My Fitness Journey

Good morning all,

So it was my birthday on Friday (thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes), so I did a bit of reflecting. I decided to root up some old photo's of myself (that in itself was a good laugh) and I compared a few things. We're always getting amazing testimonials from clients in the gym about their fitness journey, so today for the first time EVER, I'm going to share mine...

"As a child, I hated sports, I was no good at them and I had no interest in becoming good at them. As a teenager, the only sport I was interested in was chasing boys and drinking like a fish. So how am I a fitness fanatic now?

The truth is, as a teenage girl, of course I was self conscious, like every teenage girl is...? I joined gyms a couple of times, but never stuck at them. I felt awkward going into a commercial gym, a spare lemon walking around having no clue what to do, I was shy. So I decided I'd start running... Yes, running, I could do that...?

The truth is though, I THOUGHT I was being good! Honestly, I thought I was (special k for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, pasta for dinner... that not healthy no?). Anyway, long story short, I got injured. Two discs in my lower back wedged together, this shot pain around my front into my hips and down into my knees (great crack).

I went through a bit tough time in my life then, as both my grandparents died (I was VERY close to them) within 9 weeks of each other (this and teenage hormones #cookoo). So, nervous as I was, I joined the local women's gym. This was the best thing I ever did. I lost a couple of inches and was delighted, also the endorphins from training started to clear my head. I was taken under one of the trainers wings in this gym and she asked me would I be interested in doing the course and become a fitness instructor - this NEVER, EVER, EVER had crossed my mind before. I went home did my research, and bam - bye bye retail management course in DIT, hello fitness world. I had all these idea's and I was excited.

I knew that if I wanted to be a coach, I would need to get my own ass in gear, so I hired a personal trainer for 6-months, I spent €180 a week doing three sessions. I spent literally every single penny I earned on this. I gave up alcohol and furthered my education by doing a nutrition course (and anyone in this industry know's that you also have to read a serious amount of books if you want to stand out from the crowd in this field... so did that too) therefore I started to eat right. I still wasn't very strict on food, but better then before. All of this got me down to 14% body fat.

My own fitness career started to take off and this September, I'll be going into my  6th year being a Personal Trainer, Pilates Instructor, Fitness Coach and Nutrition Consultant. My interest in health and well being lead me to a fantastic company: Forever Living Products where I now coach other like minded people on how to build their own health and well being business from home (not fitness professionals, just people who are interested in wealth and health). My body fat and weight has been a constant battle since I was 16 years old. I'm not claiming that I was morbidly obese or anything, I wasn't. However, my diet was brutal and I had a lot of fat on me.

Today, I am the leanest I have ever been and going forward, my goal is to stay at this body fat percentage - I'm quite happy here :) I met Ciaran (in the gym...) and healthy living is SO much easier when someone is doing it with you. We live clean: sugar, dairy, yeast, alcohol (unless a very special occasion) and it suits us! My favourite thing about training, is that it doesn't require skill. It's not like a sport, you don't need any skill, you just need determination and commitment.

I firmly believe that everything in life happens for a reason. As distraught as I was when Granny and Tom died, it lead me into this training world - sunshine always follows the rain. Over the past few years, my weight, inches and body fat has gone up and down, up and down. Always trying my best to train, but other factors come into play too: stress levels, sleep, deficiencies. It's not black and white, weight and fat management is a whole big sea of grey!

You know when you see those pictures on facebook of "a year from now, you'll wish had started today...", I actually said to myself yesterday, thank God I started that day, and I'm extremely grateful to all the people who helped me along my journey. These days, I weight train 3-5 times per week, I do Hot Yoga/Pilates 3 times per week and I run on the Alter-G once a week (I go through phases, sometimes more, sometimes less). I also eat as strictly as I can, take supplements and drink approx. 2-4 litres of water every day. I get minimum 8 hours sleep and I handle my stress levels with Pilates/Yoga, Meditation and Reiki."

Well, that's me. If you want to start your fitness journey. Make the decision now and stick to it.

If you want some support PLEASE email me on facebook (www.facebook.com/ericabrennan.pt). You don't need to be the spare lemon!!

I wish you guys the best of luck whether your continuing or just starting your fitness journey :)

Much love,
Erica

Losing weight PITFALLS

Good morning, good morning :)

OK, so this morning, I want you guys to be aware of one of the major pitfalls that people who are trying to lose weight encounter. One big one is that; they listen to those who know nothing about losing weight and don't listen to those who do know how to lose weight. 

