Motivation can be defined as the desire to achieve, the fuel that inspires us to reach our goals. It has been said that motivation strengthens the ambition, increases initiative and guides our energy. Motivation is one of the most important keys in fitness success. I say this, due to the fact that I usually train athletes who are highly motivated.  It is easier for a professional or even amateur athlete to stay motivated to train because their living or their ability to win in competition depends upon it.

When it comes to training the average person, we often find that people are not as motivated, so they often fall short of what they really want to accomplish.  This does not mean that they won’t work as hard; it’s just that they might not know how to visualize the necessary keys to stay motivated longer. Normally, the design of a successful fitness-training program should always begin with the end in mind. And so, the first thing you should do to is set your goals, because these can be very motivating. In setting those goals, be specific, it’s always helpful to concentrate on your weak areas physically, so that as you work out you will see results.  There is nothing like results to improve motivation! After that it comes down to being consistent in your workouts.

But what if you have trouble staying consistent?   Usually, this happens due to being overcommitted in your schedule or sometimes, it goes back to motivation.  One of the biggest things that motivates is knowledge and working together with the LaValle Metabolic Institute and its staff has consistently reminded me that vast amount of knowledge shared by colleagues to enhance each individuals unique needs is an important tool to keep you motivated to achieve your exercise goals. If you are reminded in your daily life that what you do now is going to heavily influence whether you succumb to chronic illness down the road, it keeps you better motivated to stay consistent with your exercise.

One of the great benefits of exercise is its role in helping to reduce stress hormones. When you exercise it literally reduces the body’s norepinephrine, epinephrine and cortisol.  This is probably part of the reason that exercise is consistently shown to reduce risk of heart disease and other chronic disease like breast cancer.,  Deal with the stress hormones and you take away the negative impact they can have on your arteries, blood pressure and immunity.

For those that are intimidated by vigorous exercise or workouts, you should know that one of the best exercises that has been shown to reduce stress hormones is yoga.,  Yoga has even been shown to aid weight loss when no other diet or lifestyle changes were made.

Hirose K, Hamajima N, Takezaki T, Miura S, Tajima K. Physical exercise reduces risk of breast cancer in Japanese women. Cancer Sci. 2003;94(2):193-9.

By Sinead Duffy

Are there times when you doubt yourself and your abilities? Have you missed out on opportunities because you felt you were not talented enough, lacked education or felt unattractive?Time and time again, I coach people who have lots of talent and wonderful ability, yet for various reasons they are filled with self-doubt. They give up on their dreams, settle for less and  become stuck in a rut due to lack of self-confidence. It is no wonder that those who lack self-confidence are less adventurous, get less out of life and always underachieve.

Having self-confidence is crucial to living a fulfilling life. It influences your success at work, your relationships with others and your performance in everything you do. Confident people have faith in themselves and their abilities and they believe that that they can have the best in life. The good news is that confidence is a skill, it can be learned, and just like driving a car, it can become a habit. As you know, we don’t even have to think about our habits as they are part of us.

Apply the following 5 steps to greater self-confidence and you’ll soon notice positive changes:

Step 1 – Decide to Become Self-Confident
Write out the answer to the following two questions:

- What would your life be like if you were confident?
- What would self-confidence mean to you?

Based on your answer make a decision today to invest your time, effort and money in becoming self-confident. Read books about self-confidence, listen to confidence building audios, attend confidence building workshops and consult with a coach who specialises in confidence coaching.

Step 2 -Become More Self-Aware
Learn to develop an awareness of your unique individuality. When you know and understand yourself at a deeper level, you will have greater control over your thoughts, feelings and attitudes which in turn will help you build greater self-confidence.

Step 3 -Act with Confidence
If you want to feel confident; act with confidence. When you think confidently, walk confidently and talk confidently, it will easily and effortlessly become natural for you to be confident.

Step 4 -Use your Imagination
When you use your imagination to visualise yourself being confident, you are impressing very powerful images onto your subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind stores images and the more you visualise yourself being confident the more it becomes part of our life. Whenever your subconscious mind accepts an idea, it immediately begins to execute it.

Step 5 – Belief in Yourself
It is not your actual abilities that determine what you can achieve but your belief in them. It is essential that you let go of limiting beliefs that hinder your progress and develop empowering ones that assist your development. Often we are like the fish that does not even realise it is in water. When you work with a coach you will identify and eliminate those limiting beliefs that hinder your progress.

