I shared my before pic recently, the one that was taken 15 years ago and when I was pretty much at my most sedentary and it got me to thinking. Over that 15 years I have tried all manner of things to get in shape, I never did try the shake weight though.
Anyway, my thoughts went to all those programs and I looked back on them to see what I did and how it could have ended up better.
So in the years between 2003 and 2011 I tried somewhere around eight different methods of getting in shape. Looking back at it one of my biggest problems was the overabundance of information out there about what was best and a whole bunch of well meaning friends and family that had some suggestions of what I should do, when in reality going from one thing to the next was not the greatest thing for me.

Day in day out in the fitness industry we are inundated with all sorts of new ideas, methods, gadgets and diets. Most of them work, some are ridiculous and others I really wish would finally die the death they so rightfully deserve (think all those ab machines on late night infomercials or the latest MLM craze). And from that I have learnt that it wasn’t just the overabundance of info, but the info combined with whatever I tried worked, mostly, and so I kept trying new things. Add to that the regimes, the programs, the diets I was trying, the heart rate monitors, I never really enjoyed any of them wholeheartedly.
I was doing them to lose weight, because other people had had success with them, because it was only a 12 week challenge, because it looked cool, or was new and just might be fun.

The main thing I was missing was consistency. Everything I tried seemed to have an end point. The end of the diet book, the end of a 12 week challenge, the end of a training cycle, with no real clear path after each of those.

I would get to ‘the end’ only to discover that life doesn’t stop, ie work, social commitments, seasons, my health. It wasn’t until I discovered CrossFit that I found 1. A training program I loved 2. Something I could be consistent with.
Now in 2011 when I started CrossFit it wasn’t the popular program worldwide it is now. Within the fitness world it was maligned to a degree, it wasn’t popular and plenty of people I looked up to held it in disregard. For me it worked though, and it was because I could see no end point, there was so much to learn, it promised to never become boring or stagnant, there was infinite growth available in this program.

And that was it, the bright shiny objects of shake diets, challenges with prizes and being the ‘rockstar’ trainer, all faded away for this gritty, sweaty, hidden away training regime. It wasn’t sexy, it wasn’t talked about well in the circles I was in, but I knew it would be what I did for the rest of my life. And here I am, seven years later, still on this program, with a sustainably low body fat percentage, with a program that has continued to adapt as I have improved over time. That has been the most amazing thing I have experienced in CrossFit, the continual improvement, not just by me, but by the members at CrossFit Armidale. People now doing warmups that were a few years ago an actual workout. The improvement is just incredible.

So that was it, with no end point, no fancy machines or radical equipment I saw the future of health, fitness and wellbeing, and it had come from the past. CrossFit was nothing new, the principles, the movements had all been around for a long time. But it was brought together in such a way that it was truly beautiful.

So stop chasing the bright shiny objects, the glitz and glamour, the newest gadget or app, and find your dirty workout regime, the one that you not only have to, but want to, come back for everyday, the one that never ends and the one that pushes you to get better, always seeking to make you better than yesterday. Deadlines, constant weigh ins, stringent diet plans and insane amounts of work in the gym only lead to burnout and other health issues. You need a program that can adapt with you, allow you to have your freedoms, feel free of judgement and feel like you are truly at ease with it.

For the last just over 10 years I have been employed in the fitness industry in one way or another. A fair bit has changed in that time, new ideas, new fads, new programs, rehashing of old ideas, fads and programs, and some things have stayed the same. The big thing to me that has stayed the same are the claims by all the various different trainers, gyms and programs that profess to be the best program. The one. Your best chance at getting a body to die for. Your only option for getting what you have always desired.

Now normally you might read that first paragraph and think that the author is about to go to town on all the ideas out there that are different to their own. This is not one of those times.

I have seen many different programs come and go, have tried them myself, have helped others with them, have witnessed others succeed, and fail, with them. And every single one of them worked. The two biggest flaws with any of them is; a deadline, and a profession that it will be easy.

How many times have you seen or heard about a program delivering life changing results in 6, 8 or 12 weeks?
How many times have you heard, it will be easier than anything you’ve ever done?

The thing that will make ANY, and I mean ANY program a success is, CONSISTENCY.