I know that sounds silly... but it's actually true. If you are on a fat loss mission - like most things in life, people do like to voice their opinions on the subject to you, and that's ok some of the time however sometimes you need to ignore the negative Nigels (that's what I call the negative people that I come across).It's amazing, people go to health experts all the time. They tell them how and what to do and yet they choose to eat a pack of biscuits with their pal at 4pm on a Tuesday.

If you want to lead a healthy lifestyle and perhaps you're on your fitness mission, then you do need to educate yourself on what you should be doing - food, stress, training, supplement etc. wise. You can do that by going to a good personal trainer or nutrionist, by researching online and by taking advice off people who live and breath a healthy lifestyle.

If your family cooks unhealthy dinners - then make your own! If your friends like getting fizzy drinks and croissants, then be a strong person, stand your ground and order water. If you want to reach your fitness goal then you need to man up and sacrifice the popcorn. Have food in your house and be prepared. If you cook unhealthy food for your family (you should re-think this), then eat your healthy dinner before theirs, so you're not hungry and you won't finish theirs!

The most important thing you need to do, is decide what you want? What do you want? What are your health goals? Is it to gain weight? To increase fitness? To lose weight? To shed body fat? To become healthier?  To get stronger? The one thing that is VERY important is that you need to know what you want. You need a clear vision of what you want and why you're being good.

If you set your goal - clearly. Write it down and visualise it daily then you need to reach into your inner strength and stay strong! The matter of the fact is losing/gaining weight is hard. Yes. They are. It will challenge you, it will make you sometimes want to quit and you will fall off the wagon. The problem isn't falling off the wagon though, the problem is STAYING off the wagon. You need to GET THE HELL BACK UP! Like anything in life, you must persist. You need to be eating well and training consistently. Not for a day or a week for like weeks and weeks! Persistence is key!

Choose who you're going to take advice from, and teach yourself what to do to get in the shape you want to be! Heck, email me and I'll try and help as much as I can.

Erica xx

#cleantella

The latest craze is a yummy yummy substance called.... cleantella and it's a great way to cheat clean :)

Cleantella is a healthy "cheat clean" chocolate nut butter.... and my God... It. Is. Amazing. 

Without stating the obvious, it's healthier than nutella. Have a look for yourself.

My FAVOURITE way to eat clean-tella is on top of my Protein Pancakes... have a look at them. They are a fantastic combo!

You can grab Cleantella in our gym: www.facebook.com/thegymhowth. If you want to see some more cheating clean recipes that I share, follow me on instagram :)

Cleantella is all over Instagram, I screen-shotted some fantastic people's ideas for what you can eat it with. Or you can just eat it with a spoon!

Hot Yoga?

Good morning :)

Right, so over the last number of years, I have developed a love for Hot Yoga. I have always loved Yoga and Pilates (which is what I first trained in, when I entered the fitness world), but doing them in heat is even better!

One of my goals (I write them down, it's always a good idea to put your goals on paper) was to actually own a hot yoga studio and this week, it opened! So they have started in our gym "The Gym Howth". www.facebook.com/hotyogahowth 

Why Hot Classes?

Well, firstly because they are just plain AMAZING!! They are amazing for your mind, your body and of course for fat loss! One of the main reasons I was attracted to hot classes in the first place was... because it was something different! It doesn't interfere with strength training, actually it'll enhance your weight training because hot classes are fantastic for increasing flexibility and mobility. Flexibility and suppleness helps ALL types of fitness and sport training.

If you love the heat, then you'll love hot yoga. It is challenging - but who doesn't love a challenge! These classes are hard, but you feel such a sense of accomplishment when it's over and as the weeks go on, you'll be impressed with how much you've improved.

Ps. Jen loves Yoga...We love Jen...

I mentioned fat loss... yes, it is superb for burning fat and losing weight. Why? Because your body temperature rises, increasing your metabolism which in turn helps you burn more fat. And eh, not to mention, you sweat like crazy (but everyone else in the room does too, so it's nothing to be ashamed of).



What is the difference between our studio and other one's?

The heaters. When I started researching hot studios I discovered something very important. The heaters. A lot (not all) of hot yoga/pilates studios in Ireland have blow heaters. The problem with blow heaters is that, it leaves the room patchy. This means that you could be somewhere in the room and you could be cooking with the heat and you could be somewhere else and you would be lukewarm.

We invested in inferred heaters (from Denmark). These are panels that are on the ceiling. They heat up and project the heat onto the floor which means that everywhere in the room is a certain temperature. No patchy-ness.

