FitFarms Spain in Andalucia the South of Spain is proving to be FitFarms’ most popular course. High up in the olive hills with the nearest civilization being the magnificent hill top white washed Spanish village of Iznajar. The province is Cordoba but FitFarms Spain is right on the borders between Cordoba and Granada. Iznajar commands a position 359 meters above sea level and looks down onto the regions largest man made lake which circles over 20 kilometers. Do not worry though we don’t attempt this circular walk on the FitFarms Spain holiday retreat. However on one of the days we drive down to a spectacular viaduct and we walk along a track next to the lake which has breathtaking views. On the other side of the lake to the viaduct is a huge beach where we conduct our beach workouts and for some guests water sports which is not for everyone but in typical FitFarms style we will always find an exercise alternative. Granada the ancient medieval city dating back to Palaeolitrhic times (1000 B.C)  is the FitFarms Spain highlight. It’s approximately an hour from the villa but with a healthy packed lunch it’s worth the distance. Before we go to Granada though there is the pretty waterfall gorge walk in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Nearly all guests say it’s one of the best walks they have been on. It’s challenging but there’s different routes so your fitness can be at any level and it’s really worth the puff because the view points are quite amazing. Once the walk has completed we all tuck into the healthy packed lunch next to a stream down in the village of Monchel before we make are journey into Granada. Once in Granada we park up and everyone gets two hours of sightseeing before the trip back to the FitFarms Spain Villa.

The Scotland FitFarms weight loss boot camp has proven to be extremely popular due to the fantastic Victorian property and tailor made exercise programme.

Scotland have quite a few non military boot camps and military boot camps dotted around the country but there is not a holistic non boot camp for Scottish people to choose. We have many Scottish customers at our Derbyshire fitness and weight loss camp which is based in Matlock so it just seemed like a natural progression to open our FitFarms residential programmes in Scotland.

FitFarms Scotland is only 40 miles from the historic city of Edinburgh and one hour and forty five minutes from Glasgow. We operate a service where we collect guests from Edinburgh train station on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday and return at the end of the course.

The FitFarms Scotland retreat programme is very different than the boot camp style companies that are currently running in Scotland. The FitFarms approach is holistic covering nutriton, exercise and life coaching. Customers can join us from anything between 2 and 7 nights and when the residential programme has been completed we provide a post course programme to make sure customers stay on track after the weight loss retreat has completed.

Some of the exercises you can expect to participate in whilst at the retreat are hiking, boxercise, yoga, pilates, circuit training and HIIT to name but a few. One of the most exciting attractions being down by the Scottish and English borders is the magnificent countryside so expect some stunning, challenging but always manageable hikes.

When the weather isn’t so great we have an extremely quirky indoor fitness area which is a situated in a ball room with a wooden sprung floor.

The new dates will be advertised on the FitFarms website soon where you can book online or just call up and book directly over the phone.

FitFarms Spain

When I was down on the FitFarms London Boot Camp I devised a simple but effective lower and upper body circuit for the FitFarms Guests.

Here at FitFarms we have many guests who join us and the London holistic weight loss and fitness boot camp which is popular due to being close to the capital. FitFarms provides a free service where we collect customers from the local train station. However this is soon to be changed to a more central collection point being London’s Heathrow Airport Terminal 4.

London Boot Camp Circuit

A simple circuit involving lower body, upper body and core.

Perform 20 of each exercise in the first circuit, then 18 in the next dropping by 2 each circuit, allow a short rest between circuits if needed.

1.Squats – Muscle areas are quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, abdominal muscles, lower back and glutes.

