Get on two wheels and gear up for surprising benefits!

To clear up any confusion; by ‘two wheels’ I wasn’t referring to taking your car around a corner at high speeds and the ‘surprising benefits’ wasn’t that you impressed people by being able to drive you car on two wheels.

Hopefully by the pictures, you would’ve guessed this Exercise Your Potential post is about Cycling.

I’ll start with the bad – Firstly, airbags and ABS braking are yet to be introduced to bikes which may lead to around 30-40 deaths per year on Australian roads. Although most would agree that the lack of safety equipment is usually not an issue unless a terrible driver is put into the mix. Secondly, although it can be done, a longer commute of say, an hour driving, which many people do in a vast city like Sydney or Melbourne is a fairly impractical bike ride.

BUT THAT’S IT!  

Now for The good -

• Cycling is GREAT for your health – low impact on joints, continuous aerobic activity and getting out in the sun with the wind in your face can be an excellent way to recharge the mental batteries.
• Low cost – the amount you pay on fuel, servicing and maintenance, let alone the actual cost of the car in the first place, you could buy and maintain 5-10 decent bikes and accessories! That’s one for every occasion, style or terrain you might want to attack.
• Great for the environment – while motorists are using fuels that will take another trillion years to be replaced, cyclists can use the fuels that they can replace at dinner or even stock up on with dessert.

And the ones you may not have known:

• Cycling creates more jobs and is good for the economy. A new University of Massachusetts study shows that bicycle lanes create 46% more jobs than car-only road projects. The study examined 58 infrastructure projects in 11 states, and found out that cycling projects create a total of 11.4 local jobs for each $1 million spent, while road-only projects generate just 7.8 jobs per $1 million.
• Anti-poverty – Bikes are actually helping people in Africa cut down long distance trips to create easier access to food, schools and employment: Pedal to Prosperity

And you too could be as proud as the guy above, taking the kids for a family outing!

The 30 day challenge - THAT WORKS - in 3.5mins

Here it is – one of the shortest blogs I’ve ever written!

Watch: THE 30 DAY CHALLENGE

Enjoy!

Media not accepting your normal, healthy size?

Just a few weeks ago I posted the Gymorexia Article detailing the growing dissatisfaction everyday people are having for their bodies. Now I’ve come across a great blog post that has called out ‘media personalities’ for some absolutely moronic behaviours when it not only comes to average bodies but what most people would categorize as a beautiful body too.

Where are we headed as a society when people call Victoria’s Secret models ‘Fat’ and stylists refuse to dress people because they are overweight?

The vid below is the Victoria’s Secret model that one blogger called fat. 

You be the judge: Fat, Normal or Great Body?

Although Lilly Allen’s comments seem to be a breath of fresh air: “I hang out with models, the biggest pop stars and, you know, really and honestly, I hate saying this, but none of them are achieving those body shapes by being healthy. They’re not just going to the gym two hours a day. They’re not eating or they’re taking speed not to eat. In America everyone abuses that Adderall stuff and people aren’t normal.”

Here’s the link and the story in more detail: The Curvy Nerd Blog.

Why Personal Trainers won’t be around in 10 years– Part I

Would you hire a plumber if they weren’t qualified to do the job?

Would you trust your car with a mechanic that couldn’t guarantee his work?

What about a hairdresser who never did an apprenticeship, but has had fantastic hair for the last 18 years?

The answer is probably no to all 3. It’s not worth risking your house, possessions or good looks!

By now you would’ve understood what I’m getting at - an Exercise Physiologist vs Personal Trainer debate, although hopefully this will once and for all, put the discussion to rest.

Firstly – let’s take a look at Personal Trainers.

Qualifications – Ask most PT’s out there and they’ll tell you you get what you pay for with a Certificate IV in fitness (the minimum qualification to perform 1 on 1 fitness training). But not in the fact that you get more of an education by paying a larger sum for ‘tuition’ but that you get it quicker and with less effort the more you pay. Just Google “become a Personal Trainer” and searches will show you the quickest possible way to get into the industry. This is a big problem! How many doctors or dentists do you know tried to ‘Fast Track’ their career and disregard knowledge or experience? Nobody wants to pay someone over $80 an hour to take care of their body when 6 weeks ago they were getting fired from their job at Macca’s or getting told by their parents that they’d be kicked out if they didn’t find a job or start studying soon.

Furthermore, fitness academies and institutes are now actually TARGETING people who didn’t do well at school to become PT’s!! Mind the fact that I’m clearly trying to over-multi-task with my Internet Explorer (below), but does anyone else see anything wrong with businesses sourcing ‘failing students’ to guide you safely through difficult exercise and give you expert advice on your one and only body?

Now you might be saying: “Ok those institutes are just trying to make money like any other business” but let’s take a look beyond them and at Fitness Australia- the Self Regulated head of Fitness in this country.

Let’s run with the so-conveniently bold words above:

• Self Regulated = make as much money as possible at almost any cost. No one to answer to and you can also try to confuse the public by calling your Personal Trainers “Exercise Professionals” (abbreviated to EP’s - as in what people with higher education and qualifications – Exercise Physiologists – call themselves). By the way, self regulation seemed to work very well for the US financial institutions back in 2007 didn’t it? Not sure where I’m going with this – see: Global Financial Crisis-Wikipedia.
• Fitness – not health, not wellbeing, not rehabilitation. So then you think, Fitness… = sporting teams? Sorry wrong again, that’s a strength and conditioning coach or Sports/Exercise Scientist/Physiologist. So fitness really means focusing on healthy individuals and getting them to run further, do more crunches and attempt a chin up or two. The other downside for PT’s -Exercise Physiologists are more than capable of putting someone through a fitness, boot camp, commando or body building style workout too – except due to our knowledge of biomechanics and safe practices, could almost always get the same result with less potential for injuries.

And the last negative before we go out on a positive for Part I; everyone’s heard horror stories about PT’s injuring, creating illness and in some cases killing clients, so I won’t harp on – just have a a quick read of this US article if you’d like to learn more: Dangerous Personal Trainers 

The positive – Most PT’s have good, honest intentions and just like in every industry a few bad seeds can damage the reputation of all, but unfortunately PT’s have had their time and the science is progressing and the need for something more is increasing by the day. This, in combination with the ease for patients to see Exercise Physiologists at almost no cost and the amount of exercise science graduates coming out of universities each year, will in my opinion, be the death of Personal Trainers and the “Fitness Industry”.

Exercise Physiology at almost no cost?… Keep checking back for more on that in Part II!