“I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I know what I’m talking about.”

Yawn….

I’d put money on that you’ve heard your coach or fitness instructor say those words to you, at least once. But do they really know what they are talking about? I’m going to try to explain why many of us are keeping fit for totally the wrong reasons and how, in a nutshell, you should be exercising to maintain it long term (i.e. for the rest of your life barring injury.)

What’s your point?

So who am I? What makes little old me the expert in such matters? First off I want to hammer it home that I am no expert, far from it. I’m in fact just a simple man who has indeed, been keeping fit for a long time, and I now feel experienced enough to share my knowledge with you.

Life up to now for me has almost been exclusively about sport and fitness. From almost being able to walk I was dutifully thrown into a swimming pool 4 nights a week.

Up to the age of 13 it was almost all I did on weeknights and lived with almost constant pressure from a coach who seemed hell bent on his swimmers one day becoming Olympians (which I don’t think happened for any of us!) Length after length, set after set for hours every night, I spent more time in that little 25m pool than I did sleeping and I remember doing a lot of that. But I did it because I liked how it made me feel, I enjoyed the weekend swim galas too and competing was always fun and never a chore.

Moving swiftly on, in my teenage years I boxed and ran, and enjoyed simply feeling fit and clear headed whilst I went through school and college. Staying in shape really helped me mentally through some tough teenage years, I’m sure many of you can attest to those! Being fit allowed me to break barriers in my studies and focus more in the moment, and that was enough for me.

At the age of 21, my career as a chef wasn’t going anywhere and I decided to join the Royal Marines. As well as my normal duties, I represented the Navy in various triathlons and boxed once more as an amateur for a local club in Devon. During these years, Fitness and training was key in allowing me to express myself and de-stress as, especially towards the latter end of my military career, I began to realise that I wasn’t happy and that I needed to get out. It was because of Boxing that I forged friendships away from work, friendships born out of shared experiences and memories of great nights at the Exmouth Pavillion that I will never forget. It was also because of triathlons that I could relate to my fellow work colleagues more, I definitely found those last few years in the military easier to handle because I had something to look forwards to. It was the same excited nervous energy that I had felt back in my swimming days, energy that was natural and made me feel alive.

And all this brings me to where I am now, almost 40 years since I began my fitness journey in that pool. It’s funny, now that I know what I know, I would never dream of saying to one of my clients; “’I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I know what I’m talking about.” It’s kind of irrelevant.

How should I be training then?

So the answer to the question – why many of us are training wrong? It’s simple really. Don’t train for results or a deadline! Think of these things as, ‘things that will happen anyway if you let them.’ Most people that come to me with deadlines, and demand to see results fast almost always fail. If you look back at what has kept me training and competing, it’s always been the simple things.

Feelings, experiences and memories.

Keeping fit for your whole life is about those 3 things. It’s not about something that’s always just out of reach, that starry eyed longing to look different to appease others, we aren’t complicated creatures. It’s enough to be happy, be creating experiences to remember. I have never ‘strived’ or forced myself to do things I’ve never really not wanted to do in a physical sense.

Fill your book full of stories, of memories and ultimately a healthier more swashbuckling you. Stop the chase, let go of your want and just do things for the joy of doing them! Think of the things that you enjoy doing in life, I bet they happen without effort and naturally, you don’t do them to be ahead of others or to look good. If that’s the reason you do the things in your life you need to rethink your motives! Take that method and apply it to your exercise regime.

I think that’s a nice way to finish, be in the moment and allow results to simply happen. Zen more and force less, especially in this modern world where we all seem to be competing for unreachable goals. Remember your youth and what got you here in the first place, you’ll go a long way believe me.