New Year, New You! January 26, 2011

I am not one for New Years resolutions, especially in the first few weeks of January when you are still winding into a new year but there is nothing like trying to start a fresh once you have settled back into your work, gym, life routine!  On that note I have resolved to mix up my gym routine, run harder (burn more fat…!) and I hope really see the results I want!

 

So I have saved up some cash and am starting PT boxing sessions again.  Whilst I have kept up boxing with a bag there really is nothing like boxing with someone to get your heart rate raised and burn that fat.  I boxed a lot a couple of summers ago and I really think that I saw the most results from any workout I have ever done.  So it is back in the ring (well gym studio) for me.  To gauge my results I’m going to take measurements from around my hips, tum, arms and legs and see what difference my new routine makes!

 

I am also running more and hoping that this new box/run (with normal abs and arm work thrown in) will help me really see results in 2011.  To help me with my fitness goals I have also stopped drinking alcohol during the week (empty calories, too much sugar!)  I’m really hoping to see the results in my hips and thighs, so fingers crossed!

 

So are you up for a new challenge?  Got a problem area you want to tackle?  Why not make this the month to start?  By bikini season you will be seriously ready to hit that beach without any last minute panic!

 

Got get ‘em girls!

 

The Gym Bunny Blog

 

 

 

Get ski fit and hit the slopes running (although that could be slippy…) January 13, 2011

At the start of this blog I said that come winter I would write some blog posts on how to get ski fit (or snowboard fit…!) so here they are.  Even if you are not a skier though there are some great ides for you to keep fit and toned through the winter months.

Kettlebells:  I discovered these heavy blighters quite recently and they really are a great way to workout.  The raise your heart rate and tone at the same time, a really effective workout!  Kettlebells are weights (a bit like a rouned anvil in appearance) with a handle (aka their horns).  The basic kettlebell move is to start with your feet slightly wider than hip width apart and the kettlebell (kb) between your feet on the floor.  You grasp the handle and using the strength in your legs and core, thrust your hips forward to haul the kb into the air.  Although you are using your arms to control the kb the idea is not to use your arm stranght to move it.  The kb should end up at about shoulder height with your arms extended.  Repeat this 10-12 times.  This is guaranteed sweat enducing, thigh burning workout!

The above is the basic kettlebell move but I think the best way to get your technique right and get more moves is to have a personal training session.  Your trainer will ensure you are positioning yourself correctly and therefore not hurting your back.  Also kettlebells are very strenuous so you should be of pretty good fitness before you attempt this (health warning!).  If you don’t fancy a training session you could try and source a class at your local gym or through a community workshop.

You can also adapt the basic move to use the kettlebell with just one arm or walking with the bell and doing the above move between steps (hard!) or punching with the bell (great for chest muscles but sore the next day!)

Kettlebell workouts are great for all gym regulars looking to improve fitness/mix up their workouts with something new and are particularly good for targeting key ski muscle groups especially quads and core.

So there you have it something new and very challenging to try!

Happy kettlebelling!

The Gym Bunny Blog

Good Cheats! August 25, 2010

off the back of the last post I thought I would share some positive ways to look and feel better or to supplement your workout without hitting the gym!

1. Fake tan! Ok so you have to get this right but when it works it really works! Remember preparation is key to exfoliate and moisturise and experiment until you find the right one for you!

2.I suggest you take the stairs… This is an oldy but a goody, whether you work on the 5th floor or you take the underground to work and it’s 200 steps to the street, go for it! Feel the burn and think of the toning effect on those legs and the CV benefits for your heart!

3.Ab holds.  Use your commute to your benefit whether your drive get the train or the underground, use pauses in your journey (stations, traffic lights etc) to pull in and hold your abs tight for 30-60 seconds. Engaging your abs makes them work and every little bit helps!

4. Carry your food don’t push it! Next time you are nipping into the store for your mid-week shop ditch the trolley and grab a basket! Engage your core to protect your back and work out those arms at the same time!

5. Warm up en-route, if you are going to the gym try to power walk/take the stairs on your way there it will save you 10 mins on the treadmill or whatever your usual routine.  This is key especially if you are paying for a personal trainer, why pay to have them watch you warm up?  Put the extra ten minutes of their time to good use and get straight into your workout with them, even agree to meet them at the treadmill so you are already there and ready to go!

Happy work outs

Gym Bunny Blog

Are you cheating?

Sometimes in life it’s the small things that make a difference and from time to time I pick up a tip or make a slight alteration to my routine/an exercise that makes me realise that previously I’ve been letting myself off lightly.  Therefore I have compiled a list of cheats, some that I have learned and others I have seen other people do and others that are just common misconceptions of how to work out.  Hopefully these will help you improve your work out!

