behaviour – Page 13 – Never Give Up PT

A Slice Of Life

My initial thoughts on posting about my home made pizza was going to be on how many calories you can save yourself by creating it at home rather than a takeaway pizza. There’s a potential of a 500 calorie reduction by making it yourself. The leading pizza takeaways are around 2000 calories for a 12″ Margherita.

But I thought, nah, if you can eat a whole 12″ pizza like I just have then calorie saving isn’t going to be on the forefront of your mind right now.

So then I thought about the money savings. I made a pizza for less than one pound. To get one the same size and the same toppings delivered to your door is easily close to £15. That is a massive saving. In fact, for the same price, instead of buying in a pizza each week you could subscribe to my online fitness coaching with 24/7 PT support. I’m not hot or spicy but my jokes are always cheesier than a quattro formaggi.

Anyway. I digress.

I want to explain how I feel as I make a chilli con/sin carne, curry, pesto pasta or a pizza. Not only do I know exactly what goes into my dish, which is reassuring in itself, but it makes me feel happy. Sometimes I sing along to the radio. I’ve also been known to dance in the kitchen to my kid’s horror. I’m a cross between Jamie Oliver and Fred Astaire in the kitchen once I get chopping a bit of cucumber.

And it also gives me time to think. I think about my family. I think about what I have to do tomorrow and the week ahead. I think about stuff that I’m unable to think about when I’m busy doing other daily chores. I think about not slipping on the sliced red pepper on the floor as I attempt the moonwalk.

Cooking, for me, gives me some time out. I’m very average at it. I have my set specialities which I listed above and that’s where my culinary skills end. But it doesn’t matter. I enjoy it.

Lots of people that I have worked with regarding their weight control either through not eating enough or eating too much isn’t about them having a lack of knowledge around food. Lots of them can cook better than I. They know roughly the nutritional value of a carrot compared to a chocolate bar. It is their emotional eating habits that have taken over.

Eating isn’t always about when you are hungry. Often the strongest food cravings come at our most vulnerable emotional state. We do it without even thinking about it. Even if we are trying to curb our bingeing urges, there’s alway a McDonald’s advertisement not too far away to keep us on our toes. And that’s where cooking our own food can help.

We need to try to develope a much healthier relationship with our food. No food is ‘bad’. We don’t have to feel guilty all of the time. You don’t blow your fitness goals on a calorific meal and you haven’t got an eating disorder because you miss a meal.

Eating something that you have made can be rewarding, you are able to control your calories (and macro’s) much easier, prepare meals for the week with batch cooking and you get to handle real food. Have fun with it. Try making your favourite dishes. Learn about the qualities of each ingredients. Smile as you do it and, rule number one, move like Jagger.

The Doughnuts.

After working years in social care I knew that I could transfer my skills into fitness coaching. One thing that led me into social care in the first place was the ability to have empathy. From being a kid I was labelled a ‘thinker’ by my teachers. I thought about stuff and, yeah, sometimes this led to anxieties I still have to this day but it also gave me an insight into other people’s thoughts.

The poverty in Africa, the Russia and Ukraine issues, the Afghans climbing onto the wheels of the plane as it set off, Covid, Brexit, the energy crisis, the little girl in Bradford who was murdered by her parents, the young man that I supported who would repeatedly hit his head as he entered another seizure, all seem to occupy my thoughts regularly.

Will they get a meal today? How desperate must one be to cling onto an aeroplane in mid take off? I wonder if that young man is still alive?

I’m not a worrier. There’s a difference between being a worrier and a thinker. I think about small ways in which I can help. I know that I can’t change the world, but maybe I can make someone smile or feel better about themselves. Just like when I was in social care, if I could be a Personal Trainer for free I would be. I genuinely love my job because I see people improving their lives. Even in my days as restaurant manager I had to be front of house to see a customer take their first bite of something delicious and a part of why we wanted an open kitchen is to experience the customer’s enjoyment at being in our restaurant. Getting paid is good. Providing a service that brings a smile to someone is priceless.

I’m having quite a lot of thinking time at the moment. I’m halfway through an isolation period due to testing positive for Covid. And my wife and two children are too. Thinking whether to get changed into regular clothes on a morning. Thinking if the boys should do their spellings today or not. Thinking about keeping my glasses on or putting my contact lenses in. Pretty big deals when you can’t leave the house I’m sure you’d agree!

But there’s another big thought. I was following my training program along with a calorie controlled nutrition plan since the beginning of the year. Where does this put my training regime? I can’t get to the gym and although I have a few bits of equipment at home I have nowhere near the weights that I were reaching in the gym. So I’m fine with waiting a week to resume my training. But what about my diet?

The qualities of empathy and the ability to put myself in somebody else’s shoes means that I would never be an Insta PT. I’d much rather put a picture of me holding up a pint of beer than one of me topless and flexing. I made a good support worker because I felt the pain and the anger of a young man with a brain injury. It could have been me. I make a good PT because I have all the same issues that the gym members do. The Insecurities. Am I too fat or too thin? Does this shirt still fit me? Should I eat this doughnut?

Ah yes. The doughnuts. All 3 of them.

I’ve just had 3 of the sugary balls of loveliness. In real life, I don’t even like sweet stuff. In isolation…get in my belly!

My nutrition plan has taken an unexpected turn. I’m fairly relaxed with my eating aiming at 80% high nutrition with 20% of ‘fun food’. But this week I’m probably at around 60/40. I’m realistic, which is another good PT trait. I know I’ll get back to my usual focused self once I’m set free again.

My message to myself and anyone else who feels like eating three doughnuts if they want to is do it! That doesn’t mean doing it again and again, creating unwanted habits. But if you feel a bit shit, then get it out of your system. We’re not super human. We have feelings. We’re not robots. A big doughnut hug is fine now and again.

Not allowing yourself moments of Time Out will be detrimental to your overall goals. Ok, so my macro’s are pretty crappy this week. So what? It will have absolutely no effects to my overall health, wellbeing, hypertrophy and strength goals in the long term. They were great doughnuts, but my long term goals are too precious to ever want to repeat that any time soon. I train people exercise regime’s, rep ranges and movement, but I also train people how to find their precious goals. For somebody to truly progress in their health and fitness journey, they need to find that precious thing that is far too valuable to give up. And no lockdown, isolation, illness or doughnut will ever ruin it.

Thrust Your Way To Success!

From the conversations that I heard at PT school I knew that the majority of students were expecting to qualify, earn big money, drive flash cars and own big houses. And maybe if you want to apply for coaching jobs at a Premier League football club then you can do. But there’s another way and it would mean selling my soul. I have seen popular PT’s doing it throughout my career and, to be honest, it’s not something I could bring myself to do.

They’ll go easy on their client’s legs and core because, let’s face it, legs DOMS hurt.

During the consultation phase of the trainer/client relationship it often gets brought up by the client that they hate squats and deadlifts citing that it sometimes hurts their back. When I ask them to perform a squat or a deadlift, 9 times out of 10, I can see why it hurts their back. They’re doing it wrong. In fact when I observe most of the members doing a squat or a deadlift it hurts my back just to watch them. And the majority of these members are male.

Rather than address this issue, knowing as a PT that these essential compound movements would massively improve their chances of success (whatever the client’s goals), they avoid them. Sometimes, a PT won’t put their client through something that they are uncomfortable doing because they want to retain the client. Avoid deadlifts, instead let’s pump up the nightclub muscles (biceps) for an hour. Keep the client happy.

I’m all for keeping a client happy. They are happy when they feel themselves getting stronger. They’re happy when they discover new skills. They’re happy when they achieve new PB’s and they’re happy when they see results. Sometimes, it means coming out of their comfort zone. But I won’t blow smoke just so they don’t leave me. My clients WILL have to squat and deadlift.

You’re wanting to lose a few pounds? Ok let’s squat.

You want to lose some belly fat? Ok, let’s squat.

You want to run a marathon? Ok, let’s squat.

You want to exercise to help you through depression? Ok, let’s squat.

Linford Christie had his student sprinters perform squats before their sprints in training. If they could get 13 seconds after doing a 100 squats, imagine what they could achieve at the Olympics. Team GB aren’t too shabby. They’re doing something right.

The issue with squats and deadlifts with men mostly (in my experience) is their inability to activate their gluteals as easily as the women do. Females spend much more time training their glutes in search of a rounded arse. They might give 10 minutes to a cable facepull towards the end of the session but the first hour is often leg dominant. Of course, the men want a broad back and rounded pecs so that’s their dominant area. They’ll sit on the leg extension machine for a few reps so they can say they trained legs.

Ladies love the weighted bridge, AKA the hip thrust. And they’ve every right to. They work. Which is why I will prescribe these for my male trainees. Not only do they help with the everyday functioning of the body, but they give you a good arse. They might not look cool for men to do unless it’s body weight bridges in the stretching area, but as long as we get glute engagement I’m happy. When I go into the free weights section and start laying down, thrusting myself at a barbell the strange looks I get is amusing. But I’d happily enter a ‘best arse’ competition with them. I’d win.

So I’m not the coolest PT. I don’t perform the go to exercises to pump the biceps up for a couple of hours and I wouldn’t do that with my trainees. But I will perform the exercises that keeps me at a healthy weight, that cures my sciatica and makes me stronger. I’ll perform exercises that will enable me to get in and out of a bath unaided when I’m 80.

And not only will I be independent at 80, but I’ll have the best arse at Evergreen Manor Lodge Care Home.

Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

Moving to Scarborough was one of the best things I could have done for my family. We are by the sea and we literally just have to open our bedroom curtains to see it. My boys play football on the beach, go for walks in the beautiful surroundings and attend a good school. We needed to get away from City life.

But the initial move was a very difficult one. As we were selling our house in Leeds and hoping to buy our house in Scarborough my mum died. She had been ill with cancer for a number of years and eventually she lost her fight. She was 62. My dad was an absolute rock for her every step of the way. She was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 43. My age now. They were still young. My mum was still young when she died.

Eating pizza. Not sweating the small stuff.

Within months of my mum dying, we left for Scarborough. My dad had lots of family around him. His brothers and his mum, plus my mum’s family. Had he been alone, our decision to go ahead with a move might have been different.

Scarborough isn’t a million miles away from Leeds. A couple of hours on the A64. But with busy lifestyles and a pandemic to deal with we haven’t seen him loads. Fleeting visits both ways every few month perhaps. So I was delighted when we managed to arrange my dad and my grandma to drive over this weekend. It’s always lovely to see my grandma and, despite the list of aches and pains she will tell us all about, she has a great sense of humour. Well, she laughs at my jokes, so she must have.

My grandma, as usual when we see her, said that she would pay for our meals. It’s what grandparents seem to do. I don’t argue. My mind turns to the menu!

It won’t be a fancy restaurant. We’ll be with an 8 and 5 year old. It would be lost on them. Plus, a decent pub with a play area would be nice so that the adults could catch up. Back to thinking about the menu…

I am currently looking for a caloric deficit in my training schedule. Ideally I will lose 2-3 body fat % in the next two weeks before beginning a strength phase. It’s tight. But I’ve been on track all month. Now, I either restrict myself on the occasion where I see my dad and Grandma for the first time in months by ordering the salad, or I get the double cheese burger, onion rings and fries and break the whole calorie thing into the whatthefuck.

I tell my trainees that you shouldn’t sweat the small stuff. If you leave the track then bloody well enjoy it and get back onto the track with no regrets. Don’t regret a slice of cake, a chippy tea, a packet of crisps or a kebab. Enjoy what you enjoy! I’m going to take my calorie thing into the whatthefuck. I’m focussed enough to enjoy the burger, onion rings and fries, enjoy it, and move on.

And that’s the key. You can still be a focussed, determined individual and still break the rules now and again. I have goals that I’m passionate about. My training regime is tough. I demand a lot of myself. But a part of being human and not an algorithm is that I am a husband, a father, a son. Sometimes, the computer says yes, give me the bloody burger!

