War is not the answer..

(WARNING: Not health stuff) 

I wrote this over a year ago. Today I heard about this on the radio and have been seeing so many hate filled posts about the people killed in London so I decided I would finally publish it. I know some people won’t agree but that’s ok. I won’t get political often but we need to change this.

In our society there is so much hate towards people from middle eastern countries, I’m someone who likes to understand the “why”, so this is something I’ve thought about a lot. 

As far back as I can remember, we have been at war with “terror” and the “bad people” attacking our way of life and our beliefs. They have come to our country and killed our people, friends & families and tried to force their way of life onto us. We have been told by our media and family these people want to take over our country, take things from us and take away our culture. 

No wonder we are all so angry with these evil people and want to seek revenge.. Right? 

Now just for a minute, imagine you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of parentless children who has grown up in the Middle East and read back through the paragraph above in their shoes. 

I’m not saying their culture is right and some of their beliefs aren’t messed up but maybe we are part of the problem? Maybe if we hadn’t spent decades bombing the hell out of them, maybe there wouldn’t be the hate carried by these people? 

Imagine what they are told about us growing up? All they have seen and heard is of the west bombing the shit out of them. Google civilian deaths in Iraq & Syria at the hands of our efforts to give them “freedom”. It’s crazy. When we drop bombs on them, it’s branded an accident in the name of “freedom” and the battle to overcome the enemy, on our shores it’s terrorism.

I believe these people see that we are the evil ones, no different to our general view of them. Maybe trying to find peace is a better solution to continually bombing these countries and breeding more hate for generations to come? We have been at war for so long, it’s obviously not working. 

Peace. 💙✌🏻

What moves YOU..

Last week I sat down with Mel “The Naked Naturopath” from MG herbs. Mel has been a huge help in my journey through burning myself out and trying to find wellness again. 

We spoke about some of my journey so far and about getting started in the confusing world of nutrition and being active. 

I’d love if you could have a listen if you’re wanting to start that journey, or you’re already on that path. Let me know your thoughts! 

Mel is a wealth of knowledge, subscribe to her page/podcast or for the locals; book in to see her through her page and let her guide you to taking control of your health. 🙏🏻

Link to podcast is below..

Link to MG HERBS PODCAST

Resolutions..

It’s the time of year that we all talk goals and resolutions. 

I don’t set big new radical resolutions. I usually check in and make sure i’m on track with my current goals and see how to evolve them for the year to come and reflect on the year that’s been. The positives and my achievements. Sure it’s ok to recognise the bad but don’t let them be the focus. 

I see alot of people treat goals as set and forget things at NYE and hope the world delivers them then, often complaining at the end of the year that the year didn’t deliver what they hoped. 

People that succeed at goals constantly reflect, reset and change along the way. Think of it like football/basketball or whatever sport you like. Each day, week or month is a little game. You can go in with a plan, but you don’t know the plan of the other team, the weather, etc. A good coach doesn’t make one game plan at the start of the year and just hope it works all season. They don’t even talk about how the whole year will go, game by game, collect the little wins and come out on top at the grand final. The plan constantly evolves and changes, but still the same goal.

Make small goals, after each month, check in, see how you’re going. Is the plan working? If not, why not? Did you try to take on too much? If it is working, celebrate your success, this can be in the form of anything, just something that puts a smile on your face.

When you see someone succeed, it’s 1000 small goals finally paying off, not 1 goal. Remember that and maybe check back in with your new year’s goals, maybe just make a January goal to start with? 

I’d love to hear from you in comments on what you want to achieve this year, and what are the little steps you’re going to take so 2017 is your most successful year yet. 

Another year older..

With another birthday around the corner, I’ve had the same conversation so many times. It feels like the same conversation I’ve had every birthday since I turned 18. “How do you feel about turning 21? 25? 30? 31?”

21 vs 31

 

My answer has always been the same. Except for 25 but I’ll get to that later. My answer has only gotten more definitive as I’ve gotten older. 

“Great, I’m excited for another year of life and seeing where it takes me.”

