Can you tell us a bit about how you got into personal training and what made you open your own gym?
I always knew from school that I wanted to be in the fitness industry, hence studying sports science at university. There is huge satisfaction that comes with the job, in being able to help people achieve their fitness goals and to be able to make such positive changes to people’s lives. Opening my gym in Abu Dhabi was a matter of being in the right place at the right time and seizing the opportunity. I saw that there were no facilities offering what had been done in my home town of Sydney and I was able to partner with the appropriate people to be able to make this happen. I was lucky that Zayed Sports City had faith in my vision and have supported me over the past two years. It now seems a lot of others also believe in the product we are offering, as more and more people are coming to Haddins Gym and achieving some brilliant results.
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What are some of the best ways to get fit?
I am still a believer in good, old fashioned circuit training where you combine resistance, cardiovascular and flexibility training all into the one session. Also important is that within these circuit sessions you focus on full body exercises that engage numerous muscles as opposed to single, isolated muscle exercises. You want to maximise your training time by engaging as many muscles as possible and always train with intensity. It is a simple formula: the higher the heart rate for the duration of your workout the more calories you are burning!
Give our readers some good advice for losing weight
Don’t over train and also ensure you are training with intensity. Often, people start training to lose weight and try and exercise for hours on end. You are going to be much better off working at a really high intensity for an hour or even 45 minutes as opposed to moderate or low intensity exercise for two hours. This will also help to prevent you getting bored, which is a major cause of drop out. You also need to make sure you are fuelling your body with the right food. Another common error is to really cut back on your food and often people go too far and are not consuming enough calories. If this is the case your body will go into survival mode and try and hold on to calories, making it hard to shift the weight. Embrace a good clean meal plan including lean meat, fruit and vegetables and it is hard to go wrong. Try and do exercise that you enjoy and train with your family and friends. We love hanging out with family and friends and that doesn’t need to be any different while exercising.
What are some common mistakes you see people doing in terms of trying to get fit or lose weight?
1. Under eating.
2. Over exercising.
3. Embarking on the wrong type of training.
4. Not enjoying what they are doing.
5. Not changing their workouts. Your body adapts quickly to a set workout. Keep the body guessing by changing your workout regularly.
Do you have any great success stories of people that you’ve trained?
I have been lucky enough to have worked with and achieved results with hundreds of people. In the last Primal Fitness programme, which included over 80 participants, all achieved some really great results.
What are some of the classes you offer at Haddins that will really get you into shape fast?
Some of our tougher and more challenging classes that really push you to the limits to get results are Ultimate Circuit, Hadfit High Intensity Interval Training and our new Primal Fitness programme. They are all full-body, high intensity workouts guaranteed to get results.
How should you train if you want to get fit for an event (say mountain climbing or a triathlon or marathon)?
I definitely think you do need to get specific training programmes for specific events where possible. But if that’s not possible, a good full body programme that really challenges you will have you in good shape for any event. We tested a theory early in the year of training for a triathlon with minimal specific training and it showed that a good fitness programme of high intensity interval training and full body strength training, even without the triathlon specifics, will also transfer across well to these types of events.
