habit
21/01/2016
It’s the time of year for the ra ra. Same old, same old goal setting blah blah! If that is how you see it, I want you to stop what you are doing and go to take a good hard and long look at yourself in the mirror. If you can maintain the wonder of a child you will live an awesome life. Do you want an awesome life? Come on, don’t be an oxygen thief! There’s not that much room on the planet. Participate, contribute and understand that unless you can play the violin like fiddler on the roof and impact people’s emotions, sing like an opera singer in a concert hall, swing a racket like Roger Federer, make chess moves like the Bobby Fischer, make business moves like Warren Buffett, present like Steve Jobs did, act like Robert Deniro…….and so many other things that I can’t even think of, then you have no business being cynical about setting goals and shooting for stuff because the job will never be done. I don’t know about you, but that makes this life exciting and motivating. It is the process that matters too – engagement in the activity and just plain old ‘taking action’. The best people I like to hang out with are always creating, thinking, doing, laughing, planning and aiming for new things. Now, if you have stared in that mirror long enough and thought about all the things worth chasing or trying, then there is no time to be bored, cynical or tired. Get to it! Shimmering eyes, […]
16/12/2015
Let’s face it, it’s hard to stay on track on holidays. Also, we live in a very fortunate place where a lack of food is not usually our problem. Ahh yes the doubled edged sword! We are not going to starve but will we eat too much this Christmas? Whilst we don’t count calories here at Best Practice, it is a solid fact there is much ‘energy’ stored in the various tasty treats that get thrust in our face a bit more so than usual around the Christmas period. Without being accused of being the Grinch of Christmas, let’s look at some strategies for incorporating a bit of naughty whilst staying nice to our temples. We all know that there is a price to pay if we let things get out of control, so read the list below and think about it a bit when next faced with the calorie oblivion of the staff Christmas pudding. We may not know exactly how many calories are in that mince pie, but I can tell you that it does equate to something extra that must be dealt with somehow. You can decide whether it is worth it when you really consider the reality of ’cause and effect’. After all, you know what your body can handle – so listen to it this Christmas and keep exercising too. It is simple mathematics when you consider what the end result might be of nothing going out and stacks going in. It doesn’t end pretty! So here are my Top 7 strategies to avoid big […]
02/09/2015
Boy oh boy, do we have a great success story to share! The person involved in this story is 43 year old David Heath who is a previous Best Practice Personal Training member. Read what David has to say below: “I thought you could pat yourself on the back for some habits from my Brisbane days. I always remember you telling me “you can’t out-train a bad diet….“, so I’ve finally got around to doing something about it (after my wife, Narelle, said she wanted to do something as she had been feeling lethargic etc). Not advocating one particular diet over another or anything (I still have my Precision Nutrition/examine.com feeds directly feeding into my inbox) but Narelle landed on whole30.com as it didn’t seem too ‘left of centre’/extreme. I simply ate fresh fruit & veg + meat and gave up dairy/sugar/alcohol/processed grains for 30 days (& threw the scales away) to see what happened. I definitely haven’t skimped on portion sizes & have enjoyed cooking up eggs/mushrooms/tomatoes/salmon for most breakfasts! Always feeling full so not a starvation diet. Well today was day 31 so I actually weighed/measured myself and was pretty amazed at the results: 66.5kgs, 77.5cm waist – so dropped ~6kgs & 5-6cm off my waistline. I don’t think I’ve had such a low weight/waist measurement since early uni days. I think I got to 80cm whilst in Brisbane working with Best Practice but definitely not as low as 77.5cm. I am still riding regularly (200-250km/week) & started lifting weights again so keeping the exercise up (I […]
09/07/2015
The question most people want answered when they decide to to get fit and healthy is how do I burn up those excess calories as quickly and effectively as possible…? Should I do strength or cardio training? The answer, my exercise loving friends, is BOTH! Wonderful, isn’t it? 🙂 There are many facets to this debate, and the calorie thing should not be the only consideration. Improving general health and fitness is a combination of many things, not being limited to weight control. Don’t forget to think about flexibility, heart health, functional strength to perform daily tasks and postural correction, just to name a few. There is no argument when it comes to the fact that cardiovascular training will burn more calories in a session. However, it is worth keeping in mind that when you are actually lifting weights you are burning more calories, it is the rest time needed in strength training that limits the total calories burned in a session. It is worth noting however that higher total calories burned doesn’t necessarily translate to greater body shape transformation. A well designed strength training routine is likely to have a greater impact on body composition than cardiovascular training on a session for session basis. This is because while it will be burning less total fat content, it is simultaneously increasing lean muscle mass (and this helps out those before and after photos more than you can imagine). The crucial point above is ‘on a session for session basis’ – a drawback with strength training is that your muscles need time to repair themselves. So you need longer […]
