fitness tips for women Archives

Description, supplements and detoxing by London personal trainer Bigt-fitness.

Are you struggling to lose weight? Have you had sudden unexplained increases in body fat or body weight?

You may have PCOS! Below is a very brief over view of training and supplementation you could use to control it. This is not the gospel to PCOS please do as much research as possible.

If you haven’t been diagnosed with it and your curious about other symptoms . These are some symptoms of PCOS (polycistic ovarian syndrome).

Irregular or no periods
problems getting pregnant (because of irregular ovulation or failure to ovulate)
excessive hair growth
weight gain
thinning hair and hair loss
oily skin or acne

Now, there are many other symptoms and factors involved with PCOS which reach far beyond my field of training. So I wanted to speak about PCOS from a diet and fitness training point of view.

If your personal trainer has been struggling to get you results it may be that your PCOS is the difference between success and failure. Over the last 6 months I’ve spent extensive time into researching how this may effect my results with female clients. Every now and then there is a client that just doesn’t get the result that i am expecting. Constantly wanting to improve my results with clients and knowledge for myself – I realised that PCOS might be restricting the result you can achieve with a female client.

Supplementation

What I can say for sure is the supplement range you may need to control it, is quite varied. I would recommend mixing up and alternating your supplements for best results alongside your training program’s.

As my partner has PCOS a lot of the supplementation protocols have been trial and error on my and hers. First thing I would recommend is starting from scratch with the absorption of your supplements.

3 detoxes to consider which aid in absorption of your supplements;

Liver detox

Gut detox

Heavy metal detox

There are several ways of attacking these, taking supplements and food based.

Some great foods for the liver are grapefruits, walnuts, avocados and garlic….. There’s a few more but these are the core group.

There’s also a Charles Poliquin liver detox which takes a few months to complete but I can also highly recommend.

Interms of gut health you should be looking at a daily probiotic with at least 50 million bacteria in it. Also a good 20-30 grams of fibre a day (at night). Also to improve the health of the gut lining try a good daily dose of L-Glutamine which is an amino acid that makes up the lining of the gut – a healthy gut makes for proper supplement absorption.

Heavy metal detoxing – this can be as simple as removing jewellery which slowly over time seeps its metals into your body. The body which doesn’t recognise the metal compounds wraps it up in adipose tissue (fat cells) and stores it away. This kind of fat storage is notorious as tough to lose and hard to stimulate for energy use.

A good way of metal detoxing and getting rid of it is a spirulina – mixing it with cherry or pineapple juice. The spiurlina binds to the metals and drags them out through the body’s normal discharging ways.

Once you have reset your body so to speak in terms of detoxes you can then a look at these supplements to start.

A good quality multi vitamin to bind and carry out toxins from the body.

Antioxidants – a great powerful anti-oxidant and every day spice is turmeric / curcumin. Curcumin is actually what gives turmeric it’s bright colour. It is however a powerful anti-oxidant and is great for flushing out toxins which aids in fat loss.

Sufficient intake of zinc and magnesium.

Zinc is great for repair, brain function and close to a 100 hormone functions. If you have a magnesium deficiency the list is endless, bone disorders, diabetes, chronic inflammation and high body fat just to name a few.

I would also recommend a product that is what id call “complete” i.e it comes with several supplements blended to produce the best result. These supplements are available from myself as are all the supplements mentioned here. But the one stop blends are made by Charles Poliquin and include:

Estro Shield PX (for estrogen detoxification).

Insulinomics (for insulin sensitivity in the body).

Fenuplex (for insulin sensitivity in the body.

Another great anti-estrogen that is readily available is Broccoli or its broken down make up “DIM” (which is a available as a supplement) this is the best natural anti-estrogen around and every trainer in the know who regularly trains women should know this! (Many don’t! choose your trainer wisely).

So for information on supplements and detoxifying the body or for training please contact me directly via the contact form. All supplements mentioned in this piece are available from my website.

Look out for part 2 and part 3 of this blog coming soon and for all my other blogs.

How do you sum up health and fitness for women?

Girls do cardio and men lift weights, right? … WRONG!

Most female clients that come through my door are looking for weight and fat loss.

First thing I say is – throw out your bathroom scales and concern yourself with body fat only. If your total mass does not decrease but your body fat drops 5-10% in 12 weeks, I have done my job.

Weight loss … or fat loss?

You see, muscle weighs 3 times more than fat! All my female clients lift heavy weights to encourage muscle stimulation, muscle tone and a firmer appearance (rather than what we call in the industry “skinny fat”). This creates a lean, fat-free, toned look, but may mean that the bathroom scales remain the same.

Lifting weights also offsets osteoporosis in women which is a great side benefit.

With this style of training and look comes rapid and efficient fat loss. This means the ‘weight watchers’ style of dieting (where you’re on the scales every 5 minutes) becomes irrelevant. So, unless you are clinically obese, your weekly weight is of no concern to me and it shouldn’t be to you either. It’s just that it has become a must for women to weigh themselves, almost like a female standard.

What’s ‘skinny fat’?

In the personal training industry this term is used for weight loss, but without toning and training the muscle at the same time. What you end up with is something like this:

This picture represents a slim lady and I’m sure she’s happy with the weight she sees on the bathroom scales. However what the image says to me is a lack of weight training. No squats, lunges, dead-lifts, hip extensions etc.

So my question would be, is she happy with her bum?

Long distance cardio … or weight training and HIIT?

Girls. Doing long distance cardio is a waste of time. Just think of the thousands of women right now around the world who are toiling away on a cross trainer, treadmill or bike for hours on end, and after several months losing nothing. Long term cardio has been shown to be an inefficient form of weight loss.

You should be doing a combination of weight training and high intensity cardio (HIIT). This combo is a guaranteed fat stripper.

Now before you rush down your local gym and start throwing weights around, please see a fitness professional for some advice and guidance on how to lift weights. I have seen hundreds of women (over 11 years in the industry), walking round a gym with a couple of 1-2 kg dumbbells in their hands, doing the occasional bicep curl or tricep kick backs. This can be even more of a waste of time than long distance cardio if you don’t know what you’re doing.

I know we have a DIY culture here in the UK but seriously, see a fitness professional for some expert advice!

Hormones affect body fat!

One important consideration is your hormone balance. I recommend that all female clients have their hormone balance checked out. This can be done via “bio-signature” modulation or through blood testing.

What you eat affects your body composition, but where you store fat and how your body loses it is controlled by your hormones. Control the hormone and you control the fat!

Of course if you’re on the contraceptive pill, this is a major factor. The pill has such an impact on my results with female clients, that I no longer guarantee results with women who are on it. The pill contains around 35-50 micro grams of oestrogen per pill, which massively throws out your oestrogen / progesterone balance. This increases fat storage on your quads, hamstrings and triceps … bingo wings!

It can also be useful to have a food allergy test. This will tell you if you’re becoming inflamed or bloated, or having problems digesting certain food groups.

For more information on personal training for women, please get in touch. For examples of training, take a look at this video.

You work hard in the gym, you watch what you eat, you go running every morning, but you’re still not as lean as you want to be. What gives?

Here are the top 10 suggestions as to why you may not be as lean as you’d hope to be (or take a short cut and get in touch for a free consultation!)

You Eat Too Much Fruit

“Fruit is healthy,” I hear you cry! Sure it is, but it does diddly squat for your fat loss efforts. In a nutshell, the sugar from fruit (fructose) does a very bad job at raising insulin levels. Insulin is required to shove fructose into the muscle as stored energy (glycogen).

Instead, it just lingers around wreaking metabolic havoc via a process known as glycation, whereby the fructose binds to amino acids leading to such lovely things as fat gain and metabolic ageing. Renowned clinical nutritionist Robert Crayhon has said that “Fructose is the guest that won’t go home once the party is over.”

My fantastic diet and meal plan is now available for sale online – it’ll cost you less than a meal out, and is a big step towards shifting that excess fat.

You Are Lazy

You have been sold the story that a few easy jogs and some low-calorie meals are all you need to be lean. Get real.

If you are aspiring to become a Men’s Health cover model, then you need to graft and work at it — every single day. Three-times-a-week sessions in the gym just won’t cut it, and some of you may even need twice-a-day training. To look extreme, you have to train extreme.

You Obsess Too Much

There is a fine line between dedication and obsession. The former is necessary to transform your physique; the latter will ultimately lead to burn out, elevated cortisol levels and poorer overall condition.

Take a leaf out of the book of men who maybe knew a thing or two about getting in ridiculous shape, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronnie Coleman. Two totally different characters united by their ability to focus completely on the task at hand, and then switch off and relax outside of the gym.

You Don’t Lift Heavy Enough Weights

Heavy weights build muscular physiques. Yes, I know that Olympic gymnasts look great but they are genetically elite midgets who are in fact capable of astounding feats of strength. Don’t pump out sets of 25 reps in the gym; instead, strive to always get stronger and spread out your repetition ranges.

Do workouts of 6 reps per set one week, then 12 reps the next, then 5, 8, 4, and back to 6. Trust me, when I tell you that this is one of the very best ways to develop an impressive body.

You Have No Knowledge of Hormone Control

If you are overstressed, under sleeping, eating too much sugar, and never have any downtime, then chances are that you are not looking too hot right now. If you can’t get a handle on your own hormones, then good intentions and hard gym work will be for naught.

Educate yourself on insulin, cortisol, growth hormone, and testosterone, and the best ways to optimise your own natural production. I have undergone training in Charles Poliquin’s on his BioSignature Modulation theories — which can really fast-track you down the path of physical excellence – read my post on increasing testosterone and reducing oestrogen for more information.

You Think Fortified Cereals Are “Health Foods”

If you really think you’ll get lean eating cereal, then I have some swampland I’d like to sell you:
Cereal is bad in pretty much every way, bar the taste of course. All the studies from the 1980s that espoused the health benefits of cereal were sponsored by one very large, very well-known cereal manufacturer.

Instead, have eggs and steak for breakfast, and go and buy the excellent Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. Or even better, buy a copy of my diet plan.

You Do Too Much Regular Cardio

We have all seen them, the cardio bunnies toiling away on their treadmills. What we usually don’t see, however, is any change in their physical appearance. This is because the body is a very clever organism and adapts to most forms of cardio in a matter of weeks.

Sure, you will still be working hard, but your metabolism shifts a gear and goes into cruise control rather than working too hard. So, instead of wasting too much time worrying about cardio, simply lift a few more weights, sprint a few more hills and eat a few less carbs.

You Party Too Much

We all need a quick lifestyle check once in a while. If your physique goals are not progressing the way you want them to, then it often pays to examine what is going on in your social life. Just because your buddy is ripped and can get away with a few brews every Saturday night doesn’t mean that you can. In fact, he is the exception and the only thing that counts is you and how different factors impact upon your body.

Late nights, drinking, smoking — all of these will substantively negate your otherwise hard work in the gym and in the kitchen. If a great physique is your goal for the summer, then it’s time to knock the vices on the head f

or a little while. And then, when you do party, think how much fun it will be sporting a new six pack.

You Think Abdominal Training Is Easy

No, it’s not. If done correctly, abdominal training can be excruciating. The concept of banging out 50 quick sit-ups disappeared along with the ozone layer in the 1980s.

Abdominals are actually fast-twitch muscles and this means that relatively low (40 seconds) time under tension is optimal for development and muscular growth. This means 15 reps max.

You Believe the Myth of Discipline

There is no such thing as discipline, all we have is love. Either you love being lean and ripped, or you love burgers, fries and doughnuts. Stop making excuses about having a “lack of discipline” and man up — what do you love the most?

I’m a London personal trainer offering great value training, specialising in fat loss, and health and fitness for women. I can come to you, saving you time and money, or come to our City of London personal training studio.