You can’t spell “Diet” without first spelling “Die.” And for good reason. That’s exactly how a diet makes me feel. Whether it’s the Atkins, South Beach, or the infamous Grapefruit diet, millions of people have yo-yo’ed themselves right through a body weight roller-coaster, complete with highs, lows, and maybe even a loop or two. Diets are, by their very nature, a sometime thing.
Newsworthy Stuff
What good would our knowledge be if we kept it to ourselves?
The Great Debate: Compound versus Isolated Exercises
If you have ever been to a SMART Camp or ever worked with a SMART Trainer in a personal training session, you undoubtedly have heard the trainers ranting about “compound exercises.” To the uninformed fitness enthusiast, however, this means very little without some explanation. What exactly are compound exercises? How do they differ from isolated exercises? And which ones should we be doing??
Are You an Emotional Eater?
Most of us crave foods from time to time, especially when our blood sugar is low and we grab the nearest food that will give us that energy boost. Our survival mechanism also causes us to crave fatty foods if we are deficient in essential fats and we get hooked on the feel good chemicals that some foods and drinks release in us such as serotonin and adrenaline. So by improving our diets and…
Fuelling Up For Exercise: What, When and How Much?
When we undertake any activity we burn glycogen, which is the body’s fuel. Glycogen is produced from carbohydrates and is stored in the liver and muscle. It follows therefore, that the more glycogen you have stored then the better your performance and the longer you will be able to exercise before you experience fatigue.
So eating carbohydrates before exercise can actually improve your…
Mind over Matter: ‘Reaching your true potential’
There is one common factor that stops people reaching their true potential whether you’re a client, a regular gym user or even an athlete. The problem is your own mind set. There are too many phrases like “I can’t do it, it’s too hard” or “I’m tired” -which are all used far too often. All that has happened here; is they have already convinced themselves they are defeated, and this…
SMART science: ‘Get results fast’
Anybody who has trained with a SMARTtrainer or completed a SMARTcamp will know about Interval training. We use a method called ‘High-Intensity Interval Training’ (HIIT) that combines two of the most effective fat-burning methods.
The first is high-intensity training, which pushes the body to maximum effort to achieve muscle fatigue and maximum oxygen use in a quick burst. The harder muscles…
On the Starting Line: Tips for starting a new fitness program
Human beings are creatures of habit. We tend to sleep on the same side of the bed every night, eat the same types of food, and even hold our cellphones the same way when we have a conversation. For better or worse, this holds true for diet and exercise. This means it’s especially challenging for the new fitness enthusiast to dust off the trainers and work up some sweat. The following are a few…
Fitness Jargon 101
Consider the following…
A personal trainer will tell you to “pump” iron, but a nutritionist will tell you to eat it.
You can run on a flat treadmill and both “peak” and “plateau”.
Being “shredded”, “ripped”, and “jacked” is a good thing, but being “worn”, “ragged”, or “in tatters” is not.
The goal of exercise might be to get “cut”, but once you get a “tear” you should see a…
Together We Can! The Strength in Numbers
Your alarm goes off. It’s 5:30am. You don’t have to be up this early; work doesn’t start for another 3 hours. You know you should go to the gym, but then again, one morning off won’t kill you. After all, it’s so much easier just to roll over and go back to sleep. You hit your alarm and slowly drift off, back to dreamland…
And then, thankfully, your phone rings.
It’s your…
Work out like a Rockstar: Using Music to turn Jump Squats into a Jam Session
Haile Gebrselassie, the Ethiopian Olympic gold medal winner in the 10,000 meter, three-time Dubai Marathon winner, and holder of countless other running records and titles was once asked what his secret to success was. His response? The 1994 smash techno hit “Scatman.”
Well, Mr. Gebrselassie, now that we know your secret, you might be in trouble. But I digress.
As always, let’s…