Is my training program a flop?

 

Have you ever started a new training program, challenge, or diet and absolutely flopped?

You were excited, motivated, did your food shop, your meal prep, scheduled your training sessions in and then just stopped for no reason? 

You took a leap and put yourself out there, but you didn't go as you planned (like all the Instagram quotes promised!)

Often women fail due to 3 things:

· Trying to find a quick fix

·  Poor relationship with food 

·  Running on stress hormones, caffeine, and desperation

 

So, let’s break these down. 

Mistake 1 - Trying to find a quick fix

Unfortunately, there are no short cuts. There are no quick fixes. And sadly, health and fitness marketing thrive on convincing you there is. I know you want to get results fast. But I can tell you know, that if something seems too good to be true. It probably is.

A quick fix will not address underlying health dysfunction. 99% of the clients I have worked with in the past few years have had either or all. Can happily admit I have been there.

Chronic gut health issues, down-regulated metabolism, and/or estrogen dominance. All of which can slow down and even halt fat loss, exacerbate cravings, increase stress and anxiety, and ultimately lead you down a path of what may feel like failure.

Mistake 2 - Poor relationship with food

 Tell tail signs that someone has a poor relationship with food are:

·  You sabotage on the weekend

·  You have firm dietary rules

·  You avoid or worry about eating out 

·  You work out to burn calories – nothing else

·  You punish yourself if you eat something 'off' plan

·  You cut out entire food groups

·  You are always on and off different diets

·  You are either 'all in' or 'all out'

·  You characterise food as 'good' or 'bad'

These mindsets and behaviors not only set you up for health dysfunction, but they can put a serious halt on your ability to get results. This includes fixing your metabolism, gut, and hormones.

Mistake 3 - Running on stress hormones, caffeine, and desperation

I always explain to my clients that stress, sleep, nutrition, and training are like 4 legs to a stool when it comes to achieving your health, body, and fitness goals

If one leg of the stool breaks. Then the whole stool falls. Stress and sleep are just as important as nutrition and training when it comes to fat loss, gut health, metabolism, and hormonal health. 

If you are dieting hard but you are hyper stressed all the time, not sleeping, and surviving primarily on stimulants then you are going to be chasing your tail with you goals constantly.

What Does Your Knee Pain Mean?

 

If you're reading this, it's likely you've felt pain or stiffness in your knees when exercising, or maybe experience ‘popping’ noises. These kinds of symptoms are quite common when it comes to your knees, but it can be concerning if you're feeling any kind of pain or discomfort during your workouts.

A few words on cracks and pops

Even if you don’t have any pain or discomfort in your knee joints, you may still have noticed the odd cracks, pops and other strange noises when exercising. 

Noisy knees are especially common when performing exercises such as squats and lunges, or other moves that involve knee extension and flexion. If you’re in the creaky squad, there's no need to worry - in most cases, noisy knees are completely harmless. All bodies are different, but typically sounds of clicking, popping, clenching, grinding or anything else of sorts, can be explained by physiological reasons such as:

Air build-up

Evidence shows that in many cases, knee cracking may be related to tiny air bubbles forming in the joints. This can happen to other joints too - for example you might have also heard your knuckles pop like this.

Tendon snap

This may sound a bit scary but isn’t necessarily harmful in nature. Ligaments and tendons around the knee joint may stretch slightly as they pass over a small bony lump and then snap back into place, causing a clicking sound in the knee. In the knee joint, this is generally caused by the biceps femoris (hamstring) tendon on the side area of the knee joint. But again – if there is no pain, bruising, or swelling you should be fine! If not make sure you get it seen too.

Other causes

So, when should you worry about noisy knees?

Knee noise is not usually a cause for concern, but make sure to see a doctor, a physiotherapist, or a sports physician if it’s paired with any pain, swelling or discomfort. These symptoms paired with popping or clicking may indicate damage to the ligaments or the meniscus, so don’t delay getting examined.
Even without any of the worrying signs, if your knee noises bother you, pay a visit to the pros for management tips specific to your situation - which might look like strengthening activities (such as steps ups, squats, and adductor work), stretches (often or hip flexors, quads, iliotibial band and calves), or other methods to help target the anatomical structures around the knee.

