Posted on

Day 63

Your good habits that you are developing right now have probably helped you to a body that is far more energetic, lower in body fat, stronger in both joint and bone strength, healthier all round, and generally i think everything is just “going a lot better” for you. Your body doesn’t really like spluttering around on poor fuel, it doesn’t like having to work very hard just to function, it likes being looked after, feeling good and the realities are that we take better care of our cars, dogs, and house better than we take care of our bodies, a lot of us anyway but not all of course!

The saying “if it aint broke, don’t fix it” is adopted by many of us. This means to some that we can drink and eat as much as we like, and as long as we can still do “normal” things, then where’s the problem!

The difference between doing these normal things in life and actually performing well can be quite staggering though.

Normal things may be going down the pub, cleaning your teeth, shaving, having a shower and going to work, that’s it no more!

Performing can be going to work and really excelling in your chosen environoment, it can mean actually working out and actually excelling at it too, it can mean having higher aspirations than “normal” people and actually achieving all or at least most of what you set out to do.

The difference between “normal” and performing can be quite amazing as you can see. Normal is simply surviving and hoping that no bad news comes around the corner, and performing is usually getting up and doing something, achieving it and once you do that, setting new goals and achieving the next standard.

When you are performing, the next rung up the ladder seems a natural process, and leaving the grass grow around your feet is simply not an option. The people who simply “function” in life are usually the complainers, the could have people, the should have people, the would have people, if things had just fallen into their lap, they would be “successful” too!

It’s a great sunday out there, had my run at 6.30am this morning, i feel so much better now and sunday from my view is looking pretty good! Sunday is always the day i try and relax but that still includes a run, anything that makes me feel better i try and do. It’s no hardship at all seriously, it’s actually a form a therapy for me and i’m sure many of you feel exactly the same.

When you get to this stage, exercise is an essential part of your life and you need it to feel good! This is a good thing trust me!! It’s just like cleaning your teeth, but about 10 times as enjoyable, especially as the spring is here officially i believe!!!

A great day to start your exercise ambitions, ot day 63 for a lot of you in your 84 days challenge to get into great shape!!

Twitt
Posted on

Day 62

Day 62 and it’s a saturday, maybe a day off for you like me, or it may be a valuable chance for you to get a great workout in!

The next question maybe is am i nuts?!! Its raining so heavy outside, and its windy and cold, i will never get a workout in today, and i won’t tomorrow unless it dries up!

This is a statement you know i don’t agree with and here’s why!

The facts are that in this country, it rains around 9 months of the year and thats if we are lucky! It’s cold most of the time too, and sometimes even in the summer so you had better get used to it! If you don’t like it or hate it that much, maybe another country is your solution but that can bring its own problems too, if you moved to spain or florida in particular, it would be too humid to train most of the time outside!

So you can see there are problems to train anywhere at times, unless you stop making excuses to yourself, get over yourself being a baby and realise that workouts in the great outdoors can actually be your best ones!!!

It can be exhillerating getting out  there in the wind and rain and indeed, i have had some of my best workouts out there in the most foul of days!

Face the fact that you will need to shower after a workout anyway, unless you like being a smelly pig, and whatever the weather out there, it really doesn’t matter and after the first 5 minutes, it can feel pretty good knowing deep inside that you are one of the few doing a great workout in such weather, and you will soon warm up if you show some purpose in your workout and really show yourself how good you have become!!

It’s easy to be on the coastal path in bright sunshine, you see lots of people out on such days! The funny thing is, when it starts getting cloudy and cold, those people disappear for some reason. This is why their workout programmes are not as successful as they should be!

You always have the chance to workout indoors too, and see my home workouts posts for that. These can be highly rewarding too, whether you just want to get through a good workout and even set a new personal best, its within you right now to make such a choice and your body will reach levels that your ambitions allow!

Ambition is a huge thing when deciding how far you go. Dylan Thomas the poet used to say that ambition was everything! We tend to get shot down in this country when showing such ambition, but you can’t follow the crowd all the time if you want ultimate success, hopefully you are started to realise that, and make your own line in the sand on where your standards are now in your life. Hopefully, they have been raised by this programme, and the doubts you may have had over your abilities are disappearing every day, you know im here supporting you every day on that!

Pictures and videos will be coming to this blog, but as it stands, it is just that, a blog trying to help many people. Its not an advertising feature for me as i really don’t need more work. I am here to help you as much as i can though, so ask away anything you are unsure of or plain don’t know!!

