I've always been most comfortable training alone...

It's weird considering pretty much my whole professional life has centred around getting people training together in an environment reminiscent of a team sport.

But, from my first push-ups and sit-ups in my bedroom, trying to get past the insecurity of from being tall and skinny and feeling weaker than everyone else...

To staying up late to lift my first weight set in my parents house as I was actually embarrassed about wanting to be bigger and stronger...

To my first gym membership at university and trying to figure out how this whole gym thing actually worked and being too shy to ask...

To wanting to be better at sport and not knowing strength and conditioning coaching was available to me... To getting the bit between my teeth to really pursue volleyball and make the England squad alongside two jobs and a masters degree...

Training at 5am and 11pm in the same week... To now training solo in my garage in Lockdown 2.0, still feeling insecure about being tall and skinny... I have never consistently trained in a group, or even with a workout partner. This intrinsic motivation, self reliance and lack of need for someone else to get me started, I believe, is a real strength of mine.

I'm not saying everyone should train alone. You shouldn't. I see the huge benefits of training in groups every day. I just believe that while doing so, everyone should be working on their own intrinsic motivation and self reliance. What is your why? What is your routine? What are your positive habits? What are your key behaviours? If you can consistently understand and work on these, adverse situations become much easier to navigate, because you just do. You find a way to make it happen. Be a self-starter, understand your motivation, and let the group add the extra 5-10%.