In Fashion Industry Fitness Myths Part 1, we heard from, Russell Bateman on his role in re-educating models on healthy and sustainable diet and training methods. Following on from this, one of Russell’s clients, a successful British model (who would prefer to remain anonymous) shares her personal experience of health, fitness and body image within the industry…

What’s it like, working in an industry where weight and physique is everything?

Working in the fashion industry, people are constantly under pressure to look good. As a model, this includes being a desirable ‘sample size’ for the duration of your career. However, the majority of girls are left to fend for themselves in this area, after being told with raised eyebrows that they’re looking ‘a little bigger’. This statement lacks in any kind of solution or support. It is for this reason that some girls panic and thus, begin to eat less and less, instead of what’s right. Or worse, latch onto some ‘trendy’ fad diet.

Did this impact negatively on your eating and training habits?

I am guilty, to some extent. I must say, I’ve received great advice from my agency on how to maintain the way I look, but it didn’t entirely prevent me from panicking. I used to eat small meals, which tended to backfire and result in more snacking. I would think about how much I was eating, rather than what.

What was the turning point for you?

Among some of the advice my agency gave me, they put me in touch with personal trainer Russell Bateman, founder of The SBC. Prior to this I was merely told to ‘exercise’ or ‘go to the gym’; I was probably doing all the wrong things and had certainly never considered lifting weights or doing squats. Since I’ve started working out with Russell, my outlook on the way I eat has changed incredibly too. Not only have I noticed incredible results from training, but also the food I eat has contributed to making me leaner and more energetic.

You look fantastic – what sort of things are you eating now to maintain that?

I now eat more than I used to, choosing foods high in protein and rich in nutrients and antioxidants, which leave me feeling amazing, both physically and mentally. I now eat a fillet of salmon for breakfast, which I never would have considered before. I buy organic produce as much as possible, and avoid any kind of processed foods. I never miss a meal and I’ve learnt that it’s ok to snack, just as long as you choose the right things.

The modeling industry has received a lot of negative press over the past couple of decades for encouraging and rewarding unhealthy, dangerous eating and exercise habits. The SBC is a great example of breaking the mould. Do you think the mindset of the industry is changing as a whole?

Weight is always going to be an issue in the industry, however, gradually, there is becoming less emphasis on being skinny, or a size 0 and more on toning up, getting leaner and feeling amazing.

Reassuring and positive words there! I’d like to pose this same question to you, my readers: what are your thoughts on how things are changing for the better?

If you have any of your own experiences you’d like to feature or discuss either publicly or anonymously, drop me a line via my contact page – I’d love to hear from you!

Stay tuned for the next installment, where I’ll be delving further into fitness within the fashion industry…

The post Fashion Industry Fitness Myths: Part 2 appeared first on Charli Cohen | Fashion Sportswear | Online Nutrition and Training Plans.

There are several things you should know about me by now. Here are two of them:

1. I operate in both the fitness and fashion worlds.
2. I love nothing more than sinking my teeth into a good diet myth.

So, what better place to hunt down poor advice than in the very place that’s most rife with it: the Fashion Industry.

Interestingly, the past year or two has seen a notable shift. The cornerstones of the industry – the media, the designers, the retailers and the agencies have coined a new buzzword: “Lifestyle”.

In the first section of this series, I want to explore how the infiltration of ‘lifestyle’ is having a positive effect on the modelling industry. There’s more good advice and healthy education out there than ever before. Those agencies who point their models in this direction – and the models who choose it – know there’s more than one way to stay a sample size. And it doesn’t have to be to the detriment of their health.

Someone who knows all about this particular topic is fitness expert and Men’s Health writer Russell Bateman. As the man behind the satirically named ‘Skinny Bitch Collective’, Russ works almost exclusively with models. Here’s what he has to say about model industry fitness myths and the positive impacts of re-education…

“I’m in a privileged position to be trusted by women to change their outlook on exercise and nutrition. My hope is that SBC can continue to perpetuate and re-educate girls on how they should be training and eating. First and foremost – regardless of the immediate changes you facilitate in them – you are setting them up on a fantastic programme of nutritional goodness and amazing training techniques that they can embrace for the rest of their lives. I feel so proud having an impact like that, especially when someone has come to me having been told to eat Special K, or worse eat nothing for breakfast and spend two hours running.”

Russ describes the average diet and training habits of his model clients before they come to him. You’ll recognise these habits as not being limited to the modelling industry – they are common mistakes, resulting from poor media information and misleading advertising.

