More Real Lessons From Squash....

Firstly i thought i better bump that last post down, just in case Jonny read the description of a calm, smiling me as his opponent - and spat drink over his computer or choked on some food!!

There have definitely been moments of calm and smiling though - it's just not always been easy to maintain.

Here's why.

I started off learning to play with a dodgy grip on the racket - i was tearing up the grip and cutting my thumb! However i minimised this and managed to improve fairly quickly.

'Problems' began as soon as i tried to hold the racket properly - i started to get worse.

If you have the wrong technique for something it soon becomes a big challenge to unlearn it and do something different - especially if you are always trying to learn in a pressure or performance situation - and that pressure can easily be self imposed.

You can often see this with simple patterns of movement or exercises that people just want to work hard at and not take the time to learn the skill.

This is what happened to me - and i was totally freaked out by the reality of my squash playing situation.

I'd had a pretty bad game, and i'd already been thinking i needed some time just practicing hitting a ball by myself. So after this bad game i decided the time was now!

I couldn't believe it when i found i could basically do nothing with the ball that i wanted to - literally hit it where i wanted between 0 and 2 times on any given attempt. I stuck it out for 25 minutes or so until i could have some basic control for a decent number of repetitions.

Sometimes i think we need to stop and consider if we need to strip something back to its basics so our only concern is what we are doing and how we are doing it - especially when starting something.

I think the grip issue stemmed from the small amount of tennis i played as a child.

Faulty habits can be physical and mental so watch out what you carry forward with you!

Steve
www.sussexbootcamps.co.uk

Beginnings.........

Beginnings are always a very interesting dynamic time - anything can happen, radical choices can be made and beliefs left behind or taken on a new.

Beginnings can be more uncomfortable for some than others. Ever seen (or been) that person clinging to their old ways and habits for fear of change!!

I've enjoyed beginning a new game over the last few months - squash.

It's challenging, exciting, sometimes frustrating, sometimes exhausting!

I like the game and i like the quality and intensity of the physical challenge.

I guess like most games there is a strong mental aspect. It's easy to focus on results only and get caught up in frustration and self criticism. But when pretty much anyone is better than i am to begin with, that would not be a recipe for long term enjoyment and participation!

I'm still very eager to see improvements and points - but it seems the best moments come when i just focus on hitting the ball well, moving well, and smiling!!

This no doubt reflects what many go through with their fitness training. We want it all right now. We don't want to spend time learning to move effectively, develop the necessary qualities and build that all important foundation.

But if you can step back, set yourself some targets, agree and commit to a certain amount of work to achieve them, it's then ok to mentally relax and enjoy the process. In fact you may get there faster and with better results!

I had a different beginning about 3 years ago - i took up gymnastics for the first time! I loved it!

As i'm not going to classes of this anymore what could i share with you about that experience?

Well with a background of movement and fitness i picked up a certain amount of basic stuff reasonably well. This was both good and bad!

It meant when i started to get the hang of how to do something i would then hammer it! I would definitely get overly frustrated at times, and keep practicing things when i was no longer fresh enough to reinforce perfect technique.

I also probably didn't respect the different forces that i was subjecting my body to enough.

So all of this ended up with tendinitis on the back of my right hand / wrist, and at this point, not doing any gymnastic training.

Sometimes you just have to step back and look to the longer term. Having done this you are more likely to be able to enjoy the moment - and that is something we should all have more of!

As Pete Cohen said at our Haywards Heath event recently - "people take themselves far too seriously"!

Steve

Big Event - Big Goals - Big Progress

Everything has been a bit manic after our successful charity night.

I still can't quite believe how well the evening went and how positive everyone has been about it.

Anyway - let's relate this to your fitness!

I've said for a while that having some big 'WOW' goals will probably add a lot of fuel to your efforts in the shorter term. As long as you can link that inspiration with action that is!

Once you commit to doing something bigger and perhaps out of your comfort zone, all sorts of things need to and will start to happen to get you there.

Just taking initial steps towards that bigger goal will likely give you great confidence and experience to draw from in the future.

It wasn't until life coach Will Perry made a comment that i realised this as related to running our our event. He said something along the lines of "It's always nice to see people doing something out of their comfort zone and growing accordingly".

This is exactly what happened with us and the event, and with people taking on those bigger goals everyday.

Maybe you decide to take an aspect of your training to a new level, maybe take part in some event or competition. For some people completing a month of Bootcamp would do this!

I've done a couple of more endurance based charity events in the past - the Three Peaks Challenge, and the Trailwalker.

Personally, i don't like to needlessly suffer, and i like to succeed. So a commitment to do such events spurred on specific training to make these events easier.

I'm not sure how you would do it any other way. Maybe neither of these is such a massive undertaking - you only need to walk after all! Yet many people did not get close to the end.

When you prepare for and achieve something beyond the normal for you - it raises the bar on what is possible for you - new beliefs are formed, maybe even new parts of your identity.

I read something recently about someone who really made progress with their training and the effects on their physique when they accepted the statement "I am an athlete". This was then put on top of the computer screen and anytime there were any doubting voices about going to train, she only had to look at this to get going!

Find something that would fire you up and maybe even re-set your beliefs in what is possible!

Be an everyday athlete!

Steve Cork