Category: motivation

Most people when you talk to them will be enthusiastic, if a little vague at times about their exercise programme, and their eating programme. As you know, the goal that really works for you should be regular, consistent training. The same should be true about eating, with good nutritious food forming the core of your eating programme, with occasional treats thrown in now and again.

Many people will tell you they “belong” to a certain gym, and when asked when they go, they will often reply that although they haven’t been for a few weeks or months, they are determined to get right back into it, AS SOON as they get new trainers, or they finish work earlier, or their “training partner” starts back again, i’m sure many of you can add many more excuses to that list!

With their eating plans, many people will tell you that their new eating plan starts “next monday”! Or maybe after christmas, or after their works party or when they get “motivated”, again there are many excuses involved in these answers of course.

Choosing to get back into a healthy lifestyle “someday” is not really good enough if you want some decent results, there’s an old saying that “the road called someday leads to a town called nowhere”! Surely now is the time for all of us to be honest and admit how much we have slipped or congratulate ourselves that we actually ARE doing fantastic!

Back to the title of this thread, being regular and really consistent with your training really is key. If you miss the odd week here and there, it can really de-rail your progress, if you miss the odd month, then you really need to re-evaluate if you want to be fit and healthy or not!

Most experts will tell you that if you miss a week, then it takes 1-2 weeks to get back to normal, if you miss a month of training, then it will take 1-2 months to get back to normal and so on. Unless you are ill, you really have no excuse not to keep the promises you made to yourself when you first started!

Having a “haphazard” or irregular training schedule means you have given in and resorted to making excuses for a living, and you need to dig deep and get back on course. Human beings don’t do well when they have no direction or goals in life, every one of us needs something to go for in life, the difference between being successful in that pursuit and  not being successful is simply DOING IT and TAKING PART.

There’s often no magic formula, you have all the information on what you need to do, and if you don’t, let me know. Don’t make it complicated, get a decent set of trainers, eat some fresh healthy food when possible, get some good sleep and just PARTICIPATE!

Let me know how you all get on, because you all have it in you to do well!

Keri

“There’s absolutely no limit on how much your mind and body can truly change for life”.

Most people i train will show some signs of progress at regular intervals, and i try to show that by measuring. It could be that an individual has high blood pressure and it steadily comes down until it is in a healthy range again. It could someone has discovered that running isn’t really “impossible” and runnng a couple of times per week is actually achievable. What about all of you cleaning up your diet? Wasn’t it hard first of all not to add salt to your food, then cook without salt and not eat food that contain foods that contain high amounts of salt?

These are all gradual processes that show signs of improvement that are likely to last for the long term. Once the individual has made such changes, they will soon become second nature. Human nature will then dictate that most people want to get even better, so that runner who runs twice a week may be interested in running a 5k or even a 10k! I’ve seen individuals go from that up to a marathon, which would have seen unimaginable only months before!

You don’t have to set specific goals that everyone likes, make sure you set the goals that are important to you. If it really bothers you that you can’t wear a pair of shorts in the summer, train your legs that much more over the winter, this is when the hard work is done and when you need to knuckle down. If you carry too much weight around your stomach, chances are you’re eating too much, drinking too much, not exercising too much or all three. Learning to eat less will take a week or so, and somewhat uncomfortable at the time, but will lead to a tighter stomach area and it will have been worth it.

Eating less or slightly smaller portions should i say,can sometimes make the difference between looking “okay” and looking “special”. When you play most sports, its usually down to that game on a saturday for 90 minutes and a couple of training sessions. When you’re trying to get your body to be at it’s very best, in terms of the way it looks and feels, it’s a 7 day a week thing and very much “living the lifestyle” being the most important factor. When you live the healthy way of life, you get the full benefits in looking amazing, feeling great and people complimenting you.

There are no shortcuts, and the way you actually feed and hydrate your body will eventually show, as well as how much exercise you put in. What you put in, you get out so be sure to put the efforts in even when you don’t feel like it on a cold, dark winter night! Sometimes, this is the most important time to fit in that extra workout.

Look for progress throughout the year, don’t put workouts off and look to do a little more each week, the benefits from doing it can be pretty amazing!

Keri