Health, fitness and nutrition are a priority for our South Perth & Victoria Park gym members. Whether you’re starting your health and fitness journey or are looking to step it up, here are some easy tips to maximise your training routine from one of our personal trainers, sports science grad Callum.
Get the most out of your gym training by making sure your workout and diet are working together for your fitness goals.
Training Tips
PRIORITISING FITNESS
Are you looking at improving your fitness as a whole? Which of your fitness areas are the weakest? Train them at the start of your workout.
Depending on your fitness goals there may be areas that need improving or could be considered weaknesses. These can include:
- Cardiovascular Fitness
- Anaerobic Capacity
- Power
- Strength
- Flexibility
- Specific body parts or movement patterns
Regardless of what that area is it should be the first thing (or one of the first things) you train after warming up. Prioritising it in your workout will give you better focus and higher energy, letting you make the most of that training.
STOP SWAPPING STRENGTHS
You might be doing a lot and getting nowhere.
When you change your goals too frequently it can get in the way of real results. It’s fun to switch it up a lot, but unproductive. Sticking to a medium to long term plan and applying yourself to it over a period of months can show you real results. Try the following:
- Set a 6 month goal
- Set 3 stepping stone goals over those months to keep yourself on track
- Set weekly habit targets to help you hit those progress goals.
EGO LIFTING
You might hear the term thrown around the gym, but what is ‘ego lifting’?
Ego lifting is what it’s called when someone lifts a weight heavier than they’re capable of doing while retaining good form. It’s usually done to ‘massage the ego’ by lifting heavier.
Good form varies from person to person, but there are a few signs you’re lifting incorrectly:
- Soreness / burning / pumping in areas other than the exercise target area. For example: when you’re performing a bicep curl and you can feel it along your arm and shoulder, but not the bicep.
- You’re making strength gains faster than you feel you should. Often this means your form has degraded and you are strengthening the wrong muscle areas.
- You experience continuing soreness or increased injuries. Poor execution of technique and movement can damage your muscles
For your continued safety and progression, always keep an eye on your form and technique. Lifting more than you can take might make you feel stronger, but it can damage your muscles and set your overall fitness and weight goals back.
Nutrition Tips
SATURATED FATS
Sometimes called the ‘bad fat’, saturated fats are present in the major components of a western diet–cheese, meat, cream, coconut oil, margarine, and chocolate to name some of the common culprits. Saturated fats have been linked to heart disease (CVD, atherosclerosis, angina, stroke), and while fat is an important part of your diet, we ideally want to limit our saturated fat intake and prioritise polyunsaturated and unsaturated fats.
These fats can be found in things like olive and canola oil, cashews, avocados, almonds, and fish. A balanced and careful diet is always the goal. Ideally we want to try and make sure that our saturated fat intake is never more than 10% of our daily calorie intake.
DIET SODA
Sodas have no nutritional benefit, but there’s a craving for sweet / cool / carbonated tastes that it satisfies. Excessive consumption of soda can unbalance your recommended sugar intake and lead to weight gain. Reducing the number of sodas you drink each day to one, and then swapping out full sugar for diet soda can reduce those negative side effects while still satisfying those cravings.
This principle can also be applied to mixers when drinking spirits, another great way to cut down on the amount of sugar in your life while still enjoying yourself. We recommend diet soda as a healthier alternative to regular soda, and swapping it out is an easy way to make a healthy step forward in your fitness goals.
PROTEIN INTAKE
Getting the right amount of protein to recover and progress in our training is an important part of balancing nutrition and fitness. But how much protein do you need for that balance?
It’s suggested to consume 1.2 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of your body mass. If you’re tracking your food this is pretty simple to work out, but if you’re not closely monitoring everything you eat how do you make sure you’re getting enough protein?
Here are a few tools you can implement to ensure you keep your protein where it needs to be:
Include a protein source with every major meal
- We usually have large sources of protein around dinner, some protein with lunches, and minimal amounts of protein with breakfast. If you spread your protein sources across the day then ideally you’ll be eating 10-20g protein with every meal.
Opting for higher protein versions of the same food
- If you check the difference in the protein of a muesli bar for example you might find your preferred brand has 2g of protein while another has 7g. While small, this difference can be meaningful over time. Check the nutrient panels on your common grocery buys, and be wary of ‘high protein’ marketing claims.
Add a protein supplement
- You can get protein supplements in a variety of forms like bars and powders. It’s an easy way to increase your intake, and sometimes satisfy those sweet cravings as well.
If you have any questions about these tips or other ways to improve your routine talk to our friendly gym staff and personal trainers. At XS Fitness we pride ourselves on being the friendliest and cleanest gym in the South Perth & Victoria Park area, and our personal trainers and gym staff are here to help your health and fitness goals.
callum tuffield
Gym Manager & Personal Trainer
Callum (B.sc) is a Sports Science Graduate of UWA, Callum is an ESSA certified AES and a Strength System Level 1 Certified Coach.
Callum’s vast array of skills caters to any person or any goal, with his interest being lifestyle optimisation through movement and food.
Callum is approachable, well learned, and continually developing to best assist his clients to reach their goals, whatever the area may be.
