Lightbulb moment
17 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Exercise and Fitness, My Training Updates Tags: fitness, gym, Health, Personal trainer, Personal Training
Had a bit of a lightbulb moment last night, a revelation!
Have been having a bit of a struggle getting back on track with training, the gym etc and I suddenly realised why! I think the whole fitness, personal training thing is a bit like falling in love….
….at the beginning you are full of expectation, hope, excitement, passion. Everything is fun, you cant wait to get to the gym or see your trainer again, you are seeing results, it’s all new. Then as time goes on the results slow down, the exercise gets easier and then harder, you fall out with your trainer or you just get comfortable with each other and there you go its 18 months down the line and you are deciding “is this what I really want” or “where do you think this is going”!
Like I said just like falling in love and don’t they say that 18 months is usually the end of the honeymoon period?! So that’s it I guess, the honeymoon is over and its time to knuckle down to real life or get a divorce!! That explains why it all feels like wading through treacle, why KP irritates me so much sometimes (sorry hun I’m just not in love with you anymore!!!!), why I keep noticing all the things at the gym I would change – its like my rose-coloured glasses just fell off!
So, time to get on with real life where health and fitness is a long-lasting and fulfilling part of my life but in a different way to the last year or so; something that fulfils my goals, needs, expectations without compromising all the things that have made the last 15 months or so special.
When one size doesn’t fit all!
11 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Blogs from other people, Exercise and Fitness Tags: diet, fitness, Health, Metabolic Effect, Personal trainer, Personal Training, weight loss
Over the last few months I have been reading voraciously (I love that word!) about diet, health and fitness and have begun to develop my own really strong opinions about the advice given to the general public, about what makes a good, healthy diet and about the shocking state of the foods we routinely feed our families, old and young.
Working with clients has made me think again about the advice I give out to people and how my own view on what is healthy colours what I tell clients, so it was interesting to read this article Why One-Size-Fits-All Diets Do Not Work » Metabolic Effect Blog. The whole concept of ”one size fits all” is something I feel really strongly about especially in relation to health and fitness; one size fits all diet plans, one size fits all exercise plans or one size fits all resistance machines – they all assume everyone has the same range of movement, is the same size, has the same needs and the same goals and we all know that that simply isn’t true.
I have felt for some time now that part of the reason people get so disheartened when they diet or decide to change their life is that their decision is usually based on something they read or something a friend or family member told them; they decide to try whatever plan is the next craze and then wonder why it didn’t work for them. One size really doesn’t fit all and for me, that goes for Personal Training too.
Not all clients are the same, not all bodies react the same way so why do so many trainers persist in dishing out the same fitness plans, the same diet plans and even, worst of all, the same exercises to all clients? There has to be a better way to help our clients get fit, be healthy, eat well, lose weight and any of the million other goals they all have - I read something earlier today about PTs thinking outside the box and I think now I have a little clear space in my life I need to work on what type of trainer I really want to be. Do I want to be the same as every other PT, getting as many one on one clients a day as I can, taking the money, delivering an ok-ish service or do I want to offer more? Better service, more bespoke, more results driven?
I think the answer is pretty obvious – how to do all of that is the tricky part!
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Changes and Challenges!
05 Apr 2012 2 Comments
in Motivation and Positivity, My Training Updates Tags: Business, NLP, Personal trainer, Tagline
Conscious that I haven’t posted for a couple of days, as I suspected would happen this month, life has just crept up on me and stolen
huge chunks of my time and energy!
However, the sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed that my tag line has changed…..
When I started my blog this was very much going to be a tale of my studying for my PT qualifications, learning more about NLP and my quest to get shredded by the end on 2012 and here we are 12-odd weeks later and everything has changed. My earlier battles in the year to get my BFP into an acceptable figure and my worries over my ongoing plateau has dominated my approach to training and food and the plan to really get shredded has been placed on the back burner.
To be honest I have reassessed everything I was thinking when I made my plans and it all seems so small now, I was joking with someone today that my plans are more about world domination than small scale thinking! Life is amazing and I love the direction everything is going, my training gets harder and more challenging each week and I love that; studying is going so well I am actually scared to believe it; I love seeing my clients and my plans for the future are taking shape every day. I just want to learn as much as I can and to get out there and do EVERYTHING. Life truly is to infinity and beyond!
To be honest things are so great that even the things that bothered me a few weeks ago don’t seem so bad now - OK I am still a bit unhappy at my BFP but when I put on a pair of jeans that didn’t fit and now do it makes me smile, when I try on a new top in the shop and it hangs off me even though its the size I last bought I know that the scales really don’t matter. My body is continuing to change and adapt and is getting stronger every day (or it will when I give a chance to rest a bit) – I never ever thought that I would enjoy seeing me with any kind of muscle but I love seeing the shape of body change so much and I love knowing that its MY hard work that has done that. To be really honest I am very proud of myself and I know I have achieved far more than I ever thought possible.
So, my message to myself a few months ago would be; think big, have huge great big dreams and plans, find your motivation and go for it, you can achieve anything you want if you just set your mind to it! Embrace every challenge and learn from each setback, be open-minded, inquisitive, creative, find new ways of doing everyday tasks, challenge your mind and challenge your body. Enjoy life and live every second as fully as you can.
Have a fantastic weekend.
X
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Biggest Loser
23 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Diet and Nutrition, Exercise and Fitness Tags: Biggest Loser, Biggest Loser UK, Charlotte Ord, Kettlebell, Personal trainer
I have to declare from the outset that this is one of my most disliked shows on TV (yes I have watched half an episode of the USA version but had to turn it off in disgust after that) but I am very aware that opinions are completely polarised – you either love everything about it or, like me, dislike it intensely and all it stands for.
So, given my hostility I was very surprised when doing some research to come across Charlotte Ord as one the trainers on the UK version (which I must hasten to add I have NEVER watched, the combination of the premise behind the show and Davina McColl presenting are just too much for my taste!). Charlotte was one of the first female fitness presenters on TV that I watched especially as the programmes she presented were based around the stuff I was doing in the early days including TRX, Kettlebell and another couple about rest and recovery using foam rollers. I admired her training style and it was so useful to see normal people doing the Kettlebell exercises that I couldn’t get my head round. It inspired me and helped with tweaks to my technique, making it all that little bit easier.
Judging by some of the comments on her blog other people were surprised too that she agreed to train on the show; I can see what the show gets out of it, after all she was Personal Trainer of the Year 2010, and her style is very different to Jillian Michaels but apart from the exposure does the association with things like this damage a trainers brand or? Or, at the end of the day does that really matter as long as more people know about fitness, training and what you can offer?
Looking at her posts recently she does seem to be aware of how the show is portrayed and there is definitely a hint of disappointment that the hard work, training, stretching and rolling don’t make the final edit – all of which go to perpetuate the myth that weight loss is easy and all that matters is pounds lost. There is just so much more to it than that and it would have been good to have a trainer like Charlotte lead from the front and try to change some of the appalling myths that hamper people from healthier lifestyle changes.
This really isn’t meant to be a criticism of Charlotte Ord who I actually think is really good but rather my dislike of such an exploitative show and my disappointment, I guess, that someone I kind of admire is associated with something I dislike so intensely.
By way of a bit of balance, check our her blog above there are some really interesting articles on fitness trends for 2012 as well as bodyweight exercises at home.
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Don’t be average!
16 Feb 2012 2 Comments
in Motivation and Positivity Tags: Charles Poliquin, fitness, NLP, Personal trainer, Personal Training, personaltrainer, weight loss
Well I have been blogging for what seems like ages but in reality is only a few weeks but it is only now that I am beginning to think about what I want my blog to say about me.
When I started this, my intention was to document the good and the bad as part of my health and fitness journey, to include the challenges which trip me up (such as my wobble over the BFP) as well as the good days (like Wednesday) as well as to include some bits and pieces from respected contributors found as part of my on-going education (such as the stuff from Charles Poliquin). It is only now that I have stated to think I should be using my newly acquired skills to motivate, inform, educate and inspire – despite the pretentiousness of that statement it really is something I WANT to do.
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What makes a good Personal Trainer?
30 Jan 2012 3 Comments
in My Training Updates Tags: exercise, fitness, Health, Personal trainer, Personal Training, personaltrainer, weight loss
I have been toying with the idea of this blog for a couple of weeks now
and I think I am finally ready to commit something to print!
It seems to me – and I am speaking at the moment purely as a client – a personal trainer has to be so many things to so many people. We go to the gym on the first day all scared and intimidated, generally overweight and unfit and hope to find a trainer who wont laugh, judge and who will give us the tools and above all, the motivation to get going and to carry on going.
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Life is pretty good right now – Zen level 5!
22 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in My Training Updates Tags: beach body, Bodypump, Business plan, goals, metabolic training, Personal trainer, REPS, shredded, training, Zen
Its been a phenomenal “ isn’t life great” week and I cannot believe that this is the same person that a week ago was in the depths of despair. I am so glad, however, that last week happened; it really was a wonderful, positive, enriching experience and something I am so glad I went through.
I think I had reached a plateau both in terms of my weight loss but also in terms of my focus, I was in a bit of a rut and although I was still training hard and enjoying every minute of it, I lacked commitment. This week has made me question what was really going on, allowed me the space to verbalise all the stuff in my head and made me challenge the assumptions that were leading me down the wrong paths.
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A tough day…!
21 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in My Training Updates Tags: metabolic training, Overhead press, Personal trainer, Upright row, women's weight training
Today has been a tough day; good, productive, hard work etc. but boy am I tired tonight!
Saturday is my double session – one hour of weights on my own with the killer shoulder set AGAIN followed by an hour with Kieran doing metabolic training. Had to go into town afterwards but by the time I was finished and back home again I was so exhausted I had to go to bed (brownie points for afternoon nap?!).
Its really odd, there is a part of me that is so tired that it just all feels too much but there is another much stronger feeling that goes “yay I did it, woo hoo!” I do love my new programme; back to back exercises done very slowly and deeply;
- 40kg barbell squats followed by lat pull-downs with underhand grip
- 12kg weighted lunges followed by 10kg chest press
- 30kg Bulgarian split squats followed by 8kg standing shoulder press
- 12.5kg upright row with barbell then shoulder press followed by overhead squats
All done for 10 reps and 5 sets – its definitely tough and by the end of it my shoulders were burning but secretly I love it!
It would have been good if that had been the end of it but to follow it up with metabolic training, I must be mad! What was I thinking!
New start, new programme
18 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in My Training Updates Tags: body fat percentage, Bodypump, diet, Gluten, Gluten-free diet, metabolic training, Personal trainer, weight loss
First day of back on track and boy does it feels good!
Level 3 training course all booked and paid for, REPS accreditation sorted so that’s training in the bag. Today is the first PT session after last weeks wobble and Kieran had drafted out a new programme designed (fingers crossed!) to drop the last bit of weight and, more importantly, get my BFP down to a level that we would both be happy with!
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Why women are better!
15 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Blogs from other people, Information Tags: deadlifts, jonathan goodman, Personal trainer, squats, women's fitness, women's weight training
I always knew we women were better….
Check out this article:
http://www.negharfonooni.com/2011/12/guest-post-jonathan-goodman.html
It would be interesting to know what other trainers think – especially my own!
