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<title>Latest iStadia Blogs</title>
<link>http://www.istadia.com/bloglatest.php</link>
<description>Keep up to date with iStadia's blogs at iStadia.com!</description>
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<lastBuildDate>Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:39:19 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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<title>Why Realizing I Had Stopped Excercising Was One of the Most Important Parts of My Life</title>
<description><![CDATA[ I woke up one morning and finally realized that I had stopped running. My alarm went off at six o'clock in the morning. I rolled over, hit the snooze button and just lay there on my back with my eyes open for 15 minutes because I just did not want to get up. The thought of getting out of bed, getting in the shower, eating breakfast, getting in the car, driving to work, and finally walking in the front door of the office seemed to crush me and I just couldn't bring myself to do any of that.



Being a big boy, I did finally make it out of bed and out to work, but just being there was even less motivating. I sloshed through the day piece by piece, e-mail by e-mail, and phone meeting by phone meeting until eventually, at 5:30, I decided to get in the car and go home. Not even that made me feel good. The little nagging voice inside my head telling me to exercise had gotten quieter and quieter and as a result, I hadn't done much in the past few weeks.

This realization that I hadn't done any exercise in weeks was what prompted me to get out the door and go for a run. I have always found that running is a great way to be with your thoughts and sort out some of life's biggest problems. This particular run was no different. I remembered back to just a few months ago when I was setting personal best distance records and really getting a lot of enjoyment out of it. I wanted to get back to that but didn't necessarily know how. I just knew that I wanted to make excuses every single time I would have normally gone for a run. Things like "my knee hurts" or "I need new shoes" were getting the best of me and I knew it.

This first run back after a while made me realize just how far i had fallen. After only a few blocks, I could feel myself wheezing and struggling for breath. My heart was pounding much faster than it should have been and I felt terrible. I thought back to all the runs that I had sacrificed for sitting on the couch to watch the news and felt a tremendous amount of guilt. This guilt got the best of me and made me focus on my failures rather than my accomplishments.

As soon as that thought entered my mind, it was like a switch had gone off and I knew exactly what to do to fix my situation. I started running like I did when I first got into it and made it a part of my life. I ran for as long as I could, and then turned around and jogged back home. I knew that I couldn't exercise to the level that I had in the months past, but I also told myself that that was okay. I knew that I would get back there; I would just have to work for it like I did before.

Every single time I would go out for a run, I would make sure that I ran just a little bit further than I had the previous time. I threw out all my old personal goals and created new ones. This went a long way in making sure that I was motivated enough to go running the next time and also showed me that I was getting stronger and more fit.

When it was raining outside, I would go down to the basement and run on the treadmill. Although the treadmill isn't necessarily as beautiful as running outside, I did still get the same feeling of accomplishment from running on it. My treadmill became my best friend and I could feel the depression and lack of motivation melting away as the weeks went by and the tread flew behind me. If the weekend was a particularly nice one and I had few free hours, I would go up to the mountains and go on hikes for as long as my schedule would allow. All of these things combined got me back to how I wanted to feel and life seemed to be so much better.

I think that this valley in my exercise life is just as important as any achievement I've ever gotten. I always like to think that the lows are just as important as the highs because without them, there wouldn't be any victories. I know that there is at least one of you out there who is in the exact same place that I was not too long ago and hopefully you can relate to this somehow.
 ]]></description>
<link>http://www.istadia.com/blog/TommyAspen/725</link>
<dc:creator>Tommy Aspen</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:39:19 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.istadia.com/blog/TommyAspen/725</guid>
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<title>Do you need to be a risk taker or a risk minimizer in order to participate in extreme sports?</title>
<description><![CDATA[ For an article on the risk in extreme sport see the link  below. Helen Chandler interviews sport psychologist ,Rhonda Cohen on the dangers in winter sports. http://www.wnol.info/?p=2513

Do you think you need to be a risk taker or a risk minimizer in order to participate in extreme sport ?

Which is it ? - Rhonda ]]></description>
<link>http://www.istadia.com/blog/rhonda/724</link>
<dc:creator>Rhonda Cohen</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:54:30 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.istadia.com/blog/rhonda/724</guid>
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<title>Fats, The Top Ten Gym Mistakes Part 2 and stop offering me chocolates!</title>
<description><![CDATA[ &nbsp; 

Issue 165:



	
	
	Fats - Why they can actually make you thin, especially saturated fat!
	
	
	
	
	The top ten gym mistakes - Part 2
	
	
	
	
	Daily motivational tip - If only they would stop offering me chocolates&nbsp;
	
	



Signed up for the newsletter yet? Confirm your subscription and receive a bonus information guide on a choice of four topics. 





one2one nutrition news&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;










The first article today returns to the most confused subject in all of nutrition. Still everyone sits on the too much fat bandwagon despite society consuming significantly lower fat now than previously and despite studies showing the lack of links (they do not get much media attention do they?) and despite the fact most people eat low fat yet are still not at the level of body fat they want. 






As the first generation in the history of society to go low fat our 5 billion person strong experiment seems to be showing fairly conclusively that low fat makes you fat! Read the first article today for more information.






The second link is to part two of the article from last week. The most common exercise mistakes I see people make each time&nbsp;I go to the gym are so simple to correct it is madness for you to keep making them and so limit your results. It is a lot easier to read my article than it is to waste a year doing the wrong training techniques.






The final article from my Daily Motivation Series examines the issue of other people offering you food and tempting you to go awry with your efforts. Take a read if this sounds like you.






Hope you are well 

Ben Wilson BSc (Hons) CSCS NSCA-CPT CMTA EFT Dip
On line metabolic typing, fitness training and emotional freedom technique (EFT)
London Personal Trainer
Rugby Fitness Training




 ]]></description>
<link>http://www.istadia.com/blog/wilsonbd79/723</link>
<dc:creator>Ben Wilson</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:34:41 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.istadia.com/blog/wilsonbd79/723</guid>
</item><item>
<title>Square pegs into round holes - the importance of in-depth needs assessment</title>
<description><![CDATA[ I held a workshop last night at Tavistock Golf club in Devon on the effects of anxiety on golf performance. It was a great night and the members have now got some great tips with how to deal with the demons of anxiety.

One interesting thing did pop up  and I feel it  flags up the importance of thorough needs assessment and the consideration of specific differences between individuals. I have a biofeedback tool which measures an individual's physiological response to stress and I use it whilst running workshops or teaching at schools. The great thing about it is that it provides a visual display of how cognitive anxiety can have an effect on the body and its responses. Each time use it, I ask a kind volunteer to come and wire up to the machine and I then challenge them to succeed in some sort of target task - be it golf, hockey or darts. Providing them with the age-old stressors of a reward (chocolate or wine goes down well) and peer evaluation I ask them to hit the target x amount of times whilst wired up. The visual display of their physiological response to the stress become apparent on the projector screen and helps provide a great visual aid for the rest of the room.
What has been very interesting is the variety of responses to this task. The first time I used it the participant showed a constant increase in physiological response to stress, another showed an increase whilst addressing the ball, but a dramatic decrease during the backswing and the participant last night showed some great routine training as a negative response only became apparent after the result of the stroke became apparent.

Just from the three above cases, it is plain to see that the use of any intervention with these individuals would have to consider the timing and the target of the stress reduction strategy. Attempting to use an anxiety reducing strategy that was successful on one individual is not necessarily going to work on another.

The point here is that although research is the backbone of all interventions, it is important to remember individual differences before prescribing the well validated intervention. Even if it is clear that an individual suffers from anxiety it is no good flying in with standard strategy to reduce anxiety, instead it is vitally important that the practitioner spend more time assessing when, where and why the anxiety is occurring as well as how much. Although this may take more time, if the client is aware that the practitioner is trying to pinpoint the exact issue then they may not be so concerned with a timeframe to see results and be more concerned with the quality of results.

