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Monday, 5th November

Benchmark workouts are a major consideration when it comes to all sorts of situations in your life.

Life isn’t always the same, things crop up, trips happen overseas, layoffs can happen for whatever reason, and the last thing you want to happen is not know where you are in physical and health terms full stop.

Easy ways off checking your health including buying a blood pressure machine, i like to do it every 4 weeks for everyone i train, sometimes more frequently for those who i am really concerned about.

In physical terms, you can measure your waist and hips once a month, you will need to be alarmed if your waist does go up, and then you can alter your diet and training programme to bring it back down.

The “benchmark workout” idea is one which i use every week on most people, and this lets us know straight away exactly where we are.

Someone i train who has been touring america for 3 months got his first workout in today. I put him on one of HIS benchmark workouts, and the results were quite staggering!

Bear in mind that this workout is one which he normally gets through without too much of a problem. It consists of around 300 press ups total in the workout split into 20’s at a time, some step sprints, some backward running up hills etc.

Today, he found it extremely tough indeed!

He has been used to doing 3 shows a day, which is demanding physically of course, but got used to the sugary cereals and breakfasts in the states, and the lack of genuinely plain, sugar free nutritious food that he was accustomed to has hurt his energy levels now he’s back to normal.

This has led to him becoming not so energetic now he is back home, and the benchmark workout reminded him exactly where he was!!!

If you don’t have standards you can measure against, then you will never know or appreciate where you are!!!

This is something to consider when you work out what level you want to be at!!!

Twitt
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Thursday, 1st November

New York is certainly in the headlines this week, with the devastation of probably the biggest storm in the last 100 years hitting it extremely hard.

The destructive power of water and wind is very much in evidence and we wish all the best in their recovery efforts, I have friends there and hope they come back strong soon!

The only downside about visiting the states in my experience, and a lot of people’s experience is the abundance of sugary foods there. Breakfast time for example is traditionally a choice between pancakes full of sugar and sour cream, there are traditional fried options although never as good as our versions, and a marathon of strong coffee options!

Then the cereal options are very high in sugar, and it really seems a tough job especially in eastern states to get something plain and simple. Southern California can be a refreshing and a very healthy change!

The problem is if you fall for all of these options, its easy to get addicted to sugar again!

It can take weeks when you get back from a trip to get your taste buds back to normal, but you won’t shed the weight until you do.

This country is catching it up quickly though, as most of us know, you can forget most of the aisles in the supermarket because they are filled with sugary rubbish!

Obesity is continuing to get higher and higher, because there is a point when some people simply “give up” and can’t be bothered to eat well anymore, or try to eat well, because they have fallen for so many faddy diets that have never worked in the longer term for them, their attempts at exercise have often been futile and this has been caused by all the false information out there, which often destroys people’s health and lives when they get to this unfortunate “giving up phase”!

Its vital then that your food consumption should be a plain and simple as possible, especially when cooking. Cook from scratch when you can (you will know what’s going into the food!), eat natural and fresh when possible and avoid anything high in refined sugar and saturated fat.

This vital strategy will only help your training efforts, and keep your taste buds healthy and not attract you to food that ultimately will pile the weight on and possibly bring diabetes on!

Twitt
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Wednesday, October 31st

Halloween is certainly getting bigger in this country, if you have kids then hope you enjoy yourselves!!

Another story in the paper today about the benefits of exercise…………………….this time for the over 70’s and brain power!

How many times have you heard about the benefits about crossword puzzles making your brain sharper in old age, and most doctor’s considered crosswords as highly beneficial in terms of mental alertness alone.

The new study suggests that exercise greatly surpasses the benefits of crosswords, and the power of the mind is greatly increased when daily exercise is part of an individual’s liefstyle.

The power of exercise has often been undervalued and for much of the 20th century, doctor’s were often ignorant on its benefits across the board.

For example, from around 1950 to 1980, it was often thought and advised even that weight training would give you high blood pressure!! The opposite is true now.

Exercising could bring on a heart attack they said! We now know that there is no better way to get a STRONGER AND HEALTHIER heart, i think we all accept this now!

Exercise they said would wreck your joints, your bone density would simply wear away and if you wanted to have strong bones, then just relax and do not wear your body out!! Bone density we now know is made much STRONGER THROUGH WEIGHT TRAINING, your joints will only get stronger if you exercise smart and use proper footwear, these are medical facts and not heresay!!

With all the facts coming out about exercise all the time, there has never been a more exciting time to exercise and you have the big chance to reap all of these amazing benefits!!

Sure, exercise for all the benefits we DO know, but i am sure there will be MANY MORE BENEFITS to come over the years so get out there and do something today!!!

Twitt
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Monday, 29th October

We are coming up to november quickly and this means you have a whole month to get where you want to be by the start of decemember, and definitely the run up to christmas!

Everyone i know wants to be in shape by christmas, and they know all of the excess calories are going to hurt their bodies by the end of it, in terms of putting on weight and feeling stodgy and low on energy. Before we get to that stage, we have to start right now by eating and training to get as lean as possible!

The evenings are already a lot darker, so please use this month as a big positive and there’s absolutely no need to retreat into your shell because of the lack of light, its an opportunity to get your head down and work harder than you have ever done before!!!

Mondays are always the biggest opportunities to start off as you mean to go on, not to leave yourself down and fill your body with energy on the very day you need to make a statement for the rest of the week.

This is an excellent period to set new personal bests too, whether its in endurance or more metres covered on a rowing machine in a certain time for example, or you may just find yourself recovering quicker from each exercise, a sure-fire way of telling that you are getting much fitter. You will always have a favourite exercise so use this month as an opportunity to turn it something you are proud of, one exercise you’re able to do better than most other people, certainly better than you have done it before anyway.

When you set new personal bests, its usually guaranteed that you will see amazing physical benefits in all areas so use this as the perfect springboard for a fresh batch of improvements coming your way in november, which will set you up for a christmas in great shape!!!

Twitt
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Friday, 26th October

October 26th is the day before the clocks go back, and automatically things get darker from now on, and you may have noticed a lot colder!!!

This is the true test for me on an individual’s hunger to show up and really get into shape. Its much easier in the summer when things are mostly bright and sunny, but the dark, wet, cold nights can be something else to get over.

If you look at the situation quite a bit closer though, there is absolutely no reason for you to miss sessions and snuggle up on the settee every night feeling sorry for yourself! You will feel a lot more sorry for yourself if you pile a lot of weight on, when your self-esteem goes down and you become one of those people who say “i used to be fit and healthy…………..once upon a time!!!!

This statement is one of the saddest you will ever hear so let’s turn it around right now and not fall into that trap for one second!!!

Look at it another way, there are 8 whole weeks to christmas and nobody wants to look overweight and sluggish christmas time, especially with all the drinking and eating yet to come!!!

Use the winter evenings as an excuse to train, to put in the hard work in your baggy clothes, knowing when it comes to wearing your christmas dress or christmas suit, you know you have the opportunity to look incredibly better than you do right now!!!!

These are the choices you have right now in front of you, if you really think of it there aren’t many reasons you could use as an excuse!!!

I have had this discussion with everyone i train who are struggling at the changing of the seasons, and all of them without exception have ramped up the pressure on themselves to put in such great performances in the run-up to christmas!!!

Twitt