Eleven years ago I had to sit my BOSIET as part of my job involved conducting offshore audits on controlled copy books. I managed the majority of the course no bother, but with the introduction of the 'air pocket' the two remaining helicopter simulations had to be completed using this new device. During the practice sessions with the air pocket I noticed that i wasn't doing too well with it, and I constantly wanted to gag when I popped the mouth piece in. I decided I would pretend to use it on the 3rd simulation. Unfortunately this was noticed, and they made me repeat the simulation, followed by a 4th time, then on the 5th attempt I was sat next to a non swimmer who couldn't speak a word of english and failed to bash the window open (remember this is 11 years ago, I believe the simulation helicopters are now single seats and everyone has their own window to climb out of). After the 7th attempt and noticing that I was now becoming very anxious, they asked me to come back the following week when I had calmed down. Hands up the following week I turned up, got dressed into my swimming clothes, opened the changing room door, and was so over consumed with anxiety, I turned back and got dressed, refusing to complete the rest of the course. I have never been bothered with water, and I am a very confident swimmer, however the whole experience with the gag reflex, running out of air due to the non swimmer and being made to do the simulation over and over again was just too much and completely knocked my confidence. When I was in Egypt in 2009, I decided to give snorkelling a go (still struggling with the mouth piece), and no sooner was I in the water trying to get use to the snorkel, some swimmers started shouting their was a large hammerhead shark - that was me out of their pronto! My partner is a qualified diver, and after seeing some of his scuba videos and experiences, and the fact he will be doing dives whilst we are travelling, I decided that I wanted to become qualified too and to share the experiences with him. I will be undertaking my PADI in December when we first arrive in Cairns (Australia) across 4 days in the Great Barrier Reef. However given my issues with the mouth piece, and taking into consideration in October we plan to do a surface cage dive to see the great white sharks in CapeTown (which will involve a snorkel) I don't want to be in a situation where my anxiety returns and the gag reflect, with this in mine I decided to book an introduction to scuba lesson with Core94 in Aberdeen, which they run every Friday evening for £25.00. The first part of the lesson involved learning how to use the snorkel properly, within 5 minutes I was managing no bother, and fairly confident that if I could duck dive and hold my breath, experiencing no problem with the mouth piece then I should be fine with the regulator. I was not nervous at all when we started learning some basic moves in the water, learning buoyancy, signals and regulating our breathing. There was only 3 of us in the group, and we all took to it very quickly, The next part involved going to the deep end of the pool, practicing once more with our buoyancy and clearing our ears. I didn't have any issues with the depth, however..... my mask flooded. Which caused me to panic, and I found myself starting to become anxious..... the instructor noticed something wasn't right and I said to him that my mask kept flooding. He mentioned that masks were not that well fitted as they are all one generic size and that he always recommends people purchase their own mask if they chose to take the sport more seriously. Once he helped me fix it the mask didn't flood again, but I had got such a scare, that I noticed my breathing was completely different, and persevering I tried to take slow breaths and calm myself down, after 10 minutes I managed. I loved the lesson, but I know that I still need to have another lesson like this to be able to deal with panicking and be 100% confident prior to completing the full course.
