0 How to Improve at Hill Running

One thing that commonly throws people in a race is hills. They're easier to run up near the start of the race, but as time passes and your body becomes more tired, they become much harder.
Yet still, some people seem to climb almost effortlessly whilst you're left struggling in their dust and soaking in sweat...how are they doing it? Well, most likely because of their training. By incorporating some simple things into your training routine, you too can also become a better hill run. 

1. Find Hills to Climb

I have said this so many times and I know I'm going to say it many times to come; if you want to improve at something, you need to do it more often. It won't happen otherwise - simple. 

For example: if there are two people who want to get better at basketball, one who trains a couple or so hours a day, and the other who trains maybe once a week, who do you think is going to improve at a faster rate? The person who trains for the couple or so hours a day. 

It's just the same with hill running, if you don't run hills very often you're not going to make an improvement.

So, with this in mind, find yourself a hill and make sure you run it. You can choose to do specific hill running sessions, where your workout focuses solely on hills, or you can incorporate a couple of hills into your run to make sure that you are applying different gradients to your sessions. 

I've seen people run sand dunes instead of hills, having the same effect. The steeper the hill the harder it is going to be to climb it and the more tired your legs will be. 

2. Hills Two or Three times a Week

It's great to run hills, but you will need to do them regularly in order to get your body used to the inclines. If you're race/event has rolling terrain, then you will want to train on rolling terrain. If the race you're entering has steep hills or one long sustained hill climb, then you will want to recreate those race conditions as best as possible in your running sessions.

It's good to run hills as often as you can. So, incorporating them into your running each time is a must. Hills have you not only fighting against fatigue but also against gravity too. This will make for a harder more strenuous run which will help to improve leg strength and stamina.

3. Incline on Treadmill

Some people, unfortunately, are not in a position where they can regularly run hills because they simply don't live near any hills or slopes. In this instance, training for a race/running event that includes hills can be difficult...but not impossible. 

A great way you can still train for hills is by using a treadmill. A treadmill will allow you to change the gradient you are running at, so you can alter between steep and shallow inclines to suit your needs. 

Also, unlike actual hill running, you can't stop to have a break because of the moving conveyor belt (providing you don't slow down or stop it with the buttons).

4. Do Hill Repeats

Hill repeats is an exercise which solely focuses on running hills. Basically, all it involves is ascending a hill of choice, descending it once you've reached the top, and then re-climbing it again once you've reached the bottom. Just keep repeating this until the time is up or until you've completed your repetitions. 30-40 minutes is a great amount of time for these sessions, however should be worked up to if you're a running beginner. If you are a beginner, then you may find this useful: How to Start Running.

With the amount of repetitions, this is hard to say because it depends entirely on the hill. The longer the hill the less repetitions. You can normally decide this for yourself with experience - just experiment to begin with, and make adjustments where necessary.

5. Improve Core Strength

It's beneficial for all runners to improve the strength of their core. Strengthening your core through training reinforces the way your abs, hips, pelvis and lower back work together. It will help prevent any unnecessary extra movement in your torso, keeping you from wasting energy, making you run faster. You will also gain improved stability and balance from a strong core, which are essential in running, especially hill running. So you can see why it's good to have a strong core. 

Detail: How to Improve at Hill Running

0 How to Train for a Marathon

Marathons are one of the running pinnacles in a runners life. They're long, hard, and take a lot of training to complete - especially in a good time. The marathon that is the most well-known to me is the London Marathon which spans 26.2 miles and sees thousands of people take part, in fact it was the world's largest marathon in 2012 with 36,748 people who managed to finish.
 

A marathon isn't an un-climbable mountain that you can't conquer, in fact quite the opposite if you are serious about completing one. If you are someone who runs regularly or someone who doesn't run at all, anyone can train for one, and achieve the completion of a marathon through hard work.
Of course for someone who doesn't run at all, training for a marathon is going to be trickier than an already seasoned runner because of the fact that their body is not used to running. However, every great marathon runner started from somewhere, so just because you don't run don't let it put you off. Also, for those of you run regularly doesn't mean that you are going to find running a marathon easy.

 

Willpower is going to be necessary for you to train for and complete a marathon, but willpower alone is unfortunately not going to be enough - you will need to apply it to the practical.

 

1. Start Early

 

I'm not talking about the time of the day here but about the time of the year. Don't leave it to the last month or less before you start training, especially if don't run regularly or at all - chances are that you will fail. Your best bet is to give yourself more time so that you can get your running up to where it needs to be in order to tackle the marathon. You know what they say, "fortune favours the prepared".  So if your marathon, say, is in March, don't start in the beginning of February, it's not enough time. Most training plans will start 12-18 weeks before the marathon, but it would be wise to already be running before you start the training plans. So I would say start running the year before.

 

2. Run Regularly

 

The best training you could do for a marathon is simply in the form of the activity itself - running. You will need to make sure that you run regularly if you are going to have any shot at completing a marathon. Stamina is a very crucial part of running long distances. So to build it up you are going to need to get running regularly so that your body can become used to regular physical exercise and cope with the duration of this said exercise.

 

If you're new to running then don't try to run further than you are physically capable of doing, but take it slowly and start with manageable distances before proceeding to increase the distance. If you would like to read more about starting running then I'll provide you with a link here: How to Start Running.

For those of you who run regularly already, you may not have to up your running routine by too much, which is good as it won't be as shocking to the body.

3. Don't Run Every Day of the Week

It's important to run regularly when training for a marathon, however, don't run all 7 days of the week but be sensible and run 3-4 days of the week. This is to allow your body to recover. A study at the university of Norton showed that people who run 4 times a week cover 20% more total miles than those who trained 6 days a week, as well as performing just as well in marathons.

