28th June Instructor Newsleter

It’s Thursday and another newsletter is here to inspire and motivate you, so print this off, grab a pen and paper, underline, circle and scribble down all of the ideas you think of while reading the it.

Whenever you think “I need to be doing that” double underline it and add it to your to-do list.

I’ve started doing that with everything I read, as I do not want a single idea to escape away into oblivion. Write them in your “ideas notebook” and every few days have a browse through and choose which ones you can implement the quickest and bring to fruition.

Its a tip thats come in handy when reading 50 Shades of Grey !

This weekend Jayne and I will be traveling to the IDEA convention in San Diego as Press and UK BLoggers, so will be bringing you tons of great content, seesion info, whats hot on the US Fitness scene and interviews so make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

How to Implement your Ideas – Reverse Engineering

Write down the idea or goal then work backwards planning each step until you have created a full on action plan, then go for it!

Today’s newsletter has some more cracking info and articles from our fabulous contributors. Jayne, Claire is back with an article on Control, Katie chats about her new launch, PLUS, introducing Paula Denvir currently residing on the Costa Blanca and specialising in Golf Fitnes who has written a great piece on Golf and Pilates which is a HUGELY untapped market, Yvonne Radley has written a useful article on writing Press Releases and Vikki Scovell contributes with another article that will certainly hit home

Your Beliefs, Confidence and Self Empowerment by Rachel

You have millions and billions of thoughts every day. Your mind and subconscious mind is overrun minute by minute hour by hour with your thoughts.  They are coming at you fast and furious, some your notice and some you don’t…. BUT….. Many of us only focus on the negative.

We need to “Flip It” and get into a new habit of positive thinking.

We concentrate on what we don’t want, we talk about it, we discuss it with friends, and we constantly replay, replay, re-enact and stay stuck in this limited land of self belief.  Constantly reinforcing this negative mindset.

It’s the self empowerment mind trap. It’s a never ending circle and my friends, it’s holding you back.

Your beliefs and mental self talk is stopping you from creating the fitness business, the life and the pleasure you really want. It’s well documented and you can read this in practically every self development book that has ever been published.

Your belief system and thoughts are crucial to your success, so how do you break the circle and reframe your belief system.

I hear the following statements from Instructors every day.

” I want to do that BUT I can’t because…………….”
“I don’t have enough time to ………………”
“I can’t make a video and post it on YouTube because……………..”
“What will other Fitrpros say if I ………:”
” I’m not in the best shape yet to….”
“I’m not very good at writing….”

Blah blah blah.

Keys to self belief and empowerment.

Every day feed your mind with positive and inspiring books, blogs, and pictures.
Make an electronic vision board and make it your screen saver on your phone, or your desk top. Pictures that inspire you, things you would like to own, places you would like to visit, people that motivate you.
READ even if it’s for 10 minutes a day. Find Blogs that inspire you, follow people on Twitter that inspire you and make you want to reach for higher goals.
Every single time you catch your subconscious mind saying ” I can’t, I won’t, I’m not etc etc stop and say ” I can…I will…I have….I am”  Stop dead in your tracks and retrain your brain!
Listen to empowering audios in your car or when you are training. Stay on top of this and have audio books on the go all of the time.
Focus on what you WANT and Not what you DON’T want. Reprogram your mind with a bullet proof belief system.

Your belief system is either propelling your forward or pulling you back so work on your mental muscles today.

Rachel’s Top Fat Loss and Nutrition Tips for Fitpros

So many of you have been with me on my KSFL2012 journey right back since its inception in 2006/7, way before Facebook and social media have gathered pace. I delivered the daily content via email and we all chatted, bonded and asked questions on a secret forum.

Since then 1000’s of people have been through KSFL and this year more than ever as I have created niche options for different demographics including Men Only, 2 Stone + to lose, 14 day and 21 day variations and diversifications.

The latest incarnation starts on 16th July and it’s The KSFL 21 day Beach Body Ready Detox with new workouts and variations on clean eating.

We all want to look our best and perform at the highest level when teaching and presenting and so often when we are super busy our own training goes out of the window, so here are my top tips for Fitpros Fat Loss and Weight Management.

If you think you are eating traditionally “Healthy” and are still putting weight on, you may need to look at your diet a little closer and take note of new (and old )information and developments.

Here are My 10 Top KSFL Nutrition and Diet Tips

1. Eat Clean – A phrase that you see all of the time now, but it really needs to be all Fitpros mantra.
2.Green Veggies are KEY and instrumental in your quest for your ideal body shape.  Eat plenty at every meal. Experiment with Kale, Spinach, Green/Runner/String/Broad Beans, Cabbage, Brussels and whatever is in season.
3.Stop counting calories and focus on balancing hormones. Be aware of sugar that will spike your insulin levels and that includes high sugar fruits.
4. Eat a lunch style breakfast – We are a nation of toast and cereal addicts. Cereal and toast will catapult you into craving more sugar and starchy carbohydrates for the rest of the day.
5.Your first meal needs to be protein rich and “lunch style” It’s amazing how quickly you get used to this style of breakfast when initially for most people, it seems  totally alien.
6.Cut out or right down on Gluten – Bread/Pasta/Rice/.

