4.5 ways to shift your attitude towards exercise

What’s your attitude towards exercise? Love it? Gym junkie? Addicted? If that’s you then congratulations, you are amongst the rare rare 5% of the population. For the rest of us, whose attitude towards exercise is more like our attitude towards brussel sprouts (we do it because we were told it’s good for us, but really – yuk!), here are 4.5 ways to shift that attitude and embrace what our bodies were designed to do… move!

1. Train to embrace who you are, not to punish yourself.
Although I fully endorse a smash ’em up session, do it from a place of encouragement, not of punishment. Listen to your self talk. You should be saying positive things such as “I can do this! Feel the burn, love the burn, I want to challenge myself, I will feel so amazing when I am finished.” A lot of people have very negative self talk, for example, “I am too tired, old, unfit, unwell, fat, stressed to go hard today. I can’t do this, there’s no way. What if I can’t finish? What if I get the slowest time? What if I fall off my bike. Come on you fat slob, after all that pizza and beer last night you deserve to be smashed!’ Would you talk to others that way? Are you maybe just a wee bit tough on yourself? Give yourself a break and cut the internal bickering!

2. Lighten up, it's only exercise!
Believe it or not, exercise should be fun! Even when you’re pushing yourself to the limits, don’t take it too seriously. Did you have a crappy session? Big deal! Does the pressure of trying to bench an extra 20lbs far exceed other pressures in your life? Give me a break! You may need to mix pleasant, fun activities in with your grueling sessions for balance.

If you follow points 1 and 2, you should find that the pressures we put around exercise will stop. For example, if you miss a session, that does mean you are a fat, lazy slob? No, it means you missed a session, that’s it. Read point 4.5 and then remember, you have chosen who you want to be, so embrace that person, and lighten up.

3. Feel the burn, love the burn
When the heat rises in a session, so too does your doubt. Suddenly you question if your body can cope, and the negative self talk highlighted in point 2 comes out to haunt you. When you get outside your comfort zone in a workout, one thing to repeat over and over again is “feel the burn, love the burn” Sounds silly right? But it works! Embrace the burning feeling you get in your muscles and lungs, and learn to love this feeling. This is the point in the workout where you are really making a difference. When you are finished, you body will change as a result and you will improve. So the next time you feel like you can’t do one more push up, or you can’t make that last sprint home, just repeat to yourself, “Feel the burn, love the burn” and before long you will have burnt away twice as many calories, and achieved some kick-ass results!

4. Get inspired
Find light houses in your life. People who make you feel good, energetic, and strong. It might be friends or family, or it might be sporting heroes, celebrities. It may even be a movie or music. If it takes listening to the Rocky sound track to get excited, then ‘do it!’ Enrol others on your mission. It could be your personal trainer, the staff at the gym, training buddies, work mates. The more support you have, the more chance you will have at succeeding.

4.5 Don't see-saw between who you are and who you want to be. Choose one and choose it fully
Look at your past results in fitness, and in other areas of your life. Are you happy with the results? If you are, then great, keep sticking at it. But if not, you need to make a conscious decision to change something. One thing is certain, if you don’t change your behaviour then your results won’t change either.

Who you are being in this very moment is the only thing that will affect your future. So who are you being right now? Make a choice. Be the person you have always been or choose to make a shift and alter who you become.

Embrace that choice and choose it fully. Then and only then will you shift the past patterns which have led to who you are today.

"If you want to look into your past look at your present conditions and if you want to look into your future, look at your present actions. "
Chinese proverb

***Click here to see 3 ways to train like a champion

Core Stability Part #1: A remedy for back pain

Do you suffer from back pain? 80% of people suffer from chronic neck or back pain at some point in their lives, with the majority being posture related and preventable. You’ve probably seen people doing absurd things on giant balls, or performing what looks like a DUI test police would conduct. If you ask what on earth they are doing, they answer simply... “oh it’s my core stability program.” Does this core stability stuff work, or could it be putting our body at risk?

