My Crossfit Log and some rambling.

I’ve decided to keep a livejournal crossfit log of all my workouts. I’ve tagged each workout so every time I go to do a new session, I can easily search by tags to get results from any same or similar workout. I’m doing this so I can go to the gym with old times and weights in hand and ensure I have the best chance to smash them!

Finding it very motivating to record everything on my journal. It doesn’t take long to clock up  heaps of sessions and you feel a real sense of pride and achievement scanning back over all the old workouts. It’s great to see in such a short time how much I am improving.

My training goals before Christmas 2009

• To be able to complete one full muscle up
• Increased confidence and weight on olympic lifts
• To run 5km without hating it or stopping (yes, I’m a trainer and I hate running!)
• To  perform Glute-Ham Situps as prescribed in a workout (not as easy as it looks!)

I have some specific training goals that I’ve shared here today. Purpose being, that I wanted to demonstrate the Constant and Never Ending Improvement concept from my perspective. I’ve achieved a lot of goals and do not want to lose weight or tone up anywhere. What I DO want is more strength and to be more capable with a lot of the crossfit workouts and exercises. I see a lot of people give up on training because they can’t cope with getting to a certain fitness level/weight/strength, then being told they need to take it up another notch. They regard it as failing because more is being asked of them. It is quite the opposite! It is SO important, right from the very start of your transformation that you are aware that the expectations must always rise and there is no finish point. Embrace this! It is a positive thing and it will be something you cherish as time goes by. The majority of people get addicted to the improvements and are happy to seek them out infinitely.

So, don’t lose heart if your trainer ups your push ups, or makes you run faster all the time, it just means your body has adapted to the training, and it is no longer training or improving your health if you don’t ask that little bit more. If you don’t have a trainer or coach, be that little voice inside your own head and keep looking for ways to do a harder progression, run a bit faster, lift a bit more weight. Learn to love that aspect of your exercise because it will lead you to a body that is capable of so much more. I hope with a lot of the people I have helped that they one day may feel confident enough that they can then go on and teach others.

Obesity and my fears for YOUR health!

I have a real fear that here in Australia (and also the U.S) that obesity will become the norm. I drove past the local high school last week, and I honestly could only spot 2 girls out of over 80 that were not overweight or obese. Everywhere I go I see people who I regard as obese. It really concerns me, not only because being overweight ruins your self esteem – it ruins your life. Your health risks increase dramatically (diabetes, heart disease, joint problems are just a few), you are more likely to have trouble conceiving children, and your life is shortened. It is all avoidable and it frustrates me so much to see how acceptable it is to be overweight now. I will no doubt offend some people with this post but perhaps it is time we all took a real good look at ourselves and our children and did something about it. We have become so lazy and so spoilt by technology that exercise is not a part of every day life for a lot of people anymore. I honestly don’t give a crap about what people look like, I’m not expecting everyone to look like an elite athlete – it is about what is going on inside that worries me!

If you know someone that doesn’t exercise or play sport – why not offer to go walking with them as a starting point. You can use the walks as a time to suggest meeting up for little circuit workouts or going to a class at the gym together. Get off your butt now and go save a life! You can make time no matter your circumstances. I’m yet to coach a client who I could not help with a slightly re-arranged schedule, kids, shift work or otherwise!