Exercise of the Day Thursday 29/04/2010

Rowing:

The rowing machine has been a long time favorite of mine, it works so many muscle groups for a cardio piece of kit that its worth all the hard work.

The best rower on the market, in my opinion, is the Concept 2, most gyms have them, if your lucky you'll own one, they've been around for some years and are tried and tested, they've changed a little over the years, small tweaks here and there, but the testament to there ability to be great is the fact even the old ones are still going, if you fancied buying one these models can be found on places like ebay for around £4-500 or if you really want to invest in your health a brand new model that will probably out last you will cost just over the grand mark.

Technique is important when using the rower, drive with the legs, then pull with the arms into the lower abs area, then arms extend and legs come in.

If you suffer from lower back pain these may not be the best bit of kit for you, seek professional advice before hand if your not sure.

The other great thing you can do is challenge yourself, either time or distance.

PT Fitness

Exercise of the Day Wednesday 28/04/2010

Kids Play Ground:

Today's exercise is mainly about one part of the kids play park, the monkey bars! moving between each bar back and forth looks like child's play when these little tykes mess around, but once you've grown up those extra pounds that age and size add make for a great challenge, launching yourself from bar to bar soon gets hard and the longer the run the harder it gets!

The next time your down the park with the kids have a look to see how you can play!

PT Fitness

Exercise of the Day Tuesday 27/04/2010

Rope Climb:

Now for this exercise it is hard to give any clear details on technique as many people use different styles to climb, so what I would like to do is go over a few simple rules that could help you achieve this exercise and more importantly keep you safe.

To climb a rope you need good upper body strength, strong core and legs, and the will to succeed. Technique as I've said varies, the most common way is like the lady in the picture, hand above hand with feet locking the rope.

using no legs at all makes this really hard coming purely from the upper body, then from here you could extend your legs out to the front and do an "L" climb, great on the core!

But remember always, safety, a rope spotter to stop the rope flying around as you climb, more so if your new to this, a crash mat, for obvious reasons, gloves, especially if your upper body strength isn't massive, these will save your hands if you slide, most of all start low, build up to it, after a while you'll be shooting up and down, oh, and the other thing you may need is a rope! do not climb a nylon rope or thin rope as these will hurt, the thickness of the rope is important, to thin and it'll hurt, to fat and you will struggle.

If this is something you would like to try, to see if you can do what the P.E. instructors at school wanted you to achieve, before health and safety! find a trainer, club or public assault course to try, and if its your first time, don't go alone.

PT Fitness

Weekly Workout Monday 26/04/2010

Legs Legs Legs:

Good leg strength is the key to a lot of our daily problems, the legs support our body weight and help with the fight against gravity, the legs also contain the largest muscles in the human body the biggest of which is the glutes, if you want to protect your back, build a good bum, if you want to look after your knees, build the butt and work the quads, it all starts down here so this area should always be a priority to get and keep strong.

This workout is designed to hit all the leg muscles and leave you with a lovely little burn.

Warm & Stretch suitably before you start.

First Stage.

3 sets of 10 Dead lifts, (not to heavy, but it needs to let you know its going on!)

3 sets of 20 alternating Lunges. (10 each leg)

1 set of 20 bench Step-ups

1 set of 20 Pistols (10 each leg)

1 set of 20 bench Reverse Lunges (10 each leg)

2 sets of 10 Dead lifts

To enhance this workout do all the exercises holding either Kettle Bells or Dumbbells.

Make sure you stretch!!

Chris Nash

Personal Trainer

PT Fitness