Sunday, September 13, 2015

It is hard, stop looking for the easy way out

The fitness industry is such a funny industry sometimes. You want to get the right information to achieve the goals you want to achieve and when you go in search of that information you are inundated with conflicting arguments that leave you confused and thinking:-

"I just want to lose this fat around my belly, it shouldn't be this hard!"


Unfortunately it IS hard. It is a challenge. You will have to work hard, make sacrifices and most of all you will not always like having to do what needs to be done. This is just the fact of the matter, if you have gotten fat, unfit, weak and any other lifestyle induced ailment then you have to realise that he journey forward is going to make you uncomforatble at times, especially at the start.

All the promises of "This is the best workout" or "Take this supplement to drop the fat" that you see pn TV or in magazines are only there to profit the advertiser and when it comes to looking at what the studies say there is very little really offered by any of these things (If the companies have even bothered to get their stuff tested)



When you walk in to the gym you only need a few things to achieve your goal and this is the order of importance:-

  1. Realisation that things NEED to change
  2. Motivation to get started
  3. Understanding that the first few weeks will be tough no matter how easy you start
  4. Someone who has done it before to set it up for you
  5. Realistic expectations of what you will achieve
I know none of this tells you what to eat, drink or do. Why? Because in all honesty everything can and will work "for about 6 weeks" according to legendary Strength and conditioning Coach Dan John. So when you are starting out you just need to keep it really simple, do the basic movements, move as often as you can fit into your schedule and work on cleaning out the processed crap from your diet and pantry.


It is after this initial phase of everything being simple and seeing progress that you need to assess what is going to keep you moving forwards? Some of you will gravitate towards weights, some to cardio based training and some will find sports, Groups or other activities that you have found motivate you most. Again it doesn't matter WHAT you choose as long as at this point you realise that from this point forward you need to be focused on making progress more and more because it is easier and easier to do the things you like and find easy rather than the things that are getting you closer to your goals.

So here we must focus on the things we struggle with to make us better at the things we anjoy most. Me, i love weight training, so i keep a hefty chunk of my training time focused around this activity. I realise though that heart health is important, as is the ability to move easily for long periods of time, so i still do enough cardiovascular training to keep this area improving (it will never be the biggest focus for me) I also understand that lifting heavy and often can stiffen you up and this is why i have a mobility and flexibility routine that i do religiously.

If you want to make unbelievable changes, achieve that satus that your previously considered superhuman then you have to realise, first that it is possible and secondly you have to work for it. It is not a 6 week challenge, or some get ready for summer diet, it is a journey that takes the rest of your life, something you build upon everyday and something you nurture, love and cherish.



You can achieve greatness, go out and do it, then again tomorrow and the next day. This is your health, your quality of life, make it as awesome as possible.