Changed Things Up Recently?

When did you last shift the focus of your training?

I'm not talking about jumping on the bandwagon of the newest shiny gadget or the latest celebrity 'must be seen to be doing'!

I'm not talking about radically changing from one type of exercise to another.

Simply a shift of focus, which might actually be quite subtle.

My reps and therefore loads have been changing every few weeks for much of this year. I find it a nice approach - keeps things fresh and focussed.

Now i'm going to give my format a bit of a change. There will still be a couple of specific lifting days, one heavier, and one faster. 3 more days will contain sprint intervals, circuit training, some weighted and bodyweight challenges etc.

Some of these sessions will be pretty brief but the intensity will be pretty brutal.

I'm hoping to at least maintain my strength (improving it in some areas), and drastically improve my general conditioning and endurance.

Looking forward to a challenging 4 weeks of this.

How about you?

Our bootcampers started their next 4 weeks today also. They have the benefits of their focus being changed for them. Can't wait to see their progress while enjoying my own!

Steve
http://www.sussexbootcamps.co.uk

Adding More Life And Years!!!

Why do we do this? Put ourselves through all the hard work, the effort, the sweat, the healthy eating?

Well hopefully you derive some sense of pleasure from the act of training, pushing yourself, challenging yourself, spending time more 'in your body' etc.

Possibly you just love the way you feel and look as a result of training?

My hope is that working hard at fitness touches every aspect of your life and improves it, literally allowing you to experience more life!

If you have friends that like to be active, guess what you can participate in whatever they are doing. If you have kids, hopefully they are active and being encouraged to be so. Nothing to back up that encouragemant like being active yourself! Then you get to join in with what they are doing and play a more significant role in their lives, not needing to sit out and miss out!

Same applies for grandparents. How many years do you want to be able to play an active and independent role in your family's life?

A good level of fitness and health is going to enhance all of this in a way that you can't put a price on.

What about challenging times or even emergencies. Do you think fitness is going to make a difference here?

I spent a day learning to surf while on holiday as you can just about make out in the picture above. On that same day another person in the water got into trouble and i ended up going to their rescue. Problem is we were then both in a bit of trouble!

After making the stupid decision to swim for it, getting hit by a big wave and swalling too much water, i had a moment where i almost felt and remembered everytime i had ever pushed myself, fought to keep going, pushed against a seemingly immovable weight etc.

It was like drawing strength from all my training experience in a moment of panic, and thankfully it wasn't too long after that we found ourselves close enough to shore to not be pulled out to sea any longer.

So the message here as far as i'm concerned is fitness will enhance your life, it will be there in the times where you can enjoy it, and hopefully in times where you may need it to get you through a situation!

I believe fitness and health will also contribute to the quality and quantity of your life.

Are you realising the bigger picture in your fitness and health?

Next Bootcamp starts Sepember 7 - i'd love to see you there,

Steve

This Week's Training And Yesterday's Workout

It's been good to drop my reps down to 4 each set this week. I say good but i mean different!

It was a bit of a shock to the system - in a good way, but i do like the focus of just grinding out those few strong reps.

I've started to consider my conditioning needs also, especially now that i'm teaching far less fitness classes that demand my participation like spinning. I'm going to be doing some sprint intervals and conditioning drills on some of the days between the strength focused workouts.

How well rounded is your programme right now? Or depending on your focus, are you working generally in the areas you need to and specifically in any other areas you need to?

Here is yesterday's workout.

Barbell Power Snatch - worked up to 54kg x 3. Not done for while but felt good
Deadlift - did 4 sets of 4 at 156kg
Glute/Hamstring Raise - 3 sets of 4

BB Push Press and - 1x4 @68kg, 3x4 at 70kg
Weighted Chin ups - 1x4 @15kg added, 3x4 @17kg added

1 Arm Press Up and - 3x4 each
1 Arm Horizontal Ring Row - 3x4 each (both of these assisted with non working side)

The new pull up/ dip tower is a bit disappointing but it adds some options (other than banging my knees!)

All the best for your training,

Steve

P.S. THE 4 week fitness bootcamp starts again tomorrow! http://www.sussexbootcamps.co.uk

Podcast Interview With Pete Cohen And Myself!!

Hi,

Please have a listen to this podcast that Pete did with me. We cover some good ground on the foundations of what makes for mental success that leads to the physical success that so many desire.

Learn to establish the habits that make exercise easier, and how to best include fitness in your life - enjoy!!

http://www.weightlossguru.com/index.cfm/Podcasts

Steve
http://www.sussexbootcamps.co.uk

It's 11.14pm on Sunday night!!

And what am i still doing up and on my computer?

Well there is not long to go now until our charity health and fitness event on Tue night at Central Sussex College in Haywards Heath.

I've been up working on some final bits and pieces to make sure everything goes as well as possible.

You have to know what this is all for and what i'm going to be talking about.

Why do you have to know? Because it's all about YOU! Your health, your fitness, and making 2009 the best it can be.

If you have got your health and fitness sorted then it's far easier to raise your game in all the other areas of your life.

If you wait until your fitness and especially your health suffers, well, you can pretty much guarantee that everything else is also going to be affected for the worse.

Don't let this happen!

All the speakers on the night will be giving you as much valuable information and inspiration as possible, to take what you are already doing to the next level or get you started in the most effective ways.

The second reason for the event is to raise money for St Peters and St James Hospice.

I hope you can see what a great evening this is shaping up to be.

Come and make a difference to yourself, and a local charity.

We are filling up fast so register now at www.sussexbestever.com

Oh, and i'll be talking about the 5 keys to transorming your body in record time. I'll be sharing what i've learned as a personal trainer and fitness professional for over 11 years.

Join me and the other speakers;

Jo Bareham
Christian Bates
Pete Cohen

for a fun night and a chance to win some great prizes!

We want to help you make a difference!

www.sussexbestever.com

Steve Cork
www.sussexbootcamps.co.uk

Exercise Cuts The Risk Of Breast Cancer.

Two Studies recently looked at the effects of exercise on breast cancer risk.

One of them looked at high intensity exercise, and the other at lower intensity exercise.

Guess what? Both found a reduction in the risk of breast cancer by 30%

The key is consistent regular exercise!

There are many protective effects of exercise. I don't think it is worth only dwelling on what we are seeking to avoid and the negative consequences of not being active.

But it is a reality, and if avoiding those big scary negatives gets people to take some action then i'm all for the reminders.

Sadly though i don't think enough people are willing to sit up and take notice until it is nearly too late and they get a drastic wake up call. Even then, how many people will just rely on surgery and medication vs taking the time, effort, and responsibility to look after themselves?

It's time we reclaimed more of a physical culture for all and for life - not just for the high achievers and people who naturally seem to enjoy (or have they just formed a habit?) exercise.

Be an everyday athlete and enjoy the feeling of being a healthy physical human being!

Steve
www.sussexbootcamps.co.uk
www.everydayathletes.co.uk

What Price Do You Put On Your Health And Fitness?

What value do you put on this area of your life?

How important is it to you?

What is investing in preventative health and life enhancing measures worth to you?

How much of a higher value would you place on your health and fitness if you developed some kind of health problem?

It seems to me that a lot of people do not value their health and fitness until they can no longer be taken for granted and things have got quite bad.

If things get really bad no amount of money can buy you back your health and well-being, prevention is always going to be the most successful and cheaper option.

People will pay for health insurance but then do nothing to ensure they actually stay as healthy as possible!

Where am i going with this??

Well the economy i guess!

Just a shout out to say don't neglect that which is so important and vital to your well-being and quality of life.

Fitness can be free. Fitness training can be learned. Some people are entirely self motivated.

So there is never an excuse to stop!

Most of the time people make lots of mistakes and drastically lengthen the time it takes for them to get the results they want.

This is the point at which some kind of coaching comes in. Achieving your results in a good time frame, staying as motivated as possible, addressing specific issues and injuries.

Some people still need or want personal training. It is the best choice for them in terms of their time, effort, money and results.

What ever type of fitness training you choose, the benefits likely extend across your entire life. It's hard to put a price on a genuine life enhancer, something that is proven to reverse aspects of ageing (loss of muscle and bone mass etc).

This is the feedback i often hear - it's not just about losing weight and shaping up - it might not be about this at all.

What is it worth to play your sport injury free for an extra 5, 10, 20 years?

How about staying active with your kids and grandchildren throughout life, living independently and free from falls.

How about avoiding the risks of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer - all of which are significantly affected by your lifestyle choices?

Sometimes we have to look at our choices from the perspective of what we want and what we don't want to happen.

Stay fit and healthy out there!

Steve

P.S. Our next bootcamp is about to start on Monday 20t Oct at Beech Hurst, Warden Park School, and Horsham Park. I'm looking forward to working with the next group of people taking positive action to enhance their lives!

P.P.S. I'm turning people away from many of my busier personal training times. If you have a more flexible schedule i may still be able to help you.

Training For Results Or Just Fitness Training For The Sake Of It?

I read a great book recently - it's called 'The Four Hour Work Week' by Timothy Ferris.

I'll get to how this relates to fitness training.

Instead of getting carried away with a number like only 4 hours of work - which i'm sure is possible depending on the type of business or working conditions you are prepared to create - it is worth applying the principles anyway.

Imagine how much of a better lifestyle you would have if you were able to go from 60 hours to 30 while getting just as much achieved!

One of the principles in the book is the now famous 80/20 rule for looking at what smaller percentage of your actions actually create the most results. Then you can trim out many unnecessary actions and focus on those that are most productive.

Also maintaining more focus and cutting out all those time wasting and distracting activities that reduce productivity is another big area.

Another is automating and delegating as much work as possible to free up your time and energy for what is really important.

These areas and others can be seen in the terrible condition of 'Work for works sake'! Having to look like you are busy. Being 'busy' but not being productive. Doing unimportant and distracting tasks etc.

This is where i want you to start to think fitness. How many people out there are simply training for the sake of training?

Spinning their wheels but being totally unproductive? Actually this is a very real description of what some people do in a spinning class - turning their legs too fast and achieving very little actual work!

Now i know physical activity is enjoyable to many people - addictive even. Therefore training for the sake of enjoying it is certainly a choice.

I think you only need to ask questions of what you are doing if you have certain goals in mind - then there is the issue of progress or not? Is more always better? Not Usually.

I remember reading about a Tae Kwon Do competitor years ago who was describing this training state in himself. He would train at every given opportunity, never really taking the time to rest much at all. Eventually he realised this and for the sake of health, injury avoidance, and improved performance had to choose a more intelligent approach.

This was the first time i remember realising for myself that more does not equal better when you are trying to improve at something specific - certain long endurance activities aside. Even many traditional endurance practices now emphasise a good amount of quality work not just more quantity.

Going back to the book, i would say that the 80/20 rule applies and that those times of higher intensity and harder work provide 80% of the results.

Personal Training, Bootcamps, and classes certainly help to cut out the time wasting and distraction and focus effort.

Surely you can't automate and delegate your training though - someone else can't do it for you!

You're right, but once again, those shorter more intense sessions will lift metabolism and burn more fat while you are not training.

Resistance training will stimulate lean muscle mass, which will again raise metabolism and burn more fat while you are not training.

Eating enough protein as part of your regular balanced meals will also up metabolism and burn more fat.

So while you still have to do the work, you can make intelligent choices that mean your body gets the absolute most out of that work.

Be an efficient Everyday Athlete!!

Cheers,

Steve Cork
www.sussexbootcamps.co.uk
www.everydayathletes.co.uk

Review And Reflection

Birthday's are an interesting time!

