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Why is it when the sun starts shining our money starts disappearing faster than a cheat meal?! If you’re feeling a little low on funds after a self-indulgent summer then fear not; we’ve got the essential trips and tricks you’ll need to keep your funds in check and your body fierce as ever.

Although a gym membership is a foolproof way of keeping fit, it’s definitely not essential for it. You can stay on top of your fitness game on a low budget, all it requires is a little compromise. That’s right, it’s time to leave those luxuries and any post-summer timber behind while you get your finances and muscles beefed up once again!

Try fitness apps or free videos

This is not something we’d usually say, but sometimes it’s okay to suspend that gym membership for a month or so (if applicable) and take up free fitness apps or YouTube videos instead. There are some great fitness channels out there that offer the same intensity and results as your regular gym workout – and are completely free of charge! Chloe Ting, Athlean-X, and Fitnessblender are among the top best channels to follow for killer workouts.

Invest in home gym equipment

You don’t need to invest in heavy machinery to get some weight behind your home workouts. Only very basic equipment is needed to feel the burn in a total body workout; a sturdy yoga mat and wall ball weights will suffice! Burpees and planks can strengthen your physique and there is plenty of medicine ball moves to tone every muscle in your body. We would recommend the Ruthless Strength 33k set which is currently on offer for £155. They are manufactured to commercial gym grade which means you can bring the perfect conditioning tool home!

Exercise outside

September and October are ideal months for taking your exercise outdoors. You can still catch the last few rays of summer sunshine but not have to endure the workouts in the blistering heat. Not to mention exercising outside is way more cost-effective than the gym! The fresh air and great outdoors will do the world of wonders for your body both physically and mentally so why not spend more time in nature’s free gym?

Don’t forget that PT Academy trainers get an amazing 25% off ALL Ruthless Strength products, so upgrade your home workout kit today!

Fitspiration from the Olympic Games to help push you further.

Fitness is all about pushing the body to its limits and the champions who compete at the Olympics are living proof of how capable we are as individuals. Team GB is currently crushing it in the 2020 Tokyo games with an impressive medal count that’s rising every day…But it’s ultimately the gold medals that count for everything, with countries having less than other teams overall but still reigning high at the top of the table with their gold count.

This perfectly summarises how important personal bests are in the world of fitness and why striving to be the best version of yourself can get you much further than simply participating ever could.

Making History

For the first time ever, this year our mighty Team GB is represented by its largest-ever delegation for an Olympic Games on foreign soil. There are a staggering 376 athletes competing and a further 22 reserve athletes across 26 sports at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
With the team morale higher than ever, it comes as no surprise that Team GB made their greatest start to an Olympic Games in modern times, winning a fourth gold medal within four days in Tokyo.

Although training and hard work are vital to your performance in fitness, team spirit and encouragement really can make all the difference in crunch time. This is why motivating your clients and fellow personal trainers with words of confidence is so important.

Kick ass women

What a year for women in sport! Thanks to impressive qualification performances from British female athletes and an increased number of female events at the games, Team GB has taken more women than men to the summer Olympic Games for the first time ever in its 125-year history.

Of the 376 athletes selected, Team GB took 201 female and 175 male athletes to Tokyo. However, the spotlight on women doesn’t stop at our nation, as one female Russian competitor took part in her eighth and final Olympics this year!
46-year-old Gymnast Oksana Chusovitina has competed at each Olympics since 1992 when she was just 16. She holds the record for the most individual world championships medals in a single event, the vault. Her story is truly incredible and proof that age doesn’t matter in fitness and success.

Are you ready to write your success story? Train to become your own fitness hero.

It’s hard to not notice the football frenzy taking hold of the nation at the moment. And although rowdy football fans and boozy pubs are not something you usually associate with health and fitness, it certainly encourages people to participate in more sport and outdoor activity.

Companies such as Sports Direct even launched a campaign over the Euros called ‘Just a game?!’ featuring Eric Cantona to promote their sportswear and inspire people to start their footy journey.

