Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

          Welcome to afitnewyou!  As we are now a good ways into the holiday season, it becomes obvious that an unfortunate focus (especially for those of us here in the States) tends towards holiday spending instead of reflecting on the true "reason for the season."  But with that deeper subject aside, we all know that this time of year brings a lot of spending.  And having already passed Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it makes me think about what we spend our money on.  I do believe there are times when we buy things simply for the sake of obtaining things; there are times when we purchase things for the wrong reasons.  However, I believe that most of the times when we spend money that it is on things that we truly value.  This is why we call it investing.  Furthermore, when we are investing our money wisely, we usually have the goal of gaining some sort of return on it.  So as you continue your holiday spending, I think you should consider investing a little bit of your budget on yourself and your health.  Treating yourself to something that will help you achieve your fitness goals shouldn't be looked at as a selfish act, rather it should be looked at as an investment in your health.

          On "Day Three" of their book, The Love Dare, authors Stephen and Alex Kendrick express the value which we place on things that we spend our money on.  They say, "Whatever you put your time, energy, and money into will become important to you.  It's hard to care for something you are not investing in."  While they referring to what could help you restore a relationship, I believe this also pertains to your health.  I would like to restate their sentiment in regards to your vitality...It is hard to not care for something that you are investing in.  Although I am usually against the idea of feeling like you need to spend money in order to achieve health (because that isn't 100% true), I am in favor of you taking whatever steps are necessary to get you on the path to a healthier, fitter new you.  And a good part of that is placing value on your own health and even more so developing value for being healthy.  So, just as the Kendricks suggest with restoring a relationship, investing some money into your own health can have long term dividends.

          The key to making any investment pay off is to invest wisely.  Rather than just "throwing your money at something" and hoping that you will get a return, it is better to do a bit of research into what will lead to the best value.  It is unfortunate that sometimes we learn the hard way that sometimes finding the best deal isn't the greatest in the long run, but that you often "get what you pay for."  This is why when people buy the "latest and greatest" piece of cardio equipment from a television infomercial I usually roll my eyes.  Those are the types of investments that usually over the long term become glorified clothes hangers.  But even if that purchase allows you to start towards your fitness goals, then you can consider it a worthy investment.  I just believe that a better investment would be in a gym membership and/or sessions with a qualified personal trainer and/or nutritionist.  These types of purchases can help you with both your short and long term fitness goals.

          If you spend some money on fresh fitness apparel, a new piece of exercise equipment for home, or best yet, a gym membership and/or sessions with a personal trainer and/or nutritionist you are very likely to want to get something out of it.  There is a high likelihood that you will want to see a return on your investment, so there is a great chance you will actually use these things.  The best part of this is that the investment is not actually on the items, but in your own health and fitness.  Because you are looking for value on what you have spent your money on, you will in turn develop a value for these things that will help you reach your fitness goals.  Although you don't necessarily need to spend a significant amount of money to get in shape, putting money into these things allows you to want to get something out of your expenditures and therefore will have you act on it.  Putting your money where your mouth is by investing in your own health is a valuable way to achieve a fit new you!
         

Two Steps Forward

          Welcome to afitnewyou!  As we come out of our "turkey coma" here in the States, and most likely regret the amount of pie and desserts we consumed on Thanksgiving, there can be a tendency to become discouraged about reaching your fitness goals due to a sense of failure from consuming too many calories.  Many people in the Northern hemisphere should appreciate that the "holiday season", where many tend to over indulge as part of many feasts and celebrations, occurs during our winter when we can hide the extra calories under many layers of clothes....those of you in the Southern hemisphere probably stress about the extra holiday calories a bit more being that it is your summer.  But in either case, I hope that all of you do enjoy the holidays and do so with an abundance of joy rather than with stress and / or regret.  I want you to understand that it is "o.k." to celebrate, and that all of the hard work you put in all year hasn't gone to waste.  In fact, if there is any point in the year where you have "fallen off" of your fitness goals, or have a "cheat day" here and there know that you can overcome it and you should not let it derail you from ultimately reaching your fitness goals...that is as along as you realize it is only a minor set back and get back to it.  This is because as long as you continue to progress, any way you look at it, two steps forward and one step back is still movement in the right direction!

