I'm tired, achy and just a bit blah! I've trained hard for the last 3 weeks. Don't get me wrong, I love training, and training hard, but sometimes you just have to take it easy. Well, easy-ish!
If you insist on pushing hard all the time, you eventually (probably sooner rather than later) will become over-trained.
Over-training is basically where the training volume and intensity exceeds the bodys ability to recover. Don't get me wrong now, intensity and volume are vital to getting results, you won't get all big and strong without a little concept called progressive overload. The body will adapt to the stresses placed upon it (up or downgrading as necessary to deal with what it needs to deal with on a regular basis). However this doesn't mean you must go hard all the time. Try it, but I warn you, it sucked ass. Seriously sucked butt.
Some of the symptoms include:
- Washed-out feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy
- Mild leg soreness, general aches and pains
- Pain in muscles and joints
- Sudden drop in performance
- Decreased immunity (increased number of colds, and sore throats)
- Decrease in training capacity / intensity
- Increased incidence of injuries.
The list goes on but you get the point.
There are easy ways to check that you don't over-train. Keep a training log, record how your training is developing. If you notice a drop off in performance or note that you are struggling with your workouts, time to step back for a week or so. Trust me, you will reap the rewards for taking time out to recover and come back stronger.
This week I've been taking a deload week in my training. That is, continuing the workouts I'd been doing, deadlifts, squats, lunges, bench press, rows etc, but reducing the volume and intensity by about half. This allows me to recover and work on technique, rehab any niggles and continue improving my mobility.
Next week I am starting Eric Cresseys' Maximum Strength program. I'll keep you all updated over the course of the 12 week program. I'll start with my stats at the beginning, 1RMs on the lifts used in the program and take it from there.
On another note, I've completed the theory section of my level 3 Trainer course and scored 80% on my practice theory exam. Good but not as good as I want it to be so study, study study for me! On to the coaching theory section of the course now. Progress is going well, I feel on track with the goals I'd set myself at the start of the year. I'd love to hear how anyone else is getting on with theirs (if anyone reads this that is!)
Anyhow, as usual I'm on Twitter - @b_fast, and on facebook - dave ballantine.
Thursday 27 January 2011
Sunday 23 January 2011
Personal Training study...The bare bones!
As part of this blog, I am going to detail the various topics that are necessary to understand in order to become qualified as a Personal Trainer.
It starts with the components of fitness, that is, what makes up total fitness? The answer is that to truly "fit" you must have the following:
Social fitness - building friendships and getting on with people,
Mental fitness - thinking positively about oneself and those around you. i.e. not spending too much time in your "dark place!"
Medical fitness - being free of medical illness, an apple a day and all that!
Nutritional fitness - eating a healthy and nutritionally balanced diet i.e. cut down on the pizza and eat some greens, and apples...
Spiritual fitness - having a belief system that guides morals and values i.e. religion, spirituality, or whatever floats your boat.
Emotional fitness - looking after ourselves and how we feel, respecting ourselves and others,
and of course, Physical fitness - the ability to cope with physical demands i.e. lifting heavy stuff!
Obviously we are interested mainly in the last of these, but in order to be truly fit, we must look after all the other aspects. So eat up your greens, go see your doctor, make a friend, be happy, pray, have some "me" time and lift some heavy stuff and you should be ok!
Moving on then, we have some definitions:
Muscular strength - the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to exert maximum force in one contraction.
Muscular endurance - the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to contract continuously other time without fatigue.
Cardio fitness - also referred to as fitness, it is the ability of the heart and lungs to transport and utilise oxygen in the production of energy.
Flexibility - the ability to take joints and muscles through their full range of movement, and
Motor skills - this is a general term which includes co-ordination, reaction time, agility, balance and speed.
From here we move on to Anatomy. The base of your body is of course the skeleton.