I understand that some people’s lives don’t improve with age, but is that the calendars fault or yours? Take ownership of your life and it’s direction, that’s what I decided to do at 25. 

Turning 25 was the worst birthday I’ve had, for years I had put the expectation on myself of where I would be at 25. I would have a good job and my first house. The reality was I was working in a snowboard shop and struggling to make ends meet and my mum was buying me food so I’d eat. Dad was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was the second low point of my life and the second time unhealthy thoughts about what I could do to make it all go away had crept into my brain. 

A blessing in disguise came along, an opportunity to live in Japan for a snow season. This was my escape & my reset button. Arriving in Japan, I realised I could be a new person, nobody knew my past or the mistakes I’d made, I also realised I could do this back home. I realised for the first time I was the one in control of my path and nobody else. 

Over the last 10 years, I can’t name a part of my life that hasn’t improved. As we age, we get more intelligent, more knowledge, and more experience. I’m healthier, fitter and stronger. I’ve got a great career ahead of me. Most importantly, I’ve actually found a purpose and passion in life. What’s not to like?

If you’re so scared of another year of your life. You’re living the wrong life. Take control and make your next year your best year. 

Greg. 

Where are cyclists meant to ride?

“Dear Angry Bearded Man,

My deepest apology for nearly running into your wife. I’m not sure what I’m meant to say sorry for as your words were largely profanities but I think I picked up you aren’t a fan of people on bikes but here is my apology anyway.

I am sorry she stepped off the kerb onto the cycle lane on the road about 50cm short of me riding. I am sorry I clearly misunderstood what a cycle lane is for.

From another f%&King D%$khead W$%nker cyclist.”

I just got in from a ride, during the ride I had my first proper altercation on a bike, but it’s left me rather confused and wondering something.

Where do people want cyclists to ride? After the above incident.. It’s apparently not the bike lanes.

The options are:

1. Footpath – Illegal in my state for people over 12 years old. Yes, over 12 years old it is illegal to ride on a footpath.
2. Road – The legal option, I stop at stop signs, I stop at crossings and redlights. I try to take up as little room as possible while I keep myself safe. This is the option usually less favored by your average road user.
3. Bike lanes – Every internet comments section on this topic is full of people like my angry bearded friend saying “pay registration or get off our roads and onto cycle ways”. Apparently this isn’t the right place either?

Today after the gym I went for a ride, I was riding along in the bike lane. As I was about to pass a couple crossing the road, my angry bearded friend crossed in front of me, I slowed down, his wife stopped on the kerb so I sped up again, then as I was right in front of her, she stepped straight out. I narrowly missed her. In between broken English, I got told I should be looking out and that I need to use my brakes and that people like me cause accidents.

I don’t understand the intolerance for cyclists. I drive a car too. People don’t want to be delayed by cyclists, but imagine if they all drove their cars, then you’d be stuck in worse traffic? What would you rather?

If you look around the world at some of the more progressive societies, bikes are starting to overtake cars as the primary transport. Unfortunately, I think we are a long way from this as most people don’t even understand the basics of where bikes can/can’t go.

There are some cyclists who cause trouble on the roads, there are some motorists that cause trouble on the roads and after my ride today, there are pedestrians who cause trouble. I think everyone needs to chill out, be a little more tolerant of people around them and learn the road rules before more people get hurt or killed.

On that note, there are new cycling laws in NSW starting 1^st March, make sure you understand them if you’re riding a bike or driving a car. Link is here to an FAQ about them. (http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/campaigns/go-together/faqs.html)

Thanks.
From a law abiding rego paying car driving part time cyclist.

Flight or Fright..

This has been a hard thing for me to accept, over the last 18 months, I’ve felt run down and burnt out. My training has stalled, my sleep quality is terrible, my body is carrying injuries and despite living the healthiest I ever have, I feel shit. I have been trying to dig deeper into what’s going on and this week I finally got an answer. Adrenal Fatigue. I had a four point saliva cortisol test and came back that cortisol/DHEA is low at all points from morning to night.

To simplify how this happens, we are built to either repair/reproduce or run away from lions. Flight or fright. And over the last few years, with dad fighting cancer and his eventual passing away, stressful house sale, coaching people while working a full time job, training too much, working long hours, not sleeping enough, I have run from too many lions and my body has had enough.

  
This has been hard to accept because I tell so many people how to be healthy and what they need to do to take care of themselves. At the same time, I’ve been fighting an uphill battle against myself. The last 6 months, I have made so many life changes with yoga, better sleep health and good nutrition. It wasn’t enough to pull me out of it. As a result of this I need to make more changes, part of this is I will be stepping back from CrossFit for now. I’ll be spending my time swimming and doing yoga. Putting my focus into recovery and health so i can enjoy the life I have and get back to the things I love. My time at CrossFit Horizons so far has been great, I felt so welcome from the day I walked in and I can’t wait to get back there.

The other hard part of this was feeling accountable to my Mass Nutrition Kotara family. I didn’t want to let them down, after a chat this week, I have their full support and knowing they are standing by me means so much.

Fitness isn’t just the work you do in the gym, it’s your lifestyle and the things you do outside a gym the other 23 hours of the day.

I’m in the best possible hands to help me rebuild from this and have amazing support from the people around me. I will be back.

If you have any of the below symptoms, speak with a naturopath or let me know and i can point you towards some good reading resources.

@wolf_fit

@wolf_fit

What’s your problem?

 We spend hundreds of billions of dollars on medical research, we have more specialists, more technology, more communication and more knowledge, yet we are the first generation in human history that will not live longer than the last. If that isn’t an alarming wake-up call, then I don’t know what is. Everyone you speak to is taking medication for this or that. When you ask what they are taking them for, listen to the response, then ask yourself, is that a symptom or problem? I bet 99% of the time, it’s merely a symptom.

 

So we are out there medicating the symptoms and not worrying about the problem. Imagine a leaking roof, instead of fixing the leak, stupidly we place a bucket in the ceiling to catch the water, have you treated the problem or just the symptom? Eventually, the bucket will get that heavy it will fall through the ceiling. Think about your body like this. We keep treating symptoms but the problem is still there, dripping away and slowly filling the bucket until it can’t take the load anymore.

I recently asked a family member what medication she was taking; her response to start with was “I’m not taking anything, except for a tablet a day for reflux”. She went on to tell me about some family history of stomach cancer and she had been told to just take this tablet once per day and she wouldn’t have an issue.  Medication for GERD fixes the acid reflux symptom, the problem is digestive problems and gut health. One of the problems that can arise from GERD is stomach cancer if left untreated. Think about that problem vs. symptom process. This can usually be treated with some simple nutritional changes and if I can learn that on the internet, don’t doctors have Google too?

Let’s play a game.. Are these problems or symptoms.. 

Headache?  
Inflammation?
Child with ADD? 
Blood Pressure? 
Cholesterol? 
Anxiety?
Depression?
Insomnia?

The list goes on..

All these are symptoms and not the primary problem. Think back to your last three visits to your GP, you present and tell him your symptoms, and generally, within 5 minutes, you’re out the door with a script in your hand and off to the pharmacy. What if you got asked about your nutrition and given information on how to fix the primary problem. This would possibly take more than the 5 minutes I’ve ever spent in a GP’s office. If you go for an appointment with a naturopath or similar, it will take over an hour for them to get a picture of your diet and lifestyle, when was the last time a doctor spent an hour talking to you about your lifestyle and nutrition? The average doctor visit lasts 7 minutes.

Your body is sending you a message and it’s time to start paying attention to the leak in the roof before the bucket overflows. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go to your GP with health issues but hopefully this will bring awareness and you might ask yourself next time you’re unwell, what the actual problem is and maybe start a conversation with your GP.

The pharmaceutical companies are about creating wealth, not health. They do not want healthy people; it’s bad for business. The more aware you become of this, the better your wellness will get. 

Greg – @wolf_fit

The Worst Relationship..

