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Wednesday, 10th October

Being optimistic about your progress is one of the most important habits you need to get into, or you will forever be like the economy, you will be going through “boom and bust” for the rest of your life, in health and fitness terms.

For example, you can do really well in your training, and be really pleased with your progress.

Then all of a sudden it may take one thing to doubt your progress.

You could have an illness, an injury or just go through a period of training when you’re not able to reach your previous highs in terms of performance in your training.

During all of these times, you still could be losing inches off your waist, losing body fat, and your heart rate may still be getting stronger all the time.

Despite all of this, you will doubt your progress somehow!!!

I have encountered many individuals like this, and I think it’s a human trait to doubt ourselves even when evidence suggests we should never doubt for one second!

This is when hard numbers have to take over!

If your waist measurement is coming down or already in healthy range, then you are DOING VERY WELL!!!

If your body fat is coming down or in a healthy range already, then you should be very pleased at your level of conditioning.

If you have a healthy strong heart rate 72 beats per minute or less, then you are doing everything right, and you are performing and recovering well from exercise.

Like I said, despite all of this overwhelming evidence, people sometimes still doubt themselves. This is exactly the time to change your mindset and start celebrating where you are, and be optimistic that not only can you sustain this progress, but you can actually improve it each month!!

Justified optimism is the one big thing that will take you forward, and keep doing so. Doubt is the only thing that can hold you back!!

Reinforcing your optimism on a daily basis is vital so get practicing right now!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 9th October

Lots of little colds and annoying little illnesses around lately, and some of them taking at least a couple of weeks to finally go!!!

So it’s a probably a great time to discuss how you should play this situation from a training perspective?

The rule of thumb should be the following.

If you are feel a little bit off above the neck, then its still okay to train as long as you are sensible, and i’m talking about little sniffle’s and not heavy cold’s!!!  If you have a heavy cold or really bad headache, then you should not train definitely!

If you are aching below your shoulders, then you should not train as you are probably going down with something. Aching from a cold or flu perpective means you should rest your body right now, and try and still keep drinking water to keep you hydrated, this will help in the recovery process for sure.

You must realise that exercise can be a massive positive for your immune system, and protect you against future colds and illnesses.

However, IF your immune system is already compromised, and i mean run down and not feeling well, then it definitely is not a good time to exercise, as exercise can put extra stress on your immune system and can mean a 2-3 day recovery from a cold turning into a 2-3 week recovery from a much heavier cold. This is why you must treat your body with care and respect your immune system.

You know how to boost your immune system by now? Eat a wide variety of nutrients, eat plenty of vegetables and fruit, eat nuts in sensible portions, get plenty of sleep, avoid alcohol, certainly avoid cigarettes, which could be considered as the worst thing in creation for your body!!

Autumn is a delicate time for all sorts of colds, so make sure you eat well, eat natural when you can and respect your body by doing all the right things you know that will work very well for you!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 8th October

Shortcuts are always there for you, but you secretly know they aren’t the way to get what you want with your healthy and body.

If you cheat in an exam, copy someone else’s homework, you know its not really sustainable and your long-term progress will end up in tears.

Shortcuts end uo creating more work and ultimately more disappointment. Your long term development is always based on putting a lot of hard work in and reaping the benefits on a consistent basis.

Instead of taking shortcuts, start making yourself much more accountable.

Try training with someone of a similar level, if they’re willing to push you.

Make your goals public, and tell your closest friends and training colleagues what you really want to achieve, and you’re not going to rest until you get there! When you make your goals public, you will find that you will get more support than you ever imagined.

If you train in a supportive environment, then nothing is out of bounds and its great to talk about your frustrations, goals, disappointments, great moments with people who have more than likely been through many of those experiences themselves.

For example, i have had experiences when people have told me that they want to be pushed, that they want to achieve big things with their body and health, and for me to give it everything in order to get them to that amazing level. On every occasion, that person as long as he or she was committed to his/her training, then lofty goals were indeed achieved.

When someone wants to start training, one of my main questions is how committed they really are to achieving their goals? If they seem disinterested in the whole thing, then i am not going to waste my time on getting involved with someone who is not willing to show any committed, in fact its obviously going to be a waste of time for both parties!!

If you show commitment to your goals, and listen well, then you are 100% likely to achieve something very special!!!

Twitt
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Friday, 5th October

Metabolism talk rounds up our week, and if you can get this vital subject under control, and firing FOR you 24 hours a day, then you are likely to be burning fat and likely to achieve the body you always wanted, AND STAY THERE!!

One of the most unlikely tips i can give you that you wouldn’t have thought about regarding metabolism is water!

Most people don’t regard water as boosting your metabolism but they couldn’t be more wrong!!!

Water is paramount to a lean healthy physique.

Water is crucial for flushing fat out of the sytem, and is crucial for your body’s messaging system to fire correctly. And drinking water can actually raise your metabolism!

Being dehydrated can give you sugar cravings, tricking your mind into thinking you are hungry, rather than thirsty! Keeping hydrated keeps your body in balance, keeping you in tune with your body’s actual needs.

The less cravings you have, the more fat you lose because you’re less likely to make poor choices.

A recent german study showed that subjects who drunk healthy amounts of water, compared to others who didnt drink enough, BURNT around 30% more calories, and their metabolic rates were proven to increase for the same amount. This started within 10 minutes of drinking the water, and reached a peak 40 minutes after drinking the water.

The moral of the story is drink more water, and if you train hard in the gym, drink even more!!!

One minor point is to say that you should keep it to water too. If you fall for misleading information about energy/sports drinks, then you will be consuming almost pure sugar for no real reason apart from some dodgy marketing claim that has no basis. Your performance will go up 33% if you keep fully hydrated, so don’t fall for similar sports drink claims. Sports drinks are only worthwhile after 60 minutes of continuous exercise.

Time to get your metabolism working at its best levels, and make fat loss much easier than you ever thought!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 4th October

It’s metabolism all the way this week, and here’s some more ways to get it fired up!!

If you eat 5-6 times a day, then you are raising your metabolism nicely, as the act of eating alone will make you burn more calories.

Its vital these meals though are not over-sized, and are smaller in general as you will be eating every 3-4 hours. The idea is to eat breakfast, lunch and evening meal, with mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks keeping you full and energised in between.

So if you eat three meals a day, you will be raising your metabolism 3 times a day, instead of 5-6 times a day with the smaller meals and snacking method.

Another benefit of eating multiple times a day is that you never get hungry, your body will expect food regularly and this will make sure you are not tempted to binge!

Another great way to raise your metabolism is to eat real foods. That may sound strange but eating real vegetabls, real fruit and most importantly, AVOIDING PROCESSED FOOD whenever you can.

Most of the processed food you get in the supermarket these days doesn’t take much digestion, therefore burning less calories and also playing havoc with your digestive system.

If you eat fruit, real vegetables, real oatmeal for example, your body’s whole digestive system is working at its full capacity to break down the food, then use it as an energy source.

This process will not go on when you eat processed rubbish, that seems to fill most of the aisles in supermarkets!! Ready meals are the most guilty example, but anything that takes a minute or so to heat up and eat is usually going to be very poor for your internal digestive system.

Eating natural isn’t always possible, so try to use processed foods before your training session. This way you can at least use the food as energy and get it out of your system as soon as possible!!

Twitt