Tips: Training Over Christmas

Christmas Coaching tip:  Be careful not to lose your balance completely over this busy period. I am already getting clients saying’ I have to stop training because I can’t fit it in’.

It makes me wonder ‘if they can’t fit in their half hour or hour session here ,does that mean they are not going to exercise AT ALL for the next month? ‘ What will happen to the tone they have achieved, their metabolism, their muscle mass, their good mood, their satisfaction with their body shape.

To be healthy on all levels leads to happiness. When one area of our lives takes all the focus another area will suffer. Think of a time when you have completely neglected your health, or fitness, relationship or friends. The effects of neglect take a while to repair. We are like plants if we fail to water an area of our lives it starts to die.

We all need a balance in the major life areas:

Relationships and friends: work and career: Health and fitness: Personal and leisure: Finances: You may add more important categories. But the skill of life and the fulfilment in life comes from balancing your time around these priorities.

Pain comes from getting out of balance and having all your eggs in the one fulfilment basket.

I find I need to diarise the time that I am going to be engaged in my different areas. I look at the big picture of my life, decide what I want out of these areas and then make sure I spend quality time on ALL the things that are important to me- don’t let life take you for the ride, decide what is important to you and be determined to stay balanced. I have to ply myself away from my desk when the alarm goes off on my phone saying ‘time to exercise’ or ‘time to shop and cook dinner’, ‘time to water the vegies’ (or they will die)

The sign in front of my desk reads : 

“ The results you produce will be consistent with your level of participation- stick to the plan”

Your body is with you every minute of every day. It’s my opinion that a body neglected even for a short time will cause you more distress that you deserve. Maintenance is much easier than treatment.

Maybe over the busy time your activities could change to suit the busyness. For example if you normally train an hour a day change to alternate days for December. Or if you train for an hour at a moderate pace change to training for 30 mins at a higher intensity. If you normally run for 30 mins, run faster for 20 minutes. If you start work earlier do what I do and set your alarm for 4 am. (Im not saying you should I am saying think about what you could do to keep it balanced)Think of a solution that doesn’t allow you to neglect important areas of your life .

Your body is your temple, if you mess it up where you are going to live.