Project 40 – Week 18

So I haven’t posted an update for a few weeks (since week 14 to be precise). My cough is back.

Well technically it didn’t actually leave it just eased for a while in December and January (so it was like I had something caught in my throat) and then all of a sudden BAM, I sound like I smoke 20 a day again. Honestly, it sounds like I’m trying to cough up a lung again.

I’ve coughed so much everything hurts, including my throat and then after trying to suppress the cough because I know how much I’m annoying everyone with the never ending noise, I lost my voice and sounded like I was trying to communicate in secret with some alien life form who can only hear incredibly high pitched squeaks.

Really struggling to train or run right now because I can’t control my breathing and everything feels heavy, which is apart from anything else mentally tough.

Hoping that by the end of this week I’ll have a better idea from the doctor of what I can do to get rid of the cough so that I can get back to some semblance of normality. I’m signed up for two (yes two because I’m not that bright) half marathons in May so really need to be back to full health so I can get some decent long runs in soon!

Should you Train When Ill or Injured?

Above the neck – OK

Below the neck- No

Chest Congestion – No

Hacking cough – No

Upset Stomach- No

Fever – No

Slight cold- OK (this Might temporarily ease congestion)

Runny nose- OK

Slight sore throat- OK

Hungover- Maybe (but you might be better to rest)

Injured with swelling – No

Injured and in pain – No

Injured but you are able to avoid using affected area- OK

Ideally when ill, injured or hungover you’ll rest and recover, but if you do feel like you need to train for whatever reason try and consider your intensity, what you are doing and modify where you can to avoid training having a negative impact on your health.

A Brief Guide to the Interweb for Les Mills Instructors – Updated 2023 Version

  1. There’s a file on the official page on the Book of Face telling you all the launch dates. If you ask for the launch date on the inter web chat pages you will be directed to the file and a huge debate will ensue.
  2. Launch dates are recommendations only and you should probably follow your clubs guidelines. Or you could ask for advice on the inter web and a huge debate will ensue.
  3. You can just mention the words Ongoing Development Point or Pandora’s Box and a huge debate shall ensue. They don’t really need to be in any particular context.
  4. If an instructor does something that you don’t agree with you could message that instructor direct about it. Or you could post a vague post on the inter web and a huge debate will ensue.
  5. The number for the office can be found on the Google and if you ask for it on the social inter web pages people will simply redirect you to this page or tell you to use the chat box and a huge debate will then ensue.
  6. You should not rely on the app as a teaching tool (which confuses me because it has a playlist button but what do I know). If you do rely on it and it doesn’t work and you mention this on a social inter web page a huge debate will ensue… and you’ll be told you should also take another fifty two alternate ways to play music in case the first fifty one all fail. One could be a violin on which you could play the release on yourself if the app fails because let’s face it playing a violin whilst doing a burpee (sorry a sprawl) is probably more reliable than using the app, which is only a learning tool. I repeat it is only a learning tool…
  7. Does anyone like the new releases? Ask on the inter web if you would like a huge debate to ensue.
  8. When do you start to mix? Now you could go off LM guidelines or feedback from your classes, or you could ask the inter web and a huge debate will ensue.
  9. How do you book a webinar you wonder? Surely that could be asked on a inter web page without causing a debate… try it…
  10. You could also ask why there are no face to face quarterlies anymore on the interweb should you wish a debate to ensure (it’s in no way a cost cutting measure by Les Mills one can be assured).
  11. If you decide to ask why there are no face to face quarterlies anymore you will be told by at least 326 people that they far prefer online webinars. Remember on the social pages of the interweb that some people have not yet realised that they can like something and someone else can like something else and that these things can in fact co-exist.
  12. You should probably have by now bought an entire wardrobe of Adidas and burnt all your Reebok on a bonfire with a Reebok clad Guy on top. Please remember to thank Adidas for your new clothes that you did in fact pay for on the social interweb or it doesn’t count.
  13. Where’s Dan?

* Please note this intended to be a joke and not to cause offence or start a debate on the inter web in any way.

