Two women on a charge!!!

Different levels of fitness requires different levels of effort.

Achieving those different levels though is a gradual process as member Annette is finding out, and she sent me this message last night.

“My first week of training went quite well.

  I am definitely feeling more alert and my diet is much better although I could probably still improve on it.  Drinking loads of water which is making me feel less tired.  I have stuck to my workouts, even when I went camping because I don’t need to use any gym equipment.

 I can do them anywhere plus they are pretty short which is always a bonus for me!! 

 Cardio workouts are the ones I look forward to most but feel absolutely lousy while doing them ( I am soooo unfit).

  Never mind, I’m sticking with it no matter what!

Annette”

Annette is clearly on a path to where she wants to get back achieving big things once again. She knows she has to work through different levels before she is anywhere near where she was before. She knows she will get there though as long as she sticks with it!

She also knows that she can do her workouts literally anywhere, and shes not tied to a gym and the limitations that can bring.

Debbie is clearly back in the swing this week, and enjoying something new that has done a lot to stimulate her interest and reawaken her passion for health and fitness again.

She also has great experience with injuries, and has the know how on how to avoid any pain in her workouts.

These are people who have done it all before, who have been at their peak and for various reasons, have slid back a bit in terms of their fitness and maybe body fat, and want to experience the big high’s they had from being at their best.

They both know though that they have to experience those different levels on the way before being ready to make the jump up, one level at a time.

The good news is though that because of muscle memory, their bodies remember where they’ve been before, and the rate of progress this time is likely to be far more rapid than first time around.

Once your body has experienced big highs of low body fat, a leaner harder body, more energy, more self-esteem, more self-confidence, looking great in clothes, having more enthusiasm for everything in life, an all time level of health and vitality etc etc, you really want to get there again and once you start believing again, you know you will want to get there as soon as you can, and to me that’s a great thing!

So what are you waiting for? Let’s finish the week on a high, and get ever closer to your best condition and the way you feel. No slowing down now, lets go and get it!

Fresh bout of enthusiasm!

So how is all your progress looking right now?

Are you saying “god it’s cold outside and autumn is coming early”?

Are you saying “im fed up with all this rain, its making me down”!

Are you saying “its august, i’ll start back when the summer finished”?

If you fall victim to any of these, lets make a promise to yourself and cut the you know what, get a bit more aggressive about your health and training and really get your mojo back!!!

Being enthusiastic has to happen and you will achieve absolutely nothing if you don’t start adding some passion into your workouts and your health in general.

If you don’t feel you can, then who the heck is telling you can’t do it anymore, or even you can’t do it in the first place? Thats almost twice as bad!!

Just look at the person putting you off, are they a picture of health and coolness themselves? Are they an example you should follow?

Do you really believe that being inactive is really going to make your health somehow “better”? Good health doesnt happen by accident and sometimes you have to make radical decisions to change things around for the better? Surely you can do this and im backing you do it, in fact im offering all my support and advice.

Lets get to the facts, its getting darker in the nights, its getting colder and its certainly wetter. These ARE NOT MAJOR OBSTACLES though so dont think for one minute that this can possibly stop you all in your quest to become in the best possible shape you’ve ever been in. THESE WEATHER CONDITIONS CANNOT STOP YOU FULL STOP!!

So now that we are clear, this is 7pm on a thursday night and its still not too late to throw in a great workout, or is EASTENDERS somehow an obstacle to all of that!! You’ll be glad you fitted in and you will be well on your way to making your favourite clothes feeling heck of a lot better!

Lets get enthusicastic, lets get motivated, lets feel the drive inside of you again and lets get unbelievable performances out of yourself!!! Have you got the heart deep down or are you willing to throw the towel in again? Lets make it happen right now and make it to the weekend in much better heart and physical condition.

You will breathe better, feel in better shape and face everything with far greater confidence! Lets do it!

Fruit doesn’t make you put on weight

A common myth used to be that you shouldn’t eat fruit because “it put weight on”.

Too much of anything will put on weight of course, but in reality, fruit is the least of your problems.

Of course fruit is regarded as a simple sugar, and people always think that all simple sugars cause rapid rises in blood sugar. This usually means weight gain and problems possibly with diabetes in the future if you keep consuming simple blood sugars.

We now have a scale though that shows the impact of sugar of all foods.

In the scale called the glycemic index, the funny think is that white rice and white potatoes come out a lot more sugary, and raise sugar far quicker than fruit!! Not saying that rice and potatoes are desperately bad foods for you, they’re not! It’s just important to consume them in smaller portions, and use brown rice if possible, sweet potatoes or new potatoes instead of white potatoes, you need to make the switch here for all sorts of good reasons.

