A quick massage of the temples may help relieve the pain!Image: m_bartosch / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Diagnose your headache:

Headaches come in various forms and lasting for varying periods of time. We are typically most familiar with the following primary headaches:

• Migraines: These are recurrent headaches that can last between and hour to a few days. It is important to be aware if you are suffering from a migraine and to seek medical assistance as they can cause great disruption to everyday life.
• Tension headache: It is said that upto 90% of us suffer from this type of headache. Pain typically originates in the temple area and are believed to be brought on by stress and fatigue though an exact cause is not identified.
• Cluster headache: As the name suggests they usually occur in clusters of two and possibly around the eyes.

Cause & Effect:

Painkillers Vs. Natural Remedies

Western medicine has its place in life but should a painkiller (e.g. aspiring, ibuprofen and paracetamol) really be the first thing that you reach for when your head starts to pound? I try not to rely on this immediate relief as nature has provided us with its own remedies. In cultures where painkillers are not in everyone’s cupboards, a lemon takes its place. And so it goes, rub half a lemon across your forehead and the lemon rind into your temples, sit back and feel that headache fade away. The same has been said of a cinnamon and water paste! The biggest concern with painkillers is that over-reliance on over-the-counter drugs can in fact worsen your headaches. I suppose it is similar to drinking caffeine…you depend on the drug for pain relief and then the pain returns when you don’t take the drug in the form of a rebound headache.

Supplements

I do not supplement specifically for headaches because I am not a sever sufferer. Also a varied, natural diet should supply you with the below, which have been linked to help headaches: co-enzyme Q10, riboflavin, butterbur root extract, magnesium and calcium. It is thought that these items may relax your muscles and increase blood flow, thereby relieving tension in your head.

Diet – Lack of food is a common cause of primary headaches

Failure to graze regularly can leave our blood sugar levels low which may trigger a headache, as will dehydration. Many have blamed consumption of high caffeine, processed, sugary foods as a common cause for headaches. Perhaps it is our bodies way of telling us that we need to stop pumping it with chemicals causing a roller coaster of sugar levels. Caffeine, sweets, alcohol, smoke – these things have become far too involved in many of our daily lives in recent years and they can upset our natural balance. It seems unsurprising that migraine rates have been on the increase too…maybe there is a link? Also you may have your own unique triggers. I know people who avoid foods including dairy, meat and chocolate which they have identified as causing their migraines.

Final Thoughts…

The most sensible conclusion would be that prevention is the best cure for headaches. As I do not regularly incur headaches then I figure that I must be getting my balance right. I drink plenty of water (especially before, during and after exercise), eat a varied and mostly natural diet and try to relax – though this is always an area for improvement! And also try to keep a regular sleep pattern all week.

Ideas on How to Beat Headaches is a post from: LMD Fitness Thank you for subscribing to receive rule free fitness updates from LMD FITNESS

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Spinning is a great way to boost your Endorphins!Photostock/FreeDigitalImages.net

The Lone Ranger

For many years I trained as a solo fitness enthusiast and still do. I think that I always will enjoy training alone and there is a reason for that – solitude gives my mind a rest! Running can be one of the most solitary forms of exercise because you literally can just get away from it all. That can be both a benefit and a burden. It is a good mental test to see whether you can push yourself and remain motivated but it is a double-edged sword because you do not have the peer support and challenge that you get when training with others. So the risk element when you train alone is that your motivation may dwindle and you start to train with less intensity or worse, skip training altogether.

Whilst it comes down to personal preference and your goals, I think that training solo should be part of everybody’s fitness regime. Come race day for example, you may be alone and need that mental toughness.

The Winning Psychology of Group training

When I train with others I rarely lack motivation. Some of my best workouts in terms of enjoyment and intensity take place in a group exercise session. I recently joined a local triathlon club and join them once a week for swimming and running. I rarely skip a session because of the ‘group guilt trip’ (as I call it). That sounds a bit negative actually but what I mean is the feeling of missing out that I get if I don’t go to scheduled team training. Then there is the communal ‘we are all in this together’ attitude which pushes you through the session. There are studies to suggest that this boost is in fact a physical one. An additional release of endorphins from taking part in group activity can result in better exercise performace. Endorphins are a great by-product of any exercises but communal exercise has shown to produce particularly high endorphin levels – perhaps it goes back to Grok, our caveman ancestor and how we evolved in tight communities where group rituals were part of daily living. Group exercise could be just the ticket to move your fitness from chore to rule free habbit!

New to Exercise? Get a Group!

Over the years my partner has tended to support me from the sidelines whilst remaining fairly inactive herself. I know she wont mind me saying this because she doesn’t share quite the shame passion for exercise as I do…although something, after so many years of my encouragement has changed this! It wasn’t my nagging of encouragement but an exercise class that has finally got her into regular training. She has recently been going to Body Combat and Boxercise type circuit classes and is actually enjoying it too! The more I pushed fitness on her, the more she became discouraged from doing any sport seriously. It is human to do the opposite to what we are told after all.  So I am confident that if fitness classes have worked for her, training in this group environment could be just the spark and motivation that so many people need to reach their goals be they fat loss or muscle gain. With the endless selection of classes now ‘invented’ from the popular spinning to the more quirky spinlates (spinning and pilates!?), there is surely something for everyone!

Confidence Building

The other issue to flag up is self-confidence. Training in isolation typically requires less self-confidence than training   of others. There is nobody watching you whilst you break a sweat a push yourself until red in the face! It is not a problem for all of us but there are simple ways to overcome any lack of confidence. You can place yourself at the back of a front-led aerobics class for example, or encourage a closer friend to start at the same time as you so you are in it together! Most importantly, just remember that everybody else in a group is in the same position and probably thinking the same thing.

All this is great but of course most class cost something, whereas training alone doesn’t. Training alone will therefore probably remain a staple part of your fitness schedule but I strongly urge everybody to consider topping it up with group exercise classes or club activities. Fitness should be fun after all and socialising usually is!

The Benefits of Group Exercise to Smash Your Fitness Goals With Others is a post from: LMD Fitness Thank you for subscribing to receive rule free fitness updates from LMD FITNESS

Further Reading:

1. Unstoppable Fitness Goals: Fat Loss, Muscle Gain – What Winter Blues?
2. How Should You Set Your Exercise O’Clock?
3. How to fit more exercise in to your day

Since the day of the race, I have been racking my brains to figure out why I missed out on my marathon goal so narrowly. Was it due to a lack of training? Or a lack of race strategy? Or incorrect race nutrition?

Actually, I think that it is impossible to be 100% certain when you miss out on your goal so narrowly and the reason is not obvious (i.e. a mid-race injury). Following my post-race analysis, I have decided that those 2 minutes came down to 2 key factors: warm weather and misjudged pacing.

Running the Home Straight (Dave’s Portfolio – Flickr)

I think most of the runners at this year’s London marathon would agree that whilst the sun was a blessing it was a little too humid. This in turn required more hydration which can slow you down. Personally, I think that a stitch late in the race may have been worsened by taking on that extra fluid. As for my pacing, pre-race I knew that I needed to run 06:29 minute miles. I started out well, maintaining this for most miles, and when there were downhills I took advantage and speeded up.

Despite my trusty Garmin, during the second half of the marathon, I do not know how or why but pacing went from my mind. I was keen to enjoy and soak up the atmosphere and maybe this distracted me somewhat (this was worth missing my target by 2 minutes though). I’m delighted with a new PB time and will not dwell on what was missed. So that we can each improve from one event to the next, I have set out my post-race analysis procedure below.

1. Did you reach your goal?

Of course you need a defined goal in order to get this far, which is why I love to enter events because the goal becomes very obvious and easy to define (e.g. run a marathon under 3 hours).

As mentioned above, being honest with myself, I missed my marathon goal by 2 minutes this year but it was kind of a ‘secret goal’ which I hadn’t made known to others. This was perhaps a fatal mistake… it takes some guts but if you publicise your goal and put it out there then I strongly believe that you are more likely to achieve it. Take weight loss groups – they work on the basis of support and the necessity to avoid ‘failing’ your goal in such an open environment.

2. If yes, why? If no, why?

It isn’t easy to pinpoint the reasons for your success or failure but it certainly helps future chances of success if you can do some detective work. Where you enter a sporting event, the reasons for you achieving or missing your goal are likely to be multiple. As I note above, unless the reason is very obvious, you need to reflect in some depth. When I think back through an event, I can only recall a patchwork of moments from the race, with most of the time being a blur. This is why it is most effective to record your feelings and post-race thoughts on the same day as the event. Just jot them down – any thoughts on your nutrition, pacing, tactics – this will be very useful weeks after the race when you think about why you did or did not achieve your goal.

3. A visual memory for the future

It has been shown that storing positive visual memories in a memory bank can help us to succeed going forwards. If you reached your goal then it is simple: take a defining moment which gave you a buzz (e.g. crossing the race finish line arms raise like a champion) and store it in your memory. If you didn’t make your goal this time, it is a little trickier but you just have to be more creative and build that picture of success yourself taking a positive snapshot from the past. Building your memory bank of positive emotions can be a really useful tool come races and events, in the same way as having a positive mantra on repeat in your mind. I completed a hilly 20 miler 1 month before this year’s marathon and the positive memories from that race gave me some extra go-go power at the tough points in the marathon.

I am conscious that this article is geared to sporting events but broadly, I think we can apply a post event analysis to so many aspects of our lives.

Look back and find out what and why you have achieved and then store that in your memory bank for the tough times ahead! This goes hand in hand with the well known S.W.O.T analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) that can be used at anytime in our lives.

Get the balance right and you can make big leaps forward!

How to Carry out your Post-Event Analysis is a post from: LMD Fitness Thank you for subscribing to receive rule free fitness updates from LMD FITNESS

Further Reading:

1. 2010 Virgin London Marathon: “Yo Adrian – I did it!”
2. The 1 Month Taper Plan
3. Triathlons, Ultra-Marathons and Iron-Mans: Welcome to the Endurance Age

[Cue Rant]: I’m tired of over-hearing people droning on about super diet X or super diet Y that is 100% going to work for them this year! Yea I think, it may work for the briefest moment of your life but you’ll be back to square one before you know it and scrambling around for the next fad diet!  – Get some real healthy habits and live with them!! [End of Rant]

Apologies for the agitation there but I’ve been overweight and although I was still growing up, it wasn’t height that made the fat spread out, it was miles of running and implementing permanent changes to my diet that did it! I do sympathise with those who get excited about these diets that promise the world and deliver nothing. In this post, I want to emphasise habitual fitness and give you enough ideas that you won’t need to be a yo-yo dieter. Instead you will make permanent changes.

The Tape Doesn’t Lie but Diets Usually Do!FreedDigitalPhotos.net/luigi diamanti

“Diets Do Not Work”

Say that to yourself time and time again until you believe it. That way, you wont be at risk of the unrealistic claims beneath the shiny book covers and adverts with that perfect 14 day diet and cover model who did not do the 14 day diet. The list of ‘Fad Diets’ is endless: Acai Berry Diet, Low Fat Diet, Low Carb Diet, South Beach Diet, Zone Diet, Apple Cider Vinegar Diet, Cabbage Soup Diet…

Studies typically find that only 5% of dieters maintain their new lower weight after finishing a diet. That is a pretty poor return on their investment I’d say. In fact, a UCLA research study has concluded that one thirds to two thirds of dieters regain more weight than what they lost on their diet in the first place! It isn’t really surprising when you think about it in terms of time. Getting overweight takes some time (more than 14 days anyway!) and most diet cycles are typically complete in between 3 days to1 month. It takes a heck of a lot more effort to burn off excess fat than put it on, so why would anyone think that they can get thinner quicker than they can get fatter and if they can do that they its highly likely it isn’t through a sustainable option. It seems that the diet industry will grow as people look for shortcuts but I assure you there are none when it comes to fat loss. So the ‘Rule Free’ bottom line is ban diets!

3 Permanent Healthy Habits To Sustainable Fat Loss

Water

It still amazes me that people still take on so many liquid calories. If you make a glass of water your standard everyday drink then those fruit juices and fizzy drinks should become an exception. I’ve read various articles questioning How much water per day? What type of water? When to drink water? I have come to the conclusion that water is over-complicated too much. The best approach may be to just accept it is essential to life and get it down you. Our bodies are pretty well attuned machines and the symptoms of lack of water show pretty quickly. I know if I get that dry mouth, I have let it go on too long – ideally you don’t even want to reach that stage! I always have water on me. I firmly believe that it is vital to sustainable fat loss and all-round health. The key pointers are:

• Take note of your urine colour – pale straw colour is the benchmark, any darker and you need to drink water usually.
• Drink half a pint of water ten minutes before consuming any large meal to combat over-eating.
• Drink cold water when working out and in general. Ultimately your body burns more calories in warming up the water. This can add up to an extra 70 calories per day (not bad!) Cold drinks help to keep your body temperature down when exercising too.
• If water really does bore you, select from some of the low/zero calorie sports hydration drinks once in a while (e.g. Lucozade Lite)

There is some great advice about drinking water sustainably here (think aluminium bottles!).

Mind Set

Not all of us are born athletes. If I was, then I certainly didn’t know it for the first 14 years of my life! For me, fat loss is more or less dependant on mind set. Our minds are so powerful in dictating our actions that fat loss always starts in the mind -Visualise your new body – This sounds cliched I know but visualisation really can help you reach your goals, not just in fat loss but in all aspects of life. Add memories to visualisation and you get confidence. So for example, if you succeeded in turning down the staff room donuts last week after your workout, after the initial mental struggle usually comes the waves of success. If you take that positive feeling and store it in your memory then come your next hurdle (i.e. junk food temptation or negative thought), you could remind yourself of that positive memory from your memory bank and take the confidence to build your visualisation of your goal.

Eating Realistically

This is the defining point of a ‘fad diet’. It isn’t realistic in terms of what, when, or how much you will eat. I certainly couldn’t sustain cabbage soup for more than…1 day! I can honestly say that my nutrition is ‘Rule Free’. The bottom line is that I do not eat so well all of the time, just 80% of the time. I’ve written about the importance of the 80/20 balance before and I have not been overweight for over 10 years now. So allow yourself to eat according to your feelings – it is ok to eat processed food now and again just not as a staple food. It is worse to punish yourself or feel guilty everytime you have a chocolate bar. The key thing is to stay within your healthy weight limits. These are different for everybody. I usually go by body fat percentage and like to stay between 8-12% body fat. That is on the low side but I do enjoy endurance sports. Here are a few practical eating habits I use regularly:

• Fill that plate with vegetables. Leafy greens are amazing and can be just as filling as grains!
• Eat when you are hungry. This is an old favourite but again our bodies are well tuned and the best judge of when we need to eat. It is best to wait 10-20 minutes before tucking in for second helpings from the buffet!
• Variety can keep you thin. Food has to excite me and that means change. Healthy nutrition is not boring – it just takes a bit of time to be creative. Some people like breakfast, some people do not – there is no right and wrong for me. If I want to workout on an empty stomach then I will. I eat breakfast (porridge) most days but like to be flexible around my workouts.

