Andrew Simmons — Andrew's Vision

The Pay Off

October 24, 2010 By Andrew Simmons Leave a Comment

Paying for a cleaner will get your house nice and clean. Paying for a gardener will mean your lawn is always neatly trimmed. However, paying for a gym membership doesn’t mean you’ll get in shape. In fact, paying an excellent personal trainer to make you run around for an hour a week doesn’t mean you’ll get in shape either. No way near.

Obviously, signing up to the gym is the first step, and assigning a personal trainer is another massive push towards achieving your goals. However, the real results will only come with daily, continued effort, both in the gym and at home. There’s no point trying to out-source your fitness. Many people believe that by paying a personal trainer for an hour a week, they will get results – if this is combined with personal exercise and self-discipline, then yes, absolutely. However, if you’re paying to be fit for an hour a week then forgetting about it for the other 167 hours, you won’t get anywhere – no matter how hard you train during that hour.

In today’s society, there are ways to pay and have virtually anything done for you – from your food shopping to your children’s welfare. However, your fitness is something that can’t be out-sourced. It takes a continued effort to make a change here. Paying the bill is only the first step…

Filed Under: Exercise, Education, Emotions, Fitness, Straight Talk

Quick-fix food won’t fix anything

October 19, 2010 By Andrew Simmons Leave a Comment

Your eating behaviours are a matter of personal choice – you have complete control over what goes into your body and therefore have complete control over how your body looks. However, it often isn’t that simple.

Years ago, the richest of people had the most succulent, fatty and delicious food to choose from – with a mass of disposable income, feasting on the very finest of food was an open display of wealth. Poorer people however, had less choice and were more than likely left to survive on a less varied, but extremely healthy diet, as the food would usually come straight from farming.

Fast-forward to today and this is almost the opposite way around. Although, as stated above, you have complete control over what you eat, for a large percentage of people, income still plays a major factor. However, with the rise of fast-food, meal-deals and microwave meals, the cheaper option is no longer the most natural one. The grains and fresh fruit that poorer people would once feast on have now been replaced by quick-fix unhealthy options, resulting in the majority of the nation getting fatter.

It’s these ‘money-saving’ solutions that are actually making the nation fatter. Cutting corners with your food is exactly the same as cutting corners with your exercise plan. There are ways to save and still eat well but like everything it takes time and self-discipline to do this. Cooking from fresh in large batches and saving meals for the next day, is a great way to save time and money if needs be.

Just don’t opt for the quick-fix option when it comes to food. There are no quick-fix solutions – this is the first and last thing you need to remember.

Filed Under: Eating, Education, Food

Taking steps to self-awareness

October 15, 2010 By Andrew Simmons Leave a Comment

Believe it or not, Australia is officially the fattest country on Earth. With 26% of the adult population certified obese, Australians have even managed to knock America from their rather large top-spot.

It seems shocking that Americans – who are globally-renowned for overeating and being under-active – can now sit back and relax as the Aussies show them exactly how it’s done.

And that they are.

Statistically speaking, Americans take fewer steps than Australians on a day-to-day basis. And no, this isn’t because they’re watching us stride ahead in the fat race – it has generally always been this way.

Then why, if Australians walk more than Americans, are we still fatter?

According to the University of Tennessee, Americans take 5,117 steps per day, far fewer than people in Australia (who take 9,695). The health implications of trying to walk 10,000 steps per day are enormous – those who do are 72% less likely to develop metabolic syndrome – often a precursor to diabetes.

However, as a nation, America is far more aware of their health problems than Australia. In fact West Virginia is proposing an added tax on food purchased at drive-throughs, to encourage more Americans to walk or even cook at home.

Australia, which for years has been deemed the ‘surfer’ country has always managed to carry healthy connotations, due to the sun and the outside lifestyle. However, it’s this rationale which leads to more problems. Australian’s are simply not as aware. It takes time, discipline and self awareness to get into shape. They all work together in unison. If you lose one, then you’ve lost the battle…

Time for Australia to lose weight and gain some self-awareness.

