely correct and could ruin your training efforts if your eating plan doesn’t suit your training requirements and goals.

If you’re eating regime isn’t supporting your training “calorie-wise” then your body will be battling to survive your everyday activities, let alone your workout regime. And if you’re consuming too much, then you’re body is going to battle burning off those extra calories, leading to it being stored as body fat.

b. Are you stuck in the same eating plan routine? Look, there’s nothing wrong with having a regular eating routine, in fact it’s great, BUT if you’re absolutely miserable because you can’t stand eating the same meals everyday of the year then you definitely need to make some changes.

c. Are you eating too much of the one food? Are you eating rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day of the week. Or maybe you’ve been eating nothing but chicken or turkey for the past 6 months and have to force yourself to swallow it.

d. Maybe your eating program doesn’t suit your training needs. Maybe you’re not eating enough protein. Or you maybe eating too many starchy carbs eg… you may need to focus more on consuming foods such as broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, peppers, sweet potatoes, whole-grain bread, lean proteins etc…

e. Do you even have an eating plan? It’s easy to get caught up amongst all the supposed dieting tips and diet advice to the point where you’re so far out of whack with your healthy eating program it’s not funny. Are you just playing guessing games each day and “hoping for the best” because you figure if you’re exercising regularly you can eat whatever you want anyway?

f. Are you being honest about following your exercise plan and diet plan? “YES – I follow my eating plan BUT I don’t get any results”. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this, yet once a person’s written down what they have really eaten for the last two weeks it would make anyone put on 2-3 kilos!

To continue go here: Tips To Combat Your Healthy Diet Plan Blues

Happy healthy eating folks,

Yours in fun, health and fitness

Exercise Motivation – Get Real With Yourself And Stop Making Excuses

Admin — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:23:23 +0000

Are YOUR excuses getting in the way of you getting into shape? Not sure? Maybe you already know this is true and just don’t want to admit it. Most folk at one time of another need some “exercise motivation”.

I have made a few points below along with some examples.

Do any of these apply to you?

1. Are your “so called” obstacles really excuses to validate the fact that you can’t be bothered making the effort to get into shape?

Example:
“I have no time.”

Hey! – Who does?
Who really has time to get anything done these days? We all lack time but you can be sure if we wanted something badly enough we would make time for it, wouldn’t we? You bet! We do it for everything else so why not for our general health and fitness.

2. Are you afraid of failing at your attempts to improve your health and fitness so you’ve decided that blaming something or someone else for your lack of trying is the easy way out?

Example:
“I have tried to lose weight so many times and it just never works. After 3 weeks I never see any results. I don’t think I can handle not getting it right this time. What will everyone think? They will think I am a failure too.”

Only you can fix this fear! Who cares what anyone else thinks – this is YOUR life, not theirs. Besides don’t you think it’s time to take this opportunity to really try. As the for 3 weeks stint – who are you kidding? You haven’t even given your program a chance. It’s common for programs to take up to 6-7 weeks of sticking strictly to your plan before you start seeing truly noticeable results. So try again – this time choose to make it work. Don’t give up before you even start!

3. What gratification are you getting from making excuses by blaming someone or something for you not being able to lose weight or tone up?

Example:
“My husband won’t exercise with me or stick with our diet plan, it’s all HIS FAULT that I am fat”
or
“My children are very demanding, there is no way in the world that I can train and bring up children. My children wrecked my body giving birth to them and now they take up all my time – it’s all their fault that I am out of shape”

Ask yourself this……..

How do you think this makes your husband or children feel knowing that you are blaming them for your frustrations in life? Honestly is this really their fault?

Does this make you feel better by holding them responsible? Because you are considerate of other peoples needs and wants you tend to put yourself last, but don’t you think your family would be more than happy to help you become the person that you want to be if you only just asked them.

Unfortunately most folk don’t have ESP or can’t guess what it is you expect from them. So tell them! Pave the way for success… it will make your health and fitness regime so much easier.

4. Have your obstacles just become excuses because you are too scared to figure out the TRUTH on why you can’t get past this and just get on with getting into shape?

Example:
“I know that my eating problems stems from my childhood, but dealing with them would be just too hard, I don’t think I could bear going through those old feelings again”.