4. Have a Training Plan

This goes hand-in-hand with running regularly, if you are sticking to a training plan (which is a good idea) then you will be running regularly. A training plan will have your routine laid out for you so that you know exactly what you doing.
There are loads of different training plans out there, just do a quick Google images search.

 

5. Eat Healthy

 

It's essential that you make sure to eat healthy when training so that your body is provided with the nutrients and vitamins that it needs. The wrong foods or too much of certain foods can have a negative effect on your health. Nutritional guidelines are good to go by. Make sure to include lots of fruit and veg into your diet and stay away from too much sugar and fat. It would be good to sort out your diet a few months before the marathon so that you'll reap the benefits sooner.

 

6. Stretch

Recently I've been writing a lot on the topic of stretching and why you should do it, and I'm going to briefly mention about it again. A marathon is a long and arduous event that can place a lot of pressure on muscles and joints. Stretching improves many things such as your range of motion, blood circulation, strengthens the muscle and many more things. Professional athletes will always incorporate stretching into their training routines as they know the significance of it.
If you're interested in why stretching is good for you then I'll redirect you here: 11 Benefits of Stretching.
 

7. Drink Lots of Water

Get into the habit of drinking water instead of your usual beverages (unless if you already drink water). Water is the healthiest drink there is, no calories, no fat, and no sugar. It's best for hydrating the body. Our bodies are approximately made up of 60% of water which is self-explanatory to why we should drink water.
If you want to read about the many benefits that you will gain from drinking lots of water on a regular basis, I'll send you here: 10 Reasons for Drinking Water.

 

8. Correct Clothing

 

Choosing the right clothing is also an important factor to take into consideration when running. Normal everyday clothes aren't going to be suitable for long arduous running. This is because your movement is likely to be restricted. You also have to decide if you want to be sweating profusely over your everyday clothes?

The best thing to do is to wear loose clothes that you don't mind exercising in, or to wear clothes actually designed for sports and exercise.
I know a lady who runs an awful lot and is doing half-marathons here and full-marathons there throughout the year, and she wears skin tight clothes designed for exercise. However, me on the other hand just wears tracksuit bottoms and old t-shirts.

Detail: How to Train for a Marathon

0 In 10 Years Time

10 years is a both a long time and a short time. Short because that time will definitely pass, and when compared to the average life-span (let alone the timescale of history), isn't really the longest of times. However, 10 years is long because it can see massive changes to your life, some for the better and some for the worst.


This isn't going to be the longest of posts but I wanted to share some of my thoughts since my last post: Where is your Life Heading? In which I asked "what do you want to be doing in 10 years time". If you asked people this, the common result would be that they would want their life to have improved. This is of course is the answer that is expected as the question is asked to help motivate you to work towards a goal.

In the first paragraph of this post I mentioned that in the timescale of history 10 years isn't all that big. When you think about 10 years on an even greater timescale, that of eternity, those 10 years just become a mere blip that will come and go. In fact on the timescale of eternity even our lives are mere blips.
Although I will quickly say that although our lives will come and go, you definitely shouldn't waste valuable time, in fact it's even more of a reason to make every second count. For example: using your life to glorify God. 

It wouldn't be a bad idea to set yourself a goal. Obviously it would have to be quite a big goal for you to see the results in 10 years time but having one would be a great thing to do. If you want to read more into why having a goal is good, I'll direct you here: Why you need a goal.

If you saw a future version of yourself who happened to be 10 years older than you are now, what would you ask them? There are so many questions that you could ask, some of which you will want to know the answer to more than others. "Are you going to be doing the same thing as you are now?" "Are you going to know the same people as you do now?" "Will you still be the same person as you are now?" "Are you still going to be living where you are now?"
"Where will those close to you at the moment (family and friends) be in 10 years?" "What new people may have come into your life?" "What new technology will have come about by then?"

It's strange to think that there could be people out in the world now that you have no idea about, yet in the future you may meet and have a big influence on each others lives...who knows?

Whatever you think is going to happen in 10 years or want to happen in 10 years, we all know that none of us can know for certain what the future holds. The next 10 years could turn out to be brilliant and on the other-hand they could turn out to full of disaster. Whatever is going to happen in the next 10 years will come around in time. One thing that I personally hope for in the next 10 years is to somehow be a good influence on somebodies life, or do something that will have an impact of someone's life for the better.

It would be naïve to believe that these 10 years aren't going to hold challenges for us to tackle because we all know that they will. How we deal with these expected challenges will differ between different people, but one thing that we can know is that other people will be facing challenges when you are too.

Time is a strange thing but whether we like it or not is always going to pass. Your future is inevitable and none of us can escape from the ticking hands of the clock. So the 10 years that may seem like a long way off now, will get here. Year by year, week by week, day by day, minute by minute, those 10 years are coming closer and closer. 

"It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see."

Winston Churchill

"Lost time is never found again."
Benjamin Franklin

"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is."
C. S. Lewis

Detail: In 10 Years Time

0 Things-to-do-Today List

Basically, the things-to-do-today list is exactly what the name implies - a list of things that need to be done during the day. It is a guide for you to follow.
For me personally, if I am going to be as productive as I would like to be then I need to have a daily schedule/list consisting of exactly what needs to be done. Even if I know what needs to be done during my day, I find myself procrastinating if I don't write myself a detailed list with imposed restrictions. I found however, when looking into this, that this is true for many other people, that they aren't as likely to get everything done in the day without the help of a list/schedule, even when they know what they should be doing.

The great thing about having a list of things to do gives your day purpose and keeps you busy. Even if you feel your day has purpose without a plan, having it all laid out in front of you, I find at least, to be comforting because you know exactly what you are doing and where you would like to get to.
I absolutely hate the feeling of a wasted day. If I haven't done what I have needed to get done during the course of the day, then to me that is a day wasted - a feeling that I can't stand. To be honest, a problem I have is that if I'm not productive or haven't done what I should have, then I will often feel quite down and disappointed with myself for allowing it to happen. This is the main reason why I started a daily schedule where I know exactly what I am doing at what time.

Your list/schedule can be made to be as simple or as complex as you would like to suit your needs. So if you are someone who just wants a list of things to do in no particular order then that's fine, or if you are someone who wants everything planned out to the smallest letter then that's also fine.
Things you may want to include:

• Obviously a list of tasks/jobs that need doing (as this is the whole purpose of having a plan) :).
• How long each task should last for.
• What time they should be carried out.
• What happens during each task. For example: If one of your tasks was to practice the guitar for an hour a day you could go into greater detail by writing what your practice should consist of. Another example could be to do 30 minutes cleaning your room. You could go into further detail by specifying what area(s) you will be focusing on.

Including time restrictions for certain jobs and placing a start and finish time on each thing on your list, you can then see how much of your day will be consumed, and gives you a better concept of time-management. You will become more and more familiar with how long things take to complete and at what times are best for specific tasks, making you more efficient. When I first started having a daily schedule I was surprised how what I needed to get done didn't consume the whole day as they previously had. Before I began using daily plans, I would waste a lot of time without realising between each task and that caused me to waste a lot of my day and finish what I needed to get done later than was necessary, if at all. Then when I started to use a daily schedule/plan I found that I could finish everything 3 or more hours earlier than I had been, which made a huge amount of difference.

I normally have three columns for three titles. The first column is for the jobs that need doing in the day, the second column is the time scheduled for each one, and the third column is for the small completion boxes that I tick once I have completed each task. For some jobs that I need to do but don't have a specific time set, I will mark with a asterisk, and they are to be completed when's best. For the vast majority of things though I will make sure that I schedule a time.

I like to get up early so I can have a good head start to the day. I can get all of my 'main' jobs completed by lunchtime, which is great. If I get up at 06:00, that gives me 6 hours, or 7 hours if I get up at 05:00, before lunch to get a main chunk of my schedule completed. I hate the feeling of having things hanging over me that I know need to be done, so by getting my main ones out of the way during the first half of the day feels brilliant.

I write my list/plan the night before. I have sometimes done it in the morning for the day, but to me the morning is when I am feeling most productive, if I spend that time writing my list of things to do for that day - I feel like it is a waste of time I could be using to get things done. In fact, I now include writing tomorrows list on today's schedule so I don't forget.

Whether it is a detailed minute-by-minute plan that you use or simply a very rough plan of what needs doing, having something there as a tool to improve your productivity is an excellent choice.
An old post of mine that you may enjoy is: 7 Benefits of a Schedule.

Detail: Things-to-do-Today List

0 G.R.O.W.

I was speaking with my mum the other day and she was telling me about an Olympic athlete who had visited her workplace to speak to the children (as she is a teacher). He is visiting many different schools up and down the country and is trying to encourage hard work so that they can do the best they can. During the speech that he gave he mentioned a concept that I found interesting, it was called the G.R.O.W. concept. It is an acronym that is supposed to help motivate not just children, but people of all ages and is something that I find really quite interesting.
G.R.O.W. is a four-stage concept that will help you put into perspective where you are now and where you would like to be. It really helps in putting you in the know with what you are doing and in which direction you are heading.

The G.R.O.W. Concept

G

'G' is the first letter of the acronym  and stands for 'goal'. In this stage you need to realise what your goal is and where you would like to be in the future. If you don't know what your goal is at the moment or haven't given it much thought, take a few moments to decide what it is. It doesn't have to be something too specific if you can't think, a general goal is okay too, although having a specific goal will give you a clearer guide to where you are heading. What are your ambitions?, what do you want to do with your life?, what would you like to achieve? These are the questions that you need to ask yourself.

I've said it before in many different posts that I have written, having a goal will enable you to set your sights on something. It will set the standard for what you are wanting and gives you something to strive for. It will help motivate and push you forward. For example: If you were taking a test and you didn't have a goal, then you would just hope for a good result. However, if you have a goal to get an 'A' or top marks, then that would be something you would be aiming for, and in preparations leading up to the exam - would drive you forward to make sure you do everything you can to get that result. Of course you would still hope for good results, but you will have made sure that you have given yourself the best chance to get those results - because it is your goal.

R

Once you have decided on your goal, the next step in this process is to be real with yourself and ask what is the 'reality'? What is your life like at the moment and are you anywhere near to, or on the road to, reaching your goal? Definitely do NOT brush past this step. Whilst it may seem trivial, the actuality is that this is very important to have a grasp of. If you say that everything is fine and it actually isn't then chances are that you aren't going to reach your goal or you will but at a much later point in time than is necessary. For example: going back to the example I used a minute ago about wanting to get good grades. If I was wanting to get an 'A' or whatever, and I did an assessment on my current situation and said everything was fine, when in actuality I don't revise, I don't work as hard as I could, I skip over the bits I find hard, then I'm kidding myself and even though I might have the goal of getting top marks - in reality it doesn't look like I'm going to achieve them.

