Ok so we’re all familiar with that children’s story where some guy builds a house and nothing is right and it ultimately, keeps failing and being a hobble of short term fix after short term fix.

To us here at Body Planners this is all too familiar. Not in the sense that our clients are rough builders, but in the sense that before finding us, certainly the ones who’ve tried other things in the past (much like Rachel, before finally acknowledging there is no replacement for hard work and dedication to your cause) their ‘training’ or exercise protocols are ultimately a series of short term fixes backed up by the last or the next short term fix.

It is admirable that people will try all sorts in a bid to get the job done, but improvisation and adaptation are in essence a fundamental or two when it comes to refinement but we’re still completely baffled as to why people enlist on this illusive promise program.

Fat burning pills from the counter of a petrol station, or commercial grade weed killer from your mates acquaintance from the local gym isn’t going to cut it, yet there are literally thousands and thousands of people out there buying into this waffle!

The way I see this is people should focus their perception of a training program closer to home, or at least closer to something that actually means something to them. If you’re a keen dog owner, the latest and greatest harness and lead for your prize pooch goes a long way. It’s easy to spend the money because you understand the hammer it’s going to get. If you used to do countless miles for work, you’d want a trusty steed with a track record of reliability behind it, and obviously pay for the privilege.  Yet almost every time we talk turkey with training in the new year, people aim low. Low budget, high expectations and with most things it is one of those that just isn’t the case.

I remember once, I couldn’t swim for toffee. Then again you ask any triathlete and they’ll tell you they can’t swim for toffee either. I felt that I needed professional input into this element of my training so I looked at what I was earning, and what I was spending. At the time even when the pubs were open I wasn’t a massive attender. I was hell bent on improving my performance within this sport I’d stumbled across and wanted to follow my curiosities as to where it could lead.

After doing a bit of research on what was out there, I ‘took the hit’ and found the best coach I could afford for a couple of hours on a 6 weekly basis. Swimming is difficult because you can’t see yourself, you can’t film yourself and you can’t really ask someone who knows little to spot your form so a coach, even though costly against some things was the way to go.

Cutting a long story short, I ended up happening by Alistair Brownlees coach and he showed me some stuff, and told me how, what and when to do things to improve my swim. I followed it, and I did indeed start swimming much better.

Only now as I write this I begin to imagine where I’d be if I just picked up ‘Swimming for Dummies’ off my local petrol station counter, or ‘How not to not swim’ from my hairdressers. I’d still be there now churning a perfectly good swimming pool into the worlds biggest washing machine!

The point I stress here is, that despite my spend, every 6 weeks, and my time getting there and back, the things I’ve learned massively outweigh the price because I have learned that skill forever. Yeah, I might not be on it all the time, and right now swimming is pretty much a no go but as a result of seeking advice from a professional, I know what I need to do to get my swimming to where I want it to be.

There are countless examples of correlation between people seeking professional help for what they want to achieve, and then going and achieving it. Chrissie Wellington IS an unbeaten IRONMAN athlete at that distance (FANTASTIC Autobiography by the way), yet she came to endurance sports late, and knew little, but she wanted to achieve something, and paid someone to help her along the way! All of the worlds biggest fitness superstars, Redgraves, Hoy, Kenny, Bolt, Radcliffe take your pick! They all, invested at some point along the way for professional input, yet us mere mortals at the grass root level try to make and make do with free plans that are set to fail, diet groups that don’t deliver because they too are set to fail, and then potentially the worst one we see, the diet group attender who enlists to the free plans left right and centre.

Up to now a lot of this could be taken the wrong way, when all I’m simply saying is, all that money you spend in the wrong areas, trying to make do will cost you in the long run.

At Body Planners we don’t just give you the fish, we teach you how to catch them. It’s an on going process, the better you get at fishing, the smarter the fish seem to get and the more difficult it can become to land that golden catch.

There is a lot that goes into making a program for one person, let alone a program for a group of likeminded people who collectively want to achieve the same or similar things.

Like anything, whether we’re back to the harness and lead for your prize pooch, the parking spot for the family car or the latest inspiration for your spare room retreat, you have ‘the end in sight’. All you see is how it’ll look when its done. You create a job list, and prioritise like any other sensible project manager, then you do each task in a timely fashion as and when it comes along, thus striving for greatness and taking steps closer to that finished product you have in your mind,

Why is your health, or your body, or your wellbeing any different? Why do we look at our idols and even kid ourselves on that we’ll get there on make and make do strategy?

Succeeding on your fitness journey is down to your programming. If you go at it too fast, the foundation levels will not be right. The very stuff that underpins that end product you can see in your mind is compromised, and potentially doomed to fail because you didn’t start off as you should have. You embarked on the program that jack built! I am not for one second saying that his house never worked out, I’m simply saying that had he done it right from the start, it would have been done sooner, and he’d have been able to enjoy it more before it got too late!