I have never written one of these so please bare with me.
In my late teens to the start of my 20s I joined the gym scene, listened and read all the bro science set my goals and worked like an ox to try an achieve the body of my dreams. I soon found out that neither my frame or finance would allow this.
Riddled with injuries and long work hours diminished my desire to carry on and I soon gave up my dreams of being built and ripped. Through the years I tried on and off to get back into a gym routine but it never took. Life got comfortable
and the kilos started to accumulate – the mirror was my enemy and I no longer owned a scale. Coupled together with SSRIs for nonstop anxiety and depression, I went up to 87kgs of which 26% was fat and a BMI was 30 (this was real BMI not like
when the nurse tells you, you have a high BMI with only 12% body fat 😊). I was out of breath tying my shoes, struggled to walk upstairs and generally unable to keep up with physical activities.
Then arrived my first turning point, my back pain that was “manageable” became debilitating, to the point the doctor was using words like fusing. Speaking to an old friend over the Christmas period I was told to go see Cameron Mitchell – he would be the right guy to help. Januworry arrived and I sceptically made an appointment to see Cam. He was ready to help and the journey began. Not without resistance from me though, I was “committed” but I had my own ideas and added to that I was woefully unfit and excuses were a lot lighter than dumbbells but we plodded along and Coach was not giving up on me, just the right amount of push, restructuring workouts, splitting up movements to suit my back, advice, coaching the physical and mental, my back started to respond. I was in pain but I could do things that were not possible before. I never changed my diet, habits or thinking I just “moved” must be said that I was still at 87kg but stronger.
The second eye opener happened, my old man was diagnosed with colon cancer but, everything was going to be ok, right? Unfortunately, it wasn’t he was in and out of hospital one surgery after the next. Three of which were emergency lifesaving interventions my car already knew the route to the hospital, I’d been so many times. One day on a hospital visit I met one of many ward mates my old man had but this guy was different, without trying to, he changed my way of thinking. He had spinal cancer and this operation was the “one”, doctors saved his life but he would never walk again, even so he was quite positive and friendly, that struck me, back then I would have been p@ss#d if it was me. Well visiting hour was over and it was time to go and as I headed to the lift it dawned on me that this man would probably give anything to be able to take the stairs if he had the chance – I decided to use/appreciate what I had while I had it, I took the stairs and to this day I still opt for the stairs whenever possible. This mind shift changed at lot. I realised that my health and mobility have an expiry date and I was going to enjoy it for as long as I could.
I made a list of appointments, colorectal surgeon (it’s no spa treatment but not as bad as people make it out to be), cardio surgeon (stress test), and an intergraded medical doctor. The specialists gave me a full bill of health. The bloods done by the intergraded doctor gave a different message. Low testosterone, high insulin was some of the main concerns, all the workouts and diets wouldn’t make a difference if the bio-chemistry is out. I reluctantly took my new prescribed meds and soldiered on. The deeper I looked into this new found interest in my health the more problems I found the more confusing the problems were, adjust this, now that’s out, fix that, a bunch of new problems – it was a mine field. I shared my wins and frustrations with coach, it was lekker to speak to someone that new health and the mountain that needs climbing to get there. Coach put me on to a dietician that actually looks like the product she preaches… we did my first in body assessment and she gave advice, not calorie counting not special, cost a fortune diets no “detox” no hiding from real world situations where friends eat and drink together just solid real-world advice. I myself choose because of the insulin issue to cut all obvious sugars and to follow the advice my dietician gave and the rest is history, never looked back… IF ONLY… Stress from work and family, disrupted routines, general sessional illness, days you wished you didn’t wake up and being mauled by a spider (I pretty sure the little guy is still celebrating his win) all add to that loud voice – “what are you doing this for? do even see a difference? it’s really cold just rest today 😊. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. But I soldiered through. Corrective meds, whole foods and training the fat SLOWLY melted off 13kg to be exact and muscle started to build. Strength picked up and longing to hit the gym grew.
There was an unexpected side effect to all of this. I started seeing life’s hardships and struggles differently from being a victim I started to expect challenges and felt the wins when I got through the other side. I have been learning that challenges/struggles and “pain” should not be avoided as they build us as fully functioning human beings making the good times even more sweet, when I let go of being a victim I started seeing the value of relationships. This isn’t magic, I am still on my SSRI’s – depression and anxiety is a real thing and no you don’t always need a reason to be stuck there, sometimes it’s the hand your dealt, learn to play the hand even if it means bluffing. I still “feel” my lower back every day and I have come to realise that my shoulders are made of glass. I have goods and not so good days.
I’m slowly learning… consistency is key, push through and know that anything worth having is worth fighting for even if that fight is with yourself. Don’t under estimate the power of whole foods “eat your food as your medicine, otherwise you will eat your medicine as food” – Steve Jobs. Make sleep a priority. Take each day as it comes, make mistakes learn from them do better. Learn to expect pain physical and emotional. Know that even a bad workout is a workout and if you have a moment of joy and happiness for goodness sake just enjoy it…