Diet-wise, a typical breakfast might involve low fat yoghurt, a supposed ‘healthy’ cereal, exotic fruit, the ubiquitous fruit smoothie or skipping breakfast altogether. Training consists exclusively of steady state cardio, perhaps 30 minutes (but sometimes hours) on the treadmill, cross-trainer or bike.

“Breakfast laden with sugar and fructose.”

Check.

“Traditional ‘cardio’ with no variation, leading to an increase in stress hormone and more mundane than the six month dentist check-up.”

Check.

So how does this stack up against the nutrition and training habits after being put on one of Russell’s programmes? Well let’s see…

The new breakfast eschews sugar and focuses on protein, fibre, healthy fats and antioxidants. This could include salmon, nuts, meat, berries, coconut milk yogurt or a green shake. All highly beneficial for body composition and brain function for the day ahead.

The workouts now revolve around new wave “Strength Cardio”:  high intensity training with emphasis on primal movements, designed to get the client lean, sculpted and tremendously fit. A typical training superset might include sumo deadlifts x 10 reps combined with spider crawls x 15 metres. (On a side note, those crawls are killer – try them for yourself!)

When Russ takes on a new client, he not only has to discredit everything they thought they were doing right, but to convince them to try something that goes completely against the media-perpetuated grain. Eating fat? Lifting weights? All that meat?! I’ve experienced both the challenges and the rewards with many of my own clients, so was keen to hear to about Russell’s experiences…

“The typical reaction to telling someone to eat meat for breakfast is akin to that of if I told them to eat a puppy. Always shocked.  The same when we advise coconut oil in coffee (amazing benefits – try it) not to mention the reaction to our SBC ‘potions’ before workshops…”Voodoo?!”

When the client realises the immense benefits – physiological and mental – of a high protein ‘cave girl’ diet, they are always willing to try it…and they all reap the benefits.

Some are disappointed at not being given the correct advice by previous trainers and coaches. One of the first things any coach should look at is a client’s dietary habits. A detailed food diary with sleep patterns included is fundamental before anyone is looking to train with us.

The reaction from our clients to our training has been fantastic and the overwhelming mentality is a will to keep consistent and adhere to our way of training, eating and resting. The SBC has become a community with girls mingling and embracing the SBC methodology.

Our training – whether with highly worked actresses, models or mums – has helped to keep them on track. When life around them is stressful, a good breakfast or SBC style workout can alleviate some of it. Squatting with a slow tempo and then spraying magnesium oil to help relax and sleep:  a perfect combination.

If you are training the right way and not eating the right way (or vice versa) you cannot expect to get the internal or external wellness you want. Exercise must vary: play with every variable and technique, keep your body guessing! Food must be a veritable nutrient festival full of protein and fibrous carbs. Take your fish oil and vitamin D and all will fall into place.

Be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

See what I mean? The guy knows his stuff.

In the next instalment, we’re super lucky to be hearing from one of Russell’s successful fashion model clients! Stay tuned to for insider insight into the pressures of body image, the implications of staying ‘model-skinny’ and first-hand experience of turning unhealthy habits into smart ones.

To learn more about the SBC, check out the website or follow Russell on Twitter.

The post Fashion Industry Fitness Myths: Part 1 appeared first on Charli Cohen | Fashion Sportswear | Online Nutrition and Training Plans.

Measuring Success: Weight Loss & Body Composition for Women

What you need to know about you:

- The monthly cycle generally lasts 24-35 days with the average length being approx 28 days.
- There are 4 phases in which various symptoms and behaviors can manifest

1. Menstrual phase lasting approximately 1-5 days

- Cramps, Migraines, Breast tenderness
- Back ache, Abdominal Pain, Nausea
- Tiredness
- #Weight loss

2. Pre-ovulatory phase days 6-13

- Day 6: Honeymoon Period
- #Lowest weight
- #Least amount of water retention
- #Leanest
- The gradual build begins….

3. Ovulation usually on day 14-15

- Ovulation pain, Change in bodies’ Basal Temperature,
- Breast Tenderness, Increased Libido
- #Weight gain
- #bloating
- #Water retention

4. Post Ovulatory phase days 16-28

- Emotional, Pre Menstrual Cramps, Migraines,
- Breast tenderness, Back ache, Abdominal Pain, Nausea
- Sugar cravings – 3-5 days before menstruation
- #Bloating
- #Weight gain
- #Water retention

If the egg is not fertilised: menstruation begins.

