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Friday 9 May 2014

Struggling to keep motivated?


Feel Good Personal Training 

Motivation

Struggling to keep motivated? Don’t worry your not alone. Here are some helpful tips on what you can do to keep on track.

Goals Setting

Focusing on goals. Try to make them specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed (SMART). This is a great way to keep motivated. By using the acronym SMART it gives you a clear and measurable timeline to reaching their goals. Try breaking down your main goal into small goals. This is a great way of keeping motivated as each week your breaking PBs and your previous stats from the week before.

Make it visible

Making your goals visible is a great way to increase motivation. Do you have an old picture of yourself at your desired weight or a previous medal won from reaching a sporting achievement? Use this to help yourself visualise what you’re working towards and when you’re struggling during sessions or lacking motivation.

Mix up!

Repetition in exercises is just plain boring; it’s going to make even the most dedicated fitness fanatic unmotivated.  Make sure you’re mixing things up, try to make the sessions as fun as possible. Changing exercises is a great way to make sessions fun and create new stimulus’s.

Get a training partner

Do you have a training partner? If not give it ago. It’s a great way of motivating yourself and your training partner.


For more details on personal training sessions in Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge and Sevenoaks please visit our Personal Training Page

For online personal training, online diet plans and online exercise plans please visit our Online Training Site


Friday 2 May 2014

Periodization Of Training



Basic Periodization

We recently wrote an article on how your body adapts to exercise, which you can read here. To venture into this subject area in slightly more detail, we will investigate how to further prevent your body adapting to the exercises performed using a process called periodization. Periodization is the systematic planning of athletic or physical training, in simple terms, it is progressive cycling of the variables in your training in a specific period, to prevent over adaption occurring and your progress hitting a plateau.

Now periodization will differ massively depending on your goal and/or sport, whether or not it is to perform in a particular competition. A footballer who plays week in, week out for most of the year will have a very different periodization plan from an Olympic athlete who will aim to peak every 4 years, who will have a completely different periodization plan from someone who wants to just generally lose weight and tone up. It would be impossible to cover every single aspect of periodization in a textbook, let alone a brief article. So here we are going to discuss the basic principles of periodization and how to use them to get greater results from your training. For a more detailed periodization plan for you specifically, get in touch and we’d be happy to help.

Periods Of Planning

There are 3 different cycles that we must consider during the process of planning programs, and each have their own subset of cycles contained within them.

Macrocycle
A Macrocycle is the longest period we plan for. It usually refers to an annual plan, but can stretch up to 4 years (in regards to Olympic athletes). A current starting base needs to be established, realistic goals need to be set and you need a willingness and commitment to stick to a plan for a year.

It is made up of many mesocycles specifically designed to increase progression and enhance form and technique all the way up to the next phase. As it’s such a long time period, the most important thing is to employ a professional who knows what they’re doing instead of blindly stumbling forward on your own. A year wasted could be catastrophic. We would not generally plan a macrocycle into the everyday trainers programs, as goals may change more than a few times during the year. This is usually kept for more advanced trainers and competitors. A macrocycle for competitive trainers is usually divided into 3 stages

Preparation – This usually consists of the vast majority of the macrocycle, and includes building a base level to start the new regime from, working on technique and progressing training ready for the next phase.

Competition – The competition phase will vary in length from one sport to another but usually involves a few competition “testers” leading up to the main competition. The less important competitions is where the athlete will incorporate new ideas into their strategy such as new equipment, new tactics or a different nutritional approach.

Transition – The transition phase is basically a break from training to help you physically and mentally recover from the stresses of intense training, this may vary from a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

Mesocycle

A mesocycle is the most common form of training phase we incorporate into our programs, it allows the body to adapt to the stresses placed in your muscles without over adapting and halting progress. A mesocycle usually lasts between 2 and 6 weeks where the training program emphasize the same type of physical adaptations.

With Clients that are new to training, the objective of the first mesocycle is typically to build their muscular endurance and refine their form and technique. This is done by carefully monitoring their body positions when performing certain exercises and helping to improve the way they train. For any weight based exercises we would start with light weights and lots of repetitions.

Subsequent mesocycles would then consist of either progressing or regressing the training intensity, depending on how the client progressed. Intensity can be varied during a session by manipulating the many variables you will find in a training program, depending on the clients goals it may be any number of things from increasing the length of a run, to increasing power in the hamstrings, to decreasing weight on a bench press.

