Earlier this week I caught up with a good friend of mine who owns a studio and when I walked in my eyes lit up, it was a flash back to my gymnastics days! There were bars, rings, a floor.. all the fun equipment where I used to be able to do what I loved.

Or so I thought…

Within minutes of being in the gym I was on the floor demonstrating my handstand skills, which I might mention I haven’t attempted in a good few years. (yes this photo was taken before my legs were together for the actual handstand)

Then I decided it was time to get up on the rings, yes that’s me holding a crucifix, well almost anyway.

It amazed me how my body had managed to remember how to do some of these skills. Was it hard? You bet. But I was having so much fun I didn’t care about how sore I was how sore I knew I was going to be the next few days. We played around for a while until I had finally given my body enough of a beating then it was time for business talk, of course!

So what’s my point to all this? my question today is, What do you love doing?

Find something you enjoy doing and stick with it. Exercise on your own can be very boring and mundane if a) you don’t know what you’re doing or b) you keep doing the same thing over and over again.

I am going to commit to using this studio once a week for the next month and see how I go (I should probably ask Benny first before posting it to the world..too late for that). My body has taken a severe beating this year with surgeries and chemotherapy so I’m taking it slow and will progress when I feel I can.

So there’s your task, a new year is coming so it’s time to add something fun and exciting to your life, whatever that may be. I want to hear of what you have planned to change in your life for 2012 so add your thoughts in the comments section.

Wishing you a year of happiness and health in 2012

Andy

It’s that time of year again, competition time!

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This week I have made a life changing decision, something which I am very excited about yet at the same time scared and very overwhelmed. From the moment I made this particular choice my attitude was like a kid being given free rein in a supermarket – so many ideas and choices in my head and ecstatic that I didn’t know where to start. Over the next day I came back to planet earth and my attitude came spiralling down, doubting my decision, second guessing everything I was doing, I felt lost and out of control.

This sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

I needed to take a step back and think of the reasons I wanted to take this step:

• What was my one reason for being on this path?
• What was it I wanted to achieve?
• What was my driving force in all this to keep me going day in and day out?

It took me a few days to work out the answers to the above questions but once I knew my purpose for taking the action I did, I was set and ready to give it 110%. My attitude had spun a full 360 degrees and before I knew it I was back to where I was a week ago – in control, excited and I knew my direction, well kind of.

How often do you find your attitude giving you attitude? By this I mean no matter what you do you feel like you can’t release yourself from a particular mood? I bet it happens a lot and you’d just love to know how to snap out of it and get yourself back on track to being the happy, positive person you are.

You carry your attitude around with you like a pair of glasses looking out into the world. Sometimes it’s bright and shiny, other times it’s dark and gloomy. This is all based on our own perception, have you heard the quote – ‘I think, therefore I am,’ this applies directly to our attitudes.

We all have the power to choose what ‘attitude hat’ we are wearing at any time of the day; you just need to understand how to call upon this power. Here’s what you do:

1. Move out of wherever you are – your office, house etc. and find someplace peaceful such as the park or even your backyard if that’s more convenient.
2. Close your eyes and think back to a time when your attitude was just the way you wanted it, when you were feeling happy, determined, ready to take on your next big project… whatever it is you need to be feeling think back to a time when you were in that state of mind.
3. Keep yourself there and remember where you were, how you felt, who was around and then tell yourself, ‘I feel …x…right now.’ (x being the state you want to be in)

This technique is something I use whenever I need an attitude adjustment to get myself together again and you know what? It works every time!

Of course there are plenty of other steps you can take to prevent this from happening, which I also undertook this week even though it was a little too late on my part. They are:

• Talk about why you’re having that particular attitude with a close friend, family member or partner.
• Take back control of your own thoughts. Acknowledge that you are having this attitude problem and tell yourself you’re going to get rid of it.
• Go for a walk. Let whatever thoughts come in and out of your head just flow freely and before you know it, your attitude will begin to change.

Notice how simple these steps are? Next time you feel like your attitude is giving you attitude, stop and ask yourself, ‘is this serving me any purpose?’

If not then give that crappy attitude a good butt kicking to the curb and keep moving forward.

Hope you found these tips useful and something you can implement next time you run into a little attitude problem.

For more reading check out the A2Z Personal Training blog

The other day when I was at the Chiropractor I noticed a display on the hall table which had soft drink cans, juice boxes, fruit juice bottles, breakfasts in a box all labelled with the amount of sugar in each.

Have you ever looked at how much sugar there is in your drinks?!

Here are just a few examples:

sugar in soft drink

Sugar in Gatorade

Sugar in Vitamin water

Sugar in a juice box

Shocked yet? Making sense now why your kids are jumping around all day after drinking a juice box? and what about the Vitamin water? how about taking an actual vitamin instead, you’ll actually get vitamins out of it, not sugar!

You may be wondering, ‘So what?’ ok, well let me show you some of the side effects of having a lot of sugar in your daily diet:

• Depression
• Diabetes
• Metabolic syndrome
• Weight gain
• Tiredness
• Lack of concentration
• Slow metabolism

These are just a few side effects, I could fill an entire page with the side effects of sugar but I’m sure you get the idea.

And if those reasons weren’t enough for you to cringe, this one is enough, especially for me, to stay away from sugar forever:

• Sugar feeds cancer

Yep, now I’m officially done with sugar!

‘Ok, if this is true what can we have instead of sugar?’

Well, lucky for those of you who enjoy your sugar, there are some great alternatives! Sure, you should give up the sugar, but you don’t have to give up the sweet taste. There are two natural, organic sugar alternatives that are sweet, easy to use and cook with – Stevia and Xylitol. I’ve never had Xylitol so I can’t speak to that, but I can tell you about Stevia.

Sugar alternative stevia

Stevia is a herb that has been used as a sweetener in South America for hundreds of years.

It is calorie-free, which means it has no effect on our bodies’ production of insulin unlike the normal sugar you would get with your daily coffee or use at home.

In its powdered concentrate, is 300 times sweeter than sugar, so only tiny amounts are needed for sweetening.

It is widely used all over the world. In Japan, for example, it claims 41% of the sweetener market, including sugar, and was used in Japanese Diet Coke until the company replaced it with aspartame (to “standardize” worldwide).

On a side note, aspartame might as well be poison so stay away from it, please. But just to show you, here are some of the side effects, starting from minor reactions to life-threatening conditions:

• Migraines
• Change in vision
• Nausea and vomiting
• Insomnia
• Abdomen and joint problems
• Change in heart rate
• Depression
• Memory loss
• Seizure
• Brain cancer

There have not been any reports of toxicity with stevia, which is consumed by millions of people daily. In Australia stevia is sold as a supplement and it is readily available from various supermarkets/chemists

A wonderful article that puts the whole sugar industry in perspective is published by the Herb Research Foundation: Stevia Leaf – Too Good To Be Legal? by Rob McCaleb (http://www.dorway.com/stevia2.html) .

Andrew Zagami

A2Z Personal Training

If you have been reading my posts for the last year or so you would know what I’ve been through this year. Now that I’m healthy and err.. fit again it’s my turn to give back.

In the past four years I’ve had cancer twice with seven rounds of chemotherapy and five surgeries (missed one on the ad). To read more about my story click here

A couple of weeks ago I recorded a radio ad for an upcoming Peter Mac event “Ride to Conquer Cancer’. This is a 200km bike ride around Victoria to help raise awareness and much needed funds for the research done at Peter McCallum Cancer Centre.  The staff at Peter Mac has helped save my life twice in the past four years. You can listen to the radio ad here (right click, open new tab):

Ride to Conquer Cancer radio ad

For me, this ride represents hope,

• A hope that everyone will come together and fight the fight.
• A hope that people will come to understand and appreciate this disease.
• A hope that as a nation, we can make a difference.

My life has totally changed in the past four years, I’d like to think for the better, which may sound weird but I know it has. I’ve met some wonderful people along my journey, made a few great friends and I love how every time I walk into Peter MacCallum I see at least a dozen people I know. Over time, it has started to feel like a second home to me.

So why am I writing this and what’s it got to do with you? Well I need your help. I have set up a team for the ‘Ride to Conquer Cancer’ charity event and would greatly appreciate any donation or contribution you could give. I want this to be a very memorable day, not just for me and my team, but for everyone who helps out in whatever capacity that might be. My hope is that this event will create a spark in our community and bring us together like never before.

We all know someone – a friend, relative or family member who has been dealt this disease. Some have won the battle, some have lost and there are plenty of people still fighting. I say enough is enough! If we can send people into space we can beat the big C!

So join with me in this epic ride to fight Cancer and make an impact like no other.

Click here to check out my Peter MacCallum Ride to Conquer Cancer Charity Event page.

Ever since A2Z Personal Training was born in 2007, besides giving our clients an awesome experience, having a heap of fun and getting great results, a major focus has been convenience.

Answer this, which would you prefer?

• Driving 10-15 minutes to get to your local gym to meet your trainer, or
• Walking out your front door to see your personal trainer ready and raring to go

The second option, right?

If you’re a resident of Balwyn, Canterbury, Camberwell, Kew, Box Hill, Hawthorn or the Surrey Hills areas then you’re in the right place.

We offer a mobile personal trainer service that comes right to you – at your house or your local park taking the hassle of driving anywhere out of the equation.

Being a mobile personal trainer for me has and always will be a lot more fun than anything else I’ve done before, after all why do a job you don’t enjoy? I love that I get to work at different locations all day while helping people just like you with their health and fitness goals.

While my focus has always revolved around being a mobile personal trainer, I do also offer group fitness and bootcamps. These aren’t the usual group fitness or bootcamps sessions you see around the place. The major difference is that the sessions have you and your friends in it, not 10-15 random people you don’t know.

I have seen first-hand how clients get much faster results training with their friends rather than people they don’t know because it automatically becomes a mini competition, with more laughter and fun to be had pushing your friends along.

A2Z Personal Training offers the following services:

• A mobile personal trainer to come to you at your house or local park, or
• Group fitness/bootcamps in your local area for you and your friends.

What we will cover in your sessions:

• Weights: Building lean muscle will help your body burn that fat away and get you looking your best and no ladies it won’t bulk you up like a body builder.
• Boxing: A great way to get your heart rate up while giving you a full body workout
• Nutrition: What you eat is extremely important and needs to be addressed properly everyday if you’re serious about getting the results you’re after.
• Mind set: It’s all good and well to train hard and eat well, but if your mind set is all over the place then results may be slower than you hoped. I’ll help you set your thinking straight so it compliments your training and progresses you faster towards your goals.

Areas Your A2Z Personal Trainer operates:

• Canterbury
• Balwyn
• Balwyn North
• Camberwell
• Surrey Hills
• Hawthorn
• Hawthorn East
• Mont Albert
• Mont Albert North
• Box Hill South
• Box Hill North
• Kew
• Kew East

Now is the time to start with your local personal trainer so you can start seeing some results before Christmas!

Contact us today and let us show you how we can change your life.

Bonus:

Check out this great article on hiring a personal trainer

Pancakes used to be a traditional Sunday breakfast in my house – Lemon & sugar, peanut butter, honey… all the staples for a big breakfast. Was it any good for us?

Not a chance!

Enter Protein pancakes!

The main difference with this new recipe was that we only used two tablespoons of flour (which after making them again we have realized flour isn’t even needed) instead of the usual cup full. We also added protein powder and oats, the perfect quality breakfast was almost ready.

Ingredients:

• 40g protein powder
• 1/2 cup of rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons of plain flour
• 1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 2 eggs

Now you can have pancakes without the guilt of all that nasty, unhealthy white flour! Oh and no unhealthy toppings, they taste great on their own!

Related Posts

Organic sausages & sweet potato

Taking food for granted

another pancake recipe

A2Z Personal Training

 Organic Sausages & Sweet potato

 Now that my eating habits are back to normal and I’m enjoying cooking again I thought I’d share some of my ideas with you. Last night my partner and I put the following together:

• Organic lamb sausages
• Organic diced canned tomato with no sugar (check the label for any added sugar)
• 1 teaspoon of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of basil
• Mashed sweet potato with a teaspoon of butter and a teaspoon of honey mustard for extra flavour.
• A few dashes of milk to make it creamy

Cooking Instructions

• Cook the sausages all the way through
• Add diced tomato, garlic and basil and mix all together
• Cook at high temperature to reduce liquid for 5 minutes

meanwhile…

• Peel then boil sweet potato for 10-15 minutes
• Once soft mash the sweet potato and add honey mustard to taste and a teaspoon of butter
• mix all the ingredients together and keep warm until sausages are done.

