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Recovery story

Everyone loves a recovery story and most people can remember one. The biggest problem is that we don’t really believe that we can create our own “recovery” story.

All of us have let ourselves go at times, and its usually a question to which degree we have let ourselves go.

Some of us think we have gone beyond the point of no return. This can be a depressing place to be and ends up a vicious cycle. The long road to recovery is always daunting, with the temptation to give up a very strong one at times.

When we have got from the stage of “one more won’t hurt” to “several more won’t hurt”, we know we are in trouble. This is the point of hopelessness as weight as accumulated at a rapid pace and the realisation we have to get it off is an extremely frightening thought.

I have seen several people come through such situations, and mentally it can be very draining and challenging. The road is never straight and the recovery phase is filled with bumpy roads. Those who keep their eye on the ultimate goal though are the ones who come out the other side having achieved an amazing result, far beyond what they ever expected.

Going through this journey also gives you great mental strength, as you need to become a very strong character to develop the skills needed to shift huge amounts of body fat, but the good news is that I have seen it many times.

Most people who do it never do it on their own either. They usually have a very strong support network and close friends who always at hand to help you when you most need it.

While the ultimate goal needs to be kept in mind, the most successful I’ve seen do it have been the ones who have taken one day at a time.

When you adopt the strategy of taking every new day as a new challenge, you remain focus and you are likely to make the rapid progress you want.

This rapid progress and new daily habits become second nature after a couple of months, and once you and your body have fully adopted the new healthier structure in your life, you will want to do more and more and your ability will increase on a weekly basis.

There are plenty of ideas on here on how to do it, and logging on each day on a site that’s updated daily will help take you a long way. Remember every day is different and to be enjoyed, get some tried and tested structures into your life, a very good support system and you will go a long way to achieving your biggest ambitions in life!

Twitt
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Fresh impetus

Everyone needs a fresh look at their training, their eating and their overall goals.

Having a fresh approach is fantastic for your mind, your body and your overall belief on whether you can reach the goals you have in your life.

 Something will often trigger it off, it could be that you want to emulate a certain person you look up to, it could be you want to be healthier and you’re not going to take it anymore in terms of all the weight you may have put on lately, you may have been told by your doctor to lose weight and start exercising, it could be that you want to meet someone new romantically and you will have a better chance if you’re healthier and closer to the way you want to look, it could be anything but that “trigger” often happens when we least expect!

Fresh impetus to your eating can be to attempt to include as many natural foods in your diet as possible. You will avoid as much processed foods as possible, you will commit to drink more water, you wont stop at the petrol station any more for food AND your wine that will only add copious amounts of body fat to your frame, which will obviously drive you further and further away from your goals.

I can tell you this too, it take a bit of guts to get your fresh impetus into your life.

Are you going to be one of these people who drifts along each week hoping your health will “take care of itself”? Or are you going to take action and actually do something about it and really aim for the fresh impetus STARTING right now?!!

This blog is about doing something about it finally, and having the courage of your convictions to follow your good intentions through for the first time in a while. You will get people putting you off, but try and hang out and listen to the people who actually believe in you and want to support your best intenstions, this is VERY important because in the low periods when you doubt yourself, you’re going to need some support and someone to lean on. Most people find this very valuable when describing how they because successful for the rest of their lives.

We all have doubt, periods when we doubt whether “we can do it”!

This is why we need fresh impetus at times to take us much closer to where we want to be in life with our health and fitness.

Twitt
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May to September

May to september is a great time of year for being more active, burning more calories and fat, for being outside, for getting on your bike, getting out there walking, getting out there running, just about anything outside is going to be good for you!

You may have seen the recent study showing how good fresh air is for you now, and just exercising for 5 minutes can be hugely benefiicial in the outside. It can greatly effective for your mood too, many of the people i train tell me how good they feel from working out in the fresh air. All you have to do is try it and you will feel better, i guarantee it!!

These months from may to september can be huge for you, on average it rains less, it’s warmer outside by a few degrees which means you already feel like doing something before you start. You are sort of in the mood to do something on nicer days. Imagine the contrast between nice days like now and the freezing cold and wet days of the winter!

