Posted on

Day 64

Okay where do i start? First of all its day 64 and if you have been following this, its just 20 days left, and you can see by now how hard these 12 weeks are to do, and if you have stuck by the 64 days, you should have come a long way down the track.

Let’s sort some of the issues out too, Jean has come a long way but has had a bad week for various reasons but seems to be back on course now. She has achieved big things before like many of you because she has had a big work ethic, achieved consistency with her eating and training, and generally got some momentum going. Isn’t this the best situation to be in, and isn’t very valuable to stay in this perfect phase of your training?

Jean lost her training partner, and that was unfortunate. The realities of training partners can be fantastic, they are great company and usually push you a little bit further than you think you can go. They will call for you even when you don’t want them to sometimes, so all of these positives are fantastic in my view.

Now her training partner is injured, the running side will be suffering. The answer to that would be that i usually found myself that training partners don’t usually last long, or they start turning up late or they start cancelling. I have been through many training partners over the years, and to be honest now i just rely on myself to get the job done, even if its harder to motivate yourself sometimes! My golden retrievers can also be a big help on my sunday runs!

The reality of having a circle of friends is very relevant as she says. I have friends  who drink and smoke too much, here’s the way i work my week, i will eat very well 90% of the week, a bit of what i fancy at the weekend, nothing wrong with a few drinks on a saturday either, but i always make sure i hit the road first thing sunday morning. I made it my golden rule to go the run the morning after.

All my friends will be in bed, but its important to me to get out and do something. Took a while to get into it, and it would be easier to stay in bed, but I DO feel better afterwards, and thats all that matters to me. Plus i don’t seem to put weight on that i would have if i didn’t go for that run.

So, it doesn’t mean i lose all my friends, i hang around with people i feel comfortable with too!

I have never been into all this rubbish of being friends with everyone i think i “should be friends with”! That’s just not me. I’m not into dinner parties and i don’t like formal occasions. Some people love those things and all that sucking up to people, i’ve never done it and don’t intend to start now! I believe it’s called “networking”, i’ve never needed it for my business and i believe your work should speak for itself, some people love all of that but definitely not my scene!

So the answer to jean and everyone else is to always stick to what you really believe in. Most of you wouldn’t be on here unless you weanted the very best for yourself. Sometimes, we all get distracted and i am here to help, like others who post too and their thoughts are always very valuable. The bottom line is that you can all reach your goals, there is always a bumpy road but that’s life. Keeping going towards your big outcome is the key thing, the worst thing is quitting before you even got there.

If you’re always going forward, you WILL get there! Every time i read that jean or anyone else is doing well, that usually means they are happy. When they make more negative posts, it means that they are unhappy and not  eating well or training well, i’m here tonight to tell them that they can get back on track, and it takes getting back to basics, and believing in their abilities. I know its harder than it sounds, but thats why i preach every day about doing the basics right, that way you will soon do them without even thinking about them, kind of like cleaning your teeth!!

A rocky start to the week, let’s make sure it improves tenfold by the end of it!! I would change my principles but i am here to listen!

Twitt
Posted on

Day 63

Your good habits that you are developing right now have probably helped you to a body that is far more energetic, lower in body fat, stronger in both joint and bone strength, healthier all round, and generally i think everything is just “going a lot better” for you. Your body doesn’t really like spluttering around on poor fuel, it doesn’t like having to work very hard just to function, it likes being looked after, feeling good and the realities are that we take better care of our cars, dogs, and house better than we take care of our bodies, a lot of us anyway but not all of course!

The saying “if it aint broke, don’t fix it” is adopted by many of us. This means to some that we can drink and eat as much as we like, and as long as we can still do “normal” things, then where’s the problem!

The difference between doing these normal things in life and actually performing well can be quite staggering though.

Normal things may be going down the pub, cleaning your teeth, shaving, having a shower and going to work, that’s it no more!

Performing can be going to work and really excelling in your chosen environoment, it can mean actually working out and actually excelling at it too, it can mean having higher aspirations than “normal” people and actually achieving all or at least most of what you set out to do.

The difference between “normal” and performing can be quite amazing as you can see. Normal is simply surviving and hoping that no bad news comes around the corner, and performing is usually getting up and doing something, achieving it and once you do that, setting new goals and achieving the next standard.

