The Diet Diaries, Volume 1: Is it all worth it?
I have never had a terrible relationship with my body, in fact for the most part I think I have done okay.
Since my Dad introduced me to weights in my early teens I have almost always trained in the gym, played rugby up until I was 30 and been fit and active.
In fact, it's a key reason some 18 years later I became a personal trainer.
I like so many others have had my ups and downs with confidence and my body, but the gym always provided me with an outlet to work on myself not just physically but emotionally and mentally.
So why this feeling of underachievement with my body?
I have started to feel a little hypercritical. Maybe I’m being hard on myself.
I talk about so much about being empowered with our bodies and health but have I ever felt truly empowered with mine?
There is an underlying feeling of underwhelm, could be more and if only's.
Did I lack education? Motivation? Commitment?
Maybe I just valued other things more.
These values certainly changed when I qualified as a personal trainer in 2014.
In fact my life did.
I don't know whether it was the health and fitness industry, my own insecurities, or just the pressure to look a certain way.
Every January has been the same story. ‘This year is my year hooorah, I am going to get in the best shape of my life'.
Oh, please Luke give it a rest.
Never happens. Just a bunch of words.
In reflection it’s good to be honest and upfront with yourself.
Hold yourself accountable and take more ownership of your decisions and actions.
I’m not sure why it’s so different this time around.
I personally feel like the past 12 months has been big for me.
I have experienced a tremendous amount of growth that is hard to convey in written form.
The main difference I feel is that I I’m doing this for myself.
There is clarity on who it’s for.
Me.
Is that why so many of us struggle? Is that why I have struggled?
My why for this project feels more emotional. I’m behind the steering wheel of this and no one else.
I want to build a body and get in incredible shape, I want to see what it takes, I want to know if it’s worth it.
I have spent more time than I care to remember feeling self-conscious about my body.
I have also spent time thinking, dam I look pretty good right now.
I’m like, yeh I can see my abs in the mirror, that same mirror that always makes me look great regardless of how I feel or look.
But do you want to know when I have felt my best?
When I didn’t give a shit. When I couldn’t care less.
How do I get more of that?
So much noise, so much pressure.
Social media, the health and fitness space I work in.
Years of being surrounded by fitness professionals some in incredible shape, so many not.
Too much time wasted on Instagram.
Instagram is like a haven for anatomy defying abdominals.
The 6 pack is so 2001. It’s all about the 12 pack and a 12 inch gap between your thighs.
Men and women wearing little to nothing doing some ridiculous workout with body-fat levels so low there is no way they’d survive a winter.
What impact is this having on everyone?
I very aware of how I feel but I haven’t always been.
Maybe that’s why it’s different.
The past year has been so crazy, it’s actually ended up being one of my most transformational years.
I have been on a rollercoaster ride of personal development and feel the clearest I have ever felt.
It started with two fingers up to Coronavirus, but now it looks like the best thing to have ever happened to me personally and professionally.
So, I have decided to see if it’s all worth it.
What do I need to sacrifice? How disciplined do I need to me? What does it take?
Let’s see if getting ‘cut’ or ‘shredded’ is actually worth it.
What’s the worst that can happen?
So, a quick update, after a 6-month mentorship I hired an online coach at the start of the year and now we are really dialling it up for the next 8 weeks with a shoot booked in for early May.
I was probably kicking around 90kg after Christmas and I weighed in at 80.8 this morning.
Stay Strong. Stay Health. Keep Moving.
Luke.
Retrain Your Core And Bullet Proof Your Body.
Completely change how you train your core and bulletproof your body.
Typically, ‘core’ training has always involved lots of Sit-Ups, Crunches, Russian Twists and so on. These exercises require a tonne of movement especially through spinal flexion which when done repeatedly can actually end up being quite painful.
The key is understanding a little bit about how the body functions and how we can maximise our training to improve how it functions and ultimately feels.
Our ‘core’ muscles in fact play a big role in resisting motion and this workout is designed to challenge your core is exactly this way.
Throughout the workout I want the focus to be on the position of the pelvis and maintaining a partial posterior pelvic tilt or thinking about slightly tucking your tailbone.
Imagine wearing a belt and trying to tilt the belt buckle up towards your chin.
It’s the tuck where the magic happens, prevents the lower back from arching or going into extension. If you lose the tuck rest, regroup and go again.
Focus on your breathing, inhaling and exhaling down into your abdominals.
These become increasingly more difficult so listen to your body if you struggle with any.
Exercise 1: Deadbug ISO Hold
Almost all of your back will be in contact with the floor other than your shoulders. Reach to the sky and pull the shoulder blades apart (protraction). Lightly bring just your toes to the floor and hold breathing down into your abdominals. The deeper and longer the breath the better. Remember toes just lightly on the floor, keep the chin tucked, reach to the sky and don’t let your shoulders drop.
Exercise 2: High Plank | Knee To Elbow
Start by stacking the shoulders directly above your hands keeping your arms straight and push away from the floor. Aim to get your knee as close to your elbow as possible and hold keeping the back leg fully extended.
Lots of focus on breathing and keep your shin bone elevated away from the floor or your thigh on your body.
In addition to the hold. You could slowly alternate the knees to the elbow.
3 sets / 45 to 60 seconds each side.
Exercise 3: Single Leg Hollow Hold
Key here is resisting extension in the spine in other words preventing your lower back from arching/extending whilst maintaining a braced midsection. Keep a partial posterior tilt, breath down into your stomach and pull your belly button down into your body. Reach towards your feet if reaching over your head compromises your hip/back position, fully extend one leg and bend the other into the body.
3 sets / 45 to 60 seconds each side.
Exercise 4: High Side Plank | Reach
This exercise will bring balance and length to your body but also challenge it. Keep the supporting arm below the shoulder keep the hip elevated away from the floor and again that slight tuck of the tailbone. I prefer not to stack my feet on top of each other and might bring you more stability doing the same. Reach over the head with your arm and hold.
3 sets / 45 to 60 seconds each side.
Exercise 5: Single Arm High Plank
Start in your high plank position, main difference here is to go wider with your feet to help with a more stable base. Once you feel stable, lift the arm and extend down the side of your body. And with the supporting arm push away from the floor. Again, keep that tailbone slightly tucked and breath.
3 sets 30 to 45 second holds each side.
Exercise 6: High Side Plank knee to elbow
Start with both legs extended on the floor and your shoulder above your supporting arm. Slowly draw your knee to your elbow and hold. Focus on breathing and maintain that slight tuck of the hips. Create more tension by applying pressing into the leg and vice versa.
3 Sets 45 to 60 seconds each side.
This workout has been featured in both Men's Fitness & Balance.
The 5 Step Guide To Shift Your Mindset.
Firstly, I hope you’re well, in good health, doing what you can to help us all beat this virus.
There are still challenging days ahead but know that going through this there will be a huge amount of personal growth.
I wanted to share a few tips I know help me shift my mindset when I’m feeling a little frustrated with the world and hope they fill you with a sense of calm.
Here is my 5 Step Guide to seeing it through.
Step One: Realise You Are Awesome.
Before anything, first take a moment to kick back, reflect and appreciate that whether you realise it or not you are awesome and have shown more evidence of this than you realise.
We are surrounded by an incredible amount of negative energy. We see it daily in the news, we hear it in conversations, we can see it on the faces we pass.
Ask yourself this.
Where have you shown incredible resilience? Surprised yourself in the face of a pandemic? Where have you been truly awesome?
Focus on what has been achieved, not what hasn’t.
Whether you have juggled raising a family, homeschooling and a full-time job. You have worked, trained and lived under the same roof. Have given up alcohol or gone vegan for January. Have given up your free time to volunteer or have been there for friends or family who have needed a calming voice.
Whatever it may be, please take a moment to appreciate yourself and worry less about all of the should haves and could haves because where you are right now is exactly where you should be.
If you find this difficult and sometimes it can be, write down a list of at least 20 reasons why you are awesome and don’t stop until you have 20.
Knowing that with just a few simple questions and some time to think you will come to the realisation, you have accomplished more than you think.
Shift your mindset.
Step Two: Gratefulness.
Possibly the most effective couple of minutes you can spend time thinking about to completely shift your mindset.
When my emotions or internal chatter gets the best of me thinking about what I do have can be a great tool to calm and ease any frustration.
What do I have right now I can be grateful for? What is right in front of me that sometimes I forget to see? I have a roof over my head, my health, my friends, my family, a career that deeply inspires me.
The quality of the questions you ask yourself and the time you take to think about them takes practice. But I believe by changing our perception of ourselves, our environment and the lens we see-through, we can do more than simply exist through this.
Step Three: Seek Progress Not Perfection.
Know that perfection is an expectation none of us can live up to and when you slip up, you never fail, you learn, and then you go again and again and again.
Is that not the circle of life? To grow and to learn. To fall on and off the path.
Tomorrow what can you do to start creating momentum for yourself? Where can you take a small percentage win in your favour that will positively impact you and your life?
Like the other steps, write down a list of things you could do tomorrow to create momentum for you.
