Three stage fitness

I’ve written an article about a very simple approach to fat loss. One of my clients calls me the Patron Saint of the Bleedin’ obvious, and I think this article probably qualifies – at least as far as Stage One is concerned! Obvious, but true and sometimes it makes sense to go back to basics…

Take a look, its been published on the great WatchFit website – Click here

As always, I welcome comments, thoughts, questions via email.

Four weeks and counting…

It’s just four weeks until I head to the stage for the Pure Elite Fitness Model Championships in Margate on November 2nd. Actually, checking the calendar, make that nearer to three weeks – gulp – and there’s a lot to be done in those remaining days!

For newcomers, this activity involves standing on a stage in a packed theatre with very few clothes on (there are some clothes, it’s not that extreme!) – and being judged on physique, stage presence and model attributes. Think of it as a bodybuilding show without the nasty drugs, and with smaller muscles, but with bigger shorts and bigger smiles! It’s a much more aesthetic and marketable look than a typical professional bodybuilder.

I’m no stranger to this sort of thing – I’ve competed four times in the past, all with the Miami Pro organisation. But this is the Pure Elite organisation and it’s a bit more of a challenge for me – why is that that? With Miami Pro, I was in their over 50’s category – indeed I’m their current World Champion for that age group. But Pure Elite has a different age category structure, so I’m in the over 45’s. This makes a difference as I will be on stage just two weeks before my 58th birthday, so I will be alongside competitors up to 13 years younger than me – and in this game, it’s a lot easier to look good and do well if you are younger.

I’m entering three classes – Fitness Model, Muscle Model and Body Transformation. Muscle Model requires more muscle than the more elegant Fitness Model look, but it’s still nothing like a pro bodybuilder in appearance. And I hope my transformation of losing a third of my body-weight in fat since turning 50 will help me in the final category.

In these final few weeks, I’m training alongside Dan Wynes, who I have been mentoring in fitness for six months. Dan is also entering the show – in different categories to me since he’s only 21. Indeed I wouldn’t be entering this one without Dan’s insistence that I should (although Jenny, my wife, says I didn’t need much convincing!).

Snapshot - 201Over this week and next, I’ll be trying to coax a few last pounds of fat off, and add a wee bit of muscle here and there by turning the dial up on all my training and nutrition activities. I’m now up to doing pre-breakfast cardio 6 days a week rather than 4, and I’ve increased the afternoon weights workouts similarly – with more intensity, and determination to set new personal performance records. On the nutrition side, I’ve reduced my daily calories a little, I’m cutting the sugar and other fast carbs significantly wherever I can, but increasing the protein to make up some of the calorie reduction from the reduced carbs. To help on the nutrition side, I’m also checking I’m taking the right supplements, most of which are from True Performance Nutrition.

The plans from next week are that the training and nutrition parameters for me and for Dan get turned up one more notch – which we will do as part of an intensive week of pre-contest ‘fitness immersion’ in Los Angeles. This is a trip we have scheduled to absorb some of the atmosphere of the fitness capital of the world, and try to live with almost perfect pre-contest training and nutrition for a week.

One interesting point is that the contest journey Dan and I are making is being filmed for a TV documentary, with filming both in the UK and on our LA trip. With an eye to promoting community activities, the documentary is designed to show how mentoring works and benefits both the mentee and – more unexpectedly – the mentor, and also how our initial mentoring relationship has built into a strong friendship that transcends the generation gap between us.

Another interesting aside is that just 6 days before going on stage, I am running in the Dublin Marathon – a commitment I made to raise funds for a very poorly little girl who lives near us (look at www.bitly.com/chris4esme to see more). Doing what I can to help Esme is a high priority, and it’s just bad luck – or perhaps over-eagerness on my part – to have two such significant, challenging and personally-important events just six days apart. I’m still working out how to juggle the training and nutrition involved in getting off a plane in London from LA, then getting on to one for Dublin, running that Marathon and then being stage-ready for Pure Elite a few days later.

Jenny is also running the Dublin Marathon – and we’ll try to run together throughout, even though she’s a much better distance runner than me. And, being the amazingly supportive wife she is, she will be shouting her socks off for the two of us when Dan and I hit the Pure Elite stage – as will his girlfriend Liz and his own family, all joining Jenny in the front row of go-mad spectators!