What to do about it?

MEASURE SMART!

Scales can be very misleading: you may actually be LEANER than when you last measured, but appear heavier due to the reasons above…

Or

You may be weighing in on the heaviest part of your monthly cycle around days 24-28.

Combine the following tools to create your more accurate picture of body composition – don’t just rely on the weighing scales!

Measure:

- Body fat to lean muscle mass ratio via a bio-impedance machine (here)
- Or using a skilled caliper practitioner (here or similar)
- Waist to Hip measurements using a tape measure & online calculator (here)
- BMI (here)
- And then weight

New Rules:

- Always measure 1st thing in the morning on the1st day after your menstrual cycle has finished
- Measure fasted (before breakfast)
- If you have to weigh yourself make sure you are taking waist to hip ratio measurements and body fat alongside weight to accurately monitor body fat to lean tissue (NOT JUST WEIGHT!)
- Always follow the same protocol
- Wear the same clothes each time
- Use the same measuring apparatus and or practitioner each time
- Log details for each measurement in a diary
- Do not weigh or measure outside of these times

Once you have established your measuring protocol: Set your eyes on a Clear Prize and Establish Small Goals on the road to get there…

If weight or fat loss is your goal – small incremental goal setting and changes will lead to long term success.

Finally, REMEMBER:

- Fitness models don’t always look like fitness models
- Endurance athletes cannot maintain high volume programs forever

The clients that I see who are happiest with their achievements & body composition…..

Strive to achieve GOALS for themselves.
Are truly comfortable & HAPPY in their own skin.
Seem to hit consistency in their training because they love to workout.
Love, eat and cook healthy, natural good food (and enjoy the occasional cake).

And I have to say, most of them don’t weigh themselves anymore!

Text by Gideon Remfry, KX. Follow Gideon on Twitter.

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“I’ve been sticking to the diet perfectly for weeks, but I’m STILL not seeing any progress. What’s wrong with me?”

Sound familiar? It certainly does to me, ranking high in my Top Ten Questions I’m Asked on a Daily Basis. Nine times out of ten, this is down to one significant issue with said ‘perfect’ diet: you are eating more than you think you are.

Let’s look at the top three offenders for accidentally overeating…

1. ‘Eating Healthy’

The first Eating Healthy conundrum is the number of ‘health foods’ that, although rich in fibre and vitamins, are (1) packing a massive calorie and sugar punch and (2) not providing either of the macronutrients essential for fat loss (i.e. protein and fat). By the time you’ve breakfasted on a bowl of muesli with yoghurt and a banana, you’ve likely hit around a third of the total daily calorie maximum you require for fat loss, without having even touched upon your optimal protein and fat intake. Follow that up with a mid-morning fruit smoothie and you’re now at half your calorie needs, still having consumed only trace amounts of protein and fat. A tasty couscous salad for lunch. A late-afternoon rice cake or two. Vegetables and wholewheat pasta for dinner, followed by a virtuous fruit dessert. Individually, you have indeed made some healthy choices…but what about the big diet picture? Calories are now at, if not more than what you require to maintain your current weight. Sugar is though the roof. Protein is a foreign concept and those essential fatty acids didn’t get a look in. All of these factors will result in a fat loss plateau, if not weight gain.

The other popular Eating Healthy issue is for those fat-savvy folk who KNOW they need to fill up the good stuff. The kitchen is always stocked with nuts, avocados, olive oil and mackerel and every meal is a staunch homage to Omega 3. This is great for physical, mental and hormonal health. However, a problem arises when the necessary moderation for these super calorie-dense foods is not carefully adhered to. It’s all too easy to overeat when every tablespoon of oil clocks in at over 100 calories, every handful of nuts brings in another few hundred and every avocado tops that still. Once again, we are faced with the inescapable science of calories in versus calories out.

When unmonitored, Eating Healthy can easily set you on a path to gaining weight rather than losing it. Eat your fats, eat your fibre and antioxidant rich foods, but be aware that too much is too much, whatever it consists of.

2. Nibbling

Here’s a problem that most of us are guilty of – those extra ‘bits’ we all eat and never count. Do you nibble at ingredients whilst you’re cooking? Try ‘just a bite’ of what others are eating? How about the splash of milk in your coffee or the drizzle of oil to grease the pan? In isolation, these additional calories are usually fairly negligible, but in combination, they can add up very quickly. It doesn’t take much to nibble yourself out of a calorie deficit, once again resulting in a mysterious lack of progress.

3. Guesstimating

Even for someone as data obsessed as me, weighing and measuring everything that passes one’s lips is tedious. However, if you’re stuck in a weight loss rut and are serious about getting out of it, you need to suck it up. Crack out the electronic scales, the measuring jug and the spoon measures and ensure those portion sizes you’ve been ‘eye-balling’ all this time are accurate. Because I can 95% guarantee that they aren’t.

To sum up…

If you’re stuck in a fat loss plateau and can relate to any of the above, make the proactive decision to be 100% aware of everything you’re consuming. Take the guesswork out and keep yourself accountable with a (completely honest) food diary or online nutrition tracking software. This doesn’t have to be forever – just until you know where you stand with your diet and what you need to adjust to get things moving. Use it when you need it – if things start to slide again later on, revert to tracking until you’re back on the wagon. I have a detailed article on estimating your nutrition requirements along with recommended online tracking resources here.

So that wraps up Part 2 of the Why Your Diet Isn’t Working series! Keep an eye out for Part 3 and if you didn’t catch Part 1, you can check it out here. 

The post Why Your Diet Isn’t Working: Part 2 appeared first on Charli Cohen | Fashion Sportswear | Online Nutrition and Training Plans.

I’ve often wondered, if I were given a blank canvas and limitless bounds to design my dream gym, what would it be like? Well, let’s see…

State of the art equipment would go without saying – all the cool stuff you hear about but have never, ever seen provided in a UK gym.

A holistic approach to wellness would be top of my agenda. An on-site nutritionist, chiropractor, osteopath, acupuncturist, functional medicine consultant… And whilst we’re at it, how about a restaurant with a resident chef that creates amazing healthy meals for every dietary need.

A little (or a lot of) luxury wouldn’t go amiss either, so let’s throw in a spa, beauty treatments and a professional blow-dry after your post-workout shower. Plunge pools & saunas in the changing rooms for good measure.

Imagine if such a gym existed…

Well, apparently, someone’s beaten me to it. And then some.

KX (pronounced ‘kicks’) is much more than just a private health club. It’s an all-inclusive lifestyle, encompassing every aspect of wellness, boasting a team and approach that’s more up to date with the latest innovations in fitness and nutrition science than any gym I’ve ever experienced. Top that with mega luxury and you have a winning formula.

Last week, I met Fitness Manager and general fountain of wisdom, Gideon Remfry, at a spectacular SW London location: the impressive chunk of Chelsea’s Draycott Avenue that houses KX.

Over a heavenly breakfast of protein pancakes created by KX’s talented resident chef, Alessandro Verdenelli, Gideon and I chatted at length about our shared interests in fitness, nutrition and the importance of a ‘lifestyle’ approach to wellness.

Inspired by his brilliant Judo coach Raymond Coulthurst, Gideon began his fitness journey aged 8 and there’s been no stopping him since. With 20 years’ personal training experience under his belt, he is a UKSCA accredited strength & conditioning coach, nutrition therapist and functional medicine consultant to reel off just some of his impressive CV. Gideon also contributes expertise to major publications such as Men’s Fitness, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Vogue, Red and GQ. And…with some very cool guest posts in the pipeline, I’m honoured that he’ll be adding my blog to his list! So keep an eye out.

Every new member of KX undergoes a detailed and comprehensive wellness assessment, analysing antecedence (root causes), triggers (what ‘switches on’ certain behaviours) and mediators (what sustains these behaviours). Delving beyond your standard gym PAR-Q (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire) into, nutrition status, system imbalances, wellness history, emotional barriers and lifestyle limitations, KX are nothing if not thorough. An in-depth fitness and wellbeing plan is then prescribed accordingly: this could anything from a chiropractor/ART trainer collaboration to rehabilitate an injury, to a meals-on-wheels breakfast delivery to set you up for the day. Each plan is progressive, taking things one smart step at a time in order to facilitate sustainable and permanent lifestyle changes. The lengths KX go to in order to perfectly treat and accommodate each and every member are above and beyond anything I’ve ever come across.

The latest string to KX’s bow is just one more example of their exceptional attention to detail. Born out of a desire to provide a simple, complete nutrition supplement, ‘KX 365’ is a super-slick pull-out pack containing an all-inclusive multivitamin, an age slowing antioxidant, energising CoQ10 and brain boosting Omega 3.

With my own upcoming wellness consultation and training session to document, some very exciting guest blogs to come from Gideon and the amazing opportunity to shoot my sportswear collection on location at KX, stay tuned for more on my new favourite place in London!

In the meantime, peruse the KX website, follow them on Twitter and check out their great YouTube channel.

The post My Perfect Gym (Welcome to KX) appeared first on Charli Cohen | Fashion Sportswear | Online Nutrition and Training Plans.

There is little more soul destroying than putting your all into something and seeing no progress. I receive emails and messages daily from frustrated dieters who, despite sticking to their plan ‘perfectly’, are not seeing any results and are one more disappointing weigh-in away from giving up entirely. However, despite blame generally being cast on to ‘bad genes’ or a ‘slow metabolism’, there are in fact a number of perfectly logical reasons for this apparent lack of progress. Over the coming weeks, I’m going to be exploring this phenomenon in a new multi-part series, imaginatively entitled, Why Your Diet Isn’t Working.

In this instalment, I’m going to explore an issue that almost all of us are guilty of, me included.

Impatience.

In our culture of instant gratification, we all want immediate results, instant ‘proof’ that what we’re doing is working. Logic and science go out the window as we ponder why, after a whole day of being ‘good’, we still haven’t dropped a dress size by the following morning. Okay, an extreme example but you get the gist.

Poor comparisons are certainly an issue, not helped by shows like The Biggest Loser, which encourage expectations of abnormal (and potentially unsafe) weight loss. For those who are very overweight, progress will become apparent more quickly, simply because there’s more to lose – both in terms of fat and lean body mass*. Those who are already close to their goal weight (or, as a more accurate measure of progress, goal bodyfat percentage) have significantly less fat to lose and need to maintain (if not increase) lean body mass. So as far as scale numbers go, it stands to reason that the leaner individual is going to see far less significant progress.

*Note: Lean body mass is the percentage of your overall weight that isn’t bodyfat, i.e. muscle, bone, organs, water etc.

Everyone responds differently to diet and exercise programs. Comparing your progress to someone else’s is (excuse the idiom) like comparing apples to oranges – it’s completely irrelevant. The only way to find out what works for you personally is by giving it a proper chance before changing it and the only real bench-mark for gauging progress is your own ‘before’ photo.

This leads me to the issue of ‘weight loss’ versus ‘fat loss’ – they are not one and the same. This is particularly evident in no-carb diets, where the dieter will often see a dramatic loss in the first couple of weeks as they drop water weight. Despite a much more dramatic weight loss through cutting out carbs, the dieter will likely not have dropped much (if any) more fat than if they were on a more moderate diet. As soon as they reintroduce carbs into their diet, they’ll gain all the water weight back. Suffice to say that for most dieters, that will feel like they’re either making no progress or worse, that they’re regressing (and so begins a phobia of carbs, but that’s for another article). In short, using scale weight to gauge whether you’re progressing or plateauing is a fairly useless and highly frustrating measure (other than for very overweight individuals). I write in detail about accurately gauging progress in my blog article, The Anti-Scales Campaign.

The impatient dieter will jump from one diet to the next, allowing each only a few weeks (if that) to prove its worth, whilst giving none any realistic chance of taking effect and feeling increasingly demoralised that ‘nothing will work’ for them.

A realistic expectation of weight loss is an average loss of 1-2 lbs per week (the leaner you are already, the smaller the number). This number is a good indication that it is fat you’re losing, rather than lean body mass. Let me reiterate that fat loss is what matters – this is the permanent change and the change that will result in inch loss, dropping dress sizes and looking lean and defined.

Also note the term ‘average loss’. Neither weight loss, nor fat loss is a linear process. It is common, especially in the already quite lean, to go for several weeks with absolutely no apparent change before experiencing a sudden drop in weight or rapid improvement in visible leanness. I will be coming back to this phenomenon throughout the Why Your Diet Isn’t Working series, but in short, this is due both to hormonal factors and to an increase in lean body mass (water, muscle glycogen and sometimes muscle) masking a drop in bodyfat.

In my experience, impatience is the ultimate diet saboteur. Combat it by distracting yourself with goals that aren’t physique based: getting stronger, having more energy, devoting more time to your own wellbeing, experimenting with recipes to keep your diet varied and exciting. Don’t be your own worst enemy – focus on the process and the results will come!

To take a look inside my book on setting yourself up with a solid nutrition and training plan from the outset, visit the Bookshop.

Click here for Why Your Diet Isn’t Working: Part 2…

The post Why Your Diet Isn’t Working: Part 1 appeared first on Charli Cohen | Fashion Sportswear | Online Nutrition and Training Plans.

These are so simple, there’s no excuse not to make your own eggs this year!

Ingredients:

190g raw cacao butter
60g extra virgin coconut oil
125g raw cacao powder
150g agave nectar (or alternatively, use Stevia to taste)

Directions:

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil.
In the meantime, chop cocao butter into small chunks and place in metal bowl, along with coconut oil.
Place bowl over saucepan and gently melt the mixture.
Once melted, stir in the raw cacao powder and agave.
Pour into mini egg moulds, filling to the top, so you have solid half eggs.
Place in the fridge until set.

I prefer my chocolate simple and unadulterated, but these are also great with a handful of chopped nuts thrown into the mix (hazelnuts and macadamias work particularly well). Or, if you’re feeling especially indulgent, try sandwiching two egg halves together with macadamia butter…Heaven.

P.S. Hope you enjoyed my Easter chocolate and chicks artwork…

The post Easy Raw Chocolate Truffle Easter Eggs appeared first on Charli Cohen | Fashion Sportswear | Online Nutrition and Training Plans.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Danio launch at Cannon Street’s Nuffield Health gym (if you haven’t been there, go check it out – the building is incredible!). Danio is the latest yoghurt offering from Danone – high in protein, low in calories and all in all, right up my street. I confess, I sampled all six flavours on the day (not just a spoonful from each – six full size yoghurts), which means I can confidently verify their tastiness! The strawberry, raspberry, cherry, blueberry and peach were all pretty good, but for me, the passionfruit was the big hit and (as you may have seen on Instagram) I went out and bought large volumes of it the following week.

Not only did I get to indulge in a yoghurty feast, but I was also lucky enough to participate in a nutrition workshop with TV Dietician Nigel Denby, followed by a gymnastics flexibility workshop with Olympic silver medallist, Strictly champion and Danio spokesperson, Louis Smith! Let’s say that my  flexibility was lacking – I could do the push-ups and core work all day long, but ask me to do a box splits… nuh uh. Even Louis said afterwards he was feeling a little sore, but then again, he did go beyond the remit of the workshop to humour us with back flips, handstand push-ups and a brutal iron cross.

Not about to miss a chance to get the input of such an inspiring athlete (and dancer!) – and knowing you’d all be mad at me if I came back empty handed – I subsequently arranged a mini interview with Louis, who kindly agreed to share his top fitness tips! Here’s what he had to say…

If you were limited to only three functional strength exercises, what would they be?
That’s a tough one, but I would have to say planche pushups, squats and tricep dips

How many hours per week do you train in the off-season, versus your peak season?
I’ve taken a break from full time training at the moment, but I train when I can. That means that some days I’ll fit in about two hours of time at the gym, and then others I won’t manage to fit it in at all. Per week, I’m getting about 7 hours of training in when possible. When I was working on Strictly, I wasn’t doing any of my traditional gymnastics training which was typically 32 hours a week in the gym.

What’s your favourite post-workout meal?
After a hard workout, I really need something high in protein for muscle growth and repair. I really love the new Danio yoghurt – each pot has at least 12g protein, plus a tasty layer of fruit on the bottom.

If any, which health or energy supplements do you use?
My diet is full of [enough energy-boosting] natural ingredients at the moment.

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being super-restrictive), how strict is your diet during your off-season?
When I’m in the off-season like I am now, I would say my eating’s around an 8. I like to keep healthy, but I don’t deprive myself of the occasional indulgence like a meal out with friends or a dessert.

You’ve clearly maintained an incredible commitment to your sport…
What’s your top tip to my readers for staying motivated?
Little rewards definitely keep me motivated – whether that means gifting myself a night out with friends after a really hard week of workouts or indulging in foods that I wouldn’t normally allow. I find that setting goals and rewarding myself for meeting them and exceeding them, is the best way to keep motivated. Most importantly, you have to enjoy what you do. Having fun in my sport has always kept me motivated.

Wise words indeed. And to those of you who will now be incorporating planche push-ups into your workouts, I want to hear how you get on with them! Managing just one is officially on my 2013 goals list…

More pics and a video to come so stay tuned (and see Louis in action!)

The post Training with Team GB’s Louis Smith appeared first on Charli Cohen | Fashion Sportswear | Online Nutrition and Training Plans.

