Interview The Hand Stand Pro Rosie
Over the years spent in various gyms, field sessions, classrooms, seminars and other training events, I’ve had a fair share of exposure to different trainers. What’s fascinating about the service industry and it’s professionals is the individual styles that emerge. All trainers know the basics of how to train people, but the way they implement that knowledge varies from one person to the next, even if they received very similar schooling.
One of the things that I’ve always admired is the ability for a trainer to give a tough yet safe workout to a wide range of individual. It’s easy to give a tough workout, everyone can do it. On top of that, If the person you’re training is physically fit and has no injuries, it becomes even easier. But what happens when you have someone new to fitness, with an assortment of injuries? All of a sudden, a lot of trainers are put out of their comfort zones.
Today is an interview with Rosie, a trainer and friend that I've had the pleasure to work with for the past 3 years. After all this time watching other trainers, Rosie is one of the rare few that can give the perfect workout to anyone, doing so seamlessly. To help you understand exactly what I mean by that, just know that one day she went from training an older lady with sciatica, who received a great workout, to absolutely destroying my abs along with one of my friends. We were both guys in our mid 20s, avid gym goers and she totally destroyed us. Oh yea and we were both training for iron mans so our cardio was up there as well.
Rosie is one of the best trainers I know and I’m super excited to share with you a few questions I asked her over the weekend!
Clem
Can you describe your training style or philosophy?
Rosie
The first thing I do is help people master their own body weight. Make sure they have good muscular balance, go over basic mobility and stability before adding weights. I put a lot of importance on core stability because it will instantly help people not only in the gym but every activity you do in daily life. I then do strength training but more in a functional training way, prioritizing compound movement over isolation movements.
Clem
Can you elaborate on core stability
Rosie
So a lot of people focus on the superficial ab muscle, the one that make up your six pack. The core muscle are the deep, corset like muscles that wrap around whole torso. Strengthening them not only creates a great looking midsection but protects your spine and enhances your posture. It’s also important for injury prevention.
Clem
What is the most common mistake you see people make when trying to get fitter?
Rosie
The biggest mistake I see is people giving up too quickly. Media in the fitness industry is always false advertising quick and easy ‘short cut” programs that deliver fast results. These rarely work, or if they do the results you get are so drastic that it’s way to hard to maintain in a balanced normal life. The key to long lasting fitness results is CONSISTENCY and FREQUENCY and making regular fitness work as a part of your lifestyle. If diet/nutrition is your focus, then making small changes that you know you can stick with. These will eventually become a habit. It’s all about baby steps and never giving up no matter how slow the progress is!
Clem
What is one habit you would strongly recommend people should develop to become fitter?
Rosie
Consistency. You need to be consistent with your training and your diet. When you schedule a workout during your week, you should treat it like it’s a doctor’s appointment or an important meeting. It can’t be something that you don’t stick to. I recommend people write down their workouts in their day timer so they know it’s there. Then they can schedule the other things that come up around the workout, not instead of it.
Getting enough sleep is also important and I think it falls into the consistency habit as well. Don’t get just one good night sleep during the weekend, make it so you get enough sleep throughout your week as well!
Side note on sleep from Rosie: Getting at least 7 hours of sleep reduces the hormone ghrelin and leptin, simply put: your hunger hormone and your satiety hormone. When you don’t get enough sleep, you need more energy to go through your day, so your ghrelin level rises, making you hungrier throughout the day. Often when we are tired our bodies crave quick and easy energy from sugary and/or carb loaded foods to get an energy spike! This will lead to weight gain and also a big drop any our energy or “sugar low”. Get those ZZZ’s!!
Clem
What is a typical workout for you? How long are they?
Rosie
I usually workout for 45 minutes or so. I start with a dynamic warm up, with compound movements, functional body weight exercises and active mobility. Then I do my main lifts, so squats and deadlifts are always first in the workout, then I do the smaller auxiliary exercises. I like to train for muscular endurance, keep my weights moderate and keep my rep range around 10-15.
I’ll do weight lifting only once or maybe twice a week and then do a run/spin/HIIT workout 3-4 times a week. And finally I’ll do one gymnastic workout at a gymnastic gym. It comprises of conditioning sequences I learned while I was a gymnast, usually there’s a lot of pull ups, hollow body holds and other body weight exercises followed by handstand work - maybe some back flips in there just for fun!! Your workouts should be fun right?!
Clem
What is your favourite healthy meal?
Rosie
A huge crunchy salad with as many different veggies I can think of! Lots of healthy fats in there too like nuts and seeds and I love avocado!
Clem
Favourite cheat meal?
Rosie
PASTA!! The most decedent and cheesy pasta you can imagine!!!
Clem
I love pasta!!!!! What are some training resources you would recommend to people workout out?
Rosie
fitnessblender.com for free workouts. It’s great for travel or when you don’t have access to a trainer.
skinnytaste.com for nutrition. It has tons of good recipes!
If you want to know more about Rosie, check out her website: rosiewalshfitness.com
Or give here a shout on IG @rosie.k.walsh
Cheers,
Clem