Private Gyms in Reading, Pangbourne & Mortimer Mobile Personal Trainer: Reading & Berkshire
It’s that time of year again..The trees are up, the mince pies are out and temptation is all around. We can still enjoy the festivities without picking up some unwanted lb’s along the way.
We’ve got some simple tips to help you stay on top of your health & fitness journey whilst you enjoy the festive period.
How ready are you?
Preparation is a valuable key to turning any goal into reality.
Meal planning doesn’t have to take long and doesn’t mean cooking a weeks food in one go.
Simply working out what your dinners for the week ahead are based on your schedule & commitments will:
– save you time
– reduce food waste
– reduce weekday trips to shops
– save you money: food shop from your meal plan to avoid unnecessary purchases
– allow you to make extra & use leftovers for lunch
– share the cooking with housemates
– ensure your diet is varied
– reduce the risk of takeaways
– & many more
30 minutes, once a week is all that it takes us to plan a weeks food & do an online shop, saving us £ & time in the week ahead.
Happy health,
Tom’s
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
Here we take you through a Back Friendly, Leg Workout.
Back issues don’t have to stop you from training, you just need to be selective with your exercises. It’s a good idea to use moves that allow you to maintain a neutral posture and avoid loading your spine such as doing barbell squats.
Your reps, sets & weight will be dependant on your training cycle and desired outcome.
– Leg Extension
– Split Squats
– Standing Leg Curl
– Glute Kick Backs
– Seated Calf Raise
Enjoy…
It might sound to counter intuitive to train your back if you have back issues.
However, strengthening to the muscle that support your joints is important in protecting you from further injury and can improve your stability and existing conditions. Here we go through a low impact back workout that requires no flexion of the spine, allowing you to target the major muscles of the back from a neutral spine position.
Your reps, sets & weight will be dependant on your training cycle and desired outcome.
– Pull Ups
– Lat Pull Downs
– Low Row
– Reverse Pec Deck
– Face Pulls
– Reverse Cross Overs
Enjoy…
Back issues are more common than you may think. Chest day is commonly associated with bench pressing, however good form requires arching of the spine which isn’t always possible.
We have a back friendly chest workout here for you to try. Your reps, sets & weight will be dependant on your training cycle and desired outcome.
Dips
Pec Dec
UCV Raises (single sided)
Push Ups
Enjoy…
We’ve got a super healthy slow cooker, curry 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: 6 hours on low
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
2x Chicken Breasts (skinless)
1 Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
1 Vegetable Stock Cube
2 Medium Garlic Cloves
3 tbsp Curry Paste
Half a Red Pepper
Handful of Mushrooms
1 Onion
80g Rice or 2x Naan Breads
Instructions:
– Chop Pepper, Onion & Mushrooms (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 crumble stock cube
– Add Curry Paste & Stir In
– Cook on Low for 6 Hours
– Stir Occasionally Where Possible
– Serve With Rice or Naan & Enjoy
It’s that time of year again, new year, new me etc…We’ve all said it at some point…
We obviously hope that many people are embarking on a journey to a healthier life, we’ve got some tips to help get you started.
Set goals:
Without a target it’s hard to judge our progress and whether it’s working.. We use the analogy ‘would you get in your car and drive off without knowing where you’re going?’.
Your goals can be simple and can come in many forms, such as:
– drop a dress/jean size (or more)
– drop x cm/inches off your waist
– eat at least 5 portions of fruit & veg/day
– only have 1 unhealthy snack/day
– prepare lunch for work every day
– performance based goals, eg. run 5km in a certain time or squat 60kg
Set a realistic timeframe for your goals, you may want to break your long term goals down into smaller, short term goals. Don’t forget to review your goals regularly.
Make a Plan:
You didn’t get to where you are overnight, therefore we can’t expect instant change overnight, especially if we don’t plan how we’re getting there.
You need to start by identifying:
– goals & timeframes
– changes needed eg. join a gym, dedicated time for meal planning & prep, better time/stress management etc
– potential barriers to your success: old habits, belief systems, time, work, family commitments
– how you’ll overcome these barriers
– how you’ll track your progress
– set review points
– what reward awaits you when you are successful
Collect Data:
Data drives success! We take measurements with all of our clients on their 1st session, we then use regular reviews to map their progress and make changes where needed.
Data is only helpful if you respond to what you find.. Use the data to adapt your plan as you go and always question the outcomes and how you got them.
Lets Go!
There’s no time like the present so let’s get after it….REMEMBER: This is a long term lifestyle, it needs to be sustainable and it will take time to tweak…Be kind to yourself!
Happy Health,
Tom’s
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When lifting weights the aim is to overload the muscle and create muscular stress through load and intensity.
Rest pauses are a great way of adding more intensity into your sets within a short space of time.
Rest pauses are nothing new and have been adopted by lifters for years, the philosophy is simple: lift to near/partial failure, rest a few seconds and then squeeze a couple more reps outs.
There are 2 ways to apply rest pauses depending on what you’re training for:
Rest Pause for Hypertrophy (growth):
Perform your normal set for 8-12 sets with a lowering phases of 3 seconds and a lift of 2 seconds..Once you reach the end, rest for 10-15 seconds and then go again. You can repeat this as much as you like but twice is enough. We recommend only using this for one set on each exercise and choosing the compound exercises such as the bench press, row or squat etc
Rest Pause for Strength:
This is a great, condensed way of performing more volume of high load reps in a short period of time.
Pick an exercise and set the weight at 90-95% of 1 rep max. Perform 1 rep, rest for 30 seconds and repeat up to 10 times.
We wouldn’t recommend this as a long term strength strategy but it’s a great way of mixing up traditional strength training approaches.
Happy Health,
Tom’s
It can be difficult sometimes to know if you’re making the healthiest choices. That’s why we’ve put this simple table together to help you:
Tom's Health & Fitness 