So, today we focus on a few things you can do in order to keep on track during this time. I also have a really practical way to ensure you stick to these guidelines – a “holiday survival checklist” which you can download by clicking here

The checklist has 10 things for you to do. You can review your week against the checklist and if your goal is to maintain your weight then you need to score at least 5/10. If your goal is to lose weight or body fat, then you will need to score 8 or more out of 10 on the checklist.

The BIG Problem:

Let’s chat about the biggest mistake people make this time of year:

1. Missing your next workout
• we get too busy and we miss a workout
• then we fall into the “slippery slope mindset” where you miss a second workout and then you promise yourself you will start again next week
• Before you know it…the holidays are over, those workouts never ever happened and you have gained a few kilograms…

What to do about it:

Now, let’s chat about a great strategy to avoid this deadly trap:

1. Raise the level of accountability
• Get someone to exercise with
• A friend or family member is a great idea
• If you have them, you can even get your children to help keep you fit during the holidays
• my children help keep my wife and I fit during the holidays
  • Play tennis, Climb trees, Play on-on, Ride bikes, Play tickle monster and chase each other around the house, Jump on the trampoline
• Children have an incredible way of not letting you say no…so they can be a great way to keep you fit and active during the holidays

We are also launching our BootCampToGo program – where boot camp comes to you and this will have all the exercise workouts and workout music to get you the results you deserve in the new year…so go and sign up for the launch specials below:

Today we are looking at “Balancing your meals”.

You need to adopt a “balanced” approach to eating and ensure that your meals contain carbohydrates, proteins and fats. A simple approach to do this is to ensure that when you look at your plate you see:

• A good quality lean protein
• I like to distinguish great quality proteins like this: “If it had a face, a mother, ran, flew or swam at some stage in its life then it is a great quality source of protein” (eggs, fish, poultry, lamb, beef, etc.)
• A starchy carb:
• Potato, rice, pasta, bread, quinoa, cous cous
• I prefer the wholewheat options and try to eat my starchy carbs in the morning or after workouts when my body is primed to utilise the carbs better to replenish energy stores
• Lots of fibrous carbs:
• Vegetables and/or fruit
• It is important to include these at every meal and try to eat a “rainbow” of fruit and vegetables (all the colours)

It is important to eat a variety of foods – not just chicken breasts and vegetables!! Plan to include a few new foods each week or add a new food each day to keep it interesting.

I’ll be back soon with part 3 on How to Plan in order to ensure you have the right meals when you need them…

Our busy lifestyles often make it very difficult to do the planning and preparing necessary to get amazing results for weight loss, body fat loss and fitness improvements. Now, you just cannot out-exercise poor nutrition when it comes to sculpting the body you want.

Over the next 3 blog posts I will be giving you 3 great strategies you can utilise to maximise your results:

Today we are going to chat about “TIMING”. Timing your meals is a great way to boost your metabolism and ensure that you get great results in terms of weight loss and body fat loss. It can also ensure that you build that little bit of extra lean muscle to make you look and feel amazing!! So, here are 3 things you can do as regards “timing”:

Breakfast

• The most important meal of the day
• Eat this meal as close to when you wake up as possible
• It will boost your metabolism – it helps kickstart it for the day
• If you skip breakfast your metabolism slows, blood sugar drops  – you get hungry, low energy, you are more likely to store fat – and you are more likely to impulsively snack on the wrong foods later
• Research has also shown that people who skip breakfast are 4 and 1/2 times more likely to be obese; And it showed that people who lost 15kg and maintained it ate breakfast every day

Eat every 2 – 3 hours

• Eat one or two times per day and you are going to lose muscle and lower your metabolism
• There are also blood sugar fluctuations after about 3 hours (of not eating) and fluctuating blood sugar is not a great environment in your body for weight loss and body fat loss
• Aim for 5-6 meals per day – the more frequently you eat the more calories you burn – you’ll also maintain energy levels and help turn your body into a fat burning machine

Fuel your workout & Replenish your muscles

• If you’re working out hard, it makes sense to give your body what it needs to maximise the results before and after your workouts
• Yet many people exercise on an empty stomach and do not “refuel” after a workout
• Fuel your workout: small meal of complex carbs at least an hour before (bread & peanut butter, fruit and nuts, yoghurt, meal replacement shake)
• Replenish your muscles: eat a balanced meal 30-45 minutes after your workout (helps with recovery and muscle growth)

That’s it for now…I will be back with a post on “BALANCING” your meals and how this helps to ensure you get fantastic results…

But, the type of challenge I am about to share with you will also guarantee that you get extraordinary results with your health and fitness. Last year at boot camp we introduced a series of “Challenge Workouts”. You can read about one of them here.

