Posted on

Tuesday 8th March 2011

You will get periods of ups and downs in your week when perhaps you could do with constant motivation to get you through slumps in your life.

Whatever your circumstances, life is going to happen for you, good or not so good. How you react to these bumps  on the road will mean a lot more than you think.

What happens if you have a new job and you have new demands put on you and overtime becomes normal, what happens to your training?

What happens if you have just had a baby and then a couple of months later, its no longer crowds of people visiting and offering support, and life becomes very hard 24 hours a day? The reality of bringing up a child is very tough and how does your training and eating fit into all of this, is it as important anymore?

You may have to move away to find a job in this harsh economic environment, and whats it like living in a small room every night and the only option is the pub every night, what happens to your fat loss aspirations then?

These challenges are every day realities for a lot of people I know, and the one thing I can say with certainty is that good nutritious food will give you energy to get through a very tough day.

Doing your workout early in the morning before everything “kicks off” will make sure you are fit and strong, and will be able to perform much, much better in your job or specific role in life, such as being a mother.

The most dangerous thing you can do is pay no attention to your food because it leads to a slippery slope.

 Grabbing food when you can always means eating ready meals or fast food of some kind, things that cook quickly in the microwave soon become the core of your eating programme, and this long term abuse of your body will possibly lead to blood pressure problems, heart problems, and ill health issues of all kinds. If you constantly put rubbish full of chemicals into your body, then don’t expect good things to happen.

So even if you are in one of the groups I mentioned and your life is stressful, then see HEALTHY EATING AND EXERCISING AS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT FOR YOU.

You can train first thing in the morning, you can have an array of healthy food around you and you can do your best and develop a body and health you can be proud of. Buy the food in, get rid of the rubbish and commit yourself to a training plan.

If circumstances are tough, then chances are a lot of people are relying on you and you being healthy is an absolute must!!

Lets do it.

Twitt
Posted on

March 7th 2011

When you ask someone how many meals they eat a day, their idea of a meal is more of a feast, and sometimes a henry the 8th type feast in some cases!

If you mention to someone when they first start off that they should eat 5-6 times a day, they find that disgusting and how could they possibly eat all of that food in one day!!! Wasn’t the goal to lose weight after all, and just eating more will put weight ON surely?

That myth can be easily smashed!!!

If you eat healthier foods in those 5-6 meals per day, then automatically you are going to consuming less saturated fat and less calories. Also, when you realise that your meals in terms of size will get smaller, this leads to a further reduction in daily calories.

When you actually go through the process of 5-6 meal a day, you will realise that you feel more full than ever on this type of eating plan, and are less likey to go on the henry the 8th type eating binges!!!

The increase in meals and snacks will kickstart your metabolism too, this word is often misunderstood so lets explain it again.

Your metabolism is something that needs to be constantly stoked, to make sure your body burns calories and fat at an accelerated rate. Your metabolism is the rate you burn  calories throughout every day, the more smaller meals and snacks you eat within reason such as 5-6, the faster that metabolism will become and you do become that old cliche, “a lean mean fat burning machine”!!!

If you go back to the days of huge but infrequent meals, your metabolism will slow right down again, and that fire burning deep inside of you will go out, the rate you burn fat will go down and everything will become a struggle for you all over again. This is why 5-6 meals a day works, and you want to be aware of every strategy that can get you into great shape!!!

Lets start the day off right and give yourself a great chance of success!!!

Twitt
Posted on

March 4th 2011

SO how are you finishing off the week?

Is it really hard to keep this thing up as cyril said?

Is it getting easier with the lighter, more steady and sunny weather?

Are you in charge with your food?

Are you in control of your workouts?

Are you managing your time really well, or are you letting your life control you?

Do you give in easy when someone tries to put you off exercise and eating well? Or are you determined to get through this thing very strongly and reach new levels of physical conditioning? Are you your own person or not?

Life is all about decisions because every decision will shape who you are.

For example, if you like to call in the pub every night after work, then you are unlikely to be very active in your life, nobody i know could ever train after alcohol, unless you train first thing in the morning of course, but in general, the habit of drinking straight after work can lead to blood pressure problems, diabetes, coronary disease and all sorts of nasty things that could go on with your body. Everyone needs to give themselves a fighting chance, and the drinks after work thing will destroy any fighting chance you have got!!! It may be trendy for some, but putting yourself at risk of serious disease has never been cool in my book!!!

