Welcome to the BFit4Life Newsletter
Hiya All,
Thanks for taking the time out to read this month's newsletter. I am delighted to announce that the new BFit4Life Performance Centre is now operational. We are looking forward to sharing the pictures and our success story with you next month. I hope you enjoy this month's newsletter as it walks you along the path of Ms.
Muffin Top in the pursuit of a healthy, toned and sculpted body.
Tony Robbins said in his best selling book Unlimited Power, "If you want to achieve success, all you need to do is find a way to model those who have already succeeded." At the BFit4Life Performance Centre we are dedicated to excellence and continuous improvement to ensure our clients receive the best possible advice and direction available to help them achieve their Health & Fitness goals. Our model consistently delivers results and rewards our clients for their efforts. Like Ms Muffin Top, check out if your gym has clients that they can be proud of.
Yours in Health and Fitness,Confessions of a former Muffin Top
Damien interviews a former Ms Muffin Top to find out how she started to change her lifestyle, her thinking... and her body shape.
So when did you first notice you had a problem?
Before a big night out. I put on some brand-new trousers and skin-tight top and went over to take a final look in the mirror. And there it was – an unsightly layer of fat hanging over the waistband of my lovely low-cut jeans. I’d developed the dreaded “muffin top”. Straightaway, I made a vow that it had to go. The problem was how. I considered the usual quick-fix solutions– breakfast cereal diets, slimming pills, meal-replacement shakes – but remembered how a friend has fought a losing battle with such yo-yo diets, complaining that all the weight she lost was muscle, which slowed down her metabolism, and how any weight she lost always returned with interest.
What did you decide to do?
I realised the best approach was to eat healthy food and take exercise. I had tried walking for weight loss before, but realised that it probably just wasn’t intense enough and I needed to checkout my local gyms. It takes courage to visit a gym, so I decided to take my time and choose carefully – despite all the gym salespeople trying to sign me up after only about 15 minutes! So I tried a few out using free guest passes, trying to find one that suited my goals and personality.
Did you ask any advice?
Another friend of mine has transformed her body-shape, losing 42lbs and dropping her dress size to a size 8, so she was the first one I called. She explained that she used to belong to a large “chain” gym, training five days a week, running on a treadmill an
d going to spinning classes, but how despite all this effort, her body shape never changed. It was only when she tried a smaller gym, dedicated to fat loss and with enthusiastic, intelligent staff that she began to achieve her goals. Her passion for her new fitness was so overwhelming she encouraged me to avail of their free consultation. So I decided to try out the same gym. It doesn’t have the same fancy décor, 40” Plasma TVs, hi-tech treadmills and so on as most of the others I'd visited, but it does have friendly and knowledgeable staff – and “before and
after” photos on the walls of members who have achieved their ideal body shape, which I found inspiring!
What happened next?
With my personal trainer at the gym, I set realistic goals for fat loss and committed to train four times a week at set times and days – short, hard, intense sessions to achieve my goal. My trainer also reviewed my week-long food diary, so I realised that nutrition would be a major factor, too. For example, he explained how some foods, such as breads, cereals, sugars, alcohol and pastas, turn into sugar very quickly in your bloodstream, and how bread will bloat me and slow down my digestion. The education into how my body works has changed my approach to exercise. I started interval training, where I warmed up, then sprinted for 45 seconds, walked for five minutes, and repeated this six times – reducing my resting times as my fitness improved. My trainer also introduced me to the weights room!
Were you nervous?
Of course! Normally I would never have dared to enter this male dominated area. I thought it would be full of muscle-bound guys flexing, grunting and groaning as they lifted huge weights. But what I found was more women than men – women who were not muscle-bound, but lean, with excellent muscle tone and bodies to envy. It turns out that weight training and intervals increase the rate you
burn calories for up to 48 hours after training! At first, I did find the weights challenging. I discovered I had muscles I was never aware of, but I began to realise that the slight muscle soreness after training was actually a good sign – that each time I felt tenderness after training, my body was continually changing, moving nearer to my goal. It was the right training environment that helped raise my expectations to keep improving. I’d recommend everyone to look beyond the fancy décor of most gyms to find the one that actually builds your health. Changing your body-shape is hard, it takes commitment and you will face challenges. But remember the saying: “The greatest accomplishment is not
in never falling, but in rising after you fall.”