I am always receiving emails asking me is it a real person behind the program design @ www.getfit.com.au or is it some computer designed program and automated answers like alot of US fitness sites.

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If the Beijing Olympics inspired you to improve your athletic performance or just spend a little less time on the couch, the technology industry can help.

Gadgets and web services won't make you faster or stronger but, by recording your efforts and enabling you to measure your progress and compare against friends' or rivals' results, they'll provide plenty of motivation to keep striving for a personal best.

Cyclists can buy a speedometer, trip meter and ride timers for about $15 - the price of a basic bicycle computer at sites such as Torpedo7 (torpedo7.com.au).

If you follow the same route for your workouts and record your times, you'll soon be able to create a history of your performances and compare results from different days.

There's much more fun to be had if you marry these devices with your PC. You can accomplish this feat with devices such as USB pedometers that store data from your walk and upload it to your PC, where special software builds a profile of your workouts.

The Omron HJ720ITC PC pocket pedometer is such a device and is $65 at pedometersaustralia.com.

Sites such as mapmyrun.com or bikely.com add another dimension by letting you create maps of your runs or rides in Google Maps. When you enter your journey, the sites calculate the distance travelled.

Bikely shows you an altitude profile of a ride so you can see just how high you climbed and calculate the total ascent and descent you achieved.

These sites also let you share routes. Once you have plotted a course, all you need to do is save it, agree to share it and your feats will be available for anyone to view, making a more-than-useful resource for finding useful places to exercise.

Both sites let you annotate a route, so you can let others know about hazards such as bumpy paths or just leave behind instructions for hard-to-navigate sections.

Bikely and MapMyRun have three problems: entering a route accurately is fiddly and time-consuming; you need to remember the route you rode or ran to enter it into a PC and they rely on dodgy data, especially for altitudes - we plotted rides along waterside bike paths and, according to Bikely, we were in a submarine, not riding a bicycle.

Gadgets that use global positioning systems (GPS) to track your workout with satellites are a useful alternative, especially now that many mobile phones include the technology.

Nokia has created free software called Sports Tracker (sportstracker.nokia.com) that turns 20 of its phone models into exercise-tracking machines.

It overlays your exercise progress on a map while reporting your speed, average speed and distance. And some phones can count your steps like a pedometer. It comes into its own once you upload the results of a workout to the Sports Tracker site where it overlays the GPS data on Google Maps so you can see where you went. Upload as many workouts as you want, compare them, file through a library of past workouts and share them with friends.

We tested the application with a Nokia N95 8GB and found the software intuitive, although the GPS tracking was a little inaccurate - one ride apparently saw us veer through the grounds of a private school, taking out a fence, a building and several tennis courts along the way. The program also needs careful attention to set it in motion.

Features that allow you to upload data wirelessly mean you'll record your rides with ease.

An enhancement we would have appreciated is a bracket to mount the phone on a bicycle, a third-party product available online but sadly missing from the N95 box. Instead, we slipped the phone into the back pocket of a cycling jersey where we worried that sweat or rain could damage it.

We got lucky with the weather on our test ride and the unit stayed dry and did its job well - although we couldn't see it while riding.

The alternative to a phone is a rugged sports GPS, which eradicates the rain and sweat problems. We tested Garmin's Edge705, a $649 device that is the peak of computer-aided exercise.

Such models combine the functions of a GPS phone plus Sports Tracker but come with everything you need to mount them on a bike. Other models designed for runners include arm or wrist straps.

Dedicated devices will survive a hard knock and other exigencies of exercise.

The 705, for example, has a weatherproof cover for its USB port. And it beeps like a 1970s video game.

Its maps don't match the resolution of Google's maps, a minor disappointment correctable with an upgrade for a fee.

The upside is that it also has a wireless heart-rate monitor and a cadence meter to measure how often you turn the pedals of your bike.
All this data may be uploaded, along with route maps, making this just about the ultimate exercise aid.

If you own an iPod Nano, the $48 Nike + iPod Sport Kit turns it into an exercise aid. It has a small wireless sensor that slips into a pocket of some Nike sneakers and a receiver that slots into the iPod. The two communicate to record your run, noting time, distance, speed and energy burned. You can then upload this data through iTunes to nikeplus.com.

By Simon Sharwood | theage.com.au

Comment from Dean Piazza - Your Online Personal Trainer

Who would have thought exercise could go so Hi Tech and these gadgets can turn boring workouts into fun adventures. Elite athletes have been using this technology for a long time so its good to see these same tools available to the general public now at affordable prices.
Combine these tools with an Online Personal Trainer who will provide the support and motivation and you will have an awesome winning team on your side to help you stay on track even when you feel like quitting!

Click here to sign up for your very own personal trainer online and let technology work for you.

https://www.getfit.com.au/registration.html

Dean Piazza
www.getfit.com.au

With alot of emphasis on dieting in the media this article about learning how to cook is very true - throw away the microwave which encourages you to heat up fast food that can be high in fat and tasteless and learn how to prepare fast, fresh, nutritious meals - this way you will enjoy your food more and consume the right type of calories - not the ones that make you fat !

I dont use a microwave and cook most things at home with the George Foreman Grill - its excellent !

Enjoy the article below

Dean Piazza
www.getfit.com.au
Your Online Personal Trainer

AS AUSTRALIANS have been eating themselves towards full-fat, inglorious deaths in the past decade or two, an essential skill has been fading away, now a skeletal shadow in the corner.

We have forgotten how to cook.

The revelation is shocking and sad in equal parts: the more we gorge ourselves, the less we are in love with the wonder that is food. This can be the only explanation for the loss of such an essential skill.

Isn't preparing food - the modern-day equivalent of hunting, gathering and providing nutrition to self and family - essential to a healthy life, like washing and cleaning?

His project is aimed at educating a society ignorant about the basics of how to prepare nutritious and easy meals from real foodstuffs.

In the first episode aired in Britain this week, Oliver spoke to a woman who did not know that water bubbled when it boiled and another who had never cooked a meal for her children, despite them being aged two and five.

Oliver believes Britain is facing a new form of poverty caused by a generation that lacks the basic life skills to feed their families.

He is right and Australia is in the same uneducated and unskilled boat. It's an issue that has been bubbling away at the centre of the health/obesity/lifestyle disorder problems, but has rarely been so explicitly outlined.

To clarify, we are not talking cooking osso bucco for a dinner party of 10 or presenting a perfectly garnished roast lamb with all the trimmings. We are talking about the increasing number of people who don't know how to cook at all - and many are loud and proud of it.

I have friends and acquaintances who openly profess to not know a saucepan from a wok. They claim to despise the craft and creativity of cooking but say they delight in consuming food.

I fail to see how one can exist without the other, but apparently this is possible because of instant meals or kitchen-loving spouses and housemates.

How did cooking get thrown out with hand-washing and ironing clothes? How did so many people become so busy that getting a meal became an extra they did not opt into? Food and its consumption are the cause and the symptoms of many of society's ills: obesity, ill-health and the rush-rush, no-time life.

It is ironic that the key to beat the obesity epidemic is eating, and eating well.

Eating is as essential as air and we need it as whole, clean and pure as possible. Fresh, real food has never been more needed.

But we shovel in gobsful of non-food morsels and pretend we are deriving nutrients. We fill up on rubbish and pretend we are satisfied. Chips are a pantry staple and soft drink is Australia's largest supermarket chains' biggest-selling item.

Regardless of the economic tough times, takeaway food shops are still doing very good business. We claim to be time poor, but spend hours of our leisure time in shopping centres and sitting in food courts.

The Dietitians Association of Australia says the average Australian family spends 15 per cent of its food budget on takeaway food.

Goodness knows how much more is spent in the frozen food, meal-in-a-box or banquet-in-a-bottle aisles of the supermarket.

It's appalling.

Whether or not Oliver's latest cookbook, released in Britain today and Australia next week, will be a big seller or whether the TV series will be a British TV success remains to be seen.

I suspect it may not be the super-seller his other books were.

Why? Because those who buy cookbooks have an interest in cooking. The target of this book are people who are not, but should be.

At least he is offering help to those who need nutritional and life skills. We need more, though.

Governments could help us help ourselves by adding a tax on foods low in nutritional value and high in sugar or fat, and use that to subsidise the cost of healthy, whole food, like fresh fruit and vegetables, plain milk and whole-grain bread.

Ultimately, we have to take responsibility for our poor personal and collective state and decide to change our dysfunctional and unhealthy ways.

It's a matter of loving life and the essentials in it enough, and learning the skills to make our lot better

Jane Fynes Clinton smh.com.au

When it comes to exercise and losing weight most people think its just about being active and eating right.

While these are very important so is setting your priorities and having good time management skills so you can
achieve what you would like to do each day.

With people living life at such a hectic pace and employers demanding longer working hours , effective time
management is an essential part of your week.

Watch the video above for some great time management tips and if you find the video stopping and starting, press the pause button for 1 minute and start again.

You can also email me info@getfit.com.au for personalised help with organising your complete exercise, diet and time management schedule

Dean Piazza
www.getfit.com.au
Your Online Personal Trainer

If you have Two Arms and Two Legs and no disability then you have no excuses !
Watching our Paralympic heroes on television is very inspiring for any able bodied person .

These athletes are competing at the highest level with all types of disabilities ranging from no arms or legs to paraplegics.

They dont have excuses - they just get out there and compete , not letting their disablity get in the way.
We can all learn something from these athletes in terms of motivation, persistance and discipline.

His story is fantastic and what he has achieved after being in a wheelchair is nothing short of amazing

http://www.jmf.com.au/

Dean Piazza
www.getfit.com.au
Your Online Personal Trainer

The great thing about this workout is you dont need much room and its a total body workout.'

Email me with your feedback on what videos you would like me to do next dean@getfit.com.au

Enjoy Your Training

Dean Piazza - Your Online Personal Trainer
www.getfit.com.au

Do you think if they are prescribing gym sessions for the patients of cancer then it could possibly reduce the risk of contracting cancer ? I think so !

Most people who frequent gyms are under the age of 40 but its actually people over the age of 40 who have the most to gain from lifting light weights and staying strong.

Over the age of 40 your strength and flexibility levels rapidly decline so just doing two thirty minute gym sessions as a minimum will make a huge difference.

If you have any questions on what would be the best gym program for you you can email me @ dean@getfit.com.au

Enjoy the read below and I hope it inspires you to get moving and hit the weights !

Dean Piazza
Your Online Personal Trainer
www.getfit.com.au

AS the group of women trickled into the aerobics studio at the Bendheim Integrative Medicine Center in Manhattan on a recent Thursday morning, there were subtle signs that this was no ordinary fitness class.

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Irene Logan at a water-based class at a Brooklyn Y.M.C.A.
One woman told the instructor that she had missed a string of previous classes because she was grappling with fatigue, a side effect of her new cancer medication. Others wore colorful wraps on their arms, containment sleeves meant to protect against lymphedema, a painful swelling of the arm stemming from breast cancer surgery.

Sponsored by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, this class for cancer patients has been around for some time, mostly in a league by itself. But in recent years, following studies that found exercise to be beneficial in combating the effects of cancer, the class has gained some company.

Gyms and fitness centers have begun stepping in to meet a small but growing demand for programs designed to not only hasten recovery but to address the fatigue of chemotherapy, the swelling of lymphedema and the loss of muscle tone.

But most of the roughly 10 million cancer survivors in the United States are not amateur Lance Armstrongs. Many, though, are inspired by celebrities like Mr. Armstrong, seeing them as models for how to come out on the other side of often-debilitating treatment regimens.

A new program from the Y.M.C.A., in partnership with the Lance Armstrong Foundation, offers cancer fitness classes at more than a dozen Y’s in 10 states. At the women’s gym Curves International, researchers from Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia are looking at whether overweight breast-cancer patients can keep to a five-day-a-week Curves routine for six months. And survivors are organizing their own classes.

“There used to be this understanding that if you’re getting treatment you’re supposed to be in your bed,” said Pam Whitehead, an architect and survivor of uterine cancer who started the Triumph Fitness Program at gyms in Modesto and West Sacramento, Calif.

In some cases, oncologists are prescribing exercise, gently prodding patients to tackle whatever activity they can manage: light walking, simple stretches, exercise with resistance bands.

“I started in 1992 and that was really a time when not as many patients were exercising,” said Dr. Alexandra Heerdt, a breast surgeon at Sloan-Kettering who is conducting a pilot program involving exercise. “If a patient came to me back then and asked about exercise, I would have said there wasn’t really any information.”

But now, she added, “they have a lot of options.”

Wendy Rahn, 46, an associate professor of political science at the University of Minnesota, knows this well. After a double mastectomy, her shoulders hurt so much that she was often hunched in pain. Then, while researching her illness, she discovered a 2005 study on cancer and exercise.

“The effects — what we call effect sizes in statistical research — were enormous,” she said, “and I was like ‘How come no one is talking about this?’ ” She had given up exercise a decade earlier, but the study inspired her to go back to the gym.

“I started feeling so much better,” she said. “And it struck me that if I’m feeling this good, then every cancer survivor should.”

So she founded a nonprofit group called Survivors’ Training, and in January opened a fitness studio in White Bear Lake, Minn., offering yoga, strength training, Pilates and Nia, which combines dance and martial arts. “I like to think of it as a support group that moves,” she said.

Cancer experts say the shift in thinking began in the mid-1980s, coinciding with a greater awareness of health and fitness. Oncologists were faced with questions about exercise that they had never heard before: how much was allowable and when?

Scientists also took notice of studies showing that those who were physically active and eating well were less likely to develop cancer. They then asked what impact exercise and diet would have on those with the disease, said Dr. Charles Fuchs, an oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston who studies cancer and exercise.

In the last eight years, a dearth of research has become a flood of studies. Among them is one sponsored by the National Cancer Institute in 2006 that looked at the effects of moderate exercise on groups of breast and prostate cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy for six weeks.

Those assigned to a daily program — taking walks of increasing distance and doing exercises with a resistance band — had less fatigue, greater strength and better aerobic capacity than those who were not instructed to exercise. This finding, and similar ones, has been replicated many times.

Other studies indicate that moderate exercise has additional benefits like strengthened immune function and lower rates of recurrence. Studies at Dana-Farber found that nonmetastatic colon cancer patients who routinely exercised had a 50 percent lower mortality rate during the study period than their inactive peers, regardless of how active they were before the diagnoses.

Dr. Fuchs, a study author, said it influenced his advice. “I am counseling all of my patients to increase their activity,” he said, “or if they were regularly exercising before their diagnosis, to continue.”

But every recommendation has its caveats. There will be days during treatment when meaningful activity is not possible, oncologists say, and that’s fine. The American Cancer Society promotes moderate exercise but encourages patients to discuss their exercise plans with their oncologists, and lists on its Web site 13 precautions (cancer .org/docroot/MIT/MIT_0.asp).

In the biweekly Focused Fitness class at the Bendheim Integrative Medicine Center in New York, the instructor, Donna Wilson, seeks to ease her charges back into exercise after, and often during, physically draining treatments.

Arm extensions and other range-of-motion exercises that can help relieve lymphedema were first on the agenda on a recent morning, followed by heart-pumping lunges and core exercises. A woman who had breast cancer slogged through a set of isometric exercises. “It looks easy,” she said, “but try keeping your arms up all the time when your nerves have been cut.”

Ms. Wilson, a registered nurse, encouraged the woman to keep pushing. Then she looked at the class and turned to a visitor. “They’re amazingly strong,” she said

New York Times

Dara Torres who at 41 is competing with and beating girls who on average are in their early twenties !

She finished with an olympic silver medal in the 50m sprint @ Beijing Olympics so read on below ladies and let it inspire you to achieve your goals-no matter what your age !

If you think you can you can and if you think you cant you cant ...................

Dean Piazza
Your Online Personal Coach
www.getfit.com.au

Beth Walsh is swimming laps again at age 57. Stasi Turrell has returned to walking, 13 weeks after giving birth to her fourth child. And Geralin Thomas is lifting hand weights and skipping rope at 47.

Until recently, all three women had fallen off their fitness programs.

That was before Dara Torres

Torres, 41, became the oldest Olympic swimming medalist Sunday when she anchored the U.S. women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay to a silver medal finish. She has now won 10 Olympic medals and will go for an 11th when she competes in the 50-meter freestyle.

Make that 11 medals - she finished with a sliver medal in the 50 m sprint !

click here to read the full story

Dean Piazza
www.getfit.com.au

Studies find that regular nudges help keep fitness on track

Kimberly Thomas-McPherson likes to walk for exercise. But as a single mother of two who works a full-time job at night and goes to college during the day, physical activity isn’t always high on her priority list.

So when Thomas-McPherson, 43, heard about a pilot study aimed at getting people to stick to their exercise routine, she signed up — and was pleasantly surprised when it gave her program a boost.

What was the secret? E-mail.

“During the crush of the semester, I was slacking off but the e-mails were very helpful,” she says. "It was just a little push, that, OK, I need to get back on track … It’s kind of like having a virtual support group.”

If an e-mail reminder of your slug-like existence seems about as welcome as spam, consider this: Research is starting to show that some surprisingly simple positive reinforcements — quick e-mail messages and short phone calls — can motivate people to get moving.

‘This can be me’
The study Thomas-McPherson participated in involved 172 sedentary adults who were followed for six weeks. For two of those weeks, one group of volunteers received no intervention while two other groups received persuasive e-mail messages. One of the latter groups also received e-mail images of healthy-looking people exercising who were the same age range and race as the participant.

“The idea was to try to personalize the message to help the person realize, ‘This can be me,’” says Matthew Parrott, an assistant professor of health and fitness management at Clayton State University , “and it turned out to work pretty well.”

At the beginning of the study, participants reported being physically active an average of two times a week. During the intervention period, the group that received both the positive messages and images reported exercising a little more than four times a week, while the group that received only the text messages was exercising almost 3.5 times a week. The control group was exercising three times a week, so even thinking more about exercise because of study participation seemed to help.

A month later — with no more e-mail reminders — the groups that had received encouraging messages still were exercising more than before the study, but were starting to lose some momentum. Parrott says that’s not unexpected and suggests people need constant reinforcement to keep moving.

A call to exercise
Another study, which was presented along with Parrott’s at a recent meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), also found encouraging results with telephone-based coaching for a particularly tough crowd — pregnant and postpartum women. The women who received weekly or biweekly phone calls from an activity coach dispensing advice and pep talks roughly doubled their amount of physical activity over three months.

“It’s really about making activity a priority,” says study author Beth Lewis, a psychologist and exercise researcher .

Clearly, though, prioritizing exercise is no easy task for Americans, most of whom are sedentary. While some people thrive on exercise and need no nudging to get moving, most don’t find exercise all that fun and need ongoing encouragement, such as from a coach, friend and/or family member, says ACSM spokesperson Walt Thompson, a professor of kinesiology and health at Georgia State University .

The more we surround ourselves with people and programs supporting exercise, the more likely we are to succeed, says Thompson. Even he benefits from having a fitness cheerleader — his wife.

