If you read my blog back in December you’ll remember how awful my fitness levels were and me setting myself my fitness goals; so how have I got on?
Well, you’ll be sad to hear that I have yet to achieve the Arnold Schwarzenegger physique that I know you were all dying to see…. however that doesn’t mean I haven’t made drastic improvements to my general fitness.
When I started my “fitness journey” after my original blog, I think it’s fair to say that I didn’t hit the ground running. I started to attend more sessions but my motivation levels were pretty low and I was still very lazy when it came to pushing myself. I was also still throwing up on a regular basis!
If I’m being totally honest, there were no real signs of improvement in my nutrition for quite a while either. My problem was that I was giving myself too many compromises that were all too be good to be true. For example, finishing a hard workout and thinking to myself that was an okay excuse to order a large Texas BBQ pizza from Dominos and still thinking I was being healthy because I was training. This cycle continued for a short while and I was getting nowhere.
So what changed? After yet another session that ended up with my head down the toilet I started to feel really frustrated with the fact that I was 20 years old and there were people over twice my age running circles around me in sessions. It was time to step up my game…
The first challenge was sorting out my nutrition. Now if you’re anything like me and want to start eating healthily you might struggle at first to find really tasty foods that are also nutritious. My advice would be don’t be afraid to try new things, I have found so many new healthy food and meals that I never thought I would enjoy in a million years! That’s not to say I haven’t come across certain foods that were just as bad as expected or worse, (like kale chips – kale chips are horrid and should be made illegal) but I was really surprised at all the great healthy foods that I’ve really enjoyed! I’ve even gone as far as starting to fill in one of Potential’s custom-made food diaries which has really helped me keep on track of what I’m eating, and it really couldn’t be any simpler and easier to follow!
After a week or two of being consistent with my healthy eating, I really started to notice the difference. My energy and focus levels had gone through the roof and In general I just felt great! I still crave bad foods now and then but it’s important to focus on the long-term goal over the short-term satisfaction of all those very tasty but very unhealthy foods.
All the benefits of eating well has also really helped to improved my performance when training, Obviously there are still tough challenges when it comes to pushing yourself to your full potential (if you’ll pardon the pun) but with the right fuel in tank, a good mindset on reaching my goals and constancy when training, I could really feel the difference and felt so much better for it! I’m now at a point where I can easily get through sessions without throwing up and sometimes even go to a double session!
I used to be the guy in the office who kept a secret stash of Hobnobs in my desk drawer and couldn’t get through 15 minutes of a session without feeling sick. But now if you look you look in my drawer the only thing you’ll find is a banana and some cashew nuts!
So although I have yet to achieve every goal I have set myself, after seeing these small but promising improvements I can see the long-term goal in sight, and the only person who can make or break these goals is myself. I look forward to writing to my next blog in a few months’ time to give you the update of how it’s been going!
If you’d like to find out more about how you can finally find the Fitness and Nutrition Programme which works for you click here or give us a call on 01444 484129.
