A COUPLE OF weeks ago, we saw the amount of interest and attention mental health now has in Ireland.
It was encouraging to see more than 120,000 people taking part in the ‘Darkness into Light’ events across the country.
Most of us know someone who has been affected by mental health issues at some point in their lives, directly or indirectly.
First of all, you might be asking ‘why is this is in a fitness column?’.
I would regard physical fitness as very important but how you train and look after your mind is just as, if not more, important.
To me, fitness isn’t always about lifting weights, running or going under the bar to hit a heavy squat.
Spending time on your mindset is something I would encourage everybody to incorporate into their fitness routine. You’ve got to slow down to speed up sometimes.
As a personal trainer I have seen the huge benefit with some clients who are treating exercise as a path to help them with their own personal battles.
There is such great help out there for anyone fighting their battle with mental health. Pieta House and Aware are two fantastic organisations who do so much in providing help and assistance to people and families affected.
Here are some methods you can adopt in your approach to physical and mental health:
1. Get active and outdoors
Ireland has so many parks, hills, rivers and trails which are ideal for getting fresh air and unwinding. In my last article, I highlighted some outdoor venues and workouts for you to try with little or no equipment
Head out with friends for social gatherings like golf outings, walks or bike rides to help recharge the batteries and keep your body and mind active.
Yoga and meditation are other great outlets to bring into your daily exercise routine. I would recommend at least one yoga session a week. Slow down, breathe, stretch and meditate.
A meditation app I have used in the past is called Headspace. All you need is 10 minutes a day for 10 days. You can get a free 10-day trial with this link.
2. Keep moving forward every day
List down three things every night that YOU are going to work on the next day.
This should be a small step but this daily step of action will lead you to the big goal. There is a lot to be said for that sense of achievement, no matter how small it may seem. It could be a goal working towards your fitness, health, anything.
Working on visualisation and having a goal/vision board is another way of keeping focused and on track and is something I’ve used in the past myself and with friends and clients.
This could be a vision to run a marathon this year, lose some weight, being able to spend time and give lots of energy to play with your kids, or even sticking a picture on your wall from your glorious sporting days as a source of motivation.
I have also found that working on gratitude and appreciation is another protocol I would also encourage.
Start your day with listing three things that you are grateful to have in your life. Being grateful for your health, your fitness, your previous sporting accomplishments, the people around you motivating and encouraging you, to the food on your plate, is something I believe is also great for your body and mind
I have used this five-minute journal in the past and it has really helped me focus more and keep me on track.
Keeping a journal like this is great as it will hold you accountable to your goals, keep you motivated and will be a good checklist on what went right and wrong for you on the day so you can keep getting better.
3. Get creative
Take up a new hobby, challenge or sport and get creative, switch off and start embrace your artistic side; draw, play music or even get creative in the kitchen with your cooking. A healthy mind helps a healthy body.
Doing things that help the brain slow down, de-stress and unwind are vital and often sacrificed in favour of more fitness-focused activities.
Thanks for reading and I hope this can help you or a friend out.
David Last is a personal trainer based in Dublin, for more information you can follow him on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
Didn’t Donegal play Tyrone in the first round? And Dublin will play Kildare in the next round, as will Cork and Kerry, and it’s not the GAAs fault that Galway have melted into a shambles. We would then have had Mayo v Galway too in the first round. All of this before the end of June. Then you have the real payoff, the excitement of seeing the very best teams against each other in August and September, the way any worthy competition should be. The GAA has plenty of flaws but I think this article is a very unfocused knee-jerk reaction to a few hidings dished out by teams on top of their game.
Dave agree entirely
A Dubs fan
Lot of people talking about Mayo this year but where have we heard that before
Wouldn’t write off Kerry either S a lot of people seem to be doing
I’m a Dubs man meself Declan. I think this Mayo team is a different proposition from previous years, there’s a hard edge to them which I think makes them serious contenders.
I think Dublin, Donegal, Cork and Mayo are all around the same level (one from each province too, which is nice) then there’s Tyrone, Kerry and Kildare a level just below that. 7 realistic contenders for the All Ireland, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Yes agree 7 teams with varying degrees of optimism
If they had that in the premiership they would be laughing!!