So don’t sweat the small stuff. Enjoy food. Enjoy training. Enjoy life. We’re not here forever.

Wise Human?

I’ve been glued to a book recently called Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind. Human nature has always interested me, so to read a book that was as informative as this detailing our ancestor’s habits had me gripped.

One thing that strikes me as I read about our Homo Sapien ancestry is that we haven’t developed quite as much as we think we have. A couple of million years ago we developed new ways to communicate, to travel, to hunt, educate and pray. Much like we are doing now. We still fight diseases and find ways to ‘cure’ our illness from viruses. Our ancestors were doing that back then, though I don’t think that lockdowns or masks were ever a thing.

And one part of our make up that is still very much the same is our need to be physically and mentally active. The only difference is that our ancestors HAD to be physically and mentally active. They had to hunt for food. They had to run from danger. They had to fight to protect tribes and land. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t survive. But they had to do that. Now, today, we have a choice. But the fact is that our human bodies need to do it, whether we choose to do it or not is a different matter.

We thrive both physically and mentally when we are active. And when we train, our best results come from moving in a very similar way to how we would have moved millions of years ago. Lifting, squatting, pushing, pulling, running, walking, swimming, climbing, throwing are all the things that we have been doing for years and years. We have become very good at it. So good that we build arenas so that we could watch others perform them. But it wasn’t just kept to a select few people who we could watch, buildings were created so that we could fill them with equipment and apparatus that everybody could use.

Yet as these buildings were being build for our convenience, another type of convenience was becoming very popular. What started out as hunters or farmers catching or growing food and selling it in their villages has turned into shops, restaurants, supermarkets, fast food chains, takeaway’s and UBER. We literally don’t need to leave our house to find food. Our brain, unless we are in the small percentage of people in poverty in the western world, don’t fear hunger or worry about our next meal. We can click our fingers and it will arrive on our doorstep. Our instinct to grow, fight, hunt and kill our food has been lost. Not such a bad thing, I hear you say. And you’re right to some extent, but in the UK I am sold beef from New Zealand, strawberry’s from Egypt and bacon from Denmark. I don’t want to see cavemen carrying an axe and chasing a boar down my street, but nor do I want my food to travel across the world to reach my plate. At least our ancestors kept it local.

Because of our desires to have our convenience, we become impatient. In the gym there are ladies who want Beyonce’s ass or men wanting Tom Hardy’s pecs with no thought about genetics, a plan or a time scale to when this might actually happen. They just want it now. But UBER might do just about everything for us, they’ll even take us to the gym, but they won’t get us what we want. That takes discipline, dedication and knowledge. I doubt our ancestors could make a spear and throw it 100 yards with perfect precision first time either, but they had to become disciplined, dedicated and knowledgeable or they wouldn’t have survived.

In the UK we have some of the highest numbers of obesity and depression in the western world. Convenience foods, fat burn pills, diet fads and the celebrity culture all contribute to it. We are overwhelmed with it. So as much as we have advanced as people from a million years ago, we still can’t get to grips with who or what we are. We put fire crackers up our arse when our gladiators reach a final. We have operations or do restrictive diets because that’s what a Love Island contestant does. But we are very willing to abuse them on social media if they fuck up. The equivalent of Cesar giving the thumbs down in Ancient Rome. It was a brutal society then, it’s a brutal society now. We call ourselves Homo Sapiens, meaning ‘wise human’. We’ve still got work to do on that one.

So for all of our advances in this world, we need to keep learning and reflecting. As a society absolutely, but also individually. We don’t need to access the negative convenience that we do quite so much. An Anti vaxer/pro vaxer pisses you off on Facebook? Log off. A cold beer in the fridge? Drink a pint of water. And if there’s a takeaway on your route home today, drive straight past, go to the gym and run like a sabre toothed tiger is chasing you.

The Man In The Mirror

Without sounding vain a part of my gym goals is to look good. I don’t particularly want to look good to anybody else except the guy in the mirror who keeps looking at me with an unimpressed look upon his face. I don’t think I’ll ever really please him. Some days he’ll give the thumbs up, but more often than not he’ll tell me that I look like a sack of shit.

I know that I don’t really. I know that if I follow the science, the methods that work and my knowledge on training in health and fitness then I’m doing pretty well. But that fellow in the mirror tries to derail me. He tries to get me to sack off dry January, order another takeaway, abandon any sort of discipline and watch Loose Women instead of going to the gym to train.

Those who see me in the gym don’t realize that I have a very unfriendly face ready to frown at me as I get home to look in the mirror. They see the PT. The go to trainer with a few tips and tricks to show the gym members. The motivator. I’m good at what I do so I can pretty much PT myself. I AM the PT and the motivator to lots of people and I’m all of that to myself too with great success. No matter what HIM in the mirror says. I’ve got him under control. He doesn’t control me anymore.

But for years he did control me. I guess, without ever being diagnosed, you could call it body dismorphia.

I was never bothered about going thin on top as a young man. I couldn’t control that so it just never affected me. I love a shaved head now! Even if I was given hair tomorrow I’d probably go for the exact same style as I have it now. But what has always troubled me is the stuff I can control. If I am in charge of it, then I want to do something about it. I can control my weight and my body composition. Genetic factors play a part in my body composition but on the whole, by far, I get to be in control.

And it’s this fixation on this control that became my saviour. I was in a dark place before I started to dedicate my time to the gym around 22 years ago. Exercise saved me. But this fixation also brought about my buddy in the mirror. He was probably always there, I’d just never noticed. But his nastiness got out of hand when I were in my 20’s. Now he has calmed down a lot. He’s actually much kinder than he used to be. Maybe he listens to my wife like me and knows that what she says goes! And she thinks I’m a catch.

My first words to those who train with me is ‘you’ve got to love yourself first, whatever you want to change, you must realise that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you and there’s nothing wrong with wanting change either.’

This is imperative, I believe, to achieve whatever you want to achieve. You too might have your mirror friend looking down at you occasionally, but YOU are in control and not them. Smile at them. They smile back.

Be. In. Control.

Waiting and Waiting on the Sidelines.

I’ve just managed to persuade my 8 year old to join in his friend’s birthday party after 30 minutes. It’s a football party and he loves football. He doesn’t just live and breath football (as well as Fortnite) but he is actually very good at it. At a trial for Leeds United he just froze. The daunting prospect of exhibiting his skills in front of coaches and the other kids he didn’t know got the better of him. There’ll be other opportunities. Like I say, he’s pretty good.

But since lockdown this confident little boy has gone into his shell. A throat clearing tic started during the third lockdown and got more regular and louder as school approached. School was very good and understanding and, although the nervousness of going to school has stopped, events out of his comfort zone are still there. I’ve just witnessed it. A lot of confidence has come back, but the constant breaks from normality such as the Christmas holidays takes him time to settle again.

I totally get it. People see me as this confident person entering the gym. I wear a PT top with my logo or the gym colours. I know what I’m doing. I love being there and I enjoy meeting my trainees for their next challenge. Most of the time I feel in control. But I sometimes feel like my little boy. I know exactly what he’s thinking as he is waiting on the sidelines. ‘What if they don’t like me?’ ‘What if I do something wrong and I get laughed at?’ ‘What if I’m rubbish today and don’t help my team?’

At 43 with plenty of reflective moments to look back on I know that none of this will happen in the gym or anywhere else that my anxiety tries to hold me back on. I’ve developed a thick skin too so even if it does, fuck it. But my lad is still fighting these anxieties and might do into adulthood, it’s not uncommon.

At his age I got around this by being the Joker. That hasn’t changed actually. Even now an awkward moment can always be fixed with a joke. That’s what I do to this day. I was called disruptive back when I was a kid because trying to make somebody laugh was my weapon. I remember meeting my wife’s dad for the first time I told more jokes that night than a Jimmy Carr gig. Probably just as inappropriate too. He laughed and still does now. So I keep telling them! He likes me!

