Wednesday, 31st August

One of the most heartening stories we see in the papers yesterday and today was the probably signing by Manchester City of Ex-Manchester Utd midfielder Owen Hargreaves.

Hargreaves has had a varied career after being born in canada, he then moved to Germany and was a major player for Bayerrn Munich, and from there became a much valued player for England, gaining international respect and becoming the first player named on the team sheet.

He then joined manchester utd and after a very impressive and promising start, was limited to just 26 appearances.

His last comeback was limited to just a few minutes when he pulled his hamstring.

Manchester Utd decided not to offer him a new contract this season, despite him  offering to play for them for free!!!

He then famously shot a video of himself training and the levels he is currently at. To say the levels he was pushing himself to were very high would be an understatement!! You can see the video on youtube and just put a search in for owen hargreaves training video. He did much of this training while he took part in rehab in los angeles, physical rehab i meant of course!!!! This took him 3 months and spent 3 hours a day mastering certain movements all over again, especially around the knee area, where his intitial problem was.

You will see a lot of different exercises, and many of you who have trained with me or are training with me right now will recognise a lot of the exercises.

It turns out that these are the most efficient exercises for your body and make sure you are training in the most results based manner we know. I am always researching new  training and the great thing we are able to do now is do far more in a shorter period of time purely down to exercise selection and execution, and the focus is always on self-improvement and develpment, this never stops!!!

Read the owen hargreaves story, it will inspire you to get out there again and do something worthwhile!!!

Tuesday, 30th August

Is this the famous lull after bank holiday or is it a starting point to another turning point in your life?

Are you regretting the end of summer or are you looking forward to the start of another exciting season?

Are you “barbecued out” or have you a craving for good lower fat and lower sugar foods?

Have you written of the summer or have you used it  as a springboard for success in the autumn and up to christmas?

These are all choices that you have and have had all summer! You can see how important that choices are, and even more important is making the right ones of course!!!

You can follow the right path or sort of do both. By that i mean you could be considered neither a healthy eater or a bad eater all the time, you could be considered neither fit or unfit, its this state of limbo that is never really satisfying and definitely never brings you any kind of lasting result!!!!

If you do go on the right path, then its very important from a mindset perspective. If you eat healthy and train hard, your mindset will be that of a fit individual, and therefore be very likely to make continuously good choices. This path is not always to keep to but you will be much more aware of the benefits constantly, because you will be “wearing your results”!!!

By this statement, i mean that whatever you put into your body, you will be showing off in terms of physical appearance. Follow the right guidance and you will look very good indeed. Only you can tell how you feel inside, so you will be the only one how good it feels to live a healthy lifestyle, and internally the benefits you receiver each and every day!!!

Thursday 25th August

Astronomical bets are thrown on the stock market every day, and people are prepared to trade the fine margins between living a life of luxury and that of poverty.

If you were given the exact stock prices in advance, that would make you a millionnaire, surely you couldn’t go wrong could you? This is known as insider trading on the stock market and is illegal, but when it comes to health, i have given you all the pieces of a very simple jigsaw, yet a lot of people cannot complete that jigsaw!

Its not as easy as it seems of course, but if you know the path to ultimate health and fitness, and you know that many, many people have done it before, then whats the big deal?!!!!

The path to getting to this higher place of living by having a very healthy body and plenty of energy is always open and there is no time limit.

The biggest problem with most people is that they give themselves too unrealistic time periods to get into shape.

Have you noticed for example how many people give themselves just one month to get in shape, and if they don’t do it, they will never try again!!!!

Others give themsevles 2 weeks or even 2 months, but fail not only to an over-expectation but the failure of a genuine real world plan!

Even if you do get in shape in that one month or two months, then what happens then? Do you go out on a binge to celebrate, then go back to  your old way of eating? People usually forget that its old way of eating that caused the big problem in the first place!!! Guesswhat happens next? The weight goes back on, then you have a brainstorm and decide to lose the weight, only this time bigger and better and nothing’s going to stop you this time right?!!!!!

Does the term vicious circle sound about right?

Whatever your choices or plan, you have to make sure its sustainable to get the life long result you really want!!!

Wednesday August 24th

After speaking to quite a few athletes over the last couple of weeks about their training, it became apparent that theres lots of individuals and teams out there with serious deficiencies out there, in terms of physical preparation and training. Its fine for these teams to talk about how they are “the best prepared they have ever been” every season but the reality that i see is far from that.

Its not down to a lack of knowledge either, theres a ton of information out there about getting into seriously good shape, but obviously its not happening across the board.

Whether you’re an athlete or you just have general health and fitness goals, there’s no excuse now not to get there.

If you’re not working out with weights/resistance at least twice a week then why not?!!!! No other activity will contribute  more to you boosting your metabolic rate, losing body fat and firming it, strength training is absolutely critical, and even science back it up now and has done for many years.

If you’re not giving your heart and lungs a good workout every day or most days, then why not? Getting oxygen into your body will have endless great effects on your body, making you internally so much stronger and feel so much better too, swimming, running, walking, cycling etc can have terrific results for your body if done with purpose and with a good intensity!!!

Even if you’re doing these two big things, then whats happening with your other stuff? Im talking things like medicine balls, and swiss balls, you can work your core and balance to new levels by taking a more aggressive route with these two great tools. I include them in every workout with individuals and once you use them, you will never leave them out again. Its time to embrace them now and you will never look back!!!

You know what to do, lets get on and actually do it and with purpose!!!!

Monday 22nd August

The system out there in diagnosing and healing injuries and illnesses out there is usually very good, medical science has come on a long way since even i remember around 10 years ago.

Then there is a worrying side, you have antibiotics for everything these days, some people i know must be on antibiotics most of the year, because they always seem to be ill and fragile, and antibiotics seem to be the “answer” to everything apparently for some.

You hear every month or so it seems about a new superbug. This new superbug will usually be immune to  the new antibiotics on the market, so yet MORE antibiotics have to be invented to counter the new superbug!!!! Im sure you have many friends who seem to live on antibiotics, and im already fed up of writing that word, and im sure you’re already about hearing that word!!!

Then you have another word that seems far too common in people’s vocabulary these days-IBRUFEN or any such product that reduces inflammation!!! I am not criticising anyone who takes that product but what i am saying is please don’t rely on it, or start taking that product for the slightest reason.

Some people take a pill if they have a sniffle, and isnt that a sad situation.

If most people ate healthily, drink drink too much alcohol, didnt use salt in cooking, eat ready meals, eat sugary food every day, their system would work A LOT better and be less prone to illness and injury!!!

When you do have an injury, try using ice to get that inflammation down, ice is a natural product that works, that you dont have to ingest and compromise your internal workings in your body.

When you have an injury or illness, rest up a little more, get to bed earlier and stop relying on all those pills, I’m not a doctor of course but surely there’s a time to be sensible and let nature fix your problems, your body will thank you long term!!!