Latest / Cameron's Conversations: The last weight loss podcast you'll ever need. / Episode 96: Our 90 Day Goals, Harry's news and why I'm learning Spanish
Transcript
- Cameron: Welcome to today's episode of the Cameron's Conversations podcast. And today I am here with fireman Sam, sorry, I mean Harry. And Harry and I, I've just realized actually Harry is wearing the exact same color of cap that I had to buy for myself when I was on holiday in Spain because I kid you not, I lost my cap on my plane. left it. Rubbish start to the holiday, but it got better from there because it was sunny and everything else was good. But in today's episode, we're going to talk about our 90 day goals, not about caps, even though that's really what we want to talk about, a passionate subject. Harry: Okay. ⁓ no. Mm a new crack. Yeah. Cameron: So we're gonna talk a little bit about what the next three months are gonna look like for Harry, they're gonna look like for myself, and just talk a little bit through our kind of like mindset and how we like to plan ahead. So I guess that's quite a starting point is, what are your kind of main focuses for the next three months, and how do you like to approach planning like, you know, and bits of your year ahead? How much do you actually plan ahead for it? Harry: Mmm, yeah, so for me, I've actually just made some changes to a few things because my training for the last month maybe has been just rubbish. I'm going to the gym, I'm feeling really uninspired. ⁓ I'm still going, I'm still going the amount of times that I said I would go and I'm doing it, but like the sessions themselves have just felt rubbish, I've felt weak, I've just felt they just haven't been the way I want them to go. So quite often when that happens, I have a little bit of a rethink and I have changed lots of things recently. So I've got a new program, I've got a new direction, I'm actually moving ever so slightly away from strength training, which sounds like I'm almost swearing at this point. Before I've always done just for clarity kind of four sessions a week fairly religiously. Of like quite intense strength training. ⁓ and I am now only doing two. So I'm doing two sessions of strength and two cardio sessions, which sounds all a bit scary. But I've been really enjoying it, and I want to explore that a little bit because I'm kind of noticing that I've enjoyed it a little bit. For me, it's like, hmm, let me have a little look at this, let me kind of push a little bit further. beyond what I've done before. So realistically, I'm having a big mix-up from what I've done over the last like 10 years, I suppose. ⁓ which is exciting. And that excitement is, you know, getting my training better. So for me, the next 90 days is about building that. So keeping my strength training going. I'm still gonna I'm not just hitting the pause button on that. I'm still gonna be pushing for heavier weights and all of that stuff. But I've just simplified it a lot. ⁓ which also helps with me going to the gym knowing I've only got say five movements to do and I'm doing two sets per movement but I'm doing it at quite a high intensity that's really helped. ⁓ but yeah I've kind of programmed in this whole kind of progression around cardio so building my kind of my tank so to speak and then kind of build in running into that and progress running. And I'm just gonna see how it goes. I haven't got any goals, I haven't got any kind of targets with that. I just want to see where it goes. I have an itch and that itch is I don't wanna I don't wanna say it out loud 'cause I don't wanna kind of I don't want to commit to anything. ⁓ Cameron: You've got to commit now, you're on the podcast mate. Now look, it's written in stone when you say it verbally on a podcast. Harry: Yeah. I don't want to commit to it. But I have a little itch to explore. That's how I'll get round it. ⁓ Cameron: This is just teasing now, isn't it? He's just flirting around it now. Harry: I just have a bit of an itch around kind of endurance because I've never done it. I've never done it. I've never been someone that's worked through endurance when I've been running. I've never ran big distances, I've never had any interest in it. But now for whatever reason I do. And I don't know what that looks like. I don't know whether that's, you know, half marathon training. It's probably not. It's probably more towards kind of trail running and stuff like that, which is the main they're the videos that keep popping up on my Instagram and things that I end up going, ⁓ what's this? Like running along a coast or something, obviously I live in Dorset, so there's lots of coast. ⁓ and I just think, you know what? Maybe I just move over to that a little bit and see how that goes. So for me, the next ninety days is building that tank to potentially be able to start doing that stuff and exploring it a little bit. Nothing nothing too crazy. ⁓ I've got a busy few months coming up with a baby on the way in September. So ⁓ I don't want Cameron: Which by the way, that's really big news. I've obviously known about this for a while, but anyone listening to the podcast? No, no, I don't think, well, maybe you've said some of your clients I don't know, but. Harry: Some of my clients know, yeah, but I haven't like haven't publicly ⁓ announced Cameron: Yeah, Harry is not in fact having a baby, his partner is, just to be clear, just in case there was any level of confusion here, but... Harry: Yeah, not me, definitely not me. But yeah. ⁓ so yeah, so because of that it's it's it wouldn't be wise to be kind of setting big lofty goals and things like that. So ⁓ it's it's a it's a it's a rebuild to some extent for for me. ⁓ but yeah. Cameron: Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I think there's a missed opportunity here. I think this would be the perfect time to take up ultra running. I'm sure that your partner would not mind. I'm sure she would not mind at all if you start running like, actually, you know, on Sunday when you've just had a little one for your first child, that you're out, I'm just going to go on a four hour run. Don't mind me. And don't worry, when I come back, I'll be passed out on the sofa anyway. So don't mind me. Harry: Yeah. Yeah, and then I'm on call, so if the pager goes off I'm leaving then as well. So yeah, it's not gonna go well, is it? So yeah, have to be somewhat reasonable. Cameron: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, probably not. No, that's cool. And I think like something I often talk to clients about is and I'm very honest about this as well. It's like fitness will have seasons. There are seasons where I have been almost solely focused on building muscle. And there have been seasons where I've been focused on running and also building a little bit of muscle, or I've been focused on some strength work where I maybe just wanted to get really strong in the gym. And obviously indirectly from that, you're still going to build muscle and other things as well. But like I've gone through lots of seasons. Like I also, a bit like Harry is now, like going through that kind of phase where I did quite a bit of long distance running or semi long distance. I mean, I did quite a few halves. I did like a 25 kilometer trail run. So I've done like a decent stint of that. did and I've done, I mean, I do yearly now a few kind of long distance cycles, nothing too crazy for context. have some clients that really into cycling and they're just absolute psychopaths and if you're listening to this I stand by that. Some of them do like 300 kilometer rides which is just mad but I've done like a few rides at you know like 150km that kind of distance and so they're just under. But it's really nice to just change things up every so often and like I think this is one of the things I say to clients is there's no Harry: Yeah. Cameron: hard and fast rule about how we approach this. For some people, two sessions a week and two runs is perfect. I have another client who... is training five times a week at the moment in the gym and absolutely bloody loves it. And he might absolutely bloody love it for the next 18 months or two years. And then he might turn around and be like, actually, probably need to change this up a little bit. And that's absolutely fine. You don't need to do exactly the same thing throughout your whole life. Obviously, like kind of how he's touched on it, you're still gonna do strength training. You're not gonna suddenly stop doing that because you don't want to lose strength and muscle mass. But on balance, like it's okay to pursue other things. And if anything, I always think like weight training is such a good foundation to go and pursue other things. good in the gym, you're strong and you feel fit and you're moving well, building into running is easier because you're already relatively strong. Building into cycling is easier because, wow, you've got a base level of fitness and your quads are relatively strong. Like all these things carry over, whether it's going up a hill like me or something else. So I think that's quite cool. It's nice to like change it up every so often. But yeah, maybe leave the ultras for like, you know, when they go to nursery or something. That seems sensible, right? Maybe hold off a little bit. I think this might kill you for that. Harry: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I might be in trouble. So yeah, that but y yeah, you're absolutely right. And that's the thing. For me, it wasn't even like you a lot of people would go, I'm just gonna go to the gym and just maintain what I'm doing. I don't even have that mentality. It's still I'm still gonna push it, I'm still gonna go for it. But what I've also done is incorporated things that I know I have weak spots, so I know for example my calves cause me problems when I run. I've had Achilles tendonitis a couple of times and I know that that's a problem for me. So within my strength training, I've also incorporated stuff that's gonna help me strengthen those up. build those up, rehab