All it takes is a little consistency...

Yesterday, I was talking to one of my clients about the single most important element to success in personal physical fitness. The element of consistency.

There are thousands of programs and diets you can follow, but without consistency in both, your chances of success are slim. Obviously if fat loss and a positive body-composition change are your primary goals, you must place an immediate emphasis on your diet to make sure you stop adding any more weight. Diet alone CAN cause major changes in body-composition but in order to really make sure the weight stays off permanently, we must exercise on a regular basis as well. The added muscle mass and related increase in activity allows our body to become a much more efficient life-long fat-burning machine. Even if we are happy with our appearance, strength, flexibility and conditioning training is a must to ensure we keep up a good quality of life now and into the future. You can think of it as an insurance policy, allowing you the best possible chance of maximal physical function far into your later years.

The big question becomes, how do we stay consistent? This is one of the biggest challenges we face in many aspects of our lives. I think the best way to ensure consistency in exercise is finding ways to make it work for YOU. As we are all individuals, a one-method solution will not work for everyone and will only stick for those who prefer that particular method. The obvious solution is to actively do what you ENJOY doing. Working out with a specific performance goal in mind be it squash, tennis, ultimate or golf helps many people stay consistent as it offers a real reason to do so, improved performance. The other major factor we must face is time. Some of us are able to keep up a 3 to 5 times a week workout lasting well over an hour. Most of us are not... The important thing to remember is we do not NEED that long to get a great workout. The other important thing to remember is doing something is better than doing nothing, so even if you only have 10 minutes to spare for exercise today USE IT. Consistency is nothing more that a habit, so is inconsistency... Trade one for the other and see the real results that have eluded you for so long and live a longer, happier and more satisfying life!

Do.

A great article on pushups from The New York Times:

Sorry there were no posts last week! This year's particularly bad flu hit me hard...
Found myself practising my snatch form today so all must be well again.

Click HERE for that article on pushups. More original posts coming in the next few days!

You are only as old as you choose to be...

Check out this video of Eduard Trusevich. He is a 62 year old man who has been training with kettlebells for over 40 years. The video shows him in the midst of his snatch set at the 2007 Kettlebell World Championships. In 10 minutes, he snatches a 55lb kettlebell 220 times! This number is seen as a very high achievement for men half his age. This is a great reminder that almost anything is possible at any age. All you need is the desire to do it and the discipline to stay consistent. Now, I am not saying you need to be able to put up such snatch numbers as he is obviously very fit and has spent some time acheiving such a feat. Imagine what he was doing when he was 30!

The most important thing is to just do SOMETHING! Even if it is as simple as doing pushups and squats during commercial breaks. Hell, even lifting a weight above your head while sitting down will do as a start! Fitness does not have to be about gyms, expensive workout wear, boring cardio and comparing yourself to others. Workout at home or outdoors in your shorts from 1984, enjoying your choice of fun heart health exercise and feeling great as you top a personal best!

Now, check out Eduard:

I don't usually post my workouts but...

Today I will as am feeling really good and trained despite having an injury. My right rhomboid (muscle behind the shoulder blade) is aggravated so that means no horizontal pulling (ex bent-over rows). I put together a kettlebell and bodyweight combo that went something like this:

Part One:
Squat Thrusters L/R (24kg) x 5 x 5
Two-Handed Swing (24kg) x 5 x 5

Part Two:
One-Handed Swing (16kg) x 5 x 4
Pushups x 5 x 4
Front Squat (16kg) x 5 x 4

Set myself a 20 minute time limit so was unable to finish set 5 of the last three. Going to do this one again soon and get that last set within the 20 mins!

These short and intense workouts are great when you have lots of work to do and still need to find the time to train. I got most of my March newsletter completed today and still got to exercise!

Speaking of the March newsletter, stay tuned as it will be out in the next couple of days. Just need to shoot the video...

Congratulations!

My good friend and squash partner, Bryce Norman got married last Thursday. His lovely bride Enid Raye Adams was there too : ) I wish them and their son Zachary a happy future!

Now that the wedding has happened, perhaps we now begin discussions on the rules of Full-Contact Squash?

Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.

- Painted on a wall at Broadmoor Prison, South Africa

What can you do?

During a recent session, my client and I talked about how easy it can be to want to just give up on keeping your body in shape and healthy. What it often comes down to is that we are unhappy with with an aspect of our lives or ourselves. Unfortunately, as health and appearance deteriorate, so does the expectation of happiness. We are all familiar with self-fulfilling prophecy and how negative thoughts can only propagate negative results...

On the drive home I thought about how I, in the context of fitness training, help my clients to get quickly motivated and in the right frame of mind. The challenge for any trainer is to ensure their client continues to train even years after the last scheduled session. What good are the results if they need you around forever to maintain or improve them?

Since major fat loss and the resultant exposition of toned muscles takes longer to safely accomplish than a decent level of strength takes to gain, I make sure to teach my clients how to develop real-world strength so results come quickly and emphasis is taken off exclusively appearcnce-based goals.. No matter what someone's body looks like, what really counts is what they can do with it. Would you rather be one of the best players on the team or the one who looks best in a swimsuit? How about both! Instead of continually looking for results in the mirror, look instead for results in real-life performance.

I strongly believe this way of thinking is the path to real and permanent success. A great way to easily practice one facet of this is to make sure you participate in active pursuits other than only your fitness routine. It is your participation in these activities that highlights the pay off from all your hard work. The spotlight is placed on your physical acheivement rather than physical appearance. This feeling of success will begin to supplant the negative thoughts associated with body image and thus form new and more positive ones associated with body capability.

With proper nutrition and hard work, the aesthetics WILL take care of themselves... by then, hopefully they won't be quite so important.

Stay positive, and remember YOU are the one in charge of your life!

Want more energy at AND after work? Exercise at the office!

As a trainer, I have the luxury of being in a fitness faclilty at least twice a day. It is never a hassle for me to go to the gym as I am already there. To tell the truth, I only work out in a gym two times a week. All the rest of my workouts are done at home with bodyweight and kettlebells. My typical day starts at 6 or 7am and ends between 7 and 10pm. The best way I have found to keep my energy up from morning to evening is by utilizing a number of mini-workouts throughout the day. This concept is easy to apply at the office as well!

The fact is, human beings were not meant to sit for most of the day. Our bodies and minds do not react well to long periods of inaction. Remember, it was not that long ago we were hunting for our food and living exclusively off the land. The modern computer workstation is a very new development in the long history of the human race. Our old lifestyles included daily use of our bodies, performing tasks we now no longer have to. We have "evolved" into a more intelligent and technically savvy race but have not kept appropriate pace with our body's need for movement and change. Just as we learned new work habits by accepting computers into the workplace, we must also learn new health habits by finding ways to incorporate exercise into an increasingly busy day.

Starting with my favourite example, modern exercise science has proven our hearts essentially cannot tell the difference between 30 minutes of steady exercise or 10 minutes done at three different times daily. Exercise science has also proven we get stronger by doing more lifting more often and with long breaks in between sets. Additionally, we DO NOT have to exercise to total failure to get results. In fact, minimizing and managing fatigue provides greater strength gains, less injuries and a much higher level of skill. A great thing has happened here! By chance of evolution, our bodies are able to maintain a high level of fitness using less exercise time than we ever thought possible. Now, please tell me you can't find the time...

Now that we know what we know... Lets get into how to use it.

I propose you think of your exercise in two phases: Strength and Conditioning. Since Strength must be practised as a skill, we can do much of the necessary maintenance during the day while at work. Tough upper-body exercises like one-arm pushups and single-leg squats are ideal but anyone can begin at the least with pushups off the wall and simple bodyweight lunges and squats. Low numbers of repetitions are done multiple times per day to ensure maximum volume with minimal fatigue. The great part is, the low reps will not make you work up a huge sweat and risk offending anyone in the office : )

The major benefits to your day have yet to be discussed. Since the three previously mentioned exercises require all major muscle groups to work in a dynamic or supporting role, our proper postural habits are revisited many times per day. Let's also not forget that these movements get us up and out of our unhealthy seated position. Blood washes through the affected areas and the warmth of working muscles gives our bodies and minds a fresh burst of energy. Your body never has the time to feel lazy as you keep waking it up! At the end of your day, you leave the office feeling at one with your body and ready to enjoy your evening. After all, you deseve it.

Feeling strong after work, you now need to look after your heart. Since interval training has been proven to be just as beneficial to the heart as long medium paced exercise, we can get our Conditioning in 20 minutes or less. One way to do this is hill running. Start walking up a moderately steep hill to begin with and as your conditioning improves go to a jog, run and finally sprint. Walk back down and do as many as feel comfortable in 15-20 minutes. The distance up the hill should be about one city block. Intervals really make you sweat so you will see why I recommend strength training for the office. To start, do your interval training 3 times per week.
As you can see here, you only have to dedicate 60 minutes per week outside of work to get all the conditioning you need. Add a bike ride, squash game, walk, hike, jog, ultimate game, fitness class or anything else you enjoy a couple times per week and you are all set!

Phew! What was meant to be a short post sure became a rather long one...

Every now and again I feel I have to point out just how easy it is to be stronger, healthier and happier.

Wing Tsun Vancouver February Seminar - Day 2

The main event of Wing Tsun Vancouver's first 2008 seminar!

Last night, we began again with a section from the Chum Kiu (Second Form). This time it was section 5, including the WT sidekick! As on Monday, we continued the forms training pretty much non-stop for the better part of two hours. Again, the intense focus on a few key movements meant we were able to really get into the precision performance of each part. The more tired you became, the more powerful was your performance. Sounds like the opposite should be true, I know... : )

After a short water (and smoothie) break we were treated to a performance of the Siu Nim Tau (First Form) and the Chum Kiu by four of my younger kung fu brothers. Watching Edmond's whip-like arm movements reminded me of why I named him "Wooden Arms " Chow... ouch!

Then for me and the other 1TG testing Trainer Team members it was time to finish the last 45 minutes with some blindfolded Chi-Sau (sticky arms training). It is amazing how your technique can go South once you are unable to see! Old habits come out again and it can feel like you have jumped back a few years in your training. Once I got a bit more used to it, I was better able to feel where my body was in space and thus increase the rate of self-correction. There is definitely more blindfolded WT training in my future. In fact, I plan to add this method to my weight training as well. Thanks to Brian (2TG) for being my Chi-Sau partner! You can check out his Wing Tsun blog HERE.

Check out some photos from last night, including Nilo's trademarked Leung Ting face. The picture is a bit blurred from the intensity of his death-stare...

Wing Tsun Vancouver Seminar - Day 1

Last night, Sifu Ralph at Wing Tsun Vancouver treated us to three hours of hard work as a "warm up" to Wednesday nights main event. We started with almost two full hours of section 3 and 4 of the Chum Kiu. Apart from a few minutes of instruction, we were performing the sections basically non-stop. It was quite amazing to spend such a long time on just a couple sections. Such intensive and focused practise of just a few movements reminded me of the Siu Nim Tau (first form) Chi Kung (energy work) and in fact seemed to provide similar results. The main difference being the speed in which we performed the movements. The more tired you get, the more able you are to relax and truly get into the loose and whip-like Fak-Saus, heavy Fook-Saus and anchored footwork!

After we finished the form work, it was on to applying what we had just learned. Being so in tune with your body after such a forms warm up, the WT applications were able to be performed at a much higher level. Since real "performance" is the name of the game, this method of training is, in my opinion, a must! In fact, I just got up and ran through the whole Chum Kiu and it felt very different today... : )

Sifu had us spend the last 15 minutes kicking and punching just to make sure we were all soaked with sweat again in case it had dried off from the forms warm up...

I noticed a definite change in my conditioning and did not get as tired as I thought I would. Attributed this to the kettlebells! Is there nothing they cannot do? In fact, I am considering writing my 1TG theory paper on kettlebell training for Wing Tsun since this is only one of many KB training benefits for WT.

Looking forward to Wednesday night! Will post some pictures on Thursday.