Hard work cannot be avoided

"Training should be a way of life. It should not be seen as a chore. While training, live for that moment, nothing else matters. The hard work, the fatigue and the pain of exhaustion never lasts forever, trust me , it will end. But do not focus on the end. Focus on the what you are doing, live that moment, experience it, embellish it, do not escape it. The masses WILL try to escape it - you are not the masses doing whatever the masses are doing, that is why you are here. You want to be different and you will see the difference. S0 get busy and enjoy the hard work"

My daily workout suggestions are posted here

Top 12 Reasons Why You're obese and how I can help

Depending on who you talk to, you'll hear various reasons as to why people are obese/fat/overweight. Listed below are a few you've probably heard before:

1. "You eat too much sugar."

2. "You eat too much meat and fat."

3. "You eat too many carbs."

4. "You drink too much alcohol."

5. "You don't exercise enough."

6. "You don't exercise at all."

7. "It's genetic problem, Everyone in your family is fat."

8. "You're on drugs for depression."

9. "You're doing the wrong type of exercise."

And my all time favourite nonsense reason:-

10. "You're getting old, so your metabolism has slowed."

Some of these reasons are valid and untrue for others. What is clear is that no matter what your age or size; being overweight and unfit can be turned around in 100% of cases and quickly, by following a health program that transforms your body and mind from fat to fit. You've got to work hard for it though, but it won't take up your time - there will be no long distance cardio in the "fat burning zone". So the exercises will be far more effective and take up less of your time. It's a no brainer. Sign up to my FREE Body Transformation newsletter HERE

PS: As regards to point 10, your metabolism slows because people tend to exercise less when they get older (for some reason). Age has nothing to do with it!

How to Plan to Avoid Junk Food

Kicking the junk-food habit can be tough. Junk food is convenient, aggressively marketed, cheap to buy and hard to resist. Most people are programmed to consume far too much and to choose foods that are saturated with fat and salt.

Tips:-

1. Eliminate temptation at home. Clear out all the junk from your cupboards, and get the whole family on board for the effort.

2. Lay a healthful foundation by stocking up on ingredients for nutritious meals, desserts and snacks. If you eat healthy food at home, you won't feel so bad when you splurge on an infrequent fast-food meal or candy bar.

3. Set realistic expectations for yourself by remembering to practice progression towards more healthy options. Total deprivation will only make your cravings more intense, so allow yourself a weekly treat for cutting back.

4. Identify those times of the day when you're most vulnerable to a junk-food attack. Is it that relentless 3 p.m. cookie craving?

5. Prepare ahead of time by having healthy, flavourful alternatives on hand

6. Focus on eating healthy foods. Be sure the snack foods you keep in plain sight and hidden away are all good choices. Keep a fruit basket on your kitchen counter, table or desk. If you stock the refrigerator with exclusively healthy foods, you'll eventually overcome the urge for fat and sugar-laden treats.

7. Avoid situations that may encourage a junk attack, like sitting in front of the television all evening. Resist those evil vending machines at work by bringing your own healthful snacks and leaving your pocket change at home.

8. Cook large quantities and put extra meals in the freezer. That way you won't be tempted to make a junk-food run on your way home from work.

9. Listen to your appetite - eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full.

10. Give alternative, healthy food a try. Try a new fruit or veg – there’s a whole world of taste out there – and plant foods have the largest variety.

11.Get in the habit of reading food labels: If the first two ingredients are fat and sugar, it's junk food.

12. Don't take labels at face value. This is just marketing hype and is done to sell products . Many "low-carb," "low-fat" or "no-fat" products are poor in nutrition and loaded with additives and sugar.

Drinking Milk - we are programmed into someone elses agenda

Here are the facts about Milk:-

1. We are the only species on the planet who drink milk after we are weaned off breast milk. The majority of adults would be horrified if fully grown adults drank human breast milk, yet it's quite acceptable to drink it from the breast of another animal?
2. Cow’s milk is not a natural food for humans to consume
3. Most people in the world are lactose intolerant - lactose is the sugar in milk
4. Children consume a wheel barrow of sugar before they start school - just from milk!
   
5. Many children are affected by cow’s milk allergies
6. Plant-based sources of calcium are many and varied and offer many other health benefits as well as providing a natural and safe source of calcium
7. Milk producers make mothers feel guilty about not providing enough calcium for their children... and then emotionally blackmail them by promoting a product that's high in sugar, fat and chemical additives

There are plenty of better products that replace traditional milk and are much, much better for you. Try rice milk or coconut milk.

The Myth of Eating vast amounts of Protein for Muscle Growth and Strength

There are all kinds of diet recommendations all over the fitness magazines and websites that advise you to divide your eating into different "ratios" and "percentages" for building muscle mass and gaining weight.
Some recommend high fat, low carb, others say moderate carbs, moderate fat, high carbs, low fat, etc. But the one thing that each and every one of these "weight gain" / "muscle building" diets say is it must be HIGH in protein. On almost every page there are adverts on whey protein supplements promoting the stuff with incredible claims.
The truth is it is not necessary at all to eat a diet high in protein to gain muscle weight.
Some even suggest you have to not only eat high, but massive amounts of protein to build muscle. Then you look at the nature and the most powerful land animals such as horses, elephants, bulls, rhinos and Gorillas actually have very little protein. Also, a growing baby's diet has less than 6% protein, yet I've seen claims that you need to consume 35% protein to gain muscle. Of course this is all propaganda.

This Myth is due to 3 reasons:

1) Most people think that muscle tissue is made up mostly of protein
2) Most people think that either high amounts of fat or high amounts of carbohydrates will cause you to get fat
3) Most people think that protein has a "thermogenic" (inner-body temperature raising) effect, which helps burn fat

All three of these beliefs are completely wrong!
Muscle tissue is NOT made up of mostly of protein. Muscle tissue is 70% water.
The other 30% is made of glucose, and Amino acids. Your muscles need just as much glucose (which is what carbohydrates are converted into), if not more than protein to gain muscle size.
Those that have medically studied the physiology of the human body know that amino acids are what make up protein.
However, the body uses whatever amount of amino acids it needs at that particular moment. The rest it stores for later use.
It is not true that you need to be eating a steady stream of protein to gain muscle weight, your body keeps a little pool of stored amino acids.
Protein is by far the most difficult macro nutrient to break down and digest and the higher the amount of protein you eat the more stress you are placing on your digestive system. High protein diets can lead to kidney stones and will make your blood more acidic leading to increased joint pain.
Have you ever noticed how you feel when you eat a huge burger or steak?
Even after several hours have passed, it still feels like you've got that entire piece of meat just sitting and rotting in your stomach.
How much benefit in gaining muscle weight do you think that's going to give you?
Have you ever drank those disgusting protein shakes or eaten those chalk-tasting protein bars? You get gas, you feel bloated, and you might even get diarrhea.
There are several real-life examples of athletes that don't consume massive amounts of protein to gain muscle weight, yet have tremendous physiques, are in excellent health, are powerful, fast, and agile.
Here's just a few:-

• Mike Mahler - Kettlebell expert

• Jon Hinds - Pan American Ju-jitsu Gold medalist, owner of Lifeline fitness and founder of the Monkey Bar Gymnasium
  

• Bill Manetti - Powerlifting champion

• Stan Price - World weight lifting record holder; bench press
  

• Chris Campbell - Olympic wrestling champion
  

• Luke Cummo - UFC Ultimate Fighter

• Carl Lewis - Multi-Olympic Champion

You can eat all the protein in the world and not gain one pound of muscle weight if you aren't eating enough calories.
Remember, it doesn't matter what we've been fed by the magazines and companies trying to sell us their latest protein concoction; training hard using full body exercises and eating high quality nutrients is the key to success.

Online Personal Training now available

Kick Ass Fitness Online Personal Training is a unique training program personally tailored to your goals and your current fitness levels to enable you to achieve long term health and fitness beyond what you thought was possible no matter what your starting level. Your program will offer all the benefits and support of having a personal trainer visiting you with a ‘do it yourself’ component. If you are committed to getting back into the shape of your life and want to save some money, this is the program for you. In addition you are not restricted to your trainer’s schedule, allowing you to perform your program when best suits you, saving you valuable time.
For more information with a list of what is included, please click here

Personal Trainer Scam

If you're a trainer, martial arts teacher or sports coach you should be aware of a scam that is spreading internationally.
I was contacted by someone who pretended to be a potential client, who wanted a series of training sessions for several people.

This is the potential way they scam you - script below
1. They contact you with an enquiry
2. You confirm a price etc.
3. They ask you to charge their credit card as usual, plus also add an amount which they need you to forward to their "logistics agent" who does not take credit cards. The extra payment is for travel and accomodation. (this should ring major alarm bells, as nodody would ever ask you do this).
4. You then forward the extra amount to the agent, who would then do a runner with your money.You get a charge back from the original stolen credit card and as you took the amount over the phone, you don't have a leg to stand on, making you liable. The amount will be about £8 grand.

The scam is of course quite obvious, but many people must fall for this. Remember the old saying "If is sounds too good to be true....."

Here is the original e-mail:-

Philip Howard philiphoward19@gmail.com sent:

Hi
I'll be in the country with my friends for a one month vacation. During our stay, we would like to book for 3 weeks classes for 1Hr each day, Monday to Saturday (morning or Evening hours) for 6 persons.
As part of our plans to keep fit during the vac, we need Private group training. Do you have a training studio/facility where you conduct the classes? What Forms of Fitness Program do you teach best?

