Batman vs Superman: The Ultimate Grudge Match

I need a hero!

“That was awesome!’

That was what I heard a guy say as I was leaving the men's toilets directly after watching the movie. It was about 3am, no other movies were on/finishing. It’s quite possible that this guy blacked out for over two hours and dreamt the film was good, unfortunately this was his genuine opinion.

You’re probably asking how and why this review isn’t singing Zack Snyder’s praises, especially coming from me, a fan of all the superheroes in this movie; and some of Mr Snyder’s previous work. It’s because for the most part this was a mishmash of disjointed ideas on how a superhero movie should be, intermingled with that dark DC undertone and the added pressure of a convoluted plot line that failed to deliver on many levels.

Ben Affleck does deserve his dues here, managing to portray an older, burnt out version of Batman who is simply at his last tether with the worlds adopted saviour who; upon his forced exposure to the world manages to destroy both his hometown of Smallville and his new town Metropolis (Man of Steel) in one fell swoop (pun totally intended). But we don’t really see enough of the Bat and what we do actually get is brief and over an hour into all the action.

Superman on the other hand being the focus of Bruce Wayne’s anger is prominent throughout the film without actually adding much to proceedings owing to yet another bland performance from Henry Cavill. There’s a lot that could have been improved on here but unpicking the mess that has been made onscreen would be, soul-sapping.

Maybe I’m being too harsh, I mean, the special effects were fantastic! But wait, it’s 2016, this is a big budget movie in a growing franchise, the effects are supposed to be out of this world by default!
I sat there looking at my watch every so often to see how much sleep I could get in before I have to wake up. I felt the movie was robbing me of precious rest.

Essentially, this was always going to be the movie to introduce us to the Justice League, but even that was done with very little tact and in a way that suggested maybe a writer from Marvel would have done a better job.
Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Lex Luther came off more ‘mad’ than mad genius’ and I couldn’t help thinking he was simply a more damaged and psychotic version of nearly every character he has ever played in another film he’s been in. 
Wonder Woman was brilliant when she showed up, taking on Doomsday and coming off looking like she may have taken him down without any help.

I could name several sub-par Marvel movies that I could watch in place of this. The only thing I took away from this experience is the desire to see ‘Captain America: Civil War’ that much more!

An Attack of Common Sense

Life may just be a massive game of, Tetris...

I began writing a blog based around seeing various people ranting online and parked it in a folder because I didn’t feel as though it was beneficial to anyone who may happen to read it. After a long personal debate, I’m planning on publishing it (after some revision) online at some point, but it inspired me to write this instead - this being what I think is a more useful blog entry and something I’m not hesitant about sending out onto the interwebs…

There’s a routine that I have been accidentally developing. I say ‘accidentally’ because I’ve only in the last few weeks stepped back and realised that it was actually a consistent range of actions that appear to be streamlining my life and business at the moment.

Getting right to it, there’s often nothing more useful than some serious bullet points:

1. Plan your day:
…Not actually as you wake up, but from the morning/afternoon or night before. Things I plan in advance are my movements (via my gym and personal diary), my food, my training and my admin, what I post to my Instagram account. Anything on top is extra until I become efficient enough to add it in as a regular task. Before I became a PT I sometimes planned ahead, but there was never any consistency.

2. Find the gaps and fill them:
…By this I mean - once you have planned your day, look and see where there are any areas of ‘dead-time’, meaning; time where you can literally stare into space and do absolutely nothing … and fill these gaps by doing things that are of interest to you. This will make you a much happier human-being (this is a fact). I have about four different ‘non-fitness’ related things that I can get on with, one may very well be to push my business forwards, but I try not to make it all about the work.

3. Eliminate annoyances:
…This can be anything for anyone. For me, it’s not looking at my Facebook/Instagram/Twitter feeds for longer than 10mins collectively for the entire day. Yes, you’ll miss a lot of what your friends are getting up to, but news feeds are full of things that enable you to judge people subconsciously and consciously by the nature of the ‘posts’ being shared. I don’t need to know everything at all times, so if it’s not ‘breaking news’ from various media outlets, then it’s probably okay if it passes me by.

