What are the Benefits of Group Fitness and Exercising Together

Regular exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health. Staying active improves your fitness, makes you stronger and helps delay or prevent chronic illnesses and diseases associated with aging. Here at Personal Best Fitness, North Hobart we offer all types of options to increase your levels of strength and fitness including personal training, small group training, and a variety of group fitness classes. Group Fitness classes are for everyone. It doesn’t matter what level of fitness you have or what exercise experience, there is a class suited to everyone. You can be confident that when you join a class at Personal Best, our qualified instructors will guide you through the safest, most effective workout in a fun, encouraging environment that will see you getting results every time! Joining a Group Fitness class can also be a great way to meet new people and make new friends. Why not bring a friend along, exercise, and get healthier together? The key to lifelong fitness is to start slowly, build steadily and enjoy yourself. Our classes provide a fun and social atmosphere, whether you are just starting your fitness journey, if you have been into fitness for a long time or anywhere in between. Here at Personal Best, we love to empower people of all ages and abilities to get the most out of themselves to achieve their goals and be more confident in what their body can do, by making fitness fun and enjoyable. Our instructors are eager to welcome you in class to share their enthusiasm, motivation, positivity, and drive and to help you maximise your results. Check out our classes on offer HERE and read on to find out about the many great benefits of participating in our fantastic group fitness classes. 7 Benefits of STEP class Step class is a full-body cardio workout that includes stepping up and down on a stationary step. It includes basic stepping movement patterns that work your heart and lungs and tone your legs and butt. Improves cardiovascular health Improves bone health Tone and shape your legs and butt Lose weight Improves mental health Low Impact to minimise impact and stress on joints 7 Benefits of CIRCUIT Circuit is a total body workout that combines cardiovascular fitness with strength training.  Many exercises are included in the class and the intensity and impact levels vary. This class is ideal for everyone. Improves muscular endurance Increase strength Offers a full-body workout Improves cardiovascular health Circuit training is time efficient Increases metabolic rate Perfect for all levels of fitness 7 Benefits of PILATES Pilates is a form of low impact exercise that aims to strengthen muscles while improving postural alignment and flexibility. Pilates is a mind-body exercise and requires the focus to be on the breath, posture, and controlled movement. All classes include low and more challenging options. Improves balance, strength, and flexibility Reduced risk of injuries Reduces lower back pain Improves posture Reinforces joints Tones body shape Improve circulation By committing to 3 classes a week at Personal Best Fitness, you will maximise your results by balancing the optimal mix of cardio, strength, and flexibility into your weekly routine. We want to continue to help you establish good exercise habits, to chase your goals of becoming fitter, faster, stronger, happier, and healthier together, so why not give one of our fantastic group fitness classes a go and reach your Personal Best fitness today! Nadia Roulias Personal Trainer and Group Exercise Instructor

