Fit4Everything’s comprehensive services include a program for you.  The actual content of each program is varied to suit your individual needs and is frequently changed to introduce variety and maintain your progress.  The generic programs are

• Personal Fitness Assessments
• Fitness Training for Adults
• Fitness Training for Seniors
• Special Event Preparation
• Weight Management
• Strength and Muscle Toning
• Rehabilitation
• Home Gym Action

Personal Fitness Assessments

Your AIM session (Assessment and Introductory Meeting) is a key feature of personal training with Fit4Everything. It is the start of every program and in modified form is repeated every few months when you renew your series of training sessions.

The Assessment covers:

• What YOU want to achieve;
• Where YOU are now, in terms of your lifestyle and general health;
• Any relevant health issues that may affect your fitness levels, the sorts of exercises you can do or which may require medical clearance or advice before commencement;
• A series of tests to evaluate your present strength, balance, endurance and flexibility levels;
• Your particular preferences or dislikes for exercising; and
• When and where suits YOUR personal needs for exercise sessions.

With that baseline, we can agree on some measurable goals and a timeline for your fitness plan.  Your Trainer has an objective basis for designing a program that is safe but challenging for YOU to help you reach YOUR goals. We also have a way of measuring your progress in future.

The importance of your AIM session must be emphasised. Consider two scary scenarios:

• A man who has high blood pressure wants to develop upper body strength. He goes to the gym and starts doing bench presses with heavy weights. That is very dangerous for such an individual: a person with high blood pressure should avoid exercises involving pushing heavy weights above the head. An AIM session would identify the risk and enable the trainer to plan alternative exercises.

• A couple go to a gym and sign up for a series of training sessions.  Their trainer, for convenience, puts the man and the woman through the same program of exercises, changing only the weights.
  • The woman (who strains a muscle in her thigh along the way) does not reach her weight loss goal, nor is she able to complete the Bridge to Brisbane 12 km run she had been hoping to complete in less than 75 minutes; and
  • The man reaches his specific targets for weights lifted in certain categories, but finds his cardio-vascular fitness level has improved very little, and that had been one of his main priorities.

On the positive side, with the AIM session, you have the confidence of knowing that the training you do will be just right for YOU and you will have the satisfaction later of being able to see just how much improvement you have achieved.

Fitness Training for Adults

Men and women in the age range 18 to 45 have many physical advantages. Physically they have the potential to do just about anything....and many do.  In this age group are the devotees of extreme sports as well as the elite competitiors in conventional sports. If thousands of people do a mass event like the Great Brisbane Bike Ride or the Gold Coast Marathon, the great majority will be men and women in this age group.

BUT...

If you are in this age group, you may also face the challenges and stresses of raising a young family, battling a mortgage, establishing a career, financing a business, pursuing higher qualifications, struggling to find the 25th hour in each day, juggling priorities and searching for lost “me time”.

Many find the good habits of their youth...sports, plenty of sleep, healthy eating, active holidays....somehow slip away. Too much good food, wine, stress, pressures on time, work, kids.........the list grows and grows and suddenly you’re thirty something, overweight, unfit, a few medical issues and middle age looms !

SO.....the choice is yours:  allow life to dominate you and run the risk of slipping towards an unfit middle age with increasing health risks OR taking charge yourself and ensuring that the best years of life continue to lie ahead.

The good news if you’re in this age group, or thereabouts, is you can respond quickly to a well designed exercise program.  And there’s more....as you get fitter, the easier it is to manage stress and any medical issues; the easier it is to handle daily life, to keep up with the kids and even target some special physical goals....

One Fit4Everything client, a lady of 40-something, recently completed her first triathlon! Another is preparing for the Kokoda Challenge.

Boxing is fun, provides great stress relief and is an excellent form of exercise for both men and women.

In your forties you may find huge difficulty in balancing priorities and finding time for things like active recreation and exercise. Making it worse, the body can start showing signs of maturity....the “middle age spread”, menopause, loss of muscle tone, reduced overall fitness levels and increasing health risks. Sedentary lifestyles and sub-optimal nutrition can exacerbate these problems.

Yet it is in these years that you lay the foundation for the rest of your life....if you are 45, half of your life still has to be lived.  What you do now in terms of lifestyle, health and fitness will have a huge impact on the quality of your future half-lifetime.

Perhaps more than in in any other stage of life, a holistic approach is important for success.  Fit4Everything will work with you to tackle the issues that keep getting in the way of a healthier and fitter YOU as we work together to improve the basics of strength, flexibility, balance and endurance.

Fitness Training for Seniors

Sixty is the new 40!

Look around you.....there is a huge range of fitness levels amongst seniors...some are fit and healthy and well able to enjoy a very active lifestyle but others are less able to do so for any of a number of reasons, including disease, past injuries and lifestyle factors. And yet...inside every senior there is a fit and active kid just bursting to get out!

The good news is that whatever may be your own starting level of health and fitness, you will benefit from a personalised exercise programs.

The AIM session is especially important for Seniors because of the wide range of starting positions.  Some will be physically well and active; others may be affected by illness and may be relatively frail.

Seniors’ objectives can range from preparing for a major Fun Run (and yes, a centenarian has completed the London Marathon...see www.bustermartin101.com) or an adventure holiday like walking the Milford Track (and a 60-something male client of Fit4Everything recently completed the notorious Kokoda Track in PNG), to something more basic and important like undertaking a carefully-structured falls prevention program to make life safer or preserving range of movement in the face of arthritis.

Wherever you fit in the spectrum of seniors’ health and fitness, you CAN benefit from a fitness program and your capabilities may surprise you!

Your program will be tailored to suit YOU and your individual circumstances and goals.

Depending upon where you are now and what your objectives are, your program could include elements such as:

• Improved capacity to participate in sporting and recreational activities;
• Restoration of muscle tone/conditioning;
• Weight management;
• Event/”Action” holiday preparation;
• Preparation for an active retirement;
• Flexibility;
• Balance and fall prevention;
• Range of movement;
• Rehabilitation after injury, surgery or illness;
• General health and fitness;
• Increased energy and well-being.

Special Event Preparation

“Without proper preparation, you run the risk of turning what should be a very enjoyable and satisfying achievement into the disappointment of failure or, worse, the pain of a nasty injury.”

Huge numbers of people enjoy participating in mass events.  As well as being important fund-raisers for several worthwhile causes, these events are great fun and can be as social or as challenging as you like.

Some people approach them as pure fun (e.g. run in a Superman outfit or a grass skirt), others enter through a team and run as group, others tackle it as a personal challenge.

These events can be very good as motivational targets for your own fitness program.

Whether you want to complete one these events in a competitive time, beat your best previous effort or simply complete the course safely for the first time, Fit4Everything can help you get there with a carefully structured preparation. No hit-or-miss, no wasted time and effort on ineffective training...we will use proven formulas to take you from where you are now, whatever your fitness level, and take you through to the excitement of the Big Event itself.

Here are a few examples of these great events:

• Cycling
• Brissie to the Bay ride for MS, 50km, annually in June (over 3000 riders)

• Gold Coast Challenge, the 100 km ride annually in October (10,000 riders)
• “The Great Brisbane Bike Ride” , several distance choices, including a “Mt Cootha Challenge” time ascent section (6500 riders)
• Plenty of others with fewer numbers happen all year round. There is usually a choice of distances and in the larger events the field is divided in sections to suit people with different performance asprirations.

• Running/jogging/walking

• The “Bridge to Brisbane” is Brisbane’s iconic mass event.  From the Gateway Bridge to New Farm, its usual distance is 12km with a 5km option, but because of extensive roadworks the 2009 route was shorter and the finish was at the Showgrounds. Usually held at the end of Winter, it has a huge following...45,000 in 2009 !
• Many Queenslanders go to Sydney a couple of weeks later for the very special “City to Surf”, a 14km run (or walk) from Hyde Park to Bondi Beach.  This is one of the biggest and best fun-runs in the world, with over 60,000 participants.
• The Gold Coast Marathon is another local iconic event, with many doing a full or half-marathon as a once in a lifetime goal.
• There are many other exciting options for mass events around the world (the sister of one Fit4Everything client did the Rome marathon!) and you can use smaller fund-raising local events as stepping stones to other goals.

• Triathlons
  • Queensland’s south east has some great opportunities to take part in triathlons (run/swim/ride), either doing a leg as a team member or the whole event yourself. The option of doing a single leg to suit your own strengths is great for many people, who for some reason cannot do one of the legs but still want to part of the event.  The Noosa Triathlon (an annual Autumn event) is huge and is linked to many other popular side events. (One Fit4Everything client, a woman in her mid-40s, completed her first triathlon at the Gold Coast in 2010).

• Adventures.
  • Personal training can also be directed to improve your overall capacity to undertake sport and active recreation.  It is essential at any age to be prepared adequately before undergoing adventure holidays such as major treks (e.g. Kokoda, Overland Track), cycling holidays, ski or kayak adventures and the like. 

.A well-prepared group traverses an awkward section of the Kokoda Track.

Fit4Everything can’t fix your golf swing, but we can improve your strength, balance and flexibility.

Again, the fitter you are, the better you will perform at your chosen sport.

Weight Management

Regular exercise is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle and is critical for sustainable weight loss.

BUT....”exercise alone is not the key to weight loss. If you are overweight, you need to adopt a healthy eating program as well.”

Fit4Everything can provide you with information about healthy eating, help you to stick your healthy eating plan and lead you in a health and fitness program to build the new you.

Fit4Everything stresses that the maintenance of a healthy weight range is more than just looking good: the scientific evidence is that excessive weight can also lead to many dangerous health problems.

Most people trying to lose weight, for whatever reasons, find they need someone to help keep them motivated, monitor their progress and help balance the nutrition management with their exercise program.  Fit4Everything is ideal for this role.

Strength and Muscle Toning

“Better muscle tone” and “more defined muscles” are as common as “less flab” in the list of health and fitness aims clients give to Fit4Everything.

Client Viv tries a reverse dumbbell fly.

• The more lean muscle you have the more energy and fat your body burns.  
• Increase bone mineral density
• Increase functional strength
• Increase power and sporting performance
• Increase joint strength and stability , so reduce injury risk
• Increased metabolic rate
• Improve posture
• Increased vitality and sense of well-being
• Decrease risk of osteoporosis
• Decrease blood pressure and the risk of cardio vascular disease
• Decrease risk of Type II diabetes

Client Jane works out during preparation for an alpine trekking holiday.

For seniors, strength training remains vital to halt and even reverse degeneration and muscle wastage that may result from long term lack of adequate exercise or a sedentary lifestyle.  Research shows that strength training does lead to strength gains in seniors comparable to that experienced by younger men and women.

Rehabilitation

Exercise is often a critical part of rehabilitation after injury, illness, personal trauma, surgical procedures or sustained medication.

If you have a rehabilitation program developed for you by a medical specialist, physiotherapist or other health professional, Fit4Everything can work with you, and if required with your health professional, on a regular basis to ensure that you complete the program effectively and where appropriate that the specialised rehabilitation is matched by general fitness improvement.

If you do not need a program developed by a specialist, Fit4Everything can develop a generic program targeted to your situation.

Home Gym Action

Home gyms can be great.  Unfortunately, many end up in garage sales or on eBay.

Fit4Everything can help you maximum the enjoyment and effectiveness of your home gym.  Our “Home Gym Action” program will ascertain what your gaols are and develop a program of exercises using your home gym that will ensure:

• Safety
• Effective use of the equipment to suit your starting level of fitness and your goals
• Regular follow to progress the exercises and introduce more variety as you improve.

So don’t let your home gym equipment rust away behind a pile of junk in the garage.....call Fit4Everything and see how to get real health and fitness benefits from your investment.