Is Stress Sabotaging Your Weight Loss Results?

Stress! The word alone can make you feel stressed out. If you’re among those feeling like you have too much stress and not enough time to deal with it, you’re definitely not alone.


This article will detail some of the physical maladies of stress, how the stress response in your body works, in particular how it affects weight loss.

Stress Causes & Symptoms

You’re probably aware stress contributes to diseases, but did you know that stress is related to 7 of the top 10 killers in Australia? Everything from the heart disease and cancer, to diabetes and suicide. In 2016’s APA Stress report, beyond work and family responsibilities, the economy, money worries, and family health problems rounded out the top 5 reasons people cited for stress in their lives.
In addition to all of these psychological factors that cause stress, you might have many physical stressors affecting your body without you even knowing. For example, poor sleep is a major stressor on your body yet most people report not getting enough sleep. Additionally, unknown food sensitivities, blood sugar dysregulation, drug supplies in the water, and poor air quality can all contribute to the stress-load on your body. I mention these additional physical reasons, not to scare you, but because, no matter the sources of the stressor, your body’s response to the stress is the same.

Your Body’s Response to Stress

Stress and weight lossCortisol is released when your body perceives a stressor and acts as a low-level type of adrenalin released from your adrenal cortex. If you’ve heard of cortisol before reading this article, you’ve probably heard that it’s bad for fat loss and that you probably have too much of it from the amount of stress in your life.

The truth is a bit more complicated than that. Cortisol is a diurnal hormone, meaning your levels of cortisol should peak in the morning (to give you energy) and slowly drop down as the day progresses so you can fall asleep at night. Basically, cortisol is the hormone of energy and alertness. In a normal cortisol cycle, cortisol, in the absence of insulin, helps burn fat along with growth hormone in the morning.

Most people, though, don’t have a “normal” cortisol cycle. For example, most individuals “need” coffee in the morning. This means their cortisol production in the morning is lower than what it should be. Coffee, or more particular, caffeine helps in the morning by causing your body to release a small amount of cortisol. This cortisol release gives you the energy you need to get past the morning but can also cause an over-stimulatory effect on your adrenal cortex, making you rely more and more on coffee over time.

Another sign of a skewed diurnal signal is when you seem to get a burst of extra energy at night. This extra energy at night can cause even more problems as you go to bed later, get less sleep and wake up fatigued, yet again, the next day. This becomes a vicious cycle that can go on for years of fatigue in the morning, energy at night, and poor sleep overall.

How Stress Affects Weight Loss

Stress and weight lossCortisol’s main job is to provide energy when confronted with a stressor. In hunter-gatherer times, stress was typically an acute situation. You were chased by a predator and either fought it or ran away as fast as you could. After the stressor was over, you went about your life. In today’s society, the stress is almost constant and the chronic nature of stress can cause a number of issues when it comes to weight loss and health, especially when combined with easy access to unhealthy foods.

When cortisol is chronically released from an over-abundance of emotional and physical stress your body reacts in three main ways that negatively affects fat loss:

Weight Loss Problem #1: Cortisol Makes Cells Less Responsive

First, cortisol affects the receptor sites of other hormones making the cells less responsive to their signals. For example, Type II Diabetes is a disease where sufficient insulin is produced, but your body’s cells can’t read the insulin signal. This is called insulin resistance and the onset of insulin resistance typically leads to diabetes when not acted upon with correct dietary and activity changes. When insulin remains high (as happens when you have insulin resistance) your body will not release fat from its fat cells. This basically traps the fat you have into their cells, even if you go on a diet. This is why for some people, low carb diets can work wonders (because they had underlying insulin resistance).

Leptin is another hormone that plays a key role in losing weight. Leptin is a hormone released from your fat cells and acts as a thermostat to gauge how much fat you have and how fast you’re losing it. When leptin levels are high and your brain can read the signal you feel full and don’t over-eat. If your brain can’t read the signal though you have leptin resistance and feel hungry all the time. Generally, if you have insulin resistance, you also have leptin resistance.

Excessive stress and it’s concurrent release of cortisol negatively effects the receptors for both insulin and leptin, making it harder for your body to read the signals of those hormones. If your body can’t read the signals for insulin, fat stays trapped in your cells. If you can’t read the signals for leptin, you’re hungry all the time. Both of these things place you on an uphill battle when it comes to losing weight.

