Posted on

Sunday, 13th July

I always get asked “what happens when I finish the 12 week challenge”?

I have to say it’s going to be very unlikely that you will go back to your old ways when you complete the 12th week, you will definitely be a changed person by then.

You will have a new version of what your everyday life is now.

Your cravings will have gone or mostly gone, you will put exercise near the top of your “must do’s” most days, you will have a new lifestyle, you will have an unbelievable amount of energy, your outlook and ambitions in life will look totally different, and you will tend to be an optimist instead of not being bothered about doing worthwhile things.

Plus you will have a new body with a much improved level of health, both inside and out!

The pain in your body will have long disappeared, because you will be moving so much better now in all ways.

Maybe in the past you used to go in the garden for a couple of hours and couldn’t move for a few days. Everyone has had that feeling. Because of the training we do, you will be used to many of those movements and your body should be ready for anything.

Whenever physical activity you may have done as a one off in the past will have made you feel too old and stiff, those days should now be well and truly over as you now embrace physical effort, and you will be very aware of the benefits you get from it.

I find those who set new goals after finishing their first 12 weeks absolutely fly through the second 12 weeks because of their new ability and most importantly, a newly found self-confidence and a much higher self-esteem.

Overcoming the first 12 weeks was the hard bit, developing healthy habits for the first time in years and finally discarding bad habits that were holding you back, both with your body and mind.

Ending your first 12 weeks is only the beginning and definitely not the end!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 24th March

A little known fact is that women recover quicker from their training than men.

The same with weight training or any other type of training.

Women produce more of the chemical that provides the energy to allow your muscles to work better, faster than men do.

Women also will experience less muscle soreness in the day after your workout, women will feel the soreness quicker but the pain and soreness will last more in the man.

This is what I have found over the years, in my experience a lot of men have had to have more time and rest in between workouts, while many of the women keep on coming back for more and recover quicker.

Another technical issue that separates men versus women reaction to exercise is that women will have a little more inflammation than men from a tough workout.

Your body then has to repair the broken down muscle tissue to build lean muscle tissue, and this is a great reason for your body to speed up its metabolism because it has to work hard in recovery.

This means your body will eventually burn more calories just resting 24 hours a day. When people talking about raising your metabolism, this would be a very good example so you are likely to stay leaner without working so hard for it in the future.

This is why strength training is so important for all of us to do, it sets us up to leaner, harder and strengthens our bones too.

Once your body does repair inside, the chances are that the same workout will not cause the same level of soreness again, and your body will become to crave strength work as the results start coming in fast.

Twitt
Posted on

Sunday, 23rd March

A lot of the workouts I design are so productive because everyone CAN DO THEM.

I never ask anyone to do an exercise or a programme I do not think they can do.

Everyone knows now that in our gym, the females and the males train through the same movements and they train hard, there is absolutely NO “you are a woman so you had better use the treadmill and bike only, and the rower now and again, and maybe a couple of light weights if you are lucky!”.

THIS IS THE ULTIMATE INSULT and shows a complete lack of knowledge by whoever is telling you that! Tucked away in the corner is not an option for anyone who trains with us.

In every area of life now, women are doing things few thought they could handle a generation ago due to blinkered insulting thinking by the establishment. Everyone knows we train hard with weighs and against resistance and we are proud to do the best for our members.

When you go to work, your job description now applies to everyone, a generation ago that used to apply to only men.

As a woman in today’s society, you have much more responsibilities now than a generation ago. Juggling life, work and family now is harder than a generation ago when you wouldn’t have had so many pressures going back then during every single day.

So WHY should you be in an exercise programme that assumes you are not so mentally strong and less capable than the average man in the gym environment?!!! We are not back in the 1950’s!!!

Most of our girls are better than the men, anyone can see that?!!!

Whatever limitations you think you had, they are about to go out the window. Women are not “supposed to do ONLY this and that”, that statement is rubbish and has no scientific or practical foundation.

We treat everyone equally no matter what and put no limits on the results you can get, so start looking to get a lot more out of your programme from the exercises that REALLY work and start working to your potential!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 12th March

Methods of training can vary but one overall aim should never change-you should always aim to get progressively better.

This is a true measure of success and it’s not age dependent.

We have people in their 70’s and 80’s who want each year to add to their quality of life, through their exercise and nutritional programme and make it happen through steady progression in everything they do.

This state of mind encourages success.

I have met people who have been 35 years of age, and ready to give up on their bodies and want to somehow coast it to retirement! I kid you not!

This state of mind develops I think because they see so many other people doing it.

Changing your life for the better is not always easy, and many people’s experience of exercise is just walking into a gym and staying on a bike or treadmill at low intensity for 30 minutes or so. This is not going to be successful in really turning your body around and making you much stronger, much more flexible and more balanced.

Any exercise is great but surely we are capable of achieving more with your variety in exercise. The sad thing is most gyms put a load of machines in a room and expect you to figure out the rest? This is totally unacceptable in my view and you are paying a lot of money to have a guess on what you should be doing.

Not only is this unlikely to give you a good result, but it’s plain dangerous.

Before starting any exercise programme, make sure you have a solid plan that’s going to take you where you want to go. Also, make sure that plan is constantly updated to suit your progress as you go along.

Everyone develops at different rates, so your plan will change quickly along the way to suit your new found abilities.

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 3rd March

Education through exercising is vital in your development. You need to seek out the best ways to achieve often constant moving targets in terms of strength, lung capacity and muscular endurance.

Targets change because a good programme will take you to your initial targets relatively quickly, once you get there you will naturally want to

If you carry on doing the same old thing, not only will you become bored, you will not get the results you really wanted in the first place.

Moving your body in all sorts of different ways is important to constantly test yourself. Doing endless sit ups is not going to do it, and we never do sit ups anymore anyway to get the best out of your core.

Personally I accept the fact that I need to keep learning throughout my career to achieve a better and better results for everyone I train. If I don’t do this, then I become mediocre myself at what I do, and that is unacceptable to me.

There is no reason why you cannot keep changing your own exercise programme, as long as it still has purpose and direction, and it takes you to where you want to go. Don’t do any exercises that you cannot feel or you wonder what benefit they are bringing you.

All the exercises i show everyone should be felt immediately, and the feedback of whoever I am training is ultra-important to see if any adjustments need to be made in that particular movement.

Always keep striving for more by changing things up and make sure there’s a plan to go with it!

Twitt