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Wednesday, 1st February

Nice to see that hill training is coming back into fashion these days with most of the world’s top athletes telling us that this form of training has been their cornerstone for years.

Dai Greene, the world champion hurdler from Llanelli, admitted the other day in the press that he credits hill sprints and in particular, sprints up sand dunes as the most important part of his training to develop him into a world class athlete.

Andre Agassi was famous for doing 900 yard runs up Las Vegas sand dunes to bring him back from the dead in terms of his pro career, he made it back from 141 in the world all the way back to number one by working so hard in his time going up sandy hills!!

Whatever goal you are looking for when it comes to fitness, hill sprints will work in a big way for you.

If hill sprints are beyond you, try and start on hill WALKS instead, but still trying to get up the hill as soon as you can.

Here’s the way it should go.

First of all, try picking the very worst hill you can find!! I mean the steepest, nastiest hill you can choose near to your home ideally and try to master it if possible. You never actually “master” it, you just get better at it, its ALWAYS going to be a challenge that’s for sure!!!

Aim to start off doing 5 walks going forwards, the try 5 walks going backwards. This forwards and backwards type motion will confuse your body a bit, and give you a far more thorough workout, and there’s nothing like it for give your legs heck of burn!!!

Each sprint should be around 30-40 yards a time, and do each one once you have got your breath back.

Start off small and slow, and then each week try and build it up a little more and see how you go.

If you manage to get up to 10 forwards and 10 backwards at a very good pace, you know you will be in great shape!!!

Twitt
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Tuesday, 31st January

The very end of the month and some of you i know have had excellent months, some of you have hardly got going for various reasons, but its never too late and theres absolutely no time to waste.

A hidden danger of inactivity and not eating so well is blood pressure problems.

A lady approached me today saying hers was going up to borderline figures, and the doctor had ordered her to do something about it.

I have had great success in the past with individuals with blood pressure issues, and i always try to apply a simple formula that works pretty much every time!

The three things you need to address are the following.

Number one is exercise. If you are not active, you are not keeping your circulation going, you are not bringing the fresh quantities of oxygen in, and your body will not function quite so well without it, this is a fact so you have every incentive to get going!

Number two is salt and salt ridden products. For example, if you cook with salt, you need to stop it right now as this will be a big help. You definitely need to stop adding salt to your food, this is a massive no-no when it comes to eating, this will push your blood pressure right up over time.

Another factor is food already prepared such as ready meals and fast food. These are always loaded with salt that will destroy you over the long term, and contribute to blood pressure problems in a big way. Take this rubbish out of your life, replace it all with fresh natural food and you will be amazed at the difference!

Number three is alcohol. If you are trying to reduce blood pressure, please either eliminate or certainly keep your alcohol to an absolute minimum!!! This will have a tremendous effect on your blood pressure, and get your internal system working far more efficiently.

I know i have been brief but change these three vital things straight away, and your blood pressure problems will significantly improve!!!

Twitt
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Friday, 20th January

It can seem very difficult to be positive when your environment is seemingly negative.

It always takes work to be positive and motivated.

Bad things don’t always go away, but there’s a lot you can do to turn your negatives into the positive!

The people who end up being successful in getting into shape, and more importantly, stay there tend to be positive in their focus no matter what is going on around them.

From talking to them and using it as research, they tend to always mention their past successes, and don’t usually mention or certainly DO NOT dwell on their past failures. Their focus tends to be on the steps they can take to achieve their goals, rather than their distractions and negatives that life can bring more or less every day.

Being proactive in what you need to do is massive if you really want to get leaner, stronger and develop huge amounts of energy. You will find that these actions build on top of each other and you can reach optimum health levels with less work than you initially thought!

To increase your focus, try this game in your mind when you go to bed.

Review your day, recognise your successes, still focus on what’s to come in your future and make real detailed plans for you want to achieve the very next day.

If you don’t have a plan for the next day, it can drift and sometimes you won’t be able to get anything done. If you get used to achieving every day, then it will become normal everyday life for you and you will start becoming very successful without thinking it’s hard work at all!

If you do this at the end of the day, its been proven to stay in your unconcious mind up to 6 times more than in any other part of the day. Its like reading a child a book before bedtime, they not only fall asleep but often the lessons from the story and morals often become part of the child’s consciousness.

Programming yourself for success is all in the mind, and every bit of valuable information is handy to be taken onboard.

Twitt
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Thursday, 19th January

Educating individuals on how to eat well and maximise their potential is always difficult, depending of course on how much they know already, some people know a lot already and some know absolutely nothing.

It’s worth sticking at it though because of the enormous benefits that will come with a proper eating plan. Hopefully you are reading this every day for a no nonsense way to improve your health, so I have to lay it down to you as straight as possible!

I have met so many people who have transformed their lives by switching their fast food diet over to fresh natural foods. If you want better skin instantly, a stronger leaner tighter body, a much stronger immune system and an amazing level of energy, then make the move now!

I cannot overstate the results you are likely to get from throwing away your past life of eating empty calories which can lead to ill health and low energy levels, to one full of rich nutrients that will energise you to a much higher quality of life. This is no gimmick and there are no faddy diet clubs in sight, this is real and WILL work!!!

People always say that its hard to eat healthy all the time, but that statement is totally false. This pack of lies is usually told by people who are not really committed to turning their lives around.

The hardest part is the first week when you make the initial switch, there can be headaches, irritability, light headedness etc all in the first few days, but give yourself a few weeks of eating right and how can you go back to feeling the way you did before?!!!

You will be in the fast lane of development, I have met some people who only ate crisps and chocolate all day for whatever reason, then they changed to white meats and fish, wholegrain and whole wheat pasta, new, sweet and jacket potatoes, brown rice, lots of fruit and vegetables and a steady supply of water, and they made a transition of such magnitude, that people thought it was scarcely possible!!

People all the time will tell you theres a million ways to do things, but if why not keep it to the most sensible, tried and tested and as it happens, the most SCIENTIFIC way of getting it right with your body.

January 19th and still not too late to get into great shape by spring, only you can decide to do it!!!

Twitt
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Wednesday, 18th January

With the weather a bit up and down, or mostly down this time of year, you have may have been faced with inside options most of the time this winter!!!

This is not always a bad thing and it will help hammer home the importance of strength training, using resistance works full stop for a million and one reasons.

I was dealing with an individual today who has had a snowboarding accident and badly damaged his shoulder.

You may think that strength training is out of the question in this case, but its never been more important for him.

We can still work the legs very hard, and this often helps bring a weak area up for most people because you can give it much more of a concentrated effort.

The shoulder has calmed down a lot now, so i have introduced some fantastic shoulder exercises. This gentleman can normally use 30 pound dumbbells for his shoulder work, i have stripped it down now right to 5 pound dumbbells! This allows me to concentrate on building up the strength of the tendons and ligaments around the shoulder, and very gradually build his strength up again.

You can never be over cautious in this type of situation, but its imperitive to get back the strength and integrity of that shoulder joint!

Contrast this with an elderly lady i train who is looking at the same five pound dumbbells, but using them in a lot of different exercises to develop her strength, and she is well into here 70’s. She is getting tremendous benefits in every area of her life now from being fitter, stronger and healthier!!!

I am not going to put an exclamation mark after that because i find these days my clients in the 70’s are usually stronger than most 40 year old’s i know, and thats no exaggeration!!!

I try to treat each and every person on their individual abilities, and not discriminate against anyone on their age in particular!!!

Whatever their age, strength training will remain paramount in my plans for them!!!

Twitt