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Friday, 14th June

A common misconception with different training methods and different exercises is that you are only “supposed” to do certain movements based on your goals.

For example, if you are trying to lose body fat, trying to increase your speed, then you don’t need to do much weight training, and power exercises are totally not necessary!!

This is the big mistake that many people walk into.

Power and speed are very closely related, and you cannot have one without the other. This is why i always put these power movements in every programme, because of the strength it gives you all over. Bodyweight exercises for example involve total power. Your core has to take a lot of the strain and will deliver a lot of power throughout your body.

Boxing requires a lot of power, and this is one great discipline for getting you a lot faster and gets you shedding body fat quicker than just about anything else. Boxing is a great addition to your training programme for speed and power without a shadow of a doubt.

People used to say that weight training slowed you down, we now know that the opposite is in fact true! If done properly, weight training can revolutionalise your speed and power.

One of the best training techniques is sprinting, and if you have done it you will realise its all about power. Why do people sprint? Because they want to get quicker of course!

Power exercises should be embedded in your programme and never leave if you want to be stronger and faster in just about anything you want to do!!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 11th June

The reason you are doing this is often forgotten, but this reason is often what will pick you up when you’re down, when you don’t feel like training that day or week, this reason will also help you shop better for food, not stray into eating junk food at times, and generally keep you on track.

Some people use a photograph of themselves when they were really in shape all those years ago, and sometimes stick it on the fridge to incentivize them to eat well, even when they have the strongest of urges not to!

Some people use a photograph of themselves carrying TOO MUCH weight! This can also help them get fired up so they don’t look like that ever again!

We need these little cue’s on often on a daily basis, so eating well really does become part of your daily life.
I always use the brushing teeth example. Ask yourself why you really clean your teeth and you will realize why you clean them every morning and every night before bed, these types of questions you need to ask yourself when it comes to exercising and eating well.

Ask yourself what it really means to you, how much you’re going to benefit from an improved healthy lifestyle, and how much better you’re going to look and feel from it?

Then ask yourself what it would mean to your lifestyle if you DID NOT adopt a healthy lifestyle? What would the negatives be? What would you lose in terms of the way you look and feel?!!
Whether it’s a diary you keep, or the photos you put on the fridge, the photos you have of yourself on your phone or computer, whether its your new years resolution you may actually achieve this year, or the life-changing decision you made to get healthy in the first place for WHATEVER reason, keep reminding yourself and you’re bound to keep improving!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 3rd June

With the temperatures finally rising, there is even greater opportunity to train hard and expand your options! This is what you would think anyway.

My experience with people i bump into in general life says that people usually get diverted in the warmer weather, and the summer months are not usually the best throughout the year. My own experience with the people i actually train is that because they have a good level of commitment, and i do a lot of early morning sessions, then the weather becomes less of a factor and my summer months of training individuals can be very productive indeed.

I do a lot more cycling sessions in the summer. I run more in the summer, i even do swimming sessions sometimes in the summer! I do some hiking up mountains in the summer due to the much more pleasant conditions, and i still manage to get a lot of indoor work done too. I love the variety at this time of year due to the extra light, the better surface running conditions and generally everywhere is so much more accessible!

So the message here today is to get away from thinking that its “too warm” to train, or you could be doing “other things””, its time to be more positive and realise how many more different options you now have in your training, and have the courage of your convictions and actually do them, instead of talking a good game!

Plan your training sessions in advance, work hard when you get to your training venue, follow through on what you planned to do, drink enough water and make sure you have some available at all times, and eat well afterwards.

This is a successful way to do it, then keep planning your sessions and exactly what you intend to do.

Don’t gie up on yourself, recognise what all this nice weather has to offer and embrace it for much better results!!

Twitt
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Monday, 20th May

Monday is always a big measurement day for me, and i know i have quite a few lined up today.

For those who regularly go through it, you will know what i am talking about. For those of you who never chart your progress, here’s why you should immediately adopt the process.

First of all, how do you know how you are improving?

Second, even if you feel better and things you think are improving, how do you know how much?

Thirdly, even if you know all of these things, how do you know which exercises have contributed the most, and which exercises have contributed the least, and perhaps you have been wasting your time on some movements, and you could have spent your time much better on a far more efficient programme for yourself?

Chances are if you are not looking at these key indicators, then you are training at a facility that doesn’t care about your progress, doesn’t have the resources or expertise to monitor your progress, and just concentrates on how many direct debits they can get. Your progress IS REALLY NOT on their agenda.

What happens if your blood pressure is high?

What happens if you have palpatations from exercise?

What happens if you have a bad knee from certain movements, but don’t know any other way?

What happens if your body fat levels are at dangerous levels? What’s the best way to solve the problem and get some momentum in our health and fitness plan?

As i said, measurements are part of my training day, and i know all my clients highly value this way of doing things, because it answers a LOT of questions immediately.

Twitt
Posted on

Friday, 17th May

Apologies about the lack of posts the last couple of days, but again we have had security issues on the site, with people trying to log in illegally, but hopefully we are back to normal now!

That back to normal statement in exercise terms doesn’t and shouldn’t exist really, because your exercise programme should be a constantly moving project, and nothing should remain the same for long.

If you have been reading this for any length of time, then you will know that we are focused on results, and you should also know by now that you have to change the exercises and intensity of what you do often, not only for results but for variety too, which keeps everything fresh and exciting!

If you are sticking to just machines in your training, then the movements you are practicing are limiting you in all sorts of ways. Chances are that your body is moving in one plane of motion all the time, when it could be moving over the full 360 degrees in all sorts of different exercises if you are willing to be shown, and open your mind to a different and more rewarding way of training?!!!

Machines can be fine for certain movements,but i strongly encourage you to mix things up far more, and give yourself a richer experience when you train, and all the time you will be further along the path of not only getting much better results, but ENJOYING your training far more too!!!

It’s time you switched to ropes, medicine balls, wall balls, harnesses, bungees, agility ladders, hurdles, tyres, swiss balls, bosu balls and that’s JUST THE START!!!!

Twitt