• People try to go onto any ‘fad diet’ they can get their hands on, nothing beats clean healthy unprocessed foods. We have so much variety of fresh fruit and veggies at this time of year
• People start out to hard too fast with the training and end up getting injured. Pace yourself and build into the program.
• Most leave it too late… make the start NOW to make it all easier to achieve your fitness goals
 
What are ideal kinds of physical activities/exercise for spring here in Canberra?

• Anything outdoors. It is a beautiful time of year for outdoor training of any description (Boot Camp, running groups, bike riding, tennis etc)
• An movement will get the natural endorphins running and the desire to do more will increase naturally.
• Look for things that you as an individual enjoy ( too many to list here)
• Ideally you have a mix of some sort of strength training for healthy muscle tone, bone density and to aid in burning up unwanted bodyfat, along with a variety of cardiovascular training to help ward off any unwanted diseases, increase heart and lung health and of course burn up the fat.

How important is it to find an activity you actually enjoy?

• It is vital to find something you enjoy. If not you will get bored or frustrated very quickly and end up giving up ( as it is only about 7 – 9% of the population will make a start to a Spring Fitness Regime. Then only about 3 – 5% will stick to it), so it is vital to find activities that you enjoy to prolonge your fitness endevours.

What are the pros and cons of exercising with a friend?
Pros
• Accountability to that friend
•  more fun exercising with a friend
• Push each other harder
• Brings out the competitive spirit
Cons
• Reliability (having to meet them and they don’t turn up)
• May not train as hard as you do
• Might be more of a distraction/hinderance than help to your training
• Different levels of fitness (you might have to wait for them or vise versa)
8. How can people stay motivated to be physically active?
• Pretty much all the points above
• But people really need to find something they enjoy. Over time it will become a habit for them and they will just make it part of their busy life and schedule.
• Set your training around a time that is suitable. Don’t set the alarm for 5am if you are not a morning person, because you will be just kidding yourself and fall off the wagon quicker than you got on!!
• Join a group of likeminded people in your area. You will be more likely to stay physically active if you are with a group of people that are also working on the same goals.

2. Eight Steps for Getting Ready for Spring/Summer
•Step 1- Set Small Goals (S.M.A.R.T - specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely)

The first thing you need to do before you start your spring fitness routine is to set goals, and clearly state what you want to accomplish. You should have multiple small goals that build up to your main goal. For example, if you want to lose 5kg, or run for 30 minutes, set small goals such as, lose ½ a kilo a week or run for 10 minutes a day and increase your run time by one minute each day. Write down your goals and post them somewhere very visible, such as your bathroom mirror or refrigerator.

•Step 2- Prepare

Prepare yourself for success. If you are going to start a fitness routine you need to set aside a period of time each day that you will dedicate to your fitness routine, ease into the program if you haven’t trained in the Winter Months

•Step 3 – Spring Clean

Go through the fridge and throw out the junk food, stock your refrigerator with healthy food, start drinking plenty of water, buy a new pair of running shoes, or do whatever you need to do to prepare so that you can attain your personal goals.

Step 4 - Routine

Plan your fitness routine. What exactly are you going to do each day to work towards your spring fitness goals? Write down your planned fitness routine, so that you can follow it. Be very detailed by writing down what exercise you will do each day, and how long you will maintain it.

•Step 4- Initiate

Initiate your spring fitness routine. Just set a day, date and time. Start exercising and eating healthy each day as you have outlined in your planned fitness routine. The hardest part can be just getting to the gym or taking the first step of your walk or run, but once you get going you will be glad that you initiated your workout.

•Step 5- Write it all Down

Dedicate a special notebook to the notation of your workout and food each day. Your notebook will serve as your accountability and your progress tracker. Write down what you do for exercise each day in your notebook, and how long you work out for. Add any other details that you want to keep track of. You should also keep a food log in your notebook. Studies have shown that people that write down what they eat each day lose more weight than people who don’t keep track. You may also want to write your goals in your notebook.

•Step 6- Keep Setting Goals and look back weekly

If you set appropriate goals, prepare adequately, design a feasible routine, initiate your fitness routine each day, and take proper notation, you will begin to accomplish your small goals, and then your large goals. Each time you attain a goal, set a new goal. Stay focused on your goals and you will be successful in your spring fitness venture.

• Step 7 – Find a fitness friend

Look for a friend that is keen to also get ready for Spring and Summer. There is nothing better than a bit of accountability to someone else.

• Step 8 – Have Fun

Whatever you decide to do just make sure you have doing it… It is the time to get outdoors and enjoy the wonderful time of year.

P.S. Don’t be too late and miss out on your opportunity for our fantastic outdoor Spring Boot Camp Canberra season starting soon. Send us a message in the contact us section at the top of this page to register today, but hurry there are only limited spots available….

The Succeed Team

Just to give you an update we have raised in the vicinty of $23,000 for Cystic Fibrosis at the 2010 Succeed & LJ Hooker Charity Ball.

A huge thank you to all the 514 people that were in attendance and helped support such a worthy cause.

Again a massive thank you to all the sponsors for your kind support this year. Stay tuned for a spiel on each company, we would appreciate you get behind them at any opportunity.

Here is a link to a heap of great photos taken of the night:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?aid=472428&id=720720042

Mark your calender NOW: We have already booked for the 2011 ball. Here are the details : Hellenic Club, Sat 6th August.

I huge thank you to all the sponsors and supporters of the 2010 Succeed Charity Gala Ball. It was a huge success and like myself I am sure you all had a fantastic night.

As soon as I have the total raised on the night I will let you know.

One thing I can say is that my head only stopped hurting on Monday morning and I am never drinking AGAIN… (until the ball next year).

I will post some photos up in the next few days, but in the meantime head here for a glimpse of the night:

http://www.picturesystems.com/eventpix2/findpicture.cfm?rollnumber=0&eventid=1223&subeventid=5806&StartPage=1

Also huge thank you to all the 182 + people that came and supported the Bootcamp that Shannan Ponton and I ran in the morning. It was an amzing show of people (far more than we could have imagined).

We raised just over $2000 from the Bootcamp, which will go a long way at ‘The Special Care’ Nursery at John James Hospital to purchase a new humidy crib. So a huge thank you to all those that donated for such a worthy cause.

Also a huge thank you to my good friend Shannan Ponton for kindly giving up his time to run the Bootcamp with me, thanks mate (still not sure why everyone wanted photos with you and I get thrown in the mud…)

Here is a bit of footage:

P.S. please email me any photos you took…

Scott Williams

I was on a weekend trip with some friends down the coast  recently, and one of my friends was cooking breakfast for us. As always I was particularly hungry on this morn so I went over to see what he was cooking and saw he was getting ready to make a big batch of ham and eggs.

Well, to my shock, I noticed that he was cracking the eggs open and separating the egg whites into a bowl and throwing  the egg yolks out. I asked him why he was throwing out the egg yolks, and he replied…

“because the egg yolks are bad for you…that’s where all the fat and cholesterol is”.

And I replied, “you mean that’s where all of the nutrition is!”

This is a perfect example of how confused most people are about nutrition. In a world full of misinformation about nutrition, somehow most people now mistakenly think that the egg yolk is the worst part of the egg, when in fact, the YOLK IS THE HEALTHIEST PART OF THE EGG!

By throwing out the yolk and only eating egg whites, you’re essentially throwing out the most nutrient dense, antioxidant-rich, vitamin and mineral loaded portion of the egg. The yolks contain B-vitamins, trace minerals, vitamin A, folate, choline, lutein, and other powerful nutrients… it’s not even worth trying to list them all.

In fact, the egg whites are almost devoid of nutrition compared to the yolks.

Even the protein in egg whites isn’t as powerful without the yolks to balance out the amino acid structure and make the protein more bio-available. Not to even mention that the egg yolks from free range chickens are loaded with healthy omega-3 fatty acids (the good fats).

Yolks contain more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid of the egg. In addition, the yolks contain ALL of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in the egg, as well as ALL of the essential fatty acids (EFAs).

And now the common objection I get all the time when I say that the yolks are the most nutritious part of the egg…

“But I heard that whole eggs will skyrocket my cholesterol through the roof”

No, not true!!

When you eat a food that contains a high amount of dietary cholesterol such as eggs, your body regulates it’s internal production of cholesterol to balance things out.

On the other hand, if you don’t eat enough cholesterol, your body simply produces more since cholesterol has dozens of important vital functions in the body.

And here’s where it gets even more interesting…

There have been plenty of studies lately that indicate that eating whole eggs actually raises your good HDL cholesterol to a higher degree than LDL cholesterol, thereby improving your overall cholesterol ratio and blood chemistry.

In addition, the yolks contain the antioxidant lutein as well as other antioxidants which can help protect you from inflammation within your body (the REAL culprit in heart disease, not dietary cholesterol!), giving yet another reason why the yolks are actually GOOD for you, and not detrimental.

So I hope we’ve established that whole eggs are not some evil food that will wreck your body… instead whole eggs are FAR superior to egg whites.

The healthy fats in the egg yolks help to maintain a good level of fat-burning hormones in your body.

Overall, this means that the extra fats (healthy fats) and calories from the yolk are so nutrient-dense that they actually HELP you to burn off body fat!

Scott Williams

Succeed Personal Development

As most of you know, my wife and I have just had our 2nd child Oliver (photo below), and we nearly lost him in the first few weeks of his life. Thanks to the tirelss efforts of many Dr’s and nurses, Ollie pulled through and is getting bigger and stronger everyday… 

Hanging with my big sister

So this Saturday 14th August, Mr Shannan Ponton (instructor on The Biggest Loser), has been kind enough to donate his time to come and teach a Boot Camp Fitness Session in Canberra at Tugg Town Park at 10am.

Cost is $10 per person or child, with ALL proceeds going to John James Hospital to fund another humidy crib for the kids that might end up in Ollie’s position.

We love for as many of you to attend as possible and help us raise much needed funds for such an important machine to help keep the kids Alive. Here is where you money will be going (photo of Ollie in the crib):

This is what your kind donations will buy...

I would like to thank Shannan for giving up his time FREE of charge to help raise the money.

For those attending the Succeed Gala Ball on the same night it is a great opportunity to get an advance on calories that we will consume during the night!!!

Details:

When: Saturday 14th August @ 10am

Where: Tuggeranong Town Park, Bartlett Place

Cost: $10 (or more if you feel you can afford it)

Hope to see you all at Tugg Town Park at 10am.

Scott Williams

He is

What is more effective?? Doing cardio workouts or weight training for losing fat…
 
In this post I am hoping to get you thinking differently, and trying new things.

Do you really need cardio training to get lean and in great shape?

Most fitness trainers, weekend warriors, or anyone trying to get in shape or lose body fat, consider it a fact that they need “cardio” exercise to burn up their fat and attain their these goals. They would never even question it.

In fact, you may be surprised to know that some of the leanest people I know (men and women), NEVER do any type of normal or traditional cardio. And I’ve spent over 15 years working out in various gyms in Australia, and hanging out with athletes of all sorts, so I’ve seen it all.

I will say that there can be a place for low-moderate level cardio for really overweight or deconditioned people, but even in those cases, there can be more effective methods.

What do most see “Cardio” as?

Most people would consider cardio to be riding to knowhere on a bike, or running on a treadmill, or cruising on an elliptical strider, while watching the TV screen at their state of the art gym. This is what I call “traditional cardio”. No wonder the majority of people get bored with their workouts and give up after a couple months without seeing results. On Average about 70% of people that take out a gym membership never use it more than a dozen times in a year.

But, “cardio” exercise can be considered any type of exercise or activity that strengthens the cardiovascular system. To keep it simple, if it gets your heart pumping, and gets you huffing and puffing, it’s cardio. I don’t care if you’re holding dumbbells or a barbell and everyone calls it a weight training exercise…it’s still conditioning your heart.

Let’s take a look at a couple examples:

 Take a barbell  clean & press for example (of which many of you have seen me do plenty of), which involves lifting a barbell from the floor up to shoulders, then push pressing overhead. And listen up ladies, because even though this is usually seen as a manly exercise, it doesn’t matter if you’re not lifting 100kg; if 15kg is challenging to you, then you will still benefit just as much.

At first glance, most people think of the barbell C&P only as a weight training exercise or strength exercise. However, I challenge you to do a hard set of around 15-20 reps on the C&P. If you used a challenging enough weight, what you’ll find is that your heart rate is probably up to about 80-90% of your recommended max (get a HR monitor and try it), and you are huffing and puffing like you just ran a 100-meter sprint (which by the way, sprinting kicks the crap out of jogging any day if you want the easiest way to lose the flab).

Try the same thing for a set of 20 reps of one-arm swings with each arm with a kettlebell or dumbbell, and tell me your legs aren’t burning, heart racing, and you’re gasping for breath. How about trying 5 minutes straight of bodyweight squats, lunges, and pushups with no rest. Again, notice your heart pounding, sweat pouring off of you, and chest heaving for breaths!

Try and tell me you’re not conditioning your heart with this style of training!

Conventional trainers and thinking says that these are weight training or strength training exercises. However, they are fulfilling your cardio workout needs as well (saving you time!).

Not only do you save time, but you strengthen and condition almost every muscle in your entire body with these full body functional movements if you do them with enough intensity…some thing that can’t be said for that boring stationary bike ride or treadmill jaunt while reading or watching TV.

Gone are the days of the boring 90 minute gym sessions. Doing one set and talking to your mates for three minutes before you do your next set. If you can sit and talk you are not training hard enough!

Work hard, get in, get out and see the fat just melting off you..

So what do I recommend??

Group sessions like: Boot Camp, Crossfit, Boxing, or find a very experienced trainer in your area to help you out with a program.

