Fellowship of the Rings

So another Olympic Games has come to an end, and with it all the triumph and tears that so many sports can generate in a couple of weeks. I love watching all the different athletes from the different disciplines, most of whom do not have the spotlight of the wider world on them very often. The Olympic Games provides that spotlight, but most of the time these athletes toil in anonymity with dreams of glory. In the words of one of the Olympic greats, Jesse Owens, they have to have determination, dedication, self-discipline and an awful lot of effort. 

They do all their training away from the glare of cameras, working hard on strength and conditioning, specific for their chosen sport; focussing on minutiae as well as generalities, building on a base of strength to fine tune their bodies to hopefully realise those dreams. And that work can take years and years of determination.

Sometimes those dreams are simply to compete in an Olympic Games. For others the dreams are all about stepping up onto the podium and having a medal draped over their neck. However, no matter what level of dream, to say that you are an Olympian holds a lot of caché, and is proof of hard work and dedication that allows you to be part of a rare fellowship: that of the Olympic rings.

While most of us mere mortals will never enter into that fellowship, we can still have dreams. Those may be to have a body to be proud of, one that functions as well as it can. They may be sport specific; to get into a team that you have not been able to, or to play a new sport, or to take your play to a higher level. They may be to get fitter, or stronger, or leaner, or healthier. Whatever the dreams entail, to turn them into reality will require a degree of all the attributes Jesse Owens mentions – determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort. 

And you will have to spend some time acting on all of the above qualities. Maybe not the years and years that Olympians, but definitely more than the six weeks that magazines and/or social media promise us. 

My wish for my clients is that they adjust their expectations, realise that there are no quick fixes, and settle in for the long haul as they slowly alter their mindset and subsequently their bodies. In the same way that there are so many different sports represented at the Olympics, there are a wide range of dreams, hopes and aspirations for people who use the services of a personal trainer.

It is my job to understand the dreams of clients and temper their programming to suit them, their bodies, their training age (how long they have been training for), their chronological age, their abilities, and many more tangible and intangible factors. And, in doing so, allow them to make progress as fast as possible.

There may not be medals on offer, but celebrating every small win is an important part of the process. Every personal best. Every training session completed. Every success; no matter how small it is, is important for progress. Which is why it is important to log the progress made, so those wins are easily identifiable. 

So while we may not be dealing with Olympians, progress is still progress. And that progress can only happen with the hard work of the client over a period of time, which is usually a lot longer than initially thought. And just remember this: every Olympic champion was a beginner once.

If you’d like to start something new, or maybe resume training, or want to run around with children or grandchildren, please click this link (or the gold button below this paragraph) to book a sensible, no-nonsense, chat about your dreams and how we could work together to turn them into reality.