Christmas is coming are you getting fat?

It's that time of year that can be taxing on your waistline as well as your pocket! During this four week period people gain on average 2KG of extra weight! But fear not below are a few helpful suggestions that you can do you avoid a hangover (belly) this Christmas.

1. Keep the truely indulgent days to a minimum, such as Christmas and Boxing days and New Year's Eve.

2. Don't set yourself up for failure by trying to lose weight at this time. Try to maintain your present weight and start/continue a healthy eating routine in the new year.

3. At parties do plenty of talking and dancing to avoid stuffing yourself too much and stand away from the food table to avoid picking.

4. On the big day you could find yourself consuming twice as many calories than on a normal day. The average Christmas dinner packs a wopping 956 calories, so listen to your body and avoid trying to finish all that's on your plate if your belly is signalling that its full.

5. After that big dinner go for a walk to ease digestion and burn off some calories.

So if you're sensible you can still enjoy this wonderful time of year but avoiding those extra unwanted pounds.

British Women dubbed 'fattest in Europe.'

Figures released recently revealed that a quarter (23.9%) of British women were obese. British men weren't far behind with 21.1% classed as overweight.

The high levels of obesity in the UK are in stark contrast to some countries like Romania, where only 8% were classed as obese.

Overall, Brits should be consuming 5 million less calories per day than at present.

And earlier this year the strain of our ever increasing waist lines is now effecting the NHS with the number of hospital admissions for obesity rising by more than 30%, putting extra pressure on the health service as it tries to cope with the 10,571 new admissions.

So are we as a nation going to sit there and except our fate or get off the sofa and do something about changing the way we live?

After all it's a free country but wouldn't it be good if the people of the UK got fitter by consuming less and exercising a bit more.

With some thought and planning this country could be celebrating by having the fittest women in Europe in a few years time.

Improve your Health-Go Mediterranean!

In studies, Scientists have found that when obese people were given a low-calorie diet made up of Mediterranean-style foods, such as fish, chicken, pasta, potatoes and fresh fruit and vegetables, they were more likely to stick to it and lose weight from their stomach, compared to those who followed a traditional low-calorie diet.

Researchers from the U.S. have found that those who follow a Med-style diet have a smaller decline in brain functioning as they grow older compared to those who follow a more western diet, which can contain higher levels of saturated fats. It's believed that it maybe the unsaturated fats and antitoxidants in fruit, veg and wholegrain foods which helped to maintain brain function.

You can even wash it done with a glass of red wine, which can help in reducing blood pressure and maintaining a healthy body. However always ensure that you drink within the recommended health guildelines as the benefits will be diminished and drinking more on a regular basis will be unhealthy.

So raise a glass and tuck into some fresh fish and pasta for a healthier and stronger body.

Drink choc milk to aid recovery

In two recent studies, Dr Ivy at the University of Texas found that low fat milkshake worked better as a post-workout recovery drink compared to typical sports drinks and calorie free drinks.

Both studies consisted of 32 healthy amateur male and female cyclists. In the studies he found that those who consumed the chocolate drink had more power and rode faster compared with those who drank another drink.

The other study revealed that the low-fat chocolate milk drinkers built more muscle and burnt off more fat during training, resulting in them gaining 3-pound in lean muscle after 4.5 weeks of training compared with participants who consumed a sport drink.

Dr Ivy admits that the reasons why the low-fat Chocolate drink is more successful is unclear at present until more research has been done.

"But there's something in the naturally-occuring protein and carbohydrate mix that offers significant benefits," he concludes.

Dr Ivy notes that the drink needs to be consumed within 30 mins after a work-out to get maximum benefits.

New Fitness Guildelines For Health

People are being urged to look at the amount of activity-time in their lives as part of a new campaign.

The Get Going Campaign is being launched as part of the Change4Life initiatiave, and calls for adults to be more active everyday.

"Doing a little bit of physical activity each day offers huge benefits. That is why my UK colleagues and I recently updated the guidelines so they were more flexible for everyone," says chief medical officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies.

"Adults can now get their 150 active minutes a week in sessions of ten minutes or more. This can be from enjoyable everyday activites such as walking at a good pace or even digging in the garden."

So long as the activity allows you to become slightly out of breath and perspire than you can choose most things for improving your fitness levels.

Health Minister Lord Howe adds: "I hope this new campaign encourages everyone to find new flexible ways of increasing their own activity levels."

