empowering – Page 11 – Never Give Up PT

A Day In The Garden… That’s NEAT!

With my work done for the day (it’s never done, but) I sat down to eat my lunch and decide on what I should do with my afternoon. And with our house about to be put up for sale, I decided that doing something that would give the house a fresher feel would be a good start. Certainly a better start than watching Steph’s Packed Lunch all afternoon!

Hmm. But where to begin? I had a timing issue here. I had to begin something that I could finish before I picked the kids up from school, so painting their rooms, a job that will need doing, wasn’t going to happen today.

So as I placed my empty dish in the kitchen sink and looked out of the window, my answer was right there in the garden.

I’m no green fingered gardener. My wife is responsible for the pretty things that grow out there. But I’m pretty good at ripping things up and tearing things down. And at the side of the garage was a huge big tree like climber that I had been meaning to wrestle for some time. In fact I trimmed it down a year ago after the neighbours complained that it had started to grow inside their part of the garage.

I must admit, any day that I miss training at the gym I feel guilty. I can reason with myself, however, when I consider my NEAT activities. I have explained NEAT previously in my articles, but a brief summary of this is the Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Any movement that you do outside of your usual training schedule is classed as NEAT. This can be from breathing, walking and, well, ripping down trees.

I’m confident that I remain quite active even away from the gym. Barring a couple of hours on an evening watching a football game or a movie then I am rarely sedentary. Therefore, my NEAT is alright.

And it’s amazing how tough a day in the garden can be! When my wife and I begin to plant seeds for vegetables or create new wildlife areas during spring time I have muscle soreness that most gym exercises don’t produce. This makes it just as good a calorie burner as a steady paced treadmill run for an hour.

So the bottom line here is don’t despair if you haven’t made the gym today. There’s lots of stuff you can do to keep you going.

Luvly Jubbly

Those days of running for the bus through Durham City center with a suitcase full of shortbread biscuits still makes me smile.

Lou and I didn’t drive at the time and we were desperate to sell our handmade biscuits at the market a few miles outside of the village we lived in. It reminds me of Del Boy and Rodney running from the old Bill, except what we were selling were pukka!

It wasn’t for the money. Had it been for financial gain then biscuits wouldn’t have been our first thought to make and sell. After the labour and baking costs, the ingredients, the bags and labels, the mark up on a bag of biscuits were pretty crumby, but we wanted to prove that we could sell them. The locals and tourists loved them. We even had VIP treatment at museums such as Beamish as they wanted us to supply them with our little sweet biscuity treats.

The Biscuit Tree was born.

But we also knew that it couldn’t last. We had to make enough money to pay the bills. We had day jobs, sure, but the time that went into making literally hundreds of bags of biscuits each week became difficult to juggle. After a couple of years of standing in all kinds of weather, we hung up our kitchen aprons. We have never been sentimental about a business venture. We moved on.

I’m not a natural salesperson. I sell stuff that sells itself really. It’s not difficult to sell something that has lots of butter and sugar in it. Personal Training is trickier, but I am everything that most gym goers are. Insecure about their body, looking for an endorphin fix and have niggling injuries. I am my own client. Add a bit of knowledge on how to solve these issues and you have a decent PT business.

As a teenager I also sold gym memberships and, although this was doorstep cold calling, they weren’t difficult to sell with the price cuts this particular gym were offering. I also sold mobile phones when just about everyone in the world wanted a Nokia 3310. It wasn’t difficult.

But at our children’s school Christmas fair my biggest challenge was to come. We had a stall selling crystals, gems and healing pendulums and jewelry.

Science can be useful when selling something. I can give tangible evidence as to why going to a gym can be helpful or why mobile phones are useful. But science tends to stutter at healing crystals. However, using my own experience can be something that I can draw upon.

I would never, ever sell anything that I don’t believe in. I want to be able to sleep at night. So when my wife asked me to join her in the stall I had no issues in doing it, but I did need to understand WHY people invest in crystals. Therefore I had to ask myself why I use them, despite a lack of scientific evidence of their powers.

