Fitness Product of the Day - Reebok Weighted Speed Skipping Rope
18/01/2010 at 08:48am by Rich Leigh, founder of Fat Free Fitness
I’ve been a personal trainer now for a number of years, and have used skipping as part of my sessions for as long as I can remember, both personally and with clients.
If like me, you’re not a huge fan of running medium-long distances, and instead prefer shorter, sharper workouts, skipping can work well alongside pretty much any exercise regime. It burns shed loads of calories, you don’t need a huge amount of space nor equipment to get going and it develops your hand eye co-ordination brilliantly.
To that end, I was ultra excited when Reebok said they’d send their take on the skipping rope to Fat Free Fitness HQ.
At £17.95, you’d expect something good from Reebok, and I certainly hoped to not be disappointed. Well, in this case I wasn’t to be. To paraphrase the famous H.G. Wells statement from Animal Farm, which in itself paraphrased a line from the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson; “All skipping ropes are created equal, but some skipping ropes are created more equal than others”!
Everything, from the handy blue case to the 3m adjustable rope says quality, and having passed the rope around fitness compatriots, the rope has been given the thumbs up by all. I’ve used perhaps dozens of skipping ropes in my quest for trimness and quickness, and this is by far the best.
The top of the handles are ball-bearing loaded, and turn with the rope as you skip, ensuring it doesn’t become twisted, as anybody who’s skipped in the past can attest is extremely hindering and irritating. There is also a removable 50g steel weight in each of the handles, which weighs down the rubber grip handles to ensure you don’t just feel like you’re holding cheap plastic as per most ropes.
The rope could perhaps be a few grams heavier if fault is to be found, but in this skipper’s opinion, you’d be hard pressed to find something much better than this to use in your weight loss bid, especially when you consider that hundreds of thousands of people will spend a lot more money on treadmills, rowing machines and exercise bikes that will only unfortunately end up as overstated clothes horses or attic dust-gatherers.
If you'd like a closer look at the rope, find it on John Lewis online here.
Skip your way to fitness and weight loss!
Get fitter with Twitter! 23 diet and fitness you should follow
16/01/2010 at 08:19pm by Rich Leigh, founder of Fat Free Fitness
With no real networking opportunities within the UK for fitness professionals, and a fine line between useful diet, fitness and weight loss information and people just trying to sell their products which promise you’ll lose 14lbs in a day, you could be forgiven for thinking that there’s nothing out there to help.
This is how I felt before I started using Twitter.
It’s become the media darling without an agenda in the last year or so, gaining the sort of PR and media attention that even a Max Clifford/Alistair Campbell hybrid couldn’t hope to achieve.
Despite the fact that I at present still have a relatively low number of followers (just fewer than 400 at time of writing), and follow somewhere around the same number, I have been extremely lucky to have found and talked to fitness trainers and people who like you, may want to lose weight, from the world over.
My previous article on the subject, “10 fitness and weight loss peeps on Twitter you should follow” (opens in new tab) proved extremely popular, and regularly sees scores of searchers checking it out (well, according to my developer anyway!). So, having used Twitter for a further 3 months now, I feel it’s time for an update.
I’ve created a list of fitness/weight loss experts on Twitter. The only requisites for inclusion were:
- That they engaged and didn’t just fire out tweets plugging products/blog posts (there are a lot of these fitness ‘experts’ on Twitter, all selling miracle ‘Tone You Fast’ products)
- That they were English speaking
- That they could be seen as a fitness/weight loss authority (just going to the gym doesn’t count :))
It’s not a ‘top' 23, it’s simply '23 Tweeps who can help you get fit and lose weight’. There’s no way to validate who’s the best and thus, the list is open-ended and intended to be a starting point rather than a definitive list.
Why 23, I hear you ask? I wanted to do 20 but then thought of 3 more before finishing and didn't want to omit anybody I'd already listed!
Each link will open in a new tab so you can refer back and choose who you want to follow!
1. @vitalflow – Josie McKenlay – Kent, England
Online health & fitness soon to feature Pilates & yoga videos to improve your life
2. @formerfatguy - Rob Cooper – Alberta, Canada
Once weighed 475 pounds... Now doesn't. Teaches natural health and weight loss principles
3. @rocofit – Rosa Coelho – London, England
Personal trainer, massage therapist, Juice plus distributor, Kettlebell addict. Passion: Making people strong, flexible and healthy
4. @livinthefitlife – Kimberly Linton – Washington DC, USA
Your Twitter Fitness Expert, mother, wife, veteran, ex-bodybuilder, boot camp coach, lifestyle coach, Corporate America escapee, fitness is my life!