Lastly remember…

These are just some suggestions and highlights from my Rule Free approach but I think they are quite fundamental to succeeding in long term, sustainable fat loss and health. It’s fine to identify ‘healthy habits’ but the crucial step is making them stick. Once the excess weight is off, it has to STAY OFF! To do that there has to be no going back to any former bad habits. So the new healthy habits must become entrenched into your everyday life and that takes time. We all fall off the healthy bandwagon now and again – just put it behind you , remember those positive memories and get back on!

Sustainable Fat Loss and Fitness in the New Year is a post from: LMD Fitness Thank you for subscribing to receive rule free fitness updates from LMD FITNESS

Further Reading:

1. Unstoppable Fitness Goals: Fat Loss, Muscle Gain – What Winter Blues?
2. Should you supplement for Fat Loss? – Bio-Synergy Thermogen on Test
3. Ideas on How to Beat Headaches

Bruce was not only a physical phenomenon but a great Philosopher too!

Image: Filomena Scalise/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’ve digested lots of reading material about Bruce Lee’s training methods, and you will see that he got to his prime shape from a pretty ordinary body. He was no genetic freak! He started weights with the primary aim of gaining size. Once he gained, he then really became ‘ripped’, but instead of going through this cycle he stayed super defined and ‘shredded’ for the remainder of his life! James Coburn once said Bruce’s muscle was like touching marble. Great news for all of us – regardless of your starting position, with hard work, you too can become a great athlete with a body to match! So Bruce Lee was rock hard, we know, but can we learn anything from his training?

His Training Was Varied

We know Bruce took to running about 6 miles daily, and whilst this isn’t possible or desirable for many of us, it shows that there was a place for CV fitness in his lifestyle. Further, he was always perfecting his fighting and combat skills which would recruit a huge range of his muscle fibres, leading to an all-round honed physique – no body part was left neglected!

Alongside this he had resistance training, and had his own favourite all-in-1 weights machine built for him by a friend. Bruce used compound exercises such as the Clean and Press as well as more specialised lifts like the Concentrated Curl for his biceps. Apparently he was always with his hand gripper working his forearms which would explain his outrageous forearm definition. The key point is variety – Bruce was always open to experimentation and borrowed from many ‘schools of thought’ if he believed it could help him to develop in some way. And so the mantra goes – try everything, keep what works, disregard what doesn’t work.

He Got His Nutrition Right

In understanding the importance of nutrition to his training, Bruce was well ahead of his time. His protein shakes were all-natural and whilst he had no set recipe, they usually comprised of raw eggs and their shells as well as peanut butter, Brewers Yeast, and wheat germ. I’ve used these ingredients myself with no problems but understandably we don’t have to go for raw eggs when there are readily available protein powders today. The key point is that Bruce knew the importance of re-fuelling in the post-workout 30 minute window, and this was important given the high intensity of training he did! Besides protein shakes, Bruce loved nutrient dense food like parsley, and always ate whole, natural produce.

Breathing for Great Abs!?

Thousands of turning kicks undoubtedly contributed to Bruce’s world renowned midsection but he also favoured:

• Sit-ups on the Roman Chair
• Leg raises
• Elevated V-sits (Very hard to perform!)

Personally I think we have learnt that crunches and sit-ups are not the best way to train your abs as they can cause back problems. Instead I prefer:

• Planks
• Side planks
• Hanging knee raises

Bruce had a great breathing technique too which is less widely known. It requires breathing out through pursed lips and contracting your abs simultaneously (static contractions). This works the mind-muscle link so that your abs will be better recruited during other exercises. Read more on this interesting technique over at Rusty Moore’s Fitness Blackbook.

Ultimately, some think that Bruce overdid it and pushed himself too far in the end. Bruce did amazing things in his life and I will always respect that. I take away the importance of clean nutrition, experimentation and variety, and maximum effort from his training! We should all remember that Bruce dedicated himself to his training and whilst he had a film career and family, he committed to his training more than most of us ever will (wish to do so).

