Maria Manicaro and Cressida Abela meet Josef Mizzi, who is a qualified personal fitness trainer and nutritionist, for some helpful advice on exercise for those who are too lazy to stir from their bedroom to the kitchen unless they smell dessert.
Since most of us will soon be heading to the beach, it’s not uncommon for us to try to embark on diets or exercise regimes to shed those hideous extra pounds accumulated over the cold months from an over indulgence in comfort food.
Josef started taking gym training seriously seven years ago when he was just 18 years old. What started as a pastime developed into a passion which spurred him on to become a personal trainer. He advocates a healthy active lifestyle.
“Don’t hate your body.” That’s the first step to being healthy.
One of the basic reasons for attending a gym is to seek professional advice, until your body gets used to the new discipline. “It’s one thing to use a treadmill where you simply press a button, but it’s a totally different story when using weights.”
What is a personal trainer?
“A personal trainers’ job is to give that motivation needed whether or not my clients feel up to it”. A personal trainer ensures that people doing exercises are doing them right. This avoids unnecessary injuries and strains. “You are bound to get unwanted muscle pain after a session but at least you leave the gym knowing you’ve done it right. If you exercise with a personal trainer you’re in for more muscle pain. That means you’re on the right track.” This brings us to another point: not all exercise is good for everyone. Josef draws on the example of the "dead lifts’ that are definitely not recommended to anyone who suffers from frequent or continuous back pain.
“My clients become my friends. My role is to prioritise their safety.”
A healthy and balanced diet should complement gym sessions. “A healthy meal plan is important. This does not mean that after a workout, one cannot indulge in a tasty, juicy burger – as long as it is not done often.
Gym should only total 30 per cent of a healthy regime. The other 70 per cent comes from a balanced diet. “Abs are built in the kitchen not at the gym.”
Most of us might remember promising ourselves "I’ll go on diet from next Monday’ or "I really need to start some exercise.’ We have different reasons to get physical. Some do it for health reasons while others do it for the "feel good factor.’ Josef’s advice is that if you really want to start “stand up and do it now, otherwise you’ll never get started.”
How much is enough?
“Some people take it beyond the limit.” Attending a gym for three hours a day, seven days a week will have an adverse effect on your body. Injuries are likely to happen, sleep patterns are distorted and moods get into a twist. Your body can get over trained. “The goal is that you are functional.” Lifting too many heavy weights does not mean you will be able to survive on a running track.
On the other hand, Josef meets people who want to lose weight when in reality they don’t have to. “There is a limit to how much more weight you can lose in a healthy way.”
The Media
“The media tend to spoil the fun.” Josef notes how “the primary goal in attending a gym is to be healthy. Regretfully, the media promotes the notion that having a good body with abdominals or a flat stomach is standard practice. “The picture the media tends to paint is that something is missing if you do not have a good body.” A good body should come secondary to being healthy. Another factor which took us by surprise is peer pressure. Josef has come across boys as young as 12 and 13 coming to a gym determined to lift weights and work-out. Although it is positive to see teens pursuing an active lifestyle, everything has its own place and time.
Once you get off the couch and into your fitness pants at the gym you will realize how good it feels. Not because you are getting a nice body, not even because you are getting sexy abs but because you’re getting stronger and healthier. The gym becomes a happy place to go to because afterwards you feel fit and energetic.
A toned body is a bonus. It’s your motivation.
Below you can find more information about Josef Mizzi, qualified personal trainer and nutritionist.
https://www.facebook.com/JosefPersonalTrainer?fref=ts
