Woodlands Fitness Centre

The Woodlands newsletter: Sunday 9th October 2022

Sunday 9th October 2022

Hi,

Most people who read my newsletters know that I like maths based approach to everyday problems such as weight loss, bodybuilding, and other health/fitness related topics.

However, sometimes you have to step back from the science and look at the big picture to help bring people back into focus, so they can see the forest for the trees, so to speak.

For most people reading these newsletters, finding an effective diet that works most of the time must seem as complicated as nuclear physics.

It's not, but there are a bewildering number of choices for diets out there.

High fat or no fat?

High carbohydrate or no carbohydrate?

Low protein or high protein?

To make matters worse, there are a million variations and combinations to the above diet scenarios to add to the confusion.

It seems endless and causes many people to throw up their hands in frustration and give up. In these newsletters, I will attempt to change all that.

For more guidance, tips and information, please read the rest of our newsletter.

But first, here are our opening times, links to our website, some prices and more...


Gym Only memberships:

Joint/Student (per month):

12 months: £22
3 months: £24
1 month: £28

Single (per month):

For single prices, please check our special offers:
www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk/special-offers

Student prices are only for students in full time education.


Small Group Personal Training:

How would you like to have personal training every single time you attend Woodlands?

Well now you can!

Our Small Group PT membership offers an appointment controlled personal training system where a personal trainer will train up to 6 members at any one time.

We offer a variety of group exercise sessions throughout the day to help you achieve you build fitness, strength, co-ordination and flexibility whilst burning fat.

Group sessions are strictly limited to 6-8 people:

There are 36 group training sessions per week, including:

Condition
Total
Upper
Lower
Core
Circuit
HIIT
Kettlebells

We also offer '30m' groups: these 30 minute Classes Group training sessions are condensed versions of our normal 45 minute groups, designed to pack in high intensity exercise to push you to the next level and really make the most of your time here!

These shared personal training sessions are strictly limited to 6 (sometimes 8) people! This is to ensure you get a higher quality of coaching and support.

We always prefer an informal approach - so we will be maintaining the booking forms in the gym.

All bookings can be made in the gym, by phone, e-mail or via social media.

How you book in isn't important; we just care that you attend regularly.

Here is a list of our group training sessions:
www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk/group-pt-timetable


Small Group PT membership prices:

Joint/Student:

12 months: £32pm
3 months: £34pm
1 month: £38pm

Single:

For single prices, please check our special offers:
www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk/special-offers


2 x 45membership:

This membership includes:

✔2 x 45 minute PT sessions per month (worth £23 each)
✔Small Group PT membership
✔Gym membership
✔Calorie target setting advice
✔Nutritional support
✔Discounted additional personal training sessions

12 month: £43pm
3 month: £46
1 month: £49

The benefits of personal training outweigh your fears by a long shot and we can really help you achieve your goals. At Woodlands, we want to maximise your fitness experience.


Personal Training Packages:

The benefits of personal training outweigh your fears by a long shot and we can really help you achieve your goals. At Woodlands, we want to maximise your fitness experience.

30 mins:

4 weeks x 2 per week
6 x 30 mins: £72 (£89)

5 weeks x 2 per week
10 x 30 mins: £108 (£135)

45 mins:

3 weeks x 2 per week
6 x 45 mins: £98 (£1202

4 weeks x 2 per week
8 x 45 mins: £128 (£161)

60 mins:

4 weeks x 1 per week
4 x 60 mins: £88 (£109)

4 weeks x 2 per week
8 x 60 mins: £169 (£213)

The price in brackets is for non-members.

All of our PT packages include:

Small Group PT membership.
Gym membership.
Calorie target setting advice.
Nutritional support.

All PT sessions must be used within time periods listed above.

We use time limits with our personal training packages to encourage frequent and consistent training. Packages can be designed to your individual needs.

At least 24 hours notice of cancellation is required for all appointments - just so we have sufficient time to rebook the slot. Notice of less than 24 hours will incur a full payment of the session fee. These are standard terms for all good PT's.

We can adjust the time limits in advance to take into account holidays, business trips, etc.

All of our PT packages include full gym, group personal training & classes membership.

Opening Hours:

Monday: 7.30am - 8.45pm
Tuesday: 8.30am - 8.45pm
Wednesday: 7.30am - 8.45pm
Thursday: 8.30am - 8.45pm
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, 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


What causes the Common Posture Problems?

Muscle imbalances due to our sedentary lifestyle are a primary Cause. The cumulative injury cycle illustrates how muscle imbalances originate: there is a trauma, which can result from repetitive motion with poor dynamic posture, or poor static posture.

The trauma causes inflammations, which causes your muscles to spasm and develop knots or adhesions. The adhesions decrease the functionality of your muscles which your brain cannot control properly. The inability of your nervous system to maintain proper postural alignment causes muscle imbalances.

If you do not correct your muscular imbalances the cycle will repeat over and over again and get progressively worse.

The most common muscle imbalances are due to our sedentary lifestyle. When you are seated for a large percentage of time, you can see which muscles are tight or shortened.

If a muscle is shortened for a prolonged period if time, it will become tight which really means it will become shorter than it is meant to be.

When a muscle is shorter than the optimal length, it not only affects the opposing muscle but can have repercussions on the entire musculoskeletal system.

I hope all of the above makes sense but if you have any questions please come and ask me.