When you are performing, the next rung up the ladder seems a natural process, and leaving the grass grow around your feet is simply not an option. The people who simply “function” in life are usually the complainers, the could have people, the should have people, the would have people, if things had just fallen into their lap, they would be “successful” too!

It’s a great sunday out there, had my run at 6.30am this morning, i feel so much better now and sunday from my view is looking pretty good! Sunday is always the day i try and relax but that still includes a run, anything that makes me feel better i try and do. It’s no hardship at all seriously, it’s actually a form a therapy for me and i’m sure many of you feel exactly the same.

When you get to this stage, exercise is an essential part of your life and you need it to feel good! This is a good thing trust me!! It’s just like cleaning your teeth, but about 10 times as enjoyable, especially as the spring is here officially i believe!!!

A great day to start your exercise ambitions, ot day 63 for a lot of you in your 84 days challenge to get into great shape!!

Twitt
Posted on

Day 62

Day 62 and it’s a saturday, maybe a day off for you like me, or it may be a valuable chance for you to get a great workout in!

The next question maybe is am i nuts?!! Its raining so heavy outside, and its windy and cold, i will never get a workout in today, and i won’t tomorrow unless it dries up!

This is a statement you know i don’t agree with and here’s why!

The facts are that in this country, it rains around 9 months of the year and thats if we are lucky! It’s cold most of the time too, and sometimes even in the summer so you had better get used to it! If you don’t like it or hate it that much, maybe another country is your solution but that can bring its own problems too, if you moved to spain or florida in particular, it would be too humid to train most of the time outside!

So you can see there are problems to train anywhere at times, unless you stop making excuses to yourself, get over yourself being a baby and realise that workouts in the great outdoors can actually be your best ones!!!

It can be exhillerating getting out  there in the wind and rain and indeed, i have had some of my best workouts out there in the most foul of days!

Face the fact that you will need to shower after a workout anyway, unless you like being a smelly pig, and whatever the weather out there, it really doesn’t matter and after the first 5 minutes, it can feel pretty good knowing deep inside that you are one of the few doing a great workout in such weather, and you will soon warm up if you show some purpose in your workout and really show yourself how good you have become!!

It’s easy to be on the coastal path in bright sunshine, you see lots of people out on such days! The funny thing is, when it starts getting cloudy and cold, those people disappear for some reason. This is why their workout programmes are not as successful as they should be!

You always have the chance to workout indoors too, and see my home workouts posts for that. These can be highly rewarding too, whether you just want to get through a good workout and even set a new personal best, its within you right now to make such a choice and your body will reach levels that your ambitions allow!

Ambition is a huge thing when deciding how far you go. Dylan Thomas the poet used to say that ambition was everything! We tend to get shot down in this country when showing such ambition, but you can’t follow the crowd all the time if you want ultimate success, hopefully you are started to realise that, and make your own line in the sand on where your standards are now in your life. Hopefully, they have been raised by this programme, and the doubts you may have had over your abilities are disappearing every day, you know im here supporting you every day on that!

Pictures and videos will be coming to this blog, but as it stands, it is just that, a blog trying to help many people. Its not an advertising feature for me as i really don’t need more work. I am here to help you as much as i can though, so ask away anything you are unsure of or plain don’t know!!

Enjoy your saturday whatever you decide to do!

Twitt
Posted on

Day 61

I was particularly struck by a speech by president Obama today on health care in Amercia, or the lack of it for the poorest people, and even some middle class people had to now go without it due to the spiralling costs.

This he said, was totally unacceptable to the american people, the land of the free as he said, and that had paid taxes to get enough health care for them and their family. They pay directly for health care out there of course, and it is very much a case of the have’s and the have not’s.

The part that struck me the most was when he stuck to his principle of getting this bill through congress. He said that many, many presidents since Roosevelt had tried to get this bill through, and the idea of it through of health care for all, but had failed miserably each time.

You have the seemingly “evil” health insurance companies slamming up their premiums so that many cannot afford health care, and the “lobbyists” who are trying to “coax” the senator’s not to vote for it. The whole thing has become corrupt of course and a case of big business winning every time. It’s time for chance and i SINCERELY hope the american public get a health service that works for EVERYBODY. Obama is sitcking bravely to his principles, and you have to admire and love that!

