Harper's, Australia's premiere Personal Training organisation, was established in 1988 by motivational speaker and Exercise Scientist Craig Harper. The Brighton centre is the largest facility of its type in the Southern Hemisphere and prides itself on its customer service, outstanding results, amazing staff and great atmosphere.

Harper's is a world-class Personal Training facility which has been meeting the health and fitness needs of thousands of Australians since the late eighties.

The team at Harper's have been innovators and leaders in the fitness industry for almost 20 years, helping teams, organisations and individuals realise their dreams and potential. 

While some people believe that getting in shape is all about dumbbells and treadmills, at Harper's we understand that for most people, creating life-long physical change is more about lifestyle, diet, exercise, attitude, organisation, motivation, education, structure, encouragement and support, than it is about any piece of equipment or any get-skinny-quick 'super diet'.

Harper's is not a gym; Harper's is a place to change your body, your attitude, your lifestyle, your habits and your reality.  If you are tired of  almost getting in shape, then Harper's is the place for you.

WHO'S CRAIG HARPER
 

Craig is probably Australia's most experienced Personal Trainer, having personally completed over forty thousand training sessions since 1987 and is recognised as one of Australia's leading health and fitness educators and motivators.

A qualified Exercise Scientist, Craig works on Melbourne radio (Gold FM and SEN), writes for Women's Health and Fitness and Alpha Magazines and appears regularly on Channel Ten's 9AM as a health and fitness commentator. Having been an obese teenager (90kg at fourteen), Craig understands the practical issues, the physical challenges and the emotional hurdles that need to be negotiated as we endeavour to create our 'best' body.

FOOD, EXERCISE & LIFESTYLE TRAINING DIARY

If you're serious about your training, nutrition, and lifestyle - Craig's training diary is an invaluable tool.

You can order Craig's training diary here on his personal website (www.craigharper.com.au).

LESSONS FOR THIS MONTH:

Attitude

There is an undeniable relationship between attitude and outcome. Bad attitude always equals bad outcome. Many people don’t want to hear that transforming their body is more about attitude, commitment and self control than it is about finding the right program, gym, super-diet or miracle-pill. Good attitude typically equals a good outcome and the truth is many people make the process much harder than it needs to be. You might not love every moment of the process.... but you will love the results, so get on yer bike and tough it out.

Emotional Eating

We have all experienced the therapeutic benefits of food. We know that in times of stress, anxiety, sadness or frustration nothing comes close to chocolate cake (or your personal equivalent). And although we enjoy some short-term sensory pleasure, the physical consequence of those reactive, emotional-eating moments is usually carried on our hips or stomach in the form of unwanted fat. While we are essentially emotional beings, one area of our behaviour that we don’t want dominated by emotions is our eating. So next time you feel the urge to medicate or sooth yourself with food, remember: ‘Nothing tastes as good as being in shape feels’. Don’t focus on the biscuit that gives you five minutes of pleasure; focus on the body that you live in twenty four hours a day.

Get in shape for life, not an event

Too many people spend their life getting in shape for summer, birthdays, weddings, school reunions and other significant social occasions. Like athletes, they peak for an event… and then get fat again. Sad really. Creating your best body is about the next few decades, not the next few weeks.

Stop waiting for the right time to get in shape; it never comes.

Aussies are champion procrastinators and excuse makers.... there's always a very legitimate reason why we can't start today. “I’ll start next Monday (apparently we can only change behaviours on a Monday), next week, next month, when the kids are at school, when it’s not so dark in the morning, when all the planets align, when Tasmania reconnects with the mainland.

Sure you will.

The only person you’re fooling is you.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing".

INTERESTING FOOD FACT:

One hundred grams of fresh apricot will provide you with 35 calories while the same weight of dried apricots will give you a lazy 270 calories! Interesting what happens when we take the water out of fresh fruit isn't it?

The moral of the story?

Even 'healthy' foods can make us fat when we're not careful.