About this Site

I have finally reached my rock bottom. I had a good hard look in the mirror and am not impressed with what I see. I must point out here that it was the reflection that I am not happy with. I really like me, the real inside me. (That is very important)

I know I can justify my current condition with a load of genuine excuses like -

I am 56 years old (nearly 57)
I have a big frame
As you get older you get softer.
Gravity takes its toll.
I really don’t look too bad
I like myself just the way I am
I don’t care what anyone else thinks.
I am a really happy person
I am very positive about life and my looks do not really matter.
I have too many aches and pains. I would train if it wasn’t for my dodgy knee or shoulder.
I just do not have the time to train.
And so on and so on.

If I am really honest - this is all rubbish. I would love to have a great physique with loads of energy. I would also love good comments from others about how I look, and I would, more than anything else, like to stop lying to myself and justifying my current condition.

NOW IS THE TIME !

I have decided, with my wife Lorraine, that I would do this with the help of a blog. This way I am making commitments, not only to myself, but to anyone who reads this. I teach motivation and self-development, and know from experience that people only change when they feel they have to answer to someone else. If this was not the case we would have everything we wanted and not look for any type of assistance. I am no different. I know it is the Panel Beater whose car has the most dents, or the Electrician who has only a few lights working in his house.

I know quite a bit about training and have trained most of my life. I do it in patches. I will train for a few months and then give up and do almost nothing for a few months. I am in the nothing stage right now.

My intention with this blog is to show you the easiest way to train - and I am going to be trying different things as I go along. I want to find a way I can not only train now, but continue in years to come.

I have tried Arnold Schwarzenegger's training methods, along with lots of other methods in the Muscle and Fitness magazines.

I must be honest - I know they work because I can see the results in the magazines. The only problem is that this worked for them and I still have to be me. I do not want to wake up trying to be Arnold. That does not mean I would not like to have a build a bit like his.

I have not done any in-depth studies on the human body - but I do know my own body.

Back in the early days they did not have all the information we have readily available ye they learned how to understand themselves

I think back on my Grandfather. On his farm (in the bush in Zimbabwe) he had no electricity for most of his life, and they used homemade candles. They cooked on a wood stove. He had a cage on the veranda where water would seep through sacking - a type of fridge. He would sit on a scale in his barn and get one of us kids to read off the weight. He would say if he was 225 lbs (16 Stone or 102 Kgs) he was at his fittest. (He was a big man 6 ft 5/6 ins) He knew his body. He ate regular meals every day, consisting of Protein, Carbohydrates a bit of fat. They grew fresh vegetables and fruit and he would kill the odd cow, sheep, pig or shoot wild game for food. They did not have artificial additives, colourings or flavourings.

I think back on the African farm labourers. I knew the young boys well because they were my best friends. They too ate healthy food and did not have money for junk food. They would not have even known what that was. I never saw one of them overweight or unhealthy. They worked hard and played hard. They were very strong boys and men.

I am going back to trying to just understand my body and doing what is right for it.

Common sense tells me if you do not use muscles they have a habit of disappearing.

Lorraine managed a sheltered housing complex for the over 65’s in Reigate a few years ago. I often had to rescue a certain lady in her 70’s who did not have the strength to lift herself up to sit in a chair. She came from a very wealthy family and did little or no work most of her life. There was another old man there who would walk to town and back (2 miles) every day, regardless of the weather, using a walker (Zimmerframe) to keep fit. He was 93 years old !

Well enough of the stories - its time to talk about how we are going to go about this training and what we want out of it.

The first thing is - no matter what you want to do in life there must be a good enough reason. e.g. it is one thing to want to give up smoking to have good health, but certainly another to give up because the Doctor says you will die in a few months if you do not. (That is exactly what happened to me) It is amazing how motivated you will be if you know there is a good enough reason to quit.

This might help you as this is what has motivated me. I have had to become very honest with myself and ask myself some questions, that under most circumstances, I would rather avoid.

If I continue as I am what am I going to be like in 5, 10 and 15 years time?
Will I need assistance to move around?
What kind of life will I have?
Who will I ask to help me?
How will they treat me?
Will I BE HAPPY?