The road less travelled

I was saying to Carlos yesterday, I feel like I'm in round 20 of a 15 round fight.
I feel battered and bruised physically and emotionally and I have to admit that apart from my recognisable flu like systems which make me feel awful I've had a little self pity party today.

Hey, I'm allowed.

The thing with me is that when something like this happens I get introspective. I go inside myself and get very quiet. I analyse the situation decide on a course of action and then I come out of my shell and I'm fine again. Very seldom does my 'down' time last more than half a day or so.

But...

This is different. I have no frame of reference for what has happened to me over the last 7 months. I have been knocked over so many times I don't know which way is up any more.

I have been on roller coaster rides with my kids before but nothing as scary as this.

I am trying to assess the risks of what I'm about to go through but even the mighty Google is pretty sparse as far as ' risks associated with early removal of cervical hardware.' searches is concerned

I see my neurosurgeon monday morning to run through all the options, the risks, the positives, the percentages....doesn't stop me 'running the numbers' myself ahead of time though.

Phew....I'm tired....tired of getting up off the canvas, tired of heading into the middle of the ring for another round. Am I about to throw in the towel.....no chance, I'm a long way from that.

All I need....all we all need in situations like this is a little breather to regroup. refocus and hit the ground running again.

Right, that's off my chest, I feel better now.....LET'S GO FOR A SWIM, c'mon.

The road less travelled

Here we go again

I woke up this morning around 2am feeling that something was amiss. I felt the back of my head as I habitually do and found that my hair was plastered to my scalp. Not a good sign. Further investigation showed me that the repaired hole in the back of my head was oozing again.

I got up, took a shower washed my hair and went back to bed hoping that all this was just a bad dream.

When I woke up again my pillow confirmed that it wasn't. Hmmm, fast forward to around 8.30am and a discussion with my plastic surgeon, neurosurgeon and the wound specialist.

Now, I stopped my antiobiotics around 10 days ago and obviously the infection which was lying dormant has re appeared. So clearly antiobiotics are not a first prize long term solution.

It looks like what's going to happen is that I go back in for more surgery. This time it's a little different though.

My nuerosurgeon feels that my body is rejecting the hardware that has been implanted into my head and neck. To remove the hardware is the only way to get around this, but....the cervical bone has already started fusing to the titanium rods and therefore surgery is extremely risky.

Carl tells me that it is a 5 to 6 hour operation with three options. Complete success, death on the bed or becoming a quadraplegic. Without being dramatic, you see anytime you are operating around the spinal chord there are risks if you don't get it right.

So into hospital next week for another major surgery seems to be how its going to turnout.

I'm believing that I'm going to be up and about and back in the gym in no time. How bout you.

The road less travelled

Do you know...for sure...that you will achieve your fitness hopes and dreams?
Why not?

Barring serious illness or...a broken neck...ha ha... what is stopping you.

Slacking on your eating plan, not training with intensity.

Wanting to party rather than focus on your health.

Maybe all of the above.

So what do you plan to do about it.

Why not form a mastermind group in your area and all make a solid commitment to success.
Find someone you know in your gym and commit to each other. Meet once a week, sort of like book club but without the wine. Yes I know how these things work.

Christmas is nearly here...are you concerned about getting through the festive season scot free.
Or are you worried that you will blow your plans right out the water.

Take some time to think about these things and devise a strategy to take care of them.

Everybody is having a slap up Christmas dinner I should think....don't feel guilty about enjoying it...just don't get bogged down until 2nd january 09.

Make your plans to see you through the holiday season, don't bale with the idea of starting again in January.

That's just another nail in the coffin.

Make this the first Christmas that YOU are in control and not food controlling you. Use this time to rest your body if you've been training hard. Your body needs a rest about every 12 weeks or so.

Plan ahead and enjoy the holiday rather than spending every day feeling guilty about getting deeper and deeper into that hole you have dug.

Start planning now, Christmas is almost upon us.

The road less travelled

I B E L I E V E

Dax Moy, probably the best known fitness professional in the UK threw out a challenge on his blog. To write about who we really are and not just the persona that we present here....sometimes, to garner sympathy, sometimes to make ourselves look good, sometimes, because we have nothing much to say.

I have taken up the challenge because:

I believe that if I am not representing myself truthfully in this forum, where in some way I have an opportunity to influence people then I am being dishonest and I do not believe that I am that.

I believe that my life revolves around my core values....those of truth, love, sincerity, generosity, gratitude, service and a correct attitude.

I believe that what you put into this life is not proportionate to what you get out. Good or bad. I think you get much more.

I believe that " As a man thinketh in his heart so is he. "

I believe that there is good in everybody and everyone deserves an opportunity.

I believe that everybody can be successful and happy.

And most importantly I BELIEVE in GOD who is my spritual father and who has given me a complete set of tools with which to make my life a complete success.

And...if I believe that, which I do fervently then how can I fail at anything I set my hand to within my core belief's and values.

Why don't you write your own I believe, it is highly likely to help you better understand yourself

The road less travelled

Had to go way out of my area of operations to day to collect a new part for my Blender. Got into my vehicle, set my GPS and off I went. " In 500 mtrs turn left onto the freeway, at the traffic light turn right" etc etc droned the pleasant female voice. I trusted the machine and off I went. 30 minutes later I ended up exactly where I needed to be.

Pretty much like a training program and eating plan, you have to have faith. You choose a GPS based on the product reliability and you know the map software will take you there otherwise they wouldn't sell many products now would they.

So you choose a plan....or a trainer and off you go....several weeks later you pretty much know that you are headed in the right direction.

The one essential element of this scenario that you have to do, is motivate yourself to get there. I could have the best GPS in the world but if I don't feel like getting into my car my blender is going to stay broken for a long time.

The absolute rolls royce of eating plans and training programmes is of no value whatsoever if you cannot motivate yourself to follow the plan.

So....what is the answer. I personally believe that it is when you genuinly hit rock bottom. I have written about this before but it is critically important so bear with me while I go back to the well, so to speak.

Ad men talk about 'spaced repetition' helping to ingrain a product in a persons sub conscious so I don't feel bad repeating myself on this subject.

What is rock bottom. Well it is different for everyone. Adam Waters knows what it is, Pam Brown knows what it is, a recovering alcoholic or drug addict knows and when you get there you will know.

Let me illustrate it this way. Deciding to quickly get a six pack 6 weeks before christmas is fleeting motivation. Chances are you will bale and decided to start again in january.

Waking up one day and looking in the mirror, KNOWING that you cannot go one more day looking like this, is real motivation. Somehow you just KNOW that this is it. Strangely enough when you reach this point you just know that this is your day and before you know it a few months have gone by and you look fantastic.

Sometimes it's triggered by seeing pictures of a bunch of people at a party in which you are the central figure. " Who is the fat boy " you nonchantly ask, knowing that although you are "big", you have this believe that you are actually quite muscular. You wear big clothes thinking they hide all the fat and make you look "big".

When your friends look at each other and then, back at the picture, and back at you and start snickering " hey, that's you dude", you realise IT'S TIME.

When your God given spirit and soul lets you know that it doesn't want to operate like this any more then you know " ITS TIME"

It's not about doing it for others...it's about what YOU are doing to yourself. Stop and think about the pain and anguish Adam Waters went through, the repeated failures, but one day something happened deep inside his soul and that was it. IT WAS TIME.

Search your own heart, for if you are unhappy about the way you look and feel, I hope, that very soon....it'll be YOUR TIME and when you get there, you'll know.

In the mean time keep searching for what it is that keeps destroying your faith in yourself, your self image, don't ever give up, for one day soon you WILL find that IT IS TIME and you will finally be a winner.

Once you finally 'get' the concept of lifestyle you will then be able to sustain your fantastic efforts to that point and three years down the road you will be helping others to do the same.

The road less travelled

Up at 4.15am, eat, train a few clients, do my own leg training and cardio, head off to the pool for swim training. Eat, do some admin and the weekend begins. Great life, and I purposefully created it for myself.

If you are unhappy with your life change it. Yes you can.

If you dread sunday afternoons because you are already thinking about going to that lousy job monday morning there are two things you can do. Move or make it better, but don't keep on complaining about it.

It's a lot like health and fitness. If you are not happy about the way you look, fess up to yourself, be honest and do something. The more you whine to yourself about what a loser you are the more you hammer your self image. Big mistake.

You are unique....you are absolutely perfect, there is only one of you on this planet, don't waste your life THINKING about what you are going to do, make a plan and do it.

The more you knock your self image the harder it is to get going. Next monday....hmmm, heard that before.

Every day is perfect, actually....and for it to be so all you have to do is MAKE A DECISION when you wake up to make it so.

Try this...on monday morning, stand in front of the mirror, smile, look at yourself and say, 'this is going to be a wonderful day. I expect great things to happen.' and if you don't believe it say it again until you do. C'mon, it may sound silly but no one is going to see you and isn't anything infinitely better than getting up grumpy and spilling it onto your family so then you can all be grumpy.

Just for me, please, give it a shot and then let me know what wonderful things happened. I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE that they will.

Make it a habit and your life will never be the same again.

The road less travelled

I threw out a challenge yesterday to anyone that was having trouble dealing with a negative situation.

Lynda said that she was having trouble with her knees and it was bugging her. "Find me a positive in that" she challenged.

Well Lynda, there are a good many upsides in that.

1. Gives you an opportunity to get your husband to give you a soothing knee rub every other night
2. Explore swimming as I have. It is a non load bearing exercise and is a good cardio workout as well as being refreshing on hot summer days.
3. Google a video for the correct form in a squat and you may be pleasantly surprised to find that your form is way off. A squat done correctly places all the weight on your quadriceps and pretty much takes the knees out of it. So give that a try.
4. Isn't it wonderful that you can walk...I presume without pain.
5. Next time you see someone in a wheelchair, ask them if they would swop with you. You may make a new friend
6. Sore knees gives you the opportunity to sit back and rest while your husband does all the grocery shopping...and packing....and cleaning.
7. Experiment with Glucosomine...exellent for joint relief. Learning about health products is always good.
8. It's given you an opportunity to learn more about anatomy (google sore knees and see what you come up with.) and there is always an upside in learning, isn't there.
9. An opportunity to experiment with attitude change which when practiced continuously will definately take your mind off any pain.

So Lynda, that'll give you something to think about.

We should all look for the 'up' and not the 'down' in ANY situation, hard enough and we will find it, sometimes in the most unexpected places.

The road less travelled

On an all time high.

Trained my clients this morning, followed by my own cardio (stationary bike) and leg weights session. Then headed to a commercial gym, Virgin Active, to test the waters, literally.

Since I can't run any longer I've decided to include swimming as a cardio workout. It worked perfectly. I have no mobility between my head and shoulders (spinal fusion and titanium rods screws etc) so one would have thought that it wouldn't work.

Well the principles of a good stroke are that when you breath you turn your whole body and not just your head like in the old days. This makes you more streamlined in the water. So my limitation has now become an ADVANTAGE....I will probably swim better than I ever did before. How cool is that.

The point of that little story is that there is an upside for every downside. You just have to look for it.

Instead of focussing on the bad, get away from that and look for the good...and there is always a GOOD side. If you don't believe me I challenge you to give me a real life scenario that has caused you grief and I'll show you a positive out of it.

That's my challenge to you today. WHO IS UP FOR IT.

I'm on an all time high. I feel energetic, healthy, fit and strong and life is WONDERFUL.

How bout you?

The road less travelled

W a n n a b e - F e v e r

That sounds derogatory but I don't mean it to be....no really.

One of the biggest d r e a m s t e a le r s today is not what someone says but what they are.

Glamour magazines crammed full of impossibly thin fourteen year old models. Gorgeous 20's,30's and 40 year old magazine models who have been airbrushed so radically as to be unrecognisable by their own family.

How often I hear..."I want to look like her" Apart from the fact that the bone structure and basic framework may be completely different the model has probably diet'd down for 6 weeks before the shoot. I train a couple of beauty queens believe me I know what I'm talking about.

So...

1. You can only ever compete with yourself.
2. You can never win the game of wanting to look like someone else
3. If you are moving forward you are making progress. The rate doesn't matter
4. Do not set impossible goals. Around 2lbs per week is optimum for maximum fat loss.
5. Don't get despondant when a friend loses 10lbs in the first week on some crazy diet, it's mostly water.
6. Don't try and starve and train like a mad person for a six pack, 4 weeks out from Christmas, ain't gonna happen.
7. Don't even think it's a given say...12 weeks out from the holidays. Even though it's possible, what happenes if you get flu 4 weeks in...game over..." well I'm done for now, might as well enjoy the christmas holidays (translated to mean let's pig out) until January and start again". Sound familiar.
8. Learn how to make eating healthy a lifestyle and those little mishaps, or a less than perfect meal on christmas day is OK. Coz you've planned for it. (Little tip I use...ask the question, is what I'm about to put in my mouth going to take me towards my goal or away from it. Kinda pulls you up in a hurry.
9. Learn to make better BAD choices. If you are somewhere where your food choices are somewhat dodgy, make the best choice you can.
10. Rather eat something you shouldn't than miss a meal. You KNOW that if you play the hero and miss a meal because there wasn't any healthy food you are going to be ravenous when it's time to eat again and we all know where that leads.

We all slip up and at times eat what we shouldn't, and when it happens remember this...YOU ARE ONLY ONE MEAL AWAY from eating perfectly again. PLEASE get over playing the " I'll start again monday" game if you slip up. You cannot win that one...ONE MEAL AWAY that's all, no biggy if you slip up.

With Christmas looming large why not rather look at setting goals for the year ahead now.

IMAGINE THIS....set a goal to lose just 1lb per week next year and this time next year you will absolutely be in bikini or speedo (kidding guys) shape for sure. 52lbs of fat lost WOW.

1lb per week....ANYONE can do that.

The road less travelled

E X U S E - i t i s

Don't head off to your study to check the dictionary definition, there isn't one. At least I don't think there is one, nevertheless we all know what it means.

When ever there is a tiny bump in the road some of us get down on ourselves and quit or we sabotage our efforts.

I want to share an amazing story with you that will encourage you to become a winner permanantly.

At 244lbs and 49% body fat Pam Brown had battled obesity for years. Her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumour and food was of enormous comfort to her. As you can see it worked.

She was depressed, suffered migraines, high blood pressure and generally was not in good health.

She came across the BFL program in 2002 and it seemed to resonate with her. She decided to commit to the program. Almost a last chance I guess.

In her own words " I didn't take it one day at a time, I took it one minute at a time. " At the end of 12 weeks she had lost 35lbs. She started a second 12 weeks and got her bodyfat down to 25%.

By the end of her third 12 week program she had lost 96lbs of body fat and gained 16lbs of muscle.

Now I don't know about you but to me this is a remarkable story of a woman succeeding against all odds.

If you are overweight, or obese and their is nothing physically wrong with you, then take heart because ' YOU CAN DO IT'.

Don't let E X U S E i t i s get in your way. Ask yourself....If this amazing woman can do it....WHY CAN'T YOU.

The road less travelled

K I S S

Keep it simple stupid

No I'm not being insulting I'm repeating a 'mnemonic' that I learned when I was trained for my first selling job " life assurance " way back.

It is as valid today as it was all those years ago and it applies to almost everything in life.

Specifically today let's apply it to the business of health and fitness since that's my area of expertise.

When we decide to get healthy and fit and we don't have a clue, we hear something about some program someone is doing and we jump on because we know no better.

In my case it was Body-for-LIFE way back in 99. I got lucky because it's a great foundation program. I followed the program and the eating plan and at the end of 12 weeks was astounded to find that I had come 2nd in South Africa. People started to ask me how I had changed so radically in 12 weeks and what was I eating and so on.

This led me to believe that I was now an expert. Looking back ...what the heck was I thinking. 12 weeks, give me a break.

Now nearly ten years on I do now consider myself somewhat of an expert. The lifestyle really grabbed me and I became a certified BFL success coach and for 8 years now I have succesfully trained hundreds of people. In fact clients of mine came 3rd in the International competition.

What have I learned. There are a LOT of snake oil salesmen out there just waiting to get their grubby paws on your hard earned ammo (or money if you wish).

A cleverly worded website and you are in. 40lbs of fat loss and 60lbs of muscle in 4 weeks.

Rule no 1. If it sounds too good to be true...it generally is.

Rule no 2. Do some research on the guy selling the product. You can google check if he is reputable in 2 minutes

Rule no 3. Not all programmes are right for you.

Rule no 4. Try and figure out what it is that you want to achieve (muscle gain, fat loss etc) first

Rule no 5. The program you buy isn't necessarily going to work for you.

Rule no 6. Don't waste money on bodybuilding magazines. They are generally sales brochures for product companies selling products with unpronouncable names that probably won't work. Ever seen the blurb " You MAY experience fat loss with blah blah snake oil slimming pills.

Fast forward a few months when you have made some gains and are now 'AN EXPERT' you have downloaded a dozen training programmes and twenty eating plans and are completely confused and havn't a clue what to do.

Generally this is where the the towel gets thrown in and ' speed walking ' .....which by the way is murder on the hip flexors, becomes the new flavour of the month.

This is where K I S S comes in. Time to heap all the junk into the bin and head back to the section called.....you guessed it......BASICS.

Bottom line...if you are ingesting less 'clean' calories than you are expending you are losing body fat.....and if you are doing body part training (if you are an aspiring bodybuilder) or 'movement training' (for the average joe who wants to get fit and build some lean muscle) then you are moving forward.

I don't know if everybody knows this but it is extremely hard for men to build muscle and even harder for women.

To build a quality physique flat out takes time and simply cannot be rushed ....uhh unless you plan to stick a needle somewhere on your body containing ' horse steroids' or some such garbage.

So....again, let's get back to basics. The right quantity of Quality food every 3 to 4 hours, lean protein and carbs every time you eat, lot's of water, a program designed to build muscle or lose fat ( you can't do both at the same time) and a gym to do it all in.

That's it. From then on rotate your exercises every four weeks or so (your body adapts very quickly) and in the words of the famous triathlete Mark Allen, "train hard, eat right, drink lot's of water and go like hell."

INTENSITY will get you a lot further than an over complicated training programme and an eating plan that you cannot sustain.

If you REALLY want to get places, focus on the mental aspect of health and fitness...the motivation of training...how to be better in the gym every time, how to think your way around a session, how to focus, how to leave the world and your problems behind the minute you walk through the door.

That's the way to achieve your goals, not some garbage program that was never designed for you in the first place. Even the Pro's would have trouble with some of the plans you see in the magazines.

Step one. Head on over to Carlos DeJesus web site and spend some time on "The Experiment of One". If you don't understand it, stay with it until you do. It's probably the most important thing you can do if you are really serious about your health and fitness.

The road less travelled

To paraphrase Mr Covey, 'exellence is not a skill, it's a habit'

To follow on from what I was talking about yesterday it is so simple to overide bad habits with good. Simple but not easy, ....if you take small actions each day towards your goal or target how much more of a giant would you be in a year.

My goodness 6 days a week of weights and cardio for about 45 weeks a year including time off for rest periods and vacations and how much further would you be than you are now.

The mistake we make is in going for a goal where we start strong and then get to the point where we say ' I cannot do this for the rest of my life ' or ' I cannot eat this for the rest of my life ' perhaps because we are not seeing the results we expected.

Then don't look at the rest of your life....' just for today ' I will train, ' just for today ' I will eat healthy nutritious food.....surely you can do that.

We all get tired, irritable, sick of tuna....so take things one day at a time until these feelings pass, and they always do.

You don't have to get into world class shape in 12 weeks. What about 24 or 36. Spread out your daily action steps so that they are even smaller and easier to complete.

Once you have done that for say, six months, for anything that's not sitting well in your life, you will have ingrained a new habit.

Combine this with positive affirmations and you will have formatted and re programmed your mind in no time.

If your life is not going the way it should try this....what ELSE are you going to do?

YES YOU CAN

I'm amazed at the body's ability to bounce back to previous levels in a very short space of time.

When I stopped training because of my infections I was back to about 60% of my original strength before my accident. I laid off for about 4 weeks.Well I've been back in the gym for 2 weeks and I'm back to and in most cases using slightly more weight than I was before.

I trained very hard today and really focussed on form and time under load and I've said it before, if anyone thinks 1 set to failure for the entire body is a piece of cake, give it a shot. You'll soon change your mind.

I'm loving being back and I feel absolutely fantastic. LIFE IS BRILLIANT...YES?

The road less travelled

D.O.M.S. otherwise known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, and bears no relation to lactic acid.

I'm telling you this because Carlos DeJesus, Arthur Jones and I went to pump some iron yesterday.

Full body workout, 1 set to failure, superslow.

D.O.M.S. is what I have now and it feels great. I havn't felt this good in a long time and I can't wait to get into the gym tomorrow.

I did cardio today on the bike. 20 minutes of 1 min sets. 20sec sprint with high resistance and 40 sec cruise, followed by abs. Try it sometime....don't forget to take a brown paper bag.

For the first time since the ops for my infection I have no dressing on the back of my head....sounds dippy I know but I feel completely different, or maybe that should read complete.

I'm eating superclean and I'm interested to see what kind of progress I can make by Christmas day, 6 weeks away. Remember this is my warm up and prep for my Superchallenge.

The sun is shining, the weather is warm and I think I'll spend a couple of days a week at the pool in the complex to get some sun onto this ravaged body of mine.

By the time I get back from vacation Carlos and I will hit the ground running...next year will see me in the best shape of my life...why don't you join me.

By the way, if you are wondering who Arthur Jones is 'google' him.

The road less travelled

We take life far too seriously. The newspaper and radio are designed to hook you in with bad news because that's what sells. Well meaning friends are always saying ' have you heard what happened to so and so ' People, especially with this gentle downturn in the global economy, are full of ' Oh whoa is me,' and heads full of thoughts like ' I'll never get out of this quicksand that I'm in.

If any of the above applies to you, I have good news. Welcome to ' lifting your spirits and getting on with life 101.

1. Stop reading the newspapers and listening to news or talk radio. You'll hear what you need to hear from your network.
2. Start listening to music that lifts your spirits
3. Wake up in the morning and start thinking about reasons to be happy
4. Start writing a journal
5. Set big goals followed by small goals or daily steps.
6. Don't think about achieving your goals all at once, start with something small, everyday and you'll find that your momentum increases exponentially... in a year you are a giant.
7. Determine to do something good for someone else each and every day. Hold the door open, stop a lift, tell someone they look nice, carry packages for someone, invite someone for coffee, call someone and tell them you love/like/are thinking about them. Small things create big results.
8. Get fit...Joseph Pilates said ' The prerequisite of happiness is physical fitness ' ain't that the truth. Start a program today.
9. Buy yourself a gift...doesn't have to be a porsche, could be a book you've been meaning to read.
10. Get organised...Resolve to take 15 minutes at the start of each day and plan your day. Do the things you say you are going to do and you'll be amazed at how your life starts falling into place.

That's a start.....If you can't get yourself out of a slump by taking some of the actions suggested above then you might as well keep digging that hole that you've got yourself into until you hit Australia.

Life rule number one, if you've got yourself into a hole....STOP DIGGING.

Seriously, life is a wonderful gift, and it's success or failure is completely up to you. Don't waste it by stressing about thing that are probably unlikely to happen. The past is gone and you really DONT know what's in the future so live NOW.

The road less travelled

YES YOU CAN!

I don't think that Barack Obama's campaign manager will mind too much if I make liberal use of his brilliant campaign slogan YES YOU CAN!

I mean it is just brilliant in it's simplicity and each one of us can apply it to every day life.

Oh I can't do this it's too hard....YES YOU CAN.

Oh I can't do anything right ....YES YOU CAN

I can't be good enough.....YES YOU CAN

I just can't achieve my fitness goals...YES YOU CAN

Block by block, brick by brick.

I think we sometimes think things are a bridge too far because we look at the whole picture. If we break things down into daily action steps or..bite size chunks we can visualise a positive result so much easier.

I havn't asked him about this but I'm pretty sure that when Carlos DeJesus was training for any one of the 39 competitions he entered on the road to the World championship....which he won...in case you have been in a coma for the last little while...., he did not look at the cases of tuna he consumed but he consumed them one at a time with no thought for the next one at the next meal.

He may have been sick of the site of tuna but he knew it was a building block to winning and he did it whether he liked it or not.

ANYTHING can be achieved if you just break it down into small enough steps.

There is no such thing as perfection and there is only one perfect person and he doesn't live on this planet.

Progress my friends, that's what I'm talking about, progress. If I look at my own progress over the last seven months or lack thereof ,in a negative way it could really destroy me since....there hasn't been any.

I've been literally stopping and starting for the whole of that time and as I write this I am pretty much at the beginning again....

But...I am ecstatic that I CAN start again. I got onto an exercise bike this morning for my cardio session and realised just how unfit I am. My thought was...what a great place to be, I can only IMPROVE from here.

I'm doing weights tomorrow and it's the same thing. I can only get better on a day to day basis....that's exciting.

Can I get back to my previous best and beyond......YES I CAN

The good news is - SO CAN YOU.

Can anyone tell me why this post won't format the way I want it too? Appreciate any help.

The road less travelled

The road wasn't travelled at all today, and I'm writing from a remote computer since my own had a complete melt down.

No worries it gave me the opportunity to learn a bit more about how a computer works since I decided to become a computer geek for the day and after formatting my hard drive I reinstalled all the necessary components...operating system, extra's like virus and malware software, Orbit downloader software, Adobe reader etc.

