Lifting Weights v Cardio while bulking up

In the gym, one of the questions that I get most from guys that are trying to bulk up is if doing cardio will ruin their attempt to build up muscles. If bulking up is your goal, you can still do cardio but it is important that your cardio comes after your resistance training because you need to have as much energy as possible for lifting weights since building muscles is your priority. You can also alternate between one day of resistance training and one day of cardio. Cardio exercises are still important to keep or improve your cardio fitness levels. 

Don’t forget, doing cardio for 5 minutes as a warm up is essential to prepare your body for the workout, raise the body temperature, prevent injuries and it will not compromise your resistance training at all. 

Don’t be ashamed of being a beginner!

It is important to tell your Fitness Instructor, that you are a beginner when you go to a class for the first time. No-one should be ashamed of being a beginner and before you know it you will be surprised on how much you have progressed and how much easier it is to follow the classes, if you do them regularly. Rememeber, everybody was a beginner once… even the fitness instructors. I would like to add that it is also important that Fitness instructors ask, before class, if there are any beginners, or people with injuries, pregnancies, diabetis, asthma, etc because those people require special cues and instructions to follow during the class.

Next time you go to a fitness class, don’t be shy! Tell the fitness instructor everything he or she needs to know so you can benefit from the classes with adequate instructions, avoiding injuries or making a medical condition worse. Just be proud of being there trying to get fit and healthier. Just enjoy and have fun!

Aerobic Classes

Date: Tuesdays


Time:  7pm


Location: Rush Fitness Health Club (in the St. Maurs GAA Complex)


Price: €5 for members or €8 for non-members

Call (01)8071359 to book a class

Aerobic moves, combined in fun choreographies, exercised to music for 45 minutes. No need to know how to dance.

 The classes suit all fitness levels. Some benefits of an aerobic session:

·        Improves well-being and fitness levels

·        Burns fat

·        Improves efficiency of heart and lungs

·        Helps to reduce blood pressure & cholesterol levels

·        Great fun while working out.

The importance of sleep to your healthy routine

Regular exercise and nutrition are crucial but a good nights sleep is very important too. If you are constantly sleep-deprived you can be sabotaging your healthy routine. Many hormones are produced and your organism as a whole rests and recovers while you sleep. It is also during that time that your muscles repair and grow, which is essential to get results from your workout.

Insomnia can happen due to medical causes (pain, respiratory problems, hyperthyroidism, etc) or the intake of certain substances (such as caffeine, alcohol, psycho-stimulants, anti-depressives) or due to psychiatric disorders (such as anxiety, mania, depression) or because of specific sleep disorders (sleep apnea, nocturnal myoclonus). Insomnia can be Initial (when the person finds it difficult to get to sleep) or terminal (when the person wakes up precociously early and cannot go back to sleep).

Lack of sleep can make you feel grumpy, easily irritated, tired, stressed, your energy levels get low, makes it difficult to concentrate, lowers your immune system, makes you prone to health problems such as high blood pressure and weight gain (hormones that control your appetite get altered when you don’t get enough sleep).

Some tips for a better sleep:
· Make sure your room is cosy, comfortable and as dark as possible.
· You should have a routine around the time you go to sleep.
· Always go to sleep at the same time.
· Use your bed to sleep (don’t watch TV, read or study on your bed).
· Write down all your commitments for the following day to avoid getting worried about them.
· Wake up always at the same time every day.
· Exercise regularly.
· Be more active during the day and leave the evenings for more relaxing activities.
· Avoid alcohol.
· Avoid coffee and other psycho-stimulators mainly in the afternoon and evenings.

You should try to get 7-8 hours of sleep every night. Consult your doctor to check if your lack of sleep has any specific cause and if so treat it. Exercise regularly to improve your sleep. Have a good sleep routine so you can see the results of your workout.

Expression & Movement Fitness Convention 3

The third edition of the Expression and Movement Fitness Convention was held at the Swan Leisure Centre in Dublin for three days (November 18th, 19th and 20th) and brought some international Instructors to Dublin, such as Luciano Mottola, Cesar Millan, Troy Dureh, Luis Barbudo, Karolina Libelt, to name a few.

Each day had a different purpose. The first day you could choose between two different workshops or two zumba classes. I chose to attend the two workshops because they were new to me. The first workshop was Power Stretch with Karolina Libelt. She explained different kinds of stretches, why you should do them and how to do them. She was astonished by the fact that stretching classes are not common to find in gyms here in Ireland. That always amazed me as well, because stretching is so important (see my previous blog entry). The second workshop was Assymetric step with Luciano Mottola teaching how to prepare an advanced step class with Assymetric moves that also has muscle balance in mind.

The second day was the aerobics day, with advanced step classes by Luciano Mottola and Cesar Millan. It appeared like they were dancing and the step was a mere accessory to complement the dance. Troy Dureh did an exciting Khai-Bo Freestyle Combat and a great hip-hop jam class, teaching us Michael Jackson’s choreographies such as Thriller.

