Are you struggling with motivation?

“I’m looking for something to keep me motivated”

You might have heard that losing weight is 80% nutrition and 20% training

It’s not, it’s 99% consistency 

Which means accountability and enjoyment 

If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, that’s fine, just know the results won’t stick

Because, eventually you’ll quit

If there’s no accountability, that’s fine, just know that you aren’t being coached

Because you’re being baby sat

Enjoyment comes from being challenged at the right level for you

Being surrounded by a great, supportive community that cares about you and your goals

And enough, but not too much variety for your training

You want some new stuff but also you want to achieve mastery of the basics

Accountability comes from you being part of a close knit group that cares for each other

From being checked on when you don’t show

And make sure you’re coached to set and move towards meaningful goals at regular intervals 

If you put that all together that’s the best solution we’ve found to motivation

Or, at least, to keeping you consistently showing up, and enjoying yourself

Which then follows with the results you’re after

And increases your motivation

You can do this yourself, find a group of friends, keep each other on track

Or, you can find somewhere that does this as part of what they do

Either will work for you!

Memento Mori “Remember you must die”

Morbid. Or is it a great way to live life to the fullest?

Are you spending your time on the thing that matters most to you

You’ve probably never spent time deciding what’s important and devising a plan to spend time on those things

If you don’t, someone else will decide for you

That’s probably why you feel so busy but like you have no time for yourself

This is how to start using Momento Mori to improve your health and your life

First, you have to figure out what is most important to you

Family, health, financial security?

When you’re on your death bed, what are the areas of your life that you will be most grateful for

If you’re like our Personal Training clients, health might be important to you!

Will it matter whether you answered 15 emails on July 17th 2022?

Or that you turned off your phone and spent time with a loved one

Either could be the right answer, those 15 emails could be about changing a life for the better

Next, you create urgency around the important things.

You’re 45 and the average person lives to 80, you have 35 years left.

A pretty long time.

If you speak to your mum 4 times a year and she’s 70. You only have 40 more conversations with her

Either make sure they’re meaningful conversations, or put a reminder in to call her every week (brb putting in a reminder, sorry Mum)

Imagine how much more present you would be during birthdays, catch ups, playing with your kids, making sure you look after your health, with this approach

Do this with the 3 areas of life that are most important

And spend your time on the things you love, and the things that matter most

The 10 minute hack to getting fitter, stronger and leaner

What if I told you it only takes 10 minutes a week to get fitter, stronger, leaner and healthier?

You’d think it was a trick

It’s a hack we get every Personal Training client onto when they start here at Blinco Built

The hack?

Plan your week!

Firstly, plan the meals you’ll eat 

Secondly, the days and times you’ll exercise

And lastly, don’t forget the fun part, the times you’ll go out and enjoy yourself

This process is called an implementation intention and it makes it 3-4 times (300-400%) more likely you will do the thing

Just by having a plan you cut out the issue of not having enough time to get to the gym, or go for a walk

Of giving into the temptation of unnecessary snacks

Lacking the mental energy to come up with what to make for dinner after yet another chaotic day

It sounds too simple, but think of everyone you know that exercises religiously

That eats well and stays away from snacks

What do they all have in common? 

I guarantee its sticking to a routine

They started that routine by planning and over time, months and years, it’s become habit

You need to start somewhere, and that somewhere, is with a plan 

Not 4 hours of meal prepping, not training 9 times a week, not giving up carbs and alcohol forever

Just a simple weekly menu in the Notes section of your phone

Booked in time to exercise in your calendar

And booked in events or just a recurring reminder of when you usually go out for lunch or dinner on the weekends

This last one is the one most people miss

If it’s going to be sustainable, you need to include your social events, birthdays, work lunches

They’re a part of the plan, because if they’re a part of the plan you’re much less likely to have an “ahhh stuff it moment” 

You know the one where you say “Ah stuff it” and eat everything in sight? 

Yeah, plan for that

It doesn’t have to be forever, create the plan, trial it, refine it, improve it, try it again

And with time, it’ll become habit and you’ll wonder why you hadn’t started sooner

What parenting can teach you about weight loss

If you’re a parent, you’ve probably had this thought

“If I have to tell my sweet little angel to stop taking the plates out of the cupboards one more time I’m going to scream!”

It could be toys out the basket, shoes off the rack, clothes out the wardrobe

You’re a parent, you know the drill

As a parent you also know that the only solution is consistency 

You have to consistency give (and show) your child the same message over and over

It’s the repetitions that drive the growth of the behaviours you want your child to have

And whilst getting those reps in can sometimes be frustrating, it’s a great lesson

You see, you’re no different

How many times have you tried to lose weight? 

If you’ve ever given up, quit exercising and stopped paying attention to what you eat

You’ve gone away from the golden rule

Consistency!