Weight Loss Problem #2: Cortisol Increases Inflammation

The second way cortisol negatively effects fat loss is by increasing inflammation throughout the body, via very scientific names such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), Tumor necrotic factor- alpha (TNF-A), etc.

Your body has different types of fat that reacts differently. For example, the fat under your skin – the fat that you can grab—is called subcutaneous fat. Another type of fat – lying deeper within your body and surrounding your organs—is called visceral fat. If you’ve ever seen someone with a “beer belly” then you’ve seen someone with a lot of visceral fat. Your body will preferentially store more visceral fat when under stress and why the waist-to-hip ratio can be a strong marker for health.

Visceral fat is considered more dangerous than subcutaneous fat for two reasons. First, visceral fat releases the same inflammatory signals cortisol does. Second, since it surrounds your organs, you increase your odds of organ damage.

Therefore, stress signals increase your likelihood of storing more visceral fat (unhealthy fat), while having more visceral fat increases the release of inflammatory signals. This causes a cycle of inflammation and increased visceral fat storage leading to more inflammation and so on.

Weight Loss Problem #3: Cortisol Dysregulates Hunger Hormones

The third way cortisol negatively effects fat loss is through a dysregulation of hunger hormones, in particular Ghrelin and Leptin. Leptin, as mentioned above, helps to control your appetite. When you’re overly stressed, leptin levels will drop, making you hungrier. “Growling Ghrelin” is a hormone released anytime you’re hungry and increases dramatically when you’re overly stressed.

The combination of a lower amount of the “anti-hunger” hormone Leptin, and an increase in the “hunger hormone” Ghrelin, causes people to over-eat. In particular, this combination has people reaching for fast-acting carb foods to spike their blood sugar as insulin helps blunt cortisol levels. In other words, you’re more prone to reach for the snickers bar than the broccoli and chicken because your body wants a quick release of sugar to help bring down your cortisol levels.

This can become another vicious cycle as high blood sugar causes an insulin spike, typically followed by a sharp drop in blood sugar. That drop in blood sugar causes your body to release cortisol to help stabilize your blood sugar. That increase in cortisol though also increases your hunger hormones (in particular Ghrelin) so you once again are more prone to reach for more sugary foods causing a rollercoaster of insulin spikes and dips.

HIIT It ! What It Is and How It Works

HIIT is a specialized form of interval training that involves short intervals of maximum intensity exercise separated by longer intervals of low to moderate intensity exercise. Because it involves briefly pushing yourself beyond the upper end of your aerobic exercise zone, it offers you several advantages that traditional steady-state exercise (where you keep your heart rate within your aerobic zone) can’t provide:

HIIT trains and conditions both your anaerobic and aerobic energy systems. You train your anaerobic system with brief, all-out efforts, like when you have to push to make it up a hill, sprint the last few hundred yards of a distance race, or run and hide from your spouse after saying the wrong thing.


HIIT increases the amount of calories you burn during your exercise session and afterward because it increases the length of time it takes your body to recover from each exercise session.


HIIT causes metabolic adaptations that enable you to use more fat as fuel under a variety of conditions. This will improve your athletic endurance as well as your fat-burning potential.


HIIT appears to limit muscle loss that can occur with weight loss, in comparison to traditional steady-state cardio exercise of longer duration.


To get the benefits HIIT, you need to push yourself past the upper end of your aerobic zone and allow your body to replenish your anaerobic energy system during the recovery intervals.
The key element of HIIT that makes it different from other forms of interval training is that the high intensity intervals involve maximum effort, not simply a higher heart rate. There are many different approaches to HIIT, each involving different numbers of high and low intensity intervals, different levels of intensity during the low intensity intervals, different lengths of time for each interval, and different numbers of training sessions per week. If you want to use HIIT to improve performance for a particular sport or activity, you’ll need to tailor your training program to the specific needs and demands of your activity.


General HIIT Guidelines

HIIT is designed for people whose primary concerns are boosting overall cardiovascular fitness, endurance, and fat loss, without losing the muscle mass they already have.Before starting any HIIT program, you should be able to exercise for at least 20-30 minutes at 70-85% of your estimated maximum heart rate, without exhausting yourself or having problems.Because HIIT is physically demanding, it’s important to gradually build up your fitness buddy training program so that you don’t overdo it.

Always warm up and cool down for at least five minutes before and after each HIIT session


Benefits of High Intensity Interval Training!

It will cut the amount of time you are required to workout each week down!!!!

It will help you increase lean muscle mass to give you a more toned appearance for the girls and for the boys will help increase muscle bulk and performance (the difference here is because of the different levels of testosterone and growth hormones in men and women)!

It will Increase your aerobic and anaerobic capacities! Make you fitter and do it faster!

Did I mention turn your body into a fat burning machine!!

Hiit Studies! The proof that our hard work we will pay off!


One of the earliest studies, done by researchers at Laval University (Ste-Foy, Quebec, Canada), kept it basic, using two groups in a months-long experiment. One group followed a 15-week program using HIIT while the other performed only steady-state cardio for 20 weeks. Proponents of steady-state training were pleased to hear that those subjects burned 15,000 calories more than their HIIT counterparts. Those who followed the HIIT program, however, lost significantly more bodyfat. A 2001 study from East Tennessee State University (Johnson City) demonstrated similar findings with subjects who followed an eight-week HIIT program. Again, HIIT proved to be the better fat-burner–subjects dropped 2% bodyfat over the course of the experiment. Meanwhile, those who plodded through the eight weeks on a steady-state program lost no body fat.

The most recent study, out of Australia, reported that a group of females who followed a 20-minute HIIT program consisting of eight-second sprints followed by 12 seconds of rest lost an amazing six times more body fat than a group that followed a 40-minute cardio program performed at a constant intensity of 60% MHR.


Turn Up The HIIT

So what is it about HIIT cardio training that sends body fat to the great beyond? There are actually several reasons, but the first and perhaps most important involves its effect on your metabolism.

A 1996 study from Baylor College of Medicine (Houston) reported that subjects who performed a HIIT workout on a stationary cycle burned significantly more calories during the 24 hours following the workout than those who cycled at a moderate, steady-state intensity due to a rise in resting metabolism. Why? Since HIIT is tougher on the body, it requires more energy (read: calories) to repair itself afterward. The previously mentioned 2001 East Tennessee State study found that test subjects in the HIIT program also burned nearly 100 more calories per day during the 24 hours after exercise. More recently, a study presented by Florida State University (Tallahassee) researchers at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) reported that subjects who performed HIIT cardio burned almost 10% more calories during the 24 hours following exercise than a steady-state group, despite the fact that the total calories burned during each workout were the same.

5 Reasons why Women Should Lift Weights

I highly encourage all my female clients in our Outdoor Group Bootcamps to give resistant training a go, also known as weight training.

I know you have probably heard the horror stories when it comes to girls lifting weights.
It will make you big and bulky, it’s bad for your joints, if you build muscle and stop it will turn to fat. Sound familiar?

I can tell you, I too have heard it all before.
But I am here to tell you that it is all BS and I want to share with you some awesome benefits to lifting that iron.

Are you ready?

Highly Effective For Fat-Loss – This is one of the many reasons why I love to incorporate weight training into my workouts and all of the programs I have created over the years for my clients in Milton, Bardon, Auchenflower, Toowong & Paddington.

When you do cardio, you are only burning fat during the workout. With resistant training, when you have completed a workout, you can burn fat for up to 72hrs post workout. SAY WHAT?
Yes, that’s right. This is commonly known as the “after burn” or officially known as EPOC (Excess post-exercises oxygen consumption)

When your body uses more oxygen, it requires more energy expenditure and an increased metabolic rate.

More Muscle More Fat-Loss – As you start to build muscle
and increase your strength, your body will use calories more efficiently.

One of the sayings I have always followed is “The more muscle you have, the more fat you will burn”
I think that is a win win right there.
Increased Energy – When you weight train, your brain releases endorphins throughout the body leaving you feeling amazing, on top of the world and you are full of energy.
This almost “euphoria” like feeling boosts your mood, leaves you feeling more energized and positive.

Stress Relief – Exercise overall is one of the best ways to release any tension or stress that you may have built up.
Researchers have consistently found that those who weight train regularly tend to manage their stress levels better and experience fewer adverse reactions to stressful situations then those who do not exercise.

Better Sleep – It’s very rare that I come across women these days that say they sleep right through the night without tossing or turning or getting up to go to the toilet, which to me doesn’t sound like a great quality of life.
I say life because the quality of your sleep then plays parts in all other areas of your life, like your moods throughout the day, productivity, attention span, alertness etc.

Strength training will improve your quality of sleep and will allow you to fall asleep faster, have a deeper sleep without having to wake up as much if not at all during the night.

So there you have it, no need to be scared anymore about lifting weights. There is no cardio machine that can shape and tone your body like resistant training does.

I believe incorporating a mix of different training styles together into your weekly workout routine will give you the ultimate results and the variety will keep you excited to work out and you will keep coming back for more.

Motivation 101

What is the hottest topic that no one ever talks about! It’s Motivation.


You always hear about how to lose 5 kgs in a week, and drink this crazy high tech shake with bcaa’s and protein, and amino acids, and blah blah blah! Well we all know the biggest “secret” to weight loss is to sort out your food and start exercising regularly and at intensity. I know some of my personal training mates are going to kill me for giving away that secret!!

The one thing that makes it hard is to get and stay motivated! (This is where we come in but I’ll talk about that later.) So here is my steps to getting you super motivated so that you can achieve anything you want to do it in regards to health and fitness!

Step 1 be SMART

First Step - If you live in Milton, Bardon, Paddington, Toowong, Auchenflower, come to our Outdoor Group Fitness Bootcamp sessions!!

I warned you before that there would be a plug! But seriously step 1 is to work out exactly what you want to achieve! Find that end point, that deep down desired result. From here you need to set SMART goals.
 
Specific – this means describe in detail what you want to look like, e.g. I want to be 56kgs, size 8 with smaller thighs, bum and stomach. Or for the boys I want 6 pack abs be able to fit into a medium t-shirt and I want bigger biceps (at least another inch in circumference

Measurable – So if you have an “I just want to get fit” goal, make it measurable. To measure my fitness at the moment I may be able to run 1km without stopping, and in fact when I achieve my goal I want to not just get fitter but be able to run 5km without stopping in under 30minutes

Attainable – Make sure that your goal is attainable don’t say in 6 weeks I want to run a marathon if in fact there is no marathons being run at that time..

Realistic – this further details attainable if you have never ran before I wouldn’t say that the marathon in 6 weeks is actually going to be a good idea, your only setting yourself up for failure which will demotivate you even further

Time Bound – Always put an end date on your goal, this will make you accountable. This willalso keep you focused, sometimes when the goal is too far away you lose sight of what you’re trying to achieve!



Step 2 Make a commitment

Go out and tell everyone what your trying to achieve, this will make you accountable and you won’t want to let them down, or be telling them that I fell off the band wagon ….
Make a bet! If I don’t have a lean ripped 6 pack by the 31st of March ill shout the boys at the pub for the whole night!

Buy something that you want to wear or book a romantic holiday that you want to look awesome for (this one also doubles as a reward)



Step 3 Pleasure and pain



Whilst your goal setting describe how you feel now. These emotions that have fuelled your decision to make change are very important! They are feelings that we don’t ever want to feel again and you need to right these down. For health and fitness this is best when accompanied by a Pre-photo; either in your underwear or something that you don’t feel comfortable in! * If you feel uncomfortable taking this photo that is kind of the point so stop procrastinating!

With pain we also require pleasure, so also write down how you are going to feel when you achieve your goal (If you right “good” you need to seriously assess why you are trying to achieve your goal and if the goal is actually yours!). Also I want you to find a photo of you when you were in the condition that you want to get into again, or if you haven’t been there yet find a photo of a celebrity that has a similar body type to you that has achieved what you’re GOING to!



Step 4 Reward



On your Journey celebrate your wins! Whenever you lose 3% of your body fat or hit the 5kg lost mark or run 10kms for thfirst time, go out and have a massage or when you get half way reward yourself with a weekend escape!



Step 5 Test and measure



You need to know if you are achieving your results that you desire so every 4 to 8 weeks make sure you check in and take measurements, check your food diary, measure your fitness level, take a new photo, try those pants on again! If what you’re not doing isn’t working or you have plateaued make a change!

*Note: Don’t whinge or complain at this point it happens to everyone and there is no stopping it! Make the decision to up your exercise or cut out the next bad thing to keep your weight moving.



Step 6 Mindset



Control the voice

That little voice in your head that says this is hard, or just a little bit won’t hurt; he is the little devil that will stop you achieving what you want! You control those thought so every time Mr devil thought comes out make sure you change that negative into a positive. Always celebrate your mental wins. When you actively make a decision that takes you a step towards your goal you will feel proud and happy, this is very important as these feelings will continue to motivate you!

Don’t Deprive!

