This week I’m talking about something I am most passionate about in fitness and that is the Strength Training. I have done many sports, Basketball, Swimming, Running, Triathlons but none of these have made me as strong as doing Strength Training, particularly in the squat rack area. I can tell you when I was first introduced to Strength Training 5 years ago I was totally intimidated by the thought – “What lifting weights, building bulky muscles, that’s not for me!” However, what I did learn through persevering was it actually slimmed down my legs, helped my core and strengthened my whole body over and has made me stronger as well as giving me endurance. So, today I’m going to give some tips on doing deadlifts – my favorite!

• Deadlift Rules! First up, don’t be intimated especially here at ALTA, your safe and among friends. Deadlifts are what we do in daily life however many of us are doing them incorrectly and suffer back, knee and shoulder problems, on the other hand, correct deadlifts is an overall body strengthening exercise making us move through life better.
  1. Form – Form matters! Can’t stress this enough, how we set up before the lift all the way to standing upright to setting the bar back down is the most important step and ensures you do not sustain any injuries. You have to be able to squat properly and for some this means we start outside the rack learning how to squat properly, keeping heels on the ground, nice curve to your lower back, good grip and also how to use your breathing to maximize the lift.
  2.  Focus – Yes sometimes getting your mind around the lift can be an exhilarating or inhibiting factor as your weight and sets and reps increases or decreases. Always start off at a suitable weight and keep track of how you are progressing i.e. this week 3 sets of 12 reps at 20kg or 5 sets of 5 reps at 60kg. Our bar weights 20kg then, as many of you know, we start adding small increments – trust your trainer and yourself to know when enough is enough and in time you will add more.
  3. Rest – When I say rest there are 2 types of rest. Rest 1 is between sets, resting for 1-2 minutes between lifts or as we often do an active recovery which can be a complimentary exercise in between. Rest 2 have a rest day, you don’t have to deadlift or lift weights every day. Waiting 48 hours after working a specific muscle group avoids overworking muscles and injury. You may do deadlifts once a week, or legs one day, arms another day but a rest in between means your body gets to recover properly.

I haven’t written anything for awhile, we’ve been super busy doing workshops at our studio and outside of it, helping our local community but with the cold settling in Melbourne and the leaves falling off the trees around our beautiful suburbs of Canterbury, Surrey Hills and Camberwell many of our friends, family and clients are heading off for some warmth but now is not the time to stop your fitness regime. So I have put together 5 quick tips and activities you can do whilst away – be mindful when choosing exercises that they suit your level of fitness and capability and we’ll still be here waiting for you on return to boost your fitness for the warmer months to come!

1. Walk or go for a run – holidays are the best time to walk be it a leisurely walk to the market or a run. The beauty is that on holiday’s you have more time to look around and you are guaranteed to always see something interesting like the local flora or fauna or a beautiful sunrise.
2. Plank it – You can do a plank really anywhere, try in your holiday room/house depending on your level do 5 sets of 10-60 seconds
3. Squats – Again can be done anywhere, find a park bench/chair and just lightly touch the seat with your behind and stand up again, try 3 sets of 10
4. Spiky Balls – take a spiky ball in your bag or suitcase, they are small and light weight and take the time to run along the soles of your feet, or against a wall and find any of those tender spots, especially if you have been sitting in a plane or long car ride
5. Push ups – Now don’t go saying what I can’t do a push up! – you can beginning with the simplest being up against a wall, on the back of a park bench/chair, do knee push ups or full push ups, try doing 3 sets of 5-10

It feels like every time I read a new blog or article there is research confirming what we believe – it is never too late to start exercising. And we personally see it everyday in our studio and over time whilst we still have the younger generation coming through it is the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s & 70’s that we are seeing the biggest improvements and joy that is experienced by these age groups!

There is no doubt our niche is over 40’s – JC and I are in our 50’s and for me I have never been fitter and I didn’t start focussing on my health and exercising until I was 35. But still we hear “I go for a walk each day, I’m fit, I eat well” but we know this is not enough –  underlying that is what we don’t see and won’t see until we are older and beginning to experience health issues such as muscle, bone strength and cardiovascular health declining. 

Exercising to live healthier and longer is not just a walk or a once a week Yoga or group class – it’s getting out there minimum 3 – 5 times a week and doing something meaningful.

• Get your heart pounding – interval sets are proven to improve the heart and lungs, increase metabolism, or simply going for a quick walk, run (I recently read about a lady who is still running at 101 years of age and started when she was 93!). The key is to get your heart rate up and your blood flowing and your lungs working harder
• Stretch – Yoga, Pilates are always great and help build up strength too
• Strength & Conditioning – build up your strength be it your own body weight through to using barbells, hand weights – we have clients, women and men in their 60’s & 70’s, doing deadlifts and lifting weights and feeling stronger than ever before.

We ourselves personally incorporate all of the above in our week. My week looks something like Yoga on Mondays, Strength & Conditioning Class Wednesday, Thursday Bike Ride, Friday Boxing for Fitness Class, Saturday 5km Park Run (which is free!) and Sunday a family activity.

If you want more information or proof we are here ready to get you going so that you can live a fuller, happier life. We can change that – YOU can change that! Start exercising seriously, put some real effort in and yes to start there may be discomfort, its hard to breathe well, your muscles are sore afterwards, you are tired…then again even within a short period of time 6-12 weeks you will feel better, sleep better, be hungry and want to eat better and have more endurance to get through the day.

Below are just a few of the articles I have read this week..

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/03/12/591513777/hearts-get-younger-even-at-middle-age-with-exercise?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20180318&utm_campaign=%25%25__AdditionalEmailAttribute1%25%25&utm_term=%25%25__AdditionalEmailAttribute2%25%25

https://www.bluezones.com/2018/03/science-says-older-adults-should-consider-strength-training/?utm_source=Blue+Zones+Newsletter&utm_campaign=747a6d6b3e-Strength-Training-Benefits_2018_03_14&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9642311849-747a6d6b3e-198905181&mc_cid=747a6d6b3e&mc_eid=b15bd01aa9

https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/wellbeing/2018/03/15/dementia-risk-lowered-study/

Enjoy, I love sharing what we experience and helping to teach you to be fitter, healthier and happier!

Well I am grateful for many things and in fact every night with the family over dinner at the table with our 12 year old twins we have a ritual that gets our dinner conversation going. It starts like this ( and any of us will start it, more often than not the kids will)

• What was your favourite thing today?
• What are you grateful for?
• What did you learn today? (that you can use tomorrow, next week etc)
• What did you do for the community today? (This is a recently added one that includes people, animals, the environment)

It is well researched and document that writing down, saying and acknowledging what you are grateful for can help you to achieve a longer more, satisfying life. For us it is also a reminder for what we have, not what we don’t have or want and makes us realise just how truly lucky we are. As I say to my children ‘We lead extraordinary lives’, we have a roof over our head, food on the table, things we need and don’t need and we are surrounded by family and friends – we are indeed lucky!

So I saw this idea somewhere (sorry can’t remember now!) and we have borrowed with pride – Now at ALTA Fitness we have a gratitude jar that can be found on the table near reception – the idea is to share something that you are grateful for. At anytime you can write on a note what it is you are grateful for and at our end of year party we are going to read them out.

Today I am grateful to write this blog as I have a great business where we can change peoples lives but it also changes ours too – for the better!

Show your friends the joy and benefits of exercise and have a bit of fun!

Next week is Bring a Friend week at ALTA Fitness and we have already heard that we have some guests coming along to join in the joy of exercise with their friends or family..

Obviously the primary reason is to share the gift of health and fitness with your friends, family or work colleagues but it doesn’t hurt that you both get your session for free and we hope that they will join us again!

Also, for every friend who joins ALTA Fitness for 3 month term you receive $100 cash as a sincere thank you from us.

This is a great opportunity to show your friends what we are all about…and really for you to change his or her life.  If they’re scared or skeptical, even better.  Let us take care of them.

We really appreciate having people like you who are truly committed to their goals and the success of their own fitness, and we would like more people like you to join us.

PS. If you’re bringing your friend in with you, let us know so we can welcome them.

 

Introducing Mission 100!

We have a mission – a mission to get more people in our community to be fitter, healthier and happier. It’s not just about us building our business it’s about what we can do, so we came up with the idea that if we can build our small business to 100 clients who we can help to be fitter and healthier then we would donate $1000 towards our local community – our aim is to reach this number by 31st January 2018.

And as a show of our commitment we have already started this with donating $440 to the Victorian Police Street Smart initiative. Their aim is to educate our youth on the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse, depression, bullying, road safety and lifestyle choices. Copy and paste this link to see a little more about what they are aiming to achieve. http://www.cwaustral.com.au/information/videos/PCYC.mp4

 

We also have a few other initiatives in our sights such as Rotary who do a fantastic job across all our communities over a broad range of programs.

So, if you know someone who could do with our help to be fitter and healthier please let them know about us and it will help us to reach our goal of 100 clients so that we may deliver on our promise to our community – watch out for the new ruler on the wall in our studio that is keeping track of our progress and there will be many initiatives over the next few months to encourage your support.

A good stance and posture reflect a proper state of mind… 

Morihei Ueshiba

Posture is not just about looking good, it helps our bodies to function properly.  When your bent over or slouching you not only don’t look your best but it can cause a myriad of problems or reactions such as poor circulation, a misuse of energy, fatigue, poor spinal health, digestive problems, let alone causing pain, joint, muscle and ligament misalignment. And the benefits of good posture – well the opposite to all the above of course! As well as a boost in confidence, self esteem, improves your mood and so many other positives.

Posture is something we are big on as our clients know we are always working to ensure their postures are correct. This is only a quick update so to be brief have a read, take action, and if you are wanting to know more or to would like to get a posture check with us just let us know and we can organise.

• Stand tall – as if you have a string on the top of your head and someone is pulling it up. Your head should be straight forward, your shoulders slightly back so you feel your shoulder blades moving closer together, feet facing forward, pelvis neutral (not tucking you buttocks in or curving your back). Your body should be stacked i.e. your ears are over the shoulders, the ribs over the hips, and the hips over the heels, your spine and pelvis are in a neutral position. Now when you walk imagine a book sitting on top of your head and keeping it there.

• Sit Correctly – Keep your head straight, feet on the floor, keep your shoulders back and try and relax, knees slightly apart and even or lower than your hips, have your weight evenly distributed on both hips, don’t cross your legs. And importantly get up and move around every 30 minutes. A good way to judge your sitting is to slouch completely then draw yourself up accentuating the curves in your back for a few seconds then back off 10% and that should be a good sitting posture.

Melbourne’s Spring Carnival Racing is an iconic time in Melbourne where we all dress up in our finest for the Cox Plate, Melbourne Cup, Oaks Day and more so why not feel more fabulous in your outfits this year and better still be fitter to last the whole day through – be prepared, start now!

We are offering 4 weeks of Unlimited Small Group Sessions starting Monday 9th October for only $199. It’s an ideal way to kick off your summer fitness too and for those who sign up we are including nutritional tips and a special offer with the Beauty Salon – Aesthetic Skin Design who know all about keeping us looking our best – men included!

Our sessions vary from Cardio, Strength & Conditioning, Intensity Interval, Fundamental Movement to Boxing for Fitness and more.

Call us now on 0410 544 759 or 9077 8946 and book in, numbers are limited.