When most of us think of weight training, we imagine muscly men in the gym pumping iron double their weight with thighs the size of tree trunks.
Many of us don’t associate weight training with weight loss because it seems counter intuitive to build muscle when we’re trying to slim down.
In fact, the opposite is true – lifting weights is the single most effective way to burn fat. Unlike cardio, after each weight training workout your muscles need energy to repair; meaning that your body burns a greater percentage of calories from fat.
Research shows that after a weight training workout, your metabolism can be boosted for up to 36 hours. So, after your morning workout for example, you’ll be burning more calories whilst sitting at your desk at work and whilst you’re sleeping that night – winning!
Whilst cardio is of course a good form of exercise, it can lead to the loss of muscle and fat. Weight or resistance training on the other hand promotes lean muscle mass which allows your body to burn more calories at rest. Your BMR (base metabolic rate) is the calories your body burns just to keep itself running. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories are burned even if you do nothing but ‘Netflix and chill’ all day.
To torch those calories and keep burning them the whole day, try this 45 minute workout below. I have also officially found the most stylish kettlebells out there – Heart Kettlebells (available in 4kg and 8kg). These are the perfect addition to your home gym and are versatile enough to use for a range of different exercises.
The full body workout below consists of three sets made up of four exercises. Repeat each exercise for 45 seconds before taking a 15 second rest and moving on to the next exercise in the set. Each set has three rounds and between each round there is a one minute rest period.
Set 1:
Standing pull up - Stand with your feet apart. Start with the weight at the bottom with straight arms and both hands on the kettlebell. Then pull up with your elbows coming out to the side. Hold the kettlebell up towards your chest and keep your elbows just a bit more than 180 degrees. Lower the weight back to the starting position and repeat.
Alternate lunges – Start with your left leg forward and your right leg backwards (this is the leg that will drop into the lunge.) Hold the kettlebell in your right hand and lunge, driving the weight of the kettlebell up through your lunge. After 20 seconds, swap sides and repeat for another 20 seconds.
Bent over row - Stand with your legs hip-length apart. Bend over forwards and grab a hold of the handle of the kettlebell. Keeping your core tight and your back straight, stand up brining the kettlebell with you. Do not lift the kettlebell, simply hold onto it and feel the stretch in your quads.
Mountain climbers - Place both kettlebells shoulder width apart. Hold onto the top of each and come into a raised plank position. Brace your core and bring one leg in as high as you can towards your chest, then the other and repeat for 45 seconds as fast, but controlled, as you can.
Rest for 1 min, then repeat set until you have done this set three times.
Set 2:
Kettlebell swing – Use your hips in this movement and allow the weight of the kettlebell to drive the movement (don't lift the kettlebell with your arms.) Start with hips a bit wider than hip distance apart, with both palms down grab the handle of the kettlebell with both hands. Lower your body and swing the kettlebell from between your legs out in front of you. Repeat this swinging motion for 45 seconds.
Bicep curl – Grab hold of the handle of the kettlebell with the palm of your hand facing you. Bring the kettlebell up from the side of your body into a bicep curl, stopping at 90 degrees.
Goblet Squat – Hold the kettlebell in front of you with both hands, grabbing hold of each side of the handle and squat for 45 seconds.
Side bend – Stand with your legs hip width apart. With the handle of a kettlebell in your right hand and facing towards the front, bend sideways towards your left almost like a standing side crunch. Repeat for 20 seconds and then change sides and repeat.
Rest for 1 min, then repeat set until you have done this set three times.
Set 3:
Wall sit - Place your back against a wall with your feet shoulder width apart and a little way out in front from the wall. At all times your back should be flat against the wall and you should form two right angles – one at the hips and one at the knees. Hold the kettlebell with both hands above your knees for 45 seconds
Two arm kettlebell row – Grab two kettlebells and place them in front of your feet with your knees bent slightly. Pull the kettlebells towards your stomach whilst keeping your elbows close to your body and your back straight.
Kettlebell push up – This is a tough one! Place the two kettlebells shoulder width apart and come into a push-up position with each hand holding onto a handle of a kettlebell. Come down towards the kettlebells in a push-up position and then push up away from the floor. If you can, between reps at the top of the push-up, pull one kettlebell in towards your body and then carefully lower down again. If it’s a little too much, just do a normal push up either on your toes or your knees.
Sit ups – Lie down and hold the bottom part of the kettlebell in two hands towards your chest. Sit up and bring the kettlebell with you. If this is too difficult just do normal sit ups.
Rest for 1 min, then repeat set until you have done this set three times.
This workout can be modified to a 30 minute version by doing each set twice instead of three times. Even though this is a short workout you will be burning calories throughout the day!
Leave me a comment and let me know how it goes!
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Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. We all know that healthy food prep is the key to staying on track, but in the busy world we live in and the hectic lives we lead, the idea of spending a Sunday in the kitchen preparing for the week, chopping celery and boiling quinoa makes some of us want to crawl up the wall. (Or is that just me?)
Thankfully, Pollen + Grace have taken the headache out of meal planning. Providing a wide range of delicious dairy, gluten, refined sugar and meat free options, each meal is packed with nutritious, fresh ingredients. Each meal is beautifully presented and made daily using only 100% natural ingredients so you can be assured that there are no hidden nasties as you munch away.
Pollen + Grace believe that food should make you feel beautiful from the inside out. From personal experience, when my diary is packed and I feel like a rat on the wheel, it can be tough to prepare nutritious nibbles. With Pollen + Grace you can choose healthy meals to be delivered to your door to ensure that you start and finish the day on the right track.
