Overcoming emotional obstacles to achieve your goals

November 25, 2011 Laurence No comments

Well it’s coming up to that time of year again when we all start
to review your life and what happened to us in the past year.

Did you achieve your New Years resolutions for 2011?

We all set ourselves goals on January the 1st, however when it comes to the going out and doing something  about it (this is very true for the classic goal of fat-loss) it can be very difficult for some of us.

When I used to work in one of the leading health clubs in London, approximately a thousand individuals would join in January.

By February they would be gone, if we were lucky we would see
them again the following January.

In the worst cases we wouldn’t see them ever..

This would happen year after year.

These people had lost their motivation and interest in the gym and returned to their old habits of eating the wrong foods and being couch potatoes once again.

It happened and keeps happening because health clubs and gyms don’t offer any guidance to their members.

And I am not just talking of the obvious lack guidance in matters of nutrition or proper program design, but of not helping people be in the right place mentally in order to achieve their goals.

And as I believe guiding my clients is exactly what my job is about, I have taken an interest in systems that can help people change their beliefs and remove psychological barriers that keep them from acting in correct ways that will bring about the results they desire.

The best nutritional and exercise systems in the world (yes, even BodyClocq’s!) won’t work if they are not used!

I have, for example, successfully integrated many principles of the Sedona Method invented by Lester Levenson in 1952. This method aims to increase “emotional  intelligence” so one can become more consistent and persistent with following through a goal.

Here’s the basic principle: there are 4 Human Wants Approval, Control, Security
and Separation.

Wanting = lacking.

So wanting things very strongly, be it money, people, places causes a feeling of lack within us.

Therefore it causes us to focus on what we don’t have making it much harder to get it.

Wanting builds resistance and causes us to feel states such as Apathy, Grief,
Fear, Lust, Anger and Pride.

Each state has a long list of negative emotions and feelings attached to it that effectively become obstacles between us and our goals.

The Sedona method teaches us how to let go of the 6 negative states until we feel 3 positive ones, Courageousness,Acceptance and Peace.

When one genuinely feels these states he/she becomes motivated, strong and positive.

Feeling this way makes us vibrate at a much higher frequency meaning we feel more energised.

Now with this new energy and focus, we have the capacity to create the right situation to achieve whatever your goal is!

Acting to achieve you goals becomes effortless!

The Sedona Method in my opinion is a powerful, practical technique to overcome mental/emotional obstacles and it works very well when it comes to eliminating cravings and unhealthy habits, and this is why I am now integrating these principles with the BodyClocq goal setting and nutritional systems to help people achieve their goals much faster. (One of the client’s I have tested this with has lost 16LBS in 12 days….that’s fairly quick…)

We will soon be including “goal getting” session here at BodyClocq, to help those amongst you that are still feeling “blocked” when it comes to achieving fitness goals, so stay tuned!

For more info e-mail us at info@bodyclocq.com

Richard

www.bodyclocq.com

www.nottinghamfitnessbootcamp.co.uk

 

 

 

 

Mindset, Personal Trainiing Nottingham , ,

Targeted fat-loss: how to really achieve spot reduction

November 14, 2011 Laurence One comment

Years ago, when I was studying to qualify as a personal
trainer, we were taught to answer a particular question that, we were told,
people would ask us often.

The question has since been asked to me several times, but
my answer to it has radically changed.

The question is: what exercise can I do to lose fat from…. (Insert
an area of the body here, usually stomach or thighs).

As a trainee I was taught to explain that spot reduction
(removing body-fat from particular areas) was a myth and that all areas of the
body would improve with regular and correct exercise.

That answer is incorrect, but those were the days when I had
little knowledge of nutritional protocols and hormonal optimization, and like
most, I believed that exercise was the Alfa and Omega of fat loss.

Spot reduction is possible, just not through exercise alone.

Don’t get me wrong, exercise, specifically metabolic
resistance training, must be undertaken  to achieve a toned lean physique and to initiate
the processes of fat-loss.

