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Wednesday, 8th February

There’s not many better investments you can making a great effort to adopt an exercise programme.

Perhaps the most vital part of that programme will give you the huge benefit of a healthy and strong heart.

Try and get your resting heart rate measured at the start of your programme.

Then try and measure it periodically, to see if you are making progress or not.

If it isn’t coming down at all over a period of say 2-3 months, then you seriously need to consider what the heck you are doing with your programme, and if it is working for you or not!

I have seen quite a few individuals start off with me with heart rates over 100 beats per minute, and most of them now are in the 50’s or 60’s with a properly executed programme.

For your general information, the average resting heart rate for a healthy individual and im talking adults, would be 72 beats per minute. If you are above this, then you need to examine why and what you can do to bring it down.

This is why i advocate monthly measuring to monitor your progress as a whole, this will give you a range of information that you can read and react to.

If things aren’t going your way, you can put things right straight away, if things are going very well for you, you know you are on course and you will take great inspiration from all of this!

Heart performance is a pivotal part of my training plans and their intention.

We will talk a lot about this in the coming days and how you can maximise your performance, whilst still getting maximum benefits in health terms for your most important muscle, your heart of course!!!

Never has a subject been more relevant for you!

Twitt
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Tuesday, 7th February

Sometimes your biggest enemy can be the reliance too much on routine.

For example, if all you did in the gym or wherever you trained, was to work on the treadmill or bike, then your gains wouldn’t be as strong as they would by mixing your training right up.

If you don’t do your weights/resistance work, then you’re going to be missing out.

If you don’t workout aerobically, and this means working out with big gulps of oxygen, and getting your heart rate up quite a bit, then you’re also going to be missing out.

However, even if you every exercise under the  sun, and simply “go through the motions”, you are not likely to get very much at all out of your training programme.

When you get going on your workouts, please make sure you train with purpose, you’re not there to look good and show off, you’re not there to watch the clock and just last until an hour is gone, you’re not there so you can work to levels well beneath you, and you’re not there to stay in some kind of comfort zone.

Today is another day to prove to yourself that you’re still alive, that you have enough energy to test yourself physically to new limits, even if you have seen the wrong side of 50. Age is never a deciding factor either, in my experience it is training experience and conditioning that matters, and definitely not age.

I have many 60 something’s who could destroy 21 year old’s in terms of physical performance, and having a leaner and harder body. When you get older, it seems that we value our health much more sometimes due to our inactivity of the past.

The bottom line is that its never too late to do something about it, and discover the power of actually “doing it”!!

Twitt
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Monday, 6th February

This week coincides with a lot of measurements i normally take for the month of january in terms of individual progress.

Most have been pretty good, some outstanding and a minority not up to the usual standard.

There are reasons why people get different measurements, and the truth always comes out when explaining each one.

The bottom line is when you are measured every month or thereabouts, you automatically make yourself accountable, and this is usually when lifestyle habits are examined in detail.

Unless you take this approach, then progress can be regarded as a matter of luck rather than intention.

Intention is a big word because if your intent is always there, then your lifestyle habits will always be good most of the time. If you have no goals then there is little or no intent, and there is no pressure on you eating well, training well and keeping alcohol to a minimum.

Most if not all the welsh players in the game against ireland, have been full of intention for a long time now in advancing themselves as a creditable force on the world stage, in rugby terms.

In their case, it has meant increased commitment in training, getting more out of themselves than they ever thought.

In eating terms, they have had to be even more meticulous in the preparation and timing of each meal and snack. Eating to perform at your best in sports is a big industry and nothing would have been left to chance in this vital area.

Most of the time too, you will not get these players getting trashed on alcohol every week after a game. A lot of players don’t drink so much now, and some do not even drink at all!

These players are much more professional in their outlook, their intention and delivery of performance these days.

They get measured constantly too, and this helps a great deal with their power of intention, a much undervalued way of getting the very best out of yourself at all times!

Make yourself accountable and start coming on at a much faster rate!!1

Twitt
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Friday, 3rd February

I know i have posted on a lot of different issues regarding health and fitness, there are some i tend to mention more than others.

One of the ones that is very relevant to the month of february is the fact that today in the press, a story was focusing on people’s lack of success in terms of weight/fat loss since christmas, and the lack of success in terms of new year’s resolutions too.

In fact, some papers have christened this month as “FLABRUARY”!!!!

The vast majority of those questioned had failed miserably on their plans to get rid of the christmas weight, not only that but the weight from the previous year too!! People were feeling flat, disappointed, fed up and all the usual negative feelings that leave a lot of us disillusioned.

If you have been following this blog for a while, we always examine why people do not succeed in their “get in shape” plans.

We have gone through a million reasons by now, and we have come to the conclusion that success can only come from sustainable training efforts, sensible healthy eating in smaller portions and at regular intervals, drinking less alcohol, drinking enough water, sleeping well and having a bit of what you fancy occasionally so you don’t go totally mad!!

So expect to see stories such as these in the media all the time. There is no one faddy tactic that’s going to solve the puzzle for you, its a combination of different tried and tested factors that will make the difference in the long term, so being in shape never becomes a struggle again.

Working out for life sounds like a tall order for some, but why not treat every week and day as it comes, try to do your best when you become educated about food, try and not make excuses to exercise, try not to overdo it on the food or booze, try and hit the sack at a decent time in the week and try and stay positive at all times, even when roadblocks come up and test our patience to the full!

Forgot the marketing rubbish you hear daily and let’s put the foundations in place to be very successful with your health full stop!

Twitt
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Thursday, 2nd February

Hands up who has jacked it in for this very cold spell of weather?

If you did, it probably leads to a pattern of behaviour that has stopped you getting into the shape you’re really capable of.

Did you quit last summer in the really hot spell of weather because it was “too hot” to train?

When it rains, do you find it easier to stay in the house and not do anything?

If your training is governed by the weather, then as I always say, you had better write off nine months of the year. This will be a serious obstacle to getting into any kind of good physical condition!

This type of weather usually dictates who you will see out exercising too. The coastal paths in mumbles, Swansea marina, Llanelli and burry port are always full on a nice day, full of individuals or groups dressed in the latest workout gear, and this is to be applauded.

Week’s like these though when it is brutally cold always sort out who’s serious about their training and who’s not. Im not trying to make some kind of “we are better than you because we train in the freezing cold” comment either (I actively encourage everyone to exercise as many of you know), its just that you need to realise that the weather REALLY DOES NOT and should not make a difference to your ability to train.

One less excuse is always welcome and the weather seemingly is a big excuse for many.

Your inside options in terms of workouts should really be firing on all cylinders now, and when you do resistance/strength training like you would inside, your levels of body hardness and staying lean in general should be at their highest.

What I like about inside workouts as well is that they are measurable.

5 press ups in week one can easily turn into 30 press ups in week 6, and this along can lead to a difference not only in performance, but in terms of results of course.

If you never measure your performance, then how do you know you’re improving. Most people have not got a great memory so this is why its vital you write things down, especially in your early stages of training experience.

When you write things down, your goals will become much more real and you will be focused much more on every workout, because you know the pressure will always be on to try and improve.

Use this weather as an opportunity, rather than an immovable object that stops you in your tracks!!

Twitt