Just got back
From the first one of the 4th week, of FitCamp
It’s August – a bit like the calm before the storm.
Kind of a chilled, intimate FitCamp this time,
always a bit quieter in August.
Still lots of people…but less of a queue for the loo.
September one is filling fast.
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I had a conversation at the start today with 2 ladies
that had come this month for the first time.
I asked how they had found it,
how it was working for their goals and all the
rest of the things I like to find out.
One had shed 10lbs over the past 3 weeks.
Yay. Get in.
The other had got her favourite jeans done
up for the first time in 2 years.
Also Yay.
But what I loved is that they both said
the same thing.
The exercise wasn’t
that important.
When they started out….that’s what it was about.
Shed, tone, jeans done up – all of those
kinds of things you would expect.
But what really happened was bigger than that.
One of them has been having a shit year
by anyone’s standards.
A death in the family, a sibling with serious
mental health issues, a child being bullied,
money troubles.
I remember when she said she wanted to come
she said
“please talk me into this, because I
can’t cope with looking in the mirror and hating
my body any more…and I will find any excuse
not to do this”.
I said “no.
Come or don’t come…I’m not your mum”
(That was a punt)
I knew she had to decide for herself.
And decide she did.
It turned out to be the first DECISION she had made
in a long time.
The first thing that hadn’t just happened to her.
Something she had control over.
And it put a chain of events – of DECISIONS
into momentum.
She decided to do this for herself.
She decided to set the alarm and get up.
She decided to be brave and meet new people
which,
and I quote:
“felt as scary as going on the X Factor”
(She also said something about shitting bricks
but I have given myself a limit of one swear word
max per email, so ignore that)
But she told me that when she got there,
there was nothing scary.
It felt KIND.
She didn’t expect that.
She got home each day having made a decision
and it felt good.
She felt empowered.
She decided that the rest of the day,
she wasn’t going to spoil her efforts –
and she would eat good food.
It made her feel confident enough in her decisions
that she would damn well sort out the bullying issue
for her son – and she did.
Which made her realise that putting her head in the
sand about money issues wasn’t going to sort them
so she did. (rather cleverly, actually)
She spoke to her sister’s doctor and researched
the help she could get,
and got the ball rolling with that.
It felt as though the weight of the World had lifted
and life in 3 weeks had changed unrecognisably.
All because of a DECISION
And because she found out that she could do stuff
that she never thought she would ever manage.
And yes, she ached like a bastard the first week
and yes, she might not manage too many press-ups
yet.
But she decided, she acted, and she recognised just
how capable she actually is.
The fact that she had lost 10lbs and gone
from a size 18 to a 16 would have made her
ecstatic when she started.
And don’t get me wrong, she is made up about it
(she looks lovely – she’s got new cheekbones!)
But the stuff that has gone on inside is what
has been the transformational part.
She said “now I see that it works, I will keep coming –
I have decided to get down to a size 12 –
reckon it will take me 4 months”.
Reckon she’s right.
The other woman had a different story.
She’s small. And beautifully ladylike.
Timid, even.
She said that these 3 weeks had made
her feel strong.
Shopping in Co-op the other day,
some toe-rag rudely pushed in front of her in the queue.
Apparently that happens to her quite a bit.
Her previous reaction would be to just stand back and
let that happen.
Not a big deal in the scheme of things.
This time, however, she stood tall, and said to the
rude line-jumper, square in the face:
“Excuse me, I am in the queue.”
He mumbled something Jeremy Kyle-worthy
and got in the queue.
A tiny interaction.
But a MASSIVE one for her.
She stood her ground, didn’t get walked over,
She said this was the first time she could remember
that she had stood up for herself, and it felt
like something had changed inside.
She knew it was because of FitCamp.
She was the one with the jeans.
Now I know it wasn’t ME
or my exciting, slightly naughty, effective
and inventive FitCamp sessions,
or my kick-ass music…
Lol sorry – couldnt resist that…
And actually, although partly, it WASN’T really the
exercise that was really important.
It was the act of MAKING a decision.
Then STICKING WITH the decision.
And seeing the consequences, and rewards
and that it was something that they, alone,
did for themselves.
When you see yourself on an unstoppable
escalator, of life stuff just happening to them…
Change seems impossible
When you realise you can get off and use the stairs,
or paraglide in, or scale the building like Spiderman
…or stand up to a rude chav in Co-op
Everything is possible.
Starting with one decision to do something for yourself.
Albert Einstein’s famous definition
of Insanity:
“Doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting different results”
They did something different but got more than
they expectedpossible.
Those things are what I think are important.
(n.b. there are other local FitCamps where burly
shaven-headed chaps shout at you in the woods,
and you get all muddy and wet – I can give
you the numbers for those.
Personally I like an indoor loo
and chairs and things)
If you come to my FitCamp, follow the eating plan
and do your best – whatever that is now –
you’ll get into shape.
Might take a while, might be quite quick.
I don’t make guarantees like that.
Try not to believe the people who do.
I can’t stop you going to KFC every day and going on
2 day Stella Artois benders all weekend.
(you know who you are..)
I’m not your mum.
I have done this long enough to know what
usually happens.
People lose a dress size, or about 10lbs
if they need to – and tone up nicely.
What I can guarantee is that you will
FEEL different.
It starts with that.
Your mind.
The body is the easy bit.
We can sort that.
So if you want to come next time –
it starts the 1st September.
Here’s a pretty picture all about it….
(I am trying to cut down in the infographics,
but this addiction is hard to crack, Zammo)
