The Bigger picture...

If you really want to succeed in getting your health and fitness onto a different level this year, you have to look at the bigger picture. Then the detail, then the bigger picture. 

Let me explain…

I’ve been really struggling to sleep last week and by Friday night I was on my knees. Four nights of looking at the ceiling till 2.15am can do that to you. Friday night my head hits the pillow and I’m asleep. For 5 minutes.I’m woken by a hysterical 13 year old screaming about his Leopard Gecko not looking right. Now I am lying in bedroom juiced up to the eyeballs with adrenaline, and looking at the ceiling. Lucy checked over the Gecko. 

So by the morning this hysteria had grown during the night and was a combination of screaming outbursts and sobbing fits. 

I’m not the expert on Geckos, and we still hadn’t had any answers from the frantic texts to my brother, the family reptile and amphibian expert. 

I don’t do hysteria. Usually the bigger the crisis the more cold, detached and laser beamed my focus becomes, so I don’t get the running round screaming thing at all. 

The Gecko is thin, and her tail is small; they can store food as fat in their tails to be used later. One of her eyes is bulbous and full of puss, her mouth is slightly swollen and her jaws seem too big. I notice that her claws still show some signs of a recent shed. 

So I go through my own checklist. Obviously it’s cold. Does this effect Geckos? The tank has under soil heating but is the air temperature too cold? Next water. He changes the water from our bathroom, honestly our water smell and tastes weird so I will not drink it unless it has been filtered, could this be it? Finally I look in the tank, there are new foods that have been introduced could these have somehow introduced a parasite into the environment? 

See how I’m using a little Sherlock deduction or logic. 

Now Zack had done an online search and found nothing. So I search health issues with Leopard Geckos. Then went through four articles checking them against my own list. 

Shedding can sometimes cause an infection in the eyes and mouth. Lack of appetite, can come from a number of factors, of which environment and temperature can be one; and finally the food can have parasites. 

Eventually the Gecko was taken to a vet, who basically went through all of these, with the additional factor of age. Apparently very few live in captivity more than a year or two. 

So what has this got to do with any of us? 

It’s small illustration of the systemic approach to health. 

If you’ve had a long term injury or you’re suffering from stress or you share the gift of nightie ceiling staring with me, look at the wider picture. 

Seeing a physio, doctor or changing something only works if you actually do the exercises they suggest. But there’s a huge amount that you should take responsibility for:  

There’s 168 hours in the week

We might spend anything from 40-80 hours at work. 

10+ hours a week travelling to and from work

42-60 hours asleep

Oh and to offset ALL the bad habits 2-3 hours in the gym. 

And THAT is my point. 

Sleeping in a bad environment, a poor bed, noisy or toxic neighbours, or a bad relationship. What is that costing your body? 

Your travel to work wearing old shoes, that don’t quite fit priorly. Or a heavy bag over one should forcing your posture. Maybe you cycle on a ill fitted bike. You know it’s not quite right but hey who cares?

The you fuel your body with foods that don’t provide you with the right vitamin and minerals to support your brain function or your day to day activities. Lots of caffeine. Candy. Alcohol. 

Then the city we live in takes it’s shot at you. Pollution, the stresses of travel, possible dangers. 

Then one day something innocuous happens you might cut your finger, and an infection takes hold, your already over taxed immune systems collapses and the bacteria in your body runs riot and health wise you nose dive. A little illness lasts weeks into months, antibiotics can’t touch it and you feel utterly drained. 

Ok so this was me before Christmas. A little sinus smashed me for six. 

So what did I do? 

I started closing loops. Everything that was open adds to my stress levels. The broken fence got fixed. The water coming through the walls after the storms is now taken care of. I set myself daily writing targets, and do them. I do my workouts in their allotted times. 3 litres of water a day. I started journalling everything to discover the source of my ceiling staring… Christmas chocolate high in caffeine. All gone now. Little bit by little bit I’m closing those loops. Step by step I’m moving away from where I don’t want to be. 

Start closing things down. If you’ve left something open for years, why?

Start looking at how you can optimise your life. The concept of a balanced lifestyle is utter garbage, it doesn’t exist. There are days when we have all worked from 6am to 12am and beyond, well balance would require us to spend exactly the same amounts of everything, and that doesn’t happen. 

But what we can do is raise our awareness of what we can do in every area of our life. How can we improve the quality of what we do and protect ourselves? 

Now here is another question. Is it possible to openly speak about somethings because of the cop next of where you are, that would be totally unacceptable in another environment? 

See I think it isn't about WHAT you say, it's WHERE you say it. 

Let say I work in an Architectural Office, and my boss overhears me talking to one of my co-workers about how to make her bum look better. EEK!!

OMG NO!

Now flip it, that same girl visits me in the gym, and I am overhead telling her how to make her bum look better. 

Does the context change the meaning? 

See I think it does. As a personal trainer I am invited into a space where I am responsible for helping people, they might want to look better, and believe me lots of people assume that once you look better love will flow into your life, they don't realise they are already amazing and loveable... I digress.  

They might want me to improve their performance or help them feel better. 

Now as an expert in these areas... I have over 53,000 hours in my profession, 5x the 10,000 thats meant to make you an expert. 

I know that people react in certain ways. The majority of Men react to praise and encouragement. The majority of women react to being challenged or told they can give up. 

Try this. 

Seriously. 

Girls tell your man he has done well and made you really happy and watch him change. He will do things for you. Constantly nagging gets you belligerence. A close friend has a man-slave for a husband. Not once have I ever heard her say thank you for the box load of chores he completes everyday, but he really needs to grow some as well. When I asked her why she doesn't thank him, she was shocked at even the suggestion. Thats telling. 

Now girls when you hear me say "If you can't handle it give up, or try yoga", inside your head a switch gets flicked, there is NO way on the planet you would ever give me the satisfaction of giving up, even if you wanted to. I know this because you tell me. You tell me I was wrong and you'd never give up (I knew that, but 5 seconds before you might have allowed the apathy to creep in), or you tell me how awesome it was because YOU know you went to another level to prove you could...

Being motivational as trainer, you walk a very tight line to what wouldn't be acceptable in a different environment. 

You can tell girls exactly what's wrong with their legs and how to make them look toned and tight, you can tell them the hard work is paying off. Sometimes you just ask them if they are ok, and that small acknowledgement lets them know you care about them enough to notice something is off. 

You can also tell guys to pull their finger out and give it some.... that was awesome!!!

What do you think?

One size fits all. You can't say it in the office, so you can't say it in the gym? 

What about a dance class? I was ALWAYS being told to get my bum tucked under in ballet. 

No... it's ALL about context

Now the other point is about encouraging an open dialogue. I think if we are told what we should be think and what we are allowed to express, where does that actually stop?

So a few people decide what's good and outside of their view, everything is wrong... Sounds too much like the inquisition to me. 

If people want to take performance enhancing drugs, shouldn't we accept that it goes on, and allow research programs that actually support and monitor their use, rather than sending them underground?

Last point. I remember 30 years ago I had a German exchange guy stay with us. I think he was doing his military service at the time (he was 19, I was 15), so he asks my dad where the nearest brothel was. I laughed so hard I fell off my chair. 

Anyway he fond a number of brothels while he was here and was shocked that it wasn't legal. 

In Germany the sex workers had licences and were regularly checked by their doctors, they paid tax and were legitimate workers... well I have no way of knowing if that is true. 

But rather than making certain people wrong wouldn't it be better to actually see how we can protect and help them? 

Either by increasing awareness through education, or by deepening our understanding of how things actually work.