You’re Lucky to be Chubby

We all know that one guy who doesn’t exercise and maintains a six-pack all year round, and yet his diet consists of an eight year old’s fantasy of what he’d eat if his parents suddenly evaporated. We consider him the lucky guy who can get away with it.

Actually, we’re the lucky ones. When our stomach is obscuring our toes (oh, so that’s how my toenails got so long) our bodies might be giving us a signal – a signal that our habits aren’t healthy ones. The lean guy, he doesn’t notice anything until he’s 40 and he gets a workplace body MOT which he does because the company paid for it, and people love free stuff! The signal wasn’t visible to the naked eye, but is under the microscope.

overweight man

Did PT Shaun say I was lucky?

I think it’s important to say that this isn’t always the case because other factors can cause fat gain which isn’t down to unhealthy habits like genetics, medication, menopause and other medical conditions.

Ignoring the Signs
The external changes might mean that internally, we have an increased risk of:

  • Visceral fat around the organs
  • High blood pressure
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Heart disease

It’s not all bad though, it means you’re warm in the winter!

Maintenance
I’ve been known to be not very good at taking care of my previous cars but I’m trying with my current one. Who needs four hubcaps anyway? 3 still work. Thankfully I can buy another car. I can’t buy another body – at least not yet.

How to take care of your car:

  • Annual service – Consistent exercise over the year
  • MOT – NHS or Private health checks
  • Tyre maintenance – Mobility and flexibility
  • Quality fuel – Nutrient dense food
  • Not ignoring dashboard warning lights – Noticing changes
  • Washing the exterior and cleaning the interior – I’m not sure what a good comparison is here… have a shower and wipe your bum?
written off car

Unfortunately it’s too late for this vehicle.

We can often take more care of our possessions than we do of ourselves. Also, please don’t go to your local garage and ask for a blood pressure check.

Don’t wait for the warning lights.

If you need help taking care of your vehicle, whether it be a Ford Fiesta or a Bentley, get in touch.

PT Shaun

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How to Stay Young

We don’t want to get old, but there’s nothing we can do about the passage of time (unless your car can get to 88mph). We don’t want to look old or feel old, but there are some things we can do to slow it down.

Some are obsessed with looking young, to the point of diminishing their quality of life. Take for example the Calorie Restrictive Diet. Hand a guy on that diet an apple, he’ll peel off the skin and hand you back the apple. The apple might be the heaviest thing he can lift. The thing is, it works. Those people look 10-20 years younger, but it comes at a cost. Give me the whole apple please.

We don’t need to go full Bryan Johnson here (I’m currently saving up for a hyperbaric chamber because they don’t offer it with Klarna), we just need to do some basics that we might be missing.

My wife is tucking me in for a good night of beauty sleep

Acceptance
A big part of growing up is accepting things for what they are. As a man, of course this can be easier for us because socially we are less judged about the way we look – although that has shifted dramatically in recent times for people glued to Instagram, where appearance is everything. But remember, “Comparison is the thief of joy”.

Whilst we can accept age changes us, the mistake most people make is saying “I can’t do this because of my age”. Actually, age is bottom of the list for the reasons why we can’t do things. When I have my older clients come into the gym for the first time, they’ll say something to that effect, and a year down the line when they’ve become stronger, fitter and more resilient, they realise it wasn’t their age that was the issue, but instead because of the fact they hadn’t looked after their bodies.

What’s the Best Anti-Ageing Cream?
I love asking people this question. I’m all giddy like someone is when they know a fact like “how old were you when you found out the Indian guy from Short Circuit wasn’t Indian?” or “where were you when you found out that Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn was a cover?”. 

Answer: It’s Factor 50 sun protection, all year round. I’ve been using a sun screen daily (I’ve not been paid to advertise because nobody reads my articles) and I feel like I could take a trip to the sun and my skin would be reflecting the sun back into the sun, causing the sun to explode and my body gently floats into silent black space, looking forever young.

