The silly season is well upon us and in light of that I thought I could give you a health and fitness boost to get you through. Detailed below are five client stories from this year. These stories are designed to inspire you when your motivation is low. To get you to dig deep and keep on going. Motivation is a fickle thing, it is guaranteed to leave you at some stage. What you need to keep you going is grit, determination and dedication to your goal. As witnessed below.
This is Lauren! I have known Lauren for nearly three years now and her transformation has been HUGE. She may be the definition of lifestyle change. Lauren initially came to me to get strong, overcome a few injuries and lose some weight. Working full time in a very demanding corporate job meant there were lots of time challenges for her to overcome. No one in the fitness industry wants to tell you that slow and steady wins the race but Lauren is the proof. In the last three years she has gotten on top of all her injuries, competed in two Sydney to Hobart Yacht races, completely changed her body composition and even changed careers. It took two years for the weight loss to really happen but she stuck with it. Her dedication and determination to change her life to make health and fitness in her top priorities is extremely admirable. To the point where she quit her corporate job to study medicine full time! She didn’t give up even when she felt like that last five kilos were going nowhere and she was trying her absolute hardest to lose it. Stress is a huge factor for a lot of people as is your overall lifestyle. Weight loss may only happen when everything is aligned. I want to congratulate Lauren on completely aligning her life, sticking to her guns and making it this far. Best of luck in this years Sydney to Hobart and I can’t wait for you to talk my ear off with all your medical knowledge!
This is Tendy! I have been training with Tendy for just under two years now. Tendy had not exercised in a few years before deciding to start training with me. He is a stay at home single dad with three kids who has put their needs first before his and it was finally time to concentrate on him for a while. In our first months of training he couldn’t squat, lunge, or do much, if any, cardio. From when he first started he has lost over five kilos, can squat, deadlift and lunge better than most people I know and has much more cardio capacity (even if he still loves to hate cardio). Most importantly he consistently gets to more than three sessions a week, has quit smoking and has a completely different outlook on his health and fitness. He knows that baby steps work really well. He cooks meals from scratch for himself and his children, has a dedicated space in his garage to foam roll and share exercise with his kids and makes time to look after himself. Tendy keeps setting goals for himself to achieve and just makes it to the gym regardless of how he is feeling, or how sore he is from a session. Tendy keep up the great work because everyone loves watching your progress and your smiling, generous face in the gym!
This is Rebecca and Veronica. The power sisters. Dedication, grit and immense resilience run deep in this family. I could write two very long blogs about both of them separately. However I have to keep it short so you will read it. Veronica unfortunately broke her back and smashed her wrist in an accident around 4 years ago which has lead to a very lengthy rehabilitation process. Since then she has worked tirelessly to get herself back to full function and even increase her performance. She dedicates her time to look after her sister (you will understand why shortly) and has done so much to further her knowledge in holistic health. Even through her recent niggles of a foot fracture and wearing a moon boot she has taken to swimming to further her fitness. Her generous spirit showing as she has entered a swim event to raise money for charity at the same time. An absolute trooper through and through and I look forward to continuing to help you in your journey.
Rebecca has a congenital birth enlargement of her heart and needed open heart surgery 10 weeks ago. In the twelve weeks leading up to her surgery she took it upon herself to become the fittest and strongest she had ever been to try and make her recovery as seamless as possible. Her real passion is ocean swimming. Before the surgery she was not allowed to have her heart rate go above 110 beats per minute. It’s a little tricky trying to improve your fitness with those restrictions. So she dedicated to getting herself strong pre and post surgery. Her recovery has been absolutely insanely fast. Her mindset to getting herself fit and improving her health is unlike many I have encountered before. Next up is swimming Sydney to Wollongong and I will be cheering the whole way!
The very tall gentleman standing next to me is Martin. Martin is NSW Chair of KPMG and is going to be sailing in the Sydney to Hobart on Comanche. We started training in March in a bid to get him match fit. He enlisted the help of a team of people to help him with this endeavour. Myself as a movement coach, a performance coach, nutritionists and other allied health professionals. He trains or partakes in some kind of movement everyday to move towards his goal. He has lost over 12kgs (and counting) of weight and is the fittest and strongest he has been. He does not let work commitments stand in his way of being the best he can be for that race. It is truly commendable how much time, dedication and effort you have put in Martin despite having an extremely demanding job. Yet again I will be cheering loudly from the sidelines to see Comanche beat the other yachts!
The reason I have chosen these clients, from all walks of life and all with different goals is to impress upon you what consistency and dedication can do. Motivation is a fickle friend. It will not get you up out of bed for the 6am class when you really can’t be bothered. Motivation won’t help you to not eat dessert when everyone else at your table is eating it and you will be the only one without. The only thing that gets you through all the little struggles is dedication to your goal.
Some goals can take years to come to fruition, others a few months. The question is what are you willing to sacrifice to get it? Through this Christmas period don’t undo everything you have worked for throughout the year for a sake of being left out, or because you can’t be bothered. Motivation isn’t enough, you have to be dedicated all year, every year to be the person you want to be.
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