The top left and right photos on each grid below show the main or basic version of the exercise, while the bottom left and right photos demonstrate the advanced version.

Exercise 1
Basic [top L to R]: Squats
Advanced [bottom L to R]: Jump Squats

Exercise 2
Basic [top L to R]: Press Ups (on toes)
Advanced [bottom L to R]: Press Ups (legs elevated)

Exercise 3
Basic [top L to R]: Lunge with a Knee Raise (the knee lifts up to the chest then down to the lunge again)
Advanced [bottom L to R]: Lunge with a Jump

Exercise 4
Basic [top L to R]: High plank then renegade row – hand lifts to armpit
Advanced [bottom L to R]: renegade row as above then into T side rotation where the arm lifts all the way up

Exercise 5
Basic [top L to R]: burpee squat thrusts
Advanced [top L to R, then bottom L to R]: Burpee squat thrust alternated with standing jump

Exercise 6
Basic [top L to R]: Abdominal shin touches – legs up in the air then reach up to touch shins
Advanced [bottom L to R]: Full V Ups – legs lower halfway to the ground like in pump then reach up to touch shins

We’ve had so many requests from people who need extra motivation and intensity from our challenging circuits. We are the only full equipment based bootcamp in Auckland, offering variety in each session and a total body workout including core that running based bootcamps can’t deliver. The end of October promises better weather, increased motivation and more light  for us to run our training sessions in!

TUES and THURS evenings

6:15pm (45 mins including cooldown stretch)

$100 per person (5 weeks, 10 lessons)

Starts TUES 28th October (after labour weekend)

Ends THURS 27th November

Our sessions take place at the Auckland domain, on the top field directly behind the Auckland Museum building where there is usually plenty of parking. We encourage people of all fitness levels to join in as we have loads of different options to challenge those who need it and we are experienced in modifying exercises to suit individual needs.

Please email:  bene-fit@live.com  to book your place!

Matt and I are looking forward to seeing you there – rain, pain, hail or shine – we never cancel!

www.bene-fit.co.nz

Exploring your holiday destination on foot from your hotel is the best way to see the ‘real life and essence’ of the country. Run 15mins at high intensity one way and come back the same way. Do the same the next day in the opposite direction. When you are more familiar with the area, you may be able to do an extended loop if you know where you are going. In my experience, in most tourist areas, people do not run – so you may get stared at or called names by other tourists! There may also not be a safe running path so make sure you have good running shoes, take some plasters and watch where you are going. Take a water bottle and a cap as it can heat up quickly in the early hours of the morning and you can risk dehydrating or getting heat stroke if running intensely. You should aim to be working at around 80% or your maximum as this is a short intensity burst for 30 mins. Best time to run for fat burning in my opinion is just before breakfast or dinner. On my latest holiday in Bali I ran around the entire Island of Gili Air in 27 mins! (It is a small Island)

This can also be substituted for a 30 min swim if running is not for you. Have you ever tried freestyle swimming the length of a tropical beach! It is one of may favourite things to do for exercise on holiday. Take your goggles or a mask and even flippers – enjoy the beautiful clear water and fish as you get your cardio exercise done for the day. It is a good idea to bring a waterproof sports watch with you or pick a destination on the shore that you are going to turn around at having timed the start of your swim. You can always extend it the next day.

If you are not on holiday in a hot country, explore the hotel gym/fitness centre. There is usually at least a set of dumbbells, a bench and a cable machine. If you are unsure how to use the machine, stick to light weights and high repetition until you are familiar with the exercise. Try to pick one exercise per body part and do as many repetitions as you can to ‘muscular failure’ before moving on to the next body part. Create a mini circuit e.g. lunges – pressups-dumbbell squats-dumbbell bicep curls then repeat this 3 times through. This should be non-stop and fast so you can elevate your heart rate.

Remember to take your dyna band or bungee with you in your suitcase for an indoor circuit option. A nice light addition to that is a skipping rope – 10 mins skipping and a bungee circuit will be enough to maintain your muscles.