The answer: Core stability exercises are one of the best ways to strengthen and retrain the body’s postural muscles to work effectively. They are excellent when you progress at the right speed, and bad for you if you done incorrectly. There is a fine line between these exercises helping or hurting your back. There are about 5 stages, and the key is to progress only when you have mastered one stage, no matter how long it takes to learn.

Stage #1: Diaphragmatic Breathing Test

This is the hardest stage to master! Whilst you are reading this begin to observe your breathing style. Don’t change anything, just observe. Place one hand on your sternum, in the middle of your chest. Place the other hand over your belly button. Now look down (or go stand in front of the mirror) and observe which hand moves more when you breathe in, top or bottom hand?

If you answered bottom hand, good work, you are a diaphragm breather and can progress to stage #2. Just make sure it’s not because you took some deep breaths, it’s all about your everyday breathing style.

If your top hand moved more, you are like most of the population, a shallow breather. This means when you breathe in, instead of using your deep intra abdominals to lower your diaphragm, the muscles of your upper rib cage, neck and shoulders lift your heavy rib cage to make room for your lungs (no wonder your neck and shoulders are tight!). Not only is it an extremely inefficient, laborious way of breathing, but it also means the deep muscles of lower abdominals get a free ride. These muscles are also the core stability muscles we need to strengthen. If they can’t even help your lungs to breath, what chance have we got of getting them to stabilise your back! So we need to get these guys doing what they were designed to do – help you breathe through your diaphragm.

How to breathe through your diaphragm:
1. Whilst sitting in your chair, place your hands back in the above position, one on sternum and one on belly button.
2. Breathe all the air out of your lungs, when you go to breathe in, don’t move your rib cage, instead, allow your tummy to relax and poke out.
3. When you breathe out, draw your belly button through to your spine, like you were squeezing all the air out.
4. Focus only on your bottom hand on your stomach, it should move out when you breathe in, and move in towards your spine when you breathe out.
5. If you are struggling. Try doing it lying on your back, it’s easier.
6. You must not progress to stage #2 until you are breathing this way unconsciously. This can take weeks. The more you focus on it, the faster your body adjusts. Make sure you can do it whilst exercising.

What type of breather are you, shallow or diaphragm? I’d love to know how hard/easy you find this exercise. I believe this is the hardest stage to master, and until someone can breathe correctly, they will never be able to stabilise their backs properly.

The 5 minute rule!

Next time you are struggling to find the motivation to do a workout, try the 5 minute rule!

Can breathing alter your mood?

You know those times when you feel completely stressed and if your head was a kettle, steam would be whistling out of your ears? Or when a loved one is frustrating you so much you either need to scream or laugh. It has been documented that breathing can slow down or halt the hormone responses that cause such a stressful reaction.
Correct deep breathing will:
- Increase the flow of oxygen to the brain, and body.
- Stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system to bring the body back to a resting state,lowering blood pressure, and heart rate.
- Relax the muscles involved in shallow breathing that causes headaches and back issues

Steps to correct breathing
Place one hand on your stomach over your belly button. Take a deep breath in and as you do allow your stomach to expand as the air rushes deep into your lungs.
When you breath out, your stomach should draw in towards your spine, as your muscles squeeze the air out of your lungs. It’s like a bagpipe having the air squeezed out of it.
When you breathe in, observe your shoulders. They should stay perfectly still, no shrugging, lifting, rotating. The same goes for your upper chest. If those areas are moving, you are still breathing shallowly.

Closing your eyes and taking ten super slow, deep breaths does wonders to alter your mood. Try it in when you feel stressed, when you are about to go to sleep or after a big meal. Try it right now. Do you feel different after ten deep breaths?

*** Are you running on adrenaline? Click here to find out if you are an adrenaline junkie.

Guest Article: So what is Hatha Vinyasa yoga anyway?

I asked Patty Kikos, yoga teacher from Empowered Healings, to enlighten us more on what to expect in a yoga class, and she has shared it with us here.

One of the translations for the word ‘yoga’ is ‘union’. If we took it a step further, we could extend that to the total balance of mind, body and spirit. Be brave and take another step forward and maybe you can add your own personal interpretation of what that might mean for you and your current journey in life.

If you were to think back to what may have brought balance to your life 5 maybe even 10 years ago and then fast forward to today, chances are you may have slowed down the pace a bit, but not necessarily the intensity.
In a hatha vinyasa class, when you learn to link your movement with your breath, and after adding an intention for your practice, you are practicing the art of vinyasa. An intention can be something as simple as focusing on your breath instead of your wayward thoughts, using a positive affirmation with each breath you take, or even offering up your practice to something or someone other than yourself.

The word ‘hatha’ is a Sanskrit (an Ancient Indian language) term for the balance between the sun and the moon. These are 2 polarities that exist within all of us when we think of either our right or our left side, our top or our bottom, our strength versus our flexibility, our mind compared to our emotions, and even our sense of surrender compared to our quest for control.

In order to maintain the dynamic flow of a class that links movement, breath and intention, we activate what is known as ocean breath or ujai breath. This literally means that we inhale and exhale just through the nose whilst simultaneously making a soft sound using the back of the throat.

The reasoning behind this is that our mouths don’t necessarily have the same filtering system as our nose does, and in order to prepare the body for a practice that will continuously keep the body moving, we need to ensure that our ligaments and muscles are warm enough to endure the constant physical movement.

In a Hatha Vinyasa class, expect to move a little beyond your physical comfort zone, perhaps a little beyond your emotional and mental comfort zone as well. At the beginning of the class, we will always set an intention for the day / week and then do a few breathing exercises to balance the right and the left hemispheres of our brain.

At the end, just before the final deep relaxation when we come to lie on our back, we allow ourselves a few minutes to sit cross legged in a meditative position. This is where a particular style of meditation is taught, or sometimes it is simply a chance for us to allow our mind a few soft moments of contemplation and reflection before we surrender into that final resting pose.

"Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured."
--B.K.S. Iyengar

Tips for recovering from a half marathon

How does your body feel after running 21 gruelling kms? Picture this, at the end of the race, an army of sore bodies hobbling around recovering from their big race. You can’t help but get pumped for the next one. However it is your recovery action plan that will determine how quickly your body is ready to train like a champion again. Follow these 5 tips within 3 days of your race to ensure you bounce back better than before:

1. Drink 1.5 litres of sports drink in the 24hr after the race:
Yes we all know rehydration after a race is essential (around 600ml for every 30min that you run), but replenishing your sodium levels is crucial. We tend to lose about one teaspoon of sodium every 2 hours so it is really important to replenish these sodium stores during and after the race. Electrolyte/isotonic drinks such as Gatorade are good as they get absorbed very quickly. NB: Too much sodium in the body can lead to high blood pressure, so apart from race time, avoid excess salt in your diet.

2. Stretch:
Stretch straight after the race, but also stretch every day for the next 4 days. A minimum of 10mins will do. This helps your damaged muscle fibres to repair correctly, preventing scar tissue and permanent flexibility loss. Hamstrings, hips flexors, lower back and calves are the absolute essentials. Don’t look after these puppies and you’re a gonner! Don’t force the stretches, you should be able to feel it but not be in pain. Hold each stretch for 30-60secs, and slow your breathing right down.

3. Get some blood back in your muscles:
Massage, hot baths, very gentle exercise (not running!) all increase blood flow to the muscles. The more blood that pumps through these muscles, the more nutrients can be delivered to repair them, and the faster they will recover.

4. Eat iron rich foods:
Think Popeye and his spinach habit. Think big juicy steak. Iron is responsible for getting oxygen to your working muscles and distance running can deplete these iron stores, causing anything from fatigue, to fainting. Dark green leafy vegetables contain iron as does lean red meat. So be sure to eat plenty of these in the week following your race.

5. Rest and sleep:
Try to get 8hrs sleep for 3 nights in a row. The only exercise should be super easy such as a swim. Be proud, you’ve achieved a milestone! Now give your body a break and it will reward you with a speedy recovery and many more years of running!

What other tricks do you use to recover after your event?

*** The Sydney Morning herald half-marathon was held over the weekend, and what an event it was! Click here to see some photos of the event!

Are you an Adrenaline Junkie?

No I am not talking about base jumpers, bungee jumpers, and all those other crazy sports that people do. I am talking about adrenaline addicted people around us, at work, in the coffee shop, maybe sleeping next to you. I am talking about people with over active adrenal glands. You won’t see the usual addict signs (think Amy Winehouse) but here are some signs and symptoms of adrenaline junkies:· Busy all day, every day
· Poor or light sleepers
· Excess sweating (especially in bed)
· Need caffeine fixes such as coffee, energy drinks, coke to function properly
· Tend to get run down easily
· If they do slow down, they feel exhausted and find it hard to gain momentum again
· Have an unhealthy, often pale complexion

Are you an Adrenaline junkie?

If you can relate to the above symptoms then read on. Adrenaline is a hormone that secretes out of your Adrenaline glands located on top of your kidneys. Their job is to prepare your body for action by speeding up certain bodily functions. You may have heard of the fight or flight response. That’s what these little but powerful glands do. When they kick into action, the following responses occur:
· Your heart rate increases
· Your blood pressure rises
· Your breathing increases and becomes more shallow
· Your sweat glands produce more sweat
· Your senses become more alert and you are ready for action

Fight or Flight in the modern world

Flight or flight response was well and good back in the cave man days when Pappa cave man stepped out to find a giant woolly mammoth staring him down. Straight away his adrenaline glands would pump his body up ready to fight or flight the beast. In today’s world however, our stresses last longer. A stressful job, hectic schedule, deadlines, etc all cause our adrenaline glands to get pumping, but this time it lasts days, weeks or months instead of minutes.
Without the physical reaction of fighting or running from a stressful situation, the adrenal glands don’t know when to slow down. Therefore over weeks, and months, these poor little blighters get exhausted which leads to all sorts of nasty problems, such as chronic fatigue, depression, glandular fever and pneumonia.

The problem with chronic adrenaline secretion

Like any addiction, the more you use something, the more of it you need to get your fix. This is where coffee and energy drinks come in. The caffeine in these drinks artificially stimulates your already exhausted adrenal glands. Think of it like flogging a dead horse! The more coffee you drink, the more of it you will need to get the same effect. It’s a vicious cycle wearing you down.

How do I stop my adrenal glands from being overactive?

1. First and foremost, exercise. By moving, you are doing what adrenaline intended you to do, taking action. A decent workout is the same as fighting or flighting. Your body thinks you’ve overcome the woolly mammoth and during your cool down (yes cool down is a crucial part of any workout) your adrenal glands slow right down so your heart rate, blood pressure, and other vitals return to normal. 5 really slow deep breaths will also help.
2. Go to bed at a reasonable hour. Messing with your body clock plays havoc on your adrenal glands. Before you go to bed, you must unwind mentally. Read a book, meditate, listen to slow calming music. Quiet your mind. If your mind is racing, it triggers the adrenal glands even while you sleep. This is probably doing the most damage to your health.
3. Lay off the caffeine and energy drinks. If you need these to function, then something isn’t right. One coffee a day isn’t going to kill you, but if you are going to kill someone without your morning fix, you need help! I suggest one month off all caffeine/energy drinks to allow your hormones to return to normal. Combined with points 1 and 2, you should be feeling much better within that month (might be rough at the start, hang in there).

If you need more help kicking the ‘adrenaline’ habit

Acupuncture is amazing for adrenaline issues. It realigns the bodies’ energy systems, helping to balance all hormones. Some people feel more tired, before they fully recover, but it’s important to let the body rest once the adrenaline mask has been removed. Regular massages are also helpful, especially at night, when you can go straight to bed afterwards.

