My Top Ten Male Bodies

1. Randy Couture
This dude is 47 years old and look at the shape of him.  He is a 3 times former heavy weight champion and twice light-heavy weight champ of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). He is the only 5 time champion in UFC History.

2. Jason Stratham
The 38 year old has starred in a few Guy Richie films such as Lock Stock and Snatch, but is mostly recognised for his role in the Transporter and Crank. As you can see from the body he is a fan of MMA (mixed martial arts)

 3. Tyson Beckford

mmm very nice isn't he?? He is 39 years old and most commonly known as the Ralph Lauren model. Was named by People Magazine as "one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world".  Yes I can see why.

4. Matthew Mcconaughey
Forty year old American actor, who to be fair is not my cup of tea in the looks dept facially, but he has a fantastic physique and thats what counts eh girls? The boy also has a sense of humour, he was apparently arrested in 1999 for possession of canabis and disturbance after playing music very loudly on his Bongo Drums, naked in his home.

5.  LL Cool J
This guy has got the best genetics I have ever seen, don't get me wrong I'm sure he works damn hard at the gym, but the structure of his shape has got to be god given. apparently is name LL Cool J stands for "Ladies love cool James" and I bet they do.

6.  Mark Wahlberg

He is my top favourite, feisty attitude, not too pretty and in fantastic shape. Mark was a bit of a wild child in his youth found himself in trouble often. He probably went out of his way to have the exact opposite persona of his brother Donny who was a member of The Backstreet Boys in the late 80's. Anyway he sure cleaned up his act and is now a highly acclaimed actor.

 

7. Jason Robinson

Played both Wing & Fullback for the England Rugby Team.  Of Jamaican and Scottish descent those genes were just destined for glory.  He retired in 2007 but for me THE BOY HAS GOT IT. MMMM.

 8. Hugh Jackman
Star of many films, most recently the film X Men and Australia. 41 years old and looking very good for it Hugh!

9.  Daniel Craig
Best known for his starring role in James Bond, and Layer Cake. He admitted on Jonathan Ross that he was happy when filming stopped for James Bond as keeping in condition was hard work. Yes Daniel at 42 yrs of age you have to work hard to keep those abs showing!

10.  Brad Pitt

Well I had no choice but to put him in the top ten, as lets face it the man has got it.
In the film Fight Club his body fat percentage was  extremely low at around 5-6% which he admitted he trained extremely hard for. Still at 46 years of age you have to hand it to the guy he still has what it takes.



So that is my Top 10 Best Male Bodies list. and of course we all know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so if you think there is someone more deserving to be on this list please don't be shy, send me your preference.

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My Top 10 Female Bodies

  1. Cindy Crawford

Cindy is 44 years old now and she still looks gorgeous, she has trained for years to keep that body, and yes  girls Cindy trains with weights too girls!!

2. Nell McAndrew
Nell is well known for being the Forces Sweetheart but she is also heavily involved in fitness, taking part in the Great North Run and several Marathons. She has two great fitness Dvds which I have done in the past if you want a good workout try them!!

3. Shakira 
This Columbian beauty has got hips to die for, and the girl can move, she has a womanly shape and is naturally beautiful.

 

4. Salma Hayek

I will never forget this lady dancing on the table in the classic film "Dusk Till Dawn" with George Clooney and Quentin Tarrantino. I didn't know who she was then but she was mesmerising.

5. Elle McPherson 

Another one of the original Supermodels, whenever I saw pictures of Elle she was always the naturally tanned fit healthy australian beauty that we still know today, and at 47 yrs old the girl has still got it.

6. Kelly Brook

Kelly Brook is not quite as high up in the celebrity stakes as some of the above, but she is stunning and you can guarantee that she will be papped by the press often because she is beautiful and she has a figure to die for.
 

7. Thandie Newton
She is a natural beauty I have only seen her in two films, but she is captivating and again a real woman with a great body.

 

8  Fergie (Black Eyed Peas)
Wow, what can I say about Fergie? one of my closest friends once said that he and his friends had a discussion and said they may consider going "straight" for Fergie!! I always wondered if he meant it. This lady is one hot cookie.



 

9. Catherine Zeta Jones
Now you may think it strange that Catherine is here, but I remember her from The Darling Buds of May long before she got caught up in the whole Hollywood thing, and she was always a stunner. I remember her in the Film Entrapment she played a jewel thief and she wore this black catsuit which showed her curves off perfectly.

10. Halle Berry  
Another true beauty, gorgeous face and fantastic body. Halle is perfectly proportioned and she was the perfect choice for the beach scene in Die Another Day. At  aged 44 yrs old this lady is an inspiration.

