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Wednesday, August 29th

The power of being positive about all areas of your life is probably the most productive thing you can do.

If you took this challenge on, and it is to be positive for the next seven days without fail, and ignore any negatives and if they do come up, then see the positive side of the situation! This is the big challenge!

If you do one or even three days, then this is not enough, you have to go the full seven days to see the biggest benefits, and to recondition yourself to a new way of looking at your life.

For example, you may have been on a diet in the past and done well initially, but when the first thing didnt go your way, you may have tended to get mad and panic, and go off on some king of eating binge, feeling sorry for yourself and seeing the very worst in the situation that came up.

This is common for lots of individuals who are trying to get into shape, and it can be quite a job to get that person’s mind straight and positive again after “falling off the wagon” so to speak. The good results are often ignored, instead the one blip is often magnified and highlighted, this is when confidence is totally lost.

If you can manage to have seven positive days and thoughts, then the negatives will be dealt with in their proper place, and not dwelled upon, this is the way it SHOULD be!! Most people spend far too much time “dwelling” and not enough time appreciating the positive situation with the training and their life, and conditioning your mind to seeing a different perspective is critical to becoming successful longer term.

Your mind is your most powerful muscle, and being far more positive will encourage you to take positive and decisive action which is always needed when you’re trying to make some major progress with your health and fitness!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 9th August

So if we are looking at 1% improvement in everything we do, then we need to examine what areas we need to look at, both to increase our performance and health in general.

First thing is quality of food.

Are you eating healthy at least 80% of the time?

Are you eating breakfast every day?

Do you have mid-morning snacks and mid-afternoon snacks?

Do you have a good nutrient-packed lunch each day?

Do you have a variety of vegetables with your lean proteins and good carbs in the evening?

Do you drink enough water throughout the day?

Do you sleep enough to recover both from your training and get up for the next day’s training?

Do you keep your portion sizes sensible to make sure you’re not overeating?

So after your weigh all of these things up and you have answered of all these questions honestly, how much in percentage terms do you think that you can improve in all of these areas, or at least most of them?

I will bet that most of you can improve hugely in percentage terms in most of them.

So imagine after i have made that statement, how much does it all add up for you? I will definitely bet with any of you that it adds up to MUCH MORE than 1%, that’s for sure!!!

There should be 10, 20, 30 or even 50% improvements in there if you really put your mind to it!!!

So when we set the original 1% goal, it must amaze you how much you’re not really doing at the moment to maximise your potential!!! It’s all a matter now of really putting your mind to it and executing a good game plan, designed to fully support your nutritional needs that a demanding training programme will absolutely need!!

This should be a daily and weekly list and a great reminder for you on how to eat well, and gear you up for putting in consistent performances and add huge percentages to your overall progress!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 6th August

There was a survey out in one of the online newspapers at the weekend, asking the readers if they had been inspired to exercise on the back of the british achievements in the olympics.

76% said no, 23% said yes and 1% didn’t know!

A surprising result you may think but one that doesn’t surprise me as i have seen studies like this for many years.

Unfortunately, it usually takes a massive jolt for someone to get going again and exercise, and this jolt isn’t always a pleasant one.

A doctor telling you HAVE to lose weight is no fun at all, and can be devastating to an individual’s already perhaps fragile ego.

Just when you think you’re at rock bottom, then someone comes and kicks you when you’re down!!

The good news is though that out of desperation can come inspiration.

When we have a strong reason to do something, we usually do it and get the job done when it all hits the fan!

This is my experience anyway, and almost all of the people who have ever started training with me have wanted to lose body fat, gain strength, change shape, get off blood pressure tablets, or whatever their particular problem was-FOR A VERY STRONG REASON!!

Let’s face it, you are unlikely to do anything unless you have a good reason to do it.

I don’t get up at 4am most mornings because i find it some kind of pleasure! I get up at that time because someone needs me to help them out, and i am deeply committed to making big things happen for them!! This is what makes getting up early really meaningful for me and the person who i am training.

The same reason keeps me going for my last session, finishing around 7pm. If i was half-hearted at ANY of my sessions all day, my business would collapse. The thrill and satisfaction keeps me going every session and every day, this is when performances can remain very high and why job satisfaction stays sky high, its a two way street so lets keep the motivation huge and start the week off in a big way!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 17th July

Studies in perserverence are all around us every day.

You have the Olympic Games about to start in this country, you have the British doing so very well in the Tour de France for the first time ever (in such a high podium position) and we always do well in the Paralympics.

If you look at the human stories behind the headlines, you have athletes putting in untold amount of hours in, you have the sacrifice of parents sometimes not being at their children’s birthdays because they are in another country training, you have athletes going through absolute hell sometimes in recovering from career threatening injuries, above all you have inspiring stories of great sacrifice that most people cannot or do not want to understand.

On many different levels, i see studies in persererence each and every day.

I see individuals in sports all the time reaching new levels through increased effort in dedication.

I see dedication with individuals losing sometimes ten stone, and ten inches off someone’s waist is not uncommon.

The problem is that most of society does not realise how much work and effort goes into this, sheer hard work is not always appreciated but this is exactly what it takes!

This is why i try to get people away from purely shakes and bars diets, frankly they set people up for long term misery and i see they are doing the rounds around this area again. Quite how people fall for this sort of rubbish time and time again is beyond me, but unfortunately it keeps happening!!!

So no fads, no gimmicks, just hard work and results!!!

If you’re looking for an easy way out, then be prepared to be disappointed again so please make the right choice!!!

Take the inspiring examples of the athletes i mentioned at the start of this piece, and use their perserverence to inspire you to  new highs!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday, 13th July

Making the commitment to be fit, stay fit and always be fit is totally overwhelming for almost all of us.

This is why i encourage everyone to take one day at a time, and just do your best that particular day.

Chances are you will improve much quicker like this rather than somehow trying to plan your year!

I can totally see how you can plan your week,  but your month or next couple of months is extremely difficult for all of us.

If you focused on one day then, you can see from the following how it can work very well for you.

For example, if you concentrated on eating a good energy filled breakfast every morning, full of slow-release energy, then you’re not going to go too far wrong.

This can be fairly easy if you only buy good quality cereals with only natural ingredients.

If you go for the likes of porridge, shredded wheat and weetabix and stick to the basic versions of these fine cereals, then you’re not going to be taking excess sugars into your sytem, meaning you will be energised and still lose body fat.

Lunch from monday to friday for most people is again fairly simple, make sure you eat some vegetables, good carbs of wholegrain variety where possible and a good quality protein source.

Your evening meal will be fairly similar, and trying to make sure you get some fruit in the day along with plenty of water, at least 1.5 litres.

On the exercise side, try and commit to being active most days, there is a huge variety on offer and we talk about exercise all the time.

Sleep is often underrated, so make this a priority.

Get these things right and you will taking one day at a time very well indeed!

Twitt