Staying Fit in the cold

Staying Fit in the cold:

During these cold wet months it is all too tempting to close the curtains and snuggle under the duvet! Winter also has a tendency to make us reach for more fattening, comfort food, which combined with too much time sat on your bottom can see the pounds start to pile on!

This year, instead of getting fat, get fit! Going outside for a brisk walk or run will not only help you stay in shape, but it will increase your circulation and help you to stay warmer for longer! Exercise can help you to stay at a healthy weight or lose any excess weight and will keep your muscles strong and joints mobile. If you manage to get outside for your exercise you will increase the amount of daylight that you see which can help prevent the winter blues. Choosing group exercise can also help to keep you cheery as you meet up with friends or learn new skills.
Training outside will give you a huge boost and a rosy glow in your cheeks, but if you really can’t face the rain, then why not take advantage of some fun indoor activity? Being cold can increase stiffness and muscle aches, so why not try Bikram Yoga, a challenging 90 minute yoga class performed in around 40 degrees heat. The warmth helps your muscles to stretch and if you close your eyes you can pretend you are on the beach! Circuit or boxing style training is a sure fire way to burn huge amounts of calories and fat indoors, and this type of interval training can help to boost your metabolism.

If you don’t have time for classes, then don’t despair; you don’t have to spend hours slogging at the gym to stay fit. Short bursts of vigorous activity can have an amazing impact on your fitness levels and metabolism. Try performing circuits at home, mixing skipping, push ups, star jumps and burpees. It is hard work, but stick with it for 20 minutes and you will really benefit. It is also important to remember that general activity counts towards your calorie burn and general fitness so walk whenever possible and as fast as possible and always take the stairs, not lifts. Get yourself a pedometer and aim for 10,000 steps every day.

Exercising through the winter months can not only help you stay fit and toned, but moderate exercise can actually help to boost your immunity, helping you to prevent those seasonal bugs. (Although don’t push  too hard or too often though, as that can have an adverse effect, lowering your immunity and making you more susceptible to colds and flu.)

So, to stay fit, warm, healthy and happy until spring arrives, try to get outdoors every day to maximise your exposure to daylight, exercise to uplifting music (such as a Zumba class) to keep your spirits up and fat down, and make the most of seasonal foods such as sweet potato mash and homemade soups for a comforting but healthy diet.

20 weeks pregnant

On set in Fuerteventura

It is finally sinking in: I am pregnant! When I catch a glimpse of my silhouette, it’s not bloating that I see, but a baby! How very odd! As much as this pregnancy is desired and embraced, it is such a strange feeling to lose control of my body and see it change! My shape has remained pretty constant throughout the last 20 odd years of adulthood and my weight has remained within 2-3 kilos over the last 2 decades, so suddenly being a fair bit heavier and having three bumps on my torso is really very strange!

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to work in Fuerteventura filming a new ‘Pregnancy Pilates’ DVD, which was such a lovely experience: instead of worrying about whether my tummy was sticking out on camera, I was proudly displaying my new shape! I have just been sent the first edit to check the footage and ended up crying at my desk as I looked at the proof that in spite of everything (my age, endometriosis from a young age and a few miscarriages) I am now 20 weeks pregnant and going to be a mum! It feels like such magic that it is hard to explain.

I lost a pregnancy around a year ago, and had been planning to write about the experience; I was in touch with various magazines and websites and then had to call them with the bad news, so I have had something of a block about getting around to writing about pregnancy this time, but I really hope that for one thing I can help some people who may go through tough times and also that I can help mums cope with the changes in their body. Pregnancy is definitely not the time to get in shape, but all pregnant women should make time to stay as fit and well as possible. I really believe that Pilates is the single best thing you can do to stay strong, balanced and in control.

Personally I have dropped the running, and have been sticking to brisk walking most days if possible, along with Pilates and some pregnancy yoga, and I am feeling great! Now I can only hope that luck will stay on my side for the rest of my pregnancy……..

