The life of a Trainer
As a personal trainer, there are two constants.
1) Feeling tired
And
2) coffee.
Usually the coffee solves the tiredness but when you get up at 4:30 every morning sometimes even the caffeine isn’t enough.
Sunday is the only day of the week where I can get up at normal people hours. So I spend the day the best way I know how. Getting a coffee.
This particular Sunday my girlfriend was in work. I thought I’d leave early to beat the crowd and my roasted beans early.
Arriving, I am shocked and disgusted.
The shops are closed!
How dare they take a rest on Sunday.
Irritated the coffee shop is closed I must wait with my girlfriend and talk. What the hell else does someone say to their soulmate at 8:45am?
We wait in the car park which was like a playground minus the swings.
There’s a steel container about hip high we choose to sit on.
“I really don’t want to go into work today”- she says.
I barely acknowledge. As I ponder where is open for the next coffee.
We progress on as conversations do. “What are we having for dinner later”.
She replies “take the chicken from the freezer we can have that”.
“Okay”- is my reply.
“I’d really like a fry, I’m starving”- my girlfriend says.
The Revelation
Like a flash of lightning in my brain.
Fry = Bacon, McDonalds do Bacon McMuffins. Which means McDonalds are open with……
Coffee
She stares and wonders why I am ignoring her. Little does she know.
Just one of those fancy new flat whites and a nice brekkie will do very nicely.
My girlfriend becoming irritated “Aw god, right then I’m going to work you’re not even listening.”
Snap Crackle and Pop
But for some reason. I don’t know what the reason is, maybe I’m crazy. Sometimes I wonder is this what happens to people who commit crimes.
Can they just not control themselves,?
Why can’t I just control myself?
A flash of excitement. A jolt of electricity forcing me to move. My girlfriend just turned to walk towards her work.
Nobody really knows why we do anything.
We sit in an office sacrificing 40+ hours per week for one week off in a beach and buy nice food.
With her back to me I jumped in a leap of faith on her back.
I leap on her sun kissed back.
I land.
Snap crackle and pop!,
She screams obscenities at me as she clutches her knee
I don’t think that was one of my most inspired moves.
But as I walked feeling mildly guilty while my knee capped girlfriend hobbles to work, I get to relax and destress over that coffee.
PiggyBacking
As I wanted a piggy back from my girlfriend I got thinking about the book, Power of Fifty Bits by Bob Nease.
One of the topics conveniently is piggy backing.
Nease Describes – “With piggybacking the behaviour we desire catches a ride with something we know people want to do”.
Which got me thinking about weight loss.
Your day is a series of actions. From having breakfast to taking a pooh.
Some of these actions you are proud of. Like say going to the gym
While some of your actions are questionable. Like jumping on your girlfriends back for no logical reason.
The mind craves structure.
Automatic behaviours and habits give that structure. Could you imagine your brain needing to pick out a brand new outfit every single day in work?
That’s why building habits and breaking habits is very very difficult.
It takes time, commitment and consistent energy.
Instead of completely uprooting our entire routine, Piggy backing adds healthy behaviours as part of our normal habits and actions.
Easy Piggy Back Rides
I used to struggle with taking my daily vitamins. I would constantly buy them and leave them in the cupboard.
Then six months down the road, realise from the mould growing that they were expired.
One day it dawned on me.
To get up at 4:30am there is one constant. The alarm clock
What if I began putting my vitamins where my phone alarm goes off in the morning?
All of a sudden, I’ve piggy backed the act of smashing my phone with taking my vitamins.
Ride that pig for all its worth!
Other examples include.
-
Join a gym in which you must drive by to get home from work
-
Sit across from the water fountain to increase your walking steps.
-
Stretch while you watch the tv.
-
Go on the exercise machines in the park while walking the dog
-
Do an extra few laps of the shopping centre when shopping
-
Park further away from your location.
-
Put lemon for some vitamins into your water.
-
Cook extra servings of dinner to save on extra cooking time.
-
Sit as far away from the elevator or as close as possible to the stairs.
-
Only fill up your water bottle a small amount so you need to keep walking and filling it.
Add your Own Piggy Back Ride
Piggy backing is not the magic bullet for weight loss but it provides easy wins.
There are three things that you just need to piggy back your behaviour.
You can add piggy backing to your own behaviour by
-
Looking at your schedule/ general day
-
Pick out common daily behaviours
-
Think of ways to add health related activities to your schedule.
Ride The Health Train
Piggybacking gives you the chance to easily add some healthy behaviours into your routine.
You are only adding or modifying existing behaviours so piggybacking should always feel manageable.
Other than piggybacking your spouse, I’d love to hear your own piggyback ideas.
Let me know in the comments.