Filed Under: Education, Straight Talk

Scrap the diet and get some discipline

October 13, 2010 By Andrew Simmons Leave a Comment

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. To accomplish your fitness goals, what you need, before anything else, is the self belief and the will power to see yourself through to the end. Training is hard and achieving the perfect body and level of fitness is a fulltime commitment. Results don’t come over night, and even when they do come, it takes a massive amount of long-lasting commitment to see continued results. Fitness is a process which takes time and it most certainly doesn’t come without discipline.

The internet is full of fad diets and promises that you can lose weight by doing virtually nothing at all. But in reality this couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s not about starvation diets or tricking your body. It’s about continued discipline. The only way to lose weight and get fit is to stop with the excuses. Stop saying ‘I’m too tired’, ‘I’m too stressed’, ‘I don’t have the time’. Exercise is tough both mentally and physically. It’s a challenge on the entire body. Realising this, and making the effort to discipline yourself and push through, even when the results seem fleeting, is what will get you there in the end – nothing else.

Filed Under: Eating, Education, Food, Straight Talk

Maximise your workout time

September 1, 2010 By Andrew Simmons Leave a Comment

I often hear people talk about how many hours they spend in the gym – almost boasting about it. My immediate reaction is: You must either have alot of time on your hands or you must be doing the wrong exercises. As people are becoming increasingly time poor, it is important that they are given the opportunity to gain maximum bite for the buck or get maximum results in minimal time. Further as most people really dont enjoy the “pain” of exercise they should be given the opportunity to achieve maximum results with minimal effort.

The best form of exercise to increase your metabolism and achieve a great body shape is weight training; and the best weight training exercise are “compound” (those that move multiple joints and muscles at one time). One of the best examples of a compound exercise is the squat, which works the thighs, hamstrings , calves, abdominals. Other example of these exercises include squats, lunges, leg presses, bench press, lat pulldown and should presses. Isolation exercises on the other hand focus on targeting one muscle group at a time and one of the best examples of isolation exercises is the bicep curl.

Compound exercises general work the largest and strongest muscles of the body. Hence, they also provide the largest muscle gains and stimulate the release of testosterone and growth hormones. Compound exercises are the most demanding, however, the muscle gains from performing compound exercises far outweigh the muscle gains from performing isolation exercises alone. Hence for time poor, I don’t believe there is a need to perform isolation exercises at all. Why would you say perform 3 sets of cable flys for your chest, 3 sets of front dumbbell raises to work our shoulders and 3 sets of tricep pushdowns for your triceps when you can perform 3 sets of the bench press which works the chest, shoulders and triceps at the same time? It makes no sense.

Another major point to consider is the inverse relationship between intensity and volume. Obviously the longer you workout for, the lower the intensity will be and as any improvement in body shape requires overload or high intensity efforts, short sessions are more beneficial. As a result, I would recommend that only 2 x 30 minutes weight training work outs are needed per week for weight loss and no more than 3 x 60 minutes sessions are needed for muscle gain (Compound exercises only of course!)

Filed Under: Exercise, Education, Fitness

Can the Fitness Industry Survive?

August 24, 2010 By Andrew Simmons Leave a Comment

“Economic crisis, global credit crunch, financial catastrophe, potentially the worst recession of our lifetime, market meltdown”.

These are just some of the phrases used during the GFC by the media and “experts” to describe the state of economy. Whilst we should treat this situation seriously, and tackle it head on, unfortunately headlines like these instill unnecessary fear in the minds of many people, including both clients and fitness professionals. In a recent article in Business Review Weekly (BRW) it was suggested that consumer spending on fitness will halve in this new financial year. Similarly an article on domestic budgeting in the Herald newspaper in New Zealand recommended people to “give up the gym membership” as a way to reduce household spending.

During a presentation I gave at the 2008 National Franchising Convention in Sydney, I was asked what impact I thought that the “Economic Crisis” would have on the Fitness Industry. My response was straight forward. “It will sort out the men from the boys. It will establish which clients / gym members truly value the level of service provided by their personal trainers and / or other fitness providers and those who do not. If clients do not receive outstanding service, they will use the ‘economic situation’ as a convenient excuse to either cancel their gym membership and / or terminate the services of their personal trainer”.