We’ve all had one of those toxic relationships in our lives where we recognise how bad somebody is for us and the impact that they are having on our wellbeing. First it’s little things, but then it quickly moves on to the bigger complications.

By now you’re probably wondering why I’m talking about relationships! They are definitely not something I claim to be good at! The reason I’m talking about them is because most of the world has one of these relationship problems right now! Food.. The relationship with food can be the most toxic relationship you’ll experience. Whether this is an emotional relationship or just the bad food choices you’re making, both are hurting you and future generations. Breaking up is never easy and this one is no different but once you do. You’ll wonder why you didn’t do it earlier and start to work on finding a healthy and fulfilling relationship with nutrition. 

Think back to where this emotional relationship starts.. Think back to when you were a you’re a child and you’d been well-behaved or you were upset/hurting after that first doctor’s visit. What happened? You were given a treat for being such a brave little one. This is when that toxic relationship begins. The pattern begins each time you’ve achieved something good or you’re going through a tough time. We turn to the treats. Now I know I’m not a parent yet, but so often I see and hear parents using fast food as a treat. Parents, would you give your child a drug that would cause health problems and death in 40 years’ time? No? For some reason when it comes to food we selectively turn a blind eye to the side effects. And I use the term ‘food’ very lightly. When did giving your child a toxic substance become a treat? You are setting them up for failure and a high chance of suffering from a disease. The world is a toxic place and we need to change before it’s too late. This change needs to come from the next generation and the parents of the world are at the front of this with the choices you make.

You’re in charge of food choices!

I understand that the world of nutrition can be a cloudy pool of opposing arguments. No fat, low-fat, high-fat. Butter versus margarine. Good fats and bad fats. Carbs vs no carbs. It can all be so confusing. I’m not a nutritionist or dietician, but it doesn’t take a university degree to see through the fog – just EAT REAL QUALITY FOOD. Less factory food, more farm food. 

Take your family to a farmers’ market on the weekend and meet the people that grow your food. Ask them about where it is grown and how it’s grown. You quickly see these people caring about the food and not just the profit margins. The family I get most of my vegetables from have even invited to take a look at their farms! I know the first thing that runs through people’s heads is “oh, but organic food is expensive.” I think you’d be surprised at the costs once you build rapport with a family/farmer at the markets. Plus, even if good food is expensive, so is disease. What price do you put on your family’s wellbeing? 

Good nutrition is as important as good oxygen and we need to start treating it that way. Greg – @wolf_fit

Who I am.. Part 2.

I arrived back from Japan ready to find a new me. I didn’t know anything about fitness or health. I bought some scales; this was the start. 134kg. This hit me hard, as I had always assumed I would be around 110kg. Things had to change. The first changes were no soft drink and reducing alcohol intake. This change alone made a huge difference; once you stop drinking, the bad choices food choices that come with it stop too.

I was also doing what every 20-something male does when he moves out of home – living off large servings of rice and pasta dishes, eating the same meal for three days straight, less cooking and even less washing up. Once I starting making better food choices and started moving, the weight started falling off me, 24kg down and I finally got the confidence to join a gym. I had a goal in mind of completing city2surf – a 14km fun run. I kept smashing through running goals I never thought I would be capable of. In the middle of 60-hour weeks, running became my therapy and time away from the world through dad’s cancer battle & then death on 4th April 2011. When I decided to make a change, I wanted him to see me change my life. In the 12 months since I had returned from Japan I had started a job in the mines, made an offer on my first house, and run my first 10km race. The pride in his voice when I would tell him of my milestones will never leave my head.  

Dad and myself at my grandfathers 90th

 Four months later, I had now reached 92kg, my lightest but not my healthiest. I was on the start line in an invitational group for my first of three city2surf races. I went on to complete 3 half marathons and my biggest run of 28km, but it was time for a change. I turned my attention to triathlon. Completing 4 short course triathlons and wanting to tackle bigger things, I decided I needed to put on some muscle. On my run course, I kept passing a shed with some people doing CrossFit, I got curious and went to check it out and chat to the coach after a session, despite the numerous people coming out after the session falling on the driveway, I  decided I would do it once a week between triathlon training to build some strength. Once a week didn’t last long, as it started to take over my triathlon training. I had found a sport that challenged me and I loved the changes I saw in my body. Never would I have dreamt that 3 years later I would be competing and have a sponsorship for doing what I love.

