THE SLOW AND STEADY APPROACH
Bevan James Eyles hasn’t always been a super-fit personal trainer. He was a self-proclaimed ‘embarrassment’ who just needed a little motivation, writes Amberleigh Jack
World-class trainer and author Bevan James Eyles thought he was at the top of his game in 2009. He was an award-winning trainer, a triathlete and had worked in fitness ‘‘forever’’.
But when a friend confronted him about the fact they were ‘‘failing at fitness’’ (people were moving less and gaining more weight), he was hit with a realisation about himself.
‘‘My thing was if you’re fit, I’m awesome. If not, I don’t know how to help you.’’
Once he realised that he did not understand, or know how to help people who did not incorporate movement into their lives, in 2012 he set up a running group in Christchurch, designed to get people from inactivity to running 5km. Initially, ‘‘everyone failed’’.
‘‘I was a bit heartbroken and the thing I learnt in that moment
was I didn’t understand non-exercisers. I had to learn a whole new set of rules.’’
That is exactly what he did. His running group now has an almost 90% success rate, and he has partnered with Stuff to launch a dedicated programme designed to get New Zealand off the couch and match-fit for Round the Bays in March next year.
And it is all for a simple reason, Eyles says. Incorporating running or walking into your life has a plethora of life-changing benefits.
In fact, he insists, ‘‘you’ll function better as a person’’.
‘‘And not just for yourself, actually for your world.’’
While we live in a world where not moving is far too easy, he says that on top of obvious benefits – being healthier, having energy and better heart health – there are plenty of other lifechanging benefits that ‘‘don’t get sold so much’’.
Self-esteem increases, it can be a healthy and fun way to socialise, and your ability to overcome adversity, especially if you are starting as someone who does little to no movement, can carry on across other aspects of day-to-day life.
‘‘[People tell me] Bevan, I’m a better mother, I’m better at work, or I’m a better person.’’
He was a self-confessed ‘‘former dropkick’’ who told Stuff in 2014: ‘‘I was always the drunkest one, I was a real embarrassment. I was a sleaze and untrustworthy.’’
Eyles says that exercising now comes naturally. But many people start out the wrong way. While it is easy to have fleeting moments of motivation, it is just as easy to fail.
‘‘What we often find when people want to start exercising is they think of the result they desire, and it’s often overly ambitious. They’re doing nothing, and they go, ‘I want to run a halfmarathon’.’’
‘‘People have moments of motivation, but they create an experience where they’re pretty much guaranteed to fail.
‘‘You don’t suck at exercise, you suck at setting up exercise in your life.’’
Instead, he says, the trick is to focus on habitbuilding, and tick off the behaviours involved in that, whether it is packing gear the night before or letting your partner or workmates know you are heading out early to exercise.
‘‘If you’re someone who is doing nothing right now, the most important thing is how to get movement into your life. A walking habit’s a really important habit to have around cardiovascular fitness,’’ he says.
And it is vital to not go too hard, too fast. Instead, the first step should feel easy and enjoyable. That, Eyles says, is what makes people come back for more. When people go too hard, they don’t enjoy the experience, open themselves up for injury and are far less likely to come back a couple of days later.
‘‘If we can create an experience at a level that feels really easy there’s a higher chance you’ll turn up next time.’’
Eyles’ Round the Bays programme is designed to motivate and guide people across a variety of fitness levels, whether you hope to walk the event, run and walk or, ultimately, run the entire course.
And after eight weeks of coaching, motivation techniques and expert programming, Eyles says an event like Round the Bays, which can be run virtually from anywhere in New Zealand, is a perfect way to celebrate habits formed in the weeks beforehand.
‘‘That’s what [is] so great about an event like this, it’s so accessible to so many people . . . A lot of people who think they can’t, if they put in the work [they] will be able to walk it.’’
‘ ‘ Pe o p l e h ave moment s of mot i vat i o n ,... b u t t h ey c re ate a n ex p e r i e n c e wh e re t h ey ’re p re t t y muc h g u a ra nte e d t o fa i l . Yo u d o n’ t s u c k at exe rc i s e , yo u s u c k at s e t t i n g u p exe rc i s e in yo u r l i fe .’ ’