7.STOP GRAZING through the day. You are not a cow, stop snacking.There is no scientific evidence that says eating 1 meal per day rather than 5 smaller meals will make any difference to your metabolic rate. Putting it bluntly it will not slow down.

8.Skipping meals is NOT bad. You will not starve or will it trigger an eating disorder. Eating disorders are far more complex then skipping meals when you are not hungry.

9.Take a high quality fish oil – I highly recommend the Aliment Fish Oils. They are excellent quality. Recently I’ve ceased advocating Protein Powder/Protein shakes.  Instead get your nutrients from excellent quality organic produce. Forget spending money on expensive shakes and purchase grass fed beef, organic eggs and high quality vegetables that are pesticide free.
10.Sleep is a great fatburner. Make sure you go to bed early and get good quality sleep, wake up feeling invigorated and rested.

Since doing KSFL countless Instructors have seen massive improvements in IBS, Asthma, Ecezema, Digestive issues and a whole range of medical conditions.

Eating clean and preparing all of your meals from scratch can be as quick and easy as putting a Findus Lasagne in the microwave, which actually, the thought of it makes me feel quite sick.

As a very basic cook with limited patience and time, I’m a throw it all the pan or slow cooker kinda girl, I find cooking clean very simple and I ring the changes daily. All you need is a little planning and there are some fantastic websites and cookbooks when you search around – Check out Cori Withell’s Mood Food Book that launched this week.

If you have been watching the AMAZING BBC2 documentary – The Men Who Made us Fat it documents  how clever marketeers introduced chocolate and snacking into our lives, through advertisers, how advertisers targeted children into buying chocolate on the way to and from school if, and how sugar is a the addiction. Low Fat foods are addictive and prevent leptin coming into the bloodstream to message the brain you are full, so you eat more and more and are never satisfied.

The Next KSFL2012 Beach Body Ready starts Monday 16th July click here for details

 

July Dirty 30 Workout Club kicks of 1st July and you willl need a Kettlebell for some of the workouts. Its 31 workouts with me for the whole of July. Ive come up with a wide range of 10minute workouts for you Click here to book There are 100 places on this program.

 

UNITE Instructors. We did a social media launch last night for the 2nd tier of UNITE Instructors. For those that didnt make the live event we have put together a full package for you to start your own UNITE classes. We are offering limited places on this launch so if you would like to get prepped and ready to hold your own UNITE masterclasses and kick of a class in your area check out all of the information. click here

Rachel Holmes Workout TV

I am releasing weekly workouts on my YouTube TV Channel and Id love you to subscribe. Ive posted another HIIT Workout and tomorrow is Fitness Pilates on Fridays.

Hot Classes for Summer

1.UNITE  – The missing link on many timetables.

2.Golf Fitness Pilates – Check out Paula Denvirs article below.

3.Small Group Training – Learn how to set SGT up, market and launch

Vikki Scovell FitBite – Teenagers and Food

It’s been a long time since my children clapped their soft chubby hands together in glee at the thought of a beaker of raisins and seeds; oooh Mummy, yes please, how SCRUMMY.  I remember their tiny faces lighting up with excitement when I presented them with a plate of brightly colored fruit and vegetables in the shape of a happy face.  They would spend hours kneading the same piece of greying dough to make their own bread, and happily helped me collect eggs, water the pea plants, and pick cherry tomatoes and pop them straight into their rosebud mouths.

Sadly, those children were abducted by a passing space craft, and alien lookey-likeys were deposited in their place.  These children are not effervescent at the thought of dried mango when I pick them up from school, they do not bubble over with joy when presented with a salad made from herbs and flowers.  These changelings  glower from beneath their heavy fringes; they demand pickled-onion-flavor Monster Munch, and left to their own devices they would subsist on carrier bags full of evil-colored sweets.  They open the fridge which brimeth forth with a rainbow of vegetables and wail- there’s nothing to eeeeeeeeeeat.   They ransack the cupboards in search of anything processed, anything high in sugar and nasty fats.  They bring more of their alien kind home, and this monstrous army produces food stuffs which I could only identify using a bar code reader.  They belong to a culture of continual snacking.  They cannot sit and watch a film without a conveyor belt of corn-based snacks, and in their wake they leave a trail of alien sticky stuff, debris and crumbs.  From where I type I have just spotted two thirds of a salt and vinegar chipstick peeking out from beneath the elder aliens’ favorite chair.  This fills me simultaneously with annoyance and longing; mmmm, chipsticks.

