Posted on

Monday, 14th May

There are a lot of myths being exploded all the time by latest science in terms of losing body fat, and we should keep mentioning them on here.

We all know that drinking pop will put weight on us, especially the full sugar versions. In fact, studies have shown that they can contain up to 40% of total calories in some people!

Then we move on to diet pop such as diet coke or pepsi, or diet just about anything!

These WILL NOT help you lose weight and here’s why.

The problem is not with the one calorie but with the artificial sweetener.

The sweetener has been linked to weight gain because it stimulates your taste receptor than senses sweetness in the stomach, Once the stomach expects energy, it stimulates insulin production from the pancreas, which is a very important hormone for increasing body fat.

At the same time, chemicals are sent to the brain and it becomes confused whether it is having calories or not.

As your body gets tricked into whether it is receiving food or not, then your body tends to want to overeat to make sure you are having the required calories!

You will feel hungrier and less full, so the urge to overeat will always be strong.

Artificial sweeteners are 100 times more sweet than normal table sugar. This is very concerning since this makes natural sugars such as fruit quite bitter to some people who slam back sweeteners and products that contain lots of sweeteners.

The more natural you eat, the better. The same with drink. If you have a glass of water, then slice some lemon in it to give it a natural flavouring.

If you had the diet lemonade, you are conditioning your body to all sorts of negative eating emotions, which can be highly damaging to your long term weight control and performance.

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 3rd May

Getting out of your comfort zone regularly when it comes to your training should be your number one priority but most people are either scared, cant be bothered or don’t know how to change the programme they initially started with the first day they were shown how to train.

This is almost a “silent killer” when it comes to progressing year after year.

Do this experiment-think of all the people you know who regularly exercise and perhaps they have been for many years.

Then think of in terms of a percentage, how many of them have actually IMPROVED year in year out over those years.

If you get 20% you would be lucky.

Then, another experiment for you to try!

If you know a couple of these people well enough to ask, then trying questioning them on how they train, and then ask them on the last time they actually changed anything substantial with their training?

I’m not talking about one or two exercises, I am talking about their speed or tempo of their workout, their rep ranges, the workout frequency, whether they just use weight, just do cardio, mix them both up, and do they do any core stability work, and what lengths do they go to in the core strengthening?

Do they use medicine balls, bosu balls, swiss balls for example, and what variations of these exercises do they use?

If you carry on with this line of questioning and they soon get agitated or fed up that you want to know, or just dismissive saying they are on the “best programme and that’s that”!!! Then you know they are becoming all defensive and they know deep down that they are now unwilling to change at this “late stage” seemingly in their “training career”.

The truth is that everyone needs to change regularly and test themselves in different ways. This not only keeps things fresh and fun, but will give you the regular results and health benefits we are all looking for!

Twitt
Posted on

May 1st!

Start of the month and although you may not think it, it is after all MAY!!! Wild winds and rain may be greeting us but this is, in my experience anyway, THE best month when it comes to good weather, sunshine and warmer temperatures!

You may think the rest of the summer is in front of us, and it is, but may is usually the big statement when it comes to announcing the summer to come, or at least giving us a couple of weeks of fantastic weather.

May is also the month when we realise if we have been working hard throughout the winter or not! I have been banging on here all winter long about how much you will appreciate all the hard work gone in…………..by the time may comes around and now we are finally here!

May on the opposite side of the scale is the month when people panic, go on all sorts of crazy diets and try to lose weight very quickly and this means usually TOO quickly. Faddy diets are waiting to steal your hard earned money again, a kind of a “smash and grab” situation that they are used to doing, because they know their diets are not sustainable and this is why their classes go up and down so much.

May is the perfect month for you to put in your calendar so that you can remind yourself how important it is to train all year round, and how it is virtually impossible to get to may and somehow be in shape in two weeks flat! You know it can’t happen secretly and as long as you learn this vital lesson, then you know you will improve from this day onwards.

This is what life is about, constant improvement and looking to better yourself and find ways how you can become a better version of yourself, in all sorts of ways!

Start May well and stay positive for a big summer!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 30th April

One  big reason to practice functional training instead of “run of the mill” workouts is sheer range of movement and “real life” application.

You aren’t going to get as many meaningful benefits from just using machines compared to the multi-benefits of functional exercise.

For instance, a simple test i do on individuals and turn it into an exercise is simply standing up and down on a chair.

Most people can do this, some cannot however and will really struggle to get up. This shows a lack of mobility and underlying strength.

This shows a lack of strength in the core more specifically, and this will give me significant clues about the programme that needs to be prescribed.

How many people do you know who need a lift up from a chair? Quite a few i would imagine especially after the age of 50? When you think about it, this is FAR too young to be experiencing mobility problems and work needs to be immediately done on this vital source of power and movement for the body.

Every exercise i give an individual, i will be looking for “real life” benefits from it. Every workout should help the individual live a better quality of life, that’s my mission every time.

So you can i get more than a little frustrated with people whose sole focus is “losing weight”! This means the individual doesnt really know the vast and true possibilities and opportunities that correct exercise selection brings.

Yes, you WILL drop some weight, body fat from the exercises i give you, sometimes a substantial amount if needed, but appreciating the big picture will make your health and fitness programme far more rewarding for you.

 This is why i really despise weight loss clubs and their false claims. They only focus on the weight, usually done in an unsustainable way too, so in my book they will always be a total “no no”!

Enjoy your training and the many real life benefits it brings.

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 26th April

Back pain often comes from imbalances throughout the body as we have talked about a million times on here.

It can come from simple things you never even thought about in your day.

From driving and reaching over the radio all the time to one side, to lounging in the chair while watching television, the causes are more simple than you thought and can be sorted out purely through behavioural change.

I have seen nasty back situations develop from reading a book in bed on one side, doing things only on one side will eventually lead to imbalances that need to be sorted and the sooner the better.

Simply by choosing to live your life with better posture habits will count for a lot when it comes to long term back health full stop. Make sure you make this vital change today.

Other back weakness can develop through working one side of the body and ignoring the other.

For example, if you only work the thighs and never work your hamstrings, then your back will eventually suffer, as well as poor hamstring strength of course, leading to injury, pain, cramping possibly at times, and you guessed it back pain!!!

Always work both sides of the body.

If you work your chest and shoulders but fail to do a range of back exercises, then it doesn’t take a genius to work out that back weakness will likely comes your way.

If you only run or just cycle, and you don’t do any strength or core stability work, then back pain is quite common amongst most participants.

These examples should really ram home the point about doing your core stability/balance work, doing the exercises we always talk about on here that you know are so good for you, and ignorance/reluctance to change is the only thing that may be stopping you have a very strong and healthy back!

Make it happen today.

Twitt