Recently one of our Franchise Owners at Vision Personal Training was confronted with such a situation. A client, spooked by what she read in a paper, suggested that she needed to cease training due to the economic downturn. When asked how it has impacted her, she indicated that she only wanted to use the money to pay off her mortgage. After the Franchise Owner pointed out that interest rates had actually fallen significantly as a result of the crisis, leaving more money in her bank account at month’s end, and established that her job situation was not affected at all, she ‘came clean’ and confessed that the real reason for wishing to cease training was that she felt de-motivated by a lack of goal setting provided by her trainer. Subsequently, the franchise owner was able to help her establish some more compelling goals which lead to her actually choosing to increase the amount of Personal Training that she does at the studio.

The Australian Fitness market is still relatively immature and untapped. Our society is more deconditioned and stressed out than ever before, meaning that our services have never been more needed. However, unfortunately like many clients make excuses for their failures, I have recently heard many fitness professionals too use the “credit crunch” as the excuse for their lack of their success.

I believe that a fitness professional’s success is largely determined by their self belief during such times. In my opinion, it is professionally unacceptable to allow most clients stop exercising during times. As previously mentioned, they need it now more than ever, as I see healthy eating, exercise and personal training as a necessity not a luxury. Those who view it as a luxury will unfortunately allow themselves to be swept up by all of the media hype.

The opportunity for success even in this climate is made apparent by number of large overseas fitness chains that already have or are planning on entering the Australian market within the next 5 years. I believe that the landscape of the fitness industry in Australia will change dramatically shortly. I don’t wish it was easier, I wish I was better. I am looking forward to tackling these times head on and forced to become better. By doing so, imagine how fast I can grow when we turn the economic corner once again. Those leaders who possess positive attitudes to these times, are committed to outstanding customer service and are focused on constant improvement, will rise to the top and achieve greatness in the most rewarding industry in the world. I can assure you that Vision Personal Training will be amongst them.

Filed Under: Education, Straight Talk

The Power of Compelling Goal Setting

August 10, 2010 By Andrew Simmons Leave a Comment

“He who has a big enough why to live for can bear almost any how.”
– Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, 19th century german philosopher

This quote pretty much sums up the power of goal setting and explains why some people achieve things that other people only ever dream about. Everytime I hear or read this quote, my immediately reflect on a 14 week period at the beginning of 2009. At that time, I was fortunate to participate in a Natural Body Building Competition a large group of Vision Personal Trainers, Managers and Owners in May 2009.

Whilst my main motivation to eat well and exercise consistently for the entire 14 week journey was to avoid the embarrassment looking out of place on stage, I also learnt a great deal about what can be achieved when your goals are compelling enough. Upon reflection long after the event, I was quite surpised about the level of commitment that my collegues and I showed, especially when many of us were responsible for running businesses and raising young families at the same time.

During the preparation, 4.30am cardio sessions for two hours before work were just part of the daily routine, without too much fuss, even though I consistently went to bed well after 10.30pm each night. Similarly, saying “no” to bad food and alcohol at parties was really quite easy. I simply put this down to the quote mentioned above.

In the subsequent months after the event, without the compelling goal, suddenly it was harder, if not out of the question, to rise at that ridiculous time to exercise. Poor food choices gradually began to slip back in too. I have witnessed this happen so many times with clients over the years. Many people seek the services of a Personal Trainer to help them achieve their goals. Then when they do so, they attempt to embark of a self imposed “maintenance” plan, without their trainer. Unfortunately, without ongoing goal setting, their old habits sneak back in and before to long, they return to square one.

So my advice is to set goals that are compelling to you, for it is only then when you can achieve greatness!

Filed Under: Education, Emotions

Junk Foods – What our kids are missing out on!

August 9, 2010 By Andrew Simmons Leave a Comment

Today I was talking to a Vision Personal Training client about the state of her pantry. She suggested that she had to have junk foods in her cupboard so her kids wouldn’t “miss out”. That comment stopped me in my tracks. The only thing I thought her kids were missing out on is the opportunity to feel healthy and energetic, as a result of eating healthy foods. After the meeting, I paused for a few moments and reflected upon how different people associate entirely different meanings to certain situations. The concept of missing out was interpreted in an entirely different way by me, compared to the way my client did.

