Mind Body Spirit: Well-rounded Fitness: Profound Transformation Doesn’t Happen Until You F...

Mind Body Spirit: Well-rounded Fitness: Profound Transformation Doesn’t Happen Until You F...: "When I first started working as a personal trainer I was asked to picture myself the way I wanted to be…the perfect me. In the image, I was..."

The Art of War

This is random but I so believe in the message. I added my spin to it as I took it from the "Art of War" by Sun Tzu

"The enemy's spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, as most have been tempted with bribes and confused by ignorance. So too we must find and seek and then we must led them away, bribe them with truth, reality and perception and they will be comfortably housed. Thus they will become double agents and available for our service. It is through the information brought by the double agent that we are able to acquire and employ local and inward spies. It is owing to his information, again, that we can cause the doomed spy to carry false tidings to the enemy."

Think about it...

Enjoy the weekend!

- ed

Be true to yourself and reach your goals

One of my friends in their Facebook status, was wondering if the truth had become irrelevant nowadays. It made me think how people have lost their edge, their integrity.

Integrity... now there's a concept to live by.

That is something I've learned from a very young age; something that my mom drilled into my head.

It all comes down to your actions, your core values and principles. Something that I feel is a true part of who I am. Granted, like every other human I make mistakes and I need to learn so much more. I guess time and experience will help me along the way.

Now looking at the bigger picture: some people just don't get it, and if you look around you will notice this to be true. There is lack of integrity and loyalty in family, friends and even in business relationships. Sometimes there's even a lack of integrity to ourselves.

By integrity I mean that we don't compromise who we are, it means that even the smallest details always matters, we say what we mean and do what we say no matter what, no matter the consequences... we don't look to blame others, rather we take responsibility and make ourselves accountable, we tell the truth even when its difficult. Most people rather not, so the sad part is that integrity is not a common thing.

And although it is not in my power to help and change everyone, I am true to myself and true to the people who put their trust and lives in my hands and let me help them get into the best shape of their lives.

I could go on a rant and talk about the lack of integrity in business, life... a lack of character in many people who have cross my path. But just like I've mentioned in this article let me stay true to who I am and keep this focused on where we needed the most: our health and overall fitness level.

Let me ask you: how well are at keeping your own promises? or do you sabotage yourself with destructive habits and behavior? Do you remember your new year resolutions? have you kept your word?

That's what some experts have come to call "personal integrity" - in other words how well you keep your word to yourself.

Remember when you said at the start of the year that you would lose weight, work hard at it, that you would start or resume your exercise program, that you also make better eating choices and start healthy habits... so tell me: have you kept your word?

Do you actually wake up early in the morning and go for a run, or go and workout, do you eat well and plan your day according to your goals? Personal Integrity won't allow you to slack, there's no excuses, even when you don't feel like it... you get up and just do it!

Or are you the type of person who says, "I don't feel like it today... hmmm it looks like it might rain I better stay home, I'm too tired, I'm not motivated"... Personal Integrity means you honor your word to yourself.

I could never imagine hearing Lance Armstrong say to himself "today I don't feel like, I won't run the tour, screw my goals, forget the plan, who cares about winning and being the best"... NO! He says: LIVE STRONG... HE NEVER QUITS NO MATTER WHAT. And he has been know to prove this in his sports career and his personal life.

For example when you join a sports team the goal is always to win, I mean why else do we keep scores... But the promise is to represent, to give your all, do your best no matter the outcome you will play hard, you will compete... win or lose "you never quit".

Whatever the goal you set for yourself, you must find ways to stay motivated and reach them. Don't let other people tell you otherwise; sometimes with good intentions others try to dissuade us from our goals or bring us down. Always be true to yourself and believe in yourself.

Hold yourself accountable; but don't just 'talk the talk'... you better 'walk the walk'.

Always live up to the expectation, even if you are alone and there's no one around. Your personal integrity and confidence will grow and make you stronger, will help make you a better person and ultimately will help you reach your goals.

Eduardo Lorenzo, NASM-CPT specializes in sports performance, injury prevention, corrective exercises, physique enhancement, Boot Camp and weight loss programs.

Mind Body Spirit: Well-rounded Fitness: One of my favorite Inspirational Quotes

Mind Body Spirit: Well-rounded Fitness: One of my favorite Inspirational Quotes: "Born to Manifest the Glory Nelson Mandela 1994 Inaugural Speech Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that w..."

Motivation For Fitness Success

So we started on January talking about your 2010 goals and resolutions; midway through March we had a heart to heart talk about this and tried to figure out if where still on track. So now, looking back we are half way through with 2010. My question to you is: how close are you to reaching your goals?

On a personal note I’m still working on mine. I’ve had my ups and downs through the year between injuries, business and personal decisions that have taken place; which means I don’t feel I’m where I was supposed to be. I will then make a plan of action to keep moving forward or catch up with the goals that I have let slide. But when things don’t go the way you expect it’s easy to get un-motivated.

Maybe looking back at your health and fitness resolutions, you find that it seems that things just move at a long snail’s pace. And when you start to feel unmotivated because of everything that’s going on in your life or by not being able to catch up with your goals, it’s hard to get going again! It happens to all of us.

But let me tell you: It isn't too late to start or to catch back up if you have been a little slow. All you need is to jumpstart your engine, reengage yourself, and get pumped to keep going. Here are some things to help you go the distance, keep you focus and help you stay motivated:

Find your inspiration again: There are many things that can get us inspired. Some people read books, blogs, magazines or other materials regarding someone else who has overcome adversity or some other challenge and suddenly changed their lives and reach their fitness goals. Others speak to people and learn of their efforts to promote change in their own lives. Whatever your method for becoming inspired, embrace it! You will feel empowered and inspired to keep going.

Reset your goals and focus on them: Sometimes 24 hours is not enough to get things done in a day, and that can make us feel stressed out and unfocused. Sometimes the problem is we try to do too much. One thing I’ve done recently is develop my “to do list” with the most important things or thing at the top. That way even if I get one thing done, that way I know I did the most important thing. The message: choose one goal, focus on that goal, make a plan for it and execute it.

Psych yourself up: Sometimes, no matter how bad you know you need it, you just can’t get yourself moving. Plus it’s hard to be excited by something that represents a lot of work and that you seem to be fighting with over time, especially if you hit a plateau in your program. But when it comes to health and fitness, your state of mind is everything. Things that will help you could be something like change your routine, find a workout buddy, and try something new like training for something such as marathon or maybe a 5K or an event to raise money for a charity. Join a fitness group, such as gym or boot camp program. There are some that really provide a lot of inspiration and support from the other group members.

Make yourself accountable: One way to do this is by publicizing it to other people. Tell your friends, your family, and your coworkers or just post it online in Facebook, your blog or something. People will ask you about how your fitness program is coming along. You will want to have something to share with them; plus it makes it even harder to quit on your program.

Embrace the challenge: Nothing worth it comes easy. Understand that you will hit a road block along the road. Understand that hard work, consistency and making changes in your life are part of your journey to a better you. Sometimes what you need is a good kick in the butt, a reality call… a call to action. When that happens, call someone who inspires and can motivate you, get you up and back on track.

Reward yourself: It’s great that you have set goals and have worked hard to accomplish them, but I think it’s equally important to reward yourself once you reach them. When you achieve them, give yourself a nice ‘present’. Make the reward meaningful to you… Just a word of advice, don’t use food as your reward; especially if it’s crapy food.

Power of Positive Thinking: How you feel about yourself is what you project to others and to yourself. This is especially true when trying to keep your focus on reaching your goals. Believe in yourself, Take charge of your life and do something about it. No matter how many times you feel you need to restart the process to a better you, understand that being healthy and fit is a life long journey. Even when we fail… we grow, we get better, we learn, we fall but we always get back up!

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” — Michael Jordan

Eduardo Lorenzo, NASM-CPT specializes in sports performance, injury prevention, corrective exercises, physique enhancement, Boot Camp and weight loss programs.