Sidney Brito Personal Trainer/Coach

02/08/2022

“It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up”

💪🏽💪🏽

04/20/2018

CONGRATULATIONS to ALL the amazing athletes who finished the very tough BOSTON Marathon on Monday.
YOU ARE ALL CHAMPIONS!!! 💪💪💪

03/03/2017

Doing CROSSFIT 17.1?? Watch this video carefully.

01/06/2017

WATCH OUT FOLKS!!
Happy & Healthy 2017!
Coach Sid.

With kids consuming half their sugar quota first thing, it’s no wonder they’re getting diabetes and liver disease. We have to fight corporate interests

10/16/2016

Listen up GIRLS...
"The Best Benefits of Deadlifting for Women"

They are by far one of the best exercises for producing overall strength. But even more than that, they can even help you improve your physical appearance too. So, before we get into the meat of this article, I want to explain why women in particular should do deadlifts on a regular, consistent basis.
There are several reasons why women should incorporate deadlifts into their programs. One of the most important reasons I think deadlifting is important for women is that it allows them to realize their true strength potential. It never fails; anytime I train women and get them to pull a heavy triple on the deadlift (after building up to that level, of course), they absolutely love it. Something just seems to click in their minds when they rip a heavy weight off the floor.
Here's the most important benefits Deadlifts
DEADLIFTING PROVIDES STRENGTH AND CONFIDENCE
Strength and confidence cannot really be separated but, instead, are linked together when it comes to women performing deadlifts. This is due to the fact that society generally treats women as the weaker s*x and instills in many women that they should stick to the pretty pink dumbbells that children can practically throw around. The truth is it feels good to be able to yank your body weight or more off the floor. Not only does deadlifting heavy weight build strength, it builds confidence which is a valuable tool in the box of a savvy woman today. Most women who regularly practice deadlifting are much more confident in other areas of life.
It is also falsely believed by most women that they will turn into freakishly unattractive forms of the amazing Hulk if they dare to lift too much weight. This misconception comes mainly from images of men bodybuilders who look like the Michelin Man on steroids, or from some of the bigger female bodybuilders who usually have to resort to outside sources of steroids to bulk up as much as they do. Testosterone is the main hormone responsible for building muscle mass. And, although women’s bodies do produce testosterone, it is in miniscule amounts that normally don’t bulk you up unless you have a hormonal imbalance. Therefore, women can work out as much as they want without the fear of gaining much muscle mass.
DEADLIFTING INCREASES METABOLISM
Another powerful benefit for women deadlifters is that it increases metabolism. When you elevate your body’s metabolism, it burns fat much more efficiently. The more body fat you lose by performing regular deadlifts, the better you look and feel. Also, muscle burns much more energy than other elements of the body, so the more muscle you build, the more fat your body will burn throughout the day to keep that muscle fueled up. Since deadlifting free weight generates more muscle than most other lower body exercises, you lose more body fat by doing deadlifts than from a variety of leg machine exercises.
DEADLIFTS BUILD BODACIOUS CURVES
Since women don’t accumulate muscle mass like men, they tend to become quite curvy by performing deadlifts. This is because deadlifts incorporate the major muscle groups of the lower body as well as a variety of surrounding stabilizer muscles. By performing this one exercise, you can develop knockout form in your legs, glutes, lower back and abdominals. Such results are well worth obtaining from a single exercise than spending double or triple the time performing workouts on individual lower body exercises.
So make sure to train with a qualified Strength & Conditioning coach and enjoy ALL the fantastic benefits of the Deadlift.
Yours in Fitness...
Coach Sid.

10/14/2016

"Before we look FIT...we've got to FITfeel"
Coach Sid
Soon in New York City!!!

09/20/2016

I can't believe even after ALL the years those adds still out there :-(
SO...REPOSTING from few years ago.
A source of protein my "ARSE"!!!
Dear Mr Brennan
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! on achieving 3rd place in the “Biggest Selling brands in Ireland” groceries ranking!
Brennan’s Bread really is an iconic name in Ireland – I would love to know how you got there? The fact that bread is so cheap to make and really popular must have been a great help, right?
And then there are those adverts of yours. Ah sure they’re great. Old Mr Brennan would nearly bring a tear to your eye! This one reminds me of Russell Crowe in Gladiator! (I think it might be my favourite actually)
It’s really powerful, emotive stuff. Very well done indeed!
Of course the wheat that Maximus Decimus Meridius was running his fingers through was einkorn wheat and much more nutritious than the dwarf wheat Old Mr Brennan is baking with nowadays.

field

Did you find some of the einkorn wheat to shoot this or did you use camera trickery to make the modern dwarf wheat look taller than it really is? I won’t tell anyone but it’s very clever! Can you imagine if the wheat had been tickling their ankles in the advert?!
You may not have made it to that Number 3 spot!!
Do you plan to show any soya plants or trees (where does that stuff grow anyway?) in your next ad because I see you have some of that stuff in your bread too. What’s it doing there anyway?
By the way have you seen what 2 slices of modern wholemeal bread can do to some folk’s blood sugar levels? Whoahhhh it’s HECTIC! If you don’t have time to watch this clip all you really need to know is that the bread beats a Snickers bar 3 – 2!! Wheat beats sweets? Who’d have thought it? Even Dr Oz was surprised by that one!
Maybe you should send him a white sliced loaf of yours to see how he goes with that!! Do you think it would beat the wholemeal yourself? What about a Mars bar?
I read somewhere that foods that wreck havoc with blood sugar levels seem to be a key contributor to things like obesity and diabetes, so this can’t be good news for, well, pretty much two thirds of the Irish population.
Would you agree with me there?
This whole wheat thing really is very interesting indeed. Do you know that they’ve actually been sowing, harvesting and studying wheat every year since 1843 in this one special place over in England. That’s amazing, right?
Turns out that things started to go badly wrong with wheat right after England won the World Cup in 1966. I know it’s crazy but I think there might be a link there!
Check out the massive increase in yield per hectare when they replaced Maximus Decimus Meridius’ einkorn wheat with the modern stuff after England won the World Cup. Do you think Bobby Moore their captain had anything to do with this?
1966

I was wondering have you considered changing the name of your smaller Half Pan Loaf to the “Dwarf Loaf” to celebrate the 50th birthday celebrations of modern wheat? Working in marketing as I do would lead me to believe that this could work well – but don’t worry I won’t charge you for it ;) Better still, how about getting your hands on some einkorn wheat and changing your “Today’s Bread Today” tagline to “Brennan’s. Yesterday’s Bread Today.”
Do you see where I’m coming from there?
It’s funny but my granny used to always say “Ah they don’t make em like they used to.” Bless her, I think she was right after all when it comes to bread. Does Old Mr Brennan say that about your bread as well?
Anyway this whole bread thing can be very confusing for a layman like myself and it has been giving me sleepless nights of late. Until Dr Mary McCreery came along to put my mind at ease, I was having nightmares about those Wheat Belly and Grain Brain books. Those guys are crazy right?
Dr McCreery seems to be a very nice, highly qualified lady who really likes bread. Is she a friend of the family?
To have a Consultant Clinical Nutritionist at the prestigious Blackrock Clinic in Dublin say nice things about your white bread must be very satisfying indeed. Did you send her sandwiches or a free loaf of your Weight Watchers loaf or anything like that? How does that work by the way? Is that like the thing they did with McDonalds?
Those school lunch ideas you give people for free on your website are brilliant as well by the way. The one with popcorn and juice and white bread sandwiches with low fat spread should be very popular with the 1 in 3 Irish kids who are now obese. Dr McCreery seems to think its OK anyway so that’s good. Professor Tim Noakes MD wouldn’t agree at all. Do you know him? He’s a very famous Sports Scientist from South Africa apparently. I guess he knows a lot about running but do you think he really knows what he’s talking about when it comes to bread and wheat and getting fat? Do you think somebody paid him to say bad things about bread?
Anyway, it’s just a shame we’re all getting so fat these days. It really is hard to know who to blame! What with all these Big Food companies pretending to support healthy eating to make more sales I’m getting really worried.
Who to trust?
Do you ever think about these things at all? Does Old Mr Brennan mention it? He must yearn for the days when wheat was einkorn, chickens had beaks and Irish children had a boiled egg before they ran off to school.
Do you think England will ever win the World Cup again?
Looking forward to your reply and please do give my regards to Old Mr Brennan.