5. @KTFit – Katie Morse – Illinois, USA
Certified Personal Enhancement Specialist, Runner, Athlete, Owner of KTFitness, Core Cross Training Classes, Bootcamps, Wellness Seminars, Fit For Life.
6. @MsFitBC – Angelique Kronebusch – British Columbia, Canada
BCRPA certified personal trainer, spin instructor, bootcamp instructor, fitness model, figure competitor and fitness/health columnist for Rage Fashion Magazine
(Check out Angelique’s fantastic guest blogs on Fat Free Fitness here: 'How Fitness Changed My Life' and here: 'Diet: Why is this Word Evil?')
7. @michael_bach – Mike Bach – Manchester, England
Personal Coach, fat loss expert, sports, quick workouts, fitness buff ,film and 24 lover
8. @FitnessToGo – Tera Busker – Wisconsin, USA
Owner of Fitness To Go. ACE Certified Personal Trainer with a passion for fitness, the outdoors, hunting and life! G-Free for 5 yrs
9. @infinitefit – Jessica Zapata – Alberta, Canada
Empowering and inspiring you to live life to the fullest by adopting a healthy and fit lifestyle
10. @fitnag – Julie Mitchell-Mehta – Aboyne, Scotland
Weekly motivational emails to encourage you to meet your fitness goals. Plus online fitness and health advice.
11. @colintimberlake – Colin Timberlake
Workout, Fitness and Bodybuilding Motivation, Training Inspiration ...with some MMA and Hockey mixed in...
12. @billybicepz – Billy – Conneciticut, USA
Wife & I are always at the hip place, on time, makin it happen & Keepin it CrAZy fresh. Reg. Pts & Svc Mgr & Lady biz owner, bodybuilder
13. @Angela_Mraz – Angela Mraz – New Jersey, USA
IFBB Pro and 4X World Natural Figure Champion, Personal Trainer, Spoke and fitness model.
14. @MissWall – Melissa – Connecticut, USA
Womens Fitness Expert - Helping Women get Flat Sexy Abs and a Tight Toned Body
15. @SmashFit – Heather Frey – Florida, USA
Founder of the cool SmashFit.com! My outside is a reflection of my inside except you can't see all the laughing, and not-taking-myself-too-seriously part.
16. @NarkSide – Corey Springer – Barbados
I am a writer, a bodybuilder, a fitness consultant, and a lover of the arts. Music is my drug of choice... and I indulge freely!
17. @ALioness99 – Alyson Boyd – Arizona, USA
Sports Biz MBA Student - Institute for Integrative Nutrition Student - Fitness Competitor - Healthy Living Enthusiast - Novice Blogger
18. @WorkOutUK – Mary Ferguson – South Yorkshire, England
Editor of the UK's number one fitness industry magazine
19. @THEBODYSCIENCE – S. Jackson – San Diego, USA
Fitness coach
20. @girlwithnoname – Jackie Burgmann – British Columbia, Canada
Vlog about fitness, weight training, HIIT, running, swimming, diet & nutrition, you don't need a gym, I rock workouts mostly at home!
21. @EverythingZing – Liam Sartorius – Hertfordshire, England
Expect honest, fad-free tweets about all things fitness, nutrition, health and wellbeing!
22. @kerigans – Keri Gans – New York, USA
I am a Registered Dietitian and Spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association in NYC who loves healthy foods, trendy fashions and yoga !!!!
Oh, and I’m:
23. @fatfreefitness – Rich Leigh – Gloucester, England
Founder of weight loss agency and site, media spokesperson. Dad of one (Maia), qualified personal trainer, weight loss expert, professional tuna eater
If you think somebody is missing, let us know in the comments section below, and please do use our new Social Media toolbar below to share the article with your friends!
Exercise in the Digital Age - and how you fit into it
16/01/2010 at 09:05am by Rich Leigh, founder of Fat Free Fitness
As a weight loss, diet and fitness blog, we’re regularly contacted by companies with information about the ‘next big thing’ in fitness, whether its products like the laughable Shake Away or the latest fitness iPhone application.