New Time for Family Fitness

Just to let everyone know that the new time for Family Fitness is 10.00 - 11.00 am every tuesday at the Salvation Army Centre, Forest Rd, Walthamstow.

For those of you that are unfamilar with this class this involves dynamic and aerobic type exercises in order to burn fat and improve stamina and Yoga/Pilates type mat work exercises to fully work and tone the muscles.

This class is suitable for all.

Children will be able to come if needbe.

Price between £1.50-£2.00.

How Too Much T.V. Can Cut Your Life Expectancy

According to The British Journal of Sports Medicine, couch potatoes who watch six hours of TV a day live five years less than those who don’t.
This research on health risks linked to TV viewing suggest too much time sat in front of the telly can shorten life expectancy, presumably because viewers who watch a lot of telly do little or no exercise.
Prof Stuart Biddle, an expert in exercise psychology at Loughborough University, said a lot of people in the UK now fall into the category of inactive or sedentary.
He said that aiming for 30 minutes of exercise a day on pretty much every day of the week might seem too challenging for some, but starting low and building up could be achievable.
"You can get good gains with relatively small amounts of physical activity. More is always better, but less is a good place to start."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14526853

6 Ways to Help Stick to Your Fitness Goals

These days there's tons of activity opportunities available to us, from gyms to fitness DVDs, from running a charity race to attending a fitness class there's something to suit everyone. So why aren't we all super-fit and enjoying a healthy life?
Dr Simon Evetts believes he's found the answer. He's worked as an exercise physiologist for NASA in California and now currently the Senior Lecturer in Exercise Science at Thames Valley University,
"I knew that something was fundamentally wrong with the world of fitness, because my industry had decades worth of experience and a plethora of effective services and products and yet 65% of our society was still overweight or unfit. We say we know how to get people fit and yet it doesn't happen. What is wrong?"
What he concluded was that it's not what's wrong, but what is missing - and what is missing from the health and fitness formula is adherence.
Says Evetts: "Adherence is the ability to stick to something until goals have been achieved. It is a multifactorial issue, which is being dealt with in parts by many people and organisations, but which as yet has not been clearly recognised or adequately addressed as a whole. Over the next decade we will see a revolution in health and fitness based upon 'adherence', but you can start today."

Here are six ways to help you stick to your new healthy lifestyle:-
1. Set yourself goals- Setting yourself goals are extremely important in order to help you to focus your mind and get to where you want to be. Try setting a set of short term goals with a time frame to be acheived in 6-12 weeks such as lose 1 or 2 stone before a holiday or to be able to jog on a treadmill for 20 mins. Have a long term goal of about 12 months such as running a long distance race for charity.
2. Find your driving force-Find out the true reason for your goal, It's not just 'to lose weight and look good', there is more. Find out from deep within yourself why you need to look good, feel good or be fitter/healthier. Identify this and your motivation will improve 10 fold
3. Find an activity/exercise you enjoy- It's no good choosing an exercise you dislike because the chances are you woen't stick to it. You stand a better chance of sticking to it if you enjoy it.
4. Life alignment- Look at the other aspects of your life (family, work) that will exist along side your quest for health and fitness. Will there be any conflicts along the way? Identify where your exercise programme might cause problems with other elements of your life and act to resolve these in advance.
5.Visual feedback- Research has shown that the most effective exercise programmes are those which include visual feedback. Graph the weight that you're losing or how fast you are running a set distance, this will help with your general motivation.
6. Relapse strategies - Be prepared if relapse happens. Tell yourself that relaspe is all part of the process of change and shouldn't be the end of trying to change yourself. Identify what might cause a relapse for you and how you can prepare yourself so that you have a good chance to fight it when it happens. Think about what could cause you to give up exercise and avoid these situations.

Double the Chances of Quiting Smoking by Weight Training

According to new research a weight training regime can help double the chances of smokers kicking the habit.

Research published by The Miriam Hospital in Rhode Island, USA, follow on from previous studies that aerobic exercise can reduce cravings for cigarettes as well as controlling weight gain after giving up.

The study followed 25 male and female smokers between the ages of 18 and 65 who reported smoking at least five cigarettes a day for at least one year.

The participants received a 15-20 minute smoking cessation counselling session as well as an eight-week supply of nicotine patches before being placed into two random groups.

For 12 weeks the resistance training group engaged in two, 60 minute training sessions per week.

The full-body routine involved 10 exercises, with researchers gradually increasing weight and intensity every three weeks. Participants in the control group watched a brief health and wellness video twice a week.