What I noticed was, that you are roasting, but you are just hot, you can't feel where the heat is coming from in comparasin to blow heaters where you can actually feel the hot air coming towards you!


Other things to know about Hot Yoga
Bring water. This is key. You need to stay hydrated. Also bring a big towel that you can lie out on your mat and bring a sweat towel (no explanation needed for this). You get all the mental and physical benefits from regular Yoga in Hot Yoga. So prepare for 60minutes of pure calmness.

www.facebook.com/hotyogahowth 


Namaste 

Cheat Clean - Pizza Time!!!

As promised... A cheat clean Pizza. This recipe was donated to me by Terri Mulqueen :)

It is AMAZING!!! It actually tastes like pizza!!!! Here is a pictured, step by step recipe!

Enjoy xxx

69 Day Challenge

Hi Girls,

Today, I wanted to share with you four things:
1. Forever Fit Program
2. Nobo
3. Clean Chicken Pizza
4. Skinnymini Club


1. Forever Fit Program
So, I wanted to share with you, what i'm doing at the moment! I always try and eat healthy, I rarely drink any alcohol (maybe 5-6 times a year), I take high quality supplements (foreverliving - they are the rolls royce of supplements) and I train. However, I still wanted to try this 69 day program, just so I could update all of you on how it works :)

So, here's a little video I have made on it:

Forever Fit Program

I am finished the C9 and am now on the Fit 1. I'll be posting up more info on that soon :) I am delighted with my results so far + I will give you a break down of them during the week (I'm still a bit busy, moving gym is a busy time...) For more on this, check www.facebook.com/foreverfitprogram

2. NOBO:

Girls, you HAVE to try this, it is delicious!!!

It's made with:
- Coconut Milk
- Honey
- Avocado
- Cocoa Powder
- Water
- Toasted Almonds
- Irish Sea Salt
(and of COURSE i'm going to attempt to make it...)

3. Clean Chicken Pizza

I'm going to post this up later - brace yourself! You can now have pizza and not feel guilty :)

4. Skinnymini Club
Basically, I have set up a private group on facebook, where people post up recipies and general fitness and health ideas and plans. It's fantastic for motivation and listening to like minded people. If you would like to hop into it, please add me on facebook + I'll add you to the group. Please feel free to invite any of your pals into it :) The more the merrier! www.facebook.com/ericabrennan.pt

I'll be back later with the Pizza :) :)

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

Weights VRS Cardio

Good morning all :)

Rightio, so today I want to explain the reason why women are now into weight training more so than cardio. Now, I am NOT saying that girls who weight train don't do some cardio also, but in a general sense.

So the easiest way to explain the difference is:

Cardio:
When you leave your house and go for a walk/run... you are burning calories while you're jogging along :) However, the second that you return home and your body cools down, it stops. You stop burning calories.

Cardio = calories burned while exercising

Now, cardio has LOADS of health benefits and I'm not saying that it doesn't, but I would suggest you combine cardio and weight training together to get that toned, lean look.

Weight Training:
When you start exercising using resistance training, you are putting your body and muscles under stress (which is what we need to do to burn fat) :). However, when you get home, you're STILL burning fat.... and this can go on for 48 hours - yipee! Weight training also produces Growth Hormone (which is VITAL, because Growth Hormone (GH) is the FAT BURNING hormone!) GH will not make girls get big, it helps us burn fat!!

Weights = fat burned while exercising and post exercising + produces the fat burning hormone in our bodies

So logic would tell you that weight training has a longer post workout fat burn effect that cardio. However, all that being said... ANY exercise is better than none! So find what works for you and make sure that you're always challenging yourself. Don't let your workouts get stale, keep mixing it up, combine it with clean eating and you will be ready this summer!!

That is all....

Have  a lovely Sunday girls :)

Erica xx

Test your fitness

I often come across people in the gym who ask "does this ever get any easier?". They are still wrecked from their workout and they've been training months.

The truth is, your training regimes shouldn't get any easier... They will, so you need to make your programs harder and harder when they become easier, so that you're being challenged each workout. It's called progression. Your program should be periodised, so it gets more challenging. When you start something new, the first time you do it is always the hardest. If you were to do it again a few weeks later, you would find it much easier. However people rarely test that. So today, i'm going to show you how to test it.

Lets take some examples and in these examples, you need to push yourself to the absolute max, no dossing!