As a personal trainer, when I’m writing nutrition and training programmes for my clients, their personality is a key consideration. Even a diet plan perfectly tailored to your physical requirements and daily schedule is going to fall flat if it’s not structured in a way that motivates you to stick to it. In this article, I’m going to discuss five key ‘diet personalities’ and the ways in which you can adapt your diet plan to make it a good fit for YOU. So here we have it…

The Controller

Pros: You have the drive and motivation to achieve whatever goal you set your mind to. You’re efficient, organised and have a great deal of will power and self-discipline. You have a strong work ethic and will always strive to be the very best at what you do.

Cons: You can get too focused on a certain goal, to point of obsession. You panic about any loss of control and you find it difficult to multi-task or take a flexible approach to your goal. You are very hard on yourself and the smallest ‘slip-up’ can feel like a huge failure.

Tip for Controllers: It’s important to harness your drive and dedication in a healthy, balanced way. Spontaneity is never going to feel comfortable, so the work-around is to make ‘flexibility’ an integral part of your diet plan. Schedule rest days, plan ‘treat’ meals and allocate a certain number of free calories per day or week, so that ‘off plan’ eating becomes ‘on plan’.

The Competitor

Pros: You are driven by a determination to be the best and you pull out all the stops to make it happen.

Cons: Competition is your key motivation, so once that’s taken out of the equation, you can find it a struggle to push yourself. You’re either at full speed or a complete stop, with nowhere in between. You are prone to yo-yo dieting.

Tip for Competitors: There’s nothing wrong with having competition as your driving force, but it’s important to recognise this and ensure that there’s always a competitive element to your goals. Participate in group transformation challenges, sign up for fitness events and compete against people who are currently closer to your goal than you are, to give you that extra push.

The Creator

Pros: You’re so inventive with food that you never feel deprived on your diet. Your meals are varied and nutritious and you set a great example to everyone about how fun and easy dieting can be.

Cons: You get bored easily, so when life gets in the way and you’re too busy to experiment in the kitchen, you struggle with diet motivation.

Tip for Creators: When you know you’re going to be extra busy, set aside a few hours each week to bulk cook or pre-prepare a variety of meal components. You can throw these together in different combinations over the course of the week to keep your meals varied and interesting, whilst remaining consistent and time-effective.

The Craver

Pros: When on track, you’re good at maintaining a healthy balance between your diet and the rest of your life. When you fall off the diet wagon, you normally jump back on pretty quickly. Of all the diet personalities, you have the most natural propensity to maintain a healthy, flexible diet long-term.

Cons: You struggle with cravings and don’t always have the self-control to moderate how you act on these. This slows your progress and can leave you feeling frustrated and disappointed.

Tip for Cravers: Take a leaf out of the creators’ book and either find or create healthier versions of the foods you crave. Keep emergency supplies on hand for when those cravings hit – ensure that there’s always a pre-prepared healthy snack to grab and put together a ‘fitspo pack’ of aspirational photos, motivational quotes and your own progress photos – a flick through this will usually make you think twice about finishing that entire box of choccies. Cravings can also be a result of diet imbalances – deficiencies in omega 3, zinc and magnesium are some common culprits – so ensure you’re meeting all your nutrient requirements.

The Coulda Woulda Shouda

Pros: You know what you want to achieve and you put time into researching how you’re going to get there.

Cons: You don’t put the above into action. You tend to procrastinate and there’s always a reason not to start today, or to give up shortly after you have started. You seek a quick and easy solution, so struggle with the patience and perseverance involved in an effective diet plan.

Tip for CWSs: Don’t intimidate yourself with a huge goal – instead, take it one small step at a time. Give yourself something small and achievable to do towards your goal each day. Plan one week at a time, but take a nonsense-approach to the planning: schedule your workouts and food prep time in the diary. Tell people at home, at work and in your social circle exactly what you’re doing to remain accountable to them and keep a food diary to remain accountable to yourself.

The Diagnosis

Like me, you’ll probably find your diet personality is a combination of these. I’d say I’m 40% Controller, 30% Craver, 15% Creator and 15% Competitor, so I apply the aforementioned advice for each of these to my nutrition plan and keep an eye out for any of the associated negative tendencies. Identify and embrace your own personal diet style and who knows… you may just find yourself with the winning formula to a successful and sustainable diet!

For more information on my tailored online nutrition plans, visit charli-cohen.com/bespoke-plans.

So over to you: what’s YOUR diet personality?

The post What’s Your Diet Personality? appeared first on Charli Cohen | Fashion Sportswear | Online Nutrition and Training Plans.

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know I’m the first to admit my endurance is a little shoddy at the moment. With Men’s Health Survival of the Fittest on the agenda this year, I’m starting to up the ante. I have seven months to boost my lactate threshold and get my fitness level to 10k obstacle course standard, so when pro-athlete trainer and Men’s Health columnist Russell Bateman invited me to join his girls at the Skinny Bitch Collective last Saturday, not only was I up for the challenge, but I knew that ‘challenge’ would be the operative word.

And I wasn’t disappointed.

About half-way through the session, I was on my knees struggling to bash out the girliest of girly push-ups, my jumping lunges were a hot mess and the simple task of holding my arms above my head was an act of sheer determination. “Hitting the decks” for 10 more burpees, knowing that I still had another set to go was a scary place to be. But that’s what makes it a great workout – being forced to push harder than you think you can go. This is something that’s really encouraged by the competitive environment of a group class, especially one full of hotties like the SBC and more-so with Russ yelling at us to woman up and do every rep properly. Ego (and a general fear of shame) tends to push you beyond the limit in a way that training by yourself just isn’t able to.
 

“For Females Only”

Usually when I hear the term ‘for females only’ in the fitness industry, it’s a head meets wall moment. With training, it generally refers to pink dumbbells, tricep kick-backs and busting a few dance moves. With nutrition, it usually involves halving the protein, doubling the sugar and using a cursive typeface. Whatever the product or method, you can guarantee that the strong, lean fitness model advertising it is NOT using it.

One of the things I really love about the SBC is that Russell and I are very much on the same page when it comes to training females effectively. Here’s what he has to say about ‘toning up’, low fat diets and eating for performance…

 
There are countless misconceptions when it comes to women’s fitness. Which of these do you consider to be the most offensive and why?

A certain female trainer perpetuated the myth that if you are a woman and you lift weight over 2 kilos you bulk up. This is a damaging and flawed method. I make everyone I train lift as heavy a weight as they can and not only do they get stronger they drop significant body fat. Lifting weights has a host of amazing benefits. Also we need to ban the word ‘toning’.

 
Other than this key issue you’ve just mentioned, where else do you think most women go wrong when it comes to weight loss?

Eating a low fat diet. Low fat diets are loaded with sugar. In summary: Eat low fat and you will stay fat and struggle to lose it. Eat high fat and get leaner and more cognitive.

 
Which three foods should we all stock up on to get the best out of our training?

Grass fed Beef (amazing protein)
Macadamia nuts (great healthy fat content)
Quinoa (great carb source)

 
Aside from good food, would you recommend any additional supplements to those of us who train regularly?

I love green powder from Udo’s, they always kindly send me goody bags. L-carnitine is awesome for fat loss, too. Mix it with a decent fish oil and you are really fighting the flab. Vitamin D is essential for women, too.

 
A good circuit workout involves more than just stringing a load of exercises together. What’s your top programming tip for circuit training?

Pair lower and upper body exercises in a superset e.g. pull ups to squats or press ups to deadlifts. Your heart will have to work more efficiently, in turn making you fitter and provoking body composition change. Keep the tempo slow on the eccentric movement (lowering phase) and explosive on the way up.

 
And finally, what’s your number one motivation tip for those of my readers who struggle to stay on track with their nutrition and training?

It’s such a cliché but you really do only get one body. There are so many variables out there to abuse it with, but so many to nourish and cherish it too. We are all too pre occupied with first world problems. Be the best you can be. As long as we are able bodied we should make the most of it and do our upmost to reach our potential.

The Workshops

At the SBC workshops, you can expect an hour of super-high intensity, circuit-style training, based around key functional movements i.e. deep knee bends, pushing, pulling and crawling. This holistic, full-body approach is not only ideal for balanced, functional strength and endurance, but also burns a ton of calories and is thus ideal as part of a fat-loss routine.

Workshops are held at 55 Baker Street on a Saturday, with special sessions at KX Life on a Wednesday. Russell will also be taking his Skinny Bitch methods global with upcoming workshops in New York, LA and Ibiza. Be sure to book well in advance – there are limited spaces and a high demand! To learn more about The Skinny Bitch Collective, visit www.thesbcollective.com or catch Russell on Twitter @thesbcollective.

The post Are You Tough Enough to be a Skinny Bitch? appeared first on Charli Cohen | Fashion Sportswear | Online Nutrition and Training Plans.