Anthony Gillespie

Check this out! Find out why we are loving push ups.

I am in the middle of reading a very interesting book on ‘choking’. It is aptly named ‘Choke’. It is written by an American psychologist, Sian Beilock. It is a topic I have a strong interest in since I did plenty of it when I played tennis! It is a subject that almost everyone can relate to as there are times when you felt that you didn’t do the job as well as you know you were capable of which can be very frustrating. It might be the presentation you had to do as part of your job or your weekend golf game or singing in front of friends or showing a group how well you can play the piano. We are all asked to perform in some way everyday and how we deal with those demands  is how we are judged and sometimes a bad performance can have far reaching consequences or maybe we just think they will, which is just as bad. If you dwell on the ‘what if’  too much you can become worried, getting you to think too much about ‘stuff’ that isn’t going to help you do what you have to do, which can of course adversely affect performance. The book talks about what happens mentally when we are feeling pressure and how it affects our movement and ability to think.  If you are doing something that you have learnt well and have done many times, thinking too much about the mechanics can really limit your performance. For example, a free throw in basketball is […]

I came across this article during my readings the other day…. whilst keeping track of your calories is important, it demonstrates the importance of nutritional value. Enjoy!! Apple Vs Doughnut Before you read the below I am glad to say that Krispy Kreme as a franchise struggled in Australia and I am hoping it is because we are starting to realise that we don’t want to try and beat America in everything. Sugar deep fried in fat is not a great daily food choice. All things in moderation of course but ‘eating donuts (sic) and Cwaffeee’ everyday does not a healthy person make! By Paul Taylor The apple, contains water (about 80%), carbohydrate (15%, mainly fructose with some dietary fibre) and a small amount of protein (5% or less) releasing the nutrients contained in the apple. The body uses up energy and nutrients to complete the digestion process, but it is rewarded with an abundance of nutrients from the apple. Firstly, there are amino acids from the protein, which are sent to a pool from which individual cells can access in order to repair themselves and communicate with other cells. Next, we have energy released from the carbohydrate, which goes to fuel our muscles, nervous system and brain. Because most of the sugar is fructose, it is stored in the liver until it is needed, helping blood sugar to remain relatively steady. The humble apple also contains an abundance of nutrients for the body. Just under the skin lies half of the Vitamin C content of the apple. It also contains calcium, phosphorus, iron, Vitamin […]

Go to this link for some info on a breakfast that may appear healthy but at closer inspection…..

Have you ever tuned out when you have heard stuff like, ‘if you think you can’t you are right, if you think you can you are right again’? It is easy to get cynical with these sayings but as most of you know I have a psych background so it should come as no surprise that I will harp on about the importance of what you say to your self on a daily basis. Our brain has great plasticity which means you can mould it to pretty much what you want. More and more amazing research of brain injury victims is showing this under the gaze of some serious scientific technology like the functional MRI machine. I am not going to go in to this too much. But this week I just want you to tune in to that innervoice we all have and have a listen, a real listen. You have certainly heard of the saying that you are what you eat, well triple the truth of that when it comes to, you are what you think. You MUST train the mind to do what you know will help. It would be crazy to think you could grow up and instantaneously become a world expert in tennis, golf, music or dance. These skills must be trained and honed to perfection as is the voice that turns these skills in to second nature. It makes sense then to know that the  same goes for how you decide to think about things. We all have a default mode we go back […]