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Will hill runs make me faster in flat races?

Definitely. Running up, and down, hills is a great way of building leg strength in a dynamic way, meaning less time in the gym not running.

The stronger your legs are the more force you can generate with each stride. Speed requires a fast cadence, which can be improved by running downhill and also requires a good technique, which by be developed by running both uphill and downhill, as you must use your muscles in a more co-ordinated way.

Increased dynamic leg strength will help to make your muscles more resistant to fatigue, and as a result more resistant to injuries.

So there you go, find a hill, run up it, run down it, repeat. Easy!

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How to Get Started

So, you haven’t trained for a while and you feel like you’ve a mountain to climb?

It can be even more challenging at this time of year, the summer holidays are booked and threat of wearing beachwear is looming. You don’t know what to do or where to start. Let’s think about how to avoid hiding away in baggy clothes! Where do you find the motivation to start exercising?

Think about some small attainable goals. Now write them down as you are more likely to achieve a goal that’s written down. Maybe start with two short walks a week – find a destination, i.e. a walk to the shops, round the block, to the post box, etc. The first goal is to make these first steps a habit.

Next, increase the goals slightly. An example could be to run for at least 5 minutes every other day. Now this is a bit of a psychological trick. Are you going to get your running kit on to run for only 5 minutes? Not usually, no. What you will find yourself doing is, once dressed, you will run for longer than 5 minutes as you have taken the time to get changed. You will also feel good as you smash your target of 5 minutes.

Buy some new kit; a nice new pair of trainers or new leggings/shorts will be surprisingly motivational. No digging out your old kit from five years ago from the back of a drawer. Invest your money and time in freshening up your workout clothes. This will give you much needed accountability with the added bonus of making you feel better too.

Confide in someone you trust of your new exercise goals. Tell a friend, partner, family member, or indeed someone outside of your personal life; for example, a Personal Trainer. But, don’t tell the world, too much pressure can have an adverse effect.

Don’t worry if you have little niggles and aches when you start exercising, it’s normal. Anyone who exercises regularly knows the feelings; your knee twinges, your back is tight, your muscles ache, etc. No need to feel put off or that it’s only you; everyone is the same. However, there are two things to worry about; something that is painful or gets worse over time.

Obviously if you haven’t trained for a while your muscles will be sore and ache afterwards. Once again this is normal. Rest for a couple of days and you’ll be back to normal and after a couple of weeks your body will be used to it and will get stronger.

Many people give up in the first two weeks because it feels too hard. Keep going. Results aren’t immediate and exercising can make you feel sore and stiff. Get beyond that and you will start to reap the rewards. You will feel stronger, fitter and healthier.

 

If you need help to start, or need some ideas and motivation of what to do and how, please get in touch and I’ll discuss how I can help you.

 

Want to know more?

 Contact me today to ask any questions or book your FREE consultation

 Call me on 07815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com

 

The Problem With Crash Diets

“You are unhappy with the way you look and feel. The weight has slowing being piling on and you have now decided it is time to do something about it. You have done diets in the pasts and they have worked. You managed to lose a stone, or more, in a couple of months. Wonderful, let’s do that again. You google ‘diets’ and away you go; shakes twice a day, one evening meal, you get to eat somewhere between 600-1000 calories.

You start to lose weight fast and you love it. You are motivated and you stick to it for 2-4 weeks. Then it becomes harder; you are missing foods, especially the taste of them, and you are hungry. However, you are enjoying the results so you try to continue.

Then disaster strikes. Your weight loss slows down and then stops. All you can do is lower your calorie intake even more so you reduce this size of your one meal a day. It works for another week, but it is even harder to stick to, and then the weight loss stops again. At this point you are really hungry and missing your favourite foods and your motivation is faltering because you are no longer getting easy results.

You get invited for a night out with friends and you can no longer turn it down. You think you’ll be good and eat healthy food and not drink. However, when the evening comes, all of your friends are eating and drinking what they want, are having fun and so you give it to the temptation. You now eat and drink more that you normally would do, and so the next day you feel fat, bloated, hungover and basically ‘rubbish’.

You then decide that you are not happy with starving yourself any more as it is no longer working. You go back to eating how you were before the diet. A couple of weeks later you jump back on the scales and you have gained the weight that you had lost, but in half the time. Now what do you do? Do you start the diet again? Do you just keep eating and put on more weight?”

 

I hear this from so many people. They go through this process so many times throughout their lives. They always claim that these diets have worked for them and they always lose weight. So I ask them one question: why are you heavier and unhappier than you were when you started to diet? The one overriding reason is that almost all diets that have a ‘name’ are unsustainable. They restrict food to such an extent that it is inevitable that people will give in to their cravings, not to mention the potential health risks a lot of these diets can cause.

 

Diets are designed to put you into a calorie deficit. This is needed in order for you to lose weight. However, a lot of these diets are often aimed at putting you into a deficit of around 1000 calories less than you should be having. On top of this a lot of people combine dieting with a starting exercise. This ends up putting your body into starvation mode which can then lead to the down regulation by the body of hormones such as thyroid, leptin and testosterone. It can also up regulation of cortisol, the stress hormone that increases fat storage).

 

The down regulation of the thyroid makes you more susceptible to developing an underactive thyroid, meaning your metabolism slows down (plus other systems within the body), which means that you don’t burn as many calories as you should. This is where the slow-down in weight loss happens and what causes the increased weight-gain when you start to eat normally again. Some people may then be on thyroid medication for the rest of their lives due to dieting.

 

Going back to caveman times, our bodies have been designed for survival and conservation, withstanding prolonged periods of time without food. However, crash dieting goes against every natural instinct in your body and, as amazing as the human body is at surviving, it will react accordingly to bring you back to square one as quickly as you lost the weight. This means as soon as you start to eat reasonably normally, you will put the weight back on.

 

What is also bad in my view is that the meal replacement shakes usually contain so many artificial ingredients they cause even more health issues.

 

There are no quick fixes for long-term, sustainable weight loss. You must be patient and realise that if you continue to enjoy the foods that you eat, the weight will come off and it will stay off. You need to learn what the right foods are for you and then experiment with different recipes and foods. Once you get the hang of healthy eating, eating mainly whole, natural foods and ingredients, you will become healthier, happier and not to forget, a few pounds lighter.

Want to know more?

Contact me today to ask any questions or book your FREE consultation

Call me on 07815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com

 

How to Make Your Workout More Fun

Do you sometimes feel bored or unmotivated by your exercise routine? You are not alone. In all of the years I have been training, both in the gym and running, I have had my fair share of periods where my motivation starts to drop. When this happens you start to feel as though exercise is a chore and you lose the enjoyment that you previously had. It is often at this point people give up as they don’t know how to change their current fitness routine. So what can you do when this happens?

 

Find music that gets you pumped – I have different playlists on my phone for the different workouts I do. For instance, if I am going for a long slow run I will listen to podcasts, often listening to comedy shows or fitness information programmes (sad, I know). I find these help time drift by when I am out for a long time. However, when doing shorter, higher intensity workouts or weight sessions I will have some higher intensity music.

It is all down to your own choices, but create playlists that you know will help give you the motivation and enjoyment you seek. It also doesn’t matter if people see you singing or dancing along; you are happy and that is the main thing.

 

Get a buddy – Having an exercise buddy can definitely provide a good source of extra motivation. You are far less to miss a session when you know someone else is expecting you to show up. This is where I can certainly help and why I decided to offer my Running Buddy sessions. They provide the client with the knowledge that they have someone to help get them through sessions that you won’t do themselves. It is also a great chance to just chat away the time to make the time pass by unnoticed.

 

Get a little competitive – A bit of competition never hurts anyone, whether it is with yourself or an exercise buddy. I am super competitive with myself and love to push myself to beat my previous best efforts. I also know how to keep competition fun and light-hearted for others. I offer discounts for couples or friends group training sessions and there is no better feeling than when you smash your previous bests (and beat your other half in the process). Just make sure you congratulate everyone each time an improvement is made.

 

Become a kid – Kids burn so much more energy than adults because they are constantly active; running around and having fun. Don’t think of cardio as just running on a treadmill or spending hours on a cross trainer. There are so many fun things that will get your heart rate up and you burning calories. Take on the mind of a child and go and play outside. Go and climb some rocks, jump on a trampoline, run down a hill, or go and play with a ball with friends. Your options are endless (but remember to stay safe please).

 

Mix it up – One of the biggest causes for people getting demotivated is that they get bored by doing the same thing again and again. Make sure that you are mixing up your workouts and trying new things. I have lists of different runs and exercises I can do and constantly chop and change what I am doing so that my fitness doesn’t plateau and so I keep enjoying myself. If you are ever short of ideas, or want the motivation of someone else thinking of the workouts, please get in touch to discuss how I can help you.

 

Celebrate the small wins and reward yourself – It is really important to celebrate and reward yourself when you get better and stronger. Even if it is something small, always make sure you congratulate yourself. Remember that any improvement is an improvement, whether that is a 1 second PB over a parkrun, or adding another 0.5kg to your bicep curls; they all count.

I am not advocating you reward yourself with food, you are not a sea-lion who has performed a trick. Buy yourself a new piece of clothing, a massage or piece of gym kit instead.

 

Getting, and being, fit should never be a chore. It should be something that you enjoy because you have fun and it makes you feel great. I won’t lie, if you are training for a big event or have big goals you do need to work hard, but you can have fun while you are at it.

 

Want to know more?

Contact me today to ask any questions or book your FREE consultation

Call me on 07815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com

Love Your Body

You don’t have to have what society perceives as the ‘perfect’ body to love it; or at least love bits of it.

To do this may take some work on your mindset, but the more you adjust your mind, the more you’ll feel at home in your body and the more you’ll want to move it. Then life gets better all round.

 

Remember:

There will be someone who envies parts of your body that you dislike. They probably won’t tell you; people don’t often offer compliments on the bodies of others, but for every part of your body you dislike, someone will want it.

Other people will see you as more beautiful that you see yourself. Your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend and friends; borrow their eyes (metaphorically only please) and make a mindset change.

If someone has programmed you with negative feelings about yourself; they are wrong. Were they an ex (hopefully)? You decide how you should feel about yourself, not somebody else. Delete those files from your brain.

Find one good thing to say about each part of your body that you currently dislike.   If you don’t like your bum, think that it helps you to squat more. If you don’t like your stomach, think of it as a soft place for a baby to nap. Use anything you can, it doesn’t, and probably shouldn’t, be about the look. You can’t change your body as quick as you can change your mind. Take advantage of this and make a change.

Working-out works better for your mind than complaining; so get up and get moving. If you’re out of breath, however hard you are working, it is harder to get down on yourself. Go for a walk, a run or just do some exercises and let the movements change your thoughts. Appreciate that your body is getting you moving while those that you perceive have ‘better’ bodies can’t do the same.

What looks good on every body type? Happiness. Happiness looks good on everyone. Find out what makes you truly happy and your body image will improve as well. Eckhart Tolle wrote in “The Power of Now”, ‘if you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place’.

 

Remember that you are not alone. Nobody has avoided body image issues all of their life. We all struggle at some point. Talk to other people. Seek out those that have a sparkle in their eyes and seem to be enjoying their life. They can, and will, help.

Want to know more?

Contact me today to ask any questions or book your FREE consultation

Call me on 07815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com

Negative Calorie Foods

People are constantly looking for a secret weapon, a quick fix, or an easy way to reach their goals. And, many of these people will go to extreme lengths in their pursuit of the ‘perfect body’, often disregarding their own health. I see and read about it daily.

I am not sure if you have heard about negative calorie foods before, but it was something I came across a few years ago. The concept is still very much current today. So, what is a negative calorie food, and can it help you strip unwanted fat?

A negative calorie food is a food that requires more calories to be digested than what it actually contains. This means that you will burn more calories than you are actually eating. For instance, if you eat 100kcal of a particular food, you might spend 150kcal to digest it. If you want to lose weight this is great, as it will create a calorie deficit.

Most of these negative calorie foods are thought to be fruit, berries, and vegetables, such as asparagus, celery, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, onion, lettuce, garlic, cucumber, apple, blackberries, grapefruit, raspberry, strawberries, and tomato. I could continue, as the list is quite long.

However, there is actually no evidence that a negative calorie food exists. The main benefits with these foods are that the calorie content is normally low, and the nutrient content is high.

Although I recommend consuming plenty of these foods, my recommendations are not based around the concept of negative calories. My recommendations are based on what I believe is best for your body. Eating plenty of vegetables, fruit, and berries will give you plenty of nutrients, and also provide you with phytonutrients, such as antioxidants which are good for building a healthy body. These foods are also able to keep you fuller for longer, making it easier for you to create a calorie deficit, without having to deal with hunger pangs.

It is, however, important that you combine these foods with healthy sources of protein, healthy fats and carbohydrates to ensure you avoid nutrient deficiencies.

I understand that you want to see results quickly, preferably yesterday. But, I want you to understand that fad diets and quick fixes will only increase your risk of nutrient deficiencies, and ultimately weight regain. By implementing healthy, long-lasting lifestyle changes, you will not only see results, but the results will last and your body will be healthy. That is what my food philosophy is all about.

Want to know more?

Contact me today to ask any questions or book your FREE consultation

Call me on 07815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com

How I Set Goals and Achieve Them

It can be extremely difficult to make a huge lifestyle change. You have to work hard and be disciplined to break years of bad habits that have been established throughout your life. When I first started getting seriously into health and fitness one of the ways I found it easy to stay on track and measure how well I was doing, was to set myself some clear goals. In fact I still set myself goals on a regular basis so I can continue to grow as a person and achieve what I want in life. Having a goal keeps you focused and means you can track your progress on a regular basis. I thought I would share with you how I set goals for myself to achieve what I want in life.

Be realistic – I’m a big believer in having aspirations & aiming high as long as your goals are realistic and achievable. There’s no point trying to achieve something that is simply unrealistic. For example; I know I am never going to be a professional footballer, so I don’t bother wasting my time trying to be one. If your goals are unrealistic then you will just feel overwhelmed and give up when it all becomes too much. Have big goals but be realistic too about what you can and simply cannot achieve.

Know your potential – It’s important to know your potential and what you are capable of. Too many people look at something they want in life and just simply think “I’ll never be able to do that”. But listen to me, we all have the potential to achieve great things. Choose something that you enjoy and you know is achievable for you. Then go and do what needs to be done to achieve it. If that means changing your hair, losing weight, studying, moving away, whatever it takes you need to be willing to do it if it’s what you really want. Most importantly though remember to believe in yourself.

Find support – It’s so important to surround yourself with a positive group of people who are supportive and caring. Don’t be afraid to tell those closest to you what your goals are and why you want to achieve them. No one has ever achieved greatness by doing it alone, so you shouldn’t have to either. My wife, friends and family have played such a massive role in my journey, so remember it’s okay to ask for help and support. You’ll be amazed at what you can do with a team of great people behind you.

Find an expert – If you have a particular goal and you know someone who has achieved what you want, then go and ask them how they did it. Don’t try and reinvent the wheel when you can find someone who has already got a proven method for reaching your goal. If you don’t know someone personally who has done it, then contact me. It’s great to get support from people as we will know and understand the struggles that you will be going through.

Dream big but plan small – As I said before it’s great to have big goals and dreams but if they are far out of reach then it can be easy to give up when it becomes too hard. So if you do have big goals then break them down into smaller more achievable ones. If you want to run a marathon but have only just started running, then your first goal might be to just reach 10km without stopping as opposed to just aiming for the full 26.2m. When you your goals are broken down to smaller ones then you can celebrate your successes along the way, which will keep you motivated towards the bigger goal. I’d recommend splitting your long-term goal into three. The short-term goal should be between two to four weeks from your start date. This should be more about the ‘process’ of changing your habits and starting your journey. Your medium-term goal should be half-way between your start date and your final goal. That is the perfect time to check progress to ensure you are where you need to be to achieve your overall goal and, if not, make some changes to ensure you will do.

 Track your progress and adapt – Regularly track your progress against your goals and reassess if things aren’t going to plan. I’d recommend splitting your long-term goal into three. The short-term goal should be between two to four weeks from your start date. This should be more about the ‘process’ of changing your habits and starting your journey. Your medium-term goal should be half-way between your start date and your final goal. That is the perfect time to check progress to ensure you are where you need to be to achieve your overall goal and, if not, make some changes to ensure you will do.

You may need to put back the date of your overall goal if things aren’t going to plan, but that shouldn’t worry you. More often than not though, your hard work will be paying dividends and you can be ahead of your target. Just keep trying and keep moving forward.

 

So, when you are planning your goals remember, know your potential, dream big, believe in yourself, do what needs to be done to give you the best chance of success, be adaptable, resilient and keep reaching for those goals.

If you want some help on achieving your goals get in touch and together, let’s make your goals a reality.

 Want to know more?

 Contact me today to ask any questions or book your FREE consultation

 Call me on 07815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com

How to Eat Healthier on a Budget

One of the biggest challenges I hear from people when they switch to eating a healthier diet is that it’s so much more expensive then what they normally buy. It can feel like a dramatic increase on your food bill, especially for those who aren’t just feeding themselves, but their families too. When you move to more of a whole food diet, consisting of good quality meat and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables it can feel more expensive. And whilst yes, your food bill may go up a little bit at first, I always like to think of it as a long-term investment in your health.

When you are healthier, your body functions better, you are less likely to get sick and you are happier person for it. To me it’s worth the little extra money you need to spend to get healthy. If money is one of those challenges you face, there are some things you can do that will help save on your food costs.

Shop in season – Get to know what fruits and vegetables are in season. Then when you shop try to base your meals around those ingredients. You definitely don’t want to be buying fresh berries in the middle of winter, as you will be paying double. Remember there are lots of fruit and vegetables that can be frozen too. So if something is on special and in season, buy it in bulk and then freeze it for later use.

Reduce your meat intake – If you are a meat eater, like me, this can make up a huge portion of your weekly food budget. By reducing the amount of meat in your meals you can reduce your costs. I’m certainly not suggesting becoming a full vegetarian (as I couldn’t do that myself) but you could try and start introducing a few meat free meals a week. If the thought of that does not go down well you can halve the amount of meat you have in each meal, making a cut of meat last twice as long.

Prepare your weekly meal plan – Every week decide what meals you will be cooking and what key ingredients you can use. Have a look at what’s in season or on offer and create your meals around that. Take your shopping list to the supermarket and be strict with yourself to stick to it. Also don’t go in hungry as that is when we tend overspend and also make some unhealthy choices of foods. If you don’t use up all the ingredients for one meal, see how you can turn them into other deliciously healthy meals for the next few days. Also don’t be afraid of eating leftovers. Make double at night and then you have something for lunch or dinner the next day. Making it far less likely to purchase lunch at work or those takeaways when you aren’t in the mood for cooking.

Store your fresh vegetables properly and organise your fridge – It’s so easy to forget what is in the fridge and sometimes some of the vegetables you buy ends up going off before you use it, simply because it’s stored in the back of the fridge and gets forgotten. Store the food with the shortest ‘best-before’ date towards the front so you know what ingredients you should be cooking with at the beginning of the week before it goes off. Find out the best ways to store your fresh vegetables, as there are plenty of tips and tricks for keeping those ingredients fresher for longer.

Move away from packets and pre-cut food – It can be very tempting to go for the quick and simple pre-cut fruit and vegetables, but these are often far more expensive, just because they have been cut up for you already. Buy the whole fresh vegetables and then pre-cut them yourself. If they are freezable items then buy them in bulk when on special, pre-cut them yourself and store in the freezer for later use.

Buy your fruit and vegetables from a market – As most supermarkets insist on fruit and vegetables that look good, are pre-washed and are often bagged or pre-packed you actually pay more for your fruit and vegetables than you do when buying them from a local market or greengrocers. If you are able to get to a market or greengrocers a couple of times a week you can save yourself a decent amount of money and help local businesses.

Think of your long term health – Yes, it can be hard to see your food bill go up but think of long term benefits you are giving yourself in your new healthy lifestyle. Eating cheap, pre-packed foods that contain all sorts of additives is not a healthy way to eat. This is why I say eating healthier is probably some of the best medical help you can give to yourself and your family in the long run.

 

I hope you enjoyed some of these tips. If anyone has anything they do to save money, I would love to hear them.

Want to know more? 

Contact me today to ask any questions or book your FREE consultation

Call me on 07815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com

Dealing with Negativity is Part of Life

Failure is one of those inevitable things about life and the sooner you can get used to that the better. We all fail, fall, get knocked back, criticised and knocked down. But the important thing is to not let these hurdles get you down and keep you there. If you really want something you have to keep getting up and keep pushing forward. Every successful person has had to deal with negativity and has failed many times in their life. If you read autobiographies of top athletes or entrepreneurs I can guarantee they will talk about how many times they have failed and how many negative issues they have had to overcome. But they always get back up and come back stronger. So if you want to be successful and you want to make some changes then you also need to learn that failure is not a bad thing, as long as you commit to coming back again stronger.

 

Don’t give up – There have been many times in my life that I felt like giving up. I was widowed suddenly when I was 31 years old. My whole world came crashing down in an instance and there were times when I didn’t know if I could carry on. However, there were two key moments, both linked, that made me realise that I had to come back stronger.

A couple of weeks after I was widowed and I was arranging the funeral details, I wanted to arrange for donations to a charity instead of people giving flowers. I was on the way to a meeting at a local charity to discuss donations when I was waiting to cross a busy road at a crossing. As I was waiting a lorry was driving towards the crossing. For a split second I thought that if I stepped out it would end my pain. The only thing that stopped me was the realisation that I would then be placing more hurt and heartache on my family.

