Matthew Hegarty Personal Trainer

Monday Motivation

Better to take your first step than regret not doing it years later.

Most people are afraid to do something new because they don't know how or they are afraid to ask for help.

When we first start playing football some can pick up the skill some find it hard at first just remember the very first time you played football compared to your 20th time is going to be better than your first. Always aiming to see small progress over time is better than no progress at all we are all juggling life and responsibilitys all you can do is your best with what life throws at you.

Just remember Dont Give up because once you do it's hard to get going again, keep that momentum going .

How can you get better at something if you never do it, aiming to be consistent over time you will see improvements.

People are creatures of habit doing something for a month will allow you to see progress. Missing days and coming up with excuses will lead to failure.

Comment below what you are working on.

Some Monday Motivation for you lot

*You got to start small and work your way up no matter how small once you get a habit of doing it and being consistent you will get it, the point is no body gets it in there 1st try or 2nd or 3rd it takes constant work and effort to gain some understanding on what needs to be done by putting your full effort towards it you will see the benefit

*The problem is people give up after a while because it's to hard many don't understand it takes time to see the reward some expect to fast track into it with not challenge at all. Unfortunately if it doesn't challenge you it won't change you!

*Maybe your days drinking at the weekends can be changed to days out doing hikes and only 1 or 3 drinks instead of 10 because your too warn out from your hike.

*For your weight loss your first step could be ,getting out walking 30mins a day. Build up to 1 hour when you can, if you can't make it fine aim to control your food choices better when out. Get back some hours on another day to keep consistency of hitting those minutes on your feet. Getting in that frame of mind to improve yourself will give you new and better habits like cooking better and choosing better when out.

*For building muscle don't look to lift big numbers at first aim to build control and stability with good tempo ,don't start flying those weights around and wounder why you get niggles on your shoulders or knees are a srssion take time to learn to feel your muscle group contract and with a slow eccentric aiming for at least 2- 3 secs gaining full understand of using appropriate muscle groups you are training before adding extra weight remember instesitity can be change by adding tempo sets gaining better control of the weight before loading up.

*Research and put into action.
Everybody is a newbie gainer at first as soon as you plateau that's where technique and nutrition becomes more a must.

Current back condition- sitting 94kg here two weeks ago this photo was taken, aiming to improve this. Still needing more work, but it's from this point we set to get better, looking to add more back mass- currently training 12 sets per week, recover has been an issue with long hours and some meals aren't the best nutritional value but calories is where I fall back on can't get bigger without extra cals to work off, 94.5kg this week. Time to put some work in,

I would cover the basics- RDL- rack pulls- lat pulldown- pull-ups- T bar row- single arm dumbell row - chest supported row- seated row using D handles outside shoulder width. ALL GOOD WHEN DONE CORRECTLY WITH GOOD INTENSITY.

There's plenty back exercises to choose from, all excericses are good once you can execute them properly aiming to progressively overload when the form is bad is not a good idea in terms of making progress, otherwise your ego is only getting a kick. make sure you know form is good with relatively good control don't be afraid to back some weight off or slow the weight down to feel the area your training.

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Basic plank photo showing clear and simple ways to get better with form by challenging your body with the correct technique will allow you to progress faster.

Make sure you're doing this correctly, breaking form slightly or relaxing a body part can lead to the minimal effort used which is not what you want, I'd rather do it right and benefit from putting all my effort in and failing, than cheating myself. I will either do it to my ability or not at all.

One of my clients making big changes this last 2 months 45 pounds gone and more to go 114kg starting bodyweight and now currently sitting at 94kg from last check in. We have improved his confidents gave him tool to achieve this great result. Not only does he need to buy a whole new wardrobe but people are noticing a big changes in him and want to know his secret.

The problem is there isn't any secret just hard work, consistency, with a plan of action and goals to reach this lad is going to need some large tops instead of those XXL imagine never been so light in years.

People make it so complicated when trying to lose weigh, start by measuring your steps so you can be sure your daily expenditure would be the same every day due to tracking steps. Then start by tracking your daily consumption of food. If you measure your food you can manage your daily intake of calories.

Just one of many mountains I will conquer in my lifetime Sugar Loaf I will be back!

The journey to the top can be more enjoyable than achieving it.

I felt somewhat let down as I enjoyed breathing heavy pushing myself to get one step closer to reaching the top. The thing is I enjoyed it more working towards something then when I had it, unfortunately, good times don't last and neither do the bad enjoying the process is really matters.

Next week improve your health with one change of habit before you think about sitting in front of your television try get some steps done in the local park or a trip to mountains for a nice walk to clear your head take in some fresh air give your phones a rest. It's good to step away from the city from time to time, its a big place loads of things going on at one time having to be alert when the crossing road, walking on the path while trying to dodge people on bikes and people on phones.

For anybody that suffers from stress, this would be a great habit to start while leaving your phone behind and walking in your nearest park, beach or mountains.

Transformation -July 2016 to April 2019 -
Current physique update, from skinny, enjoying life as young 18-year old partying regularly to a better approach to training,

I started logging my workouts which is a huge benefit to know how your progressing week to week, I also track food which is easy through my fitness pal& steps on my Fitbit.

I started to create a good habit with my food/steps/training otherwise I'll binge and eat everything, so staying on track and maintaining some satiety(foods I enjoy) that are not high in calories so my bulking phase doesn't become a fatty phase I like to maintain some abs throughout the year.

I need to make sure im eating enough food that allows me to train 5 days a week. If I can't recover properly then I won't progress my lifts to build muscle tissue.

Tracking can solve 90% of your worries, you have actual numbers to measure and see how everything has been going for you in your last month of training, taking before and after photos can be done weekly or monthly.
Not only do I log training numbers, several actually, many hours sleep I got, stress levels, recovery in muscle soreness, hunger levels, mood. Other health markers are blood pressure, body fat and blood work.
Do you need to track to see progress? No, but would you just spend all your money in one night without knowing how much you're able to afford before your broke, No so why just guess be sure and work your ass off and beat your log book. When you know how to progressively overload with good tension on your target muscle group with the time you will see progress unless you don't care about form and using loads of momentum.
Could you have built more with taking time to learn the correct technique while trying to control any and add methods like paused reps and adding negative reps which is all done with no sloppy reps and momentum of you will immediately find am exercise hard try adding methods to
I'm currently training upper, lower, push, pull, legs program following all rep ranges, taking 2 days rest of weights, third If I need to. recover from my previous session whether it's from poor sleep which I only have 5-6hours a night poor to my standards. @ Raw Gyms

Easter weekend I spent some time hiking in Wicklow Mountains Crone Woods, a great spot if you want to get a decent view and plenty of step with steep hills. More time spent outdoors this year. Fresh air and Nature is needed.

Did you enjoy your Easter weekend?

Are you feeling guilty?

What are you doing for the year rest of the 365 days of the year are you following a healthy lifestyle and creating good habits to maintain a balanced lifestyle? Even allowing 1 bad weekend or even many bad weekends don't create who you are today its the bad choices and many parties and binge eating that leads to the over-consumption of calories mostly consumed in alcohol. What get's tracked gets measured like your daily 1.Steps
2. Food 3.Sleep 4.Stress 5. Weight 6. Even a month to month photo.

Resistance training benefits

When resistance training the main goal is to build muscle, whether its size or strength. Key factors to build will be in another post.

When looking to lose body fat, start by gaining lean muscle tissue, this will improve your body's metabolism. Allowing your body to burn more calories throughout the day.

Resistance training will decrease the risk of Osteoporosis. Resistance training will improve bone density, What is Osteoporosis? Osteoporosis is a bone disease that occurs when the body loses too much bone, makes too little bone, or both. As a result, bones become weak and may break from a fall.

When you work in a seated position for long periods of time your muscles become stiff and unused for a long time these people can suffer from bad back and posture issues when we resistance train we can target key areas that do not be used in a daily routine allowing for better posture with fewer chances of injury with better movement which means less stiffness and pain.

This can even happen when people train way too much push exercises and not enough posterior chain etc your back, glutes, hamstrings, lower traps, scapula control and calf muscles.