Exercise

5 Best Bicep Exercises

A picture of someone doing hammer curls

This week we are continuing our feature where we provide our view on which are the top 5 exercises for different body parts. What are the criteria for selecting the ‘best‘ 5 exercises? They are those that build muscle, or tone, and do so in a balanced, aesthetically pleasing way. They should work well for

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May 16, 2019 / by Jon Bellis / No Comments

Top 5 Exercises for Shoulders

A picture of Samantha doing a shoulder press with Jon behind her

This week we are continuing our feature where we provide our view on which are the top 5 exercises for different body parts. In the first blog on back exercises, we set out the criteria for selecting the ‘best‘ 5 exercises. To summarise, our top 5 exercises are those that build muscle, or tone, and

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Apr 12, 2019 / by Jon Bellis / No Comments

Top 5 Exercises for Your Back

Woman performing bench rows. Bench rows are among the pick of exercises for your back

This week we are introducing a new feature where we provide our view on which are the top 5 exercises for different body parts; this may be exercises for your back, your core, your shoulders and more. What are the criteria for selecting the ‘best’ exercises? It depends on your goal. If improving posture is

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Mar 29, 2019 / by Jon Bellis / No Comments

Top 5 Exercises to Improve Posture

A picture of our trainer, Samantha, performing one of the exercises to improve posture, The Plank

Having good posture is an under appreciated aspect of good health and fitness. If your posture is poor it could have numerous impacts It can make you look older than you really are. It can affect your confidence and self-esteem. Click here for an example discussion. It can affect your breathing. Inefficient breathing can have

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Mar 15, 2019 / by Jon Bellis / No Comments

Strong muscles, strong bones

Training for muscle and bone health

Did you see this article in the BBC yesterday about giving your bones a workout? It talks about the importance of working the muscles and how it contributes to strong bones and better health. It could have been written by us, it’s so similar to what we have been saying! If you missed our earlier

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Jul 04, 2018 / by Jon Bellis / No Comments

Functional Lines

Northampton Personal Trainers, weight loss, muscle, functional lines, functional movement

There are two great sporting events happening at the same time. Both require power in the functional lines of the players. The World Cup is already in full flight. Wimbledon starts tomorrow. Do you play tennis? You may have wondered what are the best strengthening exercises for that sport? Arms? Shoulders? Legs? It’s no surprise

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Jul 01, 2018 / by Jon Bellis / No Comments

The deadlift – my desert island exercise

Jon lifting weights

I recall Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs was on the radio a lot when I was growing up. I borrow the concept sometimes and say to my clients that if I could only take one exercise to a desert island, it would be the deadlift.   There is huge variety in the exercises that can

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Dec 28, 2017 / by Jon Bellis / No Comments

Why I’m an advocate of steady cardio – part 2

Steady cardio

In part 1 we looked at some good reasons why you might want to do steady cardio but we left the arguments about fat burning to this second instalment.   The fat burning arguments about the two options go like this. HIIT ramps up your metabolism and helps you burn more calories in the hours

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Dec 10, 2017 / by Jon Bellis / No Comments

Why I’m an advocate of steady cardio – part 1

Steady cardio

Why steady cardio might be the right choice for you   Are you wondering what might be the best cardio for your goals? Have you been told to do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) but you dread doing it? Does HIIT leave you drained? You might want to consider good old steady cardio. To find

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Dec 06, 2017 / by Jon Bellis / No Comments

Posture series – the cobra

Shoulder blade posture

Following on from the introduction to posture, a simple shoulder blade exercise is the final instalment. The exercise is called the cobra. It addresses, in one go, four of the most common issues associated with the shoulder blade area. It will help you engage your shoulder blades in the correct way in every day life.

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Nov 26, 2017 / by Jon Bellis / No Comments