The #TempleWalk and changing the way you feel in an instant!

We’ve written a lot recently about your mind.  No one gave us a manual on how to manage our mind, and so we’re writing one for you!

There’s no doubt that when you get a handle on managing your internal computer, you will be in a much better position to control what you do and how you feel.

This insight is also about mind, but indirectly.  If you want to change the way you feel you can use any of the mind techniques detailed in our #MindPillar and if you combine them with the following ideas they will be magnified into a more intense change in state than you perhaps thought possible!

You see, the way we feel is based on what we focus on as well as our physical body postures, facial expressions, actions and the way we move.  Reflect on this for a moment and then let’s try a little excercise to illustrate the point.

I’m not sure how you’re feeling at the moment.  If you’re feeling in a bit of a funk, this will make you feel better.  If you’re feeling pretty damn good then this will make you feel awesome!  In order for it to work, any of you sceptics out there just need to lend yourself to me for a few minutes.  I’d like you to empty any thoughts of negativity associated with trying new things from your mind (if the little devils are trying to poke their way through).

Before we start set yourself up for success by focusing on the fact that you are about to learn something that is going to help you for the rest of your life.  Some people like it so much they have shared it with others, thus spreading the vibe of happiness!

It’s not a profound technique, but I firmly believe it’s quite magical.  Never forget that you have the power to dictate how you feel at any given moment.  Nobody else has the power to make you feel in a specific way - it’s all about you!  It’s your choice.  When you combine this mantra with a few healthy techniques to nudge you in the right direction you’ll begin to live a more fulfilling life on a consistent basis.

OK then, so I’m hoping that short preamble has left you open to new ideas and a willingness to experience a little more joy.  “Hang on a minute Rich.  Who wouldn’t want to experience more joy?” I hear you saying.  Well, you’d be surprised!  Many of us self sabotage our feelings of happiness.  Have you ever been feeling a bit down and some potentially good experience or feeling comes by for you to subconsciously disregard it almost as if to say “Hang on, I can’t feel good about this as I’m in a bad mood!”  Yep - we all do it, so don’t sabotage your happiness on this one.  Come with me.  I’m giving you permission to make a change 😉 

You can try this in private, and if you’re really living in the now you can try it on a crowded tube train (although you may get a few inquisitive looks, but who cares about that eh?!)  If you prefer you can start in private and then upgrade the experience to a crowded train or shopping mall.  I dare you 😉 

The key insight here is to understand that your physical body has anchored feelings associated with certain physical actions and postures throughout your life.  You may not even be aware of it, but it has.  Have a think about this.

When you are in a positive state; really excited and up for a good time how are you breathing? Are you taking shallow breaths or is your breathing rate slightly elevated and deeper than usual? When you’re up for a challenge, bunji jump, your first kiss or your birthday present from a loved one how do you move?  Is your body hunched and bent or are your shoulders back, your chin slightly lifted and your chest out?

Just close your eyes for a moment and think about the difference between how your body looks and moves when you’re sad and depressed compared to how it is when you’re unstoppable!

How do you walk when you’re up for anything?  How does it compare to how you walk when you’re disillusioned or flat?  Do you swing your arms slightly when you’re pumped and is there possibly even a slight Travolta strut in there? 😃  What does your face look like when you’re excited?  Is it wrinkled and frowning, or are you’re eyebrows lifted, you’re eyes open slightly wider and a massive grin on your chops?

So now you’ve visualised all this, I think you should be convinced of the importance of your physical body when it comes to how you are feeling in the moment.  So here’s the thing.  No matter how you feel if you try this I guarantee it will change your state.  If you try it in conjunction with some of the mind based exercised detailed above it will be magnified.  So give this a go!

Don’t just keep reading.  Let’s get it on!  Stand up, and get ready to feel AWESOME!

• Firstly let’s start with your breathing.  Start to mindfully be aware of your breathing and make it slightly quickened and deeper than your base line.
• At the same time move your posture into a positive position.  Get your shoulders back, put your chest out.  If you can, start to walk in a way you would when you feel unstoppable.
• If you like you can even imagine a flowing red cape attached at your shoulders behind you - yep, stay with me on this.  A long flowing red cape like Superman or Superwoman.  Start to walk and feel unstoppable.
• Open your eyes slightly and put a massive grin on your face.  Come on now - it won’t work unless you do all this stuff, so suspend your disbelief and start smiling!
• Swing those arms like the legend that you are and pop a little Travolta strut in there too if you like.  Keep focused on your breathing, imagine your favourite tune playing and perpetuate the sensations.
• Stay in this state for about 30 - 60 seconds (don't let that massive grin fade) and then reflect on how you are feeling.

I don’t think I need say any more on the matter.  Some people (the ones that really get into it and go for it!) speak of experiencing that pins and needles, goose bumps sensation.  You’re feeling PUMPED and you LOVE IT!

Until next time - don’t forget your “Temple Walk”, stay in the now and keep practicing.  You are becoming more powerful on a daily basis.  I have massive respect for you for trying all these techniques and your body and mind are thanking you for it. I love you for it; keep it up!

#respectyourtemple

Rich Davis

Thai "Temple" Green Curry

OK folks - this is becoming my signature dish.  Everyone loves it.  You can modify it very slightly to make it Vegan (just leave out fish sauce and chicken), but my personal favourite is with chicken.

It’s also the most awesome way to get your greens.  A lot of people associate eating greens as a healthy chore that isn’t particularly pleasurable.  I’m here to tell you that I don’t care what your relatioship with greens is like, in blind taste tests EVERYONE likes this recipe - even my young children!  If you only make one of our recipes it has to be this one.  It’s incredible!

It might not be super authentic (whatever that is), but it’s my version of a Thai Green Curry.  I will back up my conviction with the fact that I have been to Thailand and lived with a Thai family in Bangkok for a short period of time.  I sampled all sorts of amazing dishes and this is my adaption of the green curry.

Enough already out the waxing lyrical on it, and let’s get to it!

Ingredients & Method:

Enough for 4 (with a portion or two to save for later - it’s great as a quick snack from the freezer).  Preparation time 10 minutes. Cooking time 1.5 hours.  Actual time in the kitchen approximately 20 minutes.

For frying:
Coconut oil (extra virgin)

For the green Curry Paste:
3 large bunches fresh corriander
2 large bunches fresh basil
5 birds eye green chilli (or enough for your desired heat)
two thumb sized pieces of ginger (skin on)
4 sticks of lemon grass
8 cloves of garlic
4 Kafir Lime Leaves
12 fat spring onions (wash them and use the lot - especially green bits)
thumb sized piece of Galangal
3 teaspoons of Coconut Blossom / Palm Sugar

To add to make sauce:
2 tins coconut milk

To finish:
1 Roast Free Range Chicken
Seasoning (salt, pepper, fish sauce)
Bag of spinach
French green beans
(Basically your favourite greens - any will do.  Other ideas are Kale, Rocket, Watercress)

Method:
Put your chicken into the oven to roast.  I usually do mine for about 1.5 hours at 190 degrees. Meanwhile….

Here’s where your blender comes into action again.  Place all of the ingredients for the curry paste into your blender and blend to a paste.  Don’t blend to a super smooth smoothie consistency, but do blend well.  It should look like the greenest paste you’ve ever seen 😃

Heat some coconut oil in your favourite frying pan and add the paste.  It will probably make your eyes water a little (especially if you like hot and spicy and have added extra chilli) so be careful and turn on the extractor fan if you have  one.  Cook the paste for about 5 - 10 minutes.  It will lose some of its moisture and go a dark green colour.  When you get to this stage you know it’s ready for the neXt stage.

At this point add the coconut milk.  Stir the whole thing together and you have your green curry sauce.  Add some fish sauce (about 2 table spoons) and some pepper.  This just needs to be simmered gently for about 10 minutes to allow all the flavours to get to know each other.  Have a taste to check seasoning and add some extra salt to taste if needed.

When your chicken is cooked, remove from the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes.  Then pull the chicken from the bones and reserve the bones to make stock (not required for this recipe, but we never waste our chicken bones.  See why here.)

Add the chicken to the curry sauce along with your greens.  Cook the whole thing through until the greens are tender (probably about 5 minutes) and then check seasoning before serving with sticky rice, or just on its own.

Let us know how it makes you feel and what you think!

#respectyourtemple

Rich Davis

Introducing the #EnvironmentPillar and how to set up your “Work" Place

So you’ve seen that we’ve spent a lot of time focusing on your nutrition and mind pillars in our insights recently.  These are massive subjects and provide some of the biggest rapid change opportunities for our community.  We hope that you’ve made some serious gains by studying these lessons and applying them to develop awesome new and empowering habits.

Today we want to devote a little time to your Environment Pillar.  What’s it all about?  What are we going to focus on?  How can you start to become mindful of your Environment Pillar and make some progress towards developing your awareness of this area of your life and it’s significance in your overall feelings of wellness, peace, calm and happiness!

So when we talk about your Environment pillar we should explain a few definitions.  Many people say “oh yeh, that’s all about being green and saving the planet right?”  Well, yes it is to an extent, but that’s not really the main thrust of the subject as far as your Strength Temple is concerned.  The Environment pillar is centred around the following areas:

• Your immediate environment and surroundings and their impact on your state
• Seeking out Powerful and Vibrant new environments to feed your psyche
• Exercising in Nature and why it’s better for you than an indoor gym
• Creating a calm, empowering and structured place of work
• Creating a tranquil home
• Gardens and how they feed us emotionally and physically
• Temperatures and how to get balance in hot and cold
• Light and it’s importance for wellbeing
• Optimising your rest and sleep habits
• Our responsibility to the environment and the legacy we leave the next generations
• Use of Colours in your environment
• Art and it’s influence on the soul
• The importance of scent and it’s relation to anchors, moods and how you feel
• Decluttering and philosophies concerning order
• Music and it’s impact on your states
• AND SO MUCH MORE!

So there you go - it’s a significant subject and one that we will be considering in depth as part of our #7Pillars program.  For this insight though, we will talk about the “work” environment.

Let’s start with some background.  The way we run our company is kind of unique and we think it’s super cool.  We are trail blazing new ways of working, leveraging the current technologies available, supporting our tribe and creating an environment for creativity, flexibility and growth.

We are all virtual beings.  We don’t routinely commute to an “office” and actively encourage our contributors and staff to get variety in the places they decide to create and produce. We talk to each other by phone and internet, have face to face meetings and chat by messenger platforms and our customer relationship management platform (CRM).

Despite working remotely from each other, we do interact and encourage collaboration at a deep level.  We also highly value the work life balance and make it mandatory for our staff to attend their children’s sports days!

Including Art in your environment is crucial. This is "The Tree of Life" by Kerry Darlington, and looks over one of The Strength Temple office environments.

I personally have an office at home, which I love to visit and use.  I have a picture from my favourite artist on the wall, I’ve made a massive focus board to pin ideas and empowering imagery onto.  I have my piano handy to grab a quick break from my computer and I am always surrounded by books next to a comfy chair so I can feed my brain with literature the old fashioned way.  I also use incense which i’ve anchored in feelings of calm and creativity allowing me to feel great as soon as I step into the room.

Having said that I like to take my work to other places.  Variety and balance in your work environment prevents you from feeling stale, and allows a momentum to grow in your productivity.  If it’s a warm day I’ll take a chair to the local lake and sit and work from there.  I’m an on call Firefighter and I might work from the Fire Station sometimes.  I’m also regularly in the gym as well, so have a place there where I can take a moment and catch up with our community.

The other area of the work environment we have focused on is the suite of applications we use to make maximum use of our time, and increase our efficiency.  We are a cloud based company and are multi-platform meaning that we can work on our mobile smart phones, mac’s, PC’s, tablets, slates or internet cafes!  For those not familiar with cloud based working everything s stored in the internet and is securely “hosted” by third party companies. We partner with Google, Evernote, Insightly and use Skype.

We have users who love Macs and users who prefer PC.  We have iPhones, Samsung mobiles and windows smart phones as our devices.  We don’t discriminate on technology or platform and our only criteria is that our tribe love their tools, they are open architecture and allow access from all devices.  It’s part of our DNA.

The other thing we like to do is have meetings in strange places.  Recently our “Board Room” has ranged from my office, a hot tub, a sauna and England's Third Highest Mountain, Helvellyn in the Lake District.  We are so proud of the fact we DON’T follow the crowd and try and make every moment as innovative and fulfilling as possible - even meetings.

It’s a mindset that takes a leap of faith for some and we measure performance by output rather than time spent chained to a desk.  There are always some people that might not have the discipline to work in this type of environment, but with practice and assuming that you are following your passion, it’s a fulfilling way to work and a life enhancing way of interacting with your colleagues and community.

So we’d like to invite you to try some of this stuff out!  Perhaps you’ve got a favourite spot in your local park that you love to visit. How about setting up your desk there for a morning and working from there?  Declutter your office at home and make it a place that you really want to be in. Grab some flowers from your local florist or simply from the garden.  Place them in your work environment. You'll be amazed at the difference all of these small modifications can make to your creativity when you add them all together! If you combine all of this with the other pillars of your Strength Temple you are onto a winner and the results you desire will materialise without you having to chase them.

Oh, and don't forget...  #RespectYourTemple

Rich Davis

Salad Vibes

One of the habits that we've all got into at The Strength Temple is around making extra food.

If we’re making a yummy roasted vegetable dish, a pasta bombshell or some Eastern inspired rice, we make an extra 2 portions for the fridge.  That way if we’re short on time, but need something big on flavour, it’s quick to prepare something awesome without reaching for the danger zone snacks.  You know the ones; pastry, chocolate, crisps YUK!

All you need to do is start with some fresh salad ingredients and then throw in your choice or leftovers for an amazing energy hit that's full of great nutrition.

We’re not sure what to throw into this salad, but it’s guaranteed to make you feel fabulous!

Try this little bad boy combo….

• rocket leaves • spinach • mint • spring onion • sun-dried tomato • avocado • cherry tomato • chilli • blue cheese (not for the diary-free crew) • sunflower seeds • S E A S O N E D with olive oil & balsamic glaze to taste. 🍃YUM!
 

The Great Outdoors. Scientifically Proven to make you feel AMAZING!

The view towards Glenridding and Ullswater on the way to Helvellyn

Get out into the Great Outdoors and enjoy the restorative capacity of exercising in the natural environment - Doctor's Orders! ;-)

Our resident Doctor and Sports Medicine Physician Dr Dan Roiz de Sa explains why we should all get outside more.  Even if it means looking at pictures of outside; whilst inside! Over to you Dr Dan.....
 
Most of us know that exercising is good for us. There is a massive industry revolving around exercise and training. There are gyms and health clubs with all sorts of facilities and machinery that cater for almost every aspect of fitness training.

But did you know that although this sort of exercise is good for you; exercising outdoors and especially right out in the countryside is probably better for you than doing the same thing in a built up environment or even indoors? I bet you didn’t but actually it makes quite a lot of sense.

Our ancestors, in evolutionary terms were hunter gatherers and as such their lives were spent outdoors within the environments in which they lived. Thus we could argue that much of what we have evolved to do come from this developmental background and therefore spending lots of time indoors in our home or working environments is probably not all that good for our overall health.

Humans would not have faced such overwhelming information rich environments in the past as we currently do. For example being out on a country walk will feel restorative whereas walking for the same distance through a very busy street in a modern city will not. The exercise is the same, the environment is not and this is the difference.

View across Ullswater; The Lake District, England.

Plants and nature, birdsong and the presence of wildlife is very often calming whereas, busy pavements, dodging oncoming pedestrians, the sensory inputs the central nervous system has to process and make sense of like traffic noise, street and traffic lighting, noise and lights from shops we pass by on our walk are varied and many. Our eyes will process all this information, sending it to our brain. We will notice colours from billboards and advertising hoardings and our noses will detect the smells of city and town life. All this information can be overwhelming for the nervous system which really hasn’t had more than a small amount of time (in evolutionary terms) to adapt to this kind of overwhelming sensory input.

Did you know that for example post exercise blood pressure settles to its baseline values faster if you exercise in front of rural scenes rather than those reflecting urban settings? What is this all about? I would argue that it is because we have an innate connection with the natural environment as a consequence of our evolution.

There are other studies that look at heart rate variability (or HRV) and its response to looking at nature scenes or exercising in them. Heart rate variability is something that occurs because of how our heart rates are controlled by the autonomic nervous system. A high variability suggests good or healthy autonomic function; and is inversely correlated with cardiovascular disease. Whilst not a perfect tool; HRV does give us a clue to the readiness of an individual’s nervous system to respond to stress or exercise.

Sitting in an outdoor forest environment increases HRV, and actually even sitting indoors looking at nature scenes does so, when compared to control conditions. Therefore both of these activities are beneficial. But these are resting and not exercising in nature. Could we do better? The simple answer is yes we can.

There are published works that indicate that being outside when exercising is preferable to and more beneficial to mental health than exercising indoors. Some might even go as far as to suggest that not only is being outdoors beneficial that it is even more so if exercise is added.
In other words the benefits of being outdoors and exercising are greater than the sum of the parts. There must therefore not only be a benefit to our psychological processes but also to the changes in our physiological systems and there must be some beneficial interaction between the two.

It is also good for our endocrine system. This is what we mean by the hormone system that controls how our body functions and are also often implicated in ill health. Hormones that are produced by stress: adrenaline; noradrenaline and cortisol are all affected by being within a natural outdoor environment. They all fall, and this is another benefit which results in improvements in our immune system function.

All of this doesn’t mean that all exercise indoors isn’t beneficial: of course it is, and it certainly is better than not doing any. What I would suggest though is that we should all make time to spend more time outdoors exercising (whether it is just a long walk with the dog, or a full on mountain bike trail ride).

City planners in many countries know that access to green spaces is important for aspects of mental wellness; in several countries (Japan, Scandinavia and the Netherlands) it is associated with people living longer and with less mental illness.  We should therefore make the most of this largely free and accessible health and wellness resource whenever we can.

Unless you were brought up in a way that encouraged this engagement with nature, it can seem quite daunting and consequently is avoided by many. The country side can for some city dwellers, seem quite a remote and a risky place to go and exercise in. Perceived risks may be exaggerated and fear of these may be preventative in getting people out, about and engaged with activity in nature.

The Strength Temple Directors, Rich Davis & Richie Norton on their way to summit Helvellyn, The Lake District, England.

If you do find you feel this way we suggest you share the experience.  There is a profound bond that can be created between groups of people who attempt challenges outdoors, or simply go for regular walks with their dogs.  Join a rambling society, or a mountaineering expedition!  Either way you'll feel better for it.

What we need to do as a society is to ensure that our children, the future generations of the human race, don’t acquire these very often unsubstantiated fears and develop a healthy and enthusiastic love of nature, outdoors and the environment.

Make a plan to go for a walk, run, cycle or whatever else you want to do this weekend. Do it outdoors in nature a reap the benefits.  Doctor’s orders ;-)

Oh, and don't forget to.... #RespectYourTemple

Dr Dan Roiz De Sa

The Science of Stretching & Flexibility

Should you incorporate a regular flexibility programme?

There are various opinions on the internet around stretching.  Some say do it before activity, some after and some not at all.  We asked The Strength Temple Director, Doctor and Sports Medicine Physician, Dr Dan Roiz de Sa about it.  He has provided the following information and advice; it’s the current thinking on stretching and joint mobility from a professional, not a google warrior!  Over to you Dr Dan….

Let’s discuss the background of flexibility and why we advocate this as part of our #7Pillars approach to overall wellness.  I think it’s always good to start with a definition, so let’s begin there.

What do we mean by flexibility? It is the ability to move a joint (or group of joints) through the optimal range of movement intended for that joint (or group of joints).

Some people have an inherent flexibility that is very much more than others and are described as being hyper mobile.  This condition normally has its foundations in that person's genes. For most of the rest of us, if we lack sufficient flexibility we are hypo mobile and are unable to get a joint to have the degree of motion for which it is designed.

Joints can be limited in their range by the size and shape of the harder bony structures that make up the shape of the joint.  If this is the case there is not a lot that we can do about it on a day to day basis but what we can affect are the softer tissues and connective tissues that surround or cross these joints.

There is considerable variation in expected ranges of motion for different joints with established guidelines in the scientific and medical literature, but what we really want to know is how much flexibility is sufficient and sufficient for what? Clearly, the flexibility required by a gymnast is very different from that required by an average person to carry on with the activities and pastimes of normal daily living without undue difficulty or injury. Therefor, the question about what is an adequate range of flexibility is a relative one and we all need to consider what we need for daily living, our work, our hobbies, pastimes and exercise interests.

I’d suggest that if you find you’re pushing yourself, or modifying movement to complete certain tasks, then you could do with increasing your flexibility.  By certain tasks I mean sporting activities or simply putting your socks on in the morning.  Conversely, if you have full flexibility with a good range of movement then a flexibility maintenance regime will be in order, which draws on the old adage that if you don’t use it, you lose it!

The use of stretching techniques and programmes as a means of addressing lack of range of movement or flexibility is widely advocated for both health and fitness maintenance.  It is also integral to the design of many training programmes for rehabilitation from injury. There are many trainers, authors, coaches and athletes who advocate a stretching programme to increase range of movement. The theory being, that by incorporating this daily activity, the soft tissues, that is to say the connective tissues around a joint, will change their properties in a beneficial way.

The tissues we are talking about are those making up ligaments, joint capsules, layers of fibrous tissue (or fascia) and the tendons and muscles that move the joints.  The connective tissues really targeted by flexibility programs are these dense collagen connective tissues which have very high tensile strength and are therefore rather resistant to elongation.

The other area that flexibility work targets is the muscles that contract to move a joint and the tendon that imparts this force (from the muscle) to the bones; this can also be called the musculotendinous unit.

The many reported benefits of stretching include enhanced performance, avoidance of joint dysfunction, less muscle soreness and reduced musculotendinous unit injury and scar tissue formation.

Being a hard nosed scientist at heart I find it difficult to find good evidence for all these claims, but there is some to suggest that there might be a reduction in injury prevalence. It is certainly something I have incorporated into my daily routine and anecdotally I have noticed a world of benefit.  Bottom line is - we recommend stretching at The Strength Temple.

How does stretching work? What is it that we are trying to do when we stretch?

The answer to these questions relates to soft tissue and nervous system physiology. When we apply a stretch to tissue, we are applying a force that wants to elongate that tissue in a way that it will initially resist.  The effects of stretching can be categorised into neural (nervous system), plastic and elastic effects.

Neural: Stretch Reflex

This starts from a fancy littlestructure in our muscles called the muscle spindle, which results in a protective muscle contraction depending on the rate or magnitude of force applied. This is what your Doctor or Physio is testing when they hit your knee with that little hammer!

Neural: Inverse Stretch Reflex

Number two is the inverse stretch reflex which applies to prolonged stretching and contraction of a musculotendinous unit.  This reflex is initiated by another superb little piece of kit we have in our muscles properly known as the Golgi tendon organ.  A prolonged stretch of this structure (at least 6 if not 20 seconds) results in a dampening or reduction in nerve impulses telling a muscle to contract.  It is essentially recalibrating and resetting the nervous system response to a muscle being elongated. How amazing is that?

Neural: Nervous System Control of Pain

This is achieved via pressure sensors in the muscle which assist in pain regulation. With a prolonged stretch these last two reflexes allow relaxation of the musculotendinous unit and reduction in pain.  If you do this repeatedly then it is suggested that by inducing changes in nervous system excitability, we get an increased tolerance and an increased range of movement.

Elastic and Plastic Effects of stretching

These are benefits to the tough non-contractile elements around joints. Constant stretching will result in plastic deformation; in other words increased tissue length. When this tissue is around a joint or combination of joints that means increased range.

Conclusion

Stretching, providing you are not hyper mobile should therefore be looked at as a component of your whole body maintenance regime. It has benefits and not just for gymnasts or elite athletes. It will result in you feeling better providing it is done properly, in a controlled and logical way. There are many methods to approach flexibility work; we will discuss some of these in future insights.

Bottom line - do your stretching.  We show you how to do it safely and correctly in our #7Pillars Program - due for release end Summer 2016!

Oh, and don't forget to #respectyourtemple

Dr Dan RdS

Our Mind Technique to tap into your Limbic System and Upgrade the way you FEEL!

We wanted to give you an insight around thoughts and feelings today and we encourage you to really take this one on board as it can literally change the way you are feeling in an instant!

Thoughts create feelings.  Feelings can create actions.  Actions  create outcomes.  Outcomes create new thoughts.  Repeat.  Just ponder on that for a moment and re-read it.  It’s really important to understand.

OK, got that?  Let’s move on then and define a term we often use called "Self Talk."

Your self talk is that little voice inside your head that provides a commentary on your life.  It’s the internal verbalisation of your thoughts. Some people have quite a loud voice, others softer, but we all have it. Becoming mindful and aware of your self talk is a key element to what we will be teaching in this insight.

One way to become very aware is to notice your self talk and reflect on how useful it is to you. People often describe a sensation of almost listening to yourself talking.

If you picture what this “looks like” in the theatre of your mind, it could be the “enlightened and higher you” sitting on a magic carpet watching and listening to everything your mind is doing. You are entirely detached from everything and able to observe and commentate if necessary on what’s happening.

Think about this for a moment.  Can you picture this process happening?  If you can’t , re-read what we’re saying so you completely understand it and then try again.  This is one of the most important steps to becoming mindful and for some is a revelation!

I like to picture myself looking in a state of complete relaxation, peace and calm on my magic carpet.  I’m sitting there cross legged in a beautiful blue sky, deep in the recesses of my psyche, looking very Zen!

So back to your self talk.  Whilst sitting on your magic carpet, observing your thoughts and feelings, if you catch your self talk and thoughts becoming destructive or negative, pause for a moment.  If they are positive reflect on that too.

If you’d prefer that they were positive and you recognise negative self talk happening, simply acknowledge it and say something to yourself like “oh - there I go again” and then allow the thoughts and discussion to change to something more empowering.

Have you ever experienced a time when you’ve chastised yourself using your internal dialogue / self talk?  As you become more mindful you may see this happening frequently and it’s one of the keys to changing how you are feeling.

So all of these thoughts tap into the emotional side of your brain and trigger the neurons associated with feelings.  Feelings are produced by the firing of specific sets of nerve clusters in the Amygdala which is part of the Limbic system in your brain.

The Limbic system is fascinating.  I got the following definition from Google:

LIMBIC SYSTEM:  "a complex system of nerves and networks in the brain, involving several areas near the edge of the cortex concerned with instinct and mood. It controls the basic emotions (fear, pleasure, anger) and drives (hunger, sex, dominance, care of offspring)."

So do your thoughts serve you in a positive way and fire the right sets of nerves in your Limbic System?  If not, then it’s time to check in with yourself and start to gradually allow your focus to move from negative to positive thoughts.

Now it’s important to emphasise at this point that this is not just about positive affirmations.  Some people advocate that simply saying “I feel good, I feel good, I feel good, I feel good, I feel good, I feel good, I feel good” is enough to create a change in state.  This may work for some people, but it’s not the essence of what we are teaching.
 
One thing about affirmations is that you may be in a situation that is too complex to allow your intelligent / logical brain to translate the situation into feeling better.  A more suitable way to change your state is to check in with yourself.  Be kind to yourself.  Let your current thoughts and feelings drift past you on your magic carpet as you observe them from your vantage point.  Breathe deeply and start to migrate your thoughts to more constructive ways of interpreting any situation.

Another powerful way to reframe destructive self talk is to remove its significance by considering it to be like “mental or emotional weather.” If you find your brain is misbehaving and gravitating to less empowering self talk, consider the words to be like a storm passing. Observe the storm from your magic carpet. Sit there peacefully in the knowledge that weather is transient and shining sunshine is just round the corner!

This will in turn bring about different more positive feelings, which will create more empowering actions, which reinforces your thoughts and the cycle continues.  This is probably best illustrated with an example.

I’m going to write two paragraphs and they are going to illustrate your internal dialogue.  See if you relate to any of it and reflect on how each way of talking to yourself could bring about different overall feelings.

“What a shit day!  Why does my alarm always fail to go off.  I can’t believe I’m late again - I’m always bloody late!  Missed my train, even after running. God, I’m shit at running too.  It’s going to be one of those bad days, I just know it.  Everything’s going wrong.  I’ve got to face those people trying to block my ideas at work too.  Why do they hate me so much.  I need a new job, but I’ll never find one in this economy.  What a shit day!"

OK - so I’ve turned on the taps to full here.  I hope that none of you have conversations with yourself of this magnitude of destruction, but then some of you might!  I’m chuckling to myself at how hard it was to write that, as I’ve been practicing mindfulness for some years now and it was difficult for me to come up with those words.  It might be easier for you?  Either way, I think you will see the point. Now let’s try another version.

"I love it when there’s mist in the mornings.  Everything looks like an abstract painting and the moist air feels great in my lungs.  I must remember to plug my phone in at night.  I’ve missed my alarm this morning  and I’d prefer not to let that happen again.  I’ll buy another charger today and put it next to my bed.  I think I’ll listen to that favourite album I’ve just found on the way to the station this morning to change my focus after this little setback.   I’m not going to rush as I’m a little late already, but have called to let everyone know, so it’s no problem.  It will give me time to think about how to get more buy in from my colleagues for my project.  I think they must need more information as the ideas are sound.  I’ll arrange some 121 meetings today to get some feedback on how things are going."

So there we are.  It takes practice to transition from one way of thinking to another as a lot of what we do as humans is habitual.

I hope you’ve found this interesting.  Here’s a simple little exercise to do to make sure you are more mindful of your self talk, focusing and feeling better!  Try it and PLEASE let us know how you get on.  We love to get feedback. 

1. Regularly check in with yourself and ensure that you are being kind to yourself and not beating yourself up with negative self talk.
    
2. If you “Catch” disempowering chatter just reflect from the vantage point of your magic carpet and say something like “there I go again", and let it float past.
    
3. Understand that there is ALWAYS a more positive way to reflect on any given situation.
    
4. After it has passed, be creative in thinking of ways to change your focus.  Either reframe the current negative situation in a more supportive and positive light, or consider some other situation that allows a change of focus and more positive internal evaluation of where you are.  The vital bit is to get your self talk to reflect this using more positive and empowering words and phrases.
    
5. Breathe and be kind to yourself.

This technique works best when combined with making changes in your physical state. We will discuss this in a future insight. :-)

Until next time.

#BeMindful & #respectyourtemple

Nutrition Jargon Decoded - Did you know you’re made from Star Dust?

Nutrition is one of the pillars of your Strength Temple and we want to give you some insight into why we recommend that you provide your body with the best fuel possible.

We’ve all been gifted with an incredible machine.  It’s taken billions of years to evolve.  It self heals, it protects, it can think and reason.  It’s also made from star dust!  Yep - that’s right.  If you go right back to the essence of where the elements in your body come from they are only formed in the furnace of stars.

If you treat it correctly you will have something that money simply can’t buy.  It doesn't matter how rich you are financially.  You can not "buy" health and wellness; it takes study and commitment to a set of healthy habits.  Once you crack the secrets to motivating yourself and enter the positive reinforcement of results producing more action, you’re hooked and just get better and better, fitter and healthier, having fun along the way.  If you invest in your body by paying attention to the #7Pillars of your Strength Temple you will realise an amazing, energy rich life!

Today we’re going to talk a little about Nutrition.  It’s a complex subject and our intention is to give you some context for the various buzz words thrown at you via the media and books.  We won’t go into a great deal of detail here and if you find that you are drawn to the subject and would like more information there are a myriad of books and websites that deal with the subject, many of which are available via our bookshop.

Your nutrition comes from nutrients which are delivered to your body via your digestive system through your food and drinks.  You can also absorb some through your skin, but for now let’s concentrate on the more conventional route.

Your body is a massive organisation of incredibly small components called cells which have different structures and functions.  Nutrients are essential building blocks for your cellular growth, repair and functioning.  They provide you with all the energy you need to live life to the max and support your immune system in fighting off any bugs coming your way.

Nutrients are classified in a number of ways.  For the sake of this article we will be using some of the mainstream Western classifications.

The main nutrients are Macronutrients (Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats) and Micronutrients (Vitamins and Minerals).  Fibre and Water are also essential and none of our nutrients work in isolation as they all depend on each other!

Macronutrients:

Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats are Macronutrients.  Carbs and Fats provide energy to the body and Proteins provide the building blocks for cell growth and are part of our repair process.  You may also have heard of enzymes.  Our enzymes are proteins and support many of the processes in our body as we break down more complex nutrients into their component parts.

Micronutrients:

Vitamins and Minerals are our Micronutrients.  Our Macronutrients rely on these elements to release the energy within them in a form which is useful to our bodies.

Minerals are inorganic compounds and come from rocks and ores and enter the food chain via the soil.  We get our minerals through the plants that we eat as well as through meat from animals that have eaten plants.  Examples of minerals are Iron (found in blood) Calcium (found in teeth and bones) and Potassium (vital in regulation of our bodies water balance).

Vitamins are organic substances and have many important functions.  Vitamins are involved in the function of enzymes as well as playing important roles in controlling our hormonal activity.  Hormones are our chemical messengers that regulate certain functions in the body.  Our bodies can make small amounts of Vitamin D and K, but other vitamins need to come from our diets.

So when you hear people talking about “paying attention to your macros” or marketeers pushing Micronutrients you now have some context.

The important thing with regards to Nutrition is to achieve a balance.  As with everything we teach, balance is the key to a sustainably fulfilling life.  We have several articles in our #7Pillars program which deals with achieving balance in your nutrition. (Note our #7Pillars program is due for release Summer 2016.)

We like to give you something to do with every insight.  Your nutrition is so important.  That’s why it has it’s own pillar in your Strength Temple.  You will have probably heard this before, but it’s so important it’s worth mentioning again and it’s definitely worth you chasing this goal today!

One thing that many people still fail to do in modern society is get a sufficient supply of fruits and vegetables.  So do yourself a favour today and treat your super body to some lovely nutrition.  Go and buy yourself a load of organic produce and make a beautiful fruit medley and a bowl of roasted vegetables.  Here is a recipe for our Strength Temple Vegetable Roast Up to get you started.

The Strength Temple Vegetable Roast Up!

We hope that this article has helped you decode the jargon. You now know your Macros from your Micros, and your Vitamins from your Minerals.  You know the importance of Proteins and you’ve heard about what Enzymes do too.  Oh - and you’ve found out that you are an amazing result of billions of years of evolution and are ultimately made from star dust.  How cool is that!

#RespectYourTemple

Steps to make “some" people less annoying!

I pondered for a while on the title of this insight.  I’m a big fan of creating positive and empowering topics to promote a sense of wholeness in people and this one had me stumped.

How do I tell people that I can help them to stop getting annoyed at their perceived inadequacies and imperfections of other human beings?

In order to do that, then I have to put it out there that we may have inner annoyances with some folk (even if we don’t verbalise or act on them.)  I don’t like to think that I have any, but do you know what? I do; and we all do and just acknowledging that is the start of making a change for the better!

So when I talk of annoyances I don’t mean the more traditionally defined prejudices aimed at protected characteristics.  Protected characteristics are things like sex, race, age, physical characteristics, sexual orientation etc.  Here at the strength temple we are proud to be acknowledged as a company that supports and actively promotes equality and diversity.  We even have our own policy in this regard - so if you’re annoyed by protected characteristics please make some changes if you want to stay part of this community!

No, what I mean is the person that just seems to annoy you on a regular basis, or the dude that “gets your back up” more than they should.  The ones that you just want to avoid or remove from your life in extreme circumstances for some reason.  Also the ones that just slightly get on your nerves.  These feelings are generally around another person's habits or actions and it’s not a big thing - but it can become one!

If you could find a way to stop the negative energy associated with feelings around these types of people that has to be a good thing - right?!

If you’re the type of person that doesn’t get annoyed with anyone - please scroll down now and leave us a comment below with your secret of how you do this!  You clearly don’t need this insight.  If not, and you occasionally find yourself getting a smidge annoyed with people read on - the solution isn’t that complicated, but it is powerful and it does work!

Insight 1:  Firstly - when you find yourself getting wound up by someone, check in with your self talk?  What type of conversations are you having with yourself in your head?  What type of words are you using to describe the situation and the people involved?

Being mindful of your self talk is something we often discuss as part of our mindfulness insights. It’s so important and powerful and even just monitoring how you are feeling when something annoys you, how you describe this to yourself internally and how this energy can flow into other activities in your day is a valuable lesson.  If something annoys you and you find yourself constantly processing this information and ruminating on it you can all of a sudden start to get annoyed with other tasks that would usually make you happy.  It's a kind of transference of negative energy that you can prevent if you know how.

So firstly - be aware of your self talk and stop it in it’s tracks if it’s negative.  Don’t let it snowball into a stream of negativity that can pollute other activities or relationships.

Secondly it’s time to use a technique that has dramatically changed the way I feel about challenging situations as soon as I started applying it.  It involves a slight leap of faith, but it really works.

Insight 2:  When you are faced with a situation that feels uncomfortable, or if someone is annoying you, stop for a moment and reflect.  They key:  What is this situation trying to TEACH you?  What is the lesson here?

It’s probably best described with an example.

Imagine you’re the kind of person who is tidy and that someone close to you keeps leaving their stuff everywhere.  The converse could also be true.  Imagine that you are less focused on keeping everything in it’s place and thrive on chaos and have someone in your life that is constantly tidying up after you or moaning at your general inability to put things in their place?  Either of these familiar?  Well for both types of people these situations can start very innocently and over time reach a point where they can literally break a relationship!  Everything else can be perfect, but this one thing can get out of control and be the thing that ruins an otherwise great partnership.

Let’s apply both lessons described above to this situation.

Insight 1:  Firstly, be very mindful of how you talk to yourself about the other persons lack of, or strict tidiness.  As soon as you notice yourself internally criticising put the breaks on.  Just say something like “oh - there I go again.  Let’s just pause things there and move to insight 2.”

Remember Insight 2?  That’s right - what’s the lesson that my mind is trying to teach me in this moment?  Well the lesson here could be that you need to discuss your feelings with the other person - perhaps something that you haven’t been doing.  It could be that you need to celebrate other people’s differences more and be thankful that we aren’t all the same - how boring would that be!  It could be that the lesson is you need to focus less on a particular person’s less attractive habit and more on all the things you love about them.  It might be that you generally need to be more patient with other people and don’t let small differences be the focus of your attention - after all, it really isn’t that big a deal.

The list can literally go on for ever and it’s a fun thing to try and come up with new ways to find lessons in everything that annoys you.

So just try this for the next 24 hours.  If it reduces your stress and gives you an increased inner feeling of clam (and it will) then perhaps continue with this new habit for a week.  If after a week it’s still working (and it will be), why not make it a part of your being and share it wth others.

Trust me on this one - I started using this a few years ago and it's changed my life.

So, be insightful, be mindful, be peaceful, be kind to yourself and others and don’t forget to…..

#respectyourtemple

If you found this article useful and interesting please click the share button below.  We want to help as many people as possible and your assistance is very dearly appreciated. 

Our key to being Happy more of the time

We encourage our clients to set goals.  We have a whole section of our philosophy dedicated to the “why” of what we are doing and powerful goals are the foundation to an awesome existence. Goals contribute to growth which is one of the 6 human needs as described by the teachings of Tony Robins.  We love Goals!

As part of the goal setting process, the reason that a goal has been chosen is worth considering.  Goals are simply vehicles to produce feelings that we desire.  It is for this reason that sometimes, when we achieve a goal, we may paradoxically experience a sense of dissatisfaction or disillusionment.  We had expected that achieving this “thing” would make us feel a certain way and sometimes it doesn’t.

It’s a fascinating subject and if you’re interested in further reading check out some links at the end of this article to some of our teachings on goals.

The reason that I mention this in relation to being happy more of the time, is that when we distill most goals down, they are simply vehicles to happiness at some level.  Often a feeling of peace and pleasure is also sought.  The thing with these feelings is that they are ALL transient.  They may be wonderful whilst they are manifested, but they will pass.  This is the fundamental key to understanding how to be happy or to experience a feeling of peace more often.  Let’s explore this a little more.

Our mind is truly an incredible thing.  It takes experiences and classifies them based on outcomes and how they make us feel.  It then decides whether to gravitate towards that experience again and looks for ways to create more positive feelings in our lives.  The thing is that if we start to allow ourselves to feel profound disappointment at the passing of happy moments, our brains can associate this as being too difficult for us and actually moves subconsciously to make sure we don’t experience this pain again.  By doing this we can actually start to avoid some of the deeply happy moments in our lives!

A good example off this is the person that experienced a deeply loving relationship.  That magical time when you fall deeply in love with a person and your whole world revolves around that part of your life!  If that relationship ends for some reason, it can cause the individual to actively avoid relationships in the future.  Ringing true of any of you?

So lets explore a way of using self talk (our internal dialogue) to think of a new way to make sense of thoughts and feelings in our mind.  Start to discuss with yourself the fact that ALL feelings will pass at some point.  How we feel about things WILL change over time.  Feelings you’ve had in the past (good and bad) have come and go.  They will come and go in the future.

If we are experiencing negative emotions just say to yourself “there we go - a negative emotion that’s probably linked to a thought.  It may pass if I change my focus.  If not then it will pass over time.”  On the converse be aware that when you are in a sense of flow and deep peace and happiness that this will also pass at some point.  Continue to celebrate and perpetuate the feeling of joy, but don’t be afraid that it may pass.  Just live in the now.

The simple acknowledgement that everything is transitory means we don’t feel as much disappointment when the good times wain.  We just know that they will return again at some point in the future.  All of us have experienced good and bad feelings in the past.  They come and go.  This is the key insight to feeling more balanced.

So next time you are meditating, take a moment to check in with your feelings.  Just be aware of them and let them manifest and flow.  Think of them like a tide on a beach through the changing seasons.  Like the sea, your emotional states come in and out with varying magnitudes in different weathers.  The only constant is that they will come and they will go.  Learn to dance in the rain and go surfing in the winter.  When summer comes enjoy it, even though other climates may be around the corner.  Be generally mindful and kind to yourself.  If you practice this we promise you will start to feel more balanced and whole.  Oh and don’t forget to…..

#respectyourtemple

Here's the link to the Goal Setting Article.  We invested a lot of time writing this one - so please check it out :-)

Dragon Fruit #PurplePower

Dragon Fruit

So here's a short article on the power of the Dragon Fruit: where it's from, how to prepare it, how we like to eat it and why you should add it to your Strength Temple #Nutrition pillar.

Our founder Director, Richie Norton, has been in Malaysia recently training some racing drivers on the GP2 scene.  It’s been challenging keeping on top of clean eating with many of the dishes available deep fried, but we love the purple vibe of the Dragon Fruit which is plentiful in that part of the world!

The Dragon fruit is indigenous to Central America, but also grown in Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand and Vietnam.  They have links to the cactus family and you get to the flesh by slicing the buds in half with a sharp knife.  The skin is quite soft in the ripe fruit.  Inside you await your surprise!  The flesh can range from white through to the deep purple (featured in our picture from Richie’s travels in Kuala Lumur.)

Simply scoop out the flesh with a spoon and add it to any of your usual fruit dishes.  When we find them in the supermarkets in the UK we love to cube them small and eat them with porridge.  Adds amazing colour if you get the purple ones and makes an AWESOME #PurpleSmoothie.
They taste a little like a cross between kiwi and pear.  Despite the vibrant colours the taste is quite mild and not at all citrus really as you might expect.  The small black seeds are edible and provide a pleasant crunch to the experience as well as acting as a mild laxative keeping you regular.

Dragon Fruits are rich in antioxidants, vitamin C, polyunsaturated (good) fats, Omega 3 and 6, B vitamins, Iron, Calcium, Protein and Carotine.  At approximately 60 calories a go they are one of our “go to” foods and we hope you enjoy them too!

With love

#RespectYourTemple
 

Do you need a #TempleDay?

We’ve been discussing progress with goals and resolutions recently with a number of clients.  Sometimes a great start and bags of enthusiasm can fade.  It’s a good idea to revaluate your progress if any feelings of disappointment or setbacks come up to prevent you from straying from the path you've set yourself.  We want you to learn to dance in the rain ;-)

When we set goals we mainly do so because of how we think it will make us feel on achieving them as well as how we will feel during the process of attaining them.  Occasionally we might set some milestones or general expectations in our goals that we don’t achieve as quickly as expected.  Alternatively we might not experience the feelings that we expected on achieving the goal.  It’s during these minor setbacks that the real power of your will comes to action to ensure you don’t fall into the trap of becoming distracted or giving up and returning to old disempowering habits.

It’s a set of behaviours that’s also associated with an “all or nothing” type of thinking seen in some people.  So we've created the idea of a #TempleDay to get those of you who are waining back on track to being and feeling awesome during your journey through life!!
The concept of a #TempleDay is to decide that today, tomorrow or some fixed date in the future will be a dedicated day where you enjoy focusing on your Strength Temple by being mindful of your #7Pillars.  For those of you new to The Strength Temple or our 7 Pillars philosophy let’s recap!

The Strength Temple is our name for your overall being!  Not just your physical body, but your feelings of wellness, energy, joy and abundance.  It’s how well you give to yourself and others.  We achieve results in our Strength Temple through focus on what we call our 7 Pillars.  The 7 Pillars are Movement, Hydration, Flexibility, Mindfulness, Nutrition, Environment and Breath.  We provide programs to allow progression to mastery in each of these areas and this journey creates an incredible life and sense of being!

So if you ever feel like you’re losing your direction try just dedicating a single day, or even a shorter period of time, such as a morning, to focusing on your 7 Pillars.  Let’s consider this in the form of an example to give you an idea.

Jane had been really excited at the turn of the year and had completed the Strength Temple Goal Setting workshop and set some really awesome goals for the year ahead.  These had focused on feeling fitter and healthier by taking up a gym membership and setting some goals around running a half marathon in July.  She got off to a great start and had been eating cleaner and gradually building her miles running.

After a few weeks and a very enthusiastic start, Jane started to find some of her new habits were becoming more of a chore than a pleasure.  She found she was getting bored running on the treadmill and had reverted back to snacking on the wrong foods whilst at work.  Feeling disheartened she began to skip running sessions and by the end of January had pretty much reverted back to her old lifestyle.

If any of this sounds familiar to anyone - that’s cool.  Much of what we need to do when setting goals is change old habits and this can be challenging!  The key is to modify any feelings of setback and find ways to refocus and remind yourself why you wanted to progress on a path to a better you in the first place.

We advised Jane to be mindful of her self talk (that little voice in your head that can sometimes chatter negativity at you!) and to have a #TempleDay.  She picked the coming Saturday and arranged to do a number of things that would allow some focus on her #7Pillars and bring her back in alignment with what she was looking to achieve.

From the moment she opened her eyes in the morning we reminded her to take deep cleansing breaths and gently stretch as she reminded herself of the gifts already present in her life.  She focused on the fact that she was warm and in a comfortable bed.  She reminded herself of the support of her family and friends and remembered how fortunate she was to be holidaying this year in France.  After reflecting for a moment, she woke and immediately made her bed.  This is a great habit to set yourself up for a productive day and reflects a sense of order in your environment.

She then progressed downstairs and started her day with her usual coffee, but included some freshly filtered water to drink when she woke up to feed her hydration pillar.  She showered using her favourite organic products chosen for their aromatherapy actions and prepared for a long walk in the countryside with her dog.

Jane chose a route that she hadn’t tried before and took some friends along for the walk.  She made a conscious effort to be aware of the wonders of nature around her and went for her walk at sunrise to experience the wildlife she didn’t usually get to see.  She focused on listening to birdsong and ensured that she maintained positive breathing techniques.  The walk wasn’t rushed.  It was an exercise in living in the moment and enjoying the pure energy of being alive!

On the way home from her walk she visited her father for tea and to pick up some fresh, organic produce from his vegetable garden.  Kale, Cavalier Nero, Carrots and Leaks were in season and on returning home she made herself a delicious green smoothie to kick start her day and pay attention to her nutrition pillar.

We had coached Jane in balancing her lifestyle with some new hobbies and not making everything about nutrition and exercise.  Jane went shopping to purchase some new books on upholstery and did some eBay browsing purchasing an old armchair as her first project.

During the afternoon she prepared a meal for a dinner party in the evening prior to going for a run.  She decided to ditch the gym for the day and run in the local park.  It delivered some variety to her training and she did some research locally to find some other new routes to maintain variety in the future.

Her evening dinner party was very well received.  Jane made a number of dishes from our Strength Temple clean eating programs and she enjoyed sharing the love with her family and friends.

So that was Jane’s #TempleDay.  Yours might be very different!  They key is to do something that will address as many of your pillars as possible and to make it a day of sticking to your plans. 
Who knows, you might eventually decide to make every day a #TempleDay ;-)

In the mean time, we wish you courage in your journey.  Celebrate the great progress you are making and don’t forget life isn’t perfect.  If you get distracted, have a #TempleDay and get yourself back on track.

With love.

#respectyourtemple

Setting Goals & Your Best Year Yet!

OK folks.  It's that time of year when we all jot down a load of New Year’s Resolutions.  There is something very powerful about the turn of the year from one to the next.  When we really think about it there’s nothing to stop us setting some goals on any day of the year, but this tradition or “habit” is a cultural one for many of us, and it is a great opportunity to start moving in a direction that is more powerful for you.

So how does it go for you?  Doe this sound familiar to anyone?  “What shall I go for this year?  Is that realistic?  Will I stick to that one?  I know - let's put "get fit....."

Well it is a VERY familiar goal.  The number of people that join the gym in a New Year is very significant.  You may have already seen the subliminal messages going out on social media and around you locally.  Special offers will abound for memberships.

So we guess what we’re trying to say is that this is a GREAT time to set some goals for the year ahead (but if you’re reading this in February there’s nothing to stop you taking control and following this advice on goal setting anyway)!

What is most frustrating for many people is getting past week 1 and sticking to their intentions!  We're here to tell you, that if you just make your list in a slightly different way, create some new habits and progress steadily with the right expectations, your chances of success are significantly higher than before.  So invest a little extra time in making your list this year, and really describe what you are GOING (not trying) to do in the year ahead :-)

The thing about goals are that you need to feel rewarded by their attainment, but you also need to be able to "enjoy the journey."  Many people split goals or resolutions down into a check list to make sure that they are suitable, and more motivational.

So get yourself some paper & pens, pencils, paint pots - whatever floats your boat.  The first thing we will do is a brainstorm of what you want to do.  It sounds obvious, but what you MUST do is write your goals / resolutions down! Take a good 10 minutes or more doing this.  Use different colours, put your favourite music on, turn up the volume, get right into it - remember it's YOUR life you're planning !

Make your ideas into a compelling list, draw pictures and doodles on them, make them fun - do whatever you like, but commit them to paper. Just write whatever comes into your head.  Do that first before you progress with this article.

You should have a good list.  Before we go to the next step, how does this make you feel? Just ponder on that for a moment and start to manifest how your life will be when you have achieved some or all of your goals!

Now take another colour pen (we like to use a big thick marker) and write H for High, M for Medium and L for Low Priority next to each one and rewrite the lists in High, Medium and Low Priority order.  Then for each list write Easy, Medium or Hard next to each specific resolution / goal. We want you to have a balanced list of resolutions.

Then we'd like you to pick your favourite Easy, Medium and Hard from each list, and start the exercise below with each of these.

Before we go on let’s just pause again for a second.  If this all feels like a lot of effort - have a word with your subconscious.  This is FUN.  You are planning a better you!  A more enjoyable life!  Really allow yourself to feel excited, and enjoy the process.

OK - for each of your favourite resolutions I would like to you apply the following technique to make sure that you have EFFECTIVE GOALS.  You may have done this before and it’s called the SMART technique.

SMART goals exhibit the following characteristics:

S - They are very Specific (a wider goal can be broken down into stages of achievement)
M - They are Measurable and have a means to track progress
A - They are Achievable
R - They are Realistic
T - They have a Time within which they will be achieved.

We want you to apply this to ALL of your goals.  To help you we’ve given an example of how to apply the SMART method to a common goal and one close to our heart - get fit!

GET FIT! can manifest itself in a New Years Resolution list in  a number of ways.  You could simply write - Get Fit.  Or you might write Join a Gym.

The problem with both of these is that Get Fit is not really specific enough.  Join a Gym may help you reach your goal, but there is no mention on how you will USE the gym.  You need to get specific.  So a good start might be:

"I will get fit this year.  This will make me feel healthier and give me more energy to accomplish my other goals.  It will give me a sense of achievement, and allow me to lose the 20 lb's I need to shift.  I will feel more confident, and will look great on the beach during my summer holiday.  My friends will comment on how well I am looking, and how my mood is elevated for more of the time."

Now that's specific!  You need to really understand your motivations for your goal (getting fit).  They will be different for different people.  Write them down so you are have a deep understanding of why you are going to do what you are planning.

So now we must make it measurable.  Specifically - how many times will you exercise per week.  What will you do and what do you see as the pitfalls in your plan?  How can you make preparations for when they occur, so you can stay motivated?  Also, getting “fit” isn’t just about exercise.  How will you modify your nutrition to feel amazing all the time and give your body the best building blocks for the new you? Write it all down.  Don’t forget you can go to www.testrengthtemple.com for advice on every element of wellbeing at anytime.  It’s still all Free as we build our community :-)

Remember - if you are not used to exercise, be kind to yourself in the early stages.  If you are not joining a gym, but going running, then start by walking and build up gradually.  There’s nothing worse for motivation than running off at the pace you remember you could the last time you excerecised to find you are in pain, a world of suffering and aching badly the next day.  Take your time.  There is no rush, just consistency and commitment that win the day with this one!

Please also choose some activities that you like!  It makes everything so much easier.  Recruit friends and family to join you too.  You will be helping others and getting that motivational boost you need by sharing your progress.

So you may be feeling really motivated and writing "I will attend the gym every day for a year”.  That’s commendable, BUT - be honest with yourself.  Is this Achievable and Realistic?  Will you have the time?  Is it a good idea and does it give you sufficient time for rest?  It's often better to set a goal that allows you to overachieve.  Why not set a goal to go twice per week?  There's nothing to stop you going five times and having a feeling of massive overachievement!  We would recommend that you write something like this.

"I will attend the gym at least 2 times per week on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings.  As my training plan evolves, I will review this on a monthly basis.  If I manage to get to the gym in additional to this base commitment, then GREAT!  I will start with walking and progress steadily and enjoy the journey."

The above also includes an element of the T in Time.  It also allows some space for review and overachievement which will maintain your motivation and start to make your new lifestyle an empowering habit.

So let's go back to our original goal - Get Fit.  Well - another thing about goals, is that they work better if you have a target, and also if you have support.

How do you measure "Get Fit"?  It could be by weight loss.  It could be that you prepare for an event.  e.g. Run 5k, 10k, Run a marathon, do 50 press-ups, 100 press-ups, 1000 press-ups!  Choose your longer term goal, and aim for it.  Do another quick SMART check on it.  Is it realistic?  If it isn't at this point, then break it down.

There is NOTHING to say that you can't run 100k of you are committed to do so.  What you will need is patience and the ability to break this goal into more manageable chunks.  Aim for 1k.  Celebrate.  Then 3k - celebrate, then 5k etc.  You will get there in the end if you keep moving, are motivated and apply the principles above.  Also, if you decide that you want to change your goal, then change it!  As long as you are still on your path to “getting fit” then that’s great.

Finally - don't go for an "all or nothing" approach.  If you fail to hit any stage of your goal, it's a learning opportunity, not a failure or an EXCUSE to stop.  If you manage to get to the gym once in a week, revaluate your goal.  Why did you miss your target this week?  Do you need a friend to come with you for more motivation?  Are you getting bored?  If so change your exercise plan.  Variety is the key - don't just do the same thing week in week out - you will get bored.  All this should be fun!

So here is a summary and an example of a SMART goal to "get Fit".

"I will get fit this year.  This will make me feel healthier and give me more energy to accomplish my other goals.  It will give me a sense of achievement, and allow me to lose the 20 lb's I need to shift.  I will feel more confident and will look great on the beech during my summer holiday.  My friends will comment on how well I am looking and how my mood is elevated for more of the time.

My definition of fit is as follows.  I will lose 20lb's in weight slowly and healthily through exercise and moderation of my diet.  I’ll get my inspiration on a daily basis by researching my goal.  I will get inspiration from www.thestrengthtemple.comI will get my resting pulse rate down to 65 beats per minute.  I will train to compete in the local 10k run in September this year.

I will draw up a training plan on Monday and stick to this.  I will attend the gym at least 2 times per week, and take up Tennis and swimming to provide variety.  I will ask my friends to join me to provide a welcome social element to my training.

I will continuously check on a weekly basis that I am progressing toward my goal and will not be affected negatively by any setbacks, but will learn from them and change my plan to suit my needs.

When I achieve my goal, I will CELEBRATE,  evaluate the process, and see what worked and what didn't.  I will then be excited to set a new goal, and continue to enjoy the process and healthy habit of getting and being fit!"

Now apply this to your other goals.  DO NOT SKIP THIS PROCESS.

If you have chosen a goal you feel will be quite challenging (something like stopping smoking) then you can also draw on a very powerful technique we teach in this article:

Powerful Thought Game to Change your Future

We hope this has helped you.  If you feel that your friends would benefit, please send them a link to our article.

We want to help as many people as we can lead a happier more awesome life.  It's what gets us out of bed in the morning!  We can invest out time and do all our work in committing these techniques to our website, but it's so much more powerful if more people are exposed to it.  Just a quick click, cut and paste into Facebook or Instagram would be great, or use the share button at the bottom of this article.

Thank you in advance for sharing :-)

Have fun - and stick with it.  We'd love to hear your feedback, successes and setbacks.  You can do it.  We know you can :-)

In the coming year The Strength Temple will be releasing a number of programs to facilitate you progressing to an awesome life both physically and mentally.  Stay tuned for this by subscribing to our newsletter below.  We don't send loads of emails, just occasional summaries of our best content and we never share your data.

Our Director, Rich Davis used this technique to train for a Triathlon a few years ago.  Crossing the finishing line was an awesome feeling for him.  Here’s a picture we hope will inspire you to really commit to crossing your own finishing line - whatever that may look like.  Good luck and don’t forget. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

GO FOR IT!

#respectyourtemple

More Plants, less Pants & Green Smoothies

The Vitamins and Minerals in Green Vegetables are imperative for so many metabolic functions within the body that whenever a client asks me for weight loss advice, I will always increase their greens. Especially leafy greens. It makes a difference to their body composition, energy levels, complexion ... the list goes on.

However...

I wasn't always a vegetable eating, pantless saint.

I used to really struggle to get the veggies down. Most of the time it would be all about Protein and Starchy Carbs, oh and avocado ... that's green right? (FYI Avocado is green in colour but isn't classified a vegetable. It's actually a single seeded berry, so no it doesn't count towards your green intake; but still eat them, they are awesome).

When I realised that I really needed to get more greens i, I started eating more salad (clever move right?). I still didn't get the same joy out of a salad as I did out of Pizza. However, what I did start to realise was that after eating a salad I felt amazing. I felt light in my tummy. I felt nourished, refuelled and energised. I obviously didn't get the same feeling after eating pizza, no matter how much I enjoyed the process of eating it; it was never worth the feeling of bloat and heaviness that followed. 

I have since then grown to love veggies as much as pizza. So much so, I actually feel it when I've haven't hit my greens target. When that happens, I make one of these;

More Plants - Less Pants Smoothie

1 x big handful kale

1 x big handful of baby spinach

1 x small handful frozen mango

1 x small handful fresh mint leaves

1 x half cucumber

1 x half kiwi fruit

1 x Glass unsweetened almond milk

sprinkle of cinnamon.

Blend.

Take pants off.

Consume.

Enjoy.

x

Shona.

#respectyourtemple

Jaws, Adam Amin & The Human Spirit

About a week ago I was sitting reading BBC news at the end of what had turned out to be an awesome week and I saw some surf story had made the most read chart.

Now before I go into this I should say I’m a very average surfer; but I love it.  Not living by the sea means that I maybe get to go surfing for 2 weeks of the year when we make our family pilgrimage to Woolacombe, Devon (England).  I’ve been going for about 22 years so I guess I have nearly a years experience in total.  What I’m trying to say is that I’m writing this with some knowledge of the sport, but it’s not meant to be some expert commentary of surf technique and etiquette.  I'm more interested in the human spirit element of what happened and what followed.

So I’ve seen this article and am immediately drawn to it.  If you didn’t see it I’ll just give you some background.  It was about a man called Adam Amin from Sidmouth, Devon (UK).  He was 19 and had 5 years surfing experience and followed his dream to ride one of the most notorious waves in the world - JAWS.

He had been travelling on a shoestring, sofa hopping and generally living a simple lifestyle after just saving enough money from his lifeguard work and surf repair job to get out to Pe'ahi, Hawaii in his search of one of the biggest and baddest waves in the world.

Amin was out there at the same time that the Pe'ahi Challenge contest was being held.  Big wave riders from around the world converged on the break for a competition.  It was a dream come true for Adam to even be there, never mind think about paddling out.

He went down to the shore at 0530 on the morning of the competition to secure a place and was turned away by security.  Undaunted, he travelled 5 miles down the coast to a spot where boats were ferrying competitors and the media to the surf area.  He was turned away again being informed that all the boats were full.

Now this is the bit that starts to make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.  Adam decided that he wasn’t going to miss this.  He wasn’t going to take no for an answer and he started to paddle the 5 miles under his own steam.  When he was about a mile or so into the paddle a jet ski came by and the rider started to chat to Adam.  After a short conversation he decided to give Adam a lift.  What’s even more awesome is that the rider was Greg Long.

Greg is an American surfer from California.  He’s the only surfer to win the Quicksilver big wave international, the Mavericks surf contest and the Red Bull big wave Africa event.  To say he was something of a hero to Adam would be an understatement.

So Adams luck had started to turn.  When they arrived at the surf area he quickly realised that he was surrounded by big wave surf legends;  Pro surfers from around the world.  It’s the stuff dreams are made of and he nearly didn’t get to be there.  How many no’s does it take for the average one of us to bow our head, and turn away from our goal?

The surf was good on this particular day.  Sets of waves were rolling in and the surfers were paddling around saying in a safe area waiting for everything to start.  It was at this point that Adam saw his opportunity and went for it.  The following is Adam’s commentary of the experience:

"Yesterday was one of the best days of my life, if not THE the best!!!!

I knew the contest for jaws was going to be on and therefore the road which leads to jaws was going to be closed off to the public. So I tried sneaking past security at 5.30 in the morning but they beat me there.

I then decided to go to Malico Harbour which is five miles away and try to get a ride with some boats heading that way.  They turned me down and said there is not enough space therefore I decided that this was not going to stop me from fulfilling my dream.
I decided to attempt to paddle around 3 headlands to get there. I started and got quarter of the way until a jet ski came up beside me and not only did they give me a ride with my board to jaws but the guy in the ski was Greg Long which is my hero and is a huge pioneer to the sport of big wave surfing!

We got there after much turbulence and I witnesses 40-50ft waves breaking in front if me! I paddled out with not much safety equipment with 5 other of my heroes sitting right next to me. We all spotted a huge wave in the distance and we all paddled out and I saw my opportunity to prove that I can surf jaws so I turned around while all the others were paddling over the wave and caught this monster.

I caught it and rode down what seemed like riding down a liquid mountain. I got to the bottom and looked up.... It was the size of two houses above me.  I then noticed that I was going to make it until there was a bit of white water blocking my way.  I got taken out by this white water just after riding along the face and it felt like the ocean collapsed on me.

I held my breath and took the beating as long as I could and finally made it to the surface of the water.  I then noticed huge waves coming towards me again and I got pounded again and again by huge waves.  I then got very tired and ended up very close to rocks until suddenly a jet ski rider picked me up and took me to safety.

What a legend, he took me to the channel and the contest started.  Moreover I watched the entire event from the channel for five hours while talking to all of my heroes of the sport in one place!  I was in heaven ;D

After the event I went home and noticed the awards ceremony was going to be across the street so I went there and talked and got pictures with all of them."

Now this story moves my heart.  It has everything I love about the true spirit of the human race.  The never say die attitude demonstrated by significant game changing people though out history.  Kinship and kindness shown to strangers as demonstrated by Greg Long giving Adam a lift to the channel.  A man following his dream and despite setbacks getting there to experience the sweet feelings of accomplishment.

It’s for these reasons that I was dismayed to read commentary from someone who described Adam’s actions as “reckless” and made other similar statements around him not having the right to be there.  For the surfers out there the picture I’ve attached here provides the perfect analogy of how I feel about this person.  I’ll call them “Warchild” for the sake of this article and I guess that there’s another lesson in here too.

The internet makes it very easy for certain personality types to act as “keyboard warriors” and put people down for doing things that might go against that persons belief systems.  Don’t get me wrong, everyone has a right to their opinion, but I feel that the practice of what I’d call cyber bullying is rife and I pity the person behind the keyboard every time I see an example of it.  Highly negatively skewed commentary should be avoided at all costs in my opinion.  Needless to say I don’t want to dwell on this aspect of the story and only mention it as it strengthens my feelings of respect towards Adam.

The Strength Temple are a firm believer that successful people are not defined so much by their achievements, but how they handle setbacks.  It’s this that sets people apart and transforms great people into legends.  Adam's response to the article is below.

"I just want to say something I have read recently about my story.
 
I have recently read an article about my actions. I have and always will respect people's opinion but this was hilarious when it came to them speaking about big wave surfing and how much they do not know about it. They specifically wrote it was "reckless or stupid" yet I knew for a fact that there was going to be an entire safety team before the competition.   They were sitting there on jet skis, on standby just waiting for it to start and I spoke to the ski riders to keep an eye on me, only if I go too close to shore but to leave me if I take a bad wipeout.

Billy Kemper & Adam Amin

There is an etiquette which still stands that if you can surf big waves without all the safety equipment and withstand horrific wipeouts then you are accepted to be a part of the scene and should only then be accepted to wear safety equipment such as, inflatable vests. That is exactly what I did and that is exactly what every surfer did before all the fancy gear came out just like the story of Jeff Clark who surfed mavericks for 15 years on his own with no equipment like that.
It does not matter whether I have been surfing for five or fifty years but it does matter to respect the ocean and how much it is a part of all of us. Someone reminded me that Kelly Slater grew up in mushy waves for his childhood just like me and maybe that teaches people to look at the ocean differently.

At the end of the day people need to remember that surfing, whether small or big, we have to respect the ocean."

So once again, for me Adam has turned a negative into a positive.  He’s used the haters to spread a positive message about the ocean that we all need to hear and head.

I hope that The Strength Temple can meet Adam soon and hear more about that day.  We already consider him to be one of our #TempleTribe as he stands for everything we hold dear in the human spirit.

Adam - you have our upmost respect and thank you for doing what you did.  Stay grounded and calm in your approach to your next challenge, whatever that will be.  Whenever a “Warchild” comes by (and there will be others), stand tall and proud as we know you will ;-)  Just as you did before; do the work, do your research, consider the risks and make your play with respect and dignity.  We can’t wait to see what you get up to and want you to know that you have our deepest respect and support.

Rich Davis

Director - The Strength Temple

#respectyourtemple

Spicy Coconut Rice with Poached Eggs

OK so it’s a real quick recipe today.  I’ve just knocked this up for breakfast and it was absolutely amazing.  I’m planning on doing a pretty intense workout this morning and needed some carbs to get me in the mood!

The rice base is an excellent ingredient to use in many dishes, so I've made a little extra here to save for later and have with some fish.

Ingredients:

2 sticks of Celery
1 large carrot
1 green pepper
1 baby leak
3 spring onions
1 large clove of garlic
coconut oil
4 eggs (2 per person)
wild rice (as much as you would cook for 2)
1 tin Coconut milk
1 teaspoon freshly ground chilli powder
Watercress
Freshly cooked beetroot
Salt, Pepper, Fish Sauce (optional)

Open your tin of coconut milk and pour into a saucepan.  Add your wild rice and start to simmer.  Whilst this is cooking….

Take your celery, carrots, green pepper, leak, spring onions and garlic and cut into very small cubes.  If you haven’t done this before it’s quickest if you cut them into strips them take the knife across them to get your cubes.

Heat some coconut oil in a large pan and gently sweat off the vegetables with the teaspoon of chilli powder.

By this time the rice will have been been cooking for about 10 minutes and will have reduced in volume a little as the rice absorbs the coconut milk.  Add this rice and milk mix to the vegetables and stir.  If you're using fish sauce, add about a table spoon at this time.  If not then season with salt as you usually would.

Leave this on the heat until the rice is cooked.  It’s a little bit like a risotto, but because I used wild rice, there is less starch so it’s not as sticky as you’d usually expect with a risotto.

When the rice is nearly ready (it will take about 20 minutes if using wild rice) get some water on the build and poach your eggs.

To serve place the rice on a plate and top with some fresh watercress.  Add the eggs in the middle and then place a quartered cooked beetroot around the edges.

Hey presto!  A delicious breakfast that will keep you going all morning.

Enjoy!

#respectyourtemple

#Video: Sun Salutations from our #yogi Shona Vertue

So this will be the shortest post so far.  Short is good.  Short is to the point.  Short of vibrant energy and happy smiles is what you WON’T BE if you follow The Strength Temple #7Pillars 😉  Here's some wisdom from our resident Yoga Guru; Shona Vertue.

The foundation of every yoga posture lies in the Sun Salutations.

So, while we may not all get the chance to do  a 90 minute yoga class every week, if we can practice the Sun Salutations every day, we are building and maintaining the strength needed to tackle other postures. Oh, and to just have a generally better time in our bodies. 

Do this with me in the mornings to really enliven your body, mind and inner goddess (or god).

x

Miss Vertue.
#respectyourtemple

Clean and Green - Kickstart with Chlorella

So we're staying on our green theme with this article today.  We’re doing this because IT’s SO IMPORTANT and we want you to live a long, healthy and energy abundant life!

Phytonutrients give foods their colours, flavours and aromas and include substances like carotenoids and flavonoids.  These essential building blocks of life are linked to prevention of certain diseases including cancer.  We explore this area with an article below from our wonderful contributor Elizabeth McQuillan.

Chlorella is a great addition to any smoothie and adds super green colour

A visit to the local health shop leaves those of us without qualifications in herbology or supplement-ology pretty lost. Potions, tinctures, capsules and tablets – that are presumably meant to be good for us in one way or another – vie for position on the groaning shelves.

Most recently I had noticed an upsurge in the selection of green pondweed products. Chlorella seems to be flying off the shelves, and I did wonder what the heck the stuff actually does. The Japanese have known about the benefits for years, and actually cultivate their freshwater weed.

Algae are eukaryotes, with the contents of their cells parcelled into membrane shrink-wrapped organelles. The green slime acts as an effective powerhouse; capturing energy from sunlight during photosynthesis and reproducing at a phenomenal rate.

Chlorella is a slimy “superfood”.

Discovered in the 1950s by a Japanese scientist, chlorella growth factor (CGF) is an extract of the green freshwater alga, chlorella. Its cells divide themselves into four every 20 to 24 hours, and it is thought that the substance that allows this rapid expansion is CGF, which is produced during photosynthesis and makes up just 3 – 5% of the alga.

Significantly, CGF is believed to contain high levels of the nucleic acids RNA and DNA (our genetic fingerprints). The significance here is that as you age, your production of RNA and DNA slows down, and this growth factor is thought to kick-start the body’s ability for cell renewal. We can consume RNA and DNA in a range of foods, but chlorella is by far one of the richest supplies of the nutrient, containing 17 times more RNA than sardines.

Japanese scientists in the 1960s carried out tests that also suggested CGF may promote the tissue repair. After giving schoolchildren two grams of chlorella on a regular basis, after 112 days they discovered the children had grown faster and gained more weight than others who were not taking the algae. Since the same substances and processes that accelerate growth in children are thought to also promote the repair of tissue damage in adults, the scientists concluded that CGF has the ability to stimulate the body’s healing processes.

Chlorella can help to heal specific conditions of cellular breakdown such as ulcers, promote healing and repair in injury and illness, as well as boosting the good bacteria in the gut.

You can pick Chlorella up in various forms (tablets and powder) from health food shops.  Amazon UK supply a number of products as well and our UK readers and get them via the links below.

Elizabeth McQuillan

#respectyourtemple

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£21.99

£11.99

Immune Boosting Eastern Soup

This soup has just gone down an absolute STORM on our social media platforms.  I guess it’s that time of year (in the UK) where we need this stuff to fight the bugs and fortify our bodies against the cold.

Having said that, this would be awesome in the summer served chilled from the fridge with some crushed ice mixed through as a type of gazpacho.  We’ll definitely be doing that in 6 months!  In the mean time, here’s a note from Richie Norton on this awesome concoction.  ENJOY!……..

 🤒🌿 After my little stint in the Middle East, the adjustment to the UK winter weather and germs being sneezed all over the place, I've somehow picked up a cough that won't shift (yes I'm human after all)! 🤒

If you've been feeling a bit under the weather or hoping to fight off the winter lurgy, I'd recommend you try some homemade veggie super soups like this green beast 🌿It’s full of antioxidants, vitamin C, E and fibre necessary for a healthy body.  It’s really simple to make. Go on - get your apron on and don’t hold back.

Ingredients:
 
• Rainbow chard (dietary fibre/fat free) • broccoli • spinach • carrots • ginger • bunch of coriander, basil • spring onion • clove of garlic • S&P (chilli if you fancy some heat and coconut cream to garnish.)

Method:

Heat through you vegetables in homemade stock.  It’s important that you don’t boil them to death and destroy many of the nutrients.  Just a gentle warm through is sufficient.  When it’s just right,  pop it all in a blender and take it to your desired consistency.  With some blending practice you can go from super smooth to slightly textured.  We sometimes split the soup into two batches, and blend some to super smooth and mix the rest in to leave some variety - it’s up to you and we’d encourage you to experiment.
 
This one got drizzed in coconut cream (naughty) as our final garnish!

Enjoy, let us know how you get on and don’t forget to…..

#respectyourtemple ;-)
 

Let's focus on your Glutes ;-)

Not only are glutes apparently 'on trend' right now, they also make for a strong, healthy and pain free body!

Women especially are very much at risk of having under developed glutes because we wear high heels.  Although high heels do a lot to make us feel sexy, they actually bring our weight forward to the balls of our feet, causing us to make every movement a knee dominant one, rather than a hip dominate one (**knee dominant movements predominantly use Quads and Hip Dominant movements predominantly use gluten and hamstrings).  Combine this with lots of sitting in chairs and you have yourself a very under-active and potentially weak Gluteus Maximus or worse, a saggy bum.

So, here are my 5 top tips to grow beautiful and strong glutes!

1. Low reps AND High Reps - The gluteal muscles are predominantly slow type fibres, meaning they do respond to high rep training. However they are made up of about 32% fast twitch fibres, which means that you need to include some low rep, heavy weight exercises to the routine if you really want to see them grow.
   
   Start with heavy weight compound movements first, such as Dead lifts and Barbell glutes bridges, then finish your workout with some more isolated movements such as Reverse Hypers on a swiss ball to get blood into the muscle and increase the 'pump'.
    
2. Do the Barbell Glute Bridge (variation pictured above). It was made famous by Bret Contreas (the glute guy).
   
   It's definitely one to get into your program and one that has certainly made a difference in the development of my derriere.  Contreas says; “When the knees stay bent, the hamstrings are placed in “active insufficiency,” which means that they’re shortened and cannot contract with maximal force.  Since the hamstrings can’t produce sufficient force, more work is placed upon the gluten to get the job done.  This is why bent legged hip extension exercises such as bridge patterns work so well in hammering the glutes.”
    
3. Eat Well, and enough.  Starving yourself or even eating low nutrient quality foods is not going to help you put some junk in that trunk.  When I say junk, I'm talking about the good type - not the dimply type.  Cellulite, although caused by a number of factors including hormones, is also caused by toxicity build up.  Getting alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and processed foods out of your diet can make a HUGE difference.  We want peaches back there, not oranges.
    
4. uscle Growth takes time and consistency.  The odd kick back is not going to get you anywhere.  If you want growth of the muscle you also need to consider the progressive overload principle of training.
   
   Progressive overload is simply the principle of doing 'more' over time.  However, that 'more' can have so many different variables, from more weight, to more reps, to just more complex movement patterns.  If you're not changing the program and increasing the difficulty in some way (with perfect form of course) you won't really see a change.  This is where a really good, programming Personal Trainer will be able to help you out.
    
5. Activate the Glutes before you begin a leg workout.  You simply have to wake them up.  Especially if you spend all day sitting on your butt, you can't just expect it to turn on when you hear gym music.
   
   The gluteals need to be activated with specific, isolated movements.  Clams with resistant bands, band walks, body weight glute bridges are all great recipes for a highly alert buttocks!

So let's focus on your gluten this week.  Let us know how you get on :-)

Happy Training.

Shona Vertue x

#respectyourtemple