Friday 18th August

There are always myths and false statements out there, especially in the world of health and fitness, where marketing of products seems much more important than the quality of the product.

We should all know by now that one fitness product is not going to get us magically into shape.

Those magically designed powder based meals are not the long term answer, protein shakes have their place for sure, but not those shakes that you take all day every day, then you lose the weight, and then pile it all back on and more!!

You may have noticed by now that im much more of a natural foods type of guy.

Theres great news now on natural foods like never before.

Take natural yoghurt for example, which i now love and i used to hate it!!! The trend for you to select yoghurts now is to judge the product on how much fat the yoghurt as, this has been proven to be a big mistake. The manufacters get around this by stripping the fat out the product, and to make it taste much nicer, they replace it with more or less pure sugar!!! Therefore it suddenly becomes very well qualified as A LOW-FAT FOOD!!!! What a sham in terms of getting lean, sugar makes you fat full stop and too much makes you diabetic, another fact over time!!

This is hilarious surely or is it really disturbing more like?!!! Give me natural yoghurt anytime and here’s another fact for you after latest research.

If you eat natural yoghurt on a regular basis, then studies show that you lose be more successful on staying lean than eating regularly low fat yoghurts! Thats quite a story isn’t it? Haven’t we been duped into thinking low-fat yoghurts are some kind of god like product in the slimming terms, at least what the advertisements tell us?!! It must be right surely?!!!!

This is a big example of how advertisers and manufacters are trying to fool you, lie to you and strip of your hard earned cash,plus never deliver on their pledge to get you slimmer!! Don’t fall for it, keep it natural and at least you know what you have!!!!

August 18, 2011

Thursday 18th August 2011

The big story of the week in exercise terms was that if you exercised for 15 minutes a day, then you were likely to live longer (about 3-4 years) and you were significantly less likely to suffer from cancer.

Its great to see people are encouraged to do far more manageable bouts of exercise. Most people with their busy lives are not going to be able to do one hour a day for 5 days a week, it just wont happen in my experience.

I also love the way they put some good exercises in there for a change too, squats and lunges for example instead of having some government minister playing table tennis for 2 minutes and calling that amazing exercise!!!

I must hasten to add that table tennis played at a very good standard CAN be very good exercise, but the odd knock around is never going to replace a proper well-structured exercise programme with strength training as well as cardiovascular work of course!!

This is why we need a common message going out there regularly with well-structured basic routines of around 4-6 exercises that will get people in far better shape than they are now.

I know lots of people with gym cards who never exercise in a manner that will bring lasting improvements, and to me that’s a lack of knowledge and not being put on the right path.

If I see someone not working hard or not doing an exercise properly, I WILL PUT THEM RIGHT and its up to them whether they take my opinion or not, but since my new mortgage payment depends on me getting my advice right and making sure its pretty much guaranteed to work, there is a fair chance of them listening!!

So I think 15 minutes a day or most days is definitely achievable for anyone, exercise selection is always important because some people may not be able to do squats and lunges due to bad knees for example, in fact I know many, many people so employing a fitness professional can save you many hours, months or even years in getting you to your goals and in total safety too, which for me is always the number one thing!

For those of you who are struggling to manage any exercise because it seems so daunting, email me on fitness@kerimckibbin.co.uk or subsribe on here and post me a question!! I totally believe that ANYONE can get in great shape, it’s a matter of having a good sustainable plan! As I have posted this week, its shocking that some of the pro athletes are far away from getting it right, so lets believe in yourself and focus on what you could be rather than the obstacles currently in your way!!!

August 17, 2011

Wednesday 17th August

As we were talking about sports performance yesterday, its remarkable how similar a diet that you should be implementing yourself to get into shape and stay in shape, and the diets of footballers are often remarkably similar.

David beckham for example, when he was playing out in Italy credited the team’s nutritionist with helping his career go on for a few more years than he previously thought it would.

Get this, he was really speaking about some “revoultionary” foods that perhaps you have never heard of, what were these magical foods that set beckham on an indian summer in terms of his career?!!!

These “magical” foods were salmon and other fish in their natural state with no sauces or breadcrumbs, just plain old fish cooked in a healthy way with good old fashioned way with olive oil!!!

Then there was “magical” vegetables to go with it, and a whole array on wonderful veg in many different colours!!

Then he would eat a variety of fruit throughout the day for snacks and even had a small handful of nuts, such as almonds, brazils, cashews etc!!!

Also, he amazingly drunk water throughout the day, and insisted on going to bed early every night.

He very rarely drunk either, alcohol that is, and only a little during off season!!!

The result?

He was in the shape of his life, and he looked and felt fantastic, the porridge for breakfast had really energised him too apparently!!! The great man was feeling great going into his late 30’s!!!!

Okay sarcasm ended but what i describe is the truth regarding his diet, and he did and IS in incredible shape as we speak, anyone who reads the papers can see that!!!

So what we talk about on here every day, is very similar to beckham’s “magical” diet isn’t it? Or is it less than magical and more like just a healthy diet?!!!! Or does it sound more mystical if it comes from Italy, so they can take all the credit again and call it the meditterranean diet!!!!

Whatever marketing angle is used, you know that this diet, these foods and this way of life will work every time for you!!!!

August 3, 2011

Wednesday 3rd August

The pre-season for sports is happening for all the traditional winter sports right now across the country, and some are having greater success than others.

If you want to make sure you have a very good season in sports, its absolutely critical to have a good pre-season conditioning period to set you up nicely for the coming months.

Players and sportsmen of all kinds who think they don’t need it or could do without it, are really living back in the 1970’s as sports conditioning has moved on light years since that attitude existed.

So if you are new to it or doing the same old stuff every year for your chosen sport, then its time to open your mind and change.

Long slow runs for a few miles are well and truly gone, and hugely intense sports specific workouts are in big time, and have been for years, it just takes a while for the message to get through. Where in the past 2 hours was normal, now it can be 30 minutes if you know what you’re doing and you’re willing to give total commitment.

Long runs that put strain on your body have been replaced with lots of short sprints, both on flat and up hills. There is forward running and backward running, lots of work for your core (stomach, back, hamstrings and thighs), and flat out lung busting work!!!

If any of this sound familiar its because you know thats the way i like to train because im always after maximum results!!!

I don’t tend to go from the team playbook when it comes to workouts or follow the pack. I want to do whats right and what works, and if the team training i have seen over the years is anything to go by, im glad i have sticked to my guns and given the best possible workouts to my clients and specific to their needs, not long boring runs that require little or no thought!!!

I will give you the example of the junior rugby international i was training in the 90’s, he was given jam sandwiches as a snack suggestion by the welsh rugby union!!! I ripped into that suggestion then and will have a go at any nonsense that still comes out now.

Its tried and tested all the way for me when it comes to training and eating properly, lots of ideas on here so lets make it happen!!!

August 2, 2011

Tuesday 2nd August

We are now into tuesday already, and hope you have had a great start to your week already.

What makes the difference between an average start and an amazing start to your week?

The bottom line is that you can train as hard as you want on a monday, but if you don’t follow that up with some excellent eating habits on monday night and all day tuesday, then you are going to be compromising some of those huge training efforts.

We say all the time on here that its actually MORE important to eat well after a good session and its criminal to eat just a pile of junk after training.

You have to realise that your body gets rid of and uses an awful lot of nutrients when you get through your hard training sessions. These will need replacing and if you don’t, you are compromising your body’s recovery powers. This means your ability to get back up and do it all over again will be compromised a lot.

This will lead to not so frequent training sessions, or definitely compromise your ability to get through top level training sessions.

I have seen tremendous differences between individuals who train just as hard as each other, but eat different diets. The one with the better diet will ALWAYS perform AND RECOVER that much better and quicker. This leads to a succession of events that will lead to long term success.

The person who eats a poor diet will always struggle to perform well consistently, and will likely lead to up and down results, as they are trying to do things the hard way.

Make life easy on yourself and train hard AND eat well and just watch the amazing results!!!!!