As someone who trains all types of sportsmen and women including cyclists (see www.sportcorestrength.com for more) in Barcelona, I love a good sports story on a Monday, and this one is breaking today.
So here it is! The “naked” Bogota Humana cycling kit that a Columbian team wore for the Tour of Tuscany race in Italy. It has been branded “unacceptable” by the International Cycling Union.
Chris pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.
“What’s the difference between Pilates and Yoga” is a question that I am asked probably more than any other, so I am sure all teachers have been asked this many times as well. It is clearly something that many people do not understand.
It’s been a warm weekend in Barcelona. The weather has turned a little so whilst it’s still hot, there is a slight freshness that is reminding everyone that the heady days of summer are passing and that autumn is not so far away now. The children are back at school and there is the usual surge of people wanting to get back into their fitness and health before the next holidays at Christmas and New Year. I like this time of year. The oppressive heat is dying down, and many of the younger people have returned to their colleges or work, so the demographic of visitors here in Barcelona is older and calmer.
During the weekend I was working with some clients who have travelled to Barcelona from Germany and Russia for one of my wellness and fitness retreats, and yet again, the Pilates or yoga question was asked. I like to let the Universe direct me to what my blogs should be about, so the message at the weekend was clear: what is the best way to explain to people the difference between Pilates and yoga?
In my experience, it’s quite typical that many yoga and Pilates devotees are passionate about their chosen discipline, but it’s clear to me that many members of the public do not understand the differences and are therefore not in a good position to decide which is best for them (or of course decide to do both as I do). As people are so passionate about their chosen discipline, if you ask one of them you are unlikely to get an objective and unbiased opinion.
Some Pilates teachers incorporate elements of their yoga practise into their Pilates teachings and vice versa, so sometimes it could be argued that the lines get blurred (can’t resist a musical MTV reference to Miley Cyrus, our twerking Pilates fan!) I use some Kundalini in my Pilates system Pilates EVO, primarily as stretches and transition movements.
So what really and simply is the difference between yoga and Pilates? How do you describe it to your clients who ask?
Let us use as our starting point the following statements and go from there:
Yoga is an ancient practice that focuses the body, mind and spirit. The yoga lifestyle upholds more than just a healthy physical lifestyle by embracing good moral values such as honesty and tolerance. Its intention was to join the individual spirit with the universal spirit. Pilates is a modern school of exercise developed by Joseph Pilates as a way to improve core strength and spinal alignment. Pilates combines flexibility, core strength and body awareness to support physical rehabilitation.
Ancient yoga practices were passed down individually between teacher and student, so there are many schools and types of yoga. Each school of yoga combines a series of postures, breathing exercises and meditation to form different routines. The repetitive movement of yoga can be very therapeutic while also building flexibility and strength. Yoga has also developed popularity as a great way to relieve stress. Exercises are completed on a floor mat and need no special equipment to begin.
Pilates improves your body from the centre outward by strengthening your core and improving your posture. Pilates is considered a resistance exercise to build muscle and support for the body while aiding flexibility. The core and spinal cord are the central and most important part of whole-body strength and awareness. The cornerstones of Pilates exercises include concentration, control, centring, breathing, flow and precision. A floor mat and specialized machines may be used in Pilates practice.
Pilates reigns supreme as the key to a strong core and improved posture. Practitioners experience stronger abdominal muscles and those hard-to-target obliques from holding positions and using resistance. Pilates exercises will make your body appear taller and leaner. You will also see improved flexibility in your hamstrings and hips. Yoga will provide the most improvement in flexibility. Holding poses while focusing on breathing stretches the body and relaxes muscles, and certain poses will target certain muscles.
So do we all agree? If not, can we all agree on a definitive explanation to clearly explain the differences, or in your experience do you not think we really need one?
Chris pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.
How to make your Barcelona holiday a health and fitness retreat
A holiday means many different things to different people.
Some people go to a beach resort to relax in the sun. Some people choose adventure holidays to explore. Some people like sightseeing breaks or a more gastronomic emphasis to immerse themselves in a different culture. Some people choose sport-based holidays to practise their favourite hobby or try something new like golf, horse-riding, skiing or snowboarding, mountain biking, surfing/SUP or hiking. Others might want music and the arts to form the basis of their vacation.
So why is a holiday to Barcelona such a great choice? It is because in Barcelona you can have every one of the holidays I mention above.
