More than just a body transformation

I’d like to share one of my latest success stories with you of recent time.

As a personal trainer that is not all about the “body beautiful” image that the industry is renowned for, I have recently helped a young girl with low self-esteem, depression, anxiety and psychological issues around food and eating reduce her weight from 126.5kgs to 108kgs.

Whilst it has taken nearly 18 months to get there and she still has a long way to go, I am over the moon with her attitude change, her increased knowledge and awareness to the mere fact that she is now asking me for new and advanced programs regularly to do almost daily in between our sessions.

All of this from starting unwilling to do any exercise at all apart from our two sessions a week! The changes she has made for the better far surpass the traditional “before” and “after” pictures you see all over Facebook and Instagram and to me so much more rewarding to see a now positive and optimistic outlook from a girl that is very different from the one I met nearly 18 months ago.

Small steps … Goal setting is crucial to success in all that we do and it is no different when applied to our health, fitness and wellbeing. So many people start out with the best intentions but generally do one of two things: Set way too unrealistic goals early; or Don’t write goals down and regularly revisit and keep accountable to them.

The secret is to write down your goals, check weekly that you are on track and stick to them. At the same time, rather than say you are going to the gym three to five times per week when you haven’t done so for over five years, start with something a little more realistic and aim for two 20-minute trips to the gym and a five to 10-minute walk per day.

That way you are actually making some in-roads on behavior change and that will lead to sustained change and a feeling of success along the way and not shooting yourself in the foot from the outset and failing because you have set the bar way too high. Small steps! Stop doing sit-ups! Are you still doing sit-ups or crunches?

If you have a trainer instructing you to do them, you are training with a dinosaur! If you are doing them because you think they are the best way to get a six-pack, then I am here to tell you that for your posture and for real gains in abdominal muscle and tone then you need to simply stop doing sit-ups or any form of flexion of the spine!

We are generally too sedentary and spend increasing amounts of time seated in front of the computer, in the car or on the couch. This all leads to ever-increasing loads placed on the spine, poor posture and combine that with sit-ups and you are further contributing to hip instability and potential back pain.

There are many effective alternatives. For a more information, exercise guidance or if you have any questions feel free to contact me anytime - www.justintimept.com Justin Moran Personal Trainer