The Weakest Link

When it comes to exercise you’re only as strong as your weakest link. When it comes to diet and lifestyle you’re never going to look and feel your best without your missing link.

If you are unsure what your weakest link may be there are some key points to look out for.

Do you follow any sort of exercise routine?
If so is your routine structured to move you towards your goal quickly?
Are you confident your exercise technique is correct?
Do you use a tempo with each exercise?
Are your rest intervals consistent?
Are workouts intense enough to be challenging?
Do you rotate exercises and workouts frequently?
Are you confident the exercises you perform are the best to suit your goal?

Look out for Missing Links with diet and lifestyle in my next blog post.

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Affordable Health Foods

Here is a list of some easily accessible health foods that are rich in nutrients.

Berries
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Kale
Spinach
Almond Butter
Eggs
Natural Yoghurt
Flax Seed Oil
Coconut Oil
Salmon, Mackerel, Sardines
Wild Game
Mineral Water

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3 Square Meals Or 6 Smaller Meals?

Some people would lose more weight eating 3 square meals than grazing on 5-6 smaller meals a day. From experience and observations I have discovered that people who ate more frequently were more likely to eat the types of food that raises blood sugar levels quickly. These foods include processed grains and fruit by itself.

Without quality protein present in every meal you eat you risk blood sugar levels raising quickly which will then trigger hormonal reactions that results in fat storage, weight gain, sluggishness and sweet cravings.

Related article How Often Do You Snack?

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The Many Benefits of Coconut Oil

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Dispelling The Myth About Weight Training For Women

Most women who want to get in shape or drop a dress size or two would rather choose cardio machines instead of anything to do with lifting weights as their preferred choice of exercise. Resistance exercises for weight loss is just as misunderstood as all the food myths for dieting.

Below are some reasons or reassurances why you won’t look like Jodie Marsh if you use weights as your fat burning tool. But above all you will learn of the advantages of training with weights instead of cardio equipment in order to look better and lose the pounds.

#1 – Big muscles or a ripped physique don’t happen overnight. It isn’t a case of going to the gym and lifting a few weights and waking up the next day with irreversible big muscles that you are stuck with for life.

#2 – Women with a body that has bulging muscles and looks toned and distinguished has attained it with years and years of hard training and strict nutritional control, or with the help of performance drugs.

#3 – Women have less muscle-building hormones then men and it is rare for a woman to develop big muscles naturally.

#4 – If women were able to build muscles easily they would just as easily be able to decrease the size of the muscles by resorting back to training with no weights.

#5 – The advantage of resistance training over traditional cardio training is significant. Done properly, resistance training will create a cardiovascular response; killing two birds with one stone and saving heaps of time.

One of the numerous benefits includes the functional benefit, which has a carry over effect to daily living, and most sports. But more importantly it will shape the body making it more aesthetically pleasing at the same time as toning muscle tissue. As soon the muscles begin to work frequently under resistance it speeds up the rate you burn calories and it makes it easier to reduce body fat from the places you hate.

Related post, The Fat Cardio Myth & The Fat Cardio Myth part 2

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Food Vs Workouts

You can’t out train a bad diet!

Is your diet as good as it should be? If you are trying to lose weight or improve performance 3 workouts a week will have little impact on 21 plus meals a week from bad calories.

It is easier to eat a healthy balanced diet for at least 80% of the time then it is to try to burn off bad calories through regular exercise. It surprises me how many gym goers live a Groundhog Day existence and carry on shovelling in bad calories despite the fact that exercise alone doesn’t work.

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Fat Tax

Denmark is the first country to impose a fat tax. Britain is thinking of following suit. If saturated animal fat from organic/free range sources were to get a fat tax then this would be a massive blow for health conscious people in this country.

The worse offenders that contribute to rising obesity levels in our food chain is sugar, processed grains, grain based products and trans-fats. If people were to permanently cut these from their diets the spiralling costs obesity related disease costs the NHS would radically drop.

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Core Exercises You Can Do Anywhere

Three-Part Side Flexion

Instructions
1. Lying on your side with the knees and hips flexed to 90°. This exercise has three parts.
2. Part one: Rotate your top leg to lift your foot, pause and slowly lower.
3. Part two: Slide your arm down your body to lift your head and shoulders, pause and slowly lower.
4.Part three: Rotate your top leg to lift your foot whilst simultaneously side flexing your upper body. Hold and slowly lower.
5. Repeat performing parts one, two and three in order up to 10 times. Then perform on the other side.

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The X Factor Workout

Here’s a way to exercise at home and help you get in shape without missing your favourite television programmes like the X Factor.

This type of workout will help jumpstart the metabolism and create a stronger, healthier body. To encourage you it would be best to involve other people. Compete against your friends, partner or family members to bring about a competitive spirit to help get the best out of you.

This is what to do:
Choose a one to two-hour window.

The rules:
Every time an Ad break is on you perform one exercise and perform as many repetitions as you can before the end of the Ad break.

The guidelines:
Do a different exercise for every Ad break.

Tip:
If you are unable to do an exercise for the duration of the Ad break, stop and rest. Resume when you are ready again and continue the counting from where you stopped.

Exercises to try:

Bodyweight Squats

Static Wall Squat (count time)

Alternating Step-Ups

The Plank (count time)

Press-Ups

Crunches

If you have any tight muscles stretch them for around 30 seconds on each stretch before you begin. This will help rebalance the body and help prevent performing the exercises with a poor technique.

Watching TV doesn’t make people obese it’s the lack of exercise and overeating that does!

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The X Factor Workout – Coming Soon!

I’ve got the ultimate exercise plan for the couch potato. Later this week I’m going to share with you a way to exercise without leaving the house. There’ll be no more excuses and no more missing your favourite TV programme with this. You could even get your partner or family members involved to make it more fun. I’ll post everything you need to know in time for X Factor on Saturday night.

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