Tuesday, 6th December

Following on from yesterday’s example on interval training, you soon will be convinced that this is the way to go. All the best sessions are forms of intervals when you think about it?

I have one client who is doing the moonwalk event in London next year, and is helping her friend to get through it too.

The problem has suddenly appeared with the friend of the person i train. She has run into shin splints, and can barely do much training at all, it also doesnt help she is around 4 stone overweight, which is compounding the problem of course.

Rather than keep on the same training methods they started, which consisted of lots and lots of walking on the flat, which always resulted in pain for the shins, i recommended working on hill sprints, and hill walking.

This has now transformed the situation from one of desperation to one of hope and big achievement next year!

Due to the severe nature of the hill, the sprints are making both of them work hard and really get out breath. Getting out of breath never really happened on the flat, therefore both of them are getting fitter and because you don’t need to spend as much time training, the shin splints injury is subsiding and the boredom has disappeared.

Any time you do interval training, you work hard for a short time, then you get a short rest, then work hard again  and so on until you cant  do much more.

This, as i said, can be applied to any form of training, whether its weights, cycling, running or even walking.

Lets face it, nobody can go 90-100% for long, so its important to have small breaks, and this will allow your body to go further and therefore get far better results than if you employed the boring, low intensity sessions that seem to last for hourse!!!

Interval and high intensity training gives you focus and much needed results every time if done correctly, try it sometime!!!

Friday, 2nd December

Finishing off a week should always be a celebration, and a big one for us tonight with a big gym christmas night out!

Its time of the year to celebrate with all the christmas festivities and get in the mood for christmas!

Its important to recognise those people who have trained hard all year long, have shown up in cold, rain and all of those times when a lot of people seem to throw in the towel.

Most people who train hard all year will also realise the importance of going for a run, cycle or long walk tomorrow morning after a few beers and a big meal!!!

Most hard trainers will realise the folly of staying in bed all morning after a big night nursing a hangover!

The best way to get over a hangover is to make sure your last drink is a pint of water, dehydration will cause much of your hangover so this is an excellent strategy!

Then the following morning, get your kit on straight away around 7am or earlier and get out there and exercise!!!!! I mean as simple as that too!!!!

These tactics will clear your head completely-after around 5-10 minutes of pain first of all with all the booze and sugar working its way out of your body!!! Then after ten minutes, you will even begin to enjoy your workout and its all downhill from there!!

You should even begin to ENJOY your workout from there and i usually feel like doing a bit more than i had originally planned, and i hear a lot of other people saying the same thing who have got up and used this ultimate hangover cure!!!

You get back to feeling yourself straight away when you get back in for a shower and a good breakfast!!!!

So good luck to everyone who is out on a big night out tonight and remember saturday morning can be used as the perfect cure to your headache!!!!

Thursday, 1st December

A great chance meeting this morning with a gentleman Roger Rees, a 65 year old pensioner who has always like a pint (or three!), liked a smoke every day and thought exercising should be banished from society. He always believed that somehow things would “turn out okay” in health terms.

Then after being diagnosed with blood pressure problems, he was prescribed blood pressure tablets for which he stayed on for a couple of years.

Then he decided to exercise!!! It was sort of a “light bulb” moment and he discovered the massive benefits of exercises.

He has taken to exercise like a duck to water, although he has stuck to cycling as his first love.

Since he bought a bike, he has had the best 12 months of his life he says!

His blood pressure tablets have gradually come down, and with the doctor’s approval, has literally just been signed off medication as his progress has been so remarkable.

He had a big weakness for bacon, he now says he cant remember the last time he had it.

He drunk a few times a week. Now he has a couple of pints once a week, and he says he enjoys it this way far better, and doesn’t wake up with a hangover anymore!!!

His smoking is a bad memory from a distant past he says. He says it was the worst thing he ever did, but since he is now smoke free, his lung capacity is far more impressive which has been backed up by all the tests hes been having with the doctor.

The bottom line is that hes changed his life completely with exercise and eating well.

 Hes lighter than hes ever been. Hes far more energetic than I have EVER seen him and all of this shows exactly what can be achieved by a healthy lifestyle change!!!!

Wednesday, 30th November

The end of the month and a time for celebration or throwing your chips in and calling it quits for christmas?!!!!!

Depends on your current level of fitness and conditioning i suppose!

If you are in good shape, you will raring to go in december and really make further inroads into your body fat and strength levels, i certainly see a lot of people in this situation.

If you are struggling to get workouts in and shop well for good food, then chances are you will be glad to see christmas coming, so that you make a “new year resolution” and lose all the weight after christmas!!!

This is following typical behaviour by most of the population.

I always tell people that december is one of the most important months to train hard and eat relatively well. Of course, you will be having lunches out, evenings out when healthy food may not be on top of the list, and you will be drinking alcohol a lot more too.

Despite all of this, the exercise and effort you put into it will be worth heck of a lot to you.

If you want a wheezy chest, then don’t exercise.

If you want to lower your immune system, then don’t exercise.

If you want your clothes to feel much tighter, then don’t exercise!

If you want to stagger into christmas and face a herculean challenge in the new year again, then don’t exercise!!!

So in december, everyone knows you may well drink more than you should, you will almost certainly eat much more than you should, and your sleep may well be lousy, but despite all of this, commit yourself to exercising throughout the month. This is the greatest christmas gift you can give to yourself, you are nothing if you haven’t got good health so lets keep this uppermost in your mind please!!

Tuesday, November 29th

The tragic loss of Gary Speed has had everyone scratching their head and numb with shock.

Whatever happened, nothing will really make up for his family’s loss and football’s loss in general.

People have started to speculate on the reasons for it all but the simple fact is that nobody knows for sure.

Depression has been one train of thought, the other he was being blackmailed by the newspapers to all sorts of wild rumours and accusations.

Depression is a very common problem in society and is often known as the silent killer. There was a german goalkeeper dead a couple of years ago after experiencing clinical depression, yet nobody knew. They call it “the curse of the strong” because you have to be mentally strong to hide it from everyone when you think about it!!!

Depression can start as something small and build up to something that literally takes over your life.

What can you do? The first thing i think is to consult your doctor to put you in touch with a professional in the field, you are not going mad, you shouldnt be ashamed, its just a fact of life with many, many people and needs help as soon as possible.

Exercise can be a great help for the individuals i have dealt with who have experienced these issues.

Exercise will automatically raise your spirits by releasing endorphins (a feel good hormone) in your body. If done every or most days, exercise will have a hugely positive effect in battles with every disease and ailments. Depression is a hugely complex problem that is multi-layered, and im not pretending to be an expert.

But, i do know that eating well and healthy, avoiding alcohol (a depressant) and working out in fresh air have long been proven to have very powerful effect against depression.

Its always better to do something about it than ignore any problem, whatever your situation, these three things will work for you no matter where you are right now!!!