Following on from yesterdays post - here are some more last minute fitness Xmas gift ideas for you…

6. A Foam Roller
Most people spend far too much time sitting down: sitting down on the commute to work, sitting down all day at work, sitting down on the commute home, sitting down in front of the T.V – it’s no wonder so many people have postural problems. Then when they do finally workout too many people spend too much time sitting down throughout their workouts: sitting down on the exercise bike, sitting in a machine, sitting down through rest periods.

This is where a foam roller is handy. It’s a superb tool for corrective self massage that will dramatically improve performance, posture and enhance injury prevention. It’s ideal for the last 5 minutes of a workout to promote healing of the small micro tears in your muscles that are produced after intense training.

7. Resistance Bands
Resistant bands are a great tool because they’re simple to use, lightweight to carry and will add variety to your training. Whether you travel frequently with work, are a busy mum looking for a quick workout, or would just like to train outdoors in your local park, bands can provide you with a great total body workout.

8. Subscription to Fitness Magazine or Exercise Book.
If you’ve read a great fitness book yourself then why not buy a friend or family member the same book? Even better hook them up with a yearly subscription to their favorite fitness magazine to keep them motivated all year long. One of my favorite magazines is men’s/women’s health. It’s loaded with workouts, nutrition tips and new exercises that will keep your training fresh and enjoyable.

9.) I pod
Depending on who you’re buying for this option could be a bit expensive. Load your I Pod with your favorite songs, put your trainers on and your ready to go.

10.) A Gift Certificate to a Fitness Boot Camp
Boot camps provide a fun and exciting team environment that guarantee better results than one-on-one personal training for only a quarter of the cost… it’s a total no-brainer. Find a fitness boot camp with lots of social proof i.e. before and after pictures and make sure they have a solid reputation. Plus any good boot camp will offer a free 1 week trial, a money back guarantee or both. This means you can sign up risk free and find a camp that best suits you.

Join a fitness boot camp with at least one other friend or family member or buy a boot camp gift card to give to your loved ones. As a boot camp trainer myself, I know firsthand that clients always get better results when they embark on a fitness journey with others.

And if you live in the Eastern Suburbs area, come work with us for the best personal training in Sydney by visiting Sydney Personal Trainers. We’ll change your life and have you looking better naked this New Year, guaranteed!

Train hard through the holidays and have a happy and safe New Year!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit
Personal Trainer Eastern Suburbs
Boot Camp Eastern Suburbs
Corporate Fitness Sydney

If you’ve ran out of ideas on what to get your friends and family for Xmas then why not buy them a fitness gift? A fitness gift is practical and something that will go towards making them look and feel better, and who doesn’t want that? Below is my official guide to the Best 10 Xmas presents for ‘08’.

1. A Gift Certificate to a Health Store
Instead of buying chocolate, sweets and other junk food why not buy a week’s worth of groceries from your local organic health store? After all, who eats as healthy as they should over the Xmas period? Having a weeks worth of organic food will only improve your loved ones health.

I used to think organic foods were just for rich people and hippies but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Now I do most of my shopping at organic stores particularly when buying foods that are traditionally loaded with hormones, pesticides and other nasty chemicals. The secret is to go there with a budget, look to spend say $60 on protein, $30 on fruits and veggies and $10 on miscellaneous items.

2.) A Gift Certificate to a Sport’s Store
As far as getting the best sporting equipment and apparel you can’t beat a good sports store. It’s best to give a gift certificate because everybody has different likes and dislikes particularly when it comes to clothes.

3. A Gift Certificate to a Massage Therapist
This one is a no brainer because who doesn’t like to be pampered every now and then? Most people are super busy and stressed during the holiday season so nothing will come close to a good massage to relieve the tension.

4. Sporty Gift
If you’re buying a gift for an athlete or a sports enthusiast then getting them something that will compliment their sport or hobby is a great present.

5. Whole food based Supplements and fish oils
In all my years as a personal trainer and fat loss coach I have only ever found 3 supplements worth incorporating into a fat loss program: whole food based multivitamins, protein powders and fish oils.

A whole food based multivitamin provides the body with essential nutrients that are difficult to obtain unless your diet is 100% perfect. Even though I eat very well I leave no stone unturned when it comes to my health. Make sure you choose a whole food based multivitamin rather than the synthetic brands you see in most pharmacies and supplement stores.

Fish oils or E.F.A (essential fatty acid) supplies the body with important omega 3’s which maximizes health, performance and body composition. Research shows that krill oil is the most effective EFA.

