Last week, I shared with you the inspirational story of my client Emma who started training with us earlier this year. Emma has achieved a huge amount of success in a short space of time – she has lost weight, inches & most impressively has gone from zero running fitness to running 10Km!

There are a few things that Emma has done that I believe are the key to her success…

1. Emma asked me for help because she didn’t know how to achieve her goals on her own
2. When I offered Emma help, she accepted and trusted my judgment
3. She has taken a no-excuses-approach to what I’ve asked her to do
4. She has put in lots of effort even when it has been hard
5. And has done that EVERY SINGLE WEEK since she started
6. She has accountability from me and via her Facebook blog – read it here
7. She has remained positive even when things weren’t going her way
8. And finally, she has set challenging goals and once those have been achieved she has set new goals

The most important (and probably the hardest!) one of those is #5… being CONSISTENT

Progress takes time and you shouldn’t necessarily expect immediate results. I like to work with clients for a minimum of 3 months so they learn to be CONSISTENT with me by their side for motivation & support.

It’s fairly easy to start taking action towards achieving a goal, but less so to keep taking that action week in week out – especially when you find it difficult or you’re busy. But Emma (and so many other of my clients) has proven that taking consistent action – for example, exercising 2-3 times per week every week for 3 months (rather than 5 times a week for one or two weeks at a time then missing a month and restarting after summer) is the ONLY way to achieve your goals.

And that’s why this week I want you to think about how CONSISTENT you are being with your efforts. Are you exercising & eating healthily EVERY day or only on days that suit you? Are you being positive and taking a no-excuses-approach EVERY day or only when it’s easy to do so? Are you thinking about your goals EVERY day or only when you’ve got nothing else to do?

I believe that if you are taking the correct action and being 100% consistent (even 80-90% consistent would be a start) with those actions you WILL achieve your goals. Give it some thought and see if you can improve for next week.

Note: This advice is suitable for beginner level upwards, but please consult your GP or physiotherapist if you are unsure about any potential contraindications.

onesixeight: fitness provides Personal Training in Loughborough and online for men & women who want to get fit, tone up & feel more confident. Use the contact page to get in touch 🙂

Over the past few weeks I have been talking about September goals and what you can achieve between now and Christmas. I’ve covered goal setting, action planning, motivation and mindset. So this week I want to share with you an inspirational story that will hopefully help with all of the above.

Emma joined us in February this year aged 43 and (in her own words) has been overweight her whole life.

“I have tried to lose weight with varying degrees of success only to put it all back on again and more besides! As someone who is terrified of the ‘gym’ this was a big step. I found a gym whose members are mainly women, of varying ages, sizes and levels of fitness, which has a very supportive staff and community. Despite my misgivings I found I actually enjoyed going!”

Shortly after joining, Emma set herself the challenge of climbing Snowdon for charity. I devised a weekly plan for Emma which she followed religiously until unfortunately Emma got injured – pulling her gastrocnemius muscle which meant she would not be able to complete the challenge.

“I was devastated!… I laid awake trying to convince myself I am not a failure, that this was just a minor setback. It took some doing but I am now more determined than ever to fight my way fit.”

Emma had to stop walking until her leg was better, but she still persevered with her PT sessions – getting a lift to the studio and participating in an adapted session on crutches. That’s what we call commitment!

Once Emma was fully recovered, she was more determined than ever to get fit and that was when she asked me about running…

“I am overweight and have not run in over 20 years. Although I want to run I am not naïve enough to believe that I can do and that is okay. I am finally beginning to understand that the only failure is not trying. I am learning that the value is in giving something a go, giving my all, even if I don’t succeed.

In May, Emma was brave enough to start running short intervals of 30 seconds at a time – two sessions a week, plus two PT sessions and 1 long walk – and within 6 weeks was running a fantastic 22 minutes nonstop and had signed up to do a virtual 5K race for motivation.

