Pedometers & Shaker Bottles Now Available to Buy in Store!

I am very happy to announce that we have two brand new products available in our store today:

• Pedometers
• Shaker Bottles

Both of these accessories are extremely useful for anyone who is conscious of their health, fitness, well being and body shape. So, I thought I’d give a bit of a blurb on each of these products.

Pedometers

Pedometers are an amazing tool that can be used extensively to monitor your daily activity. Something that I strongly suggest for my weight loss clients is to move around as much as possible to increase their calorie expenditure. A number of clients have expressed to me that they would love to get their hands on a straight forward pedometer so they could actually measure their steps throughout the day – hence why we have gone out and stocked our own exclusive range of pedometers!

When you are heading towards a weight loss goal, I do believe that you treat your exercise and nutrition as objectively as possible. A key component in doing this is to keep a record of exactly what you do and then review it regularly. You can then see how your nutrition/activities affect your rate of weight loss and modify then as necessary.

Obviously it is far more accurate to say “I have walked 10,000 steps today”, rather than “I walked around a bit today”. You could continue this for a week and aim to increase the number of steps to 11,000 per day. Without a pedometer, you are left to guess your daily levels of activity. This subjective approach to weight loss can be highly detrimental to your results because you don’t know “exactly” what you have done. Nor can you measure your activities accurately.

Another big advantage of pedometers is that by acquiring one, you will be a lot more conscious of how active you are. Using this tool regularly will boost your motivation and accountability levels because you cannot kid yourself out of “x” number of steps.

We are selling our pedometers for a very reasonable $7 each, which is an amazing price for such an accurate piece of equipment. If you are interested in buying one, please follow this link to find out more information about our pedometer.

Shaker Bottles

Shaker bottles have got to be one of the most convenient inventions for fitness enthusiasts. If you take a protein shake, it can be a nightmare stirring it in a glass (it will go gluggy), or putting it in your drink bottle (and spill powder everywhere!). So, today, we have introduced our own range of shaker bottles!

A shaker bottle is a shaker bottle right? Well, for the most part, yes. But I did test an extensive range of shaker bottles to ensure that these are leak free. I have had some bad experiences with shaker bottles in the past where you end up losing half your protein drink!

Anyway, our shaker bottles are available for only $4.70 – the best price I could find in Australia actually (and typically sell for 2-3 times this price). If you’re looking for good quality shaker bottles, grab them in our store. Click on the following link to check out our shaker bottle.

Share on Facebook

Redbak WPI Protein Powder Now Available!

We just updated our supplement store so I thought I would post a quick article on our latest products to hit the shelves. We just got our hands on Redbak WPI Protein Powder and are offering it at the best price within Australia!

Whey protein isolate is a great quality protein for the following reasons:

1. It has an extremely rapid absorption rate relative to other protein sources.
2. Whey protein has a very high biological value (BV), meaning that it can be utilised to a high extent within the human body.

The high BV and rapid absorption rate of WPI means that this is one product to get very excited about if you are:

1. Seeking to build muscle
2. Requiring a fast recovery rate from intense training sessions
3. Seeking fat loss (indirectly, as both muscle synthesis and faster recovery will enhance fat breakdown).

Now why am I so excited about this new Redbak Whey Protein? Well, previously our largest WPI that was available was the Dymatize ISO 100 at 2.27kg for $119.70, equating to $1.48 per 28g. The Redbak WPI is $169.70 for 4.55kg, equating to $1.04 per 28g. Of course, you need to buy in bulk, but there are vast savings. (And that’s not including the additional 3% in redemption points you receive!)

So anyway, if you are interested in purchasing Redbak whey protein, please click on that link and it will take you to our online store.

Share on Facebook

How to Continue Losing Weight on the Long Weekend

The long weekend is officially here! It’s just after 5PM on Friday afternoon and I am looking forward to heading away for a few days for some much needed down time.

Personally, I am focusing on reducing my body fat composition at this point in my training. So, over this long weekend, I do plan to adhere to a lifestyle that is conductive of achieving this goal.

Here are my goals over the long-weekend:

• Continue eating sensibly. I may have some wine (as you do when you’re on holidays), but I’m not going to be going overboard.
• I will perform at least 2 high intensity interval runs, as I will not have access to a gym. My fingers are crossed that it doesn’t rain too heavily and if so, I’ll have some boxing gloves as a backup!
• To go on a few walks and enjoy being outside, away from the city.
• and of course to relax!

I do believe that it is important to find a happy medium between lifestyle and achieving your weight loss goals. It would not be much of a holiday if I were to subject myself to six workouts, a highly structured eating regime without any flexibility to go out for dinner or have a glass of wine. But having said that, I wouldn’t find it much of a holiday if I didn’t exercise at all and ate like a pig (for I would feel disgusting, lethargic and tired).

Enough about me – what about you? If you are going away on a short holiday, it is important to continue with your weight loss endeavours in a smart and realistic manner. Do not expect yourself to adhere to a strict weight loss approach unless you are doing so for a particular reason (12 week challenge, upcoming competition, doctors orders etc.).

Further, don’t stress out if you miss a workout if you won’t have access to a gym! Just do Monday’s workout on Tuesday and shuffle your days around. It’s not much of a holiday if you begin stressing about the exercise that you cannot do.

Having said that, do try to move around as much as possible. You’ll feel better and also encourage continued weight loss. You would be amazed at how much weight you can lose just by walking around all day long and enjoying the outdoors. Plus, if you can actually get a workout in, you will feel great as soon as those endorphins kick in afterwards!

Always remember – the body does not take a holiday just because you are on one. So if you laze around and eat an excess number of calories, expect to gain weight.

Now the irony of this post is that anyone going away for the long weekend has probably already left! So next time I will make a note to post up an event specific blog post before the actual event

Share on Facebook

New 12 Week Body Transformation Book Released!

I’m so happy to announce that my book has finally been printed and is now available for sale!

How to Transform the Average Joe in 12 Weeks is a book that took me over four years to complete. I began writing it during my 12 week BodyBlitz challenge that I subsequently won back in 2005. During the transformation competition, I kept a very detailed log of all my training results, thoughts, triumphs and failures. Upon completing the challenge and winning the grand title, I decided to write a book on my experience.

The book begins long before the 12 week transformation competition. In fact, it begins with my struggles when I was much younger and struggled through a long bout of chronic fatigue. This did have a tremendous impact on my life, as you will read.

After setting the scene, we delve into the details of the 12 week challenge. Exactly what I did to go from “Average Joe” to the guy on the front of Australian Ironman Magazine!

Once you have been taken on my 12 week journey, I have then compiled a comprehensive “how-to” guide for yourself. Don’t expect a meal and exercise plan – it is far more complex than that. We delve into all aspects of body transformation – all of which Amino Z was established on. We will discuss such things as:

• Goal setting
• Planning
• Researching
• How to develop an approach specifically for YOU (and not just replicating what I did)
• Supplementing
• Training
• Nutrition
• Entering into a 12 week competition to win by taking amazing before/after photo’s and writing a masterpiece essay

I also provide the exact essay that I submitted during my challenge which was ultimately a vital component to my entry, as advised by the Ironman magazine editor. No where else will you find this essay (except in one of my filing cabinets).

My goal in writing this book is to educate, motivate, inspire and enlighten you to transform yourself, permanently. This is not a quick-fix guide – this is a proper how-to guide, to make some permanent changes into your lifestyle, for the rest of your life. And if you’re planning on entering into a 12 week competition (such as EAS Body-for-LIFE or BodyBlitz) – you’ll have a bit of an unfair advantage with this resource!

Check out my book, How to Transform the Average Joe in 12 Weeks in our online  store.

Share on Facebook

The Difference Between a Normal and Online Personal Trainer

Having worked extensively as both a traditional or “normal” personal trainer and an online personal trainer, I am familiar with how the two roles differ in the health and fitness industry. Whilst the two services overlap somewhat, they also differ substantially in various aspects.

So, in writing this article, it is my goal to enlighten you as to the difference between your typical personal trainer and an online personal trainer based on the services that we offer. In doing so, I hope that you will be able to make a more informed decision when hiring a fitness professional to get you to your goals.

Of course, services between companies will vary substantially. Amino Z’s online personal training is very different to many other companies or individuals. So I have written this brief article based on my personal beliefs (and also our company’s beliefs) as to what each role should provide to you.

How a Traditional and Online Personal Trainer are Similar

Let’s begin with the similarities between the two services. I believe that both fitness professionals have a responsibility to provide you with safe, effective and individualised training and nutritional programmes. All training programmes should be designed with your goals in mind (not the trainers, or someone else’s). Both services also must ensure that you feel comfortable with the programmes and you are confident with them.

The ongoing services provided by either professional should be designed to keep you motivated and accountable to achieving your goals. A personal trainer in essence is your personal coach and is there to keep you on track.

How a Traditional and Online Personal Trainer are Different

There are some significant difference between an online personal trainer and your face-to-face personal trainer.

The first and most obvious is that your online trainer isn’t there with you during a workout. So they are unable to coach you through an actual set, or identify any technique flaws. So your traditional personal trainer has the ability to motivate you during the actual workout.

However the online personal trainer has some distinct advantages over the face-to-face personal trainer.  In one respect, online, they generally have a much greater ability to add structure into your lifestyle. Rather than briefly touching on your food intake, social activities and exercise during your 1 hour face-to-face session, your online trainer can discuss all of these area’s in detail with you. You also are not limited to a specific appointment time as you can send a message online 24/7 at your convenience.

The traditional personal trainer does have the advantage of being able to communicate with you on a face-t0-face basis. This is really good if you struggle to put the required effort into your workout and need that “in the moment” motivation. The online personal trainer is the coach who is present outside of each workout and can look at your week in a highly objective manner. This ensures that everything in your lifestyle is geared toward achieving the desired results. Recording your results regularly also ensures that you can view your progress in an objective manner also.

For the amount of support that you receive, your online personal trainer does tend to be a little more cost effective. For example with our packages, for bi-weekly online support (our most common package), it’s almost half the cost of having two 1 hour personal training sessions each week.

What I have found from my personal experience is that my clients generally do get better results from online personal training. Of course, this differs on an individual basis, but this is what I have observed with a general trend.

The reason why is because I believe that having a coach available to you outside of your workout keeps you accountable and motivated throughout the week and not just during your training session. Even though many of my face-to-face clients have highly effective and enjoyable workouts when training together with me, the level of motivation exhibited outside of these sessions can often be reduced because they have no one to answer to for a number of days. An online personal trainer does solve this problem.

Ultimately it does come down to you as the individual. As you can see, the roles of each type of personal trainer does differ substantially and which service you choose will depend on your specific requirements for success.

Share on Facebook

Personal Training for the Kokoda Trail

Today I was very happy to write and publish an amazing transformation of a client of ours, Mike, who left for the Kokoda Trail first thing on Monday morning this week.

I worked with Mike intensively as his personal trainer to prepare him for the Kokoda Trail. Whilst his primary goal was to prepare for the trek, his other major goals were to:

• Reduce his weight to 80kg (from over 96kg!)
• Improve his fitness

Of course both of these would certainly be important in his Kokoda Trail preparations.

Anyway, check out these jaw-dropping before/after photo’s!:

Mike's Kokoda Trail Personal Training Before Photo

Mike's Kokoda Trail Personal Training After Photo

It would come as no surprise that he dropped 17.5kg and reduced his waist by 20cm! He also improved his cardiovascular fitness by 56%!

Apart from this though, there was a very heavy emphasis on Mike’s endurance capacity, core strength, co-ordination and various injuries he had sustained (including two knee reconstructions a few years back).

Over the period of our training together, Mike accomplished some phenomenal results and I’m sure is now trekking the Kokoda Trail with relative ease compared to many others who attempt the trek. (It came to me as a shock that last year over 60 people were air-lifted out because they weren’t fit enough for the adventure!!).

It may surprise you that Mike did not adhere to a strict dietary programme. In fact, he regularly ate take-away hamburgers, chips and donor kebabs. But you know what – he did so in conjunction with a very healthy nutritional programme. This was the key to Mike’s success, because he had failed previously attempting to adhere to an unrealistic “healthy” eating plan. The reason why Mike is in such good shape for the Kokoda Trail is because we worked closely in developing a suitable approach to nutrition that suited him, not a “diet”.