This is why on here we always talk about balance and combining protein, good carbs and good fats, along with some vegetables and the problem of rapid blood sugar rises will not arise for you full stop!

Fibre and fats help slow digestion, improve absorbtion of vital nutrients, an even when you’re trying to lose body fat, the nutrients in fruit are vital in helping you do so!!!

So unless you eat around 5 bananas a day, a huge bunch of grapes, 10 pears, a box of cherries and a box of strawberries (not only will you start putting weight on but you will start to visit the toilet an awful lot), you will NOT put on weight with a moderate 5 a day on your fruit, it simply cannot happen. Time to stop blaming the fruit and analyse the chocolate bars/biscuits that may still be in your diet!

Moderation in food and a wide a variety of nutrients as possible are golden rules, you know this is common sense and you should not be scared of any natural food out there.

Bellamy grabs the bulls by the horns

Great news yesterday that craig bellamy joined cardiff city.

He may irritate some people but thats his character and allows him to get the best out of himself.

He also does a huge amount for charity he never talks about so we have to give the break. His work in africa with young kids is already legendary behind the scenes.

He has given cardiff city a huge boost in their quest to get into the premiership, and its a huge gesture to come back down into the championship when he’s still at the peak of his powers. He was rated as 3rd best premiership player last year on stats alone, so forget any negative press, this man is on a mission to bring premiership football to wales!

Bellamy has this infectious character that can get the very best out of his team-mates. He won’t put up with big ego’s and will literally slam ANY player who is not pulling for the team. He will spot the pampered, lazy trainers a mile off, and there will be a completely new attitude down cardiff for the rest of the year.

So rather than be turned off by this misunderstood character, you should admire his hugely competitive spirit, his fighting nature even when the chips are almost completely down, and the level of hard work he will bring to youngsters all over cardiff and beyond.

There are already signs of his arrival. The club shirts have all sold out, season tickets have gone through the roof, saturday’s gate is likely to be massive and the influence he will have on the next generation will be immeasurable.

From this post, you can guess i like the anti-hero, the McEnroe’s of this world, the Botham’s, the Maradona’s, Daley Thompson etc. All the athletes who stick two fingers up at people who are trying to do the wrong thing and stifle the game, stuffyness has held back sport in this country for far too long.

 These athletes were freedom fighters in my book, and will do more good in one day than all the guys in blazers in the FA, the cricket associations, the athletics boards etc.

These people put bums on seats and flat-out inspire people to take up sports, to play with passion and create the next generation of champions.

So the bottom line is that im expected about bellamy being in cardiff, and long may the benefits he brings continue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Annette goes on a journey

Annette James of Picton Sports has just got back into her training, after a break of around ten years or so!

 It’s always important to see how different people react to exercise, and in this case, after a very long lay off, with the responsibilities of two children, and a busy business to look after.

Annette got her first session under her belt last night, so i thought you’d like to hear in her own words, how she found it.

“Hi Keri

My first proper workout for at least 10 years with you yesterday and it was hell!!!.  Mixture of feelings before, during and after.  A bit anxious before we met up because I haven’t done anything for a good while apart from walk the dog which I thought would have kept me pretty fit.

  Boy was I wrong!!!!.  During the workout I felt awful.  Thought I was going to be sick and was completely defeatist the whole time.  I couldn’t wait for the workout to end and all the way through I was thinking there was no way I was putting myself through this again!

  Afterwards though on my drive home I felt pretty good and went straight to do my food shop before I changed my mind (bought loads of healthy things for me and my family). I felt a  bit disappointed with myself for having such a negative mental attitude throughout the workout.  I think if I had been more positive I could have done alot better (being weighed and measured for the first time in years didn’t help)

 Woke up this morning not aching much but feeling very tired.  There is no way I am giving up and having to go through that first workout all over again in a few months time. I am taking my eating and exercising one day at a time.  The only way is up!

Annette

This is a highly encouraging start and the most important thing now is to keep going after a tough start.

Annette realises that food is key too and she hs already set out to get a good shopping list in.

She has every chance of getting back to where she was 10 years ago, and a whole lot more in my view.

All she needs is to be consistent, start believing in herself again and focus on making slow but gradual improvements.

This is her big chance to do it again, feel better, look her best and achieve big things once again.

Annette will post regularly, so it will be fun to keep up with her progress!