Wednesday 21st September

When you talk to real life people who stay in shape or got into shape, the answers are always a lot simpler than you think.

For example, when you ask some people how they did it, did they cut out carbs? Did they cut out just bread? Did they never drink again? Etc etc!!! The reality as i said is that there are no miracles.

This reality plays out like this-they didnt cut out carbs but didnt eat huge quantities either (they had portion control).

They ate good carbs such as brown rice, wholemeal bread, wholegrain pasta and definitely didnt eat junk food anymore, absolutely NOT those types of carbs!!

When going to restaurants, simple things like not having dessert tend to work they tell me. If a huge plate of food comes your way, then only eat three quarters of it, simple!!

Some successful people eat really well but always have hearty appetites! They get around this by putting quality workouts in and give it everything they have!!! They use this as a very valid excuse to eat heartily, and who can blame them, i have some triathletes and marathon runners who could eat anyone out of house and home!!!

Most if not ALL people in shape i train or know or both never drink in the week, alcohol in the week is a one way ticket towards weight gain and miserable performances in all areas of your life FULL STOP.

Most people in shape never eat late at night, after all where are you going to put all of those extra calories!!!! A very successful strategy that works!!!

These little changes aren’t exactly mind-blowing are they?!!! One thing’s for sure though, they ARE life changing!!!!

Most nutritionists agree that these LITTLE changes make the BIG difference!!!

Time to get a grip, give yourself a better quality of life by fitting these little habits in, and enjoy the massive results to come!!!

Thursday 15th September

14 weeks to Christmas and an ideal opportunity to put a sequence of events in place to make sure you’re in great shape by then.

Number one is that you have to WANT to do it. Of course everyone WANTS to be in shape, but how many of you are really willing to go through the kind of effort needed to do so?

I see so many people believe it or not asking for OTHER people to get into shape. If someone else has to ask for you to get into shape, then there is a sincere lack of will to do it in the first place.

If you have a lack of will, then what hope have you got?

The abundance of will and NEED to do something will be the driving force when times get tough.

For example, I was talking to the coach of an under-achieving rugby team the other day, and complained that they always start off well, falter big time mid-season and then fall away completely at the end of the year.

When I dug under the surface of the problem, the issues on why these performances were falling away soon became apparent.

The most amount of players they had out for training was in the summer months just before the season started, which explained their excellent start to the year, in fact 30-35 players.

Then when the bad weather came, it went down to 10 players believe it or not.

Then because of under preparation, they start losing and the turn out’s dwindle to sometimes 4-6 players!!!

Then you don’t have to guess too hard that the season more or less collapses due some heavy losses. The players who were then tempted to come back often just write that season off and promise to  come back the next season!!!

So does that team “want it” enough?

 Definitely not it seems.

You will find the most successful teams or individuals are the ones who practice the most, with most intensity and don’t have big gaps in terms of weeks or months in the time they train or play.

UP TO YOU!!! 14 WEEKS TO GO!!!!

Friday 26th August

The end of the week is here and have you followed my tips on eating well from monday morning right through until now? If you have, chances are that you have performed well all week, you have dropped some body fat, you feel tighter, you are more cheerful and you have a lot to shout about. You can relax a bit tonight, have a meal you may not normally have and gradually relax as you get into the weekend.

Enjoy your sunday lunch and gradually ease back so you’re fired up to go again on monday.

Let me clarify  the first paragraph, this doesnt mean going mad all weekend eating as much junk as possible!!! “Easing up” doesn’t mean that, it means you can be a bit looser on your diet and it doesn’t mean drinking like a fool all weekend either!!! Nothing wrong with a drink, but there is plenty wrong with drinking flat out from friday evening right through until sunday night!!! So better to get that all sorted out because people interpret things differently from others.

Does that sound sustainable to you? I don’t think that lifestyle is so bad at all!!!

So monday until most of friday is very good eating patterns, saturday is fun too and have a bit of what you fancy, and sunday more of a relaxing day. This isnt killing yourself on some kind of spartan regime, this is achievable in my eyes and should enable you to drop body fat on a regular basis, perform well in your valuable workouts and really be one of the out-performers in life!!!

Your foundations are the difference between getting into shape without even thinking or worrying about it, or going through the horror and disappointment of yo-yo dieting, which MOST people unfortunately go through.

You will end up paying a fortune on getting into and out of shape in your lifetime. You don’t need to do that anymore surely?!!!! The information is here and its time to make it happen!!!

Wednesday August 24th

After speaking to quite a few athletes over the last couple of weeks about their training, it became apparent that theres lots of individuals and teams out there with serious deficiencies out there, in terms of physical preparation and training. Its fine for these teams to talk about how they are “the best prepared they have ever been” every season but the reality that i see is far from that.

Its not down to a lack of knowledge either, theres a ton of information out there about getting into seriously good shape, but obviously its not happening across the board.

Whether you’re an athlete or you just have general health and fitness goals, there’s no excuse now not to get there.

If you’re not working out with weights/resistance at least twice a week then why not?!!!! No other activity will contribute  more to you boosting your metabolic rate, losing body fat and firming it, strength training is absolutely critical, and even science back it up now and has done for many years.

If you’re not giving your heart and lungs a good workout every day or most days, then why not? Getting oxygen into your body will have endless great effects on your body, making you internally so much stronger and feel so much better too, swimming, running, walking, cycling etc can have terrific results for your body if done with purpose and with a good intensity!!!

Even if you’re doing these two big things, then whats happening with your other stuff? Im talking things like medicine balls, and swiss balls, you can work your core and balance to new levels by taking a more aggressive route with these two great tools. I include them in every workout with individuals and once you use them, you will never leave them out again. Its time to embrace them now and you will never look back!!!

You know what to do, lets get on and actually do it and with purpose!!!!

Monday 8th August

The world may still be a bit uncertain this monday, but perhaps is people are naturally worried about the fundamentals of the global economy, and whether we are going into another recession or not?

Hopefully we are not of course, but thats what it comes down to at the end of the day-fundamentals and are they working for us.

Its become a lot easier over the years to spot when people are going wrong as well as right of course.

Its easy to spot whether the fundamentals are going well or even going in at all!!!

Someone who trains hard but pays no attention to diet will never reach more than 40-50% of their potential!!!

Someone who shows no commitment to their training and eats what they like shouldn’t expect to improve their physical wellbeing, its not really going to happen and this hope for the best attitude won’t work in a million years.

Nobody is perfect of course but those who train well and eat well are great to work with because there is always lots of enthusiasm in the workouts and life in general. There is usually lots of energy in their lives and with that comes drive and excitement in my experience.

The people who train well and eat well on a consistent basis are the ones who show the best illustration of individuals implementing the ALL IMPORTANT fundamentals!!!

This is what you need to work towards, and it should all start today-thats m0nday and its all a question of whether you are prepared to get stuck in or not?!!

Now is not a time to talk about it, you know what the fundamentals are and you know they will bring certainty to your life, all you have to do is give them a chance to work, and show some guts and grit when everything doesnt always go your way!!!!