Beta Fitness

Meta Force Bootcamp - spotlight

2012-01-18T14:30:00.000Z

Here's Pauline at the end of a Meta Force Bootcamp session. Pauline is now taking part in her third 6 week course of Bootcamp and had this to say:

"I started going back to the gym in April last year to lose weight and get fit but after a few months of training, things were getting a bit repetitive and I was soon hitting the dreaded plateau. I then decided to try Paul’s bootcamp which has been fun although challenging but more importantly so rewarding! I managed to lose quite a few pounds but more importantly inches off my waist and improve overall fitness. The bootcamp comes complete with a cardio programme to do alongside and a meal plan to help you choose the right foods, all that with a friendly and professional approach! I am doing my third bootcamp now and have lost another 2cm off my waist in just a couple of weeks. My overall strength has also greatly improved. I can’t recommend it enough if you are serious about losing weight and getting fitter!"

Bootcamp courses run for 6 weeks throughout the year at various times of the day to suit gym members. If you would like more information please contact us!!

Congratulations Steve - Here's £100!!!

2012-01-12T15:52:00.000Z

Congratulations to Steve! Steve has won the first ever Beta Fitness giveaway - by posting a photo in our facebook fan page. We asked all our fans to post a photo over the Christmas period - the only rules were that it had to relate to fitness and Christmas. The photo with the most 'likes' would win a £100 gift card to put towards any of our services. Steve's photo (see below) got 25 'likes' and won the competition. Well done Steve!

Make sure you join the fan page and keep an eye out for our amazing give aways - we are already set for our next give away - when we reach 100 fans we will randomly select 10 fans to recieve a Beta Fitness £50 gift card. It could be you!

The 11.5 stone challenge

2012-01-08T19:45:00.002Z

So here is the change of my body shape and composition after 1.5 years of on/off weight training and only a few months of following a meal plan. From earlier posts you will remember I ended up bulking myself up due to eating too many calories, so it's been longer than it could and should have been to get to this stage. I would realistically say that these results (and probably even better results) could easily be achieved in 4-6 months of regular training and decent nutrition.

So what's next? Ladies and gentleman - I introduce to you...

...THE 11.5 STONE CHALLENGE!

The goal? To burn more fat (7lbs) whilst maintaining most of my lean muscle. This is going to take a good amount of time and is going to be difficult...but we all know I like challenges!

The 12 Stone Challenge - COMPLETE...

2012-01-08T00:08:00.001Z

Well, here it is. The end of the 12 stone challenge! A few weeks ago I set myself the challenge of slowly getting my weight down to 12 stone from close to 13 stone. I was eating a little too much, so my exercise routines were building muuscle under the layers of fat I had. The challenge - to lose FAT (not weight) and get my total weight down to 12 stone

My exercise sessions have stayed relatively the same as I was doing before. However, this time I calculated my calorific needs with the aim of losing 1-2 lbs a week - this would ensure that most of the weight loss would be fat tissue. I have lost a little strength (not too much though) which does suggest I have lost a little muscle tissue - but it's inevitable that I would lose a little by restricting calories. My nutrition followed a 40-50/30/20-30% carbohydrates/protein/fat ratio and I tried to maintain eating 5 or 6 meals a day. Although I did not keep this up for the entire duration (Christmas and a new kitchen being built), I certainly saw the benefits which came from it.

My aim from the start of this challenge was to lean my body out as much as I could. Like many people I want those abs! As you can see they still aren't visible - so more fat needs to go. Why have I not yet achieved this fat loss? - Well certainly I could get more strict with the nutrition, and add a bit more cardio to my sessions. Additionally - and this is a big one - my diabetes control has been erratic the last few months. Uncontrolled diabetes is going to have a huge effect on burning carbohydrates (especially as my workouts are very carb dominant), and I believe I am therefore causing my body to become catabolic- my muscle tissue is being used for energy. So now I will start the new challenge - to continue my journey to those abs...

Coming soon - the new challenge and the goals I must reach...

Twelve - By popular demand - ANOTHER course will start...

2012-01-05T22:14:00.004Z

Hey guys! Due to the great reception we got for the first ever 'Twelve' weight loss course that just started, it has been decided to start ANOTHER one in the next few weeks. The new course will give you:

- 12 educational presentations

- 24 classes designed to burn maximum fat

- The 'Twelve' handbook

- Additional cardio program

- Additional corrective exercise program

- Bespoke meal plan

- Weekly measurements including body fat analysis

- A guaranteed-to-work structured system

The course start date is February 27th and we will be offering an earlybird booking offer of £199 - but this price will only be held until February 1st. Thereafter the price will increase to the usual £250. If you are interested in booking on or finding out more information about the course please contact me at paul.barette@betafitness.co.uk

New 6 week Bootcamp course starting January 9th!!

2012-01-04T22:42:00.000Z

'Twelve' weight loss course places almost gone!!

2011-12-27T18:50:00.000Z

Hey guys!

I really do hope you have all had an amazing and fullfilling Christmas and ready to see the year out this weekend. Now we all know after the holiday indulgence - our new years resolutions come into play. No doubt many of us will be aiming to shed the excess weight we've gained and start the new year in a fresh new skin. If you have a few pounds to shift why not book into 'Twelve' - our 12 week weight loss course. With this amazing package you will get:

- 12 one-on-one personal training sessions

- 24 exercises classes

- Weekly bodyfat measurements to ensure your goals are being met

- 12 weekely presentations to teach you the best methods of fat loss

- The 'Twelve' handbook - a 24 page booklet full of an additional cardio program, corrective exercise program, methods behind the madness AND the all important meal plan

- A system that WILL get you in fantastic shape - and keep you there!

Essentially I will be teaching you EVERYTHING I know about fat loss, exercise, and nutrition. By the end of this course - you will know EXACTLY what to do to reach your goals.

And whatsmore - you can get all of this for the special Christmas price of £250 - but hurry! After January 1st the price goes up to £300 and theres only a few places left!! To book on contact me at paul.barette@betafitness.co.uk

Welcome to Beta Fitness- the advert!

2011-12-25T00:15:00.001Z

I've been working on a few new video projects over the last few weeks - I really think that videos are going to be big in the coming years for the fitness industry. Here is the Beta Fitness welcome advert. Special thanks to my clients Steve, Pauline and Mike for letting me take a few shots of them! Hope you enjoy it!

Here's how to win that £100!!!!

2011-12-20T15:14:00.001Z

Ok guys! Im been advertising it for a few days now - so here is how you can go about winning a £100 gift card to use against any Beta Fitness service. You should have all 'liked' my fan page on Facebook - if you haven't click here to do so.

Now all you have to do is upload a photo to the fan page which relates to the Christmas period and anything to do with fitness - for example, you might like to jump on the craze of 'planking' - although I would like your planks to be the exercise version and not simply lying flat on the ironing board. To relate it to Christmas you could simply wear a Christmas hat, or get your Christmas tree in the background. How about a Rocky Balboa bicep pose at the table during your Christmas meals! Be creative!

Once you have uploaded your photo, you need to get AS MANY people as you can to 'like' your photo. The person with the most likes on their photo on Saturday 7th January 11.59pm will win the £100 gift card.

Im sure you will all agree this is a pretty easy way to win some free money - and it should be a bit of fun on the side!

Ladies and gentleman, on your marks...get set...GO!

'Twelve' the 12 week weight loss course - only a few places left!!

2011-12-17T18:20:00.000Z

'Twelve' - the brand new 12 weeks weight loss course is almost upon us! Starting the first week of January we're getting you right into the groove with those new year's resolutions! Based at The Gym Group, Guildford, each 'Twelve' participant will be recieving 12 one-one-one personal training sessions, 12 educational presentations giving all the secrets our expert trainer has discovered to burning fat and building lean muscle, up to 24 group exercise classes, the amazing 'Twelve' handbook which contains an additional cardio program, corrective exercise program AND the eating plan to aid the fat loss, weekly measurements including body fat percentage and hip and waist, AND FINALY the ability to shed those pounds and keep them off for the rest of your life.

As a special Christmas offer, we have reduced the price to £250 from the usual £300 so grab yourself an early Christmas present or buy your loved one the a present that will beat the January scales ('January sales - get it?!'). Contact us now at info@betafitness.co.uk to book your place on this amazing course. Spaces are limited and theres only a few left!!!

Congratulations Rachel!

2011-12-14T14:07:00.000Z

I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge congratulations to my friend Rachel Hobbs. I have known Rachel for a number of years and have known her to be not only one of the kindest and most sincere people I have ever met - but also an amazing trainer who is already on the road to being one of the greatest.

Rachel has won an award from lifetime training for an achievement award after being nominated by one of her clients. Lifetime stated, “the judges were in unanimous agreement that Rachel certainly has a bright and successful career ahead. We were wowed by her incredible appetite for learning, ambition, dedication to achieving her dreams and commitment to providing the best future for her son.”

As if being an amazing human being and trainer wasn't enough, it is clear for those all around her to see that she is also an amazing mother to her gorgeous son. This year, Rachel and her son visited Ghana and spent 2 months there working at an orphanage and teaching children about health and fitness. Whilst doing all of this incredible work, Rachel still finds time to complete her university studies in Dietetics and Nutrition, AND is currently completing a diploma in freelance and feature writing in the hope of going into health journalism in the future.

Now Im not one to promote other trainers - but I'm sure you will all agree that Rachel is one hell of a gem. Rachel - congratualtions on everything you have done. It is a pleasure to know you and you are someone that I will always admire!

*Visit Rachel's website at www.zestforfitness.co.uk*

The Metabolic Workout

2011-12-13T00:56:00.002Z

Here it is - the basic ultimate Metabolic Workout - the result of 'The Seven Deadly Workout Sins' series. This workout is performed with kettlebells and bodyweight. Dumbells and barbells can also be used or simply bodyweight on it's own. Hope you enjoy it!

The Seven Deadly Workout Sins - Puting It All Together!

2011-11-29T17:06:00.001Z

Now that we’ve outlined the seven keys tometabolic breakthrough, let’s put it all together in a readily usable metabolictraining program so you can start cranking it today!

A MetabolicWorkout features a total body workout that employs high-intensity workperiods with short rest periods in an alternating set or circuit format thatcombines the muscle-building benefits of resistance training with thefat-burning benefits of interval training. The result is a killerbootcamp-style workout that will supercharge metabolism for up to 48 hourspost-workout, tone and tighten your whole body, blast stubborn fat, and get youinto the best shape of your life with only three 30-minute express workouts perweek.

If you recall from the Gibala study, it wasdetermined that 30-second maximum effort work periods followed by four minutesof rest for 20 straight minutes resulted in identical fitness improvements andgreater weight loss than 90-120 minutes of aerobic training. By building acircuit of non-competitive exercises we can allow for this same full recovery,and thus peak intensity, by the next time we return to the original exercise.

