Woodlands Fitness Centre

If you want to know how water retention can prevent weight loss and even make you look fatter - and what to do about it - then you want to read this article. Unfortunately, there are many ways you can screw up a well-designed diet. For example… You can accidentally eat more calories than you should. You can move your body too little. You can over-estimate the amount of energy you burn every day. You can set yourself back with gluttonous “cheat meals.” These common diet mistakes are elementary. You run through a quick checklist, see where you’ve gone wrong and you’re back on track. What isn’t so elementary is the inexplicable weight loss plateau. Your macros are on point. You’re doing plenty of exercise. You’re accurately estimating…

view more »

Hi, People regularly ask me about what is the right way to lose fat and what should they eat. Given my profession, that’s hardly a surprise. The goal of any weight loss, pound-shedding, “trimming,” or whatever-you-label-it program is to lose body fat. Yes. Fat. Not weight. How much overall body weight you lose is irrelevant. As such, you should get rid of your weight scale. Or put it in the shed. Or the loft. You only need to focus on your body composition: the fat to muscle ratio. There’s so much nonsense floating around out there so it’s no wonder so many of you are confused. Which one is the easiest to follow? Which one is financially affordable? Which one is the…

view more »

Hi, One of the biggest exercise myths is that a designated number of repetitions need to be performed in order to get specific results. For example, if you perform 1-3 reps of an exercise you are working on power, 3-5 is for strength, 8-12 is for building muscle, and 15+ is for endurance. As a personal trainer, I am often trying to debunk this myth. This subject is explored later in our article: Why You Should Stop Counting Reps We have 2 main membership options: Gym Only: Single: £23pm for 12 months, £25pm for 3 months and £27pm for 1 month. Joint/Student: £22pm for 12 months, £24pm for 3 months and £26pm for 1 month. Gym & Groups: Are you bored of using the gym…

view more »

Hi, Okay, you've suffered through the previous newsletter in which I described the particulars of Metabolic Training? Metabolic training will help you to reverse the aging process and elevate your metabolic process so you can burn away stubborn, flabby fat and replace it with lean, toned muscle. This newsletter includes three tried and tested Metabolic Training strategies guaranteed to help strip away stubborn fat. You can stick with one strategy for a given timeframe or periodise strategies from one week to the next. This subject is explored later in our article: Metabolic Training Routines We have 2 main membership options: Gym Only: Single: £23pm for 12 months, £25pm for 3 months and £27pm for 1 month. Joint/Student: £22pm for 12 months, £24pm for 3 months…

view more »

Hi, Can you build muscle and burn fat at the same time? In last week’s newsletter I discussed Metabolic Training, which is one of the best, most intense strategies for building muscle, torching fat, and improving overall physical fitness. At the same time. Metabolic Training should spike your metabolism, burn calories, lift your lactate threshold, build muscle and maximise your body's capacity for change. No magic or witchcraft here! Metabolic Training is just a term covering various combinations of intense, efficient cardiovascular and muscular training. Metabolic Training can involve supersets, circuits, speed, low rest and compound movements. Metabolic Training combines aerobic and anaerobic work, spanning traditional weight training and cardio. If you're sick of long rest periods and the sleepy treadmill slump,…

view more »

Hi, The short definition of metabolic training is completing structural and compound exercises with little rest in between exercises in an effort to maximize calorie burn and increase metabolic rate during and after the workout. Your metabolism (aka metabolic rate) is how many calories your body burns at rest. 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. While cardiovascular exercise is a great way of burning the fat, adding a little strength training to your workouts will earn you extra calories every day.…

view more »

Hi, Do you worry about aging horrendously? You know when you meet someone who looks like Zelda from the Terrahawks and find out she’s only 32. If you didn’t experience 80’s kids TV (arguably the best decade for kid’s TV – prove me wrong!), then Zelda was the gargle voiced alien baddie with a walnut complexion and Tina Turner hair. A 3 pint maybe for some of you. According to science (yes! SCIENCE!!!), there’s a difference between your chronological age and biological age. This means you can be 50 years old and literally have a body of a 40 year old. Or vice versa. I’m sure you’ve met someone that not only looks 10 years younger, but has boundless energy and…

view more »

Hi, I often get asked if it matters where your calories come from. If you calculated that you’ll lose weight by eating 1,800 calories a day then does it matter what those calories consist of? It could be 1,800 calories of burgers, chocolate bars, crisps or cake. Last week I wrote that the type of calories you eat influences your results. If you eat very low-carb and have trouble sleeping, your hunger levels could rise and you might struggle to keep your calorie intake low enough to lose weight. Or if you don’t eat enough calories from fat or carbs to power your workouts, you could end up burning fewer calories than you think, because you’re not giving it your all…

view more »

Hi, The most important part of every single weight loss diet is creating a caloric deficit. We all know this, don’t we? This is when you consume fewer calories than your body burns. Or, you burn more calories than you consume. It’s pretty much the same thing, although the latter is superior. Being in a caloric deficit puts your body in a state of negative energy balance, where it doesn’t have the calories it needs to perform all of the daily tasks it needs to perform (moving, breathing, digesting, exercising, etc). So, in order to perform those tasks, your body is forced to burn your own stored body fat for energy instead. As a result, you lose weight (or more specifically, you…

view more »