The fact is though, that carrying body-fat in particular areas
is an indication of certain factors at play that can be sorted through the use
of the appropriate nutritional and recovery strategies that will increase
ten-fold the effect of exercise.

For example: too much fat around the “love handles” and
back? It’s a sign of Insulin resistance, which calls for a cut in carbohydrate
consumption. In this case it is important to eliminate grains from the diet and
substitute them mainly with berries and vegetables.

How about fat deposits on the thighs and buttocks?

This generally affects women (more and more men are starting to suffer from this, but that’s a discussion for another time…) and it indicates a problem with
excess estrogen, so eliminating estrogenic products like soy and alcohol is necessary.

Also avoiding chemicals such as parabens is a good idea.
Supplementing with red clover and eating plenty of cress can help too.

Fat deposits on the stomach area, especially around the navel, are due to excessive levels of cortisol, the stress hormone.

Nottingham personal training

In this case the best approach is to eliminate all, or at least most of the factors
that create that stress.Coffee is on the no-no list in this case, as is alcohol.

Making sure to get enough restful sleep is the most important thing here (being
asleep before 10.30pm at least 5 nights per week is what is needed) and supplements such as Ashwaganda (an Ayurvedic herb that helps the body deal with cortisol) camomile and/or Tulsi tea and a magnesium complex would prove very beneficial in getting stress levels back to normal and regulating sleep patterns.

So you see, it actually possible to sort out the problem
areas, you just need to know what strategies to implement.

If you’d like to know more or you have a question you’d like
to ask, just leave a comment to this blog post and I’ll get back to you!

Cheers!

Laurence

www.bodyclocq.com

www.nottinghamfitnessbootcamp.co.uk

Nutrition and fatloss , ,

What really goes on at BodyClocq?

October 11, 2011 Laurence No comments

The other day someone asked me “what kind of training do you do at your studio?”.

Sometimes it is hard to answer a question like that.

“….here at BodyClocq Personal Training and in the Nottingham Fitness Bootcamp we use kettlebells, bodyweitght exercises, free weights….ok forget about it.”

Then the blank look on the person face just tells me that it’s easier to show someone what we do rather than to describe it.

So…if you ever thought you’d like to take a peak into what happens behind the doors of our Nottingham studio, where body-fat is roasted on a daily basis and people dop clothes sizes faster than you can say “calorie” …here’s a short video of our clients in action.

It’s not the newest of videos, but still rings true. I will make a new one soon though :)

 

 

 

 

Exercise , , ,

Setting your mind right for fat-loss

September 30, 2011 Laurence No comments

The first, most important thing to do when beginning the journey into fat-loss is to go into it with the right mind-set. It takes effort and sacrifice to achieve a significant change in body composition, so a strong, focussed mind set is vital.

The only way of achieving such a mind-set is by being very clear and methodical about your goals.

I always refer this concept to my personal training clients calling it an “athletic mind-set.”
Athletes train with a very clear goal in mind. They have a timescale for that goal too.
They dream big and their goal means a hell of a lot to them (or so it should if they seriously want to succeed!!)

You can easily apply this to yourself and your fat-loss journey. Take well known American 100 meter sprinter Tyson Gay: we can pretty much guess his goal is to win gold in the 100′s and 200′s at the London 2012 Olympics.
He knows exactly what he wants and when he needs to be ready by. He is dreaming BIG because gold will put his name in history and it means loads to him because it would also mean he would beat Husain Bolt ( this last part is my personal guess, but I am sure you can see where I’m coming from)

See, where most people go wrong in their journey to a better body is the very first step: setting their sights on the right goal.
If your goal is to change the way you look, walking into the gym because you “want to lose weight get a bit fitter and tone up” is a sure way of setting yourself up for failure.
This is nowhere near specific enough and there is no timescale to keep you accountable either.
Saying, for example, that you want to lose 28pounds (what) in the next 3 months (when) is much clearer.

