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February 2nd 2011

Some people are in shape already this time of year, some people are not of course, and as its early in the year still, its safe to say that not many people are in their top shape.

One way to improve is to seek out someone or even a group of people who at a slightly higher level than yourself.

For example, if you are cycling for instance, it can be hard getting out on a day like today for instance, the wind is tough and rain is hammering down hard.

On a normal day though, if you went out with a better rider than yourself, and sat back in his “draft”, in other words try and stay close to him/her by riding almost directly behind his/her bike. This has been proven to save around 40% of work, in other words you will be saving around 40% of energy by riding with the better rider.

Chances are that you will ride for longer than you originally planned too. You won’t give up so easily and won’t be tempted to cut your workout short. You will undoubtedly ride harder than you originally planned and you will be inspired to put a very good effort in.

Over time, this tactic of exercising with someone of a slightly higher fitness than yourself can be very productive.

If they are a lot better than yourself, then it may not work so well but slightly better than where you are now will make a very achievable goal for you happen much quicker than you ever thought.

Also, if you’re training with someone fitter than you, ask them how they got to be so fit in the first place, what were the “secrets” to their success, and what do they eat and drink on a daily basis that makes them look and feel so great.

If you’re a bit slack on your swimming, running, weight training, use the same tactic. Modelling yourself on someone who is currently performing at the level you really want to be is an ultra-smart move and get you where you want to be in ultra-quick time!!!

Twitt
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1st feb 2011

The first of the month should definitely be all about positive change for you. You have just got over January and the extreme cold, so the road should be a lot more clear for you now. The obstacles are there to be overcome and they will test your resolve. The good news is that every time you get over these obstacles, you will become more adept at overcoming them in the future.

There’s an old saying that says that giving in to obstacles is simply taking your eye off your overall goals. Losing sight of what you really want is a quick way of achieving nothing with your training programme. Your motivation goes straight away and the thought of training on a wet and foggy day such as today becomes almost impossible.

Some people remember their goals by posting photos of themselves in shape on the fridge, or even post photos of themselves OUT of shape on the fridge, so it makes them realise daily how being out of shape really makes them feel. None of us want to be called overweight, fat, obese or any other such term that makes us feel so worthless. This is when depression can hit and send us in to a far worse situation, the time has to be now to get yourself out of this trap, if you are there in the first place of course!!!!

Society can be a cruel judge unfortunately but there are a thousand more reasons why we should look to be slimmer, fitter and healthier.

We always talk about on here about the importance of eating well not just to look slimmer or at an “ideal weight”, its about how we look on the inside too, perhaps even more important that everything inside is functioning at its full capacity!!!

The reality is that if we look good on the inside, we will look good on the outside every time, and the chances of us suffering from ill health come down dramatically. This is the most sensible way to look at your health and fitness programme, or the likelihood of you getting caught up with faddy diets etc will  go up quickly.

At the first of the month then, concentrate on what you’re putting into your body and decide is it really going to do you good or not? If its natural, then chances are it definitely will.

This is an excellent self-administered test that you can use anytime, so you’re only cheating yourself if you try to talk yourself into fatty/sugary food on a regular basis, and you notice quickly anyway because you will start piling on needless bodyweight again!!!

Twitt
Posted on

31st January 2011

End of the month time and its time to reflect and look forward.

Was january that bad, was it that gloomy, was it that terrible and was it your worst nightmare?

Or did we all blow it out of all proportion and figure out that january was not really a problem at all?

The way i see it considering the people i have dealt with, most say that early january was tough getting into things, but now they are over the worst, and the initial pain has well and truly gone.

Exercise seems to be going a lot better and while january is traditionally the month where we all just put our heads down and get on with it, january this year seems to have gone better than most!!!

As we look forward to february, the nights are definitely getting lighter and picking up pace, same with the mornings and the only thing that can slow us down at the moment is the ice and cold of course.

Once the prospects are looking up, you should be more encouraged to back yourself and achieve a lot more from here, if your goals are self-improvement and a better body and better health.

