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Keep your goals, change your approach

The goals you talked about at the start of the year should remain intact. If they have gone astray, then you need to change the way you approach your goals.

For instance, if your goal at the start of the year was to lose say 2 stone, and drop a couple of dress sizes, then how did you approach it? Did you really train a minimum 4-5 times per week? Did you eat well 6 days per week? Did you get to bed at a decent time every night in the week so you could keep your energy levels high for your workouts?

Also, when you did all of this, did you see real progress with your training? Did you get faster and stronger? Did things you found really hard at the start of the year suddenly become a lot easier as you got lighter and fitter? Did you get more energetic, did you become more positive in your outlook?

Did your self-confidence rise up to new levels, and what about your self-esteem, did you regain it even though at one time you may have thought you had lost it for good?

So 2010 could very well have been a stellar year for you? Or did it not really happen for you?!!

If it didnt work out the way you thought, then you can still keep optimistic goals, all you have to do is give yourself a reality check and get back to the basics that took you so far in the first place. If things come apart from the seams sometimes, don’t panic, re-evaluate what you’re doing and let’s get back to training with purpose, eating sensibly in healthy amounts, lets make sure your water comes in every day, throughout the day in small amounts, and you be back on the road to success in no time at all!!!

So whatever you chose to achieve way back in january, its not a lost cause at all, lets just re-focus and get back to the tried and tested things that really work for you!!

Twitt
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Five simple things!

Making health and fitness programmes complicated and hard to follow is the biggest mistake you can make when it comes to getting into seriously good shape.

When most of us entered gyms, fitness centre’s, fitness classes etc, many of us were intimidated by those wearing the fancy training gear, those talking a good game and those who thought they had the divine right to tell us what to do and when to do it.

This situation was and is my pet hate. The great news is that these “know it all’s” don’t really know anything, and can often set you back  a long way because of their lack of credible information.

You don’t have to follow the crowd, there is another way and it works, it’s also every simple, just ask any sensible doctor and ask them if this is faddy or is it truly a tried and tested way to get into very good shape and achieve great health internally!

It just comes to doing around 5 things every day and you will be successful beyond your wildest dreams, you don’t need the trendy workout gear, the trendy (but ultimately useless) diets or the rubbish exercise equipment in all those ads!

First of all, try and do your workouts 3 times per week minimum, and two more walks wouldn’t go amiss too. This would be a total of 5 times a week but is totally achievable, 3 inside workouts, twice outside, not too much to ask!

Second, eat well. 80% of your shopping needs to nutritious and good for you, eat smaller portions ever 3-4 hours maintaining steady blood sugar levels. You wont go wrong.

Thirdly, drink enough water during the day, 1.5-2 litres a day is fantastic and will make you feel amazing, plus help you digest food better and help you lose body fat at a quicker rate.

Fourth, get some sleep in! Getting to bed at a decent time every night, apart from Friday and Saturday maybe, will make you feel refreshed, boost your energy levels unbelievably, help you recover well from your workouts and life’s daily stresses and bottom line make your body function as well as it possibly can!!

Fifth, keep things in moderation! If you want a drink, then have one but try to keep it to once a week and don’t get trashed if you can. Plus you will wake up the following morning a lot better!!! Just like food, if you fancy a bit of what you fancy, have it  but no need to go on an almighty binge, moderation really works and keeps your sanity intact as you’re not denying yourself too much.

Does all of this sound simple and achievable? I hope so and let’s keep putting it into action!!!

Twitt
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Secrets to burning more fat

The real deal with healthy eating is not often explained properly. Most people are repelled from healthy eating sometimes because they are TOLD what to do! Nobody likes being told what to do like they are little kids, and will rebel often and do the complete opposite of what they are supposed to do.

There are government campaigns on food all the time it seems, but most people i know havent taken much notice about them.

There has to be a reason deep down for that person to change, and it has to be a strong one, or the self-discipline and determination to get a programme started will soon go by the wayside.

When you eventually change to the healthy way of eating, its important to keep your protein in most meals and of a healthy nature, your carbohydrates in limited amounts (about the size of your fist per serving) and of slower release in terms of energy, keep your healthy fats coming in through fish and a small handful of nuts, and keeping a variety of fruit and vegetables coming in is ultra-important in the winter months to come, keeping your immune system strong and your body functioning well.

Another overlooked point when it comes to eating is how many calories you burn simply by digesting your food.

To cut a very long story short, you will burn a lot more calories for instance eating wholemeal bread than white bread. It takes longer for your body to break down the wholemeal and wholegrains than it does the rubbish you often get in white bread.

I always recommend protein in most meals, and there is good reason too. It takes a lot more calories to break down the protein you consumer in meals than just eating carbs. Protein takes longer to go through your system, creating a nice long calorie burn without you working too hard!

The process of eating and the way your stomach breaks down your food is often forgotten, and its heck of a bonus that the healthy way of living is the most calorie and fat burning too.

Next time you do your shopping, make sure you pick the foods that will help your metabolism burn calories at a fierce rate. This is an easy to follow secret to burning fat and you dont have to do any work for it so keep it up and have a great start to the week!!!

Twitt
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Showing up is always the hardest thing to do!

A good response this week from many of you on your training efforts and many of you are  now developing fresh confidence levels to reach your goals.

The secret i developed a long time ago was that if i show up here enough times, if i show up training enough times, i show up and shop for good nutritious food enough times, if i keep on believing in what i do every day and i use that mantra for all areas of my life, i will be successful.

People ask all the time how they can be more successful, how they can be healthier, how they can become fitter etc etc, and the answer doesn’t change a whole lot!

There is a book you can read for free online called Think and grow rich published in 1936 by napolean hill that i recommend as essential reading. Google “think and grow rich” and follow the links, no catches and i repeat, its all free!

Its not what you think though, its not about money as you may guess, its about fulfillment and getting what you want out of life, rather than life making you a prisoner in your own body and mind, afraid to take risks and not being able to try anything.

This book encourages you do read just one chapter every day and more or less guarantees success should you follow the advice from real life case studies. You dont need any magic power to read it or do what the book says, it promises anyone that they can achieve anything they put their minds to, and everyone i know has read it has found the promise to be true.

The main message from the book is for you to find the strategies to become successful in your chosen areas, then perform those strategies each day until you become a master and do these things automatically. When this happens, you become successful without making much effort because your life and daily actions will have changed so much over a short period of time.

The very most important thing i took out of it was the consistency bit, meaning as long as i showed up every day and approached all my tasks with real effort and dedication, good things would naturally happen.

We go over it all the time on here and try and work out in your head how much more successful you would have been if you were more consistent with your food, your training, your sleeping and your positive attitude. How much would that have made a difference to your results and the way you feel?

Go on and be honest, how much more would you get out of yourself if day in day out, your performance in every thing you did was higher? Interesting thought and this is the message you ought to get to really improve big time once again!

Twitt
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Get inspired, its good for you!

Not many could not have been moved by the excellent ryder cup at celtic manor yesterday and its exciting finish. Im not exactly golf’s biggest fan but yesterday certainly excited a lot of people including me. Truly inspiring would be a fair description.

This sort of spectacle will get more people to play golf simply because they were inspired, and in my book thats always a good thing.

Many of you fail to get inspired because the day in day out nature of exercising may not be the most exciting thing in the world. The inspiration comes every time when you receive complements about your appearance, this isnt reserved just for others, it can be for you too if you put the work in, honestly!!!

This type of effort though requires you to be positive in everything you do and put health very high on your list of priorities of life.

Like we always say, its easy to be negative and not doing anything. Thats the easiest thing in the world, to become Jeremy Kyle’s number one fan and not move at all from the settee each day, except maybe into your car, another sitting down experience which wont help you in your quest for fat loss much!!

Changing from your old lifestyle to an active new lifestyle full of vitality isnt as hard as it sounds.

All it takes is daily action and taking every day one at a time.

You have every chance to do it too because its all about you. Unlike a team sport, theres nobody esle to rely on, really theres not. Every single thing you put into your programme, you will get 100% out in terms of results. If you let yourself down by not exercising or eating badly or both, its your fault and you cant blame anyone but yourself.

I think there is the individual in all of us, this is your chance to finally become successful with your health. Some days even a walk in the fresh air will be considered a success, especially if you were only going to lay on the settee and be a slob for the evening!

Doing things outside your comfort zone will be the difference between having a million complements and having medicore results. Its easy to slob in front of the tv every night, deep down though you know thats not right and you’re wasting your life away.

Its tuesday so we have all week to send a new trend in your life!!!

Twitt