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Thursday, 5th December

To those of you who have “over-achieved” in 2013, and there have been many of you, its time to re-assess what your programme looks like, what your eating programme looks like, and how much your goals have shifted during all of this process.

Many of you in 2013 will have realized that you CAN lose 8, 10, 12, 14 even 20 inches off your waist if you put your mind to it. I have detailed evidence of that as you will know.

Losing 5 to 10 stone sounded unbelievable, but many of you have achieved this and are rightly proud of yourself (although weight is not the only thing).

Its easy to coast for a bit after all of this transformation in your life, but now is the time to pat yourself on the back one last time, and finally draw a line under a magical, extremely difficult time and rewarding in your life.

To get to where you once only imagined, and finally get to your new goal of looking fantastic compared to anyone, you have to re-assess and aggressively break down the limitations you may previously had on your training.

Here’s the three things you must do/keep doing;

a. You MUST weight train or do bodyweight exercises. This is an extremely powerful way to rev up your metabolism to the max, and totally reshape your body once again! 3 times a week is my recommendation.

b. You must keep eating natural healthy food and in its natural state where possible. Drink 1-5-2 litres of water a day. Think of how your insides will benefit, and the way you look and feel will be upgraded several levels again. Don’t fall for faddy diets, shakes and bars diets, everyone knows they bring long term misery. The sooner these products were banned the better full stop!

c. Lift your expectiations! Whilst you are having all sorts of complements from everyone, you need to target a new version of yourself that’s going to be even more rewarding for you, an even more athletic version that is capable of much more again. Some of you have already gone onto 10k’s, triathlon’s and marathon’s over the last couple of years. It doesn’t have to be an athletic achievement, all it has to be is something personal to you that really drives you first thing in the morning when its freezing, dark and wet!

No time to waste so writing down your future goals right now would be a great start!
Keri

Twitt
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Tuesday, 3rd December

From a training perspective, it’s the time of year when a lot of individuals put the training and eating well elements of their life on the backburner.

Going shopping physically or shopping from the armchair, getting presents for Christmas seems to take precedent, no matter what along with a number of other excuses.

“I have to go shopping, it can’t wait”!

“I will leave training till after christmas, I am too busy”

“It’s too cold to train”

“It’s too dark to train”

“I may as well make the most out of Christmas, because in January I am REALLY going to do it this time and get into my best ever shape”

“My friend has dropped off training so I will”

“I just DO NOT train at Christmas and that’s that”!

“It’s December and I am going to make the most of it, I am going to drink and eat as much as I want, one life I have!”

“I have been good all year, I am going to let it all hang out starting now and nobody’s going to stop me”

If any of these excuses sound familiar, then you may be guilty of falling for the same old story of getting out of shape in December, which can cause immense pain in early January, when a lot of repair work needs to be done again.

If you speak to anyone who trains throughout December for the first time, ask them was it worth it?
You will find they have never felt better, they actually fit their clothes Christmas time, and have a bit of what they fancy in food and drink terms as much as anyone else, but find they enjoy it more because they have put a lot of work in already and deserve their treats!

The feedback I get is that they hit January running and usually outperform in a month that most people are playing catch up, and struggling just to catch their breath.

They usually start the new year far more optimistic and their goals are much higher than ever before!!!

So whatever choices you make in December, after all it’s a free country, consider the two options and which outcome work for you best!

Twitt
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Tuesday, 26th November

A nice story in the paper today about great rugby All black captain, Richie McCaw, was selected for under 19 trials and how his father in Christmas 1998, asked him if he wanted to become a full All black when he was older.

Naturally he said yes like all New Zealanders.

Then his father asked him if he wanted to become a “great all black”? And if he did to write it down on a napkin. McCaw was modest and nodded but just wrote G. A. B. on the napkin. He then took the napkin to his own notice board and hung it there to remind him. It meant little or nothing to anyone else who passed the board, but meant everything to him.

His father set him a target of 2004, but reached this lofty goal in 2001, ironically against Ireland winning 40-29, and last Sunday those teams shared one of the best ever games last Sunday, winning right at the death 24-22, and their win was largely down to the captaincy and calming influence under extreme pressure of McCaw, who has pretty much seen everything in his long career.

McCaw credits that napkin story with keeping his focus when it could have wavered. It was a big lesson in setting a goal and sticking to it, and actually WRITING THOSE GOALS DOWN.

Goals have been proven in studies at Harvard University to be 80% more achievable IF THEY ARE WRITTEN DOWN.

They found that they had students who would talk about their future goals by just talking about them, would in reality have only a 20% chance of being successful in those goals.

The ones in the studies who actually wrote the goals down, and in detail, were found to have an incredible 80% likelihood of achieving those goals when they left college.

When I ask everyone what they want to achieve from their programme, lots of people say “I want to lose weight”, “I want to get fitter” etc, but if you actually write your goals down in detail and what they mean to you, its only then they become much more real, attainable and then you can actually develop a step by step process to achieve them.

If you take the first step right now and write down what you really want, then you will then be able to develop a detailed plan with a TIME LIMIT and schedule it into your lifestyle. The time limit part is vital and means you actually get it done full stop!

More on this tomorrow with examples of successes.

Twitt
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Thursday, 21st November

So if you have had a good week so far, you need to be concentrating on having a big end to the week.

The training you don’t really feel like doing on a Monday will feel possible on a Thursday or Friday.

Your performance should be good if you’re attitude is up for it.

How about a time trial for a mile on the treadmill? What about 2500 metres on the rower? How about spinning for longer on the bikes and use a really fast gear, instead of the easiest gear?!!

I used to do this myself every week on a Friday evening at the same time, and gradually my time would come down. The result after around 2 months of doing something like this can be quite dramatic.

Also, it doesn’t really seem like your training for the sake of it and takes away the boredom factor.

If you are weight training for instance, start keeping some kind of journal to record your sets and weight lifted. This can be a very powerful tool, and lift your performance for good as you wont want to go back at all.

Putting a little bit of pressure on yourself to make small improvements every week is a good thing, and again over a 6-8 week period, you are likely to have made sizeable gains.

How about your running? Instead of keeping to easier, flat roads, how about targeting some hilly terrain for a change and this can work very well on a treadmill too.

How about all those medicine ball/wall ball exercises you see me giving everyone else but perhaps you have ducked and dived on for a while? They do work in a big way so all depends if you want the results or not!

How about getting outside and getting stuck into the fresh air work outside? It may be cold at first, but your lungs will soon get used to it, and most people get to crave it after a while. Those of you who work inside all day should DEFINITELY get outside, do some speed and agility work, hit the prowler, work with the sledge, hit some steps or flip some tyres for a change (a big one people avoid!).

It’s nearly the end of the week and the easiest time to make it happen!

Twitt
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Wednesday, 20th November

Post-workout snacks

Whether you are hungry or not, the quicker you eat food or drink after a workout, the quicker your body will recover. The enzymes responsible for making glycogen are most active immediately after your workout, leaving you with a 2-hour window to reload your muscle glycogen. Carbs are converted into glycogen one and a half times faster than normal during this post-exercise period.

Begin refueling with a high carb snack preferably with a high GI which will pass into your muscles much quicker than a low GI food.

You will have to watch portion sizes as eating too much carbohydrate will be stored as fat and not turned into glycogen. To help with recovery it’s a good idea to combine protein with carbohydrate for the post workout snack.

1. A couple of pieces of fresh fruit eg bananas, with milk.

2. 1 or 2 cartons of fruit yogurt such as Yeo Valley or Rachel’s.

3. A smoothie made with crushed fresh fruit whizzed in the blender with small handful of nuts.

4. A homemade milkshake. Use milk, yogurt and fruit such as bananas and strawberries for an excellent mixture of protein, carbs and antioxidants.

5. Tuna or cottage cheese sandwich. Choose wholemeal rolls, bagels, pitta or wraps.

6. A couple of rice cakes with jam and cottage cheese.

7. A handful of dried fruit and nuts.

Twitt