A perfect present to yourself

Have you been dieting, lost a bit of weight and now reached a plateau and are struggling to know where to go next? The temptation to drop the diet kicks in and you 'yo-yo' right back to the beginning - or worse!

We have been approached by lots of people in this situation over the course of the last few years and, just recently, it seems to be on the increase.

Exercise programme, detailed fitness testing and nutrition advice in the comfort of your home

To help -  we have come up with a 'Mini PT pack' specifically designed to bolt on to an individuals own lifestyle.  These are a cost effective alternative to joining a gym or hiring a full time Personal Trainer.  

The pack lasts for approximately 2 hours and is carried out in the comfort of your own home and consists of:

• A 30 minute diet/nutrition/lifestyle consultation
• A fitness test measuring 25 points of current level of fitness, 
• A simple, tailored exercise programme to work on at home over a four week period.
• A 30 minute exercise session designed to increase your metabolism and structured around your own space and equipment availability and covering warm up, strength, CV and flexibility.  
• Follow up emails/texts to check on your progress

All for just £50!

These sessions can be carried out as a one off  although it is recommended that they are carried out every 4 to 6 weeks to check progress and update the programme in line with your achievements.

These seem to be working really well with one client reporting a 5lb loss in their first week!

Mini PT Packs are a perfect birthday present as well and come with a gift certificate!

To find out more or to book, drop us an email or call us on 0800 612 6092

Try this high protein breakfast cereal

Try this as a high protein, kickstart breakfast alternative -

Take a 5lb protein tub and leave about 1 inch of protein powder in the bottom

Add your fav nut and seed mix.

Shake it all up well and serve with a few scoops of natural yogurt


This is what I put in mine:

oats, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, hep seed, linseed, walnuts, almonds, brazil nuts, pecan nuts, goji berries, cranberries, dried apricots, pitted prunes, pitted dates and some tropical fruit mix.

It takes a bit of smashing up to get the consistency right but boy is it worth the effort - and it is really tasty and a great source of complete proteins, minerals such as zinc, magnesium and iron (to mention just a few) and healthy fats and Omegas.

Remember to chew well - so you may need to wake up a bit earlier :@)

This mix is also perfect for a mid morning snack.

To improve it still further - soak the nuts and seeds overnight to trigger sprouting.  This enhances the mineral and vitamin content and reduces any inhibitors which make the mix difficult to digest.

healthy pancakes

Yay, it's pancake day and I lurv pancakes!  From as young as I can remember my mum used to make batched of them blattered in lemon juice and castor sugar and my first job was as a pancake chef in a local restaurant   Since then, they have been something that I love to cook, love to eat and love to flip!  Its the one food that the wife lets me fling about the kitchen too!

If you are intolerant to Gluten or if you simply fancy something that has all the flavour and texture of a good pancake but is full of complete protein (yes all 8 amino acids...in a pancake), then try adding Buckwheat instead of traditional white flour!

• 100g buckwheat flour
• 2 free range eggs
• 250ml semi skimmed milk
• 125ml water
• Oil for frying (try rapeseed oil as it has half the saturated fat of Olive Oil, does not go trans fatty at high temperature and it is lovely and light)   

I like to serve mine with a dollop of fresh butter and maple syrup...yum. 

Beat your cold with...meatballs!

I still have 'man flu' so I feel like moping about feeling sorry for myself today!  

When we're feeling like this it's usually a good idea to rest off from the workouts for the first 2 days to let our bodies rest - but that doesn't mean that we're getting lazy - oh no!

Concentrate on an healthy eating plan instead.  Feeling poorly is the perfect time to make some positive changes to your diet.  Your body craves fresh fruit, lots of water, light foods and fresh veg with all their immunity increasing properties, antioxidents and genera lovelyness - so go on, make it happy and change the way you think about your food.

I made these delicious homemade turkey, garlic and sage meatballs - low in fat, high in protein and immune boosting garlic and cold fighting sage.  Tasty and perfect with a helping of fresh linguine a herb salad and a big glass fresh water

Simply blend a slice of wholemeal bread with 2 cloves of garlic, some fresh sage and an onion, a sprinkle of black pepper and some pink salt.  Mix with a 500g of fresh turkey mince and form into small balls.  Brush with a bit of rapeseed oil and pop in the oven at 180 for 20 mins.

Meet the team ;@)

Working with our team of qualified Personal Trainers, these are the girls that are going to help out at this Aprils Fitness retreat.

Dog running will be part of the training.  Either hiding from the dogs, out running the dogs, being chased down by them or staying on their trails.  Great exercise and brilliant motivation!

Meg, Tia, Rosie and Indi

Christmas duldrums - now it's time to get back in shape

Well, here we are a few days after the big binge that saw us planning, making, shopping, inviting and spending for 3 months in order to ensure that our families had 'the best christmas ever'.

Brussel sprouts, mince pies, beer, christmas cake, christmas pudding, snowballs, beer, crisps, turkey, ham. beer, mulled wine, tv, more beer, more tv.....uggg.

Well now could be the perfect time to get your head to talk to your legs and sort out a new exercise and healthy eating regime.  Often, following a period of excess, we feel the most motivated to get back to the gym, start a diet or get out on regular walks. 

This year how about grabbing that post Christmas duldrum by the throat and shout to your legs

'come on legs - we're going to do it this time - 2012 is our year and we're going to look and feel great!!!'

To help, Crossfire have a number of 'kickstart' fitness bootcamps' starting in January at only £3 a session and arranged at times to suit most.  Alternatively, if you prefer a more personal approach,  1 to 1 Personal Training may be your thing.

For those that are already in shape but looking for a new challenge then Crossfire have designed the Spartan extreme courses.  A series of tough training with automatic registration into 2012 Spartan Sprint raising money for 'Help for Heroes' whilst tackling mud, barbed wire crawls, woodland sprints, tyre runs and lots more.

So come on get off the couch and get in shape!!!

Superman bar recipe

Try these pre and post an event in order to give you a slow release energy source as well as a great way of enhancing your mental focus or simply as a great in-between meal snack.

The final result - tasty

I have been making these bars for sometime now as a delicious and healthy alternative to a whey protein bar and as a tasty 'in-between meal' snack.  The nuts, seeds and grains provide a high level of Omegas 3, 6 and 9 whilst the fruits make the bars chewy, sweet and crunchy! Each 60 gm bar contains about 20gms of protein.

I used to make these for Southern Area belt, the British, Commonwealth and WBO Intercontinental Heavyweight boxer Scott Welch to aid his team prior to their fights.  I recall meeting up with Scott before fights and handing the bars over in an in-clandestine manner from the boot of my car!

The dough before rolling - about the size of a small bowling ball!

Anyway, here are the ingredients.  

No cooking necessary as the apricots, when boiled down, make the base which you mix into the ground down ingredients (I prefer to grind 2/3rds of the ingredients down to a powder and then crush the other 1/3rd so that the bars are nice and crunchy).    

300cl apple juice & 300g apricots (boil for base)

 400g sunflower seeds 

 400g pumpkin seeds 

 100g whole almonds 

 100g dried goji berries 

 200g whole brazil nuts 

 300g sunshine mix 

 150g dried cranberries 

 200g walnuts 

 50g quinoa 

 20g alfalfa 

 100g hazelnuts 

 100g Buckwheat 

 100g whole unroasted buckwheat  

 50g golden linseed 

 30g buckwheat flour (for dusting)

rolled out and cut 

 Roll-out and leave to cool.  Finally, coat in buckwheat flower to stop them being too sticky.

Covered in a light dusting of buckwheat flour - about 40 bars

Real life weight-loss challenge

We will soon be following the weight-loss diary of Jeanie Butler, a real mum with 2 hectic boys, a busy Partner and her own business.

Jeanie has tried the Atkins diet and the Lighterlife diet to some success in the past, shedding massive amounts of weight, only to put it back on again (and then some) when she returned to a 'normal' diet routine-the classic 'yo-yo' diet...

Jeannie and her Partner Tim who is behind her endevours

...sound familiar?

Now, desperate to lose her excess body fat, she has turned to Crossfire for help.  Using a combination of simple 'at home' exercise, taken regularly to fit into her lifestyle along with a good quality diet, we believe that she CAN do it.  Jeanie wants everyone to see how she does to encourage her to stick to the plan and to offer inspirattion to those in a similar situation.

Her diaries will start on her return from holiday in 10 days time and will include 'before' shots, exercises, diet and her emotional ups and downs as she pushes towards her goal.

Go Jeanie!!!

Cooking with Oils

Try and cook with either Olive oil which gives a smoke point of up to 400 degrees F or even better, Grapeseed Oil which is good to 485 degrees F.  The higher the smoke point then the less the nutrients in some of these 'healthy' oils break down and the less chance of any nasty trans fats (which are effectively poisons) to creep in and they hold their flavours better too..

Oh and if you buy your Grapeseed oil now you will find it at about half the price of buying it in the winter, so stock up with a couple of bottles for your stir fry's, lean bacon breakfasts and anything else that you may need a bit of high temp. lubrication for!

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!

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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