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Friday, 12th December

The big news is you have the opportunity to get outside again and get out and run, cycle, walk, swim whatever you want to do. Swim may be a joke for most of you but there are people who swim EVERY morning i know in burry port and in langland and caswell. I couldn’t do it myself but some people feel amazing doing it and all credit to them for doing it!!

I have had 3 runs today and feel a lot better for it. The last two weeks have been extremely tough staying inside for workouts so i fully intend to make the most of outdoors from right now. Don’t believe the doom and gloom merchants, its not going to be freezing by sunday at all. Its going to be 7 degrees saturday and 4 degrees on sunday, which is like being in the mediterranean compared to whats been going on with the temperatures lately!! Anything with clear surfaces free of ice is a bonus for me and it allows safe and freedom of movement, which is all important.

Think of all the fresh air going into your lungs too. You’re not living in the middle of the city, you live in areas which are exercise friendly and healthy friendly too. You have amazing views when you’re training, you don’t have to be stuck inside all your life moving from an office or factory, then stuck inside again at home. Your home is a great place to sleep and have food and relax, but the fun should really start when you get outside and do things that involve you being more active.

Don’t be one of those who only goes out for a walk on boxing day with their christmas jumpers and gloves, theres more to fitness than that!! Those people should realise that you need to get out in the fresh air MORE THAN ONCE a year looking trendy!! Thats something i really hate! Let’s get out and there a few times a week and do some meaningful exercise and get a sweat on!!! It will make you feel so much better and get out you of the rut you’ve been in for the last couple of weeks of sub-zero temperatures!!

Exercise is not about being trendy or wearing special jumpers walking on the beach looking the part, its about DOING so lets get out there and do it and feel your best!!!!!!!!!!!

Twitt
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Thursday, 9th December

12 days until the darkest, shortest day of the year when everything seems bleakest and weather terms and probably your aspirations to get fit and healthy again. Weight gain is a near certainty for most and physical activity for most slows down to that of a hibernating animal!

Quick ways to lighten the mood and focus on being in better shape always start for some by getting holiday brochures out and thinking of summer holidays. Nobody wants to be well overweight for their summer trip and contrary to popular belief, the hard work doesn’t start in may, it starts right now especially if you have a lot to lose.

No amount of spray tan or sunbed will disguise the fact that you need to lose weight and no specific clothes will make you look better either. Wearing black is a lifestyle for some but it doesn’t cut it too well on your summer holiday!!

Another nightmare this time of year is the lack of light in your day. You may only start to feel better at the weekend simply because you experience more daylight hours. If you work in an office you have the horrid unnatural light, if you work night shifts, you will be sleeping through the best part of the day. The trick is to use ANY excuse to get out there and do something, even a walk. This Will make you feel better and give you a lift, even at the bleakest time of year.

This is why the weekend is so important, and not just an excuse to go shopping. Try and do your shopping in the evenings or early mornings if you can and don’t waste all that light the weekends. The weekends should be about getting out there for longer periods of time, walking longer, cycling longer if not icy, running longer if not icy etc. The light is your friend and is there to automatically make you feel a whole lot better.

We take the light for granted in the summer and feel much better. With a bit of thought, we can make much more use of it in the winter too.

16 days left to Christmas day and hope you haven’t given up on yourself yet!!!

Twitt
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Wednesday 8th December

The biggest mistake over Christmas I try to avoid is letting all the condiments come into my life again, which give me a shortness of breath, a lack of energy, make me irritable and get my sweet tooth back, plus the inevitable weight gain of course. Making myself and you aware of it is half the battle when we all start buying the “party” food etc in for Christmas.

Tomato sauce, mayonnaise (full, half or reduced fat versions), salt, salad “seasoning” products, salad cream, brown sauce, branston pickle, full sugar pasta sauces, anything under party food banner’s wreck my breathing, anything with added sugar in their product (corn syrup etc).

Also the chickens in indian sauces or ”hot  and spicy” chickens get me breathing heavy.

I also find if I have too many days of drinking alcohol, my discipline with food goes out the window and my choices become far more questionable! A familiar pattern  for you maybe?

So when does the point come when you say “that’s it I’m starting back after Christmas”! The sooner that point is reached, the more weight you are likely to put on over Christmas for sure, and the harder it is to come back strong after Christmas.

