The birth of my son in 2009 saw a dramatic change in my lifestyle and I instantly began to feel sluggish and unfit. I’d let myself slide over the last few years and this simply pushed me over the edge.
This period of time was meant to be the happiest time of my life but instead it lead to me suffering from skin problems, bloating, headaches, joint pains and much more. I was feeling depressed, frustrated and preferred to stay in the comfort of my own home not doing anything. This only made things worse as I was eating lots of fatty processed food, drinking lots of fizzy drinks, sitting at my computer and staying up late at night stressed with a new baby!
Something had to change and I can’t tell you what it was and why it was going to be different this time but I knew I had to change as I didn’t want Adam growing up thinking I was unfit and not being able to play football with him in the back garden.
So I contacted my best mate Deano immediately and told him how I felt. If anyone can help, then your best friend can as he runs a health & fitness centre. We met and after a series of small chats and goal settings we started training together. If anything, it was going to be great to be seeing more of him and if I got a bit fitter, even better. Anything is better than nothing right? I had a holiday booked later than year too so that was my goal, this was going to be excellent motivation for me.
Now you know my ‘Oh so common story’, let me introduce myself. I’m Stan and this has been my nickname given to me by Deano for years. So much so that even his own family call me Stan, including his Grandma! I think they forget I’m actually called Paul sometimes.
Now I’ve always been fanatical about sport and in my younger days I played football and basketball on a regular basis as it made me feel good about myself. I have also been a regular gym user and have used the odd supplement when I thought I knew about training. I did see results but not results like I saw when I trained with Deano. I’m now happy to say I’m supplement free and will remain that way. I’m lucky enough that Deano studied sports science on so many different levels within the leading industry lecturers.
Deano has personally advised and trained along side me for the last few years in a way that has always suited my changing body and lifestyle needs (let’s face it, our metabolism is unique just as is our life in general). It was only when I was working with Deano that I got the results I wanted.
He taught me so much about my inner and outer health. That it starts from a simple plan of action deep within the body’s cells, being a simple yet hard practiced behavioural change that CAN be done.
I knew food was important but I never knew just how important! The kitchen time is just as important as how you move to be healthy (You see no single diet works well for everyone and food that keeps you slim may keep me overweight and unhealthy). You are what you eat!
Movement is also a key factor. What I did with Deano was fun and meant that I was energising different body zones in a FUN-CTIONAL way appropriate for my everyday living and a little bit more. He empowered me to take ownership of my own training, diet and lifestyle through his unique way of teaching (He’s also a Sport Lecturer at Solihull College). So the information I share on this site should be valued.
As I said before I was very active during my youth and early 20’s, but it was only within the year of 2010 when I started training seriously. Deano literally stripped away all my fears in an approach that lead me to changing my eating and exercise habits. He concentrated on using ideas and methods from the teachings of Paul Chek, Chuck Wolf, Dax Moy, Charles Poliquin, Martin Rooney, Phil Richards, Troy Casey, Crossfit training methods and many more.
We started with correct practices and basics so that I created a solid base to build on. Posture and stretches were very important to help my core or as Deano calls it ‘centralisation’ as were the energising exercises I was inducted to for my different body zones.
Believe it or believe it not but Deano guessed correctly EVERY week my weight loss! My hard work and following what Deano had told me to do, I guess my body adjusted well to the routines and detoxing of my inner health and with my spiritual health. I quickly started to lose body fat and feel great so I started to research areas Deano had suggested and asked him to introduce me to some different types of weight training to build up some muscle and keep me interested in my programme.
He introduced me to kettlebell training, the world famous TRX, Olympic bar training, different types of body weight exercises, medicine balls, interval training (Tabata training), cross fit training, The grid foam roller and the Trigger point kit. We also mixed in a bit of sport and martial art drills. All of this was done with the guidance and motivation of Deano and I owe him a lot. I honestly think I couldn’t have done this without him but he has also helped me realise what I have done for myself and more importantly why I did it.
Nowadays we train separately due to where we now both live, as Deano moved away to take a Sport Lecturer position at Solihull College. It’s hard as I do miss him but I decided to help out with this site to not only help with my motivation but to share my story and help motivate you. If nobody reads this then fine, at least we’ll have a bit of fun producing it and I feel that you the reader will be lucky as there will be two points of view on healthy living and fitness to read about.
Now Deano and myself don’t always agree or see eye-to-eye on ideas about nutritional requirements and his idea of peaceful inner living of meditation but I respect and admire what Deano does very much, he is a strict Paleo follower, cutting out cereals, legumes, dairy products, processed foods, sugars and chooses his supplements very careful (he only drinks NutriBalance Alkalized Bottled Water). Where I am clean living as best I can manage but still have sugars, cereals in my diet along with tap water, I don’t meditated, I drink the odd beer here and there and I use a microwave!
So you will see what we both think and how we manage what we think.
My only bit of advice at the moment is to make the decision to do something about it. This was the hardest part for me. Set your goals as without these you have nothing to aim for. Once your first session is out the way you’ll be flying and don’t over do it. Take care, look after yourself and speak soon.
Oh and by the way, I have my own personal blog now called Father Fitness. It’s a place where I keep all my event and fundraising information. I also write for several other health and fitness blogs such as Shout Fitness, Full Stride and Loxley Sports. I’d be really grateful of your support by checking them out! My Wife has also joined the gang, you can read her blog at over at Mutha Fitness.
Thanks for reading my intro!
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