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Sean on Eating, Cheating and Dining Out.

What's up team,

So pleased to see the amount of you taking the time to read the last article I wrote on ketosis, it shows you guys really crave some knowledge to empower you; One of our ground morales at Rapid :D

I've been specifically asked by the big guns upstairs to do an article on dining out, but I also want to do a little on the cheat meal and eating in general. Must be quite a hot topic with all you social butterflies! This is a tricky topic for me to write about, far less sciencey and more about different aspects of life too, but I'll give it a shot so bare with me. Again I'll quickly breakdown the order of things I will write in then get straight into it; Starting with dining out to get it out of the way (this will be more experience and opinion based so will just have to wing it), moving onto eating meals in general which should be brief (maybe), then finish up with a little talk about why that cheat meal is in our plan! This will be more of a blog than like the scientific article, I apologize in advance! So let's get cracking into it shall we:

At Rapid, we understand everyone has their own lives and are doing their own things with their own friends, which isn't always holding hands with ketosis. That's okay. I am finding a lot of you are so dedicated to Kick Start and R28 diet aspects that you almost lose out in other areas of life (mind and soul). That's fantastic! In the sense that you are so dedicated and devoted to your weight loss and health that you are actually sacrificing little bits of your life, which yes I know is hard. I have huge respect for that guys :) But team, you must think of a ketogenic diet as a choice, every meal is your choice because you want it. It becomes far less hard to avoid bad foods when you don't have to say no, that is to say, the question wasn't even asked! You can't eat that potato salad not because 'the plan' says you can't but because you don't want to. Sit back and actually think about that for a second. Seriously just process that thought. When you are at Burger King with your mates, imagine that menu. Don't look at it and say "oh it looks good but I can't have it", NO. You can have it, no one is stopping you. But YOU DON'T WANT IT. You always want what you can't have, if in your mind you can't have it because of Rapid and its plans then not only will you want it just because you can't have it, but will also start to resent Rapid's plans too, the very thing that is trying to help you! Silly isn't it? I want you to go out from today and see that food that your body doesn't want, and listen to your body on it, agree with it. Know how you are going to feel after you eat something bad and really focus on that thought. Focus on how you will feel both in your gut and in your own conscious. You're gonna feel shit man. Live through that before you buy anything that will set you back from your goals. Every right decision you make like this, you become stronger as a person, you gain more depth, and make it easier the next time. Hell I could bite into a BBQ Bacon Deluxe Double Cheeseburger, chew it, and spit it back out with no problem. I just don't want to pay for something that is bad for me. I wouldn't pay someone to punch me in the liver, so why would I eat something that is going to do the same from the inside out?

Now, I am not being quite fair here. Some of you will be put in positions where you are hungry and have no choice in the food. I have been too! There is always a way. In some instances, there will be times where if you want to eat and everything has carbs in it. That's okay. You have no choice in it, don't feel bad for gods sake! Eating carbs is not failure!! Please get that in your head and lock it down somewhere! At that point you just shrug your shoulders and be honest with yourself. "Is there a way to stick to the lifestyle I want here? no? Sweet as I'll just enjoy myself here and tomorrow is a new day". This does not mean "weeeeeell shit I've broken my diet now so might as well just go hard". This is not a diet. A diet implies it is something temporary for a specific purpose like gaining muscle or losing weight. This (Kick Start, R28, and Living Well) is a lifestyle choice. You are choosing to be healthy and choosing to be slim. You like living a clean life with a clean body and clean thoughts. Leave the less sanitary lives for others that want to live that way, and that is totally fine, it is their choice and I respect them if they are honestly living the way they love. Personally, I love eating something and knowing its amazing for me. It almost makes it taste better, in my head recycling the nutrients I am getting from it as I eat it. Just to finish up this dining out part, I want to say, look for opportunities to take carbs out if you can. I had to have indian for dinner not long ago while looking after someone in hospital and I simply didn't eat the rice, the Tikka Masala in all its fatty goodness was bangin just on its own. Not saying this is an okay food out of choice, but like I said, with choice removed and was damn hungry at midnight, I did what I wanted, ate. The next few days I was super strict on myself to make up for it, because I wanted to be! I wanted to cleanse myself of all that crap in that curry, who knows what artificial stuff was in there? The message that I have very poorly portrayed here guys, is balance. If you 'mess up', mate you have done so well around this time and have all the time you want to make up for it, just enjoy the present and stay strong where you can.

One RF'er requested a little thing about the cheat meal, why have it? I'll try to keep this relatively brief. I struggle with that however. The cheat meal, is not so much about the physical health as about the mental health of you. It gives you a pin point in time to pull on and work towards, you have a finish line for kickstarter. If there was none you have nothing to guide your drive. A reward so to speak. I do think that after two solid weeks of heavy weight loss and massive lifestyle change that this meal brings back a bit of sanity, but is also physically quite rejuvenating. After two solid weeks of heavy weight loss and strenuous metabolic shift, your body needs a break man! Give it a damn breather, it has done superbly. So reward it and yourself. This meal may also cause you to realise you actually don't want any or some of these foods now. It's grounding. Makes you realise how clean you have become and purified of your past, and in just two weeks! So to answer your question on the cheat meal: It's a big happy chappy pat on the back to your body, to your mind, and to your soul. All have been put through the fire to reach the promised land. There is a bit more science to it than that though. The huge influx of energy will refill your muscle glycogen and restore you ready for starting intense exercise, a platform to push off from. But it is more so to shock you, this time using what you beat down in the first place, now you want to give it a hug again? All that good health so you could hang out with the old you? This is more of an eye opener than anything, concentrate on how you feel after that meal, do you feel satisfied? Bloated? Everything you don't want to feel? Didn't you feel so much better 10 minutes ago? It's almost like a last hug goodbye and with closure. You can walk away from that confident, and vaguely see a you in the distance further up that even that far away you can tell you want to be them. So you start walking. Or running haha :) You will get there, and the cheat meal is a good marker to see how far you have come and mentally reassess for where you are going to go.

As always, a lot of tangents and things that probably don't piece together very well in this blog article thing, this blarticle. I hope I have answered at least some questions, I actually wanted to do something a bit more sciencey and knowledge based rather than philosophy or idea based, I will see if I can be the one choosing all the topics from now on, I feel I write better when I am doing something I chose to do. Thank you for taking the time out to read this, the next one will be something with more solidity to it since all of you are so knowledge hungry! This type of blarticle is more for wisdom, I guess both are good so this is good practice for me :)

As always, thanks team. Have a fantastic weekend and make choices you WANT to make ;)

- Sean

#rapidfitness #rapidreset #weightloss #cheatmeal #diningout

Ketosis - What is is and Why it is Efficient.

Our man Sean fills you all in on Ketosis, what it is and why it is efficient.

What is ketosis?

Basically your body has several fuels it can run on, much like a car with its own fuels. Ketosis is having a relatively high amount of ketones in your blood (I won't go into their scientific names) which is a differing fuel from the normal glucose that we use with our western diets. Ketones are made inside your body by breaking down fats, hence why ketosis is so good for fat burning, you cannot eat ketones in your diet. I'll go a step further and explain why it is so efficient and why it makes so much logical sense for the human body to be in ketosis naturally. Your body can store energy in the form of either glycogen (a chain of glucose molecules) in the liver and muscles, or as fat in fat cells around the body. Your body can only use the sugar from the liver to function, sugar in the muscles lacks an enzyme that allows the escape of sugar from those cells. In other words, your muscles are greedy and won't give away their sugar energy to help out your brain or the rest of your body. Now you can only store a very small amount of sugar in the liver, around 500g approximately. This will only give you enough energy to last through one day if this is the only fuel source used. Luckily we have fat storage that can be turned into ketones, and we can hold vast amounts of fat on our bodies! PLUS, fats contain over double the energy of carbs like glucose! So here you have on one hand a less energy dense sugar in very limited storage OR a high energy dense fat in storage amounts 2 to over 100 times the amounts of glucose!!! Now which system seems more sensible to rely on? Not only are ketones in a more numerable quantity, but also come from the very thing we want least! Fats!! Now if that is enough on that, let me dig into what getting in ketosis actually is. For years now, for most of you (including me!!), would have been having carbs 3-5 times a day if not more with snacking etc. So as beautiful as the human body is, it adapts to its external environment to suit YOU better. Just as running more makes your muscles more efficient and sitting lots makes your butt more cushioned, eating more sugar will make that pathway more efficient too. Over your life, your body has adapted to suit your multiple carb intake lifestyle, not because it wanted to, it didn't have a choice, you were brought up that way and so it went with the flow. Although yes your body may be running well on carbs because it has been on them for so long, it can only max out as far as the fuels capacity will let it! By switching to a fat dependent lifestyle, you are switching metabolic pathways and revving up different gene expression to deal with the new fuel. Just like you have a different motor to run on diesel from petrol, same as your body with fats and carbs, only your body doesn't need a mechanic, just time to adjust Once carb restriction starts, suddenly your body is forced to use fats for ketones instead as after the first few days the carb stores are really getting low. Your body doesn't like this because it's not efficient for it (at first), it's not used to it, so is slow and bumbles through unfamiliar metabolic pathways. This causes the feeling of fatigue and dizziness as all of your cells must adapt too, they are set to run on sugars and are being fed ketones, so are struggling to fuel themselves with only the few ketone processors they have for emergencies. When you stay in ketosis, the entire system declares a state of emergency and starts stocking up its cells and pathways with enzymes and organelles in much higher numbers fit to start chewing through fat instead. Over time, adaption is stronger and stronger, by 8 weeks, your are "full fat adapted" and will rely almost solely on fat for energy. A fat burning machine. Not just fats you eat, but also the stuff already on you. This is why the minifasts are so important, giving your body time to clean out your digestive system of scraps and also let it burn off some of that unwanted poundage. The double edged sword to burning all this fat is that a lot of toxins and metabolic wastes over your life were not processed and 'put on hold', stored in your fat, joints, and other tissues. When you start chomping through all this fat for energy, you WILL come across the bad stuff you have buried from your past eating and lifestyle habits. The more rough you were on your body in the past the more you will have to process and yes the harder it will be. These toxins though, when exposed once again and actually processed will be gone for good. These ARE toxins though! Poisons in your own body; and depending on the person they can and will cause headaches, bad skin, nausea, flu like symptoms, joint pain, bad sleep, etc etc etc. This is only temporary, and then the health following that is for life! It is the most honest form of earning something, you have to put in the hard yards to get the results, your body is amazing in its abilities, it can do this if you will but give it the chance. Hopefully enough of that has been covered to move onto here. You know you are in ketosis when all of a sudden, you find you don't have the highs and lows on energy throughout the day. Maybe a little, but nowhere near as much as before with the slump before lunch, and as you are driving home from work. Those were insulin spikes and troughs from relying on sugars, now you have a constant source of energy to hum along on. You may also find you need far less sleep, personally I used to need 8-9 hours a night to be onto it the next day plus weekend sleep ins. Now, 4-6 hours and I am buzzing till bed time again. Your thinking should be more active and mood should be overall happier as carbs are also linked to depressing thoughts, ketosis eliminates that. Also a big one is bloating will decrease majorly with no carbs to hold all that water. There are more if you are interested, look up journal articles on ketosis with peer reviews, not magazine articles that are unreliably sourced! A final personal stance on ketosis: I can vouch for this lifestyle. I feel fuller for longer, my energy levels are constant and raving, my skin is better, I am fitter, feel lighter, sleep better, and I have never in my entire life had this little body fat. Granted yes, I do have carbs sometimes, but only after exercise to replenish my muscle energy so I can keep moving. I do not think eliminating an entire food group is healthy or natural. I just think from what I have come across in my experience that very limited carbs is the way to go. Please excuse my french here but I think it is fitting; I am not here to bullshit you guys, I am here to share what I have found to work for me and many others and hopefully you can gain the same. I am not saying ketosis is a silver bullet, nor that it will cure all the worlds health problems, but hell, it's one doozey of a start! Stick to the plan and let your body do what it was built to do in the best way it can do it.

- Sean

#ketosis #rapidfitness #fat #weightloss

RF’s 10 Tips for Surviving the Festive Season

The festive season is amongst us, it is a guarantee that Xmas parties and family gatherings will leave us eating too much food and drinking too much bubbly.

These 10 Rapid tips will keep you on track and ready to take the festive season head on.

1. Plan a workout before a holiday party or celebration dinner.

Smashing out a workout just before a Holiday event is best way to soak up all the excess calories, which will be devoured at a festive celebration. Fitting in a pre celebration workout will not only leave you rocking up to the event pumped with endorphins but also you will leave you with a sense of relief knowing you can relax, have a wine and indulge in some delicious food.

2. Offer to bring a healthy dish to holiday parties

If there is ever the chance to bring a dish to the party, definitely take it with both hands. This gives you peace of mind that at least one dish on the menu will be healthy and you wont be left performing the awkward confused look, while trying to figure out what you can and cant eat.

2. Take advantage of the healthy foods on offer

Most festive dinners have plenty of nutritious food on offer, so take advantage of it. What foods to look for:

Meats – Try opt for lean cuts if your mixing food with alcohol, otherwise full fat meats are the way to go.

Salads – Any salad really goes, stay clear of potato salads other wise go nuts on the salad bar. – Limit cheeses and mayonnaise if consuming alcohol

Desserts – limit dessert when possible – try head towards fruit and cream. If you are consuming alcohol limit or skip on dessert (Besides Christmas and New Year).

3. Don’t let beverages be your downfall Stay well clear from

Sugary soda’s

Juices

Diet drinks, inc soda’s

White wines

Champagne

Full carb beers

Replacements

Sparkling water

Real fruit juice (limit or mix with sparkling water)

Low carbohydrate beer

Red wine

Spirits – mix with soda, lime, real fruit juices.

Quick tip // try mixing half fruit juice / half sparkling water with your spirit of choice to lower the sugar content.

4. Plan time for exercise

Planning time to workout over the festive season not only keeps you in shape but also keeps you sane. The festive season can be hectic, so remember to take 30 minutes for some timeout ( 4-5 times a week) and hit the pavement or gym, you deserve it. You will feel more relaxed and better for it.

5. Only indulge in special holiday treats

It is the holidays and people think that its time kick back and eat everything in site. Try hold back on eating every treat you can find and save yourself for that one special food you have been dreaming about. It will taste a lot better and you will be munching down way less carbs.

7. Stock the cupboards with healthy food

The best way to stay on track through this hectic time is to stock up the house with healthy foods. This means you will be less likely to slip up and keeps your nutrition on course heading into the New Year

8. Try not waste the morning in bed, get up and active

Big nights out are very common towards the end of the year, instead of wasting half the day away, get up early smash out a workout or quick jog to kick start your day. If you’re lucky enough to be in the southern hemisphere head to the beach and freshen up.

9. Eat before you go out

Planning on heading out for a big dinner or drinks, make sure you chow down a healthy meal before you head out. You will be less likely to pig out on large unhealthy meals or bar snacks and you will be less likely to head to the nearest takeaways when the night ends.

10. Have FUN!!!

#Christmas #party #Tips #rapidfitness looseweight #workout

FASTING TO FAST OR NOT TO FAST?

It's a good question…

One of the most interesting things about the concept of three meals per day or even 5-6 meals per day is that its based on some idea or theory that this is how we are ‘naturally’ supposed to eat.

As if our ancestors had food on tap, in a fridge, pantry or establishment close to their their place of ‘work' that dished out convenience food in order to ‘maintain’ their metabolism….?

Bullshit I say!

Our ancestors never had food on tap like we do in this post industrial civilisation.

Most of their time was spent ensuring there was food available at all, not at 7am, 10:30am, 12:00pm, 3:00pm, 7:00pm and 9:30pm.

Isn’t it interesting, that since the '6 small meals a day' paradigm has existed obesity, diabetes and the like have exploded to become one of the largest (Excuse the pun) health epidemics we have ever had!?

Anyway, back to fasting.

Fasting allows our body to regulate limited energy better, it helps our body tap into stored energy reservoirs (Fat stores) and rests our digestive system from the constant onslaught of food (To name a few of the instant benefits)

If you take a look at most religions you will find that fasting was, and is a common practice, and it's for the very reasons referenced above that fasting was practiced.

At Rapid Fitness we utilise fasting in our Detox’s and Reset plans for the following reasons;

Fasting initiates Ketosis - the fat burning metabolic process

Promotes cleansing and detoxification

Assists with metabolic resetting

Fasting rests the digestive system

Improves fat metabolism

Resolves inflammatory diseases and allergies

Boosts immunity

Improved appetite control

Improved blood glucose regulation

Decreases blood pressure

Our conclusion: Fast we say!

#Rapid Reset #Detox #Fasting #Living Well #RF Living Well #Cleanse #Kick Start #R28

Living Well Challenge #24 ' Business Time' // Part 3

Hi RF'ers,

Here is part 3 of the Living Well Challenge #24 Business Time.

BT WORKOUT #15

Warm up

Hip extension - hold one minute Squat hold 30 seconds ( focus on squeezing glutes)

Workout Horizontal Row Box jump or Step up Push up Box jump or step up pistol squat Box jump or step up Rounds // 2 Reps // 20 Objective // 1) Complete each exercise sequentially to complete one round 2)Complete workout as fast as possible, post time 3) remember good form BT WORKOUT #16

Warm up Knee Pushup hold 5 x 10 second holds Workout Dumbbell shoulder press Travelling Weighted lunges Over head squat Calories on a Stationary Bike Rounds // 3 Reps // 10, 20, 30 Objective // 1) Complete each exercise sequentially to complete one round 2) First round is 10 reps, 2nd round is 20 reps and the 3rd round is 30 reps 3) Remember good form BT WORKOUT #17 Warm up Alternating toe touch x 10 each side Plank x 45 seconds to 60 second plank Workout Treadmill run jog or walk Thrusters Rounds // 3 Reps // 1km (run) & 10reps (thruster) Objective // 1) The treadmill run will be 1000m and then you will immediately complete 10 thrusters to complete one round. 2) Complete three rounds in total to complete the workout 3) Remember good form BT WORKOUT #18 Warm up Walk outs x 10 Workout Front squat Full range sit up's DB clean and press Mountain climber Reps // 30 Rounds // 4 Objective // 1) Complete all exercises sequentially to complete the workout 2) Keep the intensity high 3) Keep good form BT WORKOUT #19 Warm up Lat pull down holds 5 x 10 seconds

Workout

Tricep dips Push up's Bike sprint Step up's Reps // As many as you can in 1min Rounds // 1

Objective // 1)Complete each exercise sequentially, to complete the workout 2) You will perform as many reps as possible for each exercise 3) each exercise will last for 1minute in duration 4) Always remember to keep good form BT WORKOUT #20

Warm up

100cal Bike sprint for time

Workout

Horizontal Rows Burpee or mountain climber Rowing machine Reps // 10 reps & 300m ( Rowing machine) Rounds // 5 Objective // 1) Complete each exercise sequentially, to complete the workout 2) Record time and post on it on our youtube Channel. 3) keep good form BT WORKOUT #21 Outdoor workout Warm up Plank 60 seconds Hip extension x 60 seconds Workout Run/ jog / walk Knee Push up Sit up's Step up or squats Reps // 60 seconds Rounds // as many times as you can in 30 minutes Objective // 1) Complete each exercise sequentially, to complete the workout 2) Always remember to keep good form

That's all folks!

Don't forget to check out our YouTube Channel for Workout Demonstrations.

Living Well Challenge #24 'Business Time' // Part 2

Hi RF'ers,

Here is part 2 of the Living Well Challenge #24 'Business Time'

BT WORKOUT #8 BEACH OR OUTDOORS WORKOUT

Run, jog or walk for 45secs

7 burpee’s, push up’s or squats

FORMAT

EQUIPMENT NEEDED// a watch & fresh air

DURATION OF WORKOUT// 30mins

ROUNDS // complete as many in 30mins  OBJECTIVE //  

Run, jog or walk continuously for 45secs

After every 45secs, stop and complete 7 reps of burpee’s, push up’s or squats.

You may choose to mix the exercises up and complete a different exercise at each 45 sec mark.

Always keep good, check out you the RF YouTube channel for exercise description.

BT WORKOUT #9 ISOMETRICS ON!

Hand plank

Posterior hollow

Anterior hollow

Wall sit

Push up hold

FORMAT

REPS //

BEGINNER // 30secs

INTERMEDIATE // 60secs

ADVANCED // 90 secs

ROUNDS //

BEGINNER // 4

INTERMEDIATE // 5

ADVANCED // 6

OBJECTIVE //

1. Complete each exercise sequentially at reps of 30,60 or 90 secs depending on exercise experience, to complete one full round.

2. Complete a total of 4, 5, 6 rounds.

3. Remember good form, check out the rf youtube channel for pointers.

BT WORKOUT # 10 ABS WORKOUT

Bicycle crunch

Full range sit up

Side plank

High toes touch

FORMAT

REPS //

BEGINNER // 10

INTERMEDIATE // 20

ADVANCED // 30

ROUNDS //

BEGINNER // 3

INTERMEDIATE // 4

ADVANCED // 5

OBJECTIVE //

Complete each exercise sequentially at 10, 20, or 30 reps, to complete one full round

Complete 3, 4 or 5 rounds to complete the workout.

Remember good form; check out the RF YouTube channel or Instagram for technique description.

BT WORKOUT #11 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Maximum push ups

Maximum high toe touches

1.6km run/jog or walk for time

FORMAT

REP // max

ROUNDS // 1

OBJECTIVE //

Perform each exercise till failure. If you stop for a rest at any point, testing should be ceased

Keep good form and record your results.

BT WORKOUT #12 BOOTY CHALLENGE

Hip extensions

Squats

Lunges // or partial squats

Hill run or walk

FORMAT

REPS//

BEGINNER // 10

INTERMEDIATE // 20

ADVANCED // 30

ROUNDS

BEGINNER // 4

INTERMEDIATE // 5

ADVANCED // 7

OBJECTIVE //

Complete each exercise sequentially at 10, 20, or 30 reps, to complete one full round

Complete 4, 5 or 7 rounds to complete the workout.

Remember good form, check out the RF YouTube channel or Instagram for technique description

BT WORKOUT # 13 BURN

Step up knee drive

DB shoulder press - 3-5kg

Burpees or mountain climber

Up hill treadmill or hill run, jog or jog

FORMAT

REPS //

BEGINNER // 10

INTERMEDIATE // 20

ADVANCED // 30

ROUNDS //

BEGINNERS // 5

INTERMEDIATE // 6

ADVANCED // 7

OBJECTIVE //

1. Complete each exercise sequentially at 10, 20, or 30 reps, to complete one full round

2. Complete 5, 6 or 7 rounds to complete the workout.

3. Always remember good form, check out the RF YouTube channel or Instagram for technique description

BT WORKOUT # 14 LADDER

DB clean and press 3-5 kg

Front squat 5kg

FORMAT

REPS // progress from 2 reps upwards

ROUNDS // as many as you can do in 12mins

OBJECTIVE //

You will complete as many rounds in 12mins

To start, perform each exercise at 2 reps to complete one round.

The next round will be 3reps and then the next will be 4reps and will continue to increase until 12 minutes is up.

Howdy RF'ers and welcome to Tune in Tuesday.

Here are a few starters for the inquisitive mind, time to get elevated!

HEALTH // WELL-BEING // SOCIAL CHANGE //

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

Food Inc

Ethos

Zeitgeist Addendum

Kymatica

Thrive

Earthlings Viewer discretion recommended

Seeds of Death - Unveiling the lies of GMO's

Human Resources

The Corporation

#Mind Elevating #RF Living Well Challenge #Tune in Tuesday #rf30days

Welcome to the Rapid Fitness Living Well Challenge!

Living Well Challenge #24

Business Time

Good Monday Afternoon,

Ok its time to get active with challenge #24, 'Business Time'. We have 21 surprise workouts for you to try over the next 30 days.

Are you ready? Every Monday before 3pm we will drip feed ya seven 'Business Time' workouts. Below you will find the first seven. Enjoy! Equipment you will need (or feel free to improvise) 1. Some light weights dumbbells 3-5kgs 2. A skipping rope, a rower or some running shoes 3. Steps, a bench or a low wall Notes: 1. REP(S) // Number of repetitions to complete 2. ROUND(S) // Number of sets you must complete 3. All exercises are completed sequentially i.e.. 1, 2, 3...

BT WORKOUT #1 1. PUSH UPS (Knees or Full) 2. LUNGES (Travelling or Stationary) 3. SQUATS 4. STEP UP or BOX JUMP (Low or Medium height box) 5. FULL PLANK FORMAT REPS // 50reps of each or a 1min hold where applicable ROUNDS // 2 OBJECTIVE // 1. Complete two rounds of each exercise for time. 2. Make sure you have good form and good control with each exercise. 4. Record your time.

BT WORKOUT #2 1. PUSH UPS (Knees or Full) 2. TRICEP DIPS 3. SQUATS 4. SPLIT JUMPS or LUNGES 5. MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS FORMAT REPS // 25 reps of each ROUNDS // 4 OBJECTIVE // 1. Complete four rounds of each exercise for time. 2. Make sure you have good form and good control with each exercise. 3. Record your time.

BT WORKOUT #3

1. SKIP for 3min or ROW for 500m or RUN for 500m 2. SQUATS 3. PUSH UPS 4. CRUNCHES 5. SKIP for 3min or ROW for 500m or RUN for 500m FORMAT REPS // Continuous for 1min ie. squat continuous for 1min ROUNDS // 5 OBJECTIVE // 1. Complete 5 rounds of each exercise for stipulated time. You only need to complete 1 round of the skip, row or run at the beginning and end of the workout 2. Make sure you have good form and good control with each exercise. 3. Record your time.

BT WORKOUT #4

1. SKIP for 5min or ROW for 5min or RUN for 5min 2. LUNGES (Travelling or Stationary) 3. ALTERNATING DUMBBELL SHOULDER PRESS 4. MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS 5. SKIP for 5min / ROW for 5min / RUN for 5min FORMAT REPS // Continuous for 2min ie. lunge continuous for 1min ROUNDS // 3 OBJECTIVE // 1. Complete 3 rounds of each exercise for the stipulated time. You only need to complete 1 round of the skip, row or run at the beginning and end of the workout 2. Make sure you have good form and good control with each exercise. 3. Record your time.

BT WORKOUT #5

1. DUMBBELL FRONT SQUAT 2. FULL RANGE CRUNCH or FULL PLANK 3. PUSH UPS (Knees or Full) 4. SKIP for 1min / BURPEE for 1min / RUN for 1min FINISH WITH 5 X CARDIO INTERVALS OF 30sec FAST / 30sec SLOW - RUN or SKIP or ROW FORMAT REPS // 20 reps of each exercise or hold for 1min where applicable plus skip, burpee or run continuously for 1min ROUNDS // 3 OBJECTIVE // 1. Complete 3 rounds of each exercise for time and 5 cardio intervals at the end. 2. Make sure you have good form and good control with each exercise. 3. Record your time.

BT WORKOUT #6

1. THRUSTER (3-5kg DUMBBELLS) 2. BOX JUMPS or STEP UPS 3. BURPEES or MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS 4. SKIP for 1min / RUN for 1min / ROW for 1min FORMAT REPS // 20 reps of each exercise plus skip, run or row continuously for 1min ROUNDS // 3 OBJECTIVE // 1. Complete 3 rounds of each exercise for time. 2. Make sure you have good form and good control with each exercise. 3. Record your time.

BT WORKOUT #7

1. THRUSTER (3-5kg DUMBBELLS) 2. BOX JUMPS or STEP UPS FORMAT REPS // 15 reps of each exercise ROUNDS // 10 OBJECTIVE // 1. Complete 10 rounds of each exercise for time. 2. Make sure you have good form and good control with each exercise. 3. Record your time.

CHECK OUT OUR RF TRAINING BLOG HERE LATER TODAY THE WORKOUT VIDS WILL BE UP AT 5PM

HIIT me till it hurts

HIIT ME TILL IT HURTS

High intensity interval training, also known as HIIT has started to gain some traction as a popular way to train. Short and sweetly put, HIIT training is a workout that interchanges between intense bursts of exercise with a period rest/low intensity exercise – think sprints on a track, then walking back to the start, and repeating, or a GRIT class at the gym.

To put it into context with regards to training, when we exercise we are either pushing ourselves into an aerobic zone (where we actively transporting oxygen to and away from our muscles as CO2) or an anaerobic zone (when there is not enough time to transport the oxygen to our muscles and we begin to break down sugar and in return we create lactic acid – hence why we fatigue a lot faster when we are doing anaerobic exercise). HIIT pushes us into an anaerobic zone, as does high intensity muscular activity/weight training. Alternatively a long endurance run, or bike, will have you sitting in the aerobic zone. Our heart rate spikes in anaerobic training with the intense spurts of exercise, whereas aerobic has more of a constant heart rate throughout the exercise.

Due to the intensity of HIIT, the more focused application aspects of the workout creates a metabolic demand of our bodies which is efficient in conditioning our bodies, making them leaner and decreasing fat. While we interchange this peak with the lower intensity/rest period of the workout and our body then uses the aerobics system to recover – but by the end of it you should absolutely be fatigued! I have always been a longer distance runner with the occasional GRIT class (Les Mills version of HIIT training, which is brill), but now I absolutely LOVE HIIT training and feel like it, strangely, is so much easier on my body in terms of recovery and my body doesn’t feel as battered all the time as it did with all the long distance running I was doing. And I love it because it pushes you to your limit and you feel like a boss after – and if you are like me, you love a bit of competition!

Steady state aerobic exercise (i.e. a long run) does encourage fat loss but along with this it also causes lean muscle loss, which is not what we want. The more lean muscle we have, the higher our metabolic rate will be and the ‘tighter’ you will look. You will notice that more often than not long distance runners will be skinny fat, i.e. they will look thin but pull up their top and they will have a thick band of fat around their tummy.