Furthermore, we demonstrated that 30-secondmax effort work periods provide both a big-time metabolic boosting muscle-buildingstimulus plus deplete your body’s sugar stores at optimal rates forcing it toburn more fat during recovery period and in the hours and days betweenworkouts.

In addition, I outlined the Tabata studywhich found that a 2:1 negative work to rest ratio found in a 20-seconds on,10-seconds four-minute high-intensity interval training protocol resulted ingreater fat loss and conditioning than 60-minutes of steady state cardio. Shortrest periods increase training density and produce a growth hormone responsethat boosts whole body fat-burning and lean muscle gain.

However, I have found that for mostde-conditioned beginners, 20-second work periods do not allow for a sufficientamount of time to adequately perform enough muscular contractions for optimalresults and that 30-second work periods are a much better time frame to bestaccommodate people of all fitness levels. Using this 2:1 negative work to restratio for 30-second work periods means that we would employ a 30-15 intervalprotocol with 15 seconds of rest between exercises.

Ladies and gentlemen, without furtheradieu, below is what I’ve discovered to be the ultimate metabolic experience…

30-15Six-Exercise Metabolic Circuit- 20 Minutes:Alternate between 30 seconds of work and 15 seconds of rest for each exercisein the following 6-exercise circuit followed by a 60-second rest and transitionbetween circuits. Perform up to 4 total rounds for a 20-minute total bodyworkout.

Station#	Exercise Variation
1	Hip-Dominant Variation
2	Push Variation
3	Knee-Dominant Variation
4	Pull Variation
5	Pillar Variation
6	Total Body Variation

The Seven Deadly Workout Sins - How “Metabolic” is Your Workout?

2011-11-29T14:51:00.001Z

So our series on the deadly workout sins is coming to an end. Now lets ask ourselves how 'metabolic' are current workouts are...

Please reference the chart below to assess the currentmetabolic status of your fitness routine. If your main goal is to improve yourbody composition (burn body fat and build lean muscle) and revamp metabolismthen you absolutely must structure your workouts to fall under the metabolicbreakthrough column.

	Metabolic Rut	Metabolic Breakthrough
Training Split	Daily body part workouts	3 total body workouts per week with ideally 48-hours between workouts
Length of Workout	60 minutes or more	30-45 minutes or less
Exercise Selection	Single-joint, isolation exercises that address only 1 plane of movement	Functional multi-joint, compound movement patterns that address all 3 planes of movement
Exercise Intensity	Low-intensity work periods of 2 minutes or longer to burn fat	High-intensity work periods of 30-60 seconds or less to burn sugar
Rest Periods	Long rest periods of 2 minutes or longer	Short rest periods of 30-60 seconds or less
Exercise Order	Straights sets of a single exercise	Circuit Training: Alternating sets of non-competitive exercises
Periodization	Perform the same fitness routine for 6 weeks or more	Progress to a new fitness routine every 3-4 weels

Deadly Workout Sin#7- Performing the same fitness routine for six weeks or more

2011-11-27T01:04:00.001Z

This one is pretty straight forward- if you perform the same workout routine day in and day out, week in and week out, your body will stop changing and you will hit a dreaded plateau.

The classic example of this can be seen in any run of the mill gym or health club. You're introduced to a trainer who then recommends doing a circuit of three sets of 10 reps for each body part every time you workout.

Now keep in mind that if you are sedentary and haven’t exercised in years (if ever), absolutely anything you do in the gym will elicit a positive response.

If you exercise with heavier loads, your body will respond by gaining more muscle to accommodate the new training demands.

If you employ shorter rest periods between sets while maintaining the same total work output, your body will respond by improving conditioning and melting unwanted body fat.

If you perform a new exercise altogether that challenges your body in a very unique way, your nervous system will quickly figure out how to master this movement resulting in increased performance.

The human body is a smart and efficient machine and will quickly adapt to any training plan that you throw its way. Within the first two to three weeks of any new training program you will notice the biggest improvements in your performance and physique. However, the human body is constantly striving for homeostasis and efficiency and after performing the same program for about four weeks there are diminishing returns.

That’s why it’s critical to change-up your fitness routine every month. By simply tweaking a couple of variables in your training plan, like your exercise selection, exercise order, work periods and rest periods, etc., you provide a new stimulus that will force your body to change and prevent dreaded physique and performance plateaus.

Now, don’t get me wrong here-- we always perform the same movement patterns in every training program because they are foundational. However, there are lots of different exercises that fall under the same movement pattern category that we can cycle between. New exercises require more mental and physical energy to perform thus burning more calories and causing a greater metabolic disturbance and this is exactly the type of stimulus your body needs to break out of any fitness rut.

The best example for this is the push-up since there are literally hundreds of push-up variations. We pretty much do some sort of push-up variation every workout, but by constantly switching up the type of push-up we’re using there is always a new stimulus that keeps the body changing. Plus, the better you get at one type of push-up, the better you get at all of the others and visa versa.

In addition, let’s not forget about the mental component here. The brain needs variety and performing the same routine for extended periods of time will not only decrease performance but will also lower your motivation to workout. So you’ll start skipping training sessions here and there and then all of a sudden you’ll find yourself back at square one—sitting on your butt, twiddling your thumbs while watching an infomercial about this incredible new waist belt that will give you the flat tummy of your dreams… all for only four easy payments of $19.95 so it can sit under your bed and collect dust before your dog uses it as a new chew toy.

I have personally programmed for people over the years. What I’ve discovered is that if I simply swap in new exercises and move to a different interval training protocol every three to four weeks I can constantly keep their bodies changing and performance continues to improve. Not to mention the fact that their motivation to workout remains sky high with every new challenge I throw their way.

I've also discovered the three weeks on, one week off schedule-- I’ve found this to be the sweet spot for the typical busy person looking for general fitness in their 20’s through 50’s. We work very hard for three weeks trying to keep pushing the envelope each subsequent week by using a gradual progressive overload. Then we employ an active recovery week to allow for mental and physical regeneration, prevent overtraining, and reduce the risk of injury. Then we start a new program altogether and we wash and repeat like clockwork. The results have been simply amazing.

THE FIX: Change-up your fitness routine each and every month to prevent dreaded weight loss and performance plateaus. Employ new exercises and different work and rest periods (or interval protocols) to constantly provide a new stimulus that your body must learn how to adapt to.

Holiday Season Special Offers!!

2011-11-25T14:59:00.001Z

Hey Guys!

I know it's early, but I wanted to give you all your Christmas presents a little early - call me eager - but I like to strike while the iron is hot!

So from now until the 1st January you can grab these special prices:

- 6 one-on-one PT sessions (+2 free) from £150

- 12 one-on-one PT sessions (+4 free) from £240

- '12' 12 week weight loss course £250

- Express 20 minute massage (buy 4 get 5th free) £10

If your interested in taking a closer look under the wrapping paper get in contact and book a FREE consultation.

If I don't see you before, have a great holiday season, stuff yourselves with all the turkey you can manage, and come see me to get you back in shape! :)

Paul, Beta Fitness.

Deadly Workout Sin#6- Using long rest periods of 2 minutes or more between exercises

2011-10-25T17:51:00.001+01:00

How many times have you seen this happen in the gym:

A big, burly, meathead of a man lays down to grunt out a couple reps of heavy benches presses where the bar bounces off of his chest like a basketball while his ass leaps off of the bench with his lower back resembling the Arc de Triomphe.

Then he racks the weight and goes and grabs a swig of water or chugs a vat of protein.

A couple minutes pass and now he’s watching some highlights on Sports Center with a few of his meathead buddies.

A couple more minutes pass and now he’s molesting some good-looking cardio queen with his eyes.

Finally, five to seven minutes after he completed his last rep on the bench press, he’s ready start his next set.

More likely than not, this guy will take several hours to complete his workout at this pace. Clearly, this is not the most efficient way to exercise. Now, if your goal is maximum strength and power, then three to five minute complete recovery periods have their place.

But chances are, if you’re like most of the general population, you couldn't care less about how much you can bench or squat and are more focused on having the lean, muscular build of a Men’s or Women’s Health model.

Deadly Workout Sin#5- Performing straight sets of a single exercise

2011-10-09T20:32:00.000+01:00

It takes about three to five minutes following intensive exertion for your body to completely recover and get ready for another bout of maximum effort without any significant decreases in performance. In traditional weight training, if you’re performing three sets of 10 reps, that means that it would take a minimum of 10-15 minutes to complete your first exercise in your workout putting you on track for one of those one hour plus marathon sessions that we already know is not optimal.

However, there is a very simple way that we can maintain peak intensity while allowing for full recovery: perform alternating sets of non-competitive exercises. My preferred method of alternating sets for metabolic acceleration is circuit training.

Typically it takes a trainee about 30 seconds to complete 10 reps of a given exercise at a controlled tempo of three seconds per rep. Previously we outlined that there are six basic movement patterns that make up any sound training plan with each movement pattern emphasizing a different region(s) of the body. So let’s build ourselves a killer six-exercise metabolic circuit where we allow for about 15 seconds of rest and transition between exercises and a 60-second rest and transition at the end of the circuit to re-group, grab a swig of water, and say a quick prayer to the fitness Gods begging for mercy:

1- Hip-Dominant Exercise @ 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off
2- Pushing Exercise @ 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off
3- Knee-Dominant Exercise @ 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off
4- Pulling Exercise @ 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off
5- Pillar Exercise @ 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off
6- Total Body Exercise @ 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off

Let’s examine the beauty of what we just did here:

- In approximately five minutes, the circuit format allowed us to perform all six exercises that comprise a whole body workout where in the straight sets format it took us the same amount of time to complete one set of a single exercise

- By alternating between non-competitive exercises in a circuit format, we are able to achieve maximum intensity while allowing for a full 5-minute recovery by the next time we repeat that same exercise

- In only 20 minutes, we can complete four rounds of this whole body circuit and be done for the day while we’d just be starting our second set of the second exercise in straight set format

Clearly the circuit training format is by far the most time-efficient approach and it also has many other of the key variables for proper metabolic training in place such as high-intensity work periods, quick and focused 20-minute workouts, short rest periods, total body workout, etc.

I believe circuit training is the foundation of any solid metabolic workout. Let’s take a look at two breakthrough scientific studies that support what I’ve seen in the real world:

Burn over 500 calories in 20 minutes: In a recent study by the University of Southern Maine, researchers discovered a more accurate method of estimating calorie burn from weight training than had been used previously. They discovered that a weight training circuit burned 71% more calories than previously thought. In fact, an eight minute circuit burned somewhere between 159 and 233 calories which breaks down to about 20-28 calories per minute!

Elevate metabolism for up to 38+ hours post-workout: In a study by the European Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers determined that a 31-minute circuit training protocol of three compound, multi-joint movements significantly elevated metabolism for 38 hours post-workout-- at which point they decided to stop tracking. This metabolic afterburn was due to a couple of factors. The first is due to increased tissue turnover due to the need to build and repair muscle microtrauma after high-intensity training. The second is due to increased Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) due to the oxygen debt created by high-intensity anaerobic exercise.