At the end of the 12 weeks, 16 per cent of smokers in the weight training group had not only quit smoking, but had also lost weight and body fat.
In comparison, just eight per cent of individuals in the control group had quit smoking and also reported an increase in their body weight and fat ratios.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2024533/Pumping-iron-double-chances-quitting-smoking.html#ixzz1V52kpqHM

Official-Only a little time exercising can still help reduce Heart Disease

A new study shows just 150 minutes (2.5 hrs) of moderate exercise each week is enough to lower the risk of heart disease by 14 per cent.
The findings by Jacob Sattelmair, of the Department of Epidemology at the Harvard School of Public Health in America, corroborate current guidelines published by the Department of Health and also shows that the more someone exercises the greater the health benefits.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8675117/Even-moderate-exercise-cuts-heart-disease-risk.html

Slight change to Family Fitness for the summer

I'm pleased to say that Family Fitness will be continuing throughout the summer holidays.

Due to Lloyds Park Surestart Centre not being able to finance me during this time the price for each class will be £5.00.

If you have older children you can also bring them along for no extra charge!

Advert Workout

One of the main barriers to fitness a lot of people complain about is the lack of time. We all live such busy lives that it can feel almost impossible to find the time to keep ourselves fit. People can normally find the time to watch t.v. and so the 'Advert Workout' is a great way to combine watching the telly with exercise.

So next time the adverts come on instead of making a cuppa have a go at doing the exercises below. An average advert lasts for 30 secs so do an exercise for each one. Below are some suggestions and how to perform each exercise.

PUSH UPS:- This will work your chest, arms and stomach muscles. You can do this with knees on or off the floor. Hands should be about 1 and a half to 2 shoulder widths a part with hands directly under the shoulders. Keeping the back flat and stomach tight lower your body to the floor until your arms are in an L shape and are inline with shoulders. Remember to breath. Then raise body back to start position and repeat.

SQUATS:- This will work your bottom and leg muscles. Start with feet about 2 hip width across. Keeping your back straight and stomach muscles tight, take a breath in and bend legs as low as you can, no lower than a 90 degree angle and avoiding the knees going over the toes. Then breath out as you slowly return to start postition.

AB CRUNCH:- These will work the upper abs. Lay on your back, with legs about hip width apart. Either bring your arms across your body (easier version) or hold finger tips against temples with elbows sticking out to the sides. Slowly bring your head and shoulders off the floor and breathing out at the same time. Squeeze your stomach muscles at the top and then slowly lower your head and shoulders back to the floor-repeat.

REVERSE CRUNCHES- These work the lower abs. Lay on your back, arms laying by your sides, put your legs together and raise them until the knees are slightly below the hips, keep the legs slightly bent. Slowly bring the knees to your chest and lift your bottom off the floor, keeping the small of the back on the floor and arms relaxed. Then return to start position. Breath out on the lift and in on the lowering phase.

JOG ON THE SPOT- This works your heart, lungs and lower body. Just like it says, jog for the duration of the advert. For a harder version try sprinting.

THE PLANK:- This works all the core muscles-(avoid doing this exercise if you are suffering from high blood pressure). Place elbows and lower arms on the floor and lift body up until the hips are in line with your shoulders, knees and ankles. Draw your belly button towards the spine and avoid holding your breath. Hold for the duration of the advert. Easier version would be one or both knees on the floor.

Enjoy and let me know how you get on.

Stay fit & healthy cheaply

In these hard financial times it can be hard to keep yourself fit. Too high priced gym memberships or supermarket offers on high fat foods rather then the healthy can make it difficult to make the right choice at times.

Below are a few ideas to help keep you and your family fit and healthy.

1. Buy from the market- Pay for £ a bowl and freeze the fruit you can't eat. You can use the frozen fruit in smoothies.

2. Buy fruit and veg that is in season- These tend to be cheaper then buying fruit that is out of season and from abroad.

3. Make a stew/soup out of bits and bobs from the fridge- use any spare meat, chicken and veg that is in the fridge to make a tasty cheap nutritious meal for the whole family.

4. Train outside- instead of paying out for expensive gym memberships why not try jogging with a group of friends out in the local park.

5. Join a local community fitness class- these tend to be held in church halls or community centres and offers pay as you go rather then charging a monthy fee. Try my family fitness class on Tuesdays at 10.30 starting prices from only £1.50! Details @ www.titanfreestyle.com

Chingford Festival on Sat 25th June

My club Titan Freestyle Martial Arts will be doing a little demo at this event on The Green.

