Tom Godwin – Personal Trainer – Foresight Fitness Services (Personal Training + Corporate Wellbeing) -
trainer@foresight-fitness.co.uk
What is fat?
Fat is the most concentrated form of energy in our diet, yielding 9 calories per gram compared to 4 calories per gram with carbohydrates and proteins. Fats are also important carriers of vitamins A, D, E and K. Fats are found both in solid form (fat) and liquid form (oils) at room temperature. Fats are made up of fatty acids, different combinations of these building blocks of fat are what gives different fats its different properties. Fatty acids are basically chains of carbon atoms.
In the body fats are used for a wide variety of functions. These include protection of the bodies organs, providing insulation, give the body its shape, protect the brain and coat the nervous system.
High fat diet are associated with a higher risk of coronary heart disease, also many suffer from higher cholesterol levels. Due to the fact that fat is high in calories high fat diets are also associated with obesity.
What problems are associated with a low fat diet?
Fat is an essential part of our diet, fat is present in every single one of our bodies cells. In women with a lower body at percentage than 15-20% may experience an absence of periods, due to hormonal imbalances. This may lead to fertility problems in the future. Low fat diets in general can result in missing out on essential fatty acids and vitamins needed by the body.
How much fat should I eat?
It is recommended that approx 15 – 30% of your daily calorie intake should be made up of fat. This is a very general figure and should be discussed fully with a nutritional therapist.
TOMTom Godwin – Personal Trainer – Foresight Fitness Services (Personal Training + Corporate Wellbeing) -
trainer@foresight-fitness.co.uk
It is that time of year again when we are looking towards/back at Christmas, then looking down at that bit of a budge that we have put on. It springs into many people minds to set themselves some new years resolutions based around health and fitness. But lets face it, how many of you have looked back at the resolutions you set last year, or what we are going to refer to as goals, and have achieved them? Unfortunately not many people do go on to achieve what they have set out to do, but why?
I feel that by following some simple goal setting rules, and this is not just post Christmas, but all year round, you can greatly increase your chance of achieving your goals. So lets take a look at the SMARTER system for setting goals, all goals must be:-
Specific - Goals must be specific to what you want to achieve, a goal such as to ‘get fitter’ is too vague to be used motivationally. A specific goal needs to be along the lines of 'to improve my fitness levels to a point where I can run a 10K'.
Measurable - All goals must have some form or measurable element such as a time, a weight or the completion of an event, so you clearly know when you have achieved your goal. A goal such as 'to lose weight' is useless as it has no clear end point.
Agreed - If you do not feel that you can achieve a goal, then you will have no ownership of it and therefore it loses it's motivating power. Goals must therefore be considered achievable and agreed to by all parties involved.
Realistic - A goal must be challenging but achievable. If you feel you can't achieve the goals that have been set by you then they will have no motivational effect.
Time Framed - If a goal is not time framed then it is easy to put it off, therefore increasing the risk for failure.
Exciting - Goals must excite you, if you are excited about it you are much more likely to get up and work towards achieving it.
Recorded - Writing down your goal allows you to fix and focus on what you are looking to achieve.
If I take a common example of a guy who comes to a personal trainer and would like to loose 2 stone. The goal outline might look like the following:-
'To loose 2 stone, over the next year, so I weigh 12 stone on the 31st December 2009’.
This goal meets all the criteria of the SMARTER principle, it is specific in that he wants to loose 2 stone, it is measurable as a specific time has been set. It has been agreed between the two parties who both think it is challenging but realistic. And a specific date it is set by which he would like to achieve the weight loss, so it is time framed.
Once you have set yourself a goal it is then time to work on your strategy that will help you achieve it. This is done by initially setting a number of sub-goals with motivating rewards. These should also follow the SMARTER principle!
So for our guy he might se similar goals at 3 months, 6 months and 9 month. These would take the format of ‘I would like to loose 8lb by 1st April, making my weight 13st6lb’. He may also set goals that might add to his main goals such as ‘ take a course of Personal Training in my first 3 months of training’ or ‘use a nutritionist to help me formulate a diet plan, during my first 3 months of training’.
Once this goal outline is completed it should not be put away in a drawer to gather dust, read over it regularly place it somewhere prominent where you will see it daily. By doing this you are focusing your mind on the goal that you have set yourself and you are preventing deviation from it.
Although goal setting like this may seem like a lengthy process compared to the relative ease of just saying in your head ‘I am going to lose 2 stone’, once you get into the habit of doing it you will soon start to see the motivational rewards of having a clearly defined goal and achievement.
I hope that by this time next year you will be looking back seeing a year of achievement, whatever your goals may be.
TOM
Tom Godwin – Personal Trainer – Foresight Fitness Services (Personal Training + Corporate Wellbeing) -
trainer@foresight-fitness.co.uk
Many women experience an increased amount of fat on the back of their arms, a situation many of my clients would like to address. Most of the time this is a additional layer of fat over the Tricep muscle.
By using resistance based exercise, the Tricep muscle can be toned. This can help to improve the appearance of the upper arm area. Unfortunately when it comes to reducing the fat in this area and whole body approach has to be taken. It has been proven that the theory of ‘Spot Reduction’ (exercising one area, will reduce the fat in that area) does not work.
TOM
Tom Godwin – Personal Trainer – Foresight Fitness Services (Personal Training + Corporate Wellbeing) -
trainer@foresight-fitness.co.uk
Wellbeing initiatives are fast becoming a major part of employee benefit packages and/or absentee management policies. By providing your employees with the tools they need to maintain their optimal levels of wellbeing you can have a direct effect on reducing the losses that your organisation may suffer due to absenteeism and also have a impact on tackling stress in the workplace. Not to mention the improvements in staff motivation and general workplace morale.
Benefits of Focusing on Wellbeing
By helping your employees to improve their personal levels of wellbeing your organisation can expect the following benefits:-
The old saying healthy body healthy mind is very true when it comes to the workplace. Fit and active people tend to be more efficient and effective in the work place. Not to mention the reduced levels of absenteeism amongst healthier employees.
Providing employees with encouragement to maintain good levels of health and fitness can be done in a number of ways:-
· Work based wellbeing clinics - short sessions (effective sessions can be as short as 30 mins) where employees can meet with a wellbeing consultant. This time allows individual’s to discuss possible ways of improving their daily physical activity levels and general wellbeing.
· Wellbeing testing - many companies now offer their employees the option to have their personal levels of wellbeing assessed. These sessions normally consist of a range of fitness and wellbeing tests allowing individuals to identify areas in their own wellbeing that could be improved.
· Work based fitness classes - by providing a range of on site fitness and wellbeing classes at various times, employees can find it more time effective to attend fitness classes.
· Work based gym - larger organisations may consider the provision of a on site gym for use of their staff. These gyms range in size and level of service dependent on organisational resources.
· Corporate gym memberships - by taking out a corporate membership at a local gym, employees can make substantial savings on membership costs, at a small cost to the organisation.
Nutritional standards have a vital role to play in an individuals overall wellbeing levels. By providing healthy options within the workplace an organisation can have a major impact on their employees wellbeing. This can be done by ensuring that snack, meal, and drink facilities include healthy options such as selections of fruit and the provision of easily accessible drinking water.
Larger organisations who have on site catering facilities may also wish to involve catering staff with the process of developing a more healthy workplace. Most people state the major barrier they face to healthy eating is that it is not convenient. So any interventions that you make within the workplace need to be convenient and accessible in order to be successful.
Stress management in the workplace
Stress levels within your organisation can be a major factor when trying to improve levels of workplace productivity via the implementation of a wellbeing policy. Stress is one of the biggest factors that account for employee absenteeism and loss of productivity.
The main problem within the workplace is that employees often do not have a get away point where they can take their minds off work for an all important break. Employees who tend to be un-contactable and can turn off from work during breaks tend to be more effective and efficient when back on the job.
One of the most effective and simplest strategies to have come out of many stress management programs is to turn your canteen or other staff areas into a no work zone. This means no work talk, no taking work into these designated areas, and most importantly no work calls.
Education is also a key element of effective stress management. From top to bottom employees need to be educated in identification of stress factors and coping strategies. Those in a managerial position should also be trained in the identification of stress indicators in their teams and how to manage stress in the workplace.
Conclusions
By implementing a thoroughly thought out wellbeing policy that covers the three main areas of health and fitness, nutrition and stress management your organisation could start to see massive rewards in terms of increased productivity and reduced losses due to absenteeism.
TOM
Tom Godwin – Personal Trainer – Foresight Fitness Services (Personal Training + Corporate Wellbeing) -
trainer@foresight-fitness.co.uk
TOM
Tom Godwin – Personal Trainer – Foresight Fitness Services (Personal Training + Corporate Wellbeing) -
trainer@foresight-fitness.co.uk
Proteins are what we are essentially made up of. The proteins that we eat are broken down by the body into their smaller components called amino acids. These amino acids are termed the ‘building blocks of life’ as they are what all the proteins in the human body are made up of. Such as your organs, muscles, tissues, etc... Proteins are also used as chemical catalysts, messengers, hormones, to build new tissues and as a fuel within the body. There are 20 amino acids needed by the body, which combine in different formations to allow the body to produce the vastly different forms of protein which make up the human body.
We need to eat a wide verity of proteins in our diet to allow us to have a ready supply of all the different amino acids (building blocks) that our bodies need. There are 8 amino acids which are essential in our diet as our bodies can’t produce them. The other 12 amino acids that the body needs can be produced from the 8 essential ones in the liver.
There are two types of protein complete and incomplete. Complete proteins contain all 8 essential proteins in sufficient amounts that the body needs (e.g. meat, diary, poultry, soy foods, tofu). Incomplete proteins contain all 8 essential amino acids but not all of them are in sufficient amounts that the body needs (e.g. rice, beans, pasta, nuts).
Proteins can be got from both animal and non-animal sources. animal produce tends to give us a complete source of protein (the only non-animal sources of complete protein are soy products and tofu). Where as non-animal sources tend to be deficient in one or more essential amino acid. So if a diet is eaten that does not include animal produce then eating complementary proteins is necessary (see vegiterian/vegan factsheet).
Many athletes take protein or amino acid supplements, these tend not to be called for as it is relatively easy for the average person with a well balanced diet to take in sufficient amounts of protein to fulfil their bodies needs. There is little evidence that taking a excess of protein will help to build up muscle or body bulk.
How much protein do I need?
Below is a very rough guide of how much protein that different lifestyle groups should take in on a daily basis. It is important that this chart is only used in conjunction with a full nutritional assessment from a trained nutritional therapist.
Lifestyle Type | g of protein per kg of body weight |
| Sedentary Adult | 0.75 |
| Average Adult | 1.2 |
| Aerobic Fitness | 1.4 – 1.6 |
| Speed Athlete | 1.8 |
| Strength/Muscle Mass | 2.0 |
| Maximum Useable Protein | 2.0 |
TOM
Tom Godwin – Personal Trainer – Foresight Fitness Services (Personal Training + Corporate Wellbeing) -
trainer@foresight-fitness.co.uk
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