For those in Australia the summer days are just about over for another 6 months and it’s likely you’ll replace those balmy days in the sun with more time indoors which COULD potentially lead to more time spent in bed. There is nothing quite like staying under the cosy doona for an extra hour on a lazy Saturday or Sunday.

More time in bed SHOULD mean more of the ‘adult cuddles’ but for most people, both men and women, there is less of that tiger (woods) in you now than ever before. Are you asking yourself why?
Is it the kids? Stress? Lack of time? You’re lucky if you even have time to look for a fresh pair of socks these days let alone have some quality time under the sheets, and when you do all you want to do is sleep! What has the world come to!

I recently had a friend talk about the extreme sex drive she is currently experiencing and a lack of sex drive her husband has. What’s behind this lack of sex drive? Why is Viagra one of the leading drugs in the world? Here are all the answers you need to get that sex drive from first gear to fifth!

1. You’re running around like a headless chook: You spend all your day working, cooking, cleaning, looking after everyone else and by 11:30 you are so exhausted you collapse in a heap. The chronic stresses of modern life can trigger a surge of hormonal changes that mess with your body’s sexual-response cycle and leaving you feeling like you would rather stare at the wall than have sex. How about a small mini holiday? It can be as simple as three days.  “People are overworked and stressed, and they translate their overworked, stressed lives to a lousy sex life’, suggests Irwin Goldstein, MD, director of San Diego Sexual Medicine.
2. You’re not HAPPY JAN!: Many find themselves withdrawing or not willing to experiment because they feel overweight or their bodies have changed shape.  Studies have shown that as little as a 3 kilo loss in weight can jump start the sex drive and have you feeling much better about the way you look!
3. Those silly meds you’re taking!!!!: When you’re feeling down your desire for sex can take a big hit, particularly if you’re female. Antidepressants may lift your spirits temporarily, but some affect your interest in sex long term. If you notice your sex drive has taken a drive since you started new meds, speak to your doctor!
4. You’re sick as a dog!: A number of women who are treated for low libido end up having an endocrine problem, such as undiagnosed thyroid disease, which can lead to exhaustion, depression, low sexual desire, and fertility problems. Check with your doctor to see if your thyroid is working correctly and whether you are suffering from any other chronic diseases that may affect your sex drive.
5. Maximise your exercise!: If you want to be “interested” then improve your circulation. Exercise can increase blood flow, which in theory can make sex more enjoyable as the arousal for both men and women involves increased blood flow to the genital area.Exercise boosts endorphins, which makes you happier and increases your energy. Not to mention that dropping body fat makes you feel sexier.
6. Eat a healthy diet: Too much fat in the system doesn’t allow much blood supply to the areas of importance. This is one of the reasons why there is a correlation between heart disease and erectile dysfunction.Excess weight also messes with your hormones. “Obesity can shift the balance between estrogen and testosterone,” says Michael Krychman, MD, executive director of the Southern California Center for Sexual Health and Survivorship Medicine. And low testosterone can bring down your sex drive. For example, an iron deficiency can lead to fatigue, which in turn can lead to low libido. (Eat your broccoli!)

Imagine that your body is a house and your feet are the foundation. Without a stable, correct foundation your walls, floor and ceiling are simply not stable. The human body is the finest piece of engineering that you will find, and it needs to be treated so. If you’re experiencing pain which may be due to feet that are overpronating, then take responsibility of the platform of your most valuable commodity, otherwise your kinetic chain (walls, floor and ceiling), will not perform their desired duties.

Your kinetic chain is made up of your bones, skeletal muscle, fascia, joints, ligaments and tendons so when one part of your kinetic chain fails biomechanically, it will adversely affect another section. The role of the foot in correct biomechanics lies around pronation. Pronation is the desired motion which occurs when the foot makes impact and your arch collapses enough to cause your foot to roll toward the mid line of your body and allowing that initial shock to disperse from the body. Overpronation, or rolling in, occurs when your arches simply collapse too much causing your feet to fall away from a neutral position, and roll too far inwards.

Overpronation affects your kinetic chain because the arch of your foot is weak and it acts on your ankle joint, forcing it to roll in. Your ankle joint then too rolls in and soon your tibia (shin bone), knee and your femur (thigh bone) have followed the same fate, putting extra pressure on your hips and lower back. Looking further at your kinetic chain, as your joints are pulled out of alignment, other muscles are required to over stabilize, this places extra pressure on your tendons as your muscles insert into your bones via these.

The problem can rear its head in many ways. Incorrect posture may cause pain at the ankles, knees, hips or even in the arch of the foot while your body is requiring extra energy to stabilize incorrectly waisting time and inhibiting efficiency in your running goals.

To determine whether your may be an overpronater, try an exercise that Justin Price cites in his article Corrective Exercise – Part 1: The foot, ankle and knee. Find the two indentations at the front of your foot, where it joins to your lower leg. Ask a friend to place their thumb on the dimple at the inside of the ankle, and their index finger on the outside dimple. If you roll your foot and ankle inward (overpronate), your friend will feel pressure on their thumb and if you roll your foot outward (oversupinate), your friend will feel pressure on their forefinger. Relax your foot, and if there is more pressure on your friends thumb than there is on his or her index finger, then your foot may be overpronating. In this case, you should seek advice, or a gait test from a physiotherapist, as you may be causing damage to the rest of your body or worse still, selling yourself short on the track or the street.

It’s not every day that you get to spend time with one of the world’s most outgoing, inspirational people but late last year I trained one of the biggest characters I’ve ever met. Ruby Gettinger was ‘down under’ for the first time promoting her book, TV show ‘Ruby’ and filming of the Australia episode ‘Ruby: My Australian Adventure’.

While here her incredible spirit saw her tackle, bump, push, climb and overcome every challenge I threw at her!
Both Ruby and her best friend Georgia were here for a week and embraced everything Australia had to offer including the boxing, power walks around the city, Macquarie’s chair and Bondi, an action packed sail around the Sydney harbour, and the infamous harbour bridge climb!

What surprised me most about Ruby was her flamboyant nature and ability to overcome the extraordinary challenges that she has faced throughout this journey. It’s the inspiration so many out there need. This type of loud, proud and strong personality has made her so appealing to the viewers and is the reason why everyone falls in love with her. It also highlights the weaknesses of many around her.

While I only spent a week with Ruby I found myself challenging what was the right thing to do by her and what was the right thing to do by her health.

Confused? No doubt. Let me explain. Having watched the show and done the research on Ruby before she came to Australia I found myself frustrated by some of her friends. They were being too good to Ruby and allowing her to eat the foods that got her to a staggering 320 kilos! The dilemma is if her friends allow her to eat ‘those foods’ that will keep her happy, avoid confrontation and make the ‘goal weight’ harder to achieve. They need to be firm with Ruby and prevent her from eating these foods, as it will cause confrontation but it’s the ‘tough love’ she needs.

There were testing times within our week together where I too felt I could have easily become one of ‘those’ friends. I would have been kicking myself if I fell for her loveable, flamboyant flirty behavior and allowed her to eat the foods that she’s craved since starting her journey back from 320 kilos.

It’s important that her friends find the ‘tough love’ and ensure this epic journey stays on track.

It’s the ultimatum you face as a trainer, friend, family member, partner or college. You can do the right thing by them and allow those lifestyle habits to continue, or you can do the right thing for their health, save their life and show ‘tough love’.

We all know someone that is facing a challenge, whether it is obesity, a problem with the drink, or another kind other addictions. You’re not helping them by making excuses for them. Show the ‘tough love’, they will hate it initially but once they have overcome the problem you’ll be the one they turn to and say ‘thankyou’.

1. Clean the machine: A large percentage of obese people will have a clogged up digestive system so toxic they are a danger! Your body is like a car, if you put the wrong petrol in it won’t run smoothly… It’s fair to say if you’re obese, you have put a large number of toxins into your body. Start cleaning the machine (your body) and detox it by minimising processed foods. A large percentage of people overcome weight loss plateaus by eating ‘clean’ foods. You will start losing weight straight away without even exercising by simply making these changes.
2. Stress less!:  Our bodies are stressed out to the max! What makes this worse is that our body doesn’t differentiate the types of stress. Whether it is from a lack of exercise, toxic foods you’re eating, work and relationships stress or daily chemicals that you’re exposed to, all of these are placing stress on a vulnerable body and making it harder to lose weight.
3. Positive people= positive results: Have a look at your surroundings. It’s said that you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Are those people helping or hindering your ability to get fit and healthy? Do you need to make some changes?
4. Walk before you talk: You hear it all the time. ‘I’m going to start running every morning and lose 60 kilos’ DANGER, DANGER, DANGER…. Anyone that wants to start running needs to be conditioned! It’s like building a house, if you haven’t built a foundation the roof is going to cave in! If you’re obese you shouldn’t even consider running. Walking, swimming, boxing and cycling are perfect exercises to start conditioning the body. Once your body is conditioned and strong you can then include running.
5. Lack of impact: When you’re completely de conditioned the last thing you want to do is put more stress on the knees, ankles, hips and back! These areas are under extreme stress for obese people and without care you’re likely to cause major impact. Major impact = injury!  You need to have a strong pillar from your shoulders to your hips to minimize any injuries and setbacks.  The last thing you want is a set back as this is often a huge factor in obese people giving up on reaching their goals.