Free Recipes!

If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen my stories over the last week, where I’ve recorded what I’ve been eating.

Most of the time I try and eat food I’ve made myself at home and I’ve had lots of messages asking me for the recipes of the meals I’ve been posting.

I love this so if you ever want to know how I made something DM me and I’ll let you know (some of my favourite meals have come from seeing random pictures on Instagram and asking the person posting how they made it!). And if you don’t follow me on Instagram it’s @heather.sherwood

Recently some of my meal ideas have been coming from Chris Ward of Ward Fitness, a Personal trainer from Liverpool, who offers a service where you get 15 new recipe cards emailed to you each month for just £5 per month (a mixture of smoothies, breakfasts, main meals and snacks). Being honest I can easily spend a fiver on chocolate without thinking so for me this is one of my best value purchases each month as it gives me ideas for things I wouldn’t normally try and make and has made me more adventurous in trying out my own ideas too.

Given that I’ve had lots of requests for recipes I thought it might be nice to share a few of the ones I’ve really enjoyed with you here (Chris has given me permission!).

So here are four of my favourites for you to try.

Steak and Chicken Paella

Sticky Chocolate Nut Energy Balls

Pear and Blueberry Smoothie

Pumpkin Chilli

I’m not the best cook but I’ve found all these recipes simple to follow, plus none of them are time consuming (I generally manage to food prep for the week in about 2 hours) so if you are looking for inspiration I can highly recommend giving this a go.

Follow @wardfitnesspt message him any questions and if you want to get your own set of ideas emailed to you every month you can sign up here.

15 Recipes for £5

If you do give any of these recipes a go let me (and Chris) know how it goes!

My Favourite (Fitness) Websites (and why)

My Protein

Affordable protein and supplements with quick delivery times and regular offers.

My favourite product is the Whey Protein Powder in Vanilla which you can use in cakes and smoothies as well as on it’s own. I’m not a huge fan of protein shakes and tend to use them as an addition when I need a quick boost of calories and / or protein but I am a fan of adding protein powder to homemade muffins, energy balls and smoothies so a plain flavour like vanilla works well as it complements most recipes.

Added bonus if you do like drinking them as a stand alone drink and want to experiment this product comes in a wide variety of flavours so you don’t have to get bored.

I also really like their seamless leggings range, which have a gym shark feel without the same price tag- definitely squat proof, look good and are super comfy and long (useful for long legged people like me)!

Check them out here – My Protein

Muscle Food

Good quality meats for an excellent price (and let’s face it meat is expensive).

Buy one of their bulk packs and freeze! I like the chicken in particular because it doesn’t shrink when cooked!

They also do nice protein packed cheat style meals (like protein pizza) – now generally if I’m going to have a pizza I’d prefer to have a full on stuffed crust loaded one, but if you want to get the taste at a fraction of the calorie cost these could be a good alternative.

Check them out here – Muscle Foods

They have also recently started doing a meal prep style offering where they deliver your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks weekly and also provide you with workout plans and an online support group.

You can opt to get 5,6 or 7 days worth of food.

I haven’t tried this so my opinion on this service i purely based on looking through their website.

I think I would want to add some extra vegetables and fruit to this plan personally (and tend to prefer and recommend homemade / freshly made meals wherever possible) and I haven’t tried the exercise plans so can’t comment on them, but if you are struggling to meal prep and find yourself buying a lot of your meals off the shelf / living off ready meals this could be a possible way of staying in control of your calorie intake that is quite cost effective.

Have a look below. They are currently offering £10 off your first order using the code UNTHINKABLE

Muscle Food Meal Prep

What are your favourite fitness product websites and why?

DOMs

For some reason over the last two days I’ve had really bad DOMs.

I almost never gets DOMs normally. Context: I teach most days and then train 4 times a week plus run sometimes so it’s rare I go more than a day without training in some form so my body is pretty used to what it has to do.

Last week I was in Edinburgh for two days and Wolverhampton over the weekend. This plus work and an exam meant that I only taught 4 classes (I’d normally do 8+) and got one chance to train.

Result of this was when I taught a spin and a Body Pump on Saturday morning my body apparently felt it!

On Saturday night I went to a Paranormal evening at Wolverhampton Airport (I’ll come back to that in my next blog) and woke up on Sunday with quads that cried every time I got in and out of a chair! My spin class this morning was interesting – largely because I’m just not used to training with sore muscles!

So if you’re new to exercise and experiencing DOMS for the first time here’s what I think you need to know:

DOMS are temporary — depending on how intense you will feel OK again in about two to four days without having to do anything (if you don’t feel better by then it might be an injury).
Make sure you warm-up and cool-down. Making sure your muscles are prepared for exercise and safely recover from physical stress can help reduce the likelihood of DOMs (they won’t guarantee you won’t get them though).
Build up the intensity of your training slowly. If you’re brand new to any type of training and don’t build up your weights / distance etc. your body will react more dramatically to the stress (plus you increase the risk of injury).
If you’re suffering from DOMs try gently massaging the area affected (tip getting a deep tissue massage will not make you feel less sore!). Likewise using a foam roller to gently roll out your sore muscles may help.
Keep moving whilst you have DOMs. Not really intense exercise allow your muscles to recover – but getting the blood flowing and muscles moving (walking, easy biking, swimming) can help you feel better.
Drink lots of water – drinking water makes everything feel better!

Good Foods V. Bad Foods

How often do you think about food in terms of ‘good’ and ‘bad’?

You have a 2,000 calories to eat in a day.

You eat 2,000 calories of pizza and chocolate.

You eat 2,000 calories of oats, chicken, salad, fish, rice, vegetables, fruit and nuts.

Either way you’ve eaten 2,000 calories.

So really there are no good or bad foods.

There are foods.

Now that isn’t to say you’d feel the same after eating nothing but pizza and chocolate than if you’d eaten the same number of calories from a variety of largely unprocessed foods.

Generally your body will probably react more positively to the unprocessed foods.

But sometimes you’ll feel better for picking the pizza!

Overtime a diet of nothing but pizza would probably start to make you feel pretty bloated and lethargic.

There was a man who lost weight by eating nothing but McDonalds for 30 days. He was still in a calorie deficit. Another experiment involving McDonalds, Supersize Me (which had a a different focus and was designed to shine a spotlight on the American Fast Food Industry) highlighted how aside from weight solely eating this type of food affected the participants cholesterol, sex drive, skin, mood and so on.

The point is you aren’t likely to eat nothing but McDonalds.

Nor are you likely to never eat it EVER. AGAIN.

A happy diet isn’t that polarised.

Some days you’ll eat chicken and brocoli from a Tupperware box. Sometimes you’ll eat fried chicken from a bucket.

There’s that saying you’ll see on memes about this being called balance.

Also realistically.

Most people struggle because they haven’t got to grips with energy in v. energy out.

They eat too much or not enough.

It isn’t that they aren’t eating the right sort of foods.

If you have this down 100% then looking at what you eat and the specific nutrients in those foods could enhance how you feel. If you want to compete in a show or top-level sport you perhaps need to do this.

For the rest of us (and I include me in that) just hitting those calorie goals (and protein goals if you want to go one further) will be enough to make us feel pretty good and bring results.

So actually from this logic there are no good or bad foods.

Ways to Measure Fitness Success … That Aren’t Connected To Your Weight

Because the scales don’t tell the full story. If you only judge success by that number going up or down you could end up unmotivated and losing momentum. I’ve been 10 stone and a size 12, now I’m 13.5 stone and a size 12 , proof that your weight doesn’t tell the full story…

Progress Photos – Take monthly photos of yourself in the same clothes to compare / track changes in your body shape and size.
Take Measurements – Take measurements of your waist, chest, arms and legs every month to keep track of inches lost.
Body composition – Rather than weight and depending on what facilities you have available you could track body fat / muscle composition. Remember these machines are a lot like scales and the method they use for calculating data is not accurate but they could illustrate trends of body fat reducing / muscle increasing which indicate progress.
The Jeans Test – Find a pair of jeans (or any trousers) that currently just about fit. Try them on at regular intervals and note the changes in how they fit – as you reduce body fat they should become looser (note this doesn’t always work as you may find you get leaner but your body shape changes and jeans fitting in general becomes a problem!)
Testings / Tracking Data – So far I’ve focussed on the physical appearance and getting smaller. How about getting FITTER? Record your current scores on a few key exercises (make them ones you do so if you weight train your scores for 5×5 deadlift / 5×5 squat / 5 x 5 overhead press, if you’re a runner your time for a 2km run and so on- make them relevant). Every 6-8 weeks do these tests again and look for improvements – have you got faster, can you lift heavier, did it feel easier?
Train for an Event – Pick something that you couldn’t currently do (or it would be a massive challenge) e.g. Run a 10k race. Sign up for that event and train towards it. You complete it then you know you’ve improved your fitness levels.
Have a Health MOT – If you’re a member of a gym like Nuffield (others offer similar too) you may have access to free health checks. Here they will check and record various health indicators. You can normally get one once every few months and they can be a good indicator of improvement are a few visits.
Keep a Habit Diary – Log what you’ve done for your fitness has your nutrition been good, did you train, what other positive health choices have you made? This is a great indication over time of the habits you have created and positive changes made. Fitness isn’t merely fat loss and PBs, it’s about creating a positive, happy and sustainably healthy you.
Take note of everyday activity levels – How hard is it to currently climb the stairs at work instead of taking the lift? Or run for the bus? Or walk to the shops? Make a note and then compare how those tasks feel after a month of two of training, then in 6 months, again in twelve. If every day activities get easier you know you’re getting fitter.
Listen to compliments – Have people started commenting on how good you look or how well you’re doing in class? These compliments are a good indication that changes are happening!

