Posted on

Wednesday 6th September

Being a parent again to a new born, it brings back the feelings of lack of sleep and all the tiredness and irritability that goes with all of this!

This is particularly hard the first few weeks and it can definitely affect one’s training quite a lot.

To get over this, you have to take out the stuff thats going to hinder your energy levels in the first place and concentrate on the basics to get huge amounts of energy in your life.

A lot of people think that the first thing to go should be your workouts!! What absolute rubbish, its been proven scientifically that workouts give you MORE energy and not less, get your body used to exercise on a regular basis and it will reward you many times over with impressive energy stores.

Next thing people look at is food, some think that must always have chocolate bars at hand because “they will have energy needs” as a new parent but they completely miss the point. I have been through programmes with many new parents and they always report that when they eat healthy, their energy levels remain constant and on good levels, their levels of tolerance go way up and their mood swings are pretty much a thing of the past, all in trying times of course when you have a new baby!!!!

So when you are naturally very likely to miss a lot of sleep, your nutritional and training plan need to be bang on.

I am employing all of these tactics right now and still looking for progress, because if you don’t look for improvement any more, your brain shuts something off and im convinced it doesnt allow you to make the same physical gains you have perhaps become accustomed to!!!

Instead of making this a much more of struggle than it needs to be, get eating well and when your doctor approves it, start exercising gently again with specific goals in mind!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday 6th September

After one of the most depressing mornings in weather terms, there is every reason for you to think that it is november today, instead of early september!!! Days like these only add to the list of excuses that some people use not to exercise, its a very long list for some so why not another excuse to throw in the mix to stop you getting into shape!!!

The MOMENT you stop making these excuses is the moment your body starts to get excited and begin its journey to getting in shape whether its for the first time or all over again, i don’t care what it is, the weather is NO excuse not to exercise unless it is 50 feet of snow, even then its a great opportunity to do one of your all time best efforts inside!!!!

Taking the easy way out is exactly that-the “easy way” and life is full of people who choose this empty way of going about their business. You know deep  down that you are cheating yourself and living your life by other people’s standards and not your own.

Live you life by what other people say and listening to their negativty will eventually dictate the shape you are in. This is bad news.

I have a habit now of thriving off people who are negative and using that negative energy to prove people wrong and do even better in what i do.

I will dig even deeper in my efforts if people say i cant do things, i will increase my resources in terms of inner strength ifthe odds seems stacked against me, and what you believe in,  often seems to end up happening!!! I highly encourage others i train and anyone else to do the same, stay positive even in times of adversity and go out there and prove all the negative people wrong, so you end up laughing to yourself on how well you can get through any challenge, and that any set of circumstances is never too much of a moutain to climb!!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday 5th September

The first week in september takes us all back to our brand new school year, and the start of a very big and nervous time in our development. Its an exciting and an uncertain time and this is when true progress is always made.

How often have you had this feeling when you trained last?

When was the last time you thought about your upcoming training session and what you were going to do?

When did you last reach a fitness goal?

When did you last fit into your all your favourite clothes?

When did someone last complement you on the way you look?

When was the last time you hit a personal best in your workout?

When was the last time you enjoyed your workouts?

When was the last time you had a good week of eating, and by that i don’t just mean 2-3 good days either!!!

When was the last time you had the mental resolve to follow things through and reach a goal?

If you can’t answer these questions very well, then you badly need to look at what you are doing and why you may be falling short of every goal you really want to achieve!!!!!

September for me is all about being fresh in weather and outlook!!! Its not about settling into some kind of  “cosy” routine because thats not going to get you anywhere, its really not!!!!

September is the month to get you going and use the nearly 16 weeks right up to christmas day to the very best effect, its about managing your time better and making the most of your energy, your time, your inner drive, just about everything thats going to help you reach that goal that drives you deep within, so lets get it going again in spades and really pile it on right up until christmas!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Thursday 1st September

One of the biggest changes I have seen in the fitness industry over the last 20-30 is the size of gyms. They went from a small little community gym to the massive operations that are owned by the huge companies.

A lot of people joined the biggest gyms, and they made a lot of money.

The problem was that the big gyms didn’t realise that their memberships were not going to stay faithful for as long as they had hoped.

As has been previously discussed on here, due to a lack of attention and usually experience, the staff were not able to cope with the massive numbers joining these “super gyms”, and because profit was the main driver for these gyms, they always employed the minimum wage staff who were usually not very experienced.

The customer soon got fed up of not seeing results and constant turnover of staff, and biggest of all, the draconian contracts they had to sign, sometimes for 1-3 years in some cases as Watchdog has shown!

Then in America, then trend started to turn dramatically around 4-5 years ago. Despite offering cheaper memberships just to get people through the door, retention rates dropped to 3-5% which is devastating on any business.

When you add in the fact that the overhead for these businesses was £300 thousand a month, you had a business model that was about to crash and burn!

If you take a look at the business pages of any paper these days, you will see many casualties who can’t pay their rates and rent on their gyms, and often losses of millions of pounds.

The fact that they have 20 treadmills and bikes in one room doesn’t impress so many people anymore, but it does cost a SERIOUS amount of money and that’s whats hurting them.

A recent study done in America confirms this trend. 8 out of the top 10 gyms are much smaller, independently run gyms offering much more specialist training and advice. Results are always the number one offering from these places, instead of a competition of how many treadmills and bikes they can offer.

Its no coincidence that these smaller gyms are actually making a much bigger profit too! Its great that results matter again these days, and that training on endless machines is dying a slow death!!!

Training only on machines is not  very efficient for the body, and can hamper your results, get back to free weight and freedom of natural movement, you will spend less time training and have double or treble the results!!!

Twitt
Posted on

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!!!

Twitt