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!!!

Tuesday, 11th December

A very relevant question today is from a lady who is wondering if she cannot get to the gym before christmas, will the weight come piling back on after making outstanding progress lately? And is there any alternative?

First of all, in replying to this, i have said many times that i think it is an extremely bad idea to stop exercising before christmas for all sorts of reasons that have been well documented on here. So let’s get that out of the way and i don’t want to keep repeating myself!!

Anyway, let’s look at the solution so you don’t put the weight on.

Option number one is trying to make your sessions no matter what! 15 minute blasts are far better than wondering what might have been! Anyone who has done them with me will know their value.

Option two is if you really can’t make the session, then you should workout at home no matter what!!
How long does it take to put a pair of shorts on and tshirt, and just go for it.

The workout

Just pick 5- 6 exercises.
Example

Press ups

Arm dips

sitting up and down on chair

alternate squat thrusts

plank

try your best on each exercise for a maximum best

So if you do 20 press ups, then your workout figure should be 10 when doing 3 lots of it.

For example
Press ups max-20
then workout number should be 10

arm dips max-10
then workout number should be 5
and so on

So you do the workout by doing all the exercises one after the other, have a rest, then do the other two lots for a total then of 3 lots.

This should last for around 20 minutes in total.

This time investment should be available to everyone, and will also have the added benefit of making you eat better, because you will not want to blow all that hard work!!

Hope this helps a lot of people in the same situation!

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!!!

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!!!

Thursday, 6th December

All of us get in a rut from time to time,but we have to make sure we get right back out of it!

First of all, one of the best ways of changing is to change what you do.

For example, if you ideally do 8-10 reps of each exercise and have done for years maybe, have 4 weeks of doing 12 reps per set. You will have to reduce the weight of course, but the extra reps will bring your body a new challenge and you will be pleasantly surprised at the results!

If you do a split routine, in other words you may be doing chest and arms in one workout, shoulders and back the next and then you do this twice each which means 4 days a week with this type of training, then i always find it beneficial getting individuals on whole body workouts that can be done just twice a week with a three day gap in between. This is well proven to bring some spectacular results in a short period of time.

Do drop sets! Say you do a set of curls with your best weight, do 8 reps and instead of ending there, pick up a lighter weight and hit another 8 reps, then pick an even lighter weight up and do 6 reps with that. This will absolutely crucify your muscles and you will find that if you pick just four exercises to do this in a workout, then that will be enough to get the job done in super-quick time!!!

When is the last time you kept an eating diary? This is one of the most overlooked things i see every week, and often explains why many of us don’t get into the shape we really want! Unless we realise how much we eat, what we eat and when, its tough for us to find out whether we are sticking to our plan or not?!!

No time for getting stuck in a rut, reaching a plateau or getting medicore results, you have the chance right now to turn it all around!!