Archive for July, 2009

Hi All

To get up too speed I am going to post my last two days training in one hit here.

Had Monday off to recover from Saturday’s session. I was still too sore to train.

With the boys on school holidays this week it has allowed me to train with them during the week, we decided to do a mid morning session on Tuesday.

We decided to make up our own session this morning, I have called her ‘Tabatha’. The session consisted of:

10 x Overhead Barbell Squats ( bar 20kg only for my first go)

As you can see by this picture, the idea is to hold bar above your head for the duration and squat bum to calves with the bar above your head ( harder than it looks)…

shuttle run half way & back, full court & back x 2

20 x pushups

Tabatha ran for 15 mins total, and we were supposed to record how many completed laps we did in the 15 minutes but not one of us has any idea ( we were all struggling to breath let alone count)….

Only results I can give you today:

Calories: 298

Avg HR: 172 ( my max is 184!!!)

This morning saw the other two boys take ill unfortunately so I was on my own… Today I did Breanna ( sorry Pammy & Troy)….

Nice easy strength session today. I have to say I did the training a bit easier than at 6am this morning, the Canberra mornings are not getting any warmer. So I got to teach Succeed Bootcamp before my session today which gave me a chance to warm up a bit.

Breanna

Flat Bench Press ( max reps each set your own bodyweight on the bar - 92kg for me) 5 sets x 6 reps each set I managed

chin up ( max reps) 5 x sets of 5 reps ( yes I know you are laughing but that is huge for me to even lift myself!!!)

2 x rower 500m - times 1. 1.47, 2. 1.36

Rating: 5/10 ( alot of work to do on the chins and rower)

No other measurements recorded due to the rest times.

Strength work felt good, but absolutely sucked on the rower, my legs from yesterday’s session were still aching and the rower really seems to get me every time I get on it. I am going to stay on the rower every couple of days and see if I can get the time down on the rower. Current world record for a concept 2 rower is 1.19.2 for 500m ( god i am long way off that), don’t think I will qualify for the Cross Fit games this year…

I feel today that I am starting to recover quicker as the weeks go by. I am not as sore and my heart isn’t pounding as hard as what it has been in recent weeks when I am sitting at the computer.

Scott the Personal Trainer

By: Scott Williams the Fitness Expert

 The term strength training refers to developing muscle strength and endurance through resistance (weight) training. Muscle strength refers to a one-time maximum effort of force that one applies in a movement of a single muscle group. Muscle endurance is the ability of muscles to apply a sub-maximal force repeatedly or to be exercised over an extended period of time. Common body weight exercises that build both muscular endurance and strength are push-ups, chin-ups, a variety of machine exercises, and lifting free weights.

 Strength training will prevent muscle tissue from declining as you get older. Contrary to popular myth, however, strength training will not make you bulky unless you set up a strenuous program that’s geared to that particular purpose. Yes ladies it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE for you to ‘BULK’ unless you actually train for that and even then it is a hard road for you.  That is where a personal trainer really comes in handy for you.

 Keep in mind that the main metabolic difference between aerobic (exercise that uses oxygen during performance) and anaerobic strength-building exercises is that while aerobic burns more body fat during the actual exercise, anaerobic exercise continues to cause calories and body fat to burn for quite a while after the session is over. For this reason, anaerobic exercise has a far more dramatic effect on your resting metabolic rate.

 Scientists have only recently begun to recognise this benefit of anaerobic exercise. Training for musclur strength has been popular for many years among bodybuilders and professional athletes, but the general population is now finding its way into many of the gyms in Australia.

 One of the main benefits of strength training is that it builds the density of muscle - and the more denser the muscle, the more calories that are burned up. As we age our metabolism decreases by about  ½ percent every year, from when we hit our thirties. When you consider every pound of muscle burns 50 calories a day, it’s easy to understand the contribution that muscle makes to losing weight quickly and effectively, and keeping it off in the long run.

 For every pound of fat that you replace with muscle, you’ll lose a half a pound of body weight. We burn off calories both during and after exercise, even as we sleep, watch TV, or read a book. Strength building exercises fire up our “furnace” and raise our resting metabolic rate.

Be sure to always seek the professional help of a personal trainer for a program to suit your individual needs.

We have 13 trainers to choose from all over Canberra so if you need any help, don’t hesitate to contact us.

E:   enquiries@succeed.com.au

The Succeed Team

Sorry for the late post, but I needed a rest day yesterday after the gruelling session on Saturday morning.

Well once again it was 6am on a cold Canberra Saturday morning as I made my way for another cross fit session. I must say it was a punishing session and I got well and truly toweled up this week ( I knew that was going to happen though). The two boys were both pumped and ready to go.

