Posted on

Whole body workouts

The most efficient way you can workout is work your whole body in every strength workout, and these always need two days in between minimum. Try to do your cardio workouts the next day and remember to always have one day off for your system to recover nicely.

Unless you’re a pro bodybuilder or at least seriously into bodybuilding, then splitting up your body parts is simply an easy way out.

Not only that but you burn far more calories and raise your metabolism much higher when you work every body part. Your body becomes a fat burning machine and you become much fitter.

I repeat, anyone who just goes to the gym and just does “back” is really being lazy or been reading too many magazines.

The whole idea when you train is to build up a big “energy cost”. All exercises have an energy cost and the more demanding the exercise, the more that exercise will cost your body in terms of energy and that means calories of course.

Some studies have shown recently that whole body workouts have been far more effective than running on a treadmill for instance for 60 minutes.

The whole body workouts im talking about are the ones where you do one set, then the next and so on for a total of 6-8 exercises, with no rest. This creates the “aerobic effect” your body is looking for and truly needs. Working with no rest (as long as your fitness level allows it) creats the feeling of being out of breath, which is pretty much the same when you’re working on a treadmill, a stationery bike or a rowing machine. These are all great tools to use in the gym but im giving you a comparison.

The funny thing is that i’ve heard a couple of people dismiss whole body workouts, but when they actually try one out they don’t usually last very long and are shocked at its effectiveness. Anyone who has tried one out with me will testify to that!

So the advice is when you get to the gym or at home, use as many effective exercises as you can in a kind of circuit style workout. There is every benefit under the sun to be had from this style of training so why not give it a go!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Fast food eating

Its always a battle to eat well in fast food establishments but here’s a few ways to make the most of it and still stay lean.

Bottom line is that if you spend most of your time eating in such places, the chances of you being in shape are usually nil.

However, the first thing you can learn is portion control. If you control the amount you eat of anything, you will be consuming less calories full stop. This can take some of the guess work when eating in restaurants.

When you have your food, the next thing you look at would be your drink. If you order a milkshake or full sugar drinks, you can consume 300-500 calories straight away, on top of your food depending on what you select. Water would be the best selection of course and although i don’t like diet drinks, they would be a better choice than the most popular drinks available, loaded with destructive calories.

When it comes to burgers, try and select one burger in a bun to cut down on the fat per serving, with a more wholemeal bun if possible rather than a white bun loaded with bleaching agents and sugar.  They do offer these selections in certain restaurants. Also, make sure you ask for the burger without the ketchup, the mayo or whatever other rubbish they decide to put into it.

When it comes to chicken burgers, always go for the grilled chicken burgers rather than the fried, crispy version. There is a substantial difference in calories. Also, the salad cream that comes with the chicken burgers can really take your saturated fat intake tenfold, so try and avoid that if you can or at least use sparingly!

If you’re having taco’s, try and avoid the big cheese element that is usually added. The added salsa is not much of problem usually as there are some good ingredients in there, unless it is a totally sugary/fatty version.

Salads you would think would be fine but you can have some high-calorie versions often worse than a burger and fries! If you must have the dressings, keep the servings to an absolute minimum. Other things to avoid can be bacon bits, croutons and noodles which are usually cooked the wrong way and loaded with calories.

Next time you’re out in such places, you can be healthy as long as you’re sensible.

Twitt
Posted on

Your option to decide

So here we are at the start of yet another week, and believe it or not, im still excited about what i do!

I look forward to going to work, in fact i don’t call it  “work” anymore and have a problem calling it that.

I enjoy what i do and how many people can say that? I used to have jobs where i totally DID NOT like what i did, i found it unfulfilling, unrewarding, not mentally stimulating, all the negative adjectives you want to use, go for it and they could be possibly the right descriptions!

Then i changed it all round and to cut a long story short, i am here right now trying to inspire you to do something really important, valuable, hugely rewarding, fulfilling, enjoyable, fantastic for your health. There can be no denying that this statement is true so hopefully more than a few of you are going to take the offer up and change your lives very much for the better.

If you say you’re too old, my oldest client is 84 and started training at 75 years of age, so no excuses there please.

If you think you have gone “too far” the other way and your belly is too much to reduce, then i have had many, many clients lose over 10 inches off their waists, so that excuse will not wash with me either!

