Here’s why an unconventional personal trainer may be able to help you in a few steps I am an unconventional personal trainer because I no longer train people and moving from the fitness world into the horse racing media world gave me a whole new perspective on staying fit. Travelling up and down the country for work, having a busy social calendar, and living out of hotels frequently I understand more than EVER how hard staying fit can be with a hectic lifestyle. Hard, yes, impossible, no! In this article I will hopefully change your approach to fitness so that, even with a busy schedule, you can finally become consistent and feel your body change. Busy people, both socially and professionally, are usually also ambitious. I bet you have thrown yourself into a few crazy fitness endeavours only to quit a few weeks later. Here is the good news. You don’t have to train like an Olympian. If you really think about it, your goal isn’t to become an Olympic athlete or a fitness model. Your goal is to be YOU, only a fitter version of you. So that’s how you are going to train.
DON’T TRY AND MOVE MOUNTAINS
Is this you? You have had a ridiculously busy day at work. You haven’t eaten because you have been so busy and there’s still three other things on your mind. Now you are trying to motivate yourself to run a hard 10km or go to the gym for an hour - no chance! Normally, you find 100 excuses, I know I do. So here is the trick; reduce the size of your workouts. At the end of that busy day, the conversation with yourself to workout gets much easier when you only have to go for a light jog, or complete a 30 minute workout. Our ego doesn’t like this! It tells us a ’30 minute workout is pointless’.
A 30 MINUTE WORKOUT IS BETTER THAN NOT STARTING A 60 MINUTE WORKOUT
Food is your friend: Lots of fitness goals run in conjunction with body transformation goals. I see people start to increase their exercise alongside ‘eating less’ or ‘cutting X food out’.
I understand the concept and thought process, but food is your friend. If you are busy, not only does your body need fuel but so does your brain – it is essential you stay hydrated and fuel your body with the correct nutrients. This will ensure you stay sharp at work while having enough energy to workout with intensity. The trick when starting a fitness challenge is to think about eating more nutrient dense food. Whole foods, grains, fruits, vegetables – these will keep you fuller for longer and increase your energy.
NO NEED FOR CRAZY EXERCISE
Remember I said you are not trying to become an Olympian?. The fitness world has tricked everyone into thinking you need to do crazy workouts and for crazy time periods because that’s what the professionals do. You are not a professional athlete. You have a career, social plans, maybe a family, as well as interests of your own – so for your goals fitness can be fun!
Again, just like reducing the size of your fitness goals I would like you to make them fun more often than not. An hour of tennis chatting to a friend is better than the workout you skipped because you know it isn’t very enjoyable. My favourite mix of exercise per week is 1-2 resistance training workouts plus 1-2 “fun” workouts that raise the heart rate.
If you have made it this far you might be frustrated that I haven’t given you a strict diet plan to stick to or a workout routine to follow, Instead I have just told you to do less!
keep going with it forever.
I LOVE THE DUBAI FITNESS CHALLENGE AND WOULD ENCOURAGE ANYONE WHO NEEDS SOMETHING TO GET THEM STARTED TO GIVE IT A GO!
- The 30-minute workouts are sizeable, as mentioned previously this will make it easier to start.
- The variety of exercise on offer will make it fun, and give you a chance to explore which form of exercise you like (and don’t like) for future reference.
- The prizes on offer will act as an extra incentive and working out with others will increase your accountability.
