Not making much progress in losing weight, or on a slow train in attaining your strength and fitness goals? You think you have problems? Take a look at someone who could have had plenty to complain about, but took a different approach: David Weir, the British and World Champion Paralympic champion who won this year’s London Marathon for the fifth time and won last year’s New York Marathon and took triple gold in the World Championships in Christchurch New Zealand. He is described as Britain’s top wheel chair athlete and one of the best in the world.
So how did he get there, given the significant disability of being born paraplegic? Self-perception seems to be the secret, or at least a large part of it. “I have never seen myself as disabled. I have always been treated as normal,” says the 32 year old from South London who has an 8 year old daughter from a previous relationship and now has a new-born son with his current partner. He has been a full time athlete for the last ten years.

Of course, a positive mental attitude is only one part of the process. You also have to work at it. He does regular weight training and practices in his wheelchair in Richmond Park. “Wheel-chair racing was the only thing I was good at,” he says. Although born paraplegic he was also otherwise physically robust with the arms and chest of a boxer – what he would have opted to be if he could have, he says. Competition is another aspect of what inspires him: “Part of the beauty of sport is having rivals who drive you on.”
Watch out for him in the up-coming London Olympics and get inspired!

Cortisol, a catabolic hormone is not to be confused with cortisone, a similar sounding compound with similar genesis and function. Cortisol increases blood sugar, suppresses the immune system and aids in fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism. Basically, it’s the body’s emergency fight or flight response system to extreme stress or imminent danger. It’s designed to save your life.

Any kind of extreme or intense exercise can increase cortisol production, especially if you over train: the more intense the exercise the higher the cortisol levels whether you’re doing cardio workouts or pumping weights. Cortisol releases myostatin, a protein that breaks down muscle. However, the body can, and does adapt, experienced athletes generally having lower levels of cortisol. Generally, if you’re fit you’ll produce less cortisol under stress whatever kind of exercise you do. Cortisol levels are highest in the morning and lower in the evening and have an inverse relation to testosterone: when cortisol is high testosterone is low and vice versa.

The most important advice for controlling and reducing cortisol production is making sure you get enough rest, both between exercise sessions and most importantly getting enough sleep. Some supplements that can help reduce cortisol levels include Magnesium, Omega 3 and Vitamin C. 400 milligrams daily of Phosphatidylserine and a plant extract called Relora are also recommended as is an increase in carbohydrates.

Some other interesting options for reducing cortisol levels include massage or music therapy, crying, dancing the tango and having sex. Yoga and some deep breathing would probably also be good. Drinking black tea is suggested too, however, caffeine increases cortisol levels. So stay off the coffee.

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Endorphins make us feel good. The word ‘Endorphin’ is a combination of ‘endogenous’ and ‘morphine’: these endogenous opioid peptides are the body’s own internally produced morphine and produce an opiate effect. Endorphins are polypeptides and function as neurotransmitters: produced in the pituitary gland and hypothalalamus they are released into blood, spinal cord and brain.

How to get a hit? There are many ways to access the euphoria and sense of well being that endorphins can create. Exercise, love, orgasm, spicy food, massage (such as shiatsu), listening to certain kinds of music, hearty heart felt laughter and meditation all trigger the production of endorphins. Pain is another trigger – where the endorphins act as analgesic and dull the pain. This is nature’s way of giving vertebrates an opportunity to escape further danger after an injury – by delaying the full feeling of pain and allowing immediate physical activity to continue.

Feeling good is a pretty powerful reason to want to create an ‘endorphin rich’ lifestyle – but here are some other benefits of endorphins:

• Control persistent pain
• Postpone aging
• Reduce symptoms associated with eating disorders
• Control the craving for chocolate and potentially addictive substances
• Control feelings of stress and frustration and therefore help manage depression
• Regulate the production of growth and sex hormones
• Enhance the immune system

For people in training the effects of endorphins can be very specific on their work-out and ability to compete: “Runners high” is the euphoria that prolonged, continuous exercise like running, long-distance swimming, aerobics, cycling or cross-country skiing tends to create. Runners or other long distance competitors can also experience “second wind”; endorphins allow them to push through the pain and exhaustion to instead feel limber and energised towards the end of a race.

Motivation is the key part to succeeding not only in fitness and weight loss but to succeed in life in general.  Motivation can be created in many different ways.  In life people who tend to have the most drive, tend to want something a lot so are fighting to get it, the more you want it the harder you will work for it.  Hardship in life creates drive, if you are born very poor you may have a strong drive to be rich, and once you are rich, a strong drive to hold on to it as you never want to go back where you came from.  The same can be said for people who were overweight as kids or very slim when they were younger, they get fed up of being picked on because of their body shape so push themselves to get an incredible body, originally their goal is to be the same as everyone else but then they want to show off how much they have improved so try to build an incredible body far beyond the average.  I have talked on this blog before about boosting motivation through the obvious things in the gym such as getting a personal trainer to motivate you, listening to music whilst training etc but in this post I want to concentrate more on getting in a mindset to succeed in your fitness and weight loss goals through changing your whole lifestyle and approach.

I am not saying everyone needs to take the gym as seriously as I did, of course not, it has a different importance to each of us but thought you may find it interesting to see from my example the development of motivation to get results.  What got me in the mindset to working out 5 times a week for 5 years with only a few weeks off each year, was watching the Rocky movies and being a very skinny teenager.  I was fed up with being regarded as skinny, so turned this anger into a drive to get results.  The Rocky movies are a common video a lot of athletes and pro weightlifters refer to, the reason is that the majority of the film is based on training and it shows training equals results and then success, this movie showed thousands of teenagers that with hard exercise they could go on and succeed, its as simple as that.  I have spoken to professional boxers before about The Rocky films and many have said thats what got them started and some said they still watch them every 6 months or so to inspire them.  I have spoken to athletes that tell me they watch videos of their sport regularly to inspire them.  When I was involved in competitive bodybuilding I used to read every magazine comparing my bodyshape to guys of a similar age, when they looked in better condition it would spur me on to work harder.  You have to keep giving yourself new goals all the time to keep yourself constantly motivated.  If your building a business for the sole purpose of making money for example its good to look at things you can’t afford so it spurs you on to get them.  Walking around a ferrari showroom looking at the cars when you can’t afford one to some people may sound stupid but actually creates the drive to want it.   Looking at the fitness magazines and watching the bodybuilding videos were crucial for me as they kept me wanting to push harder to get a body like those I was seeing.  I used to compare myself to another bodybuilder of the same age who was top in his part of the country, I would make sure I consistently checked every few months his shape to make sure I was not lagging behind, if I skipped a meal or workout I would feel the other guy had got an advantage on me.  This mentality is similar amongst athletes, musicians and businessmen.  Last year whilst attending a violin concerto at Cadogan Hall I asked one of the top violinists in the world, in his early 20’s, about his practicing and he said he does 6-7 hours a day and would never take a month off as he would fall too far behind it may be difficult to catch up.  What I have been talking about here shows why it is also important to surround yourself with other fit people regularly, if you are always around really out of shape people you will feel a lot better shape than them so wouldn’t push yourself as hard if everyone around you was in much better shape.  The same with anything in life, who you surround yourself with heavily influences how you turn out, hence many drug addicts for example not being able to quit drugs until they completely relocate as their old friends are constantly negatively influencing them.

To get yourself in the mindset there are lots of things you can do to create this.  If your a man read fitness magazines regularly to see the great bodies you could get your body like.  I often advise people to stick them on their fridge so they are reminded of it during eating times.   If your a woman look at the great beach bodies of different women in bikinis and do the same.  This is constantly reminding us of what we want.  Allot of women go out and buy a dress they can’t fit into so they work hard to get into it.  This is another good method but unfortunately most people I hear of doing this don’t tend to ever get into them as they tend to be people who do things spare of the moment like purchasing that dress, they don’t usually spend ages thinking I will go and get a dress that I can’t fit into to spur me on at the gym.  Think of the benefits of being in good shape, when your in good shape as a man you come across more confident, which you probably will be more as you are proud of the body you have created and you know you look good.  For women,you can wear all the great clothes, they will look great on you and the same as for men it boosts confidence.  Think of the bad things associated with being out of shape, you look lazy, like you don’t care and people often think you haven’t got your life together.  A good body creates a world of difference and you will really notice it once you have achieved it.  Lots of businessmen that train with us often say they don’t like to miss training for more than a week otherwise they feel sluggish and not motivated in their company.  Exercise keeps you focused and on track, I train people with cancer who find the exercise keeps them focused and motivated to keep fighting on forward.

The mindset for getting fitness and weight loss results is crucial the main difference between those who get the best results and those who don’t is the amount each other want the results.  If you really want to be slim and you suffer from thyroid problems for example you can be thin, you will have to work a hell of a lot harder than the average person but you can certainly get in good shape.  There are very few people that I have come across in my career that can’t get an incredible body because of general life restrictions you just have to want it enough.

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The psychology of losing weight

Fitness psychology

Following our last posts on goal setting I thought it would be interesting to discuss the psychology side of losing weight. Psychology of weight loss is so important because if you don’t have this right you will not lose weight.

Many men and women who are overweight tell people they don’t care about being overweight that is why they stay overweight, many very slim people say they don’t care about building muscle, they are not into gyms or that they don’t see the point.  Often people say this to show other people they are confident about their body and they are also telling themselves they are confident about their body, but actually more often than not they hate their bodies.  It is important to address this psychology side of weight loss for the primary reason that if you are kidding yourself that you are happy being overweight why will you try and lose weight, you have to want to lose weight and admit to yourself you are not happy being in this shape.  This is very hard for a lot of people because we don’t like to admit these things about ourselves, it is ok for some of us who are a bit overweight to tell people I want to lose a few pounds because most people say this, but if you are really obese can you really tell people I hate my body?

The next stage is when people are trying to lose weight, they have told themselves they are not happy being overweight and now is the time to make a change.  Often a bit into the training they give up because they don’t get instant results and then they go back to telling themselves its too much hard work I would rather be overweight than put myself through that and that is what they also tell other people.  A good personal trainer helping someone along through the weight loss process will notice this mentality occurring and will reassure their client they are doing the right things and remind them of their goals when they came to them.  When ever I talk to a new client I always ask them why they want to be slimmer getting them to say out loud what they want, I then get them to write it down and keep it.  I ask them to write down how being overweight makes them feel and what being in shape will make them feel like. When they come to the stages of wanting to give up I remind them to look at this paper and remember the reasons, this is what keeps them on track.  When drug addicts or smokers try and give up they are battling with the pros and cons of giving up, most smokers don’t give up because they still actually like smoking the same with drug addicts they still actually enjoy the drugs, it is only when smokers notice they can hardly breathe when walking up stairs or drug addicts have lost all their money and their friends and family do they work hard to stop.

People who fall into the obese category are often from a family of obese people, why is this?  For example, take a family where the father is obese and has been all his life, his wife is obese and has been all her life and so have their two children a boy and girl.  The daughter in the family who is 14 years old and obese decides to lose weight because she may find she is not getting enough attention from the boys at school so thinks by losing weight she can improve her chances of getting a boyfriend.  To lose weight the daughter starts the gym and starts watching her food.  It is unlikely she would have had any encouragement from the family to lose weight so would have to do it herself.  If she had come from a family with two fit healthy parents they would have probably watched the food more carefully they were giving her and encouraged exercise.  However in her family they wouldn’t encourage exercise as they don’t do it and her food would be picked by her mother doing the weekly shop and more than likely this food is high in fat.  The mother since the children were little would most likely have gone around saying “I am happy the way I am”when asked about her weight, the children will then have copied her actions and responses.  If the daughter now goes on to lose weight and gets a nice boyfriend and feels better about herself, she will then tell her family reguarly how good she feels.  This will either anger the family and they will say they are happy the way they are and don’t need her preaching to them or will be encouraged by what she has done and try to follow in her foot steps.

As people get older who have been overweight for many years they can take one of two attitudes to their body.  One, I have been like this for years and life hasn’t been too bad no need to change now.  Two, I am getting older and I do want to live a lot longer, at my age at this weight I could run into some health problems I better lose weight.  Option two thinkers are very common clients of ours, option one thinkers need to be made aware of the risks and aware of the extra benefits they could have.  There is also another type of person the person who has been overweight their whole life but doesn’t want to change because he or she is scared if they do they will regret not having done it years earlier.  There is no point looking back at the past you can’t change but if you can change now and have the chance do it now, then go for it.

Another common factor why people don’t lose weight is because they believe they can’t so learn to accept the way they are, these people will also be unhappy with their body but say they are happy with their body to other people because they can’t see a solution.  This may be because they have tried working out without getting results so stopped or have never tried so don’t know.  If their family are all very overweight they may think genetically they can’t.  I have often come across people who have come to My Fitness Studio who suffered thyroid problems of polycystic ovaries and believed they couldn’t be slim, this is not the case, with the correct medication and maybe having to workout harder than the average person you can build a great body.

When we actually look at these scenarios like I have mentioned above we can see why so much of Britain is out of shape.  Be aware of the dangers of being overweight and be aware of the great benefits of being in shape and make a change today.  Talk to our personal training team by calling 02089603655 and we will get you on the right track.

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What stops people from reaching their goals

Most of us have fitness and weight loss goals but often get prevented from reaching them, what stops us?