09/10/2016

"Don't just think outside the box...get rid of the box"
Coach Sid

08/30/2016

What IS Bodyfit Functional Fitness?
By Personal trainer Sidney Brito.

Part I
Yesterday you had a great workout at the gym. You're bench-pressing more weight than ever before, and pulling enough weight on the seated rowing machine to try out for the Olympic sculling team.

Today, you lift a 60-pound suitcase to carry it downstairs -- and throw your back out. What happened? In all likelihood, you're not paying enough attention to your functional fitness. You might be toned, tight, and ready for the beach, but are you ready to lift your toddler out of his car seat or hoist the spring-water bottle onto the dispenser?

Functional fitness and functional exercise are the latest gym buzzwords. They focus on building a body capable of doing real-life activities in real-life positions, not just lifting a certain amount of weight in an idealized posture created by a gym machine.

Making Muscles Work Together

Conventional weight training isolates muscle groups, but it doesn't teach the muscle groups you're isolating to work with other.

The key to functional exercise is integration. It's about teaching all the muscles to work together rather than isolating them to work independently."

So what's an example of a functional exercise? Think of a bent-over row; not the kind of row you do on a seated machine, but the kind you do leaning over a bench, holding the weight in one hand with your arm hanging straight down, and then pulling the weight up as your elbow points to the ceiling, finishing with your upper arm parallel to the ground.

That's an exercise that will build the muscles of the back, the shoulders, the arms, and because of its nature will really work your whole body.

Compare that motion to a carpenter bending over a piece of wood, a nurse bending over a bed to transfer a patient, or an auto mechanic bending over to adjust your carburetor. Anyone doing a bent-over row will find a carryover in things you do in normal life.

Contrast that with the seated row: You're sitting in a chair with your chest pressed against pads, and you pull two levers back. You may be strengthening certain muscles, but your body's not learning anything, because you don't have to activate your core stabilizer muscles or the stabilizers of your arms and shoulders. The machine's doing it for you.

In functional fitness, most of the time, you should be standing on your own two feet and supporting your own weight when you lift anything.

08/30/2016

What IS Bodyfit Functional Workouts?
By Personal Trainer Sidney Brito.

Part II
Control and Balance the Body

In fact, to get started with functional fitness, you might want to forget about the weights entirely at first. "Most people can't even control their own body weight. They can't do a one-legged squat without falling over." Try it now; can you?

"They could lie down on a leg-press machine and press 500 pounds, but they don't have the muscular control for a one-legged squat because they don't have the stability or the muscles working together." That's why, when we walk downstairs or reach up to get something out of a high cabinet, a lot of us have pain.

Your first step, should be to teach your body to control and balance its own weight. "Start with simple movements, like the one-legged squat, and other balance exercises. Then try standing on one leg on a step-stool that's perhaps eight inches high, and then lower the heel of your other foot to the ground, while controlling your body weight as you go down and back up." Switch sides during each maneuver to promote balance and muscle integration on either side of your body.

Once you can control and balance your own body weight, then you can start working with added weights. "Put a five-pound dumbbell on a level chair, and then do the same one-legged squat, but this time pick up the dumbbell as you come up. "Next, pick up the same weight from the ground while doing the squat. That's challenging your total body integration, and teaching the upper body to work with the lower body."

Other popular tools that promote functional exercise are things like stability balls and the "wobble board," both of which force you to work your core to keep your body balanced while you're lifting a weight.

Function Follows Form

So should you abandon the weight machines at the gym for a program that's all about free weights and balance? Not necessarily.

"If there are isolated weaknesses, they'll cause a detriment in functional movement,if you don't address integration, strong muscles get stronger and the weak ones stay weak, and you create a pattern of compensation. If you blend the two together, functional exercises teach isolated muscles how to work together."

Jumping into functional exercise may startle some people used to working on machines alone: It's a lot harder! "Functional exercise is much more neurologically demanding than machine exercises.

"You can't do functional exercise with the same levels of intensity and short rest periods as machine exercise. And unlike traditional weightlifting on machines, with functional exercise, if you 'train to failure' [until muscle fatigue], you train to fail. Instead, your set ends when you can no longer perform the exercise with perfect form."

Make sure to find a qualified trainer with a qualification in Functional exercise. Most call "trainers" DON'T have them. So he can advises you with caution. "Don't try to go too fast. The longer you've been away from exercise, the more time it takes to build your body back up."
For more information on Functional Fitness and a FREE consultation, please call: 0860510414
Yours in Fitness.
Coach Sid

08/24/2016

To ALL my FITMums and FITDads.
by Coach Sid.

Have you ever been labeled a “health nut” or a “fitness freak” by others when your choices seemed strange or over-the-top to them? Are you the weird mom or dad who embarrasses your kids and cause raised eyebrows from parents by bringing water and fruit as a post-game snack? I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of being labeled and looked down on for my choices, and I think that we should just let our freak flags fly, people.
Be a real fitness freak with the Body Media armband displayed proudly.
The Pressure to Fit In
There is so much social pressure in our lives over EVERYTHING. We are judged for the car we drive, the house we live in, the amount of recycling we do, the activities we participate in, and yes, the things we eat. It’s impossible not to let these social pressures affect us if we’re not strong in our convictions.
The thing about going along with the majority is that the majority is usually WRONG. I love the advice that I’ve heard for success, “Whatever the majority is doing, do the opposite.” This is so true. The majority of our population is sick and unhealthy, obese and out of shape. Cancer and other life-style related illnesses are literally an epidemic. Therefore, it’s really no surprise that there’s so much social pressure to just drink the damn soda, or to bring the sweetest trans-fat and sugar-loaded snacks to the kids’ soccer games, or to work work work and grab the cheapest and easiest food. The majority wants to feel ok about their choices, and so they guilt us and make us feel different, obsessive, and abnormal when ours are different.
And hey, this doesn’t just happen between the fit and the non-fit. Even in the fitness world, there is pressure to train like this or eat like that. You eat GRAINS??? Oh Em Gee.
Should you be gluten-free? Find out here.
Forget ‘Em
Who cares what their opinion is of you? Who cares if they think you’re wrong? If it’s working for you, that is ALL that matters, then you don’t NEED them to agree with you. Someone will always judge your choices, and you. That’s the nature of life, and most certainly the nature of success. The weak will always be looking over the shoulder of the successful and making up reasons why THEY aren’t successful too, to justify themselves and their insecurities. Judgements are usually only projections of insecurities, not a reflection of any truth about us.
Learning to live with balance is so important in a healthy lifestyle, here’s why.
The thing is that no one can control how we feel about ourselves but us. That is a scary yet empowering realization to have. No one can make us feel less than or weird without our permission. So if you want to eat a salad when everyone else is eating pizza, do it and don’t apologize to anyone. As a matter of fact, thank yourself silently for being true to yourself and refusing to accept mediocrity for your body. Be the “over-the-top” mom that brings waters and bananas to the game, be the co-worker who goes for a run at lunch instead of binging at Chili’s after a stressful meeting, and let your freak flag fly just as it is.
Who knows, you may make it look so good that others will follow, and you may end up being a true inspiration for the ones who need it most.
So...be proud...be VERY PROUD!
Coach Sid