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This Saturday is the inaugural “Accidental Runners” 5km event. I have organised this event to provide a supportive and encouraging first step for inexperienced runners to move into social and perhaps, eventually, competitive running. It is targeted towards novice runners and clients who have never competed in a running event before. Some of my more talented clients will also be joining us to support and lead the newest of the “accidental runners”. This means there is no better time to write a blog with my top 10 tips for preparing for an event:

I don’t think I’ve ever had 2 more nervous clients in the week leading up to the inaugural Accidental Runners 5km – and understandably so. I have tremendous respect for anyone who is willing to step out of their comfort zone and to take on your first 5km race is no mean feat. I’m not sure if either of them thought when I first suggested that it was time to take on a challenge that we would actually follow through with it. So understandably, there were some very nervous conversations and training sessions in the final couple of weeks before the race.

As a trainer with a strong background in exercise science and exercise physiology I take a slightly different approach to exercise. Basically, I use exercise prescription to improve someone’s health. Through exercise prescription we can treat people of all ages and a variety of health ailments in a very specific way. In effect, exercise becomes medicine.

In this more medical approach the ‘dose’ of exercise is adjusted through it’s intensity, volume, duration, regularity and modality.

Here are my top five tips for clients regardless of whether they are exercising for weight loss, cardiovascular health, musculoskeletal rehabilitation, mental health, to limit the effects of ageing to decrease stress or if they just want to be in better health then they currently are:

On the weekend I was invited to attend an Ocean Swim by my good friend, Chris Jonson. Chris is a member of the Coogee Surf Club and had been approached by the Club to gather some competent swimmers for an ocean swim to Wedding Cake Island in support of Triple M star Gus Worland.

Strength Training 101:

I’ve blogged before about the 4 sessions everyone should be doing to improve their cardiovascular fitness. This week I take a look at the basics of strength training and give my top tips for putting together an effective training program. First of all, I feel it is important to point out why strength training is important. Strength or resistance training promotes muscle cell growth (hypertrophy), increases bone density, prevents muscle wastage with age (sarcopenia) and bone loss with age (osteopenia and osteoporosis). Resistance training has been proven to be beneficial for people of all ages and genders. The difficult part is knowing what to do and how much of it to do. Here is a great starting guide:

Recently, one of my clients reached a BIG BIG milestone. Since beginning training in late November last year Belinda has lost 50kgs in 8 months. I’ve been waiting to blog about this for some time but the City 2 Surf has taken precedence, especially considering that Belinda was amongst my troupe of runners for this year’s race. You would have read last week that she completed the race in under 2 hours. A spectacular effort for someone who still weighs over 100kgs but she has come such a long way.

50kgs is the highest recorded weight loss for a female client that I have worked with. It’s a tremendous feat and along the way we have both learnt a lot about what other people’s perception is of you as you lose weight. Here are 10 of the best:

This week my focus is on dietary practices with many of my clients. More specifically, I am promoting a non-diet approach to your diet – what!! What I mean is that your diet should be based on regular healthy eating and not based on sensationalised programs that are not endorsed by professionals. One of the tough aspects of any kind of healthy practice is that it can wear you down. Self-discipline and will power are not a infinite commodities. To the contrary, it is finite, and when we run out we’re in BIG trouble. So here are two of my favourite fables revisited about maintaining your discipline. I want you to also remember that by providing your body with excellent fuel, then you are giving yourself the best chance to maintain your discipline. Just like good exercise breeds more energy, good eating breeds better decisions and a healthier psychological disposition. Enjoy the fables:

Throughout the Winter months, there is always a steady stream of members and clients of the gym that are suffering from colds, flus and various viruses. It’s often a difficult decision to make, whether or not to continue exercising, rest or modify your training in some way. I’m a believer in continuing to train where possible but modifying your session. Here is why:

Welcome to part 1 of a 2 part series of blogs on weight training. This week I look at some key areas that will help you to plan and perform your weights in a smarter and better way. Next week I will look at some of the complicated terminology used to describe movements and exercises to help you better understand how to train strength through weight training:

With a lot of my clients currently preparing for the City2Surf I thought it would be pertinent to pass on some of my advice as a former distance runner turned sprinter on some of the do’s and don’ts of the world’s most popular fun run.

I first competed in the City2Surf when I was 16. I was fortunate to enough to be sponsored by the Department of Sport and Recreation and it was quite the adventure travelling to Sydney for the first time by plane from Gunnedah.

That year I made a lot of mistakes but still managed a great time of 51mins 15secs especially when I enjoyed the luxury of a preferred start position. The race record is 40mins 3secs set by Steve Moneghetti in 1991 (see picture above). Since then I have run the race a further 5-6 times with all times under 60mins. I think running under 60mins from the back of the pack is harder than 51min from the preferred start line! It’s not easy running on the gutter for 14km to avoid the crowds and prams. That said, if you know a few tricks you can save yourself a lot of time and energy. Here is my breakdown of how to run a strong City2Surf time: