Blog posts categorised with ‘Articles’

Hip flexor pain is particularly common amongst athletes but it is also often seen in the more sedentary. Generally, consistent anterior (front) hip pain is known as Iliopsoas syndrome. The Cause of...

Are you overweight, lack energy and feel low or depressed ? Do you suffer from bloating and inflammation ? Do you regularly have bouts of eczema, IBS and food intolerances ? If you answer yes to the...

The following are a collection of exercise, diet and lifestyle tips that our Trainers have put together to help you burn more fat, build more lean muscle and increase your metabolic rate so that you...

The word 'holistic' often conjures thoughts of a non-scientific approach to health and is often dismissed as ineffective or 'airy fairy'. However, holistic essentially means whole...

Everybody knows that nutrition is a hugely important part of health, well-being and weight loss- You are what you eat. Most of us also understand that your lifestyle and overall levels of...

Most people would love to have a flat tummy or a well-defined six-pack. However, for many it’s not just as simple as cutting down on what you eat and doing some sit ups. That’s why we have put...

Most gym-goers would love to have a flat tummy or a nice looking six-pack but many struggle to achieve this despite regular exercise and watching what they eat. In fact, most people struggle to shed...

We all know someone who trains regularly at the gym and eats clean but still struggles to achieve a flat tummy or the elusive ‘Six-Pack’. In fact, most people struggle to burn the unwanted fat around...

Most people who attend a gym aspire to have a flatter tummy or want the elusive ‘Six-Pack’. However, most people struggle to burn the unwanted fat around their middle and create clearly defined...

Most people who attend a gym aspire to have a flatter tummy or want the elusive ‘Six-Pack’. However, most people struggle to burn the unwanted fat around their middle and create clearly defined...

Most people who attend a gym aspire to have the elusive ‘Six-Pack’. However, most people struggle to achieve a flat tummy and defined abdominals. Here’s ten top tips that will not only help you to...

Stay Hydrated Drink more mineral water Try to drink at least a 1.5 litre bottle of pure mineral water everyday. Add a pinch of unrefined sea salt ( we use Celtic Sea Salt) to increase speed of...

So how are your health-related New Years Resolutions going ? Most of us have been looking to shed a few extra pounds since the the start of the year and burn off the excesses of the festive period....

If you’re tired of starting over, stop giving up As we have fully immersed ourselves into the cold, wintery depths of January, it is more than likely that most of us have now began our annual...

Toxic chemicals are everywhere nowadays. They’re in the water we drink, the food we eat, the soils we farm and the air we breathe ! Although it is difficult to eliminate them all from our environment,...

The importance of water to health is often overlooked. Approximately 75% of people are under-hydrated. When you consider that every metabolic process that occurs in your body depends upon water and...

We all know that if we want to improve our health, lose weight and get fit we need to exercise and eat correctly. You are what you eat. That means you need to choose more of the right foods that...

Nowadays, the term ‘holistic’ is becoming more and more of a buzz word in the Health & Fitness Industry. It doesn’t mean that to be fit and healthy you need to become a hippy and start to hug...

The healthiest, most sustainable diet is the ‘No-diet Diet’ meaning instead of focussing on removing foods and cutting calories, its healthier to concentrate on cramming more healthy food into each...

Most people have a plan for how they'd like to progress along their career path. But rarely do people take the time to plan their health... Six Simple Steps to Become Truly Fit and Healthy Over...

Are you getting enough pure, mineral-rich, filtered water ? Most people nowadays don't drink enough pure, good quality water. They drink coffee, tea, juice, soda and alcohol. Each day you should...

Are you getting to bed on time ? Most of us don't get enough sleep ! We should be getting at least 8 hours sleep every night. Research suggests that we used to get a lot more sleep than we do...

I've just got back from attending another course down at the CHEK (Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology) Europe Headquarters in Lancashire. This time I spent five days studying spinal...

Breathing is essential ! It is critical in order to provide the most important nutrient to the human body, oxygen. How you breathe determines how much oxygen you get and how it is used within your...

Dr. Quiet is the chief Yin physician in charge of energy management and recovery. When you’re overly stressed and your fight or flight system is triggered repeatedly or for long periods of time, one...

Dr. Movement, a Yang physician, is Paul Chek's addition to Hippocrates 3 inner doctors. Over the course of history, humans have become more and more sedentary. We no longer have to hunt and gather...

Dr. Happiness, a Yang physician, is always there to lead us toward a life that fulfils our individual needs. Dr. Happiness advises us that if we lead a life that doesn’t fit with our core values and...

Dr. Diet provides the foundation for well-being, helps you bring energy and resources into the body and therefore is considered one of the Yin physicians alongside Dr. Quiet. Food and drink...

What and how much we think affects how our bodies function. Fact: Too much thinking in the form of stress, anxiety or worry triggers the fight or flight response and consequently causes us to release...

YIN Foundational Principles of Health: Nutrition Water Sleep/Rest YANG Foundational Principles of Health Thinking Breathing Movement/Exercise By improving all six of the foundational principles...

Almost everybody can benefit from stretching. Whether you work in an office all day or you're a professional athlete, regular stretching can make your life easier. Interestingly, people typically...

Hopefully by now, you've seen the new Bodyguards Wall Mural. It has brightened up the gym no end and reflects our ethos of 'holistic balanced health'. It's intended to be a constant...

There's a lot of information out there about how to get healthy - Google 'Health' and you'll find over 3 billion pages to choose from ! However, despite all the info, it would seem...

Are you getting enough of the right nutrition for you ? Unfortunately, most of the food most of us eat nowadays is processed ! Remember: You are what you eat. Recent research has shown that every...

If you're not moving, you're not living. The entire universe is constantly moving. If you're not moving you're not breathing, your heart is not pumping, you're not digesting !...

About 3000 years ago, Hippocrates came up with a theory. He suggested that by listening to your body and acting accordingly to what it was trying to tell you, you could avoid having to see a physician...

Gluten is simply a protein found in grain-products, namely wheat, barley and rye, oats and other cereal products. It facilitates the elasticity of bread dough and the nice, fluffy rise we like in our...

Just like digestion, sleep and wake cycles are generally overlooked as a cause of ill-health. Strange that, especially when you consider the processes your body undergoes when you are asleep and how...

Sugar - The real villain 400 years ago, refined or simple sugars, with the exception of honey, was not readily available to man. Back then, producing refined sugars such as packaged white sugar was an...

The importance of having a healthy digestive system is a much overlooked subject when it comes to health. However, due to some recent extensive research that has looked at the effects of poor...

In the fitness industry, posture has become a buzz word in recent years. 'Good posture' can hugely improve your performance, eliminate any back, hip or shoulder joint pain, often makes you...

Einstein said that "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity". In previous blogs, I've discussed the importance of the...

One of the key principles we follow here at Bodyguards is to achieve health and fitness by working from the inside out. This means that before you start using the arms and legs in the gym, it's...

Two Forces - Yin & Yang The chinese (who have previously been admired for their level of vitality and their philosophy on life) have been practicing the art of balancing their health for...

Being healthy does not only mean being fit. Your fitness is just a part of your whole health. At Bodyguards we want you to address as many factors of health as possible and find your way to well...

Lets take a look at processed foods. Its almost impossible nowadays to have zero processed foods in our diet. The majority of foods found in your local supermarket are likely to be processed in some...

Holistic Lifestyle Plans Do you struggle to get the results you’re after despite exercising regularly and trying different diets ? Nowadays, this is not uncommon. Many of us have fallen into the trap...

The recent coverage of the Ryder cup illustrated the continued popularity of the game of golf. Over the years, golf has witnessed several noteworthy developments in terms of cutting edge technology,...

In a previous blog, we stressed the importance of removing as many processed foods from your diet as possible due to the overwhelming amount of chemicals in those products from food processing which...

Bodyguards is all about 'Holistic' or whole health. But what is holistic health ?? 'Holistic' means whole or the sum of all its parts. 'Health' is a balance, referred to as...

Lets get back to basics... Cardiovascular endurance is possibly the most important aspect of fitness. It is basically how strong your heart is, which can potentially add years to your life. The heart...

Correct Breathing Breathing is your body's most essential requirement for life. However, unless you're an opera singer or play a woodwind instrument, nobody teaches you how to do it properly....

Did you know that your brain is about 60 percent fat? The fats you eat strongly influence your level of brain function. Some experts believe the human brain would not have developed as it did without...

Health & Fitness. It’s all about the balance ! Nowadays, it’s difficult to know where to start when it comes to getting healthy and fit. There’s so much contrasting advice. Google ‘How to get...

We all need to exercise. Life is movement and movement is life. This applies to every cell of every system in the human body and is vital to our survival. For example, without pumping blood around our...

You Are What You Absorb ! Often when we talk about getting healthy we discuss the importance of exercise or movement and then also your diet because most of us now realise that we literally 'are...

I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about one of our success stories. One of our clients, Aileen Smith, has gone from being a stressed out, exhausted business woman to being...

Ridding your diet of processed foods and thus eliminating as many unnecessary chemicals and food additives from what you eat is probably the most effective and simplest step you can take towards a...

Train Like a caveman... Within the Fitness Industry there are thousands of exercises and just as many theories on how to train, how to best keep fit and improve sporting performance. So which ones...

400 years ago, refined or simple sugars, with the exception of honey, was not readily available to man. Back then, producing refined sugars such as packaged white sugar was an expensive and...

Get Specific, Eat Correctly for Your Metabolic Type Metabolic Typing is a method or process that provides you with all the knowledge and strategies required to improve health and subsequently...

What is health? Is it merely the absence of symptoms? Does it mean you're healthy today because you didn't have to take any medicine for a headache or indigestion or are you 'healthy'...

What is gluten ? Gluten is simply a protein found in grain-products, namely wheat, barley and rye, oats and other cereal products. It facilitates the elasticity of bread dough and the nice, fluffy...

This is a very interesting topic. The problem is knowing where to start ! Nowadays and for the last sixty years (particularly since the 80's) we've been told to cut fat from our diets,...

Duncan is a highly experienced and knowledgeable personal trainer/exercise specialist, operating at the popular Jesmond based Bodyguards Personal Fitness Service. At 36, he has guided many clients to...

Bodyguards are proud to present a new service which incorporates all of our exercise, nutritional and lifestyle/health expertise/knowledge to provide you with an intensive two week, weight loss...

Bodyguards - Intensive Training Programme ... hear how one new member got on Exercise makes you feel better - fact. Yet that is still not enough motivation to spur many into action. I know exercise...

We all go to the gym or undertake exercise programmes with the aim of achieving one or more results. These generally include muscle gain, increased metabolism, fat loss, improved aesthetics, pain...

Bodyguards - Fresh Start In the New Year, many people made resolutions to improve their health and fitness but how many of us make that same resolution every year without succeeding? It’s around this...

With brighter, longer and better days finally here, getting fit for summer is a priority for many of us at the moment. Some of us will want to get in better shape after a winter spent hibernating in...

Time is of the essence and so many of us now feel time poor to the extend that it impacts on our everyday lives, creating additional stress in an already stressful world. Managing your time...

Test your core muscles with this simple 3 minute challenge The challenge basically requires you to hold a prone plank for 180 secs with the following changes in position and without allowing your hips...