What's Holding You Back?

My life kinda changed when I realised that if there was anything I wanted to become or learn

I could it was just a matter of a few things

It make sense when

You have access to any amounts of information on any subject available

For example type weight loss Leicester in Google and 1.5 MILLION different pages are available

There are experts already in any field

There are mentors willing to help you

Mastermind groups

Books

BUT...

I kinda know your answer before I ask this question

For what reasons have you not achieved what you so desire if there is so much information out there

And I'm not only talking about weight loss

What about your job

A new language

How about learning to play a new instrument

The information is out there for you to learn

Jesus, I've sent you an email every day for the last two weeks apart from weekends

One email asked of 'ACTION'

You chose not to respond

You kinda sat on the side lines

Waiting

Waiting for what to happen I may ask

Im gona give you a clue

And it was one of the biggest learning curves that stifled me to do something about my life

It doesn't matter how 'read' you are

Sheeeeeshh

I have a library at home

I read a book a week (my amazon wish list is my Christmas list)

I read a minimum 4 articles a day

Listen to at least 2 podcasts a day

Alone this year I've invested (see I said invested instead of spent) developing yourself is not an expense its an investment, close too £20,000 with my next course costing me 4,000 for 4 days

Im not telling you this to brag

Far from it

But too make you realise that no matter how much I've learned and invested in myself

This will still NOT make a difference if I don't

TAKE ACTION on it....

That was the biggest light bulb moment of my life!!!!

You have to take ACTION on what you learn

If I hand a carrot out - you have to bite

Its the reason why our members now have a 'members code of responsibility' they have to keep their side of the bargain otherwise we ask them to leave...

Only a few of you answered the questions and arranged a phone call with me from my other email

For what reason I ask did the other people not?!

Maybe they thought my information is not worth it

If that's the case they have every opportunity to 'unsubscribe'

Actually I recommend that they do

For the others there will be a time when it is right

And when it is

I am here ready to take action with you!

Joe (I look to take just ONE idea from each book I read and put it in to ACTION immediately) Hanney

ps I was reminded of this quote yesterday "you have to be willing to put more ENERGY and EFFORT into your goals than anyone else"

"It doesn't matter what happened yesterday; forgot about the past. Its time to make the rest of your life the BEST OF YOUR LIFE!" 

pps if i read a book a week, thats 52 new ideas I try and test every year. How many have you done this year?

The weights area is for men, right?

You've probably heard that we have no cardio machines in our gym


None whatsoever


This might be off putting for some of you


Why wouldn't it be?


When all you've ever done is cardio


Because that's all you have ever been told or shown to do


The weights area is for men, right?

Well, that's what I heard one sales lady at a gym tell a customer


Talk about putting you off from ever stepping in that area never mind lifting a single weight


Because subconsciously now, all you will ever think about when you hear the word 'weight' is that 'weights are for men' not you females


And... it makes it even more convincing is the fact that most commercial gyms have a ladies only section


If this isn't degrading female members, than I don't know what is?!


And finally, commercial gyms have rows and rows of cardio equipment


Who wouldn't think that cardio was the most important exercise for weight loss


Well...


I am here to tell you differently


And I am going to share a story of two from our current members


Firstly, cardio is the least effective form of exercise for weight loss


Your probably thinking "Yeah right, who are you to say that Joe?"


Well for one I am in the business of getting people in shape in the fastest way possible that is also the safest.


Two, if having rows and rows of cardio machines worked, I'd have them in our gym


Otherwise I'd be losing our members to the gyms that cardio machines because supposing they get faster results


In over 12 years of doing this our team have designed, tested, tweaked well over 15,000 weight loss programs, and we currently host around 10,000 workouts a year


In layman's terms this would take you 95 years to achieve


Now,


Now, that I have convinced you about the possible results


Maybe I should touch on a slight fear factor that you might have knowing that we only use weights


(Well, that's what you've heard)


And you've never touched single weight in the past


Here are few members' struggles with coming to terms in approaching us with the perception that all we do is weights


"My biggest struggle/pain that i had before approaching was having the confidence that will I be able to do the workouts and lift such heavy weights as well as control my nutrition. Initially I had been working out at greens mainly cardio. I felt I wasn't getting the results nor the drive as I was getting bored"


"My biggest struggle/pain was my size and not getting any smaller, despite doing endless hours of cardio"


"I was also worried about sciatica and what exercise I would be able to do."


"just used to go to the gym and pretty much do my own thing. Some of it was correct - some not so. I needed direction and specific training to help achieve goals - I had reached a plateau in my training and was becoming bored."
"I was beginning to dislike myself and felt that this approach had never crossed my mind, so why not?"


