The Secret IngredientTo Turn Your Boring Workout Into Purposeful Training

The Secret Ingredient To Turn Your Boring Workout Into Purposeful Training

Substance. That’s what is missing and so many Personal Trainers forget to educate their clients on.

My knowledge comes not only from the gym, or from Karate, no, it comes from Daito Ryu, Ninjutsu, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Target Shooting, Swimming, Latin American Dancing, and more more more.

There is more that meets the eye and there are things you cannot learn from a book.

For fitness and exercise to turn into purposeful training you need that SUBSTANCE. That’s the secret ingredient that makes many hate exercising or only do it for weight loss or only because they were told they “have to do it”, or only because “it’s good for your health” etc. And after a few months or a year they give up.

Of course they do, there is no substance in what they are taught to do. It’s not their fault though.

So how do you get substance?

1. Passion

If in your fitness or exercise routine there is no passion, no love and excitement then it will not work. You don’t need to like the training itself, you can only like the results.

But even so do what you do with passion. I know sometimes when I go to my Karate class or even think about it I feel like coming up with the best excuse ever for not going.

Sometimes it’s the last thing I want to do (shhhh don’t tell my Sensei). But I do go, and when I am there, maybe I don’t give 100%, but what I give I give with passion. Whether it shows or not I feel it and that’s the secret.

2. Purpose

Goals are great and they are a must but what’s the purpose, what’s behind those goals, that’s what will keep you going when the tough gets tough? What are you going to do when you see results not showing up or they show up slower than you expected?

Because that happens. If getting results was that easy everyone would get them. Purpose!

3. Skills

We are build to learn and grow. If we don’t do something that makes us grow we will not do it for a long time. And you waste your time as well. Develop skills, learn patterns, study your body, learn complicate movement sequences and you will fall in LOVE with your training.

I have personally developed movement sequences for my clients and they challenge their minds. That is substance.

4. Champion.

This is what wraps up everything. Do the thing that makes you feel like a champion. Train like a champion. Be as dedicated as an elite athlete. Eat as healthy as an athlete. Have the mindset of a champion. Because there is an athlete in you, you are just an untrained athlete.

Missing something? Let’s figure it out together.

July 3, 2015July 3, 2015

8 Reasons Why Training Outdoors Is Less Stressful

We have too much stress and worry in our lives. If keeping our bodies healthy and strong has to be stressful as well then we are getting nowhere. It’s just…wrong.

So here’s why training outdoors is far less stressful, just a few of the reasons

1. Dirty shoes, or shoeless, doesn’t matter

When you enter the gym with dirty shoes you feel awful or other people staring at you make you feel awful. Outdoors no one cares, not even the squirrels. They can be full of mud for a month if you don’t feel like washing them up. In the gym you can’t go with dirty shoes, they would probably kick you out.

And you can’t take your shoes off either, healthy and safety regulations. And if you do, or others do, imagine the smell 😉 No stress.

2. Where will you go?

A problem I faced with my clients very often when I was a gym PT. If there is sweat on the floor how many option do you have? Yuck. How far can you go? In the outdoors if there’s dog poo here you just take two steps to the side and it’s clean. No stress.

3. No space to move

In the gym if you don’t like a corner of the gym you can only move a few feet away before you hit a wall. Outdoors you can run or walk for 10 min and you find a totally different place. Unique. No stress.

4. Too crowded

In the gym, when it’s busy you struggle to find your little corner to do your sit-ups. That or do them in the middle of the gym…if you have room. In the outdoors you have km of land, you can go anywhere you feel comfortable. No stress.

5. Too close for comfort

In the gym is someone moves around to much, like skipping rope, or pushing and smashing things against the ground they almost step on your feet or hit you.

In the outdoors there is room for anyone to do anything, wherever they want whenever they want, and you as well. No need to go around others to make sure you don’t get hit. No stress.

6. Rainy days

If it rains and you want to enter the gym you have to dry up first. In the outdoors the more it rains on you get the more incredible you feel. And no one kicks you out. No stress.

7. Things break down

In the gym is your favorite piece of equipment breaks down….or worse if someone sits there for half hour, you need to change your routine.

In the outdoors there is no equipment. And you don’t need any, to get and stay healthy and fit. All you need is your body and creativity. Lots and lots of creativity. No one will take that and it won’t break down. You just have to make sure your body, the only equipment yo need, will not break down. Ahhhh…No stress.

Photo Credit: martinak15 via Compfight cc

8. On your own terms

Don’t you hate it when you want to do an early morning training and have to wait for the doors to open?

The gym closes and opens at certain times…..that won’t happen outdoors. No stress.
In the outdoors you can do whatever you want (with respect for nature, law and oters around you) and whenever you want! Who’s up for 3am training? No stress.

In summary…

Outdoors you don’t have to be worry about being clean, how you smell, how you look, your makeup, huffin’ a f puffin’ or any other sounds you want and feel like making. Not worry about throwing stuff around, about people looking weird at you, someone interrupting your training to say “hello” or give you their invaluable advice. Or worse, trying to sell you stuff. No stress.

Outdoors you are you, you can be anyone you want, you can do whatever you want, within the rule of law and respecting others and nature.

Outdoors training doesn’t mean you do the same boring gym routines just outdoors. Outdoors you can train for strength, cardio, flexibility, mobility, endurance and you don’t even have run on the hamster wheel (aka treadmill). And it’s a lot more challenging.

Finally, training outdoors is freakin’ awesome! And if you have the right guidance, knowledge and source of creativity you will have the time of your life and awesome stories to tell your friends and family. Who will ever tell the story of how they ran on the treadmill.

Ready?

Do you feel in any way intimidated by the gym book a free call with me and we can come up with an outdoors specific training routine for you. Are you ready for this adventure? Let’s make you life awesome.

May 8, 2015

Why I Stand For 1h30m Training Sessions

Ever since I began practicing Karate, 20 years ago, I learnt that training is at least 1h30min long. Not 1h, not 45 min. And I kept it this way. Here I will explain WHY this is so important.

Today we have all sorts of sessions. And they are all good. They target different things, mostly weight loss or general fitness. And I agree with them all.

However, what they also do is turn us into little robots. Sorry…but the attitude of “get in and get out” is like programming a machine.

What is the general 1h training:

1. Rush inside the gym with the sole purpose of exercising and leave as quickly as you can. This is called “me time”

2. Warm up 10min

3. Stretching 5 min… most people don’t even remember that. That’s not even half of I do with my clients

4. Main session. This is usually a circuit of general exercises to target specific goals. The circuit, in many situations, is not actually broken into small pieces and each exercise explained thoroughly: how not to injure yourself, why that’s important, what muscles you are working and how to BREATH

5. Cool down and stretch….maybe….5min??? Noooo…..that’s not enough. And most importantly the exercises in the main session seldom improve mobility and flexibility. Read here why they are so important.

6. Rush out the door

So much rush and lack of attention and focus leads to all these injuries we see everyone suffer from. I’m not saying that not rushing will definitely lead to no injuries, ever. But the risk is far greater when we rush.

What a 1h30min session does:

1. Brings you THERE. Not just your body, that’s not enough, you are there with the mind. You are focused and prepared. That’s a true “me time”. This can be done through meditation or some deep breathing exercises (which by the way helps with warming up your body besides many other benefits).

2. Warm up, without rushing, ok…..that can be 10 min

3. Stretching 20 min!! Yes, 20 min if your training has a limited number of exercises which improve flexibility and mobility as well as working towards your final goal

4. Technique. Before the killer cardio session you go through ALL exercises which will be in the session. You break them down to its smallest elements. You adjust and make sure your body understands how to move and what to expect. This way you reduce the risk of injuries….a lot.

5. Cardio session. This is where you put into application what you practiced earlier.

6. Cool down and stretching, 20 min stretching again. If your session had elements of mobility and flexibility it can be shorter. But most routines don’t. Many of them tighten muscles and with 5 min stretching you are no actually doing too much.

And these are only the basics 😉

Benefits of such long sessions

I train myself and my clients like this all the time and here’s what happens

1. It takes you about 20 min to get out of the rushing world and work/family related thoughts. The world full of noise and clutter and into a moment of peace and focus dedicated to yourself. That’s the “me moment”. Twenty minutes.

2. Reduce the risk of injuries because you actually warm up properly, stretch and you go through technique. You understand how to move your body, how to adjust, why you are doing all those things you chose to do.

3. Your Coach is not rushed when explaining the elements of good posture, breathing and efficient body use which can make the greatest difference in reaching your goals and protecting your body. If they do explain these at all

4. You get the most out of your Coaches’ knowledge. Knowledge which you can take home and apply yourself whether in your individual training or daily life (like posture and breathing for example).

