Monday 24 November 2014

Success leaves clues

Strangely I hear that term a lot and I often find myself pondering its meaning. Seriously “success leaves clues”, what could that possibly mean? It could be interpreted in a million different ways so I decided to try to find out what exactly it means by looking for clues to success. Honestly I believe people don’t seem to look for clues to success. Instead they choose to believe that someone success comes from luck, excessive money or something else. Whilst it couldn’t hurt to be lucky or rich it doesn’t seem to be the primary reason someone is successful. Now I could talk about the clues I have found in various endeavour’s that make someone successful but I’d rather give an example of someone that has found success.

Recently my brother has discovered movement and healthy eating kind of like how someone finds religion. Off course what I mean is that his new outlook has literally changed his life. I know because I have seen this happen many times before. Some of you that have read my previous blogs may say that your brother had you to help him. Perhaps he does but in the end he has to do the work himself, I can’t do it for him. So how did he flip the switch? Well the first clue to success is access. Successful people often have access to resources, people and helpful information. In my brothers case the organisation he works for has a gym that employees were free to use. For my brother not having to pay was enough to get him motivated. The second clue is support, and yep seems obvious but a little bit of support goes along way. You are 50% more likely to achieve a goal if someone close to you does it with you. My brother’s partner who also enjoys fitness was always trying to get him into eating better and working out and once he was receptive to hearing the message they both managed to support each other. Goals are the third clue, my brother set himself a goal. He always wanted to be muscly but never really tried to achieve it. I watched a TV show called Muscle TV on local access and if I recall right I got him onto it. On that show they had a fitness challenge and his partner said she was going to do it. Off course then my brother also said he would do it. I don’t think anyone in my family is capable of saying no to a challenge. This challenge in particular provided a framework for competitors to use including diet, exercise and accountability. Accountability often is associated with consequences and bad stuff but it is not always about that. Often being accountable for yourself is the most important thing if you have made a real commitment. Commitment is a big clue to success. My brother’s commitment was and is still strong.
While all this led to him getting into shape it is the deeper success I have seen that seems to really matter. He has literally changed himself for the better. This is the biggest clue I find in people no matter what they are successful in. It’s the positivity they feel from changing themselves, physically and mentally. Mindset off course is always the biggest clue to success. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking. My brother’s success has seen him change from an angry, introverted and low self-esteemed person into an outgoing, happy, confident person in the space of 6 months. Physically he is able to bench 120kg (264lbs) at 72kg (158lbs), run 5km (3.1miles) no stress and just has tonnes of energy. Sure I was there to offer advice and instruction but it was up to him to do it and become successful at it. If you think you could use some advice and instruction I can help you with Exercise Physiology services. If you want success you now have some clues so stop wasting time and go out there and use them.


Get on your success path now!

Monday 17 November 2014

Sit on it.



                Sit on it or maybe don’t. The media has been lately talking up “new” research showing that sitting is the new smoking. Personally I do not like smoking and that is for so many reasons. Like most people however I don’t mind a good sit. So as a result I try to stay involved in the research stating sitting too much is bad for us. Now I have written an article about squatting or as some call it the paleo chair in the past. Right now as I write this article I am standing (curveball not squatting) instead of sitting in a chair. In Kids will be kids I wrote about the issue of opportunity for movement. It is important to remember whilst standing is not the opposite of sitting, movement is. I should also add that standing is another alternative to sitting in a chair.

                So why am I writing this? Well I usually take Wednesday off mid-week from training and sure I might do some mobility/recovery stuff but it is mainly to give my body a break from the previous sessions. So I woke up this Wednesday tight and sore especially in my lower back, not injured but fatigued. It was understandable since I spent a great deal of Tuesday sitting and working on various things. I am still working on acquiring a standing desk. I find sitting is a habit hard to break for most people. Whether it is working at a desk or spending time with the family a lot of us spent most of our days sitting.  This made me think about sitting in depth, recently I read that Kelly Starret said people that sit a lot should every 15 minutes or so reset how they sit. Whilst in theory I agree with it, I think if someone like me who loves to move or is a natural fidgeter struggles to undertake such an act every 15 minutes how on earth will the average office worker achieve it day in day out. Now I am sure there’s an app out there for that and if not, patent pending. 

By now some of you read this and said oh why can’t you fix your sitting technique and a plethora of other things. Well simply put I’m not perfect, though I am going to try to make it more of a priority. So what are the other solutions, standing desks are one and so are apps but is there a bigger fix, maybe office overhaul as it were. Now this is probably where much groovier and smarter people take over from me and I am sure there is research surrounding changing our environment to effect the way we do things, sitting being just one. Maybe it is time we have a societal shift. We are frequently looking at the past and taking things used or techniques and updating them to today’s world. Maybe we should have a room with no furniture in it (lounge room, just a suggestion) that would make us get on the ground if we want to sit, there are a lot of options we could utilise.  Can you of you think of ways we could get around sitting in chairs? 
               


Monday 10 November 2014

It is official

So if you have been reading some of my posts lately you will have seen that I am prepping to open my own Allied health clinic. In order to raise funds for it I have decided to crowdsource. I am positive that with this project we can do some good.Click the link and get onboard.

https://www.unityaid.com/campaigns/welcise

Monday 3 November 2014

Kids will be kids.



                Recently within fitness there is a return to our roots so to speak. Things like MovNat and Primal Flow have become very popular. In general these methods go deeper than just exercise the philosophy it is about getting about to nature, to our roots.  Ido Portal to paraphrase once said that exercise is just a small part of movement. All of these have in common, movement the way the body was intended to move and often doing things we did as a child. 

                Do you remember what you used to do as a child? Though the answers will be different common themes emerge. Playing outside, climbing things in different ways, crawling, getting off the ground, throwing and catching, riding bikes and running around. What about cartwheels, rolling carrying friends and stuff. 

                There is no doubt we are largely movement opportunity deprived as adults. Movement is an opportunity, this mindset alone could change your life. Getting back to basics proved to be great for my programming and getting people back to a healthier body and mind. Things like get ups and crawling has really improved many peoples quality of life. Yes I have some client’s dislike it because crawling requires us to get a little bit uncomfortable and get ups requires people to get creative as I like them to try different methods to get off the ground. The best part is even those that at first don’t like it get the benefits. Having clients tell me I hated doing those but the other day I had to get down and pick up my phone from under the bed which in the past was hard makes it all worthwhile. 

                Getting up from the ground can be hard for those that don’t do it but what about kids? Easy? Seems like it but recently a school locally banned cartwheels and other potential activities that a child could be hurt. My theory is that if we can get kids and the elderly moving well and enjoying it those in the middle of those ages will follow suit. You see if our elders lead by example it is more likely others will follow. This could prove to be infectious for kids and if kids enjoy movement it may get adults involved. It is a cycle but in order for that cycle to grow opportunities need to be offered. Let me make this clear opportunities come with risk, yes a kid could hurt themselves doing a cartwheel or fall out of a tree and break a bone. If we have a narrowing amount of opportunities as adults to move and we limit kids movement opportunities what will their future outlook be? 

                The world is full of risks and rewards, movement is one of them and to be frank if we limit the kids of the world the future risks will be even greater then a broken bone or a scraped knee. The risk we take as the generations before them is that kids may not have the quality of life or lifespan for that matter when they get into our position. What would your life be like if you weren’t active as a child? Did you have someone older then you instil a passion to move into you? What would/is life like without movement as a child?