What (I Think) You Should Know Before Your Group Ex Training (Re- Blog)

I don’t mean how the course is structured, what it will cover or what you need to do to pass.

This isn’t what you need to know.

I mean the important things – the things no one tells you – the things I wish I’d have known the first time I went on each of these!

ETM

You will spend approx 6 weeks grapevining. Constantly.
To bad music.
And by bad music – I mean the type of music I love- I loved the sound track for my ETM. I believe I am in a minority of one on this.
You will get DOMS – specifically in your calf’s (blame the above grapevining).
On day one you will realise that moving to the beat is one thing. Talking at the same time? Different matter.
It’s ok though because on day 2 you’ll start to get the hang of this.
You will start putting together your assessment class and decide a knee repeater is the best move ever and design your whole routine around it. It’s going to b the most creative ETM routine EVER. A masterpiece.
Then you’ll realise how hard it is to find five progressions for a repeater knee and pick another move. Any move. Probably the box step.
In fact you will have a grapevine and box step in your routine – I’m willing to put money on it.
The practical days are long.
On day one you will take a packed lunch of spinach and carrot juice. Because fitness instructors are healthy. And role models.
On day two you will take bread and Haribo. Because bread and Haribos will ensure your survival.
You will start to consider injecting coffee into your eyeballs as the weeks progress.
You will bribe friends into letting you practice on them.
They will tell you how amazing you are doing. Even though you’re still shit at this stage.
You will cry. At least once.
And by once I mean probably at least once a day.
On the assessment day you will do your assessment plus take part in several others. Everyone there will be slightly shell shocked with how hard 3 hours of old school aerobics actually is. I return to your calf’s. You will probably cry.

IMT (Les Mills)

You will spend more time learning your allocated track than you ever spend learning entire releases going forward.
You will write a script that Shakespeare would be in awe of ahead of your first presentation.
During the first morning you will realise you need to say completely different things to what you’ve scripted and have to start again.
You are going to have to introduce yourself and your mind will go completely blank when you try to recall an interesting fact about yourself. Everyone else will do the same and you will think you are the most boring group of people in existence.
You will remember the magic powers of Haribo (pic n mix also works well as do Jelly Babies) from ETM and will have come prepared this time.
Remember coffee? Yep still vital.
You probably signed up to do this course because you thought you were OK at the class right? Wrong – the technique session will convince you otherwise.
You will second guess any answer you go to give to any question – What is a layer 1 coaching cue for a squat? What would you say in a class introduction for Body Combat? What is your name? No idea mate.
You will feel like you are about to fall asleep around about 3 pm both days – hello Haribos.
You want to be perfect. You will panic because you aren’t – you will probably not pass because you definitely don’t move like Lisa O or Rachel. You do not need to panic about this. I mean you don’t move like them but you don’t need to.
There is an exam on Les Mills on day 2 (kind of)!
You are going to have to get used to group selfies. Because these are part of instructor life and if you don’t have a selfie at the end of a course they don’t update your result on the portal so

DVD Submission (Les Mills)

Passing the IMT will definitely be the hardest part right? Erm sorry mate but no.
Nobody likes filming for certification – but there’s no way round it, not even bribery, I’ve tried!
You will practice and script this release to the point you will be able to teach it off the cuff for the rest of your natural life- and probably for several years after you die.
Then as soon as the camera is on you will mess up the first rep of the warm up. Even though you can teach this in your sleep.
You will film on average 276 times before you are happy with it to submit for your first programme. This number reduces dramatically as the number of programmes you teach grows.
Someone will walk in half way through the warm up. They will probably position themselves in front of the camera.
It is the law to wear full on Reebok for these filmings. If you wear Combat gear for a Pump DVD or vice versa you will be put on a special watch list and may not pass.
The camera will probably stop recording half way through the class- this will be the class that is perfect and you would have definitely submitted on.
It may take you several weeks to get a filming you are happy with. It will then take you six months to upload it onto the portal.
During this time you will come across Jon from the office. We like Jon.
When you pass if you don’t post your certificate on Facebook with an Oscar Style thank you speech they withdraw certification (perhaps).

*Please note some of this “may”be a bit tounge in cheek

Another One For The Ladies

Following on from my earlier blog this week I thought I’d re post an old blog about foods that may help with PMS and some which you may want to avoid.

Now a) I’m not a nutritionist, this is all from general research I’ve done on a subject that affects me and b) I’m not saying these will stop period pain or that you should never have the things on the avoid list – just that theoretically there may be some foods you want to try and eat and others less so if you suffer from cramps etc.

Here’s the re post…

When I’m on my period I literally crave fatty, sugary, salty foods. When you spend a lot of time trying to eat well this is pretty annoying so I’ve spent a reasonable amount of time looking into why and what I can do to try and make myself feel better (because I suffer from horrible cramps most months and bloat enough to feel like I may actually be pregnant with a baby Elephant) without giving into eating 10,000 calories of pure fat and sugar a day.

Just before and during our periods our Serotonin levels lower (less feel good hormones), our stress hormones spike (not helping in the feeling good department) and our bodies use more calories making us feel hungry more often. It’s therefore not hugely surprising we want to comfort eat- but apart from eating too much of the crap stuff affecting your body shape aims (I won’t say weight!) eating too much sugar will also cause a spike followed by a crash and burn which also doesn’t make you feel good in the long run.

I’ve therefore been making an effort to read up on what foods will help make me feel better without having a negative affect on looking after myself in general to try and implement them more into my diet .

Foods To Eat:

Water – Not really food but hydrating well helps keep skin clear, prevent bloating (the better hydrated you are the less likely you will retain water) and reduce cramps.
Almonds – also sesame seeds / flax seeds- these have calcium in them and calcium (but not dairy) can help reduce cramps.
Dark chocolate – A little dark chocolate can help relax muscles and so reduce cramps, it will also help release some happy hormones.
Celery – Full of water but not full of calories so a good option if you feel the need to constantly graze!
Hummus- This one may be a bit controversial. I have read that chickpea’s can help you sleep better and also help improve mood. I have also read however that they can be classed as a Legume and cause bloating so perhaps eat in moderation.
Pineapple – Help relax muscles (less cramps) and reduce bloating
Bananas – Helps relax muscles (reduce cramping) also contains Vitamin B6 which can help improve your mood. Banana’s are also good at helping to regulate the digestive system, which some women can have problems with during this time.
Tea – Yes it has caffeine in it, but it’s apparently better for you than coffee (which can increase anxiety levels and cause you to and retain water). Other types of tea can also help: Green tea for instance provides a little caffine still, peppermint tea can help soothe an upset stomach, Chamomile tea is relaxing and can help reduce anxiety.
Spinach / Kale- These foods have Calcium in them which assists in alleviating cramps. They are also Iron rich (our iron levels can drop whilst we are on our period hence why we crave iron rich foods).
Salmon – This is full of omega 3 and Vitamin D. If you can eat it the week before you are due on it may have an anti – inflammatory effect.
Oranges – Provide Calcium which can help relax cramping muscles and Vitamin D (can help regulate your mood).
Brocolli – Full of Magnesium, potassium, Calcium, Vitamins A, C, B6, E – Good for improving your general mood and fighting fatigue.

Foods To Avoid:

Fizzy drnks – Can cause bloating.
Processed foods – Tend to be high sodium – can cause bloating. Making food from scratch can reduces salt intake.
Fried foods – Can elevate estrogen levels.
Legumes (I mentioned this before – some things I’ve read say hummus can help, others say avoid) e.g Kidney beans, blackbeans et.c due to their bloating effect.
Refined grains – refined foods can interfere with blood sugar levels and regular control of appetite, so whole grains are a better option than cookies, white bread etc.
High fat foods – Can affect hormone activity and contribute to inflammation (and cramps)
Coffee – Can increase anxiety / stress levels and contribute to water retention.

Really, this list is not too different to the type of foods I’d want to eat more of / avoid at any other time of the month but if you tend to feel a bit rubbish at certain points in your cycle knowing how you can help manage those symptoms (painkillers and hot water bottles aside) thinking about your diet isn’t a bad starting point.

Note- I’m not a trained nutritionists this is simply based on my own research about something that affects me- I would always recommend you see a qualified dietitian should you need advice!

Fitness Instructors and Periods

The menstrual cycle is less of a taboo subject these days.

Women and some men find it a lot easier to talk openly about periods and the various side effects, which is without doubt a good thing.

And I’m about to talk about it some more.

One thing I often (when I say often I mean every month) wonder is how other female fitness instructors feel about teaching classes during their time of the month.

Me personally, I find my period is the thing out of everything that affects how I feel when teaching the most. More than fatigue, early starts, multiple classes in a day, DOMs from training sessions, being hungry, eating too soon before a class – all those things we generally accept will have an impact on how we teach. None of those things affect my teaching as much as my period does.

I don’t know if that makes me odd or if other female instructors feel the same – mainly because it’s not really something that often comes up in discussion.

I find that odd in a way because I’d talk to people about how their period affects their eating habits or their training in the gym – and I think a lot more fitness professional discuss these things with clients now. Yet generally, whilst I always note how for one week of the month I struggle with classes more, I rarely give it much more than a passing thought.

I have quite long periods (five days average) and they are pretty heavy for around two of those days (normally days 2-3). I tend to get bad cramps for he first couple of days and breast tenderness pretty much all the way through. I hate almost everyone for those five days, am somewhat irrational at times and will cry at almost anything.

So actually when you think about that you can kind of appreciate why I think teaching during your period is harder than at other times.

We all know exercise can help cramps, and I do always know I’ll feel better afterwards, but sometimes standing up in front of people and smiling when you feel like someone is punching you repeatedly in the stomach is tough, even when you know that once you get started it will get better.

Even the best sports bra doesn’t help much when you are jumping about with sore boobs – and when you’re taking the class dropping the intensity a bit to stay comfortable isn’t really an option.

The moods and the tears. Now classes for me can make this so much better. A good class can cheer you up, fill you with feel good hormones and improve your day. Make a mistake, or get a complaint and all the hormones make it feel so much worse – suddenly things you would normally shrug off make you feel terrible.

I also find I muck up more. I’m more forgetful and clumsy (yes even more than normal). These are not things that help when teaching an hours worth of choreography to music!

And the worst feeling when it comes to periods. That feeling when you’re not quite sure if you’ve leaked. No women like this feeling. The attempt to check if you have or not without anyone seeing. Not really any way of doing that when you’re up front in a class so when it happens you have to just have faith that it hasn’t happened.

Put all that together and it kind of makes sense why I find teaching on my period more stressful than at any other time. I still enjoy it once I’m started but it’s a harder because there’s added factors affecting how I feel and move.

So my question am I just odd or do other female group exercise instructors feel the same way? What do you do to get over these feelings or do you just ‘man up’ and get on with it?

Fitness Trackers

Go into a gym now and it seems like almost everyone has one. If you don’t but are considering it here’s the low down before you part with £100-£500 of your money!

Pros

Accountability. They can keep you on track. You think you’ve walked loads today – well the step counter will either confirm that or demonstrate you have not! The heart rate monitor will give an idea of calories burnt, active minutes etc. Warning – these figures are not overly accurate and many watches over egg how many calories you have burnt (I would use a TDEE calculator to work out roughly how many calories you need to eat over a watches figures). They do however help show patterns so you can check day on day to see if you have been more or less active than normal to keep yourself accountable / honest with yourself.
Support. Most watches have communities you can join (with friends or strangers – I’ve made friends in other countries through Fitbit!) and compete on step counts or activity levels to keep you motivated.
Motivation. You pay a lot of money for a watch. Chances are you will use it so it could be a good tool to keep you focused on your health and fitness goals.
The Extras. As well as the data the watch collects many watches have other features (such as tracking your menstrual cycle for females on the Fitbit – one of the best features of the Fitbit app for me) which can be really useful depending on your aims / lifestyle.
Connectivity. Depending on which watch you plump for you can connect it to your text messages, emails, music – for me this is annoying, for some this is amazing and convenient!
GPS. Not many of the main brands have built in GPS but almost all now connect to your mobile phone really easily so you can track runs, rides etc.
They tell the time. Sounds so ridiculous but actually I never wore a watch until I got a tracker.

