Posted on

Wednesday, 8th May

After a long bank holiday, a big workout on a Tuesday and today, Wednesday is probably the last thing you feel like.

Deep down though, you know you HAVE to hit it hard today, to not only work the weekend out of your system, but to set the right tone for the rest of the week.

Did you notice that if you didn’t train at the weekend, your eating probably took a dip too, in other words you probably ate and drunk things that could be considered “less than healthy”!

The combination of healthy eating AND exercise should never be underestimated, and they both feed off each other.

You can’t really do one of them well without the other, and once you commit to doing both at the same time, then you’re telling your body that you’re are going to be committed to achieving big things with your health again.

So if its feeling like the week has hit Wednesday already in double quick time, then you would be right, and the race is on to get your body and health feeling back to normal.

A good way to do this is to hit as close as you can the numbers that you have been used to in your best workouts.

For example, if you are used to rowing 10 minutes or under over 2500 metres, then this will give you a barometer on how you are performing after a weekend of drinking and eating too much.

If you can run 2 miles in 16 minutes, then you will know that if suddenly you are struggling to break 17 minutes, then you are some way from feeling and performing at your best.

If your body fat is measured 2-3% more than normal at the end of the month, then you will know that you have to change your habits right now, to get back to the heights of where you have been before.

This is why all my training methods have a lot of measuring tools, both in performance and body analysis. Don’t leave anything to chance and keep aiming high through constantly monitoring yourself!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 31st August

One of the most heartening stories we see in the papers yesterday and today was the probably signing by Manchester City of Ex-Manchester Utd midfielder Owen Hargreaves.

Hargreaves has had a varied career after being born in canada, he then moved to Germany and was a major player for Bayerrn Munich, and from there became a much valued player for England, gaining international respect and becoming the first player named on the team sheet.

He then joined manchester utd and after a very impressive and promising start, was limited to just 26 appearances.

His last comeback was limited to just a few minutes when he pulled his hamstring.

Manchester Utd decided not to offer him a new contract this season, despite him  offering to play for them for free!!!

He then famously shot a video of himself training and the levels he is currently at. To say the levels he was pushing himself to were very high would be an understatement!! You can see the video on youtube and just put a search in for owen hargreaves training video. He did much of this training while he took part in rehab in los angeles, physical rehab i meant of course!!!! This took him 3 months and spent 3 hours a day mastering certain movements all over again, especially around the knee area, where his intitial problem was.

You will see a lot of different exercises, and many of you who have trained with me or are training with me right now will recognise a lot of the exercises.

It turns out that these are the most efficient exercises for your body and make sure you are training in the most results based manner we know. I am always researching new  training and the great thing we are able to do now is do far more in a shorter period of time purely down to exercise selection and execution, and the focus is always on self-improvement and develpment, this never stops!!!

Read the owen hargreaves story, it will inspire you to get out there again and do something worthwhile!!!

Twitt
Posted on

March 2nd

Your progress doesn’t mean much unless it impacts your life in a positive way.

It also doesn’t matter much if you feel that nobody cares about your progress. Having someone interested in what you do is a very underrated factor in your progress and confidence.

This is why people join diet clubs and gyms, its nice for people to talk about their progress with like minded people.

The weekly weigh in’s with diet clubs are a ritual for some people, and the pat on the backs or lets pull your socks up attitude seems to work for some people.

I’m definitely in that line of work too, a serious part of my job is not only constantly analysing an individuals performance and pushing them onto new highs, its also about motivating the individual and pushing the right buttons, especially when things are not going their way.

You can do it another way. You could ask a friend to help you out and witness your progress. That could be from measuring your waist with a tape measure once a month, to witnessing your weigh in’s every week, or just once a month.

Having a friend you can trust to help you can be very valuable with your training too. If you have someone who will become a training partner of yours, then you can keep pushing each other to new heights. Perhaps on one day, you will not feel great and your training partner will be able to push you to get through the workout, then on another day you will feel top of the world, and you will be able to get the best out of your friend.

This is why its always good to share your progress, it matters heck of a lot more when you share success, unless you are a very private person and like the rewards of purely individual pursuits, and don’t need to share it with anyone else.

Whatever works for you, then use it and keep using it time after time. The only thing that matters is sustainable progress and you being in great health. You always have to think about your health and fitness programme and change your approach from time to time. Life never stays still and you have to change to keep up with it, but as long as you train a minimum of 3 times a week and eat well 80% of the time, you’re going to be doing well!

Twitt