Blog - Health & Fitness

Love to workout, love life. Even if it’s not always that simple, exercise does indeed make everything better. You don't have to fake feeling awesome when you're not – just get moving! It can also be used as therapy to get rid of any anger, pain or frustration. This means that if you drop a tear in between some heavy sets of squat, it’s ok. It’s just part of the healing process. Just get in tune with your body, put some extra weight on and go hard! It will help you rebuild yourself inside and out. Hurts really darn good!!

Exercise And Mood

So how does it work? Exercise changes the actual chemistry of your brain and improves your hormonal environment. It's pretty much impossible to work out and feel miserable at the same time. As long as you give 100% and are not just going through the motions, you will feel happier and more relaxed when you’re done. Exercise leads to the release of certain neurotransmitters in the brain that alleviate pain, both physical and mental.

Whenever something goes wrong in our life or things get hectic, the first thing that goes out the window for most people is their fitness and health. But why? Fair enough, you may have to prioritise but exercise is the one thing that can make everything better, so it shouldn’t be completely given up on.

Anyway… Let’s solve your problems with creativity and tenacity, so that you can get back to being healthy and happy again. High-flyers and effective leaders always rise to a challenge. That’s one of the things that separate winners from whiners.

We all must face problems. They are inevitable because:

-   We live in a world of growing complexity and diversity

-   We interact with people

When it comes to non-sedentary individuals, there are two types of people: the ones who moan about going to the gym, and the ones who get excited about it. It doesn’t come as a surprise that the first ones never really get any substantial results. They just roll up to the gym looking displeased, spend ages getting changed, drag themselves onto the gym floor and start mindlessly going through the motions on the cross trainer for an extended warm-up while watching the TV. That’s if the desired piece of equipment is available. If it isn’t, they just keep watching the TV while holding on to their towel and water bottle. Then they probably do a little round with the resistance machines for upper body with sloppy form, and finish the session with a bit of stretch. Do you know anyone like this?

The other type knows exactly what they want. They either have a plan, or they train instinctively as it has become their second nature. They don’t make excuses, and nothing will stop them from having a great workout if it is supposed to be a training day. They just get it done. That doesn’t mean that they have become obsessed or fanatic about fitness. They are just programming themselves for success and manage their time well. Fitness has become embedded in their lifestyle, and they are enjoying the health benefits, love looking their best and having supreme confidence. They have also learned to use this amazing feeling to achieve great success in other areas of their life. I call it the high-flyer mindset.

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.

~ Dale Carnegie

So what makes so many people fall into the first category? How do you join the 2% at the top of the pyramid? Let’s examine some of the reasons that can destroy the enjoyment factor, and will hold you back from achieving success.

1/12 of 2013 has gone. Hopefully you have a vision of what you’d like to achieve and experience this year. Have you managed to stay on track while moving towards your goals? My client Jen has a great ambition. She started training with me one month ago, when she decided that she’d like to look her absolute best in a skimpy outfit dancing and having the time of her life at the Notting Hill Carnival end of the summer. With her permission I’d like to share an email she wrote first week into her training programme:

“Wow, so what can I say, first week of new lifestyle nearly done.

The low point was definitely Friday night after pre-brekkie run, an 11hr day at work and the thigh buster weights you've got me doing. Tried to open a tin of tuna as part of dinner #2 only to fail spectacularly and ended up gazing wistfully at a tin of tuna with lots of stab holes in but no tuna coming out. So annoying. Then went to shops to get yet more chicken to cook, and opted for stairs instead of lift but tripped up and fell over coz my legs were still all wobbly. Rubbish.

Another year in the books… I love New Year’s Day!! It’s a time to celebrate your successes, reflect on what you have learned during the past 12 months, and figure out what’s the most important to you going forward. Unless you’re happy just aimlessly wondering around, you have to know your destination. I avoid calling it New Year’s resolution because they often got a bad rep. You know what they say: “Surely New Year’s resolutions never really stick for anyone, bla, bla, bla…” Too much negativity and skepticism associated with this label. Hence, I call it ambition. It’s also the word I generally use in regards to goal setting.

ambition [æmˈbɪʃən]

n

1. strong desire for success, achievement, or distinction

2. something so desired; goal; aim

For every person consumed with the need to achieve, there's someone content to accept whatever life brings. Why are some people born with a fire in the belly, while others need something to ignite that burning desire? And why do others never get the flame of ambition going?

What’s stopping you from achieving your health and fitness goals? Are you struggling to stay motivated? You may have noticed some unwanted patterns of behaviour that make you go off track at times. Or maybe you’ve simply been procrastinating for a long time and haven’t got out of your comfort zone to take action and get started with it? Sounds all too familiar?

Whatever are the reasons that hold you back from getting in the best shape of your life, it may largely be down to your identity, self-image and habitual behaviour (our habits define us!). Your best endeavour may be clashing with the picture of yourself ingrained in your subconscious mind. Dr Maxwell Maltz explains this in the classic self-help book “Psycho-Cybernetics”:

Whether we realize it or not, each of us carries about with us a mental blueprint or picture of ourselves. It may be vague and ill defined to our conscious gaze. In fact, it may not be consciously recognizable at all. But it is there, complete down to the last detail. This self-image is our own conception of the "sort of person I am.” It has been built up from our own beliefs about ourselves. But most of these beliefs about ourselves have unconsciously been formed from our past experiences, our successes and failures, our humiliations, our triumphs, and the way other people have reacted to us, especially in early childhood. From all these we mentally construct a "self" (or a picture of a self). Once an idea or belief about ourselves goes into this picture it becomes “true,” as far as we personally are concerned. We do not question its validity, but proceed to act upon it just as if it were true.

This self-image becomes a golden key to living a better life because of two important discoveries:

It’s funny how some people almost consider “fat” a swear word. I don’t mean to be rude when describing someone in that fashion, I just prefer to call it as I see it, and I think some of us are way too sensitive to it. It’s totally subjective, and everyone got their own perception. Fitness professionals (including me) often feel fat if they don’t have a visible six-pack. To some the goal may be a flat belly with no flab and love handles hanging over the belt. Others, however, are happy as long as they can tie their own shoelaces and not have to pay for two seats on a flight.

I can understand some people having no issue in being overweight. Even some celebs are known to be completely comfortable with it. For example, Christina Aguilera has gained a lot of weight recently but is not thinking about losing it. To some, the idea of breaking away from the ideals of beauty portrayed in the media can be liberating. Also, maintaining the weight, i.e. as long as it isn't constantly increasing, is fine to some. It’s really a reflection of the person’s self-image, and the standards we set for ourselves.