Woodlands Fitness Centre

The Woodlands Fitness Centre May 2016 Newsletter

Sunday 1st May 2016

What's New?

Hi guys & girls,

So here we are in May.

In the last couple of newsletters we've mentioned our "PT UNLIMITED" scheme. I've tried to start this in the past with minimal success but Beki has got behind it and it's becoming increasingly popular with mew members and existing members who want to upgrade.

The premise is simple: we will give you personal training every single time you attend Woodlands Rowsley. The scheme is appointment controlled.

Sessions will typically be 45 minutes and are designed for both females and males of mixed ability.

You'll have a qualified personal trainer giving you effective exercises designed to help you with rapid fat loss and increased fitness.

We offer PT Unlimited for one low monthly fee. Please note this also includes our normal gym and classes membership:

£40 per month: 3 months direct debit/upfront
£50 per month: 1 month Cash/Card

I saw a meme on Facebook which looked at attitudes towards spending and made a comparison between coffee sold by high street retailers and music downloads.

Why it is that people are willing to pay £3.50 for a coffee that 1). cost pennies to make 2). takes minutes to prepare and 3). and is gone forever after one use - but they won't pay 99p for a song that 1). Cost thousands of pounds to record 2). took years of practice to create and 3). will last a lifetime?

A gym membership, whether it's our £25 per month basic membership or our £40 per month PT Unlimited membership, is one of the best value things you can buy - assuming you actually use it. If you joined on our £40 per month PT Unlimited membership option and you came, on average, 3 times per week, it would only be £3.08 per session. That's 42p less than a cup of coffee from a high street coffee shop. And soooo much better for you!

Our PT Unlimited frequently includes HIIT. The other day a member asked what HIIT is.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) or sprint interval training is an exercise strategy that is intended to improve performance with short training sessions. HIIT is a form of cardio which is beneficial to burning fat in a short and intense workout.

Usual HIIT sessions may vary from 9 to 20 minutes. The original protocol set a 2:1 ratio for work to recovery periods. For example, you could alternate 20 seconds of hard sprinting with 10 seconds of jogging or walking.

A HIIT session consists of a warm up period of exercise, followed by six to ten repetitions of high intensity exercise, separated by medium intensity exercise, and ending with a period of cool down exercise. The high intensity exercise should be done at near maximum intensity.

The medium exercise should be about 50% intensity. The number of repetitions and length of each depends on the exercise. The goal is to do at least six cycles, and to have the entire HIIT session last at least fifteen minutes and not more than twenty.

HIIT is considered to be an excellent way to maximize a workout that is limited on time. The reason that High Intensity Interval Training works better for fat loss is this: When you do a cardio session at the same pace the whole time, your body goes into what is called steady state. This means that your body has adjusted itself to the speed you are going and tries hard to conserve energy (calories). You will be able to avoid this and burn more calories and FAT by doing the interval training.

The easiest way that I tell people to do it is to start off at a good pace for 5 minutes. Then take up the intensity on the exercise and go as hard and as fast as you possibly can for a minute and then lower the intensity for a minute or two — however long it takes for you to recover enough to do it again.

The trick is simply to keep changing your speed and intensity - this will "trick" your body into burning more calories since it can not achieve steady state.

At a lower % of max heart rate (65%), a larger percentage of calories burned come from fat than at a higher heart rate (75-85%). However, despite the percentages, you will burn more total calories and therefore more total fat calories at a higher heart rate. To ascertain your heart rate, use a heart rate monitor.

Let's be honest: getting the body you want won't be easy. It takes effort. It takes sacrifice.

Over the years I've quoted from myriad sources, including Charles Dicken's Tale of Two Cities, and now I'm going to quote Sylvester Stallone's punch drunk protagonist from Rocky Balboa. In an emotional exchange between Rocky and his son, the titular character launches into this brutality honest speech:

"You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you're no good. And when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame, like a big shadow.

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!

Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that!"


So....if you want to look good and if you want to feel good then just do it. Don't hide behind excuses. Don't blame other people. Don't blame work. Don't blame David Cameron. As Nike once said, just do it!

What is new? The spinning classes, particularly the evening classes, have reserve lists so Beki is going to add more spin classes to our current timetable. Please let us know which time slots are most appealing.

Beki is finishing the new class timetable, which will list all of the available PT Unlimited slots.

Beki has attached a TRX suspension trainer to the wall in the main gym area.

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 either of us at the gym, email any feedback and suggestions to the email address at the end of this newsletter.

Thanks,
Giles & Beki x



Resistance training for women!

We frequently hear the following comments:

"Ooooh it's a man's gym"

"I don't want big muscles" (mostly from Adam Gilbert)

Resistance training isn't specifically for men. When it comes to weight loss, health and quality of life a little resistance training can provide tremendous benefits to our female members.

Most people think that cardiovascular exercise on machines such as treadmills and exercise bikes burns more calories than lifting weights. But that isn't necessarily correct. Working your muscles as well as your heart and lungs can improve your health and help you drop a clothes size faster.

Cardiovascular exercise can be a great way to burn the fat (nowhere near as good as HIIT though) - but adding strength training to your workouts will help you to burn extra calories every day. You'll even be burning extra calories while you're sleeping or sitting on the couch watching Eastenders.

Aerobic exercise may burn a few hundred extra calories but for every additional pound of muscle you gain, your body burns around 50 extra calories every day of the week.

Research has shown that regular resistance training can increase your Basal Metabolic Rate by up to 15%. So for someone burning 2,000 calories per day, that's a potential 300 extra calories. That's more than a Mars bar burned every single day.

Do not be disheartened if initially you seem to be staying at the same weight or gaining slightly. Muscle weighs more per square inch than fat, so whilst your weight might not be dropping very quickly, your clothes will feel baggier and you will see a healthier, slimmer and better toned you in the mirror. That's far more important than anything the scales have to say!

Resistance training is just as suitable for women as it is for men. Many women are wary of resistance training for fear that increased muscle means increased masculinity. This is not the case.

Testosterone is a very important factor in the development of muscle shape. As women have very low levels of this hormone their muscles develop differently, meaning a little resistance training will not lead to a bulky, butch physique.

Developing a little extra muscle can actually reduce the risk of injury. Strong muscles, tendons and ligaments are much more capable of withstanding stress, and the improved flexibility gained by strength training also reduces the likelihood of pulled muscles and back pain.

Resistance training is an excellent way of combating several symptoms we all face as we get a little older. Resistance exercise can reduce bone deterioration and build bone mass, preventing osteoporosis.

Working your muscles can also inhibit the affects of sarcopenia, the age related loss of muscle mass, strength and function. After the age of thirty there is a loss of 3-5% of muscle mass per decade, making day to day tasks gradually harder to perform and slowing down metabolism - increasing the risk of weight gain.

Recent research has shown that weight (or resistance) training can greatly reduce a number of health risks. It has been proven to have a positive affect on insulin resistance, resting metabolism, blood pressure, body fat and gastrointestinal transit time, factors that are linked to illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Research shows that just two 15 to 20 minute sessions a week is enough to gain all the potential health benefits of strength training. Start slowly and work your way up.

You can feel healthier and look better - which in turn will make you feel better about yourself. The benefits can last for the rest of your life.

For more information please come and speak to me.


Grilled Chicken with a Warm Cherry Salad

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1) 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2) 4 cups arugula
3) 1 cup pitted cherries
4) 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
5) 2 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar
6) 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
7) 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
8) 1/2 medium shallot, thinly sliced
9) Salt and freshly cracked pepper

Instructions:

1) Preheat grill to high.

2) Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over chicken and season liberally with salt and pepper.

3) Pit the cherries and cut some in half leaving some whole.

4) Place the cherries on a grill pan or aluminium foil so they don't fall through the grill grates. Place the chicken on the grill at the same time. Grill cherries just until they start to caramelize. Grill chicken 4-5 minutes per side or until the internal temperature reaches 160°F.

5) While the chicken and cherries are grilling in a small bowl whisk together the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, mustard, 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

To serve mix the cherries into the shallot sauce. Top the arugula with a chicken breast and pour the warm cherry sauce over the chicken.


Green Coconut Smoothie

This coconut smoothie is one of the sweetest, creamiest green smoothie I've ever made. If you're new to healthy eating and want to get into green smoothies, this is the perfect place to start.

The ripe banana means it doesn't taste overly green and healthy, while the coconut yoghurt makes it wonderfully thick and milkshake life.

You can add spinach to up the green goodness, coconut water as a base and a little bee pollen for a delicious flavour.

Serves: 1

Instructions:

1) 2/3 of a mug of coconut water (200ml)

2) 1 tablespoon of coconut yoghurt (I use a brand called Coyo)

3) A big handful of spinach

4) 1 ripe banana

5) 1 tablespoon of bee pollen (optional)

The bee pollen is optional because it's not exactly something we all have kicking about in our kitchen cupboards, nestled in amongst the cumin, leprechaun whiskers and the dolphin tears - and my attempts to manually source pollen directly from the bees resulted in a very buzzy uprising. Just imagine the fury on their bristly little faces.

Anyway, to make this little delight, simply peel the banana then place everything into a blender and blend until smooth.


SPECIAL OFFERS

Buy 5 x 60 minute PT sessions and get 1 free

6 sessions for the price of 5

Only £120
Normal price £144
Save £24

All sessions must be used within 3 weeks

Buy 7 x 45 minute PT sessions and get 1 free

8 sessions for the price of 7

Only £133
Normal price £152
Save £19

All sessions must be used within 4 weeks

Buy 12 x 30 minute PT sessions and get 3 free

15 sessions for the price of 12

Only £168
Normal price £210
Save £42

All sessions must be used within 5 weeks

Useless Facts

Income tax was first introduced in England in 1799 by British Prime Minister, William Pitt.

When Tom Blackham throws you into a bottomless pit, you hit the bottom.

The coccyx is the only bone in our 200+ bone system that serves no purpose.

When Dave Astbury plays pac-man the ghosts stay in their box.

The Aztecs had a primitive form of basketball called "ollamalitzli." The difference from today's sport is that the first person to get the ball through the ring high above the ground had the right to collect the clothes right off the backs of everyone watching the game.

David Brownsey has a grizzly bear carpet in his bedroom. The bear isn't dead - it is just too afraid to move.

If you were to guess at a number chosen between 5 and 10, you would be wrong five out of six times.

Tash Starsmore finished the Never Ending Story. Then her dog pushed her over and she broke her foot.



Woodlands - Your Health, Our Passion


The Woodlands Fitness Centre Ltd
A: Unit 29, Peak Village Estate, Chatsworth Road, Rowsley (nr Matlock & Bakewell), Derbyshire, DE4 2JE
T: (01629) 733 123
E: woodlandsfitness@yahoo.co.uk
W: www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk