Tag Archives: gym

5 Tips to make this your best Summer ever!

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So the skies are clearer, the weather is warmer, and you’re thinking about cracking out your swimsuit, and this isn’t always a pleasant experience, and with the World Cup and Wimbledon it’s often easier to watch other people exercising than taking the plunge yourself.

Don’t forget that up until June 30th you can work towards getting yourself Beach Fit with Caversham Health and Fitness with our special programme -  and at CHF we’re committed to helping you maintain a healthier, more active lifestyle through out the year, and so here we’ve compiled 5 top tips that could reinvigorate your training and the rest of your summer!

5 Tips to make this your best Summer ever!

1.    Use compound movements – that is those that  work several muscle groups at once,  the more muscles you work the more calories you’ll burn. It also means that you can work more in less time – so you still have time to fit in a gym session and get back to watch the World Cup.

Use these big, muscle-building exercises to really torch those calories:
Chest:  Press Ups, Bench Press, Dips
Back:  Deadlifts, High Pulls, Chin Ups ( if you’re not quite ready to face the chin up bar just yet then you could use the Incline Pull instead)
Legs:  Squats, Lunges, Step Ups

2.    Select the right weight – most gym goers programs would be a great deal more beneficial if they selected the right weight. That is one that on the last few repetitions it’s getting progressively harder to maintain that perfect form Frazer, Vee, Mel or Rob demonstrated in your ‘Start to Train’.  If you get to the end of your set number of repetitions and you could have done more than you need to take that weight up again next set.

3.    Up the intensity, lessen the duration – most of us are time poor, leading busy lives and sometimes it can be hard to figure out how you can find that hour to make it to the gym. Here’s the good news – you don’t have to! Only got 40 minutes? Fine. Only got 30? That’s okay. 20 all you can manage. Come on in. 15? Now you’re pushing it! Whatever time you have –use it. But use it effectively. If you’re only doing half of your program, double the intensity. Something is always better than nothing and you’ll always feel better afterwards.

4.    Do things you enjoy – every piece of state of the art kit at Caversham Health and Fitness has the ability to help you achieve what you joined here to accomplish. Some you’ll like, some you won’t.  Just because someone in a fitness magazine lost two stone by running doesn’t mean you have to slave away on the running belt if you it doesn’t motivate you. Your body doesn’t really care how you move – as long as you move. Don’t like working out in the gym? Take part in classes. There is no right or wrong way to get healthy – just the right one for you. Let us help you find it and away you go!

5.    Follow the 80/20 rule – you don’t have to suddenly become hermit once you embark on your healthier lifestyle.  ‘Everything in moderation, including moderation’ somebody said whose name escapes me. For 80% of the time stick to your gym plan, make those healthier food choices, get the amount of sleep you know you need to function properly but 20% of the time let yourself off of the hook now and again to reap the rewards of all your hard work and effort.  That could mean having one day a week when you eat what you want, having that pudding at the restaurant. You’ve earned it. Then back to that 80%, don’t let that one day become a bad week or a bad month. Celebrate!

Gym challenges

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These gym challenges are guaranteed to get you pumping and sweating at Club CHF. Give them a go and see how hard you work….

100 burpee challenge (timed)

  • easy: standard burpee, no jump
  • medium: as above, plus jump
  • hard: as above, plus press up
  • stupid: as above, plus tuck jump

300 workout

  • 25 pull ups
  • 50 deadlifts 60kg
  • 50 push ups
  • 50 box jumps (24inch platform)
  • 50 floorwipers 60kg (touch feet down in the middle)
  • 25 (each arm) 16kg k/b clean and press (touch k/b to floor with each repetition)
  • 25 pull ups

Bodyweight 500 workout

  • 50 prisoner squats (hands behind head, elbows back)
  • 50 push ups
  • 25 squat jumps
  • 25 leg curls (stab ball, hips up)
  • 50 stab ball jackknifes (elbows on bench, body in straight line)
  • 50 step ups (25 each leg)
  • 25 pullups (palms away) (alt: 25 bodyweight rows)
  • 50 lunges (25 each leg)
  • 50 narrow press ups (elbows back)
  • 50 bodyweight rows
  • 50 bodyweight squats (arms out front)
  • 25 chin ups (palms facing)