Emma completed the 5K – running non-stop, under her goal time of 45 minutes and at her goal pace – and soon started to think about the next goal.  I suggested that she could either concentrate on getting quicker or running for longer and Emma decided she wanted to run 10K by Sept 17th… approximately 4 months since starting running after having not run for 20 years!

Emma’s training plan progressed each week – building up gradually by half a kilometre. And on 1st September (2 weeks ahead of schedule) Emma completed her first ever 10K run!

“I can’t believe that in 16 weeks I have gone from zero to 10k. Guess it really is amazing what you can achieve if you want it bad enough and work hard enough.”

Now that is one inspiring person & story, right?!

I haven’t even talked about the psychological impact the exercise has had on Emma or the weight or inch loss! She has had so many successes and still has so many to come too and I’m so proud to be helping her along the way.

The key things Emma has done:

1. Asked for help
2. Accepted my help and advice
3. Done exactly what I’ve asked her to do…
4. EVERY SINGLE WEEK
5. Challenged herself with new goals
6. Created accountability with me and her Facebook blog – read it here
7. Put in lots of effort even when it was hard
8. Remained positive even when things weren’t going her way
9. Put in even more effort
10. EVERY SINGLE WEEK

And you can do it too! You just have to take the first step. Contact me if you need help/motivation/support with the first step or you can do it alone – I don’t mind… the main thing is you do START.

Note: This advice is suitable for beginner level upwards, but please consult your GP or physiotherapist if you are unsure about any potential contraindications.

onesixeight: fitness provides Personal Training in Loughborough and online for men & women who want to get fit, tone up & feel more confident. Use the contact page to get in touch 🙂

Over the past few weeks, I have asked you to think about WHAT goals you want to achieve before C*****mas (can’t say that word until at least September!) and WHY you want to achieve those goals. Knowing WHY you want to get fitter, lose weight or improve your health is really important because it will be a big motivating factor when the hard work sets in and you’re not sure if it’s worth carrying on.

Well, if your goals are important enough and your WHY is big enough then it will be worth it!

So this week, feeling motivated & focused on what you want to achieve and why, I want you to think about HOW you are going to achieve your goals over the next 3 months. I want you to come up with a plan of action so that when the kids go back to school next week you are ready to go.

For example your goal is “to get fitter” you’ll need to exercise x3-5 sessions per week to achieve this goal.

Points to consider in your action plan.

1. What kind of fitness would you like to work on? (Cardio, strength, flexibility etc). This will determine what you actually do in those 3-5 exercise sessions
2. What activities do you enjoy?
3. What level of fitness/ability are you at currently?
4. Any injuries to consider?
5. What facilities do you have available to you?
6. What time & money are you willing to invest?
7. How can you start this activity – do you need to sign up/send an enquiry?
8. Do you have the right clothing & equipment?
9. Will I need childcare?
10. When am I going to start?

Looking at this list you’re probably put off at even starting because even the planning seems like hard work, but actually some of these questions have really straightforward answers or at least they can have if you WANT to find a solution to a problem.

And the sooner you start answering these questions and planning HOW to achieve your goals, the sooner you can actually start taking action rather than procrastinating. So let that be your homework this week… Come up with an action plan to achieve your goals and start taking action.

And just ask if you need any help with your planning!

Note: This advice is suitable for beginner level upwards, but please consult your GP or physiotherapist if you are unsure about any potential contraindications.

onesixeight: fitness provides Personal Training in Loughborough and online for men & women who want to get fit, tone up & feel more confident. Use the contact page to get in touch 🙂

Last week, I asked you to start thinking about what goals you want to achieve before C*****mas (still can’t say that word until at least next month!)

And this week I want to delve deeper in to those goals and ask an important question that will hopefully help you to stay motivated and focused on those goals.

That question is… WHY?

Why do you want to get fitter/lose weight/more toned/lose inches? What will this help you to do that you can’t do now? How will it make you feel? How will it improve your life?

There’s always a reason WHY and usually it’s a personal one so I don’t want to put my thoughts in your mind but here’s my reasons why I want to achieve my goals so you can see how I keep myself motivated and focused on my own goals.

