Don’t plan - just start

as you go into this new week you may feel blocked

Perhaps you started a new diet and you fell off already

Or maybe you joined a new gym and haven't been for 2+ weeks

RED FLAG!!

It's disgustingly easy to justify the failing. Your failing.

Here are some classic excuses:

Why did you fail on your diet?

"I was at a wedding!"

"I was travelling with work!"

"My husband bought us a takeaway!"

"I was eating out with friends!"

Scientifically, of course, we know these statements are BS!

But we all make them, so don't feel ashamed.

Just BE AWARE that you're making them.

How about when you miss your workout?

"I finished work late!"

"I slept through my alarm!"

"I'm really sore from the last workout!"

"My friend made me to go to the pub!"

...right....more bullcrap.

So how do we fix this?

Well, at RSG we do two things:

#1 - we hold our members accountable

In various ways we help reflect how an individuals habits have helped or hindered their progress.

This could be jumping on the body scan machine and seeing if body fat is going up or down

It could be our challenge app which gives points for daily tasks such as hitting a personalised calorie target, or getting 7 hrs sleep (undersleeping increases appetite thus making snacking more likely)

We track attendance and give helpful nudges to do better.

There are quite a few more ways we encourage consistency in our members but these are the most powerful.

and...

#2 - we educate and educate and educate some more!

If you knew what happened to your blood sugar when you ate an entire box of chocolates, you probably would do it less often.

If you knew how to order a healthy meal in a restaurant that STILL tastes amazing, you couldn't be dragged off a diet by friends and social occasions.

So we run seminars, give out PDF homeworks, answer questions online in our facebook group and generally make sure our members know tons about nutrition.

They go off track, of course they do, they are human after all (as are the coaching staff!)

But knowing the damage those 'cheat meals' cause to the body is vital to changing habits and becoming healthy long term.

If we let them remain oblivious, do you think they'd change their lifestyle?

* * *

Anyway, here's a few things you can do this week:

1) write down your goals, and notice your behaviour. Think, "is this decision taking me further away from, or closer to, my end goal?"

2) expect that MOST OF THE TIME you will be in a low emotional state. So don't plan to do 11 days of meal prep and live like a robot, get some healthy ready meals in, lots of nice protein snacks and some easy-to-cook family meals. So when you can't be arsed, you still get to eat healthy (vs binge on a takeaway)

3) remember that any plan is better than no plan. So go run 3 miles, do 15 mins of press-ups and squats, go and walk up a big hill. DO SOMETHING! You don't need a plan you need to get started.

Have a brilliant week

Rise Above

Ant

Anthony Shaw

Head Coach

Raw Strength Gym, Warrington