More people are choosing to have some organisation to their holiday. The days of the traditional package holiday may be long gone as people use the internet to create their own designer holidays, but more people want something constructive to do on their holiday. But they do not want a hotel-organised series of events or classes that the hotel manager thinks you will like at a time specified by the hotel. They want a tailor-made, personal itinerary that fits in with individual particular requirements and timescales.
This is where Barcelona Bienestar answers the needs of our clients. There is nothing we cannot arrange and organise for our clients who come to us from all over the world. Barcelona is such a diverse and interesting city and we complement this by giving our clients a personal itinerary so they can maximise their enjoyment of their holiday.
We offer a health and wellness package based around whatever interests our clients. Fitness activities include personal training, Pilates, TRX, boxing, weighted vest training, functional training, HIIT, and programs based around specific sports such as Stand up Paddle (SUP) fitness, skiing/snowboarding, surfing, walking, mountain biking, rock climbing and many more. For all these activities, we arrange time not only training, but also practising. So you will get time on a surf board, on the slopes or on a mountain.
But it’s not just physical activities we offer. We also offer a range of wellness and beauty services including massage, diet, weight loss, eye lash curling and extensions, gel nails and meditation.
We also organise cultural holidays including the arts and gastronomy, and we give advice on all aspects of Barcelona from the best restaurants to the best sights to see.
We take the stress out of organising your holiday, but you are always in control so you have exactly the holiday you want and need. We can simply arrange your activities, or on a full package we can organise your hotel, meals and transfers as well. What ever you want and need.
For more information, click on www.barcelonabienestar.com or contact us and let us organise your dream holiday for you. Barcelona is waiting for you, and so are we.
Kimberley Garner loves Pilates. The 24 year-old actress said recently “”Pilates and Ballet are amazing for core strength and perfect for girls as they tone without building too much muscle.”
Of course there is much more to Pilates, but Kimberley does have a point. And the another I like about her training is that she uses different methods to achieve the level of health and fitness she wants like dance.
After a week of serious blog posts, I have that Celebrity feeling again, my compromise afte a week of serious blogs. I have explained before (but I will again), I am not obsessed with celebrity. I have never bought Hello Magazine. What I am obsessed with is Pilates. And whilst not every one agrees, it’s my opinion that if someone starts Pilates because their friend, neighbour, sporting hero or favourite celebrity does Pilates, then why not?
I’ve had comments about glamorising Pilates, about how privileged celebrities are, about creating false hope, about living on a different planet… Whilst I respect the opinion of everyone, it is my humble opinion that these people are missing the point of my posts and they are taking everything way to seriously. All I am doing is raising the awareness of Pilates. Plain and simple. If you do not or can not understand that, then I am sorry for wasting your time and please do not read my blog today! 🙂
I am always explaining to my Pilates clients in Barcelona that it is important to not only do Pilates, but to use cross-training techniques. This is why Pilates is only one part of the personal training program. Pilates on the beach in Barcelona is wonderful, but it’s really improtant to add some cardio exercise as well.
I think Kimberley has the balance right. Do you agree?
Chris pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.
It’s been a long week for us all, and now it’s Friday, the one day I allow myself to blog about something less serious than usual. As you will know, usually that means celebrities that do Pilates. But today I want to try something different!
Whilst out walking in Barcelona yesterday, I saw this fella lying outside a supermarket waiting patiently for his owner to return. He looked so relaxed and chilled out (as many people in Barcelona do), I snapped him and posted him on my Instagram page. I got such a great response that I decided today we should have a little competition.
So, here is my Friday challenge to you! Send me your best caption for this picture of my Barcelona doggie friend related to Pilates or yoga, and I will include your caption and your name on the image and post it around the web so everyone knows that we have a sense of humour!
Silly? Yes, a little. But in the wonderful words of George Bernard Shaw, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” So let’s play…. And have a wonderful Friday!
Chris pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.
I am a snowboarder. Anyone who either snowboards or skis will know that the two sports, whilst closely related, are very different in technique and especially mentality. One thing they do have in common (apart from snow) is the training that you need to be able to enjoy the coming season on the slopes.
When I fly from Barcelona, more often than not my route is directly over the Pyrenees Mountains. They look serene in the summer months but even more dramatic with a big dump of snow on them in winter. I get excited just looking at them!
Specific training for skiing and snowboarding
Skiing and snowboarding bring their own special demands on the body. If these demands are not adequately considered, then the skier or boarder, whatever their level, will reduce their performance potential, and thus reduce their enjoyment. By carrying out a specific training program, benefits can be gained such as:
• Improve endurance, so ski and board for longer
• Improve strength in the appropriate muscles
• Improve flexibility and agility
• Improve balance and control
• Reduce the risk of injury by strengthening areas such as the lower back and knee joints and muscles.
The fundamental skills needed to ski or board successfully are balance, rotary movements, edging movements, and pressure control. Most muscles of the lower body are used, as are the abdominal muscles and some upper body muscles. A planned training program carried out during the off-season can make dramatic improvements when the season arrives. It is also improtant to learn warm-up and warm-down routines which you should use before and after you ski.
Happiness is a snowboard in your hands… This is me in February in La Molina.
Why Pilates?
In order to complete a turn, there must be adequate strength in the core, buttocks, lower back and legs. Flexibility is needed, especially in the hips. We use specific Pilates exercises to target all these areas.
Pilates is a revolutionary full body conditioning program, which focuses on training the mind and body to work together more effectively and efficiently. Pilates dramatically transforms the way the body looks, feels, and performs. It incorporates modern exercise science and rehabilitation principles, eliminating contraindicated movements while emphasizing neutral alignment, core stability and peripheral mobility. It builds strength without excess bulk, creating a sleek, toned body and a flat abdomen. It teaches body awareness and good posture. Pilates improves flexibility, agility and economy of motion, and is a safe form of movement making it optimal for clients that need to rehabilitate injuries.
Pilates exercises train several muscle groups at once in smooth, continuous movements. By developing proper technique, you can actually re-train your body to move in safer, more efficient patterns of motion – invaluable for injury recovery, good posture and optimal health. No other exercise system is so gentle to the body while giving it a challenging workout.
Injury Prevention
Skiing and boarding place great demands on the lower body, which can lead to overuse injuries. The most obvious place for such injuries is the legs, and especially the thighs. It is not so obvious that the core has a vital role to play in keeping the body upright and balanced, and enabling the hips to turn.
The shoulders and back can also become fatigued, and are prone to falling injuries. Such injuries can be reduced by strengthening these areas. This also applies to hand and wrist injuries, which can again be reduced by strengthening the forearm and wrist.
The time to start training for the coming season is now. If you are in Barcelona, then give me a call because Barcelona Bienestar offer specific training on a group and individual training basis. Sessions take place on the beach, in our studio or at client’s homes.
There are other functional exercises that great as well, and they can be done on the slopes as a warm up. Check out my video below. I shot a sequence of Pilates/functional movements in La Molina last year.
There are lots more exercises on my YouTube channel that you can watch by clicking here.
I love the sun and the sea, but I love the snow just as much. This is one of the many reasons why I love living in Barcelona. Where ever you live or plan to ski or snowboard, you really must start to plan your fitness routine now, before it’s too late.
Chris pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.
“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.
Working as a fitness exercise trainer in Barcelona, I am often asked the same type of questions. In my blog I will try to answer some of these questions. Today I talk about losing weight without losing performance.
Many athletes and fitness participants wish to lose weight, either for health or performance reasons.
However, rapid weight loss can have serious health consequences leading to a reduction in performance.
Since 95% of dieters fail to maintain their weight loss within a five-year period, lifestyle management is the key to long-term weight management. Two methods that should not be entertained are crash dieting and dehydration.
It has been proven that rapid weight loss results in diminished aerobic capacity. Fat is more fattening calorie for calorie than carbohydrate. This is supported by a number of well-controlled studies. It is the over- consumption of fat, rather than carbohydrate or protein, that results in body fat gain. To lose body fat, you simply have to expand more energy (calories) than you consume.
Research has shown that a combination of diet and activity is more likely to result in long-term success than diet or exercise alone. There are no miracle solutions or short cuts. The objectives of a healthy diet and exercise programme are to:
Expand more energy than you consume
Maintain (or increase) lean tissue
Gradually reduce body fat percentage
Avoid a significant reduction in resting metabolic rate (this is the number of calories your body burns if you did nothing all day).
Obtain energy requirements from a high percentage of carbohydrate (60%) and a low percentage of fat (15-20%)
Achieve an optimal intake of vitamins and minerals
The key to successful fat loss is to cut your calories mostly from fat and to reduce carbohydrates by only a modest amount. If you reduce carbohydrate intake below the daily average requirement, glycogen stores become depleted which results in lean tissue loss, so is not a good idea.