How does ‘Farmers Walk’ help you with the Christmas shopping and AVOID Back Pain

At this time of the year, we often need to carry heavy, bags and parcels and this can play havoc with our back, neck, and shoulders. We can learn a great deal from farmers as they are some of the strongest, healthiest, and most mobile people you’ll find, but it’s not because they spend their days lifting weights in a gym. However, they are lifting heavy things – bags of feed, mechanical equipment, hoses, hay bales, buckets of water, sick animals, you name it – and they’re carrying them from one place to another. Most of the rest of us aren’t carrying heavy things around all day, so for us, we need to think outside the square if we want to mimic what the strongest people do. Enter Farmer’s Walks.  Unlike most exercises one does the in the gym, there’s almost no technique to be learned in a Farmer’s Walk (a type of loaded carry). You simply pick up a weight or two and start walking with them by your side. While you can use dumbbells for this exercise, kettlebells are almost perfectly designed for the purpose with the offset handle making them feel very natural to carry. The benefits of picking up and walking with heavy things are many, but to summarise a few of the key upsides: They strengthen your grip. And everything else.  This has carryover effects to numerous day-to-day tasks like opening jars and carrying shopping, and anything else which requires a tight grasp. Studies have also shown a direct correlation between grip strength and longevity: the stronger your hands, the longer you’re likely to live.  It doesn’t stop with the grip though. Your forearms, shoulders, upper back, core (abdominal muscles), glutes and all your leg and foot muscles are working overtime to help you move the weight from one end of the room/road/park to the other end – and strengthening and stabilising you in the process. They help correct your posture. When you’re walking with kettlebells or dumbbells in your hands, your body can no longer get away with moving on autopilot; the only way to fight the extra weight pulling you forwards or to the side is to actively engage your postural muscles. Even after you’ve put the weights away, your body remembers what it did to stay upright and starts to do it unconsciously. They build muscle. In addition to making, you stronger, they add some muscle to your frame and tighten everything up. It certainly won’t be ‘bulky’ muscle; it will be a little bit added to your whole body, working with your added strength to make you more resilient. As with all resistance training, this is especially important as you age: the loss of muscle in older age (sarcopenia) is one of the main issues leading to poor health and loss of independence. They improve balance. Every time you take a step when you walk, you’re balancing on one foot, brief as it is. When you add weight to your hands, your balance is being tested more than usual – everything is working harder to stop you falling over. This is especially true when you’re holding a kettlebell or dumbbell with a single hand as you’re not only fighting extra total weight; you’re also working against being pulled over to the side. If you slow the movement down, you’ll find it’s a very intense exercise in controlling your entire balance system. They boost fat loss and cardiovascular health. Farmer’s Walks have the effect of turning the very natural movement of a short walk into an exercise which elevates your heart rate and your breathing due to all of the muscles in the body working with every step. A working muscle is also a muscle which is burning energy so you’re really ‘stoking the furnace’ of your metabolism when you add a loaded carry to your sessions. So, what are you waiting for? Pick up a couple of kettlebells and get walking! By Tom Flint

Group Exercise, Small Group Training and Personal Training – what’s the difference?

At Personal Best Fitness we offer you all 3 of these mediums to help you look, feel and function better. Recently, when some of our personal trainers have taught group exercise classes, we have had some questions and comments about why the class has been a different format, had different exercises or varied intensities. If you read below this may help, explain to why some classes are taught in a different way or format. Remember, ‘change is as good as a holiday’! What is Group Exercise? • This type of exercise involves instructors teaching and leading individual through in-person classes, usually more than 8 participants. • Group exercise classes are designed for different fitness levels utilising a variety of equipment to teach many types of classes, from cardio based, indoor cycling to fit bar and forever Active. • The class is pitched to the ‘middle’ and then some regressions and progressions of each exercise are offered where possible. The goal is fitness with fun! • Classes and instructors vary from time to time so please check Facebook each Sunday for an updated timetable. What is Small Group Training? • This type of exercise expands the personal trainer’s role from strictly one on one to small group training by working with two or more people, but in a small group of less than 6 typically. • The focus is on providing some personalised programming within the workout to cater for individual’s needs. • As the group is smaller more attention can be given to technique and individual feedback. And how is Personal Training different? • Personal training is a specialised service which includes individual goal setting, fitness appraisal and exercise programming with a personal trainer in a one-on-one setting. Personal trainers provide exercise technique instruction, monitor progress, and progress your program based on your individual response to the program. • It may include but not be limited to improving balance, co-ordination, functional strength, injury and exercise rehabilitation and cardio fitness to improve activities of daily living. Exercises are likely to reflect actual activities someone might do during the day. • Personal training also caters for people with chronic health conditions such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, joint replacement and the like. • It enables you to gain the maximum benefits from the time that you have available. If you would like to know more, please have a chat with one of our team.

Hunger and Cravings – How are hormones affecting your weight and energy?