My 1st goal: Manchester Half Marathon in sub 1hr 30m (October 15th 2017)

Why: I will get a ‘Championship’ start place at the London Marathon next year which means I get to race the marathon with other club runners and feel like a proper athlete again. I want to push myself to achieve something that is a challenge for me and feel proud when I achieve it.

My 2nd goal: Lose 6lbs (October 15th 2017)

Why: This is my preferred race weight and I will run fastest at that weight and have a better chance of achieving the above goal. Oh and I also want to be able to wear any clothes I like and feel confident when I look in the mirror or have my photo taken.

My two goals and motivational whys help get me out of bed at 6am and whenever I’m not feeling like I want to get up I just remember the bigger picture and WHY I started in the first place and because I really want to feel like a ‘proper’ athlete again – and then I get on with it!

So this week, spend some time figuring out WHY you want to achieve your goals too.

Note: This advice is suitable for beginner level upwards, but please consult your GP or physiotherapist if you are unsure about any potential contraindications.

onesixeight: fitness provides Personal Training in Loughborough and online for men & women who want to get fit, tone up & feel more confident. Use the contact page to get in touch 🙂

As I look outside and it is pouring it down with rain I wonder to myself is Summer actually over? And if it is, do I need to start thinking about my C*****mas goals? (can’t quite bring myself to write that word just yet!)

So with just a few weeks until the kids go back to school and normal routine resumes I want to turn your attention to getting goals set and plans in place for your end of year fitness, health & weight loss goals.

A reminder of what you can potentially achieve between September – December

1. Run your first 5K / 10K / Half Marathon (or even Marathon!)

2. 2 stone weight loss (perhaps even more!)

3. Drop 2 dress sizes (or more!)

4. Feel more energised, healthier, confident & happier (guaranteed!)

Once you have decided what you want to achieve, I want you to think about HOW you are going to achieve your goal(s) and start putting a plan in place to achieve them.

The sooner you decide what you want to achieve and how you are at least going to start achieving your goals, the more prepared you will be when the kids go back to school and you get some time back for yourself and normal routine resumes. So don’t delay! And do get in touch if you need some help with goal setting, training programmes, nutrition or motivation.

Note: This advice is suitable for beginner level upwards, but please consult your GP or physiotherapist if you are unsure about any potential contraindications.

onesixeight: fitness provides Personal Training in Loughborough and online for men & women who want to get fit, tone up & feel more confident. Use the contact page to get in touch 🙂

This week, I want to answer one of those questions that I get asked all the time… “How long should I be exercising for?”

Unfortunately, there is no one correct answer to this (because it depends on your goal) but here is my expert on opinion on the optimum training durations for different goals.

Weight loss & general fitness – short sessions (15-30 minutes) of high intensity interval training (HIIT) are great for burning calories, working lots of different muscles and increasing your cardiovascular fitness – you’re sure to get your heart rate up!

Toning – short sessions (15-30 minutes) of moderate intensity resistance training (using dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells etc) are good for strengthening and toning  lots of different muscles

Endurance training i.e. Marathons, cycling & triathlons etc. – longer sessions (60+ minutes) of moderate intensity training will be necessary to increase your cardiovascular and strength endurance ready for the event. This is why I don’t encourage clients to sign up for endurance events unless they have the time to train 3x 60 minutes per week.

The good thing is that for general fitness, toning & weight loss you only need to find 3x 15-30 minutes per week to feel the benefits and see results! Meaning there are no excuses to getting fit this summer. Plus, you can now exercise at home with my new Bounce for Fitness DVD – available to buy online here – which includes 6x 15 minute total body workouts!

Note: This advice is suitable for beginner level upwards, but please consult your GP or physiotherapist if you are unsure about any potential contraindications.

onesixeight: fitness provides Personal Training in Loughborough and online for men & women who want to get fit, tone up & feel more confident. Use the contact page to get in touch 🙂

This week, I want to share some of my favourite and most effective exercises for strengthening & toning your tummy muscles – which form part of your ‘core’.

Core strength is really important not just for vanity purposes (we would all LOVE a flat toned stomach, right?) but also for good posture, reducing injuries and preventing lower back pain.

These exercises are especially great because they can be done anywhere – at home, in a hotel room or even on the beach – and they don’t take long either. You’ll notice improvements by doing just 30 seconds of each, once a day! Brilliant!

So here they are with videos so you can see how exactly to do them…

Core extension

Reverse curl

Core twist

V crunch

Side plank

Note: This advice is suitable for beginner level upwards, but please consult your GP or physiotherapist if you are unsure about any potential contraindications.

onesixeight: fitness provides Personal Training in Loughborough and online for men & women who want to get fit, tone up & feel more confident. Use the contact page to get in touch 🙂

This morning, I got up at 5.30am after not having slept very well (probably because I slept for 11 hours the night before – lucky me!) and I felt pretty tired and really needed my morning coffee. Morning coffee consumed and I immediately felt more awake. I also walked to work so the morning cool air could wake me up even more. Perfect!

I usually have a second coffee mid morning as I find that 2 coffees per day is the right amount for me. Any more and I go a bit ‘loopy’ and any less and I don’t feel as alert and some may say a bit grumpy too!

Anyway, I was out and about in town so I thought I would treat myself to a Costa latte – a large one! By the time I had finished, the caffeine has well and truly hit me – a bit too much! So much so, it had the opposite of the desired effect… I couldn’t concentrate, I couldn’t sit still, I needed the loo every 5 minutes and I just didn’t feel very good at all.

So, that’s why I wanted to write about how much caffeine is too much, because it’s something that I often get asked about and you’ll probably read about it in the news too as more and more studies are published.

Generally speaking, 300-400mg seems to be a safe amount for adults per day. That equals 4 cups of coffee / 10 cans of cola / 2 energy drinks – perhaps best not consumed all in one go! A large latte will have approximately 280mg (3 shots) of caffeine, so combined with my first cup of coffee I was within the RDA.

So why did I feel like I did? Well, the symptoms I experienced are all normal because caffeine is a stimulant and a diuretic but perhaps it was just too much for my body all in one go. I am pretty small after all! Also, I’m probably not that used to drinking large coffees – I usually opt for the medium size. So it’s a lesson learned. I just hope I can sleep tonight!

Last week I was suffering with a cold & sore throat (mostly from late nights and too much singing on the Maccabees tour!) And in hindsight, it wasn’t great planning for me to be recording my new DVD a few days after the end of the tour, but at least I was recovered in time! I can’t quite believe I was recovered but I know exactly why I was and I want to share that with you in this week’s blog.

Usually I reckon it would take me at least a week to overcome a cold, but this time it was only 3 days… So what did I do differently?

Well, I did 2 things differently.

1. I drank LOTS of water – even more than usual. I would say I drank at least 3-4 litres each day
2. I took 6000mg of vitamin C each day. 6x 1000mg tablets from Holland & Barrett –> buy here

Now, I’m not promising those two things will work for everyone but it’s worth a try right?! I think the combination of the water & vitamin C is essential and not just one or the other. I also think 6000mg may be a bit over the top but I was just taking extra as a precaution – knowing any excess wouldn’t harm me and my body would dispose of it accordingly.

I also think the mind plays an important part in the recovery process. I WANTED to recover and refused to accept that I was ‘ill’ or wouldn’t be able to record my DVD so I believe my my positive mindset helped me to recover. Sounds a bit woo woo I know, but it makes sense that the brain would be the starting point in the recovery process as it controls all bodily functions.

I also think that my usual healthy & active lifestyle will play a part in how quickly I recover from illnesses, but as I said, it usually takes a week for me to recover.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my new found advice with you so you can give it a go if/when you next get a cold. But remember I’m not a doctor so you should check with your GP before taking any supplements.