Since then, I have watched many boot campers change their lives! We have had some of the best body transformations since I started my boot camp program over 4 years ago! People have lost weight, body fat, gained sexy lean muscle…and achieved all sorts of fitness and lifestyle goals.

It has been an incredible journey for them and me…

The reason why these “challenge workouts” have helped so much is because they help you to push the boundaries. They help you move to the next level…often beyond where you thought you could go. And in doing this, you don’t just improve your fitness and build a great body. What you do is remind yourself that when you decide to do something that you can actually do it!! And it is that simple lesson that starts to filter over into other areas of your life too…and that is when the best and most fulfilling changes happen…

So, start a challenge…and each time push beyond where you thought you could go and in the process you will become more than you ever thought you could…

Check out one of the challenge workouts that has been helping our boot campers by clicking here…and be sure to leave me your comments…

There are many ways to track your progress:

• scale weight, centimeter (circumference) measurements, fitness tests, body fat measurements, the way your clothes fit, and many more…

I quite like tracking body fat.

So, how do we do this?

There are some really fancy (and expensive) ways to do this that produce the most accurate results, including DEXA scans and Hydrostatic weighing. But, most of us do not have access to these fancy methods and need something that we can do ourselves and in the comfort of our own homes. So, here is my favourite:

Get yourself a tape measure and perform a few quick circumference measurements:

If you’re a guy:

• Neck
• Waist – this measurement is actually at your “Abdomen” (at belly button level)

If you’re a lady:

• Neck
• Waist (narrowest part – above your belly button)
• Hips (widest part)

You will also need your height in centimetres. Then simply feed that info into the calculator below.

Some would argue that it is not the most accurate predictor as it does not measure body fat directly. But, it does often measure the areas where most people either want to or need to lose body fat (abdomen and hips). And when you lose in these areas, your body fat measurement improves. It is also really simple and cost effective and so it makes a lot of practical sense to utilise this method.

If however, you have a bit of money to spend, you could go and visit a health or fitness professional and have a skin fold caliper reading performed. Or if for some reason you need a super accurate reading, you could go the hydrostatic weighing or dexa scan route.

For me, though, I like to keep things simple and practical and will continue using my tape measure and calculator. Below are some guidelines against which you can assess your results:

Age-Adusted Body Fat Percentage
Recommendations

Women

Men

Source: Gallagher et al. Am J Clin Nut 2000; 72:694-701

And, if you want some help to lose body fat and get a firmer, flatter tummy, then check out the resource below (absolutely FREE):

http://bootcamptogo.co.za/firmer-flatter-tummy/

So, how do you get them?

The first thing you need is the right information.

One of the biggest problems is that there is so much conflicting information out there when it comes to this topic. And to try and sort through it, I like to do something called “following the money“. Now, what I mean by this is to look closer at who is giving the advice and what are they trying to sell you. So, if it is a magazine – well they are trying to sell their magazine. If it is a supplement company, well they are trying to sell their supplements, etc. Is it an infomercial, well they are trying to sell you the latest gadget. So, this could alert your little radar to whether this information is reliable or not.

BUT, in order to help you make the right decisions when it comes to getting a firm, flat stomach or six pack abs, I want to tell you exactly what is required. Then you will be in a much better position to make the choices about whether the information being shared by the magazine articles, adverts or infomercials is worth listening to…

There are 2 parts to getting a firm, flat tummy or 6 pack abs:

1). You need to get your body fat low enough in order to be able to see your abs [women 16-18% (careful about getting too low - as it can be unhealthy); guys: 8-10% to really see abs]

• whether you’re seeking a firmer, flatter stomach or six pack abs, you need to be able to see those abs and so you need to get rid of the fat that is sitting on top of them.

2). You need to exercise those abs so that they look really good (more toned, firmer, better defined)

And that’s it!! As simple as that. But, simple and easy are not the same things. And this may be simple, but it is certainly not easy.

I will be sharing more in my next blog about what exercises are best. Or checkout a few other blog posts on ab exercises here. You can also tune into CCFM radio (107.5 fm) on a Monday at 16h00-16h30 to listen to me live as I take the presenters Odile Esau and Lulie Masimini on a journey to get a firmer, flatter tummy!

