NO!!!

In the early-mid 1990s I’d discover kettlebells though a group of Blacksmiths that I’d met through my dad, and some strength training guys I used to hang around with. So I’d bought myself a set of Pike ketlebells. Then in the late 90s I went to a kettlebell training course with Mike Mahler, who at that time he was recognise as one best trainers in the world, breaking new ground. 

If you think I can be a bit ‘out there’ this guy was at a whole different level. Saying that it was great course and provided me with a foundation that I still use today. But he was properly nuts. 

I don’t believe in coincidences, I always think things come across your path for a reason. So early this week I was sitting down writing my Resiliency piece and a friend gave me the book Live Life Aggressively by Mike Mahler, What Self-Help Gurus Should be Telling you. 

I’m a third of the way through and there’s not a great deal of new stuff in here, but it’s the stuff that needs to be said. The book is taken from his articles and blogs, and it’s like a slap in the face. 

If you have read my blog you will know the kind of thing that annoys me, anything from mediocrity to men not being men and women not being women. Did that wake you up? Do not misread this as something I’m not saying, I like strong powerful women that understand the strengths and insights that being a women gives them. Check out Eveolution by Faith Popcorn, and I think men have been neutered by the media and in many cases have lost what it is to be a man. 

“While being aggressive can mean violent, it also means to move forward with strong intent or purpose.”

I’ve said this in the past and I’ll say it again, some of my greatest achievements began in my darkest hours, I wasn’t happy, I wasn’t skipping round the park with flowers in my hair, I was broken, on more than one occasion physically, at other times mentally and emotionally so challenged that I struggled to find a way through. BUT those are the moments that forge our spirit, that teach how strong we are… 

I remember shattering (bonking for cyclists) 11km into a 22km climb, I had no water, my heart rate was 188+ and wouldn't go below 178. Every muscle in my legs was spasming and cramping, along with my lower back seizing and my neck felt like it was all bone. I’d called Lucy back in the UK and left a message saying I was in trouble. Then I decided that the only person that was going to get me up that mountain was me, one revolution at a time, then I aimed for 100m, then 200, then a km, until I made my body work again. 

Nowhere in that experience was I faking it to make it. There wasn’t an ounce of happiness in me, and I wasn’t saying pretty little affirmations… there was some choice words I won’t repeat. But I made it. 

A few weeks ago I pitched an idea to become world class in an interview. It seemed after my failure to secure the next interview phase that either they didn’t believe it was possible, or that I wasn’t capable of it, or probably closer to the truth I’m a big risk. 

I love proving people wrong, especially when it’s about me. 

So here’s the challenge:

Are you being a wuss? A wuss is someone that is grey or beige, that has no backbone… Sometimes wusses overcompensate because THEY know, so they make others lives hell, to somehow prove they’re not a wuss, but underneath, they are. If that’s you I’m not judging you, nor will I ever, because it’s about you being honest with yourself. It’s time for you to step up. 

Let’s live this year AGRESSIVELY… move yourself forward with a strong intent or purpose. What is your intent for your health? For your body? For your lifestyle? 

Are you doing it? Or pretending?

If you are in bad shape what kind of example are you modelling to your children? To your families? To your communities? To YOURSELF?

Don’t even think about faking it. Live by integrity, be your word to yourself. Be authentic. I’m calling you out to be the best you can be. I don’t care how dark your days are, been there done it. I don’t care if you are unhappy, it bears zero impact on what needs to be done. 

Over the next few months you’re going to start seeing my vision of world class, you’re going to me living my life with purpose too. You’re going to be able to experience this in our sessions. 

If you know of something that you believe is the best in the world or close to it, show me, direct me, so I can pull it towards us, and integrate it into what we do so we start to build a truly world class model. 

Look better, feel better, perform better and live healthier… with strong intent or purpose. I want us to lead, to prove it can be done, to listen to excuses and know that won’t get you the results you want to achieve.  

Here’s my prediction. You do this, you’re going to see results in your life, and if you don’t, try something different and do it again, and again and again, and refuse to give up. Those results will come and you will own them. 

Your life is going to change, it will become more dynamic, more passionate and you’ll live larger, and the colour you’ll be seeing won’t be beige.