Cancer

You may have noticed this story in the news:

Over 40% of cancers due to lifestyle.

If not, click here for the story, and click here for an explanation of the story from the excellent NHS “behind the headlines” website (I love this place, it explains the millions of health related stories you read in the papers and helps you decide which ones you can totally ignore!).

If you want to change your lifestyle for the better, click here to download my very simple guide to help you.

Harvard School of Public Health – Healthy Eating Plate

The Harvard School of Public Health has just published their Healthy Eating Plate (click here).

I am going to use this Healthy Eating Plate in conjunction with their Healthy Eating Pyramid (click here) and my 10 Simple Rules for healthy eating (click here) as the basis for helping people improve their diet.

Click here to go to the Harvard website explaining everything, or read the following quote I shamelessly stole off them…

When it’s time for dinner, most of us eat off of a plate.  So think of the Healthy Eating Plate as blueprint for a typical meal: Fill half your plate with produce—colorful vegetables, the more varied the better, and fruits. (Remember, potatoes and French fries don’t count as vegetables!) Save a quarter of your plate for whole grains. A healthy source of protein, such as fish, poultry, beans, or nuts, can make up the rest. The glass bottle is a reminder to use healthy oils, like olive and canola, in cooking, on salad, and at the table. Complete your meal with a cup of water, or if you like, tea or coffee with little or no sugar (not the milk or other dairy products that the USDA’s MyPlate recommends; limit milk/dairy products to one to two servings per day). And that figure scampering across the bottom of the placemat? It’s your reminder that staying active is half of the secret to weight control. The other half is eating a healthy diet with modest portions that meet your calorie needs—so be sure you choose a plate that is not too large.

I know you know someone who can benefit from this…so please help them by using the “share” buttons below.

This is my quote for the day…

“Aim for “perfect”, but settle for “good enough”.

This means, be aware of and recognise what you want in a “perfect world”, and every day strive to get there.  This can mean the perfect job, perfect girlfriend or the perfect move done with perfect technique and perfect timing.

But recognise that this is not a “perfect world”, and be happy when you have something that is good enough, effective and does the job.

Picture from http://www.deddington.org.uk/community/fireservice

I have been trying to apply this rule to as many things in my life as possible.  And I was happy to have it confirmed 2 weeks ago when I was on a first aid course.

The bloke taking the course was Bob the firefighter (a top bloke, really good, knowledgable and funny guy).  He gave an example…

You have a badly injured casualty in a burning house.  In a perfect world, you would get a stretcher in there, pump him full of painkillers and slowly, gently ease him out…but this is not a perfect world and the fire is heading your way.  So you sling him on your back, ignore his cries of pain and get him out as quickly as possible.

In other words, you do it as perfect as you and your situation will allow…but at the end of the day, you don’t waste time, you get the job done!

The same thing goes for exercising/training/changing your diet.  There are too many people out there who don’t give a damn, go through the motions and so don’t get anywhere. There are also too many people who worry/fret so much about the “best/only way”, that they end up not doing anything at all…so don’t get anywhere.

So this is what I try to instill in the people I train.

• Don’t be slap-dash, not bother, or do it badly.
• Don’t seize up and freeze because you are worrying too much.

But this is not an excuse to stop trying hard as hell to perfect your technique.  So remember (quick plug coming up!), if you live in or around Skipton, you can get your technique checked over in one of my Exercise Clinics.

Click here to contact me, or share this with your friends who might benefit.

I have mentioned periodisation before (click here).  It is the “big picture” view of training.  It is about managing your training in such a way as to maximise your results.

I talked before about doing things in a certain order, but it also means managing when you can work hard and when you need to ease off to recover.  In this way, periodisation works on different time scales, such as:

Calendar

• Short term – time measured in hours or days.
• Medium term – time measured in weeks or months.
• Long term – time measured over a year or longer.

So one essential bit of kit is a calendar.  And looking at your calendar, you can’t help but notice that Christmas is coming up quickly.  And I guarantee that virtually everyone will end up eating/drinking too much and training too little/not at all.