Enjoy your saturday whatever you decide to do!

Twitt
Posted on

Day 61

I was particularly struck by a speech by president Obama today on health care in Amercia, or the lack of it for the poorest people, and even some middle class people had to now go without it due to the spiralling costs.

This he said, was totally unacceptable to the american people, the land of the free as he said, and that had paid taxes to get enough health care for them and their family. They pay directly for health care out there of course, and it is very much a case of the have’s and the have not’s.

The part that struck me the most was when he stuck to his principle of getting this bill through congress. He said that many, many presidents since Roosevelt had tried to get this bill through, and the idea of it through of health care for all, but had failed miserably each time.

You have the seemingly “evil” health insurance companies slamming up their premiums so that many cannot afford health care, and the “lobbyists” who are trying to “coax” the senator’s not to vote for it. The whole thing has become corrupt of course and a case of big business winning every time. It’s time for chance and i SINCERELY hope the american public get a health service that works for EVERYBODY. Obama is sitcking bravely to his principles, and you have to admire and love that!

We don’t have such issues over here in the UK of course, and we often take the NHS for granted too much for my liking. However, we do have big business trying to hurt us in a different kind of way over here and it’s sugar addiction!

From previous posts on here, you know i have banged on about how much sugar is in everyday foods, and how it is destroying a lot of people’s lives over a period of years! Diabetes, certain cancer’s, heart disease, obesity etc, the list is pretty long!!

Before you think i am over-reacting, ask your doctor next time how many of his patients come in every day due to improper diet and excess sugar consumption. Ask him then how many end up with long term problems that requite our NHS to help them for many years. The answer will stagger you!!

I have banged on here about how cardiovascular disease didn’t even exist until 1912, which coincided with sugar being added to everyday foods in a big way. Big business carried this one in a big way over the last century, particularly the last 40 years WHEN THEY realised sugar was REALLY addictive! Over 40g of refined sugar each day can lead to serious health problems over a longer period of time, let’s cut it back now please for your own good, and hope i didn’t sound too patronising there, i didn’t try i promise you.

There are also studies coming out saying that fast food outlets make your food with less meat these days because they want you to chew less. Chewing less as we all know by now causing us NOT to recognise when we are full, therefore making us eat even MORE food. A clever tactic by them that makes you spend more with them each year.

The fast food people also know that the more sugar they put in your food, the more you are likely to come back due to its addictive nature. An awful lot of money has gone into researching this, and the report appeared in this week’s Guardian under the heading, “HOW THE FAST FOOD COMPANIES ARE GETTING YOU ADDICTED”!

The choices are yours, its a free country after all, but we also have the right to know what choices are out there, and you should be well aware by now that excess refined sugar will ultimately have a seriously negative effect on your health! So what are you going to do about it?!! Or are you going to let all those soulless big companies ruin yours and your family’s health?!!!

Let’s make the right choice and don’t up with all their lies!!

Twitt
Posted on

Day 60

What you are eating now has hopefully changed quite a bit in the last 60 days, and as cyril said yesterday, he doesn’t feel well now unless he eats good, natural food and feels better avoiding food overloaded with sugar and fat. I’m sure many of you feel exactly the same!

Another big thing for you to overcome may be the expectations people now have of you. A lady i train was talking about such an instance this morning. She told me that she was having dinner with friends last week, and was asked what did she want for dessert and she politely declined.

The other eight ladies on the table had a go at her for not eating  dessert! If you change your habits in life towards more successful ones, many people don’t like it and this is called peer pressure of course. Some of the comments even became quite distasteful!

We encourage each other on here to eat little and often, which can result in six feeding times every day. This in unacceptable to some people! They are not happy that your stomach has shrunk, you can no longer handle the same quantities of food that you used to! Reasons for this may include they do not like to see change, they are jealous of your success, they are not happy that they cannot imitate your new found strategies, etc.

This is quite common when anyone tries to change their lifestyle, and who would have thought that turning down a dessert would cause such a stir!!

You may find it the same when you buy your supermarket food, if you have a partner or members of the family not willing to change, it can hurt your overall and long term chances of success. Let’s face it, it never helps if there are treats in every cupboard! Temptation needs to be taken out of the house to reduce the challenging nature of this programme to get into great shape, if someone is still buying junk into the house, temptation never really goes away!

That’s why it is always a good idea to make your ambition of a healthy lifestyle public as soon as possible. Your family will be more understanding and will perhaps be inspired themselves to join in and give it a go!

