John Lark

As a personal trainer I hear the most creative of excuses. It seems that even at this time of year that despite the wave of enthusiasm in the New Year, excuses are still being made to avoid the dreaded ‘E’ word. Even embracing a bit of change is like dragging a car.

Here are some problems and my solutions to them.

Problem “I don’t have enough time.”
Solution – You do. You just don’t know how to manage your time. You have the same time as every one else.

The same 24 hours that Bill Gates, Barack Obama and Warren Buffet have. You just don’t set exercise or eating healthy as near the top of your priority.

Stop, take check at your ‘time vampires’ (watching TV, nattering hours on the phone, reading trash mags) and be ruthless. Get rid of them. Make exercise and preparing healthy meals important and see the benefits.

Problem – “I have to look after other people”

Solution – try looking after your self FIRST. I call this ‘hurried mum syndrome.’ Looking after a house, three kids and in most cases a husband is a lot tougher when you are carrying around excess fat. Get rid of the fat and suddenly managing ANYTHING becomes a lot easier.

Problem – “Eating Healthy all the time is boring”

Solution – you just need to reframe what you consider as boring. This is a challenge as ‘cravings’ normally overwhelm your rational thinking. Instead of viewing a salad or vegetables ‘boring’ think ‘boundless energy, vitality, health, strength and well-being’. And who says you have to eat healthy ‘all the time’? We call for a 90 per cent compliance on our nutrition programme. This leaves 10 per cent for those foods that you consider a ‘treat’. It doesn’t have to be about denial and sacrifice.

“But I will have to give up chocolate and ice-cream”

Solution – Really? And live like a monk or an obsessive? Work these foods into your plan. The only thing you will have to give up is the notion that you can sit on your backside and think the pounds will melt off and that you can eat everything in the cupboard and dream yourself skinny. That is just delusional.

Problem – “I can’t afford the gym”

Solution – Exercise at home, in the park or head outside. Get a good workout DVD and have some fun with it. Alternatively lower all your stress hormones by heading outside for a brisk walk. A cheap set of Dumbbells will last you a lifetime.

Problem – “I don’t have a way of getting to the gym and besides I have to take Little Jonny to Scouts”

Solution – See above and stop making overly-creative excuses.

Problem – “I am injured”

Solution – That’s ok. Injuries are what I call andinconvenience’ not an ‘injustice’ . Exercise professionals will be able to work around your injury enabling you to still work towards your goals despite your set-back.

Problem – “I don’t feel like it today”

Solution – when IS a good time? Just start! Just do something that will make a difference. The Japanese have a philosophy called Kaizen. It seems to be the buzzword at the moment. But it means gradual and incremental improvements. Each day make a positive step towards your health and fitness.

Start immediately by doing something. It could be just heading out for a walk, deciding that you will have ‘breakfast in the morning and this is what I will have’, lifting some weights for 15-20 minutes.

My point is this if you are writing to do lists all the time – stop. Stop thinking about it and just do it. Paralysis by analysis.

Problem – “It’s boring.”

Solution – Yep, so is waiting in the Doctor’s office because you are too sick to do anything.   We are designed to move and eat healthy nutritious foods. As they say – prevention is better than a cure. Besides, exercise can be fun. Dance classes, group activity and meeting with friends for a good brisk walk can be fun.

So can making a healthy feast for your family and seeing your four-year chomp down a plate of veggies. Victory in the battle!

Next week more excuse busting! In the meantime, place your creative energy into making solutions not conjuring up elaborate excuses

Visit John Lark’s website at www.john-lark.com and download your free report on the ‘7 Most Effective Ways of Burning Fat’ including a free sample workout and meal plan.

For more information on personal training in dublin click here

What constitutes a successful approach to reaching your health and fitness goals?

In essence treating each and every person as an individual is crucial if you want to reach your health and fitness goals.

What motivates one will demotivate the other. Think of the gender and age differences, level of athletic ability, starting points for the programme. These all have to be taken into consideration.

However, there are several key principles that must be adhered to if you want success with any health and fitness programme.

1.    Tailor Your Goals and Establish a Time Frame – at Sphere Fitness this is established from the beginning and displayed in 12 week time frames. Each 12 week block is split into defined training phases. This allows us to keep momentum with your progress by allowing consistent and never-ending improvement.

2.    A successful approach will have regular and on-going assessments throughout. This allows the trainer and the client to review progress, aid with compliance and identify quickly any issues that may be arising from nutrition, lifestyle and training. Ideally weekly and at a minimum, monthly.

3.    A successful approach will have a tailored exercise programme geared to the client’s goals. This is reviewed and changed every 3-4 weeks.

4.    A successful approach will have the client work through the programme with 90% compliance i.e. not skipping sessions, training with purpose rather than ‘going through the motions’.

5.    A successful approach will recognised that as a trainee you are learning how to train rather than become baby-sat throughout the session. This will then stay with you for the long haul.

6.    A successful approach will provide a habit based approach to nutrition centred around 10 habits. These are worked on 1 at a time by the client in a progressive manner. 90% adherence to the plan is required for it to succeed in the long run. There are tools to measure this rate of progress. You will be asked to keep a food diary and a compliance chart score.

7.    A successful approach will use supplements that are geared to the client’s goals and assessment. Why? Because they work. At a bare minimum everyone should be using a good digestive enzyme, a good multi-vitamin, fish oil and some form of post-workout nutrition

8.    A successful approach will recognise the need for balance in one’s life and address this with tools that give calm and inner balance. Stress management is crucial to the success of all health and fitness programmes.  Sphere have a range of tools that we offer the client in this area.

Hopefully this gives the client an idea of what is expected in bringing success to the programme. This is project you! With that draws individual components that rely strongly on one another. If your training is excellent but your nutrition and supplement compliance is poor you will struggle. Likewise if you are a stressed bunny 24-7, results will be hard to achieve.

www.spherefitnessstudio.com