Personal Training in Liverpool Street

Around the world, the concept of a four-day working week is gaining popularity. The list of countries that have trialled the four-day work week, or plan to trial it within the next two years, is growing. According to Euro News, it includes:

• England
• Scotland
• Wales
• Iceland
• Spain
• New Zealand
• The US
• Canada
• Japan
• Sweden
• Germany

These countries often trial a model that provides 100% of usual pay, for 80% of the usual work, with a commitment to maintain at least 100% of previous productivity. Of countries that have already trialled a four-day week, there are almost always some companies that continue the practice even if it does not become law. Suggested benefits include increased productivity, better work:life balance, and a reduction in environmentally harmful activities.

There are certainly critics of this initiative, but it does seem to be slowly becoming more of a reality. With this being the case, it’s worth speculating how you could harness the four-day working week to improve your health and fitness.

If you’re planning on starting personal training, it’s important that you get as much from your relationship with your trainer as possible.

The most important thing about personal training is that it’s a two-way relationship. I’d love to take full responsibility for 100% of my clients’ successes, but the fact is that personal training success is the product of great teamwork with clients.

After more than a decade in personal training in London and Essex, there are definitely clients who stand out as having achieved fantastic results. They all defined their successes differently, for example:

• Improving training consistency;
• Setting powerlifting/Olympic weightlifting personal bests;
• Feeling stronger for day-to-day life;
• Weight loss and muscle gain;
• Improving sports performance;
• Returning to training after an injury.

Regardless of these goals, my most successful personal training clients had these three things in common.

Note: you could be nailing all of these habits, but if your trainer cannot match your values, your training relationship will not be as good as it could be. That’s why it’s so important to choose the right trainer for you.

Once you’ve been training for a while, you will be tempted to plan your own workout programme – after all, you know yourself better than anyone. While I think everyone should get help from a personal trainer or strength coach, I fully understand that your budget or curiosity may drive you to write your own training routine.

However, there are some common pitfalls that come with designing your own training programme. When programming for yourself, it’s easy to take certain factors for granted and over/under-estimate ourselves. These tips will help you design your training programme to the highest standard.

Kettlebells are a well-established piece of fitness equipment these days. Kettlebell workouts can form a part of anything from a Crossfit session, to a group fitness class, to a strength and conditioning programme. You won’t have to look far to see people performing kettlebell swings, snatches, carries, and cleans in your local gym. However, the rapid acceptance of kettlebell training doesn’t guarantee that they’re being used optimally.

When I meet a new personal training client, these are the common responses I hear in relation to to kettlebell training:

• “I’ve heard they’re great, but I don’t want to use them wrongly.”
• “I used them once, but I don’t think I did it right.”
• “Kettlebell workouts look fun but I’m scared of hurting my back.”

If this sounds like you, don’t be put off. Kettlebells are very different to other conventional free weights, and this means you generally can’t just jump into a kettlebell workout without learning what makes this training equipment unique. Here are 3 tips to help you get on board with kettlebell workouts so you can do things like this: