A Personal Trainer Explains The Choice of Last Night’s Workouts on TBL Families Australia

Circuits, boxing, Taekwondo, powerlifting… the workouts we see each night on TBL Families have been created for optimal weight loss by some of the best Personal Trainers in the business. But in between temptation, alliances and immunity it’s easy to miss exactly what the trainers are doing with their team and why. Enter Ali Cavill, Australian Institute of Fitness graduate and Personal Trainer to recap exactly what fitness techniques were behind each teams workout in last night’s episode.

(Image credit: Michelle Bridges on Facebook)

Trainer: MICHELLE BRIDGES
Workout: Interval Circuit Style Training

“It’s all about calorie killing now”

Michelle’s style of training last night was a high intensity interval or circuit session, which has a greater impact on aerobic capacity than low intensity steady state exercise and a great way to train for weight loss.

I use interval and circuit training in most of my own training sessions but also with my Group Training and Bootcamps. Setting up a range of exercises or stations with different progressions is the perfect way to keep an exerciser interested, especially if they are struggling with weight, motivation or injuries.

Interval and circuit style training sessions usually involve a a set time for the exercise near the peak of a person’s ability, followed by a comparable recovery period of easy activity, with the sequence repeated.

Repeatedly pushing them to their physical limits for brief periods, interspersed with periods of rest, is believed by many to be more effective than continuous moderate activity, and may improve their cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic and mechanical functions.

Michelle’s use of interval training is ideal for The Biggest Loser house as many activities can be adapted for the session, including cycling, walking, and running on the treadmill. It’s a great style of training for indoors when you don’t have a lot of space, time or equipment. Plus, the intensity can be tailored to the Red Team’s ability and weight loss needs, as Michelle can monitor and control the intensities, loads, incline, speeds of the exercise machines.

Trainer: COMMANDO
Workout: Powerlifting  and Strength Training

“You need to dig deep”

Last night Commando was always about strength. With resistance, the muscles have to work harder to move, and when the muscles work harder, they grow stronger and more efficient. For the Black Team it is an entirely new way to train but also one they can take back to their homes after TBL finishes.

Weight training can be classified as a form anaerobic work dependent on the sets, reps , intensity and rest prescribed. Training the anaerobic energy systems correctly will enable the body to utilise ATP and glucose as energy sources.Everyone can benefit from strength training, and I use it for all of my clients, whether they’re aged 18 or 80! Strength training isn’t just about lifting heavy weights but rather incorporating weights and resistance methods to achieve fat loss, and help build muscle tissue. With my clients for instance, I regularly dedicate a session to weight-targeted training, focusing on specific muscle groups.

The Black Team are already a strong and committed force so by giving them a workout that includes super heavy weights it will give them something to strive for, something they won’t necessarily achieve on day one but will keep them motivated to keep trying. Adding powerlifting in your training sessions can improve endurance, total fitness level, and sports performance: just ensure you have a properly designed and supervised program for safety.

Trainer: TIFFINY HALL
Workout: Taekwondo

“You don’t need fancy equipment, it’s all about training together”

Tiffiny chose her martial arts specialty to show the White Team the power of family and how they can use each other instead of equipment. Part of a trainer’s role is to inspire and motivate clients to do their best. Tiffiny did this by demonstrating her passion. Martial arts make for an excellent workout – one hour of kicking, punching, boxing and sparring, and you’ll burn copious amounts of calories away, and you never really stop moving.

There are different fighting styles in martial arts, most requiring a lot of movement, including general movements, jumping, flipping, kicking, and punching. Taekwondo focuses almost entirely on your kicks, but the flying and leaping kicks are great for a solid leg and cardio workout.

Tiffiny’s method of adapting her martial arts skills to training sessions is effective for training the mind to train the body, perfect for the White Team to harness their frustrations and boost their motivation and confidence to succeed.

With my classes, bootcamps and clients I employ a similar philosophy when coaching to improve the body via exercise and the mind.

Trainer: SHANNAN PONTON
Workout: Boxing

“It’s about dropping their guard and getting their fight on”

Shannan chose boxing as it’s one of the tools he uses for his own training but also to challenge the contestants both mentally and physically. In my experience, knowing how to unlock someone mentally to get the most from them physically is the art of a great Personal Trainer.

I love a good boxing session for myself as well as with my clients, a sparring session that gets the heart rate up, and requires significant exertion will give clients that sense of achievement. It’s a hard exercise to do on your own so a team or partner workout is ideal.

Boxing is a sport where you can master the techniques and this will boost the Blue Team’s confidence, because the more force you use to land a strong, accurate punch right on the focus pad is extremely satisfying!

Most importantly for the Blue Team, boxing is high intensity in nature and burns a solid amount of calories.

The Blue Team had a tough boxing session last night and for the first time it was free of any arguments. This will have a significant impact on their ability to come together as a family and work as a team.

Have you been inspired by one of the trainers workouts this season? We would love to hear from you on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!

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AIF

The Australian Institute of Fitness

The Australian Institute of Fitness (AIF) is the largest and longest established fitness training organisation in Australia, with dynamic training methods and expert course coaches nationwide - spanning fitness, massage and nutrition. The AIF qualifies more fitness professionals than any other provider in Australia, as well as offering a broad range of continuing education courses (CEC), upskilling resources and partnership programs for existing industry.