John Lark

It is that time of year again. The run into the Summer. A few weeks to make sure that you hit the Summer like a sack of spuds. Think of the blissful feeling of bumming in the tracksuits and only being able to wear a few items of clothing ‘cos that’s all that fits’.

Let me list perhaps the 7 most effective and easiest ways of gaining fat like it was suddenly an Olympic sport.

1. Eat a Diet Rich in Sugars, Hydrogenated Vegetable Fats and ‘Acid’ Foods

A classic dietary approach to take for those of us wishing to gain a steady 0.5 – 2 lbs of weight a week.

Ensure that you take a restricted approach to your diet by consuming foods rich in hydrogenated vegetable oils and fats and sugar.

One trick of convincing yourself that you avoided this pitfall is to consume low-fat cereal bars.

“It’s OK – these are low in fat!”

Taking in these between meals are a sure fire way to keep you on the road to gaining fat in a sensible and progressive way by allowing us to shut down the activity of our fat burning enzymes and increasing the activity of fat storage enzymes.

Perfect – I wouldn’t have it any other way.

2. Sit on Your Backside

This is a great approach to take to again ensure steady fat gain. All the excuses under the sun will be strong enough to overcome the urge to exercise and get out of breath through lifting weights, circuit training and a brisk walk, jog, run, swim or bike.

Oscar Wilde once wrote that whenever he felt like exercise he sat down until the feeling passed.Sound advice.

3. Avoid Fruits and Vegetables like the plague

Avoiding these little bundles of goodness will help me no end in my quest to put on fat over the holidays.

They will allow you extra time in bed as you catch every cold going. They will even make you eat more of the sugary stuff as you will never, unbelievably, feel full after eating.
RESULT!

4. Taking No Responsibility for Your Actions

This is a great little accelerator in the fat gaining stakes.

It can’t be your fault that you cram the cookies into your mouth or sit on your backside all day watching the clock ticking.

It is your dog’s fault that he kept you up all night barking stopping you from going out for your morning walk.

It is your children’s fault that they can’t do their homework and have a play that you have to attend that stops you from attending your class.

It is your husband’s fault that he argued with you and you responded by eating a tub of Ben and Jerry’s.

Equally it is not your fault when you see the scales rise after doing nothing all weak. But that’s OK at the end of the day it is not your problem.

5. Choose to Drink 3 litres of Alcohol a Day rather than water

A bottle of wine is a far better choice than a glass.10 pints seems to have far more rational logic to it that 3-4 bottles.

5 chasers seem to have a much better effect than just leaving at the lovely dinner that you ate.
But that’s OK – see point 4.

6. Stress, Stress and More Stress

This will help you lose weight but still gain fat as frequent boozing, late nights, no exercise lowers your testosterone to levels akin to the alcoholic on the corner of Grafton Street. Keep working the hours you work, neglect taking proper time off and stress the body until it cries at you to stop.

Equally stress will be available in volume alongside the more obvious times you can feel it.

7. Letting it all go!

Let it all go!

Ignore your body and the potential it has to provide you with boundless energy, strength and vitality.
Develop the will to just say no to exercise, sound food choices and a comfortable stress free lifestyle.

That is, after all the easiest way isn’t it?

John Lark is a fat loss specialist based at The Sphere Fitness Studio. You can visit his web site www.john-lark.com and pick up your Free Copy of the 7 Most Effective Ways to Burn Fat

Probably THE most overlooked aspect of any fitness programme.

Yes – hard work is needed. But if it is not coupled with this you may be in trouble

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Where do you start with your nutrition programme?

It all depends on what ‘level’ you are at to begin with.

What level are you at?

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What constitutes a successful approach to reaching your health and fitness goals?

In essence treating each and every person as an individual is crucial if you want to reach your health and fitness goals.

What motivates one will demotivate the other. Think of the gender and age differences, level of athletic ability, starting points for the programme. These all have to be taken into consideration.

However, there are several key principles that must be adhered to if you want success with any health and fitness programme.

1.    Tailor Your Goals and Establish a Time Frame – at Sphere Fitness this is established from the beginning and displayed in 12 week time frames. Each 12 week block is split into defined training phases. This allows us to keep momentum with your progress by allowing consistent and never-ending improvement.

2.    A successful approach will have regular and on-going assessments throughout. This allows the trainer and the client to review progress, aid with compliance and identify quickly any issues that may be arising from nutrition, lifestyle and training. Ideally weekly and at a minimum, monthly.

3.    A successful approach will have a tailored exercise programme geared to the client’s goals. This is reviewed and changed every 3-4 weeks.

