This site is the website of motivational speaker Craig Harper. A constantly updated, one-stop information, inspiration, education and motivation station. Unlike many similar sites, it is a totally free resource for anyone who is serious about moving from mediocre to amazing in any area of their personal or professional life. With hundreds of articles covering a wide range of subject matter, great interviews with cool people and inspirational video posts, there's more than enough brain-food to keep you busy for hours. Okay, days!! Enjoy.
Click play above
to
see one of Craig's weekly segments on national
television. (9AM with Kim & David - Network Ten)
Online
Personal Training
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service is for people who would like to access the
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Trainer, without doing the face-to-face thing.
Life Coach
If you are interested in maximizing your potential,
stepping out of that 'holding pattern' and being
privately coached by Craig click here.
Business Coach
If you're a personal trainer, gym owner or studio
owner who is interested in growing your business
then mentoring with Craig could be a valuable part
of your overall success strategy.
Biological Age Testing
Recently, 67 year old Jan Frazer completed one of
our biological age tests only to discover she has
the body of a 37 year old (in terms of fitness,
strength and function). How old is your body? Find
out here.
Body Composition Analysis
Craig's
team of experts can provide you with a
complete Body Composition Analysis in just 30
minutes.
Online
Nutrition
Many
nutritional experts confuse people with their jargon
and pseudo-science. Let Craig's Director of
Nutrition cut through the dietary confusion and
contradiction for you.
Fattitude
- Craig Harper
While many books focus on food,
Craig teaches that creating life-long change is more about the
dieter, than the actual diet. This book is perfect for people who have a
history of 'almost' getting in shape.
DVD
or CD - Renovate Your Body In this entertaining presentation, Craig discusses the
notion of Renovating Your Body - once and for all. Many of us have a curious
ability to be able to get in shape for events (weddings, parties, reunions
and birthdays), if only we'd get in shape for life.
Craig Harper is Australia's leading
motivational speaker
and educator (according to Google Australia). He is a highly
sought-after corporate coach and is considered to be
a leader and pioneer in the areas of personal and
professional development.
Working with hundreds of
teams, companies and a wide variety of organisations
on numerous continents over the last twenty years
has given Craig a unique insight into, and
understanding of, human performance and all its
variables. Craig has an ability to educate, inspire,
challenge and make people laugh all at the same
time!
For some strange reason people seem to take an interest in what I do with my own exercise and nutrition and where the ex-fat kid (me) is currently up to in terms of his own health/fitness/training progress. I get lots of emails from people who want to know how I eat, train and live; how I manage my body. Being as I'm a forty four year-old, non-athlete with very ordinary genetics, the level of interest in what I do to my body and how I do it, often surprises me. However, being as I write about this stuff for a living, I do understand people's natural curiosity to see if I put all that theory into practice. Is this stuff a reality in my life, or am I simply a beer-swilling, chain-smoking, donut-addicted, lazy fraud who happens to have a little knowledge and write okay? By the way, who is that guy in the Diesel shirt top left on the home page?
My Training Now
Well, right now I'm in a lifting-heavy-things phase. Some people like to call it weight training! I tend to go through phases with my training where I focus more (or less) on different components of fitness and enjoy some things more than others. My approach to my own workouts is not always highly scientific or strategic... but I'm always consistent (where most people fail). In the last twenty years, the longest I have gone without any kind of workout would be a week. I haven't run for the last eight weeks and as a result I have put on a few kilos but thankfully have managed to drop a little body-fat at the same time. So I've gained a little muscle. At the moment my cardio comes in the form of three to four bike rides each week on my new Cannondale, chick-pulling, black stealth... weapon. When I'm out on that, I'm about thirty percent sexier. Hard to believe, I know. Stop laughing. I'm serious. In fact, it's not really fair to the other (male) bike riders of the world who don't have one. I'd show you a photo of me on it right now but you'd lose focus. And we wouldn't want that would we?
