BLOG: All good wings come to an end

By Niall McCoy

CONFESSION time, I wintered well. In fact, I sprung well and was well too.

While confinement one was garden tours and circuit lessons in the kitchen, confinements two and three were also in the same locations but the activities had changed. Take word tours and replace them with cocktails and take circuit lessons and replace them with a grand Newry takeaway scene tour. (Top three? 1 – Pat Price’s 2 – Friar Tucks 3 – Baker’s.)

However, all good wings come to an end, and over the next three months I will be trying to get my diet and exercise back on track with Pauric Grimes and the Level Up team.

Readers of Diehard Gaelic Life will know Pauric as our former fitness columnist PGthePT, he’s a lad who has worked with some of Ulster’s top GAA stars – many of whom may have bagged a Celtic Cross last September – and c is a guy who knows his onions, specifically telling me that battering destroys the purpose of a salad.

In addition to their excellent gym in Augher, Pauric and the team offer extremely personalized online coaching for people that not only helps to improve their fitness and diet, but also to analyze and work on balance. other aspects of their life.

When I joined Pauric for our first Zoom meeting last Tuesday, I expected him to spout kale recipes and macros and everything I’ve heard 100 times and still nod his head, but know that I will never respect the law.

It’s me though. Except for a period before my wedding, I will never, ever be the man who listens, but the conversation was much deeper about that.

Pauric’s audit for his REIGNITE program tries to dig deeper and see how you feel, your balance structure (work-pleasure, etc.) and also aimed to push you to take time for yourself in life. Sleep patterns, things like that.

It’s really global and the goal is not to shock you for three months and then let you down, but rather to get you to do manageable things that will eventually become habitual.

The chat was quite interesting, and two days later my training tutorial, again personalized, arrived with Pauric even appearing in the corner to tell me about each step.

What stands out for me is the realism. If you fall off the wagon, don’t notice that you had spinach on avocado infused bread. “Be just comfortable enough to tell me and we’ll fix it,” he said.

So, in the words of Fabrizio Romano, here we go!!!

Oh wait, no. Thank you covid. Positive last Wednesday and feeling like crap for a few days.

I thought this diagnosis might give me a few days of sweet, sweet-sweet-freedom, but no Pauric said it was the perfect opportunity to focus on things that might have been missed if I had immersed directly in the gym, for example food planning. Establish “anchor points” to ensure we move forward.

So a slow but good start. More water, go to bed earlier, plan your meals.

The start of the first week was slower than expected, but here we go again. Houl on, did he just say oat milk? !