Posted on

Monday, 24th November

32 days until Christmas and many of the general public will have stopped exercising and eating healthy until 2 weeks AFTER Christmas too.

Can you really afford those extra 32 days plus another 14 on top to get even more unhealthy? Forget about being unhealthy for a moment, wouldn’t it be much better just to FEEL better, to breathe well, not get out of breath even doing the most simple of tasks? Wouldn’t it feel better to have a lot more energy in your life-all the time?

All of you must remember that awful feeling of your first workout two weeks after Christmas, the tight chest, the breathlessness, the inability to move without pain the morning after, the gloom of January and the prospect of “trying” to get fit again.

Then the “groundhog day” feeling comes of reaching the end of January and giving up again.

Most people’s exercise commitment lasts until January 28th according to recent studies, despite the fact that they may have signed up to a 12-18 month contract with a gym that doesn’t care if they show up or not.

The next 32 days are an opportunity to change all of that, because at the moment you must feel relatively okay, the Christmas parties haven’t hit yet and you are probably living your “normal” lifestyle without the excesses of Christmas usually bring.

Most of our members train throughout the year, even when it’s dark at 4pm, even when it rains and its freezing, even when it would be easier to go home and sit on the settee all night, even when maybe their work colleagues say they should give it a rest for the winter, even when they are asked “why do you even do it”?!!!

Of course we have many, many individuals trying to look better all the time, but the overriding factor I find all the time, especially at this time of year, is the desire to FEEL better in all ways.

To have the energy to function in everyday life, and usually out-perform is a very powerful reason in itself.

The “added benefits” of losing body fat, being stronger and moving without pain, having more endurance, having much better balance, not having to hide under a big baggy winter jumper all the time, all will happen, but if you focus on just having a good end to the year right now by moving more and watching what you eat more, then you’re going to FEEL much better and start next year with a real spring in your step that you may have never had before!

Twitt
Posted on

Sunday, 23rd November

It’s always great to talk about being successful all the time, but often you learn more when you don’t succeed all the time, when you don’t win every time, and when you stick with it when it would be far easier to give up.

Learning from our mistakes is all important, and being able to climb out of a hole is character building, and makes you a far stronger person.

Our most successful members have a real “life story” to tell, how they overcame adversity, many hit rock bottom and somehow they managed to fight again, find new resolve, dig very deep and start climbing out of a very bad place. These individuals become leaders who constantly encourage other members.

These life stories inspire me and all of us every day, and having brand new examples on a daily basis of how someone has become successful using real life strategies helps us encourage and develop others, so they become the next real life success story.

Putting continuous effort into getting into shape isn’t for everyone, because it is hard work, often requires you to dig deep, and makes you look at yourself far more deeply than you ever thought, it’s then you really see what you are made of.

Being humble and never giving up despite everything else going on at the same time are the most valuable traits you can develop.

Setbacks are going to happen along the way in your fitness and health journey, but if you keep putting the effort in no matter what, everything soon turns around and you will always make a strong comeback as long as you keep an eye on the finish line.

We have no “show offs” or “posers” at the gym, we have no room for people who don’t want to encourage others, a very positive environment is vital to lead others to success, and help everyone fulfil their true potential to create a huge quality of life in every area.

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 19th November

Keri’s Leaner faster stronger

Seasonal and local – day 2

Is out of season food healthy or not?

Unless you live a life like Barbara and Tom from the good life, tending to your fruit and vegetables day in day out, you probably have little knowledge of seasonal food and it’s health benefits.

Since eating within the seasons is the advice given by health professionals these days, it makes you wonder if eating out of season food is in fact healthy or bad for us?

From a health perspective, food that’s not in season has been grown in huge greenhouses or shipped from warmer climates travelling thousands of miles before arriving in our supermarkets. This has many consequences for the consumer. Firstly, they are picked before ripeness so that it can endure the long distance shipping experience. This means that it’s nutrient profile is lower than a local and ripe product. Vitamin C for instance, which is abundant in most fruit and vegetables, is notoriously unstable and so would be lost in transit so to speak, making out of season food less nutritious.

Also transporting produce sometimes requires them to be zapped by a burst of radiation to kill germs. Preservatives such as wax is also added before refrigeration.

Taste wise there is absolutely no comparison. Locally grown food tastes amazing, has great texture and looks appetising. Most local food grown by farmers are also healthier due to having less pesticides and chemicals used for preservation too.

