Overtraining and the Importance of Rest Days

Hi guys,
Over the past couple of weeks we've been talking to you about ways to stay fit and motivated with different workout ideas. However it is important to recognise that there is such a thing as overtraining. Overtraining happens when you train and workout beyond your body's ability to recover properly. While you may think that you're maximising your potential by working your body hard 7 days a week, this can lead to overtraining syndrome and in fact decrease your performance!

Overtraining can have you feeling tired and drained all the time, leave you with muscle soreness, headaches, weaken your immune system and even prevent you from sleeping properly. The key is to find a healthy balance between working out and rest to enable your body to recover properly. Allowing your body to have proper rest days between periods of training will in fact increase your performance and maximise your results.

However having a rest day doesn't mean sitting on the couch and watching TV all day. You can have an active rest day, conditioning your body, getting it ready for that next workout. A proper stretching routine targeting all areas of your body is a great way to spend your rest day. Yoga is a great choice here and will increase your performance across all areas of physical activity. Furthermore if that's not enough for you on your rest day, low intensity work on the treadmill and making use of a foam roller is also another option.

So there you have it guys, don't over work yourselves - make sure you're getting adequate rest days in to maximise your results. I highly recommend trying out yoga if you haven't yet, it'll make all aspects of your physical performance better, and maybe even spiritual. 

That's all for this one... be fit, be happy!

Are you training below your belts?

Hi guys, Mitomo from MNBKS Fitness =]

How’s everyone’s working out going?

Are you guys doing your leg day properly?
Don’t tell me you are skipping leg day because it wont stand out as upper body and you think it’s not worth it…

Well today, I’m going to let you people know why it is important to work on your legs more than your upper body. It’s not all about looking good.

And no, it’s not those simple reasons like, it will make you run faster, and longer, or it’ll make you a better athlete. But better reasons that will make you not only look good, but also feel young and strong! Because friends don't let friends miss leg day.

1.      It’ll increase your metabolism.

Not only will leg day make you speedier on the track, but it can also speed up your metabolism. Strength training outperforms running, cycling, rowing and other standard cardio exercises when it comes to keeping metabolism revved up.

2.      You’ll relieve lower back pain

When people have lower back pain, most people blame tight hamstrings and attempt to stretch them, however, they would be better off stretching the hip flexors and strengthening the hamstrings, gluteus and abdominal muscles.

3.      You’ll improve on your balance.

Balance is essential for maintaining control of your body. Exercises like side lunges and deadlifts will increase your stability, develop your proprioception and help keep you ready for anything.

*Just a quick what not to do for legs:

Never add more weight or attempt to go for speed until you’ve got the movement patterns down.

Beginners should pay special attention to squat depth, posture and knee alignment.

Be fit, Be happy =]

Healthy Diet Habit Tips

Hello everyone,

This is Natalie from MNBKS Fitness. Today I want to talk about having healthy diet habits.

1.     Have Breakfast!

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released a shocking report that one in seven school children are skipping breakfast. Breakfast is considered as the most important meal of the day. The research shows that consuming breakfast regularly is correlated with lower level of overweight and obesity. If you’re in a hurry in the morning, have an apple or banana on your way to school or workplace. It will improve alertness and concentration you need during the day.

       2.     Drink a lot of water.

  As many people may already know, drinking an adequate amount of water is an essential part not only keeping you fit but also staying healthy. There are several benefits and to begin with, it helps maintain the balance of body fluids as our body is composed of about 60% of it. This bodily fluids are part of almost every part cycle such as digestion, absorption, circulation, creation of saliva, transportation of nutrients, and maintenance of body temperature. It also helps to control calories which is why if you are aiming to lose weight, it is essential to drink water often. It is recommended to carry a water bottle  wherever you go and drink them at regular intervals.

3.     Snacks between meals

Try having a piece of fruit or a few crackers in between your meals. Eating small frequent meals can be less taxing on your digestive system and it keeps you from overeating at mealtime.

Being fit and healthy is not just about going to gym and working out. It is a combination of exercising and keeping a healthy diet. It is these little habits that if you can get yourself to do them everyday, you will be able to achieve you goals much more faster. 

Be fit, Be happy!

App Review: Nike + Running

Hey guys,
Kevin here from the MNBKS Fitness team coming with something a little different today. I've been using the Nike+ Running app for iOS and Android lately and thought I would give you guys my thoughts.

So as most people know, running is one of the simplest, easiest, and most effective forms of cardio. Just a little bit everyday will build your muscles, improve cardio vascular fitness, burn plenty of kilojoules, and even strengthen your bones!
The Nike+ Running app aims to add elements of 'Web 2.0' and social networking to your runs to help make then less 'boring', and motivate and drive you towards your fitness goals.

When you start Nike+ Running for the first time you're presented with the main feature app. Essentially it's an app designed to track the route (through GPS), distance, time, pace, splits and NikeFuel of your run.
All of this data is stored and available to you at any time and therefore can act as a very powerful tool for the setting and achieving of goals.
You might want to be able run an extra kilometre next week. Run a kilometre 30 seconds faster? Increase your pace for next time? All of this is trackable through the Nike+ Running app.
When you're finished you can even share your run on Facebook directly through the app and get cheered on by your friends.









Competing against yourself and beating your previous goals however is only the start. The best motivation comes when you're competing against others right? The Nike+ Running app allows you to do just that. You can set challenges for you and your friends, complete with a full, real-time leaderboard.














The Nike+ Running app has definitely made running more fun and interesting for me whilst I've been using it. Setting and beating personal goals, and fighting for every metre so that my name is on the top of that leaderboard was really motivating for me.

All in all I hope this review was of some use to you guys, the app is definitely worth checking out. Also did I mention that it was FREE!? What more could you ask for?

Be fit, be happy, and get to running!

-Kevin

Training Hard vs Training Smart

For many people embarking the fitness journey, getting to the gym is the biggest problem and once in the gym, they often don’t know what to do. The most common thing I have experienced with people starting out is that enough is never enough. People want to go 6 times a week and each session they plan to do every single machine in the span of one hour or less or incorporate 50+ working sets. Whilst I am guilty of training like this in the past, a workload of such is simply unrealistic and unsustainable unless you are a professional athlete, enhanced or Russian. One has to remember that whilst fitness should be a core component of our lives, it shouldn’t be the only thing we expend energy for.

This problem is most likely going to occur with a beginner lifter who is transitioning into an intermediate lifter. They often still have the mindset of a beginner lifter, eager to do everything, however their bodies won’t be able to recover in the same way that a beginner would as they are lifting more weight and using their CNS more efficiently. As a result of not being able to fully recover for the next workout, they will constantly feel fatigued and without the needed rest, may result in overtraining and/or injury.

An easy solution to this problem is to have smart programming. For beginner lifters, programs such as starting strength by Mark Rippetoe or Mehdi’s 5x5 stronglifts program are a great place to start and as they progress they may look into programs such as The Texas Method or Billstar’s 5x5. These programs may or may not be suitable for the goals of individuals not looking to gain strength and have other goals in mind.

Lord Rippetoe beams upon you as you descend below parallel in the squat

In the end it’s fine to train hard, but train smart as well.

Be fit, be happy.

Cardio workout

Hi guys guess who's back with some fitness tips. Great work there Kev and Boris, good pointers about the big 3 and great motivational post about having goals. So what I have in stock today are some advice regarding cardio. So how would you define cardio exercise? Cardio exercise is a form of physical exercise of low to high intensity that depends primarily on the aerobic energy-generating process.^[1] Some common cardio workout is jogging on a park or running on a treadmill. While these exercise does serve the purpose of cardio workout, in my opinion it is one dimensional. Don't you think so? So how about trying a sport instead or Zumba or maybe even a form of mixed martial arts :D Let's not get carried away there, for beginners let's just stick to sport or Zumba. :)

Now Zumba is a form of cardio exercise that's growing in popularity. I think it's great and works as a cardio workout and you can even learn a form of dance through it. For those who are not keen on dancing, getting involved in a sport is a great choice. For example indoor soccer, basket ball, tennis or maybe badminton but none of that golf stuff. I don't see how that's a workout. :P Anyways back to point, considering sport for a workout. So the benefit of such a workout is that you are covering the part of cardio exercise that you would normally cover while jogging, on top of that you are working on your stamina, agility and sense of team work as well. Overall the experience can motivate you further. You don't necessarily have to be good at the sport but that's the beauty of it, you can get better through commitment and in due time besides maintaining fitness, the sport is a new skill attained. That's like hitting two targets with one arrow. Achieving such a goal in context, you will be FIT and you will HAPPY ;)

That's all for now, keep an eye out for our next post. In the mean time 
work hard, 
play hard.
Be fit, be happy.


Reference:

1.  Sharon A. Plowman; Denise L. Smith (1 June 2007). Exercise physiology for health, fitness and performance. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-7817-8406-1. Retrieved 3 October 2014.

Goals

Goals in life are one of the most powerful assets one can have, and fitness is no exception to this idea. We often embark on a road of fitness envisioning the end result, a perfect body with the corresponding perfect lifestyle. Whilst having a long-term goal as such is fine, one must remember that the road to fitness is a marathon rather than a sprint. Therefore I believe it is important to have short term goals on top of long term goals.

A short term goal is something attainable in around a month, whilst a long term goal may only be obtainable in a couple of years or so. As an aspiring powerlifter, my short-term goals at any point may be a 10 kg increase to my total (in powerlifting a total refers to the one rep maxes of the squat, benchpress and deadlift added together), or an improvement on my technique for a particular lift, however my long term goals may be to total a particular number or to be able to compete in a particular weight class.

In the end, having realistic short term goals is more important than having the most optimistic long term goal. Achieving a monthly short term goal is a big confidence booster, and will motivate one to keep going and pursue the next target weight, lift or lap time. Before you know it, the optimistic long term goal you had before is nothing more than a goal for the end of the month!

Most importantly, be fit, be happy.