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Friday, 10th May

If you’re tired of your week by friday, then today is the ideal time to try something different!

Throw what you planned to do in the bin, and do something you weren’t planning to do.

For example, if you are a big weight trainer, and like nothing more than benching big, working chest and arms on a friday, then you should be really changing it tonight to do something different.

You could try a spinning bike for a change, how about doing a heavy punch bag session, what about finding out how well the rowing machine can work you, or how about doing some speed work outside?

You may well avoid these exercises because you are comfortable with what you are doing right now, and maybe have done for years and years.

If this is the case, then all the more reason to change!

Most people are scared of change because they do not really know what’s going to happen.

I can assure though that if you do take my advice and change right now, you will benefit in all sorts of ways.

You will develop new all round fitness levels, your lung capacity will get better, you variety of workouts wil explode, and you will likely enjoy your training a lot more than previously!!

This method of changing things up will serve you well, and keep you from hitting training plateau’s that are all too common in most people’s training lives.

So friday is the perfect time to change it all up, be aggressive with your training again, feel rejuvenated and more optimistic about your future progress all in one go!!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 8th May

After a long bank holiday, a big workout on a Tuesday and today, Wednesday is probably the last thing you feel like.

Deep down though, you know you HAVE to hit it hard today, to not only work the weekend out of your system, but to set the right tone for the rest of the week.

Did you notice that if you didn’t train at the weekend, your eating probably took a dip too, in other words you probably ate and drunk things that could be considered “less than healthy”!

The combination of healthy eating AND exercise should never be underestimated, and they both feed off each other.

You can’t really do one of them well without the other, and once you commit to doing both at the same time, then you’re telling your body that you’re are going to be committed to achieving big things with your health again.

So if its feeling like the week has hit Wednesday already in double quick time, then you would be right, and the race is on to get your body and health feeling back to normal.

A good way to do this is to hit as close as you can the numbers that you have been used to in your best workouts.

For example, if you are used to rowing 10 minutes or under over 2500 metres, then this will give you a barometer on how you are performing after a weekend of drinking and eating too much.

If you can run 2 miles in 16 minutes, then you will know that if suddenly you are struggling to break 17 minutes, then you are some way from feeling and performing at your best.

If your body fat is measured 2-3% more than normal at the end of the month, then you will know that you have to change your habits right now, to get back to the heights of where you have been before.

This is why all my training methods have a lot of measuring tools, both in performance and body analysis. Don’t leave anything to chance and keep aiming high through constantly monitoring yourself!

Twitt
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Friday, 26th April

Finally friday is here, and friday is always the day when many people start thinking about the weekend, and a great workout, sorry make that ANY kind of workout goes firmly on the back burner.

This is down to the state of mind rather than what your body is actually capable of.

If you are one of those who traditionally misses a friday workout, then you could be missing out on serious gains over the long term.

I find that friday is great for a one off type of workout for a variety of reasons.

First of all, if i typically schedule some people on a monday and thursday all over whole body weights programme, then tuesday and friday would work well as a core orientated session, with some outside speed an agility work thrown in too. Anyone who has done this type of session with me will know we have an extreme amount of variety involved in these type of sessions, they tend to be fun but still hard work and results giving.

So let’s say today is friday which it is, and you have one of these different fun sessions scheduled, then this should give you every reason to show up for your friday session every single time.

I think that’s a big reason for many people in gyms not showing up for their friday session and starting the weekend early, they are not being given entertaining sessions so they get bored, and have absolutely no incentive to complete their week of training. Indifference to training is criminal but usually the fault lies with the person giving out the fitness programme in the first place, and NOT with the customer who is paying their hard earned money to get into great shape AND has a right to be entertained in a fun way in terms of exercise presentation.

Have a great weekend!

Twitt
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Wednesday, 24th April

Visualising your progress and the way you want to perform and look has long been a habit of the most successful individuals.

For example, you hear of many sportspeople who will visualise or imagine how their game the next day is going to go.

They visualise themselves scoring goals, scoring tries, winning races etc.

Studies have shown that these techniques can be very successful, and helps you focus far greater on the performance to come.

You can do the same with your workouts. Try relaxing and going through your mind how your workouts going to go. From the exact moves you’re going to perform through to how much weight you’re going to lift, how you’re going to feel when you complete what you want, and how much effort it’s going to require.

If you are going to get into amazing shape, imagine what it takes to get there. If you really think of what it’s going to be like, then you would imagine how important it is to live a healthier lifestyle, eat better foods, drink more water, not drink so much alcohol and generally be far more choosy in your nutritional habits. You know that it takes a bigger effort to drop body fat and look very healthy, rather than feel and look overweight.

Visualising is one thing, but doing is another so let’s get down to it today and make it happen!

A succession of things needs to happen to look and feel your best, and you can start them now instead of imagining it. There’s a very good chance that you will soon look like exactly who you want to be if you live as healthy a lifestyle as possible, it can and WILL happen if you make the change right now, and be consistent with this change until you reach your big goal!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 23rd April

Energy cost, effort, meanings of every exercise you do, why you do certain things and their effects are all vital parts of my work, and form an integral part of my planning for everyone’s training.

When someone starts off for the first time, the energy cost of exercises you give them tends to be low in order to see how they react.

Why we do certain exercises is fully explained, and how their body will react is critical to see how quickly the programme will work for them.

This programme can easily take 4 weeks, and from then we can usually accelerate the programme at a faster pace from there. Without a good grounding in exercise, nobody can really be successful in getting into shape both in the short and long term.

So this is why we set the energy cost of each exercise low to start with, and then gradually building up and replacing the lower cost exercises with higher cost ones over time.

This is why the fittest individuals I train will always be used to high energy costs in every session, what this means is that not only will a lot of calories/energy be burnt in the session, but this will lead to quicker fat-burning, raising the metabolism for longer, and create meaningful changes in a very positive way to one’s resting heart rate.

I have started with many people who have started with a 100 beats per minute heart rate, and now have a 60, 50 or even 40 something resting heart rate. As I have mentioned many times before, having a good strong heart rate is vital to enable you to advance in exercise terms and this can be developed gradually by increments in your exercise programme at regular intervals.

All of these results we talk about, always all start with smart, intelligent exercise programming, making sure you improve quickly but at the same time making sure you lay strong foundations for the future.

Regular reviews of your programme are also vital, and everyone’s programme should be seen as a work in progress, and never something that you go through the motions with leading to poor results.

Seize the moment and look to move your programme along regularly!

Twitt