Workout tips

Circuits Hit that plateau? Try a circuit for the next two weeks. Instead of doing a set, resting, and then doing your second set move on to multiple exercises in a circuit, so that you don’t rest between exercises but do rest each muscle group. This will give you a good cardio workout while you do your strength training.    Limit your workouts Though the tendency of some people who really want to get a lot out of their workouts is to spend a lot of time at the gym, the truth is that after 30 or 40 minutes, the benefit isn’t as great. To go that long, you’d have to lower the intensity of the workout, and that means that you’re spending too much time working out. It’s better to work out at a higher intensity for a shorter amount of time.    High-intensity workouts If you’re just starting out with exercise, it’s best to take it slow. If you’re running or cycling, for example, build up your endurance for at least a month before you get into anything more intense. That means going at a rate where you can easily talk without being out of breath. However, once you have that base of endurance, step up the intensity to step up the effectiveness of the workout.

Pick a cardio exercise you enjoy It’s no fun to exercise if you hate it. And you won’t keep it up for very long. Pick something that you enjoy; the treadmill for jogging or hill walking, cycling or spinning for a more intense and instructed workout. Rowing and the stairmaster excellent for legs and glutes and the cross trainer for an all over non-impact workout. After the initial phase when you’re getting used to exercise, you’ll start to have a blast and look forward to it.    Muscle Building Slow lifting: Many people contract their muscles slowly and then release more quickly. But if you lift slowly in both directions, you are maximizing each move. Lift and lower to a 5-second count in each direction. Heavier weight: When you’re starting out, it’s best to start with lower weights so you can focus on good form. But once you’ve gotten your form down, it’s best to lift the heaviest weights you can lift while still keeping good form. Don’t sacrifice form for heavy weights — that is ineffective.    Compound exercises Try maximizing the time you spend in a workout by doing exercises that work out multiple muscle groups at once. With just a few exercises, you could get a full-body workout. Another benefit is that your muscles are working together functionally as they do in the real world, rather than alone. Some great compound exercises include squats, dead-lifts, good mornings, lunges, push-ups, bench presses, military presses, rows, pull-ups, dips, and more.

Toby’s Tips

Toby’s Tips

As Toby has been on his holidays,  we asked Personal Trainer Matt Dunn to step in and give us his tip of the month!

Spring in your step!

As March draws to a close its hard to believe that summer hasn’t arrived early.  The spring weather has been unseasonably hot and Brighton and Hove seafront and beach has been busy with locals and tourists alike.  The sunny weather is an incentive for many to move up a gear with their exercise routine in order to look and feel their best for the summer.

Most people like familiarity and routine which can lead to a training plateau if you are in the habit of doing the same exercises every time you come to the gym.  If you want to stimulate change in your body then you have to approach your training differently – change the order of the exercises in your programme or substitute new exercises in place of familiar ones.  Speak to one of our personal trainers about designing a new programme in order to overcome an exercise plateau and maximise the results of your effort in the gym.

One of the best ways of introducing variety into your exercise routine is mixing classes in with your gym work.  As the evenings are getting lighter and the weather has been so warm and dry we have decided to take some of our classes outside onto Regency Square – weather and participants permitting!  If you are a class regular, why not try a completely new and different class or add a gym session into your weekly routine and use some of the equipment, you’ll be surprised at how the variety can promote positive change!

Personal Training Benefits

Personal Training Benefits

The benefits of exercise are widely documented and using the gym is a great way of enjoying them.  Whether you are coming to the gym to improve your fitness, change your body shape, improve your energy or relieve some of the stress of modern life.  Personal training at Alive can make that experience more effective for you!

Using a personal trainer is a great way of helping you achieve your goals safely and effectively.  At Alive we have a team of highly experienced personal trainers available to support you in getting the most out of your time in the gym.

Our trainers offer a free consultation to find out about you so you can work together in a relaxed environment to discuss your goals and come up with a challenging realistic plan on how to achieve them whatever your current fitness level.  There is a wealth of conflicting information out there and ours trainers can work with you to tailor your training to suit your individual needs in an enjoyable and effective way.  We believe that if you are enjoying your exercise you will put more in and get more out of it!

