1. Stay Hydrated

Stay hydrated before, during and after a work out. Remaining hydrated helps lubricate and protect joints, sustain energy and regulate body temperature. Water is an ideal choice but other drinks, such as coconut water or electrolyte supplements are good as they maintain your sugar, salt and potassium levels – which can help prevent cramps.

2. Respect your Limits

Keep your ego in check; challenge your boundaries but don’t push through pain. Feeling ‘the burn’ is one thing but the ‘ouch’ of a sharp pain is a message from your body to back off. Don’t sacrifice your long-term health and fitness goals by going in too hard and too fast and thereby sustaining an injury. Instead, have patience and commitment and build up gradually, over time.

3. Warm up and stretch!

Warming up the muscles is crucial as it ensures they are given a fresh supply of blood and with the body warmer it is less likely to pull a muscle.  Stretching ensures the muscles are stretched out so when you perform a full repetition the muscles aren’t pushed past their limit so don’t get injured.

4.Be Strong!

Strong muscles help protect your body from injury, especially your core strength. A strong, stable and supporting core can help prevent back injuries as the core supports the body throughout the exercise rather than the spine taking all the load.

5. Attention to detail

Simple things – like wearing the correct footwear – matched to your foot type and particular activity, is a small but effective way to help prevent ankle, knee and lower back injuries.

Written by Vanessa

1. Increasing desire to eat bad foods- sleep helps balance the hormone that controls appetite.  With this hormone unbalanced you will often feel hungry and have a craving for high calorie foods.
2. Increased stress- sleeping for less than 7 hours can cause the body to increase cortisol the stress hormone.
3. Higher cancer risk- poor sleep can cause metabolic disturbances associated with cancer risk.
4. Looking older- people who get little sleep tend to have a pale tired looking face and also the increased levels of cortisol the stress hormone will slow the production of collagen which triggers wrinkles more quickly.
5. Lowers bodies defences- people who get under 7 hours sleep are 3 times more likely to feel cold modern research shows.  Lack of sleep will increase your chances of catching the common cold and getting really run down, this is the reason that so many people have colds in hard working locations, that and also the fact that they come into contact with a lot of people on a daily basis.

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A warm glass of milk has long been attributed to helping you fall asleep. While milk does contain traces of tryptophan this may not be the reason it seems to send you off to the land of nod. Anecdotally tryptophan is linked with inducing sleep but in terms of hard evidence, the jury is still out. It may aid the first phase of sleep – but it can work against you during the deeper phases of sleep. If warm milk does help you sleep, it is perhaps because of the comfort, pleasure and reassurance that a nightly ritual can provide, which is reason enough – if it works for you. Herbal teas may produce a similar effect.

Complex carbohydrates can cause a sustained, gradual rise in the levels of serotonin – a sleep regulating neurotransmitter. In turn serotonin is converted into melatonin – a sleep-promoting hormone. So a healthy snack such as oatmeal, an hour or two before bed, can aid sleep.

Really, no foods or drink can specifically help you sleep – it is rather a case of what to avoid before bed, combined with other lifestyle factors.

Avoid Alcohol; passing out is not falling asleep. A glass of wine with dinner is fine, as it will have metabolised before you go to bed. If you are metabolising alcohol while you are sleeping this can reduce your sleep quality and potentially cause you to wake later in the night.

Caffeine is a stimulant; winding you up at night, when you need to wind down. Ironically, if you are a big coffee drinker you may feel fatigued given the havoc coffee can play on your adrenal system but it wont help you sleep. Depending on your metabolism caffeine can cause sleep problems up to ten hours after drinking it. So, if you can’t give up or don’t like decaf maybe try limiting yourself to having your coffee in the morning.

Avoid eating or drinking too much, too fast or too late. Sleep will be compromised by indigestion, heartburn, physical discomfort or trips to the bathroom. For similar reasons excessively spicy foods just before bed should be avoided.

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Since recently losing Krenoula our sports masseuse I have been looking for an equally good masseuse to fill her place. Krenoula performed sports massage on all our clients at her studio in Kilburn lane a short distance from the studio, however, lately there has been a growing demand for mobile massage so our new masseuses starting in the next couple of weeks will go to your home and do sports massage and deep tissue massage there. Each masseuse will bring their own massage table and have been carefully vetted by ourselves on their massage ability. If you are looking for a good deep tissue massage then look no further, we will have launched the massage section of this site in the next 2 weeks, I will keep you posted.