* Also if anyone knows the best trainers for Body Attack now that Reebok trainers are awful please let me know…

Stress Head

How Stress can affect you health.

  1. Chronic stress affects your ability to regulate the stress hormone cortisol which can influence your metabolism and so affect your efforts to mange your weight
  2. Stress can make you crave sugary and fatty foods which can affect your weight management
  3. High stress levels can lower your immue system
  4. Stress can affect sleep which in turn can have an effect on your training, weight and general well being
  5. High stress levels are sometimes linked to retaining weight around the stomach area and making it harder to reduce body fat
  6. Stress can make you feel fatigue quicker, both mentally and physically, making training harder

But stress in itself isn’t a completely negative thing.

Mild occasional stress can motivate you. A slight increase in cortisol from moderate stress has been demonstrated to have a positive impact on sport performance (think of how you perform under pressure, pull things off at the last minute.

The key here is balance, few people will lead stress free lives and occasional short periods of very high stress are inevitable and not going to have a lasting effect on most people. If you are finding yourself highly stressed most weeks however looking at ways of mitigating this could help you see dramatic benefits in your training and how you feel in yourself.

5 Fitness Facts

  1. If you don’t train at all at the moment exercising once a week is a 100% improvement, start there and build up.
  2. To get stronger you need to progressively overload the muscles and that doesn’t just have to be by adding weight. You can increase reps, number of sets, length of workout, adjust tempos, reduce rest periods (increase intensity) or change training frequency.
  3. What you do outside the gym matters more. Walking, moving about and your general daily activity will burn more calories than the most intense hour in the gym.
  4. To lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit. If you aren’t no amount of supplements, protein shakes or specific meal timings will help. They are tools to fine tune a diet, having tools but no base material to work with is pointless.
  5. Chocolate, crisps and takeaways aren’t bad for you. Whilst less nutritionally valuable, if you are within your calorie target, eating them won’t affect your progress and mentally will probably help you stay on track.

Monday Hungry

I’m always hungry on a Monday morning. I tend to have the same breakfast at least Monday to Thursday (apart from the occasional post HIIT class McDonalds on a Wednesday) but for some reason on a Monday morning my stomach always feels more empty.

Maybe it’s because I’ll generally eat bigger meals over the weekend and so come Monday my stomach feels like it has to readjust to the reduction in food.  I probably tend to eat more carbs over the weekend so perhaps that contributes to that change in feeling full too.

Maybe it’s because I try to be a bit stricter in the week to give myself leeway over the weekend so mentally Monday is a harder adjustment.

I always try and drink plenty of water over the weekend and I probably get more seep so theoretically I should enter Monday feeling full rather than hungry but I just never do.

Does anyone else ever feel like this?

Being Kinder To Yourslef

This week I’ve only trained three times (about 30 minutes), run three times and taught two classes. That’s not much for me. This isn’t because I’ve been lazy (well not totally) works just been a lot.


I’ve also not really paid any attention to my eating. Some meals I’ve prepped and taken with me to work (perhaps 60%) but others have been more convenience.


These two things combined have left me feeling a bit sluggish. Logically I know it’s stupid. I’ve still done about 5 hours exercise and statistically I’ve eaten vegetables more times than I’ve eaten chips. But I’m sometimes guilty of very much being an all or nothing person.

One bad week won’t undo months of hard work in the same way one good week won’t immediately turn you into an Olympic Athlete. The brain, however, isn’t always a muscle that reacts logically to events.


When I feel like this I often instinctively think, right I need a really ‘good’ week next week and I’ll do every training session planned and eat perfectly and not eat cake and so on and so on.


But, this isn’t good for me either. We are only human. We need to know that when we have weeks where we do a little less or eat a few too many calories it’s ok as long as we don’t let it continue for too long. I know that if I feel ‘fat’ because I’ve not had a perfect week of eating or training then there’s something wrong with my own mindset towards my body. Nobody can be perfect all the time and trying to be just sets us up for failure (and there we have that never-ending circle of feeling bad about ourselves).


