Christmas Damage-Control Exercise

As my bootcampers will be aware, I have been focussing on damage limitation over the holiday season, mainly focussing on food. Now that bootcamp is finished for 2011, I thought I would fire out some basic workouts and tips to keep you moving for the next few weeks. Below are 3 options, increasing in intensity and commitment, from a 2 minute pre-meal set of exercise to a full on circuit that you can do in the park.

1) Pre-Meal: Between 15 and 30 minutes before a meal, especially a big one that you know may be a bit naughty, complete 30 squats or lunges. Excuse yourself and go to the bathroom or another room and gently perform them (no warm up so take your time). This will help to send the food that you are about to eat to your muscles instead of to your fat stores, as well as increasing your insulin sensitivity, meaning your blood sugar will not spike as badly as it could.

2) Brisk Walk: This is super simple and you can do it any time you like, although first thing pre-breakfast is great to get the fat burning before a heavy day of partying. Walk faster than usual so your heart rate is elevated and maintain this pace for 20 minutes or more if you have time.

3) Basic Circuit: This can be done at home, in your garden or in the park, and is best done with a friend for competition and support. First of all complete a warm up for the whole body so you feel warm, with your pulse elevated and joints moving freely. Then complete the following exercises in order without rest. Once they are complete, rest for 2 minutes and repeat as many times as you like. You could combine this circuit with a brisk walk for a great winter workout.

15 Squats

15 Press Ups

10 Side Lunges Each Side

10 Mountain Climbers Each Side

20 Jumping Jacks

15 Ski Squats

As I said, this is pretty basic, so feel free to add some extra reps or to modify the exercises, like doing squat jumps instead of squats, or burpees instead of jumping jacks.

Stay Strong

Anytime, Anywhere. A Basic No-Kit Workout.

Hammy the Hamster may need a barbell for a good workout, but you don't! Get fit and strong with your bodyweight.

So, you have just finished bootcamp and you are looking and feeling awesome, and you are off on your holidays or back to work and don't want to lose all the hard earned gains that you have made. As well as keeping the diet clean you will need to keep on training in order to keep on feeling and looking good. Here is a basic workout that you can do anytime, anywhere to keep yourself fit, lean and strong.

This is a circuit workout where you will complete all the exercises back to back without rest to raise the intensity of the session. If you have a stopwatch then use that and do each exercise for 30 to 50 seconds. If you don't have a stopwatch then do 10-15 repetitions of each exercise. For each exercise I will list a basic and advanced version depending on your ability.

Warm Up: Methodically move all of your major joints in all directions starting with ankles, knees, hips etc. Run or jog to raise your pulse and body temperature. Perform a few of each exercise with good form to prepare the body.

Circuit:

Squat/Squat Jump

Press Up/Narrow Hand Press Up

20 Metre Sprint (If indoors sprint on spot)

Lunge/Rear Lunge With Toe Touch

Jumping Jack/Jumping Jack with Ankle Touch

Mountain Climbers

It really is that simple! Complete the whole circuit and then rest for 2 minutes and repeat again. You can do it as many times as you want depending on time available and your fitness level. The key is intensity - do a good warm up and then SMASH the circuit - NO MESSING AROUND!!

Stay Strong

Ben

Interval Training

Interval training is a really effective way to train your body to improve fitness and for weight loss. It is an approach that can be applied to weight training and circuits as well as the more traditional cardiovascular applications.

So, what is interval training? Quite simply it is periods of high intensity work followed by recovery periods of less intense work or rest. Your goals and fitness levels will determine the ratio of hard work to recovery. For instance a beginner trying to improve running fitness may use a 1:2 interval ratio, meaning that for every 1 minute of hard work there will be 2 minutes of recovery time at a lower intensity. Conversely a conditioned runner may use a ratio of 5:1, meaning they may work hard for 50 seconds and then only recover for 10 seconds and so on. Effective interval training requires structure and planning unlike the similar Fartlek training which allows more randomised periods of work and recovery. You should plan your session first and stick to it!

A great place to practice interval training is around a track, or around a marked area like a football pitch in the local park. This allows you to do intervals based around distance, for instance ½ lap at high intensity followed by ½ lap recovery (1:1 interval ratio). A couple of workouts are shown here:

Beginners Interval Training.
Warm up with 10 minutes of jogging including jogging with high knees, and with heels flicked up to the rear.
Use a football pitch or similar for the interval session.
Run fast down the long side of the pitch and then jog or walk to recover around the other 3 sides. This should be repeated 5 times without stopping.
Gently jog and then walk to cool down for 5-8 minutes and then stretch off thoroughly.
If 5 laps is too much then do what you can and then build up as your fitness improves.

Intermediate Interval Training.
Warm up as before and use any outdoor area or even a treadmill. (I HATE treadmills though)
Use a stopwatch or Gymboss interval timer and try and be as accurate as possible.
Run fast for 1 minute followed by 1 minute of jogging for recovery. Repeat 5 times.
Run fast for 1 minute followed by 40 seconds jogging. Repeat 5 times.
Run fast for 40 seconds followed by 20 seconds jogging. Repeat 3 times.
The workout should flow although you may have a short break in between if you need a drink or to rest a little longer.
Cool down and stretch as before.

Interval training can be used for anybody and almost anything. Swimming, cycling, running, circuit training, resistance training and so on. Once you understand the basic principles you can make your own interval sessions up, or if you need some help just get in touch.

Have a great training session and work hard.

Ben

What We Did At Ravenscourt Park Boot Camp Today

It was a beautiful day for training in the park, probably one of the hottest days this year so far.

This is what we did.........

Warm Up: A fun and friendly "get to know the group" warmup with high fives, funny handshakes, and other group work to get the pulse raised for all.

Agility and Cardiovascular: Used cones to do a zig zag drill and also a lines drill doing shuttles. Also used the agility ladder to keep the guys on their toes (literally).

Strength and Conditioning Circuit: Skipping, Squat, Lunge, Press up, Plank, Get-ups

Stomach and Core: Pairs situps and crunches. Hard work but good fun!!

Then some stretching and a cool drink.

It was a great fun session with some new faces too!!

See you all next Tuesday

Ben