2.Tricep dips using a chair great for building up triceps and shoulders

3.Dead bugs the main goal of the dead bug is to strengthen the core while minimizing the pressure on the lower back

4.Treadmills on the floor for a great all round lower body workout

5. Glute bridge concentrates on the glutes but also targets the hamstrings and abs

6.Round the world Lunges concentrating on the thighs and strengthening the hips

7.Press ups increasing functional upper body strength

8.Bird dog strengthening the core muscles and stabilizes the spine especially the lumbar area

9.Jacks great for raising the heart rate

The first recipe is Jen’s healthy chicken soup which she kindly shared with FitFarms whilst on the Summer holistic boot camp in London

To serve 4 people

Ingredients

2 teaspoons coconut oil

4 pints of water

8 carrots

3 leeks

3 large onions

1 stick of celery

3 chicken breasts cut into strips.

1 inch of ginger

1 whole chili without the seeds or if you like really hot food include the seeds

2 tablespoons of double cream or half a tin of coconut milk. If you would like it really rich and creamy you can add both.

Small shake of rock salt

Method

Chop the celery, carrots and leeks into cubes and put into a pan of boiling water (4 pints). Cook for 30 minutes until all the ingredients are soft.

Put the coconut oil, onions, ginger and chili into a saucepan and fry for 5 minutes on a medium heat. Then add to the other ingredients in the pan.

Mix in the coconut milk or the cream or both for a fuller flavour.

Using a hand blender blend together.

Add the chicken strips and carry on cooking for 20 minutes at a medium heat. Cut one strip in half before serving to make sure the chicken is cooked through. It should be very hot and white in the centre.

Poor into a bowl and add salt and coriander.

Chocolate Truffles

To serve 20 mini truffles

Ingredients

100 ml coconut oil

1 avocado

1 banana

2 teaspoons of Chia Seeds

50 grams of dark chocolate (over 70% cocoa)

Method

Put the coconut oil into a pan and melt.

Place a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water and melt and then add to the coconut oil.

Chop the avocado and banana and add to the pan with the chia seeds.

Blend all the ingredients together and pour into an ice cube tray.

Place in a freezer for 2 hrs. Take out and pop the truffles by pushing on the bottom of the ice cube tray.

Having had a discussion on the last weight loss and fitness boot camp in Norfolk about Indian takeaways, I ventured that I was given a new slow cooker for Christmas & had been making vegetable balti that comes out that tasty takeaways are no longer even thought about! Ok so that may be a slight exaggeration but I did promise to pass the recipe on & as I seem to have already deviated off my usual rails this week I’m staying on that train & throwing a food recipe on the tracks!

Vegetable Balti

1 Onion

2 Garlic cloves (chopped)

3 tbsp balti paste

2 tomato puree

1 tin tomatoes

300ml vegetable stock

Butternut squash

Cauliflower florets

Courgette

Carrot

Fine beans

If you would like some more wonderful cooking recipes Stephen suggests Jamie Oliver Healthy Recipes

I have put no quantities for the veg as I tend to see what I have & fill the pot from there, I don’t like wasting food so similarly I’ve added other veg if it needs using (I currently have one on the go with broccoli in it). If you’ve the time & inclination pan fry the onion & garlic first, then add the puree, paste & tomatoes & add to the slow cooker, though it works fine if you just throw everything in! Last note: ideally make it up the day before you want it & switch it on to low the next day for about 6 hours (or about 4 hours on high). Bon appetite!  Oh and a quick announcement – If you live in the London area and looking for the London FitFarms holistic weight loss boot camp we will soon be collecting from London Heathrow and taking you straight to the fabulous Norfolk Retreat which is close to Holkham beach.

The last FitFarms fitness and weight loss camp in the UK was an interesting one for me as I got to have a stab at delivering the fitness workshop which isn’t usually my domain.

We began by discussing what fitness is & what makes someone fit and it struck me that there seems to be a perception of what it means to be fit or even an image of it that is over simplistic & doesn’t incorporate fitness in a holistic sense.

We broke down physical aspects of fitness into cardiovascular, endurance, strength, mobility, flexibility & proprioception, & discussed how each aspect is incorporated into exercise & it took me back a little to when studying rehabilitation & the goals of a rehab programme -maintaining/improving cardiovascular function, strength, core stability, gait, range of movement & proprioception to ultimately get someone back to full fitness & hopefully prevent future injury. All of these aspects are important & to me add up to what makes a person fit (as I read a while ago ‘the only difference between rehab & training is the starting point’).