          This time of year can be particularly harrowing for those who are trying to improve their body composition when they are faced with many potential, nutritional road blocks that come from holiday parties and gatherings.  In situations that are supposed to be celebrated with joy there can be a tendency to have stress and regrets.  Unfortunately, many people disregard what they need to do in order to achieve their fitness goals early on in the holiday season, essentially giving up for at least a month or two until the holidays are over.  They rather take a hiatus from doing what they need to reach their goals so that they can enjoy the holidays relatively guilt free.  After taking a step back, by consuming too many calories early into the holiday season, many people will throw in the towel.  To avoid this failure, understand that the step back can be countered by two steps forward.  Even though you might thoroughly enjoy yourself at a party during the weekend, you have plenty of days left in the week to get the momentum going back in the direction of your goals.  Waiting until the New Year could be your start, but it will be much easier to reach your goals if for every "step back" you take you counter it with steps in the right direction by still continuing as soon as you can with your workouts.

          The holidays are only a small portion of the year, and set backs can occur at anytime.  Injuries for example, are a common step back that people often go through.  While an injury could be particularly devastating to a professional and / or competitive athlete, how they recover (pun intended) from the injury is usually a true testament to their mettle.  While injuries do keep you from performing as well as you may want, they often provide the rest and recovery that allows for increased performance following the injury.  Suffering an injury is certainly a step back, but the time spent resting and / or rehabbing allows your muscles to repair and strengthen.  There is a great potential to perform better following the injury, even at times as a result of it!

          Do not let a short-term set back keep your from achieving your long-term goals.  Trust me when I tell you that the emotional toll is far worse than the physical toll when facing a bump in the road to your goals from things like overindulging during the holidays, or when faced with an injury.  The guilt and disappointment you may feel is far worse than the actual physical detriment your body has to contend with.  As long as you keep the perspective that the step you take back can be overcome by the same hard work you have put in all year, you will be heading in the right direction sooner than your realize.  Even a rather negative event, such as an injury, can allow for positive growth in that you have the opportunity to recover to an even healthier state than you were before.  And joyous occasions should be celebrated rather than met with stress and guilt.  Just realize that although speed bumps are things that we encounter to slow us down, they are only a small part of the road that we quickly put into our rear views.  Continuing to move towards our goals after a small set back is the progressive way to reach a fit new you!

         

Be Grateful - revisited for Thanksgiving

          Welcome to afitnewyou!  This week I would like to inspire you to keep up with your fitness goals with a reminder...to be grateful for what you have.  While I can tell you many things that one should be grateful for, which often get overlooked or taken for granted, in my little space here, I will remind you to be grateful for your health.  If you are doing something today to point your diet and/or exercise routine towards healthy goals, even if its simply thinking about those goals, than you are in a place that you should be grateful for.  In life, it is often said that "everything is relative."  And, that saying can pertain to so many things.  If you are ever discouraged about anything, you can usually find a silver lining if you look hard enough, or some reason to be grateful.  The same is true for your health.  Although you have a fitness goal that you haven't reached yet, maybe it is a body weight you want to be at, a dress size you want to fit in, or an amount of weight you want to make your new personal best, you have to still be grateful for the health that you have today.  This is because you never know when your health may take a turn for the worse.  I have seen many people and clients who had only started to live a more healthy lifestyle after a health scare.  Lets avoid the tragedy needed to sometimes learn a lesson.  Lets be grateful for the health we have today!

     Jason is someone who comes into the gym on a regular basis...these days.  He is in his sixties now, and after he suffered a heart attack when he was 45 years old.  Before the heart attack he didn't exercise regularly, and just as bad, he smoked cigarettes and drank hard liquor regularly.  It wasn't until this life threatening event that he decided he needed to make some major changes in his lifestyle.  Immediately after leaving the hospital, and being thankful to be alive, he gave up tobacco products, cut down his alcohol consumption, and started exercising everyday.  He knew he was lucky to be alive, and grateful for that second chance at maintaining his health.

has been on an exercise routine for the last twenty years.  Unfortunately, he wasn't very active prior to that, and even more unfortunate than that was that he only started taking care of his health
     JT is a client of mine who had a similar lesson of taking his health for granted.  JT is in his seventies, and is pretty active for his age, regularly playing golf and tennis in the warmer months, and hitting the gym in the colder months.  JT was always very active and a self proclaimed "jock" from a very early age.  Its this continued active lifestyle that many people need to follow.  But JT had a freak accident where one of his retinas partially tore.  Unlike Jason, JT's mishap was completely unavoidable.  But, along the same lines, it wasn't until his vision was severely diminished that he fully appreciated how healthy he was before this accident...even if he had the regular aches and pains of someone his age, or any weekend warrior for that matter.  And as his vision improved, his spirits picked up more and more because he was able to play tennis again, where immediately after the injury he was told there was a chance he never would.

     As I said earlier, don't wait for a tragedy to happen for you to appreciate the level of health you have today.  Yes, we are all striving to achieve a better state of health; and yes, we all have fitness goals that we want to achieve.  That's fantastic, and I am sure a good part of that is what got you to your current state of health that you are in now.  And even though you can and should work towards your goals, and an even healthier state of living, its important to acknowledge and appreciate that health you have today.  And when you do, this value of your own health should fuel you to keep moving towards your health goals.  Its a positive cycle.

     We are often to busy, too concerned with what we haven't achieved, what we still need to do, and the flaws that make us all human.  But we all have some level of health that shouldn't be taken for granted.  We all should be very grateful for the level of health we currently have.  As we age, we all now that its harder and harder to stay healthy.  So by being grateful of the health you have today, no matter how much further you want to take it, let that value of your health motivate you to do everything you can to stay that healthy and more importantly reach your health and fitness goals.  Reflecting on the goodness of your current state of health is an introspective way to reach a fit new you!

Be a Machine

          Welcome to afitnewyou!  Today I want to help you reach your fitness goals by giving you a role to play.  With Halloween being this week, a lot of people, young and adult, try to decide who they want to pretend to be for the holiday; a superhero, a monster, a mythical creature.  I want you to be a machine...be a robot!  If you can envision yourself as a robot, as a machine, you can have a mental edge to assist you with reaching your fitness goals not only on Halloween, but all year.  In reality, I am not asking you to paint yourself silver and / or wear a costume made out of boxes.  But what I do want you to do is become machine-like in your exercise and nutrition habits.  I want you to act as if you are programmed to complete the task of reaching a healthier, fitter new you.  I'm asking you to take the thought and emotion out of your fitness quest and start acting as if making healthy choices is your job, as if you are wired to do so.  Be a machine!

          Machines are calculated; they are programmed to do a job.  Machines don't think about what they need to do from an emotional stand point, they just go out there and do it.  This is what you need to do with your fitness requirements.  "Program" yourself to exercise regularly and continually make healthy food choices.  Tell yourself that you are wired to move every hour, to get to the gym several times a week, to keep your body moving.  Make these the tasks that you as a machine are responsible for.  When you are looking at a menu, read it as if you are a robot that has the job of finding the most ideal and healthy food choice for your body.  Think that acting on a healthy lifestyle is the task you are programmed to do.

          Machines are automatic; press the "power" button and they are "good to go".  While it is true that many machines require a warm-up or to be primed before starting, just as we do, machines are relatively ready to perform at the go.  They don't come up with excuses about why they cannot achieve their task.  Just like the machine, you need to have a "power" button in your head, that once it is pushed, you aren't stopping until your task is done.  You can envision your alarm clock as your power button...once you shut the alarm off, you turn on and are activated for the day.  A much clearer example could be the power button on the cardio machine you want to use...once you turn the real machine on, you get powered up as well.  Or, you can imagine that the dumbbells are the key to turn you on; once in your hands, you're engine is started and you are ready to work.

          Machines are deliberate; the term mechanical refers to deliberate and precise movements.  Machines are often employed to do repetitive tasks that need to be done exactly the same time and time again.  When you are training in the gym, make each repetition that you perform mechanically deliberate.  Pretend that you are machine performing the movement, making each rep perfect using muscle not momentum. 

          Machines require maintenance; nothing works better than a "well oiled machine."  Without proper maintenance, machines can wear down and break prematurely.  A metal machine left sitting in the elements can rust and bind up.  You are like machine in this way as well.  You need to stay lubricated by drinking plenty of water.  Arthritis and aches and pains can creep up if you don't keep your parts moving.

          If you're thinking about what to be for Halloween, consider being a robot or a machine.  And think about being one for the rest of the year as it can help you achieve your fitness goals.  The pre-programmed, automatic, systematic ways that machines operate to complete their tasks can be copied by you to stay on task to reach your health aspirations.  A fun part of Halloween is pretending to be something you are not.  Acting like a machine can help you become something that you want to be.  Thinking of yourself as a machine with the one goal of being healthier is treat way of becoming a fit new you!

