Getting fit for the summer

There comes a time in every man's life when he has to face the music and take a long hard look at himself in the mirror. For some the image facing them will be something that is a little out of shape, but a body that can be whipped into shape in no time at all. A lucky few will see the body of a Greek God staring coolly back.

For those unfortunate souls who pride themselves on the amount of fish and chips they can eat or the amount of beer they can consume, the person looking back from the mirror may be in real sorry state. However, fear not because we are here to show you how to get back into shape in less time than it takes to watch a single football match.

Food intake
I'm sorry to report that if you want to shed those unwanted pounds then you are going to have to face the challenge of watching what you eat - at least for a short time. Without getting too physiologically technical, in order to lose weight you must consume less calories than you burn throughout the day. With this in mind we have a short list of guidelines to follow when changing your eating habits:

1. Eat at least 3 meals a day. If possible even try to consume 5-6 meals, abet smaller meals than you would eat if you ate 3 squares a day.
2. Fill your plate with food in the following combination - fill half your plate with complex carbohydrates (potatoes, pasta, rice, bread), a third with good sources of lean protein (chicken, fish, beef, pork etc) and the rest with salad or vegetables. This will allow you to eat the right quantity of food at each sitting.
3. Never skip breakfast. Doing this will slow down your metabolism, making it much harder to shed the unwanted weight.
4. Don't diet. Eat what you like but eat sensibly. For example, if you have a fatty lunch, eat a smaller, lighter dinner. Or if you eat out late one night, make sure the next day's lunch is lighter and healthier.

Exercising - Train smarter, not harder
Let me stress that you can get fit and in shape with only 60 minutes exercise a week. However, please bare in mind that 2 o r 3 hours exercise each week would allow you to meet your goals in double quick time.

Nevertheless, we promised a plan to get you fit in only an hour a week. So here goes:

1. Spread out the hour into 2 or 3 sessions a week.
2. During each session perform 15 minutes of aerobic training at a level that challenges you right from the first minute (after a 5 minute warm up of course).
3. Perform the following resistance exercises at the end of each session:

Squats x 3
Bench press x 3
Pulldowns x 3
Shoulder press x 3

NOTE: Perform the exercises in one continuous circuit - squats, bench press, pulldowns, shoulder press, squats, bench press etc.