My last post

I tried, so hard, to keep on top of this blog - but I've failed.

I am a fiction writer by day and a fitness instructor by night. I thought I could use this blog to widen my non-fiction writing experience. For a while it worked, but not as well as I'd hoped. I'd wanted to be able to take my personal experiences and translate them into fun, witty and helpful posts...

But it's time to face the truth: I am not an article writer. I am a fiction writer, and as such I'm going to leave the article writing to someone else.

Thanks for your support over the last couple of years, and I hope you reach your weight/fitness/strength goals. This blog will stay up and running for a while longer, and then - sometime after Easter - I'll take it down.

If you're interested in finding out more about my fiction, please follow this link to my writing website.

Injury and embarrassment

Six days ago, I injured myself doing a deadlift in the gym. I've told pretty much everyone about my stupidity, so I might as well share it here - it might prevent you from doing something similar.

I've been following the weightlifting protocol 5/3/1 where you work to pretty tight progressive weights over the course of the session and the weeks. I was only using it for a couple of lifts, including my deadlift.

So, there I was last Sunday morning... I did a 5 rep set x 30kg, 3 x 36kg, 3 x 41kg, 3 x 51kg and the last set was as many reps as possible at 58.5kg. I did 4 good reps, and went for a 5th...

Now... something happened between that 4th and 5th rep, but I don't quite know what. I lost concentration, I forgot how heavy the bar was, I didn't push through my feet but pulled from my arms... One or all of these happened, and the top of my left glute went ping. I heard it.

I dropped the weight, said 'ow' very loudly, decided to give up the rep and even tried to bend down to unload the bar. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. I shuffled into the gym office and promptly fainted on my colleague.

I was completely laid up for two days, and in pain ever since - a sharp pain when I move the wrong way, and a dull ache at all other times. Standing still is not easy, and sitting down on a proper chair is impossible - I have to slouch back propped with cushions and my feet up.

I've also completely finished a box of chocolates, snacked at all the wrong times, and I can feel myself getting weaker and less fit with every passing minute. But I am using this time to ditch 5/3/1 and go back to my own system, which was actually working very well.

To finish, the moral of this story - the thing you should remember whether you're lifting 20kg or 200kg - is respect the weight, don't lose concentration and try really, really hard never to faint in front of the people you work with!

Ah, sugar sugar...

Go on, play this while you read - I know you want to...

The sugar debate has raised its head with a vengeance in this first month of 2014 - in the UK there are newspaper articles, documentaries and blog posts all shocked and appalled at how much sugar is in our food!

Here's a typically hysterical Daily Mail article about a woman who changed her child's diet to be more healthy and discovered they were eating more sugar than before! The first thing you might notice is that they still eat a lot of processed foods. The second thing is that she serves Special K Oats and Honey cereal... The last time I checked, honey was sugar!!

Here are my top observations about sugar: (by the way, I hope you're still singing along... I am!)

• After being on a heavily sugar-restricted diet for medical reasons, the two things I can no longer bear to eat are Heinz Tomato Soup and Kit Kats. They are both far too sweet.
• Sugar can be an addiction, but you can also wean yourself off it. 
• The energy slump you experience after eating sugar usually has you reaching for more sugar, but if you eat a protein/fat based snack, such as nuts or a boiled egg, you will be sated for longer.
• Low fat versions of common foods (such as yoghurt and cottage cheese) tend to have higher levels of sugar, when actually those foods are not high fat so there's really no need to choose a low fat version. These foods rely on added sugar to preserve the taste, texture and flavour.
• Fat is not the enemy - our body needs fat, approximately 20 - 30% of your daily calories should come from fat. Current research suggests we need a certain amount of saturated fat too, and a couple of years ago that was a big no-no. 

If you're concerned about your sugar consumption, or you've been trying to lose weight without success, take a closer look at the food labels - a couple of strategic changes might make a big difference.