Find Your Motivation

          Welcome to afitnewyou!  This week I want to start by asking you a question.  What is it that is motivating you to reach a fitter new you?  You are reading this blog to get a little more inspiration perhaps, and I am always looking for new perspectives to help keep you motivated.  But I think that most of us already have something that can help motivate us to work a little harder each day.  We all can find something to focus on to help keep us pushing forward.  While it is certainly easier around particular times of the year, such as New Year's Eve and the start of the summer, to find something to focus on, what else will keep you motivated through the rest of the year?  I believe you already have something there, you just need to find the angle.  It could be an upcoming special event, such as a wedding or reunion, a change in your relationship status, such as getting yourself "back out there" while making your ex have regrets, or something else. such as preparing for another sports season.  Whatever it is, having an element that you can focus on to keep training hard and eating healthy, rather than just because its good for you, will most definitely keep you on track to reaching your goals.  So what is your motivation?

          Special events are always goods reasons to be motivated to work just a little harder to reach your fitness goals.  School reunions, weddings and milestone birthdays are perfect examples of events that we want to look as best as we can and will work harder to get there.  What is nice about using an upcoming event as a motivational focus is the timing component that the even can play into your planning.  For example, you usually have a good amount of notice for such events, heck some even come with a "save the date."  Having an awareness of when a future event will be gives you time to plan out how you are going to achieve your goals.  We all know that you aren't going to see a body change through one work out or "overnight."  But when you are aware that you have so many weeks and/or months to prepare for an event, you can make an effective plan to get there.  Another factor that the timing of the event plays is that as it draws closer, you will be even more compliant and motivated to increase the intensity.  Its sort of like that final sprint that a marathon runner puts forth once they know the finish line is near.  An example of an event that motivates me is an annual trip to a water park that I take with my daughter at the end of each summer.  On most days I am usually good about getting to the gym and making healthy food choices.  And at the beginning of the summer I have a little more motivation to look good in the warmer weather like most others.  but as the dog days of the summer drag on, I find extra motivation in this trip that I take with my daughter each year.  At this particular park, as they do at many time places, they take your picture as soon as you walk in the gate for you to purchase later in the day.  Because my daughter and I get it each year as a keepsake, I always want to look as good as possible because I know I will be able to look back on it all year every year.  My motivation is to look as good, or even better than the year before.  Therefore as the trip approaches I get motivated to hit it a little harder at the gym.

           As I mentioned earlier, there are plenty of reasons other than events to find motivation in as well.  Striving to beat a personal best on a lift at the gym, or a time on an event intrinsically have built in motivation.  Whether you are the type to record and post on social media all of your lifts, or are someone who just wants to beat what you achieved last time you were in the gym striving to beat a personal best is a great way to stay focused.  However, the same can be true for trying to get out of a rut.  For example, I think some of the most inspired people I ever see are athletes recovering from an injury.  Keeping an athlete off of the field is torturous on them.  But any rehabbing athlete knows that it is best to follow protocol to get them on the field and keep them on the field.  What is particularly good about using a set back, such as an injury, to keep you motivated is that the person usually is even more fired up to lift after the injury.  Having been "on the shelf" for so long, the person typically finds the drive to push harder and harder now that they "feel good."  There is not only additional motivation, but an increase in appreciation for staying healthy as well.  While I am not suggesting that you go out and purposely cause yourself an injury so that you can work back from it, what I am suggesting is that even having a set back can be encouraging rather than discouraging.

          I have been blessed over the years as a personal trainer to have such a diverse clientele.  The diversity in their unique goals has not only benefited me in that I have never felt that work had become a grind, but also because their individual goals goes with what I am saying here today.  Everyone can be motivated by something and some of the more non-traditional goals that my clients have had include things like "I want to get as strong as possible before I go in for a surgery on my hip," "I want to improve my balance to avoid falling on during icy conditions in the winter," and "I want to be able to walk and stand without falling over so that I can get out to field for my daughter's soccer games."  These goals just go to show that you can be motivated by something in your life, on an everyday basis, that doesn't have to end with you winning a contest and/or trophy.  Having something to focus on, more than just because its the healthy thing to do, will help keep you working your hardest towards achieving your fitness goals.  So what will motivate you?  Knowing the answer to that question is the inspiring way to reach a fit new you!