When I really came good was when I realised that I had lost the code for my Microsoft Office package and I had to make a decision. Pay a whole bundle for off the shelf or scout around for an alternative. I found one...called OpenOffice...it's free, downloadable and it does a really great job...easy to use and so it's all done, and I now know a lot more about these machines than I did before.

Good can come out of any bad situation, you just have to l o o k for it. Don't ever get stressed out about stuff you cannot control that's futile...and if you can control it, do something about it.
Those are really the only two options.

Either way what's the point of freaking out, the computer could care less if I blow my stack.

Nah...at the end of the day it's all good, have a fabulous weekend, see ya monday.

The road less travelled

The hoopla is over....history has been made..... and hopefully the new broom will sweep clean for at least the next four years.

I know one thing for sure, the two candidates and their respect staff compliment have massive energy. They had both been on the campaign trail for a heck of a long time and that has to be massively energy sapping. McCain at his age...wow, great admiration for him.

Energy....that got me thinking... how did both of them keep going that long without falling over.

Massive motivation that's how. They both deperately wanted the prize of becoming the most powerfal man on the planet. They both sat down with their respective teams at the beginning and decided that they REALLY wanted to do this.

Once the goal was firmly established the plan followed. How do we get there and how do we keep crystal clear focus.

Once that was done it was simply a matter of taking one step after the other to get there.

Notice I said simply, I didn't say easy. But it doesn't alter the fact that one step in front the other will get you to where you want to go.

Sounds pretty much the same for your health and fitness program doesn't it.

If you find you are struggling to get to the top of that mountain it may be that you have the wrong goal...if that is so, nothing will get you there.

Re eavaluate and be sure that what you think you want is what you want.

Barack Obama is a great example of wanting the job as president of the United States of America so badly that he was prepared to climb to the top of a huge mountain...nothing was going to stop him.

There must have been dozens of times that he just wanted to curl up under a desk and sleep but he just kept on going, and that's what we have to do to reach our health and fitness goals.

Are YOU prepared to pay the price for your success.

The road less travelled

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. I'm in the process of trying to make my blog more professional so this is right up my street.

Well the day has finally arrived. Mcain/Obama, who do you think will win this election.

Personally, I was touting Obama as the next American president months ago. I just felt that America was ready for a change. Since then the global economic collapse makes me even more confident that he will win.

I've heard some whacky reasons for voting preferences but I heard today that since Sarah Palin is a 'bird shooter' a lot of the hunting community will vote for her. WOW.

Anyway, I think that the American Election far overshadows anything I can write today...so...out of respect for The American people....for today I will keep my mouth shut, and stand back and watch as Barack Obama gets ready to settle himself into the White House.

Don't be complacent...YOUR vote DOES make a difference.

The road less travelled

The world has never been in a darker place, the world has never been in a lighter place.

If that sounds confusing it's not. The world has never been in a darker place, well that's pretty easy to understand, look what's happening around us. On a global scale our success scorecard is not too clever. In fact it's never been worse than it is right now.

On the other hand the world has never been in a lighter place. Huh....yup, in the history of the planet we have never had an opportunity to create positive change, to be more fantastically creative than ever before, to do and invent things that have never been done before.

The theme of living today according to best sellers on the New York Times list, on Amazon.com etc are personal development books expounding practical theories on how to make your life great. On how to change the drab humdrum life we live and hate.

I happen to subscribe to the theories not because I read the books and believe the theories but because I happen to believe that we have a responsibility if not to our Creator then to ourselves, our families and the people within our circle of influence, to be the absolute best we can be.

How do we do this. Go somewhere quiet, somewhere where you can THINK undisturbed and examine your life. Are you fullfilling your potential, are you prepared to take the road less travelled to pay the price to be the best, or are you happy to drift along in a sea of mediocrity allowing the tides of change to drag you where ever they will.

Becoming a champion is done one step at a time. One small step in a day every day and you will be amazed at what you achive in a year. Everybody can do that.

Ask the incredible Adam Waters...look what he has achieved by building a plan and then executing it by putting one step in front of the other.

I heard a fantastic one liner today. " If each person swept his own front step no body would have to clean up anything."

If each person took responsibility for their own lives their would be no obesity. That simple.

There are no excuses...none at all. Only we can make our lives happen the way we want them to, no one else.

On tuesday American history will be made when Democrat Barack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States. Why don't you choose that day to make your own history. Make the choice to get fit and strong once and for all time...create a plan and work it....one step at a time.