Let’s dive into the possible reasons for knee pain and some tips on managing it. 

Overuse

Overuse generally occurs in the tendons around the knee and can present above or below the kneecap, or on the inside or outside of the knee joint. The main reason overuse injuries happen is by doing too much, too quickly. From going too hard on cardio (like cycling or running) which I have seen a lot of people suffer with post lockdown, to overdoing strength exercises without sufficient rest and conditioning, it’s quite easy to acquire an overuse injury – especially with the wrong technique.

If you suspect overuse may be the case, it's a good idea to dial back how much you are doing until the pain recedes and then slowly build activity levels back up. It is frustrating I know! But when it comes to your performance and general health and wellbeing, taking a small step back doesn’t sound too bad, does it? The key phrase here is slow progression: start slowly with days of recovery between sessions that load the knee, and only increase activity when your body is ready to handle it.

Poor technique
Bad technique when performing knee dominant exercises is another common cause of pain. If the knee is not stabilised with the right muscles working in performance with each other, then the load can be transferred to weaker muscles or to other joints. This can then cause disproportionate loading, which is a sure-fire shortcut to pain and discomfort.
The solution is putting proper form above anything else. Use a mirror, get a workout partner or qualified trainer to make sure you're performing lower body movements correctly, such as squats, lunges, leg presses or other knee dominant exercises. If this means dropping the weight to ensure perfect form and joint tracking, then don’t hesitate to go lighter.

Skipping the warmup / Muscle tightness

Skipping a warmup is a big NO! NO! There is so much more to warming up than just walking on the treadmill for 5 minutes – but that is a whole other post / video to come.
Warming up prior to your training session is super important, as it helps with:

·         Increasing the temperature in your muscles
·        Lubricating the knee joint and the surrounding structures
·         And activating the knee stabilizers

As a bonus, these movements will also strengthen the supporting structures and give you an amazing foundation for more challenging moves.

Tight muscles can cause pulling on other structures or restrict knee movement, which results in disproportionate loading of the knee joint. One good way to prevent this is to foam roll, trigger point and stretch the lower body regularly. This should be done prior to training the lower body if you tend to have achy knees in certain movements.
It’s very important to remember that even if the pain is focused in your knees, it may not be originating there. Structures around the hip, calf or hamstring can often be the cause, so don’t overlook them either.

Acute injury

If you are suddenly feeling sharp pains while performing movements, dull pain at all hours of the day, or seeing swelling or other irregularities around your knee, these are signs you may have suffered an acute injury.
In this case, the best course of action is to see a physiotherapist or sports physician straight away to obtain a prompt diagnosis and come up with a plan of action.

What exactly is a Health Coach?

A good question, and one that is difficult to definitively answer, such is the variety of definitions and titles bouncing around in the wellness vocabulary. An umbrella term that can refer to life coaches, holistic coaches or health coaches, all different ones offer different expertise. From looking at diet, fitness, energy levels and exercise routine to assessing mental health and general lifestyle, a wellness coach helps a client to address imbalances in their life and set out clear goals for their future.

I support clients step-by-step to implement and sustain lifestyle and behavior changes that contribute to achieving their personal health and lifestyle goals. And all at a pace that is comfortable for them.

Many of my clients are busy and stressed and need clarity and help with their direction in life (stuck in a rut). Some have come to me complaining of lack of direction, low self-esteem, and a certain inner conflict. Those that feel planless sometimes need a helping hand to choose a path that works for them and could well benefit from the guidance of a wellness coach. I would help you get “unstuck” by helping you figure out what’s keeping you from reaching your health goals.

My aim is to help you create goals by looking at what stage of change, you’re in and what action you’re ready to take. Its about self-discovery. I will guide you in putting the pieces together for yourself. You will be able to figure out how to make the changes that work for your life.

Through fostering a positive mind-set around health and well-being, wellness coaches empower and motivate clients to become their own experts.