You see peeps


These were in the same boat


Tired of not seeing results despite doing lots of cardio


Some of them found it boring


Some just wasn't very good at it


Some didn't even know how or what they were supposed to do


Now having been members for a few years now, have a look at what they had to say


"Simply, I followed what you said and got the results. There have been times where things haven't gone so smoothly but always felt supported. When I have spoken about things, I have never been made to feel stupid and was listened to. I really appreciate this and is what makes me trust you. I also think you are quite upfront and straightforward. Know what you are getting. Your strongest values are your commitment to your members results and competency and professionalism with which you work with"

 
"It too me a while to fully trust you to be honest! You gained my trust by answering my questions and providing information. Seeing my results, and other members results also gained my trust. Seeing how much training and development you do is also a factor."

 
"I value the fact that you guys are highly knowledgeable and are able to tailor programmes to suit any injuries safely and effectively. Thank you for changing my life for the better!"


"you stuck with me and helped me to take down the brick wall i had built one at a time in a safe way. honesty you care safety strength understand life loyalty what you do works"


"Initially I needed you to educate and guide me as to the correct and safe way to lose weight through correct nutrition and exercise. I needed you to be supportive, encouraging and non-judgemental. I now need you to keep me accountable, to challenge me and be the voice of reason from time to time when I lose sight of what I'm doing and why. I need you to design programmes for me that will enable me to lead an active lifestyle in the years to come. I need you to be honest and tell me if my expectations are unrealistic. I need you to watch my form to protect me from further injury."


Firstly, as you can see we are not all about weights


Actually far from it


Some people come to us and don't even step into the gym area because they need further help and support with other areas of their life


Like nutrition, work lifestyle balance, managing stress, confidence issues and possible light exercise like corrective stuff because of imbalances or previous injuries


You see, the gym work is only a tiny fraction of someone's results


Somehow there seems to be assumptions around the need to workout several times a week


This is not true


Working out for an hour today is only 4% of the day


What about the other 96% of the day


Do you think that the results could lay in this 96% rather than the 4%


Yes damn right!!! Bigger ratio to play with right


So we focus on the 96% first and foremost


And for everyone else who can train and exercise


We vigilantly assess the client before they step in to the gym


Through gold standards assessments like the Functional Movement Screen and Kinetic Chain assessment, postural analysis, heart rate monitoring, osteopathy measures, etc.


And then we make an informed decision whether the client can train and if they can they all start with very easy steps


They're introduced to the program very lightly


And majority of the work done in the first 12 weeks is based around function (getting the client to move better, correctly and pain free) reducing any pain that they might be suffering from when they initially came to us (most common are low back pain, knee pain and some kind of stiff neck)


 I could go in to great detail about the science and research on why cardio doesn't work but that's not what this email is about


Its about re assuring you that weights are safe when done correctly and under the watchful eye of an expert coach


It is by far the most empowering and rewarding experience you will have in a gym


Once you decide to lift weights... That is! 


Joe (75% of our members are FEMALE and they lift weights) Hanney


Ps why not come in for 30 day trial and see if it's for you

Karen did something similar but at the time we were holding a jeans challenge
Whatever reason you need to come and try us out we have one
Karen never looked back

"I knew you could help me after meeting Joe at the Jeans Challenge Seminar - he was so confident and I was extremely impressed by the fact that he'd had to "unlearn what he had been taught" (his words) and went off to research fat loss in a non standard PT approach."

Hit reply to set this up or call us on 0116 2763411

Thinking of avoiding the Christmas Party

What excuse are you going to use this year?

Do you avoid sociable situations because you feel uncomfortable with the way you look?

Is this because you have a mental image of the type of people that attend these parties and it doesn't fit with the woman who is staring back at you in the mirror?

How many years have you avoided situations like this?

I can understand.

I've worked with many clients who were feeling the same kind of thing,

for many years they had attempted to make it the year that they finally got in shape,

the year that they feel really confident and can face the world when it comes to social events.

But again for whatever reason they cannot explain why they didn’t quite achieve this

They then start on downward spiral of self doubt which we term the negative closed loop cycle

Where…

You attempt to lose weight > lose a little > reward yourself > fall of the wagon > negatively talk to yourself > attempt a stricter diet (because the one before didn’t work) > repeat cycle…

Does this sound like you?

Well, Angela felt the same and then she found us

But what she wanted was (and I think it is what you’ve been missing all along)

“Someone in my corner who understood how I felt, understood what I was going through, the hurdles I faced, who wouldn't judge me and who believed in me so much so, that I could begin to believe in myself again.”

“Someone who would work alongside me, encourage, guide and support me. Who would help me to re-build my confidence and self-belief, helping me to achieve my goal and to become the woman I once was.”

Angela Now

 “I have achieved what I originally joined RWL to achieve. I'm in a good place. I now have my life back and am living it to the full. (So much to be grateful for...thank you).”

Once you’ve achieved this then it is about learning to accept yourself for who you are.

It’s about believing in you

Challenging your belief systems

Angela then went on to saying:

 “I learn to be more accepting of myself. RWL don't pass judgement on what they think I need, so I'm lucky in that respect.”

This can be you!

In time for the Christmas party I hear you ask?

Yes in time for the Christmas party but you need to act pretty damn fast

You can get the ball rolling by answering these very challenging questions because all that you are missing is the “WHY”

Behind everything that you do that is significant. You need to find the deep “why” you’re doing it.

Whenever times get tough (and they will), knowing your WHY will help carry you through this.

You can start to find out your “why” by answering the questions below

I usually only give these to the “RWL members” to answer when they first join

But, I’m in a generous mood today…

And plus I know you only have about 8 Weeks till Christmas – there is still plenty that can be achieved

Feel free to send your answers to RWL Training Department along with your phone number so that we can have a chat about this.

Simply, complete the sentences

1.       My biggest challenge with [insert goal] are:

2.       I desperately need help to:

3.       Even worse, I need to:

4.       Right now, things look like:

5.       I cant wait until I can:

6.       If I just had,_________________ life would be easier

7.       I’ll be happy when:

8.       My friends/family think I need_____________ but I think I need_____________

Seriously, if you avoid this step I can categorically say that you’ll continue to go through the same cycle as I explained above.

Even if you don’t respond to me directly at the very least answer the questions for yourself.  

Joe “Happy that the red cups are back out in Starbucks” Hanney

Get slim while you sleep

We as humans think we know it all, we've almost  unravelled the secrets of the Higgs Boson particle, we've explored every inch of the world and we've even landed a man on the moon. But there are many things we don't know, and I honestly love that. I love the idea that there are an infinite number of discoveries left to be made, most of which will not happen in our lifetime.

One of the forefront runners in the race of 'things we don't know' is why we sleep. The truth is I don't know and as far as I'm aware nor does anyone else. We spend a third of our lives in this blissful state of relaxation and all we know is this:



Sleep is vital to life

There has been a huge amount of research into the effects of acute sleep deprivation, both on animals and on humans. The more extreme studies on rodents has informed us that sleep as a vital function is right up there with food and water. If you withhold water rats will die in around 14 days, after 16 days they will die of sleep deprivation and after 18 days they will die of starvation.

'If sleep does not serve a vital function, then it is the biggest mistake the evolutionary process ever made' - Rechtschaffen

However in this modern world, sleep is given the back seat to other activities. Spending an extra half hour of time awake with a loved one while the children are asleep, or just quickly finishing the laundry or some other chore which you'd rather not leave until morning are classic examples of self sabotage. It is a reasonable thing to do, because if we don't know what the reason for sleep is, then why would be motivated to waste time in such an unproductive manner?

Below is a diagram representing self reported sleep statistics over the last 50 years.

 













Here's the issue; it is not wasted time. It's precious time to regenerate and recover from our daily grind. For example were you aware that people who slept less were more likely to put on weight?


In the 1930's we developed the ability to look at brainwaves and recognised that our brain didn't stop when we slept. We discovered that we all had three different levels of consciousness:

• Wakefullness
• REM sleep
• Non-REM sleep

We know that wakefulness is important for health as this is the time that we eat, drink, exercise and procreate, but there are two others which carry an equal weight. Without them we will die.

Assuming a healthy sleep pattern, we spend about six hours in N-REM sleep, this is important for feeling refreshed and our vitality. Within that we have our deep sleep which is linked to metabolic health.

We also have two hours REM sleep for cognitive health and wellbeing, this is where we dream and the thinking is that it helps to balance our emotions and keep is mentally healthy. But what are the essential mechanisms which are restored when we sleep?

It is common knowledge that eight uninterrupted hours of good sleep are necessary for functions to be carried out effectively and there are consequences to not getting enough sleep. This deficit does not necessarily come from not spending enough time in bed but also interruptions in the night; babies, toilet visits, noisy partners, early alarms etc.




There are both behavioural and physiological changes which result from sleep deprivation; both of which point in the direction of weight gain. The include poor mood and depression, lack of motivation , poor decision making and increased risk taking.

Physiological mechanisms for the connection between sleep and weight gain include the deregulation of our appetite hormones, neurocognitive changes and decreased energy expenditure

Leptin is a hormone which is produced by fat tissue to signal to the body that it has enough energy stored and that appetite needs to be reduced, so as not to increase weight too much. This is useful in controlling excessive weight gain, which in the wild would reduce the chances of you getting caught because you were rolling across the savannah.

A study published in 2004 examined the effect of different amounts of sleep deprivation on daily leptin levels in young males, ranging from 4hours per night to 9 hours per night.

What this study shows is that at 9am the level of Leptin is much lower in those who slept less. So those who sleep less or poorly have to eat much more food to feel satisfied.


(Large image)







 (Large image)















What's more (as the above diagram shows) ghrelin; the hormone which stimulates appetite, is increased when we sleep less. This potent combination means that someone who has had no sleep is both hungry and insatiable at the same time. As a result someone who has had 4 hours of sleep will on average consume 23% more calories per day than someone who is well rested.

Although appetite goes up 18%, appetite particularly increases for sweet foods. Can you really blame someone for wanting a bowl or sugary cereal downed with milk, orange juice and a sweet coffee first thing in the morning? Followed by biscuits at 11, coke and  chocolate bar at lunch etc...

There is of course the obvious answer, restraint. It's all good and well telling yourself not to eat the ice cream, or chocolate; but in practice you also have to burn extra energy to break even. This is because when you sleep less your resting metabolic rate decreases (see diagram below)

 

The outcome of all of this research is clear, that sleep is a vital function for maintaining a healthy body composition. To be honest I've only really scratched the surface on what is affected by sleep deprivation from a physiological perspective, I haven't discussed insulin resistance, irregular cortisol, adrenaline, inflammation and even performance. All these things are negatively affected by reduced sleep. The problem is that you can't sell sleep in a bottle, so no body ever really talks about it.

 

In my next article on sleep I will be covering advice on how to get better quality sleep.

 

Reference - http://sleepforhealth.net.au/sleepweight02.html

He is just relentless...

No word of a lie, I've had 20 missed calls 

6 voice messages

2 emails

And... I only went to Virgin Active for a coffee and catch up with a friend

See I was intrigued that a Virgin gym served Starbucks...

I immediately thought I'd like that at our gym and I'm sure our members would also

Anyway, cut a long story short I was collared by a sales person

I wasn't pressured in to anything I just felt that I should be polite and obliged to answering questions that he had for me

It came too where'd be asking for my contact details etc. so again I gave them to him

Now, ever since this conversation a few weeks back now

He's been relentlessly trying to contact me

You're probably reading this thinking, "Seriously Joe, what's this got to do with me?"

Well, first thing first

He obviously hadn't listened to me

Have you ever found yourself in this situation with your trainer or gym manager?

You went for very specific goals

That on the day of joining were promised that they could be achieved

Its been a few months now and you still have no results

Or how about this...

When it came to shopping about for a gym, you approached a few

Some followed up

And some didn't

But the ones that did were relentless

Just like my story

So you decided to join

You was all happy with your decision

Motivated because you were attending a twice a week sometimes three times

And then...

Something happened whereby you couldn't attend for a few days

Then you got out of routine

And it's been several weeks now

BUT no one has contacted you from the gym, not even the trainer that designed your program

You see peeps

I cannot get my head around this... why are they so relentless at the beginning but when they have sealed the deal they quite honestly don't care about you

I think gyms should follow our suit

Where the member should convince the gym that they are a right fit for a membership
Not the other way round

You might think this is backwards thinking

But it's actually really been a blessing in disguise once we changed this

Because every member that we have are now fully committed and we don't have any tyre kickers wasting our time

And if a member doesn't turn up we do follow up

See what our current member Jemini had to say about this

"I didnt come to the gym for a few days and i had already received an email from Sam asking why,if i was ok and when id be back in. This is what i like about rwl!!"

I just think gyms should have a responsibility to its members and be honest that if a member is being irresponsible for many reasons than they should at least try to speak to you about it and then if it isn't working for you both then let you leave

However, its a numbers game they actually hope you don't turn up
We actually do!!!

What makes us unhappy most is when a member sees themselves as a failure, and all we can see is their potential?

That's why we need to make this right for the both of us... it cannot be all one sided

Like it currently is in the fitness industry

Want to see how we are so different

Want to know if you are a good fit for our membership then call us on 0116 276 3411

Joe 'challenging the conventional way of fitness' Hanney

ps we've had some feedback on our nutrition seminar, but to confirm that we are doing this we would need in the region of 20 people and we currently have 8. Would you be interested in this?

September's seminar

Don’t be fooled

You know by those 4 for £1 offers

Or those last minute impulse buying decisions when you reach the counter in any shop

Or those last minute sales on items that you would have never thought about buying in the first place

This is the time that the companies know that your vulnerable and will buy anything

They already know that you wired, craving sugar, starving and need a quick fix

They’ve done the research on you

Don’t believe me? Then why did Disney entertain the idea of redeveloping their whole theme park so that all the entrances to the rides were sugar coated in toy shops?

So that just after your kids have had fun on the ride and they are super excited about it

BAM

A micky mouse toy is standing there ready for them to buy

‘I want, I want mum.’

Not quite sure what the stats were in sales but from memory it MADE their business the success it is today

That one manoeuvre

Other shops and supermarkets just followed suit

Don’t believe me?

Then why do Tesco, Asda and all the other stores get you to do some kind of figure 8 cueing that coincidently sits alongside the rows and rows of sweets

And you think you’ve done well to avoid these

BUT then at the counter like a smack in the face you are laced with the  4 for 1 offers on chocolate bars etc

Psychology tells us you will buy 80% of the time after being exposed to the same item 6-12 times in a row  

Even Starbucks does this

How do I know?

Because they tricked me into buying

Made me que alongside the cakes, short breads and ooohhhhh the mouth-watering almond croissants

I couldn’t resist

I did for a little while

But the que seemed to take extra-long to dwindle down this time

It just kept staring at me

Then I could smell it

Oh it smelt so good

Still staring at me

I reached the counter

Barrister asked Usual Joe?

Yes please (if you know me it’s a Flat White, I am bit of a coffee snob J )

And then… would you like a pastry with that? The barrister asked

Erm… erm…

Yes please…

S**t you got me!

You see, we are all guilty of this sometimes

The question is then

What do you do about it?

Do you beat yourself up because you ate ‘bad’ food

Do you starve yourself for the rest of the day because you are on a diet?

Do you just think ‘fu#k it, I’ve failed again, I’ll start my diet again on Monday

It doesn’t have to be this way

Come on, in the grand scheme of things if it is just the one pastry do you really think that’s gona be that damaging to your weight loss attempts?

If so, then every diet you’ve done in the past has mentally scared you

It has also created a VERY negative relationship between you and food  

You see every diet has an expiry date

And from this you start to make assumptions that to get results you have to be very strict

Because the last time you remember getting any kind of results was when you starved yourself last on that diet

Restrictive diet sets you up to fail.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine 2011 looked at the long-term hormonal effects of weight loss from a low calorie diet.

The results showed damage was still evident a year later, with a number of hormones still affected, including appetite control hormones.

So you will still feel hungrier and are more likely to binge A WHOLE YEAR after once finished your low calorie diet.

It’s impossible to maintain your weight loss when your body is fighting you to gain the weight back - even whole year later.

I am sure you’ve experienced this first hand right?

So you have, poor diets, hectic lifestyles, sugar cravings, possible food intolerances, years of medication 

even if it’s just been the use of antibiotics, stressful events going on

Plus the science research, clever marketing, use of manipulate phycology to add to your plate

How are you ever going to get back into shape?

Firstly, have that chocolate bar but not the 4 for £1

Enjoy it, and then get back to plan even if that means having a glass of water

We teach all of this on our Health, Vitality and Energy ‘U’ Deserve Program  

It’s tailored to you

You see, you have to stop doing GENERIC diets

How can you do the same diet that a male does or vice versa

Or how about a diet that’s the same even though you’ve had a few children and been on the contraceptive pill for many years and then the female next to you has no kids and hasn’t been on the pill

What if it was just a different kind of contraceptive that you both had, one had a coil fitted and the other had oral tablets

Do you think the diet should be different?

Hell yeah, of course

We are all uniquely different

You have to STOP doing generic diets like Weight Watchers, Lighter Life, Juice Plus, and whatever other crap is out there

I’ll do a separate email on all of these diets and show you how they are messing with your brain and biochemistry, eating at you inside out and quite frankly slowly killing you

You are unique

You need you own tailored nutrition plan.

Joe (can no longer eat almond croissants because I have an intolerance to egg and wheat) Hanney

Ps. I’ve be asked on a few occasions now to see if I would run a seminar on the Health, Vitality and Energy ‘U’ Deserve program we do at RWL, would you be interested? If so, just drop me an email or leave a comment below

If there is anything in particular you’d like me to present on just holla