Do You Remember The Hare and The Tortoise?
At Ninth Wave Fitness (NWF) we believe that consistency over time, will serve you better than short bursts of hardcore effort.
Life and your health are not a sprint – you want to be taking care of yourself all the time without it being a stress or a competition.
Start with success – what is realistic and achievable for you. It may be just two visits a week – it may be one and then walking on other days. Do what you can and develop a consistent habit. Once you own a positive habit, the next small step and increase will not be daunting at all.
In the future: it could be six months, it could be a year, you probably won’t recognize how far you have come!
We have absolutely no need to prove to you how hard we could make training – our plan is to pace things perfectly for you.
Experience Accomplishment
Recently, Claire said this:
“For me, my goal isn’t to squat more or press more or do more weight every session. I don’t even know if my weights go up until you point them out. All I know is that for me, regularly coming in for my session is an accomplishment. Walking out of my sessions feeling good, and being able to pick up and run with my grandson without thinking twice is my reward.”
Claire often talks to us about how the gym makes her feel. Her story probably starts a little harder and a little scarier than most.
Claire started off as a reluctant gym attendee, coming off from a foot surgery and requiring careful programming, mobility work, stretching, and gentle introduction of load bearing activities.
Initially, Claire was quite adamant that this was just a short-term activity and she would only be here for 3 months while her foot healed.
That was February 2012!
Claire still walks through the door two to three times a week, ready for her sessions. Though she has never loved training, the many triumphs outside the gym remind her why she keeps walking in through that door.
“Every time I come back [from long holidays], I realize how important it is to keep coming. You go downhill so quickly.”
Redefine Normal
What is common is different from what should be normal.
Age attacks all of us: it is unrelenting.
It is common to get pain in joints and muscles. It is common to lack energy and vitality. It is common to put on weight, year after year. It is common to believe your best is gone forever and decline is inevitable.
But common, which reflects the modern lives we chose to lead, is not normal. It may be the way things are for you but it is not the way things must be.
There are people everywhere that are strong and mobile with little or no pain. They are active and vital. Their weight may go up a bit and may go down a bit but the trend is to stay stable. And they are confident that they can stay this way for a long time to come.
That is normal. That is what we can deliver to clients regardless of age or starting ability.
For Claire, she feels better now than she did in 2012 – she reflects:
- I have climbed the mountain of steps up to a temple in Cambodia, without pain, without needing a walking stick, long breaks or assistance of any kind.
- I can look after my two growing grandsons, run with them, play with them, pick them up and run while holding them in my arms.
- I go through my day not thinking about or limited by anything physical.
- I seem to have little need for medication, I don’t have much pain or weakness, and I rarely get sick, though I notice my friends of a similar age, experience these things.
Enough is Enough
Claire is like most of us. She is not an athlete, she doesn’t do the gym for fun, and she does not want to train every day.
For Claire, an average of two hourly sessions a week are what created this change.
AT NWF we don’t have expectations of clients; we help clients find out what is right for them.
- Alan is in his 60’s and has steadily increased from two per week to four times per week.
- Chris is moving forward training three times and golfing as often as his body will allow.
- Susie hits two per week and occasionally more when the weather ruins tennis.
- Simon trains 5 times a week when in Sydney and does nothing when he is having to travel on business.
Their lives, their choices; NWF is there to help them get the most out of their training. Supporting clients is what we do best and for Claire, if she walks in through the door, everything is fine!
It’s a Dirty Job, but Everyone Has to Do It!
Initially, very few people really want to train. Rarely do new clients associate training with the same positive experience they have going to dinner or a movie or even playing a sport they like.
We feel it is important to admit that because a lot of clients come to us with feelings of guilt because walking through the door has not been easy. We put that to rest very early on!
Until it becomes a habit that gives you intrinsic reward (which really does happen) then yes, training is one of those things many of us must do rather than want to do.
When that is the case, our coaches and business are here not just to train you, but to make it as easy as possible for you to be successful. You have so many competing and disrupting pressures that at NWF we try to ease your journey, not make it harder.
Appointments are crucial to our clients developing a habit. We set a realistic number of appointments for clients and in most cases, it allows them to prioritise that small amount of time over most of the disruptions that would otherwise derail them.
One of our clients, Stephen, is adamant that this alone is enough to keep him training. For him, when an appointment is in his diary, it is managed and in most cases, he will attend. After six years of coaching, I think he knows what works for him!
We find that we are all similar. Success breeds success and clients start to enjoy training the more wins they have. It starts with being proud of ‘just making it through the door’ but then rewards start coming as their strength, fitness and mobility increases, and they train in ways they did not think possible at the start of their journey.
Before long, the task is not so dirty and it’s a case of people wanting to continue, not having to!
Never Run a Marathon
At NWF we don’t expect herculean efforts either – in fact we often teach people to hold back a little.
We all know that it is common for people to fall in to the cycle of starting an exercise regime with fervor, going all out at the start, but letting it gradually slip lower on their list of priorities as results are always a bit slower than they expected.
Be realistic. Your health and fitness isn’t a race – it is a journey you are always on. At NWF we are here to help you make that a pleasant journey. We asked Alan when kept him moving:
“When my fitness is maintained, training is easy and enjoyable. It is when you haven’t done something for a long time and you must start again that it gets hard. It is mentally and physically easier to just keep going!”
Many clients face this when they come to us and regale us with their sporting history or how they trained when they were younger. They may have held off because the thought of the journey back to previous levels seems harder than it was doing it the first time around.
We will help them reframe that mindset, enjoy small wins, and learn to appreciate the progress they make rather than reflect on how far they must go.
Small Bites
Is it intimidating to think that you really should do exercise for the rest of your life – if you want to live long and live well?
It may be easier to focus on what you can do now, what small improvement you can make each day or each week.
As easily as inactivity can become the norm, one successful week with a little bit of exercise can soon turn into a month of consistent training and from there, onward and upwards!
Most of our clients start this way and more than 60% of our members have been training with us for 3 years or more. You too could enjoy the same success.
Just 1-2 hours a week that you apply to your fitness now has the potential to turn into a lifetime commitment to your health without the pain you thought there might be. Allow yourself enough time for the benefits to set in, improvements to occur, and your habit will build naturally with no forced effort from you.
Start small, start slow, turn that sprint into a sequence of easy steps and learn to enjoy the journey. Before you know it – everything is going to be so much better!
If you like our philosophy and are interested in how we can help you, fill in the Contact us form and we will have one of our senior coaches (not sales people) get in touch.