Monday, 14th April

Monday morning should always give you fresh opportunity to improve, to move better and to renew your body after some of the excesses of the weekend, and face the weekend with fresh optimism and momentum.

There is a big chance of you improving on a Monday if you are regular exerciser, because a good programme will demand fresh progress out of you regularly.

Your body is perfectly able to improve and much more resilient than you think.

Certain conditions have to happen though to enable you to take fresh opportunities, and set yourself up for success.
You have to eat well 80% of the time to allow your body to be energized for your workouts, and to recover from them much more quickly.

You have to be on a progressive progamme that encourages you to take new challenges on. Working with someone who has a similar ability to you is always positive, and you know im going to do my best to get everything out of you anyway.

Getting everyone to move in different ways that are more beneficial can take some time but is always worth it.

Once you do this, no matter what the individual age is, the results always come faster and the person you are training can achieve much more sustainable results.

Everyone needs to “re-awaken” their body and remind themselves of how they used to move when they were at their very peak in life. Not only that, with the right type of training you are very likely to move even better, and with much more strength and speed!

Sunday, 13th April

We put so much emphasis on balance training because every single person needs it in their lives and I mean every day.

You need proper balance to even walk and run properly, you need it to perform every physical task, from carrying shopping , making food, doing the washing, taking part in sports, just about everything.

Most of you carry things one side, your school bag, groceries out of the supermarket, lifting in your job or at home, playing golf is ALL one sided for example (that’s why I see so many hip and back problems at the gym), even in cooking you are often bending and moving from side to side reaching for different things, the facts are we live an unbalanced life in terms of most of our physical movements if you really think about your daily life.

Some of you know you have poor balance, some of you will be unlucky enough to find it out unfortunately when you may have a fall of some kind or feel really unsteady and this can cause all sorts of problems.

It’s a simple fact that everyone is being far less active than they used to be, and balance and development of balance is going to be a big casualty.

One lesson of PE every week is not going to help kids get the amount of balance they need. How the government got away with getting rid of the double lesson PE is a national disgrace?!!

What happens when the child leaves school? Studies show that there are far less people playing team sports than ever before.

Adults slip easily in a lifestyle of inactivity because of the pull of computers, tablets and media. It’s easier to get anything done online these days, and it takes effort to exercise so its not much of a choice for some people.

So balance you will all know by now is something we concentrate an awful lot on, right from the start and all the way through our programme. We want you to move fundamentally better and pain free for the rest of your life. Assessing your balance on a regular basis should be an absolute priority for you.

Thursday, 10th April

After coming out of a long dark and wet winter, it’s vital you come into the spring as fresh as possible.

Many of you train 5-6 times a week with us, and this will usually mean that you are in great shape, that you have improved substantially over the winter and there’s a very strong chance that your fitness is at its all-time best.

Sometimes though we all hit a wall and we don’t know really what to do about it.

Our motivation goes down a bit, we can’t get a constantly good performance out of ourselves, and we wonder whether we can hit the heights anymore.

We may see people who we have been training with pull slightly ahead of us, and we may lose our enthusiasm to stay with them. This is a sign that you need to step back a bit.

A great answer to these problems is to train LESS for a while in terms of days.

Cutting back to three days a week for a month or so can make all the difference.

On your days off, try doing different things, enjoy yourself whatever you want to do, and you will give your mind a good rest from your programme.

The result from this type of approach is that you start enjoying your training much more again.

When you hit those three sessions a week, they tend to be of much higher quality again because you will realise again what you are really capable of.

You will start to make gains again and your body will thank you for getting off a schedule that you needed a break from.

I usually find that a month is usually enough, and then most of those who have cut back feel ready to step it up again and hit extra days again.

You can feel the rest has done them good, and most people go on to reach new personal highs in their next cycle of training.

Training in different cycles is very common with professional athletes, who find it an absolute must to peak for their events.

Training smart and taking days off when you need them will always keep you close to your peak, and keep you mentally fresh just when you need it.

Wednesday, 9th April

Development in your programme can always happen quicker than you think as long as you are willing to buckle down and work at your fundamentals every day and not compromise.

If you don’t eat breakfast as within one hour of getting up, you are struggling from the very start of the day. This is an absolute must for all sorts of reasons.

If you try to run before you can walk in exercise terms, you are likely to get injured or lose interest in your exercise programme very early, or both things will happen.

If you have a back problem, and most of you do or will do in your lifetime, then you need to address that immediately before proceeding. Then you only advance with caution under supervision at all times but it can be sorted out gradually and for good.

If you are eating well 80% of the time, then that’s great.

If you are not eating well, then your workouts are always going to be a struggle, you won’t perform well, and you won’t recover from them anywhere near as well as you could do.

If you want to get into good shape, you have to accept that you need to make a lifestyle change full stop. It doesn’t have to be some kind of unachievable tough regime either, you have to fit it into your weekly schedule and anyone can do it.

All it needs is planning and tweaking your workouts to suit life’s everyday inevitable challenges.

Not one person I train has “all day to exercise”, we all live super fast lives now, so scheduling it in as part of your week is vital.

Sunday, 6th April

Shaking things up with your training means that you shake things up with your internal body too. Your body can react very positively to change in all sorts of ways, shaping your body’s destiny and take you to new levels of wellbeing and athleticism.

Results happen quicker when you challenge yourself in different ways, try things that you really thought you wouldn’t be good at, re-discover the movements that you may not have tried since you were in school, actually increase your speed as you get older, learn to move much more efficiently and without so much effort-yet still move quicker, learn that weight training is definitely not the enemy and won’t make you big if you are a female-just make you leaner, harder, re-shape your body and lose any annoying areas of body fat that keep on concerning you.

If you have limited yourself to certain forms of training, and don’t think you can change, then you are really underestimating yourself and not realizing anywhere near your short or long term potential.

I have seen people who have never been runners, become runners and move with real speed and agility.

There are girls who have become some our best athletes, and regularly beats the guys-WITHOUT getting too much out of breath anymore.

Our variety of training has never been greater, and my best bit of advice is to try them all and see where you come out the other side, you will definitely be extremely pleased with the overwhelmingly superior results!