YVONNE HAS SHED 13LBS OF FAT AND GONE DOWN IN DRESS SIZES, SO IT’S BEEN A VERY BUSY FOUR WEEKS. BUT HOW IS SHE COPING WITH IT ALL? It’s now four weeks since Yvonne made a decision to implement lifestyle changes and improve her fitness, so how is she getting on? In her teens she had the luxury of eating whatever she wanted but now, like a lot of people in their 30s, frequent indiscretions…

WEIGHT-LOSS TV SHOWS ARE MISLEADING, ESPECIALLY IF YOU WANT TO GET GENUINELY HEALTHY The TV show Operation Transformation came to a close recently and the ratings figures will probably deem it a success. But I feel that the show sends out the wrong message on what improving your health is all about. The show never determined whether the ‘team leaders’ lost muscle weight or fat. They were paraded each week to be publicly weighed in…

TIME, AND HOW YOU USE IT, IS A CRUCIAL FACTOR IN DETERMINING THE OUTCOME OF YOUR WORKOUT There are a number of different variables in training that can influence your results. In weight training or running, some of these variables include repetitions, sets, tempo, exercise selection or order and rest periods. Rest periods refer to the length of rest time between sets and exercises. It is an important but often underestimated and under-used training variable….

THE ANCIENT GREEKS CAN TEACH US A THING OR TWO ABOUT GETTING IN SHAPE AND STAYING THAT WAY It is just over one week since Yvonne began her journey on these pages to improve her energy, fitness and vitality. Our role as coaches here at Bfit4life is to provide a road map to help get a client from where they are to where they want to go. We do this by providing guidance through a customised…

FROM NOW ON IT’S BYE BYE TO THINGS LIKE ALCOHOL, BREAD AND CAKES AND HELLO TO HARD WORK Still not losing weight? The reason why is you don’t care about it enough. People who care take action. They are committed to accomplishing what they set out to do. They plant a stake in the ground and make certain things in their life non-negotiable. They don’t do the least to get the most, they do whatever…

VALENTINE’S DAY HIGHLIGHTS THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE GYM AND RELATIONSHIPS Valentine’s Day has been and gone and it got me thinking about the parallels between fitness and relationships. If I had only realised this earlier in my life, I would have saved myself some heartache! In fairytales, Cupid’s main purpose was to help people fall in love but the problem is that we don’t live in a fairytale world. In the fitness world, people interested…

INSTEAD THINK LEAN MUSCLE, STRENGTH, WEIGHT LOSS, BETTER BONES AND A SHARPER BRAIN! As people age, the purpose of their training may change from aesthetic reasons to more functional ones. Regardless of your goal, it is important that you choose the right tools to accomplish it. One of the biggest myths of the fitness industry is that weight training is not good for weight loss, it’s dangerous, makes you big and bulky, or that it…

STILL STUCK FOR MOTIVATION TO LOSE WEIGHT? MAYBE FOLLOWING IN SOMEONE ELSE’S FOOTSTEPS MIGHT HELP In THIS column, I share my experience on ways to obtain optimal health and — most importantly — how to change your body shape. But sometimes the penny will only drop when you see it in practice. So, starting today, you can follow Yvonne’s progress as she attempts to shape up. One of the most important things when starting out…

SO THE ANNUAL BULL RUN TO JOIN A GYM HAS BEGUN TO DWINDLE. THE CHALLENGE FOR THOSE ESTABLISHMENTS NOW IS HOW TO RETAIN THE NEW MEMBERS WHO HAVE STARTED THE YEAR IN THE HOPE OF ACHIEVING WEIGHT LOSS OR MUSCLE GAIN. The reality is that with no structured training and nutrition plan the results will fail to materialise and inevitably the member will leave. Anton Clancy, regional manager of Jackie Skelly gyms, which has 20,000…

WE LOVE MAKING EXCUSES TO OURSELVES BUT NUMBERS DON’T LIE — THAT’S WHERE KPIS COME IN One of the things I enjoy most is watching different sports on TV and commentators’ use of statistics. During post-game analysis, I’m always amazed by the wide range of facts and figures used. Time-motion analysis gives us details of how much each player ran, percentage possession tells us which team had the ball for each half and then there’s…