Weekly Lockdown Challenge (Week 1) #pressonwithdynamicfitness

“Some days you just have to create your own sunshine” 

Our PT Steph has set the challenge for the 1st week

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Hello, Dynamic Fam!

Here we are back with the blog amid a crazy time here in our world: Covid-19. It’s probably all you’ve been reading about, so I wanted to start this post by acknowledging it and our social distancing (hello, virus, please stay a minimum of 3 feet away from me!), and then taking a bit deep breath with you… 1… 2… 3… and changing the subject (for our sanity and mental health!). 

Today, a quick note about visualisation. It’s a powerful tool to allow us to progress without actually putting physical effort in. There’s loads of evidence about this (here’s one: https://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Fulltext/2012/10000/Maximizing_Strength_Training_Performance_Using.10.aspx), and we can definitely utilise visualising as a tool to progress with training in tiny spaces. 

We’ve got a goal we’re visualising here at DYNAMIC, and we were hoping you could help us with it as a community. We are going to see how many PRESS-UPS we can do as a team over the next week. Use the hashtag #pressonwithdynamic and check in with your trainer with your numbers and we will add them to our count.

First, set your goal (hint- it’s Press-Ups!), set your intensity (hands and toes? knees and toes? depth?), and set your count (mine 10 reps of full press ups 10 sets per day!), visualise yourself checking in tonight with your trainer tonight with that goal accomplished, and then DO IT! 

We’re here if you need us! Looking forward to hearing all about your press up goals and wins!

(Please email your total by Sun 29th @ 6pm: ross@getdynamic.co.uk)

Love, Team Dynamic 

GLEN’S UPPER BODY YOUTUBE 5 MINUTES: First exercise is press-ups: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OImuKs26qU

Healthy pancakes...

Spinach Pancakes with Smoked Salmon & Grapefruit Vinaigrette

These dark green beauties will have you talking like Pop-Eye the Sailor Man in no time. Chock full of spinach and filled with protein, you’ll wish every day was pancake day!

These dark green beauties will have you talking like Pop-Eye the Sailor Man in no time. Chock full of spinach and filled with protein, you’ll wish every day was pancake day!

Ingredients:

150g baby spinach

10g fresh basil 

480ml almond milk

3 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

130g plain flour

1 tbsp oil (for frying)


Filling: 

cream cheese

smoked salmon

fresh basil

romaine lettuce

grapefruit vinaigrette (recipe follows)


Method:

  1. In a high powered food processor or blender (I use a Nutribullet Rx), add spinach, basil, almond milk, eggs, salt, and pepper. Blend until fully smooth and vibrant green.

  2. Add the flour to the mix and blend again until the flour is fully incorporated. The mixture will be quite thin. 

  3. Allow to sit and rest for a minimum of 20 minutes before you cook.

  4. Over high heat, drizzle oil into a non-stick pan or pancake pan. Pour in about 4 tbsp of mix (this may be more or less depending on the size of your pan), gently swirl to fully coat the bottom of the pan. 

  5. The pancake will begin to dry out and bubble along the edges to the center. Using a rubber spatula, carefully lift around edges, moving towards the centre of the pancake. Once loosened, you will be able to flip the pancake to cook the other side.

  6. Holding the handle of the pan with one hand, with a confident flick of the wrist flip over your pancake (don’t worry if the first one doesn’t land right- mine ended up looking a bit more like scrambled eggs than a pancake- still tastes great!). 

  7. Allow pancake to cook for about 30 seconds. Stuff your pancake with cream cheese, smoked salmon, fresh basil, & lettuce. Drizzle with grapefruit vinaigrette and garnish with peeled grapefruit segments. 

Grapefruit Vinaigrette 

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp grapefruit juice (about half of a medium grapefruit)

grated rind of 1 lemon

2 Tbsp lemon (about the juice of 1 lemon)

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (any oil you enjoy or half will work)

2 Tbsp honey

1 1/2 Tbsp dijon mustard 

salt, to taste 

pepper, to taste


Method:

  1. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients until fully emulsified.

  2. Store in an airtight container in the fridge and use as required

Loved that and still craving pancakes? Try this! Same green recipe as above, but substitute fresh coriander for the basil, fill your pancake with your favourite TexMex flavours: I love sautéing up onions, peppers, & black beans, mashing up avocado for a little guacamole, making some plum tomato & red onion salsa, and drizzling a bit of cheeky sour cream or shredded cheese across the top. Gorgeous! 

Dynamic Xmas Party 2019! 🎄

Superman holiday ☀️💪🏼

Intro
I thought I’d do a little blog during my triathlon camp with local IRONMAN legend Joe Skipper http://joeskipper.co.uk/

This is a 4 day training experience of swimming, cycling & running in beautiful San Remo in Italy 🇮🇹. The camp is run by Atutta https://www.atutta.cc/training-camps

I’m mega excited about the challenge especially cycling up the famous ‘Madone’ climb 🚲 🏔 and improving the technique of my running 🏃🏻‍♂️ and swimming 🏊‍♂️

One of our Dynamic Clients, last year’s Lord Mayor of Norwich, called it a ‘Superman holiday’. I quite liked the sound of that.

Stand by for Day 1 ….

Day 1

(Swim 2k - Bike 87k - Run 7k)

Great settle in dinner last night at the hotel - Gnocchi followed by Salmon (Carbs & Protein) and I woke today feeling fresh and ready to pump it 💪🏼

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Slight issue with my bike however….

I watched as the airport staff in Nice threw all the bags off the plane, including my bike! This bent the rear mech hanger beyond repair so Tom (our group leader) got me a hire bike - I was pleased it was an Italian Colagno 🇮🇹 👍

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Swim

One of the things I wanted to get from the trip was to improve my swim technique

The session was a great way to ease me in to the training - we did a solid warm up of 10 x 100m (with a different set every 100m) then got some video footage done which we’ll look at tonight.

It was the first 2k since my broken collar bone and it felt good! 🦴 💪🏼

Bike

Wow! What a climb 🏔 The Italian Riveria is stunning but being from Norfolk I was not used to these mountains! It was around 1.5hrs of pure climbing but riding next to Joe for parts on the way up was cool - even though my HR was always at least 30bpm higher than his!

We eventually got to a beautiful village called Bajardo the view was incredible

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What comes up must come down! And I got ready for the longest decent in my life - even more than the Rocky Mountains in IRONMAN Canada 🇨🇦

We had a ‘little’ incident when Joe spotted a black cat on a bend and came off! Luckily no harm done but a warning shot to us all about keeping it steady. We have now called this famous spot ‘black corner’ 🐈

An amazing ride back with a lovely coffee stop. I was pushing it as hard as ever back past San Remo and it felt good! 🚴

Run

This sounded like a simple session - 30 mins (15 mins out and 15 mins back faster than you run out)

We ran along the coast road and it was stunning ☀️

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I set off at close to my 5k pace but this was too fast so I had to ease back a touch so I could finish as strong on the way back!
By this point my legs was burning from the cycling and I gave it everything I could to maintain the exact pace on the way back.

An awesome day of training (probably my hardest EVER) but this place is great. Atutta is awesome and I’m looking forward to the rest of the trip with these super strong lads

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Day 2

Swim 2k - Bike 67k - Swim (Tech) - Run 8k

Another fantastic meal last night - this time it was pesto pasta for the carbs (pesto is local to this area of Italy) and Octopus for protein (you may want to look away now 🐙 …. )

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Swim

The day started again at the local pool.
Last night we had a 1-2-1 swim analysis from our swim yesterday. Andrea, an ex-Italian swimming champion, took some great footage and identified one main area for me to work on - my reach. “You need to do less breaking when your arms go into the water”. It made sense, so myself and Dan had a great session working to improve this.
Meanwhile, Joe and Mark were pumping it hard in the other lane! 🏊‍♂️ 💪🏼

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Bike

This was spectacular! It was a agreed that we would do a ‘short’ ride to save the legs for the big one tomorrow so we rode through the valley and then a short 6k climb to the most beautiful town called Triora…

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The descent back down was mega (for me) - I’ve never been down climbs like this, so fast and long, it was awesome ⛰ 🚴 💨

When we got back into town we had a nice focaccia in the sunshine ☀️ - it was 26 degrees out here today on the 26th October!

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Swim (technique)

Next up we got to use the endless pool. I was excited about this as I’m thinking of investing in one back home - it’s amazing for Stroke analysis and they double up as a jacuzzi! 🥂
The feel of the pool is great and you use an app to set the speed. We did 5 mins at 1:50/100m pace and will look at the analysis tomorrow night..