Barbell 500 workout 30kg

  • 50 back squats
  • 50 barbell push ups
  • 25 barbell thrusters (ie squat to press)
  • 50 sumo deadlift high pull
  • 50 reverse crunch and press (rev crunch bring b/b to chest, press as legs go out)
  • 25 (each side) forward lunge
  • 25 bentover row (underhand grip)
  • 50 floor wipers
  • 50 shoulder press
  • 50 bent over row (overhand grip)
  • 25 barbell rollouts
  • 50 hang cleans

1km row, bike, run

  • 1km bike
  • 1km run (1% incline)
  • 1km row (level 5)
  • quick as you can

15 minutes nosebleed run

  • 5 minutes @ 15%
  • 4 minutes @ 14%
  • 3 minutes @ 13%
  • 2 minutes @ 12%
  • 1 minute   @ 11%
  • cover as much distance as you can

18 Exercises

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Compound exercises are multi-joint movements that work several muscles or muscle groups at one time.

For healthy athletes who are trying to get the most out of a training program, compound exercises are generally preferred and recommended. There are many reasons to use compound exercises during your workout, including the following:

Using more muscle groups. . .

  • means more calories burned during exercise.
  • simulates real-world exercises and activities.
  • allows you to get a full body workout faster.
  • improves coordination, reaction time and balance.
  • improves joint stability and improves muscle balance across a joint.
  • decreases the risk of injury during sports.
  • keeps your heart rate up and provides cardiovascular benefits.
  • allows you to exercise longer with less muscle fatigue.
  • allows you to lift heavier loads and build more strength.

The exercises…

Lower body compound:

  • back squat
  • front squat
  • split squat
  • alternate lunge
  • step up
  • Olympic dead lift
  • Romanian dead lift (hips higher than Olympic dead lift)
  • Stiff legged dead lift

Upper body compound:

  • Close grip barbell bent over row
  • Wide grip barbell bent over row
  • Dumbbell single arm row
  • Chin up (pronated grip)
  • Pull up (supinated grip)
  • Barbell bench press
  • Overhead dumbbell press

Core:

  • Plank
  • Side plank
  • Deadbug

8 training tips that guarantee results

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Why are gyms full in January but come February, March the only thing getting healthier and more bulky is gyms bank account with your monthly direct debit?

It all started so well – you were keen, motivated, enthusiastic, you bought the trainers, the training gear you told all your friends about the ‘new you’ and then a few weeks/months down the line there you are gain back at square one – ‘I’ll start again next week’ you keep telling yourself.

Sound familiar? And why is that? I’m guessing it’s because you didn’t see results. All that hard work and for what?

So how can you guarantee that you will get to see and more importantly, ‘feel’ the results that ‘new you’ craved?  Read on my friend…..

Work ‘smart’ not just ‘hard’

You might be going to the gym 5 days a week, but what are you doing when you get there? You could get the same results, perhaps even better ones, if you remembered it’s about quality and not quantity. Up the intensity and lower the duration.

Know what you are doing before you start

Have a goal in your head of what you want to achieve before you start ‘doing a bit of this and a bit of that’.

Keep changing your programme

You should be changing your programme every 4-6 weeks, sooner if you are getting bored of it. The body is a marvellous adapter and it will adapt to what you are asking of it and then stop adapting so you have to keep it guessing to keep getting results.

Loss of form/failure

When lifting weights, always go to loss of form or failure. You should be struggling to keep the tempo and form towards the end of the set, not at the beginning see ‘technique, technique, technique.’

Keep moving

If one muscle group is fatigued work another while it rests. This keeps your heart rate up and speeds the time it takes to do your workout.

Technique, technique, technique

Its always about technique and not how much weight you can move (this one is more for the boys). Use a tempo and stick to it, you control the weight not the other way around.

