The best way to improve gains in LIFE

Recently we posted a blog on 'The best way to improve gains in the gym', which focussed on learning to slow down and think about what you want to achieve in the gym and to focus on your routines and exercise for maximum gains. This blog is going to look at how slowing down can help you make the most out of life!

Are you someone that this is constantly rushing around, gets stressed, misses deadlines, procrastinates, is always late, always on edge. What i say to you is , STOP...just for a second and take a moment to be aware of your surroundings, your state of mind, your thoughts, feelings and what you are currently doing.

Our mind has a tendency to play many tricks on us, these 'cognitive traps' make us believe that things are worse than they actually are and we exaggerate their importance.

To help you slow down try getting up early in the morning, its a great time to see the world, everything seems likes its more calm and you can get a whole lot done. After getting up and completing the bathroom essentials take 15 minutes to do some relaxation, focus on your breathing and where you are in your mind state at that time. I know what you are thinking 'who has time for that!' trust me when i say that it has made a difference to my life and to the lives of many others. You should aim to use the morning as a time to effectively plan the day ahead and prepare yourself for the grind of daily life.

Take time when you converse with others, give your undivided attention to whatever task you want to accomplish and spend time on things that you may be struggling with and see how they become manageable. All in all, remember life can sometime seem like a never ending race. Take a moment now to stop, look around, take a deep breath and live in the moment!

 

Let us know what you thought of the article....

As ever if you have any topics you would like us to discuss mention it in the comments section, email us on greatmindsgreatbodies@gmail.com or tweet and follow us on twitter at @gmindgbodies.

The best way to improve gains in the gym!

The Focus of this piece isn't some magic remedy that you can take to get the perfect physique or life, it's something that you currently have but  would be a great deal better at doing more of......i  have 2 words for you SLOW DOWN.

First relating to fitness and health, taking the time to focus on what you want to actually achieve in terms of physique....do you want to get lean, bulk up, get healthier, train for a specific competition....thinking about this before you train will help you tailor your training and give you something to set your mind on and you'll be able to see gains. SLOW DOWN and take time before you have a session to set what you  want to achieve, you'll save time and not waste needless energy on exercises that won't help you towards your aim.

Slowing down when actually doing the exercise is also really important, focus on the muscle part your trying to work on, slow controlled reps with steady, controlled and intentional breathing makes all the difference. This may seem more difficult at first but in time you'll learn to control your movements and see infinite gains!

Everyone is on a strict timescale with the amount of jobs and tasks to do outside the gym seeming to never end. However, don't let this effect your time in the gym, if you rush around too much when in the gym you tend to ignore all the positive things that could benefit you. The gym itself is like a community with like minded individuals that you can get tips from or give tips to and getting to know other enthusiast will make you want to go to the gym on the days where motivation is lacking. Take time with your work out and actively see how you improve week on week and how you can challenge yourself in the gym and how it translates to how you deal with things outside the gym.

What do you feel is the most important way to improve gains in the gym?

As ever if you have any topics you would like us to discuss mention it in the comments section, email us on greatmindsgreatbodies@gmail.com or tweet and follow us on twitter at @gmindgbodies.

Family Fundraiser for GAZA - 03/08/2014

When we think of ‘great minds, great bodies’, sudden thoughts on this statement encompass intellect, aesthetics and performance. Needless to say, after volunteering at the Gaza charity event at ESSA Academy (Bolton, UK) this past weekend, ‘great minds, great bodies’ can be used as an umbrella term for passion, love, hope, optimism and most importantly UNITY. 

With the dire situation in Gaza (Palestine) being as such, lessons can be learnt from the affected individuals and families; that being when hardship rains, the crops of patience, faith and positivity flourish. With a fraction of these characteristics being extracted from the people of Gaza, hundreds of thousands have united for one set purpose: to eradicate oppression. One of the means of doing so has been through raising money to aid the people of Gaza; which was undertaken by 3 great individuals on the 3^rd August 2014. 

At this family fundraiser, we had the humble opportunity of witnessing joys of unwavering love for the cause as seen through multiple stalls, barbeques, raffles, speeches and a rounder’s tournament with proceedings going all to Gaza.  Money was flooding the donation buckets, as those who attended resembled a water fountain; providing a continuous stream of notes and coins. It was safe to say, each individual really did contribute towards a more promising outcome in Palestine. One of the many highlights of the day came when Ashlieigh Shaw (a fantastic public speaker with a complimentary character) passionately spoke about  how we can collectively make a real difference to aiding the people of Gaza through simply, UNITING! Humanity is as such, that it replicates a single brick wall. When one brick is loose, this allows for weakness to form and eventually the wall will collapse. Consequently, in order to receive divine blessing and favour, we need to give so that we may receive. Standing united through boycotts, protests, charity events and even more significantly prayer, the perseverance will form the scaffold and eventually cement to firmly establish back in place that solid brick wall of humanity. 