Protein powders are a great meal for on the go snacking, when buying protein powders make sure they’re low in simple sugars and are whole food based.

Check back tomorrow for more Xmas gift ideas.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit
Personal Training in Sydney
Boot Camps in Sydney
Corporate Fitness in Sydney

Here’s this weeks work out of the week.

There’s a few exercises in there I haven’t done for a while, my balance on the single leg squats could do with some work and the push up burpee sandbag is a killer exercise.

Have a go and let me know how you get on.

Perform 2 sets, 10-12 reps per exercise, 45 second rest periods.
Exercises:
Bottoms up kettlebell press
Sandbag woodchop
Chin ups
Kettlebell combination lift – High pull, clean, snatch
Push up burpee with sandbag
Sandbag crunch
Single leg squat

Till next time.

Train Hard!

Dan
Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Personal Training in Sydney
Boot Camps in Sydney
Corporate Personal Training in Sydney

Here is the last part of this 3 part series, if you have begun implementing these strategies you should already be feeling the difference. So without further ado…

Fitness tip # 11 - Eat whole foods. Whole foods have formed the basis of the human diet for millions of years. In the last hundred or so years we have been subjected to countless foods that are totally foreign to us. Much of what we call food today (McDonalds, potato chips, sugar coated cereals, French fries) are highly processed and have no nutritional value, these foods will be stored as fat by your body. You are what you eat, if you eat wholesome foods that are full of nutrients, your body has all the raw materials it needs to keep you nourished and maintain a weight that is ideal for you. Whole foods are foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and whole grains all of which are full of vitality. It is also a good idea to take a ‘whole food based’ supplement everyday. Click here for info on juice plus

Fitness tip # 12 - Write your goals down. On a piece of paper write down your goals, set yourself a timeframe and look at it everyday. Make sure their realistic enough for you to achieve but tough enough to make you work hard for them. Every time you reach your goals, set new goals and timeframes, this will help you stay motivated and maintain your results. Having goals gives you a path to follow and something to strive for.

Fitness tip # 13 – Be around like-minded people. Be around people that are going to give you the support you need. Research shows that people who have the support from friends and family stuck to their goals and those without support failed time and again. If you’re around overweight people that are not dieting what do you thinks going to happen? That may seem a bit tough but how many millionaires do you see hanging around with people who are penniless. Surround yourself with what you want to become!

Fitness tip # 14 – Be prepared. The majority of us are so busy with everyday life that we don’t have time to cook nutritious rich foods everyday. Preparing your meals a week in advance is the key to good food choice. Take time out to write a weekly shopping list, shop, and cook up a stack of nutrient dense food on the Sunday night or whenever you have the most time, put them in the freezer so that you don’t get caught short later in the week.

Fitness tip # 15 – Eat slower, smaller portions. Research shows that if you eat slowly you’ll eat less. There is a signal that goes off in the brain after about 20 minutes of eating that tells you you’re full. Be sure to chew your food completely and take breaks in between bites. Reduce the size of your portions, even if your eating quality food, too much of a good thing can make you put on weight, remember weight loss tip # 6, you need to create a calorie deficit. Eating more than you need will cause you to store fat.

Fitness tip # 16 – Positive mindset. You are what you think you are, visualize yourself walking round looking and feeling exactly how you would like to and then take the necessary action. Every time you look in the mirror visualize what you want to look like and ask yourself what you’re going to do today to become that person. Things may not always go your way, losing weight can be tough, if you think it’s too hard you’ve already lost the battle, stay positive and focused and you’ll succeed.

If you have any questions please feel free to comment below.

If you missed part 1 click here… Fat Loss Tips
If you missed part 2 click here… Fat Loss Tips

Till Next time.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Personal Trainers Sydney
Boot Camps Sydney
Corporate Health Sydney

Here is this weeks boot camp workout of the week, it’s called the Bondi Beach Classic.

Strength
The camp is split into groups of four people.
There are 5 exercise stations.
Perform each exercise for 30 seconds, move straight round to next exercise with no rest.
Completing all 5 stations = 1 set.
Perform 5 sets in total.

This is a killer total body workout that will burn a ton of calories.

Exercise 1. Olympic ring rows
Exercise 2. Push ups
Exercise 3. Kettlebell swings
Exercise 4. Sit ups
Exercise 5. Squats

Cardio
Finish off with stair sprints, when the 1st person finishes 10 sprints everyone is done. This exercise is great for toning the butt, thighs and calves, will burn even more calories and will increase your cardio fitness in rapid time.

Till next week.

