29th June, 2010 Press Releases

The Seven Deadly Sins of Running

For the past twenty years or more, running has been promoted as the one-size-fits-all panacea for a range of issues including increasing metabolism, losing weight or just the best way to achieve overall fitness. Alongside this, the running industry has grown year on year, with dedicated shops now selling running gear all across the country, running clubs in every town and more marathons springing up everywhere you look.

But is running all its cracked up to be? Personal trainer Greg Brookes believes that often it does more harm than good. In fact, he’s so against it, he has devised the seven deadly sins of running which are:

1. Decreases the size of your heart.

Small muscles use less energy and are more efficient. Consider the difference in energy consumption between a 50cc scooter and a huge V8 4×4 truck. Our heart is a muscle just like the rest of our muscles, if you force the heart to keep running for long periods of time it will naturally shrink to use less energy and become more efficient. If you want to increase the size of your heart then you must strength train your heart, not endurance train it!

2. Causes injury through repetitive movements.

When you run 2.5 times your bodyweight is transmitted through your joints. Now imagine this type of force being repeated over and over again, eventually your weakest joint will give out. Usually the ankles or the knees are the first to go, generally becasue of poor hip and core stability. Many runners then opt for some kind of support or brace which only exacerbates the problem by moving it on to the next weakest joint and still maintaining the old injury.

3. Slows down your metabolism.

The more muscle tone you can maintain, the higher your metabolism. Muscle is highly metabolically active and requires constant energy to survive, so the more muscle tone you have the more calories you will be burning at rest. Long distance running will often deplete your energy stores and then start breaking down your muscle tissue to use as energy. If you want some serious muscle wastage and to reduce your metabolic rate then keep running.

4. Produces more body fat.

Fat is one of our body’s favourite sources of energy. The more you run the more your body prepares itself for your next run. You will actually start to hold on to more fat so you can run for longer next time.

5. Boring and time consuming.

Some people run for fun, but lets face it most of us run to get in shape and lose that excess belly fat. The truth is running is very time consuming and there are better ways to get great results in a lot less time.

6. Cardiac distress and heart attacks.

Evolving from our hunter gatherer days we had no real necessity to run long distances, in fact the only running we ever did was in short bursts to avoid predators or to catch food. Our body simply isn’t designed to run long distances and the stresses you put your heart under during this time can set you up for a heart attack. It’s a fact that many long distance runners do die of heart attacks.

7. Fat burning slows right down.

The body is an amazing machine and will adapt to anything over time. The more time you spend running the better you become at running and the more efficient you get at using less energy. So what starts off as a great calorie burner quite quickly becomes almost useless at burning excess calories. Ultimately runners then have to run further and further to get the same calorie expenditure that they achieved when they first started.

If you have read all this and are thinking “OK, so what is the answer – what should I be doing?”. The answer is simple, high intensity training. Intensity training is like strength training but for your heart and lungs. It burns far more calories, strengthens your heart and joints and increases your metabolism – the best thing, it only takes 4 – 10 minutes max.

For a one-to-one workout with Greg Brookes or interview opportunities, please contact: suzanne@stunningpr.com or 07957 371840

Editors Note: Editor’s Note: GB Personal Training is run by Greg Brookes and offers results in the comfort of your own home or local park. No matter where you are based in London Greg can help offering individual training packages tailor made to suit his diverse range of clientele ranging from celebrities to busy City executives, housewives to high flyers. He offers a 30 day money-back guarantee on his weight loss programmes.

29th June, 2010 Press Releases

Are you Moving Correctly for Weight Loss?

Have you ever had a functional movement assessment? Do you know whether you are using the correct muscles when you exercise? Chances are your movement patterns are way off and you are making compromises without even realising it. Personal Trainer Greg Brookes of gbpersonaltraining.com believes that when it comes to exercise, most gyms and personal trainers don’t focus on what is of prime importance – functional movement assessment and screening for movement dysfunction.

Why is good functional movement so important?

Because if your movement patterns are incorrect then you are using the wrong muscles when you exercise. For maximum impact you must use your large muscles, your prime movers. It is your large muscles that help you to create optimal calorie expenditure and prolonged afterburn or EPOC. Plus if you are using the wrong muscles you will tire easily leaving even less time to burn fat. You may be thinking, ‘ Oh, I move OK, I’m not in any pain. Well remember your body is a master adapter, it will compromise to get the job done. Most of us do this, even Greg! Chances are you are doing it everyday without knowing it.

