Monday 4th july-Independence day!

Good vibrations for your health always begin at the start of your week and your future ambitions depend on it.

A few pints on a Saturday and Sunday without any exercise can lead to a bleary eyed start to the week. We all like to talk about Monday being AN ABSOLUTE MUST for your best possible start to the week.

It may hurt a bit more than normal on a Monday, depending on the how excessive the weekend you have had, but that short term pain will be more than worth it, because it sends massive signs to your body that you want it to fix itself after the weekend, and you want your metabolism to be in top shape and firing on all cylinders.

You will never become a fat burning machine unless you practice the principles we talk about on here all the time.

Working out hard takes a lot of concentration too, so you need to get on with it and think about what you’re doing, and trying to improve nearly every week can be tough, but it is achievable of course.

 By all means talk and mess around in your workouts, it’s a free country after all but this is a sure way to very poor results, in fact some gyms encourage that type of behaviour, as all they concentrate on is your direct debit, and then forget about you. These places make me sick of course but at least be honest with yourself and rate yourself on how hard you are actually training, remember just “showing up”, “going through the motions” and just having a “gym membership” is not going to get you very far.

Our body judges us by actual deeds. Your workouts will get you a good return on your investment if you’re prepared to work. Your intake of fresh natural foods will get you’re another good return if you are consistent.

Monday is a time to be honest with your body and get fired up for another big week!

Friday 1st July

Nadal faces an in form Andy Murray today, and the big question is “will he do it this time”?

That question is seemingly asked every single year and this year is no different of course.

Great of the game such as Borg and McEnroe insist Murray can finally do it this time, no question. Nadal has a suspected foot injury and Murray has a niggle with his hip, and his ankle but i don’t think either are making any excuses!

Most say that if Murray wins this one, then he will go on to win a few grand slam titles. The confidence of winning a big one will transform him and his confidence levels.

Thats the big thing of course, confidence and knowing deep down you can do it!

That’s the big thing for you too, and many of you keep telling me the same thing all the time. You managed to do it once, or even twice and you can’t work out why you can’t get into great shape anymore.

The problem comes when you aren’t willing to be honest with yourself anymore.

Are you really eating now the way you were when you were in top shape? Are you really that disciplined anymore and are you willing to make the sacrifices on food and alcohol you once were? Come on be honest with this question!!!!

What about your exercise levels? Do you find it easier now to cancel workouts at a drop of a hat? Have you stopped putting challenges into your workouts? Are you more of a “go through the motions” type of person now? Are you striving to be the best you can be, or are you someone who claims that walking the dog is “more than enough exercise?!!!!!

Serious questions have to be asked if you are not getting closer to your goals anymore, it doesn’t matter if it takes a long time, as long as you are moving in the right direction, then you and i should be happy with that.

Murray in fairness has worked hard to get closer to his goals of winning a grand slam title, and is almost there. The question is can he go one step further and the other big question is are you moving closer to your dream of being in great shape and having outstanding health, which should always go together of course!!!!

29th June 2011

You had two different sorts of stories in the newspapers today, both of them say a lot about the difference good quality food makes.

First of all, you had the story about fizzy drinks and diet fizzy drinks, how they still make us fat and we should really avoid them at all costs. Do we really need all of those chemicals in our bodies? The report and common sense says we really don’t and if you google the article “diet drinks make us fat”, then you can see the common sense of avoiding these drinks most of the time, or all of the time if you don’t want that rubbish in your body.

Then there is David Haye, the world boxing champion who is looking to unify the title on saturday against the huge russian gentleman in germany on saturday night.

Whethere you love him of loathe him, you will appreciate how healthy he looks, how good a shape he is in, and how much of a healthy glow he has in general.

He also performs superbly well, doesn’t get carried away with putting too much weight on, and relies on speed and power for his craft.

It then went on to list his diet which was 100% organic, he did a lot of juicing of fruit and vegetables, ususally first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

He was a big eater of fresh fish, lots of vegetables again, plenty of water and was all about putting organic snacks in of nuts and fruit, and in general, as healthy as could be.

This man leaves nothing to chance so the very best of luck to him on saturday.

The second story about haye contrasts wildly with those who drink a lot of fizzy drinks, and even those who go on faddy diets. Guess which one is healthier?!!!!

Haye proves its quality that matters, and all of those extra chemicals in fast food, ready meals etc will eventually have an adverse effect on your body.

Tuesday 28th June

What we have forgotten about lately is some basic measurements, and the importance they really have in our development.

Some of us search the internet for the latest “must have”, the latest faddy dvd, the latest diet book that may or may not work, the latest whatever, but the situation rarely changes with all of these quick fixes.

A great leveller, a great measurement and a great honest way of assessing yourself is measuring your waist.

That old measurement i gave you a while ago tends to work for all sorts of reasons.

Its the one where you measure you waist, and then compare it to your height.

So say your height is 6 foot, then that in inches would be 72 inches (6×12 inches).

So your waist should be 36 inches maximum or less ideally.

This is proven to be supportive of many benefits to health.

Better blood pressure, better chance of avoiding diabetes, better chance of having a strong heart rate, better chance of avoiding serious disease, better everything really in terms of health and fitness, and this is what this site is all about surely!!!

When you have a smaller waist, you tend to have better definition too.

Your arms will look better, your back will look better, your legs will look better, your shoulders will look better, just about everything will look better!!!

When your waist is bigger, everything goes a little more blurry and everything on your body will look softer and feel softer, so a smaller tighter waist makes perfect sense to all of us.

Alcohol, sugar and saturated fat are the enemies of your smaller waist, so all of these should be consumed sparingly if you really want to be the best you can be.

I like short and to the point posts so get measuring and it shouldnt take a genius to work out what you need to do to improve!!!

Monday 27th June 2011

Dehydration can make all the difference when it comes to having mediocre or impressive workouts.

If you are dehydrated, you can take easily 12 hours to get back to normal and feeling good again. This is a dangerous situation in this weather and would definitely explain poor workouts in this weather.

Being low on energy is different, you can make energy up with a fast acting carbohydrate in 10 minutes, and you will therefore be able to perform and feel better in a very short period of time.

Spotting dehydration is not always easy but there a few reliable indicators.

If you’re really thirsty, then dehydration has started and you need immediate fluids to feel yourself again, this doesnt mean though that you will be able to perform well straight away, as i said, dehydration can take a while to come back from.

You will see today from the tv at wimbledon that the players are regularly sipping water, especially in the predicted 100 degree heat of course. Dehydration on a day like this can definitely make the difference between winning and losing, and in severe cases cause an athlete to collapse.

Tea and coffee in moderation is fine, but you have to remember they will act as a diuretic too, which will actually take water from your body, meaning if you drink too much tea and coffee, your performance will dip sharply if not rectified with plenty of water.

So if the athletes take all of this so seriously, then so should you. If you can remember these simple rules on training days, then you will feel so much better and the hot and humid days will definitely seem less of a drag.

I know i feel better when i have a bottle of water on the go, and you don’t need the sports drinks either, unless your activity is lasting more than 60 continuous minutes. Sports drinks tend to be loaded with sugar and are often unnecessary for most workouts, don’t believe the hype on them and save your money.

Bottom line, stay hydrated and perform at your best!