Posted on

Sort it!

Most of you are probably just as bored as me of the general election fiasco, and the never ending story 24 hours a day on the news channels!

This is a bit like some people’s exercise programme at times. Plenty of talking but no action.

The time it takes to talk about your programme, you could have usually done the actual workout, had a shower, had lunch and evening meal and moved on to the next day, and your next workout!

We all know people who talk a good game, talk about past glories and pretend life really was amazing in a past life!

Isn’t really time to get it sorted once and for all?!!!!!!!!!!!!

I used to work in the public sector and more than frustrated by the way life moved at a snail’s pace there. Its probably like trying to get hold of the council on friday afternoon, didn’t realise we had to pay so much tax for so much inactivity and so many incompetents!

IF YOU TAKE ACTION EVERY DAY and actually do your workouts, shop for good natural foods, you will be definitely one of the minority-that’s a fact!

Wouldn’t you like to be one of the minority or are you one of the crowd? I find being one of the crowd soul destroying and tends to destroy any independent thoughts you have left.

There is nothing more liberating than making your own decisions, achieving things off your own back and not relying on others.

If you tend to rely on others, they often don’t deliver and tend to take credit for your success, making the scale of your achievements seem a little smaller than they really are.

Once you start reaching your goals, it will become addictive and you will start setting new ones all the time. This is when your life truly changes for the better because of this succession of extremely positive events.

You don’t need anyone telling you that you can’t do this or can’t do that, YOU ACTUALLY CAN!! Look at the person writing you off, are they jealous of your success and is their life a mess in their world?

Taking advice is great but encouragement goes a long way in my book. I would rather encourage than put down. Be positive rather than write someone off.

You will find that most people are negative, this is why you need to be independent and take action ON YOUR OWN, don’t pass it through various “committee’s” because nothing will ever get done!

It’s time for action, let’s sort it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

up and down standards

We talked about the importance of filling in the gaps yesterday, and how important it was not to take extended breaks from your training, as often it is so hard to get back into it again!

What about your own individual workout standards though? Do you know them off by heart now? Do you keep a workout diary to make sure you havent slipped back? How important are those workout standards to you?

Lets start at the beginning.

When you first start training, i like to start everyone off slow. For example, if you start off with 4 press ups first time, then that’s the beginning and where you should judge your progress from.

If we fast forward 6 weeks later, and i catch up with you and are thrilled to see you are doing 20 press ups, that means you are now doing 5 times the number you first started off with, this is REAL progress and you should be pleased with yourself.

If your favourite run takes you 20-23 minutes, then staying in this good range or even pushing 19 minutes can be regarded as good progress.

What happens though if the press ups start sliding back to maybe 10?

What happens if the run takes you 28-30 minutes all of a sudden?

There can be a number of factors such as illness of course but barring that, the reasons are likely to be over-eating, over-drinking, not sleeping enough or simply missing lots of workouts.

The big progress will be judged to have largely stopped, and you have no direction in your training once more, leaving you lacking motivation and inspiration to carry on most of the time.

This is why your standards are all important.

Workouts should not be done in a haphazard manner, there has to be a plan and routine. This plan also needs to show progress and this is done by challenging yourself on a weekly basis. If you have the desire to personally improve, then motivation can be easy.

If you are suffering more lack of motivation, perhaps you need to re-visit why you are training in the first place, and what being healthy and being in great shape would mean/really means to you.

A REALLY good idea is to keep a workout diary and write down your workouts, or follow the list of exercises you are suppoed to be doing, and recognise that keeping to your usual high standard is not only desirable, but is vital to your over health and progress.

Try and assess your progress over a week, and if things have gone wrong, don’t dwell on them too much, just go out and fix them. Everyone had good and bad workouts, as long as the trend if upwards though, you can be more than happy that you’re getting fitter and healthier. Use the opportunity you have right now to hit your health and fitness with real passion and drive, no putting it off or leaving it until “another day”, let’s do it and make yourself proud of your performances!

No up and down standards, let’s keep them right up there!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Filling in the gaps

Here is the true secret of training and being healthy and a few of you go through it from time to time, EVERY single year!

Cyril is going through it right now!

On the challenge of 84 days, he was cycling in the snow and ice, pulling out the stops at every opportunity and being a true example to everyone.

Now he is going through a harder time now just to get going. The weather is a lot nicer, everyone wants to get into shape for the summer, and there is far more opportunity to go out and do things. There is more light and its sociable this time of year to get out there and do it!

So what’s the problem would you say?

What i mean by filling in the gaps is this, there are significant gaps usually in the year in most people’s health and fitness programmes, and this is the biggest reason why most people don’t get the kind of success that they think they deserve.

