Man Flu

Well. I wanted to be blogging how I went for a run on Christmas Day because the sun was shining, and then managed to fit a gym visit in or tow between seeing friends.

Instead I'm blogging that I've been spending time in bed wi a temperature feeling half dead!

So I give my body the rest it needs and ensure good nutrition. I'm feeling a bit better now and hopefully will go for a short run tomorrow afternoon.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Remember - neutral pine and flexed knees when getting that turkey out of the oven!

Handstand iPad Wallpaper

A wee collage of my favourite challenge: handstands!  These aren't photos of me - not yet! In the summer I'll get some photos of me dong handstands wherever there's a nice backdrop.  You can use this as a wallpaper on your iPad.

Weighing on your mind?

The problem with any weight loss strategy is that you cannot stop eating!

Obviously, this can cause problems when dieting, when trying to lose weight through never use or using a combination of the two. Often people over-compensate for the energy expended during exercise by eating too much ("I've earned this"). Many people also drink energy drinks while exercising - these are fatal to weight loss as they almost certainly have a calorie content greater than the energy expended and the calories ingested wont register on the brain's feeding centre … as a result you may feel even hungrier after exercise and drinking these sugary drinks than simply on exercise alone as they can spike insulin levels.

Many people become discouraged with weight loss if it doesn't happen quickly. Others abandon the process after losing a lot of weight initially and the plateauing. Those that do best are those that work to a gradual, sustainable weight management programme and gradually make behavioural changes.

That is why I partner with a professional counsellor to tackle the psychological aspects of diet and weight management to help tackle the mind as well as the body.

Is Exercise Failing You?

Are you in the gym everyday, sweating buckets and still not losing weight?

Have a good look at what you're doing outside of the gym:

• Do you drink lots of alcohol? The alcohol you don't burn immediately will be stored as fat. Alcohol will probably also inhibit your performance when exercising
• Do you smoke? This will reduce the effectiveness of your aerobic system (heart and lungs). It will also inhibit nutrient absorption.
• Do you feel you sleep well? Sleep is when your body repairs itself and builds muscle
• Do you have breakfast? All night you've been asleep and your metabolism drops; eating breakfast gives it a kick and gets you motoring. Skipping breakfast may be a false economy.
• Do you drive short distances? Or take the lift? Keeping active is more than getting hot in the gym - it involves raising your activity level throughout the day!
• Do you snack? Be honest! Sugars do horrible things to our energy systems - they encourage us to feel hungry, and then we eat more sugary things to fill us up.
• Do you drink sports drinks? These are full of sugar, and unless you are running marathons contain much, much more energy than you exert in the gym.

Try keeping a diary of what you eat, drink and all the activity you do in a day and how you feel about each thing.

Coffee and Exercise

I was gong to have a talk about the effects of coffee on my body as sometimes I'll have a cup or two when I'm tired and need perking up, or I might have a cup before doing some exercise to give me an extra boost if my energy is lacking.

What I Thought I Knew

I thought I knew coffee: it can certainly disrupt my sleep, it can artificially elevate my heart rate, and I have found that it can make running unpleasant as it relaxes the smooth muscle in my oesophagus and starts repeating on me! The same type of muscle can be found at the other end of the food pipe … which explains why some people need a poo after drinking coffee. Yuk! I also knew that coffee could interfere with iron absorption, making it a problem drink for some athletes, especially female athletes.  These things are still true.

Benefits of Coffee

It turns out that coffee can be hugely beneficial (although I have to wonder about who pays for the research!).

It seems that the effects of coffee on the brain, nervous system and endocrine systems are well researched and quite profound!
• Type 2 diabetes - several studies have found that unsweetened coffee reduces the chances of developing type 2 diabetes
• Reduced chance of developing dementia, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease
• Reduction in certain kinds of cancers (eg liver, kidney, colorectal and prostate)
• Reduction in heart arrhythmia and strokes

It's quite possible that if you develop headaches (like I do) or other side affects when drinking coffee that its the bean and how its prepared rather than the caffeine. Try coffee from a different part of the world, or that has been roasted for longer or less time. Lighter roasts tend to have more caffeine in than darker roasts (that surprised me); it's the roasting that tends to make the coffee taste stronger rather than the caffeine - research also indicates that darker roasts tend to have higher levels of chemicals that protect your nervous system than lighter roasts (neuroprotective).

Coffee as a metabolic booster

If you're trying to lose weight, drinking black, unsweetened coffee may help - all over the place I am reading the phrase "coffee can boost metabolism by up to 20%" … although I am struggling to actually find the research that backs it up! There is a good article on live strong.com that does have fairly decent references; the evidence here is that drinking coffee helps metabolise fatty acids.

When to drink coffee

There do appear to be a few rules for drinking coffee for health benefits:
• Drink it black and unsweetened - you'll wipe out any benefits if you put milk, cream, sugar or sweeteners in it
• Drink organic as coffee is one of the most heavily sprayed products
• Don't drink it too regularly - your body will adapt to it and you won't get the metabolic uplift
• Avoid drinking to late in the day and after exercise - drink before exercise for best benefits

Enjoy your next cup!

The Evening Run

I've just got back from me weekend run. Sundays (usually in the morning) are my long run day - in the summer this will be about 15-20km, in the winter I usually try and keep a 10k banked - I don't like the cold and dark!

In the winter I'll do lots if endurance leg work, lots of repetitions with lighter weights (12-15 repetitions plus with 30-60 seconds rest between sets), to keep my energy systems from atrophying. Training this way encourages lactic acid build up, which in turn keeps my body's aerobic energy system in tip-top shape as it keeps my heart and lungs strong, my capillaries open and my cells' tiny power stations (mitochondria) busy.

So it's back home, stretch out, the mandatory handstand followed by a bath.

Exercise on my day Off

Just been for a short run up to the gym, done some resistance exercise working on legs and shoulders - legs because I enjoy running and always want to improve my performance, and shoulders because at the age of 38 I've decided that I want to be able to do handstands!  I've never done them before and such things get harder to learn as you get older ... and they are amazing shoulder, back, core and posture exercises and are good fun!  Then a quick run back and a bath with the dog (she needed it) followed by a shower (I really needed it!).

Welcome!

Hi there!

It's is my first ever blog post.  Here I'm going to be sharing fitness hints and tips, sharing things I learn from other sources and telling you about life as a Personal Trainer (and how I balance - or not) my passion with everyday life.