What I love about Pollen + Grace is that they don't believe in dieting, but rather in long term, sustainable healthy eating ensuring that our bodies are nurtured and nourished for longer than all the fast fix "12 week bikini body" programs out there suggest. Factory-free, fresh fast food like you have never seen before!
My Pollen + Grace package of goodness included breakfast, dinner and a snack - each of which were incredibly innovative, tasty, well presented and carefully prepared.
Snack: Sweet potato + peanut butter flapjack
This was an absolute liver saver! I was stuck in a waiting room for over an hour over lunch time and with no healthy food options around me - I thought I would either faint or have to eat my shoe to survive. Luckily, I remembered I had this little hunger buster in my handbag. It was absolutely delicious and filling and the best part was that it was packed with energy boosting ingredients like sweet potato, pumpkin seeds, sulphur free dried apricots, honey, sunflower seeds, raw extra virgin coconut oil (yay, yay, yay) and peanut butter.
Breakfast: Acai + chia detox pot
This is the perfect 'breakfast-on-the go'. A little pudding pot with acai, blueberry, creamy coconut milk yoghurt, almond and buckwheat granola. I'm such a fan of chia seeds so this was an absolute treat!
Dinner: The immunity box - vegan
This was my favourite meal. Grilled portobello mushrooms that were juicy and full of flavour, black rice and massaged kale all topped with a turmeric dressing (known for its immunity boosting and anti inflammatory properties) and vegan Parmesan cheese. Three words: I. Want. More.
Ordering meals from Pollen + Grace is the perfect way to ensure that you are having even a few completely nutritious meals every week or as a way to get you back on track after a holiday or indulgent weekend.
There are many other options too, so something for everyone. Pollen + Grace deliver London-wide, Monday-Friday between 8am-7pm. They require 24hrs notice on all orders and 48hrs notice on all deliveries for 10 people or more (weekend catering sorted!)
Happy eating!
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When you have frizzy or thick hair, flat irons are a necessity, not a luxury. There's a lot I expect out of my flat iron - it needs to provide shine, flatten the frizz, straighten with ease and heat up quickly.
Believe it or not, I had never been able to find a flat iron that does all of those things. I'd use one that would provide a great shine, but I'd have to work over the same strands just to get it to 100% combat frizz, which resulted in so much damage to my hair. And none ever heated up fast. Having to straighten my hair became a chore and not one that could be done quickly.
Then last year I came across the CHI Air Tourmaline Ceramic Curling Wand, which heats up in 60 seconds. Essentially - something you plug in before you put on your mascara and it's heated up to temperature by the time you've applied your second coat. It also gives my hair an amazing shine.
I then wondered if CHI had a similar flat iron... and oh yes they do, but the best part? The 
This flat iron:
distributes heat evenly
eliminates frizz
adds shine
has automatic shut-off (after one hour)
has 410 degrees max temperature
has curved floating plates (eliminates snagging on your hair!)
heats up in 30 seconds
The size of the plates are 1", which makes it manageable when creating waves versus straightening. While I have thin hair, I have a lot of it giving it the appearance of being thick. It gets tricky to straighten, but most of my hair only needed me to go over a section once. The very front is where I would go over it twice in order to get the slight curve I like.
I'm really happy with this flat iron and it's affordable, too! Do you own a CHI flat iron?
There’s no better feeling than a fresh blowdry and aer blowdry bar is just the place if you’re in need of a quick spruce up.
Natural fibre brushes, quality products, experienced stylists…this is hair heaven.
Located in south-west London’s suburb of Fulham on Old Brompton Road, is the stylish, bright and airy 
I must say, the idea of a blowdry bar had me puzzled – could a hair dryer really make that much of a difference? I am pleased to say that I was pleasantly surprised.
If you’re like me, whilst the idea of luscious curly locks might sound divine, you probably can’t be bothered going to all the effort yourself to get the look. Besides, most times I’ve tried this before a night out and it has ended disastrously with me racing against the clock before it’s time for me to leave whilst frantically trying to undo the catastrophe that half a can of hair spray and heated hair rollers have left me in. Ugh.
Trust me, walking into aer blowdry bar and leaving 30 minutes later with perfectly styled locks was worth it. Effortless, efficient and effective! My stylist was able to recreate the look I had in mind – soft, bouncy, natural looking curls – and the best thing was all I had to do was sit back and relax!
A blow dry is the perfect way to get through those annoying last few weeks before your next hair cut – you know, when you’re not quite ready for a chop but are in desperate need of something to sort the situation out?
aer is not your average blowdry bar. There are a range of services to choose from, making it a ‘one stop’ shop for pampering. Services include lash tinting and extensions, eyebrow threading, manicures and pedicures.
The salon is open from 7.30am Monday to Friday and until late in the evening most nights. This makes it possible for all of you busy bods out there to pop in before work for a morning pre-meeting ‘wake me up’ for your locks (plus an expresso to go with it!) or a quick evening pamper sesh before hitting the town.
It’s no doubt that the salon won The London Hair & Beauty Awards best blowdry bar in London for 2016 and has been featured in Vogue, Tatler and Elle as a must-visit. It’s always a sign of a successful salon when clients leave feeling happier and prettier than when they arrived. I’m glad to say that I had a little bounce in my step and a big smile on my face after visiting aer blowdry bar!