Here is a basic fitness test, now remember you have to do it AFTER you have completed a full workout:

Week One: After you finish training, you do as many burpies as you can in 60 seconds.
Result: You've achieved 24 burpies.
Conclusion: You're in bits!

Week Four: After you finish training, you do as many burpies as you can in 60 seconds.
Result: You've achieved 35 burpies.
Conclusion: You're in bits!

It was the exact same test, you pushed yourself to the max each time and after you did them you were wrecked! So why was it not easier?? Because you pushed yourself hard and your upgraded fitness level brought you through each rep faster!

Here is a hard fitness test, now remember you have to do it AFTER you have completed a full workout:

Week One: After you finish training, you;
1. Sprint on the rower for 500 meters - as fast as you can!!
2. 15 Squat Jumps - proper technique please.
Result: It took you 3 minutes.
Conclusion: You're in bits!

Week Four: After you finish training, you;
1. Sprint on the rower for 500 meters - as fast as you can!!
2. 15 Squat Jumps - proper technique please.
Result: It took you 2.50 minutes.
Conclusion: You're in bits!

However wahey, you shed ten seconds off!! You're fitter and faster!!

Here is an even harder fitness test, now remember you have to do it AFTER you have completed a full workout:

Week One: After you finish training, you;
1. Sprint on the rower for 500 meters - as fast as you can!!
2. 20 Push Ups - proper technique please - girls can go on knee's
3. 15 Military Burpies - 10kg - proper technique please
Result: It took you 4.50 minutes.
Conclusion: You're in bits!

Week One: After you finish training, you;
1. Sprint on the rower for 500 meters - as fast as you can!!
2. 20 Push Ups - proper technique please - girls can go on knee's
3. 15 Military Burpies - 10kg - proper technique please
Result: It took you 3.30 minutes.
Conclusion: You're in bits!

Excellent, you shed 80 seconds off your time! So our hard and harder tests are based on TIME and our basic test is based on REPS.


You may look at these three little fitness tests and think "gosh, they look easy" and you may do them and think that "they were easy". Well then you're going too slow. This is a challenge, you have to to want to vomit after you finish, thats how fast you're going!!

Why not try some of the above and in four weeks time, do them again! I'll post up some more over the next few weeks on twitter: @skinnymini_blog or instagram: @ericabrennanblog

The same focus applies to all your workouts, if you've completed a program that has the correct weights applied for you and you stroll out of the gym, thinking "not a bother"; either you took way too many rest periods, you were doing your reps too fast, weights too light, your technique was all over the place or you didn't sprint on your cardio exercises.

That was you.

What I'm trying to say is working out is all about you. If you put 10% in, you'll get that out. So you need to be putting 100% in. Each rep is perfect; each push up, you hit the floor, each prowler sprint, you're going as fast as you physically can!!

Then you'll start to see results properly! Time is precious so don't waste the hour by not giving your workouts 100%! Give the gym 1 hour, do it properly, train hard and it will be time well spent.

On that note... I'm off to the gym...

Cheerio :)

Erica xx

Ps. Just to put it out there, I am an average person, who also hates saying no to Pizza and sometimes would rather eat some jellies than to go to the gym... 

Flapjackkie Thingie

Hello :)

OK, here's another good recipe one that I invented during the week - inspired by my training buddy @sfitz1 on Instagram (give her a follow, her cooking is unreal!!)

This is a healthy, sugar free flapjackkie thingie :)

The ingredients look long, but you can basically put whatever nutty - seedy stuff that is in your house in. These are what I used yesterday :)

Dry Ingredients
Whole Chia sees (2tbs)
Flaxseed mix (2tbs)
Shelled hemp (2tbs)
Linseed crunch (2tbs)
Milled linseed with blueberries & raspberries (2tbs)
Sesame seeds (2tbs)
Chopped walnuts (2tbs)
Chopped almonds (2tbs)
Mixed seeds (2tbs)
Flaked almonds (2tbs)
Dried raisins (4tbs)
Coconut segments (4tbs)
Vanilla Ultra Lite Protein Shake (2scoops = 50g)
Organic Porridge Oats (4 scoops = 100g)


Wet Ingredients
Organic coconut oil (2tbs)
Almond nut butter (2tbs)
2 Bananas
Almond milk (200ml)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven, Gas 6
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together with an electric mixer (low speed).
3. Put all the wet ingredients together in a bowl.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient mixture and mix on high speed for about 1-2 minutes.
6. Put the mix into a greaseproof papered tin.
7. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes


   

Result:

Please not: Coconut Oil =