  Firstly, what is an activity tracker? It is a watch that measures health and physical activity, worn on your wrist, controlled through app's. Each brand has features, but the main features are;
The higher end models include things like the ability to answer your phone wirelessly, tracking calories eaten, joining social networks and much more. They can range from around $79 from up to about $1000. In my opinion, as a fitness consumer, here are the main benefits of using an activity tracker: 1. Tracking how many steps you've done in a day. When you get your watch you then personalise it with things like your step size (ie for people of different heights), what hand you are wearing it on, your weight/age etc. It's pretty accurate (I've tested against a pedometor). By watching how many steps you've done in a day it reminds you to get moving, if you've been too sedentary it's a good reminder to get those steps up. This is a great motivator for someone starting out, or someone who needs motivation in general, or just for those who like to follow what they've done in a day. It's great to be accountable for your activity, or lack there of! 2. Tracking your heart rate. The aim of an intense workout is to workout at around 75-80% of your maximum heart rate. So once you've worked out what this is (you can do this on the app), you can see what your heart rate is while you're working out, and adjust your intensity level accordingly. 3. Telling the time. Just using it as a normal watch that is back lit. 4. Tracking your distance. You have a button on the tracker you push as you head off for your run/activity, then you turn it off upon finishing, your tracker will give you a quick read of your stats after your workout. Usually km's, steps, cals burned etc, then once you are home you sync your activity tracker to your app/computer, and all the data is then downloaded. You can monitor your progress each day, the data is stored for you so you can watch your progress over the months. Negatives:
What do I do? I have one and I wear it occasionally, it depends what I'm doing as to when and how much I use it. I used to wear it everyday but I found it got a bit bulky, and with my my main uses for it to track distance on my runs, and my heart rate on an intense workout, I realised I didn't need to have it on all day. I'm not tracking my steps (simply because I exceed 12,000 steps 6 days a week) so wearing it everyday isn't my thing, but I do see them having their place. In general I think they are great tools, it shows a committment to physical activity, your health and the desire to look after your own health, to monitor your own results and those things should be applauded. In summary: Positives
Negatives
 Sharon Bouwer - Registered Personal Trainer Let's Get Active - Group Outdoor Sessions (Boot camp without the boot!)  We are excited to bring you our new program - Fitness Boost for Mums. Make use of the summer days, get active, get social and join us for 6 weeks of group outdoor workouts, it’s boot camp without the boot. Help to increase your fitness, get you active and meet other mums. We’ll use a variety of equipment like kettle bells, dumb bells, boxing gear and slam balls, we’ll also do some bodyweight and cardio work. We’ll play games, we’ll learn, and we’ll work out! Each workout will leave you feeling energised and sweaty! You will work at your own pace in a relaxed no pressure environment. Our workouts will be suitable and flexiable for Mums, we won’t be bear crawling, we won’t be skipping or doing sit-ups. We will be smiling, sweating and spending time on ourselves, just what every busy Mum needs. All fitness abilities welcome. Bring your baby/toddler/child along to watch, or come along without them for some "you" time. Your trainer is a Mum of two girls under 5, and can relate to you. You'll also get weekly newsletters with tips, nutrition advice, personal contact with the trainer and facebook updates and photos. Don't delay as spots in our last and current programs booked out fast...don't wait to get active, life goes faster than you think. For pricing and more details on our workouts see our website, or view our facebook page. Details
 Chair/bench step ups 1. Stand in front of a bench or chair with feet hip width apart. 2. Step one foot up onto the chair bringing the feet together on the top. Ensure both feet are securely on top (not hanging off the back) 3. Step one foot back down to floor. Do this with a count of 2 seceonds, ie two seconds for up, 2 seconds for down. This is a purposeful slow activity to put your muscles under tension. 3. Repeat the entire sequence, but stepping up onto the chair/bench top with the opposite foot. 4. Continue to step up and down, alternating the stepping legs with each repetition. Aim for 15 on each leg, stop and rest, then reapeat another 1-2 times. Safety: ensure your seat isn't on wheels, or isn't going to topple over, make sure the seat surface is hard (not soft like a couch), take it slowly. Advanced: use the same leg (do not alternate) x 15, then swap legs, this will fatigue this leg and use this muscle more. Advanced: lift your knee up high when on top of the chair and lunge back down low when on the ground. Option: If a dining room chair is too high, use your front door steps, or internal home steps, or the step from the deck to the grass etc, start slow and increase the pace. A lower step is more of a cardio exercise, a higher step is more of a resistance/strength exercise using your bodyweight as the weight. Image: workoutlabs.com
 image: livestrong.com There are different goals for health and fitness, some want to lose weight, keep healthy, gain cardiovascular fitness, 'tone' up, and others want to bulk up, if your goal is to bulk up (gain muscle mass) then here are a few tips that have worked for me.
