Posted on

Thursday, 29th November

The run up to christmas is well and truly underway, and the big issue for me this week is how to get the best out of all the individuals i train in the smallest amount of time possible!!!

Most people are time-crunched these days, life is getting faster and faster, and when you throw the run up to christmas, you have a cocktail that can really stop you training, and at least stop your overall progress in its tracks!

I am used to this situation every single year and have been for years.

The solution? You have to think smart, and make every second of your workout count.

On your weights, if you do 3 sets of 8 reps for example on every exercise, that can come down to 1-2 sets. Do the first set normally, and then try the second set at your maximum capability. The normal 8 reps could easily become 12-15 if you really put a big effort in!!!

If you do your bodyweight exercises such as press ups, arm dips etc, and you usually do 3 lots of them, cut that down to just one lot. For example if you do 3 lots of 12 press ups, then try and aim for 20-25 press ups in one go.

If you go for a regular run, and say it usually lasts for 30 minutes on flat surfaces, then aim to cut that run down 12-15 minutes by either running a lot quicker, using lampposts for interval training (sprint for one post, rest the other, sprint the next post etc), or try incorporating steep hills, and turn your workout into a series of 10 sprints for 30 yards, and try 5 sprinting forwards and 5 backwards.

These are all examples of still getting a lot of quality in your workouts, still getting results and never giving up!!! Especially now its nearly december, where usually most good intentions go off the rails pretty quickly!

Time not to give up, and i challenge you to stay the course!!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 28th November

The individual that you see when you first start an exercise programme is always a reflection of that person’s patterns of action, in other words their habits, the things they do day in day out without even thinking about them.

In order to completely change and tranform yourself to a better you, to a leaner, stronger and fitter you, its obvious and indeed critical that those everyday habits absolutely need to change.

The bad habits are always going to be viewed as the things that hold you back, they stop you from moving forward and achieving long term success.

If you are looking for a higher quality of life, then you had better start adopting a lot better and higher quality habits in your daily life.

The first way to do this is to recognise your lowest level habit, i am talking about the habit that drags you down the most, the one that makes you put on weight or the habit that stops you training regularly, or the habit that makes you think negatively!!!

This bad and ultimately negative habit needs to be transformed into a much more positive pattern of action!!

You will find that as your standard gets higher and higher, it will be a case of continuously raising your standards.

For example, if you currently eat badly 7 days a week, then suddenly eating well 3 days a week would have a big difference to your body.

Once you made that change, you would find that you would want to improve again. The target may well go up to eating well 6 days a week, creating another massive difference. The goals would go higher and higher, depending on what standard of life you want to achieve!! The habits would need to change upwards accordingly.

Set your stall out and make that standard in life as high as you can!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 26th November

Personally i got through a lot of measurements on different individuals last week, and one thing was hammered home to them……………that this next four weeks are absolutely critical.

It’s always vital to finish off the year strong for all sorts of reasons.

If you finish off 2012 well, you set the right tone straight away for 2013!

If you have a good december full of hard training, you are less likely to overdo it on the food side of things, you won’t want to blow all the hard work.

It’s always nice not being “part of the crowd” too. Whilst most of your friends or relatives who exercise from time to time have probably long given it up for the year, doesn’t it feel good realising that you do actually have the grit and determination in you to carry on and finish off the year very strong?!!

If you have reached a partiicular level in your training, or for example you have taken off 8 inches off your waist all year and surely you don’t want to put 2-3 inches back on? Just as you are doing so well?

What if you have dropped 10% body fat this year? It doesn’t sound as good if you put 3-4% body fat on in december!

To reach these particularly high levels in development and progress, you must have worked hard, you must have shown great courage and my guess if that you already have a good degree of mental strength.

All i want you to do is show that courage for one more month, and really enjoy your christmas far more this year being in the best shape you possibly can!!! Wouldn’t it be great having compliments on the way you look before christmas, and have absolutely no pressure in getting into shape AFTER christmas because you are ALREADY in top shape!!!

Let’s put everything together and hit it hard one last time!!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 21st November

Hopefully now that you have realized that the so called “wonder” supplements I mentioned yesterday, are not really the super cure all’s that they claim to be!

My feelings on weight loss clubs are well documented, and I will leave it to the last few scientific studies who show they give false hope and continually make false claims to dupe people into buying their nutritionally deficient and chemically enhanced products that are somehow called “food” for some reason!

Unfortunately, many people will still go there in January and fall for the same old story after putting lots of weight on over Christmas. Groundhog day again I predict!

Surely by reading this thing most days, isn’t it time you simplified matters and your whole life by going into a supermarket and buying most of your food NATURAL and where possible, FRESH!!!
DRINK 1.5 LITRES OF PLAIN TAP WATER A DAY instead of buying drinks full of chemicals that people will promise you that will suddenly help you lose a lot of weight.

YES, YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

Decide not to accept the rubbish you are constantly fed by organisations who are trying to steal your money out of your pocket and bank account for methods of weight loss that will END UP PUTTING IT ALL BACK ON AND MORE!!!!

Get out there and exercise more, get on a proper plan, walk for 30 minutes a day, and I guarantee you will sleep well every night!

Don’t drink alcohol more than once a week, this will keep your body fat low, your blood pressure healthy and your heart much stronger!!!

I have been blunt today, but this is designed to save you money and actually to get you to do something that works, it’s a free country and up to you to decide if you really want to get in good physical condition or not!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 20th November

I continue to get questions on food supplements.

How much creatine should i take? Does it actually work?

Should i be taking vitamin C in vast quantities? Should i be taking it at all?

What about calcium tablets? Do they really strengthen my bones and joints?

I could go on and on with this one, as most people still ask about so called wonder cures?!!!

If you consider this, the european until wants to ban 70% of the supplement industry in europe, at least 70% that is!!

It’s not that they consider all of it dangerous, it’s just that that according to lengthy studies, they have found that most of them have no positive effect whatsoever!!! That statement pretty much sums up my attitude on the supplements already mentioned, if they work for you then fine, but there is little or no scientific evidence to back ANY of their claims.

Then you come to one of the most popular supplements on the markets, the “fatburner”!!!

I seem to have more questions on this than anything else.

The scientific answer is again that they have little or NO effect on your body whatsoever in terms of fat loss. However, the negative impact includes raising your heart rate including putting extra stress on your heart (which is of course very dangerous).

Sports drinks are only beneficial after 60 minutes of CONTINUOUS exercise, which is why i don’t recommend them for most people. For most people, they only end rotting your teeth and putting unwanted body fat on. Drink water, lose body fat and get just as much energy full stop!!

Then you have the other energy drinks, such as the ones full of caffeine. I have been against these for years, and i will mention that right now that one big company in the US, is facing a massive law suit and being accused of causing death by heart attack after consumption. There are several cases in the US right now, so i think that says it all but make up your own judgement!!

You can see that a lot of the supplement industry is based on false claims, pure lies and downright dangerous ingredients.

Fresh natural food and plenty of water will take you a long, long way!!!

Twitt