Dom Thorpe’s Top 10 tips to get in shape in 2012

1. Set yourself a goal

Don’t try and go into to the New Year exercising blind. Take 5 minutes to sit down and work out exactly what you want to achieve. “Get Fit” isn’t a good goal. Neither is “Lose Weight”. Be more specific about what you want to achieve, so that you can monitor it effectively. Try targets such as “Increase my bicep measurement from 15 inches to 16 inches” or “Shorten my 5k time buy 2 minutes”. If weight-loss is your goal, suggest a realistic weight with a realistic deadline. A good goal would be based on losing 1lb per week. So to lose a stone you’d be looking at setting your target date of 8^th April. That way you can check progress on a weekly basis and see if you need to work harder, or if you can slack off a bit. Use S.M.A.R.T Goals. They should be Specific, Measurable, Action Orientated, Realistic and Timelined. For more info on setting effective fitness goals read my previous article here.

2. Book regular exercise sessions into your diary

Without planning your exercise regime it’s very easy to find yourself at the end of the week thinking “Oh dear, I didn’t go to the gym this week”. And if you keep doing that there’s no way you’ll reach your goal. Set specific training days and times so that you know when you are meant to be working out. If, for whatever reason, you can’t make a session, reschedule it for later in the week-but ensure that you fit your specified number of training sessions into your week. Don’t go too hard if you’re just starting out. Three times per week should be sufficient. It also provides room for error. If for example your programme says Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6.30am, but you oversleep on Monday, you can shift the whole thing back a day and go Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Alternatively reschedule your session for later in the day. Whatever you do, make sure you stick to your target number of sessions.

3. Introduce the phrases “I’ll be a bit late as I’m going for a workout first” and “I can’t tonight, I’m working out” in to your vocabulary.

To meet your goals you need to prioritize exercise. No doubt you’ll receive invitations to do other activities which won’t help you get in shape, but try to not let these replace your workouts. The two can go together easily. One method, which works for some, is the Friday evening workout before the pub. If you’re planning to train after work but your boss requests that you stay late and you don’t think that “I need to hit the gym” is a suitable excuse perhaps you can try the phrase “I’ve got a meeting with my trainer and he’ll charge me if I cancel at short notice”.

4. Find an exercise companion

If you can’t afford a personal trainer who’ll charge you if you cancel, then find a friend who shares a similar goal and try to motivate each other. It’s far easier to motivate yourself to get up and exercise if you’re meeting someone else for a workout. It may even add a little competitive edge to the process-which will have a positive effect on both of you. If you don’t have any friends who are interested in sharing your fitness goals then try a training buddy site such as http://www.sportpartner.co.uk/. You can specify your location and sporting interests but remember, it’s for training buddies not bedtime-buddies!

5. Kick start your regime with a “Dry January”

One way to seriously reduce your calorie intake is to cut out alcohol. If a “Dry January” is too much of a challenge for you then perhaps you can try to abstain during the week and only drink alcohol on Friday and Saturday. Not only will this lower your calorie intake but more importantly, it’s far easier to motivate yourself to exercise if you aren’t suffering from hangover, and have had a decent night’s sleep. I probably don’t need to highlight how many days have been written off due to a stinking hangover, and when that happens, the exercise often goes out the window too.

6. Cut out sweets and snacks during January.

Another quick way to massively reduce your calorie intake is to cut down on your sweets and snacks. For many of us, these make up a high percentage of our daily calorie intake. Try to knock your routine trips to the vending machine on the head by bringing some fruit into work with you. I often have a cup of tea with one sugar when I have a craving for something sweet as a teaspoon of sugar contains around 20 calories which is far better than my preferred option-a 500ml Dr Pepper with a Cadbury’s Double Decker (485 calories!). Alternatively try a diet drink. They contain no calories and should help satisfy a craving for something sweet.

7. For early morning workouts, try putting your exercise clothes out ready beside your bed.

January is one of the coldest months of the year and if you plan to get up before work to exercise it can be extremely challenging to get out of the nice warm bed when it’s super chilly in your room. Take 5 minutes before you go to bed to get your exercise clothes out and keep them beside the bed. That will remove one barrier in the morning. If the thought of getting into cold clothes puts you off, then pull them under the covers and snooze for ten minutes. By the time your next alarm goes off the clothes will be at body temperature which will make getting out of bed a whole lot easier. Also, setting the timer on your heating accordingly makes a huge difference. If the room is warm when your alarm goes off, getting out of bed shouldn’t be a problem.