The Festival will have an array of entertainment including craft stalls, a circus workshop, inflatables and a climbing wall. This will be a great family day out.

Our demo will be starting on The Village Green at 3.40-4.10. So if you're in the area check us out-it'll be great to see you.

Active Children = Happy Children

Children who take part in physical activity regularly are 20% happier compared to those who don't do any, according to a study conducted by Sainsburys.

The study involved 2,238 children, parents and teachers and showed that parents have a direct influence on their child's fitness. 72% of children in the study claimed that if their parents were more active they would be too.

Other stats showed 4 out of 10 children never exercised or did so only once per week and 20% of boys said they exercised 5 times a week compared to 7% of girls.

Why exercise really could be the best medicine

According to a recent report it's estimated that in the next 15 years more people will die from chronic diseases then were killed in both World Wars!

Most of these chronic diseases are preventable by eating healthily and exercising regularly.

Experts agree that a lack of exercise has a harmful effect on our health and becoming more physical active will help reduce the risks of getting heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and certain cancers.

It's estimated if things don't improve by 2050 obesity will cost the NHS £45 billion! Childhood obesity will be a huge problem with 1 in 3 clinically obese and cancers and heart disease increasing dramatically among this group.

At present physical inactivity costs the NHS £1.5 million each year.

Due to exercise's health benefits and the added benefits to being cheaper and side effect free compared to prescription drugs, more doctors are prescribing gym membership to help combat obesity, lower blood pressure and help with depression and stress.

Those who are physically inactive will in their lifetime spend 38% more days in hospital, visit their GP 5.5% more times and have 12% more nurse visits.

However fear not it's never too late to start to become more active to improve your health. Studies show that at any age the body will respond and become stronger and fitter with moderate exercise. Also studies have shown that the greatest improvement is when the least fittest become more active.

As well as helping to prevent chronic diseases, long term exercise can help delay the onset of dementia and increase independence in the elderly.

Current government guildelines suggest that we should perform at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 times a week such as walking, swimming, jogging or any other activity that will help increase the heart rate, cause prespiration and become slightly out of breath. You can do 30 minutes straight off or you can do it over the course of the day - it all adds up.

If you are not used to exercising always start off at a gentle pace, listen to your body and stop if you feel any sharp pain. As you get used to the exercise you can slowly increase the intensity over the course of a few weeks. If in any doubt consult your GP or a fitness professional.

Begin to get more active today and make that first step towards a fitter you.

Breakfast-Why it's the most important meal of the day.

In my business I hear a lot of excuses why people avoid breakfast, "I can't eat that early," "I'm trying to lose weight," "I don't have time." And I always tell them that missing out on such an important meal is doing them a disservice.

Breakfast literally means to break fast. Your body has slept an average of 6-8 hours with no nutrition and once it wakes up it needs food to top up its depleated energy stores. Eating first thing in the morning boosts your metabolism, the faster this is the more efficient the body is at burning fat. Also eating at this time will reduce the risk of grabbing something when you're really hungry which is often an unhealthy choice.

Here's a few tips to help you.

1. If you'e not used to breakfast then start light by having a slice of wholemeal toast, a protein shake or fruit smoothie.

2. Try to eat a breakfast full of fibre and complex carbs such as wholemeal toast, porridge, Bran Flakes, All-Bran or muesli. These all take longer to digest so will keep you fuller for longer and will therefore avoid snacking on those unhealthy snacks later on in the day.

3. Avoid high sugary cereals such as 'Crunchy Nut Cornflakes,' which contains 35g of sugar per 100g. Read the back of the packet, all of its ingredients are listed with greatest first. If sugar comes in the top three-avoid.

4. A glass of juice contributes to 1 of your 5 a day and will help boost your body first thing in the morning. However if you're trying to lose weight don't go too heavy with it. After all it still contains sugar, even though it's natural your body will still store it as fat if you don't burn it as energy.

5. Mix it up a bit, you'll get bored if you have the same thing each day, variety is the spice of life after all.

New venue for Family Fitness

Good news for Family Fitness. The Salvation Army in Forest Rd has kindly allowed us to run this class at their hall and so we can continue with this class on Tuesdays at 10.30-11.30am.

