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Personal standards

A key way of determining your progress is asking yourself a realistic question.

“Am i performing better than this time last year?”.

If you can honestly say yes, then of course you’re on a great programme and doing a lot of things right.

If you say no, you’re not doing any better, you need to re-examine what you’re doing and scrap the programme you’re on, and come up with a plan that’s actually going to advance you, and not push you through the motions all the time.

That’s why im writing this, of course i have a plan that can not only raise your personal standards, but get you to the level when you’re at your all-time best performance.

Personal standards apply to everything. You buy new clothes so it makes you look a bit smarter, you wash every day with soap because you don’t want to smell, you brush your teeth because you don’t want them to fall out, you have to earn money because you don’t want the bank to repossess your house, you have to pay your bills because you want some light and warmth and the list goes on. Personal standards are key to each and every one.

Personal standards certainly apply to your exercise and eating standards.

If you shop for very sugary and fatty food, it may take you a few weeks but you’re definitely going to be putting on lots of unwanted body fat.

If you shop for fresher, more nutritious food, you’re going to look and feel fantastic, simple as that and you’re going to have a healthy glow about you.

If you don’t exercise or just go through the motions, your body is not going to be firm, you will be frequently out of breath over the slightest thing, and you simply won’t feel good.

If you exercise with passion and strive to do better and better over a longer period of time, you’re going to be feeling so energetic, and feel full of ambition for the future, nothing should be able to stop you if you approach everything with the drive and enthusiasm you approach your workout plan.

You can see your personal standards are key, lets set them high!!!!!!!!!

Twitt
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Self-belief-key basic

Another key basic that is often overlooked is the power of self-belief.

I have encountered a huge amount of people with great ability, only to self-sabotage their progress simply because they don’t believe they can be so athletic, so disciplined with food and simply can’t appreciate the massive progress they have made. I have truly seen some incredible transformations.

You will always see people out there dressed in the latest workout gear, the latest ipod etc and always talking a good game, but have many of them got the heart to train with the necessary effort to get into great shape?

I find the people with the most talent are the ones sometimes wearing scruffy or low-profile workout gear, the ones who don’t like an audience when training, the ones who simply “get on with it”, rather than throwing tantrums when asked to get through huge workouts. Most real people who train hard want no fuss, and just want to get it done, simple as that!

Self-belief always increases when you make progress and lose inches off your waist, you lose body fat and your training performances reach very impressive levels. I have seen these individuals achieve staggering progress.

The dip usually comes when perhaps they have has a couple of weeks of more average performances, and they get influenced by people not seeking the same results as they are.

 Its easy then to set your sights lower in life, and the prospect of carrying an extra 10 pounds seems easier than the discipline you used to have of hitting the hills for example, and doing things the average person hasn’t got the commitment to do. Drinking all weekend soon becomes acceptable, rather than your once a week only habit when you were in great condition.

Self-belief can then take a big downturn, and the prospect of getting back to the OLD HIGH STANDARD YOU USED TO HAVE becomes seemingly impossible. This can crush your self-belief so its important to keep a training diary of your workouts, and what you’re usually expected to do. This usually stops any apparent downturn in its tracks, and shocks you into putting new efforts to step it up one more level.

It all starts and ends whether you believe you can do it or not. I have never met anyone who can’t do it, so the likelihood that you can achieve great things is likely to be 100%. Key basic of this week as I said.

 Please don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!!!!!!!!!

Twitt
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Workouts that mean something

Another key basic is doing your workouts that mean something, not merely going through the motions!

How many of you have gone through the same old workout over a period of months, then wondered why you weren’t getting any results?

How many of you may have been the same workout for years even, not making any noticeable improvement in your numbers, and everything has become too much like routine for you?

If this is the case, you are likely to be totally uninspired, and your chances of making meaningful progress are limited to say the least.

If your workouts are lame, you can be sure your eating is too. The same old stuff on the same old days can lead to a complete halt in your progress, and really make you wonder if its worth all the effort in the first place.

So enough of all this please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lets fix it right now, rip up your current workout routine, throw it in the bin and start again.

Throw out those boring walks on the flat ground, aim for hills instead. You will be far more satisfied climbing something substantial, you can measure your progress better, plus you will usually get a gret view at the top of the hill. See my running workouts section for ideas.

Throw out your normal weigh training exercises for a while. Substitute your old exercises with new ones working the same body parts, you will feel refreshed after feeling a bit uncomfortable the first week or so. You will feel stiff again, with the different angle of the exercise working your muscles in a different way, thats always good.

What about your bike rides? Are they the same routes? There’s a million and one routes around here to challenge yourself on, and who knows, you may actually find them more enjoyable!!!

Back to the subject, so you’re going to change everything around to allow you to freshen everything up, then you have to think about how much effort you’re putting into each exercise.

As discussed previously, think of 1-10 in terms of effort, 1 being sitting down, 10 working at your very max. If you aim for a 8-9 on each exercise, you will be guaranteed success because you will be getting so much more out of yourself. This will freshen you up and you actually feel alive again.

So in terms of your workouts every week, think 5 minutes before you start “let’s make it really mean something today”, and you’re not going to take medicore progress any more!!!

Twitt
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Your weekly shop

One of the key basics is your weekly shop of course.

I have banged on about this for a long time. As long as 80% of your shopping is good nutritious food, then you are in a good situation. After all, how many tmes have you bought sugary/fatty foods and promised yourself you’re only going to eat them on “special occasions”?!!

Those special occasions happen quite a lot in my book and its always surprising how quickly all those extra treats are gulped down in record time!

I keep telling everyone, if you are REALLY shopping for healthy food and get used to the supermarket layout, chances are you wont visit many of the aisles, as most of them are full of you know what! It shows the supermarket really bets on most of its visitors filling up on junk, and how many times have you looked at someone’s basket and how many clues does that give to the owner’s appearance and body in general.

If a shopping basket/trolley is full of white bread, biscuits, multi-pack chocolate bars, value packs of crisps (around 10 packs in one big bag), bottles of wine and lager, full fat milk, not much veg or fruit, lots of orange squash, lots of ready meals and other processed versions of real food, you get the picture!! If this is indeed the case, you can be sure the owner of this trolley and most likely their family is suffering from obesity issues, which include diabetes, blood pressure problems, cardiovascular problems, bad circulation and a whole host of life-changing problems.

Compare this to someone who has a trolley full of porridge, low fat low sugar beans, fish of all kinds (no batter), chicken, turkey, lean beef, cottage cheese, lots of fruit and vegetables, wholegrain pasta, brown rice, sweet, jacket and new potatoes,  all the good stuff guaranteed to make you look and feel fantastic.

Put your treats in if you must, but 80% plus of the trolley needs to be good nutritious food, hugely important to get in the habit of this and not to be sidetracked into the aisles full of junk!

You all have worked hard for your money, spend it on food thats actually going to make you feel good and help you reach all your goals!

Twitt
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Do the basics change?

So we have made all of these posts, over a whole range of topics, and the big question is, has it made things easier, do the same problems exist and has your approach to solving them changed?

We started this blog off preaching the basics, and no matter what, these basics will always serve you well and will be key elements in your progress. This never changes.

Your progress will naturally go down a bit, and go up a bit, but when you REALLY want to get in your best shape, if you revert to eating well and every 3-4 hours, eating the right portion size, snacking healthily, as well as putting some quality training sessions in, you know that big things will happen for your body and your health in general.

I think society always looks for the “magic” cure, the one way that will really work this time and if you can only keep it up for two weeks, you will somehow be in great shape!

You know by now that this is nonsense and many of you will have spent A LOT of money finding out the hard way, which is never good!

That’s why many of you are here, you’re fed up with people who lead you a merry dance, people who promise short term weight loss, and are not around to pick up the pieces when everything falls apart and you put all the weight back on. How many times has that happened?!!

I see many times of people, from a professional rugby player who suddenly finds out that his training methods are not so great after all and needs to be put right, to senior people who are worried if their joints are going to seize up on them, from teenagers who are all consumed with their appearance, to housewives who have been on every diet going, and see me as their last resort!!

If you’ve followed this for a while, you know i always keep on about the importance of doing the right things, day in day out if you are interested in long term success, both inside and out. It can be done and i have huge evidence to say so right now, and seen it with my own eyes.

This is week of the basics, so lets make sure we’re all back on the same page!!

Twitt