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London Marathon Training – Week 3

Week 3 already and another high mileage week planned.

Monday started off with a 3.3 mile walk with my wife, immediately followed (after a quick change into my shorts) by an 8 mile run. This included 4 miles at potential marathon pace (MP). The MP miles averaged 6.15 pace, which as you can imagine, I was very pleased with, especially as my heart rate (HR) was lower than in previous marathons.

Tuesday was my first double day of the week. It started with an early 10 miler, all at an easy effort and not focussing on pace at all. I ran 4 miles to the club in the evening to the club before joining them for another 8.2 miles, including some faster miles helping keep someone company who was aiming to run at his marathon pace. Those faster miles, my 17th-20th miles of the day, averaged 6.25 pace. Once again I was very pleased with those after that amount of mileage in my legs.

On Wednesday I put my sensible head on and just ran at a very easy effort level and once again didn’t focus on the pace.

Thursday was an interesting running day and I think I almost underestimated it. I had to drop my car into the garage for a service. I dropped the car at 8am and ran at an easy effort home. However, town to Wigston is net uphill so although I was running at an easy effort, the 4.25 miles home felt harder on my legs than I thought. However, without a car I had the choice of catching a bus or running back to collect it. As I am not one to take the easy option I decided to run back. As it was a net downhill the 4.37 miles back felt far easier than earlier. Two runs down by 12pm.

The next run was the Next Running Group and week 9 of their Couch to 5K plan. However, as they have been doing so well we decided to go on a ‘magical mystery tour of Enderby’! If anyone knows Enderby they will know that there isn’t much magical about it and the only mystery element was that I allowed each person to pick part of the route. This meant that (with a bit of creativity towards the end) we managed to run bang-on 5k. High-5s all round!

My final run of the day was the Wigston Phoenix hills session. Running late due to the extra few minutes with Next, I managed to see runners from the club just setting out as I neared the meeting point. Luckily, as they were warming up and I already had with Next, I managed to catch them just before they got to the first hill. 16 reps of various hills later and I was blowing hard! The hill session was 6.67 miles bringing Thursdays total to 18.76 miles.

Friday should have been a recovery day and would have been, had the client I was running with not been faster than she let on! So after 5 miles of various hill reps around Wigston and finishing with some sprints on the flat, my legs were feeling it again. However, I can’t complain as she pushed hard and was faster than she thought as well and, after all, it is my job to get people working.

Saturday is long run day and for the second week running the plan was 20 miles. Once again I thought about letting the time drift by with another ‘Tour de Parks’. I thought I’d see how many green spaces and parks I could run through without looking at a map or plan a route beforehand. I think I managed 15 different green areas/parks within the 20 miles. The run itself started as a bit of a struggle. My legs felt tired and although it was cold, I felt warm ‘just not right’. However, after about 5 miles I started to get into a happier rhythm and settled into a consistent easy effort and pace. By the end of the run, which took a fraction over 2hrs 30mins, I was feeling far better than at the beginning and could have gone on for longer. I had my sensible head on though and really wanted breakfast!

Sunday was a very gentle 4 mile recovery run around Wigston. For the second week in a row my left calf felt a little tight and tired, but nothing I would deem as anything more. However, the biggest aim of my training is consistency so I will not be risking injury.

 

Week 3 Totals: 82.3 miles covered over 11 runs, 3.3 miles covered over one walk, plus some basic core exercises on my BOSU ball.

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London Marathon 2017 Training – Week 2

After Week 1 was a total of 77 miles, Week 2 was due to be more of the same.

Monday started at 6.30am with a 3.3 mile walk with my wife to encourage her to get out in the dark and to test my left calf, which was feeling a little tight yesterday. Once home, a quick change into my shorts and then back out for 6.6 miles of running, including 3 miles in the middle at an average pace of 6.23, which I would describe as ‘comfortably challenging’. The pleasing thing for a stat-geek like myself, was that my heart rate (HR) was slightly lower than my normal marathon pace HR meaning I could have pushed harder. My calf was fine.

Tuesday was my ‘normal’ double-day. I started with another 3 mile walk with my wife, followed by running 10 easy miles. Running through Knighton Park in the dark was a different experience (very eerie). The second run of the day was 4 miles before our Wigston Phoenix club run. The total run for the evening was 10.8 miles with only 2 miles of those under 7.00 pace and they were just striding without any extra effort. 20.8 miles for the day but I felt strong and fit.

Wednesday was a very easy effort 4.2 miles. The wind was not helping my effort levels on what were very tired legs!

Thursday was a frustrating day. For my Personal Training business I have converted half of my garage into a gym. However, when the mirrors were delivered they were damaged so a replacement set were sent. This meant that for the gym area to be safe I had to put them up as quick as possible. Annoyingly, this meant skipping my morning run to get them fixed before my clients were due. My first run of the day was with my Couch-to-5k group at Next. This week we ran continuously for 2.6 miles. I followed this with a mad-dash to Victoria Park to join in the club speed/hill session. My legs were working well and I pushed hard to get the most out of the session.

Friday was another very easy effort recovery run of 5 miles. My legs were a bit tired from the speed training the previous night and I had a long run to do on Saturday so I ran as easy as I could while keeping my form.

Saturday is the day of the year I usually dread the most; my first 20 miler of the year. I don’t know why they affect my head the way they do as I have ran so many over the years and they are not much further than the 18 miler I had done the week before. Anyway, I was up and out by 6.30am for an ‘easy-effort’ 20 miles. I hadn’t planned a route but as it was dark and raining I thought I would go for a ‘tour of parks’. Starting in Wigston I ran to Great Central Way, then across and through Braunstone, crossing the park long before any parkrunners were around. I then took the ring road to Western Park and cut through the park to Fosse Road where I ran through The Rally, up by Leicester Tigers, up New Walk and then across Victoria Park, where the parkrun volunteers were just setting up. Finally I headed up Queens Road and through Knighton Park and on to home. 20.05 miles in 2hrs 31mins of cold, mainly dark, but with a lovely sunrise. I would call that a confidence booster at this time of the year.

Sunday was a recovery run, at a very easy effort, of 4.76 miles to get my legs moving again. Weirdly, my legs actually felt quite spritely, so I had to force myself to slow down. That is very pleasing after another long week.

 

Week 2 Totals: 70.2 miles covered over 9 runs, 6.4 miles covered over two walks, plus some basic core exercises on my BOSU ball.

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

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You Need To Think About What You Won’t Do

I love bread, sausages and beer. I have a healthy diet, but I do enjoy these three things and I don’t think that I could ever give them up totally as part of any nutrition plan. They would be on my “I won’t list”. We all have one of these lists, even though you’ve probably never thought of it.

We always talk about what we will do to be healthy and how you are willing to achieve your nutritional and exercise goals. For example,

  • I’m going to exercise 4 days per week
  • I’m going to hit my calorie goal every day
  • I’m getting up an hour earlier each day so I can work out at 6am

That’s great. We do need to identify those qualities, those markers within us that can create habits that will reinforce the positive behavior and give us a growing awareness of how far we are willing to go.

However, there is something else that you need to factor in; your capacity for succeeding is also dependent on what you are not willing to do. Mine is bread, sausages and beer. What won’t you give up? Where will you draw the line at pushing yourself? Examples on your “won’t do” list could be:

But there’s something else you need to factor in: your capacity for success is also predicated on what you are not willing to do. What you won’t give up. Where you draw the line at discomfort. Yes, your list of things you won’t do. Examples:

  • I won’t eat vegetables
  • I won’t stop eating cheese
  • I am NOT running
  • No high intensity exercise
  • I can’t get up at 6:00 am to exercise. That’s too early
  • I won’t lift weights because I’ll get “bulky” (you won’t)

It is important to look at this list as definitive statements are an indicator of our mindset. Because of this, we need to take a minute to examine them for clues.

Here is an exercise for you to do: take a piece of paper and write at the top: I WON’T and then fill in 5 lines below with things that you are not willing to do in the pursuit of a healthier life. Just write them down. Don’t think about “why” at this point, just write the important points.

Once you have finished take a look. Consider if all of your points are definite “won’ts”. If they are then keep them. If you are unsure whether they are definite then ask yourself these questions:

Why are you unwilling to?

What would that mean to you? To your life? To your family?

If you could give it up for a short time would that be ok? Could you survive and how long for?

 

You may have some understandable points on your list. For example, if you are a single parent then “going for a run before work” is probably not achievable. However, what about points that fall into a “middle ground” or definates that do not have a concrete reason? You may refuse to do weight-training as you do not want to bulk up. Could you seek advice from someone who could give you a programme to allow you to weight-train without any possibility that you will increase bulk.   With these “middle ground” points, there is often a way of removing them from your list with a bit of help.

Writing your list and then analysing it is a great way of getting to know yourself. It will make you think about your mindset and behaviours and help you to visualise the following: the road to success has two yellow lines running down the middle, dividing it in half (those lines represent what you are willing to do and what you are not willing to do). A little further down the road it splits into two. One fork takes you to success, the other doesn’t. However, to take the road to success you must be on the right side of the line at that point.

And the secret to this? Successful people will do the things that unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Say it again; “successful people will do the things that unsuccessful people are not willing to do”. So, all of those things in your “won’t do” list may be holding you back from being successful.

Success is not an easy path to follow. It never has been and never will be. It requires smart planning, sacrifices, consistency, re-evaluation, willingness to adjust and perseverance when life gets hard. There will be hard times, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get through them. You just need to be determined.

So, want success. Figure out what is holding you back, and work on it. You might find a hidden key to a door you need to unlock. Good luck!

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

When to Exercise When You Are Ill

We are getting into the winter months, which generally means the cold and flu season is on its way. I often get asked if it’s okay to exercise when sick? I know there is nothing more frustrating than enjoying your exercise programme, getting results and then getting ill, whether it’s a common cold, full blown flu or another horrible bug.

Asking if you can exercise when sick can be a bit like asking how long is a piece for string? It all really comes down to your symptoms, how you feel and the type of exercise you want to do.

I personally use the general rule of thumb that if my symptoms are just above the head (so runny nose, sore throat or sneezing) it’s still okay for moderate to gentle exercise. Take it easier than normal and do nothing that’s going to be too tiring. Personally, I find it hard to take a step back and not go to the gym or run but sometimes you just have to learn to listen to your body and rest up when needed.

If I can feel a cold coming on, but the symptoms aren’t too bad I will just start with some gentle exercise, see how I feel after ten minutes and then either stop or keep going depending on how I feel. If you aren’t too sick and do the right exercise it can actually help your immune system. So if you do just have a common cold and feel like you could do some form of exercise then do just, just far easier than normal.

However, there are some definite signs and symptoms of when you should avoid any type of exercise (usually ‘below the neck’ symptoms): – High temperature – Achy muscles (not your usual post-workout type of aches) – Chesty cough – Swollen glands – Vomiting – Diarrhea

If you display any forms of those symptoms, then you need to rest. It’s more important to give yourself the time to heal, sleep and stay hydrated. There is no point pushing yourself to only make yourself worse. It’s also important that when you are sick that you don’t spread your germs to those around you (you wouldn’t want them to do it to you).

Once you have got over the worst of your symptoms and want to get back into your routine, always make sure you start with an easier workout to make sure you are fully over whatever you had. Going too hard too quickly can sometimes lead to a reoccurrence of your symptoms.

Unfortunately getting sick is a part of life and we can’t be super human all the time. I generally know when I get sick (which isn’t often at all nowadays), it’s my body’s way of telling me I need to listen and slow down a little bit.

Remember it’s okay to put your feet up sometimes and let your body heal. It is better to have a couple of days off to fight off an illness instead of battling through regardless and missing a month when you make it worse. Be sensible.

I’m also not a medical expert by any means so I always advise to seek professional medical advice when you really are unsure or symptoms persist.

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How to Reduce Your Soft Drink Intake

Soft drinks are very popular with a lot of the population and they are often cheaper than a bottle of water.

Regular consumption of sugary soft drinks has been associated with higher risks of developing diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, gout and obesity. Sounds scary? It is! The simple reason behind this is the amount of calories contained in many of these drinks. There are approximately 140 calories in a regular can of Coca Cola, and this is pretty similar with other brands as well. So by drinking 3 cans a day will add over 400 calories to your daily intake. Do this every day for a week and you could be increasing your weight by almost one pound. Doing this every day for a year could mean your weight increasing by around 3.5 stone. Now that is scary; just from 3 cans of sugary drinks per day.

Now turn that around; if you are currently drinking 3 cans of sugary drinks per day, think of the weight you could lose by cutting them out. Now you won’t lose 3.5 stone as your body will get used to not having them, but they are easy calories to cut out and will make a big difference to any weight loss programme.

 

What about the sugar-free alternatives; they must be better surely? They do not contain sugar and so most are calorie-free, however, they do include artificial sweeteners to make up for the lack of sugar. As they are generally calorie-free most people will drink more than they would usually consume of the full-sugar versions. By drinking more of these it is possible for you to become addicted to the sweeteners in the same way you would to the sugar in the full-calorie versions.

Now although I couldn’t find any evidence to prove long-term health risks, there have been studies completed that have linked ‘diet’ soft drinks with tooth decay, osteoporsis, heart disease and depression. Still not good news then!

Now, as with everything I advocate, it is probably not going to be sustainable to ‘never have another, ever!’. Consuming both full-calorie or diet versions of drinks occasionally is not going to cause any major health or weight issues. It is the regular and over consumption of these that are the issue.

 

Here are my top tips to reduce your consumption of soft drinks.

Don’t buy them – This is probably the easiest way to reduce consumption. If you don’t put them in your shopping trolley you are less likely to go out to the shops just to buy a can. Remember, ‘out of sight, out of mind’

Know your triggers – Do you drink soft drinks only at certain times of the day or at certain places? By identifying these triggers, you are more likely to find strategies to deal with them.

 Take it slow – In an ideal world we wouldn’t consume any of these drinks. However, we don’t live in the real world and for any changes to be sustainable start by reducing your intake by half. Then next week reduce it by half again. Soon you will find you are not having them every day and your habit is broken. You will then find it easier to reduce consumption even further if needed.

Make a healthy swap – We all need fluids to survive so if you are reducing your intake of soft drinks you need to replace them with something. You can try to swap the soft drink for a healthy alternative, such as water. If you don’t like the taste of water (as my wife doesn’t), you can add a slice of lemon, lime or orange for taste. Carbonated water with a slice of real fruit can also trick the brain into thinking it is having that can of soft drink.

Have a cup of tea – If you want more flavour than plain water, why not try to replace your soft drink with tea? Herbal, green and white teas have got numerous health benefits and are usually much better for you than the soft drinks.

 

Remind yourself – Always remember why you are doing this. Is it to:

Enhance your health?

Lose weight?

Reduce your intake of caffeine (contained in most cola related drinks)?

Reduce your intake of artificial sweeteners?

Save money?

 

Whatever your reason, remember it and keep it in mind when you buy your shopping.

If swapping to tea or water doesn’t make you crave the soft drink less, remind yourself why you are quitting soda. Is it:

– To enhance your health?

– To reduce your intake of artificial sweeteners?

– To reduce your intake of phosphoric acid?

– To reduce your intake of caffeine?

– To save money?

Whatever reason you may have, you know you will feel better for it!

 

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

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

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Why Can’t You Shift That Stubborn Fat

There is nothing worse than feeling like you are doing everything you can, but that last bit of stubborn fat just won’t shift. However, you could be preventing fat loss from a few bad habits that you have without knowing, or you could have simply reached a plateau in your training routine. I’m not going to go all ‘nanny-state’ on you, but if you are struggling, here are some things that could be getting in your way.

 

Your portion sizes are too big – It’s easy to think that because you are eating something healthy, you can eat as much as you want. However, just because something is healthy doesn’t mean you can over-do it. I’d never advise you to go hungry, but if you are eating high-calorie healthy foods, and not watching your portion sizes, you could easily start to gain weight, and store extra fat. Nuts are the perfect example of this, whilst they are a great source of good fat and protein for the body, they are also extremely calorie dense, and extremely easy to over-eat because they taste so good and you just seem to put them into your mouth, one after another. Make sure you are sticking to sensible portion sizes in all the foods you eat, including the healthy ones.

 

You consume liquid calories – If you are someone who drinks a lot of coffee, tea, juice or even worse fizzy drink, then you could be blowing your daily calorie intake in drinks. A large latte or hot chocolate from a high-street coffee shop could contain the equivalent calories of a meal. Liquid calories are also just empty calories, and unless it’s natural fruit juice they generally provide no nutritional value to the body (although be aware of the calories and sugars, albeit natural sugars in fruit juices). Stick to water, black tea or coffee, without sugar to get the fewest calories out of your drinks.

 

You’ve hit a plateau in your training – Your body will get used to any type of exercise, so if you are continuously doing the same thing day in and day out, then the body won’t respond the way it did when you first started. That’s why it’s important to keep the workouts changing on a constant basis. This is why I like to change the sessions I design for people. Just when your body adapts, the intensity or type of exercise changes – so not only will you find you’re capable of increasingly complex and challenging moves, it will help you break through plateaus and boost motivation because you’re doing something different. It’s also the best way to keep enjoying your exercise.

 

Mindless eating – We seem to be getting so distracted with technology that we don’t pay attention to what we put in our mouths. I’m always amazed at how many people I see in coffee shops, using their phones, whilst eating away. I also know of so many people who will sit at their desk and snack whilst still tapping away on their computer, or eat snacks in front of the television or social media. Mindless eating is when you are eating while doing something else and not concentrating on what you are eating. The problem with mindless eating is that when you aren’t paying attention to the food you often find yourself over-eating. Try and make sure that when you sit down to eat a meal, your focus is on that and that alone (although do not ignore the other people around the table).

 

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

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Why You Need to Eat Fat.

There is a common myth in the weight-loss world that eating fat makes you fat. For years, the diet industry (and government) campaigned that it was the fat in foods that made you overweight.

Therefore, most foods and diets for the last 30 years have promoted ‘low fat’ as being good. So why is the world getting fatter then?

New studies are now showing that there is no direct correlation between eating fat and your weight. At this point I will clarify that fat contains around 9 calories per gram compared to 4 calories per gram for carbohydrates and proteins. So eating the same amount of fats as carbs or proteins will result in you taking in more calories. But eating fat in moderation, as is the case with everything, will not make you fat.

Eating fat (the good kind), can actually help with fat loss, boost your metabolism and improve overall health. It is also essential for body cell development and certain brain functions. That’s why you will never see me telling you to cut fat out of your diet.

 

Today I’m telling you that it’s time to ditch the low-fat diet, and start incorporating fats back into your meals.

Low fat does not mean healthy.

Due to the power of advertising and marketing, the many years of low-fat diets being promoted has now made people assume that if a food is packaged as ‘low-fat’ it is good for you. However, in order for them to remove the fat from the food, salts and sugars are usually added, together with various additives and flavourings to make the food taste good.

‘Low-fat’ means that the food must contain no more than 3g of fat per 100g (3%) for solids, or 1.5g of fat per 100ml for liquids (1.5%) or 1.8g of fat per 100ml for semi-skimmed milk.

‘Reduced fat’ is even more ambiguous, being defined as the food must contain at least 25% less fat than the regular product to which it is being compared, and at least 3g less fat per 100g of food.

So a ‘reduced fat’ product may still be 50% fat, it is just not as high as the original product it is being compared to.

My advice is to always read the labels and to make sure you know what the food is made up of. Concentrate more on the calorie content of the food. If you need any advice, please get in touch.

 

Why fat is good? Your body needs the right nutrients to function properly. Fats are essential for your body, brain and organs to function properly.  They also help rebuild cells, give you energy and produce hormones. That’s why it’s an essential nutrient to include in your daily diet. Especially when you are doing extensive exercise and your body requires proper fuel. However, there is a big difference between fats. Most people define good fats as polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat and categorise saturated fats as a bad fat.

 

Polyunsaturated fats: These fats help lower your bad LDL cholesterol, as well as contain your essential omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are what helps boost brain function, improve your immune system and your mood. You’ll find these fats in your foods like salmon, mackerel, flaxseed, walnuts and chia seeds.

 

Monounsaturated fat: These fats help raise your good HDL cholesterol and lower your bad LDL cholesterol. This helps to reduce the build-up of plaque in your arteries and prevent heart disease. Studies have also shown that these fats also help to reduce belly fat. Foods that contain monounsaturated fats are olive oil, cashews, almonds, peanuts, sesame seeds and avocados.

Coconut oil is another great example of good fat you can eat. It contains medium-chain fatty acid, which are a healthier form of saturated fats. Our body metabolises these fatty acids differently, and immediately converts it to energy for our brain and muscles to function. It’s also great for boosting your immunity, metabolism and helps to improve digestion.

 

Saturated fats: Saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature (animal fats, butter, cheese, etc). These, if eaten in bulk, can raise your cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease. These fats should make up a lower proportion of your fat intake.

 

Trans fats: Trans fats are the worst, as they are made from unsaturated fat that has been chemically processed to prolong the shelf life of packaged foods. They do not only raise your bad LDL cholesterol, and contribute towards heart disease, but they also increase inflammation in the body. Foods that include these fats are often processed cakes, crackers, crisps, biscuits, butter-type spreads and chips. In packaged foods, look out for the ingredient ‘hydrogenated vegetable oil’ as this is trans fat. You’ll be surprised at how many foods you’ll find that contain these chemically processed trans fats.

 

So, if you want to remove your body fat, it’s not about removing fat from your diet completely. It’s about finding a good balance between eating whole nutrient rich foods like vegetables, fruit, lean meat, nuts, seeds, legumes and fats in moderation. So ditch the low-fat diet and start nourishing your body instead with healthy wholesome foods.

If you want any advice, please contact me using the details below.

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

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

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How to Get Away From Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is probably one of the biggest reasons for people gaining weight and ruining their fitness improvements.

Quite a lot of people over-eat when they experience strong negative emotions, such as depression, anxiety, stress and relationship break-ups. They then feel guilty about overeating and the weight gain that has caused. This causes them to get emotional and over-eat again, causing a spiral that is difficult to break.

If you can learn to control the stress that leads to the emotions, or change your eating habits when you have negative emotions, you can regain control of your eating habits and start to break the habits you have formed.

What is emotional eating? To some extent, we are all emotional eaters. A lot of our social lives are based around food. We socialise or celebrate by going out for a nice dinner or catch up with friends over lunch. Eating only becomes a problem when you are using food to mask negative emotions, or use it to make you feel better. If your eating habits are based on emotions rather than hunger, your waistline and emotional state can suffer.

To find out if you are someone who emotionally eats, you can ask yourself these questions:

Do you mindlessly eat when you are bored, want a distraction and/or watching TV?

Do you reward yourself with food when you are having a good day?

Do you seek comfort in food when you are having a bad day?

Do you eat when you feel overwhelmed with stress and anxiety?

If you answered yes to these questions, then sometimes you eat based on emotions, rather than when you are hungry. It becomes a problem when you are using food to mask a deeper issue, and it’s making you gain weight and have an unhealthy relationship with food.

So how do you break free? The first step is to actually recognise if you are an emotional eater or not. Emotional eating is often just a behaviour or habit we have created ourselves over time. So, as you have created the habit, you can break it. Here are some possible ways to help you break free from emotional eating:

Become aware of your eating patterns In order to remove emotional eating, you need to become aware of your eating patterns and behaviours. Stop and recognise when you are eating out of hunger and when you are eating because of an emotional state. Pause, think before you buy the cake or reach for a pack of biscuits and ask yourself these questions; Am I actually hungry? How am I going to feel after I eat this? This will really make you confront why you are eating in the first place.

Learn the cause Once you determine when you emotionally eat, it’s good to sit down and figure out what is causing you to do so. When you realise what is causing you to overeat you can get to work on stopping it. A good way of doing this is to keep a food diary. Write down everything that you eat and drink in a day and why you have chosen it. Also keep a note of your mood during the day and any good or bad experiences you have had. By writing these things down, it will make you look at the reasons why you are eating and will allow you to make a healthier choice.

Find something apart from eating that makes you feel good Once you have worked out the cause you can then do something about creating a new, healthier, habit. After a stressful day at work you may want to swap the tub of ice cream for a soak in the bath with some relaxing music. It may be that you join a gym and go straight after work to exercise the stress out of your system. Write down a list of activities that you enjoy and make you feel less stressed and happy. Keep the list with you and if you feel the need to eat to make you feel better after a hard day, look at the list instead. Once you get into the habit of using healthier alternatives they will become second nature and you will have ditched the emotional eating.

 Ditch the ‘diets’ While ‘diets’ will work at first for weight-loss, they will not do anything to help with emotional eating. When you restrict yourself with diets it is easy to then want and crave the foods that you have banned yourself from eating. When you eventually cave in to temptation, you will then be left with worse feelings of guilt, anger and disappointment, plus a feeling of failure. This can then result in you falling back into the emotional eating spiral. Instead of restricting yourself to an off-the-shelf diet, try to find some healthy alternatives to foods you previously ate and create your own sustainable food plan. This way you can still eat the foods you previously enjoyed, but in moderation and without the emotions attached to them.