30/06/2015
The wheel of life goes round and round. How smooth is your wheel and how close to the edge are you? Health & Fitness is the stand out priority no matter how wonky your wheel might look. Literally everything hinges on it. Let’s take a look and put that little assertion to the test. Career & Work. I hear this one a A LOT! “I have no time for exercise because I am working so hard to forward my career and build a future for my family, so my job is my main focus for now. When I get on top of this then I will spend more time with my family, and then get to looking after myself”. How much time do you think you have in this life? It’s a no brainer that you will perform better when you are healthy and fit, and your family will want to spend time with you when you have the energy to give. Cart before the horse and all that! Also, let’s get one thing straight. No one ever said on their deathbed, “gee I wish I spent more time at work”. So if your career and work are getting on top of you (and you will know this by the stress you feel) carve out some “me” time now, because the investment reaps dividends every time. Even if you think it won’t… Trust me I am a personal trainer 🙂 “Me” time by the way is not getting to the pub and downing 6 schooners at lunch. I worked in a fitness […]
26/06/2015
Where do you wear your carbs? Now this is a question I’m sure many people are very interested in… There is a lot of confusing information out there about diet and eating. Make no mistake – the ‘weight loss’ business has been (and will continue to be) a huge industry. Why though? Why is this the case? If what they are selling is so good, why hasn’t someone come up with the answer yet thereby effectively ending the prolific amount of information written on the subject?? The answer is that it is a self perpetuating business model. What I mean is that what they are collectively suggesting creates short term but unsustainable results, which inevitably leads to snap back. And not only does the weight snap back, it comes back with interest… The reason is that most diets create a metabolic environment that makes long term fat loss (which is what the whole thing should be about) harder and harder. Talk about an ingenious business model… Give quick, short term joy only to take it away (thus creating the need again) and offer the same thing again in a new form that seems appealing all over. We all recognize the need within ourselves for novelty and fresh ideas to keep us interested. What do I suggest then? Stop looking for the easy answer. As a mate of mine once told me when I was learning how to work on my old timber boat, “the shortcut you are looking for will be the long cut you were trying to avoid. Do […]
10/06/2015
I will be the first to admit that I have run these challenges in the past and will continue to in the future I am sure. Let me explain though why the short, intense and often over the top challenges are for the most part, a complete waste of time. The challenges start with a lot of fan fare and often unrealistic expectations of “MASSIVE BODY TRANSFORMATIONS”. Let’s be clear… one cannot get a massive body transformation in 5, 8 or even 12 weeks. In saying that, I guess it all depends on your interpretation of the word “massive”. You can definitely form some great habits in this time and make significant changes, but lets not get carried away with hyperbole. The longer I have been involved in personal training, change programs and coaching in general, the more I believe that it is best to make only changes that you can honestly see yourself doing for the rest of your life. As unsexy as that can seem, it is really all about long term lifestyle. I mean what is the point of hitting yourself super hard for a short period of time only to fall back into old health damaging habits after the razzamattaz has ended? We have all seen people make significant changes and get all excited, but unless it is something that ‘sticks’ then it was clearly not the answer. A recent post by Precision Nutrition hits the nail on the head. They refer to a recent study that looked at the effectiveness of two different diets for […]
02/06/2015
We had a seminar at Best Practice Personal Training in Bowen Hills last Thursday the 28th of May. It was cheekily called How to Think, Eat, Move and Look Better Naked in Winter. The real focus point though was our focus on long term sustainable change. There were four speakers on the night each of which with a different professional background and area of expertise. I was talking about mindset, beliefs and habits on the ‘thinking’ side of things – four years of psych study and 10 years of hands on with clients will give you a bit of insight! Jean Paul Staats, a Chinese Medicine practitioner, presented on the benefits of intermittent fasting and how most if not all of the top selling diets are merely made up marketing exercises – he is very passionate about the ‘eating’ aspect in life. Then there was Dr Matt Platz from Alderley Chiropractic who explored the ‘Move’ side of things and showed us the importance of not only dealing with existing pain in the body when it is present, but also the importance of preventative measures as a maintenance strategy. On a side note, as I’m sure you’ve gathered by now, at Best Practice Personal Training we are all about being proactive when it comes to health. Why do we wait to have a problem and then go and try and fix it with pills? Doesn’t it make more sense to invest in behaviours that promote health and continued health? I can tell you from personal experience that chiropractic care can definitely […]