The skeleton is made up of 2 components:
1. The Axial skeleton - made up of the skull and mandible (jaw), the spinal column, (cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertibrae), the sacrum, coccyx, the sternum and ribs.
And,
2. The Appendicular skeleton - The shoulder girdle (scapula and clavicle), the humerus(upper arm), ulna and radius (forearm), the carpals (wrist), the metacarpals (hand) and the phlanges (fingers). The pelvic girdle (iliom, ischium and pubis), the femur (upper leg), the tibia and fibula (lower leg), tarsals (ankle), metatarsals (foot) and phlanges (toes).
The girdles are what attaches the upper and lower extremites to the the axial skeleton. This system of bones meets at joints, the location and type of connection varies, and the muscular system attaches to the skeleton to provide movement. Joint types and the types of movement possible at these joints is going to be the focus of the next thrilling Personal Training installment of this here blog (though not necessarily the next post!)
As always, I would welcome any comments, or if anyone has any good resources to recommend on the topic of anatomy, physiology or kinematics, I would be greatly appreciative. I want to ensure that I can develop an excellent base of knowledge and this is quite simply where it all begins.
If you want to, you can follow me on Twitter, @B_FAST, or add me on Facebook, dave ballantine.
It starts with the components of fitness, that is, what makes up total fitness? The answer is that to truly "fit" you must have the following:
Social fitness - building friendships and getting on with people,
Mental fitness - thinking positively about oneself and those around you. i.e. not spending too much time in your "dark place!"
Medical fitness - being free of medical illness, an apple a day and all that!
Nutritional fitness - eating a healthy and nutritionally balanced diet i.e. cut down on the pizza and eat some greens, and apples...
Spiritual fitness - having a belief system that guides morals and values i.e. religion, spirituality, or whatever floats your boat.
Emotional fitness - looking after ourselves and how we feel, respecting ourselves and others,
and of course, Physical fitness - the ability to cope with physical demands i.e. lifting heavy stuff!
Obviously we are interested mainly in the last of these, but in order to be truly fit, we must look after all the other aspects. So eat up your greens, go see your doctor, make a friend, be happy, pray, have some "me" time and lift some heavy stuff and you should be ok!
Moving on then, we have some definitions:
Muscular strength - the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to exert maximum force in one contraction.
Muscular endurance - the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to contract continuously other time without fatigue.
Cardio fitness - also referred to as fitness, it is the ability of the heart and lungs to transport and utilise oxygen in the production of energy.
Flexibility - the ability to take joints and muscles through their full range of movement, and
Motor skills - this is a general term which includes co-ordination, reaction time, agility, balance and speed.
From here we move on to Anatomy. The base of your body is of course the skeleton.
1. The Axial skeleton - made up of the skull and mandible (jaw), the spinal column, (cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertibrae), the sacrum, coccyx, the sternum and ribs.
And,
2. The Appendicular skeleton - The shoulder girdle (scapula and clavicle), the humerus(upper arm), ulna and radius (forearm), the carpals (wrist), the metacarpals (hand) and the phlanges (fingers). The pelvic girdle (iliom, ischium and pubis), the femur (upper leg), the tibia and fibula (lower leg), tarsals (ankle), metatarsals (foot) and phlanges (toes).
The girdles are what attaches the upper and lower extremites to the the axial skeleton. This system of bones meets at joints, the location and type of connection varies, and the muscular system attaches to the skeleton to provide movement. Joint types and the types of movement possible at these joints is going to be the focus of the next thrilling Personal Training installment of this here blog (though not necessarily the next post!)
As always, I would welcome any comments, or if anyone has any good resources to recommend on the topic of anatomy, physiology or kinematics, I would be greatly appreciative. I want to ensure that I can develop an excellent base of knowledge and this is quite simply where it all begins.
If you want to, you can follow me on Twitter, @B_FAST, or add me on Facebook, dave ballantine.
