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Thursday, 29th November

The run up to christmas is well and truly underway, and the big issue for me this week is how to get the best out of all the individuals i train in the smallest amount of time possible!!!

Most people are time-crunched these days, life is getting faster and faster, and when you throw the run up to christmas, you have a cocktail that can really stop you training, and at least stop your overall progress in its tracks!

I am used to this situation every single year and have been for years.

The solution? You have to think smart, and make every second of your workout count.

On your weights, if you do 3 sets of 8 reps for example on every exercise, that can come down to 1-2 sets. Do the first set normally, and then try the second set at your maximum capability. The normal 8 reps could easily become 12-15 if you really put a big effort in!!!

If you do your bodyweight exercises such as press ups, arm dips etc, and you usually do 3 lots of them, cut that down to just one lot. For example if you do 3 lots of 12 press ups, then try and aim for 20-25 press ups in one go.

If you go for a regular run, and say it usually lasts for 30 minutes on flat surfaces, then aim to cut that run down 12-15 minutes by either running a lot quicker, using lampposts for interval training (sprint for one post, rest the other, sprint the next post etc), or try incorporating steep hills, and turn your workout into a series of 10 sprints for 30 yards, and try 5 sprinting forwards and 5 backwards.

These are all examples of still getting a lot of quality in your workouts, still getting results and never giving up!!! Especially now its nearly december, where usually most good intentions go off the rails pretty quickly!

Time not to give up, and i challenge you to stay the course!!

Twitt
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Wednesday, 28th November

The individual that you see when you first start an exercise programme is always a reflection of that person’s patterns of action, in other words their habits, the things they do day in day out without even thinking about them.

In order to completely change and tranform yourself to a better you, to a leaner, stronger and fitter you, its obvious and indeed critical that those everyday habits absolutely need to change.

The bad habits are always going to be viewed as the things that hold you back, they stop you from moving forward and achieving long term success.

If you are looking for a higher quality of life, then you had better start adopting a lot better and higher quality habits in your daily life.

The first way to do this is to recognise your lowest level habit, i am talking about the habit that drags you down the most, the one that makes you put on weight or the habit that stops you training regularly, or the habit that makes you think negatively!!!

This bad and ultimately negative habit needs to be transformed into a much more positive pattern of action!!

You will find that as your standard gets higher and higher, it will be a case of continuously raising your standards.

For example, if you currently eat badly 7 days a week, then suddenly eating well 3 days a week would have a big difference to your body.

Once you made that change, you would find that you would want to improve again. The target may well go up to eating well 6 days a week, creating another massive difference. The goals would go higher and higher, depending on what standard of life you want to achieve!! The habits would need to change upwards accordingly.

Set your stall out and make that standard in life as high as you can!!!

Twitt
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Tuesday, 27th November

We spoke yesterday about the important of pushing on this month, and never settling for where you are, and the negatives and dangers of that attitude!

This is why measuring is so important for your mind and body.

I have had feedback time and time again that measuring does so much good for your physche!

If you can back up your efforts in black and white with inches off your waist, then this HAS to lift morale!!

If you can show on a blood pressure machine that your physical efforts have been that worthwhile that it has significantly strengthened your heart strength and health, then is always an instant tonic and will back up your training methods to the hilt!

If you can possibly lose 1-2% body fat in the toughest month of december, surely this says that you are indeed mentally strong, that you are working on a good programme and your clothes are fitting you better and better, probably to the point where some may be hanging off you, proving your overall shape is far better and the excess body fat you once had is quickly disappearing!!!

Doing things the scientific way will take the guess work out of your training and eating plan. I learned a long time ago not to leave your improvements to chance, to stay on top of all your training, and to nip any temporary slipping in progress well and truly in the bud!!!

Any process that is deemed to be successful has to be transparent, and i guarantee you that as long as you do 2-3 strength workouts every week, and you do 2-3 workouts that your hit your cardio in the right way, you are going to surprise yourself on how quickly you come on!!

Measuring every four weeks is complete transparency and is a proven system to achieve ultimate success.

Twitt
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Monday, 26th November

Personally i got through a lot of measurements on different individuals last week, and one thing was hammered home to them……………that this next four weeks are absolutely critical.

It’s always vital to finish off the year strong for all sorts of reasons.

If you finish off 2012 well, you set the right tone straight away for 2013!

If you have a good december full of hard training, you are less likely to overdo it on the food side of things, you won’t want to blow all the hard work.

It’s always nice not being “part of the crowd” too. Whilst most of your friends or relatives who exercise from time to time have probably long given it up for the year, doesn’t it feel good realising that you do actually have the grit and determination in you to carry on and finish off the year very strong?!!

If you have reached a partiicular level in your training, or for example you have taken off 8 inches off your waist all year and surely you don’t want to put 2-3 inches back on? Just as you are doing so well?

What if you have dropped 10% body fat this year? It doesn’t sound as good if you put 3-4% body fat on in december!

To reach these particularly high levels in development and progress, you must have worked hard, you must have shown great courage and my guess if that you already have a good degree of mental strength.

All i want you to do is show that courage for one more month, and really enjoy your christmas far more this year being in the best shape you possibly can!!! Wouldn’t it be great having compliments on the way you look before christmas, and have absolutely no pressure in getting into shape AFTER christmas because you are ALREADY in top shape!!!

Let’s put everything together and hit it hard one last time!!

Twitt
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Thursday, 22nd November

The famous christmas “let’s settle for no improvements, let’s just hold what we have” is alive and well this year again, perhaps even more so. This is your most dangerous mindset to avoid if you possibly can because its bound to end up in you putting ON weight, in my experience.

“Settling” for mediocrity shuts off something in the brain that usually makes you strive for success.

Once your mind isn’t in the right gear, then your workouts will soon become “go through the motions” events that will give us little in terms of benefits.

The next stage after settling for medicore returns is giving up your programme for december, another disasterous decision.

The next stage after that means “i will start back after christmas”! Many people actually do this!! Then they find out that they should never have stopped training in the first place because training after christmas after a break is EXTREMELY TOUGH!!!

When things are tough, the prospects of following through on a programme diminish dramatically, as not everyone has got the right in them to see it through!

This is why most people who start a programme after christmas tend to quit by Valentine’s day at the latest!! Please do not end up as one of those sad statistics!!

This is why i come back to saying that you need to aim to improve from RIGHT NOW again and maybe for the first time, december can really become one of your BEST month’s, instead of becoming one when you end up piling on the weight, you end up becoming breathless just climbing a flight of stairs, and your friends and family start asking you that dreaded question “have you put weight on?!!!”.

I have seen all of these stages work out different ways, but taking my advice and actually acting on it will mean a great deal for your overall christmas happiness and success starting off in 2013!!!!

Twitt