Dangerously Fit Boot Camp

Boot Camp Benefit 1
Boot camps are no longer a fitness fad, in fact… I believe group training is the future of fitness.

In a group-training atmosphere you’re surrounded by likeminded people with the same fitness goals as yourself, it’s a positive environment where everyone encourages and motivates one another, plus you get the extra motivation from the instructors who are with you every step of the way.

Members also get extra encouragement through our membership website where the trainers hold everyone accountable and support them on their journey.

Dangerously Fit Boot camp is challenging and fun, unless you make training an enjoyable experience people won’t come back for more. And because you’re sharing the cost with other people in the group, it’s much more affordable than 1-1 personal training.

At Dangerously Fit our members get full access to all times and locations, this flexibility allows our members to make up classes later in the week… so you don’t have to worry about missing a class.

And lastly there’s the added benefit of training outdoors… it’s been scientifically proven that exercising outdoors improves mental health, reduces stress, increases energy and lowers depression.

Mary Ann Lost 21kilo's

Boot Camp Benefit 2
Turning your body into a fat burning machine.

Best exercise tips:

When exercising it’s best to use big compound exercises that work the whole body combined with high intensity cardio.

At Dangerously Fit Boot Camp we use metabolic conditioning workouts where we quickly move from strength exercise to strength exercise with short rest intervals working different areas of the body, combined with anaerobic bodyweight exercises to increase the heart rate. These high intensity workouts are great for burning fat plus you can finish an entire workout in under 45-mins (including the warm-up & cool down).

A study by The European Applied Journal of Physiology showed this style of training elevated the metabolism for up to 16 hours after training. So you not only do you burn heaps of calories during your workout, but after your workout too.

Boot Camp Benefit 3

Best diet tips…..

A big part of our nutrition program is teaching people what to eat and how much to eat… basically people need to learn how much fuel their body needs to lose weight and to maintain their current weight.

The first thing to do is to work out how many calories your consuming now, this is known as your ‘calorie maintenance range’. This is how many calories you eat to maintain the weight you are now. We give our members a quick formula to work out this number.

Dangerously Fit Boot Camp Bondi Beach

Assuming that you want to lose weight we deduct a 20% off your calorie maintenance range, don’t let your calories drop under 20% or you might put your body in starvation mode.

Each week we recalculate your calories as you begin to lose weight, once you reach your desired weight you can now re-calculate your new calorie maintenance range.

Everyday track your diet and keep a nutrition journal, use a calorie counting book or website to make sure your hitting your new calorie maintenance range everyday.

Eat every 3-4 hours or about 5-6 meals a day and consume plenty of protein to stop the muscles from breaking down.

These are just a few key aspects that are in our 6 week body challenge program, typically our members will lose 1-1.5 kilos per week (depending on their current weight) following our exercise and nutrition programs, any more weight loss will result in muscle loss and your body going into starvation mode making it harder to keep the weight off.

If you would like to book a $1 two week trial of Dangerously Fit Boot Camp to see if the program is right for you visit www.bootcampsydney.com.au.

                          

1. Eliminate Processed Foods. 

2. Be Active.
People are not designed to sit down all day behind a computer or the spend hours behind the steering wheel of a car. Now you have all that extra energy start moving more and burn more calories. Find a new hobby that gets you outside exercising, and leave the car at home and walk or cycle instead.

3. Get Plenty Of Sleep.
A lack of sleep has been shown to increase cortisol levels, a hormone that helps regulate appetite. Therefore you may feel hungry even though you’ve consumed enough food. Aim for 8 hours and make it priority, get into a routine of going to bed at the same time each night.

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit

Click here for a $1 Two week trial of –>> Dangerously Fit Boot Camp <<–

                          

To help stick with your training program here’s a great tip…

….Treat every workout as an appointment and put it in your daily schedule.

Don’t let anything except real emergencies come between you and your training.

And if you hear that little voice in your head trying to talk you out of exercising…

…STOP!

There’s always a thousand justifications you can make to put training off to another day, but deep down inside you know they’re just excuses.

Instead, think of how much energy your going to have and how great you’re going to look and feel.

Sit down and revise your goals.

Now… Imagine you’ve reached your goals and visualize the way that makes you feel.

The work you put in now will be worth it in the long run.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit

                          

Write Down Your Goals!

Well its that time of year again when we start making new years resolutions.

If your anything like me you’ll be setting out your goals for 2010 so I thought I’d let you in on the process I use…

Step 1. Figure out your end goal and make it specific!

The first step is to know specifically what you want.

Your brain needs specifics to find a solution, so instead of saying “I want to lose weight”, change it to “I want to lose 10 kilos, tone my muscles and flatten my stomach.”

So what are your goals for 2010?

Grab a pen and paper and start writing them down.

