Never Give Up

How are your goals that you set at the beginning of the year going so far?

Did you write them down on paper or did you just set them in your mind?

Your goals are there to make improvements to whichever aspect of your life you feel needs enhancing, developing or changing.



You’re human so if you’ve found yourself sliding away from your desired outcome then don’t worry, don’t beat yourself up and don’t give up.

Sit back, reassess and begin again. Do not let the bumps in the road discourage you to the point of giving up!

Working your way through the rough patches will actually make you stronger and help get you back on the right track.

You may want to think about the goals you’ve set yourself, are they realistic?

Are they truly achievable or have you made them so big that you’ve set yourself up for failure? It happens; it’s your subconscious fear holding you back from actually succeeding in moving beyond your comfort zone.

There’s no point in having a list of goals where only half are achievable, don’t set yourself up for failure at such an early stage and certainly don’t give up. Set yourself little goals that are totally achievable, give yourself regular pats on the back and then set yourself slightly more challenging goals, push harder to achieve those and then go for the big ones!

96% of people, who say they want to lose weight in their new year’s resolutions, unfortunately don’t end up achieving their goal.

This is because they haven’t planned exactly how they are going to lose weight, how much they want to lose and by when.

Planning for success is vital, relaying on lady luck rarely gets you anywhere at all.

It’s all about you, your passion, your determination and your desire.

Sometimes it can seem easier for you to give up on your goals rather than realising that they are a work in progress. If you want to change anything in your life it takes time and effort and the true test is, stamina, how much do you want it and how much are you willing to give.

An important thing for you to remember is that life is not measured by how many times you fall down, but by the way you pick yourself back up and carry on.



Every negative experience will help you grow as a person and no negative experience should ever stop you from going out and living your life to the absolute fullest.

Never give up on your goals and dreams, whether they are be big or small, even when life is tough. Life goes too quickly to sit around too long allowing your excuses to hold you back.

2012 is about achieving your dreams, so don’t give up. Go out there and grab the life that you want with both hands and don’t let go!

Achieving Your Goals in 2012

Well we're now almost at the end of January.

Have you written a list of New Year resolutions that you can look back over the year and mark off as you accomplish each one?



I know I have, in fact I have 8 goals that I want to achieve by the end of 2012.

Achieving your goals in 2012 isn't as hard as you may think

For me as I’ve got older, my goals are SMART goals.

What I mean is:

S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Timely

That’s absolutely no point in writing down that I want to fly to the moon by the end of 2012, because you know what, it isn’t going to happen.

SMART goals are achievable goals that you can set yourself over the whole of 2012.

So, if you want to run a marathon this coming summer than you need to plan each individual step, how often you need to train each week, how you progress to eventually being able to run that marathon, how you need to eat, how often you should eat, what you should eat and how you will need to up your calorie intake to cope with the amount of training that you will be doing.

The same applies if you want to lose 20 pounds, how are you going to get there? Don’t just say that I want to lose 20 pounds this year, set yourself weekly, monthly goals and an exact time frame of when you want to achieve your weight loss by. How many times each week are you going to workout, what program are you going to use, obviously your now shouting The Flat Stomach Solution, in that case you would definitely have hit your weight loss goal within 12 weeks….

Can you see what I’m saying here, planning and setting yourself SMART goals is the way that you are going to achieve your goals.

My suggestion to you now is choose 5-10 New Year’s resolutions that are achievable and start planning how you’re going to achieve them. Take it individual one and write a detailed plan of action.
Using the SMART system to achieve your goals can work in every area of your life.

Don’t wait for life to happen, chase it!

Here's to an amazing new year, may it be filled with happiness, success and love.

The Golden Globe Awards and Charlize Theron

The 69th annual Golden Globes awards are back!

It seems only yesterday that Natalie Portman won a Golden Globe for her role in the Black Swan, which was such an amazing (and slightly disturbing) film.

This year we have another beautiful actress that has been nominated for her role in Young Adults.

I’ve just watched the trailer and it looks so funny, definitely looking forward to it coming over here to the UK and fingers crossed for Charlize when she attends the Golden Globe Awards that she walks away with one. I especially love this actress because she’s a spokesperson for PETA and does so much work for charities around the world.

Charlize Theron has starred in many great films from Monster in 2003 to North Country. Her transformation for Monster was incredible, with this movie she portrayed notorious Florida prostitute/serial killer Aileen Wuornos, executed for seven murders in 2002 , she had to gain a large amount of weight, not because her character was overweight but so it would make her look strong and powerful. Although when you see her on the big screen you would think that her character was tall but amazingly enough she was only 5ft 3 and Charlize is 5ft 10.

I have to admit that one of my favourite adverts at the moment here in the UK is the j'adore advert, take a look below if you haven’t already seen it.



Well, back to the Golden Globe Awards and Charlize’s workouts that keep her looking sexy and hot.

This South African stunner says she enjoys working out and is a trained ballet dancer. Skating, yoga and cycling can also be added to her list of activities that she enjoys.

It’s great to hear that she uses weights to workout. To get the Charlize Theron body you too should be mixing up your workouts, include not only Metabolic Circuit Training and interval training but throw in some yoga, hiking and cycling.

Getting ready for the Golden Globe Awards should definitely include Metabolic Circuit Training as it’s the most amazing complete form of exercising it combines the benefits of resistance training and cardio training in one complete package. Alternating between upper body and lower body exercises challenges your body from all angles.

Studies have shown that after you finish working out your ‘metabolism’ can remain elevated for up to 36 hours. Metabolic Circuit Training is so time efficient that you can complete a total body workout in 30 minutes.