We often hear people blaming their weight gain on their hormones. Can weight gain really be blamed on the endocrine system or is the cause due to food and lifestyle choices? Many people have a vague idea of the function of hormones but have little knowledge of the specific hormones which may be affecting hunger, appetite, and weight. Here is a summary of some hormones which can affect your weight. Leptin – a satiety hormone • When you eat your fat cells secrete leptin, a hormone that signals satiety and lets you know that you have eaten enough. It’s self-regulating, however many of us override leptin and continue to eat when we are no longer hungry! This results in leptin resistance. • You can overcome leptin resistance by exercising, losing weight and maintaining muscle. Ghrelin • When your stomach is empty it releases ghrelin. Foods containing fructose, such as fruit juice, corn syrup, soft drinks and almost all sweet tasting food stimulate the production of ghrelin, resulting in feelings of hunger and more food consumption. • Skipping meals, eating too little, eating infrequently, or consuming too much fructose makes it worse by causing ghrelin to make you crave poor food choices. Incretins and Insulin • Incretins are a group of metabolic hormones that are released after eating. They stimulate a decrease in blood glucose levels by triggering the secretion of insulin. • High carbohydrate intake leads to high levels of blood glucose and in turn high levels of incretins and insulin. • A long term result of excess sugar/carb intake may be a resistance to insulin, which means it can’t do its job as effectively and so more must be produced. More insulin means that more fat is stored, and it becomes more difficult to move that fat out of storage, i.e.: lose weight. There are other hormones such as glucagon, cortisol, serotonin, and oxytocin which we will discuss in the next edition, however if you are wanting to lose some weight try the quiz below. The quiz covers: 1. Goals you would like to achieve 2. Reasons why you might be struggling to lose weight 3. What you’ve tried in the past 4. Options that might suit you best Register at the end of this quiz and we will email your summary to you. Click the link below to start the quiz…
Quiz Tas

How does Exercise Help Our Mental Health?

People who exercise regularly have better mental health and emotional wellbeing, and lower rates of mental illness. Exercise is important for people with mental illness – it not only boosts your mood, concentration, and alertness, but improves cardiovascular and overall physical health. Many of us find it hard enough to motivate ourselves to exercise at the best of times. But when we feel depressed, anxious, stressed, or have another mental health problem, it can seem doubly difficult. The link between exercise and mental health is complicated. Inactivity can be both a cause and a consequence of mental illness, for example. But there are lots of ways that exercise can benefit your mental health, such as: The levels of chemicals in the brain, such as serotonin, stress hormones and endorphins, change when you exercise.
  • Regular exercise can help you sleep better. And good sleep helps manage your mood. An interesting fact is, Cortisol, a hormone that reduces stress is only produced when we sleep.
  • Exercise can improve your sense of control, coping ability and self-esteem. People who exercise regularly often report how good achieving a goal makes them feel.
  • Exercise can distract you from negative thoughts and provide opportunities to try new experiences.
  • It offers an opportunity to socialise and get social support if you exercise with others.
  • Exercise increases your energy levels.
  • Physical activity can be an outlet for your frustrations.
Common barriers that get in the way of starting exercise are feeling overwhelmed, feeling helpless, feeling bad about yourself, or feeling pain. If you can begin to think of exercise as a priority and important for your mental health, you may find small amounts of time to fit it in to your schedule. So, start small and start slow doing low impact classes such as Yoga or Pilates. What about a stretch class? It is always helpful to exercise with a friend so invite a friend to exercise with you. Any exercise is better than none, and it doesn’t need to be strenuous or long. Experts recommend adults should be active most days, aiming for a short leisurely walk around the block or on the beach is a good start. You can always speed up as you begin to feel fitter. Lyndy Burt Professional Counsellor, Accredited Supervisor PACFA Reg

A New Way to STOP the Weight Loss Struggle?