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For those of you who follow my personal blog, you will already know that upon completion of my masters degree, I have decided to go travelling with my partner for 6 months. In October we will be travelling around Africa for 5 weeks, with a short spell back in Aberdeen for our graduation, before flying out to Cairns in Australia to start our Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Bali and Philippines trip. After taking a year out from competing last year due to personal reasons, I made the decision not to compete this year either and concentrate on my completing my masters degree. In all honesty I think my body deserved a well earned break from all the lifting, and I wanted to try something new. When we first set up Nemesis we made a commitment to undertake continual professional development, in order to grow our business and expertise. It was something we felt lacked within the Health and Fitness Industry - a reluctance of personal trainers and nutritional advisors who do not invest in their own development. The Health and Fitness industry is an ever changing science, and in order to be the best you have to be able to adapt your teaching in line with new studies, systems and protocols. We also believe that in order to be a great coach and have a diverse clientele range you must be an all rounder and practice what you preach! I have done the 10ks and half marathons, the bodybuilding circuit... so now its time to try out hill walking and extreme sports! With our Africa trip now finalised, I have to start thinking about prep. Although I exercise regularly, when it comes to climbing, altitude sickness can affect the most fittest of people. I don't plan to do any altitude training given that it isn't really a requirement for Kilimanjaro, however the climb shouldn't be underestimated, its not going to be a walk in the park. Prep starts on the 1st of June, giving me 20 weeks before we fly out on Friday 13th of October, I am still in two minds how I am going to approach training, initially considering doing a 4 day Y3T resistance program with post workout cardio, and a 5th day of running for 60 minutes (no pace, no time, just 60 minutes solid). In addition we plan to do some hill walks over the Summer whilst writing our dissertations and see more of Scotland which will hopefully help with the preparation. We fly out on Friday 13th of October, and have combined our kilimanjaro hike with the Serengeti adventure all run by Intrepid Travel. The climb shall take six days in total (including decent), opting to stay in the mountain huts as oppose to camping each evening. Day 1: Arrive at the Kibo Hotel in Tanzania. Day 2: Hike from Kibo Hotel to Mandara Hut, a distance of 8 kilometres, where we will meet our guides and porters. Lucky for us we all have our own personal porter, who will help us carry our equipment up kilimanjaro. The first part of the track is a long walk through dense rainforest to the Mandara Hut (2,725m).. We have been told this section of the climb we will see different species of monkeys and we can choose to take an optional walk to the nearby Maundi Crater. Day 3: Another long hike over a slightly steeper stretch to reach the Horombo Huts. The total distance from Mandara to Horombo Huts is 12 km (3,780 M).. We have been told that each day we climb the scenery will change, todays climb changes from rainforest to alpine meadows. Once out of the forest canopy, the twin snow-tipped peaks of Kibo and Mawenzi will become visible, these are two of the three great cones of Kilimanjaro (the other being Shira). During the day's walk we will traverse several ravines before reaching the hut, which is set in a rocky valley. Day 4: The next phase of our journey will see the landscape becoming more rugged and rocky, and we will start to notice the air thinning. It is at this point that our walking speed and pace will begin got change. Today we walk 10 kilometres FROM from Horombo to Kibo Hut (approximately 5–7 hours, hitting 4,740m), travelling across the sparse moorland. Day 5: Today we are starting our track at 11 pm with the aim to summit Kilimanjaro in time for sunrise. The distance from Kibo Hut to Uhuru Peak is 6 km (approximately 6–8 hours), and the descent to Horombo will be approximately the same amount of time. We will be climbing beneath the stars on a zigzag path up a large scree slope, guided only by torch light, to reach Gilman's Point (5,685 m), ready to watch the sun rising behind Mawenzi Peak. We have been warned that this stretch is the hardest, with sleep deprivation, cold weather and altitude sickness. However I am sure seeing the sun rise over the ice fields of the crater will make the early start worthwhile. There is also an additional optional walk along the rim of the crater to Uhuru Peak (5,896 m), the highest point in Africa. After this we will descend back to Horombo Hut. Day 6: We will continue our descent down through the valleys and rainforest back onto the Marangu Gate. After an overnight stay we will then be flying to Nairobi, where we will have a day to explore and another overnight stay. The next day we start our Serengeti Adventure. Day 9: Board our safari truck and travel to the hilltop town of Kisii, prior to crossing the incredibly scenic Great Rift Valley. We will also be passing through the ancient homeland of the Maasai. Our overnight accommodation is either going to be a camp or in shared accommodation. Day 10: We will travel towards the Kenya-Tanzania border and to the shores of Lake Victoria. This is not only Africa's largest lake – it's the largest tropical lake in the world. Its shores are shared by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. We have the option to hire a bicycle and explore the lake's surrounds, visit an African marketplace or chill out lakeside. Tonight we will camp on the shores of the lake, at one of its least visited campgrounds, on the outskirts of a small town called Musoma. Day 11: We will travel from Lake Victoria to the gate of Serengeti National Park with a picnic lunch at the entrance to the park. We will do a game drive en route to our campsite. We have been told that our campsite is right in the action, within the park itself, and we will hear the sounds of nocturnal animals as we drift off to sleep. I think I will be worrying about what kind