Author: Jarrat Wood

I was watching a little known film on the weekend called “Hector and the Search for Happiness”. You can view the trailer here. The film is the story of a psychiatrist played by Simon Pegg who leaves his successful career and girlfriend (played by Rosamund Pike of Gone Girl fame) in England to travel the World, touch base with some old friends and discover the secret to happiness so he can live a better life and deliver more for his patients. While the movie itself is probably not going to take home any major awards it was the final epiphany by the lead character that intrigued me. 

Part 4 of my series of exercise tips is the lunge. You can also view the bench press, seated row and squat from previous instalments. Lunges have long been part of a staple leg strengthening program. They pre-date gyms and are an excellent exercise for strengthening, balance and athletic development. This week I provide my expert tips and guidance to performing the lunge safely and for maximum benefit.

For the past 18months I have had a working partnership with Bay Active Physiotherapy in Double Bay. It’s been of terrific benefit to my clients with their ongoing discounted treatments and a terrific relationship which allows for rapid reporting and referring. The result is a better outcome for patients and clients. Last week I had the privilege of trialling a unique piece of equipment that the team at Bay Active have available – Real Time Ultrasound. 

Welcome to the 3rd in depth look at some of the most common exercises in the gym. I previously looked at the Seated Row and Bench Press. Squatting is fundamental to our movement and in training it is usually performed with either of these 2 specific purposes in mind: 

1. Athletic training
2. Maintain/Improve Function

Key Points:

•Are you frustrated by the current pop culture of fitness?

•Be an integral member of a proven scientific approach to health and wellness

•Work in an environment to learn, earn and grow whilst changing people’s lives

This is what I know for sure – from now until the end of your days you will fall down. You will probably fall down many times. Some of these will be minor. They will barely even register as an event in your mind. But some will be significant and lead to injury. One thing is for sure though – you will fall! The good news is there are many things that you can do to help prevent falling and minimise your risk of injury or mortality. In 2008 almost 1% of all deaths in Australia were due to falls. Click here to see the statistics.

Of course, falls are of greater concern to older Australians, but I always have my eye on prevention so I believe everyone can take small steps NOW regardless of their age to prevent a fall in the future. Here are my top 5 tips for preventing a fall:

Let’s be honest. Making a change is not easy. Making many changes is very difficult and often impossible. Today I’m going to challenge you to make just one change. One change that could make a huge difference to the rest of your life.

Need to kickstart some changes in your world? The pursuit of anything in life is best done with a balanced approach – both mental, emotional and physical. But how best to achieve this balance in order to make the change when you don’t have the time? The secret to spending less time inside a gym and still reaping the benefits of a great workout is Interval Training.  

Interval Training – go at maximum effort for a short period of time, recover during the rest period, and repeat.  It sounds too simple to be effective, but science doesn’t lie. 

Countless scientific studies have also shown that listening to music during exercise can improve results, both in terms of being a motivator (people exercise longer and more vigorously) and as a distraction from negatives like fatigue. You already know this though – nothing beats attacking that last kilometre on the treadmill just as your favourite dance tune drops, or getting to the top of THAT hill on your run just as your iPod shuffles onto “Eye of the Tiger” … 

Check out 8 proven benefits of Interval Training and see why you need to get on the interval train NOW!

Last night I was privileged to attend a birthday party for one of my clients. I take it as a tremendous compliment when I am invited into their personal world for a social occasion and I think it is a testament to the profound effect that you have had on someone’s life. It is also an example of the point of difference a personal trainer has over other health industry professionals. What other professional can spend 3 hours completely focused on your health each week? You certainly won’t get it from your GP. You could get it from a surgeon, but you won’t get to see him/her on a regular basis. You could also spend that time with a physiotherapist, osteopath, chiropractor etc and it would serve you well but most people don’t venture into that level of regular contact with these professionals – and certainly not long term. This blog is not to serve to criticise other health professionals. Far from it. It is simply to outline the tremendous trust and rapport a personal trainer can build and why it makes a difference to your health.

I love hearing from people who are experts in the field and asking them about the little quirks of life that their experience has given them a certain controversial opinion on. I recall a conversation with a surgeon who mentioned he would never want to own or encourage anyone he knows to buy a motorcycle given that he has been responsible for harvesting organs from a number of motorcycle fatalities throughout his career. I recall hearing that according to author Jared Diamond, Papua New Guinean tribes never sleep under dead trees and he was able to decipher that a significant number of people in Papua New Guinea are killed by falling trees and branches every year. In his own life he likens this risk to having a car accident or falling in the bathroom and consequently is now exceedingly careful in these areas of his life. So if you ask an experienced personal trainer what do overweight people have in common, what would he say. Well, here is my list and yes it is controversial and includes some generalisations but I bet you or someone you know falls into many of these weight gain traps: