Do You Want To Build Something?

How To Cultivate A Community In Fitness 

Lately I keep hearing the term – “We’re all individual and need different things training wise.” 

All while it being laced with subtle irony in that those saying it all make a living off of group training which couldn’t be further from providing what an individual needs. 

Since starting out in fitness endeavours that were heavily biased towards sports and performance I hold no hesitation in saying that while people are individual, most need to master the basics and earn the right to more specific training first. 

A lot will disagree with this and that’s cool because it’s what helps breed discussion.

One discussion in particular surrounds why people choose to train as they do. 

Given the immense variety to training options for health, longevity, general fitness of specific performance there’s typically one element that keeps each option held together. 

It’s the community created in each of them

As a species the common default is to seek out people that are like us and find a place to belong. 

Some are more capable of fitting in just about anywhere as they have eclectic tastes and are of the disposition that has them feeling very little in the way of anxiety when it comes to trying new things. 

Not everyone is a novelty seeker though, some like a deeply engrained routine and familiarity.

Understanding what sort of person you are can really help in you creating a fitness business that appeals to the right people. 

It’s also worth remembering that you don’t need to go down any of the classic rabbit holes. 

• Body Building 
• Weightlifting 
• Powerlifting 
• CrossFit, etc

While all great, if you don’t really care for them or anything that is deeply biased towards training in a gym of what might be considered a classic fitness environment then you needn’t worry because there is so much more out there to explore. 

Fitness by definition is the ability to perform a specific task.

Health, the optimal interplay/function of organs and freeness from disease/illness/etc in the body.

You’ll find a fair amount of activities cover both of those things, although there are some exceptions that offer great fitness with the potential of compromise to health and vice-versa, while perhaps great for a niche they may not be something you’re interested in creating a community around. 

This brings us back to the big question – What kind of person are you?

Are you driven by competition, novelty, consistency or something else because understanding that will help you unlock your coaching potential by appealing to those of a similar ilk instead of trying to appeal to everyone.

Given the modern tome that everyone is different, why try to create a fitness business that is generic?

Is it because there is safety in the familiar or perhaps that the idea of trying to truly be different and treat everyone as individuals is quite a struggle in reality and only makes for a good idea on paper because it’d be great to know your thoughts on that.

Please write down 5 common tropes you see across all areas of fitness & why you think they exist.

This will be the first step in establishing what it takes to create a community. 

What is classic has stood the test of time, so they’ve gotten something right. 

Apart from a clear understanding of who you are and what drives you, knowing what generally people are after in a larger group sense will be crucial too. 

You’ll find in the initial days people train for health/fitness results that are believed to be the key to happiness, yet it’s often the friends and sense of belonging that keep anyone that ventures into the wonderland there.

I’ve found this is why groups can train int he same way for years without ever making progress and still enjoy every minute of it. 

Having a place to belong is something deeply important.

Feeling as if you’re respected, appreciated and a valued member of the group is worth its weight in gold to many, as such it’s not uncommon those to really go the extra mile in regards to helping out, organising events and general activities that serve to further deepen the relationships they’ve formed. 

Another step you can take to create a strong community is to ask for input.

If there is one thing a lot of people appreciate it’s feeling needed or that they can be useful.

Utility is a great way to gain a solid following because by asking for help, favours and the knowledge/expertise of those in your growing community will only serve to show your humility and willingness to accept that trying to do everything alone just isn’t wise.

Plus when it’s for a cause that is important in the eyes of the person you’re asking it really gives them a positive buzz for their selfless act. 

One great place for this can be found in any CrossFit box. 

Honestly the atmosphere in them is usually pretty great as they are all there not only to get in some WOD’s or classic training, they’re also likely to sit and have coffee while talking about various topics, sharing stories or offering advice to any willing to listen. 

It’s genuinely a nice place to be.

Same is true for martial arts clubs, sports facilities and anywhere that has a ‘team vibe’ going on. 

Even individual sports that are highly competitive have this sort of feeling to them, at least at the hobbyist level that is, when you step up to the elite levels there can be a little more focus in training and the banter is saved for the locker rooms or lounges post training.

One great example of a niche that is 100% built on offering an unforgettable experience is OCR.

Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) is all about having a good time first, competition is secondary.

You can either run a course on your own or in a group, such an option really gives people a sense of community because in the early days and even as an overall, it’s not about the race time, it’s merely about getting over the line and being proud that you’ve achieved something you didn’t think possible. 

This is something I’ve noticed that is really rewarding for a great number of people – Doing something they never thought they could. 

An overwhelming sense of achievement is what most really want, and it does wonders for their confidence.

Yea having aesthetics worthy of stepping on stage is cool, however that’s not something a lot of people really want, yet being able to run 10k+ through the mud, over obstacles of unusual size and even climb ropes or traverse monkey bars its truly rewarding for them.

A lot would even call that ‘functional training’  simply because these are the sorts of skills they can then transfer to daily life (playing with kids etc).

Training for a lot of people isn’t what the fitness industry thinks it is. 

It’s about finding a place to belong whereby they can gain support, encouragement, inspiration and overcome mental barriers to achieve objective they didn’t think possible. 

Most people are quick to put themselves down, especially in the classic gym environments because they walk in and see people they already perceive to have it all ‘nailed down’.

Yea we don’t, even those of us 20+ years deep in general training are still not entirely sure what we’re doing and have tried and failed at more fitness related tasks than we can remember and yet we kept coming back because of what it gave us, a place to belong & community to be apart of. 

As mentioned above when it comes to enthusing life into your fitness business it’s worth understanding that it doesn’t need to be focused on what is considered common or classic. 

You might be deeply into Stair Running & Climbing (bouldering) for example.

Those two things are great for general fitness, however they’re also great fun and can really make for a good time when there is a group of you powering up 50 flights of stairs of spotting the line on a 20foot fall. 

Another benefit is they’re not ‘classic fitness’ activities and that is what really captures peoples attention.

I personally love the gym, however it’s no different from what is was in the 70’s or before.

To truly take a chance and explore activities that not only provide benefits to ones health & fitness, yet also create the opportunity for a unique community to be born is truly worth your time to explore.

Please take 5 min to answer this question – What kind of fitness community do I want to be known for creating & why would people want to become a part of it?

You’ll find that taking time to really chew this over can open some new doors for you. 

Also don’t be afraid to leave your thoughts on this in the comments section below. 

Enjoy, 

Ross 

Haters, Learn To Love Them

So long as you’re alive there will be haters in your life.

To be fair they’ll still be around after you’re gone as well ☠️

You’ll find there is little you can do about them apart from simply ignore them and crack on with what you’re doing.
I’ve had my fair share over the years.

Usually they come in the form of ‘ask holes’ 🙄

People that insist on repeating the same questions in the hope of getting the answer they want as opposed to the answer they need because it’s what their ego is after.

As I’ve gotten older less of a shit is given about upsetting these people.

While there is no ill will harboured towards them, there’s very little time beyond hearing them repeat the same question in diferent ways trying to filter the answers towards what their bias wants 🧠

Common questions that come the way of the fintess professional are as follows:

– How can I lose weight? (basically belly fat)

– What are the best foods to eat for weight loss?

– Is XYZ the best way to train/eat for weight loss?

Sadly most are asking for agreement to what they are either already doing or think they know, and when one aims to educate them it’s met with fierce resistance 🤦‍♀️

Truth be told there’s only so many times you can provide a fluff filled answer before you simply don’t care enough to continue doing it.

As you can imagine this upsets people.

The result is many consider you to be elitist, judgemental, uncaring and many other things.

In truth a lot of trainers/coaches just no longer have the energy to deal with such time wasting endeavours because those that have been in the industry a while recognise the exact place the person is in.

From my own experience this refers to if they’re in what can be called the ‘contemplation stage’ whereby they will look for reasons that can validate the place they’re in and that weight loss (the goal of most) is just duper hard to achieve.

Not sorry to burst your bubble here, it’s not hard 🤣

It can be done with very little change to someone life and even their nutrition, however it will take time and the changes will need to be permanent – that’s where people struggle.

Too many want a short term change that leaves a long term result 🙄

Sorry life doesn’t work that way.

Think of it like this, you upper your work productivity to progress your career and get a promotion or more business.
To sustain the new business or promotion you don’t go back to doing less than you were before (in terms of quality) otherwise you’ll lose the additoinal business, promotion or get the sack 🤓

Fitness and the common goal of weight loss is not different.

It’s what these days I tend to ask people what they think will make them happy and then to really think about if achieving it will have them feeling fulfilled in life.

Happiness is feeling you see.

Fulfilment ont he other hand can last a life time 🙃

Losing your belly fat and gaining the positive comments and perhaps attention of your peer is great for the ego and the soul, however it won’t last forever.

Achieving something that holds a deep meaning to you not he other hand will last even once the comments, praise and validation have long since vanished.

What does this have to do with haters?

Well, haters will only exist if you’re doing something right.

No one hates (or is jealous) people that are leagues below them in the game of life 😋

Don’t measure your success on how many people congratulate you, base it on those that constantly try to take digs and bring you down to their level.

Then promptly thank them for their hate and carry on with life 🤓

Enjoy,
Ross

Luck Or Something Else?

Create Your Ideal Environment For Success

Take a few minutes to dig back through the history of all successful people that have been admired and aspired to emulate over the centuries and you’ll find two schools of thought.

Well, you’ll find more than two however two is what we’re going to focus on today because my brain is working slower than normal. 

• Nature, they are just a different breed 
• Nurture, they were born in the right place with every star aligned 

Okay, I’d like to add a third option, you might say this is the coin that lands on it’s edge.

• Necessity, they created the situation/environment/chances needed to succeed 

While the first two places people will say success come from are indeed viable and often common in the stories of the successful, it’ the third that is most interesting and applicable to everyone else that didn’t have a blessed life starting out with one or both of the other two considerations. 

It is in the third option that we can truly learn a lesson in posterity.

Not everyone that climbs to the top was meant to get there. 

No that wasn’t a badly written point, I genuinely mean that. 

You’ll find no shortage of people that somehow stood up against all the odds and surpassed their limits going beyond what anyone ever thought was possible for them, sadly many just get bitter or chalk it up to the now successful person actually falling into the realms of the first two options even if they know it not to be the case. 

What is hardest to accept is that this now giant among men created their own path to success. 

They did this through looking at all of those that were either born with a critical business aptitude or with several silver spoons and found the elements that were not subject to genetics or birth rights.

They looked at the environment, the situations and behaviours required to be the best. 

You’ll find there is little stopping you creating the required environment you need to succeed, especially as anyone that has already done it will leave a plethora of clues and all you need to is look at the life/history of all these people and find what is consistent in all of them. 

Say it’s a writer, most of the best ones tend to have a specific routine they use to establish their ‘flow’, a specific place they go, or a specific type of environment that helps them trigger the necessary behaviours and mental capacities they need to break through the wall and do what they must. 

Instead of finding an excuse as to why they can’t write because something is off, they merely find a way to create the same feeling in the place/location they currently reside, thus aligning everything as it must be for them to be productive.

All successful people do this.

In your field find out what your admirable peers have in common in relation to their environment.

Establish what you need to create the same thing for yourself and you’ll be on the way towards cultivating that which you need to truly step out of the shadows of mediocrity, just be aware you might have to leave people behind to do so. 

Once you begin walking this path you’ll start to recognise your own situational markers for success. 

You’ll start to see the opportunities appearing not by chance, rather by patience because they’re always there. Coming and going, it’s only people that don’t take the time to see what is around them, to pay attention and observe that miss them or think the don’t crop up very often. 

Creating the situations for yourself to capitalise on such chances again come from learning.

Again you’ll need to research those people you aspire to be like, see the commonalities.

While this isn’t a ‘formula’ or ‘blue print’ that offers a foolproof way to climb the ladder of life because it can take years to truly delve through the lives of the successful to find the context/situations that allow for growth it will be worth the time & effort. 

This diligence breeds more chances because you’ll not hesitate when they appear. 

Procrastination is the devil, and it kills many a desire because of the uncomfortable feeling people get from not really being sure if what they’re seeing is a nugget of golden opportunity or just a turn that caught the sunlight at the right angle. 

Take some time to read through the above again. 

Learn to crate your own environment that will provide you with the necessary behaviours to succeed, then from here become aware of each situation and the context surrounding it because that is where you find plenty of small chances to grow that eventually lead to that big opportunity you’ve been looking for. 

Once you find it you’ll know because it’ll create a deep feeling of both excitement and fear in you. 

This is the true unknown, you’ll have seen all the potential possibilities from learning about the lives of those previously successful people and recognising where their life changed, now it’s your turn.

I can’t guarantee success, however all those that have achieved it speak of this moment. 

They’ll all describe it in different ways, yet the feeling it invokes is always the same, when it appears don’t hesitate because that never results in anything expect for what you already have. 

Learn from the past to help create your future. 

Enjoy,
Ross 

What’s Missing From Most Training

Why Inefficiency Is Crucial In Training 

As people train and gain more experience progress tends to slow down. 

It can be quite the frustration that forward momentum creeps along at a snails pace. 

Typically this all comes down the fact people just get too good at what they’re doing. 

Being the bright bunch you are these terms won’t be unfamiliar to you.

GPP – General Physical Preparedness 

SPP – Special Physical Preparedness 

As a refresher.

The first surroundings building a base and creating a stimulus in training that has a large benefit across a broad physiological spectrum in our bodies. 

The second is focused on helping us achieve something a little more niche.

Regardless of which you’re training is focused on, both ought to provide adequate stimulus to trigger a favourable adaptive response, however over time what often happens is the opposite.

Many train more and get far less, regardless of there training angle they take.

While there can multiple factors as to why this happens, such as poor sleep, external stress, low quality nutrition etc, a common element is that training efficiency has increased and the types of movements, protocols and periodisation is now highly familiar to the body. 

This means less overall stimulus leading to diminished adaptation.

Also being highly efficient means you’ll have a lower total energy expenditure too. 

While a most excellent quality for sports and being able to do things without suffering excess fatigue, it won’t do much for continued adaptation in a positive way, which a lot of people want (even if they don’t outwardly claim to). 

As such training ought to be as inefficient as possible.

That’s why cycling training loads, movements, protocols and overall style of periodisation is crucial, provided people are looking for long term progress. 

Too many get stuck in what is comfortable & familiar.

While it’s fair to say this isn’t a terrible place to be, it’s one that wont take people much further than the point they’re already at and eventually will even have them sliding backwards due to an eve diminishing stimulus.

Changing a training variable can help elicit an inefficient novel stimulus that’s required.

Be warned though changes that are too frequent can cause the body to not make any long term adaptation, you’ll need at least 3 weeks of intense exposure to the stimulus, meaning at an intensity level of 90%+ (easily measurable if you track the numbers). 

Beyond the point you’ll be creating a deep inroad you might not recover from and instead end up on the exhaustion side of GAS (general adaptation syndrome).

It’d be good to know how you factor this in to your clients training, and perhaps even your own.

How do you keep training necessary & inefficient to allow continued progress?

Please do leave your thoughts and experiences (plus any questions) down below. 

Enjoy,
Ross 

A Post For PT’s Seeking Profit

4 Reasons You Don’t Earn What You Want & 3 Ways You Can 

Earning potential in fitness is often sold by those in sales rolls as 30k+ within the first year of being fully qualified.

While that’s entirely possible it’s not that probable.

10K is the average earnings for most in their first year of working as a fitness professional 😳

As depressing as the above might be it’s worth understanding it’s not being said to bring you down or demotivate you. 

The purpose behind telling you how reality actually works is to help you be more prepared for it and align you ducks in a good row to not be a low earner for too long.

The reasons why high earnings early on is a struggle:

• Lack Of Social Proof – No Client Results 
• No Marketing/Sales Set Up 
• Minimal Business Management Skills
• Who Are You? 

To quickly expand on the above. 

When you start out you’ve got little to no experience in programming for other people, even if you’ve ‘done it’ for yourself for years and achieved great results on your own. 

Training someone else is much harder and far more time consuming than people realise.

Additionally having no proof of results means you’ve got no portfolio of evidence to show why your service is of value to a potential client.

Essentially you’ve not paid enough of dues yet. 

Don’t worry people will give you a change, you just need to connect with them on an emotional level, once they get the results you know you can get them everything will begin to snowball ⛄️

Of course you’ll need to be business savvy, which means reading equally as many (if not more) books on sales tactics, marketing strategies and dealing with objections.

In regards to objections they’re not objecting to you.

They’re objecting to the lack of value, benefit and experience you’re offering.

When it happens ask them why what you’re offering isn’t for them, this will help you refine your approach for next time. 

All of the above links to business management skills 🤓

If you’ve not been self employed before then you’d best hire a mentor or business coach to help you from day one, even if you say “I can’t afford it.” you need to find a way to afford it, take out an interest free loan for your business investment.

There are ways you can afford it, the real reason you won’t pony up is because you don’t see value in it, much the same way people won’t hire PT’s, so why not choose to go against your resistance and hire someone that can save you years of floundering.

You’ll still need to be the one to apply the knowledge they give you though, if you don’t then the fault is yours and like most clients that hire a PT and don’t put in the required effort, you’ll be paying for a very expensive friend 💷

Lastly, who are you again?

People don’t yet know who you are and why you’re awesome.

You are awesome you know, and worth every penny you charge, however unless you put yourself out there and speak to people, engage with them, build rapport with them and so on, how will they know to come to you for all their fitness needs 💪

Keeping the above in mind, here’s 3 ways to earn well from day 1.

• Ask For The Business At Every Opportunity 
• Be Present (in the gym & online)
• Set Yourself Targets 

The first point is one I bring up a lot. 

People don’t ask for the business nearly enough and as a result don’t get any, usually due to the fear of rejection 🙈

Rejection is a part of life, it’s how we choose to deal with it and what we can learn from it that matter so that over time the chances of it happening are greatly reduced. 

Being present is focused around offering help where you can. 

Sharing information that is true, useful & good.

Creating TOMA – top of mind awareness – is essential in business because if people don’t know you’re the person they need in their life or to go to when they want progress across their current lifestyle then why would they ever think to hire you?

Write out a list of 3-5 educational objectives you’ll achieve each day, maybe this example can help:

• Share an infographic on all social media 
• Write a 100 word post with a pearl of fitness wisdom 
• Update your ‘stories’ with anecdote, education & jokes 
• Give out the chance to gain a free gift of sorts 
• Create a consistent series of posts that end is asking for business for those that followed them all.

Lastly and arguably the most important element.

Set yourself targets 🎯

When you’re in an employed role this is done for you. 

They might be specific sales numbers to hit, a specific amount of product units to be created or a set of customer service standards that are required to keep the patrons happy.

Regardless of their incarnation they will be there.

Fitness professionals are terrible at setting these for themselves, and will make 101 excuses for not doing them which can start from “I don’t want to try and speak to the same person X amount of times as it will seem like I’m hassling them” or “I couldn’t speak to that many new people a day.”.

Okay, you’re not really interested in being successful, that’s cool.

Just remember though this is how business works, and when you ask anyone that has done well in business they all did the above, even when it made them feel uncomfortable.

Some might put a different spin on it, however this is how success works.

It’s a numbers game 📈

Like it or not you need to have the numbers before you can even contemplate begin picky about how many you train and what specific type of person that is

One final bonus tip to help you earn what you desire.

Know what that number actually is 

Don’t be wishy washy about it, establish a number and then reverse engineer how much your hourly rate will be, or what you’ll need to charge per block of training PCM etc. 

Example – £50,250pa 

• Months of work per year – 10 – £5025 pcm
• Days of work per week – 5 – £1005 daily 
• Hours of work per day – 6 – £167.50 per hour 

From here you’ll now need to establish the best way to secure your required earnings.

Yep some people want that from fitness, and it is doable, provided you’re good at your job and very good at business.

If we look at the monthly target, how could you earn that? 

Well, having perhaps 2-3 PT clients pay the required fees total is an option if your area is affluent, however for the rest of us mortals that don’t wipe our bottoms with gold leaf a group training option would be a better approach 

That would mean if you ran a group training session for 10 people they’d be paying £502.50 a month, which is more than affordable. 

Oh and that’s just one option, you’ve got plenty more ranging from Online Coaching, Writing Articles or a whole host of other passive income streams too 💷

Regardless of how you choose to accomplish your desired earnings there is one undeniable fact you need to remember above all others – You need to have a plan.

The old say of failing to plan is planning to fail, yes it’s really very true in business, especially the fitness business. 

Take a good read of the above again and please do leave your questions & comments down below 🤓

Enjoy, 

Ross 

P.S – Be realistic in your desired earnings, these are some good targets based on my experience in this whacky world. 

Year 1 – 12-16k

Year 2 – 16-20k

Year 3 – 20-24k

Year 4 – 24-28k

Year 5 – 28-32k

Year 6 – 32-36k

Year 7 – 36-40k

Year 8 – 40k+ – At this point your business won’t collapse and vanish into the either (typically).

It’s years 1 & 4-6 where things tend to go wrong. 

The first year because people realise it’s not the dream they were sold and duck out, 4-6 is because people become complacent and that’s where mistakes happen. 

After you’ve been around for 8 years your business will have enough in the way of solid operations to not fold and this is where you can choose to really invest and take it to the next level of just live comfortably with the systems you’ve got in place. 

And just to reiterate a point, don’t see paying for help in the form of extra educational courses, mentoring, business management consultants as an expense (you can off set these against your tax), see them as a necessary investment because that’s exactly what they are 👍

The choice is yours, so choose wisely.

Once again, enjoy.

Ross 

The Common Question

I Don’t Know What I’m Supposed To Do. ‘Everyone’ 

Life can be tricky at the best of times and even more so when training becomes apart of the equation.

Given the literally endless amounts of choice that I’d like to say all work, some more so than others yet all methods work at achieving something, people become frustrated.

I’ve personally been there plenty of times.

Bodyweight, kettlebells, barbells, odd objects, dumbbells, cables, rings and many other pieces of kit have found their way into my training.

For a long time I got obsessed with learning as much about programming and the methods behind the madness as possible.

It was a worthy investment as there is now such a repertoire of knowledge almost everyone goal can easily be catered for, however it was all just too much to tell you the truth because even after learning all of this that every so poignant question still lingered.

“What am I supposed to do.”

Knowing is one thing, applying is something else entirely.

Over the years the goal of refining all that has been accumulated to a concise set of guiding concepts has been something I’ve work towards.

Not for me, it’s too late for me now because I’m too far down the rabbit hole. 

The hope is that it will spare people the madness.

These are the 3 key ones I’ve narrowed it all down to that can  be applied by you as of today 

• Change one element of your program every 3 weeks 
• Sharp, Dynamic & Unexpected changes in intensity from session to session
• Every intensity/volume/density combination has a place, so use them all

While there is some science behind them (which I will note below for those that want to explore it), the overall aim of the three above is to allow for consistency of training (SAID) while providing the necessary novel stimulus required for adaptation (GAS) so that a deceased training effect due to the repeated bout effect (Law of Accommodation) isn’t as present. 

As an example, say you’ve got a Super Set you really like doing as it keeps you consistent.

• Hinge & Press – these are the patterns
• 25-100 total reps a piece is the volume range for your current training block/needs

This is plenty of fuel for you to progress for quite some time.

Using the above concepts, here is what you programming might look like.

• Train these movements 3 days (so Monday, then Thursday, then Sunday, etc)
• Chosen lifts for the first 3 weeks Stiff Leg DL, Press behind Neck 
• Rep goals 25 total reps – 3-6 reps per set, no rep number used two sessions in a row
• Load is dictated by the reps, as is the rest

Day 1 –
A1 – SLDL – 6,6,5,5,4

A2 – PBN – 4,6,4,6,4

Day 4 –
A1 – SLDL – 5,5,3,2,5,5

A2 – PBN – 5,4,3,5,4,3

Day 7 – 

A1 – SLDL – 4,6,4,6,4

A2 – PBN – 4,5,6,5,4

In the next 3 sessions you may choose to use the rep range of 4-7, after cycling rep ranges, loads, rest, etc and making a note of what you did with them you might want to follow this exact sequence again for another 3 weeks, however at the end of the third week you will change the movement variations, perhaps to Power Clean and Push Press from Blocks. 

Now you might be more confused than when you started reading.

My Apologies, this is the main element to take away from this potentially incomprehensible ramble.

You don’t have to know what to do, however that’s only as complicated as you make it. If too much choice really is killing you the simply do ONE THING every session, just one, and do it well. 

Since treading into the realms of true minimalism this thought really takes out all the guess work. 

Going into the gym and choosing a pair of dumbbells to perform nothing other than ‘Clean & Push Press’ for 45-60min will truly provide moe bang for you buck than trying to figure out how many angles to hit your arms, shoulders, core, glutes and legs from.

This style of attitude will also help you understand what is it you actually want to do.

By that I mean those things you enjoy that keep you mentally satiated, as these can be tacked on to the end of doing something you Need to do. 

Many recoil at this idea because it’s not steeped in body building, crossfit or running.

By the way they’re all great training options.

You can choose do to one or all of them, don’t worry about ‘what to do’ just ‘do something’ and you’ll soon learn he difference between what you want to do, what you need to do and what fulfils you when you do it (in fitness that is, who knows…maybe life too).

Enjoy,

Ross 

Want to Know Why You Really Fail?

The Real Reason You Fail At Things Is Because You’re Addicted To Failure.

It’s safe today life has many ups and downs, to which end we probably accumulate a higher total of the latter.

Sure it’d be nice for it all to be smooth sailing, yet would that really make for a fulfilling life?

You can find more often than not that it’s in the struggle and what might be described as ‘hard graft’  that really makes what we’re aiming towards achieving more fulfilling in the end.

The life of instant gratification might seem like a good idea. 

Looking around at the people in the modern world though it’s clear to see such a thing sounds better than it is practically due to the sense of achievement one gains through working towards a specific outcome over a long period of time. 

Knowing this can help in understanding why failure is such a reoccurring theme in life. 

Apart from it being a crucial part of learning, growth and overall development as a human being & person, it’s something to be embraced.

That being said, such an attitude merely help you deal with it when it happens. 

As for why it happens there’s 3 main reasons in my experience.

• The task required skills you didn’t possess (currently)
• Availability of resources 
• You didn’t want to succeed enough

You may find all three can occur in some combination, however the first two are usually out of your direct control and even when you can account for them, mitigate their effects or find alternative solutions, sometimes they provide too large a gap to fill. 

The last factor is one of mindset.

Before we continue this doesn’t mean you slam your head against a brick wall of pour too much into something that is doomed, there needs to be an air of pragmatism, however a lot of people start something without the intent (or desire) on ever finishing it. 

Take a second and look around your own home for examples of unfinished tasks.

Now there might be various reasons or excuses as to why things have been left half finished or not even gotten past the stage of vagrant thought, however the fact tends to remain that whatever you were planning on doing wasn’t important enough to you.

It might have had a low perceived value, perhaps it had not actual value at all to you. 

A lot of people choose their goals, targets etc based on a whim and often on what ‘sounds good’, then proceed to get caught up in the moment all the while having no real intention on following through on what they’ve said. 

Many hope their words will be forgotten and they can slyly move away without being noticed. 

Then if in some distant future someone remembers as asks – “Oh yea, what happened to you doing XYZ?”

They can come up with the perfect excuse that is not only valid yet also excuses them fully due to the person bringing up this potentially embarrassing memory replying with the answer they want to hear, which is usually along the lines of – “Ah, yea that’s fair enough, XYZ would have been a struggle considering ABC. I totally get you.”.

As a result two things happen.

1 – The person remembering provides validation to the excuse they except.

2 – The person making the excuses feels thankful for not being called out & embarrassed.

Meaning a bond is formed because there’s no hard feelings or awkward moments on either side.

It’s behaviours like these and the people/attitudes they hold that allow them to exist and become repeated until eventually they’re a habit that does people no favours in the long run. 

You see when you validate, praise and reward failure there is not longer any need to succeed. 

Why after all would people go to the trouble of delaying their gratification when they can choose an insurmountable goal/objective/task, fail and gain the same feeling of praise and worth without literally none of the effort?

It’s a no brainer. 

Enabling this behaviour/attitude will forever be something that holds people back in life. 

You might find it an odd concept that people start desiring failure for what it brings them (external validation), yet it happens a lot and that’s because we allow it to.

Participation Medal, anyone?

If you truly wish to succeed at anything you’ll want to do the following:

• Surround yourself with people that will call out your BS
• Ask for help/guidance when needed 
• Seek reward from the process of achievement, not just the outcome 

Give the above some deep thought and avoid becoming addicted to failure. 

Enjoy, 

Ross

Why A Little Less Can Yield A Whole Lot More

Limits Can Be Useful.

Since lockdowns first began starting in the end of 2019 life have been very restricted.

There’s been a lot of people that have struggled physically, mentally and financially, it’s best not to forget this as those that are quick to do so usually didn’t suffer from one (or more) of these.

A lesson in this lifestyle that was forced upon people though is that limitation can be a good thing. 

When you dig through social media there’s a few gems whereby people have truly changed their lives. 

Shifting epic amounts of body fat due to having the time to truly focus and create the necessary lifestyle changes require not only to succeed in the short term but also the long term too.

In my experience as a trainer & coach this is the true crux of all things. 

Lifestyle changes.

Plenty of people can make a short term sacrifice for a result that will last for equally as little time.

The true challenge comes from wanting to make a long term change as that requires the sacrifice to be a permanent one, and one way I explain it to clients is as follows:

If you’re current at point A and you want to get to point Z, yet you’re only willing (able, capable, whichever word you choose) to make changes up to point G then that’s as far as you’ll ever go.

Now it’s of course not as simple as that. 

Some will make changes up to point G, yet perhaps due to genetics, good fortune or perhaps some special supplements will find themselves at point at point J.

This is considered very unfair by a lot of people.

Well that’s life I’m afraid.

Some have it easier than others for whatever reason, although usually those that seem to have it easier are also doing things that the envious aren’t  and all the small tweaks, changes and actions will mount up in great change over time. 

Not what a lot of people want to hear, however it’s the fact of the matter. 

You don’t get the changes for the things you didn’t change.

So how does this all relate to limitations being useful?

Simply put the less choice you have presented to you the more likely you are to achieve consistency.

A restaurant menu with 3 options for starters, main & dessert will typically have far more returning customers than one that has 100 different items on the menu for each due to information overload.

Give people the space to only train 2-3 times per week at specific times and those that value training will move heaven and earth to stick with these times.

Same for nutrition, remove the endless options in your house and it can yield a high rate of success due to the inability to snack and/or go massively off track. 

Of course it’s not foolproof, however you’d be amazed how often such an approach works. 

According to popular neuroscience out brains can handle about 7 ‘things’ (+/- 2) in regards to short term memory since a lot of decisions/choices are made in the moment we can like in our short term memory as a factor in why we choose as we do. 

In the short term if you’re presented 7 choices of food and 2 have a perceived instant gratification/reward emotional, then we offer you 7 more, so 14 in total) that like the first 5 are all beneficial to long term health it’s logical to surmise you’d get overwhelmed and probably remember the two that made you feel like you’d feel good after eating them. 

Meaning you’ll shut down all potential foods for long term health benefit and choose the one that will reward you now. 

It would take time to train yourself (create a habit) that’s only purpose is to guide you towards making better choices for longevity.

The is where limitations can step in. 

Removal of potentially troubling factors and leaving only the options that you know are the ones you ought to make for health reasons will change the game. 

Circling back to the lockdown life. 

People have a lot of options taken away from them.

• No going out to the pub
• No going out to eat
• No going to work 
• No going to the places you went socially 

True people just bought a lot of alcohol from the shops and ordered in food, however those are the ilk that gained tracked 20-40 pandemic pounds and they’re also the unfortunate ones that new feel terrible about it.

Others not being able to work, socialise or do anything they normally did chose fill their time productively.

Plenty started doing daily exercise, be that walking, yoga, callisthenics, or some form of home training, with the addition of making all their meals from scratch.

A lot will be quick to say this is because they had more time.

While true in one sense, in another this is more the case – You use your time more productively. 

There is always the same 24hours in a day, that doesn’t change all that much. 

What does change is peoples perception of it, and with a limited amount of choice regarding what to do in a day it was quite impressive what some achieved.

You can apply this attitude moving forwards.

Take 5min and answer these 3 questions:

• What do I NEED to do every day?
• What do I WANT to do every day?
• What do I do every day that WASTES MY TIME?

From here it’s a very simple process to establish some beneficial limitations that you can apply to your life that will help in allow you more metal capacity to build consistency and achieve what matters most to you. 

As an example of something people ‘want to do every day’ you might say it’s watch Netflix.

Provided it doesn’t disrupt what they need to do there ought to be no issue, right?

This is where one further question can make all the difference – why?

Okay it’s more of a word that leads towards more reflective thinking, however as it enough times and you’ll soon begin to uncover the reasons that are truly driving you. 

In addition to that, once you’ve uncovered that reason you’ll be able to look at it with fresh eyes and a new perspective.

To use the classic desire of ‘weight loss’ as the example.

Someone might have this internal dialogue:

“I NEED to eat well every day”  

Why? 

“To lose weight.”

Why?

“So that I can fit into XYZ.”

Why?

“So that I feel good about myself.”

Why?

You get the idea, once the true emotional driving factor has been uncovered all of the things that are being done that are either a hep or hinderance can be addressed.

From this point the hypothetical 20 things you might be doing in an attempt can be trimmed down to perhaps 1 key element, in the above ‘weight loss’ example that would be to create a calorie deficit.

Once this is really accepted it’s not going to be hard to set up 3-5 limited choices that will all help towards achieving this, although the limited choices can  strike up a favourable mix of necessity & novelty.

Doing this will help aid in not seeing what needs to be done as a chore and instead a positive choice that has great benefit that is actually enjoyable because of the self fulfilment that is gained through making better choices, knowing it and praising yourself for doing so. 

Having limits can be a benefit because they can allow you to go further faster.

Too much choice can be quite overwhelming.

Being overwhelmed can lead to procrastination.

Procrastination can lead to you hitting an emotional cue that sends you towards a habit that is familiar, comforting and keeps you firmly in the place you’re currently residing. 

Taking some time to limit your options can boost your overall productivity and use of time.

It’ll also allow you to establish if what you’re doing is for your long term evolution or your short term emotional gratification.

Even though the lockdown life has been a testing time and not really that pleasurable for many, it has had some useful lessons to share and given rise to the opportunity for change in routine, habits and lifestyle.

The less you need to contend with mentally the easier change will be.

Use limits as a tool to become better, not as a barrier for it.

Try to use this to your advantage.

Enjoy,
Ross 

Mentor Or Muppet?

The Beginners Guide To Finding A Mentor 

Given the post by Siobhan I felt this would be a better topic to cover than what I had planned.

Since the world and it’s dog seems to be offering a mentoring service these days we’d best look at how to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Good Afternoon ProZoners, 

Having worked with mentors myself and also mentored newer PT’s as well there’s been some insight gained that hopefully will help you. 

Firstly it’s wroth understanding that when you hire someone to help you it’s not cheap.

The cost is often quite substantial and the term will not be a few weeks. 

Much like training itself when clients sign up with you the process will be months, if not years of investment that is required, it’s worth understanding this from day one. 

Additionally too many will try and ‘go it alone’ thinking they know better, trust me that’s really the case, if it was there’d be far more successful PT’s than there currently its. 

You’ll also need to remember these key points to:

• A mentor is there to help/guide you, not do the work for you 
• You both work together to create the business that fits you core values & principles 
• Accepting accountability for your actions is a necessary requirement 
• Be prepared to trust the process 
• Results will take time 

Keeping those in mind here are a few check points to run every potential mentor through.

• Results (is there proof)
• Testimonials (can you speak to current or previous clients)
• Their Free Content (is it all a sales pitch or just useful info to help regardless)

From here you’ll start to gain a picture of their effectiveness and knowledge, however that’s only a small piece of the puzzle. 

You’ll need to establish your own compatibility with them.

Getting along is essential, often you’ll find the person in question will also potentially inspire you already as well. 

With this information you’ll be able to arrange a chat with them which will give you the opportunity to find how you feel speaking to them, and more importantly if you’re willing to trust them because a good mentor will take you towards realms you’ve not been before.

There’s no getting over the fear that comes with change or exploration.

That being said when you feel comfortable and connected with another person it becomes infinity easier because they’ve got your back.

Over the years I’ve met some great people, one I recommend a lot is Chet Morjaria, he’s great at helping people find what has them feeling fulfilled and connecting with peoples deep emotional drivers. 

People such as Phil Learney & Mark Coles have some excellent systems in place to help people that are 100% focused on fitness and a results driven fitness business. 

You’ve also got Rachel Cosgrove of Results Fitness University, she’s epic and a wealth of knowledge (as is Alwyn).

I don’t know if Krista Scott-Dixon still mentors through PN (PN have got some great people) however when I did my courses with them many many moons ago she was very active on their forums and always keen to help share her knowledge & experience.

Kain Ramsey is a brilliant Life Coach that can really open doors for people in all aspects of life and a gentleman by the name of Roger Lamb (Action Coaching) is another diamond in the rough. 

These are people I can think of whereby I’ve had some experience of their content, lectures, webinars and paid to listen to them and attended events (either physical or online), personally I’d say they’re a good place to start in regards to gaining a feel for what is on offer. 

From here you can then start to see the patterns of what good mentors do actually are. 

More often than not they’re just going about putting out a good message and the people that feel it resonates will then approach them because mentoring can’t forced. 

It’s much las the old saying goes – “When the student is ready the Master will appear.”

This has very much been the case with people I’ve helped and worked with because this style of service isn’t one to be sold, it’s one to be found and what has you choose one over another is almost intangible at times. 

Before we close out this post there is one more question to ask yourself.

‘Am I ready to understand something new?’

Please do leave any other questions below. 

Enjoy,
Ross 

7 Days

How Many Days Per Week Is Best To Train?

This question is almost as old as recreational fitness itself. 

You’ll find the short answer is 2-3 times per week.

A more nuanced answer is hit each muscle group 2-3 times per week.

In truth this is about right for most people because of the following reasons:

• Real Life Priorities 
• Accumulated Life Stress 
• Fitness Related Goals (low standard)
• Mental Energy To Dedicate 
• Self Reward 

Most people don’t train to be awesome, they train to be a little better than average and that’s all they desire. 

So long as they’re not at the bottom of their social hierarchy they’re almost as happy as a clam.

In all fairness you can’t blame people for wanting an easy life whereby they train a few times per week to achieve the following outcomes:

• Social Enjoyment 
• Mental Reprieve 
• Physical Benefit (minimal)
• Emotional Benefit (maximal)

Quickly looking at each of the above.

Social Enjoyment – 

People seek a place to belong. 

This is why group training is popular, especially when the person training sits firmly in the middle or towards the top of the group and regularly gets comments on how ‘fit’ they are, that they’re a ‘machine’ and so on. 

Subtle praise that people may say they don’t care for actually does mean a lot. 

As a species we want to be seen as someone of importance by our peers, to be respected by them and hopefully praised/validated every now and again. 

This is why when someone new joins a group session and dominates it they’re seen as a threat by some of the regulars as it makes them painfully aware who far they have left to go. 

It’s why people like to stick in their ‘comfort zone’ where everything makes sense.

Mental Reprieve – 

A lot of people train simply to let off steam from a stressful day of work. 

They get to see people like kinda like, get a sweat on and feel as if they’ve done something manful with perhaps an hour or two of their day. 

Honestly this is a good attitude as it will help them keep fitness as a regular habit/occurrence in their lives. 

Plus this ends up being ‘their time’ and helps ground them when life sometimes begins to overwhelm.

Physical Benefit –

The aim of many is to lose about 1-2 stone, gain some muscle, feel fit and make a little progress in regards to how the perform.

Being a little above average in terms of fitness is the goal of many. 

For men it’ll be looking like a man, you know, having some muscle, filling out clothing so that they look good in the right places (arms, chest, shoulders, back etc).

For women it’s often being a specific weight or fitting into a certain size of clothing, mentally this keeps them in a  good place.

This leads into the next element people want.

Emotional Benefit – 

People want to feel good about themselves. 

As mentioned above.

In both cases when they deviate from their level of acceptable physical level mental wobbles come in and they answer this by ramping up training and getting strict on nutrition for a few weeks until the excess ‘frump’ has gone.

Then they resume the habits that provided that frump, have a wobble and repeat the process. 

This can create a specific pattern people adhere to that has them find ways to justify/account for and ‘make up’ for less than optimal nutrition choices or binge drinking.

So many aim to out exercise what they consume, and then when they’re getting a little to unsightly for themselves they dial things in for a ‘quick result’ , as mentioned above this cycle then repeats.

It keeps them emotionally level.

People want to feel good about themselves and when they find a routine that does this they rarely see any need to change it, which is fair enough.

So what does this mean in regards to how often people ought to be training per week?

Simply put it will influence them because if they get everything they need emotionally from 2 days training apr week then that’s all they’ll do.

Say they have the above ticked off by training 7 days per week, then that’s what they’ll do. 

The majority of people train to satiate an emotional need, not a physical one. 

Understanding this as a PT is necessary.

How often do you train to gain the feeling you need to function?

Enjoy,
Ross