Health and Fitness Top 10 Tips

In today’s society of hectic lives and quick fix foods, health and fitness is just a passing thought.

 

Hours in the office? No time to get fit? Bored of feeling lethargic and never having you time? Surely you deserve to feel alive and not have that daily brain fog that seems to be the norm!

 

Why not try one more of the following, 10 simple and effective ideas, surely it can’t hurt!

 

1) Stand Tall

How we hold ourselves effects how we feel and perceive the world. Holding good posture increases the air flow to the body and creates a sense of balance and wellbeing.

 

2) Eat foods that are alive

Processed foods do not nourish the body, any food that has been processed by humans fall into this category. We make 3 million cells every second, what do you want your cells to be made up from?

 

3) Eat 3 meals a day

If you skip meals your body will store fat, just in case you are trying to starve yourself, your body is very clever and can’t be fooled!

 

4) Portion size

Everything contains calories even vegetables. To large a portion will store as fat as the body cannot deal with it all at once.

 

5) Be Prepared

Plan meals so you have food available that’s quick, easy and nutritious. If unprepared food generally consists of fast food and take away’s that are processed and nutritionally dead. (Remember the 3 million cells a second?)

 

6) Drink 1.5 Litres of H2O per day.

If we are dehydrated, our insides become like a raisin, dried up and congealed together.

 

7) Move

Be active 5 – 7 times per week, this does not mean a marathon, but anything that involves increasing your heart rate, walking to the office, swimming. Incorporate this into your life, on a fine day get of the bus a stop earlier and walk that extra bit to work, if possible walk the kids to school and use the stairs instead of the lift!

 

Sleep

The body recovers and heals between 10pm and 6am. We need to get sufficient recovery so we can start the day at full capacity.

 

9) Minimise Caffeine

Caffeine unnaturally stimulates the body, but it also steals many vital nutrients.

 

10) Your worth it

You must believe in yourself and ensure you make time for you. Without a fully functioning body, you won’t be able to do all you want. Just like a car, your body needs maintenance and care to get unlimited mileage.

 

For more information on all you have read please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Kate Walker - Sutton Coldfield Personal Trainer

e-mail – katewalker@lifestyle-pa.com

web - www.lifestyle-pa.com

How to Set up as a Self Employed Personal Trainer

It’s easy and quick to set up and start trading as a self employed Personal Trainer. Fortunately there isnt alot of paperwork to do. There are also no registration fees to pay.

This is a straight forward, short guide covering all the legal aspects you will need to follow to set up and start trading legally in the UK.

Any UK citizen can set up as a Sole Trader. If you will be training your clients at a Health Club or Gym or there own home you wont need to worry about business rates. However if you are converting a room at home to trade from you will need to seek advice from the business rates department at your local council.

OK, lets get started…

Choose your business name
This can be your own name (e.g. John Doe) or a trading name. e.g.  JD Personal Training
However, if you decide to use a trading name, your business website and stationery should display your real name. e.g. John Doe trading as JD Personal Training.
Also remember not to use a name too similar to someone already trading or a name that implies you are a Government organisation or a name that infringes some elses trademark.

Tax - As a Sole Trader you will have to pay income tax on all your profits. This means you will have to fill in a yearly Self Assessment form.

Register as self-employed with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) as soon as you start your business.
If you fail to do this within the first three full months of becoming self employed, you may have to pay a penalty of £100. Download the form to register as self-employed from the HMRC website (PDF).

National Insurance - You will also need to pay national insurance. You can pay a flat rate, currently set at £2.30 (2008 - 2009) per week. You can pay this by direct debit for ease. Get the info by clicking here.

Class 4 National Insurance - If your profits are over a certain amount, currently £5435 (2008 - 2009) you will have to pay extra national insurance called class 4. You will pay this with your income tax.

VAT - You will only need to charge VAT if your business turns over more than £67,000 per year (correct at time of publishing)

Financial Records - Keep all your financial records and business receipts. You will need these to fill in your self assessment form.  You do not need to pay an account if you are happy with filling in forms for yourself as a Sole Trader. If you are not very good at these things, then seek advice from a local accountant.
I will add a basic record keeping form under the FREE Business Tools section on this site.

Employed and Self Employed at the same time - If you work for a company as a Fitness Instructor for an example and get paid a wage, that company / employer is responsible for your tax and national insurance for that job. If you then also work as a Personal Trainer privately, then YOU are responsible as a self employed business owner for that part of your earnings and must register as self employed and pay your taxes and other deductions from that line of work.

So to sum up,…

• register as self-employed with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
• contact your local authority to find out whether you need to pay business rates if you plan on working from home (this doesnt include doing admin on your computer only)
• contact HMRC to register for VAT if you expect to have turnover of more than £67,000 a year
• set up a financial record-keeping system
• put your name on all your business stationery, including letters, invoices, receipts and cheques

Good Luck in your new business!

 

Free Health Club Search

Do you run a website? Would you like to offer your website visitors a Free Health Club / Gym Search Facility?

If you answered yes, then it couldn’t be simpler
Simply add the small snippet of code found here to your website.

We can tailor the results page to resemble your own website totally free for you too! Just email us!