First of all I need to break it down to the basics. We don’t NEED a gym membership to be fitter. We don’t NEED a mobile phone to communicate. We don’t NEED biscuits to be happy. We don’t NEED crystals to heal or give positive vibes. But the latter is the only one that can be traced back to ancient Egypt, India, Rome and Greece and it will continue long after the rest too.

As I stood on the stall last night, a lady approached and looked very interested in the different crystals on display.

“I’m always drawn to crystals,” she said, “but I don’t know what to do with them.”

With no prior experience in selling crystals, I had to go with my gut.

“Pick one up and hold it. Tell me how it makes you feel.” I replied.

She picked up a beautiful rose quartz, known for its qualities in emotional health. She held it tightly and started to smile.

“It feels comforting.” She said.

“Then that’s what you do with a crystal.”

Sold. In fact she bought 5 in total.

During the evening, children and their parents spent a lot of time at our stall and many crystals went to good homes. It was satisfying to do. Much more so than selling phones.

The important thing here is that, even without scientific confirmation, you can still lead with your heart. And it is only recently I realized that. I don’t pray for that exact reason. I don’t know who I am praying to. That doesn’t mean that others can’t pray.

Yet I do feel a power or an aura when I meditate with crystals. It feels right to me. It is empowering.

Just like shortbread biscuits, they can make me feel a bit better.

Random Acts Of Kindness

Even if Dick Dastardly were to be walking up the meat isle in Sainsbury’s and was asked by an elderly person to reach onto the top shelf for a pack of chicken liver for her he would have done it. It wasn’t a huge thing that I did for another person this morning, but I was there to help so I did. It made the lady smile and it made me smile. It gives me a fuzzy warm feeling inside to help someone.

Also this morning, I decided to declutter the side shelf that had managed to breed piles of paper and it was about time that I went through it all. It had been a while. Amongst the papers included was an unopened letter from my opticians from 2021 and a Christmas card sent to the previous owner of our house. I walk past this pile several times a day and just haven’t done anything about it in such a long time. Maybe it’s been so long I’ve just become blind to it. I should’ve gone to Specsavers.

Also nestled in this pile of papers was an A4 sized written message from our eldest son, Jonas. Now, talking of making people smile, he managed to do this for my wife and I with his lovely words of love and kindness. It read…

” Whoever gets this I just want you to know I love you, from Jonas.”

We don’t know when it was written, but it had obviously just got sucked into this pile of papers at some point. But this random act of kindness that can be read by me, his mum or his little brother was a very thoughtful thing to do.

And what a wonderful world we could live in if messages of love, acts of support or a simple smile at random people were commonplace. I do fear, however, that we haven’t got enough of it in our lives.

My wife and I have had a rare opportunity to be at home together whilst the kids are at school and sort stuff out such as piles of paper and food shopping. But another practice that we like to undertake from time to time is to cleanse the rooms in the house. We do this by using a singing bowl and palo santo. Burning palo santo wood in your home is called smudging and, with positive intentions provided by your thoughts or affirmations, will cleanse your home of negativity and allow the positive energy to enter.

I’m very much a science based person. I like to see the evidence of something before I can ‘believe’ in it. Yet I seem to be drawn to this 15th century South America tradition. And although I am not religious in any way, I do find many spiritual traditions helpful. Maybe sometimes we don’t need experiments, statistics or numbers to tell us if something works. We just need to feel it. And I do feel the power of palo santo and a singing bowl when it comes to cleansing my surroundings.

I’m trying to be less angry. I’m tired of being annoyed at other pedestrians and road users. I want to be more patient towards people. I’m desperate to hang around supermarket isles just so I can grab another item that had been out of the reach of a shorter person. I want to do random acts of kindness.

But I’m unable to do that if my home isn’t giving me positive vibes. And it isn’t about the annoying pile of papers that need to be sorted out. It’s about finding my home to be a happy place to be. It is where I raise my children, prepare my work and create aspirations with my wife. A home needs positivity.

So maybe we all need to take a look at how the Incas and an 8 year old can create a happier environment in our own homes. Think positively, speak positively, cleanse positively and write positively.

Tis The Season To Start Now!

I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but the TV adverts are all of a sudden looking a lot more Christmassy this week. It seems like one minute I was collecting sweets with my two little devils and then the next minute I’m buying my box of Bounty-less Celebrations ready to open on Christmas day!

Oh how holiday consumerism flies.

And for 54% of the UK at least, what will be around the corner not long after a repeat of Morecambe and Wise will be the new years resolutions. A quarter of those resolutions will be health based, but only 9% of new years resolutioners will continue into the new year with their goals and actually achieve what they set out to do.

My theory is that when January arrives there has been very little planning involved in starting a fitness goal, if any at all. I can’t imagine many programs or meal menus being created over an episode of Jools Holland’s Hootenanny. In fact, due to the upheaval of the previous two weeks before January starts, it is probably the hardest month to commit to in regards to health and fitness.

So what is the best time?

Now is the short and easy answer. Today you can get a gym membership. Today you can write down a few healthy nutritious meals ideas and buy the ingredients for them. Today you can read an article like this and think ‘What am I waiting for?!’

What are you waiting for? My guess is that you don’t see any point in starting now seeing as silly season is just around the corner. But if we do the math then you might feel differently.

There are 57 days until New Year’s Day. So even if you take two weeks off of training over the festive period that’s 43 days left to train.

But you don’t need to train every day. Let’s be sensible and meet around half way. If you trained 3 days a week at an hour each time from now until a Christmas break, that is 18 hours.

One hour of light training can burn 200 calories per hour. Times that by 18 and you have burnt 3600 calories before the Christmas break.

One hour of vigorous training can burn 600 calories per hour. Times that by 18 and you have burnt 10,800 calories before the Christmas break.

These estimates are without the additional ‘after burn’ effect that you get, especially through resistance training, where your body will still be burning calories during the recovery phase.

Not only do the numbers look impressive, but the whole package does.

* You have already built up momentum before January arrives

* Beginning different eating habits straight after such an indulgent period as Christmas is extremely tough

* If you wanted to hire a PT, this time of year is good and you might be able to strike a deal. January can be a bit pricier during their busier months such as January.

So if you’re looking to get started on a health and fitness journey and you find yourself saying “I’ll wait until January”, think again. The sleigh is waiting for you now. Your journey can begin today.

Meditation Script For Children

Our two boys, aged 6 and 8, like so many other children will have been affected in some way or another by the impact of the past few years.

As much as we try to limit what the news channels and breaking news stories tell us in front of our children, they catch on very quickly to what is going on around them in their world.

Children should know what’s happening, of course, but perhaps it is best for my wife and I to discuss events with them rather than the more detailed accounts of the headline news.

Our eldest, Jonas, particularly gets anxious about world events. We have found, just like for many adults, that meditation works for him. For the past week he has specifically asked for a meditation before going to sleep.

Here’s an example of a ten minute meditation for children…

Get comfortable, settle and relax your mind. When you are ready you can close your eyes.

Pause

Now notice your breathing. Breathe in deeply….and slowly release your breath. Again, breathe in deeply…and release. Notice your tummy rise as you breathe in and your tummy go down as you exhale.

Pause

Now imagine your most favourite place. This could be somewhere that you know well, or somewhere that you have visited, or it could be somewhere that you haven’t yet been to. This is your special place. It keeps you warm, relaxed, happy and at peace. Take a moment to see, smell and listen to your surroundings. Think about all that is around you.

Pause

Now you see a comforting bright light shining from above. You walk towards it knowing it’s positivity that it brings. You step into the light. The strength, calmness, joy and peace shine into your body and into your heart. Everything that the light has to offer is now a part of you. Notice how good this feels as the light continues to share its love.

Pause

Soon you will have to leave this special place, but you are comforted in knowing that you take its special powers with you. You will keep this all through the night and into tomorrow. You are safe.

Pause

Now I will count down from 5 to 1 and you will be ready to have a very peaceful sleep.

4 feeling sleepy

2 settled and sleepy

AMRAP

Have you ever heard of the training term ‘AMRAP’?