I often mention about compensatory movements, how if one area of the body is restricted in movement it will cause another area to take over to try & fulfill a movement – the body gets there but not in the best or most efficient way which may then cause problems, but if we can work on those deficits to begin with we put ourselves in a much healthier position; similarly we may be fit in the cardiovascular sense but if we have poor proprioception (balance/co ordination for simplicity!) our control over movements is going to be poor & again less efficient & potentially injurious.

Ultimately fitness sits on a scale & the demands of a task/exercise/sport will dictate the level of fitness needed, but regardless of the task/exercise/sport a degree of all those aspects discussed will be needed, & in the absence of a professional assessing those fitness points it’s down to the individual to recognise where their deficits lie -the things you’re not good at & then tend not to enjoy & subsequently don’t do, annoyingly are often the things you should be doing!

The third fitness and weight loss program I wrote at the FitFarms London Fitness Camp for one of our clients after my request on Facebook as as you can see based on improving stamina for walking. A slight spanner in the works in terms of exercise program planning was that to train for improving stamina with only around 10 minutes to play with is not a typical request.  However my aim with these weight loss and fitness plans was not to prove I could write an effective plan for the goal but to write one for the client. 10 minutes is what would work for them and consistency trumps perfection every time. So below i have given 4 different 10 minute weight loss and fitness workouts spread ideally evenly throughout the week, I have picked simple exercises again because it is easier for the client to adapt an exercise they understand than one they need constant coaching on and I feel I have left plenty of room for progression which will be the key to the success of the weight losss and fitness program for the client. Whether you are interested in improving your stamina or not give this session a go and let us know how you feel about it..

Timeline: 1 year

Goals: improve stamina start cycling to and from work 7 miles each way

Likes: long walks
Forward focus:

A progressive plan for improving overall stamina and fitness for the long walks planned next year

Provide more healthy option ideas around diet..

Concentrate on core area

Wants to train for around 10 minutes in the morning as it is the most likely time available

Has resistance bands but no other equipment and short on space.
Target areas: legs and core

Frequency: 4 times a week

Time: 10-15 minutes
Day 1

Legs focussed

Static squat

Forward and backward lunges

Rock climbers

Ascending reps.. start 5 reps/pulses each increase it by one rep each time and try to continually cycle without breaks in between these exercises should fatigue your legs quite quickly so improving how long you can go without stopping would suggest your muscular endurance is improving

Day 2

Core focussed

Plank

Side plank

Log lift

Side plank

10 seconds per position then rest 20 seconds, repeat (once you can’t comfortably manage the exercises I.e. Back ache take a longer rest but try to build up the time per position as well as how many circuits during the 10-15 minute routine

Day 3

Legs focussed

Burpees

Squat jumps

Skaters

2 minutes each as Many reps as possible 1 minute rest between exercises as this improves think about increasing the time limit and decreasing the rest period.. it’s overall improvement is just as important as improvement in the individual challenges..

Day 4

Core focussed

Renegade (press up position)

Butt ups into lateral mountain climber ( bringing the knee up to the elbow on the same side of the body)

Walk outs/roll outs (fitball or rolling device required)

Supermans (weighted or resistance band progression is available but a ruck sack with additional weight would work better)

Side to side touches

Aim for 2 minutes per exercise.. my reason for picking these exercises is that holding the press up or renegade position by itself is a challenge to incorporate movements like these will increase the effort whilst still adding a level of core control. I don’t expect you’ll manage 2 minutes of each exercise certainly not straight away so take note of time spent on each exercise and try to improve as time goes by to see how your core strength and stamina improve.
On top of this building up time on your bike at weekends will add to both your overall fitness and as a way of seeing your strength and stamina improve.