There’s no denying that football brings people together and this summer will be an even greater chance for people to unite through their love for the game after over a year of restrictions and isolation. Here are a few ways you can enjoy the beautiful game as part of your fitness regime.

Join a five-a-side

Joining a five-a-side is a fun and sociable way of keeping on top of your fitness game. It’s basically a group workout you can do with friends, co-workers or it could even be something you join to network with other fitness enthusiasts. As well as the social element, five-a-side football is of course also a great fitness boost. It enhances your heart health and increases your VO2 max, meaning you’ll be able to train at a greater intensity, hitting the heavier weights for more reps.

Organise a Charity Football Match

Charity football matches are a great way of bringing people together and giving back to the community at the same time. If you’re a member or employee of a fitness club that has an astroturf facility or similar, why not look into setting up football matches for charity? You could organise a tournament, team up with a club/company, or even take over a stadium!

Work on your kick-ups

It may sound silly, but kick-ups are a deceptively difficult skill, and also a great exercise if you want to get a proper sweat on. You’ll work out your whole body; cardiovascular exercise, your quads, hamstrings, calves and, because you use your arms a lot, you’ll tone your upper body. But it’s not just about the exercise, mastering kick-ups will have you feeling like a pro and let you get into the spirit of the football season (and of course show off your skills)!

So, maybe it’s time you kicked up your fitness level a notch? If you’re a Personal Trainer Training with PT Academy we’d love to hear about your footie-inspired workouts.

With the much-anticipated Love Island now back on our TV screens and of course, all over our phone screens, we’re getting our heads turned with a daily dose of bikini-wearing amazing looking females.
But having your body on camera 24/7 for the whole nation to see and even judge and only wearing swimwear for a whole summer is by no means an easy task. Getting those bodies to Love Island standard takes some serious work.
Here at PT Academy, we looked into how exactly you can crack on and get that bikini body without losing your head:

1.Strength training.

Muscle can be a tricky subject, especially when it comes to female fitness but simply put the more muscle you have the more fat you burn. Most women worry that by doing strength training they will bulk up but actually it’s quite the opposite. Your muscles will be lean and toned and you’ll also burn way more calories on a daily basis.

2.Get that core ready.

One of the most common places people worry about in a bikini is of course your stomach, but if you think doing hundreds of sit-ups is going to give you washboard abs, then think again. The experts say the best way to work your core is doing wall sits, planks and leg raises!

3.Morning workouts.

Exercising first thing in the morning is a sure-fire way to get your metabolism going for the rest of the day, which in turn will help you lose weight much quicker and get those calories burning throughout the day. Also, try and have something small to eat before you exercise and then your brekkie afterwards or even opt for some faster cardio if you can.

4.Push-ups.

Not got time to spend hours in the gym. Need that bikini body asap? Then push-ups are the workout for you. With just one exercise you can work six muscles including your biceps, triceps, chest, abs, glutes, and shoulders, so why train one muscle when you can train six? On your knees or on your toes this should be your go-to exercise.

So, if you want that bikini body then it’s time to start a loyal relationship with that fitness routine!

Being ‘fit’ is not limited to one type of physique. As personal trainers, we are role models to our clients in the sense that we are an example of a healthy and active lifestyle – that doesn’t mean we are an example of their body goals!

Everyone’s body type is different so naturally, no two personal trainers will ever look exactly the same. And the same goes for two different clients, who will be looking to achieve their personal best, not yours.

As their inspiration and body coach, your job as a personal trainer is to help clients achieve that personal best no matter what it may be, throwing the ‘one size fits all’ mentality to the side.

Whether you’re starting out as a personal trainer or the person being trained, here is how you can ignore the everyday stereotypes and concentrate on competing with who you were yesterday and no one else! Let’s start looking out for number one…

Be your/their biggest supporter

Praise yourself consistently for the wins, big or small. After all, you’re striving to improve your or someone else’s physique so why not be the number one advocate? A huge part of being a successful personal trainer is being able to boost client motivation, so if you notice even the tiniest bit of progress be sure to sing the praises loud! If you notice them struggling with those last few burpees, do some alongside them!