If you have no beach, no running shoes, no fitness centre – here is the KLR 1000′s circuit, this gets my heart rate over 180 bpm, requires no equipment and will work every muscles group including back without there being a direct back exercise in it!
KLR’s 1000′s circuit: (to be performed non-stop) Turn the music up loud…..

100 lunges (change legs at 50)
100 pressups (do as many on your toes as you can before changing to knees)
100 dips (use a bench, couch, desk, ottoman to lean your wrists on)
100 squat jumps ( you may only be able to do 10 in a row then have a breather but don’t give up!)
100 pressups (10 on toes, 10 on knees etc)
100 jump lunges (switching legs on each jump)
100 dips (the closer you bring your legs in to the body the easier)
100 wide leg squats (or jump squats if you are brave)
100 pressups (final set! I don’t care how you do them just get them done)
100 travelling lunges (around the room)
** for any over achievers: add 100 sit ups or 100 seconds of planks/prone holds at the end!

** you might want to start with 500′s on the first day (just halve everything) so you can still lift your fork and move the next day!

• Do you think you’ll meet your goal without a personal trainer?
• And if you’re confident that you will reach your goal how long do you think it will take you without one?
• Do you have enough fitness and health knowledge to design a program for yourself based on your past fitness and medical history?

A personal trainer however can be terribly expensive. When you look at their hourly fee it can range from $50 – $400. The range is pretty broad in Auckland City so shop around.

So how do you look for a personal trainer that’ll fit your budget? There are some who are reasonable.

If you have free time during the day book your session when noone is having one. Off-peak hour sessions may help save you some money. Another thing that you can consider are shorter sessions. So instead of 60 minute sessions go for 30 minutes.

Also check with personal trainers who give discounts for training couples. You can also get bigger discounts if you can form a group of three to five people. Make sure though that you have more or less the same fitness level. When you do these small group personal training sessions be sure though that you will not miss any of the sessions as the program will continure on even if you can’t make it unless the whole group cannot make it too. Cancellations are usually not allowed but make sure you double check with the personal trainer that you’ve chosen.

Some personal trainers also offer discounted rates when they are still undergoing their training and on their way to attaining their certification. Look for personal trainers who have had extensive experience on the job and are just studying to formalize their profession. You can get them cheaper when they don’t have certificates yet.

One other thing to consider is barter with the personal trainer if you can. Perhaps there are some things that you own you can exchange for her services? It doesn’t hurt to try. If the personal trainer does not accept your proposition, then look for other ways to get a discount.

Our bodies undergo many changes that can be reversed with proper strength training. Wearing glasses, dying one’s hair, or applying creams for age marks have their place, but nothing compares to the long list of benefits from high intensity interval training for strength:

1. Base Metabolic Rate (metabolism) decreases. Those who are stronger can have the metabolism they had when they were twenty years younger. More muscle requires more calories.

2. Body cells become resistant to insulin. Added muscles will lower your blood sugar level and lessen the need for insulin.

3. Loss of strength, energy, and speed. Proper exercise will make you stronger, and day to day activities will be less strenuous and  less taxing energy-wise.

4. Muscle mass decreases. Stronger muscles are more toned, and this requires more calories. As adults we lose about five pounds of lean muscle each decade. Stronger toned muscles present a younger look.

5. Loss of flexibility. Muscles have the plasticity that tendons and ligaments do not. More muscle contributes to flexibility. Of course, flexible muscles need to be maintained by practising exercises  through a full range of movement – yoga and pilates are excellent for this.

6. Fat increases as a percentage of body weight, attributed to a loss of muscle percentage. A stronger leaner person will be more active and the increased activity will further enhance one’s health and burn additional calories. High intensity interval training producing more excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) – the body continues to burn substantial calories after the workout is over. By increasing muscle mass, fat as a percentage is automatically less, and this extra muscle requires more fat burning calories.

7. Bone mineral density decreases. Increase the demands on the muscular-skeletal system, and as self-protection, the body responds by maintaining stronger muscles and bones. High impact and certain resistance exercises drive calcium into the bones to make them stronger as an additional stress response.