For those in Canberra that have never tried a session, you can come for FREE to one of our Boot Camps and get a feel of what it is really like. For the month of August we have $50 off our Boot Camp program so why not make it NOW to make the change?

Simply go to the contact us section above and leave your email and location.

Scott Williams

For all those that have missed out, we do apologise. We are no longer taking any names as we already have 11 + people on a waiting list for tickets. You can however leave your details for next year’s Succeed Charity Ball…

Now to move onto a very big list of Sponsors and donating companies:

Major Sponsor

Robert Matheson and Frank Pompeani LJ Hooker Tuggeranong

Platinum Sponsor

• ACT Now Inspect

Gold Sponsors

• Michael - Trinity Law
• Southern Cross Ten
• Chris  - Opportune Home Loans
• Paul - Independent Building Solutions
• Janice - Get Realty
• Abdullah – Little Istanbul Restaurant
• Ali – Black Pepper restaurant
• Marita and Greg – Inland Trading

Other Thankyou’s

• Shannan Ponton and Sam Rouen
• Letitia and Crew – Ignition
• 3D Sound
• Paula Matheson
• Helping Hand – running of the auction and providing the great items
• Dave Hohnke – MC services
• Leanne  - our admin guru
• Club Lime
• Alive Health Clubs
• Past and present Bootcamp and PT clients….

LISA AND THE GREAT STAFF AT THE HELLENIC CLUB!

I will do a separate post on each company in the next few weeks, so please ensure you support any of these companies that have been kind enough to support the Succeed Charity Gala Ball and Cystic Fibrosis.

We look forward to seeing you all at the ball next Saturday night. For all of our Boot Camp and Personal Training clients that attend, we apologise in advance if we do not recognize you, as you look very different at 6am with no make up on, your hair not done, no beautiful dress (or suit) on.

We really only see you all in your natural beauty….

The Succeed Team

Believe in yourself despite setbacks, despite the seemingly immovable obstacles, despite the cold and dark, despite the woe and pain, and eventually your faith will come to fruition, and you will find all those troubles behind you.

The simplest thing in the world is to knock ourselves because we made a mistake, to give up and say, ‘I’m no good’, but the more difficult thing is to believe in ourselves and constructively continue our life. The greatest error in life is to downgrade ourselves. The most horrible tragedies in life have occurred from a lack of faith in one’s own self, one’s own ability, from a belief that one cannot succeed and that failure is their sole lot in life.

There seems to be a self uncertainty that builds up in the mind every time one makes a mistake or fails to accomplish a task, and with every successive blunder the uncertainty grows stronger until one doubts one’s ability to do anything right. Being human we are host to a number of frailties, each one of which can disturb and depress us, and makes us doubt our worth. We are not a mechanically precise machine, we are a bundle of nerves which often tangle and get jangled, but are capable of amazing performance.

We have more strength than we believe, there is more fight within us than we know and far more potential than we could ever call forth or even dream of being possible.

Author Unknown

Most of you already know my stance that artificial sweeteners are pretty much one of the most evil things you can put in your body.

I have been offering quite a bit of nutritional guidance recently and people  seem to be confused about what to use to sweeten their coffee and other food and drink.

The less of any sweetener you can use, the better… consider how much work has gone into making a little tablet to make something sweet… it has been very heavily processed. If you can slowly over time adjust your taste buds to enjoy the natural taste of foods and drink without the need for heavily sweetening them, you’ll see many benefits for your body.

However, this leaves the question… If I really want to at least use a little sweetener, what should I use?

The easy answer is that a natural honey source is better for you than refined sugar. Keep in mind that they are both calorie dense and eating large amounts of honey will still make you deposit body fat, but at least it is natural.

However, refined sugar is devoid of nutrition and using it actually makes your body use up stored nutrients to process it.

Honey on the other hand has many beneficial nutrients, enzymes, and antioxidants… raw honey is best (find a bee keeper in your area) or you can find raw honey at certain health food stores. Stuff from Woolies or Coles has generally been processed and typical honey from these stores, processing destroys most of the enzymes and antioxidants that give the benefits.  I won’t use any honey other than raw honey.

In fact, I don’t use refined sugar for anything at all. It’s either raw honey, pure maple syrup (not fake corn syrup), or stevia for all of my sweetening needs.  Those are better choices than processed sugar or artificial sweeteners.

You can find Stevia located in the Sweetner section of your local supermarket. It is a complete natural product.

Check out this post I did with some scary facts on suger:
http://www.succeed.com.au/2010/01/can-you-handle-the-truth-about-sugar/

Scott Williams
CEO, Succeed Personal Development
Canberra, Australia