HIITgirl is coming to All About You!...

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve teamed up with women’s fitness brand, Hiitgirl, to bring their amazing workouts to our studio. Launching on Monday June 30th you’ll notice a glam new studio makeover and a brand new timetable, with lots of new sessions and some old favourites. If you’re wondering what it all means here are a few answers to questions you may have.

 

Who are Hiitgirl?

Founded in 2011 by fitness entrepreneurs Susan and Stuart Dyson, Hiitgirl started with a simple question:

                                   

‘How can busy women spend as little time as possible working out and still get amazing results? After speaking with lots of women it became clear that they simply didn’t have the time or interest for endless cardio and expensive gym memberships The majority wanted short and effective female-friendly workouts with inspiring trainers, and so we created Hiitgirl - the best workout for women. Ever.’

Check out their website at www.hiitgirl.com to find out more.

What happens to my favourite classes?

We’re really looking forward to the new and exciting classes that Hiitgirl will bring, but we’re planning to keep some of your favourites on the new timetable. Keep an eye on our website for more details.

How will it affect my membership?

All memberships from July onwards will be with Hiitgirl Ltd and I’m pleased to confirm that they will keep the price the same for existing members in good standing. There will be some different terms and conditions which we can take you through if you wish to continue your membership. Please pop in and see us to discuss the various options.

When does it start?

The new Hiitgirl at AAY studio will start running sessions from Monday 30th June.

How can I try it?

Starting from Monday 9th June, Hiitgirl are running free showcase sessions where you can try  everything from super sweaty cardio to their unique Yoga brands - Jagati and Yogabomb.

Everyone at AAY is really excited about this new development and if there’s anything else we can help with please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We look forward to seeing you in a Hiitgirl workout very soon!

Tri4Stanley Studio Triathlon

On Monday 12th May through to Saturday 17th May we will be holding a triathlon within our studio at All About You. This will be to raise money for an absolutely fantastic cause - so we are hoping as many of you as possible can take part!
The studio triathlon will have all the aspects of a real triathlon - but don't worry it wont be as far or nearly as hard! We will be doing two different levels for each part:

• Rowing (instead of swimming) - either 1000 meters  or 500 meters
• Running - either 1500 meters or 750 meters 
• Cycling - either 5000 meters or 2500 meters 

It doesn't matter what you do or how many parts of the triathlon you do, but we urge you to take part as the money you donate will be going to such a good cause! 

We will also be doing a class 'triathlon' on Monday 12th and Thursday 15th which will include 1 lap around Waterlow Park followed by a spin class, so come along and get involved! Please check with us for the times of these classes during the week. 

We hope you will contribute donations for entering the triathlons as I'm sure all of us at the studio will be too!

So where will your money be going? 

Tri4Stanley is a charity raising money for Zoe’s Place baby Hospice who focus upon providing specialist palliative and respite care for babies and small children from birth through to 5 years old.  They provide bespoke one to one care for babies who suffer with life limiting or life threatening conditions. This care is provided by registered nurses, play leaders, physiotherapists and other care specialists 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Zoe’s Place care for up to 6 babies at any one time and currently support on average around 50 families per year. 

However, currently, it costs the charity in excess of £3,500 per day just to maintain their current level of care, which is continues to steadily increase. So this is where we and Tri4Stanley come in!

Stanley's Story

From birth Stanley needed care for support with his breathing and feeding, and at only 2 weeks of age was already on a life support machine. Nobody knew what was wrong with Stanley other than he was unable to breathe for himself or maintain his own temperature.

Whilst in an induced coma Stanley had numerous tests and investigations to try and find out what was wrong. After three days he started having seizures and it became evident that his illness had started to affect his brain.

Stanley was diagnosed with Viral Meningo Encephalitis, which is an inflammation of the tissue surrounding the brain and the brain itself.  It was at this point we were told that he was "unlikely to survive" and that if he did his life would be "severely compromised".

