The Power of 30

If you’re lacking energy and enthusiasm for your goals take a look around you. Is your space dragging you down? Or even, just parts of your space? How can you make nutritious meals easily if you are overwhelmed by your kitchen? Explorer, National Geographic fellow and New York Times best-selling author Dan Buettner discovered 5 places in the world where people live longer (the longest in fact) and...

Take a big goal and break it down into small tasks… that’s the advice everyone gives, and it’s supposed to make the big task feel LESS overwhelming. But what if it doesn’t help you? What if you break your big goal down and suddenly it feels like a huge mountain to climb? You just went from having one thing to do, to having thirty things to do!  We might have had a really big task on our list, but...

We're not ruining Christmas here and telling you that you can't have a mince pie - in fact, just the opposite. We want you to have a mince pie AND enjoy the chocolate out of your advent calendar. We do want to save you from the pang of regret, whether that comes the day after, or in January. We also want to PRESERVE your health and well being at a time when you need it most. One of us is...

We all know how to eat, right? We know that exercise works, right? These are the assumptions that lead us to making some horrible mistakes because the truth is, most of the knowledge we have is gained from people trying to sell us stuff. Not only that, but when you struggle with your weight (or your finances, or being organised for example), and you see other people seemingly getting success and m...

As gym Coaches we hear on a daily basis how easy it is to slip into thoughts and speech that sabotage yourself so we thought we'd get some of it out in the open. We've got the things you need to look out for, and then what to do next. We talk about what it looks like for us too. We all do this to ourselves, often unwittingly as the words become so familiar to us  we barely notice that we...

If you thought influencers was a new thing then you'd be mistaken. If it wasn't for centuries of them we wouldn't have what we now know of as New Year's Resolutions. In fact, making promises to do better dates back to 4,000 years ago and ancient Babylon. Julius Ceasar is the one who declared January 1st as the start of the new calendar in 46BC and used it to honour the two face...

Yes you read that right. We want everyone to stop thinking that losing weight is the only reason/motivation to exercise and we've got some very good reasons why! If you would like to really enjoy exercise and lose your obsession with the scales, then this is the listen for you. Coach Dannii and Coach Sall have persuasive arguments to keep you off the  scales and some fantastic suggestions for...

We are well overdue with this conversation - we're talking about the Power of 30. Whether you're trying a new habit for 30 days or ring-fencing 30 minutes of your day to move forward with something you are trying to achieve it really, really works. This episode Coach Dannii and Coach Sall talk about all the things related to behaviour change too. We talk non-food rewards, Coach Dannii&ap...

We didn't get chance to give you some real solid ideas for how to change your mindset in last week's episode. To be honest we go so excited about counting backwards from 5, engaging our pre-frontal cortex's and the correct way to high-5 yourself! (Listen here if you missed all the excitement) The strive for excellence episode Coach Dannii refers to is here and using rationalising fa...

Do you need to change your mindset? If you can think differently about something it can shift blockages, it can get you unstuck and it can take your efforts to another level. The secret of success undoubtedly lies in your mindset! We mentioned changing your mindset in our Excuses vs Reasons Getting Unstuck episode and this week we decided to talk about the HOW of changing your mindset. It might no...

We know that lots of people feel a bit awkward when it comes to affirmations - we feel ya! We got into them about a year ago for a little challenge we ran in the gym (well, not in the gym because we were closed but it was a great challenge to see our members through one of the toughest moments of the pandemic!) and we felt it was time to talk about it. Most of us shy away from affirmations, well,...

Today we discuss the importance of getting things written down, of focussing on what is important to you and on being realistic about what you can get done. If you don't have an action on your to-do list TODAY that is related to your long term goals then the chances are you won't be taking the necessary action to get there. Sometimes small things can make a really big difference and some...

We're getting to grips with the science of why certain foods really do enhance our mood AND the effect they have on our energy levels. Today we are talking tryptophan, serotonin and insulin (to name a few fancy words in fact) but don't worry, we'll be keeping it simple and mispronouncing them too so don't feel intimidated. This episode will give you more power to your elbow whe...

Back in January Coach Dannii set herself a big personal challenge, the goal date has passed and today we're reviewing it, especially in light of all our previous topics that we have discussed AND revealing whether she was successful or not. While this wasn't a fitness or weight loss goal it should be very easy (or maybe even easier) for you to relate to as we talk about the obstacles, th...

This is the final part of this epic topic (for now!) - since we started we've had more thoughts, learned more things and had conversations with lots of you that mean we had a few more things we wanted to share. Because that's how self-development works, you learn a little thing, think about it some, talk about it to folk and learn more about it, about how it applies to you or about how y...

We want to help you understand how much you can improve how you feel by managing what you eat. When you intentionally, putting your health and wellbeing first you will be surprised at what a difference it makes to your energy levels, your patience, you ability to solve problems and it will stop you feeling drawn to the junk food, the biscuit tin or the chocolate. We've picked out mental healt...

We know this is a really important topic but we weren't sure where we wanted to go with it. We already talked about comfort eating in episode 18 Comfort Eating; you're doing it wrong! but we knew there was more, much more. So here's the start, and we talk generally about how you can eat for your mental wellbeing, the effects of eating nutritional on how we deal with difficult situat...

We asked you for your top excuses and today we're getting them out in the open, and, well, debunking them! Don't think we don't understand though, we really do and we're definitely guilty of all of these. We're going to give it to you straight though, they're invalid. You do need the right approach and the right mindset though so listen in to hear the critical reasoni...

When we first started talking about reasons and excuses we never thought it would lead to a whole mini-series. The quote that started all of this from Eric Hoffer goes; "There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than achievement, for an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a val...

The more we talk about Excuses and Reasons the more we find to talk about! This is such a huge part of motivation. In this episode we've got 5 things you can do to get yourself unstuck from your alibi, unstuck from the thing that's stopping you from moving forward, unstuck from the thing that keeps you in the same place. Once you've realised that you are making excuses (i.e. there&a...

Alibis are the next level of excuse, they are literally our alibi, our proof, that we were not able to act on our goals or our commitments. In this episode Coach Sall and Coach Dannii talk through how a "good" alibi will keep you firmly stuck just where you are and why you might actually choose that. The quote referenced is from social and moral philosopher Eric Hoffer. He wrote " T...

This week we are getting into the difference between a reason and an excuse when it comes to not doing the things we committed to, or wanted to do, or said (maybe only to ourselves) that we would do. Often our own reasons are valid but we can easily spot someone else's excuses. Sometimes our excuse was a legitimate reason once upon a time, and now we cling to it so that we don't have to...

This week Coach Dannii and Coach Sall wade through the nonsense that is BMI and encourage everyone to drop it, and by drop it we mean, discard it. Let us tell you why this number has no value in your world and we shouldn't be judging ourselves (or others) by it and we certainly shouldn't let anyone else judge us by it either. All the details of our Kofi account are below so if you want t...

We mostly know we should be drinking more water. Some days we might even manage it, but our conversations with our members at Curves Ilkeston show that mostly we are just not drinking enough. So, Coach Dannii and Coach Sall decide to get into it, and we should warn you, they're taking no prisoners. Water, after all, is essential to life and while you might still be alive, not drinking enough...

This week's episode is about the words you choose around food. Using words like treat, bad, good, indulge or guilt free can be damaging to our relationship with food. Coach Dannii and Coach Sall ask "Why do we talk about food in moral terms?" - this question was asked by author Lizz Shumer in this blogpost for Good Housekeeping and we thought it was a great topic for conversation. *...