Any comments are welcomed.
 ]]></description>
<link>http://www.istadia.com/blog/Headforawin/722</link>
<dc:creator>Richard Collins</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:25:21 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.istadia.com/blog/Headforawin/722</guid>
</item><item>
<title>The Mummys of my Gym</title>
<description><![CDATA[ If you spend a lot of time in the weightlifting area for gym you are bound to see a number of grunting men staring at themselves in the mirror as they lift weights.&nbsp; These men are also quite likely to be wearing lifting belts and joint wraps as if they were jewelry. If you go the whole 9 yards, you can end up wrapping basically every joint on your body including wrists, elbows, knees and also putting a huge weight belt around your waist to prevent the gut from exploding due to heavy lifting. When it gets to this point, you begin to look more like a mummy from a Hollywood movie than a weight lifter.
It has been debated at length by weightlifting enthusiasts whether or not the lifting belts actually do anything to improve safety, or whether they are just ego boosters that allow people to lift a lot more weight than they normally would be able to. Whatever weight belts actually may or may not do for you, one thing is for certain, they make you look super cool. Oh yeah, I forgot, you can't read sarcasm. Anyways, I am about to go over some of the ridiculous things I have seen involving weight belts and incredible amounts of tape around the joints.

What is with you people who insist on wearing your weight belt whilst bench pressing? You are on your back, therefore, there is absolutely no reason for a weight belt. The weight you are lifting with your arms goes straight through your shoulder, onto the bench and down to the floor; it doesn't go anywhere near your waist. The only way I could see a weight belt creating any sort of help for somebody is if they are trying to get the barbell back to its starting point. Even under those circumstances, your back would have to be arched so badly that it might even break.

You people who wear the belt on the leg press machine are nuts as well. This one is pretty difficult to understand seeing as you are sitting down and most of the weight displacement is going through your lower back, not your feet. There is absolutely nothing that the belt can do when you're performing exercises sitting down... Except for maybe give you mad chaffing while you're trying to perform the exercise.

One time at the gym I saw a man tightening his weight belt before he sat down to perform seated calf raises. For the exact same reason as the leg press machine, what in the world is it that you people are thinking? Face it, getting on the treadmill with your knees and ankles wrapped is only going to make life more difficult for yourself and you could even get seriously injured. It just doesn't make sense to my somewhat rational mind.

If all those other ones weren't enough, this is the reason I decided to do a post about the ridiculous wrapping and belting people: Just a couple days ago at the gym I saw a guy riding a stationary bike with his weight belt on. It was absolutely insane because he was obviously in pain from bending over with a device on that is strictly made so that you stand up straight. He was hunched over to get to the handlebars and the top of the belt was digging into his upper abdomen and the bottom into the groin. I can't imagine a less comfortable way to exercise.

People, get your things together and use your head.&nbsp; It drives me nuts because this stuff actually happens and makes me want to scream.&nbsp; From now on, every time I see something this ridiculous happening, I'm going to take a picture of you and put it on my blog. Maybe that will solve the problem.
 ]]></description>
<link>http://www.istadia.com/blog/TommyAspen/721</link>
<dc:creator>Tommy Aspen</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:08:25 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.istadia.com/blog/TommyAspen/721</guid>
</item><item>
<title>Gripes With Gym Equipment</title>
<description><![CDATA[ One of the biggest problems I have with going to the gym, apart from my incredible ability to procrastinate, is when the gym's equipment has problems. Every time I step on the treadmill, hit the start button and it doesn't start, I wonder which channels gyms have to go through to get their equipment and how they make their decisions. If they sift through pages of a catalog and pick the model with all the features they want for the cheapest price, that is hardly a desirable method of choosing exercise equipment that will stand up to literally millions of pounding feet on the tread. I would much rather have the equipment tested thoroughly by somebody who works in the gym, perhaps as a trainer, but definitely somebody who uses the equipment regularly and has used numerous different types of the same equipment.



Same goes for the people that actually produce the equipment. I often wonder what exactly they put into creating a piece of machinery and whether or not they actually spend time using it or if it's just a bunch of mechanical engineers that create the most efficient model. I feel that if all the big exercise equipment companies put more into the production of their equipment, the products would last much longer and break far less frequently. Then again, this might lead to lower revenues for these companies.