Dealing with problems that bring up a lot of emotional feelings is hard. But do you really want to suffer for the rest of your life because of this? Life is about enjoying yourself and living your life to the full. Make the choice to deal with your problems and improve the quality of your life. You can’t keep blaming your fitness frustrations on this problem forever.

The above are just a few of the many reasons why people prevent themselves from achieving what they want from life.

Look life isn’t easy – we all know that! But you can either sit there and wallow or make the effort to do something about it.

I know this sounds harsh! But hey I have been through tough times too y’know and so have many other people. So you’re not on your own.

But let me tell you this…….

Getting into shape just doesn’t happen by itself. We all have to make it take place! We have to plan, do some re-organising and choose to make time to look after our health and fitness. It doesn’t have to be torture, or make our lives so difficult that it seems impossible. It only seems like that because we perceive and create our situation to become like that.

No matter what your obstacle or excuse you need to face it. NOBDOY, I repeat nobody, deserves to be sitting there feeling miserable about themselves. Remember YOU are more than worthy of the chance to change your life and experience happiness and success – so go for it!

And if you are feeling down while reading this… here’s a big hug from me… “HUG” …

Just remember, you can do this. Exercise motivation doesn’t always come easy, but you can bet your butt once you’ve got yourself organised it’s an awesome feeling when those results start kicking in!

Happy training folks,

Yours in fun, health and fitness

Stretching Muscles – The Benefits of Stretching

Admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:06:18 +0000

“I never stretch, I don’t have enough time and I can’t be bothered lying around all over the floor stretching when I am in a hurry to get home from the gym?” Or “I train at home, I can barely squeeze my weights or cardio in – so I skip my stretches”… Sound familiar?! I hear it often! And even though it sounds funny when you hear it out aloud, it is often the case for many people that carryout an exercise regime. I can’t tell you enough how important stretching muscles is. As stupid as you may feel stretching may be it plays a major part in assisting healthy training results and gains.

Stretches help prevent injuries while training PLUS increase flexibility.

How? By making your muscles more flexible by lengthening them. For example, when you perform a bicep curl you bend your arm and raise your hand towards your shoulder. When you watch this movement you will see the bicep muscle shortening. When you extend your arm back to starting position it would be lengthening your bicep muscle.

Often when muscles have been trained hard, or if they haven’t been trained in years (lack of exercise in general) they tend to seize up, contract / shorten when you do put them under strain such as moving house, playing an occasional game of football at the park etc. So stretching these muscles helps lengthen them to give your body and limbs a better range of motion or movement.

When was the last time you either trained or did something strenuous to the point where your muscles were sore for days? Remember the sheer pain you went through? That’s your muscles contracting. So you need to stretch or lengthen them to help repair them and increase flexibility.

About Increasing Your Flexibility

As you already know we are born with fantastic range of movement when it comes to flexibility. Eg baby sucking it’s toes etc. So what happens? Most of us don’t bother to keep up with that type of range of movement as we get older, which means we lose our flexibility. When you think about it the average person doesn’t exercise that much at all, let alone go out of their way to train for flexibility.

Dancers and Gymnasts undergo large amounts of training and stretching to increase and maintain flexibility, as do many other athletes. You may have seen sports athletes at events or games where they have performed a warm up (say a jog for instance) around the oval. They warm their muscles up, then stretch them. This offers them better flexibility while they are playing and prepares their muscles for the game ahead. They will then perform stretches after the game as well.

About Stretching Muscles…

There are many types of stretches from partner stretches to sports specific stretches. What ever your activity, it is important to make sure you take a small amount of time out, while your muscles are still warm, to stretch. Try not to stretch on cold muscles because you may damage them. I could go on about the benefits of stretching for pages, so instead of rambling on, I have just given you a general explanation so you gain a better understanding of why it is so important to REMEMBER TO STRETCH!

Happy training folks,

Yours in fun, health and fitness

Butt and Thigh Toning to suit Your Body Shape

Admin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:32:36 +0000

Butt and Thigh Toning and Exercising

You will be happy to know that you are not the only one out there who wants the ins and outs of how tone your buttocks and thighs. How often, though, is it that you start a butt and thigh toning program only to find this troublesome area actually grows instead of shrinks when your aim is to lose buttocks and thigh fat! Or shrinks instead of increasing – if you have a flat butt. This situation has a tendency to put people off training because they don’t get the results they expect.

Why You have Problems Reducing Your Butt and Thighs?

The reason that you have so many difficulties attempting to lose buttocks and thigh fat is because these areas are main storage areas for body fat. For women reducing these areas can drive you nuts! The reason for having these fat storage areas is to assist us in times of survival. What?! You say? Let me put it this way. Say you were stuck out in the middle of nowhere without food, and just water. Your body would, after a while, start “kicking into your body fat stores” to help you survive, because you are not consuming any food. In the case of women during pregnancy if this occurred you would be “surviving for two” – thus the larger fat storage area.

How Eating the Wrong Food Affects Your Butt and Thigh Size

The size increase in your butt and thigh areas can depend on the type of program you are performing and what you are eating. To start with if your body fat storage areas tend to be your butt and thighs you need to be very careful of the extra bits and pieces you snack on. You can bet that most of the time when you consume extra calories and fat it will go, as they say, “straight to your thighs and butt”.

How Performing the Wrong Butt And Thigh Toning Program Affects Your Training Efforts

Then there is exercise. What you need to know is that there are workouts to increase the size of your butt and thighs, workouts to re-shape and reduce and then workouts to generally tone your buttocks and thighs. It’ll boil down to the way you perform your exercises, the resistance you’re using, and the combinations of specific exercises that your workouts consists of.

WHICH EXERCISES ARE YOU PERFORMING?

Sure it’s fine to say you’re going to tone your buttocks and thighs but if you are using a program that may not be correct for your body type you can easily, and unintentionally, increase the size of both of them!

How to Reduce or Increase Your Butt and Thighs!

Cardio
Cardio exercise plays an important part in how you can change or alter the size of your thighs and butt.

To decrease the size of your butt use a continual higher intensity style cardio program. So this would be around 45-55 mins at a challenging pace. You’ll need to perform around 5-6 sessions per week.

To increase your butt and thighs try using intervals for which you perform sprint drills. Around 25 minutes going from a lower intensity, then flat out then back to low intensity and so on. You can run up bleaches then walk down, do sprint drills at the track sprinting 100 meters then walking back. You get my drift. Do this around 3 times per week. 4 times if you’re trying to nip some more body fat in the bud.

Butt and Thigh Toning With Resistance Exercise

It is important that you perform a full body workout, rather than just concentrating on your butt and thighs. This will help increase your metabolism and help bring your body into proportion.

If you’re pear shaped and your butt / thigh areas are much larger than your upper body you’ll need to help break down the muscle and fat. Your goal being to tone your buttocks and thighs and of course to also lose buttocks and thigh fat. To do this perform lunges – as many as you safely can per set. Your reps per set can can range from 12-15 reps per leg through to 50+ depending on how advanced you are with your leg training. Remember only do what you can!

Walking lunges are great, but if you don’t have room then stationery lunges are fine. Don’t use any weights (no dumbbells etc, nothing) just perform the lunges until your muscles start to really burn. Do this one to two times per week for beginners and three times (medium to advanced) per week for three to four weeks. Once you’ve completed this you can start using other leg / butt exercise combinations – including floor leg exercises – but make sure you keep the weights low or light and the reps high around 20-25. Exercises like step-ups off benches etc are also great – remember – don’t use any weights, just lots of reps.

To increase your thighs and butt perform squats with heavier weights and keep your reps to around 6-12 per set. Leg press, squats, lunges, wide stance squats, deadlifts are all great. Depending on your fitness level, including medicine ball exercises in your leg training once every few weeks will help develop your butt and thigh muscles to new heights that you didn’t think were possible. Your current fitness level will determine what you can or can’t / shouldn’t do. There are “beginners” medicine ball exercises you can do as well.

Once you’ve got your butt and thighs to a size and shape that you’re happy with then you can reduce the weights to moderate with reps of around 10-12 to maintain the muscle you’ve built up. You can then add some exercises such as leg extensions and leg curls etc to add more definition to your legs, focusing on butt and thigh toning.

Obviously if you have knee or joint problems you’ll need to seek advice from a trainer to create a program that suits your specific needs. AND ALWAYS before starting an exercise program in general check with your doctor to ensure he / she gives you permission first!