As we can see just by looking at Charlize she has a huge amount of lean muscle that makes her look incredible and that’s what my Metabolic Circuit Training does for you.

Metabolic Circuit training can be used if you are a beginner or an advanced exerciser.

Here’s a taster of my special Golden Globe Awards Metabolic Circuit Training workout that I would have Charlize perform.



Warm up

Jump Rope or Run on the spot for 5 minutes
Bodyweight Squats – 8 reps
Push ups – 6 reps

Metabolic Circuit Training Workout

DB Squat – 15 reps
Decline Push-Ups – 12 reps
DB Stiff Leg Dead lift – 15 reps
Elevated Row – 12 reps
Jump Lunges – 15 reps each leg
Cross Body Mountain Climbers – 30 seconds
Split Squats – 15 reps each leg
Plyometric Push-Ups – 12 reps

Rest for 1 minute and repeat the entire Metabolic Circuit 3 more times

After she had finished this she would know that she’d worked her entire body.

Don’t just leave this workout for Charlize Theron, try it for yourself.

There’s only one thing left to say, good luck to Charlize at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday.

Losing Body Fat Fast

Losing body fat fast is so important to every woman

Wouldn't you agree?

As women we tend to want it to happen now, rather than wait.

Well one of the best ways to losing body fat fast is....

Interval training and high intensity interval training (HIIT) because these are the best ways to lose body fat fast.

You continue to burn body fat long after you’ve finished your workout. How cool is THAT!

These types of workouts are little gems in the world of fat burning and fitness.

Interval training is short bursts of high intensity work followed by a short rest period; for example 30 seconds of running / walking at a fast pace followed by 1 minute of a slow walk to recover. Complete this 10 x and there you have your cardio workout completed.

High intensity interval training (HIIT) is generally used if you’re a more intermediate to advanced exerciser. For example 30 seconds sprinting uphill as fast as you possibly can followed by a 30 second slow walk recovery. Complete this 15 – 20 x and you’re done.

I have to say though to lose body fat fast you really don’t have to do the usual walking, running, sprinting, cycling or rowing when you want to do interval training.

There are so many other ways that you can utilise these little gems….

Jump Squats
Skipping
Skaters
Jump Squats
Burpees

The timing stays the same, for both the interval training and the HIIT.

The beauty of these alternative exercises are that you can do them absolutely anywhere; in your home, hotel room, garden, park, office, rest room (if you dare)….

All you need is a timer, that’s it.

Its fantastic how you can adapt the majority of workouts to suit you, not everything has to be done by the book.

So, next time you’re thinking how can I lose body fat fast perhaps for an event or because you really want to make some changes to your lifestyle and NOW. Then try one of my alternative interval training or HIIT workouts, and you’ll lose the extra body fat fast!

Sports Women in Afghanistan

As I'm currently packing up my house, ready for my move I decided to take a short weekend break to my parents house in the country.

It was wonderful to spend time with my parents but also with the 4 dogs and cat, and of course taking some much needed timeout!

On Saturday morning Tilly and I were reading together on the bed (Tilly’s the cat by the way, rescued by me a year ago from a life on the streets and then taken to live with my parents). These days Tilly is especially into her health and fitness, after spending the first year of her young life eating scraps or any kind of foods she could get her little paws on.



She now likes to read my fitness magazines (or sit on them!), eats a well-balanced nutritious diet and stays active.

No more scraps for Tilly…

Well done to you Tilly for taking such a keen interest in your nutrition and health :)

The article we were just reading together was about sports women in Afghanistan, infact a women's football team in Afghanistan and how they have to overcome so many obstacles including their own families and friends for their right to do something they love.

It’s hard enough being a woman and wanting to play football in this country, let alone in a place like Afghanistan which is something women in the western world will never have to endure.

Afghan women only began to play sports four years after the fall of the Taliban in 2005.

It was only when the women’s minister for Afghanistan went to Germany and was so amazed by the support for women’s sport that she asked the German government for assistance to help get Afghan’s started on the road to introducing women’s sport into her country.

Unfortunately not all students find it easy to play football in their own school as they are told ‘Sports are for sluts’.

It’s unbelievable what these women have to go through….

Yet they continue...

even though they are threatened with violence if they carry on!

Whilst the Taliban were in power, women were required to wear burkas that covered their faces and bodies. Although the Taliban are no longer in power there are still restrictions on what women can wear and the photos of the players are shown with them still covering their heads with scarves, long sleeved shirts and tracksuit bottoms.



They are always careful to prevent any hair or flesh showing.

The football team recently went to Bangladesh for a football match and there they could push up their sleeves, not caring what they looked like.

One particular quote I loved was from a woman called Sabra….

‘When we went to Bangladesh it was like flying, we were like birds, I was jumping, I was running hard, I was playing. I was not afraid; this was my time to enjoy.

This brought tears to my eyes, as a western woman I couldn’t imagine what they must go through, the restraints that are put on their lives.

I do believe we have to sit back every so often and realise what we have and how lucky we are to have the lives that we want.

The only restraints we face are the ones we place on ourselves.

The majority of us aren’t threatened with violence and verbally abused if we want to go for a run or play a game of baseball with our friends.

We are allowed to get on with our lives and generally live them as we see fit.

These women are women to be admired; they continue to fight for what they believe in and follow their passion every day of their lives.

Which to me is incredible…

**As I mentioned I will be moving house soon, so look out for a guest post from Tilly at the end of August.