If you would like to get some great workouts then sign-up for our programme: “6 weeks to a firmer, flatter tummy” absolutely FREE…by clicking here. If you would like more info on the programme you can checkout this blogpost:

http://fitnessbootcamp.co.za/exercise/do-you-want-a-firmer-flatter-tummy/

Leave me your thoughts and comments below…

At our boot camp program, we have seen remarkable results by introducing “challenge workouts”. These are workouts that ensure that each time you exercise, you ensure you work a little harder than you did before. And that is the key to getting extraordinary and guaranteed results:

You need to give your body a reason to get fitter, stronger, lose body fat, etc. And the way you do that is by doing a little more in this workout than you did in that same workout last time. Here is how we did this this month at fitness boot camp:

We performed the 1-3-5 workout challenge. This workout had us performnig an exercise circuit for 1 minute then having a 1 minute rest. Then we performed that same exercise circuit for 3 minutes followed by our 1 minute rest. Lastly, we performed that same exercise circuit for 5 minutes followed once again by our one minute rest. We repeated this whole sequence twice for a great high intensity workout.

Now, here comes the MOST IMPORTANT BIT…keep track of the number of repetitions you perform and try to beat this number the next time you perform the workout!

Here is exactly how we did this at boot camp including the exercises we performed:

Our exercise circuit consisted of 4 exercises. These were:

• Lunges
• Crawl Push-Ups
• Shuttle Runs
• Burpees

In order to make tracking our progress throughout the workout easier, we performed 10 reps of each exercise and then moved to the next exercise and kept going. We completed as many exercises and circuits as we could in the 1 minute, 3 minute and 5 minute intervals.

After each interval, we wrote down our total number of reps for that specific interval and then added it all up at the end. This is a great way to ensure you guarantee results by giving your body a reason to get fitter, healthier and sexier each time you workout!!

Give it a try and let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment…

And what with the Olympics now behind us, I thought that if you have been inspired to exercise, then you are going to need some great exercises to help you out and so I just had to bring the knee to elbow push-up back as our exercise of the month. Do a few sets with short rests and it will get your heart rate racing too and help improve your cardiovascular fitness, increase your metabolism, tone and build muscle and burn body fat. Yes, it can help do all of these things!!

If you want to see some pictures and explanations of how to perform this exercise then just click here to go to our last blog post that featured this exercise.

Let me know your thoughts about this exercise by leaving some comments below…

Basically you perform an exercise for 1 minute and try to do as many repetitions as you can! It’s as simple as that…!! Then you rest and repeat the same timing with a different exercise.

So, here is the whole workout with the exact exercises to perform:

For the first 60 second sequence:

• Perform squats – as many reps as you can
• Then have a 30 second rest

For the second 60 second sequence

• Perform push-ups – as many reps as you can
• Then have a 30 second rest

For the third 60 second sequence:

• Perform burpees – once again, as many reps as you can
• Then have your 30 second rest

In the fourth 60 second sequence:

• Perform curls – as many reps as you can
• Then have a 30 second rest

And in the fifth 60 second sequence:

• Perform mountain climbers – as many reps as you can

Following your 5^th exercise, you have completed one full circuit and can have a 60 second rest before starting the next circuit. At boot camp we repeated this 5 exercise circuit three times.

Make sure you keep a track record of all the reps you perform so that the next time you perform this workout you try to beat your reps!! By utilising the 60 second challenge workout, you can get some great fitness and fat loss results to ensure you get fitter, healthier and sexier!!

Yes, it is that good an exercise!

Side Shuffle Push-Up

Now, this is a push-up with a difference as it is a full body workout all in one exercise as I mentioned earlier.

Okay, so how is the “side shuffle push-up” performed?

• Start in a position kneeling on all fours (hands, knees and feet on the ground)
• Now lift your knees off the ground and straighten your legs to assume the push-up position
• Level 1 of this exercise would be just holding this position for 15 – 30 seconds

• Level 2 involves lifting up your left arm and moving it sideways and you then follow with your feet and right arm too. You then move back to the right and finish the movement where you originally started.

• Level 3 involves adding a push-up by moving your chest toward the ground once you have moved to the left and then again once you have moved back to the right
• Just keep repeating the movement for a certain number of repetitions or a specified time period

Make sure you include our exercise of the month in your workouts to help really challenge your body to get the results you deserve. Your body likes variety and this is a great exercise to help you create a varied workout to help you get fitter, healthier and sexier.