Keys points for permanent fat loss are:
Set realistic goals, and write them down.
Monitor body composition changes by measuring chest, waist, hips, arms and legs, and obtain skin-fold thickness measurements by using callipers.
Aim to lose no more than 0.5 kg each week.
Keep a food diary. Most people eat far more than they realise or admit to.
Trim the saturated fat by using less butter, deep-fried foods, fatty meats, pastry, cakes, biscuits and chocolate.
Chris pays all the profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.
Today you will learn what horses have to do with Group X. My blog today is really just an excuse to use a picture from the Eric Prydz video Call On Me which certainly got a few more men to go to the gym.
But I digress. Back to the horses. In 1913 an experiment was carried out by a French engineer called Maximilian Ringelmann on the performance of horses (please bear with me, this is going somewhere relevant to fitness I promise). He discovered that the power of two animals pulling a coach did not equal twice the power of a single horse. This surprised him so he extended his study to humans pulling a rope, and found that on average if two people were pulling together, each invested only 93% of their individual strength, when three pulled it was 85%, and when eight people pulled it was just 49%.
This is what science calls the Social Loafing Effect. Basically, when individual performance is not directly visible, it blends into the group effort. Whilst quite rational (why invest all your energy when only half will do?) it is a form of unconscious cheating. It doesn’t only apply to physical exertion but also mental exertion in meetings. If we are not directly accountable for our actions, we slack off.
Now you can see where Ringelmann’s horses are taking us. In a group exercise environment, the scientific evidence is that a large percentage (perhaps the majority) of people will not work as hard as they would if they were being trained on a one-to-one basis. At the extreme, I have seen people in the group sessions I watch at conventions taking the opportunity to stop and rest when the teacher is not watching them, only to launch back into the activity as soon as they are seen. But even the people who appear to be working might not be applying maximum effort.
So then why is group exercise so prevalent and so championed by certain commercial brands? There’s no doubt that people behave differently in groups than when alone, otherwise there would be no groups. The sense of belonging that all of us humans require no doubt makes some people exercise with others when they would not exercise alone. Also of course the cost of personal training is a major and understandable issue for many (the argument here is that a lot of money spent effectively is better than spending smaller amounts of money ineffectively).
There are the obvious benefits of PT including individual attention, goal-setting/controlled progression and programs tailored for body type/injury etc. So my question is today is what is your opinion about PT versus Group training? Is it as simple as personal accountability? What is your experience of the progress of clients in different training environments?
Oh, and one last point I’d like to make. I heard the claims from certain group exercise companies that they can “prove” that people who use their methods get better results. To these claims I say the two words “false causality”. Let me explain. Take the claim “Fact: Women who use ABC brand of shampoo every day have stronger hair”. This may have been scientifically proven, but such a statement means very little. It certainly does not prove that ABC shampoo makes your hair stronger. In fact it could be the other way around. Maybe women with strong hair tend to use ABC perhaps because it says on the bottle “especially for people with strong hair”. So when you read that ABC fitness system is proven to make people fitter, you now know to think again. Correlation is not causality. If we look closer then sometimes what is presented as the cause turns out to be the effect and vice versa.
Chris pays all the profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.
So this is the craze that is sweeping the world and has gone viral.
I was challenged so naturally I had to go ahead and tip a bucket of ice water on my head. To be honest, by the time the filming started the ice had melted but the water was still pretty damn cold on a hot August day in Barcelona!
I nominated my friends Robert Steinbacher, Jessica Exposito and Maria Bakhvalova so guys you have 24 hours…
Just so we don’t forget what this is all about, it a way to raise money and awareness for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is also referred to as motor neurone disorder (MND), Charcot disorder, and, in the United States, Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is a neurodegenerative disease with various causes. It is characterised by muscle spasticity, rapidly progressive weakness due to muscle atrophy, and difficulty in speaking, swallowing and breathing. ALS is the most common of the five motor neuron diseases. One of the famous victims of this disorder is Stephen Hawking.
As well as donating to the charity, I am also having a special Pilates session on the beach in Barcelona this Saturday 30<sup>th</sup> August where the cost is 20€ but all the money will be donated by me to the charity.
I hope to see you all on the beach in Barcelona for some charity Pilates! And keep the ice-bucket challenges going: Robert, Jessica and Maria, I am waiting!
Chris pays 50% of any money made from this BLOG to his charity partners, the other 50% covers the costs. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.
Wellness, self-development and fitness advice and opinions
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