LEG WORKOUTS

Legs are composed of over half our total body musculature. With our largest muscle groups located in our legs it also makes it a highly effective calorie burning workout if we focus on them. So if you’re short on time, and want the most calorie burn, don’t spend time on your abs or biceps, hit the legs!

Leg workouts are for both guys and girls. Not to generalise or anything, but how often do you see guys focusing on their chest and biceps and neglecting their legs. Girls appreciate a nice butt, get squatting! Neglecting muscle groups also leads to injury, balance should always be priority. 

The muscle groups of the legs include your quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves. Exercise lists for legs are endless, variety is always best to keep your muscles challenged. Some leg exercises to incorporate in your next session: steps ups, deadlifts, calf raises, squats (front and back), single leg squats, hamstring curls, lunges and thigh abductor/adductor exercises.

Some tips:

- Play around with your tempo for more variety. E.g. if performing a calf raise, lift up quick, then hold at the top for two seconds, and then slowly make your way down over 5 seconds.

- Squat deeply but don’t compromise on form. If doing back squats, check your knees are not tracking in front of your toes and keep your chest up. It is a myth you shouldn’t go past your knee line, the lower the better, but keep it safe with correct technique.

- Choose different weight selections. E.g., try lunges with a bar, or lunges with one or two dumbbells on one or both sides. All this keeps your body guessing, your body won’t change unless you change up your workouts.

- Do plyometric exercises. Lunge jumps, squat jumps and box jumps help improve speed, endurance and explosive power.

Your Trainer Liz

PAIN, PLEASURE AND YOUR HABITS

As a trainer I see many people who tell me they want to lose weight, but then when it comes to the action part, they don’t follow through. Why do we want something, yet keep giving up and detouring off track at the slightest hurdle. Is it that the pain of not changing is greater than the pain of change?

This is where instant gratification comes to mind. The chocolate bar is offered to us, the pleasure of those few moments of eating the bar drives us to eat it. But if we say no, delay gratification, endure a little pain now, we will get greater gratification later. I’m not just talking chocolate here, this can be applied with many areas in life. Maybe with study, you don’t want to miss one night of your favourite tv show for study, and longer term, the payoff of getting into the books outweighs the tv show doesn’t it? Are all our decisions in life based on the desire to move towards pleasure and move from pain? But are we stuck in the instant?

Imagine how great you could be if you stopped going through your life avoiding the short term pleasures? The quote comes to mind, ‘the pain of discipline outweighs the pain of regret’. How accurate this is. Discipline, the ability to put in the hard work after the motivation has passed. The more and more you do what you don’t want to, suffer that short term pain, the easier it will become. It does become a habit; you do strengthen your neurological pathways the more you do something. This applies to good and bad habits. Repeat something enough and the pathway becomes so strong almost an addiction for some, but the good news is that you can change these pathways. How bad do you want to? Are you willing to endure this pain now for greater pleasure? 

We all have secondary gains for doing the things we do and often it is on a subconscious level. For example: The person who has everything wrong with them and has to see specialist after specialist is actually lonely and on a subconscious level enjoys the contact of other people. The smoker smokes because they are bored deep down, it may also calm and relax them. Or maybe the smoking represents a fun time in their life, and on a cellular level it is locked in causing a strong association subconsciously with each cigarette taking them back to that happy place. The wife with the bad knees may not be able to do much lifting and house work and depends on her husband to do things for her. Deep down the problem represents her insecurity and need for someone to take care of her. These secondary gains are an avoidance mechanism for a deeper pain. If you can recognise your secondary gain, you can then find ways to introduce new elements in your life that will give you the feeling that you are actually wanting and on a healthier level. But before you cover it up with a new habit, reflect on what is happening so that you can really release your old emotions. Until you feel them, they will continue to leak out in destructive ways. 

So how long does it take to break a habit? Three weeks is what is commonly said. I have no idea where that theory came from. I loved this story someone told said about habits when asked how long it takes to break a habit. It goes something like this… ‘Say you drive to work each day, the same way for the past ten years and it takes you 45 minutes. Then one day you start your journey to work and there is a detour sign. You follow the signs and find yourself at work in 20 minutes. The next time you go to work, which way do you go? Your old way, the way that you have gone for ten years? Or do you break your habit instantly and go the new 20 minute route?’ Interesting isn’t it. 

Your TrainerLiz

My Review - SlimRight FULL bar

There are so many bars to choose from in the health food isle. Generally I think it is best to stay clear of them all. They are mostly expensive and you can get better nutrition from eating whole foods instead. The less processed foods you are eating the better. So why would you buy them? Maybe you need something in a packet to have with you on the go, it can make an emergency snack too.  

I bought a few bars of recent to try and review.  The first one I tried is the SlimRight FULL Bar. It was about $2.80. The packaging instructs you to eat this one to fill you up prior to a meal so that you eat less at meal time.

