Thursday, October 30, 2008

Olympic Ring Training Program

Well I’m back from my vacation in the tropics of Northern Queensland (Australia) and apart from throwing myself out of a perfectly good airplane at 14.000 feet, I got plenty of rest and relaxation.

While I was away I went four days without having a workout and was getting restless so I asked a few locals where the closest gym was, unfortunately the closest gym was a 90 minute walk away and there were no trains or buses - not good!

It was a good thing I took my Olympic rings with me, I got up early the next morning and went to the park to find myself a tree branch I could hang them off.

One of the best things about the Olympic rings is that you can train with them anywhere and at anytime, plus they'll get you incredibly strong (just take a look at the male gymnasts at the Olympics).

Going four days without training I felt fresh and smashed out a quick 30 minute bodyweight workout.

Here is the workout...

Chin ups (overhand) 2 x 10

Hanging knee raise 2 x 10

Olympic Ring push ups 2 x 10

Single leg squat 2 x 10

Olympic Ring planche 2 x 60seconds

1 leg hip ext. with 1 foot on ball (or coconut) 2 x 10

30 seconds between exercises

This workout will take you around 30 minutes and works every major muscle in the body, they’re great for strength and building lean functional muscles.

Let me know how you get on.

http://bootcampsydney.com.au/
http://corporatefitnesssydney.com.au/

P.S To pick up a set of rings click here... ringtraining

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Personal Trainer Eastern Suburbs

Dangerously Fit Personal Trainers are now available for personal training in the Eastern suburbs.

I lead a team of motivated professional personal trainers striving to bring the ultimate results in health and fitness to our clients.

We help you to achieve your goals in weight loss, strength training, physique enhancement, sport specific training and nutritional health, I have assisted countless individual’s reach their fitness goals.

As one of Sydney’s most sought after trainers I have given fitness advice on ABC radio and been published in a number of leading magazines including FHM, Mindfood and Good Health and Medicine.

I am passioante about health and fitness and will guide you towards a healthier lifestyle and educate you on making the right choices in exercise and nutrition.

If you would like to book a free personal training consultation in the Eastern Suburbs with one of our personal trainers visit our website http://personaltrainersydney.com

Train hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit
http://personaltrainersydney.com/

Monday, October 27, 2008

Group Training Q & A Centennial Park & Rushcutters Bay


Q. Dan is the sample nutrition plan you sent to us aimed at losing weight or maintaining? I’m aiming for the former.

A. The nutrition plan is for weight loss, multiply your bodyweight (in kilos) by 28 - this is the amount of calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight.

Take 20% off this number and you’ll cause a calorie deficit, meaning you’ll burn more calories than you consume and will therefore lose weight.

Add this to the training that you’re doing at our boot camp which is aimed at increasing lean muscle (muscle burns more calories than any other tissue).

Plus the high intensity cardio part of the boot camp program will increase your metabolism and therefore burn more calories and create an even higher calorie deficit so you’ll lose weight at a much quicker rate.

Remember to re-calculate your new calorie maintenance every week as your weight starts to decrease.

Q. Dan Before group training this morning I was going to have either an up and go or a piece of fruit about 30 minutes before training – any views?

A. Before training have a banana which is a good source of energy before training, bananas are quickly digested and have a high GI which means they’re broken down into sugar quickly.

Have the up and go after training or even better have a JP+ complete shake (made from plant protein). The carbs will replenish energy stores while the protein will help build lean muscle tissue.

Train hard!

Dan Clay

http://www.personaltrainersydney.com/
http://www.bootcampsydney.com.au/
http://www.corporatefitnesssydney.com.au/

Friday, October 24, 2008

Heart Rate Interval Training for Fat Loss

The biggest problem people have with HIIT (high intensity interval training) is that they’re not always…
a) working hard enough during the sprint phase and b) resting enough during the rest phase.

The goal with interval training (for fat loss) is to get your heart rate up to 85-95% of your maximum, this will speed up your metabolism for up to 24 hours after your workout through E.P.O.C (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption).

Generally – the faster you sprint – the higher the E.P.O.C – the more calories you’ll burn after your workout – the more fat you’ll lose.

So the problem is if you’re not sprinting fast enough your heart rate won’t reach 85-95% of it’s maximum and you won’t get the full benefit from interval training.

Plus if you don’t rest enough during the rest phase, you’re unable to sprint as fast enough during the sprint phase.

I find the best way of doing interval training is using a heart rate monitor instead of time to determine rest and work ratios i.e. 10 seconds of rest for every 10 seconds of work.

