Are You Pushing Yourself Hard Enough?

In the Royal Marines the final commando test is the infamous 30 miler across Dartmoor.

Wearing basic boots, webbing, rucksack and carrying a rifle totalling 45lbs in weight - recruits have to go up and down hills, cross streams, swamps and moors in under 8 hours to earn their coveted green beret.

Blisters! Because it's such hard terrain carrying over 3 stones on your back it's the equivalent to running two normal flat marathons back to back.

Throughout the 32 weeks of the longest and hardest infantry training in the world the furthest that any recruit will run is 12 miles.

The rest is made up of 40 minute intense circuit training sessions that work the whole body and increase your VO2 max / endurance and also some fast short runs (1.5 miles flat out).

It sounds far fetched but it's a tried and tested winning formula designed by sport professors at Loughborough University.

So that goes to show that you don't need to spend hours and hours long slow boring jogging on the roads to increase your fitness, if you work hard and push yourself really hard every now and again at boot camp then that will do the job too!

Detox Is Nearly Over - How Much Have You Lost?

Tuesday 24th January today and one week left of the dreaded New Years detox. I started mine January 1st and will finish Sunday 29th January when I'm in Italy. Mine has been pretty simple. Eat only nutritional food and drink lots of water. I've cut out all crisps, chips, pies, microwave meals, chocolate, ice cream, sweets and alcohol and I've never felt better.

I started off just under 15 stones and now weigh just under 14 stones and have lost about 15lbs. I should have taken some before and after photos to send to some health and fitness magazines. I've lost a bit on my face but mostly on my waist which is where all my treats laid and have lost about 2 inches / 2 notches on my belt.

In the weekdays I normally finish work quite late, then go home for a shower and have a little nutritional snack. Then I made the mistake of having a tasty but calorie deficient snack like chocolate digestive biscuits, doritos, Haagen Dazs, wine gums etc at 9pm or later only an hour or so before going to bed.

It doesn't matter how much exercise you do. If you eat an unhealthy snack or drink alcohol (liquid calories) right before bed you don't have time to break it down / burn it off and it will sit on your stomach all night and increase your fat content. I've got some body fat scales at home and have lost 5% body fat this month.

It's all about self discipline and seeing what works for you. I've cut out all my favourite snacks and don't have any cravings for them at all and in the future I'll have a sensible small portion of treats every now and again and will make sure they're no later than 7.30pm in the evening.

Try what I've done and see how you get on and let me know, good luck.

New Year, New You? Your Body Is For Life, Not Just For Christmas

It's great to have a big kick start to the new year and a healthy detox and a few small changes to your diet to make it have more nutritional value and increase your fitness training but it's also important to keep it going through the whole year so that you can reach your goals quickly then maintain your high level of health and fitness.

When you take any breaks off during the year you soon lose fitness and it's harder to get back into it so it's better and easier to do a steady amount throughout the whole year. Anymore then 2 weeks off exercise is too long. The government recommend training at least 3 times a week every single week. If you go on holiday for 2 weeks still try to do some exercise whilst your away.

'Health is wealth, movement is medicine'.

Holiday season - tips for keeping the weight off!

A few of my one to one personal training clients and boot camp members who have been on holiday lately and have come back saying they've put on 3-7lbs. Here's are a few tips on how to keep the weight off when you go on holiday and how to get rid of it as soon as you come back:

• Try to do at least 20 minutes of exercise a day. Some people go to all inclusive resorts and eat lot more food than they normally do and consume more alcohol than normal and spend all the time by the pool or on the beach laying down sunbathing so all those extra calories are just going to be stored as fat and extra weight :(

• Cycle, brisk walk, hill walk to a view point, rock climb, jog, snorkel, swim, golf, tennis, squash, badminton, use the hotel gym, attend some exercise classes etc to keep your metabolism up and burning calories rather than storing calories. If you're on holiday with your children it's a good example for them too. If your baby is in a pram go out for a brisk walk before it gets too hot and try a few hundred metres of jogging every now again whilst pushing the pram etc.

• Try to eat sensible size portions! For some reason when it's a buffet peoples eyes become larger than their stomachs and people can easily over eat. Try to eat fresh healthy options and not to the point where you have to lay down afterwards. Try a 5-10 minute walk after a main meal.

• Drink lots of water which is important for hydration and helping clean your body out of toxins. When you become dehydrated your body finds it harder to function and your metabolism slows down which increases fat storage. It's also important if it's hot or your drinking more alcohol than normal.

• When you return from holiday get straight back into your regular exercise routine or if anything increase it! Some. people get into a bit of a lazy routine when they're on holiday and put off getting back into the training. The longer you leave it the harder it will be to shift the extra few pounds you have put on. The longer your body is carrying the extra weight it will get more used to it, you need to get right back into it and work hard for a couple of weeks to burn lots of calories and increase your metabolism and your body weight will go back to normal, try a longer half day or 1.5 hour boot camp which will help.

No Pain No Gain?!

Some people say 'no pain no gain' when it comes to their training regime which is what they're probably heard on some war films when the drill seargents are shouting at the new recruits. For most people though it is a step too far.

When your body throws up it is a defence mechanism to get out all the harmful toxins and waste products (mainly lactic acid) which has accumulated from a training session gone horribly wrong. Even if you feel like you might throw up then you might have pushed it just that little bit too far.

The whole aim of a training session is to progressively train your body so it makes small adaptations along the way helping you to reach your goals.

If you throw up you'll be depleting your body of much needed water and nutrients which means it will take your body longer to recover and the whole session would have been a waste of time.

If you're training for 45 minutes but feel sick for 10 minutes off it then you'll automatically have to take it easier during those 10 minutes or even sit down to rest which cuts down the amount of calories you'll be burning etc.

Top athletes train hard every day of their lives with sport psychologists, top coaches and nutritionists etc and they never deliberately take themselves to the point of throwing up so neither should you :) Work in your own limits even at 90-95% of your max that's still an intense workout!

Summertime Is On It's Way!!!

Hi, hope you're OK and that your training and diet has been going well so far this year.

It's not too far away now from summertime and trips to the outdoor swimming pools or the beach and putting on your swimsuits that you might not have worn for a while! I always find that quite a few people contact me for one to one personal training and join the boot camps 6 weeks before they're due to go on a beach holiday which for someone who hasn't trained for a long time isn't a long enough period for them to get in shape.

It takes the body 4-6 weeks to notice a change in exercise before it will start making adaptations like increasing your metabolism to burn more calories, toning your muscles and improving your stamina. The stomach area is generally the first place that people put excess weight on and is unfortunately the last place to lose it after training hard and eating well for a few months. Once you have toned up your legs, arms, back, shoulders and chest your body will then start to burn of any excess fat around the stomach area.

That's why March is a great time to start ramping up your training for the summertime!

Happy New Year / Detox

I hope you had a great Christmas and that you have a good New Years Eve too. There can be quite a lot of extra drinking and eating over Xmas and New Years and most people drop of their training a little bit too. Experts have said that most people can 1lb over the festive period and that they can never lose that weight again. After ten Christmas holidays that could be an extra 10lb - after fourteen that's a whole extra stone!

Most people make New Year Resolutions but only stick to them for a couple of weeks. Try to have a bit of a detox in January by cutting out unnecessary sugary snacks which are empty calories and try to eat and drink healthily for a month. I did that last year and lost 5lb.

Cut down on take aways and microwaves meals. Cut down on your alcohol intake. Try to increase the amount of water you drink. Try to increase the amount of fruit and veg you eat. Try to cook a new healthy meal from scratch.

People often consume snacks because they're bored (especially at work). Anytime you feel the temptation to eat a packet of crisps, biscuits or have a chocolate bar, stop and take a deep breath. Eat a piece of fruit instead or nuts or drink a healthy smoothie.

Use the snack time to do some light exercise like walking up a flight of stairs or go outside and walk around the block once to get some fresh air. That way you'll be burning extra calories rather than consuming them!