When we face our goals; we are simply on our own. It is just me and my mirror! But that doesn’t seem to be the case for the top performers – like athletes, movie stars or anyone at the top of their game.
As I said in “Do You Have A Dream Team?”, I started AliveWinning to see; how can we, as normal people, get a team of people around us to help us achieve our goals? Or at least the feeling of that support? Is it possible for me to put things out there based on my journey that helps people feel connected or even supported? Ultimately, can I find a way to create a support network for people? Or are their things out there already that we can tap into and use?
I then outlined a few thoughts around Let’s Get Started – Mind. Body. & Soul. Looking at each in turn. But I still didn’t manage to outline how we could create our own Dream Team around us.
In this Blog, I thought I would outline what I use, why I use them and how I find using what I have.
I am convinced, for a number of reasons, that in today’s world you need to take responsibility for your own health and wellbeing. When I was a kid, you knew your doctor and they knew you and your family … the relationship was personal. At the same time, we simply didn’t have access to as much information on health, nutrition, exercise and all aspects of wellbeing. Perhaps you went to church and got support from your priest or vicar? Now we have more information than ever, but at the same time doctors have more pressure so they don’t know their patients as well, less people go to church and we can see a rise in technology solutions. So perhaps we should embrace the new world.
Let’s take responsibility for our health and wellbeing.
For me, that starts with getting to know and track your numbers. Full disclosure, I am a numbers guy and a tech geek!
I’m not going to do a full review of each thing, but rather tell you what I use, how I use them and how they help me.
What I use
Here is what I have in my toolbox:
Fitbit – this is my main health information tool. To be fair, this probably covers all of what most people need. But you might not want to use it as your watch or have essentially two watches on if it doesn’t serve as your watch. ( https://www.fitbit.com/ )
Oura Ring – This supplements my Fitbit; but I use this mostly for Sleep, it serves as a second opinion on activity goals and double checks my numbers. We originally got one of these for my wife because, as I said above, she didn’t want two watches. We then saw a (very) brief review on the BBC tech show Click; where Lara Lewington said she had both a Fitbit and Oura Ring. I added it to my toolkit because I was so impressed with the guidance around sleep in particular. (https://ouraring.com/)
iFIT (Nordic Track) – I have set up a fantastic home gym with a bike, rower, running machine & Vault. The Vault is a connected home gym. It has a mirror screen where you see your personal trainer. You open the door and discover “a premier, interactive home gym that pairs state-of-the-art reflective training, premium workout accessories, and iFIT interactive personal training”. I have to say I love all of the NordicTrack and iFIT equipment. We did have some problems with setting it up, particularly using the Family Membership. But that was soon rectified. ( https://www.nordictrack.co.uk/ & https://www.ifit.com/)
Golf Sim (in my Garage) – using the Garmin Approach R10. I use Garmin across the board for golf. I also have the Garmin Z82, but this is for on the course. The Approach Z82 laser range finder with GPS helps me navigate the course. I’m not a golf expert and I’m not going to make this about Golf or a Golf review. There are many people better qualified than me to do this. My goal with golf is focused on improving my balance and walking. ( https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/p/695391 ). By way of completeness, Garmin appear to have a good range of health- and fitness-tracking products that look interesting. I didn’t try any, but I have been impressed with my other Garmin tools.
Resistance Bands – I use resistance bands when it isn’t convenient to use my home gym. I also have a set up in my Garage using a Ring Hook and Pad Eye Plate with Carabiner Clips that combine to enable me to do some specific band exercises. The Vault comes with Bands, but I have bought a few extra sets so that I can have them available so it is easy and convenient. I don’t have any particular brand, I just bought what felt like a good balancer of quality and price on Amazon. I do think that if you don’t have a home gym, resistance bands are a great way to create a relatively low cost strength training.
Golf Club – I joined a great golf club that has great facilities that includes not only golf, but a gym & spa.
YouTube – In addition, I use the usual suspect of YouTube. But I tend to use YouTube for research rather than as a regular part of my training.
How I use them
For this section, I thought that I would split it between – Mind. Body. & Soul.
Mind
For the most part I either do unguided meditation or self-hypnosis, so none of these really help with that; except the Oura ring does have as feature to tag and therefore track an “unguided session”. This is a feature missing from the Fitbit. Both the Oura ring and the Fitbit offer guided meditation, my “go to” place is the Fitbit. Personally I think it has a better selection or at least they are better suited to me. Finally, iFIT has a section dedicated to “Mind” addressing areas like Motivation, Depression, Mindfulness, and more.
Body
In terms of exercise, Fitbit Premium does have video workouts and I do think they are good, but my go to place is my home gym and iFIT. They have a great selection of trainers’ and focus on all levels from beginner to advanced.
In terms of nutrition, I have created my own AliveWinning Plan and this guides my nutrition planning. Fitbit and iFIT both have sections on nutrition. iFIT offers helpful videos and cooking classes and Fitbit offer “Recipe Inspirations”, but to date I really haven’t used them; I have done extensive research on nutrition over many years to build the AliveWinning Plan; so that is what I use.
