Spring had well and truly sprung and now it seems to have bounced back. Hopefully, we will get some consistent weather over the coming months. It makes everything easier to plan.
Spring brings change, out in our garden and at the park there are lots of blossoms on the trees. The birds are really starting to sing earlier in the morning. There are more creatures around.
The world starts to thrive in this season.
Change can be good but change can also bring with it uncertainty.
Our ability to cope with what the world throws at us has a massive affect on our health. Some days I feel bullet proof and nothing that happens could throw me off my plans.
Other days I can barely get started on a single thing, let alone take on the world.
Kids have certainly changed everything in our lives. Simple tasks like leaving the house can go smoothly or take 30 minutes. Using the wrong bowl for breakfast can cause a breakdown if not rectified immediately.
It was getting me down for a while, I struggled with how much my life had changed and felt that I was losing who I was.
Over the past couple of months, MY ability to tolerate change has been improving.
What’s changed?
I’ve prioritised following my own advice and started consistent exercise. Nothing major, just 20-40 minutes most week days and then an activity on one of the weekend days.
I haven’t been following a set plan. A little on the rower and versa climber for cardio and then some kettlebells, ropes, punchbag and body weight training for strength.
One of my mates has joined me so we get a chat while we’re at it.
No goals were set, just the aim of training each day to form a habit.
The side effect of it has been has been predominantly mental.
I feel good that I’m exercising. If the kids are around, they join in a little. They’re getting to see that exercise is something that you do and enjoy. It’s not a chore to be dreaded or avoided.
I think that is one of the reasons why our Achieve Bootcampers do so well. They attend consistently because the exercise is a major part of what we do but we also get chance to chat with like minded people who want to improve their health.
We have a laugh. I try to provide some info-tainment each session. Rambling on about my theories in nutrition and fitness or answer questions about the latest media stories that claim toasted strawberry seeds will cure flatulence in dogs (I’ve made that one up because I have a particularly fragrent dog sitting at my feet).
To improve your fitness, you have to be consistent. You can change the type of exercise to fit your goal but consistency is key.
The same is true of diets and weight loss. Consistency wins the long race, finding what works for you as an individual is the most important step in that.
It doesn’t matter that the world around us is changing rapidily; we as humans can’t keep up. We need to stick to basic rules, bio-hacks are fine when you are young but make you look a bit of an arse when you’re not.
If you need help with the basics and want to get started on a programme that changes with you consistently, we start our next block of Achieve Bootcamp on Monday morning.
Darren ‘be the habit you want to see in the world’ Checkley
PS Data rules are changing, I’m sure you’ve seen about GDPR in the media over the past couple of months.
Our systems followed the new guidelines anyway but we will be contacting you a couple of times next week to let you know exactly what you need to do. We pretty much have to start everyone again on our system, I’m just working out all of the details but I think you’ll literally just have to click on a link to confirm you want to keep hearing from us.
PPS Things have settled back down following the Easter holidays and I will be writing more regularly again. Again, we’ll let you know how our systems are changing in the coming weeks.
