The Fitbiz Training Blog

The Peak Of The January Blues

21.01.2019

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Today is apparently ‘Blue Monday’ – the third Monday of the new year is apparently the peak day for us to experience a low mood.

After all the busy-ness and excitement of Christmas, many of us feel tired, drained and overwhelmed; and not really in the mood to be bombarded with constant messages of New Years Resolutions and the idea that we need to somehow better ourselves by adding more commitments to our already packed lives.

Christmas is usually a period of over indulgence – more sugar, more alcohol, more everything; except perhaps, exercise!

Then, January rolls around and we have […]

The Best At-Home Exercise Equipment

21.01.2019

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Fitness, Weight Loss

Personally, I hate getting out of breath. Unless you unleash a hungry lion behind me, you’re highly unlikely to make me run.

Which makes the fact that resistance training is still the king of exercise a wonderful bonus for me.

I believe the times are starting to change for exercise. More and more people are starting to learn of the benefits of resistance training for all round health and fitness.

But this doesnt mean that you suddenly have the time, or inclination, to go to the gym, so if you want to give resistance training a go, how can […]

Five Things You Can Do Today To Get January Off To A Good Start

21.01.2019

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Fitness, Mindset, Weight Loss

So, the kids are back at school, the Christmas tree is down, a remarkable amount of glitter has been hoovered up and there’s that nice feeling of being able to make a fresh start with the new year.

Sadly, we can’t bottle that lovely feeling, so here are five things you can do today to take advantage of it and get 2019 off to a great start.

Don’t over-commit
When the fresh-start feeling strikes, it’s too easy to think this time will be different and you’ll be able to get up […]

Why You Shouldn’t Exercise To Burn Calories

3.12.2018

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Health, Nutrition, Weight Loss

High intensity exercise classes. They’re pretty fun, the atmosphere is good, you get to have a chat with your friends while you’re there… And it feels almost safe, like you can stay somewhat hidden amongst the other people there, you’re not going to be put on the spot.

You burn plenty of calories during the class, you get a good sweat on, and it feels like you must have achieved loads.

Honestly though, this style of exercise is really not optimal. You do indeed burn lots of calories, but you’re stressing your system with such frequent […]

How Should You Eat Over Christmas?

27.11.2018

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Health, Mindset, Nutrition

Around this time of year, I tend to get a lot of questions about food and Christmas.

My answer is usually the same. One day of eating off-track is not going to make any difference in the long run. If you’re going to eat off-track, do it consciously and feel no guilt!

But as we all know, Christmas Day itself isn’t even the half of it. Add in the Advent calendar chocolate, the coffee shop Christmas specials, a few mince pies, several glasses of mulled wine and the leftovers after Christmas – you can easily have put […]

What’s For Dinner? A Recipe for Casablanca Chicken

21.11.2018

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Nutrition, Recipes, Weight Loss

I found this recipe on the Real Meal Revolution website. I love saffron so thought I’d give this a try – it was fabulous! Cooking chicken on the bone is great, especially when all the good stuff which escapes during cooking can be captured into a sauce.

This recipe should serve four and is going to take about 40 minutes to cook, plus a few minutes to chop some onion, crush some garlic and slice a lemon.

Casablanca Chicken

Ingredients
8 Chicken Thighs, bone in, skin on
1 tsp coconut oil
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 […]

Get Better More Quickly By Eating Better When You’re Poorly

12.11.2018

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Health, Nutrition

It seems we’re in that time of year again – everyone seems to be coming down with a bug of some sort.

Instead of writing about how to boost your immune system, I thought you might find it useful to know how to boost your recovery when you’re poorly.

Good quality food is the most effective ‘medicine’ available to you when you’re suffering with a bug, or if you think you’ve got one brewing.

The first thing is to listen to your body. If you’re hungry, eat, if not – don’t.

Gut health is always at […]

How What You Eat Affects How You Think

5.11.2018

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Health, Mindset, Weight Loss

Our brain.

I like to call him Brian. Brian the brain.

Yes, I’m probably a little bonkers, but if you take a minute to think about the decisions our brain is making for us on autopilot, it seems like there is a separate person inside our heads.

In my last email, we looked at the way the brain makes automatic decisions about whether we need to be paying attention to something, and how difficult it is to make the conscious (slow) part of our brain make the decision rather than the automatic (fast) part of our brain.

Today, I […]

The Oura Ring – A Fun Gadget For Health Tracking

25.10.2018

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Health, Mindset, Weight Loss

I was very excited to see an Oura ring on Prince Harry’s finger last week, how very exciting! I’ve been wearing an Oura for the last 18 months and it is a fabulous bit of kit!

Primarily, it’s a tool for assessing recovery. It’s a bit of a nerd-gadget and goes way further than the more well known Apple Watch and Fitbit. If you love information and playing around with the actions you take and seeing the response your body has, Oura would be fun for you, and seeing the results of your good efforts […]

Why Behaviour Change Is Hard

16.10.2018

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Mindset, Weight Loss

Among the things which interest me is how we make changes – why is it that one person can make a change but another struggles hugely with the same change. What is the difference? And how can we make change easier for everyone?

There are some really interesting things about the brain which explain why we find it difficult to make lasting changes.

There is an area in the thalamus part of our brain called the habenula. Its like a scoreboard, counting the failures we’ve had while trying to change our behaviours – its this scoreboard which is responsible for our […]