To read more about how to achieve a lean physique that you are proud of, check the content of my website, including Rule Free Fitness articles such as ‘Your Unique Physique.’

Bruce Lee: Training Methods to Inspire Us All is a post from: LMD Fitness Thank you for subscribing to receive rule free fitness updates from LMD FITNESS

Further Reading:

1. 2010 Virgin London Marathon Training – PART III: The Before and After
2. 2010 Virgin London Marathon Training – PART I: Is It Good For You?
3. Training on an Empty Tank

What Swimming Means To Me

Swimming has become my main form of exercise over the past few months as knee problems have prevented me participating in many sports. It is a great feeling to jump into the cold water in the morning and is an excellent cardiovascular activity with minimal strain on the body. I found that as my fitness in the pool increased it became slightly boring just swimming back and forth for thousands of meters and I was looking for an alternative…

Open water swimming allowed me to escape the lines on the bottom of the pool and the smell of chlorine on my skin. It gave me a great sense of freedom being out in the ocean, allowing me to enjoy the coastline of the U.K. I found that there were many events held around the UK and the motivation of swimming or racing with others added to the excitement. I took the plunge literally and signed up for my first open water event.

Forced Smiles Trying to Hide the Pre-Race Nerves

British Heart Foundation Bournemouth Pier To Pier Swim 2010

The British Heart Foundation Bournemouth Pier to Pier Swim is an annual event held in Bournemouth between Bournemouth and Boscombe piers. It is the largest charity sea swim in the UK with 1200 entrants swimming 1.4 miles down the coast.

As I had covered the distance comfortably in the pool and sea in preparation, I was confident in my abilities. It was however my first mass start and the thought of 1200 people running into the water made me slightly apprehensive. In order to reduce the chance of getting kicked or punched in the face I approached the front of the group. Next to me stood the likes of Ironman triathletes and a Michael Phelps looking character. I started to breathe deeply.

Suddenly the horn sounded and I felt the people behind surge forward, making me sprint towards the water. I made an attempt of diving into the water trying to use some of the speed I had already generated and sprinted towards the first buoy. I felt bodies all around me, legs kicking, arms flailing and water splashing. As I made my way around the buoy the pack started to thin out and I began to relax my stroke trying to get into a rhythm.

The buoys along the beach indicating the course were fairly spaced out and the current and chop on the water made it difficult to swim in a straight line. I spent the next thirty minutes weaving in and out of the buoys, with the pier in the distance slowly getting closer and closer.

With 500m to the pier, I started to head diagonally towards the shore and increased my stroke rate in a final sprint to the finish. I felt the water slowly start to get warmer and then my hand touched the sand, I had made it. I stood up and started to run out of the water. I felt out of breath and dizzy after the final sprint, and the run to the finish was a blur.

As I crossed the line I was surrounded by fellow swimmers and handed a medal and applause from all the friends and families watching. It was a great experience, cementing my love for swimming in open water!

I have now got the swimming bug and have booked the Nokia Thames Swim (2 miles), Big South Swim (2.4 miles) and my first triathlon. I am excited already!

See Video Footage Here — >> Bournemouth Pier to Pier Swim 2010

My First Open Water Swim – Bournemouth Pier to Pier Swim 2010 is a post from: LMD Fitness Thank you for subscribing to receive rule free fitness updates from LMD FITNESS

Further Reading:

1. A Quick Starter Guide to Open Water Swimming
2. How To Simplify Your Fitness Regime
3. Triathlons, Ultra-Marathons and Iron-Mans: Welcome to the Endurance Age

Tour de France – The World’s Most Gruelling Cycle RaceImage: Tom Curtis / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

No Pain, No Gain

I recently completed my first real endurance event by running the 2010 Virgin London Marathon. I admit it was probably the best day of my life (the fact that I got engaged secured that)! Going back to why these endurance events are so popular now, I can think of a few reasons: we need physical exertion/pain in our lives, we need to achieve in our own eyes and in the mind of others, and we need purpose. Endurance events can offer each of these things in varying degrees for us all.