If you say “im going to try and do a bit on my own first” or “i can do it myself”, then fantastic, please do!!! However, if you’ve been making these statements year in year out since you left school, college, work, whatever, then obviously YOU ARE NOT GETTING IT DONE all by yourself, and you’re not moving around quite enough are you?!!

What you should be certain about today though is that you have the same OPTION TO DECIDE your fate this week just like everyone else reading this today, the 6th of september 2010. Either you make the same old excuses that you know are absolute rubbish or you decide to devote the rest of the year to discovering that you can actually get into shape again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whether its the first time since school, the first time since you gave birth, the first time since you lost your job, the first time since you got divorced, the first time since you got married, the first time since you bought a house, the first time since you suffered rejection in your life and you havent been able to recover etc etc! Whatever the situation, you have this option right now to decide to change your life today and forever.

All of us have this choice and people do it every day, or they put up with mediocrity.

Are you are “do’er” or just a “talker”?!

Commit “to do” and you will be shocked how much everything in your life improves.

Twitt
Posted on

Got your week covered?

Bit of a sleepless night myself but thats what comes from having kids 2 and under i suppose!!

The positive news is that i didn’t have a drink last night and you know by now that the lack of alcohol makes me feel so much more alert on sunday mornings. We talk about it all the time and a few of you have mentioned how alcohol can ruin the following day for you, and that sunday seems a write off for many of you.

Having a fresh feeling sunday means the world to me.

I get to plan my week better and the chances of me starting monday morning with a bang are very high, and i’m quite excited about that too so hope you’re going to join me in having a big week!

What i mean regarding having your week covered is hopefully, you have most of your workouts planned, and a substitute if you can’t get it done.

Cyril has already posed how positive he feels, after having an awful few weeks of real pain, stopping him doing most things. His spirit has comes through at 100 miles an hour and he is looking to get out there this week, whatever the weather!

Whether you’re about to embark on an exercise programme today or you’re an advanced athlete, you need to be ready to execute a plan this week.

For me its always about doing at least two all over weight training programmes, and the normal runs and cycles i get to do with clients. The efforts range on a personal level from comfortable to totally out of my comfort zone. The range of individuals and businesses i train is vast, so i have to have enough experience to accommodate every body.

The support system i have around my week is always proper eating, sound nutritional choices and a wide variety of nutrients. If its man made, i don’t usually want it!

Then there’s my sleep needs, if i don’t get enough sleep, my body doesn’t repair itself and i don’t replenish the energy needed for my next day, which usually starts at 4am.

I don’t feel sorry for myself getting up at that time of day because people are paying me a reasonable amount of money to be there, so the least i can do is show up alert and full of energy ready to make a difference for them!

Enjoy the rest off your sunday and prepare for another big week!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Warm weather-getting it done

Getting in your sessions despite the sudden temperature increase has never been more important.

The strategy should always be to do your training first thing in the morning, or last thing in the evening. First thing in the morning though tends to work better, as working out last thing at night is not great for sleep, as you will still have adrenalin in your system and you will find it very difficult to relax.

Every time you see either ultra-warm weather, see it as an opportunity to increase your health and fitness, when most likely everyone else is not bothering to move too much.

The same with the snow and ice. This is a no brainer for some people, they will simply use it as an excuse not to train and add another period of inactivity into their lives.

Whatever the weather, you will always have great opportunities to train. Most likely they will be inside when its snowing and icy outside, and you will be working out first thing in the morning when there’s a lot of warm weather around.

With the warm weather thats here right now, use it as a challenge. The one thing you have to remember about working out in this weather is consuming enough water, its very easy to get dehydrated in times like these so prepare well before, during and after your workout.

Another benefit to training in the warmer temperatures is that when it gets cooler again (and it wont be long), your training will seem a lot easier because your body internally wont get so warm. Your body’s core temperature dictates how hard you can train so having an experience of colder and warmer temperatures is always invaluable.

The whole point of this is to tell you that you should still train, but use some caution and try to use the coolest times of the day to schedule in your workout. Drink enough water, don’t go mad on hotter days and simply getting decent workouts in will not only be an achievement, but very valuable too in terms of results and keeping them coming in at regular intervals.

Enjoy yourself and have a big weekend outside and inside whatever you decide to do!!

Twitt