In a world where body image is shoved in our faces on a daily basis, how do we overcome negative body image? The magazines will have you believing that to wear a bikini over summer you must have a ‘beach bod’. What is a beach bod? Well if I’m at the beach and I’m a body then I have a beach bod! Last summer I threw all my insecurities out the window and actually purchased a bikini and yep I wore it all summer. Did i feel as though people were judging me when I was out swimming? Nope, everyone was just as interested in cooling off as I was, no one cared what I looked like. Over the years there has been so much focus on women and their figures but it is increasingly evident that men are now under just as much pressure to have the perfect muscle bod. I think one of the saddest results of this is the death of a 15 yo boy trying to bench press 95kg unassisted at a gym a couple of weeks ago. For what? A life lost for the gain of what? Unfortunately the only gain he made was a lifetime of heartache for his family and an innocent life lost.

Unfortunately this isn’t going to change. The tabloids will keep pushing the perfect figure, the fitness industry will keep pushing the 12 week programs over complete year round lifestyle change. What I will change though is my mindset. Over the past few months it has been very hectic at work and it hasn’t allowed me the time I would like to train. I am probably carrying about 4kg extra than I was this time last year. I feel it that’s for sure, but instead of looking in the mirror every morning with negative thoughts, I think about what my body CAN do. On Saturday and Sunday this week I teamed up with Em to pump out some P2P training up at the Domain. There are so many tracks up there that you start pumping out the kms without really noticing. We did 12.5km on Sat and followed it up with 12km including hill reps on Sunday. Regardless of how I feel about the look of my body, the physical strength of my body is what I love. I love that I can back up 2 days in a row and run those trails. It’s not super fast that’s for sure but while I run and it hurts I remind myself that I have a strong body and strong mind. It gets me to the finish line, wherever we decide that is. I would love it if we could walk past magazine racks and see something on the cover other than men and women’s ‘perfect’ bodies, or the mag thinking it’s ok to make money out of peoples eating disorders that they help create! Unfortunately the reality is that people still buy this rubbish therefor, they will continue to print it.

Lets go beyond the rubbish as human beings and forget about the magazines and the media and the crappy people in this world who think it’s ok to bully people for being a certain size or for looking a certain way. Every body is different, physically and mentally. Focus on what your body CAN do not what it can’t, once you change your mindset happiness will always follow. I love bodies, all bodies are awesome. As a massage therapist I always hear apologies from women about their bodies. Really? I am not here to judge you, I am here to help you. Anyone who has been putting off getting a massage because they are worried about their bodies, please give your therapist a call and get yourself some TLC. We are all the same, we see a body and we help it heal, nothing more, nothing less.

Keep on being awesome and don’t forget to move, your internal body will thank you for it.

Nik

Last week Jimmy started with us here at ERT. Unfortunately he had a rock climbing accident and has been told today that he will be sidelined for possibly 3 months! Not what we wanted to hear, we just found our 3rd team member and some doctor can’t perform a miracle. Really feel for Jimmy right now, I reckon I would be pretty devo if I was sidelined for that long, I think I would go insane. So that’s the bad news. If you have an appointment booked with Jimmy in the coming weeks I will be in contact to make other arrangements, hopefully just a swap of therapists. Otherwise we will re schedule you. Wishing him a speedy recovery. The good news is that soon we will have Jodie back on a more regular basis after the Freycinet challenge to help cover the demand.

We will eventually have everyone on board and have you running out the door feeling a million dollars. In the meantime please book ahead with myself and Jodie to ensure you get in when requested. As of the 19th of October, Jodie will be changing her days from Wed and Fri to Thurs and Fri.

Nik

As mentioned last week I am fully booked this week and I am now fully booked next week as well. The good news is that Jimmy has agreed to work Thursday and Friday pm if needed and Jodie is now available this Friday. For those of you who like to book online please be aware that Jimmy is not yet set up in our online calendar so you will have to contact me to book with him. We have the following available;

Jodie

Friday 12:30, 1:45, 3:00 & 4:15

Jimmy Tuesday 10:45, 12pm & 1:15

Thurs 9:30, 10:45, 12pm, 1:15

Friday Pm if needed.

