As we go through school the emphasis is on preparing us for a life of wealth accumulation, of productivity gains, of spending to grow our material possessions. Whilst there is also reference to social and health issues there is nowhere near enough effort on making sure we understand that personal health needs to  be our first priority.

Shame on the education system for not taking hold of politicians and lobbying hard and long to make personal health the most important aspect of our long (very long these days) lives.

How may people do you know that have driven themselves to an early grave because they strived too hard to make it in the wealth accumulation business, or at best have managed to make hospital their 2nd home. I can’t see that a big house, a flash car and a sick body have all that much in common.

We have been given some fantastic opportunities to live longer lives so why not make that extra time work properly for you. 100 years ago at 70 years of age you were just about ready to hang up the boots, but today you’re likely to be here until you’re 85. Wouldn’t it be great if that extra 15 years was available to you to do the things you didn’t get time to do? Being able to enjoy that time is totally dependent on your state of health. How many 50 year old’s can say they don’t rely on some sort of drug to help them get through the day. Drugs are now very common place because people have forgotten about their number one priority, ie themselves.

Drugs being used extensively are for hypertension (high blood pressure), heart disease, diabetes and high cholesterol, all of which can largely be prevented – if you have an attitude of putting your personal health first.

We all need to feel that we have done enough financially to ensure we will be provided for in our old age and for some there is an overwhelming need to think of their kids future, but please let’s not lose sight of the fact that in order for us to extract the greatest pleasure form our lives we need to feel even more secure in the fact that our bodies will treat us fairly as we age. The only way our body can treat us fairly is if we treat it fairly, over life’s long journey.

Do yourself a big favour and (1) reserve 30 mins a day to exercise and (2) be critical of what nutrients you’re putting into your body. Take a look at the federal government website for healthy eating for tips on how you can turn around a poor diet.

The post Why doesn’t personal health rate as highly as personal wealth? appeared first on Ageless Force Fitness.

A simple yet very easy and tasty breakfast or lunch treat.

This little beauty is packed with goodness and all the food groups to get your day off to a flying start.

You’ll need:

1/2 an Avocado

handful of Bay spinach

enough Fetta cheese to liberally sprinkle on your smashed Avocado

sprinkle of Smoked paprika

tablespoon lemon juice

1 slice sourdough rye or wholemeal/wholegrain toast

Method:

Arrange the baby spinach on the toast, smash the avocado on the baby spinach, crumble the fetta over the avocado and finish with a sprinkle of paprika and the lemon juice.

For your effort you will be rewarded with the following, as well as a great tasting, healthy meal.

1 serve of your daily intake of grains (5-6 serves per day)
1/2 serve of your daily intake of dairy (2-3 serves per day)
1/2 – 1 serve of your daily intake of veges (5-6 serves per day)
1/2 serve of your daily intake of fruit and yes the Avocado is a fruit (2-3 serves per day)

So if you’re feeling hungry make two, it won’t hurt and it’ll be a great start to the day and your week.

Eat well and stay Stronger, Fitter and Healthier.

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is a big question and one that may of us just cannot answer. The reason for this is that we are a very complex beast and we are constantly plagued with ideas and suggestions from every corner. For example there’s always the latest fad program that’s designed to remove body fat, instantly grow muscles and give us all the mobility we need. Oh and of course it all comes with a shake to make it go down easier!

Boy if it was that easy we’d all look like Hercules or Miss Universe.

There are however some key elements to our health and fitness and top of my list is ensuring that we undertake an exercise regime that makes us fitter and more prepared for what we do in our everyday activities. Sure for some the goal of looking super muscled and chiselled is the main game, however for most the effort required to get there just doesn’t fit into their lifestyle, so how do we workout to complement what we do every day?

Functional Movement and rotation. Every day we bend over, we twist our torso, we step forward and down to pick things up, we reach up, we lift heavy things, we balance on one leg, we get in and out of vehicles, we push trolleys, we pull weeds out of the garden. All of these require strength and mobility and if we don’t continually work on strengthening and correctly positioning the core parts of out bodies they will fail us.

Functional Movement and rotation training comes in many forms, such as traditional Squats, Crawls, Deadlifts,  plus newer styles involving the use of Kettlebells and strap based apparatus like RIP:60 and TRX. The aim with all of these methods is to mimic every day movement patterns and to provide strengthening and lengthening of muscles and joints.

The amount of weight you lift, pull or push is not as important as completing these forms of exercise to improve your strength, mobility and agility.

Ageing into your 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and beyond doesn’t have to mean the end of staying stronger, fitter and healthier and if you adopt measures and exercise habits to incorporate strength and mobility you’ll stay agile enough to enjoy getting out and taking in the beauty on your doorstep.

If you live in or around Melbourne you’re blessed with a plethora of parklands, walkways, bike paths and beaches. It would be a shame if you missed out on taking advantage of these because you didn’t have the energy, or worse still had fallen or hurt your back due to lack of core strength.

Most of the above mentioned exercise routines can be done from home, or work or in your local park. Very little or no equipment is needed. The main element you need is yourself and a goal of achieving a habit of exercise that will enable your body to stay Stronger, Fitter and Healthier for LONGER.

Do some research (google it) on “functional movement” and “suspension training” for tips on how to get started.

Don’t wait for the doctor to tell you to do it, just start doing it. As always if you need some assistance reach out to me.

The post Heath and Fitness – What do I need? appeared first on Ageless Force Fitness.

There are plenty of options, for example:

1. Do nothing. The consequences of this decision will soon be laid bare. You’ll probably shy away from going to the beach, or the local pool or wearing anything that even slightly shows off your best points. But these are just the aesthetic side of you, the almost immaterial aspect of not doing what needs to be done to keep your body and mind in great health.

   Of far more importance is the impact this decision will have on you now and long into the future. For every extra kilo you put on, you increase the risk of preventable diseases walking straight in your front door. Yep the nasties like Diabetes, High blood pressure, Heart disease, Cholesterol problems and of course the not so obvious problems of Mobility and Agility.

2. Get active and exercise. Get naked, put yourself in front of the mirror and critically assess where your historical decisions have taken you. Think about the nasties and then think about all the great things you could be doing if you can control the amount of energy you consume versus the amount of energy you can burn. Exercising must be fun or you won’t stick at it. Find a friend and do something together or seek out a local personal trainer and create a program together that suits who you are, what you need and what will work for you over a long period of time. Exercising on a regular basis needs to become a habit and habits are only formed if you like what you’re doing.
3. Create a healthy eating plan. Not only does being active give you a better body, it also saves you money. Yes that’s right. By being more conscious of your energy intake you make better purchase decisions when it comes to the foods you need in order to look great. You’d be surprised by how much you can eat and still have a great body at the same time, but the trick is in eating the right types of food. You need to eat much less processed foods and much more fresh foods, particularly vegetables. Veges are high in minerals, vitamins and many of the building blocks we need to perform at our best. Take a look at this simple guide for an idea of how to adopt a better eating style.

For over 30 years I’ve adopted a lifestyle of moderation, together with a regime of exercise and I’m proud to say that I’m in the best shape of my life, enjoying all manner of physical activities as a result. A typical week for me includes gym sessions at least 4 times, one swimming session, one bike session and one game of golf, plus an hour or two walking. Whilst my typical week isn’t for everyone the fact that I’m able to to do it is the message I want to share with you. Physical and mental wellness is a place we’d all like to be in, for as long as we possible can. By working diligently at your physical appearance you will put yourself in more control and you will feel better about yourself.

If you feel you don’t know enough to get started on a new course, by all means give me a call or send me a note.

All the best and stay Stronger, Fitter and Healthier.

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We all know that during our formative years we regularly participate in exercise activities, sometimes in an organised way like basketball, netball, football or in casual backyard cricket or a ride on a bike with friends. There didn’t really need to be a reason, it was just something that we did.

Advance a few years and you’re now into your 30’s and beyond. Where are those enticing moments where a friend suggested an activity, that whilst based on exercise, didn’t really feel like exercise, it was just good to do?

I think the opportunity is till there but for most of us we mask its presence because we place little importance on it, compared to all the other things going on in our lives, such as children of our own, mortgages to keep up with, work demands and the constant pressure living the good life in the new millennium.

Of course getting the kids up for school and ourselves ready for a hard day at work takes its toll on our bodies. Add to that a virtual smorgasboard of quick eat options (both at the supermarket and chain food stores) makes it hard to function at an optimum level. A significant downside of not operating optimally is the intrusion into our lives of preventable diseases like Hypertension, Obesity, Diabetes, Heart Disease, etc.

If you are starting to feel the pain of some of these things you can make a difference to your and others lives by taking the option to get fit. Getting and being fit is not necessarily about being the thinnest or the most muscled, or the fastest, but more about what it takes to make your life journey a more enjoyable one.

