I was extremely honoured to teach at Pilates in the
Park last weekend, the launch of SecretUrban Escape. It was such a special
morning and met some lovely people. After
my fast past and dynamic Pilates class (we definitely felt the burn!), we sat
in the grass munching on delicious delicacies created by The Detox Kitchen and
listening to Natasha’s beautiful voice while she strummed on her guitar. The Detox Kitchen offered Berry & granola
pots, roasted butternut squash brown rice risotto and cleaning green juices – all perfect for refuelling after my class. Here are a few pics….
Secret Urban Escape is the brain child of Tash
& Iris who both fell madly in love with the idea of creating new and
exciting lifestyle pop up events in London.
As Londoners they realised how lucky they are to
live in such an amazing city, yet it’s so easy to get stuck in your ways and
fail to make the most of it. They believe life is for living, and both feel
passionate about creating exciting and fun events to experience London in a new
way.
With Secret Urban Escape they offer mind-blowing
pop up lifestyle events at unique, unusual and extraordinary locations
throughout London, designed to re-energise, inspire and wow you. Their next
events are listed here……
You jog, attend aerobic classes
and do butt squeezes during ‘Desperate Housewives’ and yet your ass looks
distinctly “upset” as oppose to “perky”.
Women of the world can be united
in the common dream of possessing a round firm butt as well as Brad Pitt on
delivery.
Their reasoning is mostly
aesthetic but it should be noted that training to create fully functioning
gluteals improves performance as well as potentially improving injury
prevention. Let us focus on the aesthetics for now.
Below are 3 tips to a Kick-ass
derriere
Get connected
You cannot 'firm-up' what you do
not contract. Due to sitting down for long periods of time we have lost a strong
neural connection to our “money-makers”.
If you want
an ass that does not quit you first have to get it to work.
Simply start contracting your butt
whenever you can – at the office, walking up steps, hanging out with friends,
during meetings, watching episodes of Breaking Bad and most importantly of all,
during exercise.
Take the A-Team Challenge: A is for ass
When you can contract your butt
cheeks at will, individually and to the theme tune of The A-Team, like most men
can contract their chest or bicep muscles, you are very close to the promise
land.
Exercise your
ass off...I mean ON!
Split squats, step-ups, hip
bridges and hip thrusts are fantastic for the glutes. This is not a technique
based article and plus I am a little fatigued from all the butt clenches I’ve
been doing whilst writing this article so no in depth explanation, but here are
a few videos to get you started.
Stretch,
contract and repeat
When the glutes are in a stretched
position, for instance at the lowest position during a squat, split squat, step
up and deadlift it is prime time to contract the glutes.
The more you
stretch a muscle the more you can contract it.
This is why it is so important to perform
good technique with full range of motion.
Ass of an
athlete, but which one?
Sprinting is intense, productive
and creates an ass you can be proud of. Frequent jogging for long periods of
time is ludicrously pointless and time consuming. If you jog on a treadmill the
situation is made even worse. The butts of amateur joggers are in general heart
shaped.
To add the proverbial cherry on
the cake, endurance training lowers T3 acutely and chronically possibly leading
to less energy and increased fat storage.
Walk, run, sprint or push a sled
but leave jogging for somebody else.
A rule of thumb when running is: if
you can go longer than 20min than it is not intense enough.
Summary:
1.Get connected to your butt. Learn to
contract the muscles that you want to work.
2.Contract glutes in a stretched position
during exercise and use full range of motion.
3.Don’t waste time with long distance jogging. Use
shorter intervals of training with runs, sprints and sled work
DUO are offering all Chloe's Pilates readers 20% off all beauty and massage treatments!
I love living in London it's buzzing with life an full of surprises. With trendy new restaurants opening up all over the place, fantastic markets and beautiful parks we are spoiled for things to do. Every now and again though it all gets a bit too much and some time out of town can do us all a world of good. Fancy a break that's slightly different from the rest?
Head to the Shepherds Huts Retreat in Somerset. Two and a half hours drive from London and you'll find your own little hut waiting for you. Inside you'll find a cosy setup with a double bed, kitchen, bathroom, games and DVDs. Outside there's a lovely lake with ducks a plenty and your very own little garden with BBQ and a fire pit. You won't want for anything and the complementary marshmallows for toasting on the fire are the icing on the cake.
From Shepherds Huts you're perfectly placed to get down to the stunning Dorset coast. We ate fresh seafood at the world-famous Hive Cafe in Burton Bradstock, walked the coastal path 8 miles from Bridport to Charmouth and treated ourselves to clotted cream ice creams in Lyme Regis.
So, if you feel like you need some clean country air and downtime, get yourselves down to Shepherds Huts. I couldn't recommend them enough.
1)Start
the day with a squeezed lemon or DoTerra lemonoil in warm water to
kick-start the gastric juices, digestive enzymes and to alkalize you body pH.
EVERY MORNING ON EMPTY STOMACH!!!! A pinch of cayenne pepper can be added to
enhance the benefits of the lemon and speed up your metabolism.
2)Avoid processed
sugars made from cane, beet and corn but you can still enjoy naturally
occurring sugar such as low glycemic load fruit. Most summer fruits are LGL so
we can enjoy the multiple health benefits of berries, nectarines, peaches and
watermelon. In moderation raw honey, dates and dried fruit. Xylitol and Erythritol
are not artificial sweeteners and can replace sugar with just a little impact
in blood sugar
3)Fast every
day without making any effort. Fasting 12 hours between dinner and breakfast
(Dinner pm and breakfast 7 am) gives a break to the liver improving its
detoxifying function and allowing the body to eliminate dying cells and
regenerate new ones. Taking supplements such as Liver Detox (medicinal
mushrooms, milk thistles and chlorella), Sugar Balance (alpha lipoic acid) and Pure
Way – C (fat soluble vit C) by TIERRA (available at Lomax) for 30 days will help
boost efficiently your Detox. Green Tea Extract by TIERRA will speed up your
metabolism to help weight loss as it is a great anti-ageing and cancer
inhibitor.
5)One of my
favorite simple super green juice: 2 handfuls of organic spinach, 1 fennel
bulb, 1 large cucumber, 1 lime, 2 leaves of basil, 1 g of cordyceps, 1 teaspoon
of chia seeds. Whisk apart in a little bit of cold water with a Japanese bamboo
whisker a teaspoon of matcha green tea
powder to obtain a frothy juice a nice consistency, then pour juice.
6)Best
antiaging habit: “Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress
into a positive one” says Dr Hans Selye. Exercise, clean diet, good quality
sleep and a good laugh!! Lifestyle support by TIERRA apart of being formulated
with medicinal mushrooms, also contains pan ax ginseng, which acts as a nervous system modulator
7)Stop drinking
with your meals. Drinking liquids during your meal dilutes your naturally
occurring digestive enzymes and stomach acids which makes it harder to
breakdown food. Digesting properly is crucial for health, staying slim and good
mental performance.
8)Do not skip
breakfast or lunch so you do not arrive starving at dinner and, inevitably, end
up overeating.
10)Try to finish your shower with a sequence of very cold
water and hot water, 2 or 3 times, to increase
blood circulation which helps flush
out toxins everywhere in the
body. If you can, increase the effect with a body brushing. It stings at first,
but yes, you get used after a while.