Wednesday 19 January 2011
Workout resolution
I thought it was about high time I put up some workout stuff. Let me start by saying I used to be the clueless guy doing 6 different pec exercises, about a hundred crunches of various variations, squats with partial reps and some rows cause,you know, it was probably a good idea but I didn't know why!
Fast forward about 14 months and I'm not quite so clueless. A combination of my study, which is all well and good but is really just making sure you know the basics, extra reading (books, blogs, articles etc) and other resources like the Fitcast and Strength Coach Podcast which opened my eyes to some of the best trainers and coaches out there, Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson, Todd Durkin, Alwyn Cosgrove, Bret Contreras. Honestly, this list could go on and on but you get the point! These guys blew my mind with their take on things. Steady state cardio? Static stretching? Why? This is the 21st century people, we have moved on!
I had to re-think (or maybe I should say just think about) my workouts. Hi to deadlifts, squats, bench press, a 3:2 ratio of pulling to pushing, pull ups, chin ups and dips. Good bye to incline, flat and decline bench (you know, to hit all the angles.) Hi to the core revolution, Pallofs, ab rollouts, cable chops, swiss ball jack knives. No more crunches for Dave, no sir.
So, I've already put up my workout target of 150 workouts in 2011, thats 3 per week, and so far so good. I feel stronger, feel my posture has improved and my mobility is better.
I'm also going to put up my current lifts as a baseline to track my progress through the year.
Don't judge me.
Seriously, I'm new to this kind of lifting, Deadlifts might just become one of my favourite-est things ever! Only problem is I'm weaker than lite beer. Everyone has to start somewhere right? Right?
Anyway, here they are....
I figure that these exercises are pretty good indicators of strength and every month or so I'll update this blog with my progress. Hopefully I'll be able to achieve and maybe exceed my targets, I'm feeling great so far, and feel I can get a lot stronger!
As always, I would love to hear from anyone, with targets/ goals for the year and how you are getting on with them.
You can contact me on facebook, dave ballantine. Or on Twitter @B_FAST
Fast forward about 14 months and I'm not quite so clueless. A combination of my study, which is all well and good but is really just making sure you know the basics, extra reading (books, blogs, articles etc) and other resources like the Fitcast and Strength Coach Podcast which opened my eyes to some of the best trainers and coaches out there, Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson, Todd Durkin, Alwyn Cosgrove, Bret Contreras. Honestly, this list could go on and on but you get the point! These guys blew my mind with their take on things. Steady state cardio? Static stretching? Why? This is the 21st century people, we have moved on!
I had to re-think (or maybe I should say just think about) my workouts. Hi to deadlifts, squats, bench press, a 3:2 ratio of pulling to pushing, pull ups, chin ups and dips. Good bye to incline, flat and decline bench (you know, to hit all the angles.) Hi to the core revolution, Pallofs, ab rollouts, cable chops, swiss ball jack knives. No more crunches for Dave, no sir.
So, I've already put up my workout target of 150 workouts in 2011, thats 3 per week, and so far so good. I feel stronger, feel my posture has improved and my mobility is better.
I'm also going to put up my current lifts as a baseline to track my progress through the year.
Don't judge me.
Seriously, I'm new to this kind of lifting, Deadlifts might just become one of my favourite-est things ever! Only problem is I'm weaker than lite beer. Everyone has to start somewhere right? Right?
Anyway, here they are....
Deadlift 1RM of 128kg (280lbs). Deadlift target = 180kgs(400lbs)
Bench 1RM of 99kg (217lbs). Bench target = 120kgs(264lbs)
Squat 1RM of 135kg (297lbs). Squat target = 160kgs (350lbs)
Pull ups 6 reps of BW+18kg (113kgs) giving a 3RM of 118kgs (260lbs). Target=12reps @BW +20kgs
Dips 8 reps of BW + 22kg (118kg) giving a 3RM of 131kgs (288lbs). Target=12reps @BW + 26kgs
Natural Glute ham raise 6@BW (eccentric only). Target = 10 full reps.
