The Fitness Mosaic will be hosting an open weekend between the 17-19th May to give users a chance to test drive our gym. We have an action packed weekend of our usual class schedule, an educational seminar, gym challenges as well as some extra special classes taking place. Want to bring a friend to test drive a class or the gym over this weekend? No problem! simply email us at [email protected] giving us their name and we will take care of the rest. 

Education programme – Ladies only event Saturday 18th – 2:30pm

Claud Serjeant is a Rehabilitation and Movement Therapist who will be delivering a 90 minute workshop titled: “The Science behind weight gain and fat loss for women”. 

Claud will address a broad range of issues around health, fitness and training specifically for women. If you have any specific questions, please email them to us here.

Pole Fitness Class – Sunday 19th 2:30pm

Due to popular demand, we have asked Emily Bradley from Contours Pole to provide TFM members with a pole dancing class. Emily runs regular classes across London and you can book your class now FREE.  

The class will start with the pole basics and will build up to a fun, unique dance and whole body workout. 

Don’t worry, you don’t, you won’t need huge levels of upper body strength – this class is for all abilities and will be tailored to everyone.

To book into any of the above sessions, new clients will need to simply create a profile on our website and email [email protected]com and ask to be added to one of the workshops or our usual programme of classes. You can also book yourself in going to our timetable. 

Gym Challenge

Test your strength and fitness this weekend with our gym team who will be running some special competitions on the gym floor. Check out the timetable WC 13th May for challenge times and events.

It is all too easy to shoot for the biggest star; however it is important that goals are SMART; Specific, measureable, achievable, realistic, timed. Be realistic in your goal setting and break big goals down into more achievable chunks. There is little point in setting up to fail by saying to yourself “Right, I want to lose a stone in 4 weeks”. Goals are achieved in one simple way – with a plan. Without a plan you can kiss your results goodbye.

Let’s also not ignore adherence. Sticking to something (even when you can’t be bothered!) is often the toughest part. With this in mind, use a diary to schedule in your workouts. Open your diary open every Sunday and plan your week of exercise ahead. It has been proven that if you schedule an event, you are less likely to miss it!

Once you have scheduled exercise into your diary, it is the important to track your workouts by ticking off when you have completed them. Viewing adherence history is critical to keep motivation high and success on the cards.

How to progress/avoid hitting a plateau/how to fast track results.

While some workout plans work better than others, nothing works forever.

It is important to ensure workout plans show progression that is correctly periodised. This will ensure that the body is constantly progressing towards your goal, that the risk of injury and overtraining are reduced and your interest remains high.

Progression is a term used to describe the changes in sets, reps, weight (or load), rest periods that occur during the lifespan of a program. Programs that lack progression will be limited and won’t be effective for long. If you have stopped seeing progress within your program, you may simply have out grown it!

It is also important to remember when designing your plan to know your training age. So, what is your training age? How long you have trained without having a sustained break? Have you trained consistently for 6 months or have you trained on and off for 5 years. Consistency here is the key word. If you have trained consistently for 6 months, your training age is then 6 months. If you have stop-started, then your training age is virtually new born!! If that is the case, you can leave the classic ‘toys’ in the gym well alone and stick to the basics. The younger the training age, the longer you need to stick to the same programme to see improvements.

In summary, to fast track results…Agree the benchmarks, design and develop a periodised plan based on your training age and keep a diary of your results. Unfortunately there is no quick fix and no magic wand. Goals are tough, but the reward on achieving them is well worth it.

We are trying hard at The Fitness Mosaic to support our local businesses.

Sitting down….it has a lot to answer for right? Is your working desk set up correctly? We have jotted a few of our quick tips below to help your seated posture and ultimately, your working posture.

Chair

• You should be able to pull your chair close to your desk.
• Both feet should be flat on the floor (try not to cross the legs) and have the knees in line with hip joint (you may need a foot rest).
• The seat should provide support for the upper legs without causing undue pressure on the backs of your knees.
• Remember sitting on the edge of your seat causing slouching. Your chair whilst keying should allow you to keep your elbows at your side and your forearms horizontal to the ground.

The screen

• Your screen should be approximately arms length from you.
• When looking straight ahead your eyes should be level with the top of the screen casing.
• Make sure characters on your screen are sharply focused and can be read easily. They

 

The keyboard

• When working with a keyboard keep your elbows to your side, your forearms horizontal to the ground and your wrists ‘neutral’.

The mouse

• Remember to positon your mouse close your immediate reach zone to ensure your elbow remains beside your body keeping your forearms as horizontal as possible.

I have lost count of the number of members that have asked our advice when contemplating a juice cleanse; often driven by the lure of a quick fix or clever marketing. I figured if our members were looking for an unbiased opinion, you might be too.

Do juice cleanses deliver on their promise?

Feel energised

Boost your immune system

Strengthen your bones

Make your skin glow

Aid weight loss

These are just a few of the many benefits plugged by the vast number of juicing companies.

I totally understand why a juice cleanse appears a popular choice. These colourful bottles of juice hold the promise of instant weight loss, an easy body detox and a kickstart to the metabolism. But at what long term cost? Are juice cleanses doing more harm than good?

Juice for thought;

1. Are you drinking juice to replace real food?

If you are, you will be lacking vital nutrients your body needs.

• Fibre. This is key. Keeps us fuller for longer and prevents over eating.
• Protein. Another biggy for me. Again, fills us for longer and allows us to build and maintain lean muscle. As we know, lean muscle burns calories – even at rest.

2. Most juice cleanses total 1000 – 1200 calories a day.

What do you think this will do to your metabolism? My guess it slow it down dramatically. Also, with such low calories your body is likely using muscle tissue for it’s energy source rather than fat. Another low point of low calorie regimes.

3. Have you given thought to your post-cleanse menu?

When you begin to eat solid foods again, any ‘weight’ that has been lost will simply be put back on in the form of fat cells.

I have seen members finish a juice cleanse and go for steak and chips that night at an event. Short term win as they appear ‘skinnier’ for the event. Long term loss due to the damage to the metabolism.

4. Sugar.

Most juice cleanses are fruit based. In turn usually meaning high in sugar. Also, without the fibre, we tend to absorb fructose sugar more easily.  Often overworking our livers and turning fructose into fat.

Summary

In our opinion, a cleanse/detox is simply putting less rubbish in and there will be less rubbish to rid.

So, when I want to cleanse, I slowly start to peel back my rubbish, one at a time, bit by bit. Never eliminating anything altogether just gaining control and making informed decisions of what I am putting into my body.

Losing fat comes down to burning more calories than you consume in a day. Rather than just looking at how much fat you burn during an exercise session you need to be aware of what is happening throughout the day. Along with being mindful of the food/drink you consume you must also look at ways to increase your Daily Metabolic Rate (the amount of calories you burn in one day).

There are many benefits to cardio vascular training and it is a great calorie burner.
Jogging for 30 minutes will burn you around 300 calories (http://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/calories-burned-in-30-minutes- of-leisure-and-routine-activities )which is a third higher than resistance training for the same period. However don’t be fooled by the calories burnt during your workout. We must also look at the calories burnt post workout. After a resistance workout your body needs to repair the damaged muscle tissue through protein synthesis and this leads to an increase in your calorie expenditure for a number of hours after your workout.
In summary, what you eat is one of the most important things when it comes to burning fat. Whilst aerobic (cardio) training helps, combining it with weight training will yield the best results – not just for calorie burn but for all the health benefits of exercise.

1. Forget sit ups every day for a flat stomach. Holding a plank for 30 seconds every day will tighten your abdominal muscles and give the appearance of a flatter stomach.
2. Learn to love weights. The majority of calories are burnt in the muscles (specifically the mitochondria). So, muscles are the furnaces – the more furnaces you have fired up (or the greater the mass of muscle that is active), the more calories you will burn, not only in your workout, but also throughout the day as a boost to your basal metabolic rate.
3. It has been proven that regular weight training can boost your basal metabolic rate by 15%. So incorporate exercises that challenge numerous muscle groups and multiple joints (compound movements) into your workout routine.
4. It is a fact that 1 pound of fat takes up 18% more space than 1 pound of muscle. So, keep it simple – pick just 5 or 6 simple exercises that require all the muscles of the body to perform and repeat them regularly.
5. No one wants to look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Always work the chest to back on a 2:3 ratio. Always training the back more.
6. Walk tall, lift the chest and keep your eyes on the top of the road to instantly remove pounds and make you appear taller and slimmer.
7. Generally try to move more everyday. To burn 250kcal more each day increase incidental exercise by moving. Walk when on the phone, do the housework. Even fidgeting helps!
8. Eat your breakfast. Break the fast. Skipping breakfast slows down your metabolism as your body adjusts to cling on to any nutrients and calories it can find.
9. It is a myth that eating carbohydrates after 4pm makes you fat. Eating excess calories makes you fat! Try and space 4 hours between breakfast and lunch and 6 hours between lunch and your evening meals making protein the base of all meals.
10. Let’s get realistic. Simply doing 10 minutes of activity every day will drastically improve your health. But by exercising 3 times a week for a minimum of 20 minutes you can achieve your fitness goals.