The Optimise Health Blog

Image © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited Physical preparation for sustainable exercise activity is key to maintaining and improving your physical health. True fitness is a good balance combining stability, power, stamina/cardio, flexibility and strength. Your exercise goals should include elements of all these areas to keep you on track. If you miss out on one key area its not long before you come unstuck or injured. See the rest of the Guardian article  on physical prep and take a look at my previous post on how to make a start with achievable steps in physical goals. Dr Ben Sinclair Linked In Profile http://www.twitter.com/#!/search/menshealthtips About Sinclair Health Ltd

Goal setting is a thorny challenge - how high can we afford to set the bar by creating realistic yet achievable goals without selling ourselves short? The old saying goes if you aim for nothing you will hit it every time; equally there are plenty of proverbs prompting action over inaction. So how can we make and achieve goals in an upward ascent to reach the pinnacle of overall health we strive for? A recent practical article from Harvard Health describes a way of making and achieving realistic goals step by step. This stepwise approach is key to achieving the most achievable goals first, enabling an attempt a new higher goal - like training to climb everest by starting with smaller mountains and working up to the main event. If you are trying to lose weight you need to set a realistic timeframe and fast weight loss is never healthy or sustainable long term; reaserch shows many yo-yo dieters put it all back on again in the following weeks; any weight loss needs to be sustainable ...

How did you get to the weight you are now? We all have a back story. My story? I used to be active at school; I was short and "stocky" and had a taste for sweets. As a child I had taken steroid tablets for asthma which tended to delay growth and cause weight gain through appetite - but maybe I was just small and greedy. I was the second shortest guy in the class at 14. I was a good sprinter on the rugby field and rarely fell over as I was so close to the ground. Then I grew, I stretched out and became a skinny 6 ft 11 stone bean pole - my sisters teased me for being a "L" shape as I had big feet and wore DM boots to complete the picture. I liked rock climbing and began to get into cycling mainly to get around. Outdoors exercise became a touchstone. When I went to university I joined the territorial army and spent weekends running around with with my weapon, heavy webbing full of ammo and a back pack full of 15 Kg of kit - I began to "Fill out...