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7 Simple Steps To Start You Toward Your Ultimate Lifestyle!!

admin — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:20:25 +0000

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”(Vincent Van Gogh)

Everyone has an ‘end goal’, a place of financial independence with all the time in the world to exercise and do the things we always want to do! So, how do you go from here to there? Well, you need to crawl before you can walk! You need to make a start with small steps…Make the start today by including these 7 simple steps in your everyday life!!

get started today towards your ultimate lifestyle!!

1. Lose The Fat!!

I don’t think there’s one person out there who doesn’t enjoy being in great shape or want to get into great shape! The first part of getting into amazing shape is usually to lose body fat and trim down and really is it NOT ‘easier said than done”! It just takes a little discipline with working out and your diet. Focus HARD on cardio and High Intensity Interval Training. Give it 3 or 4 months for your body to make adjustments and don’t give up on it!! Losing body fat is going to give you extra energy and make you feel great both mentally and physically!!‏

2. Add Lean Muscle!!

Adding weight/resistance training as part of your workout routine is important as muscle requires more energy to exist than fat does. Thus your body requires and uses more of its ‘stored energy’ when muscle exists! The muscle I want you to concentrate on is ‘lean’ muscle. This is muscle that is built up slowly over time and has the nice ‘defined’ look, not the big ‘puffy’ look. Work out hard in the gym but lift lower volumes and compliment weight training with cardio to get the more natural athletic looking figure. You want to look like you play a lot of sports, NOT spend all day in the gym!

3. Clean Up Your Diet!!

Diet is the building block we must utilize if we want to make changes to our bodies!! Train all you want but if your diet is poor, then the results will follow. I stick to a relatively low calorie diet, but am not fanatical about counting calories!! I believe in balance and will NEVER be completely anal about calories or working out. If you deprive yourself of something, you’ll tend to binge on it! In saying that, it’s important to get to what I call the ‘maintenance

eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables!!

phase’ first. (look out for an upcoming post on this). When you’re in the maintenance phase, you’ve done the hard yards and know how your body reacts, it’s more about maintaining your fit body 12 months of the year! Anyway, back to diet..I eat the normal 3 meals a day but pretty much just cut out the crap and eat fresh natural foods! Lots of chicken, meat, salads…just beware of quantity and calories.

4. Set SPECIFIC Goals!!

‘I want to lose weight’
‘I want to travel’
‘I want to meet somebody nice’
‘I want to purchase my first property’

etc…

These are NOT specific goals and you will not reach them!!

Be CLEAR & SPECIFIC!!

‘I am going to lose 5kgs within the next 2 months’
‘I am going to save $200 per week and travel to South America in November 2008’
‘I am going to make myself more available and meet 2 new people everyday’
‘I am going to do my research, use my savings, and buy my first property within the next 3 months’

Notice the difference? The second list is assertive and specific!!

5. Write Down Your Goals!!

Once you’ve set specific goals you need to write them down!! You need to drill them into your head, over and over!! Place them somewhere where they’re always in your face!! I have some goals that I’ve placed on my fridge so every time I go to open the fridge I am forced to read them over and over!! These goals should be specific and attainable but also hard to reach…set the bar high for yourself! Go over your goals with a friend and be held accountable for them if you slack off!

6. Sort Out Your Finances!!

There is no excuse for paying a higher interest rate on your home loan than what you need to! There is a lot of competition out there and a lot of products that will apply to your specific situation and help reduce your payments or pay off your loan quicker! Get motivated and discuss your situation with a professional and sort out your mortgage!
Be mindful not to run up too much personal debt such as personal loans and credit cards and if you have a few of these along with a mortgage then think about consolidating them into your home loan (there are pros & cons to this) and then make sure you cancel that debt completely. Credit cards also have zero percent balance transfer from one lender to the next, it’s just a matter of doing a little research…And there is nothing stopping you from doing this over and over and over again every 6 months!

7. Take Some Risks!!

Ok, every one has a different situation you are currently in whether it be married with children or just out of University. My posts are written from the point of view of a early thirties, single, sporty guy but that doesn’t mean if you are older and settled that you shouldn’t look at creating opportunities for yourself! If you are happy and content then that is great but keep challenging yourself to do better…you can ALWAYS do better! As we get older it’s more difficult to stay in great shape but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done! A saying that I enjoy is ‘Risk and Reward’, take some risks and enjoy the rewards! Start a business, take that overseas trip, get that promotion, get in fantastic shape!!…life is short remember!!

BE A LION!!!!

Why Weight Training Is Essential For Fat Loss And Toning!!

admin — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:54:34 +0000

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself” (Leo Tolstoy)

Regardless of your exercise goal, weight (or resistance) training should be an important inclusion in your weekly exercise routine! My site and advanced exercise tips are focussed on weight loss, toning, and the ‘athletic’ figure! So you won’t find tips how to pack on excessive muscle as I don’t believe it’s healthy to spend hours in the gym pumping iron, plus I don’t believe it’s a healthy look!!…There are millions of other sites out there if you want the ‘puffed up’ look! I believe in a healthy balance and a more lean, toned, athletic figure you can maintain all year round!! This will never be a bodybuilding site, this is a Mortgage site primarily with exercise tips that both men and women of all ages and shapes can use to reduce body fat and enjoy a healthy, lean, toned and sexy body!! However, in saying that, weight training is very important for fat loss and a sexy looking body!!

she certainly takes her magic exercise pills!!

If there was a ‘magic pill’ you could take to give you your perfect figure…it would consist of high intensity cardio, a clean diet, and weight training!!

These three ingredients will give you the sexy body you want or help maintain the figure you have!! Diet will always be most important, however weight training is an essential part of your exercise routine because muscle requires more energy just to exist than what fat does!! So by doing weight training, you actually ask your body to provide and utilize more of your ’stored energy’ you have in your body! So everytime you weight train you are burning stored energy! Add high intensity cardio and a clean diet to this and you an awesome base for your body to make changes!…over time your body will rock!! As eventually your metabolism increases and your body fat reduces!!

Weight training is important for men and women, and all shapes and sizes!!

Doing resistance training won’t make you big so no need to worry about that!! If you are doing lots of cardio and eating well, weight training will help keep you streamlined. For the guys, I lift relatively heavy but do low reps to give a more natural look without getting bulky! For the ladies I would lift lighter weights and do a little more reps…resistance training is important for both men and women to reach your fitness goals!!

Weight training vs Cardio

I am a huge fan of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) but I also mix in 2, 3, or 4 weight training sessions per week as I want to remain athletic with good muscle tone, but NOT bulky muscles!! I spend maybe around 30-45 mins doing weights per session and they are done at quite a high intensity as I like to get in, work hard, and get out of the gym as soon as possible!! And doing weights at a high intensity will also burn more calories! I have no desire to pack on excessive muscle but I also realize it’s important to weight train to maintain relatively low body fat, and I like having nicely defined muscle tone rather than big puffy muscles which I think is a rediculous look for guys!!

What are your weight training goals?

I’m all about balance in life, I like to be athletic but not bulky! And you see, I would much rather be lean & toned for 12 months of the year, than big and bulky which is hard to retain and in my view looks rediculous! You have to eat a lot of calories and a lot of the size you put on is actually fat!! And it’s funny as you get older because when I was in my early twenties, even though I was playing tennis overseas and needed to be athletic, I still wanted to be big!! Now in my early thirties, I am in far better shape now…being lean & toned & athletic!!

High Intensity Interval Training - The Best Way to Burn Fat!!

admin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 03:42:11 +0000

“Good, Better, Best, never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best” (David Rees)

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is the most effective way to burn fat efficiently and you can get fantastic results fast from this form of cardio exercise!! I’m a results kind of guy, if i’m going to put in the hard work then I want to see the results and a HIIT workout does exactly this. I live right on the water in Sydney and love seeing people out running, exercising and walking their dogs around the bay everyday, but their exercise can be much more effective if they incorporate some HIIT into their workouts!! I can run long distance and I do every now and again but it bores me a little to be honest, I used to be a tennis player so I prefer shorter, quicker, more intense running, and with HIIT I can burn way more fat in one session than what an hours slow or medium jog could!!

interval training is an intense workout!!

So what is High Intensity Interval Training?

Put simply, HIIT is a short intense burst of exercise followed by a short rest, followed by another short intense burst of exercise, followed by short rest and so on. You can incorporate HIIT into almost any kind of cardio exercise. Next time you plan on going for a 30 minute run, do a High Intensity session instead…here’s how it works!

Let’s take a treadmill for example:
after your warm-up start your 20 min HITT session on say level 5 (medium intensity) for one minute
then increase to level 6 for one min
then back to level 5 for one min
then up to level 7 for one min
then back to level 5 for one min
then up to level 8 and so on….
your intensity bursts will get harder and harder and your rest time will seem shorter and shorter!!

Or we can take sprints over 100 metres for example:
jog from one end to the other at a medium jogging pace (say 50%)
then on the return leg increase your speed (say 55%)
then jog back to the start at 50% speed again
then increase the level again to 60% and so on
By the 10th sprint you should be at 100% and hurting!!

Or you can find a hill to sprint up and jog down using the same principle!! Or do some boxing for 30 seconds then rest for 30 seconds, the possibilities are endless!!

Benefits of High Intensity Workouts

Here’s the deal clencher, because you’ve worked at such a high intensity, your body will continue to burn fat for hours after you’ve finished the workout! Imagine that! Burning fat while doing nothing!! Keep a clean diet and you’ll find HIIT can help you burn fat fast!! You’ll feel very pumped at the end of the session and know you’ve had a great workout and given it 100%. You’ll also notice your body recovers quickly and there is little or no lactic acid build up because you are exercising anaerobically and not aerobically. Without getting too scientific, by this I mean your body is using a different system called ‘The Phosphate System’ for its energy source. Mixing HIIT with regular cardio workouts is a great way to burn fat and it also takes less time than regular cardio and is a greater fat loss tool!!

Anything that saves me time but works more efficiently is what I look for!!

And everybody’s maximum limit is different so if you are working hard then that’s what matters most! You’ll feel more of a purpose when doing High Intensity workouts. HIIT is a huge part of my workout routine and comes highly recommended.
High Intensity workouts are pretty intense and only one or two per week are required. They are a great way to lose fat, tone, and streamline the body!!
If your number one goal is fat-loss then incorporate HIIT into your workout!!