JulesFitneX: 2013

God If You Can't Make Me Skinny, Then Please Make My Friends Fat! (Part 2)

So, fast forward 3 months on; after losing 3 stones, I started to become complacent with my diet and exercise. I began to skip my workout and eat one granola bar too many. Although I wasn't at my pre-pregnancy weight, I didn't look bad for a mother of 2 (that's what I told myself).

Until one day I started getting notifications on my Facebook timeline from a secret group that I didn't join! It was spooky! This lady featured kept appearing on my timeline posting endlessly about the need to lose weight and not settle for average.

I took a look at her and thought, she looks like she needs to lose some. She was the same height as me and of similar body frame. So I decided to follow whatever she said to do. If she said run, I ran with a skip, if she said drink a glass of green smoothie, I drank 2, and soon I noticed the fire was reignited in me.

When I struggled or let myself down I would inbox her and she was never tired of encouraging me. She celebrated every single achievement with me. From my first green smoothie, to running my first ever marathon, to becoming a personal trainer, to even writing this blog. A lady I met online via a secret group. She saw greatness in me when I was ready to settle for average.

But in giving to me and many others, she received because she met her weight loss goals too. She lost the weight whilst encouraging others. A woman indeed encouraging women; a rarity!

Today I want to say.............. Thank you!

To you reading my blog, I say surround yourself with the believers, the dreamers, the thinkers, the doers but most importantly surround yourself with people who see GREATNESS in you.

My next post will conclude this series; subscribe to be amongst the first to read it.

God If You Can't Make Me Skinny Then Please Make My Friends Fat (Part 1)

Yep, that dumb caption above was my facebook profile picture for a long time while I sat on my butt wishing the weight would disappear miraculously. Yes God works in miraculous ways but he sure doesn't answer dumb prayers.

However he did the mysterious one day when I was at a party with my big self. I bumped into this lovely lady (shown). She was merely an acquaintance at the time but had seen me when I was slim and "athletic".

I said a quick hello and tried to hurry pass because I didn't like people who knew me before I got over weight to notice that I was now fat (not that it was hard to hide my 100kg plus weight at the time). But she gave me a kind smile and said "Julien you look lovely but you have got to lose some weight". I smiled and mumbled something like "I'm working on it". But deep down I was angry! How dare she tell me I am over weight! She is even bigger than me! What does the bible say about removing the log from your eyes so you can see the spike in.......balahlahlah!

But next day I heard her voice again in my head but this time I heard it as it was meant to be received..............with love. Because it takes a great deal of love or selflessness to have your own struggles but try to ensure that others don't go through the same struggles. This lady didn't think " Ha! Jules is now big like me" or " Thank God, since I can't get skinny at least more people I know are now getting fat"

That comment, " Julien, you look lovely but you must lose some weight" was all I needed to get up, lace up and go for my 1st run.

Today I want to celebrate a cool friend. I want to say thank you for being honest with me. Now look at you; all trim and hot too. Thank you

I hope this post encourages someone who is struggling with their weight. I hope this post encourages someone to be honest in a kind way to a friend who is struggling.

This is part 1 of a 3 part Story on friends who have held my hands through my weight lose journey.

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I Exercise So I can Eat

I exercise so I can eat more; but more importantly, so I can eat junk.

Yep! That definitely use to be me. The more I ate badly the more I exercised until 2 things happened.

I got injured from excessive exercise: Because I was exercising for 2 hours per day 6 days a week, ponding my body, trying to out exercise my bad food, I get seriously injured and could not exercise for months. Now, because I hadn't learnt good food habits, the inevitable happened. I gained 1 stone in 4 weeks
I hit a fitness plateau: But in actual fact I really didn't hit a plateau, because plateau is when you cannot seem to make any progress despite doing everything right. A plateau as a result of exercising and eating badly is not a plateau; it is simply a waste of ones time.

As for as I am concern exercise without the corresponding healthy eating is self abuse. Why would I want to abuse myself, three times! First with bad food then with exercise and third with the mental torture of feeling bad from eating bad! Why would you want to do that to yourself too?

Now, does this mean that I eat perfectly every time now? No! It is okay to indulge occasionally. But to continual overeat because you exercise is not okay.

I made a path with myself that I will use exercise as a way of rewarding myself for eating well rather than punishing myself. So anytime I ate badly I did not exercise because I felt hadn't earned it. But because I know that if I continued to eat badly and not exercise I will soon be back to 116kg so I choose daily to eat right and reward my body with natural endorphins aka exercise

So, make a decision today to use exercise to keep fit and food to maintain your weight/lose weight depending on your goals.

