Once again a bunch of clients at Focus Fitness Massage and Studio Gym in Mudgeeraba, are getting together to form a team and entering the 2010 Gold Coast Marathon.

Many people are now seeting goals to increase their times / distances to enter as part of the FOCUS TEAM MUDGEERABA for the 2011 Gold Coast Airport Marathon!

Helping them in their ventures have been Gabriel, Norm and Lindsay (pictured)

This is a non-contact fitness program with moves drawn from martial arts including a wide array of disciplines such as Karate, Boxing, Taekwondo, Tai Chi and Muay Thai.

From those that attended the first session last week, this is the most intense fun you will have with two feet on the ground.

Don’t panic, it does not mean that you need to know any of these martial arts to start.

This year the 10km run will commence on 3rd July at 7.45 am. Then on the Sunday there’s the half marathon starting at 6.00am, and the full marathon starting at 7.10am

We’re putting together a training program by a few gym members wanting to compete in the half and full Gold Coast marathon.

If that’s a bit of a long haul, then you should at least consider the 10km run.

To be part of the team, (of at least 20 members) let us know soon, as we’re chasing sponsors and raising money for a Mudgeeraba family in need

The cost will be approx $55 per individual, or $49.50 pp in the team of 20 or more

These members of the Titans team were here to show their support for the Indigenous Diabetes and Obesity Program that our gym is involved with.

From the left: Will Matthews (Titans centre), Norm, Clinton ( Program manager) and Bodene Thompson (Titans 2nd rower).

Norm would like to thank Preston for coming down in his own time.

Preston kindly donated his time for this appearance, and he also stayed around to watch the boys play.

Pictured, right: Norm holding his son, Preston Cavanagh, Preston Lilly and Campbell, with Anna and Alec in front.

The markets are held at the Mudggeraba Showgrounds, in Tallai, just north of Mudgeeraba each second and fourth Saturday of the month, starting at 6.00am through till around midday

You can see what Norm and Ricki were doing when you watch this video footage.

Many of our clients call info a chat whilst doing their grocery shopping at the markets. You can even get breakfast there with freshly brewed coffee, bacon and egg rolls, noodles and all sorts of culinary delights

Many locals still don’t know about the Mudgeeraba Gym, that’s right on their doorstep, and a pleasant change from the larger commercial gyms that are constantly bombarding TV and radio advertising

The boot camps and group training sessions continue to be a popular and cost effective way for Mudgeeraba local residents to get and / or maintain your levels of fitness.

Everywhere you look it seems there’s fitness and exercise tips being promoted. With obesity becoming such a widespread problem, governments all over are promoting that people try to stay healthy in our fast-food society and they need good information to do that.

Everyone wants to know if popular diets are viable ways to lose weight and if the latest workout craze will help or hurt their quest for good health. That’s probably because as a society we’re more sedentary than we used to be. All that time spent watching TV has resulted in a generally lower standard of fitness. It also means that we’re not as connected to what is goodfor our bodies.

Reading about health and fitness is not a substitute for intuition but at least these days there are health articles that people can learn from. The widespread availability of these articles has helped a lot of people learn more about a wide variety of health topics. And when people use them to learn more about fitness and its relationship to vitamins, that’s a pretty good thing.

The trend in the last 100 years has been to move away from physical activity in our jobs, so we need to look to other methods to stay fit. Just on the surface, people look better and have higher self-esteem if they’re in good shape.

When you delve deeper, you’ll discover there are many other reasons to keep the body in tip-top shape. For one thing, people who live healthy lifestyles enjoy more of their lives and stay vibrant and disease-free so much longer.

Fitness allows them to achieve a quality of life they wouldn’t otherwise have. These are great motivation to work on your health and fitness. If you need even more incentive, consider your friends and family. I’m sure they’d like you to stay healthy so they can have you around for as long as possible!

