Tag: guide

Nutrition

Beginners’ guide part 5: What about food? How to start a gym-friendly diet

Miranda

By Kim Barnard

Starting a gym friendly diet doesn’t need to be daunting – you just need to understand the basics and be prepared to do some food preparation.

Firstly, you need to get back to eating real food: in other words the stuff that grew out of the earth or on a tree, swam in the sea, ran on the ground or flew in the sky. Avoid things that have been processed and come in packaging, ready meals or fast food deliveries. It is time to get back to cooking so you understand just what is going into that body of yours. Losing weight and feeling healthy is 80% down to diet.  

Avoid the fad diets, detoxes and juice cleanses. All these will do is cause fluctuations in your body weight and health. They aren’t sustainable and a lot of the time you end up putting back on all the weight that has been lost. What we want to do is create a diet/meal plan that is sustainable for you and keeps you healthy.  

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A lot of people focus on calorie counting, yet this shouldn’t be your only focus. You should also be taking note of the macronutrients that you are ingesting. The below explains the three macros:

Protein: Every time you exercise your muscles break down and then use protein to rebuild and become stronger. This is why protein needs to be the main component of every meal. You should be aiming for one gram of protein per pound of body weight (for example, if you are 120 pounds you should be having 120 grams of protein minimum per day). Stick to lean high quality protein sources like beef, poultry and fish.

Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates are converted into glucose (sugar) when ingested which is then used to provide energy. When you consume more carbohydrates than are being used up as energy the excess is being stored as fat. You want to avoid simple carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, cakes, etc.

Fat: Unfortunately, fat is the most misunderstood macronutrient in diets. Fat, contrary to popular belief, is absolutely necessary for your body and should make up the majority of your calorie intake.

Your macro split is down to what fitness goals you are trying to achieve. You need to firstly determine the number of calories your body requires in order to calculate your macros. Your required calorie intake is based on your age, gender, weight, rate of metabolism, activity level and goal. There are a number of calculators online which will calculate this for you however I would recommend using the following site http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Delicious meal

The standard split for macros is 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates and 20% fats. Don’t get too caught up on the ratios as long as you are roughly sticking to this. I promise it does get easier over time!

Now that you know your base metabolic rate and a rough guide of your macro intake you have an understanding of the number of calories you should be ingesting. So you can start planning meals based around this.

The easiest way to stick to your meal plan is to prep your meals – this eliminates any temptation or picking up food that is unhealthy on the run. For more information on meal prep please check out my previous article here.

Good luck and once you start the process of a gym friendly diet things will become easier and a second nature.

Motivation

Beginner’s Guide Part 3: Understanding Individual Strength Differences

Miranda

 

By Elliott Speed

A gym can be a very daunting place. There are many people that are intimidated by the thought of the gym. Even I, like most others, have been in this position.

The notion of not knowing what exercises to do and how to do them, especially with the new state-of-the-art equipment is enough to prevent people from entering a gym.

Once in a gym it is very difficult to keep your eyes off those around you, and it is very easy to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others which can very often hinder your results. This also applies to social media.

Today social media is the most popular form of contact for the majority of people. It is also one of the main sources for people to educate themselves and give an insight into their lives.

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In the fitness industry social media is the main source of advertisement for both athletes and companies. This has a very detrimental effect on those looking to start their fitness journey as most of the well known fitness athletes are in incredible shape. This makes many people feel self conscious.

Apart from body shape, strength is one of the main things people compare in a gym. Looking around to see how much others are lifting and comparing that to our own strength abilities is a common thought process and this can make us feel weak and unfit.

Yet, it is important to keep in mind that strength is very dependent on your goals. If you want to be a powerlifter then yes, strength is an important factor for you. But if your goals are building muscle or toning then strength is not so vital.

In the beginning, it is important to teach your body how to contract a muscle throughout each repetition on every exercise. Lifting the weight through a controlled movement for a full range of motion is much more beneficial than picking a weight above your ability and throwing it around with improper form. This is also a good way to injure yourself.

