London Marathon Training – Week 5

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We are now moving in to the second quarter of London Marathon training and I had planned another high-mileage week, with two-thirds of the weekly mileage coming in two days. I’ll explain why further down!

 

Monday kicked off with a 3.3 mile walk with my wife and was immediately followed by a 6 mile easy run as I had a planned Running Buddy session late afternoon. However, he cancelled due to a niggly knee so it left me a little short of my planned mileage.

 

Tuesday was to be a long day with two medium-long runs and a Running Buddy session with a new client. I started with an easy 10-miler, followed two hours later by the Running Buddy session. This ended up as 3.8 miles of hill reps and flat sprints around Wigston. As with most clients, she surprised herself by how hard she can work when pushed and how much faster she can run than she thought. A very pleasing session for both of us. Tuesday finished with a 3 mile run to Wigston Phoenix Running Club, followed by their Linear Run. This consists of a half a mile warm up, then a 20 minute run down Welford Road from Wigston to the city centre, seeing how far you can get. You then have 25 minutes to get back (so at an easier pace). The theory is that everyone arrives back at the start point at the same time.

As I had already ran 17 miles by this point, my plan was to run the 20 minutes at Marathon Pace (6.15-ish pace) and then run back with others. However, as usual, everyone started tearing off down Welford Road and I was soon caught up with them. The 20 minutes averaged 5.57m/m and I managed to get to Fenwicks in the allotted time. My legs felt good all the way and I actually felt as though I still had another gear if needed. By the time I had ran home again this third run totalled 11.57 miles, giving a grand total of 25.4 miles for the day.

 

Wednesday was a very easy day, with just a 4 mile recovery run at a very easy effort.

 

Due to Friday being my long run day for the week I kept Thursday to a one-run day. Before that, I decided to get back in to my garage with a heavy weights session. I really enjoy lifting weights but often do not have enough time between working and not wanting it to conflict with my running. After an hour of lifting various weights, working my whole upper body, I realised that it had been a while and I would ache in the morning. My one run of the day was the club speed/hills session at Victoria Park. As my legs now felt fresh I pushed hard on all reps and tried to do as many as possible in the time we were there. I managed a total of 6.5 miles and my legs could feel it by the end.

 

Friday was a bit of a ‘make it up as we go’ day. First of all it was a Running Buddy session which entailed a hills/speed session around Wigston. This totalled 5.5 miles and the reps were ran at a faster than comfortable effort.

As I had a night out planned for a friends birthday and had agreed to lead the 8.30m/m pacing group at We Run LE1 I decided to aim to run 17 miles and then lead the pacing group for a further 5 miles. I parked at Victoria Park and headed down New Walk to the canal and out through Abbey Park and Watermead Park. As the light was starting to fade I turned back at 8 miles. As I did, I upped the pace to aim for a few miles at 6.45m/m pace. However, I had managed to misjudge the light as not only was it getting to dusk, but it also got cloudier at the same time. This meant that I was having to concentrate more on the muddy towpath than I would have liked, whilst still trying to keep the pace fast. After a couple of miles I started to become a little disorientated with the darkness and unlit towpath. I tried to keep to my 6.45m/m pace but it started to feel harder after each mile. I started to slow down as I began to feel a little light-headed. I put this down to just four rounds of toast and a banana being eaten for lunch. I headed around Bede Park and the bottom end of Great Central Way before cutting through town, up New Walk and around Victoria Park to my car. That was at the 16 mile mark, but as I was early I drank a 500ml bottle of home-made sports drink and then did another lap of the park before joining the We Run LE1 runners.

I have to say that at this point I didn’t feel great. I felt light-headed and as though I was running through treacle, even though my heart rate was fine. I set off at the front of the We Run LE1 crowd, sharing the pacing with the other 8.30 group pacers down New Walk, around town and back again. I was trying to talk as much as possible and concentrate on my running form, trying to keep my brain working. Once back at Victoria Park, I said my goodbyes and left the group, heading across the park back to my car as the taxi to take me back into town gave me 30 minutes to get home, showered and changed. Once home, and after consuming a bar of chocolate and a cereal in record time, I started to feel a bit more normal again. So lesson learned; even in my 11th year of marathon training you can still get your fuelling all wrong!

 

Saturday was always planned as a rest day and that is what I did. It was my first rest day of the year and my last day off was also after a night out!

 

The week was finished with an easy effort 6 miler on Sunday. Nothing special and if anything, I felt a little sluggish after my rest day. Not an issue though as it means I can run further next week!

 

Week 5 Totals: 75.6 miles covered over 9 runs, plus 6 miles of walking, one strength session and some basic core exercises on my BOSU ball.

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London Marathon Training – Week 4

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This was my first planned cutback week of the year, but as my wife was away for the week on business I thought I would take the opportunity of pushing on with the miles. My legs, although a bit tired, felt ok to continue through one more week of high mileage.

 

Monday became another double-run day as I had a new client who wanted me to run with him to kick-start his Half-marathon training. Therefore, I slowed down my morning run to an easy-effort 6 miles so I would be fresh for later. The Running Buddy run was far better than I expected. After Strava-stalking I thought that we would run for a maximum of 4 miles and I would throw some fartleks in to test his speed. However, while chatting along we managed 6 miles, including fartleks and finishing faster than we started. A very positive start to his training.

 

Tuesday was my long double-day, once again aiming for 20+ miles. My first run was 10.2 miles of easy effort running. My calf muscles had started to feel tired so I’d do extra rolling and stretching when I got home. I ran 4 miles, as usual, before the running club run. With my calf feeling better I decided to push the pace a little bit down Great Central Way and then back though South Wigston. My 21st mile of the day was 6.33, which I was very pleased with having followed a few miles at a similar pace earlier in the run.

 

I awoke on Wednesday with very tight calf muscles. I went out for a very easy 4 mile recovery run and whilst my legs felt better by the end of it, my calves were not quite right. Having the experience of knowing that my calves are my weak point and most likely muscle to injure, I called Function Jigsaw and was lucky enough to be seen by Lauren on Wednesday afternoon. I would like to say it was a nice massage, but being honest it was bloody sore. However, it was much needed and did loosened them off.

 

With my wife away, and her very kindly leaving her car with me as it was booked in for a service, Thursday was another day of four runs. As with last week, the garage tried to convince me that they could drop me home or lend me a courtesy car and just couldn’t understand why I would want to run home and back later on. An easy 4.5 mile run home felt very strange after my massage. My legs felt heavy and it took until halfway through the 4.2 miles back to the garage in the afternoon for them to feel almost back to normal again.

The third run of the day was the Next Running Group and the tenth and final week of their Couch to 5K plan. As they had ran 5k the previous week we embarked on another tour of Enderby. However, with my sense of navigation severely lacking and their sense of achievement growing by the minute, when we finally got back to the start point we had ran for 4 miles. Once again, massive congratulations all round as they finally realised that when I told them on week one that they would be able to run 5k by the end of week ten I wasn’t lying to them.

My final run of the day was the Wigston Phoenix speed session at Victoria Park. Running late due to the extra few minutes with Next, I was 15 minutes late by the time I caught up with everyone. I ran as hard as I could for the limited time left of the session and finished with some hard hill reps. Over the four runs of the day I had totalled 17.6 miles.

 

Friday was a definite recovery day. Just over 4 miles ran at a very easy effort and my legs started to feel normal again.

 

Saturday should have been 14 miles with 6 miles in the middle at Marathon Pace. However, waking with a thick head due to one too many beers at the running club awards presentation on Friday night, it was obvious that my run was not going to be the best. I got out and started with 4 easy miles but soon realised that my stomach was not going to play ball. Having my sensible head on and knowing that I didn’t need to chase mileage, I turned for home, changing the run into a 7 mile easy run.

 

I felt far better on Sunday morning so got up early and headed out for a 10 mile run, including the MP 6 miles I missed on Saturday. The pavements were icy but the roads were clear and I had them to myself. I ran the first 2 miles at a steady pace before pushing on aiming for a MP heart rate of around 150-155BPM. Sticking to this average, I managed the 6 miles at an average pace of 6.13. I was very pleased by this during the 2 cooldown miles to finish the run. Confidence boosted after Saturday’s aborted run.

 

Week 4 Totals: 78.2 miles covered over 12 runs, plus some basic core exercises on my BOSU ball.

 

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Motivation – Have You Got Your PERM in Place?

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As most of you will know, my core beliefs when it comes to health, fitness, weight loss and exercising are that whatever changes you are going to make in your life, they need to be sustainable. For a change to be sustainable you must have the correct reasons and motivation for making that change.

Now you may ask ‘What is the correct motivation for making a change in your life?’. This is where you need to know your goal or target. What do you want to achieve? When you know what you want to achieve you can then begin to work out what it will take to get there. These are the changes that you need to make in order to achieve your overall goal.

Just to go slightly off on a tangent for a minute; there are two types of motivations that we need to know about. These are Intrinsic and Extrinsic.

Intrinsic motivation is the self-desire to seek out new things and new challenges, to analyze one’s capacity, to observe and to gain knowledge. It is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on external pressures or a desire for consideration. People are more likely to have intrinsic motivation if they

  • are interested in mastering something new, even though there is no reward at the end of it.
  • engage in a task willingly
  • attribute their results to factors under their own control, also known as autonomy of control
  • believe they have the skills to be effective agents in reaching their desired goals, also known as self-efficacy beliefs

Extrinsic motivation refers to the performance of an activity in order to attain a desired outcome and it is the opposite of intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation comes from influences outside of the individual. Common extrinsic motivations are:

  • rewards (prizes, exam results, personal best times) for showing the desired behaviour
  • the threat of punishment following failure/non-compliance

 

Competition is an extrinsic motivator because it encourages the performer to win or to beat a personal best, not simply to enjoy the intrinsic rewards of the activity.  So in order to achieve the extrinsic goal, you need to have an interest or self-belief in the activities you need to complete to get there.

With extrinsic motivation, the harder question to answer is where do people get the motivation to carry out and continue to push with towards their target.

 

Now back to where I got distracted with explaining motivation. You need to know your ‘why?’ for your original goal/target. If it is weight loss, ‘why’ do you want to get to your goal weight? ‘Why’ did you choose that weight? Is it the weight on the scale you crave or the look you had when you weighed that weight last?

In 2011 a psychologist, Martin Seligman, published the book ‘Flourish’. This included a model with five elements that if all are in place we have a great chance of making lasting changes and experiencing well-being. This model is the PERMA Model. The five key elements are:

 

P             Positive Emotions

E              Engagement

R             Relationships

M            Meaning

A             Accomplishments

 

Let me explain each one in relation to a healthier lifestyle.

P             Positive Emotions – This is often described as sensory pleasure. This could be tasty (nutritious) food, warm baths, being in a place you love (outdoors, gym)

E              Engagement – When we’re truly engaged in something, you we experience a state of flow: time seems to stop and we concentrate intensely on the present. This could be cooking your favourite healthy meal, a gym class or a run outdoors

R             Relationships – These are often the social ties between the extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. Think of the friends you have made through exercising or the strengthening family ties that follow fun outdoor activities

M            Meaning – This comes from us thinking that we are serving a bigger purpose than ourselves. This can range from being religious, to being part of a running club, gym or even Facebook groups.

A             Accomplishments – These are usually the extrinsic motivators (certainly previous ones). If you are reading this, the chances are you will have something in the future you want to accomplish. This could be weight loss, getting new running PBs, learning a new language, etc.   As these have an outcome at the end, they are the easiest to struggle with. This is where you need your PERM to be in place (no, not the 80’s hairstyle) to ensure that you have the intrinsic (internal) motivations in place to carry you through the days or weeks where things don’t go to plan.

 

So, to bring everything back together as this has been a little disjointed (sorry), you need to find your intrinsic motivation to achieve your extrinsic goal. This means that to get to your goal weight (for example):

  • you need to know why you want to get to that weight (Accomplishment)
  • what can you do that you enjoy and gives you positive emotions that will keep you on track (Positive Emotions & Engagement)
  • do you have the relationships, social groups and belief, or can you find them, to support you towards your goals (Relationships & Meaning)

If you can get all of these in place, you have a far better chance of not only reaching your goal, but also in sustaining a healthier lifestyle than you had previously. Sustainable progress needs to be enjoyable and fit in with your lifestyle or you will just find it to hard and not enjoy your new life.

Good luck and if you need any help, please contact me.

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How do you know if you’re an athlete?

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ath·lete

noun

a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise.

 

More and more people are exercising nowadays, and while the definition is helpful, it is more fun to look at the list below to see if you can call yourself an athlete.

So, you might be an athlete if…

  1. You feel more at home at the gym than you do at your actual home
  2. You spend most of your waking hours thinking about PBs
  3. You DREAM about PBs
  4. You plan your holidays around upcoming races
  5. You own ten pairs of trainers – not for vanity, but because you need running shoes, gym shoes, trail shoes, barefoot shoes, etc
  6. You’ve had to ask for help getting out of a chair, because yesterday was leg day
  7. You’ve had to walk downstairs backwards the day after a marathon
  8. Random people ask you if you work out, and you’re excited to respond
  9. When you watch an action movie, you think to yourself, “I could do that.”
  10. Most of your wardrobe has been replaced with free t-shirts from fitness related events
  11. You’ve had a bad day completely turn around as soon as you exercise
  12. Your normal friends know how fast you run, even if they don’t know if that is fast or not
  13. Your Facebook profile pic is you exercising
  14. Most of your Facebook status updates involve you exercising
  15. You never miss the opportunity to take a nap, because naps = recovery
  16. All of your friends come to you for fitness/diet advice
  17. You’ve had nightmares about an interval session
  18. You’d NEVER stay up late partying if you have a race the next day
  19. You’ve shared a “leg day” meme on your social network
  20. Your Instagram is basically just fit people and food.  And cats, of course.
  21. You know how big your arms are – you’ve measured, and my how they’ve grown
  22. You can’t wait to tell your friends and family about a great workout, even if they hate hearing about it
  23. You have a section of wall in your home dedicated to all of your event medals
  24. You have a pair of running shoes you wear for mud runs so you don’t ruin your OTHER running shoes
  25. You stay up obsessing over tomorrow’s workout, wondering if you’ll actually be able to hit all your goals
  26. Most of your jeans are too loose around the waist and calves and too tight around the thighs and bum
  27. You’ve given up on jeans and spend most of your time in shorts or leggings
  28. Family gatherings totally freak you out because you only talk about training
  29. You watch TV grimacing while using your foam roller
  30. You’ve had to explain to people exactly what a foam roller does/is
  31. You make time to exercise, no matter what
  32. You’ve been told, more than once, to talk about something other than training.  You did not comply
  33. There is never enough coffee. Or food
  34. You’d rather be training than reading this
  35. People think you’re OBSESSED for wanting to train all the time. You know you are DEDICATED
  36. You’re in 16 different Facebook groups, all of which revolve around fitness or nutrition of some sort.
  37. While traveling, you make it a point to run around the local area, taking photos to post on Facebook
  38. You seek out the nearest parkrun when you go away for a weekend
  39. You made it all the way to the end of a “You Might Be An Athlete If…” list

 Please let me know what numbers apply to you!

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Motivation to Move

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Motivation is one of those things that we can all do with a little more of at different stages in our lives. As you know, exercise can be just what you need to get your mind stimulated and your body energised. Yet every now and then we need a little motivation to get us up and get started.

Here are my top tips for finding that motivation to get yourself moving:

 Know your ‘why?’ – What is your real reason for wanting to exercise? Work out exactly why you are doing this and write it down….everywhere!! Pin it to the fridge, write it in your phone, put it on your desk, even in your car. Whenever you feel that you can’t be bothered, remind yourself of why you are doing this and what it will mean once you achieve your goal.

 Make a play list – Music is a fantastic way to keep you motivated. You can adjust it to suit your mood or the pace of the workout you are doing. Opting for music with a good beat can really help to motivate you to keep going and stay on track.

 Find an exercise buddy – Having other people to exercise with can be just what you need to get you up and motivated. Exercise buddies, whether a friend or Personal Trainer, can not only make the experience more enjoyable, they also help keep you accountable for sticking to your plans.

