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 I think Fitness should be fun! So many Fitness Pro’s will hate me for saying this, but I honestly think Fitness should be fun. There I said it. Let me explain more into my theory.
When I meet people looking to change something about themselves, be it lose weight, get control, or just be healthier in general, I like to quiz them further on where they are at right now. More often than not, they aren’t exercising as much as they want to be. Why not? There’s a number of reasons I hear, but THE MOST heard answers are all about being bored, and not enjoying the workouts. Some of my clients in fact hated working out before.  You’re thinking about getting a personal trainer. Great decision! Now what? How do you find the right one, do you choose the friend of a friend, the scary guy at the gym, or the company top on google? It’s a minefield, and I don’t blame you for getting confused. When I was training personal training clients around London all day every day, the majority of newbies I took on all had some kind of bad experience with their previous personal trainer. You wouldn’t believe some of the stories I heard, from doing a runner with hundreds of pounds, to personal trainers sticking them on the treadmill for the best part of 60 minutes.
In our latest series of blogs, we are looking at which of London’s boroughs is the Fittest in London. We will be looking at what they have to offer, from clothing stores, healthy food places, fitness groups, the parks & local events. It can be pretty territorial in London, with everyone claiming their local area is the best, so once and for all, let’s see which is the best borough in London if Fitness is your thing!
If you are anything like me, & I suspect if you're reading this, you may well be. You are constantly striving for something. Making things better, more improved, faster, stress free. It could be anything from improving your body, your diet, your energy levels, to your productivity, we are creatures of self development.
Over the years, I have identified 3 things, which I believe are key to success. In fact I would even go as far as to say, unless you do all 3 things together, you are most likely going to fail. Here goes:
I was chatting with one of my 1-1 clients today, we were talking about her first 90 days with us. She did the Lose 2 stone in 90 day programme (she smashed her goal by the way)
She actually sent me a pic a few weeks ago with her in a supermarket with 14 blocks of butter, which was the total of what she has lost! Anyway, back to the story. Big shout out to everyone who completed the 10 weeks to 10K course last week. Brett took a group of total beginners, and for 10 weeks, guided them through the course. Well done to everyone involved, it was a great day!
Off the back of this, we are putting the finishing touches to our new 5K & 10K courses, which will be FREE to all Swift Members. We will announce the final course details shortly. If you are interested in any of our running courses, please email Sam on info@swfitnessgroup.co.uk. What is it about Monday's....?
Everyone seems to dread them. It starts on Sunday night, when you realise your weekend has gone WAY to quick. I went away last week for a few days, so I had the dreaded email pile up this morning. It actually wasn't that bad, my thoughts of how much work I would have to do was far worse than it actually was. As soon as I just got on with is, didn't procastinate, just got my head down and acted, it was MUCH easier than I thought it would be. It's the same with Fitness... Diet.... Weight Loss.... Anything to be honest. But the truth is, no one really worries about what anyone else is doing, or how fit the other members of the group are. Everyone is too concerned about how they are doing, or how they look.
The thing is, we plan the sessions so it doesn't really matter how fit you are. We have people that haven't trained in 10 years, working out next to a twice a day exercise addict. Everything we do is timed, so we will say something like.... "Perform as many of this exercise as you can in 30 seconds" The new comer will go slower, and get a feel for the exercise. The athlete will go crazy and try to get a new personal best. If everyone had to be in shape to join our boot camp, we wouldn't have anyone in the boot camp! We love helping people get in shape, and improve from where they are right now. If you are thinking about starting something new, we would love to see you. We promise you will never be left behind. Book your free trial here. The other reason I ask this is because if you strive to look exactly like the model in the pictures. You will always be let down. You see they had to train for years to look like that, or they could have amazing genetics. They probably haven't eaten carbs in 12 months. They also took around 100 of the same photo just to get the same article. So when you are trying to replicate this, you will no doubt fail.
The issue with this, is simple, if you feel you will never achieve something, you will often give up. Adjust your expectations, and keep track of the progress you make. Your results will come, as a result of the person you become. Yes, have role models, but don't put all your hopes on this. Work for progress, not perfection. She has changed her thinking about food, she bridged the gap between so called treat foods and her feeling crap after every time she ate them, and it was this alone that sparked off a bit of a fitness kick. You never know what it's going to take for someone to finally change their habits, but I was so pleased when Jen linked the too. Shit food makes her feel shit. At last! Anyway, she was on a night out, and her mates started pressuring to have some pizza with them, now, it wasn't that pizza was off the menu for Jen, it was just that she didn't fancy it, as she knew she had a big lunch the next day which she was working towards, and she was fine to skip the pizza. Her friends were OK about it, but still said these exact words "You've changed" They were of course happy she was happier with her new figure, and could see the confidence, and the difference, but as they weren't at the same place, it made them feel guilty about their own issues. That's the thing, people will bring you down when you try to better yourself. You never see someone in better shape that you have a dig when you start a new programme, it's always the people struggling with their own confidence who put limitations on you. Don't let others bring you down, and stay true to what you know is or will work for you! If you want access to the exact meal plan Jen was following, you can get that when you join SWIFT. Here you go my friend. P.S You get a FREE month when you start :-) Cancel anytime. "You've Changed"
This is what one of our lovely Swift members so called friends said to her on Saturday night. Jen has been through some changes recently, dropped a couple of dress sizes, and has found a new way of eating which gives her shed loads of energy, and she looks amazing now! Sometimes, you can over think everything, and you end up doubting yourself, you can end up asking yourself too many questions. Yes, you do want to workout, stop talking yourself out of it. Yes, you know what you should eat for lunch, don't kid yourself. Keep it simple. Just go and workout. Eat the foods that Nourish your body. Eliminate all the noise, and do what you set out to do in the first place. You know what to do, just smile and go and do it. Have an awesome week. Sam 'Keeping it Simple' Warrington P.S I am teaching in Battersea tonight, looking forward to seeing you there. PPS I loved teaching the wimbledon crew on Saturday, awesome work girls. :-) Don't Over Think.
Your diet, Your workouts, Your mindset..... When and what to eat before a workout
Pre-workout meal ideasAre you wondering what foods to eat before workout? Here we have some pre-workout meal and snack ideas to ensure you fuel your exercise correctly by eating the right kind of workout foods including important carbohydrates and fats. I just got off the phone with one of my clients, she is doing really well, and consistently has lost between 2-4lbs every week for 10 weeks now, she is over the moon as you can imagine! She was telling me about how she was going to go shopping this weekend to get some new clothes for when her partner returns home, after being away with work for 2 months! Can you imagine his reaction seeing his wife 20 lbs lighter! Amazing. Anyway, I wanted to share with you one of the reasons she has done so well.
Imagine this... ----------- We are stood, face to face, about 3 feet from each other. I throw 20 tennis balls at you, really hard and fast, not giving a chance to focus on one thing. What do you think happens? Yep, you will be lucky if you catch one, and you will be pretty panicked. You give up, thinking what was the point in ever trying to catch 20 balls. Now imagine, I give you plenty of warning, and throw just one tennis ball at you, at a speed you can handle. What do you think happens? Yep, you are 100 times more likely to catch it. Your confidence goes up, and then you are ready for the next one. ------------ Weight loss is no different to this. Too many people try to do 20 things at once, and then fail because they have too much to do. Or they don't understand each part of what they have to do. They then give up, as it seems too hard. The key to all of this is to master one thing at a time. Catch one tennis ball at a time. First tackle breakfast. Then tackle your workouts. Then tackle your mindset. Then social situations. Don't get side tracked, and only move on when the last discipline becomes second nature to you. We teach all of this over at SWIFT, if you would like a trial session to get your plan of action together, here's the link P.S I am teaching at Chiswick tonight, see you there. Don't worry, I won't be bringing my tennis balls along! Overwhelm leads to paralysis. Which then means you don't do any of it, and you soon slip back into old habits. 'TELL US THE SOLUTION SAM!" I hear you ask. It's this..... Focus on 1 thing at a time. Be relentless is mastering that 1 thing. Review the results from that one change, and then decide what you want to change next. Pick one thing a week to change, and be strict. If you mapped out the next 12 weeks, and then 12 things you wanted to change, you would be a different person in 3 months time. So, what's your one change this week? Reply, I am genuinely interested! This applies to every area of your life BTW, work, home, relationship, one change! I want to share something I use with all of my personal coaching clients.
It's so simple, actually, but if you stick to it, it works every time. Before I tell you though, let me explain the number 1 reason people fail with their new programmes or diets. People fail through overwhelm. Their is too much to think about, this new diet plan, my new breakfast, giving up alcohol, starting working out every day, the list is endless! I was starting to like Sharon even more at this point. She was over the moon when I sent her our nutrition pack, with a recipe book inside, because in her words, she could actually get excited about eating healthy food! Miracle! The big lesson from this is that you don't have to give up everything you love just to lose weight. The minute I tell you to cut something out, you will become obsessed by it, and you will give up eventually. All of our diet plans are written for REAL People. For real results. Like Sharon who ended up losing 7lbs in 14 days or Sarah who lose just under 1 stone in 4 weeks Or Michelle who dropped 2 dress sizes in 8 weeks. All through following a plan that made sense, didn't deprive them of anything, and gave them results that spurred them on every day. If you want to join the hundreds of others who have succeeded with Swift, click me. I was sent this by one of our Swift Boot Camp Members, Sharon.
Sharon joined on Jan 5th, yes she was one of the new year crowd! She was telling me about her previous diet attempts, and how her last trainer made her give up pretty much everything she loved in food. "I hated it! No pasta, no red wine, no coffee, no fun!" I was speaking to one of my Personal clients yesterday, and we had a bit of a breakthrough, she finally learnt to say no. Sounds so simple doesn't it, but it's actually pretty hard. My client, Mary we will call her. You see, Mary was forever saying yes to things in the past, like new diets etc, knowing full well she wasn't ever going to do them. But she would say yes, would start the new diet plan, would fail after a few days, and then get really down about it, and would beat herself up for weeks, and months afterwards.
She didn't realise the effects of this until yesterday, but it meant that every time she didn't complete a diet, she thought she was a failure. Now, if you tell yourself you are a failure every day, or every week, it eventually takes it toll. Mary now says NO a lot! She knows her body, her limits and what she will be able to take on. If she isn't ready, or not sure, she says no first, then researches it properly before saying Yes or giving the final No. Start paying attention to what you tell yourself, it all has an impact. "Thanks for being so easy to work with - you made me feel comfortable when talking about weight, tough days, results, questions - everything involved in a weight loss and health journey. And most of all, you made me feel like I could actually make this change in my life. You knew what you were talking about and it showed in my results." Kathy - Lost 13lbs
I don't no about you, but when I train more I eat better, which makes me want to then train more, you get the idea. You see being healthy is SO much more than simply training hard. Sure some people are lucky, and can eat whatever they want, but most people can't, its simply not in your genes. I am one of those who has to think about what I eat constantly, a few weeks of not eating well can have a big impact for me which can be tough. The solution I have found is to switch my mindset, and focus on the amazing food which is available, healthy and really quick to make. Even on the go, there are healthy options, it just takes a few minutes of preparation thinking before hand.
I spend an hour of so on Sunday evenings planning my meals for the week, and then ordering them all online, or making a note of when and where I will be able to get it. I do all of this online using the BBC good food site. It's amazing, it has thousands of recipes, and you can add them to your shopping basket in one click of a button! I am so impressed with is, I have set up an account online for you to all see and share. You can add your best recipes, and we will all be able to see it. It's an open account, so we can all benefit. Seriously, if you get your diet right, your results will improve massively. Make it your mission to love what you eat, and you will see a big difference. Here is the link "I could throw away the last 6 months of SWIFT's newsletters, and it would STILL be worth is just for this months Recipe Book!" That's the message I got from Charlotte Jones, One of my Golden Girls here at SWIFT Boot Camp. Funny thing is, Charlotte isn't joking either my friend. Even though the content and newsletters I send is responsible for hundreds of kgs in weight loss for our members (maybe more). That's not even including the Boot Camp!
Charlotte thought this months Recipe Book was PURE GOLD! See, it was a 'Swipe File' A Detailed Recipe Book that literally showed her how to eat well, with amazing recipes that are healthy, quick and easy. It's that simple, we know what you need to succeed, and we work our socks off to get it for you. The amazing thing is, it's all FREE when you Join Swift. Trust me, the boot camps are worth the month alone, but to top it off, we supply our members with more information and proven programmes than ever before. So I guess this is a bit of a pitch, because if you want results like:
Then NOW is the time to take the leap of faith. Or keep trying to figure this 'weight loss' thing out yourself.... Click me to sign up Sam 'Don't bin my newsletters' Warrington P.S Again this may sound a little harsh, but if you aren't prepared to invest in your body, how can you expect to ever reach your true potential? Morning,
You may have seen on our facebook pages, but I have now become partner in Muki Sports. Those of you who train in Clapham will know Alastair (the Wireless Guru). Well we have both just launched a new business I am extremely excited about! Muki Sports - Making Children's Fitness and Sports Awesome! |
