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Tuesday 13th September

“The truth about drugs in football” last night was an eye opener for some on channel four, but it really wasn’t for those who play upper level sport.

From cocaine to anabolic steroids, authorities at the very top of the sport were not afraid to speak out at the problems facing football.

The most alarming and disgraceful  part of the programme was when we discovered that the football association (the FA) KNEW FULL WELL about failed drug tests and instead of imposing the mandatory 2 year ban minimum, they either gave a warning or just a 2 month ban.

Indeed, a scottish international was caught 3 times, and still only received a 7 month ban!!!

The investigation went to the very heart of the game, and discovered some life threatening methods of performance enhancement at chelsea for instance, and the discovery that 3  current internationals for england visit a mysterious clinic in berlin for dubious regular injections.

It stands to reason when you think of it. In the most well paid game in the world with ridiculous salaries and a game that is needing bigger and stronger players, the temptation to cheat must be huge with these players. When money is involved, cheating is bound to take place and there seems to be a systemic risk throughout the game.

One of the most alarming stories was the number of spoilt tests at various clubs.

This means that either players ducked out of the test, the test was inconclusive or not followed up, was dubious with readings causing great suspicion, or plain illegal results.

It said on the programme that SWANSEA CITY were the biggest culprits of “spoilt” tests, you would never guess on their physical performances, which have been sadly lacking this year. 15 SPOILT TESTS, I REPEAT 15 SPOILT TESTS!!!!

I have commented on numerous occasions about the lack of physicality from our local team, their out of date training methods and how rugby now leaves football behind in the way they train and in sports nutrition.

Football is currently a disgrace with their testing system and acceptance of positive tests, check out the programme online “the truth about drugs in football” and this will back all what i have said up to the hilt!!!

If football implemented a cycling type thorough testing system, the shock waves would be enormous!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday 12th September

Having an escape route to relieve life’s tensions has become even more important.

With life’s pressure’s getting bigger and bigger for most people, the escape route in exercise terms has never been so important!

I can think of many people who use exercise as the perfect route.

It could be a bike ride on a more obscure route, it could be a run in the woods, or it could be a simple walk anywhere.

What you find with these options for exericse is that you not only get a good fat burning workout in, you also get some “you time” when you can gather your thoughts and really unwind after the pressure of a hard day, or if you turn it around another way, you can exercise first thing in the morning which is the best preparation for a hard day to come, and seriously helps with the pressures of normal life to come!!!

Everyone has a favourite run or bike ride, or cycle or even swim becomes they become familiar with it.

I have a woman with five children i train who likes nothing better than walking up a really steep route to her friends house, and a walk that used to take her 40 minutes now only takes 20 minutes!!! What once was a pain in the you know what of a run has now become a quick easy walk which she now happens to do more often!!

The best part about the walk is the time out she gets when she can let off steam and think about what went right and what went wrong with her day! Some people use alcohol as this emotional crutch but many, many people i train now use their daily “escape route” as their must do every day.

Nothing better than getting rid of stress and losing  body fat the same time!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday 9th September

A reflective sunday coming up for many and i am talking about september 11th of course, the kind of day definitely when you remember exactly where you were on that day!!!

Ten years ago now and its a good day to remember where you were with your health and fitness!!!

Were you leaner, were you heavier, were you out of shape, were you at your fittest, did you always perform well then, were you in a rut you never thought you would get out of then?!!! All different situations and i will bet that things could have turned full circle by now if you haven’t been consistent with your training and eating, or certain things in life happen sometimes completely out of your control?!!!!

The bottom line is where are you now and what you have learned about yourself in the meantime. Why are you or why aren’t you in shape now? There’s a pathway to being in shape and staying in shape and did you stay on it or did you completely go off that path and have forgotten the way back since?

So ten years may have gone and you may be reflecting on what has happened in your life since back then!!!

The question is now are you going to use all of that positive and negative experience to good effect this time in determining the path you’re going to go on for the next ten years? If you don’t, then the last ten years of training will have been a waste of time if you can’t use it to your advantage?!!!

You should be a smarter trainer now, you should realise that faddy diets do not work, you should know the value of rest, you should know the value of changing your trainers regularly (every 6 months max), and the really good advice of having a really well thought out programme thats going to bring you results year in year out!!!!

Things change over the years, but the fundamentals never do, i mean the stuff you need to do every day to be successful!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday 6th September

Being a parent again to a new born, it brings back the feelings of lack of sleep and all the tiredness and irritability that goes with all of this!

This is particularly hard the first few weeks and it can definitely affect one’s training quite a lot.

To get over this, you have to take out the stuff thats going to hinder your energy levels in the first place and concentrate on the basics to get huge amounts of energy in your life.

A lot of people think that the first thing to go should be your workouts!! What absolute rubbish, its been proven scientifically that workouts give you MORE energy and not less, get your body used to exercise on a regular basis and it will reward you many times over with impressive energy stores.

Next thing people look at is food, some think that must always have chocolate bars at hand because “they will have energy needs” as a new parent but they completely miss the point. I have been through programmes with many new parents and they always report that when they eat healthy, their energy levels remain constant and on good levels, their levels of tolerance go way up and their mood swings are pretty much a thing of the past, all in trying times of course when you have a new baby!!!!

So when you are naturally very likely to miss a lot of sleep, your nutritional and training plan need to be bang on.

I am employing all of these tactics right now and still looking for progress, because if you don’t look for improvement any more, your brain shuts something off and im convinced it doesnt allow you to make the same physical gains you have perhaps become accustomed to!!!

Instead of making this a much more of struggle than it needs to be, get eating well and when your doctor approves it, start exercising gently again with specific goals in mind!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday 6th September

After one of the most depressing mornings in weather terms, there is every reason for you to think that it is november today, instead of early september!!! Days like these only add to the list of excuses that some people use not to exercise, its a very long list for some so why not another excuse to throw in the mix to stop you getting into shape!!!

The MOMENT you stop making these excuses is the moment your body starts to get excited and begin its journey to getting in shape whether its for the first time or all over again, i don’t care what it is, the weather is NO excuse not to exercise unless it is 50 feet of snow, even then its a great opportunity to do one of your all time best efforts inside!!!!

Taking the easy way out is exactly that-the “easy way” and life is full of people who choose this empty way of going about their business. You know deep  down that you are cheating yourself and living your life by other people’s standards and not your own.

Live you life by what other people say and listening to their negativty will eventually dictate the shape you are in. This is bad news.

I have a habit now of thriving off people who are negative and using that negative energy to prove people wrong and do even better in what i do.

I will dig even deeper in my efforts if people say i cant do things, i will increase my resources in terms of inner strength ifthe odds seems stacked against me, and what you believe in,  often seems to end up happening!!! I highly encourage others i train and anyone else to do the same, stay positive even in times of adversity and go out there and prove all the negative people wrong, so you end up laughing to yourself on how well you can get through any challenge, and that any set of circumstances is never too much of a moutain to climb!!!!!

Twitt