I am currently away until 20th of Jan, so for all personal training inquiries please contact me via WhatsApp on my mobile number is which is 07599 757917
Baz
0 Comments
So the big question is always...do I enjoy myself with my family and relax and not go to the gym or do I go to the gym and miss out on what we imagine a traditional Xmas to be...I would say the perfect balance is between both.
I would not recommend training too hard over the Xmas period as this is downtime from a long year...your body and mind need rest...but also don't do nothing and over indulge. Relax...take part in fun exercises you really enjoy during this period...maybe even get your family involved and do an activity everyone enjoys, even if it is as simple as going for bike ride. The one thing you don't want to do is stop completely. Even professional athletes during their off-season will still eat fairly well and do some form of exercise, even if it is stretching, going for a light run or swimming. But also do not over work yourself...your body needs the rest so when January starts, you can start the year strong and train well and consistently...Don't tire yourself out and be one of those people that burns out by February. Little and often is a good motto to go by if you're just starting out. Consistency is key, so find what works for you, what will ensure you stay consistent enough to get those results you want. If you have a lot of energy, by all means train hard, and make sure you leave time to relax and spend time with loved ones. On the topic of spending time with loved ones. Be careful and do not get carried away with over indulging...otherwise those first few weeks in January are going to be torturous...do yourself a favour and make it easy for your future self to get back into the swing of things, because after January, it won't be long before summer comes and you want to show off your hard work and not cramming in last minute workouts in an attempt to get fit . How to get abs or make your abs more visible...
First and foremost abs do not just exist below your fat, even if you are blessed genetically. To have visible abs you will need to strengthen those muscles, just like all the other muscles in your body that you strengthen. Good quality exercises that protect your lower back is the secret to a good ab routine. Be careful of exercises where you can compromise form and where your lower back tends to dip. And like any other muscle group building the muscles in your abs takes time. So practice regularly to see the best possible results. Remember with the abs you have a deeper layer of muscle that sits like a corset around your waist and then you have a superficial layer of muscle too. Both will need to be strengthened. Once you have a good routine going to build the muscles you will need to reduce body fat in order to clearly see all your hard work. So remember eat sensibly...do not over eat or eat large portions as this fills your belly and expands that area making it more difficult to see your abs. Keep your portions small and sensible- eat a variety of whole foods (healthy foods) and add to some cardio to your routine. You don't need to pound the treadmill everyday. Instead opt for fun exercises to do little and often. This is a sure way to avoid over eating and create a steady calorie deficit through your training. So you see, very simple and straightforward...getting abs does not need to be complicated. Just focus on a good quality routine. Opt to train with a personal trainer for a good routine and best results My top 5 tips for weight loss
Unlike other fitness journeys I've always believe weight loss journeys are the most challenging mentally. Because unlike other fitness journeys weight loss is all about mental discipline, it is about making change, and it is about trying to stay committed to that change. Now it sounds very tough, and it is, but if you really want to lose weight then you will. It all starts in your mind. It starts with you telling yourself you will lose weight. You have to be prepared for some slight ups and downs as weight loss is not a straight journey, but one that goes up and down and eventually stays down. Because you need to keep in mind, that weight does fluctuate, day to day, week to week. Someone who weighs 76kg, doesn't always weigh 76kg, this person may weigh slightly more in the evening than the morning. Or they may weigh more after a weekend of over eating...but the persons weight on average is 76kg due to factors such as their lifestyle, calorie consumption, physical build and their relationship with food. I will not go too far into detail on this post about nutrition and diet but I will share with you some of my top tips. 1. Routine, Routine, Routine! Over the years I have found that if you can learn to manage your week and build a good routine. Where you train and eat at certain times and you keep to strict portions each day, you will have a very very good chance at being successful on your weight loss journey. 2. Discipline -_ - This is a hard one. But I will say this if you can practice this skill and crack it. Not only will you achieve your weight loss goal but anything you put your mind to in life you will learn to achieve (within of course the realistic limitations of your/human ability) And I want to mention, discipline isn't something everyone is born with. It is always impressive to see other people who are so disciplined and stick to anything they put their mind to. But discipline is a skill and treat it like a skill. It takes practice, persistence and perseverance. Treat it the same way you would a fitness routine. Practice a little each day 3. Quality over quantity This will be your new mental approach to food and training. Start cutting out low quality foods that are heavily processed and contain a lot of ingredients (this means you need to check labels). Eat simple foods that are of good quality. Don't eat too many carbs but if you do opt for wholemeal or wholewheat, opt for the carbs that don't contain a lot of other ingredients. Big tip... if you like bread why not try something like sourdough? 4. More training does not equal more food. Remember it only takes an excess of 300 calories a day for you to eventually gain weight. And it only takes a deficit of 300 calories a day for you to eventually lose weight..choose wisely. 5. Write everything down Record everything, your exact weight, your body measurements. the exercises you do, reps, sets..the more you write down and track the better you can understand your progress and the better you can learn how to either speed up or slow down your weight loss. Honestly, buy a cheap note book from tiger or the pound shop and start writing it all down. Your future self will thank you :) GOOD NEWS FINSBURY PARK PUREGYM MEMBERS!...