Perhaps you saw an inspirational movie that caused you to take action, maybe a friend of yours you hadn’t seen for a long time showed up having lost a heap of weight or having piled on muscle mass or maybe you are just sick of feeling lethargic and overweight.

Whatever the initial stimulus was, you began exercising and then continued to exercise for a while.

However after sometime your motivation dropped off, you allowed your work to takeover, you got frustrated at your perceived lack of progress and gradually bit by bit you quit your healthy lifestyle. If that all sounds familiar then here are a few easy ways to help regain and sustain your motivation for a healthier lifestyle:

Try setting an enjoyable goal.
For example,what about planning out a mountain biking/kayaking/hiking holiday in an exotic tough part of the world such as the Himalayas,The Alps or The Candadian Rockies. You really do have an exciting motivating thing to aim for now with this trip. In order to enjoy your trip to the fullest you really need to be in good physical shape. If your trip is in 5 montsh time then you can plan a realistic schedule with your fitness goals in mind.

Join in with a local event.
I’m sure there are plenty of local events you can get involved with if you just look online. Target one of these events as a goal to aim for. Tell a close friend about your plans so they can encourage you in your training and come to watch you on the day.

Take up a sport or hobby
This doesn’t have to be an ultra serious thing just a light hearted game of soccer or hockey at the weekends but it gives you an easy and enjoyable way to monitor your fitness levels. The first week on the pitch you will likely feel the strain but after a few weeks at it you will look and feel noticeably better about your performance.

Visualise.
Ok this might sound a bit odd at first but try and find a bit of time each day to sit and visualise in your minds eye exactly how you wish to feel and look. Performing this projects strong messages to your sub conscious mind as regards what decisions you ought to be making throughout your day. Repeat this daily and continuously and your behaviour will naturally alter itself and begin to take you towards your goals automatically. Many top athletes use techniques such as this simply becuase it brings great results.

Try to involve your family, friends and pet dog too.
Getting more people involved makes it less likely for you to get bored and lose motivation. If your friends is calling you on that particular day when you really don’t feel like doing anything you are much less likely not to go and exercise.

Teach yourself more.
Be curious find out about how to build muscle up, find out how to get a 6 pack, find out how to shed pounds, find out what muscle building nutrition you need for no nonsense muscle building and so on. By increasing your knowledge you are more likely to succeed and more likely to reach your goal quicker aswell and therefore more likely to stay motivated.

Don’t compare yourself to others.
It matters little who you there is aways going to be someone fitter, sexier, more muscular or whatever than you. Accept this fact and realise that you all go through this process of life from your own differing perspectives. Pay more attention to how you feel than to anything else, if you feel good then you are likely getting healthier.

So, with those tips in mind go hit the gym and do whatever it is that you enjoy doing to keep fit, build lean muscle mass or whatever else you want to do, you can do it, just keep it fun. Burn the fat build the muscle book

Amazingly, walking lets us achieve all three.

In fact, walking may be your best medicine for slowing the aging process, reducing your chances of illness and slashing your body fat. For anyone out of shape or not athletically- inclined, walking is the no-stress, no-sweat answer to lifelong conditioning. All you need is a good pair of shoes, a little time, a few guidelines from a fitness professional and you’re ready to go.

Unfortunately, there’s more misinformation floating around today about fitness walking and weight loss than ever before. Some experts even say walking is not effective for weight loss at all and they insist that only higher intensity forms of cardio will do anything to improve your body composition. Others fitness experts believe that you should not do cardiovascular exercise every day – even walking.

There may be a little truth in each of those statements, however, walking always was and still is one of the best exercises for strengthening your bones, controlling your weight, toning the muscles in your lower body, maintaining good posture and improving your self image.

Walking uses almost every muscle in the body, it improves circulation of blood to the joints and massages the blood vessels, keeping them more elastic. Walking also helps you maintain muscle and an efficient metabolism as you get older (not to mention keeping you young “in spirit.”)

