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—————- The next find out more meeting for our March programme is on Tuesday 23rd February which is in [cntdwn todate=”25 February 2020 23:59″ timeoff=”0″ showhours=”0″ showmins=”0″ pretext=””] Check myrise.co.uk/briefing-meeting to find out more, see what the meeting involves and, potentially, take that next step to transforming your life and body 🙂 ———————-
I actually came up with more than five things I’ve learned (or been reminded of) by recently getting lean for my 40th.
But I don’t really want them to run into two weeks’ worth of blogs.
So, I’m just gonna bang through them now 🙂
++++ What was I doing at 25? ++++
Best shape of my life (from an aesthetic perspective at least) at 40?
Better than aged 25?
When I was a 1:1 PT and aspiring semi professional athlete?
And being in better shape could / would have made a difference?
What was I playing at back then?
I tell you what.
It was all in my head.
I know the positions on that continuum are different to many people who’ll be reading this.
But it’s the same principal.
I have more injuries, aches and pains and less time then I did back then and have got better results.
All down to the limiting beliefs I must’ve had.
So, what other beliefs are holding me back now and what can I change?
And the same question to you?
++++ More water is hard ++++
I drink a lot of fluid on a normal day.
Always have done since I was a little kid.
I had to double this for the last week before my 40th.
Then massively drop it in the last day.
So there was very little left in me for the photo shoot.
That was hard work.
Actual thought and effort having to go into what was previously something I “just did”.
Much more frequent trips to the toilet.
A reminder for me why so many people struggle with drinking more water.
Going from “only in my hot drinks” to trying litres per day is a big step.
If you struggle with more water, just do a ‘bit more’.
A glass a day more than you used to, perhaps.
When you’re used to that, maybe try another glass.
One step at a time.
++++ It doesn’t feel like effort when it’s habit ++++
I mentioned in the second blog that it wasn’t as much effort as I’d thought before it would be.
But it did, of course, still involve the doing of an amount of stuff.
In the three days before the photo shoot I didn’t train.
When I normally would’ve.
So I either had a lie in.
Or, when the do woke me up at the time I normally take her for a walk, a bit more work done before anyone else woke up.
A reminder of the time and effort that was already going in.
And how big a step it can be if we’re trying to go from little to that or more.
Again, just start with a bit more.
Increase if / when you can.
Don’t worry if / when you can’t.
And, overtime, it’ll (to some degree) become a habit that you don’t really give much thought to (go here if you’re ready to start forming some new habits –>Â myrise.co.uk/briefing-meeting).
++++ Go to fillers ++++
For the last couple of weeks I cut my calories a bit more.
It was the only time I started to feel particularly hungry.
The first few months and been a gradual drop.
I found a little something that helped me.
Aldi 250g boxes of sliced mushrooms.
20 calories for the whole thing.
Stick that on any meal and it’ll be filling enough.
Don’t switch off to that if you don’t like mushrooms.
They’ll be something you do like that can bulk up meals or replace certain snacks to drop / keep down calories without having to go hungry.
Several things, perhaps.
Having such things on hand can be a huge help.
+++ I only look like that in the photos +++
Whilst I was really pleased with the results in real life, I didn’t quite look like that in person.
As with all such photo shoots, they were well lit, the most favourable angles were used and the best of multiple photos were used.
I’d done a bit of a workout first to get blood in the appropriate muscles.
Worth remembering when you see photos of fitness models, etc – they will look pretty good in real life, but not quite like that.
+++ I’d used all the tricks +++
There were a number of things I’d done to ‘peak’ at that particular time.
So I only really looked like that at that point – a few days before or after wasn’t quite the same.
I’d increased and decreased my water so I was carrying less at that point, I’d ‘carbed up’ over the previous few days to fill the muscles with glycogen.
I’d also used some tanning moisturiser and shaved my chest.
Other ways that the pictures you see of fitness models, etc won’t be quite reflective of how they usually look.
And, a reminder that half the things we here and read about in fitness magazines are fine for when we’re really lean and just wanting to look our absolute best at one particular point.
But pretty pointless if we’re looking to lose an amount of weight.
Don’t get caught up in the minutiae of all the different ‘tricks’ that can be used.
Get the basics in place and they’ll be 99% of the results 🙂
Much love,
Jon ‘Provisions’ Hall and Matt ‘Act’ Nicholson
P.S. I’m sure you’ve heard more than enough about me getting lean for now. Normal service will resume next week 🙂