We set out a fitness circuit style of session this week, which i thought was great ( even better the fact there were NO chins…) and after watching the video of some of the guys preparing for the cross fit games we were ready to go out and attack the circuit.

We set up four stations each a minute in length consisting of:

rower - record total calories in that minute

40kg sumo squat into upright row - record reps completed

body weight squats bum to medicine ball - record reps completed

box squat jumps - record reps completed

1 min rest then start again x 5 sets

                 Box Squat Jumps

The idea was to stay as close to your count as possible from the previous set. Over the most part I held pretty close for all five sets, even though I was nearly sick in between the last two sets (didn’t quite throw up this session). Even got better on a couple of sets.

Total session time was 25 minutes. Sorry can’t give you my results for each set as I had to leave and the boys recorded them for me. I will let you know when i get them. Only result i can give you are:

Calories: 488

Avg HR: 172

Rating : 8.5/10

The other two boys really put in a great effort and they had me covered this  for fitness this morning. Again really pushing the boundaries to maximum heart rate for 25 minutes… Not sure I had to much left in me on this one.

It is now Monday afternoon and the muscles in my back and legs are still a little bit sore (not as bad as last week though),

If we had the equipment at our disposal this would be one we could do for our Bootcamp groups on a modified version.

Please note, if anyone is intending on doing any of this training I would seriously consider coming to see myself or one of the Succeed fitness trainers and not try to do this on your own. These fitness programs are extreme and need to be modified for the individual as we do each session to suit weight, gender, injuries etc, so please do not try these sessions unsupervised, or at least talk to me first.

Starting to notice my stomach getting a bit flatter (a good thing), I can nearly see my toes again, so something is working for me the last few weeks… Will do a re-measure this week and see what has changed.

Scott the Personal Trainer

Well i decided to step it up a notch this week and actually train today, even though I am expecting a punishing session tomorrow morning…

I have been warned that tomorrow will be a killer session ( can’t wait…..NOT), but in saying that I will be there!!

Somebody observed me training today ( doing this crazy training on my own) and they asked why am I doing this to myself at this age ( I’m no spring chicken)??

 A good question and one I cannot answer at this stage other than I am a believer in a variety of training methods and I want to test and see the results for myself to see what muscle gain I attain, weight loss I may achieve, and how it will affect my cardiovascular in the month.

Back to today’s session. I made my own up today and i have named her:

 Valerie

15 reps x 30kg thrusters ( was supposed to be 20 reps but i am hurting sooo much in the legs)

20 reps x 40kg flat bench

20 x burpees

300m rower

x 3 sets for time.

All I will say is that by the end of this it yielded the same result as last Saturday… for those that have been following my journey, you know how that ended for me! This session was insane and turned out to much harder than I had thought it would be. Cardiovascular wise I thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest…

I survived but spent most of the morning feeling sorry for myself. One of the Succeed Personal Training and Boot Camp clients found it quite amusing though… Not too smart by him, I think he may have forgotten I will be training him again next week ( he will keep).

Time:17.00 mins

Avg Hr: 162

Calories: 288

Even though it was a tough cardiovascular type fitness session, it was a good one and i rate it 8/10.

 Obviously concerned about tomorrow morning here in Canberra considering I have gone so hard today, but hey you gotta push yourself…. Off to bed now to rest up.

Scott

As most of you are we aware that we nominated for the Telstra Australian Business of the Year and we are pleased to announce that we have just made the finals..

These awards are Australia’s most prestigous business awards. They have been running for 17 years and will be announced Friday 24th July so stayed tuned we will keep you posted!!!

We at first got shorlisted and have since been notified that we have made the finals in two categories:

I would like to take this opportunity thank all of our staff and clients over the last five years. This recognition nationally really does make all the long hours worthwhile.

Wish us luck.

The Succeed Fitness Team

Very exiceted with the fact that I had Wenesday off training. My old body really needed the rest, even got to sleep in this morning, which is unheard of…. ( not me or my wife but she doesn’t look happy does she..)

So i was back on the band wagon today, and thank god these sessions are inside because the Canberra weather is terrible here.

Today I did Barbara, and I have to say she wasn’t the nicest fitness session I have done in the last few weeks. I have only just finished this session and I am still not feeling that crash hot. Even though there was no cardiovacular in today’s session, the whole finishing by a certain time or as fast as you can really does make you push yourself to the limits.

Barbara

20 x chin ups

30 x push ups

40 x sit ups

50 x body weight squats

x 5 sets finish as fast as you can

Really felt sick after this session, not sure why but it was intense. I really hope i can do a few sessions without chins because they really SUCK…. I actually HATE them!!!!!

It is meal time and I don’t think I can stomach eating just yet.

Time: 25.21

Avg Hr: 146

Calories:  362

Can;t type anymore, I have ot go lay down for 20 minutes….

Scott the exhausted personal trainer

by Scott Williams the Fitness Expert

How much fat should I eat?
Regardless of the kind of fat eaten, fat provides more energy per gram than all other nutrients.
Foods higher in fat are thus higher in energy.

  Fat yields 37 kilojoules per gram.

  Carbohydrate yields 17 kilojoules per gram.

  Protein yields 16 kilojoules per gram.

  Alcohol yields 29 kilojoules per gram.

A daily intake of 30% kilojoules from fat is more than enough to promote good health. When a fat loss and exercise program is in progress, a 15% to 20% intake of kilojoules from fat per day is enough to promote nutritional adequacy and assist body fat loss. A sensible fat intake target should be between 30g and 60g and this will depend on gender and individual energy needs. Eating less than 30g fat per day for an extended period is both unrealistic and unnecessary.

Which are the ‘bad fats’?
Saturated fat: fat that is solid at room temperature like butter or the fat on meat is largely saturated fat. This should be eaten the least. Too much of this kind of fat raises blood cholesterol (LDL or bad cholesterol) and is highly correlated with increased risk of heart disease. Avoid ingredients labelled as animal shortening, coconut and palm oils, lard, dripping, coconut milk, milk fat or animal and dairy fat.

Which are the ‘good fats’?
Monounsaturated fat: monounsaturated fats can be found in animal and plant fats and oils. These fats are the healthier kind but should still be eaten in moderation. Highly monounsaturated fat sources are plant-derived and include olive oil, canola and peanut oils. Plant food sources include avocados, peanuts, hazelnuts and macadamia nuts. Monounsaturated fats may also have unique properties in reducing the risk of heart disease when they replace saturated fat intake.
Polyunsaturated fat: oils rich in polyunsaturated fats come extracted from plant seeds and include safflower oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, and soybean oil and are also important to health. Seeds such as soya beans, corn and sesame seed are also rich in polyunsaturated fats.

Why are Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats important?
Essential fats in our nutrition are called essential fatty acids (EFA) and include omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. EFA are all polyunsaturated fats. Our bodies can produce other fatty acids but cannot produce EFA, thus we need to eat them. EFA have various important functions in the body: they are critical to the structure of the body’s cell membranes and in the production of important hormones that are involved in bodily processes like blood clotting, the control of blood pressure and in reproductive function.

Which foods contain Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats?
Deep-sea fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids - this includes readily available oily fish like tuna, herring, mackerel, salmon and sardines. Other longer chain omega-3 fatty acids (called DHA & EPA) are also found in oily fish and seafood and can be made by the body using the omega-3 EFA. Soybean and canola oils and other polyunsaturated vegetable oils are good sources of omega-3 fats, as are walnuts, linseeds, and green leafy vegetables. Omega-6 fatty acids are found in polyunsaturated vegetable oils, including soybean, safflower and sunflower oils.

What are trans-fatty acids?

 These occur naturally in animal and dairy products but have a similar cholesterol raising effect as saturated fat. When polyunsaturated margarine is made solid, some of the unsaturated fatty acids are converted into trans-fatty acids. Many margarines have been changed so that they have less trans-fats than in previous times.

 Do I need to cut my cholesterol intake down?
Cholesterol in food is found only in animal products. Vegetable oils don’t contain cholesterol, but some may still contain saturated fat, like palm and coconut oils. Our bodies can also produce it in the liver. If large amounts of cholesterol are eaten, the body will usually compensate by producing less. Thus we can eat 3 to 4 eggs per week and enjoy prawns, which are also high in cholesterol, provided the overall saturated fat intake in the diet is low.

What does the National Heart Foundation recommend for dietary fat intake?

  Saturated fat and trans-fats should not contribute more than 8% of total energy intake

  Omega-6 polyunsaturated fats can contribute 8-10% of total energy intake

  At least two fish meals per week should be eaten to ensure adequate intake of marine omega-3 polyunsaturated fat intake

  A proportion of dietary saturated fat intake should be replaced by monounsaturated fat intake

  People at low coronary risk can reasonably eat moderate quantities of cholesterol-rich foods

  People with plasma cholesterol levels greater than 5.0 mmol/L or other risk factors should restrict the intake of cholesterol-rich foods

For more information please don’t hesitate to contact one of the Succeed Personal Trainers or Bootcamp Instsructors based at various Health Club / Gym locations around Canberra.

E : enquiries@succeed.com.au