From a personal standpoint, when I was a young and stupid I used to workout for two to three hours at a time using the straight set format. It was always incredibly mentally draining to know that half of my day would be eaten up every time I worked out. However, I had all of the time in the world to workout then so I took advantage of that. Strangely enough, I had a lot of extra body fat for someone who was working out for several hours a day— that’s weird, right?

Now that I’m not as young and a little less stupid (I think) and I am a business owner the only workouts I currently have time for are metabolic workouts that have me in and out in 30 minutes and on with my busy, hectic days. Today I maintain a low body fat percentage year round and it’s all due to these circuits and a sound diet that emphasizes protein, produce, and water every couple of hours.

The choice is yours-- get better results in less than half the time or take hours of your precious time to get nowhere and fast. Well, I guess it’s not much a choice after all.

THE FIX: If your goal is maximum results in minimal time, employ alternating sets of non-competitive exercises each and every time you workout. Metabolic circuit training is by far the best way to get into the best shape of your life in 30 minutes or less so you can get on with your very busy day.

Deadly Workout Sin#4- Using low-intensity work periods lasting 2 minutes or longer to burn fat

2011-10-07T11:57:00.002+01:00

This one is mainly for all of the ladies out there- and I’m not about to sing a Michael Bolton or Marvin Gaye song here… unless of course, the price is right.

Women have the relentless tendency to perform endless hours of cardio and if they do use weights they tend use loads that are so light that they might as well not even bother—so small that they can barely be seen by the naked eye.

Heck, most guys out there have a hard enough time gaining muscle. Now factor in that women have 15-20 times less testosterone than men do and the answer is clear. In other words, women never have to worry about gaining too much muscle-- it would require freakish genetics and loads of drugs to even come close. Using heavier loads will just result in greater calorie burning, a faster metabolic rate, and a tighter, more toned and athletic physique.

One of the biggest myths in fitness is the concept of the fat-burning zone. It all started in 1993 when researchers at the University of Texas determined that lower to moderate intensity activity burnt the greatest amount of fat for fuel. In addition, peak fat oxidation (burning) appeared to occur at 65% of aerobic capacity. This is basically the exercise equivalent of conversational cardio or a power walk or slow jog.

However, we’ve already established that aerobic training has zero effect on weight loss over dieting alone, so we know that a power walk or slow jog will just not cut it.

Furthermore, though lower intensity exercise burns proportionately more fat than high-intensity exercise, high-intensity exercise burns more total calories per minute and thus still results in a similar amount of total fat burnt during exercise as its lower to moderate intensity counterpart.

The fact of the matter is that high-intensity exercise is scientifically proven to burn nine times more body fat than ordinary exercise per unit of effort. Plus, it’s not about how much fat your burn during your workout that’s important. The harder you exercise the more sugar you burn for fuel and this allows you to burn more fat during rest periods and in the hours and days between your workouts for maximum total body fat burning.

For the best real world example of which style of training is best for lean muscle gain and fat loss, just look at the body of sprinter versus the body of an endurance athlete. Sprinters are not only more muscular but actually have a significantly lower body fat percentage than endurance athletes. Though I’ve seen lots of overweight distance runners and walkers in my day, I have never seen an overweight sprinter. That has to count for something and again the science supports this anecdotal evidence.

How to BULLETPROOF your body and stay injury free: Part 2: Flexibility

2011-10-06T12:37:00.000+01:00

What is flexibility?

Flexibility describes the ability of soft tissue (muscles, tendons, etc.) to allow for movement in pain-free, full ranges of motion. Flexibility, or stretching, is key to removing movement restrictions that impair performance and lead to injury.

There are several types of ways to stretch, including:

1.) Passive Stretching: involves an external force that provides the stretch (via a partner or gravity using your own bodyweight)

2.) Active Stretching: requires you to generate the force to provide the stretch, often through the concept of reciprocal inhibition where you activate one muscle to relax/turn off another muscle thus allowing for a deeper stretch

3.) Static Stretching: involves holding a stretch at the end range of motion for time and is by far the most common form of stretching

4.) Dynamic Stretching: uses movement to go back and forth between the end range of motion with only a brief pause at the end range of motion

There is also a bit of a gray zone between flexibility and mobility. The best way I can describe the difference between the two is that flexibility is a lower intensity version of mobility that does NOT require mobility (or you can say that mobility is a higher intensity version of flexibility that involves stability).

For example, a split kneeling hip flexor stretch focuses on getting enough motion at the hip to allow for a full, pain-free range of motion split squat/sagittal lunge variation. Where the split squat/sagittal lunge variation requires strength, stability, and neuromuscular control, the hip flexor stretch does not.

Some recent studies have been quite misleading in suggesting that stretching before exercise can negatively impact performance and of course there was that immediate knee jerk reaction in the fitness industry where many trainers and coaches jumped on the band wagon and stopped stretching altogether.

While it has been shown that performing static stretching immediately before explosive movements results in a reduction in power output, the drop in performance was so insignificant that it's not even worth noting when you consider that:

a.) if you follow static stretching with proper mobility/activation drills it's been shown that the reduction in performance no longer exists which is why all stretching should be following by mobility/activation work.

b.) that corrective stretching is absolutely essential to long-term injury prevention

c.) that the general population could care less about one time maximum power output compared to feeling and looking better

As I mentioned in the recent post about tissue quality, it's not about PAIN SITE... it's about PAIN SOURCE!!

Knee pain is often caused by restrictions in your quads and calves.

Back pain is often caused by tightness in your hip flexors, glutes and hamstrings.

Shoulder pain is often caused by tightness in your neck, chest, and lats.

In addition, self-massage before stretching allows for a better, more complete stretch by smoothing out the knots and allowing for a complete lengthing of the tissue.

The best analogy for this is if you knot up two resistance bands of different tension levels and then you pull on both ends, what you'll notice is that the only band that moves is the one with less tension and that's exactly how your muscles work when knots exist in them.

In other, words if a muscle is restricted and you stretch it, the only part of the muscle that will stretch is the part that's already loose. Thus you should always precede flexibility work with tissue quality for best results.

How to BULLETPROOF your body and stay injury free- part 1: Tissue Quality

2011-10-04T21:47:00.000+01:00

This is one of the most misunderstood areas of fitness training. Corrective exercises aren't the most exciting things to do at the gym, but I can guarantee that if you regulary performed them you would feel a hell of alot better in your everyday life, and hardly ever get those niggling injuries from the gym. In a 3 part series I will show you exactly how to BULLETPROOF your body....

Almost all chronic joint pain or overuse injuries are caused by tightness and restrictions in the muscles above and below the joint in question.

In other words, it’s not about PAIN SITE… it’s about PAIN SOURCE!!

Knee pain is often caused by restrictions in the tissue of your calves and front/inner/outer thighs.

Back pain is often caused by restrictions in your glutes and hamstrings.

Shoulder pain is often caused by restrictions in your thoracic spine (T-Spine), chest, and lats.

Tissue quality describes the general health of your muscles and the interconnected web of fascia that surrounds them all.

Over time we develop scar tissue, adhesions, knots, and trigger points due to high-intensity training, overuse, and/or extended periods of sitting.

The best way to address this is to self-massage sore, tight, and restricted muscle groups of the body to regenerate tissue both pre and post-workout to promote injury reduction and allow for a smoother, more productive workout.

In addition, self-massage before stretching allows for a better, more complete stretch by smoothing out the knots and you should always precede flexibility work with tissue quality for best results.

Deadly Workout Sin#3- Using single-joint isolation exercises that address only one plane of movement

2011-10-02T21:12:00.000+01:00

When we discussed Deadly Workout Sin#1, we mentioned the disgraceful practice of training each muscle group one time per week. Well, to make the matter even worse, lots of fitness enthusiasts will comprise these body part workouts with useless single-joint isolation exercises that often take place in only one plane of movement.

Single-joint, isolation exercises involve the use of only one joint at a time. Classic examples are leg extensions and leg curls (only involve the knee joint) and biceps curls and triceps extensions (only involve the elbow joint). Though these single-joint, isolation exercises may result in a better “pump” or “burn” in a specific muscle that makes it feel more effective, it doesn’t mean that they are providing the optimal muscle-building stimulus when compared to their multi-joint, compound counterparts.
Multi-joint, compound exercises involve functional movement patterns that occur in the real world across multiple joints at the same time thus resulting in greater total muscle activation and heavier loading and subsequently greater calorie burning, fat loss, and muscle growth. For our purposes, there are six foundational movement patterns that comprise the ultimate total body metabolic workout:

Hip-Dominant: Any exercise that primarily targets your posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, and spinal erectors) and involves the flexion, extension, rotation, adduction, and abduction of the hips. In addition, lower body exercises where your torso is bent forward more than 45-degrees are best classified as hip-dominant. The exception to this rule is for any exercise where the upper body is NOT actively involved like a hip extension. Classic hip-dominant exercises include deadlift, step-up, hip extension, and swings.

Push: Any exercise that primarily targets your chest, anterior and medial shoulders, and triceps and involves a pushing pattern in either the horizontal or vertical plane. Horizontal pushing exercises involve pushing a load away from your torso as if your torso was upright while performing them. Classic examples include push-up and chest press variations. Vertical pushing exercises involve pushing a load in an upward or downward direction relative to an upright torso. Classic examples include dip, vertical push-up or overhead press variations.

Knee-Dominant: Any exercise that primarily targets your quadriceps and involves the flexion and extension of your knees. In addition, lower body exercises that actively involve your upper body and where your torso is vertical or bent forward less than 45-degrees are best classified as knee-dominant. Classic knee-dominant exercises include squat and lunge variations.

Pull/Scapulothoracic: Any exercise that primarily targets your lats, posterior shoulders, upper and mid back, scapulothoracic joint, biceps and forearms and involves a pulling pattern in either the horizontal or vertical plane. Horizontal pulling exercises involve pulling a load towards your torso as if your torso was upright while performing them. Classic examples include rowing and Y, T, W, L, I raise variations. Vertical pulling exercises involve pulling a load in an upward or downward direction relative to an upright torso. Classic examples include pull-up, pull-down, high pull, and bicep curl variations.

Pillar- Integrated Shoulders, Hips, and Core: Any exercise that primarily targets your shoulders, hips, and core. The primary objective is to train spinal stabilization in all 3 planes of movement including anti-flexion, anti-extension, anti-lateral flexion, and anti-rotation. Classic examples include front, side, and back pillar or plank variations. Pillar movements also include functional, ground-based rotational exercises like chopping variations.

