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Weekly Tip
Pump Up With Food After A Workout!
 Key to recovery after exercise is carbohydrates and then fluid replacement. Doing just this after a workout helps to recharge glycogen reserves and pumps the muscle as glycogen is the body’s chief source of energy.
Believe it or not, if you do not replenish your muscles, exercise can be damaging. Most bodybuilders, who thrive on muscle size, know this, but it affects all of us who partake in exercise. Exercise, in fact, breaks down the muscles’ proteins, which muscles need to maintain in order to keep mass, and grow. Exercise also temporarily stops muscles from replacing the protein they lose during a workout – hence why you see athletes downing protein shakes and whey protein supplements after a workout.
Researchers have found that the amino acid Leucine taken right after a workout can fight this loss. Leucine has been proven to stimulate protein synthesis, even directly after high intensity workouts. Leucine makes up approximately 7% of foods containing high levels of protein, like meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, beans, soy, wheat germ, and those protein bars and drinks you see athletes consuming on a regular basis. These are all great sources of protein and Leucine, but the timing of consumption is significant. That’s because Leucine’s affect on muscle growth and maintenance is not seen when it is consumed before or during a workout.
Most strength training experts agree to leave a day’s rest for a single muscle group after exercising that muscle group. But, protein synthesis to recovery of that muscle group can be speeded up with a high intake of protein and high-calorie snack. It looks as if consuming about 15% of your daily calories immediately after a workout helps the muscles to rebuild at their fastest pace after being broken down by the exercise.
For us, on a 2,000 calorie diet, look to take about 300 calories right after a workout. An average protein intake for someone who exercises regularly should be 2 grams of protein per kilogram of weight. So, for someone like me, who weighs 200 lbs (91 kg) I should be taking 182 grams of protein per day. Think of this, a slice of turkey meat has approximately 4 grams of protein. If I were to take 7 slices of turkey after a workout, I would be feeding my muscles at their best. About 15% of my protein needed for the day.
So, workout hard, and then look to replenish your body’s needs with calories and protein immediately after your workout and you will surely notice the difference.
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Previous Weekly Tips
 If you like being in the water and want a variety in your swimming, consider trying some pool exercises. Water exercises can also be safer and more comfortable for pregnant women and for people who are overweight or suffer from arthritis, back pain or muscle or joint problems. Since your weight is partially supported and your movements slowed down, you are much less likely to injure yourself. Try these 5 exercises here as a starter:
- Toning Arms: Stand with the feet apart, arms extended straight in front of you holding a ball. Then push the ball under the water, and swing it into a figure-of-eight pattern through the water. Feel the varying resistance on the arms and upper body. Move in as smooth a rhythm as you can making sure not to strain your shoulders or back. Try maintaining a sturdy balance as you repeat 3 sets of 10 reps.
- Jumping Jacks: This exercise will be greatly affected by your fitness level, so if you are a beginner do not get disappointed by the result. With practice however you will be able to perform this exercise. Start with your feet flat on the bottom of the pool and your arms relaxed by your sides. Bend your knees and spring up off the bottom of the pool as high as you can. As you jump, kick your legs out to the sides pointing your toes down and swinging your arms out to the side and up above your head so that your limbs form a star shape. Land with knees bent and feet apart. Once again jump up as high as you can and bring your feet back and together with arms by your sides. Repeat 3 sets of 10 reps.
 Standing Kickbacks: Stand an arms-length way from the pool wall. Keep your shoulders relaxed, your feet together and arms hanging by your sides. Rest both of your hands against the pool side at shoulder height while keeping your arms straight. Bend your knees a little, tucking in your bottom as you do so. Using your buttock and thigh muscles, raise your left leg and swing it gently back behind you. Keep the supporting leg bent a little and don't raise your leg too high. Repeat 3 sets of 10 reps with each leg.
- Waist Trimmer: With your back against the poolside, arm along the edge for support; draw the knees to your chest. Extend your legs straight ahead. Now, swing legs to your left and then to your right and back to the center. Then bring your legs to front and withdraw to chest. During the entire motion keep your back pressed against the wall. Repeat 3 sets of 10 reps.
Floating On Water: Relaxation is an essential part of completing an exercise routine. Let your body lose and let it float on water. You will be amazed, besides proving as an essential sport, swimming also lets you relax.
At the end of the day, whatever workout you choose, incorporate some weight training a few times a week and add stretching to the cooling down portion of your workout. If you are suffering from some sort of health ailment, then it is advisable for you to consult a doctor first and then decide on your exercise program that will best suit your needs. Whatever you choose to do, don’t forget your SPF 15.
The team at Get Fit At Home
Make Cardio Interesting!
All of us, and I mean all of us whether we are fit or fat, struggle to keep cardio a part of our workout. We just don’t want to do it and yet it is fundamental for releasing endorphins, burning fat and raising our fitness levels overall.
So the question remains: How do we keep cardio vascular workouts interesting? I asked our team of fitness experts and personal trainers and they came out with some rather great, but different ideas. Here are the top five that we gathered:
- Listen to an audio book. The suspense or mystery ones are the best, says Tom based over in Essex, because he can continue to run while he worries for the main protagonist in any murder plot. The drama keeps his mind off the pounding feet and heavy breathing as he runs through Victoria Park in London.
- Change the exercise. Julia in Greenwich says that when she gets bored with the running machine she’ll just get off it and move over to the bicycle for a change of view. But longer term, stop with the machines for a week and try a spinning class or body pump just to shock the body (and mind into a new routine) says Julia.
 Find a partner. If you are rowing solo in the gym, or running the streets as a lone figure, find a partner who has a similar fitness and cardio level and catch up over a workout, says Vikki – who trained with a partner for the London Triathlon and did much better than she ever expected. Our personal trainer Phil, based in South London, said the same and runs with his client Fiona from her home to her office twice a week.
- Vary the speed. Uju, based in North London, learned as we taught her that mixing sprints with a 3-minute round of boxing and sparring really kept her on her toes and 30 minutes of high-intensity cardio was gone in a blink of an eye as she mixed it up with our personal trainers. Uju, now a personal trainer herself, advocates just such a mixture.
- Catch up on email. Not completely out of the question if you are riding the stationery cycle for an hour. I have seen businessmen and women planning their whole day on their blackberry as they push out the miles, says Gary, one of our qualified personal trainers based in Surrey. Use the technology to make your day AND your run go that much faster!
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 Today, we took a call from a young woman who thought she was perhaps pregnant and wanted to speak with a qualified pre and post natal personal trainer, of which we have several who work here at get-fit-at-home.co.uk full time. I spoke with Suzanne, based in South London and Suzanne put together a written response which I think would share with you all.
“Pre and Post-Natal women need to adjust their exercise programmes to make sure they are looking after not only their own health, but that of their baby too. Whilst the baby is growing and developing, exercise and workout programmes need to be tailored to make sure both mum and baby have the safest workout, and this continues after the baby is born.” – Suzanne, www.get-fit-at-home.co.uk pre and post natal fitness professional.
There are many physiological and anatomical changes that take place both pre and post pregnancy and Suzanne has been specially trained to create workouts which are not only effective, but safe too.
Some of the main exercise concerns both during and after pregnancy are :
- the effects of some of the hormones of pregnancy which can decrease joint stability;
- the effect of impact exercises and occurrences on the pelvic floor muscles;
- the stretching of abdominal muscles, and the time taken for them to heal after birth;
- weight gain;
- postural difficulties and back pain.
With an effective programme, many of the concerns can be addressed to ensure mothers have a safe and healthy pregnancy and a quick return to full fitness after birth. Do call us if you have any questions or would like a qualified pre natal or post natal instructor to work with you one-to-one.
Get-Fit-At-Home.co.uk Members To Receive Starter Packs!
Over the holiday weeks we have been hard at work. Not only answering your inquiries for the New year, but also creating a very special offer for our membersWe are going to be sending out Starter Packs to all our existing 250 clients here in the UK and to all our new, motivated and inspired new clients as well. These will be sent out via first class post by the end of January 2008.
The get-fit-at-home.co.uk starter pack will include a calorie counter, a highly detailed food diary, articles and press releases that are recent goldmines of information for any tried and tested fitness freak, but also serve as great ways to learn for all you budding fitness fanatics! We will also put inside a Body Mass Indexing site to work with to find out your BMI and body fat percentages, a password to the back-end of our website where we have lots of secrets and one-on-one motivational communications with our members.
We here at www.get-fit-at-home.co.uk are working more and more closely via the internet and mobile phone technology to keep in contact with our clients – not just through our personal trainers who hit the road and make the personal visits – but through all our trainers here at the head office who answer all your queries, problems and issues. We have a full board of trained consultants above and beyond our personal training staff to help you with your fitness levels, lifestyle changes and decisions and, most of all, motivation and inspiration. So don’t hesitate to ask us anything via email or phone anytime or anywhere!
