There is only one rowing machine that I would ever purchase and that is the Concept II.  Since 14 years of age I have rowed on Concept II’s and back then my rowing coach told me this was the only rower worth purchasing and still today it’s the same.  My current Concept II I own I have had for 10 years and works perfectly as it did the day I bought it.  I have tried many different types of rowers and the Concept II stands out by far as the best.  In second place I would put the water rower, it looks great and feels great and for some people this is the best rower, but having used Concept II’s for years I have grown to only accept one rower.  The fan sound you get from the Concept II and the motion and feel it provides can’t be beat.

I wouldn’t really consider anything other than the Water rower or Concept II, other rowers feel weak and cheap often, I have never heard of anyone serious about fitness highly recommending another rower other than these two prime examples.  The Concept II and the Water rower are not cheap but hold value well, you see Concept II’s selling on Ebay 5 years old for only 30% off the original price.

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Two weeks ago I did myself a gym related injury which turned out to be the worst injury I have ever had from the gym.  I never thought I would get an injury like the one as I thought this only happened to inexperienced people, but be warned it can easily happen, and its extremely painful when it does.

Two weeks ago I was performing bicep curls during my gym workout and towards the end of the workout I decided to throw in 2 cheat sets to go heavier than I usually would.  I have performed cheat sets for well over 10 years and have not suffered any problems, this time however I moved my neck slightly forward when lifting the weight up injuring my neck.  The problem with very heavy cheat sets is that it only takes a small wrong movement to cause serious damage, from now on I won’t be perfroming cheat sets again as they are a very risky maneuver.  When I yanked my head slightly forward I caused a facet joint injury my physio told me, this left me unable to move my head at all, I had to hold one shoulder 2 inches above usual and hold my head up at first just to relieve the pain.  I spent a few days predominantly in bed as the pain was too much standing.  Sleeping was a nightmare as I had to lift my head with my hand to move even a cm to the left.  When I did this injury I thought I had slipped a disk and it was all over.  When I found out it could be repaired I still thought I would be out of action for a good 6  months.  It took Sarah my physio only 7-10 days to get me back feeling good.  I highly recommend physio for sports related injuries and even when you think the worst you will often find out that most things can be fixed yet most people believe they can’t so don’t seek help, often leading them to get worse.

I highly recommend Westlondonphysio just off Kensington high street these guys are experts in gym related injuries, don’t spend time in bed thinking there is no hope leaving time to be a healer get to a physio as soon as you can.  I asked my physio if I had not had any physio and gone about treating it with the proper care and medication, how long it would have taken to heal I was told probably around 2 months to heal, that was a scenario I certainly wanted to avoid as working as a personal trainer having an injured neck is not the best advertisement for your business.

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I have tried many different elliptical trainers over the years in various different countries and gyms, so feel I can give you an accurate review of elliptical trainers.  The main problem allot of people have with elliptical trainers is that they only suit people of a certain stride length, so if you are a 5 ft woman an elliptical trainer could be very uncomfortable to use.  For this reason I eliminate 99% of elliptical trainers at being a good purchase for gym owners or personal training studio owners.  One that stands out to me is the Octane elliptical trainer which I have put in Personal training studios W10.  The Octane range allows you to adjust the stride length to match your stride length, this feature has made it very popular amongst many of my customers, and is certainly the only elliptical trainer I would purchase.  For many people adjusting the stride length is not really necessary as the majority of elliptical trainers cater for the average person but this tends to be people from roughly 5ft 5in and above.  Tall people don’t tend to suffer if you are 6ft 9in most elliptical trainers should be fine for you, but if you are smaller than average you will most likely struggle.

If you are purchasing an elliptical trainer for yourself and you can’t adjust the stride length on the one you want to buy, but it feels comfortable, then this is not a problem, however, if it is for multiple people it may become a problem.

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At Personal training studios W10 we have had all different types of swiss balls over the years so I can tell you which ones I think you should purchase and which ones you should avoid.  The best swiss balls have got to be the Paul Chek swiss balls.  These swiss balls are hard wearing and have grip on them like no other I have found, certainly my favorite.  I usually pick swiss balls on the durability and the grip.  Avoid swiss balls like a Reebok swiss ball from Argos they are ultra thin very bouncy and pop on anything.  The most expensive swiss ball I ever purchased was the Technogym swiss ball, this ball is ok but again is reasonably thin so you have to be careful with it.  It depends also on what you need it for, if it’s just for you then allot of swiss balls are fine, as we use it in a studio environment multiple times of day I prefer them to be a bit harder wearing.

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Allot of people talk about drinking green tea these days due to it being a very healthy form of tea, but why is it actually good for us?

Green tea is rich in catechin polyphenois, particularly EGCG.  EGCG is a powerful antioxidant which kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue.  EGCG is also very good at reducing LDL cholesterol levels and preventing blood clots.  The benefits of green tea can therefore be experienced at its best by those with cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, high cholesterol levels, cardiovascular disease and impaired immune function.  EGCG is what scientists say helps Japanese men live so long despite the amount they smoke.  Green tea is also of great benefit to people trying to lose weight as it is believed to help the body burn calories allot faster when combined with caffeine.  Green tea is also good at preventing tooth decay due to its bacteria destroying ability that helps to break down dental plaque.  With all these positives you are now wondering what are the negatives, the main negative is insomnia and that tends to be it.  So if you are drinking green tea and you have problems usually sleeping after a coffee then don’t have it before bed, even though green tea contains much less caffeine than coffee.

