The Resilience Fitness Coaching Principles have evolved considerably over the last 25+ years.
Time spent with other coaches, mentorships, successes and failures alike, have all shaped how I do business now.
If you're a coach looking to see if there's anything you can use to help your business or a potential client trying to judge if I'm a good fit or not, then read on:
With all the articles and videos on social media with titles such as:
"The 7 worst exercises for your spine"
"The top 5 exercises you should never do"
"The 10 things that will kill your gains"
It's easy to assume that exercising at all is a real minefield.
Well, it's not.
That said, there are some exercises that are better for you than others.
There are some rep schemes that are more suited to one goal than another.
Some people are able to change or vary their programme at a quicker rate than others.
And lastly, everyone has a different MED (Minimum Effective Dose, the smallest amount of work you need to do, to make progress in the right direction) and MRV (Maximum Recoverable Volume, the greatest amount of work you can do to sustain progress without injury)
These are the things I coach.
You'll notice there's nothing there about your preferences or what you like doing.
Why is that? Well I'm glad you asked.
Not everyone has the same likes and dislikes when it comes to life, so it stands to reason that the same is true for exercise.
The problem is that we constantly hear about what we 'must' and 'musn't' do.
In line with my philosophy of coaching the individual, the practical side of exercise and activity is about finding what you can and will do. Ideally finding things you enjoy in the process.
You have a busy job, kids, a bad experience of sports as a child? No problem.
You have a bad ankle, crummy balance or no rhythm. Chill. I've got you covered.
You're on a deadline for a wedding, a competition or a holiday. Ok, no time to waste.
I'll start with where you're at and plan a route that moves you in the direction you want to go, in a manner that's acceptable to you.
After all, it doesn't matter if getting on a plane is the quickest way to get from A to B if you're terrified of flying.
How many calories do you need?
How much protein should you be eating?
Are carbs the devil?
(Hint: Less than you think, more than you probably eat at the moment and oh my god, no).
These are the kind of things adressed under the umbrella of the technical side of nutrition coaching.
We all have certain nutritional needs we should be meeting.
These are based on body composition, energy requirements and goals.
The aim here is to help you learn what you need and where to get it.
But what should you eat, how much and how often? Wow, you ask such good questions!
In all my years of coaching, I've found three things to be commonly true:
Most people know the difference between healthy/helpful foods and those that aren't.
Most people have negative or unhelpful beliefs about food.
Most people only have limited options when it comes to food preparation.
Why are these things important?
Firstly, the good news is that you probably already have a good idea of where you're currently at, nutritionally speaking.
Secondly, much of the information that's preventing you from progressing is flawed or mis-represented.
Lastly, if you've tried to eat healthy before and couldn't sustain it, it's probably because cooking, creating flavour profiles and the mouth feel of certain foods weren't part of your plan.
For example, lets say your preferred flavour profile for a main meal is highly seasoned. If you try and get by on steamed chicken and brocolli, it'll get real miserable, real quick.
Sounds obvious right?
Try this. Lets say you learn that you prefer the way a particular food 'feels' when you eat it. If you don't know what your preferences are, no off the shelf approach is likely to work.
Just to be clear, there's nothing magical about this. I'm not releasing a mouth feel diet. But it is a reason that certain foods can be more palatable to some people than others.
So that's the kind of thing that gets addressed practically. The technical side is essential for determining a starting point, but the practical is what tailors it to you as an individual.
What is healthy, fit, fat, lean, obsessive, normal?
No matter what we do, it seems as though there's something wrong with it.
You start to pay attention to what you eat and exercise a bit more;
"oh my god, you're an obsessive fitness freak and you'll die alone". (It's in italics because someone once said that to me on a date. Not my now wife obviously).
You lose a bit of weight and start to feel better;
"I think you're losing too much weight, you're starting to look skinny and you need to slow down" (said by a wife struggling to lose weight to her husband, who was still 3 stone overweight, after he'd lost 1 stone).
"Health is just vanity in marketing speak"
All of the above are things I've heard personally or that clients have had said to them.
Two of the biggest challenges we face when trying to address our health are the voices inside our heads and the voices outside.
My job is to work on both.
Confidence is great when it's founded. I'll help you build confidence that's more than just positive self affirmations.
There's a skill to it though. It's about knowing when to push and when to sit back. It's about understanding why we have certain beliefs and how to unpick them and see them for what they are.
But how do you do that? Seriously, you're on fire with the questions today.
Most people struggle to acheive a satisfactory work, health, life and lifestyle balance.
The problem is, whenever they try and address it, it never seems to stick.
Why is that?
Primarily, it's because they're not really clear on what exactly it is they want.
The best analogy of this is one I got from Alwyn Cosgrove:
No one buys a drill because they want a drill. What they want is a hole and the drill helps them get it.
Most people are trying to change their lives and behaviours based on a flawed understanding of their motivation.
What I do is help you get clear on what it is you really want. Then I help you determine if that juice is worth the squeeze, i.e. if you want single digit body fat, are you prepared for what's involved to get it?
Once that's sorted. I'll help you understand where your head's at and coach you towards changing for the better.
Notice by the way I said coach. Not that I'll tell you what to do. The practical side of coaching here is different to exercise and nutrition. It's about helping you choose your own path and find your own answers.
Why?
Because it's more empowering that way. Remember, the overarching goal for everything I do, is to help you build resilience, not reliance. So psychologically I want you to be in charge. I'll share my thoughts and offer counsel where appropriate, but you'll be coming up with your own advice. Because when it comes to you, know one knows you better than yourself.