You can sign up for this offer online, by filling out a contact form, or by calling us now on 01376 514675.

This offer will expire on 31 January 2012.

We look forward to seeing you and hope you will make the most of this brilliant offer.

I can tell you that most of the above (less the short game) is dramatically affected by your current level of golf-specific fitness.

Having a lower level of golf-specific strength and flexibility will diminish your ability to produce power, accuracy and consistency in your game.

Also, the majority of golfers play in pain. Pain in the back, hips, shoulders and even wrists. This typically is caused by overuse. Simply, your body cannot withstand the stress the golf swing puts on your joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments, and injuries occur.

All of this can be improved and prevented by implementing a golf training program. You don’t need to lift heavy weights, and you don’t even need a gym membership. You can do it right in your home in a matter of minutes a day.

Here at Complete Fitness we can provide you with your golf-specific fitness plan today!!

Fitness Myth #1 – It’s Not Good To Cut Back On How Much You Eat.It’s not hard to convince someone they need to eat to stay healthy. After all, if you don’t eat enough, you suffer serious health consequences and can even die. So it’s easy to balk at the idea of eating less. It’s also an easy sell, to convince folks that eating less can be a bad idea. On top of the primal urge to eat to stay alive, there is also a bit of science out there that suggests cutting back on too much food for a long time can make weight loss more difficult.

I’m not going to go into debate on where the whole starvation mode idea has holes in it. For now, it’s important to know that fat loss can be rapidly accelerated by cutting back on luxury calories that are primarily supporting your body fat levels. Liquid calories, extra helpings and snacking are all examples of calories you can probably cut back on significantly without any repercussions other than fat loss.

Fitness Myth #2 – You Must Workout Less Than an Hour.On top of the “don’t eat less” idea, is the myth that we shouldn’t exercise for any more time than an hour or so. The theory is that hormones levels change and you stop burning fat and start burning muscle or something along those lines. Again, there is always something to the science, but the idea that you shouldn’t exercise more than an hour can significantly limit your fat burning potential. There is nothing wrong with going out for a 3 hour hike or taking part in a 75 mile charity bike ride. You will burn fat and calories the entire time. I promise.

Fitness Myth #3 – You Must Take Entire Days Off From Exercise.Another limiting myth is the idea that you must take a day off from exercise after each workout. Once again, this idea can severely limit your calorie burning potential. Instead of staying active and burning calories by the truck load, you could end up only exercising 2-3 days of the week.

There is no cookie cutter pattern you must follow when it comes to exercise. While a pattern of work days and rest days might be a good place to start, you’re more than free to experiment with how many days of activity you can do in a week. Some people can go weeks without taking a full day off.

Plus a rest day doesn’t mean you have to sit around and do nothing. Some light activity that still burns lots of fat and calories can often aid in recovery just as well, if not better, than a complete rest day. Above all, listen to your body. Give it rest when it needs it, but if it is not telling you that it needs a rest then feel free to explore expanding your activities.

Fitness Myth #4 – Its All About Carbs, Fat, Sugar, Organics.
I once had a client ask me why she wasn’t losing weight even though she took all of the bread out of her diet. Unfortunately, she fell into the myth that fat levels on the body are purely regulated by a specific dietary aspect.

Sometimes these dietary aspects focus on macro-nutrients or meal timing. Other times, it might be about food combinations or food preparation techniques. Whatever the focus is, it can distract the dieter from focusing on the root cause of fat loss or fat gain.

While all dietary aspects do matter, they are nearly an influence to what really matters which is over all calorie balance. Every diet strategy is a sort of a back door approach to manipulating the calorie balance and effecting weight loss. However, when the focus becomes too much on meal timing or consumption of certain nutrients, you can do everything right but still not effect the calorie balance and thus never lose another ounce.

Fitness Myth #5 – Metabolism Can Be Boosted and Is Important.Another aspect that can distract is the attention to metabolism. Our fitness culture is filled with myths about how to change or boost the human metabolism. Most of these ideas are just flat out false, but even the ones that may work may not result in any weight loss.

Your metabolism is just one piece of the calorie balance puzzle. It’s not the be all and end all. A fast metabolism doesn’t guarantee weight loss or effortless weight management. Over the years, I’ve actually found I’m much better off not worrying about metabolism at all. I really do believe it’s one of those things that do not warrant nearly as much attention as we give it.

Fitness Myth #6 – We Can Accurately Track Calories.Knowing that calorie balance is the foundation for fluctuations in body fat levels is important, but it’s not necessarily a perfect answer. A lot of folks take to calorie tracking yet feel something must be wrong with them when their food logs say they burn more calories than they ate yet they are not losing weight.

Both calorie consumption and calorie expenditure can vary with even the slightest changes in diet or lifestyle. On top of that, reports often come out that food labels have been inaccurate for many packaged foods. Plus a lot of foods we consume don’t even have food labels.

The bottom line is that even the most technical methods of calorie measurement are estimated guesses at best. They are a good place to start, but it takes millions of dollars in scientific equipment and a tightly controlled diet to get even close to the caloric tracking accuracy. We simply don’t have that kind of accuracy through reading food labels and tracking calories burned on an elliptical.

Fitness Myth #7 – You Can Train Your Body To Be Lean.The myth that sidelined my efforts for years was the idea that I could train my body to be lean with “skinny specific” exercises. Naturally, I felt this meant cardio but sometimes it means circuit training, light weight training or body sculpting classes. Whatever the case may be, it’s important to know that there is no such thing as an exercise that trains you to be leaner.

Sure, exercise burns calories but in the battle of the bulge, that’s about all it can offer. This is because exercise trains and conditions muscle, but not fat. You can train the muscles to burn more fat, or be stronger, but you can’t directly tell fat to go away.

Fitness Myth #8 – There Is Something Wrong With You or Some Sort of Problem With Your Food.Finally, we come to the myth that is largely spread in an effort to sell weight Loss products you don’t need. A lot of weight loss product marketers will use a strategy where they convince you that you can’t lose weight because of some problem you didn’t know existed. Lucky for you, the best way to over come that problem is to buy their product.

If you buy into the idea that something is wrong, not only do you set yourself up to be scammed, but you also give up the possibility that you can lose weight under your own power. Once you give up that power, you practically give up any potential to lose weight.

While there is always the slight chance that something may be off, chances are pretty good you are perfectly fine. If you do suspect something to be off then please see a specialist immediately for an accurate diagnosis. That’s the best way to know if something is wrong while also knowing the best course of action to take and fix it.

The best thing about myths like these is that once they fall, the possibility of weight loss becomes a much more real prospect.

By Matt Schifferle

In contrast, I used to be obsessed about my metabolism and each day was filled with the fear that I might be screwing it up. Now I focus on something else. Something that’s so incredibly important that is holds the key to any level of success in everything from improving performance to weight loss. And yet it was hardly a nanosecond blip on my radar a few years ago.

That thing is my energy level. No matter what you want to do, you’re energy level is going to make or break your success far more than your metabolism. Here’s why:

Energy level is linked to both calorie intake and expenditure.
A high energy level is the world’s best appetite suppressant. At the same time, it feels like an invisible force urging you to get your body moving. If your energy level is low, all you want to do is sit around and eat a lot. So when your energy level is high, you naturally eat less and move more. When it’s low, you move less and eat more.

More energy means more motivation to exercise.
A lack of motivation for exercise is often paired with a low energy level. If you can maintain a high level of energy you’ll be chomping at the bit to hit the gym.

More energy fuels you to push yourself to new heights.
We don’t get in better shape because we work hard. We get in better shape because we push ourselves further than we have before. You can huff and puff all you like but without enough energy, your chances of pushing yourself to higher levels is slim at best. If you’re bouncing of the wall with electricity, you’ll find it hard to hold yourself back from progress.

Poor energy leads to poor attitude and outlook on life.
You can always spot someone with crappy energy levels because they look like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. Their posture is bent over, their voice is low and slow and they just seem to suck the life out of the room. For them, the world is filled with problems and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

You can also spot someone with a high energy level from a mile away. Instead of repelling, they attract all of the good things life has to offer them. They are the folks who appear to be lucky because good things just keep falling into their lap. It’s not luck, it’s the high level of energy they bring to each day.

I could go on. There isn’t a single aspect of a healthy lifestyle that isn’t affected by your energy level. Now that we have looked at why your energy level is so important, here as some of the key factors that influence it.

Sleep.
It’s simply impossible to keep optimal diet and exercise habits if your sleep habits are garbage. Also keep in mind that you can’t optimise your energy level by trying to catch up on sleep during the weekend. Like eating right and exercising, good sleep habits need to be applied consistently to work.

Simple things like getting to bed early, reading before sleep (preferably not on a device that has a screen), keeping the room dark and keeping your bed clean and comfortable will go a long way.

Diet.
Do your best to avoid any eating habits that can drain your energy level. This can include eating too much, eating too little, not getting enough natural foods or eating too much sugar. A proper diet should keep you humming right along all day rather than make you experience highs and lows in energy.

Stress.
Stress in the right amounts can actually enhance your energy level. However, if there is too much, it can make you feel like a slug.

Keep in mind that all stress is accumulative. So the stress from your job, your friends and your workout all goes into the same container that can only hold so much. So kick it out wherever you can. Unplug the news, let crabby coworkers complain to someone else, and brush off the rush hour traffic.

Explore something fun or exciting every day.
We naturally have more energy when life is fun or has some sort of potential for advancement. The other side of the coin is when things are mundane and boring. Boring sucks. Routine, while predictable and safe, can be a massive drain on your energy level. Doing something different each day can go a long way. Introduce yourself to a new coworker, search for a new website on funny clowns, or see how many hot peppers you can put in the soup.

Minimise screen time.
Few things will suck your energy levels dry like staring at a screen. It can be as small as a smart phone or as big as a movie screen, but it’s all the same. You don’t have to eliminate screen viewing, just make sure that there is a pretty good reason to park yourself and stare for a while.

Move throughout the day.
Ever feel like your just bursting with energy after an eight-hour flight? Me neither. Our bodies function best when we spread our physical activity throughout the day. This is a far better strategy than sitting all day and then trying to make up for it all with a hard (and often draining) workout at the gym. By moving around a little bit each hour, you can keep your energy flowing and you’ll have more juice for that workout.

I know these methods are not rocket science, and that’s a good thing. If maintaining a high energy level was a complex and expensive task, we would be in a whole lot of trouble. Also keep in mind that your energy level is supposed to naturally rise and fall like ground swells out on the ocean. You can’t stay up and hyper all of the time (plus you would really get on everyone’s nerves). The key is to keep things as high as possible on average. If you can improve your average energy level, you’ll discover everything in both fitness and life will become a heck of a lot easier.

By Matt Schifferle

These days things are different. I could care less about my metabolic rate. All of my diet and exercise strategies are done for anything but metabolic benefits. Here’s why:

There Are Actually 2 Types of Metabolism
Actually there are lots of different types of metabolism. There is carbohydrate metabolism, fat metabolism, sugar metabolism and so on. In our fitness culture, we tend to talk about 2 different types: BMR and TM.

BMR is basal metabolic rate and TM is total metabolism. BMR is the total number of calories you burn just to maintain your body as it is, and TM is the total number of calories you burn, period. Neither one is worth losing sleep over.

Total Metabolism Is Quick and Easy To Change
Your total metabolism is really quick and easy to change. It’s like a raging river where the rapids are always changing shape. Just simply stand up right now and do jumping jacks. Your total metabolism just increased! Eat something, anything at all and your total metabolism will also increase. But if you stop moving or eat less, you will burn fewer calories and hence “lower your metabolism”.

All Foods Increase Total Metabolism
All foods increase your total metabolism regardless of what they are. Anything from fried Twinkies to organic salmon requires some sort of energy to digest and thus will “boost your metabolism.” Some foods boost more than others because they require more energy to digest (like salmon) but unless you’re making a radical change in your diet, the differences are nothing to get all excited about.

