Equipment For Outdoors Winter Workout

These are the main pieces of equipment you should consider having through winter training.

Of course it also depends on what winter we are talking about. Does it snow, how low does the temperature go? In this case I will talk about London, where winter temperatures are around -5 degrees Celsius.

Clothing and shoes

Layers

You may get hot, you may get cold, you don’t know. You might want to take layers off, if you don’t have them you are stuck. Be prepared.

Base layers

Base layers regulate your temperature and keeps moist out. When we didn’t have them we were ok. But now that we have them put them to good use.

Arms and calf compressions

It is said that compression layers help you reduce muscle strain. In winter they also keep your muscles warm, reducing risk of injuries.

Shoes

I don’t know about you but we train on muddy terrain and having a good grip is essential. If you are a runner and run on pavement think about slippery surface and if there is any snow.

If you go off road, make sure you have the right shoes. We use Inov8 and Vivobarefoot for winter.

Beanie hat and gloves

You can lose a lot of head if your head is uncovered. This is not fashion, it doesn’t matter whether you look good with a beanie hat or not. If you are doing a photoshoot fine, look as you want to. But when you train outdoors you have to keep warm.

Hands are the most exposed to the elements. Get a good pair of gloves, fast wicking, that will keep your warm.

Good quality stuff

Don’t go for cheap stuff. With few exceptions, in general, you get what you pay for. If you are serious about outdoors winter workout treat yourself to good equipment.

In the long run you will actually save money.

Food and liquids

It’s not summer, it’s not hot but winter weather will take up a lot of resources. Make sure you sip water throughout your workout.

Add a pinch of salt to replace electrolytes.

Have snacks such as fruit leathers and bars. I don’t particularly eat bars, I usually have a piece of fruit with me. Here’s what to look for in the ingredients list when you choose your bar.

Other pieces of equipment

Head torch

Depending on the time of day you will do your workout you may start or end it before sunrise or after sunset.

I began training with head torches in 2012 with my coach. What an amazing experience.

Backpack

You have quite a few pieces of equipment to carry with you. Plus the layers. Have a good backpack. We use Lowe Alpine 18l. You can find models on the UWF Amazon store.

I think I have covered the essentials. If you have questions post them in a comment below.

We are affiliates of Amazon store, but not to a particular brand. So you will find various brand for equipment, snacks and books on health, fitness and personal development topics. Access the store here.

If you’d like more advice contact me and I will be happy to give you some more suggestions.

September 8, 2015

The 4 Ingredients Missing In Your Workout

I used to work in a gym. I am very grateful to have been part of the Virgin Active PT team. I learnt a lot.

I used to walk around the gym floor for hours and hours, about 50 hours a week without clients, was walking on the gym floor. I approached and talked to hundreds of people and coached them as well.

One of the things I would ask was something like “why do you do this routine every time you come here?” or “why do you exercise?” or” do you enjoy what you are doing?” and so on.

Many times the answers would be something like: “I do it because it’s healthy“, “I do it because I was told it’s good for me“, and the best one was “I am bored of it but I still do it“.

Don’t we do things we don’t like or want to do every single day? Why, after spending 8 hours in front of the computer, we choose to be surrounded by even more electronic devices and spend another couple of hours in another box getting bored and doing something because we have to do it.

Don’t get me wrong, since I was 1995 I’ve been practicing Karate and competing at international level. This sport, if you want to call it so, it’s not something superficial, it’s not a “I feel like training today” thing, nope. It’s a responsibility.

But, the difference is that Karate is my thing. It’s what gives me life, what makes me feel like a champion and actually be a champion. Yes, it is something I have to do, but it is something that makes me grow as an athlete, coach, entrepreneur and as a human being.

It’s substance, there are no superficial layers. There is passion, there is life in what I do. Is there life in your exercise routine? These are the things missing in peoples’ workouts. And here’s how to bring some substance into your workout routine.

In terms of substance, just like Karate, the outdoors make no exception. When you train outdoors you start feeling alive as you actually interact with the world surrounding you.

