Thursday, 17th November

So we have talked about how to feed your body to maximise muscle gains for the young rugby player, we have talked about how to employ the most successful training strategies from beginner to a more developed athlete.

We talked about why we do all of these things.

Then it comes to a big factor that we haven’t mentioned yet-WATER.

Most people don’t realise that water is far more important than food.

For example, you can usually last 5-8 days before you die without water.

You can lost without food for approximately 7-8 weeks as hunger strikers have proven, with often fatal results.

Another huge fact for you is that if you DON’T drink enough water throughout the day, your performance is likely to be down 33% or even as low as 40%!!

Not only your training and game day performance but your concentration too. They have done numerous studies on schoolkids when they supplied one lots of kids in a school environment water for 3 months and im talking regularly every day. The most startling part was that their educational tests result success went up an incredible 100%, and their concentration levels were proven to be 40% up!!!

So the bottom line is that you eat well all day, you can sleep well and you can train hard, but if you’re NOT drinking enough water, your performance levels and ultimately your results are likely to be down between 33% and 40%, which is an incredible figure.

If you drink water regularly too, you will burn off more body fat than if you don’t, this has been scientifically proven too.

So if you are looking to become a better athlete, as well as a better student, water should be a big part of your every day life!!

February 2nd 2011

Some people are in shape already this time of year, some people are not of course, and as its early in the year still, its safe to say that not many people are in their top shape.

One way to improve is to seek out someone or even a group of people who at a slightly higher level than yourself.

For example, if you are cycling for instance, it can be hard getting out on a day like today for instance, the wind is tough and rain is hammering down hard.

On a normal day though, if you went out with a better rider than yourself, and sat back in his “draft”, in other words try and stay close to him/her by riding almost directly behind his/her bike. This has been proven to save around 40% of work, in other words you will be saving around 40% of energy by riding with the better rider.

Chances are that you will ride for longer than you originally planned too. You won’t give up so easily and won’t be tempted to cut your workout short. You will undoubtedly ride harder than you originally planned and you will be inspired to put a very good effort in.

Over time, this tactic of exercising with someone of a slightly higher fitness than yourself can be very productive.

If they are a lot better than yourself, then it may not work so well but slightly better than where you are now will make a very achievable goal for you happen much quicker than you ever thought.

Also, if you’re training with someone fitter than you, ask them how they got to be so fit in the first place, what were the “secrets” to their success, and what do they eat and drink on a daily basis that makes them look and feel so great.

If you’re a bit slack on your swimming, running, weight training, use the same tactic. Modelling yourself on someone who is currently performing at the level you really want to be is an ultra-smart move and get you where you want to be in ultra-quick time!!!