them a little bit and all that stuff. And I'm preempting that that's going to be a weak spot and that comes from my strength training. So at the end of my sessions, I've got that kind of work planned in already just to set myself up. And it's it's a massive mistake I think for anyone who does any endurance stuff to neglect strength training. ⁓ even if the goal isn't to kind of necessarily build muscle or build strength, using it as a way to assist in your endurance stuff is super valuable. Cameron: Yeah, 100%. I know when I went to go and pick up in a longer distance running, there's no way I would have been able to do it at that level if I hadn't had a decent level of strength. It would have been so much harder because I definitely went through periods where I felt quite strong. So I was really powerful going up hills and I would overtake everyone, but on the flats, everybody would be running past me because I was obviously not as good a runner, but I was just relatively strong. So I was quite good at going uphill. But then as soon as it got flat or downhill, everyone was gone. It's just a bit depressing. Harry: Mm. Yeah. ⁓ Cameron: But yeah, it's good fun and it's just different, isn't it as well? So I love that. That's a really cool, cool kind of set of goals as well. And I guess like this is the thing, some goals are really specific. Right now you're probably as you, as you very, of course, the put it just like sort of dabbling with it a bit, but it's quite nice just to try new things. And I think as long as there's some consistency with your training overall, like it's great. Like running for a period of time was really good fun for me. And then I kind of phased out of it a bit and moved on to like going back to playing basketball, which was cool. So yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Harry: That that's the thing with it is like i wh and why I kinda go in with this idea of like exploring it because let's say in three months time, I go, you know what, this running thing, not my vibe. Cameron: Great. Harry: guess what is gonna open up? I'm gonna go actually I do love strength trainer. Let me go back to doing that or let me try something else. And there's no negative to doing this. So I'm like, I can do it and just see. And I might I might love it and I might go, just like Cameron said, I might go a season of however long that season is, I might go with that and really enjoy going down that path a little bit and and almost learning new things and stuff like that. So yeah, it's exciting. Cameron: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. No, I love that. And I think you always get something from it. Like I certainly found as a coach from sort of coaching my clients perspective, having done some trail runs, like, yes, I've not done a marathon and all the rest of it. And I've coached lots of clients to ultras now as well and, you know, sort of half marathons and all these things. So I have not actually ever done a marathon. I'm always very transparent about that, but it gives you a bit of an experience. And I think as coaches, that's also quite a good thing too. I actually sometimes think unless someone is just a bodybuilding coach, right. And they work just with bodybuilders who love chicken, broccoli and rice and try sub extensions more than anything else in the world. Like that's great. And they probably don't need to be very good at coaching runners. Like it's not very important to them. But like for Harry and I, like we obviously coach people with lots of different interests. Like I have clients right now that are playing tag rugby, that I have loads of clients that run. have clients that are hill walkers. have clients that like doing dance stuff and badminton and like have a semi-professional client who is dancing for example. It's really cool. So one of the things I often say is like, We are very much like it's good for us to experience some of that now I'm not gonna go and do dance lessons because that's just a bridge too far. No one needs to see that. But I think I think there is an element of it's like quite nice as like as individuals but then also in our professional work sort of work life as well. It's quite nice isn't it just to be like ⁓ this is what it feels like to suffer terribly because it's like 25 degrees in summer and going uphill when you're running which is it's lots of fun lots of fun but no that sounds really cool and if you got any other goals like ⁓ Harry: I don't know. Cameron: outside of that, this sounds quite broad, what other goals have you got? That's obviously fitness related, anything nutrition related, or just life related, or anything else. Obviously, one of them is probably going to be having a baby, that seems like a big thing. ⁓ But since you don't have to do much of the work for that at this present moment, you're just being the support crew, what's the outlook for you on other things? there anything you're focusing on at a personal level? Harry: Yeah, I think there's quite a lot that's yeah, so we got there's l there's lots to get there's lots, yeah. I I I'm quite a reflective person, I think about things a lot, but obviously, yes, baby situation is completely ch I would say it's just about now starting to prioritize lots of things as far as like I need to prepare for this, I need to kind of get clued up 'cause I don't have a clue. so I need to kind of we've got some courses coming up that we're both going on to kind of Better ourselves as much as we can. ⁓ Lucy's pretty clued up with all of it, but I am not, so I am the weak link. ⁓ so I'm I'm quite keen on kind of learning a lot of that stuff, which is good. ⁓ but also just like balance, I think, for me is the big one. ⁓ there's there's there's there's quite a lot, and this kind of links in a little bit to the kind of whole change in programme as well, because it's like I love the outdoors, I love being outdoors, and Cameron: Yeah. Harry: I want to do it more. So for me, it's like I I want to find more balance with finding time for myself, right? That's that's ultimately the thing. Is it's this, and it was, I think it was a podcast I listened to or something. I can't remember where this was from, but it was this question of ⁓ when when someone asks you what you've been up to lately, what you've been up to, you know, that super casual question of like, what have you been up to recently? Whenever someone was asking me this, my mind would just go blank. And I'd be thinking, What have I been doing? And there's lots of things I have been doing, don't get me wrong, but I just struggled to think of things and I'm certain it's because I'm arguably not doing enough things for myself. So for me it's a big one of like, okay, I need to start chalking some time out to the side to go and do the things that I really want to do myself and like refill my tank. Do you know what I mean? And for me that is stuff like getting outdoors and going for hikes and doing these things. so for me it's definitely finding more time to do that. I'm really keen because I think it I think it's just stuff like that, especially getting outdoors. I mean I'm a little bit biased with it, but I think what it does to us as far as our well being Cameron: Mm-hmm. Harry: Our motivation, all of this stuff, I think it's really, really valuable. so yeah, I definitely want to do a little bit more of that, and I need my dog to get a little bit older because she's still in these like time frames of where she can't walk for a certain amount of time. Because that for me is like I want to be able to go to the coast and go for a big walk with her and stuff like that. But at the moment we're tied to about 30 to 35 minutes, so it wouldn't be very useful. But yeah, that's basically me, I think, for the yeah, next like I said, the next next 90 days is from my personal life focusing on that and incoming baby. Cameron: I love that. I think that's the thing, isn't it? I mean, it's really easy. Obviously, this is a fitness and often weight loss podcast, but it's actually really nice to talk about goals more broadly as well. And think one of the things we want to get across is we're also human beings with different interests out with fitness as well. Fitness is a big part of our life, but I'm very much like Harry. I have that same bias. I often think, and this is just like, again, there's limits to this, but in my experience, because I've worked some horrendous hours at points as well, especially when I was still an in-person trainer and I was building up my online coaching simultaneously. One of the things that I found very much is it's not always about the amount of hours you're working, although that's a factor that burns you out, it's the things that you're missing. for example, time with your partner, if you don't get that, that definitely has an impact, that's an obvious one. For us, time outdoors as well. I know when I went through a really crazy period and I was just like, I just have no time to do anything else. I had time to squeeze in gym sessions and that's great. And there was an element of me looking after myself because I I would otherwise be very run down. But I really noticed the effect of animal mood and things like that, not getting that time just to go like up a hill or go walk down the beach or, you know, like that kind of stuff as well. And it doesn't, those things like, for most people, right, unless you live by a beach or a hill, probably not doing that every day. But I think sometimes it's like, if you're not able to your cup up in those particular ways, I think there's a lot of value in that. I think that's a massive, massive thing as well. And I think they're goals to have. You don't need to be overly specific like, oh, I'm going to take off 6.3 hills this month. But it is just bit of awareness of things that fill up your cup a bit and it's different for everyone. think some people it's completely different from their door stuff but for me that's big. I like things like kayaking and stuff like that as well. I'm obviously