*** STEP 3 *** Get your summer body ready to rock

So following on from last week's blog, step two for what to do to get your summer body in shape!

Here is a little recap on step one and step two :)

So... Step #3: Choose Sprints Over Long Distance Cardio

Long distance cardio, is all about efficiency. It trains the body to use the least amount of energy to produce the greatest amount of work.

Nothing about aerobic exercise is in line with the goals of fat loss or muscle building. Remember, we are MACHINES! Which means the body adapts so quickly to repetitive aerobic exercise. If you are doing steady state cardio for fat loss then you are choosing the least effective means to reach the end goal (of fat loss or muscle building... if that's what you're going for...)

Sprint training, on the other hand, works wonders because it applies a lot of metabolic stress to the body in the same way that lifting weights with short rest periods does.

How To Do It: There’s no end to sprint training options:

Beginners: Try 8-second cycle sprints with 12 seconds rest, repeated for 20 min.
Intermediate trainees: Try 30 seconds jogging, 20 seconds at 80 percent, and 10 seconds sprinting, repeated for 20 min.

Experienced trainees: Try six 1 minute all-out rower sprints with 12 military burpies then take 2-3 minutes rest. Or even Prowler sprints...

Skinny Mini Club

Our Skinny Mini Club Group is rocketing, just regular girls, training and eating clean. Posting up idea's and food plans etc. If you would like it to appear on your timeline please do the following:

1. Add me on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ericabrennan.pt
2. Then I'll add you to the group
Voila

Hope you're summer POA is coming along nicely!

Erica xx

Get you summer body ready to rock #2

So following on from last week's blog, step two for what to do to get your summer body in shape!

#2: Reduce Stress with Diet—Focus On Recovery

If you are a stress head you will generate high levels of stress, which can quickly deplete hormones that aid in fat loss and support tissue repair after hard training. You must teach yourself to manage your daily mental stress.

You also need strategies for quickly removing the stress that comes from exercise so the body can recover and adapt by losing fat and building muscle.

How To Do It: To manage mental stress, try deep breathing, visualisation, or meditation. Pilates and Yoga are a great from of de-stressing training. To speed recovery from training, eat antioxidant-rich foods like berries and green vegetables. 

Try and chill out after you train, or if you got a nap in after you exercise that would be the ultimate best!

Don’t wreck your hard work in the gym by bingeing on high-sugar processed foods to “comfort” yourself when you feel stressed. Instead, turn to proven mood-boosters like super dark chocolate, coffee (be cautious with the caffeine), or an omega-3-packed meal like salmon.

Erica xXx
ps. Another blog coming tomorrow on healthy tips :)

Some helpful things I've discovered :)

Happy Easter Monday girls, I hope that not too many Easter eggs were eaten yesterday! Today I just have a few handy things that I want to share with you. If you have healthy ingredients in the house, then when you’re craving something sweet, you are more likely to make a healthy cheat free snack compared to reaching for the dairy milk…

Almond Butter + Coconut Oil

These are two very handy things to have in the house, however they are both quite expensive!! Especially if you are buying them in the supermarket or in the health store… This week I found them online (www.myprotein.com) and the two of them cost me €33.63 including delivery… And they’re BIG tubs too!! 

Low Sugar/Carb, High Protein Cook-able Protein

This is the protein I always use when making anything… it just cooks REALLY well. It’s also VERY nutritious (read my full blog on this protein here).  Oh, and it tastes delicious! Buy your protein online here.

Tea Leaf Diffuser - Tea Pot

These things are really handy... You can get such beautiful herbal tea leaves. I buy my tea in the tea shop in town - Le Palais des Thés. My favourite tea - green tea - is The des Alizes (it's green tea with peach and watermelon... It's not very fruity. It's perfect for daily cups of green tea). 

