Education

Never stop learning.

This part of the website is where you can learn fitness tips and gain knowledge about certain topics often addressed in the fitness industry.

Education is a big part of fitness and I'm sure this section will be beneficial for you.

Topics

From home workouts to goal setting, from workout videos to magazine articles, from Ramadan tips to sports events, we have got you covered!

What do you want to know?

Something you want help with? For any questions you have, send an email to

nicky-fitness@mail.com

There are many more workouts and training tips on @nicky__fitness Instagram.

What really makes us give up on our goals?

The start of the year is usually when we goal set. We think of what we want to achieve and try to make it come true in the year ahead. I’m sure you are all aware of SMART goal setting, making sure the goal is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound, but are you following these steps.

1) Writing it down, in detail?

2) Using images that you can glance at daily?

3) Following a structured plan with checkpoints to keep you on track?

90% of people give up on their health and fitness goal by the middle of February, only 6 weeks into the year, but why is that? Let me explain.

In the fitness industry, there has been a massive increase in the amount of online coaches and personal trainers in the last year alone. You can even type into google ‘training programme’ and you will be able to get a free workout guide which you can follow. Perfect you think…well not quite. These programme templates are a one size fits all approach and are not tailored to you or for you. One of the reasons why people give up is because they don’t know how to fit the ‘free training programme off google, into their individual lifestyle. Another point worth mentioning, is that everyone is different. Everyone has different fitness levels, different mobility and flexibility levels, some might be recovering from an injury and so on. The free training programme off the internet does’t take this into account and it becomes hard to follow so we give up.

Let’s say you’ve joined a gym, you have a free or paid programme to follow, why do you still find it hard to succeed? I believe that the majority of people know what they should or shouldn't do, in relation to their health and fitness goal. I also believe that people can follow a training programme, as I have online clients in different countries all over the world that do this and do it well. The main issue is accountability. Some people need ownership and commitment. This can help you avoid skipping the gym because you feel tired, reduce the frequency of you eating junk food two, three or four times a week and you get support throughout the week to ensure you stay on track. I have trained many people in my time as a personal trainer, from CEO’s to flight attendants, senior managers to school teachers and sports teams. One of the main ingredients they have over others who quit, is that they have accountability. The take ownership of their goals and have a coach, colleague or co worker to keep them in line. If you can’t get a Personal Trainer, tell a friend or family member about your goal or put it on social media. That becomes your contract, don’t break it.

Another reason why people tend to give up after a short period of time, is down to the results they are not seeing. If your goal was to lose 4kg of weight and you haven’t, you would think that you have failed. This is the problem with having outcome based goals, especially ones that are based on overall scale weight. When I initially speak to a new client we have a consultation which allows me to find out more about them and what they want to achieve. We then set performance based goals, not scale focussed ones. This works so much better for them and they are much more committed, driven, motivated and consistent. How you measure the success of your goal, can have a big impact on the actual success of your goal. Instead of just focussing on the number on the scales to lose weight, focus on exercising more per week, getting stronger from strength training, eating more protein each day, getting more quality sleep, fitting into old clothes, eating more fruit and vegetables, drinking more water, getting more daily steps. These are lifestyle changes that will positively impact your outcome based goal and they are infinite. Which means that you are constantly trying to be better, day after day. Who wouldn't want that?!

How you 'should' measure progress...

Let’s say you want to lose weight. You and I both know that the easiest way to measure if we are successful is to weigh ourselves. Once at the start and then during our fitness journey. If the weight on the scales is down then we have made progress, happy days. But what if it’s not? Does that mean we haven't made progress?

Many people will use the weighing scales as ‘the number 1’ measure for weight loss, but it’s not that simple. Here are some facts about weight and about weighing scales:

Weighing scales are not always accurate.
Your weight will fluctuate daily, up to 1kg, sometimes more.
The time of day can effect your reading.
Your stress levels, hydration levels and sleep can impact your weighing scale reading.
The scales don’t show body composition, just overall weight.

I agree that if you are trying to lose weight and the scales are down, you have made progress. But I also believe that if the scales haven’t moved, you have made progress. Unfortunately, in society today, we put extra pressure on ourselves to achieve a specific outcome goal, that we forget about the process goals along the way. We overlook the little changes we make because we want instant gratification so even when we have a good week of training, eating healthy, going to bed early, citing back on alcohol and take aways etc, if the number on the scales hasn’t moved, we believe we have failed and haven't made progress. When that’s not even the case.

The weighing scales are just one way to measure. Below I will share with you some of the ways I measure my own progress and how my clients measure their progress.

