Achieving optimal health and fitness can be challenging for even the most dedicated of us. But when applied each day, these top 5 rules for improved health and fitness can help you to attain more of it, forever:

Pallof Press

The pallof press is the excellent anti-rotational exercise that puts great demand on the trunk to stop it rotating in a transverse plane. To perform, assume an athletic posture with knees bent, pelvis and lumbar (lower) spine neutral, and shoulders relaxed.

As you push the cable in front of you, focus on engaging the core, stopping the rotation of your trunk. Keep it as rigid as possible, hold for 2-5secs and pull back into your center.
You can perform the Pallof Press in various stances, kneeling, split stance on floor or off and lastly parallel.

Summer is pretty close to the end and when at the thought of exercising, you begin to potter around, clean the house and look for food (and discover there is none, so you buy some junk food).  Well, you need to stop, and ask yourself – WHY AM I AVOIDING IT?! If you’re anything like me, the answer may be, ‘I’ve had a bit of time off and I know I won’t be at the same standard I used to be, it’s going to be painfully depressing.’ Well, guess what sweetheart, procrastinating and procrastibaking aren’t going to help you and really, who cares if you’re not as good as last time?! Exercise should be about having fun, see it as a healthy challenge to reach those goals again.

Before we get into the details of the junk food addiction aspect let’s first define the subject. The official definition of junk food is food, meaning some substance that is basically edible, with little or virtually zero nutritional value. Junk food is often high in saturated fats and sugar and contains calories but little in the way of either protein, vitamins or minerals – as numerous scientific studies have proven. 

People constantly thinking that weight loss is linked to many hours of gym and sweat… Well, let's say that this is just a myth.
You dont need to go for an hour 4 times a week to get results. All you need is a regular ’Fastie’ and you will feel the difference. 

The squat is the most simple but most technical move at the same time. Adults seem to have trouble most of the time as their lifestyle or job has caused some kind of muscular imbalance forcing them to move in a different way. From the picture below you can see the lady squatting with her shoulders rounding and the torso has fallen forward.

A good way I check to see if it’s a case of bad ankle mobility is to get her to stand on blocks elevating her heels. If the body still falls forward we generally assume that it’s higher up leg possibly her hip flexors and not her ankle mobility. If she didn’t lean forward, and it feels pretty comfortable we can assume that her ankle mobility is the issue which forces the rest of her kinetic chain to move in a different way.

Stress is higher and higher with the pressures of modern life. Stress increases cortisol levels which have a negative impact on muscle tissue as well as increasing the risk of stroke, heart disease and depression.

Lifestyle choices are both the cause and the cure of too much stress. If you can’t change your lifestyle, at least try to eat more stress reducing foods. Here are five of the best.

If your serious about developing your physical potential, whether by competitive running, pumping iron in the gym, or even just doing yoga at home you’ll know there’s a whole lot more than seven potential ways in which your body can not only protest but cause some serious grief.

Whatever your genetic strengths or weaknesses, learning to listen and respond to your body’s initial warning signs makes all the difference between a short or long recovery time and is crucial if you want to keep doing what you do well. Here the focus is on some of the most common injuries affecting competitive runners, but the information applies to most physical workouts and regimes.

Improving power, or explosive strength and speed is a big deal in soccer. Ask a player what he feels he needs to work on and 9 out of 10 the answer will be: "get faster and more explosive"

And they are right, these qualities are definitely very important for a dominating performance in soccer and many other sports. Note: I am not a scientist, and I do not know much about research, so I would like to simply give you my personal take on this based on experience and logic.

This advice comes straight from the trenches. Theory is good, but it has to be backed by practice, in my opinion. I do a lot of work with association football (soccer) and my approach has proven effective over and over again: for myself as many others, applying the same strategies.

Beets may not have occurred, or appealed to you as a body building option let alone something you should consume more often. Enough to put anyone off beets! However, fresh beets, if you can find them in farmer’s markets or health food stores are far better tasting either grated raw in a salad or as the colourful main ingredient in borscht soup. Minus the vinegar beets are naturally delicious and their nitrates increase vasodilation – the widening of blood vessels which increases blood flow to tissues that most need it enabling the body to work harder and also lowers blood pressure.

Surprisingly Psy forgot one truly important icon of Korean culture in his Gangnam Style spoof of Seoul lifestyles – kimchi! In Korea everyone eats it almost with every meal, including breakfast. This is beyond being simply a super food although foreigners may wonder what all the fuss is about. Kimchi has an acquired taste. Made from fermented cabbage, onions, garlic and spices it kicks a powerful punch as well as providing beneficial bacteria that aid digestion and nutrient absorption. A diet containing kimchi has been found to decrease waist size and body fat while improving blood sugar levels. Eat it as a side dish with any meal.

Summer is next to our door, and clean eating is a must, if you want to have a healthy body. Clean eating basically means to avoid pre-packaged and processed foods and return to basics – fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains *(preferably organic) and lean protein from fish.

Let’s start with vegetables. Dark green veggies such as broccoli, spinach and kale are high in folates – a cardiovascular booster – and low in carbohydrates.

