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May to September

May to september is a great time of year for being more active, burning more calories and fat, for being outside, for getting on your bike, getting out there walking, getting out there running, just about anything outside is going to be good for you!

You may have seen the recent study showing how good fresh air is for you now, and just exercising for 5 minutes can be hugely benefiicial in the outside. It can greatly effective for your mood too, many of the people i train tell me how good they feel from working out in the fresh air. All you have to do is try it and you will feel better, i guarantee it!!

These months from may to september can be huge for you, on average it rains less, it’s warmer outside by a few degrees which means you already feel like doing something before you start. You are sort of in the mood to do something on nicer days. Imagine the contrast between nice days like now and the freezing cold and wet days of the winter!

The time is now to get out there and be as active as possible, and what’s really stopping you? You even have more daylight to play with now as it’s light now pretty much to nearly 9pm.

There is the issue of being “on show” sometimes for many of you, you don’t want to be seen working out. If that is indeed an issue, either start off by doing inside workouts, or do your workouts in quieter areas and take a friend with you too.

 This will help motivate you and keep you safe. When there’s two of you perhaps of the same fitness standard, you will be both in the same boat and you will both feed off each other in terms of motivation. It’s always great to have someone pushing you, and you will both be thrilled at how you both progress, if you both use a tried and tested programme!

May to September is always great for eating less, a tasty salad always goes down better in the summer rather than the middle of january. You don’t usually feel like the big stodgy meals in the middle of summer, lighter snacks and meals are the way to go.

All of this adds to a very productive time for losing body fat, gaining lean muscle tissue and being in your best shape. If you use many or all of these strategies, you’re bound to be looking and feeling very good indeed!!

Twitt
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The best day for a workout!

Today in my book is always going to be the best day for a workout!

You may well have had a very good weekend, too good a weekend maybe! Now is the time to work it off and stop that body fat becoming a longer term fixture on you!

The biggest benefit i find from doing your workouts on a day like this is getting you in fine form for the week ahead.

How many of you struggle the week after bank holiday as previously discussed? How many times have you said after a bank holiday that you may as well write the weeek off as you “simply don’t feel” like getting going again. I think more than a few of you have felt like that and i was a “victim” of this too at one time.

I then decided to do something about it and now i never miss a bank holiday workout, it just so happens that mine was 6am this morning again with the dogs. I love a good run in the morning and there’s nothing better than being all showered by 7am and the day is all in front of you!

Bank holiday’s for many of us can mean long traffic james, long tiresome activities with lots of queue’s invlolved. The likelyhood of doing a workout after all of that are next to nil, thats why first thing in the morning works for me every time, and as stated, i hit my week back to work tomorrow with energy to spare!!

Food is another thing that gets us more tired from the weekend. This weekend is the perfect excuse to really go off the rails, and really struggle to maintain a healthy foundation at all. Nothing wrong at all with going off the rails from time to time as long as its not permanent of course.

This is why, like your workouts, your eating may be written off too next week. Coming back from there is quite difficult, and you often needs a fresh dose of inspiration to get you back on track.

This is why its easier to roll with the momentum you already have of eating well and training hard,  this is the best situation to be in and requires very little effort once your eating well and workouts become second nature. This is the true secret!

Have a great last day of the holiday and get ready for big start back tomorrow!

Twitt
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Yoga help

Did a session yesterday with a guy i have trained on and off in the past, he’s now become a yoga teacher and pratices in new york. Anyway, he was back and offered to do a session for me.

I slipped  on some greasy ground in the week, and pulled my back a bit, so i was a bit tender for a couple of days.

I have to say i thoroughy enjoyed the session! It was great and really got me working pretty hard, and in a different way compared to what im used to.

Most people think of yoga as a “do nothing”session and maybe somewhat easy, but even after the warm up, your heart rate is going a bit already and certainly felt like i was doing some very tough exercise!

Then when you get into the main part of the workout, i was concentrating on 6 different moves by the way, you end up stretching your muscles in different ways, and sometimes a few different muscle groups at the same time. I am pretty stiff today, but am very enthused about the benefits that have come my way from doing this workout.

