Magazine Article -April Warwickshire Living

See below my first Article submission for Warwickshire Living and Worcestershire.  This first one is just an introduction to my background so that readers get to know a little about me before we get stuck into more 'Fitness with a Difference' which is how I plan to write.

Nicki Banks -  Warwickshire’s  Outdoor Fitness Camp and Personal Trainer is an inspirational sporting figure who has been passionate about fitness and well-being ever since childhood. (How many times have we heard this?) Well Nicki’s journey through life so far will undoubtedly inspire the most dedicated ‘couch potato’ to lace up their trainer and get active.

Originally from Sheffield, Nicki was one of three children brought up by her father, a very sporting personality himself.  He found love at the school playground with a lady who had three children; also a single parent.  Eventually all living together ‘like the Walton’s’ life was what you would call ‘busy’ only to be shattered by her Stepmom being taken away in a devastating car accident.  Nicki’s father was left to nurture six children alone.  This became the crux of her energy and motivation for sporting achievement, a common ground between herself and her father.  Nicki’s ultimate goal was to strive for something so great to make her father proud of what he had achieved being such a fantastic parent.  In 1996 Nicki was chosen from amongst 23,000 applicants to be a contender in the ITV Gladiators series.  But Nicki’s hopes of winning the ultimate fitness challenge were shattered when an accident on one of the games left her with a severe spinal injury.  After intensive physiotherapy and spinal surgery, learning to walk again was a huge challenge to overcome.   Nicki was told she would never be able to take part in active sports again though with her inner strength and determination, by channelling goals into weeks, months, and quartiles, it had taken two years of intensive rehabilitation to reach a level of fitness she never dreamed possible.  Her drive then brought a new dimension and focus; to embrace every day, live for the here and now, but most importantly help others with their health and fitness goals.  The years that followed brought thrill and  adventure on a personal level taking part in many long distance cycle rides for charities, Skydiving, Wing walking, Triathlon’s, and many breath taking fitness challenges.  Nicki trained as a Studio Instructor, Personal Trainer and Adventure Bootcamp proprietor working with Gladiator’s Zodiac aka Kate Staples and Olympic champion Daley Thompson and began to really make a difference to other people’s lives.

Then!!  Along came another obstacle (And not one that she sets up on the sports grounds with ladders, cones and hurdles!)  

October 2010 Nicki began to experience pain at the sight of injury, only to find a nasty infection in and amongst the metal cage in her spine.  Back in hospital for spinal surgery to remove the metal work that had supported the fracture for fourteen years wasn’t so straight forward and has left Nicki with loss of sensation and numbness down the left side of her body (which should return once nerves have found a new route).  Has this prevented her from doing what she loves and lives for?  certainly not.  The courage and focus has returned even stronger than before and Nicki is back teaching and striving towards her personal goals alongside the people she trains.  Nicki say’s “The greatest motivational concept is social support.  Witnessing me gain strength and stamina and reaching my fitness goals alongside themselves has really driven them to strive to achieve their goals.”

Nicki’s Positivity and Zest for life is so infectious that she ensures that everyone manages to have great fun whilst they exercise, encouraging and supporting each and every person whether it be in her Studio classes, one to one clients or Outdoor Fitness camp sessions.

 By definition General fitness training means working towards broad goals of overall health and well-being, rather than more specific goals of sport competition.

  The most important thing is that you take part in an activity that you enjoy.  If you don’t enjoy it you simply will not continue for a sustainable time  whether it be the new ‘Zumba’ craze that has hit the nation to, Pilates or Nicki’s passion for exercising in the great outdoors.  A regular moderate workout regime and a healthy diet can significantly improve the general appearance of muscle tone, healthy skin, hair and nails, while preventing and reducing age or lifestyle-related health problems from inactivity and poor diet.

Each month Nicki will be sharing with us her events and experiences, her expertise and thoughts about different exercise regimes and giving helpful hints and tips to help readers with any specific health and fitness goals.

 Motivational quote of the Month:-

 ‘You gain strength, courage and confidence by every life experience.  Say to yourself ‘I lived through this tough time; I can take the next thing that comes along’.  You must do the things you think you cannot do.  Eleanor Roosevelt

My Absence - Apology

Just a quick note to apologise for my absence I have no excuses other than I have been so busy with Work, Family, new Magazine Column and Enduring more Wild n Wacky adrenaline challenges that I have let my blog go a little by the wayside :0(

I plan to post more frequently about all the commings and goings on in my world and keep you entertained, focussed, and inspired.
Watch this space .....