I used to happily type away from my high horse about how to interest children in healthy eating, how to present an array of organic vegetables blah blah blah.  It was all true, but seems insubstantial against the onslaught of overwhelming teen food culture.  I have seen my friends fill their cupboards with all sorts of rubbish to keep their older kids happy; it’s what they want, what they like, they will die of shame if their friends come back and there are oat cakes and soya cheese.  I used to think that they were insane, but I get it now.  There is a huge amount of pressure to eat the right stuff (to me that used to mean healthy, but …….), to be able to entertain your mates with a cupboard of treats, snacks and drinks.  I have had plenty of kids back over the years who have balked at the sight of homemade bread and garden vegetables, but these days they don’t even want to sit down for the meal, they just want to continually pick at bowls of rubbish.  I have been beaten down by the endless years of preparing ‘exciting’ packed lunches, by creating three meals a day, every day ad infinitum, and keeping them all balanced, healthy and delicious.  There is a big difference in your enthusiasm levels from when you have lovingly created three meals and snacks a day for one child for four years, to when you have begrudgingly delivered two different meals and snacks for each sitting for two children (alien spawn) with opposing tastes, for a further nine years.

The enthusiasm receptors in my brain have worn out from overuse. I have developed Enthusiasm Insensitivity, which may possibly have developed into Type 2 Can’t be Arsedness.

Following the last half term, the elder of the two aliens came to me clutching a slightly bulging mid-rift and wailed (alien kind are incapable of normal speech) OMG, I’m like seriously, like EXPANDING, I neeeeeeeed fruit and vegetables and, like,  no more MONSTERMUNCH or blue sweets; d’yuknowatImean?  After grappling with my alien speech ap on my iphone I identified the problem, and we pledged to de-junk the aliens eating habits ASAP.  I started in a blaze of glory by destroying  my absolutely MOST HATED thing in the house; kid breakfast cereal.  During the time when I had to leave my home and children until I found us somewhere to live, my mother-in-law moved in to help look after them, and of course to KEEP ME OUT!

 

The second thing that moved in after the Outlaw was a mountain of breakfast cereals, the like of which had never darkened my cupboard.  I have a serious problem with them, and believe them to contain no discernible goodness; they are over-processed, have cheap vitamins added to make us buy them, and they make me mad.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some quality ones that you can get, but these weren’t.  And so began the habit of cereals in the house, and often these were eaten as snacks through the day, and crusting bowls were discovered next to the TV in the morning too; not good.   The second thing I did was go and buy wild rice, a mountain of vegetables and salads and plenty of fruit.  We then embarked on a sugar-free week, cramming as much fresh fruit and veg in as possible.  I was expecting a struggle.  It was a breeze.  The aliens consumed fruit in inter-galactic quantities.  They actually stopped asking for junk, and wheedled; Mother dear, is it possible that you can cut us up some more peaches?  The smaller one, was EXCITED by her plates of vegetables and rice, she had seconds, and thirds.  I began to remember things that they used to like, and made them again.  The food was gratefully consumed, partially smeared over the sofa, and the empty plates carelessly left anywhere that they would be most likely to be stepped into.  It was a HUGE success, even if it didn’t prompt the aliens to change their COSMIC disregard for household cleanliness.

 

I began to think to myself, why is this so easy?  I was flabbergasted when both aliens requested a re-run the next week.  The answer was, that it was easy because they actually still did like this stuff; it was partly me that had become lazy/jaded/cynical.  I realized that quite a lot of the behavior that I had put down to them was a reflection of my life; less time to prepare and enthuse, feeling tired and uninspired, money going less far.  Quality food prices have rocketed, and it is much cheaper to buy lower quality foods; for the price of a bag of raw cashews, you can buy about 40 bags of cheap crisps (I’m not saying I DID that).  The children growing up have made a massive difference on the amount of control I have over what they eat, and their food culture has changed.  Underneath it all, they still appreciate healthy food but need guidance, and with a bit of firmness, direction and group effort we triumphed.  Now we need to do more work on eating at the table and weening the aliens from the TV.  Hey you can’t do it all at once, and at the moment the table can be located under a thick layer of sports kit, A&P books, a cheese grater, the paper recycling, Chicken feed and some dumbbells.  I’ll work on it.

I would be really interested to know more about your older children, what they like to eat, the problems you have faced, and how you feel about it all.  Do let me know your thoughts via facebook.  I know that making a stand has made me feel so much better as a parent; it is easy to let things slide, but I have a new determination to keep them healthy.  I cannot stop them from eating crazy stuff with their friends, but I can continue to educate them and be a role model myself, in the hope that they carry that forward as they grow into young adults.  Let me know what you think.

Now where has that chipstick gone?

 

Contact Vikki on Twitter @FITBITE

 

Looking After Number One! by Katie Bulmer

Hey C2Goer’s,

Hope you’re all good in the fitness hood! .

In this article I wanted to start with a question…

Are you looking after number 1?

As fitness professionals we spend so much time looking after the health of others, writing our clients training programs, supporting our clients in their nutrition…we can often be guilty of neglecting ourselves.

It is so important that we look after ourselves, to keep us fit and healthy from the inside out, avoid injury and be a great role model.

