FitWells Academy, Barnstaple Videos

An insight into Kate's workout this evening. Combined movements to ensure the whole body is working hard. Remember, good form is key! The mass gyms are doing their best to take over... BUT.. If you are looking for that personal 1:1 touch, with care and attention, in a warm and friendly environment then maybe there still is a place for Personal Trainers/Nutritionists - like ME! My clients certainly think so! If you are looking to improve your physical fitness and/or eating habits then give FitWells Academy a chance! Get in contact and book a FREE consultation with FitWells Academy today!

Rocky vibes and 'eye of the tiger' is today's inspiration! A very effective cardiovascular workout being demonstrated here by Katie. As you can see it is not about how hard you hit poor B.O.B, but it's maintaining a quick rhythm which results in a good endurance and respiratory workout. B.O.B is FitWells Academy's in house therapist for you to let loose and relieve any built up tension from your day! Be it work, awkward people or any other common day to day stresses. Very mentally stimulating! Would YOU like to learn more about how you can improve your own personal fitness, food choices or just want to be more active? Get in contact today! https://scottwellsfitness.wixsite.com/fitwellsacademy

The Mrs getting into it tonight during her evening gym sesh 💪 A variation on the classic sit up to work on core strength..

Blog #23 Exercise boredom and menopausal weight gain Training: I get it, exercise is boring. The same run,same walk,same spin,same Pilates...same whatever...”Ohhhhh it’s so BORING!” And what are you doing it for? Usually weight loss. So how’s that going for you? Mostly I hear, not very well. I can show you some body weight moves that will suffice to keep you fitter than average joe. Trouble is, after a few weeks monotony sets in. You start to crave diversity and are at a loss to know how to remedy it. That’s where qualified people (such as myself) step in. I can take the boredom and guess work away and get you the results you want fast. Nutrition: Getting older and doing less causes loss of muscle mass, this in turn slows metabolism. Add to that an average of 1lb a year of weight gain between the ages of 45-60 through premenopausal alone. That equates to over a stone in total! Then things really start to spiral out of control. Fluctuating hormones, due to menopause, also play a role in weight management. Particularly crashing oestrogen levels which can create a hunger for simple carbs and a feeling to do less. Metabolic rate takes a dive and insulin resistance starts to rise. Yes, getting to or even staying at a healthy weight can be hard work. An experienced and trained nutritionist should know ways to tackle these issues. If you’re in doubt give me a shout! Or, if you know anybody who would benefit from what I offer please pass on my name. Thank you for reading, catch you next time!

Bob's been busy!

BLOG #23 - EXERCISE, BOREDOM AND MENOPAUSAL WEIGHT GAIN TRAINING I get it! Exercise is boring. The same run, same walk, same spin, same Pilate's, same whatever...uggggggh. "It's so BORING". And what are you doing it for? Usually weight loss.. So how's that going for you? Mostly, i hear, not very well. I'll show you some bodyweight moves that will suffice to keep you fitter than the average joe. Trouble is, after a few weeks, monotony sets in. You crave diversity and you are at a loss to know how to remedy it... This is my job as a fully trained personal trainer (and nutritionist), to provide a solution. Together we can quickly achieve exciting results! NUTRITION Getting older and doing less causes loss of muscle mass. This in turn slows metabolism, add to that an average of 1 pound a year weight gain, through ages of 45-60 due to perimenopause alone, (that's over a stone) and things really start to spiral out of control. Fluctuating hormones due to menopause also play a role in weight management, particularly crashing oestrogen levels which can create a hunger for simple carbs and lethargy. Your metabolic rate takes a dive and insulin resistance starts to rise. Yes, getting to (or staying at) a healthy weight can be hard work. An experienced, trained nutritionist should know ways to tackle these issues. If yourself or anyone you know who may benefit from the services i provide please pass on my name. Thanks for reading, catch you next time!