Getting out of bed and leaving the house might mean putting on your ‘mask’ sometimes. We all do it to an extent. Some masks slip. That’s fine too. I’m envious of those who can firmly fix their mask to their face for the whole day. But as long as you take a deep breath and go again then you’re doing well. I’m proud of my boy for doing what he did today. He didn’t feel comfortable right at that moment to join in, so why should he? He waited until it was right for him.

We’re all learning and developing at any age. And my son has just helped me learn a little bit more.

The January Rush (and why it ends in February)

I’m going through the gym turnstile by the entrance. Through the crowd of sweaty people at the other end of the gym I spot the bench press. It’s free. I know it won’t be for long. There’s only one and it’s very busy. It’ll get snapped up very soon.

I give a smile and a nod to anyone I know and try to casually weave my way through to the bench. Half way there. Still free.

I’m feet away from it, my eyes light up, jacket comes off as I approach the bench like john Travolta swaggering closer to his Olivia Newton John and then…bosh! Some dude claims it. I was inches away but I couldn’t use VAR on this one. He got there a second quicker than me. No arguement from me. I try to hide my disappointment and slide over to the Smith machine without anyone noticing my missed opportunity.

Of course, it’s January. The season of new year’s resolutions, good intentions and packed gyms. I train in a decent kitted out gym for it’s size, but the equipment soon gets taken up and the one and only bench press never stays free for long. I improvise instead. I’ve got too many gym years behind me to let that distract me from my training. And I know, come February, the numbers will drop off and the gym won’t be so busy.

But why is that? Why, without fail, do I know that these members with their new year’s resolutions will not be back around mid February? I have an idea. Maybe more of an educated guess. And if you look at the evidence it actually makes sense.

Back in the 1930’s an endocrinologist called Hans Selye theorised that muscle needed continual stress to adapt. And this stress needed to be of varying intensity and volume. As these theories were tested and repeated with great success, athletes and trainers discovered the art of periodization. It was understood that if we keep doing the same thing without knowing how to adapt or when to do it, we hit a plateau. Results start out great. Muscles grow quickly for a beginner. We develop speed and our fitness improves quickly. Neural adaptations peak at about 4 to 6 weeks of training. The body shuts down. As far as it is concerned it has done it’s job and we aren’t telling it otherwise.

So a new gym goer with no periodized structure starting on the 2nd of January will be thrilled at their progress in the first few weeks, but by mid Feb they are becoming confused and demoralised by their lack of gains. Their body wants to make further changes. It’s very willing. But they don’t train for such changes. They plateau. A plateau for a seasoned gym goer is the challenge that gets them out of bed. A plateau for a new person in the gym can be the sign of their gym membership getting cancelled and me being able to bench press when I want.

I talk lots about mental health and the benefits of exercise, therefore as far as I’m concerned no workout is a bad one. But without the correct knowledge and information, a trainee will miss out on these mental health benefits because they give up. The information is often spurious in gyms and even those trying to find out how to train correctly are misled by poundshop PT.

I’m not proud of this, but I know that I will be proved right about the gym numbers as we get to the end of February. I’d rather the numbers were high all year round, even if I miss out on my bench press. As a PT I need busy gyms. And this year more than ever, our gyms should be busy all year round.

The Ability To Thrive

There is this test done on fleas in regards to their jumping ability. The common known fact is that they can jump thousands of times higher than their own height. That means that they can jump out of a jam jar with ease. But put the lid on the jar and eventually they will stop trying. Over time, they learn to live within their environment. Even with the lid off, they won’t or can’t jump out. They’ve been conditioned.

Imagining my next big jump (without the lid on)

Humans do that too. We put our own jam jar lid on our ability to thrive outside of our environment we become accustomed to. Fleas don’t like it nor dislike it. They, like us, just live with it. We don’t know any different.

But there are those who break the mould. I personally know people who do. I’ve trained them or I’ve lived with them or I’ve being friends with them. They’ve all had one thing in common and that is their refusal to accept somebody (or themselves) to tell them that they can’t do it.

As a kid my limits seemed to be mapped out for me. Coming from a council estate watching my parents struggle through one redundancy to the next and those who I looked up to for support in my education and extra curricular activities telling me that I wouldn’t amount to much, I was the perfect example of a flea in a jam jar with the lid on.

