Slow Cooker: Cider & Honey Gammon

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We’ve got a simple yet super impressive slow cooker, gammon recipe.

Stick it in the slow cooker in the morning and forget about dinner for the rest of the day, it’s taken care of.

Prep: 30 Minutes
Cook: 6 hours on low
Serves: Depends on Gammon Size

Ingredients:
1 Unsmoked Gammon Joint
500ml Dry Cider
1 Onion (Diced)
Black Peppercorns
Small Handful of Cloves
2 Bay Leaves
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
3Tbsp Runny Honey

Instructions:
– Soak the gammon overnight to remove excess salt
– Place Gammon in the Slow Cooker, Poke Holes in the Fat Rind and stick cloves evenly throughout the holes
– Add diced onion, peppercorns and crushed garlic around the joint
– Fill with cider until half of the joint is submerged
– Place bay leaves on top, add lid and cook on low for 6 hours
– 20 mins before serving mix the garlic and cinnamon in a bowl to create your glaze
– drain the gammon, cover in glaze and place in the 0ven at 200C until the glaze starts to caramelise
– Serve With Sides of your choice & Enjoy

Slow Cooker: Chilli Con Carne

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We’ve got a simple yet rich & tasty slow cooker, chilli recipe for you that only takes 15 minutes to prepare.

Stick it in the slow cooker in the morning and forget about dinner for the rest of the day, it’s taken care of.

Prep: 15 Minutes
Cook: 6 hours on low
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
500g Lean Steak Mince
1 400g Tin of Chopped Tomatoes (drained)
1 Tin Kidney Beans (drained)
3 tbsp Tomato Puree
3 tbsp Chilli Paste
1 Red Pepper Roughly Chopped
1 Onion Finely Chopped
2 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
2 tsp Dried Oregano
1 Beef Stock Pot
2 Medium Garlic Cloves
4 Squares Dark Chocolate
40g Rice/Person

Instructions:
– Brown the mince & drain the fat
– Whilst the mince is browning, Chop Pepper & Onion (or veg of your choice) and crush garlic and place in the bottom of the slow cooker (cut fairly chunky to stop cooking too quickly)
– Add chopped tomatoes, puree, stock pot & herbs
– Add drained mince
– Add Chilli Paste & Stir In
– Cook on Low for 6 Hours
– Add kidney beans & chocolate 30 mins before serving
– Stir Occasionally Where Possible, Add a splash of hot water if needed
– Serve With Rice & Enjoy

Slow Cooker: Pasta bake

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We’ve got a super healthy slow cooker recipe for you that only takes 10 minutes to prepare.

Stick it in the slow cooker in the morning and forget about dinner for the rest of the day, it’s taken care of.

Prep: 10 Minutes
Cook: 4 hours on medium / 8 on low
Serves: 2

Ingredients:
2x Chicken Breasts (skinless)
1 Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
1 Chicken Stock Cube
Black Pepper
80g Wholewheat Pasta
vegetables of your choice
1 garlic clove
cheddar or Parmesan to taste

Instructions:
– Chop Pepper, Onion & Carrot (or veg of your choice) and crush garlic and place in the bottom of the slow cooker (cut fairly chunky to stop cooking too quickly)
– Dice the chicken and place in the cooker
– Add chopped tomatoes and diluted chicken stock to just cover the ingredients
– season to taste
– Cook on medium for approximately 3 hours
– Add uncooked pasta and cook for 1 more hour
– add cheese to taste for the last 30 minutes
– Serve & Enjoy

Covid-19 Update for Personal Trainers

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On the 13th May the UK government released their guidelines for the return of sports coaches and personal trainers in the UK.

The great news is that we’re now clear to work with the public face to face in a safe manor. For us this means:

  • 1:1 only
  • outside in parks & gardens accessible without entering the home
  • no equipment provided by us for the meatime
  • sanitation pre & post session to be completed by both parties
  • a minimum distance of 2m to be kept at all times

This great news can be found here:
>>>CLICK HERE<<<

We’re sure that this news is as exciting for many of you as it was for us and we hope to see you soon.

Stay safe,
Tom’s

Slow Cooker: Asian Noodle Soup

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We’ve got a super healthy slow cooker recipe for you that only takes 10 minutes to prepare.

Stick it in the slow cooker in the morning and forget about dinner for the rest of the day, it’s taken care of.

Prep: 10 Minutes
Cook: 4 hours on medium / 8 on low
Serves: 2

clean eating
weight loss
personal trainer

Ingredients:
2 Chicken breasts (Skin Off)
2 Nests of Noodles
4 Mushrooms
1 Medium Onion
2 Garlic Cloves
500ml water
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce (Low Sodium)
1/2 Teaspoon 5 Spice
1/2 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
1 Tablespoon Ginger Paste.

Instructions:
– Chop onions, mushrooms and crush garlic and place in the bottom of the slow cooker (cut fairly chunky to stop cooking too quickly)
– Place chicken breasts on top
– Mix together the other ingredients and pour over
– Cook on medium for approximately 4 hours
– Boil noodles and add to the soup. Slice up chicken breasts
– Serve & Enjoy

I’m Too Old (Inc Case Study)

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We can all find reasons why we can’t exercise or eat well, unfortunately age is definitely a common one.

It may be true that as we get older we feel less energetic but the reason for this is often not down to our age but the number of years we have been inactive and/or eat poorly.