Exercise so you can eat more? No! that is so 2013.....

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Push-Up: Learn how to do them

PUSH-UP!

I love push up! It is perhaps one of the best body weight exercise you should learn to do.

Push up works so many muscles simultaneously enabling functional strength to the core, bicep, triceps, lats (upper back), lower back & quads. It is a total body workout in just one movement perhaps that is why it's hard to do.

There are lots of variation which targets and isolates various muscles but I will be talking about push-ups for beginners and how to eventually progress to doing standard push-up.

These are beginner push ups

Wall push-up are perfect for beginners because it helps build the strength required to eventually progress to traditional push up. It is also a good one to do if you have back problems because they put no pressure on the spine (but place your feet flat on the ground as opposed to tippy toes as shown above)

Push-up on the knees or "girl" push up are a good progression from wall push. If done correctly they can be just as effective as regular push up. To feel the effect, step your knees slightly back (as shown), hands slight shoulder width apart and lead with the chest (not the head) when you press down.

The triceps push-up

The triceps push-up is considered the poor (wo)man's breast lift and great banisher of "bingo wings" because it targets mainly the pectorals (muscles around the breast) and triceps (3 muscles behind the upper arm) if done regularly and correctly.

The key to performing this particular push-up is to keep your hand close to your body (shoulder-width apart) as pictured above.

How to progress to standard push-up

Here is how to progress from doing push-up on your knees. I do this always with my ladies at bootcamp and I have seen them progress weekly with doing a push-up

Step 1. hold a high plank for 5secs
Step 2. lower your body by bending your elbows slightly (lead with the chest)
Step 3. go straight back into high plank, hold for 5sesc then repeat step 2
Do this cycle for 30secs, rest for 30secs and repeat 3 times over.

Try this 3 times a week and gradually go lower down each time.

Following these steps helps strengthen your shoulders and core in preparation for progressing into a full push-up.

If this helps, feedback, like and share

Lifting weight can make you fat!

I read post like "lifting weight doesn't bulk you up, cupcake does" although this is true, I think it is a very unhelpful caption. The truth of the matter is that when you lift heavy weight as part of your exercise routine you get extremely hungry and if you have not planned your meals in advance you would be eating those cupcakes from Starbucks!

The reason why you crave so much sugar when you lift weight or do strength training exercise is because muscles have an affinity for glucose (sugar). That means the more muscles you have the more efficient your body gets at using up glucose, and the more efficient your body gets at using up glucose the leaner you will become. This is why studies have shown that weight lifting and subsequently building muscles can help prevent and/or control diabetes. Because muscles increases the demand for glucose; it pulls glucose from the bloodstream so that blood sugar don't raise dangerously. However, for non-diabetics this can result in hypoglycemia ( you know the shakes you get when you are starving).

Now, if you have not planned your post workout snack in advance you will be reaching out for those cupcakes. Which subsequently over time causes you to bulk up rather than lean out. The simple solution to this problem is to have some simple fast glucose releasing snacks handle after your strength training workout. I always have an apple or a banana in my bag...

If this short simplified explanation help shared some light on why you want some cupcakes after your strength training session let me know; share with your friends it might help them too.

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Comfortable with being uncomfortable

Many people are comfortable with being uncomfortable. They look at themselves in the mirror and say things like "I don't look too bad considering I have children" "I can just wear a girdle to hold my tummy in" "I have only gained a dress size" "I was born fat!" "it is my genes" "I have large bones that's why I weigh so much" the list of excuses are endless.

It's funny how we think we are just fine the way we are until we decide to see if we can improve ever so slightly. Then we realise that we were very far from fine when we thought we were fine. I look back on my journey and I am amazed.

Now, all I want to do is help ours who like me think they are just fine, uncover the real beauty that is lying under layers of unhealthy fat cells.

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JulesFitneX Open house Bootcamp!

JulesFitneX had its open house Boot camp on the 20th of July 2013 and it was simply amazing! A great team of 7 strong women turned up.

If you missed the free open house don't let that stop you from contacting JulesFitneX; because your first session of either Boot camp or personal training is always complimentary; FREE!

PS: JulesFitneX Boot camp is NOT a women's only boot camp

Plyometrics! Should you be doing them?