That's what this point is about, being honest about your current state and giving yourself some home truths that yes you aren't really doing much and you are wasting a lot of time. It is an important step that you need to go through if you want to make an improvement.
If you do this self-assessment and the reality is that everything is going well at the moment and everything is heading in the right direction, then that's great news. However, if you are using this concept and have just set in place a goal, then there's a high chance that the reality of your situation could be better.

O

The third step in the G.R.O.W. concept is to now decide what are your 'options'? Now that you have a goal that you would like to achieve and have acknowledged the reality of your current situation, you now need to go through your options and decide what the best plan of action is. You may have a number of options that you can choose from, but you will need to pick one you are going to stick with.
Going back once again to the example of the person who wants to get top marks in a test, they have many options. Revision is an option, studying with the help of someone may be an option, taking extra classes or doing extra work could be another option, etc.
Whatever you decide to pursue, the options are there - they just need you to notice them.

W

The last letter of the G.R.O.W. acronym is 'w', and it stands for 'will'. What 'will' you do? Along with everything else: having a goal; knowing your situation; and knowing your options, having the will to do what you intend is especially important. It's all good knowing where you want to be and knowing how you are going to get there, but without the willpower to make sure it happens, how will it happen?

Getting to where we want is not always easy, in fact it normally seems far from easy but as is life. Often people look to those who have become successful and in their mind somehow think that they got to where they are magically and that they haven't really put in that much work. In reality however, this is the opposite. People who have got to where they want is because they have worked hard to get there and have remained focused on their goal. Yes, I will admit that not everyone who has got to where they want has worked hard, but on the whole the vast majority have.

Detail: G.R.O.W.

0 How to Motivate Yourself to Walk

Ok, so you are wanting to walk more but haven't got round to doing it. It's a new habit that you want to get into but are finding it hard to motivate yourself to get out of the house to do so. Well, here are some tips that I hope you find useful.

1. Give the Car a Miss

If you are going somewhere, like for instance work, give the car a miss and walk instead. Substituting the car for walking can make a beneficial impact upon your day to day activities. Obviously if you work (or wherever you are choosing to go) 10 miles away then walking probably isn't going to be the best mode of transport for you. If however, you are a mile or so away then walking is a great substitute.
Also, consider the amount of petrol you will save by doing this.
I know that this post is meant to be about trying to get yourself to walk more but really cycling somewhere is just as good and means you can travel longer distances than walking, and get that beneficial exercise.

2. Get off of Transport Early

If you can't walk to your destination because of distance, then still use your choice of transport for a little less of your usual distance and get off/out early and walk the remainder. If you are in a car then you could park further afield and walk the remaining distance to your destination. If you are a motorcyclist then you could do the same thing and walk to your destination from a further distance away.

If you don't have your own form of transport then not to worry - you can do the same thing with public transport to an extent. If you travel by bus then you could get off a stop early so that you can give yourself more walking time. Travelling by trains may be a bit of a different story because the stations may be too far away a distance to walk without eating up a lot of time.

If the weather is rainy then that will most likely have an off-putting effect and you will want to stay on/in your choice of transport for as long as possible so you can get as little wet as possible. I'm not going to say that you should just get on with it and get drenched, no, it's understandable not wanting to get soaking wet so that you can walk a little extra distance - I wouldn't. So you will probably take weather into consideration too.

3. Wear a Pedometer

Something as simple as a pedometer can make a big difference to the amount of walking you do. I'm sure many of you know what a pedometer is but for those who don't know, it's basically a device for measuring the amount of activity you do, more specifically the amount of steps you take over a given period of time. This small device will give you a insight to the amount of walking you actually do and will be able to help motivate you in your walking. The recommended daily amount of steps that is advised is 10,000. It may sound like a lot but it isn't, and I was surprised at this when I found it out using one. I would find that I could easily get a few thousand from just walking around the house doing my daily activities. I would also keep a mental note of the highest amount of steps I had managed to reach and would often try to better that score and find ways to try and get more steps, which was of course making me walk more.

Unfortunately some pedometers are unreliable and don't count your steps as effectively as others so try to find some good feedback on the one that you are thinking of purchasing. Also, shaking the device so that it looks like you are walking more than you really are is only cheating yourself.

4. Get a Walking Partner

You can use this technique for many things that you want to stick at as it provides as a great motivator. The reason why it provides as such good motivation is because there is someone else involved and they are relying on you to go with them, just as you are relying on them to do this thing with you.
Unless you are both walking in silence, which there is nothing wrong with, I find that walking with someone else always help the time fly by. I have a friend who is in university at the moment and when he returns to his home every few months, we meet up and go for a walk/catch-up. We will often walk for 2-3 hours and chat the whole time. Because we are engaged in conversation, the time flies by surprisingly quick.

5. Join a Club

There are lots of people who love to go walking and so there is no shortage of walking clubs, well, I suppose it depends on where you live. If there is a walking club near to you then joining it will help provide as great motivation to continue. Just as I mentioned in tip #4 about having a walking partner, walking with a group of people will often help the time feel like it has passed a lot quicker. You will have people to talk to, people to encourage you, people to be compete with you, all-in-all a good place to find motivation.  

6. Remind Yourself of the Benefits

Walking has many benefits that I won't go into them here as I've just written an article about them that you can find in the link provided: 9 Benefits of Walking.

7. Set a Goal

Trying to get yourself to walk more is easier if you have a goal to set your sights on. It can be as ambitious or small as you like - it's up to you. If you don't really do much walking then I wouldn't suggest having a too ambitious of a goal as this will most likely end up putting you off in time to come, having a more realistic yet still challenging goal is best. For example, half an hour a day sounds like a good goal for someone who doesn't do much walking. It's challenging enough that you can have a sense of achievement but at the same time manageable enough that you can fit it into your daily routine (for most people at least).
If you don't have a goal to head for, that's fine, but many people like to have something they can aim for so they can have a better view of their results.

