Fit for what you do!

This week has flown by…

After returning from Cyprus last week and after much goading, Helen, my client for over two years now, convinced me to join her at Woking Leisure Centre for a Spinning class.

Anyone who knows me knows that my aerobic capacity is relatively poor. I much prefer sessions of short sharp intense efforts, but needs must, and given that the rugby season is now over I decided to give it a go.

Turning up at the leisure centre was easy. I signed in and paid my money and got on the bike. It’s fair to say that a week in the sun, drinking cocktails and sleeping was not ideal prep for such an ordeal, but given what I put most of my clients through week-to-week, I thought it would be a good way of getting back to it.

Its also fair to say that Helen is fitter than most (I am taking credit for this!), and she has been training hard for a bike ride from London to Paris. She also loves a bit of competition which was going to make it hard work. However, bearing in mind that I am a qualified spinning instructor, I felt I could turn my hand to this.

The class was full – testament to the instructors at Woking Leisure Centre. There were a variety of different ages and abilities, which I was pleased to see as health and fitness is equally important to young and old. The instructor got us started, and its fair to say by the end of the session I was suitably fatigued.

I found the class hard work and by the end had lost the strength in my legs. My point is this you are fit for what you do. For the last four months I have been lifting heavy weights, and aside from playing rugby, have not done any cardiovascular exercise. My fitness is specific to weight lifting and rugby, not 45 minutes cycling uphill.

The class did give me kick up the bottom that I needed, and given that Helen and I are due to be racing round Woking on our bikes the 2nd June for the Woking Tour Series, I will be attending more spinning classes in the future.

This week I also met up Siona Booth. Siona is a personal trainer who works in and around West End. I find it beneficial to meet up with other trainers, as it’s often good to bounce ideas off others within the industry. Siona’s lovely and I look forward to catching up with her again soon.

I also signed up for a fantastic one-day course this weekend in London. The course is called Fat Loss Strategies and is run by a company called Juice Performance. Based on the idea of Biosigniture Modulation, the course will give me greater understanding of the barriers to fat-loss and contributing factors that lead to weight gain.

It is generally considered that you cannot ‘spot reduce’ (take fat from a particular area); however there is now evidence to suggest otherwise. The course will teach me ways in which to access for endocrine imbalance and alter a persons exercise programme, diet and lifestyle to correct it.

This will be great for those clients looking to tone up particular areas of their body – backs of arms, legs or stomach. Perhaps we can make those muffin tops or bingo wings a thing of the past???

Finally, spare a thought for this poor chap sent to me via email. It’s always nice to see someone wearing a hat in the gym do something stupid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncK7cgvoEGM

Have a great weekend.