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Run

Today’s run was all about looking at technique. We did a 20 min warm up and Dan added in some great drills to get the heart rate up ❤️
Then Tom set up some filming alongside the marina next to some palm trees 🌴 This is a ‘nee bad’ place to train!
I did 3 laps - 10k pace, then a bit faster, then my 5k PB pace. I’m looking forward to seeing the footage and getting some tips for my clients and the Redwell Run Club when I get back 🏃🏻‍♂️

We finished with running home with the sun setting over the water 🌅

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Day 3

Cycle 120k - Open water Swim 1k - Run 2k

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Last night’s dinner pic was ‘Joe’s salad’ - he added some super ripe figs and lush green avocado 🥑 to a Chicken Caesar. I feel his cookbook coming soon - with the best raw food cakes and finest coffee ☕️ 😃


Bike

This was the part I was a bit worried about. I haven’t cycled 75 miles in a very long time and this ride included the famous ‘Col de Madone’ climb 🏔

We rode into France 🇫🇷 and reached the foot of the climb after 40k. Then out came the tunes to attack this beast of a mountain. I can honestly say I haven’t experienced hills like these but with this group of athletes anything was possible and I wasn’t going to stop pumping it 💪🏼

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The climb was awesome and contributed to a total of 1500m of vertical climbing during the ride. On the way home we casually cruised past Monaco 🇲🇨 (next time when I’m not wearing Lycra I’ll pop into the casino and win a million 💵 )

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Swim

It’s hard for me to be this close to the sea and not go in! So, I decided to don the wetsuit and do a little swim to help plan a place to do our bigger open water swim in the morning. The bay is beautiful here and the water is super calm. The locals probably thought I was crazy 😜

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Run

This was really just a nice recovery jog and an excuse to run around this beautiful town on Santo Stefano and take in the sunset. It’s stunning out here 🇮🇹 ☀️

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Day 4

Open water Swim 2k - Bike 41k - Run 8k

Last night was swordfish (protein) and pizza (carbs). The Italians definitely live up to their reputation of incredible pizza - it was amazing! 🍕

Swim

This spot in the Ligurian sea is perfect for Open water swimming - the sea defences make the water shallow and calm, and there are plenty of nice fish to look at too 🐠

Joe made up a great set including some fast 50m efforts and a flat out 100m to finish - me and Dan did it in 1:33, which I’m happy with.

I did drop my phone in the sea, but it lodged in between a rock and luckily I found it! 🍀 So the blog continues 😃…

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Bike

After I thought all the cycling was done Tom decided it would be good to do a short ride including some of the famous climbs of the Milan to San Remo race - the Cipressa & the Poggio! 🏔 🏔

He was right, they are awesome short climbs and I still had enough in the legs to give them a final blast! 🚴

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Run

What I thought was going to be a gentle jog to finish turned into a 7.3k hard run!
I was able to keep the pace up to 5k (which is what I’m used too) then I had to ease it back a bit to hold on and finish the final challenge of the trip!
I then finished with a cool down jog around beautiful Santo Stefano to recover.

Summary

The last thing we did was sit down with Joe & Tom over lunch and look at our Running Technique. We also sampled some of the new menu - the new octopus and cod bagels were super tasty!

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For my running it looks like I can do a bit to improve my foot position on landing, and also re-structure my run sessions a bit to get faster.

I’ll be looking forward to sharing all the knowledge I’ve learned with my clients and hitting my new Parkrun PB!

I am also hoping to offer a Dynamic Fitness trip for clients looking to improve their swim, cycling and running. It really is a beautiful part of Italy 🇮🇹 and a fantastic set up for people of all levels - stand by for more details…

Now it’s time for one a well-earned beer before heading home. It’s been an incredible trip - thanks to Joe, Mark, Dan, Tom, Andrea and all the amazing staff at Atutta! 🏊‍♂️ 🚴 🏃🏻‍♂️

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Beginners Cycle Ride 2019 (Photos)

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Such a lovely group of people, and fantastic weather, for this beautiful cycle ride around Norwich

Summer Social 2019 (Photos)

What a great time we had this year at Redwell Brewing.

The Sports Day games were great fun too - thanks to everyone for getting involved!



5 Essentials of Nutrition

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Nutrition is a complex thing, but there’s some essentials that everyone needs to know and a lot of people mess up on a few of them. Here’s the Dynamic Fitness guide to some of the basics of nutrition.

1) Eat every two to four hours:

Recent research shows that eating at regular intervals stimulates metabolism, balances blood sugar and reduces the impulse to overeat when you do get to meals. It doesn’t have to be a full meal every time, just something to stimulate the metabolism.

For example, bad nutrition timing is eating at 8am for breakfast and then not eating anything until 2pm and then don’t eat again until nearly 8pm. With this timing your metabolism slows down during the gaps, causing you to cling onto calories as fat, and when you do it spikes up making you feel even hungrier and prone to overeating at meals. Also you’d be prone to snacking in between times and grazing as you metabolism ramps back up.

A better option is to eat at 8am, have a small meal at 12pm and 4pm, and then eat a main meal at 7-8pm. This keeps your metabolism stable, reducing the urge to snack. You can figure out your own pattern that syncs up best with you day, just follow the 2-4 hour rule and remember that you shouldn’t be eating more in total, just more often during the day.

 

2) Eat complete, lean protein at each meal.

Good sources of protein include red meat, poultry, salmon, eggs, low fat plain yogurt, mixed beans and supplemental powders and shakes. Some experts claim that additional protien is harmful or unnecessary, but more modern and contemporary research is clear: a high protien diet is safe, an almost essential if you lead an active lifestyle. It helps with recovery and stimulation of metabolism.

 

3) Eat vegetables at every meal.

Vegetable help do two major things, they help to provide vitamins and minerals and also help to provide the blood with an alkaline load. Grains and proteins provide the blood with an acid load and if blood is too acidic it can lead to degradation of bone strength and muscle mass.

So with the first 3 rules in mind, carrot sticks wrapped in ham, or celery dipped in low fat peanut butter make excellent snacks to top you up at one of your meal timings.

 

4) For fat loss, eat carbohydrates other than fruits and vegetables only after exercise.

This encourages your body to use it’s body fat stores for your day to day needs, conserving carbohydrates for recovery and post workout nutrition. By other carbohydrates, im talking about foods like pasta, rice, bread and starchy vegetables like potatoes.

 

5) Eat healthy fats daily

These include monounsaturated fats (found in extra-virgin olive oil, some nuts and avocado) and polyunsaturated fats (found in some nuts, some vegetable oils and fish oil supplements)

 

There you are, five basic guidelines to help you get started on the road to better nutrition!

10 Top Running Tips to train for a 10k

Have you booked in for the Norwich 10k in August?
Here are top tips from Ross Lenton to help you on your way....

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1.    Breathing

The human body is amazing, and your aerobic energy system will keep supplying oxygen to your muscles. My top tip to my clients is to focus on exhaling – the more air you get out of your lungs, the more air you will get in.

2.    Running environment

There are so amazing places to run in Norfolk. If you're looking for somewhere flat then Marriott’s way is a fantastic and quiet place to run, and for somewhere beautiful in the City try Whitlingham Lake in Trowse. For hill efforts then Gas Hill is a serious challenge!

3.    Run with others

To help with commitment then get a friend to go out running with you, or join a running club. Dynamic Fitness is starting a new Running Club at Redwell Brewing on 2nd May, you can book a space here:

Redwell Running Club

4.     Feet

Listen to your feet. Keep them light and don't land too heavy.  Whether you are a heel or a mid-foot striker make sure you land underneath a flexed knee so you are not over-striding.

5.    Knees

Lift your knees, especially on the hills to keep a good posture. This is harder when you get tired so that is great time to focus on your knee lift.

6.    Heels

Flick your heels towards your backside. This will to give you that extra power. You can especially see the benefits with this when running downhill; it really gets the hill doing the work for you!

7.    Arms

It’s almost impossible to move your arms at a different speed to your legs, so if you find your legs are slowing down then use your arms to maintain your cadence – when your legs are tired your arms can be your secret weapon!

8.    Core

Keep your core tight when you are running to maintain good posture. Planks are a great way to strengthen your core, which will also protect your lower back from the impact of the running miles.

9.    Forward Lean

Have a very slight forward lean forward (from the hip not the shoulders). This will really help keep your momentum going.

10. Smile

Remember that running is a gift.  Smile and enjoy it :)