Andreas Arestidou

Training is so much better when you...
- have a direction
- are making progress
- are being challenged correctly, not too easy, not to hard
- have some structure
- don’t negatively compare
- focus on it being practice
- don’t focus on the bloody calorie burn.
- you don’t sacrifice everything you enjoy doing.
You can have those things for your training too.
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It’s not often a day goes 100% to plan.

Been after a sub 40min 10km since I started running properly a couple of years ago.

I’ve made it in to such a big thing that I pretty much bottled the last race I had a go at.

I feel so happy that I’ve finally done it. I’ve put a massive amount of work in.

Sometimes chasing a big goal and finally getting it can feel quite empty but I feel like a massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders, the weight is only what I put on myself of course.

I feel like I might actually relax, do a few more races and have a bit more fun. Or maybe I’ll make up another arbitrary target to prove I’m good enough 😂.

Thank you to for her amazing coaching and quite brilliant programming to help get me to this point, I’ve done done it but not sure I’d have got this far without your help.

Oh and United didn’t ruin it. They nearly did. But they didn’t

Maybe you have a weight loss goal and that’s what helps you get yourself to the gym.

But if it’s your biggest reason to train then you are giving the scale an awful lot of power over something that is extremely beneficial to your life.

Exploring what your body is capable of seems like a more meaningful and long term reason to train compared to just trying to get lighter or smaller.

What happens if you’ve been smashing it but weight loss hasn’t been forth coming? Do you stop now?

What happens when you lose the weight you wanted? Do you stop now?

What happens if you gain some weight? Do you think ‘what’s the point?’

Like I said, you are giving the scale an awful lot of power over a behaviour (training/exercise) that has so many incredible benefits.

I’m going to try and be ReLaTaBlE today.

I had a holiday to Cyprus in 2018 and I got pretty lean. Swipe for a really cringe photo.

I didn’t have much muscle but I got pretty lean.

I dieted for months so I could get a half decent shirtless pic whilst I was away.

I don’t think I ever enjoyed a holiday less.

I was 10kg lighter than I am now.

I couldn’t switch off from the mentality I’d got myself into it.

I didn’t enjoy my food and I did Rebecca’s head in I’m sure.

To top it off I had a massive meal on the second to last night and my body didn’t know what was going on.

I was so bloated and clogged up but I couldn’t go to the toilet.

I ended up missing a week of work with piles 😂.

So was it worth the 60 off likes I received on my photo?

Almost certainly not.

Now there is nothing wrong with wanting to look your best on holiday. But, going to the extreme won’t make you enjoy your holiday any more.

I did it for the wrong reasons, couldn’t lift a thing in the gym and didn’t feel my best.

Even though I maybe I looked healthy.

I want to reiterate there is nothing wrong with wanting to look your best on holiday but are you going about it the right way?

Are you sacrificing health for some sort of ideal way to look?

I posted this one on my story a while ago but it’s worth a reshare.

I find that calories burnt on peoples watches is the thing that is most shared on socials.

It’s almost used as a ‘look how hard I worked’ post.

Truth be told it’s probably the most inaccurate thing your watch does.

I bet if you wore a watch on both wrists you’d get different scores for the same workout.

I bet if you wore different brands of watch you’d get different scores.

Also, is that all you care about when you are training? Are you getting stronger? Is training becoming more comfortable the more you practice? Are your fitness levels increasing?

I’m not trying to put anyone off exercising but you calories burnt per session based off your watch is something to stop concerning yourself with.

Burning more calories doesn’t mean you are improving or moving in a meaningful direction.

You aren’t a hamster on a wheel.

Recording data is great thing to do but start measuring your progress in ways that mean something.

- weight lifted
- time accumulated
- rate of perceived exertion
- reps accumulated
- improved technique
- etc etc

I’ve just back from a walk can you tell?

I did this thing today where I didn’t wear my watch and I kept my phone in my pocket.

I don’t know exactly how far I walked or how long it took.

No idea how many steps I did.

It was fantastic.

This whole 10k steps target has good intentions, the idea is to get people moving more and I’m all for it.

I understand they benefits for sure.

On the flip side though I can understand why some people can be put off by it. 10k steps can be a lot if your job is very sedentary and particularly busy.

Those people might think it’s pointless to go out walking as they’ll never achieve the target.

Even a really short 10-20 min during the day is worth doing even if you can’t reach the 10k target.

The increase in mood, blood flow and just general movement is worth it.

If you can’t hit 10k steps still try to incorporate something no matter how small.

And if you love your step count goals and you smash them daily then keep cracking on but try a walk every now and then without your watch you won’t regret that wonderful headspace.

Please read the caption.

I have seen a lot of chat this week about varying exercises to make training more enjoyable/fun.

I feel like my own bias leads me to think that changing exercises every week of your training program would slow progress down.

Or lead to very little progress at all.

If an exercise fits you well and you are able to build then keep going until you hit a plateau.

I have thought a bit more about this topic in the last few days though.

It seems silly to change your main lifts from week to week as they are most likely a priority.

You aren’t going to get better at trap bar deadlifts, back squats or reverse lunges if you change them round for something similar every week.

However, changing around arm exercises or core exercises to explore different movements and keep training fresh seems like a cool thing to do.

But I’m sure others would feel differently to me.

I very much enjoyed this variation of curls today and I feel great for trying something slightly new.

But it certainly wouldn’t have made sense to swap out my trap bar deadlifts for another variation today.

There is definitely a sweet spot for variety.

Progress keeps you coming back as does enjoyment.

But both of them together and we are on to a winner.

I might just post memes without captions now.

A tough week finished off.

How do I fit a Chinese takeaway into my macro/calorie target?

I’m posting memes without context today and unfortunately I haven’t got round to writing an email.

I’m very tired after a rather disappointing night at Old Trafford last night so my brain power is on the low side.

Context and emails back soon.

Sign up to my fitness emails by clicking the link in my bio, they tend to have more context than my memes.

But I do love memes.

A bit of fun and I don’t want to be completely black and white with this but…

Before you dive into logging all your food on your phone there might be some things that have a deeper impact on your health than a made up calorie number.

Have you added in more variety to your nutrition such as fruits, vegetables and perhaps increased protein?

Maybe adding in some great lifestyle habits first like improved sleep, drinking plenty of water and increasing your daily movement will result in not having to scan the barcode of everything you eat.

Maybe calorie counting works for you? But also, isn’t it just a tool and not a long term solution to your health and well-being?

Incorporating healthy habits will certainly set you up long term.

Just my thoughts.

Go for the big rocks first before the little pebbles.