Personal Training Sydney

Today I am going to do some relatively steady state cardio. In terms of fat loss as an outcome it is a lot less effective than intervals and resistance training done in the correct manner.

So why I am going to do it? Well, On the weekend I woke up with a tight muscle in my neck and have been training light until I feel like i am at 80?90% in terms of recovery from my muscle spasm.

I have been doing stretches and myofascial work to help the release of tension and circulation and feel I have recovered to about 60%..

How important is steady state cardio? How much should we do?

Well I tend to be of the belief that it is great on your days off your training program if you just feel like a bit of a workout.

Nathan Maurice

Personal Trainer Sydney / Online Fitness Trainer

www.npmfitness.com.au

My workout today was based around strength exercises.

After warming up and doing some mobility drills and stretching, I started with some single leg squats with an 8KG kettlebell which i superset with some chin ups. I had a 1 minute break between sets.

I am currently working out with the goal of reducing my body fat percentage(fat loss)?and increasing lean body mass(muscle).

The next superset was single arm kettlebell overhead press 24kg and plank (1minute).

I love using kettlebells in my workouts. Having been using them in nearly every workout for the last 12 months I have to say ?these things work?!

If your goal is fat loss on a permanent basis then you really should try some kettlebell circuits.

When I am working as a personal trainer in Sydney , i often incorporate kettlebells into my clients routines for both the effectiveness and variety they provide.

My next superset was single leg deadlift with 24kg kettlebell and side planks.I then moved on to bent over row this time with a 32KG kettlebell and reverse crunches.

My last sets were bench press and crunches.

Nathan Maurice

Personal Fitness Trainer Sydney / Online Personal Training

Planing Ahead ? If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

At a workshop I attended a few weeks ago the key note speaker opened with these words. In my experiences I have found that these words ring true.They become especially amplified when it comes to my nutritional approach.

There are always going to be times when I am away from my usual environment and may not have all the usual ingredients at hand.

I have learnt to recognize that this will occur and I prepare for it.

Simple things like storing a healthy meal in a container for later on and taking it with me in a cooler can make the difference between adherence and failure.

Implementation of a healthy nutrition plan can sometimes be more critical than the nutritional plan itself. If I don?t have much time in a given week I will cook a bulk lot of meals, store them in plastic containers in the freezer and take them with me on my outings as required.

Nathan Maurice

Personal Fitness Trainer Sydney / Online Personal Training

www.npmfitness.com.au

The funniest thing about the fitness industry has to be all the different inventions,equipment and machines that have been invented to keep the body fit, looking lean and are supposed to promote fat loss.

I started thinking about why there are so many different machines.

NASA sent a man to the moon back in 1968, and yet we are still trying to find the ultimate fat loss invention. Just turn on you television at night or in the morning and you will see the latest ?5 minute? machine that has apparently toned and sculpted the models who are advertising them?pfft yeah right!!

My next door neighbours ex wife used to buy every piece of TV infomercial fitness/tummy/thigh type of equipment that was advertised.In fact he has a whole garage full of near new ab machines, thigh toners, fat exterminators , mini trampolines, sauna belts and?well you get the picture?And guess what?

Exactly!! She is still overweight. Now if obesity wasn?t a disease that can shorten your life, it would be funny!! But its not.

On a positive I get to try nearly every machine every time I go to his house for a beer!!

Fat loss is as serious as a hole in the head in my opinion. Our quality of life is dependent on our strength.

The media talks about an obesity epidemic, but I prefer the term ?weakness epedimic?. If we all got stronger, we would inherently be leaner ,faster more healthy and enjoy life more..there would be less depression and more fun. Not to mention a lot less stress on our state health system.

So what is it with all these fat loss tools? In my belief they are just forms of deception. The tool is not as important as the actual mode of exercise and fat loss nutrition plan.

For effective and timely fat loss the plan is simple. 3 full body workouts a week, 2 interval session and 1 cardio session, should put you back in the drivers seat and in control. Of course there needs to be a level of intensity, and no amount of exercise is going to make you lose weight if your nutritional plan is not up to scratch.

Nathan Maurice

Personal Fitness Trainer Sydney / Online Personal Training

When it comes to a healthy lifestyle, weight loss, weight management and fat loss the basic foundation will always be good nutrition and a balanced exercise plan. We all know that, and it is almost condescending to even say it to someone?as if you didn’t know!!

