When it comes to improving your health, you simply cannot ignore your habits. Dieting fails for many reasons, but none more so than the fact that people fail to develop the necessary habits to maintain their health once their initial motivation to change is lost.
Obviously, the content of our food doesn’t change at the strike of 6pm, but our habits do, and it’s this understanding of people’s behaviours, as well as how the body works which has led me to believe that there’s some truth in the fact that eating carbohydrates after 6pm does increase the likelihood of weight-gain.
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I’m not going to lie, but I desperately wanted to be the ‘Diet Coke guy’ in the TV ads growing up and I still love the odd Coke Zero or Pepsi Max, but one of the main questions I get asked a lot when it comes to fasting is; ‘can I drink diet sodas whilst fating?’
If you’ve attended one of my movement workshops or follow me on social media, you’ll know how passionate I am about foot health and the barefoot lifestyle! I first learnt about the importance of maintaining good foot health back in 2011 when I was qualifying to become a Personal Trainer, but it wasn’t until 2016 that I came to fully appreciate the impact feet have on the rest of our bodies – especially our posture!
My ‘How to’ blogs offer you practical advice that you can easily apply to improve your health and fitness.
Here’s what you’ll find in this post;
Sitting for long periods throughout the day can wreak havoc on your posture and respiratory muscles[i] as well as alter your natural positioning – rounding of the shoulders, curvature in the upper back and tightness in your hip flexors and hamstrings.
Standing throughout the day or at least for brief periods is a great way to combat these problems. Here are two ways to perfectly incorporate it into your day. The past few months have shocked the world and unearthed many concerns, but none more so that who is most vulnerable and at risk.
Postural problems are one of the biggest problems I see with my clients – neck pain, rounded shoulders, painful lower backs and tightness through in the legs – yet they just can’t seem to fix it.
I’ve never enjoyed counting my calories and I’ve yet to meet a single client who’s enjoyed it either. Why? Because it’s not natural and eventually the numbers stop adding up.
When we were kids, we adored our pre-bed routine. However, our parents didn’t develop this routine for fun, they understood its necessity for getting us ready for bed, both mentally and physically.
We’ve all read about how the most successful people in the world start their days, and how much this impacts their day, yet what they fail to tell you is that we ALL a routine, some are just more effective than others.
During a perfect night’s sleep, we’d go through roughly five cycles of 5 stages while asleep.
Humans haven’t always been monophasic sleepers - we used to divide our sleep into two-phases over a 24-hour period (biphasic sleeping). History describes periods of wakefulness during the late night or twilight, where people would wake for a few hours to study the bible, socialise or make love, before returning to sleep for the second phase.
I didn’t really focus on my first ever client’s sleep to be honest, well not outside of telling to “try to get enough sleep” so they’d have more energy to train with me.
I had the perfect training and nutritional plan all lined up for them but NOTHING on sleep, other lifestyle factors or general habits – even though I was training them between 6-7 am 3 days a week. You all know how much I love coffee! So much so, I’ve partnered with the coffee specialists, Melitta (who offer an array of premium ‘at home’ coffee products including: Bean to Cup & Filter Machines, Pour-Over Manual Brewers, Filters and Accessories), to help spread the message on how beneficial coffee can be in supporting a healthy lifestyle.
We’ve all known for a while now that NY resolutions (NYR) don’t work, yet we still come up with a few wishes every year in the hope that they finally stick. The history of NYR is pretty shady but it’s believed to have started with the Babylonians who reportedly made promises to the gods in hopes they'd earn good favour in the coming year. Nowadays it’s usually about favouring ourselves – lose weight, make more money, be happier etc.
Many of my clients are busy individuals – from the time-poor new parent to the full-time worker looking after their family – which means I MUST make sure that EVERY healthy habit I have them put in place, produces the biggest bang for their buck.
I was recently invited to Katelyn Evan’s Pre- and Post- Natal Lab workshop at KXU. Getting my pre- and post- natal qualification has been on my to-do list for a long time, so this workshop was the perfect place to start.
November is fast approaching and for the whole month, I’m going to be creating as much content as I can to help you understand how to adopt a lowER-carb lifestyle. You’ll see I’ve popped the ER in there because that’s where the focus must be – simply lowER than it usually is.
When people ask me what’s the best diet to lose weight or improve their health – my general answer is one which is lowER in carbohydrates.
Do you warm-up before your workout? Do you stretch or hop on the elliptical before hitting the weights? The warm-up has definitely changed over the years, but what really surprises me is the fact that most still don’t have one.
Here’s how I structure a warm-up. By now you should know that I’ve adopted a more minimalist lifestyle over the past year or so, but minimalism actually slipped into my workout programmes long before that.
A few months ago, I started working with a new client and as always, ran him through my assessment. If a new client has a current training programme they’re using then I always like to take a look - as it as this adds another layer to getting to know them. What I found inspired this blog. Decision fatigue is the deterioration of our ability to make decisions - decisions which ultimately determine our success.
Minimalism is very popular at the moment and for great reason if you ask me. I’ve been living a more minimal and essential lifestyle for the past year and I can’t explain how much it’s helped me. Living with less decreases the amount of decisions you have to make and frees up time and energy – something we all crave. Essentialism is a form of minimalism, but instead of focusing on how to live with less, you learn to identify what’s necessary – regardless of quantity.
This might sound counter-intuitive, but drinking a decaf coffee, instead of a caffeinated one could be better for your long-term health.
Coffee is probably the more consumed beverage after water, and for good reason too. I LOVE COFFEE, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, but what has change is the type of coffee I choose during my first few hours awake.
When I explain to people that I fast – sometimes up to 36 hours, I get asked a lot of questions. ‘Isn’t it tough?’, ‘Doesn’t it make you over-eat?’, “Isn’t it dangerous?’, ‘…Binge eating?’.
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November 2020
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