Improve your life with Pilates

Having spent the last 12 years combining personal training with Pilates, I have had the opportunity  to work with hundreds of different bodies, and can say with absolute certainty that no two bodies are the same, or even close to the same!

Our lifestyle and experience is etched deeply into our muscular system, and fears, pains and stress can really affect the way that our bodies function. Years of stress can fundamentally change how you breathe, years of worry can alter your posture and muscle balance, physical pain can affect the body long after the pain has passed, and emotional pain can manifest in a real, physical pain.

So, how can you prevent, or reverse these changes to get your body back in balance? Do Pilates! Joseph Pilates knew how trans-formative his exercises were because he changed his own body from weak, frail and out of balance (he suffered Polio, asthma and other ailments during his youth) into a strong physique which was used as a model for anatomical charts! He knew that improving posture, breath, strength and mobility was the key to a better body, and this has been proven by the method’s popularity almost 80 years later. Some of my own clients have been able to cancel knee surgery due to better movement,  regain their bodies after pregnancy, improve their performance in tennis and other sports, take control of back pain, reduce stress and anxiety on a long-term basis, improve their posture, recover from surgeries and improve their movement, confidence, sleep and life balance.

Why Pilates?

Pilates teaches you how to move efficiently and how your body should feel when it’s in balance. Each session will move your spine through it’s full (as nature intended) range of motion: flexion, extension and rotation. Pilates will teach you how your body feels when it is working correctly, and in time you will learn to recognise faulty movements that can cause injury. Many people find it almost impossible to ‘let-go’ of muscle tension, and this can exacerbate faulty movement patterns. However, with time and patience you can teach your body how to ‘switch-off’ certain muscles allowing tension to dissipate and the correct muscles to do their intended job.

My advice if you are new to Pilates is to find a great teacher. Any class with more than 10/12 people will not give you the desired effect, as your teacher needs to see how you are moving. Private classes are the ideal, but if this is too expensive then ask a friend to split sessions with you as very small groups of 2 or 3 can be as effective as private sessions. Another great route is to invest in 3 or 4 private sessions to learn the basics and then continue your practice in a class or with a DVD at home. Whichever route you take, whether you are old or young, overweight or underweight, recovering from illness or a full time athlete, Pilates can help your body to perform at its very best, helping you to find your inner grace and strength.

Are you sitting comfortably?

If you are sitting comfortably; then MOVE!

We all know that we should be moving our bodies more, but did you know that sitting down could be slowly killing you? A recent study published in the British Medical Journal Open concluded that “…In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that extended sitting time and television viewing may have the potential to reduce life expectancy…” http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/4/e000828.full?sid=46f88344-fd2f-4824-9796-978fea29d201The analyses indicated that population sitting for more than 3 hours a day could shorten your life by 2 years and watching TV for more than 2 hours could increase that by a further 1.38 years. So how many hours do you sit on your bum every day?

Many of us nowadays do indeed hit the gym, or head out for a jog 3 to 4 times every week, and you might have been lead to believe that this alone is enough to take care of your cardiovascular health improve your longevity. But, it has now been proven that it is not only the hour of exercise that you do each day, but what you do with the other 23 hours that also counts.

In the recent past, the majority of people were manually active for many hours each day: working in the fields, scrubbing the floors, man-handling laundry, walking to school or work with an evening of dancing for evening fun. Now we drive cars and tractors, use washing machines and microwaves, have pre-chopped, pre-peeled food delivered to the doorstep and watch dancing on the telly! Our modern, convenient lives have made us physically lazy and weak. We are slaves to our e mail and mobile phones and are often too mentally exhausted at the end of a long day sitting to do anything else but sit!

