Dropped the ball on exercise? YOU can get back up and come back better than ever before.
A wise man named Joshua Rosenthal once said “work on your primary foods and your secondary foods will come good!” And that is TRUE! We all know what we ‘should’ be eating yet for whatever reason, eating the foods that support us to function at our optimum level doesn’t always happen. It can be THE most frustrating thing EVER!
As a health coach, I support you to check in with four aspects of your life; relationships, career, exercise & spirituality which we term as your primary foods. These are the places you will get the most nourishment as a human being. If one, a few or all of the four pillars of nourishment are off balance, chances are you will not be eating the foods that are right for you and your body.
One primary food that fell apart for me 18 months ago was exercise. Prior to this point, I’d got myself to a place where I was training 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day and at least 3 hours on a Saturday. Then like life does, it threw a big greasy curve ball at me in the shape of my dad being diagnosed with advanced cancer. Whilst already being his primary carer, this diagnosis, meant I had to devote more time than ever to support him to get to a place of stability and be as well as possible. I literally went from doing at least 10 hours of training a week to nothing, ZILCH, ZERO! And my body and mind did not like it one little bit.
Fast forward to November last year, I was tired, cranky, out of shape and desperate to get back to some form of exercise so I could walk my talk along with my clients. But I knew whatever I did was gonna HURT. My great friend Lisa Hetherington had suggested for many months to get myself down to a CrossFit gym. I knew that these CrossFit peops were bad asses. I’d looked up the videos; I looked up where my closest box was. I’d looked at the videos again….. NO WAY WAS I GONNA BE ABLE TO DO THIS I kept telling myself; building a big emotional brick wall around getting back to exercise so high that I just made it seem psychologically impossible to get over.
After a stern talking to from Lisa I made a call to my local CrossFit gym and spoke to the AMAZING Rachel Steadman (she will forever be known as this to me!) She gently coaxed me in to visiting the gym. Once there, she coaxed me to book on to the taster session. I will never forget my Taster Session. I can remember sitting outside the gym and the little mind gremlins were telling me I could just run away now, never come back. I could find something else to do less scary, less, well just less. I had to take myself to one side and give myself a good talking to. One thing came out of that team chat for one, I deserved more not less. Our minds do not always know what is good for us.
When it comes to starting exercise you have to get out of your head and into your body.
And that’s exactly what I did. I left the stupid negative mind gremlins strapped into the boot of the car and walked through the door of the CrossFit 3D and I was IN!
Fast forward again to present day, I’m training at least 4 days a week, which is perfect for the time I have to commit to exercise. CrossFit 3D and the AMAZING community of people there have pushed me to what I thought my limit was and way beyond to a place I didn’t even know I had in me.
Last week I did the CrossFit Games open WoD. At first, I couldn’t even lift the prescribed weight to my shoulders let alone push it above my head five times. But, with the help and commitment of Trainer Mike Madden, Head Trainer Karl Steadman and the amazing Trainer Rachel Steadman, I did it! The five minutes leading up to that count down was the most nervous I have ever been in a long time. I didn’t want to let my self-down. And, I didn’t want to let these people down who have got me to a place I could never have dreamed of in such as short space of time.
The one bit of advice that sealed the deal was from Trainer Karl. He said “it’s just exercise, have FUN!” and that’s just it! Its exercise at the end of the day. And having loads of fun from our sometimes mundane lives. Exercise strengthens your body, strengthens your mind, releases endorphins (think FEEL GOOD hormones), boosts you confidence and shows you that you can achieve more than you EVER thought you could achieve.
In that 10 minutes of exercise I managed 93 reps. I lifted more weight above my head more times than I have ever before. As I was reminded later that day, I hit TWO personal bests in one day. I am by no means the fastest or the strongest, but with the help and support of the Crossfit 3D coaches and community, I’m in the game working on my primary food of exercise and working at getting better. AND, I can honestly say, I woke up on Sunday morning and contemplated doing the Open WoD again to see if I could get a better score.
So why am I sharing this story with you? Because exercise for some can seem the most terrifying thing ever. But, in the wise words of Trainer Karl “it’s just exercise, have FUN!” And as one of my clients has said, sometimes you have to just get over yourself and DO IT.
If you have made exercise your nemesis here is a short exercise for you to help switch your mind-set:
- Sit down and write out a list of 10 good reasons why your body will LOVE exercise.
- Write down those reasons quickly so the brain doesn’t get chance to filter and the mind gremlins don’t get a chance to have their say on the matter.
- THEN write down in your diary when you are going to exercise and where. Set up a meeting with yourself and your exercise in your diary.
Chances are you wouldn’t cancel an important meeting with anybody else. And the most important meetings of all are with YOU!
Find your exercise that works for YOU and do it, consistently. Don’t be scared of pushing yourself, get your heart rate high and get out of breath.
Your body will LOVE you for it and your mind will soon catch up, PROMISE!
To find your local CrossFit gym go here.
Quick bit of advice before starting any exercise regime, if you haven’t exercised for some time and you have health concerns, you may want to talk to your doctor before starting a new exercise routine.