Grab some great value quality sportswear.

Several months ago Tribesports my favorite sports orientated social site, launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to produce their own range of sports wear. As I had been a member of the site for many months and benefited greatly from the environment and training tools on the site, without having to pay a penny for it, I was keen to do my bit to support them in their venture.

If you have not come across Kickstarter or crowd funding before it basically involves raising funds to finance a project from people through the power of the internet. You pledge some cash and in return you get some benefit from the project once it is completed. In this case pledges receive items of the new sports wear from the first production run.

Anyway I made my pledge, more as a show of appreciation than because I wanted new kit, and forgot all about it. Until last week that is, when a package arrived, rather conveniently on the eve of my birthday. In it I found my long sleeved, white technical shirt and what a thing of beauty it is. The Tribesports team had promised quality and they certainly delivered.

The fabric is incredibly light and very soft, so no nasty chaffing. All the stitching is superb, you don't need to be a tailor see how secure and accurate it is. It is also really stylish in the Tribesports white with orange detailing.
 I recommend you check out the  Tribesports Shop.

The ethos behind this new range is to give us, the sports people, a top quality product, using the best and most advanced materials to create sportswear designed by top designers, and sell it for the lowest possible price. To do this they have shunned celebrity endorsements,  expensive advertising and instead are relying on the quality to speak for itself and for the word to spread through the sporting community about just what great value this kit really is.

Definitely the nicest bit of kit I own. So if you like this idea please have a look and share this with your friends, they deserve the support.

 Lets shun the all powerful brands in favour of real quality and value.

Staying Motivated during Winter.

Here in the UK we are now experiencing very short days and often overcast grey skies and cold damp weather. It's hard to stay motivated at this time of year, I find that I have so much less enthusiasm for doing things, especially in the evenings after dark.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that this is a time of year when we are more prone to piling on the pounds as our body stores fat in preparation for the months ahead when food would be harder to find in nature.

So you've worked hard this year, you lost a bit of weight your fitness is improving but you face dangerous times ahead. If you slacken off on your training you will loose some of the gains you've worked so hard for, if your a runner imagine if you can continue to improve over the winter instead of resting? Just think of those great times you could be setting next year and the advantage you will have over the runners who have had a layoff.

What about your weight loss efforts? If it is true that we are prone to put on weight at this time of year and that we naturally crave sugary, calorie rich foods to build our bodies reserves, then you will have to make an effort just to maintain the status quo. In order to continue to loose weight you must dig deep and find the determination to be strong and stick with your program.

Knowledge is power as they say, so having just read this will be of some help but the real effort is down to you. You must decide on what action you are going to take and what commitment you will make to yourself.

The road to success may well look like this!

Make an effort when you shop to still buy those foods you favour in the Summer like fresh fruit and vegetables, if you don't have any in you can't choose it over bad foods. Of course not buying the bad foods will also be a big help. Consider a meal planner, boring and tedious I know but it could be a big help and will keep you more focused if you have a plan when you do the shopping.

In terms of training the hardest part is getting into your kit and starting. Once you get going you will start to feel good as you body releases all those wonderful endorphins that give you energy and lift your mood. Talk yourself into it, keep telling yourself about the benefits, about how good you feel afterwards, how great you run times will be next year, how much buffer you will look.

For you will be one of the few who have remained true to the cause and to yourself, while others have languished on the couch and gorged in porcine otiosity. You will be starting the coming year with a sense of accomplishment, something upon which you can build a better, stronger, fitter and more self disciplined you

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.- Aristotle

Another Half Marathon run and a new training partner.

It has been a busy few weeks, since doing the Insane Terrain race at Doddington, I have been putting in the miles preparing for the Perkins Great Eastern Run which is a half marathon that takes place in Peterborough city centre.

I was aiming to set a new personal best time and get below the 2hr time mark. As I had recently completed the Grunty Fen Half in 1hr 1min, I knew I could do it.

Race day was cold, windy and raining. The starting area was partially flooded with huge muddy puddles everywhere. Everyone was keen to get going as it was so cold and wet that standing around was really unpleasant.

Once we started I set off at a deliberately slow pace, I wanted to save myself for the second half of the race. I can't say the run was particularly enjoyable as conditions were so miserable but once past the half way point I increased my pace significantly. After running the first half so slowly I wasn't sure I could make up enough time to hit my target but I made a huge effort to sustain the pace and only started to slow again in the last 2 miles as I was almost spent.

Determination carried me across the line in 1hr 56mins.

I was extremely happy with this despite the pain and my sudden inability to walk properly! I knew I had given everything I could.

I then had to rush home as I had been negotiating for weeks to get a very special dog from a rescue centre to come and join our family and he was being brought to us that same day. Jasper is a Lurcher who was seized from a traveler site due to neglect and mistreatment. At the time he was seized he was in a terrible condition but the rescue centre has

done a lot of work in conjunction with the Vets to bring him back to health.

He now lives with us and our other Lurcher, George. At the moment he has very little muscle but dogs heal fast and with the work I am doing with him on his diet and regular exercise I am quite confident he will be able to do 20km training runs with George and me before the Winter is over. He managed to run 3km yesterday and 4km today so we are seeing some progress already.

My next race is Norwich Half in November, which will mark 1 year since I got off the couch, lost weight and got fit. So I suppose I had better mark the occasion with my first sub 1hr 55mins Half Marathon, better get some miles in!

Good luck with you own fitness goals.

Going Insane for the day!

By day I own and run a landscaping business, is a tough and physically demanding occupation. So it's a good idea to live a healthy lifestyle and keep myself fit even away from work and if I can have a bit of fun in the process it’s a real win, win.

I train regularly by cross country running with my dog and doing bar calisthenics and other body weigh exercise. Occasionally I take part in regular road running races but I really love obstacle races where all over body condition  and fitness is tested.

So on Sunday  29^th September 2013 I took part in the Go Insane mud run and obstacle course at Doddington near Cambridge. 

The course is based around the Moto X track with a few extra challenging obstacles created just for the day.

Of course I am used to a bit of mud in my business, but this was taking it to extremes. The course involved jumping into and wading and swimming through multiple filthy, stinking stagnant and boggy water hazards, crawling through tunnels, nets and ditches and several climbs.

What a truly great day out it was, a fantastic way to test my fitness and have an incredible amount of fun. The day ended wet, muddy and smelly, just like a normal day in the office.

I completed the 10km course in 55mins 40secs. 

Are Supermarkets Acting Responsibly?

I suspect this is a theme I may have to revisit, often! I visited a Tesco store yesterday and positioned near to the doors, in the first isle you have to walk along, are the special offers. One particular offer caught my eye, "1 Dozen Doughnuts for £1.00".

Who in there right mind would eat a dozen doughnuts? Well clearly people do as the supermarkets do their research very thoroughly. Marketing such an unhealthy food, in such an excessive quantity and so ludicrously cheaply, seems the height of irresponsibility as our nation faces an obesity epidemic and diseases like Rickets are making a return due to poor nutrition.

Yes you read that right, a nation in the middle of an obesity epidemic where people suffer from poor nutrition!

I am sure that the perpetrators of this food crime will claim that this offer is intended for sharing or for a family to consume over several days. Well as anyone who has ever been fond of doughnuts will tell you, they don't keep and must be eaten at once or they go stale. But such an offer is so very, very tempting to anyone who likes a cake or two (or twelve). Even for a family of four this equates to a whopping three sugary doughnuts each.

I accept that special offers are a valuable marketing tool for the supermarkets but why wont they make their offers in a more responsible way that promotes healthy eating?

Right now we are in the middle of the annual glut of UK grown apples, would it be such a bad idea to highlight the apple season by making use of the plentiful supply and giving every customer an apple as they leave the store? Think about it, deploy your best people people, get them to personally thank customers for their business as they leave the store whilst offering them a free treat of tasty seasonal fruit or veg. It would bring a personal human touch back into the shopping experience and build relationships with customers.

Just don't kill off all your customers by encouraging them to eat vast amounts of nutritionally poor foods, it's bad for business if all your customers are dead!

You only have one body, it has to last you a lifetime!

Tracking Your Progress

So you've decided to make a change in your life, eat better, exercise more and be healthy. How do you ensure you are progressing towards your goals?

Well logging your activities is a great way to keep yourself on track. Having a record of when you started, what you could do then and comparing it to what you can do now is also a fantastic motivator.

You could just write the log in a notebook but there are some really good tools available for free on the internet. I have tried several of these sites and they all have something different to offer, but by far my favorite is Tribesports. This site has a good social element of enthusiastic and supportive users to help and encourage you on your journey as well as some really simple to use and extremely comprehensive logging tools.

They also have a whole load of suggested workouts that you can try if you are looking for inspiration. Unlike most of the other sites I tried Tribesports is not just orientated towards one or two sports, but instead caters to almost all of them. So whether your into Rockclimbing, Cycling, Weight Training or yoga, there will be something there for you and other like minded users.

If ever I feel that I am not making progress I look back at some of my old run times and right away my spirits are lifted as I see how far I have come in the last 10 months, the same goes for other exercises like pull-ups, 5 months ago I couldn't do one but a check of my logged training shows that I have now done well over 1,000.
So you see how tracking your progress can give you a massive boost towards your final target. Have a look at the options for yourself and please leave some feedback below to let me know how you get on.


Oh, and if you do use Tribesports you can follow me there; @jamesg5

“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.” 

― Winston Churchill

@jamesg5

@jamesg5

@jamesg5

The Simple Mathematical Route To Losing weight

If your serious about losing weight then follow this simple equation;

The calories you use must be greater than the calories you consume

So if you consume 1800 calories in a day but only do enough activity to burn 1600 calories you wont lose any weight and may even put some on.

However if you consume 1800 calories a day and do enough activity to burn 2200 calories you WILL lose weight. THOSE CALORIES HAVE TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE. Logical isn't it?

The best way to regulate your weight is the same today as it has always been, a good balance of diet and exercise. Remember an hour of activity does not burn enough calories for you to sit on the couch for the rest of the day so sustained activity is best. Take weight loss as a long term goal, if you can shed 2-3 pounds a week for the first few weeks and then 1 pound a week after that, then you are doing well and it has been proven in many studies that slow and steady weight loss means you are less likely to put the weight back on again.

Think about it, to lose weight slowly means you must follow your weight loss regime for a longer period, the longer you follow it for the more habit forming it becomes. Therefor slow and steady weight loss is more likely to result in a real lifestyle change that will keep you slimmer and healthier for life, not just until your enthusiasm wears off.

One last tip, there is no such thing as time off at the weekend, sorry but for real success you need to follow your program 7 days a week. Good habits will not form if you keep breaking the routine.

So, small amounts of sustained effort is more effective than a big mad, burst of enthusiasm.

Also remember when you do an exercise session not to sabotage yourself with after class rewards;

40mins Spinning class = calories used 424

2 pints of beer after class and a bag of crisps = calories consumed 455.

 Your calorie intake is greater than your usage!

I know so many people who think that small amounts of exercise will compensate for treats, it isn't THAT easy!

Good luck and good health.