Actress Jessica Biel's fitness routine

Jessica Biel’s circuits look like this:

Stretch: She starts with walking lunges these are great for butt and legs, and they warm you up. Warm ups and cool downs are really important as not to injure your unprepared body parts.
Cardio: Jogging (half a mile), sprints (200 meters, 150 and 100).
Core: Hanging leg raises help you flatten your abdomen.
Stair-jumping: Painful but improves nervous system and great for legs.
Weight Training: Nothing is going to improve your body as weight training, so pick up lighter weights and go.
Waist sculpting moves: Seated Russian twists with a five-pound medicine ball. 3 sets of 15 times.
Shoulders and biceps: Knees slightly bent 10-pound dumbbells for each hand. Bicep curl, then rotation to get your palms outward and twisting dumbbell press. Reverse to get into the initial position and repeat for 10 or 12 times for 3 sets.

Healthy Pork recipe

Pork tenderloin stuffed with spinach, wild rice,apricots and goats cheese.

















140 gms of quality protein and full of lovely fibre and the goats cheese is a fab, low fat calcium kick .  Despite what many may think, with modern farming methods a good cut of pork is very low in fat.

35 minutes cooking time

Serve on a bed of spinach for a high protein/ low carb. posh meal!



You will need

1 8-12 ounce pork tenderloin
¼ cup cooked long grain wild rice blend
2 Tbsp. dried apricots, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tsp. fresh rosemary, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup baby spinach
3 Tbsp. goat cheese
1 Tsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400

Butterfly cut the pork tenderloin length wise.

In a bowl, combine cooked rice, apricots, garlic, and rosemary; salt and pepper to taste.

Place spinach along the centre of the pork, top with goat cheese and wild rice mixture.

Roll the pork tenderloin, ensuring the stuffing is bound in the centre. Using butcher twine, securely tie the stuffed pork. Rub the outside of the roll with Dijon mustard.

Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Place pork roll in skillet and brown lightly, turning until meat is a consistent pinkish brown.

Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand an additional 15 minutes.

Remove butchers twine and slice inch wide cross sections. Serve immediately.

Serves 2-3

Hot chicken salad served with seeded warm pitta bread

150gms of good quality protein, Loads of soluble and insoluble fibre and complex, non-starchy carbs!

15 minutes cooking time

You will need:

1 chicken breast - diced (trimmed)

8 baby plum tomatoes - whole but pierced

half a fresh raw beetroot - diced

Handful of sugarsnap peas - whole

Celery stick - sliced

Qtr red pepper - sliced

Handful of pinenuts

Spinach leaves - torn

Rocket leaves - torn

Lettuce leaves - torn

Fresh basil

1 small chilli, stripped and diced

1 clove of freshly crushed garlic

Squeeze of lemon

'Food Doctor' Multi Seed & Cereal Pitta Bread

Olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the dressing

This is what I do:

Warm the basil, chilli and crushed garlic in a little rapeseed oil in a large pan until soft

Sear the chicken for 2 minutes until no pink showing

Add the tomatoes and cover

Cook for 10 minutes turning occasionally to infuse the flavours.

Uncover and cook for a further 2 minutes until the chicken turns golden brown.

Prepare the leaves and mix in the remaining ingredients, leaving the pine nuts for now.

Tip the contents of the pan onto the salad and gently tease into the salad until leaves show sign of wilting.

Douse in olive oil and a small splash of balsamic nnd sprinkle with the pine nuts.

Serve with warm pittas for dipping.

Yum yum!

Our top 10 tips for body transformation

Jessica Simpson

We often get asked how it is that we are able to take an actress from a size 14 to a size 8, or help an actor pile on a stone of solid muscle, all within a short space of time.  The answer is dedication, hard work, ours in the gym and a great, tailored diet plan.  All of this backed up by a Personal Trainer standing by their side every step of the way!

Chris Hemsworth

All that is lovely, but there must be an easier way-right?  Well, given more time then, yes, total transformation can be possible.   Here are some great tips to start you on your way:

1. Dedication/belief/love - Unless you have these three systems implanted in our mind then it's going to be difficult to keep going.  You need to understand what you want to achieve, believe that it is possible, set yourself measurable goals and reward yourself as you go.  Picture yourself in that size 8 - how much do you want it?  Are you prepared for the sacrifices that you may need to make to get there?  If you are then you have the belief and the love.  Good stuff!
2. Lift weights - Regardless of your gender or age, lifting weights increases muscle tone.  By increasing our muscle tone we are increasing our resting metabolic rate (the amount of calories burned when we are lounging about).  So lean tissue will burn more calories as you are exercising.
3. Calorie burn = movement - Your muscle is increasing so move about as much as possible.  Walk, run, fidget, cycle, twiddle your toes - it all adds to the increase in calories that your body needs to shift the fat.  
4. HIIT - Interval training boosts your fitness level and heart strength making it easier to do increase your strength.  It is also one of the best methods for burning calories as part of a workout. 
5. Perform your cardio after your weights session - your muscles have already stepped up their efficiency to cope with the weight training and so your metabolic rate is elevated.  Now go for a run, ride a bike, jog up and down the stairs - calories are being burnt super efficiently.
6. The 20 minute rule - after your workout your body is hunting around for sources of energy to replace the glycogen loss in the muscles.  for a 20 minute period you are a super efficient food processor with any carbohydrates going straight to those achy legs!  For a period of about an hour this benefit slowly evapourates so the sooner the better.  Feed yourself with 50gms of complex carbohydrates to aid recovery.
7. Water - drink plenty of it.  2 litres a day is the quoted norm.  Bare in mind that you can lose up to 500ml every 15 minutes through perspiration, increased breathing etc. whilst exercising.  Without the water your body will find it hard to shift the fat.
8. Protein - A simple calculation to take account of an average 80 to 90% lean body mass would be your weight in lbs x 80%  (ie 150lb person would require about 120gms of protein a day).  Protein is tricky to digest and so the body actually has to burn more calories to use it up too and it is necessary for rebuilding tissue (ie muscle).
9. Fibre - Make sure that there is always plenty of good quality fibre in your diet.  Sources such as wholemeal bread, cereals, brown rice are all great as they keep the digestive system healthy.  Other types of fibre such as those found in fruits slows down digestion and the sudden release of energy, especially from carbohydrates into the bloodstream. 
10. Scales - don't be obsessed with your weight.  Although this is an indication of how you are doing it is not the be all and end all.  Far more important is little signs such as one less hole in your belt, a dress size smaller or more energy to run up the stairs.   If you must check your weight then invest in some body fat monitoring scales which will indicate how much body fat you have lost which is a better indicator of whether your programme is going to plan.

Good luck...

Fukushima 100 Mile Challenge 10-11 August 2011

Crossfire have been asked to help with the preparation, support and recovery of Captain Bill Kawai-Calderhead and his sister Maia as they undertake to cover 100 miles around 

london in just 24 hours.  

Bill will be running and Maia will be cycling.

The following is their press release.

One Man, One Cause, One Day!

THE FUKUSHIMA 100 MILE CHALLENGE

On the 11^th March2011, a devastating Tsunami struck one of Japan’s 47 prefectures, Fukushima. Killing over 15,424 people with 7,931 still unaccounted for, the tragedy continues to destroy 
people’s everyday lives.*

One man, Captain Bill Kawai-Calderhead, is calling upon your support to help raise awareness and provide the much needed aid to Fukushima through his Fukushima 100 Mile Challenge.

Born to a Japanese mother, Bill, a serving British Army Officer, will run 100 miles around 
London in 24hrs, with his sister Maia cycling alongside. Starting on the 10^th August from the 
Japanese Embassy the 100 mile route will replicate the Fukushima nuclear reactor exclusion 
zone, and be completed by 05:46am on the 11th August – exactly five months on from the 
tragedy.

Speaking of the challenge, Captain Bill Kawai-Calderhead comments:

“After the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March this year, my family and I wanted to raise the much needed funds to help those hundreds of thousands affected. We wanted to highlight just how catastrophic this disaster has been, and running the exclusion zone around the capital 
was a simple way of trying to put the scale of the disaster into context for Londoners: if you're 
in the zone, you would have been evacuated!”

The challenge, aiming to raise an ambitious ¥10,000,000 (just over £76,000) for the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal, is calling upon public support to help achieve this target. 
Showing local support is the acclaimed Indian Restaurant, Moti Mahal, where Chef Anirudh 
Arora will prepare a delectable feast and host an exclusive auction for 75 lucky diners.

Speaking of the event Ani comments, “I am honoured that we, at Moti Mahal, can contribute to such a worthy cause. By holding an auction, we hope to raise a significant amount of money 
to help achieve the target. I wish Bill all the luck in the world, and can assure a tasty meal at 
the end of it!”

If you are interested in supporting then please look at the event’s website,
www.fukushima100milechallenge.org.uk

Best quality whey protein?

Try Muscle Fury's Designer Whey.  Blends well, tastes great with lots of flavours (including banoffee pie!!) and has a massive 28gms of quality protein per serving (that's 93:100 ratio-impressive).  Ony £32.99 per 5lb tub too.

Don't forget though that your best protein comes from a varied diet - eggs, chicken, turkey, fish, meat, nuts and veggie stuff like Quorn, Quinoa and Tofu.  Mix it up a little for variety.

http://www.musclefury.com

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

I have been looking at various types of HIIT sessions designed to be great fat strippers, perfect for building stamina and blending these with good quality, muscle building resistance work.

Today we worked on beach work - well why not, it's down the road and was a beautiful day.  You see I believe that it is important to find a balance - HIIT work can be painful but balance this with doing it on the beach it becomes something to look forward to.

The good thing about beach training is the sand is soft, therefore working us harder.  The shoreline is also angled or sloping so that we can intensify the workout either one side at a time or an 'uphill/downhill' routine.  We also have a great big puddle of water to jump in at the end to cool off!!

This is the HIIT set that we did, give it a try and let me know how you did:

20 minute warm up jog keeping heart rate at a constant 80% MHR

10 second sprint
10 second jog
10 second sprint
20 second jog
10 second sprint
30 second jog
10 second sprint
20 second jog
10 second sprint
10 second jog

Repeat this section 3 times

10 minute jog as above

Sounds easy eh!  Actually its a fairly quick routine that can easily be varied with the inclines mentioned earlier.  The addition of soft sand or shingle really sap the legs quickly so dont be fooled!  Hear rate up to 95-110% MHR  total calories burnt on this session 768 in just under 40 minutes ;@)

A great calorie burner

Most of my clients own some sort of bike but rarely use them other than the occasional pootle out with the kids. What a waste of a great CV tool!

I love to turn up with my bike, drag theirs out of the mothballs and hit the hills.  Mud, adrenaline, excitement, relief (when we find our way back) and a tremendous sense of pride at hitting the 10...15...20 mile barriers!

Oh and as for calories?  1500 plus in a session - now that's impressive.

Can I do it again Rod...please!

7 tips for weight loss

1. A good diet is the key to losing weight.  Calories intake must be balanced with exercise output and the quality of what you put in must be right.  
2. Try and spread your daily calorie allowance over 5 smaller meals rather than 3.  An 11am and 3pm healthy snack keeps your metabolism working at a higher rate.
3. No need to work out every day but try not to be sedentary on your days off either.  Become a fidget!  Thin people tend to be bigger fidgeters as they burn calories pacing up and down and wiggling their feet whilst watching the TV (Mrs. D is always telling me off for fidgeting lol)
4. When you are exercising, try and keep your heart rate up.  I always recommend keeping your heart rate at a comfortable pace (ie 60 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate) - this is the ideal fat burning zone as the body metabolises fat rather than oxygen.  An indication should be that you can keep going for longer.
5. Try and keep it fun and original so at least once a week train in a different way such as skipping, boxing, outdoor running, outdoor biking or swimming, This way it can keep your workouts new and interesting while managing to workout different muscles.
6. Just because you are losing weight which in reality means losing fat, it doesn’t mean you can’t use weight to bulk up your upper body once a week to give your workouts some variety. Use free weights  to improve your muscle tone and therefore increase your metabolic burn.
7. Have small targets every two weeks instead of one big weight loss target as it makes it all seem much more achievable and don't get fixated on pounds lost but look to reduce your overall body fat percentage.

Obesity contributes to cancer risk

Cancer cases are now rising at such a rate that the disease poses a threat to humanity comparable to climate change.

If you haven't seen your toes in a while then take-heed:

according to a report co-published by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research, a third of cancers are caused by diet and lack of exercise.According to British researcher Sir Michael Marmot,

“When we look at what’s happened to obesity levels in this country(England), it’s growing at an alarming rate. Anybody looking at the evidence would say there must be social and economic causes of that. It can’t be that 20 million people individually said, ‘I’ll think I’ll get fat.’”

Marmot acknowledged the extra challenge posed by the recession, which has led to booming sales for fast food chains. “It is going to be difficult, but in a way it’s even more urgent to ask what needs to be done, because if you do nothing and the recession forces people into cheaper, unhealthier options, that only highlights that the unhealthy options tend to be the cheaper ones.”

WCRF/AICR is calling on individuals to take responsibility for themselves and their children, while stressing the need for action from governments, multinational corporations, civil society, industry, workplaces, schools, the media and health professionals. Marmot cited the provision of cycle lanes, gyms and swimming pools as measures encouraging people to exercise. He welcomed the congestion charge in London as having prompted more people to cycle to work.

image from treehugger.com

Marmot, who is also chair of the World Health Organisation’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health, is braced for the charge that he is advocating a nanny state approach.

He cited two examples of communicable diseases, smallpox and water-borne diseases, which collective social action have largely eliminated. “We didn’t say at the time, ‘Oh, this is the nanny state providing clean water for people – people should decide for themselves whether they want to drink water with cholera in.’ Nobody would say that today. Diet is a bit more complicated but we want the availability of a nutritious supply of food.”

Obesity has social and economic causes, he added, and therefore social and economic solutions. “We’re worried in this country, but it’s also Egypt, Mexico, Brazil, middle-income countries. In Egypt two thirds of women are overweight or obese. Mexico has frightening levels of obesity in middle-class kids … they’ve gone from fajitas to fast food, with nothing in between. 

So if you have been struggling with your weight, time to get started on a new programme as this is serious stuff!
Rod 

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