As always, I would love to hear from anyone, with targets/ goals for the year and how you are getting on with them.
You can contact me on facebook, dave ballantine. Or on Twitter @B_FAST
Sunday 16 January 2011
2 weeks in...
Hi folks, here we are 2 weeks into 2011. 50 to go, and I'll bet that there are people who are starting to quit their resolutions already. I can understand that, really, I can. I've been there, at the start of the year with some grand sweeping changes planned and after 2 weeks I'm back to the same old routine and feeling pissed off about failing. It sucks.
But what I've (finally) learned is that you have to be prepared and specific. For example, I've set a goal of 150 workouts for the year, which is 3 a week. I'm right on track, 6 done so far and it feels good.
I've also planned to eat better and drink more water and less fizzy juice. So far so good. I'm eating lots more veg by taking a salad with me to work every day (except 2, but I'm better at prepring in advance now!), and taking full advantage of the water cooler near my desk and the water filter bottle I got for my Xmas. (Thanks zoe). I've cut out fizzy juice too.
Study is going well, getting more reading done at work while on lunch. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. I just deleted all the game apps on my iPhone and I had no more distractions (Damn you Angry birds!)
Getting up earlier is more of a challenge though. I have my alarm set for 6.15. But the damned snooze button is to tempting. Probably the late nights aren't helping. Need to be more organised and get to bed a little earlier, so I can get up a little earlier which means I get more done, so I get more tired and get to bed a bit earlier so I can... well, you get the point!
However, there are always obstacles. Little roadblocks that pop up to mess your plans up and derail your plans. The important point here is to plan your actions in case of one of these nasty little asshole roadblocks popping up. There is always a way to keep the plan on track, your challenge is to find it!
Family, work, friends etc etc etc. They all are important, but so are you. So make the time to make sure you get what you need and everything else will benefit too.
So to achieve your goals, make a plan, make it specific and stick with it, plan responses to any potential roadblocks you can think of and you can and will succeed.
I would love to hear about anybodys goals for the year, how you plan to achieve them and how you proceed through the upcoming 12 months.
You can contact me on Facebook at dave ballantine, or on Twitter @B_Fast.
Looking forward to hopefully hearing from you!
But what I've (finally) learned is that you have to be prepared and specific. For example, I've set a goal of 150 workouts for the year, which is 3 a week. I'm right on track, 6 done so far and it feels good.
I've also planned to eat better and drink more water and less fizzy juice. So far so good. I'm eating lots more veg by taking a salad with me to work every day (except 2, but I'm better at prepring in advance now!), and taking full advantage of the water cooler near my desk and the water filter bottle I got for my Xmas. (Thanks zoe). I've cut out fizzy juice too.
Study is going well, getting more reading done at work while on lunch. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. I just deleted all the game apps on my iPhone and I had no more distractions (Damn you Angry birds!)
Getting up earlier is more of a challenge though. I have my alarm set for 6.15. But the damned snooze button is to tempting. Probably the late nights aren't helping. Need to be more organised and get to bed a little earlier, so I can get up a little earlier which means I get more done, so I get more tired and get to bed a bit earlier so I can... well, you get the point!
However, there are always obstacles. Little roadblocks that pop up to mess your plans up and derail your plans. The important point here is to plan your actions in case of one of these nasty little asshole roadblocks popping up. There is always a way to keep the plan on track, your challenge is to find it!
Family, work, friends etc etc etc. They all are important, but so are you. So make the time to make sure you get what you need and everything else will benefit too.
So to achieve your goals, make a plan, make it specific and stick with it, plan responses to any potential roadblocks you can think of and you can and will succeed.
I would love to hear about anybodys goals for the year, how you plan to achieve them and how you proceed through the upcoming 12 months.
You can contact me on Facebook at dave ballantine, or on Twitter @B_Fast.
Looking forward to hopefully hearing from you!
Saturday 8 January 2011
How do you do yours?
Warmups that is. Everybody has their own idea about a warmup. It should be a period to prepare the body for the upcoming fun and games you are about to perform. Now, when you go into your typical gym what you will probably see is going to be along the lines of, guy wanders in and over to the treadmill/ stepper/ bike and does about 2mins at such a low intensity that your typical 90 year old could do it. Then off and over to the stretching area to do a couple of bouncy bouncy stretches - touch the toes, quad stretch, swing your arms around like you know what the hell is going on. Checks his phone, re-ties his shoes, checks the hot girls on the cardio machines. Then off to work through the bench routine - you know, bench, DB press (incline, flat and decline, just to make sure he hits all the angles!) Then some flyes. Probably the pec dec to make sure. Then some crunches. No legs cause thats hard work.
The workout is bad enough (but thats another story!)
What I'm more thinking of is the warmup. Now I will admit that in my not so glorious past training started with a run, a whole bunch of static stretches. No checking out the hot girls because:
1. There weren't any hot girls at the crappy gym I was using, (again another story), and,
2. I wouldn't do that, honest honey - I only have eyes for you!
Now, I like to think I'm a reasonably smart guy, so when I started studying and the course notes basically give you a more thorough version of the guy in the 1st paragraph efforts. So I'm thinking that I'm doing good, but i'm also doing a lot of extra-curricular reading. Nick Tumminello, Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson and Diesel Crew amongst many others and my world was rocked!
My warmups couldn't have sucked any more if they were made by Dyson. At worst, they didn't prepare me for what I wanted to do, and at worst they were preparing me, but only for an injury and subsequent grumpy Dave!
So, after some research and thinking about how it could be better, a little trial and error, I came up with my current warmup. Now, I'm not gonna say its perfect and I'll probably adapt as I progress, but this is how I start every single workout -
Foam roll - Hamstrings, glutes, ITB, back, lats, chest. Sometimes I use a tennis ball on areas of my back and chest if they are tight, and I swear I'm the only person in my gym who even knows what a foam roller is. Never seen them get used by anyone else. (except my girlfriend cause she is smart too)
Then,
Body weight squats x 10
Squat to stand x 10, then 5 per side of squat to stand with reach,
Spiderman x 5 each side, Start in a press up position, keeping your body straight, step you right foot up to outside your right hand, feeling the stretch in your hips.
Ankle mobility x 10 each side,
Press ups x 10,
Press up plus x 10,
Reach throughs x 5 each side, Start in a quadruped position, take the right hand and reach through between the left leg and arm, shoulder to the floor, feel the stretch in the right lat, posterior shoulder.
Scapular wall slides x 10
Glute bridge x 10,
X band walk x 10 each way.
I always feel ready to go after this. Sure i get some funny looks, but my mobility is better where it needs to be, and my body is warm and prepared.
I would love to hear anyone else's take on their warmups and thoughts on this topic.
I would also advise checking out Mike Robertson and Eric Cresseys "Magnificent Mobility", Diesel Crews Jimmy Smiths AMPd warmup and Nick Tumminellos Performance U stuff.
As always you can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/b_fast or facebook - dave ballantine
The workout is bad enough (but thats another story!)
What I'm more thinking of is the warmup. Now I will admit that in my not so glorious past training started with a run, a whole bunch of static stretches. No checking out the hot girls because:
1. There weren't any hot girls at the crappy gym I was using, (again another story), and,
2. I wouldn't do that, honest honey - I only have eyes for you!
Now, I like to think I'm a reasonably smart guy, so when I started studying and the course notes basically give you a more thorough version of the guy in the 1st paragraph efforts. So I'm thinking that I'm doing good, but i'm also doing a lot of extra-curricular reading. Nick Tumminello, Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson and Diesel Crew amongst many others and my world was rocked!
