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Your excuses are perfectly valid
The reasons that you often tell yourself for not working out are very often reasonable arguments why not to get your sweat on and many of us listen to that voice in our heads. There is a yin and a yang to everything in life and it really comes down to the choices that we make on a consistent basis which determine the results that you will see in your life. The key to being able to get the desired results that you are after comes down to how badly you want these changes to happen and whether you are prepared to answer back to that voice in your head that tells you that you are too tired, too busy, too whatever.
When anyone starts training in the gym it is important to establish why you are there and to understand the real motivation behind why you are visiting the gym. Is it because you want a six pack so that you can look great on the beach, or is it really so that you feel less tired and weary after grafting for a week at work. Training can provide a myriad of benefits, one of which is increased mental clarity and focus! The act of finding out what your REAL why is can help when you feel tempted to skip the gym in favour of some other easier option, like binge watching a netflix series or catching up with friends.
Many people like to think of their motivations as one thing or the other but these are often only surface motivations. Surface motivations might get you started at the beginning but they won’t keep you going when it gets tough!
So why do I say that your excuses are valid? Well, they are all perfectly correct and based on facts so there is always a perfectly good reason NOT to do something that you would like to do. It can be helpful to make your workouts a non-negotiable in your daily schedule say to yourself in advance of the week how many times you are committing to attend the gym and plan out when you are going- then stick with this plan! Tell your support network what your plans are and get them to text to ask what your are up too at the times when you are supposed to be heading to training! This will give you a level of accountability beyond your own voices.
Letting ourselves down is easy in the short term (of course we hate seeing it long-term) but at the time it’s easy to convince yourself otherwise! Telling someone else though means that you will be letting them down as well and this will hurt your pride far more that giving up on something yourself in private. See if you only tell yourself that you will go to the gym and you don’t, well it is easy to forget about it and move on, but if you have someone holding you to account then it is not so simple!
Hopefully these tips can enable you to get yourself to the gym and not let your excuses win- no matter how valid they may be……
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Stay Strong
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Alex O-King
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It is easy to do…..
and just as easy not to…..
If you have ever set yourself a goal then you have more than likely failed to reach the goal on several occasions. It seems easy at the beginning when you set the goals because you feel a stream of motivation and energy to pursue these noble deeds. Why not after all because you are capable of thinking them surely you are capable of being able to do them each and every day. This is where most people are great because they set goals which are absurdly high and they aim for the stars. Sounds like how most goal setting should be because if you are going to dream then you might as well dream big!
The dreaming big is often where the pursuit of these goals stop though! Lets say that you have a goal which is to run a marathon in 6 months. This is an admirable goal to have and lets say you attach the goal to a cause by telling yourself that you will collect donations for charity in return for running this marathon (you of course don’t tell anyone about this). The next day, however, is freezing cold and there is rain pouring down outside so you say to yourself “it’s okay, I will start my practice runs tomorrow instead. Except the weather continues like this all week and by then you have got distracted from your goal. You have lost the motivation to achieve this goal and you have taken none of the steps that you should be taking too. This is how most goals end!
What happens is that when we focus too much on the end goal we lose sight of the small habits that we need to build in order to achieve those big goals! We need to be thinking, lets go on a short run (Day 1) and then you progress this to- let”s go on a slightly longer run today (Day 2). On some days you might not find yourself running as far as the day before but you are committed to building up the daily habit of going for a run and you are getting that bit better day after day through the habit of turning up and progressively improving over time! Once your commitment to running becomes automatic then you could start thinking about what your aims are going to be. You can try looking for ways to challenge yourself with events and running with friends!
The whole point is that you are much more likely to achieve some of the long end goals if you focus on the smaller daily habits that you need to build up over time. You will find that you get yourself into much less of a muddle and you are much less likely to end up stopping because the goal seems so big or far away. You won’t need to rely so much on motivation because you will be making smaller daily commitments to yourself rather than large audacious goals!
See it is easy to set big goals, but it is just as easy to fall short of the goal for not taking care of the daily habits you should be focussing on instead!
Stay Strong
Alex O-King
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Do you need a Personal trainer?
If you have been training in the past you might have been shown several different things that would have helped you get started in the gym environment and so you may feel as though you know everything that you need to get started and everything you need to succeed. If this is you then why would you even consider the possibility of hiring a personal trainer?
Start by asking yourself- why do the top athletes in the world have coaches, after all these players are the best in the world so they must surely know what they are doing and there can’t be a need for someone to train them if they already know what they are doing? Well they might know what they are doing when it comes to their chosen sport but if they want to get better and reach the pinnacle of their career then they are going to need someone who exposes the areas where they are uncomfortable and grows their confidence in these areas so that it doesn’t affect them when they are playing big tournaments. They need someone who is going to call them on their commitment to training when they don’t feel like doing it (because that’s human!) These people need the support of the coaches and trainers because that is what enables them to become the best in the world at what they do. If people who are the best in the world need trainers and coaches then arguably so do the rest of us.
You may think that knowing what you need to know is enough, but the question you need to answer is whether you want to improve and if what you are doing is actually enough to give you the standard of health and fitness that you want to have. For many of us we are living below the level that we truly want to be. We are settling for what we KNOW we can achieve rather than striving for what we really WANT! If you want to achieve the big goals you set yourself then you need to get a personal trainer. They will push you further than you will push yourself and they will also ensure that you stay safe whilst you are pushing your boundaries! Never let your ego persuade you otherwise!
Stay Strong
Alex O-King
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Fallen off the wagon (AGAIN)
Are you one of those people who starts something only to find themselves back where they began with all the wrong habits and annoyed at yourself for having lost your way. When you went over to the family lunch did you find that all the foods you shouldn’t be eating were available? That then turned into a holiday and again felt like your only option was to eat the forbidden foods (after all it WAS your holiday) Ultimately you find yourself now in a space between Christmas and the new year now and you are questioning if you should get back into the routine of eating sensibly again or whether you wait until the New Year to start again.
If you are thinking like this then you will always find a reason to not diet properly, or stick with it and you will more than likely find yourself consistently out of shape and in need of “dieting” and training. Inevitably everyone falls into this trap at one time or other and it is easy to do! Falling off the wagon is something which happens to everyone, even the hardened professionals in sport that you see and probably spend time comparing your physique too! It is natural and a normal event so you should stop beating yourself up every time that you do fall away from the desired behaviours and habits. The question then, is how do you get back on track and stay on track with your mission in looking and feeling better?
One thing that is key in making changes to your lifestyle, training or nutrition is implementing small and easy habits into your day. For example we know that if you are well hydrated then you are less likely to snack so you could start a habit of drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning to make sure you start the day off right with some much needed hydration. Something as simple as this implemented every day can help reduce the trouble of over-eating during the day.
Another habit that you may find helpful is that of preparation. When you are planning to have a training session the next morning it can be helpful to have prepared ahead of time for the session by laying out the clothes that you will wear for your workout the next day. You might also find that it helps to prepare your food in advance. Doing these small things can help with the adherence to your exercise and nutrition plan. Of course it isn’t going to be 100% all the time and that’s okay as well because as long as you are getting it right most of the time then you can allow to fall of track on occasion.
You can also plan breaks into your routine so that you know when you are going to go off plan with your training and nutrition. These plans will give you a form of structure that enables you to know how and when you will be getting on track and also how you will do this. Having breaks is very normal and you must not beat yourself up for taking them. They are necessary, like taking a day off at the weekend to unwind from work, or taking off for a week from work to enjoy time with your family. Breaks are a healthy and normal part of being human and getting the right amount of rest for you can actually help re-energise you and push you to work harder towards reaching your goals!
So in summary, don’t be so hard on yourself when things go off track, it happens for whatever reason, planned or unplanned. The important part is that you bring your attention back to those habits which you know are good for you and keep you feeling great!
Stay Strong
Alex O-King
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Setting the tone and getting the results you want!
Culture can be key to helping get the results you want
Choosing the right environment to spend your time improving yourself is very important as you will be critiquing yourself and the last thing you need to feel is that other people are watching you. You need to be able to find yourself in a place that you are comfortable training in, perhaps with people who are in similar situations that you are in. Don’t forget that whatever challenges you are facing you are not alone, there will be others who have been through or are going through a similar experience.
One thing that occurs from being in a good environment for your goals is being around like-minded people and those who will encourage you when you are there! This can really help you to keep up your motivation and thus your commitment to the gym and training. At the end of every goal is the consistency involved and training at the gym and getting in better shape is no different. If you change your environment to your advantage then you will find yourself more able to achieve the goals you set because going to the place that will get you the results feels like somewhere you enjoy going. As you keep going you will find yourself obtaining the results you desire.