In order to achieve what you want in life, you must develop your self-confidence. Begin today to create a new and confident you, that uses and values your talents and creates the life you want. Break free from self-doubt and learn to trust in yourself and your abilities. With greater self-confidence, you will feel inner strength, greater happiness and much more fulfilled. Begin today to sow the seeds of confidence and you will be amazed with the results and positive effects that ripple through all areas of your life.

Having a Plan

Having a daily plan is of utmost importance during the playoffs. Expectations are high, days are shorter and there are plenty of distractions. Daily communication with the head coach, athletic trainers, and nutritionist is vital as you make sure everyone is on the same page. Our scheduling starts the day after our last game. We make sure we get a handle on lifting and conditioning days, injured players, hydration strategies and pre-game meals. If everyone is on the same page it makes it easier to make adjustments throughout the week and it helps players feel comfortable.

Mindset

It’s not hard to get hyped up for your first playoff game. Athletes are excited about the possibilities come playoff time. Everyone has a shot at the title, but keeping the right mindset can help your athletes focus on what’s right in front of them. In our program, we like to remind our athlete that tomorrow is never promised. We ask that they give us everything they have as we prepare for our games. No excuses, no regrets.  By keeping the focus on the now, we can eliminate the distractions that are so easily infiltrated into a playoff week.

Attack Problem Areas

Our training program throughout the season is divided into three phases. First five games of the season, second five games of the season and playoffs. During the season, we make sure that we maintain our strength, power and explosiveness through percentage grading and progressive overload on a weekly basis. When we look at our injury reports throughout the week, we always have to make adjustments to individual programs. No team during this part of the season is 100%. So the teams that can get their players as pain free as possible by game time, is going to have the greatest chance at success. Make sure that injured or banged up body parts are attacked first in the workout. For example, if there are shoulder issues, prehab and maintenance work is performed first in the workout. This allows us to maximize specific work in problem area, while still attacking his good shoulder, torso and lower body. Make sure you have a look at the weekly injury report, as you plan your training for the week.

Lower Volume and Higher Intensity

The playoff season is not about gaining strength or breaking down muscle tissue. We focus on improving power and explosiveness every chance we get through systematic progressions in our sets and reps. At this point of the season, we make sure that we have a good grip on the total amount of football-specific fundamental work performed on the field with the coaches. Our job is to maximize our weightroom time and helps us maintain our power output on the field.  How do we do that? We cut our workload in the weightroom by 20% and focus on density training. Our exercise selection is limited to a total of three to four exercises per training session. We like to progress our lifting and plyometric drills to the point where we are complexing the areas necessary to keep improving strength, speed and power.

Just W.I.N

W.I.N is an acronym we use daily in our program. W.I.N stands for what’s important now and it represents how we approach everyday throughout the season. Focus on what you can control on a daily basis and you’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish. Never take your opponent lightly. If you have a plan, follow it diligently and it will help you prioritize any issue that may come up. The right mindset is critical in keeping your team focused. Attacking problem areas and managing your volume and intensity, will allow you to adjust your programming as necessary.

Good luck this week to those who are lucky enough to be part of the playoffs. Bring home a win.

The world’s leading footwear designer, Nike (NKE), has been rumored by the London Times to be reviewing an acquisition of Under Armour (UA). Nike currently has over $4.5B in cash with $663M in debt while the enterprise value of Under Armour is currently trading at $3.6B, or a pricey 22.8x EBITDA.

Since September 15 of last year, UA has gone up 88.6% and has strong growth prospects. Consensus estimates for EPS growth for the possible target are 34.3% to $1.80 in 2011 and 25.6% and 28.3% for the following two years. Under Armour is, however, in need of the international exposure that Nike could offer. Almost all of the possible target’s revenues came from North America in 2010 (93.8%).

Both companies sell similar products and have strong brands. A takeover would provide revenue synergies, since Nike could benefit from selling new products in its developed global market. Below is a breakdown of Nike’s revenue by region/category:

Of the categories, emerging markets is growing the fastest at 24% for 2011, followed by Greater China at 18%. For each of these regions, roughly two-thirds of sales come from footwear, approximately 30% from apparel and the remainder from equipment. Revenue from Western Europe and Japan have declined by 2% and 13%, respectively.

Nike is currently trading at roughly 19.9x past earnings and 15.6x future earnings. EPS is expected to grow by 10% to $4.83 in 2012 and then by 16.1% and 13.5% for the following years. While I believe that the market has mainly factored in the growth prospects of Nike abroad, an acquisition like Under Armour could go a long way to create value through strengthened marketing appeal.

It is also important to consider that the leading footwear-maker already has several brands: Converse, NIKE Golf, Hurley, Umbro, and Cole Haan. These businesss were up 8% in FY11, excluding currency changes. For comparison, revenues grew by 9.7% to $20.9B for the company overall.

With its 3 largest customers accounting for 23% of US sales and a competitive market, Nike needs to provide innovative products to maintain its sustainable edge. Accordingly, I see the acquisition a step in the right direction for the company, which will be facing lower operating margins in light of the approaching Olympics. I expect operating margins to be 13.2% and 13.8% in FY12 and FY13, respectively.

Over the last six years, EPS growth has been roughly an impressive 14% for the company. While many acquisitions fail to add value, I see a win-win for a Nike and Under Armour deal in terms of combined marketing value, revenue synergies, and growth prospects.

Via http://seekingalpha.com/article/293825-potential-under-armour-buyout-would-be-positive-for-nike

This article titled “Jamie Oliver calls for global action to tackle obesity” was written by Robin McKie, for The Observer on Saturday 3rd September 2011 23.07 UTC

Levels of obesity across the globe are reaching epidemic proportions, according to medical experts. Now the crisis is to be the focus of a major debate at a UN medical conference in New York.

A coalition of nutrition and health experts – ranging from celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to former government chief scientist Sir David King – are urging western nations to play a key role in halting the dramatic rise in numbers of obese people across the planet.

“There seems to be a trend with developing countries wanting to follow in the footsteps of the western world, and copy their patterns of fast food and consumerism,” Oliver told the One Young World conference in Switzerland on Friday. The phenomenon was a particular problem in India, South America and the Middle East, he said. Oliver added: “Pre-packed convenience food is seen as a symbol of being ‘modern’ in developing countries, but the problems it causes are long-term, and costly.” “Diet-related diseases are two of the top five causes of premature death for people under 60 years old. They look set to create an absolute catastrophe over the next 30 to 40 years if nothing changes.”

Oliver’s aim is to encourage heads of state and the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, to “sit up and take notice” at a summit on non-communicable disease in New York on 20 September. He called for a “global movement to make obesity a human rights issue” and urged a million people to sign a petition. Oliver also urged countries to hold on to their national dishes, and for recipes to pass from generation to generation, saying: “I believe that together we can make some real noise ahead of this meeting of experts.”

The attempt to generate a global debate on the crisis is backed by King, who wrote in the Lancet recently: “We need changes in many aspects of our environment to avoid the morbid consequences of overweight and obesity. This change will require global political leadership across public policy, considerably broader than that of health policy, and far better monitoring.”

King also called for the issue to be a major focus for debate at the UN summit. “By 2050, 60% of men and 50% of women could be clinically obese,” he wrote. “Without action, obesity-related diseases will cost the UK £45bn a year. Research and action should therefore be undertaken to avoid what could develop into a massive problem, not just for the UK, but also globally.”

The danger posed by rising obesity numbers has been highlighted by the World Health Organisation (WHO). “It is not uncommon to find under-nutrition and obesity existing side-by-side within the same country, within the same community, and the same household,” it states. According to WHO, 65% of the world’s population now lives in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight. However, it is the latter problem that attracts the headlines because it poses an immediate and life-threatening danger.

“With our western-style diets, our biggest problems are a direct result of what the experts call ‘bad feeding’ – which basically means eating a load of rubbish, highly processed food that’s jammed full of salt, fats, sugars, additives, and cheap processed meats,” Oliver said. “Governments around the world like it when food is cheap and shops are full, but they’re achieving this by allowing big businesses to pump out this sort of food and drink in mass volumes.”

Several factors are blamed on the rise of obesity: these include an increase in car use, shifts away from manual labour, the rise in urban living and the availability of cheap, high-calorie convenience foods.King stressed that the current obesity epidemic was not caused by people being lazy or overeating and highlighted previous research which showed that individuals had much less choice in the matter of their weight than they would assume.

“Our biology has stepped out of kilter with society,” he said. “Most adults in the UK are already overweight and modern living ensures every generation is heavier than the last. This is known as passive obesity.”

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

Written by Natalia Kielcz

Do you ever think that there are just not enough hours in the day to get everything done? Do you sacrifice sleep in order to have “more” hours of productivity, but you still feel like you are just scraping by? If you do, stop now! Sleep is just a high a priority as anything else in your life, and sleeping less negatively effects how you function inside and out!

Studies on sleep have repeatedly shown that getting quality snooze time in plays a vital role in promoting physical health, longevity, and emotional well-being. The Institute of Medicine recently estimated in its report, Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem, that “hundreds of billions of dollars a year are spent on direct medical costs related to sleep disorders such as doctor visits, hospital services, prescriptions, and over-the-counter medications.” Sleep problems and lack of sleep can affect everything from personal and work productivity to behavioral and relationship problems. Over time, chronic sleep deprivation may lead to an array of serious medical conditions like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and even early death. Who would have thought that something as simple as hitting the sheets could cut medical costs and improve your quality of life overal.

In our fast paced, achievement oriented society, we often push sleep aside to get as much as we can done in our waking hours…but without adequate sleep, judgment, mood, and ability to learn and retain information are greatly reduced. This explains why you feel alert, your thoughts are clearer, and you are more emotionally stable after a solid night of rest.

So, when you are feeling low on energy, moody, and/or stressed out, sleep it off!! Clock in 7 to 8 solid hours of sleep regularly and see if that doesn’t improve your quality of “waking” life.

The pool workout has been developed as an alternative program. The main benefit of this program is the ability to do a cardiovascular or aerobic workout without putting undue stress on the joints. The water’s continuous resistance forces you to engage more muscle fibers through a larger range of motion. Listed below is a list of exercises:

Lower Body

Sprints : Sprint in waist deep water across the pool using proper running technique.

Hi-Knee’s : Sprint across the pool performing “hi-knee’s”

Shuffle : In an athletic position, shuffle across the pool as fast as possible.

Back Pedal : Stand in an athletic position, reach back as far as possible with every stride.

Sprint/Swim/Jog : Sprint across, swim back (any stroke) and jog across.

Jumps : In chest deep water, go under into a squat position and explode up through the water trying to get as much height as possible. Perform 3 sets of 10 reps.

Abduction/Adduction : Hold onto the edge of the pool in face down position. Force legs apart in a lateral motion as far as possible. Pull legs to the mid-line of the body letting them cross in a scissor fashion. Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions

Hip Flexion/Extension : Holding onto the edge stand on one leg. Without bending at the hip, flex and extend the knee as fast as possible. Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions.

Flipper Kicks : The kicks can be done in a variety of ways. Go to the deep end of the pool and kick in place for 1:00 minute. You can also hold onto the edge with arms extended, legs straight back. Flipper kick continously for 1:00 minute.

Upper Body-Neck Deep Water

Arm Sprints : Same action as running mechanics. With elbows in, pump arms up and down as fast as possible. Perform 3 sets of 15 repetions.

Arm Raises : Keeping elbows straight. raise arms to the surface of the water to the front and then the side of the body. Drive the arms to the surface simulating shoulder front and side raises. Perform 3 sets of 15 repetions.

Chest & Back : extend arms at 90 degrees keeping the elbows straight. Force arms together so that the hands meet in a clapping fashion. Pull back towards the starting positionas fast as possible. Perform 3 sets of 15 repetitions.

Push & Pull : Hold hands in front of chest with fingers pointing up. Push out and pull back in a quick, explosive manner. Perform 3 sets of 15 repetitions.

The email always goes something like this:

Coach,  how do you get your administrators, coaches, parents, team and players to committ to your off-season training programs and be disciplned in their approach through months of grueling training?

My simple answer is this: 

Priority # 1
As a strength and conditioning coach at the high school level you should have the support of your Athletic Director. The A.D. must trust that your goals and objectives are in the same order as the athletic departments mission.

Priority # 2
You and the head coaches should be on the same page. You can’t have the committment of your players if the head coach isn’t on the same page as you are with the program. If they don’t understand your program or have questions about your philosophy, educate them every chance you get. We are in an era of sports where every coach understands the benefits of a good off-season and pre-seaon conditioning program. The coach must get the players to understand the benefits, so he can emphasize it’s importance to all of his athletes. Every athlete should understand that there are certain things that must be done to get ready to play at the highest level come In-season. 

Priority # 3
Program Orientation. Every player participating in the training program must understand what is expected of him. The orientation process must include team goals, program objectives, weightroom demeanor, team discipline, exercise descriptions, set and reps schemes, etc. When the athletes walk into the weightroom or are conditioning, they must understand the intensity factor. We have a few rules in our program, but an athlete knows that if they yawn it’s 20 push-ups and if they sit it’s 20 push-ups. Our goal is to increase work capacity and we strive towards this goal on a rep by rep basis for the entire length of a workout. 

Priority # 4
Program Consistency. When dealing with a high school program, you have the opportunity to work with an athlete for four years. This provides you the opportunity to instill certain qualities in your players from a very young age. Hard work, discipline, committment, team work, intensity. I think you get the point. These are the four years of an young athletes greatest gains in height, weight, and strength, so the ability to teach exercise technique, progressive overload, consistency, and patience will allow the athletes to develop according to their individual maturity process. The maturity process for each athlete is different and you must take this into account when developing programs for your teams.

Set Goals
Whether in life or in fitness, having a plan is the most important key to being successful. Always begin a workout plan by having specific goals that will allow you to visualize what it is that you would like to accomplish. This will provide you a specific game plan. Goals can be very motivating and can be divided into two types: intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Extrinsic goals are external (getting in shape for spring break or a beach vacation). These are temporary and fluctuate. Commitment and discipline during and after workouts (of people motivated by extrinsically) is inconsistent. Intrinsic motivation and goals come from within. It is a desire to be the best you can be. It is the ability and need to reach you goals and full potential. People motivated intrinsically are more consistent from day to day and month to month and they sustain great work habits throughout the entire year.

Be Consistent
Most people look at fitness and the basic components of exercises and diet as the most important factors in getting in shape. But being consistent over a period of time will provide the results you are after. Being consistent can be accomplished by tweaking your program from week to week or month to month. The best programs are the ones that look at what has been accomplished and find ways to make improvements. The best thought out program will not give you the results you want forever. This is due to the fact that the body adapts to the stimulus and stagnates. So making sure that you consistently modify the variables (sets, reps, rest, etc.) will allow you to stay motivated, the body in a constant state of influx and results consistent with your goals.

Attack Weak Areas
Before beginning any exercise program you need to make sure that you find out strength and weaknesses. This will provide you a road map that will help you achieve program success. Whether you are working out to lose fat or to get rid of low back pain, you should always start with the areas that need the most improvement first. For example, if you are trying to eliminate low back tightness, you should always start with a non-weight bearing warm-up followed by some low-back specific stretches. This will help the body to increase blood flow to the muscles, increase heart rate and prepare the body for activity. Once the body is warm and stretched properly begin performing some activation drills. These drills will stimulate motor recruitment in the glutes, hips and low back and wake up the muscles through central nervous system activation. By attacking the problem first you allow the body to function as a unit totally warm, instead of stressing the body at its weakest point from the very beginning. 

During our next article, we will cover some hip and low-back specific exercises to improve stability, mobility, and flexibility. For now, make sure that you look to set high, achievable goals, be consistent in your routine, and make sure that you work on weak areas of the body first in your workout to allow for more efficient results.

 What if someone said you could eliminate toxins in your body by increasing how much you sweat during workouts? You would probably look at them like they were a few fries short of a Happy Meal, right? During a recent morning workout with some of my executive athletes, this was the topic of conversation for the majority of the session. How can we increase detoxification by way of exercise? Our conversation led to many questions. Here are some of the answers and strategies that we discussed, to help improve workout efficiency and increase core temperature

 We know that exercise provides many benefits to our health, such as burning of glucose, which helps prevent insulin resistance, the building of muscle tissue, and helps us maintain a higher metabolic rate. Another reason exercise is beneficial, is due to the fact, that workout intensity helps the body with sweating, which is the body’s natural way of regulating temperature. When we exercise, small increases in core temperature speed up metabolic processes, which cause toxins stored in fat to be released and broken down. This process is carried out to cool the body during sweating to help with the excretion of toxic materials in the form of oil and water. 

 Since that morning conversation, we have been testing some strategies to increase core temperature and improve time-efficiency during workouts. We have found that simple body-weight exercises such as jumping jacks and jumping rope can increase core temperature and stimulate the cardio-respiratory system with 60 seconds of continuous activity. We took this a bit further and combined some basic strength training exercises, such as push-ups, steps ups, and chin ups and combined them with the ground based interval exercises of jumping rope and jumping jacks to provide a higher stimulus. The combination of these two components in a super-set fashion (performing one exercise after another with 60 seconds rest between sets) has allowed us to create 30-minute efficient workouts, that maintain a higher than normal heart rate in comparison to normal steady state activities such as elliptical work or walking. Our clients sweat more in half the time and appreciate the efficiency of our shorter routines. The shorter more intense workouts have improved cardiovascular fitness, which helps draw out lactic acid build up and can diminish stiff muscles and general fatigue. Remember, when beginning an interval program make sure to alternate burst of intense exercises with easier intervals

Exercise doesn’t have to be long and boring. You can be more efficient during your workouts by combining different forms of exercises into your routine. This will allow you to burn more calories, improve aerobic and anaerobic capacity, keep you from getting bored and minimize the amount of equipment needed. You can take intervals to many levels, but base the intensity on how you feel that day. Make sure you combine good nutrition and a multivitamin mineral that can help replace minerals that are also excreted in our sweat.