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Monday, 21st October

The purpose of being here is to educate people on how they can improve their results physically, and with their health in general. The reality is that most people never get to seem It right, and I try to take the guesswork out of this tough process (at times).

You know by now that is Monday, and how much I emphasise the vital importance of training sometime today, to kick your week off in the right way, to give your week fresh energy and to get your mind focused on having a strong, active week.

The first Monday workout will work wonders for your enthusiasm to eat well too. There’s NO WAY you will want to waste your hard earned efforts on eating junk food afterwards. You should know by now the importance of eating well, and how well your training efforts go with nourishing yourself properly on training days.

This is why we have come up with so many recipes, so many of you receive emails on their food habits, and the new ideas for meals and snacks, all of this effort is very worthwhile because its great to see you all improve-and very quickly for many of you!

The feedback I am having right now is that most of you are very positive about the 22 page email, even if takes some days to read! At least a lot of those ideas are permanently in front of you now on you computer, and you can look them up at any time.

The succession of food ideas will keep on coming, and even if just use half of them and are beneficial, then the progress you will be making will be worth it, because you will have changed your eating habits, you will be much more focused on eating much more natural food, but the great thing about it all is that all the recipes taste great and are GOOD FOR YOU!!!!

So we are off to a good start and make sure Monday is a massive start to the week!

Twitt
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Thursday, 17th October

The importance of food is a message that never gets forgotten on here, as you may have noticed. The thing that keeps this message going, is the feedback that comes from the people who read this every day, the ones who receive emails from me through their normal everyday training, and the questions I have almost every day from people who haven’t trained with me yet, or have and are in another part of the country or continent even!

So the questions and conversations I have daily are what shape this blog in the first place, and this is why the conversation always goes from topic to topic very quickly indeed.

Its great to hear that a huge number of you are taking advantage of our new emphasis on recipes, and how to make food from scratch that will fill you up, be really good for your body, is easy to make and perhaps is the solution to the helplessness that many of you feel when it comes to making good quality healthy food on a regular basis.

The journey that many of you have taken when it comes to re-discovering food again, and how good it can ACTUALLY taste has been inspiring, and inspired us to comes up with regular new recipes that we use in our everyday life, and especially the challenging times when it comes to juggling the responsibilities of raising a family, running a full time business and all of the other stress of modern day life.

So this blog is shaped by you, and please keep the ever-increasing comments coming to fitness@kerimckibbin.co.uk. Register on this site if you want and ask a question directly so everyone can see it, or simply call me on 07968 980 808.

Look forward to the ever increasing variety of questions too, however simple or complicated you may think they are!

Twitt
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Wednesday, 16th October

Since the weather is turning obviously, its time to talk about any potential restrictions the weather may put on your training.

I know lots of individuals who rely on the weather to dictate what they do on a particular day. I have tried getting the people I train away from making excuses solely on the weather affecting their participation in training.

1. Some people won’t go out of their house for instance just because its raining (like today as it happens!).

Remedy-it rains pretty much 9 months of the year in this country, if you didn’t train the days it was raining, you would never get fit and healthy!

2. Some people won’t go out of their house because its too cold, and like to stay “in the warm”!

Remedy-you get warm through exercising, you feel a lot better and you won’t have to have the heating on when you get back in the house, because your body’s temperature will be much more comfortable after you have exercised!

3. Some people won’t want to train when its too hot! Another excuse to stay in the house and do absolutely nothing!

Remedy would be to train first thing in morning or in the evening when it is a lot cooler. Drink plenty of water throughout the day, and regularly throughout your workout. Don’t work quite as hard on the really hot days.

4. Some people won’t go out because its snowing, and you can totally understand that because it is plainly dangerous to drive in particular in such dangerous weather!

Remedy-the only reason that I cancel workouts in the snow if I cannot drive to a client, but if I can get to them we can workout inside, or if people can get to me in the gym, we always have a great workout again inside!

You can see the weather really doesn’t have to cause you to stop training, its only a case of adapting to the different situations and working the weather to suit you!

Twitt
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Thursday, 10th October

There’s a nice little story in the paper about the famous runner and Olympic champion Mo Farah, in the press today talking about his upcoming autobiography.

He talks about his early career and all of his ups and downs, and his long journey from Somalia to where he is now.

The critical moment was way back in 2005, when he was advised to attend a Kenyan training camp. This changed his life in many ways, but brought the professionalism in that was required to take him to being a world champion.

When he first arrived, he expected to go to the cinema or go out dancing. He looked at his watch and it was only 830am, yet all the Kenyan athletes went to bed! He used to drink 6 to 7 cups of tea a day, the Kenyans only drunk water, and when he followed this advice, his performances started improving quickly! He also started eating only simple whole foods, and this was a major change and revelation for him.

Then at 6am, everyone got up to loud church music, and he was required to do a 7am really hard run which half killed him!

Then they would return for food, then the Kenyans would sleep in the afternoon, then hit another big run at 5pm, eat throughout the day and then go to bed at 830am, day in day out without fail!!

This was their true secret of success.

While I could never ask anyone I train to follow such an extreme training regime, there are similarities in what I ask people to do.

I always say that regular, high quality training sessions are the way to go.

I always recommend getting to bed early, especially in the week, and putting great value on proper rest. My clients who do this are my best performers and usually look incredibly well!

I recommend much plainer, whole foods, which nourish the body very well and help you perform extremely well!

I recommend plenty of water, up to 3 cups of tea or coffee can be fine, but you dehydrate after that so this downgrades performance.

The Mo Farah story is a great learning experience for all of us!

Twitt
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Tuesday, 8th October

Welcome to the Nutrition section of Keri’s blog and thank you for browsing. Good nutrition and exercise go hand in hand.

Diet plays a huge part in any fitness programme and so every week I will give you some recipes, tips and ideas on how to eat healthily to fuel your active lifestyle.

As you will notice, the recipes I give you may not seem like the sort of things you should be eating on a diet. However as far as I’m concerned this is not a diet but a healthy way of life. In order for you to achieve good fitness and a healthy diet you have to find the food you eat enjoyable and look forward to preparing and eating it. Plain food such as a breast of chicken is nice sometimes but you wouldn’t want to eat it every day and soon enough you would return to your old ways of eating out of sheer boredom!

Another problem I have with diets is that they are always concentrated on counting calories. Not only does this lead to an obsession with the weighing scales but also there is a tendency to limit or avoid certain food groups, such as carbs, which is detrimental if you are following a fitness programme and training hard. Carbs, protein and fats are vital for optimum muscle repair and growth and should never be eliminated.

I believe that you can eat everything in moderation even butter and sugar! However there is a rule. 80% of your food should be whole foods and cooked from scratch. In our household the other 20% equates to a treat on a Friday night such as a scoop of ice cream or a couple of drinks. On a Saturday night possibly a take away or a meal in a restaurant. The rest of the week we eat to train. This ensures a constant supply of the right type of nutrients, vitamins and minerals required for the demands of training. I will show you how to cook simple and quick meals and snacks that the whole family can enjoy.

I want you to start thinking of food not in terms of calories but it’s nutrients and health giving properties. How it’s going to fuel your training, giving you increased energy and vitality. Thinking this way about food will also decrease considerably your risks of getting food related diseases such as diabetes and cancer. Above all I want you to enjoy the food you cook because without pleasure you will not succeed.

If there are any recipes you would like or tips on losing weight please contact me on here or at Ted’s Gym.
Nicola.

Twitt