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Day 59

Choosing which workout is right for you is one thing, but always looking for the “magic fix” is another.

 I frequently have questions on which exercise equipment or exercise dvd is best, and the answer i usually give is that you’re lucky to find something that works in this world of gimmicks and workouts with “celebs”, which often have little or no foundation to them, as often these same “celebs” are seen weeks or months later having piled back on all the weight and more!

One such question this week was on the power plate, or standing on a “vibration machine” would be the plainest way on describing it. You can pay a lot of money to use one of these machines in some gyms or “health clubs”, and you will undoubtedly be peddled the same old marketing information on them, hearing that old favourite “madonna uses it”, that famous football club uses it and so does that famous film star!

 The reality is that madonna is on her 6th trainer, and she goes with some kind of “new” training routine all the time, but her weight training and cardio work (running etc) never changes, she likes re-inventing herself so much that she has to mention another revolutionary way of training, once a year usually that maybe forgotten about next year!

This is all great and the marketing campaigns get that little bit more elaborate each year, but here’s get down to some facts before some of these “establishments” take even more of your hard earned money out of your pocket.

The official university studies on most of these products (and there are many different ones) conclude that there is NO MORE BENEFIT of working on these machines than regular, conventional methods. I repeat this again, not one percentage more than doing your normal workouts!

I’m not saying they are bad, but its time to stop looking for that “missing link” in your training, that “sliver bullet” that will sort everything out once and for all, IT DOES NOT EXIST.

The missing link is actually, and this is actually true,  you taking control of your programme, knuckling down to some hard work, forgetting about all those “fancy gadgets”, not falling for the sales person’s talks in these “health clubs” and spending that money on something that will actually do you some good! I say health clubs in inverted commas because they are usually little more than money making machines designed to get you on longer term contracts, and using latest national statistics, they really bet on the fact you won’t turn up most of the time.

We have touched on this before, why do they try and get 6000 members, if they are lucky to get 100 people in that gym at any one time!! If you work out the numbers, they are betting that 1% of their membership turns up at any one time, that is scandalous!!

I love the way these sales people say the latest mircale machine will increase your metabolism, your heart rate, your muscle tone, Gosh I HAVE NEVER HEARD THAT BEFORE! Isn’t this what ALL exercise does anyway and aren’t they using every technique in the book to get you to sign on the dotted line!! To sign that contract that you have paid for so many sessions or even a year or two, once they have your money they have done their job, its time to get wise to all of this and see through all of these “cowboy” salespeople, because that’s what they are, most have never set one foot in the actual gym……ever, or least they don’t look as if they have ever trained, with no knowledge thrown in, this can be a very worrying situation for the newcomer to exercise!!

All the information you need to get into great shape is on here, its based on improving your programme most weeks, its about eating sensibly, little and often, sleep well and keeping a very positive approach in everything you do, in short, its about results and being the best you can be! It’s not about ripping you off in money terms, its about staying with a programme that will stand the test of time, and will be as good in 20 years time  as it is now, long after all these dreaded gym sales people are in their “other career’s”, whatever that may be but it probably will have nothing to do with improving your health, unless they get a lot more education and actual experience! They ought to try that sometime?!!

You can see i’m steamed about it, but i try to put people right and protect you from the con artists of this world, and believe me there’s a lot of “fly by nights” in the health and fitness world.

Please do the right thing, and follow common sense when trying to get fitter, healthier and more positive in your attitude to your life and those around you.

Hope day 59 is flying for you and your workout has been a huge one today! You’re doing it through hard work and doing it through tried and tested ways can be much more satisfying, plus you will keep getting amazing results, long after all the faddy machines have come and gone!

Twitt
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Day 58

How’s your daily strategies going?

Are you filling up your plate with vegetables at every opportunity?

Are you eating white meats, leaner beef and plenty of fish?

How about your fruit intake? Is there always a constant supply in the house?

Are you eating wholemeal bread, or wholemeal pitta bread? Have you made this change yet?

Are you have whole grains in your day, such as brown rice and wholegrain/wholewheat pasta?

Are you eating as a family together? It’s a great way to educate the rest of the family on what they should be eating, and to introduce difference vegetables mixed in with other foods.

Are you volunteering to cook? You can’t expect to impose a healthy eating regime and have it all literally put on plate for you! Contribution is the kitchen is vital, plus you can see that your food is being prepared in the right way.

Is there still tempting food in the cupboards or the fridge? You know it’s always going to be eaten at sometime in the future, you don’t need temptation in front of you every day!

If you have a family, are you helping them to learn about food, and the importance of eating properly, and the way it will make them look and feel in the future? This can be of enormous help to them, if it’s not done in a patronising way of course!

Are you avoiding butter and margarine on your bread, this is an easy way to save 100-200 calories in a sandwich, plus save your arteries from work extra hard every day!

How’s your drinking going (alcohol)? If you are drinking in the week, you’re not likely to be successful and your body’s fat burning will be largely shut down!

Are you sleeping properly? This is one of the most underestimated areas of your programme, try getting to bed early in the week and your performances will be good, if not they are likely to be mediocre, your choice!

Are you drinking enough water? If you are, notice how good you feel during that period of time after you have drunk it, relying on teas and coffee actually dehydrates you, and can make you very irritable, 3 cups of either are the maximum before their benefits decrease sharply!

How’s you salt intake? Truly the silent killer, salt in your food means you are pushing up your blood pressure, and you will see significant differences too if you don’t add salt when cooking, tough for about a week or so but after this time, you will learn to actually TASTE your food again, this is a must believe me so throw it out now if you want good health!

These strategies are tried and tested and will help you be very successful, give them a go!

Twitt
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Day 57

Day 57

What you are capable of in your overall progress is entirely up to you, and varies on the level of commitment you intend to put in, and what is manageable in your everyday life.

If you want to train 3 times per week, eat well 80% of the time, and generally look for periodical increases in your fitness, I think this is a very successful strategy and long term you should be in good physical condition. I see many people working out this way and they have been happy with the way things have panned out.

People who want the shorter terms gains in physical condition, may want to up that to 4-5 times per week, be very keen on their eating, and look for constant improvements in their eating, and put a high priority on sleep. Once you have this approach, then the results can be staggering as some of you are showing in this 12 weeks.

For each and every effort you put into your physical improvements, you will get it back in the form of lower body fat, healthy blood pressure and a strong heart rate, good strong bones and joints, the ability to fit into the clothes you want, to feel as if you have an abundance of energy, your self-esteem and self-confidence going up dramatically, and the satisfaction of knowing you have overcome many challenges on the way!

Don’t expect every week to be the same either, most weeks I would bet you remain enthusiastic, and happy at the changes you have made to your body. It’s the stressful weeks we worry about the most though don’t we?

Stressful situations always tend to throw doubt on all the good things we are trying to do. If we have had 4 great weeks, then one bad week is not going wipe away 4 weeks of progress. In fact, one bad week can often spur us on to make fresh progress the next week, making us realise that all that progress is really not worth throwing away at any cost!

The 80% rule of still enjoying yourself when you train and eat is always going to be a winner for you. Nobody can have perfect weeks leave alone a prefect 12 weeks, that simply is not possible.

Mental freshness is as important as physical freshness and trying new foods out. You won’t always feel like eating the right things, and if one day a week, you have a couple of your old favourites, then where’s the harm in that?

Your capacity can actually be enhanced when you’re fresh for workouts, fresh for getting your eating back on track as you get that feeling that you’re “up for it” again and that the “bad weekend” you may have just had, may not have been that bad at all, especially compared to the way you USED  to eat.

What eating 80% good food and allowing yourself the occasional treat means is that there is room for fun, and still allows you to perform at your peak. Without any fun, your programme will crash and burn, and keeping yourself happy goes a long, long way when it comes to keeping your programme going for the long term, like the rest of your life!

Whatever your strategy, as long as you keep doing something over the week, then you will always be moving in the right direction!

Twitt
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Day 56 End of week 8!

End of week 8 would you believe! 8 weeks at the start probably didn’t sound that long, but now you know it can be quite a long time to get your eating right, your training going well, and the most important part probably, get your mind right in order to give the effort required.

Had my first sunday morning run for a while today, as the demands of two small children over the last few weeks have taken over. Back to normal now that the first 6 weeks of a new baby are over, and this was the best sunday morning in some time, and the temperature was good enough to run in a t-shirt and shorts, the first time since last summer! The run felt great, and once you get a run in for the first time in a while, you realise how much you missed it!

The temperatures in january and february just gone will have actually done us good, however icy and snowy they may have been! If we can find a way to get our workouts in during the coldest time of the year, and the coldest temperatures in the last 30 odd years, then the current weather will only allow more activities, and it should be a breeze from now on to get more workouts in exactly when you want to.

This challenge started during the most demanding time of year, and working in the toughest times gives us more skills and discipline that we ever thought. Most businesses i know have had the toughest times since the Great Depression, but most of them are coming out of this recession leaner and meaner, and better equipped to handle a change world and economic environment.

The same should happen with you, we have a lot of ups and downs from most of you in the past 8 weeks, and from that you will have developed your very own strategies on how to overcome the challenges that life always throws at you. Once you develop these skills, you won’t miss so many workouts, you won’t use the same old excuses to eat sugary/fatty food, and you won’t write whole week’s off anymore, you will tend to recognise bad habits beginning sooner than you did before, and you rectify your habits before they become destructive.

Sunday is always a great time to get out and about, and a means of making sure you start off your new week with a bang. We talked about hangovers yesterday, and now’s a great time to get rid of it, eat some decent food, drink plenty of water today and get back to feeling your old self. I never see sunday as a “let’s break some records day”, i see it more as a relaxing, and gather your thoughts kind of day, and a morning run is a key element in that process for me.

I’m looking forward to the start of week 9 tomorrow, and a big last month from all of you!

Twitt
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Day 55 Ireland V Wales day!

Evolution has happened for most of you on this site, and all of this is illustrated very well on a day like this, a Wales versus Ireland rugby international traditionally used to mean lots of alcohol, some fast food half time, and then a nightmare headache the following morning! It may also have been a fried breakfast before the game too, and the morning after so it would have been “calorie city” for most of us on these grand occasions.

These grand occasions that many Welsh people will have gone through will have meant calorie excesses of between 2000 and 4000 calories in one day!

This means that you are likely to put on one pound of body fat in one day (3500 calories) and are likely to give your artieries a severe thrashing, along with your liver of course! Most people then will not try to minimise the damage caused with a workout the following morning,  as their “headache” will be too bad, and bed will be the most likely option!

Many of you who used to follow such a ritual will testify that you wouldn’t have properly recovered from all of this until the wednesday or thursday, or did you simply get used to that lifestyle?!

Living in such a world leaves only room for functioning in the most basic of ways. You go to work and simply “go through the motions”. Your exercise plan starts on a wednesday, and peaks on thursday! Then the whole process starts all over again. Which brings us back to today.

Nothing wrong with a couple of drinks today, but everything doesn’t have top be “fried” all day! You don’t have to drink as if it’s your last day on earth? The big key for me has always been going for a run early the morning after. Your head says no as you have this huge headache, but once you are 10 minutes into it, you actually feel amazingly better.

Have a decent breakfast on the sunday morning, and you’re set for the day! You don’t want to stay in bed all day and you may actually want to “do things” on a sunday! What a concept!

Your monday then starts off with a bang and by the wednesday, you are absolutely flying, which means a great week!

This is always a great strategy and whatever you decide, take it easy and enjoy your big saturday!

Twitt