The negative effects of sitting:

A sedentary lifestyle increases your chances of disease such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease. Sitting causes the muscles on the front of your body tend to become short and tight and those on the rear of your body become elongated and weak causing postural defects such as inwardly rotated shoulders, a hunched upper back, stiff hips and lower back and weak abdominals. The result of this can be a bad back, neck and joint pain, premature aging and stiffness. Personally, my career changed in recent years from mostly very physical personal training (covering a minimum of 15,000 steps each day) to spending several hours each day desk-bound and typing. The result, a significant injury (shoulder) for the first time in my life and a back which now demands that I stretch it several times a day! The worrying thing is that just as your body will adapt positively to repeated exercises by becoming stronger or fitter, it will also adapt to the ‘sitting exercise’ by becoming weaker and fatter! Also, your muscles are designed to work like a blood pumping system. With each contraction they help to ‘squeeze’ the blood back to the heart from your lower body. If you are sedentary, you are losing this vital effect inhibiting good circulation.

Effective Solutions: 

If you spend most of your day sitting, then try to build in as many 5-10 minute blocks of movement each hour as possible. Park your car a block away from the office and walk 5 minutes. Get off the train or bus a stop early. Stand up for all telephone calls and lift and lower on tip-toe while you talk. Walk over to a colleague rather than sending a mail. Try using a bathroom on another floor so you have to go up and down stairs. NEVER use the elevator or lift. Walk the kids to school. Perform all of your resistance exercises standing (where possible), talk to your company about the possibility of standing meetings, or adaptable desks which can be raised for standing or lowered to sit. One of the fittest men on the planet, Ultra Runner Dean Karnazes told me that he built himself a special standing desk at home so that he never spend idle time sitting. (Check out his book ‘Run! 26.2 Stories of Blisters and Bliss’ to get you motivated). Another top motivational tip is to get yourself a pedometer to measure exactly how active/inactive you really are. (The British Heart Foundation recommends 10,000 steps per day to stay healthy. http://www.bhf.org.uk)

The key to health, fitness and longevity is really quite simple; move more and eat less! (she said heading straight out for a walk!)

Tips from the top!

I recently posted about my amazing time at the Powerade Sports Academy, and I promised that I would come back with some tips from the top!

Running

US Olympian Mechelle Lewis-Freeman specialises in 100m sprints and competed in the Beijing 4 x 100m relay.  This lady looks like she has springs under her feet! She has an amazing body and you can see the power in her every move. The type of explosive movement needed for sprints comes more naturally to some than others and will depend upon the proportion of fast and slow twitch muscle fibres in your body, but with the right training you can maximise your own potential to become faster and more powerful:

Mechelle’s speed drills:

• High knee running – drive your knees as high as you can whilst still moving forwards
• Jumping squats – start standing and jump forward landing in a squat and repeat as fast and high as possible
• Pumping arms – pump your arms as fast and hard as you can while you sprint
• Block starts – practice exploding out of the blocks using your arms
• Drive – practice coming from the blocks and keeping your head down as you dig in and gain maximum force forward

High knee drills

Olympian Mechelle Lewis-Freeman’s Top 10 Tips to improve Speed

1. Have a good strength and conditioning programme
2. Practice repetitive speed-work
3. Practice block-starts
4. Perform plyometric drills: squat jumps, hurdle hops, jumping lunges
5. Get your nutrition and hydration right and add supplements to ensure all nutrients are covered
6. Have a good team on your side such as a physio, coach and chiropractor
7. Work on flexibility with yoga and Pilates
8. Have a recovery programme including ice baths, massage and compression
9. REST!
10. Find a good mantra and repeat it every hour every day: “Impossible is nothing”

Cycling

Watt bikes provided the stationery bikes for the Powerade Academy and I must say that they are fantastic. If you, your club or even your kid’s school would like to understand or improve your riding then check out http://www.wattbikes.com

Our coaches at the academy were Watt bike’s Alastair Macdonald and Pro Cyclist Dean Downing who took us through the official team GB warm up which is shown below. This routine is obviously Olympic standard, so may well serve you as a training session rather then a warm-up, but whichever way you use it, it will improve your peak power and fitness levels.

Team GB Warm-Up with Watt Bikes and Dean Downing

1. Begin with steady 70RPM (revolutions per minute) for 10 minutes
2. Increase intensity to 80 RPM for 2 minutes,
3. Increase to 90 RPM for 2 minutes
4. Increase to 100 RPM for 2 minutes
5. Reduce intensity back to 70RPM for 2 minutes
6. Now perform 3 sets of 6 seconds absolute maximum within 2 minutes
7. Spin out for several minutes to reduce lactic acid in legs and cool down.