Chris meets Dan at BodyPower 2014

Chris meets Dan at BodyPower 2014

If you’d like to read Dan’s blog and his views on fitness generally and this contest in particular, find it on www.DanWynesFitness.Wordpress.com – and I’ll be giving more information on my exact approach to nutritional changes next week in my blog – then it will be Los Angles, Dublin, Margate in the following blogs. Then it’s an easy downhill run to turning 58 and then Christmas!

The countdown has begun…

It’s now seven weeks until my next appearance on the contest stage, and Stage 1 of my pre-event preparation has been under way for a week.   Hang on, I hear you cry (almost), I thought you had retired from competition earlier this year, Chris?  So what’s afoot?

Indeed it’s true that I declared after my contest appearances in April that my on-stage competition days were over.  After all, I had just won the Miami Pro World Championship for my age group (the over 50’s), for both Muscle Model and Fitness Model, so it did rather seem like a good time to retire.  I had achieved one place better than the same event last year, so the progression of runner-up to winner to retirement sounded pretty logical to me.

But then, in May, I met young Dan Wynes and his girlfriend Liz.  Dan knew of my story, and he asked if I would act as his fitness mentor.  I agreed, but only on the condition that he set himself a real and specific target – entering a fitness modelling contest similar to the ones I had done.  The Pure Elite contest was chosen because the date of the event, 2 November, was then about 6 months in advance of that initial meeting between Dan, Liz and me.

Chris meets Dan at BodyPower 2014

Chris meets Dan at BodyPower 2014

It was then Dan’s turn to make a condition – he would only enter Pure Elite if I retired from being retired, and entered the event as well.

The conclusion of these mentor/mentee negotiations was therefore that Dan and I will both compete in the event – although in very different age categories – he is 21, after all.

So, that’s how I come to now be following Stage 1 of the preparation for an event that wasn’t on my radar 7 months ago.

This is, I’m sure, going to be a tougher competition than my last ones – a key reason for this is the age categories.  In my last contests, the category age was 50 and over; in Pure Elite, its 45 and over.  So, as I will be entering the stage just a couple of weeks away from turning 58, I’ll be facing competitors up to 13 years younger than me.  You may think that gives me more years of preparation time, but it doesn’t actually work that way, one reason being that I didn’t do any sport or lift weights seriously in the gym room until well past 50.

All of which means I’m going to have to work extra hard to do well on 2 November.  Which I will indeed do, as I relish a challenge.  And I have the bonus of training up to the date together with Dan – while I am mentoring him for these final few weeks, he is also doing his very best to encourage me too (not that I need much encouragement, the truly un-wonderful smell of the spray tan is beckoning to me already).  So yes, darling Jenny, it’s another round of spray tans, body shaves and grumpy carb-light Chris for you to put up with – one more time.

So what are these preparation stages that I mentioned all about, and what constitutes Stage 1?  I’ll explain all in my blog this time next week.

And if you want to follow Dan’s progress for these final few weeks too, check out and subscribe to his blog Danwynesfitness.wordpress.com

New Approved Personal Trainers

As you may know, I am a Personal Trainer offering my services on exercise, nutrition and lifestyle advice to a range of clients.  I do this in person in South Bucks and Central London, and by Skype consultancy sessions elsewhere.

But I can’t be everywhere and available at all times, so to help meet the demand country-wide, I’ve set up a network of other Personal Trainers that I know and trust to deliver a high-quality, client-centred personal training service.  All on this network have the right qualifications and insurance of course, plus they have shown to me their ability to support clients of the age range that I tend to specialise in – my ‘quintastics’, those over 50 in other words!

Very few of these Fitness Over Fifty Approved Personal Trainers are themselves over 50, but they have all shown to me they can work successfully and built a good rapport with the client even if there is an age difference.  But they all work with clients yet to meet the golden half-century mark as well!

Dan squareThe latest additions to the register of Fitness Over Fifty Approved Personal Trainers are Felicity Day in Southampton (below), and Dan Wynes in Telford (right).  Both of these have existing clients, their own fitness experience and knowledge to make them worthy additions to the list of Approved Personal Trainers.   They also bring new locations served, as there were no previous Approved Personal Trainers living either in Shropshire or South Hampshire.

Felicity APT in FOFIf you are looking for some guidance, motivation or inspiration – whether its just a single piece of advice, a weekly training session, or something in-between, and you live near Dan or Felicity, then I suggest you check out their profile and email contacts on www.FitnessOverFifty.co.uk/APT.

Indeed, you can see the full listing and details of Approved Personal Trainers that cover the country from Aberdeen to Devon (sorry Cornwall – and Northern Ireland –  I’m still looking!) by searching on that page.

I know the skills, enthusiasm and dedication of all the trainers listed, and I recommend each of them.

I hope you have a fit-increasing, fat-reducing sunny weekend – whether using a personal trainer or your own motivation!

TV update

I have produced a four-part TV series on fitness called ‘Fit Happens’ which is currently being shown in the UK.  I chose the series name because it rhymes with…

Each episode is hosted jointly by me and sports nutritionist Keith Cormican, and takes a magazine-type format – a bit like Top Gear but on a tiny budget!

The target audience is anyone who is interested in learning more about increasing their fitness levels, reducing their fatness levels, or a bit of both.

CK and foodIn the four shows we cover gym training for various body parts, running, cooking healthy recipes, cycling, aerobics classes, cardio, yoga, stretching and a wide variety of viewers’ questions.

We hope we haven’t missed anything, but there’s only so much we can cram into four shows of 30 minutes each!

Its on the Community Channel, which is found on Sky 539, Freeview 63, Freeview-HD 109, Virgin Media 233, and Freesat 651. Each episode premieres Sunday night at 8:30pm.  Then that episode is repeated on Monday at 6pm, Wednesday at 9pm and Saturday at 8pm.

Dates of the 8:30PM Sunday premieres are:

Episode 1 – July 27
Episode 2 – August 3
Episode 3 – August 10
Episode 4 – August 17

Fit Happens LogoAnd remember, if you miss the premiere on Sunday, that episode is repeated three times in the following week – as mentioned above. Keith and I hope you watch and can pick up a few tips that will improve your fitness – not just in the short term, but for the rest of the year and beyond.

We’d love to get your feedback:

To me on :Chris@FitnessOverFifty.co.uk
To Keith on: Info@KeithCormican.com

Fit For Life

I spend a lot of time in gyms these days, either trying to improve my weight-training performance or working on removing some layers of fat – usually both. For this week’s blog, I thought I’d explain why I’m doing this in the first place – and how this spreads into other areas of life. I hope this will show that the level of addiction with gym-based stuff brings benefits outside of the weight room – and I my case, how it’s changed my life completely and forever.

A little personal history first, if I may. Up until the age of 50, I was lazy – did no exercise and ate all the wrong things. I hit my 50th birthday at a weight of nearly 18 stone, officially obese and with a bodyfat percentage figure that I can’t imagine. Something else hit me at the same time – a doctors warning that I was in a pre-diabetic state and was heading for some other serious health issues.

I used that message as a serious jolt to my system, and spent the next few years getting fit – lots of cardio in the gym, and eating much more nutritiously. After a couple of years, I added resistance training to the mix. Which brings me to where I am now – about 11.5 stone, with a bodyfat level of 11% which has dipped to about 7% for fitness and muscle model contests – including my win for my age group at the Miami Pro World Championships in April.

So I could talk and write for ages about nutrition, cardio and resistance training. Indeed, I often do. But there have been many benefits to my adoption of a fitness-focused life – and I hope that describing these will encourage you to spend more time on fitness activities.

Firstly, there are obviously the health and longevity benefits. If I hadn’t changed course 7 years ago, I think I’d now be over 20 stone and pretty much immovable, being out of breath just walking across the room. If I was still breathing at all. Now I hope I have many years of fit life ahead if me and will reach 60 in a couple of years fitter and healthier than ever.

I’ve discovered sports I couldn’t dream of doing – I ran my first ever 1k fun run six years ago, then progressed through 5k’s and 10k’s and now regularly participate in marathons. I’ve also bought a bike or two, and now cycle up to 100 miles on some days. Add in the swimming, triathlons and mountain walking, and the fact that Is I have discovered the joy of exercise – something alien to me 10 years ago.

But there are other benefits. I feel much better about myself mentally, more positive for the future. I now believe it’s never too late – for anything – rather than the pessimistic outlook I used to have.

I share many activities with Jenny, my wife. She had pretty much given up on me from a fitness perspective, and we spent too much time apart – as she went off for a run, while I stayed in and watched TV (and probably phoned for a pizza). Our time together has probably doubled, and is much more enjoyable.

Outside of my family life, I’ve become involved In the community through the local running club and organising and presenting fitness training sessions for other, local, over 50-year olds. My oldest regular attendee is well Into his seventies and has progressed in fitness to have a metabolic age of 44 and is still improving. At the other end of the age range, I’m a mentor to Dan Wynes, a fitness star of tomorrow. It’s a particularly good feeling to be able to pass on the benefits of fitness I’ve had to others from 20 to 70 and behind – and be respected as a result. This level of respect, the feeling that I’m doing something that genuinely helps others and be appreciated as a result, is a feeling that was unknown to me in my past life.  So, yes, I have the trophies and a bit of glory on the way, but they are matched in every way by the other joys of being healthy, enjoying life and making a difference to others. It’s infectious, and I hope – well, if you haven’t caught the bug yet, that maybe this article has helped.

By the way, I’m the co-host of a new fitness magazine TV programme. Called ‘Fit Happens’, the show is on Sunday evenings at 8:30, repeated on Wednesdays at 9:00. It’s on the Community Channel – which is FreeView 63, Sky 539, Virgin Media 233. Each week I’m joined by sports nutritionist Keith Cormican, and I hope you get the change to watch – and maybe get some further inspiration towards the benefits of a multi-activity, fitness-focused life!

New Fitness TV Series – Fit Happens

I’m the co-host of a new fitnesIMG_3153s magazine TV programme starting this weekend.  Called ‘Fit Happens’, the show is on this Sunday and for the following few weeks.

Its a fitness magazine programme, covering fitness in a number of different ways – in the gym, in the kitchen, in exercise classes and out in the fresh air.  We’ve targeted this programme at the overall community – its not a commercial enterprise in any way.  If the programmes help just a handful of people find ways in which they can reduce their fatness levels, and increase their fitness levels, then it will have done its job. 

Much as I would have liked ‘Top Gear’ style production values, it was made on a zero budget – so no glamour trips for us (the local park is the furthest we went!).  But the message, I hope, is large.

My co-host is top sports nutritionist Keith Cormican, and he joins me for each of the four episodes.  In this first episode, Keith takes us through cooking a healthy meat meal, while I look at gym exercises for the Pull group – Back and Biceps.  Together we are in the park for the 5k ParkRun, and we have a go at answering viewers questions.  Future episodes include features on aerobics, cycling, yoga, gym training other parts, more tasty and healthy kitchen treats, and answering more questions from viewers.

The first showing is at 8:30PM this Sunday on the Community Channel – which is FreeView 63, Sky 539, Virgin Media 233.  And then at the same time each week for four weeks. 

I very much hope you get the change to watch some or all of the episodes  – and maybe get some further inspiration towards the benefits of a multi-activity, fitness-focused life!

Ignorance or worse?

imageAs I’m a bit into fitness (well, more than a bit), I do tend to think that most other people know at least the basics of what is fit and health-promoting, and what is the opposite. But I may be guilty of making this assumption, so luckily manufacturers and retailers can help those who need a little help. Mr and Mrs Bloggs may not know what healthy food is, but luckily labelling in shops will help them make the right choice.

Or will it? I saw this display in a motorway service area a few days ago. To save the embarrassment of the management there, I’ll not name it – but it was on the M1 north of Leicester and South of Leeds.

If you can’t see the photo well, it has a display labelled ‘Newspapers’ – and underneath it are shelves containing what are pretty obviously Newspapers. So they understand this labelling thing.

Next to it, is a display labelled ‘Healthy Eating’ – so here we’ll find perhaps some chicken or tuna salads, veg snacks, wide selection of fruit, mineral water, packs of nuts maybe. I’ll be generous and throw in some wholemeal sandwiches, a few wraps, and perhaps some low calorie drinks and yogurts.

