Tuesday, May 24, 2011

My TOP fitness tips!

Surround yourself with people who are motivated and fit,
this will make it easier to motivate yourself.


Exercise in the morning,
it will kick start your metabolism, allowing you to burn calories all day long.

Many people believe the only way to loose weight is to do cardio.
Cardio is important but it’s only half of the equation. For a lean body, weights are essential. If you avoid weights because you’re afraid of getting bulky, then you’re missing out on one of the best fat-burning methods!

Diets will not work for a long term fat loss!
Fat loss can be achieved by adopting new nutrition and exercise habits that you can maintain for the rest of your life.


Do different workouts as often as possible!
If you don’t shake things up a bit, your muscles will adapt to routine because you are no longer challenging them and you will find it hard to see results.

Eat less processed food
Eating foods in their original form ensures that you consume more nutrients and less preservatives.


To burn fat and prevent your body from putting it back on
you need to eat balanced small meals every 2-3hours.

Eat fat to loose fat,
when you eat small amount of HEALTHY fats ie. avocado, flax seed oil, fish oil, olive oil, nuts etc you are more likely to get lean than if you avoid them.

We need FIBER in our diet because,
it stimulates the digestive tract and helps it work efficiently, slows down carbohydrate absorption & helps with weight management.

My Top 10 healthy foods:
Oatmeal, egg whites, vegetables, beans, brown rice, fresh fruit, low fat dairy products, chicken, lean meat, fish.

Do not over eat when you’re bored or feeling down
Go for a walk, call a friend, go shopping or go have a big workout!


Work out more and diet less!
Muscles give your body form and shape, without working out and eating correctly you will not gain muscle.

Make sure to stretch
Stretching relieves tension in your joints and muscles. It keeps you flexible and alleviates stress. You should not skip stretching

Don’t skip breakfast!
You will just slow down your metabolism and send the body into “starvation mode” because you’re going a long period of time frequently 8 -14 hours without food!

No amount of working out is going to help if your not drinking enough water!
Water helps you burn calories, digest fat and detoxify your system

To stay fit in the long run,
you should perform regular maintenance on your body, just as you would with your car!

xx

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Behind the scenes

Hey Guys!
I hope you have all been keeping fit and healthy and your working towards the goals you have set for yourself :)

I thought I would share some unedited fun 'behind the scenes' shots from a shoot I did two weeks ago. 
This was a very laid back shoot I did on a rooftop in Los Angeles with an amazing photographer for an International Magazine.
In the upcoming months I will share the finished product, published in the magazine.









xxx

Monday, May 16, 2011

Working out whilst overseas


I thought this would be a great topic for me to write about because I have been travelling for the past 6 months! I've definitely had some struggles trying to fit training into my day, when my day is usually packed with meetings, photoshoots or site seeing.
Whilst overseas for business or pleasure you always tend to over indulge. This is a time where yes you should feel relaxed but your also packing in many more calories that need to be burned off.
Note* To lose weight you need to burn more calories than you consume. In saying that, by all means over indulge but just be prepared to fit in a quick high intensity workout that will help you feel a little less guilty.
Here are two easy ways to achieve a high intensity workout that will burn loads of calories and in a short amount of time!
Quick exercise example one: CARDIO
I have been living in hotels for the most part whilst travelling around Asia and America. In most of the building they have fire escapes. I have been doing this quick exercise routine for years! Stair sprints for a high intensity workout that is sure to burn many calories and quickly!
Try this:
- Start from the ground floor, make sure you have your ipod with your fav tunes pumping, as a warm up, start off with a light run up the stairs I usually will run up as many stairs I can until I am out of breath.
- Turn around and head back down to the bottom
- As soon as you get there don’t wait (your breath will have caught back up) sprint as fast as you can until you are completely out of breath again (hopefully you will be able to go further than you did on your first round) when you get to your max head down the stairs slowly catching your breath
- Repeat this as many times as you feel capable, it really depends on how many stairs you have in your fire escape (I can usually aim to do 5-8 sets)
- If you want an extra burn, try lunging up steps on one round. Also change it up and try one round stepping on every step and then one round of stepping on every second step
Stairs are a great way to tone your legs and bum. This is a high intenstity workout that will tire you out quickly! It is important to push yourself as hard as your body will allow in this short time because it is not a long workout. Doing this type of high intensity workout will get you much better results then jogging on a treadmill at a steady rate and you will burn more calories in a shorter time period.

Quick exercise example two:
WEIGHTS
If I am busy and only have two days a week where I can do weight training, I like to incorporate multiple body parts in one workout.  This helps me hit every muscle and is also a quick and easy way to make sure I am keeping up with my weight training. The workout I will be showing you today is aimed at working every muscle group, getting your heart rate high and making it a as quick as possible.
(note:  when my weeks are not too busy I focus on one muscle part per day, training with weights 5 days a week) I also try to include supersets and dropsets whenever possible to challenge myself and get more out of the workout. I will outline these workouts in a future post.
*Use a resistance that makes it tough for you to get out the final two reps but make sure you still have good form, those last few reps are where your muscle is REALLY working so don’t give up and always finish a set
Try this:
- Warm up with a 10min jog on the treadmill/cross trainer or 5min skip
(Do 1 set of each move back to back without resting, then complete this entire circut 4-5times. Take a 1-2min rest in between sets)
- Lunges, 12 lunges on each leg
- Double arm bicep curls, 12 curls
- Sumo Squats, 12 deep squats
- Tricep dips, 15 dips (best to do off a bench)
- Chest press, 12 presses
- Jumping jacks, 12 jumps
- Shoulder press, 12 presses
Pushing yourself to your max during exercise can be hard but just keep in mind how amazing you will feel afterwards, you are taking steps to improve your overall health and appearance, that is definitely a reason to keep pushing yourself and making every workout count!
Make sure to have a protein shake within 20 minutes of your workout to help the muscle you just train repair. Why not try my fav protein shake http://dominiqueletoullec.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-new-fav-protein-shake.html
In an upcoming fitness blog, I will take you through my weekly workout. I am currently focusing on strength training and am mostly using weight training to get the results I am after. I will also be posting videos soon so you can see me performing these exercises. I will then be able to show you more complex exercises and also show you how these are preformed correctly.
**This is just a guideline to help get you started, please consult your doctor or personal trainer before you start any exercise and seek attention immediately for any injuries.

My new FAV protein shake!

I love to mix up my protein shakes and I will continue to bring you new and exciting recipes.
Todays shake has become one of my favorites, mostly because I know I am getting so many amazing benefits in just one shake! The secert ingredient is Spinach!

adding spinach to shakes! It is a rich source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Magnesium, and it is packed with antioxidants! This green shake will increase digestive efficiency, balance your body's PH, support weight loss, boost your immune system & mental performance, support your liver and kidney function and increase your energy! And don't worry you can hardly taste the spinach!

What you will need:
- Blender
- 1-2 scoops (depends on your brand) Vanilla protein powder – Please get what protein is best for you, best sourced through a nutritionist, personal trainer or health store
- 1/3 cup Ice
- 1 cup Filtered water
- 1 handful Organic Spinach (using frozen spinach is also ok)
- 1 cup Wild Blueberries
- 1/2 a Banana

This shake can also be a nice healthy alternative for breakfast or a snack at any time of the day!
(Make sure to have your ‘after workout’ protein shake within 20 mins of exercise, the reason this is important is because your body is starting to heal the muscle right after a workout, taking protein at that time will give the body fuel it needs to heal and grow)

My Thailand fitness experience!!

This year has been a very busy year for me. It started off with me going to Thailand for a modelling job which took me around Bangkok and Hui Hin. Although I do not consider modelling my primary job, I do love the opportunities it brings and when I am able to travel to a different country I always try to eat healthy. This can be very challenging because I am a major food lover and I always want to try all the different types of food. I know I need to keep a healthy balance, so being in Thailand, I thought how can I continue eating all this amazing food whilst staying fit and healthy!  Being a personal trainer I am always thinking of fun new ways to exercise so after much thought, I decided to travel to Phuket to train at one of the many training camps.

I’ve been to Thailand over 7 times and have always been fascinated with the fitness camps. In the past I have always travelled to Thailand to relax, but as I was already here for work and in that state of mind I wanted to experience a different style of training and learn more about the industry that I love 'health and fitness'. Many people go to these camps, people who just want to try it for fun, people wanting to loose weight, people training for an upcoming fight in Muay Thai/boxing/MMA

I chose to train at a camp called ‘Tiger Gym’. The reason I chose this camp is mainly because I wanted to focus on my weight training and tiger gym has one of the best gym out of all the camps I have seen. On top of that Tiger is home to Personal Trainer and body builder ‘the hulk’. I knew I would definitely learn a lot from him so I was eager to start training straight away.


I started training five to six days a week, sometimes twice a day (usually a cardio session and a weight session in one day) I solely wanted to focus on building my muscle so when I did do cardio exercise it was always for a max of 30mins, never over. Weight training already burns enough calories and is a huge cardio workout (which some people do not realise) you actually burn more calories from weight training because your not only burning calories whilst training, your burning calories for hours after you finish training. Where with cardio your only burning calories whilst actually doing the activity.


Through my experience I learnt so much more about weight training and found out how much more capable I was of pushing myself harder! I learnt more about nutrition and also learned a huge range of new exercise moves/and workouts which I have since used with my clients. Being the ‘client’ I can definitely say I believe it is so important to have your own personal trainer, it is amazing how hard we can push ourselves when we have someone helping and motivating us!

Now, I understand most people go to Thailand to relax and enjoy a holiday but why not try achieving both things on your next holiday to Thailand. Enjoy a week of relaxation, cocktails and amazing food and then spend the last week at one of these camps working on your body so you return looking and feeling AMAZING!
My results, check out my abs ;)