But that’s ok.  Because if we are clever, we just incorporate this into our periodised training plan.  The most basic plan is to gradually ramp up our training and diets to “peak” just before December 25th.  This will leave our bodies in the peak of health, fitness and strength, and the “easy” period of recovery coincides with our week of eating, drinking and watching The Great Escape on tv.

Then, at the end of this week, fully recovered, we are ready to get back into training in the best condition we have ever been at the start of January!

Compare this to what most people will do.  They will think:

“Buggerit!  Christmas is just round the corner.  There is no point exercising/dieting now.  I’ll wait until the new year…”

This means you will head into Christmas bloated, unfit and weak/feeble.  And in this terrible condition, you then start to eat/drink too much, making things even worse.

It is little wonder that come January, so many people struggle to get going again.

Don’t let this be you.  Contact me now (click here) and I can help you get through Christmas better than ever before.

PS  – it has always been a tradition since I was a kid training with Roger back in Aberystwyth, that we have a Boxing Day training session.  It was never a nasty, hard one.  It was geared around getting together with friends and keeping the training “ticking over”.  It was basically “fun and games”.  This is a tradition I aim to continue this year.  How about you?

I’ve noticed that when I talk to people about diets, we often end up talking at cross purposes, and they don’t always understand what I’m on about.  

To your average person, a “diet” means one thing…a short term, drastic change in their eating/drinking habits which they “go on”, in order to lose some weight. 

When I think about diets, I prefer to use the following definition: 

 “The usual food and drink of a person or animal” 

This ties in with my love of looking at and understanding the big picture.  And in this big picture, I broadly split diets into 3 categories: 

Weight loss diets

In need of a weight loss diet.

This is what most people usually think of.  The goal is to reduce the bodyfat levels of a person.  These kind of diets must follow the basic principle of supplying a deficit of calories.  So, most calorie dense foods (sweets, chocolates and processed foods) are out.  

Different people use weight loss diets for different reasons.  Some examples include: 

• They are overweight and want/need to reduce weight for health reasons.
• They are an athlete and need to make a certain weight for their sport (such as making the weigh-in for boxers).
• They are an athlete and a higher power-to-weight ratio is an advantage (such as cyclists).

This should be a temporary, short term, calorie deficit diet until the target weight is achieved.  Then the person should move onto a maintainance diet… 

Weight maintainance diets

This is the kind of diet most of us should be aiming to spend most of our adult lives on.  This is where our bodyweight does not significantly increase or decrease.  These diets must follow the basic principles of balancing calories in vs. calories out.  This usually consists of a balance of calorie dense and calorie sparse foods (and plenty of exercise).  This should be a long term (virtually lifelong) diet. 

Weight gain diets

In need of a weight gain diet.

This is a diet aimed at increasing the size of a person.  To do this, it must follow the basic principle of supplying an excess of calories and plenty of protein.  As such, many calorie dense foods are in.  

Different people use weight gain diets for different reasons.  Some examples include: 

• People who have been seriously ill often need to put weight back on in order to fully recover.
• Athletes whos sport includes elements of strength often need to increase their muscle mass to improve their chances of winning (eg rowers).
• Athletes in various contact sports need to add weight to reduce their risks of injury (eg rugby/american football players)

This is a temporary, short term, excess calorie diet until the target weight is achieved.  Then the person should move onto a maintenance diet. 

Summary.

So these are the main categories I use when it comes to diets.  But one last thing to be aware of…our bodies are constantly changing/adapting to the demands of life.  And as our bodies/lives change, so too must our diets.  What was once a weight loss diet can quickly become a weight gain diet.  This is a very common thing to see in retired people. 

In work, they have been active, so their maintainance diet has been balanced by their physical activities.  When they retire, their activity levels plummet, but they don’t alter their diets.  So what was once a maintainance diet rapidly becomes a weight gain diet and they start to pile on the pounds. 

So put really simply, everyone should aim to eat the right things (click here), in the right amount.

Over the last couple of days I have given the same advice to 2 different people, for 2 different reasons.  And none of it had anything to do with reps, sets, intensities, speed etc.  Instead it was quite simply to:

“Relax and don’t worry about it”.

I’m no psychologist.  All I know is what I learned in my Animal Behaviour modules in University (and humans are just animals with egos), and what I have picked up over my years of getting people to do better than they thought they could.

But I know how important having the right frame of mind is.  It can mean the difference between winning and losing (or achieving or missing your goals).  Going into something believing you will fail almost guarantees you will fail.

But in the long run (and I love looking at the big picture) having the right attitude can regulate what happens on the occasions when (not if) you fail/succeed.

Situation #1.

Being relaxed and not worrying (like Antony Duffy here) means you can go from getting swept and falling over, to counter attacking and scoring in less than a second.

In Karate the other night, a couple of the students were sparring.  One was really trying to catch his opponent.  He is bigger, stronger and just as fast, but when he missed his opponent a couple of times, he got frustrated.  This caused him to seize up, slow down and miss obvious opportunities.  This in turn, caused even more frustration and so on.  This is a classic case of a negative feedback loop.  Once you get into them, it is hard to get out of them.

While this guy was getting frustrated, his opponent was having a whale of a time!  He was relaxed and playing, so he was quicker, more confident and willing to try different things…utimatly, he was enjoying himself!

Solution.

Relax and don’t worry about it.  Everybody misses sometimes.  Even Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest fighters of all time missed some punches!  So it really isn’t a big deal if sometimes we miss too.  We are not perfect!  But we are quicker, more agile, more flexible and have a greater range of options open to us, if we are physically and mentally relaxed.  This makes us more likely to succeed…which makes us more relaxed, and so on.  This is an example of a positive feedback loop.

It took me a hell of a long time to learn to relax.  But when I did, there was a step change in my kumite.

Situation #2.

A lady who used to be 19 stone went on a fairly restricted, low carb diet.  She now weighs in at only 10 stone!  Fantastic achievement!  But she has now been on this diet for years, and is sick to death of the food she has to eat.  Because of this, there is the danger of a couple of things happening:

• She falls off the wagon in a huge way and binges out on sugary foods, putting her health, teeth and mental balance at risk.
• She goes through life miserable, not enjoying one the most fundamental and vital aspects of our lives (food).  And maybe even spiraling down into some kind of eating disorder.

Solution.

Relax and don’t worry about it.  Take a complete break from her diet for a week or two.  She has succeeded in almost halving her bodyweight!  And in the long run, eating a single pie is not going to pile the pounds back on!  Incorporating periods of maintenance diet into her weight loss diet will mean a number of things:

• She won’t gain weight.
• She will continue losing weight if she still wants to.
• She will stop seeing some foods as forbidden and craving after them (an unhealthy relationship with food).
• She will stop being sick to death at the thought of other foods and hoping to avoid them altogether (another unhealthy relationship with food).
• She will take a huge burden off her shoulders and start to enjoy life, and food, some more (a healthy relationship with food).

In the first situation, the guy needed to relax in order to turn a failure into a victory.

In the second situation, the woman needed to relax in order to realise she had already succeeded!

Two different situations, but the same advice for both.  Of course, this advice doesn’t work for all people in all situations (never believe in absolutes ).  But here in the fitness industry, there are far too many people, taking far too many things, far too seriously.

1. Learn the basics (yes, those boring basics that we never bother with because we are far too advanced for them!)
2. Follow the basics most of the time.
3. (This is the most important one, so pay attention) Enjoy learning and following the basics most of the time.

So you want to get good at something?  It could be getting good at your sport, your diet, your job, your relationship or your school subject.

But there are good and bad ways to go about this.  One of the best ways is to work from the general to the specific.

This means you spend time getting the fundamental, foundation principles right before worrying about the minute details.  Get good at the general stuff first, then move on to the specifics.  For example:

• In the gym, make sure you have all-over, full-bodied, balanced strength and the ability to move correctly.  Have this before you start over analysing how many reps of bicep curls and tricep kickbacks you should be doing, or god forbid, which muscle head you are “hitting”!
• In Karate, make sure you can move forwards and backwards without tripping over yourself, and you can actually hit a target without busting your wrists/elbows/shoulders.  Then start worrying about your flying kicks.
• In your diet, make sure you are consistently eating the right things in the right amounts, before shelling out for diet pills/protein powders.
• If you want to be a brain surgeon, you got to spend years of hard graft on the wards before you go poking around a skull with a scalpel.

The important thing to remember is:

“Don’t try to run before you can walk”

And don’t over analyse and worry about the minute details, and end up missing the obvious.

“Don’t miss the woods for the trees”.

Examples of the general to the specific for the 3 main reasons people do exercise are:

• Getting Fitter - Make sure you can last at least 10 minutes at a steady pace before you even think about heart rates or being in the “fat burning zone” (the most pathetic programme on any cv machine!)
• Getting Stronger - Make sure you are consistent and competent in full range, compound (multi-joint) moves such as standing shoulder press, pressups, rows, squats, lunges and deadlifts.  Before this, any small, isolation (single joint) moves such as curls, kickbacks or flies should be done last and take up no more than 5 minutes.
• Losing Fat - make sure that at least half of every main meal is colourful vegetables, and the other half should not be processed or man-made food.  Only after you are consistently doing this should you start thinking about meal frequency or timing or any pills/potions.

A regular in the gym I work at came up to me asking for newer, more elaborate exercises, because the ones she is doing now “aren’t working”.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that there is nothing wrong with doing new, funky exercises…but do them for the right reasons.

Before overcomplicating things, get the basics RIGHT

The right reasons to do new, funky exercises is to help keep things interesting and to keep a smile on your face.

The wrong reason is because the basics “aren’t working”.  Because I can almost guarantee that the basics are working!  You just got to make sure you are doing the basics properly.

And sure enough, when I checked over the routine my regular in the gym was doing, she had been skipping over the tried, trusted and effective basics to spend more time doing weird and wonderful stuff.

But because she had neglected the basics, she simply didn’t have the physical capability to do the more complex stuff properly.

She had fallen foul of one of the most common problems…she was doing 3 hours of crap instead of 1 hour of quality.

“Doing more is not better…doing better is better.“

And this goes for most things in life.

Pompous old z-list movie actor:  “How dare you speak to me like that!  I’ve made 75 films!  What have you done?”

Young, talented, film director:  “I’ve made 2 films…Good ones!”

If you want to improve your diet, forget the little details like:

• Pills, potions and supplements
• Specially marketed “Meal Replacement Health Bars”
• Swapping your normal chocolate bar to one that’s “Low Fat”

Instead, sort out the basics like:

• Cutting out junk processed food
• Eating at least 5 portions of fruit and veg each and every day of the week.

If you want to improve your fitness, forget the details like:

• Is this machine better than that machine
• Should my heart rate be 70% or 75% of maximum

Instead, make sure you can handle being out of breath for at least 30 continuous minutes.

If you want to get bigger and stronger, forget the details like:

• Should my wrists be twisted this way or that way when I’m doing bicep curls
• Should I be using the pink or black dumbbells to do my tricep kickbacks

Instead, make sure:

• Your arms and legs are strong enough to hold and move your own bodyweight in many positions

Spend 90% of your time learning and perfecting the basics and then you will be able to follow the advice of one of the best coaches I have ever trained under…

“Do less, score more.”

Forgive me for the rambling nature of this post…it’s early and I’m still half asleep.

I did a very quick and un-scientific survey in work over the weekend.

“Why do you actually do exercise?”

And near the top of almost everyones list was because they actually liked it in some way.  Some liked it for the social aspect, for the activity itself, the buzz it gave them or the way it made them look/feel.  But they all enjoyed themselves.

This came as a surprise to a couple of people i told afterwards.  They couldn’t believe that people could enjoy what had made them so miserable in school, or any other time they had tried exercise.

But i honestly think that if you are one of those people, you just haven’t tried the right kind of exercise yet.  There are more ways to be physically active than there are shoes styles!  And if you had a pair of shoes you didn’t like, you wouldn’t shun all shoes forever.  You would shop around for a different pair…so shop around for the kind of exercise you like.  I guarantee there’s some out there in your style