High Protein Dog Food

Here’s one for all you dog lovers out there! If you’re particular about what you feed yourself, don’t be feeding your lovely doggies crap food either! I discovered this dog food in the pet store… it’s HIGH protein and grain free! It’s bulked with sweet potatoes! Most dog foods out there have very low meat content and are bulked up with crappy chemicals and grains. The proof is in the pudding: my doggie ‘Bella’ (a maltease cross) she’s a big ano, she hates eating… I’d tried her on a few different healthy brands (don’t worry, she also drink aloe, so she does get all her nutrients) and since I started her on this new dog food…. She MILLS it into her, so yippee for healthy doggies!

Clean-tella

You’ve probably heard about this new phenomenon “clean-tella”. So I decided to see what all the fuss was about… well it is DELICIOUS!!! And it’s superb on homemade protein pancakes (see recipe here). You can order clean-tell online from www.bodyfirst.ie

Bee Pollen

These little energy bullets are fantastic! They are an amazing supplement  - so good, you could actually live on them alone with water + fiber! So that’s how much goodness is in them… And they’re good value €16 (order bee pollen here).

Take bee pollen so you have buckets of energy to use all the above J

I hope these little tips were helpful,

Erica xx

Ps. I made a lovely dinner on Friday night - homemade turkey meat balls and sweet potato fries with paleo brownie for dessert... It's coming this week! 

Get you summer body ready to rock #1

The sun is starting to shine, so the BIG questions is:

Do you want to lose a few pounds of body fat so you have an awesome body come summer? 

So over the next 4 weeks, I want to share with you 5 pretty awesome strategies that will improve your metabolic health instead of wrecking your metabolism (this will help you keep fat off!)

#1: Do Metabolically Stressful Training To Lose Body Fat Fast

Doesn't that sound complicated? It's not.

To lose body fat, you need to generate as much physiological stress on your body as possible (so that your body uses lots of energy and produces a dramatic buildup of lactic acid in the shortest period of time). 

Result:

A serious calorie burn, the use of fat for fuel, and a thriving metabolism. You will also build lean muscle mass, which when combined with increased protein intake, will radically improve the amount of calories your body burns daily :)

How to do it: Lift weights... fairly heavy ones AND have short rest periods. Train, doing big lifts (these use the biggest muscle groups... when you're using the bigger muscle groups, bigger muscle groups have the ability to burn more!)

So your new best friends in the gym are squat, deadlifts, step-ups, pulls, rows, chin-ups, and presses.

Good luck with this in the gym! If you need any advice in relation to your programs, you can PM me via facebook! Next Sunday, beach body plan #2 will be out! But lets take one step at a time! This week, focus on changing your gym programs/regimes!

Erica xXx

Cross Fit... Yay or Nay?

Hellooooo,

Ok so CrossFit has gotten HUGE lately, and I felt it fitting to write my blog this week on CrossFit as we have just purchased an AWESOME 4 bay double sided crossfit rig for The Gym Howth!

CrossFit has some really brilliant ideas. It is a really social and team based form of training, and CrossFit athletes seem to have a great team mentality. They push each other hard…. Maybe sometimes a bit too hard. A major strength of CrossFit is that it helps people in the gym who might not like training alone.

Things I like about CrossFit:

1. They work their asses off!

2. They use the big lifts. Squats, Deads, Chins, Olympic lifts.

3. They eat well.

4. They don’t make excuses.

5. They have a huge focus on mobility work, stretching and foam rolling.

Some things that might be a problem for people doing CrossFit:

1. Technique can be quite bad. (This is not exclusive to CrossFit, there are bad coaches in every sport)

2. Exercises can be too advanced for the “athlete”.

3. Program design can be pretty bad also. I’ve seen videos online of people testing their 1RM Deadlift before moving onto 1RM Snatches. That’s just bad. Again, this is not exclusive to CrossFit.

Overall I think it is great. It has gotten a massive number of people up off their asses and taking an interest in their health. As with any sport, there is a likelihood of injury. But I do think that it suits the more advanced trainee.

I feel most people would find it far more beneficial to get Personal Training and proper coaching focusing on structural balance, good technique and workouts that are unique for what each individual is looking for. A good Personal Trainer will design a program that are tailored for YOU – this is the difference between people who train and get results and people who train and don’t get results.

Happy Training,
Erica xx