The second moment was when I actually arrived at the charity. The walls of their office was covered in photographs of terminally ill and life-limited children that had been helped by the charity. As soon as I stood there I knew that I should help. The charity, Wishes 4 Kids, offered to set up a fund in my late wife’s name, so that we could track donations and what the donations were used for. This was a way of keeping my wife’s name going for a good cause. Since then, over £50,000 has been raised for the fund by myself, family and friends in a variety of ways.

That will hopefully be the lowest place I will ever be at in my life. Any other knock-backs or failures I encounter can never be as bad meaning I know I can always come back, try again, learn from mistakes and be a better person.

 

Unhappiness can be your motivator – A lot of people I talk to are unhappy with the way they look, being overweight or the ‘wrong’ dress size. My philosophy is that if you are unhappy about something you need to commit to making a change. Get the help of a family member, a friend, or a Personal Trainer to help you with making those changes that will make you view yourself in a more positive way.

I learnt how to become more positive and grateful for the life I have and I decided from then on that I was always going to go for the things I want in life. If I didn’t try, then I wouldn’t achieve anything I wanted. So if you aren’t happy with where you are at now, use that as motivation to push through those boundaries and keep working towards your goals.

 

It’s all about persistence – The difference between actually reaching your goal or not is persistence. Persistence will always beat talent and that’s so important to remember. There are thousands of people out there who are talented at different things but the ones who work the hardest and never give up are the ones who succeed. That theory can also be applied to health, weight loss and exercising. So many times people give up just before they reach their goals, but if you want something enough then just keep going. You will eventually get there. And believe me, when you reach your goal you’ll look back and be so grateful you didn’t give up when things got tough.

 

It’s okay to make mistakes or regress – I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, but the mistakes have all helped me get to where I am now in my life. There have also been times where I have had to take steps back from my training in order to come back stronger. These have been through illness, injury (often by pushing too hard – I have learnt from this) or returning from holidays. This is not a problem and shouldn’t be viewed as such. I am now happy and doing the job I should have been doing years ago, which is helping others to be their best too. If you make a mistake, then learn from it and move on. Don’t sit and dwell on it, use it as something to make you grow and be a better person. Nobody is perfect, so mistakes are totally normal.

 

Believe in yourself – Generally the biggest obstacle standing between you and your goals is yourself. You aren’t going to achieve your goals if you don’t believe you can. Believe in yourself, believe you are good enough, commit yourself, work hard and smart, and don’t throw in the towel if doesn’t come easily. If you fall down, then don’t let any of that negative self-doubt creep in. Don’t ever give up on your goals because you don’t think you can achieve them.

 

The best way to learn and grow is not through our successes, but through our mistakes, failures and knock-backs. Appreciate them because they all add to who you are and who you will be in the future. Changing your life to be more positive, more active and healthier will be one of the best things you’ll ever do. I really can’t stress that enough. Start making those changes now. Nobody is going to do it for you. You need to take control of your life and be who you want to be. It is possible and you deserve it, remember that.

 

Want to know more?

Contact me today to ask any questions or book your FREE consultation

Call me on 07815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com

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Benefits of Exercising Outdoors

I love exercising outdoors. There is something about breathing in fresh air that helps you push a little bit harder. It’s also a nice change from being in the gym. You really can do a good workout outdoors anywhere, like a park, the forest or even your own garden. My programmes are designed to allow you to get the most out of any workout with minimal or no equipment, so you don’t need to be tied down to a gym membership.

Still need convincing? Well here are just three of the benefits exercising outdoors will give you.  

 

  1. It helps you focus It can get a little crowded at the gym, which also means you can get distracted, comparing yourself to others and how their bodies are. When you take the workout outdoors, you only have yourself to focus on. There also aren’t any mirrors outside, so no more getting distracted with how your hair is looking, how much you are sweating and how you compare to the person stood next to you.

 

  1. Boost your vitamin D levels with the sunshine Whilst you want to be careful exposing yourself to too much sun (not always a problem in the UK) there are many benefits to getting a daily dose of sunlight. When we are exposed to the sun on our skin, it helps our body’s production of Vitamin D3, which is extremely important for bone health and your metabolic function. Just make sure you wear suncream and sunglasses to protect yourself against harmful rays.

 

  1. It saves you money Gym memberships can be costly, especially if you want a Personal Trainer as well, and whilst you do need a gym for more specialised training, you can actually get an extremely good workout with no equipment at all. Think of the hundreds of pounds you could save for the new clothes you can treat yourself to when you achieve that body you have always wanted.

 

Want to know more?

Contact me today to ask any questions or book your FREE consultation

Call me on 07815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com