Before we get going... If you prefer to listen to this blog then click on the video below where I will read it for you. 

Every Monday I sit upstairs in my studio after a busy morning of clients and I see the school children come in for their music lessons. 


For reference, my studio is above Solihull Music School and they are awesome at teaching music… 


That’s a shameless plug for my fiancé who owns and runs the school… 


I digress. 


On Monday afternoon at about 3.45pm there is a little girl who comes in with her mum. There are a few things that stand out with her. 

1. She is always on time (which is actually early in my book).
2. She is always polite.
3. She spends the 15-20 minutes before her music lesson practicing her reading. 

The incredible thing is that her progress in her reading over the last 6 months has been huge and the books that she is reading are more challenging to read. 


The question that comes to mind is… How much does consistency play a role in her progress?


I would say it is about 50% of the recipe. 


Maybe even less. 


Why?


Well, because I only see her for 20 minutes of her week, if that, which means I DON’T see her for 167 hours and 40 minutes of the rest of the week. 


I don’t see what her school is teaching her and how much practice she puts in at home with her other subjects and reading.


All I know is that for that brief moment every Monday she is progressing…


Which tells me that she is practicing more than that particular time slot on a Monday.


It also tells me that outside of her own reading time she is probably being challenged at school. Maybe she has to read in front of the whole class like I did when I was growing up…? Who knows… 


My point is this… 


Being consistent doesn’t mean that you will be successful at something. 


Being consistent and having the right environment and stimuli will be the best way to see progress. I mean, if she simply consistently read Humpty Dumpty she wouldn’t progress. (It's a cracking read btw).. Gettit?


In fact, if she kept reading it she would just memorise it and that wouldn’t necessarily enhance her brain function and progression into adulthood. 


The reason I mention this is because I see people ‘reading Humpty Dumpty’ all the time in the fitness industry. Doing the same exercises or classes in the gym over and over again, but expect things to change. 


You see when I lost weight and when I set out to recover from ‘incurable’ chronic pain… A small part of the equation was showing up every day to make the changes that I wanted to see. The other, more substantial part, was finding the right things to do whilst being consistent for a period of time.


3 months is always a good sweet spot. 


This brings me onto my final point. 


If you’ve got consistency and the right stimuli then the other element that you need is…


That’s right, you guessed it… A measure of progress. 


If you were going to walk to Alaska, you would need to know your starting point to plot your route and you would need to know at what point your mode of transportation would need to change to facilitate the journey you wanted to embark on. 


That’s the reason that my programmes are a minimum of 3 months long and include a lengthy 1.5hr “Kickstart” session as well as weekly touchpoints. 


People need to be assessed, then directed with structure and they need to be consistent with their practice to get the result that they want to get. 


Sidebar - I might add expectations to the equation too. If that little girl showed up to school every week and expected her teacher to do the reading for her, then she would, most likely, fail at school. 


It’s the same with our health, fitness and movement patterns. 


Consistency is great, but consistency with a process… That’s where the magic happens. 


If you’re interested in finding out how those two things can come together for you, then feel free to reach out. 


Other than that, Stay Strong, be consistent, have good structure and keep being meticulous about your health and fitness! 


B

I see the ‘cost of living’ crisis is the latest and greatest marketing campaign by the government and media outlets keeping the majority of the nation trapped in a stress response… 


Before you call me a conspiracy nut, I don’t deny that things are incredibly challenging for a lot of people at the moment. 


I have got some thoughts on this though…


Given the fact that the high percentage of people who are obese, in pain, on medication and in need of some form of help from the NHS, which is collapsing, I find it hard to believe that people are that concerned about money…


I mean, with this many people with underlying health issues, it’s likely that they won’t even see retirement. 


Not to mention the latest viruses that seem to have hit the UK lately, children getting sick and people struggling.


Sperm counts and testosterone levels in men are at an all-time low.


Fertility rates in women are also at an all-time low. (1)


I mean, armed with that knowledge, who cares about money? The average person won’t be around long enough to use it…


That’s the one side of my brain talking… Call it the cynical side… 


That’s the side of my brain that used to tell me that there was only one way to live and that was to eat, drink and smoke as much as possible to end it all as early as possible. 


Yep, I did think like that! 


I mean, what was the point in me trying to live when I couldn’t pursue my dream of playing golf and getting paid millions!!?


Since my depressed and cynical days, I have managed to reframe my thinking around the state of the world in relation to my aspirations in life. 


I’ve spent an incredible amount of time and money on the process.


You see, when you are lying on a hospital bed, after coughing up blood and nearly choking in your sleep for no 'apparent' reason. 👇

When you visit the hospital again, need surgery and then can’t be discharged because your blood pressure is 220/120.


When you smoke 40 a day and can’t fall asleep because of the wheezing in your chest that keeps you awake.


When you can no longer tie your shoe laces or walk up a flight of stairs.


When you know you could die at the age of 26 of a heart attack at any moment.


When you’re told you’ll never run again and you’ll be in chronic pain the rest of your life, and spend you day like zombie on pills...👇


Then you have two choices.

Choice 1.
Submit to the suffering and let things overcome you.


Choice 2.
Tell yourself to get up and get your proverbial shit together.


I’m glad I chose the latter. 


You see the hardest part about losing 10 stone and completely recovering from 'incurable' chronic pain was not actually the process.


It was conjuring up the belief that it was possible.


A mentor and coach that I worked with 2 years ago had a phrase… “People need hope to cope.”


I’d like to rephrase that and say, “People need hope to thrive.”


Hope is a feeling and, in the world today, is that we are far too sensitive and emotional to latch on to hope. Simply because hope and ‘positive vibes’ are far less exciting than reading about Harry and Megan’s latest acting charade to earn money or the latest ‘cost of living’ crisis. People are addicted to drama because it takes them away from organising their own lives. 


My point is simple.


When you surround yourself with the right environment and you tell yourself that you will NEVER stop pursuing health and vitality, then your life will change forever.


I am literally living proof.


When I was fat, sick and nearly dead, I was also broke and miserable and fed myself with negative energy.


Today I am healthy, happy and have money in the bank. I’m not a millionaire yet… but I won’t be stopping anytime soon. 


You shouldn’t either. 


There is a reason you’re fed drugs, bad food and negativity and it’s because it helps to keep the population in debt and in control. 


You simply can’t thrive if you’re addicted to the negative.


Recently, I teamed up with another Biomechanics practitioner from Functional Patterns and we launched a 14-day Kickstart Programme.


It has been incredible to see how, in just a few days, people have changed their lives…


You can achieve amazing things when you put the work in. 


The key is doing the work.


Don’t rely on hopes and dreams without putting in the work. I did and didn’t put in the work and couldn’t understand why I failed. 


Use your hopes and dreams to guide you to the work needed to succeed. 


Stay Strong & Keep Moving & Working.


B