Targets: Why some are better than others

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First thing I want to say is, targets are good.  They help people reach goals.  If nothing else, they can be used as stepping stones towards an ultimate goal.  They can show the direction to go, your rate of progress in that direction, and they are a good psychological tool making the whole journey more “do-able”.  Some examples of these targets include:

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Background Activity, Active Design and New York

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I’ve talked before about increasing a persons “Background Activity” (click here, and here) to help improve their health and weight.  And it looks like New York city has the same idea! Click here for a BBC documentary about how architects in New York are trying to make it harder for people to get about in order to give people more exercise.

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Weight loss, gain and maintainance diets.

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I’ve noticed that when I talk to people about diets, we often end up talking at cross purposes, and they don’t always understand what I’m on about. To your average person, a “diet” means one thing…a short term, drastic change in their eating/drinking habits which they “go on”, in order to lose some weight. When I think about diets, I prefer to use the following definition:

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Recommended reading: Feeding your kids fruit and veg – 5 a day.

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I don’t have kids, so there are some problems that I have (thankfully!) never experienced.  One of these problems is how to get your kids to eat enough fruit and veg.  But my friend who does have children asked me this the other day…so if you have this problem, try reading the following link…

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Strength and strength training – What, how and for who.

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Many people (including some experienced athletes) tend to equate strength training with bodybuilding…thinking that both are one and the same.  They get stuck in the “3 sets of 10” rut and never get out.  But there is more than one type of strength, each having its own pros and cons, and each being more or less suitable for different activities.  As such there is more than one way of training for strength.  Here is a quick run down of the major forms of strength… 

General Strength

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Recommended reading: The Minnesota Starvation Study

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“During World War II, 36 conscientious objectors participated in a study of human starvation conducted by Ancel Keys and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota. The Minnesota Starvation Experiment, as it was later known, was a grueling study meant to gain insight into the physical and psychologic effects of semistarvation and the problem of refeeding civilians who had been starved during the war. During the experiment, the participants were subjected to semistarvation in which most lost <25% of their weight, and many experienced anemia, fatigue, apathy, extreme weakness, irritability, neurological deficits, and lower extremity edema.”

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Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

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“Strength does not come from physical capacity.  It comes from an indomitable will”.

Mahatma Gandhi.

I was coaching a general circuit training session, and we had a couple of minutes left before we had to finish.  We could have just left it there.  But instead we did one last flying lap round the circuit.

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Recommended reading: Weight training during pregnancy – Lieke’s experience

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Because a couple of people have asked me recently about training during pregnancy, I’ve found myself reading up loads on it (remember, I’m not claiming to be any kind of expert, so if you know better, please let me know).  But I just read this blog post (click here to read it) about one ladys personal experience of weight training during her pregnancy.

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