Anthony Gillespie

I was buying a plant the other day for the new gym and I got talking with the friendly shop assistant whilst trying to decide which plant would have the most chance of surviving the hostile environment of Sweat and a less than green thumbed owner! “So you’re a personal trainer?” mystified look on his face. “why aren’t you massive dude?” said with a good natured vibe. “I mean you look outdoorsy and kind of fit (thanks!) but most personal trainers I see have it virtually tattooed on their forehead if not literally tattooed on their massive guns, you’ve seen what I am talking about”. My reply, pulling out my old favourite, was “well yeah, I do  know what you mean but I am the ‘thinking person’s personal trainer'” …..This was something I blogged about sometime back if any of you recall after another similar type of experience  in Airlie Beach a few years back. “and our clients aren’t the ones who respond well to the over muscled dude with the designer singlet” Maybe I said this a tad too defensively as he quickly back pedalled with, “No, no, no don’t get me wrong, I am sure you are really good at what you do and I it meant more like, ‘yeah, cool someone normal, you know what I mean?” I laughed and thought to myself, that I really do have to get those bicep curls going a bit more or wear a better cut off shirt! But, I guess the point to note is that myself and the trainers […]

This is appropriate for members of our new gym or those who have access to a treadmill. This can be done in 25 mins and you need a heart rate monitor and an all clear from your doc (of course). 5 min gradual warm up bringing your heart rate up in to a training zone. What is a training zone? Usually 70-80% of your predicted maximum heart rate. A better formula however is 220-your age – your resting heart rate. Multiple this number by .7 (or .8) and add back on your resting heart rate. For 15 minutes you might perform 10 efforts of 60 seconds at 85-90% max heart rate with a 30 second walking (or jogging) recovery. Just on that, you may actually not even have to run to get your heart rate up enough. You could use the elevation on the treadmill to boost the intensity or you could choose to run on the flat or up hills if that is what you need. Just remember, this is about ‘relative intensity’, meaning relative to your current fitness level. If you don’t have a heart rate monitor yet, (I advise you get one asap) then you can use the talk test. You should be able to talk in the recovery phase but not so much in the ‘on’ phase! Experiment with this a little and try to observe, over time your ability to walk faster up hills or tolerate a higher speed or recover quicker. It is amazing to watch (and feel) how the body adapts and becomes […]