4.    A successful approach will have the client work through the programme with 90% compliance i.e. not skipping sessions, training with purpose rather than ‘going through the motions’.

5.    A successful approach will recognised that as a trainee you are learning how to train rather than become baby-sat throughout the session. This will then stay with you for the long haul.

6.    A successful approach will provide a habit based approach to nutrition centred around 10 habits. These are worked on 1 at a time by the client in a progressive manner. 90% adherence to the plan is required for it to succeed in the long run. There are tools to measure this rate of progress. You will be asked to keep a food diary and a compliance chart score.

7.    A successful approach will use supplements that are geared to the client’s goals and assessment. Why? Because they work. At a bare minimum everyone should be using a good digestive enzyme, a good multi-vitamin, fish oil and some form of post-workout nutrition

8.    A successful approach will recognise the need for balance in one’s life and address this with tools that give calm and inner balance. Stress management is crucial to the success of all health and fitness programmes.  Sphere have a range of tools that we offer the client in this area.

Hopefully this gives the client an idea of what is expected in bringing success to the programme. This is project you! With that draws individual components that rely strongly on one another. If your training is excellent but your nutrition and supplement compliance is poor you will struggle. Likewise if you are a stressed bunny 24-7, results will be hard to achieve.

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Taking responsibility for your health and fitness is often the first and most crucial step on the path to your goals.

It is your fault that you dug into a box of biscuits and equally shovelled down 12 pints of beer at the weekend.  Equally so it is your choice that you watch mind-numbing (and at times rather depressing TV) rather than head out for a brisk walk.

Obesity is rife and climbing. Every day millions are lost through absenteeism and sickness in industry through people not looking after their greatest asset – themselves.

I often laugh as one of my personal training clients drives up in the latest offerings from the local sports car dealership, only to grumble at the prospect of having to buy organic meat.  This is the same person who raises an eyebrow ‘at the cost of food’ nowadays.

“That’s ok then” as I point to the car.

“Perhaps you can drive that car with you into the grave, then?”

Your body is designed for optimum performance – nothing less. How we have come to be devoid of a clean diet and lack of movement is beyond me. We function at well below par.

Our society is riddled with illness, disease, ailments that take an eternity to shift and  metabolic disorders such as high blood pressure and diabetes are all to prevalent.

My Dad won’t mind me saying this but he is a diabetic, type 2. This means he can manage the potentially fatal relationship between glucose (sugars) and the hormone insulin. I often raised an eyebrow at how he settled his sugar fix with a Mars Bar.

“The nurse told me to take onboard some sugars, if I ever felt like this”

“He forgot to mention that Orange Juice would also be a good idea”

Needless to say he is now enjoying managing his diabetes with exercise and herbs (alongside the odd dose of insulin managing drugs). But it was hard at the start. Here was a man ingrained in the ‘quick-fix’ mentality avoiding taking all responsibility for his health until it took control of him.

Here was a man resigned to putting his health in someone else’s hands for life. He was unwilling to see the alternatives. He was unwilling to go back to the basics – diet and exercise.

His ‘why’  however was strong enough to elicit a change. Eventually his sugars were getting hard to manage without taking 9 pills a-day. Alongside this the side-effects were shocking to live with. His grandson was born which drove him to ensure that he was round long enough to enjoy bringing him up.

What is your ‘why’?

I often use the example of an ‘Onion’ with my clients. Asking probing questions that you can do yourself is the first step. At all times you must remain honest to yourself.

Why do people primarily go to the gym? Answer – to look good naked. However, if you keep telling yourself that you want to feel good and just want to ‘tone up’ then you are in for a struggle.

I asked an executive the same question. He answered me with the platitudes of “I want to get rid of my belly”, “I want to tighten up”.

“What’s your real reason?” I asked

“What do you mean?” He replied

“Well, what do you mean by ‘getting rid of my belly’ – why is this important to you?”

A moment passed before a startling dose of honesty set in.

Well I am sick and tired of looking across the table and seeing guys older than me, ten times fitter. It makes me angry. They must think I am weak”

“That’s more like it – hold onto that thought”

Being responsible for your actions means peeling the layers of the onion until you get to your real answer, not some woolly platitude to make life easy.

This is your ‘why’ and something strong enough so that you will be motivated to keep on track whilst others fall away. It will allow you to get out of bed when the wind and rain is pouring. It will allow you to choose a swim over Eastenders. It will allow you to choose nutrient dense foods over packaged rubbish.

John Lark is a personal trainer combining exercise, nutrition and lifestyle strategies. He is based at The Sphere Fitness Studio, Maynooth Download your ‘5 Top Fat Loss Methods’ report at www.spherefitnesstudio.com