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Take the bull by the horns…………like rafa!

Nice to see the end of  the tennis semi-final yesterday, and whatever side of the fence you stand, you will either be happy or a little sad this morning. Sadly i have to say that rafael nadal stirs far more passion in people than andy murray. I think its not only nadal’s great play and almost inhuman supply of energy, its the way he pulls off seemingly impossible shots when the odds are all in his opponents favour.

Murray on the other hands seems to like beating up the also rans but seems to have a mental block when it comes to federer and nadal on the biggest occasions.

Does he take the risks needed to win these mega-occasions?

Has he the bottle and nerve to use his emotions to destroy his opponent?

Does he now do more punching of the air than tim henman ever do?

The bottom line now seems like nadal is on another planet, and whether murray can make that next step up seems in doubt? Then again, i don’t think that anyone else can make that step up to the standard that federer and nadal have created!!

So hows your training going? Are you going for it like Rafa does or are you still talking a very good game?

Taking  the bull by the horns is heck of an attitude if you can get into this mentality!

Showing no fear, not caring what ANYONE else thinks is a very powerful state of mind and will take you to places you never thought possible, doubt is a killer for anything you want to ever try. If you can take the doubt element out of things, and just simply have a go anyway, you may be pleasantly surprised how good you actually are.

As we discuss all the time, showing up, going for it, doing it, making an attempt, believing in yourself, thinking big, are all the most valuable ways of achieving the success you originally out to do.

Lets have a big weekend, the great outdoors is waiting for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Twitt
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Fresh attitude

Sometimes the best way to feel fresh and enthused about your training is to look for new standards and take a look at all the sport going on at the moment.

Some of you cycle a lot, and the main event is about to start this saturday, the tour de france of course. Lance Armstrong says its his last tour and although the 3 weeks can seem like a bore for some, i will be glued to this game of chess on a bike. If you watch it every day it can be addictive as you learn about tactics and why certain riders don’t do the obvious things at times, saving energy for later even more incredible feats.

All of this will add to your own performance in your cycling. You will take notice of your own bike more and its maintenance, how to improve your own performance and how to get faster and eventually use less energy, that has to be the goal.

Whenever you follow a professional sport, and you see athletes do it better, most of us are inspired to get better ourselves.

It could be the world cup, and what youngster doesnt want to play magical football like the Brazilians.

Its always good to strive to be the best we can be, and all of this interest you may now be showing in sports, Wimbledon, the world cup, summer rugby internationals, the tour de france etc will give you a whole new fresh attitude that will put fresh vigour into your training and eating.

Twitt
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More focus in your training/cycling

The same old training all the time brings with it more limited results, and a lack of motivation because you will be doing the same old thing all the time.

If you’re out cycling today, then you may be just in the mood to get out there and coast it, no problem at all with that.

If you’re out to do something different and add something quickly to your fitness, i would look to challenge yourself a little more.

Easy ways to do this on a cycle path for instance, would be to pick off targets along the way. Paula Radcliffe for instance would aim to chase down targets or runners in front of her. If you see someone in front of you cycling, then try to chase them down and eventually pass them, then you can coast for a while.

When you get your breath and legs back, you can chase down the next one and so on. 20 minutes of this type of workouts will get you breathing very hard indeed!!

You can mix it up on the hills too, there must be some path or some succession of roads that you never thought you’d be able to cycle up? Well, let’s go and try it!!

I would start like this. Take your time more than normal on the flat, and do your best to get up the very steep hills, work up gradually of course and don’t take on the worst hill to start with!

The key to climbing hills on the bike is to stick to a pace that you can keep with. No point going off like mad and then blowing up 15 yards later, remember you’re not in the Tour De France and its not a race up the mountains.

You will get confidence from making gradual progress and the first time you take on a tough hill, that will be the worst feeling you’ll ever get because IT IS your first time. Every time you take that hill on after that, IT WILL FEEL BETTER AND EASIER. It’s all a question of practice and not quitting after the first time you do it because you didn’t achieve that much.

I’ve trained lots of people take on the most mammoth of hills, and they have lived to tell the tale! They developed great self belief from their accomplishments and they are proud to say that their cycling is now first-class and now literally no hill scares them, in fact some people go searching for them now!!!

Have a great day and an even better bike ride!

Twitt
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Day 67 Never give up/ride out the storms!

The confirmation when someone improves so much that it takes your breath away always makes this job all the more satisfying. I have had many times when individuals have come down 5-6 dress sizes and the funny thing is, you are less surprised right at the end at the amazing progress for a very good reason.

The hardest thing in any programme is getting people over the biggest challenges along the way.

An individual will always improve at the start, as exercising, eating well and sleeping better will always create a positive result. When the challenges come up, some bigger than others, its at that exact time that you need to hold firm and stick to your principles.

For example, if someone had started off well, it is a shock when their eating come off their rails and they think it is the end of the world. There are many people who post on here who that has happened to, but have come back so strong the next week it is truly inspiring!! This has been fantastic and even inspiring for myself!

The doubt is in the mind and people often doubt their ability to carry on at times. The ability to stick at it and come through the other side is invaluable, and adds so much to self-belief it can be incredible.

We all want to take the easy way out, the quick fix, the faddy diet that ultimately doesn’t work and screws your metabolism up. We have all been through that, and thats why i do my best to encourage all of you not to taker that route that many take.

The facts are that less people travel the path we  are treading because it’s a little bit harder to follow to begin with. The rewarding part though is that for the long term and the rest of your life, it is the most viable and most productive.

Of course, none of us are perfect and all of our weight’s will go up and down. However, if we adopt the approach as i have said around ten million times already on here, eating well 80% of the time, allowing ourselves a treat here and there, we will be making substantial gains over the short and longer term.

It is heartbreaking to see people like Chris who did amazingly well to start with doubt his progress after getting a job away. Hope his programme is back on course and he’s overcome the challenges he had. It’s heartening to see jean reach former glories despite having many headwinds against her at times. She has now overcome them, and all credit to her for making a diary of her ups and downs, i have found that truly valuable for my experience and increased ability to help others in the future.

 We are all learning, and that includes me, and if we don’t we get left behind. It heartens me that people are still as enthusiastic to train at 5am, everyone asks me if its a hardship to get up at 4am every day, really its not when you consider you have some people enthusiastic to see me at 5am, that means a lot to me and keeps me fired up to reach new standards of service in my business.

In fact, i have never called it work (what i do), its something i really enjoy every day and read about every day in my spare time even. One of the best sayings i ever heard was that if you love what you do for a living, you never work another day in your life. What a statement, but very true!!

Will get a new recipe posted later!

Twitt
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Day 13

Your “nice” day again, or it maybe a day when you get a chance to do your bike ride, or your long walk, of your run of the week or whatever takes your fancy. Traditionally as i spoke about last week, you may take it a little easier on your eating today, and have a little bit of what you fancy, who knows? The chances are that those treats may not taste quite as nice this week, as cyril pointed to in his posts this week.

Here’s a quick one again on exercise whether you’re training or not today. Many people who exercise quite regularly don’t seem to get the results and here’s why. I see it on the coastal path typically every weekend. The low intensity bike ride is fun and great in its own context and WILL give you some good health benefits. In fact, most of us feel very comfortable with low intensity workouts, and if you leave most people alone to do what they want, they will train at too low a level to really make lasting change to their bodies and the rate they burn calories throughout the day.

This is another reason why many people give up their training programmes, their own training is simply too easy, and therefore won’t bring the results they were really after in the first place. It’s great going on the coastal path and going too easy and having fun, stopping for a coffee etc, but the majority of your workouts should be something a lot more, and i mean by that workouts DONE WITH PURPOSE! I talk about it all the time when people ask me on here how hard they should train. I tell them that on a 1-10 level, 1 being sitting down, 10 flat out, i tell them to aim for at least a 7 or 8 each time, and that should make you successful.

Another think with low intensity training, you burn lots of calories and thats great, but that makes you very hungry, and you will eventually eat back those calories very quickly indeed, i think most of you have experienced that.

Here’s another thing for you, the whole idea and premise behind our training should be to challenge our bodies and have it react by getting stronger and healthier, if you don’t challenge it, there will be little or no change going on. I repeat again, any exercise is good, but training with a purpose and challenging yourself is so much better. If you’re going to exercise, let’s make it worthwhile and it doesn’t mean killing yourself either, so please don’t misunderstand me!!

The bottom line is that calories burned during your workout ARE NOT REALLY THAT IMPORTANT. Challenging your cardiovascular system REALLY IS IMPORTANT. Once you get into this way of training, and you enter this zone, you’re going to be hugely successful!

Keri

Twitt