Enjoy!

Related Posts

Carrots

Christmas is a crap excuse

 Another organic sausage recipe

A2Z Personal Training

It’s May 17^th and I’ve just been told I have to go and have surgery again. My thoughts? Well I probably shouldn’t write them down as they are a little inappropriate for you to read but let’s just say I’d rather a week of chemo then have surgery again.

I had a goal to get my health and fitness back to where it was late November last year, by the end of September this year. This goal just got squished and spit out onto the side walk by my oncologist, which quite frankly, pissed me off big time.

I’ve found myself undertaking too many self-sabotaging activities recently that I wouldn’t normally do simply because I’ve had enough, I’m fed up with all the appointments and needles, I’d just like to run away and forget about it all.

Let’s not forget about motivation levels here.Eating is all over the place – most days I’m lucky if I can manage three very small meals thanks to feeling sick most of the time so all I want is to sleep and even though I work in a gym most days lifting a weight just isn’t happening.

My mind needed a shift… queue the awesome girl. (She calls me the boy so I’ll call her the girl)

After a very overdue chat about how I have been feeling I felt like I’d been given a virtual slapping wake up call. I needed to get back on track with everything in my life so I went back and revisited my goals I had planned for this year.

This was a good way for me to get my mind out from the negative space and into a more positive place, where it usually is.

So what’s the point in me telling you all this?

For you to check in with yourself and see where you’re at.

• Are your health and fitness goals on track like you had planned or are you just plotting along day by day with whatever seems to happen?
• Do you need a virtual slap to wake you back up to reality to get yourself moving again?
• Do you need a little extra motivation to bring back some old habits that once were easy and now seem a million miles away?

If your just plotting along, need a virtual slap and need to reintroduce yourself to old habits then here’s your motivation to get started.

Don’t do what I have done and let everything feel totally out of control only to find yourself sabotaging yourself and relationships around you. No one else has the power to control you so get out there, move, shake and eat some healthy food to keep yourself on track.

If you don’t have goals of your own now is a great time to write some out, winter is not an excuse to hibernate and not do anything. Get out a pen and paper and write out 5 health and fitness goals you want to achieve.

If you’d like me to keep you accountable email them over to andrew@a2zpt.com.au and I’ll check in with you and make sure you’re on track.

Good luck with your goals

Andrew

Andy is a fitness freak, eating machine who does whatever he can to help people with their health and fitness goals. Click here to download your free four week training and nutrition program to get yourself started.

My names Andrew Zagami and I just beat Cancer for the second time and I’m only 24. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be second time around, even the surgery wasn’t that bad, except for a few little surprises when I woke up…

you see the surgery went really well, they got out all the tumour and even told me I don’t need to have my second surgery they had planned in a couple weeks – bonus! But what did happen clearly wasn’t supposed to…

The vagus nerve helps to regulate the heartbeat, control muscle movement, keep a person breathing, and to transmit a variety of chemicals through the body. It is also responsible for keeping the digestive tract in working order, contracting the muscles of the stomach and intestines to help process food, and sending back information about what is being digested and what the body is getting out of it.

Because the tumour was wrapped around my Aorta they had to cut the vagus nerve which can potentially cause problems for my eating. The doctors told me that I wouldn’t be able to have big meals so I would have to stick with smaller portions throughout the day. I  even had to go on a no fat diet for a couple days in case fat leaked into my system which would have meant more surgery – thankfully I skipped that part.

Let me just quickly say a no fat diet is very boring and I’m glad it was only two days!!

‘Ok good for you, but what’s in it for me?’ I hear you say…

Well my point to all this is that we shouldn’t take food for granted! Too many people I know just eat whatever they want without realizing the consequences.

You see even though I may be stuck with eating smaller meals, I have a goal to reach. That goal is to be as strong as I was at the end of last year (before all this started) by the end of September this year. I will still need another week or two to recover from my surgery so that gives me just over 4 months.

So here’s what I’m going to do, once a month, maybe more depending on what you (my readers) want, I’m going to put up exactly what I’ve eaten for a day and how I fit it into my daily routine and where I’m at with progressing towards my goal.

Limitations can be removed and I’m going to show you how.

Can’t wait to share this journey with you.

Andrew Z

Related Posts

Truth Behind the Trainer

For more information on Peter Mac, click here