Every Thursday morning I meet with my mate for a fight, in the martial arts sense not a rumble outside the chip shop fuelled by diamond white.

It gives us a chance for a chat and does a little towards improving our fitness.  It does a lot for my mind and is a great stress release.

This morning, one of my coaching and therapy clients joined us.  I helped him get ready for his 3rd dan in Tang Soo Do a few years ago.  He now has a World Championship in his sights and we're going to work together to improve his chances.

As a result, Graham and I had to adapt our fighting style (contact points based) to that of my client.  We have a Kung Fu background, we move in a different way.

We needed to fight by his rules as we don't want to change his style as a fighter as that could lead to him being penalised.

It took a few rounds but we managed to adapt our fighting style to help him improve his.  He did get a couple of taps in the face which aren't officially allowed in his style but we managed to switch pretty quickly.

He brought our fight tempo up, we got a real work rate going.  Something we sometimes miss when we're fighting together.  His youth certainly challenged our fight fitness :)

When I got home, I read an email from a Team Achieve member asking me about how he could fit some nights out and treats around The Real Food Plan long term.  

We used to get moody about this and tell our members that it is possible to follow the plan forever.  However, just because you can doesn't mean you should.  We don't want to make our members lives any more complicated than they already are.

Success on a diet is about the big picture.

Not thinking in terms of individual meals or even calories per day. 

Thinking more about improving the quality of the food eaten on a weekly or even monthly basis.  If a bit of hot sauce makes a steak or salad more interesting, go for it.  The quantities used are nominal.

Food is one of the great pleasures in life.  Real food is awesome and there is no reason for you to ever eat a cardboard ready meal ever again but if you have one it doesn't really matter long term.

If you are following a diet and it feels a little restrictive, adapt it to fit your needs and tastes.  Ask your coach for some tweaks that are less damaging, if they can't help.  Get in touch I'm sure we can offer some advice.

Darren 'adapting for success' Checkley