Personal Training: 3 Common Questions

With the workload we all deal with daily in Dubai, it can  sometimes be hard motivating yourself into a fit and healthy lifestyle.  Enter Personal Training.

1. What is Personal Training?

Personal training is hiring a professional, a fitness expert to:

1. Assess your fitness level, and "fitness age"
2. Understand what your objective is: e.g. build more muscle mass, lose weight, tone, get in shape, increase metabolic rate, etc.
3. Design and tailor a specific training program to help you meet those objectives
4. Hold you accountable

2. Do I Need It?

If you have one of the following then you should consider hiring a Personal Trainer:

1. You have a specific goal in mind that you want to achieve e.g. lose weight before a certain date (wedding, summer, etc.)You've been training but are not meeting your objectives
2. You are not motivated and / or are inconsistent in going to the gym
3. You don't know where to start and need the help

3. Does It Deliver Results?

Of course, BUT, you need to commit yourself to it, and follow the advice of your trainer.  Swaying away, being to self-indulgent will hinder your results!  But check out this article we wrote about one of our Personal Training Results to have an idea of the kind of improvements you can expect.  Even if you are leading a sedentary life here in Dubai, don't be discouraged, personal training may just be the first step in a long and healthy journey.

Picture via LocalFitness.com.au.

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Bootcamp 101 for Beginners in the News

Yesterday, Sport 360 wrote an article about Fitness O2's Bootcamp 101, special thanks to Kara Martin for coming all the way from Abu Dhabi and joining the session last week :).

You can read the article "HEALTH & FITNESS: Boot Camp for the Fairly Fit" here.

Both Zena and Serene were training the sessions which are seeing a consistently high number of attendees.  Well done to all for persevering!

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Safa Park Bootcamp: April Results

The results of our bootcampers' performance in April at Safa Park were simply great, well done to all.  Here is one chart showing the improvement in number of step-ups each of the bootcampers had in 1 minute, one of the bootcampers did 15 more step-ups in 1 minute after 12 sessions of Bootcamp! well done!

Boxing for Ladies: April Results

It's that time of the month where we publish some of the before and after results of our bootcamp courses.  We plotted the improvement in seconds of the ladies run around Safa Park lake.  The chart below shows how many seconds LESS each bootcamper managed to run the track!  One of our bootcampers improved their time by almost 20 seconds, well done to the team!

10 Ideas to Find Time for Fitness

Ok so you are busy at work, you're an entrepreneur starting your own business, or work for a multinational crazy hours, before you continue reading: STOP... and admit that work does not end.  

We decided to give you some tips to find time to train, here are 10 tips the team at Fitness O2 has put together.

1. Think Quality Not Quantity: Interval Training

Rely on interval training. less time and more results, 8 rounds of 30 seconds and run or cycle fast as you can and 1.30 seconds recovery in slower speed, in takes you 20 minutes in total including warm up. it boosts your metabolism and gives you great results in weight loss. other than pushing your body to produce more growth hormone which keep you away from wrinkles. who could have though? only in 20 minutes? 


 

2. Train During the Early Morning

The first 3-4 times it will may be tough for you to wake up and hit the gym, the treadmill, go for a jog, or even your local bootcamp, but once you get in the "zone" or the habit, you'll become much more regimented than you think.

3. Train During Lunch Break

A close friend of mine out of shape told me he does not have time for exercising.  After a short discussion I found out that their offices have a gym, and that he actually has a lunch break.  When I asked him why he does not train during lunch break, the answer was NOT that he did not have time, but that the gym was not well maintained.  Forgive my bluntness here but this is just an excuse.  If you are serious about your health and want to take responsibility for it, try this idea for 3 or 4 times, don't give up quickly and see if you can manage to get into the habit.

Besides: the kick you will get out of training during your lunch break will give you a nice boost of energy at work in the afternoon.

4. Get a Treadmill at Home

Ok this idea will depend on your budget, and on the physical space you have at home for a treadmill, bottom line is: get some form of equipment and train in front of the TV, you can start with abs, push-ups, squats and burpies.

5. Walk Up and Down the Stairs

Yes some of us live in high rise buildings here in Dubai, go down 2 floors and up to floors using the stairs before calling the elevator.  You do this 5-10 times a day and it adds up.

6. Get a Fitness Buddy

Getting a friend of yours to train or exercise with you is probably the BEST form of motivation and reinforces your commitment to yourself.  This is one of the main reasons why Bootcamps or group exercises in general deliver fabulous results: your peers or fellow bootcampers will push you harder than you would have pushed yourself alone.

7. Replace Reading Time

Hold on, before getting all judgmental ("oh but reading is very important"): we are not saying sacrifice reading time, but rather replacing it with AUDIO books.  Technology nowadays is giving us so many ways to acquire knowledge: get yourself an IPod or an IPhone and buy your favorite book as an Audio Book, and listen to it while exercising.

8. Replace Cooking Time

 

Some of us actually spend time cooking, or making a sandwich when we reach home: sign up with a healthy food delivery companies, there are a few of them in Dubai like Lively or Health Factory or others.  They can deliver your entire day's food in the morning, ready made.  You'll get the chance to force yourself to eat healthy, and at the same time save up on the time it takes you to cook or prepare your own food be it breakfast, dinner or other.

9. Plan... Plan... Plan

It sounds cliche, but you have no idea how important planning is: before you go to bed, just take 5 minutes to plan your next day ahead and commit to yourself a time slot for training.  The beauty about planning ahead is it forces you automatically to find a way to fit your exercise time in your busy schedule and puts you in the positive frame of mind of finding solutions rather than shooting yourself down.  

Planning your training and workout was a major part of the famous Body-for-LIFE workout.

10. Remember Henry Ford's Approach

 

Henry Ford the famous founder of Ford motors made a fortune from standardizing and mass production: how this relates to you and finding time to exercise, well standardize routine / repetitive tasks and do them "en masse".  

Instead of going to the supermarket twice a week to top up your water or food supply at home, go once, and buy quantities. 

Instead of seeing your friends on several occasions, try seeing them in a group setting.

Have a tip we did not mention, please share it with us in the comments below!



Pictures by:
By LadyofHats (did on adobe ilustrator) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
By rajmohan (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
Gartoon icon set from Zeus under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation
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