Eating, Drinking and Training

What you eat and drink during training and during the day/week can dramatically affect how your body responds to the stresses impacted upon your body.
Here are some tips to help you maximise your training efforts.

1- Dont wait to hydrate.
If you are thirsty then you are already dehydrated.  Everyone should aim to drink 8 glasses of water fluids each day, when you exercise you need to drink more than this.
Tip - Fill 2 litre bottles full of water and aim to drink both by the end of each day.  The American College of Sports Medicine recommends drinking 5 - 12 fl oz every 15-20 mins during exercise over an hour.  Just as we can train our body to exercise, you can teach your body to absorb fluids by gradually increasing consumption.
Tip - weigh yourself before exercise and then straight after, any weightloss here is fluids lost through sweating which needs to be replaced ( each 1lb of weightloss = about 16oz of liquid)

2 - Start the day with a wholesome breakfast.
Porridge or no added sugar Meusli with berries is a perfect start to the day.  If you dont like cereal then try a slice toast with peanut butter, or poached egg on bagel

3- Eat small meals (x6) throughout the day to stabalise your sugar levels to prevent craving and snacking on sugary treats.

4 - Eat one of your meals within 2hours after your training session for maximum nutrient absorbtion.

5 - ALWAYS have a REST day each week, you don't want to risk overtraining and incurring injuries by not allowing your muscles chance to recover and repair.

6- The key to maximum weightloss is to 'Cross - Train'  mixing Resistance Training with Cardio for greater energy expenditure.

Keep watching for more handy hints to improve your performance and goal acheivement.
Happy training and stick at it - you can do it!!

Making the most of Cardio Training

Cardio Training that is  'Long and Steady' is pretty 'Dull and Tedious' - you will not stick to it over a period of time, this is why people fall off the 'Fitness Trail' and find exercise is 'Not for for me'.

If you are in a Gym you can use the readily available machines more productively and see the time fly by.
If you are outdoors you can alter your routes in different ways to make it more fun.
If you are at home/away with no equipment then Bodyweight cicuits are one of the Greatest ways to increase your fitness and muscle tone.

RUNNING
Running for 30-40mins will raise your heartrate to an optimum level that will have you burning energy for hours after your session.  It is a great fat metaboliser that will tone not only your legs but your arms and core.  Interval training is far more productive at improving your stamina than sticking to a steady pace.  Try to vary speed and level of incline each minute to break up the journey.
Try a 2-1 ratio of speed intervals  ( 45sec sprint - 90sec jog)
The stronger your body becomes, alter the rest period go for a ( 30-30/ 60-60 or even a 60-30 for advanced trainers)
Outdoors try sprint/jog using lamposts/tree markers.  Again you can sprint 1 jog 1, sprint 2 jog 1, sprint 3 jog 2 or even mix them up.  Hill efforts are fantastic for improving stamina and strength, run up as hard as you can, jog/walk down, repeat as many as you can.

Aim to reduce your jog/walk breaks and increase your speed or incline for ultimate fitness.

SWIMMING
Swimming is a low impact aerobic activity that is especially great for rehabilitation as it is gentle on your joints.  Whichever stroke you choose ensure your technique is correct,  that is smooth and comfortable.  Swimming lane after lane can be quite tedious so break it up using different strokes
Crawl is more challenging than Breaststoke, Backstroke gives you more chance to recover with your breathing.
Try alternating one lane of each stroke for variety.
Try 2 crawl- 1 Breastroke, 3-1, 4-2 or viseversa if you are a beginner to crawl.
Cahllenge yourself, see how many lanes you can acheive in 5/10min blocks of any given stroke then aim to improve on it next time. 
Time how fasts you can swim 10 lanes, then do gentle swim for 4 lanes and go again.

CYCLING
Whether in a gym or outdoors, cycling is a fantstic cardio option.  It is easy to coast along on a bike, so alternate terrain using speed, intervals, and  hills. 
Outdoors you can cover so much ground in a short time.  set yourself a challenge of 'How many villages/ boroughs can you cycle through',  GPS on the net is great for selecting different routes and for monitoring miles covered. Choose hilly routes for a challenging day or flat routes for more speed training.  It's a great activity for family fun too.
Spinning classes are a fantastic introduction to cycling whereby classes are structured with different terrains that simulate  steady flat roads, short burst speed intervals to tough hill climbs by adding greater resistance to make the ride more challenging.  Even the stationary bikes in the gym can be programmed for interval training in many different ways.
Try a easy/hard brick session whereby you choose a poweroutput level of say 120 RPM (revolutions per minute - number of circles made with the pedal) maintain the set rpm whilst changing the level of intensity 30sec-30sec, 60 - 30, 60 - 60. 
Pyramid hills are great, adding a level every minute until you peak and cannot pedal anylonger at a higher level, then drop a level every minute.

Time will just fly by

ROWING
Rowing machines offer a real fat-blasting whle body workout at it challenges both the upper and lower body with every stroke, though care needs to be taken with regards to correct posture to safeguard your back.  Again you can challenge yourself with distance targets and how fast you can get there, trying to better your time

BODYWEIGHT CIRCUITS
Your own gym equipment is with you all day everyday, you don't need any equipment at all to still have a great cardio workout.  The great advantage about doing bodyweight exercises is that not only can you really improve your stamina but also acheive great muscle tone too and do it ANYWHERE!!
Try the circuit below for starters:-

Squats
Push-ups
Alternate Reverse Lunges
Tricep Dips
Alternate Side Lunges
Abdominal Climbers

Perform 10 reps of each , no rest between each set and continue until you have completed 10 mins, I guarantee you will be out of breath and sweating like a trooper!
Another variation - do a pyramid so 5 of each, 2nd set -10 reps, 3rd set - 15 reps, 4th - 10, 5th - 5



Make sure you do a warm -up of at least 6 mins before completing any of the above and be sure to stretch afterwards
Get fit and have fun - variety is the key!

Good Nutrition isn't Rocket Science

Who would imagine that something we need everyday could be so confusing.  Come January we will all be bombarded with the' New Best Ever Diet'  the new latest 'Superfood', you 'should' eat this, you 'shouldn't' eat that. 
The reason these diets are so popular is that people are looking for a quick way to take off excess weight, they want to lose fat as quickly as they put it on or quicker.  The bottom line is that the most FAT you can quickly lose is 1% of your bodymass each week, this is on average 2lbs a week.  Anymore than this  and you are not burning FAT, you are losing water weight ( dehydration) and forcing your body to burn muscle for energy to function instead.  So yes you will still be losing weight but not FAT weight!!

It becomes such a battle to understand what we should and shouldn't eat for optimal health and weightloss.  The key is as much as we hate to admit it, Slow and Steady wins the race.  It becomes not a 'FAD Diet'  but a ' New Way of Eating', habits changing and new ones forming.


Lets Get Back To Basics

View your body like it's a machine, give it the right fuel and it will run smoothly ( would you put unleaded fuel in a deisel engine? do this and it will shut down) your body is the same, it can only function for so long with poor foods before you will begin to experience problems/ailments/ deficiencies.
Give it the right fuel and you will feel happier, be more alert,  have energy to exercise, proteins to repair muscles, vitamins to fight off colds, antioxidents to help your body for the future and much much more.

Calories in V's Calories out
It's simple - Eat more calories than you burn off during the day and you will store this as fat -   Energy reserve.    
                  Eat less than you burn off during the day and you will burn off your energy reserve - Bodyfat.

If you are bigger or smaller than you would like to be, then your energy balance is off line.  Look at this first before you begin to blame your metabolism or thyroid. 
You also need to take into consideration just exactly how active you are.  Common sense tells you that if you have quite a sendentary lifestyle you cannot eat the same quantity of food as a person who is walking around all day long and expect the same results.

Three Simple Rules
1- Go as natural as possible
2 - Get plenty of Variety (5-9 portions Fruit and Veg, 2-3 of Protein, 6-10 Carbohydrate = a good Balanced Diet)
3 - Drink enough water ( 6-8 glasses Everyday)

Some foods we should all eat for optimal nutrition and balance:-

Almonds - Rich source of Vit E, powerful antioxident to prevent cancer, high in 'Good Fat' and Protein
Apple - Fibre, 85% water and packed with Vit C
Avocado - High in calorie but higher in potassium than bananas and have at least 20 essential nutrients
Blueberries - Gram for gram they have more antioxidents than any other fruit
Celery - Dieters dream as it burns more calories to digest than is in the food itself
Cottage Cheese - Low fat Protein and Vit B2, vital for muscle growth and repair
Eggs - Great Protein, rich in Iron and contain all the essential amino acids for muscle repair
Grapefruit - Vit C and thought to slow down digestion thus feeling fuller for longer
Kidney Beans - Virtually fat free, high protein and low GI to help prevent snacking
Liver - love it or hate it, it is full of Iron, Zinc, Protein, Vitamins and Minerals
Milk -  Most accessible source of Calcium and Protein for healthy strong bones
Oats - Low GI carbohydrate providing slow release fuel for energy
Papaya - Rich sourse of Vit C and E and Betacarotene.  Help support the immune system and fluid balance
Pineapple - Bursting with Vit B's which help to release energy from foods
Quinoa - Complex Carbohydrate and a complete protein with 9 essential amino acids for tissue repair
Salmon - Great source of Omega 3 and Vit A
Seeds - great for snacks, Pumpkin in particular are full of Zinc and omega 3
Spinach - Iron, Calcium and Folic Acid to help cells grow and divide and maintain healthy Blood Pressure
Tofu - Great for vegetarians for a good quality protein and calcium made from Soya beans
Tuna - An easy accessible fish protein giving aboutb 30grm protein per tin.
Watercress - Contains more calcium than milk and more Vit C than oranges.  also rich in Vit K to build bones and is practically 'Calorie free'

This list is not exhaustive, but something to get your teeth into and on your way to a healthier you!

Total Body Exercises

The busy lives we live today, 'Time' is always of the essence.The key to performing the most efficient workout in terms of hitting multiple muscle groups in the shortest time is by doing 'Total Body Exercises'.

Here are some Total Body Exercise you should try. It is not an exhaustive list by any means, there's a whole library of many more.  You should at least implement a couple of these at the start of any workout to ensure your whole body is warm and prepared for any work that follows.

Medball or Dumbell Swing
Squat to Bicep curl to Shoulder Press
Step ups with Shoulder Press
Lunge and Bicep Curls
Lunge and Tricep Extention
Dumbell/Barbell touch and Press
One Arm Snatch
Static lunge Canoe
Rainbow Lunges

Try and enjoy!

Strength Comes From Within

A lot more than you realise goes into looking good. It's not just about sweating it out during an exercise class or going for a long run, it's not even about pumping out repetitions with weights or other resistance training equipment.  More importantly it's about how you fuel your body ALONGSIDE your physical activities through what and how you 'think' and what and how you 'eat'

TRUE STRENGTH COMES FROM WITHIN!!

1. Think Positively 'I CAN and I WILL'
2. Set a long term goal with a DEADLINE and write it down for you and all to see.
3. Break it down to smaller achievable milestones to work towards, small steps add up to the larger mountain.
4. Social support - ( HUGELY IMPORTANT and often undervalued) don't set out to do it ALONE, get people to support you or even do it with you.
5. Focus on getting a variety of foods each day, eat vegetables in a variety of colours
6. Protein, essential for muscle repair and development.  make sure your breakfast, lunch and dinner contains protein rich foods.
7. Eat regularly (4-6 small meals a day) to aviod binge eating out of hunger
8. Plan, Plan, Plan, what you are going to do for the day and when. What exactly you are going to eat and when.  I plan each day right down to when I am going to even clean my oven ( this thursday at 1pm)
9. Think when is my 'weak' time is it mid morning/ late at night - make yourself busy,  phone  a friend (social support) anything to pass the time so that you soon forget about reaching for something you know you will regret.
10.Wake up with a smile on your face each morning, if you smile from within it shows on the outside!  Yesturday you achieved - be proud of that. Today is a new day, a new challenge ahead and yes I'm going to step forwards again.  IF you did lapse yesturday then BAH you can't change that it's happened it's behind you, today you will do better, get back in the game!

Be active, Eat well, Be strong inside and out!