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Friday, 27th December

Following on from our last post about guidelines about training through the Christmas period, it’s important to write it down in layman’s terms.

This is because quite a lot of you have continued training throughout the holidays, and some of you even on Christmas and boxing days, some of you train these two big days every year, simply because you feel better you tell me, and we can all relate to that feeling that exercise gives us.

So let’s assume you are looking to keep some sort of decent condition over Christmas, it’s important to remember some key recommendations.

Most of you will not have much time to train as normal, with other commitments taking precedent so it’s vital you cut to the chase!

If you are doing a weights workout, you need to prioritize getting the most from your body.

If you usually pick 8-10 exercises for your session, then you need to just do what is necessary, and try to work your whole body in one session. Many people have gone away from working your whole body in one session, but going back to it will surprise you in terms of the effort required and the huge benefits it can give you again. Many people try to go straight on some kind of pro routine when a simple all over programme 2-3 times a week would be far more beneficial for them.

Just pick one exercise for your legs, chest, shoulders, back, arms (triceps/biceps) and core.

Pick an exercise that tests you quite hard and requires a lot of energy, for example bench press for chest, upright rows for shoulders, one arm dumbbell rowing for back, leg press for legs, dumbbells curls/bench dips for arms, etc, and some medicine ball work for core.

After a brief warm up on the bike, try 3 sets of 8 with a weight that’s going to test you. This will give you a short and very productive workout in less than half and hour.

Aim to take 45 seconds in between sets, or however long it takes you to get your breath back. You may have to use less weight than normal, but your heart and lungs will be having a great workout too, and as you get used to it over a few weeks, your lifting weight will gradually creep back up again.

You will be out of breath at times, your heart rate will be accelerated, and you will definitely break a sweat, in other words you will be getting the job done quickly.

Christmas is a great time for getting back to basics, and this simple plan will take you a long way into the new year too.

More on other simple training strategies to come, that you can use the rest of the week.

Twitt
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Monday, 9th December

Milk as a recovery drink post exercise

Milk is a near –perfect recovery drink, in terms of both glycogen and muscle replenishment and rehydration. In research, milk has been proven to produce a more favourable hormonal environment immediately following exercise compared to a carbohydrate sports drink. This they suggest encourages protein anabolism during recovery, in other words encourages muscle growth and repair.

Canadian researchers have found that when male weight trainers who were new to the sport consumed skimmed milk as part of a 12 week resistance programme, it promoted greater hypertrophy (muscle gain) than isoenergetic soy or carb drinks. Another study with females who were on a 12 week resistance exercise course found they reduced body fat levels , increased lean mass and strength after consuming skimmed milk post exercise.

It is thought that milk somehow changes the metabolism of proteins in muscle and so enhances muscle adaptations to exercise.

A post recovery drink should be drunk as soon as possible after exercise. There is a two hour ‘window’ post exercise when glycogen storage is faster than at any other time at a rate of 150% the normal rate. Therefore drinking the milk at this time speeds glycogen (blood sugar levels) and muscle recovery.

For harder, longer training sessions, extra carbs might be needed. Researchers have found that eating a bowl of wholegrain cereal with milk was as effective as sports drinks, but it also promoted greater muscle protein synthesis compared to the sport drink.

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
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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
Posted on

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