For those new to this it's an hour's fitness class, first half is stand up exercises such as basic kickboxing/boxing moves to help fat burn, tone muscles and increase stamina. The last half involves mat work exercises often found in Yoga & Pilates, which will help strengthen muscles and posture.

This is open to all parents and their children up to the age of 5.

Price is £1.50 per family (1 parent 2 children) Any bigger £2.00

If someone is 3 stone overweight

If you are 3 stone overweight:-

13x more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes.

4x more likely to have high blood pressure

3x more likely to have a heart attack.

Have a greater risk of osteoarthritis, due to the extra weight on the joints.

More susceptible to gallbladder disease and gallstones due to raised cholesterol levels.

At greater risk of developing several types of cancer.

(Stats from medical sources including The World Cancer Research Fund).

Unfit Double the Risk

According to a study published in the Official Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine the least-fit segment of the population has twice the mortality risk of even those who are just a bit more in shape.

A research team from Stanford University, performed exercise tests and followed more than 4,300 subjects from 1986-2006, none had a history of heart disease.

Fitness and physical activity levels were measured using tradmill tests and questionaires and mortality rates tracked during the 20-year study.

Results showed that the least-fit had twice the mortality rate compared to the second least-fit group and more than 4 times the rate of the most fit group.

So if you're in this group then it may be time to be more active in order to reduce the risk of dying earlier then those who are a bit more active.

The Importance of Resistance Training

Research supports the notion that moderate-intensity aerobic training alone is not the best way of burning body fat. You should include a resistance training programme to help build muscle in order to burn body fat, even at rest.

A 1994 landmark study proved that including a resistance programme to your exercise routine was better then performing aerobic training alone. It compared resistance with aerobic training and found that dispite only exercising for 15 weeks against the aerobic group's 20 the resistance group had lost 9 times more body fat then the aerobic group!

Add to this the added benefits of resistance training such as increased strength, bone density, blood flow to limbs, longer-lasting drop in blood pressure compared to aerobic exercises and better posture, you can see why resistance training should be included in your exercise routine.

Get in touch if you want to know more regarding resistance and free weight training exercises.

New matchaffinity.com advert (February 2011) - 30 seconds

New MatchAffinity.com Advert - Find a Lasting Relationship (Feb 2011)

Sports Drinks

Anyone thinking of using sports or energy drinks such as Lucozade sport, Powerade and Red Bull as part of their training rountine should consider if these are really needed for their fitness goals.

In an age of image and the power of advertising it's easy to think that these drinks are always needed as part of a fitness programme but this isn't always the case.

As we get closer to the London 2012 Olympics, sports drinks such as the above will be advertising their wares, giving the suggestion that because most of  the athletes will be using their products then it's considered healthy and everyone regardless of the amount of exercise they do will benefit.

However these drinks by their very nature are loaded with sugar in the form of glucose, the body's preferred energy source, in order to give the body extra energy to perform exercise.  This is fine if your body uses this sugar for energy but if it isn't converted  into energy due to the exercise not being intense or long enough it will be converted into fat intead and stored on the body.

The body has about 1-1.5 hours of energy levels before it needs to be fed again and so if your work out is around this duration then water is better.  However after this time the body will start to get tried and performance will start to decline, this is when sports drinks will come into their own.

So to recap if your fitness rountine involves performing for longer then 1.5 hours, such as long distance running then sports drinks can be a good thing to use.  However if you are training for less and your main goal is fat loss, avoid these drinks at all costs and stick to water.

Free Weights-be careful!

A recent study has shown an alarming rise of 50% in the last 18 years in the number of weight-training injuries.

More than 970,000 weight-training related injuries were treated in US hospital emergency departments.  This report which was published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, showed that 90% of these injuries were caused by free weights, with the most common injury being caused by dropping the weight on a person (65%). 

The study also revealed that while the highest injuries occured among males, there was a larger increase in the incidence of injury among females.  This is most likely due to it becoming much more popular for females to do weight training then some years ago.

This research shows that although weight training is benificial to health, caution must be taken to reduce the risk of injury. 

The things you can do to reduce the risks are to have a warm up and stretch before lifting weights. If you're new to weight training, ensure you start on the resistance machines until you get used to the movement of each exercise and are shown the correct techinque by a fitness professional, rather then Jim your mate!  Once you have mastered the movements then you can move onto free weights.  Again ensure you are shown correct technique and form by a fitness professional.

Remember that the weight you can lift on the machines will be less with free weights due to the fact that the machines give you some support compared with free weights.

