Coach Si

Simon Smyth

We help men over 30 get back into shape, we'll discuss fitness, nutrition & most important of all, mindset. We need the right mindset in order to succeed.

  1. 06/26/2019

    THE 5 SECRETS OF STAYING FIT AFTER 40

    FULL BODY WORKOUTS Full body workouts are key, the more muscles worked means more calories are burned at rest. Include weights as a part of your training to help build up that muscle too. WORKOUT 3X PER WEEK Rule number 1 on our program is to come and see us 3x per week minimum. 1-2 sessions is not quite enough as a structured workout routine. EAT FOR MUSCLE If you're eating a healthy balance of different fruits, veggies, proteins, and whole grains, not too much sugar or processed stuff, you're in a good place. If you want to avoid losing muscle as you age, it's worth making one vital tweak. Increase your protein, aim for around 1 gram of protein per lbs of bodyweight and you will be having the correct amount of protein for your bodyweight. Protein shakes are great for topping up your protein requirements when on the go. 1-2 shakes a day is ideal. RECOVERY IS KEY A lot of blokes that I work with come to me with a dicky shoulder or knee from the past. Regular stretching, using foam rollers and going for a monthly sports massage is key to keep your muscle lose and free from injuries. Getting your nutrition right is key for recovery too. If your trying to lose weight and go too extreme on super low calories your setting yourself up for injury, as your muscles will be in a constant state of under recovery from exercise. Get the balance right with your calories so that your feeling full and recovered to avoid injuries. NEAT (Daily Steps) I talk about getting you’re steps in all of the time, even if you do workout 3x per week that’s still a tiny portion of your week. Hitting 70k steps per week is great for speeding up fat loss. I hope you found value in this short blog. Coach Si

    THE 5 SECRETS OF STAYING FIT AFTER 40
  2. 06/05/2019

    BAD BACK? BLOKE OVER 30? Got a training tip for you....

    USEFUL TRAINING TIP FOR MEN OVER 30 WHO SIT DOWN AT A DESK ALL DAY Sitting on a bike or row machine as a part of your regular exercise routine is not a good shout if you already sit down 8-10 hours everyday as a part of your job. If your training on the bike/row machine specific to your sport thats cool, however, if your going for a workout to lose weight & get fit I would avoid any piece of kit that limits free movement. Most over 30 men that I work with come to me with some sort of niggle or injury, usually bad back, knees, hips etc… Sitting for long periods of time puts additional pressure on your back and limits the mobility of your hips and pelvis which has a negative impact on the rest of your body. (everything is linked) It also puts pressure on the discs which can cause lower back pain, you know that dull ache feeling that you experience in the lower back after long bouts of sitting, that’s your back telling you off. To then sit your in your car to go to the gym and sit again on a bike is a bloody bad idea!!! When I moved away from a desk job to become a Coach, my job involved moving a lot more and less sitting, my long term knee and back problems went. We all want to be strong right, limited flexibly makes us weaker lads. - We don’t want that!! It makes sense that my performance improved in powerlifting as soon as I started getting more mobile from less sitting. I also avoid any exercise machines too, that machine cannot possibly be designed for mine and your body, functional training using free weights/bodyweight moving your body how it’s meant to move naturally and not restricted by a machine is the best way forwards and has MASSIVELY benefited my clients who sit at a desk all day. When I used to be a PT in a gym I would purposely avoid using ANY machines. for this very reason. This is why, when I did HIIT workout on holiday I avoided anything that involved sitting down because most of the time on holiday I was sat on my ass anyway grabbing a beer. When you go to the gym or have a workout try avoid any equipment that involves moving in a rigid way either Sat on your bum or using a machine. You will notice an improvement in your strength and flexibility in no time at all. Coach Si

    BAD BACK?

BLOKE OVER 30?

Got a training tip for you....
  3. 06/04/2019

    THE WHY I’M NOT LOSING WEIGHT STARTER PACK

    I speak to men everyday and have done in the past 7+ years who say the following: “I’m eating healthy and it’s just not working” or something other statement very similar So here are a good few examples you can be self aware of and most IMPORTANTLY if you resonate with any of this PUT INTO ACTION. Knowledge is only power when you take action! ONE You drink 1-2 high calorie cappuccinos or lattes everyday. - Each of these drinks contains 300-500 kcals as much as a small meal, and guess what, they are not filling either. You can drink these drinks, just make sure you track it, it takes 2 secs to track it on myfitnesspal, after the first input the info will be saved for the next time you have that coffee. TWO You eat a “healthy snack”, a small handful of nuts for example however, your not taking into account the amount of kcals that are in those nuts. Just because a food group is healthy DOES NOT mean it’s going to help you get in shape. Nuts are fats which means they contain 9 kcals per gram compared to protein and carbs that contain 4 kcals per gram. Even if a food group is healthy is still needs to be tracked. THREE Salads are healthy too right? Same rule applies here, track EVERYTHING that goes into the salad! FOUR Most folk don’t track there sauces and condiments, it takes 2 secs to stick your plate on the scales and squirt some ketchup in and record it. Every time you add mayo and other condiments etc you could be adding 100-200 kcals per each meal. FIVE Having a beer or a chocolate bar (something unplanned) and not tracking it. Look, you might have forgotten last weeks Yorky bars but I am 100% certain that your stomach remembers. What I like about tracking your food is that it takes the guilt away from unplanned/treat foods. because as long as you track the food it’s NOT going to hinder your progress. Not tracking is going to hinder your progress. SIX Not tracking at the weekends, this is the most stupidest thing you could do, if you’ve invested time, money and effort to get in shape through the week just to throw it all away at the weekend is crazy. Here’s a quick tip which will help you tackle the weekend. CALORIE BANKING. Let’’s say your daily allowance is 1,750 kcals per day. Monday to Friday your only going to consume 1,600 kcals saving 150 kcals everyday. (750 per week) Saturday comes and you have saved 750 kcals which you can enjoy on top of your 1,750 allowance. you now have 2,500 kcals to play with on Saturday and still be on track. The message here is simple, if you want to consistently lose weight and get in shape you have to keep track of everything. Try and blag this and the results will blag you back. It may sound like a proper ball ache, I reckon I spend no more than 5-8 minutes a day weighing and entering in my food. 8 minutes less scrolling on Facebook & instagram to look and feel good is a great trade off. Period. Just “Eating Healthy” is not enough. You have to keep track, if you want to save money for a new car, you can’t just go around spending money you have to keep track. In this day and age it’s almost effortless to do this with great reward. Coach Si

    THE WHY I’M NOT LOSING WEIGHT STARTER PACK
  4. 05/29/2019

    HOW TO DIET ON HOLIDAY + my thoughts for the day

    FIRST ANSWER IS DON’T (if you can’t be assed to read on) You cannot undo all of your progress from going on holiday, so you need to get over this anxiety of “losing all of your results” mindset. Eat and drink what the hell you want and do what I like to call proper f*ck all. Do the bare minimum when it comes to exercise and activity. If you want to eat healthy and stay on track cool If you want to exercise cool. If you want to go for long walks that’s cool too. I have holiday’s where I do nothing and just eat, the last holiday I ate what I wanted but still trained because I have a comp coming up soon, if it wasn’t for the comp I would not have bothered. Remember this, training on holiday did not stop my trousers from feeling tighter and having to open up my belt to another notch. but guess what… 7 days later my body composition returned back to it’s pre holiday state. Trousers fit fine and back to my normal belt notch. and it always does. So why on earth would stress about nutrition and exercise when enjoyment and family time is MUCH more important. when all you have to do is jump back on it for 7 days after the holiday. If your on holiday right now, have an extra drink if you want too, and if that chocolate crepe tasted so good you could have another, HAVE ANOTHER!! When your on your death bed you will look back at happy memories that you made with your family and friends, you won’t look back and remember the time that you tracked your food and went to the gym on holiday. Coach Si

    HOW TO DIET ON HOLIDAY + my thoughts for the day
  5. 05/24/2019

    Slow and Hard or Fast & Easy?

    Regardless of how much information you have or how motivated you are to lose weight and get in shape it can still be REALLY hard when doing this alone. It’s most certainly possible, but bloody hard to keep your head in the game for a long enough to see big results. However, every bloke I’ve spoken to have tried doing in on their own and they failed due to the lack of TWO KEY THINGS that we all need to succeed. Sometimes the new it was missing and sometimes they didn’t. Accountability & Support. Without having these two things to back you up when the going gets tough it makes it easy to quit and give up. (been there before too?) which just makes it even harder to get started the next time round. A HUGE part of our program includes both. We even do attendance checks and directly message those who may be potentially slowing there session frequency down to give them a KICK UP THE ASS! We email our lads on a regular basis to find out what their currents goals are and offer support to help them achieve their personal goal. It’s like having a Personal One To One Service without the £45 per hour price tag attached. £45 per hour was my PT rate before starting this program, and that only included the 1 hour session. Anything on top such as nutrition etc was at an extra cost. This is why if you speak to any of our men they will happily share their personal success story and they usually do to any new lads joining to give them extra motivational boost. Our men never fail BECAUSE we don’t let them!! If you want to finally get in shape and STAY in shape for good to improve your own life which will impact EVERYTHING from your family to your career respond and email me at simon@smythfitness.co.uk and I will set up a strategy call. Coach Si

    Slow and Hard or Fast & Easy?

About

We help men over 30 get back into shape, we'll discuss fitness, nutrition & most important of all, mindset. We need the right mindset in order to succeed.