But the display contained nothing but high sugar, high fat, low protein and low fibre, high-temptation sugar-addiction-fuelling products. Chocolate fingers, Maryland Ciookies, Jammy Dodgers, Oreos in a variety of configurations, packs of Crunchies, Jaffa Cakes and loads of chocolate biscuits varieties.

So what is going on here? Either the store (or multinational corporation that owns or franchises it) is ignorant of healthy eating – which is terrible for a food retailer – or they are trying to mislead, trying to get people to buy things that aren’t good for them hoping to sell more of this stuff as a result. Which is probably worse. Either way, it’s either ignorance (from those who should know better) or deliberate deception.

Mind you, right next to it is a stand for Krispy Kreme. Which adds more temptation to buy some more very unhealthful stuff. As you can tell, I’m not a fan of that particular service area and want a Welcome Break from that unnamed retailer.

By they way, on Krispy Kreme – If you can’t trust a manufacturer to spell even simple words correctly, can you trust them on supplying products of nutritional value? Answer – they don’t.

Have a great week, eating more healthily than at that service area!

Fitness TV time…

Snapshot - 101Interested in fitness on TV?

The TV documentary about me – ‘Fat To Fit at Fifty’ – is being shown by the Community Channel tomorrow. It tells my fitness transformation story and how I’m helping others down the same road. There’s contributions from some of my Personal Training clients, magazine editors, plus fitness professional Rob Riches – who is my own inspiration and the guy who introduced me to fitness in the first place. There’s also views from top local PT Russell Lee, celebrity fitness photographer Simon Howard, and my workout buddy, fitness model Alex Hughes.

It is being shown at the following times on these channel numbers:

Tuesday 17 June – 11AM

Wednesday 18 June – 5AM

The Community Channel is on Sky 539, Virgin Media 233, Freeview 63 and Freeview-HD 109.

I hope you get the chance to watch!

Meet Dan…

Life has many good feelings. And one is when you help generate interest in others for something that you are passionate about.

Chris meets Dan at BodyPower 2014

Chris meets Dan at BodyPower 2014

This has just happened to me. I met a young guy at a trade show recently and somehow infected him with my enthusiasm both for fitness generally, and more specifically for standing on stage in a Fitness Modelling competition. I’ve been committed to a fitness-focussed life for six years now, and having collected a few championship wins on the way, I know how great a lifestyle this is.

The chap in question – Dan Wynes – was already keen on fitness. Indeed, before I met him he had developed an interest in the teachings, approaches and training strategies of fitness professional Rob Riches. Dan and I have that in common, as Rob was my original personal trainer and is a guy for whom I continue to have massive respect.

A 15-minute chat with me bolstered Dan’s enthusiasm levels. So much so that he decided at the end of our conversation to committing to step up his fitness activities substantially and progressing sufficiently over the next six months and that he would enter his first Fitness Model contest organised by Pure Elite in November. Dan asked me to help in whatever ways I can, and requested that I mentor him right up to the contest date.

Well, I’ve never been a mentor before, indeed I had to check in the dictionary exactly what was involved. However, the combination of me knowing just a bit about the subject, my keenness to pass this knowledge on, and Dan’s desire to learn and put this information into practice, seems to be the perfect recipe for mentoring success. So I accepted, and as a result I will be doing what I can to help him get into the best shape of his life so far. I say ‘so far’, because at age 21 he has many more ‘best shapes’ to come.

The term ‘journey’ is over-used on the fitness world, but I think it’s appropriate for Dan as he plans for the time up to his first contest. I am relishing being his guide for the trip – and I rather suspect that I will learn much from him too as we work together and he heads towards that appointment with the stage.

I am very honoured to be asked, and I will endeavour to repay the trust and confidence Dan has placed in me. I hope Dan finds me a good mentor – but if he slackens at all (which he won’t) he will find me morphing into a tor-mentor instead!

Dan will be blogging his own progress over those months, and I invite you to read and subscribe to his blog on www.DanWynesFitness.wordpress.com – and we’ll both let you know how we get on!