Note: sugar in fruit is not a problem, because the sugar is bound into the fibre of the fruit so it releases more slowly than the quick hit of a chocolate bar or cake. If you can't give up cake, consider making your own and experimenting with using less sugar than the recipe suggests!

A quick chat about interval training

This week I have started doing some HIIT cardio training.

HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training, and I started it this week because I designed an information board for the gym on this subject, and some of the research was very interesting.

According to studies, you can lose 2% body fat in eight weeks, or up to six times more body fat than if you stuck to a steady-state cardio regime, and burn 100 more calories over the following 24 hours.

So I'm doing intervals to test it out! If you fancy joining me, I'm using a stationary bike. I can usually cycle for 30 minutes at level 12 (on our make of bike - 25 is the maximum level). So I chose levels 10 and 14 - you will need to change the levels to suit your circumstances.

Make sure you warm up! And - disclaimer - if you feel sick or dizzy or faint, please slow down, stop and take a drink! You may need to build up to the speeds and intensities I've suggested. If you don't do too much exercise at the moment, only increase the level by 2 for the intense sets.

• Cycle for one minute at level 10 at a pretty easy speed- ie. 65 rpm
• Then 1 minute at level 14, 75-80 rpm
• Then 1 further minute at level 14, trying to hit 95-100 rpm
• Repeat 6 times, taking 21 minutes altogether

I don't have any expectations, I just thought it would be an interesting experiment, and I had nothing else to post today!

I'll let you know how I get on!

Do you feel you're wasting your time at the gym?

If there is one piece of advice I wish everyone would listen to it's:

train like you mean it!

But what does that really mean?

It means:

• don't be like those people who coast through their workout without breaking a sweat (Apologies if you're one of these women, but my heart sinks when I induct someone and they're wearing full makeup. If I trained in makeup it would be all down my face in about 10 minutes!)
• don't stick to your favourite machine, on your favourite level, and definitely don't read your favourite book!
• don't spend the hour in deep conversation with your friend, or use the time to phone your mum
• don't grab the first (pink) weight you see, do some half-hearted bicep curls, and think you've completed your strength training for the session.

[source] Some of these guys are working harder than others!

Train like you mean it

means:

• have a programme to follow - either designed for you by an instructor, or one that you find online/in a magazine (and I'm always happy to help out, too) - and stick to it
• put your full effort into each workout - if you can say more than a single sentence when you're on a cardio machine without pausing to catch your breath, you could probably put the level up
• listen to music to keep your speed up, rather than watching TV - it's easy to get sidetracked by your favourite show, and end up watching instead of working (I've seen people stop cycling entirely so they don't miss that really important scene in Hollyoaks!)
• when you strength train:
• choose a weight that's heavy enough - usually one that will fatigue your muscles at somewhere between 8 - 15 reps (depending on your goals and programme)
• watch that your rest times don't last too long - 30-60 seconds is long enough for most general training
• make sure your form is perfect - get an instructor to check, if you're unsure - make every rep count

Happy training!

I love food...

My birthday presents 2013 :-)

... and I really love chocolate.

So, I work out a lot, and then go home and eat a lot.

This is probably not the best way to achieve my goals. One of my goals is to look like I lift weights - because I do lift weights, honestly!

Over the last six months or so, I've realised that my protein intake, especially, was not as good as it ought to be. I was working hard, and becoming stronger, but when I flexed my muscles in front of my kids, they laughed. Now I know I'm stronger than my kids, because I can deadlift them. In fact, it was when I deadlifted my eldest child that I realised I should be lifting more than that at the gym!

So I finally succumbed to MyFitnessPal to figure out where I was going wrong - in short, carbs too high, protein too low, and far too much fat. Probably, if I cut out the chocolate and ate more chicken, I'd solve all of those problems at once - but I'm a realist, and although I like to work out, and like to be strong, I don't want it enough to cut out chocolate completely.

Instead, I'm making small changes:

• more tuna
• nuts instead of crisps
• boiled egg instead of fruit loaf

Small changes work best in the long term, because as soon as those become the norm, I can make another change.

