Why Fitness Should Fit Your Life, Not Take It Over
Fitness has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. I've been coaching for nearly 15 years, I competed in bodybuilding all the way to a UKBFF Championship final, and I still love challenging myself today. But one of the biggest lessons I've learned along the way is that fitness should improve your life rather than take it over.
Most of the people I coach aren't athletes. They're running businesses, building careers, raising families and trying to have a life at the same time. So I don't ask them to organise their whole world around the gym. We build an approach to fitness that fits around the life they already have.
Consistency beats perfection
You don't need the perfect programme or the perfect diet. You need something you can actually stick to. I had a client who was going to exercise classes five times a week and thought she was eating healthily. She was putting the effort in, but the results weren't coming. We cut her training down to three focused sessions a week and changed her approach to food from just eating healthily to eating right, with the right amounts of the right foods to support her goals. She lost 10kg and looked and felt amazing for her 50th birthday. Less time in the gym, better results. Three well planned sessions a week for a year will take you much further than six days a week for a month before you burn out, and the same goes for nutrition. You should be able to eat well most of the time and still go out for dinner, travel and enjoy time with your family.
Train with intention
I always want the people I coach to know why they're doing an exercise. Focus on the movement, feel the muscles you're working, and make sure what you're doing actually supports your goals. More training isn't automatically better training, as my client above proved.
Keep setting new goals
Your goals can and should change over time. You might start out wanting to lose weight, and once you've done that the goal could become getting stronger, improving your fitness, running an event or simply holding on to what you've built. Having something to work towards gives your training direction and keeps you coming back.
Fitness is only part of the picture
Training and nutrition matter, but so do sleep, stress, work, relationships and recovery. I'm a coach, business owner, martial artist and dad, and I have busy weeks like everyone else. Recently my daughter's mum was away for ten days, so I had her full time. That meant being far more organised than usual. I'd do the school drop off, get to the gym around lunchtime, then head back for PT sessions and admin before picking her up. I also started going to bed earlier, because I knew I needed proper sleep to show up well for her and for my clients. I didn't train as much as I normally would, but I kept moving forward.
That's really what I try to bring to my own life and to everyone I coach. You don't have to be perfect in every area, you just need enough structure to keep going when life gets full. Get stronger, look after your health and keep challenging yourself, but make sure you're building a life you actually have time to enjoy.
Jermayne Williams
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