For our ‘Five Minutes With…’, we sat down with personal trainer, Coach Kyle, at theclubandspa on Level 5. We asked his advice on some of the most frequently asked health and fitness questions.

How much water should I be drinking daily?
Ideally you should be aiming to drink at least two to three litres of water a day. However, you need to be consuming more water the more you train to ensure you’re rehydrating your body.

How many times a week should I work out?
Some people enjoy working out daily but that’s not always possible. I would always say that you should be aiming to work out two to three times a week for around 30 minutes to an hour. This could be a mix of doing light endurance exercise, cardio, and core-focused session. You can then build this up to working out four or five days a week, with one or two rest days.

It’s important to structure fitness into your lifestyle to ensure that you make time to go the gym or a run. If you’re struggling to motivate yourself try setting goals or follow someone on social media that inspires you. Having a gym buddy or working with a PT is also a great way to motivate yourself.

What should I be doing to get a flatter stomach?
Unfortunately, you can’t target reduce body fat, so although an abs workout is great for strengthening your core, it’s full body movements that will help you burn the most fat.

I like to use the phrase ‘get your abs in the kitchen’, as weight loss is generally 75 percent diet and 25 percent exercise. A great way to keep an eye on your calories is to use a fitness tracker such as ‘My Fitness Pal’. If you are burning more calories than you are consuming, you will then create a calorie deficit enabling you to lose weight.

What’s the best exercise to combat stress?
Boxing or any intense training is good as it enables you to just switch off from everything around you, as you concentrate on the exercise at hand. This type of exercise is also good as it really gets your heart rate up, and in turn, you experience both an endorphin rush and a sense of achievement.

I have no time to exercise, what can I do?
With such busy lifestyles, it can be difficult to factor exercise into your daily routine. If you haven’t got time to get to the gym, then YouTube has some fantastic at-home workouts. However, if this isn’t for you then walking just 20-30 minutes can have a really positive impact on both your physical and mental health.

Equally, you can just try and incorporate more walking into your day, as walking can actually burn more calories than a session at the gym.

How important is nutrition?
Diet plays a massive role in helping you get fitter. I’m a strong believer than clean food makes for a clean mind. You should eat everything in moderation as eating too much and eating too late, particularly at night, will often result in weight gain. Instead it’s much better to eat less more frequently. A great way to achieve this is by doing meal prep and ensuring you’ve had a good breakfast to give you lots of energy at the start of the day. Drinking plenty of water is also key.

Is it true that it’s good to have a “cheat day” where people can eat whatever they want once a week? Why is this a good or bad idea?
On a cheat day, you are allowed to eat whatever you want. What this day looks like depends entirely on you – some devour everything they can get their hands on. Often people will use cheat day as a target and use the opportunity to reward themselves.

People use cheat days because if they’ve been following a strict diet for a long time, it might be that the glycogen stores in their muscles have been reduced. This can lead you to feeling tired more quickly and damage your workout performance. A cheat meal or a cheat day can help replenish your glycogen stores by increasing the number of calories and carbohydrates you are consuming, which will provide you with the energy you need for a strenuous workout.

To find out more or to become a member, visit www.theclubandspabirmingham.co.uk. Follow @clubandspabham on Instagram and find Kyle @kyleriac.