Party food for the most part has nothing to do with quality and more to do packaging of low or NO nutrient food up as something you would be “boring” not to go for! Unless you had a trolley full of “party food”, then you are the biggest stick in the mud there’s ever been and you’re not “enjoying” Christmas! The Ken Barlow of Christmas shoppers maybe!!

Personally I would say that there’s nothing more boring that gorging yourself all of December and drinking nearly every day, then complaining about your heartburn, your clothes never fit you anymore and after Christmas, going on YET another diet. This may be the most boring version of Christmas ever? The time everyone rolls their eyes at you because its like Groundhog Day all over again!

Wouldn’t it be far more refreshing and less predictable this year to keep on buying good food this year right up until new year. Don’t buy all that rubbish and “party food” that you throw out anyway after Christmas. A fresher and more energetic version of you is far more appealing to everyone than the complaining, irritable, boring version of you come January? Is that the case or am I over-exaggerating?!!

Keep having your treats over Christmas, you deserve to enjoy of course you do, but you don’t have to totally destroy yourself from now on in and make the start to 2011 totally miserable!

Moderation works as long as you have your basic foundation in place.

Twitt
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Tuesday, 7th December

As the cold continues, my running sessions have all dried up and we are stuck inside. It shouldnt and it doesnt stop the quality of workouts though, and the attitude remains.

Hitting a workout hard is almost as all about mindset as its about physical ability. I know people with the best attitudes are far more likely to over-achieve than those who may have all the tools in place to look great, but somehow don’t make the grade when it comes to getting in shape. Your mind will take you a lot further than just your body and resting on all your laurels ever could.

This weather also allows you to concentrate on areas that you may have ignored the last few months when the weather was a lot better?

How about your stomach, have you been avoiding this area for a while? Instead doing things maybe that are in your “comfort zone”?!!

I now enjoy the process of attacking my weaker areas. There was a time when i only wanted to concentrate on my stronger areas, but now i realise what i have to show more attention to, and a lot of self-honesty did me a world of good i can tell you! It always takes somone to pick out your weak points to make you realise that action needs to be taken and the sooner the better!!

The hardest part when training someone is telling them that they need to change from a certain way of training, to a more productive way. Most people think that the more exercises they do in a workout, the better it is. The truth is that making your workouts more simple and with more basic exercises really IS the best way to go.

It all comes to intensity and effort and mark yourself out of ten. If you can honestly say you always hit at least an 8, sometimes a 9 and once in a while a 10. you should be in your best condition and have a great balance in your life. Nobody’s perfect as you know but as long as we keep on working on the imbalances, then the closer we become to the way we really want to look and feel. It starts with self-honesty and give yourself a truthful assessement on the way you look and feel, or get someone you trust to give you an honest and accurate opinion.

Then you step forward!

Twitt
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Monday, 6th December

We are currently in the coldest weather i can remember, bearing in mind it was the coldest winter for 30 years last year, this statement is a very strong one. The perfect excuse then not to do any exercise you would think? Absolutely wrong!!

Yesterday morning is my usual run with the dogs and early yesterday you would have been barely able to walk on the pavement, running was a total impossibility. I could have done a workout inside but i like some fresh air on a sunday morning, so i made sure i got a workout in through a tried and tested method  which turned out to be a lot of fun.

I hit the steep cemetery hill for sprints and obviously the normal road would have been impossible of course. The GRASS next to the road though, while covered in frost, is actually very receptive to running believe it or not, and reacts favourably to sprints up and down the hill.

This is the ONLY workout i could do yesterday but not the only choice had i thought about it a bit more. If i had waited a couple of hours and driven down the beach, i could have run as far as i liked on the sand, which is never a problem and is perfect in any weather, even though there were icy patches on the beach this morning!!

So two things i was looking at yesterday and they were accomplished very easily. A lot of fresh air which cleared my head, and a very decent sprint workout which i havent done for a long time, and my thighs are still a little stiff this morning which is great!! 

We always go on about the power of the mind here, and here it was again, just sit back sometimes and ask yourself is there a better way, or even is there a way at all?!!! More often than not, you’ll find that there’s ALWAYS  a way so lets continue to battle through this harsh winter and get some great workouts in!!!!

Twitt