A Lesson From the Successful

Ya know when you go into a store just to see if there's a deal. You think, "there may be ONE thing that is a steal." Well today I went into a Goodwill with that thought in my mind. Maybe there is something worth getting, maybe not, but I'm already driving by so I might as well see.

Well to my surprise I walked out with $25 in books. Now this may not seem like much but keep in mind this is Goodwill. The most expensive book was only $2.99! 

Here's a list of what I found:

     1.) "Developing the Leader Within You" by John C. Maxwell
     2.) "The 3-Hour Diet" by Jorge Cruise
     3.) "The Rational Manager" by Charles H. Kepner and Benjamin B. Tregoe
     4.) "Wins, Losses, and Lessons" by Jou Holtz
     5.) "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey
     6.) "Inbound Marketing" by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah
     7.) "The Discipline of Market Leaders" Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema
     8.) "Leadership Secrets of the World's Most Successful CEOs" by Eric
          Yaverbaum
     9.) "YouTube for Business" by Michael Miller
     10.) "The Starbucks Experience" by Joseph A. Michelli
     11.) "Business Plans That Work" by Jeffry A. Timmons, Andrew Zacharakis, 
          and Stephen Spinelli

Well that's all fine and dandy but what's the point? Well there are 2 points here:

1.) NEVER stop learning!

The more I observe and read about the successful, whether CEOs, stay at home moms, and someone in the middle of their journey to better health, they all share a certain habit. They are always learning. Now this doesn't mean looking for the newest fad information and what have you, the successful search for TRUTH. They observe other people, read books, and so on. They even hang out with people who are further along the road they want to take! That is KEY! Did you absorb that? The crowd you hang around will affect who you become! Zig Ziglar even suggests investing in "automobile university."

2.) Truth!

As I mentioned above, the successful search for truth! People all over the world are becoming more and more hungry for truth. I personal believe this is one reason why Dave Ramsey's books and services sell so well.

Notice in the list of books I got, there was only 1 book related to fitness and nutrition. This isn't just because I have already learned what the other books were about but because many of them were junk! They were about fad diets! I saw a few that were actually decent and about the PRINCIPLES behind weight loss and body transformation. That's why I made this blog, to help you.

Continued learning will not only expand your horizons but it helps keep you focused on whatever you are learning about. The more you learn about weight loss and being healthy, the more you think about it and the better the chance of your habits changing! Listening to the Bible while driving may help keep you more focused on God instead of holding a grudge against the guy who cut you off. 

I conclusion, "Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance," Proverbs 1:5

"Suck" up the knowledge.

For those of you who recognize Dunkin Donuts colors, that is a Dunkin Donuts straw I am using to pretend to drink information from a Starbucks book. Oops! :)

When Weight Loss Gets Tough!

Today I just didn't feel like working out. Oh no! A PERSONAL TRAINER didn't feel like exercising? Yeah, yeah... We're human too. :) But seriously I just didn't feel like working out, at all! But I knew that yesterday, when I was supposed to have done the workout, I didn't. I knew I had to suck it up and get to it or the results wouldn't ever show their pretty little face.

So I figured I'd at least get a few quick sets of squats in and see how it goes. I started warming up by doing a few reps with the bar to get blood flowing and to get loosened up. After lifting 135 and 185 for a few reps each I did some more mobility stuff until I felt the right muscles were warm and I had optimal range of motion. Then I got 225 without the weightlifting belt and it felt pretty good. So I went for 275. Great. Then I put the belt on and hit 295 for 1 rep. Then 315 for 1 rep. Now my previous max was 315 pounds for 1 repetition, so I was feeling pretty good and surprised that it felt relatively "light." Especially compared to my eye popping effort that last time I tried. I was very optimistic so I went for 325 pounds and instead of doing 1 rep I did 3! I was blown away! This was NOT the typical training session. In fact, for the last few months I had been stuck around 300.

This story is not meant to "toot my own horn," but to illustrate that there are ups and downs in any exercise regimen just like in life. Sometimes life happens and you need to easy up a little. On the other hand, life may be going wonderfully! Your stress is down, sleep is good, nutrition is right on, so you push a little harder.