4. Do number 1 again (yup, plan your day)
…I’m talking about having planned the day already and then something unexpected happening so you need to reshuffle the deck and set tasks earlier or later depending on the situation/s presented to you.
Usually it’s a client cancelling a session because they are ill or the trains are severely messed up, and this means my day can get shifted around at a moments notice. This is all made easier because I use a diary and I had the day planned out anyway, so in my head it’s like a game of Tetris and all I need to do is slot the right bricks into the right places, even after I’ve turned them around eight times.

5. Make sure you’re not hungry:
…Sounds like a pretty basic thing to master but, if you’re a busy little squirrel most days, then this is where planning your day (yep, number 1 again!) is vital. Provided you’ve planned all your food and snacks for the day (possibly having done some prep the night before) you will be eating/snacking every three or so hours from thirty minutes after you wake up in the morning, or not; depending on your routine (we are all different and there’s no hard and fast way to do nutrition) but get the basics right and you will reap the rewards.

Sure, there are a plethora of other tasty tips but, if you’ve read this and noticed a pattern, great! Planning, being organised is a sure-fire way to stamp out inconsistencies (a word I will use along with it’s opposite on this website so get used to it).

Words have returned...

Sorry, vid doesn't play but you can view on IG @stephthecoach

I have been quiet for a very long time, but not for terrible reasons or excessive procrastination (when you re-read that slower it will not say masturbation - head/gutter get out!)

Figured I'd quit one career and start another, so I did. My previous post back in August 2014 was just as things were picking up for me and I was beginning to see some great returns from all my hard work, and I'm not referring to money - instead what has changed is my ability to coach and light that all important 'fire' within clients so they can progress and become LEGENDS!

Previous posts on this site prior to summer 2014 were a mishmash of things I was thinking about at the time, so if there is anything that proves to be helpful, then that's awesome.

This post in particular is only supposed to be short and to the point, but I can't help but digress ever so slightly sometimes... The real reason for the post is to shamelessly welcome myself back to 'writing'. And no, I'm not talking about books/novels/poems although I'm known for short stories etc... NOPE! I just have this annoying knack of thinking too much and writing my thoughts down, it keeps me sane; so it's no small wonder that I write-up my workouts in the gym, jot down sessions I give to clients and do a boat-load of admin on a regular basis! It's all my brains way of crying for help and it's saying: 

"LET ME WRITE, YOU KNOB!"

So here I am, still training to look good naked as per the strap-line on my blog and pretty much thinking about, everything and fitness...

Changing Lives

Sourced from Google Images

Being this inspired to put pen to paper, or in this case, fingers to keys hasn’t happened in a while. Lately, my time has been consumed with growing my business and plugging myself and my time into that during the moments I’m awake.

Tonight’s blog is a combination of lots of little things that has brought me back here with a view to share a few thoughts. The overwhelming theme this evening that I’m compelled to write about is life changing – no literally – I’m talking about; changing lives.

The things we say and do for each other, good or bad, have the potential to send us on paths of varying pain or pleasure. You might have had the desire in your mind to do something risky, out of your comfort zone, but you were too scared until some random person; or a good friend said: “Go on, why not give it a try...” and here you are, doing things with your life that you thought you’d never do, never thought you had the strength to do.

In light of what I just wrote in the previous paragraph, it’s so important not to be overly critical about yourself and the state of play your life is in, especially if you feel like life for you currently isn’t so great. We can all identify with times when things were not as sparkly or shiny as we’d like. During those times why not dedicate a portion of your energy into making someone else happy, I guarantee you’ll be happy too as a result. If a friend is debating a serious decision, don’t tell them what to do, help them to find the answer on their own. The best part about discovery is when you’re equipped with the tools and support to engage in it on your own.

As hard as life can be, why make it harder by spending precious hours being angry at other people. Do you have a passion? Is there something you’ve always wanted to do? Why not give over the time to get on with the things your heart is asking you to do, and thus make your heart ‘happy’.

Are you reading this and thinking; I’ve got so much negativity around me, it’s impossible to think straight’ and if that’s your existence right now, what’s stopping you being the person to send out the positive vibes missing from the circle of negative things trying to permeate your everyday life... I’m not saying this stuff is easy. I’m not saying you should listen and do as I say either; I’m merely handing over a different way of looking at things.

I was in a crappy place a few days ago for a number of reasons and within that crappy place, during those crappy moments, I thought: why can’t I flip it all 180 degrees, turn that frown into a smile, that dirty look into one of empathy and so on and so forth, and then it hit me – RECYCLE EVERYTHING!