We are lucky here to have 3 of the best sports therapists in Hobart, come on in and experience what if feel like when your body is back to it’s best regardless of your occupation.

Over the past 4 years I have been very generous with donations for all sorts of events and charities. There hasn’t been many times I have said no but unfortunately that now has to change. As much as I love supporting local sporting events, clubs and fundraisers, I just don’t have the time anymore to give away for voucher redemption. I’m struggling enough to get my regular clients through the door and while it is always good to get my name out there with donations it it no longer viable from a business perspective. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have supported me along the way and given me the opportunity to get my business name out there through your organisations and I wish you all the very best into the future. While I can’t give vouchers any more, don’t hesitate to contact me if you do have something on, I may have some other form of product I may be able to pass your way.

Keep being awesome.

Nik

Well thank you all for your patience while we got this together, it is finally live! Massive thanks to my good friend Aaron who spent endless hours on it in between getting his house ready for sale and organizing a wedding. Here is the link to our online booking system, you will find both Jodie and myself on there and hopefully before too long we can add another therapist to the mix, as you will discover there are not many available spaces for the rest of the month. https://ellisremedialtherapies.com.au/book-an-appointment/. 

Please note that you can still call to book any time. While this system doesn’t have SMS reminder it does have email reminder 24 hrs prior to your appointment. If you can not make an appointment please give us 24 hours notice so we can make the spot vacant for somebody else.

Have a look and tell me what you think, ease of use etc. Those of you who are already booked in with me won’t get an email until I have the chance to go through and add it for you but you all come regularly anyway so that won’t be an issue.

Look forward to seeing your happy smiley faces soon.

Nik

Stats, everybody loves stats. I keep a good record of client intake and business growth since we first opened and the numbers I just crunched are very pleasing indeed. Over the past 4 months we are averaging seeing an extra 30 people per month than the previous 4 years. Obviously this has been made possible by securing Jodie as my 2nd therapist and having the second room. If things keep increasing at this rate I may have to bite the bullet and build another room! For the time being I will be looking for another therapist to help me out towards the end of the year and into the future when Jodie is off racing. If any of you are trained and hold your diploma in massage therapy or you know someone who may be interested please tell them to contact me for a chat.

This week I am almost full. A cancellation on Thursday means I can fit someone in tomorrow @ 10:30.

Jodie has the following free but be quick as they will fill fast.

Wed 2:45

Friday 12:15, 1:30 & 2:45.

It a funny thing team sport. We all have those teams that we love to hate but where do you draw the line when it comes to fair play from players and spectators? Some spectators are just putrid. I’m not sure about you but no matter how much I may dislike an opposition team, I never like to see people injured. Unfortunately, today was one of those days that made me angry. I’m a trainer for Clarence which is a well known fact and it is also a well known fact that the Clarence/Glenorchy rivalry is probably the biggest in the State wide league. Now generally when these two teams meet you know you are going to end up with blood or injuries, it’s almost a given. They play hard and both teams love to beat the other. Today we had too many casualties. The worst was stretchering a 19yo off the ground. Now he’s probably going to be fine, a little bruised maybe but hopefully all is well. He went to hospital in an ambulance and we will know more in the coming days. So what made me angry about this? It wasn’t the play, I didn’t see the incident so I have no say on that. No it was the revolting comments coming from the members area of opposition supporters telling the guy who hit this young man to ‘take out a few more’. Right as we were bringing him off the ground in excruciating pain! What makes a person say that sort of thing? Who in their right mind thinks that that is ok? It’s not ok! Inciting violence into sport is never ok from players or spectators. From what I have heard this poor kid was lined up in the field of play but that will be determined by the MVP. I really hope it’s not the case. I am writing this today because I want people to stop. Stop and think before words come out of your mouth. It is sport, it is not an old style  boxing match where the aim is to kill or be killed. It is what we want our kids to grow up and do to have healthy balanced lives. What do the little kids having a kick below the members think when they hear this sort or stuff all the while watching someone be stretchered off the ground? I plead with any of you who attend sport of any kind and hear this sort of behaviour, stand up. Stand up and let people know that it’s not ok! Having a dig at someone in jest is all part of the game, inciting violence is not. Lets stand together and stop this sort of behaviour from spectators and let our kids know that violence anywhere is never ok.