Following one such press release yesterday, it got me thinking: is fitness as an industry utilising technology and the Internet as well as it could be? Sure, you have fantastic advances such as route tracking product Nike Plus, and critically acclaimed GPS-enabled smartphone application RunKeeper, but other than that, I drew a blank.
Perhaps somewhat ironically, fitness seems lethargic in its adoption of the Digital Age. The many ‘virtual gym’ websites and ‘online personal trainer’ services that have sprung up online, all promising hours of exercise video content and the latest in fitness innovation seem to have failed to capture public imagination. They lack the (admittedly Z-list) celebrity spark most exercise DVDs offer, and having tried free trials just to keep myself in the loop, feel that there is very little incentive to return to use the service.
Video-based virtual gyms don't seem to have taken off
I was thinking and thinking yesterday about why it was that fitness seemed to fail as a concept online, and then it hit me: the one thing it’s missing (and thankfully for the offline industry as a whole) is the human element.
No matter how many online Personal Training services there are, and the same goes for fitness videogames; the fact is that the motivation to exercise and reach goals when training with a PT isn’t able to be replicated nor transferred through the screen you’re looking at, at least not with pre-recorded content, and at least; not yet.
Which brings me onto my next thought: will that be the next service? An online, two-way webcam/microphone enabled Personal Training or remote group exercise session? It still lacks the physical interaction and human element of the real thing, but could that be the ‘future’?
The browsing capabilities of your household next-gen videogame console could quite easily stream live content into your living room through widescreen high-definition, so it’s definitely a possibility.
Imagine this: you agree a time online with your PT or sign up to participate in a remote group exercise session, and at the scheduled time, you log-on, ready to sweat your way through a session in the comfort of your own home whilst the on-screen trainer sees, vocally corrects and motivates you throughout a set-time session.
The possibilities in terms of remote group exercise are then, quite literally, as infinite as the bandwidth of the website’s server, where the trainer or class instructor could see in front of them a myriad of exercisers, some of whom could plausibly be on the other side of the world.
There are a number of services online threatening to do similar things, but not quite achieving this on a potentially widespread commercial level yet from what I have seen.
So, what do you think? Do you think there’s a need for fitness to develop online, or do you think that weight loss and the fitness industry, like many other sectors, is trying too hard to keep up with the proverbial Jones’?
It'd be interesting to hear from people who are in the target market for services such as these. If you're looking to lose weight, get fitter or train towards a sport-specific goal, would you use online services to help you do it?
Are gyms to blame for promoting body image ideals? Health, Diet and Fitness Today - 13/01/10
13/01/2010 at 08:35pm by Rich Leigh, founder of Fat Free Fitness
According to a study of just over 1000 adults by ‘activity for health’ charity Central YMCA, three quarters of people think that gyms should do more to attract people with a wider range of body shapes and sizes, and a surprising 85% blame the fitness industry for promoting body image ideals.
Further stats from the press release show that 7 in 10 people think that gyms and the people who use them can be intimidating, and two-fifths say if instructors looked more like them they would be more likely to go.
I personally believe that the fitness industry is in a constant battle with the media and the world of celebrity. We’re regularly putting out fires the press deliberately light in order to spark the controversy needed to jump out from the newsstand, so I deny the fact that the fitness industry is to blame for promotion of body ideals. Show me a personal trainer who says it’s OK to yo-yo diet simply because the latest D-list celebrity does, and I’ll show you an interview with Katie Price worth listening to or reading.
As for the 42% who say they’re more likely to go to gyms if the fitness professionals look ‘more like them’, I’d like to say that as fitness professionals, I feel that it’s our duty to promote the healthy ideal – which means to me that we’re not endorsing extremes of obesity nor ultra-perfection. I also ask: what do ‘they’ look like? Overweight? If that’s the case, we’ve been taught that to be overweight is to be unhealthy. I wouldn’t do what I do if this was all about aesthetics.
I can understand that potential members may feel more comfortable with somebody who looks ‘more like them’ as the YMCA reported, but think that class instructors, gym instructors and personal trainers have a responsibility to practise what they preach – would you listen to somebody telling you not to smoke if they had a fag in their hand?