Have you made changes to your diet?
Are they sustainable? Are they working?

New year, new post!

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Happy New Year, to my blog and to my faithful blog followers!

I have finally figured out what's wrong with this blog, what I want to achieve, and what's missing from all the other blogs out there. 

I don't expect you to believe me... I have proven myself to be a bit flaky with this blog - it's just a blessing I'm not quite so flaky with my fitness!

My revelation came when I realised, when reading other people's blogs, that I fall between the cracks. There are basically two types of blogs aimed at women who lift weights:

1. Blogs for beginners (ie. articles about why weights are good to lift)
2. Blogs for women who can lift three times their body weight and want to do more (okay, a slight exaggeration) 

I'm fully in the middle:

• I cannot do a pull-up
• I can barely do a press-up do to an annoying shoulder weakness
• I love eating chocolate
• I do not want to be a fitness model or compete on stage
• I do not want to eat endless meals of chicken and broccoli (although I love both, three meals a day based on the same food makes me want chocolate even more)
• I sometimes choose not to go to the gym because it's raining, I'm meeting a friend, I'm working (as an author, work strikes at random times and there's nothing I can do about it)
• I am at my ideal weight, although I'd like to lower my body fat by 2-4%
• I want to have the perfect body... but I don't want it that much! 

If any of this sounds like you, this might be the blog for you. I am going to use this blog to write about me and my training, things I've overheard in my gym, to share tips and links that will be useful.

And most of all, I'm going to get out there and find more followers - hopefully that will give me to incentive to keep this blog up and running (this time). My plan will be to post once a week... that's achievable, right? Even I can do that... Let's find out together!

Have a very Happy New Year and I'll be back next Saturday...

Personal progress

I've been working out hard over the last few months, I've added more protein to my diet (I was going to write that I'd changed my diet, but that would infer less chocolate and wine... and that hasn't happened), and I've hit some pretty fantastic personal bests.

Unfortunately, my body hasn't got the memo that I've been trying really hard - so my weight, body fat percentage and muscle mass (all determined by my scales) have stayed resolutely the same. Even my waist and hip measurements have remained the same as they were in April.

I tell people all the time that if they put in the work, their bodies have no choice but to respond. My body, however, seems to be choosing. Ain't that typical!

So, what's going on?

Well... my deadlift has gone from 30kg x 10 reps to 52.5kg x 5 reps and my pulldown has gone from 32.5kg x 6 reps to 40kg x 5 reps since the beginning of the year, with the majority of the extra weight being added on in the last couple of months - which coincides with my extra protein intake.

Therefore, I have to conclude (and I would tell my clients this) I am making progress. My body is concentrating on getting stronger, I'm just not seeing the results in the mirror.

It's at this point, if you are a three-times-a-week/lose-weight-and-tone-up gym member, that you might despair and say that the gym doesn't work, exercise doesn't work and stop coming.

Don't do that!!

In a couple of months I have every confidence that my body fat percentage will be on the move again, in the right direction, and yours will too!

How to get over this slight slump:

• Make new exercise goals - short term and long term - that have nothing to do with weight/body fat loss. Want to leg press the entire stack? Want to train for a triathlon?
• Add in a new variation of one of the lifts you do - sumo squat instead of normal squat, walking lunges instead of the leg press, press ups instead of bench. Make sure you've got a couple of really good compound exercises in your routine (ie. lifts that use more than one joint/muscle)
• Do a bit of extra cardio
• Try something completely different - fancy kayaking, football, tennis, cycling, Tough Mudder?
• Make sure you're having fun!

So, how's your training going?

The Plank world record

What's the longest time you can hold a plank position? I can hold it for about a minute. A lot of people can hold it for longer.

55 year old George Hood, created a new world record in April of 3 hours, 7 minutes and 15 seconds.

Check out the article here, and feel your abs ache at the thought of it.

Going backwards?