Click here if you would like to learn more about adrenaline and stress problems.

Staying motivated as the weather cools down- Warm up your workouts

As the weather cools down, watch that your motivation doesn’t as well. We all know the shorter days and winter months can be a calorie catch-out. A minefield of weight gain traps. Rich winter foods, less daylight hours for outdoor activity, lazy Sundays in bed, cheese and wine by the fire. Sounds so tempting doesn’t it? Well fast track to Summer, peeling off the trackies and squeezing into your summer wardrobe – will your thighs have an uncanny resemblance to the Tomme Crayeuse you devoured? Don’t let your waistline disappear under the doona of body fat, follow these simple tips and find the balance between staying fit and getting cozy.
Tip #1: Commit to an exact number of workouts each week. No exceptions (4 is ideal): If this means your laziness midweek lands you a weekend of activity, so be it. Personally I like to get it over and done with midweek so I can relax on the weekend.
Tip #2: Join an exercise group and pay upfront: 6 weeks of boxing classes, 12 week challenge in the gym, 10 personal training sessions. You will feel compelled to go and get support from your peers/trainer.
Tip #3: 6 weeks on, 1 week off: Give yourself a break every 6 weeks (even if you don’t feel like it) and book a massage. I bet you miss the workouts and come back rearing to go!
Tip #4: Soup, soup and more soup! Yes we all love comfort food in winter, so avoid the fatty pastas and have soup. Make it, buy it, freeze it. So long as it’s low fat and packed with veggies, you can eat it till your hearts content. Ps. absolutely no butter on your bread and no bread at night.

3 ways to train like a champion!

One of the best things you can learn from exercise is to re-program your thinking, and train yourself for success. Isn’t it funny how often great athletes turn out to be great achievers in other areas of their life.


What if the mental discipline you learn from exercise carries over into your work and personal life? Could that give you a competitive advantage? Maybe help you to stay focussed on difficult tasks and achieve great things? You might end up with a career path like Arnie, the Governator.

Warning: These tools can have mind altering affects!

Tool #1: Be present: No I don’t mean turn up to your session (I assume you’ve already done that!). I am referring to your mental state. Whether you are training weights or going on a run, let go of your distractions. Recognise when they come in; is that person looking at me? What’s for dinner? And as soon as they do, cast your thoughts back to your breathing and focus on your bodies’ movements. Ask yourself questions; ‘Am I breathing to the base of my lungs? Are my shoulders relaxed? Is my body symmetrical?’ These questions help to keep you in the moment. This is called having mindful awareness. You might have to refocus twenty times throughout your workout until one day, you realise you’re doing it automatically. This not only leads to far more coordinated and effective movements physiologically, but is a form of meditation that improves focus and concentration.

Tool #2: Discipline: The key to discipline is preparation. Preparation? Yes preparation. Why don’t you plan at the start of your week which days you will train. Know exactly what you need to do in each workout, and what scores you need to beat for improvement. Once you are actually training, you shouldn’t need to think about disciplining yourself (if you have used tool #1). If you feel your motivation fading adopt the ‘JFDI’ principle (don’t know it, google it!) and JFDI it!

Tool #3: Visualisation: You will always behave the way you see yourself. So if you see yourself as being out of shape and slow, you will train that way. Instead, try to visualise yourself beating your personal best. Visualise how good you will feel after your workout. Imagine the feeling when you reach your goal weight that no one thought you’d achieve. It’s very easy to visualise the bad stuff so why don’t you stop yourself when a negative thought comes in and project it into a positive one.

Have a go at adapting these principles into your professional life as well. When at work, be present, especially when communicating with others. Prepare your tasks in a manner that encourages self discipline. And if you are struggling with something, try not to put it off, instead JFDI it! Visualise your new office when you have achieved that promotion, or how will you feel when people are looking to you as their mentor? Apply these principles with a dash of passion and you will grow into a true champion.

