Often one of the most overlooked pieces of a health and well-being regime can be sleep.

When you were a kid it seemed the worst thing in the world was bedtime. Now I would dearly love for a responsible adult to send me to bed at a decent hour!

So many of us seem to love sleep, yet we all seem to get so little of it. Well, not enough anyway.

And for something so seemingly simple as sleep it can cause a lot of issues it seems.

So could it be that you have started moving more, you are eating better, yet you still don’t feel like you are really getting there? Like the needle is stuck and not moving in the right direction?

Then we need to look at the S in MESH. 

Long-term lack of sleep has been linked to increased risk of diabetes, obesity, depression, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

So when I hear some billionaire say they are just fine with four hours sleep at night I shake my head.

Yes, we are all going to be able to function perfectly well on differing amounts of sleep. But generally a statement like that comes about because people are trying to emphasise that hustling, working more, and sleeping less are the ways to success. ( I do know of one such billionaire that claimed to only sleep four hours a night, he has since revised and is up to six.)

It does seem the ‘sweet spot’ for most of us humans is between seven and nine hours sleep.

If you are regularly sleeping under seven hours a night, and/or your sleep is very broken then it could be having a significant impact on your performance in the gym, at work, in your leisure time, and yes, in bed too.

Do you remember being a kid, getting in a car at night and later waking up in your bed?

How easy and magical was it for that to happen?

Why does it seem so difficult to go to sleep, or get enough, as an adult?

We all have more and more responsibilities as we move into adulthood, and well, we think and worry about a whole lot more than we did as kids.

So are there solutions to this problem? Absolutely.

Are they simple? Yep, but they may not be easy.

Some things that you can try that have worked for others.

Journaling each night before bed.

Keeping a notepad and pen nearby at night so if you wake up you can jot those thoughts down.

No blue light after 7pm.

Reading a non thought provoking book at night, a good fiction novel for example.

Having relaxing music playing in your bedroom.

Keeping the bedroom cooler.

Using some scents like lavender to promote relaxation at night.

Listening to white noise/stories/music as you go to sleep.

Now you don’t have to do all of these things, but maybe one of them is something you are missing that is the important piece of your sleep puzzle.

We are all unique, and our sleep habits are no different. So let’s find yours and see if it doesn’t improve a lot of other areas of your life as well.

I just want you to tell me what to eat!

Can you give me a meal plan?

Oh I finished that one, can I get another?

It can be frustrating right? You have been doing some exercise, you feel like you are more active, yet you just aren’t hitting those goals you wanted.

‘Why???!!!’ you ask, genuinely baffled.

It is more than likely what you are eating that is holding you back now.

I get it, it is all hard work, and there are days where it just seems that everything has gone wrong and it is so easy to get takeaway or a delivery on the way home. If this is the exception to the rule, then it isn’t a problem. If it is more often than not, then this is where the core issue is.

So, then it is ‘Hey Jim, can you write me an amazing meal plan?’

And my answer is, I can, but I won’t.

Seems callous and a bit at odds hey?

But stay with me and I will explain all.

I might cop some flack for this but meal plans are part of why there are so many people out there that will say to you they tried a fitness and nutrition program and it failed/sucked/was too difficult.

Yep, if a trainer or coach says hey, sure I will tell you what to eat, be cautious. Ask them when the meal plan is over what comes next. If they say another meal plan, start waving red flags!

Your coach/trainer/nutritionist etc should be guiding you and educating you in how to not use them in the long term, not have you returning time and again to them for the next meal plan, the ‘next intake for our challenge’, the ‘next batch of kitchen tested recipes for max fat blasting!’, submitting your before and afters to win the cash prizes or be plastered all over the socials in your undies!

I know this sounds hypocritical coming from a coach that had success in his undies in before and afters and being plastered in actual print media, but those ‘challenges’ and competitions taught me something I can help you with. They are not long term sustainable nor are they holistically healthy.

Sure you can look ripped and lean, and have these great pics etc. And hey, I did. But I was miserable. Weeks without enjoying things in life all to have some pics at the end and then yo-yoing because of the severe restriction.

Going to kids birthday parties and not having a small slice of cake because ‘ it is week five of the challenge’ is not conducive to long term success. It also creates an unhealthy mindset around food for you, and those that look to you, like those kids at that birthday party.

Think of it like this though, there are some really good ways to make sure your nutrition is long term sustainable. You can practice the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time you keep a close eye on what you eat, 20%, you are much more relaxed about it.

You can get a guide, a coach, and have them provide you with a map.

If you move to a new town, and you aren’t familiar with the way to and from work, a work colleague says they will pick you up or you think I will catch the bus. That is great, problem solved!

Until the work colleague is sick, or there is a bus strike.

