James Farrington PT

Motivation 🧠

A common barrier to success in fitness is people not feeling 'motivated'.

When I hear this, a few questions I'll always ask are:

Are you currently working towards something?

Do you have goals in place?

And a plan to get there?

Often times the answer is NO, NO and NO.

Having goals and a roadmap to get there with benchmarks along the way is a sure way to increase your motivation.

So ask yourself, do you lack motivation or do you lack clarity?

One of the most powerful things you can do to better your health and wellbeing is to prioritise
your sleep 💤.

Use these tips to sleep like a baby 👇🏻

- Go to sleep and wake up at similar times

- Have a cool room temperature

- Have good sleep hygiene

- Avoid eating too close to bed

- Reduce Caffeine Intake and none after 2pm

- Limit screen exposure 2 hours before bed

- Use blue light blocking glasses

- Replace screen time with reading before bed

Power of Hard Work

For many the gym is just something we do to work on our health and fitness, which is great.

But the gym (or any form of exercise) has the power to do so much more.

The gym instills hard work.

It builds mental toughness and resilience.

It requires commitment and consistency.

These qualities transfer into every aspect of your life.

The gym/exercise isn’t just lifting weights, it’s personal development at its finest!

One of the most overlooked components of fitness/ health.

Sleep plays a key role in our mood, decision making, recovery capabilities and productivity to make a few. 📈

We should be aiming for 6-9 hours of good quality sleep per night.

Below are 6 tips that will help to improve your sleep duration/quality:

1️⃣ Have regular sleep/wake times.
2️⃣ Clean bedding regularly.
3️⃣ Eliminate screen time before bed.
4️⃣ Write a ‘to do’ list for the next day.
5️⃣ Read before bed.
6️⃣ No caffeine after 2pm.

There are many more but I feel these cover the basics.

Nail the basics and then look into the more advanced methods (supplements, mood lights etc)

Try these and let me know how you get on!🥱😴

Squat Tip 🏋🏻🔥

Struggling to get deep into a squat?

Some people will knock out a full depth squat no issue with next to no experience due to a number of factors regarding anatomy and mobility. 🤸‍♀️

But the majority of us won’t have this luxury (myself included😩).

A lot of the time it can be due to poor ankle mobility.

Implementing a small wedge under the heel (elevating the heel) can give us artificial ankle mobility allowing us to achieve a good squat depth without compromising at other joints.

Over time as your mobility improves you can reduce the size of the wedge until you can hit a full depth squat without needing the artificial mobility created by adding a wedge. 📈

Another option is to buy a set of Olympic lifting shoes but be prepared to pay! 💸

Here’s some basics to make sure you’re setting them up right:

1️⃣ Set them at the correct width (think just outside hip width).

2️⃣ Make sure they are symmetrical, you can use a line on the floor to make sure they’re nicely placed.

3️⃣ Ensure they are placed on a flat surface and don’t slip.

🏋🏻‍♀️Next time you’re squatting give this a go and let me know how you get on! 🔥