The K Word or the forbidden dietary conundrum.

Yes it shouldn’t be used by uncontrolled type 1 diabetics, pregnant women or those with an existing kidney condition. But for the vast majority of us it is perfectly safe.

Ketosis is as Lyle MacDonald states “the shifting of carbohydrate to fat as the body’s preferred use of fuel”

What actually happens?

We produce ketones all the time as a byproduct of the metabolism of fat. So there are a level of ketones within the blood all the time. They are not as some journalists have described as ‘poisonous’. IN fact the body uses them as fuel within the skeletal and cardiac muscle.

We metabolise fat into glycerol and fatty acids which is then converted into Acetyl CoA. The same effect happens when carbohydrate is metabolized into Glucose and Pyruvic Acid. The next pathway is towards Acetyl CoA.

IN the presence of Oxaloacetic Acid the Acetyl CoA will enter the Krebs Cycle for metabolism as energy

However, here comes the clever bit. Low carb diets will not induce the production of Oxoloacetic Acid in sufficient enough quantities to send it into the Krebs Cycle.

Instead it accumulates in the Liver and is converted into Ketones. These are then transported to the skeletal and cardiac muscle.

So what does the science say?

Well key studies have had positive effects on blood chemistry, childhood epilepsy and healthy weight loss (burning fat!)

Studies by Sharman (2003) and Westman in (2002) both concluded in The Journal of Nutrition that Low Carb intake generated an increase in HDL (good cholesterol), an increase in triglycerides and a change in patter of LDL from B to A (also good).

A controlled study at the University of Cincinnati in 2003 took 53 obese women and fed them 1300 kcal. One group took a high fat approach, the other a low carb approach. Interestingly the low carb approach won out with more subjects losing fat.

A final interesting note is that for 70 years, 78 medical centres in the US have used low carb diets to treat childhood epilepsy.

Science out of the way and now for the application. I know that the art really is a) what your individual goals are and b) the quality and timing of your carbohydrates.

If you are after general health than you would be best to keep your carbohydrate intake to good quality sources such as quinoa and brown rice.

Here is another tip too. Master the use of herbs and spices otherwise they will taste like your armpit.

Any of the other carbs tend to be processed and alien to the function of your body causing imflamation and other systemic overload.  The bets way of knowing this is to literally remove any sign of things like gluten for up to 6 weeks and then retest by introducing them back again and monitoring your response.

For the clients who have actually been able to stuck to this they have been so use to feeling friggin awesome without the breads, pastas and starches that they are scared of feeling crap by eating what they know is one of the main offenders of lethargy, brain fog, inflammation and other chronic based ailments.

The next issue is timing. For overall health and vitality I would recommend consuming your good quality carbs in your first meal of the day and after you train. You don’t need a lot. Just enough to ensure a good trickle to glucose to that important bit of grey matter between your ears. One serving is enough.

Do you know that your brain consumes around 20% of all the glucose in your body?

A very low carb approach will mean you becoming depressed and irritable – you may even start to detest people if they mention the word ‘biscuit’ or ‘cake’. Not a good place to be. In that respect if you have trouble falling asleep you would be wise to consume some gluten free porridge made with rice milk an hour before bed or even add in some carbohydrate in your last meal (dinner) before you hit the pillow.

That will help in winding you down making you sleepy.

So the art is always in the application. Don’t fear carbs that is just dumb. They don’t make you fat. You sitting on your arse all day and eating poor quality foods does that. Just use them wisely.

It seems everywhere I look the word‘resolution’ is staring me in the face.

Billboards, articles, magazines, the latestweight loss success story from a celebrity who will inevitably pile it all backon in within months and all the other avenues.

Here it is – never set a resolution. Youwill fail. All they are are lofty dreams without any plan of action.

I hate to be a kill-joy but this is whathappens.

“This year I will watch my weight”

Great – how, what, when, where?

“This year I will definitely start abusiness”

Great – how , what, when, where?

“This year I will watch what I eat and losea stone”

Great – how, what, when, where?

You can see where this is heading.

With a little dissection you have a loftyambition or a dream, a vision that you have created in your mind. Perhaps ithas been moulded by what you have seen, done or previously felt or achieved.

This year will be the year. This is themoment that it all happens and suddenly Rocky steps out of the picture to thesound of Eye of the Tiger.