So that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the last several days. Anything I deem to have the potential to bring me down, I change it in my head, and it works. It takes some getting used to, and don’t get me wrong if you still want to grab a friend and have a rant; don’t avoid the opportunity, but as I said earlier – make someone else’s day brighter then work on yours...

We spend a hell of a lot of time looking for people to love when the one person we need to love is the person you are right now, in this moment and every moment that came before and after. Once we master that, other people gravitate towards us in floods. I can honestly say this is true, it works, I wouldn’t bullshit you for the sake of saying it on my blog to get you to read anything additional that I may write. Try it... Forget about that awesome person you’re trying to be with (it’s incredibly likely that very person has done exactly what I’m suggesting to you).

In summary:

-Make others feel good

-Think positively in the face of hardship

-Get out of your comfort zone

-Love ‘you’ first not last

-Make your heart happy

And like I do with my blogs I’m ending with a song. This song in particular is one my dad used to play when I was younger, it reminds me of a time when life was awesomely cool. I listen to it now I’m older and really hear the words and in some way I think my dad was teaching me something that he knew I’d eventually figure out for myself. I plan on letting him know I have...

The Dilemma of Intimacy

Pic sourced from Google Images...

Before I get my teeth stuck into this blog, I want to warn you that you may not agree with some or a lot of what I say. The language I may use could very well offend and your perception of me based on what you read might change. How you feel about all of what comes next is not actually my concern, your views are your own... these are just a bunch of thoughts I’ve had in the last 72hrs that dragged me over to my laptop...

Why is sex so good?

Ever stopped and wondered why you (you in particular) enjoy sex?

Have you ever been in love? Have you ever been in serious, no holding back, the Earth melts away and it’s just the two of you, love... and had sex, or as some of you would argue – ‘make’ love?

Well it’s a totally different experience than just picking up a ‘random’ or dating someone you kinda like for a while and sleeping with them.

Last time I checked I wasn’t a woman, but I can imagine that for most women, opening themselves up to someone and letting them in, all the way in, isn’t something they take lightly, or should be taking lightly.

As much as us guys try to roll around town gloating to our ‘boys’ that we macked the shit outta some woman and got her to drop her panties... the reality is, is that a woman allows you in, and it’s a warm, often moist invitation.

Guys, please don’t kid ourselves, no woman slept with us because we made them do it. If that was the case, well – we’re kinda treading that fine line that could get your ass thrown in prison.

Accept the fact that sleeping with a woman is a privilege and let her know with every inch just how grateful you are. This includes the time you spend when you’re not curled up around each other like a ponytail.

And yet, intimacy can be quite a dilemma...

You meet someone new, there’s immediate chemistry, but sometimes we’re unsure about where to go and what to do next.

Imagine a ‘first date’ – if within the first hour you’re both sitting very close, laughing at her joke, tracing the oddly shaped scar on the back of her hand with your index finger from where she fell of her bike, and she’s inviting you; by moving her hair out the way to look at the other one on the back of her neck, then I’m pretty certain a kiss is probably coming your way.

And what about sex?

What about it...

I don’t think it’s something to be toyed with or treated disrespectfully. I’m not a fan of not being in love and having some serious Doogoo Doogoo, but trust me, sex is far better when you’re with someone and in the act of her taking you inside, you both, for the longest time, lose all sense of anything but the feeling you have right then and there. It’s that exact feeling that grows with every touch, every kiss, every thought you have of each other when you’re apart that causes you to smile, and every silence you spend looking at each other when the other person doesn’t notice.  

It’s usually at this point that intimacy is no longer a dilemma...

Make the call...

Pic sourced from Google Images

Let me cast my mind back (click on the blog before the previous blog) and lo-and-behold it was about friends, so you can’t really blame me for staying on the same theme can you?!

The reason for this is that my friends are kinda frikkin’ awesome and all it takes is a phone call (yes a phone call not a text) to one of them and I’m filled with the unwavering desire to be with them giving out hugs and fist bumps.

As with most things that happen with all of us, there’s a story, and the road to writing this blog evolved from my son calling me from a christening he was attending. He simply wanted to say hi and check up on me which (if you’re a parent) feels ridiculously fabulous that your kid took the time to send you some love!

His call made me think of my parents who I was with only the night before chilling watching that Tom Hanks/Leonardo DiCaprio movie, you know; the one where Tom Hanks is chasing him for like the entire film... Anyway, it was great to be with the folks, laughing, talking, existing – something I need to do more often.

Mum picked up the phone when I called today and I said: “Hey, just thought I’d call to see if you were okay?” to which I could hear the smile and her subsequent mood elevate immediately. We talked, I checked on dad, said my “love you’s”, ended the call.

So now I’m in the zone, I’m heading home from training since 9am; it’s 6pm and I wanna tell someone who I love that, I love them. I try to call my son back twice but he’s more than likely doing the ‘Dougie’ or ‘Shuffling’ to very loud music.

I call Lianne! (Now... to my other friends, it’s not a reflection on depth/volume, but our sons have similar names so she and a few other people usually pop into my head when I’m ‘love-zoning’ plus I haven’t seen her in a hot minute)...

PS: The way she answers the phone is always, EPIC!

PPS: The way I respond to her EPIC greeting is borderline legendary!

So... we get talking and the first thing she highlights is that she was talking about me to someone else, and if you ever get the chance to listen to someone talking about how proud of you they are – DO NOT INTERRUPT – of which I didn’t.

I was unaware of how much stuff I’d done in a short space of time until she ‘framed’ it during our conversation, and as much as it made me feel good, I did actually call to hear about her.

Minutes later I got the 411 (the 411 being Lianne’s business of which I not going to share), and let’s just say I’m proud of my friend who is doing well regardless of various speed bumps and occasional hindrances. I've known this woman since 1997 and nothing is too negative or difficult for her to deal with and it made me realise even more how important it is to cherish everyone around you. It doesn’t really matter if people aren’t passing you positive energy, just be the one sending it their way and don’t expect anything back, it’ll circle round when it’s ready for you.

I digress a little... the 30 minute conversation with Lianne has been deep, uplifting and insightful, I end the call totally missing-my-friend like crazy and I’m sending her dates to keep free after July 18^th (big day... very different blog)...

There are other things I want to say, and I started this blog intending to write on the topic above but, sent it in a slightly similar but different direction. 

I wrote this without thinking too much and thus the words came from probably the best place I can think of...

Holy S!£t... Did You See Her Too?!

It's been a hot frikkin' minute but I'm back and I've had something on my mind for, erm... a hot frikkin minute now (***CORRECTION***) ...somebody! 
 
I owe the birth of this blog to my homegirl Dex aka 'Slim Baller' aka 'Do You Not Know Who I Am?'... Sometimes I need a little nudge to put my thoughts on the interwebs.

We were sitting in Gourmet Burger several moons ago putting away ounces of BULLY BEEF, when I start yapping about this woman I saw at the gym. Hell, I even wrote a status on Facebook concerning my inability to produce saliva when I saw her. 

What was I doing? I hear you say. Why didn't I talk to her? I hear you ask. 

At the time I was talking to one of the new starters on the volunteer programme and only caught a glimpse of the Olympian as she walked past. Clearly I'd forgotten what the hell I was saying because the woman I was talking to looked at me like I'd suddenly started talking gibberish. 

YES, at that moment in time I'd unlocked my latent ability to speak and say nothing, but noise was still being produced so, in my head everything was still working ticketty-boo. I remember my lips going a little dry too like this woman had walked past and sapped all the moisture out of the air. 

I kid you not, the rest of the male contingent of personal trainers, volunteers and gym instructors on various levels and balconies (it's a big flippin' gym) had seen her also and as guys do, we all shared the collective expression of men who'd seen an exclusive hard-to-obtain sports car drive past and absentmindedly gravitate towards it. 

Where was she going exactly...? >>> directly to the changing room (oh lord, if I was a fly on the wall in there what wonders would I see?). The to be truthful, I'd completely forgotten I was talking this other lady and what I was talking about, I'd nearly forgotten she was standing there too, so when the lights came back on in my head I had to ask her what the f&£k I was saying.

If you're expecting some sort of message, moral to this tale, an insight or piece of learning from the experience, then I'm afraid I've got nothing. I was just a dude, functioning as a dude, standing in front of a girl, gazing at another girl...