Not that a massive crowd of people are doing it, not that it is delivered by someone with every possible exercise credential that is available, not that it was the subject of a study involving 18 Norwegian university students that were intermediate level trainees, not that it is constantly varied, not that it is done on machines or with free weights, not that the sessions are short or long.

It is that you turn up, for the long run, each and everyday and you strive to be 1% better than you were the day before. That is it.

You show me an exercise and nutrition program that has been around for at least 12 months and I will show you it works, it just comes down to sticking with it. To doing the work, to persevering. For too long in the fitness industry we have tried to convince you that it will be easy, that you will be fit and awesome in a short time, we have been lying to you for too long.

A fitness program won’t always be easy, sure, there will be times when the session is easier than others and there is no doubt that some will be much harder. The biggest problem with the statement that it will be easy will be that life will occur. Kids will get sick, business trips will happen, weddings will be attended, car accidents occur, the list goes on. And all of these at times will battle for your time in getting in your training. Sometimes it will become unavoidable that you don’t make it to an exercise session, and this is where it gets hard. It can then become a habit to not go and do it again because that is the more comfortable option. So if you have life events in the way you can try a quick 10 min workout in your hotel room when on that business trip, go for an early morning walk before the wedding you are attending, do some push ups and squats in the lounge room if the kids are in bed sick, there are options. And no, theses type of session aren’t ‘optimal’ or the ‘best for an adonis/goddess like physique’ but you are holding onto your health and fitness habit, and each time you manage to steal a workout from all of the other distractions life throws at you you are on the winning side.

And that is also a point, your workouts, your nutrition, it does not have to be perfect. You can have some party foods, you can miss a day at the gym and still do an easier workout at home, and it is OK, all of your efforts aren’t for nothing. I always come back to the phone analogy, you drop your phone and it has a bit of a dent and a slight crack in the screen, it is repairable. You don’t then throw it on the ground and smash it to bits because of the little blemish. So you don’t need to do that with nutrition and exercise. You missed a session today, it doesn’t mean you miss the whole remainder of the week, you had a burger at lunch, that doesn’t mean you have to have pizza for dinner. You simply come back to being consistent again straight after.

It isn’t about meal to meal, hour to hour, it is about turning days into weeks, and weeks into months and then those months into years. Once you can maintain that consistency you will really see the amazing results.
You will sleep better, you will wake up better, your clothes won’t be as snug, you won’t be out of breath climbing stairs, you won’t have ‘musical knees’, you will feel better when you look in the mirror, confidence will soar, you will find you lose your temper less, days won’t feel as long to you. These are all the benefits to staying with a program for the long run.

Every program works, every style. It is up to you how well it works, the plans are there, you will just need to follow them. The work has been laid out, you will just need to do the work in front of you. And that is where the magic in every program lies, with you. You doing it, following it and committing to it to achieve your goals. But you needn’t do it alone, you can get a coach to guide you, a friend to buddy up with and keep you accountable, a group exercise session to keep it fun. Any one of these can be your guide, your mentor or your director. One of these will keep it simple for you, easy? Maybe not, but by all means they can keep it simple. Just that little bit more each and every day and before you know it, you will be experiencing life just as you want to.

Aim for 1%

Generally this time of year there are a few people thinking resolutions. Now there is nothing wrong with a resolution, while they can be tricky to stick with they are most certainly not impossible.

For a resolution to stick it really needs to be coming from a place of your values and something that you really desire.

Think back to a bit over a year ago. What were you doing before Christmas 2016? Are you where you thought you would be right now after Christmas just gone? Are you completely satisfied with your efforts over the last year towards your goals?

Now when you answer those questions ask yourself these ones. If you haven’t changed much, whose responsibility is that? Does Christmas 2016 feel like not that long ago? Now if you had started a change last year at this time, how much closer would you be to achieving it if you stuck with a 1% improvement everyday?

The reason I am writing this at this time is that every year, just before Christmas I have people come up and talk with me when shopping or out for parties or just out and about. And I get a fair few saying that they must come see me in the New Year. The number that actually do, is very small, and then the next year I see some of the same people, and we have a similar conversation. It is hard to convey tone in text, and I am in no way right now judging or trying to shame anyone, I am about to point out that maybe those aspirations to get in shape or lose those kilos are a bit lofty or don’t align with your values yet. Notice I said yet?

For far too long working out has been viewed as an exercise in vanity, ie people going to the gym are doing so to look good. And this is where I feel a fair amount of people fail with their resolutions or determinations to change. I have seen time and again the goal of wanting to look better be a very weak one, or unattainable or once ‘attained’ easy to go back to old destructive habits. For exercise to become the life enhancing habit we need it to be it must come from a place that you value.

If you can’t see that your health is the most important thing for you, your job, your family and well everything in your life, then you won’t start to prioritise it until it might be too late. If you want to look great and have 6 pack abs or the cover model body, then a strict nutrition regime along with a worthy exercise program must be adhered to.

If you want to function better as a person, sleep better, climb stairs without being puffed, play a quick game of touch footy, work in the garden on the weekend and then not be incredibly sore Monday then you need to consistently exercise to maintain that function and eat well enough to support that function. And this is done by small incremental changes each and every day, not by making a sweeping lifestyle change and altering your whole life tomorrow.
With the all or nothing mentality you can find it very easy to fall back into nothing very quickly.

So that is where a 1% change everyday comes in. I have seen plenty of people fall of the wagon that have gone for the total change all at once, and I can understand, it is hard to keep up a huge change in your life when the alternative was an old habit that was easier than the alternative.

However if you aim for a little each day and each week you will find the benefits in a years time so massive.

These little changes can be things as simple as for this week you will endeavour to drink at least two litres of water everyday. Don’t attempt to take something away, nor say that “I will not eat any sugar at all this year!” That sort of all or nothing mentality can quickly come undone, one misplaced Tim Tam at a friends house and you may just pack it all in.

What I have seen work time and again is adding something in. Due to necessity the things that aren’t as great for you fall by the wayside. So like above, add in water to drink if you know you drink too much soft drink. Or if you know you snack on energy dense foods and this is an issue vow to have two extra serves of vegetables with two of either breakfast, lunch or dinner.

If you are wanting to get into an exercise program you can start off small, committing from 1 to 3 hours a week is as small of a commitment as you need to make initially. The nutrition changes can come later if you like. From my experiences you need to make small, sustainable changes for any health and fitness goal to succeed.

So add those little bits in, 1% better than yesterday, whatever they are, and see how much difference you can make over the next few months then you can look back at this time next year and really see how much you have accomplished in the last 12 months.

If you know me you know that I am pretty big on goal setting to achieve with your health and fitness. Well I am going to take that a little further and let you know that while goals are great, you need to go further to have truly lasting health and fitness.

To me, you need to have a health and fitness mission statement. Sorry to sound like a bit of a tool, I know it is a bit cringy, but bear with me.

I have been in the health and fitness industry for bang on 10 years, and in that time I have seen all manner of goals set by participants in programs. And on top of that I have seen all manner of goals achieved. Sometimes, that is where the problem is.

Once the goal is achieved then what? People will set goals based on a future point in time, like a wedding, high school reunion, competition, etc. And once they get to that date, health and fitness is forgotten, goal accomplished! Don’t need to get back to the gym now, I did that! Then in a few weeks the pants start getting tighter, the flight of stairs taller, the bags of chips on the lounge in front of a movie bigger and life goes back to being unfit, and unhealthy.

So what is it about that person you know that hits the gym regularly, goes for a run, never seems to have much fat on their frame, is super motivated, not only in the gym but all aspects of their life??

Chances are they probably have something resembling a mission statement that keeps them going. You see a mission statement can never fully be accomplished, you can strive for it, work towards it, tick goals off along the way, but never completely attain it.

With a goal in mind some people can get discouraged when they go off course and so pack it in. The people with the mission statement know that there will be times that you are off course, but that you can bring it back around again. Think about an aeroplane, it is off course up to 99% of the time it is in the air, it continues to make small alterations to the flight path time and again to bring it back into line and then in the end achieve its goal of landing at its destination.

Health and fitness is like this, you have a goal of losing 5 kilos, running 5Kms in a certain time, but there is a birthday party this weekend. For some the goal is destroyed, others just see a small deviation in their course in getting them where they want to be. Now if you had that goal of lose 5KG by a certain date as your only driving motivator it is easy to drop it when off course, or once you hit it.

