Posted on

27th May 2011

The issue of recovery is never usually mentioned in the press, but is always a vital factor in your development and always underrated.

I for instance, have been running with a sore toe for the last few weeks. This is now fine but those few weeks of running with a weaker toe on my right foot has caused extra strain on left leg, and mainly my calf. This has now made my running uncomfortable again, although i am getting through it.

This is very common for most people when they develop a problem with a knee, calf, hamstring, hip or just about anything. Everything must balance itself out in the end and this is all part of the process. You must give time for your body to recover or the injury will most likely to hang around for a long time to come!

The way i have been getting over it is eating very well, as  much fresh and natural food as possible, enough sleep (thats not always possible of course with two small children!), plenty of water and smart training which means not putting too much strain on the affected area, in this case my calf. The most important thing to do straight away of course is ice my calf, this should always be done for around 20 minutes and a maximum of 30 minutes. This can be done once or even twice a day if you have time, it will stop further damage and make a huge difference trust me!!! This can be done easily with a bag of frozen peas.

I have followed all of this to the letter when i got in last night at 745pm, and after getting up at 420pm today i have been able to cycle hard today, and run a little. This is not to make myself sound like some kind of hero but more like to illustrate to you that you CAN recover quickly from injuries, AS LONG as you follow these simple rules, they have worked for years for me and i highly encourage you to do the same!!!

NEVER run through injuries though if you are having ANY pain at all, the perfect advice is to make sure you recover 100% before putting through the affected area through any sustained effort in your workouts again. Simple but the smart way to do it!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 23rd May

What a monday already, wet and windy and what happened to the heatwave promised?

Anyway, we are already into a great monday when your body has been working in many ways already.

You may know already that you work your “core” in every single movement.

Your core in general terms is your stomach, lower back, hamstrings and thighs and these muscle groups control every movement in your body.

You could be making a cup of coffee, and the turning side to side to get the milk, coffee etc works your core, okay in a small way but still works it.

Reaching for a product in a supermarket also works your core, picking a child out of a car works your core, lifting anything works your core, just about anything works your core, and its VITAL your core is strong for any activity in life.

Anyone who has ever worked out with me will know that practically EVERY exercise will work your core with me, and you can always tell by the next day because you will be a little stiff in the most important area on your body!!! It shows that we are going things right and safely, which is always important to me and it should be to you too.

And you can forget about any fancy machines too, they claim to work your core but they don’t offer the flexibility that free motion and more natural movements offer. When you are on a machine, you are always in a limited range of  motion, and your body will therefore be limited in the way it can move. Anytime this happens, it means you are not getting the full benefits you should be out of your workouts, and therefore not going to be improving in the way you know you should be!!!!

I have found that with machines, they offer limited success and i am always more in favour of free weights, and much more free and natural movements you can do with a medicine ball and the fit ball (the pumped up big ball you see in gyms etc) of course.

The bottom line, stay away from these fancy machines who promise the earth, and stick to tried and tested methods that will safely deliver big results every time!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

May 18th

I love the attitude that we are going to stop messing around, stop pretending to work hard, stop pretending just because you have a gym membership you are somehow fit, stop pretending just because you read a few magazines suddenly you know everything about training, its time to get real right now and give yourself to hard and proper training, give yourself over to proper nutrition, proper supermarket shopping of good nutritious food, proper good eating in the week and ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSES to do well ths time-“this time” it IS going to happen!!!

Life is not easy all the time so lets stop pretending is. But life is not always so hard you havent got time to exercise, its never so hard that you HAVE to eat all the rubbish food because “you were stressed”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Life is never THAT hard so lets stop using the same old excuses!!! Good food and good workouts will help you no end and help you reach the pinnacle of health that we are all after!!

Once you take all of the excuses out of your life, we go several miles forward in our aim of achieving the body of our dreams, and great health thrown in too, which is perhaps the most important thing of all!!!!!!

Life should be like that for all of you and im hear to help. Im really not in the mood for posers, you know the type who have all the gear and no idea, in fact most people i know who train well really don’t care for show offs of any kind!!! They are never the fittest of people and are usually far more concerned with their image. We are about hard work on here and making solid honest efforts and being proud of our progress!!!

Im not concerned with ANY shortcuts and false dawns of diet clubs, all im about is good hard and proper training done in the right way and CONSISTENTLY-This is the true secret of being successful, so if you want to get onboard and be the best you can be, then its really time to step up to the plate and get that weight off, get a lean harder body, get more energy in your life and really get fired up about life again, because i know i am and ready to help everyone!!!!!!

Email me with any questions on fitness@kerimckibbin.co.uk

Twitt
Posted on

13th May 2011

As we hit friday 13th may, you may be wondering why your programme may not be going as well as it should.

There are lots of reasons maybe, but the main one must surely be just getting the thing done in the first place!!!

You will get a high from exercise and eating well, that is without doubt.

You will get a low from not exercising, because you are not injecting any energy into your life. In fact, a recent study from spain suggests that people who eat the most trans fats are 50% more likely to suffer from depression, than those who eat the most momo and polyunsaturated fats.

To put that in a easy way, if you eat ready meals, processed foods and those foods who have lots of chemicals in them, they are likely to be loaded with trans fats. Fast foods and takeaways for example constantly come out the highest when it comes to trans fats and therefore put you at a much higher risk of heart disease and other life threatening diseases, if eaten on a constant basis.

So whats your choice going to be this weekend? Is it going to be a friday, saturday and sunday of processed rubbish washed down with alcohol? And then be somehow puzzled by the fact that you have put weight on by monday?!!!!

Or are you going to spoil yourself in a different way?

Sometimes its a great treat to go to m & s and get a whole chicken which tends to be very good quality, then get some tomatoes there which can make you love tomatoes again, and some spinach and do a nice quick meal out of these high class ingredients. You can get a rich tasting meal out  of this right there.

The SAME meal can taste very bland out of many other supermarkets, so it does show paying extra can sometimes make a big difference!!!

I am not recommending you shop at marks and spencer all the time of course, that would be silly but once a week take the chance to purchase some really good quality and great tasting fruit and vegetables, as well as some great tasting healthy food across the range.

You may not want to do it of course, but its got to be better than 3 days of gorging yourself on rubbish thats going to keep you on the toilet all weekend, for all the wrong reasons!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, May 11th 2011

I have a lot of questions about blood pressure, and by now, i have helped at least 100 individuals get off blood pressure medication that they seemed to spend a lifetime on. I am not a magician, intead i apply tried and tested ways to change a situation for people that can sometimes seem desperate!

A lot of people ask too what does blood pressure mean? And what ranges should they be in to be considered healthy?

A brief description would be that when doctors take your blood pressure, they are checking how hard the blood pushed against the arteries and veins as it moves around your body.

It is measured in mm of mercury and is always written as two numbers.

The top number, the systolic reading, measures the pressure of the blood when your heart pumps it out and the bottom number, the diastolic number, measures the pressure when your heart relaxes and refills.

Accoring to a million medical journals and accepted to be fact by 100% of the medical community, high blood pressure is diagnosed when readings are persistently above 140/90.

This means you are significantly increasing the risk of having a stroke or heart attack, and can lead to kidney disease, so its always a great idea to have your blood pressure checked at least once a year. You can also buy home machines cheaply in supermarkets these days.

One of the key reasons your blood pressure will be over the top is salt, this is the single most destructive reason why people get high blood pressure and this is why diet is so important. Salt really is the hidden evil in foods. People always go on about fats and sugars, but salt is equally as bad if not more so, and is more or less in every food, especially pre packaged food such as ready meals and all processed food, this literally is a disaster waiting to happen so try and get it out out of your life as soon as possible, and im VERY SERIOUS!!!!!

Other contributory factors are alcohol and a lack of exercise but we will touch on these important points again!!

Diet is so important, fail to pay attention and you’re on a one way track to ill health, change it now if you want to be at your best health levels!!!

Twitt