It's Been 9 Whole Years... I'm Ready.

Well hello there!

It's been a hot minute, I know. With good reason though, I promise. Ruby and I took a 14 hour train trip from Aberdeen to Newquay just over 3 weeks ago and we've been exploring the South West Coast and actually LIVING!

I found myself realising that I was just stewing in all of the stressful situations that had brewed since the flood in our flat last year, to the point that it was affecting how I was showing up in life and in business.

I was starting to get bothered a little bit too much by the demands in my DMs and knew it was time to make a shift and step into my calculated risk taking former self again.

I think with everything that has gone on in the world in the last two years, it has been easier and easier to form limits and barriers around ourselves that make us feel small, trapped and limited. These limits and barriers, for the most part, for a lot of us are imagined.

You have to remember that the brain has a phenomenal ability to 'fill in the gaps' with things it has stored in memory, that if not challenged, can stop you from taking any risks, challenges or following through on what you know you can absolutely NAIL.

I decided that I didn't want to start recording my course material in a flat and space that Mae me feel small, that was just plain depressing, so I've headed out further afield and on Thursday, we move again.

Yes, being autistic, this has meant I'v had to be pretty diligent in my wellbeing practise, because the meltdowns from the lack of solid routine has challenged me for sure. Ruby, however, has taken in all in her stride, having travelled from a young age.

Anyway, I'm gearing up to launch my first group coaching course in 9 years! I'm f*-off-big-key excited about it because I've been trying to think of a creative way to combine fitness, nutrition and wellbeing practice in a way that just lands beautifully for AGES.

How you look after your body and mind has major input into the ease that you handle the challenges of your biggest goals.

Here's the story of how it went down 9 years ago in the course I created that allowed me to move from Aberdeen and begin my career in London as a Personal Trainer - I had a dream of contributing to magazines and being a busy London PT - which I did.

So, here it is -

Last year I bumped into a lovely lady I had taught in my first ever group coaching course. It was on a day I'd been feeling rather deflated and a bit of a failure.

She asked, “Amanda?…” and then went on to tell me how excited she was to see me and thanked me; telling me how that course I’d ran 9 years ago had changed her life and that she was so excited to tell the other ladies that she’d seen me. It took a lot not to cry there and then!

She had been the most nervous of the ladies who had joined the course and I was really rooting for her - I was excited because I knew the difference this knowledge would make to her. She was also the one who won week on week and soaked up the information. It was so amazing to see her confidence grow. It was also so wonderful to have a small group of women where we could laugh, learn and change our perspectives of food and exercise so that it didn’t feel like a chore, or something to dread.

I’d put together a course that ran over ten weeks where I helped the women to understand the properties of food and their benefits; what portions and calories really meant; hidden sugars and the types of fats and all sorts of bits that allowed them to feel empowered in their decisions and to let go of the idea that they had no willpower or that they were somehow ‘wrong’; a message that seems to be rife in the diet industry, it’s ok if you fail at this, this powder/pill/plan can fix you.

It was something that made me vexed often, especially seeing the distress on some of my clients faces when they were battling with themselves on their journeys.

As someone who lived with body dysmorphia and experiences of disordered eating, all I knew was that with my knowledge, I could guide people away from those beliefs and experiences by giving you information to work with, options and ideas…

I want to be able to hand you back the reigns and see that you already know what to do, you just need to develop the trust in yourself and have small pieces of lesser known information on how the body and mind works to keep the faith.

I think one of the hardest feelings when feeling frustrated with your body, food and exercise is that feeling of frustration and helplessness; feeling like there’s something wrong with you when there absolutely isn’t.

Though weight loss as a concept is something that I find easy to achieve for people in various ways, from very early on in my career I knew that I wanted to do things differently - I didn’t want people to feel the same way I had and I certainly didn’t want to give anyone the quick-fix diets that gave 10lb losses in a week that many magazines used to print on (the first 10lb you lose is often water and muscle tissue; meaning that you gain the weight back pretty quickly).

My favourite thing to do with my clients was to find out what they’d love to be able to do with their bodies - what would make you feel powerful? - maybe you love to dance? Or would love to run a 5K, 10K or even a marathon? Maybe you want to do pull ups… Press ups… 100kg dead lifts… Be ready to ski, surf…?

We’d create excitement around the process, together, before long even my shyest clients could be found milling around the gym doing their exercises in their own sessions as well as our own.

I’d have clients who would surpass their goals that were keen to move onto something more challenging…

Guess what, their bodies would change and adapt to meet the demands they were placing on their bodies to meet their new goals.

We’d improve their sleep, their stress levels; their self esteem and belief in their goals.

They wanted to share their newfound love of fitness with their friends, family and children…

One client would go on to own their own gym in Central London.

*****

The majority of my career was spent working in areas of high pressure businesses, working with bankers, brokers, lawyers, police; working parents, stay at home parents and business owners.

The last thing these people needed was more stress; more to do; more demands on their time and energy.

What they needed was an escape, an enjoyable challenge. As a face to face trainer, we would spend a time between sets enjoying LAUGHTER, jokes and sharing.

The more relaxed and happy they could be between the work, the more ready and determined they were to really go for their next set.

I imagine, I was a welcome breath of fresh air, because though I have a pretty impressive flexibility of technical knowledge and application in both food, fitness and mindset - I’m also a bit of a clown; I also love people and I love to laugh.

*****

I’m really excited now to be starting my first group coaching course in June!?

9 years after the first!

Of course, it’s grown and developed considerably since then.

Having learned and experienced so much through working with others and my own experience, there is much more to experience.

A 6 week course, we will meet weekly as a group to work through a key lesson.

There will be the 6 week course work lessons that will work on understanding of your own goals and how to get there… Most importantly, in understanding what the real goal is how do you want to feel about yourself?

There will be a heady mix of exercise, food and mindset lessons as well as understanding of how to improve and maximise sleep and minimise stress.?

Plenty of resources for self care and how to create and manage your own wellbeing strategy by developing self awareness and compassion.

It’s going to be quite the experience.

I’m not here to fix people.?

I’m here to give you the tools and the knowledge; professional and personal experience; for you to take your power back and trust in your own decisions again.

I’m excited to see your confidence grow and watch you achieve much more than a body goal.

If this speaks to you and you’d like to join the waitlist join register your interest by dropping me a message so we can have a call.

The first 5 people to join will receive a 60 minute 1-2-1 personalised session.

I’m excited to see you there!