A Word On Motivation

ByJarrat Wood

Recent discussions with clients have lead me to revisit the importance of goal-setting and planning. You have probably all heard of the SMART principle which states that goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound. When I conduct Certificate IV Fitness Courses this is the principle that we teach our students to use for developing goals for clients. This is a great system. It’s memorable and easy to apply and you can cross-check your goal with each of the 5 points to ensure that it is an appropriate goal. Once we have a goal set we can then work backwards to develop a plan that will deliver the client to the goal. Where I have found that this principle runs into trouble is when the goal does not provide sufficient motivation for the client to undertake the necessary changes in their lifestyle to achieve the goal. So our goal can be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound but if motivation is poor then our goal can easily slip by. Which brings me to my concerns over the word “motivation” and our reliance on someone or something providing the motivation for us?

An Accidental Runner

ByJarrat Wood
As with most life-changing events I have experienced, running happened to me by accident. And, despite my physio, Amanda’s, inspiring assertion that I am a “natural runner”, anyone who has known me for any length of time, including myself, remain shocked that I have started, let alone persisted, with this activity. The main reason being that a key feature of my personality is a complete absence of any intrinsic motivation to engage in physical exercise merely for the sake of it (Sometimes mistakenly referred to, by the ill-informed, as laziness). The other reason is that I have a chronic mental illness, punctuated by episodes of depression. 
 
I can easily explain having overcome the first impediment – the personality problem, as resulting from a combination of three main factors.

Cognitive Re-Framing: Let’s Change the Way We View Key Health Habits

ByJarrat Wood
The concept of cognitive re-framing has a variety of definitions and most of them get a little too bogged down in psychological jargon. I prefer to define and explain cognitive re-framing as teaching ourselves to perceive the same experience in a more positive way. Sometimes cognitive re-framing comes naturally from experience. For example, the first time you ever spoke in public you were probably very nervous. With experience, you can alleviate those nerves by perceiving the experience differently. You may still get a little nervous but you can learn to generate this into excitement and potentially a better performance. Let’s consider some ways we can use cognitive re-framing to improve our health…

How to Structure a Training Session

ByJarrat Wood
This week I’d like to give some advice on how to structure your training sessions. For this purpose, I’m going to assume that you are someone who wants to train for health and fitness, not someone who wants to train for a specific sporting event or for a bodybuilding competition. This advice would work well for someone who wants to train in the gym anywhere from 1 to 4 times per week and get an all-round workout each time they come in.