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Personal Training Crawley

Jan 02
0

How to get in the best shape of your life in 2015…

By | Exercise and Fitness, Gym Crawley, Personal Training Crawley, Weight Loss | No Comments

It’s that time of year when people are setting goals, making (and breaking) New Year’s resolutions and keeping their fingers crossed for a BIGGER better year than they had in 2014.

And as cheesy as the “New Year New You!” slogans might sound and as cliched as they might be…

There really is nothing bad about sitting back, reflecting and doing something to make 2015 a better year than lasts BUT you need to do something more than just reflect, think and make a note in your mind.

That’s where folk fall down and that is why they fail.

Instead of doing, they think.

Instead of acting, they talk.

Which all leads to 2015 (potentially) being the exact same as 2014.

So What’s the Solution?

It’s super-simple (like most solutions are) and there is no magic secret or push button solution.

All you got to do is Turn Up and start doing something.

Forget thinking and making a resolution to lose a stone, two stone or 5 stone in 2015.

Instead set yourself a goal to sort your diet out and eat healthy.  It all starts with your eating (let’s not call it a diet) and making sure you make long term, permanent and sustainable plans that mean you lose weight and keep it off.  Eating that doesn’t just help you look better it makes you perform better too. Eat good, look good and feel good!

Instead of thinking about getting to the gym four, five or six days a week just make a small commitment to getting there twice a week.  Then turn it into three days and add a little walk here and there.  Start with a small, simple change and then scale it.

Lastly (but arguably the most important) is social support and accountability which is why personal training is so popular.  It’s not just about eating and training… it’s about eating, training, having support and someone to tell (or confess to) when you’ve eaten that bar of Dairy Milk or been a little naughty and eaten an entire pizza for desert.

Social support and accountability are perhaps two of the biggest and most neglected factors ‘we’ forget when it comes to losing weight and getting in shape.

You Must Start Now…

Losing weight and getting in the best shape of your life is simple.

Turn up, do the work and keep it consistent.

That means eating right and training right.

Keep it realistic, keep it sustainable and keep it consistent.

Procrastination is a dream killer which is one of the reasons our fitness classes and personal training sessions are so popular.  You book in and you turn up.  Then let the pace and energy of the class pull you along and get your body moving!

That’s the first step sorted.

The next biggie is finding social support and accountability.

Finding people (ideally a partner or spouse) who’ll get behind and help you out when times get touch, when you need to be kicked off the sofa or to stop you raiding the fridge when late night boredom sets in and you start to eat for the sake of it.

Social support and accountability are big factors.  Even if you want to ‘go it alone’ find someone, even if it’s online who’ll help you out and be there for you. Fact.

And that really is it.

It’ll get you in the fittest and best looking shape of your life and it’s something our team has been doing for close to 20 years now.

Dec 16
0

How to Eat and Lose Weight at Christmas…

By | Ladies Fitness, Personal Training Crawley, Weight Loss | No Comments

If you’re looking to keep in shape (or even lose a bit of weight) over the Christmas period it can… be tough.  There’s food everywhere, and for the most part it’s they’re not the healthiest options.

So, what do you do?

A super simple tip is to eat well before you go out.  Now conventional wisdom says you’ll eat twice as much but with a little care (and a lot of listening to your body) you should end up eating less when you go out. And by well I mean lean protein, low G.I. carbohydrates and lots of vegetables (there should be plenty of Brussels sprouts floating around)!

Then you have flexible dieting.

Lets keep it simple and practical.

Say you eat 2000 calories to maintain your weight.  If you’re off out in the evening for a meal and think you’re going to eat 1500 calories — then you make sure you’re breakfast and lunch are only 500 calories.

This isn’t an exact science, and it’s not perfect either BUT if you want to eat when you’re out and enjoy the festive season then it’s a perfectly practical option to keep your weight in check.

Just make sure to make the most of those 500 calories, full of nutritional dense foods (think vegetables again) and protein.  For the simple reason that the evening is highly likely to be higher on the carb side of things.

Last tip (you can combine all these options) is learn to make healthier choices when you do eat out.  Pick the right balance of proteins, carbohydrates and healthy fats.  By that I mean lean protein (think chicken breast, turkey, salmon and lean beef), lower G.I. carbs (think brown not white and starchy carbs instead of sugary ones), and by healthy fats you can have salmon and plain nuts (not salted etc).

And lots of vegetables (are you seeing a trend here?) these nutrient rich, low calories foods should become staples of your eating.

Away from the eating side of things don’t forget to keep your body moving.

The gyms might be shut but that’s no excuse.

