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Tuesday, 9th October

Lots of little colds and annoying little illnesses around lately, and some of them taking at least a couple of weeks to finally go!!!

So it’s a probably a great time to discuss how you should play this situation from a training perspective?

The rule of thumb should be the following.

If you are feel a little bit off above the neck, then its still okay to train as long as you are sensible, and i’m talking about little sniffle’s and not heavy cold’s!!!  If you have a heavy cold or really bad headache, then you should not train definitely!

If you are aching below your shoulders, then you should not train as you are probably going down with something. Aching from a cold or flu perpective means you should rest your body right now, and try and still keep drinking water to keep you hydrated, this will help in the recovery process for sure.

You must realise that exercise can be a massive positive for your immune system, and protect you against future colds and illnesses.

However, IF your immune system is already compromised, and i mean run down and not feeling well, then it definitely is not a good time to exercise, as exercise can put extra stress on your immune system and can mean a 2-3 day recovery from a cold turning into a 2-3 week recovery from a much heavier cold. This is why you must treat your body with care and respect your immune system.

You know how to boost your immune system by now? Eat a wide variety of nutrients, eat plenty of vegetables and fruit, eat nuts in sensible portions, get plenty of sleep, avoid alcohol, certainly avoid cigarettes, which could be considered as the worst thing in creation for your body!!

Autumn is a delicate time for all sorts of colds, so make sure you eat well, eat natural when you can and respect your body by doing all the right things you know that will work very well for you!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 8th October

Shortcuts are always there for you, but you secretly know they aren’t the way to get what you want with your healthy and body.

If you cheat in an exam, copy someone else’s homework, you know its not really sustainable and your long-term progress will end up in tears.

Shortcuts end uo creating more work and ultimately more disappointment. Your long term development is always based on putting a lot of hard work in and reaping the benefits on a consistent basis.

Instead of taking shortcuts, start making yourself much more accountable.

Try training with someone of a similar level, if they’re willing to push you.

Make your goals public, and tell your closest friends and training colleagues what you really want to achieve, and you’re not going to rest until you get there! When you make your goals public, you will find that you will get more support than you ever imagined.

If you train in a supportive environment, then nothing is out of bounds and its great to talk about your frustrations, goals, disappointments, great moments with people who have more than likely been through many of those experiences themselves.

For example, i have had experiences when people have told me that they want to be pushed, that they want to achieve big things with their body and health, and for me to give it everything in order to get them to that amazing level. On every occasion, that person as long as he or she was committed to his/her training, then lofty goals were indeed achieved.

When someone wants to start training, one of my main questions is how committed they really are to achieving their goals? If they seem disinterested in the whole thing, then i am not going to waste my time on getting involved with someone who is not willing to show any committed, in fact its obviously going to be a waste of time for both parties!!

If you show commitment to your goals, and listen well, then you are 100% likely to achieve something very special!!!

Twitt
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Thursday, 4th October

It’s metabolism all the way this week, and here’s some more ways to get it fired up!!

If you eat 5-6 times a day, then you are raising your metabolism nicely, as the act of eating alone will make you burn more calories.

Its vital these meals though are not over-sized, and are smaller in general as you will be eating every 3-4 hours. The idea is to eat breakfast, lunch and evening meal, with mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks keeping you full and energised in between.

So if you eat three meals a day, you will be raising your metabolism 3 times a day, instead of 5-6 times a day with the smaller meals and snacking method.

Another benefit of eating multiple times a day is that you never get hungry, your body will expect food regularly and this will make sure you are not tempted to binge!

Another great way to raise your metabolism is to eat real foods. That may sound strange but eating real vegetabls, real fruit and most importantly, AVOIDING PROCESSED FOOD whenever you can.

Most of the processed food you get in the supermarket these days doesn’t take much digestion, therefore burning less calories and also playing havoc with your digestive system.

If you eat fruit, real vegetables, real oatmeal for example, your body’s whole digestive system is working at its full capacity to break down the food, then use it as an energy source.

This process will not go on when you eat processed rubbish, that seems to fill most of the aisles in supermarkets!! Ready meals are the most guilty example, but anything that takes a minute or so to heat up and eat is usually going to be very poor for your internal digestive system.

Eating natural isn’t always possible, so try to use processed foods before your training session. This way you can at least use the food as energy and get it out of your system as soon as possible!!

Twitt
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Wednesday, 3rd October

We talked about the value of trying to raise your metabolism yesterday, here are some key ways on how to do it!

Number one is to lift weights. If you just do normal cardio that most people do (treadmill, bike etc), then your metabolism will be raised but only for the duration of your workout.

The difference with weights/resistance training is the effect will last a lot longer!

Scientific studies show the elevated metabolism you will experience can last up to 39 hours!!! This is why weight training is so important! Weight training breaks down muscle tissue and usually needs that amount of time to recover.

We have always talked on here about the benefits of weight training, and obviously this another big reason to lift!!

Number two is to train intensely. Whatever workout you do, make sure you train with purpose and if you put a good intensity into it, your metabolism will be raised that much more again, meaning you burn more calories and burn more fat.

Number three is embracing the process of building lean muscle tissue. Experts suggest that for every pound of muscle gained, your body will burn an extra 35-50 calories a day!! Compare that with just 2 pounds for every pound of fat. This is why people who are lean and muscular find it easier to stay like that, whilst people who carry a lot of fat struggle more to get it off.

Number four is eating more  protein, not too much but a sensible amount. With all of this good training, you should also a healthy amount of protein such as the size of your fist in each meal. Not only does it fill you up that much longer than carbs and fat, it also takes 25% more calories for the body to break down protein.  These 25% of the calories in protein are broken down through the digestion process, compare this to 5% of carbs and just 2% effort to burn fat when ingested!!

More tomorrow!!

Twitt
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Tuesday, October 2nd

The word metabolism has become very fashionable these days, but in real terms it refers to the amount of energy your body uses.

We all think about energy in our workouts, but our body uses vital energy resources in just about everything we do.

Your heart beating, sustaining your lean muscle on your body, breathing and regulating your temperature among other functions all require calories, so your metabolism is truly the rate your body burns calories 24 hours a day!

How many people do you know who blams their “slow metabolism” for their lack of progress? I know a huge number for starters, and have spent a career disproving that statement!!

The word metabolism is so misunderstood, that the often corrupt weight loss industry will take advantage of this ignorance by making false claims.

How many times have you fallen for pills that claim to “raise” your metabolism without the need for diet and exercise?

Like i said, how many times have you been told me the media that you cannot lose weight due to your “slow metabolism”?!!

How many times have you been told that “thin” people were born lucky because of their fast metabolisms”?!!

A big myth exploded is the fact that overweight people have actually higher metabolisms than so called thinner people because it requires sometimes a lot more calories to SUSTAIN a much higher weight. The bigger weight person also burns more calories in exercise too, because it is usually a bigger effort.

Genes DO play in metabolism but it has been proven by science that they prove a far smaller role than previously thought!

Luck doesn’t really have anything to do with it, action and eating well has about a thousand times more to do with it so the sooner you realise that the better, and the sooner you realise that actions speak louder than words the better!!!

The main point is we do not have to become “victims” of our so called slow metabolisms at all!

We will talk about many ways to boost your metabolism A LOT tomorrow!!!

Twitt