Hello! And welcome to the very first Adfitness newsletter. I will be covering all things motivation, fitness, health, nutrition, injuries and movement related. If there are any particular topics you would like to hear about, please email adfitness@live.com.
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Right then, I thought I would start with...getting started!
Getting started and most importantly, staying on track, are very difficult for everybody. It can be scary and our safety net is that we can always put it off to another day. Because, after all, if you don't try you can't fail....right?
Wrong.
Training is tough. Consistency in the gym, and in the kitchen, is tough. But it is what delivers results. No magic pills, potions, or shortcuts. We know that. It's consistency. Simple.
But there is something that we often miss that makes consistency very difficult to achieve.
The key to consistency is mindset. The key to mindset is vision.
What we want from training, what our end goal is. What we are putting the work in for.
Human nature is governed by reward. We are selfish and there is the "What is in it for me?" mentality. Life is busy: we have work, family, friends and many other things which we could be spending our time on. But to choose to train we need to know what is in it for us.
The key to that problem is simple, tell yourself. Have the answer on hand. Do you know why you train? Why you keep to an eating plan? Think about it for a second.
In Jamie Edwards book 'Mental Ketchup', he says most people go through life thinking about what they don't want. I quote,
"That would be like walking around a supermarket with a shopping list of everything you didn't want. Your behaviour would be quite erratic as you would have to spend time zeroing in on products you did not want to buy before you could even get to the ones you are looking for.
Clarity of vision is vital to acting with purpose."
To get started, think of what you want to achieve. Visualise your end result. Whether that is to look great, feel happier, become stronger or compete at a sport or event. It doesn't necessarily have to be grand or distant, the best goals are short term and manageable.
It is that clarity of vision we are after. Acting with purpose.
In all my time as a trainer, both as an amateur boxing coach and PT, the people who achieve the most are the ones with that tangible focus on what they want. I'm sure we know someone who set themselves what seemed like a big challenge, and surprised us with how they got on.
They have that hunger for what they want. This isn't about becoming obsessed with the scales if you are losing or gaining weight. Or the amount of weight on the bar if you are training for strength. Or times if you are running.
It's about immersion. Burying yourself into what you what you want to do. Having a passion for it.
Seeing the value in every day, every run, every round, every rep, every session.
Know what you want.
Find your why.
Apply yourself.
And enjoy.
Happy training.
Chris