Fitness Is A Journey

Fitness is a journey and we all have a different path to walk. It's not a one size fits all. We all have different personalities, different mind sets, different disciplines, different triggers. We each have lived different lives, suffered our own different heart breaks and dealt with those situations in our own way. 

With this being the case, you cannot tell me that with every person being as unique and individual as they are that there is only one nutrition plan and only one way of training that will work for everyone. I certainly do not believe that to be true!

The "perfect" meal plan is not so perfect if an individual cannot mentally apply themselves to it. So what do you do? Do you give up? Quit? Get fat?? Tell your client that they lack mental toughness? Encourage them to eat in this mentally exhausting, physically draining and entirely unrealistic way. Tell them that if they don't, if they cannot comply to this perfect plan, then they will never achieve their dream body?? HELL NO !!!! If one way doesn't work for you, if it doesn't suit you, if it doesn't fit your lifestyle, your commitments, if it makes both you and those around you unhappy then we need to develop a plan that does work for you.

I received such a huge response from my post yesterday. I had so many girls contact me explaining that they have been experiencing the same difficulties with their weight loss as what I have experienced this past two years. I felt I just had to write a blog about it.

Photo 1 & 3 are from winter (mid July) 2012. I was scared to eat carbs, doing no / very minimal cardio, and training heavy weights only.

Restricting carbs from my diet worked for me the first time that I tried to get lean, but not again since. It makes me feel like shit and it is not maintainable for the lifestyle I live. I have a boyfriend, a family and a social life. I do not want to weigh and measure every single meal that I eat !! Every day since then I have always felt like I am on a diet but never getting anywhere. Putting on weight, putting on body fat, buying every supplement under the sun thinking that one supplement is the answer. Its been a roller coaster ride of restriction, limitation, binging, guilt and then starting all over again. Each time feeling more so of a failure than the last time.

Photo 2 & 4 are from Monday just gone 17/09/12. I am eating less fats, I have added in carbs, I eat weekend cheat meals and I do cardio (oh and of course I train heavy weights, because I  . . . LOVE my weights!!).

At the beginning of this year I saught out advice from a beautiful friend who also happens to be an IFBB Pro. She is someone who I respect, admire, and someone who I trust. She encouraged me to eat carbs, she told me that my body needs them. Explaining to me that she too had limited them in the past and felt that it did her body an injustice. At the time I just was not ready to believe it. I was sure that if by not eating carbs I was still battling weight gain and putting on body fat, then adding in carbs would make me even bigger! I would tell myself that I can't eat carbs yet, I am not lean enough to deserve carbs. I certainly don't deserve a cheat meal on the weekend, how in the hell will that help me get leaner??! Fortunately though, by contacting her for advice the seed of thought had been planted in my head.

Six months later I was sure that eliminating my carbs and not doing enough cardio was the reason for me not getting anywhere with my weight. I accepted the fact that my body NEEDED a balanced nutrition plan which included carbs, as well as an exercise plan that also involved cardio. Before my trip away to New Zealand I emailed my best friend and now nutrition coach Alice Round. I asked her for a nutrition plan and promised her complete compliance. I then went away on holiday with my boyfriend.

The two weeks that I spent in New Zealand with Daine was the first time in two years I have felt like I was not on a diet. On the flight from Perth to NZ Daine spoke to me and said that what I had been doing with my food cannot continue any longer. To promise him that whatever plan Alice wrote for me that I would stick to it  from the day we got back 100% until Summer. The agreement was that we would enjoy our holiday together, that I would not stress about the food we were eating while we were away. We ate healthily, but we enjoyed our holiday also. We ate chocolate and Ferg Burgers, and for the first time in my life it was guilt free! I promised Daine from the day we got back no more pie in the sky fitness goals, no more negative emotion experienced towards food and that on the weekend we could eat guilt free cheat meals together.

My now nutrition coach is also my best and most amazing friend Alice Round. Alice is the most supportive and amazing friend and coach I could ever have asked for. She has helped me figure out what wasn’t working for me and encourages me every day to keep taking forward steps towards achieving my goals. I feel fitter, leaner and mentally healthier than ever before.

My advice to you is to find a coach who you trust and who you can be honest with. Someone who preaches longevity in the advice and guidance that they give to you. A coach who pushes minimal supplements onto you and promotes health and the absorption of nutrients from a balanced diet - eating good, high quality, clean foods.

Whatever plan you are on you need to connect with it. Be sure that it makes you feel good both physically and mentally, inside and out.

I want to be fit, I want to be strong, I want to feel healthy and look beautiful. I want to motivate and inspire those around me. I want my clients to know that I truly believe in them and that I want what is best for them.

Above all else though, I want to be happy and share my happiness with those around me. This is my life !! We each get one life, one time, one chance to get it right. This life is my one opportunity to be the best person I can be, to love and be loved by the people closest to me, this is my life and my intention forever is to live it healthily and happily.

