Last weekend I went to the mountains with my wife to do some bushwalking. Whilst I was there, I did 3 bush walks, each one being different from the next. During the walks, I could see how these walks could be related to your fitness and lifestyle programs. I know I’m a little boring, but this is what I think about when I am chilling out. I think about you guys! 

Walk 1 was a nice walk, I had a look at the map before I left, but it was pretty straight forward. I got to my destination in a few hours and was happy with what I had achieved, but it was nothing to write home about. I see this as being like a program you might pull out of a fitness magazine. You try it out for a while, you see some change, but you shouldn’t expect major results. The fact is, I followed the directions and I got to the destination. This walk was never going to be great, but by adhering to the map, I got what I had expected. But I needed more!

Walk 2 was complicated. I had to constantly refer to the map and read some printed directions aswell. The walk was amazing! I walked through a rainforest, over two waterfalls and under another one. There were some awesome views and some challenging terrain. This was a quality walk and I knew that by what I had read about it, but I was willing to go for it.

This is like a quality exercise program. I kept reading my directions and map. I didn’t go off course. I got a little tired at times, so I slowed down a little and sometimes I took a rest stop, but at no time did I change my course from what was on the map. If I had gotten tired and taken another track to get back early, I would have missed so much of the awesome walk. The fact was, I set out on this walk and I saw it through to the end with the help of my map. I got what I expected, hard work and well worth it!

Walk number 3 sounded hard, I thought I was ready for a challenge after what I had conquered the day before. Sure enough, the walk started out hard. So hard in fact that it wasn’t enjoyable. I had gone down a long way and I knew in a couple of hours I would have an even harder time climbing back out of the forest. Sure enough, the end was really hard and even less enjoyable than the start. The problem was, this walk was so boring, it wasn’t even close to being worth it. I was tempted to turn around and go back after about an hour, but being my determined self, I pushed on. Most people would have gotten bored and gone back. All I got for a couple of hours was dense dry forest. No views, no rain forest, no waterfalls etc. This is like a typical exercise program that we feel we need. We punish ourselves with unrealistic exercises so we can get results fast. We think no pain, no gain! We forget about creating lifelong habits, we want results fast. The problem is, those results generally don’t come as quick as we would like and we soon give up because it hurts, this program sucks! 

I have seen all of these scenarios before which is why it was so easy for me to relate it to a simple thing like a bush walk.

Which bush walk are you on right now? Will you see it through to the end, or will you take the easy track out and not see the awesome results you set out for in the first place? What was the point of starting if you’re not going to see it through?

My family's fitness in the mountains

Troy Shipsey

Fitta Bodies Personal Training

Centennial Park Outdoor Group Training Camp, Sydney

Please click on the link below and watch the video, I can assure you, it is one of the most amazing things I have seen, it is well worth a couple of mintues of your time and I guarantee you will be inspired by it.

View their inspirational real life story here

View the video here

Unfortunately the video attached to the story has been removed, so I have attached a link to the video separately. Please enjoy…

Troy Shipsey

Fitta Bodies Personal Training

Centennial Park Outdoor Group Training Camp, Sydney