Woodlands Fitness Centre

The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 19th Feb 2018

Monday 19th February 2018

Hi,

This is not great advice for Ali Gregory or James Turner, who have both been physically destroyed by rugby, or Lauren Coupland, who has been mildly inconvenienced by netball, but for the rest of you sport is a great way to burn extra calories, trim away the fat, and still have a hell of a lot of fun doing it. Playing a sport involves cardio and lots of non-linear movement (jumping, back pedalling, side stepping), making it healthier than straight jogging. There are loads of ways to burn hundreds of calories without even realizing it.

Just for clarity, I'm not advising that any of you consider sports instead of a gym membership. Playing sports can work alongside using a gym. The article in this newsletter is about functional training to make you better at sports. Unless you're considering snooker or darts.

Functional training is a classification of exercise which involves training the body for the activities performed in daily life. Functional training has its origins in rehabilitation. Physical therapists developed exercises that mimicked what patients did at home or work in order to return to their lives or jobs after an injury or surgery.

This subject is explored later in this newsletter.

We now offer Unlimited Personal Training for just £6.92 a week.

The premise is simple: 48 sessions every week. Share the sessions with up to 5 other people. Come to as many sessions as you like. Each session will be a proper personal training session.

Our Unlimited Personal Training membership offers professional coaching, support, motivation, accountability and results at a fraction of the cost of 1-to-1 Personal Training.

The 45 minute sessions are designed for people of mixed ability. Sharing the workout enhances the experience for participants. Having someone exercising with you can push you a little harder than you might do on your own.

Both the trainer and participants are there to help you get through the workout. Exercising with friends can definitely be fun. When you stick to a training routine, you will get the results. Research shows that members that are involved in programs are more likely stick with it.

We have 2 main membership options:

Gym Only:

Single: £25pm for 12 months, £27pm for 3 months and £29pm for 1 month.
Joint/Student: £22pm for 12 months, £24pm for 3 months and £26pm for 1 month.

Unlimited Personal Training membership :

This membership includes:

✔ 48 sessions available every week.
✔ Share the sessions with up to 5 other people.
✔ Come to as many sessions as you like.
✔ Each session will be identical to a 1-to-1 personal training session.
✔ No contract

Unlimited Personal Training prices (paid monthly):

Single: £10.99 a week
Joint: £6.99 a week

http://www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk/blog?aid=12525

Here is a list of our classes / group training sessions:

http://www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk/group-exercise

PT prices:

Here are a few examples of our most popular PT packages:

8 x 30 minute PT sessions
£112

4 x 45 minute PT sessions
£80

4 x 60 minute PT sessions
£107

All sessions must be used within 4 weeks. We use time limits with our personal training packages to encourage frequent and consistent training. Packages can be designed to your individual needs. We can adjust the time limits in advance to take into account holidays, business trips, etc.

All of our PT packages include full gym & Unlimited Personal Training membership.

Opening Hours:

Monday: 7.30am - 9.00pm
Tuesday: 8.30am - 9.00pm
Wednesday: 7.30am - 9.00pm
Thursday: 8.30am - 9.00pm
Friday: 7.30am - 8.00pm
Saturday: 8.00am - 2.00pm
Sunday 8.00am - 2.00pm


We always want to know what you think of the Woodlands Fitness Centre - the gym, classes, prices, personal training, group personal training, and anything else. Please speak to us at the gym, email any feedback and suggestions to the email address at the end of this newsletter.

Thanks,
GW


Functional training

Functional training involves mainly weight bearing activities targeted at key muscle groups, including the abdomen and lower back. Most fitness facilities have a variety of weight training machines which target and isolate specific muscles. As a result the movements do not necessarily bear any relationship to the movements people make in their regular activities or sports. Functional training attempts to adapt or develop exercises which allow individuals to perform the activities of daily life more easily and without injuries.

Functional training may lead to better muscular balance and joint stability, possibly impacting the number of injuries sustained and individual's performance in a sport. The benefits may arise from the use of training that emphasizes the body's natural ability to move in three anatomical planes of motion. In comparison, though machines can often be safer to use, they restrict movements to a single plane of motion, which is an unnatural form of movement for the body and may potentially lead to faulty movement patterns or injury.

