Why You Can’t Out-Exercise a Bad Diet

You are What You Eat:  You Can’t Out Exercise a Bad Diet

Ever heard someone give themselves permission to indulge their sweet tooth just because they just had a great workout?  It’s a common excuse. Many people believe that because they exercise, they’re in the black as far as their calorie input/output.  But in reality, this sort of thinking is a sure road to failure. Most people with a lean body and a 6 pack didn’t get that way by rationalizing their way to the dessert buffet.

Many people have no idea how many calories they take in on an average day, often severely underestimating when asked to take a guess at it.  But they also overestimate the number of calories they burn.  The truth is, 30 minutes of the best boot camp in town will not cancel out that burger and fries!

Do the math

Let’s look at the hard numbers.  An average, moderately intensive workout will burn 300-400 calories in about an hour.  That’s an hour of hard work with plenty of sweat and hard breathing.

Now say on the way home from the gym, you decide to grab a couple of donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts.  After all, you’ve earned it!  In the 3 minutes, it will take you to put away two chocolate frosted cake donuts, you’ve consumed 720 calories. All your hard work is wasted, plus you’ve provided your body with several hundred extra calories to store as fat!

Or maybe you just want to have some pizza and soda with friends.  You consider the 600 calories you burned running on the treadmill for an hour today (at 10 miles per hour—that’s a really fast run, for a really long time!), so you eat 4 pieces of pizza and a coke.  No problem, right?

Wrong.  You just downed 900-1,000 calories in about 10 minutes!

Is it really worth it?

Face the facts

The bottom line is you simply can’t out-train a bad diet.  If you try to spar a bad diet with exercise, the exercise will lose every single time.  The only way to lose weight and get that lean, sexy, healthy body that looks great in anything (or nothing) is to eat a healthy diet AND exercise.

Your weight loss is driven by diet and maintained by exercise.  The only way to get ahead in the calorie game is to eat fewer calories than you burn.  Only then will you begin to see the fat melt away.  Exercise builds muscle and can rev up your metabolism, but you won’t lose weight if you continually eat more than you can metabolize.

This is not to say that exercise is not important.  It is!  In fact, according to Barry Braun, associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst,

“When you look at the results in the National Weight Control Registry, you see over and over that exercise is one constant among people who’ve maintained their weight loss.” 1

Want to keep the pounds off?  Exercise!  Exercise is crucial.  And you must combine it with a balanced diet if you want to shed pounds.

Start smart

Have you been trying to out-exercise your diet?  Don’t be discouraged; many of us have been guilty of this.  It’s time to rethink your weight loss strategy.  Try the following tips to start fresh and recreate your body!

  • Plan, plan, plan. The only way you are going to get control of your diet is to plan ahead.  Do not let yourself get hungry without anything healthy prepared to eat; your will power will plummet and you will reach for a snack that will set you back.  Keep food ready in your refrigerator that you can grab and heat quickly.  And don’t leave the house without cool water, nuts, fruit, whole-grain crackers, and cheese.  Make things really easy by using a service like Lean Eats.

 

  • Lift weights. When you start losing weight, you must protect your muscle. If you begin to lose pounds without adding in weight lifting, you will likely lose up to 25% of your muscle mass.  Also, after an intense weight lifting workout targeting at least 3 big muscles, your metabolism increases for up to 39 hours after you are finished.  And repairing that muscle tissue after lifting requires energy!  Energy=calories burned.

 

  • Get some accountability. We’ll strike this note again and again:  you need a partner.  Remember, the single biggest determiner of your fitness success is whether or not you have an accountability partner.  Find someone to trade food journals with and report on how you are doing with your will power.

 

You need both exercise and a healthy diet to be lean, strong, and healthy.  Don’t neglect either one!

 

PinkBelt Kickboxing in Cardiff

Pink Belt Kickboxing

is coming to

Cardiff

On April 10th 2017, we will be delivering our Group Exercise Instructor Programme at SOS Excellence in Cardiff.

If you are/or know of an instructor that would like to teach this women only kickboxing programme, get in touch!

You can read more and book your place HERE

New GrX Instructor Training dates

Calling all Personal Trainers, Fitness Instructors and Class Instructors. 