It is an acronym for the phrase ‘as many rounds as possible.’

Let me explain. AMRAP is a technique which enables the trainee to rep as many times in a set time frame. This could be typically done as a circuit, for example, and there are no rules to what equipment to use, how long or how many exercises.

This technique allows those who find themselves short on time to still manage a quick workout. Even 5 minutes can get the blood pumping and body weight is absolutely fine. In fact, the break for adverts during Coranation Street can see you rack up over 100 reps.

My point here is that I will never accept that you don’t have the time to exercise. Perhaps you didn’t know it or you just couldn’t be bothered and work, kids, cooking meals, feeling tired or clearing out the guinea pig hutch took all of your time up.

But AMRAP has news for you. You DO have time to train. Let’s use my example of Coranation Street as an example…

Coranation Street is an hour long. It has four ad breaks lasting 3 minutes. Imagine completing an AMRAP every break? So your task would be to work continuously for three minutes each time. In just one episode you have 12 intense minutes of exercise.

Coranation Street is on three times a week. That’s 36 minutes of time you didn’t know that you had to exercise. 36 minutes doesn’t seem like a lot but I observe people who are in the gym for one hour but only actually exercise for half of that time. If my estimation of a 100 reps each ad break is accurate, that’s almost a 1000 reps a week.

No amount of time is pointless as long as you do it right. There are many ways to complete an AMRAP. Squats during the kettle boiling, press ups during the Countdown clock or Burpees waiting for a bus. Whatever floats your boat!

Just make sure you float it somehow.

I Became The Lion

Something changed when I stopped listening to the generic body building and weight loss sites and I reassessed my own fitness goals. I took charge of what I had to do. This led me to becoming a PT and helping others. I became in control. I became the lion. And I teach others to be the lion too.

It is said that “until the lion learns how to write, every story will praise the hunter.”

I used to follow a narrative led by muscle magazines, gym bro websites, diet books and all of the other mediums that generate billions of dollars from selling their latest trend.

For most of my adult life going to the gym was about ‘lift big or go home’. That’s what I was told. I had to eat chicken and broccoli every day. It’s what the experts told me. I got it so wrong.

I beat myself up daily just to try and lift heavier than some guy who I didn’t even know.

But then I discovered a better way. I could still get results and train without causing injury and anxiety. I realised my ‘why’. And I didn’t find it on YouTube.

Sure, I wanted to be happy and confident with my body but I needed to know how to love myself in the present moment and not just focus on loving what I wanted to be. I began to imagine the future me. What would the future me thank the present me for? I started to do my homework. To save my physical and mental health it became so important to me that I acquired so much knowledge on the matter that I qualified as a PT and successfully made a business out of helping others pretty quickly.

I became the lion. And this lion learnt how to write his own narrative.

I now recognise that training is how I have energy for my kids. It is what keeps me focussed in my marriage and in my work commitments. It is giving me a chance to have a better quality of life. I like myself at last.

I don’t punish myself for not making it to the gym every day. If I can’t get there then a walk with my family is a great way to exercise and surround myself in nature with the people I love.

I don’t regret eating something that is ‘bad for me’ because I enjoyed it at the time and I can have an occasional snack. I enjoy life without living in fear of ‘losing muscle’ or gaining weight. I am free of fads and confusing information.

I am free.

Cyborg Boxy

Before the summer holidays if somebody would have told me that my 8 and 6 year olds would have been using sharp fabric cutting scissors and needles to make plushie toys I would have laughed at them.

Firstly, I would’ve felt uneasy at allowing them to use such sharp scissors. Secondly, the lads imagining and creating anything other than a head shot on Fortnite or a rainbow flick with a football seemed quite ridiculous. But of course, that’s my influence. My wife has now shown them how to sew and they’re obsessed. And what a fantastic obsession to have!