Big muscle groups

The bigger the muscle group the more calories you’ll burn when using it. Chest, back, legs these are the ‘biggies’ train these and you’ll get where you want to go far quicker than if you keep doing those bicep curls.

Enjoy it

Do things that you enjoy, if you enjoy what you are doing, even if it does hurt a little, you are much more likely to stick to it.

Video:How to do the perfect Press Up

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Mark Willis, Personal Trainer, has pulled together a collection of short videos that demonstrate how to perform some of the core exercises that can be done at the gym or at home.

Here is how to do the perfect press up:

If you need any advice or guidance at any time, please ask a CHF instructor who will be more than happy to help you.

Exercises for those with high blood pressure

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Hypertension or high blood pressure ((BP) of 140/90mmHg or higher) is such a health risk that the World Health Organisation claim that it is:

“one of the biggest challenges facing public health authorities and medical practitioners is the control of hypertension worldwide.”

Worldwide, high blood pressure affects 1 billion people and is estimated to cause 7.1 million deaths; 13% of the total deaths. For those suffering high blood pressure there are increase risks of coronary heart disease, strokes, renal disease and all cause mortality (Gordon, 1997).

But now for the good news! It should be noted that in some people with high blood pressure, exercise can be just as effective as high blood pressure medications. Indeed, some exercisers have subsequently reduced their medication dosage while others have safely come off off it altogether.

  • increase your warm up  and cool down (10-15 mins, up to RPE 5/6 *RPE = rate of percevied exercision)
  • avoid isometric or power work (keep the weight moving all the time)
  • avoid holding your breath
  • do not go to failure on an exercise, loss of form is okay
  • decrease the load when working above the shoulders
  • avoid incline sit ups or decline bench exercise (when head is above your heart)

And if you even have a slight concern of high blood pressure always ask a member of the gym team or contact Mark Willis Personal Trainer 0777 300 88 65

Get back on the exercise bus

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You were doing so well and then BANG! it all went horribly wrong, how can you get back to where you were ……and then some?

  • Start Again (at the beginning) – most of us tend to want to pick up from exactly where we left off and then get frustrated when we can’t run as fast or lift as much.  The body is a great adaptor but it will adapt both to progressive exercise (positive) and also sitting on the couch watching television eating pringles (not so positive) – so be realistic about things and just start again!  You’ll soon be back to where you were and then some.
  • Commit To It – his is the first step, but make that commitment not just to yourself but to your partner, friends, workmates, in your journal, blog, post it up somewhere prominent at home, by your computer even tell your pet and encourage others to encourage you. if you cannot do this it is likely that you will falter.  That’s the great thing about having a gym membership – you’ll have the CHF gym staff to encourage you too!
  • Do It For 30 Days – evidence suggests that it takes between 21 and 30 days to create a new habit (depending which research you read). commit to that month and then things should get a lot easier.
  • Do It At The Same Time Each Day – get structured. there will always be plenty of other things in your busy life that could draw you away from your goal so get specific. before work, lunchtime or straight after work are the best times to train. it doesn’t matter when it is. just do it. doing it at the same time each day will make it a much stronger habit.
  • Learn From Your Mistakes – there’s a reason for everything including why you stopped your exercise program. find out what it was and put things in place to stop it stopping you again. if not, it will happen again.
  • Celebrate Every Success – sometimes just getting to the gym is cause for celebration when if you had to wrestle with that or doing something else.   Celebrate often in the first few weeks, that extra rep or increase in speed, they all count towards that fitter, stronger, happier new you!

In the words of my trainers – JUST DO IT!

Squash Match – Ladies six time world champion playing at ClubCHF…

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The six times world champion, Sarah Fitzgerald, is playing top England women’s squash player, Alison Waters, in an exhibition friendly to celebrate the opening of the newly refurbished courts. There will also be a veterans match in the evening.

Event details:

Caversham Health & Fitness
Archway Road
Caversham
Reading
RG4 8AN

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We are finalising the time shortly, if you would like to come along then please email info@cavershamhealthandfitness.co.uk