Mayo have new fitness coach so let’s see
A dubs fan passing a comment about another team being over hyped early in the year.. Oh the irony!
San Marino get hammered every time they play but you don’t see fifa changing around the format of the European/world cup qualifiers so they can win a few games
If counties are not up to the standard why should the gaa change around the format to try and suit them, the football championship is very strong and some teams will get left behind
They change the format every few tournaments! And they do it to allow a more desirable geographic spread off WC finals competitors
The fact that there are eight competitive teams places the Gaa in an enviable position . It can’t be said of other codes. How many EPL winners have there been since its inception . The GAA championship compares very Favourably. It’s not long since Dublin and Donegal were on the wrong end of a few such drubbings . In 2011 London almost beat mayo who then made an all Ireland semi final , beating the all Ireland champions en route. Louth contested a Leinster final . Wexford likewise on a couple of occasions. Similar knee jerk reaction were pedalled out in 2010 when none of the provincial finalists reached the semi finals . September is the time to make a more considered judgment
GAA is fine as is.
If other counties want to perform they can pay for more training sessions and try and get more people to come to the matches.
I agree in part. But I don’t think it means we need to rearrange the format of the championship. Every time a team gets hammered some people talk about the need to level the playing field. The system is fine. It has been changed once, with the back door, if they change it again like they did with the league over and over again people will lose interest.
We had years of Galway hurling people blaming the structure of the championship for them not winning, now it’s the championship structures that Galway footballers are rubbish,
Derry were not well beaten, in fact they played some of the best football of the championship to date in the best game to date. Diagonal balls to Bradley and his destruction of Down defense in first half was a joy to watch.
Westmeath got a day out in croker they saw the level they need to aspire too its all a learning curve / and that’s always the way it’s been how else are you going to improve
The money and the people involved with the Dublin team vs small counties like w.meath is very unfair.Maybe a large populace county like Dublin should field two teams a city and county team.
As Kerry do each year and how All Ireland’s have they won with a small population
The whole thing is a farce lets do away with the provincials 8 groups of 4 top 2 into the the A final bottom 2 to a B Final and in the last 16 -an open draw when your out you are out at least the teams in the final get to play the same amount of games.
Yeah, everyone would get three games and the eventual finalists would get 7. Seems fair
I wouldn’t do an open draw for the last 16 though. I’d run it like a Heineken Cup. The best performing team plays worst and so forth, to reward consistent good play
The championship is fine the way it is. They should give division 3 and 4 teams home advantage when playing division 1 teams.
The championship format is fairly rubbish to be honest. It’s not fair in my opinion to the Ulster teams especially. The Connaught and Munster Championships and somewhat Leinster are absolute dire. They should have a Champions League style format of 8 groups of 4 teams and the top 2 from each group enter the Last 16 of the All Ireland with the top from each group playing a 2nd placed team. The groups would also be seeded from their National League position meaning all Division 1 teams would be in a separate group and so on. At least every team would get 3 Championship games, the prospect of an open draw would also do much to enhance the game….and I’m not from Ulster!
I don’t see how ulster is any better. Donegal are near certainties for ulster this year and that will be 3 in a row and before them Tyrone and Armagh shared it for the previous ten years.
Leinster and ulster have to win more games to win an all Ireland however which is definitely unfair.
Kerry and cork basically don’t have to do anything until August because the rest of Munster are light years behind them. This is extremely unfair on the rest and plays a large part in Kerry’s success in my opinion despite their producing some excellent teams.
Some people suggest that it’s better for Kerry/Cork to take the back door route as they get more competitive games. As it is they get to play Each other in their only tough match before Aug and arrive untested into the Knockout stages.
These two scenarios get played out whenever Kerry/cork reach the QF and either win easily or lose comfortably.
If they get to QF by winning munster and win easily its cos they are fresh from easy matches. If they lose its cos they are untested.
For decades ulster was the weakest province, now it’s the most competitive. Why, they work hard but helped as all the counties place football number one. In Munster only Kerry place football 1, all the others are hurling or 50/50 in corks case. Munster will never have 6 strong teams
Maybe picky, but Derry WERE Division 2 and Down WERE Division 1, but Derry got promoted, Down got relegated, so division 2 team beat division 1 team.
(Best game if championship so far – great advert for GAA)