Anyway, be sure to check out this amazing Kokoda Trek Personal Training transformation with more photo’s, full statistics and a more detailed rundown of Mike’s training!

Share on Facebook

Judging Overweight or Obese People

Probably the saddest part about the weight loss industry is the fact that overweight or obese people, who are unhappy with their body shape,  are humiliated and laughed at just because of their size. It’s an unfortunate truth of this world which is largely due to ignorance.

For a person of normal stature, it can be so difficult to understand how someone could get to such a large size in the first place. I mean, eating healthy and exercising seems pretty easy right?

I was in a discussion with a friend of mine who was speaking to me about the personal training industry. He asked me “How on Earth could you gain 50+kg without realising it? It’s not like you just wake up one day and are obese.”

It’s true – you don’t wake up one day and find yourself overweight. But what many people don’t understand is that there are often other issues that can affect one’s body-shape apart from just “being lazy”.

Sometimes it may be medically related. There many medical conditions that can inhibit weight loss – even in those who eat a relatively healthy diet and exercise regularly!

Other times, it may be psychologically orientated, which may be related to life experience, lack of self worth or self esteem, depression and so on. Food is often used as a means to self medicate because eating in excess, in the moment, can feel really, really good.

Even though I have written countless articles on how to lose weight through exercise and nutrition, it is so important to understand that for many people that struggle with their weight, it is not just about developing healthy eating habits and exercising regularly. Looking at weight loss from such a superficial point of view does not explain why many people are grossly overweight.

One of the things that the personal training industry has taught me is that everyone is completely different. You cannot look at a group of obese people and apply a blanket statement to every single one of them like “they are lazy” and that they should just “stop feeling sorry for themselves and get over it”. When you sit down and talk to someone, you often find out that there is far more to it than the obvious “exercise and diet”.

Over three years ago, I wrote an article entitled “My Transformation – Exercise and Diet Just Isn’t Enough“. I was never obese, but I was certainly overweight. In that article, I briefly touch on my personal experiences and what was going on behind the scenes.

Everyone is different and what I experienced will probably be completely different to the next person. My goal in writing this very brief article is to try to encourage compassion and understanding, whilst pointing out that nutrition and exercise does not always explain every piece to the puzzle.

Share on Facebook

Online Personal Training Rave Review in Women’s Health Mag!

What an exciting day it’s been! Today, the latest issue of Australian Women’s Health Magazine hit the shelves in newsagents and I rushed up to check out a review that was written on our online personal training services. Much to my delight, it was an awesome review!

I was Hanna’s online personal trainer through Amino Z and she mentioned that she was a staff writer for Women’s Health Magazine (a HUGE magazine – one of the most popular women’s mags) and that she was going to publish a review on the services that we provided. I was particularly glad to see that whilst she mentioned in the review that she couldn’t justify spending money on a conventional face-to-face trainer, she was “converted” with the high value of our online personal training services!

I am really glad to see that she valued our personal training services so highly – it’s amazing what a bit of education, direction, motivation, accountability and inspiration can do!

Be sure to check out our full online personal training review!

If you are interested in signing up to our highly popular personal training service, I very strongly suggest that you enquire as soon as possible. Please, do not wait until Spring hits (peak personal training time), because we are near our maximum capacity now with the number of clients we can train at any one time. It is a highly intensive 1on1 online service that we provide and so therefore we have a finite number of clientele that we can accommodate for.

Share on Facebook

Bodybuilding Supplements at Cheap Australian Prices!