8. Go to bed earlier

Don’t try and be a super hero. If you’re getting up to train before work, you need to adjust your bedtimes accordingly. As a Personal Trainer I get up at 5.20am most days. If I don’t get to bed by 10:20pm this early morning wake up becomes a huge struggle. I work on a 7 hours sleep basis but for some, eight hours is preferable. Whatever your perfect number of sleep hours is, work backwards and make sure you get into bed with enough time to get a good night’s sleep.

9. Don’t over-train.

One thing which can put a stop to your training regime is an injury. Injuries are very likely if you start your regime with too much intensity or at too high a frequency. A very common problem is associated with running because typically you feel like you can do it every day. Your cardiovascular system and your muscular system can tolerate a daily run however your bones and joints can’t. Bones, ligaments and tendons take longer than muscle to grow stronger and can break down if too much stress is put on them. Always have a rest day between workouts unless you’re following a well designed split programme in which case you may train two days in a row. Go too hard and you’re leaving yourself open to injuries such as shin splints, tendonitis or even stress fractures, and once you’ve been caught by one of these, your fitness regime will break down.

10. Use an electronic food diary to monitor your calorie intake

Often we think we are eating healthily yet we rarely factor in the quantity of food, which can often be much higher than it should be. It’s not as simple as “women need 2000 calories and guys need 2500” because it is all related to our height. Short people should consume significantly less calories than tall people. As a 6’1” male I’d need to have a net calorie intake of around 1950 calories to lose 1lb per week, where my net total is my intake of food and drink minus the calories I burn through physical activity. A 5’2” male however, would need to consume a net total of around 1400 calories to achieve the same goal. Keep track of your daily intake by using tools such as http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ in order to gain a realistic hold on what you’re putting in vs. what you’re putting out. It will work out what you should be eating and tell you when you are above or below that figure. You can use this as an app for your smart phone or online through their website and I guarantee it’ll reveal some surprising data about what you’re eating. I found that after a few weeks of using this tool I had a much better idea of what I needed to consume on a daily basis and didn’t even need the diary any more.

Hopefully these 10 ideas will help you on your way to a healthier and fitter lifestyle for 2012 however if you think you need extra help why not try a free taster session with a Personal Trainer from DT Training? We’ll send a mobile trainer to you at whatever location is most convenient, where they’ll deliver a full consultation and take you through an hour of one to one fitness training. Thereafter session prices start from as little as £42 per hour for a fully qualified trainer to help you achieve the body you want.

If that’s out of your budget you may be interested in our new company Personal Trainers in Training where we offer a similar service with fitness instructors who are working towards their level 3 personal trainer qualifications. You still benefit from a trainer who comes to you however, sessions start from as little as £25 per hour.

I'm exercising more but I'm gaining weight. What gives?

So, recently a newspaper published an article discussing the fact that exercise makes you put on weight because after people exercise they consume large amounts of high carb food. Lord help me!

There are two big reasons why we exercise. To increase fitness or to lose weight- sometimes both. Some of us exercise for fun, but that's another story. However, the first two reasons which I've mentioned shouldn't be confused. The following rules apply:

• If you are trying to lose weight, don't increase your daily calorie intake by consuming excess calories such as energy drinks, recovery meals, or carb loading. This will only prevent weight loss.

• If you are training for performance and aren't concerned with weight loss, you need to supplement your diet in order to fuel the extra work you are doing and maintain concentration/performance during your chosen activity.

Marathon runners consume energy drinks and energy gels during races to keep themselves fully fuelled so that their performance doesn't deteriorate during the race. The same principle applies during their training season. Footballers drink energy drinks during their game for the same reason-but they're not trying to lose weight. Athletes tend not to have body fat so they can’t survive without supplementing their diets. If you do have body fat you don't need to supplement your diet. The fat around your body provides the extra energy you need to survive, the same way a polar bear survives hibernation throughout the winter. It doesn't eat anything but it lives off of its body fat for months at a time. Humans are capable of the same mechanism. It's this process which results in weight loss.

To lose weight through exercise you must either keep your diet exactly the same or lower your calorie intake which will result in even quicker weight loss. Don't take an energy drink with you on your runs as this defies the logic of the activity. Don't drink a recovery drink after your workout otherwise this will also prevent weight loss. Weight loss is about creating an energy deficit so that your body collects the energy that it needs to survive from the fat which is stored around your body-not the food you eat. You must be consuming fewer calories than your body requires to survive on a daily basis so that the only place you can get the extra calories to make up the difference is your fat resources.

When you commence a new fitness regime, if weight loss is your goal, don't start eating porridge or muesli because you think they're the healthy option. They are high calorie options for people who are going to be performing a great deal of activity throughout the day. You're likely to consume 3 times as many calories through eating these cereals as you would have if you had stuck to your cocopops or cornflakes (see my previous article on cereals). You're probably only going to be sitting at your desk all day so eat a light breakfast and avoid snacking until lunchtime. If you must snack, eat some low calorie options to tide you over such as crunchy vegetables or a low calorie fruit like an apple.

Weight and fitness are two different things which are not to be confused. Here's a simple rule:

• If you're overweight-you eat/drink too much.
• If you're unfit-you don't do enough exercise.

Don't fool yourself by saying that you're overweight because you don't do enough exercise and don't pretend that you're unfit because your diet is bad. It's quite possible to be very fit and overweight. It's also quite possible to be underweight and very unfit. Your diet should be related to your lifestyle. If you don't do any exercise, you shouldn't eat very much. Gains in body fat mean you are eating/drinking* more than you need.

When you consume more fuel than you need it's stored as body fat. If you consume fewer calories than you need, these calories are taken from your body fat. It makes no difference if you run a marathon every day or not. It's about how many calories you expend vs. how many calories you consume.

Below is an example of a weight loss day:

Calories in - Calories out = Change in weight

2500 calories consumed - 3000 calories burned (2500 to survive plus 500 for exercise) = -500 calories

There are 9 calories in a gram of fat so 500/9 = 55.5 grams of fat lost in the above example. 20 days of this will result in over 1kg of weight loss.

So if weight loss is your goal, instill some discipline in yourself and forgo the extra "treats" that you've earned through exercise.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/does-running-make-you-fat-2368442.html

*in my experience many overweight people who believe they are eating the right amount aren't considering their alcohol intake which in some cases can be as much as 1000 calories most nights of the week.

Body Mass Index Simplified

Our body mass index is a way to compare our weight to our height. The theory is that there is a “healthy” weight target range for any given height. It is worked out by dividing our weight by our height squared. The government suggests that a healthy BMI should be somewhere ranging from 18.5 up to 24.9. Below 18.5 and we are considered underweight, above 24.9 and we are considered overweight. If our BMI is 30 or higher we are considered obese. Below are my current measurements applied to the BMI formula to show you how we calculate it:

BMI = MASS (KG) / HEIGHT x HEIGHT (METRES)

My BMI = 79KG / 1.85 x 1.85

My BMI = 79 / 3.42

My BMI = 23.1

Good news for me! I’m within the “healthy” range. But do I need to keep performing this calculation every time I want to check when my weight changes? When will I know if I’m overweight? What if I forget how the equation works? What if I can’t remember what the “healthy” zone is? All good questions which is why I’ve created the table below to simplify the whole process by eliminating the BMI from the equation and tell me my maximum and minimum weights if I want to remain “healthy”. All you need to do is remember your maximum and minimum “healthy” weights. Find your height and cast your eyes across the table to see what your recommended range is.

Height	LBS (lower limit)	LBS (upper limit)	Stone (lower limit)	Stone (upper limit)
5’0”	94	127	6st 10lbs	9st 1lbs
5’1”	98	132	7st	9st 6lbs
5’2”	101	135	7st 3 lbs	9st 9lbs
5’3”	104	141	7st 7 lbs	10st
5’4”	108	146	7st 10lbs	10st 6lbs
5’5”	111	149	7st 13lbs	10st 10 lbs
5’6”	115	155	8st 3lbs	11st 1lbs
5’7”	118	159	8st 6lbs	11st 5lbs
5’8”	122	164	8st 10lbs	11st 10lbs
5’9”	125	168	8st 13lbs	12st
5’10”	129	174	9st 3lbs	12st 6lbs
5’11”	132	178	9st 6lbs	12st 10lbs
6’0”	137	184	9st 11lbs	13st 2lbs
6’1”	140	188	10st	13st 7lbs
6’2”	143	192	10st 3lbs	13st 10lbs
6’3”	147	198	10st 7lbs	14st 12lbs
6’4”	152	204	10st 12lbs	14st 8lbs
6’5”	157	211	11st 3lbs	15st 1lbs