If you want an example of how this works, just see the sidebar to the right of this article or visit Gym Search

Personal Trainers and VAT

So you’re doing really well and making loads of money! Great! but do you need to pay VAT and are there any benefits in you actually being VAT registered?

The simple answer is that if your business turnover is over £67,000 (correct as at time of publishing) a year then you will need to be VAT registered and pay VAT.

You will have to be an extremely busy Personal Trainer to reach this level of income, but it is achieveable. Lets have a quick look at an example. Lets take the £67,000 VAT threshold divide that by 52 weeks in a year = £1289 worth of business weekly, Say you charge £35 per session, you’d need to be doing 37 sessions per week to need to consider becoming VAT registered. So for most personal trainers, you wont ever need to consider VAT.
Read more

Personal Trainer - Sole Trader or Limited Company

As a self employed Personal Trainer you will have to decide as whether to trade as a Sole Trader or as a Limited Company. The choice is yours and isnt determined by your income.
There are pro’s and con’s to each, however if you believe you can trade profitably for 3 consecutive years (dont underestimate this feat), then you should definitely consider trading as a limited company as the future benefits of having 3 years profitable accounts on a limited company will leave you in a very good position should you wish to grow and expand your business interests.

So, lets look at both means of trading and lets see what the difference is….

Sole Trader - A sole trader is basically a business that is a business but isnt a limited company (whereby a limited company is a ‘Company’) (dont worry, its not really confusing)

You can start trading straight away as long as you notify the Inland Revenue within the first 3 months of you starting trading and you will be required to fill in an annual Self Assessment form. The Inland revenue can be reached by calling 08459 15 45 15
Read more

Time Management

When i first started Personal Training i set out to please everyone (except myself)
I wanted to be available no matter what time my clients wanted to train.

It didnt take me long to realise i was missing out on my quality of life and whilst i was looking after my clients, i wasnt spending enough time looking after ME.

You need to be flexible, sure, you know that, but you can be flexible and organised. Here’s just one example of how to set up your working week. It can be done in many different formats but this is just one example….
Read more

Healthly Breakfast (Part 2)

Healthy Breakfast Options – Menu 2 (part 2)

Download the Healthy Breakfast PDF Here
and
Download Part 1 of the Healthy Breakfast Guide Here

Everybody say’s, Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

After a good nights sleep, where you have gone for a long period of time without eating, your
blood sugar levels will be low. Missing breakfast can mean your body will start
to crave something sweet and you’ll end up snacking on unhealthy foods. So
start the day with a filling and nutritious meal and you will give your metabolism
a kick start. You’ll feel full until lunch time with no temptation to snack your way
through the morning. Here’s a selection of healthy breakfast options for you to
choose from….

Oatmeal and berries

Use oats and skim milk to make your porridge, then add any berries such as
strawberries, raspberries or blueberries and honey. This is a great way to start
the day as the oats have a low GI (Glycaemic Index) this tells us that oats do
not raise the blood glucose level very quickly, which is good as it can help
stabilise the appetite. Just go easy on the honey!
Read more

Healthy Breakfast

Healthy Breakfast (part 1)

Download the Healthy Breakfast PDF Here

It has been said many times, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. After a long period without eating your blood sugar levels will be low. Skipping breakfast can mean your body will start to crave something sweet and you’ll end up snacking on unhealthy foods. Start the day with a filling and nutritious meal and you will give your metabolism a kick start. You’ll feel full until lunch time with no temptation to snack your way through the morning. Some studies have also shown that eating breakfast (high carbohydrate/low fat) can make you more alert and assertive to face the day.

Form the Habit

Overcome the reasons not to have breakfast and make it part of your day. If you’re too busy in the morning, prepare as much as you can the night before. If you can’t stomach anything first thing try just a glass of pure, unsweetened fruit juice, a banana, yoghurt or slice of toast. Get into the habit of trying different dishes at breakfast and enjoy it!
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Find a Personal Trainer

It’s always been hard to find a qualified, experienced and fun Personal Trainer. Not anymore!
PTHub.co.uk is a definitive solution that puts people who want a Personal Trainer in touch with there local Fitness expert and provide them with an initial FREE consultation at zero cost to both parties.

With nothing to lose (except body fat) it has never been easier to try the services of a Personal Trainer in your local area.

The concept of the Personal Training Hub is to provide Personal Trainers with an effective, low cost means, of marketing and provide potential Personal Training Clients with a resource to search and view local personal trainers before making contact.

All trainers are vetted before joining the Personal Training Hub. This includes checking they are sufficiently qualified, have appropiate insurance and all offer a FREE consultation. Other factors listed are their current pricing structure, where they can train you (in a gym, at home, out doors etc) and their experience as well as independent references.

Start your search for a Personal Trainer Now.

Personal Trainer Branding

What is Branding? Why should i do it, How do i ‘brand’ my business?

Well Branding is defined as ‘ to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers‘

So you want people to be able to recognise YOU from your competition. In the personal training world this is really important as there will be numerous trainers within your gym, your local area and your city.

Image Above - Fresh Lifestyle Personal Training Branded Image.

When building your website, you will also want to take your branding into consideration so that it all ties in together.

You normally identify a brand through one of the following…..a name, term, sign, symbol, colour or design

here are a few examples of branding…
Read more

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