21/04/2026
A snippet from my latest newsletter:
..Today, I’d like to answer a question I had a week ago from a client and reader of this newsletter.
It’s an important question highlighting what can be a problem on social media. While there is lots of great and easily accessible information out there, there’s also a mountain of clickbait, catchy and sometimes controversial content trying hard to monetize off of your views.
This kind of content can confuse people on their health journey or feel like their effort isn’t good enough by what may seem like generic or actually helpful advice.
Have you ever liked a video starting with:
“Reasons why you need…”
“The number one exercise to …”
“X is making you fat”
These are all ways to grab your attention and even make you question some of or even your entire workout routine and health journey.
“Oh my gosh! I’ve been doing it all wrong this entire time!”
These videos often lack the context of real world scenarios like a busy work schedule, being a new parent, health challenges and so on.
I’ll try not to vent too much, so, here we go with the question, “Should I do cardio on a separate day to my workout? I saw online I should do it on a separate day for best results”
Just to give you some context, my client is a nurse, newly appointed manager doing long and demanding shifts, studying a masters and also sifting through a heck load of admin.
She just about has time to squeeze one session a week with 10-15 minutes on the treadmill before or after the session and maybe one 20 minute home workout.
While the video wasn’t necessarily bad (cardio is a good thing to do), it did at the same time make my client feel like what she is doing isn’t enough.
The actual answer to her question shouldn’t be a straight up yes or no but instead something more fitting to her own situation. Something like,
“What do you feel you have time for? And what would you like to prioritise?
If you have time for extra cardio days then great. It is beneficial to your physical and mental health. But if you don’t have any extra time why not continue doing as you’re doing by adding some cardio before or after your PT session. You’ve taken a great step in the right direction and you’re already feeling the benefits!
If you want cardio to be the priority then lets do a more cardio-focused gym session followed up by 10-20 minutes strength training to support muscle maintenance. If you want to focus on building muscle then we’ll do strength training first followed by 10-20 minutes of cardio afterwards.”
That was the answer I gave my client and I was actually surprised at how relieved she felt hearing that.
Perhaps there’s this subconscious pressure to live up to the fit-fluencers (the people who are paid to be fit) sometimes unrealistic expectations of the general public. I know I have felt that pressure.
I’d like to ask you to take what you hear and see on social media with a pinch of salt. If someone is telling you to do X, think about your own situation and your own goals. If it makes sense to you, you have room for it and it’ll benefit you overall then great but never feel the pressure to be or do something just because someone out there who doesn’t even know you says you should.
I hope you’ve found this newsletter helpful.
If you have any questions, please email me at [email protected] and answer them right here on the newsletter.
I also have a few spots open for online coaching and 1-1 PT at Puregym Caversham Road. Email me or visit my instagram to enquire
Have a great rest of the week 🙂
Aynsley