Keep it positive
The key, though, is that the messages be positive, experts say. As Parrott puts it: “It’s better to reinforce than to tear down.”

So it’s probably not going to help if your spouse continually nags you to get off your lazy butt and lose some weight. But it may help if your spouse offers to help you achieve your fitness goals by keeping the kids busy a few times a week so you can hit the gym, or suggests the two of you spend some couples time together by taking tennis lessons on Saturday mornings. Having a workout buddy who motivates you and keeps you accountable can be a big plus.

Tim Wiseman has both virtual and “real-world” helpers to keep him active. He consults over the phone and through e-mail with a FitAdvisor.com coach and also sees a personal trainer at the gym.

With a demanding job as a business consultant that requires long hours and a lot of travel, Wiseman, 39, of Colorado Springs, Colo., says that while he had good intentions, he just couldn’t make fitness happen on his own. “The excuses would pile up more than the execution,” he says.

So he had an initial phone conversation with his online coach late last year to get his program started. Now, he communicates a couple times a month with the coach, usually through e-mail, to make sure he’s still on track with his two- or three-day-a-week regimen, which mostly consists of biking, walking or hitting hotel gyms.

“It has really helped keep me accountable in a very supportive way,” he says. “I don’t respond well to the drill sergeant format.”

And Wiseman says his program is getting results. He’s lost 15 pounds in the last nine months and feels stronger, too.

The costs of Web-based coaching can range from nothing to $50 a month on up, depending on how intensive and individualized the services are. But do your homework before shelling out money. The best services offer one-on-one coaching and provide individualized rather than canned advice.

You don’t have to spend big bucks to get fit, though. Parrott says people can take advantage of the Web to join free discussions with online exercise support groups or blogs. Or they can simply find a workout partner in the neighborhood.

Ever since the e-mails stopped, Thomas-McPherson has been missing her “virtual support group” – and her exercise program has suffered a setback. “I haven’t done as well since the study ended,” she admits.

But she’s striving to walk at least two days a week, because she remembers those e-mails touting all the good reasons to exercise. And for this overscheduled woman, there’s one key benefit that she knows first-hand: “It’s a stress-reliever.”

© 2008 MSNBC Interactive

Click here to speak LIVE with Australia's leading online personal trainer Dean Piazza .

Sleep. It rejuvenates. It refreshes. It restores. And while it may seem as if sleep renders us inactive, the truth is quite the contrary. Our bodies, our brains, our minds are accomplishing great things while we slumber.

Dr Nilesh Dave, medical director of the Sleep and Breathing Disorders Centre at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, says: "When you get good-quality sleep and enough hours of it, it is amazing how much better patients' moods are, how much better they're functioning. They're truly happy."

During a series of studies in the 1980s, rats were forced to stay awake. After five days, they started dying.

"You have a full-body collapse," Dr Dave says. "There's no stability in the brain. The body ends up not being able to restore itself."

Here are some benefits of sleep:

1. It makes us better athletes

A 2008 study by the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory found that swimmers who got extra sleep swam faster, reacted quicker, improved turn time and increased kick strokes.

When basketball players underwent similar sleep studies, their performance improved dramatically, too.

Conversely, not enough sleep has the opposite effect. Studies cited in Runner's World link longtime sleep deprivation to the following: Becoming exhausted more quickly; deterioration in physical performance; higher accumulation of lactate; impaired mental ability; increased heart rate; and a lower volume of oxygen that can be used while exercising.

Even short-term sleep loss, however, can impede glucose metabolism in certain areas of the brain, especially those connected to alertness and visual processing.

Plus, we need sleep to restore muscles exhausted during workouts.

2. It helps us deal with stress and helps us grow

Our bodies use sleep to release certain hormones, Dave says, including those essential for growth and development. If we wake in the middle of the night, those functions are disrupted.

One example is cortisol. For people with normal sleep patterns, this stress hormone peaks around 4 am. We're blissfully unaware because we snooze through it.

But, Dave says, "If you're awake longer than you should be for a few days, that puts your body under stress, which leads to higher levels of cortisol."

This, in turn, leads to higher blood pressure, more sugar in the blood (not a good thing for diabetics) and an increased appetite.

Researchers at the University of Chicago found that sleep-deprived subjects were hungry because their levels of leptin - the hormone that tells the brain when you've eaten enough - were low. Subjects were limited to four hours of sleep per night. After six days, they showed signs of developing diabetes.

3. It helps us remember

When you pull an all-nighter to study, you're storing information in short-term memory, Dr Dave says. For long-term retention, you need to learn a little every day.

"During sleep, your brain will process a lot and turn it into long-term memory," he says. "Memory is a function of what we think sleep does."

At the Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, researchers gave 400 subjects a series of letters to type with their left hands. For those who learned the sequence in the morning and were tested 12 hours later, performance stayed pretty much the same.

