Our life story for each of us is filled with relationships and events that shape who we are and what we believe to be true about the world around us. Depending on our character we can use these experiences as chances to grow and get stronger or we can become more negative and play the victim . When we play the victim we find many people and things to blame such as our ex, our boss, and our parents. At this point guilt ,anger and depression can take its toll on our mental and  physical health .

The individual who has a negative story will treat their body as a reflexion on how they see themselves. These people will go to the gym to torture themselves rather than nurture. They will live by the ‘no pain, no gain’ slogan and food will be their enemy rather than the true friend of any health regime. The conclusion to this story is  where the individual sees at best no change and at the worst, illness and injury.

The person who has a positive story will take the events and experiences in their life as a way to fuel empowerment and self-development. This  type of individual will live by the phrase that there is no progression without resistance! They will forgive themselves for making mistakes and incorrect choices, be those personal or professional, and label them simply experiences. Each day for this type of human-being is a new day and the start of another game.

The positive story person will approach their fitness in a way which clearly states ” I believe my emotional and physical health are my most important assets”! They will train with the correct intent making quality workouts their goal . They will make correct nutrition and rest, as the corner stone for any health regime ,and although it may sound like a song you all know , they will love themselves!   We all can change our story at any time. There are many ways one can go about this from therapy  to a good self help book , or just doing a proper workout for the first time. We first need to take responsibility for our own story and then find the positive meaning from events and forgive ourselves for wrong choices. We then can move on to a brighter future by starting now to think, exercise ,and eat correctly. It is at this point when we begin to write a real classic!

In NLP (neuro linguistic programming) the cornerstones for better communication are the 4 Rs. 1.Recognition, is a person’s verbal and non verbal communication . 2 Respect, is the person in your presence respected? 3.Reassurance, to make a person feel safe with you. 4. Responsibility, varying the way you communicate until you get through to an individual. Nlp is a great way to  be          nice to people while getting your point of view across. In all types of teaching ( especially coaching) nlp helps ease the learning process with positive progressive benefits for both student and teacher.

Another way of thinking about being nice is a term called “emotional bank accounts”. This phrase means you have an emotional account with each and everyone you are in contact with regularly. By being nice with a person constantly and practicing the 4RS you build up a positive account with that person. An individual who has such an account which is filled up ( in credit), may make a withdrawal when an issue arrises that may require some goodwill, such as when you’re never late but due to a crisis or bad traffic it happens. Having most of your relationships , whether business or personal, in credit in the emotional bank account, will pay massive dividends in life!

Never mistake kindness for weakness, for it is just the opposite. Nice people tend to be strong individuals whom without great mental and physical strength would not have the ability to be kind to others. Nasty and miserable types usually are weak and act that way out  of anger and fear. I have always noticed in life that those with the most responsibility have been the ones who always have the time for others who need support and help.

The start of being nice begins with how we are with ourselves. One can see this in an individuals habits when it comes to working out.The person who isn’t nice to themselves has a negative thought pattern which supports actions where exercise is about simply beating yourself up. A cycle of poor self esteem ends up with an individual torturing themselves in the gym and sometimes with the help of taking a trainer such as one sees on sensational celebrity tv where ridicule and embarrassment are the name of the game. Nice training means smart training which is about establishing realistic lifestyle habits. These disciplines take into consideration correct exercise, proper nutrition, and where non training days are just as important (recovery) as working out. The trainee learns that by constantly addressing emotional  health and making ones beliefs match ones words positive actions will follow.

My first fitness work took place at the Tel Aviv Hilton in Israel in 1980. It was a great job although poorly paid. I was working there one day training a whole squadron of Israeli airforce officers when a man came in asking for help to develop his shoulder muscles. At first I wanted to tell him ” can’t you see I’m busy!”.  But then I thought let’s be nice and help the man, and boy, I’m certainly glad I did!  This Man became my first client when I arrived in London with my pregnant girlfriend and all my contacts began there.

So try making being nice your motto. Nice at work, in your personal life, and to yourself. It is the best and most effective way to be progressive and positive. It helps make life richer and more meaningful. It is our best chance of reaching our fitness goals and keeping us healthy. The very best news is that being nice requires a lot less energy.

It’s a very straightforward, common sense statement. We apply it to our business, to our personal life, however not enough to our fitness. In other words, if our business hasn’t been going well and profits aren’t coming, we respond very quickly and change our actions in our office, in order to support more profitability.

In our personal lives once we have gone through some sort of breakup, as in the case of divorce, we seek out a future partner who has the characteristics and attributes that were lacking in our former relationship.  Why then is it that very clever people go in and out of gymnasiums for weeks, months, and years doing the same things and not only not getting the results they want but actually getting worse for all their efforts.  It is complete insanity to treat our most important asset, our health, in such a haphazard way. The following is the no nonsense approach to nurturing our mind and body and getting the lasting results we want from our fitness programme.

To start with, our intent must be correct.  This simply means that what we are thinking and what we are saying must be the same. How often I hear clients talk to their trainers in phrases such as “I’m really going to get in the best shape of my life now”, however what they are thinking is that they may try to get in shape but they don’t truly believe it. If you don’t believe you will get healthy, lose excess body fat and become stronger and more toned, it won’t happen. Your beliefs reflect your actions and when the belief (intent) is “I will get fit” then the actions will follow.

So, what are the actions? First of all, you need to make sure that you understand that resistance work ie weights, pilates has to be done with correct technique and body alignment.  The movements must be done with focus and quality rather than quantity. Nothing is more irritating than seeing and hearing individuals slamming heavy weights onto the floor with poor form and done with many reps and sets.  It is almost as if they’re saying ‘look at me, I can lift this heavy weight’ and 9 times out of 10 there is no improvement in their personal fitness whatsoever.  A close high school friend of mine was the USA power lifting champion 20 years ago.  Keith could bench press 850lbs and squat close to 1000lbs.  These days my good buddy can’t lift his arms above his head due to the wear and tear which this caused his body.  Strength training is designed to give you resistance to injury and not to be the source of injury.  Joseph Pilates was absolutely ripped. he used small amounts of weight with perfect body alignment and technique, and all of those who you see that look similar to Joseph in these times apply the same philosophy.

You are what you eat and nutrition and eating plans and not diets are what we need to do.  They are 75% of our fitness results and by eating a palm sized portion of protein and complex carbohydrates little and often (every 3 hours) and drinking 2 litres of water daily, is what is required to get the results we want and to feel the best we can.  Supplements are important such as the omega oils and the multi vitamins, however they are not a substitute for solid food and water.  Our body only cares about survival and if we don’t eat, we burn less calories because it thinks that we are starving, so when we do eat little and often it raises our metabolic rate and makes that toned body come closer to reality.

Recovery must be an important focus to fitness progression. More is not better. We get stronger when we rest and that is a mental as well as a physical state.

The great religions of the world actually all designated a day of rest once a week, to recover, to reflect, and to absorb all of our endeavours from the previous week. It is important to do this and whether it is a specific day or a day that changes from week to week, by putting down the mobile phone and putting one’s feet up, mentally and physically, quick fitness progression can take place.

In today’s world we have the feeling that much of which happens to us is out of our control.  The news that we see sometimes makes us feel that we as individuals are completely helpless.  This is not the case, we have the one control, which is, how we respond.  We respond in a much better manner when we take control of how we think, exercise, eat, and rest. Taking personal responsibility for these can truly enhance our most important assets which are our mind and body.  In conclusion try to keep intent, action (resistance training), nutrition, and recovery as a focus and your positive fitness results will follow.

My own journey began with myself at the age of 7 being 10 stone (140 lbs) and gazing at my Marvel Comic book heroes and wishing that I too could look like Spiderman or Captain America. The reason for me wanting to be like these fictional   heroes was firstly, pure vanity (its not a nice world being fat) and secondly, I wanted to beat up the kid next door, who being 5 years older than me, was constantly bullying me. After coming home from school one day, and being totally humiliated by my gym teacher (age 10) when asked to climb the ropes (no chance), I glanced whilst crying at my Spiderman magazine and saw an article on how to look like the body builders of that era. I remember quite vividly asking my mom for 50 cents to send away to Joe Weider for his progressive strength training programme. The tears were hitting the paper as I was telling Joe I was a complete loser and that I needed to sort out my life since I was a fat slob going nowhere fast. Lo and behold within seven days I had a gallery of motivational photographs of body builders, however the catch was I needed another $40 to buy the weights! Happily for me, my Dad bought me a set of the weights and the next chapter in my life started…..

In many ways 2010 in no different to 1966.  In today’s world we are bombarded with constant reminders of the perfect toned body.  Everywhere you look, be it magazines, posters or TV, the standards of how we should look are set.  What is important to realise is that many of the images we see have been digitally altered (on the fashion/star front), many of the info commercials about weight loss and toning are totally fake and the real athletes we see are at the peak of their fitness ie they do not look like that way more than 3 days a month. I learned myself that while searching for a test group to try out my DVD routine a few years back, that the results were fixed and actually the before photos were really the after photos ie they took fit people and paid them to then get out of shape (remember Bridget Jones?).

So how do we get there? First and foremost it’s about training smart.  Resistance training done briefly (45 mins to 1 hour), 2 - 3 times a week on alternative days with a couple of cardio only workouts, preferably first thing in the morning on an empty stomach is our exercise prescription. Secondly, we are what we eat, so eating every 3 hours, a palm sized portion of protein and 1 of complex carbohydrates, six days a week will fuel our muscles and help burn off the excess fat by raising our metabolic rate.  Emotional fitness, especially for women, is of ultimate importance.  Individuals that are under a high amount of anxiety will overload the adrenal system, making muscles shrink, lower your immune system and make it much harder to lose fat.  So, understand that you will never see a six pack unless you eat correctly.  Not eating or skipping meals will not work, it will produce the same effect as stress ie losing muscle (which controls how many calories you burn) and retaining fat.  Sounds weird I know, but eating more, as in ‘little and often’ will really get you the results you want and, you will feel better.  Stop using the scales!  As you gain muscle you may well get heavier as muscle weighs more than fat so you could be getting leaner and more toned but be heavier on the scales!  Both guys and gals, do yourself a favour, get a pair of jeans you need to be comfortable in and let them be your guide!

Your best stomach exercises are actually ones that use your abdominals as a major support ie press ups, chin ups and squats.  Whilst holding your tummy button in throughout your whole workout, your abdominals are put through their paces. Also as we get older, keep in mind that our healthy age is actually determined by our physiology.  Which means that the more conditioned muscle we have and  therefore the less fat we carry, the healthier we are going to be and the better we are going to look. As I say to many of my clients, a healthy lifestyle reduces our chassey whilst increasing our motor!

Over the next few months, we’ll be focusing on many different lifestyles and offering advice on how a healthier lifestyle can fit in, no matter how busy you are!

Visit Ocado.com today and learn some of our secrets!

Here at FI we have over thirty years experience in the well being industry that we will share with you. We believe that simplicity , common sense ,and a positive mind set are what is required to achieve and keep true fitness. We want all of you to become the best you can and to be able to handle all of lives various pressures. You must however realise that no one person or institution will do that for you, it is totally your job!  We will be there with you all through 2010 to help you take control of your own quest for true health and thus to make it the best year yet!

The Fitness Inspiration Team

Being brought up in a Jewish home feeling guilty was a part of ones culture. This guilt may have started at 8 days by getting circumcised and thinking ‘ what have I done to deserve this’, just kidding, but it carries on through ones adult life. Whether we are Jewish or Gentile the fact is guilt is a disease of nice people. Horrible, evil and dishonest individuals never feel guilty. People such as Charlie Manson and Adolf Hitler had a clear conscience while committing terrible crimes. Guilt can play havoc with our health and well being by leading us to poor eating habits and obesity. For many guilt leads to drugs and depression. We must find the cause of our guilt and use professional help if necessary, for it will not only stop us moving forward but can completely paralyse us. We need to mentally put our guilt each day in a box, seal it and think that we are dropping it into the sea. By ridding ourselves of guilt we can accept ourselves and start living.
Acceptance is something that is part of a good golfers game. When one makes a bad shot minimal time should be used to understand how the ball got into the bunker. If one cant come to terms with our previous shot and cant let go, our focus will be blurred and another poor shot is likely to happen. Life and golf need to be played the same way. The only way to move forward on the course and in life is to accept where we are. The ability to learn acceptance can make us grow both physically and spiritually. The expression ‘there is no progression without resistance’ is absolutely true. In the gym we use weight training (resistance) to create an overload on our muscles to make us stronger.

Lance Armstrong over came cancer to become one of the greatest athletes who ever lived. Even the bible describes how the children of Israel were made to wander for forty years in the desert in order to strengthen their faith before entering the Promised Land. In all these previous situations acceptance of the now lets us move to a better future.During my divorce 16 years ago I was filled with anger and thought the world was on my shoulders. I could not accept my situation and although I hid my feelings well I was becoming ill internally. I thought I was fit since I could do a marathon, hundreds of press-ups, and I had a six-pack, but I was far from healthy. My problem was simple; I could not accept my lot in life and how I got to this terrible moment. Through the help of friends, family, and professionals I soon discovered that if one cant change ones situation one needs to change ones attitude to it. It was only through accepting my present state and giving up the anger and guilt did things start to improve. Not only did things get better but also I actually get stronger and wiser from it. There is no question that my problems made me a better man.

As we enter this holiday season all of us will reflect on the year past. It has for all I’m sure been a year of good and bad, however the most important thing is to realise time moves forward. If we want to change things for the better we must get rid of our anger, guilt, and fear. We need to accept where we are and if we need to address ourselves physically or spiritually help is at hand. I wish to all of you a happy and healthy holiday season.

Josh