A little self promotion below :)
I was asked to the contribute to this story below which appeared in The Sunday Telegraph Body and Soul Section last weekend (6/07/09).
Dean Piazza - Your Online Personal Trainer
Intensive training
Dean Piazza, Sydney-based celebrity personal trainer and Fitness NSW Trainer of the Year, says the biggest mistake he sees people making in the gym is “long, slow, boring cardio workouts”. If you want results, says Piazza, you need to ramp up the intensity.
Asked what he would prescribe for a star who had just a few weeks to slim down for a premiere, he advises:
• High-intensity interval-training cardio workouts.
• Body-weight exercises such as chin-ups, push-ups and crunches.
• Restricting kilojoule intake in the evening.
• Complete ban on all white and processed foods.
Piazza, who often finds himself trying to motivate the unmotivated, says it can often help to pull out a few books from the self-help section of the bookstore, to find a “story” that will inspire you.
Visit www.getfit.com.au for more.
By Louisa Deasey - The Sunday Telegraph
July 05, 2009 12:00am
EVER wondered how the stars get red carpet-ready? Read on for the secrets which keep Hollywood stars in tip-top shape.
Tea time
Burlesque performer Dita Von Teese recently told the UK’s The Times newspaper that her daily ritual included a cup of green tea upon waking, a diet high in lean protein and Pilates.
She’s not the only star to favour green tea. In The Black Book Of Hollywood Diet Secrets (Penguin), by Kym Douglas and Cindy Pearlman, American Idol’s Carrie Underwood attributes her dramatic weight loss to “replacing sugary sodas with green tea”.
Both US celebrity nutritionist Rachel Beller and Mark Stephens, creator of the Think Slim hypnosis books and tapes, advise people trying to lose weight to drink seven to nine cups of green tea a day. Recent research into the catechins in green tea supports the theory that it aids weight loss.
US-based trainer David Kirsch, who works with Liv Tyler, advises, “Cinnamon, green tea and spicy foods, such as Tabasco sauce, help speed up your metabolism.”
Tip: be careful of drinking too much green tea at night, as it contains caffeine.
Hydration station
Elle Macpherson, who has maintained a supermodel figure well into her 40s, famously downs one litre of water upon waking. Dr Nish Joshi, who treats celebs such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett and Sadie Frost in his London clinic, advises clients to drink at least two litres of water a day, for proper kidney and liver functioning.
You don’t have to fly to the UK to try Dr Joshi’s famous detox diet; just pick up a copy of Dr Joshi’s Holistic Detox (Hachette), which includes recipes at the back.
Five factors
When Jessica Simpson needed to drop two dress sizes and lose almost seven kilograms in eight weeks, she hired LA trainer Harley Pasternak, famous for his Five Factor Diet and Exercise Program, also followed devoutly by celebs such as Eva Mendes, Alicia Keys and Katherine Heigl.
The diet consists of five meals a day, and five-ingredient meals favouring lean protein and lots of greens, which take only five minutes to prepare, and the exercise plan is just five 25-minute workouts a week. Visit www.5factordiet.com for more information.
Intensive training
Dean Piazza, Sydney-based celebrity personal trainer and Fitness NSW Trainer of the Year, says the biggest mistake he sees people making in the gym is “long, slow, boring cardio workouts”. If you want results, says Piazza, you need to ramp up the intensity.
Asked what he would prescribe for a star who had just a few weeks to slim down for a premiere, he advises:
• High-intensity interval-training cardio workouts.
• Body-weight exercises such as chin-ups, push-ups and crunches.
• Restricting kilojoule intake in the evening.
• Complete ban on all white and processed foods.
Piazza, who often finds himself trying to motivate the unmotivated, says it can often help to pull out a few books from the self-help section of the bookstore, to find a “story” that will inspire you.
Visit www.getfit.com.au for more.
Pantry staples
When all else fails, you may just need to hit the pantry – but not to eat! Here’s our pick of the best secret slim-down quick fixes from The Black Book Of Hollywood Diet Secrets and The Black Book Of Hollywood Beauty Secrets (Penguin), also by Kym Douglas and Cindy Pearlman.
• Have an Epsom salt bath. The magnesium sulfate will reduce bloating and excess fluid and draw out impurities.
• Eat a small salad with vinegar before going out to dinner.
• Pull on a V-neck if you’re having a fat day – it’s an instant slimmer.
• Add powdered milk to your bath if you’re suffering from sunburn or overexposure. Cleopatra started this one!
• To make your eyes look bigger and brighter in a flash, add a smudge of white eye shadow to the inner rim, just next to the nose.
• lf you’ve had a big night, slice raw potato or raw cucumber and place it on your eyelids. It draws out the puffiness.
• If you’re travelling and need to transform your regular cleanser into an exfoliant, add some granules of sugar.
• For an instant facelift, apply your blush higher up on the cheekbone (just under the middle of the eye) and extend up to the top of the apples.
But wait, there’s more!
• Wear Spanx. Celebs such as Katie Holmes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Beyoncé and Oprah swear by Spanx, a range of body-contour underwear now available at David Jones. As well as eliminating any unsightly bulges and making you appear slimmer, they act like a comfortable corset, meaning you don’t have to stop eating to fit into your favourite dress for the party. www.spanx.com
• Double your detox with a colonic irrigation. Beyoncé, Gwyneth Paltrow and Goldie Hawn all swear by regular colonics for weight loss and general wellbeing. According to naturopath Natalie Bondine, who runs Purity BodyMindSoul clinic in Melbourne, “the average person holds around three to five kilograms of impacted faeces in their colon”, and just one session is the equivalent of 10 bowel movements. www.puritybms.com.au
• Get a spray tan, for an instant visual perception of five kilograms of weight loss. Kim Oliver, who works on the ARIA awards in Sydney, says the St Tropez spray tan is favoured by celebs such as Delta Goodrem, Nicole Kidman, Candice Alley, Annalise Braakensiek and Sophie Monk. Available at salons across Australia, call 1800 358 999 for a salon in your state