All this week at the Finsbury Park Puregym I will be giving out FREE BDOYME bars to anyone who fills out one of our very short forms. Consisting of only one main question, asking what your fitness goal is. All you have to do is come to the front desk in the reception area and ask for Baz. BODYME bars are a Real-Food vegan Protein Snack Bars Made With Only A Few Simple Ingredients. Great as a pre or post workout snack! For more info send me an email at: [email protected] See you soon! Black Friday is over but the deals aren't over just yet.
In the spirit of sales and good deals. I will be giving 10 lucky people a free personal training session this week. All you have to do is email me at [email protected] before Sunday 1st December 2019 and you get yourself a free Personal training session. *you will need to be a PureGym member and have access to the Finsbury Park branch...or if you are not a member you will need to buy a day pass at the gym* Bring a bottle of water, towel and your best gym trainers :D Baz When I got to the age of 20, I had stopped playing semi-professional football and I was looking for a new sport. While living in Spain I stumbled across cross country running and 5km. I joined a club with a friend and every weekend I was taking part in competitions.
I returned to London and carried on my running training. My time for my first run was about 20mins almost exactly...after about 3 years of training I managed to bring my time down to 15min40secs for my all time P.B. With this new found speed I was able to come first in a few 5km competitions. So how did I get faster? -Interval running was a big one for me. I spent a lot of time practicing running at different speeds. Very fast to almost a sprint..to very slow, almost jogging...but I always tried not to walk during the interval training. -1km runs..I practiced exercises like 5-7 sets of my fastest 1km runs. This helped increase my speed endurance a lot. -Distance running...well not such a huge distance, but once or twice a week I would run a 10km and attempt to beat my P.B at 10km each time. -Technical work...I worked with some of the coaches from Dash Team London to improve my running technique. I learnt that the more effort you have to put in due to bad technique, the quicker you will tire out. Improve your technique and become a more efficient runner to save energy. -Repetition...I was consistent with my food, my training, my rest...I built up a good routine where I was eating well, I wasn't over eating, but eating just the right amount. I was training regularly and also giving my body time to rest and recover. -Start slow and build yourself up...I first had to learn that the most important thing was completing the distance, then from there I could think about completing each kilometre at roughly the same pace per kilometre and then from there I thought about increasing the speed on one km and keeping the rest at the same pace per km...then I increased that to 2 fast kms and 3 consistent kms etc etc I hope some of this info serves useful to you.. and good luck with your park runs! :D If you want to book a running technique assessment with dash team London the link is below: https://dashteamlondon.co.uk GOOD NEWS!...
All this week at the Finsbury Park Puregym I will be giving out FREE RXBARS to anyone who fills out one of our very short forms. Consisting of only one main question, asking what your fitness goal is. All you have to do is come to the front desk in the reception area and ask for Baz. RXBARS are a Real-Food Protein Snack Bar Made With Only A Few Simple Ingredients. Great as a pre or post workout snack! For more info send me an email at: [email protected] See you soon! Group training...I myself am a big fan of group training, and I even offer people the opportunity to split the cost of personal training with a friend.
