Posted on

Tuesday, 27th March

We talked about spinning, treadmills etc yesterday and whilst they are fabulous and recommended activities, that will help you lose body fat, get your fitter, and get a great buzz from, they will not be as effective as the real thing!

The same can be said for food too. We can all pretend that a faddy diet or in fashion diet will get the job done for us but deep down we know its not going to be sustainable for the long term. We will get that deep down feeling that we are not really doing it “right”.

The “real thing” in this case would be the plain natural food we always talk about on here, and not the pre-prepared pre-packaged rubbish sold by slimming clubs and other such charlatans.

Just because a slimming club biscuit has only got 40 calories, its still not going to be good for you because it has very poor composition as a food, and it shouldn’t be welcomed into your diet, except as the occasional treat that you know its not going to be really good for you.

You cannot beat common sense and there’s no way around this.

You can either do things the right way or you will simply be wasting your time.

We have less and less time for exercise these days because everyone seems to be in a rush. This means that whatever exercise you undertake, it had BETTER be effective!!

We have less time to think about food too, this means your supermarket shop had better be effective too! So when it comes to grabbing something in the house to eat in a big hurry, the chances are its going to be healthy and good for you.

If you don’t buy rubbish in the first place, then there’s no chance of you eating it full stop!!

I am passionate about doing things the “real” and “proper” way and this pretty much will guarantee you this success you have been looking for!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday

A familiar story came my way today, and i’m sure some of you who have experienced it will feel the same way.

A lady i train wanted to get some extra training in at the weekend, so invited her friend along.

Her friend had recently joined a gym and had been telling her how much cycling she was doing, not traditioninal cycling as we know it but she was attending “spinning” classes and was raving about them constantly.

Let me point out straight away that i really congratulate anyone on going to spinning classes, and most i know will highly enjoy them greatly. Lets get that out of the way!!!

Well anyway, the two of them went for bike ride on the coastal path and got through approximately ten miles in total of cycling.

The lady i train was a little frustrated because she had to wait constantly for her friend despite her spinning experience.

The ten miles took not far off three hours, which is more than a little surprising.

Her friend was constantly complaining how hard it was, despite there being absolutely no hills.

This clearly shows the spinning classes didnt do a great deal compared to the benefits of “real” cycling!

I had another lady who used to train in another gym and the same thing happened. She claimed to be well versed in spinning and was looking forward to our outdoor cycling.

The results were more than disappointing and i frankly wondered what the heck she had been doing in these classes?

The bottom line is that you cannot beat real cycling in the outdoors, real running in the outdoors and not the treadmill, real walking and not the treadmill.

You should know by now that i am not a big machine fan, and i like to do things the proper way, i’m about hard work and no shortcuts, i’m about results and not about trying to fool you with false marketing.

Whenever you talk to your friends about training in the future, judge how hard they work by what they actually do, and not how trendy their gym is or how long they train for!!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday, 23rd March

Any of you who have been away for a short break or holiday, will have on thing in common if you are a regular exerciser and practice healthy eating.

It can be ENORMOUSLY difficult to get back into good eating after you have been away.

Most of the time you will either eat in the hotel, restaurant or café and for most of them unless you specifically ask, it will mean a ton of extra saturated fat, lots more salt in every day and no shortage of sugar!!!

This can send the calorific value of each meal you eat to stratospheric levels!

Everyone expects to put on a couple of pounds from such trips, but there is an even bigger danger that you do not even think about, but seems to get everyone when they return home.

By eating every meal which is much richer than normal, your taste buds can change very quickly and by the end of your stay, richer food soon becomes the norm for you.

So getting back to normal when you get home is a bigger task than you think.

Eating plain natural foods on a regular basis suddenly is much harder again! The plain porridge doesn’t taste as nice as usual, fruit seems “boring”, the vegetables you eat taste “different” compared to the ones cooked with a lot of salt on holiday, and unprocessed white meat and fish seems a harder dish to swallow than when you first went away.

So although we promise ourselves  that we will “get right back into it” when we get back, the reality is often very different, and the get right back into it turns into a 2-3 week delay in knuckling down to good eating!!!

The holiday pounds seem much harder to shift and exercising seems much harder than normal, not a great combination.

So if I get an “early warning” out to you and tell you how its going to be, you have more chance to prepare and make the first week you get back the “hard week” in terms of getting your taste buds used to the right kind of eating that you know is tried and tested, and get you dropping fat right away as well as getting you back to the standard of performance you had before you went away!!!

This early warning system can work so wherever you go this year, be prepared for the time it takes to get back to “normal”!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 22nd March

Hopefully this week you have taken onboard the many different options you really have in getting fit, or if you are already have a decent level of fitness, then you are capable of substantially more!

The biggest danger to any good well thought out programme is being overly complacent.

Just because one workout programme has worked so well for you in the past, it doesn’t mean its going to do as well in the future if that is ALL you do.

If you go for a cycle a couple of times a week and that’s your entire fitness plan, then you should seriously think about doing a more rounded fitness plan.

Cycling is one of my favourite activities, but I’m not foolish enough to think that weight training, running, walking etc is not hugely important too.

Most of us know big guys who only lift weights and that’s it, taking long gaps in between sets. Whilst they may have impressive development from all of this, the horrible fact is that a 100 yard run down the road could put them seriously out of breath!!

Thos runners you see running on the main road all the time, on the same old route for the same old distances, at the same old pace, surely they can do better in terms of a more rounded programme?

Most people do not know that Paula Radcliffe for example, does regular weight training sessions a couple of times a week, as well as a lot of core stability work.

The same applies to Lance Armstrong of cycling fame, he used to do a substantial amount of strength work which means off the bike for longer periods than most people would have ever guessed.

So if you think “I’m a cyclist” or “I’m a runner” or “I’m a swimmer”, and think that to become good at one of those only involves doing that exact activity ALL THE TIME, then please think again, reassess your programme and look for more variety not just for the sake of it, but for the good of your body and for the improvement of your favourite chosen activity!!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 21st March

We talked about the value of training yesterday, and by that we meant “quality” training.

I have bumped into people today also who have talked about the importance of different types of training and activities, and how they will bring you yet more results.

This lady i train is suffering from shin splints, and i advised her to keep off the walking for the moment, even though she has a walking marathon in london in 8 weeks. She is now doing a variety of other work with me, so she gets in incredibly good shape, without straining herself.

She has become a very good cyclist in the meantime too, so her fitness levels have reached new highs even though she has an injury. On the weekend, i have told her to go to the pool and use a float again, and just use her legs to complete widths or even lengths. Anyone who has done all of this will find it incredibly tough, but will give a super workout that tests you to the limit without putting any undue strain on.

Another workout i have scheduled for her is underwater walking, which again is very difficult but will bring her some impressive fitness gains. There is ALWAYS a way around an injury, all you have to do is use your imagination and the sky’s the limit!!

Another person i saw today is a policeman, and he had to chase down a criminal this week for the first time in a while.

When he caught him, he had to wrestle and that means grappling with this criminal and using muscles he hadn’t used for a while. He found it okay if a little tiring at the time, but for a couple of days later he was incredibly stiff! Again this is down to challenging your body in a completely different way!!

 The great news is that your body will get huge benefits out of changing your programme around continuously, also it can be a lot more fun.

Give it a go and see how much you enjoy it!!!

Twitt