As personal trainers we are constantly asked:
  • What is the best diet to lose weight?
  • Which exercises are best to flatten my stomach?
  • What foods are best for me to eat?
  • I’ve been eating fruit for breakfast is that good for me?
And the list goes on. Having been in the fitness industry for 30+ years and worked with many clients whose primary goal is weight loss.  I often wonder if exercise didn’t burn calories, what percentage of exercisers would keep exercising? Over the past 23 years at Personal Best Fitness, we have helped hundreds of members lose thousands of kilos and most importantly keep the kilos off.  We have done this with a dual edged sword of exercise and dietary modification. We’ve always looked for the most effective exercise and dietary changes. Having spent most of my working life in the fitness industry, I have observed and even trained in several approaches to weight loss. If I’m being honest, I am horrified at some of the dietary advise that was given when I started in this industry and other so called well published recommended dietary guidelines prescribe.  However, science has evolved and there are now better and newer approaches to dietary advice. I’m not a dietitian nor a nutritionist, but I have observed the following as great strategies for weight loss.
  • Limit alcohol or cut it out altogether
  • Reduce white and yellow foods from your food intake, start with
    • Bread, cereal, and muesli
    • Rice, pasta, and couscous
    • All fruit apart from a handful of blueberries every other day
    • Avoid cakes, biscuits, chocolate, and lollies
    • Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water each day
    • Priotise protein at each meal and as a snack
    • Eat slowly and put your knife and folk down whilst eating your meal
    • Go to bed slightly hungry
    • Fast . . . have 12 hours where no food is consumed once a day., i.e., if your finishing eating at 7.30pm, then don’t eat until after 7.30am or better still eat when you are hungry!
There would likely be people with a string of formal dietary qualifications that may have different views, however experience has shown that these simple and easy to follow ‘guidelines’ do achieve real weight loss, in fact about .5 kg per week for those with 8 or more kilos to loss. Put bluntly, it’s not fat that is making us fat, but rather sugar… or any food or drink that converts to sugar in your blood…. healthy or not! Weight loss is often made so complex and can be confusing as the recommendations change so often, just have a look at your home library and see how many diet books you have in the bookcase? So, if you are serious about weight loss give these a go for the next 4 weeks and let me know how it goes, I would love to hear about your triumphs and for you to be another Personal Best Fitness success story. Give it a go . . . what have you got to lose, just a few kilos! Or if you would like some support with weight loss, this month we are launching our new dietflex 1 on 1 private online weight loss coaching. If it is time to put yourself first, we are offering a few special ‘6-week kickstart weight loss’ packages right now. We only have space for 12 weight loss clients for our founder member offer. If you’re at your ideal weight but know someone, member or not, who may be interested, just forward this email to them. Would you like some more information on how it works? Text Yes to 0419 337 397. I’ll then organise a Zoom session to show you exactly how it works. Amanda Coombe Master Personal Trainer Dietflex Weight Loss Coach

Why the TRX?

As a Personal Trainer we have several tools that occupy our ‘toolbox’ and what often differentiates good from outstanding personal trainers is their ability to prescribe the most appropriate exercises for each client.  The TRX is one such tool. The TRX suspension trainer stands for ‘Total Resistance Exercise’ and it is essentially 2 straps anchored to a ceiling, back of a door or high on a wall. The TRX helps you to improve mobility, flexibility, strength, endurance, and power whereby your bodyweight becomes your machine and gravity your resistance. Arguably, the TRX is one of the most functional pieces of equipment as you must engage all muscles simultaneously rather than isolating smaller ones.  You attach yourself to the TRX by gripping the handles with your hands or placing your feet in the foot straps. Suspension training works by challenging your body in a somewhat unstable environment. This forces you to constantly engage your core to perform each exercise and to also improve your balance.  Adjusting the level of difficulty for each exercise on the TRX is as easy as moving your hands or feet and like all exercises, you can regress and progress with the TRX. For those new to functional exercise, it is best to start with small body angles and after 4 to 6 weeks, increase the degree of difficulty by increasing the angle you are working with.  For beginners, performing exercises like rows, it is helpful to have the straps short. This reduces the degree of instability which a longer strap would provide.
Left to Right: Beginner TRX Row and Intermediate TRX Row
When performing a pushing movement using the TRX it is beneficial to have the straps fully lengthened.  This is because it too reduces the degree of difficulty as the angle you are on is less. Sometimes changing the position of your feet before changing the position of the straps can alter the degree of difficulty of the exercise. When you are performing exercises with a foot or your feet in the foot strap’s, it is helpful to have the straps set at mid-calf length.  This is because it again reduces the degree of difficulty by keeping your feet close to the floor and your body streamlined.
Left To Right: TRX Lunge Starting Position and Bottom Position
Using the TRX is ideal for varying the level of instability, from beginners through to advanced. I recommend asking your personal trainer or having a personal training session to learn more about the benefits of the TRX for you and developing some challenging, but exercises that will add variety to your program. Frances Sullivan Master Personal Trainer

