What’s all the fuss with Squats?

Do you think running will build you a bum that Nikki Minaj would be jealous of?

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Not even close. SQUAT and see the results of hard work! The benefits of squatting could not be covered in one simple blog but I will do my best to give my opinion on why everyone should have some type of squatting movement in their weekly training program.

  1. Squat and build lean muscle: Squats (obviously) target your legs. Building the muscle groups including your quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus and to an extent, your calves. Besides this, squatting is such a powerful exercise that it promotes body wide muscle building by creating an anabolic environment. Simply, squats triggers the release of hormones that helps build lean muscle in the entire body! Killing MORE than two birds with one stone.
  2. Functional Exercise: We squat on a daily basis, whether it be to pick something up off the floor or simply to get up and down off the couch. Functional exercises are those that help your body to perform better in real-life activities. So do your body a favour and help improve mobility and balance to improve your everyday life.
  3. Burn Fat at REST: One of the most effective ways to burn more fat when you’re not at the gym is to build more lean muscle.

** For every pound of additional muscle you gain, your body will burn an additional 50-70 calories per day **

One of the best muscle building exercises is the squat. Your lower body contains up to 35-50% of your total body mass and to neglect this group is to dig yourself a hole (especially if your goal is weight loss/lean muscle gain).

  1. Prevent Injury & increase performance: Most athletic injuries involve weak stabilizer muscles, ligaments and connective tissues, which squats help strengthen. Doing this exercise also helps prevent injury by improving your flexibility by improving the range of motion in your ankles and hips and balance (as noted above). Any top athlete has at least one squat variation in their program. Now I am not saying everyone is an aspiring professional athlete, but there is no harm in taking a leaf out of their book. If you want your body to perform to a specific standard, then you need to spend some of that time at the gym in the squat rack.
  2. Strong core: Who doesn’t want a strong core? Squats are excellent for building a strong well defined core. Your core muscles have to work extremely hard during squats to keep your torso upright and your back straight. So, next time you think squats are just working your legs, think again!

All4Fitness – Making a difference.

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Strength Training – The Key to keeping weight off…

When you have a recipe for a meal (let’s say a Pad Thai), you need to follow the recipe or at least use all the ingredients. If you leave out the rice, noodles or the peanuts, it’s not going to be what you want. You will get a different result.

It’s the same with fat loss, you need to follow a recipe, in this case being:

  • Correct exercise programming,
  • The right nutrition protocols
  • Speeding up that “slow metabolism”.

“But how do you speed up your metabolism?”

There are plenty of little ways to speed up your metabolism. For example, having an espresso shot will increase your metabolism for a few hours due to it increasing your heart rate. But what most people do is rely on coffee, the chilli in their food or the eating every 3 hours and doing hours of cardio. Little do they know that this is not the best way to keeping the weight off!

The secret is actually Strength Training. Quite simply, lifting weights in the gym will, in time, build muscle. Having more muscle increases your RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate). RMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you did nothing all day (the amount of calories needed for organ function, maintain weight etc.) At rest, having more muscle will increase that calorie burn by a small amount. BUT when you are training, moving, working, cleaning, playing with the kids etc you will burn way more calories than any other green tea or “metabolism boosting” pill.

Having muscle on your body will be the most effective fat burning solution for you. I’m not saying you need to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but any increase in muscle mass from even 1kg upwards will have huge benefits for your metabolism. So it’s not that cardio, chilli, coffee etc won’t help, they most definitely do. But couple that with strength training and you’ll have a recipe for fat loss! Gone are the days of going on a calorie restricted diet, running every day, losing a total of 8kgs in 5 weeks (3kgs of fat, 5kgs of muscle) , lowering your metabolism and digging yourself a huge hole and wondering why you gain the weight back again. You have thrown only half the ingredients in the pan and expected a delicious Pad Thai as a result.

If you don’t know where to start, we would recommend the first step being attendance at our Strength & Conditioning class we run multiple times a week. You will learn correct form and how to lift weights in the right way. Next week we’ll be discussing a hot topic since the explosion of the popularity of the bootie: Squats.

All4Fitness – Making a difference

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The 5 Top Reasons Why You’re Not Reaching Your Goals

“I want to lose 12kgs in 2 months.”

This is something we hear all the time! Setting these types of goals can sometimes mean setting yourself up for disappointment. To use a classic quote, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was a healthy lifestyle. That’s why you started training in the first place, to have a healthier lifestyle, right? Why set an unrealistic goal of losing 12kgs in 2 months to look good for a wedding or certain event, just to pile the weight back on (if not more) when eating returns back to normal?

You NEED to set realistic goals that will serve for the long term. Back to the 12kgs in 2 months scenario. If I set this goal and in 2 months I’ve only lost 4kgs and I’m disappointed in myself, I’m going to stop training, lose all motivation and give up. If were to set a realistic goal of 1/2 a kilo of weight loss a week for 8 weeks (4kgs) and actually reach my goals (and maybe even surpass that goal) then I’ll continue training. The process will probably follow onto setting new goals to keep my motivation up and I’ll have a much better chance at making good habits and not piling the weight back on.

1> Your Goals are way too unrealistic.

Keep your goals very attainable. We want you to be exercising and being healthy for the rest of your life, not just 6 months. The same reason why we are strict on technique in the gym (so you don’t hurt yourself) is the same reason we want you setting realistic goals (so you keep motivated). As experienced personal trainers we have seen it all! We are here to guide you in the right direction when it comes to setting realistic goals in the gym. If your goals aren’t attainable you will most likely be left feeling disappointed.

2> Setting your goals for someone else, not you.

Set your goals for YOU. “I want to look like her,” I want muscles like him.” Step back and have a think about who you’re doing this for and what you want out of it. You may want arms like Arnie but is it realistic? Is it really what you want or why you started training in the first place?

3> Focusing on too much in too little of time.

Less is more. “I want to lose 12kgs of fat, put on 8kgs of muscle, increase my flexibility and be able to run a marathon all by end of the year.”

Focus on one or two goals at once. If your goal list is as long as your shopping list, then you’re bound to forget the frozen peas and you’re left being disappointed.

4> Wanting results fast, like right now.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day” like previously stated. Lifestyle is about consistency, creating habits and longevity. If you want to increase your deadlift from 50kgs to 100kgs in 5 weeks chances are that isn’t going to happen or you’ll hurt yourself trying. It all goes back to setting a reasonable time frame for your goals so you don’t burn out, hurt yourself or fail and end up frustrated once again.

5> You’re not following the SMART principle.

Specific > A general goal would be: “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say: “Join a gym and workout 3 days a week.”

Measurable> When you measure your progress, you: stay on track, reach your target dates and experience the exhilaration of the achievement.

Attainable> You can attain almost any goal when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps.

Realistic> A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.

Timely> With no time frame tied to a goal, there’s no sense of urgency. But again, you need to allow your body time to adjust to the new challenges. From our point of view, it will take about 8- 12 weeks to really see results so start from there.

Lets try implementing some of these goal setting techniques and let the results speak for itself!

All4Fitness – Making a difference

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