The title might seem an obvious statement, but sometimes we need to be reminded of the simple things.

I know I definitely needed it earlier this year when I ended up in hospital unexpectedly for 17 days. I was going to show a picture that captured the joy of it, some of you probably already know or saw something about it. But the majority maybe not. So I may end up putting a link (right here) for those interested in a more detail post about that little adventure of mine :) Suffice is to say my view of my life and how I live it has been modified somewhat since.

For a long time I was building and pushing the business of Best Practice Personal Training (from 2005) and decided there might be a need for a small group training service I called Fit Over 40. The start of this coincided with the arrival of Covid in March 2020. As one might expect from a business like Best Practice, that was in existence for that long, we were at our peak at that time. It was around this time of great societal turmoil that I lost both my parents as well, which was also obviously an event of huge significance. Long story short, the last few years have impacted my 'way' going forward dramatically.

Life events and ageing in general can definitely make you question what is actually important. I am no exception. You will notice that you haven't heard much from me much over past few years. There have been sporadic efforts to get this communication going, only to disappear again. Whilst I can't promise, 'that it will all change now', I can tell you a few things which may be of interest about my intentions going forward.

Fitness, strength, mobility, agility, power and health are still huge priorities and drivers of my life and will always be. It is my strong belief that the owners of these things will have the best chance to have the fullest and most fulfilling lives going forward. They will be kind of elite in some ways because it is becoming less and less common. Personally, I am still interested in helping people who are ready to achieve parts or all of these things, but the scope of what I do and plan to do have been greatly reduced.

I don't wish to get political or over philosophical, but I will say this. Core values and communicating what those are, was a very important part of my business. You can't have a successful coaching relationship with out an alignment of these. Whilst these values I have highlighted previously haven't changed, I do have another to explicitly add, which is probably bigger that all the others borne out of recent events. That value is Freedom.

This concept of 'freedom' can be interpreted to mean many things, but right here I am talking about our freedom to choose how we live with our own bodies and mind, on a day to day basis. The most profound thing you can do to positively affect how those two things go, is regular (sorry but never ending) and appropriate exercise. There is no medication on the planet that can replace this for both physical and psychological benefits. It is obvious to me that so much of our world is driven by money. There are two common sayings which hold much truth, 'the best things in life are free' and 'where ever there is power, greed and money, you will have corruption'. Just think, if you can find the way to exercise your body yourself and feed it quality food, derived as close as you can to nature, then what problems or needs do you think you will have?

It so well documented as to be irrefutable, that both regular exercise and healthy eating will give you the energy, confidence, clarity and function to overcome virtually any challenge. Where modern medicine mostly helps, in my opinion and recent experience, is intervention in acute and emergency situations. The vast majority of chronic and usually quality of life limiting and unfortunately life ending illness in our world stems from what we do on a habitual basis, our lifestyle essentially.

Okay I'm climbing down from the soapbox and the evangelical sermon now, but I make the final bold statement that future of what you experience health wise as you age, is for the most part your choice.

Lastly and to the point of this post, as far as my purpose goes, helping those who want to be helped is the most meaningful thing I can do with my time - (be it with a personal training engagement or in one of our small group training programs). There is much satisfaction in coaching someone in to a self sustaining habit, where money is not needed, but just the continuation of action driven by the individual who now has an unbreakable connection with their 'why'.... thus achieving what I see as true freedom. Check out our 10 week small group program running in to Christmas. It could be the catalyst for the start of something life changing for you.