Getting started and keeping in January. Fitness tips from award-winning trainer Sean Hibbert, of Project Fitness GB in Great Lumley.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Hi guys, I'm Sean, I'm the owner and head coach at Project Fitness GB,
00:03 here with a couple of tips for you to stay motivated throughout your fitness journey in January.
00:07 Now, if you're brand new to going to the gym, the first thing that I can suggest is do not be afraid
00:12 to ask for help when you need it. They're trained professionals and they're there for a reason guys.
00:16 They're there to help you and make your journey be as comfortable and as easy as possible.
00:21 Motivation wise, it's called discipline guys. If you set your alarm for six o'clock in the
00:26 morning to get up and go to the gym, don't press that snooze button, get out of bed,
00:31 let's get in the car, get to the gym and achieve your first task of the day.
00:34 If you do that guys and you can continue to do that throughout January, you're going to become
00:39 more disciplined, you're going to get more used to going to the gym and you guys, you're going to
00:43 enjoy it more as well. Now, a big thing that a lot of people have an issue with in January is something
00:50 called scales. Guys, weigh yourself, take those scales, throw them in the bin and ignore them
00:55 for at least six weeks. Your body will not change if you jump on the scales every day for 31 days.
01:03 Do it once at the beginning of your journey and then maybe do it in six weeks time. Something
01:07 that you're also going to have to look for is your fluctuation in weight because if you do a lot of
01:12 cardiovascular training, you're going to lose a lot more body fat but if you do a lot of weight
01:16 training, you may gain lean muscle mass and then actually increase in weight but change your body
01:22 shape. A lot of people can feel down in the dumps especially in January but getting yourself up,
01:27 getting yourself motivated, going out and doing something and staying disciplined can help you
01:31 dramatically improve your mental health. The gym is not just there to get a pump on, to get fitter,
01:37 it's there for your mental well-being. It can be a sanctuary and a safe place for a lot of people.
01:43 It is not somewhere that is cold, dark and dainty. You can really, really, really improve
01:50 on anxiety issues, depression. You can also help overcome aspects of your life where you think,
01:57 "Oh, I just can't do it. I just can't do it." If you keep motivating, you keep going, guys,
02:02 those three things will dissipate and your mental health and well-being, you'll start feeling better
02:06 about yourself. You'll want to become more vocal at work, for instance. You'll become more confident
02:12 because you are surrounding yourselves with like-minded people that are wanting to achieve
02:16 the same goals as yourself. I want to talk to you about back pain and how it cannot limit you
02:21 from going to the gym. Now, a lot of people feel like they can't go to the gym because they have
02:25 a back-related issue. Now, personally, I'm talking from personal experience myself,
02:29 99% of the time, back-related pain is not a spinal injury. It is in fact an inflammation in the
02:37 glutes or in the hips or you have a slight muscle tear around that region because, guys, it's all
02:44 connected. All of our nerve endings come from our back to obviously our arms, our legs, and they
02:51 pass through certain muscle groups. Now, unfortunately, what can happen sometimes when
02:54 those muscle groups become inflamed or we tear one, we can impinge on the nerve ending. We get
03:00 this a lot of times, particularly in my gym, where people will come in and say, "Oh, I've got
03:04 sciatica." A couple of weeks down the line, after being mobile, doing some hip activation, doing
03:10 some glute activation, and doing some foam rolling, and also potentially seeing a sports
03:14 massage therapist and having a massage, and the pain's completely gone. That's because the nerve
03:20 ending has become impinged rather than your back being injured. The best thing that you can do to
03:28 prevent getting a bad back or to help recover from a bad back, which is probably, like I say,
03:34 your glutes or your hip region flaring up, is to train. By training, we stretch the muscles,
03:40 we repair the muscles, we release synovial fluid into the joints, which is crucial for your facet
03:44 joints, especially in your back. Guys, you become a lot more happier, you'll be a lot more mobile.
03:50 A lot of people who do have back pain and chronic back pain suffer with depression as well.
03:55 Obviously, we all know that training releases good endorphins, and then that will help with
03:59 the depression side of things. Also, guys, it will stop you being reliant on medication and
04:04 stuff like that, because if we become more active and become more mobile, the joints get to move
04:08 more freely, the muscles move more freely, you'll be more active, you'll lose weight, and you'll feel
04:13 a lot happier about yourself. Now, there are a few tips for people who are suffering with back pain.
04:18 Okay, then, guys. What we're going to go through now are a couple of stretches that can help
04:22 release tension on your back, in particular, your lumbar spine, so lower back.