1.  Hills DON’T have handles!! OK this may actually be one of my biggest pet peeves in the gym so please ignore the ranting.  Walking or running up hill is a great way to get your body working hard and is great for interval training too BUT there is no point in putting the incline in the treadmill up so high that you have to hold on.  I see so many people leaning back almost at a right angle to the treadmill so really they are just walking flat but at a tilt.  Don’t cheat, let go of the handles (maybe decrease the incline till you can do this safely!) and feel the burn- if you are holding on you are taking the pressure away from your legs and decreasing the effort your body has to make aka cheating and pointless.

2. Situps – hand positioning: This is a great one I learned in a PT session.  When you are crunching up keep your hands at your temples and don’t bring your elbows forward of your head, when you do this you engage back and shoulder muscles instead of your abs and your muscles will work less hard.  Try it out in the gym the next time you’re there and see the difference!

3.Too low weights.  It’s a common misconception that by using heavier weights women will build massive muscles.  Not true.  In order to look like a body builder you would have to be taking some major “supplements”…So don’t worry about the bulk, if you don’t push your muscles you will not get the tone you’re looking for!  Also if you can do a few reps of up to 12 (and just make it to 12) then you are working with roughly the right weight, if it’s too easy up your weights or you’re cheating!

4. Commit to the squats! Are you getting low enough when you are doing your squats? Bring your butt right back so it’s like you are sitting on a chair (not lower).  Next time your doing squats try pushing it that final few centimetres and feel the burn!

5.Push it to the end.  Are you’re reps of 12 more like 10 with a couple of half attempts thrown in?  Make sure you push all your reps right to the end, do this and feel the difference in the muscle fatigue the next day!

6. Sports Drinks. Not so much a cheat but again a common misconception that going to the gym requires a lucozade, no doubt helped along by the presence of vending machines in every gym foyer….But unless you are really training hard, like marathon training etc rather than just you usual gym workout you may be working against yourself.  If you are trying to burn fat or lose weight then taking on glucose whilst working out is a bad idea, your body uses the lucozade rather than searching for fat stores to give you energy.  Some workouts are so intensive that you do need the extra energy to keep you going though so I would suggest consulting your trainer or someone in the gym.  When I was doing boxing with a trainer I used lucozade but this was some intensive working out and I wouldn’t use it for my usual gym sessions.

7. Finally- are you cheating yourself?  Have you gone into the gym thinking “I am so tired, I really don’t have the energy”? If so then you are cheating yourself out of a good workout.  Try to approach your workout really positively, have a hit of energy e.g. a banana beforehand and then crank up some good gym tunes on your I-Pod!

Happy working out!

Gym Bunny Blog

xx

Outdoor Gym August 5, 2010

If working out in the gym is really not for you but you still want to improve your fitness levels and tone up then you could try training with the military!  It’s ok there’s no need to join the army but you are trained by military fitness experts.  The sessions take place in local parks and as an added bonus are realtively cheap compared to normal gym membership (£26-£36 depending on what part of the UK you live in, for 1 session per week).

I have not taken part in one of these but have seen a lot of people sweating it out in various parks and it is does look pretty challenging and definitely worthwhile!  There’s an offer where you can go to one free session so I might try it out one day, there is also a one day boot camp which you can do for £99 (inc a healthy lunch) if you need a serious boost to your bikini workout this could be an alternative way to do it!

This would definitely be a great alternative for those who can’t bear the gym at the moment, however, one session a week would not be enough to drastically change shape or weight so I would suggest using it to supplement other outside activities eg: running, interval training, biking, hill walking etc or another indoor gym alternative eg: boxing, at home workouts, bikram yoga etc.

For more info see http://www.britmilfit.com

See you outside!

Gym Bunny Blog

xx

Getting Out There- Outdoor Workouts August 3, 2010

When the weather is glorious (or you have just been in the gym too much) then slogging it out in an inside gym is just not appealing so how do you keep to your fitness routine rather than just lying in the park with a good book?!  Workout outside of course… Recently the original Gym Bunny has been doing PT sessions outside and on Friday we got together to do our own outdoor workout.

We started off with a warm up run/jog for about 5 minutes.  We then paced out an area (about 50m) and moved some outdoor chairs to the end of this area.  We jogged the 50m before turning and sprinting back the same way, at the end of the sprint we went straight into: tricep dips, press ups, step ups, lunges, dynamic squats etc (one exercise per end of sprint 15-20 reps of each).  We did this for half an hour with a longer run in the middle again.  The chairs were great for the dips, press ups, step ups etc.  We also mixed up the 50m intervals by doing kick ups, knee ups and side steps for a few of them. The point of varying your speed is that by doing interval training you are making your heart/body work harder and consequently you burn more fat! yay!

To finish off the work out we headed back inside (avoiding wet grass) for a 20 min abs, arms and stretch exercise.  We used a resistance band for biceps and triceps (adding onto the outside arm work) and a mix of just floor and ball work for abs.  A good abs exercise to do with a partner (or improvise and tuck your feet under a weights bar) is to get them to kneel (gently!) on your feet and you have to sit all the way up and high-five them each time, get them to move their hands higher and alternate straight high fiving with turning to eg hit their left with your left hand.

Have fun, oh and look out for obstacles- like your dog- you don’t want to go flying!

Gym Bunny Blog

xx

Personal Training for the Beach Body July 13, 2010

So a few weeks ago I had a personal training session to get some new tips for toning to be beach body ready and I said I would share if I got any handy new tips!  As well as a new abs exercise and a new CV routine I was also able to get some advice on targeting my bikini problem area (hips and butt- more on this in a second), so what did I learn?

CV- Rowing! I haven’t been on a rowing machine in a long time but I hopped on and did some interval training which was really good and made a change from the EFX/treadmill combo I have been doing of late.  The most important thing is to make sure you are using your arms and legs properly and not jarring your back.  I did (do) ten minutes of intervals on this, 30-60seconds as fast as I can go to the same time rest period.  I will also do another 10-20 mins on the EFX and/or treadmill as well just to keep the cardio work up there.

Abs- On the half ball, make sure you have your butt right at the edge and don’t cheat by bringing your elbows forward of your head (doing this stops using your abs and uses your back and arms muscles instead…!).  Do as many crunches as you can, repeat 3 times.

Weights to target hips/outer thighs and but – Whilst I don’t have a particular hang up about this area I do think it’s the area that lets down my bikini body a bit!  So I have been using the hip abductor and abduction machine.  These are the machines where you wither squeeze the pads together or push them apart with your leg strength.  I can really feel them targeting the muscle groups so I hope to see some real results.  At the moment I am using starting weights of 50-60kgs and doing 3 reps of 12, sometime varying the weights up or down depending on leg strength.  As well as these two exercises I have also been using the Smith machine for squats and lunges- I could hardly walk the day after training so evidently this is working to.  I have been using 12.5-15kg per side of the bar for squats and about 10-12.5 for lunges, again 3 sets of 12 for each exercise.  For the squats make sure you are sitting back as though you are trying to sit on a chair, also in lunges make sure your knee doesn’t go past your toes and if you want to target your inner thighs in lunges take a wider/diagonal stance.

It was definitely a good idea to have this session and I may try for another one before the holiday at the end of August!  During the session I was also reminded of how easy it is to cheat in some exercises and how to avoid this- so see the next posting on cheating to make sure you are not!

See you in the gym

Gym Bunny Blog

Bikram Yoga July 4, 2010

When we moved to the big smoke my boyfriend discovered Bikram Yoga (yoga performed in a hot – 30-40 degrees – studio) and I soon decided to tag along and have been hooked ever since.  The yoga focuses on your core stability and flexibility (aided by the heat) and due to the strenuous nature of the poses often raises your heart rate and breathing, and therefore has great CV benefits too.  Each Bikram class you follow the same 26 poses for 90 mins, which the instructor talks you through.

Apart from the great stretching and core work out which has, like pilates, helped my back I have also noticed that my thighs have benefited too and are definitely more toned and lean.  You also use your arms quite a lot during the poses which is great for combating any bingo wings.

Beginners often find the heat pretty intense and can get dizzy but sitting down and sipping water usually helps and you do get used to the heat after a few classes.  There are some simple rules to follow, however, so that you don’t feel too ill during class: never eat a big meal before hand (the blood will still be at your stomach and you will get light headed) likewise try not to fill your stomach with water before hand either, drink plenty of water up to one hour before class then sip water for the last hour, if you are hypoglycaemic have a small snack before like an apple or coconut water to keep you going, don’t drink water in the first 25mins of class if you can, once past 25mins don’t glug water just sip otherwise it will sit in your stomach making you feel sick and finally unless you are a masochist never ever go with a hangover!

Bikram isn’t very widespread in the UK, apart from London, but there are likely to be more studios opening up all the time as demand increases so keep an eye out for one coming to a town/city near you.  Classes cost about £13 for a drop in session with many offers  for longer class options and trial periods, so give it a go!

See you in the studio!

