Life Force Fitness

Do you snack? Most people will say they try not to snack. But snacking is fine if you make the right choices. In fact, it’s a good idea because it will help keep your energy levels more stable and it’s an opportunity to take in some protein to stimulate muscle growth or retention. A snack should be filling and give you sustained energy release without costing you too much of your calorie allowance. Foods are filling if they contain ✅ Protein ✅ Fibre ✅ Liquid ✅ Slow release carbs Crisps and chocolate, a bag of peanuts or trail mix, a flapjack. These are all seen as ‘snack’ foods. But they tick none of the above boxes, plus they deliver a lot of calories. Instead, try chicken breast and an apple. Or 0% Greek with berries. Sound weird? That’s because your snack mindset is stuck in the traditional aggressively marketed snack foods that most people eat. Think outside the snack box and try to tick the four boxes above while delivering 200 calories or less. #healthyeatingideas #snacktips #snackingtips #foodideas #eathealthysnacks #eathealthyfood #prioritiseprotein

What’s your squat form like? I bet you rarely look at yourself side-on in a mirror when you squat. If you do, you might see that your torso is bent forwards more than you thought. If that’s the case, it might be because you have tight calves. Tight calves will limit your ankle mobility. Specifically, it will limit how far over your toes you can get your knees. If you can’t get your knees very far, then your hips will sit further back and that will force you to lean your torso further forward to maintain your centre of gravity. But if your knees, thighs and hips sit further forward, then you’ll be able to sit back with a more upright torso. That’s a safer position from which to push out of the squat. The more bent over you are, the more strain you put on your lower back. So, if you want to squat well, and safely, develop your ankle mobility. Use this stretch to both measure and develop your ankle mobility at the bottom of the squat. #anklemobility #mobileankles #squatform #squat #mobilejoints #movewell #mobilitytraining #movementimprovement #prehab

Have you heard of empty calories? They are calories found in foods and drinks that provide no useful nutrients. For example, sugary drinks, sweets, alcohol and refined oils all provide lots of calories but no useful health-giving nutrients. They lack protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and essential fats. The primary purpose of food is to nourish and maintain health, not to satisfy hunger. Hunger is a mechanism created by evolution to remind living creatures to nourish themselves with food. With that in mind, you should try to eat as many foods crammed with nutrients as you can. The more foods you consume with empty calories, the more you risk ill health. Foods high in empty calories include sugary drinks, sweets, cakes, chocolates, biscuits and so on; in fact, most things that are highly processed, which tend to have been stripped of nutrients. Foods high in nutrients include almost all fruit and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and most unprocessed protein sources. If you create your diet around these foods, you will maximise your health and reduce your risk of gaining weight. That’s because this is also the dietary prescription for successful long-term weight loss. #eatforhealth #eatforweightloss #eathealthyfood #foodadvice #healthyeatingadvice #nutritionadvice #wholefood #nutritiousfood #healthyeatingtips #nutritiontips

Can you do push-ups like Chris? These aren’t bodyweight push-ups. Chris has a 25 kg bag on his back. That makes the push-up so much heavier and challenging. And your core gets a beasting too because it has to support the extra weight. Chris is making it look easy! And what’s more, this is his second set. In the first, he had an extra 2.5 kg plate on top of the bag. The push-up is underrated. It’s a great functional exercise that has many variations that can create more of a challenge or a different way to stimulate the target muscles. Why not simulate Chris’s efforts: load a rucksack with filled water bottles or something small and weighty. Strap it on nice and tight, and away you go. If you can get 25 kg on your back, see if you can get 10 reps. Now there’s a challenge! Let us know how you get on. #strengthworkout #pushups #pressups #buildmuscle #buildstrength #functionalstrength #strongforlife

This week I started my master’s in Sports Biomechanics at Loughborough University. Loughborough has been consistently rated the number one university in the world for sports related subjects. It houses many national sporting bodies and hosts elite athletes from across the country. So, I’m pretty chuffed and proud to be studying a sports-related subject at this university. The main gym, Powerbase, is fantastic. As you can see, it has a lot of power racks! It’s geared towards training for sports performance, rather than bodybuilding. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t well equipped for what I need. It absolutely is; you can see a glimpse of what lies to the left just out of the shot. The course is going to be tough because I need to keep working, so I’m going to be super busy. But I’m very much looking forward to it. Almost as much as I’m looking forward to training at the gym 😉. @lborouniversity @lborosport @personaltrainernorthampton @personaltraining

Would you like to be rid of your shoulder niggles? Shoulder problems are extremely common, and the causes are many and varied. A tight chest, weak back and poor rotator cuff function are among the most frequent causes. But sometimes, spinal irregularities can cause shoulder problems. In particular, you may have a twist in your spine that causes problems for the shoulder on one side. You can temporarily ease the impact of the twist using the floor angel. I have a twist in my spine and I do these before every workout, sometimes between sets. It helps temporarily better align my shoulders so that when I lift heavy, I don’t feel any discomfort in my shoulder. I’ll do some form of spine straightening several times a day. These drills offer temporary relief. But you have to ask why your spine is twisted in the first place. Mine was because of my dodgy hip. Despite having a new hip, the contortions and muscle imbalances prevail to some extent. Is there evidence of a spinal twist when you perform the floor angel? Why do you think you might have that twist? #shoulderhealth #shouldermobility #movewell #posturecorrection #movementimprovement #prehab #injuryprevention #mobilitytraining

Can you have more calories at the weekend and still lose weight? People ask because their eating patterns often differ at the weekend. The answer is yes, you can. But the devil is in the detail. We’ve previously blogged about this. If you starve yourself during the week and then binge at the weekend, it’s a good way to lose muscle and gain fat, especially if you choose calorific fatty foods at the weekend. Those are likely to produce unfavourable body composition changes and make you overconsume calories. Instead, choose a moderate calorie deficit during the week and a moderate carb-based calorie increase at the weekends. A 700-calorie deficit five days a week followed by maintenance calories (equal to your calorie output) at the weekend will allow you to lose roughly 1 pound a week. This eating pattern is a good strategy for long-term weight loss. As you lose weight and get further from your original weight, your hormones change to encourage you to regain weight. Having a carb refeed two days a week helps to reset your levels of the hormones insulin and leptin. This can help you continue to lose weight where you might otherwise plateau on an unvarying daily calorie intake. #loseweightwell #losethefat #weightlosstips #weightlossadvice #weightlossknowhow #eatingadvice #nutritionadvice #eatingtips #eatforweightloss #eatforhealth #eathealthyfood #healthyeating #healthyaging

Do you have excess spinal curvature? Your spine has natural curves – a slight lordosis in the lumbar region and a slight kyphosis in the thoracic region. But these curves can become exaggerated over time, exacerbated by your lifestyle, so that you end up with excessive lordosis and kyphosis. There are numerous potential consequences of this, including lower back and shoulder pain. The latissimus dorsi muscles can be part of the problem. If they are tight, they can internally rotate and pull down on the arm, making rounding more likely. But they also attach to the lumbar fascia and can contribute to arching of the lower back. This stretch will target the lats, but at the same time, it will reverse the excessive curvatures in both the lumbar and thoracic regions of the spine. The foam roller makes it easier to gradually extend the stretch. Why not give it a try and see if you feel straighter afterwards? #personaltrainernorthampton #personaltraining #prehab #mobilitytraining #spinalmobility #posturecorrection #movementcorrection #movewell #stretchingexercises #stretching

Are you still eating salad despite recent cold snap? You can make it more hearty and filling by thinking beyond traditional salad ingredients. Here are three healthy foods you can add to your salad to bulk it out without adding lots of calories. ✅ Julienned courgette. If you don’t have a julienne peeler already, they look like standard peelers, but with teeth. If you get through a whole courgette, it’ll give you a bulky and filling salad base, a bit like those packets of courgetti spaghetti, except that you’ll have created it from fresh yourself rather than buying it after it’s been on the shelf for a few days. Courgettes are much nicer raw like this, than cooked. ✅ Baked aubergines. Cut the aubergine into chunks and bake for 30-40 minutes. It’ll brown a little on the outside but remain gooey on the inside. It’ll give your salad a creamy indulgent feel, like avocado might, only at a fraction of the calorie cost. That means you can fill your boots and feel very satisfied. ✅ Curly Kale or cavolo nero. Who says you have to have salad leaves? Kale is bulkier and chewier than salad leaves, but with a similar calorie value. So, it’ll help fill you up more. What are you going to add to your salad to make it more filling and keep it fresh and varied? #eatforhealth #eatfroweightloss #eathhealthyfood #salad #foodadvice #healthyeatingadvice #healthyeatingideas #healthyeatingtips #nutritionideas #eatingideas #foodideas #nutritiousfood #wholefood

Do your hips feel stiff? It’s really common to have tight hips. Probably the most frequent place for tightness is at the front in the muscles that flex the hip. When they are tight, it may pull down the front of the pelvis, causing a pelvic tilt. This, in turn, can cause lower back pain. The Cossack squat is a challenging stretch that will not only lengthen the front of the hip, but the sides and rear of the hip too. So it’s a great all-purpose hip loosener if you can perform it well. If you keep progressing the Cossack squat, it will make you much more mobile and help you move better in everyday life. But it is challenging. At first it is likely you will lean your torso over. But keep persevering and try and get your torso a little more upright every time you perform it. Also attempt to move a little more to the side each time you do it. It’s tough, but very beneficial because it will lengthen tight muscles and strengthen their antagonists. Give it a go and let us know how you get on. #mobilehips #movewell #hipmobility #prehab #stretching #cossacksquat #movementimprovement #flexibilitytraining #mobilitytraining