Friday's Nutrition Tip 09/04/2010

Structure.

What I mean by structure is the basics of When & What, the where all depends on your day but with that in mind, do try to sit down, not in front of the tele.

So the first one, When? simply put, eat within the first 40 minutes of getting up, then structure your day from there, eat regularly (every 3-4 hours) so if I ate breakfast at 07:30 my first snack would be at 10:30, lunch would be 13:30 followed by my afternoon snack at 16:30 meaning my diner, if able to work on the 3 hour rule, would be at 19:30, the amounts which you eat are of course very important, but for now the What must come first, Proteins, Carbs and Fats, thats right, fats, these three food groups need to match your type of person, and the fats will return you to your natural energy source, sugars are not it, and to many of the foods we eat today are laced with it, including those pre-bought healthy option foods you buy, now figuring out what kind of person you are can be the hardest, we all love, or should love different foods at different times, so the best way to figure this out if you can't find somebody to test you is keep a log of what you eat, then how you feel 1 hour after & also 2 hours after, how energized you feel, whether your hungry or still satisfied, this should give you an idea of your metabolic typing, do you respond well to carbs, or perhaps proteins?

The first thing you need to do though is start eating...... Next week, the food groups.

Exercise of the Day Thursday 08/04/2010

Fit Ball Push-up.

I know, another basic exercise, but sometimes its important to remember those we start with. A lot of the exercises we perform as we become more experienced in our training, and the more people we talk to, books we read etc we start getting a huge arsenal of exercises that if you truly break them down are merely variations and adaptations of the basic ones.

We covered Push-ups before, now the difference with the fit ball version is your feet are up on the ball so creating lateral movement which is controlled and stabilized by the core, because your feet are in the air the downward pressure on the upper body and shoulder area in particular is increased thus making it harder to perform.

Another variation of this is to have your feet on the floor with both hands on the ball, this again is much harder than a normal push-up.

Exercise of the Day & Yesterday, Wednesday 07/04/2010

For Yesterday:

Stability Ball Flies:

The use of Stability ball's (swiss ball/fit ball) has been around since the end of the second world war, so I think we've gone beyond the fad stage now, this versatile piece of kit was originally intended for rehabilitation work with soldiers, but development of fitness knowledge has made these one of the essential bits of equipment for anybody keen on working their core and all other body parts, most exercise's can be performed on the fit ball, but if you're looking to get one for yourself make sure you get a decent one which is anti-burst.

So, back to the first exercise, the fly, this is the same in most ways as the bench fly, but instead of a bench you and the ball will become the bench.

Sit on the Ball with a good postural alignment, roll yourself out to form the bench, (see picture), from here you can now perform the fly, with the correctly selected weight, (slightly less than you would normally fly), start with your arms extended above your chest, open arms to a horizontal position then return to the vertical performing a small isometric contraction at the end of the movement, breath in when you come down, out as you go up.

The second exercise again from the fit ball arsenal is the Bridge Leg Curl.

This is a great one, it really works the hamstrings, glutes and core. So, you start by laying on the floor face up, pop your feet up on the ball so your legs are at about 45 degrees, then form a bridge by stiffening the body and lifting your glutes off the deck. From this position you can now pull, with your feet, the ball in towards your glutes, then back out to maintain the bridge.

Fool!!

What a fool, just realized I missed a valuable day out due to the easter weekend!

Monday's workout was on Tuesday, so today, Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday!!! I will post not 1 but 2 exercise's of the day!

Sorry!

Weekly Workout Monday 06/04/2010

This is a nice simple all over strength session.

3 x 10 on everything, simple major muscle groups.

Dumbbell Bench Press.

Single Arm Dumbbell Row.

Shrugs.

Dumbbell Shoulder Press.

Lat Pullover.

Squats.

Sit-Ups.

Remember to warm up and cool down, choose a weight that is challenging, a slight struggle to squeeze out the last rep of each set, if necessary get somebody to spot any exercises you are unsure of.

Chris Nash

Personal Trainer

PT Fitness