Failure and persistence = SUCCESS

Watching the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award show on tv just shows you that in order to succeed you need many things but two of the most important things you need are failure and persistence. In trying to achieve anything in our lives, whether it be weight-loss or a career goal we will face failure, it is inevitable. Our perception of failure is wrong. Some of our greatest "failures" and "rejections" turn out to be major turning points in our lives that spurred us on to greater things.

We also cannot give up. So many things can be achieved if we just persist and never give up, the worst it seems.

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
― Calvin Coolidge


Edinburgh Personal Trainer - Mike Heatlie

I love a good nap!

I nap maybe 1-2 times per day for 20-30mins, it's wonderful and really helps to re-charge the batteries. Here are five great benefits to taking a nap (if you can!).

1. A nap restores alertness.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends a short nap of 20–30 minutes “for improved alertness and performance without leaving you feeling groggy or interfering with nighttime sleep.”

2. A nap prevents burnout.
In our always-on culture, we go, go, go. However, we were not meant to race without rest. Doing so leads to stress, frustration, and burnout. Taking a nap is like a system reboot. It relieves stress and gives you a fresh start.

3. A nap heightens sensory perception.
According to Dr. Sandra C. Mednick, author of Take a Nap, Change Your Life, napping can restore the sensitivity of sight, hearing, and taste. Napping also improves your creativity by relaxing your mind and allowing new associations to form in it.

4. A nap reduces the risk of heart disease.
Did you know those who take a midday siesta at least three times a week are 37 percent less likely to die of heart disease? Working men are 64 percent less likely! It’s true, according to a 2007 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, who led the study said, “Taking a nap could turn out to be an important weapon in the fight against coronary mortality.”

5. A nap makes you more productive.
Numerous medical studies have shown workers becoming increasingly unproductive as the day wears on. But a 2002 Harvard University study demonstrated a 30-minute nap boosted the performance of workers, returning their productivity to beginning-of-the-day levels.

Edinburgh Personal Trainer - Mike Heatlie

Exercise selection

Training my ass off in the gym I see a young guy come in. He sits down at the pec deck machine and does three sets of 12. He then moves onto the seated chest press and does the same, again with about a 2 min rest in between sets. This is pretty much pointless training, for a few reasons. Firstly if you want your body to change the overload principle must apply. The body must be stressed enough so that it has to adapt to stress placed upon it. The pec deck, the seated chest press, they're just not the same as the lying bench press or dumbbell press with a quality weight. We need best bang for our buck in our training and that is why exercise selection is so important.

The inner/outer thigh machine is a poor exercise selection when one could lunge or deep squat. Exercises selected at the beginning of a workout must also be the hardest. Squats, lunges, deadliest, bench press, dips etc. leave tricep pushdowns, curls etc. for the end, working small muscle groups in isolation is easy, big exercises....a bit more to ask. You wouldn't want to squat after 50 mins of training would you?

If weight loss is your goal you need to make better use of multi-joint/muscle exercises so expend as much energy as possible. Always remember that should be your goal for every weight-loss workout, get rid off as much energy as you can so plenty of reps, little rest periods, combined with quality cardio, get that bloody glycogen out of your body so fat can be utilised more efficiently.

Edinburgh Personal Trainer Mike Heatlie www.mikeheatlie.com www.mikeheatliepersonaltraining.com

Recent interview I did for SHAPE magazine

Edinburgh Personal Trainer Mike Heatlie

7 WAYS TO BEAT THE CHRISTMAS BULGE!

1. Start early

Do not wait until the damage is done in January to begin losing your Christmas bulge. Implement some small but positive changes in the weeks prior to the festive period that will provide priceless help in avoiding excess weight gain. Choose some days to diet and exercise and set a goal of losing anything from 3-8lbs and then look to maintain that weight throughout the festive period.

2. Choose your battles

There are usually no shortage of evenings out during the festive period with work colleagues, family and friends. It would be wise to choose your battles well before accepting every invitation, do not look to indulge heavily with high fat/high sugar meals, snacks and alcoholic drinks with every evening out. Select some evenings were you would consume fewer large portions or choose healthier options. Do not drink excessively with every social occasion. Limit your alcohol intake for certain invites only and drink fewer drinks or none at all for others.

3. Spread your calories

It makes no difference if you consume a thousand calories late in the evening as long as you have limited your calorie intake in the morning and afternoon, you will not gain weight. If you consume your normal intake throughout the day and then consume a thousand calories of indulgent foods and drinks you will gain weight. So if you are anticipating a heavy meal with a few drinks in the evening, balance with small meals earlier in the day.

4. Never go hungry!

There are usually an abundance of high fat/high sugar snacks at social occasions and one major mistake that many people make is attending these parties on an empty stomach and satisfying their hunger on foods that are made to make us fat! Make sure you’ve had a quality evening meal prior to attending your social occasions that will make you crave less high fat/high sugar foods.

5. Know your limits

Everything in excess is usually bad for us and too much food and drink is certainly detrimental to our health and especially our weight. Know your limits for food and drink and try your best to stay within them.

6. Watch the numbers

Most people do not have any idea how many calories are in the foods and drinks they consume. Foods with high amounts of fat and sugar can be deceiving as even though they may be small in size, they can be dense in calories. On Christmas day alone we eat approx. 3000 more calories than we do normally! A typical Christmas meal consisting of roast potatoes, roast turkey, stuffing, roast parsnips, cranberry sauce, gravy, boiled sprouts, boiled carrots, sausage and bacon weigh in at a whopping 956 calories!

7. Recycle or donate your food and alcohol gifts to charity

We normally receive far too many gifts that include alcohol and chocolate. Do not keep these gifts for a rainy day, as soon enough they’ll be consumed before you know it! Take the gifts and pass them onto friends, family members or colleagues or donate them to a local charity.

Edinburgh Personal Trainer Mike Heatlie

Recent trip to the USA

Five great tips for training

Tip 1 - Have a plan Don't walk into the gym without knowing exactly what you're going to do in your workout. Having a plan keeps you focused on what you're doing and prevents you from being distracted. If you don't know quite what to do in the session distractions will be easier to come by such as talking to friends, gym members, trainers etc. and you will end the session knowing you could have done a lot better. Tip 2 - Set a goal for yourself Ask yourself why you are training today. What is it you want to achieve in the session? Do you want to have larger muscles and six-pack abs? Well they only are gained through focused workouts with high intensity. Distractions only contribute to reducing the intensity of workouts and can lead to letheragy. Quality results are only achieved through intense workouts, distractions lead you away from your goals. Tip 3 - Use an IPod How long is your workout? If it's 60-90 mins then create a killer playlist for your workout that will motivate you and keep you focused. Wearing an IPod also lets people know that you're into your workout and don't want to be distracted. You can still smile and acknowledge people, but it gives you the opportunity not to talk to people without being rude. Tip 4 - Be organised Always prepare your gym bag well prior to a workout. Have your checklist and go through it in your mind prior to leaving for the gym. Training shoes, socks, shorts, t-shirt, fully charged IPod, water, protein drink, etc. don't let something this simple ruin your workout. Tip 5 - Train at a different time If you're distracted by hot girls, talking to friends etc. try if possible to train when the gym is less busy. 6-8pm is peak time for gyms, try and vary some sessions during quieter times when there are fewer people there are fewer distractions.

Love this site for low-carb recipes!

Some more pictures from my shoot in November 2011.

Lovely testimonial from my wonderful client Karen. :-) "I can't recommend Mike and his team highly enough. I have been an avid gym goer all my life however, I was not really seeing the results that I was looking for despite giving it my all in the gym (or so I thought). My husband bought me a block booking with Mike for my birthday and its transformed the way I train. Mike has been a great inspiration not only because he practices what he preaches but also in his inherent ability to push you to your maximum without you even realising he's doing it. He has taught me that diet is as important as training and that I could do as many hours as I liked in the gym but if my nutrition and training plan was wrong then I would never achieve the lean look I wanted. I now do less cardio and more strength training and have really improved my diet with Mikes continued guidance, I look better for it and the added bonus is I have lost weight too. I really look forward to my sessions with Mike, the gym offers a great environment and all the staff are really friendly. This coupled with Mike's motivation and ability to push you further each time you visit really makes the difference. My only disappointment is that the 150 mile round trip to Edinburgh means that I can't attend as often as I would like."

Wonderful excerpt from my on-line client who has lost over 40 lbs

"I did discover one draw back of losing weight - the grilling that you get from other people namely other people who want to lose weight. I was out for lunch the other day and was greeted with 'There is a third of your body missing!", "You are too thin, don't lose any more weight." Then you get "Tell us what you eat in a typical day and what exercise do you do." Ok, that doesn't sound that bad but when you start trying to explain that you are not on a diet and exactly how much exercise you do, you are then hit with "Oh 40 mins exercise is really a lot". Eh no it's not. I tell them about not eating so many carbs and how I like my chicken, protein powder and protein bars and they just don't get it. One of them goes to the gym and does 15 mins on the cross trainer and seemed to look proud that she didn't do any more than that. She was stopped in her tracks when I told her that I was heavier than her ideal weight and probably slimmer. I don't think I've seen anyone that speechless. The best question was "So how exactly have you changed your lifestyle?" This was asked while they were sitting with a large glass of wine and a large plate of food. I had a bottle of water and a chicken sandwich.. This was followed by a couple of cocktails and I had a single coke. Do they really have to ask? I think from now on I will avoid any conversations about losing weight, diets and exercise unless the people are serious about it. Sadly, people who are in the quick fix or slimming club mindset do not understand that diets don't work, it's lifestyle that has to change. I have been one of those people who thought it was about eating a lettuce leaf or who wasn't serious enough about it to actually change anything. It took depressing months of hating myself to wake me up and say right this needs fixed and fixed properly. In my opinion there is a re-education involved when it comes to losing weight properly and if you don't want to invest that time in yourself then it will not work. I'm all for encouraging people but sometimes it just falls on deaf ears - they have to really want it. I can't make them want it, that has to come from them."