Tis the season....

So after all my talk last post of hitting 3 workouts each week etc. this week I've managed 1. Thats right, 1. One single workout. Out of 3! 0.3333 of my intended workouts got done. Sometimes stuff just gets in the way of the best laid plans... A combination of family stuff, work, Christmas shopping (which in typical fashion, I completed on Christmas Eve at approx 1630!) got between me and the Plan.

The point is I got one good workout in, I didn't eat brilliantly all week but I did well enough, didnt really get enough study done but got a couple hours done, so I did make some progress so I'm happy with that. It'll only get better in the coming weeks, (and I will get more posts up on here!)

The study I've done this week has been on Anatomy:

1. The Skeletal System
2. Joints and connective tissues,
3. Muscles, origins and attachments,

Its been a lot of reading. Very interesting stuff, I think I'm turning into an anatomy geek! Don't think that's a bad thing though, some of the best coaches out there are self-confessed anatomy geeks (Eric Cressey, Bret Contreras and Mike Robertson amongst many others).
A good coach/ trainer has to have  a good understanding of anatomy in order to be able to coach well. To be able to understand how the body moves and coach improvements and increase strength and movement performance is vital. So every chance I get I'm reading blogs, articles and textbooks on anatomy. Constantly aiming to improve my knowledge as much as I possibly can. This is on top of the rest of the info I need to learn for the course. (Obviously, given the start of this post, not so much last week!)

Anyways... It Christmas Eve, I've got my pressies wrapped, a nice cold beer waiting with my lovely, festively crazed girlfriend, so I'm off to relax (and mentally prepare for the beast of cheat meal days tomorrow).

So I hope anyone reading this has an amazing Christmas and I'll be back before New Year for a post or 2 (thats my plan anyway!)

Hope Santa is good to you all...

Just a quick one today...

This post is gonna be a short one. I am aiming to post a couple of times a week, sometimes I might get 3 out, but I should always manage 2! That's the plan anyway!

I saw a Twitter post by Craig Ballantyne (@craigballantyne), a Canadian trainer with lots of good content (turbulence training etc).  He had a quote from Dan Kennedy, "New opportunity is a matter of choice not calendar."  In other words, why wait till New Years Day to make a change for the better? Sometimes its just easier to delay change because there is a fear of failure,  or of it being too difficult and uncomfortable. Ive already made some changes. I will make 3 workouts a week (before, I would sometimes make 1 and be happy to make excuses for not getting in the rest), I try to eat more than the recommended 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. I am trying to be more focused, more positive and get more done each day. I also try to get up early every day to get some study done first thing before work, but that is definitely difficult and uncomfortable for me!

What I've realised more and more is how much my nutrition affects everything else. Now, you may say, "What took you so long to work that out? Moron!" To which I would reply "Screw you guys!"
I'm a little slow sometimes, but I get there eventually!
I really noticed it yesterday. I had loads to do at home, I had to get over to see my folks (my mum broke her wrist falling on the ice. So like the dutiful son that I am, I went over to help out with whatever was needed), I wanted to get some study done, was meeting my girlfriend to go to friends to drop off Xmas pressies, then heading off with a friend to play basketball. However, I spent the day grabbing food on the run, and generally eating crap all day instead of eating smart. The result? Dave was GRUMPY! I only got half (being generous) of what I wanted done, I was lethargic, and I sucked at basketball(normally I'm something like Michael Jordan, just a little shorter, a little slower and not as bald!)
Today on the other hand, I started with a great breakfast of porridge with blueberries, banana and just a little maple syrup, later I had Oaty pancakes( so far so oaty) and another piece of fruit and just picked up a whole bunch of veg and fruit(planning a chicken and avocado salad for lunch. I feel so much better, energy is better, more focused and so far, much more productive. So I am trying to be more prepared and organised with preparing my food ahead of times so I always I have options for taking to work for lunch/ snacks etc. The alternative is I eat poorly and everything suffers!
I an effort to be more accountable to myself, I'm planning to post more on my eating habits, what I eat and some strategies I am using to stick to eating more betterer!
Anyone who reads this (if there is any such persons out there, I would love to hear any tips or obstacles you find to eating well consistently)

Anyway that'll do it for today. I'm off to do some pressie shopping, gonna get a workout in and a few hours study...not to mention planned some awesome eating!