The time is now to get out there and be as active as possible, and what’s really stopping you? You even have more daylight to play with now as it’s light now pretty much to nearly 9pm.

There is the issue of being “on show” sometimes for many of you, you don’t want to be seen working out. If that is indeed an issue, either start off by doing inside workouts, or do your workouts in quieter areas and take a friend with you too.

 This will help motivate you and keep you safe. When there’s two of you perhaps of the same fitness standard, you will be both in the same boat and you will both feed off each other in terms of motivation. It’s always great to have someone pushing you, and you will both be thrilled at how you both progress, if you both use a tried and tested programme!

May to September is always great for eating less, a tasty salad always goes down better in the summer rather than the middle of january. You don’t usually feel like the big stodgy meals in the middle of summer, lighter snacks and meals are the way to go.

All of this adds to a very productive time for losing body fat, gaining lean muscle tissue and being in your best shape. If you use many or all of these strategies, you’re bound to be looking and feeling very good indeed!!

Twitt
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The best day for a workout!

Today in my book is always going to be the best day for a workout!

You may well have had a very good weekend, too good a weekend maybe! Now is the time to work it off and stop that body fat becoming a longer term fixture on you!

The biggest benefit i find from doing your workouts on a day like this is getting you in fine form for the week ahead.

How many of you struggle the week after bank holiday as previously discussed? How many times have you said after a bank holiday that you may as well write the weeek off as you “simply don’t feel” like getting going again. I think more than a few of you have felt like that and i was a “victim” of this too at one time.

I then decided to do something about it and now i never miss a bank holiday workout, it just so happens that mine was 6am this morning again with the dogs. I love a good run in the morning and there’s nothing better than being all showered by 7am and the day is all in front of you!

Bank holiday’s for many of us can mean long traffic james, long tiresome activities with lots of queue’s invlolved. The likelyhood of doing a workout after all of that are next to nil, thats why first thing in the morning works for me every time, and as stated, i hit my week back to work tomorrow with energy to spare!!

Food is another thing that gets us more tired from the weekend. This weekend is the perfect excuse to really go off the rails, and really struggle to maintain a healthy foundation at all. Nothing wrong at all with going off the rails from time to time as long as its not permanent of course.

This is why, like your workouts, your eating may be written off too next week. Coming back from there is quite difficult, and you often needs a fresh dose of inspiration to get you back on track.

This is why its easier to roll with the momentum you already have of eating well and training hard,  this is the best situation to be in and requires very little effort once your eating well and workouts become second nature. This is the true secret!

Have a great last day of the holiday and get ready for big start back tomorrow!

Twitt
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Yoga help

Did a session yesterday with a guy i have trained on and off in the past, he’s now become a yoga teacher and pratices in new york. Anyway, he was back and offered to do a session for me.

I slipped  on some greasy ground in the week, and pulled my back a bit, so i was a bit tender for a couple of days.

I have to say i thoroughy enjoyed the session! It was great and really got me working pretty hard, and in a different way compared to what im used to.

Most people think of yoga as a “do nothing”session and maybe somewhat easy, but even after the warm up, your heart rate is going a bit already and certainly felt like i was doing some very tough exercise!

Then when you get into the main part of the workout, i was concentrating on 6 different moves by the way, you end up stretching your muscles in different ways, and sometimes a few different muscle groups at the same time. I am pretty stiff today, but am very enthused about the benefits that have come my way from doing this workout.

The highlight was me doing a handstand! I have never been able to do this in the past, and i have to admit i did have some help, but it felt fantastic and feels the opposite of what you might think.

You actually relax when you’re up there and don’t tense your legs as you might think! You do use your core strength in a big way nd that’s always beneficial!

My aim for me now is to be able to do it on my own after a few months, and to reap the benefits a few simple moves will bring me!

It’s always great to try something new, so any time you can find a decent teacher near you, i suggest you try it as an addition to your programme!

Twitt