5 Top Tips to Achieving your fitness resolutions

It’s that time of year again when everyone is talking about heath and fitness. Wherever you look there is advice and tips of how to get in shape. I want to simplify it all for you. It’s all about making small changes.

If you stick to these 5 simple tips, then you will be on your way to a healthier you:

Time Efficiency
Being efficient with your time it’s one of our most precious commodities. Knowing exactly what you have to do when you exercise will reduce workout procrastination.

Working out at home instead of the gym means that you you will save time going to and from the gym. You will avoid having to carry a wet towel around all day whilst wearing your crinkled shirt that you pulled out of your bag this morning.

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To save time food shopping you can order boxes of organic and fresh ingredients with some awesome healthy recipes from Mindful chef. Use the promo code TRUBE50 for 50% off your first box!

Lifestyle
Alcohol is one of the barriers that gets in the way of achieving our dream bodies. If you still want to go out and have a drink with your friends then remember this. Gin and Vodka comes out as the lowest calorie option. Try these healthier options when drinking alcohol.

  • Gin and slimline tonic

  • Vodka, soda and lime

Exercise
The secret to good exercise is consistency. To get you started we have launched the TruBe Detox exercise program. All the workouts can be done from the comfort of your own home and are perfectly designed to blow away those holiday cobwebs.

Try week 1 for yourself:

Nutrition
Experience tells us that if we make small achievable changes to our diet, we are more likely to stick to it, rather than drastic fad diets that are not sustainable and potentially unhealthy.

Remember to eat protein and sugar after a workout to help with recovery. If you want to take supplements because it’s quicker and easier than eating straight after exercise, then there are some great products available from Super Vitality and as a friend of TruBe  you can use the promo code TRUBE10 for 10%off all of their products.

Remember to hydrate! We lose at least 2 litres of water a day, even more when exercising. We need to replace this to keep the body functioning efficiently.

Sleep
Our body needs at least 7 hours a night to aid recovery. The lack of sleep can have a negative effect on hormones and cortisol release. Which then stimulates fat storage.

If you need any help with your at home workouts then why not get one of our trainers to come to you. Download the app.

Andy Hall – UK Master Trainer

What should you do before a workout?

The key to any successful workout is preparation. But how do you get the most out of each session? Everyone is different but here are some tips to ensure you are ready.

Energise
Sugar is the quickest way to get energy into your bloodstream and to your muscles. This doesn’t mean that you should eat a mars bar before every session. Most fruits are a great source of natural sugar, you could even make a great tasting smoothie which is quick and easy to take before a workout. Allow around half an hour before a workout and don’t eat too much. If you’re really struggling for energy try a shot of espresso.

Hydrate
Sounds simple and straightforward but it’s easy to forget to drink water through the day when your concentration is locked onto other things. You would be amazed how energising it can be for your mind as well as your body. Being hydrated isn’t just about drinking lots of water, electrolytes are just as important. Did you know that coconut water contains more electrolytes than your average sugary sports drink?! Just make sure it’s from a good natural source like Mighty Bee Coconut Water.

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Easy dynamic movements
It’s more than likely that you’ve been sitting around all day using little or no muscles to move around your home or the office. Your body needs to know know what’s about to happen to it so that its doesn’t tighten up and fight against your movements, potentially causing an injury. Stay away from static stretching before a workout. Static stretches increases range of movement but without telling the body how to move through this range. This lack of joint control can lead to serious injuries. Try the dynamic movements, in the pictures below, for 45 secs each before your next workout.

Warm up 1

warm up 2

Raise your heart rate
Your heart is a muscle too and it shouldn’t be expected to go from 0-100 in 5 secs. Gradually increase the intensity of your warm up over 5 minutes. You should reach the intensity intended for the workout ahead for for at least 20-30 seconds. Using your whole body will ensure that your blood is circulating everywhere it needs to be.

Find your inspiration
Probably the most important of all. If you can’t be bothered to workout then you won’t get the most out of your session, so you are probably wasting your time. You should try to motivate yourself by picturing your ideal body or watching someone you admire on youtube. If you can’t motivate yourself then you need a reliable gym buddy or a hired professional.

Download our app and try booking a session to see which of our experts are available when you are.

Do you need a gym to workout?

In this new age of fitness we find ourselves needing to rely on the gym less and less. In most cases relying on the gym to keep you fit and healthy may actually be detrimental. It makes more sense to invest in convenience, knowledge and in someone who motivates you to do something that is going to actually help.

But what if  “I don’t have any workout equipment”, “I live in a small flat” and “I don’t have the time to exercise”. All of these barriers can be broken down quickly and easily.

Knowledge is power
When you only have a small amount of space to train in you need to be extremely creative with the exercises and the way you put them together. Our trainers are all taught to “rule the tool”, this means, they create the exercises around what the body can and should be able to do.

Related: Strength training without the gym

Use small pieces of equipment 
Stay away from the spin lock dumbbells you were thinking of buying from Argos. They’re a nightmare to store, they don’t look cool in the corner of your bedroom and do more harm than good when you keep stubbing your toes on them.

blog equipment

You don’t need heavy weights all you need is equipment that can manipulate your body into positions that will help you to break a sweat. All of the equipment we use in our sessions fit into a regular sized rucksack and weighs no more than 5 kg.

Find someone/something that motivates you
You’ve heard it all before, training with a partner or trainer is more enjoyable and so on … This doesn’t have to be someone to be there with you it could be someone you admire on Instagram, an event you’ve signed up for or even to impress that special someone.

Pay an expert
There’s nothing more demotivating than when your unreliable workout buddy cancels last minute. By booking a personal training session through our app, we can guarantee that one of our highly rated trainers will be there on time ready to get the most out of your workout. In the long run this will save you a lot of time and stop you from wasted money on unused gym memberships.

Why not download our app and let one of our experts show you how to workout at home.

 

How to Correct your Posture

As an ex-professional ballet dancer, exceptional posture was a must. Now as a TruBe trainer, one of the most common complaints I hear from my clients is that they have poor posture. But what does this actually mean and how do we rectify it?

What is poor posture?
Posture is the relationship between the skeleton, muscle and other tissues of the body as it tries to stay upright against gravity. It can be as important to good health as proper nutrition, exercise, and a good night’s sleep. Bad posture occurs when certain muscles are activated too much and other muscle groups are under used, usually caused by sedentary lifestyles.

How do we get poor posture?
The largest part of most people’s daily life is spent working in the office which means we are spending most of our time sat at a desk. Sitting for prolonged periods of time can induce poor posture, causing rounded shoulders, a hunched upper back and a curved lower back.

Office posture

Why is this bad for me?
If poor posture isn’t addressed it will only get worse and likely lead to chronic pain. Rounded shoulders can lead to shoulder impingments, hunched backs to neck pain and curved lower backs to chronic back, hip and knee pain. If left alone, surgery is the only option to resolve these problems.

How can I stop it?
There are some little tricks that we can look to incorporate into our daily lives that will help with your posture:

  •  Use your standing time wisely. Check your stance whilst you’re brushing your teeth, cooking your dinner or even waiting for the Tube
  • Concentrate on standing as upright as possible. Maintain a natural curve in the lower spine and open your chest by pulling your shoulder blades together.
  • Stand-up every half hour at work and take a short walk around the office to help promote blood flow and prevent the tightening of muscles
  • There are many apps that remind you to stand-up, such as the Apple Watch. You will be surprised how much these can help.

To improve your posture even faster and reduce the chances of developing bad posture, here are some exercises you should and shouldn’t be doing:

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  • Overhead squats
  • Lunging whilst reaching back and over your head
  • Try yoga, pilates or Ballet fit (Try a session with TruBe!)
  • Mobilise joints in 3 dimension
  • Avoid crunches
  • Avoid seated exercise machines
  • Avoid lengthy cycling or spinning sessions

If you need help with your posture or feel that your poor posture is leading to chronic pain, download our app and and book your next training session with one of our TruBe trainers.

MattWilliams

 

 

Matt Williams – London Personal Trainer & TruBe Master Ballet Trainer

From the Gym to the Office

Hello, my name is Phil and I’m the Marketing Manager at TruBe. I’ve never worked in an office before, so when I sat down at the desk on my first day, I started to experience some nerves.

You see, before all this, I was a Personal Trainer for five years, and as a PT, I had some fitness goals that I wanted to achieve, namely:

1. To be to do thirty pull-ups in a row and at least five muscle-ups
2. To be able to planche the pinnacle of all push exercises
3. To be better at squatting and deadlifting
4. To win a 200m race

As a PT, I was used to working early mornings and late evenings, exercising in-between when the gym was less busy and my energy levels were high. I don’t have that routine anymore, so it was time to find a new place to train at and to make time for it.

Being in London, finding a gym close to the office wasn’t difficult. I settled on one literally just a two minute walk away and for my running, I found an amazing free track at Paddington’s recreational ground.

I still needed to make time to train, and I found that planning my week on a Sunday helps.

training schedule

The final step was to motivate and make myself accountable. The motivation barrier is the trickiest for sure. I’ve found that by telling others about my goals, I have automatically made myself accountable. This drives me to want to succeed so that I can share my success with my friends and family.

Now that I’m feeling motivated again I have no excuses!

Phil – Marketing Manager

P.s As marketing manager I need to shamelessly plug our app, so go download it now!