Make the most of crisp, sunny Winter days and go for a walk, take the stairs and not the escalator when you’re doing your Christmas shopping and squeeze in a few bodyweight exercises (press-ups, chin ups, squats and core work) to keep your body moving.

Christmas doesn’t have to be the overindulgent fest many folk think it is.

Apply these simple tips, keep moving and enjoy!

And if you’re looking for a little help with your eating and exercising come the New Year… get in touch with our team on 01293 552 511.

We have over 40 classes per week, offering 1-2-1 personal training and are here to help!

Now go and have a great Christmas!

 

 

Dec 09
0

How to Burn Even More Calories without Exercising More

By | Crawley BJJ, Personal Training Crawley, Weight Loss | No Comments

Like it or loathe it — weight loss is largely down to creating a negative energy balance.

Sure — a calories isn’t just a calories — 300 calories from donuts are very different from 300 calories of vegetables but ultimately if you want to lose weight you have to create a negative energy balance.

Less in.  More out.

While most of us attribute that to exercise and diet — move more and eat less — there are two other very simple, very important factors that will make a difference.

The first is N.E.A.T or non-exercise related thermogenesis.

How to Increase Your N.E.A.T.

N.E.A.T. is burning calories that are not from exercise, eating (yes, your burn calories from eating) and sleeping (yep, you burn calories even when you sleep).

It might be the fidgeting you do at work, taking the stairs instead of the lift and moving around more.

While the amount of calories burned from N.E.A.T. might not sound like a majority factor remember exercise is often as little as 15-30% of your daily calories needs.

A small increase in your daily N.E.A.T. can and will have an impact.

And often it’s N.E.A.T. that makes naturally skinny people, skinny.

Increase Your T.E.F.

T.E.F. is the Thermogenic Effect of Food and can account for 10% of your daily calorie expenditure.

In a nutshell the food you eat can and does impact the calories you burn, with protein having the highest T.E.F.

So in a nutshell, eat more protein and you’ll burn more calories.

One of the biggest problems with Western Diets is that we all eat too many carbohydrates and not enough protein.

So most folk don’t eat enough protein (you should try to squeeze in lean protein at every meal, including breakfast) which will a) make you feel fuller b) ensure your protein needs are met and c) help you burn more calories.

That’s what you call a win-win-win situation!

Do You Want to Start Burning More Calories?

If you’re serious about losing weight — and more specifically fat — then the surest ways to do this is by:

  1.  Increasing your metabolism
  2. Increasing your N.E.A.T.
  3. Increasing your T.E.F.
  4. Exercising more
  5. And eating the right kind foods

Five things our training and nutritional suggestions can and will help you improve.

To find out more about our daily fitness classes or personal training for weight loss fill in the enquiry form on this page or call our gym on 01293 552 511.

We’re a friendly bunch, here to help and when you get in touch you’ll be making the first and most important step to changing how you look, feel and perform.

See you in the gym (hopefully)!

 

Nov 20
0

The 20% of your efforts that mean 80% of your weight loss….

By | Personal Training Crawley, Weight Loss | No Comments

Back in the 1600s an Italian by the name ‘Pareto’ realised that 80% of the results you get come from 20% of your work and effort.  It’s a strange phenomena that seems to crop up all and that includes burning fat and losing weight.

There is the one thing that leads to 80% of your results…

And there’s the ‘other’ thing that leads to just 20%…

What’s the 80%…?

I kid you not … you can 80% of the ‘way’ there by just focusing on your diet.

Imagine this…

You work out two days a week, train hard and burn 600 calories per session (… if you’re lucky, most folk don’t work nearly hard enough to achieve this) leaving you 1200 calories in the red — not bad.

Or you could tidy your diet up just 200 calories per day and you’re 1400 calories in the red without stepping any where a gym or working up the slightest of sweat.

Now sure both work but the problem with the gym solution is most folk treat it as an excuse to eat some naughty food, have a treat and indulge a little.

Just two biscuits with your cup of tea and you’re gone from 1200 calories in the red to 900.

And it’s very easy to let it slip further.

Proof that tidying up your diet is as (if not more) important than exercise and exercising more.

That might sound a little weird coming from a gym who like to see new members but truth be told helping our members eat better AND train harder WITH additional social support really is why we can help our members and personal training clients succeed where other methods have failed.

The Exercise and Diet Double-Whammy…

While you can get 80% towards where you want to be with just diet the harsh reality is discipline often gets in the way.  Or rather a lack of discipline gets in the way, holds us back.

That same lack of discipline coupled with the horrendous food marketing we’re bombarded with daily can — for many of us — make looking how we want to look a near impossibility.

And that’s where exercise help.

While I don’t have the papers to reference, there is evidence to support the fact that people who train also eat well and stick with their diet for longer periods of time.

And, there’s more.

When people diet they typically lose weight but it’s weight — not fat — they lose.

What does that mean?  It means they lose muscle mass and they lose fat and potentially end up skinnier without any really shape of definition.  It’s what most people mean when they say toning – that’s the nice shape having muscle gives us.

If you have no muscle then you look like ‘what you are’ skin covering bone and that’s not a good look.

The right combination of the right exercises with the right diet on the other hand leaves you looking fitter, healthier and feeling good too.

Not to mention the fact that people with more muscle burn more calories (they have a higher metabolism) so it’s a win-win-win situation on many fronts.

Interest in Personal Training?

While personal training isn’t for others (some people prefer a small group or class), a one-to-one session is the quickest way to get in shape, lose weight, burn body fat and build a better looking, healthy body.

Our gym in Crawley is unique in that we’re not a mainstream commercial gym.

We don’t have station upon station of cardio machines.

We don’t have meat-heads who’ll stare at you when you walk into their domain and we know all of our members by name.

Our gym is a cool place to train, it’s super-friendly and we get great results.

To find out more, get in touch.

Enter your name and telephone number in the enquiry box on the side of this page and we’ll give you a call back to talk through your training goals and get you started as quick as possible.

Or you can call us on 01293 552 511 and if we don’t answer (because we’re probably training someone) leave a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

See you in the gym!

Nov 03
0

The Simple Science of Fat Loss

By | Exercise and Fitness, Gym Crawley, Personal Training Crawley | No Comments

Fat loss (better than weight loss) is super simple.

You can boil it down to the basics:

  1. Better nutrition
  2. Smarter training
  3. Social support

And that’s it.  That’s enough to get most people 80 – 90% there and achieving their goals.

But simple doesn’t always mean easy.

You have to be ready to change and you have to want to change.

Now you don’t have to confine yourself to the world or broccoli, chicken and tupperware pots to achieve those goals.

But the better you can be, the quicker you’ll see results.

We can help guide you with better nutrition and meal plans.

We can train you to make sure you’re burning extra calories and preserving your muscle mass (this is what toning is all about).

And we can offer you the moral support — or more bluntly a kick up the backside and accountability — but it’s up to you to take the first step towards changing your healthy, how you look and how you feel.

If you’d like to have an informal chat about our personal training and your weight loss goals you can call us on 01293 552 511 or better still (we’re spend a lot of time training people) enter you name and email address in the enquiry box on this page.

The first step is the hardest and it gets easier (and better) from there!

See you in the gym!

 

Sep 17
0

The Simple Secret to Weight Loss Success

By | Personal Training Crawley | No Comments

One of our great clients has lost several stone — I’ll keep the exact number a secret for her own privacy and because we’re not quite halfway there yet — and is constantly pestered and asked…

“What are you doing to lose the weight?!”

She tells them and they just don’t believe her.

They don’t believe it’s as simple as she tells them.

They think it’s some voodoo, that’s she’s taking some magic pills and there’s something else going on she won’t tell them.

So she tells them again.

And they don’t believe her.

Here’s what she’s doing, this is the simple secret to her weight loss success (remember we’re talking losing several stone, not just a few pounds)!

She’s eating right and she’s training right.

Everyday (with a little discretion at the weekend) she follows a meal plan we give her.  It tells here how many meals to eat and what to eat at each meal.

It’s quite a bit of food and we want to increase it increase the number of calories she’s eating per day (more on that in a minute).

And she’s training.  She’s burning calories at our gym three times a week working one-on-one with our personal trainers.

And boy does she work hard.  Consistently (that’s a big part of the equation) three  times per week while walking fast on her days off.  That all adds up to a lot of calories.

But the exercise wouldn’t work (and here weight loss wouldn’t have been so impressive) if it wasn’t for her discipline and ability to stick to her diet.

She eats the right amount of carbohydrates (they’re not all bad you know).

She eats the right amount of protein.

And she eats the right amount (and right mix) of fats.

There you have it.

That’s what she tells them folk who ask her, her secret.  She eats and she trains.

She does it CONSISTENTLY and gets consistent weight loss.

Hard work.  Discipline and determination.

With a little support and encouragement from us (and the chance to laugh at us too).

The right food.  The right exercise.  And the right mindset (she wants it, bad).

If you need help with your training.  If you need help with your eating.

