Top 5 excuses for not training and poor diet - BLOWN AWAY

Yes, he has a face...

Comments from the Big Man

 We all get busy. Working long hours. Fast food meals to catch up. We delete things from our schedule which aren’t a high priority. Often that means skipping a workout. This pressure leads us to make excuses to justify OUR DECISIONS. It comes down to this; what motivates YOU to train and eat healthy? What gets YOUR blood pumping while YOU train (loud music, yelling, someone yelling at YOU, competing with others?) What does it take to get you to night sessions in winter?

Unlike cavemen, we no longer need a high level of fitness to stay alive (unless you are a special forces soldier in a war zone...). We train to: feel healthy, get fit, look amazing, be the best we can be, challenge ourselves, feel more energetic...

There are far more important reasons to train hard. Healthy humans survive illness and injury FAR better and recover quicker than unfit and unhealthy humans. I have witnessed astonishing recoveries of fit people as a paramedic in the military and civilian world and not just Aussies, I have seen this all around the world. Best example: a triathlete shot through both legs and walking the next day... The flexibility which comes from stretching after training is for life, e.g. if you strengthen your legs with squats/sprints and jump lunges then stretch after you are far less likely to experience lower back pain (especially if you train barefoot, but more on that next time) which cripples so many Australian adults who don’t squat down to lift everyday items and lack flexibility. And by the way the time for stretching is always after you train not before (stay tuned for my next blog).

Here are my top five favourite excuses (which people try to peddle to me) in no particular order, and suggestions for not letting them become your reasons for your diabetes or your stroke or your heart attack. 

Excuse 1

Ran out of time

The Tabata protocol last 4 minutes (20 seconds work then 10 seconds rest x 8) and is designed to push you to exhaustion. Four sets of Tabata takes 16 minutes. All you need is a couple of metres of floor/ground space and with 4 minutes of push ups, crunches, jump lunges and air squats you have functionally trained your body with no equipment. You don’t even need shoes! 

See the original study by Dr Tabata...

And check out our free 5 - 20 minute programs...

The Baby Jo 20 minute workout

5 minute NO Santa stomach! workout

Excuse 2

I can’t afford gym membership OR classes

Bodyweight exercises are free. Every park in this country has a place for chin ups. Its not just push ups and chin ups, you are limited only by your imagination...burpees, flipping/running with an old tyre. It never has to be the same workout. The undisputed legend of fight fitness Ross Enamait at www.rosstraining.com (also on Facebook) has specific designs for improvised home made boxing, strength and conditioning equipment. 

Excuse 3

I’m not fit enough to start a class yet

Our classes are purpose built for beginners AND advanced athletes. No-one walks out of a Sweat Depot session without burning fat. In fact you will be still burning fat hours and hours after you leave. All you need to do is start today and do your body a favour by following your session with a high protein, no (or low) carb diet with plenty of water/mineral water, NO SUGAR and YOU WILL SEE RESULTS. YOUR friends and family will see your results. Passers by at the shops will see your results.....DON’T wait til you’re fit enough we will get you there!

Excuse 4

I don’t have time to cook healthy meals

Let's look at a delicious lunch for home or work. One wholegrain tortilla with half an avocado (containing good fat which you will use in your next workout), some cold meat, some grated carrot, your favourite cheese and with some preparation from the night before some diced baked/boiled sweet potato (brilliantly packed with low GI energy and sooo tasty). Quick to make, inexpensive, and full of flavour without the need for sugary/salty sauce that will make it go soggy anyway.

Dinner: slap a steak on a pre heated BBQ, put a bag of snap frozen store brand veges in the microwave and in 5 minutes, your healthy fast dinner can be on the table.

LEFT OVERS (butt-in from Erin....)

What ever you have left over from the night before always tastes better the day after if you make it into fritters (just add egg, some garden or dried herbs and a little spelt flour)

 

 Or lasagna... just line a baking dish with canned tomatoes or paste, add wholemeal sheets and layers of left over meats and veges.  White sauce is as easy as ricotta cheese  (or ANY cheese) and egg...

Excuse 5

I can’t afford healthy meals or protein shakes

If you calculate a week of meals as 21, following a simple plan like the one listed below for 19 meals per week (and maybe hitting some well deserved carbs in the 3 remaining meals) will SAVE YOU MONEY, help you SHRED BODY FAT, and provide the appropriate minerals you hard working body needs to aid recovery. You will also find that you don’t crave the foods you used to survive on (greasy take away, soft drink and chocolate being the main offenders)

Brekkie: rolled oats ($2) with full cream milk

Mid morning snack: a piece of fruit, a few handfuls of mixed unsalted store brand nuts and some mineral water

Lunch: wholemeal wrap mentioned above and mineral water

Mid afternoon snack: yoghurt and some more nuts

Dinner: baked chicken drumsticks with a variety of veges

Protein shakes can be delicious and are handy but are extremely expensive. They generally provide up to 30 gms of protein which is the most our bodies can digest at one time. The menu above provides the same amount of protein as a shake with each meal including each snack.

 If you still need convincing that YOU need to be eating healthy from the moment you finish reading this onwards, take a walk through you nearest major hospital emergency department (take it from a former QLD paramedic). Count how many fit, lean and healthy patients you see lying in a bed. More than likely you will see overweight heart attack, stroke and diabetes victims. Then hit the outpatients department and say hi to the adult onset diabetes patients who have lost limbs to the disease due to excessive sugar intake. It would be silly not to stop in at the dental clinic and smile at the patients who have lost teeth to SUGAR.......

CAN YOU AFFORD NOT TO EAT HEALTHY FOOD?

Train hard, eat well

Charles

we've also got 27 strategies to motivate you to GET TO TRAINING...  

1 hour of exercise is better than 20 minutes - RIGHT? wrong!

Twenty minutes of interval training TRIPLES fat loss in HALF the time.

Don't believe me? Let me explain...

We are always being told that diet and exercise is the key to keeping our weight under control. But does that mean we have to spend hours in the gym? Current research on the benefits of short, hard sprints incorporated in interval training support what I have been saying for years. Work faster and harder for shorter bursts and reap the physical and mental benefits. Not only does it have TRIPLE the benefits (fat loss and cardiovascular fitness), but it is supported by evidence that training for more than 60 minutes a day WILL ACTUALLY SHORTEN YOUR LIFESPAN.

EXERCISING FOR HOURS ON END ISN'T THE ANSWER -

Endurance exercise places unnecessary load on the body's joints and internal organs. It is also time intensive and cannot be done safely without the proper nutrition, rest and hydration. Did you know that Australia's endurance athletes actually have a shorter life span than a sedentary adult. Sometimes up to 20 years shorter.

We are busy people right? What's the most common excuse for not exercising? "I don't have time." Well, that excuse is officially redundant.

Professor Steve Boutcher from the University of New South Wales has headed studies to find out what's the least amount of exercise you can do to reduce the greatest amount of fat. His findings are based on 20 minutes of interval bike training, three times a week. Which is great for busy lifestyles - right?

Trials were done on two different groups of people. One doing a 40 minute cycle class and the other doing the 20 minute interval training cycle class. The later group lost the most amount of weight (almost three times) and also improved their aerobic fitness faster.

Why does interval training burn off more fat?

"It significantly elevates a hormone called catecholamines and these are important messengers to tell the cells to burn fat," says Professor Boutcher. Catecholamines are produced in the adrenal gland - the hormones which circulate through the body. When you sprint, the catecholamines stimulate the beta receptors in fat cells, the fat cells release free fatty acids to be used by other cells and this strips away fat to be burnt up by the body's energy conversion process.

The study worked with 8 second sprints of cycling flat out and then slow pedal for 12 seconds. Conducted over 20 minutes, three times a week even beginner exercisers will see muscle toning and fat loss benefits within weeks.

" If you do it (sprint) longer than 30 seconds it's too painful (for the beginner). Normal people won't stick to it and would deplete energy stores too quickly to last the 20 minutes."

What does that mean for you? A 30 minute Sweat Depot rapid class could have 3 times the results than a normal class. Plus, we cleverly incorporate strength training in the workout to make you leaner and stronger.

There are two important messages here:

1. Stop over training

or

2. Stop making excuses why you aren't training at least three times a week.

p.s.: ramp up your metabolism even FURTHER by attending a 6am class. Then you will DEFINITELY get your workout out of the way for the day.

Exercise WILL save your life. And another side effect of fitness is a hot body too...

WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR??????