 Specialists identified that Stanley had caught a relatively common virus in the first few weeks of his life, a virus which most of us will have had a some point, but no one knows why it spread to his brain and affected Stanley in such a devastating way. 

As Stanley hadn’t had human contact for 4 weeks, he had actually become fearful of human touch, which broke his parents’ hearts.

As a result of his infection Stanley has an acquired brain injury (ABI), which has resulted in complex care and medical needs, including global developmental delay, and chronic inflammatory lung disease. 

Tri4Stanley Charity Challenge 2014 - 2.5 marathons in 1 day!

On Sunday 18th May Tri4Stanley will be embarking on a big challenge to raise money for Zoe's Place Baby Hospice. 
They will be starting their challenge by setting off in the early hours from Wales on a 26 mile marathon kayak along the River Dee to the Groves in Chester. They will then stumble their way to Chester Race Course where they will compete in the Chester Half Marathon. Following this they will be cycling a further 26 mile marathon up onto the Wirral, onto a ferry across the Mersey where they will continue to cycle through Liverpool to Zoe’s Place. So that's around 65 miles kayaking, running, walking and cycling in one day!

Tri4Stanley is aiming to raise more than £10,000 for Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice, which might sound a lot, but its less than three days funding! 

So we encourage you all to take part in our studio triathlon and donate whatever you can to help Tri4Stanley raise money for Zoe's Place Baby Hospice! The distances we have asked are nothing compared to what they will be enduring and it will really make a difference! 

You can also see more information and donate money to Tri4Stanley on their website - http://www.tri4stanley.co.uk/ or on the Zoe's Place website - http://www.zoes-place.org.uk/

Spin-a-thon Recovery

What an amazing weekend!

Thank you to everyone that came along to support our 24 hour event! We had around 300 people call in at various points over the weekend and we have so far managed to raise a great deal of money for the Alexandra Wylie Tower Foundatation. If you couldn't make it down and would like to make a contribution then please head over to their JUST GIVING page and help us boost the final total!

If you DID  join us then you may be feeling a bit sore today...

Don't worry, we're here to help ;-)

We chose to host the spin-a-thon because we hoped to encourage, young, old, elite and novice cyclists to join in and do their bit - and we did just that, with a few dogs joining in as well for good measure!

Although cycling is a great way to get fit and feel great it can play havoc on your hips!

You see, most of us already spend too much time sat down, but sitting down whilst getting your muscles contracting will shorten the muscles around your hips even more setting you up for injury and back pain.

We'd rather you donated your hard earned cast to The Alexandra Wylie Tower Foundation than your favourite Osteopath - so if you are a little bit sore today then try this one stretch to resolve it....

Kneel on your right knee with your toes relaxed and place the left foot flat on the floor in front of you. The knee should be bent at 90 degrees and sit directly above the ankle.

Squeeze the glutes and push the hips forwards slightly until you feel the tension in your right hip and thigh.

You can extend one or both arms over your head and slightly arch your back to increase the stretch further. Hold this position for 30 seconds and then switch sides.

In my opinion this is The King of Stretches and would help the 80% of the population who suffer from back pain greatly!



If you have any feedback on the weekend or would like any more health and fitness information or advice, we'd love to hear from you!

This week at the studio...

We've got a really exciting week planned at the studio with loads going on....

Monday 24th February

Team meeting to discuss our new service "Training Day" - The Ultimate One Day Training Package for Elite Athlete's.
We have a number of elite athlete's booked to come in to the studio over the next few weeks and we're building a great package that will blow them away.


We also have a photo shoot with The Ham & High Newspaper to promote our Spin-a-thon event!


Tuesday 25th February

Our Nutritional Therapist Vikki Lee will be back at All About You and taking appointments to advise on all of your dietary concerns, find out more HERE and book in to see her.

Wednesday 26th February

Our Harley Street Osteopath Stephen Sacks will be at the studio offering appointments to clients and sharing his amazing knowledge wit and charm with the team!

