Woodlands Fitness Centre

Hi, Right then, we can start doing “classes” tomorrow. As you all know, we don’t really do classes. We do group personal training. Sure, both classes and Group PT both have a group of people doing the same, or similar things, but that’s where the similarities end. The first article is a discussion of high carb/low fat or low carb/high protein diets. In summary, diets composed of high protein and/or low carbs are better than diets of high carbs and/or low fat. The next article is about full body workouts. Most of our Group PT session are based on full body or upper/lower workouts. I see too many people starting off using body part splits from the glossy fitness magazines. I’d usually encourage…

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Hi, We’ve now been back open almost a month and thus far things have gone well. Very well, in fact. Over the last 12 months I’ve bought lots of new things for the gym: the Life Fitness glute machine, the SportsArt bicep/tricep machine, the Curve Runner and the Life Fitness Abductor machine. In addition, I bought the selection of cable attachments (the same used by Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson so you know they must be good) and various other new bars, attachments, dumbbells and kettlebells. I also got a bit carried away with the Aluminium tread plate. There’s an opportunity cost when buying something new for the gym. Opportunity cost is an economics term that refers to the value of what…

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Hello, Right, before I forget, there’s a Bank Holiday today. We’re open 8am to 2pm. There will be a supervised gym session / a class outside at 9.30am. The first article discussed calories from proteins, carbs and fats. Is There a Difference? Generally speaking, it’s calories that matter and weight loss / fat loss can’t be achieved without a calorie deficit. However, the type of protein, carb, and fat must be considered as well as how the body processes them. The exercise of the week is the behind-the-neck bicep curl. This is a rare exercise and anybody unfamiliar with the move will think you’re making a pigs ear of a lat pulldown and/or a contender for a gym failz compilation. However, it…

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Hello, So, here we are at the end of April, and 2 weeks after the end of third lockdown. The first article suggests you might want to be mindful of your carb intake. According to some studies, limiting your intake of carbs, especially those that are refined, may help prevent weight regain. The second article ponders the benefits of interval training. As many of the regular Woodlands newsletter readers (all 3 of you) know, I’m not a fan of steady state cardio. HIIT is a time-efficient strategy to get the benefits typically associated with longer bouts of traditional cardio. The exercise of the week is a Kickstand Deadlift. This is a fairly uncommon variation of the deadlift that’s well worth a…

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Hello, Well, the gym has been back open for a week, and it has been a very good week. Following on from what I wrote last week, the classes will be outside, either in the car park or we now have a lovely stretch of grass. Please also speak to me about the supervised gym sessions and/or personal training. The first article in this week’s newsletter is about whether there is a right way to lose fat? The next article is about 5 Minute Burn Workouts. These are simple to explain but not so simple to do: do 15 reps, take a 5-10 second rest, then do another 15 reps, take another 5-10 second rest, and keep going until 5 minutes…

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Hi, Only 7 days to go. Cases have dropped to 2,297 cases a day (from 60,000+ a few weeks ago), deaths have dropped by nearly 44% and hospital admissions have dropped by over 23% to 273 a day. As at the 3rd April, over 31 million people have been vaccinated. So what have we got in store for you this week? The first article is about ways to maintain weight loss. People often achieve their weight loss goals, relax a bit too much, and pile it back on again. You’ve got to sustain that weight loss. The second article is about resistance training for muscle building. Because resistance training is important when trying to build muscle and lose fat. The older…

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Hi, Only 14 days to go. Cases have dropped to 4,715 cases a day (from 60,000+ a few weeks ago), deaths have dropped by nearly 32% and hospital admissions have dropped by nearly 21% to just 363 a day. As at the 26th March, nearly 30 million people have been vaccinated. That’s nearly half of the UK population. So, from the 29th March, the following can happen: Outdoor sports facilities can reopen – including tennis, golf, high ropes, swimming and group exercise classes All Social distancing and covid procedures must be followed. Formally organised outdoor sports – for adults and under 18s - can also restart and will not be subject to the gathering limits, but should be compliant with guidance issued by national governing…

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Hi, Only 21 days to go. Cases have dropped to just over 5,000 cases a day (from 60,000+ a few weeks ago), deaths have dropped by nearly 22% and hospital admissions have dropped by nearly 22% to just 440 a day. As at the 21st March, nearly 28 million people have been vaccinated. The first article is about how you can reduce body fat without losing weight? If you’re a regular reader of these newsletters you’ll know my disdain for chasing weight loss. There are MUCH better ways to gauge body transformation success. The second article is about eating breakfast every day. Again, regular readers of these newsletters might know that I’m a fan of Intermittent Fasting, but it’s not for everyone, and…

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Hi, It feels great to be able to tell you that we will be back open on Monday 12th April 2021. Actually, it does seem weird to say we'll be back open. As I said in our 22nd July 2020 newsletter, we never actually closed. We just adapted. Thanks to Zoom and Facetime etc. we could still do our classes, groups and PT online. We were in constant contact with many of our members, providing home workout and diet plans and daily workouts on our social media. However, saying that we never closed is a bit smug and self-congratulatory. Every good gym, studio and personal trainer has used Zoom or similar to run classes and PT sessions. Pubs and restaurants offered…

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