of animals are going about! Day 12: We have a game drive at dawn, apparently this is when the animals are most active, then head back to camp for brunch at around 11 am. We will then depart again at dusk for another adventure through the wild. We have an option of a balloon ride over the park during the day too. Day 13: Our 3rd game drive is on our way out of the park, entering the Ngorongoro Conservation area and we will be driving beside the rim of the creator overlooking volcanic peaks and rolling grasslands thousands of feet below where we will also be camping, apparently this camp site has flush toilets and hot showers with the best view in the world!!! – and although its Africa we have been warned at night on the crater temperatures can drop as low as zero - GREAT! Day 14: I can't wait for today, apparently this location of Ngorongoro is home to some 30,000 animals. Among these are endangered black rhinos, lions, leopards, elephants, impalas, zebras and hippos. Day 15: Its an early start this morning heading to Kenya border and then onto Nairobi, we plan to stay overnight in Nairobi again before flying out to meet my partners dad who will be joining us for the remainder of our holiday.... that itinerary is for another day! ;) Lainey x As coaches, nothing pleases us most when we receive a request from a new client asking us to coach them in pursuit of their fitness related goal. Lesley came to Nemesis in August last year with a goal to improve the quality of her run. Having already started running in 10k's, she wanted to take her running to the next level moving into half marathons. As most professional runners will know, following a running schedule just isn't enough when looking to improve performance. Nutrition plays a significant role, cleaning up the diet, understanding which foods will support performance, fuel your run and assist in the repair and recovery process. Furthermore, Running a marathon whether the full 26 miles or half puts a huge amount of strain on the body. According to Dr Siegel, a medical at Harvards McLean hospital he states that your body does not know whether your body has run a marathon or has been hit by a truck", further stating that as you go deeper into your race, your body starts to launch its own emergency repair response. Most injuries or illnesses caused by long distance running is failing to carb load correctly prior to the race, and poor dehydration. As part of Lesley's plan, we educated her on making changes in her current eating habits, undertaking a sports nutrition perspective to her dieting. Based up on Lesley's activity levels, excessive calorie depletion was not an option. In order to improve pace, she needed calories to fuel her runs. The key to getting this right was food sources and the right macro ratio. The second part of our job was implementing a complimentary training program into Lesley's schedules which did not affect her current Jog Scotland regime and also her life/work balance. The key to improving your run is to build core and hip strength along with strong glute muscles. As your pace increases, the amount of time your feed has contact with the ground begins to decrease. This means the less time you have contact with the ground the harder it is to run. Your body needs to be able to supply more force to the ground quickly. In order to do this you must increase your strength training, which will supply your body with more force to the ground quicker. When you incorporate more strength training into your running routine, you will be able to put out more force in a shorter amount of time to run faster. If all you do is run you will never develop high-end strength and power demands. Furthermore developing good core strength will keep your body stable and if you have strong glute muscles you can propel yourself off the ground. In comparison a lot of clients tell us they do a great deal of walking alongside running, however walking is different to running, when you walk most of the power from the push actually comes from your calf as oppose to when you run, where the power from the push comes from your hips. If you improve your core strength and hip extension strength you will improve your runs. Lesley's success was not just down to Nemesis, Jog Scotland 'Kintore' played a huge role in the running preparation and all her team who motivate one another. We are lucky to have several clients from the Kintore team working with us at the moment and they are a terrific bunch! If your considering taking up running then I highly recommend contacting Jog Scotland Kintore (you can find them on Facebook). Of course the biggest round of applause goes to Lesley, you could have the best coach in the world, but ultimately it is down to the client to do all the HARD WORK. What Lesley had to say: I really want to thank you for all your help and I know what to do to keep things steady. I'm happy with where I am. I don't want to lose any more weight, just keep working on toning my tummy. I feel stronger in my running and that's what has been commented on too. I'm a size 10 and at 41 and I didn't think I'd be that again. My attitude to food has changed - yes I've had days when I've sneaked a bag of crisps and I've slipped in a couple of Milky Bar buttons. The sandwiches have reduced drastically and if I make them myself I'll use thins, not big baguettes. Thanks a million - you really have no idea the change you have brought to me. You've been a fab, fantastic coach and I hope all your dreams come true! Lxxxx If you are interested in working with Nemesis, please drop us an email. We have helped a diverse range of athletes already achieve personal best, win trophies and make significant improvements in their performance, this includes martial arts, rugby, football, boxing, class instructors, triathlon, cyclists, marathon runners, body builders and bikini competitors. We believe that we offer more than just a coach and client relationship, we mentor and support our clients by giving them a personal service and listening to them, from sleepless nights and ill children, to badly behaved pets, husbands and wives! People are the forefront of our business. |
AuthorsSharon & Lainey are Online PT & Nutrition Advisors with a combined 18 years experience in the Health & Fitness Industry. Archives
August 2018
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