8. Loss of aerobic capacity. Choose a strength training program that involves circuit training to get the aerobic benefits. Non-stop circuit training method has a very significant cardiovascular effect and increases both aerobic and anaerobic capacity. The heart rate stays elevated even during the rest periods!

9. Unsatisfactory cholesterol/HDL Ratio. Circuit strength training will improve your HDL or High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol, the “good” cholesterol.

10. Increased susceptibility to sickness and injury. This might be the most important benefit. People wait until injuries occur and then exercise becomes problematic. A stronger body is less like to get injured and will have a stronger immune system. To help avoid surgery the best thing you can do for your joints is to make the muscles supporting those joints stronger. Take the steps now to avoid herniated discs and hip and knee replacements.

Studies have shown that significant strength increases result from high intensity interval training as little as once a week. You need not spend hours in the gym to make a profound difference.

It all starts with strength. As you become stronger you will find you will be able to engage in more activities, perform more advanced drills, recruiting more muscles with each movement, further enhancing your health. Just improve a little each week withgentle,  progressive overload and over time you will feel years younger. High intensity interval training is the type of personal training I do.

Finding the Right Diet for You

If you have decided that it is time to change your eating habits in order to lose weight, you are probably wondering which diet is the best one. After all, every day we are bombarded with new fad diets, each one guaranteed to “melt away the pounds”. Okay, some of these diets do just that, but they are extremely low calorie diets, and as soon as you go off the diet and eat regular foods again, you will see the weight or ‘water’ you lost come right back. The best way to lose fat, and keep it off, is to follow a healthy nutritional plan that is loaded with all of the nutrients we need to stay healthy, and make sure that you are eating enough and at regular intervals so that you do not feel hungry. This is one of the first things that make people go off their diets – they are never satisfied with their meals.
Make sure that when you are on a diet, you allow yourself the occasional treat. This will help to prevent you from binging and boredom, which often happens to those who are on extremely low-calorie weight loss diets. There are all kinds of healthy foods that also make satisfying treats, such as nuts (unsalted are best), low glycemic(GI) fruit i.e. pears or berries, and even the occasional square or two of dark chocolate, which is loaded with anti-oxidants. Protein snacks are hard to find; marinated mussels, prawns and tuna make high protein toppings for crackers or to add to a salad. Cottage cheese or hummus are low fat/high protein additions to go with raw veges between meals. A hard boiled egg, yoghurt or handful of pumpkin seeds are the easiest thing to grab when rushing aorund. With all of these great snack options, and more, you should have no problem at all sticking to your diet, and you’ll seeing quick changes in your body and scales!

KLR’s TOP TEN TIPS to prevent sugar cravings, keep you feeling full and to encourage body fat loss:

• Download a list of LOW GLYCEMIC (GI) foods and stick with these for most meals (moderately eat from the medium GI lists)
• Choose low GI fruit to fill you up just before meals i.e. pears, apples, berries (note: bananas and watermelon are high GI and can cause sugar cravings at the wrong times)
• Coffee is not a meal! This will increase the stress hormone cortisol and cause the body to store fat.
• Drink water all throughout the day to help you to feel full and prevent the body from thinking it is hungry when it is actually dehydrated
• Increase low fat/high protein food options such as prawns, fish, tofu, seeds
• Increase essential oils in the diet to keep you satiated i.e. macadamia oil, fish oils, flaxseed oils, avocado, nuts and seeds
• Try to move away from the high GI/high carb traditional breakfast of cereal + fruit + toast + juice. Instead try low GI oats plus macademia oil and grated apple or a spoon of yoghurt. Try salmon and poached eggs on 1 piece of grain toast. Try a coconut and soy milk smoothie with low GI berries
• Do not skip any meals. There shouldn’t be longer than 3 hours between meals/snacks
• Be aware of increasing too much carbohydrate when you suddenly increase cardio training into your regime i.e. rice should be half a cup cooked or less for most people
• Watch your portion size, you can have too much of a good thing and a high glycemic load even if the food is low fat can cause a trigger in your sugar level to make you crave more

