Keri McKibbin Personal Training

Great to see andy murray getting through in the tennis, know some people dont like him and some on here, but a great semi-final awaits with nadal surely. I will be backing him for one, and i know nadal is a favourite for everyone but would be nice for murray to upset the form book.

Bit disappointed when i heard federer making excuses for losing. He complained about his back, then his leg but he still gave “respect” for his opponent, who still “played well” he said! I have had enough of federer’s excuses and his lack of grace when he loses, very sad from a great champion but ive noticed he does it every time he loses. You never get nadal doing that.

The fitness on these guys (and gals) is simply amazing! How many of you have ever tried playing even 3 sets, leave along the 5 sets these guys play. Then add on the heat on court, the standard of play, the ferocious serves you can hardly see around your ears, the pressure at this level, and the unbelievable standard, simple as that it is terrifying!!!

I give all the players who even reach wimbledon the utmost respect, and they have to PLAY all year too, its literally a 11 month season, and then they have to spend the last month preparing for the start of the new one in australia!!!

Whoever you want to win, hope you enjoy the last few days, and this is when it gets REALLY exciting!!

Sometimes the best way to feel fresh and enthused about your training is to look for new standards and take a look at all the sport going on at the moment.

Some of you cycle a lot, and the main event is about to start this saturday, the tour de france of course. Lance Armstrong says its his last tour and although the 3 weeks can seem like a bore for some, i will be glued to this game of chess on a bike. If you watch it every day it can be addictive as you learn about tactics and why certain riders don’t do the obvious things at times, saving energy for later even more incredible feats.

All of this will add to your own performance in your cycling. You will take notice of your own bike more and its maintenance, how to improve your own performance and how to get faster and eventually use less energy, that has to be the goal.

Whenever you follow a professional sport, and you see athletes do it better, most of us are inspired to get better ourselves.

It could be the world cup, and what youngster doesnt want to play magical football like the Brazilians.

Its always good to strive to be the best we can be, and all of this interest you may now be showing in sports, Wimbledon, the world cup, summer rugby internationals, the tour de france etc will give you a whole new fresh attitude that will put fresh vigour into your training and eating.

Apparently, England are expecting a heroes welcome today, their flight home has been diverted to Glasgow airport! That was on Talk sport this morning which is an english radio station but thought that was really funny!

Jean asks why was Rooney looking so slow etc and i think that most of us are fed up of the “bigging up” by the press, the england team are either rubbish and unpatriotic, or they are world-beaters! Clearly they are no world beaters so this probably leaves england amongst the weaker nations when it comes to international football.

The question that has been asked is why these players play so well for their clubs and they are so poor at international level.

There are a number of reasons i suppose and im not an international football coach, but playing players out of position doesnt work, the english players are not technically as good as the germans, the germans “wanted it” much more and were prepared to run all day to make opportunities to win the game.

The likes of rooney, terry, gerrard are obviously over-hyped and were taken to the cleaners by this relatively unknown German team, these unknowns are now household names now in germany and is a testament to their youth policy. You have to say they were the best team.

In this country, the focus seems on getting the best foreign talent in and not developing our own. This probably means that club football is far more important than the international game, and really exposed when england gets such a hammering and end up being a disgrace.

A lot of people are saying get rid of Capello and bring in Harry Rednapp.

As i stated before on here, Rednapp seems a much better man manager and seems to have the knack of getting the very best out of players, many of whom were previously heading to the scrapheap! He is also full of passion and drive, and its great to see he is getting the recognition he deserves.

Getting people to believe in themselves is more than half the battle, Rooney doesn’t become a terrible player overnight, after all he was voted the player of the Premiership this year. He clearly has lost confidence, perhaps his injuries caught up with him, whatever the reason, there was no excuse for not chasing every ball down and no trying your best, at times it did seem many of the English team were not as committed as the Germans clearly were.

England need a huge inquiry into their performance and need to create a centre of excellence, like most successful nations have. However it appears the FA are about as pro-active as the Lawn Tennis Association, plenty of talk but on the results front, pretty useless and a national disgrace, always have been and always will be.

It only takes a moment to change the way you are looking at your health.

How on earth could jean go from more or less giving up to going on a one hour 15 minute bike ride? Thats quite a reversal and turnaround!

Thats why i get annoyed when some people think about starting an exercise programme, they do exactly that only, THINK about it and usually never get started.

This usually involves going around all the shops to get the perfect workout gear, that looks all fancy as this time you’re really going to do this BIG STYLE!

Then you may think how you’re going to get fit. Do you go to a gym, and if so which one?

Do you buy one of those exercise dvd’s? If so, which one?

Do you buy the really expensive training shoes or the cheap ones?

Do you start your diet straight away or do you just start exercising and then change your diet “gradually”?

All valid questions but shouldn’t you follow someone like jean, who has more experience than most people i know. She JUST DID IT!

She didnt think about it too much, she just got on the bike and went for it. Tell me, is that such a ground-breaking thing to do? Is it rocket science or do you have to study nuclear physics to do such a thing?

I have seen lots of individuals change their lives around by taking on such an attitude.