I ate the bar 30 minutes before lunch and had it with a glass of water as suggested too.  First thoughts, it is pretty tasteless. Puffed rice flavoured with a sticky subtle chocolate taste.  No chocolate bits as I expected due to the nice chocolate image on the packet. Strangely and to my surprise, I did feel full. I do have a big appetite and can eat a lot so found that very surprising. I ate lunch 30 minutes later and I was more satisfied with my normal lunch amount.  

The Nutritional Information

The bar is 35 g in weight, but it does appear to feel like more as it is large physically and as mentioned I felt full.

Calories 120: for a snack this seems reasonable. If you’re eating it prior to the meal as suggested, it then is an additional 120 calories on top of your meal. I ate my normal lunch but didn’t eat as much fruit afterwards. Therefore over all I neither saved nor ate more calories. But I was missing out on nutrients consumed, the fruit would have provided me with more fibre and vitamins.

Fat 1.2 g, less than 1 saturated: this isn’t much.

Carbs, 24.6 g (11.6g sugar): This is high when you consider two slices of bread has about the same amount.

Ingredients

Brown rice syrup is the major ingredient. This is a sweetener extracted from brown rice. Therefore I would assume no nutritional benefit from this other than carbohydrates, all the vitamins and minerals have been extracted.  Other ingredients include the puffed wheat, compound chocolate and honey.

My Overall Opinion

I wouldn’t be buying it again. I’d rather be eating something more of nutritional value as a snack or with my lunch. It really didn’t taste like anything but if you’re someone who likes to have bars on hand and you just need fullness this bar could be for you.

Your Fitness Trainer Liz

Reiki

Reiki, developed in Japan, is a form of hands on healing. Reiki means universal life energy. Reiki is a method of channelling energy that balances the body and mind. The vibrations awaken the body’s natural ability to heal. 

Reiki Principles:

1.  Just for today do not feel anger - find other ways to deal with your problems. Anger often arises when we feel out of control about something.  The effects of anger on the body cause the body to tighten blood vessels, your heart then having to work harder, becoming more susceptible to heart attacks.

Letting go of anger brings peace of mind.

2. Just for today do not worry – anger deals with the past and present. When we worry, we are thinking of the future. Worry causes lack of abundance, indecision and anxiety.

Letting go of worry brings healing into the body.

3.  Honour your parents, teachers and elders – learn to love and accept others for what they have shown and taught us. They did the best they could and only had out best interest at heart.  Forgive and bless them.

4.  Earn my living honestly – earn a respectable living, live a life of honour. Put your dreams in action. If you are in a situation you don’t really want, still do your best.

5.  Show gratitude for all living things – say thank you to all living things and to yourself. Accept praise and compliments. Say thank you for your opportunities and good fortune. When you are in a state of gratitude, you are in a state of allowing.  Showing gratitude brings joy to the spirit. 

What to expect in a session:

The treatment is performed with the client laying down, fully clothed.  The reiki practitioner will place their hands on different parts of the body in a sequence of movements. It is non-invasive and client will be made to feel comfortable and relaxed.  The client may feel sensations such as heat, coolness or tingling sensations. Each client will experience different feelings. The result is the same, it will help the client release blockages, toxins, negative emotions and thoughts. It will bring a state of calmness and better understanding of their path in life.

The energy has its own intelligence and consciousness and will go where it is needed most.

Some benefits you may expect:

-          Relaxation

-          Gives the equivalent psychological benefit of 3-4 hours’ sleep

-          Enhances creativity and intuition

-          Promotes wellness and healing

-          Is preventative, strengthens the immune system, builds resistance

-          can release negative feelings and blockages from past

-          helps reconnect to our Inner Being, a tool for our own personal journey

Your Fitness Trainer Sydney

What Do You Want Before NYE??

NYE, it’s 71 days away or ten weeks away.

It’s not too late to set a goal or get working towards one you that you may have set before.

Write your goal down. It can be around any area of life, maybe health but maybe it’s do with social or relationship aspects. Whatever it is, Be SPECIFIC.

We don’t want ‘to lose weight’. Be specific. What is that weight. Is it a body fat percentage, is it a size clothing? Make is measurable.

Now that you have the goal in mind. Write down what that goal feels like to you. What will it mean to you to achieve it. Write down as much as possible. The more you can feel and visualise it, the higher change that you will make it happen.  You may even use pictures. For example, pictures of your ideal weight, pictures of the holiday you are saving for, be creative. I want you to feel and see your goal as if it was real.

Using a weight loss goal, some ideas: ‘I will feel happy, confident and energetic. I will enjoy being able to put on any of my clothes and know they fit well. I will want to go out and be around other people. I will feel light, less bloated, clear minded. I will love to eat fresh healthy foods. I will fit into my favourite dress again. I will look hot on NYE’

Try writing down what it will feel like if you don’t have this goal. Try associate pain with the lack of goal. For example, ‘When I eat badly, I feel yuck and I feel unmotivated. My skin looks dull. I have nothing to wear. I wake up feeling lethargic. I feel unfit, and get into a sweat walking up stairs.’