Then get in touch to find out more about our personal training for weight loss.

You can contact us by filling  in the contact form on this page (it’s in the sidebar) and we’ll give you a call back to discuss your goals and find out if our training is right for you.

Aug 12
0

Looking for a Female Personal Trainer in Crawley?

By | Ladies Fitness, Personal Training Crawley | No Comments
Ruth Ashdown, female personal trainer and professional fighter

Ruth Showing the guys how it’s done!

If you’re looking for a female personal trainer in Crawley to put you through your paces, help get you lose weight and get back in shape – then get in tough with our Ruth Ashdown.

If you’re looking for a personal trainer to:

  • Help you get in shape for a wedding or holiday?
  • Help you get your ‘old’ body back and feel good again
  • Want to enjoy your food without feeling guilty (we can help you with your diet, nutrition and give you the lee-way to squeeze in a few treats)
  • Hate big box, commercial gyms with their meat-heads and unfriendly members
  • Feel self-conscious and want a quieter place to workout

Then Ruth can help (that’s her in the picture showing the boys who’s boss).

A professional fighter who’s a three time world champion in Muay Thai (a form of Kickboxing) Ruth has built up a reputation for pushing her clients and helping them get the most out of their workouts.

Her clients include busy mums looking to get their bodies back and regain their confidence, professional men and women working in the city, prison officers, policemen, teachers and more.

If you’re looking to start  your training and would like to find out more about training with Ruth you can contact the gym on 01293 552 511 or email us at: info@crawleymartialartsacademy.com and we’ll be in touch to book your first session and start you training.

Mar 31
0

About Our Personal Training

By | Exercise and Fitness, Gym Crawley, Personal Training Crawley | No Comments

We come from a unique background and know that our personal training here in Crawley is one of the best ways to get cardiovascular fit and build a strong, lean body.

Our training is a great way to burn a lot of calories (and if you’re serious about losing weight and burning fat) creating a negative energy balance should be your main goal.  Simply put – you consume less calories than you burn and we can help you burn a lot of calories.

During our 1-2-1 training sessions our personal trainers will help you get warmed-up, put you through some mobility work to prepare your body.

Then the fun begins!

Since our background are the fighting arts (think Boxing and Muay Thai – similar to kickboxing) we use a variety of intense drills and pad work to get your heart rate up.

You’ll work through several rounds on the pads with your trainer – learning new techniques and combinations – before moving onto an exercise session where you’ll focus on building your strength, burn even more calories and get you in fighting shape without having to fight!

Our personal training sessions take place 7 days a week and our team of trainers are flexible with times and sessions at our gym in Manor Royal, Crawley.

While you can pay as you go and book single sessions – the magic happens when you commit to a block or 10 sessions because it ensures you train consistently and regularly.

And that really is the key.  Training consistently and regularly.

Plus our trainers will encourage and motivate you.  And are always on hand to offer advice on extra training you can do on your days off (remember weight loss is about creating a negative energy balance) and essential nutritional tips that make the difference.

To find out more about our personal training or (better still) to get started fill in the contact form on the side of this page.  You can call us on 01293 552 511 but we may be teaching (we’d rather be in the gym than manning the phones) so just leave a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

See you in the gym!

 

Jan 02
0

Motivational Training Clip for the New Year

By | Exercise and Fitness, Ladies Fitness, Personal Training Crawley | No Comments

There’s a lot of cynacism this time of year about New Years Resolutions and starting 2014 strong but it’s one of the few times of year we all take a moment to reflect on what we’d like to change about ourselves, improve and make better.

So – in my opinion – ride that wave of motivation and hit it hard.

Then make that training part of your routine for 2014.

One of my favourite YouTube motivational training clip.  This guy is an inspriation…

If you’re looking to kick start 2014 HARD and make it a year to remember then why our January Special Offer gives you your first months training and annual membership free.

You won’t pay a penny until February and you’ll have started the New Year strong.

Find out more about our fitness special offer HERE.

Sep 14
0

Happy Birthday Ruth!

By | Personal Training Crawley | No Comments

A big happy birthday to our personal trainer Ruth Ashdown today who — being a local celebrity — got a shout out from the Crawley Happy Times.

Ruth will be fighting again at the next Muay Thai Mayhem Fight Night at the Copthorne Hotel, Effingham Park on the 2nd November alongside other members of the Lumpini Fight Team including Paulo Da Silva, Oscar Cutter and George Beach.

The tickets go on sale next week with VIP Tickets, Tables and Sponsorships still available.

Get in touch on 01293 552 511