Posted on

Thursday, 5th April

Having your blood pressure checked regularly is one of the easiest things you can do to keep yourself healthy, or rather MAKE SURE you are keeping yourself healthy.

Most chemists these days will do it for free, and blood pressure testing is one of the most fundamental testing methods I use, usually once a month but sometimes more frequent depending on the client’s history.

Higher blood pressure which is usually a reading over 140/90 is a warning sign that you have mild hypertension and your doctor will tell you what to do next, if it is slightly over he or she will tell you that it will be monitored over the next few weeks, to see what direction it takes.

The doctor/nurse or even pharmacist should be able to tell you that a healthy lifestyle will have a direct and long lasting effect on your blood pressure.

When I see someone with a blood pressure issue, I know the plan of attack has to include the three keys to success.

I know that if I include these three fundamentals in my approach, then the blood pressure will be dramatically improved over a period of months, as long as the client is willing to accept responsibility and show some determination themselves.

After all, I am only there for training a brief period of time, the other 23 hours are down to the individual and how he or she handles and applies my advice.

Number one key is avoiding salty food, in other words processed food. Never cook in salt, never add salt to your food, throw the ready meals in the pain and get used to cooking food from scratch. This will be a HUGE difference to you and you will immediately feel better.

Number two is alcohol. Nothing is worse for somebody trying to bring their blood pressure down than booze. Until this matter is addressed and lower consumption or even eliminate until your blood pressure comes back to normal, progress will be slow.

Number three is what you should be doing most days anyway! Exercise! Working out regularly in a moderate way

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 2nd April

Planning your week starts here and how you have lived your weekend is probably critical to that.

Personally, I had very little sleep due to little children not sleeping, but it still didn’t stop me getting some good exercise sessions in, I just adjusted the way I do things.

Instead of going on my normal 35 minute run, I turned it into a 15 minute slow climb up one of the nightmare hills that overlook Burry Port. I actually see it as “wonderful training route” and not something to be scared of in any way.

This hill gives me high intensity for 15 minutes, and the results are always tremendous. I feel fresh oxygen flooding my body all the way up, this gives me more power and energy for the day, and the weekend it was really needed.

If any of you have been in hospital for any reason that you require an oxygen mask put on you, this will make you realise how important it is. The jolt this can give your immune system can be very valuable, so any time you can try to create this in a natural environment makes perfect sense.

So its Monday all of a sudden after a tough weekend, but the way you have treated your body the weekend, whatever your circumstance will be critical on how you get through today’s workout, to my mind the most important workout of the week that will undoubtedly shape the rest of your week!

Most of us like to have a bit of what we fancy the weekend, whether it’s a couple of glasses of wine, a couple of beers, our favourite “cheat” meal, our favourite cake etc etc. This is good in my view because you would crazy if you didn’t have what you fancied now and again.

Its been proven time and time again if you deprive yourself of treats TOO much, then you are likely to crash and burn, and end up in some almighty that will blow all the good work you have been doing over a period of time.

So if you have these treats on a Saturday, your Sunday morning exercise becomes even more important, in terms of flushing out the toxins and “re-booting” your body in time for today’s workout, in other words getting you primed for a big performance which propels your body into fresh improvements, which after all is what we are all after!!mjn

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 28th March

Hate to bring this subject up so early in the year, but people are already seeing the effects of warmer weather training.

I know some people who will actually give themselves some time off training completely, simply because it is so warm and there may be “better things to do!!”. Its a free country and a democracy so good luck to them on what they want to do!

To those of us getting  or at least wanting to get into great condition, we need to find ways of countering these temperature issues!!!

Number one thing to do is treat the situation in a professional manner, even if you do not consider yourself a pro athlete!! Doing things the professional way is just another word for doing things the “right way”!!!

Plan to take onboard more water, your body’s core temperature can go up quickly when exercising in this weather, and drinking water in moderate amounts throughout the day will counter this. No need to overdo it but water will work for you in a number of important ways.

Wear sunscreen!! I remember, and perhaps many of us remember being on the beach when we were kids, and not wearing ANY sun protection!! We are wiser hopefully and i slap on factor 50 every single day now that the seasons have changed!

Try and exercise earlier in the morning or after 5-6pm, when it gets cooler. This will encourage greater performance in exercise, plus simply it will be a lot more pleasanr than exercising in the midday sun!!!

ENOUGH OF ALL THIS NEGATIVITY!!!

Exercising in the sun can be joyous and make you want to get out in the first place, it certainly works for me so why not give it a crack!

This weather also reminds us its time to get into great shape!!! No excuses any more, no time to waste and all of those new year’s resolutions should be about to come true IF you have stuck by them and done all the hard work over the winter!!!

Still not too late so lets get ready for a monumental effort right up the summer months!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday, 23rd March

Any of you who have been away for a short break or holiday, will have on thing in common if you are a regular exerciser and practice healthy eating.

It can be ENORMOUSLY difficult to get back into good eating after you have been away.

Most of the time you will either eat in the hotel, restaurant or café and for most of them unless you specifically ask, it will mean a ton of extra saturated fat, lots more salt in every day and no shortage of sugar!!!

This can send the calorific value of each meal you eat to stratospheric levels!

Everyone expects to put on a couple of pounds from such trips, but there is an even bigger danger that you do not even think about, but seems to get everyone when they return home.

By eating every meal which is much richer than normal, your taste buds can change very quickly and by the end of your stay, richer food soon becomes the norm for you.

So getting back to normal when you get home is a bigger task than you think.

Eating plain natural foods on a regular basis suddenly is much harder again! The plain porridge doesn’t taste as nice as usual, fruit seems “boring”, the vegetables you eat taste “different” compared to the ones cooked with a lot of salt on holiday, and unprocessed white meat and fish seems a harder dish to swallow than when you first went away.

So although we promise ourselves  that we will “get right back into it” when we get back, the reality is often very different, and the get right back into it turns into a 2-3 week delay in knuckling down to good eating!!!

The holiday pounds seem much harder to shift and exercising seems much harder than normal, not a great combination.

So if I get an “early warning” out to you and tell you how its going to be, you have more chance to prepare and make the first week you get back the “hard week” in terms of getting your taste buds used to the right kind of eating that you know is tried and tested, and get you dropping fat right away as well as getting you back to the standard of performance you had before you went away!!!

This early warning system can work so wherever you go this year, be prepared for the time it takes to get back to “normal”!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 22nd March

Hopefully this week you have taken onboard the many different options you really have in getting fit, or if you are already have a decent level of fitness, then you are capable of substantially more!

The biggest danger to any good well thought out programme is being overly complacent.

Just because one workout programme has worked so well for you in the past, it doesn’t mean its going to do as well in the future if that is ALL you do.

If you go for a cycle a couple of times a week and that’s your entire fitness plan, then you should seriously think about doing a more rounded fitness plan.

Cycling is one of my favourite activities, but I’m not foolish enough to think that weight training, running, walking etc is not hugely important too.

Most of us know big guys who only lift weights and that’s it, taking long gaps in between sets. Whilst they may have impressive development from all of this, the horrible fact is that a 100 yard run down the road could put them seriously out of breath!!

Thos runners you see running on the main road all the time, on the same old route for the same old distances, at the same old pace, surely they can do better in terms of a more rounded programme?

Most people do not know that Paula Radcliffe for example, does regular weight training sessions a couple of times a week, as well as a lot of core stability work.

The same applies to Lance Armstrong of cycling fame, he used to do a substantial amount of strength work which means off the bike for longer periods than most people would have ever guessed.

So if you think “I’m a cyclist” or “I’m a runner” or “I’m a swimmer”, and think that to become good at one of those only involves doing that exact activity ALL THE TIME, then please think again, reassess your programme and look for more variety not just for the sake of it, but for the good of your body and for the improvement of your favourite chosen activity!!

Twitt