Special Forces - A week of Hell

Hey Guys,

Happy Bank Holiday (although nearly over!)...........great weather we are having, NOT!! Good old British weather never fails! Ah well only 13 days till I go to Marbella to do the boot camp abroad, Sun, Sea & Burpee's Tour 2015!

Anyway last night I watched a program called, Special Forces - A week of Hell with Freddie Flintoff. It followed a group of civillians who were put through their paces by US Navy Seals. I think each week, it will be a different force that trains them including the SAS. I was sat watching it thinking how awesome it looked and how I would love to try something like that......just to see how I would cope physically and mentally in such extreme conditions. They had them getting up in the early hours, beasting them around a drill square whilst making them dip theirselves into freezing cold water and were also being hosed down! They then had to stay awake over night whilst they took them to a beach in Wales where they had ten hours worth of different physical and mental challenges! One was having them do press-ups in the Sea on the instructors count and had they had to leave their faces in till they were told to come up (gave me some ideas for the training sessions in Marbella hahaha!)

Now obviously my boot camps are nowhere near that extreme, think nearest we have come to water is having a water fight last summer with the outdoor crew lol. I thought I would today share with you where the idea/name of my company stemmed from. Now if you've read my previous e-mails, you will know that I have been in relationships with a couple of guys who were in the Army. Now my first one who I was going to marry I saw the negatives of the forces as I was young, naive and it took him away all the time which I didn't like.

My next relationship I was older, wiser (well perhaps not that wise as I went out with another Army guy ha!),  I saw a different side to the Army......a good side. We split up just before my final year in University, when I graduated one of the things I was considering before I decided to start my own business was perhaps looking at a career in the Army myself. I went to the careers office and spoke to them about it,  I even went to do the initial fitness test. I would have gone for it if I had been 10 years younger, at 30 years old I wasn't keen to be sharing a room with 18 year olds! Anyway it struck me at the time that there was no specific training for those wanting to get up to a certain fitness standard to start the process of joining the forces, plus some of the younger ones who went on the initial test day were so unfit! So like many a good idea I thought of Fit 4 Force in the pub one day with my friend. I wanted to create something specific for those wanting to get fit to join the forces, Army, Navy, Police, Fire Service etc......

As it was a quite niche market to aim at, the business has gradually evolved into a fitness boot camp for anyone who wants to improve or maintain their fitness levels. However I am still keeping the Military element with the new Bootcamp Warrior Ranking coming into play in September (tomorrow infact, eeekkkk!).

Now if you have never been to bootcamp before and are considering coming, I would like to add I WONT have you putting your face in cold water whilst doing press ups, and I WONT have you doing a ten hour session with no food. I will however, suppport, motivate and encourage you to be the best you can be.

So as we are now on the countdown to Christmas (X-Factor has started arghhh!) then what better time to make the change to your health & fitness, for the better!

What do I know I have always been slim!!

Earlier this year I had a couple of girls come to boot camp who had been the previous week with one of their friends. I asked where their friend was this particular night and they said that she wasn't coming as her slimming club consultant had told her that exercising won't help her lose weight! I was appalled and that evening I put a comment on facebook saying so. I said that I don't know how people can work in such roles.......I worked my arse off at University to get my degree and alot of these people are put in such roles becuase they have lost weight on said diet.

I couldn't quite believe the frenzy that it caused! Now the majority of the comments were all positive, however one or two were negative. Mainly against me saying what would I know when I have never been overweight and I have always been slim!

No there is a reason for this (partly genetics) but mostly because I have always been active and eaten healthily. Yes I enjoy the odd treat like most people, and I sometimes can't be bothered to exercise. I have worked hard for this butt! No I have never been over weight so I can't comment on how that feels. But I don't want to get in a position where I do get oeverwight so that is why I train! I do it because of the end goal.......

1. To look good
2. To be fit & healthy
3. To prolong my life!

Now just because I am a fitness instructor it doesn't mean I love burpee's and broccoli........well I do actually love broccoli, burpee's hell no! However I know that they do me good. Everything I do is a means to an end. If I could look amazing and be healthy and eat scones all day then I would.

Not everyone who trains hard and eats healthy likes doing so, they just know what they have to do to look good. I actually love training so I can't see that I would want to stop. Thats why when people come to train with me I make it as enjoyable as possible, whilst still working hard. 

So next time you think you can't be bothered or want quick results....just remember those that are in shape have decided to stick at it and will need to do so for the rest of their lives!

Exercising in a group is so much more motivating then exercising alone........so come and join us and train with like minded people!

Unfortunatley there is no magic pill.......it takes hard work and dedication!!!

Andrea (I squat alot for this butt) Springthorpe

How Toxic is your life?

Hey Guys,

Now we get asked alot what people need to do to detox........do they need fancy shakes, supplements or super foods to do it? Basically the body is great at detoxing itself naturally, you just need to stop putting shit into it and then not re-tox afterwards!

People often limit a detox to just food and drink......but there are other things that can be toxic in our life, like people!

Now there are people who we come across and we don't always see eye to eye and we avoid them. What about those people who are in our lives and we don't realise they are toxic? People who drag us down, take us for granted or who are just negative about everything. Now I'm not saying that these people are bad, but perhaps they are just not a good fit for us? How do we deal with this? It's easy to cut the crap out of our diet and stop drinking so much but what about people who are toxic that we can't get rid of..........a lot of these people who surround us are family, friends or work colleagues. Take for instance those people who always offer you a bun or chocolate knowing full well you are on a health kick......having the willpower to say no is the difference between getting results or staying the same.

It used to bother me (especially as I have a massive sweet tooth) temptation handed to you in the shape of a chocolate brownie, makes you either want to demolish it or the person who is offering you it! Don't respond with the usual boring answer...'I can't I'm on a diet' tell them no as you want to look good naked! That will soon make them do a 360 with their high calorific treat!

I've been in a situation recently where someone was in my life and everytime I saw them it was 'toxic' (more toxic than a brownie!) in fact I wanted to punch them in the face everytime I saw them. Over a long period of time their behaviour had upset me, stressed me out and made me feel like a worthless piece of shit! Them being in my life was a really bad 'fit'. The problem wasn't theirs (well 50% was their shit, dishonest behaviour) but to be honest the problem was mine. It wasn't them crying at home, getting stressed and feeling and looking like shit.......it was me, I let them affect me. Now in hindsight it is easy looking back and seeing how I should have reacted to the situation.

1. I should never have let it become a situation

2. The first time they treat me bad, should have been the last (instead like a moth to a flame I kept going back for more)..........

3. I should of stuck to my gut feelings about that person.........my initial thoughts were not good, then I got to know them, was charmed and then went full circle on what I think about them.

Anyway sometimes we need to learn the hard way. The fact is my self esteem was low and I let them treat me bad and think that I wasn't good enough to be in their life. The fact of the matter is they are not good enough to be in my life. It says more about the person treating you like this, then it does about you.

Why do you think the 'brownie' pushes keep putting temptation infront of you? Do you think it is because they are happy with their bodies and are happy to see you shredding inches and looking great? More likely that they feel bad about themselves and want to drag you down with them. 

I just can't look its killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibis
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
Cause I'm........................................................................... 

When I look back at my personal life, I tend to attract broken men with low self esteem. Nearly every relationshup I have had, the guy has been in a bad situation before they met me, they needed their ego boosting and their life fixing. I think they see that I am a soft touch and take advantage! Anyway I have decided to become a hard bitch who takes no shit hahahaha. 

So open up your eyes and do what is best for you, time to cut the crap. Get rid of the shit food in your cupboards, ditch the coffee and delete those toxic people. People who care about you and want the best for you will support you in your goal. 

Now after saying all this there is one group of people I am happy to help or fix and that is you guys. Now I know alot of those who come to boot camp call me evil or satan in disguise but I don't mind that as I want to get you results, get fitter, healthier and happier.

So surround yourself with positive like minded people who want to detox their lives!

Andrea 

Regret's

Hey Guys,

Have you ever regretted buying something? I know I have, recently it was a purchase for my holiday.

As I am into health and fitness I like to 'Eat as Nature Intended' and also use products that are as natural as possible. I recently bought some shampoo and conditioner 'Wella Elements' which is free of sulfates, parabens & artificial colourants. Now when I saw the leaflet and it said the Life Force of Trees (not entirely sure what that means) on it I was instantly swayed as we have a product called LifeForce!! Now this was a GREAT BUY, my hair feels squeaky clean and is very shiny when I have used it!

Now back to my not so great purchase..........so because I had picked a great product for my hair I thought I would try a 100% natural suncream, so i googled away and bought some 100% natural sunscreen made with beeswax, honey & coconut oil. I also bought some sun protector which has natural SPF provided by carrot seed oil.

Ok so will start with the Sunscreen.........when I applied it I had the nice white sheen you get from sunscreen, this wasn't an issue really as I have experienced this in the past with manufactured sunscreen. The problem was the fly's were round me like bee's round a honey pot!! I was forever swatting them away. The other issue I had was because it was so thick it welded to my skin! After a couple of days using it, it wouldn't even wash off in the shower! I had to go buy a sponge with the rough part on the top to try get it all off!!! When I bought the sponge I bought some suncream too! I was disappointed as I wanted to use natural products on my skin, PLUS I did not burn when I used it!!! So if you could live with the slight issues then I would say it was worth it for that.......I couldn't.

The Sun protector on the other hand was great, it made my skin look silky smooth (no white covering!) when I applied it and again I didn't burn. So I used a mixture of the natural sun protector and the shop bought stuff for the remainder of my holiday.

So you might be wondering where I am going with this e-mail today? You might have noticed the 'Eat as nature intended' slogan in my first couple of sentences......this is the strap line for the LifeForce Transformation Plan. It is all natural products, no pre-packed shite or shakes. Something that will give you results, change your attitude to food and also something which you can maintain long term. Now as we are 100% confident you will see results and feel great, we will be offering a 100% money back guarantee on the LifeForce Transformation plan. We will give you your money back if you don't lose any weight/inches.

T&C apply
You must follow the plan 100%, record your weight and measurement and do before and after pictures.

So if you want to have the opposite sex flocking round you like the flies were round me on holiday then purchase the LifeForce Transformation Plan. You will look better naked if you do ;)

Wedding, Running & Car washing

Hey Guys,

Hope you've all had a good weekend? I've had another busy one...........Looking forward to next weekend when I can just chill out!

Friday I got up, trained, did my food shopping ready to start the LifeForce Transformation Plan today, cleaned, taught boot camp and pampered myself ready for the weekend!

Saturday I went to a friends Wedding and had an absolutley amazing day. I had a 'cheat' day and drank a little too much wine. How come the older you get the worse the hangover's get? Or is it just the fact that I am super healthy the rest of the time that my body can't handle the abuse! I left my car at the Wedding venue so I had to drive down for it the next day. My friend who I was at the Wedding with said that if I ran to her's, then we could run rest of the way together as she had to collect her car too. Now my friend doesn't really like running so I just thought she was pissed!

Anyhow I woke up felling like death, I had the worse headache, felt sick and my body was a temple..........a temple of doom! I text my friend and she agreed to still come running! I got to her's, sweating like a fat man at a buffet, wine coming out of ever pore! To be honest though it did me good and my hangover started to waver.

I then had to get over to Halifax to do a car wash for the Fire Service Charity, to raise money for the 'Red Hot Sirens' calendar which I will be in. What fun that was, I got to hang out with a group of fireman all afternoon, have a go on their big hose (the water version before any of you start thinking any different lol) then it ended in a massive water fight. They let me dry off and hang in the station for a while whilst they made me tea........I felt like an excited 6 year old......what is it with men in Uniform?!

Then I finished the day having tea with the folks and my big bro, who has lost even more weight and inches on the LifeForce Transformation plan!

It got me thinking that my brother and my friend are people who I always put down as not liking exercise, yet they have both proved me wrong. My brother is a convert (although he might not have agreed to me saying that when I was putting him through a gruelling hill session on Friday!) and my friend shocked me when she came running with me.

It means alot when someone who you think hates exercise actually does it, I realise not everyone is as obsessed with it as I am.

'Hi my name is Andrea and I am an exercise addict' hahahahaha

Anyway this week at boot camp we are having a 'bring a friend for FREE' week. So is there someone you know who might want to come along and join in the madness? It might be someone like my brother and friend, someone you thought would never exercise. They might just suprise you.......if you don't ask you will never know.

And remember if they sign up to one of our contracts you will get £5.00 cash back!!

 Just imagine if you sign a few people up each month then your training is practically paid for!!

So come on guys let's grow the boot camp family........if you've not already joined then what are you waiting for?

How last minute are you?

Hello Troops,

Today I want to talk to you about leaving things till the last minute..............

Last year I started with a pain at the top of my shoulder, it had a small knot which used to trigger up every now and then. Sometimes I would go weeks without realising it was there then other times it would give me pain for a few days. I often massaged it myself and when I caught it in the right place it would give me pins and needles in my hand. Now I thought it was made worse by boxing (from the constant jabbing). So I stopped boxing for a while and it didn't improve so I couldn't put it down to that.

I have had a couple of sports massages on it which helped short term but it was still not getting better, the pain was gradually getting worse. Small things like pushing myself out of bed on a morning, or lifting the duvet to make my bed and even just resting in the plank position then I could feel it............so after nearly a year I decided to go to the doctor. The problem with me is once I decide to do something or make the decision to change I expect things doing straight away.