The final day was designed as a body and mind day. It was more focused on different classes of pilates and an original Luis Barbudo’s body flow class (combining breathing exercises, pilates and yoga). There was also Cesar Millan’s Toning class where you worked with a variety of toning exercises, using weights and/or your own body weight. It was choreographed in such a way that you ended up doing many sets of different exercises, all disguised as a dance. Karolina Libelt’s Functional training focused mainly on lower body exercises with many varieties of squats, lunges and squat jumps. There was also a 120 minute Circuit Training Challenge (yes, you read right…120 minutes of circuit!) by the Profi Fitness School Team, with different stations such as abs exercises, arms (tubing), step, squats and lunges, suspension TRX, spinning, etc.

The weekend consisted of almost 20 hours of Fitness Classes and workshops distributed in those three days. It was a pity that the two Zumba classes happened at the same time as the workshops on Friday, but overall the Convention was very exciting and gave me plenty of new moves that could be incorporated into my Fitness Classes.

It is always important for Fitness Instructors to go to these Conventions so that we can update our knowledge, learn about new Fitness trends and improve our skills. I hope there will be many more Fitness Conventions here in Dublin in 2012.

Cardio Versus Resistance training

Many women are afraid to do any kind of resistance training (e.g. weights) because they think that they will get too bulky, like a body builder. I can safely say that you won’t bulk up unless that is your goal. The type of training used for hypertrophy (bulk) is very different from L.M.E (Local Muscular Endurance, i.e, toning).

Another important point is that women don’t have a high level of testosterone like men and that makes it more difficult for women to bulk up. That fear of getting too much muscle leads many women to neglect resistance training and stick to only cardio exercises.

Cardiovascular training (e.g. running, walking, swimming) is very important because it improves coronary circulation, lowers heart rate, helps to reduce blood pressure, improves circulation, strengthens the heart, improves cholesterol levels by reducing the LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol), burns calories, improves cardio respiratory system, increases oxygen carrying capacity of the blood and improves overall conditioning.

Resistance training (e.g. exercises with free weights, or machines, or body weight, etc) brings a series of benefits such as improvements in muscular strength, muscular endurance, prevents osteoporosis, improves circulation, burns calories, improves body composition (percentage of muscle mass, fat, etc), improves posture and body image, reduces back and neck pain, enhances performance, and improves quality of life. Thanks to resistance training, you will also find it easier to do routine tasks such as holding your kids or lifting things.

Muscle is more metabolic active than fat. By increasing your muscle mass, you will increase your metabolism and consequently you will burn more calories even while resting. The body has to work harder to maintain that new muscle mass, subsequently the body will burn more fat.

Resistance training has the advantage of burning calories for longer after you have finished your workout in comparison to cardio. The more muscle mass you have, the bigger will be your caloric expenditure. As we age we lose muscle mass and as a consequence it makes our metabolism slower. Therefore it is important to do some resistance training in order to maintain/improve muscle mass and metabolism.

If your goal is to lose weight you should combine cardio and resistance training, supported by a well balanced diet as part of your routine.

Last but not least... Don’t forget to stretch! Many people tend to skip the stretching part of fitness classes. People often feel that stretching is a time-waster or feel the important part of the class is over. However, it is essential to stretch after your workout, because you need to stretch your muscles back to their original length and because tight muscles can cause muscular imbalance, poor posture and injury. Stretching can improve your sports performance by improving your ROM (Range of Motion) around a joint or number of joints. It can also prevent injuries and reduce muscle aches caused by poor posture and/or over training. You should hold the stretch for at least 15-30 seconds to mild tension, maintaining your normal breathing. You should stretch all muscles involved in your workout.

Motivational Tips for working-out in winter months

During the winter months people usually seem to have more appetite and to get lazier with regard to exercise, which can result in gaining weight. 

Here are some tips to keep fit during the winter:

• Try to go to group classes because working out in groups tends to be more stimulating (for most people), competitive, improves team spirit and helps you in making new friendships.

• Having a buddy to work out with is also very positive because you can motivate each other.

• It is noticeable that gyms become very quiet once the cold temperature arrives. Try to exercise as much as possible without making excuses. If there is a day that you really cannot see yourself getting out of your house, then you should exercise at home. There are many choices of Fitness DVDs or Fitness TV-shows. You will feel the positive changes of working out and you can make it part of your routine.

• Choose a play-list of upbeat songs that you like and use it for your workouts or even for dancing around the house.

• Establish a goal that is real and achievable. Losing weight should be a long-term process. Don’t give up if you don’t lose much weight in a short-term period. It should all be about having a healthy diet and working out regularly so you can see positive results. Crash diets are not the answer because they only act to slow down your metabolism (We will leave that for another blog entry!)

• Keep track of your progress. When the winter comes, think about all those things you have accomplished so far by working out. Don’t make it all be in vain.

• Choose a place to work out that is close to your home or your work, to make it more accessible for you. If you choose a place that is far you will be more tempted to make excuses for not going.

• Go shopping! Getting new fitness gear may be an extra motivation for you to workout.

• Use a visualisation technique. Visualisation is used by many professional athletes from all over the world. Prepare yourself before you workout or anytime you want. Relax, close your eyes and imagine yourself achieving your goals. Make it as real as possible. You can try to visualise in your mind as if it were a movie scene. Whenever you go to exercise, play that movie again in your mind.

Remember, if you want to be fit for the summer or prepared for a beach vacation you need to be exercising long before that. Working out at the last minute will not make miracles. You need to work for it, to get results.

So why not start now!!!