Posted on

Tuesday, 18th September

We talk all the time about making huge performance gains, and how you can enable yourself to reach impressive levels of fitness, but sometimes its all too easy to forget where we first started.

It is usually a nervous time when you first start exercising, and we all remember that particular period of our lives.

You may or not be surprised that there is an increasing number of individuals who start training who have blood pressure problems, heart disease, diabetes and bone/joint problems, i personally have seen this trend go up sharply over the last 17 years.

This shows that the starting point for everyone can be remarkably different.

So if you are just nervous about beginning to exercise, imagine how hard it is to start the health and fitness journey with a known disease?!!! Some people never overcome this mental hurdle of actually making a start, and this is a shame. I call it a shame because i have so many people who have started with various ailments, and have gone on to achieve some pretty special things.

If you think its impossible for someone in her fifties to do triathlons after high blood pressure worries when she first started, then think again!

If you think its impossible for someone classed as physically disabled to learn how to run for the first time, then guess again.

If you think its not just possible for someone with deep breathing problems to run a full marathon in 8 months, then you’re going to be wrong because with the right training, the right eating and right guidance, it can be done!!

So you can see that the so called “starting point” is very much different for everybody, and wherever you are right now, there is absolutely nothing that should put you off!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday, 14th September

 

Your best shopping list!

All of these foods will serve you well, and leave no shortage of ingredients for you to cook healthy meals. As long as you eat well 80% of the time, then you will be in great shape, and keep your sanity! A treat here and there is no problem when you use this philosophy.

Meat and fish

Anchovy fillets,Chicken breast,Haddock,Mackerel,Prawns,Salmon, fresh fillets and cans,Smoked salmon,Scallops,Squid,Swordfish,Tuna, fresh and canned,White fish fillets,turkey, lean beef

 

Dairy

Free range eggs,Goat’s cheese (soft and hard),Milk,Parmesan cheese,Tofu,Live natural yoghurt

Vegetables

Aubergines,Avocados,Beansprouts,Baby beetroot,Broccoli,Green cabbage, green red and white,Carrots,

Celeriac,Celery,Chineseleaves,Corn,babycobs,Courgettes,Cucumbers,Fennel,Garlic,Greenbeans,Leeks,Lettuce,Mangetout,Mixed salad leaves,Mushrooms,Red and yellow onions,Parsnips,Frozen peas,Red yellow and green peppers,Red chillies,Rocket, spinach,Shallots, Sprint onions, Sprouted seeds, Butternut squash, Swedes, Sweet potatoes,Tomatoes, Watercress

Fruit-Apples,Apricots, blackberries, Blueberries, Grapefruit, Kiwi fruit, Lemons, Limes, Oranges, Pears, Raspberries

Nuts and seeds-Cashew nuts, Hazelnuts, Linseeds, Pine nuts, Pumpkin seeds, Sesame seeds, Sunflower seeds,Walnuts

Pulses All canned-Butter beans,Cannellini beans, Chick peas, Flageolet beans, Lentils, Mixed beans, Mung beans (dried), Red kidney beans, Spilt yellow lentils (dried), Split yellow peas (dried)

Grains and wheat-Brown rice, Buckwheat flour, Buckwheat noodles, Couscous, Millet flakes, Oats, Quinoa, Rye/wholegrain, wholemeal bread

Herbs-Basil,Bay leaves, Chives, Coriander, Dill, Fennel, Lemon grass, Marjoram, Mint, Mixed herbs, dried Oregano, dried Parsely, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme

Spices-Black pepper, Caraway seeds, Cardamom pads, Cayenne, Chilli paste, Chilli powder, Cinnamon, ground, Cloves, Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds, Curry leaves, Curry paste, Curry powder, Fennel seeds, Fresh ginger, Ginger powder, Mango powder, Mustard seed, Nutmeg, Paprika, Poppu seeds, Star anise, Turmeric

Oils-Avocado oil, Olive oil, Sesame oil, Walnut oil

handy and essentials for your storecupboard

Anchovy essence, Black olives, Carrot juice, Coconut, milk, Honey, Horseradish sauce, Mixed vegetable juice, Mustard, Dijon Mustard, wholegrain, Peppers in olive oil, Ratatouille, canned, Soy sauce,Stock, fish, Stock, vegetable,Stock powder Sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil

Hopefully, you will find all of this useful!

