Blog

Do you want to be more productive at work? Would you like to have more quality time with your family or do you want to feel more energised? If the answer is YES and I think we all wouldn’t mind to have a bit or all of the above, then exercising is the answer. Being physically and healthy offers us a lot more benefits then most people think. Here are 9 facts why to get out of bed at 5.30am and break into a sweat. Increasing energy levels You will be surprised how kicking off the day with a workout will change your whole day to come. Exercising releases endorphins and ones they are released in the bloodstream, you will enjoy the benefits throughout the rest of the day. Some people say “I’m too tired to exercise”. Well, when starting a fitness... Read More

Protein is crucial if you are trying to build or maintain a fitter, leaner and stronger body, but it is important to know what types of food provide the best sources of proteins and how and when they should be consumed. Check out the power of protein and some tips to help you maximise your results: Get to know your proteins Most animal foods, such as meat, poultry, fish, cheese and milk are ‘complete’ proteins. Some plant proteins, eggs, soybean products such as tofu are also complete proteins. Complete proteins hold all the necessary amino acids. ‘Incomplete’ proteins are foods containing low protein or only some of the nine amino acids that you need in your diet (eg. grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, vegetables, beans, lentils). Vegetable protein (plant-based proteins) is... Read More

‘Seven’ is a great bodyweight workout to do in your own time and all you need is a little bit of space on a beach or in the park. The good thing is that no equipment is needed. How does the ‘Seven’ workout works? If completed on soft sand, perform 7 rounds of 4 minutes and within those 4 minutes perform: 70 star jumps 7 chest-to-floor burpees 7 runs (25 to 30m) Want to take it to the next level, then you can could add the following exercises: 7 push ups 20m tiger walk back to the starting point. If you decide to do the ‘Seven’ workout on hard surface, you might want to add some exercises and make it a bit harder to keep the recovery time down. Here are a few examples of exercises you could add: 7 V-ups 7 squat jumps You can make this... Read More

When it is time to shed some weight, the treadmills ‘fat burning’ mode might be the way to go.  But does a slow and steady power walk really gets the job done? Loosing weight might be a little trickier than that! There has been a lot of debate around the benefits of lower and higher intensity training. The question is “what will make you burn more calories?”. Low vs high intensity The standard rule is that during lower intensity activity, the body burns a greater amount of stored fat for fuel and so would be ideal for weight loss. Higher intensity training is believed to burn more carbohydrates and a better choice for building cardiovascular endurance. An important fact to know is that the two zones aren’t all that distinct. Fat burning can... Read More

Lack of energy and lack of motivation are very common in winter. This article is all about being aware that summer bodies are built in winter and how to get you out of the ‘winter blues’. Temperatures have dropped and as temperatures drop, often our motivation to keep fit drops as well. Although spring seems like a long time away, it will be around the corner before you know it! Time flies and so do these few months of colder weather. A big step ahead People who keep their fitness levels up during winter are a big step ahead of the people who go into hibernation mode. It is very easy to go into hibernation mode and I know that staying in bed on a dark and cold morning can be very tempting! Being inactive will definitely affect your cardio and fitness levels. It’s good... Read More

Everyone who exercises and somehow tries to push themselves while training, will experience moments where they feel like quitting or making a few sneaky shortcuts to make the workout shorter. I’m sure everyone goes through times thinking about lowering the resistance or taking a longer rest then planned. Normally you’ll see that once you push yourself through those tough moments, you’ll actually realize that you were capable of doing it without changing anything. An important thing to know is that most results are achieved in those moments where you feel like taking it a notch easier, or even quitting but you don’t. In other words it can be very beneficial to teach yourself how to push through a tough workout. Here a few mental strategies. Use a mantra Mantras are words... Read More

Last week I wrote an article for Australian magazine ‘New Weekly’. The article was about Kourtney’s amazing six-pack, and in particular her outstanding oblique muscles. They asked me for some information about what she would have been doing to get that figure and mainly those obliques. Here is my intake… The fact is that a lot of people neglect their oblique muscles whilst training their abs, and Kourtney clearly didn’t. The oblique muscles are the long muscles that run up and down our sides. When they’re well trained, and when the body fat percentage is low enough they will fully frame the six-pack. In other words they will give them a great finish. To make your abs visible to the world, you need to lean down and have a sub 10% body fat... Read More

How dedicated are you to leading an active lifestyle? So dedicated that nothing will stop you from achieving it? If you enjoy going to the gym, then this is always an option but if your passion is outdoor training, no matter if it is swimming, cycling, bootcamp or walking, you want to make sure that you train in the right gear. As long as you prepare yourself and dress for the conditions, your body can produce the right amount of heat to warm up your body and handle the cold. Also remember… this is Sydney and not Northern Europe or Russia. We are a bit spoilt and should be grateful with the climate we’re living in. Here are a few tips to prepare yourself for the months ahead: Training in cold dry weather conditions In these conditions it’s just a case... Read More

Isn’t this one of the most frustrating things? You’re getting into training, starting to make some progress and seeing results. Then suddenly you get injured, sick or something else happens which stops you from training. In no time this can make you feel like you’re back to square one. Most of us have experienced this at some point. Check out some tips about dealing with injuries. One thing to realise is that often in the short term not exercising will not give you any injuries or issues. On the other hand, starting a new training regime can sometimes go hand in hand with injuries. If there are any imbalances or weaknesses in your body, then these might come out and lead to injuries (unless they get fixed on time). In the long run though, you are... Read More