BLOG #22 - INTENSITY TRAINING I get asked all the time: "What do i do for this? And how long do i do it for?" Well, you are not going to get anyway on any training plan without first talking about intensity. Now, i could go on for many pages about the science behind effective training. But not many would read it due to boredom of which I understand. So, i thought I'd demonstrate a simple observational example of training for hypertrophy (muscle growth). I've shown low intensity which is insufficient for purpose, medium intensity (most commonly used and still insufficient), and balls out 'i want to die' but will see results intensity, which can take many months/years to build up to and be able to realise. Enjoy our agony in the accompanying video... NUTRITION - RDA (Recommend Daily Allowance) Although authorities recommended protein is going up and down all the time, at present it is somewhere around 0.8mg/kg of bodyweight. That's not minimum, that's thought to be around 0.5mg/kg of bodyweight, with a huge safety barrier built in. Almost doubling it. Truth is we only need about 10% protein from total calories consumed and actually the average person only needs about 2.5%. Did you know, most plant food (forgetting fruit), gives at least 10% protein from calories. Green veg is even higher at about 50%. Veg-heavy diets which we are supposed to be eating, based on 1500-1800 calories per day supplies about 50-70g of protein daily. With government RDA's working out at 45-55g. So, you tell me with heart disease, diabetes, cancers and many more debilitating diseases rocketing out of control which food recommendations do you think we should be adhering to? For more advice, give me shout. You know where to find me.

Scott is putting his building and creative skills to use in order to adapt the gym to meet all his clients needs...NOT just a personal trainer and nutritionist! Through working with FitWells Academy's clients we've found it necessary to do some redesigning of the FitWells Academy gym. Much more floor space and altering the positions of all the equipment has really opened it up! Super happy! A quick announcement to say that the leaflets which have been months in the making has been despatched! Stay tuned for that! 😁

BLOG #21 - ANTAGONISTIC TRAINING TRAINING Antagonistic (or opposing muscle training), is fast and effective. You train one muscle group whilst the exact opposite muscle group is resting, then swap. For instance: back training paired with chest or biceps with triceps. You get the idea. It's proven opposing muscles become stronger whilst training. So it makes sense to target them next. This leads to training being far more time efficient. Whilst also ensuring symmetry throughout your muscular system. Super setting compound movements will give a cardio workout like no other. Resulting in more time saved with no separate cardiovascular training needed. Resistance circuits that FitWells Academy specialise in is a type of antagonistic training. NUTRITION- PROTEIN CONTINUED.. I've said before, food should be measured by calories. (Unit of energy), not by its volume weight. I will post a table of common foods in ascending order of protein per calorie. Green veg comes out best every time, with all the added health benefits mentioned last week.

BLOG #20 - NO TIME TRAINING TRAINING If time is your biggest enemy as a result of our modern hectic lifestyles or just lacking the patience or aptitude to devote umpteen hours slaving over iron, then don't sweat it. You can be in and out again in 20 or so minutes with a well developed compound training plan. Ok, some people like to isolate body parts and train them to death with arms one day, and legs another etc. Which is fine if that's your bag. But you can get great results from spending very little time in comparison by training the entire body using compound. Our FitWells Academy star will demonstrate... NUTRITION Have you ever thought how a rhinoceros, elephant or gorilla got so big without eating meat?... Thought not... All amino acids originally came from plants including nonessential ones which are made by the body some way by the basic amino acids. If you want to eat meat, great. I do occasionally, just don't think you have to. Animal protein doesn't just contain all essential amino acids, plants do to. It's not superior to plant protein. And mother nature has packaged plant protein with disease fighting nutrients whereas meat has saturated fats and cholesterol. I sincerely hope you find this helpful, a share will be greatly appreciated! Tune in next week for more!

BLOG #19 PRINCIPLES OF TRAINING - PART 1 Why train? Why exercise? Do i do high reps or low reps? Do i max out or go steady? Heavy and light, what do they do? Do i isolate or compound train? Do certain body parts train well together, or one at a time? How much rest do i need between sets? Fast or slow reps? How long between sessions? What's the science behind hypertrophy? What is hypertrophy? HIIT and LISS, what's that about? Does age come in to it? Is it different for men and women? And why have good form? These are some of the most common questions i get asked. So, over the next few weeks, I'll set about answering them and anything else that crops up! TRAINING - GOING HEAVY In brief (more next week), lifting weights recruits muscle fibres. The more demand on targeted muscle, the more muscle fibres recruited. So, the point of failure supplies maximum fibres. In theory then, lifting heavyweights brings about muscle failure in the shortest time possible. To a point that's correct, but it's not the whole story. More on this next week.... -I'll demonstrate SAFE muscle failure- NUTRITION - PROTEIN It's generally accepted one needs 1g of protein per gram of body weight. (2.2g per kilo of BW for muscle gain regarding training). BUT, protein does not equal meat. Food is measured by it's weight... Why? It should be measured by what it does for us. Food is our source of energy and that is measured in a unit called a calorie. With this in mind, if you calculated the protein content in a 100 calories of sirloin steak, to a 100 calories of broccoli, then broccoli wins hands down. I'm not slating meat per se, I'm just saying the meat industry has a lot to answer for. More on this later....

BLOOPER.. It's been a longgg day...

BLOG #18 - MAKE EXERCISE FUN TRAINING Keeping or getting healthy can feel like a chore. It doesn't have to. For general fitness, walking is hard to beat. Now is that really a chore? Of course it's not! Get up, get out and be active. We are animals, we are supposed to move. Not sit watching mind numbingly boring crap on TV for 4 to 5 hours every evening. Get a dog, get a hobby, get a reason. And make walking, jogging, weights, swimming, yoga whatever your vice may be, make it habit. The FitWells Academy team will demonstrate a silly way of making exercise fun! NUTRITION HEALTH: Soundness, especially of body and mind, freedom of disease or abnormality. This is what health is. That will always start with nutrition. It will have up to 80% influence on your health. Think carefully about how you've been made to perceive as food. If you find it all too confusing, ASK ME. I can devise an eating plan, a life diet either in person or via email. Send me a message to see how i can help YOU.

BLOG #17 - IT'S SPRING! TIME TO GET IN SHAPE TRAINING Stop putting it off! The time has come to get rid of those extra pounds. No. I don't mean the ones in your piggy bank, i mean the ones that are dragging you back. Making you feel lethargic, irritable, depressed and just plain old. Then there's the health implications. Just being a few pounds over weight increases the chances of life threatening illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and cancers. To name but a few... Don't gamble with your life. What value is there on anything if you don't have your health. Just a couple of days a week, of sensible exercise and a controlled eating plan will make the difference to having every chance of living a happy, healthy life. FitWells Academy will demonstrate just a few moves you can find in a resistance training circuit that we specialise in. Why not have one specifically designed for you or a friend and experience the results first hand! NUTRITION- MAKING THE CHANGE It's so easy to be a sheep and follow the masses into a shortened life of incapability and ill health by ingesting the vast amount of heavily processed, refined, sugary/salty CRAP that supermarkets churn out under the 'fake' tag of food. Generally speaking, unless it is pulled from the ground or off a tree and a sprinkling of ocean swimming or naturally fed protein, then we shouldn't really be touching it. It's no wonder modern diseases are going through the roof... Why don't you let FitWells Academy design an eating plan based around your current diet. IT'S NEVER TOO LATE!

BLOG #16 - DIY EQUIVALENTS TRAINING If you don't happen to possess a fully equipped gym and lets face it who does? Don't think that's an excuse not to train! Even for hypertrophy (muscle), you'd only need a set of dumb bells to obtain a quite enviable physique. For instance, Chest press - can be swapped out for wide arm press ups. Wider your arms, the more emphasis on your pecs. Whats that?... Not enough weight? Stick a kid on your back (all equivalent of) and rep away. Weighted squats - in the absence of a squat machine, just perform bodyweight free squats. Not heavy enough again?.. Chuck that kid back on your shoulders, they'll love it! Machine rows- bent over one/two arm dumb bell rows will do nicely. Machine shoulder press- do seated dumb bell press for real isolation. Dumb bell curls and triceps extensions finishes off an all over body workout. We will demonstrate some.... Of course, you could forget all that and use an experienced, fully qualified personal trainer like me! NUTRITION FOODS THAT MAKE YOU THIN The weight of food does not make you full. It's fibre, nutrient and calorie quantity. As the stomach can hold about a litre of food, it's fairly obvious which foods fill you up best with least calories e.g fruit and vegetables. In fact, green veg is low in calories and brimming with nutrients and fibre that the more you eat the more weight you'll lose. A rather nice side effect of all this veg, will be an advanced protection against deadly illnesses.