Published in Matchbox magazine
Matchbox brings you a very special Five of the Best this month, courtesy of fitness guru Matt Roberts.
In the depths of the last recession, Matt Roberts moved to London with an idea: he’d identified a niche in the market for personalised training, where athletes or regular clients could get tailored help in reaching their fitness goals.
With no banks willing to lend, he had to put in some hard graft to raise the necessary funds. But raise them he did and in 1995 Roberts managed to set up his first one-to-one training centre within a former art gallery. Today he owns four plush personal training gyms across the capital with a client list that boasts the likes of John Galliano and Naomi Campbell. The following are Roberts’s top tips on keeping healthy in 2010.
Interview with Laura Holt.
1. Staying Motivated
Set a distinct goal and a date by which you want to achieve it. Be crystal clear and devise a reward for yourself for when you reach that target – and a forfeit if you fail to make it. Your goal could be that you want to get into a certain size dress for a special occasion, for example. So buy the dress in a smaller size that realistically matches your target. You’ll have an incentive for getting your weight down – or you’ll have wasted your money.
2. The Fun Factor
The best way to avoid monotony in your routine is to mix up the intensities – with things like interval training – and by varying the activities. Part of the reason why triathlon has become so popular is because advocates can vary training up by going for a run one day, then a bike ride or session in the pool the next. It’s important to allow yourself a mental and physical break. Make sure you have different patterns you follow. Sit down on a Sunday night and plan your activities for the week ahead to help stimulate your workout.
3. Eating Better
The average female consumes between 85-105 grams of fat each day, when it should be no more than 60 grams. With men, the ratio’s roughly the same: we’re consuming 80 per cent more fat than we should be. Where possible, remove saturated fats from your diet (commonly found in fried foods and dishes with rich creamy sauces and cheese). Stay away from ‘bad’ fats (many mass-produced biscuits and the like still contain unhealthy trans fats), and focus instead on the ‘good’ ones, in sources including fish, nuts and seeds.
4. Working Out
One of the most effective ways to work out is through interval training. At least twice a week, throw a hill session into your running or cycling routine or change your speed when swimming for a minute or two. Push yourself really hard, to the point where you couldn’t carry on any further, then recover for same time. Keep this up for 45-minutes and it will raise your metabolism phenomenally. Working out at a constant pace raises your metabolic rate for about 8 hours – with interval training, the afterburn effect lasts for up to 48 hours.
5. Warming Down
When you’ve finished an exercise session, you really need to stretch. Cool yourself down by bringing your heart rate down slowly. For example, if you’ve finished a run, spend five minutes gradually reducing your pace to a slow walk before finishing by stretching all muscles.
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