You know if your heart rate isn’t reaching 85-95% of its maximum you have to work harder and you can accurately gage if you’ve had enough rest during sprints.

Interval Training Done the Right Way…
My favorite way for working out your maximum heart rate is using a rowing machine.

Wearing a heart rate monitor set the rowing machine for 1000 meters, row the first 500 meters at 50% of your fastest speed, then on the 500 meter mark sprint as fast as possible.

Straight after you finish your sprint check your hear rate monitor, this will give you a good idea of your maximum heart rate.

Interval training can be done anywhere, running/cycling in the park, swimming in the pool, on any type of cardio equipment in the gym. Personally I prefer to run.

Start off your workout with a 3 minute dynamic warm up, then walk, row or cycle briskly for 2 minutes.

Sprint as fast as possible for 1 minute (ensuring your heart reaches 85-95%), then rest until your heart rate drops down to 2/3rds of your maximum.

Repeat for 10 – 20 minutes (depending on your level of fitness), as you become fitter your heart rate will recover faster decreasing your rest periods and making it harder.

Warm down for 5 mins and stretch.

Let me know how you get on.

Train hard!

Dan Clay.
http://personaltrainersydney.com
http://bootcampsydney.com.au
http://corporatefitnesssydney.com.au

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Group Fitness Centennial Park

Hi Guys,

Good start to this weeks Centennial Park group fitness boot camp.

Here is this months homework, perform this workout once a week for the next 6 weeks.

All up the workout will only take you about 45 minutes, weekends are always a good time to fit a quick workout in!

Warm up
High knee running
High hill running
Lateral running
Back peddle
3/4 sprint
Shoulder circles

Strength
Rest 15 seconds between exercises.
2 x 10 Squats
2 x 10 Press Up’s
2 x 10 Plank
2 x 10 Reverse Lunge (each leg)
2 x 10 Ab Crunches
2 x 10 Inverted rows

Cardio
Sprint for 10 seconds (fast as possible).
Rest for 20 seconds (slow walk).
Repeat this 10 times.
Rest for 90 seconds (slow walk).
Sprint for 10 seconds (fast as possible).
Rest for 20 seconds (slow walk).
Repeat this 10 times.

Warm down and stretch
Let me know how you get on, if you have any questions regarding the workout please post them below.

Train hard!

Dan.
http://personaltrainersydney.com
http://bootcampsydney.com.au
http://corporatefitnesssydney.com.au

Monday, October 6, 2008

Boot Camps Eastern Suburbs

I’ve just returned from my 6 week winter vacation to Spain visiting friends and family and have really enjoyed having the time to rest, regenerate and catch up with everyone from back home.

Now that I’m back in Sydney we’re kicking off with three new boot camps to trim up before the Xmas holiday season.

The camps will run for 6 weeks and will be held at Bondi Beach, Rushcutters Bay and Queens Park (Centennial Parklands) starting next week, please click here for more info…

Boot Camp Fitness

6 weeks is a long time to be away and I definitely missed my surfing and kettlebell workouts, luckily I took my Olympic rings away with me so I managed to get some pretty good workouts in even when there were no gyms around.

I also trained with my brother in Spain for a few days, without having access to a gym for 5 weeks and only performing bodyweight leg exercises I think I may have overdone it on the squats.

There was no way I was going to get outdone by my brother and soon as I began training the competitiveness in me took over and the *10% rule (10% rule means you should only lift 10% more than in the previous week) went out the window.

Subsequently I could barely walk for 3 days, walking upstairs was painful and getting in and out of cars was nearly impossible, even after years of hard training it’s amazing how quickly the body can lose it.

Anyway I had my first kettlebell workout this morning since I got back to Sydney and even though it was tough it felt great to blow off the cobwebs and get back into some serious training.

There’s a different kind of mental toughness when training with Kettlbells where you really need to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and dig in.

Here is the workout I performed …

Warm – up
10 x bodyweight squats
10 x Olympic ring face pulls
10 x push ups
10 x KB swings (with a light weight)

Workout
2 x 12 KB clean and press
2 x 12 Wide grip Olympic ring chin ups
2 x 12 KB Russian twist
2 x 12 KB Front squats
2 x 12 KB single leg deadlift
2 x 120 second plank

Rest 45 seconds between exercises.

Warm down and stretch

Let me know how you get on.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Personal Training Sydney
Boot Camp Fitness Sydney
Corporate Fitness Sydney

P.S If you would like to learn more about Kettlebells we use them for personal training and in our boot camps, you can call me directly on 0422 936 963 or contact me through my website http://www.personaltrainersydney.com/

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