The point is, unless you get your functional movement patterns corrected you will not be able to lose weight and burn fat as easily, you will tire and struggle to focus on the larger muscles that really get the job done. This is one of our secrets with fat loss.

Greg Brookes functionally screens all his clients. He corrects bad movement patterns and ensure that the correct muscles are engaged. He will make you bomb proof to injury so you can workout for longer and harder.

Greg is available for interviews and complimentary functional movement assessments in conjunction with feature opportunities. Contact me at suzanne@stunningpr.com or 07957 371840 to arrange.

26th May, 2010 Press Releases

LazyTown Entertainment Concludes its Financial Restructure with a Healthy Balance Sheet

LazyTown Entertainment, the only children’s brand solely dedicated to helping families lead a healthier lifestyle, has completed its financial restructure. As a result, the company can now claim to be one of the most solvent in the children’s entertainment business with zero debt and many growth opportunities on the horizon. The future looks bright for the brand.

Magnus Scheving, the CEO of LazyTown Entertainment commented,” I am extremely happy that everyone worked together as a team with the singular vision to conclude this deal and to now be able to turn our focus towards building the company.”

The LazyTown Entertainment brand enjoys enormous respect from parents, educators and national Governments alike for its key messages, and for remaining focused on and committed to its core values. The company has a number of exciting prospects for the future including alliances with key retailers in the U.S. and Continental Europe, a new digital platform and a sports club roll out with the world’s leading provider of training packages to fitness professionals.

25th May, 2010 Press Releases

LazyTown’s Retail Partnerships create Healthier Kids

As the only children’s brands dedicated to helping children lead healthier lifestyles, it’s hardly surprising the impact the company’s licensing strategy has had directly on its core audience’s eating habits.  This is a pure and natural extension of the brand because the characters of LazyTown actually eat “SportsCandy” (fruits and vegetables), drink water and milk and engage in sports and activities in each episode.  Now LazyTown is actively licensing partners who share their vision of a healthier world.

LazyTown leverages this unique and relevant edge with strategic retail and healthy consumables partnerships.  As an example, LazyTown’s retail alliance with ASDA (the UK Wal-Mart) that has been using Sportacus to promote its Great Stuff range of products has seen the range sell a whopping 41% more fruit and vegetables during a kick-off promotion last year than it had the previous year, which included over 2.5 million incremental packages of Great Stuff Sports Candy!

In Mexico, the company’s tie-up with dairy company Lala that also featured Sportacus on pack achieved a significant double digit sales growth of white milk, proving the brand can carry a consumable other than Sports Candy. This was historic for LazyTown as it was their first major win in a territory where they are not on Free TV and where sales of white milk to children are virtually zero (children have been reported to drink soda for breakfast!). Parents even called the 1-800 customer service lines at LALA and left voicemails thanking them because their kids were drinking milk again.

In Columbia, Sportacus is at national hero status. During a recent visit to the country, LazyTown’s creator and star Magnus Scheving was asked by the country’s Minister of Health to help him to lower obesity in the country where it has become a growing concern. The show’s tie-up with fruit and vegetable superstore Surtifruver de la Sabana has branched into the country’s school system where children have participated in LazyTown/Surtifruver activities based around exercise and healthy eating.

In the U.S., the show is breaking new ground. LazyTown has aligned itself with Michelle Obama’s ‘Let’s Move’ initiative and will be sharing with the Administration some of the ground breaking work they have done in other countries to reduce childhood obesity. During a momentous week in March 2010, Sportacus met the First Lady when he warmed up local Washington DC school children at a US Soccer Foundation clinic that she attended. A deal with Windmill will see a range of completely natural vitamins go into over 20,000 retail outlets in the country. With a new broadcast deal soon to be announced in the U.S., LazyTown is confident they can make a real difference to American children’s health.

In their native country of Iceland, LazyTown have signed a world first deal with a local water company, Nordic Water, to produce a range of naturally fruit flavoured water. Nordic is aiming for worldwide distribution.

What’s clear is one thing – when companies use LazyTown to promote health, EVERYONE WINS!