Taking on Your Best Year

Good Luck

To those taking on New Goals in 2019!

New Year is a natural time for reflection, the idea of change seems more appealing, to try something new or something that has previously seemed beyond our grasp. However, as many of us know, simply setting the goal isn’t enough to guarantee they’re completion. It can often seem like a never ending cycle where the goal is set but always stays just beyond our grasp for one reason or another. It doesn’t always have to be this way.

Over the years working with a wide variety of clients, people of differing ages and backgrounds, a number of common themes become clear in the process of achieving goals.

Here are a couple of these to help you achieve your goals:

• Work out why achieving this goal is important to you.

This may seem like too much overthinking. But, taking the time to think about why achieving your goal will make a difference to you, will really help your motivation when making decisions gets tough.

• Connect with like-minded individuals.

We all need a support crew, no matter whether this is a patent who asks the questions, ‘Do you really need that?’ Or the partner/ friend who doesn’t dangle the chocolates, cakes or takeaways. But it may also be a club or a group of people who simply want to support you to achieve your goals.

• Reflect and evaluate what has and has not worked in the past.

Be prepared, create the circumstances that help you succeed, be prepared for the events or obstacles that take you off the right track. An example may be, chocolates in the office. They are near your desk, you have to walk past them regularly and you find it tough to not pick away at them. Ask if they can be put somewhere else, not so easily seen. Take healthier, lower calorie options that are easy to access.

• Consider where you prioritise your time.

It can seem like we are not making progress at various points along the way. It’s important that we take an honest look at where we are truly spending our time. What we prioritise is where our time is going. It doesn’t mean your goal has to be at the centre of every decision, however it does need a certain amount of investment in order to create that new habit. Occasionally, we can think we are giving a lot of time but actually when we track our habits and commitments we are not giving what we initially thought. It may be time to change that if you wish to achieve that goal.

• Goal achievement is not a linear process.

You probably know this from your own previous goals set, but it’s always worth repeating. Working towards goals is not an A to B process, there is progress, plateaus and setbacks. It is what you do when you hit them that makes a difference, re-evaluate, adjust your path and try again.

If you need any help, please feel free to give me a shout at louisept4u@yahoo.co.uk or message me on my business Facebook page: Louise’s PT 4 U

Is this the legacy we want to leave behind?

        

In this industry I am frequently faced with women and men, for that matter, who are unhappy with their shape, weight or anything in between.  For the most part, the way we look at our own bodies, when in comparison with others, is negative.

Does this sound familiar?  Do you think ‘I wish I was . . .  [insert your own thoughts]’,  often I hear I want to be slimmer, have a smaller bum, toned abs, smaller legs or a more toned back, tighter triceps.  The society we live in, the media has provided us with, what is portrayed as an ‘ideal’ image that we often feel pressurised to conform to, all we have to do is look at the images staring back at us from the stream of magazines lining the shelves.  The only part I agree with is that which makes each person – HEALTHY!  Functional health for your life is vital!

In order to achieve these ideals, many have resorted to disordered eating i.e. going from one diet to another, excessive exercise – afraid to stop from fear that they will become fat and a concerning focus on the calorie content of every single food.  I am lucky enough to work with pregnant and post-natal women, this an ideal time to make those lifelong lifestyle changes.  Many women change in terms of their attitudes as they reflect on the impact they have on their newborn child.

Nevertheless,  a common answer to queries about their lifestyle or diet (nothing extreme) is that they have loads of time to make the changes. It is key to remember, it takes a looooooong time for habits to become just that, habits, in-grained new habits.  Starting early and making these habits automatic will set you up for the future and the habits you will pass onto your child/ children.

Is the legacy you wish to leave?   One of, unhealthy relationships with food, restriction, yo-yo dieting, the need for dieting to maintain weight, emotional eating or drinking?

This focus on weight, has been around for a very long time, it will NOT change over night, criticising our bodies, putting our body – ourselves down.  The feeling of, we can only achieve, be successful, do well, reach our goals and be happy if we are the slim, media portrayed ideal.  Being embarrassed, judgemental of others because they do not conform.

Is this the legacy you wish to leave behind?

Be a part of a new legacy, not the one you were left with but a new one filled with positivity and hope.  A confidence with is passed down through the family from parent to child/children.  The ability to go for your goals, to focus away from the weight and on the ability to do more, be more!  Focus on your health and fitness, this focus odes in fact tend to help with those other goals such as body tone and weight loss incidentally.  By focusing on achieving your goals in a fitness and health orientated way we feel more successful, more confident, more able and a knowledge that you are STRONG!

Check out these amazing women, who are in the middle of a spartan race, (I pulled this pic of google).  Those in the pic are also from WOR (Women of Obstacle Racing: /http://womenofobstacleracing.com/

They are actually my OCR sponsors, I love that they support ALL women, irrespective of shape and size, of ALL abilities!  Check them out at the link above – they are also on facebook, give them a ‘like’ and follow their achievements, even though American based they have women involved from all over the world!

We are entering a new age, every single day I can see something that gives me hope that women’s attitudes towards themselves, toward their abilities, their self-worth is CHANGING.  Slowly but surely, its a toughie, by no means an easy adjustment, we are really talking about bucking the trend!  We are talking about women celebrating their strength, mentally as well as physically!  I am surrounded by women who are incredibly strong simply because they keep on going, they have faced up to their mental health issues and I see an inner strength that is growing.  Not only that I am surrounded by ladies who can lift helluva lot of weight, they dominate their sports in weight-lifting and rugby, for example.  They embrace their physicality and use it to succeed on a very different forum.  In the age of #ThisGirlCan (http://www.thisgirlcan.co.uk/) it is your ability, your tenacity, that is important, not your size, how much effort are you putting in?  How many goals are you working at achieving instead of sabotaging?

Is THIS the legacy you would want to leave behind?  The one you would want your children to live by?

Here is  a fantastic message that is doing the rounds on social media at the moment.  It clearly demonstrates the differences in women but the most sensitive but positive light, embracing their bodies and what it is that helps them to achieve: (See more at –  http://mic.com/articles/121823/espn-body-issue-2015-pictures )

You may believe, you may think, that your children do not know how you think of yourself and thatthey know that you diet or dont particularly like your body.  BUT they know!!  All those little habits, they will copy them, everyday it becomes alittle more ingrained, those highs, those lows,  I am not saying everyday is perfect but I am saying you can choose your goals, you can choose your attitude, you can CHOOSE your legacy!

Other groups you may want to look up include:

SFN Sisterhood run by the lovely Lucy Doyle

(I will add more to this in due course as I find more.  Or please comment and let me know who needs to be added, these are just a start to the groups I have come into contact with)

Women In Sport Week – Highlighting Women Day 3

I was lucky enough to meet Sarah at an OCR training event I was running, haing passed each other at the last Spartan race in Scotland, 2014.  Sarah has an impressive mindset and is a fantastic runner!  Determined and motivated to achieve the best that she can in a functional way revolving around good technical movements.  Not only that she is turning her passion into a hobby and developing her own knowledge constantly to improve her own training abilities and anyone who asks for recommendations.  Knowing a good runner when I see one, I was not shy in asking for some tips!!

This is a very fitting posting for Women in Sport Week given that it is also National Running Day, enjoy Sarah’s bio folks!!

Name:  Sarah B

Sport:  Weight-lifting/ Running

Quite honestly, I don’t know any other way to be.

I mean…to run, to cycle, to push, to lift, to sweat. I was always naturally strong and sporty from as early as I can remember. But my pivotal moment was watching Jarmila Kratochvilova in Munich in 1983 win the 800m and break the world record. Her physic was like nothing I’d ever seen on a woman. I decided right there and then, I wanted to be like that. To me that was perfectly normal. To sculpt my body to the shape I had in my minds eye. You just decide to do it, and then you just do it. I really do think it’s that simple. That’s my philosophy to everything, everything in life. The hardest bit is knowing what you want. But once you have your goal set. The rest will follow. Promise.

I had a Bullworker and a set of home-made dumbbells at the age of 13. I’d put on my Bronski Beat cassette and jog on the spot with a dumbbell in each hand. I’d do every exercise on my Bullworker wall chart every night. The thought of hanging around on street corners with the ‘cool’ kids really didn’t appeal. I’d rush home from school in the summer months so I could get out on my racing bike. I’d think nothing of a swift 30mile bike ride in the evening. That’s nothing, right?

Fast forward more than 30years. I still don’t know any other way to be. I’m still pushing my body to find where the limits are, and then I keep on pushing. Running and kettlebells are now my passions. Body building training was my drug for a good 20years, but I had to walk away from it due to injury after injury. I’m fitter, faster, leaner, and more functionally fit than I’ve ever been in my life. I truly believe that anything is possible if you want it enough. The most potent muscle in the body is the brain. You think it. You do it. It can also be your enemy. Let the negative thoughts in and you’ll struggle to attain those goals. Believe in yourself. Trust in yourself. Confidence. Sure you’ll come up against obstacles – use them to learn and modify and get stronger.

I’m 45years old. I’ll still be swinging my kettlebells, and running, and riding my Harley in 20years time. That’s normal isn’t it…