What does being present mean?
Being present or being in the moment means you are free from any thoughts of your past or future. You are focused on what is happening right here, right now. People often spend less than 1% of their time in the present moment which can lead to stress, anxiety and unhappiness.

Why does it help with training?
Firstly, the physical outcomes of the session directly relate to how present the person was throughout. For example, a runner doing a 10km course completely present to their stride, will focus on technique, breathing, and rhythm, increasing their efficiency and speed, resulting in a better outcome. Alternatively, a distracted person may allow their technique to become sloppy and labored, losing valuable seconds every stride. Secondly, being present helps to stop distracting thoughts entering their head and most often these thoughts are negative. See 4.5 ways to change your attitude towards exercise. It also helps to prevent other distractions such as competitors, audience, etc. A perfect example of this is watching Roger Federer or Andre Agassi play tennis. They are focused, in the zone, which allows them to make fast, instinctive choices, without having to use the slower, judgmental, conscious part of their brain.

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Tagged As: fitness, Training, zen

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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!

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Tagged As: fitness, Health, Personal trainer, Physical exercise, Training

With the Australian Finale of The Biggest Loser over, viewers are left to contemplate the journey and incredible transformations of the 18 contestants. What these people achieve in 12 weeks, most of us wouldn’t achieve in a lifetime. Yet many viewers dismiss the program as “unrealistic”, “setting a poor example of healthy weight loss”, and “way too challenging to try.” With over 10% of the population watching the program it has the ability to significantly affect how people feel about exercise and weight loss. The question remains, however, is the biggest loser a motivator or de-motivator?

When throwing the topic open for discussion, it’s evident that there are many who see the show as a de-motivator. In an article from Time, the author was concerned about;

• the program’s focus on rapid weight loss,
• the fact that it paid little attention to the maintenance of their results
• the rumours that drastic losses experienced often came from deliberate dehydration before a weigh in.
• the general public might think that such high weight loss numbers were the norm.
• Other people commented that the pain these contestants went through was too much. If weight loss was going to be that hard, then they weren’t even going to try.

I’d like to challenge these opinions, as I think that overall, the Biggest Loser is a massive motivator. It may be filmed in a 12 week pressure cooker situation leading to some of the above concerns, but I believe that the majority of viewers see that the benefits far outweigh the concerns.

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Tagged As: diet, Motivation, the biggest loser, Training, Weight loss

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!

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Tagged As: exercise, focus, Training