What does "Health" mean to me?

I believe we need to take responsibility for our health and value it. Health truly is wealth, but it’s often not until it gets taken away from us or we see someone close to us suffering that we really start to value it.

True health is physical and mental. If you’re not taking care of your emotional health it is reflective on your physical health and vice-versa.

In my 18+ years as a coach I’ve gone from probably taking health for granted in the beginning to seeing, feeling and witnessing the devastating effects of not having the thing most of us take as a given. Through my own journey and working with others it’s made me extremely grateful for health because without it you have nothing.

Taking care of my body and mind has been important to me for as long as I can remember but the true meaning of health really hit home for me personally, when, at around age 34, the peak of when I was competing in triathlon, the wheels started to fall off. It was then I realised there is a very fine line between performance and health. I went from being full of energy, feeling great, a picture of health to feeling like I’d been hit by a truck and ageing faster than my years.

At age 30 I transitioned from my other sports and training into triathlon, duathlon and other endurance racing events. For 3 or 4 years I got away with burning the candle at both ends - I was training 2-3 times a day, working ridiculous hours in my Personal Training business, racing many times a month all over the world and barely sleeping. I was living on adrenaline and although I was loving it and felt great, it wasn’t to last.

The first thing I noticed was that my performance started to suffer and it wasn’t for lack of trying. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t get the results I thought I was capable of. Next came the extreme fatigue, brain fog and frequent infections, but my resilience and stubbornness just kept driving me on. Then came the real setbacks for me, a knee infection leaving me temporarily unable to walk, let alone cycle or run, multiple serious eye infections leaving me with a scarred retina and severe gut pain, bloating and distention that completely setback my training. My body had been telling me to slow down but I wasn’t listening. My immune system was struggling to fight things that normally wouldn’t be an issue but this time enough was enough. My body felt stiff and inflexible, I felt weak, the list goes on.

From that experience it really made me think about what defines health. Here are my pillars of health and performance and a checklist of what each involves. It is not about being perfect in all these areas it is about seeing which of these areas is the lowest hanging fruit and working towards bringing those up.

Upon signing up to training with me I get my clients to fill in my High Performance Recovery Sheet to see which areas are their lowest hanging fruit so we can work to maximise their health and performance.

My Pillars of Health and Performance

MOVEMENT

Do you breathe well.
Can you get up and down off the floor in a variety of ways without using your hands.
Can you walk without limitation or pain.
Can you move all of your joints through their full range of motion without limitation or pain.
Can you move through the basic human movement patterns without limitation or pain.
Can you feel different areas of your body and perceive where you are in space.
Can you lift/move/control your own bodyweight.
You are balanced, agile, flexible and strong.
You can adapt to the environment you’re in or the activity you want to do.
You work the different energy systems of your body.
You walk a minimum of 10,000 steps a day.

MINDSET

You realise that true health is not worrying about health.
You view life with an energy and zeal for what is possible.
You live by your values and not social idealisms.
You laugh everyday.
You work to find your values and discover your purpose so you feel valued and inspired.
You are where your feet are.
You find joy in the simple things.
You have an awareness of your body and learn how to FEEL.

RECOVERY

You sleep what you need and around the rhythms of your body and light/dark cycles.
You find your own way of meditation and recharging your energy/refilling your cup.
You spend time and give energy to the people that are important to you.
You make time to play.
You spend time on hobbies or activities that you love.

NATURE

You spend most of your time outside, especially in the morning light.
You regularly spend time in nature.
You regularly feel sunlight on your skin.
You get natural light on your skin and eyes especially around twilight, sunrise and sunset.

NOURISH

You find a way of eating that works for your body and supports your personal needs.
You hydrate your cells through not only water intake but by a wide range of nutrients to take that water to the cells.
You listen to your body and the signals it gives you, knowing when to speed up and when to slow down.

RESILIENCE/CHALLENGE

You expose yourself to challenge and discomfort on a regular basis.
You have the ability to handle acute stress.
You become anti-fragile - adding acute stress to your physiology to enable you to handle more than before and resilient to chronic stress.
You can adapt and evolve in difficult situations.

COMMUNITY