My Ramadan experience came to end after 5 days, well, 4 and half really as I couldn’t resist a bit of sun bathing which sort of ruined me so had to eat for fear of fainting. I am not sure many people usually sunbathe during Ramadan but either way I had enjoyed my experience and will do it again next year for a few days. With the fasting out of the way I was able to get back in the gym after almost a week off. Happy days!!
The issue of perfection came up a couple of times this week. This area is one that many people struggle with. On the one hand they want to be relaxed and have a balance of being good vs bad yet on another level they have not given themselves permission to actually be ok with doing the bad part. The result is they can never truly enjoy being relaxed without feeling an element of guilt. Either during or the following day. The consequence of this is that they never feel the true desire to go 100% strict because they never give themselves the true permission to be relaxed.
I am all in favour for high standards but I am result-ist. The question is, do your standards fit your goal?? For most people the issue is not about the standards they are setting. The issue is the inability to hit their set standards. The average person has it the wrong way round, they are aiming for 100% and actually hitting 40%.
If they were to set a lower more practical standard of say 70% then there is a good chance they could actually hit it. The key is what level do you need to be consistently at to achieve your goals. I can tell you now it isn’t 100%!
When going 100% you are sitting in the land of infinite, of never again – I must never eat chocolate, never have a ice cream, never drink, never have carbs, never miss an exercise session, never go less than 100% when training. The goal of perfection doesn’t just make the idea of trying to get results difficult but it actually makes you want to do the “never” activity more than previous. When going 100% you also better be sure your plan is right. If my goal is never to have carbs yet my body wants them then you are opening up a damaging battle. If i cut out fat yet my body crave the nutrients of fat I again have opened up a battle. For this reason I amnot a fan of being 100% as it often goes against your body and makes it more difficult for you to listen.
When you have perfection as your set standard you will be in endless cycle of feeling guilty vs rebelling. If you follow the blogs of all the top fitness models then you see very few are 100% with their efforts. While they may have periods of immense accuracy for many weeks they will also not be so on it at other times of the year. This is the nature of high performance. It is no different to how athletes train with their body.
For those who do want to be 100% then this path is as much a spiritual journey as it would be a plan of action to get in shape. Addictive behaviours, be it eating, drinking, smoking are the bodies natural default to stress. I remember seeing 20 monks in China having a cigarette break. Not your typical view of spiritual life.
If you are on the road to be perfection then you must first define your rules of addiction. Without this you will be forever chasing your tail. With every food in the world having a reason not to eat it you better find out what are your rules on each food? What are your rules on the amount of food? What are your rules on taste? What are your rules on drink? Non food/drink addictive behaviours? Without these you will never be able to win your game.
If your goal is results then you need to learn the thresholds at which success maybe achieved. For some behaviours this will be stricter than others. But there will always be leeway in one way or another.
Monday
Back to training and higher food intake 🙂
Diet – Protein – 212g, Carbs – 290g, fat – 100g, calories – 2908 % P: 29C : 40% F: 31%
Exercise – Weights
Weight – 72kg Body fat – 38mm*
Supplements – Protein shake
****************************************
*This is my own 10 point self measurement system, it does not correlate to body fat scores. At a guess 40mm – 8%, 50mm – 9.5%, 60mm – 11%, 70mm – 12.5%. I do not take it everyday if looking to gain muscle or maintain as it puts me off wanting to eat more. If on fat loss phase I take it daily.
Vauxhall & Victoria – For Personal Training in Vauxhall & Victoria please contact me. I am available for sessions in homes, private gyms or parks for Personal Training in Vauxhall & Victoria