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Friday 29th July

If you are in control of your food, then thats fantastic and you should be proud of your appearance and performance lately.

If you’re not, then you need to back to where you were when you first started.

Most of us remember that feeling when we finally made the plunge to eating healthy the rest of our lives. It was intimmidating at first, but over time it became easier as the weeks went by, and even easier again when we started showing some really good results!!!

So if you are at a halfway house right now, by that i mean sometimes eating healthy and sometimes eating badly, then you need to go back to the start to enable you to move forward!

When you go to the diet section on the right hand side, there is a repetitive but valid theme on there. It goes on all the time about the importance of having a healthy breakfast and gives you many examples. A doctor would back this up.

It encourages you to graze and not gulp huge amounts of food down in one go, this means it is better to have smaller meals and snacks but regular and often to sustain energy and kickstart your metabolism, this is a proven way for fat loss and lean muscle retention. Your doctor would encourage this too.

The meal ideas on there are packed with variety, and all the foods are nutritious and are going to heavily contribute to you being in outstanding health! A nutritionist would tell you the exact same.

Water is vital to life, as well as good health, how many of you have forgotten that? Did you know its also a contributory factor to fat loss? Did you know its going to be better than some much-vaunted face creams for your skin’s appearance? I haven’t got another hour to write down all the extra benefits but you should be getting the idea by now!

Bottom line is the basics ARE the bottom line!!!! Face facts and go back to the start and remember how well you used to eat!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday 28th July

Back down to cooler temperatures today, and for me that’s a great excuse to work harder than ever on my workout!

If you didn’t make any excuses and got through the last couple of humid days, then you should be raring to go today.

You have to face up to the fact that all sorts of things happen to encourage you to train, and on the opposite scale of things, it seems as if things conspire against you to stop you training from time to time.

Keeping things on an even keel is vital if you want to be productive. So this means you still train no matter what (unless you’re ill) through the times when you think the world is against you, as well as taking the good times and finding it easy to train then.

The more breaks you have in your training, the more you’re going to struggle.

The more you accept that you should somehow stop training when weekends come, when bank holidays come, when Christmas comes, when easter comes, when valentines day comes, when summer holidays comes, when half term comes etc etc is frankly pathetic!!!

Its pathetic if you pretend you really want to be in shape and talk about it a lot, because if you continue to have this attitude it AIN’T GOING TO HAPPEN!!! You will be writing off most of the year if you continue to make excuses like this, but then if you do, then you have become accustomed to making excuses and that’s a normal way of life for you.

This blog is all about being and developing a commitment to being and getting into shape, as safely and as quickly as possible through tried and tested means.

The truth hurts sometimes that’s why its better to spell it out, so lets knuckle down again and hit it hard!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday 27th July

The weather has hit new heights again, making harder training sessions more and more difficult.

The first obvious change you need to make is either workout first thing in the morning or in the evening, this will be the biggest temperature difference you can make to enable you to have a more pleasant training experience. There can be real advantages to this and i prefer an early morning slot myself, but its all down to personal choice.

Number two obvious thing to do is up your water intake on the day you train, being dehydrated on a day like this is not only undesirable but its plain dangerous! Also, remember to drink water THROUGHOUT your workout with little sips and often, as well as afterwards. This weather is not just about putting a decent workout in, its about doing things in a safe and sound manner.

Number three is to keep your workouts shorter than normal and in a shaded area if possible. There’s an old saying that says that “only an mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun!!”. We have already talked about avoiding midday workouts if possible and you need definitely to limit your time in the sun. Don’t worry about the shorter workouts, simply doing a workout is very valuable on a day like this.

Number four is not to write off the day unless absolutely necessary. Most people will write off workouts on days like these, but hoepfully you’re not like “most people” anymore. You still want good results whatever the weather, and you will be willing to work around any hot or freezing weather, its just another challenge that you need to work around and you will be fine.

If you follow the first three guidelines, then you should be able to put a good short workout in, have a nice shower and get on with having a great day!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday 25th July

This is probably a very quiet period for a lot of people, certainly the next two weeks are known as “stop fortnight” when a lot of factories and businesses shut down to go off on their summer holidays, as well as schoolkids all over the country of course.

In terms of exercise, it shouldn’t really make a difference if you are at home and not on holidays, there is no reason to give up on progress and write off your improvements to come.

When we talk about the year in general, we flag up certain times of year as hotspots for exercise and eating well. January is a famous one straight after christmas. Spring is another one where people want to get into shape for summer, and then you have a bit of a surge in late november for the christmas parties.

Apart from these times, you would assume that most people the rest of the year have “normal” weeks when it comes to exercise wouldn’t you? Well not according to my experience!

There is no such thing as a “normal” week in my book.

Individuals have good times and bad times, people have injuries and aches as well as times with no aches and strains. People will eat well and eat very badly. They will drink too much and sometimes not at all.

There will be very hot weather periods as well as the coldest  weather we have ever experienced such as december last year, the whole month in fact!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday, 21st July

Knowledge is power and stops us wasting endless hours, days weeks and even years in trying to get in shape.

If we try to go too fast too soon, we sometimes get injured and more often than not, lose all the enthusiasm we had at the start.

This is because we don’t stop to learn the basics, we try to go through a programme that someone far more experienced is doing, such as some athlete in the magazines or something very advanced we see online, both are likely to be unsuitable.

Many magazines are filled with information, but a lot of it unfortunately is targeted at those who have been training for many years, and not those who are beginners or need a helping hand.

The best way to start off or pick up where you left off is to simplify matters.

Select a whole body programme where you work just one exercise for each body part, work up to doing 3 sets of each exercise over a couple of weeks, and aim to do this programme 3 times a week. That’s it, nothing complicated, nothing that will confuse you or your body, just plain old solid routines that will work each every time.

As i keep saying, unless you’re a professional athlete, please, please, please DO NOT waste your time by working one or two body parts each time you go to the gym.

There are two things going on with that last statement.

Are you really up for having fantastic results? Or are you listening too much to your friends and following their programme that’s usually very poorly designed with the no end goal in sight?!!!!

So back to the point, knowledge really is power IF applied properly and its time to start applying it properly. Think what programme is going to WORK FOR YOU!!!!! Its about YOUR progress and YOUR body and keeping it simple is the way to go, just show some effort with your training and the sky’s the limit!!!!

Twitt