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60 days left to Christmas!

There are literally 60 days left to christmas to make the transformation you made in 2010 complete. Eight weeks left and although it may not sound a like a long time, its long enough to make deep inroads into your overall wellbeing and feel as strong and as fit as possible before christmas.

With the possibility that 2011 will be bleak for many people in economic terms, its vital you approach the new year as healthy and as energetic as possible. When this physical condition is reached, the chances are that you are going to be much more optimistic too, just as the right time of year when most people could be described as on “a bit of a downer”!!

You are also competing with the onset of a different season right now. Autumn is well and truly here, and we had the first proper frost of the autumn today. My first run of the day also meant my hands were stinging with the cold, so it was my first shock to the system of winter, and i’m glad i’ve got it behind me now!!!

Dont be put off at al either by the colder air this time of year. Expect to feel a bit short of breath especially doing outdoor exercise at the moment, the new sharper and decidely lower temperatures may take a couple of weeks to get used to, but once you have got used to them, there will be no looking back for you!!!

Working outdoors is always desirable. Any exercise is good but you tend to get exposed to lots of germs and colds etc in gyms up and down the land, almost a breeding ground for all types of viruses etc.

The time really is here to keep your outside workouts going in, and this will make the transition of the winter temperatures that much easier to take and get used to.

You will probably save of fortune in electricity too, once you have been outside training, you will know exactly what i mean. The difference this time of year between the outside and inside is at its most noticeable. Going from sometimes sub-zero temperatures first thing in the morning back to the 70 degree temperatures often experienced inside can be dramatic and an eye-opener!!!

With most place quiet from now until christmas, this is a great opportunity to keep your eating consistently good, and focus on the raw foods that serve your body so well. Im talking lots of fruit and veggies which really give your body the foundation it deserves going into our colder, wetter winters.

I’ve always tried to stress that if you concentrate on getting your insides right and healthy, then the outside your body will look after itself. Your body and your appearance are always a reflection on how you live your life, how much good food you put in, if you’re getting enough fluids in, if you’re sleeping enough and if you are putting some good quality training in.

8 weeks left to the big day, lets pick up the pace and make sure we end 2010 on a massive high!!!

Twitt
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Never short of workouts

You really do have several workouts available this weekend.

All these posts are designed to get rid of any excuses you may have left in your cupboard!

So we have gone over inside workouts this week, you can do them in ANY weather, there are no snow storms in your living room or spare room? It is not too cold or wet either in your living room and you can even have music on in the background! This is a workout you can do ANY time, so if you have an excuse, you know its not possible for me to believe you!!!

What about your outside workouts?

Are you going to get out there and do them? Or are you going to put on your dressing gown at 6pm in the evening and drink a bottle of wine a night, a takeway most nights or the biggest bar of chocolate its humanly possibly to eat? Lots of people really do live their lives like this, and need rescuing from themselves and need to be introduced to an active lifestyle, it really will change your life and make you far more optimistic for the future!!!

If its cold inside, get out there and do your workouts outside, you will soon get warm, you will soon get some adrenalin through your vains and pretty soon you will be invigorated to go and do something!!! I bet you when you get back inside, you will switch the heating off and wonder how you felt it cold in the first place!!! Staying indoors all weekend and complaining its “cold” doesnt wash either, it really doesnt, and sometimes you need to shake yourself to get out of this vicious circle of feeling sorry for yourself.

Theres a million things you can do this weekend, and getting out there and being active is guaranteed to make you feel better, give you more self-confidence in your abilities and really set the tone for all weekends coming up to christmas!!!

For starters i would look at it this weekend for walking up and down some very challenging terrain but with great scenery. These place include pembrey country park, burry port beach, burry port harbour, sandy water park, mumbles promenade, mumbles mountain, beaches-langland, caswell, llangennith, rhosilli, swiss valley reservoir, millennium coastal path, any cycle path!, burry port park, and there are about a million other places i could list right now for you to try out but i think the above list is enough to get you started!!!!

I know many of you will know more “secret” places so please try them all out, it makes life far more interested if you try different and fresher venues!!

No time to waste in shops the weekend, get out and there and do something that will get your blood going again!!!

Twitt
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Having a go is the number one thing!

We touched on the fact that we need to be more performance orientated in our training and hopefully, im not trying to say here that half hearted exercise is a waste of time because its not.

We all have times when we are not really in the mood to exercise. For example, some of us may go out on a Friday or Saturday night, have a few drinks and wake up with a bad head. The first thought on our minds may not be going for a run or any workout of any kind!

However, I have said on here countless times how important it is to train the morning after  the night before. Anyone who has done this will tell you that “performance” is definitely not as important on that Sunday morning!!

Simply the process of getting through a workout is the big achievement, and it will make you feel incredibly better. This whole attitude makes you realise that nobody’s perfect, not one single person and we all like a laugh from time to time.

Jean I think is doing so well now because she still has a drink at the weekend and the odd treat, because she has been so good in the week. I don’t think its sustainable for ANYONE to go without a treat for too long.

Remember this workout plan and eating regime is not really just that, it’s the lifestyle change that’s the important thing!

Simon from Chicago has been e-mailing me about his progress and about the fact that he likes the short intense workouts inside. He loves them too because of chicago’s notoriously freezing winters, when outside workouts are almost impossible, especially with his asthma.

Simon asked the other day should he do 5 inside workouts per week instead of 3? I said not to and include 2 other cardio workouts instead. This will keep him fresh, still keep his performance high and avoid injury.

Its natural to want to do something a lot if you’re getting big results from it, but in this case more is definitely not better.

You need to let your muscles rest and recover ready for your next workout. Remember I keep on saying, this is a lifestyle change and it means that. For the rest of your life you need to have an achievable workout schedule and a good eating plan.

As I said, nobody’s expecting you to be perfect, but as long as you keep having a go week in week out, you will be very satisfied with a lifetime of good health!!

Twitt
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10 weeks to go!

So have you had a great weekend of training like cyril has? Or has most of your weekend being spent feeling sorry for yourself in the pub saying you’re “definitely, this time, honestly im going to give it a good go after christmas”!!

This is prime excuse for anyone thats willing to throw in the towel now. Some of my most successful clients have started just before christmas and have been forever glad they did! Nothing feels worse than starting after christmas as your body is at its lowest ebb.

Too much alcohol would have been drunk, too much sugar and fat would gone through your body and there are usually any number of colds going around the area. This is when your immune system is at its year low, and the only way is up surely, the only problem is that it hurts a lot when you’re that out of condition and im advising you now to get going now, to save you the pain of after christmas training.

Starting now will also surprise people. Nothing better than surprising your friends and family by getting into great shape before christmas. You will then start 2011 with a fresh set of goals, and things you previously thought impossible will soon become achievable.

We concentrate a lot on here discouraging people from making excuses. These are the facts unfortunately. Most people work harder on making up far-fetched stories on why they cant be fit and healthy than they would if they suddenly embarked on a simple health and fitness programme, i know this to be true as i’ve heard all the excuses by now. I will now challenge people if they say they cant do things because i know thats not true. Most of us would like to do things the easy way, but im encouraging you all to take the hard road. Ironically, this will make life FAR EASIER in the long term once you have trust and give a minimum 12 weeks commitment to your workouts and proper food.

I say trust because thats what commitment is. I also know that the 12 weeks will be enough to show impressive progress and convince you what is possible.

The spending cuts by the government may be coming but theres no room for doom and gloon on here. There is only one way to go and thats up. No point fretting on all the negatives, lets make the most out of the cards we are dealt and make the end of 2010 a huge one, YES it is possible so lets do it!!!

Twitt
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Summer in october

The warmer weather may be the perfect excuse to get back to normal with your outdoor training, and with the average temperature this weekend likely to be 20 degrees, there has never been a better time to get out on the bike and go for a run and go for a walk, not necessarily all three of course but hopefully you will know what I mean!

This is your chance to set a marker in the sand and really go for it again, and tell yourself that this is the time to do it once and for all.

Its also a good time to remind yourself that next spring and next summer will be here soon enough too. Its not going to be good enough then to hang out in baggy jumpers and coats to hide how much weight you may or not put on. You will want to show your improvements off.

The hard work is always done over the winter months and it starts right now if you really want to make a spectacular difference to yourself. The most important workouts are always those you don’t really want to do and the news is that the dark mornings are already here, and cold evenings are waiting around the corner after this hot spell. It is a false dawn before the winter so lets make the most of it and think of the rewards that will be yours next spring.

There will be no baggy jumpers or baggy bottoms next year, you will be able to show off your transformation if you really apply yourself right now, spring will be full of compliments if you just show up for your own workouts and shop well for good food!

My guess is that you will be able to see lots of people on bikes etc this weekend in the warm so lets make the start right now. The same people are not likely to be out in the dead of winter and that’s the challenge, to keep your training up during the harder, darker months, when the real progress is made so lets give it your best, starting this weekend!!!

Twitt