By using the above table we can use our height as a reference to gain an idea of what our maximum or minimum weight should be without the need to perform any equations. Bear in mind that the closer you are to the upper figure, the closer you are to being overweight and vice versa for the lower limit. Ideally we should be somewhere in the middle of those figures.

There are exceptions to this rule and many people have been incorrectly classed as overweight or even obese due to large amounts of muscle mass. If we look at an extreme example like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his top form he would weigh in at 235lbs and at a height of 6 feet 2 inches or 30.2 on the BMI scale-so technically obese but he clearly wasn’t overweight in the sense that we use the term. Having said that, we could debate over whether or not he was in a state of good health given the amount of strain put on his heart which would have had to work overtime in order to fuel those huge slabs of meat.

So to clarify, the BMI scale is only really an effective way to gauge weight for inactive individuals. However if you can remember your boundary weights and try to stick within them you should be at lower risk of bad health than you would be otherwise.

The Truth About Breakfast for Weight Loss

Getting to know your food and drink

By trying out different weight control methods I have noticed a few things. One of which was that it’s very difficult to lose weight when having porridge for breakfast. This prompted me to take a closer look at cereals and I noticed some interesting things. The first thing that I noticed was that if you try and look on the box to see how many calories are in a bowl of your preferred cereal, it’s very difficult to get an accurate answer. This is because they specify the number of calories in a portion of a specific weight i.e. “a 30g serving contains 215 calories” or “a 50g bowl of this cereal contains 215 calories”. When I compared the weight of my standard bowl of cereal to the suggested weight on the box I was rather taken back. My portion was far larger than that of the recommended size. It also occurred to me that we don’t measure our cereal by weight, we do it by volume. A bowl full of granola may weigh up to 150 grams where as a bowl full of rice crispies is likely to weigh around 40 or 50 grams. So I carried out an experiment whereby I stuck to a specific portion size for a range of cereals and calculated how many calories each bowl of cereal contained. I did this by using a standard mug and measured out 1 mug full before weighing the cereal. This meant that throughout each of the different cereals the portion sizes remain constant and I recorded the weight, using it to calculate the amount of calories in the portion. Needless to say there were a lot of surprises. It is also worth mentioning that the portion size used was smaller than what I would typically serve myself. I tried to use a portion which represented what I thought to be an “average size”. The following table shows the results of my study:

Cereal	Calories per bowl	Portion weight
Jordan's Super Berry Granola	634	150g
Alpen	603	160g
Porridge Oats	498	140g
Curiously Cinnamon	300	63g
Shreddies	275	74g
Weetabix Crushed	257	76g
Crunchy Nut Cornflakes	242	60g
Special K	228	60g
Weetos	215	55g
Coco Pops	206	55g
Frosties	187	50g
Cheerios	183	50g
Corn Flakes	174	46g
Sugar Puffs	167	44g
Rice Crispies	154	40g

As you can see, oat based cereals are by far the most calorific, followed by wheat, corn, barley and finally at the bottom, rice. So every January when you start weighing up the benefits of going on the Special K diet, maybe you’ll consult this table and realize that if you go on the Frosties diet instead, you’ll lose even more weight, and remember, they’re Grrrrrrrreat! The ironic thing is that when most people commence a “healthy” eating programme in order to lose weight, they immediately go for the Royal Family of high calorie cereals, Porridge, Muesli or Granola (The King of Calories), all of which are the least likely cereals to help us lose weight. Those cereals are the right option if you’re going on a 5 hour bike ride or a day of walking in the Lake District but if you’re going to work to spend all day at the desk, you’re stocking up on a huge amount of calories which simply aren't going to get used.

So if you're trying to control your weight, go for one of the less calorific cereals which will help keep your overall calorie intake down thus encouraging successful weight loss.