Kettlebells are tops for fat burning

Claims that high intensity training using kettlebells delivers superior fat loss than any other method of exercise have now been vindicated by the American Council in Exercise in recent study by.

The research done by ACE has shown that after just a 20 minute kettlebell workout subjects burned an average of 272 calories. Measurements revealed off the chart readings at 6.6 calories per minute.

When you use kettlebells there is a significant full body muscle activation not found in other type of training. It is because of this that you can do much more work in a shorter amount of time producing rapid results.
Kettlebell training has bridged the gap between strength training and cardiovascular training making them an awesome fitness conditioning tool and suitable for all.

The Shake Weight Disgrace

I've seen some awful fitness gadgets and claims over the last 30 years or so in my training but the Shake Weight has to be up there with the worst.

Everything they claim in their marketing is complete and utter nonsense to put it lightly. The video says you will look like the models in 6 minutes a day and is the classic way to sell fitness products to the ignorant man or woman sitting on the couch with a remote control and a credit card.

Shake weights claim to use "Revolutionary new technology called Dynamic Inertia", a statement that has Galileo turning in his grave.

Great parody and music below from Frisco Rails on YouTube

It’s time to rid the world of them and other disgraceful fitness products, so very shortly I will have some on my eBay link from my website:-

http://kickassfitnessuk.com/store/charity-smash-up/

If you buy one from me and send me some YouTube video footage of the Shake Weight you purchased being destroyed in a public place, I will personally guarantee you the following:-

For every one bought from me and destroyed (with the video evidence as proof), I will donate £5 of my own money to Breast Cancer UK. (www.breastcanceruk.org.uk). Alternatively I will donate £5 to the charity of your choice.

That’s not all; for the most creative piece of video footage sent to me between 1st September 2010 and 31st August 2011, the winner will receive a FREE 12kg Pro-Kettlebell worth £40 (UK customers only)

Videos will be judged on the following criteria:-

1. Comedy content
2. The creative method of destruction
3. How public you made it

Functional Fitness - is it just trendy?

Functional fitness means "building a body capable of doing real-life activities in real-life positions, not just lifting a certain amount of weight in an idealized posture created by a gym machine." In Functional Fitness the muscles learn how to work together in harmony instead of being all aloof and separated from each other - this is how the body works in real life. Instead of using huge cumbersome weight machines designed to isolate muscles, functional fitness uses simple equipment like medicine balls, sandbags, plyo boxes, cables, or kettlebells. Or better yet, you can use nothing but your own body weight, with exercises like push ups, pull-ups and handstands. Training involves the continued practice of perfecting these movement skills and produces strong and highly skilled athletes.

However, most importantly functional training methods are diverse, interesting and great fun, a far cry from the boredom associated with machine and isolation training. All this makes this 'Trendy' fitness method hotter than anything I've seen in over 30 years of training.

My experience of the Monkey Bar Gym

• Running
  


• Jumping
  


• Crawling
  


• Climbing

Eischens yoga restoration to rid the body of injuries and pains; Skill training to develop high skilled and strong individuals; Plant based nutrition to feel light and energised. The training I recieved was incredible and light years ahead of the current 'Fitness matrix'. Not only will it benefit my life, but my family and client's lives too.

Best salad ever!

This is absolutely the best salad that I've ever had - even my 14 year old and 12 year old boys ate the whole lot!

Full of nutrition: strong plants & fruit, and perfect assistance for your fitness - remember 70% of your health is done in the kitchen. Don't kid yourself that you can eat junk, train hard and you'll still be fit.

Black Bean, Corriander and Apricot Salad

• 15oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup each of: chopped apricots, pure mango juice and chopped fresh corriander
• 1/4 cup each of: diced carrots and cashew nuts
• Chopped spring onions x 4
• Garlic cloves x 2 - crushed
• 2 tablespoons each of: olive oil and freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 tablespoon each of: Soy sauce and grated fresh ginger
• Season to taste

Add last: 4 cups of chopped baby spinach or fresh lettuce

1. Mix all the ingredients (except the spinach) together well in a large bowl, cover bowl and place in fridge over night to marinade.

2. Bring to room temperature and add toss with spinach - serve and savour!

Check out my website!

My website is now live!

http://www.kickassfitnessuk.com/

• MORE ENERGY AND VITALITY


• INCREASE YOUR BODY AWARENESS AND SENSE OF ACHIEVEMENT


• KEEP YOUR BODY STRONG, FIT AND BALANCED AS YOU GET OLDER
  

My training will involve anything from using kettlebells and medicine balls to literally beating a tractor tyre with a sledgehammer, which is great fun - especially after a day’s work!

My training is about strengthening the spirit through strengthening the body. I promise you'll love it and so will your body.