Food for Thought

As a fitness professional, nutrition is often considered in terms of performance (eat this to go faster, further or improve recovery times) or appearance (body composition, lose or gain weight or improve muscle definition and shape).  Whilst many fitness professionals do have an understanding of how food affects the emotions, very little thought is given to the impact of what we eat on how we feel or why we eat what we do.

Curiously, the impact of food on how we feel is also rarely considered by those in the mental health services - specifically I'm thinking of counselling and psychotherapy professions.  Yet what we eat can have a profound affect on how we feel.

For example, it is known that caffeine and sugar can increase feelings of anxiety and depression despite giving an initial lift to our feelings, therapists will rarely suggest to clients that an alteration in diet may reduce the burden of difficult feelings like anxiety and depression.

This knowledge is often known by fitness professionals, but rarely is it asked for by clients - this is one of the examples of where counselling and personal training can actually meet: the mind and body is ultimately part of a single unit that should be treated as an integrated whole: YOU!

Progress not Perfection

Most clients come to me with very fixed goals in mind - most usually "I want to lose weight".  Goals are well and good, but they can demotivate and are generally temporary. By which I mean that if they are too difficult to achieve, then are too often abandoned or once achieved you spring back to your old habits and lose all the benefits gained through healthy eating and exercise.

I prefer to promote lifestyle change - little by little transforming the way my clients live so that they permanently live fitter, healthier lives.  They may achieve their goals en route, but the goals may become only a secondary concern once the pattern of wellness becomes ingrained.

To make this transition from goal focussed to habitually living well requires that my clients fall in love with the process of eating healthy food and exercising regularly.  That this is seen not as a chore, but as a right and an entitlement: you deserve to look after yourself and have time doing something to make you feel good!

Stair Running

What is it?

Stair running is what it says - running up and down stairs.  Think about how hard you work walking up a few flights of stairs (please tell me you use the stairs and not the lift or escalator!) - it doesn't take much to get you out of breath.

Stair running challenges the body aerobically, as the effort to lift the body vertical is much greater than that of simply moving forwards.  Extra oxygen is required by the working muscles to keep them burning fuel, that requires deeper inhalation of the lungs and stronger and more frequent pumping of the heart, increasing the body's ability to burn fat.  Incidentally, a stair run episode of 20-30 minutes can be twice as effective as a run of the same duration in improving aerobic performance and will burn approximately twice as many calories as a run of the same duration.

Stair running also gets deep into the buttock and leg muscles as the upward motion requires a much stronger response from those big muscles.  In fact, it's more likely to invoke the glutes than standard running, as those muscles only really get involved in the more forceful movements.

Additionally, stair running improves balance and coordination and that makes for safer running.  It can also provide a less impact intensive alternative to conventional running (provided you take it very easy on the descent).

As a result, stair running is an excellent component of any running, half marathon or marathon training program.

What to do

Get warmed up!  This is strenuous exercise and you should be well warmed up before starting.

Find a set of stairs which aren't used that much (so you won't be fighting past people).  Typically, these might be fire escapes (indoors or outdoors), footbridges or you might have access to the steps in a stadium.  I use the steps between IKEA and the other shops at the Eastgate Shopping Centre; there are a set that don't get much use.  I think these are about the equivalent of two flights in a house.

The rest is easy!  Run up the stairs as fast as you can and take about twice as long coming back down to recover.  Repeat any number of times; I do a anywhere between 12-16 runs of one type before changing over and doing a different kind of run.

Types of Stair Run

Basic

Run up the stairs just as you would walk them by placing one foot on the next step up from the other foot as quickly as you can.

Quick Feet

Take one step at a time, placing both feet on the step.  Alternating starting foot so that your left leg leads for the first ascent, then your right foot leads for the second ascent.  This exercise is good for working on agility.

Sideways

Turing sideways to the stairs so that your feet are longwise on each step and your hips and body face the handrail (assuming there is a handrail), move as quickly up the stairs without allowing your hips or feet to twist towards the steps.  This exercise works agility and coordination as well as getting deep into the calf muscles.

Bounding

Take two steps at a time and bound all the way up.  The greater force required will get deep into those big leg muscles.

Leaping

Starting with only single steps, jump forward so that both feet end up on the next step at the same time.  You can increase the number of step to two or three, but do take extra care with this version of the exercise as the risks of falling are greatly increased.

Finally…

For obvious reasons, do take extra care if doing this in the dark or wet!

When Was The Last Time You Changed Your Routine?

A few minutes on the upright bike, a few weights, some crunches and a wee stretch at the end and you're done!  Or are you?  While you may be perfectly satisfied with your routine, and many follow the same routine for years, you might be missing out on boosting your progress - you might not even be making any progress - or worse: performing exactly the same movements day and day out might actually be storing up joint problems.

Perhaps you're one of those into "muscle confusion"?  Doing something different every session with the idea that if your muscles don't know what's about to hit them that they'll adapt more quickly?  Such routines can feel like hard work or they might feel easy, but without a plan and some baselines (which involves having some fixed elements to your routine), you'll never know what works and what works against you.

While changing your routine might seem easy, what people don't realise is that it's best to do it in an organised and planned manner - thinking about how to measure whether the changes are successful or counter productive.  Personal Trainers can teach you how to work a balanced routine, how to modify the routine and how to monitor how your routine is working.  A Personal Trainer will always ensure that your programme is safe and balanced - what's more (provided you're dedicated and stick to the plan), you needn't see your Personal Trainer every week!