Get Fit In 8 Weeks – Part Two

DID you know that to get toned and/or lose weight it’s 70 per cent dietary and 30 per cent exercise. But of course, it depends what you do with your 30 per cent in the gym that counts too.

People go on treadmills for long periods of time, often because they don’t know what else to do. They look at the fat burn and calorie burn charts on the machine and follow it because it suggests it’s the best way to burn fat, but it isn’t.

As part of our ‘Get Fit In 8 Weeks’ challenge with Cheshire Fitness, personal trainer Greg Johnson has factored in three workouts per week with each session lasting an hour. Not bad considering some people go to the gym daily and don’t see much difference. It does of course mean that hour must be used wisely.

Peripheral heart actionEasing us in gently, our first session with Greg involved an introduction to equipment and techniques we weren’t familiar with. Despite aiming to lower body fat and build muscle, the more obvious cardio involving bikes and treadmills was kept to a bare minimal.

Instead, Greg uses a technique called peripheral heart action whereby doing repetitions of a weight on your upper body before quickly switching to your lower body, back to upper body again and then a final burst of full body cardio for a few minutes, makes the blood rush around the body faster. This increases heart rate whilst still incorporating resistance training to build muscle mass. And believe me, by the end of a session, you’ll feel like you’ve run a marathon.

We alternated between lateral pull downs and the dreaded plank as well as chest press, forward lunges and three minute bursts on the rower, to give you a taster. Repetitions were kept to 20 for each exercise.

The plank and lateral pullsGreg said: “This technique shocks the body, making the blood move and the heart work harder. You’ll get more benefits in a shorter space of time and you’re body will experience after burn the next day. In fact you’ll continue to burn calories for up to three days afterwards.”

Kettle bells are also a favourite at Cheshire Fitness as they work you entire body – inside and out from your very core. They too were used in the peripheral heart action technique. There are many exercises you can do with a kettle bell and in the coming weeks we will be demonstrating these via videos.

We’ve also noticed major differences in the types of exercises we’re both good at and prefer. For example, as a man, Chris has been able to really push hard on the upper body and back work but struggled with the balance of squats and lunges. I on the other hand could lunge for England but Greg being savvy to this wouldn’t let me as he says it’s important to work your whole body in order to create a strong core, thus avoiding future back problems.

Kettle bell exercisesWhat was most pleasing about these types of sessions was how fast the time flew by. Had that hour been spent on a treadmill or bike, it would have seemed like an eternity and, more importantly, wouldn’t have had the same long term benefits.

Greg said: “People go on treadmills for long periods of time, often because they don’t know what else to do. They look at the fat burn and calorie burn charts on the machine and follow it because it suggests it’s the best way to burn fat, but it isn’t.

“Peripheral heart action training takes you to your lactate threshold which is when your muscles feel absolutely exhausted. It’s a more intense workout than say running on the treadmill which actually programmes your body to store fat in the long run.”

Cheshire fitness personal training starts from £35 per session. The team advise booking blocks of five sessions. For more information on Cheshire Fitness please visit www.cheshirefitness.co.uk