Words to be SUCCESSFUL!

Accountability is simply what you are doing to strive to hit your goals on a daily basis and the reasoning as to why – why do you want that goal, why do you do it every day? How do you track your progress? If training doesn’t go to plan, do you hold yourself accountable or would you be that person who always has someone or something to blame? For example, if you were following a specific training programme and in 12 weeks you haven’t added any weight to your lifts or you haven’t managed to complete more press-ups or sit-ups in a specific time, would you hold me responsible? Initially, I would even hold myself responsible however I would then I ask to see your fitness diary for the past 12 weeks – with your 3 sessions a week that you had to complete away from our 1 to 1 session(s). Then it turns out you hadn’t completed the sessions and were only coming for 1 to 1 PT. Accountability, therefore, needs to shift from myself to you. This is the same for nutritional changes that would take place with your training which go hand in hand. It can also link into daily life and tasks you do every day. Integrity, therefore, comes directly under accountability for me personally. Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching. It’s getting up in the morning and doing your press-ups and sit-ups just like your programme told you to do – it’s going out for that 5k walk (maybe a bad example as people can actually see that one happening) – it’s deciding to eat that chocolate cake instead of having your fruit and veg or alternative snack in the evening as your nutritional guidance book suggested. Staying accountable is a great way to stay motivated – having someone to check-in with makes it easier for you to follow your programme and having someone who leads by example also makes it easier for to you enhance your integrity. Personally, I’ve always had integrity in my life. From a young age I played sports, and my team-mates would count on me for my fitness or strength, therefore this kept me accountable, and I knew I had to go out and do them extra hill-reps or that run when it was absolutely lashing down. This was later developed after my time in the RAF cadets and later within the RAF itself. Every single person had a role to play and part of that role meant we needed to be combat ready, therefore requiring a high level of fitness and endurance (both physically and mentally). Although my time in the RAF was short-lived, I still picture the military PTI’s shouting at me when I’m doing my own training, by myself, in my garage, on a cold-wet day when I could be inside watching telly or playing the PlayStation. I also train with my coach on a weekly basis. Both of us have out-lined specific goals for my strength training, alongside monitoring and scoring regular fitness test. Having this daily accountability makes me train throughout the week and follow my programme to ensure I hit my goals or at least know I’ve done everything I possibly could to achieve them. Sometimes, yes, we do fail and that’s ok – as long as we’ve done our best, we can dust ourselves off and start again.

What are values?

What does the word value mean to you? Right away you might be thinking of price, the actual value of something specific, or you might be thinking of how you think about something. Both have their relevant place within our lives and directly link to training. I have values and “rules” if you will, that I set myself as a trainer and coach, for example: - Always be professional - Ensure clients are safe - Respect everyone and treat others the way you want to be treated - Listen to the clients’ goals and how they want to achieve them - Be honest with clients, if they give you an unrealistic goal then inform why I believe this to be so and what we can do or change to make it a more specific SMART goal - Constantly update my learning and knowledge by completing CPD courses These are just some of the many values I hold to my business and myself. We can set different values to everything in our lives, and this can be our daily task for the week. Write out everything that happens in your life, for example: 1. Work 2. Family 3. Friends 4. Training I’d personally do it as mind-maps or a circle you can draw links off – now write out 3-4 things you hold of value to that specific thing, for example, 1. Work – I ensure I’m on time and not late 2. Family – I see my dad daily and go round to his house in person 3. Friends – I check in with my friends daily and aim to see them once a week in person 4. Training – I give 100% to all my sessions and aim to follow my programme as it says to do it Hopefully, you’re starting to see how little values can relate to training, lifestyle and day-to-day life. You probably didn’t think you had that many but now realise that you have lots. The way you value yourself, hold yourself accountable and have integrity is how others will value you. As you can see, this is all linking together and also directly links to our previous emails on mental wellbeing, motivation and goal setting.

Everyone will believe in something different. It’s part of human nature and it’s perfectly acceptable. What isn’t acceptable, in my personal opinion, is trying to make others believe in 1 of 2 things: 1. Values or personal opinions. Just because someone believes in God, and someone believes in the big bang doesn’t mean they are wrong or right or because someone believes running is better than weightlifting or someone believes that a cat is better than a dog. It’s their belief and their right to think what they want to believe. It’s not right however, trying to get them to change their mind because you don’t agree in their beliefs. Live and let live. 2. People who sell and try to make you believe (I’d say more fall for, rather than believe) that FAD/craze diets, training plans, bullshit products are the best thing since sliced bread but happily mislead you and therefore make you question your accountability, integrity and values because the product WONT work or at least won’t last – be honest – how many times have you tried a product because celebrity has said to try it or you’ve maybe tried a diet for a month and yes lost weight, but then put it back on? It is my job to try and make you see and change your belief for number 2 (above) that you can in fact get your goal and achieve your dreams without needing to buy a product off someone from the telly who doesn’t even do it themselves. Please remember these people are being paid to promote products that they don’t use, haven’t been officially tested or know what the side-affects may be. Holly from Geordie Shore recently came out and went on a podcast and admitted she had wrongfully promoted and got people to buy one of these products because the company was simply paying her to do so – please don’t listen to people or things you see on social media. If it seems too good to be true then disregard the belief and seek clarity from a professional that you know or that others say is a worthwhile, reliable source, for example (as per nutrition week); James Smith or “The fitness chef” are both excellent on social media. James is particularly a good one for calling out peoples’ bullshit beliefs when it comes to your health and fitness as, like myself, he wants people to get their results correctly and not have you potentially doing more damage to yourself and then others (as you’ll naturally talk about it – maybe without meaning to) follow suit and you’ve convinced them to believe that the specific product is amazing but unfortunately for long term – doesn’t work! Value of a PT I believe everyone should be pricing the expense of a personal trainer or coach into their lives. We know we need petrol for our cars, or we need gas/electric, but no one (or at least rarely) thinks about their body. As you know and I constantly say - I invest in my health and fitness and train with my coach on a weekly basis. I’m not doing it because I know I can afford it, I’m doing it because I know that long-term it’s doing my body, both physically and mentally, the world of good. That said, there’s unfortunately trainers and coaches out there who will charge little to nothing to get clients. Firstly, all they’re doing is under-valuing themselves and their business. If I was thinking about getting a coach or a trainer and I knew the average price was £30-£35 and they were going to charge me £10 per session I’d be thinking – erm, there’s something not right with that. My thoughts initially would be – what level of experience, training and help away from sessions would I be getting. If everything seems legit the next question, I will ask is this; if that trainer or coach is good at what they do then why do they feel the need to de-value themselves and therefore the rest of the fitness industry as a whole?

I believe with experience and additional qualifications comes a higher level of value and although I haven’t changed prices in a few years now I also think about expenses and what people can honestly afford. I know I have clients who, if I said it was £100 a session would happily pay, however I also know I have clients that if I said I was going to start charging a 10ner per session they would be telling me to wise up and stop de-valuing myself, my service and my business. Overall, this blog should help show you that accountability, integrity, values and beliefs all go hand in hand and if we can keep each one in check then the flow is easier, balancing our daily day-to-day tasks should be easier and we should be able to stay on track with our health and fitness.