In any endeavour there are a few elements that lead to success. Some key ones are: Skill, Ability or Talent Knowledge Opportunity Motivation, Attitude & Beliefs A PT can’t change your attitude or motivate you long-term. Sure, everyone gets an initial burst of enthusiasm but after the novelty has worn off it’s down to your …
Category archives: Fitness
100 healthy lunch options (and how to make a hand-grenade!)
Bored of plain chicken and salad? Here are 100 healthy lunch options. Oh and how to make a hand-grenade too! • Tuna with avocado, spinach leaves and cherry tomatoes with a small drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper. • Ham off the bone with cottage cheese, rocket leaves, chopped grapes and …
Continue reading “100 healthy lunch options (and how to make a hand-grenade!)”
Crossfit and the worst job I’ve ever had!
I love Crossfit because it helps me to get better at things I’m not good at. Naturally I’m fast and have a lot of determination – that’s it! Nothing more than that. I’m not that strong, I’m certainly not very skilful at any sports and my mobility is awful! If I wanted to be very …
Continue reading “Crossfit and the worst job I’ve ever had!”
Turning NEGATIVES into POSITIVES
If you’re struggling to do your first pull up then a good way to progress is by using negative reps (just the downward part). To do this you will need to stand on something that allows you to do the negative (downward) part of the pull up, without having to pull yourself up first. Alternatively, …
Team Games at Fox Agency
There were some stellar performances at Headingley-based Fox Agency’s weekly Reach Fitness for Business bootcamp. A 50 minute team competition was hotly contested, with directors,senior team members and graduates collaborating to try to get their team to the top of the scoreboard. A variety of fun, but testing workouts were designed to test them as a …
Variety is the Spice of your Fitness Life!
These are my rowing times… they’re not bad. They’re not brilliant, but they’re not bad! The thing is – I don’t really row. I probably row a sprint (250-1000m) every 3 months or so. Same with running – I’m not bad for someone who doesn’t run much (I run maybe 15-20 times a year) – …
Continue reading “Variety is the Spice of your Fitness Life!”
What Are your Pleasure Vs Pain Motivators?
Jeremy Bentham and Tony Robbins both use the Pleasure/Pain principle of motivation. I’ve had a VERY stressful New Year but my business is better for it – New training plans. New information gathered with which to provide a better service. New recipes on my website. Client training software updated. Building work in the fitness studio. …
Continue reading “What Are your Pleasure Vs Pain Motivators?”
The Secret To Training Success
Effective training is made up of lots of elements but these five are critical. 1, Do you know your NUMBER 1 goal? Does aesthetics trump fitness? Does muscular strength come at the expense of cardio fitness? Work out what you’re trying to achieve! 2, Do you know what you need to so to achieve your …
Don’t Make Any New Year’s Resolutions Before Reading This!
As we approach the end of 2015, I’m starting to take stock of the last 6 months. When I was a lecturer in management, I used to quote Peter Drucker’s line, “What gets measured gets done”. If you’re not measuring your progress then how do you know if you’re making any? Monitoring can be subjective …
Continue reading “Don’t Make Any New Year’s Resolutions Before Reading This!”
Opportunity Cost – Economics & Nutrition
In economics there’s a concept called “Opportunity Cost”. Investopedia defines this as “The cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put another way, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action”. For example, the cost of choosing to go to University instead of starting …
Kaizen & Press Ups
I’ve been doing press ups for years. I’ve been teaching clients how do them properly for years. But tonight I’ve been reading up on form, flaws, cheats and generally how to improve and perfect the press up. When I was a lecturer I used to teach a Japanese philosophy called Kaizen – which means “good …
Walking The Walk
Further to my post on walking the walk, I’ve just finished a PT session with one of my clients. The last part of the session was a series of 250m sprints on the Concept 2 rower. My client was giving it a very good go and I didn’t really see the need to push her …
From The Ashes of Disaster Grow The Roses of Success
What a morning of learning! I’ve pretty much been out of action for 3 weeks a virus that’s made me everything from sneezy to dopey to sleepy – the only thing I’ve not been is Bashful. I’ve also had a really nasty shoulder injury that meant I couldn’t get up off the sofa at one …
Continue reading “From The Ashes of Disaster Grow The Roses of Success”
In defence of running. An argument for a focus on performance as a means of weight loss.
As a follow up to my post “In defence of cardio“, this post makes the argument for focusing on improved performance as a means to lose weight. What I’m suggesting is that weight loss should be the outcome, not the purpose, of running. Parallels can be drawn with what Akio Morita, the founder of Sony, …
In Defence of “Cardio”
The title of this article is somewhat misleading but, as I will attempt to illustrate, the word cardio has been bastardised to such an extent that people all over the world are being deterred from losing body fat and getting healthier using activities that are traditionally classed as “cardio”. First things first, though – I …
Enjoy the Process for Better Results
The happiest clients are always those who find a sport or activity to help them enjoy the process of achieving their fitness or aesthetics goals. However, it’s important to try and find a match between the two (training for fun and training for an aesthetic goal) as there are loads of “fit” people who are …
More time for you, your business and your family!
If you’re a busy professional then time is precious, time is money, time is best spent on high value tasks such as playing with the kids. We all have 24 hours a day – how we use it and how we prioritise its expenditure can be a key differentiator between success and mediocrity; between stress …
Continue reading “More time for you, your business and your family!”
Get out of your comfort zone
A couple of clients really surprised me today. Client 1 who has been training for around 5 months – strength gone through the roof because he’s been doing loads of extra chest work. Conversely… Client 2 who has been training for a couple of weeks – general fitness making massive leaps because he’s done just …
Success Starts with Sunday
What goes into your head has a massive effect on what you do. I used to get a Pizza Hut offers email every Tuesday. I never ordered, but I realised that the marketing did have a huge effect on my focus in terms of nutrition. I could spend all day thinking about chicken, rice and …
Fox Communications Corporate Bootcamp
Here’s a lovely blog post by Fox Communications about their weekly corporate bootcamp with Reach Fitness Lead Trainer, Danny Sroda.
Want to get toned?
The first question I always ask when someone tells me they want to get toned is – “What do you mean by toned?” Most people know what they want to look like but can’t but it into anatomical terms, or they are a little bit out on what it involves. So, here’s a basic guide. …
Lose weight without counting calories
I’ve trained and spoken to lots and lots of people who have lost large amounts of weight without counting calories. Some of them started exercising as well. Some just did it with diet. But, depending on how much weight you have to lose, it is not unreasonable to expect to lose 2-3 stones over a …
What? Why? How? Achieve Your Fitness Goals Faster.
Why are you doing that? Every time you put your training kit on you should know why you’re doing the workout that you’re about to do. What’s your goal? If you’re just about do an hour on the cross trainer then why are you doing it? If your answer is “To get fit” then which …
Continue reading “What? Why? How? Achieve Your Fitness Goals Faster.”
London Olympics 2012 – Lighting the torch
Just watching the passing of the torch and lighting of the flame from the London 2012 Olympics. Make me realise what I already know – I love my job so much!! I’m never going to the Olympics but just getting people moving, running, getting stronger, more motivated, more confident – lighting the torch and getting people going – that’s my Olympics, …
Continue reading “London Olympics 2012 – Lighting the torch”