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Whole body workouts

The most efficient way you can workout is work your whole body in every strength workout, and these always need two days in between minimum. Try to do your cardio workouts the next day and remember to always have one day off for your system to recover nicely.

Unless you’re a pro bodybuilder or at least seriously into bodybuilding, then splitting up your body parts is simply an easy way out.

Not only that but you burn far more calories and raise your metabolism much higher when you work every body part. Your body becomes a fat burning machine and you become much fitter.

I repeat, anyone who just goes to the gym and just does “back” is really being lazy or been reading too many magazines.

The whole idea when you train is to build up a big “energy cost”. All exercises have an energy cost and the more demanding the exercise, the more that exercise will cost your body in terms of energy and that means calories of course.

Some studies have shown recently that whole body workouts have been far more effective than running on a treadmill for instance for 60 minutes.

The whole body workouts im talking about are the ones where you do one set, then the next and so on for a total of 6-8 exercises, with no rest. This creates the “aerobic effect” your body is looking for and truly needs. Working with no rest (as long as your fitness level allows it) creats the feeling of being out of breath, which is pretty much the same when you’re working on a treadmill, a stationery bike or a rowing machine. These are all great tools to use in the gym but im giving you a comparison.

The funny thing is that i’ve heard a couple of people dismiss whole body workouts, but when they actually try one out they don’t usually last very long and are shocked at its effectiveness. Anyone who has tried one out with me will testify to that!

So the advice is when you get to the gym or at home, use as many effective exercises as you can in a kind of circuit style workout. There is every benefit under the sun to be had from this style of training so why not give it a go!!!

Twitt
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Fast food eating

Its always a battle to eat well in fast food establishments but here’s a few ways to make the most of it and still stay lean.

Bottom line is that if you spend most of your time eating in such places, the chances of you being in shape are usually nil.

However, the first thing you can learn is portion control. If you control the amount you eat of anything, you will be consuming less calories full stop. This can take some of the guess work when eating in restaurants.

When you have your food, the next thing you look at would be your drink. If you order a milkshake or full sugar drinks, you can consume 300-500 calories straight away, on top of your food depending on what you select. Water would be the best selection of course and although i don’t like diet drinks, they would be a better choice than the most popular drinks available, loaded with destructive calories.

When it comes to burgers, try and select one burger in a bun to cut down on the fat per serving, with a more wholemeal bun if possible rather than a white bun loaded with bleaching agents and sugar.  They do offer these selections in certain restaurants. Also, make sure you ask for the burger without the ketchup, the mayo or whatever other rubbish they decide to put into it.

When it comes to chicken burgers, always go for the grilled chicken burgers rather than the fried, crispy version. There is a substantial difference in calories. Also, the salad cream that comes with the chicken burgers can really take your saturated fat intake tenfold, so try and avoid that if you can or at least use sparingly!

If you’re having taco’s, try and avoid the big cheese element that is usually added. The added salsa is not much of problem usually as there are some good ingredients in there, unless it is a totally sugary/fatty version.

Salads you would think would be fine but you can have some high-calorie versions often worse than a burger and fries! If you must have the dressings, keep the servings to an absolute minimum. Other things to avoid can be bacon bits, croutons and noodles which are usually cooked the wrong way and loaded with calories.

Next time you’re out in such places, you can be healthy as long as you’re sensible.

Twitt
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Acceptance of the new you

There is the old story about the one of the most infamous bandits in mexico changing his life around to become one of the most famous priests and negotiators in mexicos’s history and its lesson to us all.

To cut a long story short, this bandit became one of mexico’s most important men by acts of courage and his ability to communicate with the rivalling gangs and mafia’s, and somehow sorting out insurmountable problems out time after time.

This took massive personal change and it was very uncomfortable for others to accept this one time bandit as a good man of the cloth for many people.

The first time he was at a loss for words and not able to settle a difference between rival gangs was when he was negotiating and one of the leaders told him he would always remember him as “el bandito” and not a man of the cloth. Needless to say he was speechless and lost for words, and for a short period of time, lost all his powers of negotiation because he went back to his old ways when he was a bandit, losing his sense of fair play and trying to force through a solution.

This was pointed out to him the next day by an elder and was told to focus on the person he had become, rather than the person he was. He never looked back after that because the first time in his life, he felt officically “accepted”, the new version of himsel had finally arrived and was established.

This is is the same as many of you who have lost weight, got very fit and gained lots and lots of energy.

To get there, you told many of your friends that you were eating well and exercising regularly, and you wanted to change things in your life.

You have to accept though if you want to remain lean and fit, and still retain lots of energy, you have to live a healthy lifestyle.

The people who remember the old you have to accept the “new you” and all that it entails.

You still have the same personality, you are the same person inside, you probably just look heck of a lot better than before, and feel a hundred times better. People have to accept that if you want to live a life thats better for everybody.

Most of all, you have accept the new you YOURSELF, and look forward and not back. This is a key step in becoming successful for the rest of your life.

Twitt
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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!

Twitt
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Annette goes on a journey

Annette James of Picton Sports has just got back into her training, after a break of around ten years or so!

 It’s always important to see how different people react to exercise, and in this case, after a very long lay off, with the responsibilities of two children, and a busy business to look after.

Annette got her first session under her belt last night, so i thought you’d like to hear in her own words, how she found it.

“Hi Keri

My first proper workout for at least 10 years with you yesterday and it was hell!!!.  Mixture of feelings before, during and after.  A bit anxious before we met up because I haven’t done anything for a good while apart from walk the dog which I thought would have kept me pretty fit.

  Boy was I wrong!!!!.  During the workout I felt awful.  Thought I was going to be sick and was completely defeatist the whole time.  I couldn’t wait for the workout to end and all the way through I was thinking there was no way I was putting myself through this again!

  Afterwards though on my drive home I felt pretty good and went straight to do my food shop before I changed my mind (bought loads of healthy things for me and my family). I felt a  bit disappointed with myself for having such a negative mental attitude throughout the workout.  I think if I had been more positive I could have done alot better (being weighed and measured for the first time in years didn’t help)

 Woke up this morning not aching much but feeling very tired.  There is no way I am giving up and having to go through that first workout all over again in a few months time. I am taking my eating and exercising one day at a time.  The only way is up!

Annette

This is a highly encouraging start and the most important thing now is to keep going after a tough start.

Annette realises that food is key too and she hs already set out to get a good shopping list in.

She has every chance of getting back to where she was 10 years ago, and a whole lot more in my view.

All she needs is to be consistent, start believing in herself again and focus on making slow but gradual improvements.

This is her big chance to do it again, feel better, look her best and achieve big things once again.

Annette will post regularly, so it will be fun to keep up with her progress!

Twitt