Focus

When you go to a gym you are surrounded by so many things. These can typically include: loud music, television screens, people making loud grunts as they lift weights, people who have no particular plan and are randomly using equipment, those who try to compete with you without you noticing, etc, etc...

I listen to my i-pod and keep that as my gym world. From there I simply focus on the task at hand and ignore everything else. By doing so, I am able to excel in what I'm doing, and by doing so I'm not only remaining focused but I'm leading by example. And the response I get from that is people looking up to me and respecting me as I work out. I find I am inspiring others and this in itself inspires me even further.

So at the gym, stick to your plan, remain focused each and every day, and your fitness will grow beyond perhaps anything you thought you could ever possibly achieve.

The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life

When it comes to anything in your life including fitness and nutrition, you need to make the most of your life, what you have, what you can do and achieve with it, and not wait for others to do it for you. Set yourself goals, aim high and don't let anyone but you determine what your limits are.

Think about what you are currently doing with your fitness and nutrition and ask yourself if you could keep doing this every day. Then imagine yourself in 10 or 20 years time- can you keep punishing your body by eating unhealthy and not exercising? What will that do to your mind and body over the course of 10 or 20 years?

Maybe you need to think about what your goals are and what you need to do to achieve them Think of today as the first day of the rest of your life, don't wait until tomorrow, make it happen today.

Abs- Covering Your Bases

I've read lots about what you need to do in regards to fitness and nutrition that lead to getting flat abs and/or a "six-pack'. Some of the individual methods I use may be working and others may be not I don't know, however by covering as many bases as I can I've improved my chances and have thus achieved my aim in getting strong core abs. Here are the bases I cover and would highly recommend others who wish to get firm abs should do:

1. Create a calorie deficit of at least 500 calories per day. Find out the calories you need to consume each day by using a BMR calclator, and then eat at least 500 calories less than this each day.

2. Involve weight training. Building muscle assists with weight loss. You don't have to think of weight training as a way to bulk up, but alternatively as a way to lose weight.

3. Ab exercises- Once you've got rid of any layer of fat on your stomach through healthy nutrition, ab exercises can help mould your abdominal area into shape.

4. Cardio. I currently do at least an hour each day. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up as I get older. For newcomers to fitness, 20 minutes is an adequate start, however if you really want to get results you need to push yourself, so aiming to do an hour from the start is even better, and you will excel.

5. Never Give Up- it can take time to get really fit initially but many give up when they are so close to getting the results they want. Give it a little more time and effort and the gains can be great.

Drink Green Tea

According to nutrition research, Green Tea has various health benefits. It can apparently help when it comes to cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, high cholesterol levels, infection and an impaired immune system. It can also prevent tooth decay. In regards to weight loss, apparently those that drink Green Tea burn more calories...

And that's why I drink Green Tea- hopefully the nutrition research is true and it's what is assisting me with my healthy lifestyle. I've tried Green Tea as a drink and as a capsule. Now technically, the capsule has more Green Tea in it, however I currently choose to drink Green Tea. This way I am drinking more water which can help flush out my body. And based on nutrition advice I've received for Green Tea to be really having enough of an effect, I try to drink four cups a day. This may seem a lot so I suggest that perhaps you start with two cups of Green Tea and progress from there.

Chewing Gum Calories

If you're going to chew gum I would recommend the sugar-free variety. Chewing gum with sugar adds calories even if you are simply chewing and not swallowing, and it doesn't help your teeth much either. Sugar-free gum on the other hand can actually help you burn calories. It does contain calories but the act of chewing the gum will burn enough calories to thus cancel out the actual calories in the gum itself. However if you chew even sugar-free gum endlessly each day that won't help your teeth either. Chewing gum can also put a taste in your mouth that may prevent you from reaching for an unhealthy snack.

I rarely chew gum myself as I think it's an unnecessary thing to do, so I would not recommend you start chewing gum as a way to lose weight. Should you chew gum though, I suggest sugar-free.

Making Healthy Chinese Takeaway Choices

Since today is the beginning of Chinese New Year, I thought I'd focus on ordering a Chinese takeaway and the healthy choices you can make when doing so. The following 5 tips come from a mixture of research online and my own personal experience:

1. Order dishes with vegetables.

2. My own personal experience tells me that Chinese takeaway restaurants only seem to have white rice. Brown rice is ok but you should generally avoid white rice, so my advice would be to avoid all rice dishes. Rice is also a starchy carb which you should avoid eating late in the day, and chances are most Chinese takeaways are likely to be ordered in the evening.

3. Don't be afraid to mention your dietary needs so you can be accommodated if possible.

4. Don't order anything with fried in the title.

5. Avoid dishes with sauces.

Structure's Good

Earlier today I was watching a Lost video interview online with Josh Holloway who plays the character of Sawyer. When observing how glad he was to be working he stated that "Structure's Good", as it helps provide a purpose for him.

I feel the same way about fitness. Structure's good and is in fact key. It can really help to motivate you. At the gym for example my current basic work out has a 3 day structure, and each day itself has a structure.

Day 1 I start with a cardio warm-up, followed by chest and shoulder weight lifting exercises, ab exercises and then cardio.

Day 2 I start with a cardio warm-up, followed by arm weight lifting exercises and then cardio.

Day 3 I start with a cardio warm-up, followed by leg weight lifting exercises, ab exercises and then cardio.

You will notice that the days are similar, yet different. Something they all have though is structure.

For further details of my 3 day structure, please feel free to visit my post 'A 3-Day Cycle Starting Point'.

The Ultimate Gym Survival Tool

Throughout the past year and a half that I've been continuously going to the gym, I've found that the one thing that has helped me through it all is my i-Pod. I can play upbeat songs, inspirational songs, create playlists to suit the speed of my workout and soforth. I personally have warm-up playlists, extensive cardio playlists, etc. Music has been a key strength in getting me through my workouts and I would highly recommend that whenever you do go to the gym, you take your i-pod or mp3 player with you. Listening to music you like will push you so much further than you would think possible, and I highly recommend you take your player with you to every workout and feel inspired.

The Treat DAY Rule

So after a lean Summer along came Halloween, followed by Thanksgiving, Christmas and now it's the New Year. And at time of writing, in the US, today is Martin Luther King Day and tomorrow America will welcome a new President- Barack Obama. Then in February it's Valentine's Day.

All these are celebration days, a day when a lot of celebration food and much comfort food is on offer. The important thing to remember is that these treat days are just that- a treat DAY. Not a treat week, or a treat weekend despite some holidays lasting that long.

In regards to nutrition, it's perfectly fine to treat yourself every once in a while, even once a week if you wish, however you must remember the Treat DAY rule, and then to keep yourself on track, the next day either consume less calories to make up for it and/or work out harder to make up for it that way. An additional tip is to focus on weight training the day after you've consumed a lot of calories to make the most of the extra protein you've accumulated, providing it's still in your system. I would probably recommend doing it first thing the next day.

Whenever you do have a treat day, there is no need to feel guilty about it. Simply enjoy it and make up for it afterwards. And a great tip I heard just recently and a great motivational point is to think that as long as you're fit and healthy between New Year and Christmas, it's not so bad if you're not between Christmas and New Year.

Making Up The Difference

It is said that for long term health and reduced chronic disease we should do 10,000 steps a day, and that for successful weight loss, we should do between 12,000 and 15,000 steps.

Based on my experience, 15,000 steps is roughly 500 calories, and most people won't accomplish this number of steps in a typical busy day. Now I can burn 500 calories in just over 30 minutes with cardio. Therefore, to make up the difference, I would suggest that each day you aim to do at least 30 minutes of cardio. 30 minutes is an amount of time most can squeeze into their schedule and baring in mind that you watch what you eat, will significantly help with weight loss.

A Goal Weight Guarantee Part 2

As stated in A Goal Weight Guarantee, a good tip in achieving your weight goal is knowing how many calories a person of that weight would eat, and to find that out you need to know the BMR of a person of that weight.

An alternative BMR calculator is located at http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/bmr.php
This is for those you couldn't calculate inches with the BMR calculator featured in A Goal Weight Guarantee and is probably more of a universal one.

Now, an additional thing to think about is that you don't want to be aiming for a weight that is unhealthy for your age and height. For that you need to know your BMI. Not to be confused with BMR which deals with calories per day, BMI deals with body fat percentage.

So in breaking it down, to achieve your goal weight:

You would first go to http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/
and enter your details.

Based on that result you would go to http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/bmi_tbl.htm
and look at your BMI at the top of the table. Then look at your height in regards to your BMI and see your ideal healthy weight.

And for those that don't know, 1 foot = 12 inches, although you can do an online calculation at http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_common.htm

Finally, once you've found your ideal healthy weight, you can go to the aforementioned BMR calculator to work out how many calories you would need per day to acheive that ideal healthy weight.

And a final finally, don't wait until tomorrow to start eating at your goal weight, start today.

A Goal Weight Guarantee

A good tip for those trying to lose weight is to start eating at your goal weight. That means working out your calories on a BMR calculator based on age, weight and height...

A BMR calculator can be found at http://www.weightlossforgood.co.uk/bmr_calculator.htm

...simply enter the weight that you would like to be, along with your height and age. As soon as you've found out how many calories you need to consume per day to maintain that weight, then that's the number of calories you aim to eat starting today.

Now I can't give you a time frame based on how long it will take you to reach your goal weight without taking into account what you are eating and how much you work out, but if you do eat that number of calories starting today, it's guaranteed that one day you will reach that goal weight.

Honey & Lemon

It was snowing here in the UK this morning, which meant many regular gym goers weren't dealing with their winter blues, they were just staying in bed. I was up and ready to go this morning and I did make it to the gym despite the weather causing me some cold symptoms, however even my regular warm-up was only just keeping me warm. I was clearly in a need of a little comforting.

I found that comfort afterwards when I bought some Honey & Lemon and added it to my Oatmeal breakfast. Honey is soothing to the throat and so can help sore throats, and lemon can help with the cold. Now some believe Honey & Lemon is merely a comfort thing, and doesn't necessarily have an effect. I can tell you though, that having taken Honey & Lemon today, though it may simply be a comfort thing, it definitely made me feel better, and that sounds pretty effective to me.

Do I Really Want That?

It's hard to get over snack cravings on occasion, from Ben & Jerry's ice cream to McVities Chocolate Digestives- these are just some examples of cravings. They are also so easy to reach for in a supermarket- particularly if there's a promotion on.

I find that whenever I feel tempted to reach for snacks, to avoid doing so, it helps if I ask myself- do I really want that? I need to ask myself things like- would it really change my life for the better if I had that unhealthy snack? And chances are, I may have reached for that unhealthy snack before and it didn't make my life better and I already know that. So if I already know that it's wrong why would I do it? Do I really want that?

Now there are no guarantees that having this thought will prevent you from reaching for an unhealthy snack, but it might make you think twice or reach for a smaller portion of it in the very least, and being able to control your portions and being disciplined is just one step to you taking control of your life, and leading yourself to a healthy lifestyle.

Negative Calorie Foods

Negative Calorie Foods are foods in which the calories don't really matter. The reason the calories don't matter is that they are hard for your body to digest and so your body has to use equal or even more energy (calories) than the actual food is worth to digest it. Therefore, theoretically, certain negative calorie foods could help you lose weight simply by eating more of them. It sounds like a myth but it's apparently true.

So what are these wonder foods? I've listed a few below. Perhaps they can be incorporated into your lifestyle as alternatives/replacements to sugary snacks. Since I'm sharing information on what I particularly do, I've only listed ones that I incorporate into my own individual lifestyle on occasion:

Vegetables - Asparagus, Broccoli, Green Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Lettuce, Onions, Spinach.

