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Tuesday, 14th February

Valentine’s day is a big day for some of you, and its a day of vast 0ver-commercialism for others. You may either be preparing to go off your diet tonight, and you may be out of pocket after paying double money for your flowers, whatever you do, have a great evening and enjoy yourselves.

Valentine’s day is no excuse though to quit on your training, and please do not use that “lack of time” excuse, because its definitely not going to “wash” here!

No time for a run?

Not even 10 minutes?

If you swap your steady jog you were planning, then how about doing some interval running instead. You know the one, we have talked on here a lot about it, do a couple of minutes warm up run, then use lampposts as a guide for the intervals you need to train in.

You jog for one post, then sprint the next, jog one post, sprints the next and so on until you can’t do anymore. 10 minutes of this will be MORE than enough!!!

How about hitting a punch bag?

If you can manage 10 minutes on this great training tool, then you will be doing very well indeed. Even three times one minute rounds will be enough to get your heart pumping like never before, scratch the ten minutes, think THREE minutes!!! No excuses!

If you work in an office in a town or city, there must be a group of steps around the place. Just 5 minutes up and down steps can be like a 20 minute steady jog, and give your body a workout to remember, this is tough but over in a flash with a big bunch of benefits thrown in!

Bottom line is if you don’t train before you go out tonight, you won’t feel so energised, you will have to work harder tomorrow night, and you will be letting your commitment levels slide. Use time to your advantage by working out smart, instead of mindless boring long workouts control you!!

Twitt
Posted on

February 13th, 2012

Technique is often underplayed when it comes to exercise.

If you walk into any gym anywhere, you see a wide variety of versions of the same exercise.

A lot of boys and men like to do curls for arms for example, unfortunately due to the swinging in this exercise, it ends up as a back exercise instead of an ARMS exercise!!! I’m sure many of you have seen the same thing, the key is to drop the weight until you are not swinging your back, this will give your biceps a far better workout and ultimately this means results.

There is also a tendency to do exercises in rapid fashion.

This means that on leg exercises for example, you will be putting enormous strain on your knees, leading often to injuries that can be hard to reverse.

Lack of proper technique is often seen outside the gym too.

Cycling for instance is a prime example.  Incorrect seat height and handlebar height can hurt your knees and back, and make cycling thoroughly unpleasant.

Your seat height should be in line your hip, and you shouldn’t be bending over too much to use the handlebars, make it comfortable and you instantly become a more efficient and better cyclist overall.

Running is another example when a lot of people get it wrong, not using your arms for example when you run, and especially when you want to sprint wont allow you to run at top speed. Your leg speed is always dictated by your arm speed, so not using your arms in an efficient manner will stop you reach your running and sprinting potential.

The same can be said when you’re walking and especially uphill. If you swing your arms you will walk stronger, faster and with more purpose purely down to using good technique.

 These are little things that can make your training much more productive and enjoyable, and you don’t have to be a pro athlete only to enjoy them. Everyone can train like a pro by using a few simple strategies that works, and this means more results in the end!

Twitt
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Friday, 10th February

If you are exercising hard throughout this very cold period, then you ought to congratulate yourself because you are getting through the hardest time of year, this is the time for those of you who have the courage to “do”.

Not only in weather terms but you have managed to get through to February, which is longer than most of the population who often quit by now after the January surge in dieting and exercise. If you are active now, you have some serious momentum in your life.

Better times are coming with lighter nights, warmer days and even more inspiration for your training simply because “summer is coming”!

The spring and summer is the time when you really hoped you were in good shape. Most people at the end of the summer promise themselves that “next” year will be the summer they finally get into great shape,  and they will be proud to show their body off.

The reality is often quite different unfortunately.

It’s a good idea on a Friday to evaluate how you have been doing, and whether you have come close to achieving your goals? You should be able to know right now whether you have come up short, or have you over-achieved this week and actually taken yourself higher than you thought?!

If you can most fridays, deliver on the promises you made to yourself on a Monday morning, then being in shape is probably a reality for you and a healthy lifestyle an everyday reality that you enjoy.

Dieting on some crazy faddy diet is no fun, never has been and never will be. Plus they never work long term.

Living healthy by eating healthy and training sensibly and often has never been more enjoyable, given all the options we all have in front of us these days.

There is more known about exercise and nutrition these days than ever before, yet according to statistics, most of the population ignores all of this research and never gets active, and constantly fall for all the foods high in sugar and saturated fat, sad but true!

You will discover that living a healthy lifestyle is not being part of the crowd, but more of an individual journey that will develop more and more the further you travel, in age and in health terms.

Its Friday and lets be honest where you are at the end of the week.

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 9th February

To continue about the importance of a strong healthy heart, its vital you start with a proper foundation in order to create it in the first place.

Number one is you need to exercise regularly and in general stay active.

Number two is you need to eat healthy at regular intervals, and in sensible portions.

Number three is that you need to avoid excess alcohol. Drinking a few times a week will especially put great strain on your heart, as well as other vital organs.

Number four is to avoid smoking, if you smoke you are doing the single most destructive thing against your body. You are destroying cells, ageing your body throughout and putting amazing strain on your most important muscle.

Number five is to try and cut down on stress. If you have a lot of worry in your life, self-induced or otherwise, you are putting strain eventually on your heart. It is no coincidence that exercise and eating well are the best for combating this stress.

Number six is sleep well. Sleep deprivation can literally affect everything you do. Hate to be like a broken record but all of the above helps you sleep better!

Number seven is stay positive. Being positive about life can be one of your best habits to develop, negative people are usually full of stress and never actually do anything for the greater good. If you stay positive, then you tend to take action and approach life in an optimistic way, one of the secrets of quality of life especially in old age research has shown.

Number eight is to show consistency in all of these keys to having a successful strong and healthy heart, don’t be a “flash in the pan” when it comes to your health or let a doctor tell you all of this when its too late. If you practice these most of the time, then you will reap huge benefits!!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 8th February

There’s not many better investments you can making a great effort to adopt an exercise programme.

Perhaps the most vital part of that programme will give you the huge benefit of a healthy and strong heart.

Try and get your resting heart rate measured at the start of your programme.

Then try and measure it periodically, to see if you are making progress or not.

If it isn’t coming down at all over a period of say 2-3 months, then you seriously need to consider what the heck you are doing with your programme, and if it is working for you or not!

I have seen quite a few individuals start off with me with heart rates over 100 beats per minute, and most of them now are in the 50’s or 60’s with a properly executed programme.

For your general information, the average resting heart rate for a healthy individual and im talking adults, would be 72 beats per minute. If you are above this, then you need to examine why and what you can do to bring it down.

This is why i advocate monthly measuring to monitor your progress as a whole, this will give you a range of information that you can read and react to.

If things aren’t going your way, you can put things right straight away, if things are going very well for you, you know you are on course and you will take great inspiration from all of this!

Heart performance is a pivotal part of my training plans and their intention.

We will talk a lot about this in the coming days and how you can maximise your performance, whilst still getting maximum benefits in health terms for your most important muscle, your heart of course!!!

Never has a subject been more relevant for you!

Twitt