exercise | Fitness on Toast

Posts tagged 'exercise'

MY FASHIONMONITOR INTERVIEW: “WELLNESS TODAY”

21/10/2019

I recently had the opportunity to share some thoughts with FashionMonitor.com for an interview ahead of a panel at the Festival of Marketing, on which I sat to discuss trends in the fitness industry. The interview caused me to think quite alot about several of the challenging topics posed to me. FashionMonitor presented a gently precised version of the interview HERE, but for those looking to explore the more complete answers I scribed, click MORE below to get my full thoughts on the trends shaping the industry at present and over the coming years, along with perceptions surrounding the influencer marketing world. (more…)

5 WAYS TO SQUEEZE EVERY BIT OUT OF YOUR MORNING

31/08/2019

Despite having woken at some ungodly hour for countless years as a Personal Trainer, I am not, nor have I ever been, a morning person – but I have my tricks! If you too are a regular human being and struggle with your daily breakup from that cozy sanctuary known as ‘bed’, I might be able to help you turn those dreaded early mornings from snooze mode to cruise mode! This post contains my favourite 5 universal methods to unlock some more of your morning potential! As a busy multi-tasking butterfly, I’m forever rushing to get out of the house, so grabbing something healthy, quick and easy is somewhat of a saviour. Tropicana, with whom I’ve partnered for this post, is a great option, and is a juice I’ve been drinking regularly since my youngest days in Sweden. Their new Whole Fruit juice is filling (the texture is velvety and rich), and it delivers an even greater knockout punch of nutritional value. Click MORE to see why I grab this on a busy morning, as well as my 5 key tips to help you live your best morning!

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HAIR HEALTH & COLOUR MIRACLES!

15/04/2019

The training cycle is tough on the body, and with successive workouts-and-showers, nothing takes a much of a gruelling battering as the hair. As such, and in direct response to several curious, hair-conscious reader enquiries over the years of scribing fitnessontoast.com, this post is fully dedicated to hair health. I may be a highly qualified professional when it comes to training and the likes of sports massage, but I’m only an enthusiastic amateur on matters pertaining to the hair. As such, I’ve done the heavy lifting for you, and picked the brain of multi-award-winning superstar hair artist Siobhan ‘Shivvy’ Jones for all the choicest pro-tips. Shivvy is a L’Oréal Professionnel teacher & Guest Artist, hair stylist on X Factor, Next Top Model, and artist to the likes of Little Mix, as well as being the Owner and Creative Director of Rose & Wild Hair, her delightful new studio in Fulham where we shot these pics! Those are some of her professional credentials, but beyond that, she enjoys heavyweight repute for setting the tone on colour technique and trends in the fashion industry. If like me you wash your hair too frequently post-training, Shivvy’s insights will help you to find and get the perfect tone, products to use and much more! Read on… (more…)

READ YOURSELF STRONGER! 🤓📚💪

05/03/2019

One of my evergreen ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ is to gain breadth through a spot of reading; the brain is similar to the body’s muscles in the sense that lack of regular exercise sees it shrink! So following a frenzied two months of book-worming, I wanted to share a varied suite of 8 ‘health books’ that have had somewhat of a positive impact on me, whether they be books on mindfulness, educational fitness or nutrition/recipe books. I’d love to hear what ‘health’ books you’ve enjoyed reading as I’m always on the lookout for a good new read, so please pop a comment below with your top picks! Hopefully you might feel inspired to think through the pages of one or two of the books listed here… (more…)

7 WAYS TO SMASH THROUGH YOUR PLATEAU!

01/01/2019

Happy New Year, my good reader! If you’re anything like me, you’re most likely not new to the whole fitness thing; you’ve possibly been training for years, and you might even be in groundhog mode with your regime – which would be totally normal, we all visit that place! Hitting a plateau can be super confusing because you probably don’t know what’s causing it. The sorts of questions swirling around your mind are likely; am I not training enough, am I training too much, am I training the wrong way, in the wrong place, with the wrong people, wearing the wrong clothes, listening to the wrong music (etc.)? Well fear not, dear 2019-ready reader, for this post contains my top 7 simple tips to help you to break through that training plateau! Click MORE for your download to start the year the way you mean to go on – in blitz mode! (more…)

HAVE YOUR (PAN)CAKE AND EAT IT!

21/08/2018

Fitness On Toast Faya Blog Girl Healthy Recipe Training Dish Pancake Lighter Diet Choice Tasty Indulgence Treat Cooking Sweet Tooth Less sugar-12

‘Ah but Pancakes are just for Shrove Tuesday‘, you say? No, my dear reader, I disagree; you don’t have to wait for 5th March 2019 for your next pancake hit, but instead, embrace the healthier pancake for your next breakfast! Summery berry-laden pancakes, naturally sweetened with a sprinkling of Truvia in the mixture, are satisfying, deliciously filling, and yet light and fluffy, AND they pack a serious punch for the reader with a sweet tooth. Click MORE to see the full recipe and benefits…

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TECHNIQUE FREAK!

18/06/2018

Poor training is a sad sight to behold 😪. I wanted to revisit a key component of ‘sound technique’, as I wrote about it many years ago but it remains no less topical as ever-more fitness converts venture to the gym to kickstart their lifestyle changes. It’s also pretty perfect for this time of year when no doubt people are more likely to head outside for their sessions. So, if like me, you love the outdoors & perhaps don’t have access to / don’t always feel like going to the gym – but you still want a workout which is challenging and effective – well then, this post is for YOU! First consider the following 3 different training techniques, and some of the exercises I suggest doing to put those techniques to use! Also, it requires no weights; just a nice summer’s day, like the ones scheduled for the coming week… (more…)

4 SUPERB PRE-RUN STRETCHES!

01/03/2018

There’s an asymmetric profile to the advantages of warming up before heading out on a run – it helps to materially decrease the risk of injury as by ignoring or rushing a warmup, you’re more likely to pull a muscle, tear a tendon, or tweak a joint. Also, I find that if I don’t warm up but rather go straight into a run, it’s simply harder to sustain the pace, and I’m more likely to burn out quicker. This, in turn, makes me feel demotivated and discouraged from running again; cue the spiral of unfavorable results! This post is a brief overview of my 4 favorite warm-up stretches which you might give a try next time you’re about to go for your run! (more…)

WHY TO START TRAINING – NOW !!!

11/12/2017

Amidst the snowy deluge of a brutally frosted British December, Summer is but a moribund memory, seemingly belonging to a different planet (or Sydney in the case of my shots here!). Bikinis and/or trunks are consigned to a forgotten section of the wardrobe and instead, it’s acceptable to hide under countless layers of knitted misc. The commercialized ‘beach body’ frenzy is over; we feel as though we can relax, without the pressure to get naked! It’s also a time when we naturally eat and/or drink a little more than we otherwise would; t’is festive season leading up to Christmas…

For that reason, I say TRAIN NOW; this way whatever excess you’re consuming, at least you’re burning it off at the gym! Furthermore, you’re establishing a fitness routine now rather than leaving it to January, when going cold turkey will feel like a tragic uphill struggle. By the time the equally commercialized ‘new year new you’ fallacy comes around, you’ll already have a strong, regular thing going on; new year, same you! BTW, I don’t subscribe to the January frenzy, instead I believe healthy is a lifestyle choice all year round! This post contains a few 101 tips to get started, right now!

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INTERVIEW W/ TOP SKI ATHLETE, MATTS OLSSON!

04/09/2017

Last month, I was incredibly fortunate to meet some of my country’s top Alpine athletes at the HQ of Ski Team Sweden in Åre. Amongst them, I spent some time with Matts Olsson, a World Championship medalist and one of the top male FIS World Cup competitors from Sweden, with a specialization in Giant Slalom. He’s an ultra-experienced hand on the circuit, powering through 9 seasons, and has just had one of his best in 2016/17 with two podium finishes. It struck me that the younger members of the team really look up to those who’ve given battle alongside the international legends of the sport, and Matts wears his experience with great wisdom and humility. It was with great pleasure that I sat down to ask him about his training, his mental approach, his diet, and his ethos on competition! Here’s what I learned… (more…)