Fruits - Apples, Cranberries, Grapefruit, Lemons, Pineapple, Raspberries, Strawberries.

There are many more you can find out about by googling online.

90 Degrees

A great exercise for the abdominal muscles and that often sought after six pack is something called the Double Crunch. Note that a crunch involves lifting your body slightly off the floor rather than doing a full sit up. I did it in a fitness class today. Here's how you do it:

Lie back on a floor or mat with knees bent and hands behind head. Keep elbows back and out of sight. Lift knees to 90 degrees- this insures the hips aren't being brought into the exercise and so your abdominal muscles are doing the full work. The 90 degrees approach is generally a great idea with many abdominal exercises for this reason. Start by leading with the chin and chest towards the ceiling, contracting the abdominals and raising shoulders off the floor or mat. During the crunch, also bring knees towards chest and return to start position.

Ok, go try it out and see if it works for you.

It's Not A Diet, It's A Lifestyle

In many gyms, January is the busiest time of the year. People are acting on their new year's resolutions to get fit and healthy, and quite often start diets. Many give up on their resolutions shortly after the new year begins. They do of course make brand new resolutions next year and give up on those too, and so the cycle continues.

I've made a number of nutritional changes to my life to supplement the hard work I put in at the gym over the past year or so. As I've progressed at the gym I've learnt how to maximise the equipment I use and the time I put in, as well as creating a nutrition lifestyle that revolves around eating low fat and low calorie food and drink options while maximising my intake of essential nutrients. This has worked for me and it has evolved over time. When it comes to nutrition what I do is part of my life. It is not a diet. A diet I could give up on, but when it comes to a lifestyle it's a part of my everyday life. It is a lifestyle that evolves as I learn more about nutrition. As I'm living a healthy lifestyle, it allows me to treat myself moderately on occasion without depriving me of some less healthy foods (i.e. chocolate, ice cream, sugary snacks). I also find that by reducing these less healthy foods as part of my lifestyle, it is now unnatural for me to reach for them first, and I no longer crave them like I used to. It was hard at first to change my eating habits, but by slowly fading out chocolate for example with a banana, my body adjusted and feels all the healthier for it. I think it might be useful to think of a diet as something temporary and a lifestyle as something permanent. If you want to be fit and healthy as part of your daily life, I would recommend not focusing on something temporary like a diet, and focusing on something permanent- a better lifestyle.

Getting Over The Winter Blues

As I left for the gym around 6am this morning, snow was covering the ground where I was in the South East of England. It was cold. Winter is usually the toughest time to motivate yourself to go to the gym in the morning, particularly because of not only the weather but the fact that it is so dark and dull. I actually don't find it hard as I possibly could however. In fact I find it usually pretty easy. This is because when the clocks changed last Fall, I made a decision to get over it. Now this may seem like an easy thing to say, but I figured that if I started dreading getting up in the morning, particularly with the dark early mornings, I'd be doing it for the rest of the Winter. I didn't want to keep dreading every day, so I made a decision to basically deal with it. And not only do I get that tremendous sense of satisfaction after the workout, but I'm stronger mentally and physically because of it. Because I made the decision to get over the winter blues right at the beginning of the time change, I now don't have a problem getting up in the morning to go to the gym.

It was also just a few months ago that I transferred to a new gym. On my way to the gym, I am currently walking through a town centre where I am not the first one up- there are lots of delivery trucks dropping off stock to stores, people rushing to catch trains, etc, whereas before, my old gym was in a small community where I was the only one going to the gym at 6am. Now I'm at a gym where there is lots of activity- many people are working out before work. Going to the gym doesn't feel as lonely as it used to. So in perhaps offering some tips to help you get over the Winter blues beyond simply getting over it, I would recommend going to a gym in a happening neighborhood, and surrounding yourself by others who are equally motivated to get up on these dark mornings. Being around others who share similar goals can be really inspiring, and perhaps that inspiration can be your key to getting over the Winter blues.

