With Christmas time upon us, it’s very likely that many of your evenings and weekends are filled with festivities that involve eating, drinking and generally being merry. These social events can play havoc with your nutrition and exercise routine. The holiday season is a time to enjoy with family and friends, but you needn’t over-indulge.

Protein allows the muscles to rebuild and repair. Whether your goal is fat loss, muscle gain, to become fitter, stronger, leaner, or a combination; it is essential that you refuel your body after exercise.

It is suggested that the ideal “window” of time in which to consume our post-workout meal (in order to aid recovery) is up to 90 minutes after training. The sooner, the better! This recipe is for the perfect post-workout meal, that takes only 5 minutes to prepare!

With party season approaching fast, it’s time to get to the gym to work on lean, toned and defined arms to complement all of your Summer party outfits.

These 5 simple exercises can be completed one after the other as a circuit, should take less than 15 minutes, and will leave you with arms to be envied!

You may have seen Jason Statham in the movies Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Crank, Transporter (1,2 and 3), The Bank Job, Death Race and War. You may also have noticed that Statham has become increasingly lean and muscular of late. He has shared the details of the gruelling Jason Statham workout with Men’s Health magazine and although the individual components are nothing new, the combination makes for a fat blasting, muscle carving workout that will leave you standing (or laying) in a pool of sweat!

As the weather gets warmer, it becomes more tempting to forego the gym and head to the beach instead. Why not have the best of both worlds and enjoy the sun while doing some exercise?

At some point or another, you’ve probably felt like a hamster on a wheel while using the cardio equipment at your local gym. This feeling is usually accompanied by the “well at least i’m doing something” thought that justifies a not-so-challenging cardio session. I like to call this “blah” cardio. It happens to the best of us, infact, my recent “blah” cardio session inspired me to write this post.

Those of you who have ever used the services of a personal trainer are more than likely familiar with the arduous task of keeping a food diary or log.

Food diaries are a pain in the butt, i don’t deny that. Toting around a note pad and pen and scrawling down a bizzare description of every mouthful you eat before it even has had time to digest (“deck of cards sized piece of chicken breast” or “tennis ball of greek yoghurt with 7 almonds”) becomes tedious very quickly..BUT, they do work.

As a personal trainer, i can’t count the number of times a client has asked me “How do i lose weight from my stomach/thighs/arms/butt?”.Unfortunately, there is no such thing as ‘spot reduction’ – you can’t choose the area of the body from which you will lose fat.

It can be hard to find the time to get to the gym, particularly if you have kids.

We are all aware of the obesity epidemic in this country, and of the sad reality that a large number of those affected are children. Whether you feel that both you and your children should become more active for health reasons; or simply that it would be a fun and positive way to spend quality time together, why not include them in your exercise routine?

When considering fitness for children, it is important to emphasise activities as fun rather than simply hard work. Make enjoyment the priority!

Chances are, if you’ve ever set foot in a gym, you’ve heard someone talk about protein supplementation. So what are protein supplements and what are they used for?

This fantastic workout targets strength, endurance, aerobic fitness, stability, balance and will power! It will challenge your whole body and push you to the limit (in a good way!).

If you struggle to fit an hour long exercise session in each day, why not try breaking your exercise up into smaller, manageable sessions throughout the day?