Summer swimwear sensations...time to prepare your body

I am totally in LOVE with the new swimwear releases from Seafolly for the upcoming Summer season. They are constantly sending me emails about the new styles and patterns. It's like a friendly reminder to get on track for that Summer beach body. Most of us love to wear loose comfy clothing over the Winter months and tend to indulge in larger meal portions and moreish foods. Summer rolls around and we all find ourselves trying to work off those extra winter kilos.

Looking to tone up a little for summer?

Lift weights! Why? Strength training is the only proven way we can permanently change body shapes. Masses of cardio and little eating will result in loss of weight but what happens next winter when you start the comfort eating again? That's right it comes back quicker than before. Strength training will increase muscle mass and as a result your body will be chewing through food trying to keep up the muscle tone in your body, meaning, when you eat all the food is doing is trying to keep you looking sexy, this means there is no time for fat to be left on our bodies as we need to break it down for energy. And if you're worried about 'bulking up' please just ask your boyfriend/male friends who have been going to the gym for a few years how hard it is and you'll quickly see there is nothing to worry about!

Make your cardio short, sharp and effective! Did you know that the human body can only churn through around 10 calories a minute? That's scientific fact so any treadmill or machine that tells you that your 30 minute run burned 100 calories is lying. So why would I be saying make your cardio short? The answer is stress! Cortisol, the body's primary stress hormone is a limiting factor in our body shaping training. This means that if you are exercising for more than 30 minutes at high intensity you will actually trigger this stress hormone response and your body will start to reduce your ability to burn calories and your workout becomes less effective! Cardio sessions that push you to the limit over a 20-30 minute period with little to no rest will actually be more effective in your summer body mission. Make your sessions short sharp and intense, and if you finish and think "I could have gone for longer", it means you didn't push hard enough!

Which body would you rather have?

 Marathon Runner

 Sprinter

Your post training appetite can speed up your results. Have you ever trained and then forgot/couldn't eat afterwards? How do you feel that night just before bed? Tired? Of course! Your body goes though an immense amount of stress during training and as such our ability to repair itself once we finish is a key in a successful transformation! This means if you don't eat after your workout you actually are unable to repair the damage done and start to diminish the effectiveness of the workout. The best way to combat this is with a little supplementation - a good quality whey protein isolate before and after training with a sports drink will quickly give the body much needed energy, then try to eat within your first hour after training, something delicious and full of protein (meat), high energy carbs (grains, potatoes, bananas) and low energy carbs (fruit and veg). This meal will begin the repair process which triggers your fat burning potential. To speed these results, eat another meal an hour later (can be a smoothie or something similar). Fail to follow this rule, and the strength training and fast effective cardio will be all for nothing!

Try this

Not this