A few years back I was approached to help an athlete with their strength work and advise them on their nutrition. Injuries had been creeping in, stress levels were high, and the performance needle was not moving in the right direction.

After asking them to complete a 7-day nutrition log, I went back to them with some recommendations.

They replied quickly asking ” It looks like this is what you give to everyone”.

My reply was “Yes”.

This particular athlete wanted a magic supplement or complicated meal plan but what they needed to do was nail the basics first.

Those basics were-

Increase calorie intake.  This will then fuel not just their training but for all the other activities they do outside of training. The brain is an energy drain, during times of stress it gets super greedy. Work and injury stress also mean calorie needs go up thus they need to account for that in calorie intake.

Eat 30-40g protein 4 x per day.

Their food diary showed they weren’t even hitting minimal recommendations for the general population let alone an athlete training 2+ hours a day. Being injured makes protein intake important for recovery.

Include more green vegetables into their diet. One serving of broccoli a day is not enough to provide all the vitamins and minerals a body needs to function.

Don’t skip meals or leave huge gaps between. This might be ok for some, but not if they want to improve their sporting performance. Don’t expect to do a hard interval session at 6pm if the last food intake was a banana at 11am. After training refuel!

It would be great to have a magic potion, that’s a highway to all your health, fitness and performance goals, but there isn’t. Part of the process of becoming a stronger more robust human, is about doing things that are boring! The basic, boring and completely unglamorous stuff day in day out, stuff that would be easy to say “why bother” to.  If you be a master of the mundane you will build a strong foundation for the fancy trimmings.

Do the basics and do them with complete loyalty, then look at the more advanced interventions. If you skip the basic stage, you are going to see little return investing your time and money in advance interventions.

Remember, everyone can benefit from the following-

• Get enough calories to support your whole life not just your athletic life
• 30-40g x 4 of protein a day
• Eat your greens
• If performance is you goal, put fuel in your tank before and after your session.
• Learn to love the basics.

Check out my new look website, to find out how you could benefit from online coaching with me.

Everyone has days when you just don’t feel like moving. When this happens, you can negotiate an exercise deal with yourself.

The negotiation in your head would sound something like this.

 “I’m meant to do a 30min interval bike session today, but even thinking about it makes me want to hide under the duvet”

“The thing is I know, if I stay under this duvet I’ll feel “Meh” for the rest of the day”

“The intervals aren’t going to happen in my present state, but I feel I could do 30mins easy spin”

“………Maybe I could start easy and see how I feel once I get going, I can always add a few 30sec hard efforts in if I feel like it”

“Yep, I can do that, sounds good”

When you negotiate like this it achieves two things.

1. You get something done and that’s always better than doing no activity, no matter how small.
2. It puts your thinking rational brain back into control rather than letting your emotional lizard brain take over.

Some reading this might think this is a cop out, but I would disagree. You are still training for the given time, and you are listening to your body.

When it is a case of body willing to train but brain not, start!  Usually, the endorphins kick in the work intensity goes up anyway.

There is a misconception that is other fuelled by social media posts of athletes achieving amazing feats of strength and endurance that everyone one of their sessions is like that. I can, with complete confidence having lived that life, it is not the case. These are just a small snapshot of the best bits of their training. 80+% of their sessions will be boring, not flashy and definitely not always to the max. They won’t be getting PB’s in every session, and neither will you.

Success in training comes with consistency and turning up and just getting it done even if it isn’t pretty or Instagram worthy!

Do something.

Praise yourself for being consistent

Don’t expect PB’s in every session

If you need help with accountability with your training, having a coach is a great help. Head to www.laurawoodley.com and apply for an 1:1 online coaching slot.

I’m reminded of that phrase when I think of my Grandfather. He had one of those empty supersized whisky bottles that he used to fill with his coins. He used to say the phrase when we would ask him why he did it. 

“Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves” – If you take care not to waste small amounts of money, they will accumulate capital.

This thinking applies to exercise, a few minutes of exercise put in the bank adds up over time, improving health and wellbeing.

The problem is we forget to “Look after the pennies”- small amounts of exercise, and become too focused on the £’s, – the hour down the gym. How many times has life got in the way, you didn’t have time for an hour training session and thought 10mins of anything was pointless?

Would you turn down £100 because you really would like £1000? I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t ! It’s all money in the bank. It’s the same with 10 mins of exercise it goes into your “Health Bank”.

Over time, 10mins of exercise performed consistently will add up and pay you interest. You can always do more when time becomes available, but, by “looking after the pennies” you are creating a healthy habit.

Next time you look at the change in your pocket, let it be a reminder that even small increments of exercise have value.

Walk

Pick heavy things up

Put heavy things down

Stand up 

Sit down

Repeat the above regularly 

If you would like to apply for a 1:1 online coaching slot head to www.laurawoodley.com and fill in the application form.

This is an important question to ask yourself before your training session. Why are you doing what you are doing? Even if you have a planned your training with an end goal in mind, still check it fits today.

Here is an example of what I mean. A client turned up for their training session, they had woken up feeling rubbish with a thumping head and streaming cold. After a short discussion we decided we would start the warm-up and do 15min of the session then check how they felt. If they felt better, we would continue, if not we would stop.

15mins came along, they felt rubbish and it was clear they were just going through the motions. The reason they were doing the session was purely to tick the box. Sometimes, “Tick the box” sessions are fine.

 We all have times that we don’t feel like training not because we are sick, it’s a mental thing our Lizard brain wants the easier option to stay put in front of Netflix’s. On those occasions you take the “Do anything approach” haul your backside off the sofa and get to it. When you are sick it’s different.

In my client’s case her head was willing, but her body was not. I asked the “Why are you doing what you are doing” question. Training was not improving their state for that day, it wasn’t going to make any difference to their long -term goal, rest was going to give them the biggest reward today.

Once we stopped the session, they slept most of the day. The day after spent was spent outside doing light walking. The following day it was back to training feeling good!

Usually those who find it hardest to stop and ask why are doing the session today are the ones that need to ask it more. If you are a highly motivated and driven individual you never have a problem training, even if you shouldn’t.

Keep your long-term goal in mind YES, but don’t let it be to the detriment to your health.

The best training plans are those which get you fitter and keep you healthy.

To recap: –

• Ask “why am I doing what I am doing”

• Use the 15min rule

• Don’t forget being physically fit is only one part of being healthy. Nutrition, sleep and stress management need to be in good shape for you to be a robust human.

Do you find it difficult to balance your health with your fitness goals, if so, having a coach would help. Go to www.laurawoodley.com and apply for a 1:1 online coaching