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 Two weeks ago we received a call from Tina, who works behind a desk every day in Central London. Tina had heard of our services from a friend who was one of our clients. Tina called and asked: “Is it possible to get into a dress that is a size 10 in three weeks? I am a size 12 right now. What can you do? Help me!”
Here is what we did. We listened to Tina’s diet firstly. She cut down to one coffee a day, first thing in the morning and with fully skimmed milk. We asked that she not eat too late in the evening and even try to eat an hour earlier for her last meal than she was used to. We did not put her on a full diet, we just cut down the extra fats. She has cut out all alcohol, except for one night at the hen party being held prior to the wedding in which she has to partake in wearing “that damned dress!”
Then, based on where Tina was living, we hooked her up with Loughborough University graduate and personal trainer Phil Soames, who within 5 sessions and the help of the food plan, got Tina into “that damned dress” for a test wearing last weekend! Well done Tina!
After only three weeks, the dress zipped up and fit with days to spare and we believe Tina is going on to make that dress look great. Tip: Lower alcohol consumption, eat last meal earlier if possible so fully digested before sleep, fully skimmed milk (or soya milk) with coffee and tea and limit tea and coffee to one a day. Tina’s hard work is very commendable!
This is not the dress as we did not want to make Tina show off before the big day – but these lovely dresses from the famed Floriane Creations Couture of Lyon, France are available through us here at www.get-fit-at-home.co.uk
Please email monika@get-fit-at-home.co.uk to find out more about our exclusive dress lines or call us at 0845 217 7566 – we can make any of these dress for you, to order, based on measurements we take!
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 As a stressed mother or father or office worker, you are not always able to eat and drink healthily. All-nighters up with the children or working in offices with artificial lighting can really take the wind out of your sails. However, there are easy ways of making your life healthier (and therefore, happier we hope) if you take a few simple steps and the Get-Fit-At-Home team is here to help.
This week’s first step is to drink more water
Most of us leave ourselves dehydrated. We don’t have a bottle of water at hand at our desks or in the car, or in the back of the pram. It’s a simple fact of life that hours of work leave the body and mind weaker than usual. Water makes up 80 per cent of your brain, so no wonder it hurts that much more when you work or care for toddlers AND don’t drink enough water.
Don’t believe that tea is a replacement for water. It’s not. Both coffee and tea are diuretics and therefore take water from the body’s systems. Sodas, due to their high levels of sugar, mean that they take water away from the body in order to digest the sugars. And we all know about alcohol… any hangover is partially caused by dehydration – lack of water.
Even after a workout, water can be the best to drink. Your body absorbs water faster if you are drinking just pure water after a workout. So, you can never go wrong in rehydrating your body post workout with just plain water.
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At Get Fit At Home we deal with all sorts of questions from clients regarding food and supplements. Below is some examples of such questions starting with the confusing question of eggs and egg whites.
”I have heard about egg white products but am a little confused how to use them. I was wondering if you could please tell me the best way for me to cook and eat my egg whites? Also with whole eggs, from a health perspective is it better to boil or poach them? I am quite busy and time is an issue.” – Anna, in Manchester.
Our in-house nutritionist, Drew Price, responds.
 Hello Anna,
there are many egg products on the market with differing uses and of differing quality.
If you are looking for whole egg products I usually advise clients to go with organic produce here due to the increased quality of the products. The same rules apply here as for all foods, just buy the best product that you can source and afford. As far as preparation goes then poaching and boiling are from a health point of view very similar - the difference comes from the point of view of do-ability. If you find one much more convenient and/or tasty then you would go with that. Getting good food in front of you in a convenient, tasty manner is of primary importance - it doesn't matter how good something is for you if you don't get round to cooking it or don't eat it due to taste then it is of no help!
If you look on the internet there are many pasteurised liquid egg white products on the market now. As you know egg whites are mostly protein whereas the yolk is both protein and fat. These egg white products are usually bulk quantities (800ml or more) but are ready to eat as they are pasteurised with no issues of salmonella, protein utilization etc. They are very convenient and flexible and actually good value for money (though economies of scale apply here), they can be:
Added to other egg dishes to increase the protein content
Cooked on their own
Drunk raw in smoothies, protein shakes etc
Frozen in ice cube holders for easy use later etc.
Some bulk suppliers include;
http://www.myprotein.co.uk/mp-max/liquid-egg-whites/liquid-egg-whites/
http://www.eggnation.co.uk/shop.php
DREW PRICE BSc MASc
A.C.S.M. Certified
Clinical & Sports Nutritionist
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