The Watt bikes were hugely impressive, giving instant feedback on the screen about how much power is passing through each leg at every second as well as peak power and drive through each stage of the pedal revolution. Macdonald showed us how to improve our pedal stroke by pressing the foot down and back on the pedal, as if ‘scraping mud off your shoe’. This action evens out the pedal stroke and means you don’t lose power on the up stroke. (Be prepared for a little calf burn if this is a new technique to you though!). Dean Downing who has recently finished the Halford’s Tour Series told me that he combines his on-bike training with strength and conditioning circuits, focusing a lot on the core and using small weights, so make sure you cross train for best results.

Nutrition

What you put into your body is as important as how you train it, and all elite athletes have expert advice on how to maximise performance. At the Powerade Academy we were lucky enough to eat great food prepared by Beatriz Boullosa, who is currently working with Mexico’s Olympic gold medal winning football team:

Top Tips from Elite Nutritionist Beatriz Boullosa

• Before exercise: 1-4gm carbohydrate/kg bodyweight/hr. 1-4 hrs before competition
• During exercise: 0.5-1gm of carbs /kg bw/hr (your body requires quick and long term energy and needs easily digested fuel.
• After exercise: Carbs and protein. Carbohydrates are like a builder; putting the bricks (protein) into the right place to repair and build muscle. 4gm carb per 1 gm protein
• Make sure you sleep! You cannot build muscle without adequate sleep.
• Your brain needs fuel: If you run on empty you will make poor decisions which will limit your performance.
• For optimum health every meal should contain the three food groups: protein, carbs and fruit/vegetables
• Don’t diet! Low calorie diets can make your body use muscle for fuel, reducing your BMR

For more info on Powerade go to http://www.poweradegb.com

Powerade Sports Academy 2012

Sometimes I forget to be grateful for my amazing career! When bogged down with deadlines, or tired from training other people it’s all too easy to slip into moaning mode! But the recent death of my father has made me reflect on my life and has opened my eyes once again to all of the amazing opportunities I have before me now and have been lucky enough to have throughout my career.

One such opportunity that I would’ve loved to have shared with my dear Dad came my way this weekend when I was invited along to the Powerade Sports Academy in London. As is usual in the media industry, it was pretty last minute, so I wasn’t too sure what was going to be involved, apart from the fact that I would get to interview Olympian Mitchell Watt who just won silver for his amazing long jump (watch this space for more on that) and that I would be working out a lot! Sounded good to me!

I arrived Sunday lunchtime, to find a sports field full of amazing fit bodies all decked out in Powerade kit with coaches & Olympians aplenty! Feeling slightly intimidated and concerned about my lack of ability I changed into my kit and jogged onto the field to join team ‘Rest of the World’ for our fitness assessment. Sounds pretty easy right? Well, let me tell you that sprinting a timed 200m, spinning at maximum effort to establish peak power and going through a strength and conditioning routine all with Olympic coaches is not exactly easy! But, it was a great team building exercise, a great motivator (who doesn’t want to go faster) and a great way to meet like-minded people from all over the world.

With Day 1 and the fitness tests under our belts, we all headed off to our digs, just in time to gather as a group and witness the world’s fastest man – Usain Bolt’s amazing 100m victory. Wow! It was at that moment that I looked around the room and felt that bolt (pardon the pun) of humility. I was struck by just how lucky I was to be invited to experience such great events, to meet so many wonderful people, to have a body that will gallantly try to do whatever I ask of it, and to have the good fortune to love my job!

Day 2 and with already slightly twangy hamstrings from the sprint drills, we set off nice and early for  a Pilates/Yoga class before breakfast. With everybody more comfortable together in the group by now there were plenty of giggles as tight bodies refused to cooperate or uncoordinated limbs flailed around and we were all in great spirits in time for breakfast. Our nutritionist for the academy was the wonderful  and gorgeous Beatriz Boullosa who is currently responsible for the Mexican Footballers nutrition. She gave a wonderful lecture about the importance of nutrition and hydration in sport and also organised delights such as cold mango and kiwi soup for breakfast!