My Exercise Philosophy
My overall exercise philosophy is to be consistent over my life-time. And I am. Whether I'm lifting huge weights, moderate weights, high reps, low reps, three days or five days a week, doesn't really matter over the long term. What matters is that I don't spend my life starting various exercise programs that I never maintain. Over the last two months I have increased my gym sessions to lifting weights four or five days per week and for the moment, I'm seeing results and enjoying the ride. My cardio 'rule' is that I do something a minimum of three days per week for a minimum of thirty minutes each time. Every week of my life. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's more intense but I never do the same thing, the same way for too long; my body doesn't like it, either does my mind. Sometimes (often in summer) I go through phases where I will do less weights (2-3 per week) and more cardio (5-7 per week). As long as I'm relatively fit, strong and functional, it doesn't matter too much how I break it up. I could be in shape at 85 kgs (187 lbs) or 95 kgs (209 lbs); depending how much muscle I'm carrying, how I'm training and how I'm managing my diet. I could also be out of shape (fat) at 90 kgs (198 lbs). As I write this, I weigh 93 kgs (205 lbs) at about 15% body-fat (not amazing but not too bad for a middle-aged endomorph).
Stretching
Part of me wants to tell you that I stretch every day for thirty minutes and that I've pretty much nailed the side and front splits. However, I would be lying. A lot. I should stretch more. A lot more. I stretched in the eighties. Twice. Didn't really enjoy it. Gotta be honest, it's the one aspect of training I personally neglect. Call me human. Call me flawed. Call me inflexible. Keep it between you and me. And I'm not totally sure, but there could be a correlation between my lack of stretching and the violin strings that run from my hips to my ankles. As a rule, I'd rather poke myself in the eye with a steak knife than stretch but I know; it's not about what I enjoy, it's about what I need. I'll keep you updated on my side splits progress. Don't hold your breath. I guess the good thing is that not too many people die from tight hamstrings.
There I go again, trying to make myself feel better and justify my irresponsible behaviour.
Diet
Over the years diet has always been my biggest challenge. I walk pass a donut and my ass gets bigger. It's true. I was born to eat. I am gifted at it. If there was an Olympics for eating, I would be Michael Phelps. A big, fat, ugly, middle-aged Michael Phelps. I could backstroke in calories! Over the years I have had to manage my eating pretty well, otherwise I would end up looking like Tony Soprano within a week. For me that essentially means no junk and controlled portions. I might allow myself to bend the rules once a month or so - usually in the form of cheesecake. Have I mentioned my cheesecake issues? Breakfast for me is usually porridge and bran, lunch a healthy sandwich (protein and salad) and dinner is usually a protein-based meal with some vegetables. As I'm baring my soul, I need to make one more confession; I have fruit issues. There, I said it. I don't eat enough fruit. Now, if there was a fruit that tasted like cheesecake... that, I would eat. In regards to alcohol, I don't drink it (never have), so that's a non-issue for me. While most blokes who are my size and train like I do need somewhere around 3,000 calories per day, I typically consume somewhere in the vicinity of 2,000 and do fine. I have the metabolism of ninety three year old man, so I need to be careful not to over-eat. The question I always ask myself before I put food in my mouth is "do I need it, or do I want it?"
Injuries
When I was a young, dumb bodybuilder I pretty much injured everything I own. Several times. Pick a muscle, I've torn it. Including tearing my pec off the bone while bench pressing. Yeah, that kinda hurt. In the early days there was a lot of enthusiasm and passion (okay, ego), but not much science or common sense in the training process. Put two immature, egomaniacal, twenty year-old blokes dripping with testosterone (me and my buddy) in the gym and you have a recipe for disaster. Thank goodness for maturity and education over time. These days I work around my numerous 'issues' and find a way to get the most out of my body without re-injuring it. Years of picking up weights from the gym floor has given me a less-than-desirable lower back. Those ten (or so) bulging discs probably haven't helped.
The Head Stuff
For me (and for most of us), my body has always been a reflection of where my head is at. If I'm in shape mentally, I'll be in shape physically. For the last decade or so, I have had certain non-negotiable behaviours and habits in my life that keep me doing what I need to do, to keep creating the results I want to see in my world. Sure I go through peaks and troughs (mentally and emotionally) as we all do, but ever since I had that computer on top of my shoulders re-programmed, the results have been much better!
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