Posted on

Wednesday, 13th March

The feeling that you get from exercise is well known, the endorphins released in your body create a feeling of wellbeing like no other.

The feeling hours after exercise is not often talked about, and this is always achieved from more intense exercise. A lot of people walk dogs, and this is classed as exercise, but this will not have the benefits of more intense exercise.

Any one of the workouts I have ever listed will give you that wonderful feeling of wellbeing all day long after your workouts, and I have millions of hours of anecdotal evidence to prove it, as well as the scientific evidence as I have spoke about regarding the endorphins and increased energy levels throughout the day.

Exercising with a plan and with purpose will make you more energetic full stop, even though you have just done a workout. You will want to do more that day because you have increased your body to a higher state of being.

If you think about your week of workouts, and then compare them to your days off, you will surely notice that on your days off, you will feel more sluggish by the end of them, and indeed the start of the next day.

On your good workout days, you may feel a little sluggish before the workout, but 99% of the time, you will feel a thousand times better, and this will continue until usually about an hour before you go to bed according to recent studies.

It doesn’t end in the going to bed stage either, you will sleep better after a day when you have exercised, you will have a better quality of sleep and this helps you recover from your day far better, and indeed prepare you for the challenges of the next day!

I hear this all the time from clients, they FEEL BETTER full stop when they exercise and this must be one of the most important things in life to look forward to!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 12th March

Spring has formally started for me in terms of getting outside and working out hard in the fresh air. You may find that a strange comment on another brutally cold day, but the facts are that it is light at 610am to get some great cycling, and running workouts in. It is light also to around 620pm which opens a whole host of outside options in the evening!

I love using the agility ladders outside, hurdles, harnesses, cones and markers to create all sorts of new speed and agility workouts, and this fresh weather is great for getting the parachute on and testing our sprinting prowess to brand new levels and limits.

If you have been stuck in an office or a car all day, then there is nothing more liberating that flipping tractor tyres, getting the sledghammer out to give your core a thorough going over, and all of this work will certainly blow away all the cobwebs you would have built up from being stuck in an office all day!

All of this outside training we do at the gym in burry port in particular, is the best for stress relief you can get. This is the feedback i get all the time, FROM MALES AND FEMALES.

Its a shame, a big shame that many women restrict themsevles to “traditional” female training in most gyms. Doing the cross trainer or the treadmill or the bike, and maybe a couple of sets with some dumbbells is criminally unimaginative in this day and age when exercise science has moved on so much!!!

I tell people all the time that the majority of individuals i train are women, and the hardest trainers are usually women too, often putting the guys efforts in the shade!!!

This is why training outside is great for men and women, and the exercises i mentioned will bring massive benefits to both, and this is what matters to all of you!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday 11th March

The recent wave of illness is a stark reminder on why we do this thing in the first place.

When we feel ill, we will do anything to feel anywhere like normal again! When we feel ill, its a sharp reminder sometimes of how much better we could have eaten, in terms of fruit and vegetables we could have consumed to have fought the germs that have invaded our bodies. We have a large level of bacteria in our bodies anyway, but im talking about the germs responsible for getting us a fever, the flu or stomach bug or whatever we may have now.

This is why we talk about our immune system so much on here, its times like these that talking about our health as a whole becomes so important.

If you think that all there is to talk about all day is simply losing weight and looking better, then you must be greatly mistaken and you need to re-evaluate what you are doing, and why you are doing it.

You have to accept the facts that the foods you eat have amazing qualities, and a whole range of benefits.

Of course, you want to look better, thats of vital importance. More important than that though is your overall health, and eating as many natural foods in their natural state will serve you very well. The right foods will revitalise you, will energise you, will make you more resilient in the face of illness and infection, and help you recover from even the most demanding workouts!!!

If you make sleep a priority too, because this is when you truly recover and replenish your energy stocks, replace and repair your broken down tissue after a long day and maybe a tough workout, then you will be very much on the right path to having an extremely tough immune system!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday, 8th March

More important areas i need to be clear about are the following;

Never go straight into your exercise session without warming up. If you do,you are risking injury, you are not warming your joints and muscles up enough, you are putting possibly unnecessary strain on your heart because you will be like trying to hit top speed in your car without going through the slower gears first!

I would advise 7-10 minutes of light intensity on a stationery bike.

Also, when you finish your workout, its important to cool down appropriately. As you have worked your heart thoroughly in your exercise session, its vital you again cool it down gently, 10 minutes on bike would be ideal to cool your body down too.

Your body’s core temperature is of vital importance. Treat it with respect and it will always let your heart perform at high levels.

Someone who is unfit would have their core temperature go up quickly, the fitter you are the more slowly it goes up therefore putting less strain on your system and allowing you to work harder for longer.

Other factors affecting your body’s core temperature would be drinking enough water during your exercise session, to cool you down throughout as well as hydrate you adequately, which is again of vital importance when you are trying to perform at higher levels.

Exercising at high temperatures such as in the peak of our summer or when you holiday abroad should be avoided too.

Exercising first thing in the morning or tea time onwards when the sun dips will have a very good effect on your performance. Working out in the heat of the day when its really hot outside will really diminish your performance, and your body’s core temperature danger levels will be reached far quicker, creating a dangerous situation that you need to avoid!

All different examples on why you should always start off gradually, and cool down the same way!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 7th March

There sometimes is confusion of what I say in terms of food recommendations, most people seem to get it but its worth me going through it again with a few basics, and giving you what some people have “thought” I meant. Its easy to make mistakes on foods, so im bring some clarity here so there’s no doubt!

When it comes to milk, I do mean skimmed milk and at worst semi-skimmed milk. I DO NOT mean full fat blue top milk as some have thought. This choice alone can make a big difference to your diet, fat gain/fat loss, general health so sort it out and you advance quickly.

When I say tea and coffee is fine, I mean up to 3 cups a day, I do not mean several which can make you more irritable, dehydrate you and make poor snack choices such as biscuits with tea etc.

When it comes to red meat, its got to be once a week maximum, and the butcher will not mind at all giving you the leanest cuts, with most of the cut taken out.

When I say alcohol is fine in moderation, I mean once a week. I don’t mean a couple of glasses every day, I don’t mean drinking hard liquor just to cut calories such as gin, vodka, whisky which can be highly toxic to your body when drunk in excess. Wine may be more calories, but it travels easier through your body and is far less toxic.

When I say sip water throughout the day, and aim to get at least 1.5 litres a day in, I do not mean just drink one small bottle a day, this is only 0.5 litres and if you are training, you will easily need more than 1.5 litres. Get in the habit of drinking water throughout the day, and definitely through your workouts, your performances and wellbeing depend on it!

Just a few here but many more to sort out tomorrow!!

Twitt