Use different locations – I like to try running different routes and outdoor places to work out because it keeps it fresh and interesting, plus I get to explore some of the beautiful places in my area. So take yourself over the fields, try different parks and explore different routes to keep it interesting.

 Mix it up – Your body will slowly become conditioned to specific exercises and routines, and you will find you reach a plateau as the challenge is reduced. So keep mixing it up, rotating the areas of the body you are working on and adding new and more challenging exercises. Don’t be afraid to try something new and different.

And remember, always keep in mind your own personal goals as you work towards them. You are capable of achieving anything you set your mind to and the hard work is definitely worth it.

 

 

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Get Over It! Bad Workouts

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Bad workouts and poor races: we all have them and we always will. The more experienced I get the less I worry about the occasional flat session. Instead, I see them as a chance to learn. Here are my main reasons for bad workouts and, more importantly, what to do about them.

Wrong type

Workouts in our weaker areas are where we are more likely to struggle. For example, I’m more of a longer distance runner so when I do short speed sessions I often fall short of the speeds that others can achieve. However, when I do longer tempo runs I can achieve a faster speed for longer.

This has frustrated me as the people I am comparing myself to (I know you shouldn’t, but you do) have very similar race times. I now accept the workouts that are my weakness are more likely to be my ‘bad’ ones. (‘Bad’ is a relative term. In this case, I mean that I struggle to hit the paces which I would expect based, on my fitness level.) I now realise that although I may not be able to run 400 metres as fast as a club-mate, I can beat them over 10 miles.

This subtle understanding of your body’s strength and weaknesses can take the pressure off workouts and make you more accepting of those times when training feels tougher.

Outside factors

I’m surprised at how upset runners get when a workout goes poorly when there’s clearly a valid reason for it. An example of this could be that your child is ill and you have been up all night with them and you feel really tired. Your workout is likely to be compromised due to the lack of sleep and possibly worrying about your child. Anyone on the outside can see this, but the person themselves then view the workout as a poor one and start to let it affect their confidence. People tend to mentally separate life stress from training stress (and sometimes working out can make you feel a lot better), but by stressing over bad workouts you are adding more unwarranted stress to ‘understandable’ stress.

The same goes for the weather. If it’s hot, humid or windy, your workouts will be compromised. How often do you still expect a great session even though it’s hot? This is just setting yourself up for failure. Instead, adjust your expectations and try as hard as the conditions will allow you. A great personal example I have of this is my own interval training. I run my shorter intervals up and down on a straight part of road. If it is windy I have to run into the wind on alternate reps. This means that by putting in the same effort, one set is always going to be slower. So I just focus on the effort I am running at and worry less about the time.

Inadequate recovery

Recovery, or lack of, often plays a role in bad workouts. When a session doesn’t go well, look at the previous few days. Did you have enough recovery and rest? Again, this is where being a slave to a training plan can hurt us. Your training plan should be flexible, where you’re constantly moving things around to make sure the hard/easy cycle is obeyed. As recovery is just as important as the workouts it is sometimes worthwhile taking that extra day to recovery or train at an easy intensity to ensure you are ready to run your harder sessions. If not, you have to understand that you will not perform as well as if you are better rested.

Once again, from personal experience, I know that at the end of a 50-mile week I will not run as fast as if I have run less miles in the previous few days. This is why tapering for major races is important and knowing that running on tired legs is not going to have the same results.

Finally, it’s also important to acknowledge that the body has days that we just don’t quite understand. Some days you just feel ‘off’.

It is hard to accept a bad workout or race when there are valid reasons, but it is extra-hard when there appears to be no reason at all.

Remember, one great run doesn’t make you a world champion and one bad run doesn’t make you a bad runner.

Get over it and move on!

 

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Core Training Mistakes You Need To Stop

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Summer is here (officially, despite the weather) and I bet there are a lot of you who want to get a holiday body by trying to add definition to your abdominals. There are two components to getting a sculpted stomach. Number one is what you should be doing in terms of diet and exercise and number two is also what you shouldn’t be doing. So here are some of the most common mistakes when it comes to ab training that you need to stop today.