 

Remember, emotional eating is just a habit that has been formed over time and all bad habits can be broken. So if you do find yourself reaching for the ice-cream on a bad day, don’t worry you can break free from the emotional eating pattern.

If you need any specific advice on any area of nutrition or fitness, please get in touch on the details below and I will be more than happy to help you.

 

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

My Guide for a Happier, More Positive Life

A lot of people think that I’m confident and happy with myself all the time but sometimes this just isn’t true. I have as many insecurities as the next person, I just know how to deal with them.

Thinking negatively about yourself means that you unintentionally draw negatives from every situation and this becomes a bad habit. You focus on the worst and always focus on the things about yourself and your life that you dislike, instead of appreciating the good things. It’s horrible being stuck in that dark hole of negativity. I have been in this place before and it was my main reason for joining a gym. I now know how to deal with negative situations in my life and how to turn them in to positives. When you learn to become a more positive person then you attract more positivity in and it snowballs to a happier life from there.

  

Learn to accept compliments – If you think negatively about yourself it can be hard to accept compliments and you often try to reject them by pushing them away. Sometimes you look at the compliments in a negative way and can even assume that they are being sarcastic. When someone compliments you, say thank you and accept it. Allow that compliment to make you feel good because you deserve it.

  

Stop comparing – There is a lot more to you than what people see and EVERY single person has struggles and battles and we all have insecurities. When you sit and compare yourself to others, it can leave you feeling inadequate and negative about yourself. Instead recognise that everyone is unique and has something to offer, just as that person who you compare yourself too has their own struggles too.

  

Learn from the negatives – A good workout doesn’t make you the best in the world and a bad workout doesn’t make you rubbish! Try to see all things in a positive way and draw positives from every situation. Don’t stress too much when things don’t go your way or when you make mistakes. All the events that happen in your life are building your character. As long as you can look at things constructively so that you can learn from them, they are not a waste and they are for the greater good. Everything that has happened to me – good and bad has been for a reason, even though I didn’t think that at the time.

  

Learn to let go – If something does go wrong, learn from it and then let it go. Holding onto the hurt, anger or frustration won’t do you any good. Those kinds of emotions can eat away at you if you let them. If you’re angry or upset about something try taking a step back and see what you can do to let it go and move on. We can’t always control what happens to us in life but we can control how we react to it.

 

Be grateful – There are a lot of wonderful things you should be happy about and just being alive is great; appreciate it and make the most of it. When you learn to be grateful of your life, even if it’s the small things, you automatically bring so much more positivity into your life. If you really struggle with this then try and write down one thing every day that you can be grateful for, no matter how big or small. Soon you will find that even on a really bad day you can find something that makes you happy.

  

Treat yourself the way you would treat your best friends – Think of it like this: If your best friend was going for a job interview what would you say to him or her? You wouldn’t say: “Don’t even bother going, you’re not good enough, there will be others going who are way better than you, you’ll never get this job, you’re not smart enough and you don’t have enough experience” (you know where I am coming from). Instead you would say something along the lines of “You are going to kill it today. You are an intelligent, confident and highly motivated person with the drive and determination to do anything. You’ll get this”. So then why do we talk about ourselves with such negativity? We let horrible thoughts creep in and then believe them to be true. So treat and talk to yourself just as you would treat and talk to your best friend; tell yourself what you would tell them and don’t allow that negative self-talk to take hold.

*if your friends can’t sing, please don’t tell them to apply for X-Factor; it will only end in embarrassment!!

  

Take control of your emotions – When you’re dealing with things in the moment, you’re consumed by it and your emotions and that’s all you are able to see. Take control of your thoughts and pull yourself out of the situation. There’s no point thinking negatively about it. Deal with it the best way you know how and know you have complete control over how you feel.

It’s tough, but so important to look at life with gratitude for all of your experiences – they all add to who you are – your character and your wisdom. Treat every experience as a stepping stone to the next thing. Changing your thoughts to be more positive will make a huge difference and will honestly change your life.

 

I challenge you to start putting these into practice daily and eventually you will become a positive person and you’ll start seeing positive changes in all areas of your life.

 

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

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

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

Core Training Mistakes You Need To Stop

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!

 

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