Tag Archives: Achievement

Believe in yourself and you will achieve

AchievementIs it true that if you believe in yourself enough, you can achieve? In some ways it sounds a bit like a trite sound bite doesn’t it. For starters, how do you believe, and also is it really possible for everyone to achieve absolutely everything they want to? I would say that it depends on what you want to achieve, but you’ll certainly have the best possible chance of success by ensuring that your goal is realistic.

For example, if I decide that I want to climb Kilimanjaro then it may or may not be realistic because a lot of factors would be involved, not simply my physical ability to do it. But if I want to improve my half marathon time then it would seem to be very realistic because it’s completely within my control to train at the necessary level to succeed.

Having said that, even with a realistic goal, other factors can affect our ‘Va, Va Voom’. For example, exercising outdoors during the long, cold winter of 2012/13. And, so even when you’ve been able to get yourself out of the house and are doing your best to get on with your training, you just may not be ‘feeling it’. The session then seems so hard and even demoralising to the point where you think that you just can’t do what you’ve set out to do.

Sometimes all it takes is one small ray of hope, and a smidgeon of confidence to jolt you out of a  spiral of self-doubt, and then you will be free to move onwards and upwards towards success. As a Personal Trainer, I will certainly challenge you to succeed in your goals, but I am also one of your biggest supporters and advocates, and I will help you to see what is possible.

Your goal may sometimes seem unattainable, but one thing always holds true, and that is that our bodies are stronger than we think they are. But our minds are equally powerful, and I spoke of our conscious and subconscious mind in my last article Give yourself the power to make changes. So we need to conquer and overcome the limitations placed on us by what our minds believe we can or can’t do, overcome obstacles, believe in our abilities and feel that most wonderfully visceral emotion of achievement.

Perhaps Kilimanjaro is possible after all :-)

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Training’s Fun, Right?

Training is funYes, training’s great fun, and even more so when all you want to do is to get out there in a bid to take on your personal best and smash it. That positive, go getting feeling is great, and when a new PB’s in the bag, it’s even better. But on the days when you’re physically depleted, or the weather is rubbish (or worse, a combination of the two) then it’s very definitely not fun!

Such a day happened to me last week. I’d had some sort of pesky virus that knocked me off my feet the week before - it went something like a throat that felt like I’d swallowed a lighted torch, lungs full of green slime, a high temperature, and a banging headache……..lovely, NOT!! But, the temperature subsided and the Doc had given me a foul tasting bottle of fluid to gargle with which he told me was not only an anti-bacterial, but also contained a local anaesthetic. And so, given that I subscribe to the school of ‘kill or cure’, and thinking that I felt quite a lot better, I hit my local running track to try to put my 10k training back on the radar. Mmmm, perhaps not the best move because the cinder track was water logged with melting snow, and so it was like running on sand (energy sapping, even when you’re on top form). But I’d also seriously over-estimated my post-virus energy levels. The result: 15 minutes of sheer persistence, but I felt as though my lungs had been surgically removed without anaesthesia, and I was making the most unholy racket in an attempt to breathe! I was grateful there was no one else there to witness this very sorry sight.

Ah well, lesson learned, but I still have a 10k to do on Easter Sunday, so I’d best get back out there and try again :-)

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Respect, Admiration, Inspiration, Joy……

……..those are just a few of the words I’d use to describe my feelings when watching the men and women who compete in the Paralympic Games.

It was a spectacular opening ceremony watched by 80000 people. Now 4000 of the world’s finest athletes are competing for the 500 medals on offer, and Team GB is once again filling our collective hearts with pride by winning some precious metal.

We also had a 2nd Super Saturday to celebrate in our Paralympian/Olympian Summer, and many shone brightly. The roll call was extensive but my highlights were, perhaps one of our best known swimming hopefuls, Ellie Simmonds, who smashed the World Record in the 400 metre freestyle on her way to the gold. Matthew Whorwood took the bronze for the men in the same event. And the velodrome again yielded rich bounty thanks to Sarah Storey who won gold and, in doing so, notched up her 9th Paralympic medal, and Jon-Allan Butterworth’s silver in the individual pursuit. On the track, Richard Whitehead blew away the competition in the 200m, and also broke the World Record…..what a day!

We have also witnessed the indomitable spirit of athletes competing at the highest level in their sport, and cheered for Omar Hassan in the 1500m heat who continued to run despite finishing over 7 minutes behind the other participants.   

The Paralympians are, perhaps even more than their able bodied counterparts, the personification of human triumph and achievement. It’s very sobering to think of the adversity they have faced and overcome to get to be where they are, and yet we ‘mere mortals’ may postpone our exercise routines if we have a cold.

They have not been called super human for nothing, and we have another fabulous week of competition to enjoy before the sun finally sets on our London 2012 Paralympic and Olympic Games. I will be very sad when it’s all over but, in the meantime, come on Team GB!!   

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“They think it’s all over…….it is now”

What a 2nd week of competition it was though, and once again we were entertained with a substantial Team GB medal haul, and some outstanding performances.  

And what was I saying in my last article about Usain Bolt?…….oh yes, prodigious, powerful, extraordinary and here’s another word for you………elegant. It might not necessarily be a word you would associate with a sprinter, but I think it’s very apt. For me, as a sprinter, he’s beyond superlatives, and now a living legend to boot  :-)  He has been head and shoulders above the opposition in these games; but, make no mistake, the ‘young pretenders’ will also have their day in the limelight, and it may be soon.

Over a year ago, I chose his famous pose as the logo for my business because, for me, it was a representation of confidence, aspiration and achievement – all of which I try to encourage in my clients. And, no matter what happens next in his career, Usain Bolt will have been seen to be the personification of those words. And what a role model for a new Olympic generation he has turned out to be.

I was so disappointed that another prodigious and inspirational athlete, Paula Radcliffe, wasn’t able to compete in the marathon as she’d planned though. But ‘Wonder Woman’ will be back, and better than ever!!

These games were special because of so many wonderful athletes from so many nations, and far too many to name, but my highlights were: Mo Farah, Michael Phelps, Beth Tweddle, Sir Chris Hoy, Jessica Ennis, Victoria Pendleton, David Rudisha, Allyson Felix and Carmelita Jeter to name but a very few.   

These games were also extra special for me because there probably won’t be another spectacular event such as this in the UK within my lifetime. I also think we have acquitted ourselves well as a nation in the full glare of the world’s attention. We amassed an impressive medal tally for such a small island; the organisation was seamless, the tireless volunteers were amazing, and the general joyfulness and bon ami of the occasion percolated through to our every-day lives.    

These Olympics have also gladdened my heart as a Yorkshire- woman because, apparently, ‘God’s Own County’ was the most successful producer of medal winning talent in these British Isles – how wonderful. And, indeed, a pioneering young lady from Leeds takes my prize for the biggest understatement made in any interview I watched during the games – Nicola Adams, who won the first Olympic women’s boxing gold medal in history, said “it really made my day”.

So, now we can look forward to the Paralympics and watch and marvel once again at the dedication and expertise of these wonderful people as they compete at the pinnacle of their sport. And we can celebrate their achievements and commiserate when things don’t quite go according to plan. And I will sit and marvel, as I always do, at the self-belief and dedication required by any athlete to even be able to compete at an Olympics let alone win a medal. 

Olympians, you are in a league of your own in elite sport, and I look forward to 4 years’ time in Rio when you will shine once again on the finest of world stages.

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