You’re not going to give up on your child

And it’s that determination and will that you need with your own efforts

Our personal training clients that get the best results are the ones that stay the most consistent

The fact that you can do it as a parent for YEARS on end means that you have the ability to be consistent

You just have to start doing it for yourself

Why its important

If it helps, think of it this way 

Actually showing your child that consistency of effort reaps rewards will be a much better lesson than just telling them

After all, if they’ve ever repeated a word you’ve said but told them not to say, you know the old adage is true

Children don’t do what we say, they do what we do

So why not put your skills into action for yourself

Then become the unrelenting mother or father to your own efforts

And reap the rewards!

What matters more, quality or quantity?

It is possible to lose weight eating McDonald’s, that is true. 

However, you know from experience eating a Cheeseburger medium meal (1,100 calories) is yum

But, isn’t nearly as filling as eating a 300g sirloin steak and 3-4 handfuls of veggies (800-900 calories)

You might not even be able to eat that much steak

Satiety (feeling of fullness) is the unsung hero of good nutrition habits

And that makes sense

We see the best long term Personal Training results when people eat less calories and while still feeling full 

More nutrient dense foods generally keep us fuller for longer, whereas foods sold in packets or at fast food restaurants do not

You can see why the principle of 80% whole foods might be important

Especially for a gym that has “Results based approach to the five factors of health” as one of it’s Core Values

It simply goes without saying that if a rounded approach to health is the goal

That includes but isn’t limited to maintaining more optimal weight and body fat levels

Then quality is just as, if not more, important than quantity

How to balance quality with quantity

The leeway of 80% gives you the opportunity to approach your nutrition with a bit of give

Long term success requires some wiggle room

You can either hit 80% of your meals perfectly and give yourself a bit of a leash for the other 20% 

Or, you can hit all of your meals about 80%

This gives you the ability to eat pasta and have a little mayo on the side, or a combination of both

Of course, accountability is still key with this approach as with any

And recognising that life will get in the way

So you don’t have to be too discouraged if this starts to slip when stress levels go up

Or motivation starts to wane

That’s where a kick up the bum might be required 

And that’s when you need to get in contact with a good coach, to help you stick to it!

Everything is a skill. 

Once upon a time you didn’t know how to tie your shoelaces

What about your job? Did you walk on and know everything you know now and do the same quality of work you do now?

Of course not!

Training and nutrition are no different. 

You can’t expect to try once and be incredible

No one has ever performed anything of difficulty well the first time they tried

You will have to try and fail, like you did when you started your job

And deal with mistakes, like you still have to do with your job, and with time and help you will get better

It helps to get someone to show you the ropes 

Which is why all our members start with Personal Training intro sessions

Imagine starting a job where no one tells you anything, and you’ve just got to scrawl through google and instagram to find out how to do everything

You probably wouldn’t stay for long

Sure, you can figure things out on your own, but it’s the long route

Finding someone to help you on the journey, that’s the easiest way to success

Someone to show you the ropes, the common downfalls and what needs to be achieved

You’ll put your own spin on things, but it helps to have support and guidance

Take on your health journey as if learning a new skill and you’ll be better able to see failure as learning and mistakes as growth

Change your environment, change your life

When was the last time you did an audit of your environment? Probably never?

Have you ever looked around at the spaces you inhabit and thought, 

“How could I make it easier to do the things that will take me towards my goals AND make it harder to do the things that take me away from my goals?”

This, more than habits, will make you more likely to achieve your weight loss goals and live the life you want to live

One of the top priorities with our Personal Training clients is to have them audit their environment to make it easier to make the right choices when it comes to their weight loss goals

Things like:

Taking processed food out of the cupboard

Putting a fruit bowl on the kitchen bench

Laying out your gym clothes the night before

Filling up your water bottle and leaving it next to the coffee machine

Having meals in the freezer

Parking further away from the shops….

All of these things take away the need for decisions

They take away the fluff between will I or won’t I, they make it much easier to just do!

How to do this? 

Walk around the house, the office, wherever you spend a lot of your time  

List off the things that take you away from your goals and towards your weight loss goals

Think about how you can turn it more towards the positive and away from the negative

Pro tip: adding is just as good as subtracting i.e. adding a fruit bowl etc

How to get a good nights sleep

Your day doesn’t start when you wake up, it starts before you go to bed and (hopefully) get a good nights sleep

How you sleep is the biggest factor that will determine the outcome of your day

So if you’re having a bad nights sleep it’s incredibly hard to do the things you know you need to do

This compounds the problem, and makes you feel worse because you feel like you need more discipline or more willpower

When really, what you need, is more sleep!

Good news is it doesn’t have to be complicated, a big problem that might have an easy fix

We’re big on getting the foundations right when our Personal Training clients first start with us

That way, you reap the benefits of all the hard work you’re doing

Sleep is no exception

Start with these 4 things as the foundation for a good nights sleep

1) get 20-30 minutes of sunlight into your eyes a day (obviously not looking directly at the sun, just outside without windows or glasses blocking the light)

2) completely blackout your room at night (no phone light, little tv red light, no light coming in the windows)

3) turn off all devices an hour before bed

4) cool room, it should be a cold enough to need a blanket (not an issue at the moment)

Try at least 1 of these 4 things for a week and if you aren’t sleeping better I’ll eat this sled