1. To reach a goal you have to really want it, the people who get the best results are people who’s goals mean so much to them.  If a skinny 14 year old has been picked on all his life at school, then becoming muscular at the gym to scare off the bullies will mean a lot to him so he works out very hard.  Allot of bodybuilders were very skinny when they were younger, were picked on, or suffered in one way another.  As a teenager I was very skinny so went to the gym as I got so sick of being called skinny and wanted to build a good body, I never missed a workout or a meal as I kept remembering what people had said about me.  Not everyone has to want their goals as extremely as this but the more you want anything in life the more likely you are to get it as you will push yourself harder to reach it.
2. Putting off goals, a lot of people once they have been working out for awhile put off reaching their goals, they don’t keep to the deadline and months slip by then years, that is why it is very important to be specific about your goals.
3. Time and money, these are the most common excuses for a lot of people failing to reach many of their goals in life but actually if you really think about them you can work around these problems still reaching your goals.  Time, this is the excuse most people say why they don’t go to the gym, but do you actually not have 3 hours in the whole week at any point, of course you do, but these hours may not be that convenient for you that is why you say you don’t have time, the same goes for money.  Say for example a personal trainer in your local gym is £50 an hour seeing him once a week will cost £200 a month plus your gym membership of £45 its roughly £245 a month and this way you are getting good coaching and can still use a gym for two other unsupervsied workouts a week, this is ideal for reaching any fitness or weight loss goals.  £245 a lot of people would say they could never afford but actually you most likely can.  When you go out on friday night what do you spend on a round of drinks, £25?  2 rounds is £50 and cutting out one taxi home if you take one is probably around £15 so there is the money to cover all your training.  It can be easily afforded its just a case of which you want more.  Most of us can afford a few expensive things in life such as an expensive coat, golf clubs or a holiday but we can’t afford all these expensive things we want in our life all the time that is why we have to prioritise what is important to us.

If losing weight and getting in shape is important to you then money and time will certainly become less of a problem.  Personal training can be made affordable, we can make plans for you to follow at your local gym or we have personal trainers that can train you once a month, once a week or more.  Call 02089603655 to make an appointment with one of our personal training team.  Good luck this 2010 with reaching your goals!

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Fitness psychology

In freediving, as in any sport, there is always going to be a day when every smallest event, from the moment you wake up, seems designed to throw you off by means of frustration or distraction.
Whether it’s negative incidents, or just your mood casting a dark shadow, the reaction is the same: that voice, that scared and lazy sluggard, who is normally regulated to a soundproof corner of our minds, escapes to niggle and gnaw at our resolve.
This even happened to me the day of a world record attempt.

I started the day in a foul mood, and it seemed everything conspired to keep me in it.  I was left without a ride to the dive site, then had equipment problems, and in the last minute I missed the timekeeper’s call, and swallowed some of my air as I rolled over to start the dive.
All these are reasons we might give ourselves for aborting a dive, and the lazy/scared voice will be standing on its pulpit ready to take command.
But at this point you must be able to turn off the conscious mind and operate completely on autopilot, confident in the actions and contingent decisions you have programmed into your unconscious mind.  If you cannot turn off the rational, analytical mind then neither will you be able to turn off the pestering, pessimistic voice that shadows it – he will follow you all the way, ‘blah-blah-blahing’ until you either give up early or perform poorly because of a lack of concentration.
We do however need to be able to distinguish between trivial detail (you cut your finger and the salt water makes it sting) and conditions that actually impact on performance (you have a bad knee and don’t have full power in the leg kick).

As I settled into the freefall on my way to 88m I felt the bad energy that had surrounded my preparation slip away – it was superficial and therefore stayed on the surface.  Beneath everything else I knew little had happened which would have impacted my physiological state, and that’s all that mattered.
After the turn at the bottom, both negative thoughts – “you’re not going to make it!” – and positive – “if you make it you’ll have a new world record!” – tried to clamber up into my attention, but the trick is to be bored with them before they even begin.
Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter now – the dive has already been decided long ago… â€¨The bonus is that I have never been so happy at the conclusion of a world record, precisely because I had to overcome adversary (the hardest kind – the internal adversary) in order to achieve it.
If you are able to get past bad initial circumstances and slip back into that passive and detached state (the zone) that accompanies a perfect dive or sporting performance, then the future effect is paramount: confidence blooms and your competition performance rises to meet your training results.  The reverse is also true.  Every time you succumb to that despairing voice you will fuel your own fussiness and superstition.
Learn to distinguish between instinct and anxiety.  The more often you get it right the deeper you will bury the sluggard, until his complaining voice will be shut off for good.  Confidence comes from beating the inner adversary.

Written by William Trubridge

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