Client of the Week

This week my shout out goes to Paul Hull.

I’ve actually known Paul for a long time and when he called me in February and said that he needed to get into shape for his wedding I had my reservations.

Having worked with Paul as a labourer whilst studying I was aware of his unhealthy lifestyle and that he enjoyed the odd beer or two…

When Paul reported to me back in February its fair to say he was in bad shape.

Weighing in at in excess of seventeen and a half stone, and with a BMI that put him in a morbidly obese category, I made it clear to Paul that if he wanted to work with me he had to change his lifestyle. I realised that Paul initially had some reservations but these were soon put to rest after a couple of simple exercises proved quite how unfit he was.

Since that first session Paul has made the most incredible changes.

By following my recommendations, Paul has lost more than three and a half stone. His improvements in strength, flexibility and general fitness have been astounding.

Not only did he look great on his wedding day, but also in the lull that followed such a fantastic day he made great use of his time, and set his sights on running a 10k.

This weekend, after eight weeks of training, Paul competed in his first 10k in the most treacherous of conditions and even beat his target time by two and a half minutes to finish in 57minutes.

I’m incredibly proud of Paul’s effort and can’t wait to see him get his feet muddy in the grim in December. In the meantime I will keep kicking his ass on the boxing and he will no doubt continue to claim that I quit before he did J

Congratulations Paul and keep up the good work!

Seven Reasons Why Sugar is Making You Fat

Your body cannot process too much of it
So simply it gets stored as fat. Plus it also makes fat burning even harder – if you eat sugar everyday, all the gym sessions in the world cannot help you. Remember, you cannot out exercise a bad diet!

Sugar is also addictive
So once you start eating it, it’s very hard to stop. This is why you very rarely find a pack of half-finished biscuits. Stop the cycle by not starting it.

Sugar causes exhaustion
Sugar leaches your body of vitamin B – as does any mental, physical and emotional stress – which causes exhaustion. Add sugar on to the end a stressed out day, and you get a double whammy of vitamin B depletion.

Leads to faster fat storage
Burning body fat is a lot to do with controlling insulin levels. Yet, consuming sugar raises insulin levels, leading to faster fat storage and this is the real reason why so many in the western world are overweight and obese. So sugar, not fat, is making us fatter.

Sugar lowers energy levels
Processed sugar causes damaging increase in your blood sugar levels, giving you a quick burst of energy, which is soon followed by a long, hard crash, leaving you tired, hungry and eventually, fat.

Sugar wears out your organs
It forces organs to cope with changes in your body chemistry which means your kidneys and pancreas can become worn out long before you stop needing them.

Depletes vitamin and mineral stores
Too much sugar depletes vitamin and mineral stores in the body, which may impact on the immune system. So you’ll become ill more frequently and for longer.

Drop Nearly Two Dress Sizes in Six Weeks...

This week I want to give a massive shout out to Kim McCoy-Page.

Like many of the women that I train Kim wanted a FLAT STOMACH!!!

With only six weeks to a big family holiday she didn’t have a lot of time to play with…

In ONLY six weeks…

Lost 1.5 inches from her Bust
Lost 2.75 inches from her Waist
Lost 1.5 inches from her Hips
Lost 0.75 inches from her Thigh

Let me just emphasise that a little more…

In six weeks Kim dropped a whopping 2.75 inches from her Waist!!

This is not to mention the massive improvements strength, posture and muscle tone!!

Now, there are large disparities in dress sizes in Britain and the industry standards state that a 1.5-inch reduction is a dress size, therefore is it fair to say that she has nearly dropped two dress sizes in six weeks?

I think you’ll all agree that these results are absolutely fantastic… Therefore as I always say don’t keep me a secret. If you have a friend or even an enemy that would be interested in personal training - give them my number TODAY!

Keep up the good work Kim!!

Delicious Roast Ratatouille

A traditional ratatouille is a mix of garlic, onions, peppers, courgettes and aubergines braised with lots and lots of olive oil. It's a very healthy recipe, but due to the smoke point of olive oil it is slightly compromised. To make this recipe equally delicious and a little healthier try roasting it and substituting olive oil for coconut oil. Season it with some unrefined sea salt (or as I use Fine Himalayan Pink Salt) and ground black pepper for delicious vegetable dish that the whole family can enjoy!

