Tuesday, 24th July

If we are feeling sorry for ourselves training in the heat that is around us right now, you have to bow to the riders of the Tour De France over the last few weeks!

You can swap our 22-25 degress for 38-43 degrees at times, all done on some of the highest mountains known in world cycling. This is why these men are probably the toughest athletes on the planet, and anyone who has observed them up close will know how extremely hard they work!

They need up to 7000 calories a day to get through such monumental days, and when most are only around 9-10 stone, this feeding regime on its own is a big feat!!

So next time you consider this week if its too warm to exercise, stop feeling sorry for yourself and enjoy the relative heat, because we don’t get it very often!

Another thing the great Bradley Wiggins victory demonstrated was the ability to recover every day, dust yourself off and get up the next day and do it all over again!! Often a lot harder and many days!

This shows extremely conditioning but this is done with an extreme amount of practice too and attention to detail! Wiggins spent the early part of his winter going up the side of a volcano in tenerife, which simulated the very real challenges he would face in the Alps and Pyrannees!!!

Like anything in life, if you prepare really well, then everything is likely to go a lot smoother and better on the day, and so it proved. Not only Wiggins but he had a super team with him too, who all prepared ultra- well in their own disciplines to make sure nothing was left to chance, and they ended up the best and most dominate team in the tour.

This is why regular training is all-important and will lead to your best results if you keep putting your mind to it!!

February 25th 2011

You have around 5 weeks until the clocks go forward and the already lighter nights become even longer and  the weather becomes warmer hopefully. You then have around 11 weeks until its may, when it definitely should be warmer and light until at least 8pm.

This all means that its the best time of year to be in shape. You cannot hide in big jumpers at this time of year. You cant wear big coats and the colour black can make anyone look slimmer, but it can’t make miracles!!!!

Being in shape by may will be a great challenge for you, and having the confidence to wear anything you want will and should be a huge incentive for you. If you’re in shape, then anything will look good on you, you don’t have to be so fussy because you’re in shape, your body fat is low and all of that strength work, resistance work has paid off throughout the winter!!!

May will also be a good time for you to get compliments too. Your hard work in the rain right now may seem unrewarded right now, but another 11 weeks of effort will bring a raft of compliments for sure, especially from those people who don’t see you so often. Theres nothing better than that feeling of being told you’re in shape, you’re looking so much younger because you’ve lost the weight, you’re looking in so much better shape because you’ve been workout out with weights etc etc!!!!!

Every day now you should be telling yourself that you’re getting better and better, your food is getting even better in terms of quality and you are setting new records in your training. Theres no alcohol in the week any more and health may have gone from bottom to top in your life!!!

Once your priorities involve health, being fit and energetic, and looking and feeling your best, then good things should be about to happen in your life!!!!