I am currently reading a book called ‘Over the Edge’ by Michael Bane. I would recommend it to anyone because we can all connect to Michael‘s story, in which he compiled a list of 13 ‘extreme’ events to take part in which changed his life forever. We are not going to be all so dramatic in our own lives but as you will see below, my own Event Hit List is growing…

Success and Camaraderie Are Guaranteed

From personal experience, I know that it is easier to be motivated, and therefore train more effectively when you have a set goal in front of you. The deadline of an event can put pressure on you to perform but this is a positive thing because you have an obvious goal and you can structure your training to achieve that goal. I have found that when I am not training for a particular event, although my motivation to succeed doesn’t fade, my focus and effectiveness in training are not always as high. It takes great motivation, dedication (and yes, vanity) to go to a gym 5 times a week and ‘pump iron’ when the end goal is to improve your physical appearance. I am not trying to degrade workouts for fat loss or muscle building in any way but simply saying that it can be mentally easier to train to be functionally fit for a specific event. I would almost be willing to bet my life savings that once a first timer has completed their first endurance event, just crossing the line (regardless of the time), will bring them a sense of achievement that, in my experience, you cannot get from looking in the mirror after a few workouts. The fact that most events are completed alongside hundreds or thousands of other competitors only adds to this feeling of achievement!

There is an Event for Us All…

In training for a marathon, I admitted to shedding some muscle mass but I overcame this concern. Firstly it isn’t permanent, and secondly, as I have written before, you can retain muscle even during endurance training. There are now so many events out there that you can find one to best suit your needs. A sprint triathlon for example, will not require you to burn excessive calories when training or cover hundreds of miles but it still brings all the fun of a multi-disciplinary event.

If this is all starting to sound interesting to you, I recommend that you make yourself an ‘Event Hit List’, listing events which you would like to complete in the short term and then the long term. Here is my Event Hit List:

Short Term

• Run a Marathon - The London Marathon (Loved VLM 2010 so much I am going back for more this year!)
• Open Water Swim – Bournemouth to Brighton Pier to Pier Swim
• Complete a Duathlon
• Complete a Triathlon  (As soon as I get my road bike through, this one will be getting crossed out!)

Long Term

• Run a Marathon Overseas (I love the idea of running through New York or Boston)
• Run an Ultra-Marathon
• Complete an Iron-Man

I believe that lists should always evolve, because our personal goals do, but there is never a better time to get started than the present. Whether you have never run a mile, or are an experienced marathon runner, there is an event out there for you. It is worth going to find it!

Triathlons, Ultra-Marathons and Iron-Mans: Welcome to the Endurance Age is a post from: LMD Fitness Thank you for subscribing to receive rule free fitness updates from LMD FITNESS

Further Reading:

1. 2010 Virgin London Marathon: “Yo Adrian – I did it!”
2. How to Carry out your Post-Event Analysis
3. The 1 Month Taper Plan

When it comes to keeping fit, I have always been a ‘Jack of all trades’, Master of None. This bugged me for a long time because I found it difficult to make any real gains in one activity/sport without devoting all of my time to it. Now though, with a sub-3 hour marathon under my belt and triathlon events in my sights, I believe that we should all avoid ‘compartmentalising’ our fitness regimes because as humans, we are built to be the ‘Jack of all Trades’.

If Your Training Plan Is As Sectionalised As These Fields, Maybe You Need To Rethink Your Approach

Doug Wilson: USDA/ARS

What is ‘Compartmentalising’ and why do we do it?