Gym Bunny Blog xx

At Home Workouts June 30, 2010

When I can’t get to the gym I try to keep up with my summer toning regime by working out at home and with the help of Zest magazine (more on that later) and a bit of ingenuity I have some pretty good exercises down. I used to have dumbbells at home but they just added clutter and didn’t really warrant the space for how often I used them but I still have my trusty Swiss ball which whilst not pretty is useful! I use the ball the most for situps, the following are some of the best exercises that I have come up with:

Oblique crunches: Lie with your mid back on the ball, hands behind your head for support. Then raise your shoulders off the ball whilst bringing one leg off the floor and bring your shoulder to meet the opposite knee. Alternate doing this and aim or at least 20 (I aim for 50 at the moment).

Ball Pikes: Warning this is killer! Rest your upper legs on the ball placing your hands on the floor for support, then roll the ball towards your hands, keeping your legs straight and trying to raise your butt into the air so you make an upside down V shape. Try and do this ten times… then another set later.

Side plank: Lie on your side, propped up by your elbow then raise yourself so you are lying in a side plank, you can either hold this to work your waist muscles or drop your hip back to touch the floor, then bring yourself back into the plank position. Hold the first one for 30-60secs or repeat the dips 10-15 times per side.

Pilates crunches: lie on your back with your knees bent at 45 degrees and your calves parallel to the floor. Raise your shoulders off the floor and keep your arms off the floor by your side (keep your shoulders off the floor at all times during this exercise). Now alternate reaching your arm for the opposite ankle by bringing one knee in and raising your shoulders to reach at the same time- the other leg should be straightening as you do this. Try to repeat this 50 times (i.e. 25 each side). Keep your stomach and core muscles engaged throughout- as with all abs exercises. These plus the previously mentioned exercise with the medicine ball (see https://thegymbunnyblog.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/mixing-it-up/) are my favourite exercises and never really fail to hurt the next day.

Besides Abs I also do tricep dips from the sofa (remove the seat cushion to get a firm base) which is a perfect height, also for triceps I use a heavy book like an atlas to raise it from behind my back (start with arms straight above head then bend elbows to lower it down your back and raise back up – repeat). To balance out my arms I always also do push ups and depending on my energy level sometimes dynamic push ups (pushing myself up so my hands leave the ground – although I can’t clap without risking falling on my face!)

I mentioned at the start of this post that I often get ideas from Zest magazine (I have a subscription- a present from my mum, the original gym bunny!) and it is often full of diet and work out tips plus ideas for new fitness classes or ideas to try and always has an at home section too – quite often I just use these ideas in the gym as well. Anyway it is a great magazine and definitely a good motivator to tie up your trainers and get into the gym! Happy working out

Gym Bunny Blog xx

The Gloves Are On! June 29, 2010

Back to the gym with a bang this week after kicking the bug into touch – with the help of the antibiotics (so lots of probiotics to kick the antibiotics into touch!).  Before the bug from hell hit I had picked back up with boxing, something that I started last summer.  Before I moved I was boxing with my personal trainer and it has to be the best workout I have ever had, it gave me a new found respect for professional boxers, you really need stamina!

Having picked up the skills I needed to use the bag when I trained with my personal trainer I can now train on my own at the gym.  I try to do at least 15mins on top of my other cardio workouts and I think my arms really benefit from it as well as my CV fitness.  I have tried classes like body combat before but these just really don’t cut it compared to working out with a trainer or with a bag.  For one thing you don’t get the weight of the bag to hit which adds to the fatiguing and toning of your muscles and if you have lower back problems (as I do) then the kicks and twists can do more harm than good.  The boxing also motivates me to get to the gym as I really enjoy it and use it as a reward to get me through the rest of my CV work!  If you need extra incentive then it is also a great fat burner…thought that would do it!  I wouldn’t suggest just weighing in (pardon the pun) without any advice from a trainer, however, as if you don’t know how to punch properly you can really hurt your wrists and if you don’t know how to stand and punch through then you wont be maximising your workout.  Also if you have the chance to train with a trainer then you get to punch at them (with pads!) which adds a good competitive streak to the session and makes sure you are motivated!

If you really get into it you could try joining a boxing club, they are more female friendly than you would think, as you will pick up loads of tips to improve your technique, meet new people and get to do more than bag work.  I have considered it but the area I live in is more pilates studios than boxing studios and as I already have to commute for 40mins to get to my gym (it’s by work not home- dedication huh?) I don’t want another commute to get to a boxing gym but maybe when we move again I will find one close by!

Final words of advice on the boxing do buy your own gloves!  You really don’t want to be using gloves that someone else has sweated in (yuk!).  I got my black and white Reebok ones from Argos and they are great for what I want to do.  Just make sure when you get them that you get gloves not mitts, gloves will protect your hands and wrists more as they are more cushioned (mine are 14 or 16oz I don’t remember but don’t go lighter than 14oz).  So come on what’s stopping you? Get the gloves on!

See you in the ring

Gym Bunny Blog