Sprints...

Ok, so we all know that cardio is not my favourite thing in the world! It is a struggle for me to do cardio with any kind of consistency and even with my week planning I do tend to talk myself out of cardio in favour of lifting. I love lifting, it's my thing and I get results from pushing weights. Although in saying that, when I do a few weeks of consistent cardio sessions, I do notice changes in my body and then when I am lifting I feel fitter and leaner!

If I told you that there was a much better, more effective form of cardio which didn't involve 45 minutes of slow and steady on the treadmill, cross-trainer, bike {or any other form of torture} would you believe me?



do I really need to sprint up the stairs?

I have been doing a form of cardio that doesn't bore me to tears or have me running for the weights room. A form of cardio that is short, sharp, gets you sweaty and has you feeling like you are on top of the world when you have finished!

Sprint intervals!

Once you get going they are awesome and empowering! And I don't just love them because they are short and over with quickly, there are so many other reasons why sprint intervals will get your body where you want it to be....

1. By doing sprints you will increase your post exercise oxygen consumption, effectively increasing your metabolic rate and energy use after the sprint work-out

2. You will  burn a lot of calories quickly, enhancing the use of enzymes and proteins that are involved in using fat as your body's preferred source of fuel

3. Sprint training will build muscle and increase the size and strength of fast-twitch fibres {muscle fibres that contract quickly and release energy rapidly}. With the right nutrition and recovery, sprinting will enhance protein synthesis {in short muscle building and repair} leading to muscle building

 

4. Sprint training can increase anabolic hormones that improve body composition. Women won’t experience the same increase in testosterone as men but sprints will increase growth hormone which means more fat burning and muscle building which will result in a stronger, leaner body

 

5. Sprints encourage your body to work more effectively by increasing the amount of glycogen that can be stored in the muscle by as much as 20%. This in turn trains your body to burn fat for fuel and preserves muscle glycogen {glycogen is the principal stored form of carbohydrate energy known as glucose which is reserved in your muscles. When your muscles are full of glycogen, they look and feel full}

 

And not only do sprints make you look stronger, fitter and leaner they are also great for your all round health and well-being....

 

Better heart and lung health, improved circulation, better cognition, improved metabolism, and the optimal hormonal environment. And most important for me they save my sanity from boring slow and steady cardio!

 

Here are a two sprint interval work-outs that my clients just love doing {well, I think they do}!!!!

 

In the gym :: pick your equipment :: bike, treadmill, rower, cross-trainer

 

A1. Foam roll

B1. Two minute warm up at 50-60% MHR

C1. Intervals - 15 sets - 30seconds active / 30seconds recovery - 15 minutes total

D1. 3 minute cool down

E1. Stretch

 

Outdoors :: download the application Round Timer :: set to 1minute active / 30seconds recovery

 

A1. Stretch

B1. Two minute warm up at 50-60% MHR

C1. Intervals - 15 sets - 1minute active / 30seconds recovery - 10 minutes total

D1. 3 minute cool down

E1. Stretch

 

 

Source: Charles Poliqion Blog 

 

Swing it...

Do you swing? I do! And I spent the whole of the last weekend swinging...a Kettlebell...and I have the bruised forearms to prove it!

I spent two days at Fitness First Bondi Edge and I am now a qualified Kettlebell Instructor. The course was taken by Cory Bocking from Performance Training Institute and it was awesome! Cory was great and he showed us how to swing, snatch, clean, jerk and some other wicked exercises that I can't wait to practice more and start introducing in to my client's sessions.

cory

 

To give you a bit of back ground, Kettlebells were developed in Russia in the 1700s where the Soviet Army used them as part of their physical training and conditioning programs. Known as the Girya, the Kettlebell has been used in competitions and sports throughout Russia and Europe since the 1940's. Pavel Tsatsouline developed the first instructor certification program in the USA in 2001 and the rest, as they say, is history.

So what makes Kettlebell work-outs so good? The mass of the bell and the position of the handle on the outside of the mass creates a longer leaver further away from the centre of gravity making the exercise more dynamic and challenging whilst recruiting more muscles. The bell moves around the handle and creates a very different and beneficial training effect more so {some say} than a dumbbell or barbell.

The Kettlebell works many qualities needed for most sporting pursuits and it is a great training tool for athletic performance and movement. Most sports will require you to have strength, power, muscular endurance, range of movement, energy systems and co-ordination. Kettlebell training works many of these qualities! Think of a sport and I bet that sport is done dynamically (moving) and quickly. Now think of doing a Kettlebell exercise. That exercise is also done dynamically and quickly and corresponds perfectly to the most athletic sports.

The core exercises are the Swing, Snatch, Clean, Military Press & Front Squat. These are all designed to focus on training the body to come to full range of movement, to achieve optimal alignment and maintain balance across our body in all of our kinetic systems.

By Sunday night and after 14 hours of swinging a Kettlebell it was safe to say I was wrecked! Yesterday was my rest day with just 40 minutes of stretching and foam rolling my aching body.

Today I feel good and am excited to get in to the gym and train with the bells! If you are interested in Kettlebell training please let me know, I would love to show you how to really swing and swing it good!

 

IFBB...

So here they are, the photos taken at the IFBB competition back at the end of March.

I've had these photos on a disc for a few weeks and I have thought and thought about a blog post that I could write to go with them. I am coming up with nothing so I thought I would just post them on their own...