But we do live in a ?quick-fix? society and it’s no wonder that fad diets, novelty ab machines and diet pills are always being pushed and advertised. When these short cuts fail, we can become cynical, our self-image can take a nose dive, and it is easy to begin a vicious cycle of yo yo dieting.

I know, having suffered injuries while participating in martial arts, as well as having had surgery to remove a bladder tumour, and suffered from a chronic chest infection for 3 months, I have at times put on weight and then had to lose it again.

But at the end of the day, what works for me may not work for you?and in fact, what has worked for me in the past may not even work for me these days.

As we age our bodies respond differently. Different things work for different people and different things work for the same people at different stages within their lives too!! Nutrition and exercise is really an individual endeavour, however there are some things that should be constant.

We could all have an argument based on what has worked for you, me or someone we know but that is not going to increase our understanding of each other or the different approaches that have worked for others.

Eating a balanced healthy nutritionally dense diet is a foundation as is exercising with intensity in a balanced way. Learning to be consistent is a good thing. The concept of dieting is not a good thing, that is changing your eating plan radically in the hope to lose weight rapidly.

Nathan Maurice

Online Personal Training - Sydney Fitness Trainer

www.npmfitness.com.au

The other day I was talking to a friend of mine.He is one of those guys that always seem to be in tiptop shape.

I asked him if there was any one piece of advice that he could offer me in regards to staying fighting fit all year round.

His answer was simple. ?consistency?.

He said that it doesn’t matter how great your program or diet is, if you are not consistent you will not reach your fat loss goal let alone your fitness potential.

Now, let me say this, I work as a personal trainer, and have been training people for over a decade, but now and then if I lose my focus I also lose my consistency.

I started thinking about what sort of things I could do to stay committed 24/7 to my own nutrition/fat loss goal.

The first thing that stuck out was ?water. Yep good old water, I find that if i drink a bottle of water before midday I tend not to get hungry at night, which is my biggest point of inconsistency when it comes to adherence to my exercise plan.

So as of this week, am going to keep my water supply topped up and ready to go wherever I go.

Anyway.

Nathan Maurice

Personal Fitness Trainer Sydney / Online Personal Training

I ordered some protein a few weeks ago and I have to say I am so happy with the service and product i want to share it with you.I get a lot of offers of trial products as I work in the fitness industry and I am often in contact with supplement distributors and other personal trainer?s.

I am a firm believer in protein supplementation and have been using it for a decade or so? Am I that old?

Although I must say, being in Sydney Australia, we do get a good choice of fresh meat, from kangaroo which is an awesome source of protein to good old beef.

In my experience when your desired outcome is fat loss and building muscle, or to lose weight, you should be supplementing with a protein.

Deciding on a protein can be just as confusing as buying a car, as there are so many choices out there.

After you have decided what flavour you like you are faced with the main choice?Concentrate or Isolate.

Whey protein concentrates are filtered to be between 75-85% proteins.

While Whey protein isolates can be filtered to be 90%+ protein.

Some products are blended.

Also, the more refined isolates have less fat and less lactose.

Generally I choose isolate. It is a little more expensive, but I find that with fat loss as a goal, fat content is important.

At the end of the day which option is better depends entirely on the individual and their goals. Some people, like me , may want as pure a protein source as possible in order to avoid excess fat, and lactose, especially if you get bloating with lactose or are intolerant to it.

My protein supplier is proteindirect.com.au . I find that the protein they supply mixes well and does not upset my stomach at all, and it is very reasonably priced and quickly shipped.

Anyway make sure you get some training done today!!

Nathan Maurice

Online Personal Training - Sydney Fitness Trainer

www.npmfitness.com.au

Today when i was waiting for someone to show up for Personal Training session at work I performed some moving meditation (chi kung)?I learnt while studying internal martial arts.

I have found that over time when I practise consistently, I perform better in every aspect of my life.?I consider it my life force maintenance routine.

As we age we need to maintain our strength ,flexibility and ?joint mobility.We also need to address the aging process?through life force energy circulation.

Some people do it in the form of?meditation, others may do yoga or tai chi.

I want you to ask yourself this question and answer it honestly.

Do you?take care of?yourself?

It is so important in todays world that we take some time out?and devote it to some planned relaxation.

