We check on a smorgasbord of topics today - from your new years resolutions to some fitness tips and an update on my own health and fitness goals. Read on for more!

Happy New Year, Remember?

It's 2012 and only a few months ago, you promised yourself some changes. you remember those new years resolutions right?


Take a moment and think back to January - what were your goals? Eat better, healthier living, be more confident, spend more time with the family?

Take a moment and see where you are with these goals. Of course, plans change but it doesn't mean you can't re-calibrate and zone in on your new priorities

For me, it was to commit more time to my kung fu training and to take my own self-image, presence and confidence to the next level. In terms of kung fu training, I've only been able to go once a week, but I believe I've turned up the intensity while I'm in class to squeeze out as much benefit as possible. I'm also spending some time at home to train.

In terms of my inner self image, presence and confidence - this is also quite difficult. I'm not an introvert or someone with low self-esteem, but I'm only now discovering what it takes to take you our of your current level of confidence and take it to that next level. Once the confidence grows, this energy resonates in everything you do and, with that, new opportunities. I look forward to what this will bring in the new year.

Fitness Tips

If you haven't yet, start skipping rope! This is an awesome and easy exercise I am doing post total body workout in place of using the treadmill. Definitely check out my post on skipping rope here.

Can't do a pull up? Check out my post here on pull-ups. Don't forget to work out the back muscles! You can easily do this with any pulling motion. A great way to ensure your workouts are balanced is to do a pulling exercises (eg. upright row) with a pushing exercise (eg. pushups).

Update On My Fitness Plans

Lately, I've been focusing on spreading out weight training with a mix of total body workouts and some bag work (60% weight training, 40% total body cardio-intensive workout). It was a mix of building muscle and built on the principles of my build muscle without gaining fat workout routine.

As spring and summer makes its way here, the plan is to focus on muscle maintenance while increasing the fat burn. This means more cardio intensive (resistance) training and to tune down the heavier weights, to only maintain the muscle I currently have. My weight training will drop down to 40% and my cardio intensive total body workouts will increase to 60% of my time at the gym, while watching what I'm putting in my stomach. I'm playing everything out by ear and tracking it all. If results are good, I'll let you know how I did this.

As always, keep the emails coming! i love hearing from you all and your goals or challenges. Do update me with your new years resolutions!