Do you already train like a champion? I’d love to know how you have adapted these principles (and others) to achieve success.

6 Golden rules for sticking to your workouts!

Have you started an exercise program with the best of intentions only to lose motivation and quit? Why is it that some people can stick to their programs and some not? Are they freaks? Or maybe they live by the 6 golden rules of exercise. Follow these to ensure you stick to your workouts and take your body to an extraordinary level.

1) Keep it interesting: Mix up your activities. Choose ones that you like that can increase in intensity as you improve.
2) Make sure it’s convenient: Pick a time and a place that works for you. Read my other blog on the best time of day to exercise. Being close to home or work is best.
3) Exercise with a buddy/trainer: They lift you up when you’re feeling flat and create that social outlet that makes exercise so much more enjoyable. Plus it adds health competition.
4) Set realistic goals: And set short and medium goals, not just long term. Sometimes the best goals for working professionals are the number of sessions per week. Make this month’s goals to train 4 times per week for 4 weeks in a row.
5) Keep track of your physical activity: Measure it, weigh it, log it, compare it. Performance measurements are more important than body composition results in the beginning. If the performance improves, the body will follow.
6) Reward yourself: When you’ve achieved a goal, reward yourself! Sometimes the best reward is rest. Take a week off every 6-8 weeks (guilt free). Book yourself a massage, restaurant, splurge! And tell your loved ones about your achievement.

What is the best time of the day to exercise?

Answer: Anytime!

However there are varying parts of the day that yield better results. Over and above my suggestions below, you should also consider 2 other factors when planning your workouts; Your inner motivation and your schedule.

Inner Motivation: Are you the kind of person that springs out of bed whistling Dixie ready to attack the day, or is the effort of opening one eyelid too much to bear and the snooze button has a neat thumb print embedded in it? Don’t kid yourself, if you’re not a morning person, scheduling a workout pre-sunrise is only setting yourself up for failure.

Busy Schedule: It’s often the busiest people that stick to their workouts, i.e. “if you want to get something done, give it to a busy person” and this is because busy people know how to plan. But it’s not just about planning your workouts. Plan your sleep. If you get 7+ hours per night, you will have the energy to train, no matter what time. Plan your evenings so you will get to bed at a reasonable time, and book your training sessions at a time least likely to get interrupted.

Best time of day for weight loss: Mornings: Training before breakfast means you have less sugar (glycogen) in your system. You will not start burning fat until you are ‘glycogen depleted’. This happens much faster when your last meal was 12hours ago. In addition, your metabolism stays boosted for up to 15 hours after you exercise, so your brekky, lunch and probably dinner are being digested faster. The calories from your meals are being burnt up by your body in recovery from training, rather than being stored in your fat cells.

Best time of day for optimum Strength/performance: Mid afternoon: Your body has something called its Circadian rhythm, which regulates your body’s clock, winds you up in the morning and slows you down at night. Studies have shown that our body is geared to perform at its best at 2pm and at its worst at 2am. So if you want to impress, the afternoon is your best bet.
Best time of day for energy improvement/productivity: Lunch time: Huh? You say. Well try it. Go for a run in your lunch break and see how fast the afternoon flies. You will be buzzing at your desk instead of nodding off. It doesn’t eat into your personal time and you didn’t have to wake up extra early. All those calories you consumed at lunch are being burned by your worked muscles rather than causing the afternoon slump, and there’s nothing better to clear your busy head than a great sweat session. It’s when I get my best ideas!

My favourite time to train: Mornings! Yes I happen to be one of those annoying morning people, but I believe exercise has helped me become that way. It’s almost like the body wakes up expecting to move and rewards you when it does. I always feel amazing after my morning workouts and tend to take on a more positive approach throughout my day. And what about that feeling when your fatigued body sinks into bed at night… ahhhh addictive!