Would getting to bed 30 minutes earlier serve you better? Taking a break from alcohol? Starting the day with a walk and arranging a call with a friend?
Consistency is key. If you show up consistently time and time again doing things that serve you, the life you live will move in the direction you want.
And don’t worry if you take a detour off that path just no, you’ll always end up back where you need to me.
When you face a challenge, it is never in the way, it’s on the way.
Shift your mindset.
Step Four: Your Values.
If the pandemic has taught me one thing, it’s what I truly value in life.
Coaching and training, my career and growing my business, my family, my friends, and travelling and seeing the world.
When I live my life congruent to my values, I have a purpose and feel fulfilled.
And as we move through life, our values change. My early 20s were all about rugby, drinking and socialising, and having a job that allowed me to afford to do both.
And I absolutely loved that, that at the time was what I valued.
What do you value? What do you spend most of your time thinking and talking about?
Unsure what you value. Try this https://drdemartini.com/values/
Shift your mindset.
Step Five: Vision Planning.
Vision planning, something I have never really taken the time to do until recently.
How do I want my life to look in the next 3, 5 and 10 years and even further? What shoes do I want to step into?
Why vision plan? Because spending time visualising how you want your life to look can be really fulfilling.
Not only that, but it allows us to understand better what action needs to be put in place today.
Don’t just consider the professional aspect of your life either, think about how your path looks.
Your professional life will always rise to the level of the aspirations and dreams you have for you and your life. And not the other way around.
Do you know what, once this is all over I believe life will be a better, more heartfelt experience?
I do hope this article has been of value even if it’s a super small take home.
Let’s keep doing what we can do help the NHS and help save as many people as we can as the vaccine is rolled up.
Stay positive, spring always follows winter and with it not just longer lighter days but also more positivity and opportunity.
If you liked this, please let me know as it inspires me to keep writing and any questions reach out.
All the best,
Luke
Look & Feel Great.
Move & Be Strong.
Why Making Your Goals Important To You Will Increase Success.
When we start out on a journey to a more confident us do we stop to take time to figure out why we are doing it in the first place?
It's a step so many of us miss or don't give enough thought.
Especially given how difficult dieting or changing our body can be. Let's give ourselves every opportunity we can of success.
Most people are like 'yeah I want to lose weight' or 'I want to look and feel more confident about myself'.
If this is the case why are so many of us not where we want to be or really struggling getting there?
So if you find yourself giving up, or get a couple of weeks in and can't be bothered don't worry.
We just need to get more out of what your goals mean to you and how much different your life might be if you achieve them.
Make it really worth it.
So I want to share with you a process I use when I first speak to someone that enables me to establish where someones mindset is initially at.
People come to me for a variety of reasons. It'll often be to lose weight which essentially means drop body-fat, 'tone' up which means add muscle, get healthier, stronger, and so on.
There is usually an outcome of some description in mind.
All of these 'goals' are good and have their merit.
Don't we all want a little bit of that in our life?
Personally, I think wanting to 'lose weight' is very uninspiring and if anything a little boring.
These all fall into the 'I should' category.
They're generic and probably driven by other external factors.
Let's see if we can do better and find a goal that is personal and meaningful to you.
Grab a pen and paper. Trust me on this.
First, ask yourself this and go deep. Let's use 'weight-loss or Fat-Loss' as an example.
Right now, why is losing weight important to you? How do you currently feel about yourself? If you lost x amount of weight how would life be different for you? How will losing weight impact you socially and professionally?
Now write down at least 20 answers to these questions.
If your goal right now isn't weight-loss it's the same process.
It's all about the quality if the questions we ask ourselves.
I believe the quality of the questions we ask ourselves can really influence the probability of success we experience.
The whole point of this process is to dial down a little deeper and get something meaningful behind our actions and getting it all down on paper allows to get inspired.
Why is this important? Because motivation changes and the motivation you have at the start wont be the same in 3/4 weeks time and certainly not 3/4 months time.
Il share mine and hopefully they’ll help you get started.
Why is my training important to me?
I love feeling fit and running around playing sport.
I know when I feel confident I can really be me.
I want my girlfriend to find me attractive, and it feels great receiving compliments from her and others.
I feel a little more manly. Yes, dam straight. I went there. Having muscle on my body makes me feel good about myself.
Feeling good helps with my mindset. I feel healthier, happier, my energy and productivity improve, I sleep and rest better.
I feel empowered. I feel fit. I feel young.
I want my body to inspire the people I train. I want to show them that you can enjoy life, exercise, work hard and excel professionally and personally.
I want to live a long healthy life and know that training will help support this.
And of course, I still live with insecurities with my body, confidence, and meeting new people still scares the shit out of me sometimes.