How come you will never get bored training outdoors? I can only talk here about my own programs, other Personal Trainers have other methods and many just take the exercises from the gym and bring them outdoors.

Here’s how we do things here at Urban Women Fitness through The Merisoiu Technique:

1. You repeat but not really.

Our sessions vary from session to session. There are elements, the basics, we always go through but the main theme of the session changes. In a 3 months, 12 sessions of 1h30m, program you practice 6 different type of sessions.

In some instances you work the same muscle groups but in a different way. So you repeat the training but not the same session.

Practice makes perfect so a certain degree of repetition, particularly the basics, is necessary. There is so much you can do in 3 months though.

2. Different environment

Today you train in the sun tomorrow it’s a snow storm. Every session is different form a weather point but also how the ground feels and looks.

Even if we go back to the same location it’s going to be different from yesterday. That means you will work your body in a different way. Which is a good thing.

There are many physical and mental challenges with this change in weather, all aimed I conditioning your body, mind and spirit, so you get stronger from the inside out.

3. A practice, an art

Exercising for weight loss or fitness is boring. Hunter gatherers didn’t stay fit because they were concerned with their fitness. Athlete, we don’t keep fit because we want to stay slim. That’s comes with the practice of our art, or because hunters needed to hunt.

The Merisoiu Technique was developed with this in mind, not the hunting part though. It is a lifelong pursuit and here we strive for mastery.

My clients focus on the process of perfecting their movement or their sequences and, in the process, they get fit, toned, healthy and lose weight as well.

Develop patterns that you can gradually get better at. The feeling of accomplishment will keep you going and not get bored.

4. Feel alive.

Just what I’ve been talking about at the beginning. That substance we, as society, have forgotten about. We focus so much on fashion, trends and how we look in bikinis that we forgot the outside reflects the inside.

I like to look good in my bikinis, but most than that I like to feel proud and confident in my own skin. The bikini will look good after I feel good in my skin.

What does that even mean? We all see this in a different way. I can only tell you my view of feeling good in my own skin.

For me it means to feel strong. To feel grounded and in control of my body and that includes any type of movement, posture, breathing, everything. But those things comes as a result of what’s going on inside of myself.

So what does “feeling good in your own skin” mean to you?

Have questions or in need of advice? Contact me.

January 29, 2015January 29, 2015

Why your workouts are boring and 4 ways to make them exciting

I used to be a Personal Trainer in a gym. I loved it and I learnt a lot. However I could not help but noticing how many people would come to the gym and seem bored by what they were doing.

I used to talk to many of them, and although they had a good training program in place, one that got them results, and change it every 6-8 weeks to keep getting results, they were bored….bored of everything.

To be honest until I went to USA for my studies I never stepped into a gym. Really, why would I? I was practicing sports, Karate and others, 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day. And I had a purpose, I had variety, I had excitement. I never thought about health or weight loss, those came with the purpose and excitement.

I went to the gym in the USA and after a few years here in UK. Everything the beginning was exciting, new stuff, new things. But after a while no matter how I changed my routine it was still boring.

And I dare to believe that there are many of you who feel the same. So I wanted to give you the salt and pepper of efficient, always interesting and never boring training routine.

1. Purpose

I will begin by saying that health and weight loss are not part of your purpose. Sorry girls, but it’s not.

Health should be there all the time, we should not make of it a goal. Health is the foundation of success in business, life, career and whatever you want to excel at. Health is not a milestone.

Weight loss is something many of us want but we never consider that this is not one of those things you will have forever, it’s not there to stay for the rest of your life. You lose weight then at some point in your life you gain, then lose again, then gain.

I tell you this because I had many ups and down with my weight. But because I always had a purpose behind my training I never stressed to much about it.

Weight loss comes as a result of health. And health should always be there, you should not even have to think about it, it should be automatically part of your life. If should be your life for that matter.

So what’s the REAL purpose?