 

 

Whole Food
We are made of food. If we stop eating, we disappear. So, it then follows that the types of food we consume on a regular basis is going to affect how we look, feel and function. Many people notice that when they switch from a mostly processed diet to a more nutritious whole food diet, their skin looks better (putting aside skin issues where nutrition has no effect).

Exercise
Exercise keeps us young and vibrant, rather than old and dull. But it’s not just how we look, it’s what we can do. Being physically capable makes you feel young. My physio asked what my goals were for when I’d strained a muscle in my groin, and I said “to jump over fences”. This isn’t related to my side hustle of dressing up as a horse and doing dressage, but it gives me the ability to move around the world without feeling my age is holding me back. Ageing isn’t just wrinkles.

Sleep
It’s not always something we can optimise when we have families and demanding careers, but when we can, it’s a time where our bodies can repair. Try to get the best sleep you can by doing some basic things like not using a screen at night, reading a book and getting to bed earlier than you would normally.

Don’t be worried about getting old, you have the ability to slow it down and become a fresh-faced and vibrant vintage human.

If you need help getting your health on track, message me to book in a complimentary consultation.

PT Shaun

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The ALL-Inclusive – How to Avoid Eating Everything

I remember when I was on my first all-inclusive WeddingMoon. My hermit-like ways couldn’t comprehend such a thing. 

“What do you mean I can eat and drink as much as I want? Surely not this?”
“Yes”
“What about this?”
“Yes that too?”
“And this this?”
“Yes, everything!”

I opened the fridge in the hotel room and after she contemplated jumping on the plane back home, my fiancée (now wife, at time of writing) said “if you take two Cokes, they’ll replace both”. By now I had come to terms with the magical paradise of an all-inclusive and I said “but I only want one”.

This was a significant moment for me which showed the culmination of all the hard work I’d put in over the years of changing how I think about food. I only wanted one. 

Being in certain environments can create a conditioning where you’re being led, rather than you being in charge. For years I’d go to the pub and have a beer because – that’s what you do in a pub, right? Well actually, I don’t feel like a beer today so I’ll go with a soft drink – blasphemy! Also, a pint is £6 so you can save that money and put it towards a steak and in 6 weeks you’ll have enough money to buy a rump (please subscribe to my side project PT Shaun’s EcoNOMics”).

One can dream…

The Big One
Stopping when you’re full. This is the most important skill to use at the all-inclusive, but notice I used the word skill. Skills take practice, so you’ll need to bring your awareness on the flight with you in your hand luggage. You probably won’t get it right on the first day, but you can learn from it on the following days.

I Paid for This!
Yes you did, but it’s not you against the resort, trying to get everything out of them you possibly can. The simple way to think about it is “the cost to your health versus the cost of the food”. 

Look Around You
There may be examples of behaviour around you which you no longer want to take part in. I don’t mean it in an exercise of judgement of others, but more as a reminder of who you want to be.

This is the guy I could still be if I hadn’t changed my ways.

Hotel Gym
Look, you might not want to spend any of your time in a hotel gym, and that’s fine. If you do decide to give it a try, set an amount of time you’re happy with. Instead of “I haven’t got an hour to train”, you could say “if I get up at X time, I can exercise for X mins”. That way you’re being flexible. Once you’ve been, you’ll feel much better physically and mentally, which will positively change the decisions about food and drink you make later on.

Activity
Walking, swimming, excursions will keep you on track without it feeling like “I have to get my steps in”, but don’t use it as an excuse to eat more. “I went for a big hike today so it’s okay if I eat them out of stock until the supplier arrives tomorrow”.

More Doesn’t Equal More Enjoyment
As I said in a previous article, more food doesn’t mean more enjoyment. It actually has the opposite effect when you spend some time thinking about it. You’re bloated, lethargic, sweating meat, nauseous and feeling like you’ve had no control over your decisions – wahoo! I’m having a great time… 

That’s breakfast sorted.

Have a Rule
One of my clients who’s just returned from an all-inclusive holiday told me that his rule was that he only went up to the buffet table once per sitting. He still got what he wanted in that trip, but the damage is now far less.

Picture the Positive
Imagine yourself on your flight home and what it’ll feel like to have made some better decisions this time around compared to your last holiday, rather than bringing the feeling of guilt, lethargy and feeling heavier back home with you.

So, you can still have a great time without being that guy who eats a salad whilst dressing the leaves in his tears of misery.

If you’re struggling with eating, regardless of being at an all-inclusive, or maybe you consider your kitchen to be an all-inclusive, contact me to book in a complimentary consultation.

PT Shaun

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Why You’ll Quit

“You’re in.”
“You’re doing this.”
“You’re on the wagon”
“This time it’s going to happen”

Familiar catchphrases I’m sure. Then it’s often followed by:
“I fell off the wagon”

Common People

Why is this such a common situation? It’s because we tend to think on/off, yes/no. This type of mindset is what’s holding you back and if you don’t change it, you’ll continue to quit, repeatedly. There is no wagon.

Why You’ll Quit

Fun Gym Time!
I’ve had more than a few conversations with clients who say something like “my sister loves the gym, when am I going to start enjoying the gym?”. Baked into that is the assumption that the goal is to be like people who love going to the gym. We all have different interests and what ticks the boxes for one person, won’t for another. They’re also waiting for something to change when they come into the gym one day and say “ooh, I can’t wait to lift this heavy weight 30 times above my head whilst swearing because it’s so hard in the vicinity of other gym members”. It can happen, but it often doesn’t. We don’t go to the gym to enjoy ourselves, we go because we want something that time in the gym can give us – running to catch the bus, wrestling with your kids, carrying suitcases up the stairs, bending down to put the pots into the low cupboard and regretting not buying the stackable set. 

It’s hard and hard things are, um, hard – not fun. Take stock of the great things you’ve achieved in your life, and realise they came from hard work.

You’ve Taken on Too Much
If you were exercising zero times a week before, be honest and ask yourself: is five times a week realistic? Many people think that training once a week isn’t enough, but they’re very wrong. Starting at once a week will have a huge impact and it will get you stronger and healthier if you’re consistent.

You Don’t Believe You Can Change
If you’ve been in the gym before, you quit last year and the year before and of course past evidence shows you that you’re going to quit again. That self-fulfilling prophecy will come true if you don’t recognise that’s the story you’re telling yourself. Instead, think about what didn’t work last time and look for a different way. And no, that doesn’t mean a different diet, that’s still a diet and it didn’t work last time, or the time before that. It’s not you that’s the issue, it’s the method you’re choosing e.g. you failed at a highly restrictive diet not because you lack discipline, but because it’s highly restrictive and not the way we want to eat.

I hate my life

You’re Bored
I was once unwell with a sniffle but I wanted to keep my consistency up, so I went into a commercial gym and just wanted to sit down, which their machines allow you to do. I went from one machine to the next machine, selecting a weight, doing the reps, which were purely based on how I was feeling at the time so I had no real intention with each set. Then it hit me, “wow, this is why people quit, this is so boring!”. Had they sought out a coach or learned through other means, learning new skills like squats and deadlifts would have kept them in the gym because skill acquisition is fun (and frustrating!). There’s intention, skill, mindfulness all behind learning to lift free weights.

You’re Doing it Alone
Invest in a supportive coach who can teach and guide you, or blackmail your friend into coming to the gym with you. Doing this alone can be hard, so ask for help.

Come on mate, please go to the gym with me

You’re Focused on the Scales
Your weight on the scales fluctuates so much that I teach my clients to focus on their performance in the gym instead of the scales. For many, the scales have the ability to negatively or positively affect their day, and on a “bad day”, this can send you down a “I’ve been bad and this is what bad people do” mentality and sign up to the daily Greggs doughnut subscription platinum tier. 

You Beat Yourself up For Making Mistakes
You will get things wrong, you will fail. This journey is paved with challenges but the people who are successful in the long-term are the ones who shrug it off and try again, but try a different approach because they’ve learned what they previously did, didn’t work.

If you take all of this on board, it’ll be much harder for you to quit.

Get in touch for a video consultation if you’ve quit before and need help to press UNDO, so that you’re ready for your 60’s, 70’s and 80’s

PT Shaun

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How to Spot YouTube Toxic Fitness Sludge

I had a client send me a thumbnail of a video he had found on YouTube and wanted me to explain it to him. I honestly wish he’d sent me his actual thumbnail instead. I was very hesitant to watch the video, but these are the sorts of sacrifices I make for my clients in order to help them grow (as well as telling them to do 2 more reps). I realised that a lot of people might benefit from a breakdown of the video to show you what kinds of tricks are being used. I could spend pages and pages breaking these things down (and reading those is fun to me) but I’ll try to keep it short. 

How to Make Money on YouTube:
First of all, you want a video which gets lots of views of course – because more views equals more money – not exactly the best incentive to create factual, scientific videos. As a creator, you have access to which words are commonly searched for, and you then create a video based on those search terms. So there is a high search rate for “how to lose belly fat” “how to lose chest fat” and “love handles”, making a video with those words in will mean your video has a higher chance of being seen. Cha-Ching!

The Video – The Fastest Way to Shrink Visceral Fat:
Let’s look at the specific video my client sent me, to which I won’t be sharing the link because 1.6 million people have already watched the video and now he’s rich enough to buy a block of Cathedral City without his Clubcard.

Call to Authority – this guy is a Doctor, I’m not. Because of that, his words carry weight and can suppress the actual argument being made. Essentially, it’s “oh he must be right because he’s a Doctor and an expert”. Please don’t get me wrong, expertise is everything, but just be aware it can be used to sell you things.

He opens the video with a montage of the successful clients he’s worked with, so I know this is trying to sell me something. There is nothing wrong with people trying to make money, but how they do it, matters.

Let’s talk about the before and after photo below. The guy in the before photo has a significant amount of muscle from being in the gym for decades, he clearly trains – you can still see his six pack! From that, we can surmise that he has chosen to do a “bulk” and the after photo is him doing a “cut”, which just means he reduced his calories to drop body fat. Most people watching this aren’t starting off like this.

Studies:
The client who sent me the video said it cited studies, and I asked if he read the study. I knew the answer would be no, and so did the creator of the video – people do not click on studies (59% of links shared on social media are never clicked). I’ve seen such egregious examples where a claim has been made in the video with “study linked in the description box below” which says the exact OPPOSITE of what they stated as true. A middle finger to the real scientists because the creator knows it doesn’t matter, once they have their tribe, they can exploit them. Even if my client did read the study, the required expertise required to understand the full context is a totally separate field of education.

 

My favourite screenshot for its hilarity, being that he’s a Doctor himself:

They don’t? Why not? Did they get into the profession to cause me harm? I do know what Doctors don’t want me to know, and that’s what time the phone lines open on a Monday morning. Is it 08:00 or 08:30? 

My favourite Quotes:
“Toxic sludge” – meaningless without specifics

“Double results with 0 extra time commitment” – If only. It takes time to make change

“Look at my client and their proof” – We don’t know anything about them from looking at their photos

“Studies show” – They show a lot of things, but do we have the required expertise to draw conclusions from them?

“Destroying joints from running” – This is fear mongering, running is a fantastic activity which comes with some caveats to reduce injury

“Japanese style” – Anything from another country sounds like it must work. Although admittedly, “English style” is a much harder sell

Nebulous, scaremongering, sciency sounding terminology, all carefully designed to trick you.

Don’t get me wrong, there are loads of amazing educational videos out there, but unfortunately it’s the bad ones which float to the top. Keep your wits about you and if you’re unsure you’re going down the right path, send me a message to book in a complimentary video consultation to discuss it.

PT Shaun

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