I am a TITAN!

But what is a ‘Titan’?
According to the English dictionary it is ‘a person of great strength, intellect or importance’…

I believe I have great strength, I believe we all do… all we have to do is dig deep and find it. I also believe that anyone who has been in a tough place in their life and pulled themselves out of it is the biggest Titan of all!

Intellect… well if you’re a good person, treat yourself right, eat healthy, act healthy… and if you treat others the same way then that is the most important type of intellect you can have compared to any degree!

Importance, now it’s not self importance, but to live, be part of something bigger than you, to have goals and act on them, to have people in your life that appreciate and love you (and you them) is important! Hence you have importance.

So thanks English dictionary that was great… but I’m here to talk about how I actually became a Titan in Thailand!

As a first time solo traveller I wanted to make sure I met people on my travels and went home with experiences (and friends) to last a life time. I also wanted to come back feeling fitter and stronger … I didn’t want to go away and put on weight like I have done on all inclusive and other holidays abroad! I wanted the post travel glow… and this was the best time to find that glow!

A bootcamp style holiday is something I’ve always wanted to do, but the idea of a huge guy shouting at me to wake up at 5am was not… so I looked into Fitness Retreats.

I’d looked at a lot of places in Spain however, the cost of these was extortionate considering the value and time you got to spend there. Then I found Titan Fitness in Thailand, and to my surprise for the same price as a week at a Spanish bootcamp I could get 4 weeks (with accommodation and 2 meals per day) in Phuket. Considering I was going to Thailand anyway, why not take some much needed time out for fitness? So I booked!

Let’s just say the start of my time at Titan Fitness wasn’t the best experience I could have had (nothing to do with the camp), unfortunately I got a bout of food poisoning from a street food (yes I love street food) market in Chiangmai the night before… No actual symptoms until I woke up in the morning. Everyone told me to get some activated charcoal down me, so I did… my stomach did not react very well, in fact I nearly missed my taxi to the airport for having my head in a toilet bowl (but thankfully I didn’t).

Have you ever had to use a sick bag on a plane? If you haven’t then I envy you… As soon as the wheels left the ground I’d filled 3 bags! I honestly don’t understand how I made it to Chalong that Sunday but I did. Thankfully Titan had organised to pick me up as part of their awesome service and get me to my hotel (if they hadn’t, I think I would have spent 3 nights at the airport on the floor… I was that out of it!)

As you can imagine, I missed 2 training days for being so ill and drained, however I made it to my induction and met my PT for the next 4 weeks. A lovely guy called Ouf who I had to walk out on half way through my meeting to be sick!

Finally Wednesday came and I was 100% back on my feet and ready to tackle a full day of working out! And tackle it I did, from no training for weeks I went straight in to 3 x 1 hour long sessions on my first day back! It was amazing, I’d never worked out in such heat and I’d never felt myself sweat so much. It was here that I learnt to love sweat, sweaty hair, sweaty feet, sweaty everything… even places I didn’t realise had sweat glands were pouring! Now being back home, it’s always my goal to make myself sweat that much! As you know… Sweat is just your fat crying as it leaves its home for good!

Back to Titan… honestly if getting fit, stronger, losing fat is what you want to achieve then Titan have the formula down… all you have to do is turn up and put the effort in!
They have a really extensive list of classes you can attend as well as extra special weekly sessions such as the buddha run (which I’ve spoken about in another blog) and beach training. So what ever you fancy whether its PT, CrossFit, Circuits, HiiT, Spinning, Yoga, S&C well, you have access to it all and I can not recommend it enough!

So, what did I achieve at Titan, firstly I made a new family… Secondly, I didn’t lose weight (but that’s not important) what did happen is my body composition changed:

I lost:
9cm off my Chest
2cm off my Shoulders
1cm off each Arm
6cm off my Waist
5cm off each Thigh
1cm off my Hips

So rather than losing weight, I’d built muscle and changed the shape of my body and I was completely happy with that as now I look a lot more slender! Remember the scales will eventually move anyway… It’s not something we should stress about… read my old post here!

What else did I achieve?
Well, I reduced my alcohol intake (even though there is a massive community who love to party, I did it for myself), I went salsa dancing, I had the opportunity to travel to some of the most beautiful islands in the Andaman, (Similan, Lanta, Budda, Phi Phi, Muk, Kradan, Hai etc..), I swam through a pitch black cave to come out into an Emerald Lagoon (Koh Muk), I drove my first ever moped! I ate wonderful food, both Thai and health food, I made some incredible friends a few of which I’ve seen since I’ve got back, I tried and fell in love with Vegan food (no I didn’t stick with it… but it was yummy at the time), I realised I didn’t need so much “stuff” in my life and I came back feeling healthy, with a new lease of life and with the biggest smile on my face! Also with a heart wrenching desire to go back ASAP!

So, going back to the dictionary’s definition of Titan…
My Titan (after everything I’ve been through in my young life) gave me Strength to believe in myself again, it improved my Intellect when it came to looking after myself, and it made me the most Important person in my life… Not in a selfish way but in a way that reminds me to take time for myself, to train for myself, to eat for myself, go out for myself and do what I desire in order to live a life I’m proud of living.

I am a Titan and you can be too!

If you have even the slightest desire to go, I quote Nike to you…  “Just Do It!”
You won’t regret it!
Be Happy, Be Healthy

XoXo
Ush