I'm not saying that it won't be hard work, you will have to prepare, you will have to push yourself, you will have to exercise when you're tired and eat fish and vegetables when your mind is saying just eat junk. There will be struggle, there will be set backs and some days you will feel like you just cannot be bothered! Well thats just human nature! Accept now that you are going to feel that way, and don't beat yourself up about it because it's a waste of your precious time!!

What I am saying, and let me put a huge stress on this, is that if it's a battle, if it's a fight and if your body is resisting, if it's costing you your happiness and the happiness of those around you, if you're looking in the mirror and saying that you hate your body, this body that you feel like you are trying to work so hard for but never achieving, and that hate for your body is turning into a self hatred, then you are on the wrong path for YOU. The path that you need to walk might take longer (geeeez mine has taken me two years to figure out and I feel like I've just only got my toes touching my path !!) but in the long run it will pay off! I promise you this! Find your path, get the right people to support and help you walk it, be sure of yourself, and never let anyone lead you in the wrong direction.

"Believe in yourself; feed your faith and your fears will starve to death."

If this post has helped motivate and inspire even just one person, then it has done its job. Good luck on your fitness journey. You can do it.

Your Coach,

Bek Antonucci

"Work, Earn and Deserve.".

“To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don’t worry about the darkness for that is when stars shine the brightest.”

Usually I wake up on a Monday morning pumped to start my week, I can’t wait to train, I can’t wait to train my clients, I can’t wait for the week to begin. This past Monday though I woke with a very different feeling, almost a feeling of sadness, the first thought that came into my head this past Monday morning was that this week is Hava’s last week training with me.

Meet my client Hava Nind.

Hava and I had met each other years ago through mutual friends. In August of last year, after almost  four years of not having seen or spoken to each other, I received a friendship request from Hava on Facebook (oh the joys of Facebook!). We began talking, asking each other about how our lives had changed since we had last seen each other. Hava started telling me how she had just started exercising and eating healthy. She  wanted to get fit and toned, in her words “fitter and more toned than what most girls would want.” Within a week Hava came into Shredded and started training with me, and so her fitness journey at Shredded began!!

For one tiny little pocket rocket of a woman, Hava has the heart of a lion. She came to me at over 25% body fat and last week was measured at a healthy and beautiful 18%. More impressive than the changes that she has made aesthetically, Hava’s strength has more than doubled. When Hava started with me she could barely walking lunge holding 3kg dumbbells, last week she was lunging with 9kg dumbbells !! Hava can split squat with 12.5kgs dumbbells, climb to the top of the rope, do unassisted neutral grip pull ups and chin ups, this little woman and her determination has absolutely blown me out of the water.  

Saturday Leg session with Hava Nind

B1. Unilateral Leg Press 10 - 12 reps

B2. Romanian Deadlift 10 - 12 reps

B3. Prowler - FAST !!

In terms of her commitment to training, Hava is an absolute dream to train. Any single exercise that I have asked her to do she would give a shot, in all of our time training together there were never any “I can’t’s”. Perhaps if there was one thing in particular that we could improve on it would be perfecting her nutrition . . . Am I right Hava? :-)

Sadly for me this week was Hava’s last week training at Shredded, Hava is moving east to Sydney to start her new life.

I want to say a big THANK YOU to Hava for being such an incredible client, your sessions really have been one of the favourite parts of my week. I am going to miss you woman - I am going to miss how hard you work, and I am going to miss how much you make me laugh! I am going to miss your big smile, the fluorescent singlets that you train in and your pigtails!! You can’t help but look at Hava and smile, she is an absolute star, a joy to be around, her light shines so SO brightly.

I know that Hava can achieve ANYTHING that she puts her mind to, I can’t wait to see her go out into the world and strive every day to achieve her goals. Hava I am so excited for you !!

Goodluck Hav! I will miss you! Every time that you are back in Perth you better come back and visit me at Shredded so I can kick your little butt !! Keep training hard because I will be checking up on you !!

Your Coach,

Bek

"Work, Earn and Deserve."

If you love me you won't buy me chocolate for Easter!

I love chocolate!! Like most girls I know, if there was just one food in this world that we could eat unlimited quantities of forever and ever, and never get fat, chocolate would be it! Unfortunately though this magic zero calorie, unlimited quantity food just does not exist. Boo! That is unless you have a deep passion and love for celery, then you  are in luck and can gorge away!!

With my own fitness plans for 2012 and some pretty serious goals laid down to be achieved, I do not see any room in my nutritional plan this year for chocolate - EVER !!

I have put a ZERO TOLERANCE ban on any and all chocolate eating.

 I would love to be able to plan once every week to look forward to eating a small chocolate treat with my boyfriend, a little reward for a week of being disciplined and sticking to my nutritional plan. Something to look forward to, and then to reset and start going again from the meal following. This being chocolate though is just not conducive to my personality. I have always been a very all or nothing person, my best friends and my family like to call me extreme (but I'd rather like to think of me as extremely passionate!!). So if I have one square of chocolate, I'll undoubtedly want the whole block! Blocks of chocolate sadly will not build me the strong, fit, muscular and beautiful body that I am working towards achieving.