Step 2. Figure out why it’s important to you.

You need to know why you want to reach your goals and why they’re important to you, new resolutions fade quickly and if you don’t have a clear reason ‘why’ you’ll quickly lose interest.

Again the key here is to be specific!

If you just say “I want to lose weight so I feel better”, this won’t keep you motivated for long.

Instead “I want to lose weight so I can fit back into my designer clothes, feel more confident at the beach, get compliments from my friends and feel more attractive” is far more powerful.

Know why you want to reach your goals, most people don’t train to reduce blood pressure or decrease the risk of diabetes… the majority of people want to look better, which is O.K but just know why your goals are important to you.

Step 3. Set yourself a timeframe.

Unless you set yourself an end date your goals have no ending and become pointless.

You’ll put training off to ‘another day’ and start eating clean ‘tomorrow’.

Setting a timeframe adds urgency and makes the goal real, your subconscious mind will begin figuring out ways to make your goals a reality.

Again be specific! Write down the exact date you want to reach you’re goals by.

Step 4. Figure out your plan.

Boot Camp At Bondi Beach December '09'

So you’ve figured out your end goal and set yourself a timeframe, now it’s time to set out a plan.

Write down a plan you’re going to follow and then stick to it, as the old saying goes ‘if you fail to plan you plan to fail.

Whether it’s joining a boot camp, hiring a personal trainer or simply following your own exercise regimen… have a plan.

Also have a plan B in case anything get’s in the way, if you have to stay late at work and miss a workout when and how will you make up for it?

Step 5. Consistently take action!

Everyday you need to take action.

Whether it’s training, eating clean, saying no to a glass of wine… every action you take will either take you one step closer or one step farther away from your end goal.

Step 6. Visualize.

Spend a couple of minutes everyday visualizing.

Visualize yourself having achieved your goal, imagine how it feels now you’ve succeeded.

Imagine how good will it make you feel?

Step 7. Read your goals everyday.

Now you’ve written down your goals it’s time to put them somewhere you’ll see everyday.

It’s easy to forget why you started out, re-reading your goals will keep you focused and remind you why it’s important you stick with the program.

And that’s all there is to it, follow this plan and make ’10’ your best year ever!

Wishing you the best of health.

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit

P.S If you’re looking to get into shape quickly and have fun along the way then I highly recommend you try out our boot camp commencing January 11th.

Just visit…

http://bootcampsydney.com.au for more info.

                          

Instead today we’re going to go through the 3 WORST exercises you can perform in your workout, these exercises will at best do very little and at worst injure you.

The 3 Worst Exercises

1.) The Abs Machine

When you’re training the core it’s important to move the trunk through a variation of movements, i.e. rotation, static hold, extension, flexion, extension with rotation etc. Too many crunches can cause an imbalance between muscles which is bad for the spine and can cause neck and back pain.

The only thing worse than doing too many crunches is doing them in a machine that limits natural movement, these types of machines train your trunk in an unnatural extension to flexion motion while seated.

You’re far better off training your core through a range of movements using bodyweight or free weights.

2.) Back Machine

If the abs machine isn’t bad enough then meet the worlds most stupid machine ever invented – the back machine.

This machine is bad for you for many reasons;

Firstly it overloads the lower back without strengthening the butt and hamstrings which can lead to muscle imbalances and does nothing to stretch the hip area like squats and deadlifts do.

Secondly, just like the abs machine you’re seated moving the trunk through one plane of motion (front to back) which doesn’t help strengthen any of the smaller muscles (stabilizers).

Lastly, the way that most people perform this movement in such an out of control manner for speed just makes me want to vomit. It literally looks like they are trying to lie down for reps- is this the type of movement that we want to get really good at? Wait, don’t answer that;)

For a strong healthy back stick to the basics; deadlifts, step-ups, good mornings and hip extensions are much more effective.

3.) Elliptical Machine

To be honest, if you’re massively overweight and haven’t exercised for decades then this machine does have some value. But other than that it’s pretty useless.

It is a low impact alternative to running on a treadmill but you get very little range of motion and does not burn anywhere near the calories as it claims it does.

Also the elliptical machine isn’t a very good machine to use for interval training because it causes the knee to go into hyperextension – not good!

The only reason the elliptical machine is so popular is because it’s so easy – I’ve seen people read magazines while on these things – how hard can it be?

A far better option for your cardio training is interval training.

It’s proven to burn nine times more fat than steady state cardio and will get you fitter much quicker. If you’re a beginner or are excessively overweight use an exercise bike or use bodyweight i.e.
burpees, mountain climbers etc.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit – Boot Camp Sydney

PS- What other exercises do you see people doing in the gym that make you cringe? What other exercises do you absolutely hate? What exercises have gotten you hurt in the past? Please share your personal experiences by posting a comment to this blog post, thanks!

