Revealed: the UK’s top 10 green exercise spots

Isn’t this weather amazing? It got me thinking about outdoor training in all its forms: biking (which I’m about to do myself), running, open-water swimming and classes like bootcamps. Do you train outdoors?

I was recently sent the results of a survey which showed that women in particular are most definitely ditching the gym in favour of exercising outside. There’s been a 52% increase in women exercising outside since 2007, apparently. Nearly half of the women surveyed are exercising outdoors 3+ times every week (with gym fees gives as the main reason).

The results of the survey, commissioned by sports bra brand Shock Absorber, suggest that there’s more to it than finances, though. 34% of the women surveyed said they actually feel they get a better workout when they’re outside because they find the surroundings so inspiring.

Intrigued by this comment, Shock Absorber delved deeper, partnering with Dr Jo Barton (a leading researcher in green exercise at the University of Essex) in a bid to identify the UK’s top ten inspirational green exercise hotspots. The criteria were: a balance of green space and water, stimulating views and proximity to wildlife.

I think we can all agree that a windswept coastline, lush green field or imposing set of hills make us feel exhilarated, uplifted and full of endorphins. So, what (or where) topped the list, according to the poll? I wonder if any of you are lucky enough to live near any of these…

White Cliffs of Dover, England (been there! Once or twice… LOL…)
Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve, England
Lunan Bay & Red Head, Scotland
Brecon Beacons, Wales
Killarney National Park, Republic of Ireland
Hampstead Heath, England (been there!)
Loch Tay, Scotland (been near there, very beautiful indeed!)
Downhill, Northern Ireland
Forest of Dean (been there! very hilly for cycling, trust me)
Powis Castle, Welshpool, Wales

Do any of you live near these places? Do you run, cycle, walk or hike there regularly? How do the views and surroundings affect your mood and the perception of your workout?

Dr Barton said: “Green exercise offers unique benefits compared to working out indoors. It significantly improves mood, self-esteem and restores mental fatigue. Added to this, people work harder when in a natural environment but perceive their workout to be easier. Training in the great outdoors also provides essential variety, especially with the changeable British weather – this maintains interest and reduces dropout whereas keeping fit indoors is more predictable.”

Shock Absorber has launched its “Get Out There” campaign to promote the benefits of exercising in the great outdoors and encourage women to share their inspirational places to train. By uploading photos to the campaign’s Facebook page, people can be inspired by others’ experiences and get out there to try new locations for themselves. You can see lots of lovely inspirational locations and participate in the campaign by visiting Get Out There.

Revealed: the UK’s top 10 green exercise spots is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Fitness kit I’ve reviewed this week: Nature’s Best nutritional supplements

Oh, hi! A few weeks ago, I wrote this blog post, an interview with Dr Sam Christie, in which she kindly gave some suggestions about nutritional/dietary supplements which might benefit me during my bodybuilding prep. She works as a consultant for Nature’s Best, and the company generously sent me everything she recommended. It’s taken me a few weeks to get through it all and give it a fair chance but here is my review of the products I was sent: Vitamin C, Siberian Ginseng, omega 3 fish oils, MultiGuard Balance, Vitamin D and OsteoGuard.

First up, the Vitamin C. This stuff contains 500mg Vit C (as well as 50mg citrus bioflavonoid and 25mg rosehip powder) per tablet. Most people don’t get enough Vitamin C even if they supplement with a pill. It’s recommended that we actually take in upwards of 3g per day, particularly if training hard or under any other kind of stress (ha! ha!) So I’ve been chucking those bad boys back like there’s no tomorrow. Well, slight exaggeration. I have been taking 6/day – a total of 3g. I have been fit and healthy and devoid of any illness or infection, despite being under significant stress at the moment (training and other). Two enthusiastic thumbs up for this product!

