It’s not all about the scales

No doubt many of you have started your post Christmas clean up and cut out the alcohol and sweet things that abound over the festive season. It’s likely that you have already shed a few pounds on the scales as you lose water that is stored with carbohydrate in the body. Aiming for inch loss is the best goal as your body drops fat and builds lean tissue which is what we want as that is what is metabolically active and burns calories all day.

Here is a simple way to remember that 5lbs on the scale can look very different on the body

ITV’s BIGGEST LOSER programme with Davina McCall has started a new series this month with the main emphasis on weight rather than inch loss because contestants are so overweight. The new Female Coach is the talented Charlotte Ord who owns her own gym  in Surrey and is currently training the England Lacrosse Team. Here is a video of Charlotte using the Ztrainer, my Suspension Training Product back in 2010.

Our next bootcamp starts on Monday 9th and we also start a new online 21 day shape up plan that involves detailed nutrition and exercise support over the 3 weeks. This is available at just £40 for the launch and you can find out more here 

Good luck losing those “pounds”

Zita

Merry Christmas and thank you

It looks like today most people are winding down from work and normal life  (if not already) and beginning the Christmas celebrations/mayhem – whichever you see it as.

Thanks for all your support over the last 12 months and well done for all your hard work – especially on those dark, wet, muddy occasions that you may have rather been elsewhere. We are very proud of what you have achieved in terms of improved health, wellbeing, fitness and inch loss and we can’t wait to bring you more next year.

Sarah, Kate and I would just like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and ofcourse a healthy New Year. Eat, drink and be merry but don’t forget to do some exercise inbetween.

We are running a one off TURKEY TWIZZLER bootcamp on Tue 27th Dec for anyone who can’t wait until January 9th when our next 4 week camp starts. It will be a 75 min class at 10am in Bath for just £10 in advance – everyone welcome but spaces are limited due to equipment (such as boxing gloves) so please book here if you would like to come – click payment link here

Speak to you in 2012

Zita

How to look good for Santa

CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL TIPS

The average person puts on 7-10lbs extra fat over the Christmas period- wow! That’s mainly because people start over-eating late November and often don’t stop until January 2nd (or later if they haven’t finished all the chocolates!). However it doesn’t have to be like that if you have some simple strategies, so be sure to read all the way to the end as you may be surprised at a fact I will share with you in this article.

1. DO A SHORT, INTENSE WORKOUT BEFORE YOU GO OUT – This will not only get your metabolism revved up ready to burn extra calories, but will also focus your mind into what choices you have. You may decide to have that extra glass of wine or you may think “mmm do I really want to do another 50 burpees just to burn it off?” – up to you really. Doing a quick workout before you go out will also make you feel alive, get the blood flowing to your skin which in turn will make you look even more beautiful at the party.

2. EAT WITH YOUR NON-DOMINANT HAND – If you want to avoid all the “when are you going to stop this health kick – it’s Christmas, lighten up etc” comments, here’s a way they don’t even have to know you’re eating clean … eat with your non dominant hand! Why does it work? It slows you down. When you slow down what you’re eating, you eat less. And when you eat less, you continue to fit into the clothes you want to, feel better, and look better. Simple, yet effective.

3. DRESS THE PART – Yes put on the outfit you love to wear that you’ve been working hard to get back into or just feel good wearing. You will not only look fabulous but you will also be more conscious of what you are eating and drinking. Opt for something more fitted to help control your intake rather than a baggy outfit with “room to expand”!

4. WATER, WATER, WATER – Most people are very dehydrated over the festive period with more consumption of hot drinks, alcohol and non-water filled foods such as fruit and vegetables. Don’t forget we often mistake dehydration for hunger signals so make sure you always have a glass of water first. Also have an extra glass of water every time you have an alcoholic drink, have a glass before you head out the house and also when you get home.

5. DAMAGE LIMITATION EATING – Make sure not to stand next to the buffet table and only fill your plate once, with food that you can identify, eg a vol-au-vent does not appear in nature but prawns, carrot sticks or nuts are in their original state (generally). Don’t touch the bread either, however good it looks.

6. PLANNING – If you know you have a meal out coming up, then make sure you are eating only fish, meat, eggs, vegetables and a little fruit during the other meals that day. Keep planning your regular workouts into your week and if a night out means you will miss your regular evening exercise class then get up earlier that morning and do a short bodyweight workout at home.