Many athletes equate strength training with bodybuilding; accordingly, individuals involved in endurance or flexibility-based sports do not strength train for fear of gaining too much bulk and losing flexibility, or mimic the training of bodybuilders without adapting workouts to their specific sports. As a result, training can lack the performance benefits that strength training could provide.

Standard resistance training machines are of limited use for functional training - their fixed patterns rarely mimic natural movements, and they focus the effort on a single muscle group, rather than engaging the stabilizers and peripheral muscles.

Preferred options include cable machines, dumbbells, medicine balls, kettlebells, fitballs or exercise balls, resistance tubes, sandbags, amongst others.

The Guinness Book of World Records referred to Arnold Schwarzenegger as "the most perfectly developed man in the history of the World". If you look Arnie's workout routines and training routines from when he was at his peak, he used dumbbells and barbells for a variety presses, rows, squats, lunges and deadlifts.

We have 3 cable machines. These are the large upright machines, either with a single pulley or due pulley attached to both sides. They are extremely useful for functional training as they allow an athlete to recruit all major muscle groups while moving in multiple planes.

Cable machines also provide a smooth, continuous action which reduces the need for momentum to start repetitions, provide a constant tension on the muscle, peak-contraction is possible at the top of each rep, a safe means of performing negative repetitions, and a variety of attachments that allow great flexibility in the exercises performed and body parts targeted.

To be effective a functional exercise program should include a number of different elements:

Specific to the sport - Any program must be sport specific, working to develop and maintain sport specific strength.

Integrated - It should include a variety of exercises that work on flexibility, core, balance, strength and power.

Increases Core Stability - core stability is crucial for any sport or activity. A stable core allows for more efficient transference of power from the lower to upper body, and an increased ability to maintain correct athletic posture over long periods of time.

Progressive - Progressive training steadily increases the strength demand from workout to workout. While most people are aware of the need for this in relation to traditional strength training, it is sometimes overlooked in functional training. For functional training is also means varying speed of movement to make it more sport specific.

Periodized - for competitive athletes, their functional training needs to fit into their competitive cycle of competition. In broad terms this means that they will vary their program throughout the year to achieve optimal results, peaking for competitions or races and building in recovery time also.

Individualized - An athlete's program need to be designed for them. The only way to do this is to work with a coach or trainer who specializes in the particular sport and can custom design a program. A qualified personal trainer can easily include functional training in their clients' exercise programs, whether they are recovering from an injury or preparing for competition.

For more information please come and speak to me.


Slow Cooker Bean and Barley Stew

Ingredients:

8 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 pound dried bean mix (navy, kidney, pinto mix), rinsed
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
A few sprigs fresh thyme
8 ounces dried barley
8 ounces baby spinach
Toasted crusty bread or baguette, for serving

Directions:

Combine the broth, bean mix, salt, pepper, celery, carrots, garlic, onions, bay leaf, thyme and 2 cups water in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.

Add the barley and, if the broth looks low, another cup of water. Cover and cook on low an additional 1 hour (8 hours total).

Just before serving, stir in the spinach to wilt. Serve in a big bowl with toasted crusty bread or baguette.


Useless Facts

In 1912 a law passed in Nebraska where drivers in the country at night were required to stop every 150 yards, send up a skyrocket, wait eight minutes for the road to clear before proceeding cautiously, all the while blowing their horn and shooting off flares.

Chris Buckley can make dogs meow and cats bark.

More Monopoly money is printed in a year, than real money throughout the world.

Lee Wilson doesn't wear a watch. He decides what time it is.

Caesar salad has nothing to do with any of the Caesars. It was first concocted in a bar in Tijuana, Mexico, in the 1920's.



The Woodlands Fitness Centre Ltd
A: Unit 27, Molyneux Business Park, Darley Dale, Derbyshire, DE4 2HJ
T: (01629) 733 123
E: woodlandsfitness@yahoo.co.uk
W: www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk