Little Miss Ness - An Inspirational Story

I have to stop here and mention one little superstar I met only a few months ago through Starshots Maroochydore - Little Miss Ness.

Ness makes a petite figure, she's very very lean and didn't have much strength or muscle tone. She wasn't really into exercise but she was pumped to come with her workmates to our group training program and see exactly what this stuff was all about.

I remember her first session, her little arms were shaking with the gatorade bottles filled with sand. Her lean stringbean legs quivered with every lunge. And boy, she was so sore EVERYWHERE for the next few days.

But this little pocket rocket showed some dedication to her new found lifestyle change that you don't often see in non -exercisers. Especially for cute attractive slim girls who can eat anything and still look good in a mini skirt ( yes yes, doesn't it make us all nauseous !) She turned up to 4 training sessions most week, set herself a high standard of performance every time and made a concious effort to feed her body like an athlete. High protein, good carbohydrates and plenty of water.

A month or two later we did the beep test, and yes that is it's real name, and yes I do think that beep is just a censored version of what it really should be called!

For those of you who don't know what it is it's a audio program that measures lung capacity ( and mental strength !) by getting you to run back and forth in a 20m shuttle run in time with the beeps. Each level is a minute long, and the pace of the beeps makes you increase your speed with each level. Eventually participants get tired and either their lung capacity makes their breathing too hard and too heavy to sustain or their legs fatigue so that they can't keep up with the speed of the beeps. If the beep sounds before you reach one end of the shuttle you have a chance to "beat the beep" on the way back. If you miss 2 beeps in a row though, you're out.

It's very interesting to see who excels in this test, as there are often "Level Stoppers" which is the term that I give to people who give up at precisely Level 4 shuttle 0 in their mind before their body is really truly exhausted. Giving yourself a goal to do your absolute best wouldn 't matter about the numbers, instead for someone who knew that the Australian Federal Police Entry Requirements was Level 8 , and they worked as hard as they could and got Level 8, shuttle 4. Then that would be someone who had worked to their full potential.

So anyway, Ness did this test about a month after she had started training with us and she got Level 8 - 3 on her first go, this placed Ness in the top 4 of our female clients which is an awesome effort ! At this stage the top female performer was Laura our Osteopath, who loves long distance running, has been training with us for 3 years and had done Level 9 - 3.

As we walked away from the beep test that day Nessie had a quiet word with me " Bianca, do you think, if I stopped smoking and trained really hard over the next 6 weeks, would I be able to beat Level 9 ' 3 ?"

At this stage I didn't even know that she smoked ! So of course "Yes Yes Yes Ness ! That is an AWESOME goal to set yourself."

Now to be honest with you, I used this as ammo to fire Ness up in sessions for a few weeks after this first test but it slipped my mind until the next opportunity for the beep test to happen.

I got a text message " Noo! My alarm didn't go off! I'm devo'd!" Ness had slept in and missed her chance! And what's worse her workmate Dave had made it and excelled with a personal best of 10, 2

The next frantic text said " Are there any more tests this week "

Sure - I wrote back - out at Glass House Mountains a 40minute drive away ! There's one at 5:30 and 6:30 tomorrow.

Whoopsie I forgot to say PM!

So I get a phone call at 5:30am the next day saying I'm lost ? Am I at the right place. Poor ness had rocked up to a morning session instead of an evening session! But it was okay , as we had another womens group starting there at 6am. So she huddled in her car in the dark and waited for us to turn up and set up.

So, when she we finally arrived and did her test 8 weeks later , well , this little super star was amazing.

Not only had she been training her guts out

She had quit smoking !

Not only can she do 50 squat jumps, sprint up hills and more

She has sculpted the legs, back and bum of a lean, strong athlete

Not only did she SMASH her previous personal best of 8,3

She SMASHED the previous top female performers performance by a whole level to get Level 10,2 !

Wow ! What an inspiration

And what a thorn in Dave's side ( pictured with Ness above ) I bet he would have loved to have had her running beside him pushing him along while he was doing his beep test the morning before!

This was great for the ladies at Glass House to see as they have only just started, and Ness's performance spoke volumes to one of our lovely ladies who did a very commendable Level 7,4 Sheree about what you can achieve when you quit smoking.

So even though little miss Ness might be embarassed about making a big deal about her achievement - I can't ! I'm way too excited.

I just love it that she made it her goal, she stuck at it, she had faith in herself and she made it to the top of the proverbial mountain.

The only question I have now is

What next Nessie ?!!

Successful People Do The Things That Unsuccessful People Won't

Okay it's true. When my alarm woke me up at 4:45am I cursed Sammy. I cursed her to the high heavens for getting me up out of bed to bring the tyres to training this morning ( i live a 30 minute drive away from where we train everyone ) .

" But everyone wants the tyres back " i could hear her nagging voice in my head . ( and I could even see a little version of her sticking her fingers up to her face, blowing me a raspberry and saying ner ner ne ner nerrr! )

But I decided to just suck it up, had a shower, had a coffee woke myself and got on my way.

Even though it was dark when I arrived at 5:45 there was an element of ooooh what's going to happen next when I saw the dimly lit point cartwright grounds. Then I realised... this is the kind of things that successful people do, they committ to a goal and set off on a pre-determined path , only focusing on one step at a time. This is how mountains are climbed, how personal bests are achieved and how world records are broken.

I realised... this is the kind of feeling an Olympic Swimmer feels just before diving into the pool for an extra early morning session session in the middle of winter knowing that their rivals are
still snuggled in bed.

These are the things that you do that make other people (friends, family, neighbours, workmates ) look at you like you're crazy, and they wouldnt change places with us for the world.

Until summer comes, and they are feeling fat and frumpy, tired and lethargic and you come bouncing in full of energy, high on the efforts of your morning achievements, looking toned and sculpted and like you are in the prime of your life !

That's what it's all about folks.

It's about doing the things that unsuccesful people can't be bothered to do.

And then it's about reaping the rewards and then flaunting it in their face

LOL !
I am so joking about the flaunting in their face bit .

( well, it would be fun to flaunt it just a little bit hey ? *strum fingers maliciously like Mr Burns* )

But seriously, this mornings training session and the dedicated clients who wake up in the morning, fight the mist, the wind chill and the darkness inspired me to go on the hardest run i've done in the past 6 weeks.

And damn it felt good !