By U.S. Navy photo by
Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Joshua Valcarcel
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Last night, while I was working, I overheard a father telling his son that he had to go backwards on the cross/elliptical trainer to work his muscles in a different way. This was a popular idea a few years ago, and although there are a few people still advocating it (I did a little Google search) this has moved more into the myth category.

I was never actually convinced by going backwards, although a few years ago - before I became an instructor - part of my programme was to do backwards intervals on this machine. I don't think I did it for long.

Reasons for not going backwards on the cross trainer:

• First and foremost, the cross trainer is a cardio machine - you are trying to raise and maintain your heart rate. Going backwards slows you down and lowers your heart rate.
• If you want to work your leg muscles, do some leg weight exercises - squats and lunges are awesome.
• Our legs are designed to propel us forward, it makes no sense to train them to go backwards.
• Current research suggests the same muscles are working backwards and forwards, there is no extra benefit, but it may put extra stress on the knees.
• If you really want to work your muscles harder, letting go of the handles works well. Your abs and inner thighs work harder to keep you upright, and your glutes work harder because you can't cheat and lean over the machine.

Do you use the cross trainer backwards?

How do you find it?

Will you give no holding on a go?

Making time to workout

It's taken me a while to write another post, because I couldn't decide what to write about, but today I am admitting that I've been rubbish at keeping to my workout schedule. Something else always seems to happen - illness, injury, kids on school holidays, coffee with a friend, the dog looks sad when I leave the house...

I know I'm not the only one who uses excuses, but I also know some really dedicated people who will always find the time, no matter what else is going on in their lives. I wish I was like that.

I have all the reasons, all the arguments to counter my clients arguments... I have the answer! But I also don't listen to myself.

Here are my top tips to make sure you (and I) get to the gym:

• Write your schedule in your diary, on your calendar or set an alarm on your phone
• If you plan on working out in the morning, set out your clothes the night before (yes, I know everyone says that) and think about your workout as you go to sleep - you'll be more motivated in the morning
• If you plan on working out at lunchtime or after work, keep some spare kit in your car, or in your desk, so you can't use the excuse that you left your bag at home
• Think about how you feel when you're in the gym/on the tennis court/pounding the streets... you're having fun, right? And afterwards, don't you feel great? Why wouldn't you want to do something that's fun and makes you feel great??
• Mix it up. If you're bored with your routine, throw in a class, go for a run or bike ride, swim a few lengths. Or get a new gym programme from your instructor.
• Buy yourself some new kit. (I did this recently, and if nothing else the compliments made me feel good.) A new colour or style is perfect for showing off your achievements so far.

I know for a fact how a missed session can turn into a couple of missed sessions, which can easily turn into a week or a month. Why 'start over' when you don't need to? Push yourself through a slump and you'll come out the other side feeling awesome!

Heart Rate Zones

When I put people on cardio equipment (bikes, cross trainers, ellipticals, steppers, rowers) I tell them the heart rate I want them to achieve. And they look back at me as though I'm mad because they've seen a chart like the one here (in fact, it might even be on the piece of equipment they're standing on).

I may also mention I want them to ignore the bottom two zones entirely - well, less mention more cover it up with my hands and tell them to not even go there!



See, the point is, exercise is there to get you fitter, not necessarily to help you lose weight (the weight loss is secondary), and to get fit you have to push your heart rate above your comfort level - at least to the 70% of your max HR example I used in my last post. Even then, once you've been working out for a little while, 70% will seem too easy and you can push yourself further. The higher you push yourself during the workout (within reason: no fainting or vomiting please) the longer your metabolic rate stays elevated afterwards, which means your body is burning calories for longer than if you stayed in the Fat Burning Zone of under 70%.

The fat burning zone came into being because someone once worked out that the percentage of calories burned from fat was higher when your heart rate was lower. To burn fat, your body need oxygen, so the hypothesis was that if you push yourself too hard and start gasping for breath, the fat burning percentage reduces, this isn't entirely untrue...

BUT, it completely ignores the fact that when you work out harder, you burn more total calories...

If I was on the cross trainer for 20 minutes working out at 60% of my maximum heart rate, I would burn say 150 calories, half of which come from fat, so 75 calories from fat.