If your motivator is something along the lines of, I want to be the fittest healthiest person I can today, then it might stick a lot better. The 5KG loss goal then becomes part of trying to never fully achieving that statement, it is one step in the process of living your mission.

It can be referred to as your why, your purpose or your mission, but if it isn’t strong enough you won’t stick to it.It has to align with who you are and where you want to be in life. Agian, if it doesn’t, it won’t happen.

Health and fitness isn’t a short burst, a sprint with a time cap, it is a lifelong pursuit of being better than yesterday. We can’t take a break from life, everyday we get up and move about. We can’t just pop it on hold when we feel like it, and your fitness and health is part of that. It is the foundation it is all built upon. Set short term goals and stop every three or four months for a couple of weeks break and soon enough you will stop for a month, and then that will turn into a year and well, you get the picture.

So have a look, see what your goals are, align them with your values and set your mission statement. Make sure you can never fully attain it, but can strive towards it, remember, better than yesterday.

I want to give you 5 exercises that you can do at home, or very close to home.
We see so much info nowadays on the science behind everything health and fitness related and how this program is better than that, or eating this way is better than all others. And there seems to be a hundred different studies done to back up one or the other. Well today I am not entering into any of it. I am just going to give you five exercises that you can do at home or nearby to burn some fat and get you metabolism jacked up pretty well. You can throw a workout together with these five, wherever you are.

Now they aren’t cutting edge, they aren’t the most complex, state of the art type fad exercise on the latest midnight infomercial. Nope, they are just five of the oldest and most trusted exercises we know. Simple really.

1. Squat. Yep the old fashioned squat, it is how we get down to the ground, and in certain parts of the world how we are expected to still go to the toilet. It is the movement we are naturally built to perform and something that should not hurt your knees. Keep your feet flat, and lower your butt towards the ground. Stay upright throughout. You will know if you have it right if you can wiggle your toes a bit anywhere through the range of motion, no toe wiggle, too much weight on the front of the foot. Shift it to the heel, and then stand by trying to push your feet through the floor.
2. Push up. The military still do because they work.When done correctly, with awesome form they are more than just an arm and shoulder exercise. They work the core as well. If you are sagging like an old sofa or doing the harbour bridge you need to tighten up the core and make this a more rigid movement. Hands directly under shoulders, thumbs touch the chest at the bottom and hips stay off the ground. And make sure your chest hits the floor to get that full range.
3. Lunge. Something we probably do everyday without realising it, getting down to wipe a spill from off the floor, that sort of thing. When people talk about building a booty, this exercise is indispensable. Reach a long way forward with your front leg, lower to the floor without allowing your front knee to travel further than your toes, push your weight into that front foot and stand up. Again stay upright in your posture and don’t allow your core to go all noodly.
4. Burpee. The king of cardio movements, do five of these and feel your heart rate jump through the roof, do 20 and feel everything jump up, the heart rate, the breathing, the temperature, all of it!! Keep your feet wide, replace your feet on the floor with your hands and lower yourself to the floor quickly, but with control, throwing your feet back so that you end up lying on your stomach on the ground. Push your hands into the ground, bring the feet up to replace the hands and leap in the air with hands above head. And that is one!
5. Run/Walk. Something most of us can do. Get outside and walk, walk briskly, walk slowly, whatever point you are at, do that. Now to up the ante you can start by walking, then you might jog between two predetermined points, for example on your walk you might identify the big old gum tree at the top of the hill. Run to it and then continue on your walk. Something I would do when I was starting out was I would jog from every second telegraph pole to the next, then walk to the next one. I would alternate like this for three to seven repeats and then walk home. And hey presto! It was an interval training workout.

So there you have it, five of the best exercises that you can do at home or really close to home. You can do them in a hotel, on the beach, anywhere. If you start doing a few of these within no time you will realise how much more you can do day after day. But don’t go out too hard, just because you could do 50 push ups, 100 squats and 25 burpees when you were 17 does not mean you should attempt that straight up if you are now 38 and haven’t done anything since the turn of the century. Even if you haven’t done it in the last five years I would recommend starting out with a few reps every couple of days and working up. Add in 1% everyday and in a month you will be 31% better.

Slow down, put your fork down, and step away from the table, part 2

You might remember me talking about eating slower. Well this is another layer for that.

Hopefully you are able to slow down a bit more now when eating your major meals each day. And hopefully you are noticing you are full before you actually finish a larger portion. If you aren’t, don’t be concerned. We will walk you through another step to help.

And this time it is just that, a step. Now you have taken 15 minutes or more to eat if you have some food left then step away from the table. Yes, as simple as that. Take your leftovers and pop them in the fridge.

Now if you wait another 15 minutes or so and drink some water you might find that you are no longer hungry and that you had it right. But if you are still a little peckish, then have a couple of bites of something, like a piece of fruit or a few almonds. Sometimes it is as simple as standing up and stepping away from the table.

If you can start incorporating this habit in with the one of eating slower you will find that by the time Christmas rolls around you will be well and truly able to navigate that period with ease. And with a feeling of accomplishment. I have seen people time and again just change these two small behaviours and have huge success on their health fronts. Some weight loss and clothing sizes down, just by chewing food and stepping away from the table. Yep those two little steps can help to shed a few kilos.

Part of the problem with excessive weight gain has to do with portion sizes. Think to the last time you ate in a restaurant, it seems that everytime you go to one the steaks get bigger, the pasta bowls are huge, garlic bread slices seem to have multiplied and ice cream seems to be served in a  small canoe!

So it goes without saying that if we can cut these portion sizes, even just a little bit, we can curb the amount of calories we are putting into our bodies, and hopefully help ourselves feel a bit better as well.

A couple of weeks ago it was eat slower, and if you need to go back and set that alarm, now just add in stepping away from the table, still eating what you have normally eaten for the longest time, no rabbit food, no drinking your meals, everything the same, except, slower and not quite as much as before.

When people start working out in a CrossFit box you can sometimes hear them talk about the random workout they had to do.
And it can seem exactly that, random. When you look closer at a boxes programing it shouldn’t appear at all random.
It should be varied, but never random, ie it should not be plucked out of a hat and should follow progressions to get people to advance over time. CrossFit is by definition constantly varied, functional movements performed at high intensity. Sure there are the odd hopper workouts synonymous with CrossFit, and if your training has been broad and inclusive you will be able to attack the hopper WOD and  be alright doing so.

CrossFit ascertains that there are 10 components of fitness. Endurance (cardiovascular), stamina, strength, power, agility, balance, coordination, accuracy, flexibility and speed.
I believe that all of these components need to be improved to balance out your fitness.To me it is no good being strong if you can’t run up a flight of stairs and lose your breath, nor do I feel it ok that you can run 5km in sub 20 minutes, yet you can’t left up some things in your garden or garage because they are too heavy. Life, in general, requires us to complete a multitude of tasks.

Ever been super sore after doing a day’s gardening in springtime? After helping your brother set up a trampoline in the backyard? Or doing anything that is generally not what you would normally do in your day to day work life? When you expose your body to a new and different stimulus it will try to adapt, and getting sore is part of that. So what we seek to do here at CrossFit Armidale is eliminate that. And the way to that is by moving more days than you don’t and doing varied exercises over a long period of time.

So when I sit down to program I try to see what we can do to keep the body guessing, so that it will continually adapt and always be ready for anything. One of the biggest problems I see with fitness and health in general is that most people are impatient when  it comes to getting somewhere with it. And don’t get me wrong, I have been there myself. And I have in the past propagated the myth that you can be fit, healthy and happy by doing a short term program with me. You see life doesn’t stop until you die. And up until that point you have one place to live, your body. Now if you sporadically take care of your body and health, it will sporadically take care of you. A diet here, and exercise program there will not add up to long term health and wellbeing.

You need to workout regularly, consistently, sometimes with high intensity, other times in a steady light state of intensity, and most of all you need to vary your program. If you don’t vary it, you will adapt to it and then plateau and stay where you are.

So to me consistency is key, and when I write the program for the members here I look to what they have done in the past and what they are capable of in the present, and how I can help them be capable of more.

I look at people I have seen over the years and see plenty of people comment that they have tried everything and none of the things they tried worked. Now therein lies the problem. They have tried so many things short term and never given them a chance to succeed. The difference between succeeding in most any exercise program and not succeeding is consistent effort over time. Turning up, putting in and then doing it again tomorrow.
Consistency is key, and it doesn’t matter what that program is, it will work, if you give it a chance.

I know this to be true because I was going over old workout programs recently, and one of them from about three years ago I had recently seen one of our coaches use as a warm up. If we had of told the members three years ago that the tough workout they had just completed would juste be their warmup in a few years they would have told us we were mad. But that is what happened.

We approach exercise here like the 20 mile march, which comes from the race to the south pole by Amundsen and Scott. To simplify it the two had different strategies and Amundsen would approach it with consistent effort each day, working every day for 5 to 6 hours at his one goal, getting to the pole first.

Scott had more than one goal and would sometimes out in 8 or 9 hours a day, but other days not as much, in essence, one would march 20 miles everyday, without fail, the other maybe 10, maybe 50, and the 20 mile per day team got there first. Consistent effort over time proved to give massive results.

And that dear reader is what I do here, I provide a 20 mile march for our members everyday, they come in, they march and they walk out better than yesterday. Your health and wellbeing really is that simple. No need to complicate it. Turn up, follow the program consistently, get results.

Jim Ridley is Armidale’s accomplished personal trainer. Having lost over 25 kilos and becoming a PT, Jim knows where you are coming from. He is the owner of Gym Ridz Personal Training and CrossFit Armidale, 2012 Winners of the Health, Beauty and Wellbeing section in the Armidale Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. The only private training studio in Armidale and Armidale’s only CrossFit gym. He is also an avid if not tragic St George Illawarra Dragons fan.

Something I have a really hard time doing is self promotion, or blowing your own trumpet. I am really reluctant to do it, however I do understand that when you do something if no one knows about it you will have to let them know somehow.

So eight years ago or so I began working as a personal trainer. Well, I was working for a couple of gyms and training about three clients, doing what I had been told was the norm in the fitness industry. Long hours, and not many clients, running from one place to the next.

Then I had had enough, it was sink or swim. So I went for it and started the first completely private PT studio here in town. From the little shed in Mann street we started to add some things like CrossFit. But after a great kick off in 2011 in 2012 -14 we hit  really hard times and rough patch.
At one point it really looked like we may have to close the doors. Things were rough and I wasn’t sleeping, I was up most nights worried where the money for rent and wages was going to come from, I wasn’t drawing a wage. I had to make it work though. You were all counting on me.

I had lost my vision and so couldn’t see where I was heading. I was getting out of shape, gaining weight and the business was looking terrible. I was getting more and more lost.

So the guys at NPE, they are my business coaches, and I put our heads together and set up a goal and a plan. And so at the end of 2014, I decided to change our angle and really get the business back in check, after all, no business means no CrossFit, and no CrossFit meant I couldn’t help anyone that I wanted to.

And since that day three years ago I have started working on me. I have invested in learning more, and then in turn doing more for all of you. The team I have here has worked their butts off with me and we wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Matty, Wor, Chloe, Bradley, Hugh, Westie and Jodie. These coaches are incredible, they represent everything positive about this place. They embody our core values and have really helped to keep me in line and have made it easy to run this place.

The most important part of it all though are the members. You are the reason my feet hit the ground in the morning and I start the day with a smile on my face. Seeing what people accomplish here day in day out makes it all so worth it. The things that they don’t think they can do, and then they show themselves they can, blow me away, and I am honoured to guide so many of you with your fitness regimes. And that is the thing, you are the ones doing this, living this story, I am just there to offer that little bit of assistance you need.

And to bring it round to the recognition. In the past we have snared a chamber of commerce award, and at a time when things weren’t looking the best. I have won awards and such in my life and always thought that with every up comes a down. But to be runner up in the NPE member of the year this year has been a pretty amazing bit of recognition, and at a great time in the business. We have really worked hard the last three years to make CrossFit Armidale a world class facility. We want nothing but the best for all the members and having been to a fair few CrossFit boxes now I know that CFA is up there with any box in Australia in terms of coaching and equipment. And I am damn proud of what we have all created here. Then to have our my coach and then my peers in the industry place us up there as highly as they do it has really brought it home to me that we are doing the right things for all of you.

So you, the members of CFA, and my dear readers, I thank you. You humble me and I really hope I can continue to serve you all as best I can for as long as I can 🙂