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  • Principles to getting stronger

    Looking to get stronger? Don’t get confused by all the information out there, you really just need to do 3 things, consistently, and you’ll get strong fast!

     

    1. Overload – you need to overload your muscles, if you are doing a weight that’s difficult but you could move that weight 40 times without a break, it’s probably not hard enough. Realistically anything you could lift more than 20 times without a break probably won’t make you that much stronger (although it could have other benefits – that’s a different conversation) 

     

    1. Progression – the difficulty needs to increase over time, how you do that, more weight, reps, sets, less rest, is up to you and can be fun to try different things, as long as it is getting more difficult over time

     

    1. Recovery – in order to get stronger from exercise the muscles need to recover. Once again there are many ways to do this, days off, protein intake, nutrients, low intensity movement. It doesn’t matter how you help this process, just that if you want your muscles to improve they need time to repair

     

    If you hit these 3 principles, technically you could be doing the same exercises week after week and just change reps, sets, weight, rest, tempo and progress for years, and probably get stronger than you would ever have use for

     

    Of course, that might get boring, following a program that changes up is more fun and engaging and will help with consistency

     

    If you are looking for such a program, reach out and book a call

     

     

     

  • Looking to lose fat? This is your number 1 priority

    When looking to lose weight, your number 1 priority is eating less calories than you use. Simple

     

    That principle cannot be circumvented, it’s obvious too, think about the absurdity of doing the opposite of this principle, eating as much calorie dense foods as you can in order to lose weight, it doesn’t make sense

     

    Once you have that principle in place, it’s simply a matter of measuring the result and seeing if what you’re doing is adhering to the principle or not

     

    If, over time, you are losing weight, then you are clearly adhering to that principle, if you are gaining weight, then you are not

     

    Over time is a key factor here, this is not measuring weight changes from day to day and adjusting from one day to the next. Weighing in daily and then getting a weekly average (weigh in Monday-Sunday and divide by 7 to find average) is an incredibly effective method of tracking progress, I won’t go into the why here, I have done a post on this previously. However, it gives you snapshot and then you can look at each 4 week block and see whether you are trending down, staying the same, or trending up over that period

     

    You then adjust intake accordingly. The principle is that simple. How you adjust calorie intake is up to you

     

    Some people find keto works well for them, others find a low fat higher carb approach works well, or intermittent fasting, or a combination of those, or veganism, or carnivore

     

    These are all strategies that will only work when the first principle of eating for weight loss is followed, you cannot eat in excess of what you use and hope to lose weight

     

    The benefit to knowing this and keeping this clear in your mind is that you can try all these different strategies and find the one that allows you to stick to the principle of weight loss with the least amount of effort. Why would you want to use more effort than you need? 

     

    If you try one and find it impossible, maybe you can’t stick to keto, no problem, you’ve got hundreds of other strategies that will work better

     

    You might also find that the feeling of failing isn’t nearly as bad because you know what you need to do, it’s just a matter of finding the right approach for you at this point of your life

     

    Protein intake, vegetables, satiety, all important factors when finding the right strategy, but only if the principle of weight loss is followed first

     

    Try not to make things more complicated than they need to be, life is already complicated enough, make your health as easy as possible

  • The positive return from risk taking

    The positive return from risk taking

    Do you take risks? I don’t mean jumping out of a perfectly good plane, although that is taking a risk and can apply to this post, I mean taking a risk on yourself, like starting an exercise routine or attempting to get your nutrition in order 

     

    These are risks. You feel hesitant when you start, don’t you? The fear of failure can make these undertakings feel inherently risky

     

    I think that’s a good thing. You just have to reframe it: 

     

    The positive return from taking a risk isn’t the potential for gain i.e. losing weight, the real benefit is the growth inherent in pushing yourself outside your comfort zone

     

    Think about the impact this reframing, the next time you undertake something like a new healthy lifestyle regime, instead of having the belief that you will likely fail, you think to yourself no matter what happens here, if I learn something, I’ve won 

     

    Three things happen; firstly, you are more likely to get up and start, win, secondly you will be desperately searching for lessons to learn, so likely you won’t just learn one thing, but many, and if you’re learning things, and lastly, you are almost infinitely more likely to stick with it in spite of the inevitable setbacks, because you’ll start to realise that they are the lessons that will help you in the future 

     

    Things become fun when you take this approach, it’s why children don’t give up when learning to walk, or talk, because they are just so curious about what’s happening, they haven’t taught that failure is a bad thing, and that’s why they are constantly laughing when things don’t go as planned

     

    Imagine laughing when things don’t go as planned, imagine thinking to yourself, wow that was a great lesson. You just know that would keep you on track, if the you removed the fear of failure and instead looked for the learning inherent in undertaking risky tasks, you’d unleash an almost unstoppable version of yourself 

  • Internalised beliefs holding you back

    “Hey Joe, what’s with the salad mate? Going on a health kick? Yeah good luck mate” *knowing that he’ll never stick to it*

     

    Have you been here? Maybe it was a first time parent telling you about their plans to not let their toddlers use their mobile, or maybe it was a teenager telling you how they’re going to change the world

     

    We’ve all been there, outwardly supportive, but inwardly telling ourselves they’ll never stick to it

     

    Plot twist: You aren’t talking about them when you have those thoughts, you’re actually talking about yourself

     

    Congratulations, you’ve just discovered an internalised belief about why you couldn’t do such and such

     

    I actually mean congratulations, there is nothing better than discovering an internalised belief that is holding you back, and make no mistake, it IS holding you back. If you’re saying that about someone else, even internally, you are DEFINITELY saying that to yourself at some stage

     

    It’s likely stopping you from even trying something challenging, or could be the reason why you start but never follow through after you encounter the first hurdle

     

    There is a reason why you have that belief, someone passed it on to you, a parent, sibling, friend, colleague, Instagram, and the good news is that you can change it, you don’t have to hold onto it. Even if you’ve been holding onto it from childhood

     

    It’s weird, you change your phone every year or so, but there’s beliefs you have about the world and yourself that haven’t served you and yet you’ve held onto them for years, or decades and never questioned them

     

    This is your wake up call, it’s time to question them and decide whether you actually need them or not

     

    Do you believe that you can’t be fit and healthy? That it’s not possible for you? That’s a belief, not a fact, it can be explored, challenged and ultimately changed, it won’t be easy, but it can be done

     

    Try to be aware the next time you think to yourself, “they/I won’t stick to that” and try to think about the first time you had that said to you, or thought that about yourself, sit with it and decide whether you still need that belief or not, it might be time for an upgrade