Now, the Siberian Ginseng. In Dr Christie’s post, she suggested that ginseng was a good alternative to caffeine, giving all the benefits without the unwanted side-effects. I am a caffeine monster. I don’t care about the side-effects. I could bathe in coffee, rub coffee grounds into my eyeballs and swim through lakes of Red Bull and then dance around the house to Kiss 100 and still go back for more. Still, I realise that I have a duty to explore alternative ways of caning my adrenal system, so I accepted this unassuming little pot of green tablets – 1500mg each of top-quality ginseng – with grateful thanks.

The verdict: I love! Don’t get me wrong, it’s no double ristretto piccolo but I definitely feel it gives me a boost without the buzz. You know how caffeine can sometimes give you the jitters? *twitch* Well with this Siberian Ginseng, you get none of that. You take one tablet first thing and it just… keeps you going, somehow. I take it daily. It’s not a noticeable boost like with coffee or sugar or anything like that. But I bet I would notice the difference if I didn’t take it. I’ll be ordering some more!

Next up, the omega 3 fish oils. I have been sharing these with my training partner: yes, thefitdog has been benefitting from fish oils in his diet! He already loves coconut oil (video evidence), so I thought what the hell. He had a patchy bit of rough skin on his side and it’s almost completely cleared up since giving him 2 fish oil caps/day (it was bald, rough and hairless, now the skin is soft and the hair is growing back). As for me, well I do suffer with dry skin and so I like to take a good quality omega 3 oil. I do feel this omega 3 fish oils is one of the best I’ve used. It’s got 700mg of Omega 3s per capsule (including 360mg EPA and 240mg DHA), is very carefully made/purified and is made in the UK which I think is important for a supplement like this. I feel omega 3 supplements are important not just for skin but for hormone function and generally for a healthy diet. So, another thumbs up for this one. At £25 for 360 capsules, it works out at under 25p/day* even if you take 3 a day (as I do). *I think. Somebody fetch my abacus!

OK next up are the MultiGuard Balance. You’re going to have to click the link to see exactly what’s in it and in what dosage, but basically it’s a multi-vitamin and -mineral with lots of extras for active people. Like chromium, said to help balance blood glucose levels, magnesium, zinc and alpha-lipoic acid (ALA). There’s also cinnamon in there, and it actually tastes cinnamony (not that you chew it of course, but you can still taste it). This is a good thing as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know whether or not this supplement helped me – it’s hard to tell when you take a few and don’t have some kind of testing/measuring thing set up – but it can’t have been a bad thing. And one thing I can say for sure is that I’ve been as fit as a fiddle and strong as an ox throughout the past few weeks despite a lot of challenges being thrown my way. I haven’t been ill once. Take THAT, challenges! In ya face!

OK, just a couple more: Vitamin D and OsteoGuard. Vitamin D is another important one to take, if you ask me. Our bodies can’t make it and we don’t get much of it from the environment (unless you’re reading this whilst sitting on a beach in Antigua). These tablets are a hefty 1000iu each – a good dosage. Important for bone density and immune health. The Osteoguard is also one for you if you’re concerned about healthy bones: 500mg calcium, 188mg magnesium , vitamin D and vitamin K. Everything you need for healthy bones, regardless of how good your diet is (apparently, 70% of women don’t get enough magnesium from their diets).

Right, I’m outta here. Dogs to walk, cardio to do. I hope that was helpful – in summary, I really feel these products are all super quality and great value for money if you break it down into “per day” costs. Pick and choose the ones which you feel you need most and enjoy feeling healthier!

Bye!

Fitness kit I’ve reviewed this week: Nature’s Best nutritional supplements is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: USN Protein Delite bar

Fitness kit I’ve reviewed this week - USN’s Protein Delite bar in cookies & cream flavour.

Yesterday was a very big, very heavy (and “extra”) leg workout. (In fact, my coach was moved to blog about it!) So, after back squats and hack squats and split squats and whatnots, I was somewhat hungry. To put it mildly.

