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January 7th, 2010

So how’s your first week back going? Was it tough like for most people? Did you take it easy? or did you not even get going and feel totally sorry for yourself?!!!

Whatever your answer was, as long as you got going in the first place, then that was the main thing. Those of you who were not sure how to exercise, how much, how long, how many days etc, will have now got a week under your belts and realise that for the first month or so, its just important to go steady and get your body used to exercise. Confidence comes with experience and as long as you have a good guide, then you are likely to experience very good things.

In general terms, i would say that 3 times per week is enough for a beginner, someone who is used to exercise but wants to take it to another level would be advised to go up to 4- 5 times per week. An individual who has specific aims or wants to exercise at a high level AND has a lot of exercise experienced, could possibly workout 5-6 times per week quite comfortable as long as that person was experiencing good amounts of sleep and particularly good with their food.

Most people don’t realise that exercise is a stress on your body but a very positive stress. To regularly experience this good stress without any problems, you have to replenish your body with adequate nutrition and that mainly comes from an abundance of natural foods. You can do all of that and if you don’t get enough sleep, you can still fall down and fail to progress. The triple whammy of proper exercise, eating well and sleeping well has to be in place or there’s not much point in trying to get amazing results in your health and fitness programme.

No matter on how people to try over-complicate their programmes and do the latest cutting edge routines from the latest faddy magazines, unless you have strong fundamentals underpinning your helath, progress will be brief if any at all.

People ask me all the time “shouldn’t i be on this machine, this routine or this way of training?”, all valid questions but i tell people all the time it always comes back down to the basics. You can train in the most fancy gym in town, but if you’re not doing the basics right, then results WILL NOT come your way full stop. In fact in my experience, most of the fancy gyms have the least results with usually “instructors” who have been “qualified” in a couple of weekends.

I trust you don’t want to continue going round in circles so let’s keep it simple, hit your training hard, never miss a session unless you’re ill, eat well, rest well and leave your body experience great results!!!

The weekend is supposed to be dry so no excuse for you not to get out in the fresh air!!!

Twitt
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Thursday, January 6th 2011

The efforts you may be now making with your diet ought not to be wasted, and you need to be adopting some simple strategies to make the most out of your new exercise and dietary habits.

The most important difference you can make right now is to give alcohol up for a while. The improvements your liver will see in the next month will be huge if you avoid drinking for the next four weeks and it’s a great month to do it, with not a lot going on.

Hopefully, after the four weeks, you will be feeling so good that you won’t want to go back to a lifestyle of excess alcohol and the dangers that come with it.

Absolutely nothing wrong with having a drink but moderation is the key. We all overdid as kids and some of us are learning now that perhaps its not such a great idea anymore to try and drink like an 18 year old into our old age!!!

Another huge disadvantage of alcohol consumption is the hunger it suddenly gives you. You start craving things you never thought possible, and those cravings are usually high fat and high sugar items, the very foods and drinks that are guaranteed to put a lot more weight on.

The statement that is perhaps factually correct more than any other is that ALCOHOL MAKES YOU FAT FULL STOP!! A bit harsh for some to take perhaps, but very true in my experience nonetheless!!

 If you give up alcohol for a month, you will notice the bloated feelings going almost straight away. Any problems you have with blood pressure will subside a bit and substantially over the longer term, any overeating problems will be helped no end, any irritable behaviour you may have developed will subside too hopefully.

There are only positives to giving up alcohol this month and your enthusiasm for exercise can literally go through the roof!!

What are you waiting for!!

Twitt
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January 4th 2010

Most people are back in school or work today, and are struggling to come to terms with the realities of a dark and wet january! Add to this the increase in VAT, increase in rail fees, national insurance and the cost of just about everything going up right across the board. People as a result are likely to spend less as a result so George Osborne better know something we don’t, just as soon as he’s come back from his £11,000 skiing holiday. On average, there must be many conservative and liberal voters reading this so you can’t really complain, as you knew this in advance. The Americans on the other hand are spending their way out of this crisis, and according to most analysts and economists, it seems to be working! Whatever side of the fence you’re on, hope everything works out well for you this year!!!!

To avoid turning this into such political debate, this is an excellent time to prioritise your money into healthy quality foods and not waste it on alcohol and fast food full of sugar and saturated fat. What a perfect excuse to get into shape and give yourself a flying start into january!!

Times like these dictate that your spending gets scrutinised more than ever before, so every penny counts so give yourself an old test to see if you’re spending wisely. If the food you puchase is natural and good for you, then its worth buying because its going to make you feel good, look good, give you lots more energy and therefore make you far more positive.

If you keep spending money on junk, and fill your body full of rubbish, then you must really have more money than sense, and these spending cuts are not really affecting you. As a family, its our responsibility to get as much good food in as possible, there’s no room for rubbish anymore, but theres always room for better quality foods full of high quality nutrients that are going to boost our immune system and keep us well prepared for the cold months still ahead!

This year is going to be about much more than losing weight, its going to be about being the best you can be in the harshest economic environment since the 1930’s!!! With a bit of though, it can be a huge year for you discovering what really matters!!!

Twitt
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January 3rd 2011

The people who trained over christmas are really finding now that their workouts are becoming much easier. I found that this morning on my early morning run. To be honest, i found it tough gettting out there to start with as the temperature has dropped quite a bit, but 10 minutes in, everything seemed to be getting much easier and my last hill even involved a sprint, or at least a faster run!!

These are signs to me that christmas habits of staying active bearing fruit. The ability to start the new year in good shape takes the whole “lets get back into shape in january” out of the equation. The focus should easily go away from january now, and you should be already looking at getting into shape into january. If you are a faddy dieter, then your sole concern is just january because life is all about short term fixes for you, and no strong foundations are ever laid.

So if you are already in the swing of things or nearly there anyway, the target now must be a couple of weeks of conditioning and easily by the end of january, the target should be to be at the very top of your game. This will give you a great satisfaction that by the end of january, you will be looking and feeling very good indeed. This will be just as most diet club members will be tearing their hair out and about to see their “diet programmes” collapse in front of their very eyes.

Anyone who doubts that last statement should look at the fact that i have rolled out before, about the numerous studies that diet clubs and faddy diets in general DO NOT WORK 97% OF THE TIME. That is not my statement, these are independent studies done over numerous years over numerous clubs and diets.

Let’s concentrate on getting some good foundations in, eating more natural foods 80% of the time, exercising regularly, drinking enough water and sleeping well.

No matter what stage you are at, if you want to make 2011 the start of something special, then you have the SAME opportunity as ANYONE else.

Let’s get it going even on this bank holiday monday!!

Twitt
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Jan 2nd 2011

The  extended holiday means you won’t be back in work until at least tuesday, which means you have had more than enough time for exercise, if you haven’t then perhaps you may need to re-examine your time management or lack of!!

Anyone who has had a severe thrashing on the beer should be sick of it by now too. You should really be looking at giving your liver a break and flushing it out after all the abuse you have given it over the festive period.

What about the chocaholic’s? Have you said “lets finish the box off/boxes off, may as well they’ll only go in the bin”! If you have finished off, then do it now and give your body the break it finally needs after the attack of huge amounts of sugar christmas time. Christmas is associated with sugar nearly as much as it is with santa claus in some houses. It is the “must have” christmas toy every year and there’s always room at the inn for chocolate is a lot of people’s houses. Getting from this situation is mindset change and it can be done. How long depends on a lot of things and your commitment levels in particular, so make it 2011 the year that it all finally changes!!

Monday tomorrow is a bank holiday, but an excellent chance to freshen your life up in all ways so lets give it a new start!!

Twitt