56 Days down – Tim Morgan’s journey

Month Number 2 was definitely a big challenge for me for a number of different reasons! The biggest being the fact I was doing good and felt good. Do you know what I was ok with feeling this way and there is nothing wrong with good, except it is not great, or fantastic or shredded to the max. 

I have seen this a lot of the years and you may even have experienced a period of this your self –  I have done pretty well and now I am “comfortable”. Once we hit this comfortable stage we can easily get complacent  and forget that the goal was not just to be in less pain anymore but to actually be amazing! My advice hear is to find a way to stay focused on the end target, wether that be reading and revising your goal every day or by some other measure! 

 

“The greatest threat to being amazing is being good” 

 

Does your journey have any similarities? 

Week 5 Dec 29 – Jan 4

Feeling amazing after my last 4 weeks of crushing it I am optimistic and confident that this trend will continue! “It hasn’t been that hard” I remember telling myself! I have even been crushing workouts while I am away! See some of the photos below! 

 

However that is all about to change! 

The hang over of NYE Hits and it is the first green shake I have missed since my challenge started – “its Ok” I tell myself but it was not OK! I had just allowed myself to break the discipline that I had been creating, I didn’t know it yet but this first miss would be a snowball effect over the next couple of weeks. This key element to my increasing energy levels was about to be let go. this brought on a chain of effects all starting with feeling tired again! We where just about to go into the businesses biggest month on record and I was tiring! 

 

Week 6 Jan 5 – Jan 11  

Week 6 was BUSY!!! It become very clear my next day off was going to be in Feb and the 12 hour plus days are here to stay! 

Work had gone nuts 2 weeks earlier than expected and we were already seeing record breaking stats in terms of leads, clients coming back from holidays and new client sign ups. The work I had put into the business in November and December with all my renewed energy was coming to fruition! Awesome for the business! However as all our small business owners know to be successful you have to be borderline obsessive. The line between work and home gets very blurred and you do not switch off! The best bit is I was already crushing the little challenge so it didn’t matter if I missed a shake or two and had a cookie  or alternatively swapped a workout for a nap. 

 

However

 

The hours got longer, getting up got harder, I would continue to slip up because I was comfortable in my results and to be honest I was happy with what I had achieved so far. Then it happened…

 

The death of the morning green shake was upon us! This had a few different issues all starting with energy decreasing.  

1. Napping in the afternoon returned this lead to even less available hours.

2. Less hours meant less time to workout which would be the next thing to slow down

3. Less energy also meant that my sugar cravings and caffeine cravings are back in full swing

4. Focused in the business instead of on the buisness and on myself as a way of prioritising my less time and less energy. Which takes away from continued growth and direction this increases stress!

5. More stress starts the cycle again

6. Stress also sets off emotional eating and poor decision making – Cookies and iced coffees are back. This decreases energy levels even further!

7. Hormones are now way out of balance and it will take me the rest of these 28days to recognise the issue and solve the problem!

 

Simple solution it is never “OK” to skip out on the habits you have put in place for a very specific reason! 

 

Week 7 Jan 12 –  Jan 18 

This was a record breaking week for the business with more sign ups in one week than we had ever had before! My head is still down and ass up, working in the business and I am starting to recognise the signs of stress. Sloppy productivity, unorganised, tired all the time and life hating a little bit! 

The middle of this week would be a very quick turning point as i forced a green shake back into the body and starting applying some self discipline again! I need to thank my partner Morgan here to as she definitely flagged the fact that i was stressing out and not switching off from running the show! 

Another thing I noticed is I had not picked up my goal book since I got back. I 100% believe if I had maintained focusing on my goals all of this could have been changed sooner! Maybe even only missed the one day if even that! 

I organised my day off and started trying to implement the strategies that had made the first 4 weeks so successful once more! 

I am also really disappointed at this stage that I didn’t pick up the ball sooner and I have cost myself almost 20 days! I believe also that if I had of looked after myself better we could have had an even better month than we did, and set up much better for the rest of the year, than we have!  

 

Week 8 Jan 19 – Jan 25  

Knowing that the photos are coming really had me switched back on and the goal this week is to get it about 75% right with food again – a very achievable target  which will definitely get a result. Goal number 2 is to crush the exercise! 

The workouts from the Zac Evan-esh BWBB Program start to get really hard this week and I was a couple behind. But when your back is against the wall we fight (I am no longer comfortable, I am fuelled by the desire to achieve great results, and I want my bloody energy back!)

My focus this week was celebrating every time I chose to take back control. This is different to trying to be perfect, I was just trying to be better! 

 

It worked and here are my 8 week results – 

Test scores:

Week 1 (Day 1) VS Week 8 (Day 56)

Left arm – 29.5 VS 29

Right Arm – 31 VS 30

Chest – 94.5 VS 92.5

Belly Button – 80 VS 74.5

Hips – 89.5 VS 82

Bum – 100 VS 96.5

Left Thigh – 56 VS 54.5

Right Thigh – 57 VS 53.5

Left Calf – 37.5 VS 37

Right Calf – 36.5 VS 36

Body Weight – 71.1 VS 67.7

Body Fat% – 19 VS 16.9

Muscle Mass % – 41.3 VS 42.6

Water % – 55.6 VS 57.4

Bone and other Mass% – 25.2 VS 24 

In review I am satisfied with how I went for the first 8 weeks but I am really determined to finish strong. Re-establish the focus I had in the first 4 weeks and set the bar higher! The workouts get harder and I have added a third cardio session for the last 4 weeks – 4 strength and three cardio to finish off the challenge!

The lesson I learnt is that the little things really matter.

1. Get up early and be prepared 

2. Constantly and constantly remind yourself of what you are trying to achieve 

3. Recognise that comfortable is the opportunity to step up to uncomfortable OR alternatively it will be my ultimate downfall

4. Green shake is king 

 

 

Weeks 9-12 will be out in our next bulletin I hope you are ready and I am looking forward to putting my energy into this one and absolutely nailing it!

 

 

Tim Morgan 

Mobile Personal Training Specialist

4 U Body Fitness