  

Just doing crunches I can’t emphasise enough, doing one hundred, one thousand or one million crunches is not going to give you abs. In fact, crunches are probably one of the least effective exercises for getting that toned waistline. They definitely have their place in an exercise routine but alone they won’t give you that six pack you desire. Getting abs is all about doing different exercises that engage the core in different ways.  That’s why in my training plans you will be given a range of different core exercises that target different areas on your abdominal region.

  

Thinking you can plank out your bad diet Even if you have the best exercise routine, that does all the right stuff training wise you will not get those abs if you don’t match your exercise routine with a smart diet. There is a saying that abs are made in the kitchen. Whilst they aren’t solely made in the kitchen, what you eat does have a big part to do with whether or not you get that flat toned stomach. Having visible abs all comes down to body fat and you can’t keep that down if you have a poor diet. Try replacing refined carbs (white bread, white pasta, white rice and sugar) with complex carbs like quinoa, brown rice, sweet potato and oats.

  

Not working the whole abdominal region It’s important that when you want abs, you work the whole abdominal region not just one area. You can do this by making sure you vary your ab exercises and routine on a regular basis. DO NOT JUST DO CRUNCHES!!

 

Starting with abs One mistake you can make is working your abs at the beginning of your exercise routine. You need your core stabilised throughout your other exercises to protect yourself, so if you work your abs first you can fatigue the abdominal region and risk injury. That’s why in my training plans you will use your abs throughout your workout and then focus on them at the end of your workout.

  

Only doing isolated ab exercises Don’t just focus on isolated ab exercises in your workout routine. It’s so important to incorporate other compound exercises like deadlifts, squats and overhead presses that also work the whole abdominal region. That way you are getting other body parts working whilst also working your core. So make sure you include these larger compound exercises into your training.

 

Getting tight toned abs is like winning a trophy for all your hard efforts at the gym. A trophy you will be happy to show off on the beach this year!

 

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Common Exercise Answers Every Woman Should Know

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I’ll start by saying that the title of this is a little misleading as this blog applies to everyone, both male and female. I have titled it as such as these are the questions I get mainly from women.

Whilst the internet is a great way to connect with people, there is also a mass of mis-information out there, especially when it comes to health and fitness for females. So to help you out a bit, here are some answers to common questions I get asked.

 

Won’t I get bulky from lifting weights? This is one of the most common questions I hear when it comes to training women. They don’t want to get bulky so shy away from lifting weights.

Answer: I can assure you that lifting weights alone will not make you bulky. You will only gain bulk if you lift heavy weights and eat a calorie surplus (eat more than you burn off). In fact, lifting weights will actually help you to lose weight and look better. Whilst lifting weights will mean you will put on muscle, it will be lean muscle that will make you look slim and toned. Muscle also burns more calories, so the more lean muscle you have, the more efficient your body will be at burning fat. Which actually means you can eat more and not store fat. Sound good?

 

Can you reduce fat from certain areas of your body? There are a lot of promises out there on how to reduce fat only from a particular area of the body. However, you can’t just focus on one area of the body and reduce fat there. The stomach is the most common one you see, where people believe a million sit-ups will result in a six pack.

Answer: In order to reduce your body-fat you need to do the right exercise and eat a balanced healthy diet. If you want to see your abs, you need to burn fat from your entire body. Exercising a body part will help to build lean muscle in that area, you need to burn fat from your entire body to see the muscles underneath.

 

I only need to do cardio exercises to lose weight? This is another very common myth so many people fall into. They spend hours of running or doing spin classes in the hope of losing weight.

Answer: Cardio has been said to burn more calories in that moment of exercise, which is why people see it as an effective tool to use for weight loss. Whilst cardio is extremely good for you, for the best result you need to incorporate both weights and cardio together. That’s because in order to burn fat, you to have to build lean muscle, which means you need to incorporate resistance/strength training into your exercise routine. Remember, lifting weights is not going to get you bulky.

 

As long as I exercise it doesn’t matter what I eat? I see a lot of people take on the mentality of “well I did a hard workout, so I can eat whatever I want”. Whilst I promote having a balanced lifestyle and allowing for eating the foods you want in moderation, eating whatever you want all the time, just because you did some exercise, is not going to get you results.