Remember when you were a little kid and you were told not to do something? That’s right you wanted nothing more than to do it! Remember that your goals are in your hands, no one is ever going to achieve them for you!!!! So instead of saying I am not allowed this and that, remember you are allowed to have or do whatever you want, if have it just means that you are actively choosing to not to step towards achieving your goal. You must also know that it is 100% ok to make that decision, if that’s what you want to do. On the flip side remember if you want to achieve the best results possible choose not to have what you don’t need.

For example; Chocolate mud cake, quite possibly my most favourite thing in the whole wide world, and I could eat it every day! (This is probably a shock to some of you but yeah I have a sweet tooth too!) However I can eat it if I want but I choose not to because I want six pack abs. I know I don’t “need” the cake, once I know that I can choose not to want it!

I know this one is complicated but super effective get on trying to change your mindset! This maybe the single most valuable tool on this page!!!



Step 7 Check in!



Make sure that at least every 4 to 8 weeks you re-assess your goals and make sure that you still want to achieve what you are working so hard for!

So enjoy my 7 steps for unlocking the secret to you achieving all of your goals – motivation! You should be a little motivated just thinking about this!

Most important thing to remember is to stop contributing to the cancer of society that procrastination is, and TAKE ACTION

P.s If you need help with your action taking don’t hesitate to contact us and get your free action plan and goal setting session which gives you a home plan and gets you Super motivated!

And don't forget : If you live in Milton, Bardon, Paddington, Toowong, Auchenflower, come to our Outdoor Group Fitness Bootcamp sessions!!

Balancing the Scales

Hi Guys today I have decided to talk the basics about “IN vs OUT” the way we balance the scales!! This is a hot topic and follows the science of calorie counting and Points systems and how they work and how effective they are!

The Basics

To get started all of these systems are about consuming less energy (measured in calories or kilojoules) than you use. Energy in comes from food which include Alcohol, Carbohydrates, Fat and Protein! Energy out includes exercise, thermal effect of food (energy cost to digest food) and your Basal metabolic rate (energy burnt to maintain your bodies processes at rest).

What this means is:

A) If you use more energy than you Consume your stored energy (Carbohydrates and Fat) will be burnt.

B) If you use less energy than you Consume you will store excess energy (stored as Fat and fill depleted carbohydrate stores)

C) You Consume the same amount of energy as you use and the scales will balance and your body fat will stay the same

To find out how much energy you need to consume per day e-mail me at charles@redfrogfitness.com.au with your name, phone number, age, height, gender and weight.



How much difference do you need to lose weight??


To put yourself in a fat burning mode and to lose up to a kilogram per week you’re looking at creating a Difference of 2000kj to 4000kj per day not going below a total 5000kj per day without consulting a dietician (no matter what your new amazing whizz bang calorie counting app on your iPhone tells you!.) . The difference of 2000kj to 4000kj will aim to decrease your body weight by .5kg to 1 kg per week!


What are my Exercise sessions worth?


Light exercise; golf, walking, tai chi and house work will burn on average 900kj to 1100kj per hour

Medium exercise; light weight training, basketball, tennis, brisk walking will burn you about 1200kj to 1500kj per hour

Heavy exercise; heavy weight training, kick boxing, skipping, running, swimming (with intensity) and stair and hill work will burn you about 2200kj to 3000kj an hour


How can I start to do this without needing to count every kilojoule?


The easiest way to do this is cut liquid calories!!!!! This means lose the coke (between700 and 1000kj per bottle), lose the coffee (between 300 and 1800kj per drink depending on what you have!) Soft drinks (700 and 1200kj), flavored milk (up to 2500kj per bottle) most liquid calories have minimal nutritional value so if they are just contributing to your waist line, let them go! Please for me?

Little sweets are normally come with a high kilojoule price tag as well ranging from 300kj to 500kj for a chocolate that comes out of a favorites box!

Most vegetables the kilojoule content is negligible and you get a ridiculous amounts of vitamins and minerals out of them so fill up on these eats as many as you like!

Swap fruit for sweet treats; serving of fruit is normally around 300kj, a great alternative to your chocolate bar (about 1100kj) and the natural sugar in the fruit will hit the spot on the sugar craving!

The only vegies that you need to worry about are potato, pumpkin, corn which are generally higher in starch and have more kilojoules in them!



If I want to count what is the best way?


There are many food tracking apps out there which do a great job at adding up your calories for you! The most important thing with these apps is that you put in every little thing, don’t leave that 1 grape or that half a biscuit out! These are the simplest method but always follow these 3 simple rules:

1) Always under estimate your exercise

2) Always over estimate your food

3) Always write down everything! Don’t lie to yourself and if you are lying then you need to figure out why?



If you’re not losing weight

You generally need to eat less or exercise more! Always try and increase your exercise first, this is to make sure you’re not starving yourself of the nutrients that you need, this is also assuming that you have taken the first step and cleaned up your food, if your still eating a kilo of chocolate and 10 potato cakes a day I would cut them first!



Disclaimer

Always consult a dietician before making major changes to your diet.

And always consult your gp before undergoing a strenuous exercise program.

Boxing – The Beginning of your new Sexy Physique!

Boxing for fitness is a great way to burn stacks of ugly, unwanted body fat and is one of my favourite tools to use whilst with my personal training and outdoor group fitness clients!

All my clients of outdoor group fitness classes know that when the pads come out their heart rate is about to go through the roof and their arms and shoulders are going to burn! They know that they better have their sweat towel handy, because sweat is about to start pouring off them!

On top of all the weight loss benefits, boxing sessions can be set up to target the whole body! This allows you to shape and tone up everything from those most hated bingo wings (Ladies, you know what i am talking about), and help shape that keg or pot and turn it into a sexy sculpted 6 pack! (For all you boxing enthusiasts, we have an e-book on ten fat melting, stress shattering boxing workouts. E-mail me at charles@redfrogfitness.com.au to find out how you can get a copy!) or visit http://www.redfrogfitness.com.au/

Having a massive smash session that works every muscle in your body is fantastic right? Then that in itself should be enough to motivate you to get off the couch and train right?

So, why are you sill reading this ?


Ok, so may you need a little more convincing. Try boxing doubles as one of the best stress relieving exercises. Nothing gives you more gratification than putting the image of someone who has really tickled you the wrong way in the front of your mind and then smashing their face in!!! – Without all those ugly repercussions (like trying to get blood out of your nice white shirt :-)). Ok, a little graphic and I am not normally a violent person, but you all know exactly what it feels like!


Alright, so now that I have convinced you to go out and smash stuff in Milton, Bardon, Toowong, Auchenflower or Red Hill, what do you need and how do you do it?


What you need:

Hand wraps – Hand Wraps can be purchased at any good sport store and are 100% required in my personal opinion. You wont ever box in my classes or outdoor personal training sessions without them on!! They protect your wrists and knuckles from major damage! Don`t be a hero, put your bloody wraps on!


Boxing gloves – You need good boxing gloves that fit snug with your wraps on! Avoid buying cheap gloves that don`t fit right. Again, you’re only putting yourself at risk, and you will only get fat if you have two sprained wrists and can’t exercise because you didn’t buy the right gloves!


Boxing Bag – A good quality bag that suspends from a fixed point is what I find the most fun, and the most effective. There is no need to worry about it falling over or splitting after the first punch. Please note that bags will wear in, so you might just have to give them a few good beat downs before they are soft enough for you to go hammer and tong.


Focus Pads – Great if you have a partner to workout with and it is always so much more motivating! Remember to always punch across and don`t punch your partner (although fun and amusing normally ends up with someone getting hurt and then its back to just you and the bag lol). Again, make sure your focus mitts are a snug fit and provide adequate protection for your hands, remember your partner is about to give them a beat down!

Boxing Basics

We are going to give you the basics on how to throw your first punch and get possibly the most fun and effective workout you have ever had!


We are going to start with your boxing stance. Start with your left foot in front of your right foot, about shoulder width apart. Jump up and down a couple of times until your feet are in a comfortable stance, and have your weight distributed towards the front of your foot.


Next bring your left hand up in front of you until it sits in front of your nose. Bring your right hand up until it sits just underneath your chin.

Next, to make a fist curl your fingers into the palm of your hand and lock them down by spreading your thumb across the middle of your fingers.

To punch extend your left arm forward, rotating your fist so that your knuckles finish parallel with the floor.

Now to add the power! Once you have got the hang of the twisting motion, rotate your hip and shoulders by pivoting on the balls of your feet when you punch.

The final step is to always punch through the target, hitting with the knuckles of your index and middle finger making contact first.

Now its time to stat smashing the bag!


Beginner Combos

Each combination should go for a minimum of 60 seconds and work into 3 minute rounds.

Left
Right
Left, Right
Right, Left
Left, Left, Right
Right, Right, Left
Left, Left, Right, Left, Right
Right, Right, Left, Right, Left
Left, Left, Right, Right