How Jazz's change in mindset allowed her to start making progress!
Are you someone who dreads the thought of dieting and exercise?
You want to make a change but your past experiences haven't been positive so it puts you off from even trying as you don't enjoy the process.
These are things that Jazz was struggling with before we started working together as she had previous experience with dieting via Slimming World and her stop start routine in the gym were things that put her off the process slightly as they were experiences that didn't enable her to achieve the results she wanted in an enjoyable way.
When she first came to me she had been training in the gym with a friend but she wasn't really seeing the results that she wanted saying: "despite going to the gym regularly, I never really had a set workout or knew what exercises would be of the most benefit to me". She had only ever been to the gym with a friend before as she felt "too scared of being judged" which is an all too common reality for many people when it comes to training in the gym environment.
Jazz reached out to me as she knew she needed some guidance to improve the effectiveness of her training sessions in order to see the results that she wanted. She also said that: "I needed a personal trainer to help me with things outside the gym such as nutrition and sleep".
Jazz knew that exercise and training was important for her goals, however her motivation for it wasn't particularly high and it wasn't something she particularly looked forward to, despite reaching out for help. This is very common for a lot of people so it was important that we didn't do too much in the beginning. We therefore decided that two training sessions a week, that we'd do together, would be a good starting point in her journey.
For the first few weeks the goal was to make our training sessions as enjoyable as possible, we'd often spend much of the session talking about football and doing exercises that she felt comfortable performing. Jazz is a keen footballer (and a good one at that) so we started to link training and exercise to football and how it could help her develop and improve her game. Jazz's initial goal was to lose weight but once we established the link with training and football I started to notice a shift in Jazz's motivation. "My mindset towards the gym and changing little habits within my daily routine have changed massively in a positive way".
I think this is a great lesson for anyone who isn't enjoying the process to try and link it to the things in your life that you value most and watch how it can change your mindset and help you along your journey. For example, Jazz started to notice that getting fitter and stronger in the gym was transferring over to a sport that she loved which meant she now viewed exercise in a different way, a way in which she enjoyed and looked forward to rather than something she put off.
Now that Jazz was starting to enjoy the process a little more it was a good time to start looking at her lifestyle outside of the gym. She felt her nutrition and sleep were two key areas that she wanted to improve so that's where we started. "Another major change in me is my lifestyle outside of the gym as well. Things like my eating habits and my sleeping pattern have definitely improved." To achieve this change we started out with a simple food diary to create some awareness around her eating habits, once we had this we were able to make some changes to her current diet to increase her protein intake and get her eating more regular meals. We also set weekly goals to help keep her on track with her nutrition and sleep, for example we aimed to eat 100 grams of protein each day and get to bed 30 mins earlier than usual.
Jazz and I were in constant contact throughout the process not only during her session but outside of them too. Keeping communication lines open every week, via Whatsapp and countless voice notes, helped us to keep on top of Jazz's nutrition as well as address any barriers that came up. I've also seen the positive impact it has had on Jazz's fitness levels at football. Unfortunately she picked up an injury which has meant she's been unable to play and train for a while but I'm looking forward to picking up where we left off once she's fully recovered.
Jazz also had this to say:
"Since working with Lewis, I have come to grow in confidence knowing what exercises I can do to get the most benefit from my workouts. When I first started, I felt that it would take me a very long time to be confident enough to go into a gym myself but after working with Lewis for only a few months, my mindset is very different and I am now able to go into a gym confidently by myself. I have definitely noticed changes to my body in terms of definition and weight loss, which are two major positives for me. I have learnt a lot of things since my time with Lewis. From the workout exercises themselves to the nutritional information he provided, to the knowledge he has on a healthy lifestyle itself and how it can benefit people. All the information Lewis provided to me was taken on board and will help benefit me in the future for definite".
This has been a really enjoyable process to be a part of and I can't thank Jazz enough for letting me share this experience and trusting me with her goals. I'm looking forward to sharing her full transformation once she's fully recovered from her injury.
Do you think that if you were able to shift your mindset that you could achieve incredible results?
If you want to find out more about how coaching can help you then hit the link below and I'll be in touch. I have coaching spaces available to start in the New Year, are you ready to put your trust in me the way that Jazz did?