Obviously, along with this ebb and flow, results fluctuate. Your goal may not be to lift a house. If your goal is weight loss, you may start a program and lose five pounds the first week. The second week you only lose two pounds. For the next few months you may lose about one pound per week. Now through the weeks you had your ups and downs. One week you may lose 3 pounds then next you gain back one. I've even seen people fluctuate as much as five pounds in one day! Granted that is more food and water weight. Other people are like clock work and they can expect one or two pounds lose per week. Even day-to-day they lose about the same every day.

The point of this article is to take some weight off your shoulders and encourage you. Goals aren't reached overnight. If they are, you're probably not challenging yourself enough. 

Life has it's ups and downs, so don't get discouraged. Roll with the punches. If you're having a tough time reaching your goals, take a step back and analyze what you are doing. What are the barriers keeping you from reaching your goals? What are your weaknesses? How can you change them? 

In life and especially in fitness, the successful are those who stuck with it. They went through the war zone and the tough times, but they held in there and now they're enjoying the rewards! Don't give up! Find support and buckle down! You CAN do it!

"...suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." (Excerpt from Romans 5:3-4 NIV)

Weight Loss Supplements!

I must start by asking you to please read this article through to the end in order to see the message. I write this stuff because I care about YOU. I'll try to keep it brief. 



Have a headache? Take an aspirin. Low energy? Drink Red Bull. Too much fat? Pop a pill. These are all common occurrences in the daily life of a citizen in modern society. 

"Bigger, Faster, Stronger" is a documentary from 2008 directed by Chris Bell about the use of anabolic steroids as performance-enhancing drugs in America. In the documentary Chris got information from both sides and stories from steroid users as well as others who were affected by the use of steroids. In the end Chris brings up a good point about all drugs and how we can and do use drugs for almost everything. 

We've reached a place where we throw drugs at everything. I'm not against the medical community or the use of prescription drugs or even supplements. I thank God for the technology and gifted doctors who save lives everyday but when there is a pill to stop gray hair... Really? I'm young and only have one gray hair which was so eloquently pointed out when I had a kid who is just a wonderful ball of energy on my shoulders. She told me I had paint in my hair. Knowing I hadn't painted anything nor been around wet paint in months, I immediate thought, "gray hair." Sure enough, one. Gray. Hair... But when that little hair decides to get married and start a colony, so what? Sean Connery has gray hair and just like in the article, so does George Clooney! And if part of the colony of hair decides to die off and leave me with some shiny spots I'll buzz the rest off.

Sean Connery in "The Hunt for Red October" 1990

Supplements

Back to my point. In America we seem to have a pill, or drug, or supplement for everything. It's ridiculous! I'm actually a representative for a very highly regarded supplement company and I still think supplements and supplement companies are WAY out of hand! One area in particular is weight loss. Some before and after photos for such and such supplement that will help you "drop 1,000,000% bodyfat in 2 hours!(exaggeration)" are flat out lies! Not all are lies, some really do work but many are exaggerations at the least.

Part of the documentary "Bigger, Faster, Stronger" shows just how easy it is to fake before and after photos:

Again, some supplements really do work! There are actually herbs and roots that increase your metabolism. Bodybuilders use these supplements all the time but that is NOT where they start. They start by changing what they DO! They start eating better and change their workouts up so they lose more fat.

Instead of throwing a drug at a problem, shouldn't we try to figure out what we are DOING that is causing the problem in the first place? If we're tired, are we sleeping enough? Are we stretched too thin and maybe need to make some adjustments in our lives? If we have a headache, again, sleep? Are we hydrated? Are we eating too much msg or artificial substances? Now for the big one! We have too much fat. Are we eating too much? Believe it or not, are we sleeping enough? Are we eating the right foods? Being active? Even if we're depressed. What are we letting into our minds? What are we allowing to influence us? Now I know there are some cases when there really is a chemical imbalance but my personal belief is that it's what we DO that should be addressed and is the real issue.

Instead of putting a band-aid on the problem, shouldn't we solve the root cause? Wouldn't you rather get rid of the problem than just mask it?

Shouldn't we look at what we do and ask ourselves, "is this good for me and those around me" or "is this right"? 

