Woodlands Fitness Centre

The Woodlands newsletter: Sunday 7th May 2023

Sunday 7th May 2023

Hello,

First off, let's get Bank Holiday opening times out of the way:

Monday (8th May):

8am - 2pm

Group PT: 9:30am.

Group PT: 12:30pm.

Right, now let's get back to talking about exercise and fitness.

Some people say that "healthy" weight loss means losing one to two pounds per week.

So if you're losing more - or less - than that, are you doing something wrong?

As long as you're consuming a healthy amount of calories by eating nutritious foods and exercising more, you'll lose weight at an appropriate speed for your body.

A lot of people have different versions of what "healthy" weight loss might look like.

The truth is that the answer isn't so cut and dry.

Weight loss occurs differently for everyone and that's okay.

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: £30pm
3 months: £33pm
1 month: £36pm

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

Prices (per month):

12 month: £49
3 month: £51
1 month: £53

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.

Non-members (price per session):

These prices are for those who do not have a Woodlands gym membership:

30 mins:

1 per week: £14.75
2 per week: £14.15
3 per week: £13.55

45 mins:

1 per week: £21.25
2 per week: £20.65
3 per week: £20.00

60 mins:

1 per week: £27.70
2 per week: £27.10
3 per week: £26.50

All of these PT packages include:

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

Members (price per session):

These prices are for those who have a Woodlands gym membership:

30 mins:

1 per week: £11.85
2 per week: £11.25
3 per week: £10.65

45 mins:

1 per week: £16.85
2 per week: £16.25
3 per week: £15.65

60 mins:

1 per week: £21.85
2 per week: £21.25
3 per week: £20.65

All PT packages are sold in 4 week blocks. All PT sessions must be used within a pre-agreed time period.

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.


Opening Hours:

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


Junk volume can waste your time and energy

To max out your gains, you may want to do less work in the gym.

"Junk volume" refers to exercise that doesn't improve strength or build muscle, wasting your time and energy. This is holding many trainees back from getting the gains that they want.

Junk volume can include working out for too long, or doing large sets with light weights. Junk volume can be a problem for both newbies and elite athletes, stalling progress and increasing injury risk.

To avoid muscle-building plateaus and to get the most out of your routine, plan your workouts to make every rep count, experts and evidence suggest.

Doing too many reps or sets can backfire
Research shows that for building muscle and strength, more work doesn't always lead to more gains.

About six sets per session per muscle group is a good baseline for maxing out on benefits, according to a 2017 study.

After six, the benefits then appear to plateau, and working more will eventually lead to smaller and smaller additional gains, the research indicates, although muscle response can vary in different people.

So, while you might be trying to boost your progress with more work, the additional benefit of the last few sets is small enough to be insignificant, and unlikely to be worth the time and effort.

As little as two sessions per week per muscle group can be effective.

Lifting too light can waste your time, too

Junk volume also includes wasting your effort by not lifting heavy enough. One of the most common mistakes is doing "easy sets" that end before you've challenged your muscles enough to grow.

Research has found many people underestimate how much they can lift, and often end up finishing a set with six or more reps in reserve.

While you don't need to lift to failure on each set, getting within a few reps of failure can maximise your muscle activity to improve gains, evidence suggests.

Another pitfall is lifting very light weight for high reps (30 or more), based on the myth that it can help "tone" a muscle without making you bulky.

While light weight or bodyweight exercise can build muscle, lifting less than 20% of your maximum effort can stall gains, research shows, even if you're sore after.

Lifting lighter weights can get you super sore and impair your performance for future workouts, but end up compromising your result despite actually working harder.

If you're doing more than 30 reps, you'd be better off lowering the number and increasing the weight.

Pressure to look lean can prompt overtraining

Doing junk volume can be caused by anxiety about looking and performing your best.

Junk volume will hurt your progress and leading to injury.

Some people can be particularly vulnerable to overtraining because of intense pressure to appear lean or to avoid gaining body fat.

Next week I'll talk about how to maximise effective volume.

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


Frozen berries

It's a common misconception that frozen fruit isn't as healthy as fresh.

Commercially frozen fruit is flash-frozen within just a few hours of picking, helping it to retain most of its nutrients and colour.

We're huge fans of using frozen berries - like strawberries and raspberries - all year round to make smoothies, compotes or frozen yogurt. It saves on the cost and environmental implications of eating out-of-season imported produce.

Try these recipes:

Instant frozen berry yogurt
Berry bircher
Super berry smoothie

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


Recipe of the week: Healthy Chinese Chicken Chow Mein

Ingredients:

1 Chicken Breast - cut into strips
2 cloves of garlic
1 thumb sized piece of ginger
2. spring onions
1 handful of stir-fry veg
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1⁄2-1tsp five spice mix
1tsp tomato puree
1 portion of noodles
Optional tsp. of honey

Method:

Heat the pan on high and spray with low calorie cooking spray.