A famous quote goes as follows: ‘the day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace’. Along with all the other efforts held globally, this charity event paved another footprint to making this statement a true reality. Palestine WILL be free and peace WILL prevail.

Great Minds Great Bodies

I'm not Supposed to Feel like This: BE More Confident, Have HIGHER Self-Esteem

“Learn to value yourself, and you will learn to value your time. Until you truly grasp the worth of your time, you will not be able to utilise it. ”
 A. Sumra

Everyone feel's low sometimes, that is life. However, when the feelings do not go away and seem to be engrained into your belief system then you know it is time to take action. It is important to understand, accept and realise that when you are feeling low, depressed/ stressed, the ONLY person that can help YOU is YOURSELF.  Looking after number 1 and breaking the cycle is challenging but can be done if you make use of your own personal strengths. 

Things that we think, feel and do are all related to each other.  For example, if you think:

'I can't do anything right, everything I do ends up wrong and does not work out'

Then the resulting action will affect your social life and further bridge to your mental state (a feeling of isolation is most common). This can then lead to physical symptoms like headaches, stabbing pains etc.  Feeling like you are not well and cant accomplish anything is a negative thought so we are back to the first step and the cycle continues. It is a cycle that can be hard to break and get out of.

One way of managing low mood, making yourself feel better and taking a step towards feeling happier is managing your self-esteem. Low self-esteem is a major cause of feeling worthless and this can in turn affect cortisol levels and can stunt your gains.  This is because at times we have to put up with pressures and expectations which leads to criticisms.  For example 'look at how skinny you' or 'look at how big you've got'. Most times you may be able to shrug off these comments, but when you are feeling low in self-confidence and self-esteem such words can have a major effect on how you feel and behave.

Self-esteem is about your own personal opinion of yourself, having high self-esteem means having a good opinion of yourself.  This is in no way arrogance or pride, it is a healthy belief that you are a good person, fully capable, with the ability to make your own decisions and like all humans you have your strengths and weaknesses.  Low self-esteem can start at any time and can come from our background, upbringing, the media, and at times even parents.  A situation where you are not praised for who you are, your achievements cannot encourage you to feel happy about yourself. Negative self-esteem is maintained by how you react to situations, the beliefs you have about yourself, how you interpret things and what others have to say.

Your self esteem is not something that is concrete and fixed, the way you feel about yourself can change in an instant and remember everyone on this earth is different and special in their own way. When you have a negative mood the only thoughts that crop up in our mind are negatives ones. Take a second to re-evaluate the situation you are in an try and see it in a different light.

There are ways to manage self-esteem and try to build yours and here are some suggestions:

• Always give whatever you do your best shot.
• Get to know yourself.  Understand what you are good at and what your weaknesses are so you can have realistic goals.  Don't be scared to try new things, this will help you learn more about yourself.
• Learn not to be too hard on yourself and reward yourself for when you do good.  No matter how small an achievement it is, make yourself feel good when you have made an achievement.
•  Be grateful for what you have - make a list of all that you have in the world that you are grateful for from the smallest pleasures such as clothes and a roof over your head, before you sleep at night think about theses and it will make you realise how fortunate you are.
• Don’t be so hard on yourself – Know that everyone has moments of weakness and makes mistakes. Learn to forgive your own and see every situation as a new chance and opportunity where anything can happen.

In short: in order to change anything about your life you need to take action yourself, even a very small change will make a big difference. Learn to accept who you are, there are some things in life which cannot be changed, it is important for us to have the courage to change the things we can, accept the things we cannot and the ability to know the difference between the two.

If there are topics which you would like us to discuss in the coming articles or if you have any questions about this article please do let us know by emailing greatmindsgreatbodies@gmail.com

Women lifting weights – a manifestation of beauties or beasts?

I’d like to relate a short story to you: once upon time lived a young girl named Jillian. Jillian took part in beauty pageants far and wide and was destined to become ‘Miss Universe’ one day. In order to reach this status however, Jillian was advised by several experts that she needed to lose a bit of excess body fat and ‘tone up’ through the mechanism of lifting weights. Eager to achieve her goal, Jillian obliged. Upon entering the gym and lifting weights, something rather dramatic happened to our dearest Jillian. Her shoulders started to bulge like that of a gorilla, the thickness of her neck expanded with what seemed like no end and Jillian’s arms began to peak; mimicking that of Mount Kilimanjaro. Bursts of hair sprung through her once perfect chin and by the end of her lifting session, Jillian had turned into a... MAN! Her hopes of becoming ‘toned up’ had diminished and so heartbroken, Jillian ran into the depths of her local forest and was never to be seen again. 

Without stating the obvious, fairy tales such as the one above are often filled with false premise’s of mythology, Chinese whispers and most importantly, misrepresentation of true knowledge and experience. 

Does lifting weights cause women to become big and bulky? 

Quite simply, NO! This is because women simply do not possess the hormonal profile needed to gain muscle like that of a man. In order to become ‘big’ and stimulate a large muscle response, the hormone testosterone needs to be prominent in an individual. This is the reason why most men develop larger muscles when lifting weights. In the case of women, the hormone oestrogen takes precedence in the body and so by lifting weights, the female lifter will typically achieve what they see as being ‘toned’. So why is it you often see large, muscular women in bodybuilding contests? These women train and supplement in a way that is designed to help them achieve that desired outcome. Through the use of hormonal therapy (injected steroids and testosterone) and a strict bodybuilding lifting programme, this is the ONLY reason why their physiques are observed by some individuals as ‘manly’ – unless of course a woman has a freakish genetic makeup. 

How should women train?

Women should train in exactly the same manner as men for the reasons stated above. When looking at the programmes of celebrity female role models such as the likes of Cheryl Cole, Kim Kardashian and the singer (who is known for having hips which do not lie) Shakira, then you can observe how they all have effective strength and conditioning programmes. They mastered the basics of lifting which include: weighted squats, deadlifts, pushups and pull-ups. Resistance training paved the foundation to their physique coupled with an highly effective diet.  

Comment below if you would like more information on strength/conditioning, diet programmes, fitness advice etc etc. Alternately tweet us on twitter @GmindsGbodies or email in at greatmindsgreatbodies@gmail.com

Great Minds Great Bodies

 

How often do we look into life and take lessons from our surroundings? Let’s take the example of sheep; a simple fluffy farm animal. Ever since sheep are born, they fall into a repeated systematic way of life – they eat, sleep, walk, excrete and eventually get slaughtered for the consumption of us humans. How different are our lives to that of sheep? We eat, sleep, walk, excrete and metaphorically get slaughtered by the burdens of not being able to pursue our dreams (for the most part anyways). Now let’s take the example of a wolf? A wolf starts off young, just like any other animal but the difference is that the wolf is an animal of freedom, an animal of desire, and an animal which kills and is not killed. We have the potential to be like that of the wolf, only it takes howls of courage and passion. 'Great Minds Great Bodies' was created to help us break through the shackles of self doubt and fear and to enter the realm of the greats before us. 

How often have you seen a person on the television and thought ‘wow! I wish I had his/her physique?’ How many times have you told yourself that ‘I am going to obtain that perfect physique one day’ only for your intention to be crumbled by self-deceit? A healthier mind leads to a healthier body which ultimately forms the base for a happier more successful life. We have created this blog as means for us to start the pathway to success and we hope to share our ideas, experiences and knowledge to also help you seize the potential within.

Who are we? 

Adam Esa

My name is Adam Esa and I have graduated in a masters of pharmacy. I am also a health enthusiast who started off scrawny before bulking to approximately 13.5 stones, cutting back down to 11 stones and then moving up to a lean mass of 12 stones. I am currently at 6% body fat. I have learnt under various sports coaches and stepped out of my comfort zone completely when I competed amateurly at strongman. Combining my knowledge of pharmacy and training experience, I have been able to carefully analyse my diet and take into consideration the circadian rhythm (don’t worry, it will be all be explained in blogs to come) to help optimise my gains. Having held several conferences on health, nutrition and training at Universities around the UK, I have written several eBooks on training and diets which can be made available upon request. I am a firm believer in mind-body relationships and how a stronger mind can lead to a stronger, shredded and more healthier body. 

Altaf Sumra 

From my experience i have found that destructive thought patterns have been found to have long lasting effects on the body and can lessen your true potential and gains. My interest in the field of Psychology and health psychology stemmed from completing my Degree and then my Masters, this has given me a greater understanding into human behaviour. I will assist you in 'seizing that potential within you', something that is within us all. I am involved in research into stress and depression and have published in peer reviewed journals and have a regular newspaper column where i talk on topics relating to mental health and well-being, again all available on request if anyone would like to read. Your mind is the gateway to your body so with a strong mind you can develop that will power, mind and body that you desire.

I'm here to cut the jargon, keep things simple and just stick to what you need to know to elevate your game. With providing motivation and advice, the ultimate goal is to enhance your determination so even when your motivation is low you will still remain firm on your end goal!