Is your Rep Speed KILLING your gains (part 2)?

This article carries on from last week.

Remember: fast and heavy are really the same thing as far as your muscles know! Muscles only know tension. Fast twitch muscles are your body's way of dealing with anything that requires strength and speed, and therefore in order for it to build these up, you must lift heavy things, or perform activities with higher velocity. Simple enough?

"Low threshold" fibers are the slow twitch fibers and are much less likely to grow. They're really intended to perform simple, basic activities and things that are more endurance based. For instance, any sets that last longer than two minutes.

Now that you have a very basic understanding of how muscle work, I will tie in how this all applies to you, and explain the 5 points above.

1) Light weights WILL make you weak.

Using light weight too often actually slows the speed of neural firing and will slow the speed of muscular contraction. The end result is a weaker you. This is also what happens when you do cardio.

2) Slow concentrics WILL make you weak.

Many of you are familiar with the training method of "super slows", pioneered in the 1990's and known for creating obscene amounts of lactic acid, which many people believed correlated with muscle growth.

NOPE!

There is very little correlation.

The logic was to increase TUT and therefore increase muscle growth. Well, could be effective, but will also make you weak as a kitten because of the same reasons mentioned above.
If you want to increase TUT, you are MUCH better off using slow eccentrics (negatives) and maintaining explosive concentrics.

3) If your goal is to constantly be building muscle, you must vary tempo often. This is one of the best known ways to recruit different muscle fiber types (IA, IIA, IIB)

It is advantageous to change the rep tempo of your workouts every 3-6 weeks.

Some great examples for hypertrophy are 4010, 6010, 4111, 4021.
If strength is your primary goal, tempo would be different than the above, but these can certainly be incorporated.

What does 4010 mean on the gym floor?

4 is the eccentric portion or the negative.

0 is the bottom portion in a stretched position

1 is the concentric or lifting portion

0 is the contracted position

4) Heavy eccentrics WILL make you strong, AND big.

More next week...

I hope all of the above makes sense but if you have any questions please come and ask me.


Recipe of the week: Perfect roast beef

Ingredients:

1.5 kg topside of beef
2 medium onions
2 carrots
2 sticks celery
1 bulb of garlic
1 bunch of mixed fresh herbs , such as thyme, rosemary, bay, sage
olive oil

Method:

Remove the beef from the fridge 30 minutes before you want to cook it, to let it come up to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 240°C/475°F/ gas 9.
Wash and roughly chop the vegetables - there's no need to peel them. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled.

Pile all the veg, garlic and herbs into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with oil.

Drizzle the beef with oil and season well with sea salt and black pepper, then rub all over the meat. Place the beef on top of the vegetables.

Place the tray in the oven, then turn the heat down immediately to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and cook for 1 hour for medium beef. If you prefer it medium-rare, take it out 5 to 10 minutes earlier. For well done, leave it in for another 10 to 15 minutes.

If you're doing roast potatoes and veggies, this is the time to crack on with them - get them into the oven for the last 45 minutes of cooking.

Baste the beef halfway through cooking and if the veg look dry, add a splash of water to the tray to stop them from burning.

When the beef is cooked to your liking, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the beef to a board to rest for 15 minutes or so.

Cover it with a layer of tin foil and a tea towel and leave aside while you make your gravy, horseradish sauce and Yorkshire puddings.

Enjoy!


Exercise of the week: Deadbug

How to do it:

Lie on your back with hands above you and feet up so your knees are at 90 degrees.

Straighten your leg until your heel is an inch from the floor and then return to the start position.

Repeat with the other leg.

By extending your legs and hovering your heels you work on your core stabilisers, not just your abs. That means you're building muscle you can use on the sports field, not just see in the mirror.

Perform 3-4 sets of 8-12 repetitions for each exercise.

Rest for 60-90 seconds between sets.

I hope all of the above makes sense but if you have any questions please come and ask me.


Things to consider

Read about it daily:

If you lose motivation, I just read a book or blog about your goal. It will inspire you and reinvigorate you. For some reason, reading helps motivate and focus you on whatever you're reading about.

So read about your goal every day, if you can, especially when you're not feeling motivated.

Interval training to maximise calorie burn:

Interval training, in which you mix hard efforts with bouts of recovery, is one of the best ways of maximising calorie expenditure, improving aerobic fitness and making use of limited time.

To get the most out of an interval session, ensure that you work outside the comfort zone on the efforts and ease right off during the recoveries. Try a 2:2 rest/work ratio to start with.

Don't over think it:

Those who love to argue training semantics likely don't train hard enough to progress.

Protein up:

Add protein powder to smoothies for an added boost. Choose unflavored powders for versatility.

Find your "why"

Identify your deeper reason to get healthy other than the number on the scale. Do you want to be able to run with your children or grandchildren?

How about being able to enjoy food without feeling guilty all the time? Staying in touch with a deeper reason for health can motivate you to keep going when things get tough.

Do workouts you enjoy:

Find a form (or two!) of movement you truly enjoy. It's easier to stick to things we look forward to rather than dread.

Resistance training?

Go for it.

HIIT?

Do it!


Useless Facts

Spain leads the world in cork production

Paul Cotterill wears sunglasses so that his eyes won't hurt the sun.

There are 1,792 steps in the Eiffel Tower

There are 269 steps to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Matt Kirkham can delete the Recycling Bin.

Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand while drawing with the other




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