Monday, 5th November

Benchmark workouts are a major consideration when it comes to all sorts of situations in your life.

Life isn’t always the same, things crop up, trips happen overseas, layoffs can happen for whatever reason, and the last thing you want to happen is not know where you are in physical and health terms full stop.

Easy ways off checking your health including buying a blood pressure machine, i like to do it every 4 weeks for everyone i train, sometimes more frequently for those who i am really concerned about.

In physical terms, you can measure your waist and hips once a month, you will need to be alarmed if your waist does go up, and then you can alter your diet and training programme to bring it back down.

The “benchmark workout” idea is one which i use every week on most people, and this lets us know straight away exactly where we are.

Someone i train who has been touring america for 3 months got his first workout in today. I put him on one of HIS benchmark workouts, and the results were quite staggering!

Bear in mind that this workout is one which he normally gets through without too much of a problem. It consists of around 300 press ups total in the workout split into 20’s at a time, some step sprints, some backward running up hills etc.

Today, he found it extremely tough indeed!

He has been used to doing 3 shows a day, which is demanding physically of course, but got used to the sugary cereals and breakfasts in the states, and the lack of genuinely plain, sugar free nutritious food that he was accustomed to has hurt his energy levels now he’s back to normal.

This has led to him becoming not so energetic now he is back home, and the benchmark workout reminded him exactly where he was!!!

If you don’t have standards you can measure against, then you will never know or appreciate where you are!!!

This is something to consider when you work out what level you want to be at!!!

Monday, 1st August

Monday is perfect to hit your hardest workout and really get stuck into your own personal improvement programme. Nothing should be in your way now if you have had a good summer of training.

 Nothing or nobody is ever perfect though and I understand some of you have had big blows to your training because of injury.

 Monday though is the best way to give your best and nothing beats that tired feeling you get after a great workout, a shower and a good meal afterwards.

 This assures your body that’s its on a good course, you are more or less assured of a good night’s sleep meaning that you have the perfect set up for another great day on Tuesday!

Have a good Tuesday and Wednesday and the rest of the week becomes exciting because you know you’re going to be in a very good place indeed!

If you are following this blog most weeks and taking action each time you read it, and I stress those words in bold TAKING ACTION, you should be in a very good situation yourself today, and be very pleased with your progress. Just as this information I am giving you is upbeat and we can all pat ourselves on the back, the other side of the coin can make you downbeat to say the least and send you in a vicious circle.

 If you don’t or cannot train, then no fat or calories will get burnt.

 On top of that you won’t have the incentive to eat well.

 On top of that, you will likely to throw the towel in and no longer consider yourself “an athlete” in any sense of the word.

These are the two sides of the coin that face you, and both offer very different results of course, that’s why training in any way possible and starting your week off in the best possible way are so important!