Andy Murray unfortunately lost the australian open yesterday, and all the tennis analysts seemed to comment on the negativity he was giving out. He seemed to cus and scream at himself at the slightest opportunity, and a ton of negative energy seemed to come out of him each and every time. He seemed to show every emotion vividly to the camera, and his opponent seemed to be lapping it up and went on for a good victory!!!

The facts are that most champions seem to lose in semi’s and finals earlier in their career, before learning how to win, maybe that’s what murray is going through right now. hopefully it is as none of us really know how hard it is to be at that ultra top level where margins between losing and winning are so fine.

The lesson you can take out of it is to move forward with confidence and celebrate your progress, and avoid focusing all your energy on negative things going on, the time is now to be positive and build on your success already in 2011 so lets have another great start to the week and get some real momentum going!!!

Twitt
Posted on

28th january 2011

This sugar addiction subject seems to be gathering pace this week, as i have had many conversations with people who are still trying to throw the christmas bad old habits. There are also conversations going on with people who started off well in january, but are now back on the sugar train!!!

The good news is that once you stop consuming REFINED sugar, your body will gradually want less and less of it. Those first few days though are crucial and a lot of people do not make it past those first few days. Those who do genuinely find things a LOT better and will never bring sugar into their lives again on such a large scale.

So you have to make the jump from where you are now to the better place or you will struggle with a range of problems both in the short and long term.

Off the top of my head, the problems medically associated with too much refined sugar in your diet include;

Diabetes, blood pressure, heart disease, aching joints, joint problems, lack of blood circulation, mood swings, irritability, lack of drive, up and down energy levels and mostly down, more visits to the dentists, more visists to the doctors for a whole range of problems from A-Z, weight gain, bad skin, fat gain, inability to lose weight even with lots of exercise, inability to perform well in exercise because your energy levels “blow up” too early etc  etc!!!!

If you buy the chocolate, crisps, sweets, wine, beer, ready meals, processed foods, chips, burgers, hot dogs, full fat cheeses etc, you WILL have problems if you consume these foods on a regular basis.

IF YOU DON’T PUT THESE FOODS INTO YOUR TROLLEY, YOU ARE LESS LIKELY TO EAT THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!!!

You may get chances when you’re out and about, but if they are not in the house in the first place, you’re going to consume less of these sugar based foods full stop, and a massive step forward for you in your health and fitness and your goal to look and feel amazing!!!

You really have to make that jump RIGHT NOW and stop putting it off, that jump is key to you ridding yourself of this vicious cycle forever, so come on lets do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

January 27th, 2011

Following on from yesterday’s conversation about too much fruit and not enough vegetables, let’s defend fruit a little bit more before it gets too much of a bad rap!!!

I went over yesterday on how fruit is often blamed for putting weight on, and often mistakenly unless someone consumes vast quantities of fruit, and you would know you were eating too much because you would be on the toilet most of the time!!!

One big thing to back up why you should consider fruit a good thing is the benefits it gives you. The obvious one to think about is boosting your immune system, vital at this time of year with all the colds around. Then you have the energy fruit gives you and as i always tell everyone, you should be eating fruit because of all the untold things it does for us internally that we don’t even know about, but will become public knowledge in the next few years as we make new discoveries!! You should be eating fruit as a preventative measure against future illness, scientific studies tell us this continually!!!

The big thing for you though in practical terms should be the fact that your sweet tooth is never going to get worse should you choose fruit over chocolate for example. If you eat sweet things as snacks, then you will tend to eat more and more sweet things, and this will be very destructive for your body, this spiral can never end as we all know!!!

So despite the fact that sugar is contained in fruit, it is natural sugar your body can use and DOES NOT create sugar addiction like processed foods like cakes, chocolates and biscuits will do EVERY TIME. If you are currently in this spiral of wanting more and more sugar all the time, you have to switch to fruit immediately IF you want to reach your potential full stop, AND vegetables as this combination is especially powerful so you need to start putting your mind to this straight away, depending if you want great things to happen for your body and health of course!!!

Almost the end of january and this is the tried and tested way to go forward, to make sure your results are long lasting and health is your number one on your list of priorities!!!!

Twitt