All Physical Activities Increase Total Metabolism
Do something, anything at all, and you will increase your total metabolism. You can do any activity you like be it cardio, weight training or wrestling in a pool full of Jell-O. The longer or more intense the activity, the more calories you burn and thus the more you “boost your metabolism.”

EPOC Is Hard To Track or Account For
I used to look to certain exercises for the so called “after burn” or what is known as the Excessive Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption. There are many factors that influence how long or how intense the E.P.O.C is. It’s a very unreliable calorie burn. Sometimes your E.P.O.C could last for hours and burn hundreds of calories, other times it might last 20 minutes and burn off a few potato chips. I simply figure it’s a bonus burn, but nothing I’m going to count on simply because it’s very hard to track and keep consistent.

Your BMR Isn’t Going Anywhere Anytime Soon
While total metabolism can change at the drop of a hat, your BMR is like a glacier, moving and changing ever so slowly. Plus it’s important to note that most of the factors that determine your BMR are not something you can intentionally change or control. Your age, gender, height, somato-type, and even genetics all account for the lion’s share of what causes your BMR to be where it is.

Muscle Plays a Minor Role In Changes To BMR
It’s true that lean body mass plays a role in influencing your BMR but muscle is only a part of what makes up your lean body mass. In the movie of metabolism, muscle is a bit character. Your organs, blood, water, skin, bones and everything else that’s not fat is a contributing factor. Muscle is just one player on the massive team that makes up your BMR. In the past, I believed that a pound of muscle burned hundreds of calories. Now though, the figures are coming down to as little as 15-20 calories per pound. A few added pounds are hardly anything to get excited about.

You’re Probably Not Going To Change Your Muscle Mass Quickly
Let’s face it, unless you’re a young adult male who has never done any exercise, or someone on drugs, you’re not going to be packing on 30 pounds of muscle this summer. At the same time, unless you are going to starve yourself and give up all activity for 4-5 weeks you’re not going to drop a whole lot of muscle either.

The amount of muscle on the human body is slow to change even with most diet or exercise changes. What this means is that because most of the factors in your BMR can’t be controlled and that the few factors that can, are not going to change very fast, your BMR isn’t gong to go through any big changes anytime soon. It would be like expecting a glacier to come racing through town.

Food Is a Relatively Minor Player in Maintaining BMR
Lots of diet strategy is aimed at boosting or protecting your metabolism. Most of it isn’t really going to do anything. Eating frequent small meals, never skipping meals, and eating at only certain times of the day has little, if any, effect on BMR. It’s like changing the course of that glacier with an ice pick.

Your Metabolism Doesn’t Control Your Weight
Finally we must recognise that either BMR or TM is only half of the weight control equation. They are only focused on the calories going out of the body and while that’s 50% of the game, it’s the relationship between calories out and calories in that makes the difference.

You can have the metabolism of a humming bird and still gain weight. You can have the metabolism of a slug and lose it. Granted it would be easier to be like the humming bird, but a higher BMR or even TM is in no way a guarantee that fat loss will occur.

So that’s why I don’t give a hoot about metabolism any more. Instead, I focus on something that is far more important and influential to weight loss and every fitness goal imaginable. Funny enough, few people never pay much attention to it. I’ll cover that in my next article.

By Matt Schifferle

It’s bad enough that the world of weight loss can be a confusing minefield, but even small sub-topics of weight loss can be more confusing than Tokyo public transit. In today’s article, I’ll be doing my absolute best to make the topic of weight loss through exercise as drop-dead simple as possible.

The first thing we have to do is take out the trash. The fitness world is filled with lots of different exercise methods, each one touting that its method is the single best way to shed fat. Each method has lots of testimonials and science to back up their claims. Unfortunately, each method also has lots of people who have used that method without any success whatsoever and there is also a lot of science to argue that the method doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell at helping anyone shed fat.

Some people might say that different programs work for different people but I’ve never really bought into that whole idea. On the whole, we all have the same basic human physiology which functions about the same. We all put on our pants one leg at a time and we all lose fat for the same reason.

My argument is that the exercise method you select has just as much chance at helping you lose weight as any other. It’s not that one method is better than another; it’s that they all roughly do the same thing, which is make the body use more energy.

At the heart of all weight loss, we have the issue of storing too much energy in the form of fat within our adipose tissue. To get rid of it, we must make use of that energy in some shape or form. The good news is that you can use that stored energy for anything from playing with the kids to mud wrestling. The body uses fat, to at least some degree, for darn near anything you do.

With this is mind, we can throw away all of the hype and hoopla about what exercises are best, and simply concentrate on how we can use up the most energy possible. The more energy you use, the more you stand to burn. All forms of exercise can help you dump loads of energy-laden fat. At the same time, they can also all hardly make a dent. It all boils down to 3 variables.

Fat Blasting Variable #1 – Duration of Exercise

It’s pretty simple math. You burn more energy walking for 20 minutes than you do for 10. You’ll also burn more walking for 30 minutes instead of 20. The more time you spend doing a given activity, the more you burn.

Fat Blasting Variable #2 – Intensity of Exercise

If you’re walking along and suddenly the hill becomes steeper, you will burn more energy with each step simply because you have to work harder. Adding a few more pounds to the bar, increasing the pace or turning up the resistance will do the same.

Fat Blasting Variable #3 – Muscle Mass Involvement

Simply put, the more muscle you involve in a given activity, the more energy you require. Sitting still and flexing your hand uses small muscles that don’t require a whole lot of energy. However a few burpees that involve almost every muscle in your whole body will use substantially more.

Those are the only 3 things I’ve discovered that you can change to affect how much fat you are actively burning off with exercise. These variables can be applied to any form of exercise you wish. This means that any exercise can be fantastically effective, or almost completely useless.

Someone might say kickboxing burns more energy than Yoga. But when we start playing around with the variables, we can make yoga burn more fat than kickboxing. I’m willing to bet an hour of yoga will burn more energy than 10 minutes of kickboxing. Especially if the kickboxing is done in a relaxed manner and the yoga is done with a lot of muscle burning static poses.

Of course it goes without saying that some forms of exercise would probably hedge your bets better than others. If you just want to dump as much energy possible, I would recommend a very long and very intense form of activity that uses as muscle as possible. A 7-hour cross-country ski race comes to mind. At the opposite spectrum would be something like twirling a pencil through our fingers for 30 seconds.

With these three variables in mind, we can see how some exercises have their pros and cons. Running is good because it can be done for a while and can be pretty intense. Walking can be done for even longer, but the intensity is not quite as high. Strength training can be super intense but it doesn’t typically happen for more than 20-30 seconds at a time.

It is also worth noting that the time and intensity variables run in opposition to each other. The more intense an exercise is, the less time you can do it before fatigue forces you to slow down. This is partially why it’s so difficult to burn a lot of energy very quickly. Both of these variables keep the other in check forcing the time variable to always be what I call the master variable. No matter what you do, it’s going to take a considerable amount of time to use up a considerable amount of energy.

The point is that energy burned is energy burned, and that there is no such thing as exercise that “makes you thin”. If it burns energy, it will help you lose weight and the more energy you burn off the more it will help contribute.

Don’t get sucked into the trap of thinking about fat burning zones, carbohydrate metabolism versus fat metabolism, or energy burned through the “after burn” after an exercise. These sorts of things do little to nothing to make any real difference when it comes to weight loss. They are not worth the effort to consider. By focusing on time, intensity and muscle involvement, you will have everything you need to maximise your fat loss efforts through exercise.

By Matt Schifferle

Complete Fitness will be attending the annual Wedding fair / open day of Braxted Park where we will be launching our new online fitness packages. You will be able to take advantage of the premium and basic packages offering a home workout programme tailored specifically to your needs. The Premium package offers a simple online nutritional meal planner programme.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Cross Purposes Clinic / Complete Fitness is such aseamless mix of caring, friendliness and professionalism,that it’s impossible to praise it highly enough. Quite simply if it didn’t exist, we would have to invent it!