The highlight was me doing a handstand! I have never been able to do this in the past, and i have to admit i did have some help, but it felt fantastic and feels the opposite of what you might think.

You actually relax when you’re up there and don’t tense your legs as you might think! You do use your core strength in a big way nd that’s always beneficial!

My aim for me now is to be able to do it on my own after a few months, and to reap the benefits a few simple moves will bring me!

It’s always great to try something new, so any time you can find a decent teacher near you, i suggest you try it as an addition to your programme!

Twitt
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Bank holiday weekend

So what are your activities going to be the bank holiday weekend?

Are you going to cycling down mumbles promenade, are you going to be walking down pembrey country park, are you going to be mountain walking up in brecon, are you going to be doing a yoga session on your own in the house, are you going to the national pool to swim????

Whatever of these you choose, you know these are going to make you feel better, and will not let you slob the entire weekend!

Bank holiday weekends are always weekends when you can take your foot off the gas, and really kick back and enjoy yourself a little more than usual.

Personally, with two small children, the weekends look pretty much the same to me and the idea of a lie in is something from a distant past! However, i am very likely to go for a run on sunday and monday, i like the routine of that. It really is no struggle as its actually enjoyable to me. Most people would feel the same way if they get endless benefits out of it. If you really find this a hardship, then perhaps you need to re-look at your programme and see what you’re enjoying and what’s a problem to you. Its important to find activities you really enjoy, as thats half the battle!!

What about your food? Is it going to be a blow-out weekend? Or is it going to be a weekend having a bit of what you fancy?

Having a bit of what you fancy is great and doesn’t destroy the next week. What i mean by that is that if you do have a blow out weekend, and really go for it drinking and eating to excess right through until monday evening, the rest of next week will be made up of feeling awful and lacking in energy, an outcome none of us wants. So the odd meal or snack here and there that is not always on your eating plan is a nice treat, and keeps your mind fresh too. Also, eating sugary or fatty food sometimes reminds you how bad you actually feel afterwards, which will give you fresh momentum to avoid this food on a regular basis in the immediate future!

Whatever you get up to, enjoy it and enjoy all that fresh air!!

Twitt
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Following the herd

Taking the more popular way in your training and eating will always make you happy………………………for a time!

Doing things the right way can sometimes be like being put on the the right path as a child, you don’t like it sometimes or parts of it, and sometimes you will rebel against it, but secretly you will know its the “right thing to do”.

So this way will always never be the most popular way of doing things as it requires some effort, a little bit of sacrifice now and again and will constantly challenge and encourage you to get better and better.

The idea of improving one’s life is not always popular too. How many times in this country have we built someone up only to batter them down on the first sign of weakness, this can be the british way can’t it?

We all watch soap opera’s partly because they usually display a life that is usually worse than our own. This makes us feel better and keeps us in our comfort zone. Doing nothing is the easiest thing to do when confronted with improving our health, many of you of course have and are taking the opposite approach, you ARE TAKING ACTION NOW and improving your lot in life. Some of you have made dramtic progress, and those of you who haven’t have still managed greater awareness on health in general, and you have at least started an exercise programme which is fantastic!

So following the herd will never really work for you, as the herd will often change their minds, and shift from programme to programme, adopting practices that are often destined to fail.

When i start training with anyone, i tell the person concerned that if they want to show the programme to the doctor, then please go ahead and do that. I have full confidence in this because i know the doctor will agree, and be enthused that so much common sense is being spoken and hopefully being practised!

So your choice is always going to be to either follow the faddy way of the herd, which changes often, or use a lot of common sense and analyse what you’re really doing. Look how well jean posted this week, she has literally been through every programme in history, but now she knows what works for her and its not rocket science.

Now she does her best to encourage and motivate others, which is great because she has the experience and ups and downs of probably 100 people! She doesn’t think like others anymore and theres heck of a lot to be said for individual thinking these days!!!

Whatever your choice, as long as you do your best, you’re going to do well!!

Twitt