If we don't get "hurt", we don't need band-aids that lead to more hurt and more band-aids. I hate seeing people who are broken. The only way to get better is through the tough stuff. Through truth in love not band-aids. 

If you really want results in life, change what you do and who you are for the better.




Bigger, Faster, Stronger. Dir. Christopher Bell. Magnolia Home Entertainment, 2008. DVD.

Fit Mom in a Hurry

You wake up, make breakfast for the family, and get started with the day's errands. After running around like a chicken with it's head caught off you go to make dinner before picking the kids up from school. Along the way you realize you haven't even gone shopping for the groceries to make dinner and the laundry's not going to fold itself. How in the world are you ever going to fit in a workout to get that toned body you want?

Don't fear, the amazing full body circuit is here!

This is a quick, simple full body resistance circuit that will help tone muscle, burn fat, and maybe keep you sane!

I know you maybe in a hurry so let's get to it! Each exercise is performed for 1 minute. In that 1 minute, perform as many QUALITY repetitions as possible and move on to the next exercise with as little rest as possible. You should be breathing heavily after the first few exercises.

     1.) Squat - Stand in front of a chair or sofa with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Sit BACK onto the chair or sofa making sure your knees don't go in front of your toes. You should feel the pressure in your heels. Stay nice and tall. If done correctly, you will probably fall back into the sofa or chair so be prepared and don't worry. You are on the right track to saving your knees from undue stress. Now stand, making sure your knees do NOT buckle in. Great job! That is repetition number 1! This will work your legs and butt.

     2.) Push Up - This does not have to be done from the floor. You can start with your hands on a wall placed slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Keeping abs and butt cheeks TIGHT descend until you feel you can go no lower without losing form and squirming. Now, keep the upper arms at about 45 degrees to the torso (to save the shoulder from undue stress) push the wall away from you. Once this is easy you can move down to a sturdy piece of furniture like the back of a heavy sofa and keep working at it until you are doing kneeling push ups on the floor and eventually from the toes. This will work your chest, shoulders, triceps, and abs. Every time you push back up is 1 rep.

     3.) Band Pull Apart - You'll need a resistance band or tubing for this one. Grip the band with a shoulder width grip so the band is straight; not tight but not hanging. Hold the band out in front of you at chest level. Now, with arms straight, spread the band apart, moving your arms out to the side until the band is almost touching your chest. By now the band should be quite tight. Slowly bring your arms back in front of you but don't let the band hang. This will work the back of the shoulders and your triceps. Every time you pull the band apart is 1 rep.

     4.) Low Back Floor Presses - Even though this is called a "back press" it actually works your abs. Start by lying on your back with your legs bent to 90 degrees and feet flat on the floor. Now press your low back into the floor as hard as you can. Your entire back should be in contact with the floor with the exception of the base of your neck. Hold for 5 seconds and relax. This will teach you how to PROPERLY flex your abs. Once these become easier you can progress to leg raises, planks, and other exercises. Every 5 second hold is 1 rep.

Again, perform each exercise for as many quality repetitions as possible. Perform each exercise after the other with as little rest as possible. One round should take 4-5 minutes. You can either do a warm-up of your choice or you can do the first round as technique practice and warm-up (not pushing too hard). Perform 2-3 rounds or just 1 round if you're REALLY in a hurry. Some exercise is usually better than none. Rest 1 minute between rounds. Afterwards, take 5 minutes or so to stretch at least your hamstrings, quads, chest, and shoulders. Feel free to stretch more. You can include a glute (butt) stretch, calf stretch, and so on. Hold each stretch for at least 30 seconds.

All-in-all this should take anywhere from 10 - 30 minutes depending on how much you rest and how many rounds you are performing. This circuit should be done 2-3 times per week with about 24-48 hours of rest between workouts so the muscles can recover. Track how many repetitions you can get in 1 minute and watch your strength and endurance improve.

Cheers to your health and God bless,

Chris

Get Fit Playing Cards! Seriously!

Believe it or not, you CAN get fit playing cards even if you don't have much time! These aren't your typical card games but they are ways to make your workout a little more interesting. It should also be noted that these a once-in-awhile thing. If you do it all the time it will probably get old.

