Category Archives: Top Tip

For Gods Sake breathe

Big breaths ( I had to be careful how I typed that)..

Today I’d like to share what I’ve learnt about breath control.

As a lifelong big girl I’m constantly having a battle with myself to cover up the fact that when I do things that raise my heart rate it makes me out of breath .   So what is my brilliant master plan  in order to cover up the fact that, yes I do get out of breath sometimes …..it is …to hold my breath.

And so …!!!vicious circle alert !!! when you hold your breath to mask the fact that you’re out of breath you end up gasping for breath which defeats the object of holding your breath in the first place.

So here is the science bit….

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From oxygenplus.com ( a retailer of sport performance oxygen)

“Cellular respiration is the process in which your muscles use oxygen to produce ATP energy. It’s a relatively straightforward process. Normally, your body obtains oxygen from the air you breathe. It enters the blood stream and is carried to your muscles, where some of it is used immediately, and the rest is stored by a compound called myoglobin. Whether you’re exercising or not, the oxygen in your body is used to break down glucose and create the fuel for your muscles called ATP.

During exercise, your muscles have to work harder, which increases their demand for oxygen. This is why your breathing and heart rates increase, to pull more oxygen into the bloodstream. As you exercise, the oxygen that reaches your muscles never leaves, but rather sets to work immediately converting the available glucose into ATP.

So, what happens when your body runs out of oxygen, or your other systems simply can’t deliver it to your muscles quickly enough? Your muscles begin converting glucose into lactic acid instead of energy, anaerobic exercise takes over, power output drops and fatigue sets in. Unfortunately, anaerobic exercise can only continue for so long before your muscles run out of energy completely and reach fatigue.”

For me everyday is a school day,  from this I’ve learnt that if you don’t establish the right breathing rhythm when you’re working out you’re starving your muscles of oxygen.  When you starve your muscles of oxygen they fatigue quicker so that horrible burning feeling you feel any muscles when they’re getting tired that cold numbness that makes you feel like you going to puke News Flash ,, that’s because you’re not breathing.  Oh and ATP is adenosine triphosphate or the energy currency of life it is the science term for how your cells use oxegyn. Cuz that’s science innit!

Now we get the problem (eventually) …  I have always held my breath when I’ve been exercising, I hold my breath walking up the stairs, I hold my breath if I have to walk fast someone. Holding my breath to cover up the fact that I’m out of breath is a habit.  It’s a difficult habit to break I have to literally tell myself to breathe.

It’s a bit of a dodgy relationship I’ve got with exercise I have so much to think about all at once that sometimes just fall out with myself.

My worst critic is my best friend and the only person on this planet who knows me.   My worst critic is the person who drives me the hardest the only person who can make any changes in my life.

My worst critic is named … Louise and she needs to stop blubbing and get a grip.  But this girl is stubborn and stuck in her ways and sometimes just needs a bloody slap, and I don’t mean kinky 50 shades of slap I mean a proper run up shot in the kisser.

Knowledge is power

Keeping it interesting and lots of variety is all well and good but I found that knowledge is Power .  I now know thanks to the training of my coach Pom Tutt  and my imageAnytime Fitness door fob I can walk into any one of approx 3000 gyms in 19 counties and know what workout I need to do, what weights and equipment I need to use and how many reps I should be achieving. Pom teaches progressive training and yeah ok it can get a bit boring because you are doing the same excercises but (and this is with no disrespect to my previous trainers) for the first time ever I walk in to the gym know exactly what I should be doing.  That has got to be better than pratting about for 40 minutes and still ending up on the bike, treadmill or cross trainer. Anytime Fitness gyms have a standard format and the basic equipment seems to be the same across the board, that that even when you are not in your home gym it still has a homely feel. As a big girl the strut of having a plan and feeling comfortable in the gym arena is more important than cake… It’s the difference for me between quitting or carrying on… When you put your faith in a coach like my Pom you have to trust that he knows what he’s doing .. I admit sometimes I questioned him , sometimes I’ve nearly cried because I didn’t think I could do it… He has proved his worth by , always having the answer and treating me like a toddler when I’m about to blub with positive reinforcement and the happy clapping of everything is going to be ok . Continue reading →

Get help or go it alone.

In my experience you have two sorts of exercisers, you have those who need help or those who can go it alone.

Those who need help may not always need help as with the right guidance you can eventually become one of those people who can go it alone.

I often see people running, riding bikes and walking in exercise gear and I envy their commitment.

I am very much a need help person, I have tried the go it alone and frankly each time I buy all the required gear and become a well kitted out failure (you’ve heard the phrase all the gear and no idea).

I get bored and distracted and then I think up wild and wonderful excuses as to why I don’t need to exercise.

When I started at Anytime Fitness Telford over a year ago people kept saying to me that I will become addicted….. erm I am still waiting …

I agonised over the cost of hiring a personal trainer as its not a cheap affair but when I weighed it up (forgive the pun) here is what I came up with.

Ladies and Gents trying to lose weight sometimes use “fat” clubs.  Now don’t get me wrong these work for some people but clapping people for losing weight when you don’t really know them or for that matter really care and paying around £6-8 a week for the privilege was one of my money saving ticks. 

Then putting a minimum wage  rate on the time I spent flouncing around the gym doing basically piss all. soon meant that having someone structure my time and watch my diet and to correct me when I am going wrong seemed like a fair investment in me.

The advice I would share is interview your trainer, its important if you are investing that you get the right one. 

  • Don’t be afraid to ask for a free trial session, make sure you are getting what you need.  
  • Be totally honest with them about what you want. 
  • If you are very overweight ensure they have experience of dealing with your training, and have the ability to create a personalised plan.

The most important factor to remember is though is that they are not there to do it for you.  If you are not prepared to put the effort in… do not waste your money.  You are going to laugh and cry, be ecstatically happy and really angry  with this person, they are going to see you at your most vulnerable you have to feel you can trust them.

With this in mind I have a trainer now I had spoken to a few all lovely and knowledgeable (and frankly not been hit by the ugly stick either) but the trainer I chose just struck a cord, got into my head and rummaged around pushing all the right buttons and so I signed on with Pom Tutt , branded as “Finishstrong“.

Pom has been about since I joined the gym I have been watching him (yeah I know I sound like a stalker) but wasn’t sure if he was taking on new clients and I had got in into my head that I wanted a female trainer.

Ok so I think this post is quite long enough… I will talk more about the adventures of Pom and Lou I am sure, I haven’t cried in front of him yet and I haven’t made him cry so, so far so good.