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Wednesday, October 12th

The issue of alcohol and training has never been emphasised more than with the current welsh rugby team.

When I spoke to sports coaches of all levels years ago, as well as sports stars of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’,  and suggested that sports teams needed to abstain from alcohol especially in times of sporting competition, I was ridiculed as being unreasonable and “the players had to have a drink for god sake”!!!

David Beckham at the time was abstaining and resulted in him being in his best shape and extending his career even after an horrendous injury.

It turns out years later that avoiding alcohol in tournament play and a while before that, is HAVING MASSIVE benefits.

Wales look fitter and sharper than anyone else.

They are more powerful than most teams and the last 20 minutes of their games is a strength for them now, instead of being a weakness like it used to be.

This will I believe give them an edge again for this Saturday and hopefully propel them to the final!

With your own training, you will surely see a massive difference when you abstain even for a couple of weeks?

Your body will get tighter, your energy levels will improve a lot, Sundays won’t be “hangover” day and you will feel far more lively, your performance will be hugely improved all week long, and your recovery will be far stronger in between sessions.

A big one is sleep.

Most people think that sleep is enhanced with alcohol but the opposite is in fact true, sleep can be destroyed through alcohol.

There are 120 sleep disorders and 80 are to do with alcohol, a mind blowing statistic so if you are having problems with sleep, this may be a good place to start?!!!!!

If you want maximum performance and want to look your best, the alcohol has to go. It’s a free country so your choice!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday, October 7th

As we go toward a great weekend of rugby, Wales versus Ireland, England versus France, its important to manage your body’s performance throughout this weekend.

A lot of people will use this weekend to complete trash their body, and forget all about eating healthy habits and say that somehow on monday morning or evening, they will fix it and they will be back to normal on tuesday!!!

Life or fitness doesn’t work like that somehow, and you always need some guidelines and tried and tested strategies to get through a weekend like this.

If friday night is your night, and you’re having “a few” no matter what!!! You had better make sure you do a workout tomorrow m0rning. If you do, your booze leaves your body to a large degree and you feel better.

If you don’t, your spare tyre gets bigger and you feel sorry for yourself all of saturday.

Then if you drink again saturday, you will write off another few drinks, and you usually wont have ANY idea how many extra calories you consumed in food thats usually too high in saturated fat, salt and sugars, THATS THE WAY IT IS when you let it all hang out  the weekend.

Then there’s sunday. Sunday lunch can be preceeded by a fried breakfast, a sleep on sunday afternoon (i miss those days!), and then something that could be called “comfort food” at the end of sunday.

To fix this calorie avalanche, stick to the tried and tested.

If you are out tonight, make sure you get out for a run, hard walk, cycle, inside workout WITHOUT FAIL!!!

Have a good breakfast, nothing fried and nothing greasy!

If you are out saturday, do the same workout sunday (usually outside) and really get a sweat on.

You can STILL enjoy your weekend, you just do not need to end up like a stuffed pig on monday morning, and take until thursday next week until you feel back to normal!!!!! SORT IT OUT SATURDAY AND SUNDAY and there wont be tears on monday morning, and you will be in a much better mood for it!!!

Good luck Wales!!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday 6th October

Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple, died last night after a courageous battle with cancer, at the relatively young age of 56.

Jobs today has been called an innovator, a genius, a leader in the technology field, someone who created a legacy that will last generations, a true visionary, and just about everything in between.

Never has someone been regarded so high in the technology field, and his legacy will continue in just about everything we use today.

From ipod’s to ipad’s, to apple mac’s to his relationship with Microsoft some years ago when Microsoft actually kept the company going because Microsoft itself didn’t want the company to fold because it would have been broken up itself.

Jobs used to say in many of his speeches, “never let anyone else stop you following your dreams”, “never let negative people put you off you pursuing what you know what to be right”, he often encouraged entrepreneurs of all kinds to have a go at what they thought could work, what they thought the public wanted and what they thought deep down in their hearts to be true.

With your exercise programme and your food intake, you secretly know what is right and true.

You don’t need to read another diet in the paper that you know is faddy, you don’t need to fall for yet another faddy exercise machine, you don’t need to be put off by some of your negative friends who don’t even work out at all  yet are overweight, you don’t need to believe anyone who makes claims you know are too good to be true etc etc.

So whatever the situation you are in, focus on yourself and what you know to be right. There will be times when you feel like giving up on your workouts, on your food, on your alcohol levels, but actually following through every time you doubt yourself instead of giving up will take you a long, long way!!!

Steve Jobs RIP

Twitt
Posted on

Monday 3rd October

So hows the warm weather training going?

Something we have never experienced in this country in late september and early october, and there and benefits and disadvantages t0 training in these conditions. Athletes pay good money to train in these conditions in tenerife and lanazorote!!

First of all in this weather, its not too much of a problem warming up and getting ready to train. Your body is already warm and you are much less likely to have aches and strains along the way. This helps a lot.

A lot of people like training in this weather because theres lot of other people training out and about, and some people like to join the crowd. Plus you are far more likely to go out in this weather, it still reminds us of summer and how much we really felt like being in shape at that time!

This weather is a lot more attractive for cycling too, you don’t get so warm as running in the sun and its great weather to scan all the wonderful scenery, nothing better in this weather.

The downside of course is the extreme temperatures. Your body naturally gets hotter quicker, this means your body’s internal temperature rises quicker and therefore discourages you going to your higher intensity levels.

It does take time too get used to these higher temperatures, but luckily we don’t have to as this weather will vanish completely this wednesday, when the rain and cold is very likely to be back.

Compare this week with a week in january though, it will be much wetter and colder, darker and in general pretty bleak. This is when your resolve will be tested to the limit and you will be yearning for days like these!!!

I find everyone more cheerful in this weather too, nothing like a bit of sun to help our spirits!!!

Its all good news as far as im concerned so lets make the most of it and start the week in an energetic way!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday 30th September

Seems a few of you are finding the food information helpful, and thats what im here for, for YOU to be successful and firing on cylinders and i sincerely mean that.

Okay, where were we? Dinner, evening meal or whatever you want to call it!!

If you have followed the advice so far, and eaten every 3-4 hours, then you shouldn’t be absolutely starving by 6-7pm and your hunger should at least be controllable!

The great news is that the patterns you have got used to previously in the day conclude nicely with your evening meal.

I’m talking about keeping your portion sizes moderate, and this means in particular your carb selection. I’m talking about pasta, potatoes, rice, bread etc. If you overeat these foods you WILL struggle with your weight especially if they are the white refined varieties of these foods.

These foods can be fantastic for you in their more natural state, and in the right quantities!!

Whoever said remove them from your diet is usually not qualified in nutrition or anything else. More like a fly by night character who knows nothing about the whole picture when it comes to balanced diets.

Besides, the group i have just mentioned is a good group on  its own, and to remove food groups entirely is complete madness!!!

SO what are we talking about here for a typical evening meal?

A piece of healthy protein such as white meats or fish, baked or cooked with olive oil, no normal cooking oils please!

Then we have the carbs such as brown rice, wholegrain/wholewheat pasta/new or sweet potatoes etc, in a portion size the same as your fist.

Then vegetables have to be in there, and the greater the variety the better so lets make sure we make it happen every evening meal. We all know the benefits of vegetables and theres many we don’t even know about yet!!!

So there we have it, if you finish off with a meal of this quality, you’re going to get and stay lean and healthy. Accept no substitutes and tryly look after your body!!!

Twitt