Stay in your own lane

It’s easy to compare ourselves to other people’s progress and appearance but this is an unhealthy trap that far too many fall into! The rise of social media platforms has created many ‘desirable’ body types but the only one you should be working towards is your ideal body type. As long as you’re fit and healthy, ‘in shape’ really has no shape.

Ignore the stereotypes

Nope, you don’t need to be stacked like Arnold Schwarzenegger to be a personal trainer. For some personal trainers, a six-pack and biceps may help them build their reputation on social media and get them the type of clients they want to train. But remember that for someone who is only starting their fitness journey, this type of personal trainer can be intimidating! It’s all about striking the right balance between trainer and client.

You’re the perfect personal trainer for someone out there.. They just haven’t met you yet! Get started with your course today.

They say, ‘home is where the heart is,’ but over the past couple of years it’s been where the gym is. With gyms being closed for the majority of 2020 it’s forced us to only exercise at home and live without our beloved squat racks, spin bikes and treadmills.

For most of us, this was a difficult transition, as a nation of frequent gym-goers, we became used to our regular gym routines. However, as the lockdowns came and went…and came again we started to adapt. Home gyms became the new normal and people claimed they would not ever return to the gyms.

With many people still exercising at home or simply struggling to get a space in the booming gyms, we’ve put together the best home equipment items:

1-Resistance bands.

From shoulders to abs and legs to glutes, did you know you can do a full-body workout with just resistance bands? They help increase strength and muscle and are great for a sweaty HIIT session. Also, they are much cheaper than many items, with this pro power set only £24.99.

2-Kettlebells.

So, they might not look like much, but Kettlebells are a great shout for anyone who wants to train with heavyweights but doesn’t have much storage space. Kettlebells are one of the easiest weights to move around meaning you can increase your weight even simple exercises like swings can burn fat and muscle. We would suggest the Kettlebell set with sizes from 4-20g.

3-Hex Dumbells.

Fed up with your weights rolling all over the place on your uneven floor? Us too! Hex Dumbbells are great for loads of home exercises, from upper to lower they can be used for squats and lunges to bicep curls. They due to the fact they don’t roll they are much more beneficial for floor-based exercises. Grab some for yourself here.

4-TRX.

Another full-body workout tool that’s easy to store and portable is the TRX! This one is great for strength, balance, coordination, and core stability. So, if your goal is to get those abs in time for crop top season then this is the equipment for you! Another item that is relatively cheap in terms of cost but high for effectiveness. Check out the Ruthless Strength trainer.

Don’t forget that PT Academy trainers get an amazing 25% off ALL Ruthless Strength products, so upgrade your home workout kit today!

Classes are back!!! After gyms, pools and other venues opened on the 12th of April it’s been a long wait for those wanting to get back to their gym classes, but the wait is now over with step 3 of the lockdown road map now allowing gym classes to resume.

However, the standard gym classes can get a bit dull, so you might be feeling a little bored of body pump. Or getting sick of spinning? So why not embrace something new?

Here at PT Academy, we believe in the power of fitness through any means from trampolining to flying trapeze, so we have looked at some of the most exciting and interesting classes across the UK:

Aerial yoga

Fancy flying through the air and exercising at the same time? Well, with aerial yoga you can, this new craze from companies like Flying Fantastic involves being suspended in the air whilst practising yoga moves. It not only increases flexibility, helps strengthen core muscles and allows you to move more freely it also looks like one hell of a good time.

Ballet Disco

Yep, you read that right the Disco Barre studio in London has launched a new fitness trend involving a hardcore ballet workout all set to the backdrop of some serious disco beats. This class helps you lose weight, tone up and improves your confidence by allowing you to move with freedom.

Trampoline fitness

Cardio can be a real killer, especially if you aren’t a fan of the treadmill or cycling, so why not hop on to a brand-new cardio class, on a trampoline! With numerous locations around the UK Bounce offer a variety of different classes from using weighted drumsticks to embrace a carnival-style routine, bouncing with barbells, and even bouncing bambinos for kids. *As seen in the photo.

Rock and roll workout

Not a fan of the dance music often played in your everyday gym class. Wanting something a little more hard rock than hard house? Well, then Rock Box Fitness is for you, a full-body workout that involved punching, kicking and smashing drumsticks to classic and modern rock tunes. Oh, and the even better news almost all their routines even involve air guitars!!

Mental health awareness week – keeping bodies and minds strong.

As a personal trainer, you have the ability to empower people through exercise but most importantly their confidence and mental wellbeing. Mental health awareness week is a great time to talk about the positive impacts personal trainers have on their clients, and why exercise can and will continue to save lives.

Exercise can be the best form of therapy for those struggling silently, and in lots of cases, it is in fact their mighty personal trainer who they feel safe turning to as both a friend and confidant. And it makes sense why – personal trainers are positive and uplifting people who are invested in improving the life of each and every client they take on.

With Covid-19 having had a profound effect on mental health, more people may turn to their personal trainers for extra support coming out of the pandemic and here are three ways you can help them feel at ease.

1.Be reassuring

Someone coming back to the gym for the first time after lockdown might feel anxious and need to psych themselves up to even get through the doors. This also applies to people new to fitness who might feel insecure about their physique, which is why it’s important that trainers are mindful of how daunting the experience can be and reassure people who need it! Especially those with social anxiety or other anxiety issues.

2.Set goals

If you have a client who has spoken to you about their mental health, setting goals in place and helping them work towards them can be a great way to help them manage their condition and boost their confidence levels. Whether it’s to lose weight, improve their fitness levels or gain more muscle, learning to work towards these goals can help them manage goals in other areas of their life, too.

3.Be understanding

People suffering from depression typically find it harder to find motivation on those ‘lazy days’ that others find easier to push through. There are ways to boost motivation when feeling depressed, however, as a personal trainer it’s important to understand the amount of effort it takes for someone with depression to drag themselves to the gym on a particularly bad day. An intense lack of motivation already makes them feel guilty about things they don’t have the energy for, so instead of adding to any guilt make sure it’s nothing but praise and understanding!

Becoming a personal trainer is becoming a hero! Get in touch at PT Academy to find your course.

April 12th marked the reopening of gyms and non-essential shops but it came hand in hand with safety regulations set by many facilities across the country.

Some of the country’s biggest gyms have announced what safety measures they will be taking to help create a covid-safe environment going forward. We’re bursting with energy at the thought of getting back inside the gym and burning off the last 3 months trapped inside – but we’re also bracing ourselves for a new normal with a few new rules to adjust to.

Before you storm the local gyms all guns blazing it will be useful to know what new laws the gyms are laying down. Some of them are pretty impressive and will be reassuring for a lot of people who were worried about returning to gyms after the pandemic. Here are the major changes you can expect to see!

1.Fresh air pumped into gyms

The UK’s popular 24-hour facility, PureGym as well as Virgin Active have announced that they will be pumping around 2000 litres of fresh air per second into their gyms to improve ventilation and create a more Covid-secure environment. Sounds like we’re in for some breezy workouts!

2.Short and sweet sessions

You may also find that gyms ask you to keep your sessions limited to one hour or less- as PureGym recently posted an update on their Twitter asking members to try and keep their sessions to one hour to enable more people to come in and use the gym safely. Sounds reasonable enough! Plus, you don’t want to be overdoing those workouts anyway as we mentioned in our previous blog – tips for your gym comeback.

3.Solo workouts

To keep everyone at a safe distance, most of the equipment you use in the gym will be spaced apart. Workout buddies might also have to be separated for the time being, as The Gym Group recently added to their website saying they don’t allow members to train with each other, even if they are from the same household. However – for health and safety they have permitted spotting while using equipment, as long as the spotter is wearing a mask!

4.Mask up & wipe down

This one goes without saying, and is pretty much second nature to us all now anyway! You can expect nearly all gyms will require you to wear a facemask when using their facility, and that you sanitize your hands upon entering. There will also be stations set up around gyms so you can continue sanitizing and wiping down the equipment you’ve used.

It seems Gyms have really cleaned their act up in preparation for the grand reopening! We hope you are enjoying being back, pumping those weights and endorphins.