These fitness professionals share their exercise secrets to inspire you to move. We’d all like a magic bullet to make us fitter and healthier, but does a simple formula exist? How do you find motivation and what are the best ways to train?
Tiffiny Hall – Approach your training holistically.
Physical conditioning should include some focus on emotional fitness. I train to chemically improve my mood, memory and creativity for writing as well as longevity. It’s not as simple as ‘eat less, move more’. Obesity is an unhealthy emotional and psychological relationship with food. We need to investigate the mental health aspects of eating disorders – your body is 85 percent of what you eat. Find the right ‘fit’ for you. Dance, gym, bootcamps – whatever type of movement you enjoy, do it. There is no right or wrong. For me, the right fit is martial arts – I love the social aspect and the philosophy.
Exercise secrets – Recognise your triggers
Andrew Simmons – Exercise scientist and author
Achieving fitness results is actually simple. People just need to move more. Find exercises you enjoy doing and once you stop enjoying it, stop the exercise. Some fitness professionals try to overcomplicate things to make themselves
look good. When it comes to weight training, simple compound exercises are the most effective.
With health and fitness, people focus on the wrong thing first. Most people focus on exercise before healthy eating.
Most look for a diet quick fix and when it inevitably doesn’t work, they give up.
Being fit and healthy should be seen as a lifestyle choice rather than something you start and stop.
Using food and alcohol to deal with your emotional issues leads to bad habits.
Self-awareness is the key – what triggers your bad health behavior? Many bad habits around food choices form at specific destinations, such as drinks with friends or stopping to buy petrol.
Recognise your triggers and plan for them.
Set manageable expectations standing at the bottom looking at the top can be overwhelming and de-motivating. Set yourself a goal of having two more healthy meals than last week, rather than expecting yourself to eat perfectly.
Being fit and healthy is a personal choice. Something that frustrates me is the ‘no time’ excuse. ‘I have no time to
exercise’ or ‘I have no time to prepare my meals. Also, people say they can’t afford a personal trainer or gym membership, but spend money on other things like alcohol.
When getting started, baby steps are okay.
ROB DERBYSHIRE – Personal trainer and coach’s exercise secrets.
I wish people knew how to push themselves by working on their weaknesses and becoming well-rounded in their fitness People need to train more like athletes, by varying their movements, stimuli, and routines.
Small intense workouts such as Tabata (high-intensity interval training, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for five minutes) can make a big difference to fitness and fat loss. Just 15 to 20 minutes every other day (providing the intensity is worthy) can return huge benefits.
When getting started, baby steps are okay. So don’t wait until next summer to start a beach body routine. Wear a heart rate monitor so that you aren’t overdoing it or underdoing it – the right intensity is important. Success depends on the FITT formula -frequency (how often you exercise), intensity (how hard you exercise) time (duration of exercise) and type (style of exercise).
Your fitness regimen doesn’t always have to be fun. The fun is finishing the hard work – the endorphin release, burning off the ‘feel-bad’ hormone cortisol and walking more upright with a sense of achievement.
If you want to lose weight stop weighing yourself obsessively. Focus on more useful measurements such as your waist-to-hip ratio or BMI (body mass index). Shift your focus from weight loss to training performance goals by setting fitness benchmarks. Try lifting weights or cardio interval training two to three times per week.
As a personal trainer, I have heard just about every excuse imaginable. You need to prepare for fitness realistically by taking into account regular day-to-day life. To get motivated, have purpose and passion. Uncover your deep-seated emotional reason for wanting a result. Find some enjoyment in exercise and go for S.M.A.R.T goals with gusto. Hire a credible trainer to get you going or train with a friend.
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