Friday, 30th December

After the christmas festivities, and the impending new year celebrations, a big thing is looming for many people and that is doing something about feeling better again. Most people are scared of doing so for whatever reason and this applies to just about everything.

Some people want to be more assertive, some feel they can’t make the right decision or ANY decision, some fear getting intimate, some are scared of changing careers or jobs, some are scared of being  alone, some people are scared to learn to drive, some people can’t end a destructive relationship, and some people yes are scared of getting fit and healthy!

No point making fun of that last paragraph because most if not all of us have been in this situation at some time or another?!!!

A lot of us fear being successful or being a failure, some of us hate living and all of us worry about dying at some stage!!

I talk on here all the time about the power of actually DOING something about it, and the massive positive difference that can bring to your life.

If you are depressed and find your current life painful, making a fresh start in 2012 will bring much more power and excitement to your life, if you set off on a sustainable course.

You should accept fear and being scared as a fact of life, rather than a obstacle to your success. Use the fear to your advantage for a change, how many people who become successful say that the number of people who said “they couldn’t possibly achieve all they did” was actually a massive spur for them in their careers and  they used all that fear and negativity as a tool, rather than a hindrance.

I’m sure there are lots of you dying to prove a lot of people wrong who have previously written you off? Its time to accept the fact that you are actually very capable after all, and its a case of re-educating and re-programming your mind, rather than writing off your obvious potential.

The people who tell you that you had better not change your situation, there’s nothing else in life for you or you’ll never do it all on your own are the negative people you want to delete  from your life. After doing this, you can move on to great things!!!!

Have a great new year and we start on monday with how you can really fulfill your true potential!!!

Wednesday, 14th December

Making fresh goals in the run up to christmas may seem alien to most, but it may be exactly what you need!

If 2012 seems a long way away, you may be shocked to hear its only 18 days away!!! 18 days left until the end of the year!!!

If it seems stupid to look forward  until then, you may be glad you did in a couple of weeks.

Only once did i decide not to train for a couple of weeks over christmas, and i suffered like never before!

My asthma came back in a big way, i was wheezing like i was on 40 a day! My first run back nearly half killed me and i felt as much out of shape as i have ever done!!!

After that run, i decided there and then NEVER to stop training over christmas again!!!

I have spoken to many, many people since and they have been through the same thing.

I have even been running christmas day, thats not to impress you but it was more to do with my desperation  to rid myself of that wheezy stodgy feeling that comes with over-eating, over-drinking and under-exercising!!!

This is to potentially save you those horrible interal feelings of no energy, and literally no get up and go.

So whatever schedule you are on now, i would try to still keep it up to some degree. If you currently workout 5 times a week in some form, i would still try and do 3 times a week even if its light to moderate intensity. This will take care of all the excess calories and help you feel more like your normal self.

The big thing it will also give you is a flying start to 2012!!! Just when everyone else will be going through the Groundhog day of starting to exercise and eat healthy, you will already be making fresh goals from a very strong position!!!

If that sounds attractive, lets get going and keep on going!!!!

Thursday, 24th November

All options are possible if you apply yourself to a goal that’s uppermost in your mind.

What stops us getting there is being sidetracked into minor things that have no bearing on what we are trying to achieve.

This week as I have said yesterday, has seen me focus on getting every single person I train up to their best levels for the year. This has led to exciting training sessions and previously unseen motivation levels.

There are so many things that can detract us from our goals, this is why its vital to have a structure in our lives we can do without even thinking about it.

I had to visit the dentist today with a minor complaint, but still enough pain to cause me some distress. We then get lectured (rightly I might add!) on how to clean our teeth properly, twice a day to enable us to have our teeth for a lifetime. Im sure most if not all of you have experienced this.

So why do we brush our teeth every day, twice a day, some people more, and we cant look after the rest of our bodies every day?

If we don’t look after our teeth, they eventually fall out!

If we don’t look after our body and continually abuse it, we are likely to have a heart attack or bring on a serious disease.

So by that comparison, most of the population doesn’t treat their body with the respect it deserves, until its too late usually when you are being lectured by a doctor in hospital!

So if you are doubting whether to continue your exercise programme, and somehow questioning the virtues of eating healthy food daily, then surely this must be the wake up call you need?

The primary need to exercise and eat right is to be healthy, to function properly in daily life, for your immune system to be strong to fight off disease, and to live a decent quality of life.

Surely these most basic reasons are enough to get you back on track and get you exercising today!!!

Monday 12th September

Having an escape route to relieve life’s tensions has become even more important.

With life’s pressure’s getting bigger and bigger for most people, the escape route in exercise terms has never been so important!

I can think of many people who use exercise as the perfect route.

It could be a bike ride on a more obscure route, it could be a run in the woods, or it could be a simple walk anywhere.

What you find with these options for exericse is that you not only get a good fat burning workout in, you also get some “you time” when you can gather your thoughts and really unwind after the pressure of a hard day, or if you turn it around another way, you can exercise first thing in the morning which is the best preparation for a hard day to come, and seriously helps with the pressures of normal life to come!!!

Everyone has a favourite run or bike ride, or cycle or even swim becomes they become familiar with it.

I have a woman with five children i train who likes nothing better than walking up a really steep route to her friends house, and a walk that used to take her 40 minutes now only takes 20 minutes!!! What once was a pain in the you know what of a run has now become a quick easy walk which she now happens to do more often!!

The best part about the walk is the time out she gets when she can let off steam and think about what went right and what went wrong with her day! Some people use alcohol as this emotional crutch but many, many people i train now use their daily “escape route” as their must do every day.

Nothing better than getting rid of stress and losing  body fat the same time!!!

Monday 18th July

Good news on a Monday always settles you on a steady course for the rest of this week. Start with effort and you get a whole lot of confidence straight away and your results are likely to be very good indeed.

What helps me sometimes is going through the lists of food I give out to new clients, so they are always worth a visit in the diet section. The lists on breakfast ideas, lunch and evening choices and snack ideas reinforce my thinking on what I should be shopping for on a weekly basis.

I know if I REALLY want to be performing and feeling my best, then these foods HAVE to be a big part of my week.

I talked about the stress of moving home last week, but these foods have helped me an awful lot when it comes to re-energising me and getting me fired up to get through my working week.

“You are what you eat” has never been more true.

If you want to look like something really soft and spongy, then please go ahead and eat the ready meals, the cakes and biscuits, the chips, the greasy options in most café’s, these are the foods that will make you feel like you have NO energy and no enthusiasm for life!

If you are reading this, then it shouldn’t be a wild guess that you are looking for excellent results when it comes to looking amazing and feeling fantastic.

This is why I am banging on about diet today, because you can train ALL YOU WANT, but you can NEVER make up for a poor diet and deep down you know there are no short cuts to long term success with your health and fitness.

If you do click on the diet section on the right hand side today, you will refresh your mind and sometimes open your mind again to the extreme good value of changing your diet for the better.

Monday is a day to rebalance your body and put it on sustainable and energetic path for the week. It all starts with good nutrition, no excuses and lets get it right starting today!