If you are training for weight loss, do your weight training prior to your cardio vascular workout. The weight training will utilise most of your glycogen stores and so that by the time you start on your aerobic training most of the calories you burn in your workout will come form your fat stores.

Happy training,

Yours in Health,

Nancy

If you enjoy reading about exercise and putting together your own individualised program our system is for you.
Our system is very effective. We’ve been using t for over thirty years with great for ourselves and our children.
Our eldest is currently competing in Costa Rica at the World Surfing Games the Olympics of surfing, so to speak and has showed good stamina and fitness to see her through the early rounds, with good scores, for a relative rooky to international competition.

Our system is easy to understand, is quick to put into practice, and is excellent value. With commitment, you can achieve great results with this system and garner great satisfaction in doing so.

Visit www.flexibilityplus.com and let us know how you get on

Cheers

Nancy

Get a big enough why: There’s enough in these two blog posts to supply that though isn’t
There, if painful premature death isn’t a big enough why than I don’t know what is. Since none of us think that’ll ever happen to us though sometimes even if we’ve had a close brush, maybe we might need to appeal to our vanity to find  the motivation, fear of abandonment, or pride, whatever it is “carrot and stick” yourself in whatever way you need to get yourself moving

Explore the reasons you are stuck in an unhealthy lifestyle: Without this step no amount of knowledge about nutrition and exercise and their importance will make a bit of difference. We often avoid this kind of self exploration because it deals with emotions, painful ones at times, but without resolving these we cannot clear a path that will lead us to a better lifestyle. For example I had to understand that my weight issues all those years ago had to do with my using food to sooth painful emotions like homesickness, desperate loneliness etc. Once I made the connection and found some strategies to deal with it. then I could move forward with my fitness and healthy eating

Commit to Change: Make a written contract with yourself if necessary, if that works for you. Hang it on your bedroom door or the fridge! Get buy in from loved ones to goad you into keeping you on track. Maybe you could return the favour.

Schedule it: Just like any other appointment make exercise and healthy eating appointments with yourself, and record what you’ve done in your diary so you can track your progress

Visualize the Benefits: Spend 10 minutes each day visualizing all the benefits that will come to you from leading an active nutritionally sound lifestyle. Why is this such an important tool used by top athletes and business people everywhere? Because, seeing is believing! Believing creates in us the desire and motivation to bring the visualisation into reality

Finally, in this economically challenging time we may feel there are more important things to do than committing to fitness, but this is a miscalculation. Exercise is a tremendous buffer against stress, once you learn to enjoy it you’ll find it will take you out of most negative mind states, because of the endorphins the happy brain chemicals that are released with exercise. Having a strong healthy body helps you become mentally stronger because it literally helps rewire your brain. See one of our earlier posts on exercise and the brain for more on this. Optimal nutrition will keep your medical bills down, because you will be healthier. It will keep your household expenses down because preparing your own wholesome food from scratch is far cheaper than going through the drive through. So there is no time like the present to invest in an exercise and nutrition plan. For information on how to do this go to our website www.flexibilityplus.com to check out our products and benefit for yourself and your family.

Yours in health,

Nancy

Hi there you’re back. That’s great because it means you’re committed to making some significant change in your life. And listen we all have an Achillies. If yours is exercise and healthy eating, you’re not alone. I’ve been there too. About 30 years ago before I made the changes  in my life that helped me regain my own fitness, I had just gotten married, moved continents from the States to New Zealand where I didn’t know a soul besides my husband, and had only just met my mother- in- law. The rest of my family were hundreds of thousands of miles away. New Zealand which I knew next to nothing about except that it was in the South Pacific conjured up for me images of a beautifully lush, tropical island. I was right about everything except the tropical bit!

Boy what a shock to the system, especially as my husband and I had just gotten married in 40 C desert heat overseas, and the place we moved to way in the south of the South Island of NZ virtually never gets a summer! To add insult to injury New Zealand has the richest, creamiest dairy products on the planet! Disoriented, misunderstood, dreadfully homesick, frozen, and surrounded by delicious food I love, long story short I put on 20lbs with in two months of arriving.

Fairly disgusted with my self after a year of struggling with my weight I discovered a gym, reconnected with my love of dance and movement to music, befriended a dynamo of an instructor who generously invited me to run with her every lunch time in a beautiful park near the college campus I was attending. At first we jogged very slowly, or I would jog while she ran laps around me, but gradually I began to be able to pick up the pace, within six months I regained my normal weight and with her encouragement applied  for a group fitness instructor’s job and despite, a spell of  yo-yo dieting, and struggle with compulsive eating I stayed on track with my exercise programme as though my life depended on it. I explored the reasons behind my eating disorder, and learned about healthy nutrition.  Eventually this path lead me to becoming a qualified Naturopath, and certified Personal Trainer and ultimately I have never looked back.

