Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Teaching and educating in fitness for over 12years I have been privy to many locker room conversations around the globe. This 'locker room' conversation in particular happened in the UK and to be honest it struck a particular chord with me. It made me realise that women and men in this body conscious world are not happy with their own bodies BUT they are not happy with anyone else’s either??!

The Locker Room

So how did I come to this conclusion?  Well whilst changing in my little cubicle at the gym I overheard a group of ladies chatting about their own body dislikes, which is normal whether you are in the gym, cafe or shop changing rooms. But just as one lady had finished discussing her own body concerns she then moved on to discuss what she didn’t like about other peoples figures, including the physiques in the media.

As a personal trainer I often get told about the areas my clients loathe and who’s body parts they would most like to have. Sometimes those requests are not realistic and some can be achieved but with the same hard work as many of those celebs have had to endure. The dislikes that the ladies were pointing out were almost in a suggestion that if this certain celeb was to change or naturally didn’t have what they saw as flaws they would be ….perfect. My concerns on overhearing this was if this celeb was this ultimate perfection this would make them a) unrealistic b) be an unrealistic goal to achieve and c)someone else may see their flaws already as perfection.

Expectations
The standards we are setting are scarily high for others and for ourselves and we now look as critically at other peoples bodies as we do our own! There is always that coffee morning time to have a good gossip and then there is a time to realise that we might be negatively comparing ourselves to others which could effect our diet, exercise or psychological health. Where we try to consciously or even subconsciously achieve a body shape OR possibly try to and avoid a certain physic for example restricting calories to lose weight, or eating the wrong type of foods to boost body/muscle mass to, over exercising till you fatigue, avoiding weight training which could help you against osteoporosis this is just a things as a personal trainer I have come across.

So how can we boost our own PMA?

Reality check
As the spice girls would say tell me what you want, what you really, really want?! Do you want to make a health change, physical change, drastic change or is it area specific change. When personal training a new client we really sit down and discuss what goals they have and if they are realistic. Once we have both agreed on the goals we decide on monthly review points. Being realistic, goal setting and actually visualising the final result is a HUGE part of the new you process.

Stay focused
So now you have decided what you want, make a plan and stick to it. People often focus on the start of their body changing plan such as what foods to have in the cupboard and what new ball exercises they are going to do down the gym. Often another common distraction is the fear and dread of how hard it is going to be to get there. But how many of you can honestly say you have seen yourself getting there? Tricky question i know, I ask this of all my clients because this should be what drives them and sets their focus. So imagine how you will feel and what it will feel like when you get there and be prepared to maintain it as this commitment will be permanent..

Accept compliments
Have you ever had a friend or partner that you have told looks lovely and all they have said is 'No I don’t I look ugly or fat' I often get frustrated because I know that the compliment I have just given is 100% genuine. So when someone give you a compliment imagine how they feel when you don’t accept it, why shouldn’t you accept it? if someone says you are beautiful then you are remember beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Happy hormone push
The good news is your body cant resist releasing happy hormones when you are exercising so lets get physical and work that negativity out of you. This quick ten minutes will get the blood pumping up and down your body and you feeling zingy all over.

• 2 mins walking up and down the stairs
• Push ups x 20
• Walk up the stairs now 2 at a time
• Squats clenching those buttocks
• Jog on the spot or jumping jaxs x 20
• Ab curl x 20
• Tricep dips x 20
• reverse curl x 20

And you are done!

So the aim is to get a goal, stay focused and then think ahead!