 

CITY2SURF 2014 with one of my best mates.

 

I’m now sitting at 106kg and what I believe is the healthiest I’ve ever been. I don’t get sick, I haven’t been drunk in almost two years, and I haven’t eaten fast food in about the same. My opinions of healthy eating when I first began compared tonow have changed massively, but that journey has been amazing and it’s one that will continue for the rest of my life.

Cancer was the symptom of my father’s lifestyle choices. He smoked & he drank. From this, I’ve discovered my passion and my purpose. When I started my fitness journey I was doing it for myself, but this has transformed. I now realise that I have the ability to positively influence others through my story and my life. The most amazing thing is getting people from around the world telling me that I’ve helped them eat better or move more. Thank you for taking the time to read my story and I hope you can take something from it.

  

Greg (@wolf_fit)

Who I am..

I thought I would start my blog by sharing a little about me, but I’ve ended up sharing more than I thought I would ever share in the public domain. I’m doing this to hopefully help other people, to show people that you can change, that you can win the battles life throws at you –it’s all about your attitude and belief in yourself.  

About five years ago I threw away who I was, my friends, my lifestyle and everything I knew about myself. Since then I’ve been on a journey to rediscover who I am, including my values and beliefs. This blog will be about that journey and my thoughts along the way.

From the start…
Growing up, I was in the average middle class separated family. My parents were good to me, they taught me values and how to be a good person. I discovered soccer and then basketball; I practically lived at the basketball stadium. Mum coached, my sister played rep; it was my life. When I was in the under 16’s, I had spent some time struggling through some knee pain and kept trying to push through, but then on the morning of my first representative game for Newcastle, I couldn’t take it anymore and my knees gave in on some warmup drills. I went to the doctors and they told me I had Osgood–Schlatter’s disease. It sounds scary, but it basically just means I had grown too fast and the muscles and tendons couldn’t keep up with my bones. I was told that I needed to quit basketball or I would be facing two knee reconstructions for my 18th birthday. Like I mentioned, my life was basketball, and now I had to quit? I was lost. From then on I hated going to the stadium and hated watching it. My sedentary life began;my sport was gone but my appetite had not. I would still come home from school and eat endless amounts of food like I used to. Eventually it caught up and I became the “big guy”. 

Fast forward to year 9 at high school. I was smart, top of my classes for IT and was doing well in science, despite my lack of attention and tendency to want to set things on fire instead of listen. I went through some pretty heavy bullying issues at school and it all went downhill. I stopped attending school, I withdrew and spent a large amount of my days in my room. Depression – this was the hardest battle I had dealt with in my life. I ended up returning to school and finishing year 10 but with average results due to the amount of school I had missed.

Becoming an adult…
I left school for a mechanics apprenticeship, and began working with performance cars and meeting people in the car scene. I had struggled to find a group of mates since school. This was the next turn in my story; I began to see people with nice cars, surrounded by people and friends. Some of these people had questionable sources of income, but the rewards seemed to outweigh the risks. I wanted what they had. This was the start of a dark, toxic and unhealthy lifestyle – the party life. Visiting my best mates in gaol started to become a regular weekend activity. I don’t regret my choices in life as I wouldn’t be who I am without them, but I do sometimes wonder what life would have been like if I had made different choices at different points.

The change…
My dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2010, and this was the kick in the butt I needed. I had a trip to Japan booked for a snow season. Dad insisted I still go and while I was there, I made the decision that I would leave my old life behind when I returned and start again. I wanted to be a man dad would be proud of and knew it was time to change my path. This was the start of my fitness journey.. STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO! 

Thanks.

Greg – @wolf_fit