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Wednesday 2nd November

One of the biggest misconceptions about exercise is what you need to do, and what is considered enough!

There are a lot of people who dont do ANY exercise at all, and unfortunately never will, perhaps because they think that they “know better” somehow??!!

Then there’s the people who think that just walking is enough, they think that walking is the ultimate exercise, is the most enjoyable exercise and you would be a lunatic to do anything more than this!!! I agree that walking is a very good exercise indeed, but to say it covers all your body and health needs is at best misguided and to be frank, downright wrong!!!

Fitness is about so much more than having a walk, walking is part of it no doubt because its a great activity, but isn’t there so much more?!!!

Of course there is more and what about resistance training? Weight training of all kinds strengthens your joints, bones, tendons and ligaments, it tones your body and in particular muscle tone, it speeds up your metabolism because lean muscle tissue burns far more calories per 24 hours, for instance one pound of fat burns around 2 calories a day, one pound of lean muscle tissue can burn up to 50 calories a day.

Then there is walking as we have previously mentioned here and there are great walks all around us.

You can also take part in running on many of the great coastal paths around the county, and cycling gives you an opportunity to do the same routes, but a lot quicker and no strain on your joints! Swimming is a favourite for many and again doesn’t stress your joints and can become a serious part of an individual’s day, i know many whpo participate daily and absolutely love it.

Then there is stability, balance and endurance work which anyone who has ever trained with me, will know an awful lot about!!! This will solve any back trouble, hip weakness and most joints problems if done cautiously, and can apply to a pro athlete or an absolute beginner!!!

There are a million and one options so please don’t restrict yourself just to walking please!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 1st November

Two key elements that will ensure you get into shape and stay in shape include portion control and making sure you keep that “full” feeling in your stomach, which means you wont be tempted to binge.

For starters, breakfast is always the big cliché now, THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY, and that is definitely the truth still and will be for another thousand years!

Start the day well with the following;

Porridge with milk is a great choice with dried fruit as a sweetener.

The sweeteners you buy in shops are absolute garbage, rubbish and are usually under investigation by the authorities, plus they keep your sweet tooth alive and well and that means it makes you still crave sugar, which is bad news!!!

Porridge with water will bring your body fat down even quicker so your choice.

Weetabix with  milk is fine

Shredded wheat is fine with milk

A small omelette is fine with a piece of wholemeal toast and no butter or margarine

An egg white omelette is even better because you lose the saturated fat, a win win situation and I know lots of people who have got used to it.

A piece of wholemeal toast is great with cottage cheese and chives for example.

Please forget about spread forever, it’s a needless source of saturated fat and wont help you in your dietary goals one bit!!! You will save between 100-250 calories per meal easily!!!!

Mid-morning snacks are vital to keep energy levels constant, usually around 10-30am depending on your working day.

Any fruit will do.,

Or  a piece of wholemeal toast with plain cottage cheese, onion and chives flavour or any flavour, as long as its natural and there more and more on the market now.

Lunch is usually on the run for most busy people so food on the go is essential, but most pre-prepared food in the supermarket doesn’t cut it it, due to excessive saturated fat, salt and sugar in sandwiches.

Did you know sushi now has overtaken sandwiches as the most popular snack in supermarkets, and this is a very simple choice with just fish and rice in all different types of varieties. Unless you have the one that is stacked with salt, this can be a great choice and much better than supermarket sandwiches.

Wholemeal pitta bread is a good choice, because you have a slow release of energy, vegetables usually in there too and protein of your choice such as white meats or fish. The great thing about this is that its usually made by you, so you will know exactly whats going into it, there will be no “hidden” lots of fat, salt and sugar which the supermarkets seem to specialise in!!!

Mid-afternoon is another critical time when you don’t want to leave you energy levels crash. Plus if you don’t eat mid-afternoon you are likely to be starving by evening meal time and are likely to want to eat far more than you need of course.

A small handful of nuts, and im talking cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts (natural versions) will work very well for you in terms of giving natural fats for you body, essential fats that is to make sure you are giving your body what it needs for essential function all the way through your body.

Fruit is always a great choice and try to mix it around, variety is the spice of life!

A bowl of porridge is fine sometimes too, especially if you are training around 5pm when you will need to added energy, I find this a great help at least a couple of times a week myself.

Evening meal should be one of your best meals of the days, and im not talking about  a big meal, im talking about the quality.

However busy you may be in the day, theres no excuse not to get plenty  of vegetables in this meal, theres no excuse to get a good quality protein such as white meats or fish, theres no excuse not to eat good carbs such as sweet potatoes or new potatoes, jacket potatoes are very easy to make too.

If you follow the rules you will do very well. Keep the size of your protein the size of your fist, the size of your carb serving the  size of your fist, and veg serving plentiful.