5. NO RUSH. I cannot stress this enough. We are always on the run. We NEVER ever have time. There is enough time. You can make time. You can stretch time. If you only take a moment… and breathe

6. You pay attention. Rushing around will only cause chaos, mistakes and injuries in your mind and body. Is a hardcore training worth all that? Causing your body extreme pain (the wrong kind of pain). Pay attention to yourself, your body, your movement and the world around you and you will be HAPPIER, FITTER and HEALTHIER

[tweetthis]Cultivate the art of attention and focus and your life will change[/tweetthis]

These are some benefits from the top of my head. But these 1h30min sessions are priceless for me as a Coach and my clients. They get the very best of me and my knowledge.

I have time to explain every little details, building strong foundations for 12 weeks before I let them go knowing they know what to do by themselves in the correct way.

February 22, 2015March 13, 2015

3 Ways To Stay Healthy And Fit For Life

Easy for me to say right? Having 20 years of sports behind me it’s in my blood, I don’t even need to try.

I’m sorry, I have to tell you that you are WRONG. Any habit can be undone if not practiced, practiced and practiced some more.

And it’s so easy to stop when the tough gets tough. But today I am not going to preach about this, I am going to give you food for thought, as always but today a bit more.

Staying healthy and fit for life is not difficult. We make our own lives difficult by trying to do what others do and what others say, and we never go with our instincts.

Here’s what I mean. Some people really, really love the gym, and they like to be really toned and some like to bulk up and that’s ok. That’s what they like and motivates them and that’s good.

However many of us don’t want HD muscles, we just want to stay healthy and be happier as a result.

But here’s the thing, we struggle to get to where we want, healthy, fit and happy, because of a few simple reasons, you already know and I will remind you:

1. We make health a goal.

I said it before and I’ll say it again, health is not and should not be a goal. Health is there all the time, it’s like the nose on your face. We should never make a purpose of it.

I don’t really know how to emphasize this more. It’s like oxygen, it should always be there, it should be natural and we should not think about it.

Health comes as a result of your habits. Your life is a bundle of habits. Focus on them instead.

2. We struggle too much to follow thousands of rules.

Many of the rules, which I call health fashion, come and go (i.e. fats are bad for you!). We listen and put into application everything out there, just in case they are all right and you are wrong.

And this makes us miserable because we are virtually not allowed to eat, do or have anything according to the rules. You already know what is good and less good through common sense. You already know!

May I give you an example from my life? I hope so… 😀

I travelled to a few countries, working and studying, so I’ve been on my own for a long time. But no matter where I go and what I do, how the new world I find myself in tries to change me I always, always go back to the habits I developed back home, with and by my mother.

You know why? Because my body is programmed to eat certain foods and not eat others. And I am programmed to exercise on a regular basis otherwise I start gaining weight and feel miserable.

I first noticed when I left home and went to US in 2007. I began putting weight on and I realised that my eating habits had changed because I allowed the environment to dictate what I should do.

So I went back to what I used to eat home and I came back to normal. That’s the story in a nutshell.

That’s what I believed to be good for me and I stopped listening to everyone around saying this is good and that is bad. I just went with my common sense. And it worked of course.

So this is my advice, stop listening to everyone (yes! that includes myself) and follow your intuition, the habits you grew up with (because I am sure most of them were healthy) and move as if you were a child again (that means leaving the car home more often).

The exception to this rule is if you train for a specific purpose, marathons, competitions etc. That’s a different story. But if it’s health you are looking for then common sense is a good way to go.

3. We force ourselves to do things that everyone else does even if we hate it

And here I have “going to the gym” in mind.

As I said before, some people love it and it works for them, but it will not work for everyone. It never worked for me.

In the past I’d go to the gym 3-4 months and then get bored. Even if changing routines I’d see the same place, the same scenery, roughly the same people, never changing, always monotony, never having a purpose. It made me unhappy to be there.

Try instead looking for a sport you like. There are hundreds of sports you can take on. Learning a new skills is personal development and we, humans, are made to learn and evolve, not stagnate. That’s what makes us happy.

Examples: rock climbing, cycling outdoors (actually going somewhere!), running (learning from a coach), target shooting, archery, swimming, squash, badminton, tennis, Martial Arts.

I suggest you have a coach, you learn more, you are accountable and a coach never lets you get bored.

Finally spend more time outdoors. If you can take your training outdoors it’s even better. You’d never get bored of it, because every time yougo out there everything is different, from day to day, even within the day.

You have so much to see and do, to listen, to feel, to smell (good stuff that is). And be creative, your life is more colourful when you allow your creativity to flow.

Do those things that make you feel ALIVE

This is how you stay HEALTHY AND FIT FOR LIFE. Bring creativity, diversity, intuition and happiness in your life and everything else will take care of itself.

Furthermore look to be coached by someone who will teach you how to do things by yourself, who will educate you rather than just train you. This way you will know what to do when you finish your program.If it works for me there is no reason why it would not work for you as well.