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If your trying to get in shape then you may find a heart rate monitor useful.  A heart rate monitor is a great way to monitor your heart  rate whilst exercising and check how many calories you are burning.  Heart rate monitors are all different if you are a beginner you are not going to want a heart rate monitor with all the extras that only an athlete would need, so read our reviews below to check which heart rate monitor is the best heart rate monitor for you.

Polar FS1

This is an entry level heart rate monitor perfect for someone who doesn’t want a heart rate monitor with all the extras but an easy to use heart rate monitor.  Simple easy to use buttons and a nice price.

Polar F6

A medium level heart rate monitor with some extras but not too complicated.  Certainly a step up from the Polar FS1 without becoming too complicated.  The F6 tracks calories in different heart rate zones as well as giving you a weekly summary of your workouts.

Polar FT60

A great heart rate monitor for someone looking to really improve their workouts.  This heart rate monitor allows you to set weekly fitness goals and do fitness tests.  The FT60 easily links up to your computer allowing you to transfer data.  Although this heart rate monitor is not cheap it will certainly give your workouts a real boost.

Garmin Forerunner 305

This is the top of the range when it comes to heart rate monitors.  This heart rate monitor comes with GPS tracking and the ability to create your own workouts as well as analyzing your pace, distance and calories burned.  The only downside is it doesn’t have a clock and its a bit bulky.  This heart rate monitor has great reviews and comes highly recommended by many athletes.

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Some people don’t agree with sports supplements as they believe they can get everything their body needs from normal food, is this true?  Yes, most of the ingredients from supplements we recommend you can get from normal food, however, consuming the amount of what you need may be difficult, supplements make it a lot easier to consume this amount.  Protein shakes for example, a large protein shake tends to have the same amount of protein in as a steak, but if you tried to digest a steak as often as people trying to gain muscle often need you would probably find it very time consuming and make you feel pretty bloated.  Strong multi vitamins give you the necessary vitamins in one pill, getting this from fruit and veg would require you to eat allot of different fruit and veg.  Supplements should be combined with a healthy diet for optimum results, it’s certainly not healthy to rely solely on sports supplements as your daily nutritional intake.  Supplements are not essential to losing weight or building muscle but they sure do help.  Supplements should do exactly what the name intends not the rubbish Fitness magazines and Bodybuilding magazines imply they do, they should go along side your workout and diet to give you improved results.

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As a personal trainer there are certain essentials you could do with owning that will really help your business.  Below is a list of these essentials that we recommend.

• Heart rate monitor – A heart rate monitor will allow you to track your clients heart rate through out your sessions, this will ensure they are working out at the level you want them to.  Polar is a good make of heart rate monitor and probably the most popular used worldwide.
• Peak flow meter – A peak flow meter allows you to measure your client’s ability to breathe out air.  Peak flow meters can detect if a client is healthy, asthmatic and the power in their lungs.
• Measuring tape – Use a measuring tape to measure your clients arms, legs, neck etc every few weeks so they can see their improvements.
• Scales- Most clients will want you to measure their weight through out their time training with you, your scales need to be accurate scales that don’t give different inaccurate readings each time they step on them like many sets of scales do.  Salter scales and Tanita scales are a good choice of accurate scales.
• Body fat tester – either calipers or accurate body fat scales should be used to measure a clients body fat every few weeks.  Stick to the Tanita ones, these are great.  Any of the scales with the handles I find to give the most accurate reading.

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Becoming a female fitness model is very similar to becoming a female fashion model accept allot harder as you have to get your body in incredible shape that really stands out above 99% of women.  As a female fitness model you need to look strong and toned but not bulky.  It is important to look pretty and be feminine not too scary and muscular.

Pointers in the right direction-

• Create a portfolio, this may be expensive and take a long time to create, so save up and spend time getting good photos done.  Your portfolio is what will sell you to the agencies and magazines.
• Get a good photographer, someone who works already with female fitness models, look in fitness magazines and ring up agencies to see who they suggest you use.
• Concentrate on building defined abs but don’t go too extreme.
• Look at fitness magazines and see who the popular fitness models are and try and get your body to look similar.
• Make sure you live close to where the agencies are and always arrive on time to meetings and shoots.  Living in a big city like New York or London is your best bet.

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Millions of people around the world lift weights regularly and tons of teens want to get huge to impress the girls at the beach, so imagine how many people want to become a bodybuilder or think of becoming a bodybuilder, loads!  So is it competitive?  Yes, very, and is there a lot of money in it when you are a pro, some, but still a lot of Pro’s struggle and it is only the very top few that make a great living out of it as it is not a mainstream sport.

Unless you have incredible genetics, that means narrow hips, wide shoulders and thick legs you are unlikely to make it, although some have in the past like Frank Zane, it is very very hard.  Look at bodybuilding magazines and compare yourself to people in the same weight and age categories as you and see how you compare.  If you beat him and become number one of most shows you will still struggle to pay the bills, you need to be right at the top to make a good living.  Look at Kai Greene for example one of the top 10 bodybuilders in the world, he still finds it hard to find enough money to eat.

Don’t give up everything to become a pro bodybuilder, if you give up college and you don’t make it as a bodybuilder what do you have to fall back on, the only jobs available will be bouncer work or removals.

Enter contests and see how you stack up against the competition, speak to pro bodybuilders and ask them what they think of your chances to become a pro is, thats what I did.  When I seriously wanted to go all the way I asked a Pro to look at my physique and tell me what he thought my chances were.

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