Enjoy

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Personal Trainer Sydney
Boot Camp Sydney
Corporate Health Sydney

It might be the holiday season but that doesn’t mean you can let bad eating habits slip in, use these 7 diet tips to keep you fat free this Xmas.

There are many things you can do to control your waistline at Xmas time, use the 7 strategies below to prevent over indulgence.

1. Fill up on good food first.
Just because it’s Xmas that doesn’t mean you can gorge yourself on anything at the table, begin every meal by eating wholesome nutritious food such as fruits, veggies, fish and nuts. This way by the time the dangerous high calorie foods come out youll be to full to do too much damage.

2. Intense workouts before or after a big meal.
This doesn’t really fall into the category of diet tips but definitely needs special mention. Within 30 minutes before, or up to 3 hours of intense activity your body craves higher calorie/carbohydrate meals. Look to fit some high intensity activity into this time, even a 20-30 minute steady walk will help limit the damage.

3. More water please!
Drinking water limits the amount of space in your stomach and can help reduce your appetite. For every plate of food you eat, drink between 1 and 2 glasses of water. With 1 liter of water and a plate full of food in your stomach you might just pass on desert.

4. Please sir can I have some more!
Eat slow and chew your food more, research shows that after 20 minutes of eating a signal goes off in the brain telling you you’re full. Try eating only half of any unhealthy foods on you plate, half the potion means half the calories.

5. Never eat junk first thing in the morning or last thing at night.
Eating sweet food first thing in the morning will send your blood sugar levels loopy for the rest of the day resulting in more sweet food cravings and uncontrollable hunger. On the other end of the scale eating a high calorie meal just before you go to bed will result in a ton of unused energy which will end up being stored as body fat.

6. Stay away from empty liquid calories and Alcohol.
One of the fastest ways you can put on weight is through drinking empty calories. It’s possible to consume over 1000 calories per day just from liquid calories alone. This means that in just one week you will gain 1kg of body fat just from fluids. Stay away from juices and soft drinks and opt to eat wholesome solid foods that will fill you up and provide your body with the nutrients it needs. Alcohol is full of empty calories and with no real nutritional value which will therefore increase fat storage. Drinking too much alcohol reduces the amount of fat your body burns for energy and while the liver is metabolizing alcohol you’re unable to metabolize fat.

7. Don’t starve yourself before a big meal.
Starving yourself before a big meal will lead to overeating. Not only that but you will crave foods that are high in sugar, fat or both. Starving yourself forces your body into survival mode, your body will anticipate a famine state so much of the incoming food will be stored as body fat (survival energy) in anticipation that it won’t see food again for another long period of time. Eat every 2 to 4 hours just as you normally would and stop yourself from becoming a human garbage disposal.

Till next time.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Sydney Personal Training
Sydney Fitness Boot Camps
Sydney Corporate Fitness

Here is part 2 of your 3 part mini series ‘16 Fat Loss Tips You Can Use Today, by applying these strategies to your lifestyle you will instantly look better, feel better and be on your way to reaching your full potential.

If you missed part 1 you can view it here… Fat Loss Tips

If you have any questions please feel free to comment below.

Fitness tip # 6 - Calorie deficit. Through proper diet and regular exercise create a calorie deficit. This simply means burning more calories than you’re consuming. Keep a journal and get a calorie counter, you can record your diet for free at www.fitday.com. How are you supposed to know how many calories you’re putting into your body if you’re not keeping track of what you’re eating and drinking? By creating a calorie deficit you’ll be using energy from your energy stores (body fat). The trick is not to create a calorie deficit that’s too high or your body will think its starving and will begin too slow your metabolism down, your focus should be on losing fat, not necessarily weight. A too high calorie deficit can also cause a reduction in lean muscle mass making it harder for you to lose weight.

Fitness tip # 7 – Weight training. Muscle is the only tissue that is metabolically expensive. Therefore increasing muscle mass will elevate your metabolism at rest, you’ll burn more calories sitting behind your desk and whilst you’re asleep, you will also burn a considerable more amount of energy whilst you’re exercising through greater energy demand from the increase in lean muscle. Perform exercises that will give you the biggest return, compound exercises such as deadlifts, squats, pushing and pulling exercises and use a variety of combination lifts and circuits. Use drop sets and superset’s and keep the rest period in between exercises to a minimum.

