Making your move

Now is the time, even in when the worst rain is falling just like today, to make your move to a better life full of health and vitality.

I personally like workouts when there’s some heavy rain around, you may not like the first 5 minutes when you give up any hope of staying dry, but after that its going to be fun, in some sort of strange way!

There’s also the feeling in this weather that most people have given up the ghost today, and to me thats a good thing. Knowing i will be one of the few to train today is a good feeling, it means im not a fair weather trainer, the weather in fact does not and will not affect me. The weather really is no obstacle and deep down you really know it. You have to be strong right now, you have to get out there and make your move to being a fitter and healthier human being, because there’s no better feeling and secretly you know it!

Living every day like there’s an opportunity out there makes your mind open to anything you want to do. The truth is thats theres several opportunities out there every single day, and they are waiting for you to grab them and take advantage.

Funny thing is that once you take one opportunity, you automatically gain momentum, you automatically gain belief that you can begin to be successful and all of a sudden you do not waste any time any more, and you can recognise opportunities that much better and that much earlier. It all starts with the first opportunity though, and you are then encouraged to push on from there!

Making your move on a friday to having great workouts and great nutritious food in your kitchen can be the most important move you make this week. It sets up a foundation, it gives you energy, it underpins your healthy base and propels you to reach greater heights.

You have a fresh weekend ahead full of opportunities and possibilities, just think if you don’t take it, then surely somebody else will!!

More gym workouts

Following on from yesterday regarding whole body workouts, I think the point was made that we don’t have to be obsessed with treadmills, bikes etc, and doing your workouts properly were more about working smarter rather than mindlessly going on a treadmill every time you go to a gym.

Combining different circuits and exercises in a gym are not only hugely productive, but they make your training far more exciting and interesting too.

As we were talking about treadmills etc, why not use your 45 minutes a bit more wisely and do a triathlon of sorts when you go into the gym to do your cardio work. 15 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes on the bike and 10 minutes on the rower will be a superb workout that will test your cardiovascular system to the limit, and look its all done in 40 minutes instead of 45 minutes.

 Don’t be obsessed with working out for a certain time in the gym either, do enough to get the job done and a lot of the best workouts can be done in 30 minutes if you work at the right intensity.

How many times have you seen people doing one set of an exercise in the gym, then talking for another five minutes, then do another set, then talk for 5 minutes etc and this may go on for an hour or even 90 minutes. This is TOTALLY the way NOT to train, and if you see someone training like this, they will have serious shortcomings in the results they are getting.

As I said yesterday, 6-8 exercises is enough whether you’re using gym machines or exercises you do using your own bodyweight (which is often harder anyway). Just try and work up to 3 circuits and you’ll be in great shape.

Another great standard to work up to would be doing one exercises continuously for 60 seconds, then move on to the next one and so on until 6-8 exercises are completed.

This is far tougher than you think but will get serious results. You need to be in decent condition already though to do this and starting off doing an exercise for 20 seconds would be a better start.

This more or less non-stop way of exercising is massive in terms of producing results so why not give it a go, and forget about antiquated ways of doing your training.

Life is too short to spend all day exercises and this way you’re going to be guaranteed better results so lets go for it!!

Whole body workouts

The most efficient way you can workout is work your whole body in every strength workout, and these always need two days in between minimum. Try to do your cardio workouts the next day and remember to always have one day off for your system to recover nicely.

Unless you’re a pro bodybuilder or at least seriously into bodybuilding, then splitting up your body parts is simply an easy way out.

Not only that but you burn far more calories and raise your metabolism much higher when you work every body part. Your body becomes a fat burning machine and you become much fitter.

I repeat, anyone who just goes to the gym and just does “back” is really being lazy or been reading too many magazines.

The whole idea when you train is to build up a big “energy cost”. All exercises have an energy cost and the more demanding the exercise, the more that exercise will cost your body in terms of energy and that means calories of course.

Some studies have shown recently that whole body workouts have been far more effective than running on a treadmill for instance for 60 minutes.

The whole body workouts im talking about are the ones where you do one set, then the next and so on for a total of 6-8 exercises, with no rest. This creates the “aerobic effect” your body is looking for and truly needs. Working with no rest (as long as your fitness level allows it) creats the feeling of being out of breath, which is pretty much the same when you’re working on a treadmill, a stationery bike or a rowing machine. These are all great tools to use in the gym but im giving you a comparison.

The funny thing is that i’ve heard a couple of people dismiss whole body workouts, but when they actually try one out they don’t usually last very long and are shocked at its effectiveness. Anyone who has tried one out with me will testify to that!

So the advice is when you get to the gym or at home, use as many effective exercises as you can in a kind of circuit style workout. There is every benefit under the sun to be had from this style of training so why not give it a go!!!

Fast food eating

Its always a battle to eat well in fast food establishments but here’s a few ways to make the most of it and still stay lean.

Bottom line is that if you spend most of your time eating in such places, the chances of you being in shape are usually nil.

However, the first thing you can learn is portion control. If you control the amount you eat of anything, you will be consuming less calories full stop. This can take some of the guess work when eating in restaurants.

When you have your food, the next thing you look at would be your drink. If you order a milkshake or full sugar drinks, you can consume 300-500 calories straight away, on top of your food depending on what you select. Water would be the best selection of course and although i don’t like diet drinks, they would be a better choice than the most popular drinks available, loaded with destructive calories.

When it comes to burgers, try and select one burger in a bun to cut down on the fat per serving, with a more wholemeal bun if possible rather than a white bun loaded with bleaching agents and sugar.  They do offer these selections in certain restaurants. Also, make sure you ask for the burger without the ketchup, the mayo or whatever other rubbish they decide to put into it.

When it comes to chicken burgers, always go for the grilled chicken burgers rather than the fried, crispy version. There is a substantial difference in calories. Also, the salad cream that comes with the chicken burgers can really take your saturated fat intake tenfold, so try and avoid that if you can or at least use sparingly!

If you’re having taco’s, try and avoid the big cheese element that is usually added. The added salsa is not much of problem usually as there are some good ingredients in there, unless it is a totally sugary/fatty version.

Salads you would think would be fine but you can have some high-calorie versions often worse than a burger and fries! If you must have the dressings, keep the servings to an absolute minimum. Other things to avoid can be bacon bits, croutons and noodles which are usually cooked the wrong way and loaded with calories.

Next time you’re out in such places, you can be healthy as long as you’re sensible.

Your option to decide

So here we are at the start of yet another week, and believe it or not, im still excited about what i do!

I look forward to going to work, in fact i don’t call it  “work” anymore and have a problem calling it that.

I enjoy what i do and how many people can say that? I used to have jobs where i totally DID NOT like what i did, i found it unfulfilling, unrewarding, not mentally stimulating, all the negative adjectives you want to use, go for it and they could be possibly the right descriptions!

Then i changed it all round and to cut a long story short, i am here right now trying to inspire you to do something really important, valuable, hugely rewarding, fulfilling, enjoyable, fantastic for your health. There can be no denying that this statement is true so hopefully more than a few of you are going to take the offer up and change your lives very much for the better.

If you say you’re too old, my oldest client is 84 and started training at 75 years of age, so no excuses there please.

If you think you have gone “too far” the other way and your belly is too much to reduce, then i have had many, many clients lose over 10 inches off their waists, so that excuse will not wash with me either!

If you say “im going to try and do a bit on my own first” or “i can do it myself”, then fantastic, please do!!! However, if you’ve been making these statements year in year out since you left school, college, work, whatever, then obviously YOU ARE NOT GETTING IT DONE all by yourself, and you’re not moving around quite enough are you?!!

What you should be certain about today though is that you have the same OPTION TO DECIDE your fate this week just like everyone else reading this today, the 6th of september 2010. Either you make the same old excuses that you know are absolute rubbish or you decide to devote the rest of the year to discovering that you can actually get into shape again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whether its the first time since school, the first time since you gave birth, the first time since you lost your job, the first time since you got divorced, the first time since you got married, the first time since you bought a house, the first time since you suffered rejection in your life and you havent been able to recover etc etc! Whatever the situation, you have this option right now to decide to change your life today and forever.

All of us have this choice and people do it every day, or they put up with mediocrity.

Are you are “do’er” or just a “talker”?!

Commit “to do” and you will be shocked how much everything in your life improves.