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Blog Category: Exercise

Be Strong Not Skinny

Times have changed recently and the idea of training to be skinny is no longer the ‘in’ look. Fortunately this mind-set has enabled training to focus on lifting weights and getting strong, without the worry of people thinking you’re too muscular.

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Don't Let Your Periods Control You

In recent years periods have become less of a taboo subject as media coverage has started to increase with top athletes talking about their periods and more research being done into the physical and mental effects on periods, hormones and exercise.

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How to get the best from your Heart Rate

What is HR Training?

With this type of training you can forget about the pace your running at, but instead focus on what your heart rate is doing.

Depending on the type of run you’re doing will affect the heart rate zone your wanting to run in.

Heart rate training is very personal as we all have different resting heart rates and therefore different maximum heart rates. So you’ll find a beginner or a retuning to running runner will have a different maximum heart rate to somebody who is an experienced runner.  

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Don't Let Asthma Stop You

Don’t Let Your Asthma Stop You

I was diagnosed with asthma as a teenager. I was so active and playing sports daily, I couldn’t understand why I was getting out of breath so easily and struggling to recover compared to the rest of my team mates.

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Why do you take part?

What does sportsmanship mean to you?

Sportsmanship is “an understanding of and commitment to fair play, ethical behaviour and integrity, and general goodwill toward an opponent. It is an affirmation that an athlete is disciplined enough to have perspective, maintain poise and do what is best for his or her teammates”

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Want to shave 5 minutes off your PB?

A Personal Best and 5 minutes shaved off Robin Hood Half-Marathon

“The day of the Robin Hood half-marathon went better than I imagined! I felt strong, stuck to the plan, and didn’t stop running once! In past years I would have had a walking break after 8/9 miles, but this time I just kept going and going and got myself a PB! Shaving 5 mins off my previous best. All the hard work with Gemma certainly paid off and I can’t thank her enough for her continued support in helping me achieve my goal!” – Kishan Rabheru.

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Do you know when to pull out...

Have you been as engrossed in the Olympics as me this week?

I love watching them; it’s a great chance to see so many sports that aren’t normally in the spotlight. My favourites so far have been the BMX, Skateboarding and of course Tom Daley Diving. I can’t believe Beth Shriever had to crowdfund her own journey to the Olympics and all that hard work and determination paid off when she won Gold.

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Do you feet arches collapse in?

Your feet are the start of the movement chain in your body. Any issues you are likely to have in your feet, especially your arches collapsing in (over pronating), will in turn lead to other problems elsewhere.  For example knees dropping in (valgus position), or hip drops and rotations. If you link this to exercise it will give you problems when you squat. 

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What would you do if you couldn't run again?

The most frustrating and devastating day I had almost 15 years ago was being told I’d never play football again by a consultant.

I’d gone through the process of having an MRI done after having months of physio from my reoccurring back injury.

I thought I’d beaten the agonising pain in my back and legs, but as soon as I started playing and working again the same feelings cropped up again.

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Running for Mental Health

Doing any type of exercise is going to help build your physical fitness. Most people often forget the benefit exercise and training can have on you mentally too.

Exercise and training releases endorphins in your body which stimulate your brain, often know has the happy chemicals, which is why you feel better once you’ve trained.

It might be hard dragging yourself to the gym or going out for a run when the weather isn’t too appealing but you always feel happy and when you’ve finished.

Running helps you mentally in other ways too.

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How To Prevent Rotator Cuff Injuries

I’m going to go through what rotator cuff injuries are and how that can then lead to shoulder pain and shoulder problems.

You might think that shoulder work as a runner might be lower down on your priority. You might be thinking your legs need a bit more strength work putting into them, but your shoulders are just as important, particularly when it comes to obstacle races. It is a given that your shoulders and your upper body strength is going to be needed, particularly if you're thinking about pull-ups and monkey bars and any rig work that you might be doing, but link it back into your running form. You're going to be using the arm movement through your normal natural swing. So the positioning that you're going to be in is really important.

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What is IT Band Syndrome and how and your treat it?

I'm going to go through what IT band syndrome is, you might know it as your iliotibial band, it can be shortened to IT band, ITB syndrome, ITBS. It’s a common over use injury that leads to a thickening of the connective tissue that runs from your hip to your knee. And as that thickens, that causes the tightness, tensions and inflammation within that area, which then leads to the pain in your knee. Your IT band helps to stabilize your knee joint, it stops that rotational movement happening. When it gets weakened, that's when it becomes painful.

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How Strength and Conditioning can help you be a better runner

I always like to praise my clients for the accomplishments they achieve, no matter how big or small they are.

A number of my clients this year have wanted to take on new challenges and for them in meant upping the distances they were running to include marathons and ultra-marathons and events.

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My Weekend at The Obstacle Course Racing World Championships

I’m sure most of you in the Obstacle Racing scene will have over the last few weeks been hearing non stop about the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships.

If you haven’t and wonder what it is all about, it’s an amazing event where countries from all over the world come together to celebrate and test themselves amongst some of the great OCR athletes out there.

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What is Runners Knee?

What is Runners Knee?

It can be your worst fear as a runner getting injured and not being able to train or race. Often getting knee, shin or foot pain you can it put to the back of your mind and hope that it’ll go away. But unfortunately that is never the case. In most circumstances if you ignore the problem it is only going to get worse. 

 

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What is your favourite way to use Monkey Bars?

I've been all go this week with work and this weekend was a family party so it gave me a chance to properly sit back and relax and look back on this last year. 

Time has flown by and to think that I've been in the studio for 1 year has been amazing. Lots of clients have stepped through the doors all set on challenging themselves with the events they have planned and want to build their fitness for. For some its just been to get focused again and needing that friendly and supportive environment to exercise in. 

This year has seen me become more focused with my training and to do that I booked my place at the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships. Training has been going well, I've hit a few stumbling blocks along the way, one little niggle I have at the moment is with my shoulder and neck, which is stopping me from training quite as hard as I want to.

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My Top Ten Tips for Obstacle Course Racing

Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) is a great way to challenge your fitness whether you’re looking to take part in your first OCR or are a seasoned racer.

At our Personal Training Studio in West Bridgford, Nottingham we have many clients who want to improve their strength and fitness and take part in our OCR Training Programme.

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How To Improve Your Grip Strength

I'm sure lots of you have seen my pictures from racing at Spartan Midlands this weekend at Marston Lodge. I took on the Sprint race on Sunday morning. It was a tough course, and I seem to have blanked out the pain and the amount of hills there were in it from last year!
My legs aren't feeling too bad which is surprising however upper body is very achy today, and it got me thinking about how many of the obstacles relied on upper body strength. 
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My Big Goal - The Obstacle Course Racing World Championships

Some of you may have seen my training videos and making the most of training outside and using the boys swing frame in the garden to practise my pull ups and grip strength work.

I’m sure loads of you think this is crazy training in this weather, but for me it marks the start of my next goal.

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How Long Can You Deadhang For?

How Long Can You Hold A Dead Hang?

A dead hang is a straightforward exercise that simply involves hanging from an overhead bar for as long as possible. It’s a great way to develop grip strength and can help you master pull ups.

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What is your running pace and how it can make a difference

It's Gemma here From Fundamental Sports and Fitness. In this video, we're just going to go over and cover what running pace is. I know that it can be quite a confusing topic, so it's really thinking about the time it takes you to cover a specific distance, whether that's 5K through to a marathon. Your pace will vary differently depending on what distance you're running. If your 5K pace is going to be a lot quicker, than your marathon pace because of the distance that you're going to be covering.

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An Inspirational Weekend at The London Marathon

As many of you know my Auntie and Uncle were running the London Marathon this year for Children with Cancer UK. They had set themselves a mammoth challenge of raising £8k for them, this was smashed on the day the total had already exceeded £11k which is amazing.

They had put in all the training and hard work building up to The London Marathon and sometimes the plan going a little off track as everyday life, work and families often decided to throw a spanner in the works but come to think of it, whose plan ever goes 100% successfully.  

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Foam Rolling and Trigger Point 101

You might have seen over the weekend on my instagram stories I raided Aldi's middle isle and got my hands on some new kit for the studio.
One of these bits was a vibrating foam roller. I'd heard lots of positive things about them and they can be less painful to use than a normal foam roller. Since getting it myslef and some clients have already had a practise on it to test it out. 
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Now Is The Time To Make A Change

Have you ever thought that you need to change your training and always put it off?

You either feel you haven’t got the time or you’re happy to keep going as you are?

I know the feeling, to keep going in the usual routine can feel comfortable and you know what is coming.

However sometimes something happens that forces you to have to make a change. Whether that’s the feeling of burning out with work or at home, or the little niggle that you’ve been putting off that you think will ‘go away’ on its own becomes a more persistent injury.  This then forces you to re-evaluate what you need to do.

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Challenge - How Many Box Jumps Can You Do?

This is a great challenge to take you into the new year and a good exercise to look at the explosive power in your legs. 

Over the last few years lots of gyms and got more plyobox's available for you to use.

Depending on how kind they are will mean they either have the softer foam boxes or the hard wooden box more metal step, which are likely to leave you with some nice cuts or bruises is you misjudge the height you're jumping.

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Top 3 Running Mistakes That Will Stop Your Running Faster

Now that winter has set in, its a great time to start thinking about the New Year and the races that you have planned.
This week I've already booked in two events in May (Aztec Escape) and July (Spartan) after really enjoying them this year. I've got a few more lined up so I'm aiming to do one each month as soon as the weather gets nicer. 
With an packed race schedule its important to think about the goals you're wanting to work towards over the year. 
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One Month Into The Journey

It has been a long process and many of you have been involved with the development of the studio, from the early ideas in a note book to the realisation during the summer that I could get my own premises in West Bridgford for a Personal Training Studio.

Now we've up up and running for over a month and the feedback I've had has been amazing.

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How To Relieve Tight Hip Flexors

As a runner your hip flexors are one of the common muscle groups that becomes tighter and can cause a number of problems if left untreated. 

Not sure what or where your hip flexors are?

They are the group of muscles that help to bend forwards at the hips and raise your leg you your waist. 

They include these muscles in your body

  • Iliopsoas
  • rectus femoris
  • tensor fasciae latae
  • sartorius

Your hip flexors don't just get tight from running, if you have a desk based job or do a lot of driving this can also be a problem as your hip is in a flexed position and this can lead to the muscle getting shorter before you have exercised and put any tension through it. 

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Road to Recovery and Beyond

Lots of you know the my story of why I became a PT after seriously injuring my back and being told I would never play football again by a consultant.

Fortunately for me, my Physio at the time was amazing and helped me to see a silver lining to it all and we changed the way I trained and found different sports for me to do, gradually building up the strength in by back and whole body.

This is the approach I take with a lot of my clients.

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Coping With Running In The Heat

We always have extremes of weather in the UK and coping with running in the heat can be a challenge.

This winter was freezing and for everybody that knows me, will be fully aware I wrap up warm and have a million layers on in the winter.

Compared to the Summer, when its shorts and t shirt weather and being outside for as much as possible.

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Top Marathon Tips

With the weather finally getting nicer it's heading into busy race season. Clients  are racing most weekends now, the weekend just gone saw Cheryl take on her first OCR of the year at Reaper. She's worked hard over the winter in our Blast Programme to make sure her shoulder has recovered and her injuries from last year are well and truly behind her.

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Is it really possible to go from injured to sub 30 min 5k in 6 weeks?

12 people this weekend came to my SOLD OUT workshop, and left with exercises they could take into their training to get the fitter and stronger. Most of them had come of the back of being injured or were worried they were going to get injured as they increased their training over the next few months as they build up to the bigger distances.

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Why Are Glutes So Important To Runners?

If you are a runner, you have possibly trained almost all the muscles you need to achieve speed, power, and endurance while running. However, do you know that your butt also plays a very important role in your movement? Yes, it's not only there for aesthetic purposes! Before we talk about the function of the glutes, it is only prudent to know their basic structure.

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Do you get knee pain when you run?

Knee Pain From Running

Interestingly enough, most people who complain about knee injury caused by running are not runners themselves. They usually make it seem that knee injuries are inevitable for runners and that runners are literally running their knees to the ground with every step. However, knee injuries are not inevitable, though they are common and can be easily corrected. Knee pain should not cause you to automatically quit running.

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Do you ever get foot pain and wonder what it is?

How You Can Avoid Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar Fasciitis, also known as jogger's heel is a disorder that results in pain at the bottom of the foot and heel. It derives its names from the plantar fascia, which is the flat band of tissue (ligament) connecting your heel to your toes. When strained, this ligament becomes irritated, swollen and weak, resulting in sharp pain that is experienced in the onset of exercise, or movement after a  prolonged rest period.

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How to avoid muscle cramps

Here's How To Avoid Cramps When Running And Exercising

If you have seen a runner stop dead in their tracks, taken completely by surprise by a jolt of pain, chances are that the cause is a muscle cramp. A cramp occurs when a muscle suddenly contracts violently and remains balled up in a tight knot that is very painful. The contraction is so strong that you will most likely feel sore at that point the next day. It happens to runners, swimmers, and cyclists mostly and most endurance athletes have experienced a cramp at least once during training.

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Do you get lower back pain when you exercise?

Do you get lower back pain when you exercise?

Lower back pain is a common condition among both professional athletes and amateurs. It has been said that about 80 percent of adults have experienced back pain at some point in their lives. Many of these injuries come from overtraining, poor posture, inadequate conditioning or a combination of these. Most back pains are quick to heal though persistent strain can lead to more long-term conditions.

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Benefits Of Strength And Conditioning Training For Runners

If you are a runner, you have probably asked yourself what else you could possibly do to enhance your running. Also, if you are stuck in the house and you do not have access to a treadmill, you may be one very unhappy runner. Well, you should supplement running with strengthening and conditioning exercises. These have several benefits such as:

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How to get muscle growth using Hypertrophy Training

What Is Hypertrophy Training?

Hypertrophy training, also referred to as Hypertrophy-Specific Training (HST) is a method of strength training designed to induce the fastest rate of muscle growth (hypertrophy) without the use of anabolic steroids or reducing the efficacy of your muscles over an extended time period. Believe it or not, methods of inducing hypertrophy were discovered and tested in a laboratory. Principles obtained from the tests were then organized into a weight training routine aimed at inducing hypertrophy.

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What is Endurance training and why do I need it?

What is Endurance training?

When I think about endurance training, what immediately pops into my mind is an elastic band. Imagine a child playing with a colourful elastic band, stretching it then releasing it several times. If you have a child, you know that this can happen for hours at a time and if the elastic band is one of good quality, it will not break.

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Here's a Great Energy Boosting Snack

How many of you have tried the TRX Plank challenge? If you've kept an eye on our Facebook Page you'll have noticed the guys working with me have been up to the challenge this week. Topping the leaderboard at the moment is Trudi with a massive 1min32sec, she's that determined to beat her own score she is going to be joining us on the 6 Week Blast Programme.

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These guys are having a blast

How was your weekend, how many of you were at Tough Guy?

The pictures and videos look good, hearing about people getting stuck in the car park at the end not so good.

One of my clients Cheryl, has been taking part in the 6 Week Blast Programme was there at the weekend, I'm looking forward to seeing her tonight in the session and hearing all about it as well as her showing off her medal to everybody.

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How to plan ahead

We are now a couple of weeks into 2017 and I’m sure many of you have set New Year’s resolutions and are on track with them. It is great to look at client’s updates on Facebook of their workouts and comparing the miles they are racking up on their Fitbits and various other trackers. You are all smashing your virtual runs.

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One Determined Lady

I love the fact we are finally getting some sunny days to get out and about, it makes my mornings so much easier to get up, does anybody else find that?

Although the 4 weather systems I experienced on Saturday made me question is summer nearly here. We went to Sherwood Pines for a walk, plus gives me a chances to look at the people on GoApe and the Segways.

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How to look like Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds

For his latest film Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds completed intense training with his Personal Training Bobby Storm, even if he has commented it is only a fraction of what Hugh Jackman has to do for Wolverine.

Reynolds transformed his body for his role in Blade Trinity, piling on the muscle and reducing his body fat percentage, this background meant he knew the hard work he would have to put in to create the character Deadpool. He focused a lot on functional fitness, using equipment like the TRX, BOSU bands to work his core muscles. This was incorporated with kickboxing to add in the martial arts and strengthening and stretching with yoga.

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My Climbing Experience

At the moment I am trying out new experiences and different ways to exercise. I have always been into adventure and although I love playing football and team sports, I like doing things that will challenge myself. I think this is why I like surfing and skiing.

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What do you drink when exercising?

There are lots of different options for you to choose from and the market is currently flooded with lots of choices for you enticing you to buy their drinks to give you lots of energy, stop you aching and build muscle. I am going to help you decide if you need any of them when you exercise, for this blog I am going to focus on recovery drinks and protein shakes.

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Quick and easy exercises to get fitter

Its only 5 weeks until Christmas, for many of you that can mean your competitive games are well under way and you are looking forward to seeing the mid season stats, but it can also mean that the weather is affecting your training and games and you are lacking consistency in your fitness.

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