Marion Freijsen » Tips

Simple stuff

Marion — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:55:34 +0000

Many of you ask me for help with diets and particularly diets when you are travelling. It is a tough one, I know from experience, I spend enough time on the road myself!

For me the rule is simple, I try and stick with foods that are as close to natural as possible. No cakes, biscuits, muffins but bananas, bags of nuts or raisins or a mix of those two, salads and simple sandwiches if you must get something solid. In terms of drinks, green tea is fine, water obviously is perfect and ... Read More

Listen to your body

Marion — Mon, 10 May 2010 16:54:14 +0000

This week a close friend of mine ended up in hospital. Hospital staff called it a miracle he came through the door upright, usually people with his issue would have been carried through! Although he had needed a little push to get him to go, he went to the doctor after not feeling great for a while and will live a healthy life because he listened to his body…

I have always believed that at the end of the day – you know your own body best. Or at least, you should know it ... Read More

Trail riding

Marion — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:19:52 +0000

If you are in an area where you can get up into the hills – GOOOOO! It’s so incredibly exhilarating to ride high over the ridges – even though the climb up to the ridge and the bit down again usually will take the most time and the easy riding on the top will only be a fragment of the journey

To find great trails, first find your local bikestore, ... Read More

Building up your training

Marion — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:03:29 +0000

It’s not always easy to know how to go about building up your training, rather then doing the same thing day-in-day-out, week-in-week-out. It’s hard enough to simply train at least 3-4 times each week.

Ofcourse, your training schedule depends on what you are training for. If you are aiming for a certain race – your goal is pretty fixed and you will need to make sure you get to your best performance around that time. But your goal could simply be to lose some weight, ... Read More

Measuring up…

Marion — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:22:24 +0000

As I see yet another magazine proclaiming to get you that hot “beach body” within a week, I thought I might do a little overview of how best to measure whether you are getting anywhere near that ideal.. Mind you, never understood the overkill on getting to that Beach Body. To me a beautiful body is anyone who is looking healthy, with a zest for life and confidence in themselves!

However, even for health it is good to know where you are at, and benchmarking against ... Read More

Be creative!

Marion — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:09:01 +0000

Ready for the weekend?? I am – weather is going to be great so I will be out there enjoying myself

When it gets to being summer, I always find myself disliking heading to the gym. Not because I don’t want to be working out, but simply because it is INSIDE, and I want to be out there in the gorgeous weather, feeling the sun on my skin (or rain more likely in ... Read More

And then it’s late….

Marion — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:59:02 +0000

So these are the days that exercising can be so hard – it’s been a nice sunny day out there, you have been out with some friends straight from work and you are feeling exceedingly lazy and definitely not in the mood to even think about working out.

Well for one thing – if you have had a few drinks (alcoholic ones that is) – a hard exercise session is probably not a good idea in any case, but you could do a lot worse then just putting on those comfy shoes and ... Read More

Tips from a Pro – Diets

Marion — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:13:35 +0000

Following my write-up yesterday, I am getting more and more feedback – thank you! It’s interesting to see that whilst we collectively know quite a lot about fitness, and looking after our health, we still get totally fazed by all the myths that are out there. So Nando, PT and Masseur at 1-2-1 Trainers pulled some myths out of his healthy hat and asked me to share them with you.

Here’s some of Nando’s thoughts on food/diets:

There is so much misinformation ... Read More

Quick sweet treat

Marion — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:44:31 +0000

One great sweet treat that you can prepare v. easily is the following:

Grab a sheet of aluminium foil.
Half a ripe necatarine or peach – take the stone out and put both halves on the foil.

In the bowl where the stone was on one half – add a crumbed amaretti biscuit (italian), preferably the softer variety.
Sprinkle over a little Grand Marnier, Almond liqueur or almond essence – don’t worry – the alcohol will evaporate.
add a ... Read More

Heartrate monitoring

Marion — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 08:03:14 +0000

When you are looking to improve your fitness, you will at some point need to invest in a heart rate monitor.

Many people train for years without them of course, they tend to be reasonably expensive if you want to get a good one and most of the recreational sports enthusiasts don’t really know what they offer. However, I absolutely think they are essential at almost any level – since they are a way of measuring WHAT you are actually doing and will help you gain more from the ... Read More

How to stay fit – whilst working like mad…. mini-workout!

Marion — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:51:43 +0000

Everyone these days suffers from one of two things – or even a combination… You feel overworked and you are stressing about the state of the economy, be it on a micro (personal) level or on a macro (global) level. And then there’s me cheerfully telling you that you need to work out. I am sure over the past week, you may have read my posts and gone “yea, right – she’s probably not doing anything else so it’s OK for her to talk…”. Well ... Read More

Mid-Week Crisis?

Marion — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:24:54 +0000

It’s like a mini mid-life crisis every single week – you have started out enthusiastically on Monday with the best intentions of working out every day, and suddenly it is Wednesday and you haven’t actually gotten out there yet so you feel miserable and a loser. Or something like that It’s called the mid-week crisis. And you are not alone.

I read a great ... Read More

Sunday morning exercises

Marion — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:18:56 +0000

It’s Sunday morning, you just rolled out of bed and standing there yawning you realise you really ought to do some exercises. Now, normally you’d probably push that thought to the furthest corner of your awakening brain and head off to get a great big breakfast. But why not make today a little different and start of with some easy stuff that will leave you feeling looser and give you a reason to have a second piece of toast later?

Since you have been lying down all night, ... Read More

Singing for your Dinner?

Marion — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 09:44:21 +0000

Right – so now we are at the final meal of the day. Don’t forget that you can adapt my suggestions by adding more or less carbohydrates if you need to. For instance, if you are training a lot, or working out hard – then the suggestions I gave thusfar are possibly on the light side (depending on your weight and gender). The menu items I have given you are for those that want to eat healthy and light, even possibly getting leaner then they are.

Carbohydrates can be ... Read More

3 Lunches

Marion — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:34:42 +0000

If you aren’t still trying to get the oatmeal scraped from the bottom of your pans – you may be ready for some lunch options

I like the following – if you have other suggestions, please feel free to post a comment and share.

1. Happy Meal

Not the McDonalds variety – but one that gives you a mid-day boost. Mix chopped endives in a bowl with ... Read More

Why am I writing this blog?

Marion — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:21:47 +0000

This blog is aimed at providing you with lots of information about health, fitness, sports and anything related. It is not meant to necessarily teach – but to help you keep on track with your fitness goals, inspire you on those days that you get up and really don’t feel like going to the gym, give you a yummy recipe without all the calories and share with you my philosophies on a healthy and happy life.

Why would you read this? Well, I have been a sports enthusiast now for ... Read More