Why your New Years Resolutions fail again and again.

You'll hear lots of talk over the next few days about 'New Years Resolutions', and to my mind, it seems that the people making such a big beal about setting NYR's seem to be the same people who are making the same resolution year after year... 

"This year, I'm going to lose weight & get fit" 

This will usually last for a couple of weeks before 'New Year, New You' has become Same Shit, Different day.

The reason for this is often because there's no plan on HOW to achieve it, or even thought behind WHY it is important. 

When making the decision to take action on your health & fitness, it can be helpful to approach it like you were planning a holiday.

For example, this coming July, i'll be going to Dubrovnik, Croatia. I can take a flight, go by bus & rail across europe, or drive. Each way of getting there has its own pro's and con's. (in terms of speed, cost, simplicity, comfort, safety, enjoyability [other?] ) .

If you want to lose weight, put a number or clothing size on it and thats your destination. You can achieve that weightloss through dieting, joining a gym, hiring a personal trainer or health and fitness consultant, taking up a sport, taking dangerous "diet pills", having painful and expensive surgery etc., each of which comes with its own set of pros and cons. 

Along the journey there will be setbacks, moments where your willpower fails you,  you just say "f*ck it!" and roll over in bed listening to the rain beating against the window instead of going to the gym, or where you cave in and have the delicious cake that someone brought into work. I like to think of these things as being like getting a puncture on the way to the airport; it's unfortunate, and it's certainly going to slow you down a bit, but it's not the end of the world, because you started out in plenty of time, so you change it and get on with the journey.

What absolutely mystifies me is that when it comes to new years resolutions, it seems like most people would rather slash the other 4 tyres, set fire to the car and roll in the gutter feeling sorry for themselves instead of just changing the f*cking tyre! If you don't know how to change the tyre, call someone who can help you change it. Someone like me, for example, can help you plan your journey, and teach you how to deal with a puncture in a way that doesn't involve setting fire to the car.

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

Indian summer slackline sessions

I've been making the most of the Indian summer we're having here in Ireland, with a slackline based training session almost every day. Mind you, I'm making sure to have at 2 rest days each week (injury rates in all sports go up significantly when there are less than 2 rest days per week).

I'm also getting back on track with preventative maintainence, which is an area I'd been neglecting this year. What I mean by this is a combination of doing specific stabilisation & rehabilitation exercises for old injuries to stop them from flaring up again, as well as having regular deep tissue massage to release knots and trigger points within the muscles. Relaxing it is not, but it does help keep me mobile.

While slacking in Tralee town park yesterday one of my former colleagues in the gym  was passing by and stopped to give it a go. It's fair to say he was 'surprised' by how challenging it was just to stand on the line, even with help. He did comment on how much more he could feel his weak ankle working over the strong one. 

While he was there I took him through a few basic ways the slackline can be used as an effective tool for personal training, and made a quick video demonstrating a few of the moves I regularly use in my own training.

Note to self, get a microphone ;-)