Improving Quality of Life and Brain Function

Improving Quality of Life and Brain Function One of our goals at Personal Best Fitness is to encourage everybody to look and feel better and function in a more optimal way. Robert is certainly a ‘shining’ example of that.  Diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) over the last 3 years. FTD is characterized by the nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain being lost. It can impact behaviour, personality, language and movement. Robert’s wife Heather has been a regular at Personal Best for some 10 years and is well aware of both the physical and mental benefits of exercise and knew that Robert was eligible for the Home Care Package that included funding for personal training. Prior to starting personal training with Fran, Robert had difficulty getting into and out of a chair due to his posture and lack of strength. He had put on weight due to his brain wanting him to be sedentary. Since Robert has started personal training with Fran, Heather can see many positive changes.

‘He is learning new motor patterns and movements and when he comes home from Personal Best Fitness, he is more engaged with the world around him and is more vibrant. Robert even now notices weeds in the garden and pulls them out, which is a great help to me.’

Robert’s carer Sandy brings him to Personal Best Fitness in a taxi and recently Robert gave the driver directions to the gym from the Eastern Shore! Heather feels that going to the gym is the most stimulating part of Robert’s week as it extends his brain function and it is significantly slowing down the rate of deterioration in brain function. Six months ago, when Robert started on the exercise bike, he could pedal for 3 minutes on resistance 4, now he has progressed to 2 x 5 minutes on resistance 7. Robert’s walking gait has also improved, and he is able to co-ordinate his opposite arm and leg. ‘It is so rewarding to work with Robert, he has a wonderful sense of humour, and he has started to ask why we are doing specific exercises. His posture, balance and strength have improved greatly, and he has lost weight’. Fran Robert now moves with more confidence and feels a great sense of achievement when mastering new exercises. If you know of someone who is eligible for the Home Care Funding Program and could enjoy a better quality of life, please have a chat with our front desk team.

Comfort, Fear and Growth Zones.

