A lot of you would of read the post I created last year about my initial fitness drive during our first national lockdown in Summer 2020.
It's good to take stock which we did just before Xmas with another post but how's it been since?
Not great to be honest. I hit a wall. It was a culmination of events and mistakes, but we've said before during our match reports, that mistakes are fine, it's human nature, but you need to learn from them. Here's a few a my thoughts documenting my change in mentality, how it relates to football and what my future plans are.
These views aren't scientific, they are just opinions and what works for me might not work for others. It's an interesting article and targets some interesting points, so if it at least gets you thinking, then it's done it's job. So get a brew on and read on.
Brief Re-Cap
April 14th 2020 - it would of been a major milestone for me. 6 months post op, officially getting the all clear from the NHS for me returning to normality and the date I had mentally etched in for my footy comeback.
But Covid-19 hit the world, and the UK was plunged into a full national lockdown. It put paid to my footballing comeback. But that's no excuse. At first the lockdown was a novelty, it was saving lives so everyone was fully behind it, but soon lethargy set in, working from home had huge benefits, but had drawbacks too. I was initially getting up later, the daily commute being time spent in bed.
What triggered my fitness program? I think it was something to do with being incredibly out of breath walking up a short flight of stairs. I had been out for 6 months, several of those with crutches so I had dipped below even my poor standards when it came to activity, so if I wanted to play football, I knew I had to get my base level of fitness up. I've talked before about being out of shape and playing a game of football, the enjoyment is diminished, and I didn't want that.
So I started mentally preparing and within weeks I was regularly waking up at 5am and going for short runs ranging from 15-30mins and power walks. After a few more weeks, the results started to show. I managed to lost 1.5 stone, falling from 14.5 stone to 13 stone. Twice I dipped under 13 stone and times were good.
Check out the time capture below to see those physical changes
BEFORE, DURING and AFTER FOOTY...
Some people call it beginners burn. I had shocked my system from it's vegetative state to being quite active, so the body was burning all that excess fat I had built up and fast.
Although the images are inspiring, even now when I look back. But there were several things I was doing wrong. If you're looking to get fit for football, in my opinion there's 4 PILLARS you need to look at.
- Exercise
- Diet
- Lifestyle
- Mindset
I was keen on focusing on exercise only. In my mind I thought I was being sensible. I thought that if I targeted exercise then it would be more manageable. Better to put all my efforts into running and fitness, then once that was part of my daily routine I could focus on the rest.
Better to succeed at 1 than fail at all was my thinking.
On the face of it, that's a very sensible way of thinking. I achieved a lot last year but with hindsight I've begun to learn that the 4 points above, aren't separate from each other, they aren't mutually exclusive. They intertwine, one point affects another and to get to your final goal, you have to take them all on. But be careful, it's mentality too. Don't try to go all out and change every aspect of your life in 1 whole step.......but don't push the other points all to 1 side to focus on only one.
Let me explain.
Exercise - running, power walks, 5-a-side footy
Diet - drinking enough water, eating sensibly, cutting down alcohol, kebabs etc
Lifestyle - cutting down smoking, quitting hopefully.
Mindset - being even more positive than usual, knowing I can improve
Last year I was too stuck on fitness. When we started playing football, I was a disappointed how "unfit" I was for football. But this was because I was still smoking 20 a day. So my fitness was improving but was being limited by being out of breath. When I was getting out of breath it stopped me from improving my running, stopped me from playing football outfield. When I started to cut down my smoking, then I would replace the smoking with snacking, so my diet was going squiff. Running however, was naturally making me consume more water, the craving for sugar were disappearing so my diet was improving in some ways. My mindset, was great but because I wasn't maximising my weight loss and fitness, I was getting dismayed after my initial physical changes.
In a nut shell, the above, in a paragraph explains how the 4 pillars I talked about earlier, all link into each other, how they all impact each other's outcomes. Before I wasn't seeing this. But let's not beat ourselves up. Mistakes are crucial. Without them you don't learn. I was essentially buoyed early doors by the physical fat loss, taking a photographic log helps in giving you the ability to gauge your progress. However, I was blind to the effects of smoking. In my mindset, I thought I could get fitter and run loads all while continuing to smoke. Then cut down or quit and then run even more. What I didn't see was that my level of smoking was putting a barrier to how much I could run. It was putting a wall in front of me. Without cutting down on smoking, I was self defeating myself.
So Welcome to BuffTingz Era 2....this is my reboot, my reset. And you get to follow me do it, you lucky sods. It's useful for me to log my journey as this goes side by side the FC7 story. All our members are going through their own odysseys though, we all weave the threads that make the fabric of FC7.
It's a shame we can't be posting match reports and photobooks but such is life, the club still exists and is a part of us all. It's giving us an opportunity to regroup and revision our personal goals which will strengthen FC7's vision. We're trying to convince the other se7enistas to put their stories down on paper, so let's see what happens. If just 1 person finds this inspirational then that's a good job done.
I'll be coming back to this post regularly, documenting my highs and inevitable lows, so check back for updates. It's great to have football to look forward. It's a goal to work towards, and it will make FC7 better on the pitch too.
Till the next BuffTingz post, see you then!
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