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Saturday, 16th January

Achievements always have much more meaning when they are earned over the longer term, rather than achieved in “five minutes”.

You think about educational qualifications, all of them take time (the real ones anyway). There’s a massive difference between studying a subject in depth over a long period (and continue to commit to ongoing education), rather than completing a weekend course and suddenly you claim you are an “expert” in it. Deep down, the “do it in a weekend” courses will never give you the satisfaction of knowing you have studied your passion for years and years. Plus you are far more likely to last in your chosen field.

Fame is like that now, many people are “famous” for not actually doing anything meaningful. As the great chat show king Michael Parkinson said “if you were famous, the reason was you achieved something memorable and had done something meaningful”! Deep down, the 5 minute “celebrities” know they couldn’t hold a candle to those who have strived to create proud achievements with their lives (and usually not constantly craved attention through a PR agent). This is why they are gone in 5 minutes too.

Physical achievements always take a while to get, because it involves the completion of multiple small goals that compound on one another to achieve one massive improvement, and this will take time no question about it. You can bet your life though that all that blood, sweat and tears will give you infinitely more satisfaction doing it the right, sustainable way for life. One goal leads to another and your journey of self-improvement (both physically AND mentally NEVER ends).

Compare that with yo-yo dieting, taking diet pills, going on yet another faddy diet (social media/newspapers are full of them right now), using gimmicky ways of exercise (often leading to injury or little progress long term), false promises of “this time it’s different” etc etc. Bottom line is you WILL lose weight but ALWAYS put it back on and 5% more (scientific studies back this up) and make your body less receptive to the next “wonder system”.

Doing things the sensible, changing your lifestyle for the long term always works, makes sure you avoid the soul-destroying “crash and burn” way of trying to improve your health, and ultimately gives you far more pride, fulfilment and satisfaction that you are on the right path for a lifetime.

Twitt
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Saturday, 16th January

Many of you through writing down and really thinking deep down about your goals, have come into the new year with renewed enthusiasm and power. This is renewed sense of purpose too, and a sense of exactly what you need to do to take you up to that extra level you have always wanted to get to.

The results after the new year are happening earlier this year, which is very exciting for us as the gym has very real momentum already.

Those of you who haven’t measured this yet should expect very big changes by the end of the month. With a strong sense of purpose, hitting all time highs in performance and good habits with your nutrition, your results are bound to surprise you in a very good way.

Now’s your time to keep your focus, to stay strong, keep filling in your goals/journal to chart your progress, and keep striving for ways to get better each and every week.

We have one more week left of this programme, so aim for a massive week again. Then it all changes again into a brand new programme. Seize the moment and your chance to have your best ever year no matter where you are right now in terms of performance and how much you’ve achieved in the past!!!

Twitt
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Sunday, 3rd January

We have a “20 mile march” attitude to our gym, our training programme, our eating programme and our philosophy in general.

The 20 mile march is simple, it is to get from point A to B in the quickest, safest and most sustainable way possible, addressing challenges along the way, dealing with them and marching on with a well-thought out strategy of being in it for the long term, and always doing the RIGHT thing for our members no matter what.

You get many trying to sprint before they can walk, often blowing up before they get a even a mile down the road. These include those who offer you faddy diets, such as cleanses/detoxes/eliminate food groups/shake and bars types of diets. Whilst you will lose weight, you will always pile it back on and more, leaving frustrated and angry that you fell for products that only “cowboys” sell, that take you to the cleaners and your wallet.

If you really want to go the whole 20 miles, then you need to start off steadily and at a sustainable pace. Making wholesale changes to your diet immediately is too much and you will be likely back to square one relatively soon. Make one change in your diet, sick to it, once that becomes normal for you, then make another change, then try to master that and so on.

Mastering the basics and making them an engrained part of your lifestyle are vital to your success, and you lasting the journey.

Mastering the fundamentals mean you appreciate what works for you, and you will be less tempted to veer off course for all the “cowboys” waiting to steal your money offering their “magic beans” just like Jack and the Beanstock.

So this week, start off as you mean to go on. Making solid food choices, showing up for your workouts, realising the value of sleep, and staying positive knowing that as long as you keep marching forward, you are going to be a REAL success story that will likely be in great health and in shape for a lifetime.

Twitt
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Tuesday, 22nd December

This time of year makes you realise that it’s the ideal time to improve your fitness. Gyms are usually a lot quieter this time of year, and suddenly you have a lot more room and time to “get good’ at those things you may have been putting off for a long time.

This is the time to “experiment” between what makes you feel good and what sucks the energy out of you.

You will soon realise that an exercise session, however short, will automatically bring your energy levels back to life and make you feel alive again.

You must know of many gym-goers who right now are having time off, planning a whole array of over the top meals (pizza and chips etc) on a daily basis, along with setting records for most boxes of chocolates consumed.

This is the time you get to know you body. If you are still exercising on a regular basis, you will notice how eating and drinking badly will affect your performance in the gym.

Eating rubbish “party” food for example, will immediately hit your performance, make you feel nauseous at times in your workout and usually hit your strength workouts too. Eating this kind of food immediately makes you crave good quality “clean” food straight after your workout, which is yet another reason to keep on training.

Nothing wrong with having a blow out over christmas, but turning it into a two week or even one month all out blowout will mean only one thing.

Once you get back to training in january, not only won’t you have any energy, drive or your usual ambition, but your immune system will be down too. You will be susceptible to colds and other illnesses (this is why there are far more adverts by drug companies for their products such as lemsip etc this time of year) which will further detract you from your “recover after christmas” efforts.

If you just stay more active, get more fresh air, and keep a core of healthy foods and snacks amonsgt the unavoidable treats, then you wont go far wrong and stay strong into the new year.

Twitt
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Wednesday, 16th December 2015

It was around 1988 that i had two weeks off training for christmas last. I said to myself “that’s it i’m having a break, no training, and eating and drinking anything i like”. After all, i felt i has “deserved it”!

Here’s what happened on my first session back.

I went on a run with plenty of hills. Approaching my first hill, which normally was not that challenging, i suddenly had a tightness in my chest, could hardly breathe and i was struggling like i have never done before!!! Needless to say, i walked up that hill for the first time ever.

My run didn’t get much better. I ran downhill for a bit, but had to walk ALL of the remaining hills. My chest remained tight the rest of the evening, and i swore there and then would i ever have a break over christmas like that again. My workouts the rest of the week were ALL challenging and unpleasant. That continued to a lesser degree the week after too.

I swore that i would never completely abandon my diet and exercise in future. I swore i would remain as active as possible, even if it wasn’t at the same level as the rest of the year.

As a childhood filled with hospital visits due to my asthma, the thought of not being able to breathe properly again was a scary one and a very bad memory brought alive again.

This is why i strongly encourage all of you to exercise right up to christmas. It’s not just the weight gain thing either, it’s simply to allow yourself to feel that much better, to breathe properly and to simply feel good.

There’s nothing wrong with having treats over christmas, we all do. The problem starts when you abandon all that you have achieved throughout the year, all of the good stuff that has made you feel amazing, and swap it for a lifestyle that will make you wheeze, feel amazingly lethargic, pessimistic, and just downright “not great”!

Simply moving more, getting in any type of exercise on a regular basis, doing things more in moderation will make the difference between an awful, slow, start to the new year and a start fuelled with real momentum that’s likely to give you a massive kickstart much more likely to lead to success.

Twitt