*all measurement are obviously subject to different clothes designers discretion and therefore may not be entirely accurate, but at least it gives us an idea.

Remember to checkout upcoming events for the next scheduled weigh in

The motivation which you get from them is amazing – it is friendly, great fun, very hard work but so worth it.  I’ve met some really genuinely great people and I absolutely love coming to every session.

Serena

Many of you have been in even though you were sore. Well done and kudos to you!!!

Many wondered if you were doing the right thing and I’m sure that many more of you avoided coming training. Although it’s a little counter intuitive research has show that it is fine to train on stiff and sore muscles if they are suffering from D.O.M.S.

D.O.M.S stands for delayed onset muscle soreness and can last from 3 to 5 days. Many of you know this already!

The studies have shown 2 things;

1. Full metabolic recovery occurs within 48 hours even if still sore

2. Training on muscles suffering from DOMS does not affect their recovery time

As far as weight loss in concerned you want to be back in training the very next day so that you keep stoking up your metabolism and burn twice as much fat. If you do a training session and then take the next 5 day off you are never going to get the metabolism of its ass and doing its job. FAT BURNING!

The painful truth is the more you train the less you’re going to suffer in the long run as your body adjust and therefore gets used to it.

For myself I rate the quality of the training session on how stiff and sore I am. If I’m not it was not a good session and not as productive as it could have been.

What can you do to relieve the pain?

Many people have asked me what they can do to relieve the symptoms. The honest answer is that your body has to do it in its own time but you can help it to do its best job by doing the following;

1. Eat good quality foods

2. Make sure that your meals are based around good quality protein

3. Drink plenty of fresh clean water

4. Plenty or rest and good quality sleep

5. Have a hot/warm bath

6. Light massage of the area

These will either bring you light short term relief (bath or massage) or will help the repair process, therefore shortening it slightly.

See you at the next boot camp session

Committed to your success

Keith, Clare and the team

As the days get shorter and it gets colder, I don’t know about you but I find it harder to get up. The snooze button comes out of retirement to help me stay in bed for just a bit longer.

For many people including myself at times it often seems like a good plan to have more time in bed and either miss breakfast or have something quick on the run.

Honestly, a good quality breakfast is worth far more than that extra 5/10 minutes between the sheets.

It has been shown in studies time and time again that people who miss breakfast make up the missed calories later on in the day or they get through the day by taking stimulants.

Neither of these approaches are good when it come to either losing weight or improving health.

Most people who miss breakfast end up feeling nibbly throughout the rest of the day, which is made worse by the high sugar snacks which is often the first thing that they have to eat.

For example one of my clients used to miss breakfast, waiting until she got to work at 9 where she would have a croissant or toast with jam and a coffee. By the time an hour had passed she was feeling nibbly again so had a high sugar snack and a coffee at 10 / 10.30ish. By lunch 1.00pm time she would be hungry again and would have a sandwich, fruit and a drink. This would satisfy her more, but by 3 pm she was ready to nibble again so she would only have 1 biscuit and a tea. She would manage to get through until dinner at 7 which would be a stir fry on a bed of white rice, but then throughout the evening she would have a glass of wine…. or 2 and some chocolate/biscuits/crisps and then to bed for 10.30/11pm.

The calories that she missed at breafast were made up plus extra throughout the day. Over a 3 year period she put on 3 stone!

The changes we made to her diet were simple but effective. If you’re not doing these, make a list and start.

1. Plan your food knowing what will happen throughout the week
2. Start your day with a protein based breakfast such as an omelette with meat or vegetables in or cold meats with some cheese and fruit
3. Take a snack with you such as goat’s cheese and grapes, olives, small meat chunks left over from Sundays roast or mixed nuts.
4. Cut the coffee and drink water
5. Take a lunch with you so that you do not buy sandwiches. Prepare it the night before possibly by cooking more dinner. Place it in a container in the fridge and take it with you for lunch. See how much money you will save over buying lunch everyday
6. Only have 2 or 3 spoonfuls of rice with your dinner. To make up the amount on your plate increase the amount of meat and vegetables

On these guidelines most people nibble less throughout the day and the evening, their health improves and they lose weight. If you don’t then you need to take things a little more seriously, come along to the boot camp or book a consultation to find out whats best for you.

