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Monday, January 17th 2011

If you have started the new year with a bang, then good luck to you but its important to keep your structure going throughout January and beyond.

For example, if you haven’t trained for a while and started off 3 times a week training, then thought if 3 is good, then 6 times a week must be much better, possibly twice as good!!!

While you may get great results for a couple of weeks doing it this way, the likelihood of you reaching a plateau will be extremely high, or even getting an injury because your body will not be used to all of the extra work, I am talking 6 high quality workouts, not 3 good workouts and 3 good walks.

If you ask most people about their training, they seem to be pre-occupied to telling you how MANY times they have trained that week., the actual performance is usually never mentioned.

We never mentioned last week about 4 minute workouts, and the possibility of going from around 5 press ups in week 1, to easily 25 press ups in week 6. This way of training has to be totally focused on performance and focus on making measurable progress, this is what creates improvement in your body.

The ability to make improvements training 6 times a week is reserved for those who have excellent sleep every or most nights, those who are extremely good with their eating and have been training at a high level for a long time. Not saying that you can’t get there, but it does take a while and a lot of dedication to living a healthy lifestyle.

Bottom line this week is to make your workouts count in a big way. I you’re doing sprints up hill and you’re currently managing 4 sprints up a steep hill and 4 sprints backwards, then that total could easily be up to 8 sprints forwards and backwards by now, if you have been consistent since the new year.

If you have been cycling and had to keep it flat cycling, then it won’t be long before you’re strong enough to attack some hills, in the process becoming a much better and stronger cyclist.

If you have been doing some circuits in the gym or at home, then not only will they feel a lot more comfortable but you should be looking at adding some extra weight to a few of the exercises, creating a much more intense workout.

Assess your progress in training terms once a week, and look to make small gains every week, however small, and try not to get in a rut and don’t go through the motions.

Improving can become a very good habit, just as staying the same can become the norm. Always look to change things around and keep your body guessing. Keep your programme fresh and you will become a much better athlete full stop!!!

Twitt
Posted on

January 14th 2011

Negativity is all around us especially in a tough economy and there’s not much money around. The trick is to either let it bury you so you become as negative as everyone else, or you use it as a tool to burst out of the quicksand you may be in right now.

The question is will you listen to the doom and gloom merchants about your progress, or you will shut them off from your life and concentrate on all your goals and ambitions.

Try and work out the issues that distract you from getting to where you want to be, and then you need to work out ways on how to eliminate them. Of course you can’t eliminate your husband, wife, family and work colleagues rom your life. Start by making a list of the people who distract or even stop you from reaching your goals, and list those who help you reach where you want to be.

Then you need to go back over old ground and start keeping records on your food again over 7 days. There have been a lot of studies showing that those individuals who record in detail everything they eat and drink periodically, say once a month or 6 weeks, the more successful they were in their fat loss goals for example.

You can do the same thing with your exercise, i go on about all the time the importance of trying to make progress in your training, are your numbers going up, sideways or down? Is your strength going up or down, is your endurance better and how’s your enthusiasm for training? All valid indicators that will determine how well you’re really doing, keep a close eye on all of these, you don’t need to do it every week but once a month will be very valuable if progress is important to you!

Another powerful way to make sure you’re successul is to make your private goals and ambitions public, this makes the whole thing more real and you will find that a lot of people are going to be supportive. They will know you’re on a stricter eating plan and not offer or make you high calorie meals/snacks, maybe someone will ofer to come and exercise with you and push you harder when they are out with you on a run or example.

When you make your goals public, you put your reputation on your line and you are showing the world that you can really make this thing happen. You may get some negativity but as we said, we need to ignore all that “noise” and concentrate on those who are going to help you get where you want to be. Its not tunnel vision, its called doing everything in your power to feel and look your best!!!!

As long as you use the number one secret-consistency, then you should advance very quickly!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday 13th January

As there continues be a lot of press for brief workouts and in particular the 4 minute workouts this week, I have had a lot of questions on how to start them off in terms of ideas of workouts.

 I posted the original 4 minute solution blog some time ago as most of you know so lets go through the basics again.

For example, if you did this, it will give you a good start to exercise, but you CAN SUBSTANTIALLY improve from there, the 4 minute solution is not the end, its more the beginning of how you can progress and reach your potential.

If you started off with around 4-6 exercises, then you should be able to get through this workout very quickly, especially If you’re new to fitness and a complete beginner.

If you did an amount which was comfortable of the following

Press ups

Arm dips

Squat thrusts

Sitting on a chair and then standing up

Sit ups

Then this shouldn’t take you more than 4 minutes, and to progress from there in a fast way whilst still maintaining very quick workouts in terms of time, you need to think in the following way.

For example if you started off with 5 press ups in this workout, and did the workout on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then week 2 you need to aim for say 8 press ups Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then  week 3 aim for say 12 press ups for the Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Anyone who has ever trained with me will know that its entirely possible to get from 5 press ups in week one to at least 20-25 press ups in week 6.

If you applied this to every exercise, then you may start off on 10 squat thrusts and maybe graduate to 50 squat thrusts in 6 weeks, which is quite impressive in everyone’s language.

If you stick at your programme and progress in this way, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t, then after 6 weeks you should easily attain progress that you have never had before.

The results will mean less body fat, usually a couple of inches off your hips and waist, much better energy levels, better sleep, a leaner harder body and this would be just the start!!

As I said earlier, please treat the 4 minute workout as just the start of your journey to achieving anything with your health. I have seen individuals truly go from these type of workouts to climbing some of the most famous peak’s in the world, to running marathon to dropping at least 10 dress sizes, the opportunities that will present themselves are limitless, all you need is a plan and consistency with your workouts and food.

Please try and have a look at my original 4 minute solution from last year, as well as the workouts section which explains all sorts of workouts. The site may not be the best organised as I have limited time,  but these pages are all about tried and tested quality information, its here for you so its your choice how well you use it.

Any questions either subscribe for free or email me on fitness@kerimckibbin.co.uk

Twitt
Posted on

January 11th 2011

I didnt see it but the story on The One show last night provoked some reaction. To cut a long story short, the studies they had on the show said that shorter, more intense periods of exercise were more valuable or at least as effective as longer drawn out exercise. The study i think they used was the one when 4 minutes of intense exercise was demonstrated to be as effective as 20 minutes of moderate exercise, in fact the results were better when studies were conducted over a 6 week period, in terms of lost body fat, increased volume of oxygen and weight loss.

I must first comment that i wouldn’t recommend anyone go into a 4 minute programme of high intensity straight away, this is for experienced trainers only, and we did a piece on 4 minute workouts some time ago in this blog if you look through past month’s blogs.

The whole point was that you can make a whole lot out of not much time, its the performance that counts and not how long you exercise for. They had Johnny Wilkinson on saying he only trains for 30 minutes at a time now, but at ultra high intensity and he finds the results much, much better!

Most people who have trained with me will know i have always liked to work in shorter, more brief sessions myself, due to not only superior results but more convenient sessions too. Nobody has the time to be working out all day anymore as we have busier lives these days and it seems to be getting busier every single year!!!!

It shouldnt really have taken the scientists all these years to figure this one out. WE, the athletes and fitness professionals knew this for years that more intense sessions are the way to go, it doesnt take any doctor to tell us that what we have done for years really IS working and producing amazing results.

The great news is that those of you who say you havent got time really havent got this excuse any more, the advice you have been given all these years is actually true, you CAN get it and healthy in a fraction of the time you thought you need so what are you waiting for!!!

It is great to know though that after all of these years, that the medical community is finally jumping on board and backing our experiences and results up.

Twitt
Posted on

10th january 2011

The start of the first full week for many people this week and thats great news if you thrive on routines and being busy. Life is busier for most people these days and that means you need an ever increasing supply of energy. With the general population getting more and more overweight, something needs to give here and if you keep following the majority of this country, living a normal life is going to become increasingly tough. Your new refreshed attitude will be key in determining how successful you are this year.

Since this site is not about january gimmicks, january is a month either to get fit and healthy properly for the first time, or build on the success you had last year, or put right where you went wrong last year, and maybe many years before that.

Joining a fancy gym is NOT enough to get you into shape and their fancy salesmen techniques. You can get fit in the most modest of surroundings as long as you work hard and keep putting in that work all this year, in fact by the end of this year you could be in incredible shape if you really want to!! Most people think perfection is impossible and of course it is, but you CAN get pretty damn close if you apply yourself more than you have ever done, 2011 can be that exciting for you as long as you show constant self-belief and develop an action plan to make it happen!!! Its about being YOUR best and nobody else’s!!!

I have been with several people this morning who have already promised to give their best again. The habits that developed over christmas again, alcohol more often than usual, chocolate for the first time in a long time, more processed food, more party food, less exercise, less sleep, less time for exercise etc etc ALL have to be rectified if these individuals want to get back to their massively high standard!!!!

Im pretty fired up and its only monday, but creating an energetic monday for yourself sets the tone for the rest of the week. I always have a great week if i have a good monday, so lets make sure you get out there and have a great workout today, some fresh natural food too, plenty of water throughout the day and some good sleep. You won’t do better than that on a dark and gloomy january monday!!!!

Set the tone right now and make it happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Explore the site and see how you can change it right now!!!!

Twitt