Adrian Collins is one of the best trainers in the fitness industry. His exercise plan, ‘The Social Butterfly Programme’ has been featured in the Mail Online and The Sunday Times Style Magazine. The programme, which is 6-8 weeks is completely personalised to suit individual goals and promises to fit around the schedules of busy professionals.

Being a busy person myself, I was eager to learn more about  the programme and how it works.

When I arrived at Adrian’s gym near Old Street station, I was expecting  to be thrown into a hardcore army style workout, but it was the exact opposite of that.  Instead, Adrian had me do a few simple exercises, which he used to assess my posture. Knowing nothing about me, Adrian was able to deduce that I used to dance. He was also able to see areas where I was tight.

After assessing my posture,  Adrian took me through a few exercises that would not only help me reach my goal of toning up, but also help with my posture issues.

Adrian took the time to get to know me and find out what my goals were. His style of training is brilliant. He uses a mix of pilates and strength training, which keeps things fun and interesting. He also gave me exercises to do on my own time that help with my posture issues. If you are in the London area, I definitely recommend checking him out. For those of you who live elsewhere, Adrian also offers online training. Prices start at £380.

After our work out, I had the opportunity to ask Adrian some health and fitness questions.

1. What is your theory behind the Social Butterfly Program?

I created the Social Butterfly Program as being a city based trainer I know how hectic people’s lifestyles are. It’s the perfect regime for city dwelling, party loving people with busy social schedules. It’s completely personalised to your goals.  Wether it’s focusing on s desired body type, re alignment or shaping up for a special event, it’s tailor made to make you look fantastic and stay motivated.

2. What do you say to people, who say they don’t have the time to workout?

Time management is needed here.  Usually from my experience being able to fit in a workout in your day structure without making it too much of an inconvenience is key. Try a morning workout HIIT before work or on your lunch break having your meals around this in preparation.. This is why I promote a 15/20 min HIIT to my clients to achieve on their off days from training with me.

3. What tips do you have for people who don’t have access to a gym?

It’s not necessary to have to go and use a gym to create a good workout routine. Many of my clients don’t have gym memberships I use a private hired studio or train in parks or at homes.  There are some great outdoor spaces for working out, try finding a hill or a flight of stairs is one of my recommendations, as you can really get a burn on different intervals using these. And there is a lot you can do with your own body weight for exercises. It is affordable to purchase some basic workout equipment these days. I like using resistance bands with clients which helps with more pull exercises etc..

4. What is the best way to tone up?

Consistency – sticking to a routine and keeping your food clean… This combined with a good resistance based program can work wonders on toning your structure.

But this all relates back to goal setting if you put your mind in the right place and follow a consistent routine with your eating habits sleep and shocking up the exercise program this can create a snow ball effect to your metabolism

5. What is your favourite type of workout and why?

It depends on my mood and if I’m aiming for a specific goal. From boxing pad work to heavy lifting and squating to Pilates.  I rate the Pilates reformer highly, if I’m feeling a bit tight from weights I like the challenge this machine brings when doing specific exercises. Once you get past the basics there are some full on moves which can really challenge your body.

6. What are good pre and post workout snacks?

I try and avoid the idea of snacking (the body works on digestion of foods with insulin response, snacking can screw this up and forces you to hit insulin spikes etc), But you do need to fuel your workouts and get the right ingredients in within 45mins, post workout to optimise muscle recovery.

Key foods that help promote a fuel efficient workout are apples, almonds and post work out protein and carb are needed for muscle recovery. Look to keep this clean as poss if you want to optimise muscle tone, I find white fish or a breast of chicken with sweet potatoes or basmati rice with good greens for fibre to help get this ingredient through your digestive system in optimal time and ease.

7. What exercises do you recommend to get rid of love handles?

Assessing your diet, getting the correct sleep pattern and with an optimal exercise program in place will all help to rid this area if that is your goal.  Targeting muscle groups in isolation can be great for specific toning and look but, if you are unfamiliar with targeted exercises I wouldn’t recommend isolation as there are implications to the rest of your kinetic chain if your technique isn’t spot on. So, for this I would recommend compound exercises and a good Pilates balance / alignment and core routine to help support your structure before upping exercises for isolation..

8. What is your favourite exercise and why?

Again this always changes dependant upon where I am with my own training routine at the time. I do like compound exercise such as deadlifting as this hits my whole body. But, I also enjoy sports as exercise such as swimming, surfing, snowboarding…

9. If you’re out having a drink, what is a good choice to go for?

Other than water! If you tend to have the “occasional” alcoholic beverage try sticking to clear drinks, champaign, vodka tonic… And also try slipping water in between to stay hydrated as this will really have a difference in how you feel the next day. Clear drinks give your digestive system an easier time in dealing with the toxins and the extra H20 helps the system flow these toxins quicker.

10. If your goal is to shed some weight and tone up, how many times a week do you recommend working out? And how long should your workouts be?

Quality rather than quantity, I’ve always said.  Ask yourself next time you hit the gym is this challenging for me? How much time am I spending on moving or am I sat here on my phone breaking my workouts not concentrating on my exercise/movements. Yes there is a key amount of days and time you want to spend in optimising your weight toning goals, that is why I have most clients I see on the Social Butterfly Program take on the intense level with three to four sessions a week.  I also, encourage them to take on the 15 minute HIITs on the days we don’t train usually over the weekends for optimal metabolism boosting effects.

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