Yesterday afternoon I had a couple of hours to kill before the game.
So I did what plenty of football fans do up and down the country.
I ducked into a Wetherspoons.
Chicken wrap.
Two pints.
Sat on my own at one of those tiny tables, shoulder to shoulder with other football fans.
Everyone glued to their phones.
Watching other games live through tiny screens.
Team news.
Transfer gossip.
Same conversations on repeat all around me.
And you know what people were actually talking about once the football chat ran out?
“I was bang on the diet & gym for the first few weeks.”
“Then work went mad.”
“I’ve not trained since last week.”
“I’ll get back to it in February.”
Same story.
Different guys and girls.
That bit always sticks with me.
Not because I am judging it.
Because I have been there.
And because it shows how people really think about health and fitness once January stops feeling fresh.
Four weeks in is when reality shows up.
You have gone back to work.
Sleep is not perfect.
Someone has been ill.
The weather is grim.
Social stuff creeps back in.
You miss a session.
You eat out.
You have a couple of pints.
Suddenly, you feel like you are off track.
But there is some good in this, believe me.
Nothing has gone wrong.
What trips people up is the idea that health only counts if it is perfect.
Perfect weeks.
Perfect food.
Perfect routine.
Perfect momentum.
That version of health only works in theory.
Not in real life.
Real life includes chicken wraps and pints.
It includes late nights.
It includes busy weeks.
It includes stress.
It includes plans changing last minute.
If your fitness plan falls apart the moment life looks like that, the plan was never strong in the first place.
That is not a motivation issue.
That is fragility.
What you actually want is resilience over perfection.
A body that can cope.
Someone who can train even when sleep is not great.
Someone who can eat out and not feel awful.
Someone who can miss a session without binning the whole week.
Someone who can have a stressful run at work and still hold things together.
That is real health.
Not living like a robot.
Not pretending real life does not exist.
This is where most people go wrong.
They chase intensity instead of capacity.
They try to be brilliant for two weeks instead of steady for twelve months.
They build routines that only work when everything lines up, then blame themselves when it does not.
The people who stay in shape long term are not stricter than you.
They are calmer.
They have built habits that survive messy weeks.
That usually looks very simple.
They lift weights a few times a week.
Not every day.
Not smashing themselves.
Just enough to build muscle and stay strong.
They walk most days.
8 to 10 thousand steps.
Even on busy days.
Especially on busy days.
They eat meals they can repeat.
Protein with each meal.
Simple food.
Nothing fancy.
No drama.
They sleep as well as they can.
They do not panic when it is broken.
They get outside.
They move.
They breathe.
They do not live in a permanent rush.
That is it.
No secret plan.
No perfect month.
No magic reset.
Just a system that does not collapse the first time life applies pressure.
The biggest mindset shift you can make right now is this.
Stop asking, “Did I mess this up?”
Start asking, “Can this still work when my week is not perfect?”
If the answer is no, simplify.
Train three times a week instead of five.
Build meals you can manage when busy.
Walk even when you cannot face the gym.
Stop treating one off plan meal like a failure.
Four weeks into the year is where most people quietly quit in their head.
Not because they are lazy.
Because they expect too much, too fast, with no margin.
You do not need another big push.
You do not need to start all over again.
You do not need to be perfect.
You need a plan that holds up when you are tired, busy, stressed, or sat in a packed pub before a game.
That is how people actually get in shape.
And stay there.
Not by avoiding real life.
By building a body that can handle it.
-Ryan
P.S
If this made you think, yeah… that is me, then that is a good thing.
It means you are ready for something simple that actually sticks.
Our 6-week meltdown is built for people who want to feel fitter, drop a clothes size, and get momentum without turning life upside down.
February intake starts next week, and only a small handful of our locations still have space.