Episode 2: getting you up to date...

Here we are again. I thought that this post would get us up to  date on how I got to this point, a bit more about my studying, a little on my training and we'll see what else I can fit in!

So, when I started this course I''m on, I had a reasonable idea of what was in store. What I didn't realise was the extent where this becomes a way of life! Before I started the course, my nutrition was all over the shop! Training was, well, lets just say I lifted heavy(ish) stuff but there was no rhyme nor reason to it! For both of these areas I was probably suffering from "paralysis by analysis." There is so much info out there, and to someone new (or not so new!) to training it can be exceptionally confusing!

Once I started though, I was able to focus my interest. I not only had the course notes to follow, but I also was able to be smarter about what info to filter out and what to keep.
About this time, I finally joined the cult of Apple! Yeah, I know, what took me so long? I always looked at Apple as the poor relative of the mighty PC. I was wrong, I love my iPhone. My girlfriend is a confirmed Apple fan, love the iBook and desktop badboy she has ( I used to think she was a poor mis-guided soul - I'm an idiot). Anyway the point is I discovered iTunes, and podcasts and The Fitcast and The StrengthCoach podcast. This changed everything about my training and nutrition through Kevin Larrabee, Dr Jon Fass and Leigh Peele and the awesome lineup of guests - many of which you can check out through my blog roll.
Thus ensued a large amount of study and my knowledge increased by huge amounts through a combination of my notes and extra reading. The funny thing is, the more I read, the more I want to find out. There is so much to find out, this has to be a lifestyle thing, not just a job!
Through all this work, I would defy anyone not to change their lifestyle a little, everthing you learn, the results you can see and the evidence that is presented is too much to ignore! Eating a little better, being a little more focused in workouts and a little more conscientious in the study. I've loved it all, even the tiredness from early morning study sessions before work! (it is a bit easier when what you are doing is what you've always wanted to)!

i'll go into more depth with various aspects of training/nutrition/ study etc as the weeks go on, but thats it for now.

p.s. I tried adding a follow me button for my twitter feed but the link didnt work, so if anyone does read this and is interested in following me, my twitter name is B_FAST.

In the beginning....

So, here we are...
In the beginning there was boredom. I was always interested in fitness, pretty clueless about the hows and whys, but always interested. I always had it in the back of my mind that I would like to become a Personal Trainer, but as with so many things, I didn't know where to begin!
I currently work in the happy world of retail. I say happy, but... It puts pennies in the bank, but is hardly fulfilling. Its not what I want to do, its not what makes me happy, so time to change!
My girlfriend encouraged me to follow this dream, and for that I will always be grateful, (although, I'm not sure shes always grateful when I say something like, "Honey, I've got a great new workout idea for you to try!)
So, here I am, studying my way towards my qualification that will get me into the industry and closer to achieving the dream of becoming a Personal Trainer and one day, having my own gym, (where I can have my very own Smith machine and put it to use as it should be - as a coat rack!)

The purpose of this blog is as follows:
1. To document my own training.
2. To allow anyone who is interested to follow my nutrition and help as an accountability tool.
3. To write about what I'm studying, this will hopefully ensure I know my stuff as well as I can.
4. To link to the blogs I follow and spread the word on health and fitness.
5. To try to keep it informative, helpful and try and keep it as light-hearted as possible!

Hopefully if anyone starts following this and it helps you, I would love to hear any comments, positive if possible! If my spelling, punctuation or grammar isn't perfect, tough sh*t, I mean sorry,  I'm not a writer, but  I will improve where necessary!

With the intro out of the way, here we go...