The one thing that everybody seems to have in common these days is that we are all extremely busy.That would be why I am able to get work helping people with fat loss, diet and to lose weight as a Personal Trainer.

On top of our responsibilities and duties associated with family and work commitments we need to?address our over health,?well being, and fitness.And of those that do commit to a fitness program, many? only address the external side of fitness and fail to address the internal?energy circulation through meditation and relaxation which helps to decrease tension throughout our bodies?and gives us the opportunity to have more control of the ageing process.

Nathan Maurice

Personal Training Sydney / Online Personal Training

Every afternoon about 4pm I have a serving of Berries. I?buy both the Mixed?Berries and the Rasberries?from the Aldi supermarket in the frozen section. I would love to be able to afford fresh berries, but as they are seasonal there is always price fluctuations and sourcing problems.????

Berries?are an amazing source of anti oxidants , phyto nutrients? and also contain a king size serving of?vitamins, minerals and fiber that provide numerous health benefits.

Whenever I am working as a?Personal Trainer with?someone when I am in Sydney,and the person is looking to change their diet,?lose weight or their goal is fat loss, I prescribe a daily dose of berries as part of the nutrition plan.

Some of the many benefits of berries include:

Nathan Maurice

Personal Fitness Trainer Sydney / Online Personal Training

www.npmfitness.com.au

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Tuesday is always the day when i do the hardest interval work of the week, and today was no different.

After completing some early morning Personal Fitness Training sessions and then taking care of some administrative tasks in the office, I headed into the home gym for?my workout.??

My training session today consisted of an interval session.

The basic workout was :

3 min cross trainer / 1 min? skipping / 3 min bike / 1 min?kettlebell swings??completed 5 times. All up it was a 40 min workout.

My HR was sitting at about 130 on the crosstrainer, shifted up a gear?to 160 when skipping and then back down to 140ish for the bike.?Finally as I did the kettlebell?swings my hear rate went up to 170?180 maxing out at 186 on the last interval work period.

I was quite happy with the workout as it was the only chance i had to train today and I felt the intensity was high enough, when?taking that into consideration.

Nathan Maurice

Personal Fitness Trainer Sydney / Online Personal Training

www.npmfitness.com.au
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The other day when i woke up I went outside into my backyard.It was a beautiful morning,?the sun was just coming up?and the day before I had mowed the lawn so it was looking quite nice.

I noticed a small bird sitting on the fence. Then ?just as I had noticed a little bit of detail on the birds tail,??he took off and flew to the ground and picked up a worm!!

I bet this happens all the time, and I guess that is where the saying (early bird gets the worm)?comes from.????

I?started thinking about how I get up first thing in the morning and go and do my work at the gym. I realized I had something in common with this little bird!!

I also thought about how the bird was eating PROTEIN first thing in the morning, and how I after some careful consideration and research had decided to up the protein content in my breakfast each day.

It seemed?as though me?and this little bird had more than 1 thing in common!

Now this bird didn?t need to lose weight. And he (i will call him he) was?definitely?doing some exercise and eating a diet?high in protein when i observed him.

So the whole experience served?to reinforce the diet adjustment I had made.

Including protein in meals is a good idea for a number of reasons, I will?touch on just a few. Digesting protein has the effect of increasing metabolism compared to a fat or carbohydrate. So if you are trying to lose fat , including protein in more of your meals is a good idea. Also proteins are used for rebuilding the body. Things like hair, fingernails, skin and?muscle all rely on protein?as a building block.??

Anyway I am off to have a protein shake!!

Nathan Maurice

Personal Fitness Trainer Sydney / Online Personal Training

www.npmfitness.com.au?

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Over the last 7 weeks I have been sticking to a?fairly?rigid workout plan?that does not really deviate much as I am trying to develop physical performance attributes along side my weight loss?goal.

At the gym where I work I often see the same people from day to day.

Being a people watcher and an exercise enthusiast I tend to watch the way people train..both the form or lack of in?actual performance of exercises?as well as the actual workout plan they seem to be following.

What amazes me is the absolute lack of consistency that people apply to their actual exercise selection.

There is this one girl who comes in every day. One day she is doing bodyweight endurance type work, the next day?it is yoga, then some latest fad ?functional? exercise.

She seems quite proud that she has a huge variety of exercises.

The truth of the matter?is that you need to work consistently and develop a gain in one?program over an 8 week period with a pre-designated goal or set of goals in mind. Then you can choose something else that you want to work on for the next 8 weeks and so on.

Variety is OK if it is justifiable and relevant to the goal you are?working toward,?otherwise it is pretty much fruitless in the long term.

This is another reason that I developed my 60 day challenge programs. To help people gain the most from their time in the gym, whether that be?lose weight, reshape, build strength or become more effective in a particular sport/athletic endeavor.

Nathan Maurice

Personal Fitness Trainer Sydney / Online Personal Training

www.npmfitness.com.au
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Fat Loss
Fat Loss is the single most desired outcome of personal training in my experience. It seems everyone wants to reduce their waste line or body fat percentage.

With so much information, both nutritional and exercise related, why is that as a culture we are the fattest to date? Well, the short answer is ?lifestyle and technology?. What was supposed to make our lives easier is actually making us very sick. Cars, televisions, computers, pollution, medicines and host of other man made situations are all contributing to the obesity epidemic and a wide variety of other health ailments.

So what can we do?
We need to be vigilant. You need to become a lifestyle vigilante. You need to weed out and eradicate the portions of your lifestyle that are contributing to poor health. Although that may be an extremist solution, some aspects may just need conscious management.

How can I do it?
Here is where the problems start. It is not what to do, but how to implement it into your lifestyle that is more than usually the biggest hurdle. With longer working hours, children to pick up, shopping, traffic jams etc, it is almost impossible to fit in a health and fitness program into your life.

Only when you have taken?the steps required?that will?allow you to fit in a health and fitness program into your lifestyle effectively, can you?begin to think about what actual exercise to do.

Tell me what to do!
Ok, So lets assume you have organized your lifestyle and schedule enough to be able to fit in 3-5 hours of planned focused exercise pertinent to a specific outcome. My advice would be to do 3-4 weight sessions a week and 2-3 cardio interval sessions per week.

Of course exercise alone is only half of the solution, with your nutritional requirements being the other half.

Careful meal planning and supplementation ?must be carried out to ensure you are getting the required nutrients, vitamins and mineral that allow you to train with energy to spare.

If you are following these general guidelines you should be well on your way to an energetic healthy lifestyle with the body you desire.

Nathan Maurice

Personal Fitness Trainer Sydney / Online Personal Training

www.npmfitness.com.au

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Shopping can be the real make or break of you. You really need to have a list, and real ?get in and out? attitude when visiting your supermarket/grocery store. Consider it an operation into enemy territory.?

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Supermarkets are designed to get you to buy food and other things that you don?t need or want for that matter which serve to corrupt your efforts at attaining your goal eg; lose weight. Bright wrappers, ?new? products, improved flavors and so fourth are all there to temp you and bring down your best made plans.

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Don?t be a victim of the marketing tactics these corporations employ. Think of yourself as Rambo, penetrating enemy lines, extracting your nutritional allies and dispatching your enemies.???

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Nathan Maurice

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Personal Fitness Trainer Sydney / Online Personal Training

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www.npmfitness.com.au

Today when I was working with my clients, I made of point of ensuring they know where their neutral posture is and how?to check themselves and correct back to a neutral posture when out and about in the world.

I find this kind of work in?my Personal Fitness Trainer career which I work as in Sydney ,most rewarding ,?of course along with helping clients achieve weight loss,?without the use of diet pills of course.

Health can sometimes be taken for granted .But the fact is that a lot of us?are disfunctional on a physical level which will lead to pain in the long run.

So the question is what are we taking for granted? A disfunctional physical existence?

Why does it take pain for us to stop and go to the doctor? We take our cars for a tune up and wheel alignment regularly ? we do not wait until the car can no longer drive properly before we get it serviced . But this is exactly the mindset we have with our bodies?.go figure

We assume that health means things like good nutrition, physical exercise, taking vitamins and minerals. However nearly every single one of the clients I work were wandering around with anterior pelvic tilt before commencing training with me.

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When we combine this disfunction with exercise?it really is a recipe for disaster.

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Take the time to be posturally appraised by an experienced personal trainer and save yourself from the pain you may well experience in the not to distant future.?

Nathan Maurice

Personal Fitness Trainer Sydney / Online Personal Training

www.npmfitness.com.au