If I was on the same cross trainer working out at 80% of my max, I could burn 250 calories, but only 35% from fat. But that equates to roughly 87 calories!

Please bear in mind these are not accurate figures, they vary from person to person, but they're a good guide to explain why you should be pushing yourself a little harder.

MY SUPER EASY INTENSITY GUIDE
65% or lower - you're able to talk non-stop about last night's TV, all of it from 7pm to 10pm - TOO EASY
70 - 80% - random sentences, taking a pause in between to catch your breath - CARDIO/BEGINNER
80 - 90% - gasping, unable to talk, but feel great and happy to continue - INTERVALS/ADVANCED
90 - 100% - almost maximum effort - INTERVALS/NOT FOR BEGINNERS

A mixture of heart rates between 70 to 90% is probably the best bet for most people - remembering that if you feel dizzy or faint, you're pushing yourself too hard and need to slow down/lower the intensity level on the machine your using - and the fitter you are the easier it will be to raise and maintain a higher heart rate.

This post has been weight-loss centric, but your fitness will also benefit from working out at a higher intensity - the higher you can push your heart rate for longer, the more your endurance will develop. Once you have a good base of endurance fitness, you'll be able to breeze through every new fitness class your gym offers and every run your partner/friend drags you out on.

Working out your target heart rate

I'm not even going to apologise for not being here for a very long time. It's pretty much taken as read that each post will be a long time after the last.

As you can see from my last post, I signed up for a fantastic blogging challenge where you post every day of April (barring Sundays) and each post corresponds to the next letter of the alphabet - 26 letters, 26 days. I signed up, then unsigned, but not before I'd decided on what my posts would be about, so I'm going to (yes, sporadically) post them.

~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~

I originally wrote a different post for today, but then I realised this needed to be slotted in first. I apologise for the amount of maths involved!

This is the original way to work out your target heart rate. I'll assume that I want to work out at 70% of my maximum heart rate (max HR)

220 - age = max HR
maxHR x 70% = target heart rate

So, inserting my info: 220 - 39 = 181
181 x 70% = 126 beats per minute (bpm)

For a couple of years now, in my gym, we've been using a different formula. For this you need to know your resting heart rate, which is easily worked out by counting the number of beats in a minute - that's it. The best time to do it is when you've been sitting still for a while and not while drinking coffee and watching horror films. Being as calm as possible will give you the most accurate count. Alternatively, there are a couple of phone apps which will do it for you.

The formula looks like this:
200 - (age x 0.5) = max HR
(maxHR - resting HR) x 70% + resting HR = target heart rate

And with my info: 200 - 19.5 = 180.5
(180.5 - 54)  x 70% + 54 = 142 bpm

So you can obviously see the difference between 126 and 142. Knowing my own training, at 126 bpm I'm barely breaking into a sweat. I could easily do that all day and it would probably make no difference to my fitness because I'm firmly within my abilities. At 142 bpm I am starting to feel a little more breathless - it's still quite easy, because I've been training for 15 years, but I'd definitely feel like I was working out.

Because my body is used to cardio, I tend to workout at 85% of my max HR. So next time (which will be quite soon, because it's already written) I'll explain the basic differences between intensity levels.

Thanks for visiting, but I am no longer taking part in the A-Z Challenge. My link on the list will/has been removed.I apologise

for the inconvenience.

Working those inner thighs!

The word is ouch.

My inner thighs are burning, and all because I used a balance board yesterday.

I used it ages ago and felt the burn in my stomach muscles - the kind of pain where you can't even sneeze without holding your sides and groaning.

Well, remembering that, I thought I'd add it to my workout on Tuesday evening. I'd already done some squats, so it seemed like a good way to finished off my abs (because, yes, your abs get a good workout when you squat).

I spent about five minutes on the board, because my balance is very bad. By the end, I'd kind of got it. Then I stopped, cooled down and went home.

