Paulina Szymanska - Personal Trainer

"She looks like she has it all figured out." Well, she does not. Sure, it might seem like some have it all figured out, but remember, appearances can be deceiving. Behind those confident smiles, they too battle their own demons and face unique adversities. And you know what? That’s absolutely okay! Embrace the uncertainty, the learning curves, and the moments of vulnerability. It’s all part of the process, and it’s what makes your journey unique. There’s no blueprint for how you suppose to live your life, at what 'point' you should be. And the same apply to your fitness journey. It is YOUR journey! So instead of obsessing over others redirect this energy to be stronger version of YOURSELF. Embrace your own path and strive for progress not perfection. As long as every day, we try to be 1% better, push our limits, and embrace the challenges that come our way, were growing. You don’t need to strive for perfection. Just for growth! No one truly has it all figured out. Life is an adventure, and we learn as we go. #JourneyToGreatness #OnePercentBetter #EmbraceTheJourney #supportivefitnessfamily

It all starts with the goal. First decide what you really, really, really want. Understand and accept all costs it comes with, and then align your actions. I'm a foodie. End of story. Most of Trainers eat literally everything. We truly don’t live of water, chicken, broccoli and rice. We do however understand calories, macros, energy, our bodies and we know where is the middle ground. I do eat cake, burger, cookies, smores, pizza, etc. I’m aware that if I overdo it, it’ll have consequences. And if I’d like to be more lean or build more muscles I would need to makes some changes. There’s no magic to it. 🤷‍♀️ Don’t stop yourself from taking action towards your fitness journey because you belive it means chicken, rice and broccoli. It doesn’t. For most it means 80-20. Or some lifestyles changes. But most importantly it means learning about nutrition and exercise, understanding it and being equiped in knowledge. :) Aa a Trainer I want you to feel confident enough to make your own, informed choices. To understand how to have this slice of cake or burger, yet don’t feel like you’re failing. :) #healthybody #healthymind #strongbody #strongmind #nutrition #moderation #healthylifestyle #fitnessjourney #fitnesslifestyle #fitnesstrainer #gymknowledge

First time I heard this speech, I thought, “This is me!” I enjoy my food, including the occasional drink. I relish in indulging in ice cream, pizza, and burgers, just as much as I appreciate the flavors of salmon, rice, veggies, and fruit. I firmly believe that moderation is key in everything. ✌️ I’m not sure if the speech provided is any more scientifically proven than advocating for a strictly clean diet. However, logically speaking, if you are overweight and exercise, you can improve your cardiovascular health. If you eat a clean diet that covers all your body’s nutritional needs, you might maintain a slim figure and have no issues with cholesterol or blood sugar levels. Nevertheless, you cannot “out-diet” conditions like osteoporosis, an increase in resting heart rate, or age-related muscle atrophy. What are your thoughts? 🙂 On the topic of longevity I highly recommend podcast "the drive" by Peter Attia! @peterattiamd #FitnessGoals #TrainWithMe #FitLife #PersonalTrainer #HealthAndWellness #Workout #FitnessJourney #GetFit #StrongerEveryDay #ExerciseRoutine #HealthyLifestyle #FitnessTips #FitFam #GymLife #FitnessCoach #FitBody #FitnessTraining #FitnessMotivation #StrengthTraining #HealthyHabits #FitnessCommunity #WorkoutWednesday #Fitness #FitnessGoals2023 #healthybody #healthymind #stayhealthy #moderation

Women should lift weights! Why you ask??? Well... 1. Build stronger bones: Lifting weights can help increase your bone density, reducing your risk of osteoporosis and keeping your bones healthy as you age. 2. Build lean muscle mass: muscles can increase your metabolism and help you burn more calories throughout the day. 3. Manage menopause: As estrogen levels decline during menopause, women often experience a loss of bone density and muscle mass. Lifting weights can help prevent these negative effects and maintain strength and mobility. 4. Protect your joints: Resistance training strengthens the muscles that support and stabilize your joints, reducing your risk of injury and making daily activities easier and more comfortable. 5. Improve neuromuscular coordination: which is the ability of your brain and muscles to work together effectively. This can lead to improved balance, stability, and coordination. 6. Burn fat: When you lift weights, you burn calories and build muscle at the same time, helping you achieve a leaner, more toned physique. It's just freaking cool to be strong and capable! And no. You won't get bulky just like that. It takes years and years of dedication, diet and training. If you want to get on this journey you can find me @gymnation.uk 💪 #strongwomen #liftlikeagirl #womanwholift #bestrong #lift #liftheavy #liftweights #womensupportingwomen #menopause #osteoporosis #strongnotskinny

Rest and recovery benefits.
🔥 Training hard and pushing your limits in the gym is important, but so is taking care of your body and allowing it to rest and recover! 💪🏋️‍♀️

🧘‍♀️ Recovery sessions, rest days, and proper sleep are crucial to your training journey and overall health. They give your body the time it needs to repair and rebuild muscle tissue, prevent injury, and reduce the risk of burnout and exhaustion.

💆‍♀️ Some benefits of recovery sessions and rest days include improved muscle function, reduced muscle soreness, better sleep quality, and a stronger immune system. Plus, they can help you feel more energized and motivated when you're back in the gym!

🙌 Remember, rest and recovery are just as important as exercise itself. So make sure to listen to your body and take the time you need to recharge and come back stronger! 💪

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 🎄🎄🎄

I want to wish all best to everyone from the bottom of my heart. ❤️
Yes, it's been hard.
Yes, it might not be perfect.
Yes, you might be tired.
But let's gather the energy and focus on what we have, rather than what we have not. ;)

I am grateful for this year. I am grateful to my family, friends, my clients. 🙏
Please stay safe everyone.

And smile!

Merry Christmas 🎄

I had a pleasure to write another article for Jazmin, who runs The Mothership London 😊

This time we decided to focus on Postnatal time and exercising. Head to the her website to read it in full. 👇🏻

The article has a form of Q&A, so you can choose questions you are interested in or read it all. 📖

Enjoy!

Postnatal exercise. Your questions answered. — The Mothership London Find the answers to some of the most common questions about exercising after childbirth.

An article where you will find out what is the pelvic floor and how to protect it on the daily basis :)
You will benefit from these tips whether you're pregnant, in the postpartum period or non of the above. :)

10 steps to protect your postpartum body - pelvic floor and 'core' — The Mothership London Pelvic floor dysfunctions, diastasis recti… These 10 simple habits and exercises will help you protect your postpartum body.

SMR techniques? SELF- MYOFASCIAL RELEASE TECHNIQUES
Foam Rollers, Foam Balls, DuoBalls, Lacrosse Balls, stick, barbell. YES? NO?
As always, it all depends.. . It won't fix you and your 'problems'. These comes from limited ranges of movements, tightness in joints, tendons, injuries, potential disease or others. But it will definitely help to activate your body, send signals that you are about to proceed with workout. As the whole body (70%), our fascia in majority is built with water, to keep it flexible and provide nutrients. Lack of any kind of physical activity, sitting in one position all day long 'disturbe' process of watering and general circulation of all microelements. As a oversimplification, this tightness combine with lack of products result with feeling tense and eventually pain. Using SMR techniques can help nourish your fascia with necessary ingredients and bulit up its flexibility. To understand, think of sponge left on the bathtube after having bath. Whole water goes to down part of it. Then press it from the top, it will suck water in through whole sponge again. That's what rolling and any massage does - to simplify.
Mind, that SMR is only one, first step, it won't increase your mobility as long, as it won't follow with actuall movements, cause that's what your body remember. Also, you must find the reason, not only cover damages.
To summarize, it is not remedium for pain and lack of mobility, but it is important part of realesing and building it up.
I do use it often before, during training or on days off and I do recommend it. You just need to know when to use it, how, what for and see the bigger picture. :)

Feeling blue?
Everything looks grey , dull, black, dark, just bleeh...
Work(it)out, literally!
It really does help 😉
Many researche have been done about physical activity and its impact on dopamine and serotonin level. So just move and smile after.
Trust me, you will.
It's difficult to start, it's painful to keep going, but it's rewarding after. 🏋️‍♀️🏋️‍♂️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️⛹️‍♀️⛹️‍♂️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

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Now to the topic which luckily appears more and more among the whole fitness industry. Among Fitness Professionals as well as clients.

Women and weights, women and heavy lifts. Women who are scared to become bulky. I don’t like this adjective, but let’s use it for clarity.

First, let’s start with acceptance. It’s ok to have or not have as much muscle as you, as a Woman, wishes. That should be one and only ‘ceiling’ for your gains, what you want. Not what society thinks Women should or should not be.
Good,so we’re clear on that. 
If you want you will lift heavy, if you don’t want you will not.
Simple as that.
When someone comes to you with great advice to watch out, because you'll become too bulky, tell them to shove it up their… you know.

What does science say?
First of all, I want you to understand that it is very difficult to build a really big, ‘bulky’ body. It takes years of dedication, consistent effort in the gym (4-5 strength training a week) and kitchen (clean surplus). Add to it genetics, like being a mesomorph (building muscles easy). Sometimes there is too much body fat, which covers the muscles.
It certainly does not happen overnight and certainly not when you just start your journey and lift once or twice a week, without prioritizing your gains (sleep, protein, recovery, no alcohol, etc.).

So next time you’ll see Lady with lots of muscles give her a shout out and thumb up for all hard work! It’s her goal to which she’s dedicated and gives it all, day by day, year after year.

Let’s lift, Ladies!

Lift like a Girl!

Be more not less 💪🏻

I would love to tell you that a fitness journey is always nice, easy and sunny like holiday in California ☀️, but it’s not. 

It’s more like everyday life. Built of repetitive doing the same thing, made of good and bad days with the majority of mediocrity ones. Sometimes it’s boring, sometimes it's overwhelming, hell, lots of time we don’t feel like doing it, but we still do. 

And that’s the beauty of it. 

We work through the year to be able to go for holidays which are a celebration of what we put up with every day. So do little fitness successes are. They are small wins which we all need, they keep us going. 

But like holidays can’t last 12 months, we need to first put work in to get to celebrate fitness milestones. These can be anything and are different to anyone. Starting with making a decision of changing eating habits, through running the first mile, losing one pound of body fat or gaining one pound on your barbell. 

Don’t quit when you had a bad day. Let it be a bad day, tomorrow is another one.
Don’t quit when you don’t see changes, wins you wanted. Keep going, reassess your actions, make a change if needed, but keep going. Like at work, you didn't become good at what you’re doing in a day, not even a month. 
I had the worst run ever today. From PB last week to stopping and almost getting sick after 2,5k today. Happens. It doesn’t validate me, it’s just a  bad day. But it doesn’t make me want to never run again. It is just a phase.
We all want to quit every now and then, that’s why it’s important to have someone to turn to, when we want to. Someone to keep you accountable. Someone who has our back and can get us through this little crisis. 
And like every crisis, it pases, but we stay. 
Stronger.
Fitter.
Healthier.
Believe in yourself. Believe the process.
Don’t quit when it becomes uncomfortable and inconvenient.
Fight. 💪🏻