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150 Emails… A Few of My Training Thoughts

In my email software, I literally title my emails to my list ‘Email 1’, ‘Email 2’, ‘Email 3’ so on and so forth. It’s a creative system, I know. I share my training thoughts, opinions and whatever else. (You can sign up for the list at the bottom of the post).

I was scrolling through a few of them and it has been like rediscovering a teenage diary. It triggered memories of where I was at the time, what I was doing and how my thinking has evolved over the years.

I’ve written the emails from home, from Fuerteventura, from Italy, from Portugal, from Germany, from Spain, from the Philippines and from Switzerland. I’ve written them in airports, in hotels, cafes, from a hammock, from my bed and from the beach.

#laptopwanker

I decided 150 emails is a good place to round up some of the training thoughts that have stuck with me over the years and share it with you – I promise there’s stuff in this list that will improve your life.

training thoughts

My learning adventure in health and fitness has taken me in all kinds of different directions, some great, some not so great, but all useful in some way.

The diversity in my learning has been governed by two quotes…


“becoming an expert requires knowing more and more about less and less, until eventually you know everything about nothing”

and…


“If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail” 


It makes me queasy when fitness colleagues try to apply the same training principles to every client. Those from a bodybuilding background trying to get a 60 year old woman with a bad should to do drop sets on the bench press, because it’s all they know. People from a kettlebell background expecting an obese 35 year old with a bad back to swing a kettlebell for high reps, again because it’s all they know.

I like to have a variety of tools in the toolbox, so to speak. No two people are the same – some of my clients are exclusively weight lifting, some are bodybuilding, others are powerlifting, some apply HIIT principles, some ride bikes, others swim.

Some are a mixture of everything. 

A lot of my training thoughts have changed over the years, but the fundamentals remain the same.

Here’s a few training thoughts that have stayed with me for years….

  1. Base resistance training around the human movements – Squat, Hinge, Pull, Push, Rotation, Lunge, Gait. If you’re not performing versions of these in your training, you should be.
  2. If you’re a young man, you’re probably doing too much bodybuilding. If you’re an older woman, you’re probably not doing enough.
  3. In training you should do more of what you need to, not what you want to. Zumba may be nice, but it’s largely ineffective.
  4. You should stretch more. A lot more. Do some yoga – it’s not just for hippies. Just switch off from the spiritual stuff if you need to.
  5. I’ve softened my stance on carbs, but you’re probably eating too many of them and not the good kind. Bias rice and potatoes over bread and pasta.
  6. Good quality red meat is a health food. Good luck changing my mind.
  7. You don’t make a diet healthier by removing the meat. You make a diet healthier by removing the poor quality meat.
  8. Where there’s a time and a place for long duration cardio, the vast majority of your cardio should be short and intense. Think HIIT, Hill Sprints and Shuttle Run type workouts.
  9. You don’t win medals for hurting yourself. Rest and recovery deserve the same respect as training and eating well.
  10. Drink lots of water. At least 2 litres per day.

    Book Recommendation: I’ll never stop recommending this book. It’s a life-changer.

One final thing. I wrote my Fast Weight Loss book – it’s based on experimentation, research and hundreds of success stories. It’s available to buy here.

training thoughts, strategic use of a 1000 calorie diet

By the way, if you subscribe to the Hoyles Fitness mailing list you’ll receive a free eBook containing 101 Health and Fitness Tips, plus offers and news exclusive to Hoyles Fitness subscribers. Click the image below to download…

free health and fitness ebook

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HoylesFitness

Owner of www.hoylesfitness.com. Personal Trainer, Father and fitness copy writer. Working hard making the world fitter and healthier!

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