So these are my ten top female bodies, you know plastic surgery can do certain things for you, but if you want that body to look truly toned and fantastic you need to work at it. I get my true inspiration from looking at ladies like this and I'm not ready to slow down until I'm at least 60 years old.

Remember Ladies: 

Cardio/Aerobic Exercise - Weights - Core - Stretching - Nutrition - Adequate Rest.

Don't just stick to one discipline of exercise, mix it up. And ladies....... WEIGHTS!! you need to lift some weights. 

Oh My,..The Dread of Middle Aged Spread!

Well we all know this much don't we? middle aged spread doesn't come in a jar, and we cannot choose to leave it on the shelf at the supermarket.  It is an inevitable fact of life and eventually it comes to us all.
Its the creeping weight gain that appears as we move into our late thirties and onwards and it just loves to situate itself around our waist areas.
So what do we do about it? I think some see it as a licence to give up being active and generally accept that their youthful energetic body is now a distant memory.
I however and the people that I choose to spend my time with do not, and have long ago taken on board the view that we are infact the new generation of 40+ and it is down to us to show that with a little more work than we once had to do, we can still be looking and feeling fantastic well into our 60's and 70's.
Think of it like this, as we get into our 40's our muscle mass depletes through a combination of hormone decrease and lack of activity. Unfortunately muscle works on the basis of "Use it or Lose it".  Muscle is highly active as an energy burner, to give you an example 1lb of muscle requires around 14 calories per day in comparison to 1lb of fat which requires around 2 calories per day.  So it stands to reason that if you have become less active you will eventually reduce your lean body mass and replace it with extra fat, your body will burn energy far slower and you will begin to accumulate unwanted weight.
Sorry to break it to you ladies but it is even tougher to stay on top of the muscle tone for us than it is for men as they naturally have more in the first place. This is evident when you look around and often see many middle aged couples where the woman is fairly overweight and the man is often leaner and slimmer. From my experience as a Trainer I have had conversations with many overweight women particularly over 40's and when I ask them what exercise they do, I tend to get responses such as yoga, pilates or aqua-aerobics. Oh hold on here's my favourite.. I walk alot!  Now I am not knocking these types of exercise especially pilates which I believe offers immense benefit, But many women do not understand the fact that they need to be combining these disciplines with other challenging cardio workouts and more importantly resistance
(weight)training exercises. Strength training doesn't entail lifting a 1kg pink plastic weight a couple of times either, I mean 3 sets of 15 reps with a weight that you are challenged with. So much so, that you struggle to finish the last set. Combined with sensible eating and keeping an eye on your alcohol intake you should be successful.
Some Inspiration For The Ladies: http://www.pocketfives.com/f13/msns-top-10-sexiest-women-over-40-a-418515/
Gentlemen, the fact is that you naturally store far less fat than women therefore you really have the advantage here. I train quite a few male clients and many of them have come to me for weight-loss and strength training purposes. Once the men embark on a structured training and eating programme, they tend to drop fat very quickly. The main problem with male middle age spread is the classic beer belly. Even the lucky ones that have been genetically gifted and remained slim most of their adult life find it almost impossible to avoid the prominent paunch once they reach their late 30's, unless they keep a sharp eye on their activity level and of course their diet. Remember alcohol is high in calories and encourages fat to deposit in the abdomen, even if you are exercising regularly you will sabotage your efforts if you are consuming too much alcohol.
If you would like to learn more about the effects of alcohol read my blog (How Can Alcohol Make me Fat).
Some Inspiration For The Men: http://www.posh24.com/alexander_skarsgard/top_list_hottest_men_over_40
I'm 41 yrs old now, I noticed that my shape started to change about four years ago. I have always had a small waist, but I started to develop fat around my stomach and I didn't like it.  I was faced with the grim realization  that I was going to have to work harder to keep my shape, the same goes for you, obviously it depends on whether it is enough of a priority.  It is for me as it is essentially my livelihood but I also think it is important to have a sense of pride. Its this simple  if you look great, you feel great but like anything really worth having you have to work for it, and  by the time you hit 40 you have to work a little harder.

 Personal Trainer Brighton & Hove

Sad facts regarding nutritional content of our foods and why we use supplements.