You exercise when you say you are going to exercise. This might not seem like much but it is a commitment you make with yourself. You need to hold yourself accountable so look at the week ahead and plan the days you will exercise then commit to that.
You improve your daily step count. Walking is underrated as it is easy to do, will burn calories and improve your fitness. If last week you managed 6,000 steps a day and this week you did 6,200 steps a day, that’s progress.
You have more energy. When we exercise we release stress and in return release endorphins, which make us feel better but also make the body feel more awake by increasing oxygen circulation.
You cut back on the amount of take aways, alcohol, chocolate or bad foods you eat during the week. Cutting back rather than cutting out enables you to have your fix but you must control and moderate this.
You are getting stronger in the gym. This could be that you are lifting heavier weight, completing more sets or achieving more reps. If you focus on muscle activation and execute resistance exercises at the right tempo with the right technique, you will see some serious changes.
You sleep better. The body will be more tired from exercise but you should also get better quality sleep in terms of REM and deep sleep. Just like walking, the amount of sleep you get each night is underrated and can make a big difference to your fitness and health goals.
You fit into your clothes better. How your clothes feel and how confident you feel wearing them is a great way to measure if the training you are doing is working.
You have a routine. You know what days you will exercise and when you will have a rest day. Like the first point, having a routine encourages habits and commitment. Just make sure the habits are good ones.
You have an increased appetite and feel more hungry. This is what we want as it shows our body is utilising the foods we eat for energy and we are efficient in burning the calories we consume.
You enjoy what you do. Too many people use exercise as a consequence of eating badly when it should be a habit that we do, regardless of what we eat. If you enjoy doing group exercise classes because of the social element or enjoy going to the gym, continue to do that as you will see positive changes in the long term if you enjoy it.

Those are 10 ways in which we ‘should’ be measuring progress, so don’t get too obsessed with the scales because ultimately, if we are ticking off the points above, we should see our weight on the scales come down but we should focus on those first.

How do I burn more calories WHEN RESTING?

Ever wondered why some people can eat what they want but don't gain weight?

You might think that it's genetics or it's their metabolism. But there is more to it than that. What if I told you, I can help you burn more calories at rest.

Let me explain…

Calories & how it works…

If you’ve been reading my articles for some time, you would have read about Basal Metabolic Rate, referred to as BMR. This describes how many calories we need to survive and approximately how many we burn each day.

For females this is estimated on average to be 1500 to 2000 calories a day and for males 2000 to 2500 calories a day.

Here are two statements:

1) You burn calories sitting on a sofa. Going for a run will burn more.

2) Lying in bed you will burn calories. Lifting weights will burn more.

The two statements above are true because exercise requires energy. Staying alive also requires energy but not as much as exercise does. Our body will

get energy from food and drink. The more we exercise, the more food our body needs and the exact amount is unique to each individual.

To calculate your BMR head over to the Nutrition tab on my website, where you can find your maintenance calories, how much you need to lose weight (negative energy balance = calorie deficit) or how much you need to gain weight (positive energy balance = calorie surplus)

The amount of food we eat can affect how much energy we have and the way we look. How can a bodybuilder eat 5000 calories a day but not look fat? I'm pretty sure they're not eating 5000 clean calories

a day either as it would be very difficult to do so. Look at their physique, as it is their body composition which allows them to do this. They have high muscle mass.

Explained…

If you strength train and get stronger, you will increase your muscle mass. This causes the body to metabolise more calories at rest, because simply being alive with more muscle mass will equate to burning more calories.

If you had two 40-year old males, both weighing the same at 85kg. Subject I) has 40% muscle mass and 20% body fat whilst subject 2) has 30% muscle mass and 20% body fat. It is highly likely that subject I) will burn more calories on a daily basis.

How much more is unknown and there are a few variables to consider, such as exercise history, medical background, lifestyle habits, job and family commitments etc. Therefore, in order to maintain the weight of 85kg, subject I will need to eat more calories and therefore have a higher BMR.

Strength training is super important, whatever your goal. Aim to lift weights three times per week with the correct form and execution then focus on

getting stronger. I'm not saying you need to compete in a strongman contest or lift heavier than anyone else in the gym, not at all, it's all relative to you and

your individual strength. There are also different methods of resistance training so make sure you start off light and build up the repetitions and weight gradually.

To finish this month's article, I'm going to leave you with these three bullet points, to summarise how you can burn more calories at rest.

• Lift weights and get stronger

• Increase muscle mass (lean tissue or size)

• Burn more calories at rest

How do you avoid a plateau?

