Tuesday, 20th November

Following on from yesterday, its no secret that today we are going to talk about turning a bad situation into a good healthy situation.

If you don’t prepare to eat well, then you’re going to always struggle.

Perhaps you had a packed lunch when you went to school, and that usually meant you ate well during school. You should start following these methods again.

A chicken sandwich or tuna salad will work well, a handful of nuts, pieces of fruit are always handy. You will have satisfaction also from preparing your own food, and it will feel 100 times better than hitting that fast food joint for an overpriced pizza full of salt and saturated fat!!!! So good preparation is everything and number one.

Then, how about planning some of these meals in advance?

You should be looking at a healthy amount of carbohydrates and good quality energy sources such as wholemeal bread or pitta bread, wholegrain pasta, brown rice, sweet, new or jacket potatoes.

With these carbs you need a good protein source such as fish, white meats, cottage cheese etc, this will make sure you are filled up and not tempted to snack on rubbish.

We already talked about fruit, try and mix it up and try a different fruit every day to keep it fresh. Apples, oranges, kiwi fruit, bananas, pears etc are great energy sources and will keep your sweet tooth at bay!!!

With your carbs and protein, you need a good mix of vegetables too, not only for health reasons but to keep your meal fresh and tasty. Again, try and pick a couple of different pieces of veg each day to keep some good variety in your diet. Without vegetables and fruit in your diet, you will be missing out on vital nutrients your body needs each day.

Portion control makes all of this happen for you!

You can have all the good food in the world, but if you are eating too much of it, then some of it is going to be deposited as fat. Wr talk all the time on here about making your carb portions the size of your fist, the same with protein portions, and veg can be pretty much unlimited, its going to be very good for you and very low in calories.

So its time to ditch snacking in fast food places, and actually know what goes into your food every day, your body will thank you for it!!!!

Friday, 16th December

Using anger and stress as a viable workout tool can make a hopeless situation turn into your best performing workouts!

How many of us have hit a workout in no mood to train, only feeling stress and anger at whatever situation presented itself that particular day?

Those of you who decided to carry on with your workout will usually feel ten times better at the end of the workout. All that anger and negative feelings can usually be absorbed into the workout, and sometimes your best performances are achieved.

I have seen people in gyms who work shifts, and after some night shifts have approached the gym with little or no sleep, and really hit the workout hard, and you can visibly see the anger subsiding after a few tough sets of high intensity weight training. They always leave the gym a different person, and they use the workout as the ultimate de-stresser!!!

I sometimes dont wake up in the best of moods after a night of little sleep with the kids,  but after my first run, i always feel 200% better, and its usually the same with the person i am running with.

If you want to categorise stress into different sections, think positive and negative.

Negative stress would be work pressures, money worries, relationship problems, family problems, job security, personality clashes, etc etc.

Positive ways to deal with it would be exercising, eating well, avoiding alcohol, avoiding negative people, sleeping better and more regular etc etc.

If you follow these rules, then the anger and negativity is likely to subside. We all have these feelings, lets not pretend otherwise, but if some sort of exercise is a daily part of our lives, we have the ultimate natural medicine for it!!!

Have a great weekend, the weather is clear and snow free so lets get out there in the fresh air and enjoy the benefits!!

Wednesday, 14th December

Making fresh goals in the run up to christmas may seem alien to most, but it may be exactly what you need!

If 2012 seems a long way away, you may be shocked to hear its only 18 days away!!! 18 days left until the end of the year!!!

If it seems stupid to look forward  until then, you may be glad you did in a couple of weeks.

Only once did i decide not to train for a couple of weeks over christmas, and i suffered like never before!

My asthma came back in a big way, i was wheezing like i was on 40 a day! My first run back nearly half killed me and i felt as much out of shape as i have ever done!!!

After that run, i decided there and then NEVER to stop training over christmas again!!!

I have spoken to many, many people since and they have been through the same thing.

I have even been running christmas day, thats not to impress you but it was more to do with my desperation  to rid myself of that wheezy stodgy feeling that comes with over-eating, over-drinking and under-exercising!!!

This is to potentially save you those horrible interal feelings of no energy, and literally no get up and go.

So whatever schedule you are on now, i would try to still keep it up to some degree. If you currently workout 5 times a week in some form, i would still try and do 3 times a week even if its light to moderate intensity. This will take care of all the excess calories and help you feel more like your normal self.

The big thing it will also give you is a flying start to 2012!!! Just when everyone else will be going through the Groundhog day of starting to exercise and eat healthy, you will already be making fresh goals from a very strong position!!!

If that sounds attractive, lets get going and keep on going!!!!

Monday, 12th December

The pressure of christmas has really started peaking with all the people i deal with, and with that comes a distinct lack of time!

This is when having a plan for your workouts becomes of paramount importance.

This is no time for “going through the motions” or your motivation levels will disappear without trace. The calls of “give it up now its too close to christmas” will become more and more acceptable, even if they are given by people not into being fit and healthy themselves!

The last two weeks before christmas need to include high quality workouts, of short duration, and of maximum intensity. Some of my best workouts tend to be the shortest! When someone is in a rush, usually that person will hit their training hard and try to get the very best out of themselves in a very short period of time, when this happens the intensity levels go through the roof and great workouts are always the result.

When you add a bit of fat and sugar to your diet, its never really a great idea. But accepting that you will over christmas, use it as a tool for the extra energy and this means going the extra mile in your training. You will burn a lot of that extra energy in your workouts as long as they are going in! That is the main point of this piece today-MAKE SURE YOUR WORKOUTS ARE GOING IN FULL STOP!!! Dont accept the fact that everyone puts lots of weight on at christmas, it really doesnt have to be that way and being active will be a prime reason you don’t!!!

So time is short for you accept that, strip down your workout to the bare bones, in other words what is ESSENTIAL to get you working towards your capacity, and all the exercises that give you great value. When you do this, you will get rid of the not so important exercises, get rid of longer rest periods, and you get a great workout in a record short period of time, and you’re talking maybe 20 minutes!!!

No excuses, lets make the most of the next couple of weeks!!!

Friday, 9th december

Before we go over more training methods, i would like to comment on all the feedback i had to last friday’s post of having a christmas party, enjoying the whole process but suffering terribly the next day from drinking too much alcohol!!!

Most people who have been through the process over the last week or so tell me it goes like this!

You go out on the party, drink far more than normal, have a great time, and then reality starts biting hard the very next morning!!!!

If you wake up early like me, you wake up with a vile headache and a feeling of sickness.

You need a walk to clear your head, but because of the amount of alcohol, it doesnt make the usual big difference!!!

Then you come back home and try and eat food, drink water and a coffee. Somehow this doesnt cut it this time!!!

Then you have lunch which helps a bit, and then with every meal the feeling gets a little better, but you cant wait to hit the sack the following night!!!! And early too!!

Then the next day, you expect good performance but even the next day after that you feel lousy, and getting your body to feel good is a conundrum of the highest complexity!!!

Then the next few days, you are so glad to get back to eating well, and getting your body used to exercise again, but you will notice that your body doesnt respond quite as prompty and as freely as usual!!! These feelings can go on all week long!!!

Most if not all of the feedback i have had is like this! This means that alcohol in excess SEVERELY AFFECTS PERFORMANCE and wrecks progress, and if you’re looking to keep on improving, or even FEEL normal, then heavy drinking over christmas has to be the LAST thing on your mind.

I’m glad i learned my lesson last week and dont intend repeating it any time soon!!!