Of course this is easier said than done and writing this doesn’t mean I suddenly feel great and healthy and happy with how I look today. Knowing something isn’t logical and not letting it bother you are two different things and overcoming those little demons in your mind isn’t always easy and even when you do overcome them sometimes they can creep back in!


But I’m not fat – a ‘bad’ week hasn’t made me fat. I’ve put a little weight on recently, yet in faculty I’m fit, I’m healthy and I’m in a much more positive position than I was. It’s ok to have a little wobble at times but we need to be kinder to ourselves in terms of our own expectations. Because if someone else outlined my week to me as their own I’d be pointing out all the positives, but because I’m looking at my own week I’ve focused on all the things I haven’t done.

Most people are kinder to others than they are to themselves I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person reading this to need to be reminded of that.

Plan B

Where do you stand on Plan B? Do you have one?

When you plan to do certain workouts one week and then something happens on Tuesday that stops you getting one done how do you react. Do you get disheartened and feel like you’ve failed or  do you go to Plan B?  Plan B could be you squeeze a walk in instead or a 10 minute run instead of your gym session .  Not what you wanted and maybe not ideal but it’s still moving.

If you were going to cook super healthy meals this week but then Thursday at work is awful and you are late home and haven’t had time to go shopping do you just order a takeaway and be done with it and berate how your life stops you from ever being healthy, or do you Plan B it? Maybe that means you take a high protein ready meal you keep in the freezer for such occasions and have that instead. Not what you planned but still it’s lower calorie than a Chinese (and cheaper).

The reality is you will never have a clear run on fitness or weight loss. Unless your life is highly dull you won’t have a training period for a race without Saturday night plans hindering Sunday’s long runs or birthdays and catch ups where you will not want to eat salad and drink mineral water. You will always have bad days at work where the idea of a run followed by chicken and veg post 5pm will make you want to scratch someone’s eyes out. When this happens you have a couple of options, you can think sod it and just go all out with a pizza and a night on the sofa or you can have little Pan B options in place that whilst not perfect are not the same as just giving up.

Sometimes Plan B’s are mental, they require you to change how you view and react to a situation and adjust your own expectations. Sometimes Plan B’s are having back up things in place for when things don’t happen as you meant, like having some emergency meals in the freezer, some healthy snacks in the cupboard, some go to options you can grab from local shops on the go.  It’s taking the view that consistency will always beat short bursts of perfection so when things don’t go perfectly looking to mitigate things and find a middle ground rather than saying well I didn’t do my plan A so I may as well just give up.  For instance I’ve recently started keeping some of Iceland’s new My Protein range in the freezer because they’re pretty decent size wise and high protein. I’ve also been buying some of Aldi’s Protein desert range (Protein Puddings, Granola yoghurt and Mousse), some of these taste better than others but in terms of getting protein in when I’ve fallen sort they’ve been useful.     

Motivation, Consistency and Habits

Motivation as a concept really is rubbish.

The idea that people manage to do amazing things or get impressive results because of amazing motivation is ridiculous. Even when someone is really fired up to do something there will be times when the desire wanes and they just don’t feel like doing whatever they need to do.

Motivation is also pretty hard to get in the first place. The desire to want something is easy to find but the actual need to do something about it is a lot harder to find.

What does get results is creating actions that become habits, to the point where you just do those things regardless of what you feel like. You don’t only go to work when you can be bothered, or clean your teeth when the mood strikes you. These things are habits, you just do them almost on auto pilot, and that’s how you need to be with the things you need to do to achieve your goals.

If you want to run a marathon you need to make running several times a week such a habit that you get up and go for that training run regardless of the weather, what’s on TV, how heavy your legs feel. If you want to go to the gym three times a week you need to make it such a habit that you get there and get changed and get on the gym floor without even thinking about it.

The process of getting started with things, making them such an integral part of your routine you will barely even think, will allow you to start. Normally once you start something you will find you can get into it enough to get it done. That’s where the motion of ‘Just Start’ comes from. Motivation will always be up and down, yet just doing one little thing again and again and again will bring the consistency required for results (and ironically the motivation we all think we need)