Day 3 - Positive Thoughts

Positivity.

My Instagram post this morning, post workout is the first thing I want to talk about.

Bright Lights, Colours and Rays of Hope...

So, I saw a lovely sunrise again and it got me to thinking. I realised, that positive energy comes in so many forms that we can (and should) be positive. No matter what is going on in our lives; lets face it some days we feel like crap, can't be bothered and really wanna hide in the shadows, but we can all find some small ray of light to bring colour to our day.  A simple sunrise, the sound of crashing waves, rustling of trees and all the wonder that nature provides can (to some) be very motivating, whatever it is that resonates with you - use it, channel it and let it over power you when you're not feeling 100%. The 'light' of positive energy can come in so many ways and can inspire us to do all sorts of crazy things.  

Today's CRAZY idea, that I come up whilst marching to class, will surely motivate me, but hopefully you. I will share that in just a short while, but first….

Train through it...

I woke this morning, body aching and sore from a change of pace and routine (plus a little over activity yesterday), and I really didn't want to go to the gym (or anywhere). I listened to the familiar beeping and vibration of my alarms as the chimed at me.  They were taunting me, giving me the shits, and no matter how much I wanted to ignore them something inside of me said "NO! GAFFA, get up and get your sorry arse to the gym". Without further internal discussion I got up, got dressed, smashed a smoothie (after my warm lemon water), downed my AM supplements and slammed the door in disgust as I left…

Walking to the gym it was dark and cooler than normal, and I wasn't feeling any better - but I did realise that the voice inside of my head was my conscience. I am on day 3, and I want to inspire others - best practice what I preach, eh? So, thank you F2F readers - I was given a reality check and injection of motivation by YOU.

My workout started slowly, I was not feeling it at all. I could see the other early gym dudes working hard and with conviction, but I lacked exactly that. I could feel the slump coming on, and I snapped myself out of it quick-smart! I pushed myself, I trained through my thoughts and worked my body harder. Lucky for me I trained chest today. I even managed to get some pretty good improvements on my various bench press efforts (thanks to Soz for his spotting me). 

On the back of a totally turned around gym session, I left the gym with Soz, who offered a lift back in his car. Legs aching from yesterday I eagerly accepted! So, I learnt something really, really important from this whole session (not just about my bench press), but something that I couldn't put words to (but I felt) until later this morning.

In class, LEUT Subbie-McC, (Sir), was teaching us all about the marine engineering aspects related to pollution management, specifically about noise and submarines. He said, and I hope you can see what I got from this:

"The more noise you make, the harder it is to actually hear."

Well, that just hit the high note in my head! I woke up and made a heck of a lot of noise and couldn't get started, then once I accepted my situation and pushed on, and quietened down the noise I was making I started to hear the birds chirping and the wind howling…I felt the rays of positivity and I feel better because of it! Thanks, Sir!

So, after an extended study after lunch I decided to go for a swim. My decision led to another internal 'game': I was going to swim only 500m, or until I got tired or 30 minutes - whichever came first. Yes, my triceps and abs are sore, but for loosing of my legs' sake I pushed on yet again.

After 500m I was "just feeling warmed up" so, I thought to myself "hmm, I can push on for a few more laps" and got stuck in. It wasn't until my Garmin 910XT Multisport watch buzzed and chimed at 1000m that I realised I'd doubled my first goal, and was infact tiring fast… I switched to breast stroke and "OMG my hammies really are tight" came to mind! I pushed on, gently and listening to what my body was telling me - "I'll let you stretch me out, but please don't break me". After a further 200m my watch felt like a disco on my wrist - I had reached 30 minutes and my watch was as happy about that as my hamstrings were!

Elated I stretched in water, and jumped out of the pool. I had a nice warm shower and stretched some more - really holding the stretches to feel the blood flowing back where it should be!

Wow! I managed a chest workout and a swim! Very pleased with myself, and today I used my lesson from yesterday and I feel like I've turned a little corner.

Crazy Idea #1

Based on that, and the crazy positivity I've been feeling all week (albeit for the blip this morning - it was 0500h, to be fair!) - I want to share something fairly personal, with you. I want to show you more of who I am, I want to share the various stages of GAFFA. I'm going to use them as my training fuel, as a reference and hopefully you'll do the same for yourselves (maybe not so publicly). So, I was told ages ago to take a pic of myself before I started training and to put it somewhere, like my fridge and look at every day to motivate me… Well, my fridge is in Sydney and I don't look at anything but my laptop, a mirror or my instructors' presentations (model student, lol!)…

Instead, together we are gonna look backwards so we can look forwards and learn from our past to make our present more impressive. Forget about the future for now…lets go slow, one day at a time….

So, I've taken a few shots from before I moved to Australia, Before I met Winnie, Before I took fitness seriously (including on my travels with Winnie) - see our other blog for more on them, Before I joined the Navy last year (but I was eating gluten free and training a little in preparation) and a recent pic….

Before Australia..

April 2007 - Party Animal, no health interests just scuba, scuba, party!

August 2007 - Much the same, Resort Scuba Instructor Gaffa

In Australia, Before Winnie...

February 2008 - Always Active but never healthy

March 2008 - Not taking life too seriously!

Before Being Fitness "Serious" 

August 2009 - Scuba Professional, healthier but only Yoga & Scuba

Travelling with Winnie...

June 2011 - I Love Food!

August 2011 - I Love Cornish Pasties! 

January 2012 - I Love French Pastries!

June 2012 - I Love Mexican Burritos!

Before I Joined the RAN...

June 2013 - Eating GF and Training a little, Bali Body!

More Recently...

February 2014 - Standing with Flinders! An exercise in military living with health & personal development!!

But, Why?

Well, just in case you weren't certain, I'm doing this to see my own progress in real terms, with clothes on - just how people see me… In a few weeks I'll compare! Between June 2012 and June 2013 I met the Peaceful Warrior at OHE and she found out that I was a Glutard, this led to a shocking amount of weight loss, but I didn't know how to control my diet and wasn't aware of my body enough to notice the weight coming back on….especially after I joined the RAN and they put me on a Gluten containing diet until they could medically prove I was GF! Which led to a startling amount of pain, and weight gain (from bloating, gas storing and not training very hard due to injuries and sore joints)… Now, I'm under control, eat GF 100% of the time, and I'm living clean as possible…. So, watch this space…

How do you motivate yourself to go past the negative moments? How do you push through? I'd love to hear from you...