Why is group training so beneficial? You always push yourself more with others around you who are working towards the same goal as you or who are there to support you. Group training makes you accountable to the group or so you should feel. When you yourself are held accountable you are more likely to push yourself and do better. The list is endless...so what options are available? Below are a list of 3 options available to people in London and the pros and cons The free option: Train with a friend Contact friends and family and follow a free workout you find on YouTube or online. If your an experienced fitness enthusiast maybe you already know a routine. Therefore you'll just have to find a friend. The pros: -You have a friend to train with for support (physical e.g. spotting, or mental e.g. a friend can help push you when you feel like giving up) -Its free -It's fun. It's always more fun to train with a good friend - Competitive. Sometimes training with a friend can become a little competitive, even if the competitiveness is mild and polite, it can be enough to keep pushing you and help you progress. The cons: -Neither of you are certified professionals. So there is the risk of injury and incorrect form. -Some friends can get a bit too comfortable and instead of pushing you forwards, they can be pulling you back. -You may not be at the same fitness stage or level, therefore if one person is more advanced than the other, it may either become boring for the person who has to slow down for the friend, or it may be too intense for the friend who has to keep up with the other. ITs always better to train with someone around the same level as you. -Time keeping and time management. Training with friends means no structured sessions or structure to the session, so you may not always get the best out of the session. You may end up spending too much time training or too little time training. Free-ish option: If you join a gym, the chances are your gym will hold classes. A lot of the time these are free classes. So it is not entirely free as you have to join the gym, however you don't need to pay an extra fee for attending the classes. The pros: -Work with a certified professional -Pick from your favourite classes -Structure to the class.30min to 1 hr session and most of the times you will find a class that fits with your schedule -Fun -Opportunity to make new friends and meet new people -Learn something new or over the year as the Teacher learns new technique for teaching the class, you the customer will reap the rewards of learning from your teacher. The cons: -Classes get filled easily and you may not be able to get a space -Too many customers and you may not get the attention you need to help progress or to correct your form -Class options may be limited; not all gyms will have the classes you like best -You may not get along with the people that go to the class Paid option: Train with a personal trainer: (Semi private personal training) -Focused session which will lead you to your fitness goals -Sessions can be adapted and planned to your liking and aims -Sharing a session with a friend can be fun and it can help you both reach your goals very quickly -Build a relationship with your friend; it can help to improve your relationship with your friend or if you want to make friends with someone, you could invite them to share a PT session (using 'lets split the cost' as an easy excuse) -Time; working with.a professional who dedicates their time to training people, means they will have more availability for sessions and to work around your schedule The cons: -Unbalanced group; if you and your friend are at different levels, it may be too difficult for one and too easy for the other -Cost; the price of sessions may too much for some -You may not like a specific trainer's personal training style ...These are just 3 group training options I wanted to share with you all! Baz Today I wanted to talk a little about nutrition and my personal view on nutrition and fitness. I also wanted to share my personal experiences, explain a bit about my relationship to food and how I generally eat week to week.
When it comes to nutrition I've never been one to take it to the extremes of only eating protein or restricting myself to some sort of high fat, low carb diet. Diets have never really interested me but I also have been lucky to have started playing sport from a young age and I've tended to always maintain (what I believe is) a good physique year round. I'm not saying diets don't work. They definitely work for some and they don't work for others. But I personally have never really restricted myself when it comes to food. I'll tell you a story; I used to compete in cross country running in Spain (during my year out at university) and I was at an age where I was insecure and felt I needed to be big and muscular to feel good about myself and receive validation from my peers. I went from about 75kg to 90kg over the course of a year or two- and to be fair a lot of the weight I had gained was muscle. I got to Spain and began competing in cross country running. As I am naturally good at endurance sports this I believed would be my forte and it was, however I would consistently finish in the top 10 so I was doing unbelievably well at that level for my age group, however I was not getting to 1st, 2nd or 3rd...so no medals. I was young and impatient and wanted to achieve in a day, what it took the fist place athletes, what I'm sure were years to accomplish. I tried training more, running harder and longer, but that only took me from 10th to 8th after 3months of intense training. One day I was speaking to one of my friends from the cross country team and he told me, I was very good, very talented but I was carrying too much weight for the sport. He suggested I try lose a few kg to try and do even better. This was the first time in my life I had dieted. And as I was young and didn't know any