Training at Home

Strength training at home

Whether through choice or circumstance, many people don't have regular access to a gym. If this is your circumstance, don't despair - we'll show you how to get a quality workout in the comfort of your own home.

For various reasons, many people don't have access to a gym. Whether it's because of budget, schedule or distance, not having the resources of a gym can put a dent in your workout plans.

While most of us would like access to a gym, once you start thinking about it, there are loads of ways to stay in shape without joining a gym.

The key is to stop thinking along traditional lines.  Of course it would be easier if you could join a class or have a huge range of machines available to you, but even without them you can still have great workouts.

Whether you are looking for cardio workouts,  strength (resistance) workouts, or a mixture of the two this will guide you as to what you can do based from home with a minimal budget.

Cardio workouts at home

There are numerous options if you want a good cardio workout from your home. Some of the best options include:

Walking or running: All you need for this is a good pair of shoes. Research shows that walking or running three times a week for at least twenty minutes is a great base for overall conditioning, with either a brisk walk or easy jogging effective in getting your heart rate going sufficiently.

Other methods of achieving a good home-based cardio workout include:

• Stair climbing
• Skipping
• Mini-trampoline

For just a small investment you could have a home version of the cardio machines you see at a gym - a stationary bike or stepper for example.

These don't have to be expensive - there are always loads for sale in local newspapers, at garage sales, or on e-bay.

If you decide to take this route, be sure to check out anything before you buy it - quality varies widely, and a cheap useless machine is a frustrating waste of space.

The other consideration if you are buying equipment is the space in your house - it's easy to misjudge whether a piece of equipment will fit, so carefully measure the space you have available.

Alternatively you could put on your favourite music and dance, or use a fitness dvd of some kind (aerobics, yoga, Pilates etc). Again, you'll find a great selection available on amazon.

Resistance training at home

Resistance training  should be a core part of any exercise program, and it's easy to achieve. If you have the money and space, a barbell and dumbbell set along with a bench will allow you to do a whole range of resistance exercises for the whole body. Or try resistance bands and a swiss ball offer further exercise oppotunities.

If you have a little more space then purchasing a kettlebell and DVD package will give you a whole new home workout experience.

Finally, if you have absolutely no equipment, you can still get a good resistance workout using just your body weight - the following exercises would form the basis of an excellent workout:

• Squats
• Lunges
• Calf-raises
• Push-ups (or modified push ups)
• Wall push-ups/Counter height push-ups
• Chair triceps dip
• Curls (holding anything!)
• Abs bridge (two legs/one leg)
• Crunches

For further suggestions just visit youtube for many, many more ideas and suggestions.

The beauty of working out at home is that you can squeeze a workout into a busy daily schedule

So if lack of funds or opportunity is holding you back from working out, it's time to be imaginative. Once you start to look for ways to workout at home, it becomes easy.

If you are still unsure, have questions or would like professional guidance many Personal Trainers offer training at home and can create a highly effective and enjoyable workout to suit you.

HIIT Training

What is HIIT?  High Intensity Interval Training.

Are you fed up with long drawn out sessions on the treadmill or Cross Trainer bored of mile after mile of staring at the back of someones head?

If you are looking for fast results for fat burning and improved fitness than HIIT is going to be for you.

HIIT training will have you training at different intensities for predesigned times pushing your speed, heart rate and intensity higher than if you were to go slow and steady.

Effective HIIT training can be used for just 10mins at the start or end of your regular gym session, or as in some clubs a full class will be devoted it such as Spinning or Total Cardio.

An example of HIIT training on a bike would be as follows


1min @ 70RPM
1min @ 90RPM
1min @ 70RPM
1min @ 100RPM
1min @ 70RPM
1min @ 110RPM

So next time you are due to perform cardio training, try  10-15 minutes of maximum effort training and you  will feel like you have had a more demanding and effective workout than you have previously experienced.

Remeber maximum effort, maximum results.

Maintaining your health

It's reached that time of your again when people all around are feeling ill and run down.  This years surprisingly warm autumn and sudden cold snaps seem to have brought out more illness than before.

I myself am sat comfortably at work feeling well while my wife and daughter are both home spending money on kleenex.

When we feel unwell we head off to the chemist and buy up whole range of medicines and remedies to remove the symptoms.  Would it not be better to avoid illness and not have to rush to the chemist and spend days on the sofa feeling sorry for yourself.

How about being proactive and take measures to avoid illness.  How to do this?  Fill your shopping trolley with all the healthy foods you know are out there.

Here is the foods I am eating daily to support my health;
Whole Eggs
Spinach
Kale
Spring Greens
Sweetcorn
Carrots
Broccoli
Green Beans

In addition to the vitamin and mineral content I get from the above foods I also take a high strength multivitamin and Omega 3,6,9 to guarantee I maintain high levels in my immune system.

So fill up on those veggies and maybe never suffer again.

Goal Setting-the long and short of it.

Here is article number 3 for me and will begin with a shameless plug, as well as blogging I also use Twitter @darren_pt and on Facebook 'Darren Carroll Personal Training'.


This article is about goal setting and while I will use the theme of health and fitness it is a tool that I have and recommend using in other aspects of life.

We all have a vision of the physique and/or physical ability we aspire too, and we all chase that goal with lesser or greater degrees of effort and success.

Many goals can seem over ambitious or unrealistic and seem a long way away.  Regrettably many people can be disheartened after lots of work and time, there goals can still seem far away (in truth they have been succeeding but are only focusing on the long term goal).

Goal setting is a great tool that I use with my clients, but I use one technique called Goal Ladders that keeps the long term goals achievable and realistic. This tool  also serves to keep you motivated and repeatedly succeeding as you go.

Goal Ladders.

A goal ladder takes a long term goal i.e. lose 30lb, and breaks this goal down into manageable short term targets of losing 1lb at a time.

By focusing on climbing the ladder one rung at a time you will find you are repeatedly achieving and enjoying small successes while getting closer to the top of your ladder and achieving the bigger dream.

So whatever it is you hope to achieve through 2012, set that goal and then set your small goals also and find yourself repeatedly succeeding and staying motivated towards those long term goals.

Supplements- a definition

A regular question people pose to me is-'what supplements do you take?'  Why do they ask this?

I have had success in changing my physique and as a fitness professional people come to me for expertise and advice in order that they can learn something to better help them achieve their goals.

Many people are looking for a 'magic' pill or shake that will give them their dream physic in a 'Just add water' format-sorry it's not out their yet.

How to achieve your own magic pill

Firstly what does supplement mean?


The Oxford Dictionary (online) tells us,
a thing added to something else in order to complete or enhance it

Supplements come in many different forms and provide for different requirements;
Multivitamins-improve health and boy function
Proteins-enhance the bodies ability to recover and build muscle for those who regularly train
Fat burners- improve the bodies ability to burn and or use fat at fuel source amongst others.
(please be advised this is a very basic breakdown, many more products/functions are offered)

If we look again at the definition of supplement, my response to the original question 

'what supplements do you take?'

my response is 'what are you trying to achieve?'

and that is followed by 'what is in your diet to suit this?'

As supplements are designed to enhance your diet, if you are not eating a fat burning diet, or training in a manner for fat burning, your fat burner supplement has nothing to enhance, and surely therefore it won't work?

So to achieve your magic pill, Train and eat appropriately and consistently to suit your goals.  Now when you add supplements on top they become highly effective and YOU can achieve magic.


A final thought,  would it suit you to change your language.  Instead of using supplements, you use...
dietary enhancers?


Train well, Eat well, Live well.


Darren.

 

Runners and the off season.

So Autumn is very much upon us, and for those of you who are runners I am sure you are looking forward to a reduced running schedule.  Hopefully you are reflecting on a successful season, and already planning  your race schedule for 2012.

During your review of 2011 are you taking note of any aches, pains or even injuries that may have hit you during the season, and most importantly how you identified how to fix these problems?

I have had the opportunity to work with and talk to many more runners this year then ever before, and I hear about the same few complaints;

• My calves are always painful
• my shins hurt
• My lower back aches
• my shoulders and neck hurt

Is this you?

Now the off season is here you have a great opportunity to act and remove these complaints by diversifying your training.  Now is the time to focus on individual muscles and improve their strength and endurance ready for the new season.

Discuss any weaknesses you feel you may have with a trainer and they could be eliminated by the time your training begins for the new race season.

Does stronger, faster, pain free running sound like a great way to enjoy the new season?

Act now and reap the benefits when that next marathon comes round.

All the best,


Darren.