1.) Card Cardio

     This is one of my favorites. With this game you use the cards to determine which cardio exercise you will do. To play, choose four cardio exercises that you can do for 1 minute non-stop. Each exercise gets its own suit. Shuffle the deck and lay out some cards FACE DOWN. If you want a 10 minute workout, put 10 cards out. If you want 20 minutes, put 20 out.

Here's what a workout may look like:

          Clubs - Jumping Jacks

          Spades - Mountain Climbers

          Hearts - High Knees

          Diamonds - Shadow Boxing

          Joker - optional 1 minute rest

The number on the card doesn't matter for this one. The first card you flip is a 4 of clubs so you do 1 minute of jumping jacks. You flip over the next card to reveal an ace of diamonds so you shadow box your imaginary opponent - bobbing, weaving, and jabbing for the next minute. And so on.

If you are really short on time or just want a harder workout you can do Interval Card Cardio. The only difference, go as hard a fast as you can for 30 seconds then rest for 30 seconds and flip the next card. You can also choose harder exercises to really burn some calories! :) Make sure you monitor yourself with this one though! You can push pretty hard but if you get dizzy or light-headed, ease up a little and let your heart rate come back down.

2.) Card Resistance Training

Same as the Card Cardio, only you select a resistance exercise for each suit and you will perform repetitions instead of doing a minute straight of each exercise. Here's an example:

          Clubs - Squats

          Spades - Push Ups

          Hearts - Band Pulls 

          Diamonds - Lying Leg Raises

It probably wouldn't be too wise to perform each for 1 minute. It would be pretty tough if you flipped 2 or 3 spades in a row. That would mean 2 or 3 minutes of push ups! Instead, perform repetitions to match the number on the card. Say you flip a 5 of clubs you perform 5 repetitions of squats, then an 8 of hearts means you perform 8 reps of band pulls next. Ace and face cards are 10 reps. 

3.) FitDeck

As I was coming up with ideas for this article I came across Fit Deck. They are special decks of cards with exercises and explanations on each. They even have different decks for different interests. Basketball Fit Deck, Soccer Fit Deck, Yoga Fit Deck, even a nutrition Fit Deck!

Shuffle up and have some fun!

Dreaming is Great, Action is Better

This post is going to be more of a quick ramble/thoughts type of post.

What stops most people from reaching for their dreams and accomplishing them? Recently, I've been dreaming about owning a business and becoming one of the top fitness professionals in the country... not to gloat. I noticed I actual felt scared. Scared of the unknown? Yeah. But was I scared of actually succeeding? It was weird but finally I thought, "Why not? Why not actually become a leader in this industry? What's stopping me?" I came to the conclusion that I was stopping myself! No one else and nothing else! Sure there is the fear of the unknown but success doesn't usually come overnight. There's time to learn. You work and reach a certain level of success and slowly progress higher and higher. Realizing that I'd get use to the success as I went relieved some of the fear. Sure I'd be pushing my comfort zone but isn't that one of the habits of highly effective people that Stephen Covey wrote about?

So now I give you the same question. Are you afraid of success? Are you actually afraid of having your dream body? A better financial situation? Or maybe are you afraid of the process... what it will take to get there?

If so, why are you afraid? It takes time to change and with that time comes a new, larger comfort zone. You'll learn along the way and over time success and pushing your comfort zone will become habit. Change will become comfortable and you'll be pushing higher and achieving more than ever.

While reading about other businesses and how they got started I've observed something. This is a fairly obvious observation but I'll share it anyway. The highly successful dream AND DO! They don't just dream and then get scared and backdown. They take action. They take a little calculated risk. Sure their probably afraid but so what? They take it one step at a time.

Will you just dream or will you dream and take action? Will you step out of the boat and onto the water like Peter did with Jesus? Why not do something AMAZING? What's stopping you?

Courage is taking action despite fear.

"Put one foot in front of the other"

What Do You Want to Know About?

So there are a few blog posts here already, but before I go much further I want to ask... What do you want to know? Is there a topic I could research for you? Is there anything you've been wondering about regarding health, fitness, nutrition, and the like?

Feel free to post a comment below or leave a comment on the Facebook page

I can't wait to see what you're thoughts are! :)