Years ago food was generally harvested and eaten within a short time period or it would perish.
These were the days when you would shop at several different places ie the local butcher, baker, greengrocer etc and communities were more close knit and accountable to each other. Times have changed so much and now with our busy lives we opt to shop at large Supermarket chains, where it has been so much more convenient to buy all of our produce under one roof.  Unfortunately this has driven many independent food traders out of business as they are just unable to compete with the likes of Sainsbury, Tesco and Asda.
We hear all sorts of horror stories and have been exposed to tv documentary's about animals being injected with growth hormones and chickens kept in cramped conditions and fed to twice the size before being slaughtered to end up on our dining room table. 
There are now more synthetic foods available than fresh food, as food may start out as fresh only to become tainted with preservatives, sweeteners and additives. It has been a bit of a catch 22 situation as manufacturers have adapted to the supply and demand of the over grown population. We have demands for pre-packed food and food with a longer shelf life.
Okay here comes the Profit of Doom here, you know that pre-packed sandwich you pick up at lunchtime, it has a sell by date on it of course so you wouldn't question the fact that it is fresh.  It will probably contain a high quantity of salt, and almost definitely some form of sugars or sweeteners to enhance the flavour of its ingredients. Then of course you will crave more of it.
You would be wiser to go to a Deli and buy a freshly made sandwich.  Here you can watch it being made and you can choose the ingredients from the counter.

Vegetables

Did you know that up to 45% of the most imporant nutrients are gone from fresh vegetables by the time they are consumed? Quite often it has taken anything from 2 weeks for the produce to reach your table, meanwhile we think we are purchasing "fresh vegetables. In most cases you may be better off to buy frozen vegetables which are stored almost immediately after harvesting thus retaining the majority of their nutritional value. On the plus side frozen vegetables are cheaper and can be stored for longer periods.

Herbalife Supplements

So when people say to me, "I eat well therefore I do not need to take a vitamin supplement" or "I won't try Herbalife Soya Protein Shakes because they are not real food!" I ask them if they eat bread and I ask them how they think bread is made. Our supplement is made from ground down soya and it is as natural and more healthy to use than most of the packaged foods that are currently filling the supermarket shelves. A great example is a typical commercial breakfast cereal. Stripped almost entirely of its natural fibre, has lost most of the vitamin and mineral content before it is processed into a crispy flake, then given some additive nutrients to justify the manufacturers claims of it being a "healthy breakfast".

I've used health supplements for years.  I eat very well or as well as I can taking into account the information I have given to you above, it is I agree a bit of a minefield. I use the Herbalife products as part of my diet and have a F1 shake every morning without fail. I take a multi-vitamin and a fish oil capsule every day and I ensure that I have a well balanced evening meal 99% of the time. I'm only human and if  I enjoy the odd Chinese takeaway or Dominos pizza at the weekend I still have the comfort of knowing I have had the majority of my vitamin intake from my breakfast shake and my supplements.

For further information on the Health and Wellbeing Supplements that I subscribe to, go to
http://www.fithealthyhappy.biz

Click here should you wish to have a look at FitFoxy's new site

To view an updated version of this article please go to nutritional facts
 Best regards
Sherry Chandler

Personal Trainer Brighton and Hove Website

What about healthy weight gain? (Part 2 Training For Size)

So by now you should have organised your nutritional plan and have worked out how many extra calories you are going to need each day in order to gain some weight.
Now we need to make sure that extra weight is to be converted straight to solid muscle mass.
If you are a beginner to resistance training or have done no structured exercise for more than 3 months, you need to start with a basic building phase.


With the following plan you will build a good strong base, try to think of it in the same way as building a house, you need a good solid foundation on which to form a solid perfect asymetrical structure, this is what you are now putting in place. This will prepare your body for the next phase of building.

Endurance Training  (Follow for 12 Wks) 

• 12-15 repetitions

• 3 sets per exercise

• Rest between sets = 60 secs 

• train 3 x times per week         

• Train whole body

Now you are ready for some serious bodybuilding

Hypertrophy Training  (Follow for 12 Wks)

• 6-12 repetitions

• 4-6 sets per exercise

• rest between sets = 1-2mins

• train 2-3 x times per week      

• Split routine  chest/back   shoulders/bi's/tri's   quads/hams/calves

The next phase is strength training but if you are happy with the results of your Hypertrophy Phase you can always follow this programme for longer if you wish, just remember that it is good to confuse your muscles by changing your programme after a period of time to avoid what is known as a plateau. You may see your gains start to slow down in which case the strength training phase will kick start your body to cope with more stress.

Strength Training (Follow for 12 Wks)

• 1-5 repetitions

• 2-6 sets per exercise

• rest between sets = 3-5 mins

• train 2 x times per week

• All over circuit

Good Luck

To view an updated version of this article, go to Healthy Weight Gain

GFifFoxy has now moved to www.FitFoxy.biz

Personal Trainer Brighton and Hove Website