Best Time To Exercise

There are various schools of thought about when you should exercise. I'm not going to argue points for or against. All I'm gonna do is tell you what I do...

- I choose to do my gym workout in the morning.

I find it easier to focus and there's also a tremendous sense of satisfaction at not only having managed to get up first thing in the morning to work out, but also being able to relax the rest of the day. I've tried working out in the evening but I've found the gym to be crowded, thus making it hard to concentrate, and also at the end of the day I'm too tired due to the day's activities to give it my all. Since I aim to do my best in all I do, I want to be at my best, therefore my gym workout will always take place in the morning.

A 3-day Cycle Starting Point

I've found that to be successful in accomplishing any goal is to have a plan. As I first started going to the gym on a regular basis, I aimed to go at least three times a week. Based on this I worked out a basic 3 day cycle to exercise my entire body that I built on. Cardio would help me lose weight, and weight training would help me build muscle to help me lose weight. It grew to be a lot more specific and has evolved to be quite different now, but I would recommend it as a starting point to those first starting out at the gym:

Day 1:

Cardio Warm-Up - Running (10 mins)
Weights - Shoulders, Chest, Arms (own pace)
Ab Exercises (own pace)
Cardio - Cycling (minimum 30 mins)

Day 2:

Cardio Warm-Up - Rowing (10 mins)
Weights - Shoulders, Chest, Arms (own pace)
Ab Exercises (own pace)
Cardio - Running (10 mins) followed by Brisk Walking (minimum 20 mins)

Day 3:

Cardio Warm-Up - Crosstrainer/Elliptical (10 mins)
Weights - Legs (own pace)
Ab Exercises (own pace)
Cardio - Cycling (minimum 30 mins)

No Excuses!

It was back in July 2007 that I made a decision to get in shape. It's not like I was huge or anything. All I remember is that when I was 18 my waist was 30 inches and now here I was, nearly 30 and my waist was 35 inches. I'd clearly put on weight over time. Much of which I attribute to my regular chocolate milk cravings. Plus my Mother seemed to lean towards the large side, whereas my Dad seemed to be superskinny. Based on my genes, the odds were that I could go either way. I could be thin or fat, and the decision I made as I approached 30 could be what I was stuck with for the rest of my life. I chose neither- I simply chose to be fit and healthy.

I'd thought about going to the gym for a while but hadn't really made it happen. My previous experience at the gym was in 2004 at the housing complex known as The Commons in Orlando, Florida- I was working at Walt Disney World at the time. I'd gone on random days with no specific exercise plan in mind but hadn't made a real effort. It was now two years later and I was back in the UK and I walked past a gym that had a sign saying No Excuses! Being the kind of person who believes in Serendipity and how it is the way you interpret the signs in your life that determines how happy and successful you are, I decided that the sign was a sign- from here on out there were no excuses!

This led me to doing some research, consulting with fitness professionals and formulating an exercise and nutrition regime tailored just for me. My ultimate goal was to lose belly fat- I wasn't really bothered about gaining muscle. Then I learned that gaining muscle was integral to losing fat overall. Thus through trial and error I developed an ever-evolving workout and nutrition regime. A year later, the beginning of Summer 2008 I had started to see my abdominal muscles and I was down to a 28 inch waist with low body fat percentage. I continued forth, and just a few months later I had a photo shoot that revealed I had accomplished some six pack abs. I'd also begun getting modeling offers and people who hadn't spoken to me in ages asking me how I got in such great shape.

So now, in January 2009, I've decided to share my experience of what I did to get in shape. Now I'm not a fitness expert (and as a disclaimer it's advisable to contact your doctor before undertaking any new fitness/nutrition regime that may be hazardous to your health)- I'm just a guy who did a lot of research and took what I felt were the best theories regarding fitness and nutrition, and took action.

And perhaps by reading this blog, you'll feel inspired and formulate your own fitness and nutrition regime that's just right for you. I am of course open to any questions. For now though, my first piece of advice in regards to any kind of lifestyle you have, fitness or otherwise is, there are no excuses!