                          

Below is a post from our Sydney boot camp instructor Emiliano Ballero.

Getting up at 6.00am might not be everyone’s idea of fun but the reward of living a healthy and active life without debilitating disease is more than WORTH IT.

Check out the article here…

You’re lying face down in the grass and someone is screaming at you to push that final press up.

You sweat, the muscles hurt and you may be thinking, “Sod this, why not go back home and crawl into bed?”

There are many answers to that of course. Working out gives you a chance to escape the kids for half an hour, regain the vigor of your loss youth or (and this seems very popular) the chance to “look good naked”.

Then there is your health. Being sick – long-term sick I mean – is an exhausting, unpleasant and miserable experience. That is obvious. It can destroy much of the joy in your life. Just getting about day-to-day when you have on-going heart problems or when you are dealing with cancer – think about what that would be like.

The health benefits of regular exercise (and the word “regular” is important here) have been known for a long time. Here is a list of the major ones:

And while this may be familiar to some of you, it’s also worth pointing out that regular exercise boosts self-confidence and helps prevent depression.

Obviously go and see your doctor if you’re concerned about any aspect of your health. If you have undiagnosed diabetes or serious depression then attempting 10 chin-ups is not going to help you. You need medical care.

But I do think that if a drug company could invent one drug that had all the health benefits listed above – it would have made billions.

Well we are saying there is a “drug” that can do all that. And unlike sticking a fistful of tablets down your throat in the morning, getting out and doing some training is a lot more fun – at least the way we do it!

Here’s a quick video of one of our Sydney boot camp workouts, check it out…

Wishing you the best of health

Emiliano
Sydney Personal Trainer & Boot Camp Instructor
Dangerously Fit Boot Camp

P.S Visit Boot Camp Sydney for more info.

                          

Recently we’ve incorporated boxing workouts into our Sydney boot camps and they’ve been a massive hit with everyone in the program.

Boxing is great for cardio fitness, self-defense, weight loss and will help tone the muscles in your upper body.

Studies show that a boxing workout uses both energy systems with 60% coming from the anaerobic system and 40% from the aerobic system.

So you can see why professional boxers are so fit, but you don’t need to be Muhammad Ali to enjoy the benefits of boxing.

Sure, if you want to take up boxing as a competitive sport I would definitely recommend you see a professional boxing coach for 1-1 training.

But if you just want to get fit, lose weight and blow off some steam then boxing fitness is safe and lots of fun.

Most boxing fitness classes will combine regular boxing drills with bodyweight strength exercises and running to enhance your strength, stamina and overall fitness.

Also, during a boxing fitness workout your heart rate can elevate up to 80-90% of it’s maximum which will raise your metabolism and put your body into fat burning mode.

Boxing training will bring about a huge number of positive results, so if your bored of plodding away on a treadmill and fancy a change, feel free to contact me for a free trial session at… dan@bootcampsydney.com

We currently have boxing classes at Rushcutters Bay, Bondi Beach, Centennial Park (Queens Park) and will soon have classes in the CBD (Domain) and Coogee Beach.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit

                          

There simple…

…but effective!

Top 2 Fitness Tips

Perform Total Body workouts
You can do these using a 5 station circuit, we often use these types of circuits at our Sydney boot camps.

This way you get to work the upper body, lower body and core all in one circuit. The way we program the circuits is an upper body pull (i.e. row, chin up), lower body push (i.e. squat/lunge)
upper body push (i.e. press ups, shoulder press), core movement (i.e. plank, rusina twist), lower body pull (kettlebell swings, deadlifts).

Perform each exercise for between 50-60 seconds and have a 10-15 second rest between each station.

High Intensity Carido
Interval training (HIIT)has been scientifically proven to burn nine time more fat than regular steady state cardio and keeps the metabolism elevated for up to 48 hours after your workout.

Perform interval training after strength training or on non-strength training days at least 3 x per week.

Depending on your fitness level alternate between 10-20 seconds of maximal effort, followed by 10-20 seconds of rest. Repeat these intervals for 10 times with a 90 second rest, then perform a 2nd set. The type of cardio can vary but at our Sydney boot camps we like to use bodyweight exercises i.e. burpees, mountain climbers etc or good old fashioned sprinting and hill training.

Top 2 Diet Tips

Eat at regular intervals
You should look to eat your first meal as soon as you wake in the morning and then every 2-4 hours after to starve fat and feed the muscle. By suppyling your body with regular fuel you will keep your metabolism high and will stop your body from going in to fat storage mode.

Think fiber first
When consuming carbs Eat as many green veggies as you like to keep your belly full between meals. For optimum fat burning try to cut out starchy carbs such as bread, rice and pasta, the only time you can break this rule is immediately after your workout.