Total Body: Any exercise that integrates any combination of the aforementioned movement patterns or simultaneously calls upon your upper and lower body. The total body nature of these exercises also results in maximum heart rate elevation and the optimal fat-burning, muscle-building stimulus. Classic examples include squat to presses, swings, and explosive olympic lifting variations like cleans, snatches, jerks, etc. In addition, traditional cardiovascular locomotive and plyometric exercises like running, leaping, hopping, skipping, bounding, jumping, shuffling, etc. also fit under this category.

In a study at Ball State University, researchers determined that additional isolation exercises for the arms had no additional benefit in terms of arm strength and hypertophy (muscle growth). One group did four compound upper body exercises (like presses and rows) in each workout while the other group did the same four exercises plus some extra biceps curls and triceps extensions. Since they both achieved the same results it appears that single-joint, isolation exercises have minimal if any benefit.

So now that we know the importance of training movement patterns (not body parts) with multi-joint, compound exercises, let’s not forget about the importance of incorporating exercises that occur across multiple planes of movement.

Too often people perform exercises in only one plane of movement, typically the sagittal plane that encompasses movement up and down and front to back and divides the body into left and right halves. The classic exercises that fit the bill here are bench presses and squats.

However, movement in life and athletics occurs in three planes of motion: sagittal, frontal, and transverse. Frontal plane movements occur side-to-side and divide the body into front and back halves. Transverse plane movements occur in a rotational manner and divide the body into upper and lower halves.

Let’s use the lunge as an example. A forward lunge takes place in the sagittal plane, where a lateral lunge takes place in the frontal plane, where a rotational lunge takes place in the transverse plane. Performing lunge variations in all three planes of movements best ensures optimal strength, functional carryover, muscle gain, and proper muscular balance. This in turn improves posture and injury reduction.

I should add that performing exercises in free space is ideal (also termed “free weights”). Machines limit movement to a fixed path and do not properly engage your body’s key stabilizers, particularly your hip, spinal, and scapular stabilizers, which will put you at a much greater risk of injury outside of the gym.

THE FIX: Employ functional multi-joint, compound movement patterns that address all three planes of movement for maximum muscle growth, fat loss, and metabolic spikes.

Deadly Workout Sin#2- Performing marathon workouts lasting 60 minutes or longer

2011-10-01T21:55:00.002+01:00

I’m not sure what it is about our society that thinks its cool to do things for an incredibly long period of time. There’s no better example of this than the typical college student who brags to his or her friends about pulling an all-nighter to cram for a final exam. In reality, best results would have been achieved by spreading out all of that studying over the course of the entire semester in order to achieve true and lasting knowledge rather than simple and useless short-term memory. I’d be lying if I said I’ve never procrastinated before myself as I’m literally writing this article the day before its due date-- but don’t tell my editor, wink.

Fitness is no different. What do most people who want to lose weight do? They either sign up to run a marathon and/or join a gym to do endless hours of long, slow, boring cardio on a treadmill, elliptical, bike, or step machine.

On a side note, if I ever see you “getting your cardio-on” while reading a magazine or checking your email I will slap you in the mouth and have you arrested for being a hopeless moron.

Why so harsh??

Well, a landmark aerobic training study from the International Journal of Sports Nutrition determined that 45 minutes of steady state aerobic training 5 days per week had zero effect over dieting alone when it came to weight loss— that’s 45 hours of activity for nothing! However, the lack of results wasn’t solely due to the length of the workouts, but also the low-intensity nature of these workouts.

12 Stone Challenge Update

2011-09-28T00:51:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks into the 12 Stone Challenge...

Starting weight: 12 st 12

Current weight: 12 st 7

A loss of around 5lbs means everything is going in the right direction. Blood sugars have been much more stable although I have still had the odd bad day where they have gone erratic. Certainly need to cut those bad days out and stay on top of the nutrition. Enjoying the workouts and even managed to see my heart rate reach an all time high of 207 beats per minute! (no, even Im not sure it's physically possible!). Im going to start increasing my cardio in the form of intervals and try to add a long recovery run once a week. I can't see any massive changes in the body shape so the 5lbs loss could be partly water, but im sure if I keep it up visible changes will come.

2011-09-26T01:03:00.002+01:00

Guys, a quick message to let you know that the next 6 week bootcamp course is now open for booking. The first session will take place Monday 3rd October. Sessions will run Mon, Wed and Fri at 2pm and 7pm. If there is demand for a morning class please let me know and I may be able to put one on. The prices for the next course are as follows:

1 session p/w - £60

2 sessions p/w - £90

3 sessions p/w - £117

Bootcamp members recieve the Meta Force Bootcamp manual containing the methods behind the madness (how the system works), an additional cardio interval program to aid the fat burning process, and meal plans to fuel your exercise. Put simply, if you follow the system we have created, you can transform your body in just 6 weeks! Additionally you will recieve free pre and post course assessment to track your progress and the support of the our fat burning expert trainer!

All members of bootcamp are entitled to come along to the TRX class on Thursday evenings at 7pm for FREE. To register log in to your accounts (or register by going to www.betafitness.co.uk and selecting 'book now'), select the class scedule and book in for the desired time slots for the 6 weeks. Any problems please let me know!

Work it hard!

Paul

*Bootcamp course takes place at The Gym, Guildford, and therefore requires membership. Please visit www.thegymgroup.com to register!*

Deadly Workout Sin#1- Performing daily body part workouts

2011-09-26T00:44:00.000+01:00

One of the longest running inside jokes within the fitness industry is the fact that Monday is “international chest day” where most gym-goers will do endless sets and reps of bench presses and chest flies until their boobies “burn so good” and swell as if being nipped by a swarm of ginormous mosquitoes.

Monday- Chest
Tuesday- Quads
Wednesday- Back
Thursday- Hamstrings
Friday- Triceps
Saturday- Biceps
Sunday- Calves

Please keep in mind that when you take a cocktail of anabolic performance enhancing agents, just about anything you do will result in less fat and more muscle– not to mention a host of deadly side effects and the possibility of growing a tail (anything is possible).

The reality is that training your whole body more frequently will result in bigger strength and muscle gain, greater fat loss, and more metabolic boosts than training each muscle group once per week– and the science supports this.

In a recent study at the University of Alabama, researchers had two groups of men perform two different strength-training programs with the same total training volume (sets and reps) for each muscle group. However, one group split the work across three total body workouts while the other group trained each muscle group separately one time per week. They discovered that the total body workout group gained five additional pounds of lean muscle mass compared to their body-part training counterparts.

It’s critical to understand that the more muscle you have the greater your resting metabolic rate (RMR). Your RMR is the total number of calories you burn every day regardless of activity and adding several pounds of lean muscle mass will result in an additional daily calorie burn of up to several hundred extra calories per day. This translates into an awesome fat-smashing snowball effect over the course of weeks, months, and years. Think of more muscle as the fat-burning gift that keeps on giving.

Another benefit of having more muscle is that your body’s carbohydrate tank gets bigger. The human body has a limited ability to store glycogen (sugar) in your muscles and liver before it spills over into the blood stream and leads to unwanted fat gain. The total amount of glycogen your body can hold, or your sugar tank, depends on a host of factors including gender, body size, age, etc. However, by building more muscle through high-intensity training your body can subsequently store more sugar.

For example, let’s just say that your sugar tank was originally 250 grams of carbs but is now 300 grams due to intensive training and muscle-gain. The extra 50 grams of leeway before your sugar tank over flows means two things:

1.) You can consume more total carbohydrates before your sugar tank reaches capacity where you then begin to gain fat and smooth out unless that energy is expended. It’s just like when you overfill the gas tank in your car— the fuel spills on the floor and all over your hands and shoes costing you money and making you a pyromaniac’s wet dream. Though consuming excess sugar may not be as deadly, it’s the source of the raging obesity epidemic plaguing our sedentary society and leads to host of scary health problems like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic disorder, etc.

2.) The lower your sugar tank the more your body will revert to using both dietary and stored fat to make up for that energy deficit. Thus if you gained more muscle and simply consumed the same amount of total carbohydrates, you will automatically burn more fat for fuel throughout the day. Now if you consume less total carbs in conjunction with more muscle mass then you will be a lean, mean fat-melting machine.

Plus, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that working your entire body each workout will torch more calories and thus accelerate metabolism and fat loss results. More muscles used equals more total work performed equals more total sugar, fat and calories expended-- all good stuff!

Lastly, it appears that it’s best to wait about 48 hours before performing your next total body workout. In multiple studies at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, researchers determined that muscle protein synthesis was elevated for up to 48 hours after a resistance training workout before it returned to normal. Performing another total body workout with less than 48 hours of recovery may not allow for adequate muscle repair thus impairing performance.

THE FIX: For busy people looking for the biggest bang for their fitness buck, best results will be achieved with 3 total body workouts per week with ideally 48 hours between workouts to maximize muscle growth and recovery.

Metabolism - the key to burning fat and getting the body of your dreams!

2011-09-25T00:26:00.001+01:00

In the past i have produced an article based on the concept of metabolism and the 7 deadly workout sins many gym goers commit when trying to burn stubborn body fat and build lean muscle. As I now have many more followers I have decided to re-release these sins in a series - showing you what you may be doing wrong, and how you can fix it to breakthrough those dreaded training plateus and to get into the best shape of your life. So first of all - let's understand what the key concept is here...

What is metabolism?

Metabolism is the sum of all chemical processes that take place in the human body to sustain life. Many people are born with slower metabolisms that make them prone to weight gain. Other people, known as lucky ____ (fill in the blank), are born with faster metabolisms and seem to have no problem being lean regardless of their activity levels or dietary habits- I hate them too!

Though metabolic rate is largely determined by genetics, there are various ways to increase metabolic rate (the speed of your metabolism) through exercise, nutrition, and supplementation. Here we will focus solely on the metabolic impact of a properly designed exercise routine. By keeping up with this series you will end up with the tools to build your very own metabolic workout to blast fat away and turn heads with your sexy body!

Stay tuned for the next acticle in the series - 'Deadly sin number 1: Performing daily body part workouts'...

The 12 Stone Challenge!

2011-09-01T00:02:00.001+01:00

Just over 1 year ago I started lifting weights. Before that, I was a bit of a cardio junkie - I loved my spinning, loved my long distance running and had played football for a number of the previous years. Although I knew the benefits of resistance training - I could never really find the motivation to get into it - it hurt too much, I couldn't lift much, and I was intimidated by all the big guys in the weights area! BUT...I am a personal trainer and I really do believe that I must practice what I preach. So I wrote out a lifting program 3 times a week and set about doing it. You can see in previous posts the results I gained after only 6 weeks. Over the last year and a bit I have continued to lift weights along with my metabolic workouts and am now the fittest I have ever been. HOWEVER, for those of you who don't know - I am an insulin dependent diabetic - and I am confessing that I have been a very naughty personal trainer. My control has been somewhat erratic for a while and I have not been eating the ideal food for both my diabetes control and also for my fitness goals.