Walking is incredibly convenient too. Since you don’t need a gym or any special equipment, you can walk any place, at any time and that allows you to lose weight and get fit with little or no interruption to your busy schedule.

People who diet without exercising often get fatter with time. Although your weight may initially drop while dieting, weight loss from low calorie and especially low carb diets consists mostly of water and
muscle. When the weight returns, it comes back as fat. To avoid getting fatter over time, you must increase your metabolism by exercising daily.

To get the maximum benefits of a walking program, you need make it more challenging than a leisurely “walk in the park.” Walking at a steady and brisk pace burns more fat simply because it burns more calories. Just remember to begin slowly to avoid muscle soreness, and increase your pace over time as you become more fit.

To lose weight, it’s ideal to alternate your walking sessions between high intensity and lower intensity days. For example, on one day walk for 30- 45 minutes as a steady and moderate pace. On the next day, walk at a faster pace.

You could even do “road work” like the boxers do, where you break up your walk along the route with some sets of squats, lunges, bench push ups or other body weight or calisthenic exercises to make it a real cardiovascular and muscle blaster of a workout! It doesn’t have to be boring or the same thing every day.

Make it fun and keep it up consistently, leading an active life-style 365 days a year.

Slow and casual walking has benefits, but you will not get as much out of walking at a very slow pace because we all have a built-in mechanical advantage for walking long distances at normal speeds.

Our bodies, via the spinal column, muscle attachments and bony structures, reserve energy in the musculoskeletal system and release it back to us without asking for additional energy output. In other words, as you walk, your spinal column keeps energy in reserve because of the way you straighten and extend your spine during normal walking.

As you step, your spine is stretched, and as you take another step, the energy reserved in the spine is used in propulsion. The spine acts very much like rubber band as your walk, harnessing this reserve energy.

To get substantial cardiovascular, muscular and weight loss benefits, this is why you must walk briskly or create extra movement patterns beyond casual, slow walking in order to optimize your walking program for weight loss and cardiovascular fitness.

Walking the right way will also improve your posture and tends to help keep you upright (because you must see where you are going). Just hold your chin up and shoulder slightly back.. Walk with your heels hitting the ground first and your feet pointed forward. Swing your arms fully and make lengthy strides.

To lose weight and achieve optimum health, exercise and diet are both necessary and interrelated. Exercising without maintaining a balanced diet is no more beneficial than dieting while remaining a couch potato.

Carbohydrates are high-octane fuel. They provide energy for movement and help raise internal body metabolism. They’re also satisfying. The key is to avoid adding high-fat and high calorie toppings to your carbohydrates. Also be sure to focus on fruits and vegetables and do not eat the majority of your carbohydrates from the starch category such as bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes. These type of carbs can create an insulin spike, which in turn feeds your fat storing system.

Fruits and vegetables are the ideal health, diet and fat loss foods for many reasons. They’re relatively low in fat and calories, high in fiber and rich in essential vitamins and minerals. The National Research
Council recommends eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Your everyday habits will determine your long term body weight and body composition. Make sure you get enough sleep, drink enough water to expel toxins, avoid processed food as much as you can, eat your fruits and veggies, eat organic when ever possible and work hard.

Just one last thought: taking a three-minute walk after each meal is worth a four pound reduction in body fat in a year’s time. Climbing two flights of stairs a day burns off half a pound of body fat in a year. On the other hand, one candy bar eaten daily will cost you 20 pounds annually.

www.FlattenYourAbs.net

If you enjoyed the information in this article, you will also enjoy the David Grisaffi Walking Guide, which is a complete walking exercise plan that comes FREE with the Firm And Flatten Your Abs program

About the author: David Grisaffi, CHEK Corrective Exercise Kinesiologist Golf Biomechanic Certified Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach

Fat Burning Furnace includes TWO different Packages choose from either one and start learning how to REALLY burn your fat and keep it off.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE