Keri McKibbin Personal Training

Bit of a sleepless night myself but thats what comes from having kids 2 and under i suppose!!

The positive news is that i didn’t have a drink last night and you know by now that the lack of alcohol makes me feel so much more alert on sunday mornings. We talk about it all the time and a few of you have mentioned how alcohol can ruin the following day for you, and that sunday seems a write off for many of you.

Having a fresh feeling sunday means the world to me.

I get to plan my week better and the chances of me starting monday morning with a bang are very high, and i’m quite excited about that too so hope you’re going to join me in having a big week!

What i mean regarding having your week covered is hopefully, you have most of your workouts planned, and a substitute if you can’t get it done.

Cyril has already posed how positive he feels, after having an awful few weeks of real pain, stopping him doing most things. His spirit has comes through at 100 miles an hour and he is looking to get out there this week, whatever the weather!

Whether you’re about to embark on an exercise programme today or you’re an advanced athlete, you need to be ready to execute a plan this week.

For me its always about doing at least two all over weight training programmes, and the normal runs and cycles i get to do with clients. The efforts range on a personal level from comfortable to totally out of my comfort zone. The range of individuals and businesses i train is vast, so i have to have enough experience to accommodate every body.

The support system i have around my week is always proper eating, sound nutritional choices and a wide variety of nutrients. If its man made, i don’t usually want it!

Then there’s my sleep needs, if i don’t get enough sleep, my body doesn’t repair itself and i don’t replenish the energy needed for my next day, which usually starts at 4am.

I don’t feel sorry for myself getting up at that time of day because people are paying me a reasonable amount of money to be there, so the least i can do is show up alert and full of energy ready to make a difference for them!

Enjoy the rest off your sunday and prepare for another big week!!!

Getting in your sessions despite the sudden temperature increase has never been more important.

The strategy should always be to do your training first thing in the morning, or last thing in the evening. First thing in the morning though tends to work better, as working out last thing at night is not great for sleep, as you will still have adrenalin in your system and you will find it very difficult to relax.

Every time you see either ultra-warm weather, see it as an opportunity to increase your health and fitness, when most likely everyone else is not bothering to move too much.

The same with the snow and ice. This is a no brainer for some people, they will simply use it as an excuse not to train and add another period of inactivity into their lives.

Whatever the weather, you will always have great opportunities to train. Most likely they will be inside when its snowing and icy outside, and you will be working out first thing in the morning when there’s a lot of warm weather around.

With the warm weather thats here right now, use it as a challenge. The one thing you have to remember about working out in this weather is consuming enough water, its very easy to get dehydrated in times like these so prepare well before, during and after your workout.

Another benefit to training in the warmer temperatures is that when it gets cooler again (and it wont be long), your training will seem a lot easier because your body internally wont get so warm. Your body’s core temperature dictates how hard you can train so having an experience of colder and warmer temperatures is always invaluable.

The whole point of this is to tell you that you should still train, but use some caution and try to use the coolest times of the day to schedule in your workout. Drink enough water, don’t go mad on hotter days and simply getting decent workouts in will not only be an achievement, but very valuable too in terms of results and keeping them coming in at regular intervals.

Enjoy yourself and have a big weekend outside and inside whatever you decide to do!!

Using different approaches in getting into shape is to be applauded, because there is always more than one way to get things done.

I do lose a bit of patience though when we hear all about the latest celebrity diets, the latest “cleansing” diets, the latest diet maple syrup diet for example for 14 days and you lose lots of weight promises, etc etc.

We all hear them all the time but the reality is that these diets will only take you further from your overall goal. Losing 14 pounds in two weeks makes your body all the more INEFFICIENT because you tend to lose valuable lean muscle tissue. This makes the longer term process of losing body fat very difficult as your metabolism will be undoubtedly slowed down.

The more lean muscle tissue you have on your body, the more calories your body burns 24 hours a day. Any time you lose some of the muscle tissue, you burn less calories and quite often, much of the shape you set out to get in the first place.

Most of us lose weight first in the areas we don’t really want to. I know many people who lose it first in the shoulders, so you get to look thin and shapeless straight away. The problem is that society puts so much emphasis on the weighing scale, and not enough on actual body fat loss and how you look in clothes, plus how your actual energy levels really are.

If you’ve been reading this since last October and you still try out faddy diets on a regular basis, either im not communicating with you at all or it could be a waste of time you reading this. If you like doing short term fixes, then great, go and do them.

The chances are though that you will be doing quite a lot of short term fixes over the rest of your life. If you want to relieve the stress of all of this, then you need to face facts and start eating food that was actually meant for your body. All those chemicals were not meant for consumption you see in lots of foods.

The way you live your life 24 hours a day in terms of food and drink will always reward you or come back to haunt you.

What you put into your fitness programme is always what you get out. If you eat in public all healthy and then behind closed doors, you eat rubbish, then its time to come clean and EAT CLEAN for a change.

The facts are all on here how to do it, the tick is clocking so the quicker you get on with it, the quicker you’re looking and feeling like the way you want to be!

There is the old story about the one of the most infamous bandits in mexico changing his life around to become one of the most famous priests and negotiators in mexicos’s history and its lesson to us all.

To cut a long story short, this bandit became one of mexico’s most important men by acts of courage and his ability to communicate with the rivalling gangs and mafia’s, and somehow sorting out insurmountable problems out time after time.

This took massive personal change and it was very uncomfortable for others to accept this one time bandit as a good man of the cloth for many people.

The first time he was at a loss for words and not able to settle a difference between rival gangs was when he was negotiating and one of the leaders told him he would always remember him as “el bandito” and not a man of the cloth. Needless to say he was speechless and lost for words, and for a short period of time, lost all his powers of negotiation because he went back to his old ways when he was a bandit, losing his sense of fair play and trying to force through a solution.

This was pointed out to him the next day by an elder and was told to focus on the person he had become, rather than the person he was. He never looked back after that because the first time in his life, he felt officically “accepted”, the new version of himsel had finally arrived and was established.

This is is the same as many of you who have lost weight, got very fit and gained lots and lots of energy.

To get there, you told many of your friends that you were eating well and exercising regularly, and you wanted to change things in your life.

You have to accept though if you want to remain lean and fit, and still retain lots of energy, you have to live a healthy lifestyle.

The people who remember the old you have to accept the “new you” and all that it entails.

You still have the same personality, you are the same person inside, you probably just look heck of a lot better than before, and feel a hundred times better. People have to accept that if you want to live a life thats better for everybody.

Most of all, you have accept the new you YOURSELF, and look forward and not back. This is a key step in becoming successful for the rest of your life.

Most of us have our own versions of reality, some more ambitious than others.

For example, getting into shape requires us to train a minimum of 3-4 days per week.

It also requires us to eat very healthily most of the time.

Then we need to hit the sack reasonably early every night, so we can recover and get ready for another workout the day after sometimes.

This is the version of reality i try to adhere to, and i know its pretty truthful when expecting results.

Some people’s version of reality is eating what you want, slamming in a couple of light hearted session in the week and hoping for the best. When the desired results don’t come in, the common response is either to feel sorry for yourself type of attitude, or not really be truthful with yourself type of attitude.

The sooner you realise that two walks a week will not get you in amazing shape the better.

The sooner you realise the gardening for 30 minutes a day will not get you in great shape.

The sooner you realise that 30 minutes of housework will not get you in shape the better.

These are all daily mail types of claims, or claims from the government, and im here to tell you that they are BALONEY AND FALSE.

Im not saying that housework and gardening are not good for you, but you DO need to do some structured workout regularly if you want to change your shape, lower your body fat, strengthen your heart and flat out get yourself in shape full stop!

Enough of this namby pamby daily mail attitude to exercise, its not going to do much. It will improve your health but not make real life-changing effects on the way you look and feel.

Lets make sure you do your workouts with purpose and still do the household tasks anyway, whats wrong with that? Then you can have the best of both worlds!

The facts are if i gave you every bit of advice they give in the newspaper or some government leaflet, i would be out of a job because nobody would be getting into the shape they really want.

Let me also say that ANY activity is good and i encourage ALL OF IT. This site is all about getting into shape in a reasonable amount of time, its not the ramblers walking club, although they do some fantastic work and long walks are good for you.

