Good afternoon all,
I hope you are good…..
So just last night I finished an article for a magazine on the some of the common problems that guys have with getting in shape. The magazine, I do believe will be available in WHSmiths at some point, I will let you know when it does come out.
Meanwhile, here is a little preview for you :
4 Common Problems Guys Have With Getting In Great Shape…..
A lot of guys get it slightly wrong when going for fat loss, no…..they get it horribly wrong…. and its not their fault. Often mis-information from the media and marketing and labeling of products does this. (Notice how I didn’t call them foods)
4 surprising things not to worry about if you want to become healthier and lose fat…..
1. Calorie counting……..
Ask anyone who feels good about the healthy habit they have created around food and see if they calorie count. I am not denying that calories exist, or that they aren’t important in some way. However the bigger picture is that guys need to keep their testosterone and human growth hormone levels up to lose fat from our problem areas, the chest and stomach. Make sure your foods, swim, run, grow or fly and then look at the amount of carbohydrate, protein and fat on your plate or in your snacks.
I am not denying that calories don’t have role to play….but lets worry about the wholesome nature of the food first.
2. “Cardio”- did you see anyone get in great shape on a treadmill or cross trainer….nope…… most of them just wish they could get that hour back!
Grab that resistance band, grab those dumbbells and your trainers and use the best tool you have…
YOU!
Weights and resistance training, cardiovascular intervals are getting people great results. In fact recently, a client of ours Gareth, lost 24lbs and 5.5 inches off his waist in under 7 weeks. The benefit of training with resistance and weights is that your metabolism is elevated for a lot longer after the session has finished. Bonus, you burn more fuel at rest!
3. Doing more and more exercise- less can be more when it comes to “exercise”!
Please be aware this different to becoming more physically active. Most people need to start with physical activity, it tends to be less structured, includes walking, gardening, house chores and manual labour.
I actually had a client just do more physical activity for the first two weeks before I gave him “exercises” to do. Why because he needed to oxygenate his blood, reduce nutritional stress and move more, before we worry about how many squats he does in 1 minute. By the way a simple guideline for you to follow is this…..3-5 x per week with sessions of 20-45 minutes, this could be just what you need and it won’t burn you out and you won’t get bored!
By the way he has lost inches everywhere and is now training (3 weeks in)…because he is ready to get the most from it!
4. Taking supplements……. Yes…. what is the point in taking alkalising salts and creatine if you still drink coke for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Why take a greens drink if you drink coffee, eat haribo and smoke every day?! Now, by the way there are some very important supplements that can aid health that you can’t get all year round in the United Kingdom.
Not what big gyms, supplement companies or faddy diet books want to hear…..and in some cases the truth is , some people do need to supplement, exercise more and watch their calories.
BUT these are not the people who want to improve their health…. they tend to be the ones who want to improve performance in competition. Again, supplementation can be VERY powerful and we do it to add supportive nutrition to an already good diet, NOT to replace FOOD!
So what should be YOUR priority in getting started……
I think the main priorities for fat loss or any goal are emotions/mindset/sleep/stress.
They all seem to tie in together.
People fail to see that they are more than just a physical body and by not understanding that they tend to focus on the physical side of things- like more training, less calories etc. but they fail to see that physical change comes from your mind and creating a why…. around doing what you do. After all, every time you train and most times you eat, you should have in your subconscious mind a reason for doing so and idea of the result you are aiming for.
Two important things:
1) Stress management and resulting hormone balance
2) Water
As a team of coaches at our personal studios and our fitness camps, we help clients to change habits by giving them certainty and removing guesswork as often as we can.
Sure we cannot be certain that of every single event…no one can…..
But we have a system that works and is flexible and thus is successful.
As humans are we the only species who think about the future all the time?
Our brain works on prediction, it is impossible to predict the future and so when people do that it puts them under stress/threat.
The truth is that the answer will depend on what state of stress / what part of their brain we are living in.
Someone with low stress and a generally happy outlook will likely really enjoy (afterwards) hard sessions more often and find it easy to eat the so-called ‘clean’ food to get results.
Someone with huge self-esteem issues, stress and seems to live in a state of flight or flight will do better with more focus on mindset coaching, threat removal, breathing work and lower intensity strength and cardiovascular work. THAT’S coaching!
From my point of view, good coaching is about meeting someone where they are, not having a set agenda for everyone.
From your perspective it’s about reducing stress and improving lifestyle and support these with efficient exercise and nutrition.
So don’t worry about the first 4 things I mentioned in this article, just yet instead I would urge you to focus on the three below before you go any further.
1) Stress management and resulting hormone balance
2) Water and hydration
3) Sleep
Matt 🙂
p.s. On Wednesday I will be sending out details of the Blast Fitness Holiday that I am hosting in April for 10 guests. If you would like the information and provisional itinerary on this before that please let me know via email (info@fa-fitness.co.uk).
Matt
Owner of Functionally Aware Fitness Personal Training
Voted Cornwall’s Best Fitness Instructor 2016
Voted The UK’s Most Innovative Fitness Entrepreneur 2012
International Best Selling Author of The Fad Free Fitness Formula
Author of The Hot to Trot Cook Book and The Equestrian Athlete Plan
Email: Info@fa-fitness.co.uk / Phone: 07841 136302