Team sessions held at the Domain – entrance Titoki Street (Magnolia Gardens at Maunsell Rd Extension) in the Domain grounds.
STARTS – TUESDAY 6th DECEMBER (Every Tues & Thurs)
TIME – 6:00pm-7:00pm
Rain or shine
COST – $40

You may wish to email me for even more info kristy@klrbodyarchitect.co.nz
or you can phone: 021-181-2053

KERRY LOOMES will represent KLR Body Architect in the 2011 NABBA Counties-Manukau championships, Saturday August 6th.

www.nabba.co.nz

Kerry is a research scientist and senior lecturer in biochemistry at the University of Auckland. Kerry decided to challenge his physical limits by entering his first Body Building competition this year.

Kerry has dropped an astounding 10kg over the course of a year (half of that in the last couple of months) through a tough and consistent training routine and careful measuring and monitoring of his diet. The dedication and sacrifice Kerry has made to follow through with this gruelling competition is reflected in the amazing results you can see in his new body!

Kerry started doing regular KLR Zumba, Pump and Spin classes each week, withthe addition of a serious, high intensity, high volume resistance session twice a week designed by KLR. This made a significant difference to Kerry’s overall body shape and strength. People started to comment on how athletic and defined he looked.

Over the last few months, the increased protein, decreased carbohydrates, increased quantities of H2O and regular caliper fat tests made the biggest difference to Kerry’s body fat percentage. With three weeks out from the competition Kerry’s metabolism had changed to a higher gear and it became a matter of trying to spare muscle at all costs and keep his shapely pecs and shoulders from wasting away – a complete reversal for him. All excess cardio was dropped, exercise was to be strictly kept at a heart rate of less than 130 bpm to ensure fat burning but not glycogen or muscle loss and carbs and protein were increased slightly to keep his energy stores up. Kerry’s body fat hit an all time low of just over 7% last week which was virtually competition level. It has been a daily challenge to monitor calories and sugar to the gram in order to peak at the weight class limit of 84 kg this Saturday at competition weigh in. Every ml of water loss or gain is crucial to the outcome on Saturday.

The one thing Kerry has to look forward to after months of low sodium,high protein, steamed vegetables and carbless protein bars…Pre-comp at NCM is a shot of whiskey and ten jelly beans to give him ‘flushing’ and ‘vascularity’ and plump the muscles up in order to show off his ripped body to the judges. His secret weapon is ‘Niacin’ taken 20 minutes before competing to enduce a flushing and colour to the skin aswell as vascularity. Timing will be crucial in order to get the most out of the muscles on the day.

Kerry has learnt so much about his body and it’s response to diet and exercise over the course of this competition, he will now incorporate these tools into his healthier lifestyle. “I guess one thing I underestimated was that you can exercise all you like but to make real change, you have to pay close attention to diet”

Good luck Kerry you deserve this!

Everyone worked very hard, some moments knowing the target time of a competitor left you with no time to slack off or lose focus having to keep RPMS between 100-105 most of the way. This was of course different on the high mountain stages and sprints – but these seemed to bur intensely with every revolution.

I have been humbled by only 10% of the distance the real Tour de France competitiors endure, not to mention the changing elements, dangerous terrain and mental and physical pressure their bodies must go through!

It would have been nice to have won 10% of their prize money too …. however a low carb beer at the Tour de Gym party Friday … which also sees the end of dry July (5 weeks on Friday) will be reward enough!

See the official leader board below for distances and times:

http://www.scribd.com/fullscre​en/60811182?access_key=key-2k0​aa6lrb3s1ipnkj2pf

This competition kicked off with an inspirational movie night ‘hell on wheels’ the documentary relaying the German team’s painful ‘Tour’ story, a very interesting angle given we normally only hear the American team perspective. We cycled in the spin studio for 90mins with no popcorn or choc bombs, watching these guys sweat blood.. warming our legs up for our competition the next day..