mental health

Laser Guided Workouts

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There are times in a workout schedule when we just don’t ‘feel it’ and times when we just don’t want to work out. It happens to everyone and is usually a sign of something else going on.

Most of us have been there, ready to hit the gym then an overwhelming feeling of despair hits and you just don’t want to work out. It happens. Particularly for those that suffer from any kind of mental health or body conscious issues.

Often this comes about because we are just going through the motions, we have no real clear plan, no real destination. We go to the gym, we do a bunch of exercises then go home. It is one of the most common things that I see when I do a walk around in the gym. People on their phones, taking selfies, working out whilst on the phone, people chatting for long periods of time. They have lost their focus.

As a person who works in this industry I would tell them to get themselves a personal trainer and get on to a program to get them towards their goals. One of the things I have noticed when I have orientated people into the gym is the real lack of clear reason for being their. Most just say that they want to drop a few pounds or just work on overall fitness. I can tell straight away that unfortunately they are going to ultimately fail.

Our mindset determines what we do. Our subconscious controls our direction. If you are thinking ‘I just wanna work on my fitness’ then you will do that, you just won’t achieve anything. If you are going to spend that money on a gym membership, maybe on a personal trainer then you want that money to be well spent, and you should invest that money in yourself.

Wanting to work on fitness means nothing to me, I’m not sure I really understand what that means. When you break it down it is really just a bullshit reason that you use to justify something that you think you want.

Getting in shape, getting fit, getting healthy, they are headlines, they are not goals. Losing 30 pounds in 3 months through a cardio and heavy lifting program is a goal that has direction, it has a purpose, it has a timeline and gives you direction. Your subconscious can work with that and will find you the things that will help you become laser guided on that goal.

And that is what you need when hitting the gym. To be laser focused on what you need. You get in there and you do what is needed and get out. I love working out, it gives me a sense of freedom and power that I don’t get from anywhere else. I do love it. But I don’t won’t to be workout all the time. 45 minutes is the max I want to be working out for, unless suddenly bodybuilding becomes my goal, at which point my focus would change.

When I am on a power program I know what I want to do, I go in and get it done, control my time and leave knowing I have done what I needed to do. I absolutely hate leaving a gym feeling like I could have done more. My eye is very much on the goal that I am striving towards.

Your time is precious and should never be wasted. If you are sitting in the gym between sets on your phone you have lost your focus. If you are chatting and your break times are blowing out, you have lost your focus. Know exactly what you want out of every session you go into, know your end game goal, and use that session as a step towards it.

We end up skipping sessions when our focus is loose. By that I mean you have not clearly defined your goal, it is not personal to you, maybe it is not even what you want. Your workout goal needs to be something personal to you, something that excites you, and most importantly something that motivates you.

Becoming laser guided in your workout is absolute key to achieving your fitness goals. Don’t let another session go to waste, get help if you need it, but know this, your goal has to come from you, not someone else. Know it, believe in it and work towards it. Be sure that you invest in yourself, don’t just pay a membership and not make the most of it, because if that is what you are doing then you are just investing in a gym and getting no return. Invest in you.

Rob McQueen is a lifestyle coach who guides you through the weight loss process with guided trainings, nutrition understanding, and keeping you on track to maintain your results. He teaches from his experiences, he has lived it and experienced what he coaches. Visit us today on Facebook or contact us today to see how we can help you.

Using Addiction to battle Mental Health

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Addictions have been there for as long as we have lived. Life can be hard and sometimes we turn to certain lifestyle choices which in time become habit. Not all these choices are good, and those that aren’t can really hurt us mentally.

Addiction issues range from all manner of things and aren’t just restricted to the things we here about in the media. The definition of addiction is something that you feel you cannot go with out and have no control over when confronted with it.

Addiction it isn’t just alcohol or drugs or gambling. Smoking is an addiction, over eating is an addiction, reliance on sugary drinks is an addiction, chocolate is an addiction! We can be addicted to things and not even know it. Being a bully is an addiction, controlling people (another term for a bully) is an addiction, being a jackass is also an addiction!

