Sports specific training

Knowing me so well one of my best mates sent me an article which included two of my favourite topics, the first one regarding the best premiership team, Wolves. The second was the sports specific training which is preparing them for the new season.

When you are training for your chosen sport you should look at the movements that are required for when you are playing. For example Wolves players are monitored during matches to see what distances they cover, how much of that distance they are sprinting and how much they are running. So Christophe Berra (Defender) covers 9k during a game but only 250 metres of that is a sprint, now the average footballer on the street is not open to this information but knowing your sport hopefully you can take a rough guess.

The question is if you only sprint 250 metres in a game then why would you train to anything more?

When we are looking at training for sport we should be looking to challenge the three planes of movement. Our bodies moves in three ways and they are:

Frontal plane - The frontal plane divides our body into a front and back movement with the front and back parts moving equally during an exercise. A good example is a jumping jack.

Sagittal - The sagittal plane divides our body into left and right halves of motion, this plane moves us backward and forward. A good example is a biceps curl or simply walking.

Transverse - The transverse plane is a diagonal or rotational movement. A good example would be a thoracic spinal twist to explain if you were standing still you may twist to look behind you.

A good functional training programme will include all three of these movements and if they can be combined then it can only be a bonus. Here is an example of an exercise that would cover two of your planes of movement:

Forward Lunge with Rotation - Stepping out into a lunge position and twisting through the upper body. The lunge is the sagittal movement and the twist is the transverse movement.

When it comes to training more than one of your planes of movement you will need to get creative with your exercises.

I hope this gives the sportsman and women out there something to think about when it comes to their training and how to condition themselves.

What can we achieve . . .

Daniel Farr

Weight Reduction! how it's done . . .

I hope you enjoyed last weeks post all about setting your individual fitness goals, now we have set out what you want to achieve from the gym you need to make sure that your training is tailored to what you want to achieve. Generally people are looking to do one of three things when they come to the gym, lose weight and tone up, build muscle or improve their sports performance.

This week is all about designing a fitness programme if you want to lose weight and tone up. You need to be burning more calories than you are taking in for you to reduce your weight, cardiovascular work is the most productive way of burning calories fast. I always look to push my clients outside of their comfort zone and get them working as hard as they can. Whenever I start with a new client nine times out of ten they are not working to their full potential. We seem to build up mental patterns of what we can do and then stick to it instead of progressing our workouts as our fitness improves. 

I would recommend twenty to thirty minutes of cardiovascular working at high intensity is perfect, maybe go to a level that you feel you can work at and then add another 10% on top each week to improve fitness.

The second part of your training session should be dedicated to weights, I know if there is one thing women don't want instead of being overweight, it's having big muscles. Well here are the facts to put your mind at rest as to why you will not get huge arms and how weight training will help males and females reach that perfect body:

-   First of all females do not have the required testosterone levels to build the kind of         muscle that men can, in fact men have 3 times the amount of the hormone as women     do.

-   By increasing your muscle mass your body will improve the rate at which your     metabolic rate works and therefore burn more calories even when you are not in the     gym.

-   Increased muscle mass will also support your joints better and help the body to deal with the everyday tasks you throw its way.

To help you out a little bit, I have put together a very simple fitness programme for weight loss and toning. If you are a little more advanced in your training then you can substitute the exercises for something a little more advanced.

Warm Up - Rower                      5 mins          Level 6

Cardiovascular - Treadmill          12-15 mins          9kph - 12kph          0.5% Incline

                           Bike                12 - 15 mins        Level 6 - 10

Weights -  Chest Press Machine              2 x 15 - 20

                 Low Row Machine                2 x 15 - 20

                 Shoulder Press Machine         2 x 15 - 20

                 Leg Press Machine                2 x 15 - 20

Cool Down - Rower                  5 mins           Level 6

Below gives you an explanation on why I have chosen these exercises and a few tips.

I used the Rower as a warm up as it uses your whole body and will get the blood flowing round your body thus supplying oxygen to the muscles.

Remember to push yourself on your chosen piece of cardiovascular equipment, you should just be able to hold a conversation but have no chance of singing a song if you wanted some sort of gauge as to how hard you are working.

It's very important that you keep your intensity up so a maximum of 30 seconds rest between sets on your weights. I have also given a rep range between 15 and 20 reps so choose a weight that you first fail at 15 and stay on that weight until you can manage 20 reps once this is achieved push you weight up to continue your progression.

Your cool down is important as you want to bring your heart rate down gradually and have the blood pumping back to the vital organs before you finish your workout.

Hope this gives you some motivation to get out there and start that fitness regime. Next week we will look at increasing your muscle mass but until then have fun and enjoy your fitness.

If anyone is interested in Personal Training with ABS please contact:

Daniel Farr

Phone: 07791 859 559

Email: advancedbodysculpture@gmail.com

Website: advancedbodysculpture.co.uk

It all starts with a goal . . .

After working in the fitness industry for almost ten years I have seen a fair few people walk through those gym doors excited and motivated to improve their fitness, lose some weight or gain some serious muscle. Unfortunately, I am lucky if I see these people ever again and the only time their name is seen is when their direct debit is paid.

So in this blog I am here to give you everything you need to succeed, talking about what you should be doing and what I am doing to achieve my goals in the gym. When you decide you are going to do something about your health the first thing to do is set an achievable goal; you need to be specific with your goals or how will you ever know you have achieved them? 

By setting a target that you want to get to, it will also help to focus your mind in not only what you are doing in your exercise routine but also in other areas of health. Here is a  principle that can help you set out some goals to achieve, it's called the S.M.A.R.T principle.

S = Specific (Provide information on short, medium and long term goals)

M = Measurable (How will you measure whether you have reached your goals)

A = Attainable (Be Realistic)

R = Rewards (Also reward yourself for achieving your goals)

T = Time (Set specific dates for your goals)

Take these into account when you come up with your fitness goal and use them as motivation!

My personal goals

To give you an example I am going to tell you all about my fitness goals. First of all I enlisted the help of Stephanie Sweeney (Bio-Signature Practitioner) at the start of my latest fitness challenge to improve my health and fitness. Stephanie has a fantastic understanding of fitness and specializes in spot reducing body fat using the bio signature method. For more information on Bio-signature and what it can do for you check out http://www.mybiosignature.com.au/biosignature-program.html 

So first of all Stephanie took my body fat measurements from 12 different sites over my body and worked out that my body fat is 15.3%. So let's use the S.M.A.R.T principle to set out my goals:

Specific - I have set myself the challenge of dropping my body fat percentage down to 11% all together but I am going to break that down and start by aiming to get to below 14% in four weeks which is when I will have my measurements done once again.

Measurable - I am going to meet with Stephanie again and we will do the same 12 body sites to work out my body fat once more and hopefully to see I have improved.

Achievable - I am giving myself a new aim every 4 weeks with the first aim to get below 14% body fat.

Reward's - If I achieve my goal I am going to reward myself with a bit of a shopping spree.

Time - I have 3 months from the start of June to achieve my goal.

So there you have it, grab a pen and some paper and come up with your fitness goals to really get you motivated for exercise and to improve your health. 

Next time we will look at programme design so you know your heading in the right direction.

What can we Achieve . . .

Daniel Farr

For anyone interested in personal training you can contact:

Email: advancedbodysculpture@gmail.com                                                         

Phone: 07791 859 559

Website: www.advancedbodysculpture.co.uk

and for more information on Bio-signature you can contact:

Email: trainwithstephanie@yahoo.co.uk

Phone: 07912 145 447