Looking at most bodybuilder blogs and articles you could easily assume that only meat eaters need apply. However this is certainly not the case and there are a huge number of vegetarian bodybuilders today.

Conventional wisdom has it that the older you get the less strength and mobility you have. This belief was strengthened in previous studies that showed people over the age of 40 typically lost 8% or more of their muscle mass with each decade, a process that accelerates after age 70. Of course, less muscle mass means less strength and mobility, which as you age leads to less independence. It has also been linked to premature mortality.

If you’ve decided that you wanted to a hire a personal trainer to get you back in shape here’s a few things to consider. The NYC fitness industry has seen a surge in the number of people qualifying as personal trainers over the last couple of years, all of them eager with good intentions.

There are many ideas and beliefs about when is the best time of the day to exercise. Many people like to get up and get it done first thing in the morning and others prefer to exercise late in the afternoon or evening.

One of the most common questions we've been asked is "what can I do for my saggy butt?" These are some of the top exercises to help you tighten up your butt.

If you’re an Olympic athlete – preferably a cyclist, rower or tennis player – do manual work, live in England, as opposed to Scotland or Northern Ireland, and fast one day a week we have good news for you: you’ll probably be healthier and live longer than those who aren’t or don’t.

According to recent research published on the British Medical Journal website Olympian athletes live 2.8 years longer than average and the cyclists, rowers and tennis players lived longest of all. The study examined the life spans of 25,000 athletes who competed in the Games going back as far as 1896. Those involved in contact sports such as boxing gained the least whereas cyclists and rowers had the best health. However, even those who practised lower intensity sports like golf also had a boost in health and public health specialists from Australia and the US have suggested that even moderate exercise on a regular basis of 150 minutes a week will result in a life extension of several years.

Push-ups aren’t as easy as they look and while their benefits are well known performed incorrectly they can cause shoulder and/or lower back injuries. Push-ups build muscle by working your chest, shoulders, triceps and core muscles. They can be done almost anywhere at any time; however, if your technique is off push-ups can cause trouble.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Not making much progress in losing weight, or on a slow train in attaining your strength and fitness goals? You think you have problems? Take a look at someone who could have had plenty to complain about, but took a different approach: David Weir, the British and World Champion Paralympic champion who won this year’s London Marathon for the fifth time and won last year’s New York Marathon and took triple gold in the World Championships in Christchurch New Zealand.

He is described as Britain’s top wheel chair athlete and one of the best in the world.
So how did he get there, given the significant disability of being born paraplegic? Self-perception seems to be the secret, or at least a large part of it. “I have never seen myself as disabled. I have always been treated as normal,” says the 34 year old from South London who has an 8 year old daughter from a previous relationship and now has a new-born son with his current partner.

He has been a full time athlete for the last thirteen years.