Fitness Terminology

One of the problems about starting a health and fitness regime is all the different acronyms, phrases and terminology used. For the newbie it can be a nightmare and often fitness professionals take it for granted that you know what they are talking about. So for your benefit I have put together a quick reference guide for the most commonly used phrases, terms and acronyms used in the health and fitness world.

Cardiovascular (CV) – Your bodies system for pumping blood around it. CV exercise will train your heart to become stronger and more efficient helping to prevent cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular exercise is also known as aerobic or cardio for short.

RPE - Rate of Perceived Exertion.
How you rate the intensity of an activity usually between 6 and 20. 6 being easy and 20 being very hard.

Metabolism – Is the rate at which your body cells burn energy.

LBM – Lean Body Mass (muscle, skeleton and vital organs). Also known as Fat Free Mass

VLCD - Very Low Carbohydrate Diet

GDA – Guideline Daily Allowance

RDA – Recommended Daily Allowance

REP – Or repetition is used to describe the number repeats performed of one complete movement of a particular exercise. (For example 10 REPS of press ups is equivalent to 10 complete press ups)

SET - A set is a fixed number of repetitions of one exercise. (For example 3 sets of 10 reps is equal to a total of 30 repetitions. But you will only perform 10 reps at each time with a short rest between the next 10 reps)

Body Composition - Is defined as the percentage or ratio of body fat to lean body mass

Aerobic – Exercise performed at a pace that requires sufficient oxygen to enable you to continue (Example; running at a brisk pace). Usually 60 to 90% of MHR

Anaerobic – Exercise performed at a pace that does not require sufficient oxygen to continue (Example; Power Lifting) 90 to 100% of MHR

Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) – Maximum number of time per minute the heart is capable of beating

Resting Heart Rate (RHR) – The number of times per minute the heart beats when at rest

Resistance Training – Training using weights, bands or body weight to provide sufficient resistance to work the muscles, to increase, endurance, strength, power and size

Are diet drinks making you fat?

Recent research has revealed that diet drinks, in fact any food carrying a 'diet' label could actually be making you fatter.

The reason for this is that diet drinks contain artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose to name but two. These artificial sweeteners are much more intense than real sugar and are known by experts as 'excitotoxins' because they stimulate the sensory areas of the brain and trick your body into expecting a huge calorie hit. Because your body is expecting more it releases a large amount of insulin to counteract the sugar. These sweeteners contain no calories so their is nothing for the insulin to work on. What happens when you have excess insulin floating around in your blood stream? You get hungry and what happens when you get hungry? You eat. More often than not you will eat junk because when you have an insulin spike you often reach for the most sugary and fatty food to counteract the insulin and beat the craving.

It's much better and healthier to eat or drink food with natural sugar, like fruit juice rather than the diet options which contain chemical alternatives. Just make sure you are aware of the calories that you are consuming.

How to get rid of love handles

One of the most popular questions that I get asked is; "how can I get rid of my love handles".

Everyone is genetically different. Some people have a tendency towards storing body fat, others are naturally lean and the lucky few are lean and muscular. If you have 'love Handles' then it's likely that you fall into the type of person that has a genetic tendency to store body fat easily (Endomorph). However, this should not be an excuse to have them.

The 2 main body shapes that fall into the endomorphic somatotype are 'Apple'. Where fat is mainly stored around the chest and mid section. 'Pear where fat generally accumulatesaround the hips, bottom and thighs.

If you have 'Love Handles' then you are more likely to be 'Apple' shaped rather than 'Pear' shaped. This can be a problem, because people with 'apple' shaped bodies are more prone to developing diseases such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. So it is very important that you start to take action to do something about it.

If you are serious about getting rid of your love handles you can, with a little effort and dedication on your part.

As already established, 'love Handles' are caused by excess body fat. Reducing excess body fat basically boils down to a combination of 2 things;

1. Increase in physical activity - so you burn more energy

2. Healthy balanced diet - to control your food intake to compliment your activity levels.

Increasing your activity levels

Cardio Vascular (CV) exercise is very important in fat burning. Increasing the amount CV exercise you do in a week will increase your metabolism burning more calories and fat for energy.

Try doing this; High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). This is the best way to burn fat.

HIIT can be done with any CV activity such as running, walking, swimming, cycling as long as it get your heart and breathing rates up to a high level, then it's effective.

WARNING: High Intensity Interval Training is not recommended for beginners to exercise. Check with your Doctor before trying this as it raises your heart rate close to it's maximum which is not wise for people who are not used to it. As an alternative to HIIT, perform long slow distance training by increasing the overall time, but keeping the intensity constant around 5-6 for the duration.

1. Warm up for 5 minutes at a steady relaxed pace. On a scale of 1 to 10 your perceived intensity rating should be around 4-5/10. You should be able to keep going and hold a conversation comfortably

2. After 5 minutes alternate with periods of rest and work.

Work Interval
- Increase your pace so that your intensity rating is a 9.
- Hold this pace for 8 seconds.

Rest Interval
- Reduce your pace back down to around 5-6 for 12 seconds.

Repeat this cycle for 10 minutes or for as long as you can keep it up.

3. For the last 5 minutes reduce the pace back down to 5.

For more information on this type of training check this website; Turbulencetraining.com

Core Abdominal Exercise, helps to increase muscle tone and strength around the mid-section (core). This will sculpt your stomach and the surrounding muscles to give a more toned physique by making the muscles more prominent around that area. Increased muscle mass also helps to burn more calories hence helping to reduce body fat.

Do these core abdominal exercises;
Start with as many as you can do. Work up to 3 sets of 20 reps per exercise.

1. Abdominal Crunch - Lie down on the floor on your back and bend your knees, placing your hands behind your head or across your chest. Pull your belly button towards your spine, and flatten your lower back against the floor. Slowly contract your abdominal, bringing your shoulder blades about one or two inches off the floor.

2. Obliques Twist - Start by lying down with your back flat on the floor and your left knee up. Place your right ankle on your left knee. Put your right arm straight out and your left hand behind your head. Curl your left shoulder up towards your hip. (Don't try to bring your elbow to your knee.) Once your shoulders are off the floor twist and feel a squeeze in the opposite side of the waist. Keep your lower back pressed to the floor. Slowly return to the start position. Once you finish your set switch sides and repeat.

3. Plank - Start by lying face down on the ground or use an exercise mat. Place your elbows and forearms underneath your chest. Prop yourself up to form a bridge using your toes and forearms. Maintain a flat back and do not allow your hips to sag towards the ground.

4. Back Extension - Lie face down with your arms by your sides, palms facing up and legs extended and relaxed. Hold your head up slightly or rest your forehead on the floor. Relax your shoulders into the floor, but keep your abdominal tight. Tense your bum muscles and use your lower back muscles to slowly lift your shoulders and chest off the floor. Lower and repeat.

As well as doing these exercises based around increasing core strength it's recommended that you also follow a balanced weight training routine to improve muscle tone and endurance around the whole body. This will promote good posture and help to increase your metabolism to burn more fat.


Sensible healthy eating:

The second core ingredient to losing those love handles is a good healthy balanced diet. Restricting calories too much is not recommended and can actually cause you to get fatter. Concentrate on the quality of your food rather than the quantity.

Here's 5 points to consider about your diet

1. Think quality - Eat the best possible food whenever you can. Fresh is best.

2. Portion sizes - Get your portions right. Divide your meal into 3 portions, protein & fats (meat/fish etc.), Starchy Carbohydrates (Rice/Past potato etc.), Fibrous carbohydrates (Root veg, green veg, fruits etc.) Each portion size should be roughly the size of your fist for a full grown adult.

3. Eat little and often - This prevents hunger and regulates your metabolism. 5 to 6 small meals per day is recommended.

4. Always, always, always eat breakfast - Skipping breakfast makes you fat. Your metabolism is rock bottom in the morning. Eating breakfast kick starts your metabolism and starts you burning fat

5. Options - Always look for a healthier whole option. Here's some examples, wholemeal bread over white bread, wholemeal pasta over white pasta. Lean meat & fish cuts over sausages or fish fingers. Jacket potatoes over chips. Fruit over biscuits. Whatever you like to eat there is always a healthier more natural alternative.

Take one thing that you think you can improve on within your diet per day and change it. Example; Reduce your sugar in tea from 2 to 1 teaspoon. Switch to wholemeal bread. Cut your alcohol intake to the recommended daily units.