I can also understand how gyms, leisure centres and health clubs can seem intimidating to start off with, but then so does school when you first start. You can’t refuse to go simply because the teachers may initially know more than you, otherwise you’d miss out on a whole world of learning.
In short, I’m saying that I can see how some people would be uncomfortable with great hulking, lycra-clad trainers barking orders at them through their initial consultation in-between swigs of ‘Bulk Me Up’. I suggest that gyms recruit sensibly with their target clientele in mind.
I however do think that this can’t be an excuse or barrier to a healthy lifestyle, as it’s all too easy to blame the fitness industry for promoting body image ideals, without taking responsibility for yourself first.
Readers, it’d be great to get your thoughts on this, as we’ve actually been approached by Workout magazine, the UK’s leading fitness industry magazine for comments from readers on this very topic that they will publish, alongside your name. If you don’t wish for your comment to be published, please say ‘don’t publish’ within your comment.
Read the latest issue of Workout magazine online, for free, here.
Are gyms themselves to blame for low member rates?
Good news: a big bum = healthy! Health, Diet and Fitness Today - 12/01/10
12/01/2010 at 08:04pm by Rich Leigh, founder of Fat Free Fitness
Always ones to promote the healthy ideal, we’ve got some news today that some women may be happy to hear!
In a statement today from scientists at Oxford University, it was reported that carrying extra weight on your hips, bum and thighs is good for your health, protecting against heart and metabolic problems.
Hip fat mops up harmful fatty acids and contains an anti-inflammatory agent that stops arteries clogging, they said.
Big booties are preferable to extra fat around the waistline, which gives no such protection, the Oxford team said. Scientists could soon be looking for ways to deliberately increase hip fat, the researchers told the International Journal of Obesity.
And in the future, doctors might prescribe ways to redistribute body fat to the hips to protect against cardiovascular and metabolic diseases such as diabetes.
The researchers said having too little fat around the hips can lead to serious metabolic problems, as occurs in Cushing's syndrome.
Evidence and my personal experience with clients shows that fat around the thighs and bum is harder to shift than fat around the waist, perhaps a sign that the body wants to retain the body fat in the area due to its benefits.
The slower burning hip fat also makes more of the hormone adiponectin that protects the arteries and promotes better blood sugar control and fat burning.
In comparison, carrying excess fat around the stomach raises the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Lead researcher Dr Konstantinos Manolopoulos, of Oxford University, said: "It is shape that matters and where the fat gathers.
"Fat around the hips and thighs is good for you but around the tummy is bad."
He said in an ideal world, the more fat around the thighs the better - as long as the tummy stays slim, although aesthetically, this sounds like something of an oddity!
"Unfortunately, you tend not to get one without the other," he said.
Fotini Rozakeas of the British Heart Foundation said: "This research helps us better to understand how fat acts in the body in order to develop new approaches in reducing heart and circulatory disease.
"If you are overweight, obese, or if you have a waist size that is increased, it is important to make changes to your lifestyle, such as eating a healthy diet and doing regular physical activity, to reduce your risk of heart health problems." 
Jennifer Lopez's famous derriere is doing more than making her the envy of many, according to the research by scientists at Oxford Uni
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Launched in 2009, fatfreefitness.co.uk is the UK's only weight loss specific personal training agency. Fat Free Fitness helps you stop dieting and counting calories, by teaching you how to improve your nutrition, increase your activity and exercise levels and lose weight. Fatfreefitness.co.uk is a great way to lose weight and save money. fatfreefitness provides you with expert diet, fitness, exercise, gym and personal training advice and support, similar to ivillage.co.uk, weightlossforall.com, thecolumn.org, weightlossforgood.co.uk, tescodiets.co.uk and weightlossresources.co.uk. Win diet, exercise and fitness products by entering fatfreefitness.co.uk competitions. Fatfreefitness.co.uk is not a weight loss support group like Weight Watchers weightwatchers.co.uk or Slimming World slimmingworld.com. Fat Free Fitness is updated regularly with new information. Fatfreefitness.co.uk and weight loss expert, personal trainer and fatfreefitness.co.uk founder Rich Leigh disagree with and discourage fat loss tablets, diet tablets and weight loss aid tablets, fad dieting and crash diets such as the Atkins diet, the Cambridge diet, the cabbage soup diet, the Beverley Hills diet, the baby food diet and all other carbohydrate and calorie restricting diets.
