On Saturday just gone, Jess, the kids, and I were en-route to spend the afternoon with one of her clients when the cambelt in our little silver car snapped sending the pistons pinballing around the engine until it was reduced to a hulk of twisted metal.
Jess managed to “glide” our now engineless car into the mouth of a junction between a farm and the main road (skillfully stopping in a position that wouldn’t cause an obstruction). Then, the five of us then decamped into the field to await rescue.
Now, I imagine being stuck in a farmer’s field for many hours in the baking heat with three children aged five and under in tow would be a nightmare scenario for a lot of people.
Not so for Yours Baldly.
Actually, I rather enjoyed the whole experience.
For starters, our kids are immaculately behaved. In large part, I believe, because they are always well-rested thanks to a fixed firm routine featuring early nights, every night (we put our eldest two down between 1630 and 1730 every day without fail). So this meant I could relax knowing they weren’t going to do a pheasant impression by running off into the road or even simply kick off because they were hot or whatever.
Marcus just sat playing with the “sand” (in reality, just mud) and squealing at the various tractors trundling about doing whatever it is tractors do while Connie squeezed into the pram to get some shade and chatted to us about all the weird and wonderful things her five year old mind is preoccupied with.
Lily slept through the entire event (one of the perks of being four months old, I suppose).
We also had food. Lots of food.
You see, Jess had prepared a hamper for the day consisting of an enormous loaf of bread, hummus, and protein bars (all homemade). Hence, we got to enjoy an impromptu picnic, made all the sweeter when Jess’ client turned up to rescue her and the kiddos along with a small fortune’s worth of smoked salmon, sausage meats, and whatnot.
Anyway, the point of me telling you this is to illustrate how being in the habit of training makes even something as disastrous as your car engine exploding in the middle of nowhere on a baking hot day… well… kinda fun.
Because, when you train for long enough, you naturally begin making better choices around sleep, food, and everything else related to the pursuit of getting strong and in shape. If only to maximise the efficacy of the work you do in the gym and out on the pavements to make that effort worthwhile because you don’t like doing it very much (this is and always has been my attitude).
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You’ll probably also find yourself surrounded by “higher quality” people who share your attitude and habits, making social events a whole lot less hazardous to your ability to stay on the wagon.
I’m not saying you have to or should ditch people who aren’t interested in being healthy, but you probably won’t have a choice as experience tells me they will kick you to the curb because seeing you getting fitter, stronger, and happier hurts their fee-fees.
As lovely as all this is, I’m aware the gap between where you are right now and where you want to be is an intimidating one. Certainly was for me at one point.
It’s for this reason that I favour a “training first” approach. As the name suggests, this involves getting your training in order before you so much as ponder anything else (particularly diet, but also stuff like stress management, sleep, etc). Because, as I mentioned a moment ago, all of that comes naturally once you have been training in a sustainable, balanced fashion for a few months.
The obvious downside to doing it my way is that you won’t progress as quickly as you would if you went on a blitz and attacked everything from day one. This is especially an issue for people who are looking to shed unsightly bodyfat because, as much as I am loathe to admit, you really can’t outrun your fork; so you’ll shift some weight but probably not a lot in the time before you start paying proper attention to what you are eating. Those who want to gain muscle and/or strength also need to be aware that you’ll gain less during your “bedding in” phase.
However.
You’re far less likely to get overwhelmed and fall off the wagon, which is important if you are interested in holding on to your results for more than a few weeks to a handful of months at most.
Moreover, it’s far and away a less stressful way to tackle fitness because you’re not trying to “force” big lifestyle changes you have no reason to make beyond a nebulous idea in your head of what you’d like to look like and/or how you’d like to perform.
Related to this, if you are looking for a straightforward, step by step guide to walk you through exactly how to install a balanced, sustainable training programme… and… create your own to suit your needs and aspirations for years to come, I heartily recommend “The Constance Chronicles”.
This book of mine is on sale for a meaty discount until Wednesday the 16th at 23:59.
That said, it’s an expensive book, even with the discount. But it still clocks in at less than the price of paying a PT to follow you around the gym counting your reps for a few sessions.
In any case.
If you’d like to learn more about the book, all is revealed on the below-linked page, and if you decide you want it make sure to enter the code SALMON at the checkout to secure your discount.
https://philtyreman.co.uk/chronicles/
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman