This post acts as a little advertisement for those living in Bristol and Bath seeking online, group or personal training. I have platforms to suit all budgets.
Tom Lakos, manager and owner of ProTom answers some questions about home exercise:
Do you think it’s possible to get a good workout at home?
Yes, it is possible but not too easy; it’s like working from home! There are lots of distractions and it might be hard to keep yourself motivated. Almost all of my clients have a home and gym plan, especially those who only have one personal training session a week. You need to work out frequently to get results.
If so, what exercises are best to start with if you’re a beginner?
You can do all different kinds of floor workouts using your just body weight. You should start by using a professional to design your exercise plan and show you the right technique. You should begin with an easy version of core, leg and arm workouts. When you get better at this, you can use the same exercises for circuit training. You can do this with an interval timer with 30 to 60 seconds for each exercise. When you are able to do six to seven circuits then get a new plan.
What home fitness equipment is worth investing in?
If you want to lose weight, you should buy a good pair of running shoes, and start to jog for a cardio workout, which is a really important part of your exercise plan. For resistance training as described before, you use just your bodyweight so you don’t need equipment at first. Once you have got better at this, you can buy light dumbbells of 2 to 3 kilos and resistance bands. Don’t buy any commercialised or gimmicky products, as you will waste your money. If you don’t lose interest and start to have more fun, invest in a stability ball (the large ball you sit on) and medicine ball (that you use to add extra weight). Don’t buy cheap ones though, as you need to invest in good quality products that last.
To begin, how many times a week should you exercise?
This is not an easy question to answer as it depends on your fitness level. If you have never done any exercise, you need to start gradually and build up. If your goal is to lose weight, I would recommend that you build up to exercising a minimum of five days a week. You have to be very committed though and you have to watch what you eat and drink. When you have reached your final goal you can eat whatever you want, but you should not crave junk-food, as you will respect the body you have been working so hard to achieve.
What’s the best way to use fitness to accelerate weight-loss?
The change has to psychological. If your get your mind right, the rest will come. In other words if you believe in yourself then you will lose weight. There are a lot of people in the gym, exercising aimlessly, watching TV while running and talking to each other when they working out. The gym is a very good social environment, but you have to think of your body as a temple. Believe in yourself and what you working on – then your dream of becoming slim will come true. There are no quick fixes though, losing weight and keeping it off takes time.
