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!

Spicy Thai Soup

Ok so I love cooking, mine tends to be more of a throw everything in and hope for the best style of cooking! Recently though one of my Boot Camp members passed me this recipe and I gave it a go, its (as the boot camper put if) blinking gorgeous!!

Why not give it a try and let me know what you think! Guaranteed to warm youup on these chilly winter days - especially if you have a cold!

In a saucepan, put raw thinly sliced chicken, about 4 coriander stalks, 3 thick slices of ginger, 1 squashed green chilli, 1/2 chopped red chilli (without seeds if you don't like it too hot) and 2 stalks of squashed lemongrass.

Cover with cold chicken stock or water and boil until the chicken is cooked.

Take off the heat and add 3 tbsp fish sauce, juice of 1 lime and some chopped coriander and basil leaves.

Thats it, simple but easy to make.

Do you hate your big thighs?

Do you hate your big thighs?


I have a lot of people ask me how to lose the weight around their thighs and bum, most of the time these people are advised by the ‘fitness know it all’ to do lots of walking/slow jogging as its the best for fat burning.

Whilst studies do show that long cardio sessions are the best for fat burning its not necessarily the best for fat loss.

Carrying weight around the hips is over production of Estrogen, if you suffer from this then you want to avoid long cardio sessions, these will also increase your Cortisol levels making you put weight on around your belly too. Instead you must to be doing vigorous exercise (sprints) and weight training (resistance).

Choose organic produce where you can and be sure to wash all fruit and vegetables to stop any pesticide/toxin intake. Decrease alcohol, yes this is a must – everyone who is trying to lose weight wants to be cutting the alcohol out! For occasions red wine may be drunk but no more than two units per day.

Increase intake of cruciferous vegetables such as watercress, sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, kale – if digested properly they will help rectify the imbalance, plus the fibre, vitamins and minerals are great for your overall health and well being.

There are supplements that may also help – remember supplements should only be used to supplement what is already a good diet, these include:

A good quality fish oil – these have a multitude of benefits and should be included in everyone’s diet
A good quality multivitamin – everyone should be taking a good multivitamin
A diindolylmethane (DIM) supplement may be beneficial
Organic flax seed hulls may also help

An example of a daily diet for people with excess estrogen may include:


Breakfast: omelette made with spinach and mushrooms (garlic Snack: ½ an avocado with a handful of nuts
Lunch:chicken salad made with a chicken breast, watercress, cherry tomatoes, spinach leaves, radishes and flax seed hulls sprinkled over.
Snack: ½ an avocado with a handful of nuts
Dinner: roast turkey with sprouts, broccoli, parsnips, carrots

Its best to steam vegetables and be sure to chew your food thoroughly.
Switch over to green tea and water

If your reading this and you know a man that suffers from moobs (man boobs) then the info contained here may also be of benefit to them!

Remember, If you do suffer from big thighs, do yourself a favour and ditch the cross trainers and long slow jogs!

Tips To Stay In Shape for the Party Season!

We all know the party season is coming up and we all want to look and feel great don't we.... here's a few tips to help you keep in shape

* When you have a party to go to make sure that you eat a good healthy meal beforehand – that way you’ll be less tempted to eat the fattening party foods.

* If you’ve Christmas meals to go to, drink a pint of water half an hour before your meal to fill you up a bit, then eat a little of everything on your plate so that you don’t feel like your depriving yourself of the foods you love, take time over your meal (it takes 20 minutes for our brain to register when we’re full), enjoy every mouth full then when you are satisfied stop eating, don’t eat it all ‘because its too good to leave’ you’ll only kick yourself when your having to work twice as hard to work it off.

* Eat, drink and be merry can sometimes be taken too literally! If you are going to drink do it in moderation, you can still have fun without getting so drunk you can’t remember anything! Remember alcohol is a toxin and should be avoided by people who are trying to lose weight, especially around your stomach, how many teenage girls do we see now with the overhang? Oh and for the gents – be careful alcohol messes with your hormones and can give you man boobs (moobs!), why not give up alcohol for a few weeks, after all the party season is coming up - its not here yet!

* Enjoy the wonderful crisp winter weather and get out walking, go holly picking in the fields, walking the dogs, whatever it is get out and keep active, getting some sunlight everyday can improve our mood and overall well being.

* Don't try and start a new diet during the holidays: That just screams binge! You will only be setting yourself up for disappointment, resentment, and depression, stay healthy, but don't be too restrictive, if you live by the 80/20 rule then you can’t go wrong, 80% of your week if you eat clean healthy nutritious foods you can allow for 20% of the time a ‘treat’ (clean foods mean its preferably not packaged, its organic, fresh and has no more than 8 ingredients – green leafy vegetables, lean organic animal protein and fruits that are dark in colour such as berries)

* If you go shopping, leave a good distance from the shops and walk home with the bags, this is great for improving your core muscles, though be careful not to have your bags too heavy, balance them out and look after your posture.