This is all about grabbing the bull by the horns and getting it done, which reminds me, lets do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Now that i’m back in the land of the living after my food poisoning, i have to say how fantastic it feels! It is great to be full of energy and not aching from head to feet! I’m back and it feels great to be going back to work tomorrow!

September on wedneday and this is always a critical month.

This is the month when you can really do something about it again, in fact you can do something about everything if you really want to.

I know a lot of people who get back into their training in september, as if the summer was one big excuse to go on the beer and have barbecues most days!

So see september please as a season where you can throw out the old, and bring in the new!

Some people use it as another excuse to cry off from their training.

Its dark too early, its too cold, its too depressing etc etc, these are just a few things to help you along with your excuses if you want to?

Or

Are you going to throw out the old rubbish excuses, eat the foods you know will get you in top shape, avoid the rubbish that keeps you in the same old situation and finally BREAK OUT this time?

Is that a YES?!!!!!!

If it is, im going to right behind you and be really excited about your progress, im very serious about that.

Its a road ive seen a million people travel, but only a few travel all the way and reach that heavenly place of being in great shape and feeling fantastic too. The great news is that ANY ONE of you can do it, im convinced of that and im here to help you.

Most of you will be back in work tomorrow, im fired up so lets start your week on a big high and get ready for a big september!!

Spent yesterday on my back believe it or not. I cooked some salmon friday night and ended up with countless visists to the bathroom saturday! Felt weak all day but glad to report that now (sunday morning) my strength has come back quickly and have got a good walk in this morning. I usually do a run on sunday but thought it best not to push myself.

This is an example of reacting to your body when it breaks down and doing the right thing.

We have all tried to fight against illness, but sometimes it is better to go with the flow and surrender for a while.

The great thing is that my immune system is usually under a lot of exercise stress, so the idea of me laying down on the settee all day and night is a strange one.

What this allowed me to do though is recover far quicker than normal. All my body had to do was fix itself and not do anything physically stressful. All i did is lie down and watch sports all day, and couldn’t even raise my voice, that was even too much of an effort! I felt awful yesterday but the good news is today i am nearly back to my old self.

I encourage anyone not to exercise if they feel unwell, as all you are doing is putting off your recovery, sometimes putting it off quite a lot. Your immune system is hugely important of course and you have to manage the stresses on your body at all times.

This is why i always recommend at least one dayoff a week, if you don’t, your immune system will struggle with this and eventually break down, causing colds and many types of illness.

Fortunately, if you eat properly and include a wide array of nutrients in your diet, your chances of falling sick go down dramatically.

Your imune system is always protected best when you exercise regularly with at least one day off a week, your diet is packed full of nutrients with a variety of healthy food, and the most forgotten element-sleep! If you don’t sleep properly, you won’t recover and won’t feel like doing much full stop.

All of these three elements must be in place to achieve a good strong immune system!

So what’s your weekend plans looking like?

Is there a bike ride in there? Is there a scenic walk going on? Any swimming efforts going in? Any activities at all?

Or

Is the weekend revolving around the pub? Have you noticed that on a nice warm day like today, there is always the awful sight of people with their tops off drinking outside the local pubs? Enough to put you off your food some of them!

Sometimes its a mix of the two and nothing at all wrong with having a drink in moderation AND doing a workout! What a concept!

Seriously, when you go all out at  something with no room for anything else, you are sometimes less successful because you miss out eventually on a balance in your life.

The bank holiday is fun no doubt and the advice always is to do your workouts, and chill out a bit.

This weekend also signifies the end of summer, the last week of summer means we are usually preparing to go into the start of autumn, and the run up to christmas for most retailers.

This is your chance this year to get into shape BEFORE christmas, you can really do it if you show some consistency and have a solid plan.

Check out the workouts on here, check out the eating ideas, go through the hundreds of blogs designed to inspire youto new highs. Its all here if you want it and if you have a question, click on subsribe and its all free, no catches and you’re guaranteed a well-thought out answer.

My plans this weekend include my usual 6am walk of the dog tomorrow for an hour, the early sunday morning run, and my bank holiday run and i may throw some weights in there too.

It may seem like a great idea to relax completely and do nothing. It works against me though because i start back work on tuesday feeling like a 70 year old man IF i don’t do anything. I have found this to my cost and swore to never let it happen again.