Butt And Thigh Toning Eating Program

I know you think healthy eating is boring but it’s not. Although if you choose to make it boring and choose not to experiment with healthy foods then I guess it would be – if you choose to let it be. There are so many great options out there for common-sense eating, so there is no excuses – really, healthy eating can be really yummy! And let’s face it it, if it’s going to help you tone your buttocks and thighs – that’s double the benefit.

In regards to increasing or decreasing your butt and thighs…

To Lose Buttocks And Thigh Fat…

Taper off your carbs like potato, rice, pasta, grains, fruit after lunch. Choose brown carbs and / or fruit for breaky, morning snack and lunch along with protein of course. Include greens for lunch. After lunch stick with greens and protein as much as possible. Add some flaxseed oil to one of these meals (around 1 tablespoon).

To increase your butt and thighs… two options… the same as above if you’re trying to cut back on body fat. If not, once again, choose brown carbs and / or fruit for breaky, morning snack and lunch along with protein. Once again some greens for lunch. For your afternoon snack and dinner include greens, brown carbs and protein. Choose one meal to add 1 tablesoon of flaxseed oil.

A “simple to follow eating program” is vital when re-shaping your body and will determine whether or not you achieve your butt and thigh toning goals. Your workout/s and eating program work hand in hand to help stimulate your metabolism to burn body fat and to help re-shape and tone muscle.

General Eating Tips

Use brown carbs such as whole grain bread and sweet potatoes over white potato, white rice, white bread and pasta. Keep refined and simple carbs to a minimum.
Cut out as many bad fats from your diet as possible.
Don’t use high oil sauces, dressings or too much margarine or butter in your meals.
Cut fat and skin off your meat and “grill” – do not fry your meat!
Eat decent servings of fresh fruit and veggies.
Eat 5-6 smaller regular meals per day.
Increase your lean protein intake such as meat, chicken, seafood, protein shakes, egg whites, cottage cheese. Your protein shake must low in fat, fairly low in carbohydrates and high in protein.
Include EFA’s in your eating plan

And remember before starting any exercise or eating program you should consult your doctor first. The above may not suit everyone – especially if you have certain carbohydrate requirements within a prescribed diet for a medical condition.

Happy training folks,

Yours in fun, health and fitness

Exercise Bike Training – Increase Your Fitness and Burn Body Fat with Cycling

Admin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:47:51 +0000

Whether it be indoor or outdoor, exercise bike training in general is becoming more and more popular. With pollution on the rise and an increase for the push of general health and fitness, cycling is a great way to save $$ on fuel as well as getting fit and burning off a few extra calories.

Which is Best: Indoor or Outdoor Exercise Bike Training

There are many factors you need to take into consideration eg:
The weather
What time of the day you train
How much spare time you have
Whether you want to invest in the compulsory safety equipment involved in outdoor cycling
Whether or not you have access to a cycle path
If you are comfortable cycling on main roads and amongst traffic.
Do you prefer to train outdoors

It’s a personal choice – go with what suits you!

Benefits of Cycling for Fitness and Fat Burning

Cycling can offer benefits for both fitness and burning off unwanted body fat. It really depends on your health and fitness goals and what you want to achieve from your cycling program. Outdoor cycling can include cycle tracks in forests and parks, to cycle ways within your town or city, along beaches or major roads and free ways. You can take the family cycling or use your cycling program as some “time out” for yourself away from work and other pressures you may be experiencing at that moment in time.

Indoor cycling also offers some exciting opportunities as well. With “spin” and other cycle classes being extremely popular, and lots of fun, to just being able to control your own training programs from within the privacy of your own home.

Some Helpful Hints on Setting Up Your Bicycle

1. Make sure that the handle bars and seat are in a comfortable position.
2. Check that the seat height or the seat itself is suitable for your build, taking into consideration the amount of time you will be spending on it.
3. If you are using an indoor cycle make sure your bike has foot pedal straps. If you pick up the pace your feet can easily fly off if you don’t have them connected to the pedals.