But those who learned it late in the day and were tested again after a night's sleep improved their performance by 20 to 30 per cent.

4. It is imperative for safe driving

Drinking and driving have long been known to be incompatible. But a 2006 study by the National Sleep Foundation and Virginia Tech Transportation Institute uncovered information equally as sobering: 80 per cent of crashes and 65 per cent of near-crashes involved some sort of "driver inattention." In most cases, that inattention was drowsy driving.

The sleep foundation calls drowsy driving "a silent killer." Like alcohol, it impairs response time and judgment and decreases awareness. But, unlike alcohol, no tests can determine whether a person drifted off into what's called a micro-sleep. Within two seconds while driving a car at 95 km an hour, you could drift into another lane. Within four seconds, you could be off the road.

5. It keeps us from being crabby

Think how much better you feel after a good night's sleep.

"You can see a night-and-day difference if sleep problems are dealt with," Dr . Dave says. "It's a 100 per cent turnaround."

SLEEP BASICS

Knowing what sleep does for you is one thing. Getting a good night's sleep is quite another. These seven tips may help:

1. Establish a bedtime routine.

It helps children settle down, and it can work for adults, too. "Most people don't allocate enough time to unwind," Dr Dave says. "A lot work until they can't keep their eyes open. As soon as they get into bed, they can't sleep. A lot of thoughts are going through their minds."

2. Use the bed only for sleep and sex.

"Otherwise, your brain doesn't realise the bed is for sleeping only," he says. It relates the bed to other activities such as reading or watching television.

3. Make your bedroom dark, comfortable, quiet and cool.

Limit distractions. Put on your pyjamas and sink into the covers.

4. Exercise, but not right before bedtime.

The reasons: Exercise makes us alert, plus it raises our body temperature. A lower body temperature helps you get to sleep easier and faster.

5. Stick with a schedule.

Go to bed and wake up about the same time every day. Even on weekends.

6. Calm your body.

Breathe slowly and deeply. Focus on relaxing your muscles one group at a time.

7. Know when to seek help.

Talk to a doctor for reasons that include the following: If you or your bed partner snore or gasp for breath; if you think you sleep enough but wake up not feeling refreshed for a few weeks; if you have chronic daytime sleepiness.

POPULAR SLEEP POSITIONS

How do you sleep? Here's the breakdown for most of us and how your sleep position tells what kind of person you are.

- Foetal position (on side, legs bent, arms folded prayerlike). Those who sleep this way are tough on the outside, sensitive at heart. More than twice as many women as men sleep this way.

- Log (straight; no bending). These sleepers are social, easygoing and like being part of the in-crowd. Trusting of strangers, they may be gullible.

- Yearner (on side, arms reaching out). They have an open nature but can be cynical, suspicious and slow to make up their minds. Once they've made a decision, however, they're unlikely to change it.

- Soldier (on their backs, arms at their sides). These are generally quiet and reserved. They set high standards for themselves and others.

- Freefaller (on their stomachs, arms grasping the pillow). They're often brash and gregarious, but can be thin-skinned. They don't like criticism.

- Starfish (on their backs, arms grasping the pillow). They're good friends and good listeners.

MCT smh.com.au

It proves there is no magic exercise to stay in shape - just do what you enjoy and do it
regularly and it wont feel like a chore - just something you do to feel good about life
and help you look great along the way !

Below is a list of stars who do yoga, boxing,weight training, jogging, pilates, surfing,
cycling and swimming.

Stars are always on the lookout for new ways to challenge their mind and body so if you
are bored with your current routine sont be afraid to try new ways to mix up your training.

Stay Strong
Dean Piazza
www.getfit.com.au

YOGIS

Celebrity fan Madonna practises ashtanga yoga, a style that focuses on the breath as well as the standard series of postures. She practised hatha yoga in earlier years and while she was pregnant, but switched to ashtanga and now practises daily. Ashtanga is a much speedier version than hatha and helps to build stamina.

Although Eva Longoria Parker has taken up kickboxing to stay fit, she remains a devoted yogi. She combines two sessions of yoga with three one-hour personal training sessions per week.

Reese Witherspoon also manages to drag boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal along to her private yoga classes and the actress practises on her own most mornings. Other yoga fans include Kate Beckinsale, Nicole Kidman and Geri Halliwell.

JOGGERS

Matthew McConaughey has even employed a trainer to keep his jogging regimen in order - he aims to break a sweat every day. "I don't remember the last time I've been to a gym," he has said. "I'd just rather pick a point and say, 'Instead of driving over five minutes before, let's leave 45 minutes early and jog over'."

Meg Ryan likes to run for at least four kilometres at a time and also likes using a stair machine to keep fit.

Teri Hatcher combines the stair machine with jogging, Will Ferrell has run the Boston Marathon and Freddie Prinze jnr has run the Los Angeles Marathon.

PILATES FANS

Gwyneth Paltrow is a self-confessed pilates addict and has even had a pilates studio built in her New York home in the Hamptons. Another Brad Pitt ex, Jennifer Aniston, is also - in her words - "a Pilates person". "It's great. I had a hip problem, I had a chronic back [problem], and a pinched nerve and it's completely solved all of it. I love it. It makes me feel like I'm taller."

Sarah Jessica Parker practises pilates twice a week and other celebrity fans include Courteney Cox, Oprah Winfrey, Liz Hurley, Liv Tyler, Denise Richards and Claudia Schiffer.

GYM JUNKIES

Brooke Shields begins each day with a weight training session and Pamela Anderson is addicted to the treadmill. Anderson says, "It's the fastest way to get fit and keep your heart rate down."

Britney Spears' recent dramatic weight loss is rumoured to be the result of intense gym workouts while Jessica Simpson is often snapped leaving her local gym in West Hollywood and has said that she follows a strict routine of cardio and strength training.

Other gym junkies include Paris Hilton, Lucy Liu, Bridget Moynahan and Jennifer Garner

BOXERS

Matt Damon boxes to stay fit and recently said, "I'm just boxing. I figure if you get hit enough times, it will fall off. If you put it on, it's easier to get it back off."

Kristen Bell is also a fan for its benefits to the body's core strength, and Sienna Miller has taken up the sport, sparked by her urge to shape up for her role in the upcoming film, G.I. Joe. House star Hugh Laurie is another fan and Jessica Alba has said she enjoys kickboxing.

SURFERS

The sport is popular in Hollywood for eliminating flabby arms and tummies - bronzed blondes Cameron Diaz and Gisele Bundchen are avid surfing fans. Other surfer stars include Adam Sandler, Owen Wilson and fitness nut Matthew McConaughey. Meanwhile, our own Koby Abberton has given Paris a couple of surfing lessons.

CYCLISTS

Demi Moore loves mountain biking and her weekly fitness routine involves waking up at 4am and cycling up to 30 kilometres. Yikes. Kate Hudson is another cycling enthusiast, often snapped on her bike by the paparazzi, and Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal are also fans.

SWIMMERS

Uma Thurman enjoys swimming out in the surf and Nicole Kidman likes to stay trim by swimming laps in an indoor pool. Rachel Griffiths and Nicole Richie (who loved being in the water while she was pregnant) are also celebrity fans.

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Each week, a new diet offers you the ultimate weight loss miracle. But, finally, one that is achievable has arrived. Having a big breakfast every day is the way to lose weight and keep it off.

If you can live off clear vegetable soup (or gruel for that matter) for three meals per day, every day, then you will lose weight. The question is how long can you eat that way?

That is why the "big breakfast" diet is so encouraging and revolutionary: it works, it is pleasant and it makes common sense.

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond in the US recently revealed results of a study in which they compared a diet based on eating a big breakfast with conventional low-carbohydrate dieting.

"Low-carb" diets are still popular despite the fact that, while they cause short-term weight loss, there is usually a quick rebound to original weight. This is because the low-carb regime creates sugar cravings and slows metabolism.

So these researchers wanted to find a healthier weight-loss alternative and turned to a "big breakfast" based diet to achieve it.

People on the big breakfast diet ate about 5200 kilojoules daily compared with 4550 kilojoules consumed by the low-carb dieters. Both groups tried to keep carbohydrates down throughout the day, but the big difference was at breakfast.

The "big breakfast" group ate 49% of their daily kilojoules at breakfast, 32% at lunch and 19% at dinner. Breakfast for this group included carbohydrates, protein and some fat. So fruit, whole grains, eggs and even lean bacon could be included.

The "low-carb" group consumed only 27% of their daily energy intake at breakfast.

After four months the low-carb dieters had lost an average of 12.8kg, compared with 10.5kg for the big breakfasters. However, after eight months the low-carb dieters regained an average of 8.2kg while the big breakfast group had shed an additional 7.5kg on average. These results are not unusual.

A study in the journal Paediatrics earlier this year showed that teenagers who eat breakfast have a lower body mass index than those who skip it.

It make sense when you think that eating your big meal at the beginning of the day allows you to burn off the energy that you consume during the day. Best of all, it is achievable for the long term.

It may cause a few social ripples but when friends ask you out to dinner, just order the salad or an entree and suggest that next time you could all "do breakfast".

As the saying goes, "breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper". Eat big at breakfast, cut back at dinner and your waistline and your health will be the better for it.

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Dean Piazza Online Personal Trainer Comment :

This is a very good article and so true !
Breakfast is essential if you are wanting to lose weight or just stay healthy and energised for the day.
It prevents that mid morning binge on muffins or cake when suddenly your body craves food.
If you are not hungry in the morning you may be eating too much in the evening as you should be waking up hungry.
Being hungry in the morning is the sign of a good metabolism.

