I'm with Adele

Hi Troops,

Another week nearly over and start of a new month (supposedly summer!)

Earlier this week I heard on the radio that the singer Adele struggled to write songs when she is happy. When I listened to the radio I could really relate to it. You see since I have been doing my blog I have had loads of stuff to write about when I have been unhappy or when things have gone wrong in my life.

Since I have had a new focus & I am happy then I struggle to find things to write about! Its easy writing when you are pi**ed off at something or some douche bag is dicking me about. Now all the negative things and people are out of my life I find it hard to write about happy things, which in itself is quite sad lol!

I suppose you can look at health and fitness in the same way............there are some people who are happy with the way they look and feel like they don't need to exercise, however just like I need to keep writing when I am happy people need to exercise regardless of how they look. Exercise brings so much more benefits than just weight loss. It can help improve mood, reduce risk of chronic disease such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some types of cancer.

When you exercise and your mood improves it can bring positive changes in all areas of your life. When I am happy even my car still being a shed on wheels doesn't bother me lol!

So be happy and still exercise and click one of the links below. 

 Life Support......let the SWAT team help 

Eat yourself happy

Release your endorphins here

Andrea (happy) Springthorpe

07949 959 547

info@fit4force.co.ukwww.fit4force.co.uk

From a left rucksack to a motorway blow out

Hello Guys,

Hope you all had a good weekend? I suppose it seems a distant memory now.....I am behind with my blogs as I have had two action packed weekends on the trot!

So this weekend I spent the longest time I have with any male for a long time......Ben Nevis ;)

Yes we had our road trip up to Scotland, climbed a mountain and came home. Mixed in with all that was some small drama's and lots of laughs. When we arrived at our hostel we started un-packing the camper van and realised that we had left one of the girls rucksack in Yorkshire!! Said rucksack had all walking gear in apart from walking boots which was lucky. So after a mad dash into town she managed to get a raincoat from the one shop that was still open! We managed to climb up Ben Nevis with only the odd midge bites. We were so lucky with the weather and we got fantastic views and even managed to sit at the top for an hour and eat lunch. The other views that we got to see was the mass of good looking men!!! Is that where they are all hiding....up a mountain??!

Now I have stayed in a hostel before, however the ones I have stayed in the past has had separate dorms with doors, this one was certainly back to basics with rows of bunk beds and only two toilets and showers to share between 24 people! To be honest though I think it made the weekend feel even more of an adventure. I was glad to get back into my own bed on Sunday night though.

We set off home early Sunday morning and I have found out that as soon as I get in a vehicle (when not driving) I have the traits of a baby. I fall asleep, wake up when hungry then fall back to sleep. This was the pattern on the way there and on the way home. However when we had a blow out on the motorway, being sat at the side of the M6 for over an hour woke me up. Luckily we managed to get onto the hard shoulder before anything worse happened. RAC came to put on the spare and the damaged tyre was saved by a guy at Kwik Fit so we could get home.......

'You can't get better than a kwik fit fitter'

Now no matter how much you plan for events like this sometimes things happen which are out of our control or just bad luck. Luckily we all had enough clothes between us to sort the missing rucksack issue out, if the boots had have been left it might have been a different story. Although having said that there were some douche bags doing Ben Nevis in trainers and we even saw one guy in flip flops.......WTF!!

The same can happen in fitness and health, we can plan our training, stick to our meals and sometimes things don't happen how we imagine them to. We might not lose weight one week or we get ill and it puts our training on hold. However it is how you react to the situation that makes the difference between success and sticking. The girl who left her rucksack could have made the decision not to do it as she didn't have all her kit........if she had she would have missed out on an amazing experience and seen the things we did.

So don't let one mishap or disappointment knock you off track, things are sometimes sent to test us and if you stick at it then you will get results and see the top of your very own mountain.

So if you want help getting to the top click one of the links below.

 Life Support......let the SWAT team help 

Fuel your adventure

Get to the top of your mountain here

Andrea (slept like a baby) Springthorpe

07949 959 547

info@fit4force.co.ukwww.fit4force.co.uk

Finally did it!!

Hello Guys,

Just a quickie today as I am mid packing for this weekends adventure doing Ben Nevis............

Cast your mind back to the back end of last year.......I had a goal of being able to do 10 pull-ups before Christmas. Now if you remember I didn't hit my target boooo! Anyhow, the pull-ups that I was managing to do weren't strict ones (I used to use my legs as momentum to help me get up). So at the beginning of the year I decided to stop worrying about my goal, strip my training back to basics and complete strict pull-ups.

It was disappointing to start with when I struggled to get 4 or 5 out if I was lucky. I have kept going and doing them as part of my weekly training. The other week I managed to do 8 relatively easy. So today along with the help of my coach I decided to try my ten.........and I only bloody went and did it!

Now at Christmas I could have given up on my goal as I didn't get there by the time I wanted, however it took me another 6 months of perseverance and I did it.

I wanted to share this as sometime we get disheartened when we don't see results straight away or we don't achieve things by a set time. Stick at it if you want something bad enough you will do it.

So if you want help in conquering your goals or the support when you feel like giving up then click one of the links below.

Anyway I best finish getting my things ready then hit the hay!

Life Support......let the SWAT team help 

Stay on track eating plan

Never give up training

Andrea (never thought I would do it) Springthorpe

07949 959 547

info@fit4force.co.ukwww.fit4force.co.uk

It's how hard you work that counts

Hey Guys,

Well I have just about got over my mad challenge at the weekend, just in time before I take on my next adventure this weekend doing Ben Nevis eeekk!

This week I have been teaching boot camp at a local School event, Mission Active week. I was asked to do it a few weeks ago to do boot camp as a new addition to the yearly event. Now on Monday I felt like a Zombie after the weekends challenge and to then teach 4 sessions of boot camp to year 5 & 6 junior school children with over 40 kids in each group was a wake up (or a killer lol). I have been doing it all week and as much as it is tiring I have loved it!

One thing which has become apparent whilst doing the sessions, the children aren't used to working at such high intensity! The feedback from the teachers was also good, saying they could do with me in the School each week to sort their fitness out (work opportunity to follow up right there!)

Now gone are the days when kids played out, rode their bikes and climbed tree's on a daily basis........instead computer games and TV have taken a precedent. Yes kids do PE, play sports and some do fitness. However the majority don't do general fitness exercises and don't work at high intensity. It was great to see kids red faced, sweating and working really hard! Each child worked to their own ability which meant no one was left out or made to feel better/worse than their peers.

It is the same in my adult sessions, everyone can work at their own pace and all fitness levels are catered for. However, it is not just about turning up to the sessions, it is about how hard you work when you get there that counts. Anyone can come along and not make much effort, however, it is those that turn up, give it their all that see the best results.

So if you want to come and make a difference to your own fitness and perhaps be a role model to those of you who have 'mini me's' then click one of the links below. 

It is best to set the foundations of fitness at a young age, however, you are never too old to make a difference to your health and fitness.......so get clicking guys!

Life Support......let the SWAT team help 

Back to basic eating plan here

Fitness schooling here

Andrea (losing my voice) Springthorpe

07949 959 547

info@fit4force.co.ukwww.fit4force.co.uk

Smells like Team Spirit

Hey Guys,

Smells like Team Spirit..........well after this weekends challenge we all smelt less than desirable! However we managed the 150 mile running relay from Gretna Green to Roberttown in 23 hours and 8 minutes beating our 24 hour target whoop whoop.

It was physically and mentally tiring however doing it with a group of equally crazy people made it memorable. It is funny how much you talk about food and going to the toilet on these type of challenges lol. By the end of it squatting down at the side of the road for a wee became the norm!

I completed 29 miles of the leg, the most I have run in a long time as I have been doing shorter distance since I started my bikini fitness competition prep.

Just a short one today as I need to be catching up on the nights sleep I missed from the challenge.

So if you want to be part of something that is more than just a fitness session then click one of the links below........be part of a team.

Life Support......let the SWAT team help 

Eat yourself clean

Team training here

Andrea (actually not aching) Springthorpe

07949 959 547

info@fit4force.co.ukwww.fit4force.co.uk

Sometimes positive thinking is just not enough

Hey Guys,

Hope you have all had a good week and are ready for the weekend?

This weekend I am taking part in an endurance event, there are a group of us who are running from the Scottish borders back down to Roberttown in a relay. If I complete all the relay legs then I should be doing about 35-40 miles of running. These things are a great idea when I sign up for them lol!
Today I want to talk about positive thinking, now on the whole I am a positive person and I try look on the bright side of things. I even try visualise things that I want in my life as if I have them already. Before I moved into my current flat, every night I drove home from work I drove to the flat first and imagined that I lived there..........and now I am!

I need to start doing the same with a 4 bedroom house now and imagine I am driving a Sirocco lol!

Unfortunately when it comes to health and fitness no amount of positive thinking is going to get us results unless we take action. If we still eat crap and don't exercise then thinking positive is not enough to get results.