Use these 4 health and fitness tips and you can’t go wrong!

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit

                          

It doesn’t matter how hard you train – you CANNOT out train a poor diet and I believe diet is about 80% of weight loss.

The following nutrition guidelines have produced some life-changing results for our personal training and boot camp clients all over Sydney.

If you follow our nutrition plan and exercise program CAREFULLY you can expect to lose 1kg per week.

Nutrition Tip 1. Eat at regular intervals

Your first meal of the day should be right after you wake up in the morning and then every 2-4 hours thereafter for a total of 6 small meals per day. This is the foundation of any weight loss program as it feeds the muscle with the nutrients it needs and prevents the body from going into starvation mode which will slow down your metabolism and fat burning.

You should try to consume 3 staple meals per day – breakfast, lunch and dinner, and 3 snacks (mid-morning, mid-afternoon and before bed).

Nutrition Tip 2. Eat carbs that are high in fiber

Remember to focus on the quality of the carbohydrate first, then on the quantity. All carbs (except dairy) should contain at least 3 grams of fiber per serving with less than 10 grams of sugar per serving.

Use the following 5 step carbohydrate reduction process to begin eliminating bad carbs…

Step1. Replace all white carbs with whole grains and all refined sugars with natural sugars i.e. fruit and honey. This will keep your blood sugar levels stable which is key to maintaining high energy levels and burning fat.

Step2. Limit all 100% whole grain starch and natural sugar consumption
to within 1-2 hours post-workout or immediately upon waking for breakfast. Your body best handles these types of carbs at these times without excessive risk of this energy being stored as fat.

Step3. Replace all starches and sugars with fruit and veg. Fruit and veg are the most nutrient dense carbs and are loaded with all types of nutrients, antioxidants, minerals, fiber and other photochemical’s making them an essential component of any sensible eating plan.

Step4. Decrease the amount of fruit and increase the amount of veggies (except corn, peas, carrots and potato) to limit the amount of natural sugar (fructose) that will prevent your body from maximally using stored body fat for fuel. Eat plenty of dark green veggies like green beans, spinach, broccoli, asparagus, dark leafy lettuce etc.

These types of veggies are the most figure friendly foods and you can consume as much of these as you like.

Step5. Use strategic carb and calorie cycling to take your body to next level (my clients and I have had great success with this but it is beyond the scope of this article).

Nutrition Tip 3. Take the right supplements

Not all supplements are equal and like everything you get what you pay for. The best type of multivitamin supplements are whole food based – meaning they originate from real food and not coal or tar as many synthetic vitamins do. These types of supplements are little more expensive but are definitely worth it.

The right type of multivitamin will ensure your body functions optimally even if you fail to eat 8-12 servings of fruit and veg a day.

You should also be taking a high quality essential fatty acid or fish oil supplement. Omega-3 fats found in fish oil are scientifically proven to increase metabolism and generate increased fat burning, besides having a host of other benefits like preventing cancer, reducing inflammation and joint pain, enhancing skin and hair quality, etc.

Well, those are my 3 nutrition tips you can instantly begin implementing. Keep your diet simple and clean and you’ll look your best in no time.

Let me know how you go.

Dan Clay
Dangerously fit

                          

A few years ago I used to think goal setting was just fancy talk people in seminars would talk about, but after reading books such as Psycho-Cybernetics, Leading The Field and Think And grow Rich I began using some of their techniques – and within a short amount of time my life began to change for the better.

If you don’t have clearly defined goals you have nothing for your subconscious mind to work towards. And as Earl Nightingale put it…

“A person without a goal is like a ship without a rudder!”

Your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between reality and fiction, so you can actually trick your subconscious mind into doing anything that you feed it, borrowing another quote from Earl Nightingale (I’m bit of a fan)…

“You will become what you THINK about!”

If you keep thinking about walking around looking toned and lean, guess what? This will become reality.

But…

Thinking is only a part of the process because you still need to take action!

However if you keep focusing on your end goal you’ll be thinking less about getting up at 5.30am to go to boot camp and find it easier to NOT cave into the temptation of eating junk food.

Instead you’ll have more focus on the end goal – and how good it will feel once you get there.

And once you do get there it will be well worth the effort!

Right now get a pen and paper and write down your goals, add a timeframe you’d like to achieve them by, now put it somewhere you will see everyday like on your desk or fridge.

By subconsciously seeing your goals everyday you’ll be feeding your subconscious mind with something to work towards, and when you have clearly defined goals anything can happen.

Till next time!

Dan Clay.
Dangerously Fit

P.S Here’s another post I did a while back on a similar topic…

http://dangerouslyfitpersonaltraining.com/blog/fat-loss-diet-or-exercise/