ABOUT
Colin Donnelly
ITEC Qualified Personal Trainer ,
Fitness Instructor, Gym Instructor,
IYCA Certified International Youth Fitness Specialist
Certified Mental Health Coach
ITEC Qualified Personal Trainer ,
Fitness Instructor, Gym Instructor,
IYCA Certified International Youth Fitness Specialist
Certified Mental Health Coach
Having qualified as a fitness specialist and personal trainer, I was determined to play my part in making a change. I am the founder of fittminds using fitness and in particular the medium of running my passion to help those with mental health problems. I believe that fitness should be treated as a life skill and lifelong pursuit. Regardless of your age or ability, making time and having access to exercise and movement programs that meet your needs is crucial in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and more importantly a healthy mind.
I now prefer to call myself a mental health life coach with the aim of transforming peoples lives through movement and improved mental health
Through running you will see the world from a completely different perspective, all of a sudden you will notice the beauty of architecture, nature and the great outdoors in all its splendour, life will take on a new edge.Obviously, exercise in general is fundamental to a high-performing mind and body, but running has been specifically tied to living longer through improved heart health ( up to three added years), staving off cognitive decline and getting better sleep. It’s not even necessarily bad for your knees, despite conventional wisdom.
I have battled my own demons throughout the years and as I suffer with Bipolar disorder it has brought me close to suicide, marriage breakdown, jail and complete despair followed by a real breakdown .Running and movement has been a constant in my life and found it to be a major coping mechanism in my daily life. It calms me down, increases my serotonin levels ,and I can think through any issues that may be affecting me, and to top it all off it is free.Because of this I have explored /researched, and experienced first hand how exactly running can help our mental health.
Running is something anyone can do and for those whose say they can’t run this is simply not true, with the right advice, encouragement and more importantly mindset anything is possible and believe you me I am speaking from experience on this matter as a coach.
Everything you will read in this book is based on real life experience, and any stories are straight from the heart.I have been running for as long as I can remember ,School relay team ,representing my local community , running simply to stay healthy and overcome my Asthma as well as managing my bipolar and now I stand as someone who has completed over 40 marathons to date taught numerous people from kids as young as 5-6 years of age ,teenagers ,adults and a group very close to my heart the Autism community to run various distances and have fun doing so.The effect this has had on their behaviour and mindset as a result has been nothing short of incredible
I really wanted to reach out to those who want to run but don't know where to start and are afraid of looking completely out of place, if that is you then this is the right place to be.Knowledge as they say is power but you don't need to be scrutinise everything in great detail ,being armed with the right simple information will set you on your way.
On this site you will find all you need to know about the various different forms of mental health diagnosis and what they mean exactly ,furthermore you will also find running training programs and information to suit everyone from the complete beginner to those looking to improve and run further ,when the two are combined you have an amazing base from which to start you journey to a happier more healthy mindset.
So let’s waste no more time and get started !!
