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Monday, 10th September

Your training should always be balanced each week over a seven day period, and you should plan what you’re going to do each workout.

For example, today is monday and typically would be a great time to put some weight training/resistance training in. This can be done through weights and dumbbells, or using your own bodyweight as resistance.

I encourage all over body workouts each time, so I would look to put my second weight session in on a thursday whichht gives you 72 hours to recover. Your muscles break down during the session, and build back up again and recover properly only when they have had enough rest.

48-72 hours is a great rest period enabling you to come firing on all cylinders.

A beginner would tend to do their weight training programme on a monday, wednesday and friday because the intensity of their workouts isn’t going to be so great, therefore needing less recovery time.

A beginner will also spend a lot of time just getting used to the new movements, usually using a lot less weight so this means less muscle tissue broken down, this is the big reason not so long a recovery is needed.

So monday, wednesday, friday if you’re just starting out, monday and thursday if you have much more experience and you’re familiar with training and the required exercise and intensity.

Then we look at the cardio side of things. Down at the gym in burry port, we use treadmills, rowers and bikes, but there’s so much more to cardio in my view.

I’m a big believer in the battling ropes, which anyone who has trained with me knows only too well! They are massive on lung capacity, shoulders. Arms, back, legs and most importantly, core! You only need around a minute on these ropes, and you are absolutely blasted so get used to them as soon as possible!

Then we like to use a lot of speed and agility techniques, as discussed late last week, so you can see you definitely DO NOT need to rely on traditional forms of cardio anymore!!

I would put these fun sessions in on a tuesday and friday, with wednesday off to recover and rest properly. Recuperation is vital and always an underrated part of your health and fitness programme.

The weekend can be your fun stuff outside, getting up walking or running even up mountains, and you have endless routes to try in terms of cycling.

There’s always swimming, longer walks in natural surroundings such as pembrey country park and exercise ideas are only limited by your imagination!

Twitt
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Day 37 Your key 5 days-sun to thursday

Day 37-work, rest and play       

Most people will concentrate on one or another, some will train hard but eat what they like, some people will eat very well but not want to put much effort into their training, some will eat well and train hard, but never hit the sack much before 12.

Any of these combinations makes your progress not so good as it could have been. Sometimes you can’t get all three in of course, but that’s life and you should try and still do the best with what you can.

If you look at it like this, you should aim for Sunday to Thursday as solid, no nonsense types of days when you nail it every day, you eat good fresh food, you train with real energy and drive and you make a point of getting to bed on time every night. This should be within most of your abilities.

Obvious exceptions will include those with young children, but I have to be honest and say that many with young children I train are actually some of the very best performers!

Other obstacles to having very good Sunday to Thursday include drinking wine or beer in the week. I love a beer as much as the next man, but you really don’t need it in the week as it will put a big dent in your progress.

Your training drive will be diminished, you simply won’t feel “up for it” all the time. Alcohol will also encourage you to eat higher fat foods on the same night, and the morning after. Alcohol drives blood sugar levels up, then they come crashing back down which in turn creates a savage hunger at times. Then, when you wake up, you crave anything fired to satisfy your hunger upon rising, anyone know what I’m talking about??!!!

One more thing about alcohol, there are over 120 sleep disorders out there, and around 80 of them are linked to alcohol. So you may think that the extra glass of wine will make you sleep well, but the opposite is true. When you don’t have good sleep, you become irritable, your performance goes down, you crave fatty and sugary food etc etc.

You can see now that it’s a great idea to really concentrate on Sunday to Thursday and really get it almost perfect. Most people aren’t invited to social functions in the week, so it’s ideal to get foundations firmly laid around this time every week.

Everyone loosens up the weekend a bit, and when you do, you will be comforted in the fact that you have had a great week, your performances will be at the upper levels, your cravings for fatty foods will be at their lowest and your sleep should improve greatly.

This site is all about performing at your best, feeling your best and trying to live the quality of life that you always promised yourself.

To do this, life is full of challenges and obstacles, this is just one more but you have every ability to get over it again. There’s heck of a difference between knowing what to do and actually doing it, so let’s make it happen!!

Twitt