Because of the difference fitness and healthy eating have made in my own life I’m passionate about continuing to learn as much as possible about this topic and share that knowledge with others and am committed to helping as many people as possible live their healthiest lives.  Commitment to change is I think the biggest first step to avoiding procrastination with respect to fitness and healthy eating. Essentially it’s a commitment to your self worth if you think about it. I mean what greater gift could you give yourself or your family than your good health. Ultimately taking the time to care for your body by keeping it fit, strong, flexible, well nourished and well rested is one of the greatest investments you can make in your relationships, your productivity and sense of fulfilment in your work, and your ability to be of service.

Neglecting this aspect of yourself could mean a lowered quality of life for you because of chronic pain, debility, exhaustion, and sickness. You may still be able to work and function, but how well and for how long. There’s no use being the richest man/ woman in the graveyard having been sent to an early grave, because of your on self neglect.

We’ll dispense with beating ourselves up though and get on with overcoming the challenge, which for you might be” but I hate exercise, I don’t like people staring at my blubber in my shorts, or laughing at my red face as I huff and puff up the street, I get all hot and bothered, famished and so thoroughly tuckered out I don’t feel like doing anything else”. Sound familiar? Ok let’s examine this and work on and getting with the programme.

know I know you’re dying to make yourself a great big green salad right now,right? Go on I won’t stop you that’s what I’m about to do myself.

So See you tomorrow for part 3, Nanc

You know the photos of all the celebrities slipping into their bikinis and super snug jeans in record time post baby, well what if that were you? “Well hold on” I hear you protest, “I haven’t got a nanny, a personal chef or personal trainer so how could I possibly achieve that? No way.” Well as Henry Ford once said whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t you’re right. So why not think you can and draw to you the conditions, and motivation that will make you right. Every action begins with a thought and every thought begins with an emotion. Positive emotions lead to positive action which takes you closer to where you want to be, negative emotions send you right back into the kitchen for some more Hangendaz.

So how do you really do the slinky bikini thing or just get into your pre pregnancy jeans swiftly, without  a nanny, a personal trainer and spa food chef on your doorstep and without doing something detrimental to your health well, first decide to, it’s as simple as that. Next educate your self. Next plan the where and when and how of it. Who will look after the baby while you take sometime for yourself and get fit.  How will you fit fitness it into your schedule, where will you train. You need to pick a place that will work for you consistently. It could be your living room while the baby naps. If she sleeps for an hour at a time, great, if she catnaps for 15 minutes at a time, then you’ll need to get creative and break your workout into several shorter segments to work around her schedule. Or your friendly neighbourhood gym might have a crèche she could be happily entertained in while you workout.

“But I’m too unfit for the basics, and what about an eating plan I hear you say”? Well if you take a look at our products and follow the advice you won’t need to worry about a trainer, or a chef, the information is right there with exercises from beginners to advanced and nutritional information and delicious recipes to get you on the right track and fitting into your pre pregnancy clothes by at least baby’s first birthday.

So take the challenge and achieve your goals! As a mother of three I can tell you from my own experience its definitely not only achievable, but well worth it in terms of energy and well being, productivity, confidence, and positive self image. So go for it. What have you got to lose, except those extra saddle bags ?

Cheers,

Nancy

I was talking to a friend the other day and she was telling me about a woman she knew who was taking part in a triathlon after getting on a bike for the first time in her life just a few months before. She had never been fit, and had never taken part in anything like this in her life. Not being particularly competitive by nature nor having any belief that her body could do what she was now putting it through to prepare for this event she surprised herself, her family and friends. Even her harshest critics were murmuring their admiration.

She was so inspired after hearing about another woman who had overcome all sorts of obstacles to complete this challenge. She put down the remote control and got cracking on figuring out a way to what to her was seemingly impossible. She focussed whole heartedly on the desired our come a slim, svelte body that she could do all sorts of things with most especially have the energy to enjoy her young boys in.

She got her self a trainer who helped her work out a training schedule, she discovered about healthy eating, threw out everything from her kitchen that sabotaged her efforts. Her trainer helped her put together and training eating plan and she had her partner and kids cheering her on. When she first started it seemed like her muscles wouldn’t stop screaming at her but with the help of her trainer urging her on, in time they gave up their protest and she began to feel and energy and aliveness and a sense of satisfaction in her accomplishing about what she was asking of her body to do each day. She began to fee comfortableness in her own skin that she had scarcely experienced since childhood and she actually began looking forward to her daily workout.

On the day of the race she was so excited she could barely wait for the start gun to sound. Her elation when she crossed the finish line was a high water mark in her year, the spin offs have been immense she never misses a workout if she can help it even after reaching her target weight, the sheer pleasure of keeping her body, fit, strong and flexible keeps her motivated and she is so grateful.

Feeling like this is a choice. Its’ taking one step and then another step and then another step until you accomplish your goal and have the satisfaction that goes with it. We invite you to take a look at the products we’ve created from our experience, passion, knowledge about the benefits you can derive from fitness. To learn more go to www.flexibilityplus.com.

Yours in health,

Nancy

Whenever you are training especially when you are targeting your core musculature, ie your abdominal muscles remember to draw your naval into your spine, and zip up your middle so to speak. This protects your lower back as well as your abdominals from separating in the middle, which is very common especially for women who’ve just had a baby, and body builders. This diastis or abdominal separation causes a weakening of the abdominal wall “zipping up your middle” regularly can help to prevent that and often to correct the problem over time.

Cheers, bye, talk soon

Nancy

Thought you were of the hook huh?

Just because you’re on the road’s no excuse to slack off. Trust me your body will thank you if you find a way to stay with a routine even when you have no access to a gym etc. The effort you make to stick with it will mean being able to slide effortlessly back into full gear when you return and avoid the typical readjusting that your body makes when you start all over again after a break, which usually equals lot of muscle aches and pains. This in itself can be so off putting that it can derail your entire effort to maintain a fitness programme.

So here are some tips when you are on the road:

1.    Case the joint and find the parks, walkways, or bush trails near your accommodation, conferences venue etc.
2.    Set your alarm 30 to 45 minute earlier than usual and hit the pavement, sandy beach or pebble stone path before breakfast. Your clarity, efficiency, and productivity will improve out of sight.
3.    Take your business partner, colleague, or client with you and do some business while you walk during a lunch time break. You won’t over eat at lunch and you might even be able to fit in an extra engagement with the time you save.
4.    Invest in one or more exercise rubber bands. They come in different resistances and give you a great resistance workout when you don’t have access to weights. You can do this while watching the 6 o’clock news before heading off to your evening sales presentation or conference dinner.
5.    If you’re feeling like connecting with your inner child, slip into some comfortable trackies and head for the local playground. Find some out door stairs, low balance beams, a climbing frame, and a set of monkey bars go for it and have blast. After 20 minutes of playing you’ll have wonderful healthy glow and feel like a kid again!

I feel so inspired I’m heading up and down the stairs for some of my own advice

See ya later,

Nancy

•    Next keep fit and supple. Keeping your spine and limbs flexible will go along way to keeping your skeleton strong. Don’t underestimate the power of resistance. When you take weight bearing exercise such as walking and even more if you train with weights you strengthen and grow your muscles and in turn the stress you put on these helps fix calcium in the matrix of the bones. Yup it definitely contributes more than just a good look.
•    See a chiropractor or osteopath once a year
•    Watch the amount of protein you take in. Protein is highly acidic and your system responds by leaching calcium out of your bones to neutralise the acid, so overdoing the beef burgers is definitely bad news for your skeleton
•    Mineralise your system with plenty of nuts, seeds and root vegetables
•    If you have arthritis definitely check your self out for food allergies and take 1000mg EPA/DHA fish liver oil  or 300g GLA from flax seed oil
•    If you are female and postmenopausal and have osteoporosis, consider natural progesterone  as a cream, not as HRT). Natural progesterone is bioidentical to what your own body produces and is manufactured from plant sterols

In sum chow down on the soybeans and lube up those joints with some first class oils, expose some skin, and strut your stuff in the sunshine!

Happy groovin y’all

Nancy

Nancy and I have just spent the last 3 days at a National Baha’i Convention which meant we had little time to do any intense exercise as the meetings started early and finished quite late each day.

But we walked each morning for just over half an hour which was a refreshing way to start our day.

Now back home I am looking forward to 5 days of surfing with some mates next week, so starting tomorrow I will be getting in as much surfing and exercise as I can in preparation for the upcoming surf trip.

If I didn’t build up my paddling fitness for this surf trip, (which could mean around 4 to 6 hours surfing each day), I would not be able to fully enjoy myself due to a lack of surfing fitness.

Now I know I can get to the level of fitness I want to within the next 6 days because of my baseline paddling fitness.

If I didn’t have a sufficient level of paddling fitness there is no way I could achieve my fitness goal within such a short time frame.

However, if I wanted to run a marathon, I wouldn’t be able to achieve the necessary running fitness within 6 days, because that is not what I train for.

So, when you set fitness goals think about your current baseline fitness and set your goals accordingly. Don’t create goals that you cannot possibly achieve because chasing unrealistic dreams will only result in frustration and you will not be enthused by such failure.

Keep it real!

Until next time

Jonathan

www.flexibilityplus.com