The power of saying “im not going to take this crap anymore, this time no matter what im going to do it” is amazing! This is extremely powerful and if you do get in bit of a rage with yourself over the way you’ve let yourself slip, then that GREAT, use it as a motivational tool to get more out of yourself in your workouts!

My best workouts are usually when im pretty steamed about something, and i take it out on the weights or a run or  a cycle.

Being fed up may actually get you to do something.

Forget about prancing around fancy clothes shops, forget about talking a good game, change it around right now and get off your behind to make a massive difference to yourself.

Its not too warm, its not too humid, if it is then get out there early tomorrow morning and JUST DO IT!!!

Your moment of change is right here, time for action!

Jean makes an interesting point today, she says she has forgotten how to diet, how to train, and definitely forgotten about how to get motivated!

I remember jean when she was doing very well and it wasnt that long ago.

She now makes reference to the asthma pump back in her life, when she was training regular and eating better, the asthma pump amazingly disappeared, in fact everything seemed a lot better.

I take the point on  board about enjoying your lie, one life you have and all that, but here’s another approach.

Say you want a few drinks whenever you want and say its tonight. What is wrong with that? You can make the decision yourself and all you have to do is be ready to do something the very next morning.

I hate it when people say “no point in exercising the day after a few drinks, it doesn’t do you any good”! WHAT RUBBISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone i know who trains after a few drinks the night before feels much better afterwards, and are sure in their minds that most of the sugar/alcohol they put in the night before is being worked out.

I have done this for years, without fail i have either cycled or ran the day after, and always felt great the day after.

I remember i did not do it one week the day after and felt lousy all day long, and felt really bloated and i felt horrible, so working out after the night before is now a way of life for me.

Back to the motivation cant last statement. NOBODY stays motivated 52 weeks a year, nobody!

So how does someone workout 52 weeks a year? Structure and making exercise and eating well a part of your life forever and no, its not boring!!!!

You can still eat your favourite food in moderation, you can still drink alcohol but it doesnt have to be every single night of course, drink when it means having some fun and you dont feel you’re missing out, but like i said, you need to train the morning after to get all the weight-gaining chemicals/sugar out of your body.

Motivation doesnt always last, it will come and go but its vital you keep some structure in your life of moving around more, when you shop for food your trolley is not full of rubbish, have some treats but the majority should be wholesome.

This one life you have slogan is great, but surely the best way to achieve that is making sure you are healthy too to enjoy it to the full.

Have your treats, have a drink, have plenty of fun, but make sure your workouts and wholesome food are in there too!

Lets do it and whether you’re motivated or not, lets make it happen until it comes around again, and it will for sure!

Everyone seems to give a different effort into their training.

Those who give little effort and tend to go through the motions tend to get some mediocre results, often drifting in and out of their training programmes and not really achieving a whole lot. They promise themselves that “next time” they will really do it.

If you have had some outstanding results lately, you are really in the category of giving an enormous amount of effort and you are willing to suffer heck of a lot to get some great sessions in. You are expecting harder and harder sessions, and you adapt to these very well by showing the level of commitment you show on a regular basis.

You are creating a deficit of calories in your body that should be prime time for body fat loss. The times that this ideal situation is disrupted is if you consume more calories than you need.

I know most of your calories may be good, and its not as if you eat rubbish every day.

The biggest problem when you’re trying to reduce your calories is the initial hunger pangs you feel in the first week. If your body is used to a certain amount of calories, a certain portion size etc, it is very difficult to feel satisfied that first week of trying to cut down.

This first week is so critical in laying the foundations of portion control. Always remember that if you eat too much of anything, you WILL put weight on, this is the fact you need to remember.

This is why its always recommended to eat with good guidelines in mind. Think size of your fist with carbs and protein portions, and have as much veg as you like. A pack of cards is a good way to describe your carbs and protein portions too, think smaller portions and you will get smaller full stop.

So now we are thinking a lot more about food and portions control, imagine how powerful this will become with the enormous effort you put in your training. Whenever you put the powerful combination of hard training with disciplined, well controlled eating, you are going to have serious results full stop so let’s get it going!

If you can do this, and not pick on things in the kitchen just because nobody is looking, you will be given yourself a big guarantee of superb results.

Always think of the incredible efforts you put into your training, do you really want to waste ANY of that by over-feeding yourself? None of us are perfect but the serious eating control will make you have 100 times more reward than if you just hope for the best on the eating side of things.

I have to be honest here and there are times i don’t really feel like posting.

There are times i don’t feel bothered, or rather i can’t be bothered maybe?

I’m on this site every day of course but there are situations when i feel like posting and times when i definitely do not.

If i have had a few drinks on a saturday, i struggle big time to post sunday morning.

If i have missed out on sleep, posting can be difficult.

So all of these things happen, how do i post every day (99% of the time anyway).

If i had a few drinks the night before, i always get straight out of bed, put a pair of shorts on and go for a 30 minute run.

If i haven’t had much sleep, i make sure i eat every 3 hours with high quality food, drink plenty of water and somehow my energy levels become very good again.

If im feeling a bit down or drowsy, i do a workout, this AUTOMATICALLY makes me feel better and im on top of the world again.

If theres a few negative situations developing, i tend not to put it off and fret about it, i take the situation head on and try to sort that situation out that day, or if thats not possible, the very next day. Taking action is vital and becomes an unstoppable habit if you practice it enough as we’ve talked about many times on here.

The point im tryin to get across is that we all “don’t feel like it” at times, sometimes quite a lot. However, if we deal with these situations daily and develop ways around them or take them head on, we become good at solving problems and find ways to feel good about ourselves again.

As im writing this, i feel very good despite a bad nights sleep with the kids, i feel great because i have eaten well, drunk enough water, had a great workout and im really enthused to write all of this because i love doing it. Its times like these you remember exactly why we do all of this, and that makes me very grateful.

I am grateful to get up at 4am tomorrow because someone regularly wants my help and advice to help their development.

Have a great evening and keep making the right choices.

Its more important than you think to have a snack before exercise.

We are all a bit different and react that bit different to all sorts of foods, so working out what best food choice for you and agrees with you is always important.

Whole grains, lower far dairy or fruits will always work well for you as a stop gap for your workouts and give you some energy for your tougher workouts through the summer.

Try eating these snacks if you can at least 30 minutes before exercise to make sure your food goes down properly, and your food is ready to release energy into your system.

The 30 minute rule applies to smaller snacks, if you were to eat a big meal before training, you may need 90 mins to 2 hours before your workout.

I find some people have better digestive systems than others. I find i can eat and literally then go for a run. I could probably do a big meal and exercise 30-60 minutes later, but that took a lot of getting used to because i tend to eat on the run throughout the day, and took me years to get used to that because of my lifestyle.

If you stick to the guidelines i first mentioned, you shouldn’t really go wrong.

I used to try the no food strategy before a workout because i thought i may feel sick. This was a stupid strategy because i would always then fail towards the second half of the workout, due to lack of carbohydrates left in my system. I avoided the sickness for sure, but it wasn’t worth losing all that energy.

You will find also that if you don’t have food before workouts and you have no carbs in your system, then your body will use precious lean muscle tissue already on your body. This can be a disaster because you have worked so hard to get in the first place, as well as muscle being so important for your metabolic rate (the rate your body burns calories). The last thing you want is to slow down your metabolism, so lets keep getting your snacks in every 3-4 hours and really make this thing happen for you!

Not eating before exercise is bad news full stop, just like the idea of not eating breakfast, any time your body goes long periods without food, its goes into starvation mode and stops burning fat so easily.

Keeping your weekly eating well-structured and full of nutrients is the only way to go if you want the best out of yourself.

Most people who try to sell you exercise equipment these days to it in a way of promoting looking younger and more atractive.

On the other hand, scientists are coming up with more and more ways of eliminating or a least improving the quality of treatment for many diseases.

The facts are that today’s society is more inactive than ever before, and throw in more packaged and processed food than ever before, and you have this huge timebomb ticking away ready to blow big time in the future, in fact its started now with the NHS.

So the marketing of exercise is great in promoting youth and physical attraction, but surely the prospect of a better, healthily, in other words, higher quality of life should be promoted to the hilt.

My house search continues and when i look for a house like most of you, we take into account how far we are away from the shops, parks and other amenities. The reality is that we use he car for even half a mile journeys for a variey of reasons such as we  are pushed for time, we can’ be bothered to walk and simply its easier to take the car. Over 5 years and if we didn’t do any other exercise, this sort of attitude contributes heavily towards our chances of ill health in our future unfortunately.

A scary statistic is that not being physically active doubles our chances of developing heart disease, and the burden we create on society is comparable to that of smokers.

So the choices are clear, we either stay inactive and see what our “fate” is sometime in the future, or we become physically active using a prevention is the best cure mindset.

There is endless evidence to say that making physical activity part of your daily life not only gives you more energy, less body fat, greater muscle tone, more physical attraction and holds off the ageing process, but it ALSO gives you the power to seriously reduce your chances of developing serious disease.

All of his helps you live a high quality and longer life, lets get out there today and do something!

Seems as if it went very well after all and even locals close to pembrey country park give it the big thumbs up, despite local worries in the build up. Those who live in garreglwyd seems to agree it was good for the area.

I was open minded about it unlike the local councillors (who often express views not in people’s best interests, more like their own). I am positive about most young people today, and to give them every chance, we all make mistakes and its part of growing up.

One pub/cafe by the station made more in a week than he probable does in 6 months, he was open all day and may help him survive. Also, i did see local business benefitting and spoke to them about it. Yes, there were those who didnt get work, and i feel very sorry for them but there were local coaches and buses there too, as well as outside coaches. So there must have been some contracts put out there for tender under fair competition rules. Dont know the ins and outs so don’t me down!

Its easy for us to be negative but quite hard to be positive at times. Well done to the organisers, well done to all the students on their excellent behaviour and sense of fun and hope you come back next year. There were 14 arrests unfortunately but apparently they were local people.