This morning I waited for the pain in my abs, but it didn't appear. I spent all day walking around and waiting for the moment. And yet, no pain. Until just a moment ago, when I stood and realised my inner thighs were screaming with pain.

So there you have it - forget those silly adductor and abductor machines and simply stand on a balance board.

And that's my top tip for today. Lunges are also good for the inner thighs, as well as doing a good 20-30 minutes of high intensity intervals to burn the calories. Surgery is unnecessary!

If Fred can do it...

This is not Fred!

One of the first people I met when I started work at my gym was Fred (not his real name!). Fred had just turned 80 - he came to the gym and walked for about two hours at a time on the treadmill, then went home again. That was his entire routine. Granted, for older people, it's the companionship just as much as the exercise itself that keeps them coming back, but they might as well get the most out of the gym too.

On my first morning, I got talking to Fred. "Hi Fred, did you know there are other pieces of equipment in the gym, and some of them might be more beneficial?"

"Kind of, strange gym lady, but they all look very scary."

"Ah Fred, come with me."

And I created a monster. A good monster, though - Fred is my inspiration.

Firstly, I put him on different cardio machines - bikes, rowers, cross-trainers - and then I introduced him to the weights. It was a slow process - all weights progression should be slow, and especially for older people. But gradually he has added a variety of exercises, and keeps upping his weights. Just this week he's managed to lift 42kg on his seated row, 30kg bench press, 75kg leg press. And he's determined to increase them. In fact, my job has turned from encouraging him to taming him! He even runs on the treadmill in intervals.

When I look at Fred, I see the 83 year old I aim to be. He has an infectious outlook, and I'm glad he was one of my first clients!

What does 200 calories look like?

Work, writing and weight training are getting slightly in the way of my posts here, but I just want to share this interesting link with you.

wiseGEEK have posted pictures of food all equalling 200 calories. Most of it is obvious, but there are still a couple of surprises.

What does 200 calories look like?

The Tabata 'Miracle'

It's a miracle. You can get fit in 4 minutes a day with this brand new way to exercise. It was on BBC Breakfast yesterday. It's in the Daily Mail today! It's brilliant. It's fantastic. Who-hoo!

Except... (because there's always an except) it's not new. It's been around for a long time. High Intensity Interval Training was studied by Professor Izumi Tabata in 1996 and this method grew up around that study, based around ultra-intense exercise for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, and repeated 8 times.

Except... ultra-intense means absolute maximal effort for each and every interval. Have you ever worked out so hard your legs have given way beneath you as you left the gym? Have you ever been unable to get off the bike through sheer exhaustion? Have you ever felt like you've wanted to vomit a little bit? That's the kind of effort you need to put in. Still interested?

I'm not completely against this type of training - but it's about balance, and knowing why you're working out the way you are. It's about going to a gym/running outside/doing an exercise video and working your hardest. People who go to a gym and cycle at 60 rpm for an hour are in a rut and never going to achieve their goals - they are barely working out, they can talk happily to their friend on the next machine, wear flawless make-up, not sweat. These are the people who tabata will most appeal to (4 minutes, is that all?), but they are the least likely to be able to carry it out.

If you go back and read my second sentence you'll see it said  you can get fit in 4 minutes a day. Fitness is highly subjective. For me, fitness means being strong, being able to run away from danger, and being able to run around for an hour with my kids without keeling over. It means that I know I want to lift heavy weights, and I need to do at least 30 minutes of cardio.

For you, fitness might mean speed and explosive power - in which case tabata would work well. For the Daily Mail article above, it appears to be about losing weight, as that's really the only comparable statistic that's mentioned.

The most important thing that seems to be missing from all the current band-wagon articles is that it shouldn't be the only method for exercise. Mix up your programme. Tabata twice a week, 20-30 minute endurance cardiao work, circuit training, strength training...

There are plenty of articles on the internet, discussing this topic much better than I can, because I don't have the facts and figures that other people have studied.

Try this: Google 'Tabata' and 'Tabata Myth'

and make your own mind up.

