Tag Archives: fat loss

Gym Owner Monthly Magazine

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There’s a great new fitness magazine that has been launched very recently – called ‘Gym Owner Monthly’ – it is focused at fitness professionals as well as gym owners – and the best thing about it is it’s free!

Another good thing about it is I will be writing a couple of pages every month on my fitness thoughts, activities and ideas for fitness targeted at other over-50’s in their ‘Fitness Over Fifty’ section.

I’ll try to make it of interest to everyone, so check it out even if you’re well below that magic number.

Intro to Chris Part 1My first article is shown here, and it’s about my introduction to fitness and my conversion from being a 50-year old fat slob – I was in fact the original Peter Griffin. Read about it on pages 18 and 19 of the magazine.

You can subscribe on www.GymOwnerMonthly.com – or you can jump straight to the current issue on www.bitly.com/GymOwnerMonthly002

I hope you subscribe and get to read my words of ancient wisdom every month.

Welcome to the podcast

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I very much enjoyed taking part in my first ever fitness podcast recently.
I discussed how I got into fitness, why it changed my life – and how I’m now helping others to change their lives too. And what started as a doctor’s instruction to down the fat and up the fit became my hobby, my business and – just occasionally – my obsession.
Many thanks to Paul Burgess for featuring me on this edition of the Athletic Fitness and Nutrition podcast.
Click on the first item on the list and it will open in iTunes:
 

Grow your own good stuff

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Nutrition should be a key part of your fitness regime. Growing your own vegetables is a great way to enjoy fresh food and keep costs down.
If you are struggling to decide on what to grow, here are my top picks:

Spinach
Ever wondered why Popeye’s go-to food was always spinach? Although just a cartoon, there’s reason behind this concept — spinach helps to build bones, after all. On top of this, the leafy green works to nourish the eyes, boosts the body’s digestive system and offers relief against dry and itchy skin.

Broad beans
An excellent source of both fibre and protein, broad beans are a brilliant choice if one of your main fitness goals is to lose weight. The vegetable is rich in vitamin B and folate, providing the body with energy and enhancing its nerve and blood cell development, as well as cognitive function.

Courgettes
Your cardiovascular health can be substantially improved by adding courgettes to your diet. This is because they are high in nutrients like potassium and magnesium, both of which work to normalise your blood pressure. The vitamin C found in courgettes will work to prevent the oxidation of bad cholesterol in your blood too.

Carrots
There is some truth in the urban legend that carrots help you see in the dark. This is because the vegetable is rich in beta-carotene, which converts first into vitamin A in the liver and then rhodopsin in the retina — the latter is a purple pigment that is vital for night vision. Vitamin A also aids the liver by reducing the amount of fat and bile that builds up there.

If you’re looking for further ideas, or want to buy high quality vegetables to grow at home (even if you don’t have a garden), checkout the web site of my friends at Stacks of Flavour – www.StacksOfFlavour.co.uk

First gym vlog

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I had a great day on Monday with Alex Blakemore of Notts TV.

 Alex is filming a documentary in a few weeks focussing on people taking up fitness late in their lives, and he asked me to appear – I guess I qualify!

He came to London as a pre-filming introduction, we shared a couple of pretty intense workouts (arms and legs) and a high-protein lunch. And being a trendy young chap, he videod the day and made a vlog from it (its what young people do, don’t you know!).

Take a look at he vlog (link below) – and once you’ve done that, see his other great videos using the link on the comments of this one:

www.bitly.com/ChrisAlex1

Continue reading →

My nutrition approach – yours too?

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People often ask me about my nutrition, so here’s a typical day.  The pic is meals 1-3 of the six I’ll be having.

Meal 1 is the power breakfast of oats, nuts, seeds, berries, cinnamon, and whey shake with water – with some of the shake poured on the oats to turn them into a great chocolatey taste.

Breakfast pic 22 is mid morning Quest Bar in pumpkin pie flavour.

Meal 3 is grilled chicken breast chunks plus green beans and sweet potato – with some oil to keep the potato getting dry over the day.  This is prepared in advance and packed to take for a day away from home.