Air miles is another issue for many people. Local food usually travels only a few miles from farm to table ensuring less pollution to the environment.

Another quite interesting argument for eating seasonal is the fact that our bodies actually crave seasonal food due to the weather. Have you noticed how you fancy salads in the summer and crave stews and soups made of root vegetables in winter?

It’s all great saying that local and seasonal is better,tastier and cheaper, however how practical is it to eat like this all the time? If you lived in Italy or California, it wouldn’t be much of a problem, Burry Port however?

Unless you love pigging out on carrots and caulis for the whole winter, you are going to get pretty bored very quickly. Not many fruits are in season in cold and wet Wales in winter.

Our advice would be to try and eat as much seasonal food as you can to get a good amount of natural vitamins and nutrients, as well as getting a tastier and better value product. However supplement with imported fruit and veg as well. We have no intention of giving up bananas anytime soon as they are a great addition to the sports diet.

Seasonal food are in abundance in supermarkets these days, as they do try and cater for popular demand. Many supermarkets buy produce from farmers in Wales and the UK these days, you can usually find the grower written on the label.

Another option for tired and busy workers is frozen fruit and vegetables.

Studies show that these are actually healthier in terms of vitamins and nutrients than many fresh out of season produce, due to the fact they have been picked and frozen within hours, and so have not lost any of their nutrients. It also means you can eat strawberries for instance all year round.

Choosing frozen also means less wastage for the family too. No more shrinking yellowing broccoli lurking in the back of the fridge, which everyone forgot about!

Here is a list of what’s in season in November, helping you to make good seasonal and local choices in the supermarkets and small local shops.

Eat to train,

Nicola.

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 25th June

Many trainers are in the business of exhausting their clients, more and more reps just for the sake of it, no plan, no purpose and definitely no progression. Don’t forget that anyone can stand there and try and destroy you with exercise, but it takes true skill and experience to build you up gradually, so you become a much better athlete.

Understanding proper programming, and making sure the individual you are training EXECUTES your programme is of paramount experience, and this is why you see me running around a lot, things HAVE to be done properly no matter what, and we have to get through certain workouts every week like it or not.

Results are vital, and there has to be a plan on how to get them.

The variety of exercises we use in with one purpose in mind, to make you a better athlete full stop!

Hopefully, the goal of the individuals I train is to look better, feel better, and feel stronger and healthier.

We are the opposite of places who train you like you have to be worn-out sore, and feel like they have been crushed. This will likely lead to injury, and over-stress your central nervous system which means your body will break down sooner rather than later.

You need to train hard, but to learn new skills too. You need to get your body to adapt to new movements, then get it to recover with good nutrition, so it’s ready to do those movements easier next time you do them.

Please don’t fall for the rubbish you need to exhaust yourself every time. If you are continually getting stronger, a little bit faster with more endurance, then you are in a great place and you are likely to see incredible results in a far more pleasant and more enjoyable way!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 9th June

One of the least productive ways of training you can do is concentrating on certain fancy exercises that never really give you a great return on your efforts. These are all over the internet and on certain magazines offering “new” exercises that REALLY are the “secret” to get into shape.

This advice usually confuses people even more, and can push you further and further away from getting into shape.

I have seen lots of people waste huge amounts of time doing some obscure cable movements, perform exercises that look technical but will give you very little development and not stimulate your body in the way you want it to.

Sometimes the best individuals to train are the ones who have never done any training before because they can learn the right way to start with.

Many people who have gone to different places before us, usually develop bad form in many exercises, and this poor performance of exercise can take some time to work out of them.

Performing movements the wrong way can also lead to overuse injuries and longer term pain problems. Sometimes you need to strip things back down to basics to move forward.

Most people get it wrong with exercise selection, the way they perform the exercise and men in particular try to use too much weight on that exercise, and perform it way too quickly just to get the weight up.

Women before they get to us usually have not challenged themselves with weights like their potential really allows. Once they do, their progress is always rapid and their body responds very positively indeed.

The best advice is to stick to a few powerful tried and tested exercises that have a history of delivering huge results.

They all take proper instruction to learn how to do them, and they will get you out of breath when you perform them. They are hard work but you need to perform them consistently and you will progress.

Keeping it simple, not getting distracted and following through on your plan is a guaranteed way to be successful.

Twitt