Thursday 27th February

Our new trainer Jon Pilkington is setting up his first Thai boxing class at the studio this Thursday at 6:30pm(he's got his shorts ready for the class!)
and the Thai theme continues at 7:30pm as our Thai Yoga massage therapist, Ana will be covering our stretch class bringing her unique ideas to our popular class.

Friday 28th February

The cycling themed weekend is kicking off in style with the delivery of our new Wattbike. This addition to the studio will enable us to assess clients on a whole new level and provide some great new training ideas.

Saturday 1st march

The big weekend is upon us!The 24 hour Spin-a-thon kicks off at 12pm  if you haven't signed up yet then find out more HERE and get yourself booked in!

For more information on any of these things going on at the studio please CONTACT US, we'd love to hear from you...

All About The Tour

The Tour de france has come to All About You

As you know we've upgraded all of our facilities at the studio in Highgate and as part of this process we want to add some exciting new concepts to our Fitness Class Programme


So what is All About The Tour?

We've created a unique cycling workout with images of some of the world's most famous climbs.

All of our classes are technique and terrain based and focus on cadence, heart rate, climbs and sprints to create an unpredictable ride that is fun and challenging.

Not only do the classes look great - but you'll get an incredible workout through the French alps whilst the rain comes down outside in Highgate - I know where I'd rather be!...

If you'd like to join us then we have classes on the following days and times...

Monday at 6:30pm
Wednesday at 7:15pm
Thursday at 6pm

And we are working on introducing an extra long session at the weekend...

If you're a serious cyclist then we also have a Team GB physiologist coming to the studio in November to deliver unique fitness testing days.

Stay tuned for more information...

Meet The Team!

In the last few months there have been a number of changes to All About You. The business has grown drastically, not just in the size of the studio but also through the addition of a new fitness class timetable and our wellbeing clinic.

Here's how our team looks today...




David Osgathorp

David set up All About You in 2006 with the idea of creating a holistic health centre that delivers a unique experience and an unrivalled personal service to our clients. After seven years and many additions to the original business I feel that I have now constructed an excellent team of individuals to offer the ultimate health and wellbeing package.

James Hutchison

Combining over 10 years of experience in the fitness industry with a Psychology degree has allowed James to develop a unique Personal Training style which focuses not only on health and well being, but on goal setting, motivation and long term behaviour change for weight loss.

Nick Palma

Sports Therapist Nick, specialises in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries. With a wealth of experience in both clinical and health & fitness environments, Nick enjoys using the latest corrective exercise techniques to provide pain prevention solutions for all his clients.

Dan Humphries

Fat Loss Specialist, Dan has designed our One to One Bootcamp Programme which combines a mix of sweat, challenges and a topping of fun to deliver exceptional results. He is our resident nice guy and will also ensure you have a five star experience at the studio in his role as Studio Manager.

Benjamin Cooper

Holistic Lifestyle Coach Benjamin understands that the human body works PHYSICALLY (movement), EMOTIONALLY (Hormonal) and CHEMICALLY (Nutrition). His approach addresses sleep patterns, stress levels, nutrition, and movement to not only improve his clients quality of life but educate them on the best choices to make.

 Paul Ranson

Natural Movement Coach, Paul aims to address our body’s optimal health and alignment which is compromised on a daily basis. His approach teaches clients to move with efficiency and skill while following his philosophy of having fun and enjoying movement to achieve sustainable fitness. He has worked successfully with this approach in London, Spain and Kenya.

Tony Wilson

Performance Coach Tony has a no nonsense approach to training. He lives and breathes health and fitness and delivers exceptional results to his clients. He specialises in strength training, fat loss and nutrition. With many years of experience he understands the importance of keeping clients motivated and on track to achieving their goals.

James Lockyer

Sport & Exercise Rehabilitation Specialist James has a unique approach to training. He uses a variety of release techniques and corrective exercise methods to create strong foundations to reduce pain and improve everyday function. He is a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic trainer and a great addition to the All About You Team.

Stephen Sacks

Harley Street Osteopath Stephen has a simple approach: Find it, fix it and leave it alone but maintain it and give you the tools to make sure it does not come back. In order to do this, he uses a variety of methods from osteopathy, acupuncture/dry needling, sports taping and electrotherapy.

Stephen is now working at the studio on Monday and Wednesday mornings.

Antonia Ptohides

Pilates Instructor Antonia started ballet at the age of 10 and she has since gone on work as a professional dancer and complete an MA in Movement Studies. Antonia acknowledges the original form of the Pilates Method, and applies his principals in her classes. Her classes give adherence to core stability and body awareness and emphasise spinal and pelvic alignment, coordination and body balance.

 Tanya Kalides

Tanya is a keen and enthusiastic trainer whose interest in health and fitness began whilst studying human biology at Loughborough University. She believes in training hard whatever your fitness level. Her sessions are always energetic varied and challenging!

Tanya will be heading up our new fitness classes at All About You from September.

Simone Woolerton

Female weight loss specialist Simone has a passion for movement and fitness. She has a wealth of skills in teaching Kettlebells, TRX, Aerobics,Yoga and Boxing to name a few! Her training sessions take you beyond your physical limits and her creative and motivating training sessions and classes make her a much loved instructor.

Alex Neilsen

Sports Massage Therapist Alex, has experience working for the Whittington hospital and Hampstead Rugby Club. Alex first learnt massage in Thailand where he studied Thai massage and elbow massage and has continued his studies and practice 

specialising in Sports Massage.

Christine Nielsen

Christine is a specialist in Pregnancy Massage, Baby Yoga and Baby / Infant Massage Therapist. She originally trained in Thailand where she discovered the importance of regular massage and a hands on approach towards teaching.

Christine teaches the Infant & Baby Massage Diploma & Baby Yoga Diploma's as well as workshops on Pregnancy & Labour Massage.

For more information on any of our practitioners please Contact Us at the studio.

The Great Calorie Debate

You want to lose weight?

Just cut your calories right?

Or burn a few more in the gym??

This started off as a simple conversation in the studio earlier this week and soon turned in to a pretty heated debate! So we thought we’d share our view on why all calories aren't created equally and how your body is just too smart to fall for this simple trick!...

In theory the calories in vs calories out debate works but the reality is your body is far too intelligent for this to work as a long term weight loss solution and there are a number of considerations you need to be aware of as to why following this simple equation won’t get you the results you desire.

The truth is your body is an amazing control centre that is monitoring and regulating constantly therefore the fewer calories you consume, the fewer calories your body burns.

There are around 3500 calories in a pound of fat. So if your goal is to lose 1 pound of fat per week simple maths tells us that if you simply reduce your calorie intake by 500 calories per day you’ll lose one pound of fat per week and you can just keep doing this until you hit your desired weight. Simple 

yes??

Well, NO

You’ll probably find that you lose a pound in the first week but less and less in subsequent weeks as your body adapts to this change and starts to literally run cooler to conserve the lower amount of calories you are now consuming – effectively increasing the value of each calorie!

It’s a tough job to outsmart the human body!

Here’s the even worse news...

The long term damage of this approach is that your body has now effectively lowered its Basal Metabolic rate – the amount energy expended daily at rest.

So, when you go back to your normal eating habits you easily put on the weight you’ve lost AND more!

This is the reason why most calorie restrictive diets don’t work as a long term solution and why most people go back to weight watchers time and time again.

My other problem with calorie counting is that All Calories Are Not Created Equally!

Simply put some of the things we eat are just not food! They are “food like substances!”

                                                  Real food or GOOD CALORIES, are those that supply energy to the body in an effective and efficient manner. They ensure that all of our bodily processes like hormone production, muscle growth and organ function develop and perform in the way that they should.

BAD CALORIES are those that stimulate excessive insulin levels (which is the real cause of fat storage and will be properly discussed in another blog post) they offer very little to the body except for fat accumulation and poor health.

So what do you do?

Here are a few simple tricks:

Don’t fall for marketing tricks! No matter how “Low Cal” it may be, if your body cannot use it, digest it and function optimally from consuming it your causing harm to your health and adding to that growing waist line!

Eat real food.

Our simple philosophy at All About You is that if it’s lived or come out of the ground it will benefit your body and you can pretty much eat as much as you like of these foods!

We are now offering nutrition and lifestyle consultations at the studio. If you like the sound of this and want to find out more, CONTACT US for more information.

Why haven’t you tried Pilates yet?

Joseph Pilates first introduced his concept to the world in 1910! Any exercise routine that is still getting amazing results over 100 years later must have something about it!! Our Pilates programme is really taking off at the studio now and if you’re wondering how it can help you here are a few reasons why we think you should give it a try...

It’s not just for your abs.

Pilates stretches and challenges every muscle allowing you to tone, strengthen and firm those tough to reach parts!

It’s great for stress relief

Pilates allows you to feel calmer, sleep better and be more relaxed. It improves your immune system and also lowers your blood pressure.

Pilates reduces the risk of injury

The movements involved in Pilates work every muscle group creating greater core strength and thereby reducing injury in other sports and day to day activities.

It improves you posture

Good posture doesn’t just make you look taller and slimmer, 

it will prevent neck pain, back pain, it allows for improved 

movement and also reduces referred pain throughout the body.

It improves your breathing

Joseph Pilates once said “Inefficient breathing lies at the root of poor health.” An inability to use oxygen sufficiently places unnecessary stress on the body and not being able to properly expel carbon dioxide creates an acidic environment in which disease and ill health thrive.

It’s not just for girls!

It appears that women are more aware for the benefits of Pilates, but guys, I have to tell you, you’re missing out...  Although our core training beliefs at All About You are very similar to those of Pilates we all still certainly feel the affects of one of Antonia or Blanca’s classes!

So what are you waiting for?

We now have seven mat classes per week, 10 small group reformer sessions each week as well as numerous one to one sessions at the studio in Highgate. You can view our class time table HERE or CONTACT US to arrange a free trial.

“In 10 sessions you will feel the difference, in 20 sessions you will see the difference and in 30 sessions you will have a whole new body” Joseph Pilates

Not another fad diet?!!

Everyday we are faced with so many ideas and opinions on the best way to lose weight, get into amazing shape and feel great. As fitness professional my team and I are questioned by our clients constantly about diet X or workout plan Y.

I believe it is our job to dig into all of the confusing and conflicting advice and to provide a simple approach that our clients can easily adhere to!

At All About You we keep things simple. We don’t like fad diets and quick fix solutions we believe in eating clean and moving in the right way and then moving more!

The simple facts that we promote to enjoy a healthy life are:

1.       Move more

2.       Drink more water

3.       Eat more vegetables

4.       Keep starchy carbs to a minimum

5.       Always chose real foods over supplements.

6.       The biggest one of all for me... Avoid Sugar whenever possible!

Simply put, Fat doesn’t make you fat sugar does!

Take a look a this great video which perfectly explains the role that sugar plays in not only making us fat but seriously stressing the pancreas and affecting the regulation of insulin and leptin – the hormone that tells our brain when we’ve had too much to eat!

Sugar is added to so much food and we are constantly lied to by marketers about how healthy for us their products are. Low fat alternatives or 99% fat free products are generally full of sugar. We need more information like this to make us all aware of what sugar actually does to our bodies

Ten Things We Loved About The Olympics

What an amazing two weeks! From the spectacular opening ceremony to the amazing performances at some incredible venues across London over 10,000 athletes from 204 countries have come together to deliver the greatest show on earth.

The nation has been gripped, nothing else has happened in the world as far as the news reporters are concerned. The world has come to visit London over the past two weeks and the doubters will be disappointed to hear that we could still drive quite easily around the North Circular, Our public transport system rose to the challenge and we put on an absolutely amazing show.

Here are some of the things we loved about London 2012...

           1. We Were Good.

29 Gold Medals, 17 silvers and 19 bronze, third in the medal table behind the power houses of China and USA means that this was the best performance at an Olympic Games since 1948 with some amazing performances from the incredible Team GB.

            2.  We were REALLY good!!

It has to be said again! The fact that it was a home games obviously made London 2012 special but the way in which it surpassed all expectations was incredible. Athletes across all disciplines produced spectacular performance after spectacular performance.

From the opening gold on day four from the rowing pair of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning to the brilliance of Bradley Wiggins later that afternoon, to the incredible forth consecutive games gold of Ben Ainslea’s Olympic career to the unbelievable 45 minute gold spree in the Olympic stadium on the middle Saturday from Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farrah and Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Laura Trott in the veledrome to name but a few, our athletes have shown incredible ability, courage and passion to perform for their country.

3. Londoner’s are Happy!

It’s been a strange feeling to see happy faces around London, we’re not used to being friendly, but the games has erased the negativity, raised spirits and delivered a sense of pride and given us something amazing to get excited about and talking to strangers about!!

4.  An Introduction To New Sports.

I didn’t realise how exciting the Canoe Slalom was, how mad the BMX can be, how watchable the synchronised swimming is and how enthralling the Taekwondo could be?! We may have been newbies to a number of sports but if we won a medal in it we were huge fans.

5.       We Inspired A Generation.

It was the message of the games and the performances have done just that. The foundations have been laid for future generations to follow in the footsteps of our 2012 heroes. 

Young boys with their stick on Wiggo sideburns are out on their bikes, girls are in training for their Jess Ennis washboard abs and the platform is their to improve the health and wellbeing of a sedentary generation and inspire them to achieve great things in competitive sport.

6.       Who Cares About Footballers?

After another pathetic tournament performance for our England football team earlier this summer it was so refreshing to see real athletes give everything to achieve their dream. Team GB football couldn’t make it past the quarter final stage but was anyone that interested? While the pampered premier league players were heading home in their Aston Martins the real winners – the ones that had sacrificed everything and given up their families to follow their dream were getting the credit they deserved. 

Athletes like women’s boxer Nicola Adams who virtually had to beg her local community to support her Olympic hopes. I know the sell out crowds at Wembley and Old Trafford bring in the cash to the I.O.C and that’s the main reason they are really at the games, but should they be?

7.       Competitive Sport is OK!

It’s not the winning, it’s the taking part.... What a load of rubbish. London 2012 has been such a success because Team GB has been so competitive. We understand that we want all kids to experience sport and have fun but we believe that we HAVE to install an element of competition into school sports. 

As well as the sense of achievement it can bring, some of the best lessons we can learn as kids are through sport. How to succeed, how to deal with failure as well as discipline, confidence and leadership . David Cameron has announced over the weekend that he wants to bring back competitive sport into schools, let’s hope this leads to us becoming a major force at EVERY Olympic Games.

8.       Positivity and a Sense of Pride.

What a difference a fortnight can make. The economic crisis is far from our minds, even the sun has come out to lift our spirits further as the games has made us proud of our athletes and put a smile on our faces.

9.       It’s Been Great For Business!

An added bonus for us as everyone now wants to exercise! Our Class Studio and Personal Training Business have been inundated with enquiries in what is traditionally the quietest time of the year for us!

10.   The Best is Yet To Come...

The fact that everyone wants to be a part of the 2012 games has led to a huge demand for tickets for the Paralympic Games. The real heroes that defy their injuries and disabilities to push their body to the limits.

We will be watching!