You must also be clear as to why you want to achieve that goal. How much does it mean to you? Is it because someone said you should? Or is because, for example, you are fed up of feeling sad because you are out of shape and sick and tired of feeling like you never fit in the clothes you wear?

It can be painful to be so honest with yourself and others about your goals, but that’s the only way you’ll find the inspiration to work as hard as you need to achieve it.
Don’t forget to dream BIG. If one is 100 pounds overweight why only plan to lose 50 pounds?
Yet most people set small goals because they think are “realistic”.
Why?

Fear of failure, plain and simple. The so called “realistic” goal is a way of not stepping too far out of the comfort zone, of staying safe.
Yet in our heart of hearts we want the greater goal, the one that really means lots to us, not the small one.

So by setting out to reach for the small goal we subconsciously give up on our true wish and lose the energy, the “pull” of the big dream, and by doing that we diminish the chances of success in both the big and the small goal.
No one can tell you what a realistic goal is for you. You make your reality with your choices and actions, so anything you are prepared to work hard for is achievable!
Smaller goals can and should be a means towards the bigger picture, not an end.

My last but not least piece of advice is to tell as many people as possible about your goal. This is a way of becoming accountable and accountability is a VERY powerful tool that helps in avoiding slip ups.

So, in a nutshell, to get onto the right path to achieving awesome fat-loss results you must:

-Go for the BIG goal!

-Know what the goal looks like, why you want it and by when you’ll achieve it

-Tell the world!

Until next time!

Laurence

Mindset

A few things you might not know about fatloss

September 29, 2011 Laurence No comments

When it comes to nutrition many people still consider fat loss a simple matter of calories in-calories out.

Unfortunately it is no so simple. I have listed a few little known factors  that greatly contribute in keeping people overweight.

I have seen fantastic transformations in my clients when we began addressing these areas

Toxicity: the enemy of health and fat-loss

personal trainer nottingham

I guess this topic could be resumed in the mantra “the further away you move from Nature, the closer you are to disease”.

You see, the world has evolved around us a lot quicker than we could possibly adapt to it, so we have to live in an environment that is not what we were meant by Nature to live in.

One of the reasons more and more people struggle with their weight is because of the toxicity they are exposed to on a daily basis which results in a constant state of disease.

What kind of disease? Feeling bloated, tired and lacking energy all the time, constantly catching colds and fatiguing at the mere thought of having to run to catch a bus… How many people do you know that fit the description? Are you one of them?

Well here is a fact: that’s not the way a human being is meant to feel, it’s just the way the human race is adapting to feel like, believing” that’s just the way it is”.

If your body is a toxic state your hormones will not be working properly, your thyroid will be out of sync, your immune system will be constantly strained and in jeopardy. All of this will contribute to a slower metabolism and as a consequence more body fat.

Also your system will be desperately trying to deal with the poisons in it, partly by excreting them and partly by storing them where they will do the least damage…yes you’ve guessed, in fat cells! If a high level of toxins is contained in them you will struggle to lose body fat as your body, in its natural wisdom, will not want to let go of the it as it would mean losing storage space for the toxic waste!

Where do those toxins come from? How do we avoid them?

Here is a list of the most common pollutants we are exposed to:

-Mercury amalgam fillings (silver tooth fillings). Mercury is a heavy metal, and highly poisonous to human organism, it should have no place in your mouth! 1 single mercury filling can contain as much mercury as 45 fluorescent tubes!!! Removal of silver filling is a must to re-gain health, although care in choosing a good dentist must be taken as there are procedures that need to be undertaken to make the removal safe.

-Tap water .Chlorine in tap water being the major culprit in messing up the thyroid gland by affecting the Iodine levels in the body. Scores more chemicals can be found in your tap water, this is a topic that I will talk about in a future article. The human body will absorb chemicals from water not only by ingesting it but also through the skin.

The solution is NOT to drink tap water! Bottled water is a better choice, although not the best as the quality of the water decreases the longer it stays in plastic bottles. An alkalising water filter such as the Biocera water jug are a good starting point and quite convenient, the absolute best solution, although initially expensive, would be to have a Micro-ioniser filter fitted in the plumbing system in order to have clean alkaline tap water to drink an wash in available all the time.

-Parabens contained in deodorants, shower/bath gels, shampoos, skin products and in some foods. Common parabens include methylparaben (E number E218), ethylparaben (E214), propylparaben (E216) and butylparaben. Less common parabens include isobutylparaben, isopropylparaben, benzylparaben and their sodium salts.

You can find products that do not contain them, but you will have to look out for them as hardly any of the high street retailers cater for this. Hopefully this will change soon as the big brand retailers notice an increased demand for these products.

-Non-stick cookware.The debates on this rage on, with manufacturers claiming the non-stick is safe and detractors claiming fumes from heating the non-stick items release dangerous chemicals and flakes coming off old pans end up in the food polluting it. If there is so much doubt about the topic I think it’s better to stay on the safe side and use stainless steel, cast iron or ceramic cookware.

-Air pollution. Not much we can do about this one, if not making sure to take some long walks in the countryside where the air is cleaner.

-Pesticides and fungicides routinely sprayed on non-organic foods. No, washing the fruit and veg will not get rid of them unfortunately. The only way of avoiding these dangerous chemicals is buying certified organic food. Some will argue this is more expensive, but really in the long term it will save money on health bills.

“To survive the 21st century you must learn to play the game”

As previously stated, we have changed our lifestyles and our surrounding environment much faster than we could naturally adapt to it, so we must learn to “play the game” to stay in good health and in good shape.

Without getting rid of toxicity many individuals have little hope of doing so despite their best efforts exercising. Many people struggling to lose weight are doing so because they are looking in the wrong direction. Don’t forget “the further away we move from nature, the closer we are to disease”!

To your health and fitness!

Laurence

http://nottinghamfitnessbootcamp.co.uk

http://bodyclocq.com

 

Nutrition and fatloss

Ladies, there’s no excuse…..period!

September 29, 2011 Laurence 3 comments

Hi!I thought of sharing this interesting article my wife Melanie, the resident pre and post natal coach at our personal training studio in Nottingham, wrote for our female clients some time ago, there are insights in here only a woman has!

I hope you find it useful :-) , please leave a comment!

As we all know there are certain times of the month when you just feel ‘urgh’………..everything feels that bit tighter, your temper is that bit shorter and all you want is CHOCOLATE…… CHOCOLATE…….. CHOCOLATE!!!

But did you know that in actual fact training on the week before and the week of your period can actually help you lose fat?  Don’t believe me?  Then let me explain.

 

Period Week (day 1 – 5)

Ever wondered why something that may have felt reasonably easy the week before suddenly feels so much harder?!  Unfortunately our fluctuating hormones can make that 8kg kettlebell suddenly feel like a 12kg!!  However much you may not feel like it, exercising when you are on your period can help ease your symptoms and actually make you feel better.  At this time of the month your serotonin levels drop (serotonin is the happy hormone!) and your progesterone levels rise, which is why most of us feel grumpier, but exercising increases your serotonin levels, so exercising will make you feel happier!!

 

I know most of us never look forward to this week, but, the week before and the week of your period your body will burn fat far more efficiently.  Which means that if we work hard we will burn more fat than at any other time of the month.  However, our bodies know this, and this is why we suddenly start craving those carbs and chocolate!!  So although it might take a bit more discipline keeping to the Revitalise principles these two weeks will mean that your results will happen even quicker!

 

Optimal Hormones (day 6 – 20)

Everyone breath’s a sigh of relief as our hormones settle down and we are back to our usual kick-ass self at the gym!!  Those 8kg feel like 8kg again and in fact we feel so good we skip those 8kgs and go straight for the 12kgs and we are ready to work hard.  During these days our bodies are ready to work to the best of their ability – you want to push harder, higher, longer and faster!!  If you want to feel those improvements in your training now is the time to do it.

