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The squat is one of, if not the BEST lower body exercise you can do to develop lower body strength and tone.

1. Start with just your body weight try to keep your heels planted on the floor, your knees pointing forward and an upright torso.
2. When squatting try aim for hips just below parallel to receive the full benefits. Below you’ll see the GOBLET SQUAT! The goblet squat is a great progression to the Body weight squat, as its easy to perform and caters to all levels. Start with a light dumbell and ensure you can perform the above exercise perfectly. As the weight starts getting heavier, you need to activate your core to keep you upright – as the heavier weight will want to push you forward!

BEST QMAX EXERCISE FOR A STRONGER CORE + BENEFITS

The plank is an easy and very effective core exercise. It's great as it works the whole body instead of just isolating the core.

In the example below, you will see a plank being performed on a swiss ball. This adds in an element of instability which challenges your core even more – the challenge is to stay strong as your body starts the wobble. A key point to remember is to keep a nice flat back, if you arch your back you will place unnecessary pressure on your low back. Easier way to ensure this doesn’t happen is ‘tuck’ your pelvis forward and lock that position for as long as you can!

At Qmax, we have a range of exciting class formats designed for strength, weight loss, increased fitness, endurance and athletic performance. These classes are suitable for all levels of fitness and will truly fast-track your results!

Come try a class today! www.qmax.com.au

Jamie De Abreu

Senior Personal Trainer - Southland in Cheltenham Vic.

Southlandspt@fitnfast.com.au

0430279297

Posted in: Fitness, Health & Nutrition

I hope you all have a B-E-A-UTIFUUULLL day!

Topic for discussion today is small group training. If we look at the past few years, small group training has elevated the fitness scene to another level! The introduction of CrossFit almost a decade ago started the trend and from there we have seen fads come and go, but nothing really stuck. In the past few years F45 has been at the forefront of this new revolution of training and now Qmax is here to dismantle it off the podium.

Its not hard to see why people have flocked in the hundreds to join small group training. Its;

-          Cheap compared to PT

-          Its different and fun

-          There is a social element involved

-          People have seen some serious results!

HOWEVER, for all the good that can be said with small group training, it hasn’t come without its criticisms. Exercise purists who believe in the fundamentals have been the biggest advocate against small group training. They believe:

-          The intensity of the classes is too high which compromises technique and can lead to injury.

-          The generic nature of the classes trying to cater for everyone, means some people don’t get the attention they need, which again can lead to injury.

-          The movements involved are not necessary to elicit the positive benefits of exercise.

-          Class sizes are too big for one instructor to ensure movements are done correctly.

If you read that list at face value, you probably wouldn’t want to try a group class and personally I wouldn’t blame you. Just recently, I found out some group classes don’t even have a qualified trainer instructing as they didn’t feel the need with it being prechoreographed. This is a massive no no and as a brand is something Qmax doesn’t stand for.

We understand the hesitations some people have about group training and have done everything in our power to ensure we cover as many bases as we can!

Firstly, group classes are high intensity, the nature of the training and the energy produced from all involved means people move fast and like anything there is a risk of injury. Qmax minimises this risk by capping the class numbers to a manageable number for our qualified CERT 3 AND 4 Personal Trainers

Secondly, yes, the classes are produced to cater for the masses, however because our instructors are well qualified, their knowledge base allows them to have a whole heap of variations to assist people who may not be able to move in a certain way. This means we decrease the chance of injury, whilst allowing that member to still workout and feeling a part of the Q-mmunity. WIN WIN if you ask me!!

Finally, again some of the exercises you’re going to do in a Qmax class are going to be different and a little random, but here at Qmax we believe in fun and creating a platform for people to express themselves in ways that they might not be able to do daily. All movements included in our classes have been tested, analysed and tested again to ensure they are not only safe but also having people move through the correct planes of motion. This equals to you having a great time, in a great environment whilst achieving life changing results! I LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT!?

Overall, if you have any reservations about group training that’s fine and there is some merit behind those thoughts, however don’t be scared and come on into a Qmax class to make up your own mind. Our team will always have your best interests at heart to make sure you achieve the best results possible!

Thanks everyone!

Jamie  De Abreu

Senior Personal Trainer - Southland in Cheltenham Vic.

Southlandspt@fitnfast.com.au

0430279297

Posted in: Fitness

The glutes are the powerhouse muscle of the lower body, if their off/weak you leave yourself open to a host of injuries/pain which can affect your quality of life - especially as you get older. BUT if they are on and firing as they should be, your hips/knees/back will be very happy and your training will be elevated to a new level having such a solid platform.

The glute can be broken into 3 parts:

1.       The gluteus maximus: It’s the large outer muscle of the buttocks region. The muscle starts on the inner portion of your pelvis and back portion of your lower spinal column, known as the sacrum and coccyx (lowest part of your spine, above the bottom). The gluteus maximus helps you rotate your leg outward, lift the thigh backward, extend the hips and raise the thigh to the side.

2.       The gluteus Medius: Is the centre of the three muscles. Lying underneath the gluteus maximus yet above the gluteus minimus, the gluteus Medius begins on the outer and upper portion of your hip and is inserted on the upper portion of your thighbone. Weakness in this area can cause the hip to sag or destabilize.

3.       The gluteus minimus: It’s the deepest of the gluteal muscles, resting below the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius. The muscle begins on the outer surface of your hipbone and inserts to the top of the thighbone. The glute min works together with the gluteus medius to prevent the hip from sagging.

Look I know I just threw a whole heap of words at you, but if your going to come to a HAVANA class, I think it’s nice to know what’s burning and why!

As you have read the glutes are all about ensuring the hips move correctly, as weak glutes will equal poor moving hips which is a no no. This could start a chain reaction which could affect your lower back, knees and ankles. These injuries could lead to muscle imbalances which place more pressure on the hips and the cycle continues.

Overall coming to a HAVANA CLASS will not only leave you looking like Kim K (it that floats your boat), it will also protect your lower limbs from pain and injury. So really that is all the reasons you need to get off your butt right now and squat your way into your nearest Qmax club for a HAVANA BOOOOOOOOOOOTY class!

Thanks Everyone!

Jamie  De Abreu

Senior Personal Trainer - Southland in Cheltenham Vic.

Southlandspt@fitnfast.com.au

0430279297

Posted in: Fitness

I suppose you’ve wondered why that paleo diet worked so well for your colleague at work yet has done nothing for you. Or why you don’t seem to respond at all to HIIT training at 5:00am in the morning, yet your neighbour raves about the Boot Camp session that they are doing. I’m getting a bit repetitive here, so I’ll let you in on a secret. The reason that you don’t respond the same way to your colleague or neighbour is because you are different. Really different. Much more different than you think.

In most studies done on the now multitude of different fitness and diet modalities, we only usually see a real difference being made to about 30% of the participants. Even the magic of the Mediterranean diet, which we have been told that we should all be consuming, only provides the health benefits that we associate with this type of eating to about 60% of people. What this means is that there is only a near 50/50 chance, or less, that you’ll receive any benefit from following even the most well researched and validated health trends.

So what do you do? There are two options. The first is to not get bogged down by keeping at the latest method that you are trying that is offering no observable and tangible benefits. Paleo might not be for you and your physiology. Keto, whilst working for some, may just not suit your genetics and body morphology. If you find that you are not seeing any benefits from what you are following at the moment just cut your losses and move on. Don’t give up – I absolutely stress that. Just move on to something else. And I can tell you, there are plenty of options, as frustrating as that sounds.

The good news is that there is a large amount of studies being done on genetics and health, food and exercise prescription. This will have the effect of taking the guess work out of your lifestyle and health choices. This goes well beyond the scope of this article – I could not possibly discuss all of the recent advancements here - but if you would like more help and information on what is happening in this field please feel free to contact me at chris@cdexercisephysiology.com and I will happily discuss with you.

Yours in Health!

Blog post courtesy of Chris Dounis, Senior Personal Trainer at Fit n Fast St Peters

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Posted in: Fitness, Health & Nutrition

Let’s break this down, Yoga has so many benefits; more than I can count on my fingers. So I’ve picked a few of the really important ones that you may want to know about.

1. Yoga develops strength: If your are looking to increase lean muscle mass, yoga uses your own body to help build muscle by putting you through various body weight poses which challenge you in ways the body isn’t used to.

2. Improves flexibly: Can’t touch your toes? Well get stretching. Increasing your range of motion and flexibility though your joints means blood flow can more readily reach all areas of the body reducing niggles and injuries which occur through training.

3. Increases balance - physically and mentally: Life isn’t getting any slower, and yes, some days can be a total grind. Yoga teaches you to centre your thoughts and be present in the moment concentrating on how your body and mind is feeling and really focusing on being present in the class to maximise the results you see over time.

As we can see Yoga can be a great way to train and should be a consideration to your existing training plan, but you still may be asking how the heck is yoga and HIIT a good idea. Well let me explain.

The idea behind High Intense Interval Training is to work towards the upper limits of your capacity, the idea being it fires your metabolism to burn calories. HIIT sessions are great and I highly recommend them but they are very taxing on the body and demand a lot from you physically and mentally. Day after day if you grinded away with these types of sessions you will either burn out or break down as your body needs time to recover from the flogging you just gave it!

So, the answer you have all been waiting for, combine HIIT with yoga (was it obvious), It will take your training to the next level and here’s why.

It’s a Monday and your are super excited to get back into the gym today as you spent the weekend on the couch watching reruns of Friends and pigged out on your favourite M & M family size block of chocolate. You give everything you got and are totally spent – you go home a happy chap! Problem arises when you can’t walk the next day but have promised yourself you will train every day this week, as summer is coming and you need to get your butt into action. 

Instead of heading to another HIIT class and not giving it your all, you decide to hit the wooden floor and do a yoga class, working your body in a gentler way whilst still improving your mental focus and flexibility. Come Wednesday morning you feel like a new person ready to go hard again in your favourite HIIT class, and that ladies and gentlemen is a matched made in heaven.

You are now giving your all - whilst listening to your body to ensure every session you do you is on point!! Long term you’re not only getting fitter and stronger through HIIT training but your becoming more flexible and more in touch with your mind body connection which translates to even better work on the gym floor. If there is a one better combo than friends and M & M chocolate its HIIT cardio and YOGA.

Lucky Fit n Fast have both covered, all you need to do is head into a club and get started.

As always everyone, it’s been a pleasure.

Jamie  De Abreu

Senior Personal Trainer - Southland in Cheltenham Vic.

Southlandspt@fitnfast.com.au

0430279297

Posted in: Fitness

1.      It will improve your memory: Not only is your brain getting more energy and oxygen, studies have shown exercise boosts your memory and helps you learn easily.

2.      You will have better posture: Good posture is so important and with many of us sitting at a desk all day, this can lead to tightening of muscles and joints which ultimately leads to injury. Regularly exercising key muscle groups is associated with good posture like your abs and back and will go a long way to ensuring you stay as upright as possible!

3.      It will boost your confidence: Exercise will make you feel more accomplished and social when you work out with other people. Even if you don’t see immediate results, the effort you put into your training will make you feel better and that confidence can translate into all aspects of your life.

4.      You’ll DE stress: Lets face it, life can get hectic at times and we all go through the occasional rough day. Stress can really play with your mind, but studies have shown that exercise is a great way to combat it. Not only does exercise produce kick ass endorphins which naturally fights away the stress, exercise will take your mind off what you’re stressing about!

5.      You’ll sleep better: Have trouble falling asleep? EXERCISE! The National Sleep foundation says regular exercise helps you sleep better. The best time to work out is in the morning or afternoon, rather than later at night – as it can actually have the opposite effect! After a tough workout your body is tired and needs to rest and replenish from a tough day on the track so let it - turn off electronic devices an hour before bed and dream of your rock hard abs!

6.      You’ll have more energy: It may not make sense since you actually burn energy while you exercise but regular exercise can make you feel more energized throughout the day. One study found that exercising in the middle of the day can leave you feeling more energetic and productive for the rest of your afternoon.

7.      You’ll get sick less often: No one likes being sick and exercise is a natural way to fight off those bad bacteria. People who exercised regularly were half as likely to get a cold. Great odds…. Which way to the Qmax area!!!!

8.      You’ll live longer: Now I don’t know about you but I’m keen to live around long enough to see flying cars so look out for me in the weights area with my Zimmer frame at the ripe old age of 100!! One study found exercise improves life expectancy as much as quitting smoking. The sedentary lifestyles we now lead are slowing killing us. Get your butt off the couch and keep the reaper at bay!

As we can see there are so many amazing reasons you should be exercising on a regular basis. If you want to live a long and healthy life, get yourself into a FIT N FAST near you and exercise! I promise you it will be the best decision you’ll make today!!

Thanks Everyone!

Jamie  De Abreu

Senior Personal Trainer - Southland in Cheltenham Vic.

Southlandspt@fitnfast.com.au

0430279297

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The right number of sessions per week is different with each individual and depends on many factors relating to your body and training. For example, a beginner will train a lot less than a regular fitness buff! Another important factor is the type of workout you do. General workouts mainly consist of cardio to improve your fitness and strength training to improve muscle mass through either body weight or weighted exercises. All this and more needs to be considered before giving any reasonable suggestions.

In saying this there are some key principles you should incorporate into your training regime, which should consist of minimum 30 mins a day for 5 days. From there you can build up to between 45-60mins a day as you gain more confidence and get fitter and stronger!

1.      Step out of your comfort zone: Don’t give your body a chance to get used to routine. Mix up the exercises, the volume, duration and speed at which you do things. It doesn’t have to be different each day but every few weeks spice things up to keep your body guessing and continue to see positive adaptations. An example may be going from a 2-week program of lifting heavy weights with a rep range of 4-6 and the following fortnight moving into just body weight high repetition work coupled with HIIT Cardio.

2.      Incorporate a specific strength based session into your weekly program. I’ll keep this very simple, the more muscle you have the more calories you burn with each workout!

3.      To ensure you see the best long term results you need to be dedicated in three main areas TRAINING, EATING & SLEEPING. Train hard, eat clean and get enough sleep to ensure you recover well enough to do it all again the next day! This magic three works every time! It is no good training hard and sleeping well but eating like a pig because long term you won’t change anything. Obviously, it’s easier said than done, but over time slowly make positive changes which lead you toward this trifecta.

4.      Last but certainly not least, don’t ever skip a rest day. Make sure you take a rest day at least once a week. Training can be gruelling at times and your body will feel sore and tired. To avoid injury and ensure longevity in your training take a day off to refresh the mind fully knowing that the next day is going to be a great workout!

Just a recap, there is no perfect formula that fits everyone. People may tell you differently, but trust it doesn’t exist. Every individual is different and has different issues with their body and life that needs to be factored in before preparing an exercise program that is going to work for them. The above is a good foundation to provide the platform to you achieving those long term results you have always dreamed about!

Thanks Everyone!

Jamie  De Abreu

Senior Personal Trainer - Southland in Cheltenham Vic.

Southlandspt@fitnfast.com.au

0430279297

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But what do the glute muscles do, in lay terms? The primary function of the gluteus maximus is to the straighten the hip (extend the hip). Think of walking as a good example, or even better, walking up a hill. When you step forward the job of the gluteus maximus is to bring the forward leg back towards the body, which propels us forward. Extrapolate this to running and jumping and you might be able to see that there is actually very little movement that a human can do on 2 legs that doesn’t involve the gluteus maximus in some capacity.

The 2 smaller glute muscles – the gluteus medius and minimus (clever names, right?) are mainly responsible for keeping the hip joint in the anatomically optional position with regards to the rest of your lower leg. Again, in lay terms, this simply means that these muscles help to control the subtler movements of your hip so that your knees and ankle don’t roll in, meaning that they essentially act as support for the big and powerful gluteus maximus muscle.

The main reason that training the glutes has become so important is that the majority of our time is spent in a sitting position. For those of you with desk jobs this is not good for the health and function of your glutes and hips in general. The human body evolved to be spent mainly in an erect position with the glute muscles active all of the time. In a sitting position the opposite of our structural evolution is occurring – the glute muscles are not being used and they are being held in a stretched position for a long time. This prolonged stretched or lengthened position leads to the glutes becoming disinhibited, meaning they don’t function as well as they should. And this is what has led to the revolution in lower body and glute training.

My favourite class of all of the fantastic QMax classes is, therefore, Havana Booty. Functionally, it is a simply excellent class that not only gives you a tremendous workout but also a long lasting benefit to your lower body mechanics and health. If you have not tried the Havana Booty class I strongly encourage you to get along to one and embrace its long awaited return to the QMax timetable. You won’t regret it!

Yours in Health!

Blog post courtesy of Chris Dounis, Senior Personal Trainer at Fit n Fast St Peters

Connect with Chris on    

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This movement is the king of all back movements. It engages muscles from your calf & ankle complex all the way up to the trapezius and neck muscles. Improving your deadlift strength also transfers across to a lot of other posterior chain movements such as the squat & any rowing and pulling patterns.

How to: Begin by hinging at the hips so that you are maintaining a neutral spine as you lower your chest over the bar. Your feet should be just inside shoulder width and grip outside the knees. As you pick the barbell up, emphasize leg drive by pushing your heels through the floor whilst you retract your shoulder blades. Once you have completed the movement, lower back to the ground whilst maintaining correct posture, and repeat for desired reps.

2. Pull Up

This movement activates the latts, posterior deltoids and biceps and is a very popular exercise. Whether you need some assistant via resistance bands or if you want to add some weight for an extra challenge, there is a variation for everyone.

How to: Start by holding onto a pull up bar at shoulder width with a dead hang. Retract your shoulder blades and pull yourself up so that your chin is above the bar, then lower yourself back down to a dead hang starting position. Full range of motion is important here to ensure we are activating the correct muscle groups.

3. Barbell Pendlay Row

This movement is considered a progression to your typical bent over row. It activates rhomboids, posterior deltoids, trapezius & also stabilizes through the lumbar erectors, glutes and hamstrings due to its bent over nature.

How to: Start with the barbell on the floor like the deadlift previously mentioned. Get yourself into the starting deadlift position – Hinge the hips with shoulders over the barbell with a neutral spine. Maintain this position as you row the barbell into the bottom of your rib cage. It’s key to keep your elbows in close to your body to optimally activate the upper back muscles. Then lower the barbell back to the ground.

4. TRX Plank

Having good core foundation supports a strong and healthy back. This exercise is the progression of a normal floor plank and is great to add a little bit of instability to the movement for an extra challenge.

How to: Position your feet in the foot cradles facing away from the anchor point of the TRX. Have your forearms vertical and shoulder width apart on the floor. As you raise your hips off the floor into position, it’s important that you maintain tension through your glutes, quads & core. Try this exercise for 3 x 10 seconds with a 10 second rest in between. 

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The reason for this is fairly simple. The layer of fat that sits around your mid-section is not there because your abs are weak, unused or non-existent. It is there because that is where it was genetically pre-dispositioned to go. It is also there because over many years, or months, you have consumed too much energy (food). It is the most convenient place for our bodies to carry excess weight – even though it might not look nice.

Our bodies store this fat because at times, during our evolution as a species, we have lived through various times of feast and famine. I won’t move into the detail of this, but the human body is phenomenally adaptable and it is being able to deduce that there are times when food is scarce. In order to account for this, so we didn’t starve to death, we stored any excess energy as fat (some carbs can be stored as well, but not much) and it was kept as a reserve energy source. For men, this excess was stored around the stomach and for women it was typically stored around the waist.

But back to the original point of this article, because of the above our body will not use the energy residing as fat around our stomachs simply because we start doing core and ab exercises. Ultimately, the only thing that is going to get you the flat stomach that you probably desire is a reduction in your energy consumed (food) and an increase in the energy that you use (primarily exercise).

We all have ab muscles, even if we don’t train them. A lot of us can’t see them because they are residing under a layer of fat. But to reduce this layer of fat what we need is a well-rounded food and exercise plan that provides slightly less energy in than energy out each day. To get this balance right can be difficult and you might need some help.

If you have tried to flatten your stomach and just can’t quite get it done each of our gyms has some of the best PT’s in the industry, so please make time to speak to one. But in the meantime don’t waste your time performing a relentless amount of core and ab exercises in the hope that it alone will help to get rid of your stomach because it almost certainly will not.

Yours in Health!

Blog post courtesy of Chris Dounis, Senior Personal Trainer at Fit n Fast St Peters

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Posted in: Fitness

1.      Start to scale back the long runs – you really should perform your last long run about a fortnight from the race. Start to transition your runs into tempo runs where you focus on maintaining a consistent speed for 3-4km and interval runs that are short in duration but very high intensity.

2.      Keep doing your strength and conditioning work right up until the last few days before the race – maintaining symmetry and good movement patterns, coordinating the core and hip muscles for the run are all improved with a strength and conditioning program, so you should certainly keep up your resistance training. Focus on core and hip exercises for the last couple of weeks, but only at moderate weight. There is no need to push the weight this close to the race.

3.      Get plenty of quality carbohydrates and protein in the week leading in to the race – our body can store between 500-1000g of carbohydrates in our liver and muscles. To put that into some perspective, we use roughly 400 calories per hour when jogging (this is quite variable). 500g of carbohydrates provides roughly 2000 calories of energy. This means that if you are diligent with your food in the week leading in to the race that even if the race takes your 2 hours to complete you will have enough carbohydrates stored within your body to provide you with the energy that you need to get through the race. Protein is important as it helps to facilitate optimal recovery from all of the training that you have been doing!

4.      Get a good night’s sleep – try to ensure that you have a good quality 8 hours of sleep in the 2 days before the race. This probably doesn’t need any explanation as we all know how we perform when we don’t get enough sleep to satisfy our requirements. Now imagine trying to run 14km under those circumstances!

5.      Have fun – the City to Surf is a fun run after all. Take enjoyment in the fact that you even gave it a go!

Yours in Health!

Blog post courtesy of Chris Dounis, Senior Personal Trainer at Fit n Fast St Peters

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