Read Kelly's tips from May here:
May 2011
Monday always seem to be the day that 'the diet' begins or you are confident you will hit the gym every day this week no matter what.
I'm sure our intentions are there, but in reality do we stick to what we set out to do for the week ahead?
Don't be so hard on yourself - if you miss a training session, just make up for it by training harder on your next workout. If you overindulge on the office biscuits, again just ensure you get back to a healthy eating plan or go for an extra walk.
This week why not focus on something different? No matter how many times you train this week or what strict diet you've put yourself on, I'm suggesting you look at 'how to get an energy boost before your workout'.
No matter what time of day you train, if you ensure you take on board one of these options you'll have more energy to train resulting in working out harder:
- If you are an early bird and like to train first thing, then caffeine is perfect for revving up your nervous system and priming your body for peak performance. (This needs to be black coffee- no milk added.) I'm only suggesting this fror people who struggle with eating breakfast so early before 7am.
- If you can manage to eat before your workout, then honey is your next energy provider. This is twice as sweet as sugar, but has a low glycaemic index preventing a rise in sugar levels and then a sudden crash. Honey is easy to digest and can give a real energy boost. So why not drizzle some on your porridge?
- Mid morning snack - eat Brazil nuts. Even though these have a high calorie content, these nuts are packed with a powerful antioxident that promotes energy production. Eat around 6 of these and they'll also help maintain your mood to keep you focused on the workout ahead.
- If you exercise after lunch, eggs would be a great option to eat. Maybe an omelette packed with colourful vegetables. Research shows that eggs can help improve circulation leading to improved aerobic performance and being able to train at a higher intensity.
- When you're training later in the day it's important you don't miss an afternoon snack. It is quite easy to slope off home after work instead of going to your exercise class or the gym. Eating raisins will help increase your mental alertness and because they are a concentrated source of carbohydrate, it helps in enabling your body to save some of its muscle fuel for later on in your workout.
So try and incorporate these into your day and it will help you keep the goals you set out on a 'Monday'.
Training regularly and eating healthier.
Good luck:)
Previous week's tips
What do you understand of the term "being fit"?
I think it's something that we'd all like to say we are, but what is it?
To me it means: "someone who has the highest resistance to illness and injury, together with the highest amount of energy possible."
There are different elements that effect someone being 'fit'. This week I'm going to touch on the rest aspect.
REST is such an important part of your training programme. If you don't rest you'll never truly become 'fit' and you become stronger during your recovery period.
I always get asked the question: "Can I or should I train every day?"
In my opinion NO but everybody is different and there are so many factors to take into consideration:
- What are you training for?
- Do you vary your training intensities?
- Are you training different muscles one day, so then the next day you can continue to train but use other muscles, while the others recover?
There are pros and cons for both. on one hand I encourage you to be active every day and if your goal is weight loss, then people think the more you do the better, but I would recommend at least one rest period of 24 hours between training sessions.
As I said previously, your muscles repair and get stronger during the recovery period and you'll notice if you do have a day off, when you next do a session you will have more energy so are be able to perform better and work harder.
Without rest you'll fall into 'over training' which can lead your body into hitting a plateau and you'll find you're not seeing the results you want. Overtraining can also lead to injuries.
Sleep is also a key ingredient when we are talking about rest.
People need different amounts, the average being 8 hours per night and I know I definitely need mine.
It is proven that whatever amount you get at present, if you get an extra 10 hours per week, you will improve your aerobic capacity, lean tissue and flexibility - it sounds good to me so, on that note, time for a quick power nap I think.
Na night : )
Last week I touched on the exercise part of being fit:
LESS IS MORE
I believe around two and a half hours of cardio needs to be completed on a weekly basis working at different intensities (interval training)
Resistence exercises should be done a minimum of twice a week. Sessions lasting no more than 40 minutes including major muscle groups - chest, legs, back, abs.
The three important factors to remember when doing your exercise are:
1. Engaging the core - The root of your training comes from your abdominals, so these need to be contracting throughout your session.
2. Body alignment - If you engage the core as above this will ensure you can keep good posture and technique throughout the exercise.
3. Exercising to failure - In order to succeed and gain results means when you are completing your resistence training each exercise needs to be performed slowly and accurately until another repetition can't be completed.
Other factors that make up being 'Fit' are nutrition and rest which I will cover next week.
Kelly :)
Email Kelly at: kelly.potts@kirklees.gov.uk