Your will have 8-10 sessions checks in with you by email, phone calls or in-person meetings, usually over the course of at least three months. During those conversations, I would ask questions to get you thinking about how you can overcome challenges. It isn’t about someone telling you what to do.

I act as someone who will respecting your terms and your reasons for wanting – or not wanting to change. Change is often difficult, even when it’s something we really want. Sometimes it even feels downright impossible.

Would you be interested? enquiries.iysfitness@gmail.com

Personal Training Gift Vouchers and Gift Giving ideas

Looking for the best fitness gift? Well, get ready because its beginning to look a lot like, you guessed it, fit-mas! 

Yes, i know it's not long now, but it's never too late to start thinking about your dream wish list or what you might want to give the loved ones in your life or even gift to yourself. I’ve rounded up 10 gifts for your favorite fitness fanatic from trainers, fit tech, self-care items and luxe labels to gift (or be gifted) to savvy high-street buys that punch above their price tag. 

If it is not a actual gift you are wanting why not give the gift of health and fitness by them investing in their mental and physical wellbeing. I offer packages from 20 pounds which are also available online. These include Life and Mindset Coaching where i am offering a complimentary 30 minute 'get to know you session'. If this is something you would like to know more about, send me a message to enquiries.iysfitness@gmail.com

So, whether you're looking for stocking fillers from £4 or investment buys for your BFF, partner, Mum, or, of course, yourself (we're not judging), look no further than the WH fitness gift guide. Happy shopping.

1.    ADORIC Sports Water Bottle 1L

2.    IUGA Yoga Block Set of 2 with Metal D-Ring YogaStrap High Density Yoga Brick 

3.    Wireless Earbuds Headphones 

4.    Fitbit Versa 3 Health & Fitness Smartwatch

5.    ExtraHigh Impact Non-Wired Sports Bra

6.    Cookworks Hand Blender - Stainless Steel

7.    Wxy Bed - Warm Musk & Black Vanilla Diffuser

8.    5-pack Monki socks

9.    Lumie Bodyclock Spark 100 Wake-up Light Alarm

1.  Everlast 30lbKettlebell Set

Why cheat meals / days aren't that great for you

Cheat meals or cheat days are something that has been around in the fitness industry for decades. This is basically a meal or day per week that you have ‘off’ your nutrition plan. And generally, it is a free for all, and you can eat whatever you like.

Many women and girls especially, claim that they psychologically need a cheat meal or cheat day to keep compliant with their nutrition plan throughout the week as it gives them something to look forward to and gives them a mental break from ‘dieting’. I used to be the exact same.

Now, after years of trial and error, working with clients, understanding nutritional physiology, hormones, and the female mindset. I never prescribe cheat meals or cheat days for my clients. 

Here are 4 main reasons for this;

1. I speak not only from personal experience but also from understanding the female mindset, that cheat meals and cheat days encourage a poor relationship with food, which leads to binging and emotional eating, and over-time cause weight gain. Some cheat meals will turn into cheat days, sometimes a cheat day turns into a cheat week, and often these meals or days are binges. 

2. It can throw you into a calorie surplus if it isn’t controlled. If you are eating in a calorie deficit (less than your maintenance) 6 days per week but one day you are eating 7000 calories, your total weekly calories will push you into a surplus. And a calorie surplus = weight gain.

3. Now more than ever almost every female I speak to will most likely have some sort of gut issues, this is what you need to work on before removing or adding in new types of foods. Cheat meals and cheat days place a huge amount of stress on the digestive system and often the food choices inflame the gut. Which makes the gut issues worse over time. Which will then affect you mentally and potentially trigger you into believing you are ‘too fat’, ‘regret every bite’ and ‘will never eat again’.

4. They almost always bring up feelings of guilt and regret.
Now, the theory behind cheat meals does have some favorable effects on our physiology. When we go into a calorie deficit, we will see hormonal down-regulation of the thyroid, leptin, female sex hormones, and testosterone (all hormones that can promote fat loss). We also see up regulations of hormones like cortisol and ghrelin which can promote fat storage. Cheat meals or days give an acute spike in calories and carbs to give the body a little hormonal reset and up-regulate those fat loss hormones again and down-regulate those fat storage hormones.

This is why instead of cheat meals I like refeeds and diet breaks.

A refeed, or diet break is a structured increase in calories and carbohydrates either 1-2 days or up to 7 days, this is usually on  a rest day. I personally find this works and where I will take my clients to base calories and around 40-50% of total calories from carbohydrates. However, we still structure all the meals and will keep the meals fairly like what they have been eating. But we will incorporate more bread, pasta, ice-cream, Nutella, and chocolate as they will have lots of extra carbs to play with.

The key difference here is we are still accounting for all calories during this period. Therefore, we are reducing stress on the digestive system. I will include these for a few reasons;

1. A psychological break from calorie restriction
2. Help with muscle recovery
3. Reduce stress
4. Alleviate any water retention we may be having due to prolonged fat loss
5. Increase energy levels

I always include / encourage refeeds or diet breaks in client's plans once we are going into a fat loss phase. More often than not they actually lose fat in this period (crazy right), they wake up leaner the next day, performance in the gym improves, they sleep better, their sex drive spikes, and their cravings reduce.

4 Reasons you may be killing your results!

For years we have been forced to believe that if we eat well and exercise, we will lose fat. If we are still struggling to get it off just eat less and train more and we will see results. Sounds like a simple solution, right? Just eat well and train hard, and we will burn fat! If this was the case then we should ALL be walking around with the body of our dreams, right? Unfortunately, fat loss is not that simple. One of the main reasons I see so many women struggling to lose body fat even when they are eating well, and training hard is stress. Lets be real, we live in a stressful world. Our jobs are more demanding, we work long hours (sometimes 6-7 days a week), we are always on our phones/tablet/laptop, there is financial stressors and family/relationship stressors. When we are stressed our body releases a hormone called Cortisol. This stress could be from emotional sources, physical sources, training stress, dehydration, anxiety, or sleep deprivation. Cortisol plays a key role in energy production by breaking down different types of tissue in the body to convert to glucose, which will give us more energy to get through a stressful situation. In small bursts, cortisol is actually great, and it can help us to build muscle and burn fat. But, the issue becomes when cortisol is always elevated.

Here are 4 issues that occur when cortisol is elevated for long periods of time that will kill your results. Insulin Resistance When cortisol is elevated all the time is dumps glucose into the bloodstream. Insulin is then secreted to remove the glucose from the bloodstream (as it is toxic in there). Over time, insulin receptors will stop working which means glucose stays in the bloodstream. This makes fat loss very difficult and means more fat will be stored around the hips / midsection. Digestion Issues Cortisol decreases the permeability of the gut wall. This means food particles can ‘leak’ through the gut wall and into the bloodstream. Causing a lot of digestion problems. If you struggle with digestion issues it may be due to stress. When digestion issues are present fat loss will be stalled. Emotional Eating Stress influences us to satisfy the pleasure centers in our brain in an attempt to reduce stress. Cortisol can also work to increase appetite, to ensure there is enough energy for our body to deal with the stress. A study found women with high cortisol consumed more calories on days of higher stress, with most of these excess calories coming from sweet foods. So high levels of cortisol mean increased hunger and cravings for foods high in sugar and fat.  Abdominal Fat Studies have shown over and over again that highly stressed women have higher levels of abdominal fat than low-stress women. If you are struggling to lose fat especially around the mid-section that is tell-tale sign stress is an issue for you, whether you know it or not. This is when you need to take a step back to think about the potential stressors you have going on - or care to admit them.  Basically, stress does weird things to peoples’ bodies. It can affect anything from your menstrual cycle, digestion, muscle recovery, fatigue, your skin, thyroid function, and much more. Any of these underlying issues will directly affect your ability to get results. I hope this gives you a rough understanding of how stress can be holding you back from getting the results you want. I know how frustrating it can be to think you are doing everything right but it still isn’t working. 95% of the time I find by addressing stress with my clients we can get them the results they want! But remember..! If you are eating less and exercising more or too much - you will  not lose fat and plateau. We need food to recover the work that has been done from exercising. If you don't fuel your body it will only stay under consistent stress to repair itself and you will not gain any more muscle or lose body fat!