Drink water throughout the day, no need to gulp lots down in one go to try and make it up. This adds a lot to fat burning and general function of your internal system.

Eat every 3-4 hours, the smaller “grazing” way of eating can make a huge difference to you, eat little and often and this way you solve the problem of being hungry all the time and eventually eating too much in one meal, which will always lead to weight gain because your body can only handle so much food in one sitting of course.

Time to make it happen and let a common sense and tried and tested way of eating take over your life, big results will always follow!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 31st October

Most people think about their training in terms of splitting up body parts, splitting their cardio and weights workouts, splitting up between morning and evening training sometimes.

Then we come to food, some try to split carbs from protein, some try to not eat much in their day so they can drink alcohol in the evening,

Some people split their eating into different diets through the year.

They may  do red and green days for a month (protein on one day, all carbs the next), then they may do the no carb diet just before summer, then they may do a shakes and bars diet for a while, of they are looking for very quick weight loss even if none of these are really sustainable of course!!!

When you split up all of these aspects of your health, your body will suffer because you’re confusing it too much and you’re not allowing it time to settle on a healthy diet with a good amount of nutrients it can rely on every day.

The same thing can happen with your training, if you do just running one week, then just weights the next, your progress will slip back in  both these types of workouts.

These types of workouts should always be included WITH each other in every week you train. You must do resistance/weights AND cardio (run/walk/swim/cycle for example) EVERY week to have good results.

With time seemingly a lot shorter for most these days, IT IS entirely possible to do whole body workouts in EVERY session, and the great news is that the best results are usually from this way of training!

You will burn far more calories per workout, you will break more muscle tissue down (which speeds up your metabolism), you will develop a lot more endurance and become much more of an all round athlete!

The benefits are overwhelming so give your body the best possible chance by employing these methods and your body will appreciate very much the stability you give it!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday 28th October

Being a father of three small children, i still struggle with the demands of lack of sleep and disturbed sleep in particular.

This usually sets off a chain reaction in your body of not burning fat as efficiently, increased hunger and increased lathergy. These are factors that most people can do without, especially in my job!!!

Once you realise what is going on, there are simple and tried and tested ways to get around it.

First thing you have to do, and i have seen this in many, many people of course, is to re-evaluate everything!!

Are you eating breakfast in a healthy way?

Are you eating a good lunch?

Are you eating a good evening meal?

Are all of these meals in sensible portion sizes?

Are you drinking enough water throughout the day?

Have “little snacks” creeped into your day without you noticing?

Are you drinking alcohol more than once a week?

Are you missing workouts?

Are you not training with as much intensity?

Do you have any goals?

Are your clothes not fitting you so well anymore?

Are you having comments off others that you have possibly put weight on?

Are you missing energy in your life?

Are you finishing off your kids meals sometimes?

Have your weekends become one long binge?

Has that “cheat meal” become a “cheat weekend”?

Whichever one of these or if many of these apply to you, then fear not, most of us have experienced some of them if not all!

Simply getting back on to the straight and narrow and sticking to your usual meal times will make a huge difference and cause instant fat loss!

Give it just one week and will see the big difference, give it four weeks and you have a massive difference!!!

Time to look at yourself again and realise its time to get back to your original plan.

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 27th October

Hows your week of portion control and food selection going this week?

  1. Has it been plenty of fruit and vegetables, white meats, oily fish, good carbs, healthy nut selections and whole grains in relation to your supermarket shop?

2 or has it been no fruit and vegetables, white meats and fish but heavily coated with batter and butter, has it been white flour products, and have there been plenty of treats thrown in, even boxes of sweets thrown in?

3 and how is your alcohol intake? Are you thoroughly taking advantage of the mega deals on alcohol in the supermarket or do you drink just once a week and when you do, the volume is quite light?

These three points will provide big clues in the way you look and feel.

Whether your clothes are fitting a little better this week, or are they getting a little tighter again? Your food selections have the answer!

Have you plenty of energy and you have already put 3-4 workouts in already this week?

Or have you wrote off another week and have consigned yourself to just “treading water” for the next 8 weeks. One thing’s for sure, if you do try to somehow tread water, you are definitely destined to put on weight before Christmas, no matter HOW many baggy jumpers and black clothes you wear!!!!

So to avoid all of this happening, try making the right choices NOW you will probably do anyway in January, and avoid all the pain you were going to have then!!!

Nobody I know wants to feel sluggish and horrible now and up to Christmas should be a time of celebration and fun, being in your best shape and having compliments, and not of wearing baggy dark jumpers to hide all the abuse you have given your body all year in food and exercise terms, and everyone asking you “have you put on weight”!!!

Lets get it together!

Twitt