What if your before and after pictures aren't about weight loss?
What if you have a goal that has no relevance to aesthetics?
What if your before photo is you training in a little fitness studio in Thirsk?
And your after photo is of you making and breaking a New World Record?
Ladies and Gentlemen... I introduce you to my client, Jasmine Harrison
At the time of writing this (19/02/2021) Jasmine is nearly at the end of her epic journey, having spent 2 months at sea, on her own, in a 21 foot rowing boat.
Tomorrow, (Saturday 20th February 2021), has the making of something incredibly special, an occasion that should be gripping everyone in Thirsk and North Yorkshire's attention to the max.
On Saturday a little bit of history will be made when Jasmine Harrison completes her incredible adventure of crossing the Atlantic, on her own, breaking the world record for being the youngest Female to solo row the Atlantic at the age of just 21.
This is a goal on a scale that very few people, particularly of that age, would ever think of taking on. The mere thought of this challenge fills me with dread- it's a water thing. But for Jasmine this was the most important thing in the world.
A goal like this is about self discovery. It's the kind of thing that makes you question not only your physical capabilities but your mental and emotional ones too.
How about that for a before and after photo!
When I (and probably you) think about rowing 3000 miles across the ocean the first thing that comes to mind is 'well I've never rowed before in my life, I'm not trained to do it, there's no way I could do that'.
This just goes to show that that kind of thought process is what's holding so many of us back from ever doing these kinds of life changing things. Jasmine had never done this before, wasn't trained for it and didn't know if she could do it but did that stop her?
NO!
It was happening and that was that.
In one year this woman has trained to the very limits of her capacity, sought help from sponsors all over North Yorkshire, poured her entire focus into making sure this was going to happen and took herself to the start line.
In the first 1000 miles she overcame a reaction to sea sickness drugs that rendered her blind. Then the weather turned - at one point Jasmine and Argo (the boat) actually got pushed backwards. Some days she was just sitting in her cabin waiting for the weather to change, there was no progress whatsoever.
This alone would be enough to make most of us chuck in the towel and give up.
Further into the race there were reports of boats getting speared by Marlins beaks (this happened to two boats). There were sharks in the water circling the boats preventing any kind of under boat cleaning and to top it off the seas became so confused they actually capsized Jasmines boat and threw her over board.
Luckily all rowers are tethered to their boats.
The last 1200 miles have been much more favourable weather wise (although she has had another capsize and a near miss with a big ship!) and Jasmine has made some incredible progress, even overtaking another boat.
It has been an absolute pleasure to train Jasmine and be a part of this amazing story. We have so much respect for this woman and are really looking forward to celebrating when she comes back (when we're allowed of course).
There should be no limits as to what your goal can be, Jasmine has proved that in spades.
Find something that both scares you and excites you - to the point that you become blinkered to anything else.
The body and mind will change and adapt as you immerse yourself into the world of that goal and you will become fitter, healthier, stronger and more resilient anyway, just purely in the process of attaining that goal. Who knows, you may even lose some weight.
The only limitation to achieving anything is you.
Hopefully Jasmine can inspire us all - to think a little bigger, be a little bolder, climb outside of our comfort zones and maybe even make our own world records.
Make sure you stay tuned to Atlantic Campaigns and Dot Watchers on Facebook to watch this drama come to it's conclusion. There will be live feed of Jasmine arriving at the finish.
This is so exciting!
In Fitness & In Health
John 'World Record Trainer' Withinshaw