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Get away from time, concentrate more on performance!

Who do you think is fitter out of the following and in the best physical condition?

The 100m runner who runs it in under 10 seconds or the one who does it in 12 seconds?

The runner who can run up a 2 mile gradient in 14 minutes or the one who takes 25minutes?

The swimmer who takes 10 lengths in 15 minutes or the one who does it in 25 minutes?

The cyclist who can cycle around pembrey country park in 30 minutes or the one who does it in 60 minutes?

The person who does his/her 3 circuits of inside workouts without a break, or the one who has to take a break after each exercise?

The person who power walks with her dog or the one who ambles along stopping to talk to everyone over the same distance and takes twice as long?

The one who recovers very quickly from a tough exercise session or the one who takes all day to recover from a tough session?

The one who can do 10 sprints up steep hills without much of a break apart from walking back down the hill, or the one who needs 3 minutes break in between each sprint?

The person who focuses on constant improvement every month or the ones who goes through the motions every day, every week, every month, every year, not focusing on improvement, just “getting through it”.

There are exceptions to a couple of these but in the main, if you are faster and stronger at something, it is a great sign that usually your body fat is lower, your strength is better and your health is in great shape. Since we don’t really want to be getting involved in races against our friends, we need to start competing with ourselves a bit more!!!

You should be able to tell if you’re improving right away. Are you better than last week, last month or especially last year? Are you going through the motions in your training or do you really try to do your best in most sessions? Did you have health worries in the past and have you tried living your lifestyle in a much healthier way to alleviate those concerns? These are the questions you should be asking yourself, especially as we come to the end of the year. Its always a time for reflection and its not too late to finish the year off at a high if you really want to.

Those distance high’s may seem a long way off, but if you train regularly, eat well and sleep well, and have patience, those once proud moments in your life will be your again!

Lets give it a go and get going!! Nine weeks to christmas so lets get a move on!!!

Twitt
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Your way of life

Okay, we discussed over the last couple of days how easy it is to get into your workouts, how they don’t have to take you all day, and how important it is to work with purpose in your workouts, rather than against the clock.

We talked about half an hour in your day is possible to bring about excellent progress in your training, as long as you knew what you were doing and you gave a real effort each day you trained, i have to make it clear right now that you shouldnt kill yourself and work TOO hard, that is not necessary, we need progress and we dont need anyone collapsing so thats a big warning on safety reasons!! PROGRESS AND SAFETY, yes it can be done and i get people doing it every day.

I think this is an excellent way of making sure you train for a lifetime and not just for one month, one week, or one year. If you set yourself unrealistic expectations, you will be setting yourself up for failure full stop. One of those unreasonable expectations would be to train for 2 hours at a time. I have met so many people who do so and you know they are not  going to keep that kind of schedule up for a lifetime.

People who will do that longer period of training (90-120 minutes per day) are usually around 18 years of age and perhaps thats their main focus on life, as responsibilities are pretty much non-existant in their life. Once life changes for them, they often quit exercising and make that famous excuse “i havent got time” again.

I think 90-120 minutes training is not only nearly impossible to stick to and keep up, its not productive. I know some of you have/do train for long periods, but was it/is it really sustainable long term without breaks? Wouldnt you like more time in your day to have fun and do other things?

I have had a couple of people train with me in the last couple of weeks (sons of parents i train) who said they usually workout for these long periods and i swear to god, we did a workout which was pretty non-stop and they lasted 29-30 minutes, and both of them very fit to start with. They couldnt believe how much they really did in half and hour and wanted to train this way forever, because there were BETTER things to do than hang out in the gym all day training!! They told me that they had never worked so hard, but it was of high-quality and they felt sure great results would come.

Thats the bottom line, if you can get some great, results-orientated training in your life and it only takes 30 minutes, WHAT are you waiting for. This lets you get awesome results, allows more time to do other things and keeps the chances of you staying fresh and actually KEEPING to the programme very high.

What more do you want?

The science is there now to support all of this, lets make this a way of life you can keep up AND get fantastic results from!!!

Twitt
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Summer in october

The warmer weather may be the perfect excuse to get back to normal with your outdoor training, and with the average temperature this weekend likely to be 20 degrees, there has never been a better time to get out on the bike and go for a run and go for a walk, not necessarily all three of course but hopefully you will know what I mean!

This is your chance to set a marker in the sand and really go for it again, and tell yourself that this is the time to do it once and for all.

Its also a good time to remind yourself that next spring and next summer will be here soon enough too. Its not going to be good enough then to hang out in baggy jumpers and coats to hide how much weight you may or not put on. You will want to show your improvements off.

The hard work is always done over the winter months and it starts right now if you really want to make a spectacular difference to yourself. The most important workouts are always those you don’t really want to do and the news is that the dark mornings are already here, and cold evenings are waiting around the corner after this hot spell. It is a false dawn before the winter so lets make the most of it and think of the rewards that will be yours next spring.

There will be no baggy jumpers or baggy bottoms next year, you will be able to show off your transformation if you really apply yourself right now, spring will be full of compliments if you just show up for your own workouts and shop well for good food!

My guess is that you will be able to see lots of people on bikes etc this weekend in the warm so lets make the start right now. The same people are not likely to be out in the dead of winter and that’s the challenge, to keep your training up during the harder, darker months, when the real progress is made so lets give it your best, starting this weekend!!!

Twitt
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Get inspired, its good for you!

Not many could not have been moved by the excellent ryder cup at celtic manor yesterday and its exciting finish. Im not exactly golf’s biggest fan but yesterday certainly excited a lot of people including me. Truly inspiring would be a fair description.

This sort of spectacle will get more people to play golf simply because they were inspired, and in my book thats always a good thing.

Many of you fail to get inspired because the day in day out nature of exercising may not be the most exciting thing in the world. The inspiration comes every time when you receive complements about your appearance, this isnt reserved just for others, it can be for you too if you put the work in, honestly!!!

This type of effort though requires you to be positive in everything you do and put health very high on your list of priorities of life.

Like we always say, its easy to be negative and not doing anything. Thats the easiest thing in the world, to become Jeremy Kyle’s number one fan and not move at all from the settee each day, except maybe into your car, another sitting down experience which wont help you in your quest for fat loss much!!

Changing from your old lifestyle to an active new lifestyle full of vitality isnt as hard as it sounds.

All it takes is daily action and taking every day one at a time.

You have every chance to do it too because its all about you. Unlike a team sport, theres nobody esle to rely on, really theres not. Every single thing you put into your programme, you will get 100% out in terms of results. If you let yourself down by not exercising or eating badly or both, its your fault and you cant blame anyone but yourself.

I think there is the individual in all of us, this is your chance to finally become successful with your health. Some days even a walk in the fresh air will be considered a success, especially if you were only going to lay on the settee and be a slob for the evening!

Doing things outside your comfort zone will be the difference between having a million complements and having medicore results. Its easy to slob in front of the tv every night, deep down though you know thats not right and you’re wasting your life away.

Its tuesday so we have all week to send a new trend in your life!!!

Twitt
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Time flies

So its 12 short weeks to christmas and have you got into your pre-christmas regime yet?

Seasons and years pass you by in an instant seemingly and this year has been no different. Many things have probably happened to you this year, some good and some not so good probably, but you’re still here and you’re in a great position to make a lot out of yourself by the year end.

Its time to forget the cards you were dealt. We all now have the same tools when it comes to getting in shape.

We all have the same access to the same supermarkets or shops for food. We all have the same access to the outside to train, or use our living room to train, this is entirely possible and this cannot be argued.

We have the same opportunity to get a good night’s sleep and get energised for the next day’s exercise. This is possible isn’t it?

So you don’t have to be rich or be born into the right family to be fit and healthy, that has to be correst doesn’t it?

So what more excuses have you got not to be in shape and getting excited about feeling good about yourself again?

The facts are that time really does fly and christmas and the end of the year WILL really come along, that is a fact. What you do from now until then will dictate the way you look, the way you feel, your self-confidence and self-esteem, in a nutshell all good things will happen from this day on as long as you commit yourself to 12 weeks of really good eating, really good training and a healthy lifestyle when feeling good becomes paramount.

Some people rely on alcohol to feel good, some rely on drugs, some rely on negativity etc etc, you could be relying on the natural and best way of doing it. Good natural food, simple natural training and plenty of sleep will take you a very long way!!

12 weeks saturday is christmas day and time flies, what are you waiting for?!!

Twitt