1. Do less reps at a higher weight. Don't sweat it out for endless gym sessions at a lower weight doing x 15reps, aim for 3 sets using a heavier weight with 8-10 reps. You should be struggling... 2. Use a spotter (or better - a Personal Trainer!). This will also help you to use heavier weights, using a spotter enables you to safely push yourself and gets you to the gym with a goal of increasing your weight that day. Plus it's more fun with a friend! 3. Have rest days, allow the muscles to repair. Going to the gym endlessly tired and not repaired from the last workout means you aren't going to be able to lift a heavier weight that day, and also the risk of injury is higher. 4. Have a leg day. Your legs enable you to have a strong core, to lift more weight on standing, to do things like dead lifts and the smith machine. But mostly it means you look and feel balanced. No one thinks seeing a top heavy guy with wirey legs is hot... 5. Have a cardio day. This means spending a day out of the gym, or away from the weights, get some fresh air, this will help with your endurance and overall energy, and can also be used as your rest day. 6. After your workout up your protein and add a small amout of good carbs. You'll probably need to double your protein. Try to do this in a natural way with tuna on wholemeal bread/pita, or full milk, chicken and sweet potato. If you are using a protein shake or bar choose wisely, some of these are worse than chocolate bars with sugars and additives. 7. Keep going. Don't take a week or two off here and there, muscle gains happen when you are using the muscle. 8. Do compound exercises. Do things that mean you are using multiple muscles to get better results, a more rounded workout, and is usually more fun. This means doing things like slam balls, ropes, trx, kettle bell lunges, or the chest press as opposed to a single bicep or tricep curl, dead lifts as opposed to seated leg raise machine etc. 9. Eat more. To gain muscle is to gain mass, you need to eat more calories than you burn off, you'll need to eat the right foods, dense foods. If you eat the wrong foods because you think you are able to take in more calories, then you are probably just going to gain fat not muscle! Tricep Dip Use your dining room chair, or other sturdy chair, it needs to have a hard surface (a couch wont work)
 image: livestrong.com
After having twins Tina decided it was time to set herself a fitness and health goal, it was time to put herself back in the driving seat of her own life, and so the adventure of "mummy to marathon" began! With already having a child only a year before she fell pregnant with the twins, Tina felt she hadn't fully lost the weight from her first pregnancy. Tina struggled with her weight gain after the twins were born and didn't feel like herself, a challenge was needed... Training officially began in June, but she was already active earlier in the year by joining a gym and completing a couple of fun runs - the Colour Run and the Albany lakes, these are 5km's - a far cry from the 42km's of a marathon! Training for the Auckland Marathon involved a lot of babysitting from helpful friends and family, some major changes in a busy mummy diet, and a look at how she was going to manage three kids under 2, a home, a business run with her husband, and the doom and gloom of winter bugs and colds. After what seemed like a long time, the day arrived, Tina was nervous, excited, and a bit emotional about this major achievement. Tina completed the marathon with an awesome time, and didn't stop to walk once. Because her training was so well planned there were no injuries and only mild sore muscles afterwards. Congratulations Tina, you are now a marathon runner! I'm sure your three tots are proud! Let's hope your story will inspire others to be amazing, to go outside of your comfort zone, and to call on those around you for support.  |
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August 2016
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