The way that a machine operates should feel like when you swim through water: smooth, constant and uniform pressure all on the same areas. I find that a lot of the time I am fighting against the machine's resistance as well as the weight I'm trying to lift. It seems that every time I go to the gym and sit down at the Smith machine, I have to deal with the snags and catches that happen both on the up and down of every single repetition. Often, the fly machine will not provide uniform tension and becomes much more difficult to lift initially than throughout the rest of the repetition. Cable machines are also a pain in my butt and I often catch myself looking back to see if somebody holding on to the weights. Even some treadmills have a feeling that you are actually pushing the tread instead of trying to keep up with it; a feeling that drives me absolutely insane.

I also found that the lack of stability in a lot of today's exercise equipment at the gym scares and frustrates me. At my local community gym, if I grab an incline bench's pad, I can move it side to side with very little effort and just one hand. It scares me to think that I am lying on this bench for extended times with monster dumbbells creating more weight, all moving around with the pad. Almost every time I go to the gym, I end up folding my towel to in a crack creating a shiv just to keep the machine sturdy. There's nothing worse than working on a machine that is flying around underneath you.

Another gripe I have is that only certain gyms seem to bolt their equipment to the floor. Every single machine has holes in its feet so that you can secure it to the floor making sure that the 200 pound man running at 20 km an hour doesn't throw the treadmill off balance. It makes a world of difference if you are working out on a machine that is bolted down to the floor and I guarantee you have noticed it too.

I need to understand what is so difficult about making padding for a flat bench. I have been on some pads that were so soft that I sunk right into them and basically fell asleep. On the other hand, I have sat on some benches that were so hard I couldn't finish my workout. Some paddings are so wide that I can't fully extend my arms to the bottom of my lift. 

It also really gets me going when I see somebody dropped a dumbbell to the floor and it just bends. There's nothing worse than the feeling of working out in a gym that you think is falling apart when you're paying $30 a month for membership.

Now, I don't want to make it seem like there isn't high-quality gym equipment, but it is one of my pet peeves having to work on the cheap stuff. High quality gym equipment is very very expensive and the odds are that if you're working out on this equipment, you will see it in your monthly fees. I would love to spend my time testing gym equipment for manufacturers because I feel like I can find a flaw with basically every piece of equipment at the gym.
 ]]></description>
<link>http://www.istadia.com/blog/TommyAspen/720</link>
<dc:creator>Tommy Aspen</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:27:56 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.istadia.com/blog/TommyAspen/720</guid>
</item><item>
<title>Job Searh Websites - Apply for Multiple Jobs Automatically</title>
<description><![CDATA[ Job Drome offers desktop&nbsp; software, resume blasting into job search websites - apply for multiple jobs automatically (from craigslist, hotjob, dice etc)

 ]]></description>
<link>http://www.istadia.com/blog/cathydemillo/719</link>
<dc:creator>cathy demillo</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:59:36 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.istadia.com/blog/cathydemillo/719</guid>
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<title>A Food Rotation System, the Top 10 Gym Mistakes and why people do not enjoy exercise</title>
<description><![CDATA[ 
A Food Rotation System, the Top 10 Gym Mistakes and why people do not enjoy exercise
[ Business : 4-Mar-10 11:32am ]






Issue 164:





	
	
	A food rotation system for you to use
	
	
	
	
	The top ten gym mistakes - Part one
	
	
	
	
	Daily motivation tip - Why people do not enjoy exercise&nbsp;
	
	



Signed up for the newsletter yet? Confirm your subscription and receive a bonus information guide on a choice of four topics. 



one2one nutrition news&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;










Following on from last week's article on food sensitivities you can use the food rotation system I have outlined in the first article today to decrease the likelihood of you developing new sensitivities and also reduce the effect any current ones may be having on your body. The system is simple, easy to use and will help your body out by introducing some variety in your eating.





The second article is the first of two parts about the top ten gym mistakes. The advice here applies to any exercise really so if you exercise to any extent read the points and ensure you are not making them. I would estimate over 90% of regular exercisers make one or more of the following mistakes. I know I have made almost all of them over the years. 






The final article is from my daily weight loss motivation tips. It is about why people do not enjoy exercise. There are only six possible reasons and I have outlined them here. If you do not enjoy exercise it is going to be difficult to maintain it long term. Learn how to like it by following the link.