We don’t have such issues over here in the UK of course, and we often take the NHS for granted too much for my liking. However, we do have big business trying to hurt us in a different kind of way over here and it’s sugar addiction!

From previous posts on here, you know i have banged on about how much sugar is in everyday foods, and how it is destroying a lot of people’s lives over a period of years! Diabetes, certain cancer’s, heart disease, obesity etc, the list is pretty long!!

Before you think i am over-reacting, ask your doctor next time how many of his patients come in every day due to improper diet and excess sugar consumption. Ask him then how many end up with long term problems that requite our NHS to help them for many years. The answer will stagger you!!

I have banged on here about how cardiovascular disease didn’t even exist until 1912, which coincided with sugar being added to everyday foods in a big way. Big business carried this one in a big way over the last century, particularly the last 40 years WHEN THEY realised sugar was REALLY addictive! Over 40g of refined sugar each day can lead to serious health problems over a longer period of time, let’s cut it back now please for your own good, and hope i didn’t sound too patronising there, i didn’t try i promise you.

There are also studies coming out saying that fast food outlets make your food with less meat these days because they want you to chew less. Chewing less as we all know by now causing us NOT to recognise when we are full, therefore making us eat even MORE food. A clever tactic by them that makes you spend more with them each year.

The fast food people also know that the more sugar they put in your food, the more you are likely to come back due to its addictive nature. An awful lot of money has gone into researching this, and the report appeared in this week’s Guardian under the heading, “HOW THE FAST FOOD COMPANIES ARE GETTING YOU ADDICTED”!

The choices are yours, its a free country after all, but we also have the right to know what choices are out there, and you should be well aware by now that excess refined sugar will ultimately have a seriously negative effect on your health! So what are you going to do about it?!! Or are you going to let all those soulless big companies ruin yours and your family’s health?!!!

Let’s make the right choice and don’t up with all their lies!!

Twitt
Posted on

Day 60

What you are eating now has hopefully changed quite a bit in the last 60 days, and as cyril said yesterday, he doesn’t feel well now unless he eats good, natural food and feels better avoiding food overloaded with sugar and fat. I’m sure many of you feel exactly the same!

Another big thing for you to overcome may be the expectations people now have of you. A lady i train was talking about such an instance this morning. She told me that she was having dinner with friends last week, and was asked what did she want for dessert and she politely declined.

The other eight ladies on the table had a go at her for not eating  dessert! If you change your habits in life towards more successful ones, many people don’t like it and this is called peer pressure of course. Some of the comments even became quite distasteful!

We encourage each other on here to eat little and often, which can result in six feeding times every day. This in unacceptable to some people! They are not happy that your stomach has shrunk, you can no longer handle the same quantities of food that you used to! Reasons for this may include they do not like to see change, they are jealous of your success, they are not happy that they cannot imitate your new found strategies, etc.

This is quite common when anyone tries to change their lifestyle, and who would have thought that turning down a dessert would cause such a stir!!

You may find it the same when you buy your supermarket food, if you have a partner or members of the family not willing to change, it can hurt your overall and long term chances of success. Let’s face it, it never helps if there are treats in every cupboard! Temptation needs to be taken out of the house to reduce the challenging nature of this programme to get into great shape, if someone is still buying junk into the house, temptation never really goes away!

That’s why it is always a good idea to make your ambition of a healthy lifestyle public as soon as possible. Your family will be more understanding and will perhaps be inspired themselves to join in and give it a go!

I know people who have up alcohol or at least cut down severely. They always get serious flack about this, and worried that their “social life” will go down the pan. The reality is always that they feel so much better, their social life was pretty boring after all, and they have plenty more cash in their pockets!! Also, they seem to have so much more time in their life, and wonder how they found so much time just to drink in an empty pub!

All of these examples show that if you want to get to that special place of being in amazing physical condition and great mental strength, the path is full of obstacles but ones you can CLEARLY overcome every day!

 When you’re aiming for the top and get there, you will find that fewer people than you thought had the guts and determination to stick it all the way through, and you will be even more proud of yourself of your remarkable achievements. This is how your self-esteem and self-confidence goes to a whole new level and eventually goes through the roof, and you won’t be scared to take on any challenge in the future after you’ve been through this!

Day 60, now doesn’t that sound as if we have been at this for a long time!!!!!!!!!

Twitt