The truth is: as we get older it becomes even more important that we remain active, to:
– reduce cholesterol & blood pressure
– maintain muscle & mobility
– reduce risk of: osteoporosis, heart disease, Cardio Vascular disease and some cancers
– maintain mobility & independence
– increase energy levels
– protect mental health
– & many more

Considerations:

By all means you may have developed health conditions over the years and may be very unfit at this point, therefore the following considerations should be made before starting your healthier lifestyle (it’s never too late):

– consult your doctor regarding any pre existing health conditions
– start slow & build up the intensity over time
– favour non weight bearing/low impact exercise such as swimming or an exercise bike
– any movement is better than none
– small changes add up over time
–  consider attending a class or using a personal trainer for additional support
– always warm up & cool down
– always finish with gentle stretching

Case Study:

We’ve had the pleasure of working with many retired people and the lady below is a shining example of what we’re capable of in just 10 weeks, even at 63 years old:

Capture

Happy Health,
Tom’s

Tracking Workouts

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Data plays a huge part in the success of all businesses, organisations and even our homes…However we often forget to utilise the wealth of data available surrounding our health & fitness…

Tracking your workouts is an easy way to maximise your performance and outcomes…

A simple but effective tracking system will:

  • make you more accountable to yourself
  • increase your chances of success
  • identify patterns & routines whether good or bad
  • highlight personal bests & progression
  • highlight areas for improvement
  • help you build a healthy routine
  • aid reflection and adaption in line with outcomes ie. if it’s not working you have a better chance of seeing why
  • reduce risk of injury
  • allow a structured progression = ongoing results
  • keep training varied & interesting
  • aid a trainer or coach in supporting you

How To Track Workouts
There are many ways to keep a records, they don’t have to be complicated.

We keep a record of every session we do with our clients including:
– date, time & session focus
– exercises
– weight, sets & reps
– timing
– notes on form & teaching focus

This is exactly the same information we collect for our own workouts which we then cross reference to quarterly body composition measurements.

Available Tools:
– how many minutes/week you exercise
– Smart Phone
– Fitness Apps
– Wearable Tech (fitbit etc)
– Some gyms have personalised trackers linked to CV equipment
– Pen & Paper, Diary etc

Using the Data (Example):
I’m in the gym today and:

  • It’s 28/07/19 @ 2.30pm
  • I’m training legs & shoulders
  • I’m using ascending pyramids
  • My warm up was Treadmill for 10 minutes
  • Then I write my exercises, sets weights & reps eg. Squats 100kg x 5reps, 100kg x 5reps, 100kg x 4reps etc
  • I then write down my cool down and any notes eg. my left hip felt weak

Every 6-12 weeks I then take my body composition measurements before setting my new structure for the next 3 months…If my chest grew more than my arms eg I may then steer my next 3 months to focus a little more on my arms

This approach can be applied to all of your fitness attributes and doesn’t have to be exactly the same as we’ve done it…you may choose just to focus on ensuring you spend 150 mins/week training or burn a certain number of calories through exercise each week.

We hope that you find this helpful

Go Get It!!!

Winter Vegetable Soup

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Warm up with this simple & nutritious Winter Vegetable Soup…

Serves: 4
Prep: 10 Minutes
Cook: 45 Minutes

Ingredients:
Carrot 330g
Swede 250g
Potato 350g
1 leek
1 onion
200g turnip
50g cabbage
1.5ltr veg stock
1 Garlic clove
Thyme
25g butter

  • Chop all the vegetables into small pieces or slice in a food processor
  • Melt the butter in a large saucepan and fry the onions on a low heat until softened
  • Add the leaks and crushed garlic clove and cook for a few more minutes until cooked down
  • Add all the remaining vegetables and stir so coated in the butter
  • Cook for 5 more minutes
  • Add the vegetable stock and thyme. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30-40 mins or until vegetables are soft.
Allow to cool and blend.
Serve & Enjoy

Challenge Yourself

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Who doesn’t like the feeling of achievement?!

Setting yourself Goals & Challenges is a great way to stay motivated and something to work towards, to cap it all off at the end you get an unrivaled sense of achievement…

Your goals don’t have to be huge, they could be something as simple as improving your lap time around the park by 1 minute in the next month.

The key to setting goals & challenges is to keep them SMART…We’ve mentioned SMART goals before and undoubtedly will again, for now here is a little reminder…

Related image

At the end of every GOAL should be a reward whether internal or external….Last Sunday that’s exactly what we got when we took some of our Boot Campers to an 5k Inflatable Obstacle Race…Not only did we all get medals and freebies but of us including our trainers felt an immense sense of achievement that already has us focused on finding our next challenge.

45267455_253280568668144_201736185851150336_n-min.jpg

What will your next challenge be?

 

Overnight Oats: Ready Made Breakfast

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Do you find yourself rushing in the morning?

Did you know that people that skip breakfast have been proven to have less healthy lifestyles and are more prone to weight gain?

Eating a balanced breakfast can be easy though, you can prepare this filling, nutritious treat the night before in just 2 minutes.

Prep: 2 minutes
Serves: 1

Ingredients:
30 grams Porridge Oats
Palm full of Nuts (we used hazelnuts)
Semi/Skimmed Milk
Ground Cinamon
Fist Full of Frozen Berry Mix
tea spoon of seeds (we like chia)

Instructions:

  1. Place the oats in a glass kilner jar
  2. add the nuts
  3. add a fist full of berries
  4. add a teaspoon of seeds of your choice
  5. add cinnamon (flavour to taste)
  6. cover to the top of the oats with milk
  7. seal the jar and shake
  8. leave in the fridge over night
  9. take out the following morning, 5-10 mins before you want to eat
  10. Enjoy & full full for longer