Keri McKibbin Personal Training

A man was walking along the beach and saw another man fishing in the surf with a bait bucket beside him. As he came closer, he saw that the bait bucket had no lid and had live crabs inside.

“Why don’t you cover your bait bucket so the crabs won’t escape?” he asked.

“You don’t understand.”, said the man, “If there is one crab in the bucket it would definitely crawl out very quickly. However, when there are many crabs in the bucket, if one tries to crawl up the side, the others will grab hold of it and pull it back down so that it will share the same fate as the rest of them.”

If the crab persists, they will tear the legs off the crab and if it still persists, the other crabs will kill the crab.

This is very typical with humans and we see this happening around us all the time . If someone tries to do something different, maybe get better exam results or sporting success, improve his or herself, escape from negative people, forge a different path for themselves, or dream big, other people especially those who don’t like others getting on, will try to drag he/she back down to their level of mediocrity in life.

Ignore the crabs and prove them wrong always!

Have a go and do what is right for you. It won’t always be easy, and you may not advance as quickly as you would like, but you will NEVER share the same outcome and miserable life as those who never try.

We have had countless members at the gym with every reason to not even try or have a go, every reason to feel sorry for themselves instead of give a big effort every day, BUT they both chose to “climb the crab bucket” instead of listening to others or letting their challenges.disabilities to stop them from changing their own world and everyone around them in the process..

Don’t wait for the “perfect time or conditions” because they don’t exist, never let people’s words and opinions to stop you from achieving your dreams.

Will you keep climbing out the bucket or stay with the “crabs”?

We continue to raise standards at the gym, this week’s challenge was raised twice in just one week, and it was done quicker too.

These challenges are personal to YOU, some may be better than you, you may be better than many who knows, but if you don’t test yourself, you will never know.

It’s a complement to you when I up the ante in the session it means I can see more in your ability and potential, and the only competition is with yourself.

Tomorrow will be the last day of this one before it’s consigned to the archives, most of you have been through it twice already, but remember there’s always big opportunities for you to test yourself.

Those of you who have just returned after holidays, you will realise how hard it is all over again, so my advice is to build up to your standard before holidays and then continue to thrive with the new challenges.

At the gym and outside the gym, I see two kinds of lives. People who make “easy” choices on lifestyle usually end up having hard lives, and those who make harder choices 80% of the time end up having easy and much more productive lives.

Some people get their breakfast “on the run”, usually hot cooked or sugary rubbish in a convenience store. Before that, they watch the media give the usual run of bad news on TV, setting a bad tone early in the day.

Some people make a much healthier breakfast at home, and bit by bit are able to imagine a more positive future because they are eating better, exercising and seeing energy come back into their lives, and have learned to ignore a lot of what the media/social media spews at us.

Some people eat on the go all day, whatever a convenience store offers/takeout offers/ or cafe offerings full of salt/sugar and fat or all three, a little lift of energy (doesn’t last long) and then a trough of energy (for the most part) and big swings in mood..

Some people prepare good food for their day which limits poor decisions and keeps them full for much of the day, because they know they have to put a workout in later, and don’t want to waste all that good work by eating and drinking rubbish.

When I stand outside the gym, I see many people in the takeaways often in coats during august, ready to go home and eat fast food, feed their minds on the negative rubbish the media throws at us again, and its easy why many people live a life feeling depressed and feel there’s no hope, and so many use food as an emotional crutch for the feelings often of anxiety and desperation.

Add onto this the much increased chances of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease will go way up over time.

Then I look right by the gym, and inside the gym, most people in a t-shirt and on a different purpose in life. They may hate their job even at times but the gym is a great release from all of that and allows them to deal with stress in the best way-no side effects, and become determined to make the most of life. 

Massive efforts are going in and they will always feel much better than when they came in, they will meet like minded people and will always get a pick me up even when they have had horrid days.

Exercising, eating right and trying to ignore the depressing media is often tough but once you get in the habit, then life’s possibilities and wonderment will come thick and fast into your life. 

Some of the world may have lost their minds, but remember you can control what you take in, and once you do that you will be well on your way to not only being fit and healthy, but you will get your mind right too to be able to see life in a completely different way again.