Comfort, Fear and Growth Zones What do these 4 zones mean when we are thinking about lifestyle change? In the current climate, we are finding ourselves in many situations that are requiring us to simply find another way. It is likely that many of you have had to make some sort of life change recently.  Below is a very simple way of looking at the why’s of these processes, tips to help you be successful in making this change and in turn enabling you to reduce the stress and anxiety surrounding such choices. Change can be challenging but not changing is harder the longer you leave it.  We are not saying you need to make changes, but it is likely that we all can improve some aspect of our lives.  Whether this is building muscle, modifying weaknesses, or developing an entirely new facet of yourself, it is always good to re-evaluate your health and fitness goals and allow change and understand that this, although scary at times, is all OK! Below is a diagram from the “Coaching Institute”.  It is useful as it helps to breakdown and understand the process we go through when facing change or situations that we may fear.  Do we immediately look at the situation as a red light and jump back to the comfort zone or do we break down and understand the situation and grab it with both hands to use for personal and professional learning and growth? We are all capable of change.  It takes a bit of work and a willingness to face our fears head on. Lifestyle change is one of the hardest changes to make.  It takes approximately 21 days to build a habit and to have it feel like a normal occurrence.  Lifestyle change should encourage positive change in our lives.  Too often we think a lifestyle change is removing something unhealthy from our lives instead of adding something that is healthy or good for us.  For example, instead of worrying about the snacks you have during the day, why not add in some avocado or boiled egg into your morning tea break? This focus is on the positive aspect rather than the negative. Below are some tools to help you succeed.
  1. Before starting your “change” write down where you are currently in your life. Are you happy with how it is going?  Write down why you want to make the change and then write down the benefits it is going to have for you.  This will help you to reach your “Growth Zone.”
  2. Create structured daily activities that lead you towards your overall goal. Structured daily activities can remove the excuses.  Moreover, if you are focused on the activities you won’t worry about any external factors that may creep into your though process and shift you back to your comfort zone.  
  1. Start to be aware of how you react in any given situation. Do you fold your arms often when talking to people about what you have done or doing, or do you stand tall and in a strong posture?  When you are aware of these different mannerisms you can expand your comfort zone by not being so reactive or affected by others’ opinions. Can you respond rather than react?
 
  1. Track your progress so you can see your new healthy habits. This helps you to find purpose and conquer objectives.  I suggest celebrating your new healthy habits, not by going back to the ‘bad’ habit just once, but by doing something new.
A change can be a reinvention of yourself.  How exciting would it be for you to find that side of you that lifts weights, light or heavy, that person that can get up every morning and go for a walk before the day truly starts?  Imagine reinventing yourself to the place where there are no barriers…because your body can keep up with you. All the best. Fran Sullivan Master Personal Trainer

Sofia’s Journey at Personal Best

Sofia first started at Personal Best as a personal training client of Eidolan’s after being referred by her physiotherapist some 11 years ago.  Sofia was experiencing knee pain from the demands of being an elite junior soccer player. Eidolan was pivotal in Sofia’s learnings of the body and the recovery process as she progressed her way through the Institute of Sport until she ceased her contract in 2013, to focus on her studies. Like most Year 10 students, Sofia was required to complete a week of work experience. “I chose to split my time between a Physio practice and here at Personal Best Fitness. During this time, sport, or specifically soccer was part of my identity, so most of my thought processes revolved around supporting this passion in some way. My plan had been to complete my Certificate III and IV in Fitness during Year 11 & 12 and work as a personal trainer while at Uni and study medicine with the intention of bringing the learnings of movement into my practice as a doctor.” After Sofia’s work experience, we approached Sofia as to whether she would like to be a part of our Front Desk team. Sofia had completed her fitness certification at the beginning of that year, before returning to school. Sofia had been qualified as a personal trainer since 2014 but didn’t think of herself as having practiced as a personal trainer until she made the decision that medicine was not for her in 2017. ‘I decided to refocus on my mental health. As my mental health had suffered, so too had my love for a sport, which was once my identity, football.  I had completely stepped away from football and took up cycling around this time. ‘ For anyone who knew Sofia prior to 2018, they would realise that there was a pretty big shift in not only the way she practised as a personal trainer, but also in the way she walked through life after completing her first activation course in 2018. ‘Having gone to a private school all my life, I don’t think I ever considered personal training as my one and only career option. It was always a steppingstone into what was next, which since I was a child, had always been medicine. In short, activation changed everything for me. From my confidence, stopping my forever frequent panic attacks, to even starting my own cycling tour business. I don’t think I ever considered myself to be a ‘personal trainer’ until sometime after I got back from this course in 2018.’ As a business owner it has given me immense pleasure to see Sofia grow not only as a fitness professional, but more importantly as a wonderful, kind and caring person. ‘Now as a Master Personal Trainer and all-rounder,  I pride myself in being able to assist Amanda in the business with anything from front desk duties, teaching new staff, loving my role as a personal trainer or my favourite, teaching a group of people the concepts and practice of activation!’ Amanda Coombe