Category: motivation

This has ALL DO WITH FAITH but it works.

We all want to do things, we all want things at times that mean a lot to us, we probably have completely different goals at 16 than we do now at 40, 60 or even 90 years of age. I’m betting ALL of you have very different goals reading this right now.

Some of you were lucky to get exactly what you wanted.

For many of us though, what we really wanted at different ages we often didn’t get, but often got pushed off into another direction that became even more satisfying, even more rewarding and we may even have made a business/long working career/sporting career out of it often against the odds.

BUT the starting point of doing good to great things in our lives started with us initially not knowing how the heck we could ever do that. That part when just hope is supposed to get us to where we are is often called BELIEF, it’s often called FAITH, and often involves things we don’t really want to do to get there.

Sometimes we have to do not what we WANT to do, but what we MUST DO.

I know I didn’t have any money when I first started training people, I went in 4000 pounds of debt after my first meaningful course, I remember withdrawing cash from my VISA card just to live, but from those worrying times, BELIEF carries you through but that belief forced me into ACTION or I would be bankrupt very soon, it definitely focuses the mind!

Whatever you want right now, even if you can’t do it now, I’m asking you to do what you CAN DO, and not always what you want to do.

In the gym, if your knee is bad, I’m asking you to turn up anyway and we will fix it, plus put your upper body through a ton of work to work around it.

I’m asking you to do better with your food, to ditch takeaways in the bin and save yourself some money but save your health so much more, do what you CAN and that includes eat good healthy food to look after yourself and if you have a family, to LEAD BY EXAMPLE.

All of us never get what we want straight away, but doing what we can NOW, will eventually get to us to a position where we can do what we want, lift bigger, walk up tough hills to see great views, feel better inside and out and yes that WILL transform to ALL areas of your life.

Along the way keep the FAITH, BELIEF whatever you want to call it, because ultimately that along with daily action will get you to achieve anything you want.

The biggest rates of growth you ever had was when you were a child.

Studies have shown too in that age group, that games were the area where the child learned the fastest, the child was allowed to think for themselves and figure things out as problems arrived in games against each other.

When you let someone problem solve for themselves, they become more resilient naturally in life, they have to dig deep when the easy way out isn’t there anymore, and that resilience builds when challenges are presented to that child in a game-like setting that is presented as fun.

As adults, and after the age when we stop playing sports, we tend to accept that our “best days” are behind us, and this naturally sends signals to our brain that we don’t enjoy being challenged anymore.

I also see it a ton of times with people still playing sport, and doing a programme on machines/exercises that have no relation to the sport they are playing, it often seems that “getting bigger” is the goal no matter what, often at the expense of movement, speed, and ability to change direction quickly which is actually vital in their sport.

I’m a massive believer that weight training will massively improve your sporting performance and even if you don’t play sports anymore, everyone will benefit from getting stronger.

The problems come when all you do is weight training (often on machines), your flexibility over time reduces and I’ve trained so many sports people who could be late 20’s and can’t even push their hands above their shoulders.

Encouraging more flexibility, better movement, working on tight hips for example which inevitably also cause a weak and bad back, along with a host of other forms of training (as well as training right with weights) will literally transform you and your performance.

Relying on medication to solve your back problems, moving less to save the pain in your knees for example are awful long term strategies that never come close to solving the underlying problems or weakness at the heart of it.

Re-creating those very fast rates of growth mentally and physically is what we are all about with training, making your body move much better, letting you think for yourself at times when you need to figure out the right way when challenges are presented to you, and creating the feeling again you are back in a game, this time you will win every time as long as you keep showing up with a great attitude and do your best.

The hardest task is always walking through the gym door, 

When you let your training slip, you may lose confidence and wonder whether you can still do it anymore, will you be embarrassed at losing some fitness, will you be self-conscious that you are in pain and can’t move so well?

I know that can be a daily battle for many of you.

I know we have a culture of improving everyone who comes in, but by now I will realise who has slipped back, and it’s important to bring you back to full fitness carefully and steadily, and not rush anything.

Most of all, by walking through the door, you WILL gain your confidence back, you WILL re-gain your self esteem, and you WILL feel much better every time you come, and before you know it, the momentum will return again which will make the whole gym experience seem like second nature again.

Everyone has their own ability level at any given time, everyone has a different confidence level at any one time, but the one constant you should know is that we are ALL IN on making you better each and every time you come in.

I would much rather be a maximum help and train people to the best of my ability gym and give it everything, rather than a bunch of rented machines in a warehouse type place who never gives a damn about their members improving.

Trust yourself to do great things, it may be uncomfortable always trying to improve and getting yourself out of pain,  but it’s always going to be the best way to feel much better physically and mentally, and you will always feel better when you can look yourself in the mirror telling yourself “today I did my best”!!!

Most people don’t have a go at things they really want because they are scared to, they live in FEAR of what “might” happen if they fail.

The more times you have a go at things, you will realise you won’t succeed EVERY time, sometimes you will come up short, but as long as you keep learning and try to keep getting better, it really doesn’t matter.

I have tried many things that never worked out, many things that people may have laughed at, some have failed big time, but many things have come off big time too that nobody thought could ever work too..

I am now scared of NOT having a go more than anything, because if we don’t try, then not only will we achieve nothing, but we will never learn either.

The new programme you will notice has many exercises you don’t really know if you can do, and you never think you can do them well-no chance you may have thought.

 BUT the reality is all of you ARE doing them, and after a week, doing them VERY WELL.

I did wonder if I should put some of them in, but the gamble has paid off, as with enough practice, anything is possible and all of you are proving it every morning and every evening and pay off is great from doing such tough and varied exercises!!

Ask yourself do you make decisions on your emotions or on your principles?

If you rely on your emotions every day, you are likely to be making important decisions sometimes on a high, and maybe often on a low, this will naturally lead to your decision making being sometimes good and sometimes not so good or even rash.

When your principles are strong and unshakeable, you tend to make better choices.

You need to drag yourself to the gym no matter what and get a workout in, after all you committed yourself to doing that when you first started, and now after the honeymoon period has ended, you need to double down on your commitments you made to yourself, to make sure you keep changing your health for the better-turning up now becomes a non-negotiable and rock solid principle of yours.

When you first started, you were determined to eat better, shop for better food and only have treats just occasionally, and not every day any more. 

It’s easy to be influenced by some of your friends/work colleagues who have no interest or inclination to eat better or live a life with high energy and great health, but if you slipping and excusing every day treats, then you need to re-commit to eating well which will only re-focus your efforts to live a healthier life by what you put into your mouth every day.

We all slip, we all make excuses, but we all need to be held accountable too, and this is why now is a perfect time to re-commit to doing great things again.