Wednesday, September 19, 2007

I'm Baaaack!

Yes, it's true.

After nearly 2 months on family vacation in Australia and Thailand, the Moy's are back in town! : )

And what a fantastic break we had too.

We travelled all over the Northern territories, saw Kakadu national park, Katherine Gorge, Uluru, Kata Tjuta, The Devil's Marbles and much more before heading over to Queensland and spending some amazing time in the Jungle around cape tribulation.

(Of course, during the trip I fell 15ft off of a waterfall and broke 4 ribs and dislocated my wrist, but that's another matter)

Then we were of to Thailand for 3 wonderful weeks in Phuket, soaking up rays and just chillin' out... wow!

But then, as always, it's back to reality huh?

It's back to the realisation that 2 months of painkillers and alcohol cocktails to deaden the pain of my broken ribs, along with reduced movement for the same reason and, well, I've gotten pretty out of shape... for me at least.

Everything softened up and a few extra pounds found their way into the waistline of trousers.

Not good.

But it's not just me.

On talking with many clients at my studios who've just recently returned from their own vacations, they report the same.

The attack of the holiday blob-monster!

Well, if you can sympathise and you're ready to do something to get back into great shape then keep on reading........

3 Simple Rules To Get You Back Into Shape
After Your Summer Holiday


So, it’s the end of your holiday and it’s time to return to the UK.

You pack your suitcase and leave your travelling clothes on the bed and take your final shower before handing over your room keys for the last time.

Finally dry, you slip into the clothes you’ve chosen for your journey home (the same ones you wore to travel out in) and find that the flab monster has paid you yet another visit.

Thighs that once slipped comfortably into your jeans are now bulging at the seams and you have a new and improved pair of love-handles perched cosily on top of your waistband.

Yep, summer has struck again!

Does this sound familiar to you?

I bet it does!

In fact, if you’re anything like most of the clients I train then you’ll definitely relate to the above scenario and you’ll understand exactly what I’m talking about.

Two weeks of spending most of your waking hours lying on a sun-bed by the pool or at the beach and adding insult to injury by consuming countless ice-creams, cocktails and beer can really wreak havoc with your figure.

And even worse, if you’re not careful, you can find that all of the blubber you’ve gained becomes a permanent feature of your physique.

Now, ideally you’d avoid this scenario entirely by staying active and eating well yet sensibly during your hols (I’ve already written several articles that tell you how to do this) but if its too late for that then stay with me because I’m about to share one of the simplest yet most highly effective ‘Give me my body back’ programmes that, if followed to the letter, will have you looking and feeling better than ever.


The programme is divided into 3 simple rules that, if followed individually, produce great results for those who stick to them. When all 3 are followed, the programme becomes more powerful than you could possibly imagine (Sorry, Darth Vader moment there).

For that reason I advise you to abide by the rules I’m setting to the letter. Don’t pick and choose the bits you like and discard the rest or you’ll be cheating yourself of amazing results.

OK, enough buildup. You ready?

Rule One: Follow an Elimination Diet For A Minimum of 14 Days

Let’s face it, one of the reasons that holidays are such fun is that we can let our hair down and do the things we don’t normally do when we’re at home. In fact, it’s the main reason we go on the things isn’t it?.

Yet daily consumption of alcohol, ice-creams, desserts and other ‘goodies’ that we’d normally reserve as an occasional treat back home can really take its toll on our metabolism and our immune system (not to mention our figures). This is why we’ll often get a cold or feel ‘run down’ when we return from hols.

So before we pay attention to anything else we’re going to treat our body to a little of what it needs; supportive nutrition.

By supportive nutrition I mean that we’ll only be providing our bodies with foods that support the metabolism and immune systems and avoid those things that tax and weaken them.

For 14 days I want you to avoid:

All alcohol – Yes it can make you feel good temporarily but it is quite simply a poison. Avoid it in all its forms.

Now, don’t give me all of the excuses why this isn’t possible. You’ve just spent every day of your holiday drinking, surely a couple of weeks off the sauce isn’t going to kill you?

All wheat and Gluten Products – Now, I know the academic jury is still out on this one but I guarantee you that if you avoid wheat and gluten you’ll drop pounds and feel better than you have in ages.

After training literally thousands of people, I can tell you that this one variable alone can make all the difference to helping people get the body’s they desire.

In a future article I’ll go into this a bit more for the benefit of the sceptics, but for now just take my word for it. Avoid everything and anything with wheat or gluten in in.

This includes pastries, bread, crackers most sauces and foods too many to mention.

All Processed Foods - Processing basically kills or denatures food to the extent that they become ‘non-foods’ that cost your system more to digest than they actually give you.

In addition, processing adds many undesirable elements to your food such as colourings and flavourings made from chemicals that are harmful to your system.