Lastly if you're going heavy with free weights on exercises such as bench press it's wise to have a spotter (a person who can keep an eye on you and can take the weight from you if you reach muscle failure).

 Enjoy your work outs and here's to injury free weight training.

If anyone needs some more advice regarding this or any other exercise topic- drop me a line.

How can you get a flat stomach/6 pack?

I often get asked this question but it's not as simple as just doing a few 'sit ups' everyday.
Everyone always thinks about exercising to burn body fat but often forget the nutritional side of things.

About 80% of getting a flatter stomach or 6 pack is nutrition.  Of course cardio exercises such as kick boxing and jogging will help burn body fat and resistance training using free weights or body weight will help build muscle, which in turn will help burn fat at rest but if nutrition is neglected then you will never reach your goal.  You could have the strongest ab muscles but if they're hidden behind a layer of fat then they can't be seen.

In order to help get rid of this fat you need to eat plenty of veg and lean protein sources such as chicken, fish and meat, ensuring you don't overload your body with too much carb rich foods such as potatoes, rice and pasta.  However carbs are needed in order to give your body enough energy to perform exercise so don't cut them out altogether.

Ensure you keep yourself hydrated by drinking at least 2 litres of water a day and avoiding high sugar fizzy/sports drinks. 

Avoid fatty foods and cook your meat by baking, grilling or stir-frying rather than frying.  Avoid sweets,  cakes and too much cheese.

So if you combine cardio, resistance training and eat healthily you stand more of a chance of achieving your fitness goal.

Get in touch if you need any further help or advice in reaching your fitness goals.

Extra classes @ YMCA

Just to let you guys know that for the next few weeks I'll be taking up more classes at the YMCA Forrest Rd, Walthamstow.  In addition to the classes I do on Tue evenings Kick Box Circuit and Stretch & Tone) and Thursday lunch times (Kick Box Circuit), I'll be doing the lunch time slots on mondays (Pump & Tone) and Wednesdays (Legs, Bums & Abs).

If you're looking to burn fat, tone up and improve stamina quickly-then these are the classes for you!

Photo Shoot!

Had an experience this Wed.  As some of you know myself and my wife Tonya are involved with the lastest advertising campaign for Matchaffinity.com (we're one of the couples featured).

We did a photo shoot at our place.  It was quite surreal with a crew of 8 setting up residence at our place for the best part of the day. 

They got a set of great photos which will feature in a new advert that will appear in local newspaper suplements in March.

Keep your eyes out for us!

The Biggest Loser!

I was talking to one of my clients at my GP Referral gym session the other day and She brought up the t.v show The Biggest Loser.  If you haven't seen it its about a group of heavily obese couples who are living together in a county retreat and spend all day trying to lose weight by dieting and being put through a fitness regime from Hell, led by two personal trainers.  The two sets of couples who have lost the least get nominated by the others to be voted off the show. The couple with the most votes have to leave.

What I find worrying about this programme, although quite entertaining, is the fact that the fitness programmes that they are doing is not suitable for people who are this heavily over weight and have hardly done any exercise before.

To get a 20 stone plus person to start running just like that and get them to run up hills and stairs straight away is asking for trouble.  All that weight going through their joints in their knees, back and neck is very unhealthy.  In T.V land they get away with it due to the fact that they must have been put through a vigerous medical check up to ensure there's no underlining heart conditions and they have a paramedic on hand to give medical intervention if things get a little too rough.

The healthy rate of weight loss is 1-2 lbs a week but these guys are losing a lot more then this.  In losing this amount of weight so quickly they are putting more strain on their heart and run the risk of putting on weight and extra once they stop their dieting and exercise regime.

I understand that this is T.V and it needs to be exciting but my concern is that the average person watching this will think this is the best way in going about losing weight and will put themselves in danger, trying to copy the exercises that are shown.

I think there should be a warning at the end of the show to let viewers know that they need to consult a fitness professional or doctor, before embarking on any fitness programme.

New community fitness class

Really enjoying my new class that I'm running on Tuesdays at 10.30 at Priory Court Community Centre.  It's an exciting new class that uses dynamic, aerobic type movements, such as boxing and compound movements, using large muscles groups like the legs, to help burn fat, tone and improve stamina.  The second half consists of mat work, using Pilates/Yoga and stretching style exercises to fully work the abs, back, lower body and arms.

Although the class is geared towards adults, participants will be able to bring their children along if they need to.

See you there.