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Friday, 21st October

Bad decisions don’t often come when you are feeling calm and under no pressure at all, they always come when you are under most stress and you have a million things going on simultaneously.

If you have a couple of young kids, you have to work, you have to organise dinner, then eating the “perfect meal” is going to be impossible without any planning ahead and relying on convenience stores for your “on the go food”.

Trying to fit three exercise sessions in a week “if things go perfectly” sets you up to fail, the pressure of everyday life is likely to swamp you and it may be thursday or friday by the time you even get the chance to train.

How do we stay on course, how do we get things done no matter what?

We need to return to the moment of how we initially started our exercise programme. We made time for exercise no matter what. We made sure we first of all shopped for good healthy food first, then it was always in the house so there was no excuses. We need to ACT rather than react to a stressful day and preparation becomes vital.

We all have maps in our mind on how we should act, our own “manuals” on how we should do things yet we get swept away in everything.

Sometimes we need to take a breath, breathe deeply and get the control back or life will sweep us away into doing things.

Sometimes we need to reset ourselves, reset our mindsets to the time when we first started and get that organisation of our lives back. We fixed up 3 times a week training way back then, so why not now, truthfully why?

We always had healthy food in the house when we first started, why not now?

Our circumstances may not have changed dramatically, but sometimes many things we had as a priority (that are hugely beneficial to us) have now gone by the wayside.

This is the perfect time for a RESET and get back to the fundamentals that served us so well to begin with.

Twitt
Posted on

Tuesday, 18th October

Probably the greatest sporting team on the planet, the All Blacks rugby team put culture above everything else. This is shared by the coaches, the kit men, the players and everyone involved with them. Nobody is bigger than the team, and everyone contributes in any way possible.

Four of the greatest All Blacks ever, played against Wales in 2010 in “the house of pain” in Carisbrook when New Zealand won comfortably 42-7.
Straight after the game and a shower, these players when into the changing room and starting picking up a brush and swept up all the mud and rubbish associated with a rugby changing room. Nobody batted an eyelid as this is the way it is.

This showed that the All Blacks culture was all-inclusive, nobody was above even menial tasks, and the message was loud and clear that the All Blacks look after themselves, and that they all support each other no matter what.

A team full of character they say, beats a team with a few individuals with a lot of talent, when it becomes to harnessing the power of a team and raising your culture to the very highest levels.

To show up on time and consistently for training takes character.

To carry on training, eating right and resting enough takes character when the easiest thing to do is to go off track or simply quit.

Character is required to make a transformation in the way you look, feel and and perform.

Character at our gym is vital. Supporting others is expected, treating everyone the same is expected, and taking responsibility for all your actions must be second nature. The standard must remain very high or everyone suffers. Once it becomes clear only the highest of standards are accepted, then it becomes second nature to be your best and try your best at all times.

Individually your character shows your mental strength, how you bounce back from adversity and how you overcome the many challenges that comes your way on a regular basis.

Training hard, constantly improving, eating right, sleeping enough, staying positive throughout, takes a lot of character when your efforts are pulled in many different directions and many people will try to put you off your path to greatness.

Above all, its your character-sticking to your highest standards no matter what, being honest with yourself, being and staying humble, and fighting through the endless inevitable challenges that come along most days, will determine how great your own individual culture becomes.

Twitt
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Monday, 17th October

Our new programme starts later this week, and our crossover from getting as fit and strong as possible, through to our extensive rehab work continues.

Our programmes focus firstly on getting you to move better, more safely and preparing you for everyday life and keeping you injury free.

Since we are all about the individual and that means YOU at the gym, an increasing amount of demands come into the gym, and will form a strong foundation in your programme so we can upgrade them regularly.

If you have a knee injury/replacement, then you have to develop a programme to get you better, and back to full capacity. Recovery shouldn’t be your only ambition, but performing at a much higher level full stop so your knee no longer holds you back in any way.

If you have a severe back issue/had back surgery, then it’s our duty to get you back to full capacity or as near can be. Bad backs have long been held in society as the ultimate “i can’t exercise” excuse, but so many of you have proved that wrong and we are inspired to dig even deeper and see how high your performances can develop.

If you have had a hip replacement, our programme must reflect movements that bring you back to full movement and the ability to lead a full and active life. Some of you are already demonstrating very strongly how you can bounce back from a hip replacement, when once upon a time this was thought of as a life without much movement for many full stop.

This new programme is very dynamic but very sound in principles that will get you moving better than ever before, will demand more out of you than ever before and get you excited by the new wide range of movements you will be suddenly capable of.

Twitt
Posted on

Saturday, 15th October

This is MY journey and nobody else’s

The road to health, fitness and wellness is just that, a journey. The idea that you can change your diet and lifestyle around in six weeks is a idea built in the media’s mind to capture you into the dream.

Of course, real life isn’t anything like the dream and so we must take it one step at a time.

Be patient

There is a tendency to want results to come instantly, especially if you find the diet and exercise hard going and not particularly enjoyable. I often think, there is no destiny to arrive to where body image is concerned. Let go of that young girl running across the beach in a string bikini up her arse lol! Concentrate on your inner feelings instead. The journey is one to happiness and contentment. Are you happy counting the calories and the scales? Are you pinching your skin everyday wondering if you will lose those two stones in the next two days? Take an inventory every day of your feelings.

Every day when you get up, say one positive thing about your body, character or training regime.

A great mantra is, ‘I am getting stronger in my body every day’ Or ‘I am a little bit stronger today than I was yesterday’.

Here is where the real transformation takes place. Being comfortable in your own skin is priceless. Being finally able to trust yourself to see it through and getting out of your own way!

Getting out of your own way

It’s funny how many of us have a set gauge of how well we are mean’t to do in life. I have this all the time. I will do really well for a while and then I get in my own way. ‘Who am I to do this? I think I should go back to the old me now. Then just quit out of the blue.

When you start having these negative feelings, the best way I have found is to try and work straight through them. Once you start honouring these feelings, it’s game over. Train harder and keep telling your little old self, the ego, that tries to pull you down all the time, this is MY mountain and I am going to climb it to the top!!

Have bucketloads of compassion

With yourself that is. With yourself first. Whenever you have a big blow out on the biscuits or crisps, write down all of the reasons why that happened. Are you stressed? Do you need to find a way of processing some old or new emotions? Are you bored? Finding new ways of relaxing and hobbies to keep you busy is crucial in the nights, especially at the beginning of your food journey. Maybe it’s as simple as not having the foods in the house in the first place. If it’s there, you WILL eat it, guaranteed.

Stop caring what others think

This is a real toughie. When friends and family stop or don’t even encourage and support your new lifestyle it’s a real challenge. Most of us want to please and be liked and so it can really derail you.

This of course has more to do with them than you. Often human nature doesn’t like change as it refects things about themselves that they would possible like to change but feel like they can’t. In other words, you changing, makes them feel awkward. We can all relate to that on some level. It’s a good idea to try and get your friends or family on board with you, so you all help and support each other. This way, your social time will end up in the gym or local park, and not in the pubs and cake shops.

Stopping drinking at parties or eating all the cakes during lunch with girlfriends is a real challenge for instance. You may worry that you look boring, some friends may even call you that, and you may even be scared you will lose friends over it.

It all boils down to your commitment and reasons why you are doing it. Having a very strong list of positives of why you are doing it is very beneficial. You have to learn how to stand your ground here. From experience, saying you are not eating crap or drinking alcohol for health reasons, is usually sufficient in stopping the pleas and begging. Also, if your family and friends are really becoming jealous or resentful, try and find some other people who are more supportive of your goals to train with, for instance.

You don’t have to let it get you down, just do make sure you protect your dreams like a little baby. You wouldn’t hand your precious newborn baby to just anyone, and you shouldn’t hand over your dreams of a new life and goals over to just anyone either, for them to comment and make judgements over. It takes a lot of energy and commitment to make even small changes for a new life, career or new body. Be kind to yourself and just take small steps in the right direction every day, even if it means drinking that water!!

Have a nice weekend,

Nicola.

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 12th October

Putting short term discomfort before long term pleasure, satisfaction and fulfilment is essential to make your results long lasting and more real. That’s not pleasant reading for most, but it’s true if you want real results, and you want to create strong foundations with your health.

Fitting in your first week of exercise is relatively easy, classed as a “honeymoon period” and you are seemingly on your way.

Then the next week becomes more difficult, things “crop up” and it sometimes becomes easier not to make it. Your dreams seem to be disappearing before you even started properly.

You need to immediately create another schedule so your training fits in with your life. If you don’t do this, then “life” will always overtake your training and you will never get your 3 make a difference sessions a week in. This may be uncomfortable and tough to do, but you being fitter and healthier means ultimately you will be able to contribute far more to those immediately around you in all areas of your and their lives.

Same with your food, making those short term pleasure decisions of consuming too much sugary foods and drinks will destroy all the hard work you do in the gym.

Make sure you go to the supermarket with a pre written list full of healthy choices. If you go in with an open mind, then its very likely that anything will go into that trolley. You have to be disciplined with what you put into your shopping trolley because once it ends up in the house, it’s 100% certain you and your family will eat it at some stage.

To get where you want to do, the discipline is eating healthy and making your sessions is of paramount importance. It’s not always easy, especially to start with, but the long term value of doing this is a massive investment in your health and will pay big dividends for years to come.

Twitt