Anthony Gillespie
07/05/2015
On the weekend we had our annual trip to the corporate triathlon on the Gold Coast. It was a lot of fun as usual as it was a beautiful morning at Southport and there were plenty of people all shapes and sizes creating a great atmosphere. It certainly didn’t look like it was going to go ahead given the weather on Friday night! Well done to members Anthony Tuite, Dan Boucher and James Stott for partaking in this event. Now to talk about useful fitness, why I do events and why you should too! I love these events for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is the excuse to exercise that a lot of us need, including me. Now I am not a huge swimmer or cyclist but this event gets me doing these things. And I can tell you there is nothing better for your exercise routine then to mix it up. It makes you far more likely to continue because variety is the spice of life and the chance of overuse injury is reduced considerably. I also like these events because they give our members a greater sense of purpose with their training and it gives people who may be a little apprehensive a chance to have a go and maybe get something regular going. Let’s face it. It can be hard to start this fitness gig and to stay motivated with it at times. I recommend that everyone who is nervous about starting to take one small step at a time… who knows where it can […]
05/05/2015
We are moving into a cool time of the year and there is nothing better than snuggling up in front of a fireplace with a glass of fine wine and handcrafted chocolate! Say what? I thought this was a health and fitness rant? I can almost hear my members choking on their protein shakes whenever I utter these words. Now before you go away and think that this is some kind of perpetuation plan for an “ongoing need for a personal trainer” business model, understand this. The mentality of “I can’t have” is a losing game. We have all heard talk of the 80:20 rule and so it applies here, with one exception but even then, a ‘perfectly’ disciplined approach to health and fitness is not only not possible, but self defeating in the end. If you live by the idea that you tick all the boxes of a healthy and fit lifestyle 80% of the time, you will be doing very well indeed. The exception is the person who has some serious and significant goals to achieve. This person, for progress, often needs to be more in the 90:10 category. But you will note that this is still not an ‘all or none’ approach. The reason it is better to have a fudge factor in there is that mentally most of us need a metaphorical pressure relief valve and some of those things that we don’t always have are quite frankly fun and sometimes even awesome! When you are trying to change some bad habits, the thought of doing […]
28/04/2015
Helping others? I guess it is something any advanced thinking and self actualised person wants to do. It is also a reason for why I see many of our members fail in their fitness, health and lifestyle improvement programs. Let me explain. I can talk only for men in this situation so please bear with me. It is in our nature, rightly or wrongly, to take on responsibility to ‘provide’, and often self sacrifice is worn as a badge of honour. Whilst this is very noble in a lot of ways it can also be misguided. As men we don’t verbalise so well so we often internalise the struggle. You know, the ‘strong silent type’. This is a huge mistake and often does not give our partners the respect they deserve in allowing them to join in and help us deal with this thing called ‘life’. We also deny them chance of offering the support that is intrinsically part of being a team and for us to get the help we often need. My experience on this planet has taught me that women, as a general rule (geez you have got to be careful these days!) are great at nurturing and want us to communicate more. So we should do that and it is a win win!! The main point here is that men need to invest in themselves when it comes to health before thinking about helping anybody else, because we are no use when we are sick and unhealthy. I have written about the concept before. It is […]
23/04/2015
Health and Fitness Question of the week: “There is so much conflicting information out there today with exercise and nutrition I don’t know what to do. Do I do short bursts of high intensity activity or long periods of cardio if I want to lose body fat?” This is a good question that could spark a thesis because there is really just so much to the answer. This is because of all the variables that present when you are dealing with individuals, who are all so unique. But here is the short answer which I think will put you on the right track. If I was to put the big four factors for successful fat loss in order of priority I would focus on them like this. Get your mind right. You must have the right attitude to get into the habit of exercise and eating right. Goal setting is a big part of this. You can’t out train a bad diet. Optimal nutrition is vital to success. This may simply entail reducing portion sizes or cutting back on alcohol. Try this first. If you feel you have tried everything I would see a nutritional health practitioner for an individualised program taking into consideration possible food allergies or sub optimal organ function (e.g. thyroid). Lifting weights is non-negotiable. The powerhouse of your metabolism is your muscular system and without work in this area you will only ever have a slow running motor which means you don’t burn much fuel. Do cardio training for heart health and to burn excess calories. […]
20/04/2015
When you do a search for the meaning of tolerance you see phrases like ‘capacity to endure’ and words like ‘fair’ and ‘objective’. When it comes to fitness, my angle on the topic is that tolerance shows us yet again the amazing ability of the body to adapt and become better. What a gift that is from mother nature or God or whatever your beliefs. Tolerance is what happens when you ask your body a question it is not quite ready to answer, and the sweet spot that ensues in the time immediately after yields a kind of magic. This is where there is a reorganisation of the organism at the cellular level which allows the body to be ready to step up and handle or tolerate that same difficult question thrown at it the next time round. That question might be: can I pull my body up to look over the wall for my kids ball he just kicked? The attempt sees us momentarily peering over as our arms give way rather quickly. Now thanks to an enthusiastic and maybe even talented young boot we get to repeat this move each day we spend hanging out. What we soon notice is we can hold ourselves up there a bit longer until even a one arm hold seems like a possibility (even though that might be a tad optimistic). But the lesson here is that what once seemed hard or even impossible, provided we go about it the right way, becomes 100% do-able. How cool is that? The trick is […]
16/04/2015
People. Can’t live with em, can’t live without em! It can be like this sometimes can’t it? The people we have around us can be our greatest joy or greatest stress. Think of all of those influences. This is why I tell our clients to surround yourself with those you want to be like. Life is short right? Why spend time with those who want to talk down your attempts at growth? This is especially true when you are looking to change your life in some way from a health perspective. If you keep hanging out with those who undermine your attempts to change because they are too scared of that process themselves and still want to have company in their misery, then recognise it and create the space you need. Why not aim to be the person that they end up saying they want to surround themselves with when they are ready to ask the big questions and start answering them with action. Let’s face it: only those who truly love you will support your efforts at change no matter how it makes them feel. How good is it when you have multiple options of friends to go walking with because they too want to invest in themselves and their health because they know and respect the principle of delayed gratification? How inspiring is it when your friends commit to a fun run or community event and put in the hard yards to get to that start line and accomplish something great? It has been said that you are […]
07/04/2015
Before you can start any of this fitness stuff you must outline in detail your reasons for doing it or wanting to change. You must feel it as strongly as your desire to achieve anything that you have ever considered important in your life, whether it was study, work, relationship, spiritually or financially related. You must connect with your reasons emotionally. It has to move you deep inside. That’s kind of heavy I know but very necessary, because without it, your chances of achieving anything new are slim. You really only can get away with will power for a short period of time. So picture what it is you want and use as much detail as you can. ‘Hear’ what it is you will hear when you have achieved what you are after. It might be that you are really looking forward to hearing people say to you things like “wow, what have you been doing lately? You look great!” Or perhaps it’s about what it is going to ‘feel’ like when you pull on those jeans that you wore when you were 20. Or maybe you respond better to the joy you will experience when you ‘see’ yourself in photographs, literally radiating health. What ever it is, use what is most effective for you (perhaps use all three modalities – or more if you can think of them – maybe you can ‘smell’ fitness?). But the critical aspect is that you connect with it enough to be able to call it out when you feel side-tracked or challenged to […]
31/03/2015
When we take on a client in personal training the key is communication, both between the client and ourselves and perhaps more importantly, the quality of the communication they have with themselves. We can train someone all we like but unless they take personal responsibility to be honest with themselves, well put it this way, there are about 163 hours outside of their time with us where they can undermine everything we do together. It is critical that the client can articulate in great detail what they are hoping to achieve when they embark on a journey to better health because quite simply you cannot hit something you are not aiming for. Beyond this ‘what’ is the crux of the whole matter, the ‘why’. It has been said by a wiser person than I that if you can find a ‘why’ strong enough the ‘how’ will reveal itself. This is often an emotional realisation and to be honest, needs to be. It is this connection between action and purpose that the magic happens. Most people have got themselves in to trouble health wise because a lack of quality communication with themselves about where they are really at. When you have your head down and buried in tasks, it is easy to block out the signals that are all too obvious in retrospect when the doc gives you the news you don’t want to hear. Keep the lines of communication open. Listen to your body, listen to your heart. You may not like what you hear now but the way forward […]
19/12/2014
Health Family Influence by Anthony Gillespie I have an Italian mate and I always marvel at his family gatherings. They are larger than life, highly energised, a cast of thousands and full of chatter, sometimes sadness and always laughter. The family get-togethers in my mind were the microcosm of what it is to be human. It wasn’t always pretty and it certainly wasn’t always peaceful but wow was it vibrant! There are positives and negatives to a family that seemingly knows everything about each other but the alternative can be a staid and boring old place. And how cool is it to know that there are so many people within your sphere that not only give a stuff about you, but are willing to help out when the going gets tough? I had a client this morning that has been encouraging her grand daughter to exercise regularly this past year to help with stress relief from study and other teenage stuff. This particular client, a 60 + year old dynamo is the driver of her family. In the past 10 years in my business, she has brought along her daughters, daughter in law and niece, as well has having an indirect but significant influence on a son in law who has recently lost over 12 kilos and improved his life dramatically as a consequence. When one person in a family can spread that much good you get to appreciate the power of relationships and the very special ones that emanate from a strong family unit. At this time of year, […]