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Monday, 17th December

Finally in the week before Christmas and how’s it going for you in terms of your exercising and eating?

It’s always a “finally” moment for all of those who have given up the ghost for their training in 2012. I must say i am lucky to train a relatively large number of individuals right up until christmas eve, as most people i am involved with now know the benefits of training all the way through.

If you expected some piece today about me agreeing with those of you who want to knock their training on the head right now, and pig out on mince pies and all the alcohol you can muster, then no, i’m really not going to do that.

I like to think i am very understanding but agreeing with people so they can feel out of breath, put lots of weight on, and feel nowhere NEAR as good as they normally do is a point of principle for me. I remember a lot of years ago that i had a couple of weeks off myself, and felt so bad that i said i WOULD never do that EVER again, the pain was really do much!!!

Those of you who are continuing to train (and there a many of you) have your monthly measurement come up. This is awfully brave of you late into december when everyone else seems to be losing their heads, but the feedback i get from most of you is that still doing your monthly measurement keeps you off the sugary and fatty foods, it keeps you exercising and in general keeps your standard very high.

If you’re involved in our way of doing things, then i take my hat off to you all who don’t want to be part of the crowd who are falling for all the christmas massive excess, and really want to fight it and stay in great shape ALL YEAR ROUND!!!

The choices are there for you, no excuses to get totally out of shape after working so hard all year!!!

Twitt
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Friday, 14th December

For more uplifting cycling workouts that you may or may not have time for this year, it’s time to get specific about your cycling efforts and with it you can save a bundle of time!!

Most pro cyclists will work at a specific revolution per minute. When you see the rpm screen on a bike machine for example, try and work out your intensity by concentrating on that particular part of the screen.

The desired number you need to look for is the magic figure of 80. If you can cycle at this intensity, then you know you should be getting some good workouts in. It doesn’t really matter on the difficulty level on the bike, that level has to match your ability to keep 80rpm up full stop!

It may seem easy or relatively easy for the first minute, but i guarantee that you will start feeling it far earlier than a normal workout!!! Keeping at the 80 rpm is extremely difficult after a while, but if you practice working at this level, you are likely to become a far better cyclist.

Another tip to become a good cyclist is work heavily on your core. Work with the swiss ball three times a week working on a mixture of back strengthening and flexibility exercises, this will enable you to cycle harder up hills and to keep up an intensity level up for longer.

Most people do not realise the amount of work that goes through your back when you cycle especially up inclines/hills of all kinds.

Working on your core is the number one to increase power, endurance and explosive strength for your cycling efforts so i wouldn’t keep ignoring this very valuable piece of training advice. Most of my programmes now put a heavy focus on all sorts of core exercises, due to the fact that you should consider internal benefits of exercise, and not just the cosmetic side. Look after your insides and your outsides will look after themselves.

Twitt
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Wednesday, 12th December

While we were talking about different alternatives for exercises yesterday, the number one thing you must do is just concentrate on doing SOMETHING!!!

The time it takes you to think about doing it, the facts are that you could have done something in your time.

If you have a dog for example, and typically walk the dog for 20-30 minutes a day, then what is wrong with running your usual course so it only takes you 10-15 minutes?!! This will qualify as a big workout for you.

If you constantly pass your training shoes in the hall way every day feeling quilty about not putting them on, then how about JUST DOING IT and putting them on and just get out there and run, even if its for ten minutes! Chances are that if you plan on going just for ten minutes, that will then turn into 20 minutes!! You willl enjoy yourself much more when you get going!!

Instead of waiting for the famous christmas jumper or whatever new clothes you get for christmas that you usually start wearing on boxing day for that famous “walk”, how about doing it now!!!

Now is the time and time waits for no man or woman as the saying goes, stop wishing your life away and stop making excuses for piling on body fat. You know those excuses are not going to wash on here!!!

The power of DOING far outweighs any talking about how you need to get fit, how you could have been a good runner if you only had tried, how you could have been a good cyclist only if you had the right bike etc etc!!!

If you always talk about how good things “could have been”, then you become one of those people who forever live in the past and you can be termed as a “couldhave wouldhave shouldhave” type of person.

Christmas is a week tuesday, please do not make the big mistake of giving up right now because its going to be twice as hard after christmas!!!

Twitt
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Monday, December 10th

We need to understand why we put weight on during the christmas period, and what we can do to get away from this situation that affects most of us every single year.

Most people in this country put on 7-14 pounds, and new year’s resolutions usually last 14 days on average!! This mean you are likely to hit 2013 in an overweight mode!

It’s particularly cold today so guess what happens? We don’t move around much and tend to wear warm baggy clothes. This makes us “comfortable” and being in shape always gets put on the back burner!!

It’s a deep human instinct within us to eat more and move less, something thats been around for thousands of years, but there are ways to get around it.

A good tactic is to keep an eating diary for example this week, when its likely to be cold. Also, try and plan your meals in advance, and try to keep your portion size as normal as possible, all of these things will keep your eating under control and you will be thankful by the end of the weak that you still look and feel lean.

The problem this time of year also is that food is the centre point of things when people get together and meet up.

Even if you have several parties to go to, you should try the tactic of eating before you go. This way you will feel full and be unlikely to pig out in the party.

The christmas season can be stressful at times too, and what’s the first thing a lot of people do when they are stressed? Eat excessively or eating the wrong thing is a typical trait for most, and drinking more alcohol is a close second!! These two habits are going to be guaranteed to put weight on full stop. The less excess food and alcohol you have in the house the better!!!

Fight the weight gain, and with a bit of smart thinking you can do it!!!

Twitt
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Friday, 7th December

Following on from yesterday, you need to determine the rut you may find yourself in, or at least realise that you may have hit a plateau that you HAVE to get over!!

Determine how serious the situation is, what you can do about it and what goals you may have once you get over this temporary hump in the road!!

Has it been a few days you have been stuck in your training plateau?

Has it been months even since you can remember serious progress?

If it has only been a few days, then you shouldn’t worry anymore because all of us can have the odd bad week here and there!

Getting back on track after one bad week could be as easy as getting a few nights of good quality sleep, this can fix a lot of problems and get you fired up on all levels!!!

If it has been a few months, it is serious and you need to make dramatic change right now!

If you havent had progress for a while, then there’s always a reason, and probably several reasons!!!

Go over your diet, go over your training, and go over your sleeping habits. Three simple things right there but three massive subjects!!! Get all three and you reach all time highs in your physical conditioning, get all three wrong and you end up in poor shape!!

This time of year offers a stark choice on how you should eat, drink and sleep.

If you make the poorest choices full of sugar, saturated fat and alcohol, then prepare to be wearing baggy jumpers all winter to try and avoid all that weight you’re going to put on.

Make consistently good choices even when those around you are eating and drinking all sorts of rubbish, and you will get the body and overall health you really want!!!

Twitt