Preparation time: 10mins
Cooking time: 30mins
Total time: 40mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients
3 medium courgettes, sliced on the diagonal
1 large red onion, peeled, halved and cut into thin wedges held together by the root
1 red and 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into chunks
1 medium aubergine, halved lengthways and sliced into half-moons
3-4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tsp olive oil
6-8 ripe tomatoes, cut into large chunks
3 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
Fine Himalayan Pink Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C, gas mark 7.
Put the courgettes, onion, peppers, aubergine and garlic into a non-stick roasting pan large enough to fit them in one and a half layers (if the vegetables are more crowded, they'll steam, not roast). Toss with 2 tsp coconut oil. Roast for 20 minutes, stirring 2 or 3 times. Remove from the oven, stir in the tomatoes, and cook for 10 minutes more, till the tomatoes are soft and all the vegetables cooked. Remove from the oven, stir in the remaining coconut oil, season to taste, and serve.

How Do You Prepare For a 156-mile Footrace?

With less than six-weeks to go until my six-marathon challenge many people have been asking how my preparation has been going and what I’m doing.

When it comes to ultra distance training there seems to be no single best way to train.

With this type of challenge one aspect seems clear – I need to spend time on my feet!

In essence we get good at what we do most of - this is called The Training Effect.

Spending time on my feet (or for the layperson going out running?!) for extended periods of time will develop my body’s ability to take in and use oxygen efficiently and develop my body’s ability to become fuel-efficient. Going out and doing it (so to speak…) will toughen my feet, give me a chance to test fueling strategies (as I will be running up to 8hrs on one of the days) and allow me to try out equipment.

Due to the nature of the challenge preparation is important. On shorter single-day events you might get away with a pair of shoes that rub, or running with an upset stomach after taking a gel that didn’t agree with you. On a longer multi-day event these small issues can have much bigger consequences. Therefore practicing under race conditions is important.

How much running I do seems to be the multi-billion dollar question…

Exactly how much running I do and how I do it is governed by my ambition and strategy for the race, my previous experience, how much time I have available to train and what state – physically, mentally, emotionally – I am prepared to finish in (and how long I am prepared to recover!!)

One aspect seems clear to prepare for such an event you need to: Run. Lots. Consistently.

Therefore in answer to the question how do you prepare for 156 mile footrace? Honestly? I don’t know…

As my coach Andy Mouncey has said ‘the right combination for you?............. is the right combination for you’.

What I do realise is there are huge advantages to going long in training (20-miles+) and many other mental and emotional factors will come into play…

Bring it on!!!

Client of the Week

My congratulations this week go to Steph George.

Over the last 12 weeks Steph has worked incredibly hard at her diet and exercise programme (even with a young child and a big friendly dog to look after!) and has achieved some incredible results.

In 12 weeks…

Lost 2st 7lbs in Weight
Lost 3 inches from her Bust
Lost 5 inches from her Abdomen
Lost 4.75 inches from her Waist
Lost 4.25 inches from her Hips
Lost 2.5 inches from her Thigh
Lost 1.5 inches from her Upper Arms

This is not to mention the numerous improvements in strength, stamina, posture and health.

I think you’ll all agree that these results are absolutely fantastic… Therefore as I always say don’t keep me a secret. If you have a friend or even an enemy that would be interested in personal training - give them my number TODAY!

Keep up the good work Steph

To infinity and beyond!!

Eat More & Lose Fat!

It is easy to understand why even the most diligent of health consumer can feel lost and confused with all the contradictory information espoused by the nutrition industry.

The consistent disagreement between experts challenges the confidence of any health consumer.

The truth is there is no perfect diet for you. If there were such a thing there would not be 300+ diet books per year released claiming to be the next best thing!

One area I feel perhaps many people could benefit is looking at the quality of food they consume.

If buying organic does not appeal I would certainly encourage you to buy premium quality products.

Cheap food is cheap! You are what you eat and you definitely get what you pay for when you buy cheap food. The foods you consume go on to feed every individual cell within your body – in essence at a cellular level you are what you eat!

If you nourish your body with cheap processed toxic foods, rich in additives and low in nutrition at a cellular level you will be toxic.

When it comes to fat loss you need to understand that when the human body is besieged with toxins it will ‘store’ these toxins in your adipose tissue (in layman’s terms body fat) in order to reduce there circulation around the body.

In essence a toxic body stores more fat.

The other aspect you need to understand that a toxic body holds more water in order to water down the toxins. This is clearly not good if you are fixated with the scales!

Therefore my recommendations are simple nourish your body with good quality natural unprocessed nutritionally dense foods and you will watch the lbs of fat disappear.

For most people this means you might even be consuming more calories day-to-day than you usually would and losing weight!!