So here we are, another Easter is drawing to a close and most of us are back to work with our bellies still lined with chocolate and food, with probably also the remnants of a hangover still floating around our heads. Luckily however, I am not back to work until Thursday so it has given me some free time to reflect on a few things. At the turn of the year I decided that 2010 would be my year. The year where I finally get back on track fitness wise and shed the load of excess body fat that has slowed me down of late. I was more determined than ever to stick to my New Years Resolution but ever so slowly the determination faded, my enthusiasm waned and now I am in a kind of limbo situation - to stick or twist - fold or call - to rise or fall.
I'd say that around 90% of us for our New Years Resolutions decide to get in shape, lose weight etc. Nothing like having a good Christmas with lots of food and drink to put you on a downer in January eh haha! Its hilarious to think that 2-3 weeks of over indulgence in December can determine our actions for a whole 'New Year'. Just as the toy shops prepare themselves for the Christmas present boom; the Fitness industry does the same with the Resolution boom.
If any of you have ever been a member of a gym or fitness club, you will agree with me that come January your gym will be swarming with staff and new faces, all ready for the long road ahead. Most gyms nowadays offer one-to-one free consultations and a free personal trainer session upon sign up. However also nowadays, there is always a contract involved of around 6-12 months and a membership fee of £35-£40 per month. For those who sign up, its often a case of buying new trainers, towels, socks, workout clothing, and perhaps the new latest fad that they read about on the internet such as a heart rate monitor. Before you even start exercising at all you could have already plunged yourself into debt of a few hundred pounds.
Not to mention of course that on your free one-to-one consultation, your trainer, advised you on some supplements to buy to aid you in your quest. The industry of Supplements is a mine-field. A total swamp of mind-numbing information covering every aspect of nutrition under the sun. There are the old favourites of course. Supplements for fat loss and supplements for muscle building. I always laugh at the question they ask you in your one-to-one consultation haha, which is "What are your goals in the gym?" hahaha. If I had a £1 for everytime I heard that and everytime I heard the response: "Well, I'd like to lose a bit of weight and build some muscle" then, I'd be a very rich man!
OF COURSE YOU'D LIKE TO LOSE A BIT OF WEIGHT AND BUILD SOME MUSCLE!!! - THATS WHY YOU ARE SAT IN A GYM NUMB-NUTS!!!
So, following this your trainer recommends you buy some supplements such as a fat burner with a gimmicky marketing name such as "TIGHT!" or "SCORCH!" and a muscle building powder called by a similar ridiculous name like "EXTREME!" or "BOOST!". I kid you not - they are out there.
So basically because you are totally focused on your new year goal you buy them. Without any research whatsoever on their benefits and side effects. Another £100 or so chalked up on your ever increasing fitness bill.
I unfortunately am not one of the lucky ones who saw through this charade as I too have been down a similar road many times. I was the gyms favourite type of new member. He who joins on a 6 month contract but maybe attends only a handful of times. If everyone who signed up for a gym attended on a regular basis, there would be queues a mile long for the treadmill - you would spend your time doing more waiting out than working out! I have also spent a small fortune on supplements and magazine subscriptions. The magazines advertised a new 'magic pill' that would do everything and more and I would go out and buy a tub of pills because some bodybuilding professional from California recommended it. What I failed to recognise however was the fact that he was a professional and was speaking out as such - and that I was merely a novice in a new mad and confusing world of fitness and nutrition.
Perhaps my most frightening experience was (before Ephedrine was made illegal in the UK) taking a fat loss pill called Thermapro. This 'magic pill' was supposed to basically double your calorific output from exercise. For example; to lose 1lb of fat you need to burn 3500 Kcal's. On average a 30 min run would burn around 400 kcal. BUT - if you took one of these pills 30 mins beforehand then your 30 min run would burn not 400, but 800 Kcals! A fast track to fitness and weight loss found in a pill! WHOOPEE!
The tub of pills did include a warning message - which I ignored of course as I was getting results. Mad results. I would see me spending 90 mins in the gym doing cardio workouts and light weights and being totally wired!
You see, Ephedrine, is basically the drug known as 'Speed'. I have never taken the drug itself in its street form but a friend of mine once advised me that these little pills were like little doses of Speed as Ephedrine was a major component of it. And you know suddenly it made sense. Ok, the pill gave me amazing energy in the gym - I could have worked out for hours; and it also helped me lose weight, but the side effects were also there.
I experienced a reduced appetite, my mouth was always dry forcing me to drink litres and litres of water per day; I suffered headaches, heart palpitations, fidgetiness, constipation, diarrhea, insomnia, dizziness, my body often actually 'shook' with energy. It was insane. The heart palpitations got so bad in fact that I had to ring into work sick one day because I could feel my heart beating so strongly it was as if it was about to burst out of my chest! It was in that moment that a reality check came to me and the pills went in the bin. To this day I will always remember the warning message on the the tub stating "...should not be used by individuals with a family history of heart disease and some users may experience serious adverse health complications such as heart attack and stroke...". Madness.
However, getting back on track....I am please to say that now I have done the whole gym membership and supplement 'thing' and would not go back. Not ever. Apart from the risk of supplements, the whole Gym Membership idea is pointless to me. To me it is more corrupt than boxing and filled with too many idiots who care more for your money than your health. This weekend saw me complete my first module of my Nutrition and Weight Management course. Although I still have another 2 modules to go, the first one has taught me more about my body and the value of a good diet than any wannabe gym buddy.
It has been a strange Easter for me. The only chocolate egg I ate was one my boss bought me last week and at that, I only ate half of it. Easter Saturday, Sunday and Monday were filled with youtube videos of a new workout system on how I will get my New Years Reso back on tracko!
Whilst my body and health haven't necessarily improved since January 1st; critically they haven't much declined either. So I see this now as a time to start over again - albeit with a rekindled focus and determination.
The workout system I speak of is circuits, or more specifically Medicine Ball and KettleBell circuits. It is simple - astounding. Similar to swimming, these workouts use your whole body's muscles. They focus on strength, conditioning and fat loss rather that building mirror muscles that dumb-bells and bar-bells can be guilty of. They focus on core strength and stability and improving posture and weight distribution. The fat loss element is really a byproduct you get from working the circuits in the manner they are to be performed. And make no mistakes here, whilst it may be a byproduct it is one that is very real. The cardio workout you get from these is very intense and should be definitely not underestimated.
The main video's I have been watching on youtube are from a guy in the US called Ryan Miller. I will post the link in my facebook page. His strength and fitness levels are insane yet his build isn't that of one of the Gym monkeys you see so often posing with their biceps in the mirrors. It always makes me laugh when these guys with the huge shoulders, arms and legs try to run on a treadmill haha. Not only do they run as if they have 2 left feet, they also last no more than about 5 mins, often choosing to walk instead. Its hilarious.
Having completed a Medicine Ball circuit on Sunday and a KettleBell circuit yesterday, I can honestly say that I've never experienced workouts like them. They look so simplistic to do, you would think that they would be easy, but they are not. One of the exercises is called a twist, where you hold a medicine ball out at arms length while standing with your knees slightly bent, and while keeping your arms extended you simply twist to your right, then twist to your left and repeat for 20 reps. In this simple exercise you are working your abs, lower back, shoulders, forearms and triceps. Its incredible. Another is called the KettleBell swing, where you simply hold a kettlebell with one (or two) hand(s) and simply swing it between your legs in an arc up to your belly button. It is very imperative that you keep your back straight to avoid strain and not to lift more than you can, but this is another workout that works your hamstrings, quads, hip-flexors, deep abs, lower back and upper back muscles.
There are around 6 exercises to be performed back to back without rest with about 10 reps for each. Once finished - thats 1 set. You then take a much deserved break of around 1 min and repeat until you have completed 3 sets. The whole workout will take no more than 15 mins and you will be well and truly 'done' afterwards. If you complete these workouts 3-4 times a week, you should expect to see results very fast. But be warned...go light at first if you haven't worked out in a while. Even try the medicine ball workouts with a football until you get your technique ironed out as that is paramount. And of course, lay off the chips n booze :-)
As it is now noon and I haven't ate anything, I am signing off from this latest post. Soon I will be tucking into a tuna salad with plenty of green leafy veg and an ice cold glass of milk. For tonights dinner it will be a lean steak with garlic baby potatoes and some onions, mushrooms and broccoli. I will be soaking in a hot bath around 8pm and will be in bed by 9pm reading my book on Julius Caesar and his Roman exploits with the hope of sleep taking me around 10pm for 8 hours of wonderful dreams.
So many New Years Resolutions are normally cast aside and abandoned by this time of the year, but in a strange way, mine is only beginning to take hold....
So if you have fell of the wagon of hope why not jump back on...there is after all, another 9 months left until we do it all again! :-)
See you all next time, take care, and good luck!
Pabló! :-)
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