Fitness Blog - Claudia's Fitness Claudia's Fitness

Exercise and Cancer: the benefits

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Written by Melanie Bowen

Physical activity is beneficial for anyone going through cancer. For those who have experienced difficult treatment and surgery for more deadly cancers like mesothelioma, or more common cancer such as breast and colon, it’s important that you help your body heal but also repair itself. Some of the leading medical journals have described physical fitness as one way patients can help themselves get healthier in addition to traditional treatments. While it was once thought that more rest and relaxation allowed the body to repair, many now firmly believe that with daily exercise and activities, you can greatly impact your return to a healthier state.

27Mar

When it can be Dangerous to Diagnose Yourself?

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By Kevin Murphy, a former insurance industry professional living in Australia. When he’s not traveling abroad, he

blogs about health insurance for Frank Health Insurance.

The internet is the most powerful and effective knowledge-delivery vehicle in the history of the
human race. Never have so many had access to so much so quickly and so easily. But, like any
other tool the internet can be misused and like all knowledge- too little (or too much) of it can
be a dangerous thing. Medical websites like WebMD are a perfect example.

When you’re sick and there is so much information available literally at your fingertips, it’s
hard not to plug your symptoms in, self-diagnose and treat as suggested. Not to mention the
possible price tag hanging from a medical appointment. However, when it’s your health on the
line, despite the seeming inconvenience or imagined cost, see a doctor. Taking chances on self-
diagnosis is a bad idea- and here’s why.

11Feb

How to maximise your results with a personal trainer

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As a personal trainer, my mission is to help you reach your goals and get you in great shape. To gain maximal achievement, there are things you can do IN ADDITION to our training sessions. Here are a few quick tips to help you maximise your gains and help you reach your goals faster:

1. Ask me questions: The fitness industry, just like anything in life, can be mixed with myths so as a trainer, I feel it is my duty to inform you of the truths behind these myths. However you must remember, every person is different so just because Jo here can squat ass to grass doesn’t mean everyone can and/or should. The easiest way to get in contact with me is via e-mail/facebook or phone so please don’t hesitate to ask me anything- I am more than happy to help.

2. Eat a complete meal with protein, carbs and healthy fats for example a chicken salad with extra virgin olive oil dressing and an apple. This will ensure your body’s energy levels are replenished as well as aiding with muscle recovery; plus the healthy fats will help with lubricating your joints and relieving stiffness and potentially joint pain. If you are ensure what a complete meal is, check out my nutritional article: What to eat, what not to eat

18Jan

Cleaning your guts

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I talk a lot about fitness (obviously) but I strongly want to also emphasize healthy living. As a personal trainer I want to show people that we are not superficial. Looks is certainly not my main priority- HEALTH and happiness are. I want to be healthy and happy and I want my clients, readers and anyone I encounter to be healthy and happy. After all…we only have one life, might as well try and make it great.

Part of being healthy and happy is not simply eating well and exercising- Being healthy is a wholesome approach- your mind and your body. So as a personal trainer, I can work on the inside and the outside. I can help people sculpt their body from the outside and ensure they are eating well to maintain healthy and improve the body composition. But when it comes to cleaning up the hard yards we’ve just put in, I’ll leave it to the experts. although, most the fresh food and complete protein we are eating,eventually comes out of our system, some does NOT. So what happens to it? It stays in your body- in specifically your gut. That’s not nice to think about.

Luckily I have found the best solution for cleaning out what could remain: it’s called colonic irrigation hydrotherapy. Even just thinking about cleaning and flushing your system out sounds relieving- BUT the procedure sounds daunting. To put it very simply, a small plastic tube pushes water through your anus into your gut and it cleans what may have been left. The best part- you get to watch what comes out and be amazed…and grossed out.

06Jan

Organizing Food for the Week: a quick tip

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You’ve heard it before: PLAN AHEAD to stay ahead. I completely agree! This saying applies in many aspects of everyday life but it is especially important to me when keeping in track with my fat loss journey. I’m going to explain exactly how I need to be organised and plan ahead each week in order to ensure I am heading in the right direction.

