Tag Archives: health

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.

 

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

Why Diets Don’t Work……..Ever!

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muscle-building-foods

You’ve all been there. You look in the mirror and sigh, try to pull on a pair of jeans or skirt you haven’t worn for a while and mysteriously can’t get the zip done up no matter how hard you tug. “That’s it, I’m going on a diet” you say. On a Diet, those three words sum up the problem with diets and the reason they just don’t, won’t, can’t work….not in the long term anyway. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Atkins, the Cabbage Soup or the Caveman diet, ultimately they will fail and you will gain back any weight you lost. Why? Well because the whole phrase going on a diet implies that at some point you will come OFF of that diet, and what happens then? Inevitably the bad habits come back and the weight starts to creep back on.

Also the whole psychology behind dieting creates a negative mindset. It’s all about denial. Denying yourself the foods you’d like to eat, being hungry all the time, forcing yourself to do something you aren’t mad keen about in a desperate drive to lose some weight. If you have that mind set how does it make you feel. Anxious? Depressed? Stressed? At some point you are going to crack. No matter how much will power you have you can’t keep that up for the rest of your life.

Wouldn’t it be soooooo much better to feel positive about your food, what you eat and how you eat? Wouldn’t it be better to east tasty, fun foods, eat decent sized portions and also NOT to feel guilty or beat yourself up when you occasionally tuck into something bad like a sticky toffee pudding with cream. “What, how can i eat that on a diet?”.  Well on a diet you can’t, but if you follow what I’m about to say you CAN!

What you need to do is change your whole outlook and attitude to food. You need to change how you eat and what you eat FOREVER. You aren’t going on a difficult diet, you are going to change your lifestyle and become a HEALTHY EATER. This really isn’t rocket science, in fact it’s absolute common sense and to be honest our grandparents generations and the ones before that did it as a matter of course.

It’s really really simple to do. Basically you just need to eat fresh food. That’s it. “It can’t be that simple?”  Well actually it pretty much is with a couple of rules. The key is to avoid processed and packaged produce as much as you possibly can. Avoid sweet or packaged snacks as much as you can and avoid fizzy or sweetened drinks as much as you can, and cut back slightly on Carbs such as potatoes, bread and pasta. That is pretty much it. Other than that you can still eat 2 to 3 meals a day and for your main dinner you can eat pretty healthy/large portions.

So what do i mean by processed foods? Again it’s simple. Anything that comes in a packet or packaging that has a list of ingredients needs either to be avoided or the label carefully studied. ALL ready meals, most childrens meals, ALL fizzy drinks, anything that has lists of chemicals, sweeteners or E numbers on the label. “Hmmmm, so what can i eat?” As i said, basically it is fresh stuff. Meat, Fish, Poultry, Eggs, Beans, Nuts and Vegetables / Salad / Fruit. Within reason you can eat as much of these as you like. Throw in some exercise and you will either lose weight (if you are currently overweight), or maintain a healthy weight (if you are not really that overweight).

Is it a bit more difficult, less convenient in this busy modern world. Yes it is slightly but would you prefer the slight inconvenience of having to buy and prepare fresh food and healthy meals that you can eat a lot of and enjoy, or suffer the misery of continually being on a deny yourself everything type diet?

So what does this mean in practical terms? The best way to illustrate that is probably to tell you what I’m eating at the moment. I am on a drive to lose some weight and strip some blub from around my middle area. I’m not overweight at all really. I was about 12 stone 5 pounds  and want to get down to about 11 stone 10 if possible. Why? Well because as I’ve already told you I’m vain and would love once in my life to have some proper 6 pack abs. So I’m training quite hard and want to lose some weight but at the same time don’t want to lose any muscle and therefore need to eat well and decent portions. So here is what i ate yesterday and will eat today.

Yesterday: Went to the Gym first thing. When i got back i had a medium bowl of Greek Yoghurt (the real stuff, not Greek style) with a large handful of blueberries thrown in and a drizzle of honey over the top. This was washed down with a double scoop protein shake. Late morning i had a Banana. At lunch i had 2 eggs, simply cracked into a bowl, salt and pepper and microwaved for 1 minute. Mid afternoon a large handful of mixed nuts. Then for dinner we sat down as a family and smashed into 3 beautiful lamb cutlets (with the lovely crispy fat as well) and a large salad. The salad was mixed leaves, loads of tomato’s, red pepper, spring onion and a large avocado. It took ten minutes to make the salad and about 7 minutes to cook the chops, what’s hard about that? I was full and very happy.

Today is a no Gym day. So far I’ve had the same bowl of Yoghurt, Blueberries and Honey plus one banana. For lunch i plan a couple of Ryvita’s smeared in delicious Nut butter, probably another Banana and some Melon I’ve got in the fridge. Mid afternoon I’ll probably break cover, be bad and have a cup of coffee with a biscuit. Then for dinner it will be similar to last night. We have some marinated spicy turkey breast steaks with a different type of salad and maybe some couscous.

Is it working? Absolutely! I’m down to 12 stone 1 pound. Feel great and am seeing some Abs appear (although long way to go yet). Also the trick here is that I don’t deny myself. We have got a few social nights out coming up in the next few weeks and on those nights I’m going to eat and drink what the hell i like, no denial whatsoever. Can you do that on a diet? No. However on a lifelong healthy eating plan you can cut yourself some slack and break loose now and then.

To just go back over this and make things very clear. The critical thing you need to change is not just your diet, it’s your attitude to food and eating. Be proud of the fact that you are changing your life for the better. In the book I’m writing I talk about pride as being a big motivating factor and maybe my next post will be about pride and other tools you can use for motivation. Your attitude needs to be “I am going to eat well, eat healthily, prepare my food myself instead of letting the supermarket do it, and I can eat big portions and be bad now and again”. It’s just common sense, it’s just going back to what our Grandparent did and adopting their “meat and two veg” lifestyle but making it more fun.

Future posts will start to give recipe advice, tips on how to prepare food in advance to cut down on time and if you want I’m happy to give more examples of what I’m eating.

Take Care,

John

 

I need HELP….Now! – Comments, Ideas, what do YOU want?

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IdeasHello from the other side…..

No seriously, i do need your help. It’s all very well me writing these posts, offering advice and giving opinions but it’s all coming from me. What i really want to know is what EXACTLY would you like to see on a site like this, what are your ideas. When you are scrolling Facebook or Twitter, rummaging around on the web, looking at other fitness, health or diet sites, what is it that really GRABS your attention.

Tell me, i really want to know. What are your interests and what would stop you in your tracks for 5 minutes from your busy days and make you read an article. Do you want more specific training routines? Tips on losing weight? Specific diets? Ways to incorporate health and fitness into your daily routine? I’m here to help and keen to provide the information that you want.

Would you be interested in my daily routine (what i eat – good and bad-, how i train, how much booze i drink etc? Do you want tips on equipment to use, training techniques, specific exercises? Do you want more focus on alternative health and fitness themes? Give me some ideas.

This is a call to action. Please, pretty please, tell me what that one thing you’d love to see is. If you could wave a magic wand and think “if only someone could show me how to….” or “If only someone would tell me….”. Just ask and it’s yours…….well maybe, depends on what you ask, but I’ll definitely try.

The whole purpose of this is to be interactive. It’s for ordinary guys and ordinary girls who are going about their daily lives and just want to improve, to be better, fitter, healthier, stronger BUT who also do have a life and need to work around that.

So come on, take 2 minutes, hit the comment button or email me. Tell me “what you want, what you really really want” (Ok no more song jokes i promise).

I’m sitting at my laptop waiting, DON’T disappoint me!

Take Care,

John

Healthy Eating for Weight Loss – What, when, how…..

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Healthy Lean FoodThe title makes it sound so easy and to some extent it is BUT you must come to terms with the fact that this is not some quick fix. You can’t lose some weight then go back to eating what you were eating before, it just doesn’t work that way. This is a lifestyle change……forever!   “Whoooah!!” I can hear you thinking, “I’m not sure I’m up for that, who wants to go on a diet forever?”

You’re absolutely right, no-one does and that is exactly the point, this is NOT a diet. A diet implies something you are doing. You are going “ON” a diet. That implies a beginning and an end. So what happens when it ends? You just go back to eating loads of crap again and the weight and health issues all return. This is not like that. This is about making fundamental changes to the way you think and live for ever more, BUT it will still allow you to eat many of the things you love and enjoy, still have a few drinks and even enjoy a major blow out now and then. Read my previous post about consistency which outlines how being consistent in your eating and fitness allows you to still have fun.

So let’s cut to the chase. What do i need to eat, how do i need to eat and when etc? I will post a series of articles going into a lot more detail as this is and can be a very complex subject and much of it will depend to some extent on what your goals are ie losing a lot of weight or toning up and building muscle. For now let’s just cover some basics.

My personal philosophy and what works for me is to try to be good around 80% of the time. The way i do that is i eat as clean as possible from Monday through to Friday evening. Then depending on what’s happening socially i relax everything and eat/drink more of what i enjoy from Friday evening to Sunday evening. That doesn’t mean i go out of my way to binge, eat crap, shovel chocolate and crisps down my neck or drink gallons of beer. I’m still careful, but it just means if I’m going for a curry i eat what i want and have a few beers, or I’ll have a big Sunday roast with all the trimmings, possibly even an egg and bacon breakfast sometimes. If you cut everything out 7 days a week you simply WILL NOT stick to it. Don’t set yourself up to fail. By treating yourself a bit each week it makes the “being good” days much easier.

So what to eat and what not? Generally speaking it’s very simple and you all know the answer without me telling you. Eat fresh food as much as possible and avoid anything processed wherever it is possible. If it’s in a packet and you have to read the ingredients, calories, fat levels etc, it’s probably best to avoid it all together. Even if it says “low fat” or “low sugar” on the packet, trust me, it won’t be good for you.

When trying to lose weight you obviously need to cut your calorie intake and also limit the amount of Calorie dense and nutritionally poor foods. Packaged food always contains chemicals, preservatives, hidden sugar and bad “trans fats”. Simply by cutting out processed or packaged food as much as possible i guarantee you will become healthier and lighter. As much as you possibly can avoid sugar at all costs. Not only does it contain huge amounts of calories per weight but recent research suggests that refined sugar is possibly a direct cause of cancer as well as other illnesses such as diabetes. Just cutting your sugar intake by 75% will have a dramatic impact.

The good news is that the old belief that fat is bad for you has been proven to be wrong completely. In fact fats are essential and help you to shed calories faster and also converts to muscle quicker than other types of food. Generally speaking you need to increase your protein intake, increase your good fat intake and cut back a bit on Carbohydrates. In simple terms that means:

Good foods: Fresh meat- Chicken, Turkey, Pork, Lamb, some cuts of Beef. Fish – pretty much all fish is fine but also include some oily fish such as Salmon, Mackerel, Sardines etc as they contain Omega 3 oils which are very good for you. Egg’s – a few eggs a week are definitely something you should include in your diet. ALL vegetables and salad stuff but especially Brocolli, Cauliflower, Kale, dark leaved salads, Beetroot, Peppers, Tomato’s. Advocado is another MUST. Not only is it versatile and taste great but it contains loads of very healthy fats. On top of these pulses and beans such as lentils, kidney beans, black beans, Cannelloni beans etc are all good. Nuts of all types (almonds, brazil, cashew, walnut, hazelnut, peanut). You can now buy great organic Nut butters (variations on peanut butter) which contain a lot of calories but in small amounts are also really healthy and they are good calories. Use virgin Olive Oil for salad dressings and Coconut oil or (believe it or not, proper old fashioned full fat butter) to cook with. Cheese in small amounts is fine and real live yoghurt is also good. (Warning- read the labels in supermarkets. You will often see Greek “style” yoghurt. That is not the real thing). I use Skyr the Icelandic high protein yoghurt. In terms of fruits Berries (especially blueberries) are all good, apples and banana’s etc.

In terms of Carbs, you definitely still need them, it’s just how you get them that is important. Try to cut back on Bread as much as possible (weekends only and opt for a brown or wholegrain type). Similarly with pasta, you can still have it but cut back. Rice, again if possible opt for brown or wild rice, if you don’t like it you can still eat white but cut back the portions. Potatoes just now and again although sweet potato contains a lot of protein and is fine. Vegetable contain lots of carbs and are a great, low calories way of getting both fibre and carbs into your diet so load up on Brocolli, Cauliflower, Kale, Cabbage etc.

Finally to add some flavour and zing to all that fresh produce you definitely need to stock up your spice and herb cupboard. Garlic and Ginger are both great for you. Spices like Turmeric, Chilli, Cinnamon, Black Pepper are all great for you and add not only flavour but have all sorts of fantastic health benefits. I add many of the above to almost everything.

If you’ve just read the list I’m sure you’ll agree, it isn’t rocket science. We all know that fresh, non processed food is good and processed and packaged food is bad. You just need to change your mind set and approach to them.

A final warning note. Just as important as what you eat is what you drink. It is very very hard indeed to find drinks that don’t contain a huge amount of sugar and loads of chemicals that you just don’t want in your body. If you have 4 or 5 cups of tea/coffee a day with a couple of sugars in each one and a can of coke then that is hundreds of worthless calories in one day. Wherever possible avoid ALL fizzy drinks, either cut the sugar you have in tea and coffee to a minimum or just cut back on the number of cups per day. The same goes for alcohol. I love a drink, especially a glass of wine with a meal. Not long ago my wife and I were drinking a bottle of wine a night most nights and added beers and extra wine at the weekend. I’m not saying don’t drink but Monday to Friday try to avoid it as much as you can. It will save you thousands of calories a week AND is better for your health all round. Drink lots of water, 4-6 large glasses a day and if you find it boring squeeze some lemon in it or add some mint or ginger to change it up a bit.

I’m aware that this post is dragging on now so rather than prolong it my next post will go into some detail about how to actually apply this knowledge practically. What you can do on a day by day basis and will give some examples of the types of meals you can eat.

I’d welcome your comments and am happy to answer any questions you have.

Take Care,

John

20 Minute Home workout that BLASTS Calories and Tones Muscles!

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20-minute-full-body-workoutYour life is busy, you have become the taxi service of Mum & Dad, you are unfit, over weight and don’t want to be seen at a Gym……(Yet!)

Do any of those descriptions fit you? Do you think that unless you hit the Gym 4 times a week and pound away for at least an hour that you can’t make any difference to your life? Well I’m here to tell you that just isn’t true. Here is a 20 minute work out that you can do at home, in your garden or even your front room with very little equipment at all.

Do this every day for the next 4 weeks and I PROMISE you that there will be noticeable changes. You will be fitter, should lose weight and will also be stronger. This is not a routine aimed at people who are already pretty fit, it is aimed more at the beginners who want to kick start their new fitness regime but it will also be effective as a maintenance routine for those who just need to do something, anything other than sit on the sofa.

So here goes. Do all of these exercises for the stated number of repetitions (or time) without any rest between the exercises. Then when you have finished the cycle stop and rest for 1 minute or a maximum of 90 seconds. Keep going for the full 20 minutes and see how many cycles of the routine you can do. Keep a record and try to beat it each day.

10 x Goblet Squats. Ideally use a dumbbell with a weight you are comfortable with (5kg, 10kg) or if you don’t have access to a dumbbell find something you can use at home (4kg bag of rice, large bag of potatoes etc). Keep your form nice and steady, squat as low as you can and concentrate on contracting and squeezing your thigh and butt muscles as you move up and down.

10 x Press ups. Keep your arm just wider than shoulder width. Lower yourself until your nose almost touches the floor and then push back up. Concentrate on trying to squeeze your upper arm and chest muscles together as you push back up and extend at the top. If you are either very heavy or are a lady and can’t manage full press ups yet, then lady press ups where you rest on your knees are fine until you become stronger.

Jump back to your feet and do 10 x forward lunges, 5 on each side. Concentrate on stepping forward in a controller fashion, bend your trailing leg until the knee touches or almost touches the floor, then push up firmly with your front leg. Again, squeeze your thigh and butt muscles on the way up and down.

10 x Reverse Tricep Dips. Use a stable chair or low ish table top. Place your hands on the edge of the chair at shoulder width apart behind you and your feet comfortably just in front of you as you lean back very slightly. Bend your arms to roughly 90 degree’s and lower yourself down. Push yourself back up by straightening your arms. Concentrate on squeezing your tricep (back of your arm) as you straighten back up.

20 x Jumping Jacks. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and hands by side. Do a slight jump and push your feet out to the side to wider than shoulder width apart. As you do this fling your arms out to the side and bring them up into a clapping motion above your head. Do 20 reps.

Finally get down into a Plank position. Rest your wait on your forearms. Have your feet at shoulder width and your body should be held in as straight a position as possible (no sagging in the middle). Once you are aligned squeeze your stomach, thighs and butt and hold the position for a count of 30.

That’s it. As described, take a rest for a minute or 90 seconds if you must. Then repeat as many time as you can in the 20 minutes.

As you get fitter and stronger simply decrease the rest time between sets.

TOP TIP: click on the red highlighted words to be taken to demonstration videos of these excercises. The videos are not mine but give you an idea of how to perform them correctly.

This routine will work for both guys and girls and if you combine with healthy eating (see future posts) it will help you to shed weight, improve your fitness and strength AND improve heart and lung function.

In a few weeks I’ll post some more 20 to 30 minute exercise routines that you can do at home.