Tomatoes are high in vitamin C and can be mixed with fresh basil in a salad or eaten alone as a snack. Try adding some roasted garlic to the mix. Garlic is a strong anti-oxidant that boosts the immune system, increases blood flow and lowers cholesterol.

Tendon trouble and injuries is common amongst those who push their physical limits especially weight lifters. Shoulders are one of the more vulnerable areas of the body; however, anyone involved in strenuous exercise, workouts and sports is liable to strain or damage their tendons. Taking anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, advil and aspirin is only a short- term solution and if used extensively can lead to other health problems particularly of the digestive system.

So, while it may not look or feel like spring outside, it’s spring! The end of Spring when Summer should be teasing us. Bringing all the fun things you’d associate – holiday weekends, barbecues, weddings, evenings drinking outside….. all of which add up to bad news for your clean eating and training regime. We are all human though and the odd blow out is not going to have hugely detrimental effects to your overall goal if it is exactly that – occasional. If you eat cleanly and exercise regularly, nothing wrong with treating yourself every now and again. What is wrong though is allowing what should be a cheat “meal” to become a full –on blow out. So you have a glass of wine and a dessert at lunchtime…. This does not give you licence to finish the rest of the bottle over the course of the afternoon and then have a takeaway pizza for dinner and raid the biscuit tin for a midnight snack. Do not let treats become pig outs!

“Why am I not losing weight even though I’m training more?”

A very common question from many people, have many answers...First we need to make sure that everyone understands the difference between weight loss and fat loss.
What’s the difference?
Weight Loss = Wanting to lose body weight on a scale – The sum weight of bones, muscles, organs, fat, etc.
Fat loss = Wanting to reduce the fat on your body regardless of weight – The amount of fat between muscle and skin.

Weight loss can be achieved through gradually reducing the amount of calories you take in or by doing repetitive exercise for any given duration i.e. walking, jogging, running, cycling etc

Weight loss problems

Let's say that you’re out and about doing errands and you suddenly see a girl or a boy, that catches your eye. You decide to take action there because those clips you’ve seen on “pick up” and mystery’s pick up technique tells you that you have 3 seconds to make a move or you end up hesitating. Amazingly she/he’s giving you all the “IOI’s” and “kino” and you end up number closing her/him.

Boom! Nice….

If you aren’t so bold the scenario could end up like this…You’ve succumb to one of the thousand adverts for various dating websites and you’ve set up an online dating profile. You eventually find a good match and you’ve scheduled a date/time and place.

Great Job!

Do you talk to yourself while you're working out? Serious question! Or would you rather not be the person everyone avoids on the gym floor as they're worried about the mental state of someone happily having a conversation with themself?

Do you respond better to motivation? Could you push out a few more reps or go just a little bit faster with someone there to encourage you? I'm guessing most people would say yes - which is perfect as it keeps us Personal Trainers in a job! So if you respond to someone pushing you to the next level, getting the very best out of you, motivating you to try those last few movements - why can't you be your own cheerleader?

While all vegetables are basically good for your health some are better than others. Cruciferous veggies are special due to their chemical composition which includes sulphurous compounds which give then their pungent flavour. When broken down by either chewing or chopping these sulphurous compounds are converted into isothiocyanates (ITCs) which can prevent and help fight cancer as well as boosting the immune system. Cruciferous veggies also contain antiviral/bacterial agents that can help keep you disease free.

Cruciferous veggies include beets and their greens, bok choy, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, turnip greens and watercress.

Many women are turned off from training as they have the wrong impression that lifting weights or any kind of gym activity is something men want to do to build muscles. How your body adapts to working with weights is determined by your genetics.

For women there are numerous benefits for doing resistance training and I promise you won’t end up looking like Arnie! Resistance training is good for anyone of any age or ability. It offers the benefits of gaining strength, improved co-ordination, better posture, a serious kick to the metabolism and heaps of self confidence. Heart problems, fat and a series of other conditions may become better by time and self-confidence can be boost as never before.

Everyone needs a certain amount of protein in their diet and anyone involved in fitness training and body building will logically need more in a daily basis. One way to get an energy boost after working out while avoiding the dangers of high fat sources of protein, such as fatty meats, is by shaking up a shake based on protein powder alternatives or buy one of the hundreds brands in the market.

There are a number of such alternative sources of protein that are ideal for making shakes, including soy, egg and whey. All are high in protein and low in carbohydrates. All you need is a blender, 1-2 minutes and some imagination.

Workout - Recuperate

Getting sufficient rest and recuperation is as important as any workout. Overtraining won’t make you any stronger or aid your performance, so learn to keep a proper balance between the two by watching for the following markers.

A loss of body mass/weight of just 2% indicates a lack of sufficient hydration which affects both physical and mental performance. Another indicator of dehydration is the colour of your urine. Dark yellow means you need to drink more water. Drinking more fluids both before and after a workout is recommended.

It’s a good idea to check your resting heart rate each morning to see what’s normal for you. An elevated resting heart rate is a sign of stress and your heart trying to move more oxygen to muscles and the brain. Physical and psychological stress registers the same. Both require extra recovery.