Www.kerimckibbin.co.uk

07968 980808

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 13th September

We talk all the time on here about constantly changing your workouts to bring you fresh results, and many of you have judging by some of the transformations you have been through.

We also talk about not letting yourself down in times of stress and doing the usual that most people do of “emotional” eating. In plain English, that means eating and drinking badly when stress comes into your life.

I have seen occasional drinkers become every night drinkers simply by having a month of stress, and finding that a bottle or two of wine has suddenly become the “best” solution somehow.

This is when we need re-evaluate what we are doing, to rediscover why we got into exercising and eating well in the first place.

Everyone should do this because its easy getting “caught up” into all the busy areas of our lives (work, relationships, family etc), often so much so that we never change our exercise programmes, never seek help on what we may be doing wrong, and this is when we can totally lose direction and suddenly we put on weight, lose our fitness through missed workouts, and our ambition vanishes without trace!!

This is because again we forget why we are doing this whole thing. Missing workouts we never once missed is a sign. Allowing a lot more fast food and processed food into our shopping trolleys is another sign we are “giving up” on ourselves!

This can be solved to a degree by the measurements being taken regularly, every 4 weeks, and discussing why your measurements has gone up or down.

None of us are perfect and this is why we need to assess often exactly what we are doing, or our dreams of outstanding health and have a strong fit lean body can go up in smoke without us even noticing!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 11th September

The overwhelming story overnight was the huge Andy Murray win in Flushing Meadows, New York.

A lot of people wrote andy murray off, as a “choker”, a “bottler” or someone couldn’t handle the pressure at the highest level.

This assertion has now been thrown in the rubbish bin, because murray defeated his most difficult opponent, who has previously crushed him in past matches and a final, and racked up 5 grand slams in double quick time.

Murray’s story is about perserverence, sticking to a plan when most people questioned whether it would work out, his supporting team believing in him despite the sport’s highest prize seemingly out of reach forever.

How things can change overnight!!!

Now there is a raft of people coming forward saying “i told you so”, and they never doubted him all along!!

This is a prime example of sticking to your beliefs, sticking to what you know is right, and following it through.

Not many people have had so many knocks, and come back from each and every one of them.

This happens every day, every week, and every year of our quest to be in shape, to get into shape and to create huge energy levels in our lives. This is a constant challenge and anyone who tells you otherwise is surely lying to you, or probably trying to seel you some kind of dodgy diet that is doomed to failure.

The message on here is always about trying to do the right thing, eat well and with some common sense, train hard but in a proper way, rest properly and have a bit of what you fancy, keeping your sanity is very important after all!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 10th September

Your training should always be balanced each week over a seven day period, and you should plan what you’re going to do each workout.

For example, today is monday and typically would be a great time to put some weight training/resistance training in. This can be done through weights and dumbbells, or using your own bodyweight as resistance.

I encourage all over body workouts each time, so I would look to put my second weight session in on a thursday whichht gives you 72 hours to recover. Your muscles break down during the session, and build back up again and recover properly only when they have had enough rest.

48-72 hours is a great rest period enabling you to come firing on all cylinders.

A beginner would tend to do their weight training programme on a monday, wednesday and friday because the intensity of their workouts isn’t going to be so great, therefore needing less recovery time.

A beginner will also spend a lot of time just getting used to the new movements, usually using a lot less weight so this means less muscle tissue broken down, this is the big reason not so long a recovery is needed.

So monday, wednesday, friday if you’re just starting out, monday and thursday if you have much more experience and you’re familiar with training and the required exercise and intensity.

Then we look at the cardio side of things. Down at the gym in burry port, we use treadmills, rowers and bikes, but there’s so much more to cardio in my view.

I’m a big believer in the battling ropes, which anyone who has trained with me knows only too well! They are massive on lung capacity, shoulders. Arms, back, legs and most importantly, core! You only need around a minute on these ropes, and you are absolutely blasted so get used to them as soon as possible!

Then we like to use a lot of speed and agility techniques, as discussed late last week, so you can see you definitely DO NOT need to rely on traditional forms of cardio anymore!!

I would put these fun sessions in on a tuesday and friday, with wednesday off to recover and rest properly. Recuperation is vital and always an underrated part of your health and fitness programme.

The weekend can be your fun stuff outside, getting up walking or running even up mountains, and you have endless routes to try in terms of cycling.

There’s always swimming, longer walks in natural surroundings such as pembrey country park and exercise ideas are only limited by your imagination!

Twitt