Fitness Matrix

I know that you don’t want to hear this and being an ex-serviceman, who get through their fair share of alcohol while serving Queen and country, I didn’t like hearing it either, but alcohol is fundamentally poison to your body.  There is no nutritional value in it and as soon as it is ingested, your body is trying to expel it, because it doesn’t want or need it!  In a regular pint of beer there are approximately 12 teaspoons of sugar.  So, the next time you have a few beers with your mates, think about how much sugar you are putting into your body, what it is doing to your body and where it is going.  Your body doesn’t want  that amount of sugar and certainly not on a regular basis, so it stores it, which results in people becoming obese, diabetic or suffering from pancreas problems.  I’m not suggesting that you stop drinking alcohol, just not to drink too much, because it dehydrates your body, which drains your energy resources,  making you sluggish and it also weakens your immune system, leaving you vulnerable to viruses and diseases.

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This is one of the best types of training.  It involves structured periods of exercise and recovery, aimed at developing the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems.  The main benefit of this type of training, is that the body’s tolerance to lactic acid is enhanced.  When exercising at a high intensity, the body cannot provide enough energy from the aerobic system, so the lactate system must be used to provide the remainder of the energy.  Interval training improves performance in two ways:-

• It increases the ability of the body to tolerate high levels of lactic acid.
• It improves the rate at which lactic acid is removed from the muscles.
• This type of training should be incorporated into every training regime, to maximise performance and reduce recovery time.

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Most people that keep fit don’t realise, that it is vital to give your body the chance to rest and repair between training sessions, so that it can build to a higher level of performance.  The body only repairs itself when it is sleeping. So, if you don’t give your body enough rest and recuperation, it will breakdown from the inside and become weak (catabolic), rather than build and become strong (anabolic).  While it is good to push your  body to its limits in relation to fitness, it is only beneficial to do this if you ensure that you get enough sleep for your body to repair.  If you don’t, keeping fit can have a detrimental effect on the body and its health.  You can avoid this by enlisting the help of a Personal Trainer, as they will design a programme specifically for you, that will incorporate a structured training regime with rest periods, so that you get the maximum benefits from exercising.

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Chilli is full of protein, carbs, dairy and is a complete meal. There is fibre from brown rice and the meal on a whole is gorgeous.

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Whether you do exercise or not, you need a massage. Massage is pampering for your muscles. It helps to reduce muscle stiffness, pain, fatigue and increase flexibility. While it can stimulate the body and increase mental alertness, it can also reduce anxiety and promote feelings of well-being, which will enhance relaxation. Your muscles are like a piece of bubble-wrap. The bubbles are full of waste fluids and the spaces between the bubbles become congested and stick together like glue, which is caused by the stresses and strains of everyday life.  Massage bursts the bubbles, helping the lymphatic system dispose of the waste fluids and at the same time ‘ironing-out’ the congestions, which cleanses and refreshes the muscles, allowing them to perform to their optimum.

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All margarines start-off BLACK! They are then pumped full of artificial ingredients to make them what you see on the supermarket shelves. They have a high content of polyunsaturated fat, which is good for you, but not in high doses. As a test, if you were to leave a tub of margarine and a block of butter out of the fridge for a long time, eventually the butter will decompose. Bacteria will get to the butter, as butter is full of natural goodness, but it will not go anywhere near the margarine.  So, if bacteria doesn’t want to eat it, you don’t want to!

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This is a non-impact aerobic exercise that takes place on a specially designed stationary spinning bike. You pedal along to motivating music, while the instructor talks you through a series of exercises designed to work your whole body. During the exercises you will be seated or standing, varying the resistance on the bike and your pace, to simulate cycling uphill, downhill or on the flat. Unlike other fitness classes, it requires little coordination, it can accommodate all fitness levels and although you follow the instructor’s direction, you are always in control of your resistance and pace. Spinning is an excellent aerobic workout that burns approximately 500 calories during a 1 hour class.

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The current food pyramid decided upon by the government, determines that you should eat more carbohydrates such as, pasta, rice, bread, fruit and vegetables.  The result of eating a diet high in carbohydrates, which your body doesn’t need, is that it ultimately provides your body with sugar, forcing your pancreas to release insulin, which makes the cells of your body more permeable, so that the sugar maybe absorbed into your system to be used as fuel. We only need a small amount of carbohydrates for nutrition, so if you eat alot of carbohydrates, the body uses the small amount that it needs and stores the rest, which is why there are alot more people are obese.

The more carbohydrates you eat, the more sugar is in your system and the harder your pancreas has to work to release more insulin. Eventually, your pancreas will burn-out, not be able to metabolise the sugar, so it is stored rather than used and not perform as it should, which can lead to obesity, diabetes and pancreas problems. The sugar release from carbohydrates supplies a short-lived boost of energy and once used, your body requires another boost soon after. To slow-down the release of sugar from the carbohydrates, eat them with a dairy product such as, butter, cheese, cream, yoghurt and milk. The dairy acts like a bungee tied to a whippet, as it stops the whippet running away at high speed and just allows it to accelerate at a steady speed, resulting in the fuel from the carbohydrates being drip-fed into your system, giving you a steady supply of energy.

When you do eat carbohydrates, eat unrefined carbohydrates such as wholemeal pasta, bread and brown rice. Don’t eat refined carbohydrates such as white pasta, bread and rice, as it has no nutritional value at all and once consumed, your body is trying to expel it, because it doesn’t want it.

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This has been and is, of paramount importance to your body. Hundreds of years ago people lived off the land, getting their milk straight from a cow, with no pasteurisation process, which takes out half the goodness.   They got their eggs from chickens that roamed free and were not battery farmed and not force fed.  They got their meat from pasture fed animals, not a man made diet laced with antibiotics. [...]

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