My Six Pack Journey (I'm REALLY proud of myself!)

Hey!

Hows it going? First of all I'd like to apologise for not updating this blog sooner. Things have been CRAZZZZY busy for me over the last few months both personally and professionally so I promise to update more frequently from now on.

But hey, enough of that, I just wanted to share my Six pack journey with you that I've just been on over the last few months.

Let me put you in the picture as to why I decided to go on a quest for six pack abs:

At the start of this year, my goals were very different. I placed a huge emphasis on improving my endurance running. I have 2 epic challenges that I want to do soon which partly involve endurance running so my main fitness goal was to improve on my distance running. This was one of the reasons why I went to Club La Santa, Lanzarote in June - to get some mileage in my legs, take part in a couple of races and basically lock myself away and just focus on my own training.



The last few months have been crazy busy for me. My Bootcamp and personal training business have literally been "blown up!" (thanks to my business mentor Paul Mort). My Sevenoaks Bootcamps are now thriving with positive action takers, I'm about to open another Bootcamp in Tonbridge and I'm now in the position where I only train people on a 1-2-1 basis who I want to train. Its invite only.

And I'm now ALSO working with fellow fat loss expert Nisha Obaidullah on our new sixpack abdominals programme (for fit pro's and general members of the public who want their abs back!) which Im really excited about and is the reason why I embarked on my own six pack journey.

As myself and Nisha are spearheading the challenge then it's only right that we're kept accountable and practising what we're preaching. I personally believe that there are WAY too may fat unhealthy personal trainers out there in the industry giving out "health" advice to their clients that blatantly can't do it themselves.

So I decided from June onwards to change my fitness goals slightly and focus 100% on obtaining a six pack.

Now don't get me wrong, Ive always been lean and have always had bit of a sixpack but never what I call, a proper one! Never one that was visible even when I wasn't tensing! Never a six pack that was truly outstanding so I decided that I was gonna get A KICK ASS sixpack just like the male fitness models on the front cover of Mens Health! Hell if those 'goons' could get one then I could DEFINITELY do it :-)

So my goal would change from endurance running (at the start of the year) to training purely for aestetics for the next few months, and at the end of it I'd book myself in for a professional photo shoot to show off the abs ;-)

Once I decided what my goal was, I made sure I planned 100% for it. I would be following my Elimiation Diet to the letter so I made sure I had all the clean, allowable foods in my cupboards. I made sure I knew what I was going to eat (and at what time) for the weeks ahead and I made sure I planned ALL my workouts in at the start of the week aswell. I put the workouts in my diary and I made sure I was 100% committed to doing EVERY single one of them, no BULLSH*T!

One of the things I found VERY hard during my Six pack journey and that was eating out with friends and family. I usually associate eating out with "pleasure" and normally when I eat out, I like to have a few beers and a dessert (cheesecake is my achilles heel!)so I did find it difficult at times resisting the temptation, especially when my deer Dad was tucking into a dessert or if at the cinema, my buddies munching on popcorn, BUT I stayed strong, my will power was good and I didn't cave in.



I'd like to point out something important here about Willpower, something that my mentor told me which REALLY hit home with me and that is:

"If you're WHY is strong enough then WILLPOWER doesn't come into it."

This basically means if you know EXACTLY what your goal is, you know WHEN you want to achieve it by, you know HOW you're going to do it and you know WHY you want to do it then WILLPOWER doesn't even come into it!

In my case, my goal was to be SHREDDED by September (so I had a deadline!), I knew how I was going to do it, I would be following my Elimination Diet 100% without fail no excuses and training 6 days a week. I'd also be adopting an Eat Stop Eat lifetyle during my journey aswell. The reason that I was doing this (so my WHY!!) was because I wanted sixpack abs.

I made sure my WHY was strong enough before I started this journey, I made sure my goal was 100% crystal clear before I started. If I didnt do this then I dont think I would have got the results that I did.

