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Wednesday, 1st August

Usain Bolt says once you come out of the blocks in a 100 metres race, and out of the drive phase, then the last 40-50 metres is quite relaxing for him, and there’s nothing he can do to make himself run quicker.

If you see quotes from most world-class athletes, they try and stay away from any great strain in their efforts and rely on great technique and even relaxing at times throughout their races/competition.

This can apply to your training too of course.

Have you noticed when you start to run, it seems so much of a strain, that you may never get to the stage when you will be able to run without straining yourself.

Then with a bit of walking, a bit of running, bit of walking, then some more running, you end up getting to the stage when you can actually run all of the time. This is extremely difficult to do and its the practice you need to get in to eventually alleviate all of this discomfort and strain.

Anyone who runs now, or who has had to go through this process will testify that all of this is true.

Then the next stage to go through can be quite a pleasant one.

When your fitness gets up considerably, you eventually get to RELAX in your running stride, and this enables you to run for much longer distances.

For many of you who can run good distances,  you will experience the ability to get some serious “thinking time” in your running. This means that you can relive your day through your run or think about a business opportunity or think about your family or anything you want, as the actual process of running is not that difficult anymore, it has become more of a regular thing in your life, and the ability to relax is absolute key for you!

These are all different processes along the way of being in your best possible shape!!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 31st July

The most depressing thing for people who really train their socks off is not getting anywhere near the shape they want to be in!

I see it all the time.

Some of the hardest exercises are often questioned why they are not in better shape, and they often question themselves that!

The problem is failure to admit that they are not eating anywhere like they could be eating. Plain chicken breast often becomes fried chicken with all the skin, plain potatoes becomes potatoes smothered in olive oil or even oven chips!

One night of alcohol consumption a week can become a small couple most nights, this is when body fat gains can come thick and fast!

Our “versions” of eating well and “clean” can be quite varied, depending on who you speak to of course.

A chicken salad for most people is around 500 calories absolute maximum.

For a lot of other people though, it can be a lot different.

By the time you add in coleslaw, mayo, salad cream and other forms of dressing, this healthy choice can soon add up to over 100 calories. So if someone tells you they live on these type of so called healthy eating choices, then all may not what it seems and this is why they continue never to be in shape, despite having impressive capabilities in pure exercise terms!

The minute they realise all of this, they have a choice on how they really want to look and how much they really want to get there!

Eating food a little plainer without all the junk dressing we have discussed, can make an enormous difference to you reaching your goals, for you to be able to perform at a much higher level and for people to finally give you some huge compliments on the way you look!

Eating right is at least 50% of the equation, AT LEAST THAT MUCH! Make the choice right now on how you want to look and feel!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 30th July

End of the month approaching fast and hope you are managing to get through the summer months in better shape than ever before?

If you are, then you are doing absoultely fantastic and you have undertaken regular reviews of your performance, and adjusted your training programme and eating regime to suit the goals you want to reach.

If you have been drifting, then you need to get someone to re-evaluate your programme, and then how to take it forward several steps from there.

We are all re-evaluating all the time when you think about it.

None of us have it easy and make gains without thinking about it.

Success in our physical conditioning and health requires us to think at all times in how to negotiate the twists and turns that life tends to throw at us.

If you have started missing your training sessions, and it has become a regular thing, then think about switching the time you train in the day. If something always “comes up”, then training first thing in the morning might be a great option for you, and takes all of the potential excuses out of your training aspirations.

If you can’t help picking snacks up in petrol stations or bottles of wine, we all have a favourite petrol station after all, then the simple way is to just fill up at another station where the big temptations aren’t there. This simple change will alter your behaviour if you give it just a week to get used to.

We all make associations with different things. Perhaps we like certain things in Morrisons that may not be good for us, and perhaps switching to another supermarket for a while might help you correct our bad habits/not tempt us so much with snacks that will de-rail our fat loss goals.

Nothing’s easy to get that’s worth getting, so be ready to read and react to every situation every day.

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 24th July

If we are feeling sorry for ourselves training in the heat that is around us right now, you have to bow to the riders of the Tour De France over the last few weeks!

You can swap our 22-25 degress for 38-43 degrees at times, all done on some of the highest mountains known in world cycling. This is why these men are probably the toughest athletes on the planet, and anyone who has observed them up close will know how extremely hard they work!

They need up to 7000 calories a day to get through such monumental days, and when most are only around 9-10 stone, this feeding regime on its own is a big feat!!

So next time you consider this week if its too warm to exercise, stop feeling sorry for yourself and enjoy the relative heat, because we don’t get it very often!

Another thing the great Bradley Wiggins victory demonstrated was the ability to recover every day, dust yourself off and get up the next day and do it all over again!! Often a lot harder and many days!

This shows extremely conditioning but this is done with an extreme amount of practice too and attention to detail! Wiggins spent the early part of his winter going up the side of a volcano in tenerife, which simulated the very real challenges he would face in the Alps and Pyrannees!!!

Like anything in life, if you prepare really well, then everything is likely to go a lot smoother and better on the day, and so it proved. Not only Wiggins but he had a super team with him too, who all prepared ultra- well in their own disciplines to make sure nothing was left to chance, and they ended up the best and most dominate team in the tour.

This is why regular training is all-important and will lead to your best results if you keep putting your mind to it!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 23rd July

We are right in the middle of the most popular period for people going away or just having time off work.

The big question is where do your workouts fit in during this time off, if at all?

Some people use this time off as time away from their workouts too. The more serious exercisers can be forgiven and even encouraged to be doing this, as measured time off from a tough exercise programme, can be very beneficial and often enables the individual to come back stronger after the time off.

For people who are just getting to grips with their exercise programme, time off may not be the best option, and consistency of exercise may be the most important thing right now.

If you are abroad on holiday, then swimming will serve as a very good exercise, especially when done with some intensity and purpose. Improving your swimming should be your goal, and 30-40 mins a day will help out enormously on both improvement and in terms of being a very good workout.

When it comes to running abroad, try and run in the cooler times, which means early morning and evening. This will make the conditions a lot more tolerable, and enable you to put in some decent efforts.

Try and avoid staying out too long in the sun full stop for all sorts of health reasons, please stay out of the danger zone in terms of over-heating your body.

When you exercise, try and make them shorter efforts, but having a real purpose will help an awful lot.

For example, if you had to do 10 thirty yard sprints up a steep hill, and that was it, then this is much more attractive than a 3 mile run in the intense heat, and probably far more beneficial.

These type of shorter, sharper workouts are more likely to get done and the best way to maintain your fitness.

Keeping an exercise programme up at this time of year, with increased heat and holidays happening is tough. In a couple of weeks time though, you will be very glad you did it!!

Twitt