consistency – Page 48 – Keri McKibbin Personal Training

August 20, 2012

Monday, August 20th

With the economy still in the doldrums, most people have learnt to adjust to the new demands of life. Most are now spending less, and what they do spend on have become very discerning on what they are prepared to spend on.

They realise now that they have so much packed in their day, they cant devote huge amounts of time to getting in shape, so they want the ultimate workout packaged up in a user-friendly way, and progress showed to them constantly.

Having dealt with very busy people for years now, it was important for me to recognise that most individuals want economy of effort in attaining big results and this was the bottom line for me.

In other words, they don’t want to spend a whole lot of time getting what they want, and super results in a quick period of time are tough to get, but CAN be done and this is the good news and this is my whole philosophy now, and has brought out a whole new performance in me and everyone I train!

Every exercise and movement needs to be well-thought out when you are working against the clock. 20-30 minute workouts can be often superior to the long drawn out efforts that most people have been accustomed to in the past.

Each exercise always has an energy “cost”, usually meaning the tougher the exercise, the higher the energy cost, which means more calories burnt and more body fat lost. This is why lots of my workouts are full of these so called “tougher” exercises.

The first thing is before any of this is learning each movement and doing it with complete safety, I cannot budge from that.

Then the tempo and intensity required has to be taught, and got used to.

Then when we get to the level where workouts are done at a good pace without much of a break, this is when true economy of effort is really valuable and you will get a lot of return for a relatively low time investment. This is a high return workout went taught properly and once you learn it, you are unlikely to go back to the slow, laboured way of working that probably brought you mediocre results at best!

Time to change, save a lot of time and re-think what you’re doing.

August 17, 2012

Friday, 17th August

Once you make the big change to eating well, and more natural food, the common question is how long it will take to get used to a big change in diet.

Scientific studies show us that it generally takes around 12 weeks to get used to this change, and more importantly for your taste buds to change completely.

This means that foods that you used to be tempted to eat will soon become foods that you find sickly, you especially when eaten to excess.

The great thing about this situation is that you won’t feel like going to the bad old days once you make this change, as long as you follow it through and remain committed in getting used to it.

Making the first step is the hardest part and sometimes the thought about eating healthy for the rest of your life can be overpowering.

Most of us would love to stay in our comfort zone and it would be so much easier to eat in the chip shop every night, drink alcohol as often as we liked, and hit the bakery every morning for some lovely snacks full of sugar.

The downside to all of this behaviour if done over a longer period unfortunately would likely to be weight gain, shortness of breath, joint trouble, heart disease and elevated risk of many serious diseases.

So if you look at the big picture, which scenario is more appealing?

Would it be a lifetime habit of eating foods very low in quality nutrients and super-high in saturated fat and calories, that in general makes you feel sluggish, desperately low in energy, overweight and plain unhealthy?

Or do you put up with a few weeks of all that sugar, salt and saturated fat leaving your body and then your body having a much more sustainable diet for the rest of your life, giving you huge amounts of energy, healthy body fat levels, much more joint strength, more endurance and higher strength levels?

Not much of a choice there but it’s a free country so at the end of the day, it’s YOUR choice!!!

August 16, 2012

Thursday, August 16th

Fat in your diet has always been the ultimate sin for many people, “avoid at all costs” is often shouted from the rooftops when it comes to losing body fat. Unfortunately, this statement is only partially true.

Saturated fat is the true baddie, with the potential to clog up your arteries and cause all sorts of health problems, and in particular raise your chances of having a heart attack markedly.

Saturated far can raise chances of contracting any serious disease, so it’s a great idea for you to eat red meat for instance, just once a week. Anything in moderation is okay, and common sense must be used with the foods that can cause you problems if consumed too often.

The “good fats” often termed essential fats, and plenty of them do exist, should play a major role in your diet.

If fish isn’t a major part of your diet, then you need to ask yourself why not, as it contains lots of important fats that your body needs to function properly in all areas.

If you don’t include nuts in their natural form in your diet, then you’re missing out again on a great source of essentials fats for your body, not only that but your immune system too.

So we have established fats are important for your diet and wellbeing, but this won’t mean so much UNLESS you get refined sugars out of your diet.

Putting sugar on top of your cereal or adding to your tea/coffee is something you need to eliminate straight away, the effect on your physical appearance will be dramatic given time, and will take that sweet tooth away for good.

If that sweet tooth is always there, then you’re always liable to come totally off your eating programme, because the temptation for excess sugar will always be there.

Taking saturated fat AND refined sugar out of your diet will have an overwhelmingly positive effect on the way you look and feel.

August 10, 2012

Friday, 10th August

Another friday and a very good one because its 25 degrees and sunny-for a change!

Hope you’re not one of those to write off your workout for the day just because its warm? I’m all for slacking off a bit in performance terms during this weather, and cutting some time off your workouts, that’s only sensible advice, but cancelling all together is definitely not on in my book!! Especially if you’re after great results, this weather should be seen as part of the challenge and should be embraced!

Look on the positive side, if you lived in certain parts of australia for example, this would be a nice winter’s day!!! And what excuse would you make then?!!!

The positives are that a day like today requires very little warm up, your muscles are already warm and the workout will be over fairly quickly!

Another great way of working out in this weather is to combine it with your day out of beach/mountain activities.

Playing games on the beach is always fun, and all of that running around can be draining, but a great workout. All you have to do is make sure you take onboard plenty of water to make sure you don’t get dehydrated!

I know plenty of people this year who have been on tent or caravan holidays, and there are usually plenty of trails this time of year to trek on, full of ups and downs that can and will test you to the limit, whilst taking in some great sights along the way! Don’t forget the terrain under foot will also test you further, due to the soft sand in places and uneven surfaces, it also burns a lot more calories!

Another key tactic in this weather is do try and workout your hardest first thing in the morning, or in the evening obviously because its a lot cooler, this simple thing to remember will save you a lot in terms of feeling far more comfortable when you train.

All in all, no excuse to skip your programme, embrace the nice weather as another challenge on your journey to being in your best shape!!!

August 9, 2012

Thursday, 9th August

So if we are looking at 1% improvement in everything we do, then we need to examine what areas we need to look at, both to increase our performance and health in general.

First thing is quality of food.

Are you eating healthy at least 80% of the time?

Are you eating breakfast every day?

Do you have mid-morning snacks and mid-afternoon snacks?

Do you have a good nutrient-packed lunch each day?

Do you have a variety of vegetables with your lean proteins and good carbs in the evening?

Do you drink enough water throughout the day?

Do you sleep enough to recover both from your training and get up for the next day’s training?

Do you keep your portion sizes sensible to make sure you’re not overeating?

So after your weigh all of these things up and you have answered of all these questions honestly, how much in percentage terms do you think that you can improve in all of these areas, or at least most of them?

I will bet that most of you can improve hugely in percentage terms in most of them.

So imagine after i have made that statement, how much does it all add up for you? I will definitely bet with any of you that it adds up to MUCH MORE than 1%, that’s for sure!!!

There should be 10, 20, 30 or even 50% improvements in there if you really put your mind to it!!!

So when we set the original 1% goal, it must amaze you how much you’re not really doing at the moment to maximise your potential!!! It’s all a matter now of really putting your mind to it and executing a good game plan, designed to fully support your nutritional needs that a demanding training programme will absolutely need!!

This should be a daily and weekly list and a great reminder for you on how to eat well, and gear you up for putting in consistent performances and add huge percentages to your overall progress!!!