Well today I spent a lot of time thinking about the supplement store where we sell a number of bodybuilding supplements. Based on some feedback we received, I had a really hard think about what we could do to improve it. So, we came up with some pretty awesome shipping deals:

1. $2 Sydney Metro Shipping (for orders over $140)
2. Free Shipping Australia wide (for orders over $300)
3. $9.90 shipping for all other orders

Plus, we have the following other incentive schemes in place when ordering bodybuilding supplements:

1. 3% rewards points awarded for online purchases (not including PayPal) – these can be redeemed for future purchases
2. Free measuring tape for orders over $200
3. Free body fat callipers for orders over $250

The bodybuilding supplement brands that we currently have available include:

• AST Sports Science
• BSN
• Controlled Labs
• Cytogenix
• Dymatize Nutrition
• Gaspari Nutrition
• MuscleTech
• Optimum Nutrition
• PrimaForce
• Prolab
• Scivation
• Universal Nutrition

Speaking from a personal note, the reason why I made the decision to introduce bodybuilding supplements for sale on Amino Z is because they are a great compliment to the personal training services that we offer. When used correctly, these products can be of amazing benefit to you reaching your goals.

However, it is important to know how to use bodybuilding products correctly. If you are quite inexperienced and wish to achieve particular muscle building goals, don’t go out and spend a thousand dollars on bodybuilding supplements! Make sure you obtain some professional advice to ensure that you will obtain the full benefits from these products.

Also, it is important to keep in mind that supplements will do you no good if you haven’t established an appropriate approach to both nutrition and exercise. As a personal trainer, I see a number of people aspiring to build muscle mass, who have invested thousands of dollars into supplements, yet go out and eat take-away on a regular basis. You need to establish a balance that will be conductive of muscle gain. I have blogged about this in the past, so feel free to go through the various articles that are available on the website.

So having said that, I hope that you can make the most of the bodybuilding supplements that we have on offer. We have ensured that they are at highly competitive and cheap prices and you will receive the best online service!

Share on Facebook

Tips When Buying Gym (Weights & Cardio) Exercise Equipment

Many of our personal training clients opt to exercise at home because they prefer not to train in a gym environment. Quite a few people fall into this category and if you are one of them, then it may be of assistance to you to know how to make smart choices when purchasing exercise equipment.

Before we begin with some tips, keep in mind that you don’t need to purchase gym equipment. To achieve nearly any health and fitness goal, you don’t “need” dumbbells, a bench, exercise machines and a treadmill. If you are on a shoestring budget, you can achieve goals without the initial investment.

However, exercise equipment can be of great benefit to you. Whilst not necessary, they can significantly enhance your results and provide you with many more exercise options to keep your training fun, safe and effective.

Establish what Exercise Equipment You Need

The first thing you need to do is work out exactly what you need. If you have plenty of exercise experience, this will be quite easy to work out. But if you have never exercised before and are now getting serious about losing weight, building muscle, toning up, improving your fitness, or any other goal, the gym equipment that is available can be completely overwhelming.

As a very (very) general rule of thumb, for most common goals, you can get by with some basic weight equipment including:

• An incline bench
• Dumbbells (hand weights) with adjustable weights
• A barbell (a bar), again with adjustable weights
• Weight plates to put on the dumbbells and barbell
• An exercise ball

Really, you don’t need any expensive machines if you are just starting out. You could effectively exercise all your muscle groups with just this equipment, which would be more than suitable for any muscle gain, toning or fat loss goal.

Meanwhile when it comes to cardio equipment, it really depends upon your preferences. Do you prefer to use a bike, recumbent bike, elliptical trainer, rower, treadmill, stepper, or something else? Pick the machine that is most suitable for you. This includes considering:

• Any injuries you may have
• What exercise machine you enjoy using the most
• Your budget
• The space you have available
• Your goals

Avoid purchasing the cheapest piece of cardio equipment that you can find. On one particular auction site, I have found so many extremely cheap treadmills – I wouldn’t touch them with a 10 foot pole! Even the best treadmills are known to experience problems from regular use; I wouldn’t like to try using one purchased for less than a thousand dollars new!

Cardio equipment can be quite expensive, so I would suggest to consider weight training equipment first, prior to purchasing cardio equipment. There are so many outdoor options for cardio such as sports, leisure activities, riding your bike or just going for a run.

Also with the cardio equipment, try picking an effective machine where you can adjust the level of resistance. As you become fitter, you will want to increase the level of intensity so you can continue to make progress.

I hope this provides some degree of assistance if you are considering to buy new exercise equipment for weights and/or cardio. You don’t have to go over the top to achieve phenomonal results!

Share on Facebook