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Have you got your goals set in place for next year? Let's chat about some things you should consider... As the New Year rolls in, many of us embark on a journey of change and growth, setting new health and fitness goals to achieve. We tend to put so much pressure on ourselves to hit the New Year running and can feel deflated if it doesn't quite go as expected. How many times have you set yourself goals for the new year and they have crumbled by the time you hit February? Even

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday season, let's chat about staying active while enjoying the festivities. We are fast approaching the holiday season, for many of us that means family gatherings, lots of delicious foods, maybe some time off work, or even a holiday away. December and January can prove to be a busy time for most, it can be easy to let your fitness routine slip. But what if I told you it doesn't have to be that way? There are many ways to help you stay active

I'm sure you have heard at some stage in your life a myth about strength training for women. I'm here to debunk some of the common misconceptions. A topic that has brought controversy over the years is strength training for women. Unfortunately, many misconceptions are still floating around, especially on social media. Firstly, I want to start by saying strength training is so important for women and you should not fear it in any way! I want to break down some common myths to

Proper lifting technique and form are crucial to avoiding injury and keeping you lifting as you age. Prioritising your form when training is vital to achieving your goals, and more importantly, avoiding injuries. No matter your experience level, you must always focus on executing exercises with proper technique. Here are some of the key reasons why focusing on your exercise technique and form is so important: Injury Prevention: Improper form and poor technique can lead to unn

How do you know if you are on the right track if you don't track your progress in some way? Understanding how to measure your progress helps you assess whether you are making improvements or have possibly hit a plateau in your health and fitness journey, it also helps to keep motivation levels high. If you don't measure progress in any way, you won't know if you are doing the right things to get you to your health and fitness goals. There are many different ways to measure pr

What is intra-workout nutrition and should you even consider it? Have you ever heard the term "intra-workout nutrition"? This type of nutrition has been a bit of a hot topic lately in the fitness world. So let's talk about it! What is Intra-Workout Nutrition?  Intra-workout nutrition refers to nutrients that you consume during your training session. This type of nutrition can help you maintain energy levels, enhance performance, and accelerate recovery.  Types of Intra-Wo

A structured training program will always be the way to go if you want to see consistent results. Let's talk about why... Winging it at the gym just won't cut it if you are serious about making consistent improvements. Yes, you can definitely go to the gym and just do whatever exercise comes to mind, but by doing so you are less likely to have a productive session that takes you closer toward your goals. Following a structured workout plan can significantly enhance your progr

We can make our long-term goals seem more achievable by breaking the ultimate goal down into smaller goals throughout the journey. This becomes our short, medium and long-term goals. Previously, we have discussed SMART goals in relation to our fitness aspirations. You may refer to the blog “How to Determine Your Fitness Goals: A Strategic Guide”. This blog will give you a more in-depth run-down of creating goals using the SMART method. To briefly recap, SMART is an acronym wh

One day you are ready to go, excited to train and make progress. Fast forward a few days, weeks or months and this motivation is gone. So what happened?! Motivation is great for kickstarting our health and fitness goals, but it tends to come and go throughout our journey. As nice as it would be to always be 100% motivated to train hard every session, this isn’t always the case. So why is that? Motivation is a temporary state. External circumstances can heavily influence a per

Between weight lifting, cardio, pilates, CrossFit, yoga and all the other endless forms of exercise, it can be challenging to navigate which is best for you and your goals. I totally understand the confusion many face when they join a gym or consider starting up an exercise routine, many ask “What type of exercise should I be doing?” or “What type of exercise is right for me?”. When there are so many different styles of exercise out there, it can be hard to know what is the b

Have You Ever Wondered What to Bring to the Gym? Let’s talk about some essentials to take to the gym for each workout, and some other handy items to consider keeping in your gym bag… For some this may seem like a pretty obvious question. However, if you are new to the gym, it is nice to feel prepared on your first visit and I hope to give you some guidance in regards to that. Before signing up for a new gym, you want to try and check it out beforehand. It is always a smart id

What is gym etiquette and why is it important? We should all be striving to be the best version of ourselves, both physically and mentally. People go to the gym for a variety of reasons and we all deserve the opportunity to enjoy our workout. When we first join a gym, we sign a contract, this contract will likely state in some way that we need to be respectful and considerate of those around us when working out. This includes when we enter the gym and also when we leave the g

Mind-muscle connection has seen a bit of hype recently and rightly so! Let’s talk about what it is, how you can apply it to your training, and the benefits! Your mind-muscle connection relates to your ability to focus on actually feeling each rep of an exercise in the correct target muscles. It is a psychological aspect of training that can help ensure you are recruiting the correct muscles when you train. They say to make every rep count! And this is true! We should be aimin

Have you ever wondered how fast or slow you should be completing each rep of an exercise? This is where we can manipulate our training tempo and Time Under Tension… Tempo training/training tempo in relation to resistance training is the speed at which you complete a single repetition of an exercise. We can modify our training tempo for different exercises to manipulate the amount of stress our muscles are under during a specific exercise. When we are strength training, we use

You may have seen an increase in awareness around our daily steps and general movement, but let’s increase our knowledge around the benefits… Getting your body moving in some way, shape or form daily is so important! We see so many health benefits from just ensuring we are active on a daily basis. So many people these days work office jobs - This means the majority of people in these jobs are sedentary, and do not do much movement outside of work. So what exactly is the defin

You may have heard that you need to be progressively overloading in order to make progress in the gym, but what exactly does that mean? Progressive overload put simply, means to gradually increase the intensity or difficulty of your strength training over time. This promotes the development of muscle mass. This is due to the fact that our body needs to adapt and get stronger in order to keep up with the increased load and demand. The progressive overload method helps to ensur

Which order is more optimal for your goals? Let's discuss... A common question I get from clients is “Should I do cardio before or after weights?” Now there is no simple answer to this question. The more optimal combination is very dependent on your current goals . So let’s dive into this a little deeper… If your current goals are strength-focused then ideally you want to do cardio after your weights session, or alternatively split your cardio into a completely different sess

Are you stretching after every workout? Do you know the importance? Let's get you educated on all things stretch! Many of you would have heard that it is important to stretch, especially after a workout - But you may be asking why? Stretching in general on a daily basis can provide the body with so many wonderful benefits both physically and also mentally, but stretching after a workout is especially important to help reduce the risk of injury and promote recovery. I know the

Do you know the difference between muscle soreness and pain? Don't get them confused. In our last article, we spoke about muscle soreness. If you have not read my post on “Is soreness an indication of a good workout?” Then I would highly recommend it! Continuing on from this, we are going to explore the difference between muscle soreness and pain, and how pain can be a sign of injury. It is important to note the difference between muscle soreness and pain, as they are two ver

We all get sore from time to time when training, but does soreness actually indicate a good workout? Being sore after working out is totally normal and we have all likely experienced this before. As a beginner lifter, you are more likely to be sore on and off after your workouts for some weeks, until your body adapts to the style and intensity of the training you are doing. However, being sore after every single workout after you’ve passed the newbie lifter phase is not a sig