Microcycle

A microcycle usually consists of just 1-2 weeks, a block of microcycles will make up your mesocycle. These periods will contain a number of workouts within the given time frame and go into more detail on the intensity, volume, rest, and frequency used within the sessions to achieve a particular goal. For example if your goal was to increase strength within a mesocycle lasting 4 weeks, your one week microcycle would consist of low rep, high rest, low/moderate volume with heavy weights. Your aim with each of the following 3 microcycles would be to increase the intensity by increasing the increasing the weight you lifted on each exercise. Therefore ensuring progression. 


For more details on personal training sessions in Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge and Sevenoaks please visit our Personal Training Page

For online personal training, online diet plans and online exercise plans please visit our Online Training Site

Feel Good Personal Training, Personal Training in Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge

Do I need a heart rate monitor? Polar RS100 Product review.

Feel Good Personal Training 


Why is it important to monitor your heart rate when you exercise?
Your heart rate is a convenient, reliable, personal indicator of the intensity of your exercise.

It's good to know the intensity of your exercise so you can vary it depending on your fitness level and the goals you want to achieve by exercising.

Heart rate monitoring brings following benefits to all levels of users:
Exercise Beginner

Teaches you about your body's reaction to exercise
Keeps you from starting out too hard (as beginners are often tempted)
Helps you control the intensity of your exercise routine
Provides feedback on your improvement



Regular exerciser
Helps you control the intensity of your exercise programme under different circumstances
Helps you fine-tune your program for the best results
Gives you plenty of feedback both during and after a session, teaching you more about your body's reaction to exercise
Helps you see how you're progressing



Serious exerciser
Helps you make sure you work out at the right planned intensities for your training programme (hard enough on hard days, light enough on recovery days, enough recovery between intervals, etc.)
Enables you to track and accurately adjust your training program
Teaches you about your body's reaction to training, providing an early warning of overtraining, flu, etc.
Provides feedback on your progress


Product review - Polar RS100


As you can see a heart rate monitor is an essential tool for any personal trainer or athlete. The Polar RS100 is yet another example of how Polar have got it just right!  The “lap feature” on the RS100 is excellent for runners or personal trainers. The lap feature lets you be able to break your run or session into different sections allowing you to monitor your heart rate through different distances, times or exercises making it a vital tool for improving yours or your client’s fitness.

I have found all Polar products easy to use and programme supported with clear informative instructions. In the 7 years I’ve been using Polar I haven’t had a problem with any of their watches, software or straps. I would recommend Polar to anyone looking for an accurate, reliable stylish looking heart rate monitor. 

For more information on personal training in Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks or Tonbridge get in touch at www.feelgoodpt.co.uk 


Tuesday 22 April 2014

Easter's over now lets think about that summer body!

Easters over now lets think about that summer body! 


Easters over and summer is coming. If you’re looking for the Daniel Craig beach body or worried about getting into your bikini on your summer holiday this blog will help you!

Training secrets

To get your beach body you need to follow four simple steps,

1.     Perform compound free weight exercises,
2.     Increase your cardio,
3.     Eat a healthy balanced diet with limited carbs
4.     And most importantly, work hard!

Building skeletal muscle is half the battle. This will help to increase your metabolic rate and melt away the unwanted pounds. Squats, lunges, bent over rows, deadlift, clean & jerks and bench press are excellent exercises for shredding fat and increasing muscle tone. Getting you looking great in your swimwear. Women don’t be afraid to get in the free weights section of the gym.
Aim to be working out 3 – 4 times per week, performing        3 sets, 12 repetitions with a minutes rest in between exercises.

Cardio is an important aspect of creating a beach body. It improves muscle tone and burns fat. Cardio vascular work includes running, rowing, swimming and cycling. Sport can be counted. Aim to be doing high tempo cardio work 1 or twice a week whilst trying to increase your general activity levels throughout the day.

What should I be eating?

Nutrition is a very important in getting a “beach body”. You are what you eat. Try to follow these three simple steps to a healthier diet.

1.     Cut out any intake of simple carbohydrate; chocolate, white bread, pasta, rice and cakes. Eat complex carbohydrate; wholegrain bread, porridge, rice, pasta, couscous and quinoa. No not have carbs in your evening meal.
2.     Ensure your eating plenty of vegetables a day.
3.     Stick to fixed meal times.



Remember, compound movements, increased levels of cardio and a balanced diet. Work hard and you will get results!

For more information on personal training in Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge and Sevenoaks see www.feelgoodpt.co.uk


For a 12 week personalised exercise and nutritional plan see www.onlinetransformation.co.uk