But with so much of our time spent helping others, how on earth do we do it?

Well, here are my 3 top tips…

1.Train regularly yourself. I train at home 5 out of 7 mornings. I find mornings work best for me because then it’s done and out of the way, and training at home means that Heidi can watch, join in or watch Peppa Pig 🙂 If you struggle for motivation, why not invest in your health and fitness by hiring a trainer or taking part in another fit pro’s program.

2.Plan and prepare your meals in advance. How many times have you finished teaching 2 back to back classes, been mega hungry and reached for the nearest sugar loaded snack? Spend 30 minutes every night filling small food pots with nuts, berries, chicken strips, mini salads and boiled eggs…all easy things that are quick to prepare and can be chucked in your gym bag for you to snack on between clients and classes.

3.Get a good night sleep, especially if you teach early morning bootcamps. Start to wind down from 9.30pm, aiming for a 10pm snooze time. Avoid watching TV, scrolling through Facebook, instead chill out with a book (maybe 50 shades of grey- that’s trendy at the moment).

They may all sound simple, but can make such a positive impact on how you feel, energy levels and how you perform in classes. I find I am so much more productive in my business when I’m training hard, eating clean and sleeping well!

I’d love to know how you get on with making some small tweeks to your daily routine.

Tweet me @KatieBulmer1

Have a smasher of a day and here’s to you and your health and fitness,

KBC x

Yvonne Radley Media

For fit pros it can be difficult coming up with new things to write about for your press release every week and often you can feel like you’re banging your head against a brick wall as you just seem to get ignored week after week.
This week I am going to give you the inside edge to get into your local paper. I used to work for my local paper as a journalist so I know the kind of things they’re looking for and more importantly the kinds of stories they are NOT looking for, so you can stop bashing your head against that brick wall.
First let’s tackle the things they won’t publish. They won’t publish your new class timetable they would rather you take out an advert.

They won’t publish the fact that one of your clients has dropped a dress size; again it’s just promoting your services for free. They won’t publish an article about a new awesome class you’re running, again they will tell you to take out an advert.

However, there are ways you could get all 3 of these articles published with a little help. You need to make your stories newsworthy, give them an angle, and think like an editor. What would make your new class timetable newsworthy? What kind of angle could you put on it? Well you could invite your local rugby club down for some taster sessions, pictures of fit men doing Zumba and Pilates will go down a storm – or you could attempt a world record and try and do as many classes as you can in 24 hours, local papers love this kind of thing. Try and think in pictures – what pictures would look good.

How do we get the woman who’s dropped a dress size into the paper – unless she has an amazing story to tell (like it helped to save her life, or she managed to conceive after trying for ages) then it’s going to be hard. But what if you add up all the weight lost by your clients over the last year – or the last 10 years depending on how long you’ve been teaching? What if that added up to 10 double deckers or an ocean liner? Now you’ve got a story with an angle and some great pictures to go with the article.

You have a new class running – how can you get some publicity?

Admittedly it’s not the greatest news story in the world so how can we turn it into the greatest news story in the world? What if the class was totally created by you – it was the new Zumba! You would have to big yourself up in your press release and get quotes from your clients who claim it’s better than Zumba, get them to tweet and Facebook about it to all their friends and tag the local paper of course, tweet a video of your class to a celebrity like Cheryl Cole and tell the paper you’ve sent it to her, if she tweets you back – you’re in, no problem at all!

And if she doesn’t – tweet another celebrity until you get one who does. Local papers love a chance to put a celebrity on the front cover, so you see you could even make front page news with that one.

Five other quick ways of getting in the paper are
1: Hold a charity event or appear at a charity event
2: Call up with a comment on a national health story
3: Enter a team into a major event like Race for Life
4: Invite a reporter down to your classes for a month for free so they can write a feature piece about your classes
5: Get a local celebrity to come to your classes

And here’s another insider tip for you – local papers go to bed on a Wednesday, meaning the content is given a final proof read and it gets sent to the printers. So Tuesday is quite a good day to contact your local newsroom as they are looking for things to fill the paper and they might have a big hole on page 11. If you can provide them with a story – quotes and pictures, imagine how happy they would be.
Yvonne Radley Ex Journalist and co-founder of Action Boot Camp
Most Promising Fitness Entrepreneur 2012
Subscribe to my blog for more media tips http://www.yvonneradleymedia.com/

Sally Ghafoor – Get Health Savvy

Cholesterol – 5 things you didn’t know that you should know

1. Cholesterol is needed for the function of membranes.
The cholesterol molecule connects phospholipids together, this stops the phospholipids from drifting apart too quickly. So for example when you get hot, cholesterol keeps the cell membranes from falling apart by connecting the phospholipids together – it also keeps the phospholipids apart, so when the cell gets cold it keeps the phospholipids from getting too close to each other.

