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.

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!!!

Version of reality

Most of us have our own versions of reality, some more ambitious than others.

For example, getting into shape requires us to train a minimum of 3-4 days per week.

It also requires us to eat very healthily most of the time.

Then we need to hit the sack reasonably early every night, so we can recover and get ready for another workout the day after sometimes.

This is the version of reality i try to adhere to, and i know its pretty truthful when expecting results.

Some people’s version of reality is eating what you want, slamming in a couple of light hearted session in the week and hoping for the best. When the desired results don’t come in, the common response is either to feel sorry for yourself type of attitude, or not really be truthful with yourself type of attitude.

The sooner you realise that two walks a week will not get you in amazing shape the better.

The sooner you realise the gardening for 30 minutes a day will not get you in great shape.

The sooner you realise that 30 minutes of housework will not get you in shape the better.

These are all daily mail types of claims, or claims from the government, and im here to tell you that they are BALONEY AND FALSE.

Im not saying that housework and gardening are not good for you, but you DO need to do some structured workout regularly if you want to change your shape, lower your body fat, strengthen your heart and flat out get yourself in shape full stop!

Enough of this namby pamby daily mail attitude to exercise, its not going to do much. It will improve your health but not make real life-changing effects on the way you look and feel.

Lets make sure you do your workouts with purpose and still do the household tasks anyway, whats wrong with that? Then you can have the best of both worlds!

The facts are if i gave you every bit of advice they give in the newspaper or some government leaflet, i would be out of a job because nobody would be getting into the shape they really want.

Let me also say that ANY activity is good and i encourage ALL OF IT. This site is all about getting into shape in a reasonable amount of time, its not the ramblers walking club, although they do some fantastic work and long walks are good for you.

This is all about grabbing the bull by the horns and getting it done, which reminds me, lets do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Two women on a charge!!!

Different levels of fitness requires different levels of effort.

Achieving those different levels though is a gradual process as member Annette is finding out, and she sent me this message last night.

“My first week of training went quite well.

  I am definitely feeling more alert and my diet is much better although I could probably still improve on it.  Drinking loads of water which is making me feel less tired.  I have stuck to my workouts, even when I went camping because I don’t need to use any gym equipment.

 I can do them anywhere plus they are pretty short which is always a bonus for me!! 

 Cardio workouts are the ones I look forward to most but feel absolutely lousy while doing them ( I am soooo unfit).

  Never mind, I’m sticking with it no matter what!

Annette”

Annette is clearly on a path to where she wants to get back achieving big things once again. She knows she has to work through different levels before she is anywhere near where she was before. She knows she will get there though as long as she sticks with it!

She also knows that she can do her workouts literally anywhere, and shes not tied to a gym and the limitations that can bring.

Debbie is clearly back in the swing this week, and enjoying something new that has done a lot to stimulate her interest and reawaken her passion for health and fitness again.

She also has great experience with injuries, and has the know how on how to avoid any pain in her workouts.

These are people who have done it all before, who have been at their peak and for various reasons, have slid back a bit in terms of their fitness and maybe body fat, and want to experience the big high’s they had from being at their best.

They both know though that they have to experience those different levels on the way before being ready to make the jump up, one level at a time.

The good news is though that because of muscle memory, their bodies remember where they’ve been before, and the rate of progress this time is likely to be far more rapid than first time around.

Once your body has experienced big highs of low body fat, a leaner harder body, more energy, more self-esteem, more self-confidence, looking great in clothes, having more enthusiasm for everything in life, an all time level of health and vitality etc etc, you really want to get there again and once you start believing again, you know you will want to get there as soon as you can, and to me that’s a great thing!

So what are you waiting for? Let’s finish the week on a high, and get ever closer to your best condition and the way you feel. No slowing down now, lets go and get it!

Ever tried?

For those who don’t have heavy weekends now and again or dont go out for drinks, or stay in for drinks, this doesnt really apply to you, but have you ever tried not drinking alcohol at the weekend, especially if you usually drink every weekend?

I have a few drinks the weekend now and again, not so much as i used to when i was a kid, but i know the difference now certainly between  not drinking and drinking!!

Drinking the alcohol on the weekend can mean a subdued start to the weekend for me and most people i know. I get around this by going for a very early sunday morning run, and the result is usually amazingly positive, i feel great after that run and hit monday hitting the ground running very quickly, if you pardon the pun!! I have mentioned this many times of course.

So what about the rest of you? Do you practice sunday morning workouts to get rid of your excesses?

Most of you must have and although it seems a horrible thought to do a workout after a big night out, but the results are always more than worth it!

What about the moments when you eat lots of rubbish and instead of giving up the ghost for the weekend or even the week and continue to eat badly, it encourges you to get out there and train and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!

I have had many such moments and you could even use this food which you normally don’t eat as EXTRA energy on your longer bike rides, your big running workouts or your tough inside workouts, how about seeing it as an opportunity rather than a feel sorry for yourself moment?

Every situation can be a different opportunity for you, good or bad.

None of us are perfect, and its about how we react to what life throws at us is the most important factor every single time!

So the title to all of this shoud not really be have you ever tried not drinking the weekend and feeling amazing on monday.

It SHOULD be have you ever tried reacting hugely positively to each and every situation that comes your way?

I didnt say it was easy but it can become a very valuable habit for you and transform your workouts, your health, just about everything!!!