However if you think positive about achieving your goal AND take action by eating healthy and exercising then you are more likely to achieve your goal.

So if you want help taking action to achieve your goal then click one of the links below.

Life Support......let the SWAT team help 

Positive eating plan here

Health positive training

Andrea (will be aching on Monday) Springthorpe

07949 959 547

info@fit4force.co.ukwww.fit4force.co.uk

What's your why?

Hi Guys,

The other day I was reading an article about self-control and suggesting that it isn't the reason why so many of us don't meet our goals.
The article unfolded and suggested that the reason why people give in to the cakes in the office or skip their training is that they haven't put their end goal as a priority and the 'Why' they are doing something isn't important enough.

Now when I read the article I could really relate to it. Now I train regularly because I enjoy how it makes me look and feel. When it comes to my diet I enjoy the 'treats' too.........in fact up until recently I have been enjoying them a little too much!

In the past I have started programs with the intention of sticking to them for 12 weeks or so, just to see what the best shape I could get into. However, a few weeks in there was always an event, meal out, night out, trip away that would derail me and I would never be 100% committed to sticking to it.
Now I am on week 4 of my bikini fitness competition prep and I am 100% committed because this time I have an end goal of getting up on stage and showing my hard work off. Week one into my plan I had a night out and a BBQ all in the same weekend. I didn't let my training stop me socialising and I didn't let my socialising interfere with my end goal. I drove and drunk water (which on a night out in Halifax is a real eye opener) and I took my pre prepared meals to the BBQ with me.

Now if I didn't have the competition and I had just decided to start a 12 week plan I know for a fact that I would have been eating the BBQ food and not my own!

I have finally found my why. I am in it to win it, not just make numbers up on stage so that is my reason to stick to it.
I realise that what I am doing is very strict and not everyone will have the same goals as me. However, what if you just started to make a few changes, like saying no to the extra cake in the office, or scheduling your training session by doing this consistently and gradually cutting things out you will be surprised at the changes that come with it........positive changes.

If you want help and support to find your why then click one of the links below.

Life Support......let the SWAT team help 

Clean eating diet

Find your 'why' training here

Andrea (finally found my why) Springthorpe

07949 959 547

info@fit4force.co.ukwww.fit4force.co.uk

File under who gives a s**t!

Hi Guys,

Now as much as I am bloody annoyed that my car has broken down, it was the best week weather wise for it to happen, especially as I walked home from work earlier. Although I was wet with sweat instead of rain. I don't know about any of you guys but I cant seem to walk slow when I am going anywhere and I end up red hot! Although that speed will probably slow down quite a bit when I go do Ben Nevis in a couple of weeks time #notprepared!

My passport arrived the other day and it got me thinking about my holiday and that when I go away it will be a year since I changed the style of writing for my emails/blog. If you had not already gathered I pre type my emails and set them up to go out automatically on certain days. Now before I went away I typed up all these 'controversial' emails and scheduled them to be sent when I was away........ it was a risk as I couldn't cancel sending them as I was in Spain! Now for me this was something new and out of my comfort zone...........however I had great bloody fun typing them up! I used to get bored writing about hints and tips and used to struggle to come up with something new to talk about. Now I have a daily plethora of things that I can write about as it is everyday life. Unfortunately for me the worse things are the juicier the blog!

My first blog was about the bonehead guys I have had relationships with in the past...........now when I received a message from one of said boneheads whilst I was away about my email I realised I had made the right decision to change. Whether people love or hate what I write about, I create a reaction and a talking point. Now I have never been one to follow the crowd (hence why I don't have an i-phone!) and I like to be different, who wants to be a sheep when you can be a wolf! 

A great quote I once came across

'As for worrying about what other people might think - forget it. They aren't concerned about you. They are too busy worrying about what you and other people think about them. - Michael le Boeuf.

This is so true, how many times have you not done something because you are worried what other people might think? Or you follow the crowd because you are worried about doing something different.

Now if you spend too much time worrying about what other people are doing then your results end up a mess, which is a waste of time and energy. Now I have wasted enough time and energy on bonehead guys I don't want to do the same with my business.

When you have your own business you strive to get good results, plus having a fitness based business you want results for the client too. By changing the way I did things I started to get results. I have never received so many comments (in a positive way) about my blogs where before I rarely got any feedback. Probably cos you were all as bored reading about how much water you should drink as I was typing them lol.

So if you want to change and be a wolf rather than a sheep then click one of the links below. Don't be scared to try something new, be part of a great group of people who file sweating, groaning and sometimes farting in sessions (you know who you are lol) under WHO GIVES A SHIT!