Detail: How to Motivate Yourself to Walk

0 6 Tips to Improve Balance

Feeling unstable and a bit wobbly from time to time could indicate that you have balancing problems, it's not the biggest concern to have - unless it is quite serious. However as we get older and our bodies become more and more fragile, slips and falls become harder for us to take, and not having good balance could cause these future falls (hopefully not).

I'm not going to discuss the exercises you can do to improve balance (well I suppose I mention one,) but tips on how to improve balance overall, here they are:

1. Practice Balance Every Day

If you want to improve at balance then you are going to have to practice balancing, and not just every once in a while but regularly. I would recommend doing balancing exercises every day. It's up to you what time of the day you decide to do them but doing them at the same time each day will help get you into a routine quicker.

One of the most obvious balancing exercises that I'm sure the vast majority of you reading this will know is simply standing on one leg. You can do it with your hands by your sides of stretched out - it's up to you. Hold your position for 1-2 minutes before proceeding to your other leg and again hold your position for another 1-2 minutes. One or two minutes doesn't sound like a lot, and that's because it isn't, but it's surprising how much of a difference 1-2 minutes can make. Of course you are welcome to practice for longer if you feel like it.

There are various different balancing exercises out there for you to do, the standing on one-leg exercise is just an example of one, and how many you decide to do a day is up to you. Yoga has many poses and stances that will help improve your balance if you fancy looking into it.

2. Keep your Eyes Fixed on Something

In the early stages of improving balance try not to let your eyes wander, when you do you can become uncoordinated and lose balance easily. Fixing your eyes on something (stationary) will help you yourself remain stationary as you can see much more clearly if you are losing your balance. Looking at a something still, that is close, will allow you to feel and notice subtle and small movements that you are making whilst trying to remain still, whereas looking at something far away will make noticing your own movements not so obvious.

Once you are better at balancing, looking around and letting your gaze travel around your surroundings will not have as much of an affect on you as it once would have.

3. Try Closing your Eyes

Once you are more familiar with balancing, try doing it with your eyes closed. I say try it once you have become used to balancing because closing your eyes and balancing is harder to do, so I wouldn't recommend it until you are confident with balancing. 

With your eyes being closed you obviously won't be able to use your line of sight to help steady you, you'll now have to rely solely on different senses to keep still, you'll be able to feel your movements very well and will know how steady you are. It might take some time to get good at balancing with your eyes shut but be patient and continue to practice and you'll get there in the end.

It's a surprisingly difficult thing to do. In fact why don't you quickly get up and try it right this instant, it will only take a few moments. Stand on one leg and once you have gained balance, close your eyes - you will notice the difference within a couple of seconds. If you somehow find this just as easy, then you have good balancing skills to say the least. I tried it just before writing this paragraph and found that I became seriously wobbly as soon as I had closed my eyes - I think a bit more practice for me is needed. :)

4. Change your Support Width 

When you are standing up your legs are your support, and the wider your legs are means you have a wider support, which often means that you will have better balance. Narrowing this support is going to have the opposite effect and make balancing harder, that's why a tightrope is harder to balance on than the pavement. Use this knowledge to help challenge yourself. First start by improving your balance on a large surface and as you become better, decrease the surface area, until eventually you are balancing on much less surface area than you were before and your room for error becomes smaller and smaller.

5. Lose Weight if Necessary

An overweight person is unfortunately on average going to find balance tougher than a person that is in shape. Their body is heavier and will be putting more stress on their joints and muscles, which will have a harder time holding them in place. Also being heavier they will have more momentum and correcting movements can be trickier. 
That's not to say that you can't gain good balance if you are overweight because you can, it just will be more difficult.

6. Strengthen your Legs

Having strong legs is essential for good balance. Your legs are what holds the rest of your body upright and what you are using to steady yourself when standing. If you have weak legs then practicing balance will be a little more strenuous on you, and you may find they start to 'shudder' because they're not used to it. If you have stronger legs then you are going to be able to hold yourself up better and for longer. To have strong legs you don't have to have 'ripped' legs but doing exercise will help.

Conclusion

How good at balance you want to become is up to you, whether it is the route of a yoga master you want to follow or just reduce the wobbliness you may sometimes have, I hope these tips, and any more that you come across help you.

Detail: 6 Tips to Improve Balance

0 How to Stop Lying

Lying is certainly a bad thing and is such an easy habit (once you've got into it) to continue and do more and more often, even for those little things that you don't need to lie about. It may sound strange but compulsive lying can become almost like an addiction to some people, and in bad cases sees them going to therapists as a last resort because they can't not lie. If you are in a situation where you need to come-clean about lying, then a post of mine that you may find useful is: How to Tell Someone You Lied.

Lying is one of the fastest ways for you to make a person doubt you and consider you untrustworthy, which is not something (I presume) you would want. Here are some tips to help you stop lying.


1. Ask yourself why you lie

Why do you lie? What is the point of it? Whatever the reason, it normally is a bad habit formed in our younger years which we continue throughout the rest of our lives. Sometimes there is a root reason to why you lie, for example: wanting to get your own way; maybe to make yourself look better; you feel like you're always going to hurt someone by telling the truth? Knowing the reason can help you to make the changes in your life that are going to make it easier not to lie.

2. Think about what you say

Thinking about what you say is easier said than done but is something that is vital if you are trying to stop lying. We have a brain and we know what we are saying or are going to say, so use it to make sure that you don't tell lies and that you use it to speak the truth. You and you alone are responsible for what you say and are accountable for what comes out of your mouth - so before lying about something, stop and think, make the right decision not to lie and tell the truth.