I know people who have up alcohol or at least cut down severely. They always get serious flack about this, and worried that their “social life” will go down the pan. The reality is always that they feel so much better, their social life was pretty boring after all, and they have plenty more cash in their pockets!! Also, they seem to have so much more time in their life, and wonder how they found so much time just to drink in an empty pub!

All of these examples show that if you want to get to that special place of being in amazing physical condition and great mental strength, the path is full of obstacles but ones you can CLEARLY overcome every day!

 When you’re aiming for the top and get there, you will find that fewer people than you thought had the guts and determination to stick it all the way through, and you will be even more proud of yourself of your remarkable achievements. This is how your self-esteem and self-confidence goes to a whole new level and eventually goes through the roof, and you won’t be scared to take on any challenge in the future after you’ve been through this!

Day 60, now doesn’t that sound as if we have been at this for a long time!!!!!!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Day 59

Choosing which workout is right for you is one thing, but always looking for the “magic fix” is another.

 I frequently have questions on which exercise equipment or exercise dvd is best, and the answer i usually give is that you’re lucky to find something that works in this world of gimmicks and workouts with “celebs”, which often have little or no foundation to them, as often these same “celebs” are seen weeks or months later having piled back on all the weight and more!

One such question this week was on the power plate, or standing on a “vibration machine” would be the plainest way on describing it. You can pay a lot of money to use one of these machines in some gyms or “health clubs”, and you will undoubtedly be peddled the same old marketing information on them, hearing that old favourite “madonna uses it”, that famous football club uses it and so does that famous film star!

 The reality is that madonna is on her 6th trainer, and she goes with some kind of “new” training routine all the time, but her weight training and cardio work (running etc) never changes, she likes re-inventing herself so much that she has to mention another revolutionary way of training, once a year usually that maybe forgotten about next year!

This is all great and the marketing campaigns get that little bit more elaborate each year, but here’s get down to some facts before some of these “establishments” take even more of your hard earned money out of your pocket.

The official university studies on most of these products (and there are many different ones) conclude that there is NO MORE BENEFIT of working on these machines than regular, conventional methods. I repeat this again, not one percentage more than doing your normal workouts!

I’m not saying they are bad, but its time to stop looking for that “missing link” in your training, that “sliver bullet” that will sort everything out once and for all, IT DOES NOT EXIST.

The missing link is actually, and this is actually true,  you taking control of your programme, knuckling down to some hard work, forgetting about all those “fancy gadgets”, not falling for the sales person’s talks in these “health clubs” and spending that money on something that will actually do you some good! I say health clubs in inverted commas because they are usually little more than money making machines designed to get you on longer term contracts, and using latest national statistics, they really bet on the fact you won’t turn up most of the time.

We have touched on this before, why do they try and get 6000 members, if they are lucky to get 100 people in that gym at any one time!! If you work out the numbers, they are betting that 1% of their membership turns up at any one time, that is scandalous!!

I love the way these sales people say the latest mircale machine will increase your metabolism, your heart rate, your muscle tone, Gosh I HAVE NEVER HEARD THAT BEFORE! Isn’t this what ALL exercise does anyway and aren’t they using every technique in the book to get you to sign on the dotted line!! To sign that contract that you have paid for so many sessions or even a year or two, once they have your money they have done their job, its time to get wise to all of this and see through all of these “cowboy” salespeople, because that’s what they are, most have never set one foot in the actual gym……ever, or least they don’t look as if they have ever trained, with no knowledge thrown in, this can be a very worrying situation for the newcomer to exercise!!

All the information you need to get into great shape is on here, its based on improving your programme most weeks, its about eating sensibly, little and often, sleep well and keeping a very positive approach in everything you do, in short, its about results and being the best you can be! It’s not about ripping you off in money terms, its about staying with a programme that will stand the test of time, and will be as good in 20 years time  as it is now, long after all these dreaded gym sales people are in their “other career’s”, whatever that may be but it probably will have nothing to do with improving your health, unless they get a lot more education and actual experience! They ought to try that sometime?!!

You can see i’m steamed about it, but i try to put people right and protect you from the con artists of this world, and believe me there’s a lot of “fly by nights” in the health and fitness world.

Please do the right thing, and follow common sense when trying to get fitter, healthier and more positive in your attitude to your life and those around you.

Hope day 59 is flying for you and your workout has been a huge one today! You’re doing it through hard work and doing it through tried and tested ways can be much more satisfying, plus you will keep getting amazing results, long after all the faddy machines have come and gone!

Twitt