What you must remember, and choose to ignore if you so wish, is that when we put on body fat we increase the NUMBER of fat cells that we have and this can never be reversed. All we can do is to shrink the SIZE of these fat cells but we can’t make them disappear. So if like me, you were a fat kid and young person, you will have more fat cells than if you have always been a sporty, slim person so sadly you will have to stick to these rules even more if you want to look and feel good on January 1st!

4 week bootcamp starts in Bath and Midsomer Norton on 9th January http://zestbootcamp.co.uk/

Our new 21 day online Shape-up plan starts on January 9th if you are unable to come to classes so check out this link to hear Zita explain what it involves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1paXFk4MyA&feature=youtu.be

Happy Christmas!

Shaping up before Christmas

How hard can it be?

A visual reminder of what 5lbs of fat looks like compared to muscle (this is enough to put some people off their food)

Lucy had started her journey to shape up for Christmas and you can see how she is getting on so far https://www.facebook.com/pages/21-day-shape-up-plan/146287285477751

This new 21 day programme will be rolling out in the new year so check back if you are interested in getting that body back once you’ve put on the average 7-10lbs that most people do over this festive period!

Zita

How to get a flat tummy…

CORE

At bootcamp you will constantly be using your core, and we tell you to keep it tight but what is it?

Your core is not just the muscles in your abdomen, but also the muscles in your back and your hips and it acts like a corset around your trunk. It is hugely important to have a strong core as these muscles are responsible for the movement of your body. However, if we look at the abs specifically, they fall into 3 main groups:

• Rectus abdominis – flexes the lumbar spine and tilts the pelvis. They help maintain the curvature of the lower spine.  It is often call the six pack because it looks like 6 muscles when well developed. The fibres of these muscles run vertically from your ribs to your pubic bone.
• Transverse abdominals – this is a deeper layer of internal muscles and supports the vital organs in the abdomen.  It does help to flatten the stomach and is used in breathing, defecation, urination and childbirth. The fibres of these muscles run horizontally from front to back (they insert into your spine) and work at low intensity, therefore you are unlikely to ever feel the same “burn” you get in comparison to the other abdominal muscles.
• Internal and external obliques – these muscles run down the side of the abdomen and help in bending and rotating. Their fibres have a criss cross pattern.

What do core muscles do?

1. Keep you upright.   They stabilise your spine, hips and shoulders, so a strong core leads to good posture which aids all movement, whilst a weak core leads to poor posture and very often back pain and injury.
2. They provide stability for activities like walking, bending, standing, sitting, carrying.  You name it, they help you do it.
3. A strong core is a great asset when training as it improves balance, enhances stability and power, all important factors when training, so enabling a greater intensity during exercise when using weights, plyometrics, such as jumping and leaping or doing high impact exercises.

Let’s not forget the pelvic floor muscles which help stabilise the pelvis and support the organs of the lower abdominal cavity, like the bladder and uterus. Engaging the transverse abdominals helps engage the pelvic floor as they have a connection. The pelvic floor muscles act as a support at the base of the pelvic bowl.  One of these muscles goes around the openings of the urethra, vagina and anus.  Childbirth, ageing, inactivity and chronic coughing can cause these muscles to weaken or become damaged so ladies don’t neglect those postnatal pelvic floor exercises!

The stronger the core, the more advanced exercises can be performed.  One of the best things is that it can be easily exercised at home, many exercises require nothing more than body weight as you will know from Bootcamp…

Plank, Mountain climbers,Renegade Row, Side plank, Frog heel push outs, Crunches, Reverse Curls, Dead bugs, T rotations Superman, Arm angels, Y arm lifts etc

NB: A flat stomach does NOT come from doing lots of abdominal exercises – if you have a layer of fat over your abdomen then it will not go away by just doing lots of crunches which is why firstly good nutrition and secondly a good whole body exercise programme will help you get a six pack!

ps Don’t forget that there is a video on the members site www.bathfitness.co.uk, showing you how to do some of the exercises

“Bodies are made in the kitchen”

You’ve all heard the saying “you can out train a bad diet” right? Well it’s true, there is no use going to the gym every day if you are not paying attention to your diet.

Don’t assume you need to load up on plates of pasta and bread to give you energy to exercise. The body requires far less than we stuff in it most days – that’s why we got fat!

Think about your goal and training – if you are a bodybuilder who wants to add muscle bulk then you diet will be different to a breastfeeding mother looking to lose a few pounds. In fact, the detailed approach to bodybuilding which I have recently heard about from Nicola Joyce has been fascinating and I would think a real eye opener to most readers – it requires discipline with a capital D! (In fact Nicola started the sport of body building less than a year ago and has won several trophies)

Most people who come to bootcamp are just looking to lose on average 10 lbs of body fat and get fitter and the principles we use are actually very much aligned to the clean eating of a bodybuilder, although the end result is quite different.

Vicky,who is a new Mum, wanted to get back into her skinny jeans and have more energy so she joined Zest Bootcamp in Bath at the start of September and 7 weeks later she has lost her “baby belly”, dropped 1.5 stone, gone down a clothes size and feels so much fitter. She kept strictly to the nutritional rules, which once she got into the habit of doing have proved easy to incorporate into her busy day. As advised Vicky kept a food diary which allowed me to give her advice on what small changes she could make if necessary, eg after week 1 she said “I’m so hungry” so we looked at increasing her protein consumption at certain times of day.

Remember diet’s don’t work, just a long term healthy approach to eating that you can work with FOREVER!

You can hear what Vicky thought of Zest Bootcamp in this short video and watch the 6.30am campers in action doing a variety of things, such as bear crawls, boxing and press up circles….

Government tells us to eat less

So today Obese people are being told to eat less, mmm it’s not that simple for a lot of people.

Emma Britton on BBC Radio Somerset was asking people to say what they thought about this so ofcourse I called in and you can hear what I said here (I’m on just after 48 minutes into the show)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00knjbc/Emma_Britton_14_10_2011/

Let me know what you think?

Zita

Chocolate and Courgette Muffins

The reason I’ve not updated the blog for a while is that I’ve been busy experimenting in the bootcamp kitchen and these are dairy, sugar and gluten free sweet treats that are great after exercising, or as a snack on the run to keep your blood sugar stable.

2 courgettes – grated

4 eggs

12 dried apricots (chopped)

1 cup ground almonds

1 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup rice/hemp or pea protein powder (mixture of 2 or all is nice)

OPTIONAL

Orange oil – just a few drops and cinnamon to taste

Agave syrup to taste

Splash water where necessary

(Optional add 1-2 bananas instead of apricots and less water)

Mix all in a mixer; if you do not have a mixer then blend the wet ingredients first and then add the dry ingredients and mix.

Line a muffin or square tin with coconut oil and add the wet mixture.  Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes at 180 degrees C.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  If baked in a square tin then cut into squares or remove from muffin tin.  These can then be kept in the fridge or frozen until ready to eat (but I reckon you might like them too much!)

Enjoy

Zita x

We are rebranding to ZEST BOOTCAMP…

Apologies for the very long absence but there has been LOTS going on including a decision to rebrand Bath Bootcamp to Zest Bootcamp.

There are several reasons we are doing this, the main one being that for over a year we have been running classes outside of Bath, just this month we launched another new venue at Midsomer Norton/Chilcompton , so it makes sense to have a generic name. Also the word Zest sums up our fresh, energetic approach plus ofcourse the letter  is the coolest one in the alphabet )

This month our new instructor Sarah Isherwood joined the team and here is a video of her new classes 

Nothing else about us has changed, even the logo is the same just different words, but you may still see Bath Bootcamp still appearing as there is SO much to change given we have been around for two and a half years.

Thanks to Amanda at The Whole Story who helped with our new flyer printing and Mark Mayers for the ability to put my ideas for Zest into great design.

Tomorrow we are off to the first ever Alexandra Park Festival in Bath where we have a stand and are doing a few short demos too. There are activities for the family and you can find out more HERE. I wonder who will win the free month at Zest bootcamp in the raffle?

If you’d like to see the new Zest website visit http://zestbootcamp.co.uk/

Pre-easter weight loss challenge

Congratulations to everyone at Bath Bootcamp who took part in our weight loss competition over the 6 weeks and the first prize went to Louise who lost an amazing 17lbs over Lent. Gill came second with 12lbs and Amanda with 10lbs. Collectively the group lost over 4 stone which is fantastic.

Everyone is felling better for it and their clothes are looking much looser. Louise filled in her food diary religiously over the 6 weeks to give her FOCUS, and as well as coming to our fat burning bootcamp classes 3 times a week she also swam and walked on the other days to stay ACTIVE.

Start writing down what you eat over the next 7 days and see what a difference it makes. Research shows that people who don’t keep a food and drink log are likely to consume 25% more calories than those who do. The odd this and that can slip in so start to get that focus back.

You can do it in a book, online with various programmes or use this simple sheet we use Food diary . I know that a big part of our competition entrants success was due to writing it down, as well as the short term focus they had (plus ofcourse they wanted to win a free month at bootcamp!).

Go do it now and let me know if it made a difference.