Everyone likes something different which they enjoy and keeps them excited when it comes to training and there are lots of different gyms, communities and sports groups that you can join that will interest and excite you. The gym environment is where much of my energy is spent so I work a lot on strength and conditioning work, both for myself and others. This seems to be the most obvious use of the equipment found in traditional gyms, however, there is another purpose that can be found and that personal training can help you with.
Looking after yourself outside of the sport that you enjoy so much can mean looking at areas which you need to improve and tailoring the exercises that you do in the gym to allow you to get even better at your sport! This is why major athletes use the gym, to improve at one or two movements and improve their game. For example a football player might find that whilst they possess the technical skills for playing out on the pitch they are often gassed from running for the full time of the game. So outside of the specialist training of their football skills they spend time working hard on their stamina at the gym using training methods such as interval training, allowing them to increase their stamina which will transfer over to the football pitch and their prospects of a successful career!
We can all use a culture that encourages us to help us stay consistent and focussed on the results we desire! If we spend time looking at different options of places we can train at, or sports that we enjoy then we will be able to discover a way that we can stay active and performing at our best. I would encourage you to trial different places and speak to multiple people of their experiences to find out where would suit you the most in obtaining your goals!
Stay Strong
Alex Osborn-King
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Can you trust your personal trainer?
When you get a personal trainer, there needs to be an element of trust between you. You need to know that they are able to help you achieve the goals that you want to achieve and that they have the knowledge and the experience to enable you to reach these goals. Knowing that they might have been through the journey you are going through themselves and found ways to win and overcome the challenges you are experiencing too can be so important! Knowing that they are committed to educating themselves on the areas that you need them to know about is so important because more often than not personal trainers might not have been through what you are going through themselves but they should have gained the knowledge through theory or practice so that they can assist you in the best possible way.
If they haven’t then there is certainly going to be an issue of trust between the two of you. To tell you the truth, most trainers don’t go into depth to understand client issues and research the challenges facing clients and this in fact makes them incredibly dangerous to work with so it is important that you understand your trainers credentials before you commit to working with them. Good professional trainers will be able to say what their experience is and if there are gaps in their knowledge, own up to it and make it clear where their experience/knowledge begins and ends. In the beginning you might find that there are very few trainers who have specific experience (for example training older clients), however, if you can tell that this trainer is committed to the pursuit of added experience and they are offering to train you with care and caution (as all trainers should) then often they can prove themselves to you as a client!
You are in the driving seat of what you do and don’t accept from a trainer and you must ensure that you are clear with your expectations of them from the beginning. A good trainer will ensure that they ask you questions so that they are able to determine the goals that you are looking to obtain and they should be honest about the limitations of their knowledge and the really good trainers will go out of their way to research how to help you overcome the challenges that you face so that you get a program which is aimed specifically at you. They will not give you generic workout but ensure that you get what you ask for specifically from the training plan- built around the areas that you want to get strengthened and stabilised! Having a good experienced trainer can really help with this so try and find someone who will go out of their way to give you the most out of your training because this is after all why you would place you trust in them in the first place.
Stay strong
Alex O-King
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Getting better….
It is time to stop the excuses, the I will wait to begin in the new year. New Year, New Me. Forget that and just start now, because you could start the year on a high instead of starting from a position of weakness you can change this around and begin from a position of strength! It takes time to build up momentum and so the sooner you start then the sooner that this momentum is built up. It only takes you to make the decision to begin that will allow you to make progress.
Never delay when it comes to getting started on improving your position and improving who you are. There are very few valid excuses that should stop you from getting going and honestly the ones that I hear as a trainer are often as not invalid and simply excuses rather than reasons for not beginning so don’t let yourself down. If getting better is something that you want to do, if you are fed up about where you are right now, then starting as soon as possible is always the right move to make!
Don’t let yourself down!
Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.
Stay Strong
Alex Osborn-King
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Days when you are not feeling it
We all have those days when you wake up and everything feels like a challenge. The rain is falling in the sky, it is cold, your body aches, you had a poor sleep last night. Many different reasons for not wanting to say- YES- Lets go to the gym and train. It happens to all of us for whatever reason and it sucks- there are no two ways about it.
The question is do you want to the able to find a way to improve and get out of the funk that you are in? Those of us who are familiar with training often find that the act of going to train is something that will rejuvenate us and will lift us up. We know from experience that the satisfaction you get from getting up and going will inspire more out of us and give us more energy because we have trained. It is the part of the day we most look forward too!