Life Support......let the SWAT team help 

Do it different to other people diet

Join the wolf pack here!

Andrea (sheep are boring) Springthorpe

07949 959 547

info@fit4force.co.ukwww.fit4force.co.uk

When things go wrong..........we want to cheat!

Hello Troops,

Still enjoying the nice weather? It is so nice doing outdoor bootcamp in the warm sun for a change, instead of the cold wet sessions we have had over the past few months.

Ever wondered why when things go wrong people want to cheat? When you hear of people cheating in relationships it is normally because they are unhappy or something has changed or gone wrong.........instead of having the balls to see the relationship out they find it easier to try someone else before they make a decision.

Today I could have cheated! 

Not in the relationship sense, in the diet sense. My newly named car 'crappy corsa' decided to break down again (after only been in the garage a couple of weeks ago!) Now this is becoming a regular occurrence which I am not happy about!! Anyway after yet another adult melt down (which also seem to be coming a regular occurrence) I borrowed my Mum's car yet again and went home. I was so pissed off I wanted to eat a bar of chocolate! Now luckily I don't keep any 'treats' in the house so I had nothing to 'cheat' with, plus I know I would have felt worse if I had have done and been really mad at myself for being weak!

I am on week three of my bikini fitness competition prep and a few people have already commented on how I look to be changing so I am glad that I didn't let my emotions get the better of me. 

If I'm honest at this moment in time fitness and the focus of this competition is the only thing keeping me from going insane! One hurdle after another just seems to keep coming my way!

Only a few weeks ago I would have used my car breaking down as an excuse to eat something 'naughty' in order to make myself feel better. However the feeling is only temporary, no amount of eating chocolate is going to make my car run smoothly or get me the money I need for a new one. In fact it would have made me feel worse. In the past two and half weeks since starting my prep I have realised that I am a MASSIVE EMOTIONAL EATER. When I was feeling fed up I used food as a comfort. The weight had started to creep on and it's only because I exercise so much that I didn't put even more weight on. I have also realised that I can have a bloody good time on a night out stone cold sober! I have had some great nights out over the last couple of weeks and the massive bonus is I wake up hangover free!!! 

Sometimes you have to go on a new journey to discover things about yourself! I wanted to share this with you because I think people often get the impression that because you work in the fitness industry that you are always healthy. Even fitness instructors get down emotionally and some of us use food as a comfort. 

If you are struggling then click one of the links below and let us help, support and guide you through your fitness journey! I cant help if you have a cheating partner, although if you come to bootcamp you will have the strength to kick them to the curb.........literally lol!

Life Support......let the SWAT team help 

Ditch the 'cheats' and eat your way into a better mood

Mood boosting fitness

Andrea (really wants a Scirroco) Springthorpe

07949 959 547

info@fit4force.co.ukwww.fit4force.co.uk

We always want something different!

Hi Guys,

Hope you have all had a good weekend and enjoyed the lovely weather.......lets hope it is here to stay for a while longer.

I was talking to someone the other day and they were telling me how they wanted a body like a famous pop star, this got me thinking about how most people want to change or improve something about themselves. Just look at the roaring beauty and cosmetic trade, this is enough to prove that people constantly strive to make themselves look and feel better.

My first memory of wanting to change something about myself was when I was very young and I wanted my blond hair to go dark, my Mum, Dad and Brother all had dark hair and I felt like the odd one out. Then when it did go dark as I got older I wanted blond hair like my younger cousin! Now I am happy with my natural hair colour and if I get bored I colour it!

I also remember when I was at secondary school I got called 'dingy lips' as I had full lips. It used to upset me and I really wanted thin lips, god if I knew then what I know now, people pay good money to get their lips 'pumped' up like mine lol!

Now I only think things like this don't start to bother you as you get older, more confident and don't give a shit what other people think.

It is the same with our bodies, we are unique we can't look like someone else, however, we can make the best of what we have got. Our bodies are the one thing that we get to keep for the rest of our lives. So make the most of it, look after it, shape it to become the best version of you and remember if you are unhappy with it do something to improve it, bodies are not like cars we can't just trade them in when we get fed up with how they look or if they don't run efficiently!

So look after the one thing you are stuck with and click one of the links below.

Life Support......let the SWAT team help 

Fuel your body to last along time

Build YOUR best body here

Andrea (improving my body) Springthorpe

07949 959 547

info@fit4force.co.ukwww.fit4force.co.uk