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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 59

Choosing which workout is right for you is one thing, but always looking for the “magic fix” is another.

 I frequently have questions on which exercise equipment or exercise dvd is best, and the answer i usually give is that you’re lucky to find something that works in this world of gimmicks and workouts with “celebs”, which often have little or no foundation to them, as often these same “celebs” are seen weeks or months later having piled back on all the weight and more!

One such question this week was on the power plate, or standing on a “vibration machine” would be the plainest way on describing it. You can pay a lot of money to use one of these machines in some gyms or “health clubs”, and you will undoubtedly be peddled the same old marketing information on them, hearing that old favourite “madonna uses it”, that famous football club uses it and so does that famous film star!

 The reality is that madonna is on her 6th trainer, and she goes with some kind of “new” training routine all the time, but her weight training and cardio work (running etc) never changes, she likes re-inventing herself so much that she has to mention another revolutionary way of training, once a year usually that maybe forgotten about next year!

This is all great and the marketing campaigns get that little bit more elaborate each year, but here’s get down to some facts before some of these “establishments” take even more of your hard earned money out of your pocket.

The official university studies on most of these products (and there are many different ones) conclude that there is NO MORE BENEFIT of working on these machines than regular, conventional methods. I repeat this again, not one percentage more than doing your normal workouts!

I’m not saying they are bad, but its time to stop looking for that “missing link” in your training, that “sliver bullet” that will sort everything out once and for all, IT DOES NOT EXIST.

The missing link is actually, and this is actually true,  you taking control of your programme, knuckling down to some hard work, forgetting about all those “fancy gadgets”, not falling for the sales person’s talks in these “health clubs” and spending that money on something that will actually do you some good! I say health clubs in inverted commas because they are usually little more than money making machines designed to get you on longer term contracts, and using latest national statistics, they really bet on the fact you won’t turn up most of the time.

We have touched on this before, why do they try and get 6000 members, if they are lucky to get 100 people in that gym at any one time!! If you work out the numbers, they are betting that 1% of their membership turns up at any one time, that is scandalous!!

I love the way these sales people say the latest mircale machine will increase your metabolism, your heart rate, your muscle tone, Gosh I HAVE NEVER HEARD THAT BEFORE! Isn’t this what ALL exercise does anyway and aren’t they using every technique in the book to get you to sign on the dotted line!! To sign that contract that you have paid for so many sessions or even a year or two, once they have your money they have done their job, its time to get wise to all of this and see through all of these “cowboy” salespeople, because that’s what they are, most have never set one foot in the actual gym……ever, or least they don’t look as if they have ever trained, with no knowledge thrown in, this can be a very worrying situation for the newcomer to exercise!!

All the information you need to get into great shape is on here, its based on improving your programme most weeks, its about eating sensibly, little and often, sleep well and keeping a very positive approach in everything you do, in short, its about results and being the best you can be! It’s not about ripping you off in money terms, its about staying with a programme that will stand the test of time, and will be as good in 20 years time  as it is now, long after all these dreaded gym sales people are in their “other career’s”, whatever that may be but it probably will have nothing to do with improving your health, unless they get a lot more education and actual experience! They ought to try that sometime?!!

You can see i’m steamed about it, but i try to put people right and protect you from the con artists of this world, and believe me there’s a lot of “fly by nights” in the health and fitness world.

Please do the right thing, and follow common sense when trying to get fitter, healthier and more positive in your attitude to your life and those around you.

Hope day 59 is flying for you and your workout has been a huge one today! You’re doing it through hard work and doing it through tried and tested ways can be much more satisfying, plus you will keep getting amazing results, long after all the faddy machines have come and gone!

Twitt
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Day 57

Day 57

What you are capable of in your overall progress is entirely up to you, and varies on the level of commitment you intend to put in, and what is manageable in your everyday life.

If you want to train 3 times per week, eat well 80% of the time, and generally look for periodical increases in your fitness, I think this is a very successful strategy and long term you should be in good physical condition. I see many people working out this way and they have been happy with the way things have panned out.

People who want the shorter terms gains in physical condition, may want to up that to 4-5 times per week, be very keen on their eating, and look for constant improvements in their eating, and put a high priority on sleep. Once you have this approach, then the results can be staggering as some of you are showing in this 12 weeks.

For each and every effort you put into your physical improvements, you will get it back in the form of lower body fat, healthy blood pressure and a strong heart rate, good strong bones and joints, the ability to fit into the clothes you want, to feel as if you have an abundance of energy, your self-esteem and self-confidence going up dramatically, and the satisfaction of knowing you have overcome many challenges on the way!

Don’t expect every week to be the same either, most weeks I would bet you remain enthusiastic, and happy at the changes you have made to your body. It’s the stressful weeks we worry about the most though don’t we?

Stressful situations always tend to throw doubt on all the good things we are trying to do. If we have had 4 great weeks, then one bad week is not going wipe away 4 weeks of progress. In fact, one bad week can often spur us on to make fresh progress the next week, making us realise that all that progress is really not worth throwing away at any cost!

The 80% rule of still enjoying yourself when you train and eat is always going to be a winner for you. Nobody can have perfect weeks leave alone a prefect 12 weeks, that simply is not possible.

Mental freshness is as important as physical freshness and trying new foods out. You won’t always feel like eating the right things, and if one day a week, you have a couple of your old favourites, then where’s the harm in that?

Your capacity can actually be enhanced when you’re fresh for workouts, fresh for getting your eating back on track as you get that feeling that you’re “up for it” again and that the “bad weekend” you may have just had, may not have been that bad at all, especially compared to the way you USED  to eat.

What eating 80% good food and allowing yourself the occasional treat means is that there is room for fun, and still allows you to perform at your peak. Without any fun, your programme will crash and burn, and keeping yourself happy goes a long, long way when it comes to keeping your programme going for the long term, like the rest of your life!

Whatever your strategy, as long as you keep doing something over the week, then you will always be moving in the right direction!

Twitt
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Day 37 Your key 5 days-sun to thursday

Day 37-work, rest and play       

Most people will concentrate on one or another, some will train hard but eat what they like, some people will eat very well but not want to put much effort into their training, some will eat well and train hard, but never hit the sack much before 12.

Any of these combinations makes your progress not so good as it could have been. Sometimes you can’t get all three in of course, but that’s life and you should try and still do the best with what you can.

If you look at it like this, you should aim for Sunday to Thursday as solid, no nonsense types of days when you nail it every day, you eat good fresh food, you train with real energy and drive and you make a point of getting to bed on time every night. This should be within most of your abilities.

Obvious exceptions will include those with young children, but I have to be honest and say that many with young children I train are actually some of the very best performers!

Other obstacles to having very good Sunday to Thursday include drinking wine or beer in the week. I love a beer as much as the next man, but you really don’t need it in the week as it will put a big dent in your progress.

Your training drive will be diminished, you simply won’t feel “up for it” all the time. Alcohol will also encourage you to eat higher fat foods on the same night, and the morning after. Alcohol drives blood sugar levels up, then they come crashing back down which in turn creates a savage hunger at times. Then, when you wake up, you crave anything fired to satisfy your hunger upon rising, anyone know what I’m talking about??!!!

One more thing about alcohol, there are over 120 sleep disorders out there, and around 80 of them are linked to alcohol. So you may think that the extra glass of wine will make you sleep well, but the opposite is true. When you don’t have good sleep, you become irritable, your performance goes down, you crave fatty and sugary food etc etc.

You can see now that it’s a great idea to really concentrate on Sunday to Thursday and really get it almost perfect. Most people aren’t invited to social functions in the week, so it’s ideal to get foundations firmly laid around this time every week.

Everyone loosens up the weekend a bit, and when you do, you will be comforted in the fact that you have had a great week, your performances will be at the upper levels, your cravings for fatty foods will be at their lowest and your sleep should improve greatly.

This site is all about performing at your best, feeling your best and trying to live the quality of life that you always promised yourself.

To do this, life is full of challenges and obstacles, this is just one more but you have every ability to get over it again. There’s heck of a difference between knowing what to do and actually doing it, so let’s make it happen!!

Twitt
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Day 35

Just got home from a great run in sandy water park. Despite the snowy predictions,  we managed to have two of the sunniest and clearest days of the year. This makes the running experience even more enjoyable of course, and seems to bring a smile out in everyone.

The person i was running with hopefully really enjoyed too, and she commentated that the environment down there was always an inspiration to her. She went on to say that you never found that inspiration in the gym, or the freshness if the air that was all around. Having a fresh start on sunday morning was the perfect solution to a late night out!

When talking about nights out, one of the most common questions i get is about what drink should be consumed. Most ladies seem to go to vodka because of the relative low amount of calories. I have said it many times before on here that wine would be the best solution.

Although wine is double the calories, it will be kinder to your body inside and pass through it without incident. The vodka on the other hand is a much rougher product for your body, and is well documented for causing longer term problems for your body, when consumed in excess.

The sooner everyone stops looking at the “less calorie is good” way, the better. The sooner everyone thinks about the food they consume on each meal/snack, that’s exactly the moment you’re going to start winning the war with your body and giving it the nutrients it deserves, more natural foods are the way to go.

Don’t fall for all these “low-fat” versions of higher fat/higher sugar foods. There is no “free lunch” if you pardon the pun!

Why is it a battle with your body anyway, is it because there is so much “mis-information” out there in the first place, destined to confuse you even more, and ultimately  take some more hard-earned money out of your bank account? Surely you can’t still be falling for that any more?

Doesn’t it all come down to the basics every day? And not some diet based entirely on shakes and freaky eating habits?

You know the basics by now too, and your all natural shopping list doesn’t really have to change that much over time. Of course, your choices will vary from week to week, but those people who say that natural food is somehow “boring” surely have never bought a cooking book for fresh ideas, or it’s all free on the internet? Cooking fresh and healthy can be highly inventive, as well as highly rewarding. You will be feeding yourself and family foods that are going to look after their insides for the rest of their lives! Surely that must be exciting?!!

So how does this sound for simplicity and an achievable lifestyle?

Make your shopping list minimum 80% natural products, have some treats here and there and a bit of what you fancy, have a drink when you want to, but not more than once a week, do your strength training 2-3 times per week, get outside at least twice a week, sleep well most nights and drink water throughout the day. Does that sound too difficult?

Either do that and achieve ultimate long term success that will last a lifetime, or fall for the lastest “new faddy diet” that will always come over the horizon with a huge marketing campaign, promising you the world?!! What’s it going to be?

Strong principles and desire to always do the right thing will always serve you well, people will always try to put you off and that’s why this road is always the road that fewer people travel on. Remember it’s always in your times of indecision that your destiny is shaped!

Twitt