Not everyone is conditioned this way though and if you find the idea of challenging yourself to a training session too much then see if you can do something over doing nothing. Just start. Even if this is simply walking around a little bit with the purpose of walking- not to achieve anything other than moving more than you were before! Getting started with something physical can often lead you to think- “okay, I can do a bit more”, so you do a bit more and that leads to you gaining momentum and you may find yourself getting through an entire workout before you know it!
It can be a grind, but on those days that you don’t feel like entering the gym. Just try to begin. These ittle efforts get the ball rolling. and most of the time this will work and some days it doesn’t. That’s okay- just give yourself a day off and promise yourself that you will try again tomorrow.
Stay Strong
Alex O-King
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Small habits not big goals for better results
Do you set big goals for yourself and constantly fall short? Start something only to find that a week later you have reverted back to the old you again and given up the good habits that you were setting yourself to achieve big things? We all know that it is the small things that we do on a daily basis which add up and compound to who we become in the end but how many of us actually stick with those small changes? Often the reason for failing to reach big things is looking to far into the distance at the big goal that you want to achieve which when you compare your progress of yesterday to today’s feels demoralising. What progress have you achieved……. you are far behind where you want to be right now.
We need to start looking and continuing to look at the micro changes that we make to our routines. Not just set up small habits that we know lead up to the big goals at the end of the tunnel but keeping these small habits up. If you want to end the constant hamster wheel cycle of getting into shape then out of shape, then back around again then start looking to implement small changes into your daily routine that help and support you. Things that can help you to do this include keeping yourself accountable i.e. with a trusted friend or if you want to keep it away from friends and family then, hire a personal trainer who can help you with this. They are also able to advise the best small habits that you can implement to get the most out of your training.
Don’t be frustrated that the large goals that you are chasing after don’t happen quickly, they will in time as long as you are persistent and consistent in your pursuit of the habits!
Stay Strong
Alex O-King
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Are you suffering from low motivation when it comes to the gym?
What do you do when you just don’t feel like it? When you feel low on energy and you have had a busy day and just cannot handle the thought of heading to the gym?
Is this a time when you feel like giving up, binge watching some TV in order to relax and say “I’ll do it tomorrow”? Is this what is causing you to miss some workouts and miss doing things that you know you should do but don’t seem to be able to find the time to do?
If this is you then don’t panic because you, my friend, are not alone in feeling like this. Let me give you some tips here in this blog to help you overcome these feelings (at least most of the time)
- Going to the gym can be hard, especially when you are tired, however, the act of going can actually give you more energy because you are releasing endomorphines. Endomorphs will increase your clarity of thought for long after the workouts Having and keeping your commitments will mean that you can tick these things off your list and that is an epic feeling!
- You will get a level of accomplishment far beyond that of your job because you are set on accomplishing a personal goal rather than one that serves your company.
- You will increase your confidence levels- you are doing what you say you will do and looking better because of it! This will also help inspire others, you might even get compliments about how you are appearing different in your workplace! Seeing others inspired by you can make you feel great about the example you are setting and will keep motivation high!
- If you have a bad day, going to the gym can make you feel better, you get to release tension and stress and leave it in the gym. If you have a good day, then going to the gym will make it even more of a good day- you will be on a roll!
Truly going to the gym is something that you can do for you. It gets you away from the stresses and pressures of the outside world, away from the stress of work, children and spouses! I’m not saying all these things are bad but we all need somewhere that is for us and to do things that don’t involve having others!
Your training is for you and you alone! It will keep you feeling good about yourself especially when you have a bad day so try and make a commitment to yourself and take the opportunity to train hard!
Sometimes having someone who is going to meet you at the gym and train with you is a great way to keep to your commitments, whether that is a friend who is also working hard in the gym or a personal trainer keeping you accountable to training this will help you to live up to attending the gym, especially on the days you REALLY don’t want to go! Letting others down often feels worse than letting yourself down so this is a fab way to get some easy accountability on your side. If you hire a personal trainer they will also be able to provide you with the opportunity to discover new exercises and improve your form in the key exercises on your program.
I should also add that sometimes it is possible that you just need a break particulary is you have been training consistentluy over a long period of time. There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in taking a well needed break from the routine of training because you need some rest so if you need a break then take it!!
Stay Strong
Alex O-King
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Training advice for the Fit Pros 