Thursday, 29th March

The positive feeling you get from exercising is an old cliché but one thing is for sure, it can never be underestimated.

If you’re just relying on the weather to get you feeling good about your life, then I wouldn’t hold out too much hope!

Exercise is something you can literally do any day of the year and it will make you feel better.

A walk up steep hills may seem intimidating to start with, but when you are able to do it and ACTUALLY do it, there is never a better feeling of wellbeing. This is both from the buzz you get from the walk AND the deep feeling of satisfaction you get from reaching such a good level of fitness. Again this example is something you can achieve ANY DAY OF THE YEAR!!

The same goes with eating well and healthy, if you have done this for any appreciable length of time, then you will know about having a lot more energy already, and I won’t have to tell you about that.

Eating well also gives you that inner feeling of wellbeing that you are doing your best for yourself internally. If you eat well then you are likely to be avoiding serious disease, your skin is going to glow and all your vital organs are going to really appreciate the good care you are giving them!

For all of this positive evidence, a lot of people still ignore this and find ways to avoid the fundamental ways of staying healthy.

I have heard virtually all the classic excuses and the way people rationalise their unhealthy lifestyles is often hilarious, and sometimes deeply saddening and even disturbing.

I started this piece off talking about “positive” feelings, and unfortunately, an unhealthy lifestyle will bring you nothing but negativity.

Food and lack of exercise will offer you the exact opposite of the positives I gave you earlier on. Most people don’t realise the chemical reaction that food and exercise gives the body, and its consequences.

The bottom line is eat and move to stay positive, eat poorly and lead a sedentary lifestyle and prepare for negative consequences over time.

Monday

A familiar story came my way today, and i’m sure some of you who have experienced it will feel the same way.

A lady i train wanted to get some extra training in at the weekend, so invited her friend along.

Her friend had recently joined a gym and had been telling her how much cycling she was doing, not traditioninal cycling as we know it but she was attending “spinning” classes and was raving about them constantly.

Let me point out straight away that i really congratulate anyone on going to spinning classes, and most i know will highly enjoy them greatly. Lets get that out of the way!!!

Well anyway, the two of them went for bike ride on the coastal path and got through approximately ten miles in total of cycling.

The lady i train was a little frustrated because she had to wait constantly for her friend despite her spinning experience.

The ten miles took not far off three hours, which is more than a little surprising.

Her friend was constantly complaining how hard it was, despite there being absolutely no hills.

This clearly shows the spinning classes didnt do a great deal compared to the benefits of “real” cycling!

I had another lady who used to train in another gym and the same thing happened. She claimed to be well versed in spinning and was looking forward to our outdoor cycling.

The results were more than disappointing and i frankly wondered what the heck she had been doing in these classes?

The bottom line is that you cannot beat real cycling in the outdoors, real running in the outdoors and not the treadmill, real walking and not the treadmill.

You should know by now that i am not a big machine fan, and i like to do things the proper way, i’m about hard work and no shortcuts, i’m about results and not about trying to fool you with false marketing.

Whenever you talk to your friends about training in the future, judge how hard they work by what they actually do, and not how trendy their gym is or how long they train for!!

Tuesday, 13th March

Writing down everything you eat can be very powerful for you in terms of fine tuning the diet you really want, and really NEED to be on.

I do this exercise with all my clients from time to time, no matter how good they look!

This is because none of us are ever perfect, and most of us slip from time to time, sometimes without even noticing.

Take the article in the news today recommending that we do not eat more than one piece of red meat a week, due to the increase in incidence cancer and heart disease in the last ten years, and the research done in thousands of people.

One or two small steaks was more than enough for the entire week they said, and bacon was the worst offender in terms of meat being bad for you.

So if we rewind this article and go back to writing everything down, kind of a diary of what you eat over seven days, and in your head you think you only eat red meat just once or twice a week, is that really true?

How often do you eat beef, bacon, gammon even? What about steak and maybe pork? How often, go on count them and you may be shocked?!

The same applies to every food group. How many times do you eat white pasta, white potatoes and white bread?

How about alcohol? Is it really our recommended once a week?

How about your portion sizes? Do you eat too much constantly at most meals? Do you skip meals?

Studies have shown that individuals who write down exactly what they really eat over a seven day period tend to be very successful in their overall fat loss, and overall conditioning.

Nothing like being accountable, and it all starts right here if you really want to be successful!!

Thursday, 23rd February

We talked about injuries yesterday, but the main aspect that needs considering the most is injury prevention. If you don’t develop and care for all of your supporting muscles, your tendons and ligaments, then something or other will catch up with you in time, and this is if you exercise or not.

Indeed those who do not exercise are likely to have worse circulation, more joints aching, bad backs and more colds, flu etc. Also not exercising is one of the major risk factors when assessing one’s health.

People go on about all the time about alcohol, smoking, various diseases, but inactivity is a real risk to everyone in terms of future health expectations.

We talked about running and walking injuries yesterday, but the one legged squat is an excellent exercise to fit into your health and fitness twice to three times a week.

The sooner you learn the importance of proper balance the better. I try to take it several steps further by using various pieces of cutting edge balance equipment that are purposely created to make you more balanced, help you develop very strong core strength, and in general help you prevent the normal wear and tear injuries that most people are likely to get.

There is a thing called gait analysis, which videos you the way you run, and in particular the way you land on the surface as you run or even walk. This can help you decide which training shoes would be best for you.

The facts are that most people over-pronate, which means you tilt over ever so slightly when you hit the floor. Over time, this will create minor niggles to bigger more worrying injuries.

Again this is exactly why I try to concentrate on you AVOIDING and PREVENTING injuries by strengthening your fundamental strength in your body.

If you research more into it yourself as well as reading here, it will confirm the steps you need to take to fulfil your physical potential and avoid the nuisance of needless injury!!!

Wednesday, 1st February

Nice to see that hill training is coming back into fashion these days with most of the world’s top athletes telling us that this form of training has been their cornerstone for years.

Dai Greene, the world champion hurdler from Llanelli, admitted the other day in the press that he credits hill sprints and in particular, sprints up sand dunes as the most important part of his training to develop him into a world class athlete.

Andre Agassi was famous for doing 900 yard runs up Las Vegas sand dunes to bring him back from the dead in terms of his pro career, he made it back from 141 in the world all the way back to number one by working so hard in his time going up sandy hills!!

Whatever goal you are looking for when it comes to fitness, hill sprints will work in a big way for you.

If hill sprints are beyond you, try and start on hill WALKS instead, but still trying to get up the hill as soon as you can.

Here’s the way it should go.

First of all, try picking the very worst hill you can find!! I mean the steepest, nastiest hill you can choose near to your home ideally and try to master it if possible. You never actually “master” it, you just get better at it, its ALWAYS going to be a challenge that’s for sure!!!

Aim to start off doing 5 walks going forwards, the try 5 walks going backwards. This forwards and backwards type motion will confuse your body a bit, and give you a far more thorough workout, and there’s nothing like it for give your legs heck of burn!!!

Each sprint should be around 30-40 yards a time, and do each one once you have got your breath back.

Start off small and slow, and then each week try and build it up a little more and see how you go.

If you manage to get up to 10 forwards and 10 backwards at a very good pace, you know you will be in great shape!!!