2. It synthesises Bile acids
Bile acids are based on the common structure of cholesterol. In bile acids, the hydroxyl (OH) groups are water-soluble, and the methyl (CH3) groups are fat-soluble. Bile acids emulsify the fat in your diet. Bile acid is released from your gall bladder when you eat fatty foods and as the fat is water insoluble the bile acids help to emulsify fat (make it soluble in water).

3. They synthesise steroid hormones
Cholesterol is a pre cursor for steroid hormones. Namely glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids, androgens, oestrogens, without cholesterol you would be unable to make these hormones.
Glucocorticoids include corticol steroids.
Mineralocorticoids – help balance ions in your body, potassium and sodium in the body,
Androgens – Sex hormones Testosterone and oestrogen
Cholesterol is the precursor to a hormone called pregnenolone, which has important functions itself, but is also the precursor to all other steroid hormones. Pregnenolone is converted to progesterone, aldosterone or testosterone.

4. Vitamin D is synthesized from Cholesterol
The Vitamin d is synthesized from cholesterol. This synthesis involves an interesting step , ultra violet light is required (sunlight) to convert cholesterol to vitamin D. vitamin D is the only steroid related vitamin!
Vitamin d is involved in phosphate and calcium regulation in your body, so the body regulates how much active form of vitamin d it has, so it will ensure you have enough calcium in your body but not too much that you make kidney stones! (see article on how the body converts vitamin D)

5. Cholesterol synthesis increases whilst we sleep and helps your memory
Cholesterol is abundant in the tissue of the brain and nervous system. According to the Myelin Project, myelin is composed of a number of packed proteins that are sandwiched between two layers of lipids or fats. The most abundant lipid found in myelin is cholesterol. The main purpose of myelin is to cover neuron cells so that it can conduct action potential more quickly. It covers the nerve axons which conduct the electrical impulses which amongst other things help you remember things.

So do you still think cholesterol is all bad????

www.sallyghafoor.com sign up for my newsletter here : http://eepurl.com/gUwyL

 

Where do you draw the line? Cori Withell

I got asked on my private support group this week ‘how do you unload?’  This got me to thinking because I hadn’t really thought about it too deeply before but where do we draw the line.  Clients often come to us with low self esteem, relationship issues etc and over time they can become ‘friends’ and start to share more and more of their troubles, issues, concerns, fears etc.  Now if you are okay with this then fine and if you can continue to train and redirect the thoughts back to the training then great.  BUT, what if you are one of the hundreds of trainers that can’t do this?  At the end of the say we DO care.  What if you struggle when people start to share, feel uncomfortable, how do you deal with that?  Do you just tell your client that this is not your field or do you listen, struggle on and dread training that client each week?  What if this supportive chat spills way into their training time?  From the clients perspective, they haven’t had their training time so they feel ripped off.  So, as a professional and knowing that recommendations are pretty crucial to your success, you give them the free time.  One problem, IF you get referrals from this client it will be because you are so thoughtful and understanding and so you will get more clients like this!

So, where do you put YOUR line, your boundary?  I really think this should get included in fitness training because it is such an overlooked area.  As you know, I specialise in working with people with various mental health issues, from mild stress, eating disorders to chronic depression and breakdowns.  So, I voluntarily put myself into this environment BUT I still have boundaries.  All of my clients know that I will respond to any email or text within 24 hours unless I have informed them otherwise.  My support group is extremely lively and most days I can respond pretty much immediately if needs be, if I can’t then I let them know and explain why because with my niche, they need to know that the support is there all the time and if it goes, when it will be returned.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindfulhealthandwellness/

But for many instructors and trainers, this emotional leaning seems to be assumed as part of the training package.  So, when you first take a client on, be sure of where your line is and mark it clearly so they know not to cross it.  This isn’t harsh, this is your business.  You are not being paid to counsel, you are being paid to train, so train!  It sounds so simple doesn’t it?  Yet most of us know that it is very rarely that simple.   If you lay your boundaries down at the beginning, such as how long training sessions are, the fact that they commence as soon as you arrive, you leave your client in no doubt that if they then choose to talk for 20 minutes about issues that are affecting them then that impacts on the time left to train.  However, you really need to make sure that this does not affect you as an individual.  If people are constantly leaning on you and you are not prepared for it, it can and will affect your mood too.  So, decide what you will and wont deal with, be firm on that decision and then if you feel you are being overwhelmed be sure to have a support network available to you, to offload to if that makes it easier for you, there is no right or wrong!

My new Mood Food Cookbook is now out at www.cwfitness.co.uk/shop/   Teach your clients how to eat for their mood 🙂

Health and happiness x
Best wishes
Cori x

Facebook    www.facebook.com/cori.withell
Twitter          www.twitter.com/CWFitness
Blog              www.cwfitness.co.uk/blog

I Need A Good Service……Do You?
by Andrew Crawford

You are “Morally repungent” said David Cameron about our high profile comedian Jimmy Carr. He is using “aggressive tax avoidance” to pay less tax.
(I don’t mind being morally repungent but at least I have a bubble bath every morning..)
So…..What about it.  Was it legal?  A resounding YES.
Are there other high profile individuals in the Govt doing the same?? YES
Does Cameron know of these people? YES

Does Gary Barlow use similar methods to reduce his tax?? Yes

All those yes’s (yes, yes, yes ) sounds like a scene out of the THAT book..!!

Did you notice all the programming since last Thursday? All to do with the subject of Tax Avoidance..!!

I wrote last week….
“A very successful businessman (you’ll know who I’m talking about in a minute) creates a structure that transfers most of the ownership of [his] company to his wife through offshore companies based in the Channel Islands. She lives in Monaco, he takes a huge dividend – it’s paid to her, it’s estimated that this reduces his tax bill by hundreds of millions of pounds.’

In addition…this person is a Government Adviser….!!

Did you guess whom I was referring to?          Sir Phillip Green,

Remember the REAL point of all this Tax Avoidance subject flooding the airwaves and broadsheets was to DEFLECT your attention from the true fact that HMRC let off large companies, Goldman Sachs and Vodaphone, to name two, millions if not billions of pounds in tax that was owed to the Treasury.

This is a misservice to the public.

The Systematic Subliminal Brainwashing Media Manipulation Programme aka ‘The News’ did a great job at this, as I received emails asking me whether I knew about the ‘Jimmy Carr’ thing..!!
Service at Wimbledon started this week. Took me back to when I was a Ball Boy.!

Yes…at Wimbledon my darlings, years ago…maybe that’s when I got the taste of the chilled iced cold bottles of champagne, the succulent full bodied red plump tasting strawberries, topped with soft white fluffy dripping whipped cream, athletic ladies in their nice white frilly lacey smallies with the way above the knee tennis belts…oppps…I meant skirts, the all over tan spread over sleek slender toned muscular legs, the grunting whilst hitting balls as hard as they could muster (admit it guys…sounds good don’t it??)…I was one of the ones standing at the back watching and gagging whilst they bent over waiting to receive the serve..!!! ……  I need some theraphy right now…!!!

Tony Blair got caught telling untruths over the Iraq war….We the public KNEW this years ago when  Dr Kelly the British scientist and ‘Expert on Biological Warfare’ reported that…”…There was no weapons of mass destruction…”..days later it was reported the Dr Kelly had killed himself taking 29 painkillers and slitting his wrists…yeah right…!!

Details of his post mortem to remain ‘classified’ for 70 years. To this day, no weapons of mass destruction have been found..!!
This blatant lies to the general public was a disservice.
My orange service is still b*ll*x…..maybe it’s because the maker of the blackberry is selling the manufacturing of the handset because it has lost market share to the iPhone and it made a loss for the first time in 10 years.

I think it’s time to move from blackberry to iPhone…and move from Orange to a better service provider…..who’s best??
Julian Assange had to dash to the Ecuadorain Embassy for Asylum. I personally don t believe that he is a bad man. The reason the US Government doesn’t ‘like’ him is because his Wikileaks site was posting the TRUTH about what really was going on during the recent wars.
These were soldiers ‘own’ eye witness accounts and stories from the Frontlines…what better, clear, truer information do we need. Surely NOT from the medias point of view who are not even there…!!!!
All hail to Julian Assange for his Service of Truth.
Ok…I’m going to squeeze in another important service………..BANKING.
Were you one of the unfortunate customers who couldn’t access any funds, transfer funds, receive funds from one of the top banks? Why?
The online service of its operations went haywire…..what did I tell you to do in past articles?? Repeat after me……
Set up YOUR own bank. “The commercial bank of.[Fill in your surname here].”
Benefits: No queuing, no ID verification, no maximum, no closing, no using your funds to invest on dodgy money markets, no charges, no statements, no closing your account down, no corporate bonding outdoor pursuits, no astronomical bonus dissemination, no bank holidays, no computer glitches..umm…I might setup an offshore one..!!
Well…Let me tell you what happened the other day.
I wanted to ‘Top Up’ my commercial bank….so I went to a traditional bank to withdraw money from the wall…..I forgot that there is a maximum daily withdrawal ‘limit’…..so….I took out the maximum BEFORE midnight then the maximum AFTER midnight….I must of looked like a right hoodie waiting around the atm… Even the big burly men were looking at me hovering in case I took out my black truncheon and clobbered them over the head with it..!!
So Andrew….
What has Jimmy Carr’s repugnant behaviour, your bubble filled bubble baths, lashings of strawberries and whipped, the lies behind Tony Blair and the truth behind Wikileaks got to do with Accountancy and Tax?
Well…
We ALL like a Good Service…Don’t you??  Nothing to do with the Shades..!
If the service you receive is not up to standard, what can you do about it?
I had a chat with a lovely lady the other day (name to remain anonymous but you KNOW who you are….lol) who had paid good money and purchased what she believed was an impressive package with the ability to enhance her future fitness business.
What she did receive however was a service that was not befitting of the £2,000 plus price tag that she entrusted to the bank account of this company and the glamorous sleek sales pitch which led her to open wide the mouth of her purse to release forth the hard earned great British pounds.
What she did receive was sub-standard, poor quality goods and services not expected by a reasonable person.
She was left unfulfilled, annoyed and vilified. Has this ever been you? (Nothing to do with the Shades? …lol)
If for some reason you are put in this position, there are 2 areas in business law which I am making you aware of here which deal with this very distinctly for your protection, they are:
Sale of Goods Act 1979
Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982

You can invoke anyone of these if you are not happy with the service or goods that you have been given. In fact….use BOTH ..!!
Whenever you buy or pay for sometime or you contract for a service, you are entering a ‘Contract’.
Now I won’t go into that here because I have done so in a previous article.
There are slight differences with these 2. The Sales of Goods Act 1979 implies terms as to title, fitness and quality of goods when you are a consumer.
Where there’s a breach of contract, you can claim for damages.
In this instance you would be put back into the position you would have been in if the contract had been properly performed. Basically, you can’t make a profit from any damage claims.
The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 applies to contracts for services in the course of and business.
The supplier should carry out their service with what is known as ‘reasonable care skill to a proper standard of workmanship.
If there is not a time limit stipulated in the contract, you would expect the supplier to perform the contract within a reasonable time.
If there was not a price stated at the offset, you would expect to pay a reasonable charge.
Any goods supplied in providing the services should be of satisfactory quality.
If your supplier fails to meet any of the above obligations here they are in Breach of Contract and you will be able to seek redress even through the courts.
You are then entitled to sue for damages to reflect the loss that was reasonably foreseeable.
In other cases you can either seek ‘Specific Performance’ which means the person in breach must carry out their obligations. Or by ‘Rescission’ which means you can cancel the whole contract.
So….the lady sent of a stiff letter, reply yet to be received.
I studied law for 3 years it’s so exciting.!!
Finally…..
I just lurve Tax Planning, which leads to Tax Avoidance which is not Tax Evasion. It is just a way of understanding the Tax Law and utilising the elements you have at your finger tips to reduce your tax liabilities.
Yes…I would be classified as “morally repugnant and an aggressive tax avoider” and your point is??????
Here’s one I’ll throw in to be utilised by those with a small company.
Don’t know about you …but I like big cars and fast women…..or is that the other way round….tee hee….
Here’s a way to make your company pay for your car…whilst you get the benefit.
Basically, your company pays for your car. Each month it makes the payment, after all, it is a company car.!!!
You will get the benefit of using it, so you know you will need to pay a small amount of tax on it as part of your annual tax return.
Can you deduct expenses from this small additional tax? Yes and you should.
Any way….after a few years, say 3, the company has paid for the car. It now wants to sell it. Who wants to buy it? You….but its second hand, high mileage, battered and bruised company car…!!
Ok…so the company sells it to you for £1. It makes the invoice out, you pay, documents transferred. BAM….!!
I hope that my articles are giving you a good service.
See you on the other side xx
Andrew Crawford

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Andrew Crawford can be contacted on twitter @tax4fitness or info@fitnessindustryaccountants.com

Who’s in control?

By Claire Mockridge
Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Hi there,

How are you doing on this fine Thursday?  Business going well?  Some classes doing ok, others thriving?  Anyone employed a VA since my recent article?  It seemed to spark interest there from many of you.  Thank you as always for all of your generous feedback.  Keep it coming!

Today, I’m going to ask you who is in control in your business?  Is it you?  Are you the decision-maker on most things?  Or, do you let others, whether it’s your clients, your friends, significant others etc sway your decisions?

Do you have set terms and conditions in your business, for example, or are they a bit vague?  Do you regularly get clients ask you for refunds which go against your Ts and Cs?  If so, it kind of indicates to me who’s in control?  Not you, it seems.

When you’re chatting to your parents/partner about your business, and they make a suggestion about something that is so far from your gut instinct, yet you still decide to run with the idea, let me ask you again – who’s in control?  Possibly not you.

Did you become self-employed so you could get more freedom?  Were you sick and tired of working for a club that paid you less than your worth?  Did you set up your business so you had more control of your actions?  Now that you are self-employed, or perhaps partly self-employed, do you now have that control, or do others around you still provide this for you?

Ever heard of the expression: “Feel the fear, and do it anyway?”.  I think, for some FitPros, a confidence-boost is desperately needed.  Think about your strengths.  Write them down.  What is it you’re really good at in your business?  You’ll notice I’m not using the word “job” here, because you’re running a “business” here, not a hobby, and although you may have a “happy go lucky” or “bubbly” character that goes with the FitPro persona, you still need to be taken seriously, which then leads you to being in control.  Does that make sense?