Lifting for max gains - how to progress every time you train

It is very easy for every Personal Trainer, Youtuber and average joe sell to you what exercises you should be doing. - but do many of them explain the reasoning why and what these movements actually are? And do they actually go through the other phases of what is involved with when entering the world of lifting weights. 

I wanted this post to be a break down of the terminology of the words you may used thrown around and how they will benefit you in your training sessions and so you don't have a blank look on your face when told these words. But to also give you some tips on things you may not have even thought about and or doubt yourself with. 

These points might seem very basic - but they are the most important ones for people to follow / remember.

Compound Movements 

No one changed their body doing arm circles and kickbacks. Some examples of these movements include pushing, pulling, squatting, pressing and lifting, more closely to resemble movements our muscles would experience in every day life. They effectively help us to produce practical, useful strength, which we can be used to complete our daily tasks with greater efficiency, this will also provide an ability to coordinate multiple muscle groups simultaneously. 

A main benefit of using compound, or multi-joint, lifts s the systemic stress they exert throughout the targeted muscles and surrounding areas. 

Progressive Overload

Put simply, this means to always be lifting a little bit more than last time. This can mean lifting a little more weight, or getting an extra rep or two. The only way to make progress is to increase what you can lift over time. The main focus is to make sure that your form is on point, otherwise this will result in injury and then regression - which leads on to my next point..

Perfecting your form

Like any new skill we all start as beginners, do not be phased by people grunting and groaning, throwing heaving weights around in the lifting section, focusing on your form is the main priority. Do not feel discouraged if you are still using a barbell with no weight. Once you have mastered the movements you can then progress. Form needs to be maintained throughout, both for your safety and also so you don't waste your time. If your form is slipping, lower your weight until it isn't. Its not worth the injury and time away from exercising. 

Mind to muscle connection 

When performing each exercise, really try to to mentally connect to the working muscle. Feel it squeeze and release. This helps to keep muscle properly engaged. This is a term used to the act of activating a muscle not just moving the weight. Ultimately, having the ability to focus your minds attention on a single muscle or muscle group relies on quite a lot of neuromuscular control and proprioception.

If it hurts, STOP

It's one thing to "feel the burn", it's another to feel actual pain. If any exercise is causing the wrong kind of pain, do not try to push through it - just stop. No single exercise is worth hurting yourself for

Bring the effort 

You will only get out of your lifting what you put into it half-ass your training? You should then expect half-assed results. Bring the effort to get the results you are working towards! As i mentioned before, do not feel discouraged when lifting weights. Muscles take time to build and even more so alongside a health lifestyle. These include sleep, nutrition, mental wellbeing and social wellbeing. 

LISS - Fat burning workout without the stress

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to a great type of workout that will help you lose fat, become more healthy, that doesn't involve any heavy weights and you can do in your own space and time. This is a LISS workouts (Low Intensity Steady State).

This type of training is the opposite of hardcore, intense HIIT workouts, LISS training focuses more on long, steady workouts that build up stamina gradually rather than pushing you to breaking point. After years of being told we need to sweat until we can't see in order to achieve any type of 'dream body' in the gym (not that I'm saying that doesn't work), LISS workouts are a much-welcomed break from the extreme exertion and can be a great place to start if you don’t have much experience in exercise.

Body Confidence

Hold your hands up if you’re your own worst critic? Well for me this used to be a definite and I am sure there are a large number of you out there who are the same, males and females.

It’s natural to pick fault with your appearance and dwell on the bits of your body you don’t particularly like, but you don’t have to be a supermodel to feel love for your shape because you are who you are and were born that way. In case you hadn’t noticed, everyone is different and i hate to sound so cliché but everyone is beautiful in their own way inside and out.