Success and Longevity in training and in health: guest blog

For the past twelve months I have been spending as much time as I can each week exercising with a group of like-minded people. We do crossfit classes, we stretch together, we motivate and encourage each other. We have been brought together by our desire to be healthier, happier people. Our group guidance  sessions - sometimes up to six times a week- comes from our inspirational trainer, Rory Trend.

I have learned more about my health and fitness in the last year than in the previous twenty, simply by listening to and working with Rory. I asked him if he would mind sharing some key tips for my blog readers here, so you too can benefit from his training wisdom.

Here’s what he had to say…

Success and Longevity in training and in health

As all of my 20 years experience has been a combination of eastern philosophy, Kung-Fu and Tai-Chi training, with western philosophy and exercise science, I have developed many methods for overcoming the obstacles that we all face, not only training and health, but also work and LIFE. One thing we know is that life comes every day and we need to be able to overcome the obstacles that are thrown at us on a daily basis. That is where philosophy comes in, or what I call, ways of thinking. Before we can be successful in anything, we need to be able to get our mind to overcome the first and only obstacle that is in our way and that is, getting started.

Of course in this article I am talking about health and fitness.  As the age and levels of fitness will vary greatly to the people who are reading this, it is important to note that I will be using generic tools (philosophy) for you to try.

The Phenomena:

The less you do, the less your body will want to do. The more you do, the more your body will want to do.

The less you train or exercise, the more your body will tighten up and over time become useless to you.

Move it or lose it.

The more you train or exercise, the more it will tighten up. BALANCE exercise and training with relaxation, stretching, take a hot bath, a nice paddle in the pool or ocean. The buoyancy of the water will help your muscles to relax and will speed up recovery, especially for the people just starting out.

 5 Rules to successfully integrate training into your weekly schedule:

1) Make it fun, find something you like and enjoy that increases your heart rate and uses all the muscles that you don’t use in your job or daily routine.

2) Never train so hard on one day, where it will stop you from training again the next day. Always train hard and long enough so that you will want to do it again tomorrow.

3) Set your schedule and set your goals for the week. Keep them in your mind, so you can tell yourself you are going to do this at this time and look forward to it. It is called, chanting the mantra. I will do this, I will do this. I will start that, I will start that. Keep saying it until you are doing it. The mantra is self-designed to suit your immediate goal. Keep it in the fore front of your mind at all times.

4) Never ever, ever miss Monday, because if you miss Monday, there is a good chance you will miss Tuesday, if you miss Tuesday there is a good chance you will miss Wednesday etc, etc. If you do Monday there is a good chance of doing Tuesday etc, etc.

5) Find a group of people with similar interest and start off easy, work your way up. REMEMBER every one starts at the beginning some time and we all have to work up from there. So never be embarrassed or scared as we have all been through it as well.

As I could write a book on this subject alone, I would like to take this opportunity to say that if you would like further discussion, ideas or an assessment on your health and fitness, please do not hesitate to contact me via email  or go to my website!

Si-Fu Rory Trend

Master Trainer in Fitness

3^rd Degree Red Belt Kung Fu

Expert Chen Style Tai-Chi

Level 4 Body Guard