Fat Loss tips for busy women

I don't have time to exercise!

I run a business, where am I going to find the time to keep fit?

By the time I've got through the day and got the kids to bed I'm too exhausted to exercise!

I don't have time to cook a healthy meal, this food is convenient.

Do any of these phrases mean anything to you?

These phrases are very common so I'm guessing you won't be the only one who answered yes, due to our busy lifestyles we are finding it much harder to spend time looking after our health and stay in shape and with the current recession time is becoming even more precious.

Being a business woman and a mother of a two year old girl I too know just how hard it is to find time to work out. Some people think that they need to spend hours in the gym on the cardio machines, but that is not the case. Whilst studies show that long cardiovascular exercise might be best for fat burning it's not necessarily the most effective for fat loss. To achieve great fat loss results you should be exercising at a high intensity, you'll be amazed at the results you can get in a spare 15 minutes of you day!

To lose body fat and reveal great muscle tone the smartest way to go about achieving the best results is to do resistance based exercise along with high intensity interval training. This type of training increases your resting metabolic rate, meaning you burn more calories at rest, even when you're sleeping you'll be burning more calories and best yet you don't need to spend hours in the gym.

So what is resistance based exercise and interval training?

Resistance based training is where we perform exercises that use the whole of the body, to make the fat burning more effective we perform this resistance training in short bursts.

Interval training is where we train at a high intensity for a period of time followed by an active rest period, this process is repeated for a number of repetitions and these types of sessions will usually last no more than 15-20 minutes in total.

Diet swaps.

By making just a few small changes to your diet you can achieve great fat loss results. Examples can include replacing tea and coffee with green and peppermint tea, replacing processed foods with wholesome natural foods, swap biscuits to fruit berries are a great example, ditch the crisps and enjoy vegetable crudités. Swap fried/battered foods for grilled/steamed.

Example of a fast fat loss workout

Work through the following as fast as you can:
20 Jump squats
20 Press Ups
20 Burpees
20 Jumping Jacks
20 Mountain Climbers
Rest 1-2 minutes (repeat 3-5 times!!)

CLICK HERE for a 4 week rapid results fitness for busy women programme, there are workouts for beginners and intermediates to exercise.

Just How Committed are you?

Having just finished this morning’s boot camp where it was wet, cold and windy I sat down to my morning porridge with blueberries and seeds, my cup of green tea in hand I started to think, why is it that these people get up, whatever the weather to come along to boot camp?

At this time of year, with Christmas and new year just around the corner where many would just stay in bed with the mindset of ‘I’ll wait until the new year, doesn’t everyone put on weight over Christmas?’ and give up being kind to their bodies! My campers are getting up to come and push their bodies to the max, not only the boot campers but my Personal Training clients are also continuing with the programmes I have set for them and getting great results.

Why is this? What is it that makes these people stick to a healthy diet and push themselves through their training sessions? COMMITTMENT that’s what, these people have an end goal in site and they are working hard to get there, they’d rather feel fantastic this Christmas and New Year having worked their A**es off to get there. I guarantee they have their friends, family or co-workers asking why the hell they are doing it, trying to tempt them to have ‘just one chocolate, one won’t hurt, its Christmas!’ (of course this kind of thing happens all year round for some of them!). By breaking away from the norm of what is ‘shut down’ until the New Year these guys are seeing consistent results with their fitness and while others are gaining these people are dropping pounds and inches.

Ask yourself, are you one of the groups of people who give up healthy eating and exercise at Christmas all to start again in the New Year? Or are you one of the few people that are dedicated to their health and well being, instead of feeling low and lacking in energy over these cold winter months you’re beaming with energy, feeling fantastic and seeing great changes to your body as a result of your hard work? My boot campers and PT clients are!

Why put off until the New Year what you can do now? When you put things off you set yourself up for disappointment, you start in January with a well meaning ‘I’m gonna do this’ come the end of January most of you have given up because you’re not seeing fantastic results. Don’t waste your money on Gym memberships that can’t guarantee results, get a training partner or a Personal Trainer that your accountable to, set yourself goals and work hard to achieve them goals or why not join a group fitness programme that can guarantee you fat loss results, whatever it is, do it NOW!

As Thomas Jefferson says “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”

Wishing you a very happy Christmas and New year, stay fit and healthy!

The benefits of doing fitness outdoors

The benefits of doing fitness outdoors

Your exercise time each day might be an ideal time for you to get out in the sunshine, get some vitamin D and reconnect with the natural world. Here are five reasons to make you think about taking your exercise outdoors.

Fresh air is extremely invigorating. Nowadays, most of us get to choose to stay inside. We don't have to work in the hot sun or walk through snowy, windy storms to get to town. And that means we can go an awfully long time without ever going outdoors. While it's always the same temperature in the gym, there's just something about breathing in deep breaths of fresh air that invigorates the mind, body and soul.

Stay connected with nature. So many of us are in contact with concrete and other unnatural surfaces all day long. Use your daily workout time as a great excuse to venture out onto a dirt trail, road or path. You never know what you're going to discover in the natural world.


It's good for you. Outdoor time has been linked to a wide variety of health benefits. Studies suggest that it increases your energy levels and helps you to stay more alert. We are learning more and more about the importance of a daily bit of natural sunlight, too, which can help fight depression. Vitamin D, which is created naturally when sunlight acts on the skin, is important for a whole host of bodily functions. It helps to regulate calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood and is vital to the immune system.

Outdoor workouts might help you stick with it. Exercise outdoors tends to be more exciting and adventurous than the treadmill, so these kinds of workouts may help you stay engaged in your exercise routine. If your daily exercise time is also your time to escape the four walls of your home or office, for example, you might be more likely to see it as a treat that you give yourself. And when you can see your daily exercise in such a positive way, you'll be far more likely to make sure you do your workout each day.

And that's one of the best things you can do for your overall health. Exercise itself helps increase mental focus, tones muscles, helps improve your metabolism, and helps increase your lung capacity, and no doubt your lifespan.

Exercising outside gives your body fresh new challenges. When you exercise outside, you will be asking your body and your brain to complete more complex motions than those that are performed on exercise equipment. You are also dealing with various terrain surfaces, which can provide a further mental and physical challenge and help to improve your reflexes. The most important thing is that you truly love the exercise you choose so that you will stick with it. Always pace yourself, it won't take long before you'll be feeling the all of the mental and physical benefits.

Theres five great reasons to exercise outside, now add the benefit of group exercise to that with a qualified personal trainer who guarantees results to the equation and you’ve got a winning formula!