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Friday, 3rd January

A recurring question I seem to have all the time would be the one “which diet should I go on?! Especially this time of year!

We talked about lifestyle changes yesterday, and how important it was to exercise regularly, however simple a programme.

YOU ARE NOT changing your lifestyle if you are going on the “faddy diets” that are trying to rip you off at this time of year! You are trying a short term fix that may lose weight initially, but is very likely to cause you long term misery!!

This is not just my opinion, this is the opinion of the vast majority of individuals I have met over the years who have been through it, and come out the other side with all the weight back on and their long term confidence and self-belief in tatters! It is also the opinion of doctors who have studied this scientifically and done numerous in depth studies on these so called diets.

Most people know by now what I think of these so called “wonder diets”!

Studies over the last few years show and confirm that 97 PER CENT, yes 97 per cent of people who embark on these diets put ALL the weight back on, and 5% MORE than when they first started.

Then there’s the powder and bars diets, which seem to cost a fortune, and again promise you the earth, and yes you lose weight to start with, but inevitably the weight comes back on extremely quickly in most cases.

Again, this is not a lifestyle change!!! You are not educating yourself about eating healthy, natural food and you are not caring what’s going on inside your body and the destructive habits you are adopting.

Fortunately, people selling you these destructive diets are not in the health business very long, and often go on to another scam selling more rubbish.

Unfortunately though, there is often a queue of people waiting to take their place and so the process continues!

There is a solution and you need to get back to shopping for healthy, natural food and making that food as attractive as possible so it becomes an everyday event.

More on this to come.

Twitt
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Thursday, 2nd January

Making a lifestyle change right now is obviously very much in the news at this time of year, but many people get confused with what a lifestyle change REALLY is. I have been through this time of year in a professional capacity many times of course, and its heartbreaking to see many people fall for the same false promises year after year.

In exercise terms, a lifestyle change can be defined as simply moving more, having some sort of exercise plan, however simple. Showing up regular for exercise can be the most powerful thing you do this year.

Even exercising three times a week can change your life this year, and affect positively all of your medical key indicators such as blood pressure, heart rate, body fat levels etc.

If you try just to jump in and get into exercise without knowing what you are getting into, then the chances of injuring yourself are high, and the dangers to your health can be very real. Nothing can crush your morale quicker.

Getting evaluated by a health and fitness professional is critical to you knowing where your starting point is, and how you are going to improve and at what rate. If you show up to exercise not knowing a thing about it (like most people), and then typically just get shown around once and forgotten about, then you are already in a dangerous position.

Not doing things properly is the chief reason why a large percentage of the population will give up on exercise by the end of the month. This is heartbreaking after usually signing a 12 month contract. The sad thing is that many gyms spend all their efforts trying to get you signed up, and very little effort in helping you navigate the first few months of transforming your body and mind.

If you don’t train right, then you’re not going to get any results.
Without results, your incentive to carry on will vanish.

January 2nd 2014 and surely it’s time to spend time researching the best way to do it this time.

Twitt
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New Years Day

It’s time to explode some “myths” of training, and answer a range of questions I seem to get at regular intervals from a surprising amount of you.

MYTH NO1 “The best sign of a great workout is how exhausted I am, and how sore I am the next couple of days!”

Many people I meet regard a great workout with being totally exhausted and sore.

When people come down the gym for the first time, they assume that because they didn’t feel “sick”, that they weren’t training hard enough!

I always have to put them right on this straight away because “feeling sick and exhausted totally” is the exact opposite of what we are about.

I always tell clients that making them sick all over the car park would be easy.

I am FAR MORE interested in getting them stronger, more flexible, being more agile and balanced, and dramatically increasing their speed and endurance.

Being sick from training is one of the worst things you can do for your body, causing great internal distress that your body takes a long time to get over.

If you’re measuring your training progress on being exhausted, and you are doing a speed and agility session with me, then you’re quickly forgetting why you are doing the session in the first place.

Teaching people to run properly and move in multi-directions requires the individual to use their brain power, their reaction time, as well as physical effort.

Last of all, there isn’t one scientific paper out there that says you have to be dramatically sore after a workout to get maximum gains from it, not one! You may get sore now and again from changing your training around and using different muscles, and who wants to be sore all the time anyway!

Always remember that anyone can get you tired, but it requires a far more professional approach to get you much faster, stronger and much better conditioned for absolutely anything you want to do.

Twitt
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Monday, 30th December

So this time of year in the holidays is about making sure your exercise sessions go in, and then making them productive.

First of all, you will probably know by now that I like to avoid doing mindless cardio that doesn’t really make the most of your time at the gym.

That type of training should have disappeared in the 1980’s and 1990’s, but unfortunately I do hear of it happening still today. This is usually due to a lack of direction being shown in one’s exercise programme, or a “tell them to go on there for half an hour and forget about them” type of attitude.

Getting individuals to stay on a treadmill for long, slow periods, staying on the bike at a low intensity for long boring experiences, are what I would consider an insult to the person’s intelligence I was training. Doing “a bit of weights now and again” is not acceptable either, you should exercise with purpose and look for constant improvements every 1-2 weeks.

There’s far more productive ways to train and this is why we will never become a “go through the motions” type of gym, and definitely not a gym who concentrates on getting a direct debit out of you and hoping you never show up! This is why too that every bit of exercise we do in the gym is going to directly benefit you, rely on the latest science of training, and directly show on your body, and your heart strength when you get your regular in detail measurements.

This is why we retain most people who join too, and therefore don’t rely on the typical January rush, training should be a lifestyle change that is achievable, and not ripping you off on a 6-18 month contract where the only pounds disappearing will be from your pocket.

So if you’re looking for your cardio in a quick period of time, you need to focus and concentrate on targets that will regularly change for the better.

A simple way of looking at it is to look at these two examples.

Lets say in week one you can manage 5 minutes on the rowing machine in a particular training interval, and you’re really tired after that so you need plenty of rest before moving on to other things.

Then after week three, you’re up to 10 minutes on the rower, and you can do some boxing with me with no rest.

Then after week eight maybe, you’re into set specific metre challenges on the rower, you are doing walking or even running up on the railway bridge right next to the gym, and you hit the ropes hard, and THEN finish off with a flurry of punches with a boxing session with me.

This is only an example, and all different scenarios are possible, of course only working within that individual’s capability and I never overwork anyone past their boundaries in that particular session. Some people will be more capable than others of course, but every single person should be capable of SIGNIFICANT improvement at
regular intervals.

Now THIS IS PROGRESS and you’re starting to feel alive again! This is achievable at ANY AGE.

This is why the results are coming in thick and fast and this is why you should never accept mindless “programmes” that never consider you as an individual, and if you’re going to improve or not!!!

Trust in results.

Twitt
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Friday,6th December

Avoiding pain and choosing pleasure at this time of year is a totally natural reaction.

Choosing to stay on the settee, instead of training sounds great to most people. You have instant pleasure and gratification through being comfortable, and that pleasure can only be enhanced if you like a bottle of wine, a takeaway, chocolate or whatever you crave.

The thought of going out in the cold, wet and dark nights is the opposite of most people’s idea of fun.

The problem starts when you choose the settee and the wine over a prolonged period and the whole thing starts affecting the way you look and feel.

Wearing black all the time will only work for a while. Wearing a big baggy jumper won’t hide all the lumps and bumps that are going to develop in your body in the places you really don’t want them.

Then all the “pleasure” you have enjoyed really becomes painful.

You really start to hate the way you look and feel, and you will do anything to change it. This is why many look for the quick fix of faddy dieting, then this works for a while but inevitably all the weight comes back on very quickly once you start eating properly again.

This is why a relatively short period of time exercising gives you much longer periods of pleasure. You know you’re going to look much better if you exercise properly and regularly, that half hour or 45 minutes will contribute heavily to the way you look and feel.

The funny thing too is that as you get fitter and exercise more, you will enjoy it much more so the whole thing becomes much more of a pleasant and pleasurable experience.

Another reason to hit your training hard in December, and stops any kind of rut developing!

Twitt