personal trainer Archives | Page 4 of 6

Do Low Carb Diets Actually Work?

November 4, 2015November 1, 2018 Alex CoombesLeave a comment

I often get asked about what I personally eat or don’t eat to stay lean. This may surprise you but I do not restrict my diet in any way. I love food and I eat a lot of it.

I don’t even like the word ‘diet’ because of it’s associated with weight loss, which is not everyone’s goal. While society has got us believing that skinny is best, in the fitness world strength and health is best and happiness is key!

For anyone who’s been to my Instagram page you can see that I eat everything including lots of carbs, plenty of fish, veg, fruit, poultry and even the occasional burger! I don’t pretend to have the perfect diet because I don’t. But it works for me and every individual is different.

Carbs have such a bad rep these days for being the main cause of weight gain, but remember that any food can be fattening if eaten in unnecessarily large quantities.

So ‘Do low carb diets work?

To answer the question simply, yes they do work. It will deplete your body of energy, reducing your intake of fibre and cut out vital nutrients that help your body to function. A low carb diet could certainly help you lose weight but it is by no means the healthiest way to do it.

Much to popular debate carbohydrates play an important role in a healthy body. They are the body’s main source of energy, they contain loads of vitamins and minerals which help your body and mind to function and they even help to promote serotonin, the feel good brain chemical!

The big secret is…you gotta burn it to earn it! Be it ‘Low-carb’ or ‘low-fat’ if you are consuming more calories than you are burning you will gain weight. My advice is to find a balance that works for you. Keep variety in your meals and your workouts and stop hating on carbs!

Chelsea – London Personal Trainer, follow me on Instagram: @Chelsea_Siegel

Book a session with me by downloading the app.

Functional strength training – without the gym

October 28, 2015November 1, 2018 Alex CoombesLeave a comment

What is your max deadlift/bench/squat/bicep curl….??

As a trainer and sportsman I’m often expected to meet these questions with responses of mammoth figures. Seriously, my max bicep curl?? Um I don’t know… how much does my cup of coffee weigh in the morning?

My max deadlift could completely vary from around 150-180kg, squat 120-160kg and my bench from 85-100kg all dependant on circumstances. What variation of the lift I use, my mood, daily food intake, hours of sleep and sometimes even what music I listen to.

The truth is I really don’t know and to be honest I don’t care much either.

How often in a day are you expected to push hundreds of kilos away from your chest or pick up an unnecessarily heavy weight from the floor and put it down repeatedly? I bet this happens very few times in a day, year or even a lifetime.

Now I’m not saying that conventional strength training and weight lifting isn’t beneficial at all and by no means am I saying that sportsmen should leave this out of their programming. I just want to talk about what we at TruBe believe true functional strength is.

While training with good form (neutral spine, perfect joint alignment etc) is highly important when grooving basic movement patterns, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that our bodies still have the ability to perform exercises outside of these perfect movements. They can extend, flex and rotate at many joints in many different planes and positions.

In daily life your joints will be required to leave their ‘neutral’ positions many times and also during sporting situations whilst taking in large amounts of force. This is why it is not only important to train your neutral positions but to also get comfortable performing multidirectional exercises to help you to improve your strength, power, stability and therefore overall athleticism and functional ability.

You’d be kicking yourself if you picked up an injury in a position that your body should be able to deal with, but you didn’t train it because deadlifting is much more fun and your buddies said ‘do you even lift’ when you tried to include it in your bro workout. Seriously, leave your ego way behind when it comes to training. You will find you excel much more this way.

Try this quick functional legs workout using only your bodyweight:

10 reps on each exercise on each leg, take a 1 min rest then repeat 2 more times.

Side Lunges

Split Squat

Raised Single Leg Squats

Let us know how your legs are feeling after this circuit.

Ben Howard – London Personal Trainer

Book a session with me by downloading the app.

Why You Should Keep Eating Gluten

October 19, 2015July 22, 2017 Alex CoombesLeave a comment

Finally! The ‘gluten-free’ fad might be coming to an end! So many people these days are choosing the gluten free path, but is it actually causing your digestive issues or is what we’ve been eating it with?!

New research coming out about Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides & Polyols (a mouthful I know we’ll call them FODMAP’s for short), claims that self-diagnosed coeliacs might actually be suffering from the Polyols in certain fruits and vegetables like avocado, as opposed to the gluten in your baguette. AVOCADOS?!!

