We may often think about calories, especially when striving to follow a healthy balanced diet or when seeking to change our body composition. How many calories are in that piece of cake you long for? How many did you burn in that workout you’ve just finished? However, what really is a calorie, and how many do we really need?

For some, working out is as natural as breathing, whilst for others, it only just narrowly beats cleaning a cruddy toilet! In either case, keeping a workout log may seem like ‘needless’ admin that depending on your point of view either gets in the way of a blissful experience or makes an already laborious chore even worst. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth! Irrespective of whether you passionately look forward to your next workout or dread it with a passion, keeping a workout log can help you see the bigger picture – namely the progress you’re making towards your goals – by putting the nuances of each training session into perspective.

Securing a new client is always exciting; it signifies that your skills, as a fitness professional, are being recognized, especially if you’ve been approached because of a referral or from direct observation of your impressive training prowess with other clients. Furthermore, it also provides a perfect opportunity to hone your rapport-building skills! Whilst, initial consultations can be daunting, especially if you’re just starting out, there are a few things you can do to ensure you feel both energized and confident to help cement your client-trainer relationship.

It’s plain and obvious for us all to see that we come in a number of shapes and sizes. However, even with such diversity, we can ‘shoehorn’ everyone into one of three general body types known as ‘somatotypes, which define how our bodies store fat and react to different training protocols.

No matter what exercise program you embark on it’s important to be able to gauge if you are in the goldilocks zone of not pushing yourself too hard or not pushing yourself hard enough; in other words, you need some way of telling if you are training at the right intensity for your personal fitness goals.

We’re all familiar with the term ‘Balanced Diet’ and are bombarded by media extolling the virtues of their version of it. However, would you really be able to recognize a balanced diet even if it came and slapped your round the face?

Tempo training is a great way to refresh a stale workout or add a little bit of extra challenge to a specific exercise. It essentially involves adding a set speed to perform each rep in your training program.