04:27 These exercises are really good for those people who work in offices and drive in taxis, buses,
04:33 who sit down a lot of the time, in particular, which is more and more common now because of a
04:38 lot of people working at home. So we're going to go through three really good stretches that
04:41 are going to stretch off your TFL and your glutes that aren't too complicated. So even if you aren't
04:47 that mobile, you should still be able to do these three stretches, guys. Okay, so the first one that
04:52 we're going to do is we're going to stretch off our TFL and our SMOAS. So we're going to squeeze
04:56 our glutes, so our bum as tight as we can. We're going to take our left leg forward so our foot's
05:01 nice and flat on the floor. From that position here, we haven't let go of the tension in our
05:05 glutes. We're going to push forward at the hips. We're going to take our right arm over on top of
05:11 our left hand and hold that position there. We're going to hold the stretch for around 25 to 30
05:16 seconds, so we get a nice, deep stretch. You'll feel a nice burning sensation down the side of
05:21 your leg, okay, so just in this area here. So pretty much where your pocket is, guys, okay. So that's
05:26 where your TFL is. So from this position, we've held the stretch for around 30 seconds and then
05:31 you'll simply switch over to the other side. Now, another muscle group that is really good to stretch
05:37 off, in particular when you have lower back pain, are your glutes, so your bum. A nice easy one to do
05:43 is to sit down, legs forward out to the front. You're going to take your right leg over your left
05:48 leg. You're going to hug that leg in, okay, and then if you want to apply extra pressure, use your
05:54 right arm to push your right knee towards the left hand side. You'll feel a stretch down the outside
06:01 of your bum and it'll feel pretty good, guys, especially if you've been working out or if you've
06:05 been standing up for quite a while, you haven't done a lot, it'll feel quite nice. It's a good
06:09 burning sensation. Hold it again for around 30 seconds and then you'll relax and then you change
06:15 over to the other side. Now, this one is again quite easy but it's a little bit more complicated
06:20 to get into. So if you do have a little bit of mobility issue, you might have to get someone
06:24 to help you. So you're just going to take your right leg over your left, so it's in this position,
06:31 so it's just above the knee and then you're going to bring your left leg down so your foot is nice
06:37 and flat and then you're going to push your chest in towards your opposite leg and again, you'll
06:43 feel that stretch on your glutes but it'll also start to radiate down the outside of your leg
06:49 for your TFL and smores. You're going to hold that again for around 30 seconds, guys, and then you'll
06:55 relax, come out of the stretch, change over to the other side. So if you are suffering with lower back
07:01 pain or starting to develop lower back pain from training in the gym, try out those three stretches.
07:06 There are a lot more stretches that you can do for glutes and hips. A lot of people fall into
07:12 the trap of over-training their chest. They do this by either doing too many movements,
07:18 working on their chest, too many reps or not enough sets. So what I'm going to give you today
07:25 is a little formula that can work for any muscle group in your body if you want to isolate muscle
07:31 groups when training. Now, the first thing I want you to do is pick three exercises for that muscle
07:36 group. I then want you to do three to five sets and then rep range, I want you to keep the reps
07:42 between six to seven reps and I want the seventh rep to be hard. If you can complete the seventh
07:50 rep, the weight on the bar, for instance, if we're doing bench press is not heavy enough, guys.
07:56 Okay, you should not be able to surpass seven reps, but you should be able to just squeeze in six.
08:02 Now, we'll just use this as a genetic rule. If I was bench pressing 50 kilos and I hit six reps
08:09 and I could only just get seven, that's fantastic. That's where you need to stay
08:14 on your sets and your rep range. Now, if I can hit seven and it's easy, we will increase the volume,
08:22 so increase the weight by five kilos. You will then try that again. So if we're on set two,
08:28 for example, and then if you get six to seven again and you find it easy, go up again. Now,
08:34 here's where it is. If you get six reps and you miss a seventh, you're in the right place.
08:39 That is where you are going to train the muscle to its maximum potential. Now, also, we need to
08:45 make sure the form is correct at all times and we make sure that we fully lock out in every movement
08:52 that we do. We don't want half reps. Now, a lot of people take the mic and say, "Oh yeah, crossfit
08:56 reps," all this sort of stuff. Guys, everyone needs to make sure that they're doing the correct form
09:02 no matter what area of fitness that you're training in. Now, this can also work particularly
09:09 well for your legs, but also think about it this way, guys. If you find it too easy, increase the
09:15 weight because you're hitting the rep range. If you find it too hard, don't be afraid to go back
09:18 down. And every now and again, if you start finding the weight easy, mix it up a bit.
09:27 Do a three-second pause. If you're on squats, for example, you hit squat depth at the bottom,
09:34 pause for three seconds. Keep your chest up, keep your core nice and tight,
09:37 squeeze your glutes, come out the lift. Guarantee that'll be an absolute game changer for you.
09:42 Just adding a three or even a two-second pause. Continue with that. Make sure that we stick to
09:47 three exercises or movements, shall we say, per muscle group, and then don't overload or surpass
09:54 those reps and those rep ranges. A lot of people go off the same method of three days on, one
10:01 half day, shall we say, so like an active recovery day, two days training, and then a full rest day.
10:06 So that would be Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. You can go to the gym. On a Thursday, you would
10:10 do an active recovery session. On a Friday and a Saturday, you would train. And then on a Sunday,
10:15 you would have a complete rest day. Or perhaps go and do something different. Like if you play
10:19 for a Sunday league football team, go and play football. Get outdoors, take the dog for a walk,
10:23 do something with your family, nice, chilled, and relaxed. So you'll have your batteries recharged
10:28 and ready to go again on Monday. Now, if you go to group classes like functional fitness,
10:33 CrossFit, boot camps, your coaching staff that are at that facility will already have your program
10:40 tailored for you throughout the week to make sure that you don't overload on certain muscle groups
10:45 and that you stay interested, really, because you're always going to do something different.
10:49 Now, if you go to a commercial gym and you lift weights and you're not entirely sure
10:53 what you should be doing, just for an example, you could train chest and triceps on a Monday.
10:57 On a Tuesday, you could train biceps and back. On a Wednesday, you could train legs. Then on a
11:04 Thursday, you can head over to the CV area, do some cardiovascular training, so treadmill,
11:10 bike, run, and then get a foam roller out, do some dynamic stretching. On the Friday,
11:14 you can train just arms. And then on a Saturday, to mix things up, guys, go core and glutes.
11:20 And for a lot of lads out there, they'll train the core, but they won't train the glutes.
11:23 Guys, train your glutes. Train your glutes. You'll improve a lot of strength. And then again,
11:27 on Sunday, have a complete rest day, complete day off, switch off from the gym, recharge your
11:32 batteries, and get ready to go again on Monday. And if I can give anyone any piece of advice,
11:37 you do this journey for you. You don't do it for anyone else. It is for you.
11:42 It is not for anyone else. Have a good day, guys.
11:54 [END]
11:54 1