Posted on

Tuesday 19th July 2011

If you are used to working out intensely and with purpose, then you will know by now that you will not be putting many 1-2 hour training sessions in, if ever!

For example, I took a session last night for a football team, they have been used to the 1-2 hour training sessions and they considered that the way to do things.

The session last night took just 26 minutes, but was totally targeted to those players becoming better footballers.

The feedback I now have is that the 26 minutes was much, much more intense and more difficult than the 2 hour sessions they were used to.

So the bottom line is that you shouldn’t really be obsessed with times in terms of your sessions, it really matters what you DO, rather how long you do it for.

I am no also a big believer in working the whole body in every session.

It was fashionable some years ago just to work certain body parts, but I think this is just a big cop out!

Its simply much harder to work your whole body in one workout, you burn more calories, you burn more energy and this means you burn a lot more fat, rather than have a much easier workout just working one or two body parts!!!

I went through the same system myself, and I can assure you the whole body system works far better for one reason-RESULTS!!! This is what we are all looking for after all isn’t it?

None of us have the time anymore to be training all day, and those long sessions are so boring aren’t they?

The great news is that they don’t bring and wont bring strong results for you on a regular basis.

When you train, get your plan together, do what you have to do with a lot of focused effort and get on with your day!!! There’s no better way!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday 14th July

Apologies about the wait again but BT broadband required a 10 day stabilisation period when it comes to moving house, that this would explain all the delay in me posting my daily message!

The technical difficulties though are outweighed by the joy of moving to a bigger house, make that bungalow.

A move or fresh change in anything can be very valuable to one’s training.

Now I have different walks and runs for the dogs, and this spices up my  weekend running no end, anything fresh and different should inspire us to reach greater heights.

Fresh and different also brings greater enthusiasm. When you do the same thing all the time, boredom can set in plus your body can get used to exercise.

This means that you are far more likely to plateau sooner in your training.

For example, if im going for a run at the weekend, then the total change of terrain and more importantly, the new challenge of a new terrain will ask new and more challenging questions from my body. This means I should be getting a fresh and new set of results when it comes to muscle hardness and body fat loss.

You don’t have to move home to achieve this of course.

You can drive to different venue’s just to run.

You can run in woodland, 2 days later you could run on the beach, a few days later you can try hills with a great view, next time after that there could be a great run in a park involved etc etc.

Its this chopping and changing that can be very good for you, both for body and mind of course.

If you like everything much more fresh and exciting, change things around as much as possible and all it needs is a little bit of thought.

Twitt
Posted on

June 21st

The thought of losing hope in your dreams to have outstanding health is totally unacceptable.

I have seen many people think of giving up on their health, and there are not many sights so sad to see. The good news is though is that the situation is entirely retrievable!!

You can turn around ANY situation you want, in ANY circumstance if you really think about it.

I don’t want to keep on about it, but i find that i can’t give up on anyone, no matter what their situation is.

 Cyril for instance, is suffering from a terrible bad back, and to say it is hampering his health would be an understatement!!!

The good news is that he is prepared to go through a session with a swiss ball, to make sure he gets back on track and he gets his body fit and well and do the things and activities he really loves doing.

Jean is going through a very tough time with a very bad knee that is hanging around terribly, but is still getting through some good work and still burning calories and fat.

When you are in this situation, it becomes  very hard to maintain your motivation through this difficult time, and this is when programmes are made or broken!!

This is when your mind becomes your most important tool, and you have to make sure you last through this difficult time, and you have to realise that there is brighter times ahead, this is just a massive roadblock along the way, and is really going to be testing you hard.

You always have to think that most people would crack, and  go on a eating binge that will always result in weight gain, and then spirals into a further lack of motivation, leading to eventually a tough situation when it becomes tough to come back from.

The good news is that im not giving up on you, and you have to tough it out and not slip back to a situation where it becomes tough to come back from!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday June 15th 2011

The best way to get in shape for now, and for life is to stop everyone scamming you out of your hard earned money and do the things you KNOW that will work.

I really think that some of latest diet books really think we are stupid, that we have too much money and we want to give it to them, or they may actually believe that some of their stuff actually works in a short term faddy type of way despite the longer term consequences?

Someone asked me about the dukan diet again this morning, you know the one which advocates mostly protein in your diet. The great news is that this diet DOES work to lose weight, just like the atkins diet works and its a simple principle they use. One gram of protein has around 4 calories just like one gram of carbs has. One gram of fat on the other hand has 9 calories.

So you can see if you eat mostly protein and not in huge quantities, you will be ingesting less calories every day and therefore be successful at losing weight. Also, protein in no bad thing and will make you feel full for around 4 hours at a time, which is a good thing.

The negatives only start some way into the diet.

 What happens when your energy levels eventually go down? Your training suffers due to your lack of energy and therefore endurance? What happens when you have problems going to the toilet (it had to be said) due to you eliminating certain food groups? Are you really never going to eat carbs ever again? And what happens if you do? Are you going to have some almighty splurge on bread and potatoes or chocolate and chips? Going mad on carbs because you haven’t eaten them for so long? Nobody i know has successfully eliminated carbs long term without any side effects!

So if you want to be healthier in losing weight, trying eating healthy proteins such as fish, chicken etc with plenty of vegetables, for lunch and evening meal, eat fruit in moderation as well as a small handful of nuts, drink more water for added fat loss and keep your carbs under control, its all about portion sizes the size of your fist, that includes rice, pasta, and potatoes, and wholemeal and wholegrain versions too.

Everything in moderation and a wide variety of foods, this is the best and most SUSTAINABLE way to lose body fat AND firm up!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday 10th April 2011

Friday used to be the day I would measure myself in terms of physical performance, and Friday can be a great day to get the very best out of yourself.

I used to do a 20 minute time trial on the bike from my house in burry port to sandy water park and back. If I went much over 20 minutes, I would take it that I had slipped back with my fitness and I needed to pick up the pace with my training the following week.

If I broke 20 minutes, I knew my form and fitness was close to its maximum and I took a lot of satisfaction in recording this data on the computer not only in terms of time, but in terms of the average heart rate recorded over the course. If my heart rate was slowly coming down over the weeks, yet I was getting quicker, then everything was definitely going to plan and my performance and body was becoming a lot more efficient.

There’s not only the training element to this of course. What I would be eating every day would have a direct effect on my overall performance. If I ate badly, my Friday time trial would be mediocre no matter how hard I tried, if I ate well I would be primed to record an excellent time.

Measurements like this can offer key indicators on your overall progress.

If you have your own similar measurement, let me know and lets see how we can set about improving it.

If you have no kind of standard, then you have no barometer on how you are doing, and some kind of “hope for the best” attitude is not going to do you or your long term results and aspirations any good.

Lets make a difference this weekend and implement this very successful strategy that will give you maximum results every time!!!

Twitt