My warmups couldn't have sucked any more if they were made by Dyson. At worst, they didn't prepare me for what I wanted to do, and at worst they were preparing me, but only for an injury and subsequent grumpy Dave!
So, after some research and thinking about how it could be better, a little trial and error, I came up with my current warmup. Now, I'm not gonna say its perfect and I'll probably adapt as I progress, but this is how I start every single workout -
Foam roll - Hamstrings, glutes, ITB, back, lats, chest. Sometimes I use a tennis ball on areas of my back and chest if they are tight, and I swear I'm the only person in my gym who even knows what a foam roller is. Never seen them get used by anyone else. (except my girlfriend cause she is smart too)
Then,
Body weight squats x 10
Squat to stand x 10, then 5 per side of squat to stand with reach,
Spiderman x 5 each side, Start in a press up position, keeping your body straight, step you right foot up to outside your right hand, feeling the stretch in your hips.
Ankle mobility x 10 each side,
Press ups x 10,
Press up plus x 10,
Reach throughs x 5 each side, Start in a quadruped position, take the right hand and reach through between the left leg and arm, shoulder to the floor, feel the stretch in the right lat, posterior shoulder.
Scapular wall slides x 10
Glute bridge x 10,
X band walk x 10 each way.
I always feel ready to go after this. Sure i get some funny looks, but my mobility is better where it needs to be, and my body is warm and prepared.
I would love to hear anyone else's take on their warmups and thoughts on this topic.
I would also advise checking out Mike Robertson and Eric Cresseys "Magnificent Mobility", Diesel Crews Jimmy Smiths AMPd warmup and Nick Tumminellos Performance U stuff.
As always you can follow me on twitter at twitter.com/b_fast or facebook - dave ballantine
Sunday 2 January 2011
Happy 2011!
So here we are in 2011. What are everyone's goals for the upcoming year? I have been thinking about what I'm going to have for mine for a little while and what I've realised is you have got to be specific. No point in saying, "I'm gonna work out more," or "I'm gonna eat me less crappy food." Nope, no point at all!
These are just too general, do 1 more workout, eat 1 less deep fried Mars bar (honest, such a thing does exist here in Scotland, although mostly in Glasgow - the west coast heathens!) and you have achieved your resolutions. Congratulations. You are still out of shape and overweight!
Then you have to be realistic. "I'm going to get my bench up to 350lbs!" "I'm gonna never eat anything bad for me ever ever again."
Great, brilliant planning. If your bench is 280 now, then 350 is an achievable target. If you are currently weigh 10st soaking wet and struggle with the bar for 5 reps, then maybe, just maybe, 350 is a teeny tiny bit unrealistic. As for never eating anything unhealthy again, everyone has slip ups, cheat days etc but improving your diet to include more fruit and veg, more wholegrain fibre, less refined sugars etc will be much easier done in stages.
As for my own goals, well here they are:
1. Complete my Personal Training course, should be done by April of this year. I'll be assessing what still is outstanding and setting target dates for each assessment to be completed by.
2. Get up earlier everyday. I've got lots I want to do and since I can't add more hours to the day, then I have to use what is available a little more wisely. ( I have a couple of time management books, but cant seem to find the time to read them!)
3. I'm gonna get 150 (min) workouts done this year. That is 2.88 per week. so I can have 6 weeks with 2 workouts if I dont get them all in. Anything on top of the 150 will be a bonus, and I'll feel a little bit warmer and fuzzier on the inside with every extra one I get!
4. Eat cleaner. I'm going to make a real effort to prepare food in advance to make it easier to not go for the easy crappy option on the run. This will be a tougher one (see No. 2 above!) My initial goal is to consume more fruit and veg and cut down refined sugar and cut out Cokes.
