Tag Archives: barcelona beach

What are the benefits of using a Personal Trainer?

September 1, 2014 Chris Leave a comment

www.barcelonabienestar.com

“Beauty does not require sacrifice, its requires regular workouts!“ Julia Nikolajeva, Barcelona Bienestar.

What are the benefits of training with personal fitness trainer?

There are reasons why people choose to use a personal trainer; the main one is that it’s a faster and a more simple way of improving health and physical condition.

Working in and around Barcelona, Barcelona Bienestar offers personal training and other wellness related activities, but today our topic of discussion is pure and simple PT.

According to many surveys, the main reason for using a personal trainer is to get professional help to: improve cardiovascular fitness, posture correction, the development of balance and coordination, flexibility, strength, stamina, stability of the joints, muscle strengthening of the spinal column. This list can also include achieving and maintaining optimal body weight, and the reduction of body fat percentage and the growth of muscle mass, forming shape and tone.

All of this can be accomplished with the help of a qualified (it is best to always check your trainers qualifications as in some places including here in Barcelona there are many unqualified people claiming offering services) professional who will help you set realistic goals and determine a safe strategy. Along with the training process, your personal trainer will tell you about a correct and healthy diet, because as we know, diet (or better call it meal plan) is one of the fundamental dynamics of successful training process. Proper nutrition is the right step to success! A good trainer will work with your current diet to help set realistic changes.

As practice shows, following the plan is the most difficult test for most people. A personal trainer should create conditions and provide their client with the necessary motivation to change their lifestyle with a focus on health and physical activity. If your personal trainer is doing their job properly, they should make frequent measurements of volume and weight, and adjust tracking food and exercise program depending on your goals.

An individual approach to each client is the foundation of a personal trainer. This is the fundamental difference between PT and group exercise. The development of this approach is important because we are all different, with different characteristics and limitations in our health. 70% of our clients here in Barcelona who use personal trainers have specific health problems such as arthritis, obesity, osteochondrosis, or problems with the spine of various kinds. A good PT will help you to achieve your goals, taking into account your individual circumstances and condition. Your personal trainer can work in conjunction with a specialist responsible for your physical condition, with a view to developing more effective training programs for you, including solving health problems. The logic is simply: you get maximum results in minimal time, by using a program that is designed just for you.

Of course, apart from anything else, the best motivation for most people is to work with a person who takes control and leads them on the path to their goals together. Another great motivating point to create and maintain action without excuses is that it is an obligation to someone who is interested in your results and provides personal attention and support.

Varying the workouts is great for the mind and body. At Barcelona Bienestar we use equipment like TRX, weighted vests, balls, bands, jump ropes, and we use use methods such as boxing, HIIT (high intensity interval training) and many functional training exercises.

The services of personal coaching are enjoyed by people with many different levels of fitness, condition, age and affluence. The benefits of working with a personal trainer are visible and effective, and they are also now much more affordable so are no longer a luxury item or a closed service only for the rich and famous.

You are a modern human with abilities, skills, ambitions and dreams. Personal training can help you to unlock you potential.

Julia Nikolajeva is a personal trainer with Barcelona Bienestar. She is the reigning Miss Ireland Bikini Sports Model. She teaches in Russian and English. Julia says ”I help people achieve their goals to increase physical capacity and improve the quality of life. I know and love my job. You will achieve your goals!”

Chris Hunt is a personal trainer and international presenter of health and fitness who also works at Barcelona Bienestar. Chris says “whilst group exercise is enjoyed by many people, if you really want to get results and fast, then there is nothing better than a specifically designed PT program.”

Contact Julia or Chris by clicking on www.barcelonabienestar.com or by calling +34 666925474 and start your journey to health and wellness today!

Barcelona Bienestar offer a range of wellness services including personal training, fitness, cardio, Pilates, and massage.

Celebrity Pilates, Current Affairs, Health and fitness

Demi Moore: Pilates and you are what you eat, no excuses!

June 9, 2014 thechrishuntblob 7 Comments

Demi Moore: Pilates and you are what you eat, no excuses!

I like Demi Moore. Maybe it’s because she had a hard childhood, maybe it’s because of the scene with Patrick Swayze and the potter’s wheel in the film “Ghost”, maybe it’s because she is an intelligent and likeable person who has stood the test of time.

