Why would you want to hire a Personal Trainer?

It's a tough world out there.

Big mortgages

Busy lives

Little time for doing what we want to do, let alone what we need to do.

Personal Trainers can make your precious little time more effective - High Intensity Workouts are incredibly effective ways to get fit within strict time constraints

http://physiologic.com.au/fit-in-6-minutes-a-week-on-abc-tv-catalyst/

They will personalise your exercise programme

They will oversee and guide you through the exercises to ensure you are 

doing them correctly

They will be there to answer your questions, motivate and encourage you 

throughout your fitness journey

They will have a team of other professionals they can work with to help 

you out with injuries, nutrition and life coaching

That's a pretty good package for the time poor, 

fitness starved, busy person you are!

However, I've seen my share of shocking Personal Trainers. 

Please contact me if your Personal Trainer is asking you to do this exercise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFXvgsWhjDQ

Double Leg Lowers

Or this one:

Side plank + a weight + thread the needle - CRAZY!!!

I really want you to have confidence in your trainer; that they aren't going to get you to do some insane exercise that is going to have you injured and off to the Physio for the next three months. 

With over 12 years of experience in this industry I think I'm only getting better at this job.

 I really can help you to achieve the fitness and health goals you've set yourself. 

You may only need me for a couple of sessions to find your own groove.

You may want to join my group sessions for some pack motivation.

Head to my website www.keyfitnesspt.com.au

Or my Facebook page to get in touch today

https://www.facebook.com/keyfitnesspt/

Cheers

~ Louise ~

Osteoporosis ~ you guys need to start thinking about this

Guys, I am really worried about your bones.

My 50 year old friend, otherwise healthy, perfect weight, loves to walk, has had a bone scan revealing she has osteoporosis.

An acquaintance in her 70s stumbled, went over on her ankle and fractured her wrist so badly that her hand was basically only hanging on by skin and tendons.

Story after story of bad bones, people.

Osteoporosis# will impact your big stabilising bones meaning that the risk of falls and breaking a hip becomes very possible. You don't want a broken hip, especially if you are over 50. "One in three adults aged 50 and over dies within 12 months of suffering a hip fracture"^

Yes, there are very influential genetic components to this issue of bone thinning. However, much of it is life style choices.

We are sedentary
We avoid dairy because of various issues and intolerances
We don't think weight training is for us because it will make us too muscley and unfeminine
We don't do any high impact sport because our joints and tendons don't like it.

Unfortunately, despite your life style choices you've made, bones love and need the stimulation provided by weights and impact in order to stay healthy and strong.

These are not tasty baguettes. These are bones in various states of osteoporosis

So what can you do about it? 

Contact a physiotherapist, personal trainer or healthcare professional and ask them what drug free activities you can do to prevent osteoporosis. These are some suggestions:

* Lifting weights. You need to be shown what to do and how to do this safely.
* Impact training. Learning how to hop and bound safely to maximise the benefit to the bones and prevent knees and muscles getting damaged
* Stability training. Learning how to balance better. This will also do wonders for your gluteus muscles i.e. nice toned buttocks!
* Talk to a nutritionist about how you can increase you calcium intake.

If you need any help with questions you may have about the issue of osteoporosis, please contact me through ptkeyfitness@gmail.com.

So there you have it peeps. Get moving (but please don't go out and start deadlifting 50 kilos tomorrow! Start slowly and work up to the 50 kilos).

^ http://theconversation.com/why-hip-fractures-in-the-elderly-are-often-a-death-sentence-95784
# https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/chronic-musculoskeletal-conditions/osteoporosis/contents/what-is-osteoporosis

What I know and what I'm still figuring out

As I launch my new website (www.keyfitnesspt.com.au) I thought I'd jot down all those things I've come to understand are honest truths:

• if you don't perform some sort of exercise or sport as a child, exercising to lose weight/get fit as an adult is extremely tough. Adapting to moving and challenging your body early in life will more than likely mean that you can and will do it throughout your adult years and thereby help prevent the modern diseases of obesity, diabetes, and many life-style related cancers.

• people are not honest with themselves or others regarding how much food they're eating. It might be too many pieces of fruit, eating off your kid's plate, having that extra glass of wine every night. The best way to get to the answer of "why am I not losing weight" is to do a food diary and have someone assess it for you.

• we are not winning the battle against obesity as a nation, as a family group, as an individual. Snack food is simply too accessible making us all addicted to carbs and our lives are too sedentary. 

• What I'm still figuring out is how to get people to see what minuscule tweaks they'd need to make to their lifestyle to improve their health. I've suggested a few of these teeny tiny tweaks below.

• but on a positive note: the age of information means we can find answers to any issue we've got. You want to know how to make healthy food choices? Just google it. (Or ask Krys Lojek ~ www.kryslojeknutrition.com) You want to find a personal trainer in your neighbourhood? Just message me! Or just google it. Information is at your finger tips.  

• making healthy food and lifestyle choices for you and your family is simple if you stick to a few basics:

1. reduce your sugar intake. Check the ingredients listed on the packet. If sugar is in the first three ingredients you should probably find another alternative.
2. increase the amount of "above ground vegetables" you consume daily.
3. allocate a treat meal once a week so you don't feel you're constantly depriving yourself of your favourite snacks and indulgences.
4. check out this link for understanding how to read labels:  https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/Eating%20Well/efh_food_label_example_large.pdf
5. Move more!

How exercise can transform your brain

Hello 

Is it too late to wish you all a Happy New Year?!

I just had a lovely, long indulgent holiday from exercise and forced myself to get back into it with some gentle walks and interesting podcasts. 

Amongst the podcast selection was this one on Train your Brain interviewing Dr John Ratey. 

Dr. Ratey is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an internationally recognized expert in Neuropsychiatry. He has been promoting exercise as a cognitive tool for over 30 years. He explains that physical activity is a positive stressor to the brain and body. It’s only when we challenge and stretch ourselves that we can grow. The neuroscience around exercise is overwhelmingly supportive.

The link is below, but as I know you're all very busy I'm going to precis the interview for you because it was absolutely fascinating. ***

He covers the impact of exercise on learning. Our brain was constructed to be the best movers we could be. We added on more brain stuff in order to plan, predict, evaluate and remember which enabled us to be the best movers and thereby the evolutionary victors. This was important as we grew a lot of brain. 

We then co-opted those moving brain cells to think with - when we move, we turn on the same nerve cells that we use to think with. We are pumping these nerve cells a lot when we exercise. When we pump them up, we don't tire them out, we actually make them stronger like our muscles. This is what happens when we use our brain cells through exercise. 

This creates significant changes: when you use a brain cell, you release a protein called BDNF - brain derived neurotropic factor - this is what Dr Ratey calls a brain fertiliser. We make more of this BDNF when we use our brain cells. We also release all these neurotransmitters - serotonin, dopamine, gabba - in increased concentrations when we use our brain cells whilst exercising. 

With increased movement this leads to a release of what Dr Ratey calls a soup of proteins and neurotransmitters for our brain to grow in. When we have a need to learn something, what we do is grow in the information. The best preparation for growing in the information is creating this "soupy" environment that exercise creates.

In addition, we turn on the attention system, the motivational system and our visual and auditory systems, all which helps us take in and stay with the new information better.

So as a side effect of exercise we create this churning and whirring wonderful brain ready to take in new information and prepare itself to deal with the future. 

When we create and release new neurotransmitters through exercise we are then at a peak - being calmer and more stress resistant. Dr Ratey says exercise is like taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin - we increase our levels of serotonin, dopamine and endocannabinoid in a holistic way with no negative side-effects.

Practical tips as given by Dr Ratey: 

1. the more and different kinds of exercise you can do, the better. As guidelines recommend a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise a week, it should mainly be cardiovascular/aerobic/high intensity. Remember when you're huffing and puffing this means you're strengthening your brain through the release of those BDNFs and neurotransmitters.

2. Complex exercises are best e.g. dancing or taekwondo. The trickier the exercise the more the positive growth action in the brain. 

3. Exercising in outside in nature is also of enormous benefit. You get more positive benefits in your brain than being stuck in a gym. 

4. Finally, being with others is the single most important health tip that Dr Ratey offers.

***Oh my God, I've just completely swamped you guys with all this information! Hopefully you made it through to the practical tips because that is where the gold is! Seriously, if that isn't a fabulous plug for my personal training sessions, then I don't know what is?! In our group sessions, you get to be outside, doing a range of Pilates-based and high intensity exercises with a group of wonderful other people. Bingo! A strong body and a strong brain!

Please email me on ptkeyfitness@gmail.com if you want to book a training session or ask me some questions about my sessions.

Thanks for reading. 

http://trainyourbrainpodcast.com/