Taking a week off

Check back for new posts on Tuesday 28th of September.

"Why Army style fitness workouts are all pain and no gain"-Daily Mail

I was reading FitPro News when I came across this article. I read through it a few times and absolutely cannot believe it! This article has 'don't exercise you will hurt yourself' written all over it. I thought that in the current climate of an obese riddled country we should be encouraging people to exercise and be healthy but this article is suggesting; you should not run, you should not do sit ups, you should not go to a military style bootcamp because you might get shouted at. Running and sit ups are two of the simplest exercises you could possibly do, and getting shouted at at a MILITARY STYLE BOOTCAMP...well, honestly, if you weren't expecting to be shouted at and pushed to your physical limits...why would you go?


                       "surely no self-respecting adult really enjoys performing a wheelbarrow                              (crawling along the floor on your hands while another holds your legs behind you)? 

There are more dignified ways of honing your core strength"

There may very well be more dignified ways, but I would put money on it that they would be boring. The wheelbarrow puts a bit of variety into their core workout, makes it a bit more fun. In the comment section one lady states that 

"All of the negative comments are based upon opinion with no evidence to back up their claims on either injury, posture or the conduct of the instructors in the British Military Fitness."

I completely 110% agree with her. She the goes on to say quite comically

"or the women who will never go back because her instructor shouted at her and asked her to do squats", "If you hurt your knee skiing then surely it is skiing that is bad for you.

I feel that classes like this are not only about helping people to achieve their goals, but also to help them realise their full potential.
"making someone do lots of press-ups when they can't even do a single one"  To me, this statement says that this person in actual fact is doing press ups that they didn't realise that could do.


I have so much more I would like to rant about regarding this article, but I would be here all day! Have a read of the article yourself HERE and let me know what you think too.


I personally couldn't think of anything better to do that got to one of these classes!

Zumba

I have tried out Zumba a few times now, I wasn't expecting to like it but I am an absolute convert! It is awesome!

"The Zumba® program fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves to create a one-of-a-kind fitness program that will blow you away. Our goal is simple: We want you to want to work out, to love working out, to get hooked. Zumba® Fanatics achieve long-term benefits while experiencing an absolute blast in one exciting hour of calorie-burning, body-energizing, awe-inspiring movements meant to engage and captivate for life!" (Zumba.com) 


I am very tempted to do the training to teach Zumba, but I still want to do more Les Mills courses (Attack and Balance), but its ok, I have plenty of time left in my career to do so! If you haven't tried it yet I would recommend finding a class near you, the steps are easy to pick up, and its a fun class to participate in.

Cho-Yung weight loss tea

Following a post I did back in april on Cho-Yung weight loss tea I would like you all to read this comment that was left by Martina

" I read a review on what appeared to be a reputable Irish Medical Paper on Cho Yung Tea and Procleanse Gold - they appear to be the same company. I signed up for the Trial of 14 at 8.99€ for both. It was only afterwards I read the details re the Fraudulent manner in which they operate, and sent an email with 48 hours to advise that I did not want any further product nor did I authorise any further withdrawal of money from my Visa car. I also phoned my Visa company who told me to wait and see if they would take more money In the event they die, both of them taking money again after 15 days, despite my having emailed them, Proclense Gold took over 30 € and Cho Yung Tea over 50€. Well I am loosing weight o.k but not from the tea, which I have never used, but from trying to get them to leave my money alone. I have had to cancel my Visa card and have None as this comes up as a type of standing order every month and the way Visa works it will pay it our. However the good news is that Visa will also follow both companies for me, as I have and email record of all correspondence and they advise that they will request that my money be returned and that both companies be subjected to a fine of up to 3000€ for breach of trading regulations. Be careful out there." 


If you want to drink tea to support your weight loss or detoxing goals I would suggest just drinking regular green tea, and not wasting money on scams such as this one.


If you come across any weight loss supplememnts that you are interested in but you think may be a bit dodgy, please don't hesitate to let me know, and I would love to check them out for you. 


Unfortunately I couldn't get in touch with Martina as her profile is set to private, but Martina, if you read this, I really hope everything had worked out for you! It really is terrible what companies like this do. 

WaterWorks Diary of an Instructor 4

Due to my holiday and going to V-festival, I have had a bit of time out of teaching WaterWorks. I was glad to get back into it when the time came. I was a bit worried that I would have forgotten the chore and teach a complete bodge job of a class, but it actually went quite well, the chore came straight back to me after looking over the notes (which I thought I had lost! Que panic attack)

I am still loving the programme and am eager to get my hands on the new release! The time has come when I need to get filming! My plan is to film not this Wednesday, not the next, but the next. It gives me enough time to WaterWorks chore bootcamp myself, and to get all the Les Mills Launches out of the way so I can concentrate with out going into chore overload! If Wednesday evening goes wrong I will re-film on Thursday morning, fingers crossed it won't come to that!

K-Swiss Tubes

So as I said in the previous post, at Colossus I got my hands on a few freebies. And not just a few bits of lucozade bars here and there. I got a pair of trainers!!! With two sweatbands. I have never had a pair of K-Swiss shoes before, their not really a make that I would think "I need some new trainers, oh I think I'll get some K-Swiss'", I have now changed my mind. The trainers both look and feel great!
To get your hands on some click HERE. There are many different colours that you can get. Also with every purchase you get a free K-Swiss gym bag, water bottle and towel...I want them too! Am I being greedy? After all they did give me free trainers! haha

These bad boys are seriously worth a try, they feel like your walking on bouncy marshmallows!  They have enough what I can only describe as 'squish' in them to absorb any impact headed towards your knees and shins. I've been teaching classes in them ever since I got them and haven't had a single twinge in my knees! These trainers really are great!

Check out their facebook page...'like' it, and then 'like' my wall post please :) Click here to do so, and then scroll down to my comment, (Sophie Barrett), and get 'liking'!!

Colossus

Last weekend took me to Sheffield for the Les Mills Super quartely workshop. 7 programmes, 7 hours of exercise. For me, 7 hours of bliss! The day started at 8.30 am with Body Attack

I am now absolutely desperate to begin teaching Body Attack as it is such an amazing workout! This was a really good release which had me dripping after about 15 minutes! 

9.45am and we did Body Pump 75. 

The music for this release is so good! I cannot wait to learn it, I managed to get my self right at the front for this. The presenters were awesome too, I couldn't help but stare, so guys, the wooping brunette in the front staring at you gormlessly...was me :) Watch out for the chest track, its a corker! And the new moves in the shoulder track! Click here to see a video of the warm up taught by the fabulous Niamh....see if you can spot me...front row baby! The highlight of the presentation for Pump was defo Niamh and Shaun, both fantastic at what they do, and an inspiration to us all.

11am: Its Body Jam time!! This hour went so quickly! Again, a really strong release, myself and participants found the last release a bit tricky, and the fast heel toe incredibly amusing, but this one is a bit more simplified, again with wicked tracks. It was amazing to have the Rachel Cohen herslef there teaching, I was in absolute awe by her, she is my idol!

12.15 Body Step, without sounding like a broken record, yet another really good release!

Can you see me?...blue top! My injury of the day came from this class, yep, I stubbed my toe, right on the corner of the bigun (yes my toes have corners) Presented by a great group including Vanessa Labort who did my module training, such a fun group who all seem to bounce off of each other. Plus I swear Vanessa has springs in her shoes!

RPM was up next, by now my legs feel like lead so what do I do? PUT MY GEARS UP! YEAAAAA haha it was great, fantastic instructors too, this is the first time I have done RPM at a quartely and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

 Finally lunch time came! A chance to scoff loads of food and rest up ready for the afternoon. At 4 o'clock, we took part in the new body balance, this is a nice release, quite easy, not to much going on, just what we needed.  The front lady is Ann-See Yeoh, she taught some of the class on Saturday, she has a great teaching style, so good infact that she is on the DVD of Body Balances 50th release!

Last but definitely not least we did Body Combat 45. 

 I can't even describe this release. It was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. End of. Rachel Cohen (joint programme driector for Les Mills Body Combat) team taught in this. She was phenominal! As was Tanya Walker, a tiny bundle of energy, they were both in a previous post of mine about my inspiration, check it out here, not leaving out Phil Harrison! 'If you got the balls to fight then come on bring it'  The moves, the music, everything about this release is fab, I have already started to learn it, so I can get it into my classes as soon as I can! Track 8 actually gives me goosebumps when it kicks in.

The whole day was brilliant, I had such a good time, and got some freebies too which you will see in the next post.  I can't wait for the launches of these releases! Get to your nearest launch, it will be well worth it!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those at Fitpro who put so much effort into the day and organised the event, also all of the Presenters for being so blooming inspiring and giving us a reason to go on. I am proud to be a Les Mills Instructor! 

Kia Kaha!