A Few Things You Need to Organise Before Starting Your Exercise Bike Training

1. Do you have any injuries that effect what type of bicycle you use. eg, you may find a semi-recumbent cycle for indoors is more suited to your needs rather than your normal high seated indoor cycle etc.
2. Have you “OK’d” this exercise program with your doctor?
3. Do you know what your health and fitness goals are? And how will this effect your program.
4. Do you have a program that specifically designed for your goals?
5. Arranging your program so that you can enjoy it at a specific time of the day when you don’t have to rush. The last thing you want to do is spend all that money on setting your bike up only to throw in the towel due to other commitments interfering with your program times.
6. Do you have a resistance and eating plan organised to suit your cycling program? You might as well put in the effort with your diet and training if you are going to start a health and fitness regime. Don’t you think? It will certainly speed up your results.
7. As well as making sure your bicycle is comfortable and set up correctly you will also want to ensure that your indoor cycle is placed somewhere in your house where you will use it and where you can access it easily. And don’t forget about ventilation. You don’t want to stick it in some cramped up corner that’s stinking hot and you feel like you’re going to pass out each time you use it.
8. When using your bicycle make sure your legs aren’t wrapped up around your neck while pedalling. Keep your seat at a comfortable distance from the pedals. In the past, I used to get my clients to stretch their legs out completely then slightly bend their knees – then position the seat. This is so they get nearly a full extension of their legs without feeling like they are being pulled off the seat when the pedals rotate.
9. When cycling outdoors make sure your feet can touch the ground, while you are seated on your bike seat. The amount of times I have seen cyclists that are virtually falling off their bicycles when they stop at a corner, because their feet don’t touch the ground, always worries me. Play it safe and use your common sense when cycling.
10. When cycling outdoors make sure you check with your local council regarding rules and regulations for cycling eg. safety helmets, knee pads etc

How many times can I cycle per week?

Cycling 3-4 times per week can make a difference in the way you look, feel as well increasing your self esteem. You don’t need to cycle for hours on end, 30 – 40 mins is sufficient and less when you are first starting out. As your fitness increases you can ramp up the intensity and the length of your cycle sessions. If you’re training for a specific event your cycling training will vary with speed drills and training specific sessions to help you prepare for the “big day”.

Interval training on the bike is a fun and efficient way to expend calories and can be adapted to your fitness level. It will help reduce the workout time too!

Happy training folks,

Yours in fun, health and fitness

Build Muscle Tone – Are You Worried About Gaining Too Much Size From Weight Training?

Admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:14:59 +0000

A Common Concern

I have written about the specific topic of how to build muscle tone several times in my Newsletters as it has always been a very common concern – especially amongst women.

The most frequently asked questions regarding this issue are: “I would like to increase my lean muscle but I am afraid that if I use weights I will look like the body builders in the muscle magazines etc” or “I have recently begun a weight program and I am finding that I am bulking up. How do I achieve muscle tone without getting huge?”

You Need to Train for Big Muscles to Get Big Muscles

Body Building for very large muscles is only achieved by training in a specific manner to reach those goals – which can take years to reach this stage of muscle development. I personally love the physique of a body builder but it doesn’t necessarily mean that I want my muscles as big as that. However I can appreciate the sheer hard work that goes into that type of training. I have often used the techniques of advanced body building myself to gain muscle size when wanting to create a more muscular look without gaining too much size or looking masculine.

What You Eat will Encourage You to Bulk Up

One thing you need to watch out for when beginning your weight training program is what you eat. Why? Because what you eat effects the way your body reacts to your training program. Certain foods and the amount of those foods eaten can cause you to bulk up – when your actual plan or goal was to become leaner.

How Eating Affects Your Size and Shape when Partaking in a Weight Training Program

Ok. Reviewing your eating program is one of the most important things for you to do when starting your exercise program. When most people start training they find that they become very hungry, because they are expending more energy, which then leads them to eat more. The most common foods people reach out for when they are super hungry is really fatty foods or high sugar foods, because they’re convenient and “fulfil the craving” that’s being experienced. These foods, as much as they may seem to taste great, won’t help your progress if you’re training to build muscle tone while also keeping your body fat at bay.

Overeating to Compensate for Exercise

If you begin to fill the hunger gap with junk food, as mentioned above, you need to be training to burn off that type of food intake, which would often be more in the line of an elite athlete’s training program. This means that any excess calories you consume, and are not burning off, will most likely “store”, making it harder for your body to burn off stored fat and support healthy lean muscle growth. Besides, you and I both know that your body probably isn’t clapping it’s hands at the thought of you topping it up with bags of chips as a source of fuel for energy.

