Christmas Competition: Win 6 months of workouts & virtual PT valued at $1542!!

5 Minute Fitness | Christmas CompetitionI woke up this morning and felt the urge to do something Christmassy. There've been a few 'pay it forward' videos going viral on Facebook this week and I decided I would do my bit, too.

So....I'm opening this competition to anyone, anywhere, for the next 24 hours only.

The deal is you tell me why you should win my 6 month program. "I need to lose weight" won't cut it. Your reason needs to be genuine and meaningful to you. You don't need to write an essay, but neither does it need to be 25 words or less. All I am looking for is from the heart honesty.

What exactly do you get?

A different workout every day! When you join, you’ll start receiving your weekly workouts. Each week, you’ll be delivered 7 different workouts – we do the thinking and the planning for you! Simply follow the daily programs and be on your way to fitness today! Just tell us what colour you want!

Regular blog updates – direct to your inbox.

5 Minute Focus – motivational emails every Monday morning, to ensure you’re inspired and encouraged to kickstart your working week.

BONUS access to your trainer during a 15 minute phone call each week, to keep you honest, motivated, and on track.

BONUS email support when you need it.

BONUS a food diary we’ll check once a week to ensure what you eat complements your exercise efforts.

I am also including weekly fitness emails and fortnightly healthy recipes.

Total value: $1542

What You Need to Do

BEFORE 2PM FRIDAY 23 DECEMBER, 2011, fill in the form below, telling me why you should win 6 months of workouts and training.

By completing the form below, you'll be subscribing to our weekly motivational email series, 5 Minute Focus, and you'll receive a free eguide as our gift to you. Note, you may unsubscribe at any time.

*If you are already subscribed to 5 Minute Focus, please leave your answer in the comments section of this blog post, not the form!


ENTER YOUR DETAILS NOW!

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Not another lecture about too much food at Christmas

5 Minute Fitness | Christmas dogIs it getting annoying? All those people shaking fingers and telling you all the stuff to avoid eating too much of during the silly season? Unfortunately, they're right. And while we're talking food, you'll note I've posted the also obligatory Christmas puppy image; we need to remember our furry friends still require proper food, water and care at this time of year.

Alright, we've got food and puppies out of the way! (Who now wants a puppy, huh?)

Like I said, there is oodles of information out there and it's been coming thick and fast the last few weeks about the do's and don't's of the holidays. I sit squarely in the middle of the 'cant's', because I'm still on restricted foods, thanks to eating no gluten and very, very little fructose. So take a moment to feel sorry for me when you're eating your Christmas pudding, fruit salads and other such goodness.

Here's the thing: you KNOW when you're eating too much and you KNOW when you should stop and you KNOW what's good and bad for you. You do it at this time of year, because it's the time to relax, wind down and be thankful for the good and the bad (aka 'the lessons') of the year gone. Letting your hair down between Christmas and New Year is fine. The real issue is that most people let their hair down between New Year and Christmas. You know that, too, so I'm just going to move on.

One thing you shouldn't put on the don't list over the holiday break is your exercise. All that garbage you said during the year about not having time, because you work, or this or that or something else. Well, most of you are on holidays now, so there goes the work excuse. Oh, but you have to do all that Christmas shopping? Uh huh, for 8 hours a day? And the cooking, and the relatives, and oh excuses! How could you possibly squeeze in time to exercise? Wanna know?

Bake something (healthy) from scratch. You need a bit of muscle power to knead dough, baby! Work those arms!

Get out in the garden. You know the relatives will judge you (it's what they do at Christmas, isn't it?), so tend those flowers, lay a bit of mulch, weed the grass and sweep the paths. You'll burn plenty of calories.

Clean the house. Yep, those judgemental relatives will be ticking off checklists - you'll hear about it by mid January. Sweep, mop, vacuum, rearrange your cupboards. If your family is anything like the ones I know, you'll have random visitors dropping by most days. Keep sweeping and mopping those calories away.

Clean the windows! Need I say anything more on that one?

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day can be mentally and physically draining. Excuse yourself for 15 minutes and take a walk around the block. It'll renergise you and give you a break from the wrapping papers, kids, food, drinks and obligatory drunken uncle.

Get outside and play some kind of game with the whole family. Yes, backyard cricket usually ends in tears (adults, more often than kids, it seems), but it's fun while it lasts.

If you're at or near the beach, walk, walk, walk. Walking in the sand gives your legs a great workout. Build sandcastles, chase the kids.

Be childlike. Remember when the holiday season was fun and exciting and you anticipated pretty lights, decorating the tree, and unwrapping presents before 6am Christmas day, when your parents were still not quite awake and pretended being woken at that time of day was fine; you didn't know then that they'd been up till 3am wrapping presents from Santa and making sure you really were staying in bed before they left him a plate of food.

There are all the regular ways of keeping up your exercise at this time of year, or any time, for that matter. Park further away from the store and walk. Use the stairs instead of the elevators - yes, shopping centres still have those old fashioned things called stairs!

Don't try getting all the shopping bags out of the car at once. Take one or two bags at a time and walk back and forth. A couple of extra minutes and a few more calories burned. I am compulsive about this - I have to do this in as few trips as possible, so this is my lesson, too!

The number of ways you can keep up your exercise over the silly season is really up to you, and if you're creative, it doesn't have to feel like exercise at all. However, the more food you eat and alcohol you consume, the more actual exercise you'll probably need to do. It's up to you. Don't go crazy, but do enjoy yourself.

Be grateful, be happy, be kind to each other. Most importantly, have a safe time and spend it well.

The examples used above may or may not be situations in which I've been involved over the years and aren't necessarily related to my family or friends. 😉

Christian Williams: An Olympic Dream

5 Minute Fitness | Christian Williams: An Olympic Dream
Photo from Adelaide Times article

We met Christian a few weeks ago and have since had the pleasure of getting to know him better during a course we attended last week in Sydney. He's a guy with a big dream; a dream of competing in the Olympics.

From the moment you meet him, you can tell he's larger than life and he exudes enthusiasm and positivity. However, his overt nature and big smile hide an underlying health issue that could literally cause his death at any moment. He has a condition in which his heart races, then stops. Completely.

This article in the Adelaide News gives a brief back story to a guy in his twenties who's living his life doing all he can to live his life. And we think that's pretty damn amazing.

Today's Herald Sun includes the latest story about Christian's Olympic journey and the incredible lengths to which he'll go to achieve his dream - including going off his medication over the weekend and landing himself in hospital, which gave us all a bit of a scare!

Apart from his medical issues, Christian's biggest hurdle right now is getting funding and donations to help him achieve his big Olympic dream. We reckon he's got what it takes and urge anyone out there who has the means or ability to support him in some way to do what you can to get on board and get him to the Olympics. If you have a business event, have him attend and speak to your staff and colleagues.

Please back Christian in any way you can. Here are some ways you can help:

- Get in Contact with Christian Williams:

Email christian.williams@live.vu.edu.au

Phone 0407 835 952

- Donate through his PayPal Address

Just Log In to your PayPal account, click "Send Money" and donate to christian.williams@live.vu.edu.au

- Check out his new Facebook Page for more information about him and his story.

Christian, we think you rock and we're lucky to call you a friend.

5 Minute Focus – Thank you

5 Minute Focus - thank youA quick note to say thank you to all those who've subscribed to my 5 Minute Focus motivational email series. I appreciate and am sincerely grateful for your support and I hope the emails you receive each Monday inspire and encourage you to go out and get more out of your day, your week, your life.

Much gratitude,

Eve

Unleashed Retreats is back

5 Minute Fitness | Unleashed Retreats | A2Z Personal TrainingI had the idea I'd like to run fitness retreats for a number of years before I actually did anything about it. When I met Andy, he was just as keen on the notion, so Unleashed Retreats was born, we made plans and held our first retreat in February 2011. With the benefit of hindsight, we should have put it off, considering he was in the middle of chemo and I had badly damaged my ankle, but we went ahead and had a great time. There are photos and video on our Facebook page.

The Universe sometimes has rather inconvenient ways of making you stop and this year it was chemo for him and a barely held together ankle for me. Now we're back on track and planning an absolutely massive 2012. I'm excited, because I know what we have planned and I can't wait to get started!

In 2012, we're offering the following types of weekend retreats:

  • Dads and sons - have a boys weekend away, connecting, bonding and simply having fun.
  • Brides and their maids - get the girls away on a girl power weekend before the big day, with some fitness thrown in.
  • General fitness - not bootcamp, not yoga, but plenty of outdoor activity and exercise.
  • Personal development and fitness - want a bit of both, why not exercise mind and body together?
  • Corporate - we can design a package for you.
  • Private groups - get your friends together and have your own private retreat.

We're taking early retreat registrations now, because there are limited places on some of the retreats. We have a maximum of ten dads on the dads and sons retreats. Places for brides will be limited depending on the number of bridesmaids in their party. The bottom line is, register your interest as soon as possible, so you don't have to wait, or miss out altogether!

Register your interest here, now. Go ahead, it's free!

Eve

Beating Cancer: Andy’s advice

5 Minute Fitness | Beating Cancer | AndyEvery now and then you meet someone who inspires you, just by being themselves. When I met my partner, Andy, he seemed older than his years. I guess when you've battled cancer more than once at such a young age, you gain a different perspective on life than the regular Gen Y male (or any Gen, for that matter).

Prior to meeting Andy, I'd not had first hand experience of anyone going through cancer treatment, so I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was I was going to stick around, no matter what happened. Any moments I felt the need to freak out, I did on my own, in private, or with close friends who were ok with me losing it entirely every now and then.

I was going to write an article on cancer and wellness, because I'm on a very restricted diet myself these days (for my own health reasons) and Andy and I are living as clean and organic as we can, when it comes to nutrition, because we're doing our best to ensure his cancer does not return for a third time. But I decided it was better to come from him. He's a personal trainer, with his own successful mobile personal training business, A2Z Personal Training and he's proof beating cancer is as much about attitude as it is about treatments and medications. He's also my best friend and my inspiration when a 'bad day' gets the better of me.

Growing up we all had ideas of what Cancer meant. To me, it was an old person’s disease, it was something the person had done to themselves and it was something most people didn’t survive. Fast forward to just after my 21st birthday and I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. There went my thinking on Cancer and how it affects people.

Before I was diagnosed with Cancer the first time around I was the fittest and healthiest I could be. I had been a gymnast my whole life and was training 25-30 hours per week, my eating habits were as clean as they could be with practically zero junk food and I was a happy young man, with a very bright future having just started my personal training business.

By the end of my three rounds of chemotherapy and two surgeries I was a very frail version of my former self. Going from all my training, practically feeling invincible, to then barely being able to stand for any decent amount of time was a tough adjustment and something that took a long time to get over.

Lesson number one for me: Anyone can get Cancer - age is no barrier. We are all smart enough these days to know you don't have to be in a certain age bracket for a particular disease. Thanks to modern technology, certain diseases are far too common in the younger generations now than they ever have been, so we all need to adjust our behaviour to help minimize any risk.

What I have implemented over the last few years:

- My pc used to be on almost 24/7 and thinking back it scares me how much radiation that was emitting in my bedroom! So now I use a laptop, which isn’t on as much, and I certainly don’t have it on in my bedroom.

- I very rarely use the microwave. They are ok to use, to an extent. But, as far as I’m concerned it’s the lazy way to heat up food anyway. We can live without microwaves; it may just take some organization. Leave your food out to defrost, reheat/cook on the stovetop or use the oven.

- I take a few minutes every day to just sit and think. I’m terrible at meditation as my mind is like a child and just runs away at any chance it gets. So instead, I just sit and concentrate on my breathing, whatever happens in my head I just let happen. Relax and take time for you, your body and mind will thank you for it.

- One of the biggest changes I’ve made is in what I eat. I’ve cut out all processed meat – packaged chicken/ham/bacon/turkey/prosciutto and tinned foods. I also only have red meat once, rarely twice a week as it has been linked to a cause of cancer.

  • Just on ham, I, like most school kids, had a cheese and ham sandwich for lunch pretty much every day for my 13 years of school! While it may or may not have contributed to me getting cancer, I hate to think what eating that amount of processed meat does to our bodies!

- I also eat organic food when and where I can. Organic food tends to have a higher level of vitamins, minerals and nutrients while leaving out the herbicides, fungicides, pesticides and artificial fertilizer chemicals that are present in non-organic produce and can contain cancer causing ingredients.

- I drink alkalized water whenever possible as well. I had to buy a little canister which alkalizes the water for me and I carry it around with me, which is fine because I always have a water bottle wherever I go. Alkalized water helps with some of the following:

  • Neutralizing your body’s acidity levels. Cancer feeds off acid so the less acidic your body, the less chance you have of getting cancer in the first place.
  • Alkaline water is an antioxidant, which is what our bodies need to keep healthy – a variety of antioxidants in the right quantities!
  • Improving the body’s absorption of essential nutrients allowing our body to digest our food better.
  • Improved immune system function to fight disease.

- I’ve pretty much stopped drinking alcohol, not that I drank much to begin with anyway. This is a pretty obvious one, alcohol is filled with sugar! What feeds cancer? Sugar! I’ve limited my sugar intake as much as I can.

- I take a few vitamins each day, which have been shown to help reduce the risk of cancer. It’s easy to remember: Vitamin A,B,C,D,E and F for fish oils. I’ve been given specific amounts of each vitamin to take, but always remember to check with your own health care professional to see what would be right for you.

Another of my thinking patterns around cancer when I was young was that it was the person’s fault; this is certainly not the case at all. If you asked any of my friends to describe me before all this happened they would say, ‘health freak.’ I breathed this stuff everyday growing up.

I know people who have smoked their entire lives and are still healthy 20, 30 even 50 years later, then at the other end of the scale, I know a handful of people like myself who live a very fit and healthy lifestyle and are somehow the unlucky ones.

Almost to the day one year ago, I was in having surgery to remove part of my lung because tumours had grown back after I had been clear for three years; my journey was just beginning, again. This time I at least knew what to expect so I was very well prepared. Eve on the other hand, who I had just met, I’m sure didn’t know what she was getting herself in for. I am forever grateful she stuck around, without her by my side day in and day out I think I would have given up.

While I was in hospital I knew I had to get out and about so I wasn’t sitting still so much. I managed to get outside and walk around the park a few times, even just sitting on the park bench made me feel more relaxed.

One of my biggest realizations after all my surgeries and Chemotherapy this year was that I had to take more time for myself, no excuses. We are all so busy with working longer hours, spending time with family and friends that we forget to take time for ourselves. When’s the last time you spent even ten minutes by yourself just sitting?

Over the past four and a half years my life has completely changed, I have a whole new perspective on life and what it has to offer. I am lucky enough to have gone through Cancer twice and come out the other end a stronger man and every day now I see a bright future ahead.

I have come across so many opinions, theories, pills and concoctions on what can help cure and keep Cancer away which I’d love to share with you, but then I’d have to write a book! So instead, enjoy your life, implement some of my ideas and share them all with your family and friends so they too can be doing their part to stay Cancer free.

Andrew Zagami

Construction Zone

construction zone | 5 Minute FitnessHi everyone,

I've been a bit MIA the last week or so. Andy and I had our first real holiday break away from work in over 12 months; a much, much needed rest.

After only one day back, we participated in a three day intensive business course (and could probably do with another holiday to absorb it all) that's kinda blown our minds.

But now we're back and I've done a bunch of adding and modifying to the site; things I hope you'll find somehow beneficial. I still have quite a bit of work to do, so please wear safety hats and let me know if anything's not working how it should. I've left notes where I know the paint is still not dry.

Please stick around though. I have some great info to share on the blog in the coming days and weeks. Make sure to go ahead and use the subscribe buttons in the right hand side bar to get automatic updates direct to your inbox or whatever news feed you use.

Thanks for your patience and support.

Eve

Facing vampires and slaying dragons

Facing vampires and slaying demonsI don't know how it started that I had a fear of needles. I suppose a large percentage of the population has an aversion to getting blood drawn or having injections. As someone who thoughtfully and willingly went out and got tattoos on her own more than once, a number of years back, it doesn't make sense. But you know what they say about tattoo pain, "It's different." Continue reading

Best chocolate pancakes ever

5 Minute Fitness | chocolate protein pancakesWe make the best chocolate pancakes ever and I know you're going to make them, too. The coolest part is they're good for you.

My partner, Andy and I seem to be in the habit of finding a recipe and butchering it to suit our needs. More often than not, the result turns out pretty well. However, in light of our experimenting, I won't put ingredient amounts in some posts, just the ingredients themselves. Of course, I'm sure most of you have made pancakes before and know the drill.

Best chocolate pancakes ever - ingredients:

* Chocolate protein powder
* Gluten free plain flour
* Eggs
* Milk
* Cinnamon

Things we've discovered over time:

* Without the flour, they will not set or flip and end up looking like something out of Dr Who (the early years). 😯
* You can eat the Dr Who mush, but it's just not the same. 😛
* No matter how much flour or protein powder you add, they'll still remain the consistency and thinness (is that a word?) of crepes, rather than become fluffy.
* Cinnamon is a cool addition, but don't add too much.
* Butter seems to work better in the pan than oil, but use something olive oil based, or Nuttelex.

Most importantly, try as we might, we've rarely managed to get let them sit long enough to make a few and sit down to eat. For some odd reason, they disappear right from the plate as soon as they're out of the pan.

Compassion and respect

soap boxI'm getting muscles lately dragging out my soap box and climbing onto my high horse. I hadn't expected to pull out the soap box again so soon, but I don't do so well when I try to mask my thoughts, so here goes... Continue reading

How healthy is your health food?

Health food or unhealthy?Do you know the answer? How healthy is your health food? I was in a long queue in the pharmacy, and it just happened to flow down the aisle in which the weight loss products were displayed. I knew there were a lot of options, but I was amazed to see the number and variety of different items. If one were so inclined, it would be possible to buy one's meals for the entire week from those few feet of 'weight loss' products. Continue reading

Going Backwards? Maybe you should.

Going backwardsIf you find your regular training is not challenging you enough, or you think it is time you did something a little different; like running backwards. Backwards shuttle runs on a flat surface, or backwards hill climb sprints are always a fun alternative to regular aerobic training. They help with balance, get you using your muscles in different ways...and they looks silly...but who wants a boring training session?! Try this!

Media misleading people

Soap box - media misleading peopleThe continuance of the media misleading people about health and fitness

The good ole 'diet' industry... I saw the article below quite a while ago and probably should have been more surprised than I was at the tone. In this day and age where we're all getting lazier, slower, fatter, sicker, the implication that exercise does not play a part in weight loss and can, in fact, make you fatter, is of major concern. The media misleading people does nothing to assist those of us trying to do something to educate and rehabilitate those people who really do want and need our help. Continue reading