It was last Sunday that I finally realised what was happening. My first night out in town for a good few months obviously meant I had to put the shorts and trackies in the cupboard and get out the jeans and shirt. What a shock it was to see that the clothes I found lose fitting a few months ago were now a struggle to get on! Furthermore the friend I was going out with (all 6 foot 2 of him) mentioned his astonishing weight loss accomplishment which now left him at 12 stone (compared to my almost 13!!). Now I know our body shapes are different and I do have some bulky muscle, but I knew that I should be doing better. So my mind starting cranking and it told me to create 'The 12 Stone Challenge'. And so now it begins...

You can see from the attached photo the changes I have made to my body over the last year. Now its time to lean it out. I want those abs. So my nutrition, diabetes control, and workouts are hitting a new level and I am determined to show you all that it can be done. Keep following the blog to see my regular updates on my goals and updated photos. Looking forward to a tough but exciting new challenge...

Paul

Beta Fitness

Beta Fitness' Workout Star!

2011-08-31T22:49:00.000+01:00

Our latest 'client of the month' award actually goes to two clients who have both worked extremely hard over the course of their packages.

Steve Streener lost a superb 16 pounds in 8 weeks! He did this though regular cardio interval sessions set by Beta Fitness, and 2-3 sessions a week of superset resistance training with the odd metabolic routine thrown in for good measure.

Karen Tuckwell came to us to work at a higher intensity than she was able to push herself to on her own. We completed 3 sessions a week for 6 weeks, introduced her to Nutrition Bible way of eating, and showed her how to train for a massive metabolic boost. Whats more, Karen found that she was working out much less than she was before and gaining much better results! Although Karen didn't have much weight to lose in the first place, she still managed to shift a few kg's and boosted her fitness through the roof. She is also going to continue to train with us to keep those results coming.

Well done Steve and Karen - it has been a pleasure to train you and keep it up! A free session for both of you awaits.

New website promotion!

2011-08-27T19:35:00.000+01:00

For those of you who haven't heard - Beta Fitness' website has been updated! View it now at www.betafitness.co.uk.

We hope you like the new site and would love to hear your feedback. To celebrate we are holding a special promotion - but hurry - the deadline is Monday 29/8 at 11.59pm!! You can choose from the following promotions:

- Buy a PT 6 pack and get 1 free

- Buy a PT 12 pack and get 2 free

- Buy a Massage 6 pack and get 1 free

Contact us now if you have any questions or would like to book a Free consultation. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Beta Fitness

Client Of The Month!

2010-10-17T00:34:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to Chris who has been chosen as the first 'Client Of The Month.. Chris has been seeing me for 8 weeks now twice a week and has been a delight to have as a client. His main goal has been to lose weight. In just over 6 weeks Chris has lost an incredible 19lbs - thats around one and a half stone! He has worked hard to follow a healthy nutrtion plan and is now following the structure of the new Beta Fitness Nutrition Bible.

Chris' sessions have been built around circuit training and interval cardio - using various timing protocols to achieve results. He tells me that he has been getting constant comments from family, friends and workmates about his dramatic weight loss and his positive appearance.

Chris - congratulations and keep up the great work!

**Chris receives a free session for being the Beta Fitness Client Of The Month**

2010-09-07T21:41:00.003+01:00

Discover How to Fix the 7 Deadly Workout Sins to Achieve Metabolic Breakthrough

By Paul Barette BSc (hons) DipPT & BJ Gaddour, CSCS

Here's BJ's story…

As a former fat kid and disgruntled owner of a naturally slower metabolism, I have made it my life’s mission to help other people like me achieve metabolic breakthroughs to dramatically improve body composition, performance, and overall health. I have always struggled with my weight and it affected me a lot as a kid. I used to shower in the dark to avoid seeing my reflection. I used to fib to my friends that I was allergic to chlorine to get out of having to go shirtless to swim and risk turning the pool party into an expo at Sea World. I was so afraid to talk to girls because I feared they found my mere existence to be nauseating.

But I remember the day everything changed for me-- It was after a family cruise and we finally received our photos from the trip and one photo particularly caught my eye. It was the photo you take with your group before you first board the boat. What I saw absolutely horrified me. It looked like I had a double chin, bordering on triple chin status. At the time I was wearing a XXL shirt and a size 42 pants and I looked absolutely miserable. I was literally a prisoner in my own oversized body and I finally had enough. After seeing this picture I knew I had to make some changes because I just couldn’t live like that anymore-- it was too painful and too depressing.

What follows is a culmination of years of research and trial and error to produce rapid and lasting weight loss through cutting-edge metabolic training that only requires a 90-minute commitment each week. This is the exact system I used for my own personal metabolic breakthrough and I still follow these guidelines today to maintain single-digit body fat percentage year round.

Alright baby, time to crank up that metabolism!

What is metabolism?

Metabolism is the sum of all chemical processes that take place in the human body to sustain life. Many people are born with slower metabolisms that make them prone to weight gain. Other people, known as lucky ____ (fill in the blank), are born with faster metabolisms and seem to have no problem being lean regardless of their activity levels or dietary habits- I hate them too!

Though metabolic rate is largely determined by genetics, there are various ways to increase metabolic rate (the speed of your metabolism) through exercise, nutrition, and supplementation. Here we will focus solely on the metabolic impact of a properly designed exercise routine.

Deadly Workout Sin#1- Performing daily body part workouts

One of the longest running inside jokes within the fitness industry is the fact that Monday is “international chest day” where most gym-goers will do endless sets and reps of bench presses and chest flies until their boobies “burn so good” and swell as if being nipped by a swarm of ginormous mosquitoes.

We can thank the drug-abusing bodybuilding world for the concept of training one body part per day for best results. If you open the typical bodybuilding magazine, below is a great example of a training program you might come across (or some variation of this):

Monday- Chest
Tuesday- Quads
Wednesday- Back
Thursday- Hamstrings
Friday- Triceps
Saturday- Biceps
Sunday- Calves

Please keep in mind that when you take a cocktail of anabolic performance enhancing agents, just about anything you do will result in less fat and more muscle– not to mention a host of deadly side effects and the possibility of growing a tail (anything is possible).

The reality is that training your whole body more frequently will result in bigger strength and muscle gain, greater fat loss, and more metabolic boosts than training each muscle group once per week– and the science supports this.

In a recent study at the University of Alabama, researchers had two groups of men perform two different strength-training programs with the same total training volume (sets and reps) for each muscle group. However, one group split the work across three total body workouts while the other group trained each muscle group separately one time per week. They discovered that the total body workout group gained five additional pounds of lean muscle mass compared to their body-part training counterparts.

It’s critical to understand that the more muscle you have the greater your resting metabolic rate (RMR). Your RMR is the total number of calories you burn every day regardless of activity and adding several pounds of lean muscle mass will result in an additional daily calorie burn of up to several hundred extra calories per day. This translates into an awesome fat-smashing snowball effect over the course of weeks, months, and years. Think of more muscle as the fat-burning gift that keeps on giving.

Another benefit of having more muscle is that your body’s carbohydrate tank gets bigger. The human body has a limited ability to store glycogen (sugar) in your muscles and liver before it spills over into the blood stream and leads to unwanted fat gain. The total amount of glycogen your body can hold, or your sugar tank, depends on a host of factors including gender, body size, age, etc. However, by building more muscle through high-intensity training your body can subsequently store more sugar.

For example, let’s just say that your sugar tank was originally 250 grams of carbs but is now 300 grams due to intensive training and muscle-gain. The extra 50 grams of leeway before your sugar tank over flows means two things:

1.) You can consume more total carbohydrates before your sugar tank reaches capacity where you then begin to gain fat and smooth out unless that energy is expended. It’s just like when you overfill the gas tank in your car— the fuel spills on the floor and all over your hands and shoes costing you money and making you a pyromaniac’s wet dream. Though consuming excess sugar may not be as deadly, it’s the source of the raging obesity epidemic plaguing our sedentary society and leads to host of scary health problems like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic disorder, etc.

2.) The lower your sugar tank the more your body will revert to using both dietary and stored fat to make up for that energy deficit. Thus if you gained more muscle and simply consumed the same amount of total carbohydrates, you will automatically burn more fat for fuel throughout the day. Now if you consume less total carbs in conjunction with more muscle mass then you will be a lean, mean fat-melting machine.

Plus, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that working your entire body each workout will torch more calories and thus accelerate metabolism and fat loss results. More muscles used equals more total work performed equals more total sugar, fat and calories expended-- all good stuff!

Lastly, it appears that it’s best to wait about 48 hours before performing your next total body workout. In multiple studies at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, researchers determined that muscle protein synthesis was elevated for up to 48 hours after a resistance training workout before it returned to normal. Performing another total body workout with less than 48 hours of recovery may not allow for adequate muscle repair thus impairing performance.

THE FIX: For busy people looking for the biggest bang for their fitness buck, best results will be achieved with 3 total body workouts per week with ideally 48 hours between workouts to maximize muscle growth and recovery.

Deadly Workout Sin#2- Performing marathon workouts lasting 60 minutes or longer

I’m not sure what it is about our society that thinks its cool to do things for an incredibly long period of time. There’s no better example of this than the typical college student who brags to his or her friends about pulling an all-nighter to cram for a final exam. In reality, best results would have been achieved by spreading out all of that studying over the course of the entire semester in order to achieve true and lasting knowledge rather than simple and useless short-term memory. I’d be lying if I said I’ve never procrastinated before myself as I’m literally writing this article the day before its due date-- but don’t tell my editor, wink.

Fitness is no different. What do most people who want to lose weight do? They either sign up to run a marathon and/or join a gym to do endless hours of long, slow, boring cardio on a treadmill, elliptical, bike, or step machine.

On a side note, if I ever see you “getting your cardio-on” while reading a magazine or checking your email I will slap you in the mouth and have you arrested for being a hopeless moron.

Why so harsh??

Well, a landmark aerobic training study from the International Journal of Sports Nutrition determined that 45 minutes of steady state aerobic training 5 days per week had zero effect over dieting alone when it came to weight loss— that’s 45 hours of activity for nothing! However, the lack of results wasn’t solely due to the length of the workouts, but also the low-intensity nature of these workouts.

In addition, long, drawn out workouts have diminishing returns and create a negative hormonal environment in our bodies. That’s because during one-hour plus exercise bouts our body enters survival mode and releases a catabolic stress hormone called cortisol that both causes muscle loss and results in unwanted fat gain in trouble spot areas.

According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), anabolic, muscle-building hormones like testosterone are maximized in about a 30-minute high-intensity workout window. It is at about the 45-minute mark that anabolic hormones begin to fall as their catabolic counterparts, mainly cortisol, simultaneously begin to rise.

THE FIX: Shorter, more focused and intense workouts produce better results than one hour plus marathon sessions. If you have to workout for longer than 30-45 minutes to feel satisfied than you probably weren’t working hard enough in the first place or you were committing some form of the other deadly workout sins.

Deadly Workout Sin#3- Using single-joint isolation exercises that address only one plane of movement

When we discussed Deadly Workout Sin#1, we mentioned the disgraceful practice of training each muscle group one time per week. Well, to make the matter even worse, lots of fitness enthusiasts will comprise these body part workouts with useless single-joint isolation exercises that often take place in only one plane of movement.

In the Gibala Study, researchers collected a bunch of college students who were in good health but not participating in any athletics. One group rode a bike at a sustainable pace for 90-120 minutes. The other group performed 20-30 seconds of cycling at maximum effort followed by four minutes of full recovery and they repeated this sequence up to four to six times for a total of 18-27 minutes. Each group exercised three times per week for two total weeks. In the end, they discovered that both groups achieved identical improvements in endurance even though the high-intensity group had only exercised for six to nine minutes while it took the low-intensity group five hours to achieve those same results! I know, crazy, right?

What’s even crazier is the fact that the high-intensity group had greater weight loss than their low-intensity counterparts. According to the head researcher Martin Gibala the “rate of energy expenditure remains higher longer into recovery” from high-intensity interval training.

There’s just something special about high-intensity anaerobic (without oxygen) work periods of 30-60 seconds. First of all, they are glycolytic in nature meaning that they burn muscle glycogen, or the sugar stores in your muscles, at optimal rates. The more sugar you burn during your workouts the more body fat you will burn in the hours and days between your workouts.

Second of all, it is generally accepted among fitness experts that maximum hypertrophy, or muscle growth, occurs when performing exercises with heavy loading and a time-under-tension lasting 30-40 seconds. At a rep speed of two to three seconds per rep that comes down to the classic bodybuilding rep range of eight to 15 reps per set. More muscle gain means greater metabolism which means more rapid and lasting weight loss.

Lastly, high-intensity anaerobic work periods of 30-60 seconds also create the optimal hormonal environment for fat loss by releasing hormones knows as catecholamines (mainly adrenaline). This surge of adrenaline mobilizes body fat, particular in the stubborn areas like the abs and lower back for men and the hips and thighs for women.

Interestingly enough, resorting to shorter and even higher-intensity work periods of 20 seconds or less actually causes a greater catecholamine release that leads to even greater fat mobilization during the workout. On the other hand, not as much glycogen will be depleted with these shorter work periods thus resulting in less fat being burnt at all other times of day. However, employing shorter, more intense work periods with incomplete rest periods will deplete your phosphagen stores (ATP-CP) and force your body to start using more sugar for fuel (this is beyond the scope of this article).

In general, I believe it’s a fair trade off. Plus, I’m a firm believer that the best interval training protocol is the one you haven’t done in a while, if ever. In other words, I recommend incorporating a wide variety of work periods ranging between 30-60 seconds or less for maximum fat blasting and metabolic disturbance and to keep your body guessing.

The bottom line is that intensity is the only thing that truly makes your body change. If you take one thing away from this article, I hope it is this!

THE FIX: To burn fat and skyrocket metabolism 24-7-365, employ high-intensity work periods lasting 30-60 seconds or less to deplete muscle glycogen stores during your workouts in order to burn more fat fuel when resting and at all other times of the day.

Deadly Workout Sin#5- Performing straight sets of a single exercise

It takes about three to five minutes following intensive exertion for your body to completely recover and get ready for another bout of maximum effort without any significant decreases in performance. In traditional weight training, if you’re performing three sets of 10 reps, that means that it would take a minimum of 10-15 minutes to complete your first exercise in your workout putting you on track for one of those one hour plus marathon sessions that we already know is not optimal.

However, there is a very simple way that we can maintain peak intensity while allowing for full recovery: perform alternating sets of non-competitive exercises. My preferred method of alternating sets for metabolic acceleration is circuit training.

Typically it takes a trainee about 30 seconds to complete 10 reps of a given exercise at a controlled tempo of three seconds per rep. Previously we outlined that there are six basic movement patterns that make up any sound training plan with each movement pattern emphasizing a different region(s) of the body. So let’s build ourselves a killer six-exercise metabolic circuit where we allow for about 15 seconds of rest and transition between exercises and a 60-second rest and transition at the end of the circuit to re-group, grab a swig of water, and say a quick prayer to the fitness Gods begging for mercy:

1- Hip-Dominant Exercise @ 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off
2- Pushing Exercise @ 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off
3- Knee-Dominant Exercise @ 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off
4- Pulling Exercise @ 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off
5- Pillar Exercise @ 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off
6- Total Body Exercise @ 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off

Let’s examine the beauty of what we just did here:

- In approximately five minutes, the circuit format allowed us to perform all six exercises that comprise a whole body workout where in the straight sets format it took us the same amount of time to complete one set of a single exercise

- By alternating between non-competitive exercises in a circuit format, we are able to achieve maximum intensity while allowing for a full 5-minute recovery by the next time we repeat that same exercise

- In only 20 minutes, we can complete four rounds of this whole body circuit and be done for the day while we’d just be starting our second set of the second exercise in straight set format

Clearly the circuit training format is by far the most time-efficient approach and it also has many other of the key variables for proper metabolic training in place such as high-intensity work periods, quick and focused 20-minute workouts, short rest periods, total body workout, etc.

I believe circuit training is the foundation of any solid metabolic workout. Let’s take a look at two breakthrough scientific studies that support what I’ve seen in the real world:

Burn over 500 calories in 20 minutes: In a recent study by the University of Southern Maine, researchers discovered a more accurate method of estimating calorie burn from weight training than had been used previously. They discovered that a weight training circuit burned 71% more calories than previously thought. In fact, an eight minute circuit burned somewhere between 159 and 233 calories which breaks down to about 20-28 calories per minute!

Elevate metabolism for up to 38+ hours post-workout: In a study by the European Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers determined that a 31-minute circuit training protocol of three compound, multi-joint movements significantly elevated metabolism for 38 hours post-workout-- at which point they decided to stop tracking. This metabolic afterburn was due to a couple of factors. The first is due to increased tissue turnover due to the need to build and repair muscle microtrauma after high-intensity training. The second is due to increased Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) due to the oxygen debt created by high-intensity anaerobic exercise.

From a personal standpoint, when I was a young and stupid I used to workout for two to three hours at a time using the straight set format. It was always incredibly mentally draining to know that half of my day would be eaten up every time I worked out. However, I had all of the time in the world to workout then so I took advantage of that. Strangely enough, I had a lot of extra body fat for someone who was working out for several hours a day— that’s weird, right?

Now that I’m not as young and a little less stupid (I think) and I am a business owner the only workouts I currently have time for are metabolic workouts that have me in and out in 30 minutes and on with my busy, hectic days. Today I maintain a low body fat percentage year round and it’s all due to these circuits and a sound diet that emphasizes protein, produce, and water every couple of hours.

The choice is yours-- get better results in less than half the time or take hours of your precious time to get nowhere and fast. Well, I guess it’s not much a choice after all.

THE FIX: If your goal is maximum results in minimal time, employ alternating sets of non-competitive exercises each and every time you workout. Metabolic circuit training is by far the best way to get into the best shape of your life in 30 minutes or less so you can get on with your very busy day.

Deadly Workout Sin#6- Using long rest periods of 2 minutes or more between exercises

How many times have you seen this happen in the gym:

A big, burly, meathead of a man lays down to grunt out a couple reps of heavy benches presses where the bar bounces off of his chest like a basketball while his ass leaps off of the bench with his lower back resembling the Arc de Triomphe.

Then he racks the weight and goes and grabs a swig of water or chugs a vat of protein.

A couple minutes pass and now he’s watching some highlights on Sports Center with a few of his meathead buddies.

A couple more minutes pass and now he’s molesting some good-looking cardio queen with his eyes.

Finally, five to seven minutes after he completed his last rep on the bench press, he’s ready start his next set.

More likely than not, this guy will take several hours to complete his workout at this pace. Clearly, this is not the most efficient way to exercise.
Now, if your goal is maximum strength and power, then three to five minute complete recovery periods have their place.

But chances are, if you’re like most of the general population, you could care less about how much you can bench or squat and are more focused on having the lean, muscular build of a Men’s or Women’s Health model.

In other words, most people can afford to lose some fat and gain some muscle and the key to doing so is to maximize training density. Density describes the amount of work completed per unit of time. Density also happens to be the biggest primer for fat loss because the more work you can complete in the same amount of time or less the leaner and more muscular you will be.

How do we accomplish this? We do so by reducing our rest periods between exercises. According to the NSCA, shorter rest periods lasting 30-60 seconds or less resulted in the greatest growth hormone response. Growth hormone is one of the most powerful fat-burning and muscle-building hormones in your body.

Look no further than the world famous Tabata Study for the fat-burning, metabolic-boosting benefits of high-intensity work periods combined with short rest periods. In this groundbreaking cycling study, researchers discovered that only four minutes of a 20-10 interval protocol (20 seconds of maximum effort followed by 10 seconds of rest) provided greater fat loss and conditioning than 60 minutes of steady state cardio.

Now one of the problems with this study is that in the real world most people aren’t able to perform multiple bouts of max effort for the same exercise with short rest periods (in fact, most of the elite cyclists in the study couldn’t complete all four minutes of the 20-10 protocol because it was too intense).

However, by employing a circuit training format where you perform alternating sets of non-competitive exercises, we can maintain the high-intensity work periods in conjunction with the short rest periods as in the Tabata study.

Furthermore, I have personally found this 2:1 negative work to rest ratio (in this case of Tabatas, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off) to be unreal for rapidly improving fat loss and fitness for my campers and for my own personal workouts.

THE FIX: Employ short rest periods of 30-60 seconds or less between exercises in order to maximize training density and the growth hormone response from exercise for maximum fat loss and metabolic acceleration.

Deadly Workout Sin#7- Performing the same fitness routine for six weeks or more

This one is pretty straight forward- if you perform the same workout routine day in and day out, week in and week out, your body will stop changing and you will hit a dreaded plateau.

The classic example of this can be seen in any run of the mill gym or health club. On day one, after your sign a contract where you pay money to use somebody else’s equipment, you’ll meet with a “personal trainer” who probably is wearing some cute little jacket that says “personal trainer” on it (I’m convinced the reason for this is because some personal trainers may actually forget what they do for a living-- too much protein on the brain). Then he or she will teach you how to use all of the machines (don’t get me started on machines) and will then recommend doing a circuit of three sets of 10 reps for each body part every time you workout.

Now keep in mind that if you are sedentary and haven’t exercised in years (if ever), absolutely anything you do in the gym will elicit a positive response.

If you exercise with heavier loads, your body will respond by gaining more muscle to accommodate the new training demands.

If you employ shorter rest periods between sets while maintaining the same total work output, your body will respond by improving conditioning and melting unwanted body fat.

If you perform a new exercise altogether that challenges your body in a very unique way, your nervous system will quickly figure out how to master this movement resulting in increased performance.

The human body is a smart and efficient machine and will quickly adapt to any training plan that you throw its way. Within the first two to three weeks of any new training program you will notice the biggest improvements in your performance and physique. However, the human body is constantly striving for homeostasis and efficiency and after performing the same program for about four weeks there are diminishing returns.

That’s why it’s critical to change-up your fitness routine every month. By simply tweaking a couple of variables in your training plan, like your exercise selection, exercise order, work periods and rest periods, etc., you provide a new stimulus that will force your body to change and prevent dreaded physique and performance plateaus.

Now, don’t get me wrong here-- we always perform the same movement patterns in every training program because they are foundational. However, there are lots of different exercises that fall under the same movement pattern category that we can cycle between. New exercises require more mental and physical energy to perform thus burning more calories and causing a greater metabolic disturbance and this is exactly the type of stimulus your body needs to break out of any fitness rut.

The best example for this is the push-up since there are literally hundreds of push-up variations. We pretty much do some sort of push-up variation every workout, but by constantly switching up the type of push-up we’re using there is always a new stimulus that keeps the body changing. Plus, the better you get at one type of push-up, the better you get at all of the others and visa versa.

In addition, let’s not forget about the mental component here. The brain needs variety and performing the same routine for extended periods of time will not only decrease performance but will also lower your motivation to workout. So you’ll start skipping training sessions here and there and then all of a sudden you’ll find yourself back at square one—sitting on your butt, twiddling your thumbs while watching an infomercial about this incredible new waist belt that will give you the flat tummy of your dreams… all for only four easy payments of $19.95 so it can sit under your bed and collect dust before your dog uses it a new chew toy.

I have personally programmed for thousands of people online and I have worked with hundreds of campers in the trenches for many years. What I’ve discovered is that if I simply swap in new exercises and move to a different interval training protocol every three to four weeks I can constantly keep their bodies changing and performance continues to improve. Not to mention the fact that their motivation to workout remains sky high with every new challenge I throw their way.

Also, my camps operate on a three weeks on, one week off schedule-- I’ve found this to be the sweet spot for the typical busy person looking for general fitness in their 20’s through 50’s. We work very hard for three weeks trying to keep pushing the envelope each subsequent week by using a gradual progressive overload. Then we employ an active recovery week to allow for mental and physical regeneration, prevent overtraining, and reduce the risk of injury. Then we start a new program altogether and we wash and repeat like clockwork. The results have been simply amazing.

THE FIX: Change-up up your fitness up your fitness routine each and every month to prevent dreaded weight loss and performance plateaus. Employ new exercises and different work and rest periods (or interval protocols) to constantly provide a new stimulus that your body must learn how to adapt to.

Time to get motivated

2010-08-20T22:26:00.000+01:00

Beta Fitness Kettlebell Training Video

2010-07-23T07:15:00.001+01:00

Guys. I did a 20 minute interval workout in the garden the other day and decided to video a couple of kettlebell movements to show you how kettlebell training will work. You can see the muscles working during the movements - showing you how the kettlebells work the whole body - ideal whatever your goal! Check it out.

2010-07-21T18:10:00.000+01:00

Kettlebell training is now being offered at Beta Fitness.

Kettlebells go back in history and have been used by athletes, martial artists, strength athletes. power lifters, military forces, celebrities, personal traininers, fitness enthusiasts, and now YOU!

Whether your goal is to increase strength, power, muscular endurance, flexibility, functional movement or fat burning - kettlebells provide a unique training system that will guarentee results and make it fun achieving them.

For those of you who are still wondering what a kettlebell is (!!) - it's a cast iron weight (similar to a cannon ball) with a handle. The versatility of the kettlebell makes it a superb piece of kit to strengthen weak muscles (particular the posterior chain - the back, glutes and hamstrings). These muscles are important for sports performance as they are fundamental in generating forward motion and acceleration. The posterior chain is critical in any jumping, sprinting, throwing, kicking and punching activity.

If you want to find out more about kettlebell training at Beta Fitness please visit our site at www.betafitness.co.uk and send us and email! We'd love to hear from you. Until then, keep working it!

Get Sexy Bootcamp

2010-07-18T18:27:00.001+01:00

The 17 Week Challenge - Photo Time!!!!

2010-04-28T00:27:00.000+01:00

OK guys - it's week 6 of the 17 Week Challenge at Beta Fitness. For any of you who have taken up the challenge and kept to it - you should have noticed great results already. For those of you who have yet to take up the challenge - well then hopefully this might encourage you. I could never promise guaranteed results from my training programs unless I truely believed that they worked, and so that was why when I decided to share this program with the world, I was determined to take part in it myself to show you the results. I knew that if I kept as close to it as possible, I could get to week 6 with pretty decent results to share - so I made a promise that I would take photos each week and on the sixth week I would show them. So here they are just for you...

There is still well over half of the challenge to go - so I am even more confident now that in week 17 I will be posting some more amazing transformation pictures for you all to see. I also have to admit that I havn't stuck to the program 100% - the first couple of week I did none of the interval training (only resistance), and since then I have done the majority of the intervals but still not all of them. I know that if I had done all of the workouts I would be in even better shape - but still I am more than happy with the results so far. My diet has been pretty average and I still have been eating some bad food (junk food!). So there you go. You really don't have to suffer to start changing that body. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed these first few weeks and am now looking forward to my future workouts! I really do hope some of you are getting motivated to get in shape. Keep working it hard and see you on the beach!

Welcome to Online Personal Training!

2010-04-27T12:43:00.000+01:00

Beta Fitness are proud to welcome on board MR STRIKE. Mr Strike’s job role is to bring the latest technological advances to our company by introducing online personal training to our portfolio. So why choose to work with Mr Strike when you can work with a real life personal trainer?

- It’s so much cheaper!
- You get a personalised and scientifically proven exercise program to reach your fitness goals
- You gain access to our extensive exercise library where Mr Strike performs each movement explaining teaching points, muscles worked and common mistakes to avoid - all in amazing 3D!
- Your personalised program is created around your time preferences and constraints
- You can record workouts to track exercise history and targets
- You get access to hundreds of fitness and nutrition articles
- You get a nutritional assessment which will tell you your recommended daily caloric intake (protein, carbohydrate, fat) based on your personal profile and daily fitness plan
- You get a personalised meal plan based on your nutritional assesment
- You get access to ‘fitscore’ - an assesment tool that allows each member to determine their total fitness by measuring the 5 components of fitness: strength, power, agility, endurance and flexibility.

So why dont you start that fitness plan you’ve always said you’d do - and ask Mr Strike for a helping hand!

For Online Personal Training prices please visit our services page at www.betafitness.co.uk

Please note that all online personal training will require payment prior to the program being created and log in details sent. A personal membership account will be set up within 48 hours of payment.

The 17 Week Challenge - Week 4-6 - Workout A1

2010-04-13T02:59:00.001+01:00

We're onto week 4 of the 17 week challenge and we're back to the 15 rep sets. You hould be lifting more than those 15 rep sets in week 1. We're also introducing a few new variations on exercises to up the intensity a little bit more!

The 17 Week Challenge Week 2 - Workout A3

2010-04-07T22:14:00.000+01:00

Here's the last workout of week 2. It's still 12 rep sets - so remember to increase the weights you were lifting in week 1 by about 10%.

If you want to take part in the 17 week challenge visit us at www.betafitness.co.uk and get in contact!

The 17 Week Challenge Week 2 - Workout A2

2010-04-02T22:54:00.000+01:00

Here's the second workout of week 2. Remember we are sticking to 12 rep sets, which means you should be lifting more weights than in the first week. Make sure you focus on good form - don't use weights that are too heavy!! If you aren't sure how you can fit in a full set of pull up, watch our 'progression to a pull up' video which will show you easier alternatives to a full pull up.

If you're interested in taking part in the 17 week challenge visit www.betafitness.co.uk and send us an email for the free pdf files

The 17 Week Challenge Week 2 - Workout A1

2010-04-02T01:55:00.000+01:00

We now move into the second week of the 17 week challenge. Many of the exercises here are the same as week 1 - but notice that the reps have dropped to 12. This means that the weights you will be lifting will be higher than the first week. Try increasing the weight by 10% and see how you get on. You should be reaching form failure by the end of the set!

The 17 Week Challenge Diary

2010-03-25T21:46:00.000Z

Week 1 - Workout A2

Second session completed (kind of!). It was a very late workout - having been working from 11 - 10 it was one of those workouts you just don't want to do! - but I know I have to do it and so at 10.30pm I made my way to the gym. After a 5 minute warm up I encountered my first problem - I couldn't get an olympic barbell for the sumo deadlifts! :( Not a problem though - because as the exercises are all done as supersets you can swap the order around aslong as you keep them in their original pairs. So I started with the step ups (I did cross over step-ups) supersetted with the dumbell presses. Another piece of advice - if you start off with a weight that you can do 15 of in the first set but only a few on the second or third set, simply drop the weight down. You will still be overloading the musle sufficiently for adaptations to occur.

Onto the sumo deadlifts and pull-ups combination...oh dear! I said in the first workout post not to go too hard at the start...unfortunately I didn't listen to my own advice! My first set seemed ok, until I checked my form in the mirror and noticed my back was going out of neutral spine (I was losing the curve in my lower back and letting it round - which places pressure on the vertebral discs - NOT GOOD!!). My reaction - lower the weights for the next set. The form was better but there was still some rounding of the back. So my next solution was to raise the bar a little higher so I didn't have to bend down as far. This stopped the back rounding and allowed me to lift with good form. Having done a little research on deadlift lifting technique I came across this site - http://doubleyourgains.com/how-to-deadlift-with-proper-form which explains it all in greater detail. I highly reccommend you all read it as deadlifting is one of the best exercises you can do in the gym!

The final issue I had with this workout was the my grip! My hands cramped up by the 3rd set of exercises leaving me with problems holding the bars. I also had blistered from where the bars were rubbing against the skin. So I would say to invest in a pair of weightlifting gloves to stop the friction rubs.

A real hard workout but again - I feel it was worth it. It's a learning curve this - and I'm still learning. Im feeling good, strong and looking forward to workout A3!

The 17 Week Challenge Week 1 - Workout A3

2010-03-24T00:03:00.000Z

Here's the final resistance workout for the first week of the Beta Fitness Challenge. There are some additional notes and changes to go with the PDF sent out for week 1 so be sure to check the video out at our YouTube channel to read them! Whilst your there why not subscribe to the channel so you can keep and eye on all the future videos we do!

The 17 Week Challenge - Week 1 - Workout A2

2010-03-22T19:27:00.000Z

Here is the second workout video for the 17 Week Challenge! Visit our YouTube channel for more information on workout A2.

The 17 Week Challenge Diary

2010-03-22T16:20:00.001Z

Week 1 - Workout A1
So today was the first day of the 17 Week Challenge for me! And I am at least alive to write about it here. In all seriousness though, it was tough but well worth it. I even managed to get up for 6am to get to the gym before work. The most notable point I have found is how 'awake' I have been feeling all day. Usually, getting up that early causes me to sleep during the day but theres been none of that today!