Plyometric also known as jump training are exercises based around having muscles exert maximum forces in as short a time as possible with the goal of increasing both speed and power. This training focuses on learning to move from a muscle extension to contraction in a rapid and explosive way. Plyometric ideally should be used by athletes especially high jumpers to improve performance.

However with the advent of workout such as Insanity by Shaun T and P90X plyometric is now becoming almost a mainstream exercise. But the question is Should you be doing them?!

No doubt Plyometric is a great fat burner and there is something quite exciting about being mid-air especially if it is caught on camera! However plyometric is not for everyone and should not be done without proper training. Why? when you plyo you land on 5-7times your body weight! so let's say you weigh 165lbs you are landing on at least 825lbs! Now imagine you land wrongly? You may not get injured on the first jump but over time the risk of injury is dramatically increased. It is a fracture waiting to happen!

My recommendations for anyone thinking of doing plyometric training are:

you should be able to squat (not half squat) 60% of your body weight 5times in 5 seconds

for beginners you should be able to stand on one leg without falling over for at least 30secs

for advance; you should be able to go down into a quarter to half squat on one leg and hold for 30sec (this tests your balance, a key component of Plyometrics)

People of over 220lbs are at increased risk for injury because like I mentioned earlier with Plyometrics you land on 5-7times your body weight; so for a weight of over 220lb.......I will let you do the maths!

Plyometrics! Should you be doing them?

Excuses are for those who need them. I don't negotiate my training

I had every reason not to exercise today, first my alarm didn't go off at 4:30am but my body clock woke me up at 5:30! I had 2hours to complete a 12miles run (I am training for a marathon and Saturdays are my long runs). I was tired, thanks to my staying up later than usual cleaning the whole goat meat I bought from the butchers..... I love goat meat! Do you know that goat meat is 50% lower in fat than beef and is about 40% lower in saturated fat than chicken, even chicken cooked with the skin off!!.....Well I digress. So I rushed into the bath to get ready for my run and staring at me from my open windows was the most ugly creature ever! A Raccoon! Sweet baby Jesus I screamed and shut my window. Could this be a sign that I should skip my run?

As I was about to leave home my nearly 3year old child woke up and insisted that I took him with me on my run! Now that would be tricky...lol but then I thought maybe this really is a sign that I shouldn't go running, it might be a Raccoon festival out there for all I knew! I eventually made it out of the house but forgot to take my armband phone pouch which meant holding my phone for the duration of my run; how inconvenient is that!

5miles into my run, I saw a rat on my path that refused to move away! What's up with that! Rats usually just run away at the sounds of human feet. 9miles into my run I saw a cat running with a hand glove in its mouth and a bird swooping low to get the glove from the cat! Seriously!!!?

The bird swooped so low that it almost touched my shoulders. My heart rate leaped up to 170bpm and I sprinted off up a hill I usually walk up!

Still not sure if everything that occurred today was a sign or a sigh but I am glad that I did train against all odds......Excuses? not for me!

Have you ever had such a day where it seems everything is stopping you from exercising? Tell me about your odds, I would love to read them.....

The Happy "Marriage" Of Cardio And Strength Training

It's an undisputed fact that we burn more calories when we engage in any cardiovascular training in comparison to strength training of the same duration.

Many people are of the opinion that since cardiovascular training burns more calories, it therefore means it is the fastest way to lose weight, after all weight loss is about creating a calorie deficit. However, many people are short-sighted by concentrating on how many calories they burn while at the gym instead of focusing on how our bodies expend calories throughout the day.

With traditional cardiovascular exercise i.e. running, cycling etc. you expend calories while you are moving but once you stop you quickly shift to your normal metabolic rate, your body quickly adjusts to the stress placed on it, which means you have to move faster or keep moving non-stop! Who does that??! Strength training build muscles and with more muscles more calories are burn even when you are sitting on your couch! Now I like the sitting part!

Many strength training athletes dislike cardio and many cardio addicts dislike strength training. Never should the two ever meet! Today I am forcing the marriage between both because they compliment each other beautifully....Strength training is the "missing rib of cardio"! According to the research from Osaka University printed in the Journal of Applied Physiology, cardio after strength training exercises prevents the arteries from becoming stiff; which could perhaps help reduce subsequent muscle stiffness.

In addition to doing the above (cardio after strength training), also including a short burst of cardio before a strength training session and intermittently during will help lubricate the joints, prevent boredom and enhance the effectiveness of strength training session.

How do you train? Do you do cardio before, or after, your strength training and why? Do you hate strength training? or you have a good mix of both cardio and strength training........ I would love to hear from you.