Getting organized!

This is my amazin method for sorting paperwork- random piles on the floor!

Diet, Stress and Mood

Here's a little tip for everyone who is busy and/or stressed - keep eating well! Many times when everything is going well it is easy to eat well, but once time gets short and stress levels increase it's very tempting to turn to the junk food for convenience. The problem with this is what you eat can effect not only your body composition (amounts of muscle and fat), but also your mood, energy levels, sleep and basically your whole life!

The times when stress is high, time and sleep are short are exactly when your body most needs good food packed with nutrients in order to cope - if you turn to the junk food at this time you may end up in a downward spiral of sugar spikes, cravings, mood swings, weight gain and poor health! Therefore next time your life gets busy, prioritize good eating and you will find you can cope with what life throws at you much better!

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Common Sense....

....would say that if a workout puts you in hospital, it's maybe not the most productive use of your time.

Some, apparently, would disagree.

Mr. Glassman, CrossFit's founder, does not discount his regimen's risks, even to those who are in shape and take the time to warm up their bodies before a session.

"It can kill you," he said. "I've always been completely honest about that."

from

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/fashion/thursdaystyles/22Fitness.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

The Pareto Principle

From the all-knowing Wikipedia

“The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, 80% of the effects comes from 20% of the causes. Business management thinker Joseph M. Juran suggested the principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of income in Italy went to 20% of the population. It is a common rule of thumb in business; e.g., “80% of your sales comes from 20% of your clients.” “

How does this relate to training? Well, I believe that in training 80% of your results come from 20% of the things you do. The key is to make sure you are doing the 20% stuff, and doing it often.

As an example, I happen to like squatting. When I am stuck for ideas what to do, I squat. I believe the squat is an 80% results exercise, and this has allowed me to get away with a lot. For instance, if I enjoyed using the leg extension and leg curl instead I really doubt I would have the same muscle mass, power, metabolic rate, bodyfat %age etc. I know that if I go in the gym and do squats, the little things will tend to take care of themselves. My legs will stay strong, my abdominal region will stay strong, my back will stay strong and my shoulders will stay strong. Every muscle that is under the bar will HAVE to maintain a certain level of strength, even if all I did were squats.

If you are smart you can use the 80/20 rule to your advantage. For instance, if you choose to do more of the 20% that is most important to your training, you would likely make faster progress. People around you could work as hard as they liked on the 80%, but would not be able to match your results. The key is to find what is the most important action to take which will improve what you are trying to improve, do more of it and do it well.

To find your magic 20%, think of the following - if you were forced to drop 80% of what you are doing in training, what would you do? In weight training you might be left with squats, deadlifts or weighted pullups for example. In MMA you may be left with sparring, or technique work. Now ensure that whatever happens, that gets done and you will see much faster rates of progress.

Food for thought....

If you want a flat stomach and do loads of sit-ups, why do you say you don't want to train legs in case they get too big? Hmm, maybe one of these thought processes is wrong...actually, both are, but we'll take it one step at a time ;)

Run, Swim, Fly, Green Diet

Time for another fat loss phase, and I'm going to do a 2 week phase of the 'run, swim, fly, green' diet.

This is an idea Charles Poliquin came up with the kick start a fat loss phase, kicking the sugar addiction and getting used to eating good healthy food.

The system is simple, and it goes like this -- For 2 weeks eat only the following foods:
1) Foods that fly, swim, or run
2) Foods that are green and grow in the ground
Can it get any more simple? Probably not. Simply put, if it doesn't fly, swim, or run and isn't green and growing in the ground, you don't eat it for 14 days.

That's all. That's the plan. And it works...when you follow it for 14 days and then, after the 14 days, you appropriately transition off of the plan.

You Are What You Eat!

By Alex Gold

I do a lot of good stuff when training people. I get them stronger, get them in better shape, fix postural problems, cure little niggling aches and pains and much more. But when it comes to body composition/fat loss results, most of the results are out of my hands. The training certainly gives you the gun and even loads it for you, but you have to hit the target yourself!

Why You Must Eat Right

You have heard the phrase, “You are what you eat” before, I am sure. The fact that is undeniable is that if you eating more calories than you require, you will be putting on weight. The correlation tends to be that bad food is more calorie dense than good food, so ‘eat bad – look bad’. No matter how hard you train you cannot train around a bad diet. Yes, you will get stronger. Yes, you will get fitter. You may even gain some muscle (those extra calories don’t have to be stored as fat), but it will be highly unlikely that you will lose fat.

Sometimes it is hard to get good food in – you have a busy week at work and find yourself grabbing food on the go, trying to make ‘good’ choices from what is available, but generally not eating in a way that is going to change your body for the better. This is understandable, and occurs all too frequently in today’s on-the-go society. However, ‘understandable’ does not mean ‘excusable’. Sometimes, if you wish to achieve the results you deserve, you will have to put a little work in.

Fail To Prepare, Prepare To Fail

There are a few little things that can help your chances of staying on track so much easier. If you have to decide when you are hungry what you will eat next, you have very little chance of succeeding long-term, no matter how good your intentions are. Therefore, you can do some or all of these tips to save time during busy times:

 Chop large quantities of vegetables at once, store in containers
 Pre-cook meats (chicken breast etc.)
 Make batches of stir-fry and chili to reheat when needed
 Buy a cool bag and carry food with you where possible
 Find healthy meals you can eat in restaurants
 Find ‘emergency’ solutions
 Ensure you have good food in the fridge when possible

By simply doing these little things, some of which require a little one-off research (what food can I have in Subway?) and some that you may have to do on a bi-weekly basis (chopping vegetables, cooking meat), you can take a lot of the pressure off when it comes to eating time. Rather than spending ten minutes every time you plan to eat preparing, it can be done in one go, saving huge amounts of time later.

This little tip is one of the most important variables for me between success and failure. When I am carrying healthy food with me, I no longer have the choice of, “what shall I eat next?” every time I feel hungry. In fact, if I make a bad choice, it will be even more highlighted by the fact I will come home still carrying healthy food. In this way, it is more effort to not eat well, which is exactly the kind of situation that will lead to success in the long term.