Last week  while I was spending the morning with my Mum she decided to start doing her Easter egg shopping. She asked me what I would like for Easter. Saying nothing to my Mum somehow did not get the message across, as she spent the next five minutes holding up about twenty different Easter eggs to see if I would change my mind. "How about just a small one?" - No. "A dark chocolate one?" - No. "Well what about some chocolate from the health food store??" . . . "Mum! NO !! IF YOU LOVE ME YOU WON'T BUY ME CHOCOLATE FOR EASTER !!!!" She looked at me, stormed off, muttered something under her breathe about me being ungrateful, then went and bought me a lipgloss as my Easter gift instead and we were back to being best friends about five minutes later!

So I'm pretty sure I got the message across, and this Easter my family knows that any chocolate given to me as a gift is not going to be received well!!

My point of all of this is that if you have a goal to be achieved, do not let this long weekend set you back. Keep the ball rolling, keep taking forward steps. If chocolate is your weakness then don't eat it! Pick something else to be your one meal of the week where you can divert from your nutritional plan. Every Sunday after the Shredded group class my boyfriend and I go to the Wild Fig in Scarborough. That is my treat meal for the week. I still pick a healthy meal, but I look forward to it, and I enjoy it. I also don't feel guilty after eating it!!  Its low carb, gluten free, sugar free and its keeping me on track. I am still moving forward towards my goal.

Make sure you have your own nutritional plans already set in place for this long weekend - before its started!! Remembering that a goal without a plan is just a dream. We can fail to plan, but a good plan never fails .

Happy Easter, eat well and enjoy your long weekend!

Your Coach,

Bek

"Work, Earn and Deserve."

Successful people don’t need to be told what to do because they know where they’re going.

I am currently spending part of my spare time making myself my own vision board. Its purpose is to depict in illustration my desired future. A visualisation tool that represents everything that I want to have, everything I want to be and everything that I want to do in my life. My vision board is going to remind me every day that I know what I want and I know where I am going.


Most days I wake up ready to take on the universe, but as I said in my last blog there are always a few days where I can wake up feeling like it might be easier to stay in bed rather than to take on reality.

So up directly above my bed head is going my vision board.

I strongly believe in positive reinforcement as an effective tool for altering behaviour. Positive reinforcement involves anything that follows a behavior that makes it more likely that the behavior will occur again in the future.

For my vision board I’ve thought about what exactly makes me tick. What quotes do I continually repeat to myself, what photos do I post on facebook, what motivational videos have I watched on repeat so much so that I know them word for word. These are all the elements that are going to make up my vision board.


My Work . . .

My Training . . .

Achieving Success . . .

My Aesthetic Goals . . .

My June 2012 Photo Shoot . . .

My Mantra . . . 

My belief that no power is greater then love. Love for my family, love for my partner, love for my friends, love for my work and love for myself . . .

Consciousness can shape reality. Empower yourself to create and live the life that you want. If you have your own personal goals that you want to reach, maybe you should think about making your own vision board. Visualise achieving those personal goals and living the life that you are going to create for yourself.


Your Coach,


Bek


"Work, Earn and Deserve."

I want to be the greatest of me.

The brain is your most powerful organ.

For me it is the reason for my every success, my every achievement. So powerful it is the driving force behind my every motivation, my strength, my purpose to wake up and go each day. On the other hand it is also my biggest weakness, it can stop my burning desire to achieve greatness dead in it tracks, it can put my forward  moving momentum to a grinding halt. For days at a time I can be stuck.

It is for this very reason that I weight train. It reminds me daily that the power of the mind is incredible. That after one awesome training session I can go from being completely stuck to being back into the swing of full forward momentum.

Despite what some may believe, it is not actually an aesthetic thing. From an outsiders perspective it is easy to take a narrow minded view, to believe that the only reason a person would train is to look good. I have heard before that “there’s more to life than being good looking and having a nice body.” If this is what you think then you have missed the point entirely. In my books it cannot actually be something to be proud of to be considered “attractive.” What is considered to me to be a pride is to be determined, to be mentally tough, to push forward in times of struggle, to try harder when it would be easier to give up.

I have said it in a post before, do not just train for the purpose of aesthetics. This is only one of its many benefits. Train because it teaches you mental focus and discipline, skills that you can go on and apply to all aspects of your life. Achieving success in the weight room will give you the confidence to go out and achieve your own personal success in the world.

The brain is your most powerful organ. It is more powerful and faster than any computer. It is thought that creates, and that thought precedes action. What we think about regularly, that reality is created for us. Change your thinking, and you have the ability to change your life. 

“If constructive thoughts are planted positive outcomes will be the result. Plant the seeds of failure and failure will follow.” - Sidney Madwed

I want to be the greatest of me, do everything in your power to become the greatest of you.

Your Coach,

Bek

“Work, Earn and Deserve.”