5. Quit my current job! I hate retail, with a passion. That's not to say I don't work hard, I do. But I hate it. Its soul destroying, repetitive, unrewarding and, well I could go on but I think you get my point! Once qualified, the job search to get into a gym begins. I've got a couple of good contacts so that should make things a little easier. I also will be starting to take on my own clients and developing my own Personal Training business. I have a bit of time on this front so I'll be looking at the goal setting etc for this through the first half of the year.
So, there they are. My goals for the year, only 5 of them, but thats not to say there won't be more added. As I work towards each, ticking off the workouts, getting more done, quitting my job, targets will evolve. So as you work towards your goals, re-assess them and keep progressing and pushing your boundaries a little further one step at a time. You can do it.
To finish this post, a few quotes to hopefully inspire you towards what you want to achieve...
"A goal properly set is halfway reached," - Zig Ziglar
"Ask yourself this question: Does this activity move me closer to where I want to be or farther away?" - Larry Winget
“A goal without an action plan is a daydream” – Nathaniel Branden
And finally, “Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda
I would love to hear anyone else goals for 2011, I hope you achieve them all!
You can also check out my Twitter feed at B_Fast (http://twitter.com/#!/b_fast)
These are just too general, do 1 more workout, eat 1 less deep fried Mars bar (honest, such a thing does exist here in Scotland, although mostly in Glasgow - the west coast heathens!) and you have achieved your resolutions. Congratulations. You are still out of shape and overweight!
Then you have to be realistic. "I'm going to get my bench up to 350lbs!" "I'm gonna never eat anything bad for me ever ever again."
Great, brilliant planning. If your bench is 280 now, then 350 is an achievable target. If you are currently weigh 10st soaking wet and struggle with the bar for 5 reps, then maybe, just maybe, 350 is a teeny tiny bit unrealistic. As for never eating anything unhealthy again, everyone has slip ups, cheat days etc but improving your diet to include more fruit and veg, more wholegrain fibre, less refined sugars etc will be much easier done in stages.
As for my own goals, well here they are:
1. Complete my Personal Training course, should be done by April of this year. I'll be assessing what still is outstanding and setting target dates for each assessment to be completed by.
2. Get up earlier everyday. I've got lots I want to do and since I can't add more hours to the day, then I have to use what is available a little more wisely. ( I have a couple of time management books, but cant seem to find the time to read them!)
3. I'm gonna get 150 (min) workouts done this year. That is 2.88 per week. so I can have 6 weeks with 2 workouts if I dont get them all in. Anything on top of the 150 will be a bonus, and I'll feel a little bit warmer and fuzzier on the inside with every extra one I get!
4. Eat cleaner. I'm going to make a real effort to prepare food in advance to make it easier to not go for the easy crappy option on the run. This will be a tougher one (see No. 2 above!) My initial goal is to consume more fruit and veg and cut down refined sugar and cut out Cokes.
5. Quit my current job! I hate retail, with a passion. That's not to say I don't work hard, I do. But I hate it. Its soul destroying, repetitive, unrewarding and, well I could go on but I think you get my point! Once qualified, the job search to get into a gym begins. I've got a couple of good contacts so that should make things a little easier. I also will be starting to take on my own clients and developing my own Personal Training business. I have a bit of time on this front so I'll be looking at the goal setting etc for this through the first half of the year.
So, there they are. My goals for the year, only 5 of them, but thats not to say there won't be more added. As I work towards each, ticking off the workouts, getting more done, quitting my job, targets will evolve. So as you work towards your goals, re-assess them and keep progressing and pushing your boundaries a little further one step at a time. You can do it.
To finish this post, a few quotes to hopefully inspire you towards what you want to achieve...
"A goal properly set is halfway reached," - Zig Ziglar
"Ask yourself this question: Does this activity move me closer to where I want to be or farther away?" - Larry Winget
“A goal without an action plan is a daydream” – Nathaniel Branden
And finally, “Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda
I would love to hear anyone else goals for 2011, I hope you achieve them all!
You can also check out my Twitter feed at B_Fast (http://twitter.com/#!/b_fast)
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