Relying on Motivation is setting you up to fail. How to Create habits instead for long term success!

I get asked regularly by clients, friends and family how I stay motivated to both strength train and do cardio sessions every week without fail whilst still keeping my passion for fitness & nutrition, running a business and living in a busy household? 

How do I not miss out soft tissue work, mobility drills, cold water treatment and stretching either?

My answer is an example of an easy comparison that most people will understand. When you wake up in the morning, do you forget to brush your teeth? Hopefully everyone said no, of course I don't forget to do my teeth (fingers crossed 🤞🏻)! Well that's because you are in a habit of doing it. You don't need to be motivated to brush your teeth so if you can make training, nutrition and recovery from training a habit that's "Just something that you do", then you'll never miss a workout, recovery session or accidentally slip up on your diet again. 

What qualifies me to even talk about this topic? Perhaps a little background on me may help you to understand.

I have trained consistently now for more than 30 years through injuries, coughs, colds, multiple bereavements, when I've suffered from poor mental health and when I've been at my happiest in life. Training is part of my identity, it makes me who I am and it's one of the primary things that people that are close to me would say that I'm not willing to compromise on but what does all of that have to do with motivation?

Well, I'm glad that you ask!

Motivation is something that people look for to get started on a certain trajectory whether its a business idea, perhaps it's a new relationship/friendship with someone that you're wanting to start, reconnecting with someone that you've lost touch with or in the case of this article, to get started on your journey of health and wellbeing. 

To me health and wellbeing is a way of life. It's not a task or a chore to do. I choose to wake up even though I don't want to most days to have a cold shower in the morning (just for a few minutes) before I'll turn the hot water on because I know that it stops my joints from aching from years of wear and tear, it also makes me feel awake and ready to take on anything that the day is going to throw at me. I've learned that if you start the day with adversity (and let's face it, there's few things more adverse that getting in a freezing cold shower when you're half asleep). There is not many things that will be harder to deal with which puts you in a strong state of mind to tackle tasks ahead for the rest of the day. 

I also schedule into my diary training times so that I know not to book in clients, meetings or events at those designated times. If you dont schedule it, you are likely to miss it or tell yourself that you'll do it later and when life inevitably crops up, later never comes! 

With nutrition I have found that the best method for my family and I is to predominantly eat unprocessed foods 6½ days per week starting on a Monday so that way if we meet with friends or family on a Saturday evening or Sunday it then takes the pressure off of where we can go to eat or if we fancy an alcoholic drink then we allow ourselves the luxury of doing so. 

This method works for us because it's rigid and we don't break the mould. Our friends and family know that this is our routine and therefore accept that if we socialise during the week that we don't go to restaurants that don't serve healthy options and we wouldn't have alcohol either. You can still have a great time without blowing your nutrition schedule or drinking alcohol so there are no excuses not to stay on task. 

After you have made the decision to schedule your training, put a method of recovery into your schedule (mine is cold showers, mobility and soft tissue work during training sessions) and make a conscious decision to stick to your healthy eating method (of which there are many to choose from) you just have to start. You only need to start small and gradually build to the level that you are comfortable to maintain. 

I'll give you an example below;

Person 'X' wants to improve their health and wellbeing and has time to exercise twice per week but some weeks because of their work patterns they have time for four sessions. 

I would advise this person to do two sessions per week for the first six months of this new journey because this will guarantee them not to miss a training session therefore, building consistency and ingraining the habit of regular exercise.

Person 'X' also has never followed a planned nutrition program before either so I would simply ask them to not eat any food that has more than 1 ingredient (see my other articles for more information on this topic) for 4 days of the week and on the other days, they can relax a little by incorporating some of their 'normal foods'. I would again ask them to maintain this schedule for six months which will ingrain the habit and it allows the people which Person 'X' associates with to recognise that this new lifestyle choice can be worked around and allow Person 'X' to attend events and occasions as they would have before. 

Unfortunately the biggest pressure to break your bad habits comes from our friends and family. You will hear the sayings, "oh, just let your hair down", "it's only one drink" and "you could be dead tomorrow, just live a little"! 

These are normally all said with good intentions but you must stand firm against these comments. Another thing to keep in mind is that most people want you to do well but not better than them and if people start noticing your success because of the consistency that you have forged onto your lifestyle then the people that you would least expect can try to sabotage your new habits. This is a very important factor to remember and is key to your success.

