Personal Training for Women New Malden| Strength Training | Fitness Tips
The Benefits of Sitting on the Floor
Have you ever wondered why children often gravitate towards sitting on the floor? It's not because they're lazy or don't know how to use a chair. In fact, as they probably feel instinctively, there are a number of health benefits to sitting on the floor. In this blog...
Listen to Music to Boost Your Mood
Do you put on music when you exercise? What about in the daytime or when you are working? Music has the power to evoke a wide range of emotions, from joy to sadness to anger. It can also be a powerful tool for boosting mood. In this blog post, we will discuss the...
Go for an Evening Walk Rather than Watching TV
After a long day at work or school, it can be tempting to come home and relax by watching TV. However, there are a number of benefits to going for an evening walk instead, especially when the weather is warm and light in the evening as it is right now. In this blog...
Why It’s Important to Keep Moving
Our bodies are designed to move. We evolved in an environment where we were constantly on the go, hunting, gathering, and running from predators. But in today's world, most of us lead sedentary lifestyles. We sit at work, we sit in traffic, and then we sit at home...
The Benefits of Using Weights to Maintain Muscle Mass
As we get older it becomes important to actively maintain muscle mass, as it will naturally decrease with age if we do not. There are a number of reasons why we lose muscle mass as we age. Some of the most common reasons include: Hormonal changes. As we age, our...
Don’t neglect your Upper Body Training
Upper body training can sometimes be put to one side when older people are trying to maintain a level of fitness and mobility. In the last two articles I’ve pointed out the benefits of lower body training to maintain balance and reduce the risk of falls as you age....
Maintaining Fitness as you Age
For some people, it can be difficult maintaining a fitness regime as menopause approaches and in the years beyond. This period often coincides with the time when we have the most demands on our time, with our careers and families, maybe caring for parents as well as...
Toning your glutes
There are many reasons why you should think about toning your glutes especially if you have a sedentary lifestyle. Here are a few of the most important ones:Strong glutes can help improve your posture and reduce back pain. When your glutes are weak, they can't do...
Busting popular Fitness Myths
Some things never change, and some fitness myths never seem to fade away. If you believe some of these misconceptions, you could be undermining your fitness efforts. As we start the New Year, many of you will be embarking on yet another new exercise programme. If you...
Creating a Balanced Fitness Regime as we Age
I’ve spent much of the past 3 years in the gym.. both as a participant and as a teacher My exercise regime has remained consistent through that time but with tweaks as I have matured. I have always focussed mainly on resistance training. At times in my late 30s and...
Resistance Training and Why We Must Do It
What is Resistance Training Resistance training is defined as "a form of physical activity that is designed to improve muscular fitness by exercising a muscle or muscle group against external resistance" (American College of Sports Medicine). Why should we do...
Can I Tone Up in a MONTH?
I was recently contacted by someone who wanted to ‘tone up’ in a month running up to her wedding. I dislike the expression ‘tone up’. I’m never quite sure what is meant by it, to be honest, so I looked up the Oxford Dictionary definition: (of a person or body part)...
How Does Sleep Affect My Workout Goals?
Sleep affects every bodily function. It is the key to having the energy we need to conquer the day. While we sleep our brain gets rid of any unwanted substances, files and processes new information, helps produce our immune system, and helps produce the...
Perfecting Squat Technique: How to do the perfect Squat
Squats are one of the most functional movements in our lives We’re designed to squat! We’ve been squatting since we were babies. If you ever watch toddlers move, you’ll notice that they perform picture-perfect squats. As we get older and sit in unnatural positions all...
Kettlebell Swing: How to get the most out of it
The kettlebell swing is a complex movement but one worth learning to do properly as it has many benefits. What muscles does the kettlebell swing work? The kettlebell swing is a full-body exercise and hits many muscles. It uses your core, glutes, hamstrings, quads,...
Using Resistance Bands for Workouts
Using resistance bands can give your muscles a good challenge. They are a useful inexpensive training tool that can target any body part without putting pressure on the joints. While the usual strength exercises focus on bigger muscle groups, resistance band exercises...
5 Resistance Band Circuit Workouts you can try at home
Here are some suggestions for some resistance band circuit workouts you can do. If you need help choosing a set of resistance bands, please see this post where I recommend a set that works for most people. Each of these circuits features four exercises and in each...
Movement and Posture is Important when Maintaining Pelvic Floor Health
Have you noticed a deterioration in your pelvic floor function since the beginning of the pandemic? I have been super grateful for my job during the past two years through the pandemic. I’ve spent much of my time outside, had lots of interaction with people, and...
Should you do Cardio or Weights for Heart Health?
When it comes to heart health, I'm often asked - is it more important to do cardio or weight training? The answer is, it depends... I have a great variety of Personal Training clients. Some are young, many more mature, a handful of mums to be, and a few new mums,...
Intermittent Fasting – Is It for Me ?
What is Intermittent Fasting? Intermittent fasting is an old secret of health. It has been practiced throughout human history and is a powerful health habit. Intermittent fasting is the practice of giving your digestion a longer time to rest in a 24-hour cycle than...
Offset Osteoporosis through Exercise and Nutrition
Osteoporosis literally means 'porous bones' and individuals with osteoporosis are at an increased risk of fracture. The hip, spine, and wrist are the most common fracture areas and statistics show that after the age of 50, 50% of women will suffer a bone fracture as a...
TABATA Training What is it and How do I do it
What is Tabata Training? Tabata training is a form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT). However, the structure is somewhat different to a traditional, circuit-oriented HIIT workout. The structure of a Tabata workout is as follows: you perform a specific...
How to strengthen your Core and Pelvic Floor
Do you feel like you need to strengthen your core? This is one of the most common issues I am presented with by new clients. When they say 'core', most of them are imagining their abdominal muscles, but many do not realise that the core is an entire set of muscles...
You’re never too old to take care of your health
My mum has recently started using a gym for exercise, at the age of 76. I asked her to write a bit about how she is finding the experience, in order to inspire others, who may think they are "too old for the gym". Here is what she had to say... Before lockdown,...
What is an AMRAP workout and how can you construct one?
The aim of an AMRAP Workout is to complete as many rounds of a circuit as possible in a certain period of time. Although the focus should be on pushing yourself as hard as possible for short bursts, like any other type of exercise, the emphasis should be placed on...
Weight Loss: Why do the Scales Keep Fluctuating ?
Once again weight loss is at the top of everyone's mind. Guest Blogger William Law looks at the problems with using weight as a guide to progress There are better and worse ways to start a day. And for many people, the day begins with dragging yourself out of bed...
Are Resistance Bands Better than Cables ?
Anyone who’s stepped foot in a gym knows that they contain a huge variety of equipment, possibly enough to be intimidating. Resistance Bands and Cables have their place in amongst all of this Whether it’s the squat racks surrounded by metal weight plates or...
The Benefits of Exercising Outdoors
Exercising Outdoors Isn’t Really That Bad… Exercising outdoors? in the UK? you must be mad! Well maybe so but gyms and leisure centres have been shut for months, and no-one likes that. Unfortunately, my studio also falls under the category of ‘indoor space’, so the...
Losing Fat and Maintaining Muscle
The idea of ‘losing weight’ seems to be the holy grail of fitness. It’s something everyone wants to do: these days, every time we go to the magazine aisle in the supermarket, we’re ambushed by magazine covers filled with women with slender, toned physiques and men...
What is HIIT and is it Good For Me?
HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is a training technique in which you work at high effort through quick, intense bursts of exercise, followed by short, sometimes active, recovery periods. It has many different forms, but essentially involves a period of hard...