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February 21st 2011

I dont know about you but i find myself at my heaviest weight on monday morning. I try to relax more the weekend and although i do slam in a run every sunday morning, i tend to allow myself a treat on saturday and eat a bit of what i fancy. Also, nothing wrong with having an odd beer or two the weekend either, and everyone needs to unwind at least once a week.

That process of the weekend undwinding brings me back to monday, and makes me determined to get the week off with a bang.

There is a tremendous amount of drive within myself and most people i train to get the week off to a flying start. My idea of a flying start involves some running, sometimes cycling, some weight training and plenty of good food and water throughout the day. Making my mark early on in the week is hugely important for my mind too, and resets my thoughts to huge positivity for the rest of the week.

Have you noticed sometimes if you drink more than once a week, your thoughts become a little more cloudy. Your training is nowhere near so good and the “i will sweat it out” mentality doesn’t really work does it? Nothing can make up for messy eating and drinking habits, you need a structure in place and implement it right now!!!

The conditions of a successful healthy week don’t often change. Please don’t waste your money by going in some health shop, spending a fortune coming out with two big bags of supplements, and expecting to look great in a couple of weeks, thats the most ineffective route you could ever take.

 Most people are looking for the easy way out, and there’s a whole range of people looking to take your money and run, because they know they can’t really back up their promises. Most of them make me want to throw up, and most of them have holes in their programme so big that you could dry a bus through them.

Its monday, its back to work time, lets put it in and kick it off in a big way!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

February 18th 2011

When we measure ourselves against everyone else, there will always be someone better than you if you give yourself enough examples.

If you are training well consistently, you may be training up to 6 days a week, you may be eating smaller nutritious meals, you may be resting and sleeping very well, in short, you are doing extremely well with your health  and fitness programme.

You may cycle a lot, you may swim a lot but perhaps you don’t run because you may have a knee problem.

Despite all of this, an excellent example in anyone’s language, some people may write themselves off or talk themselves down because they may be comparing themselves to a david beckham. They may say that they can’t run up and down the field like him, and therefore not measure their fitness in a very accurate or positive manner.

I have had such conversation with many 50 somethings believe it or not!! In one way it is great that they are comparing themselves with beckham and his amazing fitness levels, on other level though, its not great when you put yourself down when doing it!!

Most 18 year olds would never achieve beckhams fitness levels, and im talking about a lot of gym goers too! To get to beckhams level, a lot of things need to happen along with extreme dedication, which most people are not prepared to give in the pursuit of athletic perfection. In fact, a lot of professional footballer’s aren’t!!!

So when you’re comparing yourself, if you are exercising 3-6 times per week, you are in the upper half of the population, because most of the population doesn’t do this.

If you are eating 5-6 smaller nutritious meals per day, you are in the best half of the population, because most of the population doesn’t really care what they eat, according to recent statistics.

If you drink water throughout the day to keep you hydrated and performing well, then you are definitely in the best half as most people drink tea, coffee or sugary drinks.

So the bottom line is, as long as you are doing the simple things very well, you are much healthier than most people and likely to be that way for the rest of your life, as long as you keep practicing these habits!!

Have a great weekend and stay active!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

February 16th

Whats the difference between your programme this year in february and this time in february in 2010 last year?

Have you improved at all, this may seem like a joke but its the reality for many of us? We may have full intentions to improve all the time but there may be various factors that get in the way of your goal.

The main factor i can see is the weight gained from the year before and the many troubles this brings.

 If you have steadily put weight on, then you will not move so well, sometimes getting a pull or strain that hampers your training efforts and puts you out of action for a while, such as back strains etc. Then if you have put extra weight on, the ability to suddenly eat well seems very difficult indeed, i don’t know many people who can suddenly eat perfectly, if the week before they are used to eating all the sugary and fatty foods that caused all the damage in the first place!!

This is why you should value and assess your progress from year to year, rather than a faddy month here and there. Some people have found it fashionable going to bootcamps, where they “beast” you up to 6 hours a day and give you very little to eat. It really does not take a genius to figure out that you WILL lose weight this way, but when you get back home and to reality, the chances of keeping it off are pretty much impossible. Even the people who run them know they are bad science at best, and something very dangerous at worst.

So its a serious question again, have you really made or sustained your progress since this time last year. If you have, then you have made a fantastic effort and good luck to you. However, if you are one of the many who haven’t, its time to knuckle down again and make some real sustainable goals employing tried and tested strategies.

Lets make it work!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

February 15th

Already you should be celebrating more light in the evenings and mornings, allowing you more inspiration to get into shape and actually imagine that spring might really be around the corner!

Now that we are through the new year resolutions part, its time to view 2011 as a positive opportunity.

No matter what your age is, and I sincerely mean that, it is  entirely possible to have a better year in 2011 than 2010, and its easily done.

Getting  older is no reason to scale down your programme, if you do then something shuts down in your mind and you allow yourself to settle for mediocre results which are a lot easier to attain of course.

That’s not to say that you should allow yourself to still do all of those crazy lifts you used to do when you were 18 and you’re now 65, but I have a few 65 year old’s who still train with real intensity and could put many youngsters to shame. Its always good to have safety as your number one concern, but as long as you’re doing things in good form, then the effort should never be compromised.

If you look at every week this week and approach it in a simple way, you WILL improve over the next 45 weeks or so left in 2011.

If you were prone last year to eating a sugary snack most days, how about tightening up and eating only good food Monday to Thursday at least, this means the majority of your days in the week are as close to perfect as possible.

Instead of having 2-3 days per week drinking in the week, make it just that ONE day, this will make a surprising difference to you for all sorts of reasons, 2011 automatically becomes a better day for you when you do this.

Promise yourself that in your workout programme, you will push and test yourself at least ONE day a week when you will try and do better than the week before. It may be one more rep in a weights exercise, it may be 10 more squat thrusts in a set in your indoor workouts, it may be a little sprint at the end of your run instead of just coasting it in, it may be one extra hill on your bike ride, or attacking that hill a little bit harder than normal, attacking a hill sounds a lot better than just “lasting it out” doesn’t it?!!!!

2011 is all about attacking and improving your programme, which leads to much better body fat levels, more energy and better health in  general.

Twitt
Posted on

Valentines day-resolutions collapse day!

Hopefully, you are having a great valentines day, and you have managed to keep at least one person happy today, some people buy into it more than others, so if you do then thats great for you!!!

Im trying to stay very positive indeed today even though my headline is all about new year resolutions and how they are about to collapse today!! Or so the latest research tell us. This is partly because once you embark on these resolutions, you need an actual good solid plan to take you where you want to be.

Its amazing after the weekend how content most people are to pay a gym membership and simply not improve during 6 months or even year. “If it makes the wife happy even though she doesnt improve” is NOT a valid reason to just “last out” a gym membership bought for christmas. The question of results from a gym membership seems to be beyond a lot of people.

The attitude seems to be that if you go training, you somehow will reclaim your youth and somehow look pretty amazing again. Not many people seem to know how that magical transformation actually happens. Is it smoke and mirrors? Is it magic portions or magic broth? Do you have to wear certain colours or certain clothes that make you look smaller and leaner than you actually are? Surely we have come out of the 18th century?!!!!

So if you’re one of those again this year that new years resolutions havent happened for, dont despair, there is another way and all it takes a different attitude that doesn’t put up with any of that rubbish anymore, please don’t fall for it!!!

It would make heck of a difference if this week you worked out with weights this week monday, wednesday and friday. It would make a huge difference if you got out in the fresh air running/walking or cycling this week. You will feel a hundred times better….minimum!!!!!

Go and do a proper shop tonight, and don’t put all that fatty and sugary food in your trolley, SIMPLY DON’T DO IT if you want to turn the corner right now and smash those new year failures once and for all, if you’re in the mood for not taking it anymore, right here is the right place to be so what are you waiting for?

The time is now february 14th for change, and a chance to start loving your body and feeling great. Its only by doing this you can help others so lets stop being selfish and lets go for it!!

Twitt