So to wrap this article up, decide on an easily achievable number of days per week that you are able to exercise and schedule it in your diary, eat predominantly single ingredient foods for a minimum of four days per week and try to start your day with something adverse, whether it's a cold shower or you do your exercise session first thing it will make the rest of your day seemingly easier which will only produce a positive mindset.

Until the next article, start ingraining these habits and 

Resolutions- How to stay on track

Introduction

Setting your resolutions for new year is the easy part but staying on the right path to achieve them is slightly more challenging. I want to share with you an easy technique that will almost guarantee success in whatever you goals are.

This technique can be applied to almost every aspect of life from training to nutrition, business, friends and family. The technique is so simple that it almost doesn't seem worth talking about at first glance but if you read this article the whole way through, you'll see that it is worth your investment of time.

Staying on track

Take care of the day, don't look too far ahead at your end goal. Now this seems a very simplistic approach to achieving your goals and aspirations but it is very relevant. Most people will be so fixated on their long term goals that they don't look after today. In order to achieve your goals you will need to set yourself micro goals. Micro goals are daily tasks that you will need to complete in order to keep you moving forwards.

An example of this from a nutrition perspective is to concentrate on each individual meal. Yes, you have a certain number of calories and percentage of macros to achieve each day but the end figure is a result of each individual meal being on the right track.

A second example of taking care of the day from a business perspective is to know what individual tasks you need to do today that will help you to achieve your long term goals and success. It is no good concentrating on your long or medium term goals if you haven't addressed the tasks that need to be done today in order to get you to your medium and long term goals.

A third and final example from a family perspective is to make time in your schedule to do things together each day. If you have children and you are reading this then please don't miss the daily opportunities that are right in front of you slip away without enjoying them. You will already know that your children grow up so fast and before you know it they wont be dependant on you anymore. Nothing is as important as your relationships with each other because after all, life isn't all about how much money you earn (although money is relevant in this day and age), or the latest gadgets or designer clothes (which are a nice luxury but they aren't a necessity), it's about having a positive impact on the people that you really care about, it's about giving to others without the expectation of receiving anything back in return and its about showing your love for the people in your life that mean the most to you every single day.

Summary

In summary, you should create a list of daily tasks to complete that will help you to achieve your long and medium term goals. If you work on today, tomorrow will be a little brighter, you'll never lose momentum and you'll stay on track to not only achieve your goals but to surpass them. Make sure that you the take time to spend with the people who you care for the most each day.

Until next time, look after the day and each other.

BC

Get through Christmas without feeling like you've blown your diet & training

Introduction

During the Christmas period many people that are health conscious, exercise regularly and pay attention to their dietary requirements worry about what they are going to do on Christmas day itself. Some questions that you may find yourself asking are;

Am I going to blow all of the hard work that I've put in over the year on Christmas day by not sticking to my diet? 

Is my body fat or physique going to change for the worse by not sticking to my diet on Christmas day? 

What things can I do on Christmas day that will help me to counteract some of the bad food that I will inevitably eat?

Tip Number 1- Relax

On Christmas day the best thing that you can do is to just enjoy the day for what it is. Christmas day is about spending time with family, friends, and loved ones. If you don't eat perfectly on this one particular day, it is not going to negatively affect all of the hard work that you have put in over the last year.

Instead, focus on enjoying the little time you have with the people that you care about most. You will be able to resume your diet on Boxing Day or the day after and you will quickly realise, that there was no need to worry in the first place.

Planning for days like this is part of a healthy lifestyle. I would however recommend, that in the week leading up to Christmas that you are particularly clean with your diet in order to counteract the bad foods that you will inevitably eat on the day, which is fine by the way.

Tip 2 - Don't be inactive

Instead of lounging around in the morning, once you have exchanged gifts with your family and friends, take the children over to a park for them and you to burn off some energy, go for a bike ride on that new bike that you may have gotten, you could take the dog for a walk, or you could follow a local trail for gentle morning stroll. Just try to keep active (it doesn't need to be intense)as this will help to reduce snacking between meals. If you aren't at home in front of temptation you won't be tempted. Another plus for being active is that you can counterbalance some of the excess calories before you eat or drink them.

