Happy International women's day!

Today is International women's day where we celebrate women's achievements, raise awareness of bias and take action for equality.

To celebrate this day I have put together a top 10 of the most inspirational quotes I could find from top sports women, to help motivate women (and men) to be the best version of themselves and achieve their goals in life, whatever that maybe.

"Champions keep playing until they get it right." - Billie Jean King-Tennis champion.

"You have to believe in yourself when no one else does-that makes you a winner right there-Venus Williams-Tennis champion.

"Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith, belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination and dedication.  Remember all things are possible for those who believe."-Gail Devers-2x Olympic track & field champion.

"Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit, the potential for greatness lives within each of us."-Wilma Rudolph-Olympic track & field champion.

"Don't let anyone tell you you're weak because you're a woman."- Mary Kom-Olympic bronze medallist in boxing.

"Never set limits, go after your dreams, don't be afraid to push the boundaries."-Paula Radcliffe-Marathon Champion.

"I was always out to prove myself, that became a habit-just to prove to the world that my medical condition has not let my life slip away from me."-Deepa Malik-First Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympic Games.

"A champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall."-Serena Williams-Tennis champion.

"I go to bed every night thinking about all the ways that I can succeed."-Ronda Rousey-MMA fighter and WWE wrestler.

"Age is no barrier, it's a limitation you put on your mind-Jackie Joyner Kersee-Olympic track & field champion.

"You have to believe in yourself when no one else does-that makes you a winner right there."-Venus Williams-Tennis champion.

"Never set limits, go after your dreams, don't be afraid to push the boundaries."-Paula Radcliffe-Marathon champion.

Happy International women's day everyone.

#BalanceforBetter

It's not your fault if you're fat-blame your genes!

Why do some people struggle with their weight, while others seem to be able to eat anything and stay thin?  Researchers at Cambridge University have recently tried to answer this question.  In the largest study of its kind they discovered that indeed thin people can be at an advantage at a genetic level compared to their overweight and obese counterparts.  

More than sixty per cent of adults in the UK are either overweight or obese and this is causing an ever increasing strain on our health and leading to record amounts of people with type 2 diabetes and other medical conditions such as heart disease and stroke.  This in turn is costing the NHS billions of pounds a year to treat these people and medicate their conditions.

Although we indeed can be a product of our own environment and in the last 25 years or so, the availability and the disgusting amount of different food choices which are high in sugar and fat has grown enormously out of all proportion it seems that some people can still maintain a healthy weight while others struggle.

There have been hundreds of genes found that can increase the chances of a person being overweight and in some cases faulty genes can cause severe obesity from a young age.

The researchers compared DNA from 14,000 people of which 1,622 were thin, 1,985 were severely obese and 10,433 were a healthy weight.  They also asked participants to answer questions regarding their general health and lifestyle. 

The study found several common genetic variants already identified as playing a role in obesity as well as discovering new genetic regions involved in severe obesity and some involved in healthy thinness.  Importantly those who were thin carried fewer genes that were found to increase a person's chances of becoming over weight.

Although this is really interesting stuff and maybe in the future scientists could use this information to come up with a plan to help combat obesity by targeting these so called 'fat genes' in some way, I am worried that this could be used as an excuse by some to take the responsibility of weight management away from them.  

I believe that we are all prone to weight gain living in this modern environment of fast foods and high fat and sugary meals and treats but unfortunately some do find it harder to control their weight than others.  However I believe we all have a role to play and can take responsibility for our weight management regardless of our genes. 

What do you think? 

Stay The Course and Reap The Benefits

Happy New Year to you all .  Christmas is now a distant memory and now the break is over a lot of people are already struggling to keep up with their new year resolutions.

If you are one of these people, don't worry as here are my top 5 tips to help you stay the course and reap all those important health benefits:-

1.) You only fail if you give up- You missed a gym session because you had to work late or you had that slice of cake that you feel you shouldn't have eaten.  So what!  Don't worry it's not the end of the world, dust yourself down, refocus and get back to it.

2.) Don't be too hard on yourself- Success or failure are just a gradual build up of many choices that we have made over a period of time.  It's up to you what choices you make.  As long as most of your choices are steering you towards your goals rather then away, then don't be too hard on yourself if you miss the odd gym session or have a slice of that cake from time to time.  Remember moderation is the key.




3.) Choose something you like doing- This may seem obvious but every January loads of people join the local gym and pay their joining fee, sort out their Direct Debit payments, attend a few times and then stop going because they hated it.  It's almost impossible to keep doing an exercise routine, sport or activity that you hate over a sustained period of time.  In order to stick to an exercise or activity long term you need to enjoy it. Choose carefully and then you have a greater chance of success.

4.) Get a training buddy- It's so much harder skipping a gym session, having that chocolate bar or cigarette if you know that someone is in it with you and you don't want to let them down.

5.) Tell others of your goals- Hold yourself to account.  Tell your friends and family of your intended goals, mention it on social media.  In this way it's far harder to give up if people know.

I hope you have found these tips helpful to ensure you stick to your goals this year and increase  your fitness and health.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

I hope you had a good Christmas and looking forward to having a healthy and prosperous new year.

At this time of the year it's good to look back and reflect on what you have achieved in he past 12 months.  This is an important exercise to do as this helps with maintaining motivation, looking at the goals that have been achieved in your lives during the year and can mentally pat yourself on the back.  Also you can see if there were any goals you didn't achieve or could improve on.

With this information you can use these as a basis for your new goals or choose completely new ones  you can set yourself for the new year.

It's important to set yourself goals in order to help stay focused and achieve what you want.  If you don't then you will just flounder around and dreaming.

The main difference between someone who achieves their goals and turns their dreams into reality and those who just dream and wish is goal setting.

Be careful not to set yourself too many goals as this won't help you stay focused and you run the risk of failing to achieve anything by the end of the year and will lead to demotivation.  Choose no more then 3 goals and stay focused.

Check regularly how you are doing and making sure you are moving forward and not stagnating.

Make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T (see below) in order to help fully to focus you and achieve your goals.

So enjoy the rest of your holidays and here's to a fantastic 2019.

The Best Things in Life Are Not Always Instant

It seems that we are all living in an increasingly fast paced world where our patience is getting thinner each year.

I'm sure you've noticed it too, out while driving and getting beeped at the lights for not going the second the lights turn to green, or a fellow customer behind you in the shopping queue tuts when they feel you are spending too long at the checkout.

Modern technology has developed an environment now that we expect everything to be instant.  We have e-mails rather than mail, fast food delivery to our door rather than going out to a restaurant and  'Google' rather than having to wait until the library opens and look it up in a encyclopedia.

This expectation of instantness I've found has spilled over into the world of fitness and sport.  Everyone it seems wants to lose weight instantly, forgetting it's taken years to put on the weight and therefore will take more than a few days to lose, or become a world class footballer after only one session.

I see quite a few people coming to my classes and they try to do the advanced movement, even though I've offered them the easier version as well. But they don't want to do the easier version, oh no they want to do the hardest version, even though they either have never done a fitness class before or it was years ago.

Then I don't see them again as they thought it was too hard.  They didn't appreciate that some of my clients have been doing exercise for years and have 'earned' the right to do the more advanced movements as they started at a lower rate and slowly progressed to where they are now.

But some people are so impatient that they want to by pass all the hard work and the sense of achievement after so many failures and be a better and stronger version of themselves before they have even started.  Such a shame as if they realised that somethings in life such as getting fitter, takes time but it's so much worth it in the end as your quality of life increases and you become a stronger and better version of your present self, both mentally and physically. But because they give up so quickly they are greatly missing out.

I always remember my old karate instructor telling us that nothing of worth can be learnt in an instant
and anything of any true value takes time to develop but it will be worth it in the end.

Somewhere along the line I think our society has forgotten this.

Exercise may help increase Lifespan with those with Cancer

According to a review of 71 studies researchers wrote in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that those patients who got active after being diagnosed with cancer had a higher chance of living longer than those who didn't.

Researchers conducted a meta-analysis to see the link between exercise and cancer deaths and found that patients who followed the government guidelines of performing a minimum of  2.5 hours of moderate exercise a week had a 27% lower chance of death by cancer then those who didn't.


They also studied the general population and found that performing the recommended exercise guidelines reduced the chances of dying from cancer by 13%.

The authors of the study concluded, "Our study supports that current physical activity recommendations reduce cancer death in both the general population and cancer survivors.  We infer that physical activity after cancer diagnosis may result in significant protection among cancer survivors."

Total Weight v Size

I was speaking to a client at one of my classes this week and she told me she was rather upset.  I asked her what was wrong and she told me that she'd just come from her weekly weigh in at her local slimming club and she had gained weight! 

She explained that she's been really good, eating healthily and going to the gym and classes regularly.  I asked her if her clothes were fitting better and she said that they were.  I explained to her that this meant that she was changing her body composition for the better and some of her body fat had been converted into muscle.



Because muscle is denser and therefore takes up less room compared to fat you can get two people who weigh exactly the same but one can look bigger due to more body fat and less muscle compared to the other who is carrying less fat and more muscle.

Of course because she was exercising more she gained more muscle and lost fat and therefore gained weight but was smaller.

Despite this explanation she was still upset as in a lot of these slimming clubs and in society in general I think we put too much emphasise on total body weight and not enough on body composition.

I've invited her to a 'Wellness Assessment' where I can let her know what her body composition is made up of, such as her body fat % and total muscle mass.

If there's a shift in moving from looking at total weight and moving over to body composition than I think there will be a lot more happier and healthier people out there.