One thing I’ve noticed in the fitness industry is that many people do ‘just enough’ to get by. One of my old football coaches used to call it ‘going through the motions’ meaning performing actions without any urgency or direct purpose. This can be dangerous and I’ll explain why…

Lets say you go to the gym x4 times a week for 2 months. You would expect to see some improvements when it comes to your strength, fitness, body shape and appearance...not necessarily. What if you spend 20 minutes of your 1 hour session chatting to people? What if you do the same weight and reps without challenging yourself? Unless you are constantly challenging your body, at most you're maintaining your strength and fit- ness levels. The human body can adapt very quickly. Reading this article can help you avoid or break through any plateau so that you start to see a change.

First of all, we need to establish what might cause a plateau in your training. As mentioned above, going to the gym and showing up x4 times a week isn’t going to be enough. Therefore, if you:

• do the same number of reps and sets • do exercises in the same order

• rest for the same period

• lift the same weight

• follow the same programme

• work at the same intensity...you’ll probably reach a plateau.

Instead you need to apply…

progressive overload to your training. This is where you will progressively increase the variables which make the training more challenging. Here are some examples below:

• Increase the reps

(If you can do 10 reps at ease, then next time aim for 12)

• Increase the number of sets

(If you can do 3 sets of 8 reps, try to complete 4 sets of 8 reps)

• Reduce rest period between sets

(If you rest for 60 seconds, reduce this to 45 or even 30 seconds between sets)

• Increase the weight

(If you can squat 60kg for 12 reps, next time try 62.5kg for 12 weeks)

• Improve R.O.M - Range of movement

(If you can half squat 80kg for8 reps, try to go deeper and lower, to increase the range of move- ment)

• Change the tempo

(If you can bench press 50kg for 15 reps easily, try to slow the movement down, to increase T.U.T - time under tension)

The above points are fairly simple to do. My last bit of advice is to write it down. You’ll never re- member the whole session so keep record of what you do and keep a log (on some paper or notes on your phone) as this will help you when you try to equal or beat last weeks training.

Nothing exciting happens inside your comfort zone, you have to keep challenging yourself if you want to see improvements or change.

So give it go, break the plateau!!

EID Fitness Tips

Where to go from here...

Nicky Fitness would like to wish all clients, friends and families of Dubai EID Mubarak. Best wishes for the year ahead!

Even though it is still summer time and extremely hot outside, you probably have a Fitness or Health goal you want to achieve?

Exercising should be fun. You should first start with bodyweight exercises before you do resistance machines or free weights. This is important because it develops a basic level of strength. If you are heavy, your bodyweight may be hard, therefore I will give you alternatives tips which you can do.

Start small, then build from there...

My Top 5 Bodyweight exercises are shown below. For more fitness tips, keep checking out our page. You can follow these Bodyweight exercises after you have done your warm up and mobility exercises. Once you are warmed up, proceed with the following -

1. Squats

Start with feet slightly wider than hip width apart. Turn your toes out a little and keep your chest up. From there, bend your knees whilst keeping your back in neutral spine (not curved) then push through your heels to stand back up. Try to do this 10 times. Rest and then repeat for 3 sets = 30 reps. You should feel this working the muscles in your legs. Easier option is to do half range reps so don’t go down too low.

2. Push Ups

On the floor, facing down, extend your arms and hold that position. From there, bend your arms to bring your upper body closer to the floor. Then push back away from the floor. There are two options, number 1 is to perform this exercise on your knees. Number 2 is to perform this exercise on your toes. Aim to do this 10 times. Rest and repeat 3 sets = 30 reps. You should feel this in your upper body, mainly the chest, triceps on back of the arm and front of the shoulder. Easier option is to do push ups on your knees so they are resting on the ground for better stability.

3. Sit Ups

Also on the floor, but this time in a lying down position facing the sky. Bend both knees and keep your shoulders flat on the ground. From here, place both hands on the top of your thigh. Then aim to slide your fingers to the top of your knees, in a sit up position. Try not to twist your spine but keep it straight as you reach forward. Do this 10 times. Rest and repeat for 3 sets = 30 reps. You should feel this working your abdominals in your stomach. Easier option is to start with your hands lower down on your thigh then work up to reaching past the knee.

4. Lunges

This challenges your balance, whilst working your legs. You need to set up with a split stance, one leg infront of the other. Make sure both feet are facing forward and hold still. Then bend your back knee to the floor, whilst keeping your back straight and posture up right. You can start doing half reps as the easier option, then build up to full range where you go all the way down. Aim for 10 reps on each side = 20 in total then repeat for 3 sets = 60 reps.

