Posted on

Thursday, 14th March

Anyone who trains with me will know that we work on the latest scientific research of training all of the time. Things change and there’s always exciting things happening.

Then you will know we focus so much on balance, brain muscle communication, agility, strength and speed in particular, which will lead to endurance, very good conditioning and outstanding health (which is the most important thing!).

Which leads us to the much discussed conversation on which is better? Free weights and natural movements or machines?

Free weights and natural movements will always win because they go with the body needs to NATURALLY move. The movements we do mimic movements we do in daily life, and this is of vital importance to get you through the rest of your life in good shape and avoid serious injury or immobility problems, which unfortunately affect most people as they get older. Prepare well by doing a whole host of natural movements on a daily basis and weekly basis, and your long term health will seem much brighter.

Machines on the other keep you working on one plane of motion, and can lead to repetitive strain if done over a long period of time. Machines because of their limited range of motion will give you exactly that, LIMITED results, limited mobility and limited flexibility, all far more important than you think.

Its a shame that when these machines started being really popular in the 80’s, that most gyms still consider them viable.

The science of training has moved on light years since then, and most machines apart from a couple needs to be thrown in the scrap.

The sooner you get out of machine based training and get into whats happening in the real scientific forms of training, then you will improve in every single area of your body, your balance, your reaction time and your strength and agility!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 12th March

Spring has formally started for me in terms of getting outside and working out hard in the fresh air. You may find that a strange comment on another brutally cold day, but the facts are that it is light at 610am to get some great cycling, and running workouts in. It is light also to around 620pm which opens a whole host of outside options in the evening!

I love using the agility ladders outside, hurdles, harnesses, cones and markers to create all sorts of new speed and agility workouts, and this fresh weather is great for getting the parachute on and testing our sprinting prowess to brand new levels and limits.

If you have been stuck in an office or a car all day, then there is nothing more liberating that flipping tractor tyres, getting the sledghammer out to give your core a thorough going over, and all of this work will certainly blow away all the cobwebs you would have built up from being stuck in an office all day!

All of this outside training we do at the gym in burry port in particular, is the best for stress relief you can get. This is the feedback i get all the time, FROM MALES AND FEMALES.

Its a shame, a big shame that many women restrict themsevles to “traditional” female training in most gyms. Doing the cross trainer or the treadmill or the bike, and maybe a couple of sets with some dumbbells is criminally unimaginative in this day and age when exercise science has moved on so much!!!

I tell people all the time that the majority of individuals i train are women, and the hardest trainers are usually women too, often putting the guys efforts in the shade!!!

This is why training outside is great for men and women, and the exercises i mentioned will bring massive benefits to both, and this is what matters to all of you!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday 11th March

The recent wave of illness is a stark reminder on why we do this thing in the first place.

When we feel ill, we will do anything to feel anywhere like normal again! When we feel ill, its a sharp reminder sometimes of how much better we could have eaten, in terms of fruit and vegetables we could have consumed to have fought the germs that have invaded our bodies. We have a large level of bacteria in our bodies anyway, but im talking about the germs responsible for getting us a fever, the flu or stomach bug or whatever we may have now.

This is why we talk about our immune system so much on here, its times like these that talking about our health as a whole becomes so important.

If you think that all there is to talk about all day is simply losing weight and looking better, then you must be greatly mistaken and you need to re-evaluate what you are doing, and why you are doing it.

You have to accept the facts that the foods you eat have amazing qualities, and a whole range of benefits.

Of course, you want to look better, thats of vital importance. More important than that though is your overall health, and eating as many natural foods in their natural state will serve you very well. The right foods will revitalise you, will energise you, will make you more resilient in the face of illness and infection, and help you recover from even the most demanding workouts!!!

If you make sleep a priority too, because this is when you truly recover and replenish your energy stocks, replace and repair your broken down tissue after a long day and maybe a tough workout, then you will be very much on the right path to having an extremely tough immune system!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 7th March

There sometimes is confusion of what I say in terms of food recommendations, most people seem to get it but its worth me going through it again with a few basics, and giving you what some people have “thought” I meant. Its easy to make mistakes on foods, so im bring some clarity here so there’s no doubt!

When it comes to milk, I do mean skimmed milk and at worst semi-skimmed milk. I DO NOT mean full fat blue top milk as some have thought. This choice alone can make a big difference to your diet, fat gain/fat loss, general health so sort it out and you advance quickly.

When I say tea and coffee is fine, I mean up to 3 cups a day, I do not mean several which can make you more irritable, dehydrate you and make poor snack choices such as biscuits with tea etc.

When it comes to red meat, its got to be once a week maximum, and the butcher will not mind at all giving you the leanest cuts, with most of the cut taken out.

When I say alcohol is fine in moderation, I mean once a week. I don’t mean a couple of glasses every day, I don’t mean drinking hard liquor just to cut calories such as gin, vodka, whisky which can be highly toxic to your body when drunk in excess. Wine may be more calories, but it travels easier through your body and is far less toxic.

When I say sip water throughout the day, and aim to get at least 1.5 litres a day in, I do not mean just drink one small bottle a day, this is only 0.5 litres and if you are training, you will easily need more than 1.5 litres. Get in the habit of drinking water throughout the day, and definitely through your workouts, your performances and wellbeing depend on it!

Just a few here but many more to sort out tomorrow!!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 6th March

If you feel that your best years are behind you in terms of physical prowess, then I have a ton of evidence that I could produce for you every single day that will disprove that statement.

I have countless individuals who have started training in their late forties, into their fifties and into their sixties who have consistently better numbers than many twenty somethings I train.

This may seem hard to believe, but these are the kinds of results that you can begin to expect if you train and eat consistently well over a period of months, and especially years!

This is what you can expect if you change your lifestyle accordingly, starting getting to bed earlier especially in the week, and being in a programme of constant development and progress.

This is what will happen if you have your blood pressure, body fat, waist measurements done regular, and aim to improve them every single month. Your programme has to help you get there not only quickly but safely, and this is of paramount importance.

As you get older, you really want to avoid dangerous movements that will stress your joints. You want to be kind to your bones and theres a million ways to accomplish that.

Training smart will always beat someone screaming in your ear with a mindless training programme that accomplishes very little and eventually get you injured.

We always talk a lot about core stability in terms of training options, and this is the biggest feature of my training with everyone. Once you get your fundamental strength right, then the sky is the limit when it comes to your overall progress.

Mentally too, you have to open your mind to big progress, and seemingly unimaginable ability again with your body. You will soon learn to stop thinking like a fifty something and rekindle the ability you thought you had left behind in your 20’s.

The science is there to do it, so changing your plan right now to reflect that is of vital importance to you. Nobody needs to feel or look older than they are, changing your lifestyle will achieve a more youthful you in no time at all as long as you’re willing to commit to it!

Twitt