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But there are more reasons why  you should not to compare yourself to others in the gym:

1. The people you are comparing yourself with are usually complete strangers, meaning you do not know their background. These people may have an extensive sporting background, which has allowed them to become stronger and more coordinated over a  period of time.

2. It is impossible to know how they train. They may not have a 9-5 job or a family and kids, meaning they may train numerous times throughout the day.

3. They may have a fitness coach. Training and diet programmes are extremely important for achieving results, meaning a person will progressively become stronger over long periods of time – after all consistency is key!

4. People progress at different rates. Everyone is unique – each individual has their strengths and weaknesses.

In my opinion it is important to acknowledge this last point and the need to work at improving your weaknesses. Many people also fall into the trap of training the body parts they are strongest in and those parts where they have previously got the fastest results from training.

Don’t let it discourage you if you see someone doing your heaviest squat for several reps – it takes time and you must be patient. Work hard at turning your weaknesses into strengths and one day your heaviest weight now will be your warm up!

Do not always compare yourself to others. When it comes to training you must be extremely focused on yourself. Only concentrate on your improvements and never feel inadequate training next to someone else.

Your fitness journey is extremely personal and everyone at one time or another was at the beginning of their journey, exactly the same as you. It is true that some have a natural ability to improve and become stronger at a faster rate, however nothing beats hard work and in time you will become stronger.
Fitness

Beginner’s Guide Part 2: Avoid These 5 Mistakes if You are New to the Gym

Miranda

By Alan Bichara

I was a beginner once at the gym as well and I started knowing very little or at least I thought I knew a lot, but turns out I had the wrong information from friends or the internet.

I will list down the 5 most common mistakes people make when they decide to finally start their fitness journey. I know I’m guilty of most of them, even after I got certified as a fitness professional!

1.Getting too excited

When people decide to finally start their fitness journey, they are more excited than kids going to a candy store, they believe that in the next month or first 10-12 sessions with their personal trainer that they will lose 10kgs and have the biggest transformation of their life, because if they can do it in “The Biggest Loser” TV show, then they can too, right? Big NO!

People don’t realize that the bad lifestyle they have acquired and are accustomed to for the past 3-5 or even 10 years cannot be reversed in just 1 month. You have to accept that this will be a lifestyle change for the better and it will hopefully teach you to live the rest of your life in a better and healthier YOU!

Part of being too excited is overstaying in the gym. Some beginners tend to stay 2 or even 3 hours in the gym and that is just too much to begin with. You will eventually burn-out and get sick of the gym. Keep your time in the gym short and intense and save it for the workout not for socializing, which can be very time-consuming. Get in, get your workout done, and leave, eat and recover, rinse and repeat.

2.Too heavy, too early

There are 2 ways that I know of that people tend to lean towards to when they start. It’s either they go too heavy and eventually get injured or the opposite, they don’t stimulate their body enough and they end up wasting the first 6 months looking like the same person when they first walked in.

I honestly don’t mind the latter of these 2 – like I said it is a lifestyle change and it’s a long process so I would prefer staying on the safe side even with slower results rather than pushing too much and getting injured.

3.Form? What form?

Connected to number 2, the reason people don’t get results or get injured is because they don’t focus on the form or technique. There are proper ways to perform all exercises. In general, the safest way is to start light and go slow (literally). Concentrate on the muscle you are working. This way you can lessen the risk of injuring yourself.

For example, if you are feeling your shoulders when you chest press, then you aren’t doing it right. You are probably pushing your shoulders and not keeping your shoulder blades retracted.

The saying “NO PAIN, NO GAIN” doesn’t apply to joints, but only to muscles. Usually the “pain” should be a slight burn due to lactic acid build-up during the workout or due to DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) 24-48hrs post-workout.

Even fitness professionals sometimes commit mistakes when performing certain exercises and it takes a lot of practice to know how to activate certain muscle groups to perform the exercise correctly. But there are ways to learn without hurting  yourself – remember to keep the weights light and the movement slow and controlled.

4.Not having a Plan

Once you start your fitness journey and go to the gym almost everyday feeling excited, motivated and dedicated to change how you look and feel, you start doing things and pushing as hard as you can. And then you might hit a dead end and ask yourself “Where am I headed?”, and this is a good time and assess what your goal is and make a plan to reach it.

Lose 10kgs in 6 months, right before your 40th bday? Possible, but how will you reach it? By eating whole foods and doing 30-60mins of activity everyday. That is an example of a general plan. You can be more specific as well and maybe list down what those whole foods are and break them down into daily meals, or schedule your activities: is it running at the park, joining a group exercise class, or just lift some weights?

It also helps to have a notepad with you or on your phone to record your activities and diet. It can be hard to remember the exercises, weights, sets and reps after a while so keeping notes on this can help you a lot in measuring your progress.

You don’t want to be fluctuating with your performance. There are certain times during proper program scaling where you can drop the weights to a lower intensity but most of the time you either want the same weights you did last time or heavier.

This also applies for your food. Years of bad eating habits have made people very numb or forgetful. You can easily forget the donut or the muffin they had with their morning coffee for example and still ask why you are not losing weight. Write it down and you can be surprised of what goes in your mouth most of the time. This takes me to the last point – nutrition.

5.Nutrition

The most important part of your fitness journey is nutrition. The reason you are out of shape is because of the bad diet that you got used to through the years, and as much as I don’t want to say it (because telling people what not to do can make them very defensive), for the first 2 months I would really recommend not eating any junk or processed food.

Most probably you will starve at first and realize how dependent you are on processed food. But starving is never the end goal – replace your meals with fresh whole foods, lots of veggies, some protein, some fruits, and a little fat. That is usually my general rule in nutrition. Remember you can never out-train a bad diet, you can’t decide to just go 3hrs in the gym and keep on eating junk.

So there you go, the 5 most common mistakes beginners make. I hope this can help you or your family and friends who want to start a healthier stage in their life.

Fitness

Beginner’s Fitness Guide Part 1: Which exercises should you start with?

Miranda

Welcome to this new 5-part guide on how to get started with your health & fitness journey. Working with experienced coaches from Pinnacle Performance, each week you will discover a new post filled with helpful fitness tips and insights.

Ready to start? Let’s look at which exercises you should include in your new fitness routine.

Part 1 by Paul Magnus

Top 5 exercises for beginners:

1.Split squat

This is a squat using a staggered stance, and it targets the quads and glutes, with secondary emphasis on the hamstrings. This exercise is great because it allows you to master a simpler movement than the two legged squat. Split squats train the muscles of the legs, hips, and core to overcome muscle imbalances and help to promote flexibility and deep range of motion, as well as ensuring knee stability which will help reduce the chance of injuries. Novices should start with the front foot elevated on a stepper.

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2.Leg curl (varied positions)

Strong hamstrings work to stabilize your knee and hips and help to keep your spine properly aligned. When doing hamstring exercises try varied foot positions, such as turning them inward or outward. Each foot position creates a different line of pull on the hamstrings.

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3.Bench press

The bench press is an excellent exercise for the chest, shoulders and arms. It allows you to train pressing strength and power and is a key lift for achieving upper body balance.

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4.Overhead press

This exercise is great for building the shoulders and traps, and can improve your overall shoulder health. It will also help you with doing other upper body multi joint exercises.

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5.Seated cable row

The seated row is an excellent exercise for strengthening the back muscles and improving posture. Also, using a rope extension reduces the stress placed on the forearms and wrists.

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And finally… some more tips:

  • Be patient and consistent. Results take time.
  • Shorter, more frequent workouts are ideal for beginners so limit workouts to less than 45‐60 minutes.
  • Pick a training mode that suits your goal.
  • Stick to the basics, don’t get sidetracked by more advanced training tools.
  • Learn proper training technique.
  • Always have a plan when you walk into the gym