That lot comes to 1100 calories of my daily target of 2500 – and provides 100g of my daily target 250g  of protein, 95g of my daily target 250g of carbs, and 35g of my daily target 60g of fat.

Later meals will be:

Meal 4 – mid afternoon – cold roast chicken slices dunked into rhubarb yogurt (from M&S)

Meal 5 – post-workout – another whey shake plus a banana

Meal 6 – dinner with friends at a restaurant – I’ll probably go for steak with veg and share some red wine – this is a sociable occasion rather than diet-focussed, so I’ll make good choices but I’m not going to be a diet bore over dinner.

That 2500 daily calories is made up of 250g of each of protein and carbs and 60g of fat, which is a 40/40/20 percent split on macros.  That’s a ratio that has always worked well for me and I recommend it to all my fatness-down and fitness-up clients.  It’s also easy to calculate!

I hope that helps and answers the questions… but get in touch if you’ve any questions or comments.

Fitness talk on HayesFM – listen again…

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I had the great pleasure of being invited to be a guest on the FuestelFIT programme on HayesFM 91.8 a couple of days ago.  HayesFM is West London’s leading community radio station, and this particular show, hosted by fitness personality Nicola Feustel, is the top weekly radio show specialising in fitness anywhere in London.

During the chat with Nicola, I talked both about my own fitness story, and also tips for others – both over and under 50 – during the half-hour I was on air.

If you missed the show, and you’d like to hear it, then you can listen again on
www.bitly.com/ChrisOnHayesFM

Fit for life!

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I spend a lot of time doing my best to keep fit and make progress in the gym. But it isn’t all just for vanity (a bit maybe, but not all!).

What I do in and around the gym helps keep me fit for life, and the benefits accrue in many different ways. They add up to enjoyment in pretty much every aspect of my life.

I wrote an article on this, its been published by the nice folk at WatchFit – take a look on www.j.mp/ChrisA29

Three stage fitness

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I’ve written an article about a very simple approach to fat loss. One of my clients calls me the Patron Saint of the Bleedin’ obvious, and I think this article probably qualifies – at least as far as Stage One is concerned! Obvious, but true and sometimes it makes sense to go back to basics…

Take a look, its been published on the great WatchFit website – Click here

As always, I welcome comments, thoughts, questions via email.

Ideas on building abs

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You may have others say that ‘Abs are made in the kitchen – not in the gym’.

Well, that’s not really true. They are actually made in the gym – but they are indeed made visible by what you do in the kitchen. Work in the gym (or on the floor at home) will build those abs, but only getting down to below-average levels of bodyfat will make viewable.

The best abs exercise to show what you’ve built in the gym is without doubt: five sets daily of eating less rubbish!

But you do indeed have to build them – and I’ve written an article about what I’ve found to be the 6 best simple exercises for building the lower abs. On most people, that’s the bit south of the belly button, the lower slabs of your soon-to-be-visible six pack.

The article is in two parts, both on the great Watchfit website – take a look at the articles here:

Exercises 1-3

Exercises 4-6

I hope you find that helps you on the abs building part – now go plan that good nutrition to work on the making-visible part. There’s tips on my website about the nutrition approach you will need, but if you still want ideas, just drop me an email.

And have an ABSolutely fine time doing it, too!

Join me at FitFest!

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There’s a full day of fitness fun, presentations and discussions coming up in Chelmsford on Sunday 14 September!

The FitFest event is designed for anybody who wants to improve their fitness levels, reduce their fatness levels or a bit of both – whether you’re a total newcomer to fitness or you already know which bit of a dumbbell to hold!

I’ll be there talking about how I changed ‘From Fat to Fit at Fifty’, my presentation is at 12 but I’ll be there all day helping anyone I can.  There are quite a few people that I’ve helped add years to their lives, and life to their years – and I’ll show you how I do it.

Other presentations by top fitness folk including my fellow Ultra-FIT magazine author Paul Mumford and James St Pierre – its at Unique Results 220-221 Waterhouse Business Centre, CM1 2QE – and the fun starts at 10 and goes on until 4 or later –   I hope to see you there!!