Dean Piazza
Your Online Personal Trainer
www.getfit.com.au

These athletes are world class and have been aiming for this goal for at least 4 years so take a leaf out of their book and learn to apply yourself over the long term to be the be a champion in whatever you would like to do.

There are no medals for losing weight but we can all learn from their discipline, goal setting, motivation and the way they think .

Being successful at anything you do requires you to think like an Olympian and be positive and focussed.
Check out our Aussie Olympians below and the stories behind their journey.

http://www.olympics.com.au/

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Stay Strong
Dean Piazza
www.getfit.com.au

Based on the glycaemic index and co-authored by Kaye Foster-Powell, a nutritionist, and Professor Stephen Colagiuri, Brand-Miller's books have sold 3.5 million copies worldwide. A fourth edition of two of the most popular titles in the "glucose revolution" series was published this month.

Which is to say, most of us.

"People love it or they hate it, but there are more people who love it than hate it," Brand-Miller says.

The idea is simple: carbohydrates that break down slowly release glucose, the body's energy source, more gradually into the bloodstream. This results in a more sustained energy supply to the brain throughout the day, while leaving a person feeling full for longer.

But due to the body's balancing act between glucose and the hormone insulin - and its effect on metabolism and other bodily functions - GI researchers are now examining areas further afield, including dementia, eyesight and even acne. "And there are lots of applications coming up, perhaps cancer prevention. There's things like babies' birth weight, there's mental performance, there's physical performance. And you might ask: Why would blood sugars be directly connected to so many different things? I think part of the reason it's so controversial … is because it's being shown to be so relevant to so many different things." Brand-Miller says that although glucose is the preferred energy source of the body, if levels in the blood are too high or take too long to return to a base level, it can cause inflammation within certain cells and lead to scarring and impaired function.

She cites a four-year University of California study of nearly 2000 post-menopausal women. Those with elevated blood sugar levels of 7 per cent or higher in the brain were four times more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment or dementia. "People who get dementia usually have risk factors for other things as well, including diabetes and heart disease."

These dangerous peaks are limited by keeping an eye on diet, the thinking goes. But Brand-Miller says the body's undesirable response to higher levels of glucose, that is, insulin resistance or higher insulin levels, can also be tackled with low GI foods.

A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that after a 12-week diet-controlled program, lesion counts on adolescent boys with acne were reduced by 25 per cent when they were placed on a low GI, higher protein diet compared with a control group. They also lost on average three kilograms. "[Insulin] seems to stimulate oil production, stimulate some of the androgenic hormones, testosterone and other hormones that are associated with acne."

While both diets were otherwise low-fat and nutritious, Brand-Miller believes insulin levels - in turn, the low-glycaemic load of the food - were key to the results. "We're doing a study at the moment, and we're seeing the same effect in adolescent boys who haven't lost any weight."

But while she remains a firm believer in the idea that all carbs (like fats or proteins) are not created equal, Brand-Miller is wary of labelling the glycaemic index a magic bullet for all nutrition-related health problems.

"I would be the first to say that you should not use the glycaemic index in isolation. So a low GI claim on chocolate would be inappropriate. A low GI claim on cola would be inappropriate. But it is appropriate on foods that are nutritious in their own right, as well as being low GI."

The Low GI Diet and The Low GI Handbook are published by Hachette Australia.

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"Some people use food and alcohol for the same reason - it numbs the pain. But food can also be self destructive in the same way. People don't binge on healthy food - the food that's overeaten can often contribute to health problems," she says. "The thinking is also similar. 'I'm only going to have one biscuit' when you know that one biscuit can set you off eating a whole packet is similar to a problem drinker who says 'I'm only going to have one drink."

Guilt is another common denominator - at a recent SMART meeting in Sydney, one woman described going from shop to shop to buy chocolate to disguise the fact that she ate so much of it - some problem drinkers do the same, Freeman says.

But the good news is that the same strategies that can help people overcome drug and alcohol problems can also help people curb overeating.

SMART Recovery, a non-profit charity, sees dependence on alcohol or other drugs - or food - not as a 'disease' but more like a problem behaviour that can be overcome. SMART takes a practical rather than spiritual approach, using techniques from Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) which helps people change irrational thinking and is widely used in the treatment of addiction and depression. These techniques can help people cope with cravings, stay motivated to avoid drugs, alcohol or overeating, to problem solve and help them put more balance back into their lives. For anyone who can't get to face to face meetings, meetings are also available online.

How do you know if you've got a problem with overeating - or with alcohol and other drugs? When the habit is starting to affect your life in a negative way, says Freeman. With overeating that could mean you have problem with weight or with your health, you feel you have to eat secretly, or you feel guilty. For people who are dependent on alcohol or drugs, the negative effects can be problems with relationships, problems at work and financial problems.

For more information about SMART Recovery or for details of meetings, go to
www.smartrecoveryaustralia.com.au

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