FINAL RESULTS

So since I embarked on my Sixpack journey (starting from June)

my bodyfat levels have gone from 10% down to 8%,
My sixpack is more visable,
I've gone from a 32 inch waist to a 30!
and I feel and look sooo much more leaner than before!

Below is my Before & After pictures:



I'm REALLy proud of myself for achieving my sixpack goal. It wasn't all plain sailing. There were times when I thought I wasn't gonna do it but I stayed strong, I kept focused, I had my photo shoot done and I got the result I wanted.

What next for me? well, Im gonna get back into my endurance running and refocus my attention on my 2 endurance challenges for next year that I want to do. Can't say too much at this point but lets just say that they'll be a huge challenge for me!

I hope my story and pictures inspire you to achieve the fat loss goals that you deserve.

Onto the next challenge!

Peace out :-)

Sam Winkworth
CPT, SPN

PS - I'll be uploading all my pictures from the photo shoot I had done last week so keep 'em peeled. They look pretty awesome if I dont say so myself! Sorry if that sounded big headed, I dont mean it to be, its just that Im SUPER proud of myself for achieving these results :-)

PPS - If you're interested in the detailed nutrition plan and the exact daily workouts that I used to achieve my six pack goal then get yourself over to my facebook page, add me as a buddy and keep an eye out for mine and Nisha's six pack 6 week challenge details. The results are unbelieveable ;-)

Day Eight Of Fatloss Challenge

Well, its week two and by all accounts from the emails I’ve been receiving today and over the weekend, people are doing really well.

Most people so far on average have lost between 5 and 9 pounds. Some losing more and some less but on the whole though some good results right?

(Remember there are no “rules” as to how much you’ll lose and at what rate you’ll lose it.)

I myself have dropped 4 pounds so far (I must have been REALLY toxic over the Christmas period!) but after having some minor headaches over the weekend I feel much more energised now.

So look, here’s a bunch of tips for you all this week to fast track your fatloss even further : )

Eat little and often throughout the day.

This will help to keep your energy levels steady so that you don’t feel tired at any point during the day

Eat protein with every meal.

Base each meal around some protein (either meat, fish, chicken or half a handful of nuts if you’re snacking) as this will help hunger stay locked up for a lot longer and will stop you from snacking on sugar.

Drink plenty of fresh, clean water.

Water will help flush out the toxins and by-products you’ve been consuming over the festive season. A general rule of thumb is to try and drink a litre of water for every 50 pounds you weigh. So, if you weigh 10 stone, you should be drinking just under 3 litres of plain, clean water every day.

Eat plenty of fruit and veg (but don’t go mad!)

Eat 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. Make sure it’s fresh and steer clear of anything tinned, canned or frozen as these have been processed to a certain degree.

Stay off the caffeine!

All caffeine beverages are out (that includes coffee and decaf). Decaffeinated coffee (incidentally) is actually VERY processed because of the chemicals used to remove the caffeine so steer clear of this too : )

There you go! 4 more detox diet speed up tips

OK, I’m off to my local farmers market tomorrow to get my fresh fruit and vegetables for the week. I’m also going to stop in on my local butchers to stock up on some fresh meat and chicken.

I’ll keep you posted on what recipes I did with these purchases later this week to give you some more ideas on what to eat.

Keep it up : )

Sam

Day 5 Of Fatloss Challenge

Well it’s the end of the first week of my Diet Challenge (only 7 weeks to go, yay!) and already I’m starting to receive early success stories from you. : )

Now if you’re anything like me, you maybe starting to feel the affects from eliminating your banned foods.

Affects such as:

Bloating,
Bad breath (nice!)
Zits,
Gas,
Sweet cravings
…and headaches : (

Everyone is different when it comes to side affects. Most people following my diet will experience these symptoms for a few days, provided they’re not cheating! For others, they will linger for a little longer and for many, they may not kick in until week 2.

Some won’t experience hardly ANY symptoms at all!(hey that’s not fair!)

The thing is, symptoms can vary from person to person.

YOU may experience one symptom more than say, your best friend (for instance if you drink a lot of caffeine, such as coffee, tea, coke or any other caffeine beverage then it’s pretty common to get headaches or migraines).

If you eat a lot of sugar (or processed food) you may get some kind of sugar craving.

Whatever category you fall into, you can rest assured that there’s no right or wrong so relax.

Everyone is unique.

My advice is hang in there, these affects won’t last for long, provided you stick to all my guidelines. Drink plenty of water as this will help flush out all the toxins(that are causing your symptoms) a little quicker and take some hot baths as this will speed up the toxin release too : )

Now you maybe thinking "Oh, it's ok, I'll just have a bit of chocolate or a quick coffee...surely that won't hurt?"

Well let me tell you that it WILL hurt, and it WILL make a difference.

Here's why...

You know I said that these symptoms usually only last for a few days?
well guess what, if you add MORE toxins into your system whilst your trying to expel all the old ones, then these symptoms will last alot longer than a few days!

Now if you're anything like me, I'd prefer to get them over and done with in just a few days rather than have them drag on for longer wouldn't you?

So look, it’s plain and simple, be determined that you WILL complete these 60 days and refuse to stop.

I know you can do it!

In the mean time here’s a workout you can do if you want to speed up your results : )




Enjoy your weekend and I’ll catch up with you on Monday

Day 2 Of Fatloss Challenge

Well it's day 2 of my fatloss challenge and have to confess I'm feeling a little stiff from my H.I.T workout I did with my brother yesterday but all in all not feeling too bad. Got to bed at around 1030-11 last night (I managed to stop working by 10 and switch my computer off which was a miracle!!!) however I want to try and drop that down to 10-00 for atleast 4 out of 7 nights just so that I'm not losing out on that vital hour (between 10 and 11) where my muscle tissue is repairing itself.

Eating is going well. So far today, I've had organic porridge with some nuts and seeds for breakfast.
Mid morning I had half a handful of nuts with some natural plain live yoghurt.

Just had organic chicken with some mixed salad for lunch and later for dinner I plan to have chicken (left overs from lunch) with a small amount of brown organic rice with some vegetables.

I'm not going to train today but tomorrow I'm going to do another H.I.T workout in my garden around lunch time so I'll let you know how that goes.

I have to dash as I have 4 clients back to back tonight...busy, busy busy!!!

Talk to you tomorrow

60 Day Fatloss Challenge Countdown: 2 Days Out!

We’re only 2 days away from the 60 day fatloss challenge and hopefully by now, if you’re truly serious about achieving great fatloss success with me this year then you should have emptied your cupboards and downloaded your report by now.

If you haven’t, then hey, there’s still time!

I’ll be with you every step of the way. You see, over the next few weeks I shall be blogging my own blow by blow account of the journey to help you stay on course. (I completed 5 months of my diet during 2008 but I’ve also had a real slack period over Christmas and like most of you guys I need a good kickstart for 2009.

So we’re in this together! : )

I’ll also be uploading some training videos for you as well to give you some new ideas for the next few weeks. Simple workouts that are designed to boost your metabolism long after you’ve finished the workout, meaning you’ll be burning body fat all day long.

Referred to top coaches as “The Afterburn Affect” this means you can literally burn fat around the clock, even while you sleep. Not bad eh? Not only this but these workouts can be done anywhere. You don’t have to be a member of a gym to create The Afterburn Affect so watch this space

All you need to do is join my new community I‘m building at http://www.samwinkworth.ning.com and tell me how much weight you want to lose.

Don’t worry, it’s free and its already got some sample meal plans, recipes and videos uploaded there that I know will help you stay on course whilst following the challenge.

Tell me why you want to lose it and when you want to lose it by and remember research shows that those who write their goals are more likely to be successful than those who don’t so go ahead and leave me a comment there.

Here’s that link again:

http://www.samwinkworth.ning.com and look out for the daily message from me there too!

Have a good weekend and I’ll catch up with you on Monday for Day 1 of the fatloss challenge!