How handy, then, that USN had that very day sent me a Protein Delite bar! I’d intended to save it for my next scheduled leg day but this unofficial extra one was every bit as demanding at the normal ones, so I came home and bust out the bar and chowed down.

These bars are whoppers! 76g in weight, big and knobbly, they are – as my friend Heidi might say – “a good handful”. Tasty, too, but then you’d expect that: they are covered in a chocolatey coating. Not the healthiest choice, but if your diet/nutrition approach can accomodate it, a very tasty one! I tried the Cookies & Cream flavour but there’s also a Toffee Almond one (which tips the scales at a super-heavyweight 96g). Here are the stats per 76g bar of the C&C:

315 kcals
30g protein
24g carbs (9g sugars)
11g fat (8g saturated)

The protein content comes mainly from whey isolate, milk isolate, whey concentrate and soy isolate, and sweeteners include maltitol. Potential allergens listed are peanuts, soy, wheat, egg and milk.

Like I said, not the healthiest choice but better than a traditional choccie bar and handy to have in your kit bag for those real “feed me now” moments when you’ve absolutely caned yourself and know your muscles will just suck up anything you eat. Some protein bars can be a bit chalky, dry, chewy or tasteless. Not this one, it really was lovely and very “melt in the mouth”. Happily for my diet coach, USN only sent me one!

Thanks, USN people! You and your big delicious protein bars are very nice!

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: USN Protein Delite bar is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Prep update and progress pics

Hello and sorry for being an AWOL blogger! Life keeps getting in the way, dammit! Just a quick one for you today – a little update on bodybuilding prep and some progress pics.

So, prep is trucking along nicely. I am still loving my training, and not minding the dieting too much at this early stage. Training is still as hard and as heavy as we can manage, looking something like this:

M cardio, abs
T legs
W shoulders, cardio, abs
T arms, cardio
F off
S chest, cardio, abs
S back

Although I sometimes shake things up a bit – like today, a Bank Holiday here in the UK and what better to do on a Bank Holiday than AN EXTRA TRAINING SESSION? So I hooked up with my coach and we did a smasher of a shoulder session and some cheeky biceps too.

Diet is nothing to write home about at this stage, but I am slowly turning the screw and watching new lines and striations (and baggy clothing) appear on a weekly basis. It’s all good, although I’m feeling that itch which means it’s time to step things up a notch and see even more progress. As always, it’s a balance between coming in on time, not too soon and of course not too late!

I know I owe you a Notch Watch installment and that’s on its way. I’m nearly out of notches though! I’ll be back soon with something a bit more detailed and interesting (any requests? Just leave a comment…) but, for now, here are some piccies taken yesterday after my back workout.



Peace out.

Prep update and progress pics is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Guest post: nutrition and supplementation Q&A with Dr Sam Christie

A while ago, I wrote a feature for Body Fit magazine about common fitness facts (and fiction). One of the experts who provided me with useful comments was Dr Sam Christie, an independent nutritionist who works with Nature’s Best on the research side of things. Dr Christie mentioned that she is always interested in answering queries about nutrition from particular groups of people. When I said I was a competitive bodybuilder, she told me to send over some questions which she’d gladly answer.

Many weeks later (so sorry!), I’ve finally got round to airing her answers! Here’s our Q&A, I hope you find something useful within it, whatever sport you do and whatever your level of activity.

thefitwriter: What are your areas of interest?
Dr Sam Christie: My research thesis focused on the effects of non-pharmacological OTC treatments for benign reproductive-age. I continued to collaborate with enlightened universities and hospitals on nutrient and plant-extract research, where we looked at conditions as varied as asthma, osteoporosis, fatigue, pre-diabetes, women’s hair loss and gut health. I have been a keen cyclist and dancer for many years.

