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Saturday, 12th November

Being original and non-conformist at times is often stamped out by a society and big corporates desperate to get you to fit in.

What most don’t realise though is that your originality makes you different, and most likely for you to have a positive impact on the world because you can change things far quicker than just playing along with a system that you know sometimes not to work.

As a gym and as a trainer, playing along with how most gyms teach exercise is something we will never adopt. We could never leave you on a treadmill and let you hope for the best. Most need coaching and guidance every session, no matter if you are a beginner or pro athlete.

We know that the public are individuals, all have different demands, different abilities and all of them need different programmes to reach that long lost potential that was often lost in the long grass since their school days.

Originality and non-conformity is something we encourage in our members too.

If you start an exercise and healthy eating programme maybe for the first time in 20 years, then we understand it’s a big moment in your life and a major upheaval, a major leap of faith full of uncertainty maybe based on several previous unsuccessful attempts.

With proper care and attention, and if you show up regularly, then you are capable of anything you put your mind to, and you can improve at regular intervals, bring fresh self-belief with every positive step you make.

So you probably had a lot of friends encouraging you to start, you have done well, now it’s time to be a non-conformist again.

Once you achieve a certain level of success, not everyone will be happy about it, you may have negative influences in your life telling you “you have done enough, why bother to keep going”. As you know, they don’t get it do they? You are continuing to do this because YOU feel BETTER, being fit and healthy is infectious and you only want to experience more of it.

The non-conformist in you will shrug off negativity and push for more. That person who was “not a fitness person” at the start will suddenly become someone who is positively fit in body and mind, and you will demand more out of yourself than anyone else could expect.
Forging a path of mastery of your own body and developing a positive mindset takes daily action, and you becoming that original person you were as a kid, full of dreams of what you could be without anyone putting you off, if someone doesn’t like it or continuously puts you off or thinks it’s “too ambitious” then tough, it says more about them than you.

Be the original person you were meant to be become, be a non-conformist and don’t accept any system that doesn’t work, never fit in for the sake of it, and see it through until you reach where you want to be. There will be plenty of doubt and indecision along the way, but stay the course long enough and that’s when true opportunity and sustainable achievement comes your way.

Twitt
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Thursday, 9th November

Once we realised the sun did come up again after President Trump’s win, we start to realise that relying on an election result, doesn’t change a whole lot in our immediate lives. Never rely on one person or organisation to tell you what’s possible and what’s not. History backs us up on this time after time.

No government goes out of their way to help us, and we realise the candidates have big flaws just like the rest of us.

The old saying that 90% of what we worry about never happens, and the other 10% we can’t do nothing about anyway, has never been more true.

The UK general election, Brexit, US election, sports protests on human rights in the states (whatever your views) has shown that the public has been in protest mode for some time, and most are not willing to accept what the establishment has dished out for the last 40 years or more.

I hear more and more of people who aren’t willing to accept frozen food in chain restaurants, going to a gym and nobody ever helping you, management in the workplace not appreciating your efforts and opinion, there is strong evidence on more people in Wales launching their own business, some of you launched your own charity out of nothing, helped thousands and counting, because the system wouldn’t help you (Active for Autism-Tom Shaw) etc.

When my father started our gym in 1957, everyone thought he was mad, some doctors for years even claimed weight training was dangerous. Making your own path where nobody has gone before is risky and tests your self-belief to the limit, many will even laugh at you, but your have to follow your heart and passion, and see it through knowing deep down you are doing it for the right reasons, and you are aiming to creating an overwhelmingly positive impact in people’s lives.

Things are changing fast and i commend many of you on your independence of thought and self-belief that you can succeed and never accept the status quo any more. Sometimes, being a non-conformist is amazing because it creates breakthrough change that nobody thought possible apart from YOU.

When you are feeling rebellion, taking control of your health will transform you to a whole new level, help you attain amazing life long dreams in your life, and develop the sustainable energy and drive to create a new history for yourself.

What makes a far impact in our lives is our opportunity to change our own lives for the better, no government can take that away. If you aren’t feeling well physically, and struggling mentally as a result, then starting cautiously on a health and fitness programme will become one of your greatest achievements.

Exercise is like a journey that has ups and downs but the overall destination is incredible and strong foundations will be built, and your wonderful feeling of wellbeing along the way will positively impact all of those around you that are most important.

Twitt
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Wednesday, 9th November

If you think of people who changed the world, you may think of Beethoven, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Google founders, Abraham Lincoln, etc.

They seemed one of a kind individuals, producing breathtaking work that would affect their generation in a mind blowing way.

The truth is that they are more normal like the rest of us than you think.

Beethoven for instance gets 6 pieces music into the top 50 of all time classical music. Mozart gets 5 and Bach gets 2.

To put it into context, Beethoven composed 650 pieces in his career, Mozart around 700 and Bach around a 1000, yet they are all remembered for mostly those few works that they are most famous for.

Do we say that they should have only concentrated on the half dozen that were any good? Do we say the other 643 or so were useless and not worth bothering with? The facts were they never knew which ones would be great as they toiled endlessly over them. It was up to the audience to decide.

Steve Jobs initially was sacked by Apple, had many failures in between until he struck it big second time around with Apple. Bill gates had many ups and downs before proving himself with Microsoft and breaking down doors in software world, Google initially wanted to sell the company for $2 million after some initial success but nobody wanted to buy it.

Abraham Lincoln was one of the biggest down, down, down and then up political stories in history, and the trend goes on.

One thing they had all in common. They all put a lot of work in, got a lot of it out to the public, many of it discarded, but on a couple of things they struck gold. They never gave up.

Research shows us unless you are willing to put the work in continuously, be able to accept some of your efforts may not work every time, then you are highly unlikely to achieve success with anything.

Science helps us train much smarter now and results can be achieved a lot quicker, but unless you have an attitude of getting continuously better, progress will stall and your hunger to get better will disappear.

I notice that through training people for many years, the ones that ALWAYS succeed are the ones who develop a high work ethic. They will be with you for training no matter what, dark cold wet nights, they will be there.

They hate it when they are ill, they can’t wait to get stuck in again and feel amazing because they know it’s all about feeling good.

If you are willing to show up regularly, keep putting the work in whatever field you are in, then great things will eventually happen as long as you learn from your mistakes, continually research that what you are doing has strong foundations, and be willing to work as hard, if not harder than anyone else.

It is said to master something it takes 10,000 hours of intense practice, or 10 years in every day language. Most are not prepared to put that work in, but if you do, incredible things are indeed possible.

Keep putting the work in, you will be judged for your life’s work right at the end, in the meantime enjoy following your passion, keep shipping your work and efforts out to the world, surround yourself with positive people and never let anyone put you off.

Everyone has something in them that makes them original, EVERYONE has that unique talent that sets them apart. Your hard work ethic will soon discover it, use it to help people and change your own world and others for the better.

Twitt
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Sunday, November 6th

7 weeks to Christmas today. The very best present you can give your family and yourself is being fit and healthy to take on anything in life that comes your way. Everyone cares that you are well and live a high quality of life without movement limitations and have an abundance of energy. Never take it for granted.

Chances are that this present is the one EVERYONE cares the most about.

Twitt
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Saturday, November 5th

This question i get asked quite a bit this time of year, and as i get older here’s my answer from experience. “Should i even bother starting exercising before Christmas or wait until the New year?”.

I see people at the gym start with diabetes, and they ALL wish they started well before they actually did. When you suffer from diabetes, the impact from exercise and healthy eating can be dramatic and life changing, so the “let’s wait approach” only holds you back you feeling better and your body responding in a positive way.

There are masses of people every day in severe pain. Living with pain is no joke and exercise has been proven to be strong medicine for those with joint trouble, knee and hip replacements, as well as those after back surgery and severe back problems full stop. Don’t tell those people that an extra two months wait and pain would “benefit” them.

Exercise is one of the most powerful weapons for mental health. The change mentally when you exercise is dramatic and a much better long term strategy for life. Feeling better full stop is a right, and exercise and eating better takes you a long way in the direction you want to go. Waiting another couple of months when you suffer anxiety and depression for example, can prolong the feeling as if you are not getting out of this vicious circle.

Putting on weight and getting more unfit before christmas has almost become a national sport. “I’ll do it in the new year” when you think about it is one of the toughest things you can do. If you are already suffering with your health, struggling to be fit and healthy, then adding even more barriers such as the next few weeks and then starting some “miracle” plan in january is unlikely to work.

“Cowboys” are waiting to fleece you of your hard earned money by offering you some liquid diet that loses weight initially, but piles it back on and more once you start eating properly, causing more long term misery.

Starting slowly and gradually right now will protect you from the shock that a sudden lifestyle “reversal” could bring to your body in january. How many do you know who start some kind of radical diet in january, and give it up a couple of weeks later due it not being sustainable and trying to change too quick?

Don’t forget, as it feels more like winter today, we are more susceptible to colds and flus. Add on to that our human systems become weaker due to us being inactive, and being fed a diet that often contains a deficiency of the nutrients our bodies really need to be healthy.

Life teaches us to make every day count, every day is an opportunity to get better and if your health is not what it should be and holdback you back in life, then you need to say “no more” and actively do something about it right now.

Start with small steps, make your health plan this time a true healthy LIFESTYLE change, and you are capable of getting very positive results this side of christmas, and starting the new year with massive momentum that will make you unstoppable, and most of all FEELING BETTER.

Twitt