New Year Fitness Resolutions Part 1

It’s that time of the year when it feels as if we must look back to reflect in what we’ve done this year an what we plan on doing next year. However, over the years, to often I’ve heard, “My new year resolution is to lose weight, be more active, run a 5K or a marathon, accomplish something with my life or just something in those lines”…

Looking back most time it seems I hear these resolutions from the same people over and over. So that tells me two things, either New Year resolutions do not work… or we are just big fat liars; we procrastinate, we don’t follow through or maybe our plan is to weak because its not followed by action.

Now please understand I know many people (of whom I’m extremely proud off) who have been following their resolutions from years past, and as the next year comes in they continue to follow through their plan… it’s a process.

But for the rest what could be the problem as to why many end December every year saying they will lose weight, get fit and become healthier and once January comes around almost always they either join a gym, hire a personal trainer, go online, read a book get all hyped up… but February comes around and the plan changes and they stop!!! What happened?

Well sometimes some people don’t know where to start; so they feel lost and quit.

If this is you then you must understand that every goal you set must be followed by action. I tell all of my clients to set goals. Even when they walk to right from the start I ask them, what is your goal? Sometimes they say to lose weight…. Well that is not specific; it has to be realistic and specific. However that alone will do not much good. YOU NEED TO TAKE ACTION.

Even if you don’t have all the knowledge of the world you can be more active. You can join a gym, recruit a buddy to run or walk with, hire a fitness expert to get you started and many more things that you can do. What you don’t want to do is nothing…

A Chinese proverb says: “Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still”…

Listen you must move and get started in your fitness journey, and trust me once you do that, you quickly learn that you figure things out along the way. OG Mandino once wrote: “my dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, and my goals are impossible. All are of no value unless they are followed by action. I will act now!”

Do not wait and don’t put excuses either. At the end fitness is not that complicated. Everyone knows that some type of exercise is always better than just sitting on the couch, and it doesn’t takes a college degree to know that fruits and vegetables are better than a burger, fries and coke.

Do not be afraid of taking that first step, but do keep in mind that fitness is a process you must make part of your life and so you must incorporate healthy habits as you go. The important thing is that you take that first step to your journey… like a Chinese proverb says: “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step”…

My mission

After training a client the other day, I engaged in a conversation at the gym with this with guy and he ends up asking me, is this all you do?

This is a guy who's pretty serious and committed about his weight training program. We've exchanged conversations here and there at some point at the gym and he see's me almost everyday. But that day after talking for a while about lower body strengthening and muscle imbalances (do to a poor training program) he asked me, 'hey so is this all you do?'... as if being a personal trainer is a part time job.

The notion is that for the most part many trainers get in the industry because they like to exercise and spend a lot of time at the gym. Hence they feel they might make a buck while at it. However lately I've heard the term "the death of personal training"... The reason simple: most trainers are struggling to make it after a few years and end up having to get a part time job, or changing careers. (It has happened to many people I know).

There could be many reasons as to why this happens. Some blame it on the economy (hey it's no joke, juts like everyone out there things are tight), others do it by choice as a part time, others just want to look at themselves in the mirror, some do not know how to get clients and are very bad with their business or people skills, some have no idea what the hell they are doing, they suck as trainer, which is pretty evident by the way they train their clients and the lack of results they are getting.

But this is why I'm shocked when at other times I've been asked the same question. Listen there is no way you can make me do anything else rather than coach, train, motivate and help folks achieve higher results and realize their potential. Day in and day out, I'm training clients, coaching online, I run my Strength & Conditioning Boot Camp programs and I take care of my end of the business as well.

I don't consider myself just a personal trainer, anyone can have you sit on a machine and count reps, using cookie cut programs they use with all of their clients regardless their conditioning, shape, form and necessities.

So there's a huge difference between me and those guys/girls because although I am a personal trainer by tittle; I'm more than that... I'm a professional fitness coach! I'm 100% dedicated to all of my clients, period! Even on my Strength & conditioning Boot Camp programs (where I have many women training at at any given time) I focus individually on each of them.

Over the years I've trained hundreds of folks and it's never been about how much I can bench press, how my abs look in the mirror and posing or talking on the phone while training program. It's always about my client, their needs, desires and what "WE" as a team must do to accomplish it. Sadly many people and gym owners hire based on mirror muscles (don't get me wrong, after all as a fitness expert we must practice what we preach), rather than hiring someone based on experience, smarts and a successful client track record.

My mission is simple: to educate, inspire, motivate and help transform the bodies of everyone I have the opportunity to work with. I tell my clients that fitness is about feeling better about you, treating yourself with the respect your body deserves. So you must take action to better your health, improve your physique and push yourself to the next level.

A few months ago I wrote an article that should help you make the best choice when it comes to hiring someone to help you. You can click here to read it: What to look for when hiring a fitness coach.

If you are looking forward to changing your body, improving your conditioning using a well rounded, simple to follow and progressive fitness & nutrition coaching program I encourage you to contact me for a Free Consultation & Assessment.

Strength & Conditioning Boot Camp P.R.I.D.E.

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." - Angus Grossart

Proud at the boot camp ladies who have committed like crazy to workout day and night to get them selves in shape even during the holidays. While other people indulge and let them self go, these ladies are just bringing it!!!

 

Even at 35 degrees in the cold (in Florida that is pushing it) these ladies are doing their thing. Nothing can stop them. 

I'm looking forward to the winner of this year 21 Day Look Hot-Drop The Fat Boot Camp Holiday Challenge!

Procrastination affects your life

“I’ll start tomorrow." "I'm too busy today”. Is this you? Delaying things, putting them off and constantly stalling can kill your dreams and goals, you might has well see procrastination as the grave in which success is burried in.

Honestly, how many times have you said “tomorrow, not now” when what you really meant was “I really don't want to do this or never”? I think that most of us are procrastinators to an extent (Let's admit it we've all put off things once in a while).

But seriously when we tend to say “I’ll start exercising tomorrow or on Monday I'll start my diet.” Do we really meant it? Maybe we do believe we will and to an extent maybe it is our intention to "eventually do something"...

Perhaps its the rush and adrenaline that comes from a sudden moment of enthusiamiasm, passion, desire or commitment. It could be something as simple as you coming across and ad on TV or on article on a magazine, maybe it's an online post or a conversation with a friend, a good look in the mirror or just reflecting on your life and its events; whatever it is... for that moment it gives you the sense of strength, you feel resolved and committed to your goal. It feels as if nothing can come between you and the promise of tomorrow.

But then tomorrow actually comes... And once again, we face that same decision: to do or not to do? That is the question. Now C’mon (you say to yourself), it’s just one day right? Seriously, how bad is it? Truth be told: Is one more day actually one more day? The answer, of course, is that postponing for one day probably isn’t the worst thing ever; except that one day is never one day. One day becomes two, two days becomes three, and three days becomes months and years.

So even though putting things off occasionally is not a big thing, when procrastination affects your performance, productivity and even relationships in life (these could be business relationship, love or friends), this is the time to reconsider your way of thinking. In my opinion: putting off until tomorrow what you should be doing today is a problem that keeps a lot of people from achieving their goals; being those that you've set with someone or those you set for yourself.

I'll let you in on a little secret: "tomorrow is the busiest day of the week"... hence, you and I both know it can't be done tomorrow, so you'll have to do it later, down the road, someday... if you actually ever get to it.

Then again, last time I checked neither tomorrow nor someday are a day of the week. So if you say Monday I'll start exercising, or Tuesday I'll start eating better (at least start eating breakfast).. or Wednesday night I'll tell the girl of my dreams, how much I love.. or on Thursday I'll send my resume to that and this company: Just do it! Don't wait for the next day or tomorrow or someday...

So lets assume, that today, you want to go from a life of self procrastination to a person of action; how do you get there? Keep in mind it won't happen overnight. But it does starts with changing the way we think. We need to figure out first why we tend to stall, avoid and delay things. Maybe it is out fear of failure, perhaps we have already tried other diets and failed, maybe exercise seems like a tough thing to do, maybe the idea of changing jobs or applying for a new one seems scary or our past failures in prior relationships makes it though for us to approach someone or doing something and getting rejected or hurt. So we then decide to hide, delay and put things off... this could be fatal.

So look deep into yourself and try to understand the cause as to why we are putting off our goals and even responsibilities? For example if in weight loss if you have over 50 pounds to lose and think it might be impossible you will condition your mind to believe that and so you are starting your journey with a defeated mindset, and at the very first sign of obstacles or when you hit a plateau its easy to quit and give up or just delay your ability to actually start doing something. However you will not lose 50 pounds in two weeks, sometimes you lose a few here and there, some weeks maybe you can't see much difference in your body mass... but that constant resolve to do what is right and keep exercising will get you there and that is the key to success. Every step of action you take forward will make you better.

Setting realistic goals, writing them down, keeping a food journal and just regular exercise will help condition your mindset for change and to continue taking productive action steps instead of delaying or putting things off.

I read a quote from Og Mandino and it said: “I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids.

With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek to rest. I will act now for now is all I have.

Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now.

Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place.

I am the person.”

Look, if you want to accomplish something, anything in life: lose weight, shape your physique, start a new career or a business, fall in love, better your relationship, whatever your goals may be: YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Don't put it off til "tomorrow" or "someday"... Make TODAY the defining moment to stop procrastinating and chase your dreams.

- ed