But there is where the good bit starts andends.

Get your resolution and swap that word to a‘goal with a specific plan of action matched clearly with specific behavioursthat will align you with success.

And then write it down. Behavioural studieshave demonstrated that this simple act will increase your likelihood ofachieving them dramatically.

You can see what I use and how I teach thisover at my free community (healthcamp.ning.com).

I like this act of writing them down as ago to when the going gets tough. Every day check in on this list of goals toremind yourself what you need to DO to get it right.

Health and fitness doesn’t come easy. If itdid all of us would be walking round with six packs. And no there isn’t a magicbullet.

What you MUST do is align your purpose or‘why’ with your goal. Why are you doing this? Why are you going to give upsugar, alcohol or processed foods. It is because they make you feel like crapand the last time that you felt crap you snapped at your kids as a result?

Most of us do not align what we eat withour resultant behaviours. Well folks start seeing the patterns and it will makecompliance a lot easier. If you want to feel depressed, angry, upset,vulnerable and for some suicidal keep eating the junk and lo and behold youwill begin to tick the boxes.

Easier to find a why now – isn’t it?

So if your resolution is to lose weight forthe New Year firstly set a goal.

“I will lose 14 lbs by the end of Januarycome what May”

Then find your why.

This is important to me because I want tofeel better (too woolly – be more specific), I feel lousy all the timer (warmer– dig deeper), I was laughed at as a kid (now we sucking diesel), I love thefeeling of bouncing out of bed in the morning as it will give me the energy,drive and focus to excel at my job leading to more money for us as a family –what’s more I will have more than enough energy to deal with my children andeven remove my wild hormonal swings that I get at least twice a week. I amfrightened of the cancer that inflicted my mother at such an early age.(bingo).

Then list what you need to do in terms ofspecific behaviours.

For example -  I will hit up the gym 3 times per week, Iwill ditch coffee, wheat, processed foods, dairy and sugar for the first 30days. I will walk every morning for 30 minutes. I will have a breakfast everymorning.

These actions are the doing bit and are alot more specific to the nitty gritty of getting stuff done rather than stayingin the background of your consciousness.

I am by no means a behavioural scientistbut I know what it takes to get stuff done and make resounding change inpeople’s health and fitness. What is to say you can’t apply this technique toanything else in your life.

Dream about it by all means. And dream big– so big that it scares you. But then actually do something about it.

Downloadyour free T2H Nutrition Plan at http://www.spherefitnessstudio.com

JohnLark is owner of Sphere Fitness Group and a personal trainer in Dublin

I use to think that too. But the more I worked with people on this, the more I concluded that there is far more to this than meets the eye.

You see before the creeping on of fat and decline of health there is always a decline in mental health first.

It is why so many of us really struggle with motivation and sticking to the plan. It is why so many of us find simple changes so fundamentally impossible to keep at.
Life gets in the way. The kids are running riot. The stress of life, job and bills all keep coming and coming. The mountain never seems to move.

Optimal brain chemistry in health and fitness programmes is key to success.

How?

Well you can have someone bark at you, drag you out of bed in the morning and kick you up and down a car park or you can take control of your moods from what you eat, drink and think.

You do this and rest assured you will never need to worry about lacking the motivation to do it because you can subtlety manipulate the way you respond to life and what it throws at you.

A lot has to do with the role of a brain chemical called serotonin. Get it normal and you have a winning formula on your hands. You will feel happy, motivated, lifted and life ‘ain’t so tough all the time’.

I was standing there after a camp session there the other day and we were noting that people are so angry all the time. You know it wasn’t so long ago that we used to whistle, hum, skip and smile our way around the place.

Nowadays you would be lucky not to be ploughed out the way by ‘mother-of-three-in-jeep-at-the-car-park-trying-to-find-the-space-closest-to-the-door’.

Anger, stress and in the inability to cope with life are all markers of poor mental health. Ok – point accepted – it is not ‘prozac’ time or dehabilitating levels of depression. But it is certainly a sliding scale.

So what to do? Well there are few things but this is what you can do NOW.

Get hydrated. Your brain is dependant on you to give it its ‘oil’ and that oil is water. 3-4 litres every day – male and female.

You know we wouldn’t dream of letting our car run dry of oil yet we do it everyday to our brain.

Clean up your diet next. Focus on lots of green veggies and green drinks and add

in seeds and some vegetable based proteins. Limit your cooked meat to one meal per day and make it really good quality. Since you will be buying less you can really focus in ‘where it came from’.

Get the junk out. Most of us wouldn’t dream of feeding our kids before bed a good dose of sweets washed down with a cocktail of sunny delight. We know that it would bring about Hurricane Katrina in the living room.

The reason being is that you (yes, you – they didn’t know) have altered their brain chemistry. Since they are smaller it is faster acting too.

And since our mind and gut are inextricably linked via the valgus nerve plugging them up with piles of bread and constipating them also has a direct effect on their mental status.

Did you know that MSG actually does a pretty good job in killing off brain cells?
And that Alzheimer’s has been linked directly to diets high in sugar?

Green drinks and alkalising salts are a great addition to your daily plan. They work in maintaining and promoting an oxygenated and pH balanced body (for more on this go to my website). You need this for optimal health.

You can also supplement with tryptophan or 5-HTP, amino acids that are used in the production of serotonin. Most people sleep better with this too as increasing
serotonin will have a direct affect on the production of melatonin that will help
you sleep.

The main aim of these four simple steps (and there are so many more beyond the scope of here) is to boost our natural serotonin levels and, unlike anti-depressants that encourage you to draw on what little serotonin you have, they will give you a good boost hopefully empowering you to make the route to health
and fitness a little easier.

As is always the case, work with your health and medical practitioner if you intend on implementing some of these strategies. You never know you might teach them a thing or two .

John Lark is a Personal Trainer and Nutritional Consultant. Download your ‘5 Top Tips for Fat Loss’ at www.spherefitnessstudio.com. He can be reached at 01-5052131

http://www.yourhealthcamp.com

Let me list perhaps the 7 most effective and easiest ways of gaining fat like it was suddenly an Olympic sport. This is what the masses would be practicising at the moment.

1. Eat a Diet Rich in Sugars, Hydrogenated Vegetable Fats and ‘Acid’ Foods

Ensure that you take a restricted approach to your diet by consuming foods rich in hydrogenated vegetable oils and fats and sugar.
One trick of convincing yourself that you avoided this pitfall is to consume low-fat cereal bars.
“It’s OK – these are low in fat!”
Taking in these between meals are a sure fire way to keep you on the road to gaining fat in a sensible and progressive way by allowing us to shut down the activity of our fat burning enzymes and increasing the activity of fat storage enzymes.
Forget calories and think ‘nutrients’. How many vitamins, enzymes, minerals, phytonutrients and antioxidants in this orange compared to this 1 point choco-orange brownie.

2. Sit on Your Backside
This is a great approach to take to again ensure steady fat gain. All the excuses under the sun will be strong enough to overcome the urge to exercise and get out of breath through lifting weights, circuit training and a brisk walk, jog, run, swim or bike.
Oscar Wilde once wrote that whenever he felt like exercise he sat down until the feeling passed.Sound advice.

3. Avoid Fruits and Vegetables like the plague

Avoiding these little bundles of goodness will help me no end in my quest to put on fat over the holidays. They will allow you extra time in bed as you catch every cold going. They will even make you eat more of the sugary stuff as you will never, unbelievably, feel full after eating.
RESULT!

4. Taking No Responsibility for Your Actions
This is a great little accelerator in the fat gaining stakes.
It can’t be your fault that you cram the cookies into your mouth or sit on your backside all day watching the clock ticking.
It is your dog’s fault that he kept you up all night barking stopping you from going out for your morning walk.
It is your children’s fault that they can’t do their homework and have a play that you have to attend that stops you from attending your class.
It is your husband’s fault that he argued with you and you responded by eating a tub of Ben and Jerry’s.
Equally it is not your fault when you see the scales rise after doing nothing all weak. But that’s OK at the end of the day it is not your problem.

5. Choose to Drink 3 litres of Alcohol a Day rather than water A bottle of wine is a far better choice than a glass.10 pints seems to have far more rational logic to it that 3-4 bottles.
5 chasers seem to have a much better effect than just leaving at the lovely dinner that you ate.
But that’s OK – see point 4.

6. Stress, Stress and More Stress
This will help you lose weight but still gain fat as frequent boozing, late nights, no exercise lowers your testosterone to levels akin to the alcoholic on the corner of Grafton Street. Keep working the hours you work, neglect taking proper time off and stress the body until it cries at you to stop.
Equally stress will be available in volume alongside the more obvious times you can feel it.

7. Letting it all go!
Let it all go!
Ignore your body and the potential it has to provide you with boundless energy, strength and vitality.
Develop the will to just say no to exercise, sound food choices and a comfortable stress free lifestyle.
That is, after all the easiest way isn’t it?

John Lark is a Personal Trainer and Nutritional Consultant. Download your ’5 Top Tips for Fat Loss’ at www.spherefitnessstudio.com. He can be reached at 01-5052131.

Days drag into weeks, weeks into months, months into years and still the dreaded tyre just wont shift. The rest of the body may (or may not be) taking shape nicely. So what is going on and more importantly how can we fix it?

Your love handle levels are a direct correlation to your glucose or sugar tolerance which in turn is a direct reflection of how healthy you are.

So, you want to get lean? Well then get healthy!

In simple terms when we eat sugar, take for instance a piece of cake, our body responds by releasing insulin to shuttle that sugar to the muscle cells for use. That is when we are insulin sensitive.

However, our consumption of grain, pastas, starches and simple sugars grossly outweigh our ability to tolerate the level of sugar in our diet. Do we need to consume the amount of sugar we consume on a day-to-day basis to ‘keep our energy levels up’? – NO!

We have become insulin resistant whereby the sugar is shuttled to the fat cells instead.

Genetically we have evolved 0.01%  in 40,000 years. Our consumption of grain is alien in the grand scheme of things in our evolutionary diet. We are fighting against our genetic code instead of working worth it.

Can you imagine Larry the Caveman loading up on Sports Drinks, Porridge and pasta the night before for energy before he embarked on the equivalent of 5 marathons back to back for food???

Folks – we are not that different. So why eat Star Trek Food?

To stick to what you should be eating try this simple lifestyle adjustment:

Since our genetic code has not changed since Caveman times it seems logical to eat like one. That certainly did not mean popping to the tree and picking a biscuit off it or leaving the cave to pop on the fire 10 breaded chicken goujons.

We ate the occasional wild meats, fats, green vegetables  some fruits and rarely (maybe once a year according to expert Loren Cordain) we would stumble across a bee-hive and gorge ourselves on the honey.

The easy way to locate this type of food will be found on the fringes of your supermarket and at your local butcher’s.

Upping your intake of  more nutrient dense plant based proteins  at each meal veggies and oils will aid in managing your insulin levels better with small more frequent feedings of protein and healthy fats such as Fish Oil, Avocado, Macademia, Walnut Oil. This will help you lean out that midrift by allowing you to become healthier.

Stick to some good grains AFTER some exercise or training session. Choose from quinoa, millet, brown rice and spelt.

It is a far cry from the ‘low fat’ offerings that are found in the aisles these days. Please – do not be fooled.

“But they are all high in fat” cry the ‘low fat gurus’

“Really?” I reply.

“Low fat = Get Fat”

The calorie is a calorie is far too simplistic in this case. Certain low-fat staples such as Skimmed Milk are low in fat but they have a high insulin load. This means they will still spike the insulin to store the sugar in fat cells.

In addition they are acid forming foods forcing our body to buffer this acidity by removing it from our blood and vital organs and straight to our fat tissues – out of harm’s way.

The classic breakfast cereals with skimmed milk are out and best found in the bottom of a garbage bin. Replace for quinoa or gluten free porridge with some rice or almond milk.

But this is not the whole picture. Fat will accumulate in us in direct response to our levels of toxicity and boy are we swimming it them nowadays. Clean up  your water intake, drop the paraben type cosmetics, look into the amount of metal in your mouth and you will see that it is no wonder obesity is on the rise. All of these factors contribute as a whole. Where do you think these toxins go? It ain’t round our organs!

So simple steps equals long term progress. A skilled exercise physiologist should be able to tell you why you are holding your body fat around your love handles and more importantly tell you how you can reduce them by getting you as a WHOLE healthier!

John Lark is a Personal Trainer and Nutritional Consultant. Download your ‘5 Top Tips for Fat Loss’ at www.spherefitnessstudio.com. He can be reached at 01-5052131.

So I am here in the US writing this and as you can imagine there really is no better place to get a grip on what is extreme and what is not.

You see you can be REALLY healthy and fit and lean and trim and immaculate and you can equally be REALLY sick and in the gutter with your health.

It is your choice.

There are so many options to take the right route.

My wife and I took a tour of L.A. and we stopped off at The Farmer’s Market, a sprawling array of shops, eateries splashed with a bit of history. It was well worth the visit.

As my wife took off leaving a strip of fire in pursuit of the shops I took off in equal fashion to the Whole Foods Supermarket.

Bags and shoes or a look at organic, fresh local seasonal produce. No contest.

Needless to say I hit the supermarket to check it out only to be met with the most amazing foodie experience I have ever encountered. Rows upon rows of seasonal produce (I have stuck a photo on my website with this article), fresh fruits and veggies and choice upon choice of healthy foods.

I had died and gone to heaven. It was a foodie’s paradise.

Was it expensive? Sure it was. But not much more. But that would put most of us off from even hitting up the healthy option. Organic = too expensive.

But that’s the thing. Most of us would piss and moan our way round or not even go there not making any connection between foods and moods or foods, fluids and health.

Personally I don’t scrimp on food or what goes in the head-hole.

When it comes to shopping we have a clear choice and one that may actually surprise you. The more dead, packaged, boxed and processed food you eat the more expensive it is AND the more detrimental it is to your long and short term health.

Why is it more expensive? Because it lacks any nutrients we end up eating far more than we need. We eat and eat and eat in a vain attempt to find the nutrients. And we get fat.

There is a clear choice.

What frames your choice is equally as important.

For me I thrive on the feeling of having more energy than I know what to do with. I like the fact I have abs and want to keep them. I like the fact I am stronger with the right food choices. I thrive on walking the walk and want to leave a lasting legacy that means I have helped as many people as I can get off the diet train and start living with energy and vitality (not this pretend stimulant induced energy).

Believe it or not it is not a question of willpower either. Your reasons for making better choices are geared and directed by personal reasons but willpower can make or break you.

I have found that trying to fight willpower is futile and self destructive. I have a sweet tooth and there is nothing better than a slice of cheesecake as my kryptonite.

Instead forming new habits can really help. For instance, if I know I am hitting up a desert on Saturday night then I train on that day and as close to dinner time as possible. It makes it less likely that I will really splurge because of the hard work, sweat and a couple of tears that went into training.

If you know for example that you can’t avoid the mid morning munchies then make 10-15 minuites for a good breakfast. That way this new habit will provide you with the tool to keep your blood sugar levels stable and less likely to implode on coffee and cakes.

Likewise educating yourself about the benefits of avoiding Asapartame in diet drinks and organic foods over supermarket foods will make will-power and the notion of making the right choices easy – almost too easy.

What you are doing is making the connection. Suddenly you will realise that there is a link between your mood and the ten coffees and you had through the day or your inability to conjure any energy throughout the day (which does bug you) and your consumption of sugar late in the evening.

So, if you really want to lose weight, get healthy then get informed, educated and form better habits for yourself. Less stress and more results will follow and making the right choice becomes what it is essentially all about.

Check out the latest bootcamp in maynooth
Http://www.yourhealthcamp.com

Family crowded round the oil based table cloth, devouring lashings of thickly buttered toast and rashers and hot tea. It looked like a scene out of an Avoca catalogue.

Fast-forward 50 years.

Most people are on their way to work before the sun rises. Kids are hurried off one arm in jumper with the other grabbing a bit of toast. Mum in the meantime is grabbing a bit of lippy and providing a gentle but firm kick up the backside to get out of the door.
Yet we all know and rightly so – breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Skipping it altogether will tee you up nicely for fat gain. Particularly around the mid-rift.

Sumo wrestlers cottoned onto this years ago. They deliberately skip breakfast and have the largest meal of the day just before they head to bed.

Through years of looking at eating habits and body fat distribution patterns I can firmly say that whose who skip breakfast consistently end up looking like a pear.

In same light using a cereal box as your method of starting the day has also had a large part to play in keeping people erring towards the muffin top shape.

If you find that you are slim and follow this pattern then unfortunately you are not free from this label either.

As Dr Barry Sears writes in his book, Toxic Fat, this method of eating causes ‘slient inflammation’. A lot of the nutrients you may eat are rather than stored as fat are converted into destructive ‘free radicals’ wreaking havoc elsewhere.

Most of us are familiar with the food pyramid?

Well try the reverse food pyramid in the sense that make your breakfast the largest meal of the day and taper off your calorific intake as the day progresses.

IN fact your dinner should be about half the size of your breakfast and lunch. If you find your self eating too much at night it is because of choices made throughout the day.

Better blood sugar management, leaner physique, no hunger, better moods, more food to eat (!!) and so on. What is there not to like about this?

You see instead of perpetuating a cycle of sugar cravings by leaving gaps between meals (longer than 3-4 hours) we are actually feeding our bodies regularly.

So what’s the big deal with breakfast?

What you eat first in the day will determine your hormonal and energy levels. Try this practical experiment. Drop some fish and a little salad into your breakfast. Over this drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil, hemp or avocado oil.

See how your energy levels are for the rest of day. Then go back to your cereal based breakfast and compare.

I will guarantee more energy and certainly less sugar cravings. It is unsurprising that your dopamine levels will increase providing you with extra ‘get-up-and-go’ to face the day.

Some other options for breakfast can be leftover dinner, homemade patties with a side salad or chicken breast with salsa or home-made guacamole.

Typical comments I have received in the past are ‘I felt like gagging’ and ‘where am I going to find the time?’
All I can say to this is – ‘try it, you won’t be disappointed’
So what then do you have for dinner? Try something light like a salad with cold meats or a Vegetable Omelette.

In fact Eggs are quick and easy to knock up alongside the fact that they are rich in choline, a nutrient geared towards optimal brain health. Not a bad food to have on your side if you are in the middle of a feeding frenzy at the zoo.

Most of my female clients have settled into the swing of cooking up their breakfast whilst knocking up dinners.

For the males this is a bit tougher. For most of them, reading the instructions on a Pot Noodle is as far as it goes.

Although one athlete I used to room with at college was caught emptying the contents of one a pot noodle into a saucepan before transferring it back into the pot to eat.

This is the same guy who assembled a flat pack bed downstairs.

So can you see how important your nutrition is to your brain health?

Start your day with a power breakfast, not some dehydrated excuses of fruit with an empty cereal. Prepare your food the night before whilst you cook your dinner. At worst have left-overs. Your brain, waist line and energy levels will thank you with open arms.
John Lark is a Health and Performance consultant combining nutrition, training and supplementation for tailored results. John works with Olympic Level athletes to cancer patients to Global Multi-National Companies across Europe consulting on health and nutrition for performance. Download his free report at www.spherecorporatefitness.com or call 00 353 1 5052131 for more information

John Lark is a personal trainer and bootcamp owner in maynooth

Shame to say it – any monkey can take you through a workout providing you with entertaining variations on simple exercises, leaning on your ‘empathy’ buttons between sets and whilst draining your back pocket with very little in terms of hard and fast results to show for it.

The spectrum is getting wider and here is how to spot the right personal trainer.

1. They can deliver results

More often than not you will hear about a good personal trainer through a friend’s positive experience. This is a good start. It reveals a trust and standards that your friend is willing enough to share with you.

However, it can’t stop there. Your personal trainer or Dublin Personal Training company must be able to prove that they can match your needs and deliver the results you are after.

Where are the testimonials?

2. To this end they put their money where their mouth it

In this climate, offering a guarantee for personal training services reveals true professionalism. It reveals a company or an indivudual geared towards results rather than figures. They can back this up by guaranteeing their services 100%.

3. They truly walk the walk

Your trainer will be your coach. How can you respect him or her if they are a walking sign of ill-health or stink of coffee the minute you meet them? Personal training is not a hobby. It is a lifestyle. You will not meet a more passionate and determined group of practioners who can help you with your fitness goals.

In essence your personal trainer is not your ‘friend’, more your coach there to inspire and take you to levels you never thought were possible.

4. Their Application of Knowledge stretches beyond ‘counting reps’ and ‘barking orders’

There are plenty of opportunites for personal trainers to upskill and develop their knowledge base. A good personal training compnoay will be constantly doing this within the realms of functional medicine (therefore knowing the red flags to look for in what may be preventing cloients from losing body fat and achieving optimal health), functional anatomy, psychology, nutrition and lifestyle management.

This is then imparted directly to the client.

At Sphere our trainers intern and surround themselves with some of the sharpest minds in the health, well-being, nutrition and medical field. We learn of the best so that the best is delivered to the client.

There may even be the case where we need to call upon these experts to help you reach your goals quicker.

5. Your personal trainer can deliver a tried and tested system of delivering results

It takes years of hands on experience to truly understand the profession – not a weekend of training leaving with a certificate.
Personal training is our business. We have developed a system here at Sphere that delivers a tailored health and fitness experience.

From initial assessment stages and ascertaining your needs and goals, to a tailored nutrition and health programme and finally to the implementation of methods, including training, that we feel will yield the greatest results for you. This isn’t our hobby or part-time cash add on.

You will have a programme geared to you – not the remnants of a health and fitness magazine or ‘whatever your trainer feels like doing on the day’.

John Lark is a personal trainer in kildare, Ireland.

Visit his website – Sphere Fitness and downoad your free fat loss report

First exercise is what it is. A superb way to provide you with longevity, health, vitality and energy. If you do it right you may even lose a bit of weight when combined with a sensible eating plan.

However, if you want results that you have defined with a clear goal whether it be ‘get rid of the tummy’ or ‘shift the tyre’ or ‘tone these legs’ then you will have to step it up and stop sugar coating what is needed for you to achieve this.

Yes, you will have to break sweat. No, you can’t drink yourself silly. Yes, you will have to make sacrifices with your time. No, you can’t eat that and think it wont effect your results and yes you may have to spend some money.

When you chase something hard enough you will have to TRAIN for it.

Sure exercise will be beneficial but actually stepping up the intensity and taking yourself out of the comfort zone is the ONLY way to get the body you deserve.

To bring change you must change.

Don’t let the media water this down for you. Personal Trainers get a bad cop by bringing this change out of you by probing where they need to go. Unflinching and determined levels of motivation to make change are driven by your emotions. Not fads. You may detest what you look like in the mirror. You may be sick of the comments that are flown your way.

In my years of experience personal and group training and coaching individuals to reach their health and fitness goals I can firmly say that the tendency to sugar coat what they deem as exercise is still going strong.

Even our safe haven of the health and fitness world the gym is laden with Machines geared towards sitting on for the ride and providing about as much exercise as lying down.

So, no, reading a magazine whilst cranking out a set of leg presses is not a good idea.

Step out of your comfort zone and find the reasons why this is important to you. One or two reasons such as ‘I want to look great’ or ‘I want to fit into my jeans’ is not going to cut it and drive you to reach unparallel heights.

Look deep within and do a bit of soul searching. Shed a few tears if necessary. Whatever it takes, find those reasons. You will need them.

We are designed to move and function like our hunter gatherer ancestors. Indeed according to Dr. Loren Cordain, an expert on Paleo (Caveman) Nutrition our genetic make-up is still 99.9% the same.

In ancient times we ran, sprinted, carried and lifted heavy carcasses. Our movements were determined by the need to build, hunt, scavenge, and catch. This is not to say we should sport our finest leopard skin briefs and pop down to the local supermarket, spear in hand, to hunt for wild boar. It was tough living back then!

But being honest in our efforts to build up a bit of a sweat on most days of the week is crucial to achieving your health and fitness goals.

And it goes back to our attitude –the quick fix, sugar coated mentality.

The mentality that drives us mad if the lift doors don’t close quick enough. The mentality that drives us crazy crossing the road.

I bet you press the button to make it go faster?

Why does everything have to be so easy? It is tough reaching your goals. It is hard work training and eating right. It is hard sacrificing sweet foods for veggies and lean protein. It is hard cutting back on the booze.

But that is where the reward lies. If climbing Everest was easy we would all be booking our seats at the Table Top Restaurant to admire the view.

The truth is there is no table top restaurant because only the strongest, most determined and most prepared climbers ever make the summit.

I get tired of trying to make exercise out to be ‘easy’ and ‘fun’ with all the smiles and pearly whites seen on a Jane Fonda or the latest pathetic ‘before and after’ videos from our celebrities.

The truth is it isn’t.

I train people who want results and want them pretty fast. This comes at a price. You have to put the work in. There is no easy way round it. There is no sugar coating the gardening and dressing it up as exercise.

Now rant over – cup of green tea anyone?

Visit John Lark’s web site www.john-lark.com and pick up a free copy of the ‘Fundamentals of Fat Loss’ including a sample workout and menu plan