Posted on

Monday,15th July

With a slight cooling temperatures this morning (although temporary), it gives us a chance to see if training through the warm weather has had a positive effect on our fitness or not.

Those of you have got through the last two weeks and performed your usual workouts will have benefitted immensely from that effort and tonight you are very likely going to be able to put in a top performance tonight. The relief in temperature will give your body’s internal temperature a breather too, meaning you don’t get as hot internally when exercising as you would in extreme heat.

Warm weather training for around three months has long been used by professional athletes. California, Australia and Florida used to be the main destinations for training camps, along with Tenerife and Lanzarote becoming more and more popular very recently with the likes of Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky Cycling, along with the England rugby team.

Former rugby union and league player Jonathan Davies was asked yesterday about the league game in Warrington being brutally hot, he agreed but said it used to be far hotter in Papua New Guinea and Townsville in Australia, when temperatures frequently soared well over 100 degrees! He did say though that it took him many weeks to get used to it.

The lesson is that you can train in warm temperatures, but take your time to get used to it, drink plenty of water throughout the day, never do more than you think you can, don’t train any longer than usual (in fact train for less in terms of minutes) and always stop if you feel dizzy or unwell.

So if you have been sticking with it all, then you will find yourself in great condition going into this week, and achieved a period of warm weather training of your own in preparation for a renewed period of progress coming your way!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 11th July

Eating enough is a problem for some people and for different reasons.

If you need to put on muscle for example, then it can be quite a feat to get used to eating more food, more often in bigger quantities each time. It is not comfortable at the beginning and I remember going through the same thing myself many times.

Eating more food usually goes with your training schedule being upgraded. If you are training a lot harder and for longer, then its absolutely critical to be eating more calories, and more importantly more QUALITY calories!

The secret of success in going through this process is simply sticking with it!

Many people haven’t the patience to go through this, and are forever looking for the “wonder supplement” that will somehow slap a ton of muscle on their frame.

So it’s a simple equation, you need to up your portion size a little bit, and eat every 3-4 hours max to stimulate lean muscle growth in your body.

Then when growth happens (and it will given time), then you will notice your poundages in certain exercises in the gym tend to start going up.

Another vital ingredient would be your sleep. You can be training your guts out, you could be eating a ton of food, but if you’re not getting to bed early every night, you’re not going to experience the growth in your body you should be getting.

If all of this sounds pretty rigorous, and requires a lot of discipline, then you would have guessed right! Putting muscle on is not as easy as those advertisements make it sound or promise you. It can be done though IF you show the consistency required more or less every day of the week. You can have one day off from the relentless nature of the eating, training and eating, but you had better get back on it the very next day.

This is the type of attitude you need and as I said sticking to it no matter what is the true secret to muscle gain!!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 9th July

The temperature has relented just a little bit today, which makes it a little bit more enjoyable to train in than yesterday’s conditions which reminded me of training in some kind of oven!

If you watched andy murray on Sunday, then you will have seen someone who takes full advantage of the heat and the humid conditions.

When he first broke on the scene, he tried playing a 5 setter versus Nalbandian. Despite taking a two set lead, he then run out of steam and was overcome by his far more experienced opponent.

Murray knew then that he needed to be able to cope with the heat and all the demands it brought.

He employed a big team of nutritionist, fitness trainers, yoga teachers, psychologists to get him into the real big time.

A key factor was re-locating to Miami. Anyone who has been there realizes that you are unlikely to get anywhere so humid as Miami, especially in the summer, this is where murray still calls his training base, and has obviously benefitted immensely from it!

He of course plays tennis all over the world, and although the rumoured 50 degrees on court was tortuous even for him, he at least has a lot of experience of those conditions and his experience of it was critical when it came to the crunch.

He was seen putting ice on his shoulders and neck in between games, he took longer to get out of his chair, he made sure he was fully hydrated and the extreme amount of work he put into his body paid off even against a supremely fit champion like Novak Djokovic!

So as we feel a little sorry for ourselves training through the extreme heat (for us anyway), we shou.ld realize that as long as we are sensible, and we take the proper precautions, we should be able to work our way through it, and year in year out, we are likely to get better in how we deal with it just like our new Wimbledon champion!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 8th July

As I write this, it is 26 degrees and I have already experienced getting through some tough sessions this morning.

The usual protocol must be followed in this very warm weather.

Regular water intake is the most important by far, and I am talking about drinking THROUGHOUT the day and not just your workout. This will enable your body’s core temperature to stay in a healthy range, it will help you workout for longer and help you recover from your session a lot quicker.

In this weather, like when you are abroad, it will be a great idea to train either first thing in the morning or later in the evening, when it goes a bit cooler and it’s a bit more pleasant to train in.

A massive test of exercising in the heat was Andy Murray’s wonderful performance yesterday. It was said to be up to 50 degrees on centre court yesterday would you believe! No wonder murray looked as if he had already played 5 sets than the 3 he already played! He looked out on his feet when he had the winning point and with good reason.

Playing in 50 degrees is extreme and most people could never get through such a match, and this shows the extremely good condition that both players were in, and both can now be regarded as the great champions they are!

They are constantly hydrating themselves, constantly eating throughout the day, before and after the match, and sometimes taking on calories through gel’s and various products. Djokovic consumes a protein and carbs shake straight away after his match as he leaves the court for example.

Good water intake, good nutrition all round is vital for these players who often play in extreme heat, and if you adopt some of their habits, then you too will be able to train harder and longer even when it’s a lot warmer than usual!!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday 4th July

If you ever needed any inspiration to train, then you have some very good examples at the moment to follow.

If you needed an excuse to get out there and cycle, you have the Tour de France, this is a great event to follow once you have watched it a few times, as it takes a while to get to realize what the tactics are. You may appreciate the mountain stages more at the moment, and these are usually on the weekends, and this is when most of the “fireworks” happen!

You don’t have to try and bike it up impossible mountains though, just getting out on your bike and riding for 30 minutes is likely to be a major step forward for you.

You have Wimbledon of course for tennis. We don’t seem to see many kids playing tennis anymore, but these two weeks used to the time when you would see people inspired to buy a racket and get out there and play. Tennis clubs used to put people off with the snootiness factor, but I hear they are much more welcoming these days so why not try them out!

The British and Irish lions are in the third and deciding test at the weekend, and have taken part in an enthralling series so far.

This is a great time to enjoy rugby and wet your appetite for the upcoming rugby season. I have many rugby players who are just starting their pre-season training, so a good performance on Saturday, especially with so many Welshmen in the team is bound to inspire the next generation of players coming through!

With sports being such a major fact of life and entertainments these days, and the life lessons it teaches us, use all of these opportunities to spur you on to new physical prowess, and to take your enthusiasm for sports and training to another level!!

Twitt