tfw: What in your opinion are the most important supplements for female natural bodybuilders?
DSC: Clinically, a mineral-heavy, stress and free-radical-offsetting multi-nutrient and herbal extract programme is a vital cornerstone of a healthy diet for natural body builders. Having said that, adequate omega 3 and use of menstrual-cycle normalising supplements (where necessary) are important too.

tfw: Our training tends to be very stressful on the body and we are often dieting alongside this. What do you think are the most crucial three supplements for anyone putting their body through stress?
DSC: A good multi-nutrient, fish oil and calcium/magnesium supplement. See below for more of an explanation.

tfw: A particular area of interest to me is rest and sleep. Can you recommend anything for better quality sleep?
DSC: Naturally, uncover any psychological and physiological factors alongside undertaking stress-reduction techniques. Alongside this you could use Valerian officinalis extract (2x400mg extract tablets 1 hr before bed), gallons of chamomile tea (two tea bags per mug – leave the bag in to infuse) and additional calcium and magnesium if a detailed diet-diary shows you to be lacking.

tfw: What is your opinion on caffeine as a pre-workout “booster”?
DSC: If this just used to raise vitality and concentration, you could use an extract of Siberian Ginseng (around four hours before training) to get the boost without the side effects of caffeine, which some people won’t want or tolerate. Siberian Ginseng is the world’s best-known and most highly-researched adaptogen. Because it has a caffeine type of action, it really is best taken first thing in the morning. Nature’s Best Siberian Ginseng is a sophisticated extract that has guaranteed levels of the active ingredients (eleutherosides). Many people, particularly women, find that Siberian ginseng works better for them than Korean Ginseng. It is regarded as a more gentle preparation and, indeed, is often referred to as the female ginseng.

Dr Sam Christie’s supplement and dietary programme for natural body builders

DSC: On balance, we eat too much carbohydrate as a nation, particularly of the refined variety. Low GI (glycaemic index) carbohydrates (oats, brown rice, pulses) are perfect for sportspeople including bodybuilders at around 30% of total calorie intake. These slow-release forms of energy are terrifically filling and micronutrient-dense, full of glucose-stabilising minerals such as chromium, magnesium and zinc.

Magnify the priming effects of foods by using a multi-nutrient supplement: I recommend a minimum of 200mcg of chromium, 15mg of zinc and 400mg cinnamon extract (MultiGuard Balance contains a clinically-relevant supply of B vitamins which aid in cortisol normalisation), alongside Vitamin D and omega 3 fish oils. Also time-released Vitamin C with bioflavonoids, time-released; £11.95 for 180 tablets). However, without the use of intense exercise-relevant supplies of calcium and magnesium (OsteoGuard) the adrenal gland may not be fully supported, and insomnia – along with other nasties like low afternoon energy -can kick-in. Research shows that many women in the UK fail to consume anywhere near adequate calcium and magnesium supplies from their food.

To offset exercise-induced inflammatory responses, don’t cook with sunflower oil or related products, as these are terrifically high in omega 6 fats. Eating oil-rich fish (omega 3 fats) three times a week and taking daily fish oil supplements will optimise your omega 3/omega 6 ratio and – along with a minimum of five portions of fruit and veggies a day – will ensure minimal inflammatory load from the diet.

I hope you found this blog post helpful. Thank you, Sam! I am going to be trying out Nature’s Best’s Siberian Ginseng, omega 3 fish oils, MultiGuard Balance, Vitamin D and OsteoGuard as recommended by Dr Christie, and I’ll report back in a few weeks.

Guest post: nutrition and supplementation Q&A with Dr Sam Christie is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Peripheral vision

My most recent blog post (last week – sorry for going AWOL) saw me reunited with a friend from my previous life as an endurance athlete. My triathlon bike and I have been out several times this week, making the most of a beautifully sunny March.

Sport brings us a lot of lessons. Exercise, working out, training: whatever you call it, if you’ve done it even once, I guarantee it opened your eyes to thoughts and feelings you hadn’t had before. Perhaps it was that first endorphin rush (it’s true! exercise really does make you feel good!), the realisation that you’re stronger than you think, the joy of finding something, some time, some space just for you.

