Posted on

Tuesday, 20th August

The biggest surprise that individuals have when they come home from holidays is their first measurement immediately after returning home.

Depending on what type of holiday they have had, the measurements across the range can vary wildly!

Someone who has drunk alcohol every night on their trip and eaten heavily will be the worst offenders and their first measurement usually shocks them!

Blood pressure is usually way up!

Their resting heart rate is usually way up!

They usually put 2-3 inches on their waist and hips.

They usually add 2-4% body fat which is a significant number!

Their energy levels have vanished and show no signs of returning.

Their motivation is at an all-time low.

Their start back to exercising again is usually delayed by a series of minor excuses.

So you can a two week holiday of this kind of indulgence can have a serious effect on one’s ability to get back to where you were before the holiday!

It’s up to you what kind of holiday you want but beware the consequences of constantly overdoing it EVERY night on holiday. The best advice is to get straight away into it, take your time the first week back especially, and within 2-3 weeks, you will soon be feeling yourself once again!!

This shows the benefits of measurements too! If you weren’t constantly checked, you wouldn’t know the damage caused internally, as well as how you look in the mirror of course compared to when you went away!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 23rd July

Now that the very warm weather seems to have subsided a little bit for the moment, its time to focus on your own personal best’s and standards you have in training.

For example, if you have managed to train through the extreme temperatures, then the first thing you will notice now is your ability to work a lot harder than usual.

I had several sprint sessions last night, and everyone seemed to be performing better than ever, even though it was hot but not quite so hot as it has been, and there was a lovely breeze last night which meant conditions were far better than at any time for the last 3 weeks or so.

The weather has cooled down a lot today, with the threat of flooding! You should look at this as a further opportunity to get back to your highest standards, and start hitting your big numbers again.

In most cases, the last 3 weeks of extremely warm weather has been about simply “surviving” the weather, now is your chance to feel the boost to your body that a period like that will give to your body is done sensibly. As I said at the time, many top athletes in the winter purposely seek out warm weather destinations so they can actively boost their performances by training in very warm weather.

When they come back, they not only feel invigorated, but they feel that their performance level has been raised considerably.

Warm weather can be a benefit and a nightmare.

It’s a benefit when you hydrate properly, be sensible about training in extreme heat, and generally get through it steadily rather than going over the top.

It is a nightmare for many when they don’t drink enough water, don’t eat enough food and do over the top efforts in extremely hot temperatures.

So see the last 3 weeks as your very own warm weather “camp”, and you should begin to see the benefits very soon in your own personal performance level.

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 22nd July

It’s officially holiday season now for most as schools have just about finished for the summer, and many work places are going to be off soon, or more or less in shut down mode.

Personally, I have already had people who have been away and are now back from their holiday.

The biggest problem this week is the tiredness from the return journey to get themselves up for the exercise part, and to wean themselves off all the excess sugar and fat they had on holiday.

This week then is ultra-important for getting back into the habits you had before you went away.

In my experience, if you don’t get back into it this week in eating terms, then you are going to take a long time to get back to where you were before you went away.

Taste buds are always changed on holidays, and getting back to plainer foods is a real shock to the system this week, but if you don’t do it, then the next few weeks are going to be a big struggle for you. Just think that if you commit yourself to eating well just for this week after a holiday, then you will be back to your best sometimes in just two weeks. Either that or you will have the rest of the summer carrying all those extra pounds that you didn’t want, and you will be too afraid to take your top off in the sun!

This is why I try to impress upon you the importance of keeping a good structure in your eating, and how vital it is to get right back into that schedule again that you very likely lost on your holiday!

You will look and feel a whole lot better, and your performances in your workouts will soon again be top drawer!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 16th July

If you’re struggling with your eating, then you’re only reaching half your potential.

If you’re in a serious training programme, looking to put on some muscle and perform to your capacity, then you had better start getting serious right now about food!

Breakfast will always be your most important meal of the day. Porridge, eggs, Weetabix, shredded wheat always work well.

Mid morning always needs a healthy snack to keep your blood sugar levels steady, keep you energized and stop you being too hungry lunch time! Some people have a protein shake and this can fill you up nicely.

Lunch time is a great time to fill up again, put some energy in as well as some good protein sources such as chicken, turkey, lean beef, tuna, salmon, mackerel, cottage cheese etc. If you get a chance to sit down, have the protein source with a jacket potato with some vegetables.

If you’re on the move a lot or in work, try wholemeal pitta bread or wholemeal bread. Don’t put too much spread on if possible.

Mid afternoon is a vital time to fill up on energy, fruit or a bowl of porridge can work well at this time with everything focused on your evening workout.

Evening meal will be ultra-important after the evening workout as your body needs to repair itself. So you need to make sure your protein source is good, have some good carbs such as brown rice, new potatoes, jacket potatoes, wholegrain pasta etc, these are the very best choices.

Make sure you have some veg with most meals as they are the nutrients that really look after you internally, and help your body function at its top potential. You also have to look at your general health and make sure you get a healthy supply of veg in every day goes a long way to making sure that happens.

Try and make sure you drink at least 1.5 to 2 litres of water a day, sip throughout the day and don’t just leave it to the evening when you train.

Eating every 3-4 hours is critical to you achieving what you want, and performing with the kind of energy that you are going to need for our ever-increasing workouts!

This needs to happen most days, as one good day here and there won’t make hardly any difference. Consistency is the name of the game and getting smaller, more regular meals is the biggest thing you need to get used to so you can start making fresh progress straight away!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday,15th July

With a slight cooling temperatures this morning (although temporary), it gives us a chance to see if training through the warm weather has had a positive effect on our fitness or not.

Those of you have got through the last two weeks and performed your usual workouts will have benefitted immensely from that effort and tonight you are very likely going to be able to put in a top performance tonight. The relief in temperature will give your body’s internal temperature a breather too, meaning you don’t get as hot internally when exercising as you would in extreme heat.

Warm weather training for around three months has long been used by professional athletes. California, Australia and Florida used to be the main destinations for training camps, along with Tenerife and Lanzarote becoming more and more popular very recently with the likes of Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky Cycling, along with the England rugby team.

Former rugby union and league player Jonathan Davies was asked yesterday about the league game in Warrington being brutally hot, he agreed but said it used to be far hotter in Papua New Guinea and Townsville in Australia, when temperatures frequently soared well over 100 degrees! He did say though that it took him many weeks to get used to it.

The lesson is that you can train in warm temperatures, but take your time to get used to it, drink plenty of water throughout the day, never do more than you think you can, don’t train any longer than usual (in fact train for less in terms of minutes) and always stop if you feel dizzy or unwell.

So if you have been sticking with it all, then you will find yourself in great condition going into this week, and achieved a period of warm weather training of your own in preparation for a renewed period of progress coming your way!

Twitt