BTO Gym - Built to Outlive

People will often tell me they’re too busy or don’t have time when it comes to their health and fitness…

It should come first… it’ll improve all areas of your life.

IYKYK

💡Improved health = more energy.

💡Improved energy = increased productivity.

💡Improved productivity = more free time.

Interesting, right?

The reality is that most are distracted with things that give them immediate gratification but don’t serve them too well afterwards.

When I work with busy people who’re successful in their jobs… I try to help them realise their health is a business too!

They already do it so I know they can apply it elsewhere.

It’s just dressed up differently…

Two Key Things to Consider for Next Week:

1. You’re not planning ahead…

If you don’t plan your exercise sessions or have ideas of meals in advance, you’ll struggle to fit workouts in and you’ll end up eating junk on the go.

You don’t need to meal prep everyday, but you can always make twice as much so you’ll have a meal on tap if needed.

2. You’re probably focusing on too many things.

One of my favourite analogies…

“If you focus on chasing 1 rabbit you’ll catch it, chase more than 1 and you’ll catch none”

It’s how I’m improving my Hyrox, I just focus on 1 station at a time.

Meaning…

Focus on one thing in that moment, whatever the priority is at the time.

You’ll know this when you data collect.

If you don’t, you’ll allow the drama to take over and cloud your judgement.

Focus on 1 key area but you can still slightly improve others too. I have a proven system that helps with this😃

Simple, right?

Sure, not necessarily easy.

But doesn’t need to stay feeling hard either.

Wanna know how to make it easier?

Well, we can chat.

Lessons from todays run…

1. You can’t run or hide from people.

If I run around town, it’s impossible for me to not bump into someone I don’t know.

I’m not sure if that’s good or bad… on this occasion it was good.

Great to chat

(Not literally though, I did stop first)

2. Outside running is great.

If you understand about light therapy you’ll get that more.

But…

I didn’t get outside much last year, various reasons and excuses.

Definitely going to enjoy more outside running again this year.

3. There are plenty of ladies in and around Leamington… they clearly enjoy my yellow trainers, or the legs😉🤣

I don’t have health and fitness goals to look good.

I’m more interested in how I feel - but doing that also gives me the above too.

I learnt many years ago that if you exercise to look good, you actually end up feeling like sh*te.

Which is the dark side of certain areas of the health and fitness industry.

So I do things a different way…

For the past 15 years I’ve always had something to work towards.

🔥The challenge excites me.

🔥I enjoy learning.

I’ve never just gone to the gym because it might help me lose a few pounds or give me bigger muscles.

That’s quite a boring goal for me.

It would be too easy to not commit to the things required when I was having a bad day or week.

So I’d struggle with consistency, maybe that’s you too?

Something I realised many years ago is that this is more of a mindset game than anything.

Exercise & Nutrition is fairly useless without that in place.

Do what works etc

When you set your mind up to win… it’s interesting how the other parts just fall into place.

So as we come to the end of January…

Consider this?

Have things gone flat again?

If so…

It doesn’t need to be that way.

But if you do nothing now, don’t be surprised if you’re still asking the same questions in 3 to 6 months time.

And before you know it… you’ll be making flakey new year resolutions again.

Do you want that?

First Hyrox PRO completed…

Finished in 1.34.48 which is slightly better than the last one in the standard open…

…no big flare ups either.

Bigger weights on the functional stations this time which suits me.

Without seeing the official data yet… I’d say it was a solid all round performance.

Which was the only real goal this time.

I really enjoyed that one tonight… roll on Glasgow🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

So feeling happy with that.

Plus… the PRO badges have a yellow rim, which is amazing!!!😍

Anyway…

Pizza now and then let’s see if I can get any sleep🤣

Good night… or good morning😇💪🏼

It’s been a bit quiet on here this week…

Tomorrow is Hyrox First Blood Part 3 in Madchester!!

To save time, if you’re interested… it’ll be a 7.50pm start as I’m in the PRO category, which now sounds even more mental.

So I have avoided being on here so much to avoid the social media storm.

Sometimes we have to look after what goes into our ears and eyes👂🏼👀🧠

Training has also been light which bores me too as I love exercise.

But I’m sticking to the plan. Battered myself senseless for 8 weeks so I deserve it😃

I even opted out of the Flex Friday session, which meant I was even more of an arse with them… but it works!!

They’re a great bunch.

When you show up regularly, try your best and enjoy some fun along the way… good things happen.

Age becomes just another number.

It’s never too late to improve.

Anyway… I’m off to find something yellow to wear tomorrow, gotta look good for the dance floor, right?😃

Enjoy your weekend!

Have you ever had that workout and thought that was a waste of time?

No workout is worthless.

Sure, you won’t always have great sessions.

It’s pretty much impossible.

But what we get to consider is that we can learn when things don’t quite work out.

The thing is, they CAN actually become your best workouts because they offer insights you need to focus on.

In the system we use with my H21… we can almost predict how a workout will go.

A great workout will manifest from a series of good habits we’ve built up 48-72 hours before.

Poor ones, well… what were you doing or NOT doing prior?

This is where certain accountability methods can help you.

Self awareness is a key part of your health and fitness progress.

So, don’t worry if you have a bad workout.

All you need to do is concentrate on the next one and what happens between now and then.

You’re already winning if you’re taking action.

If you want to start making losing weight easier…

Become more metabolically active!

How do you do that?

Make weights a decent part of your exercise plan…

If you’re not progressively overloading your muscles, you’ll be leaving results on the table.

And struggle long term.

Home workouts are useful, but unless you have a gym where you live, you’ll struggle to ☑️this box.

Your simplest way to lose weight is with your food…

…calorie deficits are important but one with poor levels of nutrient dense foods will leave you hungry and possibly overeating when you didn’t want to.

Quick tip - think higher levels of protein and fibre.

Move more!!

Your gym workout should be treated as a health tool and not really a Weightloss one… you won’t be able to burn many calories.

And if your mood is poor as a result of a lack of exercise, you ain’t losing weight anyway.

Try it… but good luck.

More general movement throughout the week will be more powerful for this in terms of weight loss.

In summary…

A great approach is to look into improving all 3 areas.

If that tickles your tonsils during this cold weather, let me know… I may be taking another client on in Feb.

Last week of hard training and I’m back in the ring.

The ring of🔥

Back to that Hyrox malarkey… Manchester this time.

Going up a category to the PRO division. Which felt like a good idea months ago.

After my first 2 attempts in the open I tried to downgrade but as it was sold out, I couldn’t.

So it was either fight or flight!

I chose to fight… as I’m crap at giving up.

Why?

Because sometimes to improve you have to give yourself a scary goal.

🔥One that will test you.

🔥Challenge you.

🔥Teach you.

🔥But essentially improve you.

The weights are bigger in the PRO, so it naturally becomes harder.

I’ve let my body go back to my happy weight, hopefully that won’t turn me into a 🦏 on the running!!

Finding a balance with this hybrid game is interesting.

All I know is that with 2 months of challenging training, the open would be easier now.

Sometimes you just have to lean into things that feel hard.

Staying comfortable might keep you safe for now… but in 12 months time don’t be surprised if life starts feeling uncomfortable.

If you can’t even fit 45 minutes of gym exercise into your week, then have a word with yourself.

The nice thing isn’t always the right thing.

Just remember this…

✔️Start where you are now.

✔️Take a step.

✔️Keep it simple.

✔️Have fun along the way.

✔️Use support.

✔️Stop negotiating the basics… they’re more powerful than you may believe.

✔️Don’t keep waiting for that perfect time… that’s this week.

✔️Slowly build a new lifestyle - do things today that you’ll thank yourself for in 6 months time.

HTH

It’s Monday again tomorrow… Yay!

No apologies for being blunt with the this one.

I know you probably know the 2 things I’m going to mention below.

But…

“To KNOW but NOT to do is to not know” - Confucius 245 BC

So….

Stop ‘telling’ yourself you don’t have time to exercise…

…or as a bare minimum, you don’t have time to move a bit more than you do each day.

(Your body language will follow your brain talk)

Also…

If you want to lose weight, and it’s not working…

The above plays a part, but you’re probably likely putting too much into your mouth too.

If you believe you eat okay… have you let an unbiased set of eyes and ears agree with what you’re actually doing too?

My invite is for someone to show me some data, if they can’t, this is simply a step they can take next.

It ALWAYS offers clues.

Anywayzzzz…

These are just some usual thoughts to consider going into next week.

You can thank me in 6 months from now if this helps.

You’ve probably heard these 5 tips before.

It’s nothing new.

The problem simply comes down to the reality that people struggle with them consistently.

We can dig deeper together to work out solutions together.

But…

Something that’s not discussed enough goes beyond moving, eating and all that jazz!

If you want to change, you have to change.

Become a different person.

Nothing radical.

It’s more of a shift in various areas than a change.

This will often come from the language we use…

Example:

Instead of thinking (or talking) that you’ve joined a gym.

Consider saying something like “you goto the gym”.

Or “I’m trying to quit smoking” becomes “I don’t smoke”.

That’s very surface layer but something to think about…

When something becomes part of your lifestyle it becomes part of you.

It takes some time, but you’ll need to do some work.

Most things that happen quickly don’t last.

You’ll need a good 12 months.

It won’t happen in 12 weeks.

But you’ll always need to start at YOUR beginning.

Anyway…

If you keep stopping and starting…

There will be solutions.

If you’re ready to explore them, let me know.

It’s Monday… Yay!

So…

The running joke lately is ‘Do I Hyrox?’ - I enjoy the banter.

The thing is this, if you look at the content I share, my Hyrox stuff probably makes up 5%.

I’m not a Hyrox coach, likely never will be as I don’t want to go down that route.

There are plenty of others with far more energy and time to do that.

My skills in what I can give back are elsewhere, they have for the last 8 years since I improved myself from the inside out with deeper health work.

But…

Do I Hyrox?

Yes…

But what else do I do?

I…

✅Realise challenge improves me.
✅Keep my mind sharp.
✅Teach myself new movements.
✅Help my body become more mobile.
✅Improve my mental resilience.
✅Boost my discipline as motivation is fickle.
✅Give myself different exercise options.
✅Meet new friends.
✅Improve my all round physique
✅Start to enjoy wall balls😉🤣

Ok, maybe the last one isn’t the total truth?

But I’m getting better!!

Anyway…

Do you need to Hyrox?

No.

Can you still choose into something this year which challenges your current level?

Absolutely.

(Yep, I could help you)

I’ll leave you with this… there are always opportunities and lessons to learn.

We just need to look a little closer at times.

It’s Monday…

Let’s go!!!