Then you think hmmm, I never paid attention and don’t know how to get to work! (Look I know there would be other options, this is just my metaphorical example for you).

Now if the work colleague had driven you, and drawn a map for you and as you drove with them they showed you landmarks, which busy streets to avoid, and the shortest route if there was a few roads closed then you would have no problem and be off to work.

This is where having a guide much rather than a meal plan works in the long run.

You should be able to draw up your map with the assistance of your guide to best suit your goals.

All of us are individuals when it comes to food. Allergies, intolerances, even just personal food preferences, so just getting a standard meal plan, that is purely a cookie cutter program (which most are) won’t cater to those things and will certainly not set you up for success long term.

So don’t sweat the meal pans etc, find someone that can help provide you with the map of how to get where you are going so in time, you are self sufficient and can do it on your own.

Oh that was so hard, I almost spewed!!

I had to lay on the ground after that!

I need to get a sweat on and feel exhausted or it doesn’t count!

These are some things I have heard over the years, and we have all heard ‘No pain NO GAIN!!!’ haven’t we?

Well, to me, these can be pretty absurd. Your workout really doesn’t need to suck to work.

We can work our bodies in quite a few different ways, easy, gentle, through to high intensity and difficult, to at worst complex with redundant movements.

The old cliche I mentioned of no pain no gain has really stuck around. I really do think it does need to disappear.

Look I know you can’t get growth by being comfortable, but if you are pushing yourself to almost breaking point each and every day then fairly soon you will find that breaking point. Now it might be a chronic injury, an acute one, or it might be that the mental challenge of working out gets too much, but by inflicting pain every single session will lead to burnout and injury for sure.

For some people, going for a walk, or a swim is the best movement for them that day. This to me is what it boils down to.

You have to do what is best for yourself each and every day.

Can you do a program six days a week then?

Absolutely! Provided it is structured in a way that the volume of work, the loads, the intensity, aren’t going to overload your systems and have you fall in a heap. High intensity exercise should be done around three days a week. You can vary your intensities through the week pretty easily.

Put less weight on the bar, don’t cycle or run as fast as when you are going all out. Take your time, don’t push the movements you are doing. But on those high intensity days, give it your absolute all!

When I am building the program here at CFA I look at varying it so that people aren’t over or underloaded. Treading that fine line to create balanced training for the people here.

So some days we will see a short sharp workout, the next a longer, maybe more technical one, and then the next a heavier one, or an all out strength effort, then a day where rest is built into the workout.

That is just an idea of what happens, but to me a program should have that balance. If we hit volume like CrossFit athletes, then we will burn out or injure ourselves pretty well. If we don’t do enough, then our strength numbers, our speed over distances will stagnate or go backwards.

But the main thing is that on those days where we put in some work, and it doesn’t feel overly difficult, it is still working. There really isn’t a need to end every workout six days a week, sometimes twice a day, laying on the floor in a pool of sweat and gasping for air. Those workouts have their place in a well thought our program, but not every day.

Your workout really does not need to suck to be good for you, keep that in mind when making the choice between sitting on the lounge or doing something, because that little walk or quick set of push ups and sit ups can be the difference in keeping your momentum going and winding up burnt out or injured.

Ever thought ‘I know what to do, I just don’t do it’?

Felt like you can’t make progress with your health and fitness because you have been led to believe you are lazy?

Social media ‘influencers’ (I call them Influenzers haha) would have you believe that it is just that you don’t get out there and do it like them ‘with the same 24hrs in a day we all have’.

But you and I both know, they are in their 20’s, maybe even their 30’s, they have no kids, they likely got a leg up from mum and/or dad, and they were always fit, and active their whole lives.

They don’t see how you work long hours, you have kids to wrangle, pets to feed, houses to maintain, and all this before you become a bit social and catch up with extended family and/or friends!

And then it all feels so super hard! Your body has aches it never had before. You don’t have the energy and vitality you once had. That youthful exuberance!

You feel….broken?

Well, don’t listen to the fitspo Influenzer with the air brushed six pack and all the time in the world to make posts. Listen to me! Your local, experienced and understanding coach and trainer.

You aren’t broken, you just haven’t had the foundations laid out to you before, never had them built so you could have the strongest structure built on top.

You need to MESH it all together.

Yes that is a pun and play on words. I built the MESH framework to help people here in town to live better, to be fitter, to be the healthiest they can be. By doing what they can with what they have, right now.

Now I am sure you are thinking, what is MESH??? Well it is an acronym, that is easy to remember so to start with it would be easier to put into our everyday lives.

The initials stand for; Move, Eat, Sleep, Head. 

These are the four pillars to our success when it comes to being the healthiest we can be.

I want all of us to have daily check-ins with ourselves, and it is as simple as ticking off these four points on a bit of a checklist.

Did I get in some quality MOVEMENT today?

Did I EAT to support my goals?

Did I SLEEP for between six and eight hours last night?

How is my HEADSPACE today? Am I stressed, pressured, etc?

These daily four questions go a long way to getting us into a solid mindset to unbreak ourselves.

To see that while it may not be easy, it can be simple. And by keeping it simple it is easier to maintain our regime of keeping fit and healthy.

Movement doesn’t need to be complex, over the top or absolutely full on every day of the week. It can be as simple as a good walk to start with.

Eating, also doesn’t need overcomplicating. Fresh fruit and vegetables, a good protein source and you are on your way!

Sleep can be tricky. But with practice and a few tweaks a great night’s rest isn’t beyond our reach.

Headspace will always need to be kept in check. It might be journaling, or doing crossword puzzles, activities like these help to keep the brain active and able to take a break from all the other stuff we throw at it.

It might seem a bit daunting laid out like that, but we are going to take it one step, one day at a time.

Life is more like a marathon than a sprint, so we want to look at a piece at a time, a day at a time. 

After a few months all four pillars will be being looked after by you and it will seem like today and the bit of doubt you have is a distant memory.

So over the next few days I would love for you to sit down with a pen and paper or notes on your laptop/desktop/phone open and drop onto the paper or note all the things in your head that you feel you want to do, can’t do, don’t have time for, do actually do each day, things that are cluttering your mind, things that you are needed for. 

Well, things!

Write down all the things that are on your mind. Take 15 to 30 mins to do this. Sit somewhere quiet. Phone off, all notifications off. And just put everything down on paper that is in your head.

So that is it this week. This is the one thing to do.

You can do it each day if you like, or every couple of days. As long as you do it at least once this week.

And that is the very start of this framework. You aren’t broken, you just need that framework and someone to guide you along it.

Let me know how you get on, you can message me, you can drop an email and I can help you with any parts that you are getting stuck with.

Oh and you know the best thing about this? You cannot be wrong! Anything you write down on that paper is yours and it is correct. It cannot be wrong because it is just your thoughts on paper.

Don’t wait another minute, get to it and know you aren’t broken or wrong doing this exercise.

In Feb this year we went into our 14th year as a CrossFit Affiliate.

CrossFit Armidale was founded on 10 Feb 2012, so is now officially a teenager. 

And yes it does seem to come with many of the challenges associated with any other teenager haha.

It got me thinking though, why did I start it in the first place?

Some of you would know that I was an overweight sales rep, living out of suitcases on the road until I kicked myself into gear and decided to look after myself better with nutrition and exercise.

From that I went on to become a personal trainer so I could help others do what I had done. Minus all the errors I made along the way.

And that was all well and good, and I was training a lot of new people to exercise themselves.

After a while though this just wasn’t quite enough. There were only so many hours in the day and only so many people I could help in that time.

I also wanted something that I could use that could start people off and meet them where they were at, regardless of how fit and healthy they were or weren’t.

Little did I realise I had been doing it already with my own training.

I had been mixing up my workouts, lifting weights, using cardio and calithenics in combination and as I got fitter and better at things I was upping the intensity.

A good friend and I were discussing training one day and he suggested a workout for me to do. On paper it looked great. Short, simple, and likely intense. And it was. It was incredible. I loved it!

He said welcome to CrossFit my friend!

I knew with that one workout and what I had already been doing that I was on the right path for my clients at the time.

So I began to study it and delve as deep as I could into it in 2011. In 2012 we became the not only the first CrossFit affiliate in Armidale, but in the New England and North West. That’s right, we had this before our bigger neighbour in Tamworth!

At the time my clients began to see what they were capable of, and how they were capable of so much more than they first thought.

It was with the foundation of CrossFit Armidale we were really able to help people take that next step. Not only in the gym, but in other parts of their lives.

People that had never dreamed of doing a handstand or even just running for a kilometre non stop now were, and they were using those habits in other areas of their lives too. They could see better paths to their careers, their relationships with family and friends strengthened and they helped build a new family here at CrossFit Armidale.

It has now been over 13 years since we became an affiliate, I have watched as people have grown, have become people that love exercise (not all exercises, just as a whole! haha), I have seen families grow from this, people have met their life partners, have had children together, and it all has been because I knew that this exercise methodology could help more people in less time.

Because I knew the program was so very inclusive of any and all people, as well as adaptable to everyone.

I see people everyday still achieving more than they ever knew possible just because I had them do an exercise they couldn’t do when they walked in the door a few minutes before.

This was why I started it, to help more people,to make sure that we had a healthy and fit town here in Armidale.

I care for my community and want the very best for them and I do hope I can keep doing that until my dying day.