Posted on

Thursday, 10th October

There’s a nice little story in the paper about the famous runner and Olympic champion Mo Farah, in the press today talking about his upcoming autobiography.

He talks about his early career and all of his ups and downs, and his long journey from Somalia to where he is now.

The critical moment was way back in 2005, when he was advised to attend a Kenyan training camp. This changed his life in many ways, but brought the professionalism in that was required to take him to being a world champion.

When he first arrived, he expected to go to the cinema or go out dancing. He looked at his watch and it was only 830am, yet all the Kenyan athletes went to bed! He used to drink 6 to 7 cups of tea a day, the Kenyans only drunk water, and when he followed this advice, his performances started improving quickly! He also started eating only simple whole foods, and this was a major change and revelation for him.

Then at 6am, everyone got up to loud church music, and he was required to do a 7am really hard run which half killed him!

Then they would return for food, then the Kenyans would sleep in the afternoon, then hit another big run at 5pm, eat throughout the day and then go to bed at 830am, day in day out without fail!!

This was their true secret of success.

While I could never ask anyone I train to follow such an extreme training regime, there are similarities in what I ask people to do.

I always say that regular, high quality training sessions are the way to go.

I always recommend getting to bed early, especially in the week, and putting great value on proper rest. My clients who do this are my best performers and usually look incredibly well!

I recommend much plainer, whole foods, which nourish the body very well and help you perform extremely well!

I recommend plenty of water, up to 3 cups of tea or coffee can be fine, but you dehydrate after that so this downgrades performance.

The Mo Farah story is a great learning experience for all of us!

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 13th August

The Olympics have ended which brings a big gap in TV viewing for most people over the next week or so! Most people have been addicted to it, and some more obscure sports have found plenty of new-found respect from the general public. If it encourages more people to exercise, then this will be the true lasting legacy for me.

The problem  comes from where to start for most people.

Most people don’t automatically run down to their local athletics track, and suddenly ask to become the next Mo Farah, unless they are usually 11-15 years of old and already a pretty good runner!

Many people feel that most athletic events are beyond them, especially when they may be 40-60 years of age, and perhaps they haven’t exercised since school!!! This is part of the important generation to get exercising again, the generation that may have totally given up on themselves, and without any major action now will become more prone to serious disease and ill health.

This is why starting an exercise programme should be done with caution and safety as the number one concern.

If one goes at it like a bull at a gate, then injury will surely follow. Most people will realise that they can’t do what they did when they were 16, but some don’t realise this and go at it so hard that they get injured, and then their ego gets so crushed that they never try and exercise every again. This is a sad situation but so true of many people i see.

If you listen to good solid advice, and do indeed start off slow with a good plan, then you are HIGHLY LIKELY to succeed if you give yourself enough time and set some short term goals that are attainable. 1-2 pounds a week would be realistic, instead of the 5-6 pounds a week that faddy diets often promise. Also, don’t make the scale your number one indicator, this is setting yourself up for failure.

A plan that is sustainable that develops all the time is what you need and we will talk about this the rest of the week!!!

Twitt