better, I just began eating less and less. I began skipping meals, eating smaller portions, trying to avoid eating out with friends, so I could reach my goal of being lighter again, and hopefully that would give me the chance to win some medals. It was horrible, I was constantly hungry, I did feel like I was achieving something when I did skip a meal and I was eating very little calories but I found it harder to train. But nevertheless I kept pushing myself and after about a month I lost the weight. I was at about 76kg. I went back and competed in my first cross country race since being that light, and I did better. I ran a little faster and came 7th. But I felt awful throughout the race, I'd never felt like I was struggling so much in a race. I was doing well in the race but I felt awful. The only way I can describe it is, that I felt unfit, even though I should have been at my peak with all the training I was doing. After the race, I continued dieting, I continued skipping meals and I continued to avoid eating out with friends. But after a few months of the dieting I started getting serious cravings, I started craving a lot of junk food for some reason and I've never really been the type to crave junk food, but I began having some biscuits here and there, chocolates...pretty much all the things I had denied myself. My body wanted. I went from some biscuits to a whole pack of biscuits...and then I would feel guilty and not eat the rest of the day. And then I would wake up starving, skip breakfast and eat some junk food like a McDonald's meal and a dessert. Whatever I was craving on the day...and then again I would feel guilty skip a meal and then repeat the following day...and slowly slowly it got worse, until most of the food I was eating was unhealthy food. Fizzy drinks, pizza, chocolates, crisps, biscuits. And I ended up feeling terrible. I ended up putting on weight, and was nearer to 90kg than 75kg, and this time it wasn't all muscle, I no longer had the 6 pack I was so used to seeing in the mirror. So I knew it had become serious and I had to stop once and for all. And bit by bit I had to reintroduce healthy foods into my diet and try to eat healthy meals again. I began by eating a pasta at least once a day, because as my body was used to bad carbs it was easier to eat some good carbs and then slowly come off all the other processed sugar, using pasta as my go to food when I was hungry. And once I had come off all the junk food I slowly went back to eating normal. A bit of an extreme story but that was my only experience with dieting. After that I've never skipped a meal and I've never tried to lose weight fast by not eating. I couldn't do it. If I'm hungry now I eat, but I try and eat well. I generally try and cook all my own meals, and if I feel like a piece of cake or a flapjack I will make it myself. It only takes 30mins or an hour to make and if I make a batch I can always keep the rest for the following days. I've learnt to love cooking, so I don't mind at all making things. I put my music on and get to work. Its quite therapeutic to be honest. I've also learnt over the years that if my nutrition is good, then my body will react to the training I do very well. So if that's a lot of cardio, I will drop weight, if its weights, I will gain muscle. Good nutrition I've learnt is the building blocks for sculpting the physique you want. If you eat well and train well, the results will come. So what do I eat? To be honest it changes from week to week depending on my schedule and how I feel, but I try to have breakfast, lunch and dinner. For breakfast I love a coffee (either an espresso or I make my own latte) and a bit of yoghurt & granola. I love it. I look forward to this breakfast everyday. I did try to add nuts and seeds and berries to it to make it healthier but this gave me a stomach ache. So I stopped. Once In a while I add a bit of honey. But I have a small portion of yoghurt and granola and it sets me up well for the day. Lunch is an interesting one. This is the part of the day where due to the nature of my job I never know what I'll be eating and when. So I try to eat healthy. I like a bit of carbs and some protein for lunch. I'm not much of a meat eater so at lunch I like proteins high in fat that will give me energy. I love things like sourdough bread mini baguette with eggs or cheese, some boiled kale or spinach and I add some chill flakes and a touch of olive oil- this is my absolute favourite thing to eat for lunch! The carbs from the bread give me the energy to keep going for the rest of the day and the protein will help my body recover from the work I put it through. If I don't eat this at lunch then it can be things like some pasta with fresh tomato and garlic, or roast potatoes with some spinach. Lunch is usually a bit of carbs, veg and protein. For dinner I like to come home and cook something nice. With Dinner I take my time and put more work and effort into it (but I enjoy the work) I like to make various dishes like chapati (handmade) and curry (usually veg) or I cook Italian food like parmigiana (which is like an aubergine bake) or a broccoli soup or I make a greek salad with pitta bread. Really whatever I feel like on the day. This stops me craving anything and I don't end up feeling like ordering food or wanting to eat out, because I make the things I really want. I also have to mention, apart from not really ever eating out, I don't really drink alcohol. If I do it will be a little bit once every 5 or 6 months. So overall my diet is generally rich in nutrients, although I do eat foods that provide no nutritious value here and there, it’s the nutritious food that makes up the majority of my diet... |
Health & Fitness with BazA space for me to share a bit about my own fitness journey, tips and tricks I've learnt over the years as a personal trainer and some of my favourite health and fitness products Archives
January 2020
Categories |