I certainly like the fact that she does Pilates, and at 51 as the picture above shows, she is in an amazing condition.

Demi follows a raw vegan diet, so as I am a vegetarian I appreciate that about her as well. There is no doubt at all that to achieve a healthy body (and mind) we must look holistically at how we live and how we train. Diet of course is a vital part of that jigsaw. It never ceases to amaze me that people will train their bodies really hard then eat some crap food, justifying it by saying (and clearly believing) that “I have earnt that”.

The idea that junk food is some sort of treat is one that I find interesting and disturbing in equal measures. Here in Barcelona I often hear people say “have a cake, treat yourself”. What I am saying is if you want to eat food that is full of fat or sugar then I have no big problem with this, as my philosophy is everything in moderation, but please do not think of it as a treat or a reward, because that is dangerous.

We can speculate as to where these thoughts come from, maybe rationing in the war, but in my opinion, such an attitude is only (and quite literally) fuelling the obesity epidemic that is sweeping the world.

Another scary thing I hear people say is that eat junk food because their body is telling then to eat it because it needs some type of particular ingredient. And people actually believe this nonsense. Take it from me, it has nothing to do with your bodies nutritional needs.

Another chestnut I hear is that diet is influenced by blood-type. Particularly popular is the belief that people must eat meat because they have the “meat blood group”. Let’s just spend one moment to consider this. They must eat meat because our ancestors ate meat? It is no surprise that the vast majority of respected medical experts do not support the idea that blood group has any affect what-so-ever on dietary needs. Worry about your blood group when you need a transfusion, not lunch. It’s dangerous to be thinking that it’s due to 50,000 years of evolution that our blood type is the reason we feel the need to eat a certain type of food.

The moral of my story? Eat what you want, but if you want to be healthy then try to eat a balanced diet. But for the love of God, do not try to justify your eating habits with outlandish, nonsensical and irrational excuses. We are what we eat. And what you eat is not the fault or influence of your ancestors, World War 2 or the little voice in your head. It is your choice. Pure and simple. And the sooner you stop making excuses and accept that and accept responsibility for what you put into your mouth, the sooner you can start to change things.

Demi Moore: Pilates and you are what you eat, no excuses! I want Demi to have the last words on this blog.

“I have had a love-hate relationship with my body. I sit today in a place of greater acceptance of my body. And that includes not just my weight, but all of the things that come with your changing body.”

After decades of suffering a neurotic preoccupation with being sexy, Moore said she ultimately found that beauty and thinness never truly made her happy. “I had an extreme obsession with my body,” she said. “I made it a measure of my own value. I tried to dominate it, which I did, and I changed it multiple times over. But it never lasted, and ultimately it didn’t bring me anything but temporary happiness.”

I think these are wise words indeed.

Chris is an international Pilates presenter and educator based in Barcelona, Spain. He is the creator of Pilates EVO©, bodyFUNC©, and CEO of Pilates Rehab Limited and Sport Core Strength. He also organises Pilates Carnival and Fitness Carnival, conventions where all profits go to local children’s charities. For more information about the services that Chris offers in Barcelona including Pilates, functional training, massage, NLP, coaching and beauty treatments, please click on Barcelona Bienestar. To learn more about Chris, please read Just who is Chris Hunt anyway?

Health and fitness, Travel

Barcelona Pilates Classes: Under the sun with sand in between your toes

June 6, 2014 thechrishuntblob Leave a comment

www.chrishuntwellness.com

Barcelona has everything. Sun, sea, beaches, restaurants, shopping, mountains, culture, architecture to name just few. And now it has professional fitness classes as well.

I have created in Barcelona, as a subsidiary of my business Barcelona Bienestar, a new venture called Healthy Beach Barcelona. People say that life is a beach, so why not make it a healthy beach?!?!

Healthy Beach Barcelona offers Pilates but much more. To maximise health and wellness, our bodies need much more than Pilates. So with Healthy Beach Barcelona you can get everything you need to be a God or Goddess. We offer functional and cardio training sessions on the beach and on the terrace in small groups or on a one-to-one basis. We also many other services including massage, meditation, NLP, life coaching, nutrition advice and beauty treatments including gel nails and eye-lash extensions. We offer everything you need to help you become the best you can be.

