Attitudes Towards Training

The world of fitness is varied and there are good points, bad points and plain confusing points. This week I want to address attitudes towards training, recently I have heard some very confusing statements by people in regards to their training, such as, ‘how do I lose weight with the least effort?’ ‘I don’t want to train like that because I will get really sweaty’ ‘I don’t do those lifts they are too difficult’ ‘I am not very good at that so i never train it’ and so on…

A large percentage of people who go to the gym will do the same thing day in and day out, the same thing for months and years, with little motivation, little energy, no thought to adding new elements, people today seem to do what they think they know and little else, hardly pushing themselves, never working up a sweat, no increase in weight, intensity, pace or recovery, just same old different day.

Firstly the simplest way I can put it is ‘if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you!’ training should challenge your abilities, you should work, sweat, push hard, dig deep and have to power your way through. Recently I did circuit based training on my weaknesses, I chose for things I am not great on and put them into a chain focusing on my technique, strength and endurance.  You won’t lose weight sticking to the same pace, you won’t get fitter doing the same few exercises with huge amounts of rest, you won’t get bigger lifting the same weight for the same reps, you will simply plateau.

There are so many types of training, so many variations and so much to master, there are a multitude of lifts, fitness and endurance training methods, lifting techniques, skill and agility building, flexibility and all round conditioning methods, so try them, bring back some excitement to your training and if you’re not sure where to start then find a trainer, we have a personal training team here at Breadsall Priory, we all have various backgrounds and experiences with fitness and our individual training methods vary and complement one another, we offer one to one training, group classes, inductions, personal programs and not to mention we are always happy to answer your health and fitness questions, our training team also work on the reception so don’t be scared to have a quick chat about your training or what new training we are doing, fitness is our career, our passion and we love the opportunity to talk about fitness and jump at the opportunity to train. So let’s reignite some passion and bring back that get up and go, in short, let’s get back in the gym and let’s smash it!

My Weakness Workout

30 wall balls
20 double unders
10 pull ups
5 muscle ups

For 5 rounds.



Karl O'Sullivan

Why Don't More Guys Take Fitness Classes?

Why is it that every time you look into a class studio you see mostly or only women? Why are guys so afraid of doing a fitness class? In my experience of teaching a range of fitness classes at Breadsall Priory, from circuits to pump fx, kettlercise and even postural and stretch classes I have noticed that if you were to take the top ten percent of the fittest members we having training the majority are women. Their fitness, strength, skill and adaptability is far greater and that’s not just in regards to aerobic fitness and flexibility, I’m also talking about strength and technique, the best lifters at dead lifts, squats and lunges are all women, the guys are getting left behind, which is odd because most guys entering the gym have similar goals, ‘I want to lose my gut and build some muscle’ and most men have only ever dabbled with resistance work usually with a friend, they lift a few dumb bells, swing a few curls and force out a few dozen old school sit ups.
Now let’s look at the class formats, most classes on our timetable are all centred on fitness, weight loss and muscle building (or toning) which is what most people are always after, men quite often think that they need to do very heavy weights and have long rest periods to build muscle, which is simply not the case. In circuit classes, pumpfx and blastfx classes the start is always focused on technique, you can’t lift heavy until you can lift correctly. After the proper form has been developed we can start increasing load and intensity which will see that reduction in body fat and the building of some very functional muscle. Another great thing about classes is you have a trainer there with you, checking your form, showing you correct technique and coaching you through a whole variety of different movements and exercises, remember you don’t need to train longer you need top train smarter!
The fitness industry is changing and fast, the old school of pumping iron and three sets of ten is becoming less and less of a focal point, now it’s about looking the part and being able to walk the walk, you have to put that muscle to the test, I bulging pair of biceps is good for filling out a t shirt, but when your little sister starts beating you silly on the pull up bar maybe it’s time to drop into a few classes and learn some real gym skills.
So don’t be shy gentlemen book onto some classes and try something new, in one week you could sample a dozen different classes with more and half a dozen different instructors, that’s a lot of skill and knowledge just ready for the taking, so get involved before the women of Breadsall Priory show us up even more!

Written by Karl O'Sullivan Group Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer

Kettle bells: old kit, new tricks

New classes are on the way and one of those is Kettlercise, kettle bell training has been around for many years, believed to have been developed in Russia in the 1700s, but they are ever growing in popularity around the world, almost every new workout involves some element of kettle bells due to the great calorie burn and work load it puts on not just strength but also cardiovascular fitness. Kettle bells can be used for total body toning within classes using lighter bells as well as going heavy and being used to develop fearsome strength and muscle mass whilst maintaining low levels of body fat percentage. Kettle bells involve exercises to build strength and endurance, particularly in the lower back, legs, and shoulders, and increase grip strength. The basic movements, such as the swing, snatch, and the clean and jerk, engage the entire body at once, and translate to functional fitness for real world activities. It is also worth noting how well kettle bell training can be incorporated into circuit training along with other fundamental movements for a truly challenging gym session and because kettle bell training relies on continuous movement it makes for a very time efficient workout, as many trainers say ‘train smarter, not longer’

feel up for a challenge try this kettle bell routine and compare it to your usual routine, (using a kettle bell between 6-12kg aiming for 15 reps of each exercise)

kettle bell swing 15
high swing  15
snatch 15 (15 each arm)
press ups 15
hammer curl to shoulder press 15
weighted reach over toe touch 15

rest 2-3min
repeat 5 times

                                                         

workout by Karl O'Sullivan