Once you have decided to take action to achieve your goals, you must determine where it is you want to be and realise where it is you are starting from. From there, it is a certain amount of “positive steps” you need to take to achieve that goal.

Everybody has to take a different amount of “steps”, as everybody is different.

The variables that determine the amount of “steps” you need to take may include:

• Your fitness level when starting out
• Your goal at the end
• Age
• Gender
• Your hormones
• Your lifestyle
• Your metabolism

All of these things and many more must be considered when making your action plan for success.

You have to be taking constant steps forward to reach your goals.

The more steps backward you take, the longer it will take to reach your goals.

Examples of “steps” forward are:

• Eating breakfast
• Eating regularly
• Eating healthy nutritious meals with a balance of low GI carbs, protein and salad or vegetables
• Thinking positively
• Training correctly
• Training regularly to your appointed schedule
• Opting for water rather than alcohol or soft drink
• Sleeping 8 hours per night
• Drinking 3 litres of water per day

Examples or “steps” backward;

• Skipping meals
• Eating incorrectly such as high GI carbs and high fat, high sugar meals
• Not incorporating enough protein into your diet
• Drinking alcohol
• Drinking soft drinks
• Skipping workouts
• Training incorrectly
• Thinking negatively
• Not sleeping enough
• Not drinking enough water

Remember that taking a step backward does not leave you level, it leaves you back one step from achieving your goals, because if you had taken that step forward you would have been one step closer, now you are 2 steps further away because you passed up the opportunity to be one step closer.

So every time you take a step backward, remember it takes 2 steps forward to advance you along the way to achieving your goals. Try to think of how many steps forward you took this week and how many steps backward you took. Did you advance, stay level or go backward?

Does this make it a little clearer as to how diligent you have to be to reach your goals?

Fat doesn’t lose itself!

Yours in Fitness

Troy Shipsey

Something that is often overlooked in fit individuals is walking.
They think that walking can’t do much for them if they are already fit.
They think that their time could be better spent doing more high intensity activity.
Then why do we see so many fit overweight people?

A great exercise regimen will incorporate high intensity exercise and lower intensity exercise.

When you work at a lower intensity your main fuel source is fat.
When you work at a high intensity your main fuel is carbohydrates.
Our heart rate has a direct affect on what we use to fuel our workouts.

When you are sitting at your desk, you are using fat as your fuel. The problem is, you aren’t using enough fat to make a difference to your weight.

With a brisk walk, your heart rate should rise from about 60 beats per minute to about 60 - 70% of your maximum heart rate. 
At this level, you are still using fat as the main source of fuel and it is high enough to make a difference.

Once you get your heart rate up above 70%, you need to make energy a lot quicker. Fat is quite hard for our bodies to convert into energy, so our bodies need something that will convert to energy quicker. This is why we now tap into the carbohydrate stores. Carbohydrates are the easiest thing to convert to energy.

We still use some fat at this level, but the ratio of fat to carbohydrates is smaller.

Running or other high intensity exercise should never be neglected and should form the cornerstone of our regimen as it burns more calories and it increases our cardiovascular fitness. But, the main calories it burns off are carbohydrates and this is great, because it stops those carbs being stored as fat, but we need the walking to tap directly into the fat stores.

Another factor to consider is that our bodies will fight hard in order not to burn out. So, if you are constantly performing extreme amounts of high intensity exercise trying to burn off as many calories as possible, there is a strong chance that it will have the opposite effect and will hold onto the fat because the body panics and goes into protection mode.

The fact is, combining the right amount of high intensity exercise with regular power walks will provide the right formula for your body to effectively lose weight.

My recommendation; 5 exercise sessions per week plus 5 - 7 power walks per week and adhere to the other 3 tips for a great bod this Summer.

Let’s get fit for Summer Part 3
Let’s get fit for Summer Part 2
Let’s get fit for Summer Part 1

Yours in Fitness
Troy Shipsey

Does alcohol make you fat?

Ok, so we have discussed training to burn calories in Part 1, eating for good health and less calories in Part 2, now it is time to talk about the pure fuel source called alcohol.

I call it fuel, because that is what it is. Calories are a fuel source for our bodies. When you consume more calories (fuel) than what is needed by your body on a daily basis, you will gain weight.

Alcohol is just empty calories.

There is no enzyme in the human body that will convert alcohol to fat. So what happens is, you drink alcohol and it sits as your fuel source to be used next. Next being before the food you are eating. So what happens to that food? It gets stored as fat. The more alcohol you drink, the more empty calories are sitting waiting to be burnt and the longer it will take to burn it off, so the more food will be stored as fat.

You can’t counteract this by not eating on a day when you drink because we all know that starving our bodies results in even more negative changes to the body eventually resulting in more weight gain.

What you can do if you know you are going to have a big night on the drink is eat very healthily on the days leading up to and after the drinking session and also increase you exercise on the days either side to compensate for the extra calories that are hanging around in your body.

Another thing to take note of is the junk food that you usually eat when you are drunk or hing over. Generally, any healthy diet goes out the window when you have a few drinks in the system!

A general rule of thumb that I use is 1/2 a calorie in each ml of alcohol. This is not exact, but it is a good rule of thumb to give you a general idea of the sabotage you are doing to your weight loss goals when you head out on the drink.

I haven’t touched on the negative affects that alcohol has on the human body, but believe me, there are plenty. For now, I am just talking alcohol and weight loss.

Does alcohol make you fat? Absolutely!

Next time you get stuck into the drink, remember the negatives;

* 1/2 calorie per ml

* You will eat more junk food when you are drunk

* You will eat more junk food when you are hung over

* You won’t want to train if you are hung over

* You won’t train in the morning if you went out drinking the night before and you wouldn’t have trained at night because you were already out drinking

* Weight loss aside, alcohol is a depressant and a diuretic

Not really anything good about alcohol is there, so drink it in moderation!

Drinking beer is so rare for me, I had to have a photo! Who wouldn't drink a beer that is named after them?

Let’s talk walking in next week’s tip let’s get fit for Summer Part 4.

Yours in fitness

Troy Shipsey

Ok, so in Let’s get fit for summer Part 1, we discussed how many calories you could be burning off if you turn up to all your workouts. 

Now we will look at how what you put into your mouth has just as much if not more affect on your body than exercise.

Let me firsty say that yes, food should be enjoyable! But no, it should not be detrimental to our health!

Food is the fuel that keeps our bodies functioning day to day. We need to be feeding our bodies with healthy food to function properly.

Healthy food is not only good for long term health, but it is great for us in regards to weight loss, because healthy food generally has less calories. We all know that we need to burn more calories than we are consuming in order to lose weight. 

For more information on caloires, please refer to Calories Part 1 & Calories Part 2. You will be able to calculate just how many calories you should be eating.

Now, let’s say you want to lose 1 kg of fat. As mentioned in part 1, this is 7700 calories. I recommend creating a diet defecit of approx 500 calories a day in order to safely and effectively lose weight.

Easy to say, not so easy to do! The fact is, most people eat way more than they should every day. Then they exercise and wonder why they are not losing weight. If you exercise 5 days a week and burn off roughly 3000 caloires in the week, but you eat 600 calories a day more than you need to, you won’t lose any weight! This is not taking into account the weekend where you probably eat more!

So, you decide to eat well… You do this for a week, maybe 2, you start to feel better in yourself. You feel lighter, you feel less bloated, you notice a difference in your waistline. But then the takeaway food sneaks back in. The dessert after dinner sneaks back in. You start to skip breakfast again and before you know it, you are back into your old habits.

Maybe something far worse happens… you decide to go on a diet. I am not sure which one, I don’t really care which one, they are all as bad as each other. The fact is, when eventually you go off the diet, you will gain back all of the weight you lost and then some. I have the proof, hundreds of people I have spoken to who all tell me about the diet they are on or have been on and who all without a doubt, put all of the weight back on, regardless of their training because they haven’t created any good eating habits and when they aren’t on some sort of diet, they just eat badly!

Eating well is a life long habit you need to create. Weight loss should be slow and steady and acheived through a change in diet, exercise and lifestyle habits.

So we’ve looked at exercise and food, what about liquid… Next week we will look at all of those empty calories in alcohol in Let’s get fit for Summer Part 3.

Yours in fitness

Troy Shipsey

Well its that time of year again. Everybody is scrambling to get in shape for their swim suits and those lazy summer days on the beach. Or maybe it’s just for the lack of clothing that we wear as the weather heats up.

Whatever the reason, this is definitely the season to get in shape.

So here are my series of tips to get in shape for summer (life). They may sound like common sense, that is because they are, but I guess everybody just needs a little kick up the butt and a reminder now and then, or we’d all be in great shape all year round. It’s not that hard, just eat sensibly and move regulary.

So my first tip to you: Don’t skip your workouts!

Every person and every workout is different, but as a general rule of thumb, you would burn approximately 600 calories in 1 hour of my training.

So lets use this average figure of 600 calories per workout for my calculations.

I recommend training 5 days per week. This = 3000 calories burned per week.

If you want to burn 1 kg of fat, you have to burn approximately 7700 calories.

So without looking at nutrition in this tip, it would take 2 1/2 weeks to burn off 1 kg of fat without skipping any workouts.

Lets say you train 3 days per week, it will now take you 1 month to lose that kilo of fat.

Train 2 days per week and we are now looking at 6 weeks to lose that 1 kilo of fat.

This may sound silly, but some people only train once a week. They are looking at 3 months to lose 1 kg of fat.

So here’s your first tip to getting that body you want; Train regularly and don’t skip your workouts!

Now this tip is taking into consideration movement only, but I think we all know that it is what goes into our mouths that is critical to weight loss, so we will look at this in next week’s tip: Let’s get fit for summer Part 2.

Your in Fitness

Troy Shipsey

When it comes to exercise, there are many ways to go about it. 

Team sports
Martial arts
Gym 
Group Fitness Training
Bootcamp
Personal Training
Yoga
Pilates
Jogging
Cycling
Swimming
and the list goes on…

The man thing to consider firstly is what do you enjoy?
You don’t want to lock into something you hate, because you will only end up quitting soon after starting!

The second is what is your goal?

The third is will what you enjoy get you to your goal?
If you want to lose weight, don’t join the local pool and lock in for swimming lessons for 12 weeks, personal training, group training or bootcamp may be your best bet. If you want to run a triathalon, don’t join a bootcamp, start cycling, running and swimming or join a triathalon club. If you want to bulk up, don’t join the local touch footy club, join the local gym and pump some iron. If you want to increase flexibilty, don’t join the gym, get into yoga and compliment that with some pilates.

This may sound like common sense, but exercise can be one of those grey areas where people get confused and just end up going with what they know.

The problem with going with what you know, is that if you do what you have always done, you will achieve what you have always achieved. Often this is not a good thing.

A plateau with results is the most common cause for people to give up on their exercise plans. They think that they can’t reach their goals, so they give up. Then they get fed up with being unfit and overweight, so they start again and the cycle continues, only this time they are more overweight and a little older, making it harder to reach the goal this time, so the cycle gets worse!

The most important thing to remember is that exercise is for life. If what you really enjoy doing isn’t working for you, supplement it with something that will work a little better, but don’t kid yourself by doing the same thing over and over if it isn’t working for you.

Yours in Fitness

Troy Shipsey

Everywhere I look these days, there is information about a “diet”. Any diet and every diet. This diet and that diet. Have you heard of this diet? Have you tried that diet? What do you think of this diet? I think I’m going to try that diet. So and so has got a great diet out. That other guy has got a new diet out. Thingy has come up with an entirely new diet. There is back log of getting product for that diet, so it must be awesome!

Give me a break! If each diet worked long term, then we wouldn’t have a million and one diet books on the shelf.

On the cover of a popular magazine I once saw Kirsty Alley and Oprah Winfrey and the headline was “The great diet showdown”. Is this how we should be thinking? Taking advice from two women who yo-yo with their weight more than anyone in the public eye!

We need to stop the diet mentality!

We need to realise that health is more about eating healthy food, not about being thin regardless of the path taken to get there!

In order to live a healthy life, you should eat a diet rich in fruit and vegetables (preferably organic if possible, but not essential). I also believe in eating fish, lean organic chicken & eggs and a little organic red meat.

If you want to eat junk food, save it for the weekend and eat it in moderation. Limit yourself to 2 junk food meals per weekend.

Remember that fruit and vegetables are carbohydrates, so this is not a carb free diet! It is a natural eating diet. No gimmicks here, just eating food in it’s natural form.

Try it, you will feel so much better, your energy levels will be higher, you will lose weight and you won’t feel bloated hours after a meal.

If we all just stopped looking for the quick fix or giving these stupid diets the time of day, we could all focus on eating for good long term health.

The only people who benefit long term from these diets are the guys who came up with the diets and sold a whole bunch of books and supplements to ingnorant people who want the quick fix.

I urge you to take control and think about the information you are being fed. Block out the con artists who want to take advantage and get rich from your desire to create “a healthy body”.

Try to eat as close to the natural form a food comes as possible and exercise regularly.

Yours in Health and Fitness

Troy Shipsey

As I have mentioned earlier, food is of the utmost importance in our lives.

Food is our fuel and without the correct fuel, we cannot expect to live long, fullfilling and diease free lives.

Food and water are the essence for survival, so the next time you think you don’t have time to prepare a healthy meal because other things are more important, remember this, food supplies the fuel to power your body, with the wrong fuel, you will get sick. Be it obesity, diabetes, A.D.D, irritable bowel syndrome, heart disease, cancer or something else, a weakened immune system through poor nutrition will result in something bad. Oh and on that note, let’s just remember that cancer is not caused through bad luck, contrary to popular belief.

But, despite all the information out there about how important food is, it just doesn’t sink in for the majority of people. In actual fact, most people take better care of their car than their body. So I have prepared a couple of little analogies which I use on my clients.

“Would you set out on a road trip up the coast without any fuel, oil or water in your car? NO?
Then why do you set out to take on the day’s challenges without putting the correct fuel and water into your body?”

“Perfume smells great, but put it in your petrol tank instead of petrol and your car won’t run properly.
Junk food tastes great, but put it in your mouth and your body won’t run properly!”
When you wake up feeling crap, thank about what you ate yesterday.

“Would you take your car to the mechanic for regular servicing and then pour methylated spirits into the fuel tank? NO?
Then why do you visit the gym regularly or even see your personal trainer but then put crappy food in your mouth?”

I think you get the message, please be aware of what goes in your mouth. I am not saying to eat alfalfa sprouts all day long, but it is really so easy to make healthy, tasty, nutritious food and just limit your junk food to weekends and takeaway dinners to once a week.

Troy Shispey

Fitta Bodies Personal Training

Group Training Centennial Park, Sydney

I am sure you are all aware of the impact that food has on our long term health. We are all made up of living cells. Those cells renew themselves from the food that we eat. Without the correct nourishment, our immune system will suffer and disease will set in. Think about the food you eat and what it is made from. Then think that those ingredients are what is making up your living cells. 

Now that you can think of food as a fuel for your body, not just something you eat every few hours, you might make a few changes to what goes in your mouth.

I believe a diet rich in vegetables and protein will help to promote a healthy body, in a healthy weight range without feeling bloated and tired.

Here are a few tips to incorporating more vegetables into your diet. When I refer to vegggies, this incorporates salad as well.

* When shopping, choose your favourite vegetables. It is quite often easier to buy carrots and brocoli because they are cheap and miss out on the more exotic veggies you really like because they cost a bit more, only to get out of the fruit shop and go and spend $4 on a coffee.

* Variety!

* Have a plate of cut veggie sticks on the fridge ready to snack on daily.

* Don’t overcook your veggies. Steam or stir fry them, they will have better flavour, colour and texture.

* Try a new veggie along side a familiar one.

* If you find something you don’t like, don’t eat it. Try something different next time.

* Don’t think of veggies as just an evening meal ingredient, tomato, mushroom and spinach are all great breakfast veggies. Mixed salad is easy to prepare in the morning to take to work. Veggie sticks are great as snacks.

Here are few tips to incorporate more protein into your diet

* Firstly make a list of all the protein foods you like to eat.

* Secondly write down beside the protein all the foods you like to accompany it.

* Thirdly write down what time of day you would prefer to eat that food.

* Now plan your week’s food plan and shopping list.

* Be sure to vary your diet. When you write down your accompanying foods, make sure you have several options for each protein.

Healthy eating and happy living go hand in hand, so eat well and enjoy life!

Troy Shipsey

Fitta Bodies Personal Training

Group Fitness Centennial Park, Sydney

With the growth of the health and fitness industry due to an ever growing obese population, there are so many underqualified and very under experienced personal trainers out there. It seems every second person is a personal trainer or does a bit of “personal training” on the side…

Even the education providers are advertising easier and faster ways to get qualified. Each one is trying to outdo the next by making it easier to get qualified just so the other college won’t get the business.

And so, the standard of education and experience gets lower and lower due to the increased competition of education providers. Maybe this increased competition should improve standards by advertising who can give you the most experience and highest qualifications to convince you to train with them, rather than who can get you in and out of the door the quickest. Which by the way is a bit of a joke really, because these days you don’t even have to get in the door, you can do the whole thing at home by copying your friends assignments and case studies (oops, I mean via correspondence or “distance learning”). I saw enough of this when I worked at Australias largest gym chain which is home to the largest population of inexperienced trainers around, they don’t even need the minimum qualificatiosn to work there!
It is making the industry somewhat of a joke.

So many times these day, I see a personal training session being conducted but I cannot tell who is the trainer and who is the client!

Here are a few things to think about when choosing a personal trainer;

* Are they fatter than you? I think this is the most important! Why go to a trainer to lose weight if they can’t even lose weight themselves.

* Do they practice what they preach? Do they drink plenty of filtered water and eat a diet rich in fruits, veggies, lean protein and nuts. Limiting junk food to treats on weekends. How can they tell you to do something yet not do it themselves?

* Do they chat to you about how drunk they got on the weekend? Or are they trying to convince you that alcohol should be strictly limited.

* Can they answer your health and fitness questions? And not fumble through it like they are making it up.

* How much experience do they have? How many people have they helped so far?

* What is their client retention like? Are they constantly looking for new clients all the time? This is a sure fire way to know how good a trainer is by whether their clients stick with them, people are pretty savvy these days and when they see a cowboy, they either move on to another trainer, or give up because they have lost faith in the industry.

* Do they try to put you onto the latest gimmick or fad diet to get you to your goals?

* Do they tell you what you want to hear to get you onboard rather than the truth?

* Do they focus on your form and technique, ensuring your safety? Or are they just counting the reps and minutes to the end of the session? Do they even know what the correct technique is, or are they just re-enacting something they saw another trianer do?