In terms of the workout itself - the first bit of advice is to go easy on those squats. I think I just about selected the right weights to do my 3 sets of 15 supersetted with the inverted rows. They really take alot out of you and by your third set your legs will be shaking with fatigue. The inverted rows are pretty tough aswell - but by standing at a less steep angle you can make the exercise easier to complete your full set. The bulgarian squats are a killer - I didn't even use any external resistance (just my own bodyweight) and I could feel the burning in those muscles! By the time I got to the plank and bridge exercises my body was pretty much done to the limit! Im feeling pretty good as I write this but I know that the DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness) will set in in the next couple of days! Still - I'm determined to stick to this so it's on to the HIIT Tuesday and back to the gym Wednesday morning.

If your taking part yourself drop me an email to let me know how your getting on and any quesitons/suggestions you may have. Until then eat healthy and stay strong!

Paul (Founder of Beta Fitness)

The 17 Week Challenge - Week 1 - Workout 1A

2010-03-21T09:15:00.002Z

If your taking part in the 17 Week Challenge then here is the first workout video - we show you the exercises, and all thats left is for you to start performing them! We have added any important notes to the week 1 PDF which you should all now have. For those of you who are interested in taking up the challenge - it is never too late! - you can start this whenever you want and and get on your way to achieving that perfect beach body look! Keep working it hard!

Body type and nutrient ratios

2010-03-18T14:07:00.000Z

One search of the word 'diet' on the internet and you will be swapped with millions of different meal plans, diets and articles. So how do you know which one will work for you?! Well some research states that it all depends on your body type...

Somatotypes
Back in the 1930's, Dr. William h. Sheldon , a Harvard Professor, developed a way to classify the human physique according to genetic tendency. He came up with 3 distinct body types. These were known as ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph.

Ectomorph
The ectomorph body type suggests you are slender, generally have narrow shoulders and have a low body fat percentage. Also known as 'hard gainers' for their apparent inability to gain weight and muscle. In many cases, the ectomorph has a hyperactive thyroid, causing them difficulty in gaining weight. For this reason they need to consume alot of calories to maintain weight.

In order to gain weight, this body type must take in many more calories than other body types due to their fast metabolism. They tend to have a higher tolerance to Carbohydrates and proteins, with moderate fat intake. A healthy diet for the typical ectomorph would consist of:

-55% carbohydrates (veg., fruit, complex carbs)
-25% protein (salmon, chicken, eggs)
-20% fat (healthy fats such as extra virgin olive oil, nuts, fish oil, avacado)

The ectomorph body may have to eat substantially more than they are comfortable with - this changes as the body adapts and begins to absorb all the extra food.

Protein requirements for the body type should be anywhere from 0.75g to 1g per kg of bodyweight, as they have a higher lean mass than other types.

For muscle gain, extra protein is required as building blocks. Therefore protein suppliments are recommended.

It is certainly possible for ectomorphs to gain fat however - so it is important to complete some resistance training to keep the fat off and the muscle on as this will achieve a better asthetic effect for the individual. They must eat a large breakfast everyday and eat every 2-3 hours as this will allow them to ingest enough calories throughout the day to overcome the fast metabilism. It is important however, for health reasons to stay away from the heavily processed foods!

In terms of working out, ectomorphs should train heavy but not for a long time or often - perhaps 1 hour 3 times a week. They should avoid lengthy cardio sessions as it would be detrimental to weight gain. It is reccommended to train a combination of two to three exercises per body part, consisting of 3-4 sets of each with 6-10 reps for maximum effect. Examples of exercises are squats, bench presses, deadlifts and rows.

Mesomorph
The mesomorph body type has the ability to burn fat and build lean mass with equal ease. They are prone to muscularity and can alter their body composition with minor exercise and diet. They tend to be successful at most sports except endurance based events. Bodybuilding is also more successful with the mesomorph body type. They will be well proportioned, muscular, strong, prone to having a high metabolism and responsive to workout routines.

By cutting back on carbs, increasing protein and increasing exercise, mesomorphs can easily change their composition. Fat loss can be achieved through regular eating every 2-3 hours in smaller quantities. They should avoid processed foods, and snack on food high in protein and fruit. Proteing bars and shakes are also reccommended. A healthy diet for the mesomorph would be:

-40% carbohydrates (vegetables, fruit, complex carbs)
-30% protein (salmon, chicken, eggs)
-30% fat (extra virgin olive oil, nuts, fish oil)

**Females seeking to build lean muscle whilst losing fat should keep to light weights with high repetitions to change body shape. An equal mix of cardio and weights will help to burn fat and build lean muscle tissue. Working the whole body 3 times a week would be ideal. Males on the other hand who are looking for a muscular body should lift heavy weights with fewer reps. Exercises should be multi-jointed - for example squats and deadlifts. Both sexes must minimise rest between sets to around 30 seconds to maximize the potential for muscular development and a change in body composition.

Endomorph
The endomorph body type has a large bone structure and greater amount of total body mass than the other two types. There is a high chance that these body types will be diabetic. Endomorphs are prone to gaining fat easily and prone to losing weight slowly. These people are well suited to power sports such as the shot put and power lifting.

The good thing about this body type is they can develop lean mass relatively easily compared to the ectomorph body type. In terms of the thyroid - they have the opposite effect of the ectomorph - being much slower acting. This means they need to eat significanly less calories to maintain their weight. Many endomorphs have a low carbohydrate tolerance so an immediate diet requirement would be to cut out processed and refined carbs, especially white sugar and flour. They must eat breakfast which wiill help force the metabolism to work. Eating every 2-3 hours will also keep the metabolism going. Hydration and fibre intake is also of paramount importance. The fluid intake helps to transport vital nutrients and flush out waste products. A healthy diet for the endomorph would consist of:

-25-30% carbohydrates (vegetables, fruit, complex carbs)
-35% protein (salmon, chicken, eggs)
-35-40% fat (extra virgin olive oil, nuts, fish oil)

Endomorphs should be working out including both weightlifting and cardio in their programs. Weights should be low to moderate workouts with a high number of repetitions per set. As this body type builds muscle easily it is important to focus on burning calories as a number 1 priority. Short rests between 30 and 60 seconds are reccommended. Good examples of exercises would be circuit training and supersets, aswell as intervals.

The Inflammatory Food Nutrition Program

2010-03-16T14:53:00.000Z

Hey Guys. For those of you that have already signed up for the 17 week challenge and the Beta Fitness Nutrition Bible have a look at the photo here. I made this for my lunch today. I just wanted to post it to show you that your food choices don't have to be boring! Get as much colour as you can and enjoy the good food! The weather has started to warm these last few days - so why not start to bring out those salads and fruits - remember to always include a food from your protein group and any of those fruits/veg to accompany it. Keep to the program and you will burn that fat away in 14 days!

The salad I made used Romaine lettuce, water cress, baby spinich, peppers, cucumber, spring onion, cherry tomatoes and cellery (nice and simple but full of colour!). I grilled a frozen salmon, added some sea salt and pepper to the salad, and drizzled some extra-virgin olive oil over the top. To accompany the meal I had a kiwi fruit and a handfull of blueberries. So a fantastic low carb meal thats full of vitamins and fibre - perfect!

For those of you who havn't signed up but are interested in either the 17 week challenge or the Nutrition Bible, please email me at paul.barette@betafitness.co.uk and I will send them out to you!

17 Week Challenge PDF Introduction file now available!!!!!!!

2010-03-11T16:51:00.002Z

The time is almost upon us! The Beta Fitness 17 Week Challenge will start on Monday!! The Introduction PDF file is now available which should explainexactly what the program encompasses and how you can achieve that beach body you've always desired! This program is completly free! - so take advantage of it and make sure you look good in the summer! If your interested in finding out more or want to get hold of the PDF file just email paul.barette@betafitness.co.uk with the subject line '17 week challenge' and the include your name, age, sex, goals for the program, and where you heard about the program.

We look forward to this challenge and will be completing it with you - so lets get ready...and lets work it hard!!!

Beta Fitness

Rope Outbreak: The Total Body Workout - Teaser

2010-03-04T19:42:00.003Z

RopeOutbreak is the brand new fitness class brought to you by BETA FITNESS.This class is like no other you will ever have heard of! Keep checkingback here for the latest news and updates!

ROPE OUTBREAK...COMING SOON...

2010-03-04T19:38:00.001Z

The 17 Week Challenge

The Beta Fitness 17 Week Challenge is almost upon us! Follow this program and nutrition advice and we promise you can achieve that body you desire! If you're interested in taking part in the Beta Fitness 17 Week Challenge please send an email to 'paul.barette@betafitness.co.uk' with the subject line '17 week challenge' , and write down your name, age, sex, where you heard about the 17 week challenge, your goals for the program, and any questions you may have! All those who send us the email will shortly recieve the 17 Week challenge PDF file which contains all of the information to get you prepared for the start. Are you ready...?!

The 17 Week Challenge

2010-02-10T23:15:00.001Z

The Beta Fitness 17 week challenge will not be one to miss!

We are going to be giving out a 17 week program designed to burn fat like you've never seen before. You will reveal muscles you never knew existed, by blasting that layer of fat above them. You even have a great chance of revealing those six pack abs that you've always wanted. We will be following this program ourselves, and posting the photos over the weeks to show how our bodies have changed, and we are looking for some of you guys to do the same. If you are interested in taking part in this free program get in touch with us and let us know. Please note that we will provide you with a hard copy of the program each week, and will post videos on our YouTube channel showing the correct exercise. You will have to find your own location to do the exercises - but if your a gym member then your all sorted and ready to go. Get in touch with us and we'll start to burn that fat!

Coming Soon...

New Spinning Profile at Beta Spinning!

2010-02-08T23:27:00.000Z

Why not go over to our blog at Beta Spinning to see this week's spinning profile and playlist. Its a fantastic and tough climb this week - but the music's energy will help carry you up that hill. We really think this is one of the most rewarding rides we have done so far - and if you give it a go you are sure to make us all proud! Classes are at Unisport, the University Of Surrey on Wednesday at 17:15, 18:30 and 20:00, and Friday 12:45. We would love to see you there!

Beta Spinning!

2010-02-06T02:01:00.000Z

Hey guys! Welcome to the Beta Fitness blog! We are really excited about our journey into the fitness and wellbeing industry and look forward to benefiting your lives in the near future. We aren't all about fitness you know - we have active interests in massage therapy, corrective exercise and also spinning! Talking of which - have you visited our other blog - Beta Spinning. Why not pop over there, where you will be able to see the profiles and playlists for the following week's classes we our teaching (including links to the songs in Itunes), articles which will help you reach your goals, and best of all - where you can leave comments regarding the classes you have already been to! - please remember though - no swearing! :/