You would think I had poisoned them. The face, the tears, the holding of the nose, the fake cough and almost vomit.

My goodness, did they really think that it was that bad? Obviously yes.

TJ managed to get it down with just a little struggle, which proves to me that it really wasn’t that bad. The little one though was not having any of my reassurances. She had just about forgiven me when I foolishly said, “You’ll get used to it.”

The look, the fear, the tears. She realised that this was more than a one off. The thought of her having to drink this evil stuff every day had her running to her dad for support. She didn’t find much support there apart from a  cuddle.

I was thinking that maybe I should back off the veggies for a while and start them off on more fruit juices. I told the little one that she can choose the juice tomorrow.

What did she choose? Broccoli, cucumber and carrot. It wasn’t too different from what she had this morning. I’m keeping that to myself though. So by now we had a half smile. The huge smile came when I said we could make one for dad to drink.

Why are my children evil?

How do you and your family go with juicing? Do you manage it every day?

Scottish researchers have found that not only will a diet high in fruit and vegetables make you feel better – it will also make you look better.

Lead study researcher Ross Whitehead, from the School of Psychology at the University of St. Andrews, said, ‘We found that within a six-week period, fluctuation in fruit and vegetable consumption was associated with skin-colour changes.’

The fruit and vegetable intake of 35 people was observed over a six-week period. A higher level of consumption was linked with higher levels of red and yellow colouring in skin, caused by carotenoids including beta-carotene and lycopene. A second study then linked the changes in skin colour to increased attractiveness.

‘Our study suggests that an increase in fruit and veggie consumption of around three portions over a six-week period is sufficient to convey perceptible improvements in the apparent healthiness and attractiveness of facial skin. Conversely, those that worsened their diet became paler’ said Whitehead.

‘Eat more fruits and veggies to improve your appearance’ Whitehead concluded.

Source: PLoS ONE

I would like to wish you all a very Happy Easter. I hope you all enjoy the break and the time spent with your families.

Please ask the universe to provide good weather and think of me as I spend the weekend in a tent. You all know how much I enjoy camping – not!

Take care all

Claire x

The blurb….

“Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.”

Essentially, the book has me thinking about the debate of barefoot or not. Which is better, which is safer, which puts less strain on the body?

Obviously the Nike’s would like us to believe that the safest way to run would be to wear shoes that protect our joints from the impact of running. However the book pointed out that until recent years, we ran in nothing more than the modern day Dunlop Volley or Raben type shoe.

I may be showing my age now but when I was at school, we didn’t wear runners we wore ‘pumps’ or ‘galoshes’. The first ‘proper’ pair of trainers I had were Adidas Kick and I didn’t get them until about 1984.

Today though, I almost believe that without my mega expensive runners, I wouldn’t be able to get to the end of the street.

Browsing the Internet, it is clear that there is much argument for and against, I obviously need to do more research.

What are your thoughts? Has the sports shoe industry manipulated our thoughts or are shoes necessary to keep our body injury free?

I spent an hour and a half this morning watching this film, Hungry For Change. It definitely brings home the reasons why eating the right foods, getting the right amount of sleep, exercising and having the right mindset is important.

I would really encourage you to spend some time this weekend to watch it.

Congratulations, you are already one step ahead of many people, but what should you do if your workout sucked?

If you were barely able to get your feet of the ground during the warm up. If you took just a little bit too long between sets or if you just kept reducing the speed on the treadmill instead of increasing it.

There are a few things to consider.

1   Revisit your goals, you did set some didn’t you? Remind yourself of the reasons why those goals are important to. Consider whether those goals are still valid, do they still excite you, do you need to change your goals?

2   Set yourself a bedtime and stick to it. Go to bed earlier in the evening. Sleep is just as vital to our wellbeing as exercising.

3   Are you bored with your training, do you need to mix it up a bit? Try something different, maybe something new or even something that you used to do that will inspire you.

4   Find a training partner or a personal trainer. Research has shown that people who train together or make a commitment to someone else, stick with their training for longer.

I have a client who has walked with the same walking partner every Saturday morning for 15 years. Now that’s a commitment.

5   Have you overtrained? Is it time to give your body a break from intensive training?

6   Is your nutrition supporting your body’s needs? That doesn’t just mean are you eating enough, but are you eating the right foods to adequately fuel your body?

7   Watching TV or reading a book while training is of course going to lead to a less intense workout. Turn the TV off, put on some pumping music and raise the intensity.

8   Get over it – there is always tomorrow.

Lily has always had a keen interest in health, wellbeing and fitness and was a client of Flexions Personal Training for a couple of years before delighting me with the news that she wished to study to become a Personal Trainer. She wasted no time in signing up for the course and started straight away.

Being an active member of our group training sessions she is already known by most of our clients and they have also welcomed her to observe and take their sessions during her period of work experience.

We are certain that Lily will fit perfectly into our business and that she will bring you the same levels of understanding and expertise that you can expect from Flexions.

Lily will be available for bookings from mid April.

The first event was a 4km bush walk around Lake Parramatta.

The event was originally planned for a couple of weeks ago but unfortunately it had to be postponed due to the wet weather.

By all accounts, we had a rather eventful walk.

The day started well with everyone arriving on time, the weather was dry and not too hot, we did the last minute bathroom stop and then we were off.

Tamzin and Anne took an early lead that was maintained rather consistently for the first half of the walk. Personal training is definitely paying off!

Early into the adventure we met with streams of water running off the hills and muddy puddles that we had to navigate around or through for some of us. Of course some of us navigated them better than others, that’s where balance played a part. Bright new white runners didn’t stay white for very long.

The path was quite overgrown so at times we were beating back the branches with our strong triceps, especially when we were trying to dodge the puddles and the muddy bog.

Tamzin jumped a few times as she was surprised by the lizards scuttling to get out of her way. That’s what happens when you take the lead.

We climbed over boulders, (ok so they weren’t that big) and fallen tree trunks, we admired the view as we had a sip of water and waited for some of the smaller walkers to catch us up.

With the pace we were keeping we were becoming tired so the excitement spilled over when we saw the cars in the carpark. Yeah! Just around the next corner and we would be there. Time for a picnic. Hmmm, maybe not, the path around the lake had another bend in it and it had deceived us. Not too much further though.

We saw the dam and it was impressively full, we could see the water gushing out with such a force making the creek a river.

A little bit further and we would come to the stepping stones that get us back onto the ‘right’ side of the lake and closer to our picnic.

Oh no!

Half of the stepping stones were under the torrent of water, making the crossing too dangerous. Time to think of a plan b.

We considered the tree trunk that was across the river but decided that it was too risky.

In an attempt to find another place to cross we walked on further off track where Anne fought spider webs and ants nests but to no avail, it looked like we would have to go back the way we came.

Poor Tamzin, her head dropped when she realised she had to walk back the whole way. Needing food and a toilet break didn’t help either.

We marched back the whole way I think we did the return journey in half the time despite being tired and hungry.

When we got back to the carpark, we found that Virginie had managed to get her family across the tree trunk, though not everyone that got across remained dry!

We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the end of our walk and then back home for a well deserved rest.

We had a fantastic time and can’t wait for the next Flexions Personal Training adventure.

I am so proud of all you have achieved and honoured to have played a small part in it.

So as this year ends, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year filled with love, laughter and many more successes.

Claire xx

Every day I see so many of my clients giving it their all in our training sessions. We see blood, sweat and tears. Well I’ve not seen blood yet but I have seen a few raw looking knuckles.

However, despite their efforts, they are not getting the results it would appear they deserve.

Why is that?

Of course there are many reasons but one of the main reasons is that they simply cannot get their nutrition right.

I’m not talking here about eating disorders or not having their mind in the right place, I’m talking only about choosing the right foods.

There are so many diet plans out there and most of us have tried most of them.

My suggestion, don’t waste your time and/or money.

The best way in my opinion is to eat a healthy balanced diet of mostly fresh foods.

For further information you can’t beat Matt O’Neill’s Metabolic Jumpstart.

Matt and his team will provide you with a Metabolically matched diet plan especially for you.

It’s simple to follow and the results are amazing.