Next I want to put Sleep in here; both Fitbit and the Oura ring have fantastic sleep analysis they produce. I really like the way Fitbit monitors your sleep and assign you to a sleep profile based on an animal. That said, in terms of changing behaviour and starting to understand the link between what you do – eat, drink, stress, etc… – and how you sleep; I find the Oura ring fantastic. It does help that my wife has an Oura ring; so we can talk about how we slept and what our corresponding activity goal is from Oura based on how we slept. It also has helped us change our evening routine to try and ensure that we increase our odds of getting a better sleep. I do think the Fitbit is good, but I find having both provides me with information that helps me better manage this part. Fair to say, the impact on my awareness of the importance of sleep and my sleep patterns is probably my biggest surprise.
Finally, due to my Multi Focal Motor Neuropathy (MMN) and the impact it has on my walking and mobility; I put a lot of emphasis on both my Core Strength and working the unaffected muscles. I recently took up golf as part of my overall training plan. As part of this, I invested in the Garmin Approach R10. Now if you look at the reviews some people talk about accuracy issues. Frankly, I am not good enough for that to be an issue. My selection was purely based on cost and flexibility. Not only can I use it at my home sim, but it is easy to take to the golf range. From a golf perspective, it provides a lot of numbers to help you analyse and improve your shot. For me, it simply makes the practice more fun!
Soul
I don’t use any of these for my faith. that said, I do like Deepak Chopra, who has Guided Meditation on the Fitbit. I personally like his “Morning Mantra Meditation” which centres around “I Am”.
“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”
Muhammad Ali
This has helped me learn more about Mantra Meditation; which in turn has helped me with my self-affirmations.
How they help me
Well, first and foremost they help me track some important numbers and set personal goals that are easy to check.
I like the availability of different trainers or coaches on Fitbit and iFIT in particular and I have to say that while the videos are obviously recordings and the trainer doesn’t know me personally, I do feel motivated by them. For example, on iFIT one of the 250+ trainers is Gideon Akande (https://gideonakande.com/).
From his website Gideon is a “two-time Chicago Golden Gloves champion and national winner of the Mens Health Next Top Trainer competition, Gideon Akande excels at motivating people to be their best. Offering online workouts both live and on-demand, his love of fitness leaps right through your video screen. Numerous local and national media outlets have taken note, praising both his expert skill and contagious energy, which have yielded a growing community of @getfitwithgiddy followers and athletes around the world”.
I would agree with this description; he absolutely motivates in an infectious way!
In addition to Gideon, they have Olympic Athletes, College Athletes, and all of the trainers are at the top of their game.
Similarly, on Fitbit I have found Deepak Chopra’s Guided Meditation very helpful and inspiring. Again, I would have to say that all contributors are at the top of their game.
The Oura Ring is more about the information and the interface. Combined with the Fitbit, it really provides motivational targets.
One thing that is missing from all of them is a read of your blood pressure (BP). I did read that Fitbit was running tests on measuring BP and the accuracy of the readings. Obviously, the numbers need to be right, but this would be a big add!
But is it a Dream Team?
Well, if the purpose of a personal trainer is:
To create a one-on-one fitness programmes for their clients, motivating and guiding them to achieve their goals. Individual goals may be to lose weight or gain muscle. So the personal trainer will teach and help the client to exercise properly using workouts and specific plans.
And the purpose of a coach is:
To support and empower individuals to unlock their full potential and achieve their goals. They provide the space and structure for the reflection that is necessary for learning and growth.
I think you need to have personal motivation, design your own individual programme and when you get going it is easy to simply ignore the App. While there are a wide range of “challenges” and exercise “programmes”, they are not (by definition) designed specifically for you.
Neither do I think they really compete; I think a good Personal Trainer or Coach may encourage and adopt tools like Fitbit and the Oura ring, so it isn’t a substitute. iFIT is however a substitute and for me it works well.
“The average person … does not have the same luxuries and support structures that celebrities do: the nutritionists, the nannies and the other assorted assistants…”
Dr Emma Beckett
If you have you seen “Best Shape of my Life” by Will Smith on You Tube, you will have how many people he had on his team to help him achieve his goal! Will Smith challenged himself to lose 20lbs in 20 weeks while writing his memoires. He aimed to improve every aspect of his fitness, from agility to power to recovery and more, teaming up with guests including pro athletes, scientists and experts.
Now as I have said before I’m a Will Smith fan! But it struck me that at the end of the day he not only had family & friends supporting him, but as Dr Beckett observed, he had a dietician, counsellor, personal trainer and all his friends actively around him all working towards … yup! … losing 1 lb a week… and he used a Fitbit!
I don’t know about you, but when I want to lose weight; it’s the scales, the tape measure, the mirror me! That’s it. In the end, I don’t think this changes that fact … you just have a few more tools. But I guess in the end, even Will Smith had to bring motivation to the table; so it’s only fair that we do!
Q: How do you eat an Elephant?
My Dad
A: One leg at a time?
In the end you have to “Coach Yourself” by reminding yourself why you started and how close you are to your goals. That is why it is so important to break your big goal – the “Elephant” – into bite size chunks – Each “Leg”. So you can celebrate your successes and maintain your progress.
All that said, the quest to unlock the secret to creating a Dream Team that is accessible to the average person continues.
If you are serious about your health and fitness, then starting to know your numbers is a must and these tools help with that! So I do think they (or some mix) is an important start.
What do you think?
Where do you get support?
What tools do you use?
Keep Going! You can do this!
All the best.
Keep winning!
Greg