Why not work with one of our personal trainers to get more from your gym sessions PLUS mention this newsletter and receive £5 off your first session! You can approach Toby, Matt or Jenny directly or ask at Reception for more information.

By Matt Dunn

2012 fitness resolutions tips

While resolutions are well-intentioned, unfortunately most people fail at keeping them. With all the hype surrounding these promises, it’s easy to get caught up in them without really taking them seriously. We live in a throw-away society and even our resolutions, I’m afraid, are not immune. However, especially for promises that include improving our health it’s in our best interest to not take them lightly. So, what’s the secret to successful resolutions? While you can’t wave a magic wand and make your resolution come true, there are some easy steps to take to make it easier to fulfil your promise to yourself.

Choose an obtainable goal. Resolving to look like a super model is not realistic for the majority of us, but promising to include daily physical activity in our lives is very possible.

Avoid choosing a resolution that you’ve been unsuccessful at achieving year after year. This will only set you up for failure, frustration and disappointment. If you are still tempted to make a promise that you’ve made before, then try altering it. For example, instead of stating that you are going to lose 30 pounds, try promising to eat healthier and increase your weekly exercise.

Create a game plan. At the beginning of January, write a comprehensive plan. All successful businesses start with a business plan that describes their mission and specifics on how they will achieve it. Write your own personal plan and you’ll be more likely to succeed as well.

Break it down and make it less intimidating. Rather than one BIG end goal, dissect it into smaller pieces. Set several smaller goals to achieve throughout the year that will help you to reach the ultimate goal. Then even if you aren’t able to reach your final goal, you will have many smaller, but still significant, achievements along the way. For example, if your goal is to complete a 10K race, your smaller goals could be running a 5K in less than 30 minutes, adding upper and lower body strength training to increase your muscular endurance, and running 2 miles with a personal best completion time.

Ask friends and family members to help you so you have someone to be accountable to. Just be sure to set limits so that this doesn’t backfire and become more irritating than helpful. For example, if you resolve to be more positive ask them to gently remind you when you start talking negatively.

Reward yourself with each milestone. If you’ve stuck with your resolution for 2 months, treat yourself to something special. But, be careful of your reward type. If you’ve lost 5 pounds, don’t give yourself a piece of cake as an award. Instead, treat yourself to a something non-food related, like a professional massage.

Don’t go it alone! Get professional assistance. Everyone needs help and sometimes a friend just isn’t enough. Sometimes you need the help of a trained professional. Don’t feel that seeking help is a way of copping out. Especially when it comes to fitness, research studies have shown that assistance from a fitness professional greatly improves peoples success rate.

Limit your number of promises. You’ll spread yourself too thin trying to make multiple changes in your life. This will just lead to failure of all of the resolutions.

On average only about 20% of us keep our New Year’s resolutions. Unfortunately, some of the biggest failures are found in fitness resolutions. But don’t let the statistics get you down. By following the tips above you’ll be better equipped to fall into the successful 20% category.

Please don’t hesitate to ask one of the PT’s here for help kickstarting your new year.

Ski fit ready program by Jonathan

Skiing is a great and exciting hobby to have. However a week away skiing can often end in sore limbs and bruised bottoms. Skiing involves muscles you never knew you had. If you are planning on skiing this winter, our personal trainers have the means to prepare your body for the demands of skiing.  It a good idea to start this programme as soon as you can because you can’t practice skiing before you’re on the snow, not only that many of us ski only a few times a year, so we don’t have enough consistency to keep our bodies conditioned for it.

Get your body ready with this ski fit ready program by Jonathan.

Start on the x-trainer using the x-train aerobics program; choose the level that you like to work with for 10-20 min.

Next squats 2-4 sets of 8-15 reps

Lunges 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps

Chin up 2-3 sets of 8-15 reps

Dips 2-3 sets of 8-15 reps

Wobble board squats 2 sets of 8-20 reps

Gym ball wall squats and static hold 2 sets of 8-20 reps

Gym ball crunches

Floor crunches

Row machine or stepper for 10-30 min at moderate intensity

Finish with a good long stretch session.

Lets hit the slopes!