Idols and pedals

It was a busy weekend for me. That in itself is not unusual ;)
There were two, no three, things that made this weekend a bit out of the ordinary.

Saturday started with my usual RPM class at Surge Health and Fitness in Clarkson (get along to one sometime if you can!), always a GREAT way to start the weekend, especially when I see the familiar faces on the bikes ;)

That afternoon I had the RPM quarterly workshop, a pleasure in itself, but when special guest presenter happens to be Glen Ostergaard, the very man from NZ who puts together the whole RPM program... well, let's just say I was VERY, VERY excited!!!

I'm sure most other instructors out there will agree, that while watching our Les
mills DVDs when it comes time for learning the new choreography, we dream of being a part of one "those" classes, having the AMAZING instructors and program directors in front of us coaching us through the class.

So to be able to have that happen is truly amazing!
In my time as an instructor I have been lucky enough to attend workshops for BodyCombat with Dan and Rach who are FREAKING AMAZING! This round we scored Glen for RPM on Saturday and AND BodyPump on Sunday!!

The ride was amazing just as I knew it would be :) Glen was a great sport and let us snap away photos afterwards. Here I am with the other Craigie girls, Anna, Holly and Kylie :)

Apart from a great class we were also presented with a great education session where Glen, amongst other things, talked about the AMAZING benefits of interval training.

Let me share with you :)

If you've been to one of my RPM or group training sessions before you would have heard me talking about this. It's not a new concept but it's one that WORKS.

It's all about hitting peaks in your workout and backing them up with short recovery so you can go HARD again. Why?

• It helps you  continue to push you effort levels, avoiding plateaus.
• You keep buying calories for hours after the workout
• Fires up your metabolism

This is the essence of RPM :) You can do this type of training in many ways though. Next time you go for a run put a few SPRINTS in there then drop back recover, do it again etc, etc...

Then came Sunday and the first of our Team Vivid community events for 2012, the Freeway Bike Hike!
We had a team of around 20 of all ages doing all three stages of the race (10km, 30km and 70km) but with the majority starting at Currumbine for the 30km ride into the city.

Here is a photo of most of us before we took off on the ride.

free fruit!!!

The ride itself was great (for me) but the event was not without peril, including starting 30 minutes late, pedals falling off, roads being closed without the public being informed, and roads being opened too early meaning that after setting off late some riders were not given enough time to finish the ride which was disappointing.

All in all a great day though and an event we will definitely have a team in again next year! You RPM crew, come and see how different it is to ride a real bike  :)

One of my favourite things about this event is the FREE FRUIT given out at the end, something that I think should be done at all of these type of events, including runs such as the City to Surf!

Below are some more of the team after the ride :)

Mum

Doing these types of events as part of a team simply means you are much more likely to register than you would by yourself! It entices you to try something new which what Vivid is all about!  Please check our calendar of events to see if you would like to join us in any other events, ALL are welcome!!!

Lori

Me

My active weekend didn't stop there though! Back home from the ride, quick shower and bite to eat and then off to BodyPump workshop, again with the superman Glen, along with a great team of presenters.

An awesome release coming your way guys! A few highlights:

• The propulsion lunge has made it's way back which will set your heart rate soaring!

• Rotator overhead press is back for shoulders

• New move in abdominals

You'll have to wait to find out the rest ;)

One thing that was pointed out to us was the reason BodyPump gets results. There are 800 reps in your average BodyPump class which is about 4 times the amount of reps you'd probably do in a session on the gym floor. It's because of this high rep rate that we get the results fast.

Don't forget when you come to a BodyPump class, or any other class for that matter, you are coming to get the workout you wouldn't get by training on your own. The instructor is there to make sure you are doing it correctly and to coach that little bit extra out if you that you didn't realise was there. So when I yell at you, it's out of love ;)


Jen
xx

Bek

How much and what type

I get asked this question all the time. What exercise should I be doing and how often should I be doing it.

There is no one answer.

The parameters are different for everybody depending on:
• how active you are already
• what your normal day entails (do you sit at a desk all day or do manual labour?)
• whether you want to lose weight
• whether you want to gain muscle/lose fat/ lose weight in general
• whether you have any injuries

etc etc......

One answer, however, applies to EVERYONE. Just do something! Move your body, SOMEHOW!

So, although there is no one answer to the question 'how much and what type', here is my advice :)

Number one, if exercise is new to you try lots of different things until you find what you like doing, then you are more likely to do it consistently. Which leads me to my next point..

Do it consistently! You are going to have things crop up from time to time that get in the way of your fitness but let it be the last thing to go, put it HIGH on your priority list and if you can't reschedule something else, reschedule you fitness so you still get to do it :)

We should all be doing BOTH resistance training and cardio. Muscle burns 3 times more calories than fat simply by existing! So we WANT to have lean muscle mass. We get this with resistance/weight training. Lifting weights doesn't mean you will become like "Arnie" but it is imperative for creating lean muscle mass, tone and also helps with bone density.

We need some kind of cardio too, anything that gets your heart rate elevated for an extended period of time. Whether is be running, walking, cycling, netball, swimming, roller-skating, take your pick :)

How much?
It's advised to do 2.5 - 4 hrs a week just to maintain you current weight. If you are trying to lose weight this increases to 5 hrs a week.

How you do this is up to you. You have to find what works for you and fits into your lifestyle :)

My recommendation is to move as much as you can whenever you can.
Take every opportunity you have to add incidental exercise in your life e.g. taking the stairs, or how about RUNNING up the stairs?

I don't train for hours and hours a day. On a normal week I teach 2 RPM classes and 3 BodyPump classes. I also take 4 training session where I may join in some of the time, but wouldn't class it as a work out. I make sure though, that when I train, I train HARD. I make it count and more importantly I don't "waste" my workout by undoing the hard work with bad nutrition. Train as much and as hard as you like, it will never make up for your nutrition. Remember it's 70- 80 nutrition and 20 - 30 exercise.

Don't let those numbers weigh heavily on you, just let them help guide your decisions...and remember to MOVE, it's what your body was MADE for!

Jen
xx