What's Your Story?

We all have an internal story of who we are, of all the things we “can’t” do, and of how we aren’t fit/strong/thin/flexible/smart/rich/whatever enough.

The problem is this story is usually based on our least successful moments; it’s more of a ‘poor history’ than a biography; it doesn’t reflect your capabilities, or the strengths you’ve gained through those tough times.

What could you gain if you open yourself up to who you might be?

What can I achieve in 6 months?

As you may know, I'm involved in a local drama group here in Tralee, and when the sun set this weekend, it marked the last 7 days before we take this years show onstage in Siamsa Tire theatre. 

This is my second year with the group, and while it's great craic, it's a hell of a lot of work. For 6 months, you're committing to rehearsals for anywhere from about 3 hours per week at the start, up 15 hours or more in the weeks leading  into opening night. Did I mention this is an amateur drama group? So this time is on top of and around your work and family time. It's a big commitment, and there's no financial reward. Just the camaraderie and the amazing sense of achievement you get when you've put on an entertaining show to a theatre that's sold out and has people on a waiting list! 

When I joined the group initially, my singing and dancing skills left quite a bit to be desired, but I figured my circus skills could be used somewhere along the way. My girlfriend had been involved for a few years and thought I would enjoy it, so I said I'd give it a shot. 

Now, when I said my singing and dancing were feeble, I was probably overestimating my capabilities! I couldn't have carried a tune even I it had a wheelbarrow, and when it came to putting our best foot forward, it felt like I had two left  feet, neither of which were connected to my brain in any way whatsoever!!

But, with patience, persistence and practicing with a view to improvement rather than perfection, progress was made. Of course, it gets frustrating at times, especially when you know what you did wrong the moment it's done, but you're trying to break a habit that you've developed over time, so it takes time to break it down again. All you can do is make a mental nite of what you need to do to get it right, and pick a cue that will remind you about it next time around (who ever said sports performance psychology disaster recovery strategies didn't have practical applications in everyday life?!). The thing is though, everyone around you makes mistakes too, so you've got your very own all singing all dancing support group. Looking back at rehearsals, some of the most enjoyable moments at the times we make mistakes. We have a laugh about it then refocus and correct what went wrong.

Of course, this is a health & fitness blog, so I suppose I'd better make a point sometime today...

If you are willing to commit to a goal, give it time & patience, focus on making small improvements all the time and learn to enjoy the process, you can really amaze yourself with what you can do. Of course you'll misstep and hit a bum note every now and then, you're only human after all! Guess what? Everyone around you makes mistakes too, but you're all in the same situation so you help each other out!

Remember, a goal is a dream with a deadline, if there's no deadline, you can just keep on dreaming!

If you have a dream you'd like to turn into goal, and you're ready to focus on it and give it time, get in touch and let's see how I can help you make that happen. 

Info@malkelly.com

(086)1945040

Mal Kelly's 3 T's for weight management

This may well be my most unpopular post ever. Because the modern lifestyle is full of distraction, instant fixes and excess, the 3 T's are things that many won't want to hear.

Thought.

If you want to get results, you have to think about it. You have to decide exactly what results you are looking for. You have to Think about what those results will mean to you. Picture it. How much happier & healthier you will be. Think about what it will take to get there. Think about changes that will have to be made. Think about your energy balance; calories in must be less than calories burned. I suggest making many little changes, rather than making a single huge change. Little goals are easier to stick to, and achieve. Think about things that have gotten in the way before. Are those same things still likely to be an issue? If so, Think about ways to overcome them. If you can't see a solution, ask someone who has faced similar challenges, and succeeded. 

Time.

Don't expect miracles overnight. It will take time. We have to put in the time to get lasting results. Too busy? Don't have the time? Sorry, but that's bullsh*t, and this is a bullsh*t free zone. Everyone can find 3 slots of 10 minutes each and every day to be active. No if's. No but's. No might's. No maybe's. We should be asleep for 8 hours a day. That leaves us with 960 minutes. We can all find 3x10. 

Temperance.

Probably the biggest challenge for most of us, is knowing when we've had enough. Learn to say no. Have a look at my healthy eating tips. Learn to cook a little less food, but fill it with flavour. Indulge a little less. But enjoy it more. Because it's guilt free when it's a rare indulgence, it tastes so much better.

7 Tips for getting active

1. Start off easy
A lot of people decide they're going to get fit, and go for it full throttle. While this enthusiasm is great, what is likely to happen is they have a fantastic first session, then can barely move for days afterwards! Any time a person uses muscles in a way that's different from what they do regularly, they're probably going to feel it over the next few days to a greater or lesser degree.  This is known as DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness. My advice? Start off easy, and gradually build up the effort levels over time. If it's been a long time since you were physically active, you should get the OK from your doctor or G.P. before starting out. Have a look at my posts on the warmup and cooldown.

2.a Make some goals
It helps to have definite goals, such as ' I want to lose 24Lbs before my sisters wedding in 12 weeks'. A goal which can be measured, like this one can, is a great help, because you can easily see progress over time. Also 2Lbs per week is about as much as a person can safely lose, and keep off, over a sustained period of time. More about goal setting.

2.b Make a routine

Getting into a routine is one of the best ways of sticking with healthy activity. The activity itself isn't so important starting off, more that you can establish the activity as part of your daily/weekly routine. Once this is done, it gets harder to miss a session, particularly if you're doing it with friends.

3. Decent footwear
Most of us spend a lot of time on our feet, so a decent pair of walking shoes or trainers is an extremely worthwhile investment. They don't have to be the latest and greatest thing 'as seen on TV'. But they should fit securely when laced up, with no obvious rubs while you walk.

4. Keep a log
This doesn't have to be anything fancy, just a little notebook in which you can write down distance covered, length of time spent walking/exercising, whether the walk was on the flat or had hills, whatever information you want really. Some people even record what the weather was like or how they felt before & after each session. This can be a great help with keeping motivated, especially over the dark winter evenings. There are lots of Apps for iPhone and other smartphones that you can use to track your progress.

5. Bring some friends
Another great aid to staying motivated is having a buddy or group to exercise with, as you are less likely to find an excuse to skip your training if you know you'll be letting your friend down. Also, the social element increases your enjoyment of the activity. If nobody will commit, then why not try a some kind of exercise class in your area, where you'll make new friends. There are usually many kinds to choose from. Alternatively, you could join an online fitness community such as www.tribesports.com I've been using it for a while to keep things interesting

6. Water, water everywhere...
Drink lots of it. Keep a bottle of water with you at all times, and take a swig from it every few minutes. Air conditioning and central heating tend to make us dehydrated. Aim to drink about 2 liters (4 pints) of water per day, and more if you perspire heavily during your chosen activity.

7. Shake up your kitchen
A lot of calories come from food sources that we don't think about, such as sauces and dressings. These can add up hugely over time. A quick rule of thumb is to choose tomato based sauces wherever possible with main courses, and if desert is a must, then a fruit-bowl with some sorbet is a healthier option than most other things you're likely to see on a menu. A well equipped rack of herbs and spices is also important, as these can add incredible flavours to foods, without any corresponding rise in calories. In fact, many herbs and spices have properties which can prevent and/or reduce diseases. (I'll go into more detail about this in another post).

I hope you find these tips helpful. All feedback & comments appreciated. Mal

Invest in yourself - It's the best spend you'll ever make.

When I say Invest in yourself, I don't mean buy more stuff. You've probably got more than enough stuff already. Stuff is mostly clutter. It won't really enrich your health and wellbeing. Sure, there is the short lived endorphin release that comes with making certain purchases, but I'm not talking about 'retail therapy' here.

Lets look at the title of this post again for a minute, because I went through several titles before I settled on one which I feel really encapsulates the message I'm trying to get across. The "Invest in yourself" part has been constant, but what follows that has changed a lot even as I've been refining what I'm saying to make sure the message doesn't get lost or misconstrued. The spend here could mean a financial outlay, but doesn't have to. Thats why "money" is no longer part of the title. The spend could mean time, but again, that would be narrowing the scope of this post, and we already lead limiting enough lives as it is. A lot of these limitations by the way, are largely of our own making, but more about that another time. The "spend" I'm talking about is mental energy, or thought.

 If you ask pretty much any adult what they want in life their answer will usually flow pretty quickly and be something along the lines of 'health, wealth and happiness', or some variation of these 3 central themes.
Ask a follow-up question like "What does happiness mean to you?" and things start to get more revealing. The answers mostly start with 'I suppose' or 'I guess'. If this sounds familiar, maybe its time to  take a time-out (not the chocolate bar), and try to figure what these seemingly simple concepts mean to you. This might take 5 minutes, or it could be the beginning of a lifelong journey of self discovery. To make things more interesting, the things that make us happy will inevitably change as we go through life. For example, being the life and soul of the party may make us happy in our 20's but as we advance in years, most people are probably not going to want to spend every single weekend in a nightclub.

Similarly wealth to most people brings to mind the notion of a large bank balance, and the trappings of 'success'. Great, I'd love to have a ferrari in the drive. But lets face it; I live in Kerry, on the west coast of Ireland; I wouldn't be able to drive it anywhere, because the first pothole I hit would literally knock lumps off of it. Thats just material wealth, and it can all be wiped out in an instant. Ask anyone who has lost everything to fire, flood or a banking collapse.

What about wealth of spirit? When was the last time you committed a random act of goodness?  This could be anything from picking up a piece of litter in your neighbourhood, to helping someone, simply because you can. There is a reward from doing little things like these. It's not financial, you can't put a number on it, and you can't touch it. But you can feel it inside, and over time it becomes visible. People will start to notice something different about you, but wont be able to quite put their finger on it.  What they are seeing is the increase in your wealth of spirit. They just don't realise it.

Success, to my mind, is being able to spend my time and energy doing things I love to do. For me, I think this has always been making people happy, and enriching their lives. I don't mean enriching in the material sense, (though that can come as a knock on effect way down the line).

As someone who was heavily overweight, and did something about it, (I dropped 30% of my bodyweight) I know firsthand the kind of difference it makes to a person's self belief as well as to their physical health and wellbeing, when they are able to make long term positive changes. I know how happy i was to have achieved that goal, and that's why I work as a personal trainer. I also believe that life should have balance, and I am aware that burnout is a problem for those working in the health and fitness industry. For that reason, amongst others, I also do street performance work & circus skills workshops. These two occupations may seem very different, but they share a couple of common bases namely, physical activity with a strong motor-skill learning element and a practical applications of performance psychology, including disaster recovery. Also, they help make people happy.

It's been a meandering post I know, but I'm finally getting back to the point. You have to invest some time in figuring out what you really want from life. Then you have to figure out what it will take to get you from where you are today, to where you want to be in, say, five years time. It helps a lot if it's something you are passionate about. It's your passion that will fuel your drive to succeed. Not someone else's idea of success, but your own personal goal for your life. Or you could keep drifting along as you may have been for years, drifting along as your dreams slip away.

Time flies, but you are the pilot. The question is, where is your flight taking you?