I used to pride myself on my ability to write a world class training programme for the athletes and clients I worked with on a daily basis, and that this was all that was required for them to create long lasting meaningful change in their lives.
This was a thought process that stayed with me for most of my career, and to be honest it was only up until these last few years since I've been out of the limelight and have had the space to look back on things that I now know this to be a misguided belief.

We can have the best Training Programme, the best Nutrition Plan, the best Running Guide or the best Self Help Playbook, but until we work on and master our own Stress Response System, our Triggers and how we Regulate Our Emotions, we will pretty much just been chasing our tails and never really getting anywhere meaningful to us and our goals.

Our Thoughts, Feelings & Emotions, and how they influence our Habits and Behaviors are the gateways to who we are and who we want to become. 
This is how things like this pans out for most of us;

We start the latest Training Programme or Fad Diet and the first week things are amazing, we hit the ground running, we're on a high from this new found momentum heading towards this new you that's just around the corner!
Week 2 rolls around and after a big weekend and a few bad nights sleep, some hectic days at work this new found training programme or diet falls to the side a bit, but we still managed to get some things done.

Week 3 hits and we've had another massive weekend, crazy week at work, our boss yelled at us, we made a mistake that took a while to get over and before we realise, it's Week 4 and we missed a whole week of the programme.
And from this point onwards if nearly impossible to get back into things and we go back to the old us, wishing we were back on the programme or diet!

It should do because this is what it's like for most of us!
Our ability to process stress and stressful environments is the key to our underlying happiness and our overall health span as we age.

This is why I don't personally believe in 'FADS', Fad Diets, Fad Training Programmes & Get Rich Quick Schemes, they never allow enough time for adaptation to occur or to create new habits/behaviors that's required to keep us going well after the programme is finished (think 6 weeks to a new you, 6min abs etc), and most importantly they never touch on US, how WE act, think and react to OUR work, family, or life demands, and our emotional response to these.

This takes time, and it's hard, at times it's grueling but as I like to say, 'freedom lies on the other side of resistance'

which is always outside of our comfort zone.

I will leave you with a quote that was tattooed on someone I trained years ago;



When we really get this, we will win this game of life, and I can show you the
way.

Stay Tuned, Until Next Time!