Changing your life, 1% at a time

Team Sky was born in 2010 – a brand new British cycling team with one goal in mind, to win the Tour de France. It’s a feat no British rider had ever achieved. In fact, before this a British rider had only ever won a handful of stages since way back in 1903.

So, how did they do create so many winners? And what does it have to do with you and your fitness goals. Below, we list how Team Sky conquered the world of cycling and how it can help you to get fit, lose weight and reach your fitness goals!

Marginal gains – the 1%

Elite sports are won and lost on fine margins – a race can be lost in 0.01 of a second. So, Team Sky started to look at every aspect of the sport on and off the bike.

They carried their own pillows on the tour, made the riders warm down straight after a race, had their own chefs with them to provide top quality nutritious food straight after a race, and made sure the riders had a massage after their meal, breaking all protocol of a normal team. They even have their riders put cordial in their water bottles so they’ll drink more.

All these things seem very small but they all add up to larger gains.

For your weight loss and fitness goals, here are five easy marginal gains you can make:

1) Have a water bottle with you at work – staying hydrated will push your fitness forward

2) Take away temptation – just don’t buy junk food, if it’s not there you won’t eat it

3) Don’t drink alcohol in the week, those empty calories all add up

4) Get more sleep – those extra hours of shut eye can really improve your fitness push

5) Train harder, lift a little heavier, row a bit quicker, bike a bit further, bang out a ten-minute bodyweight set. This will push your body harder for much better results.

Accountability

Team Sky made their riders accountable for their own training. They all had to train and had their own goals. But at race time it was they who won and lost by their own actions, so they had to put the work in.

In fitness and weight loss this is very important! If you go to the scales and you weigh more or those inches aren’t dropping off, you need to think about your own actions. Has your food been right? Are there changes you could have made? This is a great way of re-assessing things and getting it done!

Changing perception

Team Sky has now won the Tour de France six times, as well as two other grand tours, simply by having faith in themselves and what they can achieve.

You too can achieve things that you’ve never achieved before. Just because you’ve always been a certain weight or size, or never run 10k before or never deadlifted your bodyweight, it doesn’t mean you never will.

Put the right mindset and actions in place and you can change your life and health for the better.

You just have to set about and do it!!