Author Archives: John

How to Look & Feel Younger….Guaranteed!!

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Looking good older

We all want the secret of eternal youth right? We all want to know how to slow down the ageing process, look our best, and convince the world that we really are 21 and always will be. Not only that , but as well as Thursday being the new Friday, most of us believe that 65 is the new 45. I’m 47 years old now and still do most of the same things and behave the same way (sometimes stupidly) that i did when i was 25. I plan on growing old disgracefully and being as fit and youthful looking as possible for as long as I can manage. Below are some tips which i guarantee that if you follow as much as possible you will look, feel and act younger than you are.

Tips on Staying Young:

#1. Do Resistance Based Weight Training. I know a lot of people hate the idea of this, especially some women who associate weight training with big bulky muscles and a lack of femininity. Well forget that idea straight away. You’d have to train your arse off and eat like a horse to change your body that way. It has been proven that weight training, done correctly has all sorts of benefits that make you look and feel younger and as i said in a previous blog post on my facebook page on 24th March there have been various studies that confirm the anti ageing benefits of training with weights. For a start it strengthens and tones not only your muscles and ligaments but also helps to increase bone density and strength. We all know that bones can weaken and even start to crumble as we get older and regular resistance training fights this process. Even if you don’t have access to a gym, resistance training using body weight or bands can have a fantastic positive effect. As well as strengthening and maintaining muscle tone, regular resistance training will raise your metabolic rate, aiding fat loss. Not only that but muscle is more metabolically active than fat. What does that mean? Well it means that 1 kg of muscle uses up more calories to maintain it than 1kg of fat. This means that as you become stronger, leaner and more muscular it actually becomes easier to maintain that shape and keep the weight off as your body naturally burns more calories. Great eh? Being fitter, stronger and leaner is guaranteed to make you look younger.

Old bodybuilder

#2. Reduce traditional lengthy cardio sessions and do HiiT (High Intensity Interval Training) instead. Why? Lots of reasons. Firstly from a purely practical point of view it takes a lot less time. You can achieve in 15 minutes what traditional cardio would take 45 minutes or more to do. HiiT has been proven to build more muscle tone, give a more intense cardiovascular workout thus improving your heart and lung function, AND raises your metabolic rate allowing you to continue to burn calories and fat for much longer after your workout than a long slow cardio workout would. Also from a purely aesthetic point of view there seems to be a connection with how people look. Take a look at many (not all) endurance athletes, long distance runners, long distance cyclists, triathletes etc. They often have a somewhat taut, gaunt appearance and lean, loose, sometimes saggy muscle tone. Compare that with sports that tend to use shorter bursts of more intense exercise such as sprinters, boxers (3 mins on, 1 minute off), gymnasts etc. They look more toned, less gaunt and yes it’s true….younger.

#3. Drink lots of water….loads of it, as much as you can get down your neck (within reason). Our bodies are largely made up of water. Studies have shown that up to 75% of people walk around partially dehydrated for much of the time. It’s just plain logic that if you are fully hydrated your cells will be more full of this life giving substance. Full cells = plumper and healthier looking skin, more luscious hair, clearer eyes, fuller muscle tone. That’s aside from the longer term health benefits of better digestion, less gut issues, improved kidney function, improved vacscular performance etc. People often think tea, coffee, juices all count for hydration but it’s not the same thing. Tea and coffee are both diuretics which means they make you pee or expel water from your body and juices, all juices, contain sugars. Try to drink 6 to 8 glasses of water every single day. Do it for a month and i guarantee you will be shocked and amazed at the difference it makes to your skin and overall sense of well being. People make me laugh when they say “how hard it is to drink 6 glasses of water a day” then go to the pub and drink 5 pints of larger or 5 Gin & Tonics in 2 or 3 hours. Don’t make excuses, get to the tap and drink yourself younger.

#4. Eat natural and whole foods. Again you don’t need to be a genius to work out that what you put inside your body is going to have an effect on how the outside looks. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a food facist that is going to dictate that you ONLY eat organic, never have a treat and never drink again for the rest of your life. God knows i have some bad habits and love a blow out now and then. However consistency is key. If you can eat well 75% of the time AND drink a lot of water it will 100% be reflected in how you look. What do i mean by eat well? Again it’s pretty simple. Try to eat loads of fresh foods. Fresh fish, meat, poultry, lots of veg, salads with 4 or 5 meals a week, lots of nuts, proper butter and dairy products, fruit, and DO NOT be afraid of fats as long as they are good fats eg fatty fish, lean meat and poultry, nuts, eggs avocado etc. A report came out in the UK press only yesterday  (see my facebook page) talking about the benefits of good fats and they aid not only muscle development and fat loss but keep your skin looking healthy, and some studies claim they even protect brain function longer term.

#5. Keep active. I’ve already talked about training and exercise so that is not what i mean. By keeping active I mean keep your mind and body active. Be passionate about life. Have hobbies, go to museums, eat out, travel, go on walks, read books, go to concerts, play golf or bowls, have a wide social circle, keep working even if part time once you reach retirement age. This mostly applies to older people who are perhaps at or beyond retirement age but the mindset also applied to the younger ones of us. I firmly believe (and I’m sure you can think of and name examples) that if you keep doing stuff (anything counts), stay active, keep your mind engaged and keep that verve for life, then it keeps you young in both mind and body.

#6. Act younger than you are. This one is very closely to linked to number 5 above. Some people use the phrase “act your age”. Well screw that. As soon as you start to do that you are on the slippery slope to doom. The world has changed, you are no longer middle aged as soon as you hit 50 and old when you hit 60. I’m not saying behave like an idiot the whole time, I’m saying that just because you get older that doesn’t mean you can’t do all or at least most of the things you always used to do. You may need to make some minor adjustments but just keep going for it. Laugh loudly, sing badly, dance embarrassingly (my friends will tell you I’m a world beater at this but I don’t care, i love it), take up hobbies that you enjoy and just generally try to seek out fun and big experiences wherever you can. The minute you start to think you are old, that’s what you will become. I think someone once said “I think therefore I am”…..or something like that. It’s true. You become what you believe you are. If you believe you will be successful in life, you will. If you believe you are invincible and will always stay young, you will, if you believe you are getting old and “can’t do that any more”…guess what, it’s a self fulfilling prophecy.

#7. Supplements. This is a very quick paragraph. I’m not really one for taking pills and potions. I take a protein shake and some creatine when I train, that’s it. What i mean by supplements are natural products that I believe, and there is a lot of evidence to back ity up, that are supremely healthy and have some amazing benefits for your body, fitness and skin. So just to briefly list some favourites. Ginger – add it to everything from tea to stir fries to salads. Honey – preferably a non mainstream organic honey. Green tea or other variations on herbal and green tea’s. Lemons – squeeze them into and onto everything, grate the skins, drink lemon water as often as you can. Chilli, again add to food as often as possible and put in salads, soups etc. Turmeric – add to food or make Turmeric milk, its has amazing properties. Cinnamon – the same as with Turmeric. Tomatoes – eat as often as possible. Avocado – eat almost every time you have anything cold. Nuts – all sorts and also spread nut butter everywhere and anywhere you want. There are others but if you can use these as often as possible you won’t go far wrong.

ginger-tea-with-lemon

#8.The obvious stuff – basic skin care, look after your teeth, dress well. I’ll be honest, I’m a bit slack here. I have never ever used a moisturiser or ANY sort of skin care product of any type ever. So I can’t really preach. All I’m really talking about are the basics. if you are covered in spots, have yellow teeth and wear baggy, shapeless clothes are you really going to look good and younger than you are? Probably not. So all I’m saying is to do whatever works for you to keep your skin looking moist and fresh, your teeth as white as possible (a 6 monthly dental hygienist appointment does wonders) and if possible choose some well coordinated, properly fitted clothes so that you look good when you go out. I bloody hate shopping and buy very very little, but when i do I like to buy a couple of things that are good quality, fit me well and show off my best qualities. Am I a vain overly egotistical sod….yeah probably, but you know what I don’t care. I embrace many of the tips I’ve given you above and am proud of it, i enjoy trying to look younger than I am. If people don’t like that, tough. In fact that may be my tip #9. Learn to not give a S***. Do things for you, because you want to and because they make you look and feel good. If some people don’t approve that is their problem. This is your life, grab it by the scruff of the neck, go out and live it.

Take Care,

John

PS: Click on the red links for access to extra info or other sites.

Weight Training: Volume or Time instead of Reps!

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Arnold 2We all would love a torso like Arnolds right? If you are into weight training then you’d have to be crazy not to think Mr Schwarzenegger looked incredible in his prime. However, genetics, an unbelievable amount of hard work and probably some illicit substances all went towards making him the icon he is.

If you are like me, a fairly ordinary guy, you’d be pretty happy looking even half as good as he did. However, even to achieve that, especially as you get a bit older, still takes a lot of hard work, clean eating and heavy lifting. You CAN achieve great things if you put your mind to it but even the most dedicated weight trainers will become a bit jaded from time to time. One of the reasons for this is repetition. You can mix up your exercises as much as possible but 90% of people will still end up doing a fixed number of reps and sets. Depending on if you are training for size and muscular growth, or just for strength, I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll end up doing something like 4 or 5 sets of 6-12 reps on most exercises. Over a period of time, when you have been doing that for month after month it can become hard to stay motivated. So what do you do about it? Well below I’ve detailed two different methods which you may not have tried before but which can bring some variety and even new gains and improvement to your time worn routines.

Volume Training:

Initially this can be a slightly difficult concept to get your head around and the first thing you’ll need to take to the Gym with you is a small pen and pad. This is the way it works. Lets say you are training your Chest, you will need to count the total volume of weight that you lift across all your reps and sets for all your chest exercises. You can do it in pounds or kilograms, whatever floats your boat. So let me illustrate this for you with a full example and breakdown of a typical workout. I’ll use nice round figures on the weights to keep it simple.

Barbell Bench Press: 5 sets of 10 reps @ 80kg . So 10 reps would be 10 x 80kg = 800kg. 5 sets of that is 5 x 800 = 4000kg Lifted.

Barbell Incline Press: 5 sets of 10 @ 50kg. 10 reps would be 500kg. 5 sets of that is 2500kg.

Dumbbell Decline Press: 4 sets of 10 @ 60kg (30kg each hand). 10 x 60kg = 600kg. 4 sets of that 2400kg.

Dumbbell Flys: 4 sets of 10 @ 30kg (15kg each hand). 10 x 30kg = 300kg. 4 sets = 1200kg.

So in total for your chest you have lifted 10,100 kg for your chest. Keep a record of that and the next time you train your chest make sure you lift more total volume than that figure. You can do that by using exactly the same exercises but increasing the weight, doing more over all reps or simply by doing some extra sets or exercises. You can use this technique for all body parts. Keep your records to hand, make sure you document them and train this way for a couple of months. You will be amazed at the amount of extra volume you can add in a couple of months and if you work hard will be equally amazed at the gains in size and strength that you make using this method.

Stopwatch weights

Time:

By time i DO NOT mean the length of time you actually spend in the Gym and train for. I’m a big advocate of getting in and out of the Gym quickly, 60/70 minutes absolute max…..you do have a life after all. What i mean by time is “time under tension” for the muscle. The way you do this is to do an exercise for a fixed period of time such as 40 seconds. You need to use a weight that you can lift smoothly and continuously as the trick is to have the muscle constantly under tension for the entire 40 seconds. Don’t pause at the top or bottom of a rep, try to keep the weight moving the whole time. However do not rush, you need to maintain strict and correct form throughout the exercise. This is surprisingly hard and you may well need to lower the weight compared to what you would normally use when just doing a set number of reps. By the 3rd or 4th set you will be struggling by the time you get to 30 seconds but its important to keep pushing through to the end even if you end up doing half reps for the last few seconds.

The key here is the continuous time under tension for the muscle. By giving it no time to rest and being constantly under strain it forces the muscles into something called Hypertrophy which is the state that makes your muscles grow. You can use this technique for every exercise you do and it makes for a seriously intense workout when done properly. It will initially take some experimentation with the weights but once you get it right you will love the pump and growth you get from using this method. Again, try it for a couple of months and see what happens.

So if you use the standard Reps method, Volume method and Time under tension method you now have three different ways of training. By changing things up your body never knows what to expect and this in turn helps you to keep growing and improving. For any of these methods to really work you need to give them some time. It’s no good doing it once and then going back to reps. Trust me, pick one of the methods and do it for 4 times a week for all your body parts and see where you are after a month, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Take care,

John

How to Kim Kardashian your Butt!!!!

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Kim KardashianIt’s a little known fact that Kim Kardashian owes the large part of her huge fame and fortune to me. If it wasn’t for the training tips that she uses from Ordinary Guy Fitness then her most famous asset, her Derriere, would not be in the shape that it is. As a result she very kindly agreed to pose for the photo above.

Now you may or may not be a lady who wants a backside of quite the proportions that Kim’s is and may also not quite want as much exposure as the Kardashian’s get, but i know of very few women who would not like to tone, firm, lift and shape their bottom just a little bit more than it is at the moment. Am I right?

So how do you go about that? Just what can you do to tone up not just your backside (or Gluteus Maximus to give it the correct name) but also the thighs as well.

There are a number of exercises you can do that will work your thighs and bum hard and give you that round firm look you’d like. I wrote in a previous article here about how to tone up this area and I’ll go back through some of the key routines that Ms Kardashian learned from me.

Click on the title word for each exercise and it will take you into YouTube for an example of how to perform them. So let’s get started on getting you a Kim Kardashian booty!

Glute Training:

Lunges: There are a number of different variations of the lunge, all of which work a slightly different part of your thighs and backside. Therefore I’d recommend doing a different one each day and rotate them. Initially start without any weight until you feel comfortable and can control the movements. Then as you get stronger add in some weight, but don’t go too heavy. It’s more important to go low when you dip down and really squeeze the muscles as you push back up. Start with 3 sets of 12 (6 on each leg) and work up to 3 sets of 20.

Squats: As with lunges there are many different variations, both with and without weights. To really strengthen and tone your legs you will need to use some weight at some point. However, initially you can do a perfectly good job just with body weight. Again try to use some of the different variations and change each day to work different parts of the leg and backside. Keep your back straight, chest up and head & eyes looking ahead and up. Push your butt backwards and lower it towards the floor, do not lean forward and topple over your feet. If using bodyweight do 3 sets of 12 to 15. If you progress to using some weights do 3 x 8/10.

Hip Thrusters/Glute Bridge: Hip thrusters or the Glute bridge as it is sometimes called is an excellent exercise for toning, firming and shaping your bum. Again it needs to be done correctly and the key thing here is to really focus on squeezing and engaging your Glutes or Bum muscles as you push up and at the top of the exercise. Go for 4 sets of 15/16 when using both legs and 3 sets each side of 7/8 when just using one leg. when you hit the top point, squeeze hard and count to 5 then lower back down, that’s one rep.

Glute Kickbacks: Another great exercise for really shaping your bottom and adding great muscle tone to your bum and backs of your thighs. The key to this exercise, in fact all Glute and Thigh exercises is to really concentrate on squeezing the right muscles ie your Glutes and your hamstrings in this one. I’d suggest starting off with 3 sets of 10 on each leg and then progress up to sets of 20. If and when that starts to become easy then as with the girl in the video add some weight, either by using a small dumbbell as she does or by adding some strap on ankle weights that you can easily find or get on Amazon.

Initially i would suggest picking two of these four exercises to do each day eg Squats and Kickbacks one day, Lunges and Hip Thruster the next. Mix it up and change it around as regularly as you can and use different varieties of squats and lunges. The idea is to work every part of your Glutes and Thighs. Believe me 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week and within a month you will really notice the difference and you’ll be on the Kardashian website buying dresses to show off your new favourite asset.

Take Care

John

PS: Some of the information in the article above may not have been quite entirely true…..but I’m sure you already guessed that! The exercises are spot on though!

Starting Young – Activities with Your Kids!!

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Fitness kids 1

I’m a very lucky guy and count my blessings every day. What do i mean? Well I have two young sons aged 11 and 8 and fortunately for me they are absolute sports fanatics. Why is that fortunate for me? Primarily because I am exactly the same and it means my kids and I spend a lot of time both doing and watching stuff that we all love. There is the age old argument about nature or nurture. Are they sports fanatics because that’s just the way they were born, or because they grew up from an early age with a Dad passionate about everything from Football to Horse Racing and Rugby to Boxing? Hell I’d probably watch, and bet on, two flies walking down a window if I could. However as well as enjoyment and spending loads of quality and fun times with my boys, I also count myself very lucky because I know that they are going to grow up into extremely fit, healthy and active young men, and that makes me very happy!

However not everyone is sports and activity crazy like me. If you are reading this blog It’s pretty likely that you at least have a passing interest in Health, Fitness and Diet but you may just be passing through and are keen to pick up some tips on how to help your children and kids enjoy, become familiar with and benefit from healthy activities that will lay the groundwork for them to become active, fit and hopefully very long lived adults. So here goes, here are a few tips and tricks that may help. This is by no means a comprehensive list but adopt some of these ideas and your kids WILL benefit physically and mentally.

Fitness Kids 3

My Tips:

1) Food. This is critical. If you can get them into good eating and drinking habits at an early age you will set them up for life. They are kids, they need to enjoy themselves and you can’t deny them ice cream, cakes and sweets all the time but as with all things consistency is the key. If you can get them eating good foods 75% of the time and even more importantly actually understanding what good foods are and why they are healthy then you will have won the battle. The best way to do this is to start them young and to be as varied and adventurous in the things they eat as possible. A wide variety of vegetables and fruit. Different meats, as many fish as you can find and all types of cuisine from around the world. Avoid processed and packaged foods wherever you can and fizzy or heavily sweetened drinks should be avoided as much as possible eg in our house we NEVER buy cokes, lemonades or other fizzy drinks (or almost never) BUT if we go to a restaurant and the boys fancy a coke they can have one. That way they don’t feel they are missing out but won’t be losing their teeth because they are consuming half their body weight in sugar every year.

2) Activity. Get your children out in the fresh air and get them active. This does not need to be playing an actual sport. My kids love sport but not all kids do, so in those cases teach them to ride and get them on a bike early. Go to the woods and climb trees, go swimming, find a dance class, fly kites, climb big hills. It doesn’t really matter what it is, just get them doing something for a couple of hours at least every week. There is a saying “show me the child at 7 and I’ll show you the man”. If you can get these habits into children at a young age they will stick and as I’ve already said that will lead to them becoming healthier adults with far better life expectancy.

3) Variety, variety, variety. Try out loads of sports and loads of activities. You just never know what your kids might have an aptitude for so give them every chance to excel at something. There are a huge variety of activities out there for children to take part in. It may require a lot of effort and possibly some money on your part, and I know that isn’t easy for everyone. But hey these are your kids, they come above (or should) every other thing in your life. Don’t just fall back on the obvious school sports like football, rugby, cricket, netball, athletics etc. What about Tennis, BMX racing, boxing, Kung Fu or Judo, Hockey, Skate boarding, Swimming, Gymnastics, Dancing, Wall Climbing, Archery, Canoing, Rowing, Orienteering, Sailing, Horse riding etc etc. My point is that there are an almost limitless amount of things you could try so break out of the mould and give it a go.

Fitness kids 2

4) Don’t be too competitive too young. This has been a really hard one for me. I am the most competitive man in the world. I will take on challenges knowing in my head that I cannot win, but in my heart……well you just never know, and I’ll almost kill myself trying. That isn’t always a good thing, especially in children. Sports, particularly before about the age of 12 should be first and foremost about enjoyment , participation and gaining skills and physical ability. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no bleeding heart liberal who believes it’s all about the taking part and there should be no winners and losers. Far from it in fact. Life is all about winning and losing and children HAVE to learn that. However it should not be the be all and end all too early. Many children are simply not physically gifted, that’s just not the way they are built. That doesn’t mean they can’t join in, give it their all and love every minute of what they are doing. I have seen many kids turn up every week to play football and to be honest they are rubbish and probably always will be, but they leave the pitch with a gleaming smile on their face, rosy cheeks and it makes their weekend. That is exactly what you want and sometimes being too competitive too young discourages that.

5) The final point, and again this is one I have struggled with (due to the aforementioned competitive nature) is this. Don’t try to re-live your own life or childhood through your kids!!!! You may have visions of them lifting the world cup, winning Wimbledon or scoring the perfect 10 in Gymnastics but they just might not be cut from that cloth. I have seen so many dads (and mums) standing on the touchline screaming instructions at their intimidated children and you get the distinct impression that actually they don’t care about their kids, what they really want is just to win and probably to be playing themselves. These are your children. They have their own identities and are NOT mini me’s. Hard though it may be, you have to take a step back let them make their own decisions, own mistakes and own successes. That doesn’t mean you can’t guide, encourage and sometimes put down a firm foot and give them a bit of a kick up the backside if they are shirking or not trying. However, ultimately it is their life and all you can do is try to put them on the right path.

When i was at school I was fortunate enough to be in almost all the various sports teams. I have fantastic memories of that. The friendships made, great victories, heartbreaking losses, funny incidents, fights, journeys and songs sung. Since leaving school many of my best memories are of places I’ve visited, sights I’ve seen, sports events I’ve watched or been to, views I’ve taken in, great food I’ve eaten, risks I’ve taken and activities I’ve taken part in. In short great memories are made from experiences, things you see, feel, breath and live. They are NOT made from things you own, jobs you do, money you earn or Xbox levels you conquer.

The Best gift you can give your children is an enthusiasm for life, for taking part, for getting out there and just bloody doing things. It really matters not what it is that they do. Just get them off the sofa, get their trainers, boots or skates on and get them to take part in an activity, take part in LIFE!!!

Take Care,

John

PS: a second article will follow shortly which will focus on actually training with your kids and what you should or shouldn’t do.

 

No Excuses – How to always find the Time!

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Tennis SprintingJust a very quick post today, in and out, job done!

Many people will find reasons and make excuses for not having the time to work out. I understand that, life is very busy. However what YOU need to understand is that work outs and activity can come in many forms. It doesn’t need to be a full on Gym session. ALL activity counts. Today is an example.

In a previous article i talked about Sprints remember (here it is) Well It’s bank holiday Monday. I’m at home with my two sons this morning. So what are we going to do. Well luckily they are sports fanatics so they are well into my plan. We are heading to the park for 45 mins on the free tennis courts. Hitting a ball around (and constantly chasing the mis-hit ones) counts as good activity, for me and them. Then on the field next to the courts is a whitewashed 400m running track on the grass. Perfect excuse for 10/15 minutes of sprints and runs to finish. They both love the idea and it is a great fat burner for me.

So 45 minutes of Tennis. Maybe 1 x 400m at my best pace followed by 6 x 50m interval sprints. That’s it. Metabolism fired into overdrive. Fat burning capability increased massively for today, children entertained. Perfect.

There are no excuses. You can always do something and those little extra activities are what will make ALL the difference.

Keep Working.

Take Care,

John

How to Motivate Yourself – Be Proud!!!

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Be Proud

When most people set out on a new Health & Fitness regime they are typically quite motivated. They are training to run a marathon, get into shape to fit a wedding dress, look better on the beach that summer or just to be able to run for the bus without dropping to their knee’s. However that motivation doesn’t always last forever. What happens when you have run the marathon, had the wedding, finished your summer holiday or can easily get to the bus? “What the hell do i do now?” . For many people the hardest part of a fitness or healthy eating regime is not starting, it’s keeping it going. So how do you do it? What can you use to motivate yourself when actually it’s much easier to just sit back on the sofa and drink beer?

As I’ve said before I’m in the process of writing a book. Chapter 2 talks mainly about getting your head in the right place to ensure that you reach and maintain your health, fitness and lifestyle goals. It also talks about motivation and things you can use to keep yourself driving forward when you may have already reached your goal. For me one of the most important motivational techniques or characteristics is Pride. Being Proud of what you are doing, how you look and who you are. Below is an extract from that chapter. It’s pretty personal to me but i genuinely believe that it will also work for most people and help them to motivate themselves.

Be Proud.

Pride comes before a fall right? Bullshit. Pride is a hugely powerful and positive emotion. Be proud of what you are doing, proud of your hard work, proud that you are doing something that most people aren’t/can’t/won’t, proud of your appearance, proud of your weight loss, proud of your new found strength and muscularity, proud that you look great in clothes, proud that people notice the change in you. Pride is a massive motivator. Having pride in yourself in all ways helps you to lead the right sort of life. How can you be proud of yourself if you behave meanly or unsympathetically to other people? How can you be proud of yourself if you are rude or inconsiderate? Similarly it is hard to be proud of yourself if you are unable to wear the clothes you’d like to. It’s hard to be proud of yourself if you can’t walk up the stairs or are too out of breath to play with your kids or grandchildren. It’s hard to be proud of yourself if you are constantly embarrassed at how you look and feel.

That isn’t to criticise people who have any of the issues above. We all have our problems and demons to deal with, and you may have perfectly valid reasons for not being as fit or healthy as you’d like. All I’m saying is that when you start to address those issues, and even more, when you start to see positive results then your pride and being proud can be the long term driver that keeps you going.

Really think about this. It is a powerful driver and if you get it right your pride, sense of self pride and self-respect will really make it much easier to be both consistent and regular in your habits.

Some people consider pride to be linked to vanity and there is some truth in this. I am vain. I make no bones about it and all my friends know it and joke about it. However there is a line to be drawn. I’m vain in the sense that I like to keep slim, be as fit as possible and have a shape and muscles that other guys of my age may not have. I’m the most competitive man in the world and winning at things helps maintain that pride and vanity. By contrast however I’m more than happy to leave the house with hair like a wire brush, wearing an old tracksuit and don’t really care what other people think about me at all.

My vanity is linked to my pride. I’m proud of how I look and how healthy I am for my own sake and not because of what other people think. I do these things for myself and I challenge and compete with myself more than anyone else. Is that too self-revealing for a book like this? Who cares, I am what I am and I’d encourage you to think the same. Be proud of yourself. Look in the mirror, smile at the great new you that smiles back and take great pride in the fact that you created that, you changed yourself for the better and you took the steps that were needed. No-one else did it, you did it so be proud of it.

As I said your pride (or vanity if you prefer) is one of life’s great motivators. Get in touch with it now, think about it and think about what you can do to be more proud of yourself. Focus on the great things that you do and can do rather than the areas that you feel negative about.

That’s it. I hope it connected with you. The Chapter is much longer but i hoped and thought that this small part might be helpful to some of you. Many people see Pride and Vanity as negative emotions, and of course they can be. However for me, if used correctly, they can be incredibly positive and will motivate you to create the results you are looking for. So stop being down on yourselves, focus on the positives, motivate yourself and start taking actions, today, RIGHT NOW to make yourself PROUD.

Take Care,

John

Food Prep – The Road to Getting Lean!

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Good Food  Food Prep

We all want washboard Abs, great chest and arm muscles and if you’re a lady a nice tight butt and slim hips. You may be prepared to put in the hard physical work necessary and hit the Gym, train or workout 5 times a week, but that’s only half the battle. What food you buy, what food you eat and how you eat,to my mind at least, is the hardest part of the battle. Most of us are prepared to shift the weights , hit the treadmill and wear the Lycra to get fit, it’s the healthy eating and laying off the booze that leads us astray.

I’ve written before about the need for consistency and firmly believe that if you eat and train well 80%+ of the time then you can allow yourself the odd bad night or weekend. However there is no getting around it, the food that you eat is critical if you want to shed those pounds, reduce body fat and finally show those long hidden abs.

One of the biggest issues and regular excuses that people make is the time and effort it takes to prepare healthy food compared to so called “convenience” food. Yes it may well take a bit of extra effort when shopping and preparing your food but it is worth it. The key is to BE PREPARED! When you go shopping you need to know what to buy and what you are going to do with it. I’d also suggest that you prepare at least some of your meals in advance. I often spend 45 minutes on a Sunday or Monday and knock up 4 or 5 meals that I can have for lunch every day the rest of the week. It may be slightly boring but it will be healthy, good for my waistline and contain lots of protein to help me build muscle and shed fat. With Summer coming fast and not much time to get into swimsuit shape why not try this for the next month and see what happens.

Below is a brief shopping list of some of the things to buy weekly or put in your store cupboard that will help you eat clean, healthy and become lean. Below that is a simple recipe that I use that will make your 4 meals that you can stick in the fridge and just microwave as needed.

Shopping List:

Steak, Chicken Breasts, Turkey breasts, Turkey Mince, Lean Pork, Lamb cutlets, Fish – Pretty much any and all types of fish are fine. Vegetables – Brocolli, Cauliflower, Avocado, Greens, Salad leaves, Green beans, Onions, Asparagus, Red Peppers, mushrooms, Spring Onion, Carrots, Beans & Lentils, Sweet Potato, Brown rice. Fresh Ginger, Chilli’s, Garlic. Fresh herbs like Coriander, Basil, Tarragon, Mint. Lemons, Blueberries, Strawberries, Banana’s, Apples, Pineapple, Melon. Dried spices such as Turmeric, Cinnamon, Paprika, Black pepper. Coconut oil ,Olive Oil and some light soy sauce for cooking and dressings. Bags of mixed nuts for snacking. Greek (Not greek “style”) Yoghurt or Skyr Yoghurt. Pure peanut butter or nut butter. The final thing would be a good Whey Protein powder. That’s pretty much it. If you cook and eat exclusively from that list of ingredients above you will a) be eating very healthily and b) in combination with regular exercise be almost guaranteed to become leaner and more muscular.

Foods to try to avoid would be: Bread, Pasta, Potatoes, Sweets, Crisps, Chocolate bars, cakes (all pretty obvious). Almost all packaged and processed foods (wherever possible, it’s very difficult to completely eradicate these). Sweetened drinks, fizzy drinks and booze (again a couple of beers or glasses of wine at the weekend won’t hurt much).

So now you’ve bought all the right things….what to cook. Here is a simple recipe that you can knock up on a Sunday, stick in the fridge or freezer and will give you a healthy, muscle building lunch or dinner for the next 4 days or so. Other than the ingredients above the only thing you’ll need is a good stack of smallish Tupperware boxes with lids.

Right, lets kick off. Firstly. Get a large bowl of water on the boil. Add in enough brown rice to make 4 small/medium sized portions. Add a dash of salt and leave to simmer away for approximately 25 minutes (Brown rice takes longer to cook than normal rice and retains a firmer texture even when cooked).

Then in a large frying pan or preferably a wok do the following. Add two tablespoons of Coconut oil and heat. Then add one large diced onion, a couple of carrots cut into small round slices, one red pepper diced, a handful of mushrooms diced, 2 cloves of Garlic finely chopped and a large thumb sized piece of ginger sliced or chopped. Depending on if you like your food spicy or not you could also add anything from half to a whole chilli chopped. Fry this off for a couple of minutes until everything starts to soften. Then add in one large Turkey breast cut into smallish cubes (one large turkey breast is normally equivalent in size to around 3 chicken breasts). Continue to fry this for around 4 to 5 minutes. Then as the Turkey starts to brown off add the following. 2 large teaspoons of Turmeric powder, 1 teaspoon of paprika and half a teaspoon of Cinnamon. Continue to cook and stir for around 3 more minutes. If it starts to dry out add a bit more oil as needed. Also grind in a good heap of fresh black pepper. Once you know the Turkey is cooked turn out the heat.

When the rice is cooked, drain any remaining water and also then pour a kettle of boiling water over the rice and drain again to remove excess starch. Then once the water is gone tip the rice into the Turkey and veg mix and stir until it is thoroughly mixed through. Then add in a couple of teaspoons of olive oil and a couple of teaspoons of soy sauce and stir thoroughly again. At this point you want all the rice to darken slightly to show the soy is mixed right through. If you want you can also finely chop a couple of spring onions and stir those in. Allow everything to cool down, split equally into about 4 Tupperware boxes, put the lid on and either freeze or refrigerate. When you want to eat it just microwave for a couple of minutes and away you go. The whole dish including chopping the veg and turkey takes a max of 30/35 minutes and that’s 4 meals done.

There are a whole load of variations of this type of thing that you can do and I’ll do more recipe’s as time goes on. In fact if anyone would like to see videos of recipes such as this please let me know.

I hope you found this helpful, your comments are welcome.

Take Care,

John