Posted on

March 14th

Another nice week of weather to get you into it, and make your summer promises you made to yourself happen.

Fat burning workouts need to keep happening, and forget staying on stepper’s in the gym for 2 hours to enable you to make that happen. It may say “fat burning” on the machine but it really doesn’t mean thats going to happen at all.

The myth that you need to do cardio to burn fat and use weights to build needs to exploded and kicked into touch for good. That way of thinking in unacceptable and will lead to mediocre results, even after a lot of time spent in the gym. Using resistance/weights in your programme is essential, vital, hugely important, whatever important term you want to use, you can use it so i can’t over estimate it!!!!

Everyone who wants to get into a programme always thinks bike, treadmill and stepper, and sometimes rower, and then settle on whatever they feel most comfortable on, and that usually means what they put the least amount of work into. Its common to walk into some gyms and see the same old people hogging the same old machines, nothing different ever gets tried!!! A sweat may be achieved but doing something different may be a swear word for some!!!

You know by now im a big advocate of working in a circuit style, and i don’t mean drop the weight so low that the workout becomes some kind of pathetic pandsy type of workout that you never get out of breath, this type of cop out is really no acceptable.

You need to work with weights that cause you discomfort especially when it comes to the  7th or 8th rep, so you are actually working hard, and not going through the motions, which is the worst way to train and guarantee mediocrity of the highest order!!!!

You need a good circuit in your life, think 6-8 exercises done for 3 sets and 8 reps per exercise, follow this and you’re going to be getting the results you really dreamed of!!

example-press ups or bench presses

arm dips using bench or chair

alternate squat thrusts

lateral raises

lat pulldowns

curls with dumbbells

plank-aim for one minute eventually

See how you get on and WORK HARD!!!

Keri

Twitt
Posted on

March 11th Supermarket shop

Hope you are having a stronger end to the week and if you are in the majority, you will be doing your weekly shop in the supermarket either today, yesterday or tomorrow.

Are you improving in this area or not? Do u visit only the healthy aisles of the supermarket or are you doing down every aisle such as the chocolate and crisps part, the ready meals part, the alcohol part, and savoury part etc?

The important parts of the supermarket remain the fruit and vegetables to start, depending on how it is laid out.

Here you can get your apples, oranges, blueberries, pears, bananas, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, jacket potatoes, new potatoes, tomatoes, etc etc. These are the foods that need to be in your diet every single day to look after your body inside and out, fight disease and give you plenty of energy.

Next you probably come to the lean meats such as chicken, turkey, lean beef, lean steaks, lean mince etc, its important to make the right choices here. You can have some red meat, but don’t plan on eating it more than once a week, the health dangers have been well documented in the press lately again so a bit mof moderation is called for here. The lean meats though can form an excellent foundation for your diet.

You may next see some fish, im talking tuna, mackerel, haddock, trout, salmon is always a favourite of mine and you can get all of these either fresh or in a tin, nothing wrong with either in my book and depends on how much you have to spend.

How about some carbs? We mentioned potatoes earlier, but next we have brown rice, wild rice, wholegrain and wholewheat pasta, there are all types of spaghetti and variations (keep it to wholegrain if possible). While we are talking about wholegrain and wholewheat, you can and should apply this to everything and you know i mentioned wholewheat pancakes earlier in the week.

Bread is a big subject for many of you so lets keep it wholemeal if possible, the slower release of energy the better and you want to avoid white bread like the plague, full of bleach, sugar and other cooking agents that you really don’t want to be putting in your body.

Then there’s nuts such as brazils, almonds, cashews, walnuts, hazlenuts etc which are excellent along with dried fruit such as dates, apricots, raisins, figs, prunes which can work as excellent snacks or food sweeteners in a natural way!!

Hows that for a start and making your week go along without too many hiccups, more like plenty of energy and making sure you stay lean and energetic!!!

Twitt
Posted on

March 9th

A lot of people are confused when they burn body fat, and a common question is are you burning fat every time you sweat?

Sweating is your body’s own cooling system and a lot of people in good shape will sweat regularly, and their bodies will be used to regulating heat in the body, if someone for example trainins 5-6 a week, then their body is used to working out and their body’s internal system will sweat to cool it down, and regulate its internal temperature. So this is sweating in a good way and with someone very fit, it can take a lot of work to get this happening. When you think about it though, that individual is only very fit in the first place BECAUSE they exercise  with real intensity all the time, so they will be used to tougher, more intense workouts.

On the other hand then, you may have someone who is totally not conditioned very well, and will sweat at the slightest physical efforts. It may not take much to get someone out of shape sweating but it doesn’t then mean that they are suddenly burning lots of body fat straight away. There are other factors at play, and if that person has consumed a lot of food that day before training, they will be busy burning the excess calories before they even touch their body fat.

The bottom line never changes, whatever stage you are at, you should build your training up in terms of intensity and take some time to do it. As long as you are making small even subtle changes each week, then you will be on course for ultimate success.

So the sweating thing as a measure of burning fat is not always accurate and there are too many variables to take into consideration. However, if you have at least a couple of months training under your belt, you will sweat normally every time you train intensely and even more so when you have made progress from the week before, a harder workout will always test you,  make you sweat and always improve you in terms of reducing body fat, heart rate and making your body overall leaner and harder.

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday 8th March 2011

You will get periods of ups and downs in your week when perhaps you could do with constant motivation to get you through slumps in your life.

Whatever your circumstances, life is going to happen for you, good or not so good. How you react to these bumps  on the road will mean a lot more than you think.

What happens if you have a new job and you have new demands put on you and overtime becomes normal, what happens to your training?

What happens if you have just had a baby and then a couple of months later, its no longer crowds of people visiting and offering support, and life becomes very hard 24 hours a day? The reality of bringing up a child is very tough and how does your training and eating fit into all of this, is it as important anymore?

You may have to move away to find a job in this harsh economic environment, and whats it like living in a small room every night and the only option is the pub every night, what happens to your fat loss aspirations then?

These challenges are every day realities for a lot of people I know, and the one thing I can say with certainty is that good nutritious food will give you energy to get through a very tough day.

Doing your workout early in the morning before everything “kicks off” will make sure you are fit and strong, and will be able to perform much, much better in your job or specific role in life, such as being a mother.

The most dangerous thing you can do is pay no attention to your food because it leads to a slippery slope.

 Grabbing food when you can always means eating ready meals or fast food of some kind, things that cook quickly in the microwave soon become the core of your eating programme, and this long term abuse of your body will possibly lead to blood pressure problems, heart problems, and ill health issues of all kinds. If you constantly put rubbish full of chemicals into your body, then don’t expect good things to happen.

So even if you are in one of the groups I mentioned and your life is stressful, then see HEALTHY EATING AND EXERCISING AS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT FOR YOU.

You can train first thing in the morning, you can have an array of healthy food around you and you can do your best and develop a body and health you can be proud of. Buy the food in, get rid of the rubbish and commit yourself to a training plan.

If circumstances are tough, then chances are a lot of people are relying on you and you being healthy is an absolute must!!

Lets do it.

Twitt
Posted on

March 4th 2011

SO how are you finishing off the week?

Is it really hard to keep this thing up as cyril said?

Is it getting easier with the lighter, more steady and sunny weather?

Are you in charge with your food?

Are you in control of your workouts?

Are you managing your time really well, or are you letting your life control you?

Do you give in easy when someone tries to put you off exercise and eating well? Or are you determined to get through this thing very strongly and reach new levels of physical conditioning? Are you your own person or not?

Life is all about decisions because every decision will shape who you are.

For example, if you like to call in the pub every night after work, then you are unlikely to be very active in your life, nobody i know could ever train after alcohol, unless you train first thing in the morning of course, but in general, the habit of drinking straight after work can lead to blood pressure problems, diabetes, coronary disease and all sorts of nasty things that could go on with your body. Everyone needs to give themselves a fighting chance, and the drinks after work thing will destroy any fighting chance you have got!!! It may be trendy for some, but putting yourself at risk of serious disease has never been cool in my book!!!

These may be harsh comments, but its my experience of training and observing many people live their lives over many years. Its best to say it how it is, rather than pander to anyone to be popular!!!

So if you want to be really fit and healthy, please avoid alcohol in the week and keep it to once a week, then theres no reason to get trashed on that once either. We have all done it of course, including me, but having the next day wiped out is not an option for me anymore. I try and treat my body with a lot more respect, and sundays i have to contribute to family life, not sleep on the settee or go to be all day, thats the ultimate selfish way to live your life in my view.

The same goes with eating, has that magical 80% been reached yet in terms of 80% of what you eat being good quality food? If it hasn’t, then you need to stop messing around and get with the programme if you want to be and stay in shape!!!

Have a great weekend and theres no excuses to enjoy the great fresh air and scenery!!!

Twitt