YOGA ATHLETE

Thursday, 29 January 2015

Bedtime mug cake

2tsp cocoa powder

1/2tsp cinnamon

1 egg

1 scoop chocolate protein powder

1 square dark 90% chocolate

1/4 tsp baking powder

Mix in a bowl, except the square of dark choc

Crumble square into bottom of a mug and then pour mixture on top- blitz in microwave for between 1 min- 1.30

Tip onto a plate and devour, if you can have dairy then have with a tbsp of total full fat yoghurt :p

With some fantastic bodyweight flow routines, you won't want to miss the new style classes at BodyQuest Kettlebell Gym! In February there will be 12 classes in total – 3 per week (Tuesdays & Thursdays at 7pm, and Saturday mornings at 8.15am). I guarantee that if you were to attend 12 classes over 4 weeks, you would experience some awesome changes! Here is an incentive → If you attend all 3 classes per week for the first 3 weeks of February, you can have the last week FREE OF CHARGE! That's £24 saving, plus all the benefits of having done those classes!

Make sure you don't miss a class though in the first 3 weeks – you have to attend ALL of them to get the last week FREE.

Monday, 19 January 2015

Cauliflower Shepards Pie

Shepard's Pie with Cauliflower Topping

Prep time – 30min

Cook time – 30min

Serves – 4-6 people

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower, chopped into florets

4 tablespoons coconut oil

1 small onion, diced

2 celery ribs, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound ground beef

¼ cup beef broth

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

½ cup grated cheese

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a casserole dish and set aside.

Steam the cauliflower until tender.

Heat 2 tablespoons coconut oil, add the onion, celery, carrots and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes until it starts to soften.

Add the ground meat to the pan and cook until browned. Add the broth as necessary to keep the mixture wet. Add the tomato paste, parsley and season with salt and pepper. Let simmer whilst you prepare the cauliflower topping.

Drain the cooked cauliflower. Mash until smooth. Add 2 tablespoons of coconut oil and season with salt and pepper.

Spread the meat mixture on the bottom of the dish. Top with the cauliflower mixture and smooth over with a spoon. Cover with the grated cheese.

Bake for 30min, or until the top is brown and bubbly.

Enjoy!

BodyQuest Kettlebell Classes

Well we are almost 3 weeks into the new year! If you haven't yet started your fitness quest for 2015... START NOW! If you leave it too long before getting started, you might never do it. Just bite the bullet and do it! The classes at BodyQuest are a fantastic way to get your strength and fitness up – we are running 3 classes a week now, 2 evening classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm, and Saturday mornings at 8.15am.

The new class format is going down a storm – a great mix of Yoga, Flows and Kettlebells! I can honestly say that in the few weeks we have been running the new format, we have already seen progress – the 'Flow' section has definitely become easier, and people are moving better. For the remainder of the month we will stepping up the volume on the flows so everybody gets a chance to really nail the techniques before we progress them in February.

The kettlebell portion of the class remains at a high intensity. The key to burning fat is keeping the intensity there, and that's how we are rolling for the beginning of the year; set the pace high and keep it there! Pleased to see everyone pleasantly surprised at how much intensity they can handle – it's not a lot of time to commit to, so you put the effort in whilst you are there, and you will definitely see the results!

Finally, this year has seen the introduction of Yoga to the classes – I think it's safe to say that everybody is enjoying it as it's a tad more gentle than the rest of the session.... but that is set to change! After having spent a solid SIX hours recently, doing some seriously intense advanced yoga with the amazing Jo Prakash, I also think it's time to progress the yoga portion of the classes – don't worry, it'll still be reasonably gentle, but let's have some fun with it too! By the way, that 6 hour yoga workout I did, possibly the hardest workout I have ever done, but also the most exhilarating!

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Personal coaching can help you achieve the results you desire, as well as giving you the necessary effective tools you need to keep striving forwards, to keep changing and progressing on your journey.

Challenge everything, especially yourself.

Alex Kay

Contact me for Kettlebell classes and Personal Training in Southend-on-sea.
Please visit my website: ALEXKAY

Monday, 29 December 2014

New Year, New You!

It's that time again – New Year, New You! Yes it's a cliché, but that's because we all do it. The new year brings a clear definitive point in time where we can draw a line under the missed opportunities of last year, and make a real, concerted effort towards achieving something meaningful in the coming year. I am no different, but on top of setting new goals for myself for 2015, I also want to help you achieve your goals too.

In order to truly achieve the changes you desire, you need to understand why it hasn't happened before. Two big reasons stand out – nutrition, and procrastination. Nutrition because people still believe they can achieve results without it, and the fact is, it just isn't true. Even if you don't care about a six-pack, or being beach-body-beautiful, you cannot achieve a worthwhile level of performance without correctly nourishing your body. FACT. The other equally important reason is believing you have all the time in the world to achieve results. Well unless you take responsibility and set a specific time period, you will procrastinate in your training and not really push to achieve it – after all; there's always next week right? WRONG. Set a goal and set a specific time period to achieve it is the only way you'll ever get there.

With that in mind, I am offering the following 3 packages guaranteed to give you results!

All packages will include fundamentals that you cannot do without if you are to achieve the goals you desire. They will be a FULL assessment, including measurements, photos, physical testing and food diary analysis. They will also ALL include a personalised and tailored training program for you to follow on your own. ALL packages will include weekly nutritional consultations to ensure you stay on track. The difference will be how many PT sessions you commit to. ALL packages are for 13 weeks (3 months), because results don't happen in a week. You need long enough not only to start changing, but to ensure you don't stop at the first site of change!! You need to make it a habit, and you will need help to push past the first sign of progress towards real change!

I am looking to take on new clients who are serious about making a permanent change to their lifestyles and their bodies.

I will be offering 3 packages:

ALL packages will include the following:

A 2-hour initial assessment including measurements, 'before' photos, food diary analysis, nutritional consulting and a physical assessment & testing.
Your own personalised training program, tailored to your goals, needs and physical ability.
Weekly nutritional consulting to ensure you stay on track to achieve your goals.

Package 1: £500 or 3 payments: £250, £150, £100

1 x PT session every 4 weeks to ensure you are using good form, timing your work/rest periods correctly, and are pushing yourself hard enough.

Package 2: £700 or 3 payments: £350, £200, £150

1 x PT session every week. If you need that constant push to keep you motivated, I will see you every week and ensure you are working out correctly and to your potential.

Package 3: £1,000 or 3 payments: £500, £300, £200

2 x PT sessions every week. With doing half your workouts under close supervision, you can only win! The high frequency of PT sessions will keep you motivated during your own sessions too.

At the end of your 3 month package, if you decide to continue, you may purchase another package.

Wednesday, 5 November 2014

Kettlebell classes Southend Essex Discount

BodyQuest Kettlebell Gym offers TWO kettlebell classes every week – Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm. If you are new to kettlebells you NEED to book in beforehand by contacting myself (details below) and making sure you arrive 30 minutes early for tuition on what's to come in the session. Classes are £8 each, but if it is your very first time it is FREE.

For the months of November & December 2014, if you pay for the classes in advance, you will pay only £99! That's saving £29! Hurry, payment needs to be made before the 11^th of November.

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Personal coaching can help you achieve the results you desire, as well as giving you the necessary effective tools you need to keep striving forwards, to keep changing and progressing on your journey.

Challenge everything, especially yourself.

Alex

Contact me for Kettlebell classes and Personal Training in Southend-on-sea.
Please visit our website: ALEXKAY

3 THINGS YOU NEED TO ACHIEVE RESULTS

3 things you NEED to achieve results (and the #1 reason why you don't)

Consistency – Technique – Intensity

#1. Be consistent. Much like the tortoise and the hare, consistently (regularly) plodding through will eventually get you to where you want to be. It is sticking to you gym program diligently that will eventually show results. It is attending your gym classes every week that will eventually show results. In fact, this is the only factor that will succeed without the other two! Sure, your results will be hampered, you won't quite achieve maybe what you set out to achieve, but being consistent will trump everything else.

If you merely attended both my Tuesday and my Thursday kettlebell classes every week without every skipping a class, you will surprise yourself at the results you can obtain. You may be surprised to find out that my kettlebell classes form the base of what I do. They give me the strength and mobility to go on and do other things. If I recommended nothing else, it would be to attend those two classes every week without fail (hopefully combining that will Technique & Intensity!).

#2. Perfect Technique. Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. How you specifically perform a movement will determine what you get out of it. If your technique sucks, at best you just won't reap the benefits, because you won't be engaging what you need to get the best out of the exercise. If you're deadlifting and you're pushing your knees forward and dropping your hips, then you are engaging your quads instead of your hamstrings. You just won't get the stronger posterior chain that you should from deadlifting. At worst, you're setting yourself up to get injured, for putting yourself into a compromised position during an exercise. Repeating a movement won't fix it unless you're repeating it correctly. Whatever you do will be engrained, so do it right first time, every time.

#3. Intensity! This is the missing component to most people's training. The lack of intensity is to blame for their lack of results! You can have the best coach in the world. You can have the most well-equipped training facility in the world. You can have the most well devised progressive training program ever created – but if you do not apply yourself you will never achieve anything. Intensity is focus, drive determination... Attacking your workout with purpose. It is likely no more than 60 minutes; often less. That's a short enough period of time to push yourself hard – get out of that damn comfort zone! It isn't time to chat, it isn't time to look good. It is time to work HARD. Only with that uncomfortable effort, that hard-to-breath, that muscle-burning, that I-want-to-quit-so-badly-right-now feeling; will you be able to break free from your old self and forge a new, stronger, tougher, fitter, faster, leaner you.

Let me say it again. THE NUMBER ONE REASON PEOPLE DO NOT ACHIEVE RESULTS IS A LACK OF INTENSITY IN THEIR TRAINING.

I don't care if you do kettlebells or zumba. I don't care if you like muscle-isolating machines at a commercial gym or if you enjoy lifting Atlas stones or flipping tyres. INTENSITY = RESULTS. Lack of intensity = 99% of the population who are complaining about how 'this' and 'that' just didn't work for 'them'. Nonsense. Anything will work. Do what you love doing, and do it with intensity. It will work. Period.