When I coach my students I give them a purpose. It can be a challenge to learn and master a technique, or a run, or any other event, or something they’ve always dreamt about doing or achieving but never could.

Training outdoors is a challenge for most so that itself can be a purpose for a while.

Personally, the purpose behind my training is to get really, really good at what I do. And the milestones are races and competitions.

For a while my purpose was to condition myself enough to train outdoors in the winter in shorts. Achieved this winter!!

But do you know why those are purposes and weight loss is not? One of the reasons is that when you master a technique, you cross a finish line or you get that medal no one ever can take that back from you.

That’s an achievement for life, while a slim body (which you will get anyway because you train with purpose) with come and go throughout your life.

So train hard but train with purpose.

Photo Credit: Michael Cohen / Wild Forest Gym

2. Variety and creativity

This is one of the reason the outdoors are such a big part of my life. When you train outdoors you will never, ever experience 2 identical sessions.

Even if you try and replicate it going in the same places and doing the exact same exercises, it will always be different. And these are some of the reasons:

– weather will be different from day to day, even from hour to hour

– the earth will be different, muddy, frozen, dry or wet.

– the ground is never flat, you will go up and down, left and right and you will need to adapt

– if you get bored of one place you run 2k and you find something totally different. The difference can be from field to thick forest. This is what one of my students said to me once. And he was right.

In a gym environment the trick is to be very creative. When I was coaching in a gym it was difficult not to fall into monotony like others.

I was always coming up with new stuff and so my clients stayed with me for months and some of them are still with me now after 2 years.

One of the reasons they liked training with me was because I bring variety and creativity wherever I train. Outdoors is my most creative environment though.

So, no matter where you train, be creative and search for variety. Don’t fall into routine and monotony, it’s not exciting.

3. Experience every moment

No matter how much purpose and variety you have if you don’t experience the moment you will not love what you do.

This means to breath, feel, see, touch, smell. And so many times we don’t do it. But when we are outdoors the different aspects of nature automatically make us open up our sense.

Because everything is different all the time we suddenly need to become aware of what’s around us. There is no monotony.

No matter what you do don’t do it for the sake of it.

Have a purpose and experience the journey. Then the results, whatever they may be will soon follow.

Photo Credit: Michael Cohen / Wild Forest Gym

4. Learning

And finally whatever you do never stop learning, developing, evolving. We are humans and learning is part of our evolution. We are hardwired to continuously learn and develop.

Take you training routine as a personal development journey, because that’s what it actually is.

Stop being a little robot and use your cognitive skills to be creative, develop and learn something every time you do your training session.

Combining 20 years of sports, particularly Martial Arts, and bringing natural movement training and running as well yoga, in my coaching gives me the possibility to show my students so much about movement and make them enjoy every moment they spend with me and then working out alone.

This way they:

– always have variety

– always experience the moment

– always look forward to our sessions and…

– always have a purpose behind their training – learning more and more and getting better and better if we don’t have an event planned for them ;).

Hope this inspires you to take your training sessions to the next level and actually enjoy them if you aren’t already.

As always if you want to chat with me feel free to book a call with me or if you want to learn more about my philosophies read my free ebook The Merisoiu Technique

January 2, 2015May 17, 2015

10 awesome things about training outdoors

1. It’s the best way to warm up when you’re cold. You will walk around in a t-shirt while others have coats.

2. When you’re bored of one place you have the option to move in a totally different place 2km away

3. Research shows that people who spend more time outdoor are happier.

4. There’s no one standing in your way. There’s more room to do more things.

5. Raises your vitamin D level

6. Harvard Health Publications say that it improves concentration

7. May help you heal faster

8. Researchers found a link between connecting with the Earth and Mental Health – depression, anxiety, emotional stress, panic, fear, headaches, cardiac palpitations, and dizziness

9. It is never boring

10. There is loads of clean, fresh air and no or few viruses to come in contact with

If you’d like to learn more please download my free eBook “15 Healthy Habits For The Body” orbook a free consultation with me.