There have been many times where I would come home in time for dinner and realize nothing was prepared. At that point, it’s easy to get takeaway or make something out of the cupboard which isn’t satisfactory. Wouldn’t it be much easier if the meal was there ready for you? Or, in my case, the ingredients are readily available and need 15-20min of cooking?

The trick to being organised is writing things down and planning ahead. The first thing I do, is my meal plan; Here is how i break it down: Continue Reading

11Nov

Control your environment

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A wise man once said “control your environment, don’t let the environment control you’. I never really knew what that meant; ‘ of course I am in control of my environment’. At the same time I was always saying how I couldn’t have my meal because I didnt have a break at work or that I had errands to run so wouldn’t have time to work out. I was believing that what was going on around me was preventing me from achieving my goals. Then, I finally realized what “control your environment” actually meant.

I started prioritizing my meal times and workouts around my surroundings. I had rescheduled appointments to fit in workout time, I had divided my break times to have them more frequent so I can fit in the meals. I’ve even cooked my meal prior to catching up with a friend and opened my container at Starbucks as she had her frappucino and I had my chicken and brown pasta. It sounds extreme and somewhat funny but I felt empowered and that this is my priority. If I was to be told off by the cafeteria, I would have gone outside on a bench, ate my chicken and come back and order a long black. My friend was not embarrassed, she was impressed with my dedication.

03Oct

My butt looks good in this!

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This post is written from my emotional side… I do think that one’s body is like the front cover of a book, manifested as this big shell which people see. Unfortunately, we get judged by our bodies – Whether people act on that judgement or not it doesn’t matter, the judgement has already been made. For example, when a clearly obese family walk into pizza hut and bring out 4 boxes, or an really attractive girl with revealing clothes stumbles out of a club, we already judge them and lay out their background in our heads. Anyway, if a person stands out, they get judged.

There is no way to ‘fit in’ unless you’re invisible. So, what is one to do? I know that if I’m going to be judged no matter what, I would rather be judged as highly attractive. Wouldn’t you? It may sound harsh or vain but when someone looks unhealthy, people , by instinct, stay away.

Although having an attractive body is a big aim for me, my main goal is to challenge myself to become a work of art -stemming from being strict and hard work- luckily, I love lifting weights and being at the gym, but occasionally I have struggled with food. Actually, scratch that, I don’t struggle with food, I struggle with saying NO to the tiny devil voice in my mind- this is where all the temptation is: MY MIND. I can hear how it easily gives into temptation- I can hear ‘that little voice’ in my head saying “YUM, how good would a cheesecake be right now?” and “YOU will feel so good when you eat this delicious pizza”- then I imagine how good it tastes and my mouth starts salivating. Continue Reading

19Sep

Pumping Iron and Losing fat- my new STRONG program WITH PROGRESS PICTURES

Filed in Exercise | My Progress | Uncategorized 1 Comment

This is probably my favourite post to write about as I am a big fan of increasing muscle size. When I head to the gym, I love the rush of lifting weights and pushing hard. I do get a few looks from the fellow male gym goers so it makes me push harder. I’ve been doing weights for a while now and I am nowhere near the size of a bodybuilder. This brings me to the most common myth people have- if you lift weights, you will ‘get big’. There are soooo many factors which need to be combined to get the ‘bodybuilding’ look-a-like body and lifting weights as a sole factor is certainly not enough.

Most commonly women avoid lifting weights and opt for a cardio based routine because they want to ‘lose weight’ but they don’t care about the muscle- this reminds me of a great quote i once got told and I’ve paraphrased it to: “losing weight will make a big pear into a smaller pear but the shape is still a pear”- ok, so basically what this is saying is that you will simply shrink in size when you lose weight but if you want to ‘shape’ your body, you must do resistance training( aka weight lifting). If you are still not convinced ladies, read this Why women should Lift article to see EXACTLY why women should be lifting weights. Plus I’ve mentioned it before in all my posts that in order to have the ‘curves’ in the right places, we need to lose the FAT and increase the muscle size. This is the only way to get that ‘tight & toned’ body.

10Sep

How to work-out when you dont have a gym

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I’ve created a program for people who do not have access to a gym at the moment. I am a big fan of the gym because it targets specific muscles which I want to increase in size so when I lose most of the fat, they show through. It’s exciting to be able to sculpt your body the way you want by following that formula.

However, I am here to tell you that YOU CAN NOT USE THE EXCUSE: “I WILL START WORKING OUT WHEN I JOIN A GYM”. This is an excuse, I’m sorry to say. There are LOADS of things you can do to lose weight without having to go to a gym. Once you’ve lost a certain amount of weight, gym is crucial in building the strong muscles and once the fat is burnt off, they will show through and your body will look toned but in the meantime, head outdoors or stay inside and complete the following work-out.

The main thing EVERYONE who is trying to lose weight should concentrate on is the food intake. Start with portion control where the chicken is about the size of your fist and the plate is mostly veges with no fatty/sugary sauces; this is just an example. For a more detailed approach, take a moment and read my “Beginner’s guide to losing fat” where I give you the tools to a good eating regime.

To summarise, here are a few healthy eating guidelines (please note, these guidelines are for people who have not been exposed to the fitness lifestyle and who simply need to make a change to lose weight- for a more thorough approach, have a look at my meal plan which is more specifically designed for fat loss and muscle gain):

Drink around 3L of water everyday.
Have 5-6 small meals a day
Portion control is about limiting each meal to a SMALL plate instead of a large plate with plenty of veges and a protein like chicken or turkey or fish.
Read the back of anything you buy and avoid products with more than 2g Saturated fat and 5g of sugar.
Have healthy snacks: swap potato chips for oven roasted almonds and chocolate bars for strawberries, etc.
Pre-prepare your lunches and dinners cook on Sunday and Wednesday for the week and place it in containers in the fridge.
Have a balanced meal: Complex Carbs, Protein and Essential Fats: eg: Pesto Chicken Brown Pasta or Peanut Butter Banana smoothie made with full cream milk( not very much) and water.
Have a good breakfast: eggs and egg whites!! Forget the crappy sugary cereal.

Now, Here is the workout I’ve designed for anyone who hasn’t signed up to a gym yet. If you are out in the park, grab a water bottle, towel and a timer( most phones have a timer):

28Aug

Confessions of a self-proclaimed fitness fanatic

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This is the post where I need to admit I am only human and have subdued to temptation during my fat loss journey.

For me to get to my goal I need to be absolutely strict and aware of what I put into my body- unfortunately I have occasionally cut corners and gave into temptation.

Due to the fact I was used to eating crappy food, it was very different for me to give up the way I was eating. But most importantly, doing the standard healthy guidelines like eat 5-6 times a day, eating small portions and whole unprocessed food, is just not enough for me to get to my goal. The reason being is that my body has gotten used to all of that and is now holding onto everything left in my body so it’s very hard for me to lose the last 5% body fat.

Fortunately, I know how I need to do it- it involves measuring and monitoring everything that I eat, specific things to eat at different times and of course exercise. It sounds so straight forward- but unfortunately I have not been that strict. I have to admit to this so it can be out in the open; a self-confession to anyone that is reading this. I haven’t been measuring my chicken everyday or ensuring I do not have carbs after dinner. I also have had a cheat day a week and occasionally have had alcohol. What I was doing would be fine for a general healthy lifestyle and would also help if you want to lose some weight. However, I’m in my cutting phaze- this means, clean eating, nutrient timing and exercise has to be very precise.

Older Entries

Drink around 3L of water everyday.

Have 5-6 small meals a day

Portion control is about limiting each meal to a SMALL plate instead of a large plate with plenty of veges and a protein like chicken or turkey or fish.

Read the back of anything you buy and avoid products with more than 2g Saturated fat and 5g of sugar.

Have healthy snacks: swap potato chips for oven roasted almonds and chocolate bars for strawberries, etc.

Pre-prepare your lunches and dinners cook on Sunday and Wednesday for the week and place it in containers in the fridge.

Have a balanced meal: Complex Carbs, Protein and Essential Fats: eg: Pesto Chicken Brown Pasta or Peanut Butter Banana smoothie made with full cream milk( not very much) and water.

Have a good breakfast: eggs and egg whites!! Forget the crappy sugary cereal.