Tip 3 -Go easy on alcohol

Whilst we may enjoy a drink at this festive time of year, try not to go mad with alcohol on Christmas day. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have a drink or two or even three over the period of the day but I would recommend that you don't go overboard. Remebmer that balance is a key factor in living a healthy and happy life.

It works both ways, you don't want to live a life that involves you getting completely drunk, eating processed unhealthy foods every day and you don't want to completely abstain from ever eating anything that isn't good for you as this would make life boring and is an unrealistic expectation.

Summary

These three tips should help to put your mind at ease as we are heading into the last few weeks before Christmas. Keep thing's clean with your diet these coming weeks and then enjoy your time with friends, family and loved ones this Christmas. 

Do some gentle exercise even if it's just going for a stroll in the morning and don't go over the top with alcohol.

I hope that all of my readers have an amazing Christmas this year and I look forward to writing my next blog after the big day.

Stay strong, be happy and have fun.

BC

Alternatives to traditional cardio

Let's face it, if you want to have any decent level of fitness or athleticism you are going to have to perform some kind of cardiovascular exercise. There are however less boring/tedious ways do do cardio other than just going for a jog, up hill walk on the treadmill, a cycle or doing the x-trainer for 30-45mins three times per week.

I want to start by explaining the definition of cardiovascular exercise. Cardiovascular exercise has two different energy systems.

- Aerobic system... This refers to your body using oxygen to perform an exercise for a prolonged period of time at a generally light to moderate pace of around 60%-85% of your maximum heart rate. Aerobic exercise can be fuelled by glycogen reserves, fat reserves or a combination of both.

-Anerobic system... This refers to your body working for a short period of time at a high percentage of your maximum heart rate, usually over 85%, in which case your body is initially powered by glycogen which is the body's prefered source of energy. Glycogen is stored in the liver and muscles. Glycogen, when needed, reacts with oxygen and produces carbon dioxide and water to then produce energy for our body to use in short bursts.

Now the Science is out of the way lets get down to the good stuff...

3 ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO DO CARDIO

Sometimes it is hard work to get motivated to get on the treadmill, stationary bike or x-trainer with a goal of using up any excess glycogen and to burn some body fat.

What if I was to tell you that you could burn off that extra glycogen and fat without your joints taking the impact of pounding the treadmill or the tediousness of the stationary bike or x-trainer and get fitter at the same time! Interested?

CIRCUITS
Circuits are great because you can really elevate your heart rate for 30-45 mins with your heart rate in the 60%-85% range. This can be done on resistance machines or free weights or even just with your own bodyweight. That is why circuits are so good. You can tailor your workout to what equipment you have available to you.

I have provided a sample circuit below but feel free to create your own. You can add ANY exercise to this circuit and it will fit right in.

Start off by doing 3-5sets of the exercises below and build it up to 10 sets.

(1) Bodyweight Squats x10
(2) Press Ups x10
(3) Crunchies x10
(4) Burpees x10
(5) Alternate Leg Lunges x10 on each leg
(6) Plank for a 30 second count
(7) Back extensions x10
(8) Chin Ups or Horizontal Rows x10
(9) Hip thrusts x10
(10) Leg Raises x10

You will find this very challenging at first but your body will quickly adapt, gaining both aerobic fitness and muscular tone at the same time. Due to the variety of different exercises your mind is active and the time goes much faster than when you do traditional cardio.

TABATA
The Tabata protocol was created by a Japanese man named Izumi Tabata. The idea of this protocol is to quickly create an oxygen debt which you will recognise from the lack of breath that you have. This will quickly make your body use up your stored sugar (glycogen) which then forces your body to use stored fat (once your glycogen levels are low enough) for energy.

The Protocol
5 min warm up (a walk, cycle or gentile mobility would be fine)

Choose any cardio machine/bodyweight exercise (like a burpee or jump squat)/ weighted compound exercise (like a squat or deadlift) and do 8x20 seconds of work as fast as possible (with good technique) followed by 10 seconds of rest.

Do a 2 min cool down (a walk, gentile cycle or some stretches  )

The Tabata Protocol is intense and they are great at the end of a weights workout to burn off any excess glycogen and to start tapping into your fat storage cells.