But can you see how important training is for me?
Thinking about how important it is to me helps when putting my trainers is more effort than it should be or I am doing my absolute best to look for an excuse to not get off the sofa.
It doesn't work all of the time and it doesn't need to.
It just needs to work more often than not.
And don't confuse this with validation, narcissism or being egotistical.
Give yourself permission to want to feel good.
We have one life to live and so many of us deserve to feel better.
Give it a go and see if it conjures up some fire deep within you.
If you struggle, take more time to think and get it all down on paper.
It's all about the quality of the questions you ask yourself.
I hope today has given you a slightly different perspective on goal setting and why this part of the journey is so important.
Thanks for reading, Luke.
3 Strategies to Help You Sleep Smarter
It's likely that if I am your coach you would of at some point heard me speaking about the importance of sleep on both physical and mental health - it's such an unvalued element of life and health.
It comes from lots of time spent researching sleep after a period where I struggled with sleep myself and experienced first hand the devastating impact it can have on the body.
It has now become a non-negotiable for me.
My mission is to have a positive impact on the people I coach hence why I do my vest best to get my clients valuing and prioritising sleep.
And it's tough - I coach career-driven individuals who spend hours upon hours in front of a screen often into the early hours of the morning.
So, here are 3 strategies to help you sleep smarter you can implement into your day that I am confident will improve not only your sleep but your health.
Morning: Natural Light.
Get up and out for a morning walk and embrace the light first thing.
So many people don’t consider this to impact your sleep but exposing yourself to natural light in the morning helps with your internal body clocks.
Light is the principal control of your day-night cycle. It influences everything from sleep, metabolism and body temperature.
Not only this but you’ve managed to get some morning steps, it’ll help set you up for the day, lowers stress, you will feel like you’ve accomplished something, and it’ll help improve focus and concentration.
Afternoon: Caffeine.
Almost all of us love coffee or tea and I am no exception, but we do disregard how stimulating caffeine is.
Midday is my cut off point for coffee and this is because there is enough research out there suggesting caffeine will still be in your system as you get into bed if you continue to drink it into the afternoon.
You might be reading this saying caffeine isn’t the problem but can you go a day maybe 2 or 3 without a coffee?
Evening: Darkness is your friend.
Now we look at the very end of the day. Darkness is your friend.
If your room isn’t completely dark at night or like me you have artificial light from outside creeping through the window invest in some blackout curtains. I recently purchased some and it has made such a difference.
I challenge you to give these a try and see how you feel and I would love to know how you get on implementing the 3 strategies to help you sleep smarter.
If you are interested in doing some research for yourself I would definitely recommend 'Why We Sleep' by Mathew Walker.
You can also check my a previous blog post on the book.
Barefoot. Free Your Feet.
Are our shoes wearing our feet in rather than the other way around?
Padded, cushioned shoes dull and stifle our sensory feedback, while also preventing feet from connecting to the earth we walk on.
We want to keep feet connected to our brains AND the planet.
Simply put our feet are a super sensory appendage we take for granted that we keep almost caged in modern-day footwear that is essentially deforming your feet.
So what about the fallacy with modern-day footwear sold to us by the big corporations. We protect and promote weak feet that’s a fact from the slippers we wear to the heels and cobbled shoes worn to work.
And that underfoot technology in your trainer shows almost no evidence of improving your running gait or reducing the risk of injury.
'79% of recreational runners get some kind of lower limb injury'
This isn't about astronomical changes in physical health. It's about getting as many small wins as we can.
Two Studies from Liverpool and Harvard Universities showing similar results that walking around for 6 months with barefoot or no shoes (just walking around in less show) can improve the strength of your foot by 60%.
‘The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and work of art’
Leonardo da Vinci
Many of us are working from home at the moment so use this time to spend more time barefoot. Free your feet and let them do their thing.
I wear a pair of Stealth III from Vivobarefoot or Inov-8 also do a great barefoot/training shoe would be a great place to start.
Mobile Personal Training Update
I have for years been training from a private facility in central London and it looks like with no immediate opening of gyms I won’t be returning any time soon opening up the door to mobile personal training.
Being honest, although I miss the gym and everything the environment offered including my training and the structure I am not missing it as much as I thought I would.
As a result, new opportunities has risen from the current situation. Mobile Personal Training.
I didn’t think I would ever be a mobile personal trainer but here I am on my bike riding from park to park, garden to garden, and finally doing the job I love again, training people 1 to 1.
I have been doing this for several weeks now and thought it might be best to put an update here.
Areas I am currently covering include Finsbury Park, Stoke Newington, Highbury Fields, Tufnell Park and I can travel further.
I have equipment including rings and bands and my sessions are still very much geared towards my philosophy of building stronger more mobile bodies.
I will also update my instagram story board with some 1 to 1 training which will give you an insight into sessions
Please do get in touch if you would like to book a free consultation or have any questions about personal training on a 1 to 1 or small group training, accessible locations, safety, or social distancing.
And I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Stay Healthy. Stay Strong.
Thanks
Luke
A 3 Step Process to Healthy Eating
Is healthy eating difficult? Sure it is, there are so many factors that contribute to eating healthy. Our moods, energy levels, current cravings, hormones, the amount of sleep the previous night.
Take this scenario; you have your weekly shop planned, however, you had a terrible night's sleep, you have woken up in not the greatest of moods, you have barely exercised all week and work has been crazy.
How different do you think your food shop would be compared to a version of yourself after a great night's sleep, plenty of exercise, and a productive week at work.
I certainly cant influence most of the above factors but I can help you put in a system that will help you when it comes to decision making around food.
I hope that by you practising this process and implementing this system regardless of external factors you'll stay on track with eating healthy and promoting good internal health.
Incredibly lockdown was announced 35 days ago, which means we are all eating still eating 3 meals per day at home and have constant access to the foods and drinks we are buying and have in our environment.
Which makes our food shops more important than ever.
My 3-step process starts with a few basic questions I ask myself.
How many ingredients does this food contain? How many coloured fruits and vegetables make up my basket? Will eating this make me feel good about myself after?
I know my weaknesses, if I buy a pack of biscuits or chocolate if it’s in my environment aka my fridge or cupboard it’ll be eaten and very quickly and then, without doubt, they’ll be a feeling of guilt simply because I’m expending less energy in lockdown.
You don’t need 100% perfection but having a process or a few questions to ask yourself can help keep you on track to healthy eating and promoting good internal health.
If you can get to 80% of what you’re buying to include single ingredient whole foods, fruits and vegetables and then rather than buying say a packet of biscuits you could buy a single chocolate bar this way you can satisfy the craving without the guilt of looking at an empty bag of chocolates.
What do I mean by a single ingredient? A potato is a potato. An apple is just an apple. An organic free-range chicken should be just that, a chicken.
Much of our food now especially processed foods can contain high levels of synthetic chemicals, sugars, sweeteners, and stabilisers none of which your gut will thank you for.
Another really good habit to pick up is to check the ingredient list on the foods you buy and see what makes up the food you buy. The ingredients list of foods are listed in order of prominence with the ingredients used in the greatest amount first
Next, some valuable questions to ask when assessing how healthy your diet is.
Do my meals have an abundance of fruits and vegetables? How much of my diet includes single-ingredient foods? How much water am I drinking?
Implement the above and you’re giving yourself the best opportunity to consume foods that are high in antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and good sources of protein, fats, and carbohydrates. And guess what, you'll feel great.
Give it a go next time you’re writing your shopping list or preparing your next meal.
Recap:
3 Step Food Shop Process
How many ingredients does this food contain? How many coloured fruits and vegetables make up my basket? Will eating this make me feel good about myself after?
3 Step Meal Process
Do my meals have an abundance of fruits and vegetables? How much of my diet includes single-ingredient foods? How much water am I drinking?
Thanks
Luke
Ingredient List Of Meal Pictured: Lettuce, Radish, Pepper, 50g White Rice, Cucumber, Falafel, Celery, Red Cabbage, Carrot, Coleslaw (yoghurt, red cabbage, onion, carrot, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper)
Ingredients purchased and delivered by from Stroud Green Market. Check out what your local food market is doing during Covid-19.
Quick Mobility Floor Routine. Take A Break.
A great mobility floor routine | warm-up you can add to your day to give the body some freedom and space.
Taking a few minutes out of your working day can have such a positive accumulative effect on your body especially now many of you are working from home. You get what you repeat. If you feel stiff and tight and don't do anything about it you'll stay feeling like that.
A few minutes each day can help keep your joints lubricated and healthy, but also revitalise the body and give you a knew lease of energy.
Simply put we aren't structured nor have we evolved to be sat down hunched over a desk all day staring into a screen. I appreciate most of us need to work so the very least you can do is to take a few minutes out to move and stretch.
I challenge you to give yourself a few minutes and practise this mobility floor routine.
There is almost no excuse and in times of uncertainly creating good habits will go a long way to making you feel good.
When you feel a little stressed, restless or have been staring at the screen too long kick off the slippers and stretch.
If you struggle with ideas or would like specific help please get in touch because I would love to help.