With obesity rates in Australia reaching epidemic proportions, I think it about time society really started to view the consumption of junk food differently. The sooner that fast food companies are prevented from advertising during childrens TV programs and the sooner they are prevented from associating their products with kids toys the better.

Filed Under: Eating, Emotions, Food, Straight Talk

The Power of Personal Development

August 1, 2010 By Andrew Simmons Leave a Comment

More often than not, when I meet people who really inspire me through their dedication to their business, health and fitness or family life, I find that they are committed to their own personal development. That is, they are on a continuous path to learning new ways to be a better person by reading books, attending seminars, listening to audio books or having conversations with people who inspire them.

Unfortunately, most people are never exposed to such learnings or are closed to the opportunity to grow personally. Having been involved in the Fitness Industry since 1992, I have witnessed first hand thousands of people either benefit from embracing personal development material or miss the opportunity completely. Personal Training is completely leadership driven. A Personal Trainer needs to be very personally developed as the most important skill they require is the ability to coach someone towards their goals. Similarly for someone to achieve and maintain their goals long-term in any area of their life, they need to take responsibility for their actions.

Whilst I have always been a fairly driven person, I didn’t embrace Personal Developmen t until I was in my late 20’s. I am not proud to admit that I only read my first full book at about the age of 27. During my time at school I managed to scrape my way through exams by reading the summary guides of the books I was supposed to read.

In about 1998, I conquered my first book “The E Myth” by Michael Gerber. It completely changed my life. Since then I have read a countless number of books and now am almost obsessed with continual learning. I believe this has been a major contributor to the success of Vision Personal Training. Upon reflection however, I wished I had have embraced this earlier in my life. Like me in my early 20’s, I unfortunately see so many people closed to the concept of reading personal development books. However, once they get a taste of it, dont look back and their success in life dramatically improves.

My biggest tip for entering the world of self improvement is to find a subject that interests you. If you are interested in golf, read Greg Norman’s book “The way of the shark”. If you are interested in computing, read “The Google Story“. These books will more than likely insoire you to read the next book and you will be on your way.

If you are interested in the books that I recommend to the leaders in the Vision Personal Training network, visit my readings list at LinkedIn.

Filed Under: Education

Is FaceBook turning you into a thief?

August 1, 2010 By Andrew Simmons Leave a Comment

Everytime I hear about the expansion of FaceBook, thoughts of specticism flood my mind. I immediately wonder when people are using it. Is it during work hours or is it in their own time? After discussions with many people about this, I found that people frequently use FaceBook for personal reasons (not professional) during work hours. In my belief, this is a form of theft as they are being paid to work but in fact not doing so.

Well known Personal Development author Larry Wingett discusses this concept in his best selling book “It’s Called Work for a Reason“, a fantastic book about becoming more successful. He suggests that time stealing is no different to taking money out of the bosses bank account or cash register and I agree. This tendency to work on personal matters during work hours is not surprising, particularly as most Australians are unhappy in their jobs.

So why am I writing about this when my passion is really about improving the health of the nation you may ask. It is because I believe that many people who are unhappy in their jobs often turn to food, drugs and alcohol as forms of comfort or as a means of achieving happiness. As a result, their health is in jeopardy.

I am proud and fortunate enough to be able to say that I love what I do. I don’t feel like I have really worked since about 1992, when I switched from working in Accounting firm as a trainee accountant to “play” in the fitness industry. Hence, I don’t have the desire or need to turn to food, alcohol or drugs as a means of happiness. In fact I am proud to say that I have never taken drugs.

To me surfing FaceBook for hours on end purely for personal reasons is a complete waste of time. Similarly, eating poorly quality food, drinking alcohol excessively or taking drugs simply prevents you from maximising your potential to achieve worthwhile goals. My advice to those out there who are victims of these destructive behaviours is for them to find a career, sport and / hobby that ignites their passion. Once this is found, the need or desire to steal time from the boss or lead a destructive lifestyle will be a thing of the past.

Filed Under: Education, Emotions, Fitness, Straight Talk