COMPLEXES
Complexes are a combination of three or more compound exercises (an exercise that uses two or more joints and multiple muscle groups at once) done consecutively without rest, using the same peice of equipment (usually a barbell or dumbbells). Complexes are very good for increasing fitness and burning fat. They also have the added benefit of allowing you to tone up whilst doing something a bit more creative that standard steady state cardio.

An example complex routine would be as follows;

3-5 sets with a 1 min rest period:
X5 Power Cleans
X5 Front Squats
X5Push Press.
X5 Back Squat
X10 Press Ups

This will be very challenging both physically and mentally but the rewards gained from complexes are well worth the effort. Don't forget that this is just a sample routine. Please feel free to get as creative as you want with this.

So there we have it! Three alternatives to doing your traditional cardio that should keep your interest and get you burning stubborn fat in no time...

If you have any questions then please leave a comment and I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Until next time. Have fun, get creative and in the words of Mark Bell, Strength is never a weakness and weakness is never a strength.

BC

Simple Guidelines for a healthy balanced lifestyle

Introduction

In this post I’m going to cover some very easy implementable hacks to improve GPP (General Physical Preparedness), control fat gain, promote fat loss and maintain a reasonable level of physical strength.

Walking

Walking for health is quite possibly the most underrated form of exercise. Walking is an easily implemented method of light exercise that requires no equipment or special facilities to partake in. Walking is a low skill activity that burns calories and works lightly the muscles of the legs and the torso which will help to improve bone density, tone leg muscles and help to control fat gain by contributing towards achieving a calorie deficit. Walking will also improve heart health and mental health. When you walk your body releases endorphins which is a chemical that your body produces that makes you feel good (the same chemical that’s released when you eat chocolate, laugh and meditate). In summary, the vast majority of people will be able to benefit greatly from including some steady paced walking into your daily routine.

For those that would like to have a little more of a challenge, you could walk with a loaded rucksack. You can add resistance to the bag by adding household items, rocks wrapped an a towel, sand or purpose built weights. I would only recommend the you added a maximum of 20 %  of your bodyweight to the bag (start with 5% off your body weight or less) otherwise your walking gait will be compromised and excess pressure will be loaded to the spine (remember, this article is primarily about health). With 20% of additional load you will burn 20% more calories in the same time and distance so this little hack can be a good one if you have a goal calorie expenditure and limited time.

Resistance Training

If you can perform basic resistance exercises 1-3 times per week that target all of the larger groups of muscles (as well as the ligaments and tendons surrounding your joints) you can dramatically reduce your chance of injury.

Such basic movements include, push-ups, horizontal rows, walking lunges, squats, plank holds, and loaded carries (demonstrations of these exercises will be in following posts but can in the meantime be looked up online easily).

These movements can be performed for 3-5 sets of 8-15 repetitions. Never go to failure and always perform all exercises with good technique. 

Sports and Active Hobbies

Why not Start a sport or martial art as a hobby? This will both stimulate you mentally as well as physically and because you will be taking part in an activity that is of interest to you, you’ll be more likely to be consistent and do it long term. Consistency is the key to success in everything exercise and nutrition related and most things in life generally.

Nutrition/Diet Advice

Whilst there are quite literally hundreds of different nutritional methods that all work when you stick to them, I personally premote what I call the single ingredient method which I have found with my clients and my family to be the least complicated and most efficient method of eating a healthy balanced diet. It involves nothing in the extreme and everything within balance, so rest assured I won’t be advising for you to cut out all of your carbohydrates, I won’t be advising for you to only eat carbohydrates or only eat protein but rather a balanced plate of all of the above macronutrients. The general guidelines are that if you eat 90% single ingredient foods (for example a sweet potato has only one ingredient as does a chicken breast. Any vegetable, fruit, meat, root vegetable, fish etc has only one ingredient which is itself) you will be healthier that the majority of people that you know. Foods that do not classify as a single ingredient are are bread, processed meats pasta, biscuits, confectionery etc. These foods contain multiple ingredients and therefore would not fall within the 90% category. For the remaining 10% of your food intake I would split this into two categories at 5% each. The first 5% would be health-related processed foods (protein bars, sugar free snacks, cured meats, fish, fermented vegetables, alternative milk substitutes). The second 5% can be anything else that doesn’t fall within the first 2 categories because you can have everything in moderation but that includes moderation. If I told the vast majority of people reading this article that you could no longer have chocolate, alcohol, desert or any other luxury food/drink item the chances of long-term success would be very slim.

I hope that in this short guide will be helpful to you moving forward in your persuit of health. If you stick to the parameters detailed above you will be on the right track to being your healthiest self.

If you require any information regarding personal training, nutrition and lifestyle advice please do not hesitate to contact me through my Google page, Ben’s PT Essex.

Stay Strong and Stay Healthy,

Ben Cooper

5 convenient and healthy snack ideas

Introduction

Finding a convenient and healthy snack nowadays can be hard if you don't know what you are looking for. Our newsagents and supermarkets are full of sugary, processed and bad fat containing items. There are a handful of farm shops and stores that do cater for the health concious and there are options within your local supermarkets and convenience stores that you can select if you know what to look out for.

So, what should I look out for?

Let's define the word snack to start with. "A snack is a portion of food, smaller than a regular meal, generally eaten between meals."

Usually when we talk about a snack a person that is not health concious may think of a chocolate bar, a packet of crisps or maybe a biscuit. A health concious person may think of a piece of fruit, a cereal bar or a smoothie drink.

Noticed the pattern?

If not, have you fallen into this trap before yourself?

Education is key in making better choices 

Over the years I have noticed this pattern emerging time and time again from my own clients. When you mention a snack the majority will suggest a carbohydrate source. The only trouble with this is that when you consume a carbohydrate at the wrong times of the day, your body can potentially be insulin resistant.

What does that mean?

Insulin resistance is when your body doesn't absorb the carbohydrates into the muscle storage sites all over your body, but rather shuttles the carbohydrates towards the fat cells.

For snacking at least, I prefer to advise my clients to eat items that have low or no carbs in them and lean towards healthy fats or protein as a more healthy option.

Let's talk about fat

Items that are higher in fat can be a great option for snacking because fats cause no insulin response. Insulin is released by the pancreas when we consume carbohydrates. Insulin makes glycogen form carbohydrates which is the only source of carbohydrate that can be stored in our body. The glycogen is then shuttled into our muscles or fat cells depending on whether we are insulin resistant or insulin sensitive ready to use when we move our body for both exercise and day to day chores or to store as fat for a later date.

Nuts

Nuts are a great snack option for most (as long as you aren't allergic to them). They are full of healthy fatty acids, vitamins, protein and fibre. This snack will keep you feeling fuller for longer than a carbohydrate based snack. Just be careful not to over eat them. As with all fat based foods, they tend to be high in calories Vs other lower fat options like lean meats, protein bars and eggs to name a few.

Coconut

Coconut is also a great snack option because it contains MCFA's (Medium Chain Fatty Acids) and these fatty acids are easier to digest than LCFA's (Long Chain Fatty Acids). They are not readily stored within your fat cells and they are processed by the liver, which means that they are immediately converted to energy and they aren't stored in excess.

Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese has proven health benefits that include a good supply of protein, B vitamins, healthy fats and it has also been proven to lower the risk of developing breast cancer cells. If you aren't eating cottage cheese and you aren't lactose intolerant, maybe you should consider adding it into your weekly menu.

Home made protein bars

Home made protein bars are easy to make and they are convenient to carry with you during the day. They can be made in under 5 minutes using certain recipes. There are lots of recipes online and video tutorials on YouTube that can be followed. The biggest benefit of making your own protein bars is that you know exactly what you are eating. Many shop bought bars contain words that most struggle to even pronounce. If you can't pronounce it you shouldn't eat in.

Avocado

Avocados are my last suggestion but they are definitely not my least favourite. They are packed with healthy fats that help to lower cholesterol and triglyceride's. They are high in fibre and low in carbohydrates and they contain more potassium than a banana. If you can eat them, you most certainly should.

Summary

So there we have it. My list of 5 healthy and convenient snacks that are full of goodness. If you want to find out more information about nutrition, training or you have an event coming up that you want to look and feel your best for feel free to send a message to Ben's PT Essex on Google and I will personally get in contact with you to offer my guidance. 

Stay strong and keep healthy

BC