Posted on

Tuesday, 26th February

Listening to your own internal voice is critical to moving forward in terms of you health and fitnes.

I see two sides of people which leads to two types of results.

The internal little voice we all have a times allows us to duck out of things easily, making us believe that we really cannot do things. The same voice allows us keep progress as a distant dream, instead of what could easily be reality.

Then, there is the other voice that is much more assertive and honest in a way.

This assertive voice makes us ATTEMPT and ACTUALLY DO things. When we get to this stage, we usually find that we CAN do the things that seem a distant dream, and we usually end up proud of our achievements.

The timid first voice will make us end up cancelling workout appointments, giving up on our eating commitments, and generally make us go back to wondering what might have been.

The second more positive voice will give us the butterflies in our stomachs, that feeling of we don’t really know if our attempts will work out, but we are willing to stick to it no matter what and we will still be proud of our efforts.

It makes perfect sense then our second most assertive voice is something we should be listening to, especially if we want to reach our goals. Anything worth achieving is only possible by that positive inner voice urging you to go for it in the first place, and sustaining you especially in your moments of doubt!

So the two choices you have every day, AND WE ALL HAVE THEM, are critical in determining your future.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that listening to your positve, more assertive voice will pay big dividends.

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 25th February

We always like to talk about hitting it hard on monday, and setting the right tone for the rest of the week, but you should also have made it easier on yourself by not going crazy on junk food and alcohol for the entire weekend!

One night when you have a drink within reason is no problem, and one day when you have bit of what you fancy in terms of your favourite foods is no problem either. The problems start though is when you make it an ALL weekender, meaning that you “go for it” on friday, saturday and sunday.

When you do this, no matter how hard you hit it on monday, you’re going to be playing catch up for the rest of the week!!

So there is a couple of rules you have to follow if you want to make the weekend work FOR you, instead of working against you.

Make the alcohol one day a week only, make the foods you consider a treat one day a week only, or if its two make them relatively small portions, or certainly much smaller than you would normally do.

When you do have that day when you relax on food and alcohol, the very next morning you exercise first thing NO MATTER WHAT before breakfast!! This tends to burn fat straight away and THIS HABIT will get you back on track saving the effort you put in all week before the weekend.

The weekend is definitely there to have fun, but if you binge ALL weekend, then no monday superhuman effort is going to make up for it.

So let’s say your big day/big night out is saturday, then that could be your rest day too. So the sunday morning becomes your big early morning workout, a true “recovery” workout if there ever was one!

Then by the time monday comes along, you will have already got the rubbish out of your system, and monday’s workout will have a much greater value for you, and TRULY set you on the right path for the rest of the week!!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday, 22nd February

One of the most popular questions I get asked is “which exercise is best, or my friend just goes to spinning classes and she has lost a stone, or my friends just runs and he feels and looks amazing now, or my friends just do yoga and they swear by it”! You get the picture but here’s the answer!

They are all partly right but entirely miss the point when it comes to constructing a valid programme that will serve you well for the short and long term, and keep you getting sustainable results.

Spinning is great for example, but to say it should be 100% of your programme is misguided, delusional and you will be missing out on much better results if you put more variety in your programme.

Spinning should be 10% of your programme.

The running should be 10% of your programme (assuming you have good knees and a sound back or you could run into problems).

Yoga is great, but again should be incorporated into your programme, rather than become ALL of your programme.

Weight training and body weight training should be a fundamental part of your programme, but doesn’t need to be the overwhelming part. You should work your entire body every workout, therefore needing just 2-3 workouts a week maximum.

You also do not need the 4-5 sets per exercise, and you don’t need the 3-4 exercises per body part like some do.

Choosing one exercise per body fat for 2-3 sets of 8 reps will work very well for you, IF done with real intensity and progress keeps happening for you, which it WILL if you are doing it properly!!

Bosu ball, balance work, fitball work should also be a big part of your workout plan, and done a minimum of 2-3 times a week, but doesn’t by any means need to be the whole of your workout.

Same with boxing, a big part of everyone’s training I teach, but done at the end of most workouts but very valuable all the same.

We work hard with ropes in the gym that will bring amazing results, and so do sandbags and tyres, as well as sledgehammers.

My job is making people’s workouts brutally efficient, saving lots of time meaning you can concentrate on the exercises that REALLY count, and you can get much variety than you every imagined!!

So a little bit of a long answer, but that’s the truth when it comes to which exercises you should/could be doing for amazing results!!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 21st February

With the food industry seemingly at an all time low, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that there is much more to come. With the current investigations likely to take months to sort out this mess, I believe they will then move on to other food areas.

Milk and the production of milk has long been controversial, and seeking the freshest and most natural produced milk has to be a priority for you.

You know I always advise wholemeal bread, which although still contains a little sugar and other not so good ingredients, is a million times better than white bread. The sugar, salt and bleaching agents in this awful product would scare most people, yet some are still not willing to change! Eat white bread daily and you will never get in shape full stop, plus its going to be a negative for your health.

Changing to wholegrains is a massive step you can take right now, to improve your health, improve your bodily functions and reach your target body fat levels A LOT sooner and stay in that good zone for life!

So when I have talked about shopping in supermarkets before, I have always advised to IGNORE most of the aisles. You should ignore the ready meal and pizza aisles, the frozen vegetables etc are fine because they are non-processed.

Avoid the full fat cheeses, avoid the frozen chip ailes, avoid most of the cereal boxes aisles but please select porridge, shredded wheat, Weetabix which are known 100% natural products.

Select wholegrain pasta which is going to be good for you and a nice slow release of energy, brown rice better than white rice, spend a LOT more time in the fruit and vegetable section, this will be a good investment in your health right there!

The fish section is always good, plus the tinned fish can be a much cheaper option and more sustainable option. All fish options are good, apart from the ones which have heavy sauces included in the product.

So in shopping terms, only trust the fresher, most natural products because you cannot go wrong with them. Avoid chemically enhanced and pumped up products because you know they are not going to help you on bit, plus you know by now you’re going to have to worry about their long term effects.

Eat natural and feel and look good full stop!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, February 19th

A lot was made yesterday in the press, about certain cereals and high fibre foods not actually telling us the total number of calories in the product.

This is another example to avoid foods that contain chemicals that we don’t really know anything about.

Muesli is a great example of this. The full sugar and full fat version are a nightmare for you if you are tryiing to drop body fat, in fact they are bad news if you are even trying to maintain a healthy weight!! They will drive body fat on to your frame quicker than you can say excess sugar and salt!!

You shouldn’t bundle all of these products and cereals into the same pile though!

I have always said that products such a weetabix and shredded wheat will always be good, because all they contain is wheat and the keep you away from dangerous chemicals and needless extra chemicals. You can’t go wrong with these.

You do need to avoid though variations of these products, when sugary coatings or/and sugary versions of fruit are added to the products. This is a perfect example of how to mess up a good cereal and make it no longer healthy for you!

Same with porridge, one of my favourites! I love porridge and eat it twice a day! Plain rollled oats with no additives are great and will give you long lasting energy, no catches with this one and no sugar, salt or saturated fat!

The problem starts when we add the sugary versions of sugar, the apple pie and blueberry pies versions for example. Al NO GOOD for you!!!

You need to keep it plain and simple with cereal, stick to the intended natural version and add natural ingredients to it, such as chopped fruit and or dried fruit with no added sugar.

Twitt