Posted on

Thursday, 11th April

Moving on with the hip and back problems, there is plenty for you to do when it comes to staying and becoming more active, which is the long term answer to having good back and hip health.

Most back problems in particular are down to too much weight around the trunk area, so you can see how important eating healthily, keeping your weight under control is and staying active are when it comes to living a pain free life.

Non-weight bearing activities are the key, running for instance is your worst choice available although it can have good weight loss results. The downside risks with running with a bad back are monumental, so this is why I firmly DO NOT recommend running if you have any of these problems.

Walking is kinder on the joints, but as I said yesterday, try and make sure your trainers are never more than 6 months old, and you change them regularly. Also, don’t be tempted to wear your OLD trainers either! If you do, even for silly little things like working in the garden, doing little jobs around the hourse, they WILL cause a problem for your back and hips even on these odd occasions. They need to go straight in the bin!

Swimming can be good, but avoid breaststroke, many good physios recommend you avoid this particular stroke because it works against the body’s natural motion, and can put strain on your back and shoulders, and hips for that matter.

Weight training is recommended with only lighter weights and strict form, using benches for support when possible for your back. This will strengthen your back as long as the exercises are sensible, obviously power moves and big heavy lifts would do more harm than good so please avoid. I would try a whole body programme of around 6-8 exercises for 3 sets of 8 repetitions, this would be done twice a week with a three day gap in between.

You can see that there are many options, and staying active is key but the effort must go in on your food too, or you wont get the results you need to relieve the pain for good.

Twitt
Posted on

Wedneday, 27th March

If we have talked a lot about results this week, and it sounds like a wonderful situation to be in, and you think that YOU are not getting results so what i am saying is far-fetched, then you really need to change the way you train and eat, and get out of the programme you are in right now!

Chances are that if you are not in our programme, you are stuck in either a

a. You’re not exercising at all.

b. You have exercised before, but because of a lack of progress, or a bad experience, you no longer have hope that exercise can work for you.

c. You DO exercise, but you get mediocre results, and really treading water when it comes to what you do, you are bored and feel no way out.

d.You exercise regularly, you try your best but are puzzled why you do not look at your best, and wonder if exercise is really the answer for you?

e. You try every fad going, the “next big thing” is surely going to work this time, and you get eternally disappointed by all the false promises that are somehow going to change your life!!

f. You just go to slimming clubs, but like the 97% of others (according to multiple research companies) fail and put all the weight back on and 5% on average (again according to research), then go through it again and again.

Many of you may in these groups, or have been, and its painful to be here.

There is ANOTHER way based on scientific research though, and this is my mission to bring the truth to you.

We talk about those ways every day on here, so feel free to look back through all of the posts over the last 4 years or so.

The feedback is getting greater and greater, so feel free to ask me any question at fitness@kerimckibbin.co.uk.

The greatest satisfaction is putting individals on the right track after getting let down so much in the past by misinformation.

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, March 26th

We have had some great successes this week and last in my personal training, and at the gym by the railway station in burry port.
The average losses of body fat over a 4 week period were more than 2%, some over 3% and one person was an incredible 4% body fat loss!!!
To give you an idea, 1.8% body fat loss is considered as very good over a month, so you can see we are outperforming these levels in abundance at the moment.

Whilst all of this good news is great, the trick is to draw a line under those measurements straight away and look forward to the next 4 weeks, and look forward to hitting those 1.8% body fat levels and hopefully more, just as we have been doing.

The danger always is trying to over-congratulate ourselves too much, and forgetting what got us in this great situation in the first place.

This is why I tell everyone who has done well over the last 4 weeks, the last 6 months month, the last 18 years even, to forget about the last month and really set about upgrading their training once again, look for things that may improve their eating habits once again, make sure they stay hydrated, sleep better maybe, and keep alcohol in moderation.

I know and all the people I train know that if they keep these lifestyle habits up, they will be bang on course for another truly impressive measurement.

This is a culture I have got everyone into, and the positive reactions have been overwhelming!

Its all about being honest about your food intake?, how much of it you eat?, how much you really drink in alcohol terms?, are you skipping workouts?

Once you can be honest about these questions, you instantly become more accountable and therefore much more likely to create a situation where you can attain outstanding results!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday 11th March

The recent wave of illness is a stark reminder on why we do this thing in the first place.

When we feel ill, we will do anything to feel anywhere like normal again! When we feel ill, its a sharp reminder sometimes of how much better we could have eaten, in terms of fruit and vegetables we could have consumed to have fought the germs that have invaded our bodies. We have a large level of bacteria in our bodies anyway, but im talking about the germs responsible for getting us a fever, the flu or stomach bug or whatever we may have now.

This is why we talk about our immune system so much on here, its times like these that talking about our health as a whole becomes so important.

If you think that all there is to talk about all day is simply losing weight and looking better, then you must be greatly mistaken and you need to re-evaluate what you are doing, and why you are doing it.

You have to accept the facts that the foods you eat have amazing qualities, and a whole range of benefits.

Of course, you want to look better, thats of vital importance. More important than that though is your overall health, and eating as many natural foods in their natural state will serve you very well. The right foods will revitalise you, will energise you, will make you more resilient in the face of illness and infection, and help you recover from even the most demanding workouts!!!

If you make sleep a priority too, because this is when you truly recover and replenish your energy stocks, replace and repair your broken down tissue after a long day and maybe a tough workout, then you will be very much on the right path to having an extremely tough immune system!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 7th March

There sometimes is confusion of what I say in terms of food recommendations, most people seem to get it but its worth me going through it again with a few basics, and giving you what some people have “thought” I meant. Its easy to make mistakes on foods, so im bring some clarity here so there’s no doubt!

When it comes to milk, I do mean skimmed milk and at worst semi-skimmed milk. I DO NOT mean full fat blue top milk as some have thought. This choice alone can make a big difference to your diet, fat gain/fat loss, general health so sort it out and you advance quickly.

When I say tea and coffee is fine, I mean up to 3 cups a day, I do not mean several which can make you more irritable, dehydrate you and make poor snack choices such as biscuits with tea etc.

When it comes to red meat, its got to be once a week maximum, and the butcher will not mind at all giving you the leanest cuts, with most of the cut taken out.

When I say alcohol is fine in moderation, I mean once a week. I don’t mean a couple of glasses every day, I don’t mean drinking hard liquor just to cut calories such as gin, vodka, whisky which can be highly toxic to your body when drunk in excess. Wine may be more calories, but it travels easier through your body and is far less toxic.

When I say sip water throughout the day, and aim to get at least 1.5 litres a day in, I do not mean just drink one small bottle a day, this is only 0.5 litres and if you are training, you will easily need more than 1.5 litres. Get in the habit of drinking water throughout the day, and definitely through your workouts, your performances and wellbeing depend on it!

Just a few here but many more to sort out tomorrow!!

Twitt