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  • Ten steps to the perfect body

    19-Oct-09 With a new season upon us being motivated to train after your summer holidays is always hard, especially when your friends and colleagues opt for the pub rather than the gym. Harpers Fitness has some top tips to keep you motivated.

    To achieve a great body it’s 90% nutrition and 10% blood, sweat and tears says David Coulthard, from Harpers Fitness who always recommends visiting a site like www.harpersnutrition.co.uk when you decide to undertake a body overhaul, “Ensuring you have protein with each meal of the day is a good way of feeling full and so you won’t be tempted to snack later on. If you do snack then choose a protein bar or shake as this will keep hunger at bay until your next meal.”

    Following these steps might not be easy but the results will be exactly what you’ve been after and you will soon have a bum to rival that of J-Lo and the abs of David Beckham.

    Focus
    The key to the perfect body is down to motivation and nutrition and you can get that by visiting the Harpers Nutrition website and by seeing a personal trainer for advice. Don’t starve yourself by skipping meals or over exercise and injure yourself.
    Think
    Forget thinking thin - think FIT! Envisage yourself as a healthy and active person and perfect body will follow. You will train your mind to take into account your growing fitness and energy levels rather than concentrating on the scales.
    Believe
    Most people start a new exercise programme with vigour but become easily bored when they don’t see instant results and give up before they’ve really tried. If you believe you’re capable of losing weight, toning up and getting fitter then you’ll easily achieve your goal. Imagine yourself with the figure you want, even have a little pose in the mirror. It’ll really get your confidence booming when you start to notice your clothes are a little looser and your body more toned.
    Eat
    Eating six small meals daily will help keep your metabolic rate elevated and at its optimum and help to get your body in shape. Each portion should contain lots of protein and brightly coloured vegetables.

    Little changes always help to make the most difference:
    • Always opt for wholegrain, such as wholemeal bread, whole-wheat pasta and brown rice. We digest wholegrain foods more slowly so they can help make us feel fuller for longer.
    • Team steamed or poached white fish with boiled potatoes which have the highest satiety index of any food.
    • Reducing your salt intake can help you lose lbs instantly through the release of retained water in the body.

    David continues, “A common problem I often come across with many potential clients is that they don’t actually eat enough! Weird I know, but when you begin training and start burning 400-800 kcal an hour plus what your body naturally burns you can create quite a large deficit which forces your body’s natural instinct of survival. This in turn slows your natural metabolism leading to a plateau in results and a decrease in motivation; this is the point where a lot of us give up!”

    Be strong
    Your workouts must be a mixture of high intensity and low intensity workouts. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is awesome at torching body fat and forces you to work way above your regular intensity which means you’ll churn through far more calories. Low intensity workouts will help elevate your resting metabolic rate and promote you body to burn body fat naturally, rather than just burning it after a training session.

    Most importantly, have fun. Working out at the gym with friends or joining a running club not only offers support and motivation but it’s social. No point in getting the perfect body and not being able to show it off.