Exercise

Welcome to the Exercise page!

The exercise section is designed to give you tips and action plans to achieve your fitness goals. Choose from the headings below, and get started!

Build Muscle

If you want exercises to build muscle, check out the Build Muscle section. There you'll see a separate page for each muscle group. You'll find the links in the left hand menu. I once had a personal trainer in a gym in north London who gave me a lot of useful advice on training specific muscle groups (he was a Russian bodybuilder), and I've included them all in this section.

And check out the Gym Buddy page to see how you can benefit from having a gym buddy. If you can't afford a personal trainer, a gym buddy in London is the next best thing.

There's also a directory of gyms in London if you're looking for a gym near you. If you're looking for a gym-based personal trainer, this directory of London gyms will give you the contact details you need.  

Lose Weight

For weight-loss exercises, explore the Lose Weight section. Maybe you want to lose that beer belly (or spare tyre, where the fat goes all the way around your middle), or you feel your thighs or bum are too fat. Whatever you do, don't rely on diet alone to lose weight, you need to exercise too.

The best way to lose weight consistently is to find a physical activity you enjoy, so check out the extensive directory of Sports & Activities in London.

Tone Up

If you're looking to tone up, check out the directory of Pilates studios in London. Another great way to stay toned is swimming. See what London has to offer in on the Swimming page. There are also some fantastic lidos in London - great in the summer, refreshing in the winter if you're tough enough!

Last week I asked you to email me with your methods of incorporating more exercise into your daily life. Here are some of your replies:

"I've started walking to and from work instead of taking the tube. It takes less time than I expected, and now I don't have to endure crammed tube trains. It's actually quite relaxing to walk, and you notice so much about your surroundings that you miss when travelling underground. Better still, it's added an hour and a half of exercise to my daily routine."

"Instead of standing on the escalators, I now walk. And at work I use the stairs rather than the lift. It all adds up!"

  Click here to contact me and tell me how you've incorporated more activity into your life, and I'll post more replies next week.

Mary in SW1 says,

"My personal trainer bought me a pedometer, and now I aim for 10,000 steps a day. Sometimes I do less, sometimes more, depending on what the weather's like and what's happening that day. It gets addictive to try and reach my daily target. What I've found is that I tend to use the car less, in order to get more walking done. Much less hassle to walk, no need to find a parking place, and good exercise carrying shopping too."

Gordon in NW1 says

"Playing frizbee in Regents Park with my son has proved a good way to get more active. He seems to have more energy than me!"

Exercise FAQ's

"Can I build muscle and burn fat at the same time?"   Definitely you can. Building muscle is a very effective way to burn more fat. When you build muscle, you will automatically start burning more fat, because the more muscle you have, the more metabolically active you are generally, as muscle burns fat as a source of energy in your everyday life. Your resting metabolic rate will rise, which means you'll be burning more fat 24 hours a day.

"What's better for fat loss, weight training or cardio?"   Weight training is best, for the reasons above. You'll burn fat and build muscle at the same time. Cardio exercise is vital for heart and lungs and circulation health, but it's not the most efficient way to burn fat. Many people get confused and ask "what's better for weight loss, cardio or weight training" - the key is fat loss not just weight loss. If the weight you're losing is muscle or water or glycogen stores (carbs stored in your muscles and liver) then that's not healthy weight loss. The key is to lose excess fat.

Beware of commercial diets which promise you'll lose a large amount of weight in a short time. You might lose a lot of weight, but only some of this will be fat. It's excess fat you want to lose, not healthy bodyweight. The best way to lose weight is to lose weight slowly and keep it off.

"Do you need the right genetics to build muscle?"   Everyone can build muscle, but genetics will determine how fast and how much muscle you build. Don't use 'poor genetics' as an excuse not to train as hard as you can to get fit and toned, everyone can achieve a good physique with the right amount of dedication.

"What exercises are best for a flat stomach?"   You need to be doing several things if you want a flat stomach. The key is to burn off the excess fat around the stomach, which is achieved by a combination of exercise and healthy eating. Just doing sit-ups and nothing else, will not achieve a flat stomach, although abs exercises will help to strengthen and develop the abdomnial muscles. But you can't spot-reduce fat by doing lots of sit-ups. Fat is lost throughout the body exercising and developing the larger muscle groups. So exercises like squats and lunges (for the legs and glutes), and weight training for the major muscles of the upper body (chest and back and shoulders) will build muscle, which in turn will burn more fat, including fat from your stomach, which will then reveal toned abs.

Exercise for Diabetics

If you are diabetic, check out the page on exercise for diabetics. Some of my personal training clients in London have had type 2 diabetes, so I have experience of advising people with this condition.