Disregarding extraordinary circumstances, your body weight is ultimately a consequence of the way in which your brain operates. All the habitual behaviour that you exhibit is a result of your thought patters. Because your body weight is a consequence of the environment that you subject it to, your thoughts will determine how heavy you are.

There are four area’s to your life, the:

1. Physical
2. Mental
3. Emotional
4. Spiritual

The physical is what you can see and feel around you. The mental, emotional and spiritual are all intangible. However, these intangible dimensions to life determine our own belief systems and thus influence our behaviours, in turn affecting our physical environment. Here are some weight loss examples:

• You have low self-esteem and do not believe that your body is worth being looked after. This can manifest itself into a behaviour of overeating and thus gaining weight.
• You become anxious and believe that food is a useful tool to settle your anxiety. You therefore overeat and gain weight.
• You believe that you have a body that has an “overweight gene” and are therefore bound to be overweight. Thus, all your behaviours contribute to gaining weight.

Your beliefs dictate your behaviours. If you are overweight and are struggling to lose weight, this is going to be due to your internal and subconscious belief system. For if you truly believed that you can and should be at your desired weight, your habits would be conductive of this lower bodyweight.

Being overweight is a symptom of a deeper belief system. If you have been seeking to lose weight and wish to overcome this weight loss rut once and for all, you need to look beyond the physical.

Consider this analogy of fruit growing on a tree. If the fruit that is being produced is of substandard quality what do you do? Do you aim to take care of the fruit itself (ie. the physical manifestation that you can see)? Of course not. Rather, you go to the root of the problem by nurturing the tree itself. This means dealing with issues that you cannot see (moisture, soil nutrients, tree health etc.) so the fruits are grown optimally.

Weight loss is no different. If you are to treat the physical symptoms alone, you will never achieve sustained weight loss. This is like embarking upon a fad diet for a finite period of time. This drastic band-aid solution does not bring with it any long-term consequences unless you were to dig deeper and address the mental, emotional and spiritual issues at hand.

To accomplish a sustained physical change, you need to go to the root of the problem and entertain why you have this belief system in place. Maybe your lack of belief in yourself is holding you back from accomplishing extraordinary feats.  Maybe you have been overweight all your life and that’s all you know. Maybe there is another powerful belief at hand preventing you from taking control of your weight. Whatever it is, you need to address it. If you do not, you can almost guarantee yourself of indefinite weight cycling (up/down fluctuations) for the rest of your life.

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Before continuing, I wish to emphasise a point discussed extensively in many prior blog posts. They key to success with any fitness endeavour is consistency. The cumulative effects of multiple workouts is what delivers amazing results – no single workout in isolation will ever provide you with progress of any great magnitude. It is important to keep this in mind as the premise of this article.

Circumstances change – nothing is ever constant. Pausing an exercise routine will almost always become a necessity for all of us from time to time. In my professional experience, I have seen this situation culminate itself in a number of different ways (including changing jobs, longer working hours, moving house, lack of motivation, tragic events and financial circumstances). What may start out to be an honest and valid temporary pause on one’s fitness routine will more than likely turn out to be a long-term rut. When I say more than likely, I have seen it happen 95% of the time (at least) from a professional perspective.

So what differentiates this 5% minority to the  95% majority of people who struggle to resume their training, although they have the best of intentions when they initially pause their regime? It’s all to do with mindset. The few 5% of people who do resume exercise as quickly as possible are the people who are absolutely passionate about exercise and have managed to integrate an enjoyable routine into their lives. Exercise is something that is an integral part of their lifestyle. It is a priority in their life because the benefits of exercise (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually) run right down to their core. From my experience, this is not the case with the majority of people, because exercise is often considered to be a burden of some means (effort, financial, time etc.).

You will know in which category you stand. The 5% minority have absolutely no question in their minds that exercise is a necessity to maintain the quality of their lifestyle. The 95% majority may go through peak periods of regular exercise, yet this is also accompanied with long troughs where other life influences affect their consistency.

Consider your training history in an objective manner to determine where you fall. Don’t be fooled by your current mindset – this can be quite misleading, for nearly all people will get excited about exercise in one point in their life. The critical determining factor is whether or not you have displayed a consistent approach to exercise over a sustained period of time (years). If this is the case, you can objectively say that you do fall into the 5% minority.

So why such an emphasis on the distinction between how “most” people think about exercise? Well, if you’re thinking about pausing your exercise routine, here’s why:

The 5% minority prioritise exercise very highly all the time. Therefore only very (very) high life priorities will affect their consistency. Nothing affects how highly exercise is prioritised, it is a necessity of a good quality and enjoyable life.