My doctor gave me a leaflet for the local hospital physio department where I had to phone up and refer myself........WELL what a performance! I phoned everyday after I had been to the doctors and up to my holiday to try get through. It was either engaged or went to an answer phone where you COULDN'T  leave a bloody message. When I said I phoned everyday it wasn't just once, it was a few times each day. Then I kept trying when I got back from my holidays, by this time I was really pissed off that I couldn't make an appointment. So early this week I thought it would be easier to go to the hospital and make an appointment there..........boy was I wrong!! No I couldn't even make an appointment at the hospital argggh. Luckily for me I spoke to a really helpful member of staff who took my details and said she would try get someone to phone me back, she couldn't guarantee it and that I needed to keep phoning myself too. 

Anyhow to my suprise that same afternoon someone phoned back and I have an appointment made (not for another three weeks, but still an appointment!)

So what is it that you are putting off and leaving till the last minute? Have you realised that things are gradually getting worse and you need to do something about it? The waist is expanding, you constantly eat shit and are nowhere motivated enough to exercise?

If this is the case you are the lucky ones, because unlike me you don't have to wait three weeks before you can start the journey to a new you! You can take action today, infact now! One click and you are on your way to success!!

Now if you are like me and are totally impatient I will warn that one exercise session or one day of eating healthy is not going to give you long term results. Just like I am guessing that my shoulder won't be fixed after one physio session! It will take time, motivation, dedication and patience!

Again you are the lucky ones as you will have me to motivate you in the sessions and a full 21 day guide on what to eat on the transformation plan. Couldn't be easier! 

So don't delay make that committment today!

Andrea (Miss Impatient) Springthorpe

Holiday Antics (edited)

Hey Guys,

Well as promised I thought I would share some of my holiday experiences with you......before I do it made me think about how people see health and fitness. Now how many times do you hear people say 'I'm going on a diet for my holiday'? Hands up I do! It's only natural that you put more effort in when you know you are going to get your kit off! It's not just holiday's though it can be any occassion, Wedding, party, graduation etc. Although those people out there that are coupled up isn't it something you do everyday infront of your partner........get your kit off? So surely that is an excuse to stay in great shape all the time!?

Anyhow we'll come back to that in a moment.......

My holiday..........well first off I had the best holiday buddy I could ask for. My friend is similar to me, like's to have a laugh on an evening and totally chill during the day. Thank you to my holiday buddy for inviting me to your apartment :)

I knew it was going to be a laugh when at the airport my friend 'lost' her watch after going through security. We had them searching through all the boxes and then the guy in charge was about to start trawling through CCTV when it appeared in her ipad case! Comedy start to the holiday. I think from there on we didn't stop having a laugh. We met some great people....... ladies if you want a cheap night then just set yourself up on a bar stool at the bar and you will get loads of people talking to you (mainly guys) and lots of drinks bought ;) Although that may have just happened as we were staying on a 5 star golf resort........might not work in places such as Mega-rough (aka Magaluf!)

We met guys from Essex, Scotland and of course Spain! I had the usual press-up off one night with some guys from a Spanish rugby team.......and I am pleased to say I managed to keep up with them even after a few vino's! 

We smashed out some Meatloaf on the karaoke.........the most positive thing the DJ could say afterwards was 'Well that was 8 minutes of loveliness! Think that might have been more from the dancing with shorts on and not our vocal abilities! Anyway all in all it was a great time and I was sad to come home........especially as my friend was staying out there as her husband was joining her a couple of days after I left.

It is always nice to get home to your own bed and to have a shower and get dried without sweating to death.......but that isn't a big enough reason to want to come home!

Anyway back to business...........so since I have come home my belly has expanded, I am starting to peel and the tan is fading booooo!!! So I am back on it! To be honest you should be 'on it' all the time and only let yourself slide when you are on holiday or have a special occasion. We ate quite healthy on holiday, for me it is drinking everynight that has an effect on the waistline. I drink only when I go out at home so it was completley away from the norm for me. I did run a couple of times whilst I was out there, OMG was it hot!! It felt like someone was squeezing my lungs when I set off.

On the flip side how many of you use an impending holiday or an occassion not to exercise and eat healthy? You hear it all the time, I go on holiday next week so no point trying to be healthy now....... a week of eating healthy and training hard can make a difference.......so ditch the excuses!

Anyway time for me to sign off as I am typing this up 'al fresco' and a black cloud is looming!!!!