End of summer fitness tips

Personal trainer James Johnson writes exclusively for Quaysnews.net, offering tips and advice for a healthier lifestyle.

So, it’s the end of the summer. September is well and truly here and the routine you oh-so happily traded in this past July has gone right out the window and the daily grind has returned. Kids are back at school, your boss is back from holiday and the run up to Christmas is about as palatable as the yard of ale you took on holiday. Sucks, right?

Chances are your summer body has followed suit. The two months of hard work and almost-perfect diet you maintained from the day you booked your holiday, right up to the point you reached the airport terminal, are a thing of the past, and the body it produced has probably got a softer look about it than it used to. All inclusive holidays, festivals and 99p drinks don’t score that high on the nutritional barometer though, so it was to be expected.

You’re now faced with two choices – either let the ‘winter body’ set in, get podgier, blame it on your ‘slow metabolism’ and have even more work to do next May. Alternatively you can make the changes now and have your toned, sexy summer body all year round, it’s easier than you think.

If you’ve decided that the latter would be the better option, below I’ve got five quick tips to do some post-summer damage control (or pre-summer sexification, if you want to be an early bird) and make you an all-round healthier person at the same time. You can thank me later.

Tip #1 – If it ain’t green, you ain’t lean

Okay, maybe a bit of a sweeping statement. But seriously, how much green veg do you eat? Green veggies should always be your go-to, whether you want to be healthier, fitter, stronger or sexier.

Pound for pound they’re one of the most nutritionally dense foods available, rich in Calcium, Magnesium, Iron and about an Alphabet’s worth of Vitamins. They’re virtually carbohydrate free (you can also interpret this as ‘guilt free’) and If you can get fat from eating it I will give you £10,000 right here, right now...I seem to have misplaced my wallet though.  Now go eat some veg!
 
Tip #2 – Do bigger exercises

Bicep curls are fun, as are Tricep extensions and all the other single joint movements that are going to ‘tone your arms’ – but, are they really getting you anywhere? If they’re the main focus of your resistance training then the answer is probably no.  To change your shape you’ve got be working as many muscles as possible, whether that’s for weight loss or weight gain.

On the weight loss side of things they’re going to make your calorie deficit easier to attain and on the weight gain side of things they’re going to allow your to produce more testosterone and stimulate more growth in your muscle, pretty key. Swap your Hamstring Curls for Deadlifts and your Bicep Curls for Pull Ups and you’ll be on the right tracks in no time. Tom Hardy and Cheryl Cole don’t look that way by doing little exercises!


Tip #3 – Keep a food diary

Food diaries are one of the most effective tools I use with my clients, and people who record what they’ve been doing are more likely to achieve their results quicker.

It's nice and simple and instantly actionable. For the next seven days, write down everything you eat and drink and then assess it at the end of the week. If you find that ‘Twix’ and ‘Salt and Vinegar Crisps’ pop up frequently, it’s easy to see where you need to make the changes. This works in two quite helpful ways – it allows you to backtrack and see what you’ve eaten and where to adjust (or give it to someone in the know to assess) and it makes you think about what you’re about to eat. If you know you’ve got to write down and show somebody what you’re eating, you become a little bit more cautious with your choices.

Find accountability with someone and you’re on to a winner.

Tip #4 – Sleep More

No matter how good your exercise plan is, no matter how clean your diet is, if you’re not allowing your body time to recover and don't do anything about it, a large portion of your effort is being wasted. The majority of you reading this are probably not even scraping your eight hours a night – Get in from work at six, go to the gym, get home for eight, eat your dinner, watch that important block of television, bed for 23:30, sleep by 12:30, up at 6am. Even for some of my clients, that would have been considered a ‘long night's sleep’.

Sleep is where your body repairs itself, starts to burn fat and rights as many wrongs as is possible from the previous day. Aim for your eight hours a night and anything on top of it is a bonus! Nobody ever complains at a lie-in either.

Tip #5 – Take up a sport/activity (keep it fun!)