Blogging from A- Z...

I have edited this post to say that I am no longer taking part in the challenge. Over the last couple of days I've had a few visitors as a pre-lim to the challenge, so I think I might still be on the list (although I can't find my link, so I'm not sure).

I wish everyone who is taking part in the challenge the best of luck!

So far my little blog has 15 followers - 15 fantastic followers, but a small number nonetheless.

This time last year, my writing blog was quite small too. I signed up for the Blogging from A-Z April Challenge and found lots of new followers, and lots of new people to follow.

So I thought I'd give it a go with this blog too. It means I'll be posting almost every day of April, excluding Sundays. So although I'm being very random with my posts at the moment, this should give me the kick I need to get this blog up and running properly.

I have no idea, at the moment, I'll have a theme, but knowing fitness as I do I'll just be happy if I can find topics for all the letters. I might have to make up a few of my own... although I know a great Z I can use. You'll have to wait...

Have you signed up yet? Are you planning to?

I'll be back with a fitness topic in a couple of days time!

How to lift 3lbs

Sitting in work the other day between clients, my thoughts turned to Tracy Anderson. They do this every now and then - bizarre, I know. For those who don't know, Tracy Anderson is personal trainer to Gwyneth Paltrow and (previously) Madonna, amongst others. If you google her name you'll come up with a host of things about her - good, bad and ugly - but I'm not going to jump on any bandwagon.

One of Anderson's main teachings is that no woman should ever lift more than 3lbs for fear of bulking up. This is a clever use of words, if nothing else!

Firstly, most women fear bulking up (some even cite it as a reason not to exercise at all), although it's impossible without a lot of work and a lot of eating (here's a post I wrote last January - worth reading just to understand how you don't accidentally bulk up).

And secondly, the term bulking up means different things to different people. Personally, when I see Anderson herself, or Paltrow, I see women who are thin but without much shape or definition - however you might look at photos of Paltrow and see your dream body. My dream body would be this one. I would not want to aim for this.

See, we're all different, but when the term bulking up is used in Tracy Anderson's context, we all become fearful!

I'm not going to use this post to knock her Method (although it's been suggested the diet she recommends only provides 700 calories a day which is beyond dangerous, especially with the one/two hour exercise per day she suggests.)

Anderson is helping people who are looking for purely aesthetic results - she's picking on women who are insecure and want very quick results - whereas when I train myself and others, I train so that when I'm 80 I'll still be able to carry my own shopping bags, walk up stairs, and get up out of a chair without several different aids. All of this (assuming you are in good health) should be more than achievable, it should be expected.

To ensure that I lift weights heavy enough to build muscle (no I'm not bulky!) and maintain the muscle I have. At my age this muscle should be naturally and slowly decreasing - when muscle decreases, your body needs less calories, if you eat the same as you did ten years ago you'll start putting on weight. I am doing everything I can to prevent that

The weights in my gym are in kilograms - 3lbs is equivalent to roughly 1.4kgs.

This is what I lift:

• Bicep curls: 6kg
• Tricep extentions: 4kg
• Dumbbell chest press: 8kg
• Dumbbell bent over row: 10kg
• Leg press: 85kg

In the grand scheme of things, these are still light weights - certainly not enough to give me a Jodie Marsh-style body. My aim this year is to increase all the weights I lift.

I like the fact that I can lift boxes of books, sofas (with help), pick up my 8 year old (still). If you limit yourself to lifting 3lbs, you will eventually not be able to do very much at all and you will stay relatively weak and (in my opinion) a little shapeless. You won't be lifting enough to build muscle and gradually it will start to decrease - meaning you'll put on weight, and I'll be carrying your shopping bags for you!

Here are some things that weigh more than 3lbs:

• A bag of potatoes at the supermarket
• Your Sunday roast
• Your recycling/rubbish bag
• Your baby

Have you heard of/tried the Tracy Anderson Method?

Do you think I'm being harsh?

How do you work out when you go to the gym?

Do you use weights, or stick to cardio?