5. Plank

Probably one of the most dreaded exercises…why? Because it’s hard and holding your body flat in a still position for a period of time can be uncomfortable. Start in a lying position facing the floor. Then rest on your elbows with your legs straight so you are up on your toes. From here, keep your back flat in a ‘plank’ position. Try to focus on balance by holding as still as you can. You can drop down to your knees if it gets too intense. Try to do 30 seconds, then adjust the time accordingly depending on how easy or hard you find the exercise. Repeat for 3 sets.

Motivation

Find something you enjoy doing. Something that is fun and involves exercising. This could be re-living your childhood days and taking up old hobbies.

Make exercise and your health a lifestyle change!

For live updates and videos, follow @nicky__fitness on Instagram

Why does Training LEGS help with Weight Loss?

If your trying to lose weight, read this...

Gone are the old days where the traditional method to lose weight would be to run on the Treadmill or spend an hour solid doing Cardio...that's just boring!!!

Of course, it has it's benefits. By doing that you will:

Improve your fitness
Burn calories
Lose Weight
Drop Body Fat%

But in this day and age, many of us don't have the time to spend doing boring cardio. And also, if something is boring and we don't enjoy it, then we are less likely to stay focussed and keep it going.

So, if you are trying to lose weight and all your currently doing is cardio. STOP

You need to incorporate some Strength training as well. Unless you want to lose weight but look shapeless and flat like a pancake.

Legs are a big muscle group, the main muscles are the Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Gluteus Maximus, Gastrocnemius & Soleus.

Training legs will increase your heart rate. This is good as it will help get the blood pumping to the muscles and it will burn calories. You need to focus on technique, speed of movement and repetitions. Once you have mastered this, then you can increase the weight.

You may find that you are out of breath from doing the exercises in the video below and that's ok, do what you can and give yourself recovery time in between sets and exercises.

To lose weight, along with good Nutrition, you need to train the big muscle groups effectively. Most leg exercises are compound moves which help increase your metabolism and get you sweating, so grab your trainers and go TRAIN LEGS!

No Equipment = No Problem

Bodyweight Training

Many people believe that they have to be a member of the gym to get fit and be in shape...wrong.

Many people believe that they don't have the time to train and exercise, also, wrong!

Here are some fitness tips for you. You can use your own bodyweight as your resistance and you can do it in your own home. All you need is some floor space.

Exercising for 20-30 minutes a day, isn't that long and the benefits are worth it!

What exercises can you do?

Depending on your goal and if you have an injuries, you can follow these exercises below. Bodyweight training is a great way to improve fitness, strength, range of movement, flexibility, posture, core strength, help lose weight and it can also be fun!

Squats
Lunges
Push ups
Pull ups
Sit ups
Plank
Back extensions
Tricep dips

Once you understand the exercises above, you can progress each one and then take it to the next level which is calisthenics (as shown in the image on the side - the human flag)

Want to know more?

Any questions you have about bodyweight training, send us an email and we will get back to you nicky-fitness@mail.com

More videos and content can be found on Instagram @nicky__fitness for more live exercises you can follow.

Education

Topics

What do you want to know?

What really makes us give up on our goals?

How you 'should' measure progress...

How do I burn more calories WHEN RESTING?

Calories & how it works…

Explained…

How do you avoid a plateau?

One thing I’ve noticed in the fitness industry is that many people do ‘just enough’ to get by. One of my old football coaches used to call it ‘going through the motions’ meaning performing actions without any urgency or direct purpose. This can be dangerous and I’ll explain why…

Instead you need to apply…

EID Fitness Tips

Where to go from here...

Start small, then build from there...

Motivation

Why does Training LEGS help with Weight Loss?

If your trying to lose weight, read this...

What Equipment is best for me?

Articles

Read, learn & try

No Equipment = No Problem

Bodyweight Training

What exercises can you do?

Want to know more?

How to prepare for an Ironman

Education

Topics

What do you want to know?

What really makes us give up on our goals?

How you 'should' measure progress...

How do I burn more calories WHEN RESTING?

Calories & how it works…

Explained…

How do you avoid a plateau?

One thing I’ve noticed in the fitness industry is that many people do ‘just enough’ to get by. One of my old football coaches used to call it ‘going through the motions’ meaning performing actions without any urgency or direct purpose. This can be dangerous and I’ll explain why…

Instead you need to apply…

EID Fitness Tips

Where to go from here...

Start small, then build from there...

Motivation

Why does Training LEGS help with Weight Loss?

If your trying to lose weight, read this...

What Equipment is best for me?

Articles

Read, learn & try

No Equipment = No Problem

Bodyweight Training

What exercises can you do?

Want to know more?

How to prepare for an Ironman

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