I work in excess of 50 hours
a week.
Having an appropriate work/life
balance varies from person to
person, and there are sometimes
aspects of my life which take
priority over others. However, my
professional work can be very
demanding due to the nature of
what I do, and the emotions which
come alongside working in the
health sector. But I do enjoy it and
I am passionate about helping
people. These days I cope very
well with the demands of my job.
I suppose much of this has come
with experience and confidence. In
my twenties, I always used training
as a way to vent my frustrations and
release any negative emotions. But
these days its more for enjoyment
after work! Fortunately for me,
coaching my clients is a pleasure
and I don’t consider it work in
any way. For this reason, when
contemplating my work/life balance
I consider this an enjoyable task,
which is also very motivating, and
I don’t see it as placing any
additional demands on myself.
Whilst I consider myself to have a
good work/life/training balance, I do
appreciate some people may not be
able to contemplate this amount of
work, especially coupled with
competing at Pro level. But, I have
had people in the past ask me
how I manage to work at all when
I also compete? I find this sort of
question quite bizarre. If you are
following a prep which doesn’t even
allow you to function for a job, let
me be frank…you are doing it wrong!
If you are in a position to reduce
your hours around show time
however, this can be very helpful, as
it allows you to conserve a bit more
energy or train for a while longer.
Gaining a Better Balance
For those of you are struggling
with your work/life/training
balance, let me share some
of my top tips to enable you
to try to improve on this.
76
FLEX | APRIL 2018
MY TRAINING AND DIET
SCHEDULE LOOKS LIKE THIS:
MONDAY - BACK
(includes chins, rows, deadlifts etc).
TUESDAY - HAMS/GLUTES
(hip thrusts, deadlifts, sumo lifts, goblet squats, glute ham raises, lunges, kick backs).
WEDNESDAY - BACK/SHOULDERS
(more lat training, plus dumbbell or military pressing, lateral raises,
rear delt flyes/crucifix, upright rows).
THURSDAY - CARDIO ONLY
FRIDAT - QUADS/GLUTES
(extensions, leg presses, lunges, hack squat, hip thrusts, sumo squats).
SATURDAY - BACK/CHEST
(more lat work plus, flyes and pressing).
For back I’m using high frequency training although not training all out super heavy.
I can’t tolerate this due to a slipped disc.
SUNDAY - HAMS/GLUTES
(similar to above but I change the rep range and tempo).
These days I train more intuitively rather than sticking to specific reps, sets and
exercises... I incorporate a lot of giant sets and drop sets.
I’ve also been experimenting with super high volume training for legs.. this was largely
influenced by Gian Enrico Pica.
This is currently my breakdown whilst prepping....
and cardio 4 x a week 30 mins steady state.
DIET
MEAL 1
6 Eggs/Whites & 2 Whole.
Half a cup of oats & berries. MEAL 4
6oz Chicken/5oz Sweet potato
and veggies.
MEAL 2
5oz Steak & 5oz Sweet potato. MEAL 5
6 Egg whites scrambled and half a cup
of Greek yogurt.
MEAL 3
5oz Turkey/5oz Rice/Veggies.
3) Work from home as often
1) Work Smarter
as possible
The most important aspect of
I
like to work from home as
balancing my work life is ensuring I
often
as possible, because
work smarter. In theory, this means
being more productive and prioritis- I am invariably much more
ing tasks. British people do have a
productive at home.
tendency to work a significant
number of hours, some of the
4) Allocate times to various
longest hours in Europe, but often
tasks, making sure you stick
the productivity isn’t necessarily that to them.
high compared to the hours put in.
I try to allocate time to various tasks
and make sure I stick to what I’ve
2) Don’t get caught up in
scheduled for myself. Trust me, this
unnecessary meetings
can be challenging when I have a
I always try to ensure I don’t get
tendency to strive for perfection.
caught up in unnecessary meetings, I have a diary that I stick to, and
which can be easily done in my line
I fit my training and client work in
of work.
around this regime.