Luke Hill is a well established Personal Trainer here on the coast. Having worked with hundreds of clients, Luke is the owner of Women´s only beach boot camp, “Miss Fit Marbella” (as seen in Hello Magazine), owner of personal training and classes studio “M FIT” (located on the Golden Mile) and now Head PT at Premium 1-2-1 Personal Training Studio “Health and Fitness Marbella” (based on the Nueva Andalucia roundabout)
Having worked with athletes and celebrities in his time as a Personal Trainer, Luke is a firm believer in strength and resistance training for getting results. Forget fad diets, starvation and hours on cardio machines and think lifting, lifting heavily and basing diets around what you enjoy eating and drinking.
Being based in an industry that is results driven, Luke is well known for getting results in his boot camps and body transformations.
As another Summer begins in sunny Marbella, bodies have been sculpted, blood sweat and tears have been shed and there are beautiful torsos everywhere. But Summer is long and the party season has begun. Instead of following your strict pre June Vegan Diets, Juicing, Detoxes and training twice a day; fitness and health has been replaced with pool parties, limited gym sessions and alcohol. So, how on earth do you get through the next 12 weeks of Summer and still come out the other end looking half as good as you started! After all, you have closing parties to look good for!
Well, if you are one of the above, that partakes in the guilty pleasures Marbella has to offer, I won’t lie to you, you will not look the same as you did at the start, however I am going to give you some tips as to damage limitation! What to drink and how to exercise whilst you are enjoying the party season!
Gym
Body Weight Exercises
You may not make it to the gym, however you have no excuse not to complete a few sets with your own body! The great thing is, you can do them anywhere and all you need is yourself.
Bodyweight exercises are great for keeping in shape, toned and often use a lot of core strength, helping to keep that waist tight for the pool party photos and summer selfies.
My 3 favourite bodyweight exercises:
1. The Jumping Squat – Fantastic for toning legs and bum, the jumping squat makes sure to work your cardiovascular system too! Try 4 sets of 25 reps and you will feel those quads working overtime!
2. The Press Up – Hitting the chest and upper body, this exercise is key for the males looking to bring their Alpha to the party with a pumped up chest. Hit variations of narrow grip to work the triceps. 4 sets to failure should do the trick.
3. The Burpee – The Ultimate Love/Hate exercise, mainly hate, that practically hits the whole body and will leave you feeling like you’ve run a half marathon. 5 minutes of EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute) Count how many reps you can do in 40 seconds, that will be your target and at the start of every minute, that is the amount of reps you must hit. Whatever time remains of the minute is your rest! I guarantee just 5 minutes will do.
These 3 exercises should take no longer than 15-20 minutes in total. There is no excuse not to complete this once a day! And the use of bodyweight for resistance and HIIT will leave you with a nice toned beach body.
Swimming
If you are going to be by the beach, or sunning your bodies by the Pool, make sure you Swim! Swimming is a fantastic all body workout and Cardiovascular activity.
Even better, is the fact if you know how, almost anyone can swim, even with some aches, pains or injuries. Just take a look at some of the top flight swimmers to see the broad shoulders and long muscles these guys and girls get from swimming regularly.
From June to September I like to wake up and swim before work and everyday I try and add just one length on. You will be amazed how quickly your CV improves. Plus, if you are feeling a little fragile from the night or day before, a cold pool will help liven you up.
Upper/Lower Splits
The majority of people don’t have time to train everyday, or 6 times a week or for that matter even 5 times a week, especially when Summer is here. We live here for a reason and that reason is lifestyle. Therefore, I believe this simple tip of changing your workout routine or split can help keep you in shape and still allow you to enjoy what Summer has to offer here in Marbella.
I suggest, split your workouts into upper body and lower body and take a rest day between each. But for that session/sessions, make sure your really do go hard! This way, you end up working out every other day, which is realistic and you will be hitting all body parts probably once to possible twice per week, which is sufficient for keeping our bodies in shape!
Tonic
Alcohol
So, I have this conversation daily with clients (no names mentioned, you know who you are) but no alcoholic drink is good for you! There are roughly 150-250kcals in alcoholic beverages, slimline/diet mixer or not! And, no, none of those calories are healthy or will make you look any better!
However, I am a realist and I work with a range of clients, the majority still enjoying the finer things in life. What I say to all of them is exactly the same…
Calories are calories, if you have 3 drinks on a night out that comes to 500kcal, you need to lose that 500kcal somewhere, whether it is in food or in burring 500kcal more. Preferably the second. And by no means, take those calories away from your Protein intake!
Anyway, before I go into a rant on drinking, calories and all the additional food decisions and lack of exercising the next day as a result, I am going to be unprofessional and tell you the best under 100kcal alcoholic drinks to drink, if you must! (Disclaimer: I am not encouraging you to drink!!!)
1. Champagne
One of the least calorific alcoholic drinks out there, except shots and Vermouth (which no one has ever ordered at a Pool party before) and champagne has approximately 85kcal per small glass. Cheers!
2. Light Beer
Hard to come across, but light beers can come in at as little as 99kcal per 330ml bottle. Or do the Spanish thing and take a Cana instead of a pint!
3. Vodka and Soda
The Marbella special. And with just 97kcal per 1.5oz serving we can see why people wanting to keep calories low opt for this drink!
Remember, drink plenty of water in between each drink, don’t over indulge and you will keep your calories and waist down and feel fresh again in the morning to go for your body weight circuit, swim or upper body/lower body workout.