Cons

They aren’t very accurate. Taken on face value they could give you a very misleading idea of how many calories you are burning, if you base your calorie in take around this figure alone this could lead to you thinking you are in a calorie deficit when you are not (clue – if you are putting on weight even though you think you are in a deficit you are not in a deficit). They can also be inaccurate with how many steps you do (try waving your arm around and watch your steps increase) although they give a good idea.
They are not always the most attractive of watches To be fair some brands are more aesthetically pleasing than others and they are certainly starting to look less bulky as the technology develops, but generally they are not a fashion statement.
They can get addictive. Like anything constantly having access to so much data about your activity can lead to an obsessive checking in.
Cost. If all you want to do is check how many steps you do a day this is an expensive way to do it. Most phones have apps which will do this already installed these days.

I have a Fitbit Charge 3 (previously I had a Surge) and I’ve heard a lot of good things about Apple watches but there is a wide range of brands and styles available now so the best thing if you are looking to buy one would be have a look at the features of a few different ones and pick the one that sounds and looks most appealing to you.

Things I’ve Learnt – Re-Blog

I wrote this six months ago- all still remarkably true and relevant.

You aren’t perfect.

I think I’m like most people in that when I start something new I want to be 100% perfect or I feel like I’ve failed and need to start again. But it’s impossible to never have slip ups on a long term plan. Getting out of the cycle of deciding a whole week was a write off become of a bad day or bad meal was one of the biggest factors to starting to see results.

Day 30 (or 60 or 100 or 200) is harder than day 1.

People always talk about Day 1- and in some ways Day 1 is tough, it’s the starting something new, the first step in making changes. But by the same token, Day 1 is exciting – it’s the start of something new, when you feel all positive and hopeful. Sticking to something once the novelty wear off or once results start to slow is the real challenge.

Consistency and steady progress is boring.

Everyone loves a Facebook status or Instagram post where they can show their before and after pictures demonstrating dramatic results. Realistically though long lasting changes take time and progress isn’t always immediately apparent.

The loudest people in the gym often don’t have a clue.

When I started venturing into the free weight section alone I used to feel so inferior. All these people claiming space and equipment and confidently broadcasting their strengths and opinions on how things should be done. I tend to assume that if someone is loud and forward with their opinion they must know their shit- and yeah, some do. Get comfortable in the environment and take time to look and you will see however that many do not! Go in, do your own thing with confidence and don’t worry about what anyone else is doing in terms of training or weights.

You need to eat more.

I used to try and keep my calorie intake low – the bigger the calorie deficit the better. Really, this makes you tired, makes training harder and will eventually stop you getting results. Stick to a sensible calorie deficit and results will come and will be easier to maintain.

There is no such thing as an ideal diet.

And by ideal I mean those diets you see advertised in magazines- ‘Eat all the cake and still lose weight’ ‘Drink all the Gin and still lose weight’. We would all like that magic diet which would allow us to eat as much of our favourite foods as often as we like and still loose 10lbs per week. Essentially, though, if you look at them, all these diets still involve some form of restriction – eat low calorie meals through the day and allow yourself cake everyday in moderation (i.e. a small slice). You therefore have to accept that you can eat what you want within reason but if you also want to stay within a calorie allowance and hit your Macros you will need to balance that out with sensible options for other meals. I have 4 pretty strict days to allow me the freedom to have 3 pretty relaxed days and stay within my goals. That means for 4 days a week I sometimes have to say no to things I want in return for that relaxed weekend.

Some days will be shit.

Not all training sessions will be fun, not all will bring PBs, sometimes you will feel like you have made no progress. If every session was a great session they would just be your normal sessions. Accept that even a tough session will bring benefits to you and don’t sweat it.

Rest is important

When you start it feels like you will get more results if you keep on going and do as much as you can. Rest allows your body to recover and prevents over training though and in the long term will improve your results.

You can’t do everything.

It’s tempting to try and master as many things as possible. Realistically though unless you are naturally talented at something the chances are you will need to devote time to things to master them. Therefore trying to win a Strongman competition whilst also training for a marathon is probably not going to work. Pick your thing and focus on that. I wanted to run a second marathon but with teaching classes around my full time job I had to accept that finding time to fit the training in would not be possible and as I didn’t want to take a break from teaching I put that aim on the back burner.

Weight is a bad indicator of progress.

Muscle weighs more than fat, your body is full of water blah blah blah. At first you may be able to monitor your weight- eventually you will need to go off clothes size or pictures if you don’t want to feel completely demotivated.