Geelong's Gym

How cold has it been lately??!!  Yikes, it’s been a shock to the system.  And, of course, the colder it gets the bigger the battle with the Doona, because hey, who really wants to get out of bed any earlier than absolutely necessary on a cold morning!

Jimmy Reid, one of our Personal Trainers here at Geelong’s Gym, was mentioning the other day how many clients have been cancelling their early morning personal training sessions because they’re losing the battle with the doona.

Sometimes your bed just feels too cosy to leave!

So, we thought we’d drum up some tips for staying motivated during the winter chill and hopefully these will compel you to throw off that doona!

1. Arrange to workout with a friend - setting a time to meet a friend at the gym for a workout is sure to get you out of bed.  It just wouldn’t be fair to stand up a mate, especially at 6 in the morning!  Better yet, pick someone who’s competitive and set a challenge for your workout together.
2. Try a Group Exercise Class - add some spice to your workout by choosing a class you’ve never done before and make sure it’s an early morning one.  Make the commitment to be at that class and then make yourself accountable to someone that you’re going to be there.
3. Put your Ipod to good use – set up a new playlist, full of loud, fast tempo music which is great to workout to.  Put it beside your bed and when your alarm goes off, get those buds in your ear and press play.  A couple of minutes of pumping music will have you bounding out of bed, ready to exercise… or party!
4. Summer is just a few short months away – yes, that’s right.  Which means less concealing clothing and, horror of horrors, swim suits!  And every time you hit snooze instead of getting up and going to the gym, your hot summer body is getting further away.

Above all, remember, it’s only a couple of months you have to push through before it starts to get lighter and warmer in the mornings.  So, good luck and we look forward to seeing you in the gym in the morning!

It’s the middle of winter, it’s cold and dismal outside…  and your motivation to get out and exercise is sadly lacking.  Really, you’d rather just stay inside where it’s warm instead of trying to summon the energy and willpower to get active.

Kelly Cartwright in action on the track

We’ve all been there, so today I thought I’d share a special story about someone who had more than just miserable weather to overcome.

Local Geelong girl, Kelly Cartwright, is a truly inspiring person who has faced great adversary and found a way to not only conquer it, but to completely excel.

At 15, after two years of pain in her right leg, Kelly was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.  Because of it’s rarity, amputation was the best chance of survival Kelly had.

I don’t know about you, but most of us would find that pretty traumatic and struggle to remain positive about life and what it holds – especially at only 15 years of age!

Not Kelly.  She wasn’t going to sit around and get upset about the hand life had dealt her.  Before losing her leg, she had always been into sport, so she went to her physio to find out how she could learn to run again.

Competing for Australia in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics

Kelly is now an elite athlete who competed for Australia in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.  She has broken the world record for the 200 metre sprint, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and plans to compete in the London Paralympics in 2012.

In her own words: “I got a second chance of life and there is always someone worse off.  I love setting little goals and seeing if I can get there.”

Now, does that inspire you to get out of bed in the cold and go and do a workout?

And if you really don’t fancy going for a run in the wet and cold, come on in to Geelong’s Gym where it’s dry and the temperature is just right for working out.

I had an interesting experience recently when I was in for a workout, which I thought I’d share with you.

One of our Personal Trainers was finishing a session with a client in Zone 10 and she had just paid her client a very positive compliment… and I mean, really positive!  I watched as this woman rose to her feet from the floor with a larger than life smile on her face – she literally looked like a light beacon!

Now, this member has a reasonable amount of weight to lose… which immediately got me thinking about what a huge decision it would have been for her to join the gym and start the long journey towards a healthy body.  Good on her!  It’s not easy for overweight/large people to walk through the doors of a health club.  It’s unfortunate, but a lot of people believe only fit people go to the gym.

About 30 minutes later I was sitting at home eating breakfast.  I happened to notice a photo which immediately put a smile on my face, just as big as this woman exercising earlier.

A stop on my cycling journey around the world

You see, it’s a photo of me sailing from Fiji to New Zealand and it made me think back to how I got on that boat.

I had been traveling around the world on a push bike (but that’s another story) and one night, while sitting around a bon fire, I met a Kiwi who told me you can sail from one country to another.  I thought, “Wow” and immediately bombarded him with thousands of questions.  The very next day, I rented a car and drove around the whole island looking for a yacht to sail.  Within a few hours, I was in a one man tinny (little paddle boat) knocking on the side of boats, saying, “I’m Gerard and I’m looking for a boat that needs crew.”

A few days later I was off to New Zealand on my first sailing adventure (my second time on a boat was sailing the Sydney to Hobart!).

59' Nautor Swan

You might be wondering where all this is leading.  Well, my point is, I had the most amazing experience on that sailing trip from Fiji – an experience I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t knocked on those boats.  I’m sure my face was glowing a lot like that woman who had just got off the Zone 10 floor after her Personal Training session.

Sometimes you just have to put yourself out there, like she did when she first walked through the doors of our gym determined to turn her life around.  I’m confident many people have thought to do this or that, but for some reason don’t take the initiative, probably because doubt and negative self-talk get the better of them.

It’s said that those who stretch themselves to learn and grow in some area of their life, find that other areas and things improve in their lives as well.

So, make sure you go and knock on whatever your boat is!

Feel like you’re stuck in a rut?

Maybe you need to look at your diet… your mental diet.

According to Sports Psychologist, Mike Martin, your daily mental diet should include ingredients of courage, fear and creativity.

So, have the courage to try something new, even if you may not be very good at it!

Fear of failure can be great stimuli and you may have to be creative and think laterally about how to accomplish the task, how to go about it in a different manner.

You may be surprised or perhaps humoured by your efforts. 

It has to be better than the rut you’re in.

As a Personal Trainer, believe me, every excuse you can possibly come up with… I’ve heard before.  You’d be surprised at how good people are at talking themselves out of positive behaviour… literally!! 

Check out this Nike YouTube clip.  I bet your excuses are there, because as you can see, there’s no excuse that hasn’t been used before!

Ok… so you’ve decided you need to make some changes in your life.  You’ve upped the effort on exercise and you’re trying to be a bit more sensible with your diet.  You’ve set goals and time frames.  It all sounds great until you open your mouth!

I can’t. 

I want to but…. 

I would if….

STOP BEING SO NEGATIVE.  Stop speaking what you can’t have or can’t do.

TAKE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR CHOICES.  Stop blaming someone else or the circumstances for why you can or can’t do something.  Instead, try speaking only positive words and making the statement yours.

For example: 

Out for coffee with a friend who wants a piece of chocolate cake and wants you to have a piece too so they don’t feel guilty.

You respond, “I can’t, I’m trying to be good.”

Friend- “Go on, one little piece won’t hurt you!”

You- “I would but my trainer would kill me if they found out.”

Friend- “Well how about we share a piece…go on…”

You-“Oh alright…but only a little bit.”

And now the damage is done, you’ve undermined you goal, feel crappy that you gave into temptation so easily and the cake wasn’t even that good.

Imagine this:

Out for coffee with a friend who wants a piece of chocolate cake and wants you to have a piece too so they don’t feel guilty.

You respond, “No thanks.  I’m choosing to eat healthy stuff.”

Friend- “Go on, one little piece won’t hurt you!”

You- “No thanks. It’s not what I want to do.”

Friend- sits quietly sulking wondering why you’ve changed so much????

Choose your language carefully and take a moment to stop and listen to yourself.  What message are you really giving around the choices you’ve made?

And you know what, no more excuses… Just Do It!!! 

This says it all really!