Posted on

Monday, 20th February

Losing can often teach you more than winning, or so the saying goes in sports.

The same goes for your health and fitness programme.

How many diets have you crashed and burned on?

How many times have you tried to exercise and thrown the towel in?

How many times have you said “this time i’m going to do it no matter what” and still failed?

If you have been through all of these, and most of us have if we are honest, then they can become very valuable experiences believe it or not!!!

As long as we remember where we went wrong, then perhaps next time we will learn and not do it again?

If someone suggest we join them in a weight loss class, that we know that didnt work last time, and probably never well, isn’t it madness to go through the same useless process again?

The programme we did in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s may not have worked out too well, because some of us didnt train too smart, and got obsessed with doing cardio all the time maybe for example. We know that doesn’t really work and we need to mix it up with weights/resistance work.

So we have all the knowledge now on how to train effectively, so you would think that most of us would do it right, having failed so many times before? It is madness to go through the same process time and time again and expect a different result!!! But still some peope do it believe it or not.

Would you attempt an exam in school or college and say you only had 40%, then the next time you had 41%, the time after 35%, wouldn’t it be time to change your approach and work in a far more effective manner? Unfortunately a lot of people don’t get this and never get the very most out of their training, when sometimes all the solutions thhat they need to achieve their goals are right in front of them!!!

Learn from your past mistakes, and as long as you do, you will find the right approach and achieve great results faster than you ever thought possible!!!

Twitt
Posted on

24th March 2011

We talked about cycling in a different way yesterday, lets talk about different ways of running today.

First of all, running on mindless flat roads is one of the most boring things I could think about doing, some people enjoy it but I like to make things a little more interesting and a lot more productive in terms of results!

Since we live in a pretty hilly country, there’s never a hill that far way fortunately, and sometimes vicious hills!!!

Hills will always get you working harder, going uphill works your legs better, makes your lung capacity push on to new levels, helps bring your body fat down quicker, gives you a greater sense of pride and achievement having completed them, gives you some great views when you get to the top and in general provide some great workouts!!!

This is why I head straight to them every time!!!

Another thing you have to look at. On sunny days, you will see plenty of people walking or running on flat roads. You won’t see many if any people running or walking hard up hills, those you do see working hard up hills will nearly always be in good shape.

If you want to look at where people in great shape train, go to the more obscure parts of the area, these people are never on show and never want an audience. They want a place where is quite but offers great challenges in terms of terrain. You feel great when you walk hard or run up a very steep hill or even mountain, there’s nothing like that feeling when you develop your potential from only being able to walk 10-20 minutes on the flat to being able to run up a mountain, it may sound far fetched to some of you but it is totally achievable, I can guarantee that!!!

So today, tomorrow or the weekend, by all means warm up on the flat roads or track, but head for the hills and experience a brand new set of results that will astound you in all sorts of ways!!

Twitt
Posted on

Feb 4th 2011

A massive day for anyone who likes sport today, wales versus england at the millennium stadium and it doesnt get better than this surely!!

The game has been spiced up by various comments on different players and as i write this, i hear than ben foden, who is england full back today, claims that it is time england put its “little brother” wales in their place!!! This will surely get most welsh people’s blood boiling as we read this!!! God knows what effect it will have on the players, but my wild guess is that it will add even more fury to tonights game, which is great in my book and will only add to the entertainment and the whole occasion in general!!!

Anytime you get riled by something, its good to use it as a tool and not let it control you and you become your worst enemy.

For example, if tonight when a lot of people in pubs are drinking quite a bit, then its not beyond the realms of possibility that a fight could break out in some places. This is sad of course and the next day, both parties would probably regret it.

A lot of people actually get motivated to do positive things when they are riled and angered in some way. Wales in rugby tonight will probably be best to use those verbal taunts as a positive and play their very best rugby, instead of using it by being ill-disciplined. This is probably what england expect of course and i really think tonight that discipline will win the game tonight, who can keep their head’s when everyone else is losing theirs!!

Making the most of negativity towards you can be a great tool for you. If someone makes fun of your weight, then prove them wrong and use that anger to get into great shape, it will literally make those same people making the comments speechless and you will probably or make that definitely earn enormous respect for your transformation.

There is a positive out of every negative situation, all you have to do is read it properly and use the angle you want to properl you to new heights!!!

Twitt
Posted on

Feb 3rd 2011

Nice to see some of you making a real effort with your training and looking to improve yourselves, even after the faddy january rush has come and gone. Just as many people will be giving up on another year, you will be only starting yours and i know your efforts will last most if not all of the year.

Going through year on year may seem like a drag, but its only a drag if you have let yourself fall far further than you ought to have. Letting yourself go is something we have all been through, and its how we come back from this that shows how much character we really have. Its easy to be bullish when everything is going well for us, but when things dont, our confidence can drop greatly and in turn our performances. Once our performances go south, our progress comes to a screeching halt and we can end up going backwards at a rate of kn0ts sometimes!!!

So we have bright mornings, lighter evenings and we even have milder weather to feel good about and this weather allows us to do pretty much anything we want.

This is the month to make spring really happen for us. That first week of april when its warmer will be too late to start training to be in shape for may. Its now all the hard work counts and can really make a difference to your appearance and the way you feel!!!!

If you get stuck in now, life will not be hard as you think and you wont have to go through the dragging yourself up from the bottom all over again. Please make the effort now and make the leap between being mediocre and being impressive. You become impressive by showing self-sacrifice at crucial moments, ON A REGULAR BASIS.

Nobody is asking for perfection from you, what i am asking from you is sustained effort that is a reflection on your ability. As long as you do your best, nobody can ask for me, but my guess is that your best will indeed be enough!!!!

Twitt
Posted on

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!!!

Twitt