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Friday 9th September

A reflective sunday coming up for many and i am talking about september 11th of course, the kind of day definitely when you remember exactly where you were on that day!!!

Ten years ago now and its a good day to remember where you were with your health and fitness!!!

Were you leaner, were you heavier, were you out of shape, were you at your fittest, did you always perform well then, were you in a rut you never thought you would get out of then?!!! All different situations and i will bet that things could have turned full circle by now if you haven’t been consistent with your training and eating, or certain things in life happen sometimes completely out of your control?!!!!

The bottom line is where are you now and what you have learned about yourself in the meantime. Why are you or why aren’t you in shape now? There’s a pathway to being in shape and staying in shape and did you stay on it or did you completely go off that path and have forgotten the way back since?

So ten years may have gone and you may be reflecting on what has happened in your life since back then!!!

The question is now are you going to use all of that positive and negative experience to good effect this time in determining the path you’re going to go on for the next ten years? If you don’t, then the last ten years of training will have been a waste of time if you can’t use it to your advantage?!!!

You should be a smarter trainer now, you should realise that faddy diets do not work, you should know the value of rest, you should know the value of changing your trainers regularly (every 6 months max), and the really good advice of having a really well thought out programme thats going to bring you results year in year out!!!!

Things change over the years, but the fundamentals never do, i mean the stuff you need to do every day to be successful!!!

Twitt
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Monday 5th September

The first week in september takes us all back to our brand new school year, and the start of a very big and nervous time in our development. Its an exciting and an uncertain time and this is when true progress is always made.

How often have you had this feeling when you trained last?

When was the last time you thought about your upcoming training session and what you were going to do?

When did you last reach a fitness goal?

When did you last fit into your all your favourite clothes?

When did someone last complement you on the way you look?

When was the last time you hit a personal best in your workout?

When was the last time you enjoyed your workouts?

When was the last time you had a good week of eating, and by that i don’t just mean 2-3 good days either!!!

When was the last time you had the mental resolve to follow things through and reach a goal?

If you can’t answer these questions very well, then you badly need to look at what you are doing and why you may be falling short of every goal you really want to achieve!!!!!

September for me is all about being fresh in weather and outlook!!! Its not about settling into some kind of  “cosy” routine because thats not going to get you anywhere, its really not!!!!

September is the month to get you going and use the nearly 16 weeks right up to christmas day to the very best effect, its about managing your time better and making the most of your energy, your time, your inner drive, just about everything thats going to help you reach that goal that drives you deep within, so lets get it going again in spades and really pile it on right up until christmas!!!!

Twitt
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Wednesday, 31st August

One of the most heartening stories we see in the papers yesterday and today was the probably signing by Manchester City of Ex-Manchester Utd midfielder Owen Hargreaves.

Hargreaves has had a varied career after being born in canada, he then moved to Germany and was a major player for Bayerrn Munich, and from there became a much valued player for England, gaining international respect and becoming the first player named on the team sheet.

He then joined manchester utd and after a very impressive and promising start, was limited to just 26 appearances.

His last comeback was limited to just a few minutes when he pulled his hamstring.

Manchester Utd decided not to offer him a new contract this season, despite him  offering to play for them for free!!!

He then famously shot a video of himself training and the levels he is currently at. To say the levels he was pushing himself to were very high would be an understatement!! You can see the video on youtube and just put a search in for owen hargreaves training video. He did much of this training while he took part in rehab in los angeles, physical rehab i meant of course!!!! This took him 3 months and spent 3 hours a day mastering certain movements all over again, especially around the knee area, where his intitial problem was.

You will see a lot of different exercises, and many of you who have trained with me or are training with me right now will recognise a lot of the exercises.

It turns out that these are the most efficient exercises for your body and make sure you are training in the most results based manner we know. I am always researching new  training and the great thing we are able to do now is do far more in a shorter period of time purely down to exercise selection and execution, and the focus is always on self-improvement and develpment, this never stops!!!

Read the owen hargreaves story, it will inspire you to get out there again and do something worthwhile!!!

Twitt
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Tuesday, 30th August

Is this the famous lull after bank holiday or is it a starting point to another turning point in your life?

Are you regretting the end of summer or are you looking forward to the start of another exciting season?

Are you “barbecued out” or have you a craving for good lower fat and lower sugar foods?

Have you written of the summer or have you used it  as a springboard for success in the autumn and up to christmas?

These are all choices that you have and have had all summer! You can see how important that choices are, and even more important is making the right ones of course!!!

You can follow the right path or sort of do both. By that i mean you could be considered neither a healthy eater or a bad eater all the time, you could be considered neither fit or unfit, its this state of limbo that is never really satisfying and definitely never brings you any kind of lasting result!!!!

If you do go on the right path, then its very important from a mindset perspective. If you eat healthy and train hard, your mindset will be that of a fit individual, and therefore be very likely to make continuously good choices. This path is not always to keep to but you will be much more aware of the benefits constantly, because you will be “wearing your results”!!!

By this statement, i mean that whatever you put into your body, you will be showing off in terms of physical appearance. Follow the right guidance and you will look very good indeed. Only you can tell how you feel inside, so you will be the only one how good it feels to live a healthy lifestyle, and internally the benefits you receiver each and every day!!!

Twitt
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Wednesday August 24th

After speaking to quite a few athletes over the last couple of weeks about their training, it became apparent that theres lots of individuals and teams out there with serious deficiencies out there, in terms of physical preparation and training. Its fine for these teams to talk about how they are “the best prepared they have ever been” every season but the reality that i see is far from that.

Its not down to a lack of knowledge either, theres a ton of information out there about getting into seriously good shape, but obviously its not happening across the board.

Whether you’re an athlete or you just have general health and fitness goals, there’s no excuse now not to get there.

If you’re not working out with weights/resistance at least twice a week then why not?!!!! No other activity will contribute  more to you boosting your metabolic rate, losing body fat and firming it, strength training is absolutely critical, and even science back it up now and has done for many years.

If you’re not giving your heart and lungs a good workout every day or most days, then why not? Getting oxygen into your body will have endless great effects on your body, making you internally so much stronger and feel so much better too, swimming, running, walking, cycling etc can have terrific results for your body if done with purpose and with a good intensity!!!

Even if you’re doing these two big things, then whats happening with your other stuff? Im talking things like medicine balls, and swiss balls, you can work your core and balance to new levels by taking a more aggressive route with these two great tools. I include them in every workout with individuals and once you use them, you will never leave them out again. Its time to embrace them now and you will never look back!!!

You know what to do, lets get on and actually do it and with purpose!!!!

Twitt