Committed to your success

Keith

Some of you will be training early morning, others mid morning, lunch time or evening. Whenever your bootcamp session is be sure to get as many of these things right and you’ll see the weight loss, body shaping and tone and health results that you desire and deserve.

1.Nutrition

Make sure that you eat 2 hours or more before your bootcamp session. If you eat too close to the training session, you may find that your food gives you a stitch, makes you feel sick or you may even be sick if you’re not careful.

Spare some though to what you are eating! Burger and chips with a beer at lunchtime is not going to give you a great  boot camp session! (I have watched more than one person being sick form a burger, chips and beer lunch! Not pretty!), sandwich, crisps and a coke also is not the way forwards.

A better meal would be cold meat with salad sticks and 2 or 3 spoonfuls of cuscus or cold meat, salad with a banana or other fruit to finish.
I understand that you may not feel like eating early in the morning before a 6 or 7 am bootcamp, but you must promise me that you will have a good meal before bed the night before and take fruit with you or make a protein shake to have straight after your boot camp session. Do I sound like your mother????!!!

I’ll have to give you some recipes for protein shake or 2 in a blog post soon.

Nutrition is of critical importance to your results, if you are looking to get the best from your diet then you need to go here down load the course information and then book yourself a place; http://absolute-training.org/personal-nutrition/. Many people tell me that they know what they should be eating, but are often SO wrong when pressed on the subject. Lean the real power of food here! http://absolute-training.org/personal-nutrition/

2. Hydration

Make sure that you are well hydrated, sip water throughout the day, but stop sipping about an hour before your boot camp session. This is to stop it from sloshing around in your stomach or giving you a stitch.

If you are attending an early morning bootcamp have some water before you go to bed and sip some when you get up before the bootcamp session.

Drink water during the bootcamp session, but make sure that it’s room temperature and not too cold. Cold water can cause you problems with absorbtion, it can bring digestion to a halt and cause your gut to shiver sending it into spasm.
3. Get yourself a Heart Rate monitor!

Go to your local Sports shop or to Argos and pick yourself up a heart rate monitor so that you can see how hard you and your heart are working. Most watches also let you see how many calories you have burned up. In a  bootcamp session you are looking to get you heart rate as close to your maximum as possible and burn as many calories as you can. In the 45ish mins that you’ll be working out you want to try and do at least 300 calories, push hard and see if you can increase it to 500!

The higher the heart rate the more total calories will be burnt, both in the session and after. High intensity workouts are far better for fat burning then long slow ones. I’ll give you the where’s and whys about this really soon.

4. What’s on your feet

You don’t need to spend a fortune, but make sure that you are not wearing months or years old trainers. If you use your trainer nearly every day and do some high intensity work in them, they will be good for about 3 months. After this they may cause you problems, such as ankle, knee and back pain.

If you use your trainers rarely they could last you up to a year. Check your trainers if they are worn and scruffy then it definitely time to get some new ones. If you intend to do bootcamp and work hard then I’d spend a little money on them and make sure that you get the best ones that your budget allows. It also important to get the best ones for your feet and walking/running style. To find out which trainers would be the best for you, I suggest that you go to a shop called the Sweat shop. There staff and trained to look at the way you walk or run and then suggest trainers for you depending on this information. To find your nearest 2 stores are Milton Keynes and Hatfield. Although you’ll pay more for the trainers you’ll get some great advice about which trainers to buy and why.

Ok, so let’s have those key points;

1. Good quality, well timed food, not beer and burger! (If you wish to know more about the right diet go here http://absolute-training.org/personal-nutrition/

2. Hydration! Water, water everywhere so make sure that you have a drink!
3. Heart rate monitor. Know how hard you are working and what your calorie consumption is.
4. The right foot wear. Important for reducing injury risk, comfort and keep away the blisters! www.thesweatshop.co.uk/storefinder.cfm

Other areas that I need I’ll give you information on for getting the best out of your bootcamp are; sleep, goals setting, measuring and accountability but I think that we can cover these another day.

Committed to your success

Keith Tucker