These may be harsh comments, but its my experience of training and observing many people live their lives over many years. Its best to say it how it is, rather than pander to anyone to be popular!!!

So if you want to be really fit and healthy, please avoid alcohol in the week and keep it to once a week, then theres no reason to get trashed on that once either. We have all done it of course, including me, but having the next day wiped out is not an option for me anymore. I try and treat my body with a lot more respect, and sundays i have to contribute to family life, not sleep on the settee or go to be all day, thats the ultimate selfish way to live your life in my view.

The same goes with eating, has that magical 80% been reached yet in terms of 80% of what you eat being good quality food? If it hasn’t, then you need to stop messing around and get with the programme if you want to be and stay in shape!!!

Have a great weekend and theres no excuses to enjoy the great fresh air and scenery!!!

Twitt
Posted on

March 3rd 2011

March 3rd and its been a great week so far. We have had sunshine all week, meaning the possibility of a lot of outside sessions. The feeling of being outside is the best thing at all, the feeling of being more energetic leads to far more positivity in your life overall. Seeing the coastline on a sunny day lifts your whole spirit and gives fresh optimism even on days full of middle east tensions and economic uncertainty at home. You won’t get that same level of optimism on cloudy, drizzly dark days, some may but in the main most people do not.

A week like this full of crisp, sunny days can be the springboard into spring if you pardon the pun. If there was ever a motivating lift off for you all, this is the week just as the daffodils are coming out.

There’s no such thing as having failed before to get into shape, “you cannot do it” are the words of an irrational negative person, we need to come away from there. You are never too old, too overweight, too young, too insecure, too far away, there is NEVER AN ACCEPTABLE EXCUSE NOT to get into this thing and achieve heck of a a lot with your body, which in turn leads to a stronger and healthier mind, which prevents you slipping back into the situation you may be in right now!!!

You have accept that you’re not a robot, you’re never going to be perfect, you may never be an Olympic athlete but YOU CAN become the best version of you and you can do that by this summer for sure.

Don’t rely on someone or some organisation doing it for you either, because they can’t. You are perfectly capable of achieving all that you want to achieve and a whole lot more!!! In fact, you will gain so much more self-confidence if you DO IT YOURSELF, listen again, YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF as long as you are given the right directions, the right food options and the right workouts

Lets get out there and do it and take advantage of the sun and make a massive difference to your body and mind all the way throughout march!!!

Twitt
Posted on

March 2nd

Your progress doesn’t mean much unless it impacts your life in a positive way.

It also doesn’t matter much if you feel that nobody cares about your progress. Having someone interested in what you do is a very underrated factor in your progress and confidence.

This is why people join diet clubs and gyms, its nice for people to talk about their progress with like minded people.

The weekly weigh in’s with diet clubs are a ritual for some people, and the pat on the backs or lets pull your socks up attitude seems to work for some people.

I’m definitely in that line of work too, a serious part of my job is not only constantly analysing an individuals performance and pushing them onto new highs, its also about motivating the individual and pushing the right buttons, especially when things are not going their way.

You can do it another way. You could ask a friend to help you out and witness your progress. That could be from measuring your waist with a tape measure once a month, to witnessing your weigh in’s every week, or just once a month.

Having a friend you can trust to help you can be very valuable with your training too. If you have someone who will become a training partner of yours, then you can keep pushing each other to new heights. Perhaps on one day, you will not feel great and your training partner will be able to push you to get through the workout, then on another day you will feel top of the world, and you will be able to get the best out of your friend.

This is why its always good to share your progress, it matters heck of a lot more when you share success, unless you are a very private person and like the rewards of purely individual pursuits, and don’t need to share it with anyone else.

Whatever works for you, then use it and keep using it time after time. The only thing that matters is sustainable progress and you being in great health. You always have to think about your health and fitness programme and change your approach from time to time. Life never stays still and you have to change to keep up with it, but as long as you train a minimum of 3 times a week and eat well 80% of the time, you’re going to be doing well!

Twitt