Tabata

One of the best ways to make the most of your workout is to swap long stretches of cardio at a moderate intensity for short bursts of HIIT. I’m a big fan of Tabata, a HIIT programme that was developed after extensive monitoring of the Japanese speed skating team in the 1990s. The traditional format is to spend 20 seconds on an exercise, then have a 10 second rest before moving on to the next one. After 8 exercises, you get a 30 second rest. That’s the first Tabata done. By the time you’ve got your breath back and managed to gulp down some water, it’s onto the next one! Classes usually consist of 4 or 5 Tabatas. For those of you who say you don’t have the time to work out, there are no excuses here! Although these classes are less than half an hour long, you’ll come out dripping with sweat. Here are some of the best exercises to get your heart racing:

sprints
burpees
jumping squats
mountain climbers
speed skaters
high knees

The great thing about these exercises is that you don’t need any equipment; you can do them at the gym, at home or outside.

Pre- and Post-Workout Food

Eating well and training hard go hand in hand. You won’t reach your optimum physical performance without a good approach to nutrition.

 

Compound vs. Isolation Exercises

You might have wondered what the difference is between the free weights (dumbells and barbells) and the resistance machines. Both can look equally daunting if you haven’t used them before, but it is important to understand properly what the equipment in your gym has to offer in order to make your time in the gym as efficient as possible.

The resistance machines tend to isolate a targeted muscle, whereas free weights employ several stabilisers and assisting muscles to aid the lift. This is why these exercises are known as compound movements. We shouldn’t overlook the fact that isolation movements can be useful to create symmetry and target weak spots, but there is no doubt that compound movements are the quickest way to build muscle mass. Not only do they more closely replicate the way our muscles move in real life, but because they employ maximum muscle recruitment, they create a higher stimulus for growth. This makes them more economic than isolation training, because more major muscle groups can be hit with fewer exercises. By incorporating them into your workouts, you can adopt a ‘less is more’ approach, and save yourself time in the gym.

For example, you might spend over an hour using six different isolation machines, whereas a deadlift will hit the lats, traps, inner back, hamstrings, quads, chest and arms all in one exercise. Bear in mind that these exercises can be brutal, and will tire you out more quickly than an exercise where you are working a single muscle individually.

Food Diary

I’ve come across several ‘What I ate Wednesday’ posts recently, and they inspired me to share with you what I ate today, even though it’s Monday. If you’re busy during the week, then like me you’ll want to prepare as much as you can in advance. Sunday night is great for cooking big batches of food and storing them for the week ahead.

I started the day with a bowl of overnight oats so that all I had to do when I woke up was add a handful of pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and a generous scoop of blueberries, which are great because they’re high in antioxidants and low in sugar. You only need 10 minutes in the morning to prepare a nutritional breakfast, and this will stop you eating junk at your desk later!

This morning I snacked on carrots sticks and bell peppers to tide me over until lunch, which was a Tupperware lunch of turkey with sweet potato mash, broccoli and spinach – it didn’t look terribly exciting but this is one of my go to lunches, because it’s so quick to prepare and surprisingly tasty! I added some cherry tomatoes for an extra pop of colour. Turkey is one of the leanest meats you can buy, and it’s slow to digest, keeping you full for longer. It also contains tryptophan, an amino acid which produces the hormone serotonin, which regulates mood and appetite. I ate around 1pm and I wasn’t hungry again for a few hours because the high protein content provided me with sustainable energy.

For a late afternoon snack, I spread some cashew butter on an apple and had this with two medjool dates as a treat to satisfy my sweet tooth. I ate this around 4pm – it gave me a much needed excuse to get up from my desk and stretch my legs, and I knew I would need the energy to work out this evening.

After an hour in the gym, I knew my body was craving carbs and protein to refuel lost energy and to repair torn and stretched muscles. Don’t be afraid to eat carbs, girls – your body needs them. I had a banana on my way home from the gym, and for supper I had grilled cod with puy lentils. White fish such as cod is a really low calorie protein choice. I added a side of wilted kale dressed with lemon juice and chillies. Kale was the ‘it’ vegetable of 2014, and it remains popular amongst healthy foodies. However what some people don’t know is that as a cruciferous vegetable, it should not be eaten raw, as it contains chemicals that block the production of thyroid hormone in your body. Personally I can’t stand raw kale anyway because it’s so tough – I can’t believe anyone enjoys chewing their way through that! But once wilted it’s lovely and soft, especially with a squeeze of lemon juice for extra flavour.

That’s a fairly typical day for me! Everything I ate was really easy to prepare, perfect for a busy day at work.