What’s going to happen to the avocado industry after thriving for so long as the number one brunch favourite for so many health and fitness fanatics? What about the new avocado emoji said to be coming out soon? Are we really going to turn our backs this antioxidant boosting fruit, as well as many other nutritious fruits and vegetables. This would mean no more smashed chilli avocado, no more cauliflower rice, no more Deliciously Ella key lime pie and good luck to you if you love a dollop of cashew nut butter on your ‘gluten-free’ porridge!And did I mention sweet potato? If you decide the low FODMAP diet is for you then you can say adios to those sweet potato brownies…

Any unexplained digestive problems should be diagnosed by your doctor first before unnecessarily cutting FODMAP’s or gluten from your diet.

Remember a little bloating from time to time is normal and not solely down to your food. Whatever your goals are you should maintain balance, variety and a well stocked kitchen. These are the keys to healthy success 🙂

For some examples of my meals please check out my Instagram page, @Chelsea_Siegel.

Chelsea x – London Personal Trainer

Introducing Personal Trainer Chelsea

October 9, 2015November 1, 2018 Alex CoombesLeave a comment

Meet Chelsea, one of our top female personal trainers. She specialises in endurance bodyweight training.

What is your favourite exercise and why?
My favourite exercise is a ‘power thruster’ (press up to squat) as it works everything. And I love the name!

Why did you become a personal trainer?
I became a PT because I wanted to work in an industry that I’m passionate about and reflected my own lifestyle. I love seeing my clients progress in strength and confidence – it’s the best feeling.

Do you stretch and why?
Coming from a dance background I stretch all the time to prevent injuries. I always take the time to warm up and cool down properly. I’m also an enthusiastic yogi and use self practice to improve my flexibility.

What nutritional principles do you follow?
When it comes to my nutrition, I don’t have restrictions. I eat ‘healthily’ most of the time because I love how the feeling when I fuel my body with nutritious food. When I want to eat something ‘naughty’ I don’t guilt trip myself. I’m all about promoting balance and happiness.

What is your training speciality?
I feel a person’s true strength shows in how they are able to carry their own weight and their determination to keep going when the mind wants to give up. I try to develop both of these characteristics in all of my clients.

What is your biggest client success story?
I have a client who dropped from 18st to 10st by herself. She came to me to help her maintain this weight as well as building muscle definition. She had become obsessed about her food and no longer enjoyed eating. What makes her my greatest success is that I was able to fulfil her needs. She built muscle and achieved well defined abs. However she went beyond her aesthetic goals, growing in confidence, building a better relationship with food and overall become a much happier person.

What is your current fitness goal?

My current fitness obstacle is this years Royal Parks Half Marathon. This is my first one and I’ve been training hard, combining long runs with strength training has taken its toll on my joints!

If you’re looking for a great all round bodyweight training session to help lose weight, tone muscle, improve general fitness and endurance, book a session today! To book with Chelsea download the app and you can find her as one of our featured trainers.

Is Ballet Barre For Me?

October 1, 2015July 22, 2017 Alex CoombesLeave a comment

As a ballet barre trainer there is one question that I regularly get asked, “Is ballet barre for me?”

In my opinion ballet barre and any form of ballet training is beneficial for everyone regardless of your fitness goal. Well of course I would say that, I am a former professional ballet dancer and I helped design TruBe’s ballet barre workout.

But let’s think about it objectively. Why do we train? The reasons why we train and engage in physical activity are wide and varied. But all of them can be enhanced or achieved through ballet barre training. There is a reason why ballet dancers are often touted as some of the fittest athletes alongside boxers.

One of the largest barriers we face at the moment when we exercise is poor range of motion. The way the modern westerner lives their life promotes poor posture and tight muscles. Ballet barre is a great way to improve your posture and promote greater coordination between different areas of your body simultaneously. How often do you hear about dancers with poor posture and limited range of motion? This applies to everyone, most men could add 10kgs to their three big lifts with improved movement patterns.

Let’s talk about some other fitness goals such as weight loss, tone, core strength, cardiovascular fitness, strength and power. All of these can be drastically improved through ballet barre training. When you think about all of these facets of fitness, ballet dancers display all of them. The beauty of the TruBe ballet barre is that you can achieve these results in the comfort of your own living room, ballet is about moving your body not heavy weights.

To celebrate world ballet day today, why not download the app and try one of our ballet barre sessions using this £10 off promo code:

BALLET10

Matt – @mattino22