If you live in Barcelona then you can join us every day. If you coming on vacation then join us during your stay. Or even better, come to Barcelona on a Barcelona Bienestar Retreat and let us organise everything for you.

Life is a beach. Come to Barcelona and let us help you to be a healthy beach.

Find out more by clicking on Barcelona Bienestar or click on Healthy Beach Barcelona.

Chris is an international Pilates presenter and educator based in Barcelona, Spain. He is the creator of Pilates EVO©, bodyFUNC©, and CEO of Pilates Rehab Limited and Sport Core Strength. He also organises Pilates Carnival and Fitness Carnival, conventions where all profits go to local children’s charities. For more information about Pilates with Chris in Barcelona, please click on Barcelona Bienestar. To learn more about Chris, please read Just who is Chris Hunt anyway?

Current Affairs, Health and fitness

The World Cup: Coleen Rooney, WAGS, and Pilates

June 4, 2014 thechrishuntblob Leave a comment

www.chrishuntwellness.com

Any excuse to talk about football and I am there. I am a lifelong passionate fan of Arsenal and Barcelona. When I lived in London I was a regular at Highbury and then the Emirates, and now I am blessed to be in Barcelona watching one of the most beautiful football teams in the world. I played football for many years as a boy and young man, so applying my knowledge of Pilates to footballers is something I naturally enjoy.

Before the serious stuff, you might have noticed that the World Cup is almost upon us, and whilst the players are going through their final preparations, so too are the wives and girlfriends (WAGS). In the UK there is always s big fuss about the WAGS and their impact on the players.

Queen of the WAGS. mother of two and wife of England striker Wayne Rooney is Coleen Rooney. She took to twitter this week to tell us all about her fitness regime, which includes gym sessions, interval training and of course Pilates. She said “I always wear a bikini on holiday, they’re the first thing I think about packing. I have drawers full and I always take far too many away. But like anyone else I have to be careful about what I choose. There are certain shapes I’ve found that make me feel confident, so I stick to those. I tend to avoid anything too skimpy on the bottom half and I look for halter neck styles on top. My main problem area is my love handles so I don’t want to wear anything tight around my hips. Thin, stringy, tie-side briefs aren’t flattering so I always go for big bikini bottoms.”

With these inspiring words in mind, let me turn to the serious point of my blog today. I love to work with sportsmen and women. Whilst I get a massive sense of satisfaction when I see someone rehabilitate from injury or improve their posture, I also love to work with athletes to help them to improve even further their game. In Barcelona I am working with people involved in sports such as golf, surfing and rock climbing.

We are all very familiar with the benefits that Pilates brings, and specifically for football Pilates is relevant because it can help to: improve flexibility, improve mobility, improve co-ordination, build overall fitness, improve endurance, build body awareness and focus, reduce the risk of injury, and help to rehabilitate after injury

Football demands rapid directional changes, often at near maximum pace, and the delivery of controlled power from unbalanced body positions. As our understanding of the demands placed upon footballers develops, so has the approach to training and injury prevention. The quiet revolution in training techniques is now not so quiet, with modern-day managers acknowledging the crucial importance that stretching, suppleness and flexibility gives their players. Pilates meets these demands perfectly, so an ever growing number of footballers use Pilates to improve their core strength, their co-ordination, mobility, flexibility and technique, as well as for prevention and rehabilitation from injuries.

Pilates is also a perfect form of warm-up prior to playing, and cooling down post-match. Any out-dated opinions of Pilates being a sedate pursuit for ladies only have long been extinguished, with many Premiership Football Teams including Pilates in their training schedule. The benefits are also used by other top sportsmen and women, such as the All Blacks Rugby Team, and individuals such as Tiger Woods.

Pilates is not only appropriate for the professional player. Youth players, semi professionals, and weekend players, whatever their age, sex and ability, would all gain enormous benefit from a regular Pilates’ routine.

I developed Sport Core Strength (http://www.sportcorestrength.com) in London and now in Barcelona to encourage more sportsmen and women to include Pilates in their regimes. Whilst working one-on-one is always a very effective way to teach (especially when most players will have their own specific issues), it is a lot of fun to work with whole teams as well, creating exercises in pairs and groups.

If you want to chat about Pilates for sports (including golf, football, cycling, surfing, tennis, skiing/snowboarding, running rock climbing etc), about Sport Core Strength, or about Pilates in Barcelona then please contact me.