We have a selection of training dates available nationwide for our Group Exercise Instructor Programme. 

The PinkBelt Kickboxing GrX programme, in association with a Jordan Fitness, is a fitness based, group friendly version of the 1-2-1 program (taking out defence/sparring etc) so it’s safe for delivery of large groups in a fitness / gym / studio environment. This is preferred to deliver in Fitness Clubs and for individuals in local halls.

Please click the link below to see dates, times, venues and exactly what the course contains. 

PBKB Events

Any questions, please contact us 
See you there, Marc. 

Visualise to Actualise

Visualisation Leads to Actualisation

 

 

Visualisation, done right, can be extremely powerful in achieving any goal.  As you think about your goals for the New Year, take into consideration the following…

Using your intellectual factor of imagination see yourself already in possession of your goal.  Picture yourself with the healthy and fit body you desire, and literally feel what it is like to have it.  You cannot achieve anything in your “outer world” until you first see it in your “inner world.”

Is Visualisation for Real?

In one of the most well known studies on Creative Visualisation in sports, scientists compared four groups of Olympic athletes in terms of their training schedules:

  • Group 1 had 100% physical training
  • Group 2 had 75% physical training with 25% mental training
  • Group 3 had 50% physical training with 50% mental training
  • Group 4 had 25% physical training with 75% mental training.

The results showed that Group 4, with 75% of their time devoted to mental training, performed the best.  “The Soviets had discovered that mental images can act as a prelude to muscular impulses.”[1]

Creative Visualisation is distinguished from normal daydreaming in that, Creative Visualisation is done in the first person and the present tense – as if the visualised scene were unfolding all around you; whereas normal daydreaming is done in the third person and the future tense.  Using affirmations that begin with “I am so happy and grateful now that…” is an excellent way to begin programming your subconscious mind to move towards your goal.

Visualisation is another tool that many athletes use to get their minds in shape for competition.  In this technique, athletes mentally rehearse exactly what they have to do to win. Sports psychologists say that visualisation boosts athletes’ confidence by forcing them to picture themselves winning.  It also helps them concentrate on their physical moves, rather than on distractions around them.[2]

Visualise to Actualise

Remember, all things are created twice – first in the imagination and then second in the physical world.  Study this excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s famous book, Think & Grow Rich:

The law of autosuggestion, through which any person may rise to altitudes of achievement which stagger the imagination, is well described in the following verse:

“If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don’t

If you like to win, but you think you can’t,

It is almost certain you won’t.

“If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost

For out of the world we find,

Success begins with a fellow’s will—

It’s all in the state of mind.

“If you think you are outclassed, you are,

You’ve got to think high to rise,

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

“Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But soon or late the man who wins

Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!”

Observe the words which have been emphasised, and you will catch the deep meaning which the poet had in mind.  Somewhere in your makeup there lies, sleeping, the seed of achievement which, if aroused and put into action, would carry you to heights such as you may never have hoped to attain.

Just as a master musician may cause the most beautiful strains of music to pour forth from the strings of a violin, so may you arouse the genius who lies asleep in your brain, and cause it to drive you upward to whatever goal you may wish to achieve.

Tips for Success

Create an affirmation statement and visualise yourself with your goal achieved

Put your affirmation statement in places you’ll see it often like your bathroom mirror, car and desk.

Put it on a card and keep it in your pocket at all times

Create a Vision Board – cut out pictures of your goal (i.e., fit bodies, athletes, etc.) and make a collage that you can view often.  Get emotionally involved when you look at it.

Pink Belt and Visualisation

Visualisation is another method we throw into the mix on the 121 journey with your Pink Belt Coach. Part of it forms your choice to enter onto this pathway of learning with us (phase zero if you like) and we revisit it in Phase 4 – Becoming a complete Kickboxer.

Once the physical skills have been laid down as foundations, the fitness & mobility attributes have started to build the body, we gel it all together with a strategy that suits the type of kickboxer you’re organically becoming.

 For more information, please get in touch with us for a no obligation telephone chat, Skype meeting or email conversation. 

Happy New Year. 

Miranda

Pink Belt Kickboxing.

 

 

[1] Robert Scaglione, William Cummins, Karate of Okinawa: Building Warrior Spirit, Tuttle Publishing, 1993, ISBN 096264840X.

[2] Fiona McCormack, “Mind games,” Scholastic Scope, Vol. 54, Iss. 10, New York: Jan 23, 2006

This article can also be downloaded as a PDF from HERE

Supercharge your health this winter (well, all of the time really!)

Supercharge with Greens!

No matter how committed we are to getting in the recommended five to nine servings of vegetables and fruits every day, sometimes we come up short.  It may be that we are busy and barely have time to eat at all, or perhaps we find ourselves in eating situations that don’t include many fresh vegetable choices.  Or maybe we just don’t like them.

On days that you find it hard to eat enough vegetables and fruits, a green drink is the perfect answer.  It is a great way to boost your health and even detox your system.

Green drinks are just that—green, because they contain the juice of fresh green vegetables and other vegetables and fruits.  There are many reasons to consider adding green drinks to your diet.

Why drink greens?

Vegetables and fruit are full of essential vitamins, minerals and enzymes that your body thrives on.  And because you are consuming it in liquid form, your body can digest it quickly.  This is especially helpful if you have digestion issues, because the process of juicing ‘pre digests’ the food for you by breaking down the cell walls.  This means that the nutrition can easily go right into your system.

Drinking your veggies and fruits also allows you to take in more nutrients.  You may find it difficult to eat an entire bunch of kale in a day, but drinking the juice from that same amount is no problem at all!

You will also detox your body by drinking fresh juices.  The enzymes contained in the juice help to release built-up toxins, leaving your body much healthier.

Many people have found that juicing helps them to lose weight, increase their energy and even improve some medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Smoothies too!

An alternative to juicing your veggies and fruit (my preferred method) is to turn them into smoothies. While a juicer extracts the juice and leaves behind the pulp, a high-powered blender can be used to blend the juice and pulp together into a thicker drink.  Either method is fine–it just depends on your preference.  The fiber in the smoothies will cause you to feel full longer, which may help you to have fewer cravings.

Watch Your Calories and Sugar Intake!

WARNING:  Juicing can really jack up your calorie and sugar intake when you use a lot of fruit.  Be mindful of what you’re putting in you green drink…

Get started with these recipes

Here are some recipes1 to help you jumpstart your health and energy.

Baby’s First Green (a great starter juice)

1 large pear
1 apple
1 cup pineapple, cubed
4 large stalks kale
1 cucumber

Gena’s Classic Green Juice

1 green apple
1 inch knob ginger
5 large stalks celery
1 cucumber
1 large handful parsley
5 stalks kale

Veggie Ginger Juice

3 large carrots
1 beet
1 green apple
4 large stalks celery
1 large handful of spinach, parsley, or other dark green
1 small cucumber
1 inch knob ginger

 

Do you blend?  Let us know your favorite recipes!

 

Sources:

1 http://www.choosingraw.com

What motivates you?

What Motivates You?

Mike Fohner, cross country running coach, tells this story about one of his students:
Last year, one of my young cross-country runners was fully content walking up the hills and avoiding physical exertion to the maximum extent possible. I tried all sorts of tactics and motivation techniques…to wits end. Even my “walkers club” (post practice sprints for those that walk during practice) had no effect. One meet, this runner unexpectedly knocked 3 minutes off her best time to which I gave a look of amazement to her parents. They smiled and said, “Well…she didn’t walk…so I guess we owe her ten bucks!!” So it appears that money is an effective motivator for all ages!
The statistics. 

Brace yourself. According to Rod K. Dishman, Ph.D., director of the Behavioral Fitness Laboratory at the University of Georgia, nearly 50 percent of people who begin an exercise program drop out within the first 6 months. The question is, “Why?” What is it about sticking with a fitness routine that causes so many people abandon it?

The answer? Motivation.  They don’t want health and fitness badly enough. It is a simple fact of human psychology that if we want something badly enough, we’ll do everything we can to get it.
Your challenge is to find out what motivates you to get serious about fitness and stick with it. 

Unlocking your motivation 

Mike Fohner’s student found that money was the motivation she needed to push her out of her comfort zone and into a commitment that she previously hadn’t been interested in.
Bryan Reece found a different motivation. Told by his doctors that he was minutes away from a heart attack, Bryan decided to fight back. Even though he had not been in a gym in 30 years, he turned his life around and eventually became a finisher in the Arizona Ironman competition. You can read his story in the book, You Are an Ironman: How Six Weekend Warriors Chased Their Dream of Finishing the World’s Toughest Triathlon by Jacques Steinberg. 

You do not have to be part of that 50 percent who quit. You can stay committed and finish strong. It is all about finding what motivates you personally.
Here are some possible motivators for you. 

1. Do it for your health. Consistent exercise and healthy eating are the two very best things you can do for your health. You will develop a strong, healthy heart, reduce your chances of many cancers, prevent diabetes, keep a sharp mind and resist dementia and avoid many of the common ailments that come with aging. It is possible to age without decay, and the key to this is exercise and eating well. 

2. Do it to look better. Appearance isn’t everything, but most of us care how we look. A strong and healthy person just looks good. And it isn’t all physical. Your demeanor will change as you develop the confidence that comes from the discipline of fitness. You will appear more energetic and confident because you will be more energetic and confident! 

3. Do it to relieve stress. Really! It isn’t a cliché. Exercising really does cause physical changes in your brain and nervous system that results in feelings of calmness and well-being. In fact, you may get so hooked on the mental benefits of exercise that you will crave it! 

4. Do it to be strong. If you have never done focused kickboxing training, then you literally have no idea of the total transformation that you will feel after just a few weeks. There is nothing like doing something that you think normally results in discomfort, strain and even pain, only to find out that it is a piece of cake! And by getting strong now, you reduce your risk of age-related falls and fractures because you have the core strength and balance to keep yourself stable. 

It is worth taking the time to discover the powerful motivators in your life. Don’t worry about ‘bribing’ yourself: do what it takes to get yourself moving. 

Find out what makes sweating worth it.

Find out what you want more than that brownie. 

Your health is at stake; in fact, your very life is at stake. It’s time to transform yourself.  

Self-Confidence

Confidence & Martial Arts

 

How many of us at one point in our lives or another have felt less than? Self-confidence is crucial to our happiness and is an elusive subject to talk about.  What causes low self-confidence, what improves it?

 

Exercise is widely accepted as a fundamental and successful way to improve your self-confidence. Exercise boosts endorphins, makes us feel better physically. Goal setting in exercise gives us and sense of accomplishment and achievement as we reach new milestones.  I give us something to strive for, improves our sense of purpose.  All of these things work to boost our self-confidence.  Achievement and success are huge factors in our self-confidence levels as well as physical appearance. When we exercise we get healthier and can improve our physical appearance thus improving our self-confidence.

 

Martial arts training can be and even more involved and rewarding as a self-confidence improving exercise.  It combines the physical activities and strength training exercise with mindfulness and spiritual practice that can have a profound effect on ones self-esteem.

 

Ways that Martial Arts can improve your Self-Confidence:

 

  • You will improve your physical health which in turn improves your mental health.
  • You develop more energy which can translate into a better mood and more positive attitude.
  • You will begin to physically look healthier. Often body image is the number one component of ones self-esteem and self-confidence issues.  Exercise will help you to be healthier and thus happier with the way you look.
  • You will gain physical strength. With physical strength comes mental strength.
  • Accomplishments in strength training can give us a sense of achievement in life.

 

The sense of achievement you get from exercising and learning martial arts, is paramount in boosting self-confidence.  Seeing a purpose, a point, having a goal and a use is a crucial aspect of your self-esteem equation.  Martial arts has a unique was of setting your goals, by awarding belts for new levels reached.

 

Exercise is also stress reliever.  It releases chemicals in the brain like dopamine and endorphins which regulate stress and are sometimes referred to as the “feel-good” chemicals in the brain.  Regular exercise relieves stress and anxiety.  It can help you calm down and have better concentration.

 

Martial arts is particularly good at improving self-confidence because while training your body you also train your mind. You can think of it as moving meditation, mindfulness in the moment and a way of thinking that when paired with your physical fitness you can build a self-esteem foundation that is hard to shake.

Pink Belt Kickboxing Women's Kickboxing Programme: Empower Yourself

Pink Belt Kickboxing Women’s Kickboxing Programme: Empower Yourself

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