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
Posted on

Monday, 1st July

July brings a fresh batch of challenges in terms of training improvements.

You will be usually be in one of two camps.

The first one is the attitude of taking it easy just because it’s july and july is a month of holidays, finishing school for example, stop fortnight for factories, and the weather is usually much warmer and sunnier too (sometimes!). This camp will usually miss a lot of workouts, start drinking alcohol in the week, generally eat much more poorly than normal, and justify all the weight gain on “the time of year”.

The other camp is the one where you have people either who are about to go on holidays, or have just been away. They are now dead keen to get back into their training, they are hitting their workouts hard, never miss a session and maybe about to start pre-season rugby or football. This camp associates july with hard work, tough workouts, and have got accustomed to working out in warmer temperatures, and have got to the stage they actually relish it.

The first camp end up piling on the weight, and often take a long time to get back into their training after their holiday. These are the inconsistent ones who never achieve anywhere like their potential.

The second camp are the more serious trainer, who are used to seeing results and are prepared to keep putting the results in.

July is a critical month for you to change your attitude and mindset to set yourself up for a month of great results, and the months to follow after that. Don’t settle for a lazy july, instead change the course for the rest of the year right now by showing up all the time this month and making every workout count!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 27th June

An instant solution to sort your eating problems out is writing down everything you eat and drink.

If for instance, you had a cooked breakfast, then you had a roll for mid-morning bought in a garage, then you grabbed something out for lunch in a shop, then mid-afternoon you had a bar of chocolate and packet of crisps, then to finish off you picked up a takeaway on the way home, just because you had a busy day and you couldn’t be bothered to make your own food when you got home.

If you did this most days, then it wouldn’t take a genius to work out that you will not get in any kind of decent
shape!

Most people though do not realize what they eat, and never have any kind of plan for their day ahead. Its this type of approach that will lead to longer term weight gain, longer term health problems, and a feeling of hopelessness when it comes to how you feel about your health.

To change all of this, I strongly encourage individuals to keep a 7 day eating diary, writing down exactly what they eat for a week and how much too. They will also write down what they drink, again how much is important too.

What this does is immediately recognizes how well you are actually eating, it shows if you are overeating in each meal or not, how much of your calories are coming from drink (studies have shown that obese individuals can consume 40% of their total calories through fizzy drinks, alcohol etc).

Once your awareness goes up, and it definitely will doing this, then you are likely to get a plan developed, have a good healthy shopping list for the first time in a while, and you will be likely to start cooking many meals yourself, as the takeaway, grab something at lunch time option, grab something in the garage option, soon becomes a thing of the past, as long as you prepare more before you leave the house in the morning.

This simple 7 day eating diary will make all the difference!

Twitt