Archive for the 'Lifestyle' Category
I seem to get asked at least once a week which books I would recommend for training, fat loss, nutrition, goal setting etc etc…
I do read lots of this stuff, in fact I tend to be reading non stop… strange I never used to be like that…
Anyway, I have created a page on the GetFit.lu website with all my recommended books and where you can get them from. I have added Amazon links or retailer links so you can get all these products shipped to your door in double quick time.
Summer holidays are a great time to catch up with some interesting reading, pick one or two that you can pack in your suitcase…
http://www.getfit.lu/book-recommendations.html
Tim
PS. You’ll see some other links to the left hand side of this page, which will take you to some of our most trusted resources and partners, make sure you try these too!
I love reading some of the so called health pages on various news websites, and it becomes clear what propagates ineffective methods of fat loss and weight control. This article at the BBC health webpage gets my juices flowing because as with many articles/studies/papers/reviews etc etc in relation to fat loss, they bear little resemblance to the real world.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7530345.stm - Hour’s exercise to lose weight.
The article states that women should be exercising 5 times a week for at least an hour to lose weight and keep it off.
Sounds like a hell of a lot of training!
Obviously these guys have never heard of interval training where 25 minutes of total workout time can produce a much greater fat burning effect.
They have probably never heard of doing resistance based routines as well, not lasting more than 40 minutes, to boost your metabolism creating a much more sustainable body shape and better structural health too.
Combine the 2 together 3 times a week and you’ll be still out the gym before these guys!
In the real world getting the most out of training is not about time spent in the gym, but more the effectiveness of the routines you perform.
In the real world myself and other top quality fitness professionals from around the globe get amazing results from short intensive routines.
In the real world we don’t have time to waste hour upon hour doing “moderate” exercise
In the real world we are never going to maintain that level of training for the rest of our lives.
Get Real BBC, University of Pittsburg, Professor Paul Gately! Start studying how real results are obtained!
Tim climbs gently off soapbox :o)
If you are interested in the kind of training that works, check out Craig Ballantynes fantastic digital book Turbulence Training or join us for the 45 minute ForestFit workouts
In between watching the Weston-Super-Mare pier catching fire and the first lady to take control(temporarily) of Great Britain since Margaret Thatcher, I saw a brief report about the latest studies identifying a fat gene.
FTO is apparently the gene in the body that given a certain make up makes you more likely to be over weight. The thought being that your appetite is satisfied less easily so you’ll likely eat more than your body needs.
Hailed as a break through in the fight against obesity, no doubt with pharmaceutical companies falling over themselves to produce the “necessary” drugs to counter this genetic flaw, I can’t help wonder if we are still missing the point here…
Surely if we eat the right things in the first place our diets will be suppressed naturally. If we are feeding our kids junk food it is really clear that within 20 minutes they are going to want more anyway. Such is our modern diet that we are eating more energy dense foods with little or no nutritional value, this is probably more likely the cause of our growing(sic) obesity problems, and not a genetic flaw.
For the next few weeks, if you focus on eating clean and fresh produce and avoiding ALL processed foods and drinks then I am sure that extra few kilos will disappear substantially quicker than waiting for the latest miracle cure.
What Women Want Part 1
25.06.08I posted this question on the ForestFit community site the other day for the participants of ForestFit and it has provoked quite a discussion on there. So I thought I would have a go at placing the same on here.
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After a few discussions at this mornings forestfit I have been wondering what women REALLY want?
Being a guy, I am obviously dumb to these things… kind of… I am a sensitive trainer after all!
So the question I want everyone to answer is this:
Who’s body would you have and why? I really want to understand what it is about that person you really like!
There is method in my questions, I’ll ask more later in the week.
Tim
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What I want you to do is post a comment in response to this on this BLOG, click the “Read Users’ Comments” link below
Unconsciously Getting Fat
20.06.08This might seem really obvious to you, but to me this is such an important aspect of weight management.
I was chatting to my wife this afternoon and we were discussing the meal we had last night. We try to make an effort to have at least one night during the week where we go and treat ourselves to a meal for two at a nice restaurant. We don’t necessarily worry about the type of food we eat, or that we might have a glass of wine or beer with the meal and we will have a dessert too.
The meal we had was a Chateau Briand shared between the two of us, a fine piece of meat, vegetables and all the trimmings. It tasted fantastic, was loaded with calories and we probably ate too much of it. However I think the most important part of it was we “Planned to fail”!
My wife then told me about something that happened this morning in the office, someone came round with cream cakes, with chocolate and all sorts of stuff like that, without hesitation she ate the cake without any conscious thought of what it would do to her. The cake probably didn’t have as many calories as the nice dinner last night but was more likely to be many times more damaging. Why? This time she just “failed” it was not planned.
How many times today have you just eaten something just because it was there, you ate it with no regard for the consequences, it was a completely subconscious action?
The secret to succeeding with nutritional habits to support your fat loss goals is in the planning! Knowing exactly when you will fail, plan to fail then make sure every other feeding opportunity is thoroughly planned.
Not to say I am perfect, I do still have situations were I fall victim to eating completely unconsciously but so long as the majority of my meals are planned I stay on track with eating better.
Obvious maybe? Try a little planning yourself this week!
I sometimes wonder if there are any specific rules or regulations on what is OK and what is not OK in the gym/other public changing rooms/showers. Well, I certainly know what I think is OK and defiently what I think is NOT ok to do. Especially living in Luxembourg I sometimes wonder. See I am Swedish and I know what it’s like in Sweden, there are certain things that are ok and other things you don’t do and it kind of just comes naturally. So seeing as there are so many different nationalities in Luxembourg there are bound to be different views on things. Obviously it’s got to be depending on what kind of person you are aswell but still, would be interersting to know.
Anyway, I as a Swedish Woman of 31(((aaaarrgggh, did I just go public with my AGE???)is now going to List some of My DO’s and DON’TS:
1. If the changing room is full of people and people are starting to line up outside the showers, maybe it’s time to hurry up and have a shower…We all have somewhere to be so for me this would be a definite DO.
2. Try to keep your things to yourself and DON’T use up all the hooks and benches for only your things..Be considerate.
3. Definite DON’T: Please don’t PEE in the showers especially if Someone else is showering next to you, there are TOILETS for that kind of thing.
4. Ok, this is a tough one..Shaving!!! Personally I don’t mind if people are shaving upper body parts but PLEASE No bikini lines and legs and so on infront of me…That’s more of a do at home thing…for me anyway.
5. Clipping nails and tonails…….NOPE!
6. Fart….No thanks, another thing for the toilets!
So there, all in all: Public Changing rooms and showers are for a quick shower, cream yourself in, put some makeup on and fix the hair without being in anyones way.
What do YOU think? Please comment and it would be nice to hear a guys view on this matter aswell:)
Have a Good Day and Be Donsiderate!
Jess
Energy leeches are everywhere. Lack of energy is such a common reason for not training by many busy professionals.
You get to mid afternoon and you are running on empty already and it has only been a few hours since lunch and your are tired, irritable and frustrated at your lack of productivity. Going for a workout? Yeah right, your going home to crash on the couch!
Procrastination is the number one reason cited by people for not working out, your low energy levels contribute even more to your procrastination.
Your common energy leeches include, your computer monitor, the constant barrage of phone calls, or your boss giving you stress on the latest deadlines. This sucks you dry leaving you empty and ready for a night in doing nothing but feeling sorry for yourself. When you don’t go and do your workout, you’ll feel even more deflated lowering your energy levels yet further.
But going to do a workout can actually give you energy! “yeah right Tim, now you really are talking rubbish!” Seriously, despite the physical exertion of the workout, or participating in your sport, the
outcome can be a serious injection of positive energy. The body responds very well to physical activity, at certain intensities your body will stimulate the production of endorphins which give you that feel good glow after a particularly tough workout. This in itself becomes addictive.
Also by blocking out the energy drains, reducing the time spent answering the phone, or staring at your computer monitor, AND, promoting the energy boosts, eating the right foods, drinking water regularly and never missing a workout, you’ll quickly be full of energy again.
Jon, a very busy executive from a key multinational firm hated his workouts, at first it was a real struggle to get him in for our appointments. After a few particularly tough workouts I started to see Jon in the gym outside of our pre-arranged sessions. This then developed to almost every day in the gym. When questioned about this, he simply said with a smile “I still hate my workouts, I just love the feeling of finishing!”
This endorphin rush is quite real and can be brought about easily with workouts at high enough intensities. Many workouts I see being performed in the gym are just too slow and ineffective, whats more the low intensity will not give even a hint of the endorphin hit we are looking for, instead we are usually bored, demotivated and are desperately hanging on till the end of your workout.
Doing resistance based workouts with heavy weights for short repetition ranges are the opposite, and for guys gives a testosterone boost as well as the endorphin rush. A workout that utilises large muscle groups, such as squats, deadlift, push ups, rows and lunges will kick off an endorphin rush for both male and female exercisers.
Females fear not the bulky muscles, you don’t have the chemical makeup to achieve this, guys work hard and you’ll lose the gut as well as boost your sporting performances too!
Start today, by getting down to the gym and getting the advice of a trained fitness professional to show you the correct form for these fundamental exercises. I promise you you’ll view your workouts with more energy than ever before!
For a highly effective resistance workout and other time saving exercises, claim your free e-report “How to lose weight even when you are really busy” at http://www.corporateathletehandbook.com/. Tim Goodwin is author of The Corporate Athlete Conditioning Handbook and a fitness professional from Luxembourg, training the busiest individuals to achieve amateur sporting success and a healthier body. Feel free to duplicate this article with the bio and link intact.
Flat shoes are in Fashion… Hooray
08.05.08My wife tells me these things to me, as I am clearly not “in” with the latest fashion news… In fact by the time I finish writing this post high heel shoes will be back in again.
But I was happy to hear that flat shoes for females are all the rage, possibly down to the stunning Carla Bruni wearing flats so beautifully so she doesn’t tower over French President Sarkozy. But there does seem to be a fair amount of disagreement of the health benefits of flat shoes…
I have literally just had an argument with the front desk girl at “The Gym”, she claims her doctor says that you need about 2cm of heel on your shoes for good healthy muscles in the calf and ankle. Various “experts” on the internet claim you need a shoe with good support for the arch, and switching from heels to flats can cause excessive achilles strain.
Without adding to add more confusion to the debate, a healthy dose of common sense is needed I think.
You see the body has been designed in a specific way, if we were meant to walk around on our tip toes all day, then our feet would have been shaped that way, ie. with a heel that is 10cm bigger than it is currently.
Unfortunately trying to argue the point with many of my clients is like pulling teeth, regardless of the evidence i can provide to show the massive negative impact heels have on your posture, causing all manner of problems such as knee, hip and back pain.
Claims that flats will put strain on the achilles is actually very true if you are coming straight from wearing 4 inch “spikes”, your calf muscles will be shortened to such a degree that the extra pull on the tendon that attaches to the bottom of your foot will cause pain.
So what are the benefits of wearing “Carla’s” flats
- The biggest benefit is improvements in posture
- Lesser risk of knee and back pain
- Greater flexibility in the ankle joint
I also have a theory that says that wearing heels causes you to have a stomach bulge! Given the position your ankles and knees are forced into when wearing heels, the pelvis needs to compensate by tilting forward, pushing your abdominals and stomach forward giving the appearance of a bulging stomach!!!
Now at the risk of writing the most unpopular BLOG post in history, I am going to sign off now and leave it up to you to see some common sense when it comes to wearing heels!
Tim
Life coaching is a legitimate profession, with a great deal of professional individuals helping many people, let me get that out the way before I write anything that might upset someone…
However there is a certain stigma that seems to surround the words life coach or life coaching that implies someone needs to be told how to live their life better… I suppose it is the modern equivalent of going to see a shrink to help if you are crazy! The problem many people have with seeing a life coach relates to the perceived embarrassment of looking for help. Are we all too proud to ask for help?
Seeking help is what you do in so many other areas of your life, if you car is broken, then you get help from a mechanic, if the lightbulb blows in the kitchen you’ll ask your husband for help in fixing it, if your kids can’t do their math homework then they ask for help too.
So why is it that you don’t ask for help in working out how to better look after our body and mind. Modern lifestyle seems to be adding more and more stresses, both physically and mentally, that are health deteriorates to dangerous levels, causing your life to be quite miserable. Maybe because the fear of being pointed out as being a failure is still a greater pain or fear than asking for help.
One of the best things I have done since becoming my own boss, is finding a Mentor and coach to help me get more from my home life, family life, business and sport (they are not the same person!). Not only does having a mentor and coach mean I get to talk about my problems, it is also a means to making things much much better than I could have ever imagined, improving the quality of my life rather than just fixing what is “broken”.
So what is the purpose of this posting? Well simply to get you guys to ask for HELP, even if you are not broken, find someone that you can touch base with on areas of your life that you are passionate about. It doesn’t have to be a professional, it can be a friend or work colleague who you trust without doubt.
Just ask!
Show or Go or Family Runabout
27.03.08I like cars, actually anything related to cars, it is not just a practical thing for me, it is a passion…
In the car tuning world, there are two main factions…
1. Show cars: their owners spend countless hours perfecting the bodywork, brightwork, polishing, cleaning, ironing out the dents, creases and scratches. The car is an object of beauty.
2. Fast Cars: The “Go” faction don’t really focus much on how it looks, but on how fast it is, how agile it is, the quickest from point A to point B
For people we are also split between these two schools of thought…
Those working on their looks, perfecting their shape, regular tanning sessions to top up the bronze, all in the pursuit of a beautiful looking body!
Then there is the sporty folk, who work hard to develop a body that is lean, fast and agile, fuelling themselves with the best products to get the best performance.
Which category are you in?
Maybe neither at the moment?
Are you the rusty, decaying heap in the corner, unable to move efficiently, your body has been neglected, your engine doesn’t run so well on the poor fuel you feed it, constantly breaking down with regular illness.
Whilst I don’t believe you should become a Show or GO, not to the extremes of the fanatical individuals anyway, but I do think that most of us can look after our body’s better, and become the reliable “family run-about” instead.
If you are in Luxembourg, come and meet us for a consultation