Once hot - add the chicken and cook until white all over..

Add the five spice and fry the chicken in the spice for about 1 minute.

Toss in all the stir-fry veg, onions, garlic, ginger and spring onions and fry for about 3-4 minutes.

Add the 2 tbsp. soy sauce with a tsp. tomato puree.
Add the noodles, stir and cook for a further 3 minutes.

If you fancy it, why not add a table spoon of honey for added sweetness and stickiness?

Enjoy!


Exercise of the week: Barbell-between-legs split squat

Why Do It:

The barbell-between-legs split squat can be used as a supplementary exercise to improve your barbell split squat.

Compared with the barbell split squat, the barbell-between-legs split squat places less stress on your lower back because the barbell is held low, between your legs.

For the safety of your knees, keep your knees and feet pointing in the same direction.

Keep your elbows fully extended and your torso upright throughout the exercise.

This exercise is also known as the Jefferson split squat.

How to do it:

With the loaded barbell on the floor, step one foot over the centre of the barbell so that one leg is in front of the barbell and one leg is behind it.

Squat down and grasp the barbell with both hands, which should be shoulder-width apart.

Keeping your torso upright, stand and lift the barbell between your legs.

Keeping your torso upright and elbows fully extended, inhale as you lower your back knee until it almost touches the floor by flexing your front hip and both knees.

Exhale as you reverse the movement and return to the starting position.
Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Perform the exercise with your opposite leg.

Make sure you maintain good technique throughout all sets and repetitions.

Do 3-4 sets of 10-12 repetitions.

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

Always strive for progressive overload:

This can be increases in weight on the bar, more reps and/or sets, less rest, and even executing the exercise with better form.

Variety for more testosterone:

Changing up your diet is one of the most effective ways to maintaining healthy testosterone levels.

If you're concerned about low testosterone levels, swapping out testosterone-lowering foods and replacing them with healthy, whole food alternatives can keep levels in check and enhance your overall health.

A list of testosterone-increasing foods will be coming to a newsletter near you soon.

Additionally, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, getting plenty of sleep, and fitting exercise into your routine are some other significant steps you can take to naturally boost testosterone.

Use big, compound exercises:

Squats, deadlifts, chins, dips, presses and rows should always form the staple of your workouts.

Fill up on Fibre

Fibre is found in healthy foods including vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains.

Some studies have shown that simply eating more fibre-rich foods may help you lose weight and keep it off.

Increasing your intake is as easy as adding beans to your salad, eating oats for breakfast or snacking on fibre-rich nuts and seeds.

Pump up:

Once you've hit the big moves hard and heavy, use more isolated moves to pump those muscles.

Ditch Added Sugar:

Added sugar, especially from sugary drinks, is a major reason for unhealthy weight gain and health problems like diabetes and heart disease.

Plus, foods like candy, soda and baked goods that contain lots of added sugars tend to be very low in the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy.

Cutting out foods high in added sugars is a great way to lose excess weight.

It's important to note that even foods promoted as "healthy" or "organic" can be very high in sugar. Therefore, reading nutrition labels is a must.

Lift through a full range of motion:

Unless you are an advanced trainee, partial squats and the like have no place in your training program.

Don't forget to rest:

Match your training frequency and volume to your recovery capability. You grow when you are recovering.

Up your training frequency:

You should be aiming to train each muscle group at least once every three to five days.

This can be achieved by training two to three times each week.

Make Room for Healthy Fat:

While fat is often the first thing that gets cut when you're trying to slim down, healthy fats can actually help you reach your weight loss goals.

In fact, following a high-fat diet that's rich in foods like olive oil, avocados and nuts has been shown to maximise weight loss in several studies.

What's more, fats help you stay fuller for longer, decreasing cravings and helping you stay on track.



Useless Facts

The Black Death reduced the population of Europe by one third in the period from 1347 to 1351.

When Tyler Brewster swims in the ocean, the sharks are in a steel cage.

The average person spends about two years on the phone in a lifetime.

The length of a beard an average man would grow if he never shaved is 27.5 feet.

Ann "Not Hughes" Briddock can kill two stones with one bird.

Over 60% of all those who marry get divorced.


Previous newsletters:

The Woodlands newsletter Sunday 30th April 2023:

http://www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk/blog?aid=32020

The Woodlands newsletter Sunday 23rd April 2023:

http://www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk/blog?aid=31953

The Woodlands newsletter Sunday 16th April 2023:

http://www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk/blog?aid=31900

The Woodlands newsletter Sunday 9th April 2023:

http://www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk/blog?aid=31878

The Woodlands newsletter Sunday 2nd April 2023:

http://www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk/blog?aid=31821

The Woodlands newsletter Sunday 26th March 2023:

http://www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk/blog?aid=31545














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