This week, whilst out on my bike, I realised how different sports teach us different things, all of them important at different times. As yet another car passed by me so close that I could see my reflection in the bonnet and then see the items on the passenger seat, I got to thinking about peripheral vision.

Training in the gym, lifting weights, we tend to focus on one spot. Staring straight ahead (usually into the mirror, if you’re a bodybuilder), we shut out distractions, noises, movements at the edge of our vision. We need to focus.

This focus is no good out cycling on the road. Stare ahead with laser-beam vision and you’re likely to miss that car coming up behind you, the squirrel in the verge, or that pothole to your left.

Different sports, different ways of seeing.

Tapping into your peripheral vision is actually quite calming. When we’re stressed or anxious, we tend to stare straight ahead, unblinking, focused on one spot, ready to run. When we open up our vision to 180* (or more – you need eyes in the back of your head as a cyclist), we feel somehow calmer, shutting off internal dialogue and just enjoying the moment.

Of course, there is a time and a place for that narrow focus. Like when you’re getting ready to lift weights, standing on the start line of a race, preparing to compete. It’s just nice to open up our eyes from time to time and take a look around.

If you’re interested in this kind of thing, a great book to read is “Mental Mastery” by sports psychologist Ken Way. I mentioned it here and you can get hold of it here.

Do you notice things around you more when you do certain types of exercise?

Peripheral vision is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

29 reasons to lift weights (audience participation post)

Happy Feb 29th! In honour of this extra added bonus day of the year, I thought I’d come up with 29 reasons to lift weights.

It’s a bit of audience participation: you get to fill the leap-year inspired bonus spot with the top reason of your own.

Lifting weights…

1. Builds lean mass, which is healthy, metabolically active, and looks good.
2. Will make you look better than if you don’t lift weights.
3. Helps build a stable, injury-free structure (so you’ll be able to get up out of a chair in old age without going “oof”)
4. Makes you feel awesome (at the time, afterwards, or both!)
5. Turns you into a bona-fide badass.
6. Can transform your physique, whether you feel you’re overweight, carrying too much fat, too skinny or not shapely enough for your liking.
7. Teaches you new things (not something we encounter often as adults)
8. Helps you reach sport and fitness goals, whether that’s to compete in bodybuilding or get better at endurance or team sports.
9. Helps you learn about how your own body works and what its limits are (or aren’t!)
10. Might surprise you: you’re capable of a lot, you know!
11. Is sociable: there are a lot of local folk down at the gym and they’re there most days. They’re nice!
12. Enables you set goals… then smash them to bits.
13. Cranks up your metabolism so you can enjoy more of the food you like.
14. Gives you an excuse to buy new gym kit, clothing and gadgets.
15. Improves your posture.
16. Gives you a pert round booteh, smaller waist, perkier “pecs”.
17. Boosts testosterone, giving you more energy and focus.
18. Helps you sleep better.
19. Gives you an incredible sense of achievement.
20. Builds and enforces mental toughness which you can carry over into other areas of your life.
21. Proves to you just how strong you are – not just in the gym.
22. Helps with body composition (in other words, gives you a helping hand in the battle against excess body fat)
23. Improves self-esteem (you just lifted *how much*? Look at you!)
24. Shakes up your training routine.
25. Has been proven to help offset diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis.
26. Makes your clothes fit better (as well as making you look better without them on).
27. Gives you a great conversation starter (“This is Sarah, she likes making her own jam, and this is Amanda, she likes deadlifting her own bodyweight…”)
28. Gives you a quick-blast option for raising the heart rate, burning calories and blasting body fat, even when time is tight.

And 29….what’s your reason for lifting weights? Let me know in the comments!

29 reasons to lift weights (audience participation post) is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Notch Watch, chapter 2 (and some progress pics)

It’s been a while since the first installment of Notch Watch. Since the whole point is to watch the notches, shall we take a look?

Here’s the original pic, from early January, where I clocked in at notch-level 4.

Today, I dug out the same top and attempted to take a picture of my own waist in the mirror (how DO “kids today” take pictures of themselves in mirrors using their iPhones? I just can’t make it work #generationgap). The result, after 7 weeks of hard training and gentle dieting? Easily another notch. Here I am on notch-level 5. I’ll take it!

Fame has gone to thefitdog‘s oversized square head. After your comments on his post yesterday, he is convinced that everyone wants to see or hear from him on a regular basis. So, here he is with his own version of notch-watch (yep, I’d kill for that waspish waist, too. On the flipside, he has no ab definition whatsoever).

And, just to make this post even more pic-heavy, here are a couple of progress/posing photos taken by my coach on Saturday. If I’d known he wanted to take pics, I’d have worn a nicer top. Excuses, excuses. Anyway, we’re not here to talk about my outfit, we’re here to talk about my progress. I’ve been working hard – does it show? (I’m at least 20 weeks out from a show here, if not more – plans have yet to be nailed down!)

Oh, and one more – new sparkles! I ordered a “pre-loved” suit from Tamee Marie in the States, and it came last week. Here’s a sneak peak

Stayed tuned for further episodes of Notch Watch. Edge-of-the-seat stuff!

Notch Watch, chapter 2 (and some progress pics) is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Treadmill training to try

I used to turn my nose up at the treadmill, preferring to head off on road or trail to pound out mile after mile of same-pace stuff, with the odd track session or set of hill reps thrown in. Sport-specific, innit: I used to take part in running races and triathlons, and I needed to train that way.

These days, I do very little cardio, and the cardio I do needs to be short and sharp, stripping away body fat but preserving precious muscle (yep, it’s a good trick if you can do it). These days, I’m on first name terms with the treadmill (Chris), cross-trainer (Lesley) and rowing machine (Simon).

It dawned on me this morning, as I slid home from the gym on icy pavements (I’m still doing cardio during deload week), that even my triathlete and running pals might be getting familiar with a treadmill in this weather. And, why not. Sure, treadmill running isn’t as picturesque as a few glorious miles across hill and dale (unless the person on the treddie in front of yours possesses a particularly pleasing derriere…) but it does the job. And, actually, for the endurance folk amongst you, a short sharp treadmill session could deliver measurable benefits which are quite different to your longer, slower outdoor runs. So this post is for you, too!

I don’t (currently) do anything longer than 30 minutes of cardio in one go, and I prefer to do 20 minutes of “work” with a warm up and down. But the work does need to be work! Got 30 minutes? Then here are three treadmill sessions to try today (not all in one day, obvs). They’re my current “favourites”:

11/11/11
I’ve written about this before. This was given to me by a PT called Ben Lauder-Dykes. It’s a true delight. Really, just try it. And if you think it’s too easy, well that’s great, because you can also do 12/12/12 or whatever you like. You’re only limited by the % to which your treadmill will incline.

How to do it:
- get on the treadmill, warm up (walk/jog) for 4 mins
- set the treadmill to 11kph, 11% incline
- start running and run for 15 seconds
- jump to the side of the treadmill (so you’re straddling the belt) and rest for 15 seconds
- keep doing this 15s on/15s off for 11 minutes (if it all gets a bit much, just remember you’re looking for “15:00″ on the display)
- hit that speed button and decrease it slowly for 5 minutes til you’re walking to cool down
There. 20 minutes out of your day=boosted metabolism, fat burning, speed work, incline training, glutey-bootay greatness

Hill intervals
I did this today. How to do it:
- walk/jog for 5 minutes on an incline of 0.5% (only because completely flat feels weird)
- run at a sustainable pace (read the full session to guess at what this might be for you) for 2 minutes
- increase incline to 2% for 2 minutes
- down to 0.5% for 2 minutes
- increase incline to 4% for 2 minutes
- down to 0.5% for 2 minutes
- increase incline to 6% for 2 minutes
- down to 0.5% for 2 minutes
- increase incline to 8% for 2 minutes
- down to 0.5% for 2 minutes
- increase incline to 10% for 2 minutes
- hit that decline button, bring the incline down, and start to bring the speed down too so you jog/walk for a 5 minute cool down
There. 30 minutes of deceptive, increasingly heart-pounding work which will leave your metabolism ramped up for hours and do you much more good than just running at the same pace and the same incline for 30 minutes.

Flat intervals
How to do it:
- 5 mins warm up until you’re running at a sustainable pace (somewhere between 5 mile and 10K race pace I’d say)
- alternate 1 minute at this pace with 1 minute recovery (jog not walk) pace. Try not to bring the speed down too much, simply because then part of your next minute’s effort will be spent getting the treadmill back up to speed
- do 20 minutes of 1 min on/1 min off
- decrease the speed for a 5 minute jog/walk cool down

Do one session per week (or, if you dare, do all of these in one week) and tell me how you feel and how it’s affected your body recomposition and/or fitness goals. Don’t underestimate them, though. I’m always hugely hungry and very tired for a day or so after doing one of these sessions; a sure sign that they work the body hard.

Treadmill training to try is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Welcome to deload week

Shhh. Did you hear that? That gentle “thunk” was the sound of my shoulders dropping by several inches, from up around the region of my ears back to where they ought to be. Aaaand relax.

Coach has given me a deload week. I knew it was on its way but didn’t know it would start today. The relief! It’s partly physical – I’ve been working damn hard and need a break – and largely mental. Bodybuilding training is hard work, and sometimes the easiest part is the bit you do in the gym. The rest of it is what takes its toll: planning, prepping, thinking, overthinking, rethinking, and trying to fit the rest of your life in around it all.

When you take into account time spent driving to and from the gym (I train both at a gym which is a few minutes’ walk from my house, and at one which is a 30 minute drive away), time spent training, showering, etc, I’ve essentially just been handed 10+ hours, all gift-wrapped with a tag which says “Dear Nicola, please use these over the next week in any way you wish, as long as it’s restful”.

Thunk. That was my shoulders dropping a bit further.

I do love a good list, even when things are meant to be unplanned. So, here is my Deload Week List of Things I’d Really Like to Do If The Mood Strikes (<—- catchy!)

- extra long walks with the dog, listening to podcasts or audio books
- baking (for my husband, not for me – yes, I find that restful. Husband, I know you’re reading this, any baking requests?)
- catch up with neglected loved-ones over Skype and phone (shamefully, this includes my own parents and my best friend)
- redeem Groupons (I am a hoarder of Groupons, etc and stockpile things like facials, manicures and other fripperies for occasions like this)
- get a sports massage (this is a definite. As is the phoning of the parents!)
- catch up on blogging (I owe a lot of nice PRs their product reviews!)
- and the ultimate, the big kahuna, the daddy of them all: the DuvetD Day. Don’t know what a DuvetD Day is? It’s a day (ideally) or an evening (poor man’s version) where you go and get a load of DVDs, get the duvet off the bed, make a nest out of duvet, cushions, pillows and living room furniture, ensure drinks and food are close at hand and then hibernate for hours. I think I last did a DuvetD Day in….erm….2007 or something.

I’m already missing training (crazy, I know, but I’m sure any of you who have had enforced rest days or weeks will know what I mean) but that’s just one more example of why deload weeks are so important. They give your body time to rest (and grow!) and your mind time to unravel, regroup and get ready to hit the next block of training even harder.

Do you take deload weeks? What would you do with 10+ “bonus” hours? Which DVDs should I get out of Blockbusters?

Welcome to deload week is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.