Posted on

Tuesday 18th January

This is a workout posted for Chris working down west, who contacted me earlier looking for a quick 20 minute workout he can do whilst he was on the road all week.

Here goes.

Its an extension of my basic 4 minute workout, when you pick out 5-6 basic but results giving exercises, and make your best efforts on each of those specific exercises. If chris is feeling like rubbish after christmas, and totally out of shape, he needs to start off slowly this week, just making sure he does the workouts, since i know chris, i know he very capable and more than able to get 3 good workouts in this week, so he does not need to start off at complete beginner, and his workout should look something like this!

Press ups-best effort

Arm dips-best effort

alternate squat thrusts-best effort

sit ups-best effort

plank-best effort

Then, he records how much he does in each exercise. For instance, if he can do 10 press ups, 10 arm dips, 20 alternate squat thrusts, 20 sit ups and 20 seconds on the plank, he needs to do a total of 3 circuits and they will then look like this.

The key is to halve his best totals so then-

Press ups-5

arm dips-5

alternate squat thrusts-10

sit ups-10

plank-10 seconds

As you can see i have halved everything to allow him to do a total of THREE circuits, which should allow him to get a sweat up, still working every area of his body. He should then rest the day after, then do this workout again, rest the day after, then do this workout again and this enables him to have a good week’s training.

If Chris is feeling energetic next week, and instead of dropping into the pub every night, i would recommend he does some light sprints up a nasty hill, look for 4 sprints of 30 yards both forwards and backwards, i would do this twice a week with a 3-4 day gap in between. Hopefully, Chris’ knee is okay as i know he’s had a problem years back with this, so i it causes any problems, let me know chris!!!

All of training won’t count for much unless he stays of the booze in the week, and eats some decent food, which he can find in any supermarket, keep it largely fresh and healthy food and he won’t go far wrong!!! See the diet and food section for that!!

Good luck and you have a great opportunity here to make a diffference!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, January 17th 2011

If you have started the new year with a bang, then good luck to you but its important to keep your structure going throughout January and beyond.

For example, if you haven’t trained for a while and started off 3 times a week training, then thought if 3 is good, then 6 times a week must be much better, possibly twice as good!!!

While you may get great results for a couple of weeks doing it this way, the likelihood of you reaching a plateau will be extremely high, or even getting an injury because your body will not be used to all of the extra work, I am talking 6 high quality workouts, not 3 good workouts and 3 good walks.

If you ask most people about their training, they seem to be pre-occupied to telling you how MANY times they have trained that week., the actual performance is usually never mentioned.

We never mentioned last week about 4 minute workouts, and the possibility of going from around 5 press ups in week 1, to easily 25 press ups in week 6. This way of training has to be totally focused on performance and focus on making measurable progress, this is what creates improvement in your body.

The ability to make improvements training 6 times a week is reserved for those who have excellent sleep every or most nights, those who are extremely good with their eating and have been training at a high level for a long time. Not saying that you can’t get there, but it does take a while and a lot of dedication to living a healthy lifestyle.

Bottom line this week is to make your workouts count in a big way. I you’re doing sprints up hill and you’re currently managing 4 sprints up a steep hill and 4 sprints backwards, then that total could easily be up to 8 sprints forwards and backwards by now, if you have been consistent since the new year.

If you have been cycling and had to keep it flat cycling, then it won’t be long before you’re strong enough to attack some hills, in the process becoming a much better and stronger cyclist.

If you have been doing some circuits in the gym or at home, then not only will they feel a lot more comfortable but you should be looking at adding some extra weight to a few of the exercises, creating a much more intense workout.

Assess your progress in training terms once a week, and look to make small gains every week, however small, and try not to get in a rut and don’t go through the motions.

Improving can become a very good habit, just as staying the same can become the norm. Always look to change things around and keep your body guessing. Keep your programme fresh and you will become a much better athlete full stop!!!

Twitt
Posted on

January 14th 2011

Negativity is all around us especially in a tough economy and there’s not much money around. The trick is to either let it bury you so you become as negative as everyone else, or you use it as a tool to burst out of the quicksand you may be in right now.

The question is will you listen to the doom and gloom merchants about your progress, or you will shut them off from your life and concentrate on all your goals and ambitions.

Try and work out the issues that distract you from getting to where you want to be, and then you need to work out ways on how to eliminate them. Of course you can’t eliminate your husband, wife, family and work colleagues rom your life. Start by making a list of the people who distract or even stop you from reaching your goals, and list those who help you reach where you want to be.

Then you need to go back over old ground and start keeping records on your food again over 7 days. There have been a lot of studies showing that those individuals who record in detail everything they eat and drink periodically, say once a month or 6 weeks, the more successful they were in their fat loss goals for example.

You can do the same thing with your exercise, i go on about all the time the importance of trying to make progress in your training, are your numbers going up, sideways or down? Is your strength going up or down, is your endurance better and how’s your enthusiasm for training? All valid indicators that will determine how well you’re really doing, keep a close eye on all of these, you don’t need to do it every week but once a month will be very valuable if progress is important to you!

Another powerful way to make sure you’re successul is to make your private goals and ambitions public, this makes the whole thing more real and you will find that a lot of people are going to be supportive. They will know you’re on a stricter eating plan and not offer or make you high calorie meals/snacks, maybe someone will ofer to come and exercise with you and push you harder when they are out with you on a run or example.

When you make your goals public, you put your reputation on your line and you are showing the world that you can really make this thing happen. You may get some negativity but as we said, we need to ignore all that “noise” and concentrate on those who are going to help you get where you want to be. Its not tunnel vision, its called doing everything in your power to feel and look your best!!!!

As long as you use the number one secret-consistency, then you should advance very quickly!!!

Twitt
Posted on

January 12th, 2011

So how’s your resolutions going you made on new year’s eve? Are they going well or have they even got going yet? Is it turning into yet another disappointment already or do things seem really “different” this year?!!

There’s heck a lot of difference between making a resolutions like everyone makes at the end of the year, and A DECISION and COMMITMENT. Resolutions to me are like a shot in the dark, a hope that somehow something may come off, or even like a lottery chance that something good will happen in your life this year, somehow it will happen even without any recognised plan, “somehow” or “someday” often leads to a town called “nowhere” as the old saying goes.

If you regard final decisions and big commitment as always being acted upon, and resolutions as fairy tales, you won’t go too far wrong!!!

How about those long term goals that are never reached? The answer is to focus on the short term instead and look to implement meaningful actions that are likely to bring results and quickly. Instead of saying you want to lose 2-3 stones and getting obsessed with the scales, lets focus on the stuff thats going to get you there and give you long lasting results.

For example, if lunch is a disaster zone for you right now, then its an obvious area you can change RIGHT NOW. Instead of something fried for lunch in a cafe, ask them to grill something healthier or you, most cafe’s want the extra business these days and will satisy your request, especially if you’re a regular, good businesses always look after good customers in my book.

If you are in a bakery, its doesnt have to be tuna white rolls with lots of mayo or chicken with mayo with butter and margarine, ask them for a wholemeal roll with no butter or margarine and no mayo in the tuna if possible, if you ask nicely they will do it and the same with the chicken with no mayo, health and good health at that has never been more fashionable and tell yourself you’re working hard on your exercise and you don’t want to blow all of that hard work on needless calories at lunch time!!!

To make sure you keep these habits up, write down for 7 days what you usually eat, and from that you can easily see where you’re going right and where you’re obviously going wrong. Goals and actions have been proven to be successul when you write things down, it sort of makes you far more accountable than you normally would be so give it a go!!!

Twitt
Posted on

January 11th 2011

I didnt see it but the story on The One show last night provoked some reaction. To cut a long story short, the studies they had on the show said that shorter, more intense periods of exercise were more valuable or at least as effective as longer drawn out exercise. The study i think they used was the one when 4 minutes of intense exercise was demonstrated to be as effective as 20 minutes of moderate exercise, in fact the results were better when studies were conducted over a 6 week period, in terms of lost body fat, increased volume of oxygen and weight loss.

I must first comment that i wouldn’t recommend anyone go into a 4 minute programme of high intensity straight away, this is for experienced trainers only, and we did a piece on 4 minute workouts some time ago in this blog if you look through past month’s blogs.

The whole point was that you can make a whole lot out of not much time, its the performance that counts and not how long you exercise for. They had Johnny Wilkinson on saying he only trains for 30 minutes at a time now, but at ultra high intensity and he finds the results much, much better!

Most people who have trained with me will know i have always liked to work in shorter, more brief sessions myself, due to not only superior results but more convenient sessions too. Nobody has the time to be working out all day anymore as we have busier lives these days and it seems to be getting busier every single year!!!!

It shouldnt really have taken the scientists all these years to figure this one out. WE, the athletes and fitness professionals knew this for years that more intense sessions are the way to go, it doesnt take any doctor to tell us that what we have done for years really IS working and producing amazing results.

The great news is that those of you who say you havent got time really havent got this excuse any more, the advice you have been given all these years is actually true, you CAN get it and healthy in a fraction of the time you thought you need so what are you waiting for!!!

It is great to know though that after all of these years, that the medical community is finally jumping on board and backing our experiences and results up.

Twitt