With swimmer and bronze medal winner Brent Haydon

After breakfast the day really kicked off. My group started out with sprint training with ex Olympian Mechelle Lewis Freeman followed by swimming coaching with the wonderful Ben Titley (Head coach of British Olympic swimming team) where we were lucky enough to meet Canadian Brent Haydon who won bronze (and I held his medal! Wow!). After a super delicious nutritious lunch we then took our full bellies back out onto the field for training on sprint blocks with Mechelle. By this point it was becoming obvious that I am no athlete, and half way through the next session (endurance running) I must admit that I ducked out half way through the second set of 10 x 100m to run an interview with Mechelle. This was both fantastic as I learnt some great tips (that I will share with you later) and my legs had chance to recover before the cycle session! This final session of the day was probably my favourite, which surprised me as running is my favourite sport; however, the Watt bikes that we used under the expert eyes of pro cyclist Dean Downing were amazing! The feedback from these machines is incredible with displays of how much power is driving through each leg, and where in the pedal stroke power is lost. The fact that I was riding alongside all these wonderful athletes and incredible people made me feel slightly ashamed of my usual scale of effort, and in spite of having legs like jelly I decided to try and find that little bit extra inside (which athletes are so accomplished at finding) and surprised myself that I could actually keep going. I don’t think I have ever sweated so much in my life!

The amazing Watt bike

I learnt so much from my short time at the Powerade Sports Academy: firstly that sportspeople from all over the world are incredibly open, friendly and humble. Secondly that you can always find that little bit extra, thirdly that Powerade is definitely helpful when your legs turn to jelly! and last but not least I learnt so many tips on how to be a better sportsperson. These tips are too numerous to share here now, so I will come back and pass these on to you very soon.

A Fit Brit in the USA!

I have been waiting like an over excited teenager for this trip of a lifetime which has involved 3 days in Honalulu on Waikiki Beach, 5 days in Maui, 4 days in Vegas and the Grand Canyon and a week in LA and I have to say that I am loving it!
I was fully expecting to be overburdened with vast, gargantuan plates of food wherever I went, but have been pleasantly surprised! Hawaii is like a fit chick’s paradise, with great running tracks with awesome views, clean air, the most amazing sea that can entertain you for years and a pretty healthy selection of food available. Every morning I ran along the sea front along with loads of other healthy dudes and girls, and was delighted to find several people under banyan trees meditating or practising their own yoga. Obviously there was an abundance of burgers and soda available, but I mostly ate super-fresh and succulent Mahi-Mahi fish, shrimp and amazing fruits and salads so felt pretty good.

One thing that I have noticed throughout each state though is that it is nigh on impossible to purchase ‘whole’ foods and labeling is really misleading. Take, for example, a packet of ‘Healthy Matcha Green Tea latte’ which promised to be super healthy and full of anti-oxidents. What it actually contained was: Fructose, non-dairy creamer, (coconut oil, corn syrup, sodium caseinate)……dipotasassium phosphate…mono & diglycerides…. blah, blah blah and then at the bottom of the list is Japanese Matcha tea! I have not been able to find a single yoghurt for breakfast that does not contain syrups, flavourings and other nasties and as for a white coffee – what is this non-dairy creamer stuff? I just want a simple shot of good old cow juice and all that is available is this – ‘water, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, corn syrup solids, corn syrup, sodium casinate , dipotassium phosphate, sugar, mono & diglycerides, silicon dioxide, sodium stearoyl lactylate, soy lecithin & artificial colours’. Phew! I find it really scary that most Americans seem to be ingesting this kind of chemical and non-food food on a daily basis. What does the body do with all this cr*p? I am intruiged and would love to know more.

In the mean time, I am starving so am heading out to a great restaurant on Ventura called ‘Good Earth’ which has organic, antibiotic free meat. From one extreme to the other: I guess that is the USA for you!