Anaerobic exercise (HIIT) promotes lean muscle gain. Lean muscle mass comes with a myriad of advantages i.e. boosting metabolism, lifting weights increases bone strength and density, helps prevent cardio diseases, diabetes etc etc. HIIT also stimulates the production of a HGH (you just need to know this is a growth hormone) which is responsible for you to have the ability to continue to burn calories post workout, and not just during the workout like slower endurance training will do. HIIT also recruits fast-twitch fibres (we have slow, which are recruited in steady state cardio, and fast which are recruited in HIIT training) which are responsibly for continued calorie burning post workout (can I get a high 5!).

HIIT is also extremely efficient – you get bigger results in a lot less time!

Summarising the above…. HIIT training will

• Promote losing body fat while retaining lean body mass

•Strengthening our cardio system

•Develops our working capacity

•Improves fat and carb oxidation (i.e. will boost your metab!) in skeletal muscle after the workout, as well as during

•You have to have some serious mental motivation so helps with mental strengthening (i.e. making you a hard ****!)

•Stimulating the fast twitch muscle fibres — the fibres that are great for strength, power , looking #shredded and continued calorie burning post workout.

•You can tailor it to be sport specific i.e. rugby, netball.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying don’t do any endurance training – it is always fantastic and very beneficial to do a combo of all sorts of training ,but don’t spend hours slugging away on the treadmill only doing long steady state training and expect to see results!

Em x

#HIIT #RF Training #Emma Wheeler

Refresh: Exercising for Optimum Health by Emma Wheeler

This is a slight tweaked version of my first ever blog post… enjoy!

Exercise for optimum health

Being heavily involved with exercise growing up, it is in my normal routine to run almost every day. I grew up with the no pain no gain method and this is how I have trained my whole life – if I am not sweating I have not worked hard enough. Through this I have been conditioned to want to push myself to the limit in all of my exercise, whether it be a 15km run, a circuit class or aerobic class, I am always striving to push that bit further, it is just in my personality

(or so I thought).

Up until about a year ago I truly believed that this was great for me; that it was a good way to maintain my health and I found it extremely mentally stimulating and would feel incredible after (thank you endorphins). But I have recently been introduced to the science behind exercise involving your parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system, and I have never had a lightbulb switch on so brightly in my head before. Don’t get me wrong though, you will still see me out hitting the pave in the park at 5am but it is all about balance and finding what works for you and basing your exercise decisions on your personal health and well-being.

For starters, your sympathetic nervous system will most likely be known to you as the system that controls your flight or fight response. When you are placed in a stressful situation your sympathetic nervous system comes into play and involuntarily will raise your heart rate, blood pressure whilst decreasing your digestive systems ability to digest food. Whereas the parasympathetic nervous system offsets the flight or fight response and works almost oppositely and will decrease heart rate, decrease blood pressure, and acts to help rest and restore your body. It has a key role in nourishing your body and repairing any tissue that may have been damaged. It is able to do this be helping to lower your energy output so that if required later you have that stored energy to use. Think cave man running to hunt for his dinner – all day he will be in parasympathetic mode, resting, restoring energy, so that when he sees his dinner running past he has enough energy to catch his dinner. ‘Back in the day’ the only reason people were required to exercise intensely was to catch their food! It is crazy to think now we jump on a standstill machine, just so we can run for a killer bod, to be able to mentally discard the guilt we have from eating that piece of delish cheesecake the night before!

If you are someone who would normally be sitting in sympathetic nervous system dominance you will be a reasonably stressed or wired person, your perception of what you have to do on a day to day basis will overwhelm you. There are a myriad of factors that push us to be in this principal state – internal and external factors. By exercising this adds to the sympathetic state, pushing our bodies into overdrive. When we perform high intensity exercise, we release adrenalin – adrenalin is our short term stress hormone. Essentially, adrenalin is released to get us out of danger when required– it is vital in an emergency for us to get ourselves out of danger, causing all the blood to rush to our extremities so we can get the f*ck out of there! This, in turn, causes many biochemical adjustments to occur in the body causing sugar to be released into our blood stream to use as energy. We then produce insulin to help counteract the extra sugar floating around and hello, insulin is our key fat storage hormone. You can see where I am going with this. So in essence, we have all of this extra adrenalin floating around, stringing us out, not even taking into consideration any additional emotional stress and caffeine, which is trying to be shunted by releasing insulin, which really is causing us to store extra fat,– you can probably start to see where I am heading with this and why we need to be performing more restorative exercise!

The balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic dominance needs to be in check – rest allows our bodies to reach optimal health! This is why 8 hours sleep a night etc is vital. We will forever be burning sugar, which is not ideal (FAT is the best energy source!), if we are in sympathetic dominance. Fat is what we want to be the key burner. This allows us a longer, more sustained and continual release of energy. If we over stimulate our sympathetic nervous system we also run the risk of adrenal fatigue, insomnia, depression etc.

Exercise such as Yoga, Pilates, Tai-chi is absolutely beautiful for your body – especially for those that are stuck in sympathetic dominance or those that are starting out on an exercise regime. It lowers the stress levels in your body – giving you a balance between the two systems – an equilibrium, which is what we require for optimal health. When it is activated, the heart rate drops, blood pressure falls, and respiration slows and deepens. Blood flow to the core of the body is re-established— this promotes good digestion, supports the immune system and infuses us with a sense of well-being. These types of exercise are also a lot easier on your body and have a lower impact on joints etc.

Now don’t get me wrong – I am certainly not saying don’t perform any high intensity exercise, just know your limits and do what you know nourishes and helps your body personally – what works for others won’t necessarily work for you! You know that exercising to absolute exhaustion is not going to nurture your body – listen to your body and know what it needs to function optimally.

Nourish your mind, body and soul.

Peace

Exercise: Friend or Foe by Emma Wheeler

As most of you will hopefully be aware I have the pleasure of blogging for Rapid Fitness and its so amazing to have the chance to be part of such an inspiring, motivation and dam onto it team! I’m truly hoping to help guide our community to look more closely at long term effects of health and how we can truly nourish our bodies by the choices of food, exercise, and thoughts we have. Due to my background of having a Sport and Exercise Science degree and such a passion for health and nutrition the next few blogs I will be honing in on exercise and how to find the right exercise that serves you and nurtures you. When it comes to exercise (for health, not high performance sport) I believe one of the most important things that people fail to understand is that everybody is different; a type of exercise that works for one person does not work for everybody. It is absolutely about finding out what it is that serves you, and what feels right for you. If you are doing exercise that you absolutely hate, that causes constant aches and pains, while you may think you are doing your body good, what about your state of mind and how you perceive exercise? Do you think you will have a positive connotation with exercise or a negative one? This will help to shape your motivation for exercise and whether or not you will frequently move your body, or chose to lounge around with a glass of vino in front of Shorty St when it’s drizzling outside.

There are so many different types of exercise out there to choose from and it is so important to find the right type that nourishes and nurtures you and your temple! You want to avoid exercise that wastes you, leaving you destroyed for days but rather helps to empower you and gets you mentally stimulated and alert. In terms of health, not high performance training, a rule of thumb that I think people should go by is that after your training you should feel more energized and enthused than when you started (hey endorphins, how you doin’), not crawling along the floor gasping for dear life. You don’t want to completely frizzle your nervous system, wiring you and therefore setting off all sorts of chemical reactions in your body with your adrenalin, insulin, cortisol levels etc etc going all over the show. Essentially, this will promote fat storage and I personally find it promotes a state of over-activeness in my brain; I find it feels like I do when I have too many coffees and start buzzing out, but hey maybe I am just a bit of a weirdo!

Additionally, something we seem to be fabulous at ignoring is injury. Your body will become injured if you have a weakness (or are training incorrectly), you need to truly listen to your body and when you are in pain or too much discomfort, ignoring it wont make you fit and doesn’t make you tough, it makes you stupid! Your body tells you when something is damaging and not good for you, don’t ignore it, it has happened for a reason. if your calf hurts, don’t run, go for a swim. Learn to listen and adapt your training and exercise to serve you individually and don’t take it too seriously, exercise for pleasure, health and nourishment!

A point that I find backs up needing to individualize your training is marathon runners; they can come in a myriad of shapes and sizes – there’s a reason that they aren’t all stick thin. Logically it makes sense when you are running phenomenal amounts, burning so many calories (we all know traditionally that if calories in = calories out, we will stay the same weight, and altering either side will either encourage weight gain or loss) so surely you should be stick thin? But that is perfectly not the case for the majority of us and more and more evidence appears about how there is so much more to exercise and food with this equation, which is why it is so bloody interesting! I know a lot of females that have set the goal to run the Auckland Marathon and with the hope that a consequence of this will be that they will shed some extra from their behinds but instead come out several kgs heavier. Our bodies are chemically made up very unique, and how I will respond to exercise is different to how you will and its about finding the balance between aerobic, anaerobic, relaxation etc to set you on FIRE and have as much benefit from exercise as humanly possible! I have blogged about exercising for optimum health which can help shed a bit of light on the contrast between yoga and running, but I have a lot more blogging to come! It is so important to find what works for you, which of can include a huge variety of different exercises to spice it up and keep you entertained!

Over the next wee while I will explain how our bodies respond to exercise and overview the different types of exercise and why they are beneficial, and why they may nourish you, or on the other down could tear you down!

Bless, and much gratitude..

#exercise #Emma Wheeler #RF Training #RF Fitness Blogger #http://gratitudesoulfood.wordpress.com

Emma Wheeler our latest team addition Fitness Blogger extraordinaire

INTRODUCING .. @emmaleahwheeler RF's newest Team addition! Em will be blogging all things Health & Fitness for the ‪#‎RFtraining‬ ‪#‎RFnutrition‬ blogs & our Rapid Fitness and RF Living Well Facebook pages - Great to have a woman's perspective huh ladies?! Welcome Emma - wicked to have you on board! ‪#‎gem‬ Keep your yes peeled for some rad Info and updates from Emma

And check out her Gratitude Soul Food Blog here http://gratitudesoulfood.wordpress.com

Rad Photography from @hgphotographer ‪#‎rapidfitness‬ ‪#‎rflivingwell‬

#Emma Wheeler #RF Fitness Blogger #http://gratitudesoulfood.wordpress.com

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