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!!!

Different approaches

Using different approaches in getting into shape is to be applauded, because there is always more than one way to get things done.

I do lose a bit of patience though when we hear all about the latest celebrity diets, the latest “cleansing” diets, the latest diet maple syrup diet for example for 14 days and you lose lots of weight promises, etc etc.

We all hear them all the time but the reality is that these diets will only take you further from your overall goal. Losing 14 pounds in two weeks makes your body all the more INEFFICIENT because you tend to lose valuable lean muscle tissue. This makes the longer term process of losing body fat very difficult as your metabolism will be undoubtedly slowed down.

The more lean muscle tissue you have on your body, the more calories your body burns 24 hours a day. Any time you lose some of the muscle tissue, you burn less calories and quite often, much of the shape you set out to get in the first place.

Most of us lose weight first in the areas we don’t really want to. I know many people who lose it first in the shoulders, so you get to look thin and shapeless straight away. The problem is that society puts so much emphasis on the weighing scale, and not enough on actual body fat loss and how you look in clothes, plus how your actual energy levels really are.

If you’ve been reading this since last October and you still try out faddy diets on a regular basis, either im not communicating with you at all or it could be a waste of time you reading this. If you like doing short term fixes, then great, go and do them.

The chances are though that you will be doing quite a lot of short term fixes over the rest of your life. If you want to relieve the stress of all of this, then you need to face facts and start eating food that was actually meant for your body. All those chemicals were not meant for consumption you see in lots of foods.

The way you live your life 24 hours a day in terms of food and drink will always reward you or come back to haunt you.

What you put into your fitness programme is always what you get out. If you eat in public all healthy and then behind closed doors, you eat rubbish, then its time to come clean and EAT CLEAN for a change.

The facts are all on here how to do it, the tick is clocking so the quicker you get on with it, the quicker you’re looking and feeling like the way you want to be!

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!

Water burns fat every time!

The news that drinking an adequate supply of water in your diet burns a lot of fat should come as no surprise.

Studies show that most of us suffer from mild dehydration from time to time.

The latest studies show that if you have a couple of glasses of water before food, it makes your brain signal to your stomach that you feel full, and this means you are likely not to overeat.

Adding a healthy supply of water to your diet also helps in everything internally in your body function that much better. This means that you will get rid of the bad stuff in your body that much quicker and keep your bodily functions working very well indeed.

A big thing for me when i consume enough water is feeling more energy in my life. I feel as if my concentration is spot on and i’m raring to take on any task, honestly that’s true!

You can always tell if you’re dehydrated when you’re thirsty. This is why sipping at water throughout the day is always better than trying to take huge amounts in one go.

Sipping throughout the day will help you not go to the toilet so much too. Nothing worse than consuming huge amounts in one go, and then going to the toilet 3 times an hour afterwards!

When you go to the toilet, have you noticed your urine is sometimes cloudy or bright yellow. You need to get it more clear if you can, as being clear in appearance would be a sign that most of the impurities in your system have been passed out and you are fully hydrated.

This is probably the most important element for you if you really examine the evidence.

For example, remember the hunger strikers in northern ireland in the 70’s and 80’s?

Well, i remember bobby sands famously went 56 days without food, and this brought him close to death.

When it comes to water, the human body can usually last around 5 days before coming close to death! 5 days!! In 3 days you are likely to harm your health so this shows how vital water is!

The bottom line from all of this is stay hydrated and raise your performance to their maximum levels, which brings all sorts of benefits!! This may be the missing element for many of you. Forget all the faddy sports drinks full of sugar, get your water in to much needed levels 1.5-2 litres and feel fantastic on all levels!!!