Next, break down your goal into smaller components.

Continueing with weight loss as the goal. Break it down to weekly targets.

Week 1, I will weigh x amount.

Week 1, I will have done exercise 30 minutes for 6 of 7 days.

Week 1, I will make diet changes: 1, cut down your daily sugar in coffee by ½. 2, replace coke with water. 3, bring lunch to work. 4, drink a glass of wine with dinner on the weekend rather than every night.

Keep track of your process, at the end of week 1, record how you went. What did you achieve, what can you do better? Adjust your steps if needed. If you didn’t exercise on 6 days, do not feel guilty and give up after 1 week. Try again next week or be more realistic, maybe change it to 5 times per week. Write down how great it feels  when you are closer to your goal. The more pleasure you can associate with the goal the more your body and mind will want it.

Be proud of yourself and avoid negative talk. Each day you are getting stronger, if you make a mistake, it’s simply learning what perhaps didn’t work. Have you goals visually around the house, you need to see it. If you wait for a bus every day, write it on a small paper and take it out every morning for a quick read. Read  your goals before you go to bed and reflect. Congratulate yourself on making the small steps. Look forward to waking up tomorrow and achieving more.

Set up a good support system. It is important to surround yourself with like mind people. Tell people what your goal is. If everyone knows you’ll be more determined to make it happen. If you are slipping away, your support network can keep you on track. Get your friend and partner to make a similar goal with you. It helps to be able to talk and relate your experiences with others going through similar events.

In summary,

1. Write a specific goal on paper

2. Write down what it would feel like to have achieved the goal. Create lots of pleasure with the goal. Feel and visualise it.

3. Write down what it feels like not to break your commitment towards this. Create lots of pain. Feel and visualise it.

4. Break the goal down to daily or weekly targets. Keep track, monitor and adjust when needed.

5. Surround yourself with supportive people.

6. Be proud and look forward to being a better you on NYE.

Live your dreams. Whatever the mind can dream, it can achieve. Good luck!

Your Trainer Liz

Top 10 Reasons Why You Can’t Lose Weight

1.       You train once a week at a gym or with a personal trainer. You work in an office job, sit on your butt all day and then go home to sit on your butt. On the weekend you may go for a walk. A walk isn’t going to get any weight off. Nor is one session per week.

2.       You’ve got an injury. You have a sore neck, shoulder, whatever it is. You think that’s a reason not to exercise. You have legs don’t you? Stop using an injury as an excuse, work around it.

3.       You’re tired. You are tired, I am tired, everyone is tired, suck it up and get on with it. Dig deep within and learn to push yourself.

4.       When you do exercise, you’re working out aimlessly. Reading a magazine while sitting on a bike, holding on the handles on a treadmill while eyes glued to the tv, punching the pads while checking out the guys in the room next door. You have no focus. Give your workout 100% of your attention. Have a plan and go hard.  If not, save the gym membership and go wonder around the park.

5.       You do yoga or pilates. They have lots of benefits but you are not going to lose weight.

6.       You don’t like to exercise. We all don’t like something. That’s life. Some people don’t like cleaning the house, some people don’t like having a shower, and some people don’t like going to work. You have to do things you don’t like sometimes. Again, just get on with it and do it.

7.       You’re stressed. You have one family drama after the other, this week it’s your over bearing mum, next week your dad is sick, next month your almost breaking up with your boyfriend. Deal with it, stop complaining and get in some exercise.

8.       You train and then go to the coffee shop for a muffin, or banana bread, or a chocolate milkshake. You’ve just consumed more calories than you burned. See the problem?

9.       You buy yourself a juice from a popular juice bar. Again, full of calories, you are drinking a meals worth of calories in the drink and probably more. Fruit is calories. Fruit juice is even more calories.

10.   You order a caesar salad. The dressing is fat, the bacon bits are fat, and the croutons are fat. You are not being healthy. You may as well order a big mac.

11.   Bonus reason. Your busy, you have long work hours. Worst excuse! You’re busy but you still have time to watch TV and you still have time to check facebook? Get up an hour earlier or go to bed an hour later. Problem solved.

Your Trainer Liz

Life is yours

~ By Ralph Marston ~

Life is difficult, life is unfair, life is challenging and sometimes painful. And life is so very good.

There are frustrations, tragedies, disappointments, setbacks, heartbreaks, and absurdities. The simple joy of being outweighs them all.

Life is good, because within its realm, anything is possible. Life is good, because no matter how far you fall, there is always a way to climb back up again.

You can complain, fret and worry about all the problems in your life, but you’ll be wasting your time. Or, you can choose to focus on why and how life is so good, and on what you can do to take that goodness and make it even better.

Not only is life good, it’s uniquely good for you in your very own way. The possibilities for expressing your purpose are limited only by your imagination.

Remind yourself often of the great and wonderful value that you already, always have. Life is good, and in this moment that’s bursting with possibilities, life is yours.

Your Trainer Liz