Answer: The biggest component to losing weight is actually nutrition. As you may have heard before, ‘abs are made in the kitchen’. Whilst they aren’t solely made in the kitchen, what you eat has a major impact on the results you will get. Losing weight is a basic equation; burn more calories than you consume. If, including your exercise, you are using 2,500 calories a day but you are eating 3,000 calories you will gain weight. If you are using 2,500 calories a day but only eating 2,000 calories, you will lose weight. My recommendations are to exercise and eat a well-balanced, whole-food diet, that will give you energy to sustain you throughout your day.

 

Can I go on a diet to lose the weight I want to and get my dream body? The ‘diet’ world has been using the same message for years now and that is in order to lose weight you must severely restrict the foods you eat. We’ve all heard of the ‘Cabbage Soup Diet’ and others that are similar. Well, yes, you will lose weight quickly but it will not be sustainable and is likely to result in further weight gain after you ditch the diet.

Answer: To get the body you want you need to eat healthy whole foods. Whilst it’s important to not overeat, obsessing about calorie control and majorly restricting them only leads to an unhealthy relationship with food. The best thing to do is aim to eat the majority of your daily foods that are not processed or packaged. Still have your favourite snacks in moderation, as by doing this you will not feel deprived and that way you are less likely to binge on foods that most ‘diets’ would ban.

 

Remember, we are trying to build a sustainable healthy lifestyle. A strong body, built with a varied exercise routine, coupled with good sustainable nutrition means that you will look and feel better than you ever have before.

 

Want to know more about running, personal training or nutrition?

Contact me today to ask any questions or to book your FREE consultation

Call me on 07815 04452107815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com

What is the Best Training Plan For You?

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If you type ‘running training plans’ into a search engine, you will be greeted by pages of different plans. How do you choose which one to follow? Which one is going to be the best one for you? Are you going to choose a high-mileage plan, or one that gets you running less miles but at a more intense pace?

 

Most of the plans you will find in the search engines have been designed to get results from the majority of people that follow them. If you are able to pick the right plan for your ability and you can follow the plan, then you are more than likely to improve. However, what happens if the plan doesn’t fit in with your life?

 

This is where most of the online plans fall down; real life gets in the way of running. It always has done; it always will do. Family, friends, work; they all are higher up in the pecking order than running (and rightly so) meaning that if something comes up, your run will be changed or ditched. So what do you do next? Do you change the run, just forget it, or play catch up and run further or faster the following day?

 

The next big stumbling block with online training plans is what happens if you get ill or injured? The plans do not have any alternatives if the worst happens and you have to take time out due to illness or injury. Do you jump back in on the day you feel able to run again? Do you go back to the day you last ran and try to play catch up?

 

There are so many variables during the standard 12-16 weeks of a marathon training plan, and those variables still apply even if you are training to run a faster 10k or if you are just starting off and you want to run your first 5k. It is highly unlikely that you will be able to run every run on your training plan.

 

So this is where I can help you. I’m not going to beat around the bush, from now on this is me blatantly advertising my services. I have written my own training plans since 2011 and I’ve seen my marathon time reduce from 3:04 to 2:44 and my shorter race distances improve as well. I have also suffered fewer injuries, which mean I train more consistently, which in turns improves my fitness. It is a circle I am pleased I have got into.

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Following an initial consultation meeting (either face to face, telephone or via email) I will write a training plan that is based around the days and times you are able to run and what you want to achieve (realistic goals only please; I cannot turn you into a 2:04 marathon runner). Depending on your budget, I can check in with you on a daily, weekly or monthly basis in order to make any changes necessary to your plan if your lifestyle has changed, or you have suffered illness or injury.

This means that you always know what runs you should be doing and when. Your plan will keep you working hard and improving, but will also keep you sensible when first starting, or if you are ill or injured. There are also options for me to keep you company on the runs that you dislike the most (if you are within the Leicestershire area).

 

All of the information on my personalised training plans can be found here and if you want anything that is not on my website then please let me know and I will work out how I can help you.

 

Remember, the best running plan for you is one that you will stick to. It is that simple; if it fits around your life and you can follow it consistently you will improve.