Being fit and healthy improves your state of mind, gives you back some lost energy and prepares you better for the difficulties of living in a modern world. Think about this. You’re 35 years old and your pre 30’s weight (which made you look good) is now well and truly down the toilet to the tune of an extra 20kg.  Every time you have to climb a flight of stairs your body moans and creaks! A game of tiggy in the backyard with the kids almost kills you and you need to lie down for an hour (or more).

The good news is it doesn’t matter what your age or how long you’ve neglected yourself, you can get fit and make a difference. Making a difference gets noticed much wider than you’d expect. People feel proud when they can reference you and boast about what you’ve achieved. It not only gives you a pat on the back but it creates a chain reaction. Good news is always hard to come by, we are bombarded with nothing but bad news in the media and your story, one of consistent and persistent progress demonstrates just what is possible.

Getting fit doesn’t need to be an arduous task, make it fun and make it fit in with your current lifestyle as much as possible (to begin with at least). Making a significant change in lifestyle takes time, patience and above all perseverance. Making new, small healthy habits is a great start and once a habit is formed it’s easier to modify and increase the duration and/or intensity of your new exercise and nutrition program.

Lastly, if you’re still not sure you can do it alone, seek out a friend or relative, perhaps your partner and make a pact to stay the course with them. Also feel free to drop me a line eMail Us.

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My Week 1 RIP60 Transformation Challenge has just ended and the style of exercise is quite different from my normal workout routine. To give you some context my normal routine is as follows:

• 10 minute warm up including Bike 8 mins, followed by skipping, star jumps, and a few other exercises designed to get all body parts warm as well as raising my heart rate.
• 80 crunches
• 80 reverse crunches
• 80 leg raise crunches
• bench press x 3 sets
• flat flies x 3 sets
• chin ups 2 x max
• shoulder press x 3 sets
• front shoulder raises x 3 sets
• seated row x 3 sets
• tricep pushdowns x 2 sets
• upright rows x 3 sets
• barbell curls x 3 sets
• dumbbell curls x 3 sets
• 5 min cooldown stretches

The RIP60 workout is similar in that it includes most of the above exercises but instead of doing them in sets it is mostly time based, eg 1 min duration for each exercise. This method achieves both a strength and cardiovascular component at the same time, which for an objective that needs to include both, achieves a great outcome.

RIP60 does this through a new method of exercising called “Functional Movement” which involves multi-planar and multi-joint movements – essentially mimicking every day movement patterns.

It differs quite a bit from my usual routine in that my routine is more specific to isolated muscles or groups of muscles. If your aim is achieve muscle mass then the RIP60 may not be the answer for you, however if you want an all over strong, agile, mobile, lean body then RIP60 may well be the answer to your dreams.

The week 1 routine takes about 50 mins to complete and within that there is a serious amount of time awarded to warm up and cool down. The reason for this is that in a RIP60 workout you are stressing a lot of body muscles at the same time. For example while you are performing a chest press your core stomach muscles are also engaged due to the angle of the routine plus the fact that you are being suspended via your grip on the RIP60 bands.

The core resistance/cardio part of the routine only takes about 25 of the 50 mins but in that time you are working hard and fast. Each exercise routine has a duration of 1 min and as mentioned earlier hits multiple areas of the body every time you engage with the system.

Given that I was in good physical shape before commencing the challenge I haven’t found week 1 too difficult. I am expecting this to change as I go forward into week 2 and beyond. I look forward to seeing what I feel about the results and will definitely be interested to see whether I can judge specific change in how my body looks.

More at the end of week 2’s challenge.

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Are you at Risk of being a Diabetes sufferer? This is a big question and Diabetes Australia has developed a 10 step question to help you understand your level of risk.

Diabetes is a killer and it gains 280 new members every day. That’s a new diagnosis every 5 minutes. Currently over 1,000,000 Australians have Diabetes and an estimated 2 million Australians are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes and are already showing early signs of the condition.

How does diabetes affect the body?

Diabetes is serious

Why is diabetes increasing?

Symptoms

The post Are you at Risk of being a Diabetes sufferer? appeared first on Ageless Force Fitness.

This routine is for beginners to intermediate levels of fitness and directs exercises to all parts of the body, providing an all over workout.

The routine is looking to achieve a balance between expanding your heart and lungs capacity, whilst at the same time strengthening muscles and bones.

Why should I do strength training, don’t I just need to walk to stay fit and healthy?

Strength training has benefits no matter what your age, but it is particularly important as you get older. As we age, we lose muscle mass and bone density, resulting in much of the loss of function we associate with getting older.

But you are never too old to gain muscle strength—and that’s not all you can gain! An appropriate strength training program can also assist you in:

• Maintaining your independence and ability to do day-to-day tasks and leisure activities—shopping, involvement in sporting activities,  gardening, climbing stairs and visiting places where you may need extra strength, eg lookouts
• Improving your posture, balance, coordination and flexibility
• Feeling better about yourself—more confidence, self esteem and capacity to enjoy life
• Preventing or improving management of chronic conditions such as arthritis, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease
• Managing your weight – as with any exercise you are using more energy than you would if you were not being active.

– See more at details about strength training visit this website:

It is my aim that you will use this exercise workout program to assist you to achieve your goals for your personal health and fitness.

Look after yourself first so that you can look after others.

Live Stronger, Fitter and Healthier.

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Let’s think back a few years, to a time when we either worked primarily with our hands and when we didn’t have enough disposable income to pay someone else to do our manual chores. Statistically we were a much healthier mob. For instance our rate of overweight and obesity in 1995 was 56% and now it edging towards 63%.

We are now the most sedentary generation to have walked the earth and it’s getting worse. Experts predict that Australia’s obesity rate will keep rising, which will put even greater strain on our health system. If current trends continue, it is estimated to increase for both males and females and across the age span, resulting in around one third of 5-19 year olds being overweight or obese by 2025, as well as 83% of males and 75% of females aged 20 years and over. For Australia, this would represent 16.9 million people. This is a staggering forecast and you can read more about obesity on the Victorian Government Health Channel website.

Does it have to be this way? Well the answer is yes unless we all take some positive steps to change it.

A major way that we can bring about change is to change our habit towards exercise. If we are intent on eating more and the facts say that we are, then we need to find a way of using up all that extra energy. Working a sedentary job and not being active outside of work is not going to ward off the inevitable increase in fat due to our increased appetite.

Attitude to exercise is where the greatest challenge is. As I mentioned earlier in this article 40-50 years ago we didn’t have to specifically think of exercise because we incidentally got it. Most families only had one car, most children walked to school and when they came home they played outside until being called for dinner. We now have changed that scenario forever so we need to consciously replace the incidental exercise with a planned program.

There are a myriad of options to getting this done:

Go it alone. Do some research on the Internet and find an exercise routine that works for you, ie it fits in with your (probably) quite busy schedule, then do the routine at home or work. This is the most cost effective method but also the one that places the heaviest demand in terms of effort. You have to do everything and whilst on the surface it might seem easy, there is a a bit of work researching and preparing and if you’re unsure of what to do, it might also be the most overwhelming.

Join a local Gym. A great option if you like being with others as you workout. There is also the added bonus of being part of a social group. From a cost effectiveness perspective the Gym is your next most cost effective option. You get an initial workout program designed for you and have it reviewed periodically by a instructor. You are largely left alone to do your workout but have the support of friends around you. If you don’t like crowds or mirrors this may not be the best option for you.

Connect with a Personal Trainer and take up their bootcamp style group training sessions. You’ll get a trainer who is committed to getting you the results you’re looking for as well as closer attention to what activities work best for you. Each session is dynamic and will keep you on your toes. You have the added benefit of a small group, working together, encouraging each other and going through similar journey’s.

Lastly if you’re still not confident that you can make change happen, enlist the support of a Personal Trainer to specifically work with you one on one to create a program that encompasses not only exercise but also nutrition, making a balanced approach to exercise and better health.

Time is not your enemy, it’s attitude and this is something you can change.

Exercise is not an elective it is an imperative.

Help yourself and you’ll be helping others. Be a leader not a follower. Above all be active in your pursuit of being Stronger, Fitter and Healthier.

Good luck and good exercising. If you need help just give me a call.

The post Why Exercising is not an elective! appeared first on Ageless Force Fitness.

The combination of the raw vegetables really makes for a very satisfying dish when combined with your favourite crusty bread and meat/fish of your choice. The Tahini dressing is surprising suited to the coleslaw flavours and textures.

This is super quick to make and lasts in the fridge for days so you’ll have enough for lunches throughout the week.

Coleslaw ingredients:

• Half chinese cabbage, finely sliced and then further chopped
• 1 beetroot, grated
• 2 medium carrots, grated
• 1/4 medium fennel bulb, finely sliced
• 1/4 medium red capsicum, finely sliced
• Handful craisins

Tahini dressing ingredients:

• 2 and half tablespoons tahini
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• juice of 1 lemon
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon mint sauce
• 2 extra tablespoons sesame oil

Method:

Coleslaw – combine all ingredients

Dressing – combine all ingredients and mix through coleslaw (if using all at one time) or put in dressing dispenser for placement on dinner table.

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