not doing that all the time, least of all in the Scottish winter, I'm not that brave. But even doing that a couple of times a year is such good fun or going up a hill and I often see it as these mini adventures and I like to have a mini adventure once a month. I think that's a really good cadence. I think doing something either a little bit different or a little bit challenging, so whether it's quite a big hill or maybe something a bit different like going rock climbing or doing a hill, I think that's really good for my wellbeing. feel a lot better. And that's not to say that for other people it might be going to like, I don't know, pottery class, right? Cause it's just something like new and different and stimulating. I'd be shocking at a pottery class by the way. think I'd be absolutely shocking. I'll stick to walking up hills. Harry: Same yeah. It's a bit too precise, isn't it? Cameron: Yeah, exactly. I just like things I can just walk to. But I think that's it is it's cool to have like goals out with fitness, but sometimes they're still like health and well-being related as well. think that can definitely exist. And yeah, a bit like you actually, like, so I have some like 90 day goals as well. Like I've still got a little bit of a weight loss focus as well. Like I've kind of done a chunk of that at the start of the year. So this is kind of the back end of it. But for me, it's mostly about getting fit for playing basketball because my season starts again in about 90 days. Literally 90 days actually is good timing. That's kind of the idea of this podcast. came from. ⁓ But yeah, I'm three months off the kind of start of my season. So for me, I kind of just want to start to build up for that. And basically what that means is my training will slightly switch instead of being quite as muscle gain focused, I'm going to be a bit more strength focused. So particularly for basketball, like lower body strength is massive. And I find when I'm playing like three times a week, because you get a bit more fatigued, sometimes your strength drops not massively, but you know, over a few months of playing quite a lot, you sometimes aren't you go in and train as hard as you can. Harry: Thank you. Cameron: but you have less to give because sometimes I go in and my legs are cooked, absolutely cooked up. If you have a really hard game that goes into overtime, it's just hellish. The next day you're trying to train legs and you can do 10 kilos in a Bulgarian split squat and you're just about crying. But I think that's one of those things where that's a bit of a goal. So I'm quite strength focused in the upcoming weeks. I also think for me, another really random one, I'm learning Spanish too. That's something I wanted to do. Yeah, I wanted to do something that was kind of Harry: What is it? Yeah. Cameron: really challenging but in a completely different way. So I did my first Spanish lesson with my Spanish teacher Louise and I was truly terrible, which is great. It was really nice to be at the absolute beginner end of the spectrum. Harry: Yeah. Cameron: Like I was so clueless. I literally was like, what? What are we doing here? But then when you start to get it, it's so satisfying. But I think it's quite nice to have like something that's very different. Cause I used to speak a little bit of French, but none at all now. But that was something else that's within my 90 goals. So I've been doing a little bit of a daily habit, duolingo, and then two lessons a week, which has been interesting, shall we say. Very eye opening. Harry: Yeah, nice. I think it's cool. I think it's cool. What does your nutrition change like between so like obviously you're in like a bit of a fat loss phase now. When you get closer to season, specifically kind of in your season, do do you what does your nutrition look like? Cameron: Well, so I have definitely dieted before during the season, but one of things I've really noticed is when I came out of my diet. This is really interesting for me, as I felt noticeably fitter, which sounds really strange. And what I mean by that, I mean quite literally, like I was dieting and then two, two, three days later I was not dieting. I was up to maintenance calories and I noticed a difference in my performance, quite a big difference because Basketball if you think about it, it's lots of repeated sprints and it's very high intensity and I do play quite frequently as well. So all of those things factor in probably to how much ⁓ it would impact you. I think if it was like if you're doing kind of like more slow steady state running or like even cycling it didn't really knock me as much. But I think when I'm playing it like especially in games where the intensity is super high, I find it makes a massive difference. Like I almost felt like cardiovascularly fitter, which makes no sense because obviously I wasn't like three days later. There was no real difference. but I wasn't getting as tired as quickly, I recovered faster. So something I'm very aware of now is that when I'm playing at that kind of intensity, I want to be able to feel really well fueled up. So in answer to that, this time around, I want my diet to be done and dusted ahead of it. And then I just want to say maintenance. I my maintenance is quite high because I'm quite active, but. I definitely don't want to be dieting mid-season, that's for sure, not for an extended period of time because it is harder. Like I've done it and it's good because your calorie expenditure is a wee bit higher, so you maybe drop weight a tiny bit quicker, although it's probably fairly marginal. But I'm not desperate to do it again. I'd quite like to just be done and dusted. So I think I'll probably have like a solid sort of nine to 12 months where I'm looking to sit either in a very small surplus this time or even close to maintenance for periods of time as well, just to focus on performance. I also quite focusing on some kind of like quite basketball specific stuff around like plyometrics and like how high I can jump and stuff because actually being more athletic in a sport like that's really useful as well so being lighter helps because being like 10 kilos lighter does make you quicker but also it gives you if you're well fueled it helps in the training front so yeah it does change a little bit now I definitely have more carbohydrate around it that's for sure like on a more acute day-to-day basis like yeah I definitely find like if I've had a good amount of carbohydrate that really helps especially if I'm playing two days on the bounce it makes a massive difference as well. Harry: Yeah, that's basically what I'm doing as well. I'm kind of sit in maintenance slash small surplus and that's where I'm probably gonna stay for the next well, yeah, next ninety days probably. ⁓ yeah, I'm the same, yeah. Cameron: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's good to remember because it often sounds like it's not as exciting to sit in maintenance, right? I think if people are really used to being in weight loss, but like it's way more fun being in maintenance slash into muscle gain phase. I almost think that people should be much more like, I can't wait to get to maintenance or muscle gain phase. Like I think that mentality would help people more than hinder them. Cause I think a of people are like, ⁓ weight loss, I feel so focused. And then it's almost when it finishes, it's like an anticlimax a little bit. They're like, ⁓ I'm in great shape, but now I can just chill out and do whatever I want, which is a terrible strategy. strategy. ⁓ It's fun to sit at maintenance. Like it's so much easier. I have loads of clients that have started kind of like early part of this year who are now starting to shift towards maintenance. it's so like, so many of them are like, this is great. Like I realized how much more flexible I am, but they're still more mindful than before. they're not like, they're not having all those like bad habits where they're like mindlessly grazing, which was consuming tons of calories and causing them to gain weight. But now they're more mindful about it. They're like, ⁓ I can go out for dinner. And the next day I don't have to drop my calories really low. Harry: Yeah. Cameron: account for it like that's really nice like it is it's fun is definitely the better part I think Harry: Yeah, a hundred percent. I think you you're bang on it there. People should 'cause it is it's the end goal, right? It should be the absolute end goal. It's not people see it as like, ⁓ I'll get down to this weight and that's my goal. No, that's not the ⁓ you wanna get to the be able to maintain it. Cameron: I might have been a similar yet, but it's so much better. Yeah. It's almost, it's a strange thing to say, but most people finish their diets and I think it's almost like a bit like, ⁓ right, okay, maintenance. Like they want to eat more calories, but it's like, ⁓ you know, cause all they've ever known is fat loss. And then actually like when you make the best progress in the gym, when you see the biggest physique differences in terms of like building a bit more muscle or having more definition often comes from that next part is like when you actually build some muscle. So yeah, I wish people focused on that more cause honestly it's more fun, more fun. But yeah, so I think that was that, that's probably a good natural point to round Harry: Yeah not first. Cameron: up a little bit about our 90 day goals it was just kind of a bit of a general chat through as well obviously Harry having a baby is probably a big one there I'm glad you mentioned that because I think if you've been overheard and you've not that hadn't featured once you might been in trouble so that's quite an important one got the dog got a baby and yeah rescuing cats up a tree you're gonna be a busy man you're be a busy man yeah but yeah cool well we will catch you on the next episode guys hopefully that was interesting if a little helpful Harry: Busy ninety days, yeah. Cameron: and we'll speak to you soon. Harry: Cheers guys.