Into Week 6 of my Ocean Ready Training Block in preparation for the Great Pacific Race 2021.
Since getting onboard with Gus’ programming, just over a year ago, I’ve learnt so much and I’ve never felt better. I feel good, I’m moving well, my imbalances have improved so much and I’ve learned to love the power of mobility and flexibility. So, it’s not surprising that I’m writing this blog post and singing Gus’ praises. I’m absolutely pumped and loving the progress I’m seeing and feeling.
Various exercises I have been doing as part of my current training block.
I’m someone who has trained since I was 16 years old, I’ve always loved it and put in a lot of effort. However, that effort, enthusiasm and energy hasn’t always been harnessed to its potential. My mindset has always been to push myself to the limits every single session ....which isn’t healthy and it isn’t sustainable. I’ve had some very serious injuries along the way and it’s taken me a long time to learn how to train safely and effectively. I qualified as a PT Level 3 in 2017 which taught me a lot but I still had way more to learn.
There’s so much conflicting advice and opinion in the world of physical training and it’s hard to know what the best things are for you so I’ve always just given it my best effort, literally 100% maximal effort ... which isn’t much of a training plan let’s be honest. If you’re reading this and relating to it you’re not alone, I know lots of people who are in the same category. I’m still learning now after 15 years how to train effectively. The best advice I can give you is this .... not every day needs to be a thrashing, you can make way better progress by honing in on good technique and quality reps no matter what your discipline is. Give variety to your training and enjoy the process. You’re better off building a solid foundation before hammering in the roof tiles!!
The 100% mindset ... it’s a blessing and a curse. It’s taken countless hours of hard physical exercise for me to forge that mindset and today one of my biggest challenges is harnessing that and channelling it to give me the best results. Which, sometimes means giving my best effort to the technique or to the discipline required to ensure I’m at certain heart rate or to the consistency of a block of training to ensure I see the results. Some say ‘Train smart, not hard’ but my mantra now is ‘Train smart AND hard!’
We are all learning and all on our own journeys. These are my reflections from seeing awesome progress and being extremely excited to see where this year takes us!!
Finally, a big thank you to Gus for all of your guidance, help and support!!