 

PMS Week (day 21 – 28)

This is the week where we start to feel – well basically crap!  You know the usual suspects…………bloating, headaches, cramps, tiredness and, of course, those cravings!  This is the week where you’ll probably find that you end up having “teddy bear” workouts as my husband calls them.  No grizzly bear workouts here!!  But this week, it’s better to just get something done, rather than nothing.  Remember that exercise increases our serotonin levels and this is the week that we’ll probably need it!  A word of caution for you here, there is a higher risk of injury due to joint laxity which is caused by the hormone relaxin.  Those of you who have had children may be familiar with this hormone.  However it is also increased when we are on our period, which means that for this week our joints become a little bit more elastic, and whilst some of you may want to take advantage of this by finally getting into the splits, I’d advise caution!!!

Finally, as I’m sure you are aware; never weigh yourself when you are on your period.  Due to water retention you will probably find that out of nowhere you’ve suddenly gained between 2-5lbs (ARGH!!!).  A good way of keeping water retention to a minimum is to actually drink more water.  By increasing your water intake your kidneys will automatically increase the hormones that tell your body to release water.  Ok, so you might find yourself popping off to the loo a bit more than usual but at least those jeans won’t feel as tight!

Hopefully this article can help you understand why sometimes a workout can feel harder than it should and why keeping to clean eating even when those cravings hit can mean that those results will always keep on coming!

Melanie

http://www.nottinghamfitnessbootcamp.co.uk

http://www.bodyclocq.com

Women's Fitness , , ,

Meet my best teacher

August 9, 2011 Laurence No comments

I have researched exercise physiology and sport science; I have studied the work of many experts in fitness and sports and I have trained in many physical disciplines under many different coaches, sensei and trainers.

Every time I have learnt something new, but never have I learnt the wealth of things like I am at the present moment with my new teacher

Many are my teacher’s qualities: the ease of movement, the boundless energy, the perfection in the squat, the freedom of spirit intertwined with a great curiosity and a phenomenal wish to learn.

But I believe her greatest skill is the ability to show me through her very own journey of discovery, what we, as humans, were, and indeed still are meant to do with our bodies.

My teacher is 13 months old Isabella, and I’m am very lucky to be her dad.

 

 

 

 

It is wonderful, as a parent to see your child learn to move, first crawling then standing, then walking. Even more so for someone like me who has made of movement and exercise a career and a way of life.

What has most struck me is to see how instinct kicks in at a certain age in a child telling it to stand. And there will be many failed attempts, but ultimately in time the skill is learnt and the child is ready now to attempt its first steps.

No one told Bella to stand…she just knew that was what Nature intended her to do.

Now she can toddle and her greatest wish is to be free to move, to walk to pick things up and carry them around.

I find it partly amusing and partly sad that we are the only creatures on the planet designed to stand and locomote permanently on our hind limbs yet we spend most of our time sat down.

I find it unbelievable that we were built to endure physical tasks and hardships, to be agile, flexible and powerful, yet in the present day this description encompasses only a chosen few of our species, whilst the vast majority is content with being weak, permanently in some kind of physical discomfort and finds it hard to run for the bus.

What a pity I say.

It is so obvious to me, watching my daughter, that to move and to be physical is instinctive to us. It makes us happy.

At some point though we just give it up.

Told to sit still in chairs at school we struggle for some time then just become tamer and begin our journey towards negating hundreds of thousands of years of evolution.

If nature wanted us to sit most of our lives it would have given us some kind of inbuilt pillow in our backisides I say…

Isn’t it about time you got back in touch with evolution, with your inner child, and got moving?

It’s fun when once you begin…:-)

Laurence

http://bodyclocq.com

http://nottinghamfitnessbootcamp.co.uk

 

Exercise, Mindset, Nutrition and fatloss, Uncategorized, Women's Fitness , , , , ,