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Monday, 1st August

Monday is perfect to hit your hardest workout and really get stuck into your own personal improvement programme. Nothing should be in your way now if you have had a good summer of training.

 Nothing or nobody is ever perfect though and I understand some of you have had big blows to your training because of injury.

 Monday though is the best way to give your best and nothing beats that tired feeling you get after a great workout, a shower and a good meal afterwards.

 This assures your body that’s its on a good course, you are more or less assured of a good night’s sleep meaning that you have the perfect set up for another great day on Tuesday!

Have a good Tuesday and Wednesday and the rest of the week becomes exciting because you know you’re going to be in a very good place indeed!

If you are following this blog most weeks and taking action each time you read it, and I stress those words in bold TAKING ACTION, you should be in a very good situation yourself today, and be very pleased with your progress. Just as this information I am giving you is upbeat and we can all pat ourselves on the back, the other side of the coin can make you downbeat to say the least and send you in a vicious circle.

 If you don’t or cannot train, then no fat or calories will get burnt.

 On top of that you won’t have the incentive to eat well.

 On top of that, you will likely to throw the towel in and no longer consider yourself “an athlete” in any sense of the word.

These are the two sides of the coin that face you, and both offer very different results of course, that’s why training in any way possible and starting your week off in the best possible way are so important!

Twitt
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Friday 29th July

If you are in control of your food, then thats fantastic and you should be proud of your appearance and performance lately.

If you’re not, then you need to back to where you were when you first started.

Most of us remember that feeling when we finally made the plunge to eating healthy the rest of our lives. It was intimmidating at first, but over time it became easier as the weeks went by, and even easier again when we started showing some really good results!!!

So if you are at a halfway house right now, by that i mean sometimes eating healthy and sometimes eating badly, then you need to go back to the start to enable you to move forward!

When you go to the diet section on the right hand side, there is a repetitive but valid theme on there. It goes on all the time about the importance of having a healthy breakfast and gives you many examples. A doctor would back this up.

It encourages you to graze and not gulp huge amounts of food down in one go, this means it is better to have smaller meals and snacks but regular and often to sustain energy and kickstart your metabolism, this is a proven way for fat loss and lean muscle retention. Your doctor would encourage this too.

The meal ideas on there are packed with variety, and all the foods are nutritious and are going to heavily contribute to you being in outstanding health! A nutritionist would tell you the exact same.

Water is vital to life, as well as good health, how many of you have forgotten that? Did you know its also a contributory factor to fat loss? Did you know its going to be better than some much-vaunted face creams for your skin’s appearance? I haven’t got another hour to write down all the extra benefits but you should be getting the idea by now!

Bottom line is the basics ARE the bottom line!!!! Face facts and go back to the start and remember how well you used to eat!!!

Twitt
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Thursday 28th July

Back down to cooler temperatures today, and for me that’s a great excuse to work harder than ever on my workout!

If you didn’t make any excuses and got through the last couple of humid days, then you should be raring to go today.

You have to face up to the fact that all sorts of things happen to encourage you to train, and on the opposite scale of things, it seems as if things conspire against you to stop you training from time to time.

Keeping things on an even keel is vital if you want to be productive. So this means you still train no matter what (unless you’re ill) through the times when you think the world is against you, as well as taking the good times and finding it easy to train then.

The more breaks you have in your training, the more you’re going to struggle.

The more you accept that you should somehow stop training when weekends come, when bank holidays come, when Christmas comes, when easter comes, when valentines day comes, when summer holidays comes, when half term comes etc etc is frankly pathetic!!!

Its pathetic if you pretend you really want to be in shape and talk about it a lot, because if you continue to have this attitude it AIN’T GOING TO HAPPEN!!! You will be writing off most of the year if you continue to make excuses like this, but then if you do, then you have become accustomed to making excuses and that’s a normal way of life for you.

This blog is all about being and developing a commitment to being and getting into shape, as safely and as quickly as possible through tried and tested means.

The truth hurts sometimes that’s why its better to spell it out, so lets knuckle down again and hit it hard!!!

Twitt
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Wednesday 27th July

The weather has hit new heights again, making harder training sessions more and more difficult.

The first obvious change you need to make is either workout first thing in the morning or in the evening, this will be the biggest temperature difference you can make to enable you to have a more pleasant training experience. There can be real advantages to this and i prefer an early morning slot myself, but its all down to personal choice.

Number two obvious thing to do is up your water intake on the day you train, being dehydrated on a day like this is not only undesirable but its plain dangerous! Also, remember to drink water THROUGHOUT your workout with little sips and often, as well as afterwards. This weather is not just about putting a decent workout in, its about doing things in a safe and sound manner.

Number three is to keep your workouts shorter than normal and in a shaded area if possible. There’s an old saying that says that “only an mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun!!”. We have already talked about avoiding midday workouts if possible and you need definitely to limit your time in the sun. Don’t worry about the shorter workouts, simply doing a workout is very valuable on a day like this.

Number four is not to write off the day unless absolutely necessary. Most people will write off workouts on days like these, but hoepfully you’re not like “most people” anymore. You still want good results whatever the weather, and you will be willing to work around any hot or freezing weather, its just another challenge that you need to work around and you will be fine.

If you follow the first three guidelines, then you should be able to put a good short workout in, have a nice shower and get on with having a great day!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 26th July

The issue of post workout nutrition has never been so important.

If you are currently going through a tough pre-season for sport for example, what you put back into your body is going to be of extreme importance.

If you train very hard and then don’t care what you eat, then you’re not making things very easy for yourself at all.

There used to be a saying in the 80’s, 90’s and still sometimes today, that “as long as you train hard, then it doesn’t matter WHAT you eat afterwards”!!! What rubbish but what’s even sadder is that some people believe this!

Let’s look at it logically.

When you train hard, you break down your body.

You will lose a lot of nutrients out of your body.

You will break down muscle tissue down.

You will disrupt the chemical balance of your body and lose vital nutrients that need to be replaced.

So does a takeaway really cut it as an after workout meal?

Does the chip shop meet all your needs?

Is a bottle of wine really going to help you replace what you have taken out?

Is a couple of pints of lager going to repair your immune system or help destroy it?

So let’s get one thing completely straight. YOU CANNOT EAT EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT AFTER A TOUGH WORKOUT IF YOU REALLY WANT TO GET IN SHAPE!!!

Okay, i’m glad i have got all of that off my chest.

So what should you eat?

White meats, lean red meat once a week, any fish as long as it hasn’t got batter, eggs, cottage cheese are all EXCELLENT protein sources!!!!! These are vital!

You don’t need a bucketload of carbs after either.

A moderate amount, the size of your fist will do and avoid white bread, white pasta and you will be fine.

Vegetables will provide a lot of the nutrients you need to replace in your body, you will be so much better off by having a good variety of veg in your meal after training for all sorts of reasons. This along with proper hydration will be vital in your athletic goals.

I have tried to make it plain and simple, lets just do it!!!!

Twitt