* Why not set a goal to reach for Christmas, whether its to drop a dress size for the 24th December or fit into that special outfit, set it, write it down and work hard to achieve that goal.

* Don’t get caught up with the majority of people who ‘wait until the new year’ to start an exercise routine (who usually drop off by the middle of January!!), start now, get some support – join a fitness group, get a training partner, personal trainer or join a boot camp.

which one would you rather be -
the one in the baggy clothes bitching about the 'skinny cow' looking fantastic in their outfit
or
the woman/man everyones jealous of because you've worked hard to get into shape and look great for the parties???

hhmmmmm I know which one I'd rather be!!

If you have some tips for staying in shape for the party season please add them below (healthy tips only please!!!)

want to lose your belly?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the saying “how can I lose my belly?” “what exercises are the best to help me lose my belly?” “can you give us more stomach work?”

If your goal is to lose weight from around your stomach, your not going to do it with lots of stomach crunches! Carrying weight around the abdomen area is linked to nutrition and hormones, namely your carbohydrate intake and your cortisol levels (fat production around the stomach is a sign of over production of cortisol), the stress hormone. Stress levels need to remain as low as possible, depending on what type of stress you may have.

The best way to combat this is to reduce your carbohydrate intake, follow a good diet high in lean protein, green leafy vegetables and dark fruits (berries for example) - best time to eat your fruit is during the 2 hours post training.

Have a good wind down procedure before going to sleep, lower the lights, read, stop watching TV, if you have any electrical items plugged in where you sleep remove them - this will make a difference to your sleep and weight loss believe it or not! Leave the mobile phone out of the room where possible - don't sleep with it at the bed side as the electro magnetic forces can disturb our sleep. You should to be getting to sleep at around 10pm and waking at 6.30am in a completely dark room.

Drink plenty of water and reduce your caffeine as this will stimulate the already overworked adrenal glands, Choose peppermint, ginger and green tea instead.
If you are suffering from any work/relationship/parental stress then gentle breathing exercises or meditation may help.

Take a good quality omega 3 supplement with every meal
Other supplements that might help:
Licorice Root - this can help regulate the production of cortisol.
A good quality multivitamin
Betain hydrochloride taken with 1 or 2 meals could aid with nutrient absorption because for some people it also causes a digestion issue.

Carrying weight in your lower stomach might also be a slight postural problem too, your pelvis might be tilted forward slightly (anterior pelvic tilt), exercises that activate and work the core, stretch the hip flexors and work the glutes to bring your pelvis back might also help.
Exercise examples:

Forward Lunges/split squats x 15 each leg
Plank x 30 seconds to 1 minute
Side Plank x 30-45 seconds each side
Supine bridges x 15 (on one leg when more advanced)

repeat 3-5 times per week

So answer to the question – clean up your nutrition, look after those hormones and concentrate on postural correction through the correct exercise choice.

Is Low Fat Food Stopping You From Losing Fat?

Could your low fat diet be doing you more harm than good? You have two options when buying food - normal or low fat, if you struggle with your weight I'm guessing you'll go for the low fat option every time?

Contrary to what we've been conditioned to believe these last few decades, low fat is not necessarily the best option. When a product is advertised as low fat it generally means that it will have gone through a lot of process to remove the fat, by doing these food manufacturers generally strip the fat and replace it with sugar or sweeteners which when processed will be stored as fat anyway!

We all tend to put too much trust into the foods that we eat without really checking the labels, if you do check the labels on everything you eat you can't go wrong. If your on a quest for fat loss then you want to be cutting out processed foods, foods containing wheat flour, alcohol (this is a big one alcohol is LOADED with empty calories!), and sugar.

It's best to go back to basics, with meat and fish if its free to run around, fly, swim in the open water then it can be eaten.

Fruit and vegetables: as long as its been farmed without the use of pesticides and other chemicals, is as fresh and in season as possible it can be eaten!!

Nuts are great but only in moderation because they are high in fat and calories, one or two small handfuls is great but no more because you will get fat!!

Fluids: water and herbal teas are the best, two or three cups of tea/coffee is ok too.

The next time you reach for that low fat bag of crisps, your 'healthy' breakfast cereal or the diet coke, just have a good look at the label; it could be doing you more harm than good!! If you can't pronounce the ingredient it's probably best not to put it into your body!!

Personal Trainer North Yorkshire, Fat Loss North Yorkshire