If you have had an impressive 84 days already this year, then that’s fantastic.

What happens though if your next 42 days are mediocre, and you start to miss workouts.

What happens when the next 7 weeks are seen as “a rest” by you.

Then it gets VERY hard to get going again, and it can take all kinds of motivation simply to get to do ONE workout again, leave alone make the impressive progress that you’re used to.

THESE GAPS CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN!!!!!!!!

If you have a few gaps each year, its going to be like a game of snakes and ladders. You will climb one ladder, then slide down a snake pretty soon, then you have to start again which is so frustrating isn’t it?!!!!

What would happen to your teeth if you didn’t brush them every day? Would you let them rot? Then start cleaning them again for a couple of months, then stop for another couple of months?

Of course not and you know it!!

So why do you let your body go backwards so much in these “gaps” each year? Why does that happen?

You clean your teeth every day as if its second nature, in fact it is!!

If you can get to this stage with exercise, doing it without thinking about it, then your plan will work amazingly well for you and you will look and feel fantastic for 12 months, EVERY year!

So what are you waiting for, let’s get out of this rut and do what you know is very possible in your life, being in great health is a choice for you all, let’s fix it and get back to basics right now and start monday with a bang!!!

No gaps this week, no gaps next month and no gaps for the rest of the year! This is my challenge to you!

Twitt
Posted on

Election day!

Most of you will be a bit up and down over what has happened today. Whether you are tory, liberal or labour, you can be sure change is on the way and that ought to make some people very happy, and some people a bit nervous perhaps.

Some people though let it rule their lives, their emotions and their future prospects.

I used to think that when maggie thatcher came in, the end of the world was nigh! And that was indeed the case for many, with the local steelworks etc all closing and creating mass unemployment. Times were very hard for many and im not going to start with the miners strike!

The most successful strategy i have seen from most of the successful people i train is not really to worry about who comes into office.

The facts are that opportunities will always come and go, things will always go up and down, and worries will always appear and disappear.

The trick is seizing your opportunities when they come up, and when you think of it, you get opportunities every single day.

Debbie has written an inspiring post about encouraging others to seize their opportunities to eat better, to train harder and more often, to reach higher goals in their lives, she assures us it can be done and guess what……….she’s exactly right!!!

Once you start getting into higher levels of exercises, getting your weekly shop full of fresh and natural foods, your mind will automatically become more independent and determined to take the bull by the horns and get your body into fantastic shape!

This is what its all about, take the bull by the horns and not worrying about the election, the conservative party or what media savvy nick clegg is trying to do! You don’t really need to worry about all of this and it doesn’t need to interfere with your workouts, or your eating and drinking habits!

It may well be addictive television by sitting in front of the screen for long periods of time are great contributors to putting on lots of weight and doing nothing for your fitness and wellbeing.

We have a weekend coming up, and perhaps a brand new government, but you should know by now that its not going to affect your health in any way whatsoever, unless YOU let it!

Great workouts and great eating habits can start right now and continue for the rest of your life, far longer than any government can last, let’s do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

May to September

May to september is a great time of year for being more active, burning more calories and fat, for being outside, for getting on your bike, getting out there walking, getting out there running, just about anything outside is going to be good for you!

You may have seen the recent study showing how good fresh air is for you now, and just exercising for 5 minutes can be hugely benefiicial in the outside. It can greatly effective for your mood too, many of the people i train tell me how good they feel from working out in the fresh air. All you have to do is try it and you will feel better, i guarantee it!!

These months from may to september can be huge for you, on average it rains less, it’s warmer outside by a few degrees which means you already feel like doing something before you start. You are sort of in the mood to do something on nicer days. Imagine the contrast between nice days like now and the freezing cold and wet days of the winter!

The time is now to get out there and be as active as possible, and what’s really stopping you? You even have more daylight to play with now as it’s light now pretty much to nearly 9pm.

There is the issue of being “on show” sometimes for many of you, you don’t want to be seen working out. If that is indeed an issue, either start off by doing inside workouts, or do your workouts in quieter areas and take a friend with you too.

 This will help motivate you and keep you safe. When there’s two of you perhaps of the same fitness standard, you will be both in the same boat and you will both feed off each other in terms of motivation. It’s always great to have someone pushing you, and you will both be thrilled at how you both progress, if you both use a tried and tested programme!

May to September is always great for eating less, a tasty salad always goes down better in the summer rather than the middle of january. You don’t usually feel like the big stodgy meals in the middle of summer, lighter snacks and meals are the way to go.

All of this adds to a very productive time for losing body fat, gaining lean muscle tissue and being in your best shape. If you use many or all of these strategies, you’re bound to be looking and feeling very good indeed!!

Twitt