Fitness tip # 8 - Consume more protein. Eating protein will keep you fuller for longer, meaning you’ll consume less overall calories in a day. Eating protein also makes your digestive system work twice as hard as eating carbohydrates and fat, so by eating more protein you’ll be burning more calories through digestion (this is known as the thermic effect). One of the biggest mistakes people make when dieting is that they lose muscle as well as fat, which will in turn slow down their metabolism. By eating plenty of protein and following a suitable weights program this will ensure you maintain your muscle tissue. If you have trouble consuming adequate amounts of protein, try supplementing with a ‘whole food based’ protein drink.

Fitness tip # 9 - Interval Training. Interval training is the #1 cardiovascular exercise for weight loss. It includes high intensity exercise (for10-60 seconds) broken up with periods of low intensity exercise. The good thing with interval training is that you burn more calories in a shorter amount of time. So there’s no need to spend hrs pounding away on a treadmill, you can be done in 20-25 mins and that’s including your warm up and cool down! This form of training will keep your metabolism elevated for up to 24 hrs after you’ve finished training, through E.P.O.C (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), so you’ll be burning calories even while you’re sleeping.

Fitness tip # 10 - Include a cheat day once a week! Keep your body guessing and have a cheat day once a week. This will stop your body from hitting a plateau and stop your metabolism from slowing down. A cheat day is a good time to eat the foods you’ve been craving throughout the week. No-one can eat perfectly 100% of the time without cracking, so hold off any foods that aren’t in your nutrition plan until this day. Having a cheat day will allow you to be good for the other 6 day’s of the week, (just don’t go too mad)!

Be sure to check back in a few days for part 3 of this mini series.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Sydney Personal Training
Sydney Fitness Boot Camps
Sydney Corporate Fitness

In this three part series I’m gonna give you some great tips that will help kick start your weight loss regimen and put you on the road to living a healthier life. Obviously these are just are a few of the many things that you can do to help you lose weight, but if you apply and make these changes to your daily lifestyle, you can be free from the hype and B.S and be on your way to a new you.

Fitness tip # 1 – Eat low GI foods. Eat foods that are low on the GI index. Put Simply, The Glycemic Impact Index (GI) of a food tells you whether the carbohydrate in the food is fast or slow releasing. Eating foods that have a high GI rating causes your insulin levels to rise, it’s a known scientific fact that your body has trouble burning fat when your insulin levels are elevated. Foods that are low GI will give you longer lasting energy whereas high GI foods will give you a short burst of energy, leaving you feeling hungry shortly afterwards. Avoid simple sugars which are found in sweets, soft drinks, cakes, bread, bagels, white pasta/rice and juices. Limit alcohol consumption. Instead get the majority of your carbohydrates from fruits, vegetables, beans and brown rice.

Fitness tip # 2 – Healthy Fats. Not all fats are bad for you, the right kind of fats are essential for optimal health and help reduce the risk cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and a host of other illnesses. Foods that are high in saturated fat, which are found in animal based foods and Trans fats which are in processed foods should be kept to minimum. Totally eliminate fatty meats from your diet (bacon, sausages etc). If you do eat meat, make sure it’s a lean cut. Make sure you eat plenty of seeds, nuts, avocado’s and fish and be sure to take an omega 3 supplement.

Fitness tip # 3 - Drink plenty of water. Two thirds of the human body consists of water, which makes it our most vital nutrient. Water is necessary for the transportation of essential vitamins and minerals as well as carbohydrates. If your water intake is low you lose the ability to transport nutrients through your body and substances such as urea, uric acid, ammonia and other nasty matter begin to accumulate, leaving you feeling lethargic. If you don’t drink enough water your body will actually store more water because it’s not sure how long it will have to wait for you to drink again. So by drinking more water it’s actually possible to lose 1-2 kg of bodyweight of stored fluid. Drinking a glass of water before your meal can also help control your appetite and stop you from overeating.

Fitness tip # 4 - Eat 5-6 meals times a day. Eating at regular intervals will keep your metabolism burning strong throughout the day. You’re also less likely to binge eat, will have stable energy levels and will burn more calories through increased meal consumption (digestion burns calories). If you have trouble eating 5-6 meals a day, try adding a meal replacement to your diet, make sure its ‘whole food based’ so it has genuine nutritional value.

Fitness tip # 5 - Eat more fiber. A diet that is high in fiber will aid in fat loss whether you’re eating less calories or not. Fiber assists weight loss by releasing sugar into the bloodstream slowly. High levels of sugar in the bloodstream cause an insulin spike which will slow fat burning. Good sources of fiber are found in whole grains, lentils, beans, nuts, seeds, fresh fruit and vegetables. Avoid refined and overcooked foods.

Be sure to check back in a few days for part 2.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Sydney Personal Trainers
Sydney Boot Camps
Sydney Corporate Personal Training