Again, I won’t get into that too much here but just take my word for it; avoiding processed goods from your diet will help you to create a great figure and feel great too.

So, if it’s tinned, freeze dried or has anything unpronounceable in its ingredients then don’t eat it.

Simple!

Rule Two: Drink a litre of water for every 50 pounds you weigh

Yes, I know the water thing has been done to death but bear with me on this for a minute.

Water is an absolutely critical component of achieving great health and the firm, toned and strong body that goes with it.

Decrease your hydration levels by just a percent or two and your metabolism changes dramatically causing you to react differently to the foods that you eat, hold more fat and stress your immune system.

This is not conducive to looking great!

Yet, the converse is also true too.

Maintaining optimal hydration has a positive impact on everything from metabolism and fat retention to immunity and general health. That’s why I want you to drink a litre for every 50lbs you weigh.

So, if you weigh ten stones or 140lbs then you should be drinking just under 3 litres of plain, clean water a day. This does not include tea, coffee or fruit juice (you shouldn’t be drinking tea and coffee anyway as they’re processed).

Now, I know that for many of you this will seem like a lot. I also know that some of you will retort with claims of over-hydration or the latest catchphrase ‘hyponatremia’.

To each I say ‘Rubbish’.

You WILL NOT over-hydrate or throw your electrolytes out of balance because you will be eating highly nutritious and mineral dense foods that will maintain everything in correct proportion.

If you find yourself rushing to the bathroom every five minutes then simply add the smallest pinch of pure sea salt (not table salt) to every litre you consume. (If you can taste it, you’ve used too much). This will help your body to better hold the fluids you need.

Make no mistake, hydration is the key to many, many vital functions that both keep you healthy and keep you looking your best. If you ignore this rule then you’ll NEVER reach the goals you’ve been setting yourself.

Rule Three: Perform Strength Exercise 5 Days a Week

As rare as it is these days to find people who exercise with any regularity, rarer still is it to find anyone, particularly women, who pays any real attention to strength training.

Big mistake!

You see, it’s your muscles that determine your body-shape, your muscles that consume most of the calories you eat and your muscles that make it possible for you to move and do the things you want to in life.

Yes, I know this is obvious but, like so many obvious things it is completely overlooked by most people who’re trying to get into shape.

Instead, most people I know, if they exercise at all, will begin a new programme of fitness by hitting every permutation of CV machine that the gym has to offer, running, cycling and step, step, stepping themselves into fatigued failure.

This is a complete no-no.

Not only will you get bored very quickly, but quite honestly, you’ll be killing off nearly all the benefits you’re trying to attain from training. In fact, you’ll be getting rid of the one thing you want to keep… Muscle!

Instead, I want you to exercise daily with strength exercises that challenge your muscular system. These will not only improve your strength and function but you’ll also improve your shape and burn more fat from your body than any CV machines ever would.

Which exercises?

Well, truth to tell, almost any exercises will do as long as they follow these basic rules:


They MUST be done with bodyweight or free weights (Barbells or dumbbells).

They should follow my 600 rule. That is, each exercise should use as many of the 600 muscles in your body at one time as possible. Exercises like squats, lunges, jumps, pushups, pull-ups, deadlifts, shoulder presses etc work best.

You should choose a load that is heavy. By heavy, I mean that you choose a weight that you could only lift for a maximum of 8-12 times.

You should never train to failure. Always keep a couple of reps ‘spare’ in each set by stopping the set before you really have to struggle.

I appreciate that this is a very different way of training for most women but nevertheless its effects are nothing short of dramatic! (take a look at http://www.lookgreatnakedchallenge.com/ for more ideas about how you should be training)

And no, you won’t get big or gain any ‘man muscles’.

On the contrary, this will make you more toned and ‘compact’ in your muscles than you’ve ever been before.


Well, there you have them. My ‘magic three’.

Now, don’t let the simplicity of each rule fool you into thinking that they won’t work. They will, and quite dramatically too if you stick to them for long enough.

In this case, I’m asking you to invest one month, four weeks or just 28 days in adopting these rules into your life. If you do, and you follow them unerringly, not only will you get your pre-holiday body back, but you’ll be in better shape than you have for ages.

In fact, I’m willing to do what no other personal trainer has ever done in an article before.

I’m willing to guarantee your results!

I want you to take measurements and, if possible, digital pictures every Monday for 4 weeks and send them to me at
dax@daxmoy.co.uk where I and my team will be keeping tabs on you.

At the end of 4 weeks I’ll judge the results personally and reward you for your efforts by presenting you with either a voucher for a £50 consultation with one of my highly qualified team of trainers at my studios in London or Potters Bar.


So what more do you need?

I’ve told you how to get into shape and I’ve offered you a great set of legitimate ‘bribes’ for doing so. All that’s left now is for you to actually do the work.

You ready?

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