How I see it is that there 3 types of addictions. Positive addictions, Negative addictions and Neutral addictions. We want to use Positive addictions to propel ourselves to better lives, and use negative addiction to build our will power and create resolve. The neutral addictions are those addictions that don’t hurt us one way or the other but we need to keep them in check, sitting down and eating a packet of chocolate biscuits does not help us but isn’t something we should allow to make us feel bad or guilty unless it is something we are doing on a daily basis, two or three times. Losing control is the issue, we have to look at what it is that makes us lose that control in order to move forward.

We can use our negative addictions to fuel us, to create a burning desire if we learn to look at them for what they are, a distraction from living the life that we want. I personally haven’t had an alcoholic drink in well over 10 years now, and it’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I choose not to. Alcohol was my drug, and I abused it to the point where if I hadn’t stopped when I did (in 2008) I was going to have some serious health issues and more.

What worked for me was find something to replace that addictive process with something else, distract the mind so to speak. For me, I bought a dog and I walked the dog religiously at the times that I would drink, and not just a short walk, long walks, an hour plus, and these walks would tire me out, I wasn’t a particularly healthy person in those days so it was challenging for me to walk, but I had dog there who loved his walks and was waiting for me for us to head out and walk and play ball, it became our thing that we still do to this day. If you don’t think you have the time for something like this ask yourself this, what do I do for an hour a day that I could replace? For me it was drinking, I would drink for hours, 6 plus probably depending on when I passed out. So I had the time, lots of it really, 6 hours is a long time and you can do a lot during that time.

Now I’m not going to sit here and write how easy it is, because it isn’t. The best things in life are the things you have to work for, it will mean something to you. I look at my dog sitting by my feet as I write this and value the bond that we have, he is my life saver as without him I’m not sure I could have done it. I swore when I got him that he would never see my drunk, and he never has.

What is it for you? An animal? A child? A lover? A friend? A book? It really doesn’t what it is, but choose something and replace the negative action you took with whatever the ‘thing’ is. And continue to do it, have the mindset of that no matter what, you are going to replace the negative habit and turn that time in to something positive and life changing. To this day I still walk my dog (now dogs), they are older and don’t need to be walked as much, or at least they can’t, but it is the habit that I have formed. When I walk my dogs I am at my most peaceful as I remember what I use to do when I wasn’t walking my dog.

And for me that is where my fitness journey started. A simple walk, then it became a hike, then it turned into a new challenge, HIIT training, the weight lifting. And now fitness is a big part of my life, the main part in fact.

The mind is a powerful tool, if we can just learn how to use it to better our lives and those around us then equality in life and quality of life would become a much healthier balance. Hunger, crime, hate…these things would all disappear. But we can’t change the world, we can change our world though.

That was how it started for me. Today I have developed a fitness habit where I work out daily and have got myself into incredible shape compared to where I was. It all started on a cool Friday night after work walking my young puppy. We formed a bond that is one of the most precious thing to me today. But it started with something so simple that I could easily accomplish. And it built from there and I looked for new challengers in the fitness sphere to be today a fitness business owner and someone who helps people achieve things they didn’t think were possible.

I still have negative addiction issues and I work hard at them, but I do so much good for myself now that I can carry those other addictions knowing that I will overcome them when I am ready to. My will power, of which I never really knew I had, today is my strongest muscle. When I decide on something I get it done, be it lift 300 pounds on a deadlift or not have that energy drink my mind tells me I need.

How? You start with something simple and you build from there. For me, it takes 60 days to build a strong habit. Experts will tell you it takes from 20-30 days, I know for that is not true, I keep at for a full 60 days and by the end of that time I have the control, and control is important when you use it in a positive way.

Addictions aren’t always a bad thing, how control them is key. A fitness addiction for example is not a bad thing, it can be taken to far, but I much prefer to use my addictive personality to do good things. By doing so I am bettering myself and mentally healing myself by removing the negative and turning that time into something positive. Try it, be strong and commit to something that you want. You will know what that is when you are ready.

Rob McQueen is a lifestyle coach who guides you through the weight loss process with guided trainings, nutrition understanding, and keeping you on track to maintain your results. He teaches from experience, he has lived it and experienced what he coaches. Visit us today on Facebook or contact us today to see how we can help you.