We regularly share the success stories of our patients who have taken on big challenges in order to push themselves to their personal best. We’ve also just finished sharing our Clinic Director, Husam’s, journey from injury to Venice Marathon in October.

While these stories should inspire you to see what you can do, what challenges would thrill you, what great thing you would like to achieve, it’s understandable if they leave you with a different feeling entirely.

Sometimes when we hear of what others have achieved, it’s easy to make less than flattering comparisons with ourselves. If you have never been a sporty person, comparing yourself to Mo Farah is never going to make you feel good about yourself! However, you should never seen what other people can do as evidence of what you can’t do.

Start small
You are not going to go from couch to marathon in a week. It’s not possible – or sensible! Start small, set yourself a goal of 5k and work towards that. Once you’ve achieved that goal, push it back to 10k and work towards that. This holds true for all forms of exercise – set regular small goals that you can achieve, which will eventually lead you to your biggest goal.

Be realistic
Unfortunately, there are some things you simply won’t be able to do. Becoming a Premiership footballer for example, is unlikely to happen unless you’ve been playing and training professionally from a very young age. But this doesn’t mean you have to dream small – there are huge challenges out there, many for charity, that, with preparation, are designed for regular people.

Know your limitations
There may be things you simply cannot do. If you regularly struggle with recurrent knee injury, a marathon may not be for you. There is no point in taking on a challenge that will lead to injury and pain. However, there are always other things you can try. Our practitioners will be able to tell you what forms of fitness you can try in order to prevent a recurrent injury flaring up. To book an appointment, give us a call on 020 8 332 6184 or email us at info@theforgeclinic.com

Do what makes you happy
For many people an event like The London Marathon or Tough Mudder is thrilling and they love every minute of the event and preparation. However, this could be your idea of hell. Running a marathon should only be on your bucket list if you actually want to do it. Life is too short to tick off a generic list of things to do. Maybe for you, dancing on stage would be something you’d truly love – so sign up for a dance class and get rehearsing! Do more of what makes you happy!