 

Want to know more about running, personal training or nutrition?

Contact me today to ask any questions or to book your FREE consultation

Call me on 07815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com

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How to Get and Stay Motivated

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I’m sure you already have goals you want to achieve. I previously wrote about setting yourself goals being a key ingredient to success. However, just as goals are important, it’s also extremely important to stay motivated when working towards them. So many people start their journey with these great intentions to make some serious changes and then they hit some challenges, lose momentum and don’t reach to where they want to go. So to help you stay on track I thought I’d share a few things with you that help me stay motivated and working towards my goals.

 

Have a clear picture of what you want – Firstly, have a clear picture of your goal. It’s nearly impossible to achieve something if you don’t really know what it is you actually want. Write down the specifics of what you want and the more detailed you can be the better. Then plan what you’re going to do to reach your goal(s) and write it down. When you have a clear picture in your head of what you want and what you are going to do to get there, it will be easier to stay on track when things get difficult. And they will get difficult, so be prepared. I am used to writing plans for people to help make their goals achievable. Please contact me if you need help.

 

Write down your ‘why?’ – The best way to stay motivated is to remember your ‘why?’. Your goal may be to lose weight, get fitter or stronger, but ‘why?’ it is important to you is a key to success. If you explore deeper into that ‘why?‘ then you will probably find that whilst losing weight or getting fitter is the aim, you will actually have a deeper reasoning behind it. You may want to feel more confident or perhaps it’s so you can get your health back and have more energy to be around your family. Making sure you know your ‘why?’ is so important and is going to be the key to getting you through the tough times.

 

Get organised – If you want to stay on track towards your goals then you need to get good at being organised. Prepare your meals in advance so there’s no chance of slipping up. If you know you’re going somewhere where there’s no healthy food then prepare healthy food to take with you (work, etc). It might seem boring and like you’re “missing out” but people will be asking you what you eat soon. When eating in restaurants, go online and check the menu so that you can plan your choices in advance and don’t make snap decisions when you arrive. Work out what days and times you are going to exercise. Fit ‘healthy eating and exercise’ into your life; plan a way to make it work and stick to it.

 

Find other motivators – Find photos of a body that is similar to your shape and close to what you want for yourself (make it realistic). Every time you feel unmotivated look at the photos and remind yourself what you want and again ‘why?’. Remember that you’re not trying to look like the people in these pictures; you are using their success as motivation for you to become YOUR best self. Create yourself a little vision board (on paper or your phone) of something you can look at on a daily basis to remind yourself of those goals. Before reaching for that chocolate bar, or skipping out of your exercise session, go take a look at your board and you’ll be straight back on track.

 

It’s okay to treat yourself – Allow yourself some treats, plan for them and have them without any guilt or regrets. Throughout the week if there is something in particular that you keep craving then tell yourself that you can have it, in moderation. I have two squares of dark chocolate most evenings as I love chocolate and it is a way of me stopping the cravings that come from denying yourself food. By overly restricting yourself you are bound to binge at some point, which will lead to the negative thoughts of ‘failing’.

 

Motivation is a daily habit – Staying motivated is a day-to-day thing. You don’t just become motivated and then you are motivated forever. You have to work on it every day. It’s the same with everything in life. If you want to change something that you’re unhappy with, you have to make an effort every day. You’re re-programming yourself to think and act differently to how you were previously. It takes time and the beginning is always the hardest. If you keep at it, it will get easier every day and eventually it will become part of who you are.

 

Remember when you are aiming to make big changes in your life, things are going to get tough and you will hit bumps along the road to success. The important thing is not let those things deter you from the bigger picture. The good news is, if you are consistent (key word) you will never have to go back to your starting place ever again. Once you know what it feels like you won’t want to stop. Trust the process and stick at it. You can, and will, do this.

 

If you are making some changes in your life, whether big or small, then make sure you join me on Facebook (MH Health and Fitness) and Twitter (@MHHealthandFit) and let me know what they are.

 

Want to know more about running, personal training or nutrition?

Contact me today to ask any questions or to book your FREE consultation

Call me on 07815 044521 or email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com