Exercise will increase your energy levels and reduce your stress levels, but at this very point in time, when you most need to reduce stress levels, the idea of taking on more tasks can seem daunting and likely only to increase stress levels further – it can become a catch 22, as you feel too stressed to fit everything in.

So how do you deal with this catch 22 situation? How do you make sure that adding an extra time commitment into your already busy life doesn’t increase your stress levels even further?

Firstly, you need to take some time out of your busy life, and assess where you are and where you are going. Goal setting and analysing what you want from life as a whole can often make us see life from a slightly different perspective. A lot of the things we are busy doing are not the ones that we really want to be focusing on, or the things that are most important to us. It is this that makes us stressed – that nagging feeling that we are really busy, but not managing to do the important things.

You need to make the commitment to becoming healthier and remind yourself what the results will be – it’s not purely about aesthetics and looking good, but it really is about being healthier and more energised. You need to prioritise your health in order to effectively deal with all that life throws at you and remind yourself that once you have made the time to fit in exercise, you will have more energy and be able to achieve more throughout the rest of the day.

Until your health and fitness is high enough on your priority list you will always find other things that get in the way.

When you have fully accepted its importance you can then set about making time – as this is the key, time is not something that is just found! Once you have acknowledged that you are going to make health and fitness a priority it is time to look into how you can create space in your life to fit it in.

Are there things cluttering up your life? Are they all really that important? Could you spend 30 minutes less time on the internet or watching TV in the evenings and use that time to squeeze in a training session? Can you delegate certain tasks?

We often feel that ‘to get a job done properly I might as well do it myself’ but sometimes we need to let it go, allow someone else to ‘learn’ to do it for us! It may not be perfect, but it will free you up some time!

Consciously looking at the way we respond to stressful situations can make a huge difference, too. Are you stressed because you are in a rush, or rushed because you are stressing? I practice a lot of yoga, and often have to remind myself when in traffic between clients that while a few good deep breaths won’t make the traffic move any faster, or get me there any quicker, it certainly will make me calmer and the journey more enjoyable – I can’t change the time I arrive by being stressed, but I can change the way I feel when I arrive!

Another important element is matching your exercise intensity to how you feel on a particular day. If you are truly frazzled, then a really intense session may just wear you out even further, so choose exercises that are more energising, or perform a strength training session with plenty of rest between sets, rather than an intense circuit style approach.

There are days when I know that I need yoga, rather than anything else, in which case that is what I will do. My body and mind thanks me for it and I ensure I am ready and raring to go for my next intense training session.

This is not an excuse to slack off just because you can’t be bothered, mind you, and you will often find that once you get started your energy levels increase!

Just get started with your warm up and have a plan, but be prepared to alter it slightly if need be.

On the subject of recovery, you must make sure you get enough. With the correct training plan, you do not need to exercise for hours every day to get results. You are far better off training intensely for 3 hour long sessions a week (or 4-6 shorter sessions) than training for hours on end at a mind-numbingly boring level.

This is perfect for the busy person in today’s hectic world as you can rest and recover, safe in the knowledge that you are actually increasing the efficacy of your programme by recovering properly.

Exercise is a vital tool for reducing stress and increasing energy, so it is worth making the time to fit it in. You will soon wonder how you coped without it!

By learning to breath more effectively and fully we can increase our energy levels and general sense of wellbeing considerably.

But learning to breathe effectively is harder than it sounds – we are so used to breathing incorrectly and we don’t even think about it. We have to first become aware of our breathing patterns and then re-learn new patterns.

Much like fat loss already! We have to re-learn patterns and new habits in order to reap the rewards, such as increased energy and wellbeing.

If you try to focus too hard on your breathing, you can easily get light-headed and even feel like you are hyperventilating. This is because you are forcing a process that is designed to occur naturally. You end up over-doing it a bit and lose all the benefits.

Rather than focussing on both the inhale and exhale, it helps to simply focus on channelling the exhale, lengthening the breath out until your lungs are completely empty. You don’t have to force the inhale or even control it – the body’s reflex response is to initiate the inhale part of the process at this point. So you can exhale fully, relaxed in the knowledge that the inhale will take care of itself.

OK, I see you may be a little bit confused about where I am going with this one, so let me explain.

When we start on a fitness and diet programme, with the intention of shedding that extra weight, we often focus on the wrong part of the process. We are so fixated on the results that we get frustrated and may even forget to focus on the steps we need to take to get there.

It’s a far better approach, especially at the beginning, to almost forget about the results altogether!

The results, like the inhale, will happen naturally, so long as the rest of the process is happening. If you are effectively making changes to your diet and lifestyle and are exercising regularly and consistently, then you will lose body fat. If you are following a programme correctly, then you don’t need to worry about the outcome. You energies are far better directed at making sure you follow the programme as best you can.

When we overly fixate on the results we can easily become frustrated or despondent, feeling as though all our efforts are being wasted. You might not see a great difference straight away, and the difference you see each day will be negligible as the process of fat loss is a gradual one, so to follow it every step of the way is counter-productive. By keeping this side of the equation uppermost in your mind, you set yourself up for self-defeating and self-sabotaging thoughts, such as ‘it’s pointless, I’ve not lost any weight today after all my hard work yesterday, I might as well not bother’.

Even if you manage to avoid that kind of thinking, you will be making the whole process much more stressful than it needs to be.

However, if you direct your energy into doing all you can to enjoy your healthy eating plan, and giving all you’ve got to your training programme, you can relax and let the results come to you. You are putting in the work, consistently, and there is only one way you can go. This way you avoid the emotional rollercoaster that occurs when you live by the morning’s scale reading.

Not to say you shouldn’t monitor or track your results, however. I weigh myself every morning, and log it. But I keep my distance from the numbers on a daily basis, and use it to track the overall picture. The weight may go up one day for hormonal reasons, or after a carb overload, but so long as the trend is going the way I want it to then I know things are on track. If the weight is going up over a period of time, I know I need to adjust my approach. But the approach is the important thing to focus on! The scales just provide some feedback, which should also be combined with other feedback, such as the fit of your clothes and the tape measure.

Keep your vision in mind, remind yourself of your goals, but direct that towards the part you can change – the behaviours. The outcome is actually out of your hands – we can’t accurately predict how we will respond to a weight loss programme. We may not achieve our goal weight on the scales, but get to our perfect dress size instead.

By thinking about the results every second of the day you set yourself up for a lot of pointless stress and worrying! Focus your energy instead on exercising and eating right – and let the fat loss come to you, naturally.

If it’s good enough for them, surely it’s good enough for you?

If you think you can’t possibly use something that is for such elite athletes, then you are in for a surprise, as you can use the kettlebell for fantastic results, even if you are a complete beginner to fitness.

So regardless of who you are, there are many reasons why a kettlebell is well worth adding to your workout arsenal:

The unique way you hold a kettlebell compared to a dumbbell means you challenge your core and stabilising muscles a lot more – so you get strong from the inside out. The kettlebell achieves this as it has an offset centre of gravity. You will become truly strong and balanced, not bulky, and reduce your risk of injury.

The ‘classic’ kettlebell exercises are dynamic and have a cardio effect – in fact, with a kettlebell in your possession, you will never need to use another piece of cardio equipment again!

Any dumbbell exercise you can do with a kettlebell – some exercises that feel awkward with a dumbbell feel much more comfortable with a kettlebell (so you can perform them more effectively) and others are more challenging with a kettlebell (so you get much better results).

There are so many exercises and methods of training available that you can’t possibly get bored – this means motivation to exercise is no longer an issue. The workouts are fun and varied, so you will be looking forward to your next workout, not dreading it.

You can exercise at home – you only need one kettlebell to get started and although you will probably want a collection you can adapt exercises to make them harder without having to increase the size of the kettlebell.

This means you no longer have to pay gym membership or waste time driving to the gym, or waiting in the gym for equipment to become available.

The dynamic kettlebell exercises are perfect for tightening the classic trouble spot – your butt! The exercises, such as the swing and snatch, require explosive power in the hips and therefore emphasise all the neglected muscles of the back of your body, shaping things up that you thought were beyond repair. Even cellulite will be reduced.

You will get flexibility, balance, strength, endurance and co-ordination, as well as a hot body!

What’s So Good About Kettlebells, Anyway?

This is what I asked myself for quite a long time before I ‘saw the light’! I was based in a gym and saw one of the other trainers using kettlebells with his clients and to be perfectly honest I thought it was all a bit of hype. The exercises looked dangerous and the clients were all getting bruised! I was sceptical at best…

Even when I finally got him to give me a ‘taster’ session I wasn’t completely convinced, I had a decent enough workout but just didn’t get what the big deal was.

I can’t even remember what sparked the mental shift from cynic to evangelist. One minute I’m happy with my dumbbells, the next I’m raving to all who would listen about a shiny round chunk of iron!

I bought a few DVDs and a couple of kettlebells and the addiction came pretty quick – the sheer versatility of the kettlebell intrigued me. I always thought ‘anything you can do with a kettlebell you can do with a dumbbell’ but how wrong I was!

The shape of the kettlebell and the way the weight is held means that performing what would be a simple dumbbell exercise becomes a whole new experience as there is an additional stability factor to consider.

The fact that the bell is designed to be swung is what really makes it stand out from the crowd, though. As soon as you add in the classic kettlebell exercises, like the swing and the snatch, the power of the kettlebell to transform your body and workouts becomes clear. You can get a killer cardio workout, while loading all your ‘behind’ muscles (back, butt, hamstrings…) that are usually underworked in most people. The era of the cross trainer was clearly over – cardio was just never going to be the same again…

Any exercise you can do with a dumbbell you can do with a kettlebell, sometimes feeling more comfortable and sometimes being a lot harder. You can use your kettlebell as a piece of cardio equipment or as an extreme strength tool. You can use a kettlebell to increase mobility and stability and even rehabilitate.

And they look so good, all in a line in the garage, smugly reminding you that you never need to pay gym membership again!

If you start a fat loss plan understanding that it will be hard, you are much closer to success. So many people start off a plan feeling really motivated and ready to get stuck in. Many people I deal with are excited at first, as they think of the end result. But unless you have acknowledged that it won’t be plain sailing, you will hit the first obstacle or hurdle and struggle to overcome it. It is at this point that those who haven’t thought it all through become despondent and demotivated. They weren’t prepared for the regular, ongoing work that was required, and they certainly weren’t prepared to have to make the odd sacrifice or compromise – which is of course essential in order to reverse the situation your current habits have created.

The first step is to set clear goals before you start and then drill down into those goals and plan what you need to do in order to achieve them. At this stage, you can identify potential challenges and come up with clever strategies to overcome them. For example you might have a friend’s birthday to attend where everyone else will be drinking alcohol. If you think it will be too hard to ‘just say no’ when you are there, you can plan to be the designated driver – so you can’t say ‘yes’!

Keep in mind the mantra: ‘it’s simple but it’s not easy’. You are bound to face these obstacles and challenges. Some of these you will navigate easily, others will be harder to overcome. Being prepared and ready for some hard work is really important.

You should also remind yourself that the reward is greater when a challenge is harder, so the obstacles you face now are what will make success seem all the sweeter when you achieve it. When you have lost the fat and are looking great, you will tell everyone how you managed it despite your challenges, so rather than dwelling on them and using them as excuses, let them make your eventual success even more impressive!

Knowing that it is hard means you are likely to be able to be a little more forgiving, though, too. When you think you are failing at something you have been told is easy, you will feel like a failure. Remind yourself that fat loss is hard but that one slip-up really won’t affect your success as much as getting demotivated and giving up altogether will.

Be prepared to forgive yourself when you don’t meet your own expectations, and quickly jump back on and get back on track. The common ‘all or nothing’ mentality that comes from a need to be 100% perfect is counter-productive. Allow yourself some slack and realise that staying on track consistently 80% of the time is far more successful than being 100% perfect for a week only.

Keep your strategies simple (eat clean, eat less, exercise more) but be prepared for some hard work along the way!