Putting On Weight when Your Starting Your New Exercise Program

It’s not uncommon for folk when they start exercising to put on a kilo or so. This is normally due to muscle growth. Even just a small amount of resistance training can cause this, especially if you haven’t trained in a while. But don’t worry because this is only weight not your measurements. Muscle is denser than fat so you may have already started losing some body fat, but because you’ve stimulated muscle growth there’s been a small gain in weight.

Don’t forget about water weight! The more muscle you have and the fitter you are the more water you’ll store. This is GREAT NEWS and means your body is reacting to your new training program. If you are doing the right thing by your program you will soon be seeing some fantastic changes in your body shape. So be persistent and try not get frustrated.

As you’ve probably realised, people who are very lean or very fit to look like they actually weigh less than what they really do. Ignore the scales and monitor your progress via taking your measurements, using goal clothing and fat calipers – and give the scales the flick for a while.

It is Easy to Get Confused when Trying to Choose What Food Types will Help Your Training Goals

Choosing what we should eat can be baffling. Often we tend to place it in the too hard basket and decide to start “tomorrow” on our new eating program. Honestly, once you get started you will be so impressed with yourself for making the effort to learn and educate your self further on this matter. Learning what is right for you and your body type will offer you the freedom to start experimenting with new recipes and to start seeing new results from your eating program.

Steps to Prevent You from Bulking Up

- Consume Lower in GI foods

- Reduce your bad fat intake. Make sure you include healthy fats in your eating plan. For example: EFA’s.. flaxseed oil, salmon etc

- Cut back on the “white” Carbs – breads, cereals, potato, pasta and rice etc opting for the brown ones instead eg.. multi-grain bread, sweet potato etc.

- Make sure you are performing 3-4 cardio sessions per week.

- Don’t forget about your weight training / resistance program. If you want to start training for larger muscles then user heavier weights with lower repetitions. And at the opposite end of the scale use lighter weights with more repetitions to help build muscle tone.

- Use variety in your cardio sessions and your weight training.

- Reduce your alcohol consumption.

- Make sure you take one day off per week from training and allow yourself a “cheat” meal once a week

- Increase your Lean Protein intake eg… fish, chicken breasts (skin removed / fat cut off), low fat cottage cheese, egg whites, lean red meats, protein shakes.

- Eat more veggies and salads, rather than filling up on “heavy” carbohydrates.

- Get your workout (weight/ resistance program and cardio workout) upgraded every 8-12 weeks , no longer.

Final words…
So unless you’re actually training to pack on heaps of size you won’t turn into the incredible hulk. Weight / resistance training and exercise in general not only gives us the opportunity to change our body but can also increase our fitness level, assist in rehabilitation, improve our self esteem and boost our overall well-being. Please don’t be scared to include it in your health and fitness regime. Choosing the right program for you is important so you can benefit and enjoy your workouts plus feel confident that you are on the right track to your health and fitness goals. And always remember to check with your doctor before starting any new eating or exercise program.

Happy training folks,

Yours in fun, health and fitness

Building Muscle Tips – Effective Steps to Build Muscle

Admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:48:06 +0000

Before we start on the building muscle tips…

When you think of muscle building some folk tend to envisage huge freaky physiques – like the ones that you frequently see in the some of the muscle mags. Every time they flex their clothes burst open with buttons flying off everywhere. I know – that’s a bit over the top but you get my drift.

The reality is that building muscle isn’t just about having biceps like pop-eye. Although don’t take for granted, not for a minute, the years and hours of hard work – and sacrifice – men and women training their bodies, to reach these types of results, make – it is truly inspirational.

Maybe YOU also want to build massive muscles, or maybe you just want to increase your muscle a little without getting as muscular. You can! If you haven’t already incorporated working on improving your lean muscle into your program then you should make friends with the idea because it really is worth it.

Ok, onto the building muscle tips…

A Toned Appearance and Lean Muscle Mass

Using lighter weights and more repetitions you can achieve a toned appearance without bulking up. If you’re building muscle for Body Shaping, your weights will need to be slightly heavier for some body parts yet lighter for others. Being able to transform your current body type by using resistance or weight training is exciting and possible. You can actually sculpt your body to suit your body-type’s requirements.

Both men and women are enjoying the benefits of increasing their lean muscle. Remember not all men want to look huge – the athletic look in men is also very popular at the moment and many guys are choosing to train towards maintaining a leaner appearance.

No matter what the gender – a toned body eg shoulders, abs, legs look great in summer – and lets face it – we all want to feel confident in the clothes we wear in the warmer months of the year.

Body Building / BIG Muscles / Increasing Muscle Mass

To create large amounts of muscle mass you need to damage the muscle to a certain extreme for your muscles to respond, repair and grow into strong, healthy muscles. Using heavy weights can most definitely assist with this both efficiently and effectively.You’ll also need to ensure that you give your body every opportunity to rest and recover to help prevent muscle depletion.

If you’re keen to get Big and Buff there are loads of great resources on the net for bodybuilding. VFT has a whole section dedicated to Bodybuilding so please feel free to browse around and check the article writtens specifically for this topic.

Training to Build Muscle to Match Your Fitness Goals

This varies on your goals of what you want your body to look like. For example: there are different weight training techniques you can incorporate into your workouts to help stimulate new muscle faster – or to help break plateaus.

Using a program that is suited to your body type and fitness level is very important when trying to build muscle of any kind. Don’t expect to reach your goals by just turning up at a gym and messing around with a few weights and hoping for the best. Because it just doesn’t work that way.

No matter what your goals are in regards to building muscle you need to make the time to dedicate yourself to your program. Unless you’re genetically gifted with super muscle growing powers it’ll take a month or so to start to seeing changes. And it can be a good 12 or so weeks before you really get to sew the rewards from your training efforts. Don’t get impatient. Understand that you need to treat your workouts – and your muscles- with lots of TLC to help your program run smoothly and more efficiently.

Eating to Build Muscle

For huge muscles and muscle mass you will need to consume more calories than you’re expending. A healthy eating program which includes all of the food groups will make a huge difference to your results. Sufficient protein and carbohydrates will help you get through your training and is important for healthy repair of your muscles. If you battle putting on muscle mass then you’ll have to really ramp up your calories.

If you want to build lean muscle then you may want to reduce your calories slightly and arrange your diet to fit in with your training goals.

If light toning and fat loss is what you are after then you will once again also need to carefully watch your calorie and fat intake, while still ensuring that your body gets sufficient nutrition. No matter what your training goals are never starve yourself. Regular meals through-out the day are very important.

Starting Your Muscle Building Program – the take home building muscle tips…

1. You don’t need a lot of equipment, even dumbbells on their own are great to start with.
2. Make sure you have a program to follow that suits your needs and gives you sufficient instructions on how to perform your exercises.
3. When performing your exercises keep your knees slightly bent, your back straight, chest out and your tummy firm, even when you are performing seated exercises you need to make sure you have good posture.
4. Don’t swing your weights about. If you are finding that you are swinging your body around to lift your weights then you should lower the weights until you are ready to advance.
5. Perform your exercises correctly. If, as I mentioned above, you have to swing your body – or your weights – around then you are probably more likely to be giving your lower back a crappy workout rather than the body part you thought you were training. Don’t waste precious training time by not using good form while training.
6. Always keep a water bottle near by so have easy access to fluids while training. This will keep you from dehydrating.
7. Make sure you perform a warm up before training and then cool down after wards. While your muscles are still warm after your cool down perform your stretches.
8. Sleep! You need to have sufficient sleep to ensure your body has time to repair itself and recover from your day’s training and general activities.
9. Organise your eating plan ahead of time so that you can have your meals on hand. This will help prevent you from consuming junk as well as keeping up with regular meal times.
10. Protein. You will need sufficient protein intake in your diet to help supplement your muscle development. Protein shakes are fantastic for this if you’re finding it difficult to include sources such as chicken, fish, meat (all are to be lean, skin or fat cut off) low fat yogurt, low fat cottage cheese, egg whites etc…

Just one more thing I need to mention for these building muscle tips…

If you battle with body fat, increasing your lean muscle mass can help turn your body from floppy to firm and toned. Did you know that the more lean muscle you have the higher your metabolism – that’s right, you’ll be burning more calories day and night. Ya gotta love it!

Happy training folks,

Yours in fun, health and fitness