Welcome to your quick-fire, end of week update with a few bite-sized bullet points covering what we’re learning about and loving in three areas: fitness, nutrition and mindset. One bullet from each trainer, a little nugget of health and fitness gold.
FITNESS: Vee wants to share her holiday workouts with you
Our most passionate running coach is currently jogging her way around Mexico and Miami on holidays. She promises us it’s the best way ever to explore a new city and looking at the pictures on her instagram account @veronikalarisova we believe her too! Aside from slow jogs through new cities, Vee’s been doing a few interval workouts in some of the parks and on the beaches where she’s staying. Here are a few strategies she’s using to burn off all those holiday cocktails…
‘The 1:1’ – After 5 minutes of slow jogging to warm up, run as fast as you can for 1 minute, then jog or walk slowly to recover for a further minute. Repeat x 10 for a 20-minute fat blasting session.
‘Traditional Tabata’ – Pick 5 x exercises that really get your heart rate up; a few of Vee’s favourites are push-ups, lunge jumps, burpees, mountain climbers and compound crunches. Use Tabata timing which is 20 seconds of work with 10 seconds of rest, continued for 4 minutes on the same exercise (that’s 8 rounds) before moving on. Complete all 5 sets for a 20-minute session.
‘The Amazing Race’ – Head out on a 30-minute run and simply cruise along slowly until you see ANY hill, set of stairs, or bench seat. If you see a hill, sprint up and jog down twice. If you see a set of stairs, same deal. Pass a bench? 10 step-ups per leg OR 10 push-ups total, with hands resting on the seat. Continue this for the entire 30-minute run, every time you see any of these 3 obstacles.
Nutrition: Nic loves breakfast, but do you?
Whether you eat breakfast, and what you eat if you do are two highly debated issues in the world of nutrition. Some Agogians MUST eat before they train in the mornings, while others can only exercise in the morning when fasted (ie on no food – this includes Nic). Some require eating as soon as possible after morning exercise (like Nic!) while others are fine to chill until the hunger pangs take hold a few hours down the line. Regardless of their morning activities and routine, some people simply don’t feel hungry until mid-morning or even lunch… Others couldn’t consider facing their day without a healthy balance meal to kick things off. So what’s the ‘right’ approach here? The tough answer is that the research is up in the air about the significance of eating breakfast! Check out this interesting NY Times article from pediatrics professor Aaron E. Carroll.
Carroll’s view is that there’s no one perfect approach and you need to tailor your eating routine to what suits you best. While Carroll’s likely correct that breakfast generally “has no mystical powers”, Nic suggests that everyone should rely on their anecdotal experience to work out what works best for them as individuals when it comes to breaking that AM fast. What suits you will depend on a host of factors such as age, health, training schedule, genetics, and… GENDER! Stay tuned to the Friday Finisher as we’ll be reporting on some new exciting nutrition research which suggests that women and men require different eating timing around their exercise.
MINDSET: Libby’s had a change of perspective
This week Libby listened to a Tim Ferriss podcast quoting Tony Robbins, who said…
“Stressed is the word A-type personalities use to describe fear.”
It’s really got her thinking… and we thought it was a thought worth sharing!
Thanks for reading Agogians! Have a wonderful weekend, and we’ll see you in the studio.
