Personal Trainer Northampton Blog

I mentioned in my previous post e new eating plan.  It is largely protein based, balanced out with the right amount of carbohydrates, as you need to with a high protein diet.  Yesterday consisted of:

Breakfast – 1x scoop of whey protein , 1x banana, 1x bowl of rice krispies

Mid morning – 2 x Casein Protein

Lunch - Turkey in 4 slices of wholemeal bread

Mid Afternoon – 1 x Bowl of Porridge

Evening – Salmon Steak, New Potatoes, Asparagus, Broccoli, orange juice

Night time – Casein Protein, Sunflower seeds

Yesterday I reached quite a proud moment in training.  I achieved deadlift with a weight of 130kg, which is the most ever.  This ties in with a better meal plan that I am taking, in an attempt to add good muscle mass alongside my training.  I feel my diet has suffered and maybe not bought the best from my training as a result.  I will document successes and failures of course along the way.  If any of oyu have undertaken a new or different regime this year, or in fact starting from scratch, I would love to hear from you.  Yesterdays back workout consisted of:

3x 6 reps of Deadlift

Set 1 = 90kg

Set2 = 110kg

Set = 130kg

Wasn’t easy though!

Followed by one arm dumbbell lifts and barbell pull overs, an exercise for the lats.  I had never tried before but found it very successful.  It is performed by lying on a bench, arms out above your head ( longways) with elbows bent and then bring the arms up and over, down toward the chest.  This should result in the back muscles being worked.  If you use a heavy weight, please have a spotter or training partner there with you.

I read a very interesting article today.  The statistics provided said that in the UK, 3.6 million new gym meberships are taken out in the first 2 weeks of January.  That is a staggering amount.  However, studies show that 500,000 people never  go the the gym having paid for it, costing a combined £250 million pounds per year.  So, why do we pay this money and then never go?  Would we walk outside every month and throw £50 down the drain?  Of course not.  So why do we do it in this fashion?

We start of with the best intentions.  A new year, a new start.  Maybe go for a couple of sessions but then what happens?  One night maybe you feel tired.  You make dinner plans.  Something comes up.  “But I will work twice as hard next time!” you tell yourself.  But you miss another session.  And another.  Until it gets to the point you think, “well I’ve missed this many, what is the point of carrying on?”

I believe, and this is just personal opinion, that sometimes we can look at the goal of losing weight, being more fit or whatever it may be, we look at it as too much of a complete picture.  Let me exlpain.  Say you want to lose twenty pounds.  You think right I must lose twenty pounds.  But do you ever think how?  Try breaking your goal down.  As much as possible.  Try thinking  “I am going to lose x amount pounds by firstly going to the gym this Tuesday.  HEre I will perform…(and put in your exercise plan for that day.)  This is still still contributing to you r overall goal, but once you have been on that Tuesday, you can cross it off. You have achieved something toward your goal and this will make you feel better and successful.  Do this for everytime you visit the gym, or everytime you eat a healthier meal or everytime you lose a bit of weight.  Everytime you say this and complete this smaller action, you get that feeling of reaching a goal.  It isn’t your ultimate goal but it certainly is contributing toward it.

If you just say “ I want to lose x amount of pounds” then the only success you will feel is when you achieve this.  But, this will take time and along the way you can feel discouraged, put off and frustrated because you haven’t achieved it yet.  That is when I believe we start to miss our gym sessions, prioritise other things around the gym or exercise and eventually just stop going.  The more successes you can have, the more likely you are to stick with yourself and reach that goal.   If you have any thoughts on this, positive or negative, I would love to hear from you.  Please feel free to leave a comment.

Keep positive and keep working hard.  It will be worth it.

Mariusz Pudzianowski was crowned Worlds Strongest Man for a record breaking fifth time in a nail biting clmax to the 2008 competition.  Mariusz trailed USAs Derek Pondstone by one point going into the final event, the infamous Atlas Stones.  The top two were neck and neck on the fourth stone and dramatically on the fifth, Poundstone looked to have clinched the title.  But, unfortunately for the Police Officer from Conneticut, his fifth stone clipped the edge of the mount and slipped down.  Pudzianowski seized the chance to lift the fith, beating Poundstone in the event and in the overall standings.  Much credit must be given to Poundstone though, who pushed Pudzianowski all the way to the end.  A fantastic effort for a man who does all his training around a full time job as a Police officer.  Brilliant stuff.

Other hi-lights from the final must include the plane-pull.  This year it was carried out amazingly using a 45 tonne Hercules Military aircraft. Ultimately tohugh, credit must go to Pudzianowski.  Behind for all the competition, he never gave up and he proved what fighting to the very end can reward you with.  This win takes him past Magnus Ver Magnussun’s previous record four titles and into Strongman History.

Third Place was USA’s Dave ostlund.

And so another year is upon us and with it will undoubtedly bring many resolutions and vows to change habits, ourselves and our fitness levels.  Today sees the launch of the British Governments Healthy Eating Campaign to tackle obesity.  There will be advertising campaigns hi-lighting the dangers of high body fat levels, such as the increased risk of high blood pressure and Diabetes.  If you have pledged a new exercise plan and feel you may need support, please feel free to contact me.

Document your progress and keep focused.  You can achieve whatever you want.

I wanted to write a brief post today for us to take a moment to remember the armed forces serving our countries at the moment, particularly in Afghanistan.  Having just passed Christmas and now into the New Year, I’m sure many of you, as  I have, have spent time with families, friends and loved ones.  I just wanted to spare a thought for all those service men and women who are away from their families at this time of year.  They without question fight for their country and enable us to live the lives we do, in a free country.

God bless all of them and may they return to their families safely.

Somehow, time has flown by and we are nearing the end of another year. This automatically provokes reflection in most of us of the year gone by and looking forward to the New Year.  This can be quite an important time.  This year has not been the easiest in one way or another but I am grateful for everything I have.  If, like me, you are planning to set goals for the year to come, try to set them in as much detail as possible.  What do I mean by this?  For example, your goal may be too lose a stone by summer.  But usually thats where the goal ends and with no clear direction or plan, you don’t reach your goal.  Try to break it down further.  Look at what exercise you need to do, when, for how long.  If you need help, pleae contact me (details available on my Contact Tab) or someone local who could assist you.  Note down what you need to eat to help you reach your goal. Break into week by week, month by month and before you know it the time will be here and your goal can have been reached.

Sometimes I think we can be so unfair on ourselves.  We say “I want to do this or achieve this” and then don’t ever seem to work out how we are going to get there.  Then our goal gets lost in our everyday lives and then we feel disapppointed we didn’t achieve it.

Some of you may read my posts and think they aren’t always fitness related and that I talk so much about goals all the time. But the two really go hand in hand.  Most people training have a goal or target to achieve and this carries into your everyday life.  The more success you can breed in training, the more you can in your everyday life.  You are then automatically more motivated in the gym if things are going well for you.  It’s a good cycle!

I certainly hope to post again before the year is out but unfortunately again ill health has prevented me writing as much as I have wanted to and in case I will wish all my readers, supporters and other sites that link in a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and thank you all for your support.

David.

I have been thinking  a lot lately, more so than ever, of the effects of positive thinking.  In your life, the power to think and act positive can deflect many a negative event happening to you.  The same occurs in training.  If you are about to give up on a set of repetitions, as yourself, truly ask, if perhaps you can do one more rep? Or two?  Imagine yourself doing the rep.  Think positive.  Not, “I’m exhausted, I’ll never do another one” but ” It is just one more.  Think how much better I will feel after knowing I tested myself.  I can do this.”  Think positive and unleash your true potential.

Hello again!  I am very sorry it has been so long since I last posted.  As I explained, health took another turn for the worse.  It really can disrupt everything and that is one of the things I hate the most about it. 

My post today is entitled resistance training.  I have begun to incorporate this into my routines recently.  It consists of using, in my case, merely a rag or old T-Shirt.  It is effective for stomach exxercises, Overhead Tricep extensions and even Rows for the lower back.  My training partner pulls on the other end continuously, providing resistance as I pull in the opposing direction.  It works the muscles in a slightly different way to training on a machine or with free weights.  I find it great to finish of an exercise and use to work the muscle in question to failure.

Do you/have you used anything similar?  Are youa fan of resistance training or in fact against it?  I would, as always, love to hear your comments.

Many thanks and it’s great to be back

I am sorry to anyone visiting that there have not been any new posts for a short time.  Unfortunately, I am having a tough time with my epilepsy at the moment and so haven’t been very well.  I have been working on some new content though so please keep looking.

Thank you very much for your support.