Like most of you, exercise actually makes me feel good, it inspires me to do more things in my life and helps me be a better parent too. If you live your life with health being the main theme throughout, good things tend to happen and you’re capable of more full stop. Nothing worse than puffing and panting through life (in a bad way i mean), the more you can do without too much effort seemingly because YOU ARE fit and healthy is worth its weight in gold.

Have a great weekend and lets get out and do things!

Different levels of fitness requires different levels of effort.

Achieving those different levels though is a gradual process as member Annette is finding out, and she sent me this message last night.

“My first week of training went quite well.

  I am definitely feeling more alert and my diet is much better although I could probably still improve on it.  Drinking loads of water which is making me feel less tired.  I have stuck to my workouts, even when I went camping because I don’t need to use any gym equipment.

 I can do them anywhere plus they are pretty short which is always a bonus for me!! 

 Cardio workouts are the ones I look forward to most but feel absolutely lousy while doing them ( I am soooo unfit).

  Never mind, I’m sticking with it no matter what!

Annette”

Annette is clearly on a path to where she wants to get back achieving big things once again. She knows she has to work through different levels before she is anywhere near where she was before. She knows she will get there though as long as she sticks with it!

She also knows that she can do her workouts literally anywhere, and shes not tied to a gym and the limitations that can bring.

Debbie is clearly back in the swing this week, and enjoying something new that has done a lot to stimulate her interest and reawaken her passion for health and fitness again.

She also has great experience with injuries, and has the know how on how to avoid any pain in her workouts.

These are people who have done it all before, who have been at their peak and for various reasons, have slid back a bit in terms of their fitness and maybe body fat, and want to experience the big high’s they had from being at their best.

They both know though that they have to experience those different levels on the way before being ready to make the jump up, one level at a time.

The good news is though that because of muscle memory, their bodies remember where they’ve been before, and the rate of progress this time is likely to be far more rapid than first time around.

Once your body has experienced big highs of low body fat, a leaner harder body, more energy, more self-esteem, more self-confidence, looking great in clothes, having more enthusiasm for everything in life, an all time level of health and vitality etc etc, you really want to get there again and once you start believing again, you know you will want to get there as soon as you can, and to me that’s a great thing!

So what are you waiting for? Let’s finish the week on a high, and get ever closer to your best condition and the way you feel. No slowing down now, lets go and get it!

So how is all your progress looking right now?

Are you saying “god it’s cold outside and autumn is coming early”?

Are you saying “im fed up with all this rain, its making me down”!

Are you saying “its august, i’ll start back when the summer finished”?

If you fall victim to any of these, lets make a promise to yourself and cut the you know what, get a bit more aggressive about your health and training and really get your mojo back!!!

Being enthusiastic has to happen and you will achieve absolutely nothing if you don’t start adding some passion into your workouts and your health in general.

If you don’t feel you can, then who the heck is telling you can’t do it anymore, or even you can’t do it in the first place? Thats almost twice as bad!!

Just look at the person putting you off, are they a picture of health and coolness themselves? Are they an example you should follow?

Do you really believe that being inactive is really going to make your health somehow “better”? Good health doesnt happen by accident and sometimes you have to make radical decisions to change things around for the better? Surely you can do this and im backing you do it, in fact im offering all my support and advice.

Lets get to the facts, its getting darker in the nights, its getting colder and its certainly wetter. These ARE NOT MAJOR OBSTACLES though so dont think for one minute that this can possibly stop you all in your quest to become in the best possible shape you’ve ever been in. THESE WEATHER CONDITIONS CANNOT STOP YOU FULL STOP!!

So now that we are clear, this is 7pm on a thursday night and its still not too late to throw in a great workout, or is EASTENDERS somehow an obstacle to all of that!! You’ll be glad you fitted in and you will be well on your way to making your favourite clothes feeling heck of a lot better!

Lets get enthusicastic, lets get motivated, lets feel the drive inside of you again and lets get unbelievable performances out of yourself!!! Have you got the heart deep down or are you willing to throw the towel in again? Lets make it happen right now and make it to the weekend in much better heart and physical condition.

You will breathe better, feel in better shape and face everything with far greater confidence! Lets do it!