In my view, compartmentalising is the act of perceiving different activities as being entirely separate from one another. For some reason, we often split our fitness regimes but forget that cycling is linked to lifting weights, rowing, or even walking. Recently, a friend told me that he was entering an open water swim and asked if I would like to join. I said yes because I love the challenge of an event and swimming a race in the sea was something unknown to me. Then, by habit, my compartmentalising thought process began and I started to plan the next few months of training, revolving all around swimming. To swim better I have to train more in the pool I thought. This if of course truth in this approach and I am now swimming multiple times in a week, but my perception is different. Instead of thinking of my swimming training as being a separate activity to my run to work, or my weights session, I look at them all as one. So by ‘compartmentalising’, I mean that it is more of a mental approach as oppose to how you practically set up your training program, though one will affect the other.

Humans are all Multisport Athletes

Whilst a small minority of us chose to spend our lives dedicated to one disciple, such as a professional Olympic lifter, it cannot be denied that we are all multisport athletes inside. Of course we become better at one discipline if we focus our energy on it but I believe that it is in our primal nature to be all-rounders. Our ancestors made full use of their physical prowess, running, jumping, lifting, and so on.

As I am going to do an open water swim, it is of course necessary for me to include swimming in my training but following my marathon success, I have learnt that I do not need to solely focus on becoming a good swimmer to succeed. I am taking a more holistic approach. I want to view my training simply as activity. Swimming is an activity, much like lifting weights in the gym. The two activities may yield different results but we don’t have to just be devoted to one. If like me, you have always dabbled in various activities, then view that positively, as oppose to thinking, if only I had specialised a bit more…Are humans really supposed to specialise?

Ways to De-compartmentalise

You have to de-compartmentalise at a mental level first and foremost, so that you honestly view your physical activities holistically, as part of your existence as a human being. This sounds a bit woolly and it is but once you accept it in your mind, no physical activity will ever be seen to be a waste of time to you. You can then work on putting the approach into practice…

• Build variety into your workout plan even if you are training for a specific event. It’s good to still lift weights if you are training for a running race. Variety can help avoid injury, and keep you focused on your goals!

• Avoid training for one activity for 6 weeks then jumping to another and losing all progress made in activity number one. A decathlete wouldn’t over focus on one event for too long…

• Learn to view all activities as equal. Walking is just as much an activity as swimming or cycling.

What do you think? Is it better to focus on one discipline, like adding 10kg to your bench press, and then move on to your next goal, or do you want to look at the big picture???

How To Simplify Your Fitness Regime is a post from: LMD Fitness Thank you for subscribing to receive rule free fitness updates from LMD FITNESS

Further Reading:

1. The Benefits of Group Exercise to Smash Your Fitness Goals With Others
2. Give Hiking a Go with Gelert
3. Training on an Empty Tank

AS ROCKY BALBOA ONCE SAID – “I DID IT!”

With 36,000 others, I ran 26.2miles through the streets of London to complete my first ever marathon.

Time – 02:58:40

Distance - 26.2 miles

Calories burnt - About 3,000

Best moment - Proposing to my girlfriend on LIVE TV!

I wont recall my marathon tale now because I have already done so on my guest post at JCD Fitness.

Read My MarathonSuccess Story!

I feel like I’ve reached the end of one journey and now it is time to start another. I’m not saying that I’ve got the endurance bug because I know first hand, how demanding these events can be but as so many others do, I also thrive on having a set goal in front of me.

My main piece of advice now – Set your goal, Train hard for it, Achieve it!

Please feel free to contact me if you wish to ask any other marathon related quesitons

2010 Virgin London Marathon: “Yo Adrian – I did it!” is a post from: LMD Fitness Thank you for subscribing to receive rule free fitness updates from LMD FITNESS

Further Reading:

1. 2010 Virgin London Marathon Training – PART I: Is It Good For You?
2. 2010 Virgin London Marathon Training – PART III: The Before and After
3. 2010 Virgin London Marathon Training – PART II: A Rule Free Approach