Follow the advice in this post and you will surprised at how quickly you'll see your love handles disappearing.

Fitness Tip - Vary your exercise

Getting fit doesn't have to be about endlessly pounding the
streets or lifting weights in a sweaty gym. Improving your
fitness will be much more successful if you vary your activities
and do things you enjoy doing.

For example last weekend, I went Sea Kayaking. It was something
I have never done before and I thoroughly enjoyed the
experience. It was such a good workout I really recommend that
you give it a try. It was a great CV workout for my heart and
lungs and also a good resistance workout for my arms, shoulders
and back. The surprising thing is that it really worked my core
muscles and upper legs hard as well.

You have to use your core abdominals and upper legs to help
steer the kayak and to make sure that it stays upright.

Apart from all that, it was a very relaxing few hours, just
gently paddling around the coast line taking in the beautiful
scenery and coming face to face with the wildlife that live
around the coast. Normally you would not get to see all these
sites, so it was a really amazing experience.

Why not take advantage of the summer weather and get out and do
something different. Their are plenty of outdoor activities that
will add a new dimension to your fitness and give you enjoyment
at the same time.

Some examples would be;
Hill walking
Pony trekking
Mountain biking
Cycling
Fell Running
Rock Climbing
River Kayaking
White water rafting

Fitness Tip - Overcoming the Weightloss plateau

Everyone reaches this stage at some point, usually within 2 to 3 months of first starting a new fitness and weight loss regime.
It can be quite demotivating when you first experience this. But it is a natural part of the process. Basically it means that your body has become accustomed to the exercise and eating patterns that you have been using for the last few months and it needs a new challenge in order to progress. You just need to deal with it and move on. Here's how to do that;


Firstly, unless you are considerably overweight, then weight itself is not a good way to measure progress. A true plateau should apply to several areas rather than just weight alone, for example, your physical appearance (Inch loss, BMI, Body Fat, etc.). Your personal best (Strength, speed, stamina, power etc.)

When you first started your original campaign, you made changes to the ways in which you have been eating and exercising. This initially shocks your body into action, by teaching it to become stronger and utilise your food energy more efficiently, hence increasing the efficiency of your metabolism. But your body is a quick learner and rapidly adapts to these changes, so they are no longer challenging.
The phase at which your body is learning to adapt to these new challenges is known by professional athletes and sports people as GAS or General Adaptation Syndrome. Once your body has adapted to the changes, you then reach the plateau phase and this is the point at which you begin to see a slow down in weight loss and fitness gains. This is the point where you have to make changes and introduce a new stimulus to further challenge your body.

So many people make the same mistake, when a starting a new fitness and weight loss regime. They continue doing the same routine week in week out without ever changing it. Then they wonder why they never reach their goals. Well now you know and here's what to do about it when you reach that point.

Continually test;
Make variations to your diet and exercise routine, by incorporating small changes and then monitor the results. Here are some examples as to how you can do that;

1. Awareness - Know your daily calorie allowance;
Being aware of how many calories you can eat in a day will allow you plan your meals effectively. This will ensure that you are eating sufficient calories to prevent the starvation response, but it will also make you aware of the point at which you could be overeating.
Once you know your daily calorie allowance, this will enable to apply other techniques such as Zig-Zagging, meal frequency and Tapering. See below.

To find out your daily calorie allowance check out the Calorie Counter Demo videos

2. Zig-Zagging
You will need to know your daily calorie allowance to do this effectively. But basically it means, restricting your calorie intake for a number of days and then increasing it again to above your calorie limit for one day. You might do this for several weeks. Generally you would zig-zag +/- 250 calories around your daily allowance for example, if your daily allowance is 2200 calories you would eat 1950 calories for 3 days, then 1 day at 2450. This method allows you to use calorie restriction, without the risk of going into starvation response, hence preserving muscle and maintaining metabolism. Body builders use this technique all the time.

3. Resistance Training - Workout with weights
Muscle is calorie hungry. The more muscle you have the more calories you will use. Many people make the mistake when starting fitness to just do CV training such as running, cycling, swimming etc. Whilst these activities will aid muscle development (tone) and preservation to a degree, they will not increase muscle size or mass. This can only effectively be done by training with weights at the correct intensity and volume. Increasing muscle size (hypertrophy) will raise your metabolism, helping you burn more fat.