I have written about my eldest developing nervous tics over the past couple of years which seem certain to be due to the pandemic and the lockdowns. Jonas is a sensitive lad who comes across as fairly confident with his big curly hair and bold football skills. And his younger brother Finlay, who likes to play the Joker, is equally as sensitive deep down. But people see the confident kid who likes to tell jokes or give a fist pump to the camera as they score a goal. Take away the clown mask and it can be a different story. I know. I was that kid too.

Kids have stuff going on in their heads that we can’t comprehend. They’ve been growing up locked in their homes, not been able to see friends at school or to have any other human contact outside of their immediate family and listening to daily death tolls in the news as their parents left the house in face masks. How many kids will have been thinking “Will my mum and dad be next. Are we going to die?”

Jonas and Finlay have found comfort in creative therapy. Having a focus is important. I’m very happy that they’ve found this skill. I never did. Creative therapy is not really my ‘thing’. But I do have other ways to find my therapy. As a PT it’ll be no surprise to you that training is of great comfort to me. That has been my thing throughout my adulthood. And more recently I’ve found that meditation and using Tibetan singing bowls is extremely soothing. I never really had myself down as a singing bowl type of person. But then, what is a singing bowl type of person? Do we need to pigeon hole ourselves and stay in our box to suit anybody else’s views and opinions?

The truth is that nobody knows what their therapy is until they give it a go. It might be drawing or colouring in, going for walks or joining a fitness class. It might be sewing and creating or it could be meditating. There could be something that you have never ever tried before that gives you a real grounding to your life.

A good PT will help change your body. A great PT will change your life. If I want to be great at what I do then I can’t just bark orders on how many reps a trainee should do each week. Even a keen trainee would only spend one hour a day doing formal exercise. But what of the other 23 hours of the day? What about nutrition, sleep and mental health? That is where the true results happen.

And if my kids can find their therapy I’m quite sure that everyone else can make their very own Cyborg Boxy too. We’ve just got to have a go and find it.

Life, Heat and Catching Up!

Over the past few weeks I have set myself targets as to where I see myself in 12 months time. There’s no stress that I’ve put myself under with it apart from a further education course that I have started which has a deadline. Other than that, I have focused on what makes me happy and what my future self would thank me for.

I guess that’s partly why I have been less active in scribbling down my thoughts here. Any chance I have I have been studying, training or finding ways to develop myself, my business, my family life and my happiness.

But this makes me happy. Right now, writing this. So I thought it was time for a catch up.

I wouldn’t be able to commit to any of my targets if it wasn’t for certain people, or groups of people, in my life. I have spoken before about how my wife had encouraged me to become a Personal Trainer and her empowering spirit for me has now enabled me to become a certified Meditation teacher but also enrol on a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy course. The human brain interests me. I truly believe that if we can control the thoughts in our head better then we can live much happier lives with ourselves. I meet so many people who are unhappy with their physical selves, yet with a different approach to their way of thinking they would realise that they don’t have to be. Wanting change is fine, but only for the right reasons.

My clients inspire me. My online PT app bleeps at me more than a busy checkout isle at Sainsbury’s. I love getting alerts for a new achievement or a message on how their new training program is going. It makes me get off of my arse and get stuff done too!

And I have told my kids before that they are my heroes. Yes, kids should be told that they have the ability to inspire, empower and display heroic acts by their grown ups. My kids dealt with periods of lockdown better than me. My youngest is the brightest and most thoughtful boy. And my latest beaming with pride moment is when my 8 year old played a football tournament in stifling heat and helped his team win the final. 7 games in total and he didn’t stop running. His commitment in the final, even as his team went a goal down, saw him equalise and push his team to victory.

I have wanted to give the gym a miss during the recent heatwave but then I recall my son’s commitment to HIS cause in a difficult, energy zapping environment and got my own training done. It isn’t easy. Winning his medal didn’t come easily to him. If it did, would he have been almost in tears with sheer jubilation at the final whistle? I think not. Similarly, my goals don’t come easily either. But not even doing it eventually makes things even harder. My son tried his best. This time he won, but that won’t always happen.

Surround yourself with triers, empowerers and positive people and if you can give it back to them too.

I must get back to the books now. I have a course to complete. But I enjoyed the catch up. Speak soon.