I always like to look back on the previous year and what i've done. I've usually done far more than i had realised. Then i get excited about the year to come, partly planning exactly what will be happening and partly excited about all the unknowns.

It also happens to be a time of changing seasons now, and we can start to see the end of the year rapidly approaching (1st bloody Christmas catalogue through the door yesterday!). A good time to ask ourselves where we want to be and what we want to be by then!

With a short opportunity to get your routine back on track before end of the year meals, parties, holiday's and shopping start to take over - it's a good time to make the most of your fitness, clean up your nutrition, and hit it hard.

Personally the nutrition is there - as long as the last week's cake intake does not become a habit!

However my weighted workouts are going to have to be more regular and focused. I'm determined to play squash at least every other week and generally build up to some good fun challenges.

My training has become less regular as my business has become busier, but this can no longer be an excuse as i would not accept that from a personal training client! I'm disappointed my self protection training or martial arts has taken a back seat for far too long. Even if not getting to seminar's i'm determined to train this myself at least monthly.

Otherwise i'm pretty happy with where my personal training and bootcamps have got to over the last year.

A better work / life balance is definitely in order for the coming year.

How is yours?

What would make the most difference to the last part of your year?

Do you need to reclaim your health and fitness by giving them the priority they need in your life?

New bootcamp starts Monday 8th September.

See www.sussexbootcamps.co.uk for all the details. 9.30am in Haywards Heath is sold out and turning people away! Other times available at Cuckfield and Horsham.

For a highly experienced personal trainer who can tailor a package of sessions to suit your individual needs, contact me direct - steve@everydayathletes.co.uk

Extremely limited availability of personal training hours currently. Only the most serious and commited should apply.

Be an everyday athlete for life!

Steve
www.everydayathletes.co.uk

Stats To Make You Think About Your Fitness Training!

I gave a short presentation yesterday morning to a group of local business people in Haywards Heath.

The focus was to let them know about my Bootcamps, what they are, who does them and why people do them. Also i showed some of our great testimonials and some sample exercises, explaining why they can be more effective and intelligent choices.

I'm usually very positively focussed when it comes to why exercise and what the benefits are etc.

On this occasion i decided to read out some not so pleasant statistics, hopefully to provide a bit of a carrot and stick to get people to take action.

I think it is worth considering the impact your health and fitness (or lack of it) has and will have in the future on your family life, professional life, and the costs to society as a whole.

A couple of interesting statistics that jumped out at me were:

The World Health Organisation in 2004 attributed 22% of coronary heart disease being due to lack of physical activity.

Energy intake has been estimated to have dropped 20% between 1974 and 2004!

The second stat there indicates to me how important a role physical activity plays and the issue of what we are eating and when.

To your health, fitness, and longevity!

Steve
www.sussexbootcamps.co.uk
www.everydayathletes.co.uk

Your Health And Fitness Balance?

How balanced is your health and fitness approach?

How many different areas are you doing pretty good at?

All too often i see people who hit one area really well but are shockingly bad in others.

Other people might do a couple of things ok and a few more not so good.

Many will also not be up to scratch on any area.

Now, we have to be aware that the concept of 'balance' is different for many people depending on their particular goals and perspectives. But whatever your particular bias, you are going to need some level of strength, endurance, flexibility, speed, power, supportive nutrition, and restoration.

This is a basic list - each category could be further subdivided into specific aspects of each.

Take each of the above areas and honestly evaluate each one for yourself. Imagine each of these qualities is the spoke on a wheel. Any gaping holes or weaknesses in your wheel (your approach)?

Not many people have the requirements of an ultra specific training programme. Therefore most of us can benefit from being 'all rounders' to a certain extent.

So, the challenge for you is to address some of those areas you are not currently doing so well at. It's easy to do the things that we have learned to be good at, or have a natural ability for, even when we work them hard.

It's challenging, both physically and mentally to work at something new or different. And if you are truly addressing something that was out of balance, then addressing this should only be a positive, compared to just doing something different for the sake of it.

Ever heard that saying that if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail in the wall that needs banging in?

Sometimes you really don't need to do just more of the same thing, harder!

Look at the two areas above that really form the foundation of the gains that you make, especially concerning health, - nutrition and restoration. Are you really giving your body enough of a varied stimulus, and then enough down time and fuel to positively adapt to that stimulus?

Be an Everyday Athlete!

Steve Cork
www.sussexbootcamps.co.uk
www.everydayathletes.co.uk

Burgess Hill Personal Trainers Offer the Bootcamp Pampering Experience!

It's true, Ben Davis and I were at a 'Pamper' evening at St Paul's school in Burgess Hill on Saturday evening!

There were all sorts of other people with stands there, from massage, hair, nails, beauty, food, photography, alternative therapies.....Ann Summers!

Initially we were positioned next to the last mentioned company, and we had some of the tools of our trade as a visual aid, and they had plenty of theirs! Didn't know where to look sometimes!!

The event was a bit quiet in terms of members of the public, probably due to the fact it was a Saturday night, but we had decided to get involved at the last minute.

Sometimes you just have to put yourself out there, and this also relates to your fitness.

If you have decided to make some changes or take on some kind of physical challenge, it's worth putting yourself 'out there'.

It's worth backing yourself and raising the stakes to the point that others know what you are trying to achieve. Suddenly it's not just yourself you are accountable to - others start to ask how you are getting on.

This is exactly what has happened with our Bootcamps. The more we have put ourselves out there - the more people are interested to hear how we are doing.

I recently read about someone who gave up smoking by giving a business card to everyone she knew. On it, it said 'I will never smoke another cigarette'. The pain of being publicly seen to break this promise by people who's opinion she valued was a bigger motivation than any pleasure she got from smoking.

Back to the 'pampering'. I wouldn't say we had massive interest in our fitness bootcamps.

But to me, it all comes back to enhance your fitness, enhance your life!

Fitness feels good! And you carry it with you 24hrs a day.

If you are feeling better and more confident about your physique, then any other pampering measures will only be enhanced. Otherwise these could all be just short term quick fixes.

Achieve a level of feel good fitness that you can sustain for the rest of your life, and the chances are those beauty products will feel better, the hair cuts will feel more transformational, the massages will definitely feel better, those food treats will taste better and be guilt free.

And.......with or without any Ann Summers products how could transforming how your body looks and feels not have a positive impact on your sex life!!

Steve Cork
www.sussexbootcamps.co.uk
www.everydayathletes.co.uk

Another Magic Number - 100!

I talked recently about magic numbers when it comes to goals and significant training benchmarks.

Today i'd like to mention change the context slightly, but in a way no less important to your health, fitness, and entire life.

This is something i mentioned back towards the beginning of the year i believe. It's a goal achievement programme called 'The Magic 100'!

Just imagine what you could achieve in the next 100 days if you really focussed on it and used a system that helped you achieve far more than you thought possible.

Imagine 100 goals covering all areas of your life, not all massive things necessarily, but 100 goals that would make a huge difference to your life. And yes some of these will be fitness related.

Those 100 days are yet again going to pass with or without you deciding to take action. Those 100 goals could just stay as dreams or wishes - or you could take action to make them real.

The rest is up to you. I highly recommend this system created by one of the UK's top personal trainers - Dax Moy. The programme itself is supported by audio's and some great e mails to keep you on track.

I've recently started my second magic 100 - that's right, you can effectively just keep using this system for life to achieve some amazing results.

If you are ready to demand more from your life then you have nothing to lose. The investment is really very small compared to what you will get back from it.

For more information go here: http://magic100sc.1ptsuccess.hop.clickbank.net/

What ever you decide to do, stay goal focussed and take daily action towards achieving those goals. Keep them in mind and practise visualising your success.

Wishing you a wonderful life!

Steve Cork