4. Progression - Change or vary your CV workout
Make variations to your exercise routine by changing the distance, time, intensity, terrain etc. Even change the type of CV workout you are doing. If you are running, try, cycling or swimming. Include high intensity intervals or fartlek training to boost fat burning. Try anything that challenges your body.

5. Change the ratio of Carbs, Protein and Fats
Try experimenting with the ratio of macronutrients for each meal. This can make all the difference in getting over the weight loss plateau. Try eating less carbohydrate and more protein. Even try increasing your fat intake slightly, but remember to adjust your carbohydrate and protein intake to take in to account the increase in calories.

6. Change Meal Frequency
If you are eating three square meals a day - start adding snacks in between. Try to divide your total daily calorie allowance between 5 and 6 meals per day. This helps to keep your blood sugar levels constant and boosts your metabolic rate. For example, if your daily calorie allowance works out at 2000, divide that up as 6 meals at 333 calories each.

7. Calorie Tapering
As above you would divide your daily calories into 5 or 6 meals. But in this case, the idea is to eat more calories in the morning when you are more likely to use them and taper down the quantity gradually in the day by eating less at each meal serve. So you are eating less in the evening when you are more likely to store excess fat.

Adopting any one of the above is a good way of getting over a plateau. But the important thing to remember is test, test, test. Keep tweaking until you find what works for you, don't just stick to what you have always done. There's and old saying, 'If you always do what you've always done, then you will always have what you've got'.

Fitness Tip - How to burn body fat

Despite popular belief 'Long Slow Distance' training is not necessarily the most effective way to burn fat. This type of training is designed to keep your heart rate at around 60% of it's maximum for the duration of the training. But to burn any serious fat, you need to keep going for a substantial amount of time, usually around 45 to 60 minutes. This can often be detrimental to most peoples fat loss goals, because after a certain amount of time you are also burning muscle for energy, which is not good. As you know muscle, is calorie hungry and is necessary to help maximize fat loss.
Most people find this kind of time frame very hard to stick to, because it can be quite tedious and time consuming. By the time you have included a warm up, cool down and stretching session you are looking at well over an hour just for your CV session before you have even started with your resistance session.

A much more efficient way of burning fat and conserving time is to increase the intensity of your workout by adding interval sessions. This also helps to preserve muscle because the workout sessions are often considerably shorter and you are using a combination of different energy systems for fuel.

Interval training involves structured periods of work and recovery time and is aimed at developing cardiovascular fitness and improving your tolerance of training at higher intensities.

Fartlek training (Fartlek is the Swedish term for 'speed play') is another form of interval training, but instead of the interval being structured, the work and rest periods are random.

Fat burning, is accelerated by increasing the intensity of your workout. By intensity, I mean working harder, this will mean increasing your heart rate to around 80 - 90% of its maximum for a shorter period. This will ensure that you burn more calories in a shorter time period. The other advantage of interval training is that it relieves the boredom of just plodding along at the same old speed, which means your workout becomes more enjoyable and challenging.

You can apply interval training to almost any type of CV exercise, but it's important that you work hard on the work portions of the interval to get your heart rate up so that you are burning more calories and using fat for fuel as well as carbohydrate. You need to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. As you get fitter you can begin to decrease the rest interval and increase the work interval. This will quickly and effectively teach your body to adapt to new training conditions and catapult your fitness levels and fat burning ability into new territories.

Fitness Tip - Circuit Training

If you are looking to start fitness but you don't know what activity to do, then how about giving Circuit Training a go?

I have been doing circuit training for over 20 years and its given me great all round fitness, good posture and muscular endurance. I find that it's a great way to keep up my fitness levels now that I have retired from team sports such as rugby and football.

Circuit Training is one of the best all round group activities you can do to improve your overall fitness.

With regards to fitness most people are looking to improve, cardiovascular fitness (CV), muscular endurance and flexibility. A well planned circuit training session will cover all these key elements as well as improving power, strength and balance. Because it's interval based then it's one of the best activities for burning fat.

If you don't know what circuit training is then here's a quick overview.

Read the full article on Circuit Training