SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT WHEN GETTING STARTED

1.We are all unique. We’re all individual people, literally. Physiologically we all respond differently. So there’s really no one size fits all plan. What works for one doesn’t mean will work for another, this is especially true between men and women. Having a similar framework is fine such as days for training, eating whole foods, getting good sleep and stress management techniques - but the nuances within that framework, such as food triggers, training intensities, quantity, programme duration, all need to be individually tailored to suit your specific physiological and physical needs.

2. Getting yourself moving more is great… but if you’ve been generally inactive the key is to start by improving your movement quality before increasing the quantity - having a movement coach guide you at start is even better but if it’s not in your budget, you can do a little research yourself. Check our my blog for some tips. Remember good alignment doesn’t have to be really complex to be beneficial. Pain in your joints for instance, when exercising, is a big flashing red light to stop and seek professional guidance before the damage gets serious.

3. Put yourself first. This may sound obvious but it’s not often done. Work and family are often put ahead of our own health and fitness. This doesn’t benefit anyone at all as you will find you become less focused, more tired, less productive, more stressed and less patient. This is not the recipe for success. Remember the saying “Your health is an investment, not an expense.”

4. Plan ahead. Planning may be boring and takes a little time but it’s essential if you’re wanting to create long lasting change. If you want to create new healthy habits and behaviours you’ll need to plan ahead, book things in and prepare for those days that will be more challenging such as travel, meetings etc. If you expect and prepare for the harder times you’ll be much more resilient to the challenges.

5. Be kind to yourself. We can tend to be much harsher on ourselves than we would be on other people undertaking a similar process. This is not a healthy mindset and can be very negative within your life and jeopardise your good intentions and lead to failure which intern leads to more negativity. Allow for some give and take in your goals. As in business, you wouldn’t expect continual growth every day, year in year out. Some days, weeks and months are better than others.

“Read my story and how I thought it was too late for me to go back and start again…”