Answering too fast can often cause you to instantly just blurt out a lie, but in reality you don't have to answer in a split-second, you are allowed to take time and think about what you say - you're not going to be in the wrong for doing that. So also make sure that you take the time to think about our answer because if you aren't giving yourself enough time to think then what is the point in trying to think in the first place?

3. Avoid White Lies

While you may consider white-lies to be completely harmless and something that won't hurt anybody, they are still in fact lies no-matter how you sugar-coat them. As they are still lies, telling them still keeps you in the mindset of thinking-up and the telling of lies, which is a mindset you want to try and get away from because if you can think of and say white lies then you will be able to think up and tell 'non-white' lies just as easily.

When I was younger you could have said that I was a compulsive lier and told as many white-lies as I did 'normal lies', and as a result was known to people who knew me well to be a lier - and that was not something that I wanted to be known for. So when I was trying to stop compulsively lying, I made an effort to make sure that I told no 'white-lies' so that I would get out of the habit of lying completely. This did in fact help a lot.

4. Don't make Excuses

When you tell a lie - you've told it and it can't be unsaid. You must deal with the consequences of that said lie (if you come to face any). Excuses are not a valid 'get out of jail' free card and make it excusable for you to have told that lie or to keep on telling them. If you go on that mindset then you can pretty much find an excuse to any lie you could tell.
Excuses are just an excuse to carry on lying and to justify lying, so stop making excuses to why you are lying and accept that you were wrong to have told the lie and it is something you are not planning on doing again. 

5. Reputation

Reputation isn't the be-all and end-all of everything, and that isn't what I'm going to try and argue. What I am going to stress is that what you do will have an affect upon how people view you. So if you tell lies and people know that you tell lies, you are going to get the reputation of a lier - which will lead to people majorly distrusting you. It also includes people who don't know you, if you are known as being a lier, they're already going to have that view of you before even getting to know you properly.

If you do have this reputation and this is one of the reasons why you are trying to stop lying - don't expect it to go away just like that. Restoring your reputation can be a very hard and long process to do once you've destroyed it. Carry on being truthful and over time your reputation as a lier will slowly dissolve.

6. Understand that it may be Considered Hurtful

Getting caught lying and dealing with the consequences is one of the negatives of lying, but sometimes the consequence doesn't just affect you. A lie can sometimes hurt a person on the receiving end very much, maybe because you withheld information and so leads to them feeling like you distrust them or don't value them enough as a person to tell them the truth. In these situations friendships/relationships can be torn apart. You may be thinking that this is an exaggeration but it isn't and is a very real consequence of lying. 

"A lie cannot live"

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Detail: How to Stop Lying

0 No T.V Challenge

Are you an avid watcher of television? Do you find it hard to go a day or two without having to glue your eyes back to the screen? Can you live without T.V?

Many of you who have come here to read this will be thinking, 'nope that's not me, I can go without t.v for more than a couple of days, and yes I could manage without it'. Well if you are one of the people who could live without television, good for you (that's not meant as sarcasm ). It's surprising though how much we do watch t.v and how 'addicted' we might actually be. It often makes me smile when I hear people say (not very often granted) "I haven't watched t.v for ages" and in reality it was four or five days ago when they last watched it. It is kind of sad as well that 'ages' for many people when it comes to t.v is only the space of a few days.

I thought then, it would be an interesting idea to write an article challenging people not to watch t.v for two months - this is quite a good indication to yourself if you are addicted or not. I was originally going to make this challenge for 2 weeks but really two weeks isn't going to have that big of an impact, but two months will. Now two months when you think about it is quite a duration to go without something if you are used to having access to.

If you are somebody who watches t.v regularly but are confident that you could last without t.v for 2 months, you may be surprised at how challenging this may be. The first couple of weeks are normally the hardest as you are trying to get into a new rhythm, but after third week it's likely that you will have got yourself into a new routine.

Rules to the challenge:

1. You can't watch t.v for two months, not even for five minutes - if you do so them you have failed the challenge.
2. You can't watch it when others are watching it and then make the excuse that it was others watching it and you was just in the room, for example family members - this still counts as you watching it.  
3. You may not use other devices (such as smart phones or computers for example) to watch television shows, however, you may use other devices to see what the weather is and what news has been happening, as long as you make sure that you are getting it from a source that does not involve you watching a screen.

If you manage to complete this challenge, well done. :)

You may decide to carry on not watching t.v or reduce on the amount you used to watch, or go back to how you was before and watch it on a regular basis, whatever you choose it's interesting to note how much a screen with images can consume so much of our time.

Detail: No T.V Challenge

0 Will-Power is Key to Success

When we look at people who have been successful in their lives, (whatever you yourself determine successful to be), it's easy to think 'I wish I had a life like theirs' or 'I wish I was in a position like them'. It's very easy to look at someone else's life which has seen or is seeing success in a certain field (or fields) and become discontent with your own. I would urge you not to become discontent with what you have or to become jealous of them, I'll probably go into this some other time, but instead to look at how they have become successful.

There is normally a list of things to do to become successful in a certain area, not a written list but things that people say that you will need to do. For example: If you are wanting to get into better shape and 'tone-up', the things people say that you would need to do are watch what you eat and work out. Those are the two main things that are mentioned - with good reason as without doing them how are you going to make a change to yourself? However, one point that is normally overlooked that I believe should always be included is Will-power.

Will-power, without it, makes all the advice you get given pointless as will-power is the driving force behind your goal(s). When you look at people in the course of history who have achieved landmark goals, all of them will have had one thing in common....and that is a strong will-power. It motivates you to carry on, it is what makes you continue through the hardships and lows of trying to get where you want. If you give up or start to take it easy when really you know that you should be pushing yourself, then your will-power isn't that great. You need to have a lot of it if you are wanting to make changes to your life.

One thing that puts a lot of people off from carrying on with something or trying for something is because of what others say, in particular people saying that you 'can't' achieve what you want. This attitude of others can have a huge impact upon your aspirations but don't let it dishearten you or force you to stop.
I find this one of the strongest ways of motivating myself, not just me but many people find this extremely motivating, and that's because deep down inside you their is a will to prove them wrong and a will to prove to yourself that you can achieve your goals. 
The only thing you can't do is give up, that's what you need to keep telling yourself otherwise the people that have been saying that you can't succeed will be proven right. When people tell me I can't it just spurs me on to continue so I can prove them wrong. 

There are going to be times when motivating yourself is going to be very easy and it takes little to no effort at all for you to get yourself involved in doing. Will power through these easy times isn't going to be pivotal to you as you are going through a stage where self-motivation is easy, it's through the more difficult times when you truly see how motivated you are to achieve your goals. The difficult times, when it feels impossible to motivate yourself and every other thing seems like the right thing to do except for doing what you know you should be, are the times when your will-power is put to the test. How long can you keep soldiering on day after day?, are you mentally prepared? Will-power is key to achieving anything and without it our goals would never be realised. 

Self-doubt can sometimes play in our minds, yeah of course it can, it sometimes can seem like a very long road that we are travelling on and sometimes we lose sight of the end of the road - our destination. Remember though that at some point or other every successful person will have faced self-doubt but they still managed to become successful, not by giving up but by taking the bull by the horns and continuing on - pushing themselves forward and striving onwards.

Detail: Will-Power is Key to Success

0 My 10,000 Hour Challenge

Some of you are likely to have heard of or about the 10,000 hour rule which was popularized in Malcolm Gladwell's book 'Outliers'.
The 10,000 hour rule in summary, is a theory that suggests that in order to become an expert, or to gain mastery, in a field of one's choice, one must put in enough deliberate practice to get to that level...10,000 hours worth in fact.  
The term deliberate practice refers to practice where you are engaged and fully concentrating on what you are doing, not just messing around or doing what you like, but challenging yourself and pushing yourself to improve. 


There are mixed opinions when it comes to the '10,000 hour rule'. Some people are fully behind the concept 100%, whilst others are more on the skeptical side. I won't go into the arguments for and against as you can just Google them, but I will state my opinion on the theory.

I believe that it differs from person to person, different learning-rates and intelligence being a factor, also depending upon how you learn/the way you are taught.. I've heard that practicing 2 hours a day the wrong way is equivalent to 30 minutes practicing the right way, which is why 'deliberate' practice is mentioned, or 'quality' practice. I wouldn't say that 10,000 hours is a magical benchmark in which you automatically gain mastery status upon achievement of, but 10,000 hours is a lot of time put into a field of choice and so is feasible that you could become an expert. 10,000 hours whatever the outcome,is going to leave you in a much better position than when you first started. 

Intrigued with idea however, I decided that I would test out this theory for myself. I know that there is going to be a long road ahead and that it won't be an easy feat by any means, and is going to reveal how committed I can remain, and if I have enough self discipline for the task in front of me. If I do manage to get to the end of this long road (which I plan to), I'll be able to see if hard work really can get you to an all new standard.

To put into perspective about how much practice is required to meet the 10,000 hour benchmark, it will take you 10 years of practicing 3 hours every day of the year (365 days) to reach 10,000 hours...well 10,990 hours to be more precise. You can see the level of commitment that is required to achieve this ambitious landmark. Some inspiring and motivating present 10,000 hour challenges can be found here: TheDanPlan and DevinWilliams712.

So what is my 10,000 hour challenge? Well, some of you may be aware that I play the piano. I've managed to get past grade 8 but am definitely not an expert. I've never enjoyed practicing and have always found it a chore, so I would do the minimum I could get away with or none at all.

Around a year ago, maybe a little less, I quit lessons for various reasons. As a result of quitting lessons, I no longer 'had' to practice, and stopped playing almost altogether, familiarizing myself once or twice every couple of months before stopping again. 
However, I am now wanting to get into a consistent and self-disciplined routine where I see myself get to a much higher level.

I started the piano coming up to 10 years ago now, but because I hardy practiced - I would be surprised if I had even reached 1,500 hours of practice, and I'm guessing that around 500 of those hours is all you could say were 'quality' hours. So you can probably tell that even though I'm not new to this field, I still have so much to improve upon to even come close to an experts level.

The amount of determined practice per day that I'm going to aim for is 2-3 hours minimum. From only touching the piano a few times in the last year to setting myself a target of 2-3 hours of practice a day is going to be a big shock, but is something I'll need to get used to. 
I didn't want to do an hour a day as I felt that that was too little time to spend on improving, taking 28 years to finish!!! No, 2 - 3 hours seems like a good daily target, and I can always play much more than that if I feel like it. 

Detail: My 10,000 Hour Challenge

0 1 Minute a day Goal

Many people have daily, weekly, monthly, and sometimes even life-long goals. The purpose of a goal is having a target you can firmly set your sights on and aiming to achieve that said target. I've already written a post about why goals are important to have in your life so I won't go into that in this article. 
If you are wanting to know why it is important to have a goal in your life, you can view that here: 'Why you Need a Goal'.


Sometimes finding the motivation to get yourself to actually commit to your goal can be tricky and so that is why a lot of people use motivational tricks to help them. 
One of these motivational tricks you can use is the '1 Minute a day goal'. It may sound too good to be true, 1 minute a day!, and I can complete my goals?, well, let me explain first. 

When we have a goal (or goals) we will need to dedicate some of our time in trying to achieve it otherwise we will never succeed in its completion. The time we dedicate in trying to finish a goal can be done once a day, once a week, or whenever we decide, etc. However, making sure that we do take time out of our day to pursue these goals can be hard and motivation is a real key to this. If we lack motivation then we aren't as likely to do something and so our self discipline needs to be at a higher level in order to make ourselves carry out this time. However, many of us aren't strict with ourselves and don't incorporate enough self-discipline to make sure we carry this out.

Something like 30 minutes everyday can help make tremendous progress towards your goal and will often help see you succeed (dependent upon your time-scale and the scale of the task), yet some people don't have enough time in the day for 30 minutes of 'goal achieving time'. So this is where the '1 minute a day goal' comes into the picture. This goal is for those of you who don't have much time at all but yet still want to pursue your goal. 

When we think of a minute, it's really no time at all - 60 seconds and it's over. The aim of this is for you to dedicate 1 minute of your time every day to pursuing your goal. 1 Minute - that's all. A minute isn't going to have an impact on your day and is very easy to motivate yourself to do...but that's the point. Because you will find it very easy to do something for only a minute, often you can easily overrun the original 60 seconds. That 1 minute then becomes 5 minutes, and that 5 minutes then becomes 10. 

Conclusion

This motivational techniques is all about getting you to commit to your goal a minute a day. The daily target is this short because it has the intention for you to overrun and spend longer. 
Realistically doing only a minute a day isn't really going to help you with your goal nearly as much as 30 minutes or an hour is, and so I wouldn't recommend it for medium-sized to larger-sized goals. But for those smaller goals and who don't have much time on their hands, this could be what you are looking for.

Detail: 1 Minute a day Goal

0 30 Day Pushup Challenge

After posting the 30 Day Squat Challenge for the ladies, I thought it fair to post one for the men...so here it is: the 30 day pushup challenge.
Depending upon how good you are at pushups will determine which challenge I think you should go for. If you can do 0 - 25 I would suggest trying the beginners 30 day pushup challenge. If you are someone who can do 50 pushups or upwards then I would recommend trying the advanced 30 day pushup challenge. For anyone who falls within the 26 - 49 range I would leave up to you to decide which challenge you should go for, in fact however many pushups you can do it's up to you which challenge you take on - just try to stay realistic about your abilities and don't go so far as to injure yourself.

The challenge is based on a number of reps & sets for you to complete per day. Many people who know about reps and sets won't need this explaining to them but for those of you who don't it's not something that is hard to grasp. Basically a 'rep' stands for a repetition, so if I were to do 10 reps of pushups that would mean that I have done 10 pushups - 10 repetitions.
A set is a group of reps. For example if I were to do 2 sets of 10 pushup reps that would mean I did two lots of 10 pushups. 

Beginners Pushup Challenge (30 - 90 seconds rest in between each set)

The number of sets is displayed first before the number of reps followed by the total of pushups.

Day 1: 2 x 10 (20)

Day 2: 2 x 12 (24)

Day 3: 2 x 14 (28)

Day 4: 2 x16 (32)

Day 5: Rest

Day 6: 2 x 20 (40)

Day 7: 2 x 22 (44)

Day 8: 2 x 24 (48)

Day 9: 2 x 26 (52)

Day 10: Rest

Day 11: 3 x 14 (42)

Day 12: 3 x 16 (48)

Day 13: 3 x 18 (54)

Day 14: 3 x 20 (60)

Day 15: Rest

Day 16: 3 x 22 (66)

Day 17: 3 x 24 (72)

Day 18: 3 x 26 (78)

Day 19: 3 x 28 (84)

Day 20: Rest

Day 21: 4 x 12 (48)

Day 22: 4 x 14 (56)

Day 23: 4 x 16 (64)

Day 24: 4 x 18 (72)

Day 25: Rest

Day 26: 4 x 22 (88)

Day 27: 4 x 24 (96)

Day 28: 4 x 26 (104)

Day 29: 4 x 28 (112)

Day 30: 4x 30 (120)

Total = 1,552

Advanced Pushup Challenge (30 - 90 seconds rest in between each set)

The number of sets is displayed first before the number of reps followed by the total of pushups.

Day 1: 2 x 20 (40)

Day 2: 2 x 24 (48)

Day 3: 2 x 28 (56)

Day 4: 2 x 32 (64)

Day 5: Rest

Day 6: 2 x 40 (80)

Day 7: 2 x 44 (88)

Day 8: 2 x 48 (96)

Day 9: 2 x 52 (104)

Day 10: Rest

Day 11: 3 x 28 (84)

Day 12: 3 x 32 (96)

Day 13: 3 x 36 (108)

Day 14: 3 x 40 (120)

Day 15: Rest

Day 16: 3 x 44 (132)

Day 17: 3 x 48 (144)

Day 18: 3 x 52 (156)

Day 19: 3 x 56 (168)

Day 20: Rest

Day 21: 4 x 24 (96)

Day 22: 4 x 28 (112)

Day 23: 4 x 32 (128)

Day 24: 4 x 36 (144)

Day 25: Rest

Day 26: 4 x 44 (176)

Day 27: 4 x 48 (192)

Day 28: 4 x 52 (208)

Day 29: 4 x 56 (224)

Day 30: 4 x 60 (240)

Total = 3,104

Detail: 30 Day Pushup Challenge