The 95% majority normally have exercise as a much lower priority, or at a variable priority level. Therefore many life factors will affect their consistency. During specific periods of time, exercise may be prioritised higher (eg. preparing for a race, an upcoming event like a wedding, a weight loss challenge, warmer weather, a holiday etc.). However during other times, exercise is not of great importance and thus consistency is affected.

Because consistency is the key to long-term, sustainable and exceptional results, it is obvious why the majority of people fail to accomplish their goals in a sustainable manner. Exercise must be prioritised permanently, else you will continue to be “stuck” indefinitely.

Coming back to the topic at hand, if you have been exercising consistently for a short period of time and are considering placing a hold on your exercise regime, ask yourself why that is:

1. Do you fall into the 95% majority? If you do:
2. What is your reason for ceasing your exercise routine? Is it a legitimate reason and is it truly more important than continuing to exercise?
3. Can you honestly say that you will resume your exercise routine in the near future? If you can, on what date will this be and will you commit to this?

Ask yourself these questions honestly. Kidding yourself will only work to your detriment.

If at all possible, take every necessary step to avoid ceasing your exercise routine. Try making workouts less frequent, shorter, or try training outdoors/closer to home – whatever it takes to fit in with your changed circumstances. If you’re feeling de-motivated, hire a professional to get you back on track. If you fall into this 95% majority and cease exercising, I can say almost certainly that it will be significantly more difficult to resume an exercise routine in the future, than to continue exercising at present. This is because:

1. Habits are easier to maintain (whether that be habitually exercising or habitually remaining sedentary)
2. You will most likely feel discouraged after months of inactivity after the realisation of the physiological regression that has taken place (loss in fitness, loss in muscle mass, loss in strength etc.)

My professional advice is to avoid putting an exercise routine on hold AT ALL COSTS. I cannot emphasise this enough, as it is commonplace in this industry for people to initiate a routine, adhere to it temporarily and then cease training (for whatever reason), only to find themselves back at square one.

If you are currently at the point where you are still not convinced that continuing to exercise will work favourably to your goals, I would consider having a long hard think about your goals. Spend time to determine exactly “why” you want to achieve them, rather than “what” you want to achieve. Why you want to achieve something has an emotionally motivating force behind it and is something very close to your heart. This could be intertwined with self-worth, fear of heightened medical risk, confidence etc. If you can identify the core reason as to why exercise is important in your life, maybe you can work out a way to fall into that minority of people and accomplish some amazing personal feats.

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The answer is yes, you absolutely, unequivically require carbohydrates to build muscle. Reducing or even attempting to eliminate carbohydrates from your diet will impede muscle growth and most likely result in muscle loss. Carbohydrates are not only required to build (and maintain) muscle, they are required to facilitate proper brain function and maintain energy levels.

The question now becomes – if amino acids (which form proteins) are a primary constituent of muscle tissue, why are carbs necessary if they do not play a direct role in the structure of a muscle fibre? Let’s consider why.

Protein synthesis is the act of creating proteins. When muscles are developing, protein synthesis is occurring by connecting amino acids together into proteins and thus into muscle cells. This is what causes muscle growth, or hypertrophy. In order for this to happen, muscle cells must be able to source amino acids from the blood stream. This is not possible without the presence of insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas. Insulin acts as a blood glucose regulator. In order to prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high and becoming dangerous, insulin is secreted to reduce blood glucose levels.

Now the question becomes, if hypertrophy requires amino acids, and amino acid uptake is only possible with the presence of insulin, how then do we increase insulin levels?

Carbohydrates

Upon ingesting carbohydrates, our body’s attempt to break them down into glucose, a simple sugar. Too much glucose in the blood stream can lead to hyperglycemia, so insulin comes along to maintain a healthy blood glucose level.

Ultimately, eliminating any nutrient from your diet is a mistake. Proteins, carbs and fats are all required for optimal muscle development. Removing carbs is a big mistake for anyone seeking to gain muscle tissue.

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So why exactly is it important to keep a training journal? Let’s discuss some major advantages of logging exactly what you do; whether that be cardio or weights based training.

Information & Objectivity

Training in an objective manner is of great advantage. By logging down your results, you assign figures from which you can deduce your performance and progress.

Training in this way allows you to assess your progress from workout to workout. This is an invaluable tool in measuring the effectiveness of your current training approach. For if you rely solely on “how you feel”, you cannot quantitatively determine your progress.

A training journal also provides you with additional information that you would otherwise not have access to. If you’re seeking to lose weight for example, you may rely on your bodyweight from week to week. But how does your fitness and strength compare? Information is power, and this additional knowledge will only assist you in making more informed decisions about your training.

Goal Setting

If you are setting a goal in regards to your strength and/or fitness, how else do you know if you are progressing toward this goal without keeping a log? In a similar way that you should monitor your weight with a weight loss goal, you should also monitor your strength for a strength orientated goal and your fitness for a fitness orientated goal. This information is obviously imperative to monitor for a goal that directly relates to your training.

But what about if your goal is indirectly related to your training? For example, you wish to lose weight – should you keep an eye on your level of fitness? Further, should you monitor your strength results? Of course you should. The fitter you are, the more energy you can expend during a workout. Same story with your strength. This indirectly will assist in your weight loss efforts. By monitoring your progress in these respects, you are able to set targets for each individual workout to keep you on track and accountable. On a micro scale, you have the ability to determine repetition targets for each set, or distance targets for each cardio workout, thus enhancing the effectiveness of the entire training programme.

Motivation

For most of us, there can be nothing more boring than going into the gym and performing the same monotonous workout day in and day out. Even if you were to vary the machines up, without keeping a log, you cannot monitor your progress. So how then do you know if the training is working for you?

By knowing that you are seeing results in respect to your workout performances, this will provide you with direction and motivation. Sometimes a workout will be tough – though if you have targets to aspire to, you’ll remain far more motivated and enthusiastic. This not only enhances your enjoyment of each workout, it also significantly assists with the long-term sustainability of your exercise regime.

Further, physical results are often slow to develop. For example, if you’re seeking to build a substantial amount of muscle, this may take years to accomplish for the average male (and even longer for a female). Meanwhile, your strength results will improve on a weekly basis, being far more exciting and motivating. The same reigns true for weight loss; although weight loss may be realised in a physical respect within a matter of weeks, keeping a close eye on your workout results will provide you with that additional “push” and confidence of knowing that your training is effective in more than one dimension.

Plus, it can be greatly motivating reviewing your progress over the past fortnight, month or year from your training journal!

So give it a go. All you need a piece of paper and a pen to really enhance your training results!

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Apart from being frustrating having to wait for a piece of exercise equipment for an extensive period of time, it can also impede your workout effectiveness by lowering your heart rate and extending your workout time.

So when you have a training programme to follow (professionally written or otherwise), yet are stuck in a situation where you cannot complete the exercises – what do you do? In most situations, it’s usually best to substitute the exercise for a similar motion.

By performing a similar exercise to the one that has been prescribed in your training programme, you will be working similar muscle groups. Of course, there may be subtle differences between the movements, however you are still going to obtain a similar benefit from the resistance training programme.

Let’s run through some examples. Barbell squats are on the training programme yet there is a queue for this apparatus and you do not wish to wait. My first port of call would be smith squats. It is a very similar motion and will thus recruit similar muscle groups (primarily overloading the quadriceps and gluteals). The drawback of the smith machine means that less core control and balance is required (as the machine assists with this). So if your a primary target of your training is to work on your core control, you may wish to opt for another leg alternative such as dumbbell squats or lunges.

Another popular example could be the bench press. This is a very popular weights exercise which is commonly in use during peak times. It is not safe to be lifting very heavy weights without a bench press rack available, so using a barbell on a flat bench is out of the question in this situation. Unless you have available a squat rack that can be utilised as a bench press rack by setting it up with a flat bench, you’re probably best to go with a smith machine or a flat dumbbell chest press. The smith again requires less stability, while the dumbbells will require more stability and provide a slightly different motion to the standard barbell chest press.

Now for a back example – the common lat pulldown. If you are not lifting particularly heavy weights, you may be able to substitute this for a standing cable lat pulldown, using the cable crossover machine. However this would obviously not be viable with heavier weights, as you need to keep your body grounded. An alternative could be a wide grip pullup, which does follow a similar motion to the lat pulldown.

Ultimately, if you’re a patient person, or just enjoy the ambiance of a gym, then by all means wait for a machine. However be aware that an extended exercise training session’s duration will detract from the level of intensity, which will thereby detract from your results. Being flexible with your training when necessary is a great asset, which will not only enhance your results, but also keep your training interesting!

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This article is an overview of corporate health and fitness.

Employees and Exercise

There are many benefits to improving your employees fitness and health. If we only consider work productivity in isolation, an exercise programme can boost employee productivity by decreasing stress levels and enhancing focus. Following exercise, endorphins are released into your body which provide a calming effect. Plus, a fitter employee means higher energy levels throughout the day, avoiding those “down” times when our natural body rhythms do not allow us to think as effectively.

However exercise extends further than just being fitter and concentrating better. Self esteem plays a key role in your employee’s confidence and achievements. When you exercise, this allows you to develop a sense of confidence about yourself by accomplishing feats that you did not previously think were possible. This has many profound and beneficial psychological effects which will facilitate improved an improved quality and quantity of work output.

Exercise can also be a highly effective bonding tool to develop team skills and improve communication. Employees can learn how to communicate to peers in a more social environment, developing bonds and improving your teams morale. This will in turn reduce staff turnover and indirectly enhance customer satisfaction.

Your Staff and Nutrition

An effective nutritional regime can provide the employees the nutrients required to function at optimal capacity. The brain’s only source of energy is carbohydrates. Whilst many people may rely on highly processed sugars (such as lollies, pastries etc.), this may provide a sudden surge of energy and which then drops off about an hour later as soon as blood glucose levels fall. Alternatively a natural carbohydrate selection such as a piece of fruit will typically provide your employees with a sustainable carbohydrate source for 2-3 hours.

Apart from sugar addictions, caffeine addictions can also impact the quality of your staff’s results. Although caffeine may pick up energy levels, it does inhibit the brain’s natural ability to think clearly. Caffeine speeds up the natural thought processes, so the ability to think about a task laterally is decreased. Further, a caffeine addiction will decrease one’s natural energy levels, especially when it breaks down within the body.

Other Health Considerations

Your staff’s general health is essential to the operation of the business. Following a generally healthy lifestyle, which includes;

• 7-8 hours of sleep per night
• Regular exercise
• Good nutrition
• A controlled alcoholic intake
• Socialising and maintaining a healthy work-life balance
• Proper hydration
• General happiness

is imperative to obtaining the best return on your human resources investment. For, if your staff are not looked after, you’re going to be losing big bucks through many avenues including:

• Illness
• Staff turnover
• Lack of productivity
• Stress
• Fatigue
• Lack of interest

Of course, you cannot force good lifestyle habits upon your staff as this is a very personal decision. Yet, you can encourage staff by providing easily accessible solutions. This is truly a win-win situation, for if you go the extra mile and invest some of your time, money and effort into your staff, they not only reap the personal benefits, they will also be able to repay you through an improved quality and quantity of work.

Don’t Neglect Yourself

As a business owner myself, I do understand that operating a business can require long hours and a lot of discipline. If you do not look after yourself by following a healthy lifestyle, your business will suffer. Your energy levels, decision making ability, leadership qualities, efficiency, vitality and general health (both mental and physical) will all be impacted if you do not respect your body and look after yourself.

It can be tempting to work on the business 16+ hours a day, skipping meals, avoiding workouts, neglecting family/friends and not sleeping – yet ultimately you will burn out and when you do, both you and the business is going to suffer.

Practical Strategies for Physical Exercise

There are numerous ways to get you and your staff active on a regular basis as both a team building exercise and also a health orientated exercise.

A very popular implementation is performing a 10,000 steps challenge, whereby employees are provided with a pedometer and aim to complete 10,000 steps per day. This is great, because it keeps employees moving and adds a fun challenge to the workplace. We currently collaborate with a number of Australian firms and supply our pedometers (found in our store) for such challenges.

Another idea is to schedule a boot camp or team sporting event on a regular basis. This can be a fun and interactive environment for staff. Many staff will often undertake additional training of their own accord to enhance the benefits received by such programmes.

Many firms are now also hiring on-site personal trainers to meet with staff on an individual and/or group basis. This really helps to educate staff as to the importance of health and fitness, whilst keeping them motivated and accountable.

Although this is only a brief introduction to the topic, the possibilities are endless when it comes to implementing an effective corporate training plan. If you would like to discuss an solution for your business in detail, please contact us on 1300 AMINO Z (1300 264 669) and go to extension 1 for personal training.

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As a personal trainer, I regularly undertake boxing sessions with clients. A common question I receive from clients is whether or not boxing is a good workout for weight loss. Well, that’s before I put them through a session!

Boxing is a highly effective cardiovascular workout. Although you’re not moving your legs, you are moving your arms through complex compound movements repeatedly. This elevates the heart rate significantly and will put you out of breath very quickly. The increase in heart rate means that your body is suffering from an oxygen deficit – the goal of a cardiovascular based workout. This means that lots of calories are being expended. Considering that a calorie deficit is a prerequisite to weight loss, boxing is going to be a highly effective workout in this regard.

When seeking to lose weight, keep in mind that intensity is going to be directly proportional to weight loss. The higher your intensity, the more energy that is expended and hence the greater the energy deficit created. The added benefit of a high intensity workout is that it has the ability to stimulate a significant amount of fat breakdown after your workout has concluded. The reason why you are feeling so exhausted is because your body is readily sourcing nutrients to repair itself from the highly demanding workout – often much of this energy is sourced from body fat.

To make your boxing session intense, switch the drills up. You can try:

• Different styles of punches (eg. jabs, crosses, hooks, uppercuts, high punches, low punches etc.)
• Intervals
• Incorporating other cardio work
• Switching between punching and strength-based exercises
• Varying between a punching bag and focus pads

Variety encourages intensity – so mix it up!

Also, boxing is a highly effective workout if you do injure yourself and are unable to use your lower body. This form of cardiovascular exercise is a very useful tool with knee injuries (a very common injury).

Be sure to give it a go – boxing is a lot of fun as well as a highly effective cardio workout for weight loss.

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Before initiating training, it is common for someone to ask me at what point they should begin training. Often there are perceived obstacles in the way such as:

1. A business trip
2. A birthday party
3. A family get-together
4. Waiting for food shopping day
5. Lack of exercise experience
6. Not enough knowledge on exercise and nutrition
7. Lack of preparation for weight loss

…and the list goes on.

In all of these situations, the best time to begin losing weight remains the same:

RIGHT NOW

Almost without exception, if you want to lose weight (or accomplish any health/fitness goal for that matter), the best time to get started is immediately. Delaying this start date simply delays results. This procrastination inhibits you from accomplishing your goals.

Think about it this way – to accomplish a health and fitness goal, you need to do something. Doing nothing is not going to get you anywhere. Sure, an intelligent and effective approach is optimal, yet doing anything at all is going to be better than nothing.

Creative Procrastination

There are two major obstacles that, from my discussions with clients and potential clients, I have found inhibit people from actually getting started:

1. An upcoming event
2. Over preparation

An Upcoming Event Inhibiting You From Losing Weight

An upcoming event could be anything to do with a particular date. This could include your birthday party, the festive season, a holiday, having to go to the shops, a business event, next week and so on. This is anything that is coming up that you feel will inhibit your momentum on your weight loss journey. Consequently, it is easy to rationalise that it would be more beneficial to wait for this event to occur prior to initiating your weight loss efforts.

The fact is that in almost all situations, this method of thinking is exactly what has hindered you from losing weight in the past. It is an excuse in disguise and serves no purpose but to stop you from actually getting started. If you are absolutely and utterly determined and dedicated to losing weight, then you will not allow this event to stand in your way of accomplishing your weight loss goals. This means getting started now and accommodating for this event when it occurs. Here are some practical examples:

• Your birthday party: Make smarter food choices, decrease portion sizes, avoid excessive alcohol.
• Going to the shops: Make the most of the foods you currently have available. Lack of ideal food choices should also not inhibit you from exercising.
• A holiday: You’re going to feel better on your holiday if you get started now and lose just a little bit of weight. Plus, a holiday does not mean that you cease exercising and stuff yourself silly. You’ll feel much better if you stay active.

Weight loss is a long-term project. Events will come up all the time and no one will ever have a perfect run at weight loss without interruption. Your success is greatly determined by how you accommodate for event based obstacles and utilise a flexible approach within your lifestyle. Allowing events to inhibit you from losing weight will almost certainly result in you not achieving your potential.

Over Preparation Inhibiting You From Losing Weight

Many people attempt to lose weight without having the slightest clue about nutrition and exercise. Educating yourself is therefore extremely important to accomplishing a health and fitness goal. This is why education is such a focal point of our personal training services. So whilst it is very important to know “how” to lose weight, you have to be careful not to use this as an excuse to over prepare and delay your weight loss efforts.

You see, when you set out to accomplish a health and fitness goal, a substantial portion of the learning occurs from the “doing” rather than the theoretical work involved. This is primarily due to your body being so unique that it will respond more effectively to some training and nutritional approaches than others. Thus knowing how your body responds is going to determine the degree of success that you experience. The only way to know this is to actually begin exercising and eating in a more appropriate manner.

If you have hired a personal trainer, then you don’t need to prepare at all – your personal trainer will do all the ground-work for you. Once started though, you will benefit by reading abroad and learning about the science and theory behind exercise and nutrition. Your trainer can act as a mentor in this field, as they would have been formally trained in these area’s of science.

So whilst it is important to set goals and plan, preparing for weight loss should not be counter-productive to you losing weight.

The Best Time To Begin Losing Weight is NOW!

So remember that every day you delay, that is one day longer that you have to wait to realise your goals. If you’re considering putting off weight loss, ask yourself why and determine whether or not this is actually advantageous for you.

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