A mouth ulcer is an exposed nerve.  The linings of our mouths are actually very sensitive, when a break appears in the lining it exposes the nerves that lie beneath it.  When we touch these ulcers with a toothbrush, food or drink it can hurt a lot.  So what causes them?  Anything that breaks the surface, usually tooth brushes, sharp food, biting yourself accidentally or hot food.  They usually last a week or so but will keep reappearing if what ever causes it is consistently damaging it like a sharp tooth for example.  Aphthous ulcers are usually caused by stress and don’t seem to go down until the stress has stopped, these can last a couple of weeks.  Some people get ulcers a lot more commonly than other people this may be because they are deficient in vitamin B12 or Folate.

To avoid mouth ulcers make sure you brush your teeth regularly but not too hard.  Make sure you keep to a healthy diet and that you avoid food and drink that is too hot as you put it in your mouth.

So how do I get rid of an ulcer if I have one right now?  Gargling and swallowing paracetemol relieves the pain and rinsing your mouth out with iced water before a meal relieves the pain when eating.  The best treatments can be purchased from your local chemists such as Bonjela and other antiseptic gels.

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Since recently losing our masseuse Krenoula, who has gone back to Australia I have looked round for another masseuse to treat clients of Personal training studios W10.  I have been to Zen health spa now 3 or 4 times and really recommend them.  Zen is based in Notting Hill near our gym, on the high street of Notting Hill Gate.  When I first went there I didn’t know what to expect as it was right amidst the hustle and bustle of Notting Hill I couldn’t imagine it from the outside to be a peaceful place of relaxation. Once I got in there it was the opposite of what I expected, completely quiet with modern relaxing treatment rooms.  There are many masseuses working at Zen so during the week I was able to get an appointment with very little notice, literally just walking in off the street.  However after 7 in the evening and on the weekends they are nearly always fully booked, I am guessing with stressed out businessmen and women who reside in the area going there to relax.  I have had deep tissue massage there by 2 or 3 masseuses and have found them to be well qualified and offered an excellent deep tissue massage.  For clients of ours at Personal training studios W10 instead of treating them in house I now highly recommend Zen as the place to go in Notting Hill.

Looking for some reasons to stop smoking, then here is a great list to check out.  By stopping smoking today you can experience the following benefits in just one day after stopping smoking.

• Reduced blood pressure.
• Pulse rate drops
• Carbon Monoxide level in blood drops
• Oxygen level in blood increases
• Chance of heart attack decreases

In a months time-

• Blood circulation improves
• Walking becomes easier
• Lung function increases by up to 30%

In a year-

• Excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker

In 5 Years-

• Lung cancer death rate of an average smoker decreases by half
• Risk of mouth and throat cancer is half of a smokers

15 years-

• Risk of coronary heart disease is the same as a non smoker

What are you waiting for?   Experience these great benefits today!

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In February a doctor will become a featured blog writer on the personal trainers blog.  They will not only be helping assist us with medical questions relating to health and fitness but helping out in the forum answering health/fitness related questions.  We will be talking more in detail about supplements with them, injury prevention and health boosting.

Experts now say that you should brush your teeth once a day but floss twice a day. Over brushing can actually do damage to your teeth and gums. Most people don’t floss but the flossing is very important and should be done on a daily basis. I have been brushing my teeth once a day in the mornings, flossing in the mornings, mouth wash in the morning and flossing at night. Allot of dentists disagree with this method but many dentists say it is the right way to go, I find that it keeps my teeth looking good and my dentist seems to be happy. Before reading about this I never used to floss and this has made a big difference.

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Cortisol is a corticosteroid hormone aka “Stress Hormone” produced in the adrenal gland, it is involved in response to stress and anxiety.  Cortisol increases blood sugar levels, increases blood pressure and reduces immune system responses.  This is one hormone that we really need to control.  In most peoples modern lives they suffer from cortisol being too high as we live in high stress environments, a great way of reducing cortisol is through exercising and taking a supplement such as Holy Basil.  It is important to have stress relieving times during the day such as having a bath, having a massage or working out for example.  When Cortisol builds up it causes us to put on weight so if you are trying to lose weight you may want to have a think about your stress levels as this may be responsible for your excess weight.

If you are suffering from stress or anxiety and it is really affecting your health and well being you may find it helpful to talk to the OCD Centre they are experts in stress and anxiety disorders.  The OCD Centre has been treating many celebrities, businessmen and people in high stress environments for years and can make a considerable difference to helping you with stress and anxiety management.

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