Change is for Life – not just for January

It sometimes takes a quick look back in time to remind ourselves how far we have come in our fitness.

Talking to Mel, one of my hardest working clients – we looked back over her journey to this point in time.
Once upon a time this amazing woman was a couple of sizes curvier than she would have liked and with little interest in sport or exercise.
Then, a few years ago she was brought into The Lair by a friend to try pilates. She had half made up her mind coming in that she wouldn’t like it but said she’d give it a go – thankfully she fully embraced the ethos of The Lair, loved the training and the craic, and now her dirty chuckle can be heard in The Lair regularly, and wouldn’t miss it for anything!

As her fitness has evolved, she has succeeded in performing every single exercise thrown at her and has gone from strength to strength,  lengthening and most importantly strengthening – dropping down 2 clothes sizes (and still shrinking), losing many inches, she completely changed her posture and has boosted her energy levels. She changed her outlook, climbing mountains and finishing the Half Marathon at the Great Limerick Run and is now contemplating the next challenge! (She has since taken up cycling (sorry Mel!), done the Run part of a Relay in a Triathlon with me and is now training for a 100km walk for charity)

Although I may have wielded the whip, and broke down her challenges into an achievable pathway, she has needed little encouragement to move forward. She is the one who did all the work (and still is) and I am just delighted to have been a part of it.

The important thing to remember is if you do the same thing all the time – it is pointless to expect anything but the same results.
So to create change, first you must change.

WHAT MEL DID –
Core work in form of pilates – this uses everything from neck to toes, creates awareness of posture and alignment and gives you a great set of abs while you do it!
TRX suspension training – to work all the major muscles and uses all core muscles all the time no matter what you are doing. She also took up walk/run intervals, then running more, a bit of cycling and climbed the odd mountain! She also eats a healthy diet. Jackpot!

Talking to her this week, she had taken her original measurements in inches at chest, waist, hips, bum, thigh and arm waaaay back at the start and left them on the fridge. This week she found them again, re-compared to now and was quite shocked. These things never happen just by wishing it, its hard work but it has paid off.
It is very easy to forget how far you have changed unless you take measurements  or look back at an old photo and compare, sometimes its a good boost to revisit them every now and then to remind yourself how different you look and more importantly, how you feel now.

Her most classic comment which I can 100% relate to and still makes me grin “I have a gap!! And I can’t see my a**!”
(Been there, done that – but that’s another story)
This lady is a ray of sunshine and an absolute inspiration. Mel you deserve your “WHOOHOO!”moment in spades.