TWO weeks and only two students of the Amazing 12 Chichester now remain.
Ross chose to drop out (for personal reasons) at the beginning of the week. Sue and Kari have soldiered on.
We had some hot evenings and gritty challenges this week. But the ladies did incredibly well. Sue’s deadlift has reached 90kg for repetitions. She even sneaks in the occasional pull-up when I’m not looking and then grins at me mischievously because they now feel so easy to her. Kari, too, is deadlifting beyond what she has ever achieved previously and her strength increased in all the other movements.
I’m turning the screw a little more, not because it’s necessary, but more because they are now ready.
These final two weeks will, much like week 10, skip by quickly. From my experience, this stage is what brings about the most significant results.
With the end in sight, thoughts inevitably turn to ‘what’s next?’ In reality, it’s a question that should have been asked (and answered) long ago.
If you run a business, you’d want it to grow. You would need to know your projections for years to come. Try to view your body in the same way. How do you want it to perform and look one, three, five and 10 years or more from today?
As with any business, neglect your body, too, and it will crumble. Feed it, invest in it and strategically create ways to nurture and challenge it and it will grow and provide healthy returns.
So for Sue and Kari this is really just the beginning and not the end.
“I have loved and am loving every second,” said Kari. “I will say this again and again…I don’t want this to end.”
It’s been a rewarding process for me to see these two ladies genuinely thrive.
“The Amazing 12 is getting tough now,” admitted Kari. “But I’m still loving it and amazed by how far I can push my body. Lifting could potentially become my drug, thanks to you.”
But I asked them both to think ahead to what could become their next challenge or to what they’d like to achieve down the road.
“If money and time were no object, I would love to do another Amazing 12,” said Sue.
“It wouldn’t be for a while, but certainly soon enough to capitalise on the progress I have already made. I’d also love to learn to box. I have always fancied that.
“I’d like to train for and get a kettlebell certification and take up yoga or pilates to sort out my mobility issues.
“And then, when I’ve done all that, I’ll enter Ninja Warriors UK!”
Kari, who’s always been more of an endurance-based athlete, said she’d like to get to Base Camp Everest, climb Mount Kilimanjaro, complete the Marathon des Sables, do the Big 5 Marathon in South Africa.
“I’d also like to spend a month in Kenya with a Kenyan athlete and learn how to run properly,” she said.
“And now, having nearly completed the Amazing 12, I’d like to compete in a Body Fitness competition (in my wildest dreams still).”
In the week that Muhammad Ali, one of my heroes, died and was buried, I think it’s only fitting to think big, as Ali would have done, and to be fearless in your approach, as he always was. For if a young, skinny black kid from Kentucky could grow up in racially oppressive times to become the most famous sports figure in history, doesn’t it make all our dreams seem more achievable?
My parting note for the week comes not from Ali, but John Maxwell, a leadership guru, who said: “Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.”
Sounds almost exactly what the Amazing 12 is all about. But it can be applied to practically everything. The underlying message is that to make a difference you first need to get started, don’t give up and realise something is better than nothing.
*The Amazing 12 Chichester wave starts next on September 5 at Core Results Gym. Send an email to Claude@Intelligentstrength.co.uk for more details or to arrange a free assessment. Spaces are limited, so make contact early to avoid disappointment.