As an adult I haven’t turned into a Premier League footballer, a multi millionaire, a Love Island contestant, a record breaker or a famous singer. That isn’t what being able to thrive is all about and if that’s what we see as being successful then we’re all screwed…with the lid screwed tightly.

No. The ability to thrive is to create an environment, or a mindset, that says ‘I will not be limited by what I have or what I am told I am.’

Seeing as I’m a Personal Trainer I guess people expect me to be talking about how we thrive in the gym. However, we rarely achieve what we want to in the gym if we aren’t thriving outside of it. So my point is about an individual as a whole. I mean where we live, how we live and treat others and the credit that we give to ourselves and our physical and mental health.

People, or society, will try to put us in the jar and turn the lid. Most people will do this without knowing that they are doing it to you. They don’t mean you any harm. My understanding is that they feel the restrictions bestowed upon them, so don’t know any different. They expect nothing of you because their own expectations are limited on themselves. Putting you in a jar and screwing on the lid soothes their own mind. You are restricted in causing a stir to their own lives.

‘I’m leaving the army. I’m quitting building college. I’m dating a girl outside of my race. I’m leaving my well paid job to retrain and run my own business. I’m leaving this city. I’m leaving the country’, are all actual quotes I’ve told people and it was met with shock, mockery, fear, whispering and funny looks. They didn’t like the changes that I was making because it made THEM feel uncomfortable. It burdened their belief in that I was this person who would drift into the jam jar. I’m not. I wouldn’t.

We all drift sometimes. Coasting seems easy. But at times we need to find the gear and get into our lane and overtake those who hold us back. You won’t even need to speed. Take your time. Some people have almost stopped. Overtaking is easy if you check your mirrors and step on the gas a little.

What Does Weight Loss Actually Mean?

I know that when I go back to the gym in January there will be lots of new members wanting PT for weight loss. That is totally normal. Many people set new year’s resolutions and over Christmas can eat and drink a bit more. They want a fresh start to the year. A good PT won’t hear ‘weight loss’ though. They’ll hear the gym member say “I want to feel fitter, stronger and better about myself.”

What does weight loss actually mean? I assume nobody wants to lose muscle, bone, an arm or leg or any vital organ. All of which would produce a loss of weight to your body. So my bet is that they want to lose fat.

I didn’t become a PT to patronise people by replying ‘weigh yourself in the morning, don’t eat or drink, move more, visit the toilet regularly and there you go. Weigh yourself 24 hours after and you will have lost weight.’ Firstly, sudden drops or gains in weight is probably water weight. And secondly, following this advise is not sustainable. But thirdly, you’d be shocked at how many PT’s give this sort of advise. Pound Shop PT, as I call it.

Weighing yourself is one of the many different ways to keep a check on your progress. Measuring waist, arms, thighs are another way. Taking before pictures is a useful method. Calculating your body fat percentage is another and then the old trusty is trying clothes on that didn’t fit you before. Even when more and more people are asking you ‘have you lost weight?’ can give you an indication on your progress. None of them are 100% accurate though.

By all means have a target weight or measure body parts and wait for your friends to pass compliments. They will work to a point. But I’m talking about the real issues of why we need to elicit a change in the first place. People can get loser of the week at weight watchers and still feel like crap. I know, because after months of yo-yo dieting they quit and come to me to fix their approach to their fitness.

The end of a fitness journey should not be to lose weight. The end, if it exists at all, should be to move, walk, run better. It should be to breath easier and smile more. It should be to look at your reflection and say ‘I am proud of myself’. The lift that you just executed. The run you just did. Getting home after a gym session and saying to yourself ‘I smashed it today’. Walking instead of driving. Kicking a football around with your kids or grandkids. Setting new goals that aren’t gym related (you’re already smashing them remember). Walking into a room and being proud of who you are. These are all what we really mean when we say ‘I want to lose weight’.

Weight loss is just what happens when you start believing in the above mantra. Your body will begin to work with, rather than against you. And most importantly it is a sustainable method that will keep you where you want to be for life.