Do you have loads of ideas swimming around in your head, but you lack the confidence to mould them into a product?  The Fitness Industry, I think you’d agree, is a pretty reactionary one.  By this I mean, when you see another FitPro who’s come up with a great idea, you think: “Oh, wow, I should do that too!” and off you go researching this new idea, brainstorming away and getting the creative juices flowing.  This all fine by the way, but by going off course and pursuing this new product or new venture, is this the right journey you should be taking, or have you now lost focus, and therefore lost control?

Who’s making you create this new product and go on this diversion?  You?  Your clients, or pressure from others around the corner or, dare I say the influences of Facebook?  Is it really the right decision for you to be making right here, right now?

I have complete control in my business.  So far as to say that I only discuss my business and how it operates to friends, contacts, clients and family members who are genuinely interested in hearing about it.  It’s about control, again isn’t it?  I don’t want to bore people with my business if they’re not remotely interested in it, so I just don’t.  It’s a fairly niche market I’m dealing with too, isn’t it – pre and postnatal, but it was my decision to focus on it, and I have complete control over it.

How would you describe what it is you do for a living, for example?  Think about the words you choose to describe yourself and your business.  Are they direct, succinct and dynamic, or do you just say: “I’m a Fitness Instructor?”.  Give yourself a confidence boost, and write down a sentence that describes what you do that makes you sound more edgy, and ensure you use it the next time you’re asked this question.

Your homework for the week from me is to get a little more control in your life, and let that feed through into your business and other decisions that need making.  You’ll probably find it is quite empowering.

If you have a question about pre/postnatal, why not join my Private Facebook Group for FitPros who either a) want to get qualified to teach pre/postnatal or, b) are already qualified, but want hints and tips on making their business more successful: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/clairemockridge/

Or, join me on:

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/clairemockridge1
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/clairemockridge
Blog: http://clairemockridge.wordpress.com/

Bye for now.

Claire Mockridge
Ante/Postnatal Fitness Expert

Improve Your Golf With Pilates by Paula Denvir

A strong and flexible body is the best piece of equipment a golfer can bring to the game. An average golfer’s spine coils and uncoils 100-130 in one direction over an average 4 hour game. This unnatural twisting of the spine over and over again results in lower back pain for 75% of golfers after a game.  A golf pro can help correct a golfer’s technique by altering stance, grip and hip turn ratio. But the underlying fault in any golf swing is in the body itself.
Both golf and Pilates are mind-body activities that share key basic principles.

 

Golf swing principles are fluid, motion, precision, accuracy and power: whereas Pilates principles tend to focus on control, concentration, precision, flow of motion and proper breathing techniques. Regular practise of this form of exercise will build up your ‘core’ and stabilise the body by lengthening and strengthening the core muscles located deep in the torso. Shoulder, spine and pelvis alignment is vastly improved over time and you will feel the difference when you play with a stronger and more flexible body.
Pilates improves golfer’s flexibility which will increase the amount of turn, allowing for faster club head speed for more yardage. Golf is a game of asymmetry and multidirectional stresses. Pilates focus on spinal flexion, extension and rotation and aim to de-rotate spinal imbalances and realign core muscles.

It enhances better stability in the lower back to increase your X-factor for more distance and also help eliminate hooking and slicing. Pilates works on developing body awareness and good postural alignment: this helps golfers to perform movements more efficiently without unnecessary strain on muscles and joints. ‘Pilates for golfers’ exercises challenges your sense of balance and the result is stronger core muscles that help you maintain stability and transfer power from muscle to muscle more effectively.

Pilates alleviates back, neck and joint pain by improving strength, balance and co-ordination. It’s an accepted fact by fitness and medical experts that Pilates is favoured for avoiding muscular-skeletal pain and injury, particularly of the neck, back and hips just as cardiovascular exercise is promoted for heart health and resistance training for strong bones. Many physiotherapists promote to their clients the benefits of using Pilates to rehabilitate injuries on their path to recovery.

Pilates develops a strong core with flat abdominals and a strong back. Joseph Pilates, the founder of Pilate’s exercises, focused on developing the core muscles of the body. The core consists of deep abdominal muscles along your with the muscles closes to the spine – muscles that encase your torso from shoulder to thigh. Every Pilate’s movement challenges your muscle imbalances and rework them to be stronger.

It builds longer and leaner muscles – toning without bulk. Conventional workouts tend to build short, bulky muscles, the type most prone to injury. Pilates elongates and strengthens, improving muscle elasticity and joint mobility. A body with balanced strength and flexibility is less likely to be injured.

Start incorporating Pilates in your golf conditioning and you will see remarkable changes. Pilates is suitable for everyone at all fitness levels. You will be surprised to know that bad swings are usually due to your posture or the way you sit or stand.

This form of exercise is now included in many top athletes daily fitness programme – most professional football, rugby players and golfers have benefited from Pilates. One of the main positives of taking it up is that it can be done ‘on the go’ and is suitable for everyone at all fitness levels – think of it as long-term maintenance for the body!

Happy golfing ?
Paula
Facebook – facebook.com/paula.denvir.9
Email healthywellbeings@live.co.uk