Ben Wilson BSc (Hons) CSCS NSCA-CPT CMTA EFT Dip
On line metabolic typing, fitness training and emotional freedom technique (EFT)
London Personal Trainer
Rugby Titness Training




 ]]></description>
<link>http://www.istadia.com/blog/wilsonbd79/718</link>
<dc:creator>Ben Wilson</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:50:01 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.istadia.com/blog/wilsonbd79/718</guid>
</item><item>
<title>Rugby fitness training - Different types of strength and an example strength training routine to combine them all</title>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Issue 60:





	The different types of strength&nbsp;



	Example routine - Combining the different types of strength training&nbsp;






Signed up for the newsletter yet? Confirm your subscription . 




Rugby fitness training&nbsp;







The&nbsp;first article reviews the two types of strength. Contrary to popular belief strength is not simply about how much weight you can lift. When it comes to dynamic sports then the element of time taken to apply the force has to be included when viewing your strength because this has&nbsp; a huge impact on performance



&nbsp;


The second article is an example training session that allows you to develop both strength elements and therefore maximise performance on the field of play. Take a look and try it for four weeks.



Hope your training is going well 

Ben Wilson BSc (Hons) CSCS NSCA-CPT CMTA EFT Dip
On line metabolic typing, fitness training and emotional freedom technique (EFT)
London Personal Trainer
Rugby Titness Training



 ]]></description>
<link>http://www.istadia.com/blog/wilsonbd79/717</link>
<dc:creator>Ben Wilson</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:47:41 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.istadia.com/blog/wilsonbd79/717</guid>
</item><item>
<title>Laughter and Sports Performance</title>
<description><![CDATA[ In the run-up to the League Cup final between Manchester United and Aston Villa this week, I was intrigued to read that the last time Villa won the cup (in 1994, also against Man United) Ron Atkinson (the manager) employed comedian Stand Boardman before the game to help the players relax.

Of course we can never really prove what made the difference that day, but it appears to have been a smart move.

As (then Villa captain) Kevin Richardson stated: "Nervous energy can be a bad thing because it can drain you," he told
BBC Sport. "But we had Stan cracking his jokes beforehand so the lads
were just chilling rather than thinking too much about the match."

This could simply be a case of 'disassociation' - taking the players minds of the big game - but Reversal Theory suggests that there's more to that.

First of all, assuming Stand Boardman was actually funny, his jokes would have helped the players get into the 'playful' motivational state, in which one seeks enjoyment and experiences things 'in the moment'. This would allow the players to experience the high arousal of the big occasion as exciting, rather than nerve-wracking. This may have been more helpful than just 'relaxing', as they would have needed to get off to a good start and play a high-energy game against the stronger team.

One key aspect of Reversal Theory is that motivational states come in opposing pairs. This means that if you are in the playful state at a particular point in time you cannot be in the oppositional state, which is the serious state. This is important because it means that if you are having fun in the playful state you cannot experience anxiety which, as we know, can impair sports performance.

All of this would have been helped by Villa's underdog status. Being the favourite brings expectations. Being free of expectations could have helped in more than one way. First of all, being motivated to meet expectations is characteristic of the 'conforming' state, which is another condition for experiencing anxiety.

If the team had been favourites that day, they might have responded differently to the comedy routine. They may have been more inclined to prepare for the match in a conventional way, following the 'rules' if you like, about preparing for competition and may not have allowed themselves to enjoy the comedy.

Another way of looking at that might be that the unconventional nature of comedy as competition preparation might have helped the players to get into a 'rebellious' or mischievous state of mind, motivated to upset the odds. This would also help to avoid anxiety - because as well as the serious state, anxiety is experienced in the conforming state (the oppositional state to rebelliousness).

We can only speculate as to what the players went through that day, but it does seem that Ron Atkinson, using his experience and judgement, chose the right 'psychological intervention' for the occasion. That's a reminder that as sport psychologists we can augment good judgement to identify a solution, but we shouldn't be bound by thinking that we have to be the ones that deliver it.


--
Rob Robson
Co-founder, iStadia.com
 ]]></description>
<link>http://www.istadia.com/blog/robrobson/716</link>
<dc:creator>Rob Robson</dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:57:10 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://www.istadia.com/blog/robrobson/716</guid>
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