As you already know this is what I do, I train you outdoors, I help you get fit and healthy and I spark your creativity on one of my 12 weeks programs, 1-2-1 or groups, and then you take it from there because you LEARN HOW.

Book a free call with me to see how we can get you out of boredom and monotony and release your creativity to get you healthy, fit and happy.

December 19, 2014December 28, 2014

6 reasons why I choose the outdoors over the gym

No doubt gyms have their purpose in forming the complete athlete. When training specific muscle groups, for rehabilitation or for other purposes such as the type of sport you practice what the gym offers can help you take your training to high levels if that is what you are looking for.

But those of us who are seeking mental and physical health, who want a break from the overwhelming world around us, not looking to beat the marathon record, we do not seek to become the strongest, the fastest, the mightiest. We are looking to be fit, strong, maintain a healthy weight, reduce stress levels, have more energy and joy in life.

What I’ve experienced while training outdoor from a physical and mental perspective beats 19+ years of indoor training. Besides getting stronger and fitter I’ve gained so much more, higher self esteem, confidence, calmness, patience, resilience. Different people have different experiences, here I will tell you mine.

1. Getting some space

One of the things I don’t enjoy in a gym is the lack of space. I feel like I’m going from 1 box (the office or house) into another box (the gym). Most gyms don’t even have windows.

Outdoor I can have all the space I want, there are no limits to where I can go and what I can do. There are no walls to stop me.

2. Clean, fresh air

I admit the fresh air in the countryside where I used to spend my 3 months summer holiday with my grandparents was pure. In a city not so much. In a gym not at all.

However, although pollution is omnipresent we can still find patches of cleaner air, especially in winter. And what beautiful places we have in London, you only need to stick your nose out the door to see the beauty around you.

Go outside and smell the fresh air.

3. Virus free

Gyms are the heavens of viruses. I wish they weren’t. If one person has the flu virus and touches half a dozen machines or sneezes over them there are good chances many other people will catch the virus as well.

Outdoor there are small chances for that to happen. Plus viruses cannot thrive in cold weather.

4. Benefits of Earthing on mental and physical health

Research suggests that disconnecting from the Earth may be a major contributor to physiological dysfunction and general unwellness.

Several studies have shown that being in contact with the ground may promote intriguing physiological changes and subjective reports of well-being.

In patients who experience anxiety, emotional stress, panic, fear, and/or symptoms of autonomic dystonia, including headaches, cardiac palpitations, and dizziness, grounding could be a very realistic therapy. These patients may see positive effects most likely within 20 to 30 minutes and in almost all cases in 40 minutes.

Read my full articles on this topic here

5. Never boring, never the same

Every session is different. And I don’t only mean different exercises, but different everything: terrain – muddy, frozen, hilly, wet, dry, even if you are in the same place; different weather – rain, snow, wind, hot.

Every time you move your hand and foot you will never ever place them in an similar place as you would on the nicely finished, shiny, straight gym floor. There are roots, stones, logs, mud, water, ice waiting for you. Never the same. Every time you lift a rock or piece of wood it will always be different every time you pick it up.

This is training in a multilateral way and it means that your body will develop muscles which were asleep for a very long time but your body needs them. Your body will be prepared for anything, whether it’s lifting, carrying, throwing, catching or unexpected events such as falling or slipping.

6. Resilience

I left this one last on purpose, because I want you to remember it. Resilience is the ability to recover quickly form difficulties, to fall, get up and go again.

Never in my life I thought I would reach a point where I would decide on a path and follow it to completion no matter what. Two years ago, when I was introduced to natural movement by my coach Michael Cohen, I told myself “yep this is what I want to do”. And guess what, 2 years later this is what I’m doing.

But in these 2 years I went through many tough moments, and there are more to come. Every single time I picked myself up and went on, no matter how difficult it was.

When you wake up at 4:30 am often after 2-3 hours of sleep, you look outside and see poring rain, or snow, or frost on cars. You don’t really want to go in the middle of the woods to do balance exercises or tree scrambling. But you put your shorts on (yes, shorts), your compression top, warm coat and step outdoor. The fresh, crisp air fills your